My monthly fatloss progress report....

Today's Post:  Monday, 11-19-2012

It’s a bit strange to do my fatloss report the Monday of the same week Thanksgiving is in!

But this year the early Thanksgiving did that and also last week it compressed my yearly Thanksgiving prep and strategy posts with the Great American Smoke Out post on Thursday.

1.  This month’s report is mixed but a bit better than last time.

I gained back a second pound on the scale but lost back the half an inch on my waist.

I am still over 4 pounds less than I was 7 months ago.  So, using the recumbent bike over the last month may have helped me gain less back.

But still, my hope for continued progress on the scale this month didn’t happen. (As I explain later, I do have reason to believe that pound was muscle at least.)

2.  My main effort during the past month was to boost my minutes ridden each day at work on the recumbent bike. 

I did well the week of my last fatloss report post and almost OK the next 2 weeks.  But last week, I lost a whole day due to a plumbing emergency and a half day due to important work which was too demanding to do and still keep the pedals going.

Needless to say this is a short week which won’t help.

But I clearly would gain back the other 4 pounds I lost and lose health benefits if I wasn’t making the consistent effort I have been.

I’m still averaging well over 2500 calories of exercise a week instead of the 1,000 a week only I was getting without the exercise at work.  And, one interesting note is that my estimate of calories burned at work may be low because I get warm doing the exercise bike.  This is true despite not pushing the pace past just keeping the pedals moving!

My goal is to push past 3,000 calories a week total because the people who lost over 30 pounds and still are keeping it off average just a bit less than that, about 2950.

And, my hope is to get to the 3500 to 4,000 calories a week range by boosting my at work exercise to 2500 to 3,000 a week.  That IS a challenge since my best week at work so far was 2,000.  But I’m at work 9 hours a day; and 3,000 calories a week requires me to keep the pedals moving for just 3 hours a day of that. So it’s potentially doable.

Last week, my estimated calories burned was 1600 on the bike and 1,100 from my regular exercises.  That’s 2700 calories for the week total which is less than the 2900 calories a week people get who do the best job of losing all their fat and keeping it off. 

2700 during that week was also less than the 3500 calories a week of exercise tested to have the best health results. 

But, much of the previous 3 weeks was better in my total calories burned and closer to the 2950 per week goal.

3.  The other way I’m working to lose my belly fat is to build muscle.  And there I may have made some further progress. 

That may be why I lost back the half inch I gained on my waist despite being heavier by a bit on the scale.

As I posted last month, I’ve known that reports have it that taking in whey protein right after exercise has been reported to help.  But even though I bought some whey with no stevia in it which I HATE the overpowering taste of, I hardly ever used it because before I used a blender which is a royal PAIN to wash.

Since then though I discovered the good news on whey was WAY understated! 

Research long ago established clearly that taking in protein with the same amino acid balance as your body has builds muscle far more effectively than just getting more protein generally.

Then  just before my post a month ago I found that whey comes very close to having the same amino acid balance as the human body!

With that extra motivation I invented a way to add whey to my first glass of milk I drink right after my exercise.  AND it worked and is continuing to work!  I just use a fork.  Some of the whey blends in OK but I actually use the fork to strain out the rest and simply eat the paste off the fork.  The taste isn’t bad and overall this adds 23 grams of Whey’s effective and amino acid balanced protein each day right when my muscles need it most for repair and gains!

BINGO!  And, taking the whey each morning is something I can do all year long!

My shoulders have NOT yet recovered; but building back from using slightly less weight and taking the whey added together have seemed to begin to do the job! 

My shoulders hurt far less; and that’s while I’m using closer to the weight I want to use than I was doing when they hurt more.

Note that the daily whey adds about 3,000 calories a month to my food intake, 100 a day.  So that would account for the pound gained on the scale.  BUT, it’s quite likely that I gained that pound as muscle.  And, it’s clear if I want my belly fat to shrink, it’s critically important I do that.

Conclusion:

Between cutting more calories with the exercise bike at work and adding that extra muscle in my at home strength training, I still hope to see no more weight gains on the scale AND see some lower waist measurements!  I’ll lose fat and add muscle.

If it works, as it looks like it already is, the added muscle will burn more calories and I may also begin to lose weight on the scale too.

We’ll see how next month does though it won’t be until February or March before the total results are in because of the holidays.

At least I know how to eat to minimize the fat gained and the health harm from enjoying the holidays! 

Hope your Thanksgiving is good and enjoyable between now and next month’s post!