I’ve been about to post an update about the Body Bugg progress the past couple of weeks, but every time I do, I get sidetracked by work or life and by the time I get around to posting it I realize that I lost more weight. I have to say that I am so happy with the results.
Here is the dealio… The body bugg is not responsible for weight loss. It is not a miracle device. You don’t just strap it on and lose weight. But… if you put it on and check the results daily, you will find that if you keep living like you had before, you will continue to gain weight. This will put a level of shock and horror into you. What I do find is that I generally live a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Not a lazy one. But, I am often in front of a computer or talking with someone around a table. During an average day of meeting with people and working on a computer, I burn about 2500-2600 calories. This sounds like a lot until you factor in the things that you eat and drink. My favorite order at Jack in the Box is an Ultimate Cheese Burger with Large Fries and two tacos. I have realized if I eat that meal, and not one more thing for the day… I will only maintain my weight. If I eat another thing, I will gain weight.
I also find that when I do something active like take a hike or play a round of golf (even in a cart) I will likely burn 3500-3700 calories.
When you look at that data, you realize that in order to lose weight at a noticeable rate, I have to eat about 1200 calories in a day, and no more. I would wager that almost every meal that I ate before I went on a diet averaged over 1200 calories.
Basically, in order to lose a half pound of fat, you need to burn 1750 calories more than you eat. So losing about 2.5lbs per week means that I need to eat about 1250 calories a day less than I exercise.
My resolution to lose weight had to be strong. So here is what I have done: I have cut the amount that I eat in about one third. I know that this sounds crazy. But I can easily exist on this amount of food. Yep, I will have hunger pangs through the day. But I have decided to condition myself to have those pangs remind me that I am losing weight. This makes them far less annoying and makes them a reminder of my good eating habits and strong will-power. Not only am I eating less, I am eating better food. More veggies, more fruit, almost no red meat, low fat everything, high grain bread, no milk, no beer (except on rare occasions), no pop (I haven’t had any in almost a decade anyway.) I take a multi-vitamin everyday and a very high amount of vitamin D. I snack on fruit and never candy. I will only eat cake at a birthday party, and will only have a small piece.
On days when I am completely sedentary and only working with no exercise, I will limit myself to about 1000 calories. When I do exercise, I reward myself with a little larger entree at dinner. This is the difference of about 200-250 calories anyway.
It’s not just eating, I have also been exercising more. Throwing the ball with Jeffrey has been a big difference. When we first started doing this, I could not break into a sprint. I could not sprint! I could take a few jogging steps to catch a pass, but that was about it. In the course of less than a month, I can now sprint again. Not long distances, but I can do it.
I also have started riding a recumbent exercise bike. When I first started doing this, I could not pedal even slowly (with some resistance) for 10 minutes without getting winded and fatigued. Last week I started at a pretty good pace with decent resistance and pedaled through an entire Colbert Report and through a Daily Show without hardly noticing that I was working hard.
I have also started hiking. At least once a week, I am going for a hike of a few miles at least. I bought shoes and a camera for my hikes. It is fun, it is time to think, and the whole way is exercise. Just awesome!
I have also started a pushup, situp and squat thrust challenge that I found online where I increase reps every week in order to get stronger.
I started this diet in mid January and to this point (March 1) I have lost 23.5lbs. This is a little under half of my goal. Keep in mind that a good portion of this weight (7-8lbs) was lost in the first week and a half and was water weight and body waste that is no longer stored the same way. I could put that amount of weight back on in a matter of days if I chose to start eating poorly again. I also need to keep in mind what the body bugg trainer told me. Worry about inches more than about lbs. Especially if I am getting stronger while I am doing this, I should be gaining muscle weight and losing fat simultaneously. I am sad that I didn’t take my measurements before this whole thing started. I measured for the first time last week, and am excited to check my progress next week.
I am excited that the jeans that were fitting a little too snugly before I started this diet are now very loose on me. My XL shirts are not looking a little tight anymore. I can wear almost everything in my closet again and am not limited to only my baggiest shirts and pants.
My goals are: to lose 50-55lbs by June. To lose 12 more lbs by our Launch Date on 4.4.10. To fit into a suit that I could not wear at a wedding that I officiated back in November (I was not even close then, and it fit pretty well last week!)
My rewards are that first and foremost, I look and feel better. I also am rewarding myself with some very elementary hiking gear. I bought two pair of clearance hiking shoes that I like for $17 each! I also bought a little camera too.
I am also buying a new guitar and amp. (I have to sell some stuff to do it, but I am happy to do this since I really want to get better at guitar too.)
To be totally honest, I have been much more positive about myself and my abilities during this time. I am excited to try new things more often. My self confidence is higher. Last year, I was about to sell all of my guitar gear because “I’ll never be any good. I don’t care anymore.” But now I am approaching things differently. I can lose weight. I can have discipline to exercise and eat right. I can have discipline to take guitar lessons and get good.
So, NO, the body bugg is not a miracle cure. But here is what it did for me. It showed me the honest, plain truth. There were numbers to back it that truth up. It helps me to know what I need to do. It doesn’t do anything for me besides give me honest and real feedback. Apparently that is exactly what I needed.
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