Good morning!
This CD - and more interesting, the included Blu-Ray with much longer running time - was in my mail box when I came home yesterday. I thought I'd share it with you today:
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Today, I set the "How Closely Followed" evaluation to "Reasonably Well".
The reason is that I didn't eat ENOUGH to meet the criteria I have set for myself.
I simply didn't make it - I did try.
I had a nice buffet visit with Wife, and recorded everything as well as I possibly can, and we had burgers and fries for dinner. It was great, and VERY filling.
I had a bit of dark chocolate through the day, but regardless - I didn't make it to 3300 calories.
I did make it a point to make it past 2700 calories, to ensure that there is no muscle mass lost because of a calorie deficit.
This is a topic I have touched a few times lately. When you lose weight and you work out - make sure you eat ENOUGH! Make sure that you don't end up having such a large calorie deficit that your body starts using other resources than fat to compensate for the intake.
Losing weight is NEVER about eating as little as possible.
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Today's weigh-in is WAY better than yesterdays. Phew. That's a relief.
I am down 1.1 kilos since yesterday, and I am back to a body fat percentage under ten, at 9.6%.
Sure, it was lower still two days ago, but let's see where it goes over the next day or two.
And then, of course, Christmas will hit the world and it'll be even harder to do good.
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I have no real fear over christmas, though. We're gonna celebrate both Christmas and New Year at home, and this means total control over calories. At the same time, I have SO MANY calories available - approx 3300 per day - so I can easily make it all fit.
I have already calculated the "big one" - Christmas dinner. I will have absolutely no problems getting it all in:
150g Caramelized potatoes
150g White potatoes
100g Red cabbage
125g Pork Roast
125g Roasted Duck Breast
100g Gravy
300g Dessert (Rice a la Mande with cherry sauce).
Half a bottle of red wine.
This will total out at 1663 calories, leaving 1700 or so for the rest of the day (which is essentially from 11 AM to about 5 PM). Piece of cake.
The total weight of the food is 1050g - more than a kilo! - and I doubt that I will even reach this. The portions are most likely gonna be smaller. Let's see.
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Today is another little challenge. The christmas lunch. I'm hoping to meet a couple of friends at the local buffet (yes... again!) for the annual christmas luncheon. It's usually pretty good, and I'm looking forward to it. As always, I will register everything, and do as well as I can.
I will focus on meats, getting my protein intake up.
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I'm not sure about dinner just yet. Daughter and I are on our own, and I need to work out what I feel like cooking.
Wife is - sadly - working from noon and until the evening. I hate that she has to work on a Sunday, but at least she has a few days off afterwards.
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Speaking of Wife.
I was telling her about the experience that I have heard from my buddy Kingstephen, and have read up about online, in regards to rheumatoid arthritis and intermittent fasting.
Wife is VERY attached to having a little to eat in the mornings, so my approach to fasting isn't very compatible with her, but she is interested in trying out the 5:2 approach.
I would SO love for her to have less pain. I hate to see her hurting, and this might be a good plan for her.
She does like her food, but she doesn't really over-eat, she's just about maintaining her weight, little up now and then, little down other times.
BUT... she hurts. Her hands and her legs are hurting from the arthritis.
This is the main focus and the main reason to try the "diet". It's not gonna be considered one, it's just a matter of "tightening up" twice a week. The payoff is, of course, that she has to eat at maintenance level 5 days a week. Easy, as long as you do the two days.
This is actually a pretty important point. The maintenance level.
If you are already dieting, eating with a calorie deficit daily, I wouldn't recommend that you push it HARDER by doing the 5:2. It's not a good thing to do the severe restriction two days a week and ALSO eat with a large deficit the other days.
I honestly think it will be more profitable to eat low on two days and maintain the other days. There will still be a nice deficit over the course of a week - for Wife it will be 4000 calories - and it WILL show a weight loss along with all the other benefits.
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But how about MY numbers today? Let's take a look:
Weight:
Day after surgery: 82.4 kg
21.12.13: 84.1 kg (up)
22.12.13: 83.0 kg (down)
Average 7 days: 83.4 (up)
Average 28 days: 82.7 (steady)
Bodyfat:
Day after surgery: 07.5% (6.18 kg)
21.12.13: 10.8% (9.08 kg - up)
22.12.13: 09.6% (7.97 kg - down)
Average 7 days: 9.2% (up)
Average 28 days: 09.9% (down - first time under 10%!)
Muscle weight:
Day after surgery: 72.5 kg
21.12.13: 71.3 kg (down)
22.12.13: 71.4 kg (up)
Average 7 days: 72.0 kg (steady)
Average 28 days: 70.8 kg (up)
Fluid Percentage::
Day after surgery: 68.5% (56.44 kg)
21.12.13: 64.8% (54.50 kg - down)
22.12.13: 65.8% (54.61 kg - up)
Average 7 days: 66.2% (down)
Average 28 days: 65.7% (up)
Total Daily Energy Exp.:
Day after surgery: 3379 calories
21.12.13: 3337 calories
22.12.13: 3336 calories
Average 7 days: 3364 calories (steady)
Average 28 days: 3313 calories (up)
Abdominal fat:
Day after surgery: 4
21.12.13: 5 (up)
22.12.13: 5 (steady)
Average 7 days: 4.4 (up)
Average 28 days: 4.7 (steady)
The numbers that are most interesting today are, of course, me being down in weight by a full kilo. I'm not concerned with this one at all. My focus is on body fat percentage and muscle mass. THESE are important. The weight will simply follow and there isn't much I can or want to do about it.
My body fat is under 10% again, at 9.6%.
Muscle mass is up by a mere 100g. Not much, but at least it isn't down. Again, these are the day-to-day measurements, and not all that interesting. All these numbers will fluctuate every day.
The trends are pretty interesting, though.
Weight average for the week is up 100g. Nothing scary. 28 days trend is steady.
Body fat trend is slightly up for the week - probably because of the very high number yesterday, but the 28 day trend tells a different story. It's down by 0.1%, which is nothing, but it does make me want to celebrate being at a 28 day average of 9.9%. Under 10%!
Water fluctuates within 0.1%, nothing worth noting.
The same with the rest, really.
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I'm still mending well in regards to my surgery. I'm feeling no real change, as I'm pretty much feeling great every day. Of course, I have to take care of myself, and watch out what I do. I don't want to do anything dumb that can slow down the healing.
I have started to take the blood thinner that I need to take three weeks prior to the heart shocking that I will have to have done. I am not sure whether this will really affect me in any ways. I took the first pill this morning, an hour ago.
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The weather the last few days have been horrible. It's cold, wet and raining. I really want to go for my walks, and I want to be a little more active, but the weather just doesn't appeal to me, and I don't want to spend an hour or two outside being cold.
The bike here at home is out of the question. I can only do very low impact workouts, and the bike is pushing the limits to that, I think. I can't get my heart rate up.
I will keep an eye on the weather. If it starts looking dry, then I'll go. If not, then I will just go do the things I need to do.
It's not all bad. "Doing the things I need to do" usually gives me about 5000 steps over the course of the day. It's a lot better than nothing, just not compared to the goals that I set for myself.
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Today, I'm thankful for:
- Feeling better every day.
- Wife!
- Sleep!
- Coffee!
- A much nicer weigh-in than yesterday.
Happy Sunday! Life is good!
