Really?

Wow, has it been that long since I've written anything here. Looks like I need to do some dusting and cleaning, and get back with the program. Stay tuned.

Jumpstart Day 7

Day 7 Weigh In 199.5

Down a total of 4 pound in 7 days. Not too shabby. Tomorrow its back to eating mostly clean and following the AGD. I was little off schedule this morning as I ended up having Peanut butter toast and a protein shake for breakfast. I just was not in the mood for eggs again. Lunch was Vegetable soup with a piece of Salmon and a yogurt. Snack this afternoon was a banana and almonds. Supper was a burger (no bun), salad and wine. Snack tonight is more yogurt, cherries, and pecans. Tomorrow is a workout day, and from there I am probably going to go back to two days a week with some additional walking on the days in between, but I'm going to play that by ear. Too much structure, or trying to be too strict is not a good plan for me or most people who don't have defined performance related goals. Its more important to cover the basics on a consistent basis than make too many rules that are just broken due to circumstances.

Jumpstart Day 6

Sometimes, Supper just happens. Tonite was one of those nights. An onerously long meeting at the office, plus Mrs D. having work struggles led to finishing the entire bottle of wine. Its days like this that reinforce the concept of perfection being the enemy of the good. Because some days, good enough is just that.

Breakfast; Scrambled eggs with cheese and salsa

Lunch; Steak, salad with olive oil and vinegar

Snack; apple and almonds

Supper; Atkins Quick Seafood Chowder, Crackers, Cheese, and Wine

Snack; Pepperoni and cheese

Jumpstart Day 5

No picture today, sorry. I was going to take a picture of my supper, but I started eating and just plain forgot. Today was an average day at work. My energy levels were a little off today, probably still adjusting to lower carbs and a clean diet. I did manage to get in a quickie workout consisting of push-ups, assisted chin-ups, and 20 minute on the exercise bike at about 80% of predicted heart rate max.

Breakfast
Eggs
Sausage
Banana

Lunch
Italian sausage
Zucchini Bake

Snack
Yogurt
Nuts

Dinner
Salmon Cakes
Stir Fried Spaghetti Squash
Spinach

Snack
Yogurt
Cherries
Pecans

JumpStart Day 4

Breakfast
Bacon
Eggs
Orange

Lunch
Steak
Salad

Snack
Banana
Mixed Nuts

Supper
Ham
Acorn Squash
Broccoli

Snack
Cottage Cheese
Peanut Butter
Protein Powder

Jumpstart Day 3

Back to work today after a long holiday weekend. Getting up this morning was not fun. Made it through the day and even got in my work out.

Breakfast
Eggs
Sausage
Orange

Lunch
Chicken
Mixed Vegetables
Apple

Afternoon Snack
Greek Yogurt
Almonds

Dinner
Italian Sausages in Sauce
Zucchini Baked with cheese
Salad

Evening Snack
Greek Yogurt
Berries and Walnuts

Todays workout, 2 circuits of each of the following.
Dumbbell Squats
Push-ups
DB Rows
DB press
DB Up rows
Triceps press with DB
Wall Sits
DB Curls

Jumpstart Day 2

Today got off to a rough start. We were having our coffee and getting ready to cook breakfast when the power went out. We waited a few minutes and then a few more minutes and still no electricity. Having an electric stove, a cooked breakfast was out. I dind't really feel up for cold-cuts for breakfast, so I just had a bowl of Kashi Cereal, with some walnuts and a protein shake. It wasn't ideal, or what I wanted, but sometimes you got to do the best you can in any given situation. As for the rest of the day.....

Lunch
Deli meat rolls with cheese
Vegetable soup
Apple

Snack
Cottage cheese
Peanut butter
Protein Powder

Dinner
Scampi Style Shrimp
Spaghetti Squash
Tossed Salad
Wine

About the snack, I know it sounds a little weird. I even made fun of Mrs D for a couple of weeks for eating it. Then I tried it. It is really good, just add a little vanila extract or such for a little flavor. Its almost like desert. I also added 3o minutes on the bike today because of what happened with breakfast. Ordinarily I would not have worried about the cereal for breakfast but being that I'm trying to do the jump-start, I did it.

Jumpstart Day1

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with vegetables, Bacon, an Orange, Coffee with Splenda and Half and half.

Lunch; Italian Sausages on a salad with vinegar and olive oil

Post work out, afternoon snack; Milk, Bomber Blend Protein Powder, peanut butter and banana

Dinner; Vegetable Soup, Salmon with a macadamia nut and coconut crust

Evening Snack (not pictured);Fage Greek yogurt with berries and walnuts.

Todays work out consisted of 2 circuits of the following exercises;
Deadlift
Dumbbell press
Lat Pull down
Lunges
Push-up
Dumbbell row
Wall Sit
dumbbell curl
dumbbell tricep press

I used a moderate weight for all exercises that allowed me to finish the first circuit with moderate effort, ut a challenge for the second circuit. Rest between exercises was kept to a minimum, and rest between circuits was avout 60 seconds.

Its News Years, time to lock it back down

Official Jan 1 Weigh In 203.5 lb.

My most recent recorded weight prior to today was 197 on November 18. I had been down as low as 195, but I must have not recorded it. Even so, that puts my holiday weight gain this year at 6.5 lb. It could have been worse, a lot worse. I had hoped to end the year at under 200, but I'll take a 20 lb. weight loss year on year. I spent today just eating normally and taking a short walk. Tomorrow, the seven day jump start begins. I'll be posting my eating and exercising activities for the week along with my results. After the jump start I will be sticking to my plan very closely for the month of January, by avoiding any refined sugars and junk foods, and making sure I meet my protein, fruit and vegetable requirements. Exercise wise, I going to try to hit the gym three times a week. If this gets to be unmanageable, I'll drop it to twice a week and not sweat it. Lets get read to rumble.

If this is your first time here I'd start by going to the first Average Guy Post and beginning at the beginning.

Getting Back On Track

So, the holidays are winding down, and in-spite of your best intentions, you over did it. It happened at my house, and chances are it happened at some of yours. No big deal. Really.

Plan A - Just get back into the swing of things and the weight and belly bulge will go down on its own. Go back to the Average Guys Diet and start from there. Keep doing what ever exercise you are/were doing. At least one hard weight work out and one hard interval session for cardio will do. This may take a couple of weeks or more, depending on out of control you got at the buffet table.

Plan B- Many of us, me included, like to get the holiday weight and bloat off as quickly as possible. For four to seven days, up-to about 10 max, depending on how over the top you went, Eat meat, beans, eggs, cheese, nuts, olive oil, non starchy vegetables, and fruits, and nothing else. Limit your fruits to 2 pieces a day or what ever is your minimum amount accord to the AGD . Every other day, do some type of full body workout. The "No excuses work out", Circuit training with weights, or even push ups and sit-ups combined with Interval training on a Bike. Mix and match as you wish. In one week, you should have dropped the holiday weight. Then its back to eating right, and exercising on a normal schedule. Like I said before, you got to keep doing it forever.

Still An Average Guy

Oh what a lazy shit I've been these several months. Thats true at least about writing. So far however I have been doing quite well keeping my food and exercise in line which is the important part. Diet wise I have been following my own advice. The Average Guys Diet, is working and I'm down to the lowest weight I've been in about 4 years, 195. My last body fat measurement was a healthy 18%, and I've dropped several inches, and now have a 36 inch waist. I would like to get back to a 34 and a body fat less than 15%, but I see no need to push it. Slow and steady has been winning the race, so it aint broke and don't need fixing. This doesn't mean I've been perfect. Just this past Sunday, we got together with Mrs D's siblings and all their youngin's for a family picture. Afterward we all went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. I had the Smoke House Burger with Fries and a beer. It was wonderful, I enjoyed every bite. Didn't quite get my fruits or vege's for the day, but life goes on. Monday I was back on track.

On the exercise side, I have made a few changes. I'm back to once a week strength training plus once a week high intensity interval training. Some people do well on more frequent, less intense type workouts such as the one in my previous post, I'm just not one of them. I just feel better with more days recovery then working out. This is not to say I'm a couch potato on my off days, I'm not. I often go for a walk or bike ride after dinner, its just nothing structured or planned. The twice a week routine has also seemed to be what a couple of friends have gone back to as a default. One just hates cardio and does an A/B split strength training routine, while the others have adopted my strategy of one day a week of cardio plus one day of strength training. Not everybody loves HIIT the way I do, so they do what the prefer.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner along with all of the dietary pitfalls associated with this time of year. There will be no baking in the Dill house this year. Holiday feasts will be one day events. I'll be keeping to the twice a week exercise plan as well. Remember, being on track 80% of the time is good this time of year. Stay strong, and hopefully it won't take me 6 moths to have something to say.

Average Guys guide to a no excuses work out

You plus one pair of dumbbells plus 15 minutes equal fitness

I was recently contemplating one of the most common excuses I hear as to why people don't exercise. Of course that exercise is lack of time, followed closely by lack of equipment. So I wondered what would be the minimum investment one could make in time and equipment. Time wise, 60 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous exercise seems to be a general, but not unanimous consensus. For equipment of course, that would be zero dollars, using nothing but body weight. For some reason however, people just seem to regard calisthenics as not worthy, and feel the need to use some type of equipment to get the job done. The most basic piece of equipment is a single pair of dumbbells. Many guys already seem to have a pair or two stashed away in a closet or in the basement, unused. I see these at yard sales and flea markets all the time for about a buck. Many of them are of very light pink type, but I also see pairs of 10 - 15lbs as well. So with one set of 10 -15lbs dumbbells in mind, I tried to figure out how to use these in a way that would meet the criteria of a fitness based workout in 15 minutes or less. During my research I came across a site, Shovelglove, that certainly offers one possibility using a sledge hammer instead of dumbbells. Much of what follows is largely the result of my adapting his concept for a sledge hammer and putting it to use with body weight and dumbbells with the idea of achieving a minimum passing score on a physical fitness test. The site itself is worth a read, particularly the part about the trap of progress, and Urban Rangering. Oddly enough, or perhaps not so, he too is a software engineer.

Off the top of my head I came up with the following list of exercises. When I began thinking about this, I had in mind a "daily dozen" that would be done on most days of the week. I ended up going for ten. The first four exercises are kind of "required" to make this work, but the rest are substitutable with what ever you may wish to do. Do this four or five days a week and get on with the rest of your busy life.

Jumping Jacks
Push -Ups
Sit Ups
Deep Knee Bends/Hindu Squats - with or with out weight
Upright rows
Over head press
lunges - with or with out weight
Curls
French Press
toe touches/Stiff leg dead lift

In starting this workout do each exercise for 10 reps, or as many as you can, which ever is less. Do each rep of each exercise at a brisk but deliberate pace, the idea is not to rush, but to keep moving. After completing an exercise, take a couple of deep breaths and move immediately to the next exercise. Once you are able to confidently do 10 reps of each exercise and move to the next after a breath or two, add 2 reps to each exercise. The last rep should be a challenge but not so hard that you might not get it. Don't add reps every work out, and don't add reps on any exercise until you can add them to all exercises. This way you only have to remember one number. Keep doing this till you are able to do each exercise for a full 50 reps. If 50 sounds like too many, start with a more modest goal, like 20 or 25. After you get there decide if thats good enough, or to go further. If when starting out you struggle to get ten or fewer push-ups, getting to 20 or 25 and hanging out there for a while is not a bad idea. For guys over 40, 30 good "Army" push ups would be sufficient to pass the push up test. A good way to get an idea of where you stand is adultfitnesstest.org. If you pass, go back and re-evalutate once a year. The key is, once you are fit, there is not a lot of benefit to pushing much further. You may just want to ride the plateau and enjoy the view.

Note - Why 50? Generally speaking, 50 is the minimum macho number for doing push ups.

Average Guys Diet Revisited

Its been about a year since I last blogged for Average Guys and I think I'm over due. A lot has happened in the past year, and I am still dealing with some of the fallout of these changes. Along the way I kind of lost sight of what I was trying to convey. Recently however one of my office colleagues had a health issue. He's an Average Guy, and its guys like him who need this advice more than most.

Way back here I laid out the template for the Average Guys diet. Today when I look at it again, I think it stands up pretty well. That's not to say that its perfect, it isn't. Or that in light of today's economy that some changes and variations couldn't work just as well. Now, having read over it again I will say this.... If you can still afford to eat according to the original plan with out limiting your selections to hamburger and hot dogs, by all means feel free, and use these updates as needed or desired.

Generally speaking, the most expensive part of any higher protein, lower starch type diet is meat. My original recommendation was to divide your body weight by 10 to get the amount of meat/eggs/cheese your are supposed to eat everyday. In our cheap eating model you are going to divide your weight by 13 and round down any remainder. So in this case our 210lb guy would be eating 16oz of meat/eggs/cheese a day instead of 21. Since we are taking away 5oz of meat we need to add something back. That my something my friends is beans. Navy black, kidney, garbanzoand lentils, etc... Yes, the musical fruit. I can hear the paleo purists howl already, too bad. Beans have gotten humans thru some pretty tough times in history, and likely they will do it again. Both canned and dried bean will work, with dried being the most economical, but most time consuming. Four our example guy, since he is reducing his meat by 5 ounces, he is going to add 1 1/4 cup of beans , (.25 Cup per ounce of meat), to his daily plan. So chili con carne, sausage and bean casserole, even baked beans are back on the menu.

In doing this you no longer get to count beans as a vegetable however. So in dividing your weight by 30 to get veggie servings, our average guy would be eating 7 servings of mostly non-starchy vegetables.

Fruit servings are still weight divided by 70.

Still eat an ounce of nuts, nut butters or seeds everyday.

Add at least two tablespoons of fat from olive oil or real butter to you plan. This is important when eating the beans and vegetables to aid in digestion.

As before, the above are minimums that are too be eaten every day. If eating all of this you still want a biscuit or something, go for it, just don't stuff yourself to do it, and don't do it everyday. A serving or two of dairy is good if you digest milk. Plain whole yogurt or kefir is always a good choice, especially mixed with fruit. The plan isn't perfect and you shouldn't worry about perfection. The idea is to be on track most of the time, with allowances for special occasions and real life situations.

And The Results

Wt 216 - down 7.5 lbs total
Waist 41.25 - 2 inches lost

Thoughts on the process.
If I were to get a "do over", I would not cut my carbs as low or as fast. Coming off a carb laden holiday season my metabolism was probably similar to what many modern folks' metabolism is like all the time. Rather I would record what I ate for 3 or 4 days prior to starting and then cut my carb intake by half, eliminating junk food and adding a little good fat for two weeks. If, for instance, I was eating 300g carbs on average, I would cut to 150g for two weeks. Then I would cut to 80g for two weeks. If at 80 for two weeks I was able to lose weight and felt better, I wouldn't necessarily go any lower. If however I wanted a little faster weight loss, or wasn't seeing results yet, I would then cut to 60g carbs. Prior to the recent popularity of Low Carb diets, few people ever found it necessary to eat fewer than 60g carbs to obtain satisfactory results. Now days however, there seems to be a contest to see who can eat the fewest carbs. I'm not sure that eating fewer than 60g carbs is required, at least for physiological reasons, unless you have uncontrolled diabetes or epilepsy. In my opinion, it may also contribute to the drop out rate associated with low carb diets.

In the area of training.
Once a week slowburn training does indeed produce results, however, I remain unconvinced that once a week is better than twice a week. In fact I would say that twice a week is the better option, unless you only have one day a week to train. As to the slowburn method itself, I found it an interesting challenge. After four weeks its difficult for me to say if it produces better results than a more traditional rep cadence or not. All I can say with certainty is that I was lifting more weight after four weeks of using it then when I started.

Moving on from here ...... At this point Mrs D and I are planning on continuing with Low Carb. She is having success at keeping her carb level about 40g and I am going to stay at 60g. We both feel well, and are seeing steady reductions in our weights, and measurements. She is planning on continuing with the routines from the TNT Diet plan, and I am going to do something else, though I haven't quite decided what. I will no longer be posting daily, but I plan to post at least twice a month with updates and food porn. Happy Low Carbing!!

Day 30 of 30

So here it is the end of my 30 day self challenge. I was actually compliant for all 30 days, no cheese steak binges or sneaking of to Jake's burgers for a milk shake. I learned a couple of important things during this experience. Eating on a schedule can keep you on track. Their were times I didn't keep to my schedule and let my self get hungry, these were dangerous times, and threatened my compliance. Rather I ate on schedule, hungry or not, and never had an issue with being tempted by the random goodies that float about in real life in an office. Second, get enough fat. If you cut your carbs below 50g, you will need to make a conscious effort to add fat to your diet, at least in the beginning. A plain boneless skinless chicken breast with steamed vegetables will starve you. I mean this in both the figurative and literal sense. Avocados, sour cream, butter, coconut oil and olive oil are your friends. Don't be afraid to liberally apply them to any and all foods you eat.

eggs with cheese
sausage
berries with cream
coffee with cream and splenda
1 tbs udo's oil
multi-vtamin
200 mg magnesium
99mg potassium

home made vegetable soup
chicken breast
apple sauce
sour cream

mixed nuts

wine
cheese
Taco Salad
200mg magnesium
99mg potasium

Milk

Day 29 0f 30

Today has been a much better day. I actually got a full nights sleep. I upped my carbs from 40 to 60, and the difference was rather remarkable. It took me by a bit of a surprise how much of an impact 20 carbs could make. Apparently it broke the "deep" ketosis into a lighter version, and my mental status is much improved. Aside from being sick for a couple of days with a virus, my physical energy has held well, but my mental energy has been lacking. I have attributed this to lack of sleep, but now, I think that 40 is just too low for me personally. One more day to go for this challenge. With out knowing the final stats yet, I'd have to say, its been a positive experience.

Scrambled eggs with cream cheese
bacon
berries with cream
coffee with cream and splenda
multivitamin
2000mg vitamin d
1 tbs udo's oil
99mg potassium

steak with butter
mixed vegetable with olive oil
unsweetened applesauce

mixed nuts

Grilled Chicken Breast with Avocado
tossed salad with blue cheese and bacon
iced green tea
200 mg magnesium
99mg potassium
probiotic

milk
peanut butter on LC toast

Day 28 of 30

After the past few days I feel much better today. I still feel like my head is going to explode every time I sneeze or cough, but that is an improvement.

eggs and sausage
berries and cream
coffee and cream
multivitamin
1 tbs udo's oil
2000mg vitamin D
99mg potassium

pork chops
home made vegetable soup
sugar free jello

peaches
mixed nuts

saute cod with bacon, butter, lime and green onions
broccoli and cheese
seafood chowder
200mg magnesium
99mg potassium

milk

Days 26 & 27

OUT SICK normal activity should resume tomorrow.

Day 25 of 30

Weight today 216.5, no loss this week. I am somewhat miffed that this week, with the extra activity, my weight didn't budge. So I am back to being a slug this week and see what happens.
I didn't get my workout in yesterday so I did it today. I hit all my target reps and will increase my weight next time. I slept somewhat better last night, but I also woke up hungry in the wee hours and once again got a small glass of milk. All in all I feel ok, and my energy levels are holding.

LCCF Crepes and Cottage cheese filling
coffee with cream and splenda
1 tbs Udo's oil
multivitamin
2000mg vitamin D
99mg potassium

Turkey Chops in a dijon cream sauce
green beans with blue cheese and bacon

piece of mozzeraala and salami
scoop of protein powder in water post work out

Hamburger with onions and mushroom
tossed salad with vinegar and olive oil

Day 24 of 30

Another night not sleeping well. I ended up getting up in the middle of the night and having a glass of milk, and was finally able to sleep soundly. No work out or tread mill toady.

LCCF Pancakes
bacon and egg
coffee with cream and splenda
mutlivitamin
2000mg vitamin D

Onion soup
turkey and provolone roll ups
avocado

atkins bar
coffee

Tilapia and crab cake
broccoli
mashed cauliflower