Has it been 2 years?

It was surreal. My Harajuku moment, that inspired me to read Four Hour Body and get my physical life in order, was 2 years ago in December 2010. I had just completed a week-long eat and drink fest in the Florida Keys with my husband’s family and could not believe how huge I was. We just returned from the same trip, two years later and while I am 20 pounds lighter than I was then, I have gained back a lot of the weight I had worked so hard to lose in 2011.

I was inspired by a post I saw on New John for  a New Year, (http://newjohn.wordpress.com/author/newjohn4newyear/) and now that I remember how to do this blogging thing, I want to direct my attention to the size 16 jeans (grrr) and get back into it. I tend to have two speeds, very fast or off. I need to find a way to make this whole health and fitness thing a habit rather than a sprint. 

What I am doing now to try to get on track is eating more or less a low carb diet with intermittent fasting (eating between 1 PM and 8 PM but not outside those hours), combined with walking daily. I got myself a Fitbit in September and it is an easy way to tell how active I am even when I can’t get to the gym. I walk from my office to the train every day (a measly 1.25 miles) and if it is a nice day, walk to my office in the morning also. I want to get back to the gym daily also, but a crazy work schedule makes that a luxury goal that is hard to achieve.

Here we go again.

My weight training program

Back in October, the training team at my gym sent me a happy birthday free training session, which I leveraged into three sessions. The trainer I met with was great – he works with the local college’s football team – and set up a program for me that has been wonderful. I don’t use a trainer when I work out, but the program he set up for me I am following on my own.

I go to the gym at 6 AM before work, and workout for 45-60 minutes. While it is hard to get up that early, and sometimes I just can’t, I do feel great all day on days when I work out.

My trainer set up two different weight training programs, which he called the “pull” program and the “push” program. I alternate between the two programs, and also alternate between cardio (riding my XOOTR, elliptical, spinning bike, swimming when it is warmer out) and one of the weight training programs. A week might look like this:

Mon – Pull, Tues – elliptical, Wed – Push, Thurs – spinning, Fri – Pull, Sat – elliptical, Sun – Push or some combination like that.

One thing I like about the weight training programs are that he picked exercises that work the whole body, not just isolating one muscle group. I tend to get a good sweat going and get out of breath while doing them, so I know it is more than just strength training benefit. The push program feels a lot easier to me – and the push program wipes me out so my legs are shaking a while afterwards. While I have maintained my weight more or less since I started this program back in early November, that is more my being sloppy on my Four Hour Body diet rather than the exercise. I have visible shoulder muscles and feel much stronger. Definitely going to keep doing this. Will probably modify some of the exercises to keep from my body getting used to them over the next few weeks…

Pull Program:

Warm up – get a step aerobics step with 3-4 levels. 60 seconds walk up/walk down on each side. 60 seconds jump up jump down (both legs at the same time), 60 seconds side lunges (with left foot on step facing sideways, lunge right leg to the floor, push off on left leg to put right foot on step and lunge left foot to the floor).

Superset #1 (3 supersets of 12 of each, rest briefly in between)
* Squat press – squat down with 15 pound barbells at my shoulders, come up from squat and military press the barbells to the sky at the same time.
* Kettlebell squat – hold 44 pound kettlebell between thighs, do squats slow and controlled

Superset #2 (3 supersets of 12 of each, rest briefly between)
* Overhead step up – right leg on step a little less than knee high, 17.5 pound barbell in left hand straight over head. Slowly step up on right side and lower down in a controlled way. 12 one side, 12 the other side.
* Leg Press – leg press machine with 160 pounds do 12 controlled leg presses
* Calf raises – while still on the leg press machine, do calf raises with 160 pounds

Superset #3  (3 supersets of 12 of each, rest briefly between)
Bench press – lay on bench with 17.5 pound barbells in each hand, 12 presses
Tricep extension – one 17.5 pound barbell, held behind my head, tricep presses
Front flys –  lay on bench again, front flys

Superset #4 (3 supersets of 12 of each, rest briefly between)
Bicep curl – 12.5 pounds barbells
Bench tricep dips – legs on floor, dips on the bench

Superset #5  (3 supersets of 12 of each, rest briefly between)
V situps – balance on my bum, stretch arms over head and legs out without touching the floor then bring arms and legs in
Figure 8 ball pass – sitting in a V position, pass a 4 pound medicine ball around right leg, then left leg in a figure 8 pattern

Pull Program:

Warm up – stair running on a set of 20 stairs (“the dungeon”).
walk up and down the stairs 4 times
run up and down the stairs 4 times
run up every other step 4 times
lateral run (left side) step up 4 times
lateral run (right side) step up 4 times
bounds (hop up with both feet) 3 times
hops (hop up with one foot) 2 times each side (I can’t do these properly, I’ll add in later when stronger)

Superset #1  (3 supersets of 12 of each, rest briefly between)
Kettlebell swings with 25 pounds – 25 count each superset
Squat pulls – squat down with 17.5 pound dumbells each hand, push up from squat and pull barbells to shoulders – 12 count each superset

Superset #2  (3 supersets of 12 of each, rest briefly between)
Bar push – olympic bar hinged to the floor – add 15 pounds to bar. Squat with end of bar held to chest, push up from squat and press bar end over head
Bar pull –  same bar, straddle and pull bar into chest

Superset #3 (3 supersets of 12 of each, rest briefly between)
Pull up – two 20 pound barbells, bend at waist (careful to hold back flat) and pull to chest
Bicep curl – 12.5 pounds in each hand
Rear fly  – bend at waist, two 12.5 pound dumbells and do flys

Superset #4 (3 supersets)
Reverse lunges – lunge back each side = 1. repeat 20 times
Dead lift – 20 pound dumbells in each hand, 20 reps

Same abs as other program.

Week 26-28: Building Muscle, then a Big Drop

I have gotten really into working out and am going to the gym nearly every day. That has left me less time to post, for which I apologize. My job situation is in transition, which is also taking up a lot of my time. I will try to get caught up a little bit each day. It is my intention to post weekly (I am in awe of those like New John who post daily, even after the birth of twin boys this past week).

I am finding that there is a pattern to my progress, which is nice because I don’t stress out about “stalls” as much anymore. It seems that there is usually a large drop (5 pounds or so) one week, then several weeks of consolidation where weight drops slowly or is flat, then another large drop. This gives me the confidence to just hang in there through the slow times, knowing the big drop is coming. This is a liberating observation to me – keep doing what you are doing, and the benefits will come. I am noticing major fat loss in strategic areas that are not captured in my inches measurements (how does one measure that spot between your hamstrings and your glutes, or at the top of your quads, right at the hip joint)? Both places are starting to look more like a person and less like a sausage.

This post covers weeks 26-28, so from 6/26 through 7/16. If you have been following my saga, you know that I added swimming back into my workout regimen on June 24 with a 3500 yard swim and it FELT FANTASTIC. So, of course, I am still doing it. Swimming is a nice contrast to the body pump classes and step classes I do – way less impact than step and a different use of muscles than weight training. I do not sit back and relax in the pool, however – the first two weeks (26 and 27) I did several 4000 yard swims which takes about an hour and 20 minutes for me.

What was the result? I was using totally different muscles than before and as a result, my weight plateaued in weeks 26 and 27, followed by a huge drop in week 28. It was really frustrating at the time to see that increase, especially with inches coming down only slightly, but the change in muscle definition in my shoulders, legs and hips (which does not show up in measurements) was pretty dramatic. Posture is greatly improved (swimming uses upper back muscles a lot, which helps me keep my shoulders back and down and my head straight).

Exercises:

• Sun 6/26: body pump (383)
• Mon 6/27: 2600 yard swim (655 calories)
• Tues 6/28: body pump (381 calories)
• Wed 6/29: step interval (703) plus 20 minutes running (281)
• Thurs 6/30: body pump (379)
• Fri 7/1: 4000 yard swim (964)
• Sat 7/2: 2600 yard swim (607)
  SUBTOTAL WEEK 26:  4353 calories burned
• Sun 7/3: body pump (388)
• Mon 7/4: nothing – nice dinner with friends at home to watch the fireworks
• Tues 7/5: body pump (388)
• Wed 7/6: step interval (708)
• Thurs 7/7: 4000 yard swim (931)
• Fri 7/8: 4000 yard swim (932)
• Sat 7/9: elliptical (348) plus running (273)
  SUBTOTAL WEEK 27: 3968 calories burned
• Sun 7/10: walking (376) plus body pump (348) – walking for 1.25 hours with two kids in stroller on hills. I am SURE it was more than that number of calories.
• Mon 7/11: swim 3050 yards (776)
• Tues 7/12: nothing
• Wed 7/13: step interval (688)
• Thurs 7/14: 1900 yard swim (426) – decided to change up my routine and move swimming from Fri to Thurs so I can get a double class in on Fridays and also have more time between swims (now Mon, Thurs and Sat)
• Fri 7/15: step (674) and body pump (366)
• Sat 7/16: 2600 yard swim (622)
  SUBTOTAL WEEK 28: 4302 calories burned

Weight, body fat and inches results:

• Week 26: up 1 pound to end at 171.0, body fat down 0.9% to 37.2%, inches up 0.5″ (waist 32.25″)
• Week 27: down 0.4 pounds to 170.6, body fat down 0.2% to 37.0%, inches down 0.75″ (waist 32.5″)
• Week 28: down 5.0 pounds to 165.6, body fat up 0.9%, inches down 1″ (waist 32″)
• Progress to date (since 1.1.2011):
  weight down 37.8 pounds
  body fat % down 11.0%
  inches down 24.25″ (waist down 6″, hips down 8″)

Sorry that the charts are not here – it is confusing as I have been keeping them up to date (it is now week 31) and I will get caught up then include them again.

Weeks 23, 24 and 25: Best week yet, followed by a stall

Quote of the week was from hubby, “It has really been a transformation.” YAHHHHH!

Week 23 was the best week since week 1, lost 5 pounds from Saturday to Saturday. Weeks 24 and 25 were slow weeks in the pounds department, but dropped a lot of body fat in week 25. I guess that is just how it goes. You have to keep mixing it up a little bit – doing different exercise routines, that kind of thing. Let’s see if I can figure out what caused the stall…

Exercise routine for the three weeks:

June 5-June 11 (week 23)

• Sunday – Body Pump (400 calories)
• Monday – nothing
• Tuesday – Body Pump (400 calories) and ran 3.2 miles in 33.33 minutes (10.42 minute per mile pace) (400 calories)
• Wednesday – Step interval (700 calories)
• Thursday – Body Pump (400 calories)
• Friday – nothing
• Saturday – elliptical 30 minutes (470 calories)

June 12-June 18 (week 24)

• Sunday – Body Pump (400 calories)
• Monday – elliptical, 28 minutes (420 calories)
• Tuesday – body pump (400 calories), run 20 minutes, 1.92 miles (10.42 minute per mile pace) (230 calories)
• Wednesday – step interval (700 calories)
• Thursday – ran 2.86 miles, 35 minutes (370 calories)
• Friday – step aerobics (670 calories)
• Saturday – nothing

June 19-June 25 (week 25)

• Sunday – body pump (400 calories)
• Monday – walking in 95+ degree heat with 55 pound kid on my back 1.78 miles, 31 minutes (300 calories – estimated taking run tracker and adding 100 calories for carrying the tall one)
• Tuesday – nothing
• Wednesday – step interval (700 calories), running 10 minutes (110 calories), no energy. Trying to make up for Tuesday off.
• Thursday – body pump (400 calories)
• Friday – swimming 1.99 miles (3500 yards) in 1:20. (930 calories)
• Saturday – swimming 0.85 miles (1500 yards) in 30 minutes. (350 calories)

Getting back in the pool on Friday was awesome. I had a lot of time, and just decided to swim until I got bored. At some point I decided I wanted to do 3500 yards (I was doing sets of 500 freestyle, 250 freestyle kick, 250 breast stroke kick and wanted to end with another 500 freestyle) and just kept going. Other times there has been a constraint where I had to stop at a certain time. I was pretty surprised at how many calories are burned in the pool (using Daily Burn to estimate based on time and mileage, which I have to convert from yards which is annoying, but oh well).

I used to swim competitively (like 20 years ago) and it just feels good to be out there doing something I loved to do. I am still so fat, which is made more obvious by being around these ex-Stanford swimmers who do triathalons now and are in the lane next to me. But while I don’t look the way I want to look – yet – I am inspired by their grace and how healthy they look. I also am pretty quick still, even though it has been years. You never forget. I am not the fastest in the pool, but then I am faster than most. Maybe someday I will do a sprint triathalon. Let’s get down to 25% body fat first, shall we?

OK – for all you stats hounds out there… Sorry I took so long to post these updates… Comments below the table:

Week 23 was great – down 5 pounds, body fat down 0.5% – felt awesome. Week 24 was weak – I chalked it up to my body adjusting to the loss the week before. Body fat % had been in the same range around 39.4% since week 20, which was starting to confuse me. Week 25, gained 1.6 (several contributing factors – two dinners with friends at home where I ate way too much meat and veggies and drank way too much wine). What was interesting was the drop in body fat %. This week (week 26) it is continuing to go down. I think it is that inchworm thing, where not all metrics move at the same time. That is why Tim Ferriss says to measure lots of things to keep motivated. Just because the scale did not move doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

The vintage chart bummed me out this week. I was sad to see this week’s line go up above last week AND the week before. Week 23 and 24 elated me though – so nice to see such a steep slope this far into the SCD program.

The high/low/last chart shows the steep drop that started in week 22 and really showed up in week 23. Weeks 24 and 25 were disappointing, but look where I have come from! I am not there yet, and in fact have a long way to go, but I will get there.

Just a tiny setback. This week will be better. I am about half way there…

Body fat % has crossed across the water line for real now. Muscle % is still climbing slowly but surely. These come straight off my Ozeri scale. The dark lines are the average of the last 7 days (to keep the daily noise at bay). The light lines are the daily noise.

Lean mass is stable, body fat is dropping, especially in the last week. These moving averages are done by Excel as a trendline. I have seen lean mass (in this case, calculated as total weight – bodyfat%*total weight), come down slightly since I have added exercise, which is interesting to me – and counter-intuitive.

To date, I am down 33.4 pounds, body fat % is down 10.8%, inches lost are 23 (waist + hips + 2 arms + 2 legs), BMI is down 5.7 and I am in the overweight category now, and I have 25 pounds to reach my next interim goal of 145 pounds.

I suspect that once I have reached 145, I will probably keep going until I reach something in the low 130’s. I am really enjoying getting into shape, and how I feel with muscles and endurance. I don’t see myself ever getting fat again (easier, since I am done with two kids), and am inspired to keep on improving my health and fitness through dedicated exercise and good eating.

Weeks 21 and 22: Achieved my Interim Goal!

I made my interim goal during week 22, despite the fact that we were traveling to see friends. I did not post results for week 21 by itself because I was not able to check stats on that Saturday.

I took PAGG 6 days each week and CQ on cheat day (Saturdays). When at home, I used LeanGains-style intermittent fasting where I eat lunch at around 1 PM, dinner around 7 PM and then don’t eat again until lunch the next day. When traveling, I err on the side of being hungry, rather than eating everything every chance I get (I also generally drop legumes and just eat protein and veggies).

We went to Disney (on a non-cheat day) and stayed with friends, got take out a lot, and drank a lot of yummy wine. Eating, I stayed on SCD (modified so that I ate mainly protein and vegetables, and not very much legumes). I managed to continue my exercise onslaught (the friend I am visiting is a marathon runner and gets that I wanted to get out for a run). So what did my exercise routine look like for these two weeks?

• 5/24 Body Pump Sunday (400 calories) – went on my own, hubby away.
• 5/23 Elliptical Monday (250 calories)
• 5/24 Body Pump Tuesday (400 calories)
• 5/25 Step Interval Wednesday (725 calories)
• 5/26 Body Pump Thursday (400 calories) – did not count trekking through the airport with a 5.5 and a 2.5 year old. Probably more calories than BP class
• 5/27 Walking Friday (700 calories) – estimating 2.5 hours of walking over the course of a 10-hour day at Disney. Carried the kids a lot. Exhausted at the end of the day.
• 5/28 Running Saturday (400 calories) – kids and friends at the park, ran in the neighborhood. Felt awesome and seems to have had a difference on cheat day damage.
• 5/29 Walking Sunday (about 300 calories) – Walking around Dana Point and in the airport. Estimated about an hour
• 5/30 Took Memorial Day off. Play with the kids.
• 5/31 Body Pump Tuesday (400 calories)
• 6/1 Elliptical Wednesday (625 calories)
• 6/2 Body Pump Thursday (700 calories)
• 6/3 Elliptical Friday (600 calories)
• 6/4 Saturday off (play with the kids)

I am feeling much stronger, and can do a lot of exercises now that I could not do at all when I started my exercise onslaught back in early May. Sit ups I can actually do now (not just crunches), lower abs work like leg extensions, push ups, planks. Picking up the kids is much easier, and I can get the trash cans to the bottom of the driveway and up again only getting a little bit winded.

Best comment of the week? My hubby told me that I am carrying myself differently now. I also cut my hair short (like it was when I was in my late 20s) and people are coming up to me ans saying I look great, but not being able to put a finger on it. Love it.

OK, just the facts, Ma’am.

I achieved my interim goal of 174.8 in week 22. Through the end of week 22, I am down 29.4 pounds (down 30.3 of fat and up 0.9 of lean mass). My body fat % is lower by 9.2 percentage points.

My new goal is 145 pounds. This I chose because it has been there on my drivers license for years, and is a bold faced lie. That is just short of 30 pounds from where I ended week 22. I am excited to get there. (In the chart below, there is a sneak preview of week 23 in gold with the circle markers. It is a good week so far.)

I like this chart, as it shows the weekly peak-to-peak performance and the ending points. I added exercise into my routine in a very significant way in week 19, and you can see what a difference it has made.

I like the shape of the trajectory in this one, especially how the slope changed in April (when I added in moderate exercise after a bad stall in March) and how it changed again when I added in material amounts of exercise – an hour per day, six days per week – in early May. Results are still very good, no stall yet.

Very pleased with body composition changes. I have visible muscles in my legs and arms, shoulders are starting to show some shape (bought some tank tops, and they actually look good). It is hard for me to believe that I still have almost 40% body fat at this point, it sure doesn’t look like it. I plan to redo my DEXA scan in early July (at the 6 month mark) to see what the official results to date are.

Lean mass has increased slightly on the SCD program. I have always thought that I gained a lot of muscle weight when I work out, so this has been a surprising result. I am lifting a lot of weights (body pump three days a week and other weight training in other classes). This was a psychological hurdle for me – “don’t lift too much, or you’ll bulk up.” So far, that is not happening. I am losing a LOT of fat, which makes me very happy. I think my target here is about 25-30 pounds of fat (to get into the “average” or maybe the “fitness” category). Still so far to go.

Inches are down 19.25″ to date. Waist and hips are really starting to show a difference. Thighs are showing definition, but with the millions of squats I am doing, the muscles are larger, so less fat is not translating to lost inches. It’s OK, I feel so much better.

Still motivated after nearly 6 months. Results make a huge difference.

End of Week 19: Intermittent Fasting and Exercise

Monday and Tuesday this week I experimented with Intermittent Fasting sort of inadvertently (19 hours each day), and had smaller dinners or just protein on the other days. I was really surprised to find that I was not hungry at all – on both days I was just really busy. I stopped work at 6 PM and had to be at a rehearsal on Monday by 7 and a meeting on Tuesday by 6:30. With feeding the boys and getting my stuff together to get out the door, it is usually total chaos – not making dinner for myself actually decreased my stress level both days. I generally still feel full on SCD by the time my next meal comes (I eat three meals a day, usually), so this was actually a nice change.

Another big change I made this week was to really increase my exercise. In my week 18 update, I mentioned that I reactivated my gym membership on Friday of that week and went to a Powersculpt class. A week for the purposes of my blog is Sunday to Saturday, so here is a list of the exercise program I did in week 19:

• Body Pump Sunday (about 400 calories) – doing this with my husband.
• Cardio Flex Monday (about 800 calories – exact class is not in DailyBurn)
• Body Pump Tuesday (400 calories)
• Step Wednesday (725 calories)
• Elliptical Trainer (770 calories) – normally this’ll be a Body Pump class
• Step Friday (725 calories)
• Saturday off (play with the kids)

That is a significant increase from the intermittent stuff I was doing before. I was incredibly sore from the Friday class last week, probably until about Tuesday. By Wednesday I was feeling pretty good (abs are still pretty pathetic, so that I can barely do a push up without really feeling it in my scar), and was pleased to make a fool out of myself in a really hard Step class. Thursday I had a conflict with the Body Pump class I wanted to go to, so I worked out for an hour on the elliptical at home. Friday I took another Step class with the same instructor, but for some reason he changed up the choreography (how is a girl supposed to learn??), I hung in there, but I am looking forward to knowing his tricks so I don’t end up on the wrong side of the step anymore. Saturday is my day of cheat, and my day of rest. I plan to play with the kids as much as possible, but no organized exercise planned. Lather, rinse, repeat next week. I feel wonderful, and the muscle tone I am beginning to see under all the fat is really exciting.

With all of the exercise and sweating and eating at odd times, I have been making sure to drink a LOT of water. I find I do really well on the scale, both weight and body fat %, when I am well hydrated. From a supplement perspective, I am taking GNC’s maximum greens, a glucosamine/chondroitin, I am back on PAGG as of Wednesday (I took the recommended week off), and Cissus just on cheat days. I also drink the Yogi green tea kombucha and Traditional Medicinals Yerba Mate tea. I am not drinking coffee at all anymore, except on cheat day (I really like the milk and sugar and black is just not enjoyable to me).

I had a fantastic week. Lost 4.8 pounds from last Saturday, which is the most I have lost in one week since week 1. Nearly all of that was body fat pounds lost (4.3). Body fat % fell 1.3% (and even was under 40% on a few days during the week). Total inches went down 1 for the week, mostly in my waist.

The report below shows weekly performance in weight, body fat % and pounds and lean mass. I am particularly pleased that my lean mass is up since I started slightly (by 2.0 pounds) and nearly all of my weight loss has been body fat. I started the SCD program on January 1, 2011. Week 19 ended on May 14.

The world’s coolest chart, in my opinion, and one that shows the classic SCD weekly pattern. Peak is usually Sunday (day after cheat day) and every day is lower than the day before. The dark orange line plunging to the lower right at the bottom was week 19. Note how the combination of intermittent fasting (half-arsed) and exercise changed the slope of the line, with a much stronger drop. There is a purple diamond at the bottom with the week 20 peak (post cheat day). It was an epic day. My week 20 peak is nearly the same as my LOW for week 18 (the gold line). I LOVE this program. Adding exercise, for me, was a huge thing.

The next chart I like to look at is what I call my stock price chart – showing the high weight, low weight and ending weight for each week. I gained a lot from the end of week 18 to the beginning of week 19 – it was a free for all on Saturday, but I lost it all and much more with all the exercise and limited intermittent fasting I did. So close to my near term goal.

This is pretty boring. Except for the sharp drop at the end. Heh heh. Love that. Even a huge gain this morning has me at what was my lowest point just two weeks ago. And this week’s peak is 3.8 pounds below last week’s peak. Wrap it up, I’ll take it.

Finally, composition. Which is what we are all doing this for. Body fat and water are about to cross over each other – how about that? I also like that the muscle composition has come up a few percentage points, while body fat % continues to fall. Just a reminder – this chart shows (in the lighter color lines) daily readings from my bioimpedence scale, along with a trailing 7-day average (the darker color lines) to smooth it out a bit.

This table shows my results from day 1. Total weight loss 26.2 pounds, body fat % down 8.7%, BMI lower by 4.5 points, total inches lost 16.75″. I’ll move my body weight target to 145 probably this coming week, after I celebrate going from “obese” to just “overweight” on the BMI scale (crossing through 174). It usually takes a few weeks to kiss a milestone goodbye once and for all (this week, for example, I did not peak above 183.4, so I am through the 20-pounds-lost milestone for good, now).

Last but not least, inches lost on both waist and hips have been 4.75″, I’ve lost 28.2 pounds of fat and gained 2.0 pounds of muscle. I am watching that lean pounds number closely, as I am always concerned that a lot of exercise will bulk me up, which I definitely don’t need.

This next week should be sort of like last week – a lot of exercise, some intermittent fasting… I do have a one-day conference to contend with and lunch with a long lost friend… All will be good.

End of Week 18: Reactivated Gym Membership

At 203.4 pounds, the thought of getting off the couch (never mind exercising) left me breathless. And not in a good way.

Friday of week 18, I decided to reactivate our gym membership (I had put it on hold for the winter because we just were not going at all, and the cost was ridiculous). Weather is nice, kids want to go swim, so it was time. A little side benefit was that I got all motivated to start going to classes again. The cost per visit is not as silly if I go 6 days a week than if we go 3 times per month.

The first class Friday afternoon was called Powersculpt and it was REALLY difficult. No abdominal muscles at all (two C-sections plus never got back in shape and had hurt my back, winge, winge, winge). SO sore for days afterwards. I will talk more about this in week 19 (just wait until you see those results – I am writing this on Wednesday – stay tuned).

How am I doing so far? I have a lot of charts and tables to look at. I am such a geek. NewJohn does a table kind of like this, so I am copying his idea here. To date, I have lost 21.4 pounds (23.9 pounds of fat), and lost a net of 1.2 pounds in week 18. I increased my exercise and got my water intake back up in week 18 and dropped 3.2 pounds of body fat and put on 2.0 pounds of lean mass. I am using a “trailing 7-day average” for body fat percentage and multiplying the result by my weight to calculate body fat pounds. Not perfect, but helpful to me.

This next chart is my own personal favorite – I compare the current week with the prior week (same day). “Peak” is the day after cheat day, and the last point on a particular line is the morning of cheat day. Week 18 was my best yet. You can see the start of week 19 results in there too, lying right on top of week 18. I will be curious to see the final results. Note how the pattern is so predictable. I love that about the slow carb diet, and Tim’s 4HB program.

Not that I am a huge fan of BMI calculations, but in case you are keeping score at home. The bottom of this chart is my near-term body weight goal (which is my pre-pregnancy weight and also the level at which my BMI crosses from “obese” to just “overweight”). No wonder I hate talking about BMI… When in good shape, my BMI is very misleading, as I am very muscular – we’ll see as I get closer to my long term goal, which is somewhere between 135 and 145 I think.

I kind of like this chart too. It is designed kind of like a stock chart, with max, min and ending for the week. So much noise, filtered out in this simple presentation.  The end of week 17 and into week 18 I was traveling, so I did not get a final weigh in that week.

Love, love, love this one. I formatted it a little differently, so it is a bit easier to read. The thick, lighter lines are the daily readings. The thin, darker lines are the trailing 7-day averages, which I think show a better trend. Either water % or body fat % have to be plugs in the algorithm on my scale, because they move in opposite directions. Look what a huge difference adding in exercise has had (this chart goes through Wednesday of week 19).

Now to have a look at the inches. Total inches lost are 15.75″. Hips dropped a lot in weeks 17 and 18 (I did not measure at the end of week 17 since I was away). These figures are since the beginning of the program, on 1/1/2011.

One last one. This is a part of my report that I look at a lot lately, as I am turning my attention from weight loss to incorporate fitness/exercise into the mix. Fat pounds are down 23.9 since I started, and lean pounds ended week 18 up 2.5 pounds for a net weight loss of 21.4. I use this to keep an eye on where my final target weight is. Using my starting lean pounds (from Jan 1), to be average, I would need to drop my weight to 136. Since my lean mass is increasing, however, using my current lean pounds, I would be targeting 140 to be in the “average” range. At this time, I have chosen 145 as my official target weight, assuming that I will continue to gain lean pounds as I ramp up the exercise. So cool to think about being that size again, and knowing for sure that I can get there.

Another observation – Wed of week 18 to Wed of week 19 is my “PAGG-free” week, and also is messed up by a little visitor (which Tim says can stall the best of us). Both of those count against my progress, so I expect great things in the next few weeks.

I am also counting down to a visit to some great friends at the end of the month (she is a marathon runner and in incredible shape) so I am working out very hard from now until then, to get as much benefit in as I can. The last time they saw me I was over 200 pounds and could barely move. YAHHHHHHHHH! (Battle cry!)

My Interview with Pareto Nutrition (5 Questions)

I played the Five Questions game with Pareto Nutrition – what fun. It was good to think about the responses, especially more than 4 months into the Four Hour Body program. It solidified my reasons for doing this, gave me an opportunity to give some tips to people who may be just starting out, and motivate me to keep going.

If you are interested in reading my interview, you can find it here…

Thanks for visiting!

Beginning of Week 18: 6 day trip did not derail me!

Left on Tuesday of week 17 for a visit with my inlaws and a conference. Two things that generally have me eating a lot of crap. No scale to keep me honest. Recipe for disaster.

By peak + 2 in week 17, I was down to 183.6 as a result of putting exercise back in and getting my water consumption up where it belonged (4-5 liters per day). Then I got on the plane and had to work the SCD in my mother in law’s kitchen, and also out for meals probably 50% of the time.

I opted to err on the side of being hungry rather than cheating. That is to say, if all there was on the menu that was SCD compliant was salad, that’s what I ate. I had no idea how I was doing, although I felt pretty good. Water intake was tough. I did manage to get informal exercise (walking with the kids, going to the playground, walking to my conference in NY rather than getting a cab). Fantastic cheat day with friends and family. All my favorite stuff.

So how is it going so far?

Weighed in this morning (peak + 1, week 18) and I am doing great. I am two pounds below where I was on peak + 1 in week 17 last week, with 5 days to go. The charts look great, and I will update them at week’s end.

It can be done. Rather than gaining 5 as I usually do when I visit them, I lost 2. YAAAAHHHHHH!  That’s my battle cry.

This might be the week that I say goodbye to the 20-pound milestone for good. It usually takes me about 4-5 weeks to get through these milestones so that I don’t get back above them after cheat day.

I’d write more, but if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go work out.

End of Week 16: flat with prior week

I came out of the gate really strong in week 16, with a post cheat day weight that was 2.8 pounds below the prior week. Then we hit the farmers market. Then we saw the organic, locally grown strawberries, 3 quarts for $5. Then we invited friends over for dinner to help us eat them. There was ice cream and angel food cake and whipped cream… I cheated on Sunday night. So my real peak was Monday morning – back way up at 187.6. Even with this minor derailment, I ended the week up just 0.2 by Saturday morning. Cross with myself, but what can I do?

Progress to date, through week 16:

• Weight down 20.2 pounds (up 0.2 pounds during the week)  ending at 183.2
• Body fat % down 5.9% (up 1.2% during the week – dehydrated I think, and no exercise), ending at 42.9%
• BMI down 3.5 points (negligible change during the week), ending at 31.44
• Inches down 15″ (0.25″ up during the week)

What did I prove? The prior two weeks I had made exercise a priority and the results showed.  When I took exercise out, my progress stopped. 

What is interesting about that? I know now how to stabilize my weight. I also know how to kick it into gear. See preliminary post for Week 17/18 for more details.