Making progress

Today's Weigh-In: 205.4
Moving Average: 206.9

Looks like my weight is starting to move downward. I've weighed in under 206 the past 3 days. My goal is to be under 200 by October 1st, so I've got 17 days left in this month. I'm not sure if I'll make that goal, and I really don't want to try to hit it through restricting my calories drastically, but I'm hoping now that everything seems to be dialed in that the weight will drop more consistently. We'll see.

The thing that is surprising to me is that I have made absolutely zero effort to restrict the quantity of food I'm taking in. I've been eating tons of meat, fruit, coconut, nuts, vegetables, sweet potatoes, etc., even to the point of fullness and I'm still leaning out and dropping weight. I doubt that will continue forever, because from what I've seen and read it does take some restriction to get down to sub-10% levels of body-fat, but I'm going to ride this as long as I can, and when I stall out then I'll think about modifying my intake or counting calories.

My girlfriend and I came up with a delicious healthy snack to help with those times where you just want something a little sweet and comforting. I've had a big tub of shredded coconut just sitting in my cabinet for over a year now, so we decided to take a couple scoops of that and mix it with the vanilla coconut milk from Trader Joe's. On its own it tastes similar to Frosted Mini-Wheats if you let them sit in milk for a long time, but instead of being filled with poisonous gluten and gliadin it's full of healthy MCTs and fiber. We experimented even more with it, and my girlfriend came up with a mixture of shredded coconut, coconut milk, chocolate whey protein, cocoa powder, a little sweetener (stevia or sucralose), and a touch of coffee, which is absolutely delicious. It's a chocolatey treat with a balanced amount of protein and fat, with only a small amount of carbs. Yum!

Good first week of clean Paleo

Today's Weigh-In: 207.4
Average: 207.4

Last post I mentioned starting a strict 30-day Paleo routine that I would be starting September 1st. I have indeed started, and am now just over a week in. Even after just a week I am feeling tremendous! The first few days without caffeine were rough, and I slept a lot over the weekend. What this tells me is that I was sleep-deprived, and was using caffeine and energy drinks to prop myself up, when what I really needed was good, restful sleep. After the first few days I started to feel much more energized, my brain cleared, and avoiding caffeine has become routine. To ease into this whole thing I didn't restrict myself (quantity-wise) at all the first week, just eating to fullness, and eating more fruit and nuts than I normally would. This has had a good effect on my digestion, as before I was not regular, nor did I have healthy BMs (sorry, TMI, I know), but now everything is moving through excellently. And from the information I've been consuming it looks like a healthy gut is key to a healthy life. I'd been damaging mine with alcohol, wheat, and sucralose (Splenda) and now it's beginning to heal.

But, the biggest benefit I've experienced is, by far, my increased performance in the gym. Yesterday, which was my third day working out in a row, I beat everyone in the gym on the workout, even those guys who usually destroy my times. I felt super fresh the whole time, and my recovery between the end of the WOD and the cool-down was noticeably faster than usual. Usually after a hard metcon it will take me a good 10-15 minutes to scrape myself off the floor and get moving again, but yesterday it only took about 3 or 4 minutes. Then, right after, we did 3x400m sprints, and they felt better than I can ever remember, and again my recovery between attempts was very quick.

My shoulder is healing up pretty nicely. The anti-inflammatory effect of the Paleo diet is definitely helping in this regard. I am able to do pressing movements (shoulder press, push-ups) as well as power cleans again already.  The only thing that still hurts are dips, pull-ups (if I kip too much), and I haven't even attempted muscle-ups because I know the risk of re-injuring myself is high if I try them when I'm not ready. So I'm just taking it slow, doing my mobility and rehab/prehab work, and substituting troublesome movements with ones I can do pain-free.

As you can see I haven't lost any scale weight lately, but a look in the mirror shows me at the leanest I've ever been, more so even than when I weighed 196 a few years ago. I'm beginning to see veins in my arms (which I've never had), and I've been complimented on more than one occasion about my chest and shoulders looking strong. My waist size has also dropped, to the point where some of my boardshorts I wear for working out are almost falling off, even when tied as tightly as possible. The only downside to this increased muscle is that my thighs rub together again, which makes running a pain.  I'm hoping that as I drop some more fat that will become less of an issue, but I don't know to be honest.

I know I promised more posts this month, but I've taken on the responsibility of doing daily blog posts for the gym so that may not work out as I had thought.  We'll see.

Info dump

Bah. Been treading water again. Averaging about 208 still. Starting September 1st my girlfriend and I are doing another 30-day super-clean Paleo challenge. I like to do this every so often so reassess where I'm at versus where I should be, and to get rid of the stuff that's holding me back. Right now it's booze, diet sodas/energy drinks, and too many cheat meals. Now that summer's coming to a close, and all the events, vacations, and parties are off the docket I can tighten everything up and get back on track again.

This past weekend I drove up to Big Sky, Montana with the owners of Crossfit 714 (the gym where I train) for the annual Crossfit Affiliate Gathering. I had an amazing time (other than the long drive to and from southern California)! Did some downhill mountain-biking, experienced whitewater rafting for the first time (so much fun), stayed in an amazing penthouse suite, ate elk, boar, venison, duck, and bison, drank a ton of Montana beer, built a bonfire, and hung out with some awesome people (including Greg Glassman, the creator of Crossfit!). It really was an awesome experience, and I hope that I'm blessed enough to do it again (maybe next year).

On a more bummer note I partially dislocated my shoulder (again) the day before we left for Montana, doing behind-the-neck jerks. My grip was too wide, and I was so eager to put up a big number that I rushed the lighter warm-up sets that should have prepared me for the bigger weights. Last time I maxed-out on this movement I put up 275 lbs., so I was confident I could get 300, and I felt good through 265. I loaded up 285, got it overhead, but the weight traveled behind me and I didn't let go in time, which resulted in my humerus moving forward in my shoulder socket, and a nasty grinding feeling, along with a disturbing pop when the bone popped back in immediately when I dropped the weight. It's a very surreal feeling to have your bones in places they're not supposed to be!

Since it did immediately pop back in I didn't feel the need to go to the doctor and just started icing it right then. It's been a week now, and while it still hurts it's much less severe than it was in the couple days following the injury. I'm taking it easy for at least another week, and if the pain doesn't get better I'll see the doctor and maybe get an MRI. My biggest fear is that I tore something, but I think the pain would be worse than it is if that were the case, to be honest. But like I said, if it doesn't feel better soon I'll go see the doc. In the meantime I plan on doing some rotator cuff strengthening exercises that I learned when I was in physical therapy earlier this year. I think slacking off on those rehab/prehab movements is partly to blame for the re-injury.

I can still use it, as I did when mountain biking and rafting, I just can't internally rotate it or do any overhead movements (at least, without pain) at the moment. Today I'm going to test how it feels to do push and pull movements, and adjust my training accordingly. I think this effectively puts the kibosh on my Olympic lifting career, at least for now, but it also allows me to explore some other aspects of strength and conditioning that I've been neglecting (like sprinting and explosive plyometrics).

Anyway, once I get started on my 30-day challenge next month I'll be posting a lot more frequently, and I'll keep you posted on my training as well.

Wizard needs food

Today's Weigh-In: 208

Moving Average: 207.8

I've been really hungry this past week, and it's showing on the scale. While I've done a fairly good job of keeping my food quality high the quantity has been too much to support weight loss. I think my body just wanted a little more energy, so for the past few days I've eaten more food. I feel better now, so I can reduce my intake for a while. This is how it seems to work for me: eat enough to lose weight for a few weeks, start getting hungry and more tired, eat higher calories for 3-4 days, rinse and repeat. I guess it just comes down to listening to my body and trying to keep it happy (while not indulging in foods I know it *doesn't* need).

I hit a new PR on my back squat yesterday (#355 Oly-style) so I know my time in the gym has been well spent. Still hoping to get 400# by the end of the year, though, so no slacking now. I also did 20+ muscle-ups on a pull-up bar yesterday, which is the most I've ever even attempted. Unfortunately I tore the skin on my right palm, so I have to deal with that. It's minor enough that I think I can just tape it up and continue working out this week. We'll see, though.

Quick analysis of progress to date

Today's Weigh-In: 208.2

Moving Average: 208.9

Now that I have a few weeks of weigh-ins recorded I can start using the exponential weighted moving average formula I added to my spreadsheet (details about the algorithm are here for you nerds). It's the same formula and weighting used by physicsdiet.com but more flexible because I can do whatever I want with the spreadsheet, versus the very limited functionality of the physicsdiet website. I've set it up so that I have a goal weight to meet each week (remember, I'm shooting for 1 pounds/week through the end of the year), and I'm using the Sunday value of the weighted average as my measurement. So far I've hit all my weekly goals, but I know I need to tighten everything up if I'm going to continue making progress.

I figured I'd do some analysis of my progress so far.

What's working

My athletic training is still going great. I'm still making progress on my back squat from week to week (going for 2x5@285 tonight). My capacity for doing longer workouts is greatly increased (I did a Crossfit workout named Barbara last Tuesday that was almost an hour, and I mountain biked for close to 3 hours on Saturday morning, and I'm not even sore). The one thing that has slipped a little is my Olympic weightlifting, simply due to time constraints, but I'll make sure that doesn't happen any more.

Eating during the week is pretty solid. I've been mainly doing fasting until about 2 or 3PM, eating a meal or two before I hit the gym, then eating another when I get home, which feels good and works well for me.

What's not

Too many cheat meals the past 2 weeks. I've allotted myself 2 per week, but I've been having double that, mainly on the weekends. Too much alcohol on a daily basis as well. I need to limit my intake to 1-2 glasses of wine/night, and not every night. This has always been tough for me, as I'm so used to coming home, making dinner, and having some drinks to wind down from my day. I need to find a healthier alternative, for sure.

Weekends. Always been an issue, probably always will be. All I want to do after a hard week of working and working out is eat chips and drink beer while sitting out by the pool or playing video games. I've been doing an okay job of stemming this activity, but it's still been happening more than it should. I think just being aware of this tendency (and not ignoring it) can help.

I haven't been doing the mobility work that I know I need to be doing on a daily basis either. It's so effing beneficial, but I hate doing it so bad. It just hurts, plain and simple, and it's really hard to get motivated to do something that hurts, even if it makes me feel *way* better afterward. I'm thinking I should add this into my gym time instead of trying to do it at home, that way I'm already primed for doing hard, possibly unpleasant work. I'll give that a shot.

So that's where I'm at right now. I'm hoping that simply by taking the time to think and write about this stuff I can make the small adjustments necessary to stay on target.

Mid-week update

Today's Weigh-In: 207.2

Looks like my new lower weight is sticking around and wasn't just a fluke of hydration or something. Nothing new to report right now, really. I'm eating high quality food in moderate amounts, I'm still hitting my workouts hard, and I'm getting my 8 hours of sleep every night. I do feel a little worn down from the increased workout volume and decreased calories, but not enough to impact much. I'm really sore from Monday's workout, so I'm taking a rest day today instead of tomorrow to recover a bit more. Yesterday I was too sore in my lower back to do the prescribed workout, so I did a bunch of upper-body strength work (bench press, weighted chin-ups, muscle-ups) which I haven't done in a while, and it felt good. I talked to one of my buddies (a fellow trainer at my gym) and he independently set the same weight-loss goal and timeline as me (185# by end of year). So we're thinking we might have to come together with some friendly competition/accountability. I'll keep you posted. Now I'm just hoping to see some sub-206 weigh-ins before the end of the week.

Moving in the right direction, finally

Today's Weigh-In: 206.8

I know it's been a while since my last post, which probably leads you to believe that I've once again slacked off on my goals, but this time that's not the case. I'm actually doing really well. Last week I was basically stuck at 211-212 every day, and I was getting pretty frustrated at the lack of progress, especially since I've been working out 5 days a week and only eating 2 cheat meals a week. But yesterday I weighed in at 209, which was a nice drop, and today I'm at 206.8! Usually after the weekend I gain a pound or two, but I've been making sure that even my cheat meals are kept within reason. To be honest it just doesn't feel good to go out to dinner and eat so much that I feel bloated and awful. And I find if I eat any significant quantity of gluten-containing foods or vegetable oils that I get bad stomach aches and my digestion suffers for days. So, for example, my girlfriend and I went out to dinner on Friday, and instead of getting a burger and fries or a big greasy sandwich I ordered some grilled salmon and shrimp with veggies and sweet potato fries, and to be honest I enjoyed the hell out of it. I had a couple beers, of course, but only a couple, and I left the restaurant without feeling like I swallowed a bowling ball. I think I'm finally learning the benefits of moderation, not just from a weight loss perspective but in how I feel, physically.

Anyhoo, I'm feeling good. I've hit my workout goals for the past 2 weeks, and I find I'm able to push myself harder in the gym without feeling smashed afterwards, which means I'm fueling my body correctly. I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing, because it's working.