My monthly fatloss progress report....

Today's Post:  Monday, 6-23-2014

(My measurement each month is done on Saturday morning on the date closest to the 18^th of the month.) This month Saturday, 6-21 was my measuring day.

This month’s report is a mixed review with some positive and some negative.

I both gained some leverage and lost some.  And, I’ve had my ability to use my new know how to force more progress temporarily preempted by the rest of my life

1.  Here’s my immediate progress section first:

I gained a pound on the scale.  BUT my waist measured what it did last time.

I may have gained some of that pound as muscle and definitely avoided gaining any fat I gained on my belly.  So for a month that was not great on leverage, this was a decent result.

Here’s why:

Because I had less time and money and my wife had less time this past month, we made no new progress on eating more vegetables.

However, because I was able to maintain some of the recent increase with faster to fix and less expensive vegetables and DID make some progress on my strength training, I maintained my progress basically.

2.  One of the almost all vegetable dishes I was able to take time to make the month before last, I didn’t have time to make this month.

But my wife made a smaller amount just for her and upgraded the recipe a bit as a dish good enough for a once a week treat meal or taking to potlucks.  So, I’ve included that from last month in case you’d like to try it. 

I’m also including it since the more recipes you have that are very high in vegetables that produce superb health results with almost no calories -- and very low or zero in harmful and fattening ingredients, the better you can do in your own program.

And, two versions of her upgrade are here.

Month before last, I created a dish I call “Sweet Slaw” which is a slightly reduced calorie slaw but with a LOT more flavor and a bit sweet but with no added sugar. 

(It also uses zero soy or canola oil based mayo substitutes they somehow can legally call mayonnaise but are not.  Real mayonnaise has only olive oil and egg yolk.  To make things simple and easy to fix, this recipe just uses extra virgin olive oil. More on that below.)

When I served it freshly made month before last, my sweet slaw turned out well enough we could take it to potlucks. My wife was actually impressed by it!

So, here’s the recipe I used last month:

We got a head of organic green cabbage and a head of organic red cabbage and an organic yellow onion and some organic raisins—all from Whole Foods. We also got a package of organic carrots.  The one lemon I got was not organic this time as I bought it at another store.  (Since we didn’t use the skin, that’s likely OK.) But Whole Foods carries organic lemons for next time.  The component that is most important to get only the organic kind is the raisins!

I made about a half cup each of shredded and diced components out of the green cabbage, the red cabbage, some of the carrots, and the onion.  Then I added about half a cup of the organic raisins.  I put all these into a large metal mixing bowl. 

Then I used a very efficient, “smash” style juicer and put all the juice of that one lemon in.  Then I added two Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive oil.  The brand we use is relatively light and mild.

Then I stirred all these ingredients until the slaw was well mixed.

The health and nutrition this set of things delivers is extremely high: cruciferous vegetables, carrot with all kinds of carotenes and a large serving of onions.  The raisins have grape nutrients and micronutrients and minerals.  The extra virgin olive oil is a health OK oil. And the lemon has some other health benefits.

And, between the buffered lemon juice by combining it with the olive oil, the natural sugars in the carrots, and the raisins -- the slaw was modestly but not excessively sweet.

(Plus this recipe has no canola oil* nor did I have to make our own real mayonnaise at home to make this slaw.  Real mayonnaise uses extra virgin olive oil only.  The foods that are labeled as mayo in the stores use canola and or soy oil are health damaging substitutes – NOT mayonnaise.

*In case you are unfamiliar, canola oil is far too high in omega 6 oils, is made with heavy chemical refining that tends to leave some of that residue, and over 90% if not 95% of all canola oil is made from GMO rapeseeds.)

When I served my sweet slaw freshly made it was relatively sweet.

But the same dish after it had been in the refrigerator a day or two later, was no longer sweet enough to taste as sweet.

So, my wife made her version with the smaller amount just for her and added a teaspoon of honey from Whole Foods that was organic and from a source that only used honey from local bees in the area of the company providing it.

Her version was about three times sweeter and was still that sweet after being in the refrigerator a day or two.  And, the amount of added sugar was quite small for such a big sweetness boost.

A way to get that sweetness boost with even less sugar would be to use the juice of two lemons instead of one and a tablespoon of erythritol which recently was found to be a super low calorie sweetener that does NOT cause the rebound hunger or the harmful effects of the artificial sweeteners.

My guess is that the best tasting version would be to add one teaspoon of that kind of honey to my version.  With the larger size of my version, the boost per serving of sugar would be even less than her version.  But the honey would add some honey taste too by doing this.

3.  The new method I added last month for strength training seems to be helping me get stronger with small enough increases to allow for more continuous progress in strength than what I was doing.

I already was alternating sessions where at one I’d use weights I already could do moderately slow reps with 10 times or more and at the other I’d use weights enough heavier to only be able to do 5 times or a bit more with that same moderately slow rep style.

Both versions were challenging and gave me a great workout.  

What I’m now doing is a progression where at the session with the lighter weights, I’ve begun gradually going from the two I’m up to where the first two repetitions are much slower and the rest of the ten at the moderately fast speed also.  I am about to be able to do the first three that way and still do 7 more at the faster moderately slow speed.

Then, once I can do all 10 that way, I’ll repeat the process where I add an isometric to each repetition where half way through the superslow reps, I’ll hold the position for the same count.  Then once I can do that for all 10 reps, I think I’ll then be able to jump the weights I use at both sessions to the next level.

It’s working so far.  And, I do seem to be getting stronger by doing it!

4.  The two sessions of progressive short sets of high intensity, interval cardio have been a mixed review.  But the overall news is good.

(I kept my weekly session of 4 sets of back to back abdominal exercises and my weekly 10 minute session of intense variable cardio on my Nordic track where I was already at a high level I’d worked up to gradually.)

The sessions I’ve been doing of a kettlebell lift overhead have gone from two sets of 14 to three sets of 28 and I’m on track to get to three sets of 77 by just adding 7 to one of the three sets each week.

This may get delayed as it bothered a minor injury in my right hand I got opening a jar.  But if I can heal that without stopping the kettlebell lifts I’ll do that.  If not, I may have to cut back to two sets of 14 or less until it heals.  But the process is clearly working and doable and not causing injuries on its own. So the long term prognosis is excellent!

The session of similar leg exercises was simply overdoing my leg exercise.   Between my two strength training days for legs and the fact that the Nordic Track on the slight incline works the front of my thighs as much, adding that set of fast leg exercise was not working at all. It kept my legs from getting enough recovery time.

So, I scrapped it and now do a second set of my already established 4 set abdominal interval cardio routine.  That worked fine and my legs feel much better now!

This is the end of my monthly report;

but I’ll keep the next section for those who are new to my monthly report or want to review it from time to time.

Background on the direction I’m pushing my food intake to lose my remaining fat:

Previously, I’ve described the work of Joel Fuhrman, MD and his very high nutrition, low calorie plan – a vegan vegetarian eating style with lots of beans and lentils and NO grains.  (My sweet slaw recipe would work well in his plan for example.)

Also last time, I described the research and resulting eating style found by Weston Price nearly 100 years ago!:

“Weston Price and his work studying earlier and traditional eating styles in people still using them AND with very good health and very little if any obesity, found that virtually all of them DID eat some animal foods and/or seafood.  This ensures they get many nutrients not in plant foods and that are essential to good health.  (They also did NOT eat grains.)

Most people know that vegans need to supplement with vitamin B12 to stay healthy.

Most would do well to supplement with iron and zinc.  Some who rely too much on grains and eat too little of the dark green vegetables and nuts, would do well to supplement with magnesium while slashing the grains and adding lots of dark green vegetables and some nuts.

But Weston Price found that there was another nutrient of almost greater importance than all of those put together that some animal protein and animal fat from naturally fed animals contains.

We now know it is important for strong bones and teeth and heart disease prevention.  Even better, people who want to be vegan for sustainability or religious reasons can get it now as a supplement.  It’s vitamin K2.

K2, it seems, directs calcium to go into your bones and NOT go to or to even come out of your blood vessels!

Note that most of these peoples did eat Dr Furhman style the other 80% or 90% of the time!

In addition, in my own case, I want to be more muscular than I am now.  And instead of weighing 141 pounds to lose my last 24 pounds of excess fat, I’d prefer to also gain 21 pounds of muscle to weigh 161 pounds.

The protein intake needed to support the gains I want is about twice or more what is in a Dr Furhman eating plan.

But, so far, even with more effective strength training exercise and some increased in strength I likely have only gained a pound at best -- and my at my age only be able to add a couple more.

That means I should jump from about 15% his style to at least 75% if I want to lose my belly fat, my reflux, and my slightly high blood pressure.

Since I want those things enough if I cannot have them by adding muscle, I’d better move my diet from 15% his style to 75%.

I won’t look the way I want.  But I won’t be as weak as I’ll look!  I’ll be faster because I’ll be stronger at a lower weight.  And I’ll get great leverage on stopping my few health problems and living longer.

If the information is accurate and I can make that change that well, I should lose at least 9 pounds and maybe as much more as 18.  The average of those is about 147 -- less than I weighed in high school.  And  losing 9 pounds net to 156 pounds would about put me at my high school weight.

So that’s next on my “to do list.”

The key to making it happen:

As I’ve already posted on getting a Vitamix to help me get to the 75% Weston Price/Furhman style that will remove fat best.  And Vitamixes do and will make it more doable for everyone else.

(My sweet slaw was very good.  But it took 30 to 40 minutes to make.  My wife’s braised Kale took about 15 to 20 minutes to make.  Making a sweet slaw drink with the VitaMix from the same ingredients would take more like 10 minutes.  And, making a kale soup would take about 10 minutes with the VitaMix --- or an unheated version as a juice would take about 5 minutes.)

Also, I’ve recently found a second system to eat in a style about 98% the same as a Weston Price composite style with its own proven health benefits besides!

Adopting it however, is at least twice as doable! 

It’s in a new book called, “The Wahls Protocol” by ms Terry Wahls, MD.

She had literally been put into a wheel chair and prevented from working by MS.

It occurred to her that if she evolved and ate a set of foods with ZERO harmful ingredients that might help reverse this set of affairs. 

She discovered that real foods have hundreds of micronutrients and complementary nutrients in addition to the things like vitamin C and beta carotene, etc.

So, Dr Price realized that it might be possible to not only get all the known nutrients from foods only with no supplements needed; but that by working until she had ALL the known nutrients completely supplied she might get enough better nutrition for it to have curative powers on her MS too.

With some help at first and extremely high motivation, she worked at it until she got it done!

She went from being quite ill and physically limited and feeling unwell to being completely mobile and virtually cured from the MS AND feeling unusually healthy and energetic even compared to herself before she became ill!!

WOW!

How does that help me or us eat that way?

IN two ways:

She did NOT have to fish or hunt or get ingredients only available a hundred years ago and half the world away.

She got all almost all her foods at her grocery stores!  She lives in Iowa.  So I seem to remember she had to buy her seaweed online.

(I now own and have read her book.)

The second way that her book helps make this way of eating more doable is that, the recipes she developed were mostly foods she also fed to her family also.  So she has found versions and recipes that taste good or OK to people not eating them for the health value!

That’s great!

It’s beginning to look as if a combination of using a VitaMix and recipes like hers and my Sweet Slaw begin to be an eating style even I can do every week and virtually every day!

And, other people who want permanent fat loss or dramatically better health can do them too!

(In my version I’ll likely keep dairy foods and eggs from animals fed their natural diet and I’ll keep eating beans and lentils in part to keep my protein intake high enough to support the muscle gains I want.  But I may cut back on them somewhat as well to enhance my fat loss.)