It's a wrap! (At least the 1st 6 weeks)

It's a wrap. Put a fork in me. Fin-nee. Finished. Done. Cooked. The first six weeks of my minor human experiment is over. For the past six weeks I have tried to eat as clean as possible. By clean I mean close to the source. It was mostly raw foods and most of the cooked foods I ate were veggies of some sort. I was originally motivated to seek a different lifestyle because I had "ballooned" up to 235. I was feeling very uncomfortable and swore I would not buy another set of clothes that were just one size bigger.

I came across a book called Eat To Live that discussed mainly a plant based diet being one that could get you to your body's "normal" weight. I then read a book called The China Study. The China Study was written by a scientist who had grown up on a farm eating the traditional SAD (standard American diet). He went on in later life to complete a 20 year study of health and dietary patterns among different villages in China. The conclusion he came to was that those that ate the traditional western diet (protein from meat) contracted and were dying from the typical western diseases (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.) Yet those that ate a plant based diet were not dying of these diseases and were living longer and healthier lives.

So with my desire to lose weight and the facts presented in The China Study I decided to embark on a plant based eating regime. On the Tuesday morning I began my program I weighed in at 228lbs. This past Tuesday when I weighed in after 6 weeks on the program I was down to 212lbs. In the span of a short six weeks I was able to easily remove 16lbs of unwanted mass. That's a very healthy loss of over 2 1/2 lbs a week.

I am taking this week "off". That does not mean I am going out and gorging on steak and burgers and french fries and pizza and (crap I'm getting hungry). What this means is no measurements this week. I am still eating clean. Starting next week I will be introducing an exercise program in combination with my eating program. I will do this for six weeks and again track my results here on this blog.

I've thought about a 3rd 6 week segment where I would go back to my normal eating and just do exercise. The reason I am thinking about doing this is I have this inkling in the back of my head (I know, not a big thought as I am generally incapable of those) that our societies obesity problem stems almost exclusively from a horrible diet. I've had many folks tell me you can eat whatever you want as long as you exercise. Not sure this is correct. Well, we'll see where this next six weeks leads me.

One thing that has bothered me over these past six weeks is a perceived lack of protein. I have been eating a lot of beans, nuts, etc but I just don't feel like there is enough protein in my diet. Its hard to eat enough plant material to get enough calories and protein. I will say other than the weight loss there have not been a lot of other noticeable changes. I don't "feel" any different. I still feel tired a lot, but that could be contributed to the fact that I rise before 5:00am every morning. Traffic sucks in my area so I have to get on the road so I don't have a 3 hour commute. I am getting between 7-8 hours of sleep so its not a lack of sleep I just think my body has never adjusted to getting up so early. I guess its good I was not born a farmer.

6 weeks down. Another 6 to go. Stay tuned.

Tale of the Tape
weight - 212.4 (down 3 lbs)
fat% - 29.7
BMI remained steady at 27 (goal is under 24)

Just for Today I will relax and revel in the progress I have made and dream about the progress yet to come.

Short but sweet

Work. Ugh! These 14-15 hour days are going to be my demise. Because work has had me so wrapped up I have been unable to update my blog and let everyone know where I am with the weight loss. So here goes:

The past week was a good one. Back on the proverbial wagon (at least on the food part). When I weighed in on Tuesday morning I had lost back all the weight I had added the week before. I am now through 5 full weeks. One more to go before I switch gears and add exercise to the new eating.

Once again, ugh. Wondering when I am going to have time to get in some exercise. I already rise at 4:30 am so I don't have to sit in two hours of traffic. I guess I am going to have to dedicate my lunch hour to working out. I just can't work out at night. I get too wound up and can't sleep.

Speaking of sleep, can I tell you how much I love Roserem? I forgot what its like to mostly sleep through the night. Haven't met Abe or the talking ground hog yet but boy am I trying. Sleep problems will have to wait for another blog entry.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming..
As of Tuesday 10/13
Tale of the Tape
weight - 215.4 (down 2.6 lbs)
fat% - 30.1
BMI remained steady at 27 (goal is under 24)

Just for today I will tell those closest to me how much I love them. For tomorrow while my feelings won't have changed, they may not be here to tell.

Wrong Direction

The title says Wrong Direction, not wrong directionS. Wrong directions would be what my wife follows (but she's doing a lot better with the help of modern technology; gotta love the GPS). Wrong direction is the way I headed this past week. Its amazing how one weekend (ok 3 days) can just throw the train completely off track. Not only did I fall off the wagon but the wagon backed up and ran me over. And then because it wasn't sure what happened it pulled forward to run me over one more time. Bottom line is I was bad on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and it contributed to my first week of weight GAIN since being on my new eating regime. In fact I erased a whole week of work in just 3 short days (see tale of the tape below).

There were two contributing factors to my less than stellar weekend. I was out of town volunteering as a corner worker for 3 wonderful days of Porsche races. The cars were fast. The racing was close. The weather was beautiful and I was getting fatter. First issue was that I did not have many food choices as we were fed 3 meals a day by the track. Coffee and donuts. 2 hot dogs, chips and a soda. Pizza and.... see next paragraph. So you can see my food choices were not the most healthy. BUT, I could have planned better and taken much of my own food.

Next Paragraph
The true downfall this weekend was caused by (insert drum roll)................ FREE beer. As one who truly cherishes(ed) the consumption of fermented yeast and hops, you put the word FREE in front of it and it becomes like a mothers arms to a baby... a donut to a cop... a text message to a teenager... a cheap hotel to a hooker...I just can't live without it. Its a must have. Free Beer! Are you kidding me?! Have sweeter words ever been spoken? You get the point. I drank too many beers (FREE beers) this weekend and it had a devastating effect on my weight loss. Ok, maybe devastating is a little harsh but it certainly sent me in the wrong direction.

Now I know how/why I was bad and I am hopefully back on the right course. Had my healthy servings of weeds these past two days and there is no beer in my refrigerator so I should be good (for now). Check back next week for the ongoing saga and see how I screw up this week.

Tale of the Tape
weight - 218 (UP 3 lbs)
fat% - 31
BMI remained steady at 27 (goal is under 24)

Just for Today I will let go of any expectations I have on the people to whom I owe amends.