Droped calories again

Started taking two tablespoons of flaxseed oil. That has upped my calories by 260 so I've had to drop my calorie intake to 6x body weight.

Still targeting the end of April to be down to 200-205lbs. As I've got it in my head that I want to be able to see my lower abs I may have to drop below 200. At this point I can't see dropping below 180 but I can't be sure.

Calisthenics are progressing slowly but well. Doing push ups with my feet propped up on a 3' box. I still need elastic bands to help with my chin ups. Ab roll outs are a hard one to measure progress on but I'm happy with them. Currently doing two super sets of the following (subsets are done per minute for 30 minutes overall):

5 squats + 5 ab roll outs (minutes 1-5 & 16-20)
5 squats + 5 chins (minutes 6-10 & 21-25)
5 squats + 5 elevated push ups (minutes 11-15 & 26-30)

When I'm doing ab roll outs from my feet (instead of knees), true chins (no bands), and true head stand push ups I'll decide on if I want to combine all three and squats per minute or to work on explosive (i.e. jump) versions of the squats, chins, and push ups.

Interesting thing about the lowered calories is the lowered energy and motivation levels. I think the lowered energy levels negate the ease I should feel from the weight loss. Once I hit my goal body fat percentage and start upping my calories I'll be able to do more (swimming laps and running are two things that come to mind) and that will mean I'll need more calories in order to maintain body weight. At this point I'll need to figure out what milestones will need to be met before I start adding muscle. I hate cardio but with the allergies and asthma I'll need to suck it up and do it if I want to progress. I would think cardio and maintaining strength in the calisthenics will be the deciding factor on when I would stop trying to gain muscle. I was thinking, say, 2x body weight in a squat or deadlift would be a good indicator but I remember when I had OK gym lifts but was pretty weak compared to my body weight.

Satisfaction and Irritation

Well I'm down to 235 and I'm guessing that 10% body fat will put me at 200.

Based on my activity level I'm finding seven times my body weight to be a good weight loss calorie intake.

Why is this irritating? Well, when I moved down here at the end of 2005... before my allergies put me down... when I was weightlifting 4-5 times a week, I was 256 and wore size 36 pants (35 if I could find a pair that had room for my thighs). As of today I could just squeeze into 36 pants.

What does that mean? It means I've lost well over 20 pounds of muscle.

Oh well.

My allergies and exercise induced asthma may not yet allow me to play with the weights but I'm now able to push myself and progress with my calisthenics.

More Truth

Truth

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In a funk for a while now.

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Touched 259 twice and then started bouncing in the 260s again

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Weight range 10/7 - 10/23: 259 - 265

Wooo! out of the 260s!

Weight range 9/30 - 10/7: 260.5 - 267

Weight range 9/16 - 9/29: 261.5 - 268

Figured out the water retention.

A few years ago I did a atkin's like diet with great success. I apparently don't do well with carbs.

Well, I was saying openly since the end of last year bad financial times are coming and now they are here. The wife and I have been modifying our buying habits since the beginning of the year and our diet is one of those things.

I'm thinking my issues with carbs might be fiber related. Need to slow the uptake. Breakfast (sweet potato) and lunch (soup and salad) are set. I just need more fiber in my dinners. Several times the past two weeks I've had carb heavy dinners and I can see them show up on the scale.

Weight range 9/4 - 9/16: 262.5 - 267

A good deal of water retention for some reason.

I'll start taking dandelion root soon.

Weight range: 264-271

Made the mistake of indulging in some biscuits and honey. Always bloat up on bready stuff. Even when I watch the calories

Weight range: 265-268

I started experimenting with various herbs looking to start making skin care and first aid lotions/balms (my wife tells me that they sell well). In researching I found several herbs that could make an energy drink. That energy drink was a success but with one of the herbs, eleuthero, it was suggested that four weeks on and two off was best.

Last week I started the two weeks off. I suspect that is why my weight loss slowed. That and I experimented with ginger and I found it had a side effect of stimulating appetite a *great* deal.

Hopefully things will be getting back on track here.

Weight range: 266-268.5

Hmm

Weight range

266.5 - 369.5

It is looking like I set my time horizon too early on my options.

SKF was a pure bet and I'm not going to be too sad if I don't make it.

GM I think will go below $7.50, but I'm now thinking that won't happen before September or October.

Ehh, live and learn.

I did hit 267 though.

Weight range

269.5 - 272.5

Seems I broke into the 260s early.

Yay?

Weight range this week

271.5 - 273

Seems the range is shrinking.

In my geekdom, I've created daily and weekly charts. Weekly chart indicates I'll not see the 260s until 7th

Forgot to post.

The week of the 11th with 2500 calories had my weight moving in a range of 274-277.

This irritated me a great deal so I decided on moving down to 8x body weight in calories. I'm planning on dropping 100 calories a week until I get there.

My bodyweight range on 2400 calories this week has been 274-278 and an average of one pound less than last week.

June was a strange month

For the whole of June I felt like my allergies had taken over.

The whole month was a blur and yet pollen.com said pollen was low in my area. Not sure what to think.

Weight today is 277. I had been hoping that I'd drop under 270 by mid July. I still may but I'm not sure.

I hit 279 the first day of June which made me very happy. Then I proceeded to bounce back up to 286 and then down to 279 twice more.

I'm assuming this was due to my lowered activity level from my allergies taking over.

Presently taking in 2500 calories or x9 body weight. That seemed to get my weight loss back on track.

Total weight loss - 51 lbs
Monthly weight loss - 2 lbs

No pump yet and

WOOT!

I'm under 280 today. My wife said my pants are way too loose and in trying to figure out what size to get it looks like I may be down to 42.

Yay

Update: Yep, 42" jeans. A 42" in dress pants fits at the waist, but the rear and thighs are too tight. Seems they make pants for chicken legged people.

Weird that the jeans fit well and the dress pants don't. It's normally the other way around.

Ehh

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Rereading the ebay listing for my pump, yesterday was the earliest it would've arrived. So sometime next week.

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Oh, we picked up the Angel Food chow. First up was the breaded frying chicken. This was interesting because my quartermistress has proscribed fried foods. This meant that the thick breading that might have been real good fried up ended up being a bit soggy baked. Regardless the meat was flavorful and juicy. A bit more fatty than she normally picks up but that added to the flavor.

I had thought I liked it as much as I did because I was doing a lot of yard work and was pretty hungry. That was until I saw that my daughter cleaned the bones on her serving. Which is something I've never seen her do.

Blasted Allergies

and a squirrel update.

Seems that three days of spending a great deal of time outdoors has got my allergies up.

Gotta love that dizzy, tight chest feeling! Add in the weird very-aware-of-my-pulse thing that happens when the pollen gets to me.

WHEEEE!!!

But in better news, it appears that squirrels don't like hot sauce. I've doused both front and rear feeders and while I've seen them foraging around the fallen seed, they haven't been gorging at the feeder itself. The birds continue to come and they are now hunting a larger area of my property.

The hot sauce doesn't work so well for the normal suet. Seems the squirrels just scrape away the outside and eat away. I'm trying a hot pepper suet that my wife picked up on a lark. Hopefully that'll do the trick.

Oh yeah, I heard an owl the other day. I need to read up on if they prey on some of the birds I'm pulling and if they take the chipmunks and squirrels I'm seeing.

Life has a funny way of getting in the way

I live yet!

Lowest bodyweight drop was to 285.5 last Sunday. I've been bouncing from that to 290 all week. If recent history is any guide, I should be breaching upper 270 around the middle of next month.

Juniper pollen laid me low earlier this year and Birch (I think.. possibly Maple) was giving me grief recently.

A very happy note, the allergy shots appear to be working. I've been on the maintenance dose for a little over a year now. I'm now able to get to yard work that would have left me gasping for breath within a half hour. I'm well pleased.


That and my experiment with square foot gardening has kept me from this blog and my stones. Granted, I'm now positive my wife is correct that I'm finding everything in my power to avoid the moonstone and rhodochrosite because it had been giving me such grief.

Currently I'm focusing on yard work that has been put off since late 2005 that *must* be tended.

More questions than answers

There has been an insane cold bug floating around the area and it was my turn to catch it.

Yuk.

A curious thing showed itself regarding my diet. On increasing my calories quickly I found that I started to gain weight. So I stopped adding calories at 2600 and after a week I started losing weight again.

Then this cold hit and I changed my calorie intake to mainly soups. After a few days I dropped down to 294.

In the past I've had problems with carbs. Mainly from bloating. Maybe I need to find a way to bring in more meat somehow.

I'm hesitant on messing with something that controls my hunger so well. But when it causes 4-8 pounds of bloating over the week? That and I'm starting to develop heartburn. Back in the early 90s I ate way too many carbs and I developed acid reflux. When I cut out the carbs it went away. So I might not have a choice in the matter.