The Romanian Dream » Losing weight saga

The Results (Losing weight saga – Epilogue)

Mircea — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:50:58 +0000

For the last past months I’ve randomly written blog posts in the “Losing weight saga” category. In these posts I’ve either bitched about some weight loss aspect (I love complaining when something is bothering me, but I’ve tried keeping this part to a minimum) or tried to share a certain aspect that I’ve learned during the journey.
Now, the “Losing weight saga” ends and the “Maintaining weight saga” starts. I will continue to share my thoughts on eating healthy, exercising and living healthy in general, but not under the current category.

So, as with any story this one ends with a conclusion And because a picture is worth a thousand words, the conclusion is in the form of a graph:

Binge Eating Calculator (Losing weight saga – 12)

Mircea — Sat, 08 May 2010 15:11:38 +0000

In the right side of my blog, somewhere down, you see a list of items I share from my feed reader. While usually I just share them, I’ve ran across one that is just hilarious and seems to fit the Losing weight saga topic very well: http://www.murraythenut.com/2010/05/07/binge-eating-calculator/

Def: Binge eating [Wikipedia]

Mount Si revisited (Losing weight saga – 11)

Mircea — Mon, 03 May 2010 07:27:10 +0000

The only way to measure progress is to measure something and compare it against the same thing measured in the past.

This is what happened today, when after roughly a year I hiked Mount Si again (I say roughly because last year I did it on the 9th of May). You can enjoy pictures from last year’s hike here: http://theromaniandream.com/blog/2010/01/28/hiking-%E2%80%93-mount-si-%E2%80%93-trail/

To give you some background, I wasn’t the fittest person around (okay… I was not even close to fit. okay… I was not even close to normal…. I guess chubby would best describe it. very chubby).

So, I’ve heard about Mt Si, about the beautiful view on top and decided to hike it. Some reviews of the trail warned that it’s not an easy hike. Rubbish! They want to prevent me from enjoying the view. Is a 8 mile round trip hike easy? (so it’s 4 miles one way) Definitely not. Add the 3100 elevation gain and you’ve got yourself a serious hike on your hands. Now that I look back, attempting the hike was plain stupidity. Moving right along… It turns out that I did manage to get on top. It only took 6 hours going up and 2 hours going down. The amount of physical and mental effort seemed to me, at that point, to be inhuman. On the last mile I had to stop every minute to catch my breath. The only thing that got me to the top was, basically, my stubbornness to admit it was a dumb thing to attempt in the first place and return to the trail head. It took around 3 days after I did the hike to be able to move around normally and get rid of most of the muscle soreness.

After this great deed, Mt Si became, to me, synonymous with the ultimate hike. Invariably I ended up comparing each hike I did afterward with this one. None of the other hikes came even close to this one. Each time a hike seemed somewhat difficult I said to myself: this hike cannot possibly be more hard than Mt Si. Move your butt. And I did It worked as the boogie hike that made everything else I attempted easy. Well, couple that with the fact that I didn’t let my stupidity interfere with choosing a hike that’s simply not compatible with my fitness level. So this was the boogie hike for almost a year now.

Today I did it again. I took 2:45 going up and 1:35 going down. How’s that for an improvement? Not only that, but the hike really did seam manageable. I did not feel tired or weak at any point of the hike. It was just a formality. I didn’t feel like I was pushing my physical limits at any point in time.

So now what? Now it’s time to start looking for a new challenge

I’m looking at Mailbox Peak (4100 ft elevation/6 mile round trip) in the next weeks, followed by Mt St Helens (4500 ft elevation/10 mile round trip) at the end of May. If everything works well and all the planets align, I think Mt Rainier in on the radar for next year

You know you’re too fat when… (Losing weight saga – 10)

Mircea — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 04:08:15 +0000

Here is another episode of the Losing weight saga.

Some time has passed since the begging of the saga, some weight has been lost (more on this subject soon) so now I can look back and laugh about some fat-induced situations that sure were not funny at the point in time at which they occurred. So I will give you a couple of signs that could help you realize you’re too fat, if that’s the case. Without any further ado, here goes.

You know you’re too fat if:
- you lose your breath after climbing 2 rows of stairs
- you prefer to wait for the next bus instead of running after the current one that’s about to leave the station
- pizza is something that you eat on a daily / almost daily basis
- you explain your weight by the fact that you’re big boned.
- your weight is a limiting factor in what you can and cannot do
- your belly is preventing you from tying your shoelaces properly
- you cannot remember the last time you had a good night sleep
- your feet are killing you if you walk for more than 10 minutes
- you’re fat is doing a good job insulating you (you’d be surprised)
- high blood pressure is something normal to you
- your idea of exercise is watching sports on TV
- you have no clue what’s the difference between protein and carbohydrates
- you think that drinking sugar free soda is totally acceptable
- eating a Snickers bar relaxes you
- your desert is followed by another desert
- you eat uncontrollably to fight your emotions
- during summer you’re sweating out of control
- you get chills up your spine if you look at yourself naked in the mirror
- you go straight for the largest size available when shopping for new clothes
- a big towel is not big enough to wrap your waist
- you have troubles fitting into a normal seat in an airplane
- you’re not allowed to do certain things because of your weight (for example: skydive or ride a horse)

Should I go on?

Zig Zag (Losing weight saga – 9)

Mircea — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:09:12 +0000

It’s nice to have the impression that we have everything under control. From the small things to the big things. From things we think about to things we actually do. Of course, most of the time this is an illusion. What really happens is that our fantastic ability to adapt kicks in. Our mind and body will sooner or later accept a new situation and you will probably be fine. In the context of losing weight and switching to a healthier lifestyle this can be a tough thing, You instinctively tend to go for the safe, well known terrain. If you can control some of that slowly changing your habits to improve the lifestyle you have you can achieve long term success. The funny thing about that is you ability to adapt will try to drag you to a point of equilibrium in which you will be able to keep the same weight.

Let’s take an example: Let’s say you run 20 minutes each day. The first day you run you notice that you’ve consumed 250 calories (just an example). Let’s say that the difference between your food intake and what you’re consuming in a day is 100 calories. By running you now have a 150 calories deficit. You will start to lose some weight as a result of the physical activity. What do you think will happend next? Will you be able to lose weight consistently? Probably no. First thing that happens is that you lose weight =>this translates in you burning less calories per day (not by much, but we’ll take it into account). The second thing that happens is that you body adapts to the running and in time you can run the same 20 minutes and only consume 150 calories (for example). You see, you body is reducing the caloric deficit and it’s adapting. It’s resisting. And it’s not a conscious process. (It’s not like you are thinking: I’m gonna fight this exercising things and the body is executing on that). So what can you do to avoid this?

The solution, as advertised and tried by myself, is to continuously challenge the body.

For example, you can:

continuously alter your exercise routine.
alter the time of the day at which you workout
alter the type of foods that you eat (for example I switch between eating peanut butter and walnuts as sources of good fat)
alter between a slightly higher than normal caloric intake and a slightly lower than normal caloric intake
do interval training
whatever induces a small destabilizing factor in your nutrition or exercise activity. I stress the small part!

Basically, you can do anything that will make your body keep guessing what to expect next. This kind of zig-zag-ing will ensure that you get the most out of your food and exercise. The key here is to do all this with moderation and always keep a certain baseline (you wouldn’t want to eat 200 calories one day and 4000 calories the next day – that would be just wrong/stupid)

That being said I think that this strategy can be helpful in fighting excess weight and it can definitely help in case you reach a weigh loss plateau.

Fat Loss Resources (Losing weight saga – 8)

Mircea — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:08:06 +0000

There comes a time in the weight loss journey when you realize that some things are more important than actually losing weight. I mean, in the first phase of losing weight, a good indicator of how you’re doing is the actual weight. After a certain point you might see that although the amount of weight you are losing is not so much you seem to get thinner. This is usually related to gaining muscle mass (remember that muscles weight more than fat). So as far as maintaining your goal weight and continually improving a good indicator of how good you are doing is actually the fat percentage in your body. Managing to maintain the weight you have, while reducing the fat percentage is the goal we are shooting here.

Here is a good resource on this topic:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss

If you have the time and patience to read through this you will learn quite a few about how we think out body works vs how it actually work and learn some tips in approaching fat loss. As always be careful to take this with a grain of salt but, compared to other bullshit sites that promise you’ll get rid off all excess fat in 2 weeks, this site contains valid information that when put in correct context can set you up for long term success.

Another important aspect of becoming fit and reaching your goal weight is the attitude you have and how good you are at staying motivated while you’re on your journey. In this category, here is a good resource:

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/

It’s a podcast about, well, getting from being fat to being fit. You couldn’t have guessed that in a million years, right? Their ‘mantra’ is quite simple: eat and act as you would be the person you want to be – meaning the thin, fit you probably want to be. Doing this you will, of course, reach this goal and the transition will not be harmful to your body, and of course you will manage to keep the excess weight because you’ve changed your lifestyle Well, that’s basically true. But the main reason I love this podcast is because it somehow manages to keep me motivated and learning new things about weight loss and healthy habits.

Enjoy.

Eat To Save Your Life (Losing weight saga – 7)

Mircea — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:34:41 +0000

Ran into this on youtube. It’s called “Eat to Save your life” and you can learn a thing or two about healthy eating. Of course it’s made in a commercial manner that can be tasted by the masses. But if you look past that you will see some valid ideas.

Enjoy.

Part 1 of 8:

All the parts, in a playlist, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srUZwQf76Xs&videos=kWmZC3EAOZY

Calories. Counting. (Losing weight saga – 6)

Mircea — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:08:35 +0000

Here is another post about my quest to lose weight

This one is about the importance of measuring and logging what you eat. Yep, as boring as it may sound (at it is) counting the calories and the content of the foods you eat can be a major success factor in losing weight, eating healthier and ultimately living healthier.

So, how does this work?

First step is to measure everything you eat and write it down (either on a piece of paper or in an electronic form). Second step is to sum up the calories of what you eat and look at the food composition (carbs – fats – protein) of what you eat. Third step is to adjust the amount and the food based on the composition to reach a balanced diet. It’s not rocket science but the hard part is sticking to doing it and closely watching what you eat.

Here are two sites that help you in this journey. You just punch in what you eat and the quantity and when you ate it. It will keep a record for you and you’ll be able to make the task of counting the calories easier:

http://caloriecount.about.com/

http://www.thedailyplate.com/

BTW: the activity of logging everything you eat is called meal tracking.

The 3 stages of a diet (Losing weight saga – 5)

Mircea — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:08:27 +0000

Here is another post about my quest to lose weight

Although we’re talking about a diet the 3 stages can be applied to any change that you want to make. The 3 stages are:

1) The honeymoon stage

2) The frustration stage

3) The acceptance stage

To give an example, let’s say that starting tomorrow you’ll decide that the only way you’re going to get around is by walking. Doesn’t matter why you want to do that. You decide that you’re going to do it no matter what (what exactly motivates each and every one is out of the scope of this blog post or any blog post).

So, during the first days you are walking, observing the health benefits of walking, enjoying seeing the neighborhood you like in closely – you observe things that you never knew were there. It’s perfect. You wonder how come you never thought about this walking resolution before and how great it is that you are DOING it. This is the honeymoon stage.

Over time, you’ll usually start getting a bit annoyed by the fact that you have to walk. A rainy day, a night that you didn’t sleep so well, going shopping or having to pick up someone at the airport. All can seem like a chore right now. Why? Because you have to walk. You increasingly become frustrated by the fact that you have to walk. You start to contemplate quitting this. It’s not such a hot idea now, is it? This is the frustration phase, and it’s usually the thing that stands between you and a life changing decision that you want to make – for example reaching a normal weight.

If you get over the frustration phase – which can be extremely hard for some – you reach the acceptance stage. You simply don’t question the decision that you made. You sometimes feel happy that you made it, sometimes get a bit frustrated but the bottom line is that you have reached the point in which you can live with it and you don’t really care.

Of course, you can cycle through this stages more than 1 time – if you don’t have a strong will or don’t see a decision that you’re trying to make as a priority. It all depends on the person and the end goal.

Measuring (Losing weight saga – 4)

Mircea — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:02:23 +0000

Here is another post about my quest to lose weight

This one is about the importance of measuring. It applies to both loosing weight and to any other activity that you’re doing and expecting a certain outcome.

Although it may seem a no-brainer, I think I can turn out to be the difference between success and failure. Knowing where you are, what your goal is and how much until you reach it can help you remain motivated and continue to do things motivated.

As far as losing weight goes, here are the things that need to be measured:

the weight – yes, that’s the main reason you’re doing it and it’s the ultimate measure of you succeeding or not
the food – how much do you eat? how many calories does that mean? What’s the protein-carb-fat ration? How is your food intake distributed during a day?
the exercise – Don’t fool yourself by thinking you can only lose weight by adjusting your diet. You may be able to trick your body in the short term, but in the long term you’ll start loosing muscle mass instead of fat and you won’t like it. Also exercising can help you burn more calories and make the calorie income – calorie burned balance tip over to burned side. Measuring how much calories you burn is the key.
the non exercise – it’s what your body is doing during the day. Sitting at a desk, walking, watching TV or sleeping they all end up consuming calories which can help you with the calories balance. For measuring this, there is no straightforward method, but some have found that using a pedometer can help. Gives a new meaning to the expression “walk it off”

There you have it. Measuring for success.