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Good morning!
I did great yesterday. I managed to fit everything - even post-dinner low cal ice cream - into my food budget, even if we were at the courses and Wife and I went out for dinner afterwards.
Very nice.
It was of course Thursday yesterday, and usually this means cake day, but since we weren't at the usual work place, and since Wife is away from work sick, there was only a very uninspiring-looking cake to pick from in the afternoon. There was absolutely no trouble skipping it.
The end result is that I dropped 1.6 kilos, and I had so much food that I didn't need ANYTHING. The post-dinner ice cream was mostly for fun, it was a HUGE portion, and I can't help thinking that it weighed me down some too - so I COULD have dropped a few hundred grams more. Oh well. It wouldn't really be a fat drop regardless, so it doesn't matter.
Some interesting things appear in the many numbers I check daily though, and at first they freaked me out.
As I stated, I dropped 1.6 kilos since yesterday. I also dropped 1.2 kilos muscle.
I had 2400 calories yesterday, and a calorie burn of about 3100, so there really shouldn't be a chance to have such a muscle drop.
I do however think this is 100% related to fluid.
You see, when I pig out on sugars I gain fluid MASSIVELY. And - according to my scale - I also gain muscle. I seriosly doubt that I can gain several kilos of muscle simply by eating candy and chocolate, so obviously it's the fluid that affects it. My thought is that when our bodies retain water, a good lump of it attatches to the muscle tissue.
I could easily be wrong on this, but it makes sense in my world.
So, when I stop eating stupid s**t, fluid will drop, and thus - muscle will drop too.
That's okay. I don't think I get any weaker or strong from this. They are, after all, just numbers.
What is much more intersting is to compare body weight and bodyfat%.
My weight yesterday was 85.3 kilos, and I had 14.3% fat. This equals 12.2 kilos of fat on my body.
My weight today is 83.7 kilos, and I have 14.1% fat. It seems like I didn't lose any fat (well, 0.2%), but you have to remember that it is IN RELATION TO THE CURRENT, LOWER WEIGHT. 14% of 83.7 is less than 14% of 85.3.
So, my weight today is 83.7 kilos, and I had 14.1% fat. This equals 11.8 kilos. I have actually dropped 0.4 kilos - almost a pound of fat.
THIS is what makes all the numbers worth reading.
If the article that I referred to the other day - the one about how big a calorie deficit we can have before we lose muscle tissue - is correct, then there is little to no muslce lost. Instead, I can conclude that I am down about 1 lb of fat, and about 1 kg of water. Not bad.
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I've had a great morning. I slept like a rock last night after a fun day doing the classes, and I was at the gym doing my workout at 6 am. I walked afterwards, ensuring that I had reached my 10,000 steps before going to work. :)
This pattern really seems to work for me. I can easily reach 10,000 steps before I go to work on days where I work out. The other days require a little more effort.
Still, I have TONS of steps this week. It's been a very, very active week.
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I am really trying to focus on the no-sugar thing. I have cut down severely, and haven't crashed all that much yet. I make sure to load up on calories from fat and protein, and this really helps. It keeps me happy and satisfied, food wise.
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Things are still stress-loaded around me, and this IS a challenge. We're doing okay though, and trying to get a grip on things. I know we'll come out all right in the end, I just hope that the end comes fairly soon.
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I've been giving the upcoming maintenance mode some more thought. What seems to work for me right now is walking and gym. There is no doubt that this is the way to go for me, in regards to exercise. I am more active than I have ever been in my life, and I really like it.
The only downside to it is that I see that my daily walks are very time consuming, and often times I miss having more time in the mornings. Afternoons and evenings are obviously another time I could get it done, but honestly, I don't think I would be doing an hour of exercise in the afternoons on a daily basis.
The walks makes me burn approx. 300 calories per day. The obvious quesion is of course whether I truly need to burn these extra 300 calories? They're nice to have, but is it NEEDED?
I think that I - in due time - might cut down to just walking on the days where I am not at the gym. This will give me an hour more at home in the mornings, basically all days. I'd be hitting the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and walking on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. I could better handle that. All in due time though, and only when I am in true maintenance mode.
It's not like I don't get my steps in regardless. Those "non-walk" days I would be a little more focused on moving more through the day, and let's not forget that I MANY times reach 15,000+ steps in a day. This is far from uncommon.
...and on the other side, I don't often use all my calories allowed.
At some point things need to start evening out. The excess exercise will have to be cut down a little, and the calories will have to be upped, to a point where they comfortably meet at the weight I choose to be my final weight. Makes sense, doesn't it?
Of course, I am still hoping to build more muscle, but I am not sure just how much it WILL impact my weight. I'm not hoping to be one of the HUGE body builders. I just want to be very fit, and very strong. Muscle burns fat, and I can clearly see this as my door to easy weight maintenance. It's getting easier and easier every day.
I can see the point to all the muscle building, and I really like doing it. It's fun, it's fast paces the way I do it, and it's not in any way time consuming. As I have stated before, I spend 0.8% of my time actually working out. It's nothing.
I think that a future general focus on my food intake along with this setup will work for me.
In maintenance mode I will NOT have to deduct my 500 calories to lose weight. I will have my fitbit to let me know how many calories I burn in a day, and the Über Smart Smartscale to double check the numbers. These two buddies generally tend to agree, when I factor in that the fitbit is giving me weight loss numbers and that the scale is not.
Today (so far, then number change during the day) the Fitbit suggest that I can consume 3100 calories. In this is a calculated 500 calorie deficit to lose weight. My scale suggests that my maintenance RDI for today is 3700. It can't be more precise than that from two individual ways of measuring, I think.
These two tools will definitely be my best friends - even more than what they already are - when I move on from weight loss.
Honestly, I can't wait.
I feel that I have struggled a little more than I usually do these last couple of months. Of course, I also see the weight going up.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that I know EXACTLY what I need to do to fix it.
"Just put the bag of candy down, Keld". :D
I have done it, and I have asked Wife to be more then usually stern on this, and talked with her about helping me. Being nice and letting me have just a little is NOT helping me right now. If I want "candy", then it needs to be something with no sugar, and something that doesn't wake up the carb monster.
For me, at the point I am at, it REALLY is that simple.
Consume fewer calories, move more, don't eat stupid s**t.
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Today, I'm thankful for:
- WEEKEND!
- Wife! I love you, babe!
- Weekend! :)
- Morning coffee!
- Having the keys to the gym, so I can let myself in earlier than what normal people would ever consider. :)
- 10,000 steps before 8 AM.
Life is good!
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184.5 lb
Lost so far: 157.2 lb.
Still to go: 0 lb.
Diet followed 100%.
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losing 24.7 lb a week
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