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Friday, August 26, 2011

New Experiment

Ok so it's around 6:30 on Friday (DAY 7!)  and being out of juice, and without a juicer, I did some experimenting.  First I took a bunch of spinach and put it in my blender.  I then took the resulting mash and strained it through a very fine straining device I've got and got some green veggie juice.  Then I added some lemon and grapefruit juice (fresh hand squeezed).  Put it all in the now cleaned blender and added a banana.

I'm just going to assume that this is still 'legal' for a 'juice' fast lol.

Either way it wasn't too bad.  I may try some more banana concoctions in the future.  I may try to get some seaweed or algae extract to mix in for the oh so important B12 and complete proteins.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Hitting a Rough Spot

It's about 4pm and I'm feeling hungry again, slightly dizzy with a headache, and my back is really irritating me.  I can sit up straight and hear all the popping from back there.  I'm not even sure what may be causing it... but if it continues... I may have to adjust my plans.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Fat Sick and Nearly Dead on YouTube!

In case you haven't seen the movie that kickstarted this whole thing... the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" by Joe Cross is available on Netflix.  If you don't have a subscription to Netflix, you can buy a 24h rental from YouTube for $3.99.

http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=aTMOGLbXWIk

This movie changed our lives... so I kinda recommend it to everyone!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Another Observation

It's fascinating how much thinner I feel after losing 20 lbs...even though I've got 80 or so left to go. 

It's rather encouraging!


Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Green Juice...

...tastes too green lol.

Tuesday I think I'll try something with Spinach and Romaine.

HUNGRY haha

So, here's day two and about that time of day when the hunger likes to rear it's ugly head.  It's all good, got my juice and lots of water to keep it at bay!  Just got back home and gonna start working on the video!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Progress -Day One

I'll have a more detailed post on my main blog later, but day one is nearly over and pretty tough at the moment.

I get the kale flavored green liquid while a barbeque with all the fixings is going on around me...probably should've just avoided it haha.  I figure though that if I can survive this without touching a bit of that stuff...while hungry and drinking green stuff... It can only get better.

Part of this journey is the personal challenge to test my perseverance and show myself that I am no servant to food and the cravings that got me to where I am today.  I did the crime, now to put in my time to be free again.

Big first day post to come tonight!


Thursday, August 18, 2011

An Interesting Article I Found

Now the thing all of us 'overweighters' have always heard when it comes to dropping the pounds is that you must radically alter your diet and exercise vigorously several times a week.  Well that's not entirely true.  I remember reading some time back that for people of all shapes and sizes... just 30-minutes of aerobic exercise a day (or even every other day) was all that was recommended for general health management.

That's it!  Any more is essentially only for additional fitness training and athletes... NOT FOR WEIGHT LOSS!

I bet if you're ever tried to lose weight you've found yourself at the gym and looking down at the display on the machine to see how many calories that 10 minutes of walking just burned for you... and AGHAST... it's less than a measly 100!  That's because it really doesn't take many more calories for the body to perform additional physical work.  It's just unsettling to think that it could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour of vigorous exercise just to work off a single soft drink.

Over 90% of your weight loss will rely on your determination to stick with a good change in diet.

(PS) Another note of interest is that overweight people on average have a relatively high metabolism as well as a hefty amount of LBM (Lean Body Mass).  Those weights will only lead you to GAIN additional (muscle) weight.

(PS/2) [yes that's a geeky joke]: This post may seem anti-exercise... but the 30m/d of light cardio exercise is still a great thing for your body.  The purpose here was to point out that you shouldn't fit an unsustainable level of intense exercise in with your weight loss plans... it may only serve to mislead your expectations and make the weight loss journey more unpleasant that it needs to be.
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For those interested: http://www.drbriffa.com/2009/08/12/does-exercise-promote-weight-loss-no/

The Revised Plan

Ok, so it looks like the juicer situation could take until the end of the month to resolve...so in the meantime I'll be using Brian's to juice up a few days worth of juice every few days until he gets his new one.

The new official starting date it's now August 20th! 

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Today's Eats and Beats


Still no word on the juicer... but that's not keeping me down one bit.  Momentum still going strong!

Had a few salads today.  Romaine, radish, carrots, broccoli, those little tomatoes, and cauliflower... with sparingly added light dressing and whole wheat natural croutons.  Also had another bit of that Naked Green Machine juice as well as a banana.

Something interesting I've noticed is a slight change in my tastes already.  I 'normally' hate tomatoes of all sorts unless they are processed with tons of sugar and vinegar into ketchup... but having the baby tomatoes with the salad was really rather tangy and tasty!

As for my activity for the day:

At work I did a fair amount of walking in addition to some light hiking up a small mountain trail.  Not much, but enough to get the sweat flowing both times.

In addition to eating a little more, I had a rather invigorating time at the dreaded gym today.  It was crowded, but along with my earbuds and closed eyes I got to slip into my zone and hit it.  About 20-minutes on the elliptical and 10 on the treadmill at a moderate intensity.  Think doing both with the beat from "Don't Stop Believin' by Journey.  I had to break a little at times when I could feel my pulse getting a bit too high for comfort.  I did count about 50b/15sec (200/m) on the watch at one point.

All in all a very good day in my opinion!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Another Outing With The Dogs

Continuing my quest to avoid wasting too much life on the couch thinking of the drug that is junk food... I spent my day after church so far pretty busy.  Cut down some large pieces of wood, various little things and finished with a 30-minute walk with the dogs at the lake. I'm going to miss this mini vacation house/dog-sitting for mom weekend.  Going back to Atlanta this evening.

I had a small bowl of light caesar salad, a peach, and some veggie/fruit juice for breakfast.  Saving a plum for later.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Another Bit Of Exercise Today

It's really kinda amusing, but being hungrier and cutting daily caloric intake to less than a tenth of what it was before... Has given me more energy than I've had in some time.

I can't run the marathon, but a brisk (3.5m/h) walk for 30-minutes felt pretty farm good!

Don't get me wrong though... still a bit hungry lol.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Picking It Up!

Took the dogs for a 30-minute walk today.   It felt good...and I think they had fun too!


Morning Thoughts

Got more sleep than normal last night.  Generally I don't go to sleep anytime before 2:00am and last night was actually feeling tired enough to get down before midnight.  Woke up at 8 this morning so that would make a full 8 hours of sleep.  A definite improvement.

I've been feeling pretty peaceful so far.  Back/Neck/Shoulders don't ache as much as normal.  Perhaps the lighter diet as of late has something to do with it... or it could just be completely psychological.

I'll take it either way.

(p.s.) Still feeling pretty hungry, but it isn't really bad.  More uncomfortable if anything.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Bored and Hungry

For the next few days until the 15th I am limiting my solid food intake to only veggies and fruits.

So, my question is:

Does a Zaxby's chicken finger sandwich with extra Zax sauce, fries, and a 32oz coke count as a veggie or a fruit?

-J/K

I need to occupy myself with something lol.

Another Observation from Today

When I began this journey I remember something my mother told me that in essence was: "Just cause you're going on a diet doesn't mean you should go pig out like crazy in some last meal extravaganza."  ... and at first I didn't think much of it.

Now I find myself thinking of how right she was.  At first, since I was still fairly excited and pumped over my plan, it hadn't really settled in that I may never consume these junk foods that I once did.  Now... the idea of heading to Longhorns and taking down a $30 meal of baby back ribs, fries, and whatever as my last 'piggy' meal does seem tempting.

I'm talking myself out of it though.  She was right.  If I am to be serious about this, that means no trying to wiggle around the details to satisfy a craving that is the root of my problems.  Sure my juicing 'fast' doesn't start until the 15th... but what sort of discipline can I demonstrate to myself if I revert to old habits before I even begin.

I want this to be the end of the old me and the start of the new me.

No looking back.


(takes another bite of a delicious carrot)

A Look Into My Eating Habits

So in preparation toward my juicing 'fast', I've put together some observations into my eating habits. 

Years ago I went from eating to eat and started eating for the simple pleasure of putting food into my mouth.  I could be stuffed... but if that box still had some sesame chicken and rice left... I couldn't stop myself from finishing it off.  I could've saved the leftovers for the next day or tossed it, but instead I gorged.

A typical day for me starts with waking up, shower/getting dressed, and heading out the door.  Ideally, at home is when one should eat breakfast for several obvious reasons (cost, quality, etc).  I, on the other hand, take the easy route and go 'breakfast drive-thru'.  You might be thinking... Oh, so a No. 1 at Mickey D's right?

No.

My typical breakfast would constitute a No. 3 (Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit), with a hashbrown patty and a cup of soda PLUS a Sausage McGriddle.

As per: http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutritionfacts.pdf
That's a total of 1200 calories and 54 grams of fat.

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This would usually hold me out until lunch time.  This is when I take a trip to Burger King.

2 DOUBLE hamburgers only ketchup, value fry, value soda, and a value chicken tender.
As per: http://www.bk.com/en/us/menu-nutrition/index.html
That's a total of 1270 calories and 58 grams of fat.

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So it's only lunch time and I've already raked in nearly 1500 calories and over 100 grams of fat.

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There might be some snacking but I'll ignore that for the time being.  Now it's dinner time, what shall it be...

I do enjoy pizza.  A lot.  So I'll probably take down my favorite cheap frozen pizza from Kroger, the Thin and Crispy Sicilian 3-meat pizza.
That's 1500 calories and 60 grams of fat.

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All in all, that typical day collected about 4000 calories, 172 grams of fat, and no telling how much sodium, LDL cholesterol, and simple carbs.

It is also worth noting the complete lack of healthy fiber, veggies, fruits, and well anything of any nutritional value.

It also cost me about $15-$20.