My monthly fatloss progress report....

Today's Post: Monday, 10-17-2011

Since last month, I gained a half pound. Since a month ago I’d lost a half a pound, I now weigh about what I did two months ago – that’s better than a net gain. But it’s not the progress I want either!

Of the two measures of my waist I take to try to make them more comparable, the conservative, relaxed one was less and the more normal and slightly tense one was about that much more. Oh well! Again, that’s not bad news; but it’s not the good news I want either

The normally but not excessively relaxed waist measure, the conservative one, was 39 & 1/4 inches -- a bit less than that same measure was last month. The normally but not excessively tense measure was about 38 & 3/4 inches -- a bit more.

I now need to lose 6 pounds total to return to my goal weight. And, I still need to lose at least three to 6 inches off my waist.

According to pictures I’ve seen, I’m now at about 22 % bodyfat or a bit more, perhaps 25%. To remove my abdominal fat, according to those same pictures, I also need to add enough muscle to stay at or just slightly below my goal weight AND lose about 12% to 15% of my current bodyweight as fat.

This translates into losing 20 to 25 pounds of fat while gaining 14 to 20 pounds of muscle.

My strength training has gone decently lately; but I’ll eventually need to add some heavier dumbbells and go the gym to use heavier weights as well to do that. That’s mostly true for leg exercises since I’ve not done enough heavier exercises for them.

(Eventually I’ll also need to get a specialized minibike exerciser I can use while seated at my desk and another I can use while reading at home.

They don’t yet make those that I know of but most people today need them. Given the health harm of sitting too much and how many people do that, these minibikes and chairs that match them well are coming soon I think.

Walking burns about 300 calories an hour. (200 if you are skinny and walk slowly to over 500 if you walk really fast or walk somewhat fast but are much heavier.)

Using a seated minibike exerciser that you use much less effort on but keep moving slowly most of the time you sit can easily burn 50 calories an hour.

Then if like many people today you sit for 6 hours a day, you could easily add an extra 2100 calories a week by using a seated minibike exerciser most of the time you sit at home or at work. That would help people lose about 2 and a half pounds a month for a few months once they got into the habit of always using one.

If I’d used one of the seated minibikes since I began my current fatloss plan, I’d still need to add the extra muscle to be at my goal weight. But I’d be trying to add muscle weight to get back to my goal weight! That’s because I’d be 10 to 15 pounds less fat.)

A. Last month, my two part plan to eat differently was a bit better.

1. My plan to eat less almond butter was a bit better.

I was unable to cut back to one serving a week. But I did about the same number of servings but used a smaller spoon and a bit smaller serving.

2. I had also planned to eat a few thawed frozen, organic, broccoli sprouts in place of the almond butter. (I had found before that adding nonstarchy vegetables is effective.)

I DID still manage to eat a good bit more thawed frozen, organic, broccoli sprouts last month. I put the frozen chunks in their container much more consistently and ate some of the thawed florets most evenings compared to three months ago.

B. I still had the significant worry most of last month. But I have taken action to try to resolve it. And, I have worked on building a just in case strategy too since last month.

I’ll still worry for quite a while since it will take months to know if my efforts helped, but I’m somewhat calmer emotionally. That will help me avoid gaining fat from eating too many comfort foods.

C. Because before this month, I got a minor injury doing my jump rope in part because I skipped doing it a bit too often, I did not skip my jump rope sessions at all this past month. Now that I’ve done that and the cooler weather is arriving, I’ll begin to build that back. Then I’ll try to make some progress!

Similarly, I was doing my short kettlebell routine just after my jump rope, but I skipped it to help me be sure to do the jump rope one day a week and the other day when I was doing it more often, I also skipped for the same reason and because it was too hot. Now the cooler weather is arriving, I’ll begin do my short kettlebell routine again and to build that back and eventually return to making progress in it.

D. I haven’t the time on Thursday nights to go to the gym for heavier leg exercise. But I will begin to experiment with doing one leg at a time half squats and begin to work to do full squats holding my kettlebell. That will almost be as much work as squatting with 225 pounds with two legs. That’s still not much weight; but it’s a good bit more than I have been using!

If that works and adds some muscle to my legs and butt, my waist should go down and the scale may go down also.

E. The good news is that most of what I did to lose the 15 pounds I wanted and 3 pounds extra I lost temporarily is still in place. I’m still doing those things. And, I am still 9 pounds lighter than I was when I started.

I’ll certainly keep doing those things!

F. But the real news is that I will try a new way to cut calories next month.

I read two separate reports on this. One said that fasting one day a week tended to cut pounds of fat without triggering the famine response and even had health benefits. The other said that eating your normal breakfast and then just that one day, skipping your lunch and dinner had the same effect.

I’m not convinced that’s really a benefit to your health when you already don’t pig out on tons of calories of harmful foods. Nor do I think I’m likely to be able to do it or keep doing it.

BUT, I’ve decided to try something along those lines next month.

For lunch on Thursdays, I’ve been eating walnuts, pecans, a half sandwich on whole grain bread, a serving of raw broccoli and baby food winter squash. And, I’ve been eating cooked pinto beans, parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil, spices, and nonfat cottage cheese plus pasta sauce for dinner.

This month, on Thursdays only, I’ll only eat the serving of raw broccoli for lunch.

And, I’ll delete the pinto beans and the nonfat cottage cheese and the parmesan cheese and half the extra virgin olive oil and pasta sauce and put the remaining past sauce and extra virgin olive oil the baby food winter squash only that I have been eating for lunch.

The calories not in those two meals are close to enough 825 calories to cause a one pound fat loss by next month. That, of course, is only if I can do it without adding a large snack or eating extra the following day – AND if I can do it on a permanent basis!

The better news is that if it almost works and is almost doable, I may be able to make it work by adding some non-caloric fiber so my tummy doesn’t get quite so empty.

(PGX from the kanjac root does work for some people for this purpose and to slow blood sugar rise for people who need that. But I’d prefer to do without the added expense; it may tend to plug me up too much; and it soaks up water enough it may tend to prevent uptake of water soluble vitamins.)

So, I’ll try doing without it first. Then I’ll try half the suggested amount of the PGX just at dinner. If I can do this strategy either of those two ways, this one strategy added to what I’m already doing will cause me to lose about 14 pounds of fat over a year or so.

At worst, I’ll lose back the 6 pounds of fat I’m now carrying above my goal weight and get me back down to my goal weight.

At best, I’ll lose the 14 pounds of fat or more and add 8 pounds or more of muscle from my other work and my waist will finally get noticeably smaller and still have me at my goal weight.

I’ll let you know how that works next month!