jstanlick KISSes the New Year

[jstanlick]

212. That's what the scale said this morning. I was over 220 pounds in January of 2016. So, I'm better off than a year ago. However, in my best estimation, I feel like my best weight would be in the low to mid 190's depending on the amount of lean mass I'm carrying. So, it's time to begin working on that while reminding myself to "Keep It Simple Stupid". I had my best results last year when I picked a plan and stuck to it. My ultimate goal is to finish 2017 in that weight range of 190-195. This is how I'm planning on starting the year to achieve it:

 

• Goal 1: Lift 3x/week - This is a step back in specificity and timing from previous challenges, but I'm going after some wins to build momentum. These will be full body workouts with no goofy splits. Plus, it allows my a little more freedom in my schedule to make sure I get rest and recovery while still trying to fit in...
• Goal 2: Workout w/ my daughter 2x/week - She asked for it. She wants to work on KB exercises with me. Her idea of KB exercises is a little more cardio than resistance, so this is going to replace my running during the week. It will likely hurt my endurance capacity in the short run, but the weather in Wisconsin this time of year is not conducive to a lot of outside running and I dislike the monotony of the treadmill. Plus, she asked. How can say no? Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends are the targeted days, but it is highly dependent on her homework and musical practice workload.
• Goal 3: Track meals in MFP - It's one thing that worked well last year. My daily goal is going to be around 2000 calories with a 30/30/40 macro split for carbs/fat/protein. The goal is not bulking up, but rather burning fat. I may adjust that 2000 up or down based on exercise performance, but based on BMR and overall activity -- and that its a nice round number -- I'm starting with 2000.
• Goal 4: Daily Reflection - I got a wonderful book for Christmas from my wife on daily reflections of mercy and gratitude for the upcoming year. Regardless of the day and the circumstance, I'm going to set aside time to walk through whatever the reflection of the day is to improve my outlook on life and keep me grounded with my eyes on what's important.
• Bonus - Run when the weather permits. I still love running, and when I can get outside and do it, I will. But, only as time and weather conditions permit.

 

It's fairly simple...I hope.

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

Neat challenge, following.

[Xena]

Here to follow! And just noticed we have a same calorie goal :-)

[jstanlick]

14 hours ago, Atrytone said:

Neat challenge, following.

Thanks for following along!

12 hours ago, Xena said:

Here to follow! And just noticed we have a same calorie goal :-)

I actually thought of you when I came up with that number based on BMR and activity. I thought that number couldn't be right, hence the room for modifying it based on the results. Plus you run all those crazy miles -- I mean that in the most positive, admiring sense. Seems like every marathoner I know is always hungry and never seems to care about their macro-nutrition. I guess that's one of the payoffs of putting in all that time

 

Updates for this week:

 

Monday - Ran 4.5 miles - about a mile more than usual for a single run for me. I tried @Xena's "suggestion" of running slower to get more miles. It seemed like a good idea, especially since the forecast had Monday as the warmest day over the next 10 days. I slowed my pace down to 9 mile/minute, and you know what? It was easier to just keep running without feeling like I was going to die. But, come Tuesday morning I woke up and my right Achilles was super tight. It didn't hurt at all while running, but it sure required some stretching before trying to walk down the stairs to my kitchen. Put away all of the Christmas decorations and put the furniture back where it belongs. The dog is happy her chair is back in front of the window. Finished the day with a massage that got out a lot of knots in my hamstrings and calves. Next time I need to schedule 90 minutes though. That hour was over way too fast.

 

Tuesday - Ah, back to work day. I think somewhere around 2 PM I got caught up with everything that had happened and needed caretaking after being out of the office for the previous 4 days. My daughter and I got in our first KB HIIT workout according to the schedule. 25 minutes later I was a sweaty mess. She was just breathing a little heavy. The only time she complained about anything was at the end when we finished it off with various planks. Why? Because in gym class they had a fitness test and she finished 3rd in the plank contest at 7:13 minutes. What the what?!?! Yep, and she complained the girl who finished 2nd cheated by keeping her as up in the air the whole time. Kid's got a lot stronger core than I do, either that or the gym teacher is really letting them get away with some bad form. Anyway, it was also the first day of tracking food with MFP. Oops! Looks like I over ate. I was fairly hungry when I went to bed. I thought I did a good job, but was almost 400 calories over my goal. The macro breakdown was about right, just ate too much food.

 

So far today, I've planned out my day, packed a smaller lunch and added 2 recipes into my MFP profile to make logging food today easier. We'll see how it goes.

[peelout]

Looking forward to following.  Now get it done.

[jstanlick]

17 hours ago, peelout said:

Looking forward to following.  Now get it done.

Working on it!

 

Yesterday I hit the gym and everything is a good kind of sore today. Today will be a rest day since the kids have a strings/band concert tonight. Unless some miracle of God happens and it finishes early (this particular concert always goes long, there is always some kind of technical problem and the seats in that auditorium are always uncomfortable), my daughter and I will be saving KB's for the weekend. Given the current state of my muscles, a rest day is probably a good thing anyway.

 

Yesterday was better on the calories. Only slightly over, but the macro breakdown (too many carbs, not enough protein) wasn't what I was after. But, still headed in the right direction. Inspired by @Tanktimus the Encourager I think I'll post how the day turned out in my updates. MFP was kind enough to give me 58 extra calories for my goal thanks to warming up on the bike yesterday. I wish I could figure out how to turn that feature off. Especially since it only gives you the extra calories for aerobic activity. It only lets you log lifting, and I'm skeptical that its calculating those calories burned by exercise correctly anyway. But, in any case, here they are:

 

	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Fiber g	Sugar g
Totals	2,197	235	87	109	26	116
Your Daily Goal	2,058	154	69	206	38	72
Remaining	-139	-81	-18	97	12	-44

[Xena]

Hope the achilles settles down!

 

As you've figured out, tracking gets easier after a while because you already know lots of the calorie values.

 

Running is super great for letting you eat lots! 2000 is a lot more than many people on these forum are targeting (especially women), but it still doesn't go as far as I would like sometimes.

[jstanlick]

11 hours ago, Xena said:

Hope the achilles settles down!

 

As you've figured out, tracking gets easier after a while because you already know lots of the calorie values.

 

Running is super great for letting you eat lots! 2000 is a lot more than many people on these forum are targeting (especially women), but it still doesn't go as far as I would like sometimes.

The Achilles feels fine now, but I haven't tried running on it since Monday either. I can't really blame the no running on the heel though. This morning is was -4 degrees with a -30 degree wind chill when I got up. I like running...but not that much.

 

The one thing that MFP tends to do for me -- especially right at the beginning of tracking -- is make me more mindful of what I'm putting in my mouth and whether or not I really want to eat that. 2000 calories did not seem like enough the previous couple of days, but with yesterday being a rest day, I was not as hungry and did a much better job of hitting my target calories. Carbs were much better too. Fats were roughly the same (a little higher) and protein was better. Still not where I want to be on the macro splits to be, but getting closer each day it would seem.

	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Fiber g	Sugar g
Totals	2,022	166	92	139	21	43
Your Daily Goal	2,000	150	67	200	38	71
Remaining	-22	-16	-25	61	17	28

[Marauder]

Following.  I love keeping it simple.  It's really so much more sustainable.  Kudos on tracking!  I really struggle at keeping a healthy relationship with tracking.

 

As for your daughter, 7+ minute plank!!  Go girl!  

[jstanlick]

30 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Kudos on tracking!  I really struggle at keeping a healthy relationship with tracking.

This will be tricky. In the past I've either gotten obsessed with it, or given up after a week and stopped tracking altogether. I'm trying to find a happy medium. I really want to reach my goal weight this year. But, I don't want to do it at the expense of my mental state.

[peelout]

4 minutes ago, jstanlick said:

 But, I don't want to do it at the expense of my mental state.

I think you should start tracking all your micronutrients (like zinc, potassium, iron, etc) as well.  lol

[jstanlick]

2 hours ago, peelout said:

I think you should start tracking all your micronutrients (like zinc, potassium, iron, etc) as well.  lol

HA! Carbs, Fats and Proteins might put me in a padded cell. Micro nutrients? Might as well fit me for the straight jacket.

[jstanlick]

So we're off and running with Week 1. Should I wrap up Week 0? Okay.

 

Friday: Involved no lifting or working out with my daughter. Daily reflection? Check. Food tracking was okay. Total calories was about as close to the target as I can get for the second day in a row. Macros were way off again though. Too many carbs, too much fat and not enough protein.

Calories kcal Carbs g Fat g Protein g Fiber g Sugar g Totals 2,031 241 103 81 21 102   Your Daily Goal 2,000 150 67 200 38 71   Remaining -31 -91 -36 119 17 -31

Saturday: KB with my daughter before helping the Cub Scouts box up and stack pies for their weekend pie sale fundraiser. Unfortunately, I dropped one of the boxes and ended up paying for it and taking it home. We had promised the boys lunch out somewhere because they had done some really good things this week. I intentionally skipped breakfast figuring my boys would pick McDonalds. My daughter, wife and I all dislike the place, but to the boys bland food palettes, its one of their favorite places to go. I thought did well planning ahead. But, MFP informed me there is no doing well at McDonalds. My lunch was more than a usual breakfast and lunch combined. Throw on top of that the apple pie mishap (which tasted soooooo much better than lunch making its caloric nonsense seem more worth it) and you have a bad day.

 

	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Fiber g	Sugar g
Totals	2,636	343	96	90	18	210
Your Daily Goal	2,000	150	67	200	38	71
Remaining	-636	-193	-29	110	20	-139

 

Sunday: Which brings us to the start of Week 1 and a weigh in weight 2 pounds higher than Week 0. Thank you very much Ray Crock. Okay, its not his fault, but that stuff will kill ya! Anyhoo, I spent much of yesterday trying to make up for Saturday. So, there was lifting (high rep, low weight for these first 2 weeks) and there was calorie restriction, kind of. It's reeeaaaallllly hard to restrict calories while at a party watching your favorite football coast through a first half asleep. Fortunately, the Giants kept making mistakes and my Packers woke up soon enough to win the game going away. But, it took a lot of will power to not just munch away my nerves on all of the food. But, I did manage to come in under (barely) my goal for the first time this challenge, so I'm calling it a "calorie restricted" day

 

	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Fiber g	Sugar g
Totals	1,949	210	99	68	13	61
Your Daily Goal	2,000	150	67	200	38	71
Remaining	51	-60	-32	132	25	10

As you can see, still screwing up the macros, but much better on the caloric intake overall. Today has begun with much better balance on the macros thus far.

 

I did also get out the old tape measure and take a bunch of measurements so I had some other gauge for progress other than just the scale. Given my age, it's unlikely to see huge amounts of muscle mass gains but hopefully some of these circumference measurements go down while others at least remain the same. Not sure why I neglected to get a hip measurement.

 

Waist: 38"

Chest: 46.25"

Neck: 17"

Forearm: 12.125"

Upper arm: 14.875"

Thigh: 22.5"

Calf: 15.25"

 

[Marauder]

Glad to see I'm not alone on the macro shuffle.  

[jstanlick]

19 hours ago, Marauder said:

Glad to see I'm not alone on the macro shuffle.  

Yeah, there is definitely a difference between tracking what you eat and having said food stuffs fall into the right categories at the right proportion. I'm going to need to double my efforts in that area.

 

Speaking of which, yesterday's numbers were better in the protein area and slightly better in the carb area. Fats went up as I attempted to up my protein intake. That increase in fats by 7g while only reducing carbs 15g essentially netted 0 calories change and the increased protein meant more calories overall. Hmph. Tis harder than I thought this would be.

	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Fiber g	Sugar g
Totals	2,274	195	106	140	19	72
Your Daily Goal	2,000	150	67	200	38	71
Remaining	-274	-45	-39	60	19	-1

 

On tap for today is the gym. Also hoping to add some swings to my routine for the Ranger mini.

[Xena]

I think the main trick to fast food is skipping the fries and drinking water. It's not good, but you can get by...

[jstanlick]

Yesterday did not include KB Swings. I hit the weights harder yesterday and lifting my arms was difficult by the end, but maybe today. My daughter and I are supposed to do a KB HIIT workout tonight, but she's had a ton of homework and numerous tests so far this week. We'll see if she's up to it.

 

On to the nutrition front. So far, I've learned a couple of things tracking my food intake.

• I am consuming too much fat for breakfast. My goal was to limit the amount of carbs since they seem to sneak in during the rest of the day. However, the replacements I chose use up a disproportionate amount of the allotted fat grams for the day. I can see now why many people resort to using protein powders. Too many other breakfast protein sources (especially those that can be made quickly in the morning before work) come with more than their fair share of saturated fat.
• Not something I've learned, but something that I keep getting reminded of, eating a lot of protein is not an easy thing to do.
• I'm a cheapskate to my own detriment. I give you, exhibit A:

16 hours ago, Xena said:

I think the main trick to fast food is skipping the fries and drinking water. It's not good, but you can get by...

This is good non-cheapskate advice. Especially the water part. But, since I had paid for a non-water drink (unsweetened iced tea was the plan), I couldn't being myself to drinking water. Nevermind the fact that it wasn't good for me, or that we're only talking about $1. Pretty stupid, right? Well, I'm not done there!

 

Exhibit B: Today. Today was the company's quarterly meeting and it was announced that lunch would be catered for everyone. I've been at this for a long time and knew full well that what they were going to cater in was not going to be the healthiest choice in the world. Yet, decided it was free and therefore I wouldn't go somewhere else or bring my own food. Sure enough, pizza as far as the eye could see and a teeny, tiny bit of salad. By the time I got through the line the salad was gone. Mind you these are just 2 recent examples, but there have been more. I need to somehow disassociate the cost of the food from my willingness to eat it. Being a cheapskate has kept me out of debt, but its not doing my health any good. With that, I give you yesterday's totals:

	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Fiber g	Sugar g
Totals	2,173	201	100	126	28	27
Your Daily Goal	2,161	162	72	216	38	75
Remaining	-12	-39	-28	90	10	48

• On the plus side of what I've learned, most days, I don't eat a lot of sugar. I eat plenty of carbs, but a lot of it isn't coming from sugar. I'll take that as a win.

Lastly, as I sat here feeling bummed about the consequences of my decisions I got an email from my priest in response to a different topic we were conversing on. While it doesn't quite fit with screwing yourself by poor decision making, this quote he put in there at the end of the email made me feel better and endeavor to persevere: 

Quote

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

-Mother Theresa

 

Perhaps its the second last line that is resonating. I don't know, but I liked the sentiment it conveyed and felt better. So, I thought I'd share it in case it makes anyone else feel better too.

 

On to better decisions to end the day and start anew tomorrow.

[Marauder]

Call me crazy but that doesn't seem like an excessive amount of fat for the calorie budget you have.  

[Laghail]

38 minutes ago, jstanlick said:

Lastly, as I sat here feeling bummed about the consequences of my decisions I got an email from my priest in response to a different topic we were conversing on. While it doesn't quite fit with screwing yourself by poor decision making, this quote he put in there at the end of the email made me feel better and endeavor to persevere: 

Dude, that's a massive state of mind win. Setbacks just happen, but handling it and balancing conflicting goals (finances vs fitness) with grace? Nailed it.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I'm with you Bro, I can't bring myself to drink water either.

Fat and carbs are a see-saw, as one goes down the other goes up. It's a law.

[Xena]

6 hours ago, jstanlick said:

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

Except when you want (non-divine) help with accountability obviously :-)

[jstanlick]

6 hours ago, Marauder said:

Call me crazy but that doesn't seem like an excessive amount of fat for the calorie budget you have.  

The total isn't exactly that far off. The problem lies in the fact that half of the fat grams came from breakfast. If that were cut in half, I'd hit my desired number on the head.

 

6 hours ago, Laghail said:

Dude, that's a massive state of mind win. Setbacks just happen, but handling it and balancing conflicting goals (finances vs fitness) with grace? Nailed it.

Fr. John and I were conversing about something else (I'm on the finance committee and it's budget time) and he put that at the end to cheer me up. It worked!

 

6 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I'm with you Bro, I can't bring myself to drink water either.

Fat and carbs are a see-saw, as one goes down the other goes up. It's a law.

I would drink the water...IF, I hadn't paid for something else. But, after looking at those numbers, that's an attitude I'm going to have to let go of if I want to lose some fat.

1 hour ago, Xena said:

Except when you want (non-divine) help with accountability obviously :-)

Well, obviously

 

[jstanlick]

Hard to update via mobile, so just something quick here. Yesterday was a good day. Calories were under target, got in lifting and KB workout. Even added swings with the 20 kg bell for 3 sets of 20 for the Ranger mini. Will get that updated tomorrow morning and try to get to everyone's thread.

Hope you're all doing great!!!

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[Xena]

Good job getting in the KB swings. Hope you had a great weekend!

[jstanlick]

13 hours ago, Xena said:

Good job getting in the KB swings. Hope you had a great weekend!

It was a fun weekend, but it's been a bit hectic. I happen to be on-call this week which is throwing a big wrench in my plans. When the challenge started I was supposed to be on call last week, but the person scheduled for this week was going to be on vacation, so we switched. So, last week was a really good start to the challenge, but I seem to be having a hard time coming up for air this week.

 

As such, I missed logging my foods on Sunday and yesterday. But, Friday and Saturday were good days. I also missed my daily reflection yesterday which pisses me off a bit. I was doing a good job with that and thought it was becoming a habit. Apparently not, as I got up when my alarm went off and still felt exhausted. Today started off better. Got some sleep, spent time with my reflections, planned out my food for the day, double checked the workout plan for today's lunch workout...it was going well. Then I got paged, fixed the networking error and ran out of the house to get to a meeting. Guess what? My gym bag is still sitting on the floor by the door at my house. Oh well, at least I grabbed my lunch and have something decent to eat.

 

So, it appears this week, I'm going to be fighting the unexpected and trying to stay on course. I am just not used to this anymore. The last couple of days have been an anomoly. I can usually go a whole week of being on call with maybe one page. Getting paged 4 times in 2 days just brings back nightmares of the old job. I can't believe I used to have a job when I was on-call 24x7x365, and did that for over a decade. No wonder my body got so out of shape!