The Blog

Damn, ever have one of those “regrettable” weekends. I’m not talking about the “oops, I drank too much and have to blame it on the ah ahl alchohol” type weekends. I’m talking about a weekend where after weeks of discipline - eating healthy and working out - I go and eat things I know I’m going to pay for. The culprets? Pizza & Nachos. The reason? I’d love to say it was because I was out numbered so because that was the food of choice by the majority, I was left with no choice but to eat. BUT, accountability means accepting and dealing with your choices so I have to take the fall and pay for my actions. I easily could have just resisted the temptation and made my own dinner, eaten somewhere else, or eaten two  slices instead of four - but I didn’t. Only person I can blame is myself. Damn.

But oh did it taste so good
No more though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so I can’t be having my favorite jamba juice orange dream machine after my workouts. Apparently they have 120+ grams of sugar. Thats an absurd amount, even following an intense workout. I need to find an alternative post-workout drink/meal. This is what I had tonight and it wasn’t bad. Wasn’t exactly “filling” but held me over!! I’ll keep looking into some healthier alternatives, at the moment I’m thinking a protein shake wouldn’t be bad. Will probably save on the $$ too, those ODM’s add up!!

We’ll see!!

It’s impossible to lose weight if you intake more than you burn.  It works like this - your body needs energy to function, and it gets that energy from the food (fuel) we put in our body. Sugars, proteins, and like nutrients all have some role in making sure we get up in the morning, get through the day, and eventually get back to sleep. So when you consume your food it gets broken down into different categories, and the excess gets dumped - literally!!! The exception to this rule is carbs (sugar) which our body uses as its primary source of energy. Since energy is so important, our body tends to store the excess sugar “just in case” we ever need it. Problem is, it stores it in the form of fat…so if we just lounge around not using what’s in storage, and we continue to consume more than our body needs (which nearly everyone does) than we will continue to store the excess (fat) and eventually become “fat”. That has been my problem and is what caused me to get up to 315 lbs… Damn it!!

I hate the word “diet.” Mainly because a diet is associated with something temporary, and as soon as someone meets their goal and they quit their “diet” they no longer have a reason to justify NOT eating that extra piece of cake or whatever it may be. In fact, I’d be willing to bet most people never actually meet their goal, and the diet eventually fades away like a bad dream. I really do prefer something that is more of a lifestyle change, and for me that means a change in routine. The purpose of a diet it ultimately to lose weight, but that happens by modifying your intake to ensure you consume LESS than your going to burn in a given day. My problem (and likely most others) is not about the amount of what we take in, it is JUST what we take in. The sodas, chips, fries, deserts, etc. are loaded with sugars and scarce in the good nutrients. Nonetheless a typical unit for measuring intake is Calories - which just so happens to be a unit of measuring….you guessed it - energy!!

A Calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one-kilogram of water by one-dgree Celsius. Since we know our body stores energy we can say our body stores Calories. It has been determined that ~3,500 calories are equivalent to 1 pound of fat. So in order to lose 2 pounds a week (which is a healthy goal) we need to create a 3,500 Calorie deficit every week. This can come in a variety of forms, most notably (and healthy) Diet & Excercise. I was eating well over 3,000 Calories per day, and doing little or no excercise during the week.

So for me, in a normal week (incl all 7 days) I was consuming 21,000 Calories a day and not doing anything besides what was happening on a physiological level to burn off the excess. Because there is no way to really quantify exactly how much we are using I think it is saft to just use the 21,000 as a baseline - trust me, I have ALOT to lose, I’m sure my body won’t mind me taking and burning some of that stored up nastyness!! By just changing my routine (cutting out sodas, fastfood, etc.) I can get my intake down to 1,950 Calories per day. And I have started to see a trainer 3x per week. It’s safe to assume I burn ~800 Calories during our 3 workouts. Add it up (1,950 x 7 = 13,650 Calories per week) and minus the working out (800 x 3 = 2,400) give me a net Calories per week of (13,650 - 2,400 = 11, 250). This boils down to ~3 lbs per week weight loss. And I will reiterate that I am 90% certain that I ate well over 21,000 Calories per week. So we will see how this works for me………………………………..

Need to back on track with the diet accountability, so this past week: Edit - I will just continue updating this post instead of adding daily posts about what i eat…

M:
B - Nada
L - Arby’s RB Sand + Fries//Tea
D - 2 HB Eggs//JaJu Orig ODM

T: (5/12)
B - 2 eggs, 1 tortilla//OJ
L - Turkey SW + sm portion fries//Water
D - Shrimp Fetuccini Alfredo//Rockstar (2 portions)

W:
B - Beef Jerky (2 pieces)
L - Lean Pocket (2x)
D - Grilled Chicken + 2 HB Eggs//JaJu Orig ODM
**Cooked ~4-5 chicken breasts, hopefully I’ll incorporate them into “healthier” meals over the next few days…

Th:
B - 2 Eggs, 1/2 tortilla, 1 banana//Soy Milk
Sn - Banana
L - Lean Pockets (x2)
D - Grilled Chicken + 2 HB Eggs

F:
B - None
Sn - Banana + 2 string cheese
L - Grilled Chicken SW + Wheat Thins
D - Crab and Linguini Pasta

Sa: (5/16)
L - l/o Crab + Grilled Chicken and Linguini
D - Grilled Chicken Tacos (x3)

Su:
B - Pancakes
L/D - Grilled Cheeseburger (Homemade x2)

M:
B - 2 bowls cheerios + 2 toast
L - 1/2 Quesadilla
D - Grilled chicken tacos (x3)

T:
B - 1/2 Quesadilla
L - Subway 12″ RB SW + Chips
D - Grilled Chicken & Honey Mustard SW + Chips

We: 5/20
B - Oatmeal + 2 Wheat Toast
Sn -  Banana + 2 String Cheese
L - Lean Pockets (x2)
D - Fish Fillet (2) + 1 cup steamed rice + 1 helping asparagus & green beans
**WORKOUT** KW
Sn - Orig ODM w/shot of prot

Th:
B - 1 cup Oatmeal 1 egg 2 wheat toast (365 Ca)
Sn - Banana + 2 String Cheese
L - Lean Pockets (x2)
D - 1 bagelwhich (egg/slice of cheese/turkey)

F:
B -

Sa:
B - Orig ODM, 2 HB eggs
L - Lean Pockets (x2)
D - 2 chicken breast, beans/rice, tortilla
De - 1 piece of choc pie

Su:
B - 3 eggs, Hashbrowns, Bacon + 1 glass OJ
L - Lean Pockets (x2)
D - 1 sq Lasagna, 3 helpings salad (red wine vinagarette)

M:
B - Chorizo & Eggs + tortilla (x2)
L - 1 sm sq of lasagna
D - Orig ODM + Prot

T:
B - 1 bowl oatmeal
L - na
Sn - 1 grilled chicken SW Wendy’s (440 Ca)
D - 1 grilled chicken SW (360 Ca) & Grilled chkn wrap (260 Ca) McD’s

W:
B - 1 bag trail mix 320 Ca
L - Lean Pockets (x2) 540 Ca
Sn - Banana (x1) 60 Ca
D - Banana (x1) 60 Ca
Grapes (1 bowl) 60 Ca

Th:
B - Oatmean (1 bowl) w/Bagel (340 Ca)
Sn - Banana 60 Ca
L - Lean Pockets (x2) 540 Ca
Sn - Granola Bar (x1) 90 Ca
D - Steamed Chicken + Rice

Fri (May 29th 2009):
B - Banana (60 Ca) + Granola Bar (x2 = 180 Ca)
Sn - String Cheese
Sn - Beef Jerky
L - Lean Pockets (x2 = 540 Ca)

So, I need to start a food journal in order to see where or what unhealthy goodness I am eating. The affect is suppose to be two fold - if I force myself to report back regularly I will HOPEFULLY be more conscious of what I am eating and more disciplined (the embarrassment factor - if I know I have to report that I just scarfed down 5 pieces of pizza I may limit myself to two!) and second, if I can look at everything I have consumed for a month or so I will hopefully see a pattern and begin to make adjustments to eat more health’ily.

So yesterday’s intake:

B: String Cheese - 2 toast
S: 2 pieces of beef jerky
S: 1 cup of dry cheerios
L: 1 fair sized square of Lasagna, 2 pieces of bread
S: 1 sm personal grab bag of trail mix
D: 1 sm jamba juice ODM w/soy prot boost + 1 apple and 2 cups of dry cheerios
Drinks: ~80 oz H2O and 2 lg cups of chocolate soy milk