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Good morning!
Today, even though it's Saturday and all went according to plan yesterday, the weight is UP. Boo.
There are perfectly good reasons though.
The mains are large, low calorie meals. Soup for dinner, leftover chicken breast and cabbage for lunch. It was very nice meals, large and filling and ridiculously low in calories.
Of course, they'll weigh one down a few days. It's just what it is.
I have a 1200 calorie deficit yesterday, so I have nothing to worry about.
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Looking through the last week's calorie intakes, and considering Tuesday was a very high (but no-sugar!) calorie day, I'm in GREAT shape. I come out of the week with 3,000 unused calories, if I just stick to my normal RDI today.
I will probably NOT stick to it, but don't expect to go very high. I am very clear on the fact that I do NOT want sugar stuff.
As my buddy FullaBella pointed out in a comment yesterday, I had given up protein bars. I more or less have. I have one here and there if they feel safe to have, but I don't have them as "candy". I try to see them as a tool instead, and the focus on not having sugar helps me skip them.
Still, they can be nice for me when I am craving something I can't have. They're getting less and less of an impact on me though. Having one no longer seems like they make me want another. I assume this is because I am weening off the sugar?
Bella also posted a couple of links regarding strength from water retained in muscle. Sadly, these links don't work in the comments sections for some reasons, so I can't read them, but the general thing that she concluded from what she read was that we actually CAN lift heavier when we have water-induced muscle mass.
This is really interesting. I would have thought that it didn't matter. I would have thought that a lean, hard muscle that is ALL muscle would be at least as strong as the same muscle with extra water sitting in it.
I wonder how this can me. I need to read up on this. :)
I can live with being "less strong" from having leaner muscles though. It's no biggie.
At the gym, a LOT of people - including myself - are watching their muscle mass like hawks. This kind of changes that game for me.
We all know that we need to lose the body fat, and retain the muscle mass. We also need to shed the excess fluid.
So, if we shed the fluid then we shed muscle mass, which we need when we want to burn more calories. As Bella stated, we're damned if we do, and we're damned if we don't.
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I think in THIS game, it's all about simply following things to make sure nothing goes ALL wrong, accept the fact that it's never be all perfect and pretty, but that all numbers affect each other.
The target, in my opinion, then becomes more of an evaluation of how we feel. Right?
I have had muscle mass of 73 kilos when I was retaining water like crazy. Today I have 68 kilos of muscle. I am also several kilos lighter than when I had all the muscle. I don't think it means that I lost muscle mass. I just shed the fluid from the muscle. Or is that the same?
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I've been low in calories these last few days. I see some good weight loss results from it, seeing that the fluid is coming off of me. I like this.
I am still able to lift what I have been lifting at the gym, but I can clearly tell that it's even harder work than what I bargained for. I like it though. As long as I can pull through it, I'm happy.
I do, however, need to focus on eating ENOUGH. I've talked about this before. Our bodies can only handle a limited calorie deficit - depending how high of a body fat percentage we have.
Today, I weigh 83 kilos, and have a body fat percentage of 12.8. This is 10,6 kilos of body fat. 70 calories per kilo puts me in a range where I can have a 760 calorie deficit and (in theory) only shed fat.
This CLEARLY tells me that I need to eat more. Obviously, eating more doesn't equal eating junk. It means larger portions of proper foods. I can do that.
I've been here before, recently. It's very easy to go very low calorie day after day when I don't eat junk. The cake, candy, ice cream, chocolate is what makes my calorie intake go nuts. When I cut these things out and focus on meat, veggies and greens, and general good food with limited bread, and more focus on whole wheat versions of pasta and rice, then it's all peachy.
Things get easier and easier, eating this way. I have what I consider pretty large, very fulfilling meals constantly. It's a very nice way of living. I can easily eat at small restaurants as long as I don't hit the buffets too hard, and make good choices doing it when I do there.
The little restaurant at the supermarket that we go to every Saturday now have a lunch buffet all days. It's basically meat and bread, with a few sides that would be out of the question for me, either from the ingredients or the flavors.
When I go, I pretty much eat all meat. It's great as I am DEFINITELY a carnivore, and I love meat. BUT obviously it's pretty dull to eat just meat. The good thing is that it helps my protein intake.
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Anyways, I'm babbling.
... Today, we have absolutely no set plans.
When I'm done writing this journal, and we're done watching Ghost Adventures (please don't judge...), Wife and I will go do a five kilometer walk. Maybe more.
Afterwards, we'll be at the supermarket to shop, and to have lunch.
Dinner is not settled yet. I'm kinda considering inviting Wife out tonight, but I am afraid that I'll lose control, and I really don't want to. It's probably safer to stay home and cook. I'll make sure we have something GREAT, but this way we'll know what we're eating and make it much safer on the calories.
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Today, I'm thankful for:
- Wife's SOUPS!
- Wife!
- Weekend!
I hope your weekend will be as awesome, and relaxed, as mine! Life is good!
EDIT:
I did good at the lunch place. I had two smallish plates, no sugars, mostly meat.
I wasn't gonna mention going out tonight, just to be safe, but Wife suggested it. It's been a hell of a week, and if she wants to go out - then we're definitely going out. I'm not sure I can contain myself tonight. One thing is the lunch buffet, another is the Chinese buffet. LOL. However, I will try. Regardless, I know I will be MUCH heavier tomorrow from the added salt intake. That's okay. Anything for my baby. :) Life is good - AND I get to (almost) justify going to the Chinese. :)
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183.0 lb
Lost so far: 158.7 lb.
Still to go: 0 lb.
Diet followed 100%.
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gaining 4.6 lb a week
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