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Week 5: Exercising on Vacation

Posted by David Hardy
David Hardy
VTR Expert
User is currently offline
on Sunday, February 03, 2013
in Weight Loss

Today is the fifth update of my goal to to return to race weight by April 13th. I am in a "sort of" competition with my brother-in-law Mike to reach our mutual goal of 169 pounds. See my first blog for details on where we started. I think you will see we both tackle weight loss in a completely different way. The goal of this series of posts is to show how a couple of average guys get back to their goal race weight.

 

 

 Dave

Week Five Summary and Results:  
Back to Back solid weeks! I think I am finally over my sickness. Last Sunday was the first time I was able to attempt a long run outside and it felt great despite the 15 degree temps at the start. I was able to complete all of my workouts and ran a solid 27.5 miles for the week. I ended up only losing a half pound this week but that was due to an ill-timed, late Mexican dinner last night. All week I have been showing 1-1.5 pounds of loss until of course...weigh-in morning. I will make sure I don't sabotage my weigh-in next week.

On the diet front I also had another good week. I have continued drinking tea to curb my appetite and I am beginning to get used to the smaller portions at meals. Losing 20 pounds takes time and every week just builds on the last. Losing 1-2 pounds a week is about all I can ask for without going crazy like Mike. I am happy to continue plodding along week after week sticking with my strategy. It is pretty clear to me at this point that my sickness and the antibiotics definitely held back my weight loss at the beginning of the month. Not sure if there is a medical reason that prevented me from losing weight or maybe it was my body holding on to the weight to protect itself. Who knows?  I finally have my energy back and that is all I care about.

 Exercise:

 Sunday- ran 10.4 miles (longest run this year!)

 Monday- off

 Tuesday- ran 6 miles (tempo workout)

 Wednesday- ran 5.1 miles (60 degrees...Wow!)

 Thursday- off

 Friday- ran 6 miles (30 min of it was track workout)

 Saturday- biked 40 minutes easy on trainer

 Totals: ran 27.5 miles and biked 40 minutes on trainer

 Results:

 Starting weight: 189   Feb 3rd weigh-in: 185    YTD loss (5 weeks): 4 lbs

                                                                      Mike

 Week Five Summary and Results:  
If you can't measure it, you can't improve. It has been said in business and it is true in training.  Sure, when I step up to the start line in a 5k, I am watchless, but as I look to increase my speed, I will measure everything. Carefully keeping track of my progress allows me to see what works and what does not. I am tracking every workout now using time (not distance), as speed and distance will come with a good base.

So here I am on vacation, no scale.  One of the best ways I have found to lose weight and keep focus is weighing myself every day at the same time. I know that when I eat sushi, I gain 1.5 pounds, mostly as my body keeps in water to flush out the salt. I also know that after my long workout on Saturday (my fasting workout), I weigh myself and if I am disciplined, I can reach that weight by the following Saturday. No scale is good and bad. No daily reminder that I am losing weight, but no real penalty if I eat a little too much for enjoyment. So, I take a break from weighing myself, but not from losing weight.

Traveling and eating right is difficult to say the least. Ordering a salad with no cheese, no egg, no dressing, no oil, only to have it come out with salt and pepper..(who salts and peppers a salad?)  I guess people will be people. It is a sign of how terrible our eating habits have become. I am sure the chef felt that the vegetables needed "something" on them to make them taste good. So that "something" gets added to everything we eat, and we really don't need it. Anyway, adding another 60 minutes outside running in California is not bad. Hopefully the added exercise will make up for the eating.

One final note, as I was getting ready for a drop-in yoga class, the instructor said she never thought of visiting a yoga studio while traveling. One of the best parts of vacationing is changing up your workout routine, running in new places, dropping in on a different style of yoga than you are accustomed.  If you stay poolside drinking a tropical drink, you lose out on experiencing what could be the best part of traveling, running on a new road...

 Exercise:

 Sunday- 1 hour elliptical

 Monday- 1 hour yoga +75 minutes swimming

 Tuesday- 45 minutes yoga + 1 hour spin

 Wednesday- off

  Thursday- 1 hour run

   Friday- 90 minutes Yoga + 45 minutes run

   Saturday- 1 hour elliptical + 20 minutes bike

 Totals: 3.25 hrs yoga + 1.33 hrs cycling + 2 hrs elliptical + 75 mins swimming + 1.75 hrs running

 Results:

 Starting weight: 192.5    Feb 3rd weigh-in: vacation  YTD loss (5 weeks): 15.7 lbs

 Week Five Recap:

Even though I didn't have the results to prove it I had a great week. I am feeling stronger and stronger and with Mike on vacation this week I have to think I am gaining ground. Losing weight takes time and hopefully I can build on this week. 

As you have seen both Mike and me approach weight loss and exercise in a completely different way. What works for Mike would not work for me and vice versa. Everyone's body responds to diet and exercise differently. In addition everyone has different personalities and ways of staying motivated. I hope that lesson learned is that you have to do something....If you have been on the sidelines take that first step today to improving your health and fitness. You will be glad you did!

Next Update February 9th!

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Drinking Tea for Weight Loss?

Posted by David Hardy
David Hardy
VTR Expert
User is currently offline
on Sunday, January 27, 2013
in Weight Loss

Today is the fourth update of my goal to to return to race weight by April 13th. I am in a "sort of" competition with my brother-in-law Mike to reach our mutual goal of 169 pounds. See my first blog for details on where we started. I think you will see we both tackle weight loss in a completely different way. The goal of this series of posts is to show how a couple of average guys get back to their goal race weight.

 

 

Dave

Week Four Summary and Results:  
This is the first week this year that I felt fairly close to normal. I have been sick and on/off antibiotics since December 18th. Crazy! I am still congested but I finally got rid of the constant malaise and lack of energy that has been killing my workouts. I had a strong week with 2 really good runs (long run and track).

On the diet front I also had a good week. I have started drinking tea during the day which seems to be suppressing my appetite and has replaced some of my need for daytime snacking. I am drinking decaffeinated tea, mostly green tea and classic black tea. I now drink at least two cups of tea a day. I would recommend giving it a try if you haven't done so in the past. Especially during these cold winter days, sipping a warm cup of tea fills you up and can have less caffeine than a cup of coffee.

I also did a good job at reducing portions and did not eat out this week. On the negative side I did go out for drinks 3x  for meetings which added unnecessary calories. I ended up losing 2 pounds this week! About time! I look forward to building on this past week and start catching up to Mike!

 Exercise:

 Sunday- off

 Monday- ran 8.5 miles

 Tuesday- biked 40 minutes on trainer

 Wednesday- ran 5.7 miles

 Thursday- off

 Friday- ran 6 miles (30 min of it was track workout)

 Saturday- Ran 4.15 miles easy

 Totals: ran 24.35 miles and biked 40 minutes on trainer

 Results:

 Starting weight: 189   Jan 27th weigh-in: 185.5    YTD loss (26 days): 3.5 lbs

                                                                      Mike

 Week Four Summary and Results:  
I used to eat 100% of the time for enjoyment. Every bite of every meal was to satisfy my taste buds; overwhelming them with rich, salty, fatty, sweet foods. Eating was a constant search to find food that tasted better than the last meal. One year later, I have learned that eating is more of a survival mechanism, the fuel that your body needs to survive day to day. Fat is simply a storage mechanism your body uses to store calories for the day it has no food. So when I was overeating, my body simply stored the extra calories for that rainy day, waiting patiently to serve a purpose.

I have found if you eat for survival you tend to look at food differently. You end up choosing foods that are high in nutrition and not refined. Refining food concentrates calories, so you get more out of the same bite of food. Food, in its natural state, is almost impossible to consume in quantities that would cause weight gain. You see bread is NOT a food in its natural state, whole grain oatmeal is. Olive oil is NOT a food in its natural state, raw olives are.

Now do I think it is wrong to eat for enjoyment? Absolutely not. That is what happened last week, the night before the weigh-in I ate for celebration. I went out and had a great time with family and friends. Eating right has to have some component of eating for enjoyment and celebrating life, but remember, "its not a party if it happens every night..."  176.8. Looks like 6 pounds this week, but it is actually 3 pounds a week for the last two.

 Exercise:

  Sunday- 90 minutes elliptical

  Monday- 1 hour yoga + 80 minute spin class

  Tuesday- 1 hour yoga + 75 minutes swimming

 Wednesday- 1 hour yoga

 Thursday- 1 hour yoga + 60 minutes bike trainer

 Friday- 1 hour rock climbing

 Saturday- 1 hour yoga + 1 hour elliptical

  Totals: 5 hrs yoga + 2.33 hrs cycling + 2.5 hrs elliptical + 75 mins swimming

 Results:

Starting weight: 192.5    Jan 27th weigh-in: 176.8  YTD loss (26 days): 15.7 lbs

 Week Four Recap:

Although I had a decent week losing 2 pounds Mike is totally kicking my butt. The real difference is I am taking a balanced approach and haven't been real serious about my diet until this week. Mike is a very extreme person and has no middle ground. Since the beginning of the year he has either been juice fasting or eating only vegetables. In 26 days he has lost 15.7 pounds! How can I compete with that? Hopefully now that I have turned the corner on my illness I can start to catch up. I don't think there is anyway he can continue this extreme dieting. I am hoping I can lose another 2-3 pounds next week and start to narrow the gap. Of course if he continues to lose 6 pounds a week I am all done.

Next Update February 3rd!

 

 

 

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