Great Late Night Snack

I was staying up until my wife came home and during that time I was getting hungry. So I was looking to have a low carb snack that tasted great and was simple. I was looking in the refrigerator and found some mushrooms. So I sautéed the mushrooms with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. It was excellent! The key of making good mushrooms is to cook them till they are moist and soft in the middle. Oh, this dish is very low in calories and carbs. I made enough to fill 1.5 cups.

Low Carb or No Carb?

For the last week and a half, I have been experimenting with going no carb. Within that time I have lost over 6 pounds. One thing that I have found is when I ate some carbs this last weekend, I gained a lot of weight....I was also eating till I was full all of the time. I mean I was just shoveling it in. But now it is Thursday and I am down to 234 when I was 241 before I started. I am trying to go more than one week straight through so wish me luck and I hope I can see the results that some of my friends are seeing with this. They have lost about 30 pounds per month.

Just to let you know, I have always been against low or no carb diets. Fruits and some starches are just to good for you to pass up. I plan on going back on my normal diet once I hit a certain weight. I will keep you posted.

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.

First Week Down and No Sweats!!

Well, I am down my first week of being on the "wagon" and I have not had any sweats. I have eating once late at night but that was Friday night and it was not very much food. I have been using coffee as my late night snack and as a filler for when I want to have that ice cream or cookie. Since it is about 5 calories per one cup of coffee, I am not counting how many I drink especially when I am using it to replace the need for sweats.

On Wednesday, I weighed myself and I was at 229lbs and had 21% body fat. My goal is still 200lbs or about 10% body fat. Amanda and I were talking about quiting the YMCA again and we still have a hard time justifying it for me and kids. I mean that we were talking about getting rid of it because we don't use it that much for the kids and I use at least three times a week. I would like to use it more with the kids for swimming or something else.

The sweats are killing me this time.

Last time I wanted to lose weight I had a little trouble staying away from the sweats. This time, it is just killing me. So I am going to create a list of the sweats that I have missed so I can come back and revisit them once I lose the weight that I want to lose. I need to lose 10 pounds before I can have sweats again. Once I have done that then I will eat whatever is on that list and enjoy each and one every one of them. UNTIL THEN...NO SWEATS AND LATE NIGHT EATING.

I have been doing pretty good about the late night eating but most of my focus is on the sweats.

Importance of Omega 3 Video

I received a comment from a reader yesterday about the Omega 6: Omega 3 ratio post stating how she thought I would be interested in this video...I was and it was very cool to show an Omega 3 nourished rat over an Omega 3 malnourished rat. Comes to show how eating your greens and the proper meats really will go a long way with human development and maintenance. I have recently started adding crushed flax seed to my eggs after I cook them in the morning to make sure that I get a good dose of some Omega 3 right away in the morning. I also eat tuna and salmon regularly because it is such an important fatty acid that most Americans lack.

With our kids, we have always been concerned with their diet especially with getting the right amounts of Omega 3 and that is why we nursed them both till they were two years old. World average for nursing is in the area of 4 years and national standard for US has now been bumped up to 2 years...it is about time.

I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did...short and to the point.

Thank you very much Susan Allport for the video and good luck with the book. Susan Allport is the author of "The Queen of Fats" and if you wish to learn more, please go to her website www.susanallport.com to read more about Omega 3.

What is the proper dose of Omega 6 : Omega 3

Studies have shown us that taking the proper dose of omega 6 and omega 3 is beneficial for our health. In many cases, it has been shown that these two fatty acids can help in the fight against obesity.

Sounds great right, wrong. Omega 6 and Omega 3 are very good fatty acids but with the improper ratio of the two, can actually cause obesity and cancer. The magical ratio to try to maintain for weight lose and general health is 3-4:1 Omega 6:Omega 3.

Today Americans are taking in about 15-20:1 due to the oil used in our fried foods and other cheap oils. People are eating to much which is the cause of our on growing obesity and cancers. Studies have shown that the balance of these two fatty acids are very important and to those who wish to live a healthy good life need to keep this ratio in mind.

Here is an article which helps explain this a little further.

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.

Jogging...that's what I said

So there I was, slightly jogging with my two dogs and then finding myself jogging farther and farther and then I was almost done with my route so I decided to keep going. The next day I did it again and I was almost enjoying it.....me enjoying jogging....never, but in this case I think it because of the weight that I have lost and stretching that I have been doing to my feet and legs. I stretch every morning now for about 30minutes before I go out with the beasts.

Starting it Up again. Goal is 200lbs.

I have started to watch my calories again and my new goal is to reach 200lbs by this years end. I am currently at 237 so I am down a total of 3lbs since I started on January 2nd. I have to make sure I get my cardio in somehow which I think will have to be every night for about 30-60min walk with the dogs. I want to upgrade that to a 30min jog but we will see.

My other goal is to also bulk up in muscle, for which I plan to do more low reps and high weight. My first goal is to find out my one rep max and then I can figure everything else out.

I also have to make sure I get my body fat percentage figured out before I get to deep into this. Because once I start bulking up, I want to see how much of muscle will be put on once my weight slowly goes up.

I can talk myself into eating and doing anything.

I just wish I could talk myself into doing the right thing and keep to it. This last weekend, I talked myself into eating alot of fried chicken, ice cream and cake, and even more ice cream during the week, which really pissed me off because I was working on not eating anything like that but I felt I should because I was hungry for sweats. I have been really good for the last couple of days and I hope I can keep this up for the next 30 pounds. I really need to just keep my head down and get the job done because I know I will keep the weight off once I have hit my goal.

Been good all this week, 237!!!!

I have dropped down to 237 which makes me feel like I am back in control of my weight loss. I have been determined on my diet and am trying to keep my portion size down as much as possible.

Though I have not been weight lifting I feel like I still have some of the muscle still, but I can't wait for the winter hours to come back so I can lift all over again. I am feeling a little stiff which I am trying to stretch every morning and night. I think I will also try to get a stretch session in during lunch.

I have to schedule a physical appointment and see what they recommend for my hip and as a stretching regiment.

My Wife and I are doing it again, and I don't mean sex.

My wife has been saying how she is not happy with her tummy. I m also unhappy with my weight loss progress. So starting tomorrow. Her and I are watching what we eat again down to a caloric intake. I have also be taking out coffee from my diet for a whole month and also sweets like ice cream and candy. I am just going to take it out all together so I don't have any temptations. Wish us luck and I will keep you all posted.

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.

First Day back on the Wagon...I suck!

I am currently on my first day back on the wagon. I have so far failed, miserably. After going through the whole day, I finally had two burgers and later on at 10:00pm I had some Eggo waffles, but the good thing is I am not gaining anymore weight. I have kept off what I have lost thus far. I will do better tomorrow. I am thinking about not having coffee in the morning but having it at night so then I can take in more water throughout the day instead of lacking on water like I did today.

I will try to do better tomorrow.

What do you do when you fall off the wagon?

I have fallen off the wagon but have not gained any weight. I have been finding myself justifying eating out and eating ice cream and everything. I have been also over eating and eating at night for the last month or so. I have been doing home improvements and "haven't had the time" to watch what I am eating or working out. My workout is really my home improvements but i have not been eating very healthy. The nice thing is that I am still eating in the same manner that I have been using to lose the weight, I am just eating more crap than I am use to. I chew my food completely before I swallow. I have also been drinking a lot of water which helps keep everything nicely lubricated.



This is how I plan on getting back on the wagon.



First, I have been reviewing why I went off the wagon and what was the main driver. Then I looked at how to stop those actions and get back on track. So I identified that I was eating junk food, eating at night, and also eating a lot of food in one sitting. Sometimes I would eat fast enough that I would get full...to full. My wife and I have also been eating a lot of beef for supper, mostly steaks. I have also been eating more than I need of that steak. So what am I doing to make sure that this does not happen again? I am posting my results from my FMEA on the refrigerator so my wife and my family can see my progress. It is harder to cheat when you have many people looking over your shoulder. So I am creating my FMEA sheet for everyone to see.

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.

The Supporting Wives - This one is for you.

During the journey of finding that skinny guy inside each and every one of us, we can't neglect that one person who has been through our victories and failures. I found this picture the other day and I think it speaks for itself. To all of the wives who have stood by their guy and helped them lose the weight that they have been working so hard for, "This one is for you."

Losing weight slowly to avoid extra skin

I have been losing weight at about a rate of 1.5-2 lbs a week. The last two weeks I have hit a plateaus which allowed my body to shrink down. I have taken some pictures and it shows that my skin has gotten tighter which is showing more definition in my body. I think during that period of time, my body was trying to get the rest of the body to form up to what it should look like.

It is important to slowly lose the weight because otherwise you will have a lot of skin left over and no where to put it. It is also a necessity to drink lots of water because as your skin shrinks back to normal the skin needs to have and maintain it elasticity by drinking water.