The Amiel Blog

Eat less, lift more

A few weeks ago I blogged about my recent Bod Pod measure of body fat and promised to look into why the improvement was minimal and provide a summary of my findings. I did the research that first weekend. Now I share my findings:

1. Eat less. My breakfast snack was supposed to be 160 cal. Instead I found it was 250-300. Lunches and dinners likewise were about 25% too rich in calories. You simply cannot lose weight (fat) when you eat more than you burn, even if you're eating good stuff (lean protein, healthy fat, slow carbs).

2. Lift more--and correctly. I learned I had waited too long to increase the weights in my Happy Body regimen. The reason? I still found one part of the regime very challenging. (In Happy Body you increase the weight of all exercises proportionally and simultaneously). Well, guess what I found? For an unknown reason I had been lifting double the weight on that exercise--20lb in each hand instead of 20lb in both hands. Oops! This explained why all the other exercises were so easy...and why I wasn't building muscle as quickly as planned.

As I write this (with a tired left hand on my iPhone), I am not lifting at all but I am 100% free to follow the nutrition program, which my brother, Alex, reminds me is 80% of bodyfat % loss.

Bodyfat update

After another foray into the BodPod, I learned that my bodyfat percentage is 20.2%. This is more than 4% less than my first measurement last fall but only a slight improvement from the 20.5% measurement in January.

After an initial sense of deflation and disappointment (remember my goal is 10% by July 9, 2012), I allowed the anger and frustration to well up inside the body and discovered a sense of determination and curiosity. Determination to continue on this path to greater health and curiosity about why my progress has slowed. 

Over the next few days, I will go back to my basic written materials to remind myself of the standards of excellent and look honestly at what I've done. Here are several hypotheses:

• Too much food. Although I reduced the size of my breakfasts a few weeks ago, my lunches and dinners may still be larger than needed. I intend to resume measuring portion sizes again for a short period of time until I remind myself of what is a useful quantity (as defined by the Happy Body folks).
• Mini cheating. I have a habit of tasting the free treats at New Seasons and Trader Joe's. These treats add up.
• Cheat Day isn't working. Maybe it's time to switch the weekly Cheat Day to a cheat meal (or two)?
• Nuts. I use almonds as my snack at least once a day. Although they contain healthy fat, could it be too much for the program?
• Transition to new strength training regiment. In switching from Strength for Life to the Happy Body program earlier this year, I reduced the amount of resistance per rep in favor of a more gradual approach. In short, I took a step back to take two steps forward. It's just about time to increase the weights of my Happy Body program, so perhaps this will help with the muscle building.
• Timing of workout. I think there is some evidence that working out earlier in the day is better for fat burning. I've shifted from 100% of my workouts in the 4-7pm range to about 50% in this range and 50% before 2pm. I am committed to continuing this shift--not because of today's news--but because I feel great after the workout and it carries me through the day.

Lost bodyfat despite long cold and holidays

Yes, my friends, the bodyfat continues to burn, baby, burn. The numbers:

• August 23, 2011      24.5% bodyfat, 160.7 lbs
• October 27, 2011    22.8%, 160.6 lbs
• January 3, 2012      20.5%  156.7 lbs

Still on our way to the ambitious target of 10% bodyfat and between 155 and 165 lbs.

I'm proud of these results because they came despite a 5-week cold during which I worked out only one or two times some weeks--evidenced in the fact I only gained 0.5 lbs of muscle in two months! And then there were the ever-tempting holiday sweets, a temptation I avoided except on cheat days and the time I forgot to eat an amazing fudge on my cheat day so had a couple pieces the next day. 

 

New daily breakfast

My Diamond Approach buddy introduced me to what is now my daily breakfast: a mix of hot oatmeal, quinoa and millet coupled with a mix of nuts, seeds and berries. Each week I make a big batch of the hot cereal and store it in a mason jar.

Four things I've noticed:
1. I enjoy the taste
2. It feels freeing to know what I'm eating each day (freedom from the anxiety of choosing)
3. Warm food is comforting in the cooler weather, even in this mild winter (40s and 50s every day)
4. A high protein and healthy fat breakfast fuels the first part of my day

Body weight over past week

Two pieces of news to report on the body weight:

1. I'm switching from daily measurements to weekly measurements. Rationale: I'm more concerned about the long-term trendline and am realizing my weight fluctuates from day to day. Read: daily measurements weren't adding sufficient value.
2. My body weight decreased from 155.6 to 154.8 pounds in seven days. I am pleased because this 0.8 lb decrease is near my goal of 1.3 pounds per week and happened during a week when I only lifted weights due mostly to my cold and when I did a big cheat day (last Saturday--pancakes, great Greek dinner, and Ben  & Jerry's ice cream for dessert). I did stick to the nutrition program quite diligently and limited my overall calorie intake to the "lose weight" regiment from Happy Body.  

Also, one thought on the target of 165 pounds and 10% bodyfat: do you realize how much easier the next two years would be if I set the target weight at 155 pounds? The amount of muscle I would need to gain would be nearly halved, yet I'd only need to lose a bit more body fat. This is a moot issue for the next 12 months, which is about how long it will take me to be 155 pounds and 10% body fat if all goes as (ambitiously planned). At that point, we can reassess the situation.

Body fat update after 9 weeks

This morning I found myself in the Bod Pod once again.

After the trainer took this picture, he showed it to me and asked if I liked it. I shook my head up and down and moved my arm to signal yes. This corrupted the results (25.2%!), so we did it again. The second time, the number was 22.8%. This was good news, though not as good as I had hoped. This fact, combined with my weight today, 160.6 (essentially unchanged from 9 weeks ago) means:

• My body fat decreased from 24.5% to 22.8% in 9 weeks. That's about 0.2% per week.
• My lean weight increased from 121.3 lb to 124.0 lb, a gain of 2.7 lb . This is almost exactly what The Happy Body folks suggest is possible. Their formula for muscle gain is 0.2% of ideal body weight per week. For me that would be 0.002*165*9 = 2.97lb. So my muscle gain was par for the course. I feel pleased.
• My fat weight went from 39.4lb to 36.6lb, a decrease of 2.8 lb. While admirable, this is much less than suggested by The Happy Body folks. Their formula for fat loss is 1% of your ideal body weight per week. For me this would be .01*165*9 = 14.85lb. So I lost much less fat than projected. I feel disappointed.

Driving home, I was tempted to stop at Sanborn's for German Pancakes ("Why be so good if it doesn't have much impact?) but resisted. In a more grounded place and with Julie's assistance, I was able to identify a few causal factors for my fat loss being less than I had hoped:

• During my recent week-long trip to NY, I relied on situps and pushups rather than weights and did not stick to my nutritional program.
• My cheat day was 36 hours ago, so the fat was higher than it's been.
• Maybe I've been eating too many calories a day.
• Maybe I've been eating too few calories a day.
• Perhaps it's the 2-3 squares of 70% dark  chocolate I eat most days thinking the sugar is pretty low.

 The big question for me is how much to eat. Happy Body says two things that seem contradictory. On the one hand, you will lose fat approximately five times faster than you gain muscle, so if, like me, you're overfat but underweight, expect to lose weight before gaining it back. This suggests eating less until I hit the bottom. On the other hand, the book suggests that overfat-but-underweight  people eat a lot starting on day one. So...I'm confused, and I'm going to send them a note asking for clarification. Stay tuned for their reply.

Cheat day-pro and con

Two weeks ago I had my first food "cheat day." Before I share my experience, a bit of context: For some in the strength training/fat loss world, a cheat day isn't an accident or result of temptation. It's something you consciously incorporate into the program. Those in favor suggest that it supports adherence to the program by allowing you to keep eating your favorite foods, just less regularly; lose fat by keeping your basal metabolic rate from dropping due to a low calorie diet; provides enjoyment; and imbues you with the satisfaction of beating the system.

Sounds pretty good, right?

When I raised these points with family and friends, the one caution that emerged was this: what if a day of eating sugar (which they all know I've liked up until now) sucks me back into sugar addiction?

So here's the report on my first experiment:

• I ate my usual breakfast of cottage cheese and fruit and my usual high-protein, slow-carb lunch
• At the end of lunch, I ate a big Whole Foods brownie and a chocolate chip cookie. They tasted good albeit very sweet. When I was done, I was quite full. I brought a second brownie home thinking I might want it for dessert after dinner
• In mid afternoon, I drank a grande mocha.
• After dinner that night, I found that I was sugared-out and had no interest in the second brownie, so I stuck it in the freezer. (My brother-in-law, Bill, finally ate it last night.)
• The next day, I was relieved to return to the program and had no pangs of desire for sweet
  
  

In retrospect, one thing that I failed to do was to eat the sweets with great mindfulness--to savor each bite. Shawn Phillips recommends this in his book Strength for Life, and I've done it before. But on this cheat day, I forgot. From the happiness research, we know that savoring food (or any other experiences) is one of the best ways to feel happy in the present. This may be why I don't remember the cheat day being a particular happy day (though nor was it unhappy; it just was).

After the first day, I decided to wait for two weeks and then see if I felt like having another cheat day. Yesterday, I found myself with a mild longing for sugar while returning from Starbucks with a mocha and a frappaccino for Wendy and Bill.

Interestingly, what inspires me to consider another cheat day isn't the desire for sweets as much as the fear that my strength training/fat loss program will suffer if I let my BMR decline (assuming, again, this actually happens for me, which is a big Maybe). 

One thing is clear: I will only eat cheat foods that provide instant pleasure with little or no aftereffects. Cookies, yes. Ice cream, yes. Deep fried foods, no. Anything that causes gas or bloating, no.

First Cheat Day

Last Friday I held my first nutritional "cheat day." Not because I was desperate for extra sugar and fat, but because some in the strength training world suggest it supports fat loss by preventing one's basic metabolic rate from descending. Here is a quick report on what I ate and what I found: What I ate:

• The usual for breakfast
• A chocolate chip cookie and a brownie with lunch
• An iced mocha in the afternoon

Everything else was "to plan."

The result?

• I enjoyed the taste of the cookie, but the brownie was too sweet. The mocha hit the spot
• I felt quite full after lunch but not bloated
• I gained 1.5 pounds in 24 hours
• I easily returned to plan the next day. No resurgent longings for sugar
• Four days later, I'm up to 165 pounds, 3 pounds higher than my weight the four days prior to cheat day

Conclusion:

• Cheat day seems to have added fat weight with an unclear impact on BMR.
• Cheat day would be more effective if I were actually on a low calorie diet the rest of the week. In contrast, I've been eating heavily. 
• Now that I'm at my target weight and concerned about the lack of fat loss, I'm going to reduce my caloric consumption by 30%. Ironically, this may make a cheat day more useful than it was the first two weeks. 
• I'll wait two weeks to see if my weight goes down, then consider another cheat day

Brownies to live for

How can you have your cake brownie and eat it, too?

I loved baking brownies as a kid and enjoyed eating them ever since. Unfortunately, brownies are sin foods--high in sugar and saturated fats. What's a man to do?

Make Triple Substitution brownies, that's what. I pulled out Julie's 1968 Betty Crocker cookbook and made three key substitutions:

• Substituted 60 percent of the butter with applesauce (1:1 ratio) 
• Substituted all of the sugar with Xylitol, a low glycemic sugar substitute--it's technically a sugar alcohol (1 cup sugar = 3/8 cup Xylitol)
• Substituted 75 percent of the whole wheat flour with amaranth flour (1 cup flour = 1/4 cup amaranth flour) 

The result was a fairly tasty first stab at healthy brownies. They weren't chewy enough, and one fellow taster said they were "bland." I looked back at the Xylitol specs and realized it replaces sugar 1:1, so I underdid things. Forgot to take a photo (tsk tsk) but will next time around.

New merch

Digital kitchen scale--for measuring food that is typically counted in mass, not volume. Should be most useful at the outset and for favorite foods. The idea is to build competence in judging volume and mass of food so that over time I can eyeball it with accuracy. In coaching, we call this self-correcting.

Digital bathroom scale

Body tape measure--for accurate measures of waist, neck, shoulders, biceps, etc.