Journalism

I’ve been obviously struggling the past few months and not achieving any goals. I’ve been eating the right foods (mostly), lifting weights religiously, cardio a couple of times a week and curbing calories (I thought), yet nothing is changing…until-

I started keeping a good old-fashioned fitness journal on Monday. I’ve been tracking my weight lifting so that I know when to move up in weight or which weight to start with, but this journal is plain paper in a three ring binder. At the top I put the date. Below that my cardio activity and my weight training further down the page. Along the left side I write my food intake and keep a running tally of calories. I found that I was over estimating my food activity and underestimating my cardio activity. Since then, I can see that I am making progress. I’ve lost my 2 pounds this week and I believe my journal will keep me in check this weekend.

I tried to keep a tally of my calories at Fitday.com which is a wonderful site with a large food database. However, I may not be able to access the internet for any number of reasons and some of the information wasn’t being recorded. Using a pencil and paper, I always can write down what I ate and how many calories I’ve consumed.

What I Really Want is One of Those New Skip Ropes...

I woke up late this morning and decided instead of doing nothing, I would jump rope for 20 minutes. Understand that I am not coordinated enough to jump rope so the fight itself would get my heart rate racing (and elevate my blood pressure). I warmed up with 5 minutes of light skipping followed by alternating 1 minute of fast skipping and 1 minute of slow skipping (intervals) for an additional 15 minutes.

The result was a 20 minute workout that beat not doing anything by 200 calories plus the boost in my metabolism. It wasn't pretty to watch, but at least I didn't strangle myself with the rope.

I'm really hoping to pick up the pace of this blog. I have rediscovered a few tips and techniques that are working better for me than anything I've done in the past 4 months. Stay tuned.

The Power of Negative Thinking

A lot has happened since my last post. I did not manage to make the 275 bicycle miles in January; only 137. As explanation and not as an excuse, I got de-motivated. It happens to me sometimes and it leads to a lazy, unproductive spell.

I’m not sure how it happens, but it usually goes along these lines. I over extend myself, make too many promises, too many commitments and try to do too much at one time. Then something goes undone, a slip up, an unfortunate series of event and BOOM; one negative thought happens. Then another…and another until, like dominos, it all comes crashing down. A little negativity will hang you up, because there is no such thing as a little. Once you start down the hill it’s hard to turn and before you know it you are at the bottom.

That is where I’ve been since the middle of January. I’m not sure how it happened but I’ve definitely eaten way too much and exercised way too little. I awoke this morning at 192 lbs.

I am drawing a line in the sand. I’m tired of this negativity spiral that I get into sometimes. Enough is enough. I’m tired of fitness being a chore, also. If this is going to be sustainable, it must be enjoyable.

SO HERES THE NEW PLAN: I know what I should eat. I know I should lift weights and I know I should do cardio. This is what I am going to do. I am going to make good food choices. I am going to lift weights four times per week and I am going to do cardio at least four times per week. Above all I’m going to have fun. If I slip, it’s not the end of the world and tomorrow is another day.

I know my caloric intake needs to be between 1500-1700 calories per day. Without having to count each calorie, I am going to target Breakfast at 300 cal, Lunch at 300 cal and Dinner at 500 cal. I will add a 200 cal Mid-morning Snack, a 200 cal Afternoon Snack and 100 cal Late Snack. I don’t have to be precise, but in the ball park. This will take the number crunching out of it and keep it fun.

We have a Sunday school retreat coming up April 19-22. That’s ten weeks away and I want to be at 175 lbs. Doing the math, that’s 1.7 lbs/week so it is attainable. I’m writing it down and carrying it in my wallet. I will be updating every day or at least every few along the way. If you see me slacking off, e-mail me at ben@puppetminister.com

Update
I’m still chugging along toward my goal of 275 miles. I’ve ridden 65.04 miles since 12/26 and luckily, due to unseasonable warmth or maybe global warming, most has been outside. It’s been slow (average 14mph) because I am trying to maintain those lower heart rates.

I’m still struggling to get up in the morning, but I plan on getting in bed earlier. The snooze bar is not my friend.

My calorie intake has been good but not great. I find it hard to eat 2300 calories a day. I find myself finishing up at around 2000 and gulping down a peanut butter sandwich or some sort late in the evening. I definitely need to improve on this situation.

Since metabolism determines how our body processes calories and since calorie deficiency is the key to weight loss, I am researching ways to naturally increase metabolism. I will list them here in later posts.

Okay, here we go again:

Weight 137.0

Waist 37 (ugh)

Bicep 13.25

NEW GOAL
Time to move on... My new goal is more of a performance goal than a fat loss goal because I am counting on my body to adapt to what I am doing. This will hopefully develop the habit of early morning cardio and it wont be so hit or miss.

My new goal is to ride (either on the trainer or on the road) a total of 275 miles between yesterday 12/26/06 and 01/31/07. I will maintain calorie intake between 2350-2500 calories per day which coupled with the exercise should be a 700-1000 calorie deficit per day.

I will start tracking my progress using an Excel spreadsheet and Fitday.com. You can see my food logs here. I will post distance totals on Saturdays and I will for the sheer joy of it keep tracking the same parameters as before.

It seems one of my biggest struggles is late night snacking especially for something sweet. I have to find a good 'something' to fill this void.

Starting Stats
Weight: 190 lbs. (I hope a lot of this is water weight and will drop quickly.)
I will make measurements tomorrow. Pictures to follow.

Embracing Failure

I hate to lose. There seems to be no way for me to reach my goal of losing 2.5” off of my waist by December 24. Allow me to assess my situation as I plan for my next goal.

Positive Things
I did lose 1.5” off of my waist. My strength has increased and I am in the habit of lifting weights 4 days per week.

Negative Things
I didn’t achieve my goal.

Analysis
So, why did I fail to reach my goal? Was my goal realistic (attainable)? Was the plan sound? Was I diligent (tracking)? I believe it was a combination of the three, but I really think the biggest problem lies in my lack of behavior modification.

On most days, my caloric intake was good during the day but fell apart during the late afternoon/evening hours. I failed to perform cardio at the desired time and frequency outlined in the plan. My bed time is way too late to support early morning workouts. My eating on the weekends was weak in nutrition yet overly abundant in calories.

I’ve heard that you cannot break a habit; you can only replace one habit with another habit. My plan failed mostly because I didn’t develop the good habits needed to succeed.

Next Step
I maybe taking a final picture on Friday, December 22 because Christmas will involve numerous occasions to eat and very little time for exercise, however, I will try to make good choices to minimize the damage.

I will define a new goal to begin on December 26 and run for several weeks. Since most of my failure came from misbehavior, I am thinking of defining a performance goal instead of a body-specific goal trusting that my body will follow accordingly. I will need to make it challenging and fun as to make it sustainable. I may also take this opportunity to reset my workout routine. (It’s best to change it up every few weeks). Expect a more attentive effort in the coming weeks.

Merry Christmas!

More On Calories

Our body uses X number of calories just to stay alive. This is called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). There are several factors that influence this number such as body composition, weight and gender. These are calories required to do nothing other than exist.

Of course we hopefully do more than just exist. Daily activities such as moving at all (walk, sitting up in bed, making toast, .etc) increase the number of calories we need in a day. The more active we are, the more calories we need.

There are several ways to figure out your BMR, but the easiest way is to use this calculator.

Now in order to loose weight we need to have these needed calories to be greater than our intake. Remember 3500 calories make a pound. So if we know our estimated need, then we can either eat less or exercise more to make the fat go away. For best results, do both.

Update
Weight 182
Waist 36.5
Bicep 13.25+ (I’ve actually seen a slight increase)

Analysis Forthcoming