Good morning!
Let's start with the BIG news...
:)
Led Zeppelin is putting their ENTIRE catalogue on Spotify! There. I can now rest. :)
The Zeps have been sorely missing in my Spotify music library.
...
Today's plans will be somewhat different from what I had intended.
It's my gym-boss's 40th birthday, and we're all meeting at the gym for a little surprise breakfast (I'll have coffee, no food until 11 AM, remember?).
Then just hang there, maybe try to sell my classes to a couple of people - this usually happens whether I want to or not - and then out to do some errands. I was gonna have a special coffee mug made, one that ALSO sells my classes when I am drinking coffee at the gym.
After that, shop for dinner, and then home and relax.
...
Well, this ain't gonna happen.
First part is. I WILL go say happy birthday. Sadly, I will only get to spend about 15 minutes there, then I'm heading to the station to take the train to Roskilde to go to the hospital.
It's nothing all that serious, but still an issue.
This happened last time too.
I am building up SO MUCH excess fluid under the skin that it's becoming a problem. It won't stretch the skin or anything, but the skin is so tight that it hurts. It's extremely uncomfortable.
Normally, the fluid will just find a small hole somewhere between the stitches, and just ooze our slowly, over the coming weeks.
I have a great surgeon, though, and she did a nice piece of work. There are no holes. :)
This means that the fluid that my body builds up to protect me from the cut just keeps building up and now it's unbearable. I can't fit any of my clothes other than sweat pants, and it hurts taking more than a few steps, it hurts sitting, lying, standing.
I sent the surgeon an email yesterday asking for help on this, and she wrote back to make an appointment yesterday or today. Sadly, I didn't get the message until after the phones had closed, so I never got in touch with them.
I could call them at 9 AM this morning and then set an appointment and go at the right time, but I risk missing an early morning opportunity.
It's a much better bet to simply chance it, get on the train at 7:12 AM, be there in person at 8:45 AM and tell them how things are. I don't care how long I have to wait - I have movies on my tablet - I just want this fixed.
My surgeon will squeeze in time for me, if at all possible.
To give you an idea of how it looks, I took these two pictures. Keem in mind that my stomach should be flat as a board, with no little belly. There's no fat in this. When I poke it, I can tell that it's all fluid. It basically reacts like if you were poking a bag full of water.
You can kind of see a "bottle shaped" outline, going around the entire scar. This is where the fluid is sitting, and then all the way down to the bottom of the stomach.
These two pictures were taken about one hour ago.
I don't have a "topless" picture after the surgery that really shows the difference, but this one still tells the difference pretty well:
This picture was taken Saturday. What a difference!
All this being said, I do feel that I am healing very nicely and very fast. Surprisingly fast, actually. Last time, things were much slower - but of course the cut was also massively larger.
I can't help thinking that my different approach has an effect on it. Last time, I was desperate to not gain weight, and I was in a constant calorie deficit. I had not started doing strength training. I had no muscles.
This time, I consume PLENTY of calories, and I have a large protein intake. I can only see this as an advantage!
...
So, today's numbers...
I feel like there are good and bad stuff in them. There is DEFINITELY interesting stuff. I'm not sure what to conclude just yet, other than to try to relate to the things I see.
I have to remember that I have (roughly estimated) 1 - 1½ liter of fluid sitting in my stomach skin that I can't get rid of. I wonder how this changes the numbers, once it's gone.
As my buddy Rob pointed out - who knows if a scale measures this as fat or water? It's neither, but it's a thick, sticky, blood-like fluid. I don't know.
Anyways, here are the stats for today, along with the previous ones for comparison:
Weight:
07.12.13: 82.4 kg
08.12.13: 82.9 kg (pretty much average of the last several months)
09.12.13: 83.4 kg
10.12.13: 83.4 kg
11.12.13: 82.4 kg
12.12.13: 81.3 kg
Bodyfat:
07.12.13: 07.5% (6.18 kg)
08.12.13: 07.0% (5.80 kg - lowest in AGES!)
09.12.13: 06.8% (5.67 kg)
10.12.13: 10.8% (9.00 kg)
11.12.13: 09.3% (7.66 kg)
12.12.13: 12.0% (9.56 kg)
Muscle weight:
07.12.13: 72.5 kg
08.12.13: 73.4 kg
09.12.13: 73.9 kg
10.12.13: 71.5 kg
11.12.13: 71.1 kg
12.12.13: 68.0 kg
Fluid Percentage::
07.12.13: 68.5% (56.44 kg)
08.12.13: 68.3% (56.62 kg)
09.12.13: 70.5% (58,80 kg)
10.12.13: 65.6% (54.71 kg)
11.12.13: 66.0% (54,51 kg)
12.12.13: 63.6% (51.71 kg)
Total Daily Energy Exp.:
07.12.13: 3379 calories
08.12.13: 3424 calories
09.12.13: 3451 calories
10.12.13: 3342 calories
11.12.13: 3320 calories
12.12.13: 3179 calories
Abdominal fat:
07.12.13: 4% (a first in a LONG time!)
08.12.13: 4%
09.12.13: 4%
10.12.13: 5%
11.12.13: 5%
12.12.13: 5%
What OBVIOUSLY jumps out first is that I am a FULL kilo down. I am acutally under my new 82 kilo goal weight, and have surpassed it by more than a pound.
When this happens, it's usually a drop in fluid. This will lower the muscle weight and the fluid percentage, but also increase the body fat percentage. This is exactly what I see happening.
Now, if the body fat percentage is right, then it's kinda high for me. It was half the size a week ago.
There's no chance that I have gained all THAT much fat, even if I potentially is consuming too many calories. It would take MUCH more than that.
I can actually see the muscles in my arms more clearly, and I can tell in several other ways that I am leaner than I usually am. Maybe it's because I'm shedding the fluid. I'm not sure.
Regardless, I'm happy with the numbers. I'm not gaining WEIGHT. I might be gaining fat.
So, am I maintaining muscle mass doing this? Muscle weight is down by a HUGE chunk today, but again - this might just be the fluid.
Something that I do find VERY interesting... I see my Total Daily Energy Expenditure is down significantly. Yesterday it was 3320, it's been as high as 3451 just a couple of days ago. Today, it's 3179. Wow. What's a massive drop!
I think this is related to the lower muscle mass, and the higher body fat percentage - obviously along with me weighing less.
Our bodies muscles are always "active". They require energy to function. Our muscles require energy to work. Our body fat is the direct opposite. Fat requires nothing. It just sits there. It might as well have been put on you in a bag strapped on with duct tape. The only reason that body fat burns calories is if you have enough of it to weigh you down - then your muscles will work harder to move you around.
This, once more, is why you want to do more strength training and less cardio.
...
I can't say I'm the least upset having a lowered RDI today. First of all, it sounds a lot more reasonable. Second, consuming all that food is a daily challenge.
Yesterday I munched through 300 grams of chocolate, 200 of them being milk chocolate - simply to reach goal. It's ridiculous!
And look what happened! I dropped a full kilo! What the...?
I think the trick to this is simply... protein! I have a feeling that THIS is the thing I have changed that makes me able to do this.
After upping my protein intake significantly, this has started happening. It's a walk in the park maintaining (even losing) weight, seemingly.
The big question is then this:
If my scale right now is set to "sedentary" (activity level 1 of 3), is it then more appropriate that I go for level 2 when I start all my activities again? This is absolutely key in regards to my muscle building project that comes next. We'll have to see. I won't mess with that just now. Right now it's about getting a handle on level 1, recover, get going on workouts again, and THEN see what happens.
...
I found a different macro nutrient calculator! This one I can actually use better, I think, as I can enter my TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) manually, and it'll calculate the other numbers for me. The downside to this one is that it splits the calorie intakes into Training Days and Resting Days. I would prefer "same every day" scenarios. Still, I could just do the rest of the math myself.
At the same time, the math isn't really all that difficult any more.
I need approx. 190g of protein daily. I need 30% of my calorie intake to come from fat. I can go higher, but shouldn't go MUCH higher (this is my big challenge). The rest comes from carbs. It's really that simple.
I think what has messed with my head is the "scare" of adding carbs to my diet. I have seen how carbs can affect my fluid intake, but think this might have come from days where I went REALLY excessive in carbs, like in candy. This would kill my fluid levels every time.
...
I haven't really had the urge to go nuts in candies. Sure, I've had chocolate, but it has just as much been to enjoy something "forbidden" that I would have to consume just to up the calorie intake to the top of my RDI.
I need to be at the top of my RDI as much as possible, in order to be able to conclude anything from this experiment.
It's a hard knock life, having to eat all that chocolate. :)
...
Today's food plan had to be adjusted a little, due to the lower RDI.
I was planning on having two large protein bars in order to meet both calorie and protein goals. I have changed them to protein shakes instead. They are lower in calories, but equally intense on protein. This will fit my plan much better.
I am not sure when I can get to eat, since I'll be at the hospital. This is another good reason to bring a protein shake.
We'll be cooking Danish Meatballs - frikadeller - for dinner.
And for lunch? I'm having pizza! That's right! I have planned a full, nice pizza for myself. It fits the macros, it fits the calories. It fits the plan.
This was planned already before I knew about my drop in weight today. It's not just because I get all cocky from being lighter than my goal weight today. :)
The goal weight really isn't all that relevant. Right now I don't care about it. As long as I am in the lower half of my 80's, and I see that things aren't spinning out of control, then I'm fine. And so far, things are fine. I couldn't have expected them to be better than this, honestly.
...
So, I am ready for the day. I'm gonna make sure my tablet has a couple of movies and some music on it, and I will be ready to sit and wait all day at the hospital. It's tedious, but it has to be done.
...
Today, I'm thankful for:
- Good numbers!
- Reaching goal weight. Again. :)
- Wife!
- Pizza for lunch!
- Morning coffee!
Life is good!
Let's leave for today with this:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iSQv-LoSmEs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Rock'n'roll! :)
EDIT: Things are better after the hospital visit. No need to worry. I will tell you all about it in tomorrow's journal. Stay tuned! :)
END OF EDIT.
