My Weight Loss Progress

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2010-05-13T10:44:00.001-07:00

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Energy Drink Review: Crystallight Energy, Wild Strawberry

2010-05-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

I've been drinking Crystal Light Energy Wild Strawberry and here's what I think...

Before we get into that stuff, let's talk about what's in it. As you can see, there's no nutritional value. Somehow they eeked out 5 calories per serving.

Serving Size 1.60 g

Servings Per Container 20

Amount Per Serving
(+)

Calories 5

Calories from Fat

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 0g 0 (-)

Saturated Fat (-) (-)

Trans Fat 0g

Cholesterol (-) (-)

Sodium 0mg 0 (-)

Potassium (-) (-)

Total Carbohydrate <1g 0 (-)

Dietary Fiber (-) (-)

Sugars 0g (-) (-)

Protein 0g (-) (-)

Vitamin A (-) (-)

Vitamin C (-) (-)

Calcium (-) (-)

Iron (-) (-)

(-) Information is currently not available for this nutrient.

(+)

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depeding on your calorie needs:**

** Percent Daily Values listed below are intended for adults and children over 4 years of age. Foods represented or purported to be for use by infants, children less than 4 years of age, pregnant women, or lactating women shall use the RDI's that are specified for the intended group provided by the FDA.

Calories: 2,000 2,500

Total Fat Less than 65g 80g

Sat. Fat Less than 20g 25g

Cholesterol Less than 300mg 300mg

Sodium Less than 2400mg 2400mg

Potassium 3500mg 3500mg

Total Carbohydrate 300mg 375mg

Dietary Fiber 25mg 30mg

Calories per gram:
Fat 9·Carbohydrate 4·Protein 4
ngredients: CITRIC ACID, MALTODEXTRIN, ASPARTAME +, CAFFEINE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, NIACINAMIDE, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE AND BIOTIN (B-VITAMINS), VITAMIN B6, VITAMIN B12, MAGNESIUM OXIDE, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, RED 40, YELLOW 5, BLUE 1, SOY LECITHIN, TOCOPHEROL (TO PROTECT FLAVOR). CONTAINS: SOY. +PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE.
Size: 10 CT
Upc: 4300001729

This is a Kosher Product

I bought my package from Walmart for less than $2. I am a huge caffeine addict so that means I enjoy anything that has it inside. With that in mind I tested out the first bottle, poured out the packet into 16oz bottle, shook it up and drank it.

How did it taste?
Just like any other diet product. It has that "diety/apspertame" taste. But surprisingly it's tasty. Not sure if you knew this, but caffeine is naturally bitter, so I'm assuming that the "diety" taste I have is from it. I'm sure it is since its listed as the #4 ingredient.

The drink goes down nice and smooth. I feel the effects of the "energy" within minutes of ingesting it. It feels much like a buzz you'd get from a cup of coffee, but not as jittery.

How long did I feel the energy?
From what I can feel, It will last anywhere from 2-3hours. But everyone is different and I weight 209lbs. So that means a person smaller than me can feel the energy longer.

Would I recommend it?
Yes, it tastes good and you get 10 servings for less than $2. But my wife thinks that Crystal Light shouldn't be in our house because of all the in it.

Summary
If you like diet drinks, consider Crystal Light, it only has 5 calories, taste pretty decent and can save you money over diet sodas. The Energy effects of it is pretty long and I wasn't hyper or jittery.

% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g	0	(-)
Saturated Fat	(-)	(-)
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol	(-)	(-)
Sodium 0mg	0	(-)
Potassium	(-)	(-)
Total Carbohydrate <1g	0	(-)
Dietary Fiber	(-)	(-)
Sugars 0g	(-)	(-)
Protein 0g	(-)	(-)

	Calories:	2,000	2,500
Total Fat	Less than	65g	80g
Sat. Fat	Less than	20g	25g
Cholesterol	Less than	300mg	300mg
Sodium	Less than	2400mg	2400mg
Potassium	3500mg	3500mg
Total Carbohydrate	300mg	375mg
Dietary Fiber	25mg	30mg

The Secret to Weightloss

2010-04-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Feeling frustrated with my weightloss

2010-04-29T13:36:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you, its been frustrating with my weightloss. I admit, it hasn't been on my heart lately and I find myself getting lazier.

But I am going to try not to think about my diet and workouts and just do them. I noticed that everytime I over think things, I end up failing.

So tonight, a good night ride through the trails, for dinner, I'll have something lite.

By the way, I brought 2, tuna fish sandwiches for my food today. I also brought a Clif Bar and some oatmeal. I'm hoping it will hold me over until my ride.

I started jogging!

2010-03-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

Well its been a while, but I'm excited to say that I started jogging. I ran about 2 miles and walked 1.8 the first time. Then I went out again to make sure that I ran the whole thing. I did it! 3.8 miles! I did it non-stop!

Then last night my wife and I took it easy by walking 4.5 miles...that was done in 1.5 hours.

I haven't lost more weight, but my cardio is improving. I find myself still eating junk...especially when I am bored.

I fight with my mind all the time about eating. Argh its super frustrating.

Push Ups

2010-02-17T11:44:00.001-08:00

I used to be able to do 100-200 push ups a day. But I haven't done those kinds of numbers in a few months. So when I tried last night, I did 40 and it was tough! I did another 40 this morning and I'm hoping to get back into my high rep push ups.

I ran!!!

2010-02-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

Last night while my wife was at spin class, I decided to go for a job. Mind you, my idea of running/jogging is about the same speed if I were to walk fast, but my arms are moving as if I was running.

So last night I decided to pick up my pace and see how well I do. I had my MP3 player on to a song by 30 Seconds to Mars called This is War. That song got me all pumped up and kept me running. But at one point my inner thigh started chaffing and I had to walk about 1/4 mile, but once I felt better, I ran the rest of the way home

I'll have to figure out the distance I ran, but even my own wife was impressed since she's quite the runner.

ugh, here we go again,

2010-02-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

Not sure if I mentioned it, but on the 16th of January, I had a mountain biking accident. I went over the bars, landed on my chest and bruised my ribs.

Been to the doctors, nothing broken but she said it would take 6-8 weeks before I see some healing. I've been seeing a chiropractor too, it helps, but I still have pain.

I'm super discouraged because I was in great shape for racing, but I've already missed two of the downhill races and now my cardio is only down to 2 hours a week and I'm eating more. ARGH! This is so frustrating. It's hard for me to get into the same focus I had when I first started training for racing. I also feel like I'm too busy at times to work out.

I recently saw a video of me from a few months ago. Back then I was doing 200 push ups a day and I didn't know it at the time, but my chest got big in a good way. So the other night I tried to do some pushups but my damn ribs in the back still hurt!!!!!! ARGH! I'm pretty discouraged right now and feel like a total looser and because I'm an emotional eater...you guessed it, I'm eating more and it seems like I have no control...

Weighed my self this morning

2010-01-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

My wife noticed that my stomach wasn't sticking out as much as it used to. I've tried to stay away from the scale just because I wanted this to be more about my fitness level than me obsessing over every pound I lost.

Well, I went ahead and stood on the scale and guess what, I'm at 203lbs! So that means I've lost about 8lbs since I started back in December. But I think the best thing about this, is that my performance on my bike has jumped.

I recently took 2nd place in a downhill race, something that I never thought I could do. Oh and check this out, I bought some running shoes yesterday and last night, I went jogging!

I actually prefer jogging more because my heart rate got up to 148-150 really quick and I was able to maintain it for a long time. I have trouble getting my HR up over 140 on the spin bike unless I spin super fast, but that doesn't last very long. So for now I think I'm going to take up jogging for at least 30 mins then get on the spin bike for the other 30 mins.

I haven't weighed my self in 2 weeks

2010-01-06T09:08:00.001-08:00

I'm sorta afraid to weight myself with all this meat that I've been eating. But I'm also on the spin bike more than I ever have. I'm actually sweating!

I'm really hoping that all this work will pay off at this weekend's race. There's a portion of the trail where we have to sprint to the finish line. This section is called "The Wall." Basically its flat and it about 350 yards. This section counts the most in my opinion because if you don't pedal hard, you will lose valuable time. Some of the racers feel that this is what wins or loses the race.

So to train for that, I'm cranking up the tension on the spin bike, and standing up and spinning as hard as I can in order to get the same burn I feel when I race.

I've been training my legs to feel the burn that way when I race, it won't be such a surprise.

All this exercise and eating good has actually got me all excited about it. What's funny is I'm not focusing so much on losing the weight, but more so the fitness aspect of things. I basically want to be a better riding when I ride XC and be in great shape when I race DH.

My friend, the trainer said, if I do 3 hours of cardio a week, my bike fitness level will sky rocket! Well, let's hope it won't take too long for that to happen. I'm looking forward to this evening's work out and then on Thursday's night ride. The night ride will help me gauge how I'm doing. I'm usually the last guy of the group, but we'll see.

3 hours of Cardio, DONE

2010-01-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

I started following my new email plan and the suggested 3 hours of cardio per week. I'm proud to say that I completed 3 hours last week, and a new week begins for me today. I'm thinking of going to a spin class with my wife tonight.

I got a new meal plan

2009-12-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here's what my personal trainer friend told me to follow.

Heres what I do with my "athlete clients" that still need to perform while seeing results.

-100 grams of carbohydrates per day. This will give you the energy you need. Try to make the carbs low glycemic/ high in fiber. Do about half your carbs for breakfast, (then depending on when your working out), about 25 grams pre workout and 25 grams post workout. If you are working out in the morning, do 50 grams before for breakfast, then 25 at lunch and 25 for afternoon snack.No carbs after your afternoon snack.
Example: keep it simple: Each bread/ oatmeal/ grain= 25 grams each, Each peice of fruit roughly= 25 grams. Personally, I do 2 grains and 2 fruits per day.

Breakfast- Oatmeal w/ berries and 2 eggs
or muesli ( i make my own with whole oats, little juice, walnuts, apples, raisens- soaked overnight then add strawberries, plain yogurt and sliced almonds) w/ 2 eggs

snack- light string cheese and almonds or laughing cow cheese w/ celery

lunch- salad w/ lean protein ( be careful of the dressing) or 1/2 sandwich and side salad

snack- peice of fruit, cottage cheese w/ tomatoes, nuts, or sliced turkey, etc.

dinner- lean protein, salad, and veggies

Tips:
-Green vegetables are a freebee, you actually burn more digesting them than you are taking in.
-Drink lots of water- half you body weight in ounces (150 lbs= 75 ounces)
-Be careful not to drop you calorie intake too much. Low carb usually equals low calories = weight loss in beginning but quickly plateaus and slows metabolism and low energy.
-Think lean proteins, green vegetables, fruits and high fiber grains in moderation.

I hope this helps. Let me know if this helps and if there is anything else I can do.

Also, my clients that have seen the best results, I have them do one hour of cardio per week for every decade they have been alive. So, a 40 yr old would do 4 hrs of cardio per week. Us mountain bikers can do that in one weekend ride, so I dont count that. I do 4 hrs a week of cardio not counting my mountain biking. This may not work with a full time job and family, but start some cross training like trail running or stairs. Your biking strength will sky rocket.

Good Luck,

Sounds easy enough. So easy that I had a breakfast of oatmeal and two eggs and a handful of blueberries. Funny thing was, I was so full! Plus I have energy again! Tonight the plan is to do the spin bike, hopefully I can find my heart rate monitor.

Christmas has come and gone

2009-12-28T09:51:00.001-08:00

Well this was a rough week for me eating wise. I managed to stay on my diet. But I gained a pound because I didn't exercise at all this week. I was heavily craving chocolates and even tried to find some sort of low carb option...but no luck.

One thing I'm finding out with this diet, is that I have NO energy what so ever. I go bike riding and I'm tired after a few miles. Not winded, but my legs and arms are mush, no energy left.

So I talked to a friend of mine who is a Personal Trainer, and he told me to email him and he'll set me up on some sort of diet plan that will help me have more energy so I can train and lose weight at the same time. I better email him today!

One week later on the high protein diet

2009-12-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

Guess what, I lost 5lbs after 1 week on the high protein diet. With this rate, I should be at my target weight in a few weeks.

Not as puffy today

2009-12-16T09:15:00.001-08:00

Today is my third day on my diet. No pills involved, just 2 days of exercise and a high protein diet. Well guess what, I lost 3lbs already! Not bad for 2 days.

no more light headed and dizzy feelings

2009-12-15T21:22:00.001-08:00

So in my two days of doing my high protein diet (HPD). My dizziness and feeling light headed have subsided. I was afraid those were symptoms to diabetes. I've talked to people that have diabetes and they all concurred that what I was experiencing were signs of something bigger.

After eating barely any carbs the last two days I, my body feels good. I haven't felt lethargic at all. In fact I actually have some energy. I guess my body is using up my fat stores for energy. One thing I do like to indulge in is an occasional diet coke or coke zero...oh man that stuff is great!

I haven't worked out tonight. I figured I'll try, if not, no biggie. I'll make sure I get some time in tomorrow on the spin bike while my wife goes jogging. Yeah I know what you're thinking, why not jog with her...well I can't. My version of "running" is her version of fast walking.

Two birds with one stone

2009-12-14T22:08:00.001-08:00

While I was watching TV, I hopped on the spin bike for about 40 minutes.

Since I'm on the high protein diet,. HPD, I've consumed more meat today than I have in the last 2 years. My stomach is getting used to it and so is my butt. I had some chicken made with the George Foreman Grill, and one beet. That meal gave me the runs. Then about an hour later I had 2 small pieces of beef jerky. So far so good, no rumble in the tummy...

I really wished that there was a magic pill I could take to get rid of all this weight. I often find myself panicking when it comes to food. For example today I was worried about what I would eat from the time I woke up. I kept thinking about my meals and what I would do. As soon as I got some pre-made chicken from Trader Joe's I panic feelings were gone.

Here's the kicker, since I'm eating nothing but chicken and barely any carbs, I'm content. I'm not up and down like a roller coaster regarding my hunger and mood, thus no emotional eating. But I'm not immune with wanting something sweet. Just earlier I was craving something chocolatey. Even this evening Iwas thinking about how nice it would be to have some ice cream. But I refrained and managed to be ok.

spell check didn't work!

2009-12-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

turns out I misspelled my blog name. It's myweightlossproGESS.blogspot.com. I meant to put an R there but I didn't catch it. Oh well, its here so I GESS I'll deal with it.

Well this is embarrassing

2009-12-14T17:25:00.000-08:00

It's been MONTHS since I've last posted. Well it happened, I gained a few more pounds.

What started off as something I thought would help me racing, yes I gained weight to enter the Clydesdale Class for downhill mountain biking. I told myself that I'd be losing the weight once racing is done.

Just this Sunday, we had our awards banquet and I received my championship trophy and a jersey, an XL.

So I made the decision last week that I'd be hitting the gym again and riding my bike to work. Oh and one more thing, I'm eating meat again. It's been almost 2 years since I've had any meat and today I started. Why? Simple really, I wanted to get on a high protein diet (HPD). A few years ago, I lost 35lbs while doing a HPD. My first week I actually lost 10lbs! So now that I'm am back being heavy, 211lbs as of this morning. I basically brought out the big guns and decided to eat animals again.

It's taking me some time to get used to, I mean this is my first day and all. Well I've got a few more days of this, 6 to be exact to see if this HPD is something that works.

lost focus

2009-08-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

It's been about a week since I've posted and even done any kind of exercise. I took days off from my 200 daily pushups because I was sore from 3 consecutive days. I ate terribly and I saw how stress/emotions played with how I ate.

Work stuff sucks...and I found myself eating to feel better...I'm going mountain biking tonight, I'll be in poor shape, but at least I'm going.

struggling

2009-08-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

I find myself struggling with wanting to eat sweets. Been ravenous at times...

Last night I did about 110 push ups. I wanted to do more, but I couldn't. But I did push out 50 straight push ups in the very beginning and did 20-30 intervals after.

1 Week, not so bad.

2009-08-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

Today marks the first week of my weight loss progress. I'm happy to say that I lost 2lbs. Yeah, I am now at 206lbs. I know earlier this week I dropped down to 204, but I'm sure that was all water weight.

I think its working

2009-07-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

Thursday night, the good wife and I went on a 12 mile mountain bike ride. She's been running 4-6 miles a couple times a week, so that means she is super shape. Me on the other hand...well not so good. I was injured for about 4 weeks, that meant no riding. So when I finally got on the bike, I had a tough time on the trail. Lungs were burning, legs were cramping...and I loved it!

This morning I woke up and weighed myself to see how my weight loss progress was going. I'm happy to report that I've lost 4lbs this week! Not bad for the first 5 days.

I'll officially weight myself on Monday and see what the scale says. But right now I'm pretty encouraged.

I even made some good decisions too. For example, today the office is making Fajitas...since I don't eat meat, I decided to opt out. But I also wanted to contribute, just so I'm not made to be the odd man out. Anyhow, I went to the grocery store to get a dessert. I saw a Pecan pie and thought this was great choice...but I love Pecan Pies...so I piked an Apple Pie instead. That way I know I wouldn't eat since I'm not a huge fan of apples...

Tomorrow is scheduled to have a nice 2-3 hour long bike ride, then a funeral. Let's see how well I do with all that climbing. I'm sure I'll do well since I'm 4lbs lighter!

Last night and this morning.

2009-07-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

So last night after church, the good wife suggested we take the kids to McD's for some shakes and hot fudge sundaes.

Though it was a bit of a struggle, I was a good boy. I had a yogurt parfait. I'm sure its just as bad, but mentally I felt like I had a victory.

This morning I made myself iced coffee and a breakfast burrito...mmm

Not as bloated today

2009-07-28T11:05:00.001-07:00

Yesterday morning I weighed in at 208lbs and my water was 50%. I knew I was just retaining water from the weekend.

So I made sure I drank plenty of water to flush me out. This morning, I got on the scale, I am down to 206lbs and my water was a bit lower...I can't recall the actual number.

Woke up really late and didn't have enough time to make b-fast, so I grabbed an iced coffee at Coffee Bean and an Nectarine from home. So far I'm not hungry. I'll head home for lunch to eat a tofurkey sammich or something like that.

By the way, I did 130 pushups last night and went on a nice walk with my kids...exercise is not such a bad thing.