kingkeld's Journal, 18 November 2013

Good morning!

It was nice to have a COMPLETELY relaxing day yesterday. The only time I was actually doing any "real" walking, other than around the house, was when Wife and I went to have lunch out on the town. :)

I had a large whole wheat pita with meat and lettuce, no dressing. 700 calories.

I made great food choices all day, and ended up at the top of my allowed 2,000 calories. I had a great dinner, chicken breast with tomatillo sauce and a little bit of white rice, and I had some fruit and some protein shakes to meet my goals on the nutrients. All in all, it was a good day.

My legs felt WAY better this morning, and they still do.

I think it was a smart move to not be active yesterday. I needed it.

My fitbit numbers took a severe hit, though. I had 2,200 steps yesterday, and only burned a little over 2,100 calories. Essentially, I was in maintenance mode yesterday.

That's ok. The mental freedom from doing it was great.

Today, I'm back in the saddle. I did my 5K walk, and hit the gym straight after, doing my 30 minutes of intense, heavy circuit training, and then walked to work. My goal of 10,000 steps for the day is done and over with, and everything else is just added topping.

I will make sure to move quite a bit.

If I am to try to follow suit on my thoughts on skipping some of my walks, then I need to be pretty active the other days. I don't want it to COMPLETELY slide.

I see how much of a difference in calorie burn Fitbit estimates. I'm not sure if it is simply because I didn't do my walk, or if it is more because I just was lazy and really didn't move at all yesterday. Probably the latter.

So, today is pretty booked. Walk, workout, gym, work, teaching. It's a long, but fun day. I will squeeze in a walk around lunch time, and walk to and from the gym tonight when I go teach. This will add another 4-5 kilometers to my milage for the day. Not bad.

My food plan is laid out too.

Leftover chicken breast and tomatillo sauce for lunch. No rice. They're 100% unnecessary. The meal is deliscious anyways, and I have LOADS of sauce. Essentially, the sauce is canned tomatillos with the same amount of water, and added spices. Nothing bad in it at all, except maybe a tiny bit of salt from the canned goods. I can live with that.

Dinner is a chicken salad. Emphasis on chicken.

On top of this, I have some protein shakes and the BCAA to keep me going through the day, and to meet my nutritional goals.

...

I've been thinking a lot about nutritional goals over the weekend.

Sure, I have upped my strength over the last months, after I started focusing on consuming (much) more protein. But I am at a stand still again. I lift the same weights as I did a month, maybe even two months, ago.

Am I getting enough protein?

"2 Meal Mike" O'donnell - whos work and ideas I follow almost religiously - suggests 0.6g of protein per lean lb of body weight. This is what I aim for, and this equals approx. 100g of protein for me per day.

He has a lot - A LOT - of science to back it up. Lots of references, all claiming that we don't need more than this to do proper muscle building, and that everything else is just overkill.

However, looking at so many body builder protein intake calculators, they all - every single one - suggests that I aim for 150-200g per day. I'm not sure if I ought to up it.

It's hard to do right now, as I also try to go extremely low on calories. Every gram of protein holds 4 calories. If I am to up my protein intake with 80g, this will "cost" me at least 320 calories. That's quite a lot when I am hoping for less than 6-700 per day.

On the other hand, I am perfectly aware that I can NOT keep doing the VERY low calorie days. I'm actually happy that I consumed more calories over the weekend. It was never an Indulgence Day, just relaxed, normal days.

Today, however, I'm going low calorie again, and as always with focus on enough protein and fat. It's a workout day, and this is essential for me.

I think I will try to up the protein intake, though. Maybe to begin with aim for at least 150 grams instead of 100. See what this does for me.

At the same time, there isn't a whole lot of time for experimenting. I know that the extra protein won't mess (much) with my weight as long as I still go low calorie all the way. But also, I won't get to feel any "real" change in my workouts before surgery.

My surgery is on in 17 days. I have 6 workouts left before going to the hospital. I don't think it's enough to actually feel any change.

Then again, when I decided to significantly up my protein intake in the first place, I saw results within a week. Maybe I can this time too?

...

The protein intake is also SUPER important post-surgery, during my recovery time. Proteins are the building blocks for our bodies, and during recovery I need to make absolutely sure I have my nutrition right.

Last time I was simply winging it, and trying to do good.

This time around, I know better. This time around, I will make sure I get enough of the good stuff to make my body happy and to push myself to a faster recovery.

When I had surgery last time, I only did cardio workouts, and I had no problem letting them go for a while.

This time, I mostly do strength training, and I do NOT want to lose too much of the muscle that I have worked hard to build. I know - not all that much will go away if I don't work out for a month, and what is gone will come back fast. But I still want to challenge myself to maintain as much as I can. It's important to me.

I know it will be tricky for me to be "benched". I am counting on a full month with little to no workouts.

I will of course start up as fast as I can, maybe just with select exercises to begin with, but obviously I have to take care of myself. And I know I will not have all the energy that I normally have. All my energy goes to recover.

Still, if anything goes as I see it in my head, I should be able to do at least a little after a few weeks. Then slowly take it from there, and recover and train at the same time, as much as I can.

This will also help me stay active though recovery, up my calorie burn, help me stay flexible, and so much more. Don't worry - I WILL take care of myself, and pay attention when my body tells me that enough is enough.

...

So many thoughts today...

I'm really trying to mentally prepare my approach to all of it when surgery comes around.

1. I want to be just a little lighter than I am today.

2. I want to recover as fast as possible, and with as little hassle as possible.

3. I want to be able to lift weights as soon as I can. The way our machines at the gym work, it might be sooner than you'd think. MOST exercises really don't affect the surgery area at all.

4. I want to be careful and take care of myself.

5. I want to be in decent shape to enjoy the Christmas holidays.

6. I want to stay the weight I am through the whole thing.

7. I want to stay the same body fat % as I am now through the whole thing.

They're ambitious goals, but definitely accomplishable.

...

Today, I am UP in weight by quite a chunk. I gained 1.3 kilos since yesterday. I gained 1.5 kilos since two days ago.

Looking at the numbers, it's all fluid. I'm not concerned about it at all. It's most likely due to food choices (restaurant meat probably has quite a bit of salt, and canned goods are always salted) that makes me retain water. It'll come off during the week.

What is interesting is that last time (about two weeks ago) I had the same amount of water/muscle weight, I was two kilos and 2½% bodyfat heavier. So there is definitely a change. Body fat IS coming off. Nice!

...

Today, I'm thankful for:
- A great weekend!
- Wife!
- Results, even if I gained weight today.
- Focus!
- A great workout!

Happy Monday! Life is good!
184.3 lb Lost so far: 157.4 lb.    Still to go: 0 lb.    Diet followed 100%.
gaining 20.1 lb a week

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Comments 
Glad your legs are feeling better. You are such an inspiration to many people! 
18 Nov 13 by member: angel_face0145
Awww. Thank you Angel Face. :) 
18 Nov 13 by member: kingkeld
Great thoughts for the day. Your always so positive :-) 
18 Nov 13 by member: Sk1nnyfuture
Lots to think about Keld. Personally I wouldn't start changing anything this close to surgery. I would get the weight off as fast and as best you can, and get this surgery over with. After recovery right into maintenance and on with your life. It won't be long now, 17 days - wow, scary close.  
18 Nov 13 by member: sarahsmum
Freakishly scary close! :) And you're right - I probably won't change all that much. Main thing, though, is to stay low in calories, with enough nutrition to keep my body happy. I can easily do that. Man, I can't wait to move on.  
18 Nov 13 by member: kingkeld
Yep, that's the key, nutrient dense food high in protein, low in carb, and good fats. And yes I am sure you will be glad to see the back of this surgery, and get on with your life. We don't hug Keld but I'm sending you one anyway :) [[[[ H U G S ]]]]] 
18 Nov 13 by member: sarahsmum
Now where is that "Thumbs up"-button? :) 
18 Nov 13 by member: kingkeld
Hey, Keld... I agree with SMum. I wouldn't make any changes either. And on the protein thing, I've read a lot of that research too, and I truly think it would be pointless to up the protein. 100 grams sounds right for you. In fact, I've read that 200g of protein would be *too much*--to a danger point. I've been reading a lot about bodybuilding and it almost seems those numbers are for people that are using some other very questionable methods that I can't see you doing. 
18 Nov 13 by member: Rob.c.weiss
Rob, definitely no "questionable methods" here. 200g will definitely be too much for me, and it's a pain to have to reach those numbers to boot. I'm sure the right answer lies somewhere between 100g and 200g. The main thing, having thought it over through the day, is probably that there isn't much muscle building due to me being in a constant calorie deficit. You can't add and subtract at the same time. :) Once I'm on the other side of surgery, next phase is gonna be MORE focus on muscle, much less focus on body weight (but not less focus on body fat).  
18 Nov 13 by member: kingkeld

     
 

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