After going nuts over the summer, I’m hitting the diet and exercise hardcore. I’m one week in and this is update #1.
I let myself go a little bit over the summer. Even on a 400-mile bicycle ride, it’s hard to stay strong when pie and cake are stalking you at every corner:
Now that I’m back at home, the temptations are gone. In our refrigerator, we have lettuce, tofu, and broccoli. I also have mountain roads, kettlebells, and other weight equipment to help pay my penance for pie.
Week 1: Down 6 Pounds
Week 1 was mostly successful. I ate better and squeezed in exercise between breaking up sibling fights and fixing a bad air conditioning unit.
What Worked
- Weight loss: My weight dropped. Really dropped. I lost 6 pounds in a week. Under normal circumstances, this would be alarming. However, most of the loss is probably water. I was stuck in a car two days prior to starting this fitness challenge, chugging Diet Mountain Dews the whole way.
- Resting heart rate: Resting heart rate is an important measure of cardiovascular fitness. The stronger your heart is, the less it has to beat. I measure my resting heart rate with a FitBit Blaze. It dropped all the way from the mid-60s down to 60. I’m not sure what’s behind this, but I’ll take it.
What Didn’t Work
- Ketosis: A keto diet involves cutting out all carbohydrates which forces your body to burn fat as its primary fuel source. I’ve done a keto diet before and the weight dropped off. I measure ketone levels with a blood tester and 1.5 mmol/liter is the goal. It took me until Thursday just to score a 1.0 and it subsequently took a dive the next day. Keto is hard because of outside influences. There are carbs everywhere and well-meaning friends and family are constantly trying to feed them to you: “Here is a piece of pie I made just for you!” Sigh…
- Exercise: I felt lethargic and shitty all week. This caused me to slack on the workouts. 50-mile bike rides became 20 miles. Weight workouts… Ummmm, yeah… Perhaps it’s just my body getting a handle on ketosis?
Routine
I treasure my time with the girls, but it’s difficult to establish a routine in the summer. On Wednesday, school starts up again and I’ll have fewer excuses. Wish me luck. In the meantime, enjoy this rainbow pic I took on Friday:
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I always say the first two weeks are the toughest when getting back into healthy routines. Seems like after I push through those two weeks I’m always left wondering why in the hell I ever jump off those wagons just to feel like crap?!
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Remember that you’re trying to be healthy and fit FOR LIFE so keep on keepin’ on and don’t get too hung up on the relatively small ebbs and flows… just like you don’t freak out when the market does the tango
Show up every day and do what you can… persistence and commitment to doing something healthy every day will get you through the inevitable easy/hard days
And think strong dino thoughts – what would Squatasaurus do?
Six pounds is great, Carl!
I’ve been doing better with workouts since reading Atomic Habits, and managed to (mostly) keep up the streak even this past week when I’ve been sick. Very light workouts on the treadmill & bike, but still: the habit is just showing up. 🙂
Managing the beer has been going pretty well, too. Stayed at four this weekend. 🙂
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i just bought one of those nerd fitness watches with GPS. i bought the garmin 35, which is not always reliable for HR when i’m treadmill running. i do like looking at the resting HR and sleep stuff, though. i wonder how healthy this keto stuff is compared to a balanced diet and getting outside to burn some calories.
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If you chase after Ketosis with a lot of exercise, it’s typical to get sluggish and grumpy from the lack of carbs.
You may find restricting carbs until your evening meal works better. Eating carbs like sweet potatoes in the evening after lots of walking/riding keeps you going strong.
The Keto flu will get ya! When I go back into Ketosis I have to scale my training days back for the first week, maybe two, otherwise there’s just not enough gas in the tank. After that the body’s used to burning fat again.
Keep it up!
So, I just got back from a bike ride and I finally feel normal. It sucked there for a while: “Why are snails passing me?”