Calorie Warrior

Fighting Weight One Calorie At a Time

Category: Progress

Attempt at a 3 Week Diet Challenge

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In my weigh-in post on Monday I mentioned starting a 3 week diet challenge. After not losing weight for almost a month and getting pretty pissed blaming myself for not working hard enough I decided to clean up my diet and knock out some of the carbs and sodium.

What the hell am I thinking?

That’s pretty much my thought today. All day I was like, “if I make it till Monday I’ll stop”. I forgot all bout Mondays post saying I would go at it for three hole weeks. Cursing myself now because if I said it I should do my best to stick with it.

I’m having a hard time mainly because I dropped carbs since Monday. My net carbs for the day have been pretty much under 30. More than likely my body is starting ketosis and its got me feeling like crap. There were two things I wanted today in the worst way.

  1. To eat something loaded with carbs. Monday and Tuesday were fine but today I was having major withdrawals. I kept fantasizing about slamming a Kellogg’s 90 calorie cereal bar in my mouth.
  2. The other problem I was having was a total lack of energy. I hit the ground running in the AM and because I didn’t have any appointments until 2:30 I contemplated between cleaning up the house or going for a jog. I still cant get myself back in the gym and the weather was pretty nice for a change for cleaning won. Around 11:30 all I wanted to do was go back to bed . I dragged my ass for the rest of the day and now I’m sitting here at 9:00 ready to pass out.

I don’t plan on doing a full keto diet but I was curious what would happen if I mixed things up and continued eating low call and dropping out the carbs. Well….. somethings working and I’m really exited because I was 246 on the scale this morning. That’s about a half a bound from the lowest I’ve been in the last 8 years. If I weigh myself in on Monday and I break that weight it will be a huge personal milestone.

Keeping a clean diet is going to be the goal for the next three weeks but I’m not sure what angle I want to take this carb thing. I read a little about carb cycling which sounds like a viable option. Id like to bring back the fruits and various vegetables because eating mostly meat, eggs, nuts and cheese gets boring really fast.

Hopefully for the next 18 days I can keep it clean. I’m going to call this the gluten-free-paleo-hybrid-diet.

Here’s a rundown of what I’ve been eating;

Monday-

-Breakfast

  • Coffee
  • Chocolate Protein Shake with Almond Milk

-Lunch

  • 2 Poached Eggs
  • Half Avocado

-Dinner

  • 2 Baked Chicken Thighs
  • Garlic Sauteed Broccoli Rabe
  • Trader Joe’s Kimchi

-Snacks

  • Polly String Cheese
  • Baby Bell Light Cheese

Tuesday-

-Breakfast

  • Scrambled eggs with cheese
  • Side of strawberrys

-Lunch

-Dinner

  • Greek Salad with Gyro meat

-Snacks

  • 2 Baby Bell light Cheeses

Wednesday-

-Breakfast

  • Chocolate Protein Shake with Almond Milk

-Lunch

-Dinner

-Snacks

  • Baby Bell light Cheese
  • Tuna Pouch mixed with Greek Yogurt Guacamole
  • Almonds
  • Polly-o String Cheese

I also started drinking lots of green tea from my Keurig. I’m trying to get used to this so I don’t have to drink coffee every morning. Green tea is supposed to be good for you I think.

Well that about sums up my week so far and I’ll keep the blog updated on anything new. I’ll leave you with pictures of my last two lunches, definitely not #foodporn!

Poached Eggs

Turkey Meatballs and Green Beans

Monday Weigh-In Week #7

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Its Monday which means another official weigh-in for the start of a new week. Last week was my transition back from vacation and I really wasn’t doing very good both eating and logging calories into MyFitnessPal. Some meals I just entered as a total lump some of calories because I didn’t feel like figuring it out or just didn’t know how. Didn’t have high expectations but I really cant complain.

Start of Week #7 Official Weight – 248.1

Nice!

I broke back into the 240’s on a regular Monday after a lack of exercise and eating great. Maybe this is the start of busting out of this plateau I feel like I’ve been stuck in.

Next Steps for Dieting

After freaking out about weighing the same over the last few weeks I totally picked apart my diet and got obsessive about why I really haven’t been budging. Even though I was going to give my Vitamin D deficiency a chance to work itself over and see the results, if any, I just really want to get this moving. I decided to give myself a 3 week challenge.

3 Week Diet Challenge

After watching my brother eat Paleo last week I realized that I could clean up my diet. I’ve been eating loads of processed stuff with high carbs and sodium. None of these things are good for weigh loss even if I’m restricting my carbs. For the next three weeks I’m going to try and cut down my carbs big time and eliminate anything processed, loaded with sugar or gluten. Three weeks of this should do me good and maybe even keep my system guessing so it continues to be a fat burning furnace.

Vitamin D Deficiency

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I heard back from my doctor about my test results. I originally posted about the weirdness I saw in my Blood Work Protein Levels before I left for California. I was concerned that I had a problem with my thyroid or maybe Celiacs or something. All those results came back OK. My doctor did let me know that my Vitamin D was on the low side so of course I turned to the internet.

Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin D DeficiencyVitamin D Deficiency is a common problem found in many people and it really shouldn’t be ignored. There are some common causes of this deficiency and its very easy to reverse. If Vitamin D Deficiency is left untreated it can also lead to very serious problems in people of all ages. Vitamin D also helps the body use calcium properly.

Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms

The symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency may be different form one person to another from from research these are some of the most common.

  • Fatigue
  • Achy bones
  • Muscle cramps
  • Joint pain
  • Lack of energy
  • Weight gain
  • High blood pressure
  • Restless sleep
  • Poor concentration
  • Headaches
  • Bladder problems
  • Constipation or diarrhea

What Causes Vitamin D Deficiency

The most common cause of Vitamin D Deficiency is lack of sunlight. That’s right, Vitamin D is actually produce by the body when your skin is exposed to sun light. Vitamin D Deficiency is very common among people that live in areas where it isn’t practical to be outside often. Also sunlight has different strengths in different parts of the world which would make you require an even longer exposure.

Vitamin D Deficiency can also be found in people with diets that lack vitamin D.  This is common in vegetarian diets where food containing vitamin D just aren’t consumed.

Obese people are also known for being Vitamin D deficient. This isn’t only because obese people don’t go outside but actually because they are just to fat. Vitamin D is absorbed from the body by fat cells so if you have a high BMI those fat cells are drawing all of your vitamin D for themselves.

There are other health problems related to Vitamin D deficiency such as kidney problems, Crohn’s disease, Celiacs or Cystic Fibrosis.

Foods With Vitamin D

If your low in Vitamin D you can increase your levels by increasing your intake of Vitamin D through foods that are known to contain it. Here is a list of some foods that have Vitamin D.

  • Fatty fish
  • Fish oils
  • Oysters
  • Caviar
  • Egg yolks
  • Cheese
  • Fortified milk
  • Beef liver
  • Mushrooms

Vitamin D and Weight Loss

If you search around the internet you will read many articles saying YES Vitamin D helps with weight loss, and you will read the same amount that say it doesn’t. Another popular subject you will find is the correlation between obese people and lack of Vitamin D.

There have been a few studies in the last few years that show signs of increased weight loss in people that have had increased levels of Vitamin D while dieting.

I felt the best feedback I could get on Vitamin D and Weight Loss was by reading through some of the weight loss forums like the MFP community.

Majority of what I’ve read from actual people that have been diagnosed with low Vitamin D and had doctors give them supplements to increase their levels have not lost weight. Many of these people have read the things I have in hoped that adding high doses of vitamin D to level them off would help them shed the pounds. I couldn’t find any stories of people that were losing any more or faster than the had been on their original diet plans.

Vitamin D and Me

After reading all the symptoms I could see how this may have been effecting me. My doctor has prescribed me a three months supply of 50,000/IU vitamin D capsules and wants me to report back when I’m finished. I have to take these once a week.

I discussed this with my mom and she says that she was given the same prescription and after a few weeks she felt much more energized. That’s probably the biggest symptom I could see myself having but I just took my lack of energy as the norm.

I guess its also good that this was caught so I don’t risk any of those diseases that can happen after not having enough of the D in my body for so long. I will just keep pushing forward with my diet but I thought this was a good subject to update the site with. If taking this Vitamin helps me lose some weight I will just consider that a bonus!

 

Dieting in California

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To be honest I wasn’t exactly dieting in California. My original trip was planned from a Wednesday night and I was coming back on the red eye Sunday night. This would of been about four days where I planned to eat what i want and exercise in the form of hiking with my brother and walking around Hollywood.

Weather Problems

The first problem was the fact that Los Angeles and much of the west coats was completely rained out. Apparently the day I arrived LA was expecting to get more rain in that weekend then they’ve gotten in total over the last couple years. It was cold and wet until Sunday making it impossible to get out and do anything. Most of the trip was spent in my brothers apartment watching Netflix.

The other problem was that NY was expecting a super snow storm Sunday Afternoon into Monday afternoon. I wasn’t sure if I was going to have a problem with my flight until I woke up Sunday morning to an email from Virgin America letting me know my flight was cancelled. Check out the weather report!

Longisland Snow

I spent hours on the phone with Virgin America trying to reschedule the flight but couldn’t talk to anyone. Amy was pretty pissed knowing that Id have an extended vacation and she’d be stuck home pregnant with a driveway full of snow.

Low and behold the weather was wrong and we pretty much got a dusting. My new flight was scheduled for Tuesday night giving me an extra to days. This was OK but my brother had to go back to work Monday leaving me by myself for two days.

Dieting in California

Lets talk about the food part of the trip. Before I went I knew that this would be a problem because LA has great food but my brother was also doing paleo. For the most part I did my best to track calories but ate whatever I wanted within my range. It started when I got to the airport…. I didn’t eat anything that entire day and opted for a #2 from Mcdonals. Not my best choice but it was foo and i was on vacation. I didn’t super size it or anything. I counted the calories which still put me under 1,000 for the day. I grabbed two Kind Bars for the flight in case I got hungry. I’m not going to do a food play by play here.

For the rest of the trip I either ate food my bro cooked which was mostly breakfast or we’d go out to eat. We didn’t order appetizers and I got whatever Id want. Restaurants ranged from Sushi, Brazilian BBQ, Sandwiches to Burgers. I didn’t have dessert anywhere or snack on anything but grapes in his apartment. I stuck with diet soda, unsweetened Iced Tea and water. We only went out drinking one night which consisted of Captain and Diet coke for me. I tried to log everything.

I even took pictures of some of the meals to share on the blog….

Food Pics

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This is the typical Paleo breakfast my brother eats every day. It consists of two eggs, bacon and half a baked avocado.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is a salad place we went for lunch. Its just a giant all you can eat salad bar but they had soup, macaroni and desserts. You can see my salad blow but I didn’t take a picture of my mini muffin.

 

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This was a homemade Paleo dinner with steak, roasted tomatoes and mashed cauliflower loaded with garlic and parsley.

 

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Another Breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This was my sandwich from Mendocino Farms. Its grilled chicken with prosciutto and candied walnuts on cibatta.

 

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This is a personal pizza and a sugar free soda I got at a place called EVO. Pizza was really thin and about 10” across with pepper, sausage and onion.

 

Fitness

I didn’t go to the gym while I was away that’s for sure. But… yes my bro has dragged me to the gym with him when I visit. I figured being outside and walking around would be more than I needed. Unfortunately because of the rain and being stuck inside for the beginning of the trip there wasn’t much walking.

As soon as it was nice out I wanted to hit the streets. I walked around Hollywood in the morning to get my coffee and run some errands. Later that day my brother and I walked up to Hollywood Boulevard to see where they shot the Academy Awards. This was all just casual walking around and lots of fun. Surprisingly I blew away any day I was on the treadmill according to the Fitbit.

Check out these stats:

Hollywood Walking

Hollywood Walking

Over 21,000 steps!! I got a notification from my Fitbit when I hit 15,000 and again when I hit 20,000 congratulating me for the achievement.

Look at the calorie burn of just being active and looking around and stuff. This is so different then living at home stuck at a computer!

I only ate over my calories one day on the vacation and this day surely made up for it. Its like completely backwards as to watching how much food you take in and trying to exercise it out. This way you burn loads of calories and would have to eat them back.

My brother walks to work every single day which is about 3+ more miles. Each way takes him less than 20 minutes and his body loves him for it.

Sharing this pictures makes me think how much people walk around when they go on vacation and visit places that require them to walk around and site see. I think this is why I didn’t do so much damage on the cruise ship buffet on my honeymoon! We walked from the time we woke up until it was time to get back on the ship.

The second thing this makes me think is how much of an inactive lifestyle I live. If I walked to work everyday or even ran some errands without my car Id be more active and burning way more calories. Its too bad that where I lie has crappy weather and most amenities are too far to walk mainly because of the time it would take.

More than site seeing

If you think those stats are inflated just because we were seeing sites your wrong!. The next day I walked my brother to work, walked to get all my meals, walked to the post office to send a package home and I still blew my treadmill days off the charts.

Here is that screen shot:

California Lifestyle

California Lifestyle

This shot gives you a good idea of how active my brother is. He lives an urban lifestyle and does lots of walking.

Would I be skinnier if I lived in LA? Who knows, but I do know Id be much more active naturally. California especially has no rainy days (except for when I visit) so you have nearly 365 beautiful days a year to be outside enjoying life.

I was really impressed with my Fitbit too because I left with it fully charged and the battery lasted the entire time. The only complaint I have is that it didn’t recognize the 3 hour time difference. This isn’t the Fitbits fault but it kind of sucked that my stats would reset at 9:00 at night and all the walking we did after that registered for the next day.

 

Back to NY

Now that I’m back home I have to get back on the wagon and start counting calories and eating better. I also have to get myself back into a gym routine. I really hoped to be in the 230’s at this point and wanted to start weight training but my weights pretty stuck in this range. I’ll keep you guys updated.

 

 

 

Wednesday Weigh-In Week #6

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Back from California!! Because of a canceled flight I missed my Monday weigh-in. I guess better late then never so I figured I would update the blog with the stats in the middle of the week after pretty much eating whatever I wanted while I was away. I will write another post on how the trip was and what reflected on my diet. As far as what I weighed when i got home…..

Mid-Week #6 Official Weight – 251.5

This isn’t so bad of a weight considering I kind of went off my diet and exercise plan. Its a couple pounds less than the week before but that was not a very impressive weigh-in. I’m definitely not on a downward trend and almost thinking I hit a plateau. I’ve been bouncing between a low of 248 and the 253 for a while now and its pretty discouraging. I mean discouraging to the point that I’m about ready to give up on calorie counting an thinking whats the point. I’m glad I’m back to blogging because I think it will help me get back on track.

The next few posts are going to seem kind of out of order because there were some things I wanted to write about both before and during my trip.

Monday Weigh-In Week #5

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Its the start of a new week and time to officially log what the scale says. I really didn’t think the scale would move much because I ate pretty clean all week, hit the gym four times and only ate some junk over the weekend still keeping within my calorie goals. Well the scale moved and not in a good way!

Start of Week #5 Official Weight – 253.5

WTF HAPPENED!??!?

That’s an actual gain of 5lbs. There goes my achievement of dropping below 250. There really is nothing more discouraging when trying to lose weight then stepping on the scale and seeing you actually gained weight.

I woke up this morning and I did feel a little bloated. I went to the bathroom as much as I could but no way I was dropping 5lbs into the toilet.

Some of my questions

  • Could it be the junkie food?
  • Could it be sodium?
  • Is there certain food that spikes my weight?
  • Am I not eating enough food?

I immediately got discouraged and jumped onto the MFP Community forums. I did some searches to try and make myself feel better. Here are some of the things I came up with;

Water Weight

It is possible for the body to store tons of water making you weigh more, especially with increased exercise. Also adding lots of sodium will do this. Did I have increased sodium?

  1. I had pizza and wings on Friday.
  2. I dipped my sushi in soy sauce
  3. I drank more diet soda than water
  4. I ran an extra day on the treadmill.

I guess combining ll of these things would make it possible for it to be added water weight that might come off pretty easy if I can clean up my diet and lower my sodium.

Weighing Food

Some people on the forums suggest that you should weigh all your food and not just eyeball it because under estimating can greatly add additional calories. In my case I don’t think this is a problem because;

  1. I usually try to over estimate
  2. I’m already at such a deficit that even if I over ate 500 calories a day it wouldn’t have an impact.
  3. 5lbs would mean I over ate 17,500 additional calories.

Slowed My Metabolism

This is something I worry about a little but I’m not sure if its actually possible in the month I’ve been restricting calories. Its been said that if you don’t take in enough calories your body will go into starvation mode and hold onto all of the extra food you put into it. This would account for eating some junk and having a weight gain but I don’t know if I’m such a believer. My daily calorie goal of 1,650 is on the low side for someone my size but I don’t think its entirely unhealthy.

Is there something wrong with me?

I recently had a blood test done for a life insurance policy and all though everything came back fine I did notice something that was a little off. I will discuss this in another post but its in the back of my head giving me something to think about.

What to do?

I’m not going to get all upset and run to Wendy’s for a triple with Bacon. I’ve always had trouble around the 250 mark and its always been such a pain in the ass to break through. Th only thing I can do is just stick with what I’m doing and make some adjustments. Being that I’m leaving Wednesday for California I’m going to have a hard time tracking any changes that I make. This could just be a plateau and my weight always fluctuates anyway.

When I get back I want to start challenging myself. Both fitness wise and eating I’m going to add exercises and take some food out that’s no good. I can do this for about three weeks because I have another vacation coming up in the end of March. I will keep the blog updated with any challenges I do.

I’m falling of track with my weight loss projection worksheet so I’m just going to make edits to update the weight where I’m at now.

 

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