Weight Loss

Last summer, I did "P90X+" and it's in quotations because I didn't REALLY do it.  I'll explain.

P90X and its sequel P90X+ (which features a more muscle building version and a less muscle building version than standard P90X) have 90 day programs for diet and exercise.

The diet portion is a three tier program that has you consuming a lot of calories in specific proportions of carbs, fat, and protein that change each month.  The exercise program is a "muscle confusion" program where you quickly change exercises every few minutes and change routines every day.

Well, I have a prosthetic shoulder from my glory days as a wrestler.  So many of the exercises were impossible for me.  Others had to be modified (for instance, I do pushups against a coffee table or the edge of a bed instead of the ground).  For ones I straight up skipped, I would run in place or do some other exercise.  And I added a few exercises to the routines that I do for physical therapy of my shoulder.

Dietwise, I felt unchallenged on the P90X diet.  I also felt like it was too much food, especially considering I wasn't getting the full workout.  So I started with a general "healthy" diet and then started to trim here and there.  What I ended with (and what I'm doing now) is known as a VLC Diet (Very Low Calorie).  I try not to go over 1,000 calories a day right now (yesterday was 800).  Last summer I ended doing 400-800 calories a day.

Now, that SOUNDS extreme.  Honestly, the only portion I've found extreme about it is how it sounds to other people.  I end up lying about my diet just because I don't want to hear people "warn" me about it.

Yes, I've read that you need a minimum of 1,200 calories. (MyFitnessPal yells at me every time I log under this number)  I just don't BELIEVE it.

In America, the idea of eating less than 1,200 calories a day is horrible, but I wonder how many calories a day the average Central African eats or the average member of the lower classes of India.

There's a thing called a "water fast" where you eat or drink nothing but water.  It's supposed to be very beneficial.  3 day fasts are common in that community, but one doctor I read said everyone should do a "long" one at some point in their life.  Long being 21 days.  I tried the water fast and only took my medicine and water, but after a day and a half, I started getting diarrhea.  It might have meant nothing because a GI specialist says I have Irritable Bowel Syndome, diet changes often cause me to have diarrhea, and diarrhea is just a normal part of my life randomly some weeks.  However, diarrhea (yes, I'm seeing how many times I can type that word lol) is also a symptom of lithium poisoning.  As I take a shitload of lithium and have to be tested regularly for lithium poisoning, I got worried.  With no input except medicine, that meant my liver went from processing a 99/1% mix of food/drugs to a 0/100% mix.  So I cancelled that experiment.

Too bad.  I was enjoying it.  I'd recommended it.

At this point, I should say HOW I have the "willpower" to reject food like this.  I don't sell my willpower short.  I can overcome most temptations.  Cookies, taffy, bacon, and fruit are among my very few trigger foods.  I also lack the willpower to turn down things that I think would make people feel uncomfortable.  If we all go to a steakhouse, I'm not ordering a salad.  If my son wants to feed me a candy, I eat it.  But it's an augmented strength.  Whatever normal resistance I have, it's not superhuman until I take my adderall.

Adderall is an anti-ADHD drug that makes your brain focus, concentrate, and pumps up your energy levels.  I was prescribed it because my anti-psychotics and lithium were making me a little foggy.  A side effect is a loss of appetite.  The duration of all of adderall's effects change from person to person, but apparently addy and I were made for each other because the effects last all day for me.  I just don't have to eat.  Yesterday I was at 400 calories and wasn't hungry, but I forced myself to eat a little more because I felt a societal pressure to do so.

Adderall is a trick, but there's no secret to weight loss.  If you burn more calories than you take in, you lose weight.  End of story.  I don't believe there's some secret ratio of carbs and fat and protein.  I remember an article on a professor proving this by eating nothing but small portions of Hostess products to lose weight.  Exercise doesn't burn that much, but I believe it keeps your resting calorie burning rate up so I do it.  It's really all about the diet.

It's a simple plan that can be summed up in four word:

Eat less.  Do more.

That's it.  If you find yourself eating, remember to eat less.  In the beginning, I found that weight fell off as soon as I stopped eating two helpings of everything.  If you find yourself doing nothing, get up and do more.  Even if you're stuck at your desk, swing your feet around or do kinesthetics.  I do kinesthetic pushups in the car when I'm at red lights where I push away on the steering wheel and pull it into myself at the same time.

The only other thing I can vouch for by P90X is the time frame.  The idea that "I only have to do this for 90 days" really helps.  I kept a list of foods I'd eat after the 90 days were up and modified it as the time went on.  Made it real easy to keep going knowing that it wasn't a "forever" diet.

Weight loss from the July, August, and September 2013: from 270 lb to 220 lb = 50 lb loss or about 20%

I moved between 225 and 218 for the next few months, but I'm starting back on a VLC diet with a light exercise plan and I'm at 216.  My wife, and all but my oldest friends, have never seen me below 220 lbs.

I graduated high school at 199 with 12% body fat.  I don't think I can get there again, but maybe I can get to 199 with 25% body fat.  I don't need all that muscle these days anyway.  My arthritis wouldn't let me do anything with it.

Friday we leave on a "do nothing" vacation.  A weekend in Savannah, then a week in Myrtle Beach.  I plan to spend a lot of time "zenning out" as I've told my wife.  I have a backlog of self-improvement articles and bodyweight exercises to explore.  I'm bringing very little with me and will be exercising my mindfulness (being completely mentally present in each moment).  And I'll be eating very little.  My wife seems on board with this and is bringing our food scale for herself.  Other than a reservation at Paula Deen's restaurant, there's no plan to splurge on money or calories on this trip.  Obviously Paula Deen is hardly low calorie, but it's a matter of living life versus hiding from it.

What's the point of being healthy and living if you don't do interesting things with your life?