My monthly fatloss report....

Today's Post:  Monday, 5-18-2015

[This month’s report is a mixed review with some positive and some negative events to report. I both gained some leverage and lost some. That status seems like AND IS where I’ve been stuck for some time!

My hope of course, is that I’ll gradually make progress by relentlessly continuing the things that have lost and kept off the fat I no longer have;

Having the things I’ve added get traction and gradually help lose some more fat;-- AND find things with more leverage that work well when I try them -- and then keep doing them also!]

A.  This month’s report:

1.  This month is a bit better as my new scale had me at 166.3 lb down .5 pounds from 166.8.

a)  I had made some systematic cutbacks such as eating 40% less nuts at lunch and eating less higher calorie after dinner snacks by having a broccoli floret or a large mushroom after the controlled amount for that evening either to prevent extra higher calorie items or instead of them.  And, then I did better at NOT eating more items at that point even if I was a bit hungry.

So, had I not enjoyed a feast on Mother’s Day, Sunday 5-10 the week before I think the news would have been better and very likely will be better next time.

Had I not done that, I might have lost a pound or two more and might do so by next time.

While a healthy kind of carbohydrate, the extra yams I ate that day and as leftovers between that day and the following Saturday when I weighed myself may well have added that pound or two and almost certainly caused my half inch waist gain since last month.

b) My efforts to turn off my stress levels have worked better over the last four weeks.  And, for two weeks I’ve been taking a supplement called Relora for another reasons BUT doing so lowers belly fat adding cortisol.

c) Incredibly, I STILL haven’t gotten delivery of the supplement I think I can take instead of half a glass of wine as stress relief when I first get home from work. 

I finally found out how to get it and might be able to start trying it soon!

(Lemon Balm does have a calming effect.  My hope is that taking one capsule plus a half glass of red wine will cut my stress as much drinking one glass of red wine before. That’s what my hope is. And I’ll soon be able to try it to see!)

If that works, instead of drinking 2 glasses a week of red wine over my weekly goal, I may well be able to drink 3.5 glasses a week of red wine less!)

I haven’t been able to test this for so long I’m not as optimistic as I was that I can do this when it finally shows up.

But each glass a week I can cut on a regular basis will help cut fat AND, even if the wine is the same, if Lemon Balm does help calm me enough extra to lower cortisol it may finally help me cut my belly fat.

d)  I got an email or two to a few weeks ago that Forskolin might help boost my thyroid, my energy level, and my metabolism.

But then, since last time, I got a different email showing that taking Forskolin might do all three things I seek! 

People who take Forskolin, get slightly lower blood pressure; they lose more fat and as belly fat; 

AND they tend to add muscle too!

Today is the first day I’ve taken it!

By next time, a bit over 4 weeks from now, closer to 5 weeks, if that works, I might show another pound or two of weight loss – but from losing two to four pounds of fat and gaining a pound or two of muscle.  And, if that happens, I might lose a half inch to inch from my waist!

2.  The other bad news is that my waist went up by half an inch.

I did lose back the half inch on my chest and hips that I had gained last time.

The only good news is that I kept a half inch of the inch had gained on my chest from the time before.

The good news is that I set a new record on my pushups this morning. 

So those chest gains as muscle may continue.  (See my post from last Friday, 5-15 on what I added to help make that happen!  The holy basil I added for the ursolic acid it contains helped me get that result.)

And so has beginning to use the 5 pound heavier dumbbell of 40 pounds for the exercise I’d gone from 9 reps with 35 to 21 reps with 37 and 30 reps with 35 as I clearly am now strong enough for the heavier weight.  The triceps strength from that triceps extension exercise that I’ve increased also means I’ll do better with pushup which use my triceps as well.

The bad news is that I got busy and my extra money left faster than expected so the more accurate tape measure will have to wait a bit though it’s still in my long term plans.

(I had decided to add a more accurate tape measure to my planned purchases.  I did get in some extra money but after  getting the high priority things such as the new dumbbell and the darker bedroom curtains, I’ve postponed buying it.)

The problem with my inch measures is not the tape.  It’s measuring myself with two hands when a third one is needed.  The tape I’ll buy solves that by cinching up when someone measures with two hands providing a kind of replacement for the third hand.

Overall: 

My main hope is that continuing the cut back I did do plus the Forskolin plus the muscle gains will show a modest weight loss on the scale and some real progress on losing my belly fat and reducing my waist size by next time.

AND, if the lemon balm finally shows up and helps, I might do a bit better than that!

3.  My cardio program upgrade news:

The four new cardio sets are effective; but the add on extra time simply isn’t there for doing them on Weds and Friday mornings during the week in addition to the four original ones.

Now, I do the extra 4 sets every week; but only on Saturdays and Sundays.

I’ve upgraded the exercise pad I use when I do them to one that fits them better; but it takes a minute or two to get out and deploy and another to put away.  This works well but is one of the reason I don’t have time for the 4 new sets on weekdays.

Lastly, I’m still at 70 and have not built back to 98 reps a set.  But the 70 has gotten enough easier recently, I think I’ll be back to 98 by next time.

4. I have kept up the added vegetables.  I’m actually doing well with maintaining it each week!

Losing enough more fat to cut it from my belly fat as I want to do will mean adding even more vegetables than I eat now as Vitamix drinks.

My routine clearly still lacks enough intake of daily organic vegetables.

(Over a week it averages about 4 a day now and for fat loss it needs to be 7 to 10 each day.)

But the fair intake 5 days a week and good intake on my two strictest days each week is now stable and routine and I can continue that easily.  So any fat it has helped me keep off or any health benefits of it will stay as good as they are until I can do more!

Several months ago I bought and read a book that suggests that both adding even more vegetables AND taking one week in four where I also eat less of many other foods – other than vegetables, may produce net and sustainable fat losses.

I’m still limited in what I can do now.  BUT, I am on the right track and will do what I can get to now and plan for much more when I can.

5. As I mentioned above, one of the continuing good news stories is my strength training. 

a) The progress is now BETTER as I have been getting stronger every week. (See my post for last Friday, 5-15 for what I added!)

If I keep doing this and continue for another few years -- and am able eventually to add back more safe to do leg exercises and lower back exercises and make that progress with them too, I will keep adding muscle when most people 15 years younger than I lose that much muscle or even more in the same time period!

b) Three months ago I reported that I had a small setback on healing the stress fracture in my left foot. 

I did get in the strontium and took it for a month.  It may not have been as healing as I’d hoped; but my stress fracture does seem a bit better AND it has NOT acted up despite continuing progress on doing more and more with my left leg in my slow rehab program which is now about half done.

c) Overall, my muscles LOOK a bit bigger, particularly my arms and shoulders; and though my middle is still fat, my thighs have some definition and are clearly hard and toned.

So even though I’ve not gained enough muscles in size or weight to increase how much they weigh and the calories they burn as I’d like to do --- After another year or so, I may gain a pound or two of muscle at an age when most people lose 5 pounds of muscle instead!

6.  It’s just a matter of time too to the day I can get and use the Vitamix to boost my vegetable intake enough to lose some fat that way.   

a) I have plans already begun that may speed that up.  And, since last time, I’ve added a way to make that much more likely.

.

 So the overall conclusion is that I’m still maintaining most of my efforts that lost fat for me to begin with. 

AND, I’m still adding promising new things that are working already or might work.

AND, I plan to both continue doing that and have even more in the pipeline for as soon as I can manage to add them.  

B.  New & earlier news on ways to do more than I have been able to until now:

1.  This one I haven’t done yet is still waiting on my getting a Vitamix:

One of the health emails I got had a new supplement that you had to pay to get and get information on that promised to almost wipe out the effect of stress on abdominal fat.

This sort of thing usually is smoke and doesn’t work in practice. 

But it WAS a potential solution to the exact problems I have.  If true, it would enable me to lose as much as the entire 24 pounds of belly fat I’m still carrying.

I then looked up the information that WAS in the ad on Google to see if there was more information elsewhere for free.

Here’s what I found: 

The effect may in fact be real but not enough by itself to do more than half the job without adding a safe way to boost my level of growth hormone closer to my youthful levels.

(And the existing supplements using it have other ingredients to help it boost heart health which I’ve already done.  So not only are those likely a bad fit for me, they might not be entirely safe as my heart indicators have almost gone past optimum now!)

However, this class of active ingredient is in lemon and orange peel. 

And, at Whole Foods I can get the organic lemons and oranges that would make them safe to add to my Vitamix drinks often enough to at least lose 12 pounds of belly fat.

This is VERY interesting to say the least. 

While eating at a restaurant, I got a fish dish and ate most of the lemon rind to try this out.  I found this easier and far less sour than eating the main part of the lemon!

And, I got some organic lemons and an organic orange at Whole Foods to try in the next few days. I was also able to eat the peel for those with no trouble eating them.  But the set up was a bit more time to do than I have had since.

I WILL need the Vitamix to add enough EVERY DAY consistently enough to do much. 

And I think I may be more in need of the safe growth hormone boost I don’t yet know how to get.

If drinking the whole organic lemons in a Vitamix drink only helps me cut 3 pounds of belly fat once I begin it, I’ll be very pleased.

And when I add the Vitamix and more organic vegetables every day, I may lose another 9 pounds of belly fat.

The other possibility is that adding back two faster recovery supplements might enable me to do more on my strength training and get some growth hormone boost and lose more belly fat from that.  (Astaxanthin is one of them.)

2.  The copy below is the one I’ve included for several months now. 

BUT since last time I found an inexpensive supplement, holy basil, which has enough ursolic acid to possibly have this effect.

SO FAR IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING!!

“Wow! I’d forgotten a post I’d written on a natural compound that acts as if it was an anabolic steroid but has NONE of the expense or lack of safety or side effects of anabolic steroids!

Ursolic acid is the compound.  It seems to make the growth hormone and fat removal hormones you already have much more effective. 

This was so true in the tests, it looks like it may make you stronger, your muscles bigger, and make you less fat even without exercise.  (This was thought by the researcher to be possibly a way to help cancer survivors and people in nursing homes who can’t currently exercise maintain to their muscles.)

Needless to say when added to a decent strength training program, it likely would be a massive help.

A month’s supply of the supplement costs $89.95!  

So it was out of reach for me at the time.

But there is some in Brewer’s yeast and the oregano and basil I add several days a week to my dinners.  I’ve been making do with that small amount as what I could then and now afford. (The richest source is red apple peels.  But it is extremely hard to get apple peels – even those listed to be organic – that haven’t been sprayed with something you’d not want to eat tons of.)

BUT, now I’ve been reminded, I will try the supplement when I can afford it!!”

Now I’ve found an affordable source and it seems to be working, this one may prove to be a huge help!

If I continue to eat as I have and add that much muscle, I WILL be less fat!!

3.  There are two vegetables that when juiced at the level of the Vitamix, cause drops in blood pressure comparable to the drugs for high blood pressure or even better but which have ZERO side effects if the vegetables are organic!

a)  Celery for those not allergic to it, has an ingredient that does this.  But in order to work, you need to eat the celery itself to get the ingredient in massive and affordable doses AND along with the cofactors in the celery it needs to work!

b)  Juicing beets also has a similar effect with a big extra work out boost!

It seems that to get the boost in nitric oxide that relaxes your blood vessels and improves the health and flexibility of your endothelium, the insides of your blood vessels, you need to get nitrates from vegetables in contact with the saliva in your mouth.

The workout bonus is that besides the much better blood flow, this also may boost growth hormone levels after your workouts!

In fact, beet juice has been tested to show performance enhancement!!

So, I’ve long planned to add this one!

But I’ve no funds yet for the Vitamix for either one.

c) Here’s the blood pressure news:

*I tried the beet root extract and am still using it and haven’t yet tested to see if it has helped.

*It was too much clean up and too time consuming to use my regular blender the one time I tried it to keep doing it until I get a Vitamix.

*I’ve just added the Forskolin.

* & I just added the Holy Basil to help with fat loss.

By next time those three things plus some further fat loss may have dropped my blood pressure a bit. And if so, I’ll report that.

Conclusion for May:

1.  Fat loss as shown on the scale and my waist measurement may happen and show up by next month.  I’m doing things likely to cause that result.

2.  Strength gain and muscle gain are happening finally.  And if that keeps up, it will help!

3.  Blood pressure may improve if the fat loss happens and the beet root plus Forskolin helps!