Two days ago, I finished my first three month weight loss/control experiment where I measured some body metrics everyday:
- Weight
- Waist size
- Hip measurement
- Thigh diameter
I’ve touched on my weight loss before as becoming healthier has become my main focus for 2011 and I am totally succeeding! I made it a point to weigh and measure everyday, to the point where I made sure it was an inconvenience to myself to do so I would get it out of the way. I started on 20 June and ended on 20 September and I have very good news for myself to report.
- Starting weight: 207lbs
- Ending weight: 190.5lbs
- Starting waist size: 38.5 inches
- Ending waist size: 34.5 inches (I did drop to 34 a few times)
- Starting hips size: 39 inches
- Ending hips size: 37 inches
- Starting thigh size (right and left): 26 inches and 25.5 inches
- Ending thigh size (right and left): 23.25 inches and 23 inches
So in three months to the day, I lost 16.5 pounds and melted off a total of 11.25 inches in the places where it matters. I feel pretty awesome everyday and I have so much more energy than before. My mid-morning energy slump, hunger headaches, wildly varying blood sugar, and grouchiness have all but disappeared. Now when I wake up, an hour later I am peppy and ready to go all day with lots of free energy; if I get sleepy, it’s usually because I did not get enough sleep the night before. If I miss a meal, it’s no big deal because my body no longer crashes to the point where I am on the verge of passing out from what I believe is hypoglycemia, my body instead feeds on the foods I give it or it goes into a ketogenic stage and feeds on body fat. I routinely eat only once or twice all day now, whereas before I had to make sure I ate at least two meals full of complex carbs just to keep going.
How did I do it? The short answer is by adopting an entirely primal diet, on an 80/20 basis (six days strict, one day binge to eat whatever I want). I also made myself accountable for my eating by photographing everything I eat although I do miss meals sometimes. That way, if I feel extra crappy the next day or my weight shoots up, I can look back and see what I ate to pin point what may have caused it. The long answer is something for another post entirely involving how I made the switch, why I chose primal over other diets, how I learned to stop counting calories, and why I generally ignore everything your doctor, nutritionist, personal trainer, celebrity, and health organizations tell you about what is “healthy”, “unhealthy”, “guaranteed/proven to work”, and what foods to absolutely avoid. The changes have not always been easy or convenient but the results speak for themselves: I can fit into every pair of pants and shorts I own and nearly every shirt fits again.
I owe my results entirely to determination, Angelo Coppola, Robb Wolf, Richard Nikoley, Tim Ferriss, Paul Jaminet, and so many others who have written countless blog posts, journal articles, books, and produced podcasts about paleo and primal eating, evolutionary biology, functional fitness, why conventional wisdom is wrong and so many other topics. Thank you all for your tireless devotion to proving that, as Angelo Coppola says, humans are not broken.
My next three month experiment will involve tracking the same metrics however, I will now be introducing various types of cross training. I am going to start off with TRX suspension training since it is offered at FAU for free during this semester. Once that is done, I will move on to something else, perhaps even the extremely-poor-form-inducing CrossFit that I have until now sworn off, but we will see. I will continue to run and participate in races while trying to bump up my mileage, I intend to run a marathon or ultra-marathon next year, and will compete in some mud and endurance races such as Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash, just to test my training and mettle.
After three months, I feel like a champion. Hopefully in three more months, I can say I feel like a Spartan.