D for Dependable

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Health Monitor, Saturday June 21st

Woke up at 10:30 am, slept 8 hours

Food intake, in order:

Low-fat yogurt (100)
3 egg whites (50)
Carrots (30)
Clif Bar (240)
French fries (350)
Italian soda (150)
Cocktail (200)
Dinner: baby back ribs, mashed potatoes, dessert (750)

*Workout*

Total: 1870

Workout (60 min): Home workout…bench dips, pushups, staggered pushups, T pushups, crunches, bicep curls, “woodchoppers”

I’ve tried not to lose too much momentum during my mom’s visit, but it’s been difficult. I think this day was pretty typical of the last few days — some miscellaneous food throughout the day along with dinner at a restaurant, and a smaller workout than what I would typically do.

I’ve tried to eat less than I normally would at the dinners that I go to…the calorie counts I’ve been keeping have been guesstimates though. Anyone have a better method for taking more accurate counts when you eat out?

Anyways, hoping to get back on track tomorrow though…hopefully I’ve kept my caloric intakes reasonable and done enough exercise in the last few days.

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17th Jun 08

Guiding Principles for Summer Workout Plan

These are the guidelines I’m using to steer my workout and diet plan this summer. I’ll try this for the next month or so and see how it’s going. THey’ll have to be tweaked a little bit once I start work, but it’s a good start:

Cut down on carbs & starches, i.e. potatoes, noodles, rice. This was the original suggested diet change that led to the rest of the summer workout. I love, love, love noodles and gobs of white rice, so lowering (but not totally eliminating) my carb intake should make a big difference.

Eat 4-6 meals a day, instead of 2 big meals a day. The idea is to stay within a 500 calories range throughout the day. If you go under 500-calories deficit, you’ll get really hungry and binge; if you go over a 500-calorie surplus, you’ll feel really full for an hour or two, and then get hungry again.

Get to the gym 5-6 times a week. The focus should be more on cardio than weightlifting.

Keep protein intake up. Protein intake is important because if you’re losing weight, your body takes protein from your muscles. Taking in 0.5-1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight should allow me to preserve the muscle I have.

Eat whatever I want, for 1 meal a week. This should do two things: first, it will be a reward for a week of good behavior and hard work. Second, I read that eating one meal that is much more than you would normally consume will actually trick your body into raising its metabolism for the next 24 hours!

Weigh myself once a day. I don’t want to get obsessed with my weight, as it can fluctuate a lot throughout the day. I’ll try to only weigh myself in the mornings, after going to the bathroom and before eating.

Don’t lose weight too fast. My “resting metabolic rate” is about 1800 calories/day, which basically means that if I don’t exercise, I need to take in 1800 calories a day to neither lose or gain weight. Losing 1 to 1.5 lbs per week is the healthiest way to drop weight, and I need to operate on a deficit of about 500-750 calories per week to do that. So I’ll try to keep my caloric intake to just below 1800 and hit the gym every day.

Stretch. I am the most non-flexible human being in the world. I want to do one stretching session a day.

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2:10 PM

I’ve rediscovered my love of egg whites! Egg whites are very low in calories (17 calories per egg white), contain no fat or cholesterol, and are loaded with protein (3g each).

If you go to Safeway, you can buy an 18-count carton of eggs for about $3 and get 18 more for free! Amazing! That’s like, 8 cents an egg. No regular human would have a need for 36 eggs a week, but for the purposes of exercising and getting that six pack by summer’s end, it’s great. I just boil them all up and eat them throughout the day.

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1:51 PM

Health Monitor, Monday June 16

Woke up at 11 am (to watch US Open playoff hehe), 7 hours of sleep

Food intake, in order:

Cinnamon Start w/ Protein Boost Cereal (350 calories)
Clif Bar (240)
Low-fat yogurt (100)
Grapefruit (DM Fruit Naturals) (120)
3 egg whites (50)

*Workout*

Pasta w/ sauce, andouille sausage (600)
Carrots (50)
Banana bread (120)
Egg white (17)

Total: 1647

Workout (50 min): Row machine (10 min), Treadmill (15 min), Core workout (25 min)

Went to bed at 1 am

I’m beginning to realize how important core strength is. Usually, I can only do 10-20 situps/crunches before my back starts to tense up. After doing some core exercises (bridges, yoga ball extensions, woodchuckers, etc.), I felt much stronger and could do up to 30 crunches at a time.

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16th Jun 08

Health Monitor, Sunday June 15th

Woke up at 11 am (to watch soccer hehe), about 8 hours of sleep

Food intake, in order:

Banana (100 calories)
2 egg whites (35)
Low-fat yogurt (100)
Peach (60)
Small coffee (100)
Clif Bar (240)
Nut Mix (125)
Onion beef, veggies, egg, rice (500)
Honeydew (75)
Clif Builder’s bar (270)

*WORKOUT*

Gatorade (25)
2 egg whites (35)

Total: 1665

Workout (75 min): Core workout during LA-Boston G5 (25 min), elliptical (30 min), weight circuit (45 min)

Slept late, at 3:30 am

I may not update this every day (I might give you my best and worst days), but it’s kind of interesting to think about what kind of lifestyle changes and commitment is needed to really work off those love handles. I hope that some of the changes that I make make during the next few months will stick after this 6-pack bet is over.

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12th Jun 08

I dubbed them “reach for the sky” pushups, but they’re better known as T pushups. Doing about 20 of these, alternating left and right, absolutely kill me. My shoulders burn and I’m out of breath. I don’t really feel like they’re working my core like they’re supposed to though.

You can do some on the left and then the rest on the right, which should make them a little easier. I also read that you should use powerful movements, and do as many as you can while keeping good form.

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11th Jun 08

Ahhh, this is exactly what my body needed. Went to Golden Island today to get a 1.5 hour massage. For those who don’t know, Golden Island is a semi-dodgy little massage parlor in Pacific East Mall…the super Asian strip mall in Richmond with such fobby mainstays as Ranch 99, Tian Ren and Sheng Kee. Definitely no sounds of trickling streams, relaxing decor, cucumber-infused water or super-friendly staff at this place.

If anything it was no-nonsense, to-the-point and down to the nitty-gritty. But you can’t beat the price of $68 for 1.5 hours, and my masseuse was able to get out all the knots, aches and stresses that has accumulated from the last couple of months of working out. I was re-energized and bouncing around for the rest of the day. Bring it on again!

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8th Jun 08

So, my friend Larry took on several bets (totalling about $300) that he couldn’t get a six-pack by Charles & Catherine’s wedding this Labor Day. Instead of placing another bet against him, I decided to do a side bet with him that I couldn’t have a six-pack either.

It’s definitely a big challenge…I have this love handle that needs to be worked off. It’s been fun though. I’ve been working out 5-6 times a week, about 1 hour a day in my wimpy gym. Before that, Will helped me get the ball rolling with marathon pool-for-pushups and high-2-for-pushups sessions, then enlisting me on his pushup workout plan.

I’ve also made big changes to my diet, opting for smaller meals spread out throughout the day, trying to keep the metabolism up. Cutting down on starches, noodles, rice and unnecessary calories, which in some ways hasn’t been as painful as I thought it would be.

I definitely feel stronger, and I’m losing some pounds in areas that I want and gaining muscle in others.

Here’s my goal:

GSP