Diet: Day 8

Today was another successful day of dieting. I only consumed 1,475 calories and 82 g, I can live with this today but I do like to see higher number than that. I was able to stay away from the carbs again today and fasted for around 19 hours between my last meal last night and first meal tonight.

I made it back home from my work trip mid afternoon and weighed myself at 211.8 pounds which is promising considering the amount of water that I had drank by that time.  My first meal was at 3:00 p.m. and my last meal was at 7:00 p.m. and I am going to try not to eat until around 3:00 p.m. tomorrow.

The second weekend of my diet is almost here so I am trying to prepare to have a little more variety this weekend in my diet as well as for next week. One of the hardest things about dieting is finding food that fits when you are used to just eating the best tasting food that you can find. So I will be going grocery shopping tomorrow and plan on picking up a few things to try out some new recipes for this weekend.

 

7/12/2018 Breakdown

Weight at 6:00 a.m.: NA

Nutrition:

Water: 140 oz

Dinner: 5 scrambled eggs with cheese- 1,010 calories – 3:00 p.m.

2nd meal: 6 oz of honey roasted peanuts  (jerky and cheese) – 540 calories – 7:00 p.m.

Macros: 

Carbohydrates: 11% (43g)

Fat: 68% (116g)

Protein: 21% (82g)

Diet Parameters

Low carbs

This is the big one, whether carbs are healthy or not in a hot topic, but the general consensus is that certain carbs aren’t bad. There are complex carbs and simple carbs. Carbs that come from bread and sugar are simple carbs and they break down much easier and basically go straight into the blood stream. Carbohydrates are broken down by the body into glucose and the glucose is used by cells through out the body for energy and the excess glucose is stored as fat. So the more carbs you eat, the more excess glucose that gets stored as fat.

Intermittent fast, no food until 3 p.m.

Intermittent Fasting has been growing in popularity for years. There have been many studies done on the benefits of intermittent fasting and it turns out it may help increase your metabolism, decrease muscle loss during a diet, increase human growth hormones in your body, and even help your cells repair themselves more efficiently. The jury is still out on how good of a strategy this is but more and more research is coming out saying that it does in fact have health benefits. When you decide to fast also may have different effects, but for me, it fits my schedule better to put off eating in the morning and wait till the afternoon. This makes it much harder for me to over eat which is the main reason I chose to take this approach.  For more information on intermittent fasting, check this article out on the Diet Doctor where you can find a professional breakdown of the science behind IF and how to get started

Eating enough protein to sustain muscle mass

A caloric deficit will help you lose weight but if you don’t consume enough protein in a day, you will lose muscle and fat. Since I need to lose 35 pounds of body fat, if I were not maintain my muscle mass, I would have to lose more than 35 pounds to get my body fat percentage down to were I want it below 10%. Proper protein consumption is believed to help boost metabolism, which is around 30% of the calories you eat. to calculate how much protein you should be eating in a day the simple way is to multiply your body weight in pounds by .36 or .8 for kilograms. So this requires me to eat approximately 80 grams of protein a day which can be a tall task, but the benefits of doing so can be enormous.

Drinking enough water

This one is obvious but it is a challenging change to make if you are used to drinking soda or Gatorade or any other high calorie/carb drinks. Water is the healthiest thing you can drink. Your body is made of 60% water and drinking only water is one of the best things you can do while on a diet. You will find a bunch of different recommendations for the amount of water you should drink but most range from 75 to 150 oz based on your size and activity levels. My goal is to drink 150 oz a day since I’m above average height and weight. Drinking enough water improves physical and mental performance and will help curb your appetite. So make sure you are drinking enough water, especially if you are on a diet as you may be used to getting your water from things like soda or Gatorade. You risk becoming dehydrated and your physical and mental capabilities may suffer if you don’t keep up in the water intake department.

Coffee in the morning

I drink a large cup of black coffee each morning. Coffee helps give you energy and helps the body burn fat because it contains caffeine which is one of the few proven natural substances that increase fat burning. Coffee also will give your brain a boost and can even improve your mood. And the main reason I drink coffee on this diet is to curb my appetite because I am skipping breakfast and putting off eating until at least 3 o’clock.

No calorie tracking

When I do this diet, it is very difficult for me to consume more calories than I burn in a day. So tracking the calories is not as crucial, what’s important is making healthy decisions and making them a habit.

 

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