My monthly fatloss progress report....

Today's Post: Monday, 2-20-2012

Since last month, The good news is on building more muscle. And, so far, that news is VERY good.

On my one-legged squats while holding a dumbbell, I went from 12 for each leg while holding a 25 lb dbl to 14 for each leg while holding the 25 lb dbl AND a 15 lb dbl in my other hand. Since the one legged style is like doing about 165 lbs on a barbell two legged squat, that's possibly as much as now doing 245 lbs.

I bought a 30 lb dbl last month just after my January measuring session. Then that Monday, I replaced the 25 lb dbl I'd been doing all my one handed upper body exercises with using that 30 lb dbl. It took some getting used to but I'm already about where I was with the 25 since that upgrade was long overdue.

Then, the Saturday I measured this time, I bought a 50 lb dbl to use with one handed shoulder shrugs and bent over rows. And, I bought a 35 lb dbl to begin to work up to on the 30 pound exercises now.

When I went to the gym I used 55 lb dbls for shrugs and 75 lb dbls for bent over rows. So the 50 pound dbl is also long overdue. But since I've not used it for a good bit, it will take getting used to AND between the two newest dbls and the 30 lb one from last month, I think I can add some muscle.

For example, if I can manage building up to one legged squats, getting into and standing up from a lunge position holding the 35 lb dbl in one hand and the 50 in the other, that will be somewhat similar to doing squats with 330 lb. If I manage to do that and not have any injuries achieving that WILL add muscle to my legs and butt and likely enough to shrink my waist!

That’s the good news.

However, since last month I gained one & a half pounds on the scale. That’s the bad news. It's even worse news too since in addition, the month before, I'd gained two and a half pounds. So although I'd lost two pounds the two months before that, in the past two months, I gained four pounds despite maintaining my basic fat loss eating pattern that initially lost me close to 20 pounds. I have kept half that off. But to be at my goal weight I now need to lose at least 8 pounds and have it all be fat.

But that's not all the bad news. Last month I'd lost some on my waist the month before. This time, I gained that back & about a quarter of an inch more. Since my goal is to lose 4 to 6 inches on my waist, clearly I need to lose the 8 pounds AND at least 15 pounds more of fat more that I replace with 15 pounds of muscle.

I may be on track for the muscle gain. But I need to do a good bit more to lose fat too.

The last two months was my holiday weight gain as you'll see. But had my fat loss program been on track, I'd have not gained any or just a pound or two NOT four pounds.

So, I need to boost my fat loss efforts.

First, here's why it was my holiday weight gain. I was really under the weather for Thanksgiving. So although I managed to go and enjoy the people, I had no appetite to eat much or enjoy the dinner. SO, I made up for that at Christmas dinner (on purpose) & ate a Thanksgiving sized meal when I'd have been a bit more restrained had Thanksgiving been normal.

Then at the end of last month, the local football team, was in the playoffs on a day I could go to the sports bar for crab cakes and beer. They lost but played well enough to win and very nearly did.

Then I watched the Superbowl at the sports bar and had crab cakes and a bit more beer.

Lastly, a week ago yesterday, there was a family dinner for my birthday. I ate well at that and had extra of the superb & very chocolate-y brownies they had for dessert!

I ate enough at those 3 dinners since I measured last month to and the Christmas dinner the month before, that had I not ate right the rest of the time and exercised, I could easily have gained more than 4 pounds!

But clearly I wasn't eating well enough to gain no pounds to replace the four pounds of fat I was losing the rest of that time.

Plus now I need to lose 8 pounds instead of 4 to get back to my goal weight.

What to do?

Because my breakfasts lunches and dinners are mostly OK and virtually the same from week to week, what varies for me is my after dinner snacks.

The better news is that the past two month I kept the journal I began about 2 months ago.

But the other part of the plan was a no show. My planned increase in broccoli was low and sporadic although I DID manage some. But it wasn't virtually every day by a long ways! And, eating less almond butter simply did NOT happen at all.

So, it's clear I need a larger and more easily accessible supply of raw broccoli florets to fill me up virtually every evening and to be far more strict on eating the spoons of almond butter. The two are solidly linked. I can eat only one serving of the almond butter on my less strict every other day and none at all on my strict days. But to be full enough to manage that, I need the larger and more easily accessible supply of raw broccoli florets to fill me up available each evening which it has not yet been.

I have a new plan to make the larger and more easily accessible supply of raw broccoli florets available each evening. Let's see by next month how I do.

I think I'll lose a pound or two a month once that's in place. What I don't know is if it will lose me all of the 8 pounds before it stops causing fat loss. We certainly will find out!

Part of the 4 pound gain over the two months was from the extra wine at the two family dinners and the beer two times that was in addition to what I normally drink.

Last week that was back to normal and it will be quite a while before those special occasions happen again.


So last month offers some promise and had some progress despite the bad news on the scale and tape measure.

(I now need to lose 8 pounds total to return to my goal weight. And, I still need to lose at least four to 6 inches off my waist.

According to pictures I’ve seen, I’m now at about 25 % bodyfat. 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 28 pounds of fat while gaining 12 to 20 pounds of muscle.)

I'm finally putting the initial plan in place to add the muscle. But the fat loss part still needs some work. And so does my total calories of exercise and activity. I average 1400 calories a week now. But 3500 would be better. The good news is that there may be a 2100 calorie a week fix I can actually do. The next section repeats that from last time.

* X * X *X *

(Future improvements still planned:

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

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 or other seated exerciser for your legs 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 or other seated 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.)

I’ve also had an idea for awhile. Before sewing machines had electric power, they had an under the work area treadle that was designed to be effective but avoid distracting the person sewing from doing their sewing.

It may be possible to find an antique sewing machine and find a manufacturer to make a design of that treadle mechanism that would do the same for people working at a desk.

It’s proven to do the job needed in actual use!)

I’ll let you know how my additional planned changes and efforts work next month.