This was a crazy first week of my weight loss challenge. I learned a few things along the way and will pass them along to you in this blog post. Naturally, I have results to report that you’ll be interested in hearing. I think you will want to read this and jump on in; it’s not too late to join in the weight loss challenge!
As I tend to do in most areas of life, I jumped in full throttle, to the point I think I almost killed myself! Alright, so a little over dramatic there, but I definitely pushed things a bit too far the first three days this week. Because my blood type is O,I do extremely well on the South Beach Diet anyway. Again, this is a book that is a must read if you are intending to lose weight and not only that,but you will do much better in other areas as well. On this diet,my cholesterol gets crazy healthy, even more so than when I take my statin drugs. Last time I did the diet, my cholesterol was 126 which seems odd as I am eating a lot of meat and fats, albeit healthy fats. Anyway, if you don’t know your blood type, it is quick, easy and cheap to find out. I will put a link to a blood type test kit you can get on amazon.com as well as another book where you can learn about diet and blood types called, “Metabolic Typing.”
So back to my point. The diet is great once I break my insulin resistance, which normally takes about 2 or 3 days for me. After that point, no headaches, no shakes and I feel great! Now on to the crazy part! I was wearing a Fit Bit and had the goal of at least 10k per day. I guess in some areas I like to be an over-achiever, and considering my wife wears a Fit Bit as well, there was a bit of in-house rivalry going on! Day one of my program,I crushed it! I had just under 23,000 steps! I had burned over 3,000 calories, (1 pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories). Plus the diet for me tends to burn a pound or so per day anyway. Day 2 I went a little easier on myself and did just over 18,000 steps! Still pretty nice however I began feeling pretty woozy! I was overall weak and tired most of the time and I shrugged it off and kept going. Day 3 was somewhere in the 17,000 step range and I can’t tell you how crazy wiped out I was. I honestly wasn’t feeling too great at this point so determined to knock it off for a day or two with the nutty exercise thing.
Well, I have since balanced things out with days of rest and days of decent exercise. Absolutely way more active overall than before and feeling a difference in my overall health to the positive. My wife can tell a physical difference in me,especially in my face. The final weight loss total for the week is 8 1/2 pounds down! I started at 241 and am now 232 1/2. Not too shabby!
One caution, if you are a bit manic with the working out and low carb diet workout regimen, be certain to drink plenty of water! You must keep your kidneys flushed out to avoid issues. This past February, I went cold turkey with soft drinks. I was a Coke-a-holic to be sure. I would easily drink a 2 liter plus per week. If I have the equivalent of a single can of Sprite in a month, that’s a lot for me now as I really do not have anything unless I happen to be someplace where good clean filtered water or unsweet iced tea are not an option.
I may offer up an update sometime during the week if news warrants it. Otherwise, I will update again this coming Sunday or Monday. I fully expect to report that I am somewhere in the mid 220’s.
Oh, by the way, I think I also should mention that I did not “torture’ myself all week with carb deprivation. Saturday morning I am pretty adamant about having my breakfast from Dunkin’ Donuts! My coffee has cream but no sugar and do indeed get a croissant with egg and cheese and turkey sausage and, yes ma’am, there is a donut involved! I admit though, I felt pretty lousy after eating all those carbs after not having any all week. Will that stop me next Saturday? No! Then last night I had 3 slices of pizza! Pizza and water, yum! Ok, so the water part was not exciting, but I enjoyed my pizza time. So I did indeed reward myself for behaving all week. Now, had I abstained from these pleasures I likely would be just under 230, so I likely cost myself 2 or 3 pounds of weight loss. In the end, I am ok with that! I am keeping my eye on the big picture and 8 1/2 pounds is pretty awesome!