It is SO HARD to keep good nutrition while running hard or working out. This is the key. If I can modulate this appropriately, I’ll be good.

I am seeing more 270s (276, 277, 278, 279).

I gotta keep PUSHING. Keep the food good. PROTEIN IT UP.

The goal is to slim down quickly.

Q2 is going to be great. I am going to close out Q1 well.

LET GO BROTHER

I did the Half Marathon. It was tough. I dreaded it. And then the post recovery has been hard.

I want to enjoy running. That is the first criteria. Then the second criteria is to achieve goals. Small, easy feedback loops. Thats what I like. Like doing laps in F1.

My next race is in a couple of weeks. It is a 4 miler. It’s a bit longer than I was hoping for but it’s okay.

My immediate goal is to finish running a 5k without stopping. That’s it. Nothing else. Then I will think about the rest of the stuff. This is my Q2 goal.

For this, I will continue my RunKeeper schedule. Let’s see if that will help me get to the end. I will use the park as my playground. That’s it!

Keep it simple and fun. Automatically progress towards the goals.

Holy shit bro. I am so proud of you. You did a half marathon. You finished it. You will get a medal. This was amazing.

I was not feeling it the previous night. Even the morning I was anxious. But I got the right push from a friend and decided to end up doing it. Fuck yea.

I had some GU energy gels. They seem to have really helped. I did four of them.

I didn’t have a lot of water, but eventually I got some. I should review this.

Need to rethink gels. 90 minutes+ could require gel. But I wonder if my fat can do it.

PACE

This was pretty slow.

Next up, i want to reset my run schedule. I want to be able to do a 5k under 10 mins per mile. And easily be able to finish 4Mers. I have a lot of 5ks and 4Ms coming up.

(I will probably flesh this out in the future)

I am a plateau. And the will is going down. This is exactly the point where in my previous attempts, shit stops. Even back in 2012, this is what had happened. But not this time.

The key thing for me is small victories. I stack them up like laps in F1 or wins in Madden. This is what I need. I need small victories with running and diet, so that I can keep building on this foundation.

Sometimes it helps to start big I guess. Tomorrow is a big day. HALF MARATHON?!? Cmon brah. But, dont do it if you dont want to. It’s okay. Regardless what happens, i will run tomorrow at least. No agenda. If I get to 13Ms, great. 13.2 MILES.

Start simple again. Reset the weight stuff. Let’s continue going.

Excuses

I need a longer write up for this – one in which I talk myself out of every possible excuse I can think of. It’s all about rationalization.

However, one thing I wanted to point out right now is the interview JJ Watt did with Pat McAfee – He said he never wanted to have regrets about “if only I ate better, or slept better, or worked out better, I could be great”. No, you can’t have that regret. Time is linear. There is no going back. You have to give it your best. Don’t let yourself have these things to point to.

Just wanted to mention how normal my BP is. Its amazing.

I reviewed some numbers. I have been eating about 1900 to 2000 calories! Of course. I am NOT in a plateau. I just have been eating more than expected.

The Golden Week (where I lost 8 pounds in early feb 2023), I ate 1650 calories. Let’s take it back to that. That’s pretty much it.

I also burned 1100 per day. I think this is also part of the equation. The engine was revving.

Simplify your life. Also keep your activity going. Let’s do this.

Soon: I want to clean up the office and get to building up the arms. I just want them to be a bit bigger.

VIDEO: From Fat to Fit Motivational

This dude is 40. Cmon boy.

• It’s all about calorie deficit. Don’t over complicate it.
• Shoot for six pack!
• Simplicity is key. Eat the same shit over and over. And have activity.
• No magic pill. Discipline.
• Prioritize protein (160 to 200 grams per DAY) 200 carbs etc.
• He got to a plateau and then he cut calories

3 months to loose 20 pounds, then plateaued

10 pounds by lowering calories

Another 10 pounds by hard work.

THEN he took a diet break. After 40 pounds.

Then he restarted by cutting calories + intermittent fasting

Lost about 10 pounds.

Didnt see abs.

Kept going. Did IF. Secret weapon. He ate BREAKFAST and DINNER.

Chicken + eggs. Protein heavy. Lost another 10 pounds. THEN HE SAW ABS

I haven’t had booze in a while. I would have thought that not having booze would have immediately dropped weight. Made it easier for me to keep loosing it. But I’m not seeing it. Wonder if I have adapted to this?

Well let’s see.

Signs That You NEED to STOP Your Diet (Taking a 2-Week Break)

• Cheat by being at maintenance. At 280, my BMR is like 2500.
• Body heat generation.
• Leptin depletion due to the diet. OH WOW – carbohydrates INCREASE leptin
• This low carb / keto diet shit was a bad thing. The trick seems to be to be balanced, around time.
• Eat less carbs in the day, more in the night.
• Carbs will bring back leptin and thats why your hunger gets managed?

ADAPTIVE THERMOGENESIS has four parts

• BMR
• Energy needed to burn your food
• NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis)
• Thermic impact of exercise (calorie burn due to exercise)

This ^ has to be fine tuned.

It takes 2 weeks for METABOLIC ADAPTATION.

Diet breaks:

• Matador Study: Two weeks DIET + Two weeks at MAINTENANCE. Maybe I can do this?
• Calorie Shifting: 11 days DIET + 3 days whatever.

How to loose weight if you hit a weight loss plateau

• You are in a plateau if three weeks have gone by and you haven’t lost weight.
• MODERATE decrease in your calories. No need to go crazy. Just do about 150 calorie reduction.
• As you lose weight, you have to keep reducing calories.
• ALSO, you HAVE to increase your exercise too.

You cannot just reduce the calories. You have to increase the burn too.

Interesting goal: Reduce as much weight as you can but by keeping as high calorie intake as you can,

This means you have to dial up the activity.

DON’T JUST DO TOO MUCH CARDIO – BUILD UP A MUSCLE BASE.

Intermittent Fasting | 3 Ways to Break Weight Loss Plateaus- Thomas DeLauer

• ADAPTIVE THERMOGENESIS
• It reduces the the metabolism RAPIDLY. So, keep the body guessing! Just take 2 week breaks?

Hunger management 1

My hunger is being managed again. Just like that golden week where I lost 8 pounds.

Basically, I had two days of eating trashy food, including general tsos, fried rice, wonton ragoons, etc.

Then, the next day – no hunger.

I wonder if due to running, covid and calorie restriction my body doesn’t get some nutrients or something and so it craves something. And that creates the hunger. Technically, hunger is driven by hormones though, so, not sure.

Anyway, maybe once every two weeks or so I should have a cheat couple of days. Maybe that will rejigger things.

I haven’t had a legit run in weeks. Crisis with relationship, family. Flu recovery. Plateau. Not achieving my small goals. Work stresses. Everything’s coming together again – crescendoing again.

I was already supposed to have done a half marathon. But covid fucked it up.

Relationship is so fucked up right now. Communication issues. That’s all fucked up.

Work “negative feedback”. Fucked up. I didn’t even make the bonus I wanted.

I am purposely eating like crap to rejigger some of this shit. Maybe break out of this plateau.

Chris Terrell told me: “the best remedy to lack of energy is action”

I will run tomorrow. Running is everything to me. Running is life. Running.

Reset this stack. Just run a 5k tomorrow. That’s all. Then we will reevaluate.