Although I started this diet the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I did have some solid food the day before Thanksgiving, then had Thanksgiving dinner, so I decided that I technically started it the day after Thanksgiving, which would put 28 days at Christmas Eve. After 28 days, and a ton of will power, I ended up losing close to 20 pounds. I didn't post my progress the final two weeks because at my second "weigh in" (I was only weighing once a week) I had only lost 2 pounds between the first and second week, after losing 6 in the first week. I spoke to my trainer who said "don't weigh yourself until the end." So, that's what I did. I wasn't exactly sure what I would get at the end, but, I trusted him. Anyway, after starting at 214.8, I ended this part of the diet at 197.6.
During this process, I got so used to the shakes and everything, that I had a tough time going back to "regular" food yesterday. I had a shake in the morning, then scrambled egg whites at tomatoes after playing hockey with my son. I then had another shake, a scoop of peanut butter, dinner (much smaller portion of prime rib, broccoli, salad, and a very little bit of homemade macaroni and cheese), then another shake before bed. We went to the movies, and although my wife and kids had popcorn, I had no interest in it, I also had no interest in the dinner rolls, or cookies we made for Santa.
I really feel like this first 20 pounds is a starting point, and as long as I continue to eat healthy, and keep my portions small, I should be able to get more of what I want off in the coming months. Who knows, I may try this again in a few months to jump start if I don't seem to be taking off as much as I would like. Then again, now that I have lost almost 20 in a month, cutting down to the possibility of a pound a week will seem like it's going really slow, so I have to keep that in perspective as well. I can say that it feels great to be under 200 again, which was my main goal, now I just need to make sure to stay there and get lower while still keeping up my workouts and not losing muscle.
Now, since people have been asking, I'll let you know exactly what I did. First, although this web site had their program, all of their products together would have cost me $500+, which I didn't have to spend at the time. I instead read about the products, and bought what I needed at Vitamin World, and The Vitamin Shoppe. For my protein shakes, I used Isopure Zero Carb in various flavors throughout the month. When I went to New York, I brought packets of Lean Body but after texting my trainer, realized it had too many carbs and fat for what I was doing, so I had to go to GNC to get something for the remaining day and a half that I was there.
Now, for my program, I had one fish oil tablet with every meal, for my first shake, I typically just had it with water before my morning workout. My next shake, I put fiber, flax seed, ice, water, and protein mix in the blender and had more of a "smoothie." My third shake was just a regular shake with water, I also had my multi-vitamin with this meal. My fourth and fifth shakes were typically with just water, or ice and water in the blender. My final shake of the day was with flax seed, water, ice, and a scoop of peanut butter, you have to make sure to have the correct peanut butter, meaning there are only one or two ingredients, this one had peanuts and salt. I tried to have fiber with each shake, either stirred in, or pills that I got at the grocery store. I also had one cup of coffee every morning, and tried to drink a gallon of water every day.
My solid meals were not "cheat" meals. The meals were: week 1, anniversary dinner with my wife, salad, steak, broccoli; week 2, shrimp key west (at T.G.I. Fridays [blech, but it's what the kids wanted]) and broccoli; week 3, Tuscan Pesto chicken at Tony Roma's (2 breasts with artichoke, tomatoes, and onions [but I only ate one]) and broccoli. I'll admit, it was tough when we went out to places like Mellow Mushroom, or having dinners and stuff at Disney World, where I only ordered a water, and had my shake prior to dinner, but I knew what my goal was, and already had the mindset to accomplish it.
In the end, yes, I would have liked the 35 pounds that other people have stated they got, but I'm happy where I am. I may have gotten a couple of more pounds if I added a fat burner into my supplements, but wasn't sure of the right one, wasn't sure about the amount of money for the bottle, and didn't want to feel "jittery."
I'll try to keep you updated in any progress over the next couple of months, although I'm really bad about doing blog entries. We'll just see where it goes from here.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Food, Glorious Food. . .
While I'm doing this diet, I have found it pretty interesting how focused our society is around food. I suppose one doesn't really understand that until food is given up for 28 days. Of course, as I explained this diet in my previous post, and people tell me how crazy it is, how the weight will be gained back, and how it can't be done, I just think all of those negative comments show a lack of will power on people's parts. I mean, regarding nutrition, I am still getting 1200-1500 calories per day, more than enough to satisfy daily needs. I'm also receiving the essential fatty acids in the Omega 3 tablets, probably more fiber daily than I have ever had before (meaning 100% of daily recommendation), and multivitamins. Additionally, I'm still exercising as much as I ever have (5 days a week of weights, plus hockey) and not losing any strength or muscle mass, and so far, every time I get on the scale, the number is smaller. I may not hit the 35 pounds off as some others have, but I do expect to drop probably 25-30 by the end of this.
Back to my point about society being focused on food. Everywhere you look, there is an advertisement for food, or someone is having a conversation about their next meal, or discussing something focused around food. I'll admit, I may be a bit more sensitive due to my current diet, but still, you have to admit, there is quite a bit of focus put on food.
Another thing I find interesting is the fact of people saying how there is no way they would do something like this. Especially when I say after about 8 days I'm down 7 lbs, they still say they would have given up. I have shown time and time again that I have the will power in many aspects of my life. When I decide to do something, I go through with it. For instance, waking up every morning at 5:20 to go and exercise, or giving up 3 years of weekends (plus multiple evenings) to get my M.B.A., or deciding to learn to play hockey in my late 30's, whatever it is, I know I can do it, and this is just one of those things. Sure, traveling to New York while on this was difficult, but I made it through just fine. Sure, having one solid meal since Thanksgiving has been difficult, but I'm making it through just fine. Like I said, every time I get on the scale during this, the weight is going down. I expect a more significant drop this week since I am doing my normal exercise regimen, and drinking the correct shakes, as opposed to the "Lean Body" shakes I had for a day and a half in NYC.
I said in my previous post that I started the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. However, I was thinking about it more, and considering I did have more than a typical "solid" meal on Thanksgiving (although not much more), I'm looking at my real start date as the day after Thanksgiving. I had my next (or first) solid meal on Saturday, since Brenda and I went out to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I had a salad, steak, and broccoli. When I weighed myself this morning, I was at 208.0, which means since November 26th, with traveling, I am down almost 7 pounds. At that rate, I am right on track to be down 25-30 pounds, and finish this on Christmas eve. I'll keep you updated as to the progress.
Back to my point about society being focused on food. Everywhere you look, there is an advertisement for food, or someone is having a conversation about their next meal, or discussing something focused around food. I'll admit, I may be a bit more sensitive due to my current diet, but still, you have to admit, there is quite a bit of focus put on food.
Another thing I find interesting is the fact of people saying how there is no way they would do something like this. Especially when I say after about 8 days I'm down 7 lbs, they still say they would have given up. I have shown time and time again that I have the will power in many aspects of my life. When I decide to do something, I go through with it. For instance, waking up every morning at 5:20 to go and exercise, or giving up 3 years of weekends (plus multiple evenings) to get my M.B.A., or deciding to learn to play hockey in my late 30's, whatever it is, I know I can do it, and this is just one of those things. Sure, traveling to New York while on this was difficult, but I made it through just fine. Sure, having one solid meal since Thanksgiving has been difficult, but I'm making it through just fine. Like I said, every time I get on the scale during this, the weight is going down. I expect a more significant drop this week since I am doing my normal exercise regimen, and drinking the correct shakes, as opposed to the "Lean Body" shakes I had for a day and a half in NYC.
I said in my previous post that I started the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. However, I was thinking about it more, and considering I did have more than a typical "solid" meal on Thanksgiving (although not much more), I'm looking at my real start date as the day after Thanksgiving. I had my next (or first) solid meal on Saturday, since Brenda and I went out to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I had a salad, steak, and broccoli. When I weighed myself this morning, I was at 208.0, which means since November 26th, with traveling, I am down almost 7 pounds. At that rate, I am right on track to be down 25-30 pounds, and finish this on Christmas eve. I'll keep you updated as to the progress.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Diary of a fat man
I’m currently in flight and since the wireless decided to go down, it’s as good a time as any (considering it’s probably been months) to go ahead and enter a new blog post.
After months of trying to explain to my insurance whore of a doctor that I work out 5 times a week, and play hockey, he continues to insist that I lose weight. Of course I always try to watch what I eat, but, I guess even with watching it, sometimes everything doesn’t fall into place the way it should. So, I finally decided to just go ahead and listen to him. My trainer suggested using the “velocity” diet.
Now, let me first explain, this diet is not sustainable, not a long term plan, and definitely not for everyone. The typical weight loss on the diet is 20-30 pounds. It is essentially a fat loss diet, and helps re-teach your body to eat the right things once you’re off of it. The good thing about this diet is that you are only on it for 28 days. Of course you are probably saying that it is stupid, and there is no way (1) that someone can lose that amount of weight in that short amount of time and (2) you are just going to put it back on when you’re done. Well, like I said, you are basically losing fat weight, without affecting the muscle weight, and at least for now (10 days into it) I can tell you that you probably won’t put the weight back on, because the idea of doing this again is ridiculous.
The diet, in a nutshell, is 6 protein (100% whey) shakes per day, fish oil caplets with each shake, fiber (tablets or blended in) once per day, a multi-vitamin once a day, flax seed (tablet or mixed into shake) once or twice a day, a zinc tablet before bed, and a scoop of peanut butter (natural) with the last shake of the day. You get one healthy solid meal per week. You should continue to work out as you normally do, since you are not losing muscle mass, just fat. That’s it. I can tell you, it takes a shit load of will power to do this diet, especially during the holidays.
On top of all this, I also traveled to New York for a business conference, and with all of the great restaurants in the heart of Manhattan, I still only drank my protein shakes. I’m going to see where this goes. Unfortunately, the only “before” picture I have is with clothes on at Brenda’s cousins’ wedding. I can tell you my starting weight was a staggering 214.8. I started on Tuesday, November 23rd, and had a solid meal for Thanksgiving. My next solid meal will be on Saturday, December 4th when Brenda and I go out for our anniversary. Of course there are times when I think about this and how crazy it is, then I realize that it’s only 28 days, and since I’m already 9+ days in, I might as well keep going. There are times that I’m hungry, but I just hold out until it’s time for the next shake. I’ll do my best to keep you updated, or at least put how I ended up when I’m done. At least I’ll be done with this by Christmas, and I won’t have to do it as some stupid New Year’s resolution. Wish me luck.
After months of trying to explain to my insurance whore of a doctor that I work out 5 times a week, and play hockey, he continues to insist that I lose weight. Of course I always try to watch what I eat, but, I guess even with watching it, sometimes everything doesn’t fall into place the way it should. So, I finally decided to just go ahead and listen to him. My trainer suggested using the “velocity” diet.
Now, let me first explain, this diet is not sustainable, not a long term plan, and definitely not for everyone. The typical weight loss on the diet is 20-30 pounds. It is essentially a fat loss diet, and helps re-teach your body to eat the right things once you’re off of it. The good thing about this diet is that you are only on it for 28 days. Of course you are probably saying that it is stupid, and there is no way (1) that someone can lose that amount of weight in that short amount of time and (2) you are just going to put it back on when you’re done. Well, like I said, you are basically losing fat weight, without affecting the muscle weight, and at least for now (10 days into it) I can tell you that you probably won’t put the weight back on, because the idea of doing this again is ridiculous.
The diet, in a nutshell, is 6 protein (100% whey) shakes per day, fish oil caplets with each shake, fiber (tablets or blended in) once per day, a multi-vitamin once a day, flax seed (tablet or mixed into shake) once or twice a day, a zinc tablet before bed, and a scoop of peanut butter (natural) with the last shake of the day. You get one healthy solid meal per week. You should continue to work out as you normally do, since you are not losing muscle mass, just fat. That’s it. I can tell you, it takes a shit load of will power to do this diet, especially during the holidays.
On top of all this, I also traveled to New York for a business conference, and with all of the great restaurants in the heart of Manhattan, I still only drank my protein shakes. I’m going to see where this goes. Unfortunately, the only “before” picture I have is with clothes on at Brenda’s cousins’ wedding. I can tell you my starting weight was a staggering 214.8. I started on Tuesday, November 23rd, and had a solid meal for Thanksgiving. My next solid meal will be on Saturday, December 4th when Brenda and I go out for our anniversary. Of course there are times when I think about this and how crazy it is, then I realize that it’s only 28 days, and since I’m already 9+ days in, I might as well keep going. There are times that I’m hungry, but I just hold out until it’s time for the next shake. I’ll do my best to keep you updated, or at least put how I ended up when I’m done. At least I’ll be done with this by Christmas, and I won’t have to do it as some stupid New Year’s resolution. Wish me luck.
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