Blunders, successes, and whatnot

It's been an interesting week or so since I last blogged. I've had a few ups & downs and have some stories to tell...hopefully there's something useful in here that helps someone else.

Stupid Menu Tricks

Last Friday my wife and I dropped the kids off at a birthday party (yay!) and headed to Islands for dinner. I'd worked out in the morning and ate conservatively throughout the day and as a result, I knew that I had plenty of calories to spare and could reasonably expect to enjoy a burger guilt-free. And I was right. But nothing's ever easy...so here's what happened: I grabbed the nutritional info sheet when we sat down and quickly saw that the regular burger was about 850 calories...sliders (on the appetizer menu) were "only 750". Milkshakes were about 500 calories...and fries were about 450. Ok...order the sliders to shave off a couple, and get fries and a milkshake. That's about 1700 calories, which happens to be what i had left for the day. Perfect! The punchline? The sliders were 750 calories per serving and you get two servings...so 750 turned into 1500 calories. Similar problem for the fries - a plate of fries is 5 servings....I shared them with my wife, but I probably ate 3 portions...so that's 1300 calories of fries.

Ugh. My spirits sank after dinner as I looked more closely at the nutritional info and started writing down what I had eaten. As a result of not reading the nutritional info more carefully I ended up doubling the 1700 calories I expected...what had been a great day of burning calories turned into a barely break-even day. I was angry, disappointed and frustrated...and it felt like the entire day was a waste. So...word to the wise: read the nutritional info, but read closely...and be especially wary of appetizers, which may be multiple servings. Days later, I'm still a bit grumpy with myself about this, but I'm chalking it up to experience. Lesson learned. And hey, I feel a helluva lot better than I did three weeks ago. So it's not the end of the world.

Wellness vision, revisited

One good thing that came out of the Burger of Doom is refinement of my wellness vision. In last week's wellness coaching session, we shared our vision statements and I realized that mine needed a lot of work. I had good ideas, but needed to boil my "wellness vision in story form" down into simple bullet points. Cara and I worked on that during dinner...here's what we came up with:

• I role-model physical and emotional wellness for my friends and family
• I am proud of who I am and where I’m going
• I engage in outdoor activities regularly
• I am free of weight-related illness
• I make decisions that actively improve my wellbeing

Better! I'll be reviewing this with my wellness coaches and fellow Losers later today...and will probably refine this just a bit more. But already this gives me a way to define myself that I can be committed to today and work towards continuously.

Frustration

When I weighed in last friday I found that my weight had ticket UP half a pound...but I also took a body fat reading and after crunching the numbers saw that it looked like I had burned off 1 lb of fat and put on 1.5 lbs of muscle. So that's a healthy weight gain and consistent with my goals. That's the conclusion I came to on Friday, and my attitude held up for a couple days...but by early this week I was feeling emotionally down about my weight despite my intellectual analysis. It's hard not to get fixated on the weight number. I want badly to be able to say that I've dropped below 300lbs for the first time in...5 years? 7? So even if gaining weight is good from a long-term perspective, I was really down.

The good news: my wife is great.

I shared my frustration with Cara and she gave me a hug...and pointed out that she's very familiar with how my body looks and feels...and she's noticed a big difference. She pointed out the changes she can see and feel and that helped a bit. It at least reinforced my initial reaction to the weight gain. But because I'm stubborn, I clung to the grumpiness. I'd worked up a good grump and wasn't going down easy! Since then I've taken a close look at my shoulders, arms, and belly...and Cara made me look at the pictures we've been taking of my progress. And while I still am disappointed that my weight ticked up a tad, I have to admit that Cara's right...I'm looking better...and feeling better. Heck, I even noticed today that I've reclaimed a notch on my belt!

More good news: I have a temper!

No...really...it's a good thing. You just have to know how to outsmart yourself. And I'm good at that! Wednesday morning during the workout I made myself mad and let the pent up frustration work FOR me. On the treadmill, walking on an incline as usual, I got mad and said to myself, "what the hell?! Other people can run...get your @ss in gear!" The result: I bumped up the pace for 4 1-minute jogs (5 mph) which got my heart pumping hard but felt satisfying. And because I still wasn't satisfied, I added a 30-second run (6 mph) at the end of two of the jogs. It was hard, and it was tiring, but it felt great to make myself GO! And after 3 weeks of walking regularly, I was suprised and excited to see how doable it was.

I did more of the same while lifting weights. I was working my arms and tiring and decided to get mad about it. "You should be able do do this!" I told myself...so I got mad at myself and pushed harder...and sure enough, it worked! There's something about drawing on some emotional energy that makes it possible to do a bit more. I suppose this is a smaller version of stories you hear about mothers picking up & moving big stuff that's fallen on their kids. Ask them afterwards and they'll tell you they don't know how they did it...and they're clearly unable to do it on demand. But get some adrenaline flowing and good things can happen.

Blah, blah blah...what about food stuff?

No recipes to share today - we didn't do any "interesting" cooking that I can think of since the last time I blogged. But here are my thoughts regarding things that everyone should have in their kitchen...and why:

1. Kitchenaide mixer (or any other heavy-duty stand mixer)
   These are amazing tools - they don't help you lose weight or cut calories, but they make lots of things easier to do - like knead bread dough, or pasta dough...mix cookie dough (in moderation!) or mash potatoes. Trust me. I've never heard anyone be anything other than happy with their Kitchenaide mixer.
2. Immersion blender (aka "Blender on a stick")
   It's not as easy to make a compelling case for the Blender on a Stick as it is the kitchenaide...but they're only about $40 and super handy for making creamy soups...which, by the way, needn't be prohibitively caloric (note to self: post recipes for basic soups)...blending soups in a regular blender can result in an explosion of soup...air pulled down into the hot liquid quickly expands, and can blow the top of the blender taking lots of hot liquid with it, creating a mess...and possibly burning hands. Don't ask me how I know this. I just do.
3. Good knives
   Invest $100 in an 8-inch chef's knife made of high-carbon stainless steel from Solingen, Germany. Wustof and Henckles are good brands...there are others. You'll never buy another knife again, and never need to. This particular kind of steel...from this location, is generally considered to be the finest in the world for cutlery. It's what every professional I know uses. The knives hold an edge well and when they get dull, you can get them sharpened for free at the meat counter of your local Raleys or Bel Aire. And you want your knives to BE AS SHARP AS POSSIBLE! Why? Because cuts from a sharp knife are almost always shallower, hurt less, and heal faster. Sharp knives don't require much pressure, and they cut cleanly. If you're working with a dull knife you'll have to use a lot more force to get the knife through what you're cutting...and if it slips, you'll be putting that energy into your hand...and dull knives don't cut, they tear. Trust me. Knives are supposed to be sharp by their very definition. If your knife isn't sharp you might as well be using a pointed stick. Harrumph!
4. Cheap knives
   One exception to the rule is paring knives. They should be sharp, sure...but honestly, I haven't noticed much difference between a cheap $10 paring knife (3" long or so) and my expensive Wustof paring knife. The biggest reason is that you use paring knives with smaller things that are easier to cut. You're not asking it to do much work, so you don't get the same bang-for-buck that you do out of your chef's knife.
5. V-slicer
   You've probably seen these on an infomercial or two...and really, they're fantastic. Don't bother using one with a tomato...after a couple uses they won't be sharp enough to do the job right. But if you want to make a cucumber salad or have really thinly sliced onions or potatoes, this is the tool for the job. And they only cost $20. If you're a nut (like me) you can blow $150 on a mandoline slicer...they're uber-adjustable, have removable blades that can be sharpened, and can take a nice chunk out of your thumb (don't ask me how I know)...but 99% of the time, the cheap plastic V-slicer does the job just fine.
6. Digital kitchen scale
   If you're counting calories or doing serious baking, then you need to be able to weigh things accurately. A good digital scale will give you results in ounces or grams, accurate to 0.1 ounces or 1g. Can't live without one. I've also got an old-fasioned scale...but it rarely comes off the shelf.
7. Good pans
   Hard-anodized aluminum pans (like the Calphalon brand) are great. Stainless steel is nice too, but require diligent cleaning to keep them pretty. Either way, you want a thick pan that retains heat well and conducts heat evenly to avoid hotspots and scorching. Costco's kirkland brand are perfectly acceptable and reasonably priced. Invest in your pans and you'll be rewarded.
8. Cheap non-stick pans
   There's a dirty little secret about non-stick pans. A couple of them actually...first, any non-stick pan is destined to be thrown away because non-stick finishes eventually wear off or at least become less effective over time. Second, the best "non-stick" pan I own is my cast-iron skillet (no teflon there!) and third, when used properly, ANY pan will be non-stick. Still, teflon pans are handy tools for the kitchen. They make it easy to cook with little (notice, I didn't say "no") fat and it's easy to keep stuff from sticking to them. But don't buy an expensive non-stick pan. Get something inexpensive...a restaurant supply store is a great resource. Buy one, use it, and then toss it when the finish starts to wear out.

That's all for now. Recipes next time...I promise :)

Results!

Two things today...first, results!

I weighed in on friday and got some wonderful feedback: 307.8 lbs. For those of you keeping score at home, that's 11.4 lbs lower than my starting weight (and a helluva lot less than 328 earlier in the year!).

Before you get concerned about me dropping that much weight in 2 weeks, a disclaimer: I'm reasonably sure that 1/3 of that is water weight (I was well-hydrated when I initially weighed in...and friday's weigh-in was in the morning after 30 min on the treadmill)...the other 2/3 of the weight agrees with my net caloric burn over the same period. So figure it's 7 or 8 lbs of real weight dropped...that's still a pretty big number, but not a big surprise for the beginning of this program.

So far, it looks like I'm settling into a pattern that I'm pretty comfortable with, and feel good about sustaining: MWF (workout days) net about -1500 calories; TTh net about -1000 calories...and on the weekend, it's looking like I'll hit the -1000 target on one day and miss it on another. At 3500 calories/lb for fat, that adds up to 2lbs/week. That's a number I can live with - both in terms of being happy about my progress and being able to sustain it long-term (remembering that I don't expect to be done with the weight loss when the Largest Loser program ends).

Ok...that's that. And now, for all my non-intel friends, here's my latest blog post from my internal blog at work:

Last week in our wellness coaching session we discussed "wellness" and came up with a working definition that our group is using:

Mind/heart/body in alignment…dreams/desires/passions match
reality

Physically empowered – not restricted. “Can do
attitude”

Physical health:

· Maximize potential

· Free from ailment

· Full mobility

Sense of wellbeing

· Happy where I am

· Body/self image

· Positive outlook

· Feel good

Perception matches
reality

This week's assignment is to create a wellness vision statement. applying the definition above, describe what I want from my own health/wellness. What does it look like, feel like? What excites me about moving foarward and what makes it important to me?

I'll address each of the 5 themes in turn:

Mind/heart/body in alignment…dreams/desires/passions match reality

I have a personal goal to walk the John Muir trail - as both a tribute to my late Great-Uncle and as a personal challenge. I'm certain that this would be a bad idea given my current health, but I can see myself in the future both wanting to do this and being physically capable of doing so...and at that point, the only obstacle is scheduling (and hey, isn't that what sabbaticals are for?)

Physically empowered – not restricted. “Can do attitude”

Today I'm reluctant to run and play with my kids - I'll get on the floor and wrestle with them, or play catch, but I immediately decline any aerobic play activities...because I've developed a "can't do" attitude...I know I don't have much stamina, and don't like being harshly reminded of it by being out of breath. This is changing - only 2 1/2 weeks into the program, I'm able to do more than before...walking up to the 4th floor of FM7 isn't as tiring as it was before. I can see a version of me (that's not too far away) where I don't feel self conscious about running and playing because I know that I CAN do it. Similarly, I see myself getting my body back into a shape that DOES fit into amusement park rides...so I'm not reluctant to get in line for a roller coaster, dreading the humiliation of not being able to fit into the seat.

Physical health:

I think I've addressed "potential" above, more or less...and I don't have mobility issues as such (other than stamina)...but "free from ailment" resonates with me. I want to hear my doctor tell me that it's time to stop taking blood pressure medication...and decide that I only need to have annual exams, not quarterly ones. Seeing myself as a person who doesn't have self-inflicted ailments (today, all my medical issues spring from my weight)...that's a nice thought.

Sense of wellbeing

This one sneaks up on you. Since reading superhero comic books as a kid and becoming aware of Arnold Schwartzenegger back when he was the greatest body builder ever, I've wished that I could look like that...maybe not to the extremes of professional body builders, but to be able to take off my shirt and not feel self consious...and to have some definition. I've never had a problem with being a "big guy"...and as I mentioned in my external blog, what I really want is to be big AND lean...because it's a body image I've always wanted, and coincidentally will give me a metabolism that enables me to eat more of the foods I enjoy.

So...big and lean...proud of not just how I look, but more importantly where I'm at in terms being in control - even today, I'm more comfortable with my weight and self-image...I'm not much leaner than I was 2 weeks ago, but I know that I'm heading in the right direction. And that's an important difference. All of that adds up to a general feeling of...satisfaction. I've said for years now, that each of us is solely responsible for our current state...I'm where I'm at now because of the cumulative sum of lots of decisions over the course of 43 years. I'm enjoying the subtle difference I feel internally, knowing that every day I'm making decisions that actively improve my wellbeing. It feels good.

Perception matches reality

I read once that lots of overweight men convince themselves that they carry a lot of muscle...that THEIR weight, unlike everyone else's, isn't an accurate indicator of their own health. To a certain extent, I'm guilty of that. It's true that I have a lot of "lean body mass" (200lbs of me is not fat)...and as a result, I'm going to be a big person even when I'm at a healthy weight. But being a naturally big person isn't the same as not being fat. I'm sitting at roughly 35-36% body fat. That's double a healthy number for someone my age and sex. So every time I told myself that I was just a "big guy" or that my BMI didn't fairly represent my health, I wasn't being completely honest. Those are half-truths at best. When I hit my target body fat percentage (17%) I'll be able to honestly say that I'm big, fit, and an exception to the rule of BMI. Until then, I'm just another fat guy :). I look forward to being big and lean.

Ok...that about does it for my homework assignment. Now on to the fun stuff...FOOD!

My wife and I haven't done a lot of interesting cooking over the last week...but we did make something that I thought was worth passing along. I've been watching my nutrition summary on the bodybugg website and have noticed that I'm consistenly waaaay over on my fat intake. In response to that, I've made a couple of changes - started cooking with no-stick spray, for one...and also planning to buy a spritzer for use with olive oil. Anywho...the other thing I did as an experiment was to make a lean version of Ratatouille, a traditional French dish of stewed squash, peppers, and eggplant:

Roasted Ratatouille (measurements are from memory...but precision isn't really necessary for this)

1c Zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium Onion, sliced into wedges
1c eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 cloves garlic, chopped*
1 T extra virgin olive oil 1 can diced tomatoes (buy a low-sodium brand if you can find it)
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2inch dice
1 T chopped basil
1 T capers
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 T red wine vinegar

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
2. Combine the zucchini, onion, and eggplant in a bowl
3. Season with salt & pepper and add the olive oil - mix with your hands
4. Spread the veggies on a baking sheet or roasting pan (don't overload the pan - you may need to make several batches) and roast until the veggies get a little bit browned and tender (10 minutes, more or less)
5. Transfer the roasted veggies into a large bowl
6. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and combine
7. Eat**

Notes:

* Fun food fact: Vegetables in the onion family (garlic, for example) have enzymes inside their cells that, when released, increase the intensity, or "hotness" of their flavor. So...if you like the flavor of garlic (or any other onion) but don't like that flavor to be overpowering, there's a simple secret...the more you cut it, the stronger the flavor will be. Like a really strong garlic flavor? Chop! Want something milder? Just slice the garlic. Milder still? Roast it whole. The same is true when cooking with onions.

**Ok, I made the ratatouilli, now what do I do with it? This is great when served as a vegetable, as a pizza topping, over rice, or (my favorite) as a sauce for pasta or polenta. The most common use on my dinner table is pasta with ratatouille and some grilled chicken or shrimp.

Food!!!

Huzzah!

We had our first monthly "public" weigh-in today. All the losers weighed in privately, then we had a big public shindig with friends, family, and coworkers where each of us was introduced, stepped up to a scale, and then they showed our percentage of weight lost since the competition began.

I tipped the scales at 312.8 lbs, down 2% from my official starting weight - hooray! At 2%, I was middle of the pack; three people managed a 4% loss (!!), another hit 3% and then the majority of us were bunched p at 2%.

The 'bugg reports that I'm burning off about 1% of body weight in fat over a week's time (water accounts for the other 1%). If this keeps up, I'll end up in the 250's when all is said and done.

250.

Wow.

In 1989 I started cooking school...I was 23 at the time and weighed 260. It's hard to imagine being around that weight again.

Anywho...my posting title promised something about food...before I get to recipes, I strongly recommend anyone interested in losing weight (heck, anyone that wants to cook) invest $30 in a digital kitchen scale that's accurate to the 10th of an ounce and also supports metric units. It makes all the difference in the world when you're trying to log what you're eating. ...on to the food:

Breakfast potatos (46 cal. per ounce - assume 2-3 oz/serving):

1lb 3 oz potatos, diced (about 4 lg. red potatos)
1 sm. onion (3.7 oz), chopped
1T chopped fresh sage
1T paprika
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 T garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste
pam

Boil the potatoes until just tender; drain off the water and cool them down with some cold water.

Spray some pam into a hot pan & add the onions. Cook over medium heat until soft and translucent

Add the potatoes and spices

Cook until the potatoes are hot

(if we had any, I would've added 1/2c chopped bell pepper with the onions)

Homemade turkey-apple sausage (40 cal per 1-oz patty...yields about 15 patties)
12 oz ground turkey (or chicken)
1 apple, grated
1 T chopped fresh sage
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 t red pepper flakes

throw everything in your kichenaid mixer (you DO have a kithenaid, don't you?!?!) and mix it on medium speed with the paddle for about 3 minutes or until it gets sticky and starts to ball up...or put it in a mixing boal and mix the bejeezus out of it with a wooden spoon

Drop a mounded tablespoon full (that's what an ounce looks like) into a hot pan with some pam and flatten it bit. Cook it over medium heat - the sugar in the apple tends to scorch if the pan's too hot

you can't overmix this - and frankly, mixing is the most important part. You're not just combining ingredients...as you mix it, the proteins (normally a curly molecule) unwind...and the unwound proteins help the sausage mixture emulsify so that moisture is trapped inside the sausage when you cook it. If you don't mix it enough, it'll be crumbly and dry. Do it right, and it'll be delicious.

BBQ creole shrimp (serves 2 generously - 200cal each - , or 3 167 cal each)
12 oz frozen raw shrimp (shelled and deveined, tails on)
2t chili powder
1t chopped fresh thyme
1t chopped fresh rosemary
3 cloves garlic, chopped
s&p to taste
2T worcestershire sauce
2T lemon juice
2T water
1 t butter

• put the herbs, shrimp, spices, and garlic in a bowl with the shrimp and mix.
• saute the shrimp in a hot skillet with pam over medium heat
• after about 2 minutes, mix the shrimp around a bit and add the wet ingredients and butter
• stir a bit and cook until the shrimp are cooked (when you can't see any blue) and the sauce thickens a bit.

Goes great with garlic mashed potatoes (if you can manage the calories) or with rice.

Last note - I had a bit of an "aha" moment last friday driving home from a wine pairing dinner at Hawk's in roseville (4 light courses and 4 tastes of wine, approx. 1200 cal total). Earlier that day the losers got some 'bugg training - and in the process I got a look at some of the women's calric intake targets. Most of them are in the 1200-16oo calorie range. By comparison, my intake target is 2800 cal/day. Once I got done calculating the calories in the wine dinner, I realized that in an odd way, my size is an advantage for me. My increased intake target is due to my comparatively large lean body mass (LBM) -my weight excluding fat. Anywho, your body burns calories to keep your LBM up & running...which is why trainers will try to get you to build muscle. Building muscle increases your LBM...so you end up burning more calories at rest.

So...I'm not going to stop wanting to eat at nice restaurants. Nor am I going to stop cooking fancy shmancy meals from time to time...and I enjoy wine tasting. My "aha" realization was that I can do all that - I just need to stay big...and lean. With that in mind, my first task (as I see it) is to get lean. Once I get there, or as I get closer, I can start looking at how to change my workouts so that I'm concentrating more on building muscle and less on burning fat. And knowing that doing so will give me more freedom to enjoy food gives me some motivation.

Setting goals

I had a converation with a friend at work yesterday...and a similar one with my trainer this morning about goal setting. Most people that want to improve their fitness focus on "losing weight" and set goals like:

• "I want to lose 10 lbs by summer"
• "I want to lose 2 lbs/week over the next 10 weeks"
• "I'm not going to drink any more soda"
• "I'm giving up ice cream."

I've made similar goals in the past. I'm convinced that they are a recipe for failure.

Don't get me wrong. Goals are good. Where I work, we practice "management by objectives", which is all about setting individual and organizational goals (and aggressive ones at that) and then hitting them.

So...what's wrong with all that stuff? First off, goals should have a few basic characteristics to be of any use:

• Measurable
• Within your domain of control
• Contribute towards your objectives.
• Attainable

Why isn't "lose 10 lbs" a goal? You can measure your weight...it contributes towards your objective of improving your health...and you can control that, right?

Wrong.

Quick. Right now. Go lose weight. I dare you. Lose 1/2 lb.

You can't. At least, not directly.

You don't control your weight. Your weight is (for the most part) the result of lots of other behaviors...especially what you eat and how much excercise. THOSE are things you can control.

So...what are my goals? First, more backstory. During my first meeting with wellness coaches Todd and Shawn we talked about sustainable weight loss. Most sources will tell you to target 1-2 lbs/week as a weight loss target. My coaches said that a better answer is 1% of your body weight (which for most people is 1-2 lbs anyway). So I'm tracking my weight loss in a spreadsheet (complete with graphs) and have trend lines showing where I'd be if I lost 1 lb/week and where I'd be if I lost 1% of my body weight each week. Those aren't goals, but they help me see how my body's responding to my changes in diet and excercise.

Getting back to my goals...I'd like to hit a 17% body fat ratio. Based on where I'm at currently, that translates to an end weight around 230-240...which is 75 lbs less than where I started. But still, I can't control my body fat. So....goals:

1. Stay in the largest loser program through completion
2. Walk an average of 10,000 steps per day each week
3. Hit or exceed my caloric deficit target each day (-750 calories)
4. Be able to do a dip
5. Eat more vegetables
6. Keep eating the foods that I like

There you have it. I can do all of that. I've demonstrated it this week...heck, I'm even going out to Hawks tonight for dinner...the thing is to eat responsibly. I can go to coldstone for ice cream...did so last night...but I know going in that the ice cream is going to be around 750 calories, so I need to eat light throughout the day and/or work out a little bit more to accomodate.

Same thing for tonight - going to dinner with friends, rich foods, wine, dessert. I'm eating everything. Maybe not all of everything. Maybe I choose some things that are a bit lighter.

And that's the other thing that came up regarding goals. They need to be positive. Don't set negative goals about what you're going to give up. Set goals about what you're going to achieve. Make them something you can celebrate and feel good about without reservations. I spent far to long dedicating myself to making delicious food to suddenly pull up stakes and say, "no more!". And I'm not going to devote myself to finding ways to make food delicious without having calories.

Instead, I'll cook and eat responsibly. Food tastes good when it's based on good ingredients and cooked properly. Butter and olive oil taste good. So I'll use them. I'll just use them responsibly, and will be honest with myself about their impact on the caloric "weight" of what I'm eating. And yes, there are some things that I can make that will be low-cal.

My commitment regarding food:

1. I won't sacrifice on flavor.
2. I won't kid myself about nutrition.
3. I will help my teammates (I can't think of the other Largest Loser folks as competitors) with food ideas

Ok...this is Friday; I've got two solid workouts under my belt, I've been logging everything I eat, and have been walking more. How's it going?

I weighed myself unofficially today...312.5 lbs. 6.7 lbs lower than the beginning of the week when I weighed in. A lot of that is water. My guess is that 1.5 lbs of that is fat...my 'bugg tells me I've burned about that many excess calories.

I'm sore from the workouts, feeling great, not hungry, and losing weight. Woot!

Unexpected problems

So...had that first big workout, diligently tracked my food intake...and found myself with an interesting and unexpected issue.

I needed to eat more.

...and I wasn't hungry.

hunh.

Here's the deal: yesterday I burned well over 4000 calories throughout the day (walked over 12,000 steps!) and ate conservatively. By dinner time I had consumed over 2000 calories less than exerted. My target is 750 net calorie loss each day. A number like 2000 puts me at risk of having my body react as if it's starving - shut down the metabolism and burn fewer calories.

So...I had a big dinner, recalculated where I was at for intake, and found that I was still very low...but not hungry. Solution? Homemade chocolate chip cookies! And milk!

Woot!

And I still burned about 2000 calories net.

:)

Packed a bigger lunch today - challege is to make sure I take a quick walk at lunch time (leaving as soon as I stop typing), another before heading home, and then yet another with Cara and the kids after dinner. I want to make sure that I'm still getting some cardio workouts in on the days between my sessions with my personal trainer.

after my walk at lunch...first group wellness counseling session :)

Day 1...er...2!

The story so far:

The company I work for is sponsoring a weight-loss competition ("Largest Loser")...which is inspired by "Biggest Loser". I filled out the 6-page application, reviewed it with my wife and some friends, and viola! I'm a contestant (even managed to place 4th among 82 applicants!).

So...what does this mean? Well, from July 7 through December 12 2009 I'm workin' my arse off so that I can...well...work my arse off. Twelve competitors are given a bevy of resources. We get a free Bodybugg, three weekly hour-long sessions with a personal trainer (woot!), and weekly group sessions with a wellness coach, all with the intent to get us to establish new, healthy habits and in the process lose weight. Oh...and if you win, you get $1000 towards a new wardrobe.

Why would I join this competition? When I graduated high school, I was a pretty big kid weighing in at 180 lbs. Not fat, but not terribly fit. 25 years later, I'm 43 years old and weigh 315 lbs. I'm of the opinion that the only people that have a justifiable reason to be that big are professional sumo wrestlers and NFL lineman. I'm neither of those, which means that by my own definition, I am a fat bastard. Not to worry. I don't call myself a fat bastard to be hard on myself. It's a motivational tool...intended to keep me honest about my situation.

I love to eat. I love to cook. I haven't established regular excersise patterns. That's a handy recipe for getting fat. It works, too! :

Anywho. The competition officially started yesterday. We weighed in, calibrated our Bodybuggs, and were off and running. Based on the data collected by the 'bug (and me logging what I ate) yesterday was a pretty good day: 3355 calories burned all day vs 2213 calories in. That's a 1142 calorie deficit for the day (this kind of deficit is a good thing) vs my 750 calorie target. Yay!

That brings us to today.

I slept with the 'bugg on last night, to compare it's estimate of my overnight caloric burn rate (1 calorie/min) with actual (2 calories/min). Interesting (to me)! Had my first session with the personal trainer - 80 minutes of non-stop activity on the treadmill, lifting weights, doing crunches and situps...the idea is not to rest between activities, but instead to work one musclegroup until you're tired, then work another muscle group while the first one gets some rest. The result is a good sweat and a gradual progression to being pretty worn out all over. It felt great, actually.

Lessons learned:
1) bring a water bottle, dumb@ss!
2) bring a hand towell too so you can mop up the sweat

Checking back in with the 'bugg, the results today are even better than yesterday! I've already burned over 2700 calories and am well on my way to hitting the 3800 calorie target...and will fall short of the 3000 calories worth of food that I'm budgeted.

How does this translate to results? That's the best thing. I'm an engineer. I like math. I like facts. Turns out, there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. My caloric net yesterday was -1100...and I'm on pace to do that again today. That's 2/3 of a pound in 2 days!

Sustainable weightloss is supposed to be around 1-2 lbs/week. I expect that I'll be well over that at first as I settle in to new habits and lose the easy pounds (including a bunch of water weight...I got myself extra hydrated for the weigh-in...it's a bit of gamesmanship, I admit). I should settle in to a more reasonable pace in a couple weeks.

So there you have it. Two days in and everything's rosy. I love the 'bugg, don't mind logging everything (EVERYTHING) I eat, love my trainer...it's all good!

I'm sure that'll change over time.

Bottom line is, if I can just stay in this to the end, I can't help but benefit from it...a lot...I mean, a LOT. I don't know what to expect in terms of weight loss. Something tells me that anything less than 30 lbs would be abject failure. 50 lbs seems like a lot but possibly achievable. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Initial stats:

weight: 319.2 lbs
body fat: 38.1%