Follow Up – A month without TV
Just over a month ago I unhooked the TV in my bedroom. When I’m at home now I very rarely watch TV at all anymore – I still watch a couple of movies a week and will sit down for maybe 15 minutes at a time when I’m downstairs cooking or eating dinner. I’ve dropped down my video game playing to maybe 2-3 hours a week too. I now believe that TV is a huge time sink and there is so much more I should be doing rather than watching the tube.
Over the last year I’ve steadily reduced my time in front of the tube, but I’m now at an all time low and I really think I’m going to stay there. In the past I would easily spend 5-6 hours a night sitting at the TV watching mindlessly or playing games, with weekends often being even worse. It would easily add up to 30-40 hours a week. 40 hours – that number is absolutely mind boggling to me now. I used to think about what I would do with my spare time if I didn’t have to work. But here I was – spending as much time on the couch as I was at work – so that excuse pretty much went out the window for me.
I used to get home from work and have no energy and just plop down on the couch. Of course this lead to me sitting around, gaining weight and losing muscle – which in turn lead to me having even less energy. It turned into a life-long downward spiral until eventually I became what I was – out of shape, almost 300 pounds and unhappy. But the spiral works in reverse too – I had to force myself at first which was the hardest part, but then my energy levels started to climb and it became easier and easier. My mind started working differently and before I knew it, I had a lot of energy even after a tough day at work.
It’s given me time for everything I consider important in my life – being active, seeing friends and family, cooking, reading, painting and so much more. I used to consider it ‘important’ to keep up on shows and watch every episode. Now I realize that instead of watching other people’s lives, I should be living my own.
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 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!