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.

Make money for blogging

One of my reasons as to why I have started a blog was to make money and also document my thoughts as I was trying to lose weight. I just found one way to make some money and that was by submitting posts on subjects that I have interest in and was able to document my two cents. The site is called get paid to blog. This is my first post on that matter and I am going to see how easy it really is. I see people on this site make about $19k just for writing about stuff. To make that kind of money for just being able to write about topics would make me just ecstatic for the opportunity. I heard about this from stumbling upon a blog from my blog-rush membership and they had this on their site so I thought I would take a look and see what the whole deal was about. The site is very user friendly and it seems to be lagit so that is exciting. I hope I am privileged to the “opportunities” that cover health and fitness because then I would be blogging about things that would not pertain to this blog what so ever. We will see if I get paid to blog or not.



Now, if this does not let me get paid to blog then I will let everyone know about it and I am sure they would love that kind of advertisement. I will give them a fare chance to wow me and if so, you might hear more about this.

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.

Gazelle Edge

Who likes to use an elliptical machine? I know I do and enjoy the random setting for terrain. We also bought a Gazelle Edge…lower model for $74.00 plus shipping and handling. My wife uses it because she is light enough I am a little over the weight limit. It is so nice to have because as it’s ability to fold up and store away. It folds down flat and rolls to the place that you want to store it…very nice. It does not have the adjustable tension so you can make it a uphill workout or a down hill workout. You are able to lean forward or backward to increase the workout on your legs or arms. The nicest feature of the gazelle is that fact that it is so quite to use. I can barely hear my wife on it while I am watching TV.

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.

The Plateaus Will Subside

I have been at 257 for the last week time frame. I have been noticing that the decimal point is coming down as I weigh myself everyday. I understand the difference in weight from day to day but I have been so consistent in weight that I can see the recession in weight as time goes on.

I am staying true to my diet with the occasion of a treat which is well deserved. I have been keeping my calorie intake to the same day-to-day and still lifting and doing cardio. I have a fat monitor coming to see what my progression is in fat loss. I want to make sure that the fat % goes down and the muscle % goes up. If I am able to maintain that scale then I will keep to what I am doing. If not then I will have to do something with my diet because my workout is mostly maxed out.

I saw an article on calorie cycling and I am very interested in that. My wife found a site that can give you the day-to-day cycle of calories for the weight loss that you want to see. Everything is going well so I am staying on track and keeping it together. After my first 10 pounds I went out to dinner and did not count a thing. I lived to eat that day. The next time I lose 10 pounds, I will do the same thing (7 more pounds).

Eat to live. Not, live to eat.

I am currently at 261lbs. I have been having a moto that has helped me get through my diet. I am eating to live and not living to eat. I eat plain oatmeal, plain tuna and potato, and plain salad. I am only eating the food that is necessary for me to live and be energized for my kids and diet.

I have increased my calories throughout the day so I am not taking in so many calories at night. It seems to help with my hunger and also with the energy that I need for my workouts. We went out to dinner the other night and mywife and I had steak and fish along with our salads which I just pigged out on. I put a little bit of oil and vinager so I was pretty well satisfied by the time out dinner arived.

This weeks goal:
Reach 259 for weight. I have not weighed that much since I was in college and that was over 5 years ago. This means I will have to lose 2 pounds this week. I think I am out of the water weight loss stage and am in the fat weight lose.

I have lost weight!!!

At the beginning of the year, I was weighing in at 270lbs. I have gone down to 261, but I am sure that that is mostly water weight. I have been counting my calories more so than I have before in the past. I have been trying to stay around 1800 calories for extreme weight lose. The doctors have told me that it would be fine this way until I have to lose 25 more pounds. Then I should up my calories so I don't hurt myself. I have been eating seven times a day and keeping that hunger at bay. I have been having very little waste so I know I am utilizing the food in my system.

My Meal Plan:
1st Meal: 2 eggs scrambled and one medium size grapefruit.
2nd Meal: 2/3 cup oatmeal plain with nothing else added.
3rd Meal: 1 can tuna and one potato (salt and pepper to taste) nothing else.
4th Meal: 9 baby carrots (That is all I need to keep hunger at bay).
5th Meal: 2/3 cup oatmeal plain with nothing else added.
6th Meal: Supper - My wife makes something different everyday to get away of that boring routine that I have throughout the day. We keep it at around 400-475 calories.
7th Meal: 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 1/2 banana

My Training:
Monday: 30min cardio during lunch and weight train (1hr 15min) at night.
Tuesday: 30min cardio during lunch and nothing at night
Wednesday: 30min cardio during lunch and weight train (1hr 15min) at night.
Thursday: 30min cardio during lunch and nothing at night
Friday: 30min cardio during lunch and weight train (1hr 15min) at night.
Saturday: Free Day - Though meals are still being counted and staying within 1800 cal.
Sunday: Free Day - Though meals are still being counted and staying within 1800 cal.

I have been feeling great and my lifts are still doing well. I have been feeling really good and cleaned out. My wife posed one more challenge, to take coffee out of my diet for 14 days. I have been sticking to it. I just have hot water instead of coffee.

Finger Eleven - Paralized

Plantar Fasciitis Part 2

Within the last three weeks from now, my foot has been really feeling good...no, great. My foot didn't start feeling better until a friend of mine from work found some scrap plastic rod, about 2.5inches in diameter. I have been stretching my foot on it and messaging my foot as-well.

The key to curing yourself of this is to stretch.

New Years Resolution

I am not big into new year resolutions in fact I always roll my eyes everytime that someone tells me that they have a ew years resolution. I am currenty weighing 275 and my goal is to weigh 250 by the end of the year. Lets see is I don't eat my own words.

When work takes over.

I am not going to the gym tonight because I need to get some work done before tomorrows meeting. My live has been getting more and more hectic than usual and I need to figure out how to bring it back to a slower speed because things are getting to quick for me. I want to get back top the time that I was working on lifting plans and feeling good about it. Now I feel like I should create another plan because I have not been going to the gym like I should.

Does anyone have experience with bringing yourself down a notch after being on the fast lane for awhile?