Okay, so this is all about me, but it’s my blog, right? I can’t very well write about you.
But here’s the thing: I’m no uber-muscular gym rat; I’m no triathlete. I’m just a regular guy who wants to be fit, so my hope is that you can take the things that I do in my life and apply them to yours.
My fitness quest continues into 2012 — it’s going on 5 years now — and while I have surely come a long way, I still have a long way to go. I am pretty sure, for example, that I could lose 15 pounds and feel good about it.
Those are some tough pounds, though, those last 15.
The first 45 pounds were not so hard for me to lose, pretty much diet only, and not an overly rigid one to maintain it.
The next 15 were more difficult, but I managed to lose ’em with exercise.
But these last 15, wow, tough. I’ve been trying to lose them for a year and a half now. Admittedly, I haven’t been trying that hard, because, as I said, I’m no fitness fanatic. So, the time has come to give it a real go, but not at the whole 15 (which maybe should even be 20 — I dunno).
I’m going to shoot for 10 pounds. On June 30, 2012, I would like to weigh 10 pounds less than I do right now, and, because maintaining the weight loss is key, on December 31, 2012, I would like to weigh the same as I did on June 30. Or less would be okay, too.
Ultimately, I really only want to lose fat, not muscle, and weight measures both, right?
I feel comfortable, however, using weight to quantify my goal, because I know that because I’ll be working out my entire body, the vast majority of the weight I lose will be fat. If I do put on some muscle, well, that’s all the more fat I’ll need to lose to reach the goal.
Okay, so now that I have a goal, how do I plan to reach it?
The plan will have to involve calorie restriction and exercise. Of course. There are no magic potions or formulas and liposuction is just too expensive and downright gross, not to mention that when it’s over, your body is now in an unnatural state, so I don’t like the idea of it.
HOW MANY CALORIES DO WE NEED?
There is a really nice calculator right here to let you know about how many calories you need every day to maintain your current weight.
A good rule of thumb is to subtract 500 from that if you want to lose weight.
NUTRITION
I’m going to shoot for around 2000 calories a day comprising 50% protein, 30% carbs, and 20% fat. That will mean a lot of fish and chicken breasts for the protein and a good supply of vegetables and fruit for the carbs. The fat will primarily come from meats, nuts and seeds, egg yolks, and avocados.
I will minimize
- Any foods that were created to satisfy a sweet tooth. I banished all these foods from my diet almost two years ago and have not turned back, so this part will be easy for me.
- Grains, such as wheat, corn, oats, and rice. I’ve gone entirely without these “foods” for 6 months, so this should be okay for me. I currently only have maybe 15-20% of the grain intake I used to, so this should not be too hard for me.
- Fatty foods in general, and fatty dairy products specifically. I truly believe there is something about dairy fat that allows my body to store it more easily than other fats. When I go through my periods of massive brie consumption — I do love me some brie — I gain weight. This may simply be a too-many-calories thing, but suffice to say that I’ll be leaving full-fat cheeses off my shopping lists. 2% is fine. Fat-free yogurt is fine.
I will maximize
- Lean proteins like fish, chicken breasts, and egg whites. I am glad that I have figured out good ways to prepare and eat chicken breast — which I don’t really care for — because fish is too expensive for me to eat it all the time. I’ll also throw a few turkey burgers into the mix.
- Raw and frozen vegetables and fruit. Mostly vegetables, because the fruit carbs add up quickly. The fruits will primarily be frozen berries consumed as part of a protein smoothie or in fat-free yogurt.
- Sugar-free protein powders. I started using protein powder supplements when I first went on a 50/30/20 diet. It’s very difficult to eat that much protein, so a supplement is a must for me.
I will also document everything I eat in a series of spreadsheets, one per day. I have found that this is the only accurate way to track my food intake. Without writing it all down, too many little food items — the kind that often add up to big calories — fall through the cracks.
I also have a small food scale that I’ll use to accurately measure portions.
Is the 50/30/20 diet necessary? Probably not. 40/40/20 or 40/30/30 would be okay, too, as long as the calories are right. But I’m shooting for 50/30/20, so if I fall a bit short on protein, I’m still within what I consider acceptable levels.
EXERCISE
I’m going to start the year with a round of good old Insanity with Shaun T. I have a lot of new yoga DVDs, too, so I will be sprinkling those in.
That will last through January and February and on into March.
At that point I will be really itching to start P90X2, so, after a week of yoga, I’ll do that program.
That should take me all the way through June. On June 30, I’ll do my weigh-in to see if I reached my goal of losing 10 pounds, and decide where to go from there.
The way I document my workouts, btw, is in my Google calendar. I set up a separate calendar for Workouts, then I just add my workouts as I complete them. This is also a must for me, because I like to know what I’ve done to get where I am, and, yeah, it’s hard to remember day-to-day, what I’ve done. Not as necessary when participating in an organized program like Insanity or P90X2, but I’ll put the workouts in there anyway to stay in the habit.
DO YOU HAVE FITNESS GOALS FOR 2012?
If you’d like to join me this year, like my Facebook page, and I’ll let you know when I blog, as well as send out little motivators every so often. Our goals don’t need to mesh, nor do our fitness plans, but perhaps within our little community, we can help each other keep going.
If you’d like to order Insanity or P90X2 or any other Beachbody product, email me about it or order it yourself through my Team Beachbody page. It costs you nothing extra, and, yeah, I do get a little kickback when you order through me. Hey, I gotta fund my fitness DVD and equipment habit somehow!