Displaying items by tag: water

I'm back! I look like shit. I'm a fatty!

Why? Because I stopped caring about my health and fitness. I went back and forth and at my best I got down to 207 lbs. At my worst (many years ago) I was pushing 245. Currently I'm around 220ish. When i was down to 207, I felt good and then life happened. I started eating poorly again and not paying attention. Excuses, holidays, laziness and addiction. Mad addiction. Sugar is so addictive. More addictive that cocaine many experts believe.

I decided it was time to make a HUGE change. In the past several months, I have been experimenting with intermittent fasting. I have had great results and saw a ton of potential, but it was not enough. After reading and watching lots of You tube videos, I stumbled across the Snake Diet by Cole Robinson from Canada. I have started my journey and am now about 4 days in and am feeling great. It's not easy at all and not for the faint of heart.

Starting weight was 223 (4/16/18-pics below). Goal weight is 185-190. I will post pics and updates weekly for accountability.

Damn! That is what I look like from behind? What a fatty. Those love handles are going away! I am motivated.

What is it?

The Snake Diet was named this because of the way many animals in the wild eat, including snakes. They pound a big meal and then often don't eat again for days. The snake diet is actually a lifestyle more than a diet. It is a plan focused on the benefits of fasting. Like any "diet" it has to become a way of life to be successful. Most people hear the term "diet" and think things like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers. Yes these are diet plans, but "diet" broken down to it's simplest form is what we eat everyday and more importantly when we eat it.

How Does it Work?

The basis of the snake diet is fasting. Fasting as long as you can. Days, weeks or even months. Sounds nuts, right? Maybe it is. Maybe you need to go a bit crazy to achieve your goals. That fat gut you have been carrying around for 20 years isn't magically going to disappear without effort. Fasting is the most effective way to burn 100% body fat. Plain and simple. There are lots of opinions on the topic and many would see this as a huge health risk and a very unhealthy way to lose weight. But you got fat from being unhealthy. You are already unhealthy. Right now as you read this, you are unhealthy. Fasting has loads of health benefits that many people don't know about.

So I let life get in the way of keeping up on this blog. If you are curious of the final results, they were very good. I lost 17 lbs in 31 days. I did post on facebook on August 31st but not on the blog. Here is my facebook post:

"This ones for you, Jon. I know today is a tough day for everyone. My love goes out to all of you who loved this great man. At the Boulder ceremony we wrote down what we wanted to accomplish in honor of JGreens. My goal was to get fit again. I started a 31 day reboot on Aug 1. Today is the last day. My goal was to lose 4-5 pounds per week. I did it! I lost 17 pounds. To help me stay motivated, I looked at my new tattoo. It reminds me everyday to crush life. For myself, Jonathan and all of you."

I also had some technical difficulties as my phone with my "after" pics died on me and I lost the only one I had with my shirt off. The pictures here are from October, 2016. In these picture I weigh approx 218 lbs. 

Today is Friday and I am on day 5 of my second reboot. I have only been to yoga 2 times this week. I got some tattoo work done on my arm on Wednesday and it has been really sore! My weigh in on Monday did not go well. :( I weighed in at 226 lbs. No pre-diet this time, but I do know that some of this was "weekend weight" from much beer drinking and bloating. I decided not to weigh myself again until the following Monday but was too tempted this morning not to do it. Today I am at 220. Not bad for 5 days! Although my "real" starting weight was likely 224 after my body normalized.

This week I did not do anything too special. But I think that is the key here. We want to be able to maintain this lifestyle long term so going crazy and being extreme will not work in the long run. Slow and steady wins the race. My main goal was to begin to train my body and mind (mostly my mind) to avoid snacking and late night eating. Also to avoid (as much as possible) items high in sugar. I did have several dum dums and a tootsie pop but overall I was successful and did not snack at night and did not eat after 7 p.m. I also drank a bit more water than normal. My diet this week was very good. I ate a lot of lean protein such as chicken, tuna, hard boiled eggs and salmon. Each day I started with a chocolate banana smoothie and a hard boiled egg. I use Atkins Dark Chocolate protein shakes. I cant say enough how much I like these. They have 15g of protein, 4g of fiber and only 1g of sugar but they taste amazing! I mix a half of a shake with one banana, and a 3/4 of a cup of ice and blend for a satisfying start to my day. Trying hard to stick to a routine seems to help me stay on track.

As I begin my third week I am down 12 pounds. That is even after going to Arizona and going off my diet a bit. As I was eating and drinking this past weekend I thought a lot about my relationship with food and how it has effected my overall health over the past decade. I am a bored snacker, an emotional eater and I love sweets! Was I in for it or what? Couple that with getting older and a slowing of my metabolism and extra pounds cam and stayed. As I have been eating more whole foods and making better choices I have been feeling so much cleaner and my brighter. And after changing your habits a bit, the cravings go away. In fact, I craved a pint of water instead of sweet tea and I wanted an apple rather than a cookie. Anyone who knows me knows that is a HUGE feat. I love cookies. So much so it was my first word as a baby. No joke.

So I went to the store after returning home from Arizona. This was what I bought for the week. Maybe this will help you decide on some healthy choices:

• Apples
• oranges
• lettuce
• cauliflower
• broccoli
• bell peppers
• zucchini
• mushrooms
• onions
• yogurt
• sweet potatoes
• hot peppers
• strawberries
• blueberries
• mixed nuts
• tuna
• unsweetened soy milk
• plums
• protein shakes

A Quick Zucchini Boat Recipe:

So it has officially been 1 full week since I started my reboot and I am feeling awesome. At least physically. It is Monday so that is always lame. How did I do in week one? I did great. I ate super well exercised a bunch and am happy to report I lost a total of 8 pounds this week. Saturday was a wedding and a concert and many beers. At least 7. But I managed to stay away from cake and sweets all together.

I also did little to no physical activity on the weekend. I used this time for some rest and relaxation, BUT I still drank lots of water and ate very well. Hard boiled eggs, cashews, whole fruits and veggies and lots of them. My energy is up, my skin is looking great and I feel great. I am looking forward to yoga today. In fact, when I wake up each morning, one of my first thoughts is "Can I do yoga today and if so, when?" I am in love. It makes me feel amazing. Find what you love and do more of it. I don't care for running or workouts at the gym. But maybe you do. Whatever it is that you love to do and it gives you a workout, do it! More of it everyday. This weeks schedule: Tuesday and Thursday bike rides. Mon-Thursday, Hot yoga. Good eats. Lots of sleep and water.

As I prepare for my trip to Phoenix, I am thinking of where I would like to be before I go and what I will have to do to get there. I am down 8 pounds to 229. This week I plan to continue my whole foods diets with a few exceptions. Tonight, my dear friend is coming over and making dinner. She is an amazing cook and I am so lucky she likes to come over and cook. She cooks wonderfully delicious meals and I am being flexible. I am making an exception, but that is the only exception I will make this week. Flexibility is important if you want to make long term habit changes. It does not happen overnight and without effort.

My goals for the week? Lose another 4-6 pounds and continue building some muscle. In one week from now I WILL weight 223-225. I then have 2 more weeks to lose an additional 8-10 lbs taking me down to my goal for the reboot. If I succeed  When I succeed I will be down 20 -22 lbs in 31 days and on my way to my final goal. What is my final goal? I don't know yet, but have a feeling as it approaches I will know. My initial thought s are to just keep letting my body dictate what it wants. I plan to have a window of weight to allow myself to fluctuate as life happens. Lets say I set my overall goal at 205 pounds. I am then going to allow my self a 5-7 pound window going forward. If I get to 211, then I am back at it til lI get back down to 205. Maintenance is so much easier when you keep it up rather than waiting to you feel overwhelmed.  

So I am a slacker in some areas. Keeping up on this blog is one area I am working on. So I started my reboot on Monday August 1, 2016. I didn't write a blog entry because I did not know I started the reboot. How could I not know? Well I did not consciously think about starting it. I began by working out on my new Ultimate Body works. I went to yoga and ate really well that day. Then I did the same thing again yesterday and a trend emerged. I thought to myself, why not start now. I think now is the time to start this "physical" portion of my reboot. I weighed myself for the first time in a while. It was not pretty, especially after a heavy weekend of drinking. I came in at 237. At least I know where I am starting. I plan to weigh my self once a week on Mondays to see where I am at and to snap a new pic of my progress. Thankfully a rigorous yoga schedule has kept me from being a total porker!

I am including pictures of me from April, 2016 (left 2 images) and from today, Day 3, basically just starting out. I need the visual motivation. Although I am still approx the same weight I was back in April, you can see that doing yoga for the last few months has helped me tone up a little. No much, but progress is progress. Now its time to take it to the next level with a proper diet too!

As I have been thinking and pondering what it will be like to be fit and lose weight, I realized a few things that might help you in your journey. 

1. It won't happen overnight.
2. Be kind to yourself. You will screw up along the way.
3. Be realistic. In the course of 31 days, you will need days off and beer. Well at least me :)
4. Drink more water than you are comfortable with. It plays a HUGE part in weight loss.

Today's been a pretty low day. I laid around all day and ate way too much food. Missing Jonathan a lot today. I thought about him several times. Little things just reminded me of him. I saw Point Blank in my movie queue. He didn't get to watch it. :-(

Not to mention it's snowing. I know we had a great winter. I'm very thankful for that. Between buying a new house and having a mild winter, I barely noticed this year. I do suffer from Winter Blues and this year I skipped it. :-) but it's April 2nd and I needed some sun for motivation today. Didn't get it.

Why haven't I started my reboot? Because it takes a lot of effort. And I'm not ready yet. I really want to succeed on my 31 day reboot and I don't want to fail because I'm not ready. So I keep searching for inspiration, finding things that inspire me to be better.

It's ironic. Actually in some ways I've already started my reboot. Just not my physical one. I'm becoming active in writing again. Searching for daily inspiration has left me feeling really good. So as you can see, your reboot can be anything. Anything you want to improve. Just take 31 days, set your mind to it, and do it.

Randomness

• I did yoga everyday this week
• I rented my apartment today
• I found my fitbit today
• Bob's your uncle
• Ollie has a lot to say

I am afraid not. What am I talking about? I AM GOING TO GET FIT. Just not today.

Yes, getting fit is my goal, but what does that mean? Physically fit? Spiritually fit? Emotionally fit? Check. I often feel like they go hand in hand and I am sure many others do as well. I don't think it is realistic to try to get "fit" in all ways at once. You are setting yourself up to fail. Too much change at one time will overwhelm even the strongest of us. I don't have any real rules for this challenge.

Your 31 days can be anything you need to reboot. No TV, no internet, maybe dedication to read everyday. The reboot is anything YOU want to change.

Science say it takes minimum of 21 days to form a new habit. How long does it actually take to form a new habit?

Why not start today?

Because I don't want to. Really that is it. I have been thinking about this plan for months. I want to start today but I am being realistic. I am not ready. I want to go have a snack. I am going to spend the next 2 weeks motivating myself for this experience and hopefully my work will motivate you as I collect and publish articles and inspiration from each of the 7 dimensions of wellness. When someone asks me, "How are you?" I say "I am well"  I want to say this and actually mean it!