To stay motivated, Michael has decided to update everyone on his main 2015 goal of getting down to 195 pounds every Friday until the goal is accomplished.
History
Back in January 2015, Michael had a goal to lose at least 15 pounds of fat by the end of the year. If he were able to not lose muscle, 195 pounds would roughly equate to 15 pounds of fat loss.
Truth be told, Michael doesn’t care how much he weighs. The real stat that matters to him is his waist. That’s the measurement that tells the real story about his fat loss. One of Michael’s other goals for 2015 was to have a consistent 34.5” or smaller waist size. Since waist measurements aren’t as sexy as weight loss, he decided to focus on the scale for these countdown weeks, while looking at the waist as a secondary measurement.
WEEK 1: November 13th – November 19th
November 13th Stats
Scale Weight: 210 lbs
Waist: 36″
Week 1 Main Goals
- Become 90% compliant with my eating .
- That means that out of ten meals of the week, nine of them had to follow my healthy eating plan.
- Get 7-9 hours of sleep a night.
- Eat about 1776 calories a day
- Two years worth of data shows that this is where my calories need to be to lose weight
- That breaks down to:
- 178 g Protein
- 178 g Carbohydrates
- 39 g Fat
- Weight Training 5 Days a week
- Sunday: Chest & Calves
- Monday: Back & Abs
- Wednesday: Shoulders & Hamstrings
- Wednesday: Quads & Abs
- Friday: Biceps & Triceps
- Conditioning
- 10 minutes of random exercises three times a week after weight lifting
Observations
So on Day 1 of my journey, I was faced with a dilemma. I had a good buddy in town that wanted to go out to lunch. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time so I picked an Italian restaurant close by where his family was staying.
I knew that I would be starting my Countdown to 195 on that day. My wife even warned me that she would be trying to eat healthy as well on that day (I was not the only one that suffered from overdosing on Halloween candy ). So I had a tough decision to make. Get started the right way, or have one last hooray before the next weeks took place.
My wife and I arrived to the restaurant first. As we sat down by the glass window, my eyes so something that made my eyes weep for joy. Baskin Robbins had German Chocolate Cake Ice Cream for a Limited Time!!!
I had no idea such a thing existed! They combined my love for ice cream with my love for German Chocolate Cake. What sick twisted delightful dream had I just entered!! With that one sight, I automatically switched into “you know what….i’m going out with a bang!” mode.
My friends arrived and congratulated me on my book. They’ve known me enough over the years to know that I take fitness pretty seriously. I immediately told them not to worry about eating properly in front of me not his day, because I was going to have a cheat day.
I ordered the restaurant’s special of the day. It was some sort of seafood pasta dish in a bread bowl. You see I RARELY eat pasta at a restaurant, and almost NEVER go out my way to get a bread dish. I figured if this was going to be the last bang for a while, I might as well go out in style!
The dish was h-u-m-o-n-g-o-u-s. On future cheat days, I think I would be smart by only eating half or less of a dish like that because it was so huge! But…..like I said, I wanted to go out with a bang! So I ate the entire dish. Every ounce of pasta, seafood and soggy bread bowl. Once that dish was over, it was time to go to get that ice cream!
I only got two scoops of the German chocolate cake ice cream instead of three. The pasta dish was very fulfilling. That was just enough ice cream for me to feel good about myself.
I had one small meal for dinner, and that was it for almost 24 hours. Once Saturday rolled around, I was back on my mission. I don’t plan on having another cheat meal until Thanksgiving & Black Friday.
Food Stats
Here are my food stats for the week:
I would normally never eat so few calories as I did on Tuesday, but I really was full off of the split pea soup that was made. In addition to filling me up, it did act as a digestive cleanser. If you want a good cleanse, just combine legumes and kale in a soup and your digestive track is good to go!
Results
End of Week 1: November 20th, 2015
- Scale Weight: 202.6 lbs
- Waist: 34.8″
I could easily tell I was getting smaller. I don’t like losing weight this quickly but I know the reality is this was my true current weight right here. There have been a couple of times in 2015 when I just focused on eating clean with my diet and I ended up around this weight.
I don’t believe in doing hours and hours of cardio to get lean. I’m a bigger fan of just using weightlifting to maintain and/or grow your muscles while letting your diet lean you out. That’s why I only did 30 minutes of total conditioning for the entire week. For two of those days, all I did was shoot some baskets. I would attempt ten free throws. For every shot I missed I jogged up and down the court. That was it.
Eating healthy foods with a calorie target in mind is my own personal magic weight loss pill. It’s pretty simple. It just takes discipline to do it.
Next weigh in will happen on the day after Thanksgiving, so I expect the scale to come in higher because I will be enjoying my Thanksgiving. It is a holiday meant for thanks & comfort. Hope you do the same as well! See ya next week for Week Two!
