FitRit

Just trying to get healthy, yo.

[fitrit-blog]

Progress, Week 1/Cheat Day #1

Forgive me father internet, for I have sinned. It's been a few days since my last post. Couple of reasons for that.

Busy at the new job

Lots of extra-curricular coding in the evenings

Viral infection

Yes, I got sick. It was bound to happen. A few weeks into boot camp, one week into a new diet. I think the shock to my system finally forced my body desperate action, doing whatever it could to get me to give up.

However, it was a bit of a setback. I didn't go to FitWit boot camp on Thursday OR Friday. I did go to work, but I wasn't as productive as I would have liked. And I had a nasty cough. So nasty that I was a bit embarrassed every time I did it. I'm sure some people were thinking "Eww, why did the new guy even come in today? He's going to give us whatever he's got" and they were probably right.

Nonetheless, I stuck it out and week 2 of work was great. On Thursday there was a company-wide meeting of all the developers, and they introduced me to everyone and I made them laugh. Then they passed my YouTube "Irish Eyes" video around via email, and everyone got a laugh out of that.

(Also, I learned quite a bit of cool coding stuff this week, but that's another blog...)

So, let's get on with it. First, my diet log for the week:

Puny, I know. I forgot to take a lot of pics. But I can fill you in.

All three days I had my standard MetroFresh Healthy Start™ for breakfast. That is: egg whites & salsa fresca, with chicken thrown in because they love me.

July 11: On the right is the tuna salad I ate, but I forgot to take a pic of the turkey chili I also had. On the left is a big bowl of goodies from Chipotle. Black beans, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, & guacamole.

July 12: No pics today. Bad boy. Grilled chicken breast and EVOO tuna salad for lunch. Another bowl from Chipotle for dinner. Exactly the same as the night before.

July 13: The pic is my lunch at Tin Lizzy's Cantina. Walked over with a couple of guys from work. It's a salad with diced red peppers, corn, black beans and gyro meat. Not sure if gyro meat is cheating or not. A bit of brief research at 4hourpeople.com suggests that it's fine, but it may depend on whether it was "real" gyro meat or pre-processed junk. Either way, I think I may be careful in the future and just stick with chicken.

Which brings us to today... cheat day!

Before I disgust you with today's menu, let's discuss the rules of cheat day. (Apparently, there are rules - I haven't ready that far into the book yet, but Amie informed me last night of what they are.)

Eat your 30g of protein in the morning - just like every other day, get this done within 30 minutes of waking up for maximum results. (I chugged 30g of pea protein mixed with water like it was a shot of strong whisky)

Small amount of grapefruit juice before first crap meal - Not sure exactly what this does, but I think it activates the metabolic flux capacitor in your glycometric thingamabobber... Yeah I dunno. (I shot a small glass of this after my protein)

Supplements - We skipped this one, as it would take a bit more preparation.

Drink some lime or lemon juice with water or citrus kombucha - I am actually not very clear on when to do this. Before every meal? Or just once in the morning? A little bit of research seems to suggest it should come before every meal to lower the blood glucose, but only on cheat day. (I did a little bit before breakfast and a little bit before dinner)

Drink coffee with meals - From what I understand, it helps to quickly flush the meal out of your system. (I drank a cup of iced black coffee with breakfast and lunch, but none for dinner)

Do these 3 exercises both 60-90 seconds before and 90 minutes after every meal: 1. Air squats - 30-50 reps 2. Wall push-ups - 30-50 reps 3. Cross-chest resistance band pulls - 30-50 reps

And there you have it. Now, what you've all been waiting for. Today's meals.

Breakfast:

Sublime Donuts. I had 3, Amie had 3.

Lunch:

Osteria's Shrimp & Grits

Snack:

Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack

Dinner:

Osteria's Spaghetti & Meatballs. DELICIOUS.

A bit overboard? Perhaps. But I'll say this: Cheat day actually makes me long for the rest of the week a bit. I'm sort of ready to go back to legumes and protein for awhile.

That being said, Amie just informed me that she has some leftover pizza we have to get rid of before tomorrow... So I'll catch you guys later.

[fitrit-blog]

Progress, Day 3

Did really good today. Woke up at 5:30 and drank my pea protein shake, with plenty of time left to digest it before my 7:00 workout. Also, I mixed it with water this time, instead of milk. That's because I read more of The Four Hour Body last night, and one of the rules is "no milk, not even soy". I assume that includes almond milk as well, so I skipped it.

At FitWit, I worked pretty hard. We did a drill that involved doing 10 reps at each of 6 different stations, followed by 9 reps at the same stations, 8, 7, and so on down to 1. It was timed, and very few people actually finished it. I did not. But I got close. When time was called, I had two more stations of 3 reps left to do, followed by 2 & 1 reps at all 6 stations. One more minute and I think I could have finished.

Here are my meals for the day:

Full disclosure: I forgot to take a pic of the second half of my dinner. It was tilapia with sautéed spinach. Good choice, although it did taste a little too good. Butter, maybe? Not sure. Was afraid to ask.

Above I briefly mentioned that "no milk" was one of the "rules". Here, for quick reference, are the 5 "rules" listed in the first chapter about weight loss in 4HB:

Avoid "White" Carbohydrates - no bread, rice (including brown), cereal, potatoes, pasta, tortillas or fried food with breading allowed.

Eat the same few meals over and over again - there are 47,000 products at your average grocery store, and only a few of them won't make you fat.

Don't drink calories - No milk, soft drinks, or fruit juice. Limit diet soft drinks to no more than 16 oz per day. Water, unsweetened tea and coffee (without sugar, and no more than 2 Tbsp cream) are all ok. Also ok: 2 glasses red wine per day (but no white wine or beer!)

Don't eat fruit - Just avoid sugar, and fruit has a lot of sugar. Fruit -> fructose -> glycerol phosphate ->triglycerides -> fat storage.

Take 1 day off per week - My favorite rule, it means what it says. Eat whatever you want for one day a week. And it's not even considered "cheating". It's a RULE. According to 4HB, occasional spiking of caloric intake increases fat-loss by insuring that your metabolic rate doesn't downshift from extended caloric restriction.

So, as I stated a few posts ago, I'm already dropping sugar drinks. As of today, I've added the other rules to my regimen. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

[fitrit-blog]

Past programs

For reference (primarily my own, but perhaps someone out there could get some benefit from this), here's a list of diet and exercise programs I've tried in the past:

Bowflex workout and diet plan - The summer between 10th and 11th grade (I was 14), I used the neighbor's Bowflex (remember that?!) and bought all the groceries required to follow the diet plan (It was the first time I had a job that made enough money to buy groceries. The whole thing was a novel concept to me at the time...). I don't remember exactly what the diet entailed, but I do remember eating lots of bagels for breakfast, and sandwiches & salads for lunch. Also, anytime I got hungry, I ate a banana. It worked pretty well. I lost 40 pounds that summer, in time for the first day of school. But I eventually gained it all back.

Atkins - My first year of college, I hit 255 pounds. To this day it's still my max (although I've come close a few times since). My second year of college (and at a different), I tried Atkins. Never got very far with it. Don't remember if I lost any weight or not. Don't think I stuck with it long enough to find out. (Nor did I record any data - weight, measurements, or otherwise - so who knows.)

Men's Health ABSDIETPOWER diet - My third year of college (and yet again, at a different college), I bought The Abs Diet, a book published by Men's Health Magazine. At the time, I was 20 and lived with a friend of mine who also happened to be majoring in Health Fitness. I got a job at the YMCA and started working out and swimming fairly regularly. I read The Abs Diet, and to this day I actually highly recommend learning the mnemonic device they use in the book (ABSDIETPOWER is the device, here's a link to its meaning), though I can't say I ever adhered to it as strictly as I should have. I did gain quite a bit of strength during this period in my life, though.

P90x workout and diet - Fast forward 5 years. At this point, I ate whatever I wanted, and I didn't workout regularly or often. I did buy a bicycle, the Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells set, and a doorway pull-up bar during this time, and every once in awhile I would use them. But for the most part, this was a relatively inactive period. I slowly creeped back up to the 255 Lb. mark I had last seen at the age of 18 at Georgia Tech. By this time, P90x had been out for a few years ago, but it wasn't yet the craze that it later became. I obtained the DVDs and manual for the program at around age 22, but didn't even attempt it until age 25. My roommate at the time - Randy - and I both started and finished the program. I lost 55 pounds and hit 200 pounds, a weight that I honestly am not sure the last time I had seen. Truth be told, I can't say I actually did the entire P90x program. I skipped days, I skipped exercises, and I didn't eat exactly what I was supposed to. But I did most of it. It was awesome. Then, the 90 days ended, and I went back to work gaining weight like it was my job. Pizza and ice cream and cheesesteaks, oh my.

P90x, part deux: Earlier this year, I attempted to start P90x again with my friend Amber, but her hectic schedule as an actress and voice over artist coupled with my complete lack of personal accountability forced an early end to this endeavor.

So, here I am. This time, I'm mixing a few programs:

FitWit - paid, early morning boot camp. Accountability in the form of group personal training (and not wanting to have wasted my money!).

The Four Hour Body - A book, recommended by a number of friends, that has already begun to change the way I look at weight loss/muscle gain, though I've only just started to read it. It focuses on measurement/tracking of progress, proper incentivizing, & minimal behavior changes for maximum benefit.

MetroFresh - Healthy food options + more accountability in the form of Sarah, the manager at MetroFresh. This morning, I made her vow to start choosing my meals for me when I come in. She's read The Four Hour Body already.

Amie - my girlfriend. I can't order late-night pizzas anymore or she'll never let me hear the end of it. She's also doing FitWit and reading 4HB.

So that, in a nutshell, is my history of fluctuating weight and commitment. Some quick notes about future goals:

Similar to the P90x craze & produced by the same company: Insanity. I want to be able to do this program one day. Not today, though.

Peachtree Road Race - Honestly, I can't even imagine doing this. But one day.

FitWit Games - FitWit's annual (semi-annual? not sure) competition among the FitWit members. I don't think I could even finish it this year, but perhaps next year. Or in six months...

That's all for now. Writing it out felt good.

[fitrit-blog]

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

[fitrit-blog]

Progress, Day 2

No sugary drinks today. Or yesterday, for that matter. I've had plenty of water and some coffee (black) with cinnamon powder added. So far, so good.

Worked out this morning at 7 with FitWit. Did I mention I'm doing FitWit? It's a boot camp here in Atlanta that a lot of my friends have done and been successful with. That's been the catalyst for this whole recent lifestyle change. My girlfriend Amie and I both attended a free session about 4 weeks ago and signed up for a month-long session the very next week. Yes, it costs money, but that's what's so incentivizing about it. If I don't workout, I'm wasting money. We originally signed up for a month, but last week I went ahead and signed up for a YEAR. It's a big commitment, I know, but I'm ready for a change and I can't wait to see how I look and feel a year from now.

Actually, this morning's workout was a bit rough for me. Let me explain. I started reading a book last night by Tim Ferriss called "The 4-Hour Body". It's all about getting maximum results from minimal effort (not that I intend to only put minimal effort into this, but I figured I could use some 4-hour body techniques in addition to working my ass off and be even better off...). Before I even got through the first few chapters, I had decided to go ahead and implement a tip he said as a brief aside in the intro chapter (to be expounded upon in later chapters, I assume). He said something to the effect of "people who do nothing else differently except eat 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking up every morning lose XX% more body fat than before making that one single change". So, this morning, before my 7:00 workout, I mixed a scoop (30g) of pea protein powder with a little bit of almond milk and downed it in two gulps.

Anyways, I got nauseous about halfway through the hour, and skipped a bunch of exercises after that. Our FitWit coach, Amy, finally asked me if I did something different before the workout, so I told her about the protein, and she sort of gave me that "uh huh, well there you go" face and said "Uh huh. Well, there you go."

So she recommended that I do one of the following:

Wake up earlier and allow the protein shake to digest before my workout.

Wait until after my workout to drink the shake.

The lazy part of me wants to just do #2, but I feel like doing #1 would be more beneficial... We'll see how I feel in the morning.

One other thing I read in 4HB in the intro chapters that I went ahead and started doing yesterday was that it's a good idea to take pictures of your meals before eating them. Just doing that alone is supposed to help with fat loss. Psychologically, I suppose it makes sense. If I get in the habit of taking photos of my meals, I'll undoubtedly be more conscious of my meals. Knowing I have to take a picture of that jumbo bag of M&Ms will probably make me less likely to buy it. But the next level, of course, is posting those pictures online for the world to see. So, here you go, internet. One meal from yesterday and all my meals from today:

Not too bad. However, that July 8 meal includes a big bowl of gouda grits. I haven't read the diet tips for 4-Hour Body yet, and I haven't read the nutrition guide for FitWit (btw, they recommend this book: It Starts With Food), but I'm pretty sure gouda grits isn't an optimal choice for a side item. So, perhaps that wasn't the best idea...

Today's menu, all from MetroFresh: Egg whites with turkey sausage and salsa fresca for breakfast. Turkey chili and chicken salad w/tzatziki sauce for lunch (note: I almost forgot to take the photo, which is why the containers are already empty!). Tomatilla, chicken, & hominy soup and more chicken salad w/tzatziki for dinner.

So, unless I do something terrible later tonight, today was a good day for diet. Going to go read some more 4HB now.

[fitrit-blog]

Round is a shape

I don't like to say "I'm out of shape" because, honestly, I don't even know what that means.  I mean, I know what the words mean. But, for me, out of shape is all there is. I've never known what it is to be in shape, so I really don't know what I'm missing.

I believe the proper term for my body type is "endomorphic". Which I'm pretty sure is just science talk for "prone to fatness".

That's me on the far right end there. Thankfully, I'm not quite that fat yet, but I'm well on my way. I love food. Not just food. BAD food. I love salty tater tots, and I love cheesy, greasy pizza, and I swear to god I could eat an entire family-sized bag of Doritos right now.

But, over the past few years, I've begun spending an inordinate amount of time and money eating at a local restaurant, MetroFresh. Owned and operated by Mitchell Anderson (the good-looking doctor from Doogie Howser), MetroFresh changes their menu every day, but always includes a selection of soups, sandwiches and salads. It is here that I've learned to enjoy a number of "health" foods that I had never before tried, nor even wanted to. Brussel sprouts, quinoa, wheat berries, & kale are just a few of the foods that I've added to my diet. The problem is, I've only added to my diet. I haven't removed much. So, even though I do enjoy a kale salad a few times a week, I enjoy sugary drinks perhaps twice as often. Even though I have been eating egg whites for breakfast lately, that hasn't stopped me from adding a side of gouda grits to that order. Sure I drink eight 8-ounce cups of water a day. But I also drink at least one grande iced double dirty chai every morning.

So, the obvious next step is to subtract some things. Overall caloric intake is important, sure, but more importantly, it's time I get rid of certain terrible dietary practices. I won't fool myself into thinking I can change all of my eating habits overnight. I've tried. It doesn't work for me. Instead, I'm going to make some incremental changes over time.

So, the question is: where do I start? I've tried (and been relatively successful) with a number of diets in the past. Some (like Atkins) are more controversial than others. Sure, they might "work", but at what cost? Human understanding of the science of food and exercise is constantly changing, so much so that it's a bit frustrating at times to even try and be healthy. However, of the various diets and programs I've followed, there are a few constants.

I'm going to start with one of the easiest-to-implement and most universally agreed upon dietary restrictions: sugary drinks. Starting today, I'm eliminating all sugary drinks from my diet. I will replace them with water, black coffee, and the occasional glass of almond milk (most likely mixed with protein powder).

If you see me drinking anything else, make fun of me.

[fitrit-blog]

Day one-ish. I can only manage a "this is what smiles are like" face.

[fitrit-blog]

Ugh, beginnings. I hate beginnings.

Oh, how I stress over intro posts. This is my fifth rewrite, and I think I've finally figured it out. I'm just going to jump right in.

This blog is about starting things and not quitting. It's about my personal attempts to eat right and get in shape. More specifically, it's a diet and exercise log that I will use to track my progress and hold myself accountable over the next year or so. I will primarily be eating my meals at MetroFresh in Atlanta, GA. The menu changes everyday, the chef is a friend of mine, and the food is always local, fresh, healthy, and super-delicious.

I don't know if anyone will read this, but doing this makes the whole thing feel a bit more official. So, let's get started.