And this is why it's bad to lose weight through diet alone

This is traditionally the point at which I'd become frustrated in diets past. And once again, I'm frustrated. I'm at 217. Still. After about a month of being at or near 217. This is what is technically known as a Weight Loss Plateau.

See...I theorized early on in my diet that I should have a diet plan that closely matches my current lifestyle so that I could maintain it for the rest of my life. I made some modest changes to my physical activity. But most of my changes were dietary. I ate fewer calories, ate more vegetables.

Here's the problem with that, though. When you lose weight through reduced calories, you lose muscle --> and when you lose muscle your metabolism slows --> and when your metabolism slows, you need fewer calories to get by.

And when you need fewer calories to get by....suddenly you find that a reduced calorie diet isn't causing weight loss anymore. Oops.

Here's what the Mayo Clinic has to say:

A plateau occurs because your metabolism — the process of burning calories for energy — slows as you lose muscle. You burn fewer calories than you did at your heavier weight even doing the same activities. Your weight-loss efforts result in a new equilibrium with your now slower metabolism.

At this new equilibrium, calories eaten equals calories expended. This means that to lose more weight, you need to increase activity or decrease the calories you eat. Using the same approach that worked initially may maintain your weight loss, but it won't lead to more weight loss.

So I've been getting up in the morning and taking long walks. Lifting weights in the basement while watching Scrubs on my Laptop via Netflix. Also...a nasty flu has given me a healthy headwind. Though we're back to the muscle loss thing.

The moral of the story: An effective weightloss regimen needs some form of muscle building or muscle maintaining exercise.

Dieatary change alone is going to lead to a hard core plateau as your body constantly slows its metabolism.

Here's some suggestions from the Mayo Clinic:

• Reassess your habits. Look back at your food and activity records. Make sure you haven't loosened the rules, letting yourself get by with larger portions or less exercise.


• Cut more calories. Reduce your daily calorie intake by 200 calories — provided this doesn't put you below 1,200 calories. Fewer than 1,200 calories a day may not be enough to keep you from feeling hungry all of the time, which increases your risk of overeating. In addition, this reduced calorie intake should be sustainable. If not, you'll regain the weight you've lost and more.


• Rev up your workout. Increase the amount of time you exercise by an additional 15 to 30 minutes. You might also try increasing the intensity of your exercise, if you feel that's possible. Additional exercise will cause you to burn more calories. Consider adding resistance or muscle-building exercises. Increasing your muscle mass will help you burn more calories.


• Pack more activity into your day. Think outside the gym. Increase your general physical activity throughout the day by walking more and using your car less, or try doing more yardwork or vigorous spring cleaning.
  

The next challenge is, what type of exercise would I incorporate that I'd be willing to do for the rest of my life?

Okay, okay. I'll Exercise.

Excercise.

I've started incorporating more exercise into my weight loss journey.

My weightloss stalled out in March. I didn't gain. But I didn't lose. Basically, I ate too much. Though here's the kicker...I didn't really each more than I had been eating a couple months ago.

One ironic weightloss twist is this: the less you weigh the slower your weightloss. And there's a very simple reason for that. In my case, I'm no longer lugging around an extra 33 pounds of fat everywhere I go. As it turns out, carrying 33 extra pounds with you everywhere you go really helps speed up the weight loss.

But now I'm 33 pounds lighter and I need to stay ever more strict about my caloric intake. There's a lot less wiggle room now. UNLESS I exercise. I'm going to continue trying to stay at 2100 calories per day to meet my ideal weight of 180. But with exercise, it's going to give me a little more freedom for if I go over a bit...and it'll pick up the pace of my weight loss to what I'd become accustomed do. Besides, it's probably good for my heart.

4:30 AM. Couldn't' Sleep. Did some push ups. Felt Relaxed. Slept.

Push-ups.

This morning I got up at 4:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. Normally I would have spent that time blogging and wasting time on Facebook, but instead I did some push ups. I went into my "Weight Room" by which I mean the "Basement" next to the "Furnace" and I lifed some of the weights I got for Christmas several years ago.

After the pushups and the weights, I felt great! I felt wonderful. I felt relaxed. I fell asleep easily and slept great for the next four hours until my sweet little boys started climbing on me.

You'd think that since lifting weights makes me feel so good and since I have them at my disposal I'd be using them all the time, right? Well...you'd think wrong. I have traditionally only used them only a few times per year. I moved them upstairs last year thinking the problem was that they were in the basement...I used them even LESS...AND I had to get all nervous because my kids were climbing on and around large chunks of steel (**crack** WAAAAAHHHH...**911**).

So I eventually moved them back into the basement.

The problem wasn't one of location. It was just a problem of using the damn things. I've been getting down into the basement at least once a week now. I'm going to try to step that up to three times per week, in addition to my usual diet.

I haven't been able to breat 224 all month, and that's my own damn fault. I've come too far to give up, now. All I need to do is lose 5 more pounds and I have my weight goal for February. That's still well within the realm of possibility.

Bundle Up and Move Around

Ice skating is a wonderfully human activity. To go from "WHOOOOAAAHH ooohh nooo...gaaah...it's COLD and this ice is SLIPPERY!" to "WOOHOOO! It's COLD! And this ice is SLIPPERY!" is just about as optimistic as a mammal can get. It's cold, it's slippery, we're stuck inside....let's strap some steel to our feet and slip around on the lake for a bit.

That's what we did yesterday, the boys and I. Except it was more of a parking lot than a lake. We rented skates. The bigger boy got into it right away. The smaller boy kept falling on his bottom. Me, I gracefully stumbled around the rink like a massive drunken cupie doll. Good for morale for the boys to see their father as uncertain on the ice as they are....or maybe more uncertain on the ice as they are. At least that's what I told myself.

Anyway, the point is, it was a concerted effort to get out of the house and move around, and darnit...it was fun. I burned about 500 calories and spent some quality time with my wee boys.

The notion of working out at a gym is great and all. And I highly recommend it...**cough** for myself, as well. But it can be intimidating for some of us who are a bit on the doughy side.

Even in the winter there's stuff going on:

- sledding, which is free if you get creative with the sleds. Or you can get a nice plastic one for under $8.
- ice skating, often for the price of skate rentals - used skates can be found at the local second hand stores if you shop around for a bit.
- trudging through the snow
- ice fishing....which...is really more about drinking beer while sitting on the ice than exercise I guess.

Bundle up and get out there. I'm going to try to do the same.

Huff, puff, huff, puff...okay....did my exercise for today.

There are always reasons not to get exercise. Because you're sick. Because you're terrified of getting mugged or "jumped" by your neighbors during an evening stroll. Because you're busy.

I ran down my own personal list of reasons this morning and finally came to the conclusion that for me, I was just being lazy. I had dropped my boys off at my wife's store so I could have some time to get some work done. On my way home I stopped by the State Park, jumped out of the car, and walked up the 200 step dune climb. Then I came back down and drove home huffing and puffing.

The exercise session took all of 15 minutes out of my day.

Honestly, I'm feeling quite a bit more alert than if I had not exercised at all. So I'm hoping I'll be more productive today.

Stick to Workouts You Like: Such As Attacking Things With an Axe

I hear it's important to find an exercise plan that you actually enjoy and that's why I've given up running.

I can't stand it.

The whole world of weight loss seems somehow festooned with self deceit. Convincing yourself you enjoy rice cakes. Convincing yourself that fat free dairy is actually food. Convincing yourself that tomorrow you'll do that super-healthy thing, or stop doing that horribly unhealthy thing.

I seem to have an easier time with it when I stop with the lies. And one of the lies I told myself was that I was going to become one of those running guys. For the longest time I told myself I was going to become a running guy. I'd get up at the ass crack of dawn, put on my Speedos and running shoes and I'd run around the neighborhood waving, all grins, at my neighbors. All summer long I planned to become that guy.

It never happened.

Why?

Because I HATE running. I HATE it.

It's not the exercise. It's the running.

Do you know what I like? Like splitting wood. I love it. I love to beat the crap out of massive logs with a maul, and hear that satisfying crack as the massive stump finally gives in, the high pitched pop as the smaller segments fly apart. I love bearing down on oak and beech with as much force as I can muster.



Yessir...There really is nothing more satisfying or stress relieving to me than attacking things with an axe.

I hope the FBI doesn't take that out of context.

Plus, chopping wood burns about 600+ calories per hour. And stacking and carrying it takes up about 500+ calories per hour. Not sure how many calories cutting up logs with a chainsaw is, but dang that chainsaw is heavy.

The point is....when you're working out, stick to the stuff you enjoy. Or you'll never do it.

Morning - Thoughts on GETTING RIPPED

Like every morning when I'm awake and alert and not hung over I wake with enthusiasm:

"I'm going to eat a healthy breakfast of celery and carrots and then I'm going to the GYM! I'm going to work my PECS....RRRRRRRRRRR!!! YEAH! My PECS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ROAR! I'm going to work my triceps and biceps and my monoceps and quintupleceps. ALL my ceps will be WORKED and I'll be RIPPED!!!"

And that briefly sounds awesome when I wake up in sort of a vague, I'll do it some time later today, sort of way.

But then I think "Ah geeze, I WOULD get ripped and stuff but I have to go to my son's student conferences." and "Oh yeah! I have that deadline I need to meet"

And little by little the day gets chipped away with responsibilities and excuses. This happens every day and by the end of the year I've never gotten ripped, and only spent a slight one nighter, or brief two-week fling with the gym.

Today.....is likely no exception. I'm all prepared to get RIPPED today. But I actually do have student conferences to go to, and I actually do have to pick my son up from school early, and I actually do have a deadline I need to meet....and gosh the gym seems so far away.

But maybe....

Maybe I'll just do it. I'll just DO it and see if my world collapses in on itself like I imagine it will. I'll get this tiny boy dressed, take him to his pre-school, and head to the gym to get RIPPED.

By the way...I work from home. I do web stuff, and I write stuff. This type of going to the gym is probably a quadrillion times harder for people who can't make the decision just to go but have to work around a job or two or three...a commute or two or three...and then getting home to have to make dinner for the kids, read them stories, pay attention to them, make sure they're not falling behind at schoolstuffs or suffering any type of drama-drama.

Exercise is hard. Formal exercise at least.

There are things like walks if you're in a safe or convenient neighborhood for it. There's also, and I'm not kidding about this: fidgeting. It's true. Be a fidgeter if you can't do anything else. I've got that part down. I fidget. And fidgeters burn more calories