December 31

Calories: 2300
Steps: 9000

Comment: Calories are better, but starting tomorrow I'll have them down in the 1900 range as I find that is most effective. Good to have a good step day finally; the hardest part about being home from work is my usual schedule is upended (which affects my exercise the most).

HAPPY NEW YEAR

December 30

Calories: 2400

Steps: 7000

Comments:

Not bad, not great; but not as bad as last weekend, which is good!

December 29th

Calories: 2500
Steps: 6500

Measurements: same as last week.
Weight: +1.8 (TOTALLY fine, see comments)


Comment:

"Oh no Rob you screwed up!" No, actually, I'm fine. I've been at this diet game for too long to get bummed over a small regain following a week where I had a big loss.

While two weeks ago, there was no way I amassed an actual calorie deficit large enough for a 4 pound loss. This week, I racked up enough of a calorie deficit to have a bit more than a pound lost, yet I'm up; this is water, this is normal, and not a big deal at all.

THAT said, I'm going to be "unofficially" weighing in on Monday to check where I am. I am SUPER EXCITED about next week and making MORE progress.

December 27th and 28th

Call this the "fast wrap up post."

So Monday's fast was successful, as  I made it into the next day as planned.

I also didn't do the classic fasting mistake of "making up for" the debited calories on the previous day.

Tuesday saw me eat 2400 calories: a little higher than I'd like, but not enough to ruin Monday's 0.
Wednesday I ate 2200 calories.

Each day saw me get about 6500 steps. A little light on that, hoping to do better today!

I weigh in/measure tomorrow, and I'm optimistic that I'll at least avoid rebound week (this usually happens to me after I lose a big chunk of weight the week before). I should be on pace to lose at least a pound, but of course water retention and all that may not show that on the scale.

One thing I learned this week was: "bad weekends make it hard on you." I pretty much *had* to turn in a 0 calorie day to get myself back on track. So as I approach next weekend, I'm going to focus on it being great!

December 26: Liveblogging a fast

So yesterday was terrible and I need to make up for it, because I can't have bad days anymore. At my age, a bad day pretty much ruins a whole week, so today I am fasting for the whole day, and live blogging it here.

I'm going to a full day, and into tomorrow: I'll end this fast at 5pm tomorrow, in which I'll resume my "one meal a day" intermittent fast. A secondary (but less important) "stretch goal" is to hit 12k steps today.

10:00 am: Feeling pretty gross from yesterday still.
11:00 am: feeling hungry for the first time. Easy to resist though.

11:50: Roblox is the ugliest game I've seen in my life. Going to get some steppin' on inside my home.

1:37: Wave of hunger crashed through the system, but fine now. Only at 1200 steps though, so going to grab more steps.

4:14: Had an irrational desire to take an unopened bag of Reese's peanut butter bells and melt them in a pan. This passed. Still only at 2500 steps, although when Monday Night Football starts, I'll be nervously pacing (and catching up).

Also enjoying some coffee brewed by boiling grounds in a pan. :p

5:10: Kicking the kid off of Roblox to watch FOOTBAWL. Still fasting, still gotta get WAY more steps in today....

6:24 Made dinner for the kids, this surprisingly did not trigger a lot of hunger. Closing in on 5000 steps.

8:42 Well the Lions disappointed. Still hanging in there, but sorta wanting to taste something savory, will make some chicken broth when I can boil some water. At 7100 steps now. 

10:04 Feeling... not really hungry at all, which is odd since this is longest fast I've done in quite some time. (I don't think I've gone longer than 48 hours). I've decided to stop going after steps, I'll land somewhere in the 7-8k range which is enough to supplement the inevitable drop in metabolism that fasting causes. 

December 25

A black hole of dietary death.

December 24

Calories: 2700
Steps: 3500

Comment:

So Eggnog is a terrible thing. I ate one meal as per the plan, and typically when I do this, I feel SUPER FULL AND STUFFED TO THE GILS at around 1800 calories or so.

But eggnog was drink, and those extra calories pushed me beyond a "reasonable for a holiday" 2300 cals and into a "at least it isn't a calorie surplus I hope" 2700.

And obviously my steps sucked, so on Christmas Day (Merry Christmas!) I need to make sure to spend a little time in the gym, and make sure to be a whole lot more careful with calorie dense beverage choices.

December 23

Calories: 2900
Steps: 5000

Comment:

So yesterday was a "combo breaker," the first day in 11 days that I'm above the 2300 calorie  threshold, but it wasn't a disaster.

As I figured, having my routine broken up by holiday stuff makes things harder. But I plan to be completely and totally back on track for Christmas Eve, so fire up those mockery engines if I fail!

Strangely enough, when I have a higher calorie day *after* a long run of clean eating, I almost always feel my clothes fit looser. Must be some leptin resistance/metabolic reset mumbo jumbo.

However, where I fail after this is I never just let one "mediocre" day be one day. It turns out to be a mediocre weekend, and then I'm in the hole for the entire week. So I AM NOT GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN.

December 22

Calories: 1950
Steps: 9000

\Days in a row under 2000 calories: 3
Days in a row ~2000 calories: 11 (go go go!)

MEASUREMENTS:

Weight
Down -3.4 lbs this week! 

Total loss of -1.6 from start.

Chest:
Same, down -2" overall.
Waist: down -.5" this week, -3" overall. 

Comment:
GREAT SUCCESS! Down a pretty satisfying -3.4 lbs this week, due to my change in tactics to a one meal a day plan.

HOWEVER, CHALLENGES AHEAD:
Not only is this Christmas weekend, but I'm already off work and will be until the new year. This means no easy work routine (which really helps keep me on track). Today is a great example. My one meal is most likely going to be in the afternoon, which means a longer period of time in which to feel hungry. Overall though I feel optimistic that I've found a groove that is going to allow me to really make true, lasting progress.
 

December 21

Calories: 1950
Steps: 7000

Days in a row under 2000 calories: 2
Days in a row ~2000 calories: 10 (go go go!)

Comment:
The new "one meal a day" thing is working great so far! What I'm most pleased about is the loss of about 200-300 cals per day versus simply having a decent day otherwise. 

At work they had a function that took place during lunch, when I normally hit the treadmill at the work gym. I instead used the apartment workout center at night, but I wasn't quite able to get to 9000 steps there.

December 20

Calories: 1950
Steps: 9000

Days in a row under 2000 calories: 1
Days in a row ~2000 calories: 9

Days in a row ~9000 steps: 2

Comment:

Took some measurements this morning and it was pleasing to see some progress. Scale's battery was dead, which is fine, Friday is the official measuring day anyway.

My change to a one meal a day intermittent fasting routine is definitely helping so far. The amount of calories is dropping and so far I'm managing this pretty well!

December 19

Calories: 2100
Steps: 9k

Days in a row ~2000 calories: 8(!)

Comment:

Yesterday started something new: one meal a day. Basically a form of intermittent fasting where I only eat one (large) meal in the evening and that is it. It's worked OK in the past, and it is kinda sorta been what I've been leading up to.

Yesterday wasn't quite the best experiment as I already ate in the morning before, so I hope this leads to lower calorie totals consistently.

December 18

Cals: 2200
Steps: 7500

Days in a row ~2000 calories: 7*

Comment: A much, much better weekend. Even refused to eat much at the amusement park (no funnel cakes!) to stay within my limits.

Still, I need to be hitting some lower benchmarks in order to lose some weight faster, to stave off the "you need to fast for 40 days" comments from my interlocutors (deserved comments, I might add).

*Obviously I count "close" in this streak- I would say a max of 2300.
**My goal this week is start a new streak: "days under 2000."

December 17

Calories: ~2200
Steps: 5000

Days in a row ~2000 calories: 6

Comment: Getting by!

December 16

Steps: 9k
Cals: ~2000

Days in a row @ ~2000 cals: 5

Comment:

Last week a mediocre weekend tanked my progress, so hoping to have a solid one. As I've said before, when it comes to dieting I am such a creature of routine, and the weekend is always a randomized series of events for the most part, so it's easy to let things spin out of control.

December 15

Cals: 2100
Steps: 7500

days in a row @ ~2000 cals: 4

Comment:
"Rob you were fasting what happened." Well first when I decided to fast I had already consumed half the day's calories. I hadn't fasted in a long time (beyond fasting through the workday) so at about midnight I finally said "no mas" (making it a 12 hour fast, meh, not that impressive).

Still useful though. The bloat was gone.

Measurements:

No changes from last week- that temp. gain in inches was gone, so still:
chest -2"
Waist -2.5"

Weight: up some from last week. Probably water weight; I lost ~4 lbs last week which almost always means some rebound no matter what. +1.8 lbs this week, putting me at, well,
+1.8 from my starting weight in August.

Gotta work hard hard hard to not have a bad weekend!!!

December 14 - Day of Bloat

Calories: 2100
Steps: 10k

Comment:

So this morning my clothes felt tighter- so much so that I felt that I had to measure myself even though my official day of measuring is tomorrow.

So I was a full inch fatter across the chest and waist. Which makes no sense- my weekend wasn't the best (but it wasn't so awful that it would cause more than a delay in fat loss), so I thought about water retention vis a vie what I've been eating lately.

Then I remember a small amount of popcorn, just covered in ginormous amounts of salt. Salty salt salt. Surely this has to be the reason.

In any case, I'm fasting today (in the evening) to both jettison the water weight before weigh in tomorrow and for psychological reasons: water weight or no, I can't stand having moved backwards.

December 13

Calories: 2200
Steps: 10k

Days in a row ~2000 cals: 2
Days in a row 9000 steps or more: 4

Comments:
Had a great day at the gym at my office; increased the speed on the treadmill and get to 9k much faster yesterday!

December 12

Calories: 2100
Steps: 9000

Comment:

Back on track after a crap Sunday and a sort of mediocre weekend.

Days in a row ~2000 cals: 1
Days in a row 9000 steps or more: 3

December 11

Calories: ~3200
Steps: 9000

Comment:

Well that was a crappy day. But a fresh start on Monday.

December 10

Calories: 2700
Steps: 9k

Comment:
Weekends are hard as I mentioned, and today (and the next day which I haven't reported) weren't so great on calories, but I made sure to get my steps in to balance that.

December 9th

Calories: 2200
Steps: 5k

Comment:

Took a bit easier on a Friday. Need to step it up to continue the progress.

December 8th (weigh/measure day)

Ok, so a day or reckoning after a horrible weigh in/measure in last week.

It was a much better week.

Dropped -3.8 lbs of probably mostly water weight, which while awesome puts me back at the exact start point. So total weight lost since I started this blog: 0. Better than +3.8!

Measurements were good. Chest was the same at -2" from the starting measure, but waist was down again, to -2.5" from start.

I hope this means I have some more Thanksgiving bloat to jettison since my measurements are far beyond what my weight actually was.

Steps: 6000
Calories: 2400

December 7th

Cals: 2400
Steps: 9400

Days in a Row: 8

Comment:

Calories were a little high, but so were my steps, so I'm well within the goals set up by the bevy of apps Garmin uses (I do try to stay below those though since I know these are all inaccurate guesstimates).

Still, today was a win in my book because I had the worst hunger (this usually happens when I'm doing really well and my body says HEY ASSHOLE FEED ME).

December 6th

Nopity nope nope, not going to do another combo update again, going to actually do these day by day even if I miss...

Cals: 2100
Steps: 8100

Days in row: 7

December 5

Calories: 2100
Steps: 8900

Days in a row: 6 (Go! Go! Go!)

Dec 4

Calories: 2100
Steps: 9000

Days in a row: 5

Comments: weekends are harder for me, so glad to be back in the work week!

December 3

Calories: 2200
Steps: 8500

Days in a row: 4

Comment:

Today was a hard one, which is fine because that's going to have to be something I deal with.
Had to basically fast (or eat very lightly) through dinner to keep calories down. I'm a creature of habit and weekends are always harder (the day to day at work is easier for dieting, for me).

December 2

Calories: 2000
Steps: 9000

Days in a row 3

December 1st, day of PAIN

Calories: ~2000
Steps: 9500

Days in a row following plan: 2

Weight: +2.8 from start (Darth Vader noooooooooooooooooooooo)
Measurements: Waist -2 from start
Chest -2 from start

Comments:

Shit.

Shit.

SHIT.

So that big gap when I wasn't reporting because of moving and all that? I paid for that big time. Myh weight is +2.8 from my starting weight... from August.

HOWEVER.

I know that at least some of this is bullshit, as my measurements are still -2 from the start. So there is some post Thanksgiving water weight at work that should come off, but nevertheless, I need to be on a FREAKING DEAD ASS ROLL from here on out.

November 30

Cals: ~2000 (yay)
Steps: 7800 Better, read more in comments-

Days in a row (of hitting my step cal goals, counting today even though I'm not quite at 9k):
1

Comment:
Instead of 10k, I'm shooting for 9k each day from here on out. The Garmin Vivofit is definitely much less sensitive than the fitbit products I've used, so I know I'm missing out on steps I would normally be getting.

November 29

Ok, I'm REALLY back now. Please do MERCILESSLY mock me if I miss a SINGLE DAY of logging here. Seriously. POUR IT ON.

Calories: 2300. Meh. Need to to better especially after Thanksgiving.

Steps: 7800. Meh. Need to be hitting 10k everyday.

Comment:
Need to string a bunch of good days together.

Normalcy again?

So I'm finally back to updating this blog. Basically, I moved, from Wisconsin to California, and though I had been living there in a temporary situation, this was the "full real move."

And, of course, my fitbit zip starting acting weird at the same time.

But I've finally gotten back to daily calorie counting, though I have to sort of find my walking groove within the new lifestyle I have.

Today's cals: 2500. A little high, caused mainly by a trip to San Francisco. It was good.
Steps: 5000, but more on that....

Comments:

So I've given up on fitbit's products. I got one of the better wristband based ones, which I think was 120 retail, for Christmas 2015. This lasted until early summer 2016, not even a year.

So I bought the cheapest fitbit product, the zip, which was about 60 dollars. This doesn't do sleep (though I don't care about that) and is simply a thing you put in your pocket.

The battery life sucked. You use a watch battery that dies in 6 months. Mine died in 4, then died again shortly before the big move I undertook, then died AGAIN weeks later. When I attempted to change the battery that time, the device failed to power on at all.

So screw fitbit.

I have gone to Garmin's product, the VivoFit. This does sleep and steps and is only 40 dollars. I also appreciate that it comes with a spare wristband since those are notorious for falling apart.

The battery life is supposed to be over a year, we'll see. Setup was easy. Getting calorie tracking is a little cumbersome at first, as you make a "myfitnesspal" account, which then links to your vivofit, but once done it is a snap. The vivofit and fitnesspal apps are lightweight and I was able to get them installed on my mediocre android phone, which is good.

However, the one issue with the vivofit so far is that it definitely does not want to register small movements as steps. I didn't have a super active day, but I did walk around Japantown in San Francisco, and to be at only 5k steps at the end of day means that the tracker didn't register some of the lighter movement.

I'm ok with this. A problem with step tracking is overestimating the burn so keeping things conservative is probably fine. So if I have to work a bit harder to hit goals, all the better.

All I ask is that this thing lasts for more than a year.

Finally, measurements: I haven't done weight in a long time, but I did measure myself today. Overall I'm down -3" from my initial chest measurement and down -3" on the waist as well. I measured right before I left for Wisconsin and it was -3 for chest and -4 for waist, so basically a push (which is understandable: moving is *very* active, but I haven't exactly been diligent on calories the past few weeks).

But now I am back and look forward to making more progress.

October 18

Diet: 1990 cals
Exercise: 10k steps

Comment: So I've walked 10k steps for 8 straight days, which might be a record? And I've managed to keep my calories lower the last few days, which is great, since some folks believe that increased exercise is canceled out by a parallel increase in appetite. If I keep this up I should get things moving along in the right direction again!

October 15-17

Oct 15:
Cal 2800
Exercise: 10k steps

Oct 16:
Cal 1900
Exercise: 10k steps

Oct 17:
Cal 2200
Exercise: 10k steps

Comment:
So Saturday was another high calorie day. My hosts that I'm living with knocked on my door (after I've already eaten) and sort of insisted that I eat dinner with them (one of the things that makes being a guest in someone else's home awkward at times). But the last two days have been fine. And I have one of my longer "10k step streaks" going, so that's good.

October 14

Calories: 2900
Steps: 10k

Comment:

So yeah, really high calorie count. It was supposed to be a great day; I had fasted through most of the day, and it was time for dinner.

I made the classic fat guy mistake. Sort of just wandered until a found a fast food place ("wienerschnitzel," an all hot dog joint) and got some stuff. "no prob, I have a bunch of calories to spend, no prob"

Except when I looked up the nutritional info on what I ate it was......... very calorie dense. Very.

I thought: "I surely couldn't have eaten that much..."

As soon as that thought crossed my mind,  I burped, and my stomach lurched, and suddenly I felt.... VERY FULL.

I basically lied in bed Friday night in a food stupor. I did get my 10k steps in though, so believe it or not I was still something like a 400-500 calorie deficit.

October 13

Diet: 2400 cals
Exercise: 10k steps

Weight: -4.4 lbs (same as before)

Comment:

My weight hasn't changed in about 10 days or so, which is no surprise since my measurements haven't either. Of course the increase in calories around my birthday is the easy culprit here.

As to today, I'm going to be honest: I felt like crap all day. Just melancholy for no reason, and while I didn't pig out, I didn't maintain my goal of 2000 cals either. I did get my steps in though. Hoping to bounce back tomorrow. 

October 12

Diet: ~2000 cals
Exercise: 10k steps

Measurements: No change form previous (-2" from chest, -2 2/3" from waist)

Comment:
Didn't weight myself yet but I did measure, and no change from the previous week. No surprise there, birthday week has consequences, which is why I'm trying to ratchet down the calories (while making sure I get those 10k steps) each day.

October 11

Diet: 2050 cals
Exercise: 10k steps, pushups.

Comment:

The project to cut back from 2300 cals or so to about 1900-2100 cals a day continues apace. I suppose I should do some fresh measurements soon...

October 10

Diet: 2250 Cals
Exercise: 7000 steps

Comment: My goal this week is to cut back about 300 cals a day, since I've allowed my daily intake to creep up to ~2300 most days. I need to be *really* at 1800, but I probably make progress if I'm at 2000-2100 (as long as I'm getting close to or near 10k steps).

October 6-9

Oct. 9:

Cals: 2490
Steps: 1500

Oct 8:

Cals: 2200
Steps: 1800

Oct. 7:

Cals: 3300
Steps: 10,000

Oct. 6:

Cals: 2254
Steps: 6100

Comment:
I'm overdue on some new measurements. Coming soon.

October 5th

Diet: ~2500 cals.

Exercise: 6100 steps.

Comment: Not terrific not horrible, which is sort of where I've been at the past two weeks.

October 3 and 4

Oct 3 Diet: ~2700 cals
Oct 3 Exercise: ~3500 steps, back exercises

Oct 4 Diet: ~2200 cals
Oct 4 Exercise: 12,100 steps

Comments:

One of the things that always derails me during October and beyond is once birthdays kick in (it was my birthday Oct. 2, then my wife's next then my oldest kid, all in one week) my diet goes out of control. Being out of town this was easier, but it was still in danger of happening when my coworkers bought an AMAZING (but extremely calorie dense) peanut butter cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. It's "bad" enough that they did that, but they also let you keep the cake afterwards, and there was a TON of it left.

So it was important that on Oct. 4 I had something of a bounce back. 2200 cals is still about 300 too high for a typical day for me, but I also had a very high step day: over 12k steps.

October 2

Exercise: 10k steps
Diet: ~3200 cals

Comment:

So today was my birthday, so I allowed myself more leeway and ate some junky food. It wasn't necessarily my intention to eat a ton, but usually when I say, "ok today you can cheat," that's what happens. I did walk my 10k steps though, so it shouldn't damage my efforts very much at all.

October 1

Exercise: 9k steps
diet: ~2600 cals

Measurement update:

Chest -2" (same as before)
Waist -2 2/3 " (down 2/3 of an inch)

Comment: Some nice progress on my measurements today.

September 30

Diet: ~2100 cals.

Exercise: 10k steps and chest exercises. Hurray for the many malls here for walking :)

Comment: trying to not fall into the "let a bunch of days pile up" trap. Also trying to keep cals down a bit more, while keeping the steps up.

September 25-29

Ack, I did it again. Do not want to lose the discipline of keeping up with this.

Anyway, basic stats to follow:

25th:
Eat: 1950
Burn: 2989
Step: 8300

26th:
Eat: 2380
Burn: 2623
Step:  3100

27th:
Eat: 2300
Burn: 2931
Step: 7800

28th:
Eat: 2094
Burn: 2517
Step: 2800

29th:
Eat: 2741
Burn: 3015
Step: 9000

Comment:

Mostly OK. Need to be more consistent with my steps!

September 21

Diet: ~2500 cals. Higher than I'd like, for sure.
Exercise: A little better. Close to 7k steps.

Weight: -4.4 lbs

Comment: So last week was week four since I started blogging, and today is actually the end of week 5. So I'm *almost* at one lb. per week of weight loss, which is OK progress- not as much as I'd like, but again, I'm pretty much doing this at a time when this would be the hardest it could possibly be, so I don't feel too bad about it. Just got to keep pressing on!

September 17, 18, 19, 20

Ack. This is kind of ridiculous. So yeah here's a whole bunch of updates:

17th: 1895 cals, 2310 steps
18th  2261 cals, 5k steps
19th  2684 cals, 2000 steps
20th  2000 cals, 4300 steps


Comment:

Mostly OK calorie wise. However you'll notice my step counts are low (I've done some resistance work in there as well). This is on purpose: after last Friday's 12k steps, my left foot starting hurting a lot. I had this happen before: back in 2012 when I was living in Boston, I was walking way more, and my foot hurt so bad that I thought it might have had a fracture or something. Back then I let it go too long and my foot started to even swell up (it got better when I finally starting taking it easy).

So I took it easy the past few days, and it feels a lot better. Hopefully starting today I can get back in the swing of things.

September 14, 15, 16

Catchin' up.

I haven't measured yet, but I will do some stats and things.

So anyway:

Wednesday September 14:
Cals: 2000
Exercise: 10k Steps, chest exercises

Thursday September 15:

Cals: 3100 (ugh)
Exercise: 10k Steps

Friday September 16:

Cals 2800
Exercise 12k Steps


Comments:

Thursday was a bad day for absurd reasons. I'm living with gracious hosts as I've mentioned before, away from my family. But these folks can be pretty aggressive, and I'm too shy to hurt feelings by being insistent that "no, I had dinner or am simply not eating at the moment." On Thursday I was offered food, *actually said no,* and the response was "nope, you're having this." This is partly a cultural thing, I think. I just have to get better at putting my foot down.

At least I've been rocking the steps like a boss. I shouldn't be wasting progress even with a crappy past three days because I've actually been in a calorie deficit every day (because of all the stepping). Friday I hit a high a 12k steps. Which might have been because I got lost in the mall's parking garage. Maybe.

Some Stats:

Calorie burn, 30 day average: Just a under 3100. This is quite good. Past week: 2800.
Calorie Consumption Avg., past 8 days: 2400.

So I should still, despite my stumbles, be on pace to lose a pound a week.

September 13th

Diet: ~2300 cals.
Exercise: 10k steps

(no changes on measurements)

Comment: A little high on the eating but OK otherwise.

September 10, 11, 12

Catching up for the weekend and so forth:

September 10 cals and steps:

Cals: 2k.
Steps: Just a tad under 12k, one of my better showings!

September 11:

Cals: 2800. :(

Steps: 10k, and back exercises.

September 12:

Cals: 2000
Steps: 3k :p :p :p

Weight: -3.2 lbs

Measurements- (same, will measure on Thurday this week).

Comments:

Had a nice streak of getting close to or over 10k steps end yesterday. TBH, I missed my lunchtime walk at work because of "work stuff" and I just didn't find the time to recover the steps.

This Thursday marks week 4 of my efforts. Seem like I have a decent shot at a pound per week loss rate. I'll take more measurements and figure some stats too!

September 9th

Diet Compliance: ~2000 cals, not bad.

Exercise compliance: 8900 steps. "Why u stop right before 10k?" - I actually conked out on my bed shortly after 11pm and woke up Saturday morning. I'm getting old :p

Weight: -2.8 lbs
Measurements: --

Comments:

Did a better job getting steps in throughout the day. Still adjusting though; should have been trivially easy to get to 10k but like I said, I just flat out fell asleep :p

September 8

Diet Compliance: Better but not good enough (or not "on plan"). ~2300 cals.

Exercise Compliance: Better, but still finding ways to get the steps in during actual work days is going to be a challenge. 8300 steps. Did my leg exercises.

Weight: -2.8 lbs

Comments: Week three is in the books, and while kinda sorta getting to a pound a week lost isn't great, it's still steady progress, and progress in the face of pretty hard core challenges.

September 7th

Diet: ~2500. Not very good.

Exercise: ~3300 steps. TERRIBLE.

Comments: Was pretty tired from, to be honest, new job butterflies. I haven't done a very good job adapting my diet and exercise goals to the new routine, so hopefully on the 8th I can wrench everything back to "normal."

September 6th

Diet Compliance: yep, right at 2000k, despite a huge company provided lunch.

Exercise: I forgot my fitbit in my pants pocket for the second day, but I did do my chest exercises.

MEASUREMENTS!

Measurements Weight: -1.0 lbs
Measurements Chest:  -2"
Measurements Waist: -2"

Comments:

HOLY NON SCALE VICTORY, Batman! Despite weighing in at a paltry -1 lbs from the start (I'm just shy of three weeks in, so if this sticks it'll be a awful .33 lbs per week loss rate), I had a more important loss, that is inches. I measured myself and I am down 2 inches from the start measurement, both waist and chest. WOOOOOT.

The scale number isn't even too terribly important because it's a new place and a number being influenced by a crappy two day span and, to be, uh, honest: travel oriented constipation (not enough to BOTHER me, but it's definitely a thing). So yeah, I do expect to get on the right track on the weight also.

 

September 5th

Diet Compliance: Yes, though since my main meal today was home cooked (I have amazing hosts) there is just going to be some variance. I estimate I could have been at 1800 or 2200, but either one is OK.

Exercise Compliance: Yes, 10k steps again.

Comments: No measurements yet, I will tomorrow... before my first day at my new job! Glad to have a couple of days of good eating and exercise to get back on track.

September 4th

Steps: 10k. Woot. Also did my back exercises.
Diet Compliance: YES. 1800 cals.

Measurements and such should return tomorrow morning (probably won't be pretty...)

Comments:

Much better today, and thankfully some semblance of a routine is coming back despite my rather, uh, different situation. Hoping it can continue!

September 2nd and 3rd

Welp, this is going to be difficult.

So I'm a house guest to an incredibly nice couple (parents of a friend) and they are trying super hard to be kind and generous, which is awesome, but it is making it hard to control calories. Yes, yes, (mostly saying this to one reader now) you can always just say "no" or "I'm on a diet to lose weight" and perhaps it may come to that, but on day one, you just don't want to be argumentative, you know?

So anyway, the last two days were *not great* and I'm looking forward to getting into a regular routine again.

Sept. 2nd cals: ~2400 Not too bad considering the same issue existed but with different friends feeding me.
Sept. 2nd steps: ~3500 crappy, despite taking some discrete walking breaks during the long drive.

Sept. 3rd cals: ~3200 DISASTER. Ugh. The big tactical error was eating lunch, thinking that "no prob, I'll just eat a light dinner." Nopity nope nope. My hosts were pretty much like, "EAT EVERYTHING." No, I wasn't forced. Yes, still 100% my fault. Yes, I could just say no, blah blah blah.

Sept. 3rd steps: ~4700 terrible.

Comments:

Nothing else to say than I need to get as much of my regular routine back as soon as possible. I haven't weighed or measured since I left (I'll do that tomorrow, and probably cry acid tears of bitterness). The neighborhood here seems quiet and safe and should certainly be good for walking.

August 31st and September 1

Quick in transit post (staying in a awful hotel- not hot water- egad!):

Aug 31 Steps 6k Calories 1900
This was an OK day. SO HARD getting steps in when driving 90% of the day.

Sept 1 Steps 5k Calories 2800
Not a great day. Well, a fun day but not a great day health wise. In the past I would consider a day like this "Ok," I realize now that I *gain weight* on days like this. No excuses for traveling, I sucked and need to do better.

So far, the stress of traveling is having the effect I feared it would have. I'm going to have to work hard (despite needing to haul another 11 hours) to counter this.

August 30th

August 30th

Diet Compliance:Another celebratory goodbye dinner. As with previous, I fasted through the day and made this a one meal day. Too bad that one meal was chinese all-you-can-eat. As best as I can figure, I ate ~2400 calories, but holy crap, I feel FULL. I shudder at what the scale might say tomorrow.

Exercise Compliance: Got my 10k steps in, and really, with some heavy lifting relating to a move, I probably exercised far more than that (which is good, because, Chinese buffet).

Measurements Weight: -.2
Measurements Chest:  -.5"
Measurements Waist: -.5"

Comment: I know the scale is a liar when dealing with daily weigh ins, but it is a little frustrating to have closed in on -4 lbs lots total in two weeks (a good rate), and now be back to just -2 pounds lost on day 12 of 14. I know that can change quickly when the body dumps a lot of water, but still annoying, especially since I'm about to go on a big road trip and it's always good to leave for those feeling good about yourself.

I have a big challenge ahead, and one of the primary reasons why I started this blog for extra accountability. Tomorrow (or later today really), I begin a cross country trek to start a new job. The temptation to just "let it rip" will be ever present. And as you can tell by following this blog, I've deviated a bit from my initial plan *even in the course of preparing for this trip,* even if those deviations are minor and I'm still creating substantial calorie deficits each day.

I suspect sometimes it'll be easier, other times harder. Easy: probably day one; I'll be on the road myself, driving until I reach some lonely motel somewhere on the road. It'll be just me with no celebratory anything. I'll probably just grab a small fast food dinner (the 6pm fast breaker) and buy a protein bar or something at a gas station for the end of eating window meal (I'll have a ton of whey protein with me for when I get settled).

It'll get harder once I start dealing with people. Men and women just enjoy socializing with food, and this will be... pretty much how Every. Single. New. Person. Will. Great. Me. House I'm crashing at on day 3? FOOD (we'll prepare X for you!). House I'm staying in for the next few months? Big time foodies that want to "show me the best the area has to offer." First day on the new job? Of course, they are treating me to lunch (which is awkward since I don't eat lunch- I'll probably eat a light one to not look weird, and hope that they don't all get lunch together and bro out).

On the plus side, the whirlwind of activity should (at first anyway) allow me to get my 10k steps in easily, I hope (stay tuned for how I manage that while driving all day).

Stats:

Occasionally I'd like to share some statistics, courtesy of the fitbit app.

Calorie burn per day estimate, 30 day rolling average: 3007 cals. This is great since this is really only based on my improved efforts the last 12 days. It has approached even such lows as 2600 cals before, so this is a big improvement! I know it's a fake number based on averages (duh) but it is still a fun number to push up, up, and up.

Calorie Consumption average since start of plan: Fitbit has gotten chintsy in its stats and removed the 30 day rolling average for calories. Thanks for nothing guys. But here is some quick math on my cals per day since I started (so 12 days): 2068 calories. Not bad, can do better certainly as my best, most ideal target is 1500-1800, although this target is based on being very sedentary, so if I end up averaging this for months on end, I'll be successful indeed. 

August 29th

August 29th

Diet Compliance: Finally a sub 2000 calorie day, just under 2000 cals.

Exercise Compliance: Fell just a bit short, at something like 9k steps, but not by a lot. Did my leg exercises.

Measurements Weight: -.2.8
Measurements Chest:  -.5"
Measurements Waist: -.5"

Comment: Just two more morning weigh ins until I have a long multi day car trip. I'll have a scale and tape measure with me, but I'm not sure I'm going to bother with the scale in the hotel.

August 28th

August 28th

Diet Compliance: Another higher calorie day for the same reason as the last two days: celebratory "going away" events. But fortunately not as bad: ~2300 cals. Hoping on Monday I am back to my usual plan.

Exercise Compliance: I wanted 12k steps (was feeling ambitious) but got just about 11,300 steps. Still great :)

Measurements Weight: -.2.8
Measurements Chest:  -.5"
Measurements Waist: -.5"

Comment: On the weight front, I'm still on pace to attain a 2 pounds per week rate of loss, as I'm only a few days into week two and I'm almost at 3 pounds lost. Good going me!

August 27th

August 27th
 

Diet Compliance: Today was my highest calorie day since I started this blog. 2600 cals, which isn't a disaster, but definitely high. The high number was the result of a date with my wife, which included dinner. Like yesterday, the plan was to only eat that dinner and nothing else, but dangit if the ol' hungries didn't hit about six hours later (I would have had a much better day if I was able to resist the hunger monster at midnight- this is why my usual plan works so much better: I have that "baked in," with the protein shake then. It's harder to do when you allow yourself a higher calorie initial meal at 6pm. As a reminder, my plan is intermittent fasting with a window for eating from 6pm-12am).

See comments for more excuses, er, explanation.

Exercise Compliance: 10k steps attained again.Thank goodness.

Measurements Weight: -.2
Measurements Chest:  -.5"
Measurements Waist: -.5"

Comment:Back to -2 lbs lost this morning, which was not alarming nor a surprise. Re: high cals, in theory 2600 cals should actually be fine for long term weight loss, if I'm actually doing 10k steps. If you trust the calculators out there, I ate 2600 cals while burning 3250, a difference of -650 cals.

Let's extrapolate that. -650 x 7 days = -4550. This is well above the required -3500 calories required to lose one pound. So if I ate deep dish pizza to the tune of 2600 calories per day (or insert other food), and walked those 10k steps, well, gosh, I'd be fine and dandy.

Except I know from personal experience that this doesn't work. Well, ok, yes, it does work, in as much as thermodynamics is inescapable. However, what doesn't work about it are a bunch of factors:

1. The burn rate of 3250 is based on an estimate and may not reflect my actual burn. It could be off significantly, and if it is, it would surely be off downwards.

2. From a psychology standpoint, it's never worked for me to sort of just skim the absolute bare minimum in terms of calorie restriction. Like most fallible people, I'm prone to the ol' "whatever the limit is, fudge it by X amount." So if I made my target something like 2100-2600 cals, knowing that I would probably be losing more than 1 pound per week, I can assure you that a blog post like this would be talking about hitting 2800, 2900, or 3000 calories on a "bad" day like this. "Oh, it's ok, I still am -250 calories in the hole!" I would say.

3. Finally, another big assumption: am I using a bomb calorimeter at home? Haha, nope. In other words, I "think" I've eaten 2600 calories because I am at the mercy of other people who did this work. Who the heck knows how accurate various restaurant and nutrition package labels really are? Restaurant food in particular is tricky because preparation will vary. So in other words, you don't want to be getting too close to your daily calorie burn because maybe that 400 calorie side of rice is really 700. You just don't know.

All this is just a long winded way of saying: this was OK for a special date night with the wife, but should not be a daily occurrence. But one more thing I know won't work either: "cheating" because I feel bad about the high calorie count, and "dumping some calories onto the next day." OMG DO NOT DO THIS. It'll cause days and days of cheating like this, and finally a calorie blowout. Nope, just accept that today was not optimal, and start fresh. Always. Start. Fresh.

August 26th

August 26th

Diet Compliance: Today was a higher calorie day, hitting 2200. This was expected, as I actually fasted all day until 8:30, in which I went out for a MASSIVE hibachi dinner from a great friend (a going away treat as it were). A little higher than I want day to day but still totally fine.

Exercise Compliance: 10k steps easily attained today, thanks to the kiddo (that same one that was hard to get to sleep the night before..) wanting to walk ALL OVER THE NEIGHBORHOOD. It heartens me to see my efforts at fitness causing her to want to walk and explore more also.
Chest day also.

Measurements Weight: -.3.8
Measurements Chest:  -.5"
Measurements Waist: -.5"

Comment: Another chunk of weight fell off this morning, so making good progress for 8 days! I do expect a temporary water weight gain based on eating an enormous, 2200 calorie carbohydrate based meal tonight when I weigh in tomorrow, but I'll be fine with it: it's the only food I ate today, and I'm on plan. That's the point of the whole thing, right?

August 25th

Diet Compliance: Yep, 1800 cals again today.

Exercise Compliance: Got only 8k steps today, 2k short of the goal and the first time I've truly been short since I've started. The reason was that my daughter had a bedtime meltdown (parents can surely relate what can happen with bedtimes), so even though I had gotten enough steps to easily meet the goal by midnight, 10:30-12 was spent trying to get a kiddo to sleep.

It was a rough night :(

Measurements Weight: -.1.8
Measurements Chest:  -.5"
Measurements Waist: -.5"

Comment: My weight held at the current -1.8 lbs from the starting weight, which was expected (since I'm writing this late, a spoiler: a big chunk goes away the next day!). Better still is making some headway on my measurements!

August 24th

Diet Compliance: Yep, 1800 cals again today.

Exercise Compliance: Yep, 10k steps (keeping the streak alive!) and it was "back" day.

Measurements Weight: -.1.8
Measurements Chest:--
Measurements Waist:--

Comment: Tomorrow is a big day, as it is the first measurement check since I started. One week isn't a ton of time so I'm not expecting a lot, but still. As you can see, my weight has started going down again after the initial water weight loss/regain cycle. This makes sense: if this -1.8 loss holds into tomorrow, it'll be one week, and wouldn't you know it: according to the calorie deficit, I should pretty much be......... losing two pounds or so.

August 23rd

August 23rd

Got rid of the "log for" line as it was stupidly redundant. 
 
Diet Compliance:Yes, and kept it in a much better target of 1800 calories. Realtalk: The main reason my calories crept up from 1700, 1800, 2000, 2300 etc. is that I had been felling prey to the ol' bugaboo of waking up at 4 or 5am and feeling like I HAD TO EAT SOMETHING. I was justifying it by saying it wasn't much (and it wasn't), but it was enough to make hitting my targets harder. More importantly, it was *off plan* and not compliant: I want to enjoy one of the fruits of intermittent fasting, which is better hormonal response. You don't get that when you basically allow yourself a small breakfast (reminder: my fast is supposed to be from bedtime until 6pm, with a 6 hour eating window).

Exercise Compliance:Yes, 10k steps as usual. This could be one of the longest stretches I've ever had where I've hit 10k steps (ok, ok, I had one day at ~9700!) each day. Hope to keep it up. Even though I'm not using weights for my resistance training, I must have done my body weight based leg exercises like a boss because I'm rather sore!

Measurements Weight: -.4
Measurements Chest:--
Measurements Waist:--

Comment:Yep, water weight loss now completely gone, as expected, so I'm not worried. But I am ready for the next real drop to begin. When I lose weight, it basically comes in chunks- I hold at a certain weight for awhile (sometimes a long while), but then BAM, 3 or 4 pounds come off. ECM would tell me to weigh and measure every three weeks, but I'm a stubborn idiot so I'll just continue to buttress myself psychologically for the disappointing holding patterns!

Also, I'll measure my waist and chest on Thursday, the 25th. I plan to do this once a week.

ONE MORE DAY OF SOY PROTEIN!

August 22nd

August 22nd

Log For: August 22nd

Diet Compliance: Yes, but ended up a bit north of my calorie target. Due to my wife's amazing, crack like butter chicken, my initial fast breaking meal was much larger than usual, and this led to me landing around 2200 calories for the day. This should still be *plenty* considering I'm doing 10k steps and supposedly burn 3300 calories, but I'm skeptical of this, so this isn't a number I want often.

Exercise Compliance:Yes, 10k steps and legs workout.

Measurements Weight: -2.6
Measurements Chest:--
Measurements Waist:--

Comment: This is why trainer and master of mockery ECM chides me anytime I get into a "weigh myself every day" routine. But I'm not too bummed yet. I'm still in that 99% compliance zone with large calorie deficits, so I know this is just the water weight rebound thing.

August 21

August 21th

Log For: August 21th

Diet Compliance: Yes, with challenges (see comment)

Exercise Compliance: Nope, 9700 steps, 300 short of 10k (I know, a piddling difference, but honesty is the best policy on this blog.

Measurements Weight: -3.6 (1+ lb from the day before)
Measurements Chest:--
Measurements Waist:--

Comment:

Re: diet compliance, today was a challenging day but I met the challenge well. Basically I woke up early, at 5am, which was probably child related (but I can't remember). One of my superpowers, as it were, is that if I wakeup at a weird time, I'm usually ravenously hungry. Like, "eat my own arm off hungry." Yet, weirdly, if I wake up at a normal time, I'm not hungry at all.

On the plus side, I didn't go nuts and it wasn't a binge. But it meant that I had to be very careful today to stay within striking distance of my calorie targets (minimum 1500, max 2000 but ideally 1800 most days). Typically I end my intermittent fast at around 6pm by eating a 1000ish calorie meal, and then finish the day (as close to bedtime as I can, to stave off night hunger, ugh!) with a protein shake that is usually 400-600 calories.

Today I had to eat a mere 600 calorie meal, in order to keep myself within the norms I've set. Fortunately, mission accomplished. I even did a big hunger no-no for me- took a nap. Much like waking up at odd times, taking a nap (one where I actually fall asleep, not just a rest) causes me to wakeup with a lot of hunger. Well, I took said nap, and woke up very hungry, but unlike in the morning I resisted said hunger. Phew, close one! With my end of day protein shake I ended up just slightly north of 1900 calories, within the target.

Exercise went fine, as running errands and doing housework naturally got me to 8300 steps at about 9pm. No problem, except I forgot to get those other steps in, so I had to do some mad stepping at 11:47... and fell just about 300 steps short by the time midnight hit. Certainly, 300 steps is hardly worth mentioning, but, again, HONESTY!

I was also not surprised to find a small amount of water weight rebound this morning. Perfectly expected as this very early stage of the game.

August 20th

Log For: August 20th

Diet Compliance: Yep!

Exercise Compliance:Yep! (10k steps and chest workout)

Measurements Weight: -4.6
Measurements Chest:--
Measurements Waist:--

Comment:

So a big chunk of water weight flew off, always nice. Of course I know it is temp and soon the grind will truly begin. Did a much better job spreading out the 10k steps throughout the day.

Live look-in at my water weight going away.

August 19th

Log For: August 19th

Diet Compliance: Nailed it!

Exercise Compliance: Nailed it! (steps)

Measurements Weight: -2
Measurements Chest:--
Measurements Waist:--


Comment:Had to cram in 5k of my 10k steps at 11pm, due to getting a late start on the day. But I made it, and got through almost all of disc 1 of the Cowboy Bebop blu ray. Some initial water weight shed which is nice.

August 18th

Log For: August 18th

Diet Compliance: Nailed it!

Exercise Compliance: Nailed it! (steps and back workout)

Measurements Weight: --*
Measurements Chest:--*
Measurements Waist:--*

*I'm not giving you the real numbers, no sir! But I'll note changes. The "--" is obviously the baseline I'm starting from.  I won't be doing these measurements every single day, obviously.

Comment: Almost done with that awful tasting soy protein I bought to be a cheapskate a month or so ago, huzzah! Getting my steps in means I'm watching Cowboy Bebop again, so there's that.

Intro, Or, The Excuse Post

So last year has been chaotic with lots of changes and things that basically made me go stretches of time with poor eating and workout discipline.

In short: time to get serious and get consistent.

However, lack of accountability makes it easy to backslide. The purpose of this blog is for a few family and friends to relentlessly mock/prod/cajole/encourage (but mostly those first few things), particularly if they see an absence of posts.

The way this works is simple:

Each day I write a super short log entry:
Did I eat on plan?
If not, how bad did I deviate?
Did I exercise on plan?
If not, how bad did I deviate?

I might write more, but the point of this is NOT to write an actual touchy feel weight loss blog- it's just reports, so certain friends and family can see what I'm doing and not doing, on a day to day basis.

I will also report measurements and weight, but in "coded" format because holy crap I'm not putting that out there in public.

The Plan (Diet):

Intermittent fasting, with six hour window starting at 6pm. Since I'm VERY capable is eating an ENORMOUS amount in that six hours, the format this will take is: one meal at 6 or after, and a protein shake/bar at the very end.

The Plan (Exercise):

Resistance workout every other day: legs, then back, then chest, repeat.
Every day: 10k steps.

The Goal:

-10 lbs by birthday (October)

-25 lbs by Christmas.

The Challenge:

I'm starting a new job, requiring a cross country move, and I'll be switching living arrangements fairly often over the course of the next 6 months. Normally this would be an excuse to not do well, which, seeing as 2016 has been a not so great year for me fitness wise, simply can't happen.

-