My monthly fatloss report....

Today's Post:  Monday, 6-20-2016

A.  Here's the key news. 

1.  I gained about one pound from 161 to 162. 

(Neither of my two scales will measure to the hundredth of a pound or reliably weigh me at the same weight two times in a row!

Last month, I had a doctor’s appointment; and the scale in my doctor’s office DID measure to the hundredth of a pound!  So, just now I phoned to see if I might get the brand of the manufacturer.  If that company will sell to individuals for less than $200 I’ll get one and let you  know in this post and do one just on that topic.  That one costs over $800 and is a bit large since it has the height measure too.  I’ve no room or budget for that one, unfortunately.

However with the help of the distributor rep for the scale in my doctor’s office, I DID find one for about $90.  It sounds like it weighs the same weight with the same reading two times in a row-- instead of two readings and please guess what the real weight was -- as the two I have now do!

And, while it reads to the tenth of a pound in pounds, I think it reads to the hundredth of a Kilogram!  IF that’s so, you can calculate the weight to the hundredth of a pound too!

By next month I hope to have this one and try it!  I may be done if it works that well!

If not, some company must have this; and almost all of us trying to lose fat or add muscle will buy one if we simply find out which company!)

I’m actually about the same weight.  Since last week was my week to eat more and hit the weights hard to see if I can add muscle, this week we are in now is my cut down week; and by next Saturday, I’ll be at 161 or less.

2. Did I add muscle last week and last month?  Maybe I did. 

My chest measure was a bit higher -- a quarter to half an inch; my waist was the same; and my hips were about a quarter of an inch more.

And, I seem still to be getting stronger, particularly on my dumbbell curl and calf raises for my injured left calf.  I’m also stronger in my dumbbell squats and deadlift than when I began them.

I have now been taking 200 mg a day more ursolic acid for about a month in addition to the 45 mg a day I was taking.

I also am improving in my jump rope.  Today I found out that the fast reps I do on my short sets of jump rope have been found to grow new mitochondria and stem cells, particularly if I keep doing a bit more each week.

I’m now at my goal weight or very close to it, 161 pounds.  But when I looked good at that weight several years ago I clearly had something like 16 pounds more muscle since I clearly need to lose about 16 pounds of fat to look good now!

However, I’m making some progress perhaps, due to losing about six pounds since the end of last year that I’ve kept off, I’m beginning to look leaner in the mirror!  (Continuing my strength training also has helped do that!)

And, I found a way to use more weight exercising my legs which despite having too much fat, has possibly added some muscle to them.  (See details later in this report.)

My legs feel much more muscular and hard than they did a few months ago. 

So If I can add another level of weight to my exercises for them which I plan to do in July and lose another few pounds of fat, they will begin to look muscular

too!

(Also, there is a gym I can go to that has much more weight, that I will try out and eventually work out at two to four times a month at least. 

When I can do that, the amount of weight I can use for my legs, butt, and lower back more than doubles!

I can afford to go to that gym now.  Once I can schedule it in and get to and from the gym also, I’ll do it.)

3.  Since the changes I reported on the last few times resulted in a bit more fatloss, a pound or so, I’ll keep doing them!

And, in fact, though I’ve not yet lost a lot more fat, I have kept off that initial five pounds and the more recent pound off also!

a) Before, for breakfast, with my fruit of the day, I had been continuing to eat 4 ounces of oatmeal every other day plus milk and a bit less than that in cooked lentils with no milk every other day. 

Also, I had just eaten the cooked lentils with no milk each day on my cut down week.  And, even though I was not losing belly fat, my blood sugar and heart measures have been excellent.

BUT  I found out that the reason zero non-wheat grains and beans—including lentils—are included in the Paleo diet – for health reasons! – is that they contain lectins.  Many foods do; but in low enough concentrations their health impact is small.

Both oatmeal and lentils have soluble fiber that helps remove excess LDL cholesterol.

However, the huge news is that these lectins DO have a big impact on belly fat. 

They cause some harm to the lining of your gut – contributing to acid reflux – AND causing your body to add to your intestines in size and cause extra fluid retention. 

I realized that this means that if I cut oatmeal and lentils another 95 to 100 % AND replaced them with nonfat cottage cheese with as much protein and fewer calories too – PLUS I did that EVERY WEEK, not just my cut down week, over time I’d have a shot at losing more fat each month.  That’s because I’d stop gaining back so much by eating fewer calories on the weeks that weren’t my cut down week.

And, if that information is accurate, it may also mean that I’ll lose two inches or more on my waist from losing the excess intestinal growth and retained fluid IN ADDITION TO any inches lost from losing fat.

The best news is that eating in this new way is quite doable.

So, if it works as well as I expect it to do eventually I’ll have lost more on the scale and may also have more progress to show on losing inches off my waist too.

So, far I am still losing fat as shown by looking more muscular.

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 loss on my waist.

I had hoped that by this time, after 10 weeks on the new program, the loss on my waist should finally show more inches off.

Nope.  In fact, the tape measures I use are not super accurate as I have to hold them myself; and I try to do two waist measures: one where my tummy is about as slightly tense as if I was walking and one where it’s quite relaxed as if I had just eaten dinner and was relaxing after.

My tummy still makes me look quite fat even though the rest of me is beginning to look better.

So to make that happen I will need to keep losing fat for quite some time; and/or use the cold laser direct fat removal; or find a supplement that actually causes extra belly fat removal.

(So far, none of the supplements with the reputation of helping lose belly fat or total fat has had ANY effect. 

But there is one I’m already taking to help me add muscle, ursolic acid, that I needed to take more of that to get the full effect.

And some studies DID also show increased belly fat loss too when people took as much as I do now, about 4 weeks so far.

(My post, Tuesday, 5-24-2016 has more details.)

4.  My calorie cut back week:

I keep the added whey protein and most of my protein foods such as milk from grass fed cows at breakfast I mix the whey into, the wild caught canned & smoked salmon, and 4 whole eggs from pastured chickens a week, and my regular nonfat cottage cheese; and the protein I get from broccoli and artichoke hearts.

But I cut some of my cheese from grass fed cows about in half by eliminating a third of it in one set of dishes and substituting all of it with nonfat cottage cheese at other times.

[NEW information this month:  I had been reluctant to do this since the cottage cheese was possibly from cattle fed GM, genetically modified, grain that was sprayed with pesticide and herbicides despite being nonfat.

But the good news is that the organic lowfat cottage cheese has very little more fat or calories and is NOT from cattle fed GM, genetically modified, grain that was sprayed with pesticide and herbicides.

So I can use it a bit more to replace full fat cheese from grass fed cows.  And I have been since shortly after my last report.]

I cut out all of my oatmeal and lentils and ate nonfat cottage cheese instead. (This step also eliminated about 24 ounces or more a week of the whole milk from grass fed cows I was having on the oatmeal on those two days each week.)

I cut my dark chocolate and Brazil nuts in half that I was using for treats.

(I cut my Tablespoons of Apple Sauce each week from 10 to 3; and have made that every week too since my first week doing it.)

I do still eat 100% of my daily piece of fruit.

And, I cut my extra virgin olive oil one Tablespoon servings from 10 to 7 by using only one each day instead of adding a second one three times a week.

[This I’d only done on my one cut back week of four.  Now, I’ll do it three weeks of four.]

And, because of its extremely high nutrition, very appetite reducing effect, and its very health enhancing very strong percentage of monosaturated oils, I kept the two tablespoons a day of avocado paste.  

[One research study shows eating avocado and extra virgin olive oil and raw tree nuts is very heart protective within just a few weeks of beginning them.  And another shows that avocado has heart protective effects within a few minutes of eating it too!]

Because I kept the things I kept that were high protein, or high nutrition, or high fiber and mostly cut extra fat or carbs, I wasn’t even hungrier than usual much to my great surprise!

5.  My original plan was to cut 40% one week of four. 

But two things happened.  My cuts did cause weight loss which was almost certainly all fat during that one week of four. And, it has reliably done so each month.

But the cuts were likely more like 20 or 30% AND over the other 3 weeks of four I seem to be gaining it back minus any muscle I’ve gained.

So, that means I’m not making the progress on fat loss I want to make yet.

As you may have seen in my recent post, I can cut back more weeks than one of four as long as my cuts don’t cut below my basal metabolism.  Since my calculation showed my basal metabolism is only 50 or 60% of what I’m now eating on my gain week, that means that I can cut THREE weeks of four instead of one.

(If I CAN cut 30 or 40% each week without the famine response acting up,

AND I only cut 25 to 30% three weeks of four, particularly by eating a high nutrition, high protein style, I should be able to lose more fat with no famine response effects!)

So, that is my new plan.

The plan is to cut 2 or 3 pounds by eating 25 to 30% less for three weeks and then add about a pound on my plus week

Hopefully, that means that I’ll now begin to remove at least of pound of fat each month.

If that works, I’ll drop below my goal weight unless I manage to add more muscle.

We’ll see if that happens!

6.  Boosting protein without boosting calories:

For, example, I had been eating the double dose of whey every other day otherwise.

Now, I do it every day. 

And, I’ll eat a bit less no sugar apple sauce every week and nonfat cottage cheese instead of lentils every week.

(In addition to cutting back on lectin sources, these changes may cut my calories another 5% for the year.)

Since I wrote that earlier, I’ve also cut back a bit on the cottage cheese and added a Saturday night protein only dinner.  I had a turkey burger with a half slice of pineapple once and herbed skinless chicken breast twice in the last three Saturdays.

7..  What if I also get the muscle gain effect of Vince Del Monte’s students and gain five or six pounds of muscle over the upcoming year too!

If that happens my waist will finally shrink and I’ll lose visceral fat with the extra health benefits that produces!

So I am working to make that happen too!

Last month I said I’d have more on that this month. 

I’ve been doing a split squat style deadlift for 5 to 7 slow rep repetitions twice a week once with the 40 in my left hand and once with the 50 in my right hand and then a repeat changing the 50 to my left hand.

I already have begun stepping forward more than I was plus it has gotten easier to do those more challenging version exercises.  Stepping forward more increases the weight on my thigh and hip muscles. And, I can feel the hip muscles work harder.

So, I’m soon going to buy a 70 pound dumbbell and will use a 50 and a 70 instead of a 40 and a 50.  That will add to my leg muscles and my glute muscles in the back of my hips.

My hope is that it will add at least a pound of muscle which will force a loss of 3 pounds of fat and a drop of more 2 pounds on the scale – AND it will add to my looking less fat!

8.  Conclusion

I’ve made more progress this year since January than I’ve done for quite a while. 

And, I’m working to both cut my calorie intake more without cutting protein or nutrition –

AND to add more muscle.

Since each of those two parts is backed by specific and doable plans, I think I’ll finally begin to see more progress by the end of the year – and maybe by next month!