I really appreciate the luxury that is working from home. If you are trying to make a lifestyle change that requires dedication and determination, being at home can make it much easier to stick to those commitments. However, it can therefore make it that much more challenging when you find yourself out in the world having to make “good” choices in the land of bagels and coffee with milk and sugar and fantastic Chinese food.
Huh?
I did well during week 10, then got really busy toward the end there and did not have a chance to post to my blog. Then in week 11, I was bombarded with aforementioned challenges and, while the spirit was strong and willing, circumstances collided that made it eat stuff you are not supposed to or starve. I chose the better part of starvation, took my CQ, and wrote off most of week 11 as a total loss. Not a “loss” in a good way.
So, how did I do?
————start — current –change to date —change week 10 —change week 11
————1/1/11 – 3/19/11
weight 203.4 189.4 (13.8) (0.8) +2.6
BMI 34.9 32.5 (2.4) (0.1) +0.4
T7D BF% 48.8% 43.5% (5.3%) (0.5%) (0.9%)
Tot. ins. 170.75″ 158.75″ (12″) (1.75″) 0.0″
Now that I put the stats into one table, I am interested to see that my body fat % came down during my train wreck week. How about that? For this metric, I am using an average of the last 7 days of daily BF% measurements on my bio-impedance scale (to smooth out the daily volatility).
What is a “train wreck week?”
Sunday of week 11 was fine, but Monday I had to attend an all-day conference, with a half hour break between it and a 3-hour rehearsal that night. I ate a large SCD breakfast, and had no idea what to expect for lunch. Turned out the lunch was predetermined, and while there were some OK choices for SCD, I would have starved had I not eaten anything with a sugary sauce or cheese sauce or other no-no. The conference was back to back 20 minute sessions with no time in between to go to the bathroom, never mind find food. I took my CQ and hoped for the best. That night, I flew through Chipoltle which was delicious (I did the bowl thing that Tim recommends), but the black beans had a lot of juice on them (I usually rinse this off) so I am pretty sure there was a lot of extra calories in there, plus the whole thing was more than I needed to eat, but I ate it all anyway.
Tuesday I brought my own food for the conference (I put in a Rubbermaid container 1 cup of tuna fish, 2/3 cup frozen peas, 2/3 cup frozen green beans, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and shook it up – the frozen stuff kept it cold until lunch). I brought my own green tea and 2 liters of water. Much better, but the damage from the day before was done and it was just like cheat day hangover all over again.
Wednesday I was good, and followed SCD religiously, but messed up PAGG one meal. I had another rehearsal also, which meant an early dinner and late wine.
Thursday was the real challenge. My older son (he’s 5) is a picky eater and I like to encourage him to try new things. We went on a field trip to Chinatown in San Francisco for a tour, a visit to a fortune cookie factory and lunch at a great chinese restaurant. I wanted to model for him to try new food (which, of course, he didn’t) so I ate it too to try to show him how good it was. I took CQ and PAGG before meal. I was amazed that my carb engine kicked in (where I feel like I can’t eat enough carbs fast enough), and by the time we were driving home, I nearly fell asleep at the wheel. Kinda scared me, losing control like that. Had a 2.5 hour nap at home.
By then it was PAGG-free Friday and cheat day was Saturday. Whole week was written off.
Through the whole week my PAGG adherence was pretty bad (I forgot one meal each day) and did PAGG free on Friday, which screwed me up also.
I am wholly dedicated to the program again and happy to be back on track.
As a look ahead to week 12: Today is Tuesday (peak + 2) and I am within 0.2 pounds of where I was at this point in week 10 (which was the lowest to date). I look at my weight progress in “vintages” where I line up the Sunday morning (peak) and the days afterwards to make it easier to interpret how I am doing at any point. The current week (week 12) is in gold, with markers to distinguish it from the others.
Even after a "bad" week, weight back on the same pattern.
Below is Composition – body fat is my favorite line.
Body fat percentage continues to come down.
Lost week is a blip in the grand scheme.
Back to the grind!
New Sue 4 You 
Hey Sue thanks so much for sharing your results. Putting in the effort to do those graphs, etc isn’t fast, but it really shows a great story. Congrats so far!! Weird that your BF went down.. but then the human body is a strange place!
I thought you and your readers might be interested in our Couples Challenge – We’re on a mission to share the four hour body lifestyle with thousands of people, so they can get these kind of results and have great lives, so we put this contest together, so we can follow 5 couples through their 8 weeks of progress, and share that with the four hour body community. The couples get free PAGG and one-on-one coaching for participating.
I won’t spam the comments with links, etc, but please let me know if you’d like more details!
All the best,
Luke
Interesting – my hubby is doing this too, but not interested in formal motivational challenges like this. I think it is a great idea – and wish you the best!