Beef Jerky Diet Blog

Finding Inspiration For Weight Loss

2011-06-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 159.4 pounds, up two pounds from my last post a little over a week ago.

The Vitamin B12 supplements seem to be working ok. I take one every morning and let it melt under my tongue. I can't say that they give me a big boost of energy, but they do seem to give me a little boost. When I workout, I seem to have more stamina.

Last night I hooked with a gal who hadn't seen me in a long time, and she was amazed at how much weight I've lost. She asked me, "So how did you do it?". And I just said that it was a combination of eating fewer calories and exercising. And isn't it always that? I mean, all the different diets out there are based on those two simple concepts. The differences between the diets are just different foods and eating habits.

But this gal has put on more weight since I last saw her four or five years ago. Her problem is low self esteem. She hates being fat, and hates the way she looks, but that's not enough to get her to do something about it. All that does is keeps her indoors and hidden from society. She needs something else to inspire her to get fit and healthy.

She says she would do something about it if she found a boyfriend who really liked her for who she is. She'd be inspired to improve her body and health just for him. But the irony is that her weight keeps her indoors and away from seeing anyone. She'll never find someone to love her.

The change starts by learning to respect herself.

Vitamin B12 for Weight Loss

2011-05-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 157.4 pounds.

Been as high as 164 pounds earlier this month, due to a lot of things going on in my life. Was able to get it back down to this point just by exercising more, and eating lower-calorie foods.

I don't think I'm eating less, probably about the same volume, just lower calorie.

I'm experimenting with vitamin B12. I bought these pills called "Mega B-12 Dots", from Twinlabs at the Vitamin Shoppe here in town. They're sublingual pills, meaning they melt in your mouth. At 5,000 mcg, they're supposed to give you a boost in energy and reduce constipation.

Curious to see how that works with my exercise regimen.

Also been dealing with a cold the past few days. Sucks.

Being in Shape Equates to Greater Freedom

2011-04-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 158 pounds, down one pound from Monday.

Fitness bootcamp seems to be getting easier for me to do. I'm able to go through an hour of it with fewer rests in between. And afterwards, I don't feel as exhausted.

Yesterday, I did a short hike up and down the mountains here in SoCal. I felt pretty good doing it, was never exhausted or tired, and felt like I could have done several more miles. I just didn't have the time do it.

But considering I bought a new SLR camera, the Canon EOS Rebel 1000D, I want to do more hikes and practice my photography.

Which brings me to an interesting point, the better shape I'm in, the more freedom I have. I can go on longer hikes, enjoy more time seeing the natural beauty of the world.

Cutting Back On Beer Drinking

2011-04-11T11:29:00.001-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 159 pounds, up two from last Saturday.

After some thinking, I'm cutting down my beer consumption significantly. I realize over the past year my beer drinking has increased. It's to a point now that anytime I go out to eat, I look for a place with a good beer selection, and drink at least two. That is, my choices in dining are predicated on how good the beer is.

During my weight loss period, I would drink beer usually on weekends, whereas today it's five to six days a week. I want to get back to where its just weekends.

Beer is actually not that bad of an alcoholic drink in terms in weight loss efforts. It contains no fat and has very little sugar. Interestingly, beer gets a bad reputation, while wine is looked upon more favorably in social circles. Yet a typical 5oz glass of wine still contains more calories and alcohol than a 16oz glass of beer.

But as with anything, moderation is the key. In the past, my beer drinking was under moderation, but not recently. So, I'm making an commitment to get back to moderation.

Exercising More But Eating More

2011-04-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 157 pounds.

Since my last post on January 31, I've gained four pounds, but I think it's mostly muscle. I've been working out in this fitness bootcamp for three months now, and I'm progressing well. And just a month ago I signed up at my local fitness center, and workout there about two-three times a week.

I'm getting to a point where I want to exercise everyday, and plan my days around it.

But because I exercise a lot, I get into this habit of eating and drinking more. I keep thinking I can eat more, because I work out more.

I'm also eating and drinking more because I'm going out more. I spend more time out of the house, going to restaurants, public events, and meeting people, and that somehow translates into consuming more calories. I used to stay home a lot, and that gave me better control of my diet. But going out more often makes it tough to control.

So recently I've been exercising more in an attempt to burn off those calories. I try to run 5+ miles either on treadmill or on ground. I lift more weights at the fitness center. I push myself harder at bootcamp.

I'm no longer trying to maintain 150 pounds; I realize that's impossible if I'm building more muscle. But I want to at least stay under 160 pounds. I still want to work on my belly, trim off some lingering fat on my sides, and flatten out the pooch.

Losing Weight Has Become Really Hard To Do

2011-01-31T17:37:00.000-08:00

Weighed in this morning at 153 pounds, still no change over the past few weeks.

Looks like I won't be hitting that 150 pound mark by the end of this month. I've been eating reasonably, meaning that I have not gorged myself. My calorie intake has varied between 1,500 to 2,000 a day.

Meanwhile, I've exercised quite a bit over those past few weeks. I'm enrolled in a fitness boot camp and have not missed a session (it meets every Mon, Wed, and Fri). I've also started jogging in between those days (Tue and Thu).

So, all I can figure is that I've gained muscle mass.

Well, if that's the case then perhaps while I've gained muscle I've still lost an equal amount of fat. And I don't have much fat left on me.

I Can't Burn Off Those Last Pockets of Fat

2011-01-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

Weighed in at 153 pounds this morning. No change from my last report January 17th.

I thought I'd be able to reach 150 pounds by the end of this month, but I don't know now. I've stuck to my diet for the most part. Yes, I have eaten more calories lately, but I have not gone overboard with it. On the other hand, I'm exercising a lot more too. I'm still going to my boot camp fitness group three times a week, and am now starting to do some hiking and running in between those days.

Yet, the weight remains the same.

I think what I'm discovering is that I've lost about all the fat my body is willing to sacrifice. To burn off those little pockets of fat around my belly, I'm gonna have to really exercise hard and do it everyday. But, I'm just not there yet physically.

Meanwhile, my wife is feeling a lot better about 100 days post surgery since her kidney transplant. She's off much of the pills she was on, and that alone makes her feel better. She's now inspired to do a lot of cooking. And since I'm her husband, I feel kinda obligated to eat it.

I guess it's a good thing I took up that boot camp fitness group.

Working on a Fitness Attitude

2011-01-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

Weighed in this morning at 153 pounds, no change from my last report.

I'm still doing the boot camp fitness program. I did four sessions thus far, and am getting ready for a fifth this morning. I figure to have lost weight by now, but haven't. I've maintained my diet, but I think I'm gaining muscle. The boot camp is working over a lot of muscles and leaving me sore all over.

And I don't have a whole lot of fat to burn off at this point, but I do still have some around my waist.

I went into that boot camp with an attitude to get myself more physically fit, but it's a pretty intense work out that leaves me feeling defeated. So at this point, I just want to get fit enough to where I'm not so exhausted that I can take on a tougher attitude.

Weight Loss for the New Year

2011-01-10T08:28:00.000-08:00

Weighed in this morning at 153 pounds.

I'm slowly getting myself back to my target weight of 150, after a reaching a high of 156 over the holidays.

Compounding that is my wife getting into the baking spirit with all of her cookies, pies, cheesecakes, and other sweet concoctions.

Last week I joined a boot camp fitness program here in town. It's run a by a couple of military drill sergeants, who do this as a part time job. On my first visit, they were running me ragged, and I had to take a few breaks just because I thought I was going to collapse. But I'm still hanging in there.

I'm hoping to reach 150 pounds by the middle of this month, which I'm sure I can do.

Thanksgiving Day Diet Massacre

2010-11-27T12:16:00.000-08:00

Weighed in this morning at 153 pounds, up another pound from my last post on Tuesday.

That makes a total of three pounds I gained this week, after falling to my target weight of 150 back on Nov 17th. Thanksgiving started on Wednesday, Nov 24th for me when my brother and his wife visited. We went out to eat and we celebrated a combination Thanksgiving, as well as his birthday.

Of course I ate myself silly on Thanksgiving.

So now I'm back to my usual routine. I did my jog this morning.

If you recall back on October 31st, I posted that my wife had been in the hospital. She's fully recovered now, from a kidney transplant. Earlier this week her doctor cleared her to leave home. She had been quarantined in here due to being on immunosuppresants. She still has to be careful about going into crowded places and being around kids and animals.

But she's itching to get out, which means going out to eat. So, I have to keep going on with my exercises.

Weight Loss By Desire

2010-11-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

Weighed in this morning at 152 pounds. Up two pounds from my last report a week ago.

As the days grow closer to Thanksgiving, it's becoming more tough to stick to this diet. Everywhere I look, I see photos of turkey dinners, pumpkin pie, and people being festive and merry. It seems to trigger something deep down inside me that wants to break open a bottle of beer, grill some steaks, or eat a pint of ice cream.

Compounding that is the colder weather. I hate jogging with cold air blowing on my face. Even though running will raise my body temperature, I still feel that bitter cold windchill. And so I don't feel encouraged to exercise.

I guess these are the moments where you learn what you're made of. I tell people I spent a few years alone just trying to control my appetite. I like to think that I've made progress on that. Yet maybe no matter what you do, there's always going to be something that Mother Nature puts into us that makes us want to eat.

The body always thinks it's living in the wild, trying to survive from one day to the next. But our conscience knows that food is readily available without the need to expend a lot of physical activity.

That seems to be the root of everyone's weight problems. It's a tug-of-war between our body's natural mechanisms and our desires to satiate our palates.

I hear some vegans and vegetarians say that they have lost the desire to eat meat. I always wonder about that. I'm not a vegetarian, though I do love eating fruit, vegetables, and grains. Yet, I have to believe that even vegans still possess these natural tiggers deep in their psyche that makes a rack of pork ribs look and smell absolutely irresistible.

But I think vegans have the power of ideology, and their stable of vegans friends to help them stick to their lifestyle. As for myself, I don't have any ideology that turns a carnivorous diet into something criminal, and nor do I have any dieting friends to pull me along.

All I have is a desire to stay healthy. And so far my desire to stay healthy is often trumped by my desire to eat and eat and eat. When your entire weight loss efforts are driven simply by a desire, it's tough to stay the course.

Shooting for 145 Pounds

2010-11-17T07:19:00.001-08:00

Weighed in this morning at 150 pounds. That's down one pound from my last report on Saturday.

150 pounds is my target weight, and what I've deemed my base weight.

I'm still eating about 1,000 calories a day, and still doing it on a whole wheat tortilla in the morning, two cans of Low Sodium V8 Juice, 4-8oz of beef jerky, and a handful of celery stalks with salsa in the evening. And I'm still exercising via light weightlifting and jogging about 1.3 miles Monday through Friday.

Except I'm not going to hold up at 150 pounds. I'm going to keep on going with the above program, and try to add more muscle while trying to burn off what fat I still have hanging around my belly. So, I may possibly go down to 145 pounds, though I doubt I'll ever get below that. Right now, it's getting harder to lose weight, and it seems like I've put on just a little bit of muscle over the past month.

It's Getting Harder to Lose Weight

2010-11-13T07:27:00.001-08:00

Weighed in this morning at 151 pounds, down one pound from last Tuesday.

I exercised all this week, Monday to Friday I jogged everyday on a 1.3 mile route, and I did some light weightlifting, along with sit-ups and push-ups. I kept my calorie intake to about 1,000 calories a day, eating mostly a whole-wheat tortilla and V8 juice for breakfast, about 4oz of jerky for lunch, and celery with salsa plus a can of V8 juice for dinner.

I notice it's getting harder to lose weight. Whereas before I would drop about 1-2 pounds a day doing exactly what I described above, it now takes about five days to drop the same amount. I assume I'm building up more muscle while I'm losing fat.

I'm getting more into making salsa. Last night I made some jalapeno tomatillo salsa. Tastes pretty good, but I can tell it's not "just right". So, I'm already eyeing a bigger food processor, and looking to try this again. There's actually lots of salsa to buy at my local grocery store, but I can't find any that's hot enough for me.

Today, being Saturday, I'm taking a break from exercising, and a break from my diet, and going out motorcycle riding. Sunday, I don't know what I'm doing, but most likely spending it with my wife. Maybe grill up some steaks. And then the next week, I'm back to my regular exercise and diet regimen.

I'm Smelling Like Garlic

2010-11-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

Weighed in this morning at 152 pounds. I'm down one pound from Sunday morning.

I continue to exercise. My jogging route has increased to 1.3 miles. My goal is 2.0 miles everyday. I think that's what I need to do to burn off the visceral fat. I'm also still doing some weightlifting, not very strenuous stuff though, mostly easier stuff, just enough to prevent muscle-loss, and remain slender.

I also took another step in the right direction, by getting rid of all my larger clothes. I had kept them all, thinking that someday I'll probably gain a lot of weight back. But I decided that's not the right attitude. So all I have left now are the clothes that fit me just right.

Oh, and over the weekend I made some habanero-lime salsa. It turned out really hot. I ended up using a lot of garlic, and now it's very garlicky. As of this morning, my wife says I still smell like garlic, and I still have a couple pints of that salsa left.

Celery versus Tortilla Chips

2010-11-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

Weighed in at 153 pounds this morning. Down one pound over the last week.

All last week I've done reasonably well to watch my calorie intake, particularly my sugar intake. Exercise has not been as frequent as it was the previous week, however. But interestingly enough, I managed to drop a pound.

My goal is to stay at 150 pounds.

It seems like I'm getting into salsa (the food, not the dance) more and more. I find myself at grocery stores examining the many brands that are available. I like stuff really hot.

I used to eat baked tortilla chips with salsa, but I'm actually finding celery stalks to be just as good or better in flavor. Well, tortilla chips by themselves don't have a lot of flavor to begin with, and neither does celery. So I think that's why the two work well with salsa.

But considering one full size stalk of celery contains only 10 calories, whereas 20 baked tortilla chips contains about 150 calories, and slightly more for regular tortilla chips, it's a lot better as a diet food.

So when snacking, I'll eat about 3 full size stalks of celery. Each stalk generates about 6-8 dips into salsa, that's roughly the same as what I would snack with tortilla chips.

The fiber content is pretty much the same between the two.

Controlling My Appetite So Far

2010-11-01T10:23:00.001-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 154 pounds, no change from yesterday.

I managed to keep myself under control yesterday in terms of eating. I started the morning with my usual whole wheat tortilla (plain), and for lunch a BBQ chicken sandwich with macaroni salad and one bottle of beer at a restaurant.

I was still ready to eat some more just after finishing lunch, and could see some slices of sourdough bread a friend of mine didn't want to eat. But I resisted. I also resisted a second bottle of beer.

Later in the day some friends and I hit up a bar and I had a glass of beer. Everyone else was getting second glasses of beer, but again I managed to resist. Part of the reason was because I had to get back home to hand out candy for Halloween. And then at home, I managed to resist eating the Kit Kats and Twix Bars.

But later on, I couldn't resist eating some corn bread and chips and salsa.

Still, the bottom line is that I spent a day off of my diet, and didn't gain any weight from it. So that's the whole point of what I'm trying to do. Control my appetite so that I can maintain a healthy weight.

The Beef Jerky Diet Continues

2010-10-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

To everyone still monitoring Beef Jerky Diet Blog, I'm still strutting along. My weight right now is at 154 pounds, and I'm still making beef jerky a main part of my daily diet.

I'm at a point right now where beef jerky is the main source of protein from Monday through Friday, and weekends I tend to substitute it with something else, maybe steak or chicken.

At one point, earlier this month, my weight went as high as 164. This is mostly because my wife was in the hospital at that time, and I wasn't able to spend much time writing my beef jerky reviews. I ended up eating out at a bar & grill close to the hospital.

Right now, my exercise regimen has picked back up. I'm back to jogging about 3/4 mile, along with some weight lifting, Monday through Friday, while doing sit-ups and push-ups seven days a week. This last week I've made exercise a daily habit, in hopes of burning off some of my pooch belly.

It still amazes me how many brands of beef jerky there is in the world. I've written reviews of over 230 brands thus far, and it seems there's no end in sight. Some of those brands have since gone out of business, but new ones seem to keep popping up.

Two Pounds on Jerky and Strawberries

2010-07-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 152 pounds. Down two pounds from yesterday.

My diet yesterday consisted of 6oz of jerky, spread out over 3oz in afternoon, and 3oz in the evening. I also had a pound of strawberries in the morning, and another pound of strawberries in the afternoon. Then a few glasses of water.

No exercise, though I did some more cleaning on my motorcycle.

It's tough trying to get back into the swing of things. I keep thinking about the month-long ride I took to Alaska and back. Being out on the road for that many days is an adventure. Your mind switches into a different mode during that time. And then when you come back home, it takes awhile for your brain to switch back.

Dropped a Lot of Weight Overnight

2010-07-13T09:38:00.001-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 154 pounds, down 4 pounds from yesterday.

Obviously when I weighed myself yesterday morning, I must have had a lot of water in me from the day before when I rode home from Las Vegas. That has to be the explanation for being 4 pounds lighter today than yesterday.

Though I did spend some considerable time outside yesterday washing my motorcycle. It took quite a bit of effort getting Alaska and Canada off of it.

But that just implies that I didn't really gain any fat at all from the month-long motorcycle ride. And well, I'm happy for that.

So this morning I'm starting out with a pound of fresh strawberries for breakfast. I really need to get back into the swing of writing jerky reviews. However, after being away for a month, my house needs work. The air conditioner is out. My front lawn looks like it's about dead. One of our toilets has developed a bad leak.

Dieting On a Motorcycle Ride to Alaska

2010-07-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 158 pounds.

I've been away from this blog for some time because on June 14, 2010 I took off for Alaska on my motorcycle. I just got back home yesterday.

I weighed in at 155 pounds when I left, and this morning I weighed in at 158 pounds.

Not bad, only gained three pounds out of the whole trip.

I think what helped is that I had several days where I just rode all day long, putting in long 500 to 750 mile days. I would snack on something about every-other gas stop, either a bag of raw almonds, or a bag of trail mix, or a bag of beef jerky. I drank pretty much just on those days.

At the Alaska/Canada border heading into Skagway, AK

But I also had days where I splurged on some great food at some cool restaurants. I drank an awful lot of beer too, visiting several bars and breweries, and having a great time chatting with the locals.

And then of course, there's the motorcycling, which I've said seems to help you burn off calories. On those cold rainy days in Canada and Alaska, which there are lot of during the Summer months, the body tends to burn more calories trying to generate heat.

I also made better choices on what I ate. I drank plenty of coffee, but added no sugar or cream, just plain. When I bought trail mix or nuts, I made sure it contained no added sugar. And that stuff is not easy to find in gas stations.

I also did some hiking on a few days.

Well, I'm pleased that I only gained three pounds over a month long motorcycle ride. But in the rest of this month I want to get that weight back down to 150.

Vacationing in San Diego and Dieting

2010-06-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 155 pounds.

My wife and I spent the last weekend on a three-day, two-night vacation in San Diego. It's only a 90 minute drive south from where we are, and we've been there many times. But it's nice to spend some quality time together.

But over that period I did a lot of eating and drinking of course. And when I weighed myself yesterday morning, I was at a despicable 158 pounds.

So consider I did well to lose 3 pounds in just one day.

I didn't do any exercise yesterday.

However, I managed to eat a little bit throughout the day to keep my metabolism running.

I also took two hot baths, one in the late afternoon, and another late evening, just before going to bed. From what I've witnessed, soaking in a hot bath seems to help burn off more calories.

And taking a hot bath just before going to bed helps me sleep better, and of course getting a good night's sleep burns quite a few calories too.

Eliminating Sodas From My Diet

2010-06-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 154 pounds.

This past Memorial Day Weekend saw myself eating and drinking to my heart's content, and gaining weight up to as high as 158 pounds.

I decided I'm going to make another lifestyle change. I'm going to stop drinking sodas, including diet sodas. I don't know enough about the chemicals in these drinks, but if they can clean the rust off of nails, I'm sure they're not doing my body any good.

Instead I'm going increase my consumption of teas, specifically green tea. Everything I've read thus far is all positive about green tea boosting metabolism. I've actually been drinking green tea for about a year now, by way of powdered drink mixes. I can't say if they've done me any good, but I'm guessing it's still better than sodas.

The other thing is artificial sweeteners. I want to gradually wean myself off of that too. Right now, I'm still consuming them in the green tea powdered drink mixes. I've been buying sweetened green tea powder with fruit flavorings.

What I want is to find powdered green tea mix without any sweeteners, but I haven't been able to find them. The powdered mixes are so convenient in pouring into a bottle of water. The best I can find are straight green tea bags that you can soak in cold water.

Back Down to my Base Weight

2010-05-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 150 pounds, down two from yesterday.

What a sigh of relief! I finally returned to 150 pounds after several months.

I lost two pounds yesterday by starting out with two whole wheat tortillas, plain. Then ate about 8oz of beef jerky, and drank about 5 bottles of water with green tea mix. That's about 1,040 calories in all. Didn't do any exercise, though I soaked in a hot bath for about 30 minutes.

Oh, I posted an article on Weight Loss Blogger on "How to Lose 30 Pounds in 30 Days". I have never lost that many pounds in such a short time, but seeing that my weight loss regimen has me losing 1-2 pounds a day, I know I could do it. And therefore anyone could do it. The key is three-fold, exercise, dieting, and boosting your metabolism.

We always hear experts talk about diet and exercise, but they don't always talk about raising your metabolism. I think it's because exercise itself raises metabolism, but that's not enough. You have to find ways to keep it raised all throughout the day. I think that's largely how I've been able lose weight.

Gained One Pound From a Weekend Trip

2010-05-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 152 pounds.

Over the weekend I did a motorcycle ride up to Paso Robles and back, staying overnight there. But as it turned out, I didn't gain much weight from that trip. Only a meager one pound.

That Saturday morning I had weighed in at 152 pounds. If you recall, I was shooting to weight in at 150 pounds, but never made it. Anyways, riding up there I had a bacon cheeseburger with salad, but no dressing, along with two cups of coffee (black). That night I had three beers, and shared a plate of nachos, potato skins, and chicken strips. And the following day I had a tri-tip sandwich and onion rings. That was all I ate.

When I weighed in the following Monday morning, I was only 153 pounds. I figure the the two full days of motorcycle riding is what helped me burn off those calories. I know, I know, how can riding a motorcycle burn calories? I don't really know the science behind it, but it does. I wrote another article where I talk about this more, "Riding a Motorcycle Can Burn Calories".

So between yesterday and this morning, I lost another pound to make it to 152. So what did I do? Well no exercise. But I did soak in a hot bath for about 30 minutes. Otherwise, I had two whole wheat tortillas (plain) in the morning. Two tall glasses of green tea (unsweetened), 5oz of beef jerky, and a regular bagel (plain) in the evening. That works out to about 1,000 calories.

But the main thing is that I ate all day long, but ate a little at a time to keep my body metabolizing all day long.

Getting Closer to My Base Weight

2010-05-21T10:12:00.001-07:00

Weighed in this morning at 152 pounds. Down two pounds from yesterday.

I didn't get out of the house like I had hoped to. I ended up just working on my websites.

I started out with a couple whole wheat tortillas, and a couple cans of diet soda. Later on in the day I had about 5oz of beef jerky. Then at night I had another can of diet soda. That was all I had.

But I also did some weight lifting at home.