Ready, Set, . . .

Okay. Caught up on rest (I even fell asleep this evening watching the news and its anything but boring). Ms Judy is feeling better (flu, not H1N1). I'll start tomorrow with Power 90. I'll run after school tomorrow. So I should be back in the grove. I can tell my exercise is off, because my appetite is way on! What  a valuable lesson: exercise plenty, eat less. I'm also looking forward to what I do after this hiatus from my exercise routines while I was taking care of sick folks - first Dad, then the lovely and gracious Ms Judy.

Been a busy day so I'm off to bed so I can get up with a semblance of rest in the morning and start a really great day and slide into an outstanding weekend.

Long Trip Home

I returned from a long trip to my parents’ house to help take care of my father who had had knee replacement surgery. The combined trips added up to over 24 hours on the road. And some of that was some really late hour driving.
I was glad I could be there for my folks, but what a number I did on myself. My parents can have sweets around the house and just ignore them. If I know there's candy around, I catch myself going back again and again. It's like I can't leave it alone. Additionally I don't cook anything like my mother cooks. When I'm preparing meals the nutrition index is way up and the unwanteds (highly processed food, breads, and fried foods) are way down. It can be exactly the opposite there.

I went in without a plan and I gave in. But what I learned is the importance of going on trips with a well developed plan. That won't make nutrition perfect, but it will certainly keep me from being a total victim of really bad nutrition.

You see, I notice that it isn't just going to my parents' house that's a problem. It’s anytime I'm on the road. My bad nutrition started while I was driving to my parents' house, not when I walked in the door.

Before I go on another trip, I'll take some time to work on controlling nutrition/eating while on the road. I need to have a plan, a routine that I can turn to when I'm out of my own environment. The importance of planning - that can't be overemphasized enough when I'm preparing for a trip or circumstances require me to be out of my own element. I know how weak I can be around food I don't need. I also know how strong I can be in the same situations. I just need to plan to stay strong when I'm out on the road.

That planning is just as important at work. We're coming up on holidays. Today, the PTSO brought in all kinds of goodies for the teachers to eat. Lots of brownies are on the venue. I luv me some brownies. Thanksgiving is just a little further off and then comes Christmas. All these holidays are saturated with food traditions. The need to plan on how to get through these days is really important. I've already had one year where I lost ground to bad nutrition because I gave in to the food storm that came during the holidays.

So, a primary task for the next few days is to spend some time coming up with contingency plans and to develop some strategies for dealing with food issues while traveling or celebrating the holidays.

Things That Go "Bump"

My weight has been holding at 184 since Sunday, but I do expect a drop in the next few days. Looking at my nutrition (which hasn’t been perfectly clean – darn the Krispy Kremes, darn the Krsipy Kremes! – but it hasn’t been much) there has to be a "let go" point. My weight going into the weekend was 182. I certainly haven’t eaten 7,000 superfluous calories since then. So for some reason there is a bump up that either will be gone soon or has some other explanation. I don’t think I u-turned back to Plateauville.


What could be causing this stubborn bounce? A primary cause might be the amount of salt I've eaten with the Mexican soup we've had the past three days and a resulting increase in fluid retention. It could also be the weight of the soup. It’s clean, but it’s heavy. No processed ingredients in it, just canned vegetables.

Another possibility is that here has been a gain in muscle mass. Could that happen so quickly? My muscles were possibly ready to grow after all the conditioning I had done. When I started pushing heavier weight, muscles responded immediately. I certainly can feel more definition between my pecs in the center of my chest.

Another possibility would be my body reacting to the loss in weight last week and purposely holding on to some fluids. This is a lot like the “too much salt” reason, but I’ve seen it before. I have some weight loss, nothing changes in nutrition or exercise, but the weight drop just suddenly stops for a few days. Then there is a sudden drop and the gradual weight loss resumes.

The real issue here is that it’s time to get down into the 170 range and stay there. I’m facing some challenges to that this weekend as I prepare to go to my parents’ house to be with my dad following his surgery. I’ve gotten to the age that I have fluid retention/swelling when I travel for long stretches of time. This is a twelve hour trip both ways. I won’t be surprised if I lose all definition in my feet – no more veins sticking out or tendons showing when I flex my foot. Also, Mom’s food is just plain toxic to me. She is the world’s greatest cook (no, really) and I’m a food-aholic. Why my parents aren’t human blimps I’ll never be able to figure out. If I spend just a few days there I start gaining pounds and pounds. And I’m about to spend a few days there. I will be challenged to practice some Spartan discipline while I’m there. The travel time will have a detrimental effect no matter. Here’s to striving for some positive results.

Just Being Accountable 10/17/09

I didn't get my HIITs in until this evening. I had already had supper before I went to the fitness center. The session went well. I reached the first 100-calorie burn before 10 minutes. I reached the second 100 calories burn by 16.5 minutes. I didn't reach 3 miles until 31.5 minutes, but, after all, I was running after supper. So I reached my early targets earlier and my later targets a little later. Still, a great set of sprints. I hit several 9's, a couple of 10's, 10.5 and one brave attempt at 11.  Can't wait for Power 90 in the morning. P90X should be here in just a couple of days.

Progress Log

I wish I knew why I waited so long to set up a progress log for my workouts. I remember when I first started this journey toward better health and began by regularly going to the fitness center. I carried a small binder with me. I had the different exercises broken down on separate pages and included a table showing date, weight and reps for each one. It was easy to track my progress and to tell when I needed to push for additional weight on each exercise. It worked well. I didn't have to remember and I didn't subjectively go by what I felt like doing. I had a record and knew what to do to make progress.

In just the few days that I've been doing this with the Power 90 sculpt sessions, I've already been able to push myself beyond what I was doing. And it is a much more intense workout. I find myself gasping for air at the end of sets and pushing to make my reps. The end result will be definite gains in strength.

Keep a log of your progress. It will keep you on track, moving ahead with your goals as you seek to build the muscle needed to burn calories and fill out physique.

Today I will have to work to squeeze in the HIITs at Peak. I have an important meeting immediately after school at an office in town. I'll need to change there before going to the center, and all that gets to be a bit complicated. But I'll do it. I'm facing problems enough with consistency this week with the trip to my parents for Daddy's knee replacement surgery. But I'll do it because I'm so close to reaching the long term goals I set.

On Course

Finished with Power 90 this morning. Why did I keep putting off making that tracking log to go with the workouts? Today, instead of going by memory, I was able to look at the written record of what I had done previously and make progressive adjustments.

I've never used a tracking sheet before and had seen progress when I had done Power 90 rounds in the past. I had been indoctrinated by my own bad habits of the past and my satisfaction with what was probably much less than optimal results. I look forward to reporting some significant strength gains as I finish up this round before going to P90X.

Weight was 182 again today. That's great, because I expected a bump back up. My weight had suddenly dropped down to that level and looked like it was a fluctuation. I do plan to get in a run today. If it turns out that I don't I will try a Power 90 Sweat session. I haven't been doing the cardio aspect of Power 90 at all. I've only focused on the sculpt. Living in an upstairs apartment makes me a bit conscious of noise I'm making on the floor. So I've avoided the jumping around of Power 90 Sweat. But daytime noise should not be such an issue and I guess I should go down, introduce myself and let them know what I'm doing and that I will be careful about it. Just wanting to be a good (healthy) neighbor.

Finishing the Day

Good set of HIITs at the fitness center. I went up to several 9 MPHs, 9.5 MPHs, even 10 MPHs. I felt great afterward. I reached 100 calories burned before 10 minutes, 200 calories at 16.5 minutes, 300 calories at 24.5. I reached 3 miles at 3 minutes, 5 seconds. I did more sprints until I broke 400 calories burned. There was a 5 minute warmup at the beginning and a 5 minute cool down at the end.

 

Later in the evening I made Mexican soup. Some of the best I've ever made. No processed contents. High protein beans with corn, peppers, brown rice, and grilled chicken. Time to wrap this day up and get some rest.

Saturday Surprise

Yesterday's weight was 184 and today's was 182. That weigh in came after my workout and a shower. I didn't expect to see anything else this week. This one might bounce back up before the weekend is out.

Basic eating has been clean. I ate a brownie some of the students had cooked, but just one. It couldn't do that much damage, and by the weight loss, it doesn't appear to have done any at all.

I finished up a worksheet to use with my workouts so that I can keep a record of my progress while I'm dong the DVD workouts. I"ll do it a few days before I come up with a baseline.

I'm planning to go to be with my parents during an upcoming surgery. This will mean a few days on the road and away from home. Keeping up with my daily routines will be a challenge, but I'm committing to doing them.

I've been really slow about getting busy today. I've worked on several 'puter projects and now I'm about to go to the gym and do HIITs. Then off to work for a couple of hours.

Vince Delmonte of No Nonsense Muscle Building (http://www.vincedelmontefitness.com/) has the info in one of his recent emails that 1 lb of muscle burns 50 calories a day. Add 10 lbs of muscle and that's an additional 500 calories to work with every day. I've done great on the nutrition end. It has become part of my lifestyle. I may climb down off the wagon from time to time, but I realize this is not just a temporary diet. I've seen what happens when I stop watcing nutrition and give in to eating without thinking: my weight goes up incredibly fast.

I'll be starting P90X soon. I'm not as progressed as I had hoped to be with body strenght, but its time to get going with X. I expect to see some good muscle mass buildup from using X.

Well, time to get up and finish this day.

Some Progress

Finally dropped down to 185. That's two days ahead of the goal. Now I can seal the deal between now and Saturday morning. Two more days at this weight or lower and I should have eliminated temporary fluctuations up or down.

Good run yesterday. I've definitely cranked running up a notch. I'm getting close to where I was when I stopped last fall.

I didn't push hard with the weights in Power 90 this AM. I got the routine in, but I'm pushing hard about every 2 days. Great progress overall and good job keeping with this plan.

Gotta get more sleep.

Is This Plateauland Already?

The past few days nutrition has been great, resistance training has been great and HIITs have been great. But my weight won't budge off of 187. Plateau already? The drop will come and it will come soon. My goal is still to be at 185 by Saturday.

Just the few days of getting back into Power 90 has caused some of my muscles to bounce back. Along with some noticeable added strength, I can already tell that the cleft between my pecs is deeper (pecs getting bigger).

I had a great session with my HIITs yesterday. My goal was to reach 100 calories before 10 minutes (counting the 5 minute warm up walk), 200 calories before  15 minutes and 300 calories before 20 minutes. I also set goals to reach 3 miles before 30 minutes and to continue the sprints until I hit over 400 calories.  I hit every goal, sometimes with only a second or two to spare, but made it none the less.

This was my final reading at the end of my cool down walk. I had to push into the 9 mph range several times and did it well. Good day yesterday. Now, if only I could find the exit from Plateauland.

Working My Plan

Four days straight of Power 90 sculpt. The plan I started this past weekend is working great. Before I go to bed I make sure everything is ready for me to do a session of sculpt. When I get up, the computer is on, the water and towel are out. The CD is in and ready to go. I literally just have to push play. But lets do this for a month before I declare "Mission accomplished."

Peak is going well. I'm getting my sprints in. That's another thing I make sure is prepared before I go to bed. The back pack is packed and by the door. I just have to pick it up and change at school before I leave for the day so that my first stop is the fitness center on the way home.

I'm pushing my sprints/HIITs. Rest periods between sprints is limited to 1 minute, 1 & 1/2 minutes, or until my heart rate is in the low 140's. One consequence has been that I don't run as long, but because of the speeds I'm selecting, I run as fast or faster. I should be able to bring my goals to 200 calories burned before 20 minutes and 300 burned before 25 and 3 miles reached by 29 minutes. Yesterday I missed 3 miles in 30 minutes by just few seconds.

Excercise and Appetite

I've been advocating exercise as a way of cutting into appetite. Now a professor in Austrialia has researched this process. Steve Boucher has shown how interval training increases catecholoamines, a hormone that actually reduces your appetite. So HIITs are  a hit when  it comes to using execise to modify your apetite.

Do Your Best, Forget the Rest

Can't account for the jump in weight from 182 to 185. Yesterday's or today's measurement must be wrong. Yesterday I got in HIITs and Power90. I've already done Power90 this morning. I'm trying to get everything ready for Power 90 before I go to bed: the computer comes on, towel and water are waiting. I just get out of bed, come to the man cave and get started. This will work. I'm just doing sculpt int he early morning (I'm getting up at 5:00 AM to do Power90) so I may try to add some sweat Power 90 in the afternoons or early evenings. Peak HIITS are immediately after school when I can get there which is most days. I find I don't have to run every day, but I enjoy it. Usually I have an exceptionally good run after a day or two off.

Today is Sunday, and its time to exercise the soul.

Developing a Strategy for Success

Last year I would go to the gym early in the morning before heading to work. I would prepare my gym bag at night and have everything ready for me to get out of bed and head to the gym at 4:30 or earlier. It worked well. I walked out with my workout clothes on and my change of clothes in the bag and my lunch packed. I would even have something for breakfast, like a granola bar or the like. It worked.

Now I'm having to go into school early and that's cutting into the time that I would be getting up and going to the gym. I'm getting there after school. I take my gym clothes with me to school and change into them after the last bell. Then I head to Peak and get in a very good HIIT session.

The problem is getting my weight resistance in. And the best time would be the first thing in the morning. The conflicts are not getting up early enough, being concerned about the amount of noise it makes for my downstairs neighbors and the fact that I really like to take it easy in the morning and wake up slow.

So, to get the resistance in first thing I'm planning on using my strategy from last year. Before I go to bed I'll make sure that everything is ready for me to start Power 90 when I first get up. I'll make sure that my clothes are ready, that my water and towel are ready and that the disk is in the machine. I may even see if I can learn how to get the 'puter to start itself and be waiting on me.

So I'll put this strategy got work this next week and see if I can't be consistent about getting Power 90 done on a daily basis.

Necessity of Weight Resistance

In the three front approach to fat loss there is an important symbiotic relationship. Diet is the most important. You simply cannot out exercise bad nutrition. Cardio (HIIT type) brings a focus to burning belly fat. There is also a specific role for resistance training. Calories deficits from reasonable eating can also result in loss of muscle tissue. It is resistance training that supports muscle maintenance. So to keep from losing muscle mass while dieting, weight resistance is essential.

I had thought that the HIIT might keep the muscle mass on me, but that definitely did not happen. During this time that the weight resistance (Power 90) has been iffy, I have definitly lost some upper body strength. HIIT did not help me maintain my upper body strength, though it obviously did not.

All three elements are necessay. Good nutrition is absolutely required for the fat to come off. I deal with it by eating no processed food and very little meat. I've not even bothered keeping close track of calories and the weight has come off. To be sure, I haven't over eaten, but that's the next point. HIIT helps to cut into appetite as well as give specific help with burn belly fat. And weight resistance builds muscle mass as well as keeps it from being attacked by the body as an energy source. HIIT helps promote the accumulation of lactate acid and that brings on the HGH.

What Should Have Happened

Still 13 lbs ahead of schedule. Bounced back up after the two weeks of the sponsor visit and the Joel trip. Yesterday I deserved to be sent to nutrition hell. I was surrounded by snack food in the morning that had been brought in for the TAV meeting. I resisted every bit of it. I really wanted it, but I resisted. But when I let my students cook as a reward for their cooperation with me during the TAV event, I had to sample the muffins. I ate one and that started it.

I was like an alcoholic. I ate one and I just allowed myself to eat more. They were certainly good, but I have no idea how many I ate of those cupcake sized muffins. Then Denise's class cooked a birthday cake for one of her students. I had two pieces of that (my student's muffins were better, so I ate a lot more of those). I let the afternoon class cook brownies and I ate some of that, too. That stuff had Crisco and oil in them. That's killer stuff.

I felt so badly for eating like that during the day that I wouldn't allow myself to eat anything else for the rest of the day. Judy was still a bit sick and I catered to her some. She wanted donuts and I went and got her some - six. I didn't eat any of them. Frustrating! How can I be so strong at home when I was so weak at school?

What are some options I could have utilized to keep from eating like a fool.

1. I could have told someone. I simply could have said to Denise or Robert "I want to eat. I don't just want a muffin; I want the muffins. Watch me to make sure I don't."

2. I had good food there I could have eaten instead. I could have eaten nuts. I could have eaten a salad and let that satisfy my herding instinct.

3. Think of different foods to have the students cook that is healthier. We could have done microwave popcorn. I could come up with a healthier (less nutritionally disastrous) oatmeal cookie recipie.

I think I'll work on number 3. That helps me and the students.

Back on track now. Here I come 172.

The Cost of Ditching Nutrition

Progress has been great. There have been days when my weight loss was totally inexplicable. I'm marking it up to the three front approach to fat loss: totally clean eating; resistance training; and HIIT style cardio.

From September 27th I went 12 days without watching the nutrition. Judy had "company" company in town and then we had a few days before the rush to my youngest son and his fiancee's engagement party for family. I could feel my body thickening up. And I could tell that I wasn't feeling as well. Those few days really demonstrated how imnportant my nutrition is and just how fragile the benefits of good nutrition are. In that short time the scales say I gained about 10 lbs. I didn't eat that badly every day (though there were some). The issue is that my body reacts awfully to awful food. This will come off right away, I'm sure. But even if it comes off as fast as it went on, that will be a total of one month lost on the progress.

I'm not beating myself up over this. It was factored into the plan. And I fully expectd the results. The weight loss I have seen since I took all processed foods out of my diet is amazing. My body just dosen't do highly processed carbs without the natural fiber element. Fruit is fine as long as it is in its natural state. Take away the fiber and it becomes a recepie for fat. I'm glad to know that. Randall can't do bready foods. It makes him almost instantly fat.

The goals are on track. I will easily beat the 172 goal by 1-1-10. Then I push for the cut bod. Woo hoo, doing great, even with the set backs and difficulties getting the exercise in.