Getting Functionally Fit

I've got a couple more major tests of will and stamina coming up here. Today, we will be going to a family picnic to celebrate memorial day. Its not hard for me to resist food around the family (mostly because of the way they have treated me in the past), but it is hard to not binge when i come home after not eating anything. I know bringing my own food is going to make them question me and talk about what I am doing ( i hate talking about weight loss with my family because they are so skewed in their perspectives). But I will deal with that and bring at least something to keep going for the day so the fight against the hunger binge isnt too difficult when i get home.

then, tomorrow and the day after, ive got 2 very long days of substituting for a 6-8th grade art teacher (head coach of the girls varsity track team, she requested me, lol). will need to pack my food, and make sure i am eating at the most regular intervals possible, because we will have practice at the end of the day as well. so i will be out of the house from about 7am till 6pm. not quite as long of a day as last saturday with the track meet, but i have more responsibility and work to do when substituting, so it will be harder to ensure i am eating at the right times and keeping things consistant. but if i pack and prepare, then i can conquer.

side note: i decided to re-weigh myself again this morning before eating lunch (scales are in the kitchen...) for the fun of it, and even after breakfast and drinking water, i weighed in even lower, actually a new current low. though i wont count it because for the sake of consistancy i am recording morning empty weight. if i count this new weight, i will become obsessed with always looking for lowest number possible, and thats not the point.
 
ok, so mom wasnt feeling well today, so we didnt go to the family picnic. no skin off my back, makes my day easier, lol. did well today, though dinner was somewhat of a cheat meal. I mean, i still hit my calorie mark, had my macro's in check and all, but the pasta salad i had was tasty, and I ate a bit more than i normally would have. but its not mayo based, its canola oil, and just has lots of veggies in it. so all in all, it wasnt really a cheat, other than the fact that it filled me up quite a bit, and i got my total calories in a little earlier (730pm) than i normally would have. Still have to plan and pack for tomorrow though...

anyways, since im done with calories for the day, ill do my weekly analysis now:

Average Daily Calories - 2,405
Fat - 65 grams, 24% of total
Saturated Fat - 17 grams, 6% of total
Carbohydrates - 261 grams 40% of total
Fiber - 31 grams
Protein - 199 grams, 34% of total
Sodium - 6,900mg
Average Daily Deficit - ~1700 calories
Missing Micronutrients - Low on Copper, Vitamin D, Magnesium, and Potassium
Total Calories For Week - 16,900
Deficit For Week - 11,800
Estimated Tissue Loss - 3.3 pounds
Actual Weight Loss - 5.8 pounds
Projected 4 Week Weight - 414 pounds by 6/25/07
Projected 12 Week - 373 pounds by 8/20/07
Exercise - Minimal

And now for a self-evaluation:
Hitting daily calorie range very well. would like to reduce fat percentage to 20% of total each day and raise protein closer to 40%. Sodium is a bit high, though I am not too concerned considering the amount of water I drink each day. Still would like to reduce the number, may need to find replacements for some of the canned foods. Need to increase intake of copper, vitamin D is made by the body and i am getting plenty of sunlight for that, magnesium and potassium are just barely short, might start a small supplementation next week if they dont come up. Deficit seems way overestimated, still dont believe i burn 4100 calories without even exercising. Will double check (for the 4th time) to see if something is wrong in the estimation. weight loss is satisfactory, though projections seem awful hopeful, lol. A regimented exercise program will be incorporated within the next week or so, as soon as i have access to acceptable equipment. Overall, quite satisfied with first week results.

Note to self: I need to overestimate what I need on the grocery list each 2 weeks, as I may run out of some stuff this week making it difficult to get the calories i need in the right places. Current circumstances do not permit me to just run out and pick up more of what i need, so I must take that into consideration.

Other than what I have already mentioned in my self-eval, anyone have any comments/suggestions/questions? anything else i should be tracking, something I am missing, something I should change that I did not recognize?

Thanks for all the support so far, I owe Week 1's success partly to you guys here. My real life support web is only about 2.5 people strong, so thanks again!
 
Hey coach, its really hard to eat at regular intervals as a teacher. I eat breakfast by 7 AM and then I don't have another chance to eat until 1PM. On the bright side, most I've seen about regular interval eating is that its metabolic effect is over-rated and if you can't eat for awhile on your schedule at school you don't have the option of grabbing junk either. Good luck tomorrow.
 
Coach, i couldn't help but notice the line, "Exercise minimal."
Is that what you intended? Do you have any plans in that regard?

Otherwise, your plan looks terrific.
 
While i do realize that eating regularly doesnt have much effect on metabolic rate, it does help keep blood sugar levels stable, which keeps hunger and cravings down. that is my main reason for trying to eat frequently, its a physiological attack against my binges. it is a heck of a lot easier to not binge if i am not feeling really hungry.

as far as the exercise goes, nope is it by no means my intention to keep it minimal. long story very short, since nutrition is about 80% of the battle, i am focusing on that. in the past i have failed because i tried to do too much at once right off the bat. so i have not yet begun forcing myself to exercise in ways i do not enjoy or find boring. when i have the opportunity to get in some exercise doing something I like, i take it. and so i have gotten some exercise in, but not as much as I will once i can get myself back into a gym again (this week or next maybe). I am getting some pretty good results so far just from nutrition so I will take this one step at a time. I do not fear or loathe exercise, just dislike exercise that is boring. if within the next week or so i cannot get into a decent gym and starting hitting the weights and getting on an elliptical (much better for my joints), then I will begin to progress into doing stuff that i dont like anyways. ok, maybe that wasnt all that short, lol.

anyways, morning of the 29th, before heading off to be an art teacher for the day, and i weigh in at 432.8. New low, seems to be still going strong. am packing some food to eat when i can, and will make the best of a difficult situation. test number 2 here i come, lol.
 
Seems like you are doing great, Coach.

Exercise is important for cardiovascular health, which I KNOW you know. But with regards to weight-loss, you are right.... nutrition is primary. When you are carrying around a lot of excess fat.... losing weight rarely results in a loss of muscle. So resistance training isn't AS important.

Best of luck to ya and keep it up!
 
Sounds very sensible, Coach. I started out doing only steady state cardio, and hated it. It really made a big difference when I found the kind of exercise I really wanted and liked to do.
 
Hey Coach...Morning! Did anyone ever tell you that smart men are sexy:)

For the small deficit in magnesium and potassium I'd suggest beets, only 58 cals for a cup and contains 31mg magnesium and 442mg potassium...personally I've never found anything in a suppliment that I couldn't find in the real deal itself - in a tastier version.

Have a great day!
 
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Steve and Tom, thanks for dropping by, having a look, and leaving kind words. appreciate it much. Cym, youre making me blush, lol. Also, thanks for the tip about beets, I did not realize they were so good for those two nutrients. I wonder if I will be able to ingest beets without slathering them in butter and salt, lol. worth a try!

I am at school right now, lucky enough to sub for a teacher who has three periods in a row off for planning and lunch. its about 2 hours worth of time. So I would have even been able to go home and get food if i hadnt brought it with me. but, i was responsible, got up a little earlier, and packed enough nutrition to get me through this part of the day. WOOT, lol. So now i get to relax, have something to eat, and play with some paints!

Oh, i noticed this morning that I sort of skipped an important aspect of my self-evaluation. I didn't talk about any emotions, or how things were feeling. I was pretty much straight objective. So, I'd like to take a few moments to refect on that. Firstly, i just flat out feel pretty darn good. Seems like with better nutrition my mind functions more clearly, my moods are a bit more stable and generally positive. I feel energetic. I want to get up and do things rather than sit around on my ass all day (part of why Im not really fearing doing annoying cardio sooner rather than later). My issues with heartburn and indigestion, and acid reflux are almost non-existant. Im sleeping better in general. This is the way i remember feeling the last time i did things right. I cant believe i ever let myself go back to the poor health I have been in. gross alert! my bowel movements are less frequent and more solid (though not hard), which makes them much more comfortable (at least as comfortable as a BM can be, lol). So not only am i losing weight on the scale, but I am feeling much better as a whole in day to day life. Still sweat lots, clothes still fit the same way, but it is good progress and it is invigorating. cant wait to get my bloodwork done in july for my next check-up, i think i will see some nice improvements.
 
ok, another day down successfully. 8 days in a row without screwing up. Habits are formed in 28 days right? 20 days to go, lol. couple of things to point out quick. In the midst of all this weight loss effort, I forgot that I am still trying to quit smoking. and i dont mean that i forgot to do it, and have been smoking. i mean i have quit and havent even been thinking about it or having cravings or anything. pretty cool, cuz i never through i would have the mental capacity to face two addictions at the same time. also, i weighed myself when i got home, and i was down to 429.6. thats how much water weight i lost from being an art teacher for a day, lol! i was all over the place all day trying to help the kids with their projects, mixing paints to match colors for the 6th graders, and teaching 8 graders how to draw in perspective. other than the select couple of trouble makers, it was a pretty good day, and i enjoyed it. which is good because i havent been having many good experiences with teaching lately. how friggin cute is it when a little 6th grade girl comes up to a 6'3" 440 pound monster, turns around, and asks him to tie her smock in the back so she can paint? or when a 6th grade boy is so excited to explain his drawing of the space ship he designed.

I am happy. :-D
 
weighed in at 430.2 this morning. taking it as a sign that i am still a bit low on water from yesterday. will do what i can to get my water back in today, and will expect to see a slight increase in weight tomorrow to compensate from minimal retention. still kinda cool to see the scale that much lower in one week though, lol, im not complaining by any means.

substituting again today, same job as yesterday playing with paints. actually looking forward to it i think... have food all packed and ready, breakfast down, and still have about 15 minutes before i have to leave. awesome.
 
Hi Coach. Sounds like a great day with the kids! You're making some great progress there, and the fact that you are giving up smoking simultaneously is awesome. Kudos to you! You're doing great; keep up the good work.
 
well, im at school again today, things going pretty well so far, only 2 classes left. but i forgot to write down what I had packed to bring with me, so Im going to leave it here for convenience later.

- 1 large apple, raw
- 1 whole wheat pita, with 3 slices lean ham, 1 tbls reduced fat mayo, and ~1/8 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup pasta salad
- 1 cup cubed chicken breast, boneless, skinless

also remembered to pack a water bottle so i could get adequate hydration throughout the day.

Thanks for kind words Tom. i think I am kind of lucky in regards to the smoking. I started at the age of 19 (relatively late), and am doing a full cessation at 23. besides that, there were plenty of time where i would go without for up to 3 or 4 months at a time with no nicotine at all. for some reason, my physical addiction has never been all that strong, and the psychological addiction is even weaker. the only reason i ever smoked was because i liked the calming effect and the buzz i got from it. i never really felt as though i NEEDED a smoke right away, or had any physical withdrawal symptoms. But i am accepting the fact that I need to give up that feel good feeling because it will hurt me greatly in the long run, in fact, i have even decided that i would no longer smoke cigars at poker night, and to me that was always a status/cultural thing. might be hard to leave that one behind, but I can do it. kinda helps we havent had a poker night in over a month now anyways. lol. so, in case anyone is wondering, dont worry, i dont have a gambling addiction either. or drugs! in fact, its just food and nicotine. lol
 
Morning Coach! The sub job sounds like more fun than work! Congrats on having one week down and many more successful ones in your future. I'm not so sure about that 28 days to make a habit thing, guess it depends on the how deeply engrained the old habit is that it's being formed to replace.:confused: Hey I see a perfect "spot" btw for you to add beets (sans butter and salt:) ) Said in my best Martha Stewart voice: "Chilled & diced, beets can make a deliciousm healthy and attractive addition to pasta salad, chicken salad" ...heck pretty much any cold salad. Have a great day with the kiddies.
 
Cym thats brilliant! lol. chicken and beets salad! without the salt, butter, oil, or mayo! so just basically the cubed chicken and the diced beets. and im not being sarcastic either, thats a great idea. it sounds pretty darn good. why is it that when you put two relatively bland tasting things together they can make something that tastes pretty darn good. i still have trouble with carrots and most green leafy veggies, maybe i should start looking for ways to incorporate those, lol. low fat, medium carb, and high protein meals are a slot i havent quite filled yet (i mean, i can do them, but i have to mix and match some pretty weird things sometimes, lol). Its been kinda fun trying to eat healthy and watch calories and macros. like putting a puzzle together each day...

EDIT: almost forgot to mention again, have another test coming up soon. and this one is like the grand-daddy of 'em all. that might tell some of you right off the bat what im about to say: VACATION. though its not really a full vacation, we like to go camping at least a few times each summer, and we are planning our first short trip for a couple of weeks from now. 4 days, 3 nights. wont have access to gym equipment, or a normal kitchen, or even a grocery store. so i will have to plan for 4 days worth of eating, pack it proper, and portion correctly so it gets done right. and ill have to find something else i can do for exercise (probably hiking, pretty common thing). Will be another important test for me, have already passed a couple of them though, so I have no fear, lol.
 
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CoachCrimson said:
i still have trouble with carrots and most green leafy veggies, maybe i should start looking for ways to incorporate those, lol. low fat, medium carb, and high protein meals are a slot i havent quite filled yet (i mean, i can do them, but i have to mix and match some pretty weird things sometimes, lol). Its been kinda fun trying to eat healthy and watch calories and macros. like putting a puzzle together each day...

.
Click to expand...

Okay, here's a piece of the puzzle for ya:

take a medium tomato, slice in half, scoop out most of middle and mix with spinach (raw baby leaves or cooked) and 1/2 oz nuts (pine, walnut,almond) stuff back into tomato, put 1/2 oz low fat cheese (provolone is great) on top
of each half, stick in oven until cheese melts, add your choice of lean meat on the side...when you check out the nutritional profile on this very, yummy, very filling, very summer friendly (there goes Martha again) - it will taste even better! I have a slight advantage I've learned to use for good instead of evil:) ...cooking is what I do.
 
Not exactly for everybody...but I predict it would be a good resource for you....



the articles, the forums (even a section devoted to suppliments), the newsletter (you'll get access to the archives when you register) and many of the training logs are first rate.
 
Hey Coach, just catching up on your progress. Sounds like you're doing great. Dont forget to keep coming here even if you slide off, that's when you could really use the support so you dont go back to your old ways. Its great that you're chronic problems like the acid reflux are gone so quickly! That should help with the continued motivation.

I was curious how you're able to get in so much protein. 40% as a goal is very very high. What are you eating to meet that? I'm trying a high protein diet now, but its been like 36% protein and the rest lots of fat with like 8% carbs. I'm just doing this for a week (with tomorrow off since I'm going to a wedding) to try to get off this plateau.
 
Blancita, thanks for stopping by. it does (or did, see below, lol) feel great to just feel healthy overall and not have some of those other issues i was having. as far as the protein question is concerned, it can be difficult to get lots of protein in while keeping fat down, but one of my old secrets was a whey protein powder supplement. you can add it to practically anything to increase the ratio of protein to fat or carbs, or drink it straight by itself. i avoid powders that have lots of sugars in them already so that is becomes more of a pure protein source. however, right now, i dont have the money to pick up any protein powder, so i am struggling a little bit to get my ratio up. I eat a decent amount of skinless and boneless chicken breast. if i hadnt overdone it before, i would eat lots of tuna as well. certain cuts of beef are quite lean, and still taste very good if you cook them proper. also, the pork industry jumped on the lean bandwagon some years ago, and alot of cuts of pork are very lean now too. Shrimp, mussels and clams are very lean as well, and as long as you dont go too crazy on them every day, the slight increase in cholesterol wont make any noticeable difference. and as it turns out, lobster is not only very lean, but also lower in cholesterol than chicken! aside from meat, i get a decent amount of protein alongside morning to midday carbs from oatmeal, certain cereals, yogurt, cottage cheese, chick peas (garbanzos), and skim milk. there are lots of other things too but i cannot think of them off the top of my head at the moment. when it comes time to get in my healthy fats, i try to go for foods that have at least a 3:1 fat to protein ratio, if not better. peanut butter is great for this, as it is around a 2:1 ratio. this is why I generally try to avoid oils, since they are basically just liquid fats with no other macros. hope this helps give you some more ideas.

Cym, thanks for the recipe for stuffed tomatoes, and for the link to bodyrecomp. that forum sounds familiar, but then again fitness forums are a dime a dozen, lol. i will check both of those out when i get some free time here.

quick update: still been successful, havent screwed up a day yet. didnt choose the greatest thing for breakfast this morning (pasta salad), because i ran out of cereal and just didnt want oatmeal. i am making up for it though, and will not go over my calories for the day, i just wil have a slightly higher fat percentage today. which is ok because saturated fats are still under 5% of total calories. actually, i wont even go over the RDA for total fat calories anyways, just higher than my usual goal. I am running out of food quick here though, and next shopping day is this saturday, so I will need to be a bit crafty these next two days. only problem is...

i am getting sick. getting the start what my mother just defeated a couple of days ago, after a week or so of being in pretty miserable shape. starts in the chest, a little bit of a cough, and some congestion, slowly builds there, gets painful to cough and breathe deep. then the symptoms start moving upwards, into the throat and neck, and eventually headaches and sinus congestion. before practice today, i was having a minor cough and a couple weak aches. went to practice in the 95 degree weather with high humidity, and within an hour of being in that, cough got worse, breathing was painful, head started hurting pretty badly, throat is irritated, and more. i am not one to complain normally, but this is not well timed. if i do not defeat this before it gets nasty like my mothers, things are gonna get rough in the health and fitness department. and since ive gotta spend about 7 hours out in the heat, humidity and sun tomorrow for one of the biggest meets of the year, i am thinking things are gonna get worse. as it was, the afternoon/evening meet tomorrow was going to be another test of resolve, now im going to get tested on how well i can stick to my guns while sick at the same time. lol, this should get interesting...
 
Hi coach!! It's been a little while since I stopped in and WOW your down 9 lbs already, Cool!! I know what you mean on trying to eat well, while trying to keep in a budget, that's the hardest part for me. I eat a lot of chicken too and tuna for my protein. I'm not a beef eater at all, so that saves me a little. Sounds like you need to start downing the Vitamin C my friend, I really hope you can knock out that bug before it gets worse, head colds suck! Well, good luck on your continued success, your doing a wonderful job so far!
Kim
 
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