Tired of Winter

Ok, we're still in the midst of winter, with about 8 weeks still to go. I have to admit, I'm downright tired of the snow and cold. Last Saturday, it was 8 below zero. If that wasn't bad enough, this morning, it was 12 below zero. We've had snow on the ground for a solid month now, and it's becoming a PITA to track in all the slush, mud, sand, grit, and junk into not only the garage, but the house too. I don't mind cool weather, in fact, it's refreshing to be outside when it's in the 30s and 40s. Over the previous 5 winters here in Nebraska, we've ranged from extreme to mild, and you never what you're going to have from year to year. But this year, I'm done. Definitely ready for spring. But, it's going to be a long 8 weeks unfortunately. Hmm, the thought of a nice warm beach sounds good. I think I'll look into retiring somewhere in Florida.

Weight Loss Continued

Well, 2 weeks after the end of our Biggest Loser competition at work, I'm down another 4 pounds, to 168 lbs (down from 205). Wow, I can't believe that. My wife thinks I'm getting too thin, but honestly, it's addicting, and it's a great feeling to see the weight still fall off. I still have a healthy body fat percentage, and I'd like to get that below 20%. We'll see.

I've had many people ask how I've lost the weight. Basically, I've been following a modified "Abs Diet" plan. The Abs Diet is a regimen that includes whole grain breads, non fat dairy products, whey protein, eggs, green leafy vegetables, oatmeal, almonds, lean meats, beans and legumes, natural peanut butter, and berries. I eat other things as well, but these make up the 12 power foods that have made up the bulk of my diet. I have also allowed myself to cheat a bit, that's why I say a "modified" version of the diet plan.

Another key for me has been 30 minutes of daily exercise at least 5 to 7 days a week. That may seem like a lot, but really, it's probably the most important part. It's important to supercharge your metabolism, and daily exercise is so important. I initially started with cardio workouts every day, and about 3 weeks into the program, started adding weight training every other day as well.

Also spacing meals every 2 to 3 hours is very important, so your metabolism is in high gear all day long. Basically, I'd have snacks between breakfast and lunch, between lunch and dinner, and one snack before bed. Yes, eating before bedtime is important, as long as you eat the right foods.

Another recommendation of the Abs Diet is to eat as many grams of protein per day as your current weight. While my protein intake was never that high, I easily increased it to 120g to 150g per day. Ideally, I wanted to strive for a 40/30/30 blend of carbs, protein, and fat, which is also suggested by the "Zone Diet" as well.

And finally, another key to my success was a daily log of all food eaten, and a daily log of exercise. To this end, I used the Calorie King software which is one of the best that I've seen. It has a database of 50000 food items, with a plethora of restaurants as well. It was very important for me to log everything everyday, and I think was a huge reason for my success.

My final 14-week average of nutrient intake was 46% carbs, 28% protein, and 26% fat. My average caloric intake over the 14 weeks was about 1600 calories per day, and my average exercise burn per day was about 225 calories.

Add a little bit of hard work, will power, determination, and the competitive spirit in me, and I was able to drop 33 lbs during the competition, and now down 37 lbs total, or about 18% of my body weight. Believe me, if I can do it, you can do it too. Trust me, push yourself beyond your limits and you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish!

Below is a chart of my weight loss over the previous 4 months. Nice, steady, downward curve, just where it should be. In other words, I don't feel that I've lost the weight too fast or too slow, just right.




And, here is an image during my final weigh in for the contest. I thought I'd better grab a shot of myself on the scale, just in case someone at work didn't believe me. Ha. I threw my work ID badge in there just to prove these really are my feet.




And, if anyone is interested, here is a PDF file of my food and exercise log. It's about 1.5 mb, but does list my daily food intake, meal-by-meal, over the course of the nearly 4 months of the contest. About 95% of the food entries are real, and the remaining items were substitutes as necessary. Also, items were usually combined to make a frozen smoothie for breakfast, and occasionally for snacks.

Bottom line, if you're trying to lose weight, get up off the couch and do it. Change your eating habits, get some daily exercise, keep a journal, and you'll be losing weight in no time. The final point for me, this is a lifestyle change. It's not really a diet plan per se, but a paradigm shift of how I eat and ultimately live.

Excellent Vision...Most of the Time

I had another LASIK follow-up visit today. My eyesight in both eyes remains at 20/15. However, the doctor did note that my eyes were extremely dry, despite my using eye drops every 3 to 4 hours. I have noted that about 90% of the time, my vision is great, and I have absolutely no regrets in doing this procedure. But about 10% of the time, my vision is bad, ranging from a slight blur (result of dry eyes), to a very subtle shadow to the right and down from all text, etc. The doctor suggested that the double vision could be a result of low blood sugar, but I discount that since I've been eating better now over the previous 3 months than I have in a long time. The doctor did say to increase the eye drops to every 2 hours, and also gave me a prescription for Restasis to help with the dry eyes. I said I'd try the increased eye drops first, and use the scrip later if the dryness didn't get better. I also attribute it to the fact that it's only been 6 weeks since the surgery and I'm ultimately still healing, which I think is reasonable.

Weight Loss

I haven't mentioned this, but since October 1, I've been in a Biggest Loser weight loss competition at work. Thirteen other folks were also participating, including co workers, friends, my boss, and even my wife. The competition wrapped up today, after 14 weeks. In the end, I was the biggest loser, having lost 33 lbs, which is was 16.1% of my body weight. My weight dropped from 205 to 172, and body fat dropped from ~29% to ~21%. I feel great, probably the best I've felt in many years. While it's been a long, arduous process, I'm so proud of what I've accomplished. Now, the key will be to keep it off. To that end, we've decided to start training to complete the Lincoln half marathon. I anticipate we'll try to run some of it, and walk the rest. The only road blocks would be my wife's doctor's permission. She has asthma, and hopefully, he'll give the OK to proceed. Plus, I also found out that you can't use headphones during the race. I exercise everyday with my Ipod, so that might be a tough hurdle to overcome. After taking a week or two off, the marathon training will begin. Not that we'd have any chance of winning anything, it's just that we've never done it, and it will be the next stepping stone to keep us on the path moving forward.

Emergency Room Bill

We received the bill for my wife's emergency room visit for her kidney stone. The bill, which included the drugs, the physician charges, and 2 CT scans was about $4500. Yowza! That was a very expensive 1mm grain of sand. We do have good insurance though. In fact, emergency room visits from accidents are covered at 100%. In hopes that this would be ruled an accident (my wife accidentally forgot to drink enough water), we'd be covered in full. Ha. Back to reality. Blue Cross allowed about $2800 (versus $4500), and we're responsible for 10%, or about $280. Still a big chunk of change, and one of those unavoidable expenses. After seeing the type of pain my wife was in that night, we didn't have a choice.