11/25 - After Thanksgiving update

What a feast! Boy did I feel like #$@^&*% at 10:30 pm last night though. I showed absolutely zero restraint yesterday during my families' Thanksgiving feast.

That was the plan though and no big deal. So here were my stats:

Since my last post I have been in maintenance mode, I typically have weighed in Saturday morning at 222-224 pounds.

Thursday morning I woke up at 226 pounds. This morning (Friday) I weighed in at 232 pounds. 6 pounds of damage is normal for me......so what am I to do the rest of the weekend?

Here was my plan for the weekend. Definitely jumping back on the 4HB on Sunday. I was going to go for it on Thursday and then play the rest of the weekend by ear.

It's Friday morning about 10 a.m. and I am on my 4HB routine. I had my protein shake (whey protein isolate + athletic greens). Then I had my protein bar with a cup of black coffee. Now I am just exercising my mind by reading e-mails, blogs, tweets and doing some writing.

I have already decided that I am going to enjoy my cheat day on Saturday....but what do I do today? Not sure, but going to play it by ear. I have to be careful not to get lulled into a false sense of feeling great, because I feel awesome after my 4HB breakfast. I have to remember that I put on that 6 pounds yesterday. Too much feeling great could result in a complete meltdown over today. If I woke up at 238 tomorrow....I would be #$%^&*.......so lets see how it goes.

There is my update peeps........catch you later!

11/5 update - In maintenance

This mornings weight was 224.1 pounds.

If you look at my lowest weight it was 222.6 pounds. The last couple of weeks I have had some extra cheat meals here and there, nothing crazy, but I am amazed at the maintenance of this food plan.

Let me clarify extra cheat meals:

*On Friday night I have had a cheat meal the last 2 weeks. If I know I won't break my lowest weight I have a cheat meal, but I don't go into cheat mode...which means I don't gorge myself.

*I have the last 3 weeks I have done double-cheat-day on gone for it on Sunday as well (just not as crazy).

*Over the last 3 weeks I have also had 2 cheat meals during the weekday

I really wanted to see what the effect was to my body and myself when I add these meals back in. Here are my observations:

*My energy has actually decreased a around those extra meals
*My weight has been pretty stable
*I am up to 232 on Monday morning and then drop down to 222-224 on Sunday morning

I don't have anything too exciting, but I am still diligent in analyzing what I eat and reviewing the effects.

Have a great cheat day everyone!

Maintenance in full effect

Its been a long time since I've blogged and updated. Here is the update.
*On 10/6 I weighed in at 222.6

I was down 77 pounds, my best ever....but headed to Las Vegas that Thursday. I held on all day Thursday, but definitely did a double cheatday that week.

*On 10/13 I weighed in at 224, not as good but it was a Thursday and I was headed to Eugene, Oregon for some family fun time. I went on a 4 day cheat (wow). I planned it no big deal.

*So today 10/22 I weighed in at 223.....after crushing smashburger last night on a Friday.

I weighed in yesterday am at 225, so I did not anticipate losing any weight today off my previous best so I went for the early cheat meal. So I laughed at this mornings weigh in.

I knew this month was going to be about maintenance based on my travels. I was on the road just this past week for 3 days...and I stuck to strict 4hb.

I feel like a CSI when I eat now. Everything I eat I look at first and think how it effects my body. I analyze it , I think if it's good or bad, taste, carbs, weight effect , will it slow me down , etc. Ten months in I feel like a food scientist, but I am keenly aware of how food effects my physical body and mental state.

That's the update.....,I'm off to enjoy the rest of my cheatday!

76 lbs lost! Great come back week!

After last weeks subpar results, I was back on track. I can't say I did anything special out of what I ordinarily do because I didn't.

A quick recap on subpar:

9/17 weigh in: 224.3
9/24 weigh in: 227.8
10/1 weigh in: 223.3

So you can see I had a 3 to 4 lb gain last week. I considered it no big deal and just went on with my 4HB program. So today's weigh in was great because I hit my all time low.

I've been on this about 9.5 months and lost a total of 76 pounds. What I am most proud of is that I have spread the word of my success and it has led to over 25 of my friends and co-workers to jump on board as well.

As soon as I post this I am off to the DONUT SHOP! You can catch my pictures of my cheat day on instagram (jtamoe46) or twitter @jtamoe46

Calling the 4 Hour Body a life changer would be an UNDERSTATEMENT for me!

Tough week, but........

This week was a tough week. So certainly not the great news I like to write on Saturday's. The bottom line is I weighed in at 227.8 this morning. I was 231.8 last Sunday after hitting an all time low of 224.4 on Saturday.

So that was a net gain of 3.4 pounds. What happened.......I had a cheat burger and fries and onion rings on Tuesday...had business guests in town and I was helping to host. Then I had some cheese in some beans, hey I was starving! Lastly I had some desert on Friday.

Once I hit Friday morning at 228, I figured I would have something later anyway.

So like I said, I can choose to be bummed or I could choose to enjoy my cheat day and get fired up for next week. I choose to enjoy cheat day and get busy on Sunday!

Down 75 pounds total & got that 1 pound this week!

THAT FELT LIKE THE TOUGHEST 1 POUND IN MY LIFE! THIS MORNINGS WEIGH-IN WAS 224.3 !!!

My goal was to hit 224 point anything. So that puts me at 75 pounds down total over 9 months!

Sunday's 232.2 pound weigh-in (post cheat day)
Monday: 229.8
Tuesday: 227.6
Wednesday: 226.6
Thursday: 226.2
Friday: 225.2
Saturday: 224.3

For me this week it was about hitting that 1 pound. I have been in this range for some time maintaining. Keep in mind my original goal was 250. I know this is going to sound silly, but I really wanted that 224 because it sounds so much better that 225. 224 has kind of a 220 ring to it while 225 has a 230 ring to it. I know it sounds stupid, but mentally it feels great. When I put that goal out there earlier on my blog I wanted to hit it!

You should see the grin on my face as I get ready to post this and drive off to the DONUT SHOP! Have fun to my 4HB crew, my bro Charlie, sis Sina, and cuz Devo who are about to partake on a hike up a mountain......I would join them (LOL), but I would rather much go to the Donut Shot! To make myself feel better I will buy them a couple and they can eat them later......IT IS CHEATDAY AFTER ALL....WE CALL IT FREEDAY!!!

Wednesday 1/2 way point check in!

So I used to blog randomly at random times. I blogged on Saturday morning and last Sunday morning. Now I am going with the 1/2 point update.

My last blog gave you Sunday's 232.2 pound weigh-in (post cheat day)

Monday: 229.8
Tuesday: 227.6
Wednesday: 226.6

My goal is get to 224 point something. Usually my best weigh in is on Friday. I got a good shot this week at meeting my goal. Nowadays I don't get the wild swings I used to, but I've reached my goal already so now I'm just driving it down further. Some small knits I added in was I've worked out at the gym twice this week (I haven't done that in about 3 months). Nothing crazy but I go pretty hard on the elliptical for 28 minutes and then some light weights.

I still do the crunches at home on the bosu ball and the cat vomit, but if I go to the gym then I take out the kettle bell.

I am doing at least one cold shower per day and no almonds and no CHEATING on the food whatsoever. Saturday will be here before I know it and a number of ideas come to mind!!!!

Post Cheat Day / Free Day

I rarely blog after cheat day.....because I just don't anymore, but I have been in the habit of just posting the good news on Saturday morning. I figured lets flip the switch and go with the Sunday blog with a post cheat day theme.

So I weighed in at 232.2 this morning. That is a weight gain of 7 pounds in one day...wow. Additionally I feel kind of crappy. That's it for the bad news.

A couple of things to paint the picture here. Gaining 7 pounds in one day is no big deal to me nowadays. Been there done that over the last 9 months. I once gained 14 pounds in one day.

Feeling crappy is no big deal....it will be gone by lunch time.

I welcome the breakfast of protein shake (with athletic greens), protein bar, and black coffee (with cinnamon).

Cheatday fulfilled what it had to. I was able to vanquish all the mini-urges I had during the week. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day yesterday. Donuts, burgers, the new adventure to get that chicken pot pie....and the coffee and donuts at 9:30 pm. That had to be one of my best cheat days ever. I know I won't be craving anything until around Thursday evening and then the mental switch kicks in that tells me to hold out until Saturday. The psychological effect of cheat day for me is astounding. I feel fully satisfied.......and yet sick of eating all those carbs. I can't even look at a carb today without feeling queezy.
It's a new day and a new week and I am targeting 224 pounds. I understand it is going to be an arduous taks, but what the heck why not.

Lay out your B.H.A.G! That's Big Hairy Audacious Goal! I got that from Valerie Khoo, great read right here:

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/blogs/enterprise/how-to-be-a-business-rock-star-20110901-1jmhb.html

224 pounds may not sound audacious, but my goals are beyond that. I strive everyday to get better!

9/10 update- Still living the lifestyle and down 74 pounds!

I weighed in this morning at 225 pounds! *Total loss of 74 pounds *I measured my waist and it came out to 38 inches! (down from about 55 inches, it hurts to type that) *I am almost at the 9 month mark (9/20 will be 9 months) I had a great week. My brother told me he hit his lowest weight, last night he is down about 63 pounds as well so that was awesome. What made it a great week is that I celebrated my success last week with a "DOUBLE-CHEAT-DAY". It was labor day weekend and I knew there was going to be plenty of goodies on last Sunday so I had planned to do it. I can NEVER skip a Saturday cheat day....like never. After a weekend where I do a double cheat day, I don't expect to have any weight loss, I just try to get back to where I was before. On a side note when I have a cheat day, I don't do it like Tim does where he waits until lunch and then he starts loading up. I start loading up right when I wake up. So as I type this I'm thinking of driving to the donut shop (well that's an automatic now) and the Chicken Pot Pie I am going to see later (found by my sister-in-law), see link: http://food.theplainjane.com/2011/08/29/san-diego-chicken-pie-shop-north-park-san-diego-ca/ I wondering how I fit in smashburger in between my daughters gymnastics and the Oregon Football game....hmmmmm Nonetheless I am ecstatic that I dropped another pound, it feels like a fluke because I had a double cheat day last weekend...but who cares......that ball went through Buckner's legs and it counted! Happy FREE DAY (my 4HB group coined that as our cheat day phrase) and keep Living the Lifestyle and eating the food plan. I got that from Lucas Starbuck! Here is his website: http://www.fourhourbodycouple.com/ I am out!...on to the donut shop!

Testing out the mobile blogging, this is new to me

9/4 Update, HIT NEW ALL TIME LOW WEIGHT!

So I hit my all-time low weight!

*I weighed in at 226.0 pounds
*That is a total of 73 pounds lost
*Time frame is about 8.5 months

The adjustments I made were no real adjustments. For the past 3 months I've had weekends where I had a double cheatday or I was on vacation in Hawaii, so there was a cheat week. A couple of weekends I added in an extra cheat meal on Friday night. Keep in mind I already had far surpassed my ultimate GOAL WEIGHT. Any extra now is like gravy (no pun intended). So if I delved backed into the calendar (and I can and that's why I keep a blog) I can see different patterns. It had been awhile since I strung together back to back weeks and NOT EATEN ALMONDS.

So what I did was go back to just straight up no EXTRA CHEATS OR CHEAT DAY and last week I hit an all time low, not by much but I got to 227.1 pounds. This week, I just cut out the almonds and stuck to it again and presto I hit 226 pounds.

I'm off to enjoy my cheat day......oh yeah it's Labor Day Weekend so I am probably going back for a double!

8/27-Update- Lowest weight (barely) & doing UNBELIEVABLE!

I have not updated in awhile, but been pretty busy....even though that isn't a good excuse. So let me quickly recap the turn of events while I gobble down some chocolate croissants and some morning buns. A great present from my brother Charlie and his wife Sina. It's cheat day today so it is on!!!

So for the week of 8/14 to 8/20

*I cheated at dinner with PIZZA on Tuesday of that week
*Cheated the next day Wednesday at lunch
*I then was off to a trip to NAPA which was awesome, I only cheated on Saturday, but I didn't go crazy.
*I got back Sunday night and I weighed in at 234 pounds
*Weighed in on Monday morning weighed in at 232.4 pounds

So for the next week, 8/21 to 8/27, I was back at the slow carb

*I had not worked out at all for 2 weeks, just decided to take a break
*Then on Wednesday I made the mistake of hauling 2 heavy boxes of my kids on their fist day of school and tweeked my back. If you've read any of my earlier posts I talk about how my new exercises have prevented my proverbial back going out every 3 months like it used to. So I just tweeked it, jumped back on the exercises that night...and presto back fixed. So going on 8 months without major back pull is awesome.
*Other item to note.....I haven't been sick once since I started the slow carb food plan (8 months)
*So here I am on Saturday and the weight is at an all time low of 227.1!!! I am fired up!!!
*It's not much of an all-time low at this point and this time its decimal points down.....but I still want to hover between 220 - 225
*I've posted before that I am amazed at my ability to hit the 227 every saturday

So I mentioned a weekend in Napa and to leave it at a mention would do it a huge disservice. I went to the Opening-the-Kimono event and got to see Tim Ferriss speak. It is a bit embarrassing, but I am such a fan boy. I lost 72 pounds, can you blame me? It was an amazing experience and besides meeting Tim, the group of people there was awesome. I have a new found direction in my life and and am game-planning on how to get there. I feel I have a new suport system to help me. I plan on taking what I learned from the event and taking it to the same levels that I have take the 4 HOUR BODY. It will be a tough journey, I know I will make tons of mistakes and errors. Kicking butt and becoming an awesome life hacker it what I want to do. Finding that inner energy/mojo/motivation/direction to write that book I've been struggling with will be conquered!

That's is it for now......OFF TO CHEAT DAY...oh yeah that's right...... my group and I call it FREE DAY!

Saturday 8/13- Wow Hungover! But went on Cheating--Hit all time lowest weight!

So last night me and my crew went out on the town and celebrated my BDay. I was a fun time by all and I had way too much to drink. That being said, lets go through my my weekend.

I woke up Friday weighing in at 229.0 pounds on the dot. That was a great week for me. I did a double cheat day last weekend, the schedule for summer activities just seems to pile on....and I love it.

I have come to realization that I have to check my ego on my new found MASTERY of losing weight. I woke up last Sunday morning after cheat day and weighed in at 232.4 pounds. I knew I could hit a new low and it was going to be a kick butt week, but I had planned this double cheat day.....so with the double.

I crushed it that Sunday at the Del Mar races with friends and woke up Monday morning at 237.2 pounds. That is the heaviest I have been on a Monday in awhile. But my EGO...said, "no worries time to kick some butt." Onward with the 4HB foodplan. So like I said earlier Friday arrived at 229.0 pounds. I had planned the afternoon to hang with the kids over at Boomers (Go Karts, Mini-Golf, Video Games).....and planned on having a cheat meal there. Man that pizza sucked. So back to going out on that night........wow fun night. It is well documented on Instagram. My buddy (dshebby) posted most of the pics and I did a few (jtamoe46). I did not do any cheating or dinner...but all that alcohol was one big cheat, along with all the sweet shots. I did drink so much that I hurled / threw up when I got home. Wasn't a major one...but I threw up.

So there I was waking up HUNGOVER....I stumbled over to the scale badly in need of excedrin and water...and what did it read?

227.4 pounds! My lowest weight was 227.8 pounds. I know it is not much.....but damn I dropped .4 pounds. My wife attributes it to me throwing up......I don't care I just read what it says!

8/6- Cheating Experiment is over

The experiment i conducted was this. What if I cheated on Friday night (it was a big cheat too, just dinner), did a normal go for it cheatday on Saturday (no restraint), and a cheatday breakfast (went for it as well)? If I did all that what would my weight differential be.

*So last Friday my weight was 229.0 pounds
*This mornings (Saturday) weight was 229.0 pounds

The .0 was exactly the same on both. I tried wiggling on the scale a little bit and weighing myself again to nudge out a .1, but alas I stopped because.........who cares I almost accomplished what I wanted. I really wanted to get back to my lowest weight of 227.8 pounds.

I have been on vacation and did a cheat week and did a couple of double cheat days, so I have done extra cheats before. What I was looking for this time was to see how it fit into my normal schedule.

So what this tells me is that I can add in a dinner cheat meal, do an awesome cheatday on saturday, and add in a cheat breakfast on Sunday. I can do all of this and maintain the same weight.

Other things I did:

*I did my MED workout (bosu ball, cat vomit, kettlebell) 4 times this week
*Did cold showers 5 of 7 days
*Did PAGG regimen
*Strict 4HB the whole way, except for one night I had probably 40 almonds

........now I am going to eat up those chocolate chip cookies daughter made on Thursday!!!!

This experiment is over and I now to fill my belly!!!!

8/4 Update - Progess

Woke up today, Thursday, and weighed in at 230.8 pounds. It wasn't as much progress over the last 2 days as I would have liked, but I am not complaining.

My ability to lose weight in a small amount of time is still startling to me.

Two more days before CHEAT DAY, OR FREE DAY!

Lets see if I can get those 3 more pounds I am looking for.