Week 2 results

Another week has come and gone quickly, and I’ve successfully completed week two of my 32-week 20/20 Lifestyles program on Wednesday. The diet up until this point has been pretty straight forward, and I repeated the first week’s diet for the second week. This week, certain vegetables have been added to my diet, which opens up a lot of creative possibilities in terms of recipes, and gives me a lot more flexibility in finding foods that are on plan at work and at restaurants. Knowing vegetables were coming, I purchased a wok last weekend, so I plan to have a lot of light stir fried chicken or steak with steamed vegetables. Maybe with it being a long weekend, I’ll make something else that I can bring in for lunch through the week.

Thanks to Anthony Tran and Deanna Herbert for joining me at the gym for my unsupervised work outs. I set a new personal record this week, burning 1076 calories in a 90-minute routine. The resistances are steadily increasing on my cardio routines, as are the weights in my strength-training days. As part of the program, I have to wear a heart monitor during my workouts, which is nice for knowing exactly how I’m doing. The watch keeps track of the last week or so of workouts, and I’ve been keeping a log of my progress as I go.

I also have to keep a detailed meal log of everything I eat, which has gotten to be a bit of a pain to remember to carry around and write everything down in. I’ve been keeping up with it, but there’s got to be a better way. I’m hoping to convert to some software program to track this soon, hopefully something that allows me to track not just my diet, but my exercises as well. The weeks are going fast, and with each new week comes a lot of new information : modifications to my diet; new foods; new routines; and a lot of education on proper nutrition. I’ve downloaded a trial version of Weight by Date Pro today, and updated it with all my information so far. Although the interface is a bit cumbersome for data entry (you need to use the mouse too much) it seems to fit my needs pretty well. It also has a companion product that will let me manage the information from my Windows Mobile phone, which is an attractive feature to me, since I’ve usually got my phone nearby.

The big challenge facing me this next week is that my personal trainer will be away on vacation all week, so I’m on my own to stick to the plan. I’m thinking about heading over to the gym tonight to get a bit of a head-start on the week, even though it’s my day off. I’m finding that I’m recovering from the workouts much better than I have been. When I started the program, I had about enough energy at night to make dinner, read (the same) page or two and go to bed, and I generally felt rather stiff the next morning. The stiffness is mostly gone now, and I’m slowly getting more energy throughout the day, especially after the workouts at night.

Results

At this point, I’ve lost 21.2 pounds, going from 265 on May 1st to 243.8 pounds at my weigh-in on Wednesday, which means I lost another 5 pounds this week.

I have 2 goals for the week ahead:

• bring my total weight loss to 25 pounds by weigh-in next week, which would be 1/3 of my goal! I fully expect the rate of loss to slow, but this would be a great milestone to have achieved in the first month.
• maintain the progress I’ve been making on my exercise, with the hope of moving to the next level when my trainer returns the following week.

Thanks for checking up on me, and have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

Notes from meeting with my dietitan

• Limit tuna to no more than 3 times per week (18oz max)
  • Try canned salmon and chicken
• Aim for 200 calories or more in protein at both meals, each meal should also have at least 12g fat.
• When dining out, count hidden fats in all foods:
  • Get salad dressing on the side, fork dip and count as 1 fat serving (45 calories, 5g fat)
  • Add 1 hidden fat serving for all items that are grilled or steamed
  • Add 2 hidden fat servings for all items that are shiny
  • Add 3 hidden fat servings for all items that are fried or creamy
• Goal: 1500-1600 calories, 33-53g fat per day

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Creative Vegetable Entrees

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Week 1 results