Today is a rest day. I had intended to wake up at 6:30AM to keep my body clock constant, but my son decided that he needed to sleep with us last night. Four hours of bony elbows and knees later and I decided that sleeping in was the wiser course!
I've got some kind of inner ear thing going on today making the room kind of spin. Hopefully, that'll be gone by tomorrow.
Breakfast
I slept through breakfast today. I didn't feel hungry until lunch so I didn't try to squeeze one in.
Lunch
3 ounces chicken breast [3P]
1/2 cup 1% milk [0.5P/0.5C/0.5F]
1 clementine orange [1C]
1 slice whole wheat bread [2C]
1 tsp. Miracle Whip Light [0.5F]
15 peanuts [2.5F]
1/2 leaf romaine lettuce and 1/2 slice dill sandwich pickle as garnish
Afternoon Snack
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese [1P]
1 clementine orange [1C]
6 peanuts [1F]
Dinner
3 ounces grilled chicken breast [3P]
1/2 cup 1% milk [0.5P/0.5C/0.5F]
1/2 cup green beans [0.5C]
1 clementine orange [1C]
1/2 cup canned light mixed fruit [1.5C]
18 peanuts [3F]
Evening Snack
1 stick low fat string cheese [1P/1F]
1 clementine orange [1C]
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Day 3 - Weekend Workout Continued
As promised, I used the body fat zone block requirement calculator to determine my measurements.
Weight: 285 (nearest five pounds, i.e., 180 or 185)
Height: 75 (use half-inch increments, i.e., 71.5 or 72)
Waist: 50 (use half-inch increments, i.e., 32 or 32.5)
Wrist: 7 (use half-inch increments, i.e., 7 or 7.5)
Activity Factor: Light - Light fitness training, such as walking
Body Fat %: 34.00
Body Fat Weight (lbs): 96.90
Lean Body Mass (lbs): 188.10
Daily Protein Requirement (g): 112.86
or # of Blocks of Protein: 16
# of Blocks of Carbohydrate: 16
# of Blocks of Fat: 16
I should be using the "Moderate" activity factor, but I think "Light" is more appropriate. My logic is that my job is purely sedentary, I don't stand or walk at all unless I'm getting a drink or walking down to the cafe' to play Go at lunch. Since I don't really use any energy during the day, I'll dock myself an activity factor to compensate. Using the block recommendations I would have the following blocks per meal:
Breakfast: 4
Lunch: 4
Afternoon Snack: 2
Dinner: 4
Evening Snack: 2
That looks fairly reasonable, but I've been feeling full on the 3.5 blocks per main meal and 1 block snacks. Since my most pressing goal is to lose weight I'm going to stick with that and if I start feeling weak and tired during my workouts I'll bump up to the calculated values.
Breakfast: 3.5
Lunch: 3.5
Afternoon Snack: 1
Dinner: 3.5
Snack 1
As you can see from the calculations, I have 96.90 pounds of body fat. My primary weight loss goal is 60 pounds and my supplemental weight loss goal is 80 pounds. Assuming I can keep my lean body mass at 188.10 pounds, if I reach my primary weight loss goal I will have 36.90 pounds of body fat left. That's a body fat percentage of 19.6%, not bad at all since the recommended "average" male body fat percentage is 15%. If I reach my supplemental goal I will have 16.9 pounds of body fat for a body fat percentage of 9%. That would be spectacular! These calculations make me feel that my goals are right in line with what is healthy for me. My primary goal is almost spot on to get me into a reasonable weight range and my supplemental goal is right on to put me in the elite athlete weight range for my build. Now, to do it in one year... making reality come as close to theory as possible is the purpose of my training.
Below is what I ate for the remainder of today. I went grocery shopping after eating dinner so I had some new items to eat for my evening snack. I wasn't at all hungry for my evening snack, but I ate it anyway. I shouldn't do that, habits like that are what made me obese in the first place.
Lunch
2 1/2 ounces chicken breast [2.5P]
1 cup 2% milk [1P/1C/2F]
1 1/2 cups green beans [1.5C]
1 clementine orange [1C]
7 1/2 whole almonds [1.5F]
Afternoon Snack
1 stick string cheese [1P/3F!]
1 clementine orange [1C]
Dinner
3 ounces pork chop [3P]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5P/0.5C/1F]
1 cup romaine lettuce [0.25C]
1 1/4 cup broccoli [1C]
1/2 cup chopped tomato [0.5C]
1 clementine orange [1C]
2 tbsp. balsamic vinagairette [2.5F]
3 whole almonds [1F]
Evening Snack
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese [1P]
1 clementine orange [1C]
6 peanuts [1F]
Weight: 285 (nearest five pounds, i.e., 180 or 185)
Height: 75 (use half-inch increments, i.e., 71.5 or 72)
Waist: 50 (use half-inch increments, i.e., 32 or 32.5)
Wrist: 7 (use half-inch increments, i.e., 7 or 7.5)
Activity Factor: Light - Light fitness training, such as walking
Body Fat %: 34.00
Body Fat Weight (lbs): 96.90
Lean Body Mass (lbs): 188.10
Daily Protein Requirement (g): 112.86
or # of Blocks of Protein: 16
# of Blocks of Carbohydrate: 16
# of Blocks of Fat: 16
I should be using the "Moderate" activity factor, but I think "Light" is more appropriate. My logic is that my job is purely sedentary, I don't stand or walk at all unless I'm getting a drink or walking down to the cafe' to play Go at lunch. Since I don't really use any energy during the day, I'll dock myself an activity factor to compensate. Using the block recommendations I would have the following blocks per meal:
Breakfast: 4
Lunch: 4
Afternoon Snack: 2
Dinner: 4
Evening Snack: 2
That looks fairly reasonable, but I've been feeling full on the 3.5 blocks per main meal and 1 block snacks. Since my most pressing goal is to lose weight I'm going to stick with that and if I start feeling weak and tired during my workouts I'll bump up to the calculated values.
Breakfast: 3.5
Lunch: 3.5
Afternoon Snack: 1
Dinner: 3.5
Snack 1
As you can see from the calculations, I have 96.90 pounds of body fat. My primary weight loss goal is 60 pounds and my supplemental weight loss goal is 80 pounds. Assuming I can keep my lean body mass at 188.10 pounds, if I reach my primary weight loss goal I will have 36.90 pounds of body fat left. That's a body fat percentage of 19.6%, not bad at all since the recommended "average" male body fat percentage is 15%. If I reach my supplemental goal I will have 16.9 pounds of body fat for a body fat percentage of 9%. That would be spectacular! These calculations make me feel that my goals are right in line with what is healthy for me. My primary goal is almost spot on to get me into a reasonable weight range and my supplemental goal is right on to put me in the elite athlete weight range for my build. Now, to do it in one year... making reality come as close to theory as possible is the purpose of my training.
Below is what I ate for the remainder of today. I went grocery shopping after eating dinner so I had some new items to eat for my evening snack. I wasn't at all hungry for my evening snack, but I ate it anyway. I shouldn't do that, habits like that are what made me obese in the first place.
Lunch
2 1/2 ounces chicken breast [2.5P]
1 cup 2% milk [1P/1C/2F]
1 1/2 cups green beans [1.5C]
1 clementine orange [1C]
7 1/2 whole almonds [1.5F]
Afternoon Snack
1 stick string cheese [1P/3F!]
1 clementine orange [1C]
Dinner
3 ounces pork chop [3P]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5P/0.5C/1F]
1 cup romaine lettuce [0.25C]
1 1/4 cup broccoli [1C]
1/2 cup chopped tomato [0.5C]
1 clementine orange [1C]
2 tbsp. balsamic vinagairette [2.5F]
3 whole almonds [1F]
Evening Snack
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese [1P]
1 clementine orange [1C]
6 peanuts [1F]
Day 3 - Weekend Workout
Waking up at 6:30AM on a Saturday just isn't right! After recovering from the shock of my alarm this morning I noticed that my shins and hamstrings were sore. I went to bed last night at 10:45PM, having stayed up too late watching a movie with the kids, and feel asleep immediately.
After getting dressed and taking my medicine, I grabbed my GymBoss just in case and took off walking. After the 6 minute warm up, I felt better so I did the run/walk workout as planned. I noticed that I didn't post how far I'd gone yesterday, so I calculated it up using Gmaps Pedometer, and it was 2 1/2 miles. I took a slightly different route this morning that was also 2 1/2 miles long.
Breakfast this morning was more of the same. I hard boiled some eggs last night and it was nice this morning to peel three eggs, throw away the yolks for two of them and, ta da, eggs. No mess. I cooked up another batch of steel cut oats this morning. Since I didn't scramble the eggs with olive oil I ate whole almonds to make up the fat blocks.
Breakfast
1 whole egg and 2 eggs whites [2P]
1/3 scoop protein powder [1P]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5P/0.5C/1F]
2/3 cup steel cut oats [3C]
7 1/2 whole almonds [2.5F]
Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg to spice up the oatmeal
Provided I stick to the Zone diet for the rest of today I will have hit all of the immediate goals I set for myself on Wednesday!
I need to reread the Zone book today and make up a menu for the rest of this weekend and next week. I'll also be taking my measurements so I'll post those soon as well. I'll work on my short, intermediate, and long term goals this weekend and post them on Monday.
After getting dressed and taking my medicine, I grabbed my GymBoss just in case and took off walking. After the 6 minute warm up, I felt better so I did the run/walk workout as planned. I noticed that I didn't post how far I'd gone yesterday, so I calculated it up using Gmaps Pedometer, and it was 2 1/2 miles. I took a slightly different route this morning that was also 2 1/2 miles long.
Breakfast this morning was more of the same. I hard boiled some eggs last night and it was nice this morning to peel three eggs, throw away the yolks for two of them and, ta da, eggs. No mess. I cooked up another batch of steel cut oats this morning. Since I didn't scramble the eggs with olive oil I ate whole almonds to make up the fat blocks.
Breakfast
1 whole egg and 2 eggs whites [2P]
1/3 scoop protein powder [1P]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5P/0.5C/1F]
2/3 cup steel cut oats [3C]
7 1/2 whole almonds [2.5F]
Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg to spice up the oatmeal
Provided I stick to the Zone diet for the rest of today I will have hit all of the immediate goals I set for myself on Wednesday!
I need to reread the Zone book today and make up a menu for the rest of this weekend and next week. I'll also be taking my measurements so I'll post those soon as well. I'll work on my short, intermediate, and long term goals this weekend and post them on Monday.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Day 2 - Baby Steps Circuit Training
I just finished the circuit training workout. I used 20 pound dumbbells and thought it was a bit too light. I'll add five pounds next time. My gym is pretty small so I usually had about 30 seconds rest between the step ups and the weight lifting part of the workout which seemed like a lot of time considering I only had to turn around to get to my dumbbells. For the weight routines, I was usually within 10-15 seconds of the time interval with lunges and squats and had about 30 seconds of rest again between the curls and overhead press exercises and step ups.
The step ups, curls, and overhead press seemed easy. The lunges were the hardest and I'm not certain my form was correct. The squats were tough on my lower back until I put 25 pound plates under my heels so I could keep my form correct. I need some flexibility work on my ankles. I'll have to do some research on that.
For my 10 minute warm up I skipped rope in sets of 60 and did stretches in between. Next time I think I'll add in a couple of practice moves for each exercise (especially lunges) and a few crunches for good measure.
For my cool down I took a 10 minute walk thinking that would be the same as the gentle stretching and slow step ups. After doing it, I don't think it was. I'll stick with the recommendation next time.
I have two questions for any weightlifters out there:
The step ups, curls, and overhead press seemed easy. The lunges were the hardest and I'm not certain my form was correct. The squats were tough on my lower back until I put 25 pound plates under my heels so I could keep my form correct. I need some flexibility work on my ankles. I'll have to do some research on that.
For my 10 minute warm up I skipped rope in sets of 60 and did stretches in between. Next time I think I'll add in a couple of practice moves for each exercise (especially lunges) and a few crunches for good measure.
For my cool down I took a 10 minute walk thinking that would be the same as the gentle stretching and slow step ups. After doing it, I don't think it was. I'll stick with the recommendation next time.
I have two questions for any weightlifters out there:
- Do you know if my rest phases are of appropriate length or if they're too long?
- Page 3 of the circuit training workout says, "One other point: in this higher-intensity zone, strength development and aerobic fitness are more likely to be complementary. Long and slow endurance training conflicts with strength training. The body’s muscle response is contradictory and the results can be disappointing (Nader 2006)." Am I wasting my time doing aerobic workouts every morning and circuit training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or is this saying that circuit training is complimentary to my aerobic workouts and wouldn't be complimentary if I were doing weight lifting workouts?
Day 2 - Baby Steps
Last night was... long. I took my lessons learned from yesterday to heart and laid out my clothes, checked the weather, and then made my menu for today and started preparing ingredients before going to bed last night. I think planning out and preparing the initial two weeks of Zone meals is the most difficult part of the Zone diet. I had trouble with it the last time as well. It isn't that we don't have healthy things to eat in the house, it's that I insist on measuring everything out instead of following the eyeball or 1/3 protein and 2/3 vegetables/fruit plate methods mentioned in the book. The last time, once I'd made it through two weeks I had enough standard meals that I could whip them up in short order and was then able to experiment with more interesting cuisine. Getting to that point is the challenge.
I stayed up until 10:30PM to watch the Vice-Presidential debate and then went to bed. And laid there. And then laid there some more. I think I fell asleep just after 11:30PM. I'm not sure why that was the case, around 7:00PM I was ready to go to bed and call it a night. I did get up at 6:30AM this morning. I figure my body will figure this out if I just keep getting up on time.
I did the run/walk workout this morning, altering their recommendation a bit to do a warm up of 6 minutes followed by 1 minute running/5 minutes walking for four intervals (6 minutes warm up, 24 minutes run/walk). I felt my form was pretty good, but no matter how slowly I ran/jogged it took about 10-20 seconds before I could pump my arms to go from strolling to walking. Hopefully, that will change as I get better at this. I also found that I didn't mind running by the bus stop today. I'm not sure why, I guess it was because those particular kids had already seen me so what's the big deal?
To measure out my 1/5 minute intervals I wore a GymBoss timer clipped to the neck of my shirt (so I could hear it over traffic and my own breathing). I started out with it clipped to the hip pocket of my sweatpants, but moved it quickly after I missed hearing the beep and my first run interval was three minutes long!
Below is my meal plan for the day. Breakfast was "interesting". I got lazy and didn't want to dirty up a plate for the eggs so I mixed them in with my oatmeal (after I'd cooked the eggs! Those familiar with my culinary skills may have been in doubt). That was a bad idea. I was able to choke it all down, but I won't be doing that again.
Breakfast - Oatmeal and Eggs
1 whole egg and two egg whites [2P]
1/3 scoop protein powder [1P]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5P/0.5C/1F] - I decided I can't really ignore the fat content of the 2% milk so I'm putting it in as a source of fat.
2/3 cup steel cut oats [3C]
2/3 tsp. olive oil [2F]
Lunch - Tuna Salad Wrap and Milk
1 can of tuna [3P]
1/2 cup of 2% milk [0.5P/0.5C/1F]
1 tortilla [3C]
2 tbsp. Miracle Whip Light [2F]
1 1/2 whole almonds [1.5F]
1 tbsp. pickle relish [-] - The label on the jar of relish in the fridge shows 0P/0C/0F so I'm treating it as a spice.
Snack - String Cheese and a Clementine Orange
1 stick of string cheese [1P/3F!] - We don't have low fat string cheese at the house. However, I erred on the side of being cheap because going with this means I didn't have to drive to the store.
1 clementine orange [1C] - The Zone book I have only shows canned mandarin oranges or regular oranges. However, 1/2 orange is 1 carbohydrate block and a clementine orange is roughly that size.
I've been typing up these posts during my lunch break at work so I haven't gotten to my circuit training yet. I'll post again tonight after that workout.
I stayed up until 10:30PM to watch the Vice-Presidential debate and then went to bed. And laid there. And then laid there some more. I think I fell asleep just after 11:30PM. I'm not sure why that was the case, around 7:00PM I was ready to go to bed and call it a night. I did get up at 6:30AM this morning. I figure my body will figure this out if I just keep getting up on time.
I did the run/walk workout this morning, altering their recommendation a bit to do a warm up of 6 minutes followed by 1 minute running/5 minutes walking for four intervals (6 minutes warm up, 24 minutes run/walk). I felt my form was pretty good, but no matter how slowly I ran/jogged it took about 10-20 seconds before I could pump my arms to go from strolling to walking. Hopefully, that will change as I get better at this. I also found that I didn't mind running by the bus stop today. I'm not sure why, I guess it was because those particular kids had already seen me so what's the big deal?
To measure out my 1/5 minute intervals I wore a GymBoss timer clipped to the neck of my shirt (so I could hear it over traffic and my own breathing). I started out with it clipped to the hip pocket of my sweatpants, but moved it quickly after I missed hearing the beep and my first run interval was three minutes long!
Below is my meal plan for the day. Breakfast was "interesting". I got lazy and didn't want to dirty up a plate for the eggs so I mixed them in with my oatmeal (after I'd cooked the eggs! Those familiar with my culinary skills may have been in doubt). That was a bad idea. I was able to choke it all down, but I won't be doing that again.
Breakfast - Oatmeal and Eggs
1 whole egg and two egg whites [2P]
1/3 scoop protein powder [1P]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5P/0.5C/1F] - I decided I can't really ignore the fat content of the 2% milk so I'm putting it in as a source of fat.
2/3 cup steel cut oats [3C]
2/3 tsp. olive oil [2F]
Lunch - Tuna Salad Wrap and Milk
1 can of tuna [3P]
1/2 cup of 2% milk [0.5P/0.5C/1F]
1 tortilla [3C]
2 tbsp. Miracle Whip Light [2F]
1 1/2 whole almonds [1.5F]
1 tbsp. pickle relish [-] - The label on the jar of relish in the fridge shows 0P/0C/0F so I'm treating it as a spice.
Snack - String Cheese and a Clementine Orange
1 stick of string cheese [1P/3F!] - We don't have low fat string cheese at the house. However, I erred on the side of being cheap because going with this means I didn't have to drive to the store.
1 clementine orange [1C] - The Zone book I have only shows canned mandarin oranges or regular oranges. However, 1/2 orange is 1 carbohydrate block and a clementine orange is roughly that size.
I've been typing up these posts during my lunch break at work so I haven't gotten to my circuit training yet. I'll post again tonight after that workout.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Day 1 - Putting The Plan In Motion
I hit my goals for today! I can hear the comments of, "Congratulations on waking up, taking a walk, and eating breakfast," already but despite a pretty easy first day and set of goals I learned a few things:
I weighed myself on the bathroom scale and I was very close with my guess from yesterday, I weigh 284 pounds. I'll use that as my starting weight to track my weight loss. I know that part of figuring out my blocks for the Zone diet is taking certain measurements and I'll post those as soon as I take them.
This morning I walked just over 1.75 miles (calculated using the Gmaps Pedometer) in 30 minutes.
Since I haven't reread the Zone book yet to figure how many blocks I should be eating I used my previous block count of 3.5 blocks per meal and 1 block snacks. Breakfast consisted of:
Protein
1 whole egg [1 block]
2 egg whites [1 block]
1/3 scoop of protein powder [1 block]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5 block]
Carbohydrate
2/3 cup steel cuts oats [3 blocks]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5 block]
Fat
1 tsp. olive oil [3 blocks]
1.5 whole almonds [0.5 block]
I scrambled the eggs and added a little bit of salt and pepper, nothing fancy there. The Zone book says that oatmeal is 1 block for 1/3 cup, but the nutrition information on my oatmeal packet says 27g of carbohydrate per serving and my batch made 4 servings. I went with the math (27/9 = 3) instead of the book, but I need to research the blocks for oatmeal. Regardless, I mixed the oatmeal with the milk and added the protein powder, a dash of cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg and microwaved it to warm it up. It actually tasted really good so I'll probably stick with oatmeal as the carbohydrate part of my breakfast.
Tonight I need to plan my menu for tomorrow and Saturday morning. I also plan to lay out my clothes, check the weather report, and go grocery shopping to pick up anything I need after planning my menu. Saturday will be my big shopping day to get all of the things I'll need for full time Zone dieting.
- I made a paper planning mistake. "Wake up at 6:30AM" does not translate into "start working out at 6:30AM". By the time I had dug my workout clothes out of the dresser, taken my medicine (I'm hypothyroid so I take a little pill every day) and put on a warm jacket (it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit this morning!) it was 6:45AM before I was actually walking down my driveway. Lesson learned: Set out my clothes and check the weather report before going to bed.
- I found out I'm self conscious about being seen working out. There were kids walking to school and waiting on the bus this morning and I felt silly being seen by them. It kept going through my mind that they must be thinking, "Who is that old fat guy walking by and what is he doing here today?" I'm going to have to get over this, but for now I plan to figure out where the bus stops are through trial and error and plan my run/walks so that they avoid them. Perhaps as I lose weight this trend will reverse and I'll be more comfortable about being seen working out in the morning. Lesson learned: Plan a little, but mostly suck it up and get over it as quickly as I can.
- I did remember that Zone meals take a while to fix. I didn't remember just how long that was. Breakfast was a half hour affair this morning and it really didn't need to be. I had to look food up in the Zone book to get the correct number of blocks for the meal and then cook it all up. Luckily, a few days ago I cooked a batch of steel cuts oats. Lesson learned: Plan my meals and prepare the ingredients the night before.
I weighed myself on the bathroom scale and I was very close with my guess from yesterday, I weigh 284 pounds. I'll use that as my starting weight to track my weight loss. I know that part of figuring out my blocks for the Zone diet is taking certain measurements and I'll post those as soon as I take them.
This morning I walked just over 1.75 miles (calculated using the Gmaps Pedometer) in 30 minutes.
Since I haven't reread the Zone book yet to figure how many blocks I should be eating I used my previous block count of 3.5 blocks per meal and 1 block snacks. Breakfast consisted of:
Protein
1 whole egg [1 block]
2 egg whites [1 block]
1/3 scoop of protein powder [1 block]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5 block]
Carbohydrate
2/3 cup steel cuts oats [3 blocks]
1/2 cup 2% milk [0.5 block]
Fat
1 tsp. olive oil [3 blocks]
1.5 whole almonds [0.5 block]
I scrambled the eggs and added a little bit of salt and pepper, nothing fancy there. The Zone book says that oatmeal is 1 block for 1/3 cup, but the nutrition information on my oatmeal packet says 27g of carbohydrate per serving and my batch made 4 servings. I went with the math (27/9 = 3) instead of the book, but I need to research the blocks for oatmeal. Regardless, I mixed the oatmeal with the milk and added the protein powder, a dash of cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg and microwaved it to warm it up. It actually tasted really good so I'll probably stick with oatmeal as the carbohydrate part of my breakfast.
Tonight I need to plan my menu for tomorrow and Saturday morning. I also plan to lay out my clothes, check the weather report, and go grocery shopping to pick up anything I need after planning my menu. Saturday will be my big shopping day to get all of the things I'll need for full time Zone dieting.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Developing My Initial Training Regimen
This is going to be a long post, so you might want to get comfortable before you begin.
As I alluded to in my last post, my lifestyle has not been overly concerned with my health for a while. I currently weigh around 285 pounds and I am 6' 3" tall. Losing weight will have to be a primary goal of my training. Since walking up three flights of stairs leaves me out of breath, I'll also need to dramatically improve my aerobic fitness level. I don't feel that I need to gain a lot of muscle mass, but mountaineering does involve considerable body strength so I'll need to focus on weight training exercises that increase my endurance.
So, first things first. I think the biggest obstacle I face is my weight. It seems impossible to increase my aerobic fitness and physical endurance without addressing it, although doing both of those things will contribute to my weight loss. The articles I've been reading online suggest that a healthy and sustainable weight loss rate is around one and a half to two pounds per week. Since my trip is in October of next year I have 52 weeks to achieve my weight loss goal. Theoretically, 52 weeks would let me lose 104 pounds. To feel good about my chances of succeeding in my summit attempt I think my body weight for the trip needs to be 225 pounds or less. That means I need to lose a minimum of 60 pounds in 52 weeks, or just over one pound per week.
However, right or wrong, I feel that I need to hit my target weight about two or three months before the trip. My reasoning is that I need time to adjust to weighing 20% less than I currently do. While losing weight I'll also be losing some muscle, no matter how carefully I diet. My body will be under a lot of stress while I'm going through the process of weight loss in combination with increasing my cardiovascular fitness level and physical endurance. I feel that I'll need to give my body time to "rest" and build up some inner reserves before the trek. I also think this process will be something akin to a reverse growth spurt and that I'll need some time to get through an awkward stage and to a point where my mental expectations match what my body is capable of doing.
Given the adjusted time frame, I need to average around 1.5 pounds of weight loss per week for the next 40 to 44 weeks. That falls squarely in the realistic range, so I think it's a reasonable goal. I'll admit to hoping that I can do better than this and so I'll set a supplemental goal of averaging an even 2.0 pounds of weight loss per week should I get to my first weight loss goal before the 40-44 weeks have passed. That's losing 80 pounds instead of 60 pounds and, yes, it seems very ambitious.
All of that thinking and reasoning is great, but how am I actually going to do all of that?
Diet - The Zone Diet
Over the last decade I've tried several diets: Atkins, Weight Watchers, and The Zone. Atkins wasn't for me. I never felt well on it and was irritable all the time, even after the initial two week phase. Weight Watchers worked. My only complaint about it is that I was always hungry and focusing on my next meal all the time. I lost 40 pounds on it, but wasn't able to keep with the program and ended up rebounding. The Zone seemed to work really well. I wasn't hungry and I felt good throughout the day. It also helped that the two planned snacks fall right at the times I'm always snacking on junk food during the day. I was only able to pursue the Zone diet for about five weeks before 12-16 hour per day work commitments took over my life for about eight months. However, during those five weeks I lost 12 pounds (without doing any exercise) and felt good so I'll be doing it again for at least three months to gauge how it works for a longer period and if I think it is sustainable for the full year (and hopefully beyond).
Aerobic Training - Varied.
My current plan is to do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise six days per week, Sunday being a rest day. I have a membership to the local YMCA so I have no excuses about equipment availability (year round swimming pool, rowing machine, treadmill, stationary bike).
Weight Training - Circuit Training
Asking around and doing some quick online Google searches brings up circuit training as a way to do weight lifting with a focus on endurance as opposed to building muscle mass. My current plan is to do 30 minutes of circuit training three days per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).
While this isn't in the list of main training categories, a lot of literature online (as well as common sense) indicates that not sleeping well or for long enough can cause all kinds of problems. To cover all of my bases and give myself the best possible chance to succeed at all of my goals I'm going to focus on a good night's sleep as part of my core training regimen.
Sleep - At least 8 hours per night and a routine bed time
To a lot of people I'm sure this seems like a no-brainer. My sleep schedule was very erratic or non-existent for eight months and has remained erratic for the last several months. I need to get back on a schedule and get more sleep. Typical nights for me right now are going to bed at 1, 2, or 3 o'clock in the morning and waking up for work around 7:30 - 8 o'clock.
The Nitty Gritty Details
I need to come up with short, intermediate, and long term goals, but for now I will wrap up this post with my immediate goals:
As I alluded to in my last post, my lifestyle has not been overly concerned with my health for a while. I currently weigh around 285 pounds and I am 6' 3" tall. Losing weight will have to be a primary goal of my training. Since walking up three flights of stairs leaves me out of breath, I'll also need to dramatically improve my aerobic fitness level. I don't feel that I need to gain a lot of muscle mass, but mountaineering does involve considerable body strength so I'll need to focus on weight training exercises that increase my endurance.
So, first things first. I think the biggest obstacle I face is my weight. It seems impossible to increase my aerobic fitness and physical endurance without addressing it, although doing both of those things will contribute to my weight loss. The articles I've been reading online suggest that a healthy and sustainable weight loss rate is around one and a half to two pounds per week. Since my trip is in October of next year I have 52 weeks to achieve my weight loss goal. Theoretically, 52 weeks would let me lose 104 pounds. To feel good about my chances of succeeding in my summit attempt I think my body weight for the trip needs to be 225 pounds or less. That means I need to lose a minimum of 60 pounds in 52 weeks, or just over one pound per week.
However, right or wrong, I feel that I need to hit my target weight about two or three months before the trip. My reasoning is that I need time to adjust to weighing 20% less than I currently do. While losing weight I'll also be losing some muscle, no matter how carefully I diet. My body will be under a lot of stress while I'm going through the process of weight loss in combination with increasing my cardiovascular fitness level and physical endurance. I feel that I'll need to give my body time to "rest" and build up some inner reserves before the trek. I also think this process will be something akin to a reverse growth spurt and that I'll need some time to get through an awkward stage and to a point where my mental expectations match what my body is capable of doing.
Given the adjusted time frame, I need to average around 1.5 pounds of weight loss per week for the next 40 to 44 weeks. That falls squarely in the realistic range, so I think it's a reasonable goal. I'll admit to hoping that I can do better than this and so I'll set a supplemental goal of averaging an even 2.0 pounds of weight loss per week should I get to my first weight loss goal before the 40-44 weeks have passed. That's losing 80 pounds instead of 60 pounds and, yes, it seems very ambitious.
All of that thinking and reasoning is great, but how am I actually going to do all of that?
Diet - The Zone Diet
Over the last decade I've tried several diets: Atkins, Weight Watchers, and The Zone. Atkins wasn't for me. I never felt well on it and was irritable all the time, even after the initial two week phase. Weight Watchers worked. My only complaint about it is that I was always hungry and focusing on my next meal all the time. I lost 40 pounds on it, but wasn't able to keep with the program and ended up rebounding. The Zone seemed to work really well. I wasn't hungry and I felt good throughout the day. It also helped that the two planned snacks fall right at the times I'm always snacking on junk food during the day. I was only able to pursue the Zone diet for about five weeks before 12-16 hour per day work commitments took over my life for about eight months. However, during those five weeks I lost 12 pounds (without doing any exercise) and felt good so I'll be doing it again for at least three months to gauge how it works for a longer period and if I think it is sustainable for the full year (and hopefully beyond).
Aerobic Training - Varied.
My current plan is to do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise six days per week, Sunday being a rest day. I have a membership to the local YMCA so I have no excuses about equipment availability (year round swimming pool, rowing machine, treadmill, stationary bike).
Weight Training - Circuit Training
Asking around and doing some quick online Google searches brings up circuit training as a way to do weight lifting with a focus on endurance as opposed to building muscle mass. My current plan is to do 30 minutes of circuit training three days per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).
While this isn't in the list of main training categories, a lot of literature online (as well as common sense) indicates that not sleeping well or for long enough can cause all kinds of problems. To cover all of my bases and give myself the best possible chance to succeed at all of my goals I'm going to focus on a good night's sleep as part of my core training regimen.
Sleep - At least 8 hours per night and a routine bed time
To a lot of people I'm sure this seems like a no-brainer. My sleep schedule was very erratic or non-existent for eight months and has remained erratic for the last several months. I need to get back on a schedule and get more sleep. Typical nights for me right now are going to bed at 1, 2, or 3 o'clock in the morning and waking up for work around 7:30 - 8 o'clock.
The Nitty Gritty Details
I need to come up with short, intermediate, and long term goals, but for now I will wrap up this post with my immediate goals:
- Have a Zone breakfast tomorrow. Have a Zone breakfast, lunch, and snack on Friday, and begin adhering to the Zone diet for all three meals and two snacks every day starting on Saturday.
- Go for a 30 minute morning walk tomorrow. On Friday and Saturday do run/walks.
- On Friday do this circuit training workout.
- Go to sleep at 10:30PM (or earlier) and wake up at 6:30AM for the remainder of this week.
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