Go mobile...the best thing ever.

I know it has been a long time since I have written on this blog. I have been busy but most importantly, I got a new phone which is awesome. It is an HTC Imagio. The web browser is great (I am writing this with my phone) and the capabilities are endless. I will be utilizing my phone for mulitiple different uses. Here are the following things I will be using my phone for.

SportyPal app. to track my outside activities and have them upload to the site within www.sportypal.com. I will be tacking the miles I go and the speed in which I go there with this app. It utilizes the GPS service that is on my phone very nbicely.

SparkPoeple to track my weight, caloric intake, lifting routine and articles for me to keep up todate on the latest out there. I will be using my web browser to add and read from that site. I would be nice if they had an app for my mobile 6.5 but I can wait for them to get caught up. They have an app for android and iphone...I wish I waited longer for the android instead of the Imagio but I am very happy non-the-less with my phone. It is fast and is the same dimensions as an iphone so the arm band used for the iphone fits perfectly with my phone. I just have to wait for santa to stop by my house to drop it off maybe.

Stopwatch app. for my phone. This will be used for stretching so I don't have to worry about losing my count.

Switch It Up

I was lifting last week and I just could not get over that fact that my arms were not increasing in strength. I have been increasing in everything else but not that. So this week I switched the order in which I did my lifts and saw a huge improvement right away. For my arms, I was able to lift past 95 pounds for EZ curls and when I did my flat bench dumbells, I did an easy set of 90s. I am starting to feel sore today and that is only one day after the lifts, I am happy about that.

This just goes to show you that you have to switch things up and shock your system. Your body is the most adaptive machine on the planet so you have to treat as such and shock the shit out of it. I know I have preached this before but I sometimes lose focus on this and need to get slapped from time and time again so I can pay attention to it.

Data Data Data...Sometimes to much is to much.

I have been maintaining a couple of journals to keep track of my progress. I have now come down to using a little journal book that I keep in my back pocket. It is about a 3" X 5" book that has many lines on it which allows me to keep track of each day with the food that I eat and the weight that I weigh. I have evolved from that and am liking it.

I use to weigh myself every day and now I am waiting for every Friday to see my progress. With jogging in the morning everyday, I hope I see more results. I have also been watching my caloric intake to also help with that.

One place where I will not skimp out on tracking data and that is my weight lifting. I need to track the weight and intensity of all of my exercises so I don't forget and where I can see myself push myself to get past the plateaus.

Back Down To 239 Baby!!!

For the last 4-5 weeks I have been off the wagon and was at a constant 242 pounds. This week I have tried to stay on track better and now I am back down to 239. I was so happy this morning. I have been doing cardio during lunch and also back on track for counting my calories. I also have been biking into work add my endurance and stamina have gone up a bit. I have also noticed that my cool down is much quicker and my heart rate comes down a lot faster. I like the feeling of that.

Engineering My Weight Loss

I was asked how I am losing the weight so I though I would share to you all what I said.

-My Article-
I have lost over 30lbs since January 1st of 2008.

In December I looked at myself in the mirror while I was at the YMCA getting ready to go swimming with my kids and I saw a large man with large love handles and a large gut. Even though I am an avid lifter and can gain muscle easier than anything, I have always had a hard time losing the fat. That night I thought for a long time, “How am I going to lose the weight in the way that works for me?” I then came to the conclusion to look at things in the manner as an engineer, which I am. I sat down and started creating my project plan with no dates, I just wanted milestone because if I had dates, I would fail due to inconsistencies found in the human body. Every person’s body is different so no date plan can be successful. I know if I missed a date, I would just give up on the whole thing. After creating my milestones, I then created and FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis). This document allowed me to list out all of the possible means of failure to my weight loss. I had listed out several items that will keep me from losing the weight. A couple of them being my habit of eating at night, eating sweats, and also making sure that I stay at around 2000 calories a day. Now, I did put one more thing down as a possible failure and that was the adaptation of the human body. The human body will adapt to your lifting schedule and cardio schedule in time, so why would calorie intake be any different. I did some research on this and my theory was correct so I cycle my calorie intake of five days at 2000 calories and two days at 2600 calories, give or take an ice cream sundae.

After my FMEA and project plan was created, I then created a data sheet which will track my FMEA occurrence and avoidance, weight training and cardio occurrence and avoidance, weight for that day, and also a little journal spot to document any event or reason of inconsistency (Birthday Cake, Holiday Cookouts, etc.).

The last thing that I created was an IPO (Input Process Output) diagram to show how this all ties together to my body and goal. My inputs are food, workout routines, and environment. My processes are digestion, eating (chewing and eating slowly), and exercising and lifting. And as far as the outputs are…I don’t think you want to know the outputs…or care.

How it feels in comparison to how it should be.

I was working out during my lunch period and lady and I were talking about diets and workout routines. She went on telling me about the meal plan that she is on and she doesn't like the food, but she is losing weight...not feeling really great. She also continued telling me about the strict cardio routine that they spelled out for her. This routine was someone taking their best guess as to how all of this is going to work for her and not how it is suppose to be for her.

I told her that she should take some of the advice from the person training her but to also listen to her body. I have yet to find a book that tells you how to listen to your body to know how the cardio is working or how the meal plan is working. Your body will tell you. My body tells me after I have a burger from a fast food restaraunt that that is not going to make my body feel good. Or if I have some ice cream before working out, I feel like crap and my workout is totally tainted.

I told her as far as a meal plan goes, eat what you like but eat in small portions and eat slowly. A coworker told me to chew 25 times before swallowing....yeah right. Who in their right mind is going to count everytime they chew...not me. I told her to try to taste at least three ingredients when eating, that will make her enjoy her food longer.

Eat when you are mad

DO NOT DO IT! I just got done eating a lot of peanuts and it did not make me feel good even though I wanted to do it so I can feel good. I will talk more about this in the future.

Eat Measureable

In the last couple days I have been eating food that I cannot measure accurately. This posses a problem because then I do not know how much I am taking in. You know me, I love data so I can measure my inputs and outputs. What is nerve racking though is the fact that I am swinging up for weight which I should be maintaining my downward slope for weight. The weekend is coming up so I am thinking about eating high calorie this weekend and then on Monday, start all over and eat low calorie. I hope to see my weight drop to 247 or lower. We will see

Lost 22lbs since January 1st.

It has taken me 2.5 months to lose 22lbs and I feel great and everyone tells me that I look like I have been losing weight. Before I took on this challenge to lose the weight I was afraid of losing my strength during the process. I have lost zero strength throughout this entire thing. I actually had a great heavy day on Monday and increased my dead-lift by 75lbs. I was amazed that I had that much of an increase even though I have cut down my quantity of food. I eat 6-7 times a day and eat a lot of protein, but at no point have I lost any strength or muscle. I love it.

Habits form in 21 days.

Because I have been eating cookies and some other junk food, it is going to be hard to stay away from that stuff all this week. I am waiting here at a Saturn's dealership to get my free oil change and they are cooking cookies...the good kind. You know, the kind that was made with real butter and the sugar is just filling the room. I am only having coffee because that is going to be my treat from this stuff. I had some fruit at the house before I came over so I am good on my sugar needs but they sure do smell good.

This last weekend I have been eating to much and also pies and cookies....to much of those too. I see this coming week to be a little difficult to stay on track but I have to be strong and keep on track. It does take 21 days to form a habit and those habits have been in place for over 60 days so I think going off of the wagon for a short while will not hurt anything.

Stay On Track!

It is hard to lose the weight (currently 20lbs lost) but it is even harder to stay on track and not enduldge in sweets and junk foods. My grandfather-in-law past away and we came back home to see all of the family and be around for the funeral. While coming up, we stopped at Arby's and I almost justified the fact of getting a burger or at least some kind of roast beff. I ended up turning both of those down and got a salad with no dressing...but it was hard. My wife actually helped a little with keeping me on track even though she got a roast beef sandwhich. But I tell ya, you really need to avoid all of this if you want to make it easy to stay on track. It is almost impossible to stay the coarse with these obsticles in the way.

Just remember your goals and try to reach them with no excuse.

Using Products To Lose The Weight Part 2

I keep seeing and hearing people say that “Oh I drink this stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I lose the weight.” How is that a way to live? I mean, I count my calories to help me lose the weight and I am eating fine. Once I am down to the weight that I want to be I will stop the extreme calories count and go to just maintenance of my weight. Because I now know what to do I am not worried about it. But this “not worrying about it” will only happen once I have reached my goal weight.

The reason why I am talking about this is because I over heard a lady at work here say that she is drinking Advantage Supplement Drinks so she can lose some weight. She would not eat a banana, orange, or apple which was provided at our training session because she said that she doesn’t want to ruin her diet and that there are too much sugar in the fruit. WHAT THE HELL!? Fruits and vegetables have natural sugars that, I think, should be used instead of actual sugar. I was eating oranges and bananas and I was satisfied with only 240 calories taken in for those two items. It was a great source of fiber and also a good sweet satisfier. Because of the fruit, I didn’t eat the pastries that were there.

I wish more and more people would just think about how things were when we did not have “Drinks” and other products to help us lose weight. Go cave man when you are eating and you will realize how sweet fruits are and how great tasting veggies are.

Losing Weight Like an Engineer Should

I am now down to 251lbs which is one pound away from my first goal of 250lbs. The reason why I have been losing weight so consistantly is because of my food selection, counting calories, eating 6-7 times a day, cycling my calories, exercise and weight trianing.

As you know I am an engineer and in being one I analyze my numbers everyday, from my calorie intake (total and portion size) to my weight that I am lifting. I make sure that I also supply the demand as it is necessary. Because I eat 6-7 times a day, I make sure that I have consistant numbers for my calorie intake per portion per meal. Now, their is one varient that I look at that is not consistant to engineering practices and that is cycling my calories. Because the human body is so adaptive, I change my calorie intake for a couple of days and then go back to my normal intake. This allows the body to ramp up the metabolism and then use that momentum to burn on the days that I am at my low calorie intake days. This allows the body to then burn the fat and nothing else which is evident after two days of eating at high calorie rates and then dropping down. About one to two days later I will lose another pound or two...awesome.

I will be talking more about using lean six sigma on weight lose and also JIT processes for food intake.

Using products to lose the weight

I was talking to a guy at the gym and he was talking to me about all of the stuff that he wants to buy and currently using to lose weight. He rattled off three things that he is taking which he relies on everyday and I just thought to myself that if he spent that money on healthy foods and more natural alternative, he would lose weight. So many people are dependant on chemicals to do the job quicker and easier with little to no work. Sometimes this makes me sad to know that the world will eventually become weaker body and mind and become the end to our world.

Eating Slower for Smaller Meals

After eating seven meals a day, my stomach has shrunken down so much that I cannot at all eat what I use to. So what I suggest is to eat slower and enjoy the taste of the food when you are out. This way you will fill up on less food like you are suppose to.

Modular Eating

Like I have said before in the past, I am an engineer and I like my data so I can measure performance and progress. I am also a father who enjoys playing with my children. I do not have time to measure and analyze the food that I eat to maintain my calories. I rely on canned tuna potatoes and measuring cups for oatmeal. I also do pre-measurements so I can then grab a grapefruit or egg and know the calorie content so I can just write it down and call it a day.

Keeping to a modular rule on food and simple measurements will keep you on track and also accurate to a degree of plus or minus 10%.

Eating Out and Feeling Like Crap

After eating healthy and whole foods, a couple of days of eating out only made me sick to my stomach. We went on vacation which lasted for 7 days. I enjoyed every bit of it but eating out can really take a toll on a person’s stomach which is used to eating whole foods and not fatty greasy food.

Calorie Cycling

I am still learning about calorie cycling but it seems almost straight forward enough. You want to start this cycle by eating over the maintenance calories that will allow you to maintain your body weight. Then after those ten days are done, go five days on 500 calories under your maintenance range. Then after those five days are done, eat two days at above your maintenance range. The reason why this works is because your body ramps up the metabolism when you are eating above your calories range and then when you go down in calories your body is still ramped up and using your fat as fuel. But don’t stay under calories to long or your metabolism will stop and start storing calories which turn into fat.

So to keep this simple, eat whatever you want for ten days. Then on Monday to Friday, eat 500 calories under your maintenance range. Then on Saturday and Sunday eat above your calories range but not to much.

Fat Monitor - Omron Fat Monitor

I just bought a Omron Fat Monitor so I can see where the weight is being distributed. I have been losing weight and am now at 254 which is a total of 16 pounds lost due to my diet. I am also lifting so I wanted to see what muscle is being created and what fat is being burned. Using this monitor is so user friendly and compact, I use it ever morning to measure my body fat percentage.
If you have not learned by now, I am a person that needs the data to support any activity to find consistency and potential areas for improvement. Data data data….I need it.

Having the Energy

While being on this diet, I have had so much energy. Before I could easily could take a nap. Now I find it hard to be tired duing my childrens nap. I also have had a sense of hyperactivity do to my amount of energy.

FYI: I am on vacation and I have been eating as I should and eating my six plus meals is really making me feel like crap. Tomorrow I am going to eat more sensible.