Hazard Rebirth: The second evolution

[Hazard]

On 1/21/2018 at 2:06 PM, Wobbegong said:

Can you tell me what exactly is so motivating about it?  Is it that you're generally successful, so you can enjoy watching the numbers go down in direct response to the way you behave? Is it the timeline/deadline that's motivating you? The structure of the activity?

 

 

Are you familiar with B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning?

 

 

[Wobbegong]

The name sounds vaguely familiar but I have no idea what Operant Conditioning is. But if your answer comes in the form of a book recommendation that's 100% great, I am on board. You don't have to explain it all yourself if you don't feel like it. (Or you can. Your time, your choice.) 

[Hazard]

On 1/21/2018 at 6:31 PM, Cataleya said:

I am always really excited about your spreadsheets. I do get nervous about how it will feel if you end up falling behind a bit. These first few inches will fall of fairly easily I think but at some point you'll probably plateau. Have you thought about how you will deal with that, or have you dealt with it before? I'm always interested in how people respond to setbacks.

 

I wouldn't consider myself plateaued unless all my body measurements stagnate for at least 2 weeks.  Since I stay in a caloric deficit by keeping my net calories lower than the ongoing formula estimate of my caloric maintenance requirements, a plateau should really never occur.

 

But assuming it does, I do have a strategy thought out.  My first assumption will be lowered leptin levels.  Which should be fixable by eating a few hundred more calories, via carbs.  If that didn't get my measurements moving again, then I'd shift to a full diet break for 2 weeks, by eating more to bring my daily net calories up to match my estimated maintenance calories.  Two weeks should be plenty to fix anything that's borked.  Then I'd drop back into a deficit and see what happens.

 

 

[Hazard]

 

15 hours ago, Wobbegong said:

The name sounds vaguely familiar but I have no idea what Operant Conditioning is. But if your answer comes in the form of a book recommendation that's 100% great, I am on board. You don't have to explain it all yourself if you don't feel like it. (Or you can. Your time, your choice.) 

 

 

Watch in order.  About 20 minutes total.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[peelout]

16 hours ago, Hazard said:

 

I wouldn't consider myself plateaued unless all my body measurements stagnate for at least 2 weeks.  Since I stay in a caloric deficit by keeping my net calories lower than the ongoing formula estimate of my caloric maintenance requirements, a plateau should really never occur.

Body adjusts to new calorie intake vs expenditure and lowers metabolic rate?

16 hours ago, Hazard said:

But assuming it does, I do have a strategy thought out.  My first assumption will be lowered leptin levels.  

Second assumption - "Shit happens"

16 hours ago, Hazard said:

But assuming it does, I do have a strategy thought out. 

Good to always have a plan.  Like if something in our schedule prevents our regular workout, we should have a Plan B for an abbreviated or alternative workout.

[Hazard]

7 minutes ago, peelout said:

Body adjusts to new calorie intake vs expenditure and lowers metabolic rate?

 

We’d see the lower metabolic rate presenting itself on my Weekly Averages spreadsheet as a lower caloric maintainence estimate.

 

 

[peelout]

3 minutes ago, Hazard said:

 

We’d see the lower metabolic rate presenting itself on my Weekly Averages spreadsheet as a lower caloric maintainence estimate.

 

 

You are so nerdy you should have been an engineer like me. lol

[Hazard]

Weekly progress review

 

(There should be 3 speadsheet screenshots in this post.  Please let me know if they aren’t showing.)

 

 

Remember how I was juuuusst short of hitting my weekly Waist Goal for the first couple of weeks? 

Yeah. 

Then this week happened:

 

 

 

.  Not only did I conquer this week's 39.25 inch miniboss  --- I rammed right through it and took out next week's 39.00" miniboss too!  

 

 

 

Over to my Weekly Averages sheet.  My caloric intake went down by about -55 calories per day on average this week.  Not a huge amount.  As you can see in the sheet, I'm still eating a pretty good amount compared to my estimated Maintenance Calories.  My dietary deficit is only around -356 calories daily avg.   About three-quarters of a pound per week.

 

 

The majority of my Net caloric deficit is coming from my walking.  An average 972 daily calories burned this week via walking is nothing to sneeze at.  That's 6,804 calories burned over the course of the week solely because I got up and moved ---> for roughly 1.9 lbs of weightloss.

 

 

 

I created a third tab for my spreadsheets.   This one shows, in the first two columns, my change in Weight and change in Waist based on my weekly average data.  As I wrote earlier, the weekly averages smooth out daily fluctuations.  So rather than focusing on the exact amount I weigh or measure on one Sunday compared to the next Sunday -- since any given day's measurement can vary depending on factors I've discussed before - I'm looking at how my weekly averages change from one week to the next and the next and the next, ad inf.  Weekly averages give a better picture of what my body is doing.  And this is how my body's been changing:

 

 

In the third column, I added a new statistic that I thought would be interesting to follow.  It answers this question, "When I lost a pound of weight, how many inches did I lose on my waist for that pound?" 

 

I think the answer to that question will be fascinating to see over time. 

 

We can see that I lost nearly nothing on my waist (0.03" per pound, about 1/30 of an inch per lb) from the short prep week through my first full week (the row of 1/14).  Clearly my body was still dealing with ridding itself of non-solid lean mass, in the form of glycogen/water stores and such.  

 

In the second full week, I started getting some waist movement, knocking off a little over a 2/16 of an inch per pound of body weight dropped.   And this week I had more waist movement at just under 3/16 of an inch per pound.

 

 

 

 

That's our data for this week.   Since I already reached the next Waist Goal of 39.00", keeping the goal at 39.00" would probably have me half-assing it this week since I know I wouldn't have to do much of anything to keep that goal beat.  I want to stay motivated to DO my questing.  So I'm going to go ahead and move up my timeline.  I'll drop down another level of this fatloss dungeon and set my goal this week to taking out the 38.75" waist miniboss.

 

I enjoyed the discussion that popped up from last week's update.  And I'd love to discuss that topic further or anything else anyone wants to talk about if reading this post has gotten something on your mind.  So as always, if anybody has any questions, observations, comments, etc., please don’t hesitate to chime in.  Otherwise, you can still support/encourage me by simply tapping the “like” button for this post to quietly let me know you’re here on the journey with me.

 

 

 

 

[Cataleya]

Seeing you gall behind a smidge for a few weeks and then blast this week away makes me hopeful for my future, haha.

[GregT.]

I'm here man.  I have two more days on my Whole30, then I am doing my weigh in and tape.  The Whole30 rule is no weigh in or tape during the challenge, so I am honoring that.  After that however I would be interested in a copy of your spreadsheets for my personal use if it is possible.

 

 Keep up the good work.  P.S.  Did the other thing get resolved with shipping?

[raptron]

22 hours ago, Hazard said:

In the third column, I added a new statistic that I thought would be interesting to follow.  It answers this question, "When I lost a pound of weight, how many inches did I lose on my waist for that pound?" 

 

I think the answer to that question will be fascinating to see over time. 

 

We can see that I lost nearly nothing on my waist (0.03" per pound, about 1/30 of an inch per lb) from the short prep week through my first full week (the row of 1/14).  Clearly my body was still dealing with ridding itself of non-solid lean mass, in the form of glycogen/water stores and such.  

It is also possible to be losing fat mass from other parts of your body at a different rate than your waistline, which is another interesting confounding variable. I love all your data tables.

[Hazard]

4 hours ago, raptron said:

It is also possible to be losing fat mass from other parts of your body at a different rate than your waistline, which is another interesting confounding variable..

 

 

Absolutely.  Not only is it possible to be losing fat mass elsewhere than just the waistline ——>  it’s certain.  

 

Even what we call our “muscles” contain fat cells buddying up to our muscles cells.  A good visual reminder of this is to walk down the meat aisle at the grocer and look at the chunks of fat in the different steaks.  Losing intramuscular fat is one of the reasons why our “muscle” measurements get smaller when losing a lot of weight.  

         People who think their “gunz” will stay the same size when dropping 40 lbs of fat are kidding themselves.  But at the same time, we shouldn’t be scared about that shrinking measurement.  A decreasing arm or thigh measurement doesn’t necessarily mean muscle tissue is being lost.  Some might be.  But if weight/fat loss is accomplished while providing our muscles with adequate stress via resistance training, then what happens is more like slowly transforming a fatty ribeye into a lean sirloin.

 

 

[Hazard]

14 hours ago, GregT. said:

I'm here man.  I have two more days on my Whole30, then I am doing my weigh in and tape.  The Whole30 rule is no weigh in or tape during the challenge, so I am honoring that.  After that however I would be interested in a copy of your spreadsheets for my personal use if it is possible.

 

Yeah, we can do that.

 

14 hours ago, GregT. said:

 P.S.  Did the other thing get resolved with shipping?

 

I sent it.  Haven’t received the exchange yet.

 

 

[Hazard]

22 hours ago, Cataleya said:

Seeing you (f)all behind a smidge for a few weeks and then blast this week away makes me hopeful for my future, haha.

 

 

I believe in you.

 

And because I do care about you, I’m going to offer you some tough love here.

 

In my opinion, your weakness right now that’s holding you back is that you’re not stubborn enough. You write things on your threads like: eating food at a restaurant where the food doesn’t work with your goals is out of your control.  That’s nonsense.  And you know it.  

         You may have a social obligation to go to a particular restaurant, but you absolutely do have control over whether or not you put any food in your mouth while you’re there.  Period.   I've gone to restaurants before and ordered zero food.  I sipped water while socializing; politely, but stubbornly, refusing anybody’s attempts to get me to eat something there.  If I know in advance I’ll be going to a restaurant that I won’t eat at, then I try to eat before I go.  Otherwise, I suck it up and eat afterward.  In whatever the case, I am in control of what goes in my mouth.  And so are you.

        Stop telling yourself you aren’t in control.

 

As soon as you stop denying that you have control over things that you do have control over — as soon as you accept responsbility for your own actions — as soon as you stubbornly refuse to do anything that works against your goals ——>  that’s when you’ll create your success.

 

I believe you can do it.   Because I see strength inside you.   Whatever image you may have of yourself, to me you’ve always been right on the verge of being this:

 

 

 

There’s a badass inside you just waiting to come out and play.

 

Get stubborn, Cat.  

 

 

 

 

[Jonesy]

5 minutes ago, Hazard said:

stubbornly refuse to do anything that works against your goals

 

Well I just found my motto/quote for 2018. 

[Cataleya]

 
 
I believe in you.
 
And because I do care about you, I’m going to offer you some tough love here.
 
In my opinion, your weakness right now that’s holding you back is that you’re not stubborn enough. You write things on your threads like: eating food at a restaurant where the food doesn’t work with your goals is out of your control.  That’s nonsense.  And you know it.  
         You may have a social obligation to go to a particular restaurant, but you absolutely do have control over whether or not you put any food in your mouth while you’re there.  Period.   I've gone to restaurants before and ordered zero food.  I sipped water while socializing; politely, but stubbornly, refusing anybody’s attempts to get me to eat something there.  If I know in advance I’ll be going to a restaurant that I won’t eat at, then I try to eat before I go.  Otherwise, I suck it up and eat afterward.  In whatever the case, I am in control of what goes in my mouth.  And so are you.
        Stop telling yourself you aren’t in control.
 
As soon as you stop denying that you have control over things that you do have control over — as soon as you accept responsbility for your own actions — as soon as you stubbornly refuse to do anything that works against your goals ——>  that’s when you’ll create your success.
 
I believe you can do it.   Because I see strength inside you.   Whatever image you may have of yourself, to me you’ve always been right on the verge of being this:
 

 
 
There’s a badass inside you just waiting to come out and play.
 
Get stubborn, Cat.  
 
 
 
 

I agree with all of this, but I also think we're at different parts in our journeys, and thus have slightly different goals. I don't just want to lose weight, I want to learn to make better decisions when things come up. I'm not at a point where refusing to eat gets me to where I want to go. If the restaurant gets switched up on me and I don't get the chance to look at the menu ahead of time, I need to be able to think on my feet and make better decisions. And I did! As NTB pointed out, I still had decent numbers despite being at Carb Central. And that is a more important skill for me than denying myself the food. And considering the circumstances, that we were eating with a candidate, not eating would have been awkward anyway. Like I mentioned over in my thread, we're also trying to look good, and being that chick that signs up to go to dinner (to help colleagues who have kids) and then doesn't eat is kind of risky in that it might send a weird message to someone considering working here. So I do agree with you, but I'm not sure it fully applies to my situation *this* particular week. Other weeks, absolutely. I definitely should be more stubborn when eating out with friends and not getting a drink or dessert if it doesn't fit with my goals or whatever. And I'll work on that... as soon as I'm in a position where I'm going out with friends again. Last week was kind of an anomaly.

[Hazard]

On 1/28/2018 at 11:03 PM, GregT. said:

I would be interested in a copy of your spreadsheets for my personal use if it is possible.

 

 

Here you go @GregT..  I set the file to link-sharable, which I think should let you make a copy of it for your personal use.

 

 

Hazard’s Fitness Tracking Spreadsheet, v.4, template

 

 

The spreadsheets include about 15 more columns of tracking metrics that I haven’t yet covered in my weekly reviews.

 

If you have any questions, post ‘em.

 

 

 

[Hazard]

(There should be 1 spreadsheet screenshot showing in this post.  If it’s not showing, please let me know.)

 

 

I’m seeing a lot of interest in food-choice and macro chatter going around in the threads I read.   So here’s my compiled eating info for January.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hazard]

 

 

Hey everybody, remember this from back in autumn?

 

 

On 10/26/2017 at 11:20 AM, GregT. said:

Great Job Hazard.  I was going to offer a challenge to you.  There are 66 days left in the year.  If you can average 5 miles per day,  total 330 miles I would like to reward you with this shirt.

 

https://www.snorgtees.com/t-shirts/mordor-fun-run

 

I am really inspired by your daily trek, and the posting of it.  It is what decided me on this challenge and adding in a walk and or swim everyday.  Interested?

 

 

Here’re the gifts I received from Greg-ladriel (@GregT.) in Lothlorien!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Greg!  

 

 

 

 

 

[GregT.]

14 hours ago, Hazard said:

Thanks Greg

Hey your welcome, but you earned those shirts.  The one on the far right is so you can be inspired for other walks in the future.  I really liked you Tolkien inspired trek log.  If I could just think of one to do swimming.  LOL

 

[peelout]

On 1/23/2018 at 9:54 PM, Hazard said:

 

 

Are you familiar with B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning?

 

 

Kind of like the buzz I get everytime I see the scale drop to a new low, even if it's only a 0.2lb loss.  It says "Good doggy" and I feel good.  If it doesn't drop, it says "bad doggy" and I know I have to make a change in my routine.  Plus it's a feedback loop. How do I know if I'm progressing w/o feedback.  Whether its a scale, belt, spreadsheet, whatever, our brain reacts to feedback.

[Hazard]

 

Weekly progress review

 

 

I reached this week's goal of a 38.75 inch waist.   The coming week I'll challenge 38.50"

 

Here's the daily data:

 

 

 

 

I'll bring your attention on that chart to my calorie intake for Wednesday.  At 2,550 calories, I ate a little bit over my maintenance estimate.  Notice the jump in weight on the scale from Wednesday (my lowest for the week) to Thursday.  That's not an increase in fat.  That's what happens when a glycogen-depleted body is given a decent amount of food again, even if only for 1 day.

 

The trade-off is that the weight-bloat probably affected my active Maintenance Calorie estimate on my Weekly Averages sheet.

 

 

 

 

Which is to say, I'm not fretting over the 1,870 Maint. Cal. estimate for this week.   I think in subsequent weeks it'll prove to be an outlier.

 

 

Here's how my body changed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the Walk to Mordor

 

Our Fellowship made great progress this week, traveling 73 miles.   There must have been a nice current helping as we paddled down the Anduin river.   Gollum was spotted twice early in the week.  Once floating rear of us behind a log, and a second time in the night as we camped.  Knowing that scoundrel's out there tailing us isn't a pleasant thought.  But otherwise, the trip down the Anduin has been relatively peaceful.  Though Boromir may find it boring, as he's begun muttering to himself.

 

We've passed the westward bend in the Anduin, called the North Undeep, and are nearing the southern end of the South Undeep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GregT.]

On 2/4/2018 at 9:57 PM, Hazard said:

Which is to say, I'm not fretting over the 1,870 Maint. Cal. estimate for this week. 

I am going to say you are great man.  I am amazed to see how your changes are going all in the way you want them too.  I seem to bounce.  Or stay the same.  I may need to talk to you about getting a real maintenance level so I can do some real sculpting.

 

   Glad to se you are proceeding to the hill country.  the traveling should be easier.

BEHOLD THE RIDERS OF ROHAN!

 

[peelout]

On 2/4/2018 at 9:57 PM, Hazard said:

Here's the daily data:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which is to say, I'm not fretting over the 1,870 Maint. Cal. estimate for this week.   I think in subsequent weeks it'll prove to be an outlier.

 

 

Here's how my body changed.

 

 

 

 

I noticed a wt loss for this week despite daily surplus on calories.  What do you think explains that (bad data on cal intake or bad on expenditure?
Great progress at over 2lbs/wk.

What is your goal wt?

 

[Hazard]

2 hours ago, peelout said:

I noticed a wt loss for this week despite daily surplus on calories.  What do you think explains that

 

On my Weekly Averages sheet, look at the Net calories column.  That’s my caloric intake after subtracting off the calories I burned from the miles I walked.  Although I ate an average 2,046 calories, ultimately I wasn’t in a surplus - I was in a steep deficit.  (I outwalked my fork.)

 

 

2 hours ago, peelout said:

Great progress at over 2lbs/wk.

What is your goal wt?

 

No weight goal this year.  Only a waist goal ——>  Have a 28” waist by Dec 19th.  

 

If I can lose a 1/4 inch per week, I’ll make it.