 Purple Belt
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My weight loss log
I've decided to put a running diet log on the board for a couple reasons. First, I need all the motivation I can get, and if people are watching me, I'll be less apt to lapse. Secondly, I'm happy to accept the advice of those on the forum who know more than I do.
The situation:
Two and a half years ago, I was consistently weighing in at 160 - 170 pounds. At the time, I was training of course, primarily in Tulsa. Six days a week typically. Muay Thai 3 nights a week and at the boxing gym two nights a week. Sunday I would devote solely to lifting and road work.
I was in graduate school at the time, taking only 3 classes a semester, and working on the side as a teahing assistant in the lab and as a freelance writer on the side, so basically I was occupied with school and work an average of only 4 hours every weekday, giving me lots of time to devote to training and improving my body, strength, athleticism, speed and skill.
Well, I left school and accepted an offer to manage a publishing company. Long story short,
training ceased and I was working in many cases 10 to 16 hours a day. A week and a half ago, I stepped on the scales and weighed 211 pounds. That was pretty much a breaking point for me. So I sat down and wrote my goal - reaching 185 pounds by the end of the first week of November, and at that point going to train with the guys at Lovato, since I've moved to Oklahoma City.
Tonight, I weighed in at 202 pounds.
Here's what I'm doing:
For at least the past year, I've been eating out every meal. Rich foods, primarily, though I mixed in some sushi and other lighter dishes at the Japanese restaurants occasionally. Almost always, those dinners were accompanied by alcohol, generally beer. And not the light kind.
I hadn't been eating breakfast at all, and generally ate restaurant sandwiches for lunch, followed by a latte to take back to the office. Not exactly ideal.
Anyway, for breakfast now I'm doing a protein shake and taking thermogenics with it.
For lunch, I purchased some turkey steaks and chicken breasts, and I've been cooking them and partitioning each day and adding greens in. Very small portions. Taking the other half of my thermogenics after lunch. And I'm obviously cutting out the latte. The guy at the coffee shop actually banged on the window the other afternoon as I was walking past to buy some snuff at the cigar shop.
For dinner, I've been eating salads with meat.
And I've been drinking lots of water every day.
I work out at night. Things have been challenging since I severely rolled my ankle and did some ligament damage 6 weeks ago. My ankle is gradually recovering, but I still can't run. I can jog a lap or two before the pain sets in.
I've been doing little things when I get the time - stretching, body weight exercises at home.
At the gym, I wrap up in a hooded sweatshirt and do 20 to 30 minutes on the bike. However much I can stand. Then I lift, rotating muscle groups daily. After I'm done lifting, I sit in the sauna until I feel like I'm going to pass out.
At this point, my food cravings are decreasing, especially during the day. Night is the difficult time.
A good reason for this: For the past year and a half I've drank to excess at least every other night, and occasionally went through periods where I would drink 8-12 beers every night, trying to alleviate the stress of my job.
I decided I had to stop at the beginning of last week. I drank Friday night, heavily, and had a glass of wine last night. I've been fortunate this point not to be suffering any withdrawal symptoms, though I do occasionally crave a jager bomb chased with a six pack or two.
My drinking has possibly been the biggest cause of my weight gain. Cutting it out is not only critical to my weight loss goals, but also my general health and happiness.
One thing I'll need to do soon is purchase a new ECA stack, or another good thermogenic that isn't so strong that it will have me tweaking out all day. Gotta be sharp and function properly. Hopefully, you can help with some advice. I'm currently taking some Ripped Fuel I bought about six months ago and never got around to taking until now.
I expect to plateau soon, possibly this weekend if I had to guess. At that point, I'll have to switch gears without becoming frustrated. That's always the hard part.
I'll sporadically update this.
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