Ben's Fat Loss Diary

[Ben_In_NC]

So the last few days have been a bit weird with regard to food and the scale, on point when it comes to exercise. A quick recap:

DAY	NUTRITION	STRENGTH	CARDIO	SCALE	COMMENTS
Tuesday	per plan	pull Tuesday routine	4.7 mile Z2 run	202.2​
Wednesday	per plan	push Wednesday routine	Hill Repeats	200.1​
Thursday	way off	Leg Thursday routine. I perceived it to be an especially strong workout.	4.7 mile Z2 run	201.5​	Birthday dinner at hibachi restaurant for f-i-l, and dessert at their place afterward. Completely forget that it was coming. Estimated calories for day=4724
Friday	per plan	pull Friday routine	No "formal" cardio on Fridays. Walked dog. Got 11K steps.	207.4​	Lolz. Almost 6 pounds up in one day. The Withings scale didn't even recognize that it was me! I had to manually assign this weight to myself.
Saturday	Traveling. Had to eat what I could on the road and upon arrival. Calorie estimate=4483	None	Long run 12.3 miles	204.7​	Besides running 12+ miles, I also carried all bags (two cars' worth) downstairs at home, and carried all upstairs at rental upon arrival. 36K steps total
Sunday	per plan so far	bodyweight push (no access to gym yet)	45 min recovery-paced bike ride + lots of walking	199.3​	No reason to think rest of day won't be on plan. I expect the scale to go up a little in the morning. Something right around 200.0 seems about right and would represent half a pound loss since last Monday.

The long run yesterday was especially encouraging: it was 40+ seconds per mile faster than the one last week, despite having a lower heart rate. The only difference I can think of is that I focused on pumping my arms more, rather than just sort of having them along for the ride like they usually are. My best guess is that the arms took some of the work off the legs.

The planned travel time yesterday ended up being quite a bit off from the actual, so I was unable to execute my food plan, and then not to mention all the work of packing, loading, and unloading. I mainly just made sure I ate enough protein and didn't worry about going 1000ish calories over what I prefer for Saturdays. Lord only knows how many calories I actually burned yesterday.

This morning's push workout was pretty cool. Because we got here later than expected, I didn't have time to get to the gym that's on my Gympass plan while they were staffed so I could get a fob for Sunday entry. (They're staffed at 5am tomorrow, so I should be fine for the rest of the week.) I did incline, flat, and decline pushups, then some pike pushups to emphasis the shoulders, and closed it out with dips. I went realllllly slow and controlled on the traditional pushups. It felt like I got just as good a strength workout as when I go to the gym.

 

[Llama]

It's crazy how much difference gut filling and water retention can make after one big meal, right? Looks like you didn't let it slow you down though: respect for that!

 

[Ben_In_NC]

It's crazy how much difference gut filling and water retention can make after one big meal, right? Looks like you didn't let it slow you down though: respect for that!

Yeah, I guess that scale jump was more than I'd ever seen before because even if I eat way more than I should, I rarely/never eat as late in the evening as I did on Thursday.

Speaking of gut filling, the salad I am eating as I type this is IN FREAKING SANE! The backstory is that I did a massive harvest from the garden the night before we left, so I have silly amounts of cucumbers, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, and sweet peppers with me. Last night when I was making today's meal plan, I was focusing on using some of the veggies, and of course the amount of total calories---but not paying attention to the sheer amount of food I was planning to eat. While it may be only 501 calories, it's 2.26 pounds / 1.025 kilograms of food! I may not be able to finish my dinner tonight that is only roughly 1/6 of my daily calorie goal, y'all!

 

[Ben_In_NC]

LOL. So the saga of Ben having no clue what he actually weighs continues.

Woke up Monday morning after eating that ginormous salad up 3.5 from Sunday at 202.8. Had a normal day yesterday--lifted and ran, played in the water, walked on the beach, ate per caloric plan, but with no crazy high-volume meals--woke up down 1.8 from yesterday at 201.0. Looking at the overall, it's 3.8 pounds down in the last 3 weeks and one day.

Oh, and I reckon this is something I should celebrate: down 7.4 pounds overall in July, and July was the first month with a net weight loss since January.

Scale weight graph since beginning of thread:

 

[Llama]

Looking good! If you keep that graph going you can just use a running average for your "real" weight. Real is what you choose it to be, in this case. Morning, naked, empty? Could be your real weight. Evening, dressed, full? Just as real. As long as you're consistent with your weighing variables it doesn't really matter.

 

[Cate]

I thought I had commented on that salad but must have got sidetracked. Well done, Ben on being 7.4 lbs down in July Enjoy your vacation (we don't use that word in Australia. We say holiday.)

 

[Ben_In_NC]

Coming to the end of our third full day at the beach, and I haven't even seriously considered eating anything out. Had to stop at Wal-Mart on the way home from the gym this morning to pick something up for my wife. Given that the only lunch/dinner meat I brought was chicken, I took that opportunity to check out what might be on sale. Scored some wild-caught salmon and sirloin steak! The place we're staying has a gas grill, so I had grilled sirloin for lunch with broccoli, a home-grown tomato, and a steamed sweet potato. Dinner was chicken breast, jasmine rice, zucchini, and onions. Breakfast this morning after the gym was an omelette made with cheddar cheese and uncured applewood smoked ham, with an avocado and some strawberries and blueberries as sides.

My wife wants us to get Thai on Thursday night as a family. The way things are going so far, it seems quite possible that'll be my only food for the week not cooked here at the place we're staying.

 

[Llama]

Cooking all the time wouldn't feel like vacation to me but if you enjoy it it does taste (and feel) so much better than most restaurant food.

 

[Trusylver]

You’re doing great keep up the good work

 

[Ben_In_NC]

Looking good! If you keep that graph going you can just use a running average for your "real" weight. Real is what you choose it to be, in this case. Morning, naked, empty? Could be your real weight. Evening, dressed, full? Just as real. As long as you're consistent with your weighing variables it doesn't really matter.

My weight is always morning, naked, empty. Typically around 4am.

I thought I had commented on that salad but must have got sidetracked. Well done, Ben on being 7.4 lbs down in July Enjoy your vacation (we don't use that word in Australia. We say holiday.)

Thanks! And didn't realize you were in Australia.

Cooking all the time wouldn't feel like vacation to me but if you enjoy it it does taste (and feel) so much better than most restaurant food.

Definitely feels like vacation to me. If nothing else, just the sheer fact that I have time to prepare stuff exactly as I want, rather than being rushed when I'm at home (especially for breakfast and lunch.)

But I did end up eating one unplanned thing out: there's a yummy smoothie bar literally right next door to the gym where I'm working out here. Had a turtle cheesecake flavored protein smoothie there after my workout yesterday morning. (And tonight is our planned family night out.)

You’re doing great keep up the good work

Thanks!

Update since my last spreadsheet post, with tomorrow and Saturday included. (We go home Saturday.)

DAY	NUTRITION	STRENGTH	CARDIO	SCALE	COMMENTS
Monday	per plan	Legs. Got it done, but several rest times between exercises ended up being longer than normal due to unfamiliar gym	Tempo Run--10 Min EZ, 35 Min Tempo, 5 Min EZ	202.8​
Tuesday	per plan	pull Tuesday routine	Zone 2 Run 5.4mi	201.0​
Wednesday	per plan	push Wednesday routine	6x880 intervals--TOUGH workout on an especially hot morning	201.2​	Adjusted plan during the day for crazy-good smoothie!
Thursday	per plan, assuming I stick with my planned dinner order	Leg Thursday routine. I think I'm really in the groove with this workout.	Zone 2 Run 4.7mi	198.0​	Also had a 3-mile walk on the beach today.
Friday	Should be able to stay with plan	pull Friday routine	No "formal" cardio on Fridays. Planning to get in morning and evening beach walks.
Saturday	Lunch likely on the road and dinner right after getting home. Will have to do my best		Long Run, shooting for 2 hours and 15 minutes		Will probably not track calories closely, but between long run and loading/unloading car, I'll burn a ridiculous amount of them again like last Saturday.

 

[Cate]

You are doing so well on holiday! Tru & I are the only Australians in here at the moment (at opposite ends of the country)

 

[Ben_In_NC]

Weighed under 200 again this morning, thus marking the first time since June 2nd-3rd that I've had two straight days under 200. Not sure it'll be three in a row with today being my no-run day. (The scale tends to go up a little on Saturday mornings, drop like a rock on Sunday morning after the long run, then come back up some--but typically still below Friday's number--on Monday.

Nothing major to report from today. Nutrition was solid, the pull workout was good, and as of now (7pm,) I've had a little over 13K steps for the day and I have a short walk with the kids to a very nearby amusement park in front of me tonight. Nothing major, as they only want to do two rides, but it'll be another 1000+ steps, I suppose.

I may try for 2 1/2 hours on the long run tomorrow morning. We'll see how it feels when I get out there.

 

[Llama]

I say two in a row makes it official. Welcome to Onederland!

 

[Ben_In_NC]

Everything went well Saturday and Sunday. Had to cut the long run a little short at 10 miles due to needing to clean/pack/depart. (I woke up later than expected.) Saturday nutrition was better than expected: we took two cars, and the 13yo rode home with me. She wanted food from a place near where we were staying, and that place had steamed shrimp at a decent price! High protein & low calorie option ftw! The portion was plenty to hold me over until we got home, and I've eaten in "calorie deficit normal track everything" mode since then.

Forgot that LoseIt sends me this every Monday. Makes sense to post it here.

Daily Summary
	Budget	Food	Exercise	Net	+/-	Weight (lbs)	Recorded Weight?​
8/1/22	2,944	2,948	2,021	927	-2,017	202.8	Y​
8/2/22	2,929	2,932	1,818	1,114	-1,815	201	Y​
8/3/22	2,931	2,968	1,103	1,865	-1,066	201.2	Y​
8/4/22	2,905	3,272	1,287	1,985	-920	198	Y​
8/5/22	2,920	2,945	562	2,383	-537	199.9	Y​
8/6/22	2,911	2,852	1,899	953	-1,958	198.7	Y​
8/7/22	2,889	2,908	768	2,140	-749	196	Y​

Scale weight this morning only went up to 196.8. That's surprising. I'm thinking it may go up again tomorrow.

THIS WEEK'S EXERCISE PLAN
Monday: leg day (done) and tempo run
Tuesday: pull day and easy run
Wednesday: push day and hill repeats
Thursday: leg day and easy run
Friday: pull day, no run
Saturday: no lift, long run

As of right now, we have no plans to eat out, have anyone over, etc. Could be my first full week since starting this thread where that will be the case.

I've discovered the utter joy of flax/oat/protein pancakes with Walden Farms 0-calorie syrup. Oh Em Gee!!! Super super good! I'll post a recipe and pics at some point this week.

 

[Ben_In_NC]

I say two in a row makes it official. Welcome to Onederland!

So here’s a fun addendum related to this. I haven’t been checking this particular metric lately, but this morning I wandered over to Garmin Connect to look at my weight graph, and remembered that they have an “average weight” metric. Not sure exactly when this became the case (probably late June or early July,) but not only is my current weight now solidly under 200, but I’ve AVERAGED under 200 (actually 192.6) for the past year! Woot! It’s hard for me to fathom that my current weight is actually a little heavier than the average from the last 12 months




And progress pics after the first 4 weeks of the cut. Definitely starting to see a difference, a little more definition, etc.

 

[Ben_In_NC]

Oh, and ignore that 169 goal. I set that at some point in 2021 before I started any remotely serious strength training. We'll see how things look when I get to the low 180s, but right now I'm doubting I'll *want* to be under 170--possibly not under 175.

 

[Llama]

Clear difference in definition there: and the smile helps as well!

 

[Cate]

Doing very well, Ben! That smile tells the story

 

[Ben_In_NC]

Not much of note to report from this week so far, which is a good thing! I hit my calorie and protein goals all five days, and I've competed all of the Monday through Friday portion of the exercise plan mentioned above as well. For my long run tomorrow, I'm excited that the forecast is calling for a low of 59 tonight!!! That's a far cry from my 79-degree/91% humidity long run last Saturday at the beach, and even from the 72/92 two weeks ago at home. I'm quite curious to see what my pace is going to look like in that weather.

The scale weight was 193.8 this morning, and it's worth noting that that number represents the lowest one since May 22nd--82 days ago. My 7-day average is 195.87, which is also the lowest number of that metric since May 22nd. Definitely still trending in the right direction, and I feel like I have momentum.

 

[liza3]

Hey Ben...just skimmed through your diary--what a positive and fun read!
Your garden pictures look amazing as does your nice dog
And your running is super inspiring--I would love to get to that level of running those distances that comfortably...for now i would like to aim for a HM distance once a month....
Anyways thanks for dropping by my diary and I will be sure to keep a lookout on yours as well--so inspiring!