I want to get my weight down to 185 pounds. I'm at 210 right now. That means I've got to lose another 25 pounds. I've already lost 40 pounds since the beginning of February 2010. Assuming I don't lose any muscle and/or water, another 25 pound reduction (of fat) would put me at about 13% body fat. That's my goal.
That's all quite doable, but let's throw in a huge wrinkle - I want to do this in the next 25 days! First of all, it can be done. If I workout enough, and if I adhere to a very strict diet, then I can get to this goal. The questions are: (1) do I have the stamina and strength to do it? (2) how bad will it be for my health? (3) Is this too fast?
My doctor friends will certainly tell me that this is too fast. But frankly, I feel a lot of medical advice is too conservative. I think that has a lot to do with fear of liability for side effects from a strenuous weight loss regimen.
Since my tween years doctors have been naysayers. I remember at age 12 my pediatrician told me and my parents that lifting weights would stun my growth. But frankly, I'm pretty sure my height has everything to do with genetics and nothing to do with the heavy weights I hoisted over my head during high school.
In my tween years my doctor said there wasn't much room for my muscles to grow. I went from a chubby 150 pounds as a freshman in high school to a much leaner 180 pounds as a graduating high school senior. That's at least a gain of 30 pounds of muscle, but I think I gained even more muscle because I also lost some of my belly fat at the same time.
My point is that my body (and perhaps most of our bodies) is capable of a lot more than we (me and my doctor) allow it to do.
I've been surfing the web to get some ideas on how to go about this. A guy named Tim Ferriss lays out a strategy to lose 25 pounds in 30 days on his blog. He doesn't even incorporate exercise. His plan focuses on eating lots of vegetables and lean protein.
This is basically what I've been doing anyways, but for the next 25 days I'll need to be very strict about not deviating from the planned diet.
Currently my breakfast consists of a protein drink made with Whey Isolate 28. I also eat one to two bananas and I drink about 4 cups of coffee over the course of the morning. I take 2 PB & J sandwiches which I eat throughout the day (the jam is sugar free and the bread is whole grain from Pepridge Farms with 4 grams of fiber per slice). Dinner on good nights consists of lean protein, fruits and veggies. On bad nights I might eat some wheat pita with whatever Indo-Pakistani meat or veggie dish is available. If I'm hungry when going to bed I sometimes have another protein drink.
This diet is basically sound. Still, in order to hit my goal of 25 pounds in 25 days I'll probably need to cut back on the bread, skim milk and peanut butter. I'll need to be very particular about eating more vegetables and lean meats.
The difference between my plan and the one Ferriss suggests above is that I'm also including exercise in my effort. I'll need cardio every day and probably a solid short run in the morning. Running twice a day plus lifting weights every other day will help keep my metabolism going. The concern, however, is that I'll become very tired and that this will in turn cause my workout intensity to decrease.
I'll be taking my vitamins and supplements as I have been over the past several months. This should help avoid any gaps in my nutrition. I also need to find some kind of snack food that I can munch on in order to keep myself from getting distracted from other things by hunger (I'm not sure what it will be but once I figure it out I post the details).
I'd like the weight loss to be fat. I like my muscle and I want to keep it. That's hard to do in the best of diets so this will be very challenging.
In order for me to even come close to my goal I'm going to need plenty of sleep. Last night I got 4 hours. That's not going to cut it. I need at least 7 hours of sleep, With the early morning run probably being at around 4 am, I'll need to get to bed by 9pm. This is going to be tough.
While I am very committed to achieving this goal, I have to be mindful that I have a day job that I need to do well and that I have a family that needs my attention. I can't ignore either the job or the family. That means I need to fit in this challenging regimen with everything else I'm doing.
Now it's time to head to the gym for today's after work workout. I'm psyched. I can do this. I'm going to take it one day at a time!
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