Week 4 results

This week has certainly flown by, and I’m a bit slow in posting my results for week 4 on the 20/20 Lifestyles Program, which ended last Wednesday night.

Cheese was the addition to the diet for week 4, although the options and portions are small. 1 piece of string cheese, or about 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese, assuming of course that they’re low fat (less than 6 grams of fat per serving). I’m also no longer required to have 5 shakes/day, and I can substitute out other options, such as yogurt, which I’m finding myself to be pretty fond of.

Week 4 brought the return of my personal trainer, and I’m much happier with the workouts I’m doing now that I’m not on my own. I’m going to have to focus on getting equally productive workouts when I’m on my own, and I’m committed to figuring this out as I proceed in the program. Being on my own for week 3 was perhaps a good thing, for it showed me how reliant I currently am on having someone alongside me to push me ever so much more. As I expected, we’ve taken the exercises up a notch across the board, so although I’m sore, I’m feeling good about the accomplishments.

I still dread the stair machine, but I’m doing 20 minutes on it at level 7 now, and I’m surprised with that progress. Seeing improvements in the physical aspects of the program is certainly motivating.

Thanks again to Anthony Tran and Deanna Herbert for joining me at the gym on my unsupervised days, and for grabbing dinner on Thursday at the Bistro. I’m starting to recognize other familiar faces at the gym, especially other guys in my group, and I’m starting to find the routine of going to the gym enjoyable.

I only worked out 5 times this week (their recommendation), instead of my personal goal of 6 times, and taking Sunday off really got the personal guilt going, which is a good sign. I actually missed not going to the gym! As my little sister Jenny commented when I started, it takes about a month of doing something until it becomes habit — we’ll it’s almost a month, and the habit’s rearing its head… Thanks, Jenny – and if you’re reading this, I hope you have fun in Europe with Mom and Dad this summer!

Results

At this point, I’ve lost 27 pounds, going from 265 on May 1st to 238 pounds at my weigh-in on Wednesday, which means I lost another 2.2 pounds this week. This is the lowest weekly weight loss I’ve had since I started, and I’ve decided to double down my efforts physically (not longer or harder, just much more focused) for the next week to see if I can get better results next week. This week’s results discouraging at first, but I’m still far ahead of schedule towards my goal, so I’m not too disenchanted. I do think I can do better, and I want to try.

On ending week 5, I’ll be getting another fitness test and doctor visit, so I hope to have more to report in terms of the biological me, and hope to have new measurements and medical data to report in week 5’s post.

Notes from meeting with my dietitian

• I can take away the dinner shake but leave the 1/2 cup of berries
• Add 1 fat serving to each mail (45 calories, 5g fat)
• Go fat shopping (nuts, olives, peanut butter)
• I can have 1 dairy serving per day
  • 1 serving = 1 cup milk or 6oz fat free Cascade Fresh yogurt
  • Milk and yogurt are carbohydrates. They need a protein buddy to balance them: soy nuts, jerky, deli meat, chicken sausage, etc.
    • Aim is to replace the 200 calorie shake
• Goal: 1550 calories, 38g fat minimum

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