Weeks 3 & 4

Posted on by Sam Boyd

There have been limited updates about my particular journey to this ordeal and how it is going for me.  The only excuse that I have is that I am a student getting my BSN, working full-time as a new ICU-Nurse and all that comes with that, and balancing all of this sometimes means that I may go a couple of days (fine, a week) without posting things.

Here is where I am at:

After four weeks I am:         ↓  20.1lbs

                                              ↓  6”

                                              ↓  1.2% BFP

                                              ↑  3.1 H2O %

Now, I will be the first to admit that my weight loss has slowed down and that the best metric may be to go with the inches lost.  It seems to me that I have had a hard time putting out a goal for this number.  I thought about 20” as a goal so that is what I am deciding to go with.  I may hit that sooner that the 12 weeks is up, and if so, then hey, great!  I can always add it later.

I have been adding in some exercise and will be starting my calisthenics challenge to myself in the beginning of week 7, after we take our week 6 pictures.  I will definitely post my  week before and after pictures here on the blog, and am debating whether or not I will be posting on Facebook.  But, more to come, and I am going to start focusing energy on the cook book that I want to put out quarterly in electronic format.  I will be charging for it, but we are deciding on a price point probably between $2.95 and $4.95.  Please let me know what you think.

We are also going to be opening things up to contributors.  We are going to limit the contributions to original pieces and probably specifically people who are going through or have gone through the same program that we are.  That will come later.

As always, please let me know what you think and contact me directly or comment here.

 

 

 

Week 2 Results and Thoughts

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Well, well, well.  This is really working well.  So this week, due to a quirk in when we decided to weigh in, I lost a whopping 8.2lbs and about 4 inches off of my body.  This is awesome and is providing all the motivation I could ever need to actually keep going with this.  I have not done anything broad like come up with a goal weight or a goal body fat percentage, but at this point, who needs the pressure.

Overall, my results are as follows:  total weight loss – 14.6lbs, total body fat %  – 39.4, which seems to have increased again this week and I am not sure what to think about that.  It should be going down, right?  total inches lost overall is 4 1/2″ and it came from my neck and my stomach this time.  And my hydration stays in a perfectly acceptable place in a number that I have not a single clue about understanding.  However, my personal water and hydration levels was never a concern of mine, and putting down 100-120 ounces of water as required by this program is pretty much par for the course here.

This week we got protein back and I was even able to use a little bit of oil in some recipes, as long as they were healthy oils like olive oil or coconut oil.  These have all been tagged on this site as phase II.

Cheers

Sam

Week 1 Results

Posted on by Sam Boyd

I posted my (Sam’s) results on Facebook, but I thought I should post them here as well with a little explanation as well.

Week 1

↓   6.2lbs

↔ 0″

↑  37.1% body fat

Now, these numbers are misleading.  First of all, I did not gain 37.1% body fat, I went up to that.  This is to be expected after a week of limited physical activity and dropping a lot of excess water and stool.  The loss of 6.2lbs is essentially a change in baro-water pressure weight and some fat loss.  The lack of change in inches seems to be related to a shift in placement of water and maybe some weight.  The important thing is that I have a fantastic base to work from and am super-motivated.  I predict a downward tick in all metrics this week.

This week, we are adding in more protein and some healthy oil while maintaining the 6 cups of veggie and 3 servings of fruit pace this week.  I am also adding in some exercise.  The idea is to get 30 minutes of Cardio and Resistance at least 3 times this week.  I am going to try to get the cardio in but the resistance is something I will be able to do in a more calisthenic way.  I intend to exercise in the following way:

1.  As many push ups as I can do in 1 minute

2.  As many sit ups as I can do in 1 minute

3.  As many leg extensions as I can do in 1 minute

4.  As many no weight squats as I can do in 1 minute

5.  Stretch for 1 minute

Repeat

I have put this together to be a good starting point.  Plus it is quite easy to track and maintain as a statistical representation of muscle-building.  After all, as my muscles gain in power and my body has less fat there should be an associative curve upwards in muscles and reps in relation to a downward curve in weight.  I will track and post graphs after two weeks.

Cheers

Sam

Emily’s Top Ten List of Things I Learned in Detox Week

Posted on by Sam Boyd

Today is the last day of detox and I’m so ready. Tomorrow brings proteins and healthy oils! How I’ve missed them!  But that said, detox wasn’t bad MOST of the time and I’ve learned some things during this first phase…

1. Eating only fruits and veggies does not make you poop all the time. It does make your poop far more tolerable, however. As in no smell.  My poop doesn’t stink (and that’s not just my ego talking).

2.  I despise baby carrots.  HATE.  THEM.  The companies that make them take the leftover part of the best parts of the carrot and then cut it to a desirable miniature size.  But they taste like dirt.

3.  I also despise artificial sweetener.  I have even yet to taste a form of stevia or food with stevia that is remotely tolerable to me.  I’d rather just have food without sugar than with fake sugars.  I’m going to try some recipes with stevia and see how that goes.  Jury is still out at this point.

4.  Squash is my everything food.  The wide variety, the buttery or nutty flavor that is just subtle enough to adhere to any food mood, the ease of cooking… SQUASH!  I love you.

5.  Dates are AMAZING.  They are amazing alone or in dishes as a natural sugar.  They have made me very happy this week.  DATES!

6.  Now this is actually a revelation:  I DON’T NEED COFFEE.  This may shock all who know me but I just don’t need it.  I still enjoy it (which I know because I may have snuck a sample at Trader Joes yesterday) but I don’t need it to wake up or to be happy or to be functional.

7.  I have done well enough eating like a vegan this week but I really missed yogurt.  And protein.  And olive oil.  And meat.  And fish.  One week is long enough for detox and I’m no vegan.  And raw food all the time just isn’t my thing.

8.  I am getting more mindful of slipping more vegetables into my kids’ diet because of the way I’ve been eating.  My boys are so picky!  But I’m figuring out ways to modify the main dish I’m making so they get some part of it.  The immersion blender is my new bff.

9.  I am more emotionally balanced without excess sugar.  I’m not saying I don’t get angry ever but I calm down more quickly and get upset less overall.

10.  This detox has affected more than just what I eat.  I’ve been keeping my house cleaner.  I’ve been getting a bit more sleep and going to sleep easier than before.  I’ve been waking up easier.  I’ve been getting enough water.  I’ve been getting along better with my husband.  I’m not saying my life is perfect– my kids have still been bouncing off the walls ALL WEEK– but I’m saying it has all been just a bit better.  And some days, that’s just enough.

And all this has just been the first week!  Can’t wait to see what comes next!  — Emily

Almost through the first week

Posted on by Sam Boyd

If by almost I mean about half.  We still have Friday, Saturday and Sunday to go.  However we will reweigh in and I will post results on Sunday to let everyone know what happened.  I have had a grand total of 10oz of protein this week.  Let’s examine that number for a minute.  That is the same amount as the New York Strip Steak at Outback.

…

I feel great and am excited to see what next week brings.  I hear we get some ingredients back and I will really be able to post some crazy stuff as far as meals go.  My style of cooking should not change much, just be a little bit of a broader flavor profile.

Occasionally, I will post recipes with no pictures.  I apologize for that and will repost them when I do have pictures to go with them.  In the mean time, keep checking back as I will be putting stuff up daily and probably even more often than that.

Sam

Is Hangry a word?

Posted on by Sam Boyd

We are on day 3 of our journey to health and while I will say that I feel better all around, I do sincerely wish someone would figure out a way to make carrots taste like pop-tarts, broccoli taste like steak and lemon water taste good.

That being said, there was a headache on the initial day and it subsided with a little help from some B-Complex.  Other than that, I feel much better now than I have in a few weeks.  I don’t necessarily have more energy, because I don’t think that was the problem, but I do have more drive and am finding that I want to get more done.  This is only day 3!!  I cannot wait to see how I feel in 1 week. 2 weeks.  3 weeks, whatever.  For the first time in a long time, I feel like I am on the brink of grabbing the world and wringing all the awesome that I can out of it.  And for those of you who know me, that is not a usual feeling for me.

I am not a motivational speaker.  I am not really all that close in personality to Tony Robbins or any of those other motivational people, butI feel like I can take on the world lately.  I have a renewed vigor in the kitchen and am really looking forward to next week.