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Good morning, friends and buddies (and everyone else)!
I'm not sure why it's always Tuesdays...
MANY tuesdays of late I have had trouble keeping my food intake in check. Yesterday was no exception, except that I didn't reach the top of my RDI. I'm still on my mission and I am still doing good, but I had a HARD time reeling it in last night.
I wonder what it is that makes the difference?
Anways, I did eat more than planned. I have more food in my stomach, and obviously it'll weight me down, and probably add some fluid. The damage isn't bad at all, I gained 600 grams.
That being said, I am registering 2% less body fat. If we calculate it, 2% of 82 kilos is 1.64 kilos, and thus a full kilo fat less. I'm doing just fine.
These numbers fluctuate all the time, and the day-to-day registration can be hard to comprehend, and hard to analyze.
I did NOT lose a kilo of fat yesterday. I didn't GAIN any fat, it is simply impossible if I am within my RDI, but the truth is probably that I lost a couple of hundred grams of actual fat weight.
What is MUCH more interesting is that I have reached 10% body fat today. This hasn't happened many times lately. And last time I did, I weighed 5 kilos more!
This is what I am looking for, and this is the GOOD NEWS! It's a clear sign that I am doing good. Body weight down, body fat down.
To top it off, I see virtually no general loss of muscle mass. Muscle/water weight over the course of a week or two is the same.
I don't think I can ask for it going better than this overall. :)
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Today, I'm working both my day job and tonight the gym. It's a LONG day.
I did my walk - as planned - as my workout before work. I had reached 11,000 steps by the time I got to my office. Not bad. It'll be much higher by the time I go to bed - probably close to 20,000 again.
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This morning was crazy busy at work, though. A lot of phone calls, and a couple of emergency meetings that gave me more work. Dammit. I didn't have time to write my journal and do my weigh-in, so this journal will have to be a little shorter. I keep being interrupted. Work sure does take a lot out of our spare time, doesn't it? :)
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So, today's plan is basically "back on the horse". I have lunch AND dinner with me today, I have done the needed exercise, I have my few snacks planned out, and it's all good to go.
Having seen 10% body fat is SUPER motivating. I will have no trouble doing right today.
Today is longer than usual, though, and I can feel it. I woke up WAY too early, at 3 AM. I had no urge to sleep more, so I was wide awake. Hey, it's a lot better than being frustrated over not being able to sleep, right? I just won a full hour at home before my walk and workout. I like that. I love having time for myself in the mornings.
The main difference is that there is now one more hour until lunch time, and I feel somewhat hungrier than what I normally do. Fortunately, the morning zoomed by fast, and thus made me think of other things.
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Generally I don't think much about food any longer. I see a CLEAR difference with this. When I skip my breakfast and practice Intermittent Fasting, I just don't think as much about food.
I still get the munchies in the evenings, but I am able to kick it away after 7 PM. It's been VERY few times that I have given in to this over the last several months. Maybe once or twice. It really is a good way for me to restrict myself from doing harm.
The largest challenges lie after lunch and after dinner. The gaps there make me want to "eat something". I think it's mostly my body loving that I get something to eat, and makes me not want to stop. It's often a strong urge - but it's something that I'm getting better at either incorporating to not mess up my calorie intake and macros, or to simply ignore. I succeed many times, but still have too many screwups that I didn't need. Still, these days I'm pretty good at being under RDI.
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I can't wait to not have to focus on RDI as much. I am really looking forward to this.
In the future, my focus will be much more on getting enough protein and fat, enjoy carbs within reason, and just not overeat.
The future is essentially starting after New Year. It's not a resolution, but it's the time where I should have healed after surgery and will be able to work out and do good.
Since resolutions usually don't last, I won't make this one.
What I WILL do is simply dedicate to it.
The focus for my health will be a body fat percentage of 10. I would really like if I can stay under this number, no matter the weight I am. I would need to have a little bit less bodyfat to do this, but it's totally accomplishable and I am in no rush to get there after surgery. It's just something to keep an eye on, and keep doing reasonably good.
I think the main thing after the surgery/recovery is to start finding out how many calories I REALLY burn in a day, in order to set RDI, and thus nutrition/macros in the right place.
This way I can add more muscle, drop/gain fat when I need to, and just go for fitter, healthy living.
This doesn't sound all that bad, does it?
A rough guess for a future food plan will be something like:
- 2500-3000 calories per day, depending on the day (workouts, etc.)
- 100-125g of protein per day.
- 30% of calories coming from fat.
- Don't have too many "stupid choice" carbs, but enjoy them when you feel it's ok.
This is what I hope the future will look like.
I am as an alternative considering to let my Fitbit calorie burn determine my intake. Basically, I have to earn what I eat.
There are several ways that I see this accomplishable.
One is to to simply never eat more than I have burned at that point of the day. If I have only burned 500 thus far on a specific day, I can only consume 500. Later in the day, the burn will have given me, let's say another 1000, and I can then go for a total calorie intake of 1500 at this same time. By the end of the day, maybe the calorie burn will say 3000, and I can not have consumed more than that. It's simple, and always gives me an idea of where I am and what I am doing.
There IS of course the risk of inaccuracy in the Fitbit. This can easily be handled simply by entering a set deficit. If over the course of weeks or months see that I gain weight doing this, I can simply set the "allowed calories" to a lower number, maybe start with 250 less than I burn, or something like that.
The alternative way that I see easy and accomplishable is to always allow myself to consume what I burned YESTERDAY.
This way, the calorie burn of yesterday determines what I can do today. I will have the total number for the day, I can adjust it slightly for inaccuracy readings, and will have a set number for the day to work within.
This will give the advantage of knowledge, but not the angle of "working off" over spent calories. There is no saving grace here. Of course, if I DO end up going over, I can always compensate the day(s) after. It's not all that complicated.
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Today, I'm thankful for:
- 10% body fat! yes!
- Wife!
- Great sleep, even if I was up early.
- Morning coffee!
- Lunch in 13 minutes... and counting!
- Two weeks until I am submittet to the hospital today. I can't wait to get this done and over with.
Happy Hump Day! Life is good!
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182.8 lb
Lost so far: 159.0 lb.
Still to go: 0 lb.
Diet followed reasonably well.
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gaining 10.8 lb a week
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