Posts Tagged Weight loss
A Month Without Coffee. Now What?
Photo by Andreanna
I think I’ve kicked my coffee habit. It’s been a whole month since I enjoyed my last cup o’ Joe. Based on the conventional wisdom that it takes three weeks to break a habit, I think I’m good to go. Yippee!
What now?
OK, so I can cross “Stop drinking coffee” off of my list of bad habits to break. I guess it’s time for a new challenge. What should it be this time? I can’t stop watching baseball on TV; after all, the Yankees are in first place. Stop drinking beer? You can have my Sam Adams when you pry it from my cold dead fingers! Actually, I only drink about 4 beers a week, usually on the weekends with friends. How’s that for rationalizing? I’ll have to pick something that’s really doing me harm, a habit that has crept back into my everyday life. That habit is: junk food.
No, not the Entenmann’s cookies!
Yup, time to dump the empty calories. I know this because my clothes are getting tighter, and the number on the scale has gone up. Rather than bite off more than I can chew, I’m going to focus on cookies and chocolate for the initial 3 week period. I’m looking for incremental progress, like the way I approached my coffee addiction. I’m a big believer in the “small bites” philosophy. How come all of my analogies are related to eating?
The Witching Hour
I don’t touch junk food until after dinner. I’m good all day at work, because I only eat the food that I bring from home. No candy machine trips for me. The cravings start after my healthy meal, usually after I settle in for the night. This is my Witching Hour. This is the trigger that starts the junk food grazing. The benefits of this lifehack will be not only a healthier diet, but some serendipitous weight loss.
A matter of substitution
When a ballplayer performs poorly, to the detriment of the team, the team gets rid of him, and puts someone else in his place. This is how I’ll approach this challenge. I’ll be the General Manager of my nutrition. I’ll replace chocolate with salad. Cookies with apples. I’m putting Snickers on waivers, and trading Baskin-Robbins for sugar-free Jello. I hope to be back in the pennant race come September.
Photo by maccanti
Stats don’t lie
Being that I’m starting today, I was brave enough to jump on the scale. Here’s the scary number: 214. I’ve gained back nine pounds from my winter weight loss session. Like Patton said, I hate paying for the same real estate twice. Shame on me.
A new feature
Because of the success of Sun-Tzu Sunday, I’ll post my progress every week. Call it Metabolic Monday. Or not. That sounds stupid. Regardless, I’ll fess up every Monday about my habit. I’ll let you know if I cheated, and what foods that I ate that kept me from going off the rails. I’ll share with you what worked, and what didn’t work. It will be easy to stay on track with everyone watching me.
Photo by L. Marie
Do you have a problem with junk food? Anyone care to join me in this experiment? I don’t want to know what you weigh, just that you’re keeping on track.
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We threw a graduation party for my son, two weeks prior to his real graduation. We did it early because we wanted our relatives to attend, and didn’t want to interfere with everyone’s summer vacation plans. It was great to see family and friends that I usually only run into at funerals. Here are some great posts from my friends on the internet:
The Trizle Team wants you to reset your goals when you suck. I work in the defense industry, and this is a common practice in earned value management;
David at Simple.Organized.Life says that having order is a hallmark of living a simple life. I agree. Having too much stuff, and nowhere to put it, generally causes more stress for me;
David Seah gives his impressions of the Inka pen, after owning one for five years. I like products that stand the test of time, and this pen looks very well-built;
Clever Dude wants you to take your spouse along on a business trip. I’ve done this in the past, and it worked out fine. My per diem covered our meals, and the hotel room was on the company’s dime;
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Kevin at No Debt Plan explains why he didn’t go to a top tier MBA program. I didn’t either, and I’m doing just fine;
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Scott H. Young wants us to escape the toxic friends that hold us back. I’ve tried not to associate with negative people, and Scott’s advice is right-on;
Andy at Tight-Fisted Miser talks about frugality and weight loss. He has no problem sticking to a budget; junk food is a different story;
Steve at Brip Blap wonders: Will people change? I think people change easily for the short term, but slide back into their old habits;
Flexo talks about when going into debt is worthwhile at Consumerism Commentary. I’ve done this with 0% credit card arbitrage;
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David at The Good Human lives up to his name by constructing a solar space heater that he plans to give away. Nice job, David!
Enjoy the links! But come back and visit…
Follow me on Twitter: CorpBarbarian
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SuperSlow Weight Lifting
Sitting at a computer for most of the day, I’m constantly fighting to keep my weight at a reasonable level. At the beginning of February, I started my yearly ritual of shedding the holiday pounds. I threw myself into the Metabolic Diet, and started lifting weights in the morning. I was making a dent in my weight loss, dropping 20 pounds in two months. I also increased my bench press and deadlift by 25 pounds, and I felt like I had made real progress.
Then, disaster struck: I hurt my wrist at the end of March. I tried resting it, which showed no improvement. So, I cranked it up, and started lifting again. Another mistake. I laid off the weights for a couple more weeks, but stuck to my diet. Then, I reached back for something from my past: the SuperSlow Method.
Originally developed as a rehabilitation protocol, the SuperSlow principle seeks to take velocity out of the exercise. Weights are lifted for a count of ten seconds, and lowered at the same count. The goal is to keep the muscle under tension for 100 seconds. This is accomplished in five repetitions, or reps. The weight used is one half of your one rep maximum.
For example, if my one rep max for the bench press is 250 pounds, I’d load only 125 pounds onto the bar. I’d unrack the barbell, and lower the weight for 10 seconds. Once I’d reach the bottom of the lift, at the count of ten, I would push the bar up for another count of ten. I’d repeat the sequence four more times, counting to 100 in the process. The slow speed gives you excellent control over your form, and minimizes any potential for injury.
I can happily report that I’m back to lifting weights again. Even though I’m using only half of the amount that I’d normally lift, I can tell that I’m making progress, all without taxing my wrist too much. It still hurts occasionally, but not to the degree that I can’t lift weights. I’d recommend trying SuperSlow, if not for rehab, then for a change of pace to your exercise regimen.
If you’re interested, check out these links:
SuperSlow website: SuperSlow Zone
Metabolic Diet website: MD+
Follow me on Twitter: CorpBarbarian
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Progress Report: Giving Up Coffee, Part 2
Posted by enrique s in Productivity, lifehack on March 27th, 2009
Here’s an update from an earlier post on giving up coffee: I’m down to two cups a day! I haven’t been down to two cups a day since my twenties. And I’m not a walking zombie, either.
I’m having one cup in the morning, and one after dinner. I don’t have any cravings during the day, either. My body has adjusted to the reduction in caffeine, and I find that I’m sleeping better at night. Waking up in the morning isn’t the ordeal that it used to be.
One side benefit is that I’m more productive. It sounds counter-intuitive, but I’m getting to work earlier, and there’s no “adjustment period” after I get to my desk. I don’t have to finish my coffee before starting work; I just get right into my day.
Another benefit is my reduced weight. I won’t attribute all of it to the coffee, but I’ve dropped over 20 pounds in the last 2 months, with no trips to the evil vending machine. I used to grab a candy bar to go with my coffee, so no coffee = no candy bar. That’s about 300+ calories that I’m saving each afternoon. So cutting the java has definitely helped.
My goal is to cut my coffee drinking to one cup a day. This will take a lot of willpower. But with longer daylight hours, I’ll probably be doing more yardwork, and I hope to drop the after-dinner cup o’ joe.
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A Month Without Coffee. Now What? Photo by Andreanna I think I've kicked my coffee habit. It's been a whole month since I enjoyed my last cup o' Joe. Based on the conventional wisdom that it takes three weeks to break a habit, I think I'm good to go. Yippee! What now? OK, so I...... -
SuperSlow Weight Lifting rick Sitting at a computer for most of the day, I'm constantly fighting to keep my weight at a reasonable level. At the beginning of February, I started my yearly ritual of shedding the holiday pounds. I threw myself into the Metabolic Diet, and started lifting weights in the...... -
Lifehack Monday, August 17, 2009 Having conquered my coffee addiction, I started my quest to clean up my diet last week, and hopefully drop a few pounds. Last Monday, I tipped the scales at 214 pounds. I had regained nine of the twenty pounds that I took off earlier in the year. My tight......
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