Monday, October 30, 2006

Days 11 and 12

No working out Saturday and Sunday. Saturay I was a at a conference all day and did pretty well. Dinner sucked but I still got away with a day under 2000 calories. Yesterday was awesome. No exercise but 1500 calories was great!

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Chocolate milk is the devil!

I was at a conference today and they had subway for lunch. Easy to do well with that. I even gave up my cookie.

Dinner was a little tougher. Fried chicken. I had a breast/ribs thing. Took off the skin. And I had a couple cups of canned carrots and green beans. I gave in to a piece of that jell-o like cake thing without the frosting, but the topper was three glasses of choc. milk.

I had no idea there were so many calories in chocolate milk! So even with an over estimation of the number of calories I consumed today, I was still under 2K, which is great since I still burn 2500 calories a day.

Day 11!!! The weigh in

Well the power went out and so the alarm didn't go off. I was hurting for time so I was going to postpone the weigh in till tomorrow. But I couldn't wait!

10 days of keeping my calories between 1500-1800...and 8 days of excercise between 45-60 minutes...

Thirteen pounds!!!! Ah yeah!!! 13!!! So from the start that is 19 pounds total! I cannot wait till day 21!!! Talk about motivation! It's not as big of a loss as the the contestents on The Biggest Loser but dude, 13 pounds is GREAT and feels GREAT. I can't wait to lose more!!!!

Friday, October 27, 2006

Day 10

I made it to the "I'll want to rip out my hamstrings" Kick class today. I had to test out the Polar watch so that I can at least tell them, "You know, I'd like to do your Karate Kid class, but according to the Polar, it doesn't keep my heart rate up where I need it. Sorry."

Good luck with that. 167 high, 142 avg. Smaller average than cycling or other excercise, but meeting other people to work out may just be motivation I need.

I also threw down 30 min on an arc trainer and without the Polar I would have half-assed it. So that is sweet. Still, with over an hour of cardio, I still couldn't kill over 1000 calories. Which makes me suspect of the calorie counting on the fitness machines.

Tomorrow is the weigh in. I cannot wait!!!

day 9 wrap up

Yesterday was good. I was going on a hot date with my sweet wife so I wanted to be able to eat a real meal at dinner. So I starved all day to save up my calories. I had oatmeal in the morning and made it to lunch where I had 1/2 chicken breast then up to dinner I had 1/2 cup of mac and cheese and then we went to T.G.I. Fridays.

Which was underwhelming. With being so hungry nothing sounded good to me. And thier prices were pretty high. And portions small. Which was nice in a healthy way, and bad as a consumer.

Nevertheless, I tried to gorge but couldn't. I still ended up eating really well.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Day 9...it's all fine

Of course, it almost wasn’t.  I almost didn’t make it today.  Last night, after we put the kids to bed, we watched the taped episode of Biggest Loser.  Then it was 11 PM.  Do I stay up and work or go to bed early to go exercise?

I woke up at midnight.  Got off the couch.  And set my alarm for…yeah right…4:45 AM.  It’s the thought that counts.

4:45 AM:  I got out of bed.  Turned off the alarm.  Moved to the couch where I argued back and forth, Sleep?  Or Exercise?

Working out won!  I got to the gym and hit my cycling class!  I am the man.

165 and then some!

I got the Polar watch yesterday and brought it to the cycling class.  Other than feeling like I’m wearing a bra, it was cool.  My heart rate monitor was cool the whole time and I got to see how hard I was pushing it.  At one point I was just hovering around 158…and then 160…so I kicked it up and tried to get to 165.  It didn’t work.  But then, I hit it!  And I hit even more.  And the coolest thing about the watch (so far) is that when I was done it had my high of 167 and my average of 152.  So cool.  Don’t know if I’ll keep it yet, but so far it was pretty stinking cool.

Sidebar:  The watch barely fits my wrist.  Now, I know I’m a fatty, but please, make a watch for the fat guys to wear!!!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Heart Rate Level 166...Yeah...Right.

So according to this Jillian chick I’m supposed to work out at 85% which would be a HRL of 166.

After completing the Bob Reed, I hit the treadmill for another 15 minutes.  I set the mode to Heart Rate, which means that you set the heart rate and it will work you up to that heart rate and keep you there.  So this is my chance to feel what 166 is like.

Uh…yeah right.  I couldn’t even get my heart rate up to 160 without having to jump off.  I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it’s gonna be a while till I can get up to 85%.

Day 8...Feelin' Great

Almost didn’t make it this morning.  Jen and I worked really hard last night and didn’t get to bed till Midnight.  I woke up at 5 am knowing I needed to go exercise and hurry up and get to work with so much to do at work.  But I decided to camp out on the couch and sleep for ½ hour…

So my son wakes me up at 7 am.  Oops.  What do I do?  I need to get to work so I can pick up the kids at school.  But I’ve got to work out.

So I went to the Y and busted out the original Bobby Reed (hill level 10 on the ARC for 45 minutes).  I can’t wait to weigh in!!!

Day 7 Wrap Up...The hardest choice so far

So I kicked but in the cycling class and really pushed it hard.  All I had to eat was oatmeal and light fare at chipotle.  When I got home Jen was cooking meatballs.  Man, she is such a good cook!  She was very patient and kind and loving while I tried to figure out how many calories was in each meatball.  After what seemed like eternity it came out to around 122 calories each.  Knowing that including the banana I was munching on right then, I still had 800 some odd calories for dinner.  So at first I decided that I could have 6 meatballs.  But I want some green beans and they are cheap.  But then came the decision:

Sidebar:  We have this great family at church named the Williams’.  Their oldest daughter Cassia makes some mean bread called Bird Seed Bread.  Man, it is so good!  The bread makes a mess, but it’s hard to beat toasted with butter.  Being that it is homemade bread I don’t have a clue how many calories are in it.  I looked at our butter and it’s 70 calories for 1 TB.  So I figure I can get away with 1 tsp for 1/3 of the calories…uhhh….no.  I don’t think so.

So here I am with a 200 calorie awesome bread and butter.  Well, I have to have one so I decide I’ll only have 5 meatballs.  But I still have the green beans to account for so I’ll only have 4 meatballs. 

I put three on my plate.  Polish them off, the bird seed toast, and about 2 cups of green beans.  I count up my calories.  I’m still under.  I can squeeze in a meatball or I can go over with toast…

So I made the decision.  Toast.  I’m sure it wasn’t the wisest choice, but I think I would have cried and felt the restriction.  I think it was a little mini battle won of rewarding myself.  Yesterday completed the first time ever that I had exercised 5 out of 7 days and kept myself to 1500 calories each day.  Hooray.  My reward is toast.

 

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Weigh In

So today is Day 7 and I exercised this morning with the cycling class and pushed it hard.  Tomorrow will be the first week that I’ve ever worked out 5 out of 7 days and kept my calories to 1500 each day.  I so want to see what my total is so far.  Yesterday someone said that they can really tell that I’ve lost weight.  I love hearing that.  But I’m going to wait.  I got 40 days.  I’ll weigh in on the 10th day so I can get a bigger pay off.  But I’m anxious!

Day 6

Day six is done!  I still haven’t been able to pull a McNutt and exercise 90 min in the morning and an additional 60 min in the evening, but once again, I busted out some upper body work and an hour of cardio and I ate well!  Even busted out McDonald’s and got an ice cream, asian crispy chicken salad with light Italian dressing, and I still had 100 calories to spare for the day.

My evil temptress wife tried to reward me with a cookie when we got home, but I refused! 

 

Monday, October 23, 2006

I'm confused

I need some definitive answers on the Heart Rate Target and exercising. I was set to buy the Polar watch but cancelled my order out of confusion!

Here’s the issue:

Allegedly if you work out at 55%-80% of your Heart Rate (other websites say a little different number) 50% of your calories burned come from stored fat. If you work out 80-90% it goes down to 35% of your calories coming from stored fat and the other comes from quickly replaced calories or gluten or something from somewhere else. So the idea is to work out at a less strenuous level and you’ll lose the fat. This is what Polar says, but of course, they are selling the heart rate monitor. And it’s what “the gym” says, but of course they’d like you to work out longer, spend more time there, purchase more services, make you feel like you need them.

Is this a conspiracy?

Other websites I found yesterday talk about yes it’s true, but if you are wanting to lose weight, then you need to work out harder, because it’s all about calories burned. While most of the calories may come from other Carbs that are easily replaceable, you burn the same amount of fat, whether it’s 30% or 50%.

Here’s just one of the many sites that you can get by googling “Myth of Fat Burning Zone.”

So what do I do? I want to get the most bang for my buck when I’m working out. I also don’t want to kill myself if #1 I’m going to hate excercising, #2 I’m not going to burn more fat.

Is there a clear answer?

(Of course, if anyone read this blog, that’d help. I did add it to my signature in the biggest loser message board, so we’ll see. I also posted a similar question there.)

UPDATE: I did get a quick response from the Biggest Loser MSG board. Which directed me to amazon.com to read an excerpt out of former BL trainer, Jillian.

She says, that the fat burning zone is a myth. And when it comes down to it, to burn as many calories as possible.

She says to work out at the 85% level, which for me would be 166. Whoa! I excercised this morning and tried to keep it to 140ish. Maybe I need to buy the watch anyway...

For further reference the book is "Winning by Losing: Drop the Weight, Change your Life" by Jillian Michaels. Pages 152-154.

Day 6

Okay, I’m buying into the brainwashing.  I felt great today exercising.  Like I could have done it for hours.  I’ve heard of Runner’s High, but maybe I hit the fat guy high.  I don’t know, it was easy.  Worked out the chest again since it was fully recovered and did an hour of cardio.  I feel great!  Brought a ½ sandwich and a smoothie to work. 

Day 5 and I'm still alive

Alright!  Day 5 is done!  No exercise.  My hamstrings were still retreating, but finally my chest was good.  Did great with eating!

 

Had Chipotle for dinner.  And I really tried to do well.  Two servings of chicken, two servings of their fajita mix, and one serving of the corn salsa.

 

Well, Chipotle is super fat in the first place.  We’re talking 1000 calories plus for a burrito. So I skipped the tortilla and rice and cheese.  Pretty good right?  Not really.

 

Their fajita mix is 100 calories.  Dude, obviously I’m getting more than green bell peppers and onions!  And the Corn Salsa was 100 calories!  Dude, that is the last time I get that.  Usually salsa is a freebie.  You can have tons and it’s like 15-50 calories.  The chicken was 219 calories, twice, so a total of 738 calories.  100 more than I was wanting to end the day, but still good.  And I had a banana as a snack.  Yep, over my count, but still, that’s good for a snack!  Still sub 2K.

 

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Escaped with a flesh wound of 255

Well, I almost won. I went to Catacombs and didn't eat pizza, or candy, or drink any IBC. Truly, Saturdays have been a serious downfall. Probably consuming over 1000 calories from 7-11 pm. That can't be good.

So I had hoped to not eat anything. I got there and grabbed the last Diet Pepsi. Nevertheless, I fell for the sexy and suculant Blue Bunny Neoplotian bar (160 calories) with a side of a snack size Reese's cup (95 calories).

Not too bad. But I can do better.

Dinner was great tonight! I was feeling bad for eating so much. Jen made the Olive Garden's Chicken Giardino and it was so good. We put whole grain pasta in there. So I ate about three servings of whole grain pasta, chicken, and lots of veggetables in a light lemony sauce. So I had 500 calories left before dinner, and after Catacombs tonight I would bet that I'm still under 2K for the day.

And if my results from the Body Gem are still accurate, I still burn 2500 calories every day.

Tomorrow is a new day!

What the ???

So I make this awesome sandwich. it is so good. I got the recipe from my friend Todd. I've told him to blog about it.

Yes, it's that good.

Anyway, I'm totalling up the calories...515. Not too bad. Except that I could eat prettty much any burger at McDonald's for 500 calories. Seriously. Big N Tasty, Crispy Chicken Sandwhich and more!

The only trade off is that I'm eating lots better food with a lot less fat intake. But calorie wise, it's similar.

So if I want to stuff my face i need to hang out in the vegetable aisle.

Day 4: Moons Over My Hammy

No, I didn't hit Denny's, but my hamstrings, or "hammies" are freaking KILLING me! What was I thinking doing this Tae Kwan Do class? Every time I kicked my hamstrings must have been cussing me out!

I am feeling it! My triceps are still sore. My shoulders. My chest. And now my legs.

I'm not going to make it to the gym today or to excercising. I'm going to have to work hard at trying to figure out how to excercise at home...especially when it's cold outside. I also have Catacombs tonight which is always a veritable smorgasborg of saturated fat goodness. So I'm gonna have to keep a bottle of water in hand to keep me from straying to the seductive goddess of gorge.

Other than that, today is looking good as far as food take. I figure, even if I'm only able to hit the gym 5 out of 7 days for some serious excercise, if I'm doing well with my calorie count, I should be alright.

Right now I'm just at 1000 calories and I only have a few hours before bed. Good times.

Friday, October 20, 2006

The Polar F11 Heart Rate Monitor


So after tossing $138.50 to the fine city of Park City for a traffic violation, my need for spending is unquenched.

The heart rate monitors at the Y suck. Some don't work, others are not reliable, etc. And if I excercise at home, it'd be great to know how hard to work out.

So I did some research and this seems to be the one. Everything I'm reading says that this will totally help. So I'm game. I hate spending that much cash, but I think it'll be a great tool and help me achieve my goal.

Now I just have to wait the week before I get it. It looks incredible.

Here's the homepage.

And here are the reviews at Amazon.

Day 3

So one of the guys in the cycling class leads a Tai Kwan Do class on Friday mornings. I show up and he and I are the only ones there. Another dude shows up. So it's the three of us. They say, "When it's only three of us, we usually go out for breakfast, so if you want you can do that or you can go do the treadmill or something..."

No way! I'd rather learn it in a small group. They were game so we did it. Oh MY gosh! Dude, I haven't worked out that hard since wrestling days. I thought I was going to puke a couple times. To top it all off, my man boobs aka pecs are KILLING me since I worked them on Wednesday. Dude, I'm glad to grow some muscle, but when I can't lift my arms, that's probably overdoing it a bit.

So we did the Kick class for 45 minutes or so and then I hit the treadmill for 20 minutes to catch the highlights of the Cardinals win that I slept through the night before.

Did great on food today and it was so hard. I took Jen out to Olive Garden, which she loves and I like a bunch. But I didn't eat one breadstick. had low cal salad dressing. and I got the Chicken Gardinia which is a low cal option. But it is so hard to not eat more. I could gorge myself on breadsticks alone. And at 140 calories each, that'd be over 1000 in one sitting. Add a couple bowls of salad, three bowls of Zuppa, and I'm done for.

But I did it.

So today, I really ate 1500 calories. I'm not hungry. But I'm not satisfied either. Hmmmm...

Day three is in the bag.

Day 2

Alright, back with the cycling class today! Man, they are such a cool group of people to hang out with. Super encouraging. They welcomed me back even though I had pretty much abandoned them. And they all knew about the newspaper article, so that was fun.

Worked out with them for an hour and then after I spent 10 minutes on the ol' stairmaster. Good times.

Did great with food until the afternoon. This is when I struggle the most. I made a decent dinner of 4 eggs, and then I ate 6 cookies (360 calories right there) and a couple handfuls of Crunch N Munch.

So that kind of sucked to work out and keep my calories up, and then eat 500 extra calories for nothing.

Yuck!

Day 1

Well, I did it. I got out there. Spent 45 minutes doing my best Bobby Reed impression by hitting the ARC trainer (or something) and doing the Hill interval at level 10.

Then I did 15 minutes on the regular ARC thing. And that pretty much sucked.

I also did a fat dude caliper test. 31% fatness, baby! Dude, I'm huge! The lady who helped me was kind enough to tell me that before they moved the percentages up a couple years ago, I would be considered obese. Niiiice.

My friend Bart Dick encouraged me to get the caliper test as a goal to get that number down.

Then I did some bench press, overhead press, dumbells, back extension, fly's and stuff to work on the upper body.

Matthew McNutt gave some great advice on what he started out doing with working out. The dude was working out 2 1/2 hours a day! 1 hour cardio, 1/2 hour weight lifting, both of those in the morning. Then getting another hour in, in the evening.

First, when he said he was excercising 2 1/2 hours, I was like, "NO WAY." But now that he's spelled it out, it seems pretty practical.

So that's what I tried to do. 90 minutes. Then, because I have church my night is pretty limited. But we had a fun day out with the middle school guys so we played basketball and other gym games for 90 minutes. Not intense, but more than sitting around.

Day one is done.

40 Days of Fitness

Alright, I've been slacking here so I'll bust out a quick update.

I'm still fat.

When I started this idea I lost 6 lbs the first week. I went to the official start day with the paper and told them my starting weight was 282.

Then I worked out for another week or so and then I had to roof my house. And that took so much energy out of me and I was so behind on work that I skipped the gym, didn't do my food log, nothing.

I weighed in...280. Whew! I thought I might have gained weight.

Then I gave an update to the paper and slightly fibbed. I feel so dumb that I couldn't tell them I'd only lost 2 lbs. So I said 8. Not really true.

It gets worse.

I weighed in on Wednesday...back to 282.

So I'm back to square one.

But there is hope.

My friend Matthew McNutt who has totally inspired me, lost over 50 lbs in the first 4 weeks of the Biggest Loser. After last week, he has now lost the most out of EVERYONE and he's not even on the ranch! So cool. What a stud.

My other friend Rob Danz, went on a 40 day fast and lost 50 lbs! I'm not ready to fast though. That is insane. I hope he didn't lose too much muscle.

Nevertheless, I figure I'm half way to the end of the Wichita's Biggest Loser. I got about 40 days or so. If I can spend the next 40 days, excercising and keeping my calories around 1500, man, I should have no problem making my 15 lb goal!

So that's what I'm doing. 40 Days of Fitness. Maybe that'll be the new title of a book I can write with Matt!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Another News Paper Article Update

Here's the link: http://http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/health/15782518.htm


New food habits are becoming second nature
Check out how the contestants of WichiTalk's Weight-Loss Challenge are doing midway through their commitment.
BY KAREN SHIDELER
The Wichita Eagle

Halfway through their three-month commitment, WichiTalk's Weight-Loss Challenge team members have discovered that dieting doesn't have to be a drag.
"I know salads are my friend and not a punishment," says Andrea McClellan.
"If you plan, you do well," says Toni Harden.
The six began their efforts Sept. 1, after being chosen from 65 people willing to go public with their weight-loss efforts.
Here's a look at how the six are doing:


Ken Rawson
Rawson, 30, director of student ministries at First United Methodist Church, hopes to lose 15 pounds.

"I've lost a whopping 8," he says. But at that pace, "in two years, I'll be a whole new man!"
He's the one who suggested the Weight-Loss Challenge, because a friend in another state is part of TV's "The Big Loser." Rawson thought the public accountability would motivate him -- but has found that it takes more than that. He's trying to make small changes, inspired by the Kansas Health Foundation's "Change Something" campaign.


Jamie Goltz
Goltz, 23, who works for the Army National Guard and the Wichita Marriott, wants to lose 25 to 30 pounds. She has lost 20, she says.

"I feel that my low-calorie, small portions are really working out," she says. She recently spent a week in Topeka, caring for family members during a health crisis, and found herself craving the fruits and vegetables she's gotten used to.
She didn't turn to food for comfort in time of crisis, and "it was really good to see myself not doing that. I was really proud of myself."


Toni Harden
Harden, 46, is a paraeducator at Wells Special Education Center and wants to lose 20 to 30 pounds. She has lost 6, she says.

She has learned the difference between "plan, plan, plan versus busy, busy, busy. If you plan, you do well.... I do much better when I plan my meals."
She has also learned the perils of going public: A woman at a movie theater recognized her from The Eagle's stories and asked whether popcorn was on her diet. "I promptly threw it in the trash," Harden says.


Tom Allen
Allen, 43, a teacher and coach at Northwest High School, wanted to lose 40 pounds and now realizes that was unrealistic. He has lost 10.

He has learned that changing habits takes work. "I have to work on it every day," he says.
He and his family have joined the YMCA and are going to start working out together -- as soon as they get through a move to a new house.


Crystal Iseman
Iseman, 26, a stay-at-home mom, day-care provider and college student, wants to lose 25 pounds and says she is halfway there.

Being busy used to mean turning to junk food because it was convenient. But "I have learned that sometimes being so busy makes it easier to skip the junk food," she says. "It has not been that hard at all."
She has a difficult time meeting her workout buddy at the gym on a regular basis but is fitting into smaller sizes -- and realizing how supportive her family and friends are of her efforts.


Andrea McClellan
McClellan, 31, a stay-at-home mom, hopes to lose 25 pounds and says she has lost 13.

She finds herself craving fruits and vegetables when she's hungry. She also thinks before she eats. "Sometimes your brain says to eat but your body says 'no more food,' " she says. "You have to know why you want it and then decide to eat real food" instead of junk.
In addition to working out with a personal trainer, McClellan takes a belly-dancing class and practices while she's vacuuming or doing dishes -- moves "that work your booty off while having fun!"

Cheer them on
When we started the three-month Challenge, we invited readers to share encouragement or advice. Several of the six team members say they read what you write. Tell them more on our WichiTalk blog: Go to http://blogs.kansas.com/wichitalk/ to post your comments.