My Food and Nutrition Changes

A bit about my most recent efforts.

Food and Nutrition

I had not yet changed my caloric intake so no real weight loss during this time - I think at my heaviest last year I got up to 233 (it was also an all-time high for me) so the last several months have allowed me to stabilize around the 227 lb mark. I never measured but think I was consuming 2000-3000 calories a day, most "good" quality calories but still way more than I needed. I also added a protein drink, ingested immediately after weight-training workouts.

Drinks

I consume 3-4 cups of coffee a day, with plenty of half-and-half - I won't be changing that habit other than to work in more green tea in the afternoons and evenings. I also committed to 3-4 liters of filtered water at work daily, with about 2-3 liters more at workouts or home and with meals. I had mostly given up soda (even though it was Diet Soda), limiting my intake to 1 per day during lunch - this was mostly to reduce my sodium intake and I just don't think carbonation is that good for you. Since I've started on this new weight loss cycle I've given it up completely.

I would normally have 4-6 alcoholic beverages, mostly beer with some wine and occasional mixed drink cocktail. I had about halved this since the holidays and have pretty much given up alcohol during this dieting cycle.

Supplements

One thing I've been relatively good about is maintaining a steady amount of vitamin and mineral supplements - I have been and currently am taking:

• 1 Kirkland Premium Performance Multi
• 1 Kirkland 1000 mg Vitamin C
• 1 Nature Made Super B-Complex
• 1 Kirkland 2000 i.u. Vitamin D3

I'll be adding some Glucosamin/MSM mix at some point in the future but so far my joints have been in fairly good shape.

In this current dieting cycle I'm taking careful measurements regarding my caloric consumption - mostly via the use of MyFitnessPal. This is a very good online application that allows you to set weight burning goals (the maximum is 2 lb per week), then calculating the number of calories you can eat on a daily basis to maximize your body's ability to burn off those pounds. When you do cardiovascular exercise, the caloric burn adds to the number of calories you can consume in a day to increase your allotment. The idea is you can have that piece of cake, but you'll need to spend an hour or so on the stationary bike to make sure it doesn't impact your weight loss. MyFitnessPal also has mobile apps (iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android, etc) so you can input what you eat immediately (or the amount of exercise you've accomplished). It has a bar-code reader integrated so you can quickly get the nutritional information of any packaged food product - makes it very convenient to track your calories.

Workouts

I've been consistently working out 4-5 days per week for the past 6 months or so. I decided that I would work on toning and building some muscle mass first, then change up my workout to burn more fat by increasing the cardio. For the past several months I've been doing a typical body builder's push/pull routine. This places similar muscle groups together so the focus is on those areas and it allows the other areas to have time to recover. This was my routine prior to the current weight-loss cycle:

• Day 1: Legs and Calves
• Day 2: Rest
• Day 3: Back and Biceps with light Cardio
• Day 4: Rest
• Day 5: Chest with Cardio
• Day 6: Rest
• Day 7: Shoulders and Triceps

Each day would feature 4-6 excercises of 4 sets for each body part, starting with moderate weight then building up the weight. I'd try for 10-12 reps on the first set and then 10 on each subsequent but would typically only do 7-8 on the last, heaviest set. I'd always start with the largest muscles first, which pre-exhausts the smaller muscles (not as much weight, but the burn is really intense). I would do a 45 count between each set. The cardiovascular exercise would typically be treadmill at 3.5 mpg for 15-30 minutes, doing an hour on the Chest day (not as many weight lifting exorcises so I'd have more time to do cardio). I'd typically be at the gym from 1.5-2 hours.

In the current weight-loss cycle I've changed the routine, doing cardio 6 days a week:

• Day 1: Circuit Training and 30 minutes of cardio
• Day 2: 60 minutes of cardio
• Day 3: Circuit Training and 30 minutes of cardio
• Day 4: 60 minutes of cardio
• Day 5: Circuit Training and 30 minutes of cardio
• Day 6: 60 minutes of cardio
• Day 7: Rest

I'm now doing circuit training - about 20-25 sets of exercises, working every body part for 1 set at relatively heavy weight with high reps - 12-20 per exercises. I'm taking a 15 count between each set so my heart rate maintains a high level - I'm literally panting when I finish. The whole routine has been taking 30-45 minutes to complete and I vary the machine, sometimes working in free weights when they are available.

Enough for now - thanks for taking a gander. John