The Challenge

I'm a bit down right now because, even after that little spark a few days ago where I was down 2 pounds, I immediately went back up to 264-265 and have stayed there for the past few days. The thing is, I do feel like trimming down every day, it may just be that all the working out has negated any weight loss. OR it could be that my first low-carb stint was done with so few calories that the weight I lost was partly muscle. There's no way to be sure, but one thing I can confide in is the fact that I am eating right, getting plenty of fat, and taking in sufficient protein every day. Just writing it like this, I'm feeling better already.

What's different this time around (vs. September) is that I'm probably taking in 50% more calories on a daily basis, if not more, and much more protein... Also the fact that I'm working out 5-6 days a week. I'm doing what is necessary to make sure I don't start burning muscles (we don't want that).

In about 2 weeks, Keeley and I will be embarking on a weight loss challenge with our gym - whoever loses the most weight by percentage between March 4 and April 15 will win something. Nationally, the top ten prizes are anywhere from $200-$5,000 plus a bunch of supplements... Locally, if we do well at our own gym, we could walk away with a couple months worth of free membership. At first, when I saw this, I thought, "hey, no problem! I'm an expert at this already." But I did not take into account two important factors: that my water weight is gone already, and that I also have to be concerned about gaining muscle.

No matter.

It's true, I am good at what I do in the diet department. Maybe not the best, but I feel at this point that I have more willpower than most. I have that to my advantage. I'm hoping to do a period assessment with my gym in the next few days (we get one every 2 months that tests cardio, body fat percentage, flexibility, etc.), so that we can see how much body fat I actually get rid of in the next couple months. That will be the real victory for me - but I'd love to win some money, too.

There are, of course, ways to cheat the scale, for instance, leaving heavy items in your pockets, getting your weight with extra clothes (particularly shoes), ingesting a dense meal with LOTS of water just prior... I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do any of these things. If anything, I'm going to drink lots of water. They can't get mad at you for that.

In the meantime, I do want to see if I can get out of this stagnant period. To do such, I have actually upped my caloric intake from what is was - down to 1,500 from 2,000 starting 3 days ago - back up to 1,900, starting yesterday, but the real hat trick will be my new carb limit: 15g. Of course, this will be very difficult given an almost daily ingestion of the protein powder I'm currently using only to get rid of, which is 7g per day (when that runs out I have some 1g stuff I can happily transition to). After my 11sies today, I'm up to 6g already. So basically, I only have 2g left to spend after my workout today. I might fail.

Whatever, the key thing here is the consumption of fewer carbs in general, and there were a few days last week where I was close to 30g, if not over (let's not talk about that one night at the bar... well, it was under 50g, I can tell you that). Even 10 less will benefit me greatly.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Snap Fitness, challenge accepted!