Welcome to Week 10 of me publicly broadcasting my goal of getting down to 195 pounds every Friday until that goal is accomplished.
History Of How I Got Here
June 2010
- End of massive weight loss transformation.
- Lost around 80 pounds of fat in two years
- Got weight down to 184 pounds
September 2010 – December 2014
- Yearly fitness goals to lift weights for maintenance and strength.
- 95% of workouts are based on lifting weights
- Comfortable with maintaining a healthy weight around 205-210 pounds based on home/work lifestyle
January 2015
- Wanted to lose as much fat as possible before pursuing a massive muscle building program
- Created a year long goal to lose at least 15 pounds of fat by end of the year
- If I suffered no muscle loss, 195 pounds would equate to 15 pounds of fat loss.
January – November 2015
- Weight bounced between 199 – 215 pounds
November 20, 2015
- Decided to document my journey online for extra motivation to meet goal before end of the year
- Hardest time of the year for me to lose weight is during the holidays, so I challenged myself to get to 195 pounds during the season.
- Countdown Week 1 (click here)
- Countdown Week 2 (click here)
December 2015
- Countdown Week 3 (click here)
- Countdown Week 4 (click here)
- Countdown Week 5 (click here)
- Countdown Week 6 (click here)
January 2016
- Countdown Week 7 (click here)
- Did not achieve 195 pounds during the holiday season
- Decided to continue to pursue and document 195 goal until accomplished
- Countdown Week 8 (click here)
- Countdown Week 9 (click here)
**SPECIAL NOTE**:
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 10: January 15 – 21 2016
January 15th Stats
Scale Weight: 206 pounds
Waist: 35.0 inches
Week 10 Main Goals
- Drop scale weight from 206 to 205 pounds
- Get waist under 34.9 inches
- Stay 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.
Observations & Challenges
Eating
So last week I was perfect. I did not have one single craving. This week I started off knowing that I was going out to lunch with my mom. What should have been just one simple cheat meal turned into something unexpected!
The night prior to the planned dinner, I decided to have some Nutter Butter cookies that made it’s way into our house. My wife and I normally don’t keep too many cookies in the house. Normally when they’re in the house, I tell my wife to put them away so I don’t have to think about them.
Well my eye got a glimpse of the Nutter Butters. After seeing them in my home and knowing how perfect I was, my mind told my body that it would be ok to eat a couple of the cookies. You see, it’s not like I always had them around so my mind thought I would easily be able to handle them.
What happened over the next three days can only be defined as severe emotional eating. In my area, there was a severe cold front. Once my body got a whiff of that cold, it naturally just wanted comfort food!
So I caved in. Then like in the past, my body naturally tells my mind when it’s had enough! My body gives me tons of warnings like:
- Excess gas
- Severe bloating
- Feelings of weakness
- Excess mucus in my throat when eating to much carb/fat combinations.
The last straw for me this time was when I was eating a store bought mini peach pie with vanilla ice cream. As I got halfway through the pie, I realized just how non-fresh the pie tasted. Two spoonfuls into the ice cream, I noticed that it tasted artificial as well.
My experience almost makes me want to go back on an idea I once had when it came towards “junk” food. I once told my wife that we should only eat sweets that we make ourselves. No more convenient sweets. If we really wanted it, we should just make it from scratch.
Workout
That incredible burst of energy I experienced last week was gone for the majority of the workouts this week. Without a doubt it’s due to me overindulging in junk. Something that tastes so wonderful going in your mouth can seriously halt your progress at the gym.
Mentality
I’m reading my book, Release The Beast: Conquer Mental, Physical & Diet Challenges To Unleash The Champion Inside! and completing the tasks daily. Even though I’m the author, it still is refreshing to put your ego in check and make sure you are REALLY doing everything you could be doing for success.
In Overcoming Ghosts Of The Past With Release The Beast, I mentioned how the past helped me figured out who I was. It was perfect timing as it helped curve my mini-binge. This is the time of the year in which I normally don’t try to lose weigh. My past self just likes to eat comfort foods that make me feel warm during the winter.
I acknowledge that and realize that my mentality for this winter will need to change if I’m to get down to 195 pounds.
Food Journal
For better or worse…Here are my food stats for the week:
End of Week 10: January 22nd, 2016
- Scale Weight: 206.4 lbs
- Waist: 34.7
- 63% Compliant
- 15 out of 24 meals I ate during the week were compliant with my eating plan
I was expecting both scale and waist measurements to be higher than what was measured. I took both measurements on Tuesday morning. Those measurements said my waist was 35.8 inches and 211 pounds.
Again, you can’t judge your weight loss by what the scale says! Also my waist ballooned up due to how my body reacts to flour/sugar/fat combinations.
When I eat cookies, pie, fries, pizza and ice cream for a couple of days, that’s to be expected.
Going up and down is very frustrating. But that’s what this experience is all about. Showing folks what real weight loss looks like. It’s never super easy. A good long term eating plan will have its highs and lows but at the end, you’ll see more lows than highs. All of my ten countdown weeks are proof of it!
After reading Section 2 of Release The Beast, I wrote 6 Release The Beast Chapters That Will Jumpstart Your Fitness Plan. In that post, I mention that my realistic goal is to be 80% compliant or better with my diet for the entire month. That allows me to not stress out too much if I fall off the wagon like I did this past week.
Upcoming Week 11 goals:
- Drop scale weight from 206.5 to 205 pounds.
- Waist under 34.6 inches
- Stay 80% compliant or better with my eating
- That means that out of ten meals of the week, eight of them had to follow my healthy eating plan.
- Eat about 1926 calories a day
- Ideally that breaks down to:
- 193 grams Protein
- 193 grams Carbohydrates
- 43 grams Fat
- Ideally that breaks down to:
Looks like I enjoyed my Mom’s birthday and Martin Luther King’s Day a little too much! Is there more celebrating inside of me? Is another pizza on the menu this week? Will the East Coast Snow Blizzard trap me in my house preventing access to the gym?
So much drama! Tune in next week to find out what happens!
