GO! RUN! MOVE! POST! Eat?

Stan Van Gundy, dress code instigator and a favorite motivator.

                    I wish I had posted more often before this, as that might make posting seem less like an epic endeavor and something that was more an autopilot behavior. But as this now slightly less corpulent, but no less invested and intense man above us often has barked, yelped, and shrieked: "YOU WANT THIS TO BE EASY! IT'S NEVER EASY!" And so here we are, back on the blog because nothing that's worth doing is ever easy. Before I continue, props to Coach Stan for his own fat loss (Orlando Sentinel with the story), and probably fitting into a smaller size shirt, since Commissioner David Stern and his lackeys forced coaches to wear collared shirts on the sidelines. 

               January was a pretty solid month after the holiday blowup, even with having to fight off some illnesses that forced me to rest up and take more days off than I would have liked. I'm more than eager to share the past month of my training, but right now I want to highlight the fact that my nutrition plan was nearly spot on everyday starting from January 3rd. Not saying I was on some Bernard Hopkins haven't eaten a donut in decades tip or approaching a Steve Nash level of intuitive eating. (Definitely a must read on his diet here from NBA.com.) For simplicity's sake, I mean to say that this past month I maintained a caloric deficit all those days, consumed enough protein to maintain lean body mass, and averaged a healthy daily intake of vitamins and minerals.

              Maintaining a caloric deficit is the only way to lose weight besides maybe severing limbs; you can drink nothing but protein shakes and eat Papa John's, but if you consume less calories than you burn, you will lose weight, and maybe find yourself some new health problems. Conversely, you can eat completely organic food found naturally in the earth, eat lean meats and fish, and if you consume more calories than you need, even from these sources, you will eventually become a fat human being, albeit probably a healthy one. There is a difference between eating for health, and eating to cut body fat/lose weight. Last month I think I did yeoman's work in doing both. I do count my calories (tip of the hat to caloriecount.about.com) because it works for me: it reinforces accountability, lets me know my macronutrient and micronutrient breakdown, and if I really am maintaining a caloric deficit. Quick mental shorthand: macronutrients are proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and micronutrients are vitamins and so called trace minerals that we need small amounts of. This is becoming an early theme, but I'll or we'll probably discuss counting calories vs. not counting them/eating intuitively a la Nash in later posts.

              There was a time, however, when I didn't know the first thing about the energy in vs. energy out equation regarding energy expenditure, and I still lost weight. The summer of junior year in high school I topped out at about 220 lbs, close to 225. My sister was going to try something called the "Six Week Body Makeover" from Provida Life Sciences, and we ended up trying it out together. I recall answering a battery of multiple choice questions and eventually learning what body type I was so the program could prescribe an eating plan. Although I didn't know this then, what this type of nutritional plan does, just like any of the latest fad diets or miraculous as seen on TV breakthroughs, is that it makes you eat less calories than you burn, even if you aren't being told it (in fact, the whole not counting calories becomes another selling point.)
              
                    Armed with willpower and, really, a wtf not attitude, I remember eating egg whites, oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, potatoes, and a lot, a lot, a loooot of chicken breast. If you've read about Steve Nash's diet, he'll probably tell you that it's pretty damn difficult to gain body fat (i.e. enter a calorie surplus) from eating those types of minimally processed, whole foods. Ironically, in the early stages I distinctly recall feeling stuffed, because I was eating every 2.5 - 3 hours. My compliance was helped in large part because of my sister who supported me, prepared everything, and mixed it up so it wasn't always the same flavors. We did have "cheat snacks" or maybe even a day off every now and then, but I remember the regimented, routine nature of that time. It was almost like Ray Allen shooting off a screen--automatic. Ultimately, I think I got down to around 170-180 lbs when it was all said and done. And the only muscles I consistently used were probably the ones in manipulating a Super Nintendo or PSOne controller, and the ones that lift food from a plate or container to my mouth. (pause)

                Well, this is from memory, and it is getting late, but if that summer was like most summers, then I probably at least helped out with my father's volleyball camp, so that's at least one day a week where I got to engage in some physical activity, but I definitely didn't consistently strength train or do cardio, and still lost the weight of a young child. Unfortunately for me, I got satisfied with that at the moment, didn't really learn much that would shift the paradigm of weight loss through "dieting". Basically, my mindset was, that was tough, I'm glad I did it, but now I'm going to go back to eating like I was used to. A "diet" was not a lifestyle change, but more of a phase. And I would pay for that in college and beyond. But again, that's maybe for another time.

                 Back to a successful January--on the 3rd day of the month I weighed in at a bloated 151.2 lbs with a body fat percentage of 23.1% and body water percentage of 52.8% using the same scale I've had for the longest. (I don't know how accurate it is, but if you use the same device to track anything, even if it's not completely accurate, you can still use it to track change given it's always making the same mistake.) This morning, February 5th, I weighed in at 137.2 lbs, 18.2% body fat, and 56.1% body water. Undoubtedly a lot of the weight was water weight, but 5 percent body fat is 5 percent body fat. If you look at my food log from the month, you would find a lot candy (definitely not healthy, I know, and I don't encourage it even if you can afford to eat it calorie-wise), Ferrero Rocher (too classy to be called candy), trips to KFC, Johnny Rockets, and Nathan's. Yet on all those days I still remained in caloric deficit.

               You would also see a majority of of "clean" eating: I live off of vegetables, fruits, chicken breast, ground turkey, whey protein shakes, and sweetpotatoes. I did enjoy a lot of steak looking back, but that's also because it was on sale a lot, and obviously, it fit into my calorie budget too. Stan the Man knows that worthwhile accomplishments do not come easy, and for many the nutrition/"calories in" aspect of fat loss is incredibly difficult. I'm not overly prone to use war metaphors, but in the fields of athletics, fitness, and fat loss, it's often stated that war shifts in one's favor if you win the battle in the grocery store. As an old web mentor once wrote: "Eat Less/Move More is not a 50/50 Proposition." You cannot outrun, outlift, outGOHARDORGOHOME a caloric surplus, if you are trying to lose weight and cut body fat. The following video provides a nice illustration of that point, and conveniently, also features the man whose exercise program I just completed today.