Not Too Bad...

Two posts in a semester? Could be worse I guess. I need to get on Andy and Steven's case. Granted, the main reason I remembered to write something was being home sick from work and trying to delay doing any other chores.

As for me, Pilates has become less awkward and I've seen my flexibility improve greatly. I can downward dog like you wouldn't believe.  I've actually become  an acquaintance of the poor woman mentioned in the last post. We have friendly after class chats. Turns out she's hardcore into working out, so we might have to compare notes. And by compare notes I mean "have her motivate me to get off my ass more often"

This week also saw me signing up for a gym membership. While it's nice to have my campus gym open, it's usually busy when I have the time to get over there. This place is a new one that's open 24 hours and usually pretty quiet.  The place looks pretty snazzy so I'm very excited. Even better, Steven and his lady (another good friend of mine) go there too! So I'll have workout buddies! The gym's associated with the Spartan Race, so maybe there's sweet discounts to fuel my torturous marathon addiction.

Speaking of torturous races, another Tough Mudder has come and gone. I looked like this:

I take Tough Mudder to a whole new level.

It was more difficult than last year, partly because for a good 2 or 3 miles I was teamless. My first team was too cold to walk and I was not about to exhaust myself before the first half, so they went on without me. Then another team that wanted to recruit me before the race caught up with me and took me under their dirty wing. They're good people, those Dangleberries.

I'm not going to jinx myself by saying I'm excited about my workout class next semester and I'll definitely be losing weight, but I totally am. There's a Couch to 5k class! And as much as I hate running this will be perfect motivation for me. Theoretically, if I'm forced to run two days a week for class (and I imagine the homework will be to run the third day that's typical for those programs) I should lose something. You don't see many fat guys finishing marathons quickly...

So that's been me this semester, busy as heck but still working on my health. How've you been?

Still workin'

Man, paramedic training is tough! You guys remember school, right? How you'd cram for a test, spit out the answers, then promptly forget everything because you'd never need it again? I can't afford that luxury. if I forget something, people will die. (Or at least have a very bad time)

As for dieting, it's been pretty rough. I've been making new friends in sequence, and my instinct is to eat with them. I've always been a social eater, after all don't you make friends by "Breaking bread together"? Luckily, I spent way too much money, so I was forced to buy healthy groceries.

Pilates is very fun, albeit extremely awkward. As expected, I'm the only guy. I'm also about 7 years older than these pretty ladies wearing yoga pants. It's bittersweet, really. The instructor sometimes has us pair up to "critique our moves". So when she tells us to assume the downward dog position and "gently pull back on their hips until they feel the stretch" pretty  entertaining/mortifying/whyareyoumakingmedothistothispoorlady.  

Someone took a picture of me in class.

But I do feel like it's working, my core muscles are sore the next day. As for other workouts, I just recruited my Sequence buddies to workout with me in between classes. Maybe we can teach each other some tricks of the trade!

Week 1

One week has come and gone since I committed to changing my lifestyle around in regards to diet and exercise.  

You know what happened?  I pretty much failed.

However, I did eat quite a few less carbs and was more conscious of the things going into my body.  Also, my water consumption is through the roof, and my addiction to energy drinks seems to be broken.  There were still a few sodas throughout the week, but no more than one in any single day.

One positive thing that did come out of this week was what I learned about my eating habits.  The first thing that I learned is that the stuff I was eating that I thought was low-carb, might not have been so low-carb.  Also, I need to go back to my methods of having easy-to-prepare of pre-made low-carb meals.  When I haven't planned out a meal, I revert to eating crap food.

Also, I found an iOS app that I really like.  It's called Carbs Control and it might be the best $1.99 (USD) that anybody could spend for tracking carbohydrate, fat, and protein intake.  I tell the app that I can not have any more than 30g carbs a day, and as long as I enter my food in after I eat it, it keeps track of it for me!

For week 2, I plan to be on the plan.  I also want to actually start walking like I said I would

I need to come clean

Did you notice how I haven't posted anything since February?  Yeah, that wasn't because I forgot.

The truth is, I gained some weight I gained most of my weight back.

That was one of the hardest things I've had to say in a while.  When I had the gall bladder attack back in February, I was already feeling downtrodden because I wasn't seeing any more results from Carb Nite.  It wasn't that the diet stopped working, it was that I was going about it the wrong way.*  The visit to the hospital gave me an excuse to dial back my diet and exercise regimen "while I figured things out."

The only problem is that I never did.

I stopped exercising all together.  I cancelled my membership with my fancy gym**, I stopped cooking my own food, I started eating fast food all the time, and started drinking a lot of soda.  I didn't notice until it was too late that my shirts and pants were tighter, I got out of breath easier, my back pain came back, and that places and things that I used to fit into just wasn't happening anymore.

I think stress and depression are to blame for me pretty much letting go of everything I had worked so hard for.  However, the only person that can fix the stress, depression, and lethargy in my life is me.  

So here is THE PLAN:

Phase 1

• Return to Carb Nite.  When I started Carb Nite, I was doing it the right way.  I'm going to watch carb intake and keep it under 30g a day.  I'm also going to be watching macro-nutrients in respect to keeping a 2:1 protein to fat ratio.
• Strive for Paleo.  As I have said before, Paleo dieting and CNS are natural bedfellows.  While striving to eat low carb, I'm also going to try and eat clean.  Basically, even if the diet soda has no carbs in it, I won't be drinking it.  Which takes me to the third part...
• Drink lots of water.  It serves so many purposes.  Water acts as an appetite suppressant, it helps flush waste from the kidneys, and it keeps the body hydrated (duh!).
• Walk at least twice a week.  It doesn't sound like much, but I'm taking advice from Hark and I'm starting small.  He was so right when he reminded me that jumping in too much too fast would only cause relapse.  These aren't going to be short walks either.  I'm going for at least a mile each time.

Phase 2

• Maintain all aspects of Phase 1.  After I have reached a level of routine with Phase 1 and results are hitting a peak, I will start into Phase 2.  This process should begin within 4-6 weeks.
• Increase walking to three or four times a week.  Still striving to at least walk a mile or two each time.
• Start to add strength training.  At first, it will simply be two days a week.  One day of upper body, and another of lower body.

Phase 3

• Maintain all aspects of Phases 1 & 2.  After I have reached a level of routine with Phases 1 & 2 and results are hitting a peak, I will start into Phase 3.  There is no definite timetable for this as results vary from person to person and even from one personal attempt to the next.  My goal is to start this phase after being on Phase 2 for 6-8 weeks.
• Divide strength training into 3 days per week.  Instead of doing one day of upper body and another of lower body, I will divide the workouts into three days where I try to focus on one from each group.  The strength training sessions will be slightly shorter, but will provide more attention to individual muscle groups.
• Start Intermittent Fasting.  This will be for my Ultra Low Carb days where I may not have any carbs in that day, or only eat once throughout the day.  This will help to break through some plateaus that I will be hitting.  I will still supplement with lots of water and multivitamins on those days.

Phase 4

• After a period where I am hitting an unbreakable plateau (which happens to everyone), I will take a break from the Carb Nite portion of the diet.  John Kiefer, author of The Carb Nite Solution, has updated his stance on how long CNS can be done from 6 months to indefinitely, but I'm going to take some precautions anyway and revert to the Mark Sisson teaching on carb intake (that the body can be maintained safely at 50-100g carbs per day).
• One month of Paleo.  This part of the diet is still going to be crucial, as this should be a lifestyle more than it is a diet.
• Possible return to just walking three or four times per week.  This will all be determined on how I feel at the time.
• After one month has passed, return to Phase 1 and repeat.  I'll keep doing this until I get the results I want!

Everything said and done, this is going to be a slow process, but I am committed to making myself healthier in the long run.  

Last, but not least, I want to thank any of the people that still read the blog for sticking with Hark and I.  We may not be the best at updating, but we appreciate all of the feedback we get from you guys!

___________________

*On CNS, it is possible to eat low carb, but not lose weight.  The diet I was keeping had my ratios backwards, and I believe that is why I wasn't losing.  Instead of keeping a ratio of 2:1 proteins to fats, I had a 1:2 ratio.

**Even though I cancelled my fancy gym membership, I found a local gym that doesn't have all of the nice equipment, but it has the necessary equipment.  Instead of paying $30 a month, I now pay $45 a year.

Burning Bridges

In this complete overhaul of my life you have to remove temptation. My sweet tooth is ridiculous and very difficult to control. It's even worse when I have a few drinks, because I have a tendency to drunk-bake. I'll wake up with my kitchen covered in cookies, cakes, or some other sweet delicacy. 

So how do you deal with something like that?

I stopped buying crap. Life as a poor college student makes buying food difficult. Do I have the time to cook this? Will it taste good? Is it nutritious? Usually a college student can only choose two of those. So I went to my (not-so) local Trader Joes. Turns out they have all sorts of hormone-free, chemical-free stuff that's even cheaper than Walmart (where I even get a discount). It's a little bit of a drive, but I save money in the long run and I'm helping my body. And then there's the rocking out to the classic rock station part...

As for what I eat on a daily basis: Breakfast is super bran flakes (with almond or coconut milk), oatmeal and honey, or a couple eggs. For lunch, I'll eat a can of sardines and some whole wheat crackers (I checked it's legit whole wheat) and sometimes a small dessert that's usually a greek yogurt with honey. Dinners are all over the place, but pretty much never fast food. And even if I do eat some fast food, it's a lot less than when I used to go out. A four-plate chinese-food buffet has become two plates. A five-dollar footlong with two cookies and soda has become a six-inch and an unsweet tea. I can't give up bread or sweet stuff like Andy. I've tried and I feel sick afterwards. But I can make sure that there's more fiber in what carbs I do eat and that I eat a lot less of those calorie-dense cake and ice cream.

I've already tackled the nutrition demon, now it's time to begin my fight against the dreaded exercise monster!

Annnnnd we're back.

Fair warning, I have no idea what to write about today. I just really feel the need to update. I also feel the need to explain myself with my lack of updates this semester. Life can really get in the way of things. An extremely close friend of mine died suddenly near the beginning of the semester, which knocked me out of pretty much everything for a few months. Then because of my inability to notice what was going on with my body, a kidney stone struck which required surgery. As a result, I had to work my butt off to make up the coursework I had missed. It made it really difficult to do much of anything outside of school.

As far as progress, I haven't "lost any weight". I know, I know. You're thinking about how I was supposed to be exercising so much that it was going to be easy to lose weight. While I haven't lost mass, I have slimmed down a few inches. For example, by stomach used to hang over my belt. Now it more... looms. Sounds sinister, right? It's smaller, but it easily serves as a reminder that I can gain weight if I fall off the wagon.

So how's this wagon going to keep on rolling? I present to you: The Plan. Three simple steps that will make my summer a game-changer.

• Eat less crap: I generally eat until I'm no longer hungry. But sometimes I'm really really hungry and devour a meal that is much too big for me. Eating more often will prevent me from getting so extremely hungry that my eyes are larger than my stomach. Eating smaller meals will also help shrink my stomach back to a reasonable size. If your stomach is smaller, you'll be full more quickly and eat less.
• This rule also includes me eating more "real food" instead of fast food or other heavily processed crud.  I'm going to try to avoid anything in a box or that is otherwise "unfresh".
• Run/walk: I really want to do the Tough Mudder again this year. I really want to do the Tough Mudder with a much better time this year. So I'm going to train the way I need to. I plan on walking or running six days a week. My running will be similar to the couch to 5k programs, but less controlled. I'm going to run curves, then walk the straight parts of the track near my house. Then work my way up to running a half track and walking a quarter. And so on.
• Lift a little: I plan on doing the running training 3 days a week (walking the other three). While on my "walk days" I plan on doing a little bit of weight lifting at home. Nothing too crazy, just trying to increase my strength and keep the blood flowing.

The Plan looks to be pretty effective in helping me obtain my goals, which will be covered in my next post.

Update from the field

It's been a little while since either Hark or I posted anything.  To be honest, we have good reasoning for it.  We've both been swarmed here lately with school, work, and problems outside of both of those things.

I've been having some issues lately with my gallbladder and I still don't know what the exact cause of the problem is.  Hark has been feeling under the weather as well.  If someone were to stack 12-16 credit hours per week, 20-40 hours of work, and (in my case) the responsibility of being a single parent on top of that, you would have a good look at our daily lives.

As far as I'm concerned, I've had to make some changes in the diet that won't agitate my gallbladder until I figure out what the problem is.  This has been especially hard because one of the foods that I've had to cut is bacon, and I love bacon more than any other food on this planet.  I've also refrained from doing any strength training for the time being as well, because my abdominal and dorsal muscles are put into SEVERE pain any time I overuse them.

Hopefully, I'll know more tomorrow.  I'm supposed to have an MRI to see if we can find out what the little bugger below my stomach is up to.  If it is a problem, I honestly hope they remove it so that I can get over it and go back to my old routines.

Don't worry though, friends.  We'll be back soon!