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Health Kick: Month Three

Weight went from 228.2 to 222.6, -5.6 lbs. Body fat 63.5 to 59.4, -4.1. Fine, but under my target desire of losing 6 pounds of fat/month. I am still, by the measurements of BMI, just over 30.0, obese. However, I am half-way to the goal of 195.

The highlight of the month was a twenty mile run, the preparation for the LA Marathon March 15th. No land speed records were set, but I felt good during it, and that I could have gone further. Like the 16 mile peak in January I didn’t really re-fuel mid run and there was not much water along the course. My body feels like it is in the middle of re-composition. I look better, and compliments are rolling in from people I had not seen since November. I felt proud waking early Sunday morning to do it.

2015-02-22 10.30.16

The view from the Sausalito overlook was astonishing, a refreshing pause mid-run on a glorious SF day:

Sausalito looking on San Francisco

However, there was a general sense of fatigue for a good portion of the month, and the weight loss plateaued from February 15-28. I can account for three factors:

1) renewing having a glass of wine, though never more than two, a night. This change from Valentines’ Day underscored was by favorable scientific reviews of wine’s effect on health in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.  Still, it closely corresponds with a slow down in weight loss and less movement in the subsequent days.

2) I also probably had too much Zevia and Diet Coke. Incorporating more All Bran Buds – 51% fiber – with some blueberries I don’t think could be the reason the brakes have been hit for the last half month.

3) Perhaps I was not eating enough, and my body was going through a slow down mode anticipating that calories would not be available. Perhaps I need to eat more calories not less.

But I’m ready to push through that, and want to see 10 pounds of weight loss in March. Mid-course adjustments I plan on:

* Removal of wine again, as well as Zevia and Diet Coke.  I had not drunk much Green Tea. I’ve had two days of Green Tea with Turmeric to boot and it’s (barely) palatable. I think this is like re-setting the body’s expectation of carbs.  Also planning on more consistently drinking ice water, including doing so immediately upon waking.

* The swim club pool should be opening up soon. I will try to use the one at 24 Hour Fitness after the marathon before then. Ice Baths after long runs clearly helped with recovery from inflammation and I’ll shoot to do that at least once a week, with more ice packs on the neck when relaxing in the evening per the recommendations in Four Hour Body.

Ice, Ice Baby

* I did cut out “protein style” In N Out burgers as well.  If I ingest more water will I be inclined to get turkey instead of a flavored water at the local Walgreen’s? I need to automate that process and not spend time driving off to In N Out burger.

* Having Greek Yogurt in the morning as an occasional alternative to eggs should be a viable addition to the diet. The day-in day-out egg scheme just was getting too dull. I’ve started having more Turkey Sausage again.

Educational highlights this month: A further scientific review of fructose, see Sugar: The Bitter Truth, by Dr. Robert Lustig. Nina Teicholtz’s Op-Ed in the NY Times is a good summary of her book “The Big Fat Surprise” which I bought on Kindle and started to browse. I’ve re-visted Ray Kurzweil & Terry Grossman’s “Transcend” whose chapters on weight loss underscore a lot of the concerns about carbs: I somehow didn’t really (natch) digest this when I first read it.

My two youngest daughters are over 50 pounds.  I’ve eschewed the typical “transformation” pictures of weight loss. I would like to post sometime this year a shot of one of them as a representation of how much weight I’ve lost.

The San Francisco Marathon is late July and DC Marathon is late October. The long training runs are so time consumptive and I have other goals to get to this year. Still, it is fun to idly image: if I could lose an entire seven year old child worth of weight, what time be possible? Should I switch gears and try to bench 2x my weight? Slam a basketball at regulation height? Whatever, it now feels more possible than anytime since college, and without the expense of a trainer.

 

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