My monthly fatloss report....

Today's Post:  Monday, 1-18-2015

Here’s the key news. 

1.  I lost about a pound from about 168 pounds to 167.  That reverses the pound I gained last time.  So for the two month period I’m about the same on the scale. 

2.  BUT, I lost about a quarter inch off my waist but did not lose off my chest! 

Because I want to gain more muscle in my upper back and chest than I lose in fat and want to add more muscle in my buttocks and lower back AND show all my fat gain on my waist, THAT is a good sign.

3.  Oddly, I gained a pound since I got back from vacation where I LOST two pounds as I said in my last post. 

Of course last week where I gained a pound was my week to eat a bit more in hopes I’ll add muscle.  So hopefully that pound I gained was muscle.  (My workouts WERE better.  So that’s at least possible.)

4.  As I said last time, my doctor turned fat loss coach instead of suggesting a new drug or test or procedure!!

She challenged me to add a half hour walk on Saturdays and Sundays AND cut my calories a week by 3500 a week despite my eating healthy food starting in January.

I’ve done it! 

a) Despite threatening rain in the forecast, I’m doing that!  Yesterday and the day before I did take the half hour walks; and I did do the 7 minute or a bit less walks at work early in the day last week.  So, I’m on track there and keeping it up! 

Since late last year that has added 500 to 550 calories a week of exercise to my outgo!

b)   What seems to have happened is that I did cut out about1,750  calories a month by cutting back on wine successfully and cutting back a bit two other places in my regular eating -- one at lunch, and one at my after dinner snack.

But I got no results last year because I’d begun adding some molasses or coconut oil to my single cup of first in the morning coffee for about the same calories.

To reverse that and see the results of the 1750 or so calories less per month, I simply stopped the coffee and those two additions six days out of the week.

So, now I have added 550 calories a week of walking.

and cut 1750 calories per month! 

5.  I also cut out some of the canned Parmesan cheese I’d been adding to my dinner in quantity 3 evenings a week.  The slight increase in cooked pinto beans and nonfat cottage cheese and the smoked salmon I replaced it with kept the protein intake. 

But I cut the calories from those dinners AND now eat none of the canned Parmesan cheese that may have had omega 6 oils due to the cows it’s from being fed grains.

I also replaced the canned Parmesan cheese with about 40% as much of self grated real Italian Parmesan which is likely grass fed.

I think this has cut my monthly calories about 700 more.

6.  So, adding it all up, I think this is a maintainable change of 2450 calories a month less intake AND about 2200 calories a month more exercise and calories burned.

That’s a reduction of 4650 calories a month!

Even if somehow it winds up at just 3500 calories a month by adding more vegetables or protein during the year or over-estimating the calories cut or burned, over a year this is 36,000 calories less! 

So even though fat loss seems to require you to subtract more than the 3500 calories in a pound of fat to lose it, by a year from now, I should have six to nine pounds less fat.

If I also manage to gain at least a pound or two of muscle, that will have me four to eight pounds less on the scale.

Six pounds less will put my at my goal weight. 

So, if these changes do help me lose a pound a month for a while most months, I may get back to a weight on the scale of 161—six pounds less than now that is my goal weight.

7.  I also continued the two things that may have been as important, or more so, than the foods and supplements; and I’ve added the walking for a third thing. 

* I’ve continued to do the slow rep strength training and have made two changes that I think will speed up my progress next year; AND I’m a bit stronger and can do a bit more already.

I’m also trying a third thing this month that seems to be working! Last week I DID do more than ever before in my key exercises!

*The two added half hour walks may help heal the small stress fracture in my left foot.  If that happens, I’ll gain some muscle in my left calf. 

And, I think the two half hour walks may add some muscle to both my legs because I feel a slight pump in my calves during and after them.

* Since last time, my efforts to restart doing jump rope are still better. 

 (Even tiny amounts build fitness extremely well.)

I was able to reduce the length of the jump rope in a way that makes it more normal to hold instead of having to hold bunched up sections to make it short enough.

I also got coaching as to holding my elbows in a bit once I have the rope moving which has helped.

They two sets I do are still choppy. 

In fact, I may have gone backwards a bit on that from taking off the week I went on vacation.

But as my fitness improves, and until I no longer miss at all -- doing them every week, that part will gradually improve

My goal is to do 70 and rest and 70 and rest and 70 more.  The elapsed time is just 90 seconds of jumping because I jump fast enough that 70 only takes 30 seconds. I know because I did 70 of the as if jumps without the rope in 30 seconds with my temporary jump rope coach.

When I can do that, I’ll be quite fit for sprint type of exercises and this may cause some fat loss from calories burned for a few hours afterwards according to what I’ve read.

Last but far from least I can gradually do more jumps per set from 35 to 45 to at least 70 each set and do three sets each time. 

I can do that even if at first these are NOT sets without a miss but each one choppy and made up of 11, 2, 4, 7 etc until I get to a many as I plan or more each time.

8.  My blood pressure medication is working decently now.  I’ve not been able to improve the readings with any significant fat loss yet.  

My sleep is better from stopping wine after dinner and stopping caffeine at about Noon instead of 3 PM.

I recently forced my after lunch naps to stop by standing up to scan through the current days newspaper in the early afternoon.  (It was already better before that since I was taking naps some days as I sat to read the paper instead of every day.)  Standing while I read the paper HAS stopped that time drain from my working hours each day.  And, I think I’ll sleep a bit better too.

Got the at home sleep test last month. 

If using the data helps me sleep better, the blood pressure improvement may be as little as 2 over 2 according to a research article I read.

(Next month, at my appointment with the sleep doctor, I hope to get more data and more helpful data to analyze and use.  But my other successful changes plus other non-medical things I hope to add may be all I need or am able to do.)

But if I also improve by that much from losing a few pounds as I believe I’m on track to do, my blood pressure readings may no longer show high blood pressure.

8.  I got the Thync device; but discovered I had to also get a smart phone to use it. 

I now HAVE the smart phone, an Apple i5s.  Now have I have the stylus so I can actually enter numbers and characters on it. 

I got help to download the Thync app and get a password for using it.

I’ve now had the appointment for someone from Thync to come by to ensure I can use it!

It looks likely that their special extra stress relief 20 minute session of the calm setting that I can do other chores while I wear it will de-stress me enough that I’ll sleep better and likely will have slightly lower blood pressure.

AND that may cut my cortisol and betatrophin enough to cause a bit of belly fat loss too.

In addition, I may be able to make just a bit more strength progress by using it on its energy boosting setting before my one heaviest strength training session each week.

I tried it and it is quite hard to use as you have to do several steps to start it each time AND both the Thync device and the iphone have to be charged! 

The last time I had the time and energy to try it, the iPhone wasn’t charged and the time before that the Thync device wasn’t charged.

Then I was side tracked for a couple weeks by getting ready to go on vacation etc.

BUT, even though I’m planning to use it daily at a time of day when I’m tired and have more setup for the following day chores than time to do them, I’m committed to keep trying until I have used it successfully for a few weeks!

Once it takes less time and mental energy to set up, it should get much easier to do each day.

And, since I do think it will help me drop my blood pressure for sure to below the high blood pressure mark; make me more stress resilient each day; AND has the added possibility of helping me lose more belly and visceral fat, I think that extra effort is justified.

I’ll put the results here in the next few months!

9.  My hopes for the cooling packs to lose fat are much lower than they were when I first wrote of them.

In fact, despite it now being the right time of year to try them, I find just adding the Thync and keeping up with my normal schedule is about all I can add just now.

Perhaps in a month or two or next fall, I’ll try them.  I certainly still have them. And the packs are in the freezer still.

10.  The thyroid support I added helps ensure it stays OK; but it doesn’t seem to have speeded it up any.  

11.  And, in a related effort, I posted recently on the fact that adding a serving a day of organic, ceremony quality, Matcha, green tea might boost my metabolism enough, perhaps by 5%, to remove about 7 or 8 pounds of fat over a few months.

It has health benefits.  So it’s winning strategy even if no fat leaves me!

I now use it but so far I can’t see any fat loss effects; but it does have added health benefits and helps replace the caffeine I no longer get from the cup of coffee I no longer drink.

12.  Since my posts a few days ago, I’ve researched the laser fat removal. 

The Zerona laser used IS now FDA approved.

But it takes going to the doctor’s office who has it and going more than once a week for a few weeks AND is quite pricey; AND it only removes about an inch of fat off your waist on the average each time.

That said, it may be a critical path way to fat loss for people who must have the jump start it DOES provide to lose fat successfully AND do it safely that can and will replace the dangerous stomach reduction surgery sometimes now used.

If that tests to work, insurance companies may eventually cover it making it much more affordable.

It may take me a while to get a local provider to sign on to test it for that and/or to be able to use it myself; but I’m committed to do both and hope to by the end of this year.

Conclusion:

If the added calorie cut back and added walks work, I may get back to 161 on the scale in 2016.

I’m DOING the things that are creating the net calorie decrease that I was NOT doing before.

And, if the increasingly good news on jump rope and increased muscle happens as I expect, I may lose more fat than 7 pounds and finally lose on my waist measurement!

Last but far from least, if the stress relief from the Thync works or the workout boost part of it works, I may well do even better.