Nutrition Update

Typical dinner - spinach, red onion and egg salad with homemade vinaigrette

So those of you following along will know that I am currently involved in two weight loss contests. Well, one weight loss contest and one bodyfat loss contest. My weigh-in for the weight loss contest was 316lbs (heavily sandbagged, of course) and for the bodyfat was 30.1%. For this past week I have been very strict in my diet, with half my calories coming from fruits and vegetables and protein powder, and the other half coming from eggs, milk, and olive oil (in vinaigrette).

I haven't been counting calories, but I'd estimate I'm eating in the neighborhood of 1500 per day, almost none of it from simple carbohydrates.

I am specifically excluding some foods, at least initially. That includes bread including pizza, cereal, macaroni, rice, potatoes, red meat, chicken, and butter. This week I'm adding bananas to that list. All my meals are planned and choices are limited (decreased variation of food has been shown to cause people to reduce calories.)

Most importantly, my wife is doing this with me - so I'm not trying to cook separate meals for me and her, which has never worked in the past.

The problem with this is that it's tricky to train on this kind of reduced calorie load. There's this stuff I use called superstarch which is corn starch treated to have insanely-long molecular chains (500,000-700,000 g/mol* - glucose is 180 g/mol), making is so low-glycemic that it only negligibly affects insulin levels. I found that if I take that a half hour before exercise then I have sufficient energy to carry me through at least a half hour. I haven't tested it yet for long workouts.

For a few days last week I've taken in before my workouts with mixed but mostly positive results. On Saturday, something came up after I took the superstarch but before my run, so that it was over 3 hours between taking the supplement and the start of the run. The run itself was a real struggle, and my blood sugar crashed pretty hard afterwards. Bad experience.

On Sunday, I experimented by adding a teaspoon of BCAAs to the superstarch, the intent being to create this chalky tasteless cocktail that allows me to maintain a low calorie diet but also give me energy for running, while not catabolizing muscle too much. Took it 30 minutes before my Sunday run (which itself was 30 minutes long) and it seemed to work OK. Going to continue experimenting with it.


Results are promising so far. I've been resisting temptations successfully and relatively easily. I know that this "prefrontal cortex brute force" approach to weight loss can't last forever or even the entire 3 months of the weight loss contest (and the diet isn't maintainable anyway), so I've set a March 25 end-date to this phase and have not decided what 'll do afterwards.

* source: http://vimeo.com/51891286#t=41m30s

2014 week 6

Random thoughts about my runs and anything else that comes to mind.

 Here's photos of everything I eat: http://instagram.com/stevetursi

Wow, we're already six weeks into the year.

Wed Feb 5
Quite a snowstorm happened overnight, and I stayed home yet again. I'm not sure why I've been unwilling to run in the snow; it's not particularly uncomfortable for me and it certainly is nicer than running in the heat. But still, I go out and I'm just not that much into it. Another fake zero Lonergan loop. With more snow in the forecast, I'm feeling pretty blah about things right now. Slightly-better-than-average food day today.

Thurs Feb 6
Busy day at work, only had about 30 minutes at lunch to get a run in (that includes the shower), so I ran 2.01 miles in 15:59. Happy Birthday Joey! Ten years old today.

Fri Feb 7

Broke another treadmill today

I ran 1.35 miles in 10:30 before it died. It's frankly annoying that the treadmills at the office gym can't handle a 300lb man running 8MPH. I was on pace for another 23:xx 5K, but when the thing stopped on me, my heart just wasn't into it anymore. I walked another 12 minutes on another treadmill at 15%, getting about 500 vert.

Then I ate a salad. Shut up.

Sat/Sun Feb 8/9
On Saturday I got with Ami and Dong and ran four laps at Rockland Lake. It was a bit of a suffer fest for me. Sunday I got with Ami and the tri club and ran 8 miles, giving Ami and I a 20-mile weekend. Felt much better on Sunday. Both days were cold and dry. I like the cold but these teen-temps are getting a little old, even to me. I've got to appreciate them, because they're a lot better than 80 degree runs. But even to me they get old. I would like some of the snow to clear so we have more room to run on the roads. Some shorts/tshirt 40-50 degree runs would be nice too. Whatever. It's the only weather I've got, so I deal with it.

Bowling was better this week. I shot 159-194-192 for a 545 series. Finally.

Mon Feb 10
Alex and I are now committed to a weight loss challenge that we're doing together (Actually the Life Time 90-day challenge) and today is the first day of it. That means a smoothie for breakfast and a smoothie for lunch. That also means we're back in the Monday "Strength Foundations" group exercise class together, which was really good today. Before the class I ran 1.14 miles in the treadmill in ten minutes.

Tue Feb 11
3.31 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill with the lifetime run group. Today I found out that lifetime as bought the NJ marathon, which is meaningless to me but still interesting. I am also rediscovering superstarch as a great way to train while cutting calories. Without it, I struggle to run ten minutes. With it, I almost feel normal.

2014 Week 5

Continuing my random thoughts about my runs and anything else that comes to mind. Again, not promising to do this every day or every week. Again, I am promising to post a photo of everything I eat here: http://instagram.com/stevetursi

Wed Jan 29
I got my ass kicked on the treadmill today, as I huffed out a mere 1.12 miles in and suffered every minute of the 11 minutes it took. Running + losing weight is tricky. 290lbs this morning, which I thought was an anomaly. But then I was 288 after the run. Breakfast and lunch were the same as the last two days. After a crummy day at work I went home and ate OK: pork chops and broccoli. But also had three heavy high-alcohol beers. 293 the next morning. hah.

Thu Jan 30
Work is still bumming me out, but fortunately Ami was willing to do 5 easy miles with me at lunch. Breakfast and lunch were the same as yesterday, but we went to Costco in the evening and dinner was a slice and a half of pizza plus half a hot dog. When I got home I had a salad. No beer though.

Fri and Sat Jan 31 and Feb 1
I'm actually writing this bit on Thursday night. Tomorrow morning I intend to wake up very early and get a mile in before going up to Belleayre to ski with some guys form church for two days. Saturday morning I'll plan to run a mile before skiing all day again. After skiing upwards of 50 days per year for a few years, this will be the first time in about 5 years I've been on the slopes. Eager to see how I do.

Monday review of Fri and Sat: Everything went according to plan (well the running and skiing did), didn't bother worrying about food and haven't had the nerve to weigh myself since. My alpine ski boots do not get along with my bad ankle, so it might be nothing but telemark for me for the future.. Still was fun though! This is my first time on alpine skis in 5 years. Great times.

January total: 153.7 miles. My highest non-marathon/ultra month ever.

Sun Feb 2
This bowling slump has got to stop. 115-108-137 for a 360 series. Holy crap. That sucks. I was lucky to break 100 in one of my games. Then I went to the track and ran a mile. Then I watched Dr. Who while eating super bowl cupcakes. This bowling slump has got to stop.

Mon Feb 3
Geez, I didn't see this snow coming. Ran 1.5 miles after work. Exhausting day at the office. Didn't eat very well today either. Not crazy bad but not good.

Tue Feb 4
Ran 30 minutes on the treadmill during lunch. 3.19 miles. I actually walked the first 10 minutes because I was still exhausted from the previous day. Food was like yesterday. Not bad but not good.

Happy hump day!