June 4

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast
Milk, Reduced Fat, Fluid, 2%
Cream, Fluid, Half And Half
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
Fresh Turkey Breast Cutlets

Lunch
Brazil Nuts
Carrots, Baby - Raw
Cottage Cheese

Dinner
Cream, Sour
Salad Dressing
Cabbage - Raw
Beef, Ground, 95% Lean Meat / 5% Fat
Ham, Sliced, Regular - (Approximately 11% Fat)
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
2 Kisses

Total Calories Consumed 1,758

Fat - 41.6% (81 grams)
Protein - 43.0% (189 grams)
Carbohydrates - 13.7% (60 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 1.7%

Daily Sodium Intake - 3,919 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 28 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 429 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 32 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 12 grams

Weight 196.6 (-.2) (-5.2)


No exercise yesterday to speak of. I was feeling a bit lethargic and had a headache all evening.

It looks like my easy water weight loss might have dried up. Too bad - that's the fun part.

The calories are a bit uncertain, as usual, because I wasn't sure how to breakdown the meatloaf K made. I just calculated it as a 50/50 split of lean ground beef and the ground ham. I ignored the other ingredients because I doubt they made much of a difference. I also had a good sized pile of cauliflower but that wouldn't have made a big difference in calories, either.

1 Week Recap

1 week recap:

Weight loss: 5 pounds

Macronutrients:

Fat - 38.0% (567 grams)
Protein - 39.6% (1,329 grams)
Carbohydrates - 22.3% (748 grams)


Daily Calorie Intake - 1,942 cals
Daily Sodium Intake - 3,070 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 65 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 482 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 32 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 11 grams


Definitely need to bring that daily calorie total down some. The only good thing, though, is I have been fairly active doing stuff with the boys lately.

June 3

I missed a couple of updates as I was off the computer all day Sunday and couldn't get on the blog yesterday.

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
Fresh Turkey Breast Cutlets
Milk, Reduced Fat, Fluid, 2%

Lunch
Beef, Ground, 95% Lean Meat / 5% Fat,
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
SANTITAS White Corn Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
Sharp Cheddar Shredded Cheese
Brazil Nuts

Dinner
Carrots, Baby - Raw
Beef, Top Sirloin
Potatoes, Boiled
Milk Chocolate - Kisses (2)
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil

Snacks
Milk, Reduced Fat, Fluid, 2%
Wellements Protein Powder
Butter - With Salt
Bread, White, Toasted

Total Calories Consumed 1,790

Fat - 35.5% (71 grams)
Protein - 45.4% (203 grams)
Carbohydrates - 17.0% (76 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 2.0%

Daily Sodium Intake - 1,220 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 28 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 486 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 26 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 4 grams

Exercise: 3.2 mile run/walk with J and G

Weight: 196.8 (-2.0) (-5.0)

Well, bye-bye water weight. Of course, now I am back where I was Saturday. Onward and downward, I guess. I do think it is funny that all of my weights this week have ended in .8. Makes the math easier.

I had to guesstimate the calories at dinner. I had a small bowl of K's beef stew, which is mostly meat with a few veggies. I really didn't need to eat it at all because I had hit my protein target after the protein shake I had after being out with the boys. I sort of felt that I "had to" have a little to be polite to K and to be part of the family dinner (besides - it's really good ).

May 31

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast
Cottage Cheese

Lunch
Chicken, Thigh, Meat Only - Cooked, Roasted
Carrots, Baby - Raw
Bunny Tracks - Chunky & Gooey
SOUTH BEACH DIET SALAD DRESSINGS DRESSING ITALIAN
Lettuce, Red or Green Leaf - Veggie

Dinner
Wellements Protein Powder
Milk, Reduced Fat, Fluid, 2%
Blueberries - Frozen, Unsweetened
Fat Free Cottage Cheese - Cottage Cheese
Broccoli - Raw
Cauliflower - Raw

Total Calories Consumed 1,956

Fat - 34.0% (74 grams)
Protein - 42.0% (205 grams)
Carbohydrates - 24.0% (117 grams)

Daily Sodium Intake - 3,277 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 76 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 424 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 33 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 17 grams

Exercise: Ran/walked 3.1 miles with J, training for Fun Run

Weight: 196.8 (-1.0) (-5.0)

Yesterday was weird. First of all, I am pretty sure this one of the few times I have ever lost weight after a Friday. Fridays are bad because I work at home by myself that day and the ice cream calls my name. It did yesterday, too, but I had just a little and fit it into my calories/macronutrients, for the most part.

I wasn't hungry all morning and had to basically force myself to eat in the morning and at lunch. Then I ran/walked with J. I came back pretty hungry and had a protein shake. That took me up to my calorie level (thanks to the ice cream snafu) and I was done for the day. I got hungry later, but it was that annoying "empty stomach" feeling more than true hunger so I pretty much ignored it except for some veggies with protein dip. The extra took me higher than I wanted to be, calorie-wise, though the exercise means I was still in a deficit.

Still, the one pound loss made it worth it.

May 30

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
Fresh Turkey Breast Cutlets
Milk, Reduced Fat, Fluid, 2%

Lunch
Chicken, Thigh, Meat Only - Cooked, Roasted
Carrots, Baby - Raw
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil

Dinner
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
Fat Free Cottage Cheese - Cottage Cheese
Perch, Mixed Species - Cooked, Dry Heat

Snacks
Rainbow Fat Free - Sherbet
Bunny Tracks Ice Cream


Fat - 32.5% (61 grams)
Protein - 40.9% (173 grams)
Carbohydrates - 24.9% (105 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 1.7%

Daily Sodium Intake - 1,207 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 82 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 531 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 22 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 8 grams


Exercise - 3 Sets of Tiger Moves (it rained so I didn't run with J)

Weight: 197.8 (-2.0) (-4.0)

I weighed a couple of hours later than usual this morning so that may have affected the loss. It will wash out eventually.

My macronutrients came out almost perfect today, even though it wasn't the healthiest way to hit it. Between the turkey cutlets and the chicken thighs, I had hit my protein target by lunchtime. Again, I had a bunch of broccoli and cauliflower with dinner that I didn't count, so calories would be slightly higher, along with carbs and fiber.

The lower carbs caught up with me today as I had a pretty good headache all afternoon.

Fat Burning Zone

Another interesting post by Lyle McDonald that I wanted to save here:

simplistically
as you move from lwo intensities to higher intensities, the amount of fat vs. carbs burned shifts from one to the other

at low intensities, you may burn near 100% fat
at the highest intensiy (acually just aoutanything about lactate threshold), you burn 100% carbs

at any intensity between, you burn a proportion

the issue with the 'fat burning zone' concept is that people confuse %ages with absolutes

say you're walking at 3mph and burning 5 cal/min, but you're burning 100% fat. That's 5 cal/min of fat.

Say you're running at 6 mph and burning 10 cal/min but you're burning 50% fat.

Ruh roh, that's less fat, isn't it? No, it's not. 10 cal/min * 50% 5 cal/min of fat. But you're also brning 5 cal/min of carbohdyrates.

Say that at 6 mph you're burning 10 cal/min but still 65% fat. That's still lower by %age than at 3mph. But yo'ure burning 6.5 cal/min of fat which is higher. And you burn more total calories. And you deplete some of the carbohdyrate in your muscle.

some studies have shown that that maximum absolute amount of fat burned occurs right around the lactat tehreshold (the highest, hardest, most painful intensity that you can sustain for an extended period) although it dpends on training status and some other factors

when you deplete muscle glycogen (via burning it during exercise and/or carbohdyrate restriction), this increass whole body fat oxidation. And, for the most part, what you burn during exercise is less relevant than than what you burn the rest of the day and none of this matters if you aren't in a deficit). So say you do a hard session wheer you burn a combination of fat and carbs. not only did you burn those calories, by depleting muscle glycogen

a. your body will burn more fat for the rest of the day (I'm not saying more in terms of 'metabolic rate' is increases, but more in terms of the proportions used)
b. incoming carbohdyraste tend to go to refilling muscle glycogen instead of being used for energy

which is why, to a certain degree, it doesn't matter what you do as long as the calorie burn is roughly similar

low intensity activity is sort of a direct fat burner, you burn mostly fat for fuel but that's all you get out of it.

higher intensity burns some proportion of fat/carbs but impacts more greatly on what you burn later in the day

intervals brns only carbs during training but the glycogen depletino and other factors may make you burn more fat later in the day

I think the bigger isse is that, if you do too much high intensity activity too frequently, you get overtrained and that causes too many problems.

elite athletes do 75% or more of their volumes at low intensities, what makes fitness people think that they can handle more than this?

May 29

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
Milk, Reduced Fat, Fluid, 2% Milkfat - With Added Vitamin A
Beef, Ground, 95% Lean Meat / 5% Fat

Lunch
Carrots, Baby - Raw
Brazil Nuts
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
Cottage Cheese, Creamed, Large Or Small Curd

Dinner
Fish Oil Softgels - Fish Oil
Chicken, Thigh, Meat Only - Cooked, Roasted
Pork, Fresh, Loin, Sirloin, Boneless - Separable Lean And Fat, Broiled
Apple
Fat Free Cottage Cheese

Total Calories Consumed 1,930

Fat - 41.2% (91 grams)
Protein - 44.1% (219 grams)
Carbohydrates - 12.2% (60 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 2.5%

Daily Sodium Intake - 2,671 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 37 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 595 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 33 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 10 grams

Exercise: 3 sets of Tiger Moves

Weight this morning: 199.8 (+.6 lbs) (-2.0 lbs)

Had the expected bounce up this morning, since I had been dehydrated from the long ride. However, the weird thing is that my clothes are much looser today than yesterday, at the higher weight. Must be that infamous low carb body rearranging stuff going on.

I knocked the protein target out of the park yesterday and hit around where I want my carb level. The fat level was a little high, so my calorie level is higher than I wanted it. Also, the calorie level is very, very uncertain. For dinner, we had piglets (pork riblets). They aren't nearly as fatty as most ribs, so I wasn't exactly sure how to enter them in to calorie-count.com. I may be a little low there.

Also, I didn't bother to enter in the handful of cauliflower and broccoli I had with dinner as the calories are negligible, so my fiber and carb count would be higher. I may go lower today to compensate.

I was kind of dragging around yesterday. I think it was the sudden drop in carbs. Thankfully, I don't feel as bad as I usually do at the lower carb levels. I think the extra protein is helping there.