So today comes the end of the first week of Hell Month and the start of the second. For the first week, I would say I did pretty well. I did make two adjustments to my attack though. First, I upped my daily calories from 1350, to 1550. The two hundred extra calories really helped me feel better. Monday and Tuesday last week I had no solid food, just cold pressed green juice. Two days in a row I consumed less than 500 cals a day. Then when I finally ate solid food Wednesday night I ate a massive steak and veggies and potatoes. Just the steak alone was right around 1100 cals. This means that I only had 250 cals left for anything else that day and I was super hungry still. Though I stuck to my 1350 Wednesday, Thursday came around and I was still really hungry after my 1350. Come Friday, I had a pretty bad workout. Arguably the worst workout I have had thus far since starting my journey. I attributed this to the lack of calories/energy. I didn’t even get through my full workout before failing with exhaustion, which just leaves a terrible taste in your mouth. I felt very weak and couldn’t hardly even do my reps. So I bumped up my daily calories a bit to account for the two green juice days and the two 24 hour fast days which I still need to complete! I don’t think the lack of calories is worth having bad workouts. Not only am I sacrificing muscle growth and strength progress, but also it hurts you a lot mentally when you can’t even push through a whole workout. Makes you feel like you failed. Which is a toll I am not willing to pay.
The other thing I adjusted for was the hot yoga once a week. I really wanted to get back into this because I really enjoyed doing it but honestly, I just didn’t want to fork over the money when it came time to take out the wallet. So I decided to bow out of that part of the challenge.
Other than those two factors though, I think the challenge is going really well. I am feeling better since upping my calories and I don’t mind drinking the green juice, the running 6 miles a week, and the workouts. The only thing I have had to really force myself to do is the 32 ounces of water a day. I much prefer flavored drinks and other things, not a big fan of plain water. I have also managed to stay really close to my calories as well. I will admit that even during this blitz, it is really hard to stay below calories on Weekends. Week days are super easy for me, no problem at all. It’s when I am home all day long is when I get the more intense craving for food. Hopefully this weekend I can just stay busier and avoid that pitfall.
Weekly Weigh In
Current Weight – 180.2
Total Loss – 4.8 Pounds
Really cool to see some more than usual process here. Granted, the green juice and big concentration on calorie deficit is a direct correlation to this result. Also, some of it is simply getting rid of all the junk I ate the week before and getting back to routine. I don’t expect such a dramatic drop in weight two weeks in a row. Especially when you consider last week I was too low on my calories to even workout properly. Man oh man, it would be amazing to weigh in at 175 though! Wishful thinking for only one week from today I’m sure, but very doable by the week after that.
I am feeling pretty good about the overall process still. I am lucky enough to have a supportive wife and family that helps me along the way as well. My wife is helping out with meal planning and she is also trying to lose weight along with me and it just makes everything easier when you do it with someone to help keep you honest. When you know someone else is going through the same thing, doing it together, makes it almost like a game too. I will say though, I am already looking forward to eating some solid food again on Wednesday. Cheers.
You’re not getting any younger.
The Cardinal Gift 