More green smoothie goodness. 2 cups baby spinach 2 cups green grapes 2 small kiwis 1 cup coconut water 1 pear
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More green smoothie goodness.

  • 2 cups baby spinach
  • 2 cups green grapes
  • 2 small kiwis
  • 1 cup coconut water
  • 1 pear

I feel some type of connection with the message in this video.  For those who have not followed my blog since the start, my initial weight loss was accomplished a lot through following the Biggest Loser 30 Day Jump Start.  It did what it said it would do, and gave me the jump start I needed.

So much of what is said in this video speaks directly to me, where I have come from, and where I am going.  Initially, I too was caught up in the calories in and calories out concept, focused only on cardio with no strength training, and worrying day in and day out about what number might appear on the scale.

People who have never truly struggled with their weight will never, ever, be able to fully comprehend why the number on the scale can be such a driving.  It is easy for them to just say “get off the scale” or “do it different”.  In many ways, it takes 2 critical changes, the first being the change in your eating and exercise and the second being the transition out of the weighing yourself daily, weekly, etc. mindset.  I was in that routine and lost who I was, much like Courtney mentioned in this video.

CrossFit has helped me learn things about myself and recover lost confidence.  I don’t know the last time I got on my scale.  I don’t count calories.  Realizing this, given where I have come from, can be somewhat frightening.  How can I go a week without weighing?  What if I take in 200 more calories than I burned today?  Moving away from that has never felt so freeing. 

Monday night’s dinner was awesome.  Baked chicken breasts, mixed green salad (topped with tomatoes and Light Caesar), and sweet potato fries. I think the best part about dinner was that it was a lot of food.  I mean, look at that plate!  I have been in plateau mode for a while now.  While I am happy with the changes that I have been, and continue to make, with my body, the hard truth is that my weight is not where I want it to be.  I have even put on some weight.  I am not too bummed out about it because my clothes still fit great and I am gaining strength in the gym.  However, my ultimate goal is to be 195 pounds of the leanest monster that I can be.  I have spent a lot of time examining what I am doing it every time it comes back to what I am eating.  I have felt for a while now that I am not eating enough but unsure of what to do to correct that. My wife, in her infinite wisdom, suggested using a calorie tracker.  I have never cared for counting calories, but downloaded the app she recommended and quickly fell in love with it.  According to her, and I cannot argue entirely, I have borderline OCD so the data and tracking very much appeals to me.  But what I found after logging what I was eating just confirmed what I have been feeling all along: I am still not eating right. On days when I have heavy physical activity, such as a Saturday where I might go to CrossFit in the morning and bike in the afternoon, or Sundays when I do an hour on the bike and an hour of core work, I have not come close to eating what my body needs to sustain the activity.  On the flipside, on my rest days, or days with little activity, I am eating too much.  I am not considering this app to be written in stone.  I know that things are “off” and that nothing is exact, but this has given me a new guideline to operate under.  I was blown away the other day when I logged my exercise.  I ended up taking in over 3100 calories to support the activity.  And this is with a planned loss of about a pound to pound and a half a week.  For me, the trick is putting in good calories, not bad.  Just because I can take in that much doesn’t mean it needs to be fast food.  I want pure fuel and that is what I am going for. I feel really good about this and look forward to sharing some results in the near future.
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Monday night’s dinner was awesome.  Baked chicken breasts, mixed green salad (topped with tomatoes and Light Caesar), and sweet potato fries. I think the best part about dinner was that it was a lot of food.  I mean, look at that plate! 

I have been in plateau mode for a while now.  While I am happy with the changes that I have been, and continue to make, with my body, the hard truth is that my weight is not where I want it to be.  I have even put on some weight.  I am not too bummed out about it because my clothes still fit great and I am gaining strength in the gym.  However, my ultimate goal is to be 195 pounds of the leanest monster that I can be. 

I have spent a lot of time examining what I am doing it every time it comes back to what I am eating.  I have felt for a while now that I am not eating enough but unsure of what to do to correct that.

My wife, in her infinite wisdom, suggested using a calorie tracker.  I have never cared for counting calories, but downloaded the app she recommended and quickly fell in love with it.  According to her, and I cannot argue entirely, I have borderline OCD so the data and tracking very much appeals to me.  But what I found after logging what I was eating just confirmed what I have been feeling all along: I am still not eating right.

On days when I have heavy physical activity, such as a Saturday where I might go to CrossFit in the morning and bike in the afternoon, or Sundays when I do an hour on the bike and an hour of core work, I have not come close to eating what my body needs to sustain the activity.  On the flipside, on my rest days, or days with little activity, I am eating too much. 

I am not considering this app to be written in stone.  I know that things are “off” and that nothing is exact, but this has given me a new guideline to operate under.  I was blown away the other day when I logged my exercise.  I ended up taking in over 3100 calories to support the activity.  And this is with a planned loss of about a pound to pound and a half a week.  For me, the trick is putting in good calories, not bad.  Just because I can take in that much doesn’t mean it needs to be fast food.  I want pure fuel and that is what I am going for.

I feel really good about this and look forward to sharing some results in the near future.

Why does this mug exist? C’mon people. Seriously. Did great with portions this week and locking down the diet. I feel VOLUMES better than I did. I wish I could tell you all just how much better I feel. Not just physically, but mentally, like I truly accomplished something. I have not got on the scale to see the numbers but I feel great which is more important to me. As for this photo, we ate at Cracker Barrel. Proof that you can eat healthy in the fact that I had egg whites, turkey sausage, tomatoes, and as hard as it was, no biscuits or toast.
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Why does this mug exist? C’mon people. Seriously.

Did great with portions this week and locking down the diet. I feel VOLUMES better than I did. I wish I could tell you all just how much better I feel. Not just physically, but mentally, like I truly accomplished something. I have not got on the scale to see the numbers but I feel great which is more important to me.

As for this photo, we ate at Cracker Barrel. Proof that you can eat healthy in the fact that I had egg whites, turkey sausage, tomatoes, and as hard as it was, no biscuits or toast.

Portion Control = Effective

I wrote over the weekend about wrangling in the diet once again.  Amazing how you can eat healthy stuff but still be out of whack.  I was eating good food, and often enough throughout the day, but some things were killing me.  Specifically:

  1. I was eating far too much when I ate.  My breakfast was probably appropriately sized, but the snacks were out of control.  I would just eat and eat and justify it with the amount of exercise I was doing.
  2. I was eating too late. After dinner, and before bed, I would eat.  Nothing crazy mind you, but those habits need to be stopped before they get out of hand.  Dinner should be it for me.

I can see how people fall back into old habits.  You lose weight, exercise, eat right, and then it slowly creeps back on you with little stuff like this. Let me tell you, folks.  I ain’t havin’ it.  I didn’t come all this way to turn around and go back.  I refuse to let myself become the guy that lost all the weight and then put it back on.

I realize it has only been a little over a day since I started putting portions back in check but I already feel better.  Having taken the time to sit down and write up the meals and snacks has made the food thing volumes easier. I have been stuck in a plateau for a while and I think it is time to break out of that.

Lock it down, son. I have been fortunate in that eating healthy hasn’t been an issue for me. Neither has been eating often enough. Yet, despite my exercise regiment, I have not been seeing progress like I want. I still would like to drop 25 more pounds. The hard truth is that my portion control has slipped. So I’m fixing it. Sat down this morning and wrote out our meals and snacks for the coming week. This evening I’ll hit the store and when Monday rolls around I will be much more prepared. I feel really good about this and can’t wait to see where this will take me. I plan on getting rid of the rest of my gut this year.
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Lock it down, son.

I have been fortunate in that eating healthy hasn’t been an issue for me. Neither has been eating often enough. Yet, despite my exercise regiment, I have not been seeing progress like I want. I still would like to drop 25 more pounds.

The hard truth is that my portion control has slipped. So I’m fixing it. Sat down this morning and wrote out our meals and snacks for the coming week. This evening I’ll hit the store and when Monday rolls around I will be much more prepared.

I feel really good about this and can’t wait to see where this will take me. I plan on getting rid of the rest of my gut this year.

Moving forward

Now that our monthly Wicked Fit challenge at our box is over, the marathon is over, and the only real event on my schedule coming up is Tough Mudder, it has left me to think about what I want to do moving forward. 

First and foremost, I want to maintain how I eat (I hate to use the word diet) but want to change things up.  During the Wicked Fit challenge I did the Paleo thing.  I took before and after photos, measurements, and all that jazz and saw some success that I was very pleased with.  However, I am not so certain that this is the plan for me to follow long term.

I guess I have just grown tired of having to label how I eat.  Why does it need to be called something?  Why can’t it be just how I eat?  Perhaps it makes for interesting topics of conversation, but I don’t need to spout off some trendy label for the meals that I consume.  One item of concern with regards to Paleo, and this is merely a personal thing here, is that I was tired of feeling guilty for having something like bread.  Before my long runs, I would typically have some bread with almond butter.  Well naturally bread is not on the Paleo plan and for some reason that messed with me mentally, thinking I was cheating when all I was doing was properly fueling my body.  It wasn’t like I was scarfing down French fries and loaded baked potatoes at every meal.  I was having carbs to fuel my long runs, simple.

I don’t want to eat clean and still feel bad about it.  That is just stupid and does me no good at all.

Out of everything that I have seen and tried, I would prefer a mixture of what we learned while going through the Biggest Loser 30 Day Jumpstart as well as Paleo.  I did feel a lot better throughout the day (less bloated) following Paleo with the carbs being cut out.  The Paleo meal plan I followed had a lot of red meat and what I felt like were really salty foods (i.e. sausage stir fry), neither of which I want to eat. I did like the majority of the Paleo meals I made and will certainly continue to make those.  I want to mix things up a little and balance it out by adding back in some whole grains and carbs.  Nothing over the top.

So I am going to change things up and kinda “wing it” based on what I have learned so far.  And you know what, I feel totally at peace about this.

Paleo continues… Never would have wanted chicken, salsa, and avocado for breakfast, but after CrossFit this morning I devoured it. Dinner was a challenge as we went out to eat with the girls. Asked for a salad without cheese and croutons but they put cheese on it anyway. Ordered grilled chicken with it. Have heard that I may see energy levels decrease during this adjustment period. So far, so good though. Was able to run 7.5 miles Thursday night, CrossFit this morning at 5am, and will have a heavy weekend ahead (CrossFit tomorrow morning and long run Sunday morning). If there was a doubt about energy levels, that will get thoroughly tested over the next 2 days. So far, so good. PS - Finally took my shirtless “before” photos this morning. Wow, do I have a lot of work to do!
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Paleo continues…

Never would have wanted chicken, salsa, and avocado for breakfast, but after CrossFit this morning I devoured it. Dinner was a challenge as we went out to eat with the girls. Asked for a salad without cheese and croutons but they put cheese on it anyway. Ordered grilled chicken with it.

Have heard that I may see energy levels decrease during this adjustment period. So far, so good though. Was able to run 7.5 miles Thursday night, CrossFit this morning at 5am, and will have a heavy weekend ahead (CrossFit tomorrow morning and long run Sunday morning). If there was a doubt about energy levels, that will get thoroughly tested over the next 2 days.

So far, so good.

PS - Finally took my shirtless “before” photos this morning. Wow, do I have a lot of work to do!

Paleo day #2. So far so good. The lunch portion was massive. Other than it being awkward eating salmon for breakfast, looking back, I like the food. Hard to explain but I don’t feel so bloated. The weather tonight was amazing. 7.5 miles in the books and ready for CrossFit tomorrow morning bright and early.
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Paleo day #2. So far so good. The lunch portion was massive. Other than it being awkward eating salmon for breakfast, looking back, I like the food. Hard to explain but I don’t feel so bloated.

The weather tonight was amazing. 7.5 miles in the books and ready for CrossFit tomorrow morning bright and early.

Paleo day one… So far so good. The portion for lunch was gigantic. I won’t lie, I’d love a glass of milk right now. I may kill someone for some peanut butter before this is all over with. But I’m sticking with it. Cool thing was that my wife decided to do it with me. Amazing how much easier it is when we are both on the same meal plan.
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Paleo day one… So far so good. The portion for lunch was gigantic. I won’t lie, I’d love a glass of milk right now. I may kill someone for some peanut butter before this is all over with. But I’m sticking with it. Cool thing was that my wife decided to do it with me. Amazing how much easier it is when we are both on the same meal plan.

Day #250

On our calendar at home, my wife and I kept track of the days of our new lifestyle.  At first, it had a lot to do with the fact that the book we were going by was a 30-day thing.  Then it got interesting to see how far along we would get.  250 days ago we decided enough was enough and changed our lifestyle. 

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I wish more people knew about the dangers of these fad diets and lose weight quick schemes.
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I wish more people knew about the dangers of these fad diets and lose weight quick schemes.

(via samishealthy-deactivated2011090)

Captain’s Log: Star Date 199

Kinda crazy to think that tomorrow will be day 200 for us.  Never in a million years would I have thought I would be seeing day 200 of a lifestyle change.  Normally I give up way before this.

I wrote before about going back and trying the Biggest Loser book one more time.  The average daily calorie intake for me would be about 1700 which I have found, is not enough.  The first time through it worked because I had very little physical activity.  That has changed considerably since then.  Since the activity has picked up, as do my calories.  When starting the book back, I stayed hungry.  Vastly different than the first time.  I would get home and want to graze on stuff in the house (dangerous).  Either that or I would be so hungry before a meal that I would want to eat more than my regular portion.  So rather than give in and eat crap, I am going to do what feels right for me and that is to increase me calorie intake, but to do it with healthy food.  Normally I have 3 meals a day and 2 snacks.  Yesterday I brought a little extra food with me to have in between all of that and it helped tremendously. 

Here is how it went down:

Breakfast (About 7:00 a.m.; post CrossFit):

  • Egg whites
  • Turkey sausage
  • Wheat breakfast thins
  • Scrawberruhs
  • 2% milk

9:00 a.m. - 3 hardboiled eggs

Snack #1: - Hummus with whole grain pita slices (Seriously, go make this)

Lunch (About 1:30 p.m.):

  • Low-sodium turkey sandwich with tomatoes, onion, and spicy Dijon mustard
  • Mixed green salad with tomatoes, reduced fat feta cheese, low fat Caesar dressing
  • The mother of all fluid that is not water: Crystal Lite

3:00 p.m. - Large banana

Snack #2 (About 4:00 p.m.):

  • The second best yogurt: Voskos (Chobani is still the reigning champion)
  • Raw almonds

Dinner:

  • Turkey Pitas (Ground turkey, mixed greens, with a little dab of Sirarcha)
  • Steamed broccoli
  • Glass of 2% milk

For water, I have really gotten used to drinking a lot of it. Since yesterday was a CrossFit day, I drank more than usual.  I had about 96+ ounces of water.

So I ate more food and didn’t feel bloated or fat.  I actually felt better.  Like I was giving my body what it needed to keep moving.  This is where I have wanted to be all along.  Eating healthy (not some restrictive fad diet) to fuel my body and know in the back of my mind that I am not worried about the number on the scale the next day.

I have really enjoyed following Sean’s blog.  Great information and I both admire and appreciate the delivery: real.  This video is no exception.  Looking forward to more from him.

We avoided elimination again this week.  Congrats to Gina for hitting the 20lb mark.
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We avoided elimination again this week.  Congrats to Gina for hitting the 20lb mark.