Week 5 results

I set out to push myself harder this week, and it has certainly paid off. I’m feeling great with the results so far, and motivated to continue the program.

I’m starting to see more familiar faces around the gym – Raj Jain, Sujay Sahni, James Clark and other folks I work with, and once again thanks to Deanna Hebert for joining me on the stairs and ellypitical machine last Thursday.

Once again, I only worked out 5 times this week, as last weekend involved a lot of running around and errands. I felt bad about not getting in on Sunday, but felt great to get a lot of household and other stuff in order.

This coming weekend’s going to be a bit of a challenge, as my friend Brian is hosting his annual camping weekend at the land his family homesteaded near Chehalis, WA. I’m hoping the weather’s nice and that the trip will be as enjoyable as last year’s. After talking to my dietitian, I get a special treat while camping: corn on the cob, which I’ve asked for but is not officially part of my diet yet, due to the fact that it’s high glycemic. It just doesn’t feel like summer without corn on the cob.

I got fruits added to my diet starting today, basically all fruits except juices, dried fruits, banannas and cherries are acceptable. The trick is to be sure to eat them with a “protein buddy” since they are carbohydrates. This is great because I now have even more substitutes to the shakes.

Results

At this point, I’ve lost 32.4 pounds, going from 265 on May 1st to 232.6 pounds at my weigh-in last night, meaning I lost another 5.4 pounds this week. I really love the little downward curve that black line has taken this week — it shows me that the focus I gave this week has really paid off!

In addition to the dietitian meeting last night, I had my week 5 check-in, which consists of another set of measurements and another calculation of my body fat percentage. Of course, there’s good news across the board here:

Measurement	Week 0	Week 5
Weight (pounds)	265	232.6
Blood pressure	142/93	126/80
Body mass index (BMI)	34.8	30.6
Chest	45.75”	43”
Waist	45.5”	41.5”
Hips	44.5”	42”
Biceps	15.5”	14”
Thigh	28.25”	23.5”
Body fat percentage	24.9%	16.6%
Cholesterol (mg/dl)	211	n/a
Triglycerides	344	n/a
HDL (good)	37	n/a
LDL (bad)	105	n/a

In terms of weight, I’m almost 1/2 way to my goal of losing 75 pounds, and I’ve only completed about 1/6 of my 32-week program!! Additionally, I’m awfully close to 225 pounds, which I believe to be the lowest my weight has been since moving to Seattle about 7 years ago.

I meet with my doctor next week, so I may have more to report at that point. He’s advised me that it’s too early in my program to get my cholesterol checked again, though I could get another fasting blood sugar and triglycerides test done, both of which are likely to be normal by now. Not sure yet if I’m going to do that or wait until week 10.

I’ll close this week with a funny piece of news I came across while surfing last weekend: seems that Wendy’s has decided to get rid of their Biggie size drink"> because people don’t understand where Biggie falls in terms of Small/Medium/Large. You won’t believe their plan.

Notes from meeting with my dietitian

• I can have up to 3 dairy servings per day
  • 1 serving = 1 cup milk, 6oz yogurt, 1oz low fat cheese (<6g fat/oz) or 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese (1% or 2% fat)
  • Milk and yogurt are carbohydrates. They need a protein buddy to balance them.
  • Cheese and cottage cheese are proteins. They can replace some of my meat, they can be eaten alone, or they can be had with a carbohydrate as a balanced snack.
    • 1oz cheese = 1oz protein
    • 1/2 cup cottage cheese = 2oz protein
      • Add 1 cup of milk to my breakfast shake
      • Try yogurt and 1/2 cup cottage cheese = 200 calories
      • Cottage cheese and berries = 200 calories
• I can have 2-4 shakes per day
  • Cut back dinner shake first
• Get in a fat at lunch time: cheese or salad dressing
• Goal: 1550 calories, 38g fat

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