One week back in the saddle...

So I have resumed my 4HB program, after being in a sort of maintenance mode (besides losing most of July to a Pancake and Rum binge.)  July was a bad month. 10 lbs of indulgence and self pity.

However, since I restarted last week I have lost 6.4 lbs already.  That is with just cutting out processed carbs from my diet again.  One cheat day on Saturday*.

I have modified the diet a bit.  There is a similar program put forth in It Starts with Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig.  Like the 4HB it is basically a modified Paleo diet.   I found their explanations excellent, but as one friend pointed out they are a fair amount preachy.  However I particularly like how the explained that there is no food Switzerland.  All food is either net beneficial or net harmful.  Twinkies are harmful (not that I eat Twinkies.)  They break down the food is to satisfying one of four criteria, if it doesn't meet it... you don't eat it.  (go read the book if you want to know about the criteria)

Some key differences between their program and the 4HB:

No legumes of any sort, including lentils, kidney beans, and peanuts (which means no PB)
No seed or nut based oils (not a big deal I mostly cook with olive or coconut oil already)
No cheat days.  They recommend 30 days start without any cheat days whatsoever.  In fact they reckon that once you make it past the 30 days you won't need any cheat days.
No Red Wine, in fact they go so far as to suggest cutting all alcohol out of your diet forever.
Fruit is allowed, and even encouraged.
Processed proteins such as whey protein are Verboten.

In any case I am switching to that eating model, but keeping the cheat days, and maybe the protein powder in the form of fruit smoothies in the morning (otherwise realistically I won't have any breakfast.)

I'll give it 30 days with and see how I feel.



*Cheat day is sort of a misnomer.  I actually still am not going crazy on Saturdays.  In this case the only thing different was I got an eclair from the coffee shop Saturday morning.  Otherwise it was perfectly normal food day.

Saturday Goal Reached (mostly)

I have have confession to make.  I didn't quit hit my goal.  I missed it by .2 lbs.  Now, if you guys really want to see a picture of me in my swimming trunks in all my hairy glory I'll post is but .2  pounds is close enough for me to call this part of the plan a success.

So I have lost 29.8 lbs over 95 days, which is a loss of 10.5 of my body-weight and an average of .31 lbs a day.

And although I nearly stalled completely the last couple of weeks, thanks to illness, I suspect those numbers will start getting much better as the HIIT starts to happen every other day.  (Right now it's two days a week.)

That's about all my news.  I'm off for apple filled crepes to celebrate.

Saturday... schamturday.

Let's see...

So after a rough week my weight basically back where I started from last week.  No I don't know why, but not particularly worried about it.

In other news, as I mentioned earlier I passed my 3rd Brown Kenpo test.  And I inexplicably found myself with a Saturday when I have no plans, no practice scheduled, nothing but an entire weekend of vacuuming dog hair.

So I had pizza and daiquiris.  First pizza since December or so.  First daiquiri since ...oh last summer maybe?

But it' 60+ degrees out (well it was) and clear blue skies, surely that's good enough excuse for consumption of large amounts of rum and fruit juice yes?  I probably should have waited for them to wear off before writing this...

hmm...

No matter.

Other micro-updates.

HIIT train sucks.  But at least it's over quick.

What sucks worse the HIIT is going into work and getting locked in an elevator when the building manager goes around and turns off the elevators in anticipation for the bar crowd.

Fortunately I have his number in my phone and I was only locked in the damn thing for about 30 minutes.

90 degrees at 30 minutes... because there is no AC when the elevator is turned off...

But that effectively ended any urge of mine to continue to work this weekend.  Hence the daiquiris.

Now, if you will excuse me... there is more chilled fruit beverage calling my name....

Stupid People and weight loss progress

I'm sure every one has one they work with.  That person who says things that just make you stop and stare at them and as you try and search for a work safe response to something utterly stupid leaving their pie-hole.

Background:  This person has expressed loudly and at length how they and their spouse never ever cook and eat 90% of their meals at McD.  This same person in that same conversation went on to express confusion at the fact that they were always broke and how everyone in their family kept gaining weight.  Particularly one of the children for whom they had to stop every morning and pick up McD for lunch because said child wouldn't eat prepared lunches made at home.  It was difficult to point out that someone needed to act like parent...

The Situation:  I brought in some of those amazing pressure cooked hard boiled eggs I have been making to share with a different coworker.  Previously mentioned clueless coworker sees the exchange and comes over to contribute their font of wisdom.

Clueless: "You shouldn't be eating those, they are totally full of fat.  You should put them raw in your morning shake* you are so proud of."

Coworker: "What, just the whites?"

Clueless: "No, the whole thing all the good stuff is in the yolk."

Coworker:  "How is that less fattening then hard boiling them?"

Clueless:  "Duh, they are raw!"

I didn't say anything, just stared at Clueless like she was dead to me until she was uncomfortable and went away.

*Shake previously mentioned in this post ** which has undergone some refinements, but coworker asked me about it once so I explained it.  Whereas the previously described shake killed three birds (Coffeee, Ice water, and protein) I have upped the ante by adding coconut flesh (for more protein, fiber and MDL fats) and Saigon Cinnamon (blunt insulin response.) For a while was adding Cinnamon flavored flax seed oil... but I finally couldn't take the fake cinnamon flavor anymore,  it was ruining the whole shake.

**I should mention in that shake post I mentioned that sucking down 5 eggs was hard... the pressure cooker method... makes them so soft and amazing it's hard not to eat that many.  I actually have to pace myself as last time I made a dozen I ate them all in a day.


~~~

Progress...  so unofficial update.  I have regained the setback between the combination of bacon death gravy and being sick. I am officially once again the lightest I have been in over a decade, and it was further highlighted today by wearing a set of pants I have never fit it, and a shirt I stopped wearing last summer because it had "shrunk."

Saturday Sick day.

Quick post just to note that this week was not so good for weight loss.  Didn't particularly change my eating habits, but a head cold basically shut me down all week.

I'm actually a pound heavier then I was last week, so I only lost 1 lb from last Saturdays binge (still was worth it.) But this week was a weird one.  One day I'd gain .2 lbs next day I'd lose .6 back and forth all week.

I can't think of anything specific that would have caused it except being sick screwing up my metabolism (I didn't cheat during the week.)

Let me amend that, I have been tinkering with a microwaveable cake recipe, that should have had no impact on my carb levels.  The ingredients were all low carb and sugar free.  But perhaps that screwed me up, or at least contributed to it.

I will skip mid-week experimentation for the time being and only try things like that on the weekends from now on just to test.  Or perhaps when I'm well again I will empirically test it to see what impact it has.

I also found a source for Mung Bean noodles (or threads) but not the flour.  I boiled some last night, and the results were interesting.  They have about half the Glycemic index of flour based pasta, at 29 vs 61+, but they boil up crystal clear and about the thickness of spaghetti.  Also not sticky like wheat pasta, which means the sauce doesn't really stick to them... nor do they stick to themselves at all.

No flavor to speak of, but a pleasant texture.

Back to sucking down cold medicine...

*edit* So many typos!

Saturday update and bacon

I forgot to post on Saturday mostly because I was to busy stuffing my face.

I had one of those inspirational cooking mornings where I knew exactly what I wanted.

But first, on Saturday morning I was 27.6 lbs lost, average of .37 lbs a day something like 9% of my body weight removed in the last 2.5 months.

Then...

The biscuits.

So I was thinking about biscuits and gravy, but lacking a stove I wasn't going to be able to make biscuits, so I went next best thing and bought some English muffins, toasted them and placed some shredded cheese on top.

Next.. bacon.  1/2 pound of it, was fried and mounded atop.

I then poached a couple of eggs (not perfectly but adequately) and those were placed atop a two of the muffin halves.

I then made a white bacon gravy (as opposed to a sausage gravy.) though I added bit of butter at the end and broke the emulsion...

While this was all cooking, I prepped a fresh bought pineapple and some prosciutto they had on sale.  I relly don't care for for prosciutto wrapped melon... but adore ham + pineapple.  And since the normally $8 meat wast $1...  well I did it for science.  (I ate the rest of the pineapple throughout the day)
It was much better then the melon, but still not something I'd call great.

The end result was not pretty but it was incredibly tasty, glorious even  Between this and the entire pineapple I ate... I gained 2 lbs.

Worth it.

Quick Saturday update.

No concussions or other serious injuries to report, though I did strain a rib by sneezing of all things.  It is rather hard to spin that one in a macho fashion.  Imagine this conversation:

Me:  "Man, I'm so tough that even my sneezes injure people/"
Them: "Really, who'd you injure?"
ME: "Ermmmm...."

So moving onto to Saturday progress report.  I have lost 24.6 lbs in the last 67 days continuing the average of .37 lbs a day.  I have also lost a total of 10 inches across my hips, chest and waist in this time period.  At this rate I should meet my 90 day goal of 30 lbs in 14 days, giving you guys 9 days of buffer of avoiding scary pictures of me in case I have another pasta day (which isn't going to happen.)

In any case, 24.6 is close enough that when people ask I'm just going to round it up to 25.

The next 90 day cycle I intend to add daily kettlebell swings, speed bag drills and other muscle building exercises.  It should be interesting to see what that does to the number since muscle is denser then fat... but more muscle also means more fat burned.

Heavy Bag blues and body progress

I got the heavy bag hung, though not entirely without damage.

But first, the steps. I built a  framework to support the main crossbar out of 2" x 6" mounted with 3.5" screws.

Because I am paranoid, I calculated the shear/load of the screws I used to mount the frame work.  I used the more conservative rating (shear vs load) even though I actually anticipate the diagonal forces will be a combination of the two.

In any case it should resist a load of 16,900 lbs of force.

That means I would have to run at almost exactly 39 miles and hour do a flying side kick and transfer *all* of my energy to it.  (Or more likely leap in the air and grab the bag transferring all my energy at once)

Considering that is almost 4 times faster then the average human can run... It is probably safe.

The crossbar itself is 4" x 4" angle cut to sit flush with the wall and held in place with some hefty rafter braces.

However, after I had put the first brace on, and started securing the crossbar I managed to knock said crossbar off the frame.  One side semi-secured it swung like a divine angry hammer of god and struck me in the side of the head and knocking off the 4' ladder onto the (thankfully) mat covered floor.

Whereupon I spent about twenty minutes curled up in a little ball whimpering in a manly fashion.

Needless to say there was concussion, and the next couple of days are sorta blurry.

But the end result is quite functional.

~~~~

In 4HB news, it is another cheat day and another weekly update.  I forgot to take my morning measurements before I made Paleo Compatible Coconut pankes (tasty... but odd texture) so using yesterdays measurements I am sitting at 22.6 lbs lost in 60 days.

That is a daily average loss of .37 lbs a week... and given what last week's midweek pasta binge did to my numbers I'm not surprised the overall average is down.

But all progress is good progress.  And I have no doubt I will meet my 90 day goal.

Dojo, dog hair, and cheat days.

I soft launched the Dojo on Friday, delivering flyers to friends and neighbors.  Response has been positive, but as of yet, no one is breaking down the door for lessons.

I am building a framework to hang the heavy bag.  I went shopping for one and the only ones I could find were really rather expensive.  So I am using some 2x6 I bought for other projects and bought a $15 rafter adapter designed to hang bags from pipes, beams etc.

The fun part will be getting the 100 lb bag hoisted in the air and then attached all by my lonesome.

Not quite sure how I'm going to accomplish that step yet.

Speaking of the Dojo, dog hair is going to be a constant problem.  Even though the winter has finally started to get a little chilly Cinnamon appears to have decided to drop her winter coat.  Frequent sweeping of the dojo (and the rest of the house) are a guaranteed necessity.

Bonus, she has decided that the bath mat outside the shower is her new bed instead of the nice comfy dog bed I'd tried to get her to use.  It was  chocolate brown...



So some quick measurements for you... for the good news part of this weeks 4HB update.

Since beginning 4HB I have lost a total of 9 inches from hips, waist, and chest (mostly from the first two locations.)

Weight loss this week has been an underwhelming 1.5 lbs, but there is an interesting little datum blip right in the middle.  In a recent post's comments I addressed what an impact cheat days can have and how clearly they effect the overall picture.

Now, I think cheat days are import both psychologically and clearly physically, they allow you body and soul to enjoy what you were craving.

But, this week there was an unexpected cheat day on Tuesday, which just dinner and dessert varying from the typical weekly meal.  It resulted in a 1.2 gain over the next two days (I forgot to measure Wednesday morning.)  Couple that with what would have been an expected loss of .8 lbs over that time span... and basically a single of cycle cheat day resulted in wasting 2.0 of progress... something that would take at least 3-4 days to recover from.

So instead of a daily average of .44 lbs... for the week the average was .02.

Is an extra cheat day worth halving your progress?

Why induction BF measurement scales are useless

Or at least are profoundly misleading.

Nope I'm going to go with useless.  You remember me mentioning I could get the percentage to jump by as much as 7% by flexing certain muscles?  Or perhaps 5% by drinking 16 oz of water and then waiting 15 minutes?

Anyway here is my Weight loss chart:

Note the steady (cheat days excepted) downward progression?

Here is my fat loss chart, as measured by my scale:

So... I have lost 20 lbs, increased my muscle mass through exercise and you are saying my BF% has gone up?

I don't think so.

Eagle eyed readers may note that my current weight and BF% are shown here, something I have avoided mentioning,  You may feel free to ignore it.  I didn't initially mention my starting weight, because frankly it's embarrassing.  People never believe me when I told them how much I weigh(ed) and apparently I carried it well.

However, as the weight comes off I feel more self confident, and less sensitive to the subject.  I still don't intend to trumpet my weight until I meet my three month goal.  Then I might post before and after pictures.

Or your reward for for me reaching it is not to do so.  :P

Moving, Cheat Day and Milestones

I am officially moved in with all of my sundry crap transferred.  Unpacking has commenced and I am making good progress.  Bedroom, Kitchen and Bathroom are all unpacked.  The dojo is 90% done with just the need to hang a kick bag and get mirrors (funds permitting.).  However, there still is a mound of boxes in the living room.  Most of it is metalsmithing, architecture or other art supplies  Ideally I will condense it to as few boxes as possible and put in the scary crawlspace of doom.

Crawlspace is a bit of a misnomer actually, the damn thing is 8' deep.  I guess it is a basement, just one that you access through a rickety ladder and descend into a collection of massive beam-works, rusting hardware and artifacts from the past.  My kitchen is the bottom of what used to be the elevator shaft for the mill.  When they tore down the shaft they just dumped all the rubble in the bottom and called it good.    I will try and remember to take pictures next time I go down... which I don't do alone.  A rickety ladder + 8' drop onto rubble sounds like and pretty gruesome way to get trapped with a broken leg/back and die of dehydration.

Anywho... onto more lively topics.

Today is um.. my 7th cheat day?  I think?  I said that on my 30 day was my third cheat day but that seems wrong.  In any case I have no special plans on my cheat day.  There was a cinnamon roll for breakfast and there might be pizza later.

Cheat day aside I realized yesterday I officially hit a milestone that I hadn't been consciously aware was coming up.  I have officially resumed a weight I was at nearly 10 years ago.  When I first was brought face to face with the fact I had gained a lot of weight.  It had sorta crept up on me and it hadn't weighed myself because I felt fine... and I never looked in mirror (I mean really looked.)

When I did I was shocked at what my weight had become.  I tried a few easy methods to deal with it, but frankly sought solace in food.  Consequently, over the last 10 years my weight crept up another 20 lbs.   At that rate it's hard to notice, I mean who notices  .5 pounds a year?

But now it's gone.

In 46 days I have lost 20.6 pounds, a loss of 7.6% of my body weight.  At .44 lbs a day average it means my daily loss average is slowing*, but I haven't been as vigilant as I could be.  Some of it may also be attributable to muscle gain from the daily walks, but I also have been not staying as hydrated as I need to be, taken an extra cheat day when going out with friends, etc.

But that's a good motivation to return to the straight and narrow, if I can undo 10 years of damage in less then 2 months... well the rest will be easy.


*One other thought that occurred to me is that shortly after my supplementation post, once I realized I was going to have  move and decided to launch the Kenpo studio, it was obvious I was going to have to cut all expenses to the bone.  No eating out, no lattes, and no $100 a month supplements.  I was also tired of the 21 pills a day regimen and and really didn't have money to spare to get the one that allowed 4 pills a day.  So I stopped taking them.

Right now there are to many variables to determine whether the supplements were the reason I was seeing .7-.6 pounds a day in the beginning, or if it was because I was starting and my body was reacting quickly, or if it was because I had just started I was really strict with my self.  But I can't discount the possibility that the damn hings work.

30 day update

Today is my third cheat day and the 30th day since I started the 4HB program,

In that time I have lost 3.25 inches combined around my hips waist and chest and gained 1 inch on thighs and calves.  Arms have remained unchanged.  I suspect the growth around the legs are from the twice day walks the dog and I are now taking, since I don't have a yard to fling her into when I go to work.  That or all the box carrying involved in moving.

I have also lost 18.2 lbs, which averages to about .60 lbs a day or decrease of 6.4% of my body mass.

Noticeable physical effect include the drastic reduction in heartburn symptoms and other digestive complaints.  Also, I have jumped down two pants sizes and I am wearing jeans I haven't worn in over a year.

Mood:  Jubilent

Upping the ante for the 4HB.

So I have just scheduled a post to go live April fools day, which will not be a joke.

This post contains the "Before" picture taken this past Friday.  If I meet my goals I get to delete the post.

If I fail the picture becomes public, and I expect to be charged with crimes against humanity.

Thoughts on supplementation

I don't like swallowing pills.

In fact I have an overactive gag-reflex, which is clearly psycho-somatic because when I just start thinking about swallowing pills I get nauseous.  But since I am the captain of this ship wreck of a body, I will not be deterred by such silly responses.

This, however, has historically meant I have developed all sorts of avoidance mechanism to not take daily vitamins, heart burn meds, etc.

No longer.

The 4HB plan doesn't require, but entourages you to use a combination of supplements to maximize fat loss.  The combination is called PAGG, and if you want the science and formulation behind it go read the book.  :P

In addition to the PAGG stack there is a supplements I want to take to help promote fat loss and general improve my health.

So here is the total supplement stack (not for the faint of heart.)

1. Centrum Silver - No I don't remember why I have a multi-vitamin aimed at people 50+ in age... there was reason... but it's the only  multi-vitamin  in the house at the moment.  I'll fix that soon.

2. Lysine - Essential Amino Acid for muscle build.  Am probably getting plenty of this with the amount of meat and legumes I eat.

3.  CitraCal - No fruits on the diet, I'd like to keep my vitamin C working, although I am eating a lot of baby spinach so I am probably fine.

4. CLA - Fatty acid linked to fat reduction and lean mass gain.

5. B-Complex: Plant Based.  So one side effect of the PAGG stack is it can lower your B vitamins, which means it is good to take a B supplement, as B vitamins are pretty much metabolically essential.  I picked this one because my reading suggested that plant based B-complex are more easily absorbed then mineral supplements.  This may be the worst mistake of my life as it tastes like (what I would imagine) a horse dropping condensed mightily down in into a pill form.  Couple this with my gag-reflex and it it damn hard to choke down.

6. Alpha Lipoic Acid - Anti-oxidant and Vitamin C & E scavenger, helps carbs get used by muscles for energy instead of stored in fat.

7.  Green Tea Extract - Anti-oxidant, and off-label side effect of inhibiting storage of carbs into fat cells and appears to increase cell death in fat cells (a major boon in my book since typical wight loss just leaves em deflated and waiting to be refilled.)

8. Garlic Extract (allicin) -Lowers blood pressure and inhibits fat regain.  I'm taking an "oderless" formulation, which is true to the extent that my breath does not smell like garlic.  Not so in other cases.  I'll leave you to use your imagination.

9. Policosanol - Purportedly lowers cholesterol, but was found within the test group using AGG alone to boost the weight loss effectiveness of the whole package.

That is a lot of pills...  but it gets worse some of them are taken several times a day ...  So it looks more like this:

 

I should note that Lunch and Snack are two separate meals with identical dosing, so one picture but two doses.  And on further review I don't need to be taking the Green Tea extract at night so there is one to many pills in the bed dose photo.

I take a total of 21 separate pills everyday, assuming I'm not eating a bunch of legumes every day (which... I generally am so throw 2-6 Beano into the mix)

That is a lot of dam pills for someone who hates swallowing pills.  I probably don't need the Lysine or Citracal if I am eating healthy (which I am) so really I only need ummm...19 pills a day?

So... what to do?  The good news is there are now companies making PAGG stack specific supplementation.  Even better ones that included B-complex so I can get rid of the damn Horsepills of doom.

It's designed so that you take 4 pills a day for the whole stack.  I probably don't need the Lysine or Citracal.  So that means my daily take would be multi-vitamin, 3 CLA, 4 PAGG (3 AGG + PAG)... and that's it.

From 19 pills to 8.  

The drawback is the cost is $92 a month + shipping ($82 + shipping on my first order) vs. about $76 for my locally sourced supply.  And I just called all the local vendors and none of them have ever heard of PAGG or the 4HB... so...

Or I can order a 2 month or 3 month supply both with free shipping and that brings the price down to $71 and $61 respectively for the first order.

So I can prepay for a three month supply, save $15 a month and swallow 286 fewer pills each month? 

Someone tell me why this is a bad thing?

*Edit*

As I was picking up the massive stack of bottles to put away post review I thought I would also give you photo showing the ridiculousness of the current supply.

I could reduce that to just 3 bottles...

Thermogenics...

*typing with clattering teeth*

So one of the principles of the 4HB book is to use minimum effective doses of an action or food or whatever to increase the effectiveness of your goal.  This is in fact one of Tim's reoccurring themes in all his books I suspect.

For example, your drink a large glass of ice water in the morning for two reasons: firstly it hydrates after 8 hours of not drinking water and secondly it lowers your core body temperature you that your metabolism has to step it up and you basal metabolism rate increases.

He also has bit about ice packs, cold showers and baths filled with ice(!!!) and their effectiveness to help, but just focusing on the water at the moment...

I've been a good boy and been drinking 16 oz of cold water from the tap when I get up as I am getting ready for work.  But, given yesterdays revelation about how many eggs I am supposed to eat in the morning I thought I would see what volume of food a meal replacement shake is.

Found a Myplox shake pack with 42 g of protein, added 4oz of Toddy coffee concentrate (Note: now linked to Toddy mini review), some Vietnamese cinnamon, 8 oz of ice, about 12 oz of cold water and blended.

The resultant mixture was considerably more then the cup I've been drinking water out of so I should should check how much liquid the cup holds as I might be underdosing.  I slugged down enough till I could carry the full cup upstairs.

Ice cream headache.  Oh yeah it's plenty cold.

So I sat at my desk and worked away, drinking the shake mechanically (it was not bad but not OMG good.) but found that after a few minutes I was shivering uncontrollably.

Wait... what?

Well this is exactly the sorta of response I was supposed to be getting every morning from drinking water, but haven't been.  Which tells me that cold water from the tap may not be cold enough and that the shake may actually be faster since it kills three birds with one stone:  Coffee, Ice water, 30g+ of protein.

On Body Changes...

This morning I woke up hungry.

This is a very strange situation for me, because for as long as I remember I usually wake up feeling mildly queasy and end up skipping breakfast. By mid-morning I would usually be found drinking a latte or two, but by 11am I'm ravenous.  I would end up eating huge lunch, often to the point of discomfort.

However, I recently made one little change.

Just under a month ago I found myself single, or on hiatus, whatever we are doing (who knows... I don't.) and thought that this three month break meant I was going to cook for myself and myself only.  This meant that my earlier attempts to try the 4-Hour-Body plan (henceforth 4HB) were not going be thwarted by someone else's refusal to eat legumes of any sort.

The Subtracting Fat portion of 4HB has a few simple rules.:

1: Avoid "white" carbohydrates.  (I.e. complex carbs.)
2: Eat the same few meals over and over
3: Don't drink calories.
4: Don't eat fruit.
5: Take one day off per week, and go nuts.
*6: Drink Lots of water. Cold water in particular, and first thing in the morning especially.
*7: 30g of Protein in the morning, within 30 minutes of waking

* These aren't one of his official rules, but they are under common mistakes of why people fail... and since I failing to do them... I was making them my rules.

So during the week: no 4 tbs of sugar in my coffee, no trips to the amazing pizza shop on the ground flour, no cookies, no cake, no ice cream, no Captain Cluckers's Breaded Chicken Sandwich or any other fast food.

What can I have? Let me show you my schedule for this week.

Wake up:  16oz of ice water.
Breakfast:  Two hard boiled eggs (if I'm in hurry) or a Mexican omelet with vegetables, re-fried beans and bacon.  Coffee with cinnamon powder.
Lunch: 8 oz of water plus Whatever was leftover from the night before, but typcally Stir-fried veggies, red beans, and lump of protien.
Second Lunch: 8 oz water: Celery stalk with Almond butter
Dinner:  8 oz water.  Stir Fry Vegetables, re-fried beans, and huge steak.

That's basically all I ate this week.  I plan on mixing it up with some salmon and tuna salad on spinach next week, but that's about it.

Starting next week there will also be the addition of kettle-bell swings and some basic body weight exercises, but even then want to guess how effective it is?

6lbs in 4 days.

Monday I was off from work,  I was still determining what I could and couldn't eat so I don't think I was 100% compliant, consequently I didn't weigh myself until Tuesday.

As far as body fat % goes... who knows.   When you are as large as I am induction scales are notoriously inaccurate and can be greatly affected by hydration.  I record it anyway, because even data with a large margin of error is still data.  But to give you an idea of how inaccurate it is, I was having swings of 3% taking multiple readings right after each other.  In one case I was doing isometric exercises in one leg while it was reading and it jumped 7%.  Soo...

Anyway, 6lbs in 4 days.  And for the obnoxious person who snarkily said that I probably had just lost "water weight"... I am drinking so much water I'm sloshing, and I'm drinking at least two more pounds of water a day then I was before.  So you are saying I've lost 14 lbs of water this week?  Without any exercise or standing the Mojave?  How likely is that?

Oh, about the waking up hungry which I started this post.  I woke up from a sound sleep and as I weighed myself I thought... "Hmm... I feel hungry, I need my morning eggs" went down stairs and happily munched my eggs while drinking my ice water and it hit me.

I wan't "choking" down eggs.  I wasn't the least bit queasy.  I was hungry, craving protein, and enjoying eating breakfast at 8am.

It felt weird and glorious at the same time.

*edit* And I just realized today is technically my cheat day... I have nothing planned... maybe I'll go hunting for a cinnamon roll...

*edit the second*  Out of curiosity I googled what other people typical weeks were like and saw someone complaining at having to eat 5 eggs in the morning.  Double checked... and yup.  30g of protien is about 5 eggs not two.  Gonna have to tweak that a bit.  Maybe drink an ice cold whey shake to kill two birds with one stone.   Hmmm....

*Edit the third*  I should point out that 4HB is huge book that covers a lot of topics including but not limited too weight loss, building muscle, better sleep, improved sex, repairing injures etc.  The portion I am presently exploring is just the fat loss portion.  Well a little built of building muscle with kettlebell swings, but more muscle burns fat which is good, yes?