100 days of weight loss

Having whittled down the pounds to 160 by late summer, I let things slip a bit, and then took a long trip to Africa (hardly any running!), with predictable outcome: back to 173 pounds, body fat percentage way up there.  I don't even want to look at the bodyfat measuring calipers right now.

So we are essentially back where we started in early April this year.  Nice, real nice... :-(


I guess the only way out of this is to get a jumpstart on New Year's resolutions by starting a 100 day weight loss program today.  Nothing like the present.  So here goes with Day #1. 

Pretty decent nutrition with raisin bran for breakfast, a veggieburger for lunch, some leftover udon noodles and edame for a snack, and Cuban black bean stew & brown rice with some steamed corn for dinner.  Just white tea and water otherwise. 

Plenty of exercise.  One hour session (mostly arms, chest & some abs) with the personal trainer and 5.44 miles running (approx. 10 minute pace) with Leopold and Lewis.  It is almost a resistance workout running with those two; they are constantly dragging me in the direction of other dogs, rabbits or squirrels.  Fortunately not under a bus yet. Have to do something about Leopold's dog-agressive behaviour.  He is such a sweet animal, just adorable but must have had a bad experience with another dog sometime in his past.  Where is the dog whisperer guy when you need him.  I haven even seen him on TV lately.  Been watching too many episodes of Dexter. 

100 days of weight loss, incidentally, is the title of an e-book I found on Amazon/Kindle. 

 One of the things you have to do is to write down 10 reasons why you want to lose the weight.  Ten might a few too many but I can think of 5:

1)  To improve my running speed.  In about 5 months I will be entering a new age bracket and it will likely be my last best chance to do some damage in the age group competition. But not if I look like Jared when he was still wearing those big big pants.
2)  Fit into my clothes.  A couple of years ago I had a bunch of my pants taken in by 2 inches or so.  I can't very well go back to the same tailor person now and stupidly ask for them to be taken out again.  So suck it up buttercup and drop the elbees.
3)  See my abs one last time.  Yeah there comes a time when abs disappear for good: unless I uncover them pretty quickly they will go the way of the Edsel and the manual typewriter, or join Jimmy Hoffa in an undisclosed location, never to be seen again.
4)  Be able to run without a shirt next spring/summer.
5)  Maintain good health.  Too much blubber around the middle and my cholesterol is bound to increase beyond acceptable levels, and I definitely do not want to have issues with borderline high blood sugar levels again. 

Weight today:  173
Bodyfat percentage:  In denial, will check tomorrow.

Where is the speed coming from?

On Tuesday night at Rice University track I cranked out the first of three mile repeats at a pace of 6:29 which is about as fast as I've run a mile in many years. It was nearly 95F so conditions were not ideal, not that it matters that much just for one mile.  The other two were considerably slower at 6:38 and 6:51 - clearly by then fatigue was setting in.

Even so, I am thrilled with just one fast mile: something is working.  Clearly the weight loss is a major factor but it is not the only one. Strength workouts with the personal trainer is another, as are the Airrosti treatments which include some significant stretching of amongst other the quads.  I'm also starting to suspect that the daily 45-minute walks with Daisy (at a very very brisk pace of 15 minutes per mile) is strengthening my upper legs which also boosts running speed. Pure guess on that one, but having run for 40 years I can definitely feel the difference.  Of course I'm also in the middle of a marathon training cycle so overall fitness & endurance is much higher than it has been for months.

Almost halfway into Week 11 of the Hal Higdon Intermediate II marathon training program.  This will be the first of three 50-mile weeks (week 11, 13 and 15) before the taper starts on week 16.  Somehow or other - mostly with the help of running friends who are graciously supplying SAG support on Sundays for the long runs - a few of us are actually training trough this streak of 100F weather which has now reached 17 (probably 18 by the end of today) days in a row, and a few in July as well.

Weight is the same this week as last - 161 - but body fat percentage is down to 15%. 

Airrosti treatment for plantar fasciitis

Had my first 1-hour long session of Airrosti treatment yesterday.  In addition to some diagnostics - I already knew what the issue was so the doc pretty much just confirmed it - it consisted of a very intensive massaging/manipulation of the fascia on the bottom of the foot and also the left calf. Extremely painful in both instances. I was given a small 'stress relief' squeeze ball to hold and I practically poked holes in that thing. 

The good thing about Airrosti treatment?  You do not have to cut down or quit running or whatever type of exercise you are doing.  So I went out and ran mile repeats at Rice:  on a very hot afternoon (around 90F) knocked off 4 miles at 6:48, 6:50, 6:51 and 6:42.  Heart rate in the 150's for each of them, the last two occasionally into the 160's.  On a 1-mile time trial I ought be able to get pretty close to 6:20 or so, need to do that one of these days or enter a 5-K.  Will definitely do that as soon as the worst of the heat is behind us!

By this morning the foot is definitely much improved. Considerably less pain upon waking up and taking that dreaded first step. Considering the stress I put on it last night with the track workout, that is pretty remarkable.  I have to do a few stretches and some icing every day, will go back for a second treatment next Monday. 

Weigh-in Wednesday:  Down to 161lbs this morning.  Total loss since April now 14 lbs, 11 to go to 150.  Considering the heavy mileage weeks ahead - several around 50 miles per week - I probably won't quite make it to 150 by Oct 9.  If I can be at around 155 lining up at the start of the race that morning, it will be fine.   

Less 'fun' calories says the dietician

I received my first feedback from the dietician after having sent her two weeks’ worth of food logs. Everything a-ok except for the percentage of 'fun' calories.  You know, the cupcakes, juice, wine, beer, gin & tonics, Cokes, vegan brownies, lemon bars and assorted other sweet treats, etc.  I am supposed to limit my 'fun calorie' intake to no more than 100 per day.  100?  That is maybe one ultra lite beer (yuk) or a tiny little bag with artificial fruit pellets that even a hamster would frown at.

I have had a love-love relationship with fun calories all my life.  I love them and they love me right back, making themselves comfortable in cozy little clusters around my midriff.  I only have to look down to see quite a few old friends whom I’ve been taking for a free ride since college days. 

In fact, there was a time – my 20’s and 30’s – when I would have been embarrassed to send a food log to a dietician.  Fun calories would have been the dominant ‘food group’ on the list, back then.   Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. At least until I reach my goal weight I am going to have to say sayonara to all those fun calories. Don’t worry guys, your time will come again, after the October marathon.  Maybe in Africa in November. Until then, you will have to make way for some 'serious' protein.  The dietician tells me that I need about 60 to 69 grams of protein per day.  This will help my body recover during training.  So bring on the tofu, chickpeas and beans.  Let’s see how much fun we can have with that.  On the menu for this evening:  grilled tofu with chimichurri sauce. 

Friday weigh-in & marathon training update

Still steadily dropping some weight; down to 163, total of 12 lbs since April.  Additional long (45 minutes) walks with Daisy seem to be doing the trick.  The idea with the walking - at a pace of about 15 minutes per mile - is to increase fat loss without putting too much stress on the leg muscles, bones & joints.  Of course I could also increase my weekly running mileage but the risk of injury goes up exponentially, and intensive aerobic exercise like running tends to burn a lower percentage of fat. Running consumes a much higher overall number of calories per time unit, than walking.  So ergo, if you run for 30 minutes versus 30 minutes of walking, running is by far the most effective weight loss tool.  Up to the point where injuries start being a factor.

Have now completed 6 weeks of the Hal Higdon Intermediate II training program.  So far so good. Long runs still very slow but there's only so much you can do under these extreme temperatures. I try to keep my heart rate under 140bpm on the regular training runs, and close to 150 or so on the Saturday pace runs.  Completed last Saturday's 7-mile pace run at the planned 8:35 pace overall, even though the last couple of miles or so were considerably slower. Struggled mightily with an 8 mile mid-week run on Wednesday morning; seemed to run out of gas after 6 miles. Pretty dreadful.
 
Coming up?  An 8 mile pace run this Saturday and then a 16 miler on Sunday. At least on Sunday I will be with some other Strider running buddies!

Wednesday Weigh-in

Just like my weight loss, I am being a bit slow to report... Somehow or other (mostly more running I think!) I managed to eke out one more pound loss last week, so now down to 164.  Starting to generate daily logs to send through to the dietician every Friday.  It wouldn't look good to have donuts, candy bars and Pop Tarts on there, so I am not having any of them...

Whatever do they put in a 'pop tart' that bumps up the calorie count for that tiny little thing to 200?  Sugar, for sure. Which also happens to my dietary achilles heel.

It could be worse; I might have a hankering for old-fashioned hot dogs, the really greasy kind made with an assortment of 'variety meats' and other odds and ends such as nitrates, a suspected carcinogen. Not that it stops people from eating them.

To the contrary.  Increasingly over the last few years, the so-called sport of competitive eating has been rearing its gluttonous head with more and more publicity being given to a series of bizarre contests with 'professional eaters' going at it hammer and tongues to outdo each other in scarfing down vast amounts of whatever is put in front of them.

How far have we sunk into the pit of unbridled gluttony when ESPN feels compelled to add a female category to the annual pinnacle of gross eating, also known as Nathan's Hotdog eating contest.  I am clearly missing something because thousands of spectators (TV audience) apparently think it is amusing or interesting to see how many hotdogs the invited participants can jam down their gullets in a pre-determined time.  Many people have a different take on this and if you find nothing objectionable about this sporting event, so be it.  To each his own. Personally I think it is yet another example of what H.L. Mencken said about nobody ever losing money by underestimating the taste of the American people.

Wednesday Weigh in

It was not by much, but my Tanita scale (the only place where I'm still 54!) settled at 165 this morning, so I am 'officially' 10 pounds down from 175, over the course of just about 10 weeks.  The next goal post is of course 160, where I've been a couple of times over the last few years.  At the rate we're going, it won't be until the end of July or early August, but that's ok.  It would not be possible or even sensible to try to speed up the weight loss process in the middle of a marathon training program.  It is tough enough already to maintain the daily calorie intake at 1800.

Recap:

Week 1: -1
Week 2: -1
Week 3: -3
Week 4:  0
Week 5: -1
Week 6: -1
Week 7:  0

Week 8: -1

Week 9: -1

Week 10: -1

Starting weight: 175
Current weight: 165

Loss to date: 10 lbs.

150 or Bust: 72 days down, 101 to go.

Running is going as well as can be expected in the Texas heat.  Completed first 3 weeks of 18-week Hal Higdon program, no hiccups so far.  Doing the longer runs at < 140 HR which translates into some pretty slow miles at times, but I have learned that lesson the hard way.  'Race' your regular runs and you've got nothing left for speed work or tempo runs, not to mention increasing the risk of injury or even becoming over trained.  Struggled a bit to maintain my pace during last Saturday's 6 mile pace run; ended up at 8:38 instead of the planned 8:35 pace.  No big deal this early on.  Yesterday's mile repeats at Rice University track were much more encouraging.  The first two were at about 7:42 and 7:35 respectively (botched the timing on the last one; it was slower).  It was around 94F so I was quite happy with the outcome.  Carrying quite a few less pounds around the middle is starting to make a difference!

Weigh-in Wednesday

Completed first week of 18-week Hal Higdon Intermediate II marathon training program.  26 miles total, with Sunday's 10-miler - started a little late so it got too hot - by far the toughest workout.  Still waffling a bit on target pace; will likely try for 3:45 which would put the marathon pace at 8:34.  I think.  

I will be modifying the program just slightly by doing the Tuesday and Thursday runs as mile repeats and tempo runs respectively.  Starting with 3 and increasing up to 5 or so total mile repeats on the track on Tuesdays at a heart rate of around 155.  The Thursday run will be at tempo pace with the heart rate around 150 or so, depending upon what our group leader Steve has up his sleeve.

I did my first 'Body Pump' barbell workout last night at Rice Rec Center.  Light weight, lots of repetition, great fun. It will probably get more challenging as I increase the weight.  There were only 4 of us, so it was practically like having a personal trainer!

Weight is down to 167.
 
Week 1: -1
Week 2: -1
Week 3: -3
Week 4:  0
Week 5: -1
Week 6: -1
Week 7:  0

Week 8: -1

Starting weight: 175
Current weight: 167

Ten pound loss is within sight!

150 or Bust: 58 days down, 115 to go.

Dropping some elbees

The kitchen scale was kind to me this morning, registering 163 compared with 168 just a week ago, on Dec 31 2009. Down 5 pounds in a week, baby! The causes? Eating less/smaller portions, very little to no snacking between meals, almost no junk food, practically no sugar and more exercise. In addition to the 3 X hour-long workouts with Gamell on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Kathleen and I have been running every day so far in 2010. A run tonight will bring our streak to 7, but as much as I'm tempted, I won't try to maintain it. Tomorrow (Friday) will be a no run day as usual. We're not 18 or even 38 years old anymore... Last night I went out with Daisy for 5 easy miles along Buffalo Bayou. There seemed to be more rabbits out and about than usual. I wonder if they can sense the impending cold spell, which has now been talked about as much as the boy in a balloon incident. Can it just please get cold now so that we don't have to read one more story about wrapping pipes, taking in the pets etc. People with pets really don't need to be told to bring them in when it gets around 20F.

What is on the menu, you may ask? Well this week we had Red Beans and Rice on Monday, just like everybody in Louisiana. One of my all-time favorites and we make it with not a drop of oil or of course, big chunks of greasy sausage. I do compromise a bit on the rice: Red Beans and Rice is served with white rice, not brown. Even in this mostly vegan household. Another main course was Chickpea noodle soup (from Veganomicon), tasty and satisfying with a nice vegetable broth, some onions, mushrooms, fresh rosemary and thyme from the herb garden, chickpeas from the pressure cooker, soba noodles and brown rice miso. Delicious - and we didn't need anything else with it other than Kathleen's famous green salad. Veganomicon featured heavily this week. We also enjoyed marinated Curried Tofu, which I bake on a pizza stone in the oven, and serve with a little bit of chutney, fresh green beans and chunks of butternut squash steamed in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes. On today's menu: Chickpeas Romesco from Veganomicon as well. We've tried it before and the savory fire-roasted tomato sauce with roasted red peppers and ground almonds is a winner! On Friday it will be whole wheat pasta with a marinara sauce.

New Year's Day at the local gym

I recently joined a small start-up gym just down the road from where we live on Memorial Drive in west Houston. It is very convenient - literally walking distance from the house, about 2 minutes jogging. Here are a few pics taken by MyFitness at Memorial owner Gamell Bell, during a workout on New Year's Day.

MyFitness at Memorial gym owner Gamell Bell

Ran 5 miles with Daisy, third day in a row to do 5 miles. I think the dog enjoys the running even more than I do. Always on the lookout for rabbits, squirrels and other urban wildlife such as armadillos and possums. It's a jungle out there! Kathleen did 8 miles back to back the last couple of days. We are not used to the cool conditions, but happy to take advantage of such fine running weather! Hopefully it will last through the Houston Marathon on Jan 17.