Today was my final weigh in for a Biggest Loser competition at the gym.  So, even though the last week I was supposed to be transitioning, I was really trying to pull a “from behind” win.  So, I did something evil . . . I tried to cheat

First, I dropped down to <10g carbs a day to try to drop some water.  But, since I was coming off of starvation mode (more on this below), it really didn’t do anything.

Next, I attempted to manipulate the water in my body.  I started drinking two gallons of water a day, up to Saturday, then, 24 hours before my weigh in (approximately), I started a fast.

Finally, just before my weigh in, I ran about 5 miles, spent some time in the sauna (which made me feel really bad, so I didn’t do it twice), and I did a one hour spin class.  Total loss for all of my manipulation:  Almost 10 lbs.

According to all the references on cutting I read online, I should have been able to drop 10-15% of my bodyweight in water.  But, I was at the end of a loss plan, not a bulking plan, and, I simply didn’t want to feel as bad as I would have felt, spending several hours sweating, when I was already really dehydrated.  So, I don’t know if I won or not — will probably be a couple of days before I do know.  But, I should be in the top few.

After the weigh in, I chugged a couple of liters of water, and had a protein shake with banana and almonds in it.  Lots of H2O, fat, carbs, and protein to fill my reserves.  Then, the debauchery began.  Oh, I called it a day of “celebration” for the diet being over, but, what I did was way dirtier than any “celebration” could have been.  Here’s what I ate today . . . and why I have an upset stomach right now

• Lunch – Mexican
  • Chips & Salsa
  • Fajita Nachos
  • Diet Coke
• Snack – Mall
  • Two Double Doozie Bites
    • One chocolate chip
    • One M&M
• Dinner
  • Salad
  • Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wrap (only ate half the tortilla)
  • Some steamed veggies that I barely touched.
  • Diet Coke
  • Sweetwater 420
• Snack / Dessert
  • Small Reece’s Cup blizzard

Like I said, pure debauchery.  I will say, though, that the only “bad” food that was really worth it, in the taste-vs-waistline category, was the Double Doozies.  The Buffalo Chicken wrap was also good, but, I can make that one relatively healthy, if I manipulate it a bit.  (Make it a salad, with the ranch on the side)

I mentioned starvation mode up there.  As usual, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on different health plans, diet plans, bulking plans, cutting plans, etc.  I’ve been really intrigued by the new carb cycling diets.  Of course, this is a little late, since I am done  Anyway, the “Carb Cycling Diet”, by Roman Malkov had an interesting section on “Why other diets don’t work”.  (Or something like that, I’m paraphrasing because I’m too lazy to go pick up the book)  In that section was a list of symptoms for being in starvation mode.  About 75% of them nailed me.  And, if you follow my weight charts, you’ll see that I have only lost five pounds in the last two months . . . looks very plateau-ish to me.  That was about when I started running, which makes another strong argument for starvation.  I was already eating less than 1000 kcals a day, and I was running and burning another 5-600 kcals.

So, let’s just assume that I am in starvation mode.  What now?  From everything I could find, including asking Roman Malkov himself (he responds to e-mails, btw – very cool), it seems that I now need to not only find my real maintenance level of calories, but I need to exceed them for a while, to let my body recover from all of the abuse I’ve put it through.  And, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do that slowly transitioning with MediFast.  I think eating healthy meals, supplemented with healthy snacks (Still six meals a day) is the only way to do it.  I’m going to start at a 1500-2000 kcal diet (after I find some calculators to try to guestimate where I should be), and start a bodybuilding regimen.  I don’t think I’m going to stick with Stronglifts now.  It’s a bit small on the workout side.  I’d like something closer to an hour of work.  Or at least 45 mins.  I think I’m also going to alternate heavy weeks and rep weeks, to both build size and strength.  That way, even when I go into my caloric surplus with my diet, I’ll be burning it nicely building muscle . . . hopefully!

Anyway, as I figure out wtf I’m going to do, I’ll keep ya posted. . . . . .  And I’ll let you know if I win anything from the contest.  (I already won $50 of “nutritionals” — whatever that means)

I have been saying, for quite a while, that I’d know what my goal was with my diet when I got there.  Today I ran five miles.  Without stopping.  For the first time in my life.  And, I suddenly realized that I was done.

In high school, I ran 3 miles a day after football practice.  I got my bench press up to 225-235 or so.  And, I wore 32″ pants.  Today, I’m wearing 32″ pants, medium shirts, and I can bench 225 lbs.  While I have been stronger (I’ve pressed 250 before), I don’t think I’ve been in better shape.  I still have a gut . . . and some back fat . . . but I can live with that.  (Or, it may go away in the next couple of weeks . . . )

I am in the final weeks of a “Biggest Loser” challenge at the gym.  I could win . . not sure, I’m afraid to do the math, because it could be impossible at this point.  That challenge ends Monday, May 17th, 2010, so, that will be the official end of my diet.  I will continue to train for the Warrior Dash.  And, I’ll continue to hit the gym.  But, I’ll move on to maintaining my weight, and, hopefully, not obsessing about it as much   While I’d like to lose another 10 or so, I won’t be bothered if I don’t.  Especially if I continue to stay fit.

So, just to recap:

Starting Stats, May 2009

• Weight: 257
• Pants: 42″
• Shirts: XL / XXL

Ending Stats, May 2010

• Weight: 182
• Pants: 32″
• Shirts: M/L

I’ll get out the tape measure this Monday, and on my official end date, Monday, May 17th, and probably post some final stats (I got plenty!)

My family is on vacation right now in Destin, FL.  I’m there too, but I’m working from the hotel room.  I still get a little bit of vacation though

Anyway, I decided to have a little mini vacation of my own.  First, I decided to drink as much Diet Coke as I wanted.  And, 2nd, I decided to pick an evening, go completely off plan, and have some fun.  This post is to describe those two events . . . neither of which went how I thought they would.

First, I started with the Diet Cokes.  I love having them around. . . I tend to drink way too many, but, I enjoy them, and, they tend to really be nice when I’m feeling a bit hungry. . . or so I thought.  After the third day of drinking Diet Cokes, steadily, I noticed that I was starving — ALL THE TIME.  I know that aspartame is supposed to mess with your insulin response. But, I’ve never noticed it, personally.  Until now.  By the end of the day on Tuesday, after drinking sodas heavily the weekend, and Monday, I noticed that I was absolutely starving between meals.  And, when I drank a soda, I was sated, for about 10 minutes, when I either needed food, or another soda.  Very scary.  At least now I have a definitive reason to stop them all together.  They are still a treat when I’m eating out, etc.  But, my decision to keep them out of the house was 100% correct . . . . way more than I thought it was.

Next, the evening of debauchery.  Besides a bit of pre-pigging out due to Diet Coke hunger, I snacked on the following Tuesday evening . . . and, amazingly, most of it, especially the sweets, rated a “meh”.  That was extra surprising, since I LOVE sweets.  I should have forced down some ice cream (Blizzards are my demise), but, I simply had no more room

• Fried pickles – as good as I remember.  This one was a “wow, I miss that” food.  But, I only had a few . . didn’t pig out like I used to.
• Fajita Nachos – My normal staple meal.  One of my favorite things in the world.  They used queso fresco, like I like too (white cheese).  These were still as good as I remember.  This is one of the few foods that I still need to be careful of.
• Coconut Fried Shrimp – still all kinds of goodness here too.  I only had one, but it was good.  I’m not a huge fan of shrimp, so, this indulgence won’t cause me many problems in the future.  But, they were good.
• Buffalo Chicken Wrap – I’ve had better . . and . . It was only ok.  I’m sure I can make a reasonably healthy version of this meal — the only really “Bad” part was the lard filled tortilla.
• Pollo Loco wrap – Big meh here.  Simply food.
• Fudge – I’m a huge fudge fan, but, I could live without it easily
• Praline – I had a pecan praline – I love these . . and, again, it was a “meh”
• Divinity – I think I’m one of the only people I know who loves divinity.  Most people say that it’s too sweet — as if there is any such thing as too sweet . . hehe . . but, again, “meh”.  Wasn’t too sweet, but, I just wasn’t impressed.
• Fresh pulled Taffy – Big meh.  Sweet, chewy, and I simply wasn’t that interested.
• Beer, frozen drinks, etc – Now this was all good — but, likely from the effects more than the taste.  Best beer of the night was my standby 420.  Others were “meh”, but got the job done

I think the biggest surprise, overall, was how little I missed things.  I didn’t get all excited about the food.  And, as I ate it, I had no regrets over not eating it the last few months.  It strengthened my resolve to finish what I’m doing, and, occasionally, I can eat those foods . . . . Fajita nachos just doesn’t need to be a staple — it needs to be an occasional treat!

Todays Pain of the Day (PotD) includes a bit more bloggage.  My workout went fine, but, weight loss has stalled, and I’ve even started gaining a couple.  Now, there are several possible reasons for this — I have not been on my “A” game.  So, I thought this would be a good place to list the reasons I think I could be stalling, and what I can do to remedy it.

But, before we get into the “plateau” discussion, here’s today’s workout:

Workout Logs

Warmup:  5 mins on the treadmill.
Stronglifts 5×5: Squat: 65#, Bench: 145#, Power Clean: 55#, Bardips: 12/7/6
Cooldown: 5 mins on cardio machine.
Calories Burned: 384

Squats are still REALLY light.  But, I didn’t even have to think about form today.  Knees were wobble free.  The unload is really helping get my form right.  Bench is getting REALLY slow on the 4th and 5th sets.  I may have to start making sure I get enough rest.  Power clean is starting to get tiring . . which is good.  I can’t wait to see how my form behaves as it gets heavier.  For now, the form looks ok, but, since I can reverse curl the weight, it won’t really be a clean till it gets a bit heavier.  And, finally, the bar dips are still improving.  I did the same total number of reps as on Friday, but I managed to get 12 on the first set, versus 10 last week.  I did notice that the picture on the machine had the guy only going down till his arms were parallel to the floor.  I usually go down until my range of motion stops me.  I’m not sure which way is right.

Plateau Busting

I’m not sure if this is the start of a plateau, but, I want to be sure I don’t end up in the sam hell I was in last fall, so, I want to nip it in the bud, quickly.  First, I think it is best to recognize what I’ve been doing wrong, that could be contributing to the gain / lack of weight loss.  And, I won’t ignore things that could have been contributing that are not necessarily bad:

Problems / Symptoms

• I’ve been cheating on my diet, a little.  My protein portions have been getting progressively larger.  If I am at a steakhouse, and I feel like a strip, then I get it, and typically eat all of the 10 oz, instead of cutting it in half, and getting my 5.  I have also not been weighing protein at home.
• I have been substituting in meals . . adding a little protein here and there, playing with recipes.
• Last week, I had a bad cheat day.
• Last week, I also went snowboarding, where I had two redbull vodka’s (sugar free, but, the alcohol calories didn’t help)
• I started doing stronglifts 5×5.  I tried to up the weights a little, and add harder exercises to compensate for the fact that I’m not really a beginner.  But, it is still a MUCH easier workout than my previous one.
• I could be gaining muscle.  My %bf is slowly lowering, so, this little gain could be muscle related, but I really don’t think so.
• I started actually doing hard cardio yesterday.  We’ll see how that pans out doing running Tuesday & Thursday.

The Plan

• Follow diet plan religiously.  So, get more anal.  Weigh meats, and start logging food for a few days.
• Log exercise, including calories burned.  Compare numbers to my previous workout.  If they are less, supplement with cardio.

That’s actually about it, plan wise.  Start logging, and see if anything jumps off of the page.  Wish me luck!

I’m finally starting to get closer to my goal weight, so, I thought it would be a good idea to determine what my goal weight should be.  The insane BMI charts say 143 lbs.  I have no idea what they were smoking when they made those tables, but that can’t be right.

When I weighed 201lbs, my scale told me that my body fat was 25.6% Assuming that is accurate, that means that I have 51 pounds of fat, and 150 pounds of non-fat.  Assuming that 150 is my non fat true weight, and using the WHO tables, that state that my %BF should be between 8-18%, that means that my weight should be:

At 8% body fat, I should weigh: 163lbs
At 18% body fat, I should weigh: 183lbs

Does this sound right?  My math was as follows:

NonFatWeight = Total Weight – (Total Weight * %BF)
So, current weight: 150 = 201 – (.256 * 201).

And, the ideals give the above numbers.  Is that math close enough for a goal?  Or, should I be doing it some other way?