Phase 2 Day 5: 8/25/10

The fasting went well yesterday, I think. No permanent damage, anyway. Today, I rolled a 4 and a 5. That is 1500 calories and mostly soda to drink.

For breakfast, I had a Jimmy Dean Sausage, egg and cheese croissant (and 20 reese's pieces) to get me up to 500 calories. I drank some Coke Zero with it. I then waited until about 4pm to eat again and I had five chicken tenders from Hardee's with the creamy buffalo sauce, a medium fry and some ketchup. And a Diet Dr. Pepper. Of course, I am starving right now but at least I can look back with fondness on my meal today.

I also did my 20 pushups and 20 situps like I was supposed to so the exercise component is chugging right along as well.

Josh

Phase 2 Days 3 and 4: 8/23 to 8/24

I guess I should backtrack and explain what happened Sunday after I rolled the 500 calories. I ate a ham, turkey and cheese on wheat with mustard, salt and pepper. I had 1 pack of 100 calorie yogurt covered pretzels and 19 Pringles blazin' buffalo chips. I also drank water all day.

Praise be to the diet dice yesterday as I rolled a 6 and a 1. The 6 allowed me to eat whatever I wanted all day. The 1 kept me drinking water. So, I consumed a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit with a hashbrown from McDonalds first thing. For lunch, I snacked on a large fry with ketchup and a steak and cheese sandwich from Jack in the Box. Of course, I had to work out so, before dinner, I did my 20 situps and 20 pushups. Then I ate a 10 piece tongue torch wing meal with fries and ranch dressing from Zaxbys. Then, topped it all off with more Reese's Pieces than I can count. I was blissfully happy and probably topped out at no more than 3500 calories for the day. Then I took a 30 minute walk (partly outside, partly on the treadmill due to wild dogs roaming the streets) and I was done.

Today was not so nice to me. I rolled another 1 and a 3 for drinks. I am kind of glad to be getting the fasting days out of the way but whooo boy, is it tough after coming off that calorrific Monday. Since the catch of a 3 for beverages is water at meals and soda in between, I just drank water and then switched to soda when I wanted (all zero calories, of course). I am getting a slight headache here as I go to bed but I am happy that tomorrow I am guaranteed some food.

Josh

Phase 2 Day 2: 8/22/10

Fasting yesterday was not as hard as I thought it would be. I was an extra in a movie some friends of mine are shooting and that required sweating profusely and running back and forth across a field all night. My weigh in this morning is 258 pounds. I don't know if I will weigh myself every day but it might be good to keep track of how this diet is going.

Today, I was really hoping for a high roll since the last time I ate was Friday at 5pm. Instead I rolled double 2's. So, 500 calories of food, no exercise and mostly water to drink today. I am going to see a movie, wash some clothes and hang out with my friend, Jay, so there shouldn't be anything too strenuous in my future.

I will check in tomorrow and let you know what's up.

Josh

Phase 2 Day 1: 8/21/10

Today is the first day of my new, hardcore cycle. Befitting such a monumental achievement, I rolled a 1 on my food dice today and a 5 on my beverage dice. Let's review what this means for me...

1= No exercise, no food. Today is a fasting day but at least I don't have to work out. The crazy thing is that I went to bed hungry and woke up hungry from yesterday's 2000 calorie day. However, if I am to defeat this beast called fatness, sacrifices must be made.
5= Mostly soda with a little water as a snack. This should bloat me nicely.

Here is a pro tip, as a friend of mine might say: when you weigh yourself, make sure you actually read the numbers. I was in a bit of a funk yesterday because I thought I had lost no weight over the past 60 days of the Diabolical Diet Dice. However, it turns out I am just stupid. I have dropped 11 pounds in 60 days (down from 270 to 259). Of course, the first 10 are the easiest. From here on out, it gets hard.

In my life today, I will be an extra in a movie some friends of mine are shooting. So, yeah, that should be fun if I can stay conscious.

Josh

Kicking It Up a Notch (or BAM! for you Emeril fans)

As I write this, I have about one week left on this phase of the Diabolical Dice Diet. Today, in the shower (where I do my best thinking), I figured out the following way to easy exercise back into the picture:

I will tie my workouts to my food roll. This seems obvious, I guess, but it eluded me for some time. It was really hard to get a rhythm of exercise going with this diet because I would have very little energy on low calorie days. When you can barely move to do your job, it is almost impossible to force yourself to work out. So, for phase 2 (really this is probably phase 87 with all my adjustments and such but let me simplify if I may) I am going to alter the calorie count for more EXTREME results and add in these very low impact workouts...

1= Fasting, liquid only on this day (besides a vitamin). Since I can't do this two days in a row, it shouldn't kill me, right? No exercise these days as I will probably be nearly inert.
2= 500 Calories. These are tough days generally, still, but my body is almost used to them. No exercise.
3= 1000 Calories. 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 "girl pushups", 10 crunches.
4= 1500 calories. 20 pushups, 20 situps, 20 girl pushups, 20 crunches.
5= 2000 calories. Walk at 2.5 mph for 30 minutes.
6= Skies the limit calories. Walk at 3 mph for 30 minutes or 2.5 mph for 30 minutes with 20 pushups, 20 situps, 20 girl pushups and 20 crunches.

None of these are going to give me Brad Pitt abs or make me super bulky but the muscle growth should accelerate caloric burn and help me drop the pounds. Of course, the danger is in gaining weight via increased muscle mass so, really, how loose my clothing is will tell the tale.

Notice, I still have my 5 go crazy days but they will be balanced by 5 fasting days in the 30 day cycle. Every other day is geared toward weight loss without starvation.

Now, please understand that I am not a doctor nor do I even know is this is a healthy way to do this but I am only trying this for me. I will update often and let you know how it is going. The grand experiment starts on 8/21, see you then.

Josh

The Real Solution?

So, all this leads me to my brand new(ish) diet and exercise plan. For the past 50+ days, I have been trying out my Diet Dice system (patent pending). First of all I went here to figure out how many calories I need to eat per day to maintain my weight and how many to lose weight.

This is all well and good, but where do the dice come in? My problem with dieting has always been psychological. If you know, without a doubt, that tomorrow is going to be the same slog as today in regards to how much you can eat...it is easy to get frustrated. So, I figured out a way around that frustration.

The Diet Dice work like this, every morning I wake up and roll the dice. I bought a green dice and a blue dice to represent my food intake and water intake, respectively. I set up the entire thing in 30 day cycles and these are the rules. I can't roll the same number on either dice twice in a row (I learned this the hard way) and I can only have 5 occurrences of each number per thirty day cycle. I made a little spread sheet to keep track of all this and it has been very helpful.

Here are what the number results mean:

Food Die:
1= 500 Calories
2= 1000 Calories
3= 1500 Calories (Most fad diets aim about here or lower per daily intake)
4= 2000 (this is the minimum most humans should eat to stay alive)
5= 2500
6= Go crazy, eat what you want.

Water Die:
1= Nothing but water all day
2= Mostly water, allow yourself one half cup of soda as a "snack"
3= Water at meals, soda in between
4= Soda at meals, water in between
5= Mostly soda, have a little water if you want (and you will)
6= All Soda

As you can see, the permutations are varied.

I included a water die to help cut down on the amount of soda I drink. On bad days, I can kill a two liter of Dr. Pepper like nobody's business. The water die has made me appreciate water and just how thirst quenching it is compared with soda. The other nice balance is that, on low calorie days, you don't want to waste your calories with soda. On days where I roll high for soda and low for calories, I turn to Zero sodas like Coke Zero or Diet Dr. Pepper. Both of which taste good to me. Of course, there are some days I don't even care to drink soda now even when I roll high. I am fine "cheating" on my dice as long it is in the healthy direction.

The other trick is to buy your own groceries and keep track of the calories on the food labels. This is getting easier and easier to do. Likewise, most fast food places have nutritional guides online to check. Also, take a daily vitamin because (if you are like me) you will use your calories on crap.

I will give you a for example from today. I rolled a 5 on the food die and a 1 on the water die. I have been drinking nothing but water all day. With a five, I can go kind of nuts with the fatty foods (this caloric amount is slightly over what I would need to lose weight). I ate a Jimmy Dean Sausage, Egg and Cheese Croissant with a Special K granola bar (chocolate and pretzel) for breakfast. That meal was worth 510 calories. Due to me being an idiot, I accidentally drank half a cup of Orange Juice with it and boosted the meal up to 620 calories. I know every piece of gum I chew has 5 calories but I try not to worry about that. Just living you burn that off in a day. For lunch, I had a Burger King Tendergrill Chicken sandwich, add bacon and cheese. That was worth about 560 calories. Notice, no fries or anything. I am up to 1180 for the day, leaving me 1320 for dinner. I had a single baconater from Wendy's with a medium fry and two packs of ketchup. Then, for desert, I had 67 reese's pieces.

By the way, Reese's pieces are great for counting calories. They are about 4 calories per piece. So, if you have some calories left over after your meals, divide them by four, pick out your pieces and munch away.

Notice that my meals today are all pretty much crap. No fruits or veggies here. Granted, today was a high calorie day but let's look at yesterday. I rolled 1 on my food die and a 4 on my water die. With only 500 calories to eat, I try to make it as far through the day as I can before eating. Then, in one early afternoon meal, I ate a Dagwood style sandwich made with 2 slices of Natures Own wheat bread (50 cals each), a slice of velveeta cheese (60 cals), 6 slices of Oscar Mayer Deli style mesquite turkey (50 cals for all six slices combined), 6 slices of Oscar Meyer Virginia Ham (again, 50 calories for the 6 slices combined), mustard (calories free, or so small so as to be negligible) and salt and pepper. So, this one sandwich was a little over half my calories for the day. I joined that with a Nabisco 100 Calorie snack pack of yogurt covered Pretzels and 14 Pringle's Blazing Buffalo flavored chips. Pringle's is another brand I highly recommend as their chips are easy to count and usually worth 10 calories each. The beverage of choice was Diet Dr. Pepper and the meal was delicious. I spent not a dime on food yesterday either (but dropped a bit today).



As you can see, I haven't compromised my taste in food. And, this is the most important point, I don't dread tomorrow because I could end up with a six on the food die or a one, there is no point worrying about it. I just take it as it comes. The beauty here is that I know I will get five days out of these 30 to eat whatever my greedy heart desires. The cool thing is, after your stomach has shrunk from low calorie days, you really can't eat too much even on your crazy days. The only other cheating I do is when I know I have a day coming up where I can't control my food (like a cookout or going out to eat with a friend at a place without calorie counts), I go ahead and sacrifice a 6 day. I know I will be eating less the next day (due to the "no number can be repeated immediately" rule) and that is marked against my tally of 6's for the cycle.

You mathematically minded folks may have figured out by now that there is no guarantee (even without repetition) that I will roll a 4 five different times in 30 days. During my first cycle (where I experimented with all this), I ended up having to out all my unused numbers in a row at the end. The "no repeating" rule came about to try and keep that to a minimum. I will let you know when I finish this cycle if it worked.

Of course, who knows if any of this is working? Some days, I feel slimmer and other days, bloated and gross. At the end of this second 30 day cycle, I will weigh myself to see if any good has come of this two month diet.

If it hasn't (and I wouldn't be surprised), I am going to initiate Phase 2 of the Diabolical Diet Dice, which I will outline here soon.

Josh

The Attempted Solution

When last we spoke, I was getting very large. Things were looking as bad as they had ever been.



I know you can't see me that well but that is intentional. I liked to hide from cameras like the Sasquatch at this point just a few scant years ago. So, after I got my head on straight, I decided it was time to lose some weight.

I began doing the Couch to 5k program. Having never run in my life, I began really enjoying this. I can honestly say it is a nice, gradual program...until Week 5, workout 3. All of a sudden you jump from this gradually increasing set of running steps to just busting your butt for 20 minutes straight. It was a weird hurdle I couldn't overcome. I modified the program a couple of times (making some sensible, gradual steps to work my way up to 20 minutes of solid running) but the effort was taking forever and did not seem to be doing me much good. In fact, I was gaining weight. Interspersed with all this running was days of pushups and situps and jumping jacks. Also, not helping.

My clothes were starting to get a little looser but not by much. Of course, my diet didn't change much at all. Garbage in, garbage out. I know that technically the phrase "muscle weighs more than fat" doesn't make any sense (a pound of muscle is a pound, just like a pound of fat) but the real meaning of it is that you end up weighing more while decreasing your mass. Which is great, if you are trying to be a football player. I was building up awesome muscles. Probably even had a six pack. The problem is, it was all buried under inches of quivering fat. Sure, the muscle helps you metabolize better but that only goes so far.

I tried various diets like limiting my caloric intake and eating smaller meals but nothing really seemed to work. I realized that, without a drastic reduction in my caloric intake, I would never see the results of my working out. So, this then, is the final problem. There is a psychological component to dieting that makes it very difficult to stick with one (if you are anything like me). That is the dread of knowing that there is no reprieve from your very tight-laced regimen. You know, day after day after day you will never get to eat the things you love, ever again.

So my attempted solution did not work. It was time, my friends, for the diabolical diet dice...

The Diabolical Diet Dice: The Problem

Welcome to my blog about losing weight. I wanted to write this to let others know how I did it and provide a bit of a solution that has worked for me. Before I get into what I do, I would like to outline the problem.

The problem is that I like food that tastes good and I dislike food that does not. To me, that means lots of fatty fatness and loads of fat. Beef, pork, chicken, turkey, cheeses of all kinds, potatoes, rice, beans, breads, pasta and soda, soda soda: these were my foods of choice. And they still are. I used to be a skinny, happy little kid back when my metabolism still worked...



See?

But the problem began when I just bludgeoned my body with crap. Tons of crap. Every Sunday, throughout middle school, I had the same two meals. For lunch, I had a 3 piece original recipe, all leg, meal from KFC with mashed potatoes and a biscuit. For dinner, I would eat the better part of a greasy pepperoni and extra cheese pizza from a local place called Bernardio's. I loved Sundays. They were delicious. And it wasn't like I was eating salads the rest of the week. I loved, loved, loved the little square pizzas you would get in school. Everyday, I bought one. Rarely did I branch out. That continued in college where, even though I had a dining hall plan, I mostly ate at the diner (The Pala-Den, see our mascots were Paladins and...nevermind) in the student center. I ate Chick-Fil-A also, a lot. So much so that I cannot eat it anymore now. I also no longer eat at KFC (much if at all) or McDonalds (every Friday my best friend's parents would take us there).

Not really a healthy bone in my body, food-wise. And it isn't like I worked out. The only exercise I got was in gym class. Now here is a dark, little secret I don't reveal too often. There was a period in high school where I was thin and handsome again...



During this period, I received the most positive attention from girls I have ever received. What was my secret? Barfing...and lots of it. Technically, I was not barfing to be thin. In fact, I thought I was fatter than ever (this is called body dismorphia and, yep, it happens to guys, too). I was barfing because I had started dating and was always super nervous around women. Just thinking about my girlfriend made me so jittery, I couldn't eat. Of course, this taught me a valuable (if crappy) lesson...women like thin guys. The best personality in the world will not do a heck of a lot for you if you aren't good looking somehow. So, I learned how shallow people are and that stuck with me in some negative ways.

As I got older, via a series of psychological hang ups and quirks to numerous and grotesque to analyze here, I almost dared people to like me. By my Freshman year at college, the old weight was back with a vengeance and women no longer made me nervous. I got fatter and sadder in a weird cycle where I was unhappy because I ate and I ate because I was unhappy.

Fast forward to about 2007, a failed engagement and financial ruin leads me to move back in with my parents. My weight is getting dangerously close to 300 lbs. and my depression has got me on the edge of disaster. If this isn't my cliffhanger ending, I don't know what is...come back later for more.