I think I'm on Day 10. Either way, it's the middle of the second week and I still haven't exercised yet, unless you count the two, 30-ish minutes walks I took with the dog this week (I don't count those as real exercise for me). Regardless, calorie counting as per Chubster's recommendation is going pretty well. Cool to realize how much I really put away per day, as well as finally understand how bad tortilla chips are for you. The cool thing about calorie counting is that I can eat ANYTHING, as long as I'm willing to count and accept it. I even had two cookies last night! Oh, and marinated chicken is FANTASTIC. Katie has declared me to be the chicken preparer forever after I nailed the last two meals. I realized yesterday that my snacking is more of a habit than a hunger thing (obvious, I know), which makes it easier to stop when I want to. Lots of water, lots of veggies and no microwave popcorn, except for the Tender White handfuls I shared with Katie and the Lewises last night. Progress, yo.
February 01, 2012
January 29, 2012
Body Composition Challenge with Pro Fitness AZ, Day Whenever
Whatever I'm doing isn't working.
When people smoke too many cigarettes and want to stop, they can without long-term side effects. When people find that alcohol is ruining their life, they can also stop without any long-term side effects. I know, for me, that moderation for these kind of substances doesn't work. When I had one smoke, I wanted another. When I was kinda drunk, I wanted nothing more than to be drunker. Now that I've given up both of those, my next task would seem easy. But try as I have thus far, losing weight if tough, but not for the reasons I thought. You see, I eat pretty well. Turkey ham, spinach, egg whites and cottage cheese for breakfast, nuts for snacks, sugar-free jello for sweets, chicken breast with veggies for lunch, some air-popped popcorn for snacks. Limited soda (less than one per day) and zero bread, pasta or much of anything resembling heavy carbs. My problem isn't WHAT I eat. It's how much. And I eat far, far too much. Thanks to Martin Cizmar's Chubster: A Hipster's Guide to Losing Weight While Staying Cool
, I've finally figured out how many calories I burn just being alive and doing normal things like walking around. (just over 2500).
And with the Harris Benedict Equation, I've ascertained that most days, thanks to my physical activity, I burn between 2907 (1-3 days of weight lifting and running per week) and 3277 calories (3-5 days of exercise) per day. In fact, for most of the past five months, I've burned right around 3100 calories per day while I trained for the Tough Mudder. In that time, I've not gone down a pant size, noticed no difference in the size of my gut, still notice how large shirts are accentuate both my shoulders and belly and pray every morning before I look in the mirror that my pecs won't be saggy. While I'm reasonably certain I HAVE gained some muscle (remember, it weighs more than fat), there's just no way someone with my level of physical activity should not steadily lose weight unless they were eating at least 3000 calories per day. As much as I loathe to admit this, and those who know me will know why, Martin Cizmar is right. Calorie counting is absolutely the way to go here. Regardless of what I eat, I simply can't lose any fat unless I burn more than I take in. Time to use the Lose It app for more than a day, even if it takes forever to log meals. I have to find out (I know microwave popcorn late at night and third helpings of quinoa, veggies and chicken are involved) where in the hell all these calories come from. Also, I have a 17" neck. WTF, man.
When people smoke too many cigarettes and want to stop, they can without long-term side effects. When people find that alcohol is ruining their life, they can also stop without any long-term side effects. I know, for me, that moderation for these kind of substances doesn't work. When I had one smoke, I wanted another. When I was kinda drunk, I wanted nothing more than to be drunker. Now that I've given up both of those, my next task would seem easy. But try as I have thus far, losing weight if tough, but not for the reasons I thought. You see, I eat pretty well. Turkey ham, spinach, egg whites and cottage cheese for breakfast, nuts for snacks, sugar-free jello for sweets, chicken breast with veggies for lunch, some air-popped popcorn for snacks. Limited soda (less than one per day) and zero bread, pasta or much of anything resembling heavy carbs. My problem isn't WHAT I eat. It's how much. And I eat far, far too much. Thanks to Martin Cizmar's Chubster: A Hipster's Guide to Losing Weight While Staying Cool
, I've finally figured out how many calories I burn just being alive and doing normal things like walking around. (just over 2500). And with the Harris Benedict Equation, I've ascertained that most days, thanks to my physical activity, I burn between 2907 (1-3 days of weight lifting and running per week) and 3277 calories (3-5 days of exercise) per day. In fact, for most of the past five months, I've burned right around 3100 calories per day while I trained for the Tough Mudder. In that time, I've not gone down a pant size, noticed no difference in the size of my gut, still notice how large shirts are accentuate both my shoulders and belly and pray every morning before I look in the mirror that my pecs won't be saggy. While I'm reasonably certain I HAVE gained some muscle (remember, it weighs more than fat), there's just no way someone with my level of physical activity should not steadily lose weight unless they were eating at least 3000 calories per day. As much as I loathe to admit this, and those who know me will know why, Martin Cizmar is right. Calorie counting is absolutely the way to go here. Regardless of what I eat, I simply can't lose any fat unless I burn more than I take in. Time to use the Lose It app for more than a day, even if it takes forever to log meals. I have to find out (I know microwave popcorn late at night and third helpings of quinoa, veggies and chicken are involved) where in the hell all these calories come from. Also, I have a 17" neck. WTF, man.
January 27, 2012
Body Composition Challenge, Day 3
Thanks to the magic of the internet, I wrote and published this yesterday.
The toughest part by far in losing weight isn't working out regularly, it's not eating the right food and it's not even giving up soda. It's eating LESS food.
I work from home, where something to munch on is always available. I'm used to snacking multiple times a day instead of eating three large meals, but my problem is still quantity. When I was training for tough mudder, I easily put away 3500ish calories per day. This amount, coupled with my exercise, was enough to keep my weight even.
But because I'm not recovering from ingrown toenail surgery on both big toes, working out isn't really an option. Yes, I realize my arms aren't broken and there is a ton of stuff that I can do that won't affect my toes, but what I'm most concerned about is my body's ability to heal quickly. I don't want to be sore AND hurt, so I'm trying to offset my lack of exercise in the gym with more dog walking, more movement during the day and less food.
The food thing has been tough so far. My regular breakfast of turkey ham, egg whites, spinach and a little hash browns is going fine, as is my morning snack (protein/banana shake) and my lunch of chicken, spinach and whatever else I can find is super.
But then late afternoon comes around and I find myself craving popcorn, something sweet and something to keep me not bored.
Only two diet cokes for the past two weeks, though. And no microwave popcorn this week. Progress!
Also, did you know that pineapple has a ton of calories? Lots. Look it up.
Pictured below is Liberty Market's Western Scramble. I ordered it with meat and eggs only, ate the fruit and covered everything in salsa. No biscuit for me. Not a calorie-lite meal, but it tasted fantastic and wasn't terrible for me.
January 25, 2012
January 24, 2012
5th Annual Pro Fitness AZ Body Composition Challenge Starts Today
This year, I'm going to win.
I'll be posting daily updates here under the tag 'bodycomp', with weekly updates at tdhurst.com.
My goals are a mix of endurance and strength.
Here are my starting measurements:
Neck: 16.5"
Shoulder: 50.5"
Chest: 45"
Waist: 42"
Hips: 44"
Biceps: 14.5"
Forearms: 11.5"
Right quad: 20.5"
Left quad: 21"
Right calf: 15.5"
Left calf: 16"
Weight: 219 lbs
Body fat: 26.7%
I'd like to be around 190 lbs, but that's not a hard goal. Being heavy isn't the same as being fat, but I do know that I feel good playing sports at around that weight.
I'd also like to drop to 34" waist jeans, because they hang better and look more streamlined that the 36" ones I currently wear.
My first few days will start off easy as I recover from ingrown toenail surgery on both big toes, but by week 2 I expect to be running or lifting every single day. I'll also update my struggle ridding myself of Diet Coke and slowly replacing everything I drink but coffee (black) and water with tea.
Day 1 has begun. You ready for this?
January 22, 2012
Two bad-ass bikes for sale
Cralgslist post: http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/bik/2812475915.html
We have two bikes that are far too bad ass to be sitting in our closet. The larger one, built for someone up to 5'10", is a 7-speed street bike that thinks it's a mountain bike. It's been used sparingly by a Tough-Mudder completing, 100k Tweeting, name-on-tshirt-wearing badass who just doesn't ride it enough.IT HAS SEVEN SPEEDS! How many do you have? I have about four. This has SEVEN.The smaller bike is a 21-speed street bike ridden by the DIRECTOR OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST NETWORK OF COLLABORATIVE workers. Seriously. Also, it has THREE TIMES the speeds of the bigger bike. This disparity has led to some jealousy between the two, but I think they've worked that out.NO GUARANTEES. I can't assure you that one of these bikes won't eat the other.Also, these bikes are so tough they keep flattening their OWN TIRES. That's the cycling equivalent of shitting yourself, right? THESE BIKES ARE SO HARD CORE THEY SHIT THEMSELVES. Know who else does that? Super-long-distance runners. And likely Navy SEALs. Okay, SEALs likely shit on other people, but whatever. THE TIRES ARE SCARED OF THESE BIKES!Ain't no factory seats on these puppies, either. BOTH have nice, padded seats that will make sure your ass is at least comfortably numb on long rides. There's also room for a basket and a water bottle holder (sold separately, obvs).The little one (Trail Way) is $75. The big one (Sierra) is $100. Both are $150.Before you bid, punch yourself in the face. Then again. If you can handle that, you can handle these bikes.
January 21, 2012
Snow in Eastern Washington!
That's not even a lot of snow.Got another two-three inches last night then a little freezing rain. Check out the weird drifts.IMGP0534
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AZ Winter
After seeing snow pictures from my siblings the past few days, I figured it was time to reveal what we're going through in AZ.
We're suffering here, too.In this picture, you can see a few brown spots. Do you have any idea how uncomfortable those are after walking in lush green grass? Especially winter grass, which doesn't seem as soft.
FLOODING! No joke, this stuff is dangerous. We had sprinklers hitting cars this morning. The sidewalks were wet and very treacherous.
It's so cold NO ONE is in our heated pool. All I can see is the steam escaping in the morning. The hot tub is so warm my feet tingle when I get it.
PANTS! Can you imagine? I had to wear pants today, mostly because I was on the scooter. Sweatshirt and gloves, too. My feet aren't being warmed by the ground, which is horrible.
