Now 2 days removed from the half and recording my lowest weight in years, I’m back to my average weight from the July 8th-12th. It was expected. I dropped too much weight in too short of time and that extreme weight loss isn’t a sustainable program. Life lesson #36 – Steady and consistent beats extreme and inconsistent all the time. Don’t believe me? Jus task the tortoise who beat the hare.

Weight 171.

Today’s Meals:

• 8am – Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla Protein Shake. 5 oz of Healthy Balance Apple Juice, 1 cup of raw cabbage, 1/2 cup of Costco Organic Frozen Blueberries, 4 large Costco strawberries, and 1/2 frozen banana. 2 scoops of Formula 1 and 2 scoops of Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder.
• 12:30pm – Spaghetti Factory gluten-free Manager’s Special half mizithra cheese – half mushroom and start with a small salad with pesto sauce plus croutons.
•  3:15pm – 1 gulp of Odwalla Mango Protein and 1 Nestle Drumstick The strategy here … rather than eat the ice cream at Spaghetti Factory, waited until I got home to eat one of my favorite sweet treats
• 5:15pm – Taco Bell Black Bean burrito, 1/2 Chalupa (no meat, sub beans). Did you know there is an “Easy Beans” button on their register? 6 hot sauces.
• 9:20pm – Chinese food leftovers. 1 serving of Tofu Singapore noodles. My wife doctored it up with extra egg.

Meal 1 and 2

Meal 2.a

Meal 3

Food and recovery

Today’s Activities:

• Light stretching throughout the day and night.
• And oh yeah, went to a wedding! Congratulations George and Desi

Weigh in 168.5. Makes perfect sense … remember the 500 calories = 1 pound. Yesterday’s meal tracker shows me at a 1747 calorie deficit. There’s your 3 pounds. Probably not that easy and other factors are definitely involved, but let’s keep this simple. Ran for 2+ hours, ate very little other than necessary carb-up to sustain the run, and I lost weight. What’s that saying … Duh!

Anyway, I know this is just a temporary thing … that’s too much weight too quickly. By tomorrow morning, I’ll be back to my average weight from last week and I won’t even eat anything outrageous.

There’s Spam email and then there is the polar opposite. An email that truly uplifts and let’s me give myself a pat on the back and thank God for giving me the strength, endurance, and discipline to press on. This is one such email:

Today’s Meals:

• 8:05am – 1 fried egg, 3 Burger King french toast sticks with a little syrup (ordered 5, but only ate 3), 3 Morning Star bacon strips. Used 1 Vita Coco (no preference over Zico) to wash down my post-race Herbalife tablets (Multivitamin, Herbalifeline, Cell Activator, Male Factor, and Garden 7)
• 10am – 1 sip of Sprite
• 4pm – 4 Italbrand breadsticks, 5 Mary’s Gone gluten-free crackers, a tablespoon of All Natural Chunky artichoke and jalapeno.
• 5:40pm – Chinese food. 1 1/2 serving sesame tofu (extra crispy, light sauce), 1 serving of egg fried rice, 1 serving of Chinese bok choy in garlic sauce, 1/2 serving of Tofu Singapore noodles, and 5 orange wedges.
• 10:30pm – Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Mango, Herbalife24 Restore

Meal 1 

Food and recovery

Today’s Activities:

• Stretching and recovery. Feeling tightness in my quads and IT band area. Can’t quite say definitively it’s my IT band, but it’s my IT band. What else could it be. Stretched throughout the day and learned a valuable lesson. Life lesson #35 – Don’t let your surroundings determine your routine. Yesterday’s post-race party was outrageously entertaining — sharing war stories about the race route and volunteers acting like 2 year olds, not wanting to share water or Gatorade with runners. But in all the hoopla, I forgot my post-run stretching routine and today, I learned a valuable lesson.

It’s race day … or in this case, race night. Start times are flip-flopped from am to pm in our attempt to beat the heat. Wondering what will happen for this 13.1? It’s been about 3 months since I even did 10 miles, but I have been doing those sprints.

I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me ~ Phillipians 4:13

So, race day weigh in is right at my  goal when I started my jog log. I wanted to get to 170 and this morning I am at 170.5. Life lesson #34 – don’t worry over the “.5” things in your life. Celebrate the big picture!

The Big Picture!

Today’s Meals:

• 7:30am – 2 fried eggs and 3 strips of Morning Star bacon
• 10:30am – Thai Che — just look at the picture if you’re not familiar, but I have to warn you, you are going to want one. Cococut milk, basil seed, coconut meat, and pandan jelly. Our friends called me this morning and asked if I could come over … it was to deliver this. They are the best! Thanks Sarina!
• 1pm – Time to start the carb train! Egg fried rice and General Sesame Tofu.
• 2pm – Herbalife24 Hydrate (1 stick), Herbalife24 Prolong (1 scoop), Herbalife24 Prepare (1/2 scoop)
• 5:45pm – Herbalife24 Hydrate (1 stick), Herbalife24 Prolong (1 scoop), Herbalife24 Prepare (1/2 scoop), 1 banana
• 7pm – Start of Half Marathon
• 7:25pm – About the 2 1/2 mile mark, 1 Clif Bar Chocolate Gel Shot
• 8:40pm – About mile 10, 2 Clif Bar Chocolate Gel Shot
• 9:15pm – Finished. Net Time 2:15:22.6. Finished 36th in my category (age 40-44) and 262 overall.
• 9:16pm – Met by a volunteer with a water bottle
• 9:17pm – 1 1/2 Corn Thins dipped in Biscott Butter
• 9:25pm – Biscoff Spread (1.5 tablespoons)
• 9:30pm – Zico water sample Mango and Zico water Passion Fruit. Still like the chocolate much better, but they ran out.
• 9:35pm – Watermelon. Check that … best watermelon I’ve ever eaten. Also ate 1/2 a banana.
• 10pm – Back home to the post race party. Plenty of food, very little appetite. Ate a fork full of vegetarian Thia noodle salad. Could eat no more. Had a 1/2 cup of a watermelon, mozzarella, and basil salad. Good, but not feeling it. Found more fresh watermelon. Eventually settled on a 1/2 bag of Sun Chips Original flavor. That salt is exactly what I needed and hit the spot.
• 10:15pm – Herbalife24 Hydrate (1 stick)
• 2am – After cleaning … Herbalife24 Restore and boy do I need some restoration.

Meal 2 and Meal 3

Meal 3.1 (Getting Ready!)

Food and half-marathon

Today’s Activities:

• Half-Marathon.

My Fellow Participants

Herbalife Run

Half Marathon Time and Splits

Strong start. Steady Middle. Slowed 9-12 miles. Finished strong. Of all the people in my category, I finished 38th. Thanks to Herbalife Run!

Moonlight Run Medals

Weigh in 171 and truth be told, I knew this. Making daily notes of what I eat and what I do is making it easier to predict health results. Life lesson #33 – daily reflection brings growth!

Today’s Meals:

• 8:20am – Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla and Protein Shake (2 scoops of each) in 4ounces of Healthy Balance Apple Juice, handful of Organic Girl baby spinach, 7 Costco Organic blueberries, 3 large Costco strawberries, 1/2 frozen banana. 
• 9:50am – Manilla mango
• 10:50am – Power Crunch Bar
• 12:30pm – Leftover Chinese food (1 1/2 servings of sesame tofu, 1/2 serving of fresh broccoli, 1/2 serving of string bean tofu, 1 cup of egg drop soup, 1 cup of rice)
• 3:15pm – 1 cup of Honey Nut Cheerios, 1 cup of Blue Diamond almond milk, 1 serving (2 scoops) of Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
• 6:00pm – Chipotle vegetarian fajita bowl with 1/2 white and 1/2 brown rice. Only ate 1/2 of the flour tortilla . 1/2 bag of chips.

Meal 1

Food and light/moderate exercise

Today’s Activities:

• Moderate to heavy moving and lifting of boxes. Some boxes 50+ pounds and needed to lift above my head to garage ceiling shelving. My physical therapy is working on my left arm. My right arm is getting much worse. (3 hours)
•  Moderate to heavy yard work. Rake and power washing. (60 minutes)

Summary:

I’ll need to watch my mango intake. At 46 grams of sugar for a small mango, that looks a lot like this …

How many sugar cubes?

This is another remind of how important it is to know basic nutritional facts of your favorite foods. Remember my pizza picture. Like they say, if I don’t know, now I know.

Weigh in 172. No worries, when nature calls, it will most likely be Groundhog Day with my weight and back to the 170s. Not even going to change a thing and my leftover spaghetti is going to be today’s lunch. In your face scale!

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – 2 fried eggs and 6 ounces of Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Tea
• 11:15am – 1 1/2 cups of Honey Nut Cheerios, 1 1/2 cups of Blue Diamond almond milk, and 1 scoop of Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder. It doesn’t look all that great. Kinda pasty, but also kinda tasty.
• 1:15pm – Leftover Spaghetti Factory mizithra cheese and mushroom with gluten-free noodles and for added protein, 1 Boca chicken patty (just microwaved it). To drink, 1 scoop of Herbalife Berry Beverage Mix, 1/2 stick of Herbalife24 Hydrate, and 1 shot of Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Mango in 10 ounces of water. Took various Herbalife supplements as well (Multivitamin, Herbalifeline, Joint Support, Cell Activator, Celluloss, and Ultimate Prostrate). Also ate a fresh Manilla mango.
• 2:30pm – 1 scoop of Herbalife Berry Beverage Mix, 1/2 stick of Herbalife24 Hydrate, and 1 shot of Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Mango in 10 ounces of water.
• 4:50pm – 1 bag of Sun Chips French Onion
• 6:05pm – 1 serving (2 scoops) of Herbalife24 Rebuild Endurance in 10 ounces of water. Calls for only 8 ounces, but it tastes a bit too strong for me with only 8 ounces.

Meal 2 and Meal 3

Post run fuel

Meal 5

Food and exercise

Today’s Activities:

• 11:30am – 4:10pm (with that quick 15 minute lunch break), power washed the lower part of our 2-story house and all of the hardscape in the front yard and 3/4 of the hardscape in the backyard. As a sidenote, don’t power wash the day after cleaning windows. Life lesson #32 – Plan, then plan some more or else you end up cleaning up after yourself.
• 5:20pm – My wife had an unexpected appointment and I decided to tag along. I asked her to bring the Sun Chips from above because I also changed into some running shorts so when I dropped her off, I could go for an impromptu run in this challenging 86-degree weather. Surprisingly, those Sun Chips may have did the job. Ran with a water bottle as a precaution. I intentionally went out fast for the first 2 miles (first 2 pictures) and did ramp runs to finish.

Why Wait When You Can Run

• 6:50pm – Walk back to my wife and our favorite Chinese restaurant. 1 1/2 servings of General tofu with sesame seeds (extra crispy and less sauce), 1 serving of green beans with salty tofu, and 2 cups of vegetarian egg drop soup. They also surprised us with a little plate of black mushroom caps. I ate two. And for dessert, our fortune said, “eat the oranges instead” so we ate orange wedges in lieu of fortune cookies.

Why drive, when you can walk. It ain’t that far!

Final note: It’s 9pm and nature hasn’t called just yet. Hope she hasn’t forgot my number today!

Monday, June 10, 2013. First entry. First weigh-in at 176.5. Energy level good, but not great especially in the morning.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013. Weigh-in at 170.5. Energy level steady throughout the day. Success!

Takeaway:

•  Eat 4-5 small meals every day
• Make sure the first meal is something nutritious and will keep you full without cravings until your next meal.
• Mix your exercises up. If you have a lot of time, don’t waste it. If you don’t have a lot of time, push it with maximum effort.
• Be consistent!

Lost a total of 6 pounds. Is that spectacular for 30 days? Some might even think what’s the point? But if you are just logging onto this daily food and activities journal, my “log jog” if you will, you will notice I ate the foods I enjoyed to eat and there hasn’t been an excessive amount of training. Life lesson #31 – eat four-to-five meals you absolutely enjoy every day as an easy way to stay healthy and fit.

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – 2 fried eggs and 6 ounces of Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Tea
• 10:30am – 3 ounces of Odwalla Chocolate Monster Protein
• 11:50am – Chinese leftovers (sesame tofu, salt and pepper mushroom, egg fried rice)
• 1pm – 10 ounces of water with a packet of Herbalife Berry Protein Mix, 1 stick of Herbalife24 Hydrate, and a shot of Herbalife Herbal Aloe Concentrate Mango.
• 3:15pm – 1 1/2 cups of Honey Nut Cheerios with 1 1/2 cups of Blue Diamond Almond Milk (original flavor)
• 5:45pm – Manilla mango. Yes, Manilla mango. There are different types of mangoes. Most supermarkets sell Mexico mangoes which are larger and very fibrous. If you don’t know which country your mango was from, if you’re still pulling fibrous strands from your teeth, those are from Mexico. The Manilla mangoes are all “meat” and 100% delicious!
• 6:30pm – Spaghetti Factory gluten-free Manager’s Special half mizithra cheese – half mushroom and start with a small salad with pesto sauce plus croutons. Just like protons, neutrons, and electrons make up the atom, the crouton makes up the salad! Come on, that was funny. Dessert a half a scoop of spumoni ice cream.

Meal 3

Meal 4.1

Food and light/moderate exercise

Today’s Activities:

• Window washing. Up and down a ladder in 99-degree weather and it is worth it! Actually YouTubed window washing before I started and learned I’ve been washing windows like an amateur for decades. Thanks WallyTheWindowWasher (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edWbys20Cdw)

Bed at 12:30am – Rise at 6:45am. Feeling fine post run. No soreness. I did make the mistake of not stretching immediately after my run yesterday so I was glad I “downward dogged”, “baby’d”, and “one-legged pigeoned” about an hour before I went to sleep. It’s amazing what 5 minutes of intense and intentional stretching and breathing can do for the body.

Morning weigh in 171. Second morning weigh in just 20 minutes later 170.5. Do I need to explain why …

Today’s Meal:

• 7:25am – 2 fried eggs, 8-ounces of Herbalife Concentrate Tea, 1 Amber Lynn sugar-free milk chocolate
• 8:00am – Various Herbalife tablets (Multivitamin, Herbalifeline, Cell Activator, Celluloss, Ultimate Prostrate)
• 11am – 1 1/2 cups of Honey Nut Cheerios, 1 1/2 cups of Blue Diamond Almond Milk, 1 banana
• 2pm – 1/3 Tofurky frozen pizza (1 serving), 1 Morning Star sausage patty, 8 ounces of Odwalla Chocolate Protein Monster, 10 Mary’s Gone Crackers, Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Tea
• 5:30pm – Chinese food from one of our favorite local spots. Salt and pepper mushrooms, sesame tofu (extra crispy, less sauce), egg fried rice, house eggroll, and a vegetarian hot and sour bowl of soup.

Meal 2

Meal 3

Meal 4

I apologize for Meal 4, Chinese Food. Like I said, it’s one of our favorites so taking a photo before it was more than half gobbled down was the last thing on my mind. It may not look appetizing which means there’s more for me! 

• 11pm – Herbalife Protein Berry Beverage Drink and with Active Fiber. No reason for the fiber, just remembered a Dr. Oz show about fiber. This entry isn’t on my MyFitnessPal … 

Today’s Activities:

• Major House Cleaning in the 95-plus degree weather
• Quick walk home after dinner. 100-degrees. Ran up the overpass ramp to mix up the pace. It’s notable that during my last Hawaiian vacation, with buffets for breakfast and oftentimes, dual-dessert-days (lunch and dinner), I only gained 1 pound. The key … we walked .8 miles to the restaurant and walked back .8 to the hotel. Only takes 11-13 minutes depending on your pace, but as you can see, worth every step. Life lesson #30 – a lot of little steps will lead to a big results.

Food and walk afterwards

The July 4th holiday is behind us and it’s time to get back into my Monday routine. Monday is Runday!

Weigh-in this morning, wait for it … 170.5. The take away … there are a few reasons, but at the core, it is basically calories in versus calories out. In other words, I’m burning more than putting in and without the help of MyFitnessPal, I wouldn’t know that. Life lesson #29 – use the right tools for the job. If you wanted to pound in a nail, would you want a hammer or a rock? Both would work, but one is more efficient and gets the results with very little mess. And if you want health, MyFitnessPal is that hammer.

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – 2 fried eggs and 4 ounces of Formula 1 with organic soy milk
• 9:30am – 4 ounces of Herbalife24 Hydrate and with a teaspoon of Herbalife Herbal Aloe Concentrate Mango (pre-run)
• 10am – Clif Chocolate Gel Pack
• 11am – Herbalife24 Rebuild Endurance (8 ounces of organic soy milk)
• 1:30pm –  Quorn Naked Cutlet, serving of broccoli, and the leftover serving from last night’s Seeds of Change Brown Quinoa and Brown Rice
• 5:30pm – Chipotle Veggie Fajita Bowl with the tortilla on the side and a bag of chips. Since it’s a veggie, I also don’t get charged when I ask for guacamole and sour cream on the side. Makes for a great (and free) chip dip, but I can also control my portion on my fajita bowl.
• 7:25pm – 1/4 of Odwalla Mango Super Protein
• 11:20pm – Herbalife24 Restore

During my run, brought a 4 ounce bottle of Herbalife24 Prolong and a 4 ounce bottle of Herbalife24 Hydrate.

Meal 1 Meal 2

Meal 3

Meal 4, aka Dinner (Before and After)

Food and exercise

Today’s Activities:

• Run. My first 5 miles were at a 9:30 clip, but the heat is really taking a tool on me. I had a a Clif Chocolate Gel Pack at mile 2 and drank my Herbalife24 products sparingly throughout the run. My right arm is really hurting now — starting from mile 2. Pins and needles so I’ll discuss this with my Physical Trainer this week. That pain is affecting my runs. I had to stop at mile 7 because of the pain and do some of the stretches I’ve learned in PT. If I know anything, I know this … this too shall pass. No problem!

Monday is Runday

Four-day vacation is behind me and waking up in my own bed. Before stepping on the scale for my first morning weigh in, let’s see where I started before I left.

• Wednesday, July 3rd, Morning Weigh in – 173
• Saturday, July 6th, Night Weigh in – 174.5
• Sunday, July 7th, Morning Weigh in – 172.5

It’s like a volatile stock with an amazing message. Life lesson #28 – Avoid disempowering beliefs and self-talk, “I’m on vacation so I can expect to gain a few pounds” Those lies can lead you off the narrow path. Nobody is saying to not have fun, but nobody is also saying to throw away your previous efforts.

Today’s Meal:

• 8:30am – Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Tea 8 ounces, 2 fried eggs, and 1 Morningstar Sausage Patty. Various Herbalife supplements (Multivitamin, Herbalifeline, Cell Activator, Cell-u-loss, Joint Support, and others shown in the picture).
• 1:00pm – Noodles & Company Whole Grain Tuscan Linguine with Tofu
• 3:o0pm – Costco Sample Stations. 1 Vitamix Dixie Cup size green juice and 2 Mary’s Gone Crackers with a cream cheese smear and Robert Rothchilds Farm. It was like a chutney and deserves it’s own highlighted block! Delicious!

• 

  Roasted Pineapple & Habanero Sauce

• 6:30pm – Herbalife Herbal Concentrate Tea 8 ounces, 1 1/2 servings of Seeds of Change Brown Quinoa and Brown Rice, 1 Quorn Naked Cutlet and 1 serving of steamed fresh broccoli.
• 8:00pm – Amber Lyn Sugar Free Milk Chocolate bite

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Food, no exercise.

Today’s Activities:

• Sunday Church service. You can do all the physical training, but it is nothing without God. Proverbs 3: 5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

• Painted the loft
• Hung my guitars

Eight-hundred and sixteen miles later, I’m home. We’re home. Home sweet home. Life lesson #27 – Never take your home for granted. Don’t complain about cleaning it or any other complaint. There are millions that would take your place.

It’s been 4 days since weigh in. I left at 173. I guessed I would be 173.5. At 7:30pm, the official weigh in was 174.5. No worries. By raceday in a week, I’ll be down to 172 and feeling like a Usain Bolt. But, with everything, I must reflect. This one’s easy. Little to no activity and eating out 2x’s per day — throw in a dessert on Thursday and an appetizer on Friday, there you go. One-and-a-half pounds. Interestingly, my wife lost 3 pounds. She wins the discipline battle.

Today’s Meal:

•  8:00am – 2 fried eggs (over medium) and a banana
• 9:30am – 4 ounces of Odwalla Chocolate Protein Monster
• 11:50am – 1 Taco Bell black bean burrito with 3 packets of hot sauce
• 3pm – Andersen’s Split Pea Soup. 2 1/2 bowls of split pea, 1 poppy seed roll, 1/2 veggie burger on wheat (I only ate the bottom bread). Various Herbalife supplements.
• 7:50pm – 1/3 of a Tofurky frozen peperoni pizza

Food, no exercise.

Note: Herbalife Herbal Aloe Mango throughout the day. Best guess – 2 servings in water.

Today’s Activities:

•  6 hour drive. Stopped every 2 1/2 hours — stretch.