Day 37/63 – May 30th Food Log
Here’s my food log for today. Didn’t eat enough today. Not a workout day, but still, I should be keeping calories at least around 2200. I screwed up my eggs this morning by overcooking them and forgetting the salt – was in a rush. I couldn’t eat them – it was like eating bland rubber :| I can’t usually stand wasting food, but I took one bite and almost threw up…
| Cals | Fat | Carb | Prot | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Meal # 1 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cereals, oats, regular and quick and instant, without fortified, cooked with water, with salt, (oats) ( 1 cup ) | 145 | 2 | 25 |
6 |
| ON 100% Whey – Rocky Road ( 1.5 serving ) | 180 |
2 |
5 | 36 |
| Strawberry Jam – PC Twice The Fruit ( 1 tablespoon ) | 25 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 2 – Meal # 2 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey or chicken breast, prepackaged or deli, luncheon meat ( 3.5 slice (1 oz) ) | 109 | 2 |
0 |
22 |
| PC Flax Tortilla ( 0.5 serving ) |
100 |
3 | 16 | 3 |
| Mayonnaise, low-calorie or diet ( 0.5 tablespoon ) | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 – Meal # 3 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
0 |
| Olive oil ( 0.25 tablespoon ) | 30 |
3 |
0 | 0 |
| Onions, mature, raw ( 0.25 large ) | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Spaghetti, whole-wheat, dry ( 1.5 oz ) | 149 | 1 | 32 | 6 |
| Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 4 oz, with bone, cooked, without skin (yield after bone removed) ) | 144 | 3 |
0 |
27 |
| Tomatoes, raw ( 0.5 large whole (3″ dia) ) |
19 |
0 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 – Meal # 4 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey or chicken breast, prepackaged or deli, luncheon meat ( 3.5 slice (1 oz) ) | 109 | 2 | 0 |
22 |
| PC Flax Tortilla ( 0.5 serving ) | 100 |
3 |
16 | 3 |
| Mayonnaise, low-calorie or diet ( 0.5 tablespoon ) | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Almonds, unroasted ( 15 almond ) | 104 | 9 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 – Meal # 5 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
| Olive oil ( 0.25 tablespoon ) |
30 |
3 | 0 | 0 |
| Onions, mature, raw ( 0.25 large ) | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Spaghetti, whole-wheat, dry ( 1.5 oz ) | 149 | 1 | 32 |
6 |
| Tomatoes, raw ( 0.5 large whole (3″ dia) ) | 19 |
0 |
4 | 1 |
| Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 6.5 oz, with bone, cooked, without skin (yield after bone removed) ) | 234 | 5 | 0 | 44 |
| Our Compliments Skim Cheese String ( 1 serving ) | 60 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 – Meal # 6 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
| Strawberries, raw ( 5 large (1-3/8″ dia) ) |
27 |
0 | 6 | 1 |
| Yogurt, plain, nonfat milk ( 0.5 cup (8 fl oz) ) | 68 | 0 | 9 | 7 |
| True Protein Casein Mix ( 1 serving ) | 110 | 0 | 0 |
26 |
| Total | 1976 | 46 | 169 | 222 |
Day 36/63 – May 29th Food Log
Here’s my food log for yesterday. Would have posted it last night, but was up late working and wanted to get right to bed to make sure I got my 7 hours of sleep.
So far I’ve been sticking to the intake I was shooting for. Minor tweaks – balance out the carbs/protein a bit, but otherwise I think it’s fine.
| Cals | Fat | Carb | Prot | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Meal # 1 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Egg, whole, raw ( 2 large ) | 149 | 10 | 1 |
12 |
| Egg, white only, cooked ( 2 white ) | 33 |
0 |
1 | 7 |
| ON 100% Whey – Rocky Road ( 1 serving ) | 120 | 1 | 3 | 24 |
| Cereals, oats, regular and quick and instant, without fortified, cooked with water, with salt, (oats) ( 1 cup ) | 145 | 2 | 25 | 6 |
| Strawberry Jam – PC Twice The Fruit ( 1 tablespoon ) | 25 | 0 |
6 |
0 |
| 2 – Meal # 2 ( 1 serving ) |
0 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 2 oz, with bone, cooked, without skin (yield after bone removed) ) | 72 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| PC Flax Tortilla ( 0.5 serving ) | 100 | 3 | 16 |
3 |
| Spinach, raw ( 0.5 cup ) | 3 |
0 |
1 | 0 |
| 3 – Meal # 3 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 5 oz, with bone, cooked, without skin (yield after bone removed) ) | 180 | 4 | 0 | 34 |
| PC Flax Tortilla ( 1 serving ) | 200 | 5 |
32 |
6 |
| Spinach, raw ( 0.5 cup ) |
3 |
0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sauce, KRAFT Barbecue Sauce Original ( 0.5 tablespoons ) | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 – Meal # 4 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
0 |
| Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 2 oz, with bone, cooked, without skin (yield after bone removed) ) | 72 |
2 |
0 | 14 |
| PC Flax Tortilla ( 0.5 serving ) | 100 | 3 | 16 | 3 |
| Orange, raw ( 1 cup, sections ) | 85 | 0 | 21 | 2 |
| PW – Post Workout ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
| ON 100% Whey – Rocky Road ( 2 serving ) |
240 |
2 | 6 | 48 |
| 5 – Meal # 5 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Spaghetti, whole-wheat, dry ( 1.5 oz ) | 149 | 1 | 32 |
6 |
| Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 5 oz, with bone, cooked, without skin (yield after bone removed) ) | 180 |
4 |
0 | 34 |
| Tomatoes, raw ( 0.5 large whole (3″ dia) ) | 19 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Onions, mature, raw ( 0.25 large ) | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Olive oil ( 0.25 tablespoon ) | 30 | 3 |
0 |
0 |
| Broccoli, raw ( 1 cup, NFS ) |
25 |
0 | 5 | 3 |
| 6 – Meal # 6 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| True Protein Casein Mix ( 1 serving ) | 110 | 0 | 0 |
26 |
| Strawberries, raw ( 5 large (1-3/8″ dia) ) | 27 |
0 |
6 | 1 |
| Yogurt, plain, nonfat milk ( 0.5 cup (8 fl oz) ) | 68 | 0 | 9 | 7 |
| Total | 2159 | 42 | 191 | 250 |
Day 36/63 – May 29th, 2008 Workout – Konditioning
I was all ready to run outside at Konditioning class today, but for some reason we ended up skipping it. Darn… and I just love running ;) We did end up doing the normal indoor run for a warm up though.
After the warm up, we went into the hardest konditioning class I’ve ever gone to. We started off with some ab work: crunches, flutters, leg raises, etc. We then partnered up and did some really tough wheelbarrow drills. Each drill started at one side of the mats with one partner holding up the other partners legs, then we’d go from one side to the other and back, doing the following:
- walking on hands
- 5 push ups, walk on hands half-way, 5 push ups, walk on hands and then 5 more push ups, walk back
- clapping push ups to the end and walking on hands back
- 1 push up, pull along ground, 2 push ups, pull along ground up to 10
I only made it through the first 2 sets and not even halfway through the last 2. My chest and triceps were just killing me, which made the next set of drills even worse. They were sort of like a wheelbarrow, but in reverse, so we were walking on our hands backwards in a dip position. The first drill was to walk backwards on our hands, then the second drill threw in sets of 5 dips. I barely made it halfway through the first drill. My arms were just too sore to even keep myself balanced.
After that we did ab work with our partners. 1 partner would lay on the ground on their back and hold onto the other partners legs for leverage. We then did sets of leg raises, diagonal leg raises and leg raises with splits. I made it through these ones alright, but had to really push it at the end.
We finished off with some pull ups – hanging from our partners arms as they stood over us and chin ups on the bars.
Definitely the hardest class yet. I’ve never been happier that Friday is my rest day.
Here’s my total #’s for the day:
- 100 Push Ups
- 35 Pull Ups / Negatives
- 30 Chin Ups
- 40 Squats
- 20 Squat Jumps
- 60 Crunches
- 30 Oblique Crunches (each side)
- 80 Leg Raises
Day 35/63 – May 28th Food Log
Here’s my food log from today. I didn’t have time to make a starchy side for dinner. Tomorrow I’m going to cook up a pot of brown rice for the next couple of days. I think that should add just enough carbs/calories to get me up to 2300.
| Cals | Fat | Carb | Prot | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Meal # 1 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Egg, whole, raw ( 2 large ) | 149 | 10 | 1 |
12 |
| Egg, white only, cooked ( 2 white ) | 33 |
0 |
1 | 7 |
| ON 100% Whey – Rocky Road ( 1 serving ) | 120 | 1 | 3 | 24 |
| Cereals, oats, regular and quick and instant, without fortified, cooked with water, with salt, (oats) ( 1 cup ) | 145 | 2 | 25 | 6 |
| Strawberry Jam – PC Twice The Fruit ( 2 teaspoon ) | 17 | 0 |
4 |
0 |
| 2 – Meal # 2 ( 1 serving ) |
0 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
| Apple, raw ( 1 medium (2-3/4″ dia) (approx 3 per lb) ) | 81 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| WW Tortilla – Casa Mendosa ( 1 serving ) | 105 | 3 | 17 |
3 |
| Chicken, thigh, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 2.5 oz, boneless, cooked, skinless ) | 145 |
8 |
0 | 18 |
| 3 – Meal # 3 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PC Flax Tortilla ( 1 serving ) | 200 | 5 | 32 | 6 |
| Mayonnaise, low-calorie or diet ( 1 tablespoon ) | 36 | 3 |
2 |
0 |
| Tuna, canned, water pack ( 4 oz ) |
132 |
1 | 0 | 29 |
| Pickle relish, hot dog ( 1 tablespoon ) | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Apple, raw ( 1 medium (2-3/4″ dia) (approx 3 per lb) ) | 81 | 0 | 21 |
0 |
| 4 – Meal # 4 ( 1 serving ) | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
| Orange, raw ( 1 large (3-1/16″ dia) ) | 86 | 0 | 22 | 2 |
| Almonds, unroasted ( 15 almond ) | 104 | 9 | 4 | 4 |
| PW – Post Workout ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 |
0 |
0 |
| ON 100% Whey – Rocky Road ( 2 serving ) |
240 |
2 | 6 | 48 |
| 5 – Meal # 5 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 5 oz, boneless, cooked, skinless ) | 229 | 5 | 0 |
43 |
| Broccoli, raw ( 2 cup, flowerets ) | 40 |
0 |
7 | 4 |
| Spinach, raw ( 1 cup ) | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Balsamic Spritzer – Hellman’s ( 1 serving ) | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sauce, KRAFT Barbecue Sauce Original ( 0.5 tablespoons ) | 10 | 0 |
2 |
0 |
| Caesar dressing, low-calorie ( 1 tablespoon ) |
17 |
1 | 3 | 0 |
| 6 – Meal # 6 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Strawberries, raw ( 5 large (1-3/8″ dia) ) | 27 | 0 | 6 |
1 |
| True Protein Casein Mix ( 1 serving ) | 110 |
0 |
0 | 26 |
| Yogurt, plain, nonfat milk ( 0.5 cup (8 fl oz) ) | 68 | 0 | 9 | 7 |
| Total | 2210 | 53 | 193 | 241 |
All these numbers… I think my geek is showing. It’s annoying to track, but it will help me fine tune my diet and educate me. After a month of this, I’ll be confident in my ability to keep my diet at the proper calorie level to keep losing weight without having to track everything.
Day 35/63 – May 28th, 2008 Workout – Muay Thai
I found out that I passed my green shirt testing at Muay Thai today! So today I took a class with the advanced students for the first time. Was it ever tough. Everything about it was harder.
The cross fighting was much more dynamic than the usual back and forth combos we practiced. It’s definitely going to take a while to get used to it and I expect that I’ll be getting hit a lot until I get a better sense of incoming attacks. We learned spinning back kicks today too, which is a technique I’ve never tried before. Even the conditioning was tougher. For our ab work, we did 30 full sit ups, 30 twisting sit ups and 30 half spring ups as one long set. By the time we got to the spring ups I was toast and had to stop every 5, but I managed to finish.
I felt like a complete beginner again at class today. Which I think is a good thing. I’m going to try to approach it with an open mind and try to see everything like it’s new again. The best way to learn is to take it in as if you know nothing. I’ve heard a quote similar to that before… just can’t think of the exact wording now.
Now I gotta search for my cup and get a mouth guard… and a bag that I can fit all this stuff into including my shin guards. Can’t wait to do more cross-fighting though!
Here’s the workout numbers for today:
- 100 Push Ups
- 20 Pull Ups / Negatives
- 10 Chin Ups
- 60 Squats
- 20 Squat Jumps
- 80 Crunches
- 20 Oblique Crunches (each side)
- 30 Leg Raises
Motivation – Sucess Stories – Ryan Hubers
Check out this page at Men’s Health about Ryan Hubers.
Over the course of 3 years, he went from 350 pounds to 185! A loss of 165 pounds – incredible! Imagine what it would feel like to carry a 165 pound person on your back all your life. Now imagine how different it must feel to be rid of that weight. Personally, I already feel a lot lighter on my feet after losing 67 pounds, but I still have a long way to go and I’m excited to see the differences that future progress will bring.
Ryan’s story stresses consistency again which is a recurring point across all of the success stories I’ve read. The only way to achieve something good is to go out and do it. No matter how motivated, talented or knowledgeable you are, if you don’t actually go out and put in consistent effort, you’ll never achieve what you set out for.
Day 34/63 – May 27th Food Log
Here’s my food log for the day. I copied the table from FitDay, which is a great site for tracking your diet. Once you’ve used it for a while you start to get a good feeling for being able to eyeball your portions and know how many calories you’re taking in.
| Cals | Fat | Carb | Prot | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Meal # 1 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Egg, whole, raw ( 3 large ) | 224 | 15 | 2 |
19 |
| ON 100% Whey – Rocky Road ( 1 serving ) | 120 |
1 |
3 | 24 |
| Cereals, oats, regular and quick and instant, without fortified, cooked with water, with salt, (oats) ( 1 cup ) | 145 | 2 | 25 | 6 |
| 2 – Meal # 2 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Almonds, unroasted ( 13 almond ) | 90 | 8 |
3 |
3 |
| Apple, raw ( 5 oz, with skin, yields ) |
77 |
0 | 20 | 0 |
| 3 – Meal # 3 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PC Flax Tortilla ( 1 serving ) | 200 | 5 | 32 |
6 |
| Mayonnaise, low-calorie or diet ( 1 tablespoon ) | 36 |
3 |
2 | 0 |
| Beef, round, bottom round, separable lean only, trimmed to 0" fat, all grades, cooked, braised ( 4 oz ) | 230 | 9 |
0 |
36 |
| 4 – Meal # 4 ( 1 serving ) |
0 |
0 | 0 | 0 |
| Orange, raw ( 1 large (3-1/16″ dia) ) | 86 | 0 | 22 | 2 |
| Tomato/basil Tuna ( 1 serving ) | 80 | 3 | 2 |
13 |
| PW – Post Workout ( 1 serving ) | 0 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
| ON 100% Whey – Rocky Road ( 2 serving ) | 240 | 2 | 6 | 48 |
| 5 – Meal # 5 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Spinach, raw ( 2 cup ) | 13 | 0 |
2 |
2 |
| Chicken, breast, with or without bone, roasted, skin not eaten ( 5.3 oz, boneless, cooked, skinless ) |
243 |
5 | 0 | 46 |
| Balsamic Spritzer – Hellman’s ( 1 serving ) | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 – Meal # 6 ( 1 serving ) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
0 |
| True Protein Casein Mix ( 1 serving ) | 110 |
0 |
0 | 26 |
| Strawberries, raw ( 5 large (1-3/8″ dia) ) | 27 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Yogurt, plain, nonfat milk ( 0.5 cup (8 fl oz) ) | 68 | 0 | 9 | 7 |
| Total | 2004 | 55 | 136 | 237 |
I would say that this is pretty accurate picture of what I eat in a day on average. Sometimes I have an additional serving of fruit at lunch and sometimes I’ll have another handful of almonds somewhere in the middle there, but I’m guessing that I usually come in between 1800-2200 calories per day on average. I want to raise that up a bit and take in 2000 at the lowest. I also want to increase my carb intake a bit.
So for the most part, my diet is staying the same, but I’m going to make the following tweaks:
- ditch the lunch meat in favour of whole chicken breasts / tuna – it’s cheaper and healthier than deli lunch meat. I typically only get lean cuts of lunch meats, but they are still loaded with sodium and preservatives that I don’t need
- add a starchy side to my dinner meal – brown rice/sweet potato/potato/whole wheat pasta/lentils/beans. My carb intake is pretty low on average and I think that hurts my energy levels during my workouts
- change breakfast to 2 whole eggs / 2 egg whites (from egg beaters) – to lower the fat intake a bit and raise the protein
Other than a few small tweaks and increasing the calories a little bit, I think I’ve been doing pretty well considering I haven’t been tracking my calories at all.
Day 34/63 – May 27th, 2008 Workout – Konditioning
I went to Konditioning class today and we had the usual brutal workout. Started off with some different jogging variations for a warm up and then did 4 sets of 25 push ups. I got through the first set fine, but the rest were tough and I only got through half of the other sets. It will come with time and enough training I’m sure. We also did a Tabata style drill for abs. 8 sets of 20 seconds of maximum effort with 10 seconds of rest in between. My abs felt like fire afterwards! After that we did some squats, more ab work, more push ups and a bunch of other random drills, including 1 legged squats.
I came home and setup my pull up bar then did 10 sets of 2 pull ups / 1 chin up. It is going slowly, but I am improving with those exercises. When I started I couldn’t do any kind of pull up and I could only do half a chin up. I’m just short of a full pull up now and can do chin up and a half. Doesn’t sound like much, but I’ll take it. Supposedly the biggest hurdle with these exercises is being able to do the first one, so we’ll see how it goes in the future.
As far as my workout goals went, I hit the following numbers – including what I did at class and then at home / in the morning. It won’t be an exact count either as some of it is from memory from class, but it should be +/- 5-10.
- 150 Push Ups
- 20 Pull Ups / Negatives
- 10 Chin Ups
- 60 Squats
- 20 Squat Jumps
- 150 Crunches
- 40 Oblique Crunches (each side)
- 100 Leg Raises
It was a good day. I really feel like if I stick to the plan I made today that I will achieve the goals I set out for at the beginning of the challenge.
Day 34/63 – My plan for the last 4 weeks of the challenge
There are 4 weeks left in the Kombat Arts 9 week challenge. I started on April 23rd and over the last 5 weeks, I’ve cut 15 pounds, increased the number of push ups I can do from 24 to 31 and gone from barely being able to hold myself up on the pull up bar to almost being able to do a full pull up. I’m not sure how much my broad jump or box squats have improved, but I’ll set something up soon to get some numbers on those. I know 15 pounds might seem like too much, too quickly, but some of that was vacation bloat / retained water
I’m going to push myself really hard over the next 4 weeks and I’m going to track everything religiously. I’m good at eyeballing portion sizes and estimating calorie counts, but it’s been a while since I’ve really tracked what I’m eating. I did it for a week once a little while after I started and it was both revealing and educational. This time I’m going to track everything I eat for the remainder of the challenge.
I’m shooting for around 2000-2300 calories a day and about 200-230 grams of protein a day. I used a Metabolic Rate calculator and activity included, my caloric needs are about 3300 per day – so a deficit of about 1000 calories which should equal close to 2 pounds of weight loss per week. I still have a good amount of body fat to lose so I’m comfortable with a bigger deficit for now, but when I go under 200 pounds, I’ll likely have to drop the deficit to 500. If I’ve figured it out properly and stick to it, I should finish the 4 weeks at about 215, which was what I wanted to get down to over the course of the challenge. Unfortunately the human body isn’t quite that simple, so who knows where I’ll actually end up.
I’m going to track my workouts better too and am going to shoot for the following daily minimums:
100 Push Ups
20 Pull Ups / Negatives
10 Chin Ups
40 Squats
20 Squat Jumps
50 Crunches
20 Oblique Crunches (each side)
20 Leg Raises
I’ll count anything done at class towards these totals and make up the rest as necessary.
The last thing I’m going to really work on is my sleeping habits. I typically sleep 5-6 hours a night and I’ve read enough to know that this is hurting my progress. I’m going to try very hard to get 7-8 hours a night of solid sleep. It will be interesting to see how much progress I make this month – with these changes to my habits and consistency, it should be my best month ever. I’m looking forward to it!
Day 34/63 – Halfway Check in
There’s 4 weeks left in the Kombat Arts 9 week challenge – just over halfway through. It’s been going really well for me so far. I feel much more vibrant and awake than I did when I started. Of course that’s a biased comparison as I started a couple of days after I got back from a 2 week vacation – so I was bloated and feeling lethargic from one too many vacation indulgences.
I did a weigh in this morning – in the month I’ve been back from vacation I lost all the bloat and then a bit more! Here’s the updated numbers:
As of May 27th, 2008
Weight: 222.6 (-55.6 / -67.4)
Body fat %: 26.6 (-9.3%)
Hydration %: 50.4 (+6.4%)
Close to being down 70 pounds from when I started eating better back in mid June 07, and down 55 from when I started working out at the end of July 07. The loss has been pretty consistent… there were some stagnating points and some quick drops, but overall it’s been an average of about 5-6 pounds a month. I’ve definitely gained some muscle mass from when I started and my strength and endurance have gone up a lot – taking a slower approach has kept me losing mostly fat as opposed to mostly muscle, so I’m really happy with that result. I’m starting to get a little bit of definition too, but I’ll definitely need to get under 200 to really start seeing it.
When I first started I set my first yearly goal at 220 pounds – I should hit that in a couple of weeks! Going to get myself a nice reward for sticking to it… thinking of picking up a freestyle snowboard for the coming season. I’m working towards being under 200 by the time winter rolls around – I really want to work on my freestyle snowboarding tricks, so less weight to pick up for jumps and less weight landing on my knees will be good.