August 1st, 2011 - Phase 2 begins! (with weigh-in)

Well, it's been a long and crazy bit since my last bunch of regular posts. Tech problems plus an extremely busy schedule contributed to this, but now it's time to move on to the next phase of my diet plan. Phase 2, to be exact. But first, the official weigh-in:


Previous weight (May 28th): 372.3
Current weight (August 1st): 379.7

+/-: +7.4 lbs
Total weight-loss to date: 18.6 lbs


Well, frankly this is better than I expected. Near daily weighings had me as high as 384 at one point, but I've been trying to see how my body is reacting to not being on the regular diet weeks as they were in the past and how effective my changed eating habits were. Now I know. And yes, I had weak moments. Made some less than stellar choices for my dining options from time to time, but everybody does.


So, you're asking what Phase 2 consists of. As hinted in the last couple posts, the soup will be a mainstay of the diet. However, I'll be augmenting constant protein into my daily meal plans. This means I'll be eating a bunch of chicken, some pork, some beef, maybe lamb and goat from time to time (don't knock it if you haven't tried it), in addition to healthy diet choices like salads, veggies, fruits, etc. There will be carbs, and probably there will be some meals where I choose a less-than-healthy option, but it's ok; it's like one drop of salt water in Crater Lake. A fresh batch of soup is in the makes today.


Also in the plans for Phase 2 are 3 lifting days at the gym each week. One day will be devoted to upper body, one day for lower body, and one for the core. Why you ask? Well, one thing I learned long ago was that aerobic exercise is all well and good, but nothing burns fat like muscle does. The more muscle you have, the more fat you burn. So I want to put on some muscle to help fire up my metabolism.


Also, I'm going to be out on the bike much more. I'm going to try and target a one hour ride twice a week, plus (weather permitting) riding to Smokey's and back on one of my work days. I recently did the latter last weekend, shaving 10 minutes off of my travel time to work and a whopping hour and forty minutes off the return time (a easier route made a big difference though, although my improved physical conditioning played a major part as well). This will give me aerobic exercise in addition to the lifting.


This may be added to as things progress, but these are the three big tenets to Phase 2. These should really help me out in my weight loss journey.


As always, thank you for reading. I was happy to hear so many of you commenting on your notice of no entries. It means a lot that you read and encourage me, and push me when I slack. Your encouragement is a big reason why I continue to carry on.


Cheers!