The Experiment: Day 9 (Day+9)

After Week 1 of the Experiment (Side)

I fell off of the train for a little while due to work requirements and family issues.  I meant to get these posted earlier, but I’m not very punctual when it comes to e-stuff.
 

After Week 1 of the Experiment (Front)

 

So today I’ll resume where I left off.  I weighed in this morning at 171.0 with a gut measurement of 63.5 inches.

I intend to add the anarobic training requirement into this week’s efforts (we’ll see how well that goes). Wish me luck.  Anytime I step into a gym, expect it to snow on the 29th of February during the middle of a giraffe stampede at lunchtime in downtown Detroit.  I’ll keep you posted.

The Experiment: Day 8 (D+8)

This morning’s weight was 172.5 a loss of 8.5 lbs in 1 x week. Not bad considering I did not conduct any anaerobic exercise last week. Now that the diet shock phase is over, it’s time to hit the gym. So we’ll see. Aside from being lazy, I opted to wait a week before hitting the gym because didn’t want to overdo it and possibly take on too much all at once. Now that I am accustomed to how I feel on the diet, I am better able to gauge my nutrition requirements as I start to tax my body a little more. Plus, when I initially started the diet, I maintained a daily aerobic regiment. The combination of the aerobic and aerobic exercises coupled with the diet change, would have been way, way too much. So even though the diet is extreme, a graduated approach seemed most sensible.

The Experiment: Day 7 (D+7)

I’ve had nearly 30 x chocolate shakes (GNC-C) over the past 6 x days and I must say, I have found a new torture technique. My mentor told me to get multiple flavors, but did I listen? Nope. Should I have? Yep. So I purchased the low-carb vanilla casein (GNC-V) and I wanted to try the muscle milk Cookies and Cream (MM C&C), although the caloric content was slightly higher. I took the MM C&C for my Sunday night meal.

Monday morning, I opted for a long run, against the wishes of my comrades. Little did I know how switching products would affect my digestive system. So 24 minutes out my body decided that it wanted to expunge the MM C&C except I had nowhere to go. I significantly picked up my pace and left my partners behind…. I felt like a world class runner for the next 2 x miles because if I didn’t find a facility soon, I knew there would be some consequences and repercussions.

One mile to go and all confidence was gone. I had a near breach that forced me to stop running. I started to eye the tree line, but that was a last resort since it was on the side of a day care and an elementary school. That was probably the longest mile I’ve ever experienced. The funny thing is, in terms of distance and time, it was unremarkable. I don’t remember it. What I do remember is being focused solely on the discomfort. I reached a facility and took care of my self.  Humbled and nearly humiliated, I have a new-found respect for the effects of everything I put in my body.

The Experiment: Day 6 (D+6)

I slept in and I felt like crap.  For me too much sleep is just as bad as not enough.  And since I had overslept, I was outside of my normal morning meal time frame.  So I reduced the amount of my morning meal by half since I’d be eating again sooner than normal to get back on sched.  I didn’t exercise today either, however, I painted for 6 hours.  And I must say, I’ve done some grueling shoulder workouts before, but until you start painting ceilings and high walls, you don’t realize how labor intensive those compound actions can be.  All of the over-head arm work and the squatting did me in.

The Experiment: Day 5 (D+5)

My first weekend. I was apprehensive about my ability to stick with the meal schedule on the weekend because there are so many disruptions and temptations. However, one thing is consistent; the hunger pangs kick in at the same time each day. I didn’t conduct any physical exercise. The weather was kind of crappy. Not really a good excuse, but it’ll work for today.

The Experiment: Day 4 (D+4)

I have noticed that the worst part of my day is between the 3 pm meal and the 6 pm meal.  The most likely reason is that my first meal of the day is prepared using ice which I believe staved off the pangs until my noon meal.  My noon and 3 pm meals are prepared at work using tepid water which I think digests a little faster.  I recall something from my 6th grade science class with Mr. Felthouse that the digestive system processes cold foods slower than hot foods because the stomach has to bring cold substances up to body temperature first.  (It’s amazing what kind of insignificant tidbits you can recall).
That would explain the effect of eating cold cereal in the morning versus something hot, like oatmeal. Although whole oats are naturally slower to digest, because they are generally warm when you consume them, the digestion starts immediately after consumption.  With cold cereal the stomach has to churn the meal to get it to optimal temperature, and while doing so is being super-mixed with digestive enzymes.  So after eating a cold meal, I feel extremely full and that satiated feeling lasts for a good while but when the stomach finally empties I’m left with a intense hunger pang and crash.  The oatmeal on the other hand leads to an immediate but steady digestive process with a gradual hunger.
Just rambling.  Obviously I’m bored if I can take the time to compare the effects of cold cereal versus hot cereal on my hunger.

 

The Experiment: Day 3 (D+3)

Three days into this and today nothing significant to report.  Still trying to get accustomed to meal prep.

The Experiment: Day 2 (D+2)

Before the Experiment (side view)

  

Before the Experiment (Front View)

I got 3 workouts in today.

The first was a painful 4-mile run.  I had no energy.  I was moving, but about as fast as a crippled crab on a crutch.  I pressed through the run but I felt completely drained.  I may have to ease into this running thing if I’m going to try to go to gym.  I haven’t made it there yet.

The second workout may not qualify as a workout at all but I was pretty exhausted afterwards.  I didn’t have a true appreciation for the effects of all that pure protein on my digestive system.  Keep in mind that although one of the items I forgot to purchase was a fiber supplement, I really thought the 1 tbsp of flax seed would suffice. Sike. It’s fair to say that I was backed up pretty bad.  In any case, I felt like I had passed a squirrel carrying a pine cone. I wasn’t pretty.

In order to mitigate experiencing that again, I increased my flax seed content to 4x tbsp.  But that my flax in the bottom of a shake looks like a bag full of smashed gnat ass.  So I decided to drink it through a straw in order to get all of the flax off the bottom (with ice).  Here is where the workout began.  The straw I had was small the ice, flax and shake coagulated at the bottom of the straw and my jowls reached muscle fatigue before I gave up and drank it normally.  I guess I’ll go to McDonald’s and get some real straws.  If I can drink a thick milk shake with them, then the hopefully the flax seed will flow too.  We’ll see.

The Experiment: Day 1 (D+1)

Day 1 (again).  I weighed in this morning at 181 lbs (4 lbs under the Army maximum for my height).  I should have my work cut out for me now that I’ve gotten Jose` and Smirnoff off of my back.  I limited PT to a 3-mile run.  I don’t want to deplete my glucose stores and drag tail the rest of the day. 

Side note: Somebody cracked the lid on the food processor and didn’t tell me.

Morning shake: 2 x scoops of protein, 1 x tbsp milled Flax seed, 1 x cup of ice.  (I took the advice of my mentor who told me for the morning shake add ice.  It’ll provide a feeling of fullness and stave off the hunger pangs longer especially since my largest gap between meals is 8 to noon.)  Everything in, turn it on high, and everything out.  My uniform absorbed most of it.  At least the dog got it’s protein for the day.  I used the hand-held to fix the next one.  Changed uniforms and off to work I went.

I spilled half my noon shake in my vehicle.  But it’s OK, I’m not too hungry.  I cleaned up my mess relatively easy. We left work at 3 pm so I stopped by the home improvement store to pick up some topsoil, mulch and fertilizer.  By the time I was done loading the truck I was sweating like a mouse in a wool sock up in the attic during a summer. I believe at that moment in time, my body’s thermogenesis kicked in, short-circuited and went haywire.  I needed food fast. 

I knew I needed carbs in some form, so I added ½ cup of milk to my shake.  It actually felt full the rest of the afternoon while I fertilized the lawn.  The 6 pm and 9 pm meals were OK. 

The Experiment: Day 0 (D+1-1)

OK.  Up front, Day 1 was a bust so I’m back to Day 0.  I really tried, but it started off as a bad day.  I woke up late for PT, I shouldn’t have run but I did anyway.  Have you ever tried run while hung over….It’s not pretty.  I sweat out the little water remaining in my body and I felt like a raisin in the sun.  But I was determined to stick with this program.  So at 8 am I consumed my morning shake.  By 8:10 am I was hostage hungry, not to mention that my head was pounding.  I couldn’t wait for noon to arrive so I could drink my lunch shake. I gulped it down quick but my head was still pounding.  I was anxiously looking forward to the 3 pm shake because I was still hungry.  Oh did I mention my head was still pounding.  In all honesty, consuming all of the alcohol in the house was not a great idea.  I felt like Jose Quervo, Jim Bean, Captain Morgan, two guys named Smirnoff and Miller all were beating me across the head all day long. 

My 6 pm shake was a waste of time as I truly felt like crap.  I didn’t realize how much my spirit had been broken until I started cooking dinner – I still have to feed the children. The aroma of real food broke me.  It started with a nibble of baked chicken.  I had to taste it.  Then I needed another piece.  I couldn’t just leave a piece of picked over chicken in the pan, so I ate.  It was soooo goooood.  After that, it was a wrap.  I had a big bowl of cereal (I couldn’t wait for everything else to cook).  I dumped a whole pack of Girl Scout Cookies into the remaining milk.  I ate a red bell pepper like it was an apple.  I figured the only way I’d be able to kick this hangover was sugar and water, both of which were depleted due to my participation in the events from the morning and the night before.   I immediately started feeling better. I guess I’m not as hard as I thought I was. 

Lesson learned.  Don’t start an extreme diet after an alcohol binge.