Day One of Gastric Confusion… 181lbs.. from 169 in August! I felt really sad clicking on that save button. Using MyFitnessPal.com to track my weight and food log.
Too Much Poundage and Not Enough Muscle
Well the new year is in full swing and it started in spectacular fashion as I lost my cell phone and all the Little Nomster entries I’ve yet to upload. Luckily with the help of friends I’m able to survive with a borrowed phone in the meantime.
Back on track here, weighing in at 180 lbs I’ve gone way over the weight threshold I set when I initially lost it all two tears ago. So as part of the promise I to myself, I’m putting myself back on Gastric Confusion in the next few days. My goal is reach 170 lbs by the summer. It’s not gonna be easy but with the help of my girlfriend and her competitive ways it’ll help melt the time away.
In conclusion, I’m gonna prepare myself this week by not splurging on ridiculously awesome fast food and candy, however I will try to eat well but only in large proportions! Wish me luck people!
Gastric Confusion | 4 Months Later
It’s been a real long time since I’ve gone ahead and updated my weight loss with the Gastric Confusion program, my triglycerides issues, and my current weight state; that being said, allow me to enlighten you. For those whom don’t already know what the what is, I suggest you skip to the bottom and follow the appropriate links. For those who are all caught up…
It’s been as close to 4 months since I ended the actual program. I’ve been leading a lifestyle very similar to Week 3, and I have seen great strides in my performance, health, and overall energy. As far as the weight is concerned, as of this morning I’ve gone down to 168lbs, a number, to be quite frankly, I haven’t seen in over 7 years. A number I thought I wasn’t ever gonna see again, barring I swallow a giant tape worm. As far as energy and performance, I find myself spending more time exercising than I have ever been. I’ve been doing a combination of running off at the minimum 400 calories (anywhere between 2.89mi to 3.2mi depending on speed) followed three sets of chest, abs, and back/shoulders workouts. It’s not easy by any means, but it is working and I haven’t any complaints (unless I’m hungover).
As far as my health is concerned, I have been battling high levels of triglycerides since as far back as I can remember. At my last visit to the doctor I had almost three times the levels above normal. I can safely and happily say, after completing Gastric Confusion, and keeping it up for several weeks, my triglycerides levels have plummeted down nominal levels. My doctor was floored. He actually thought I was on the Tricor pills he prescribed, which I was firmly against taking.
In summation, I’m extremely satisfied with the results of the program. With a little common sense and a lot of perseverance, one can do just about anything. I have little to no plans to discontinue my new diet lifestyle, to the contrary I’m actually curious as to how far I can take it.
I made a deal with myself when I hit 170lbs, I’d shave off my beard of almost 10 months, but now that I have I’m actually curious as to what new deal I can make with myself if I’m able to hit 160lbs, which at this rate my take until the end of fall/mid-winter. I wonder…
Previous entries:
Past Links:
The Time has for some Serious Weight Loss | Part II
Gastric Confusion | 7 Days In
Gastric Confusion | 14 Days In
Gastric Confusion | 21 Days In
Gastric Confusion | 21 Days In
It’s done and finally over. What quite possibly might have been the hardest lifestyle change I’ve had in well over… hell possibly ever, I’ve finally completed the Gastric Confusion program. These past 21 days has not only been trial of personal will, but also a test of my resolve to commit to a diet and physical change which was detrimental to my health and well being.
Last Week’s vegetables only diet was so hard on my girlfriend and myself; we might as well have been eating Papier-mâché. Week Three was such a delight as we began to introduce lean meats and fish. Having gone through bowls of fruits, saltines, a plethora of vegetables I wouldn’t normally touch, and about a gallon of vegetable stock, it was a welcomed and much love change of pace. Don’t get wrong we still weren’t having rice, bread, grains, or carbs of almost any kind, but with the introduction of lean meats and fruits being back on the table, literally, we didn’t really need to feed on saltines any longer.
We began Week Three by tossing out our oatmeal packets. I may have mentioned this earlier but I switched to Cheerios while my girlfriend switched to Kashi, a much better selection. Cheerios, not Honey Roasted, plain Cheerios, is actually a better selection that oatmeal. It’s got more protein, vitamins, and minerals, furthermore, I was having it with Silk Vanilla Soy Milk; partially because we not allowed to have diary on this diet, but also because I’m part lactose intolerant.
I’m gonna be honest and admit Week 3 was pretty uneventful. I had loads of grilled chicken with salads for lunch, or about an ounce or two extra lean turkey breast, again with a salad. I wasn’t too concerned with salad dressing as long as it wasn’t heavy on the cream. What was super important however, was I began running again after perhaps a month of taking it easy.
Beginning to exercise was a giant toll on my cardio system. On Day Two of Week 3, I hopped on the treadmill and it utterly and completely kicked my ass. I was winded and breathing heavily in under a mile, while as before I was going a good half-mile before hitting my stride. But I didn’t give up however, and on Day Four I was back at it pushing my body and forcing my legs to go the distance. By Day Six was 80% back to normal and hitting my stride and ghosting about a mile and half in.
Finally Day Seven rolled around, which was actually Day 21 and the end of the program. We were so super excited. We had accomplished something so incredible, which I didn’t think I was going to accomplish at all. I had gone on a very strict and demanding diet program and came out of it alive, and to celebrate it all, we went… to.. wait for it… a baseball game!
After 20 days, I’m finally having something unhealthy to eat. I know I shouldn’t cause technically I’m still on Day 21 of the program, but damn it all to hell we deserved it. One hotdog later, one 16oz. of Diet Coke later, and one half eaten bag of Ruffles chips later, and I was stuffed! Full! I was so disenchanted with myself because I ready to pound down three of those dogs. Alas, the program not only shrank my stomach but it curbed down my portions of food; and the worse of it all, we had over 7 more food vouchers!
Finally! I had completed the Gastric Confusion program! When it was all said and done, and I weighed myself the next day after Gastric Confusion [AGC+1], I was at 178lbs. Let me be clear, on Day One I had weighed in at 196lbs and on Day 21 I was 178lbs. That’s a total loss of 18lbs on about 95% dieting alone. It was an amazing journey of self-discovery and personal will.
In the end, Gastric Confusion boasts not only weight loss which it delivers on, but it secretly delivers on proper food portions and servings by Week 3; it increases your metabolism by forcing you to eat and think smaller meals six times a day, and by the end of the program it forces your mind to control your cravings and act accordingly. At the time of this writing I’ve being hovering around 176lbs and 178lbs. I’m running on the treadmill three to four times a week at a steady pace of 300-350 calories burned per session. I’ve decided to have Monday’s thru Friday evening dedicated to Weeks 3’s diet plan. I’ve opened the weekend meals to include rice, grains, and dairy smartly, while delegating one night out of the weekend a cheat night where I can have and drink whatever I want; basically a reward system. I find the mind and the body simply react better when you give it a small reward, something to look forward to while its disciplined. And on that note folks, I am done. I’ll be updating my AGC days sporadically from here on out, so until then, Ciao.
Past Links:
The Time has for some Serious Weight Loss | Part II
Gastric Confusion | 7 Days In
Gastric Confusion | 14 Days In
Gastric Confusion | 14 Days In
Let me start off by saying, holy [bleep] was this week tough. Having only veggies to consume this week, you’d have to be a vegan to begin with to appreciate this week! To recap, I began Gastric Confusion 14 days ago, a 21 day diet program meant to detoxify the body, shrink the stomach, and restart the metabolism with strictly fruit [Week One] and veggies [Week Two] for the for first 14 days. This entry concentrates on the second week. That being said, I began the week with certain apprehension to say the least, being I only enjoy vegetables when meat is present.
Going into this week we made a conscious decision to replace V8 with oatmeal for breakfast with either orange juice or V8 Fusion. Frankly, I hate V8 and unless I’m dehydrated and there’s nothing else to drink, I’m not touching it. As far as snacks go we decided to use the 5 saltines per snack and spreading hummus on them. Again, for those just reading, eating saltines and oatmeal is simply a means for the body to get the minimum carbohydrates needed short of crashing.
On Day One, my girlfriend whipped up a massive vegetable soup. We made so much soup it last all the way to Wednesday night, that’s Day Four, doubling as both lunch and dinner. Some salads were thrown in to substitute the soup, salads that I had to use Italian dressing, since I couldn’t use Caesar or Honey Mustard.
By Day Three I was sick and tired of soup and bland-ass salads and was seriously contemplating cheating of some kind. My saving grace was the saltines and the hummus, and I no fan of hummus let me tell you. It leaves and weird after-taste and I had to drown that with green tea. On Day Four I went to local market and purchased a plethora of extra veggies. My intention was to use the slow cooker and make a kick ass vegetable stew. I let the slow cooker go on overnight, and I was expecting an awesome lunch, but… let me preface this with the following, I make an awesome chili and an equally bad ass meat stew with the slow cooker. When I finally sat down and tasted my latest experiment I was totally and completely disappointed. I had no idea meat added so much flavor to my stews. Forcibly, I jammed spoonfuls of this food into my mouth simply to satiate my body’s desire for energy. This continued for two days.
By the end of Day Six, which was a Friday, my girlfriend and I have had it with this diet, and short of totally cheating, we grilled… wait for it… MorningStar Veggie Burgers! We looked at the ingredients of the Veggie Burgers and saw that it only had less than 2% of the items forbidden, as in eggs and rice, but at this point we didn’t care! It less than 2%! We grilled the Veggie Burgers, cut them into cubes, and had Veggie Burger Salad, of which I added Newman’s Own Low Fat Honey Mustard, and it was best item I had eaten all week!
Finally we reached Day Seven, and it was a glorious and sunny Saturday. Our friends, whom we haven’t seen in two weeks, goaded us into going to the beach. We made another Veggie Burger Salad, and headed out to the beach. By the end of the day we ended up at the Parrot. Now if you ever been to the Parrot you know they specialize in Philly Cheesesteaks sandwiches and well made burgers and fries. The salad menu was weak at best. So we decided to begin our third week early by having a tossed salad with grill mahi-mahi with Italian dressing and a giant pint of beer. It was awesome.
By the end of Week Two, I have nothing promising to say other than it was really difficult to get through. We had to substitute and get creative with our veggies to make it all work out in the end. Nevertheless, we did get through it in the end.
Week Two Meal Plan
Breakfast: Instant Oatmeal, 1 cup of Orange Juice or V8 Fusion
Snack: 5 Saltines with Roasted Garlic Hummus
Lunch: Garden Salad or Vegetable Minestrone Soup [sans shells] (Days 1-4)
Vegetable Stew (Days 5-6)
Grilled Morningstar Veggie Burger Patty w/ Salad (Day 7)
Snack: 5 Saltines with Roasted Garlic Hummus
Dinner: Garden Salad or Vegetable Minestrone Soup [sans shells] (Days 1-3)
Vegetable Stew (Days 5)
Grilled Morningstar Veggie Burger Patty w/ Salad (Day 6)
Tossed Salad with Mahi-Mahi and Italian Dressing (Day 7)
Weight Loss
Day One Weigh In: 187lbs
Day Seven Weigh In: 182lbs
Gastric Confusion | 7 Days In
As the title dictates I’ve been doing the Gastric Confusion program for a week now, and I have successfully, albeit barely, completed Week One. As a reminder, Week One consists of, for the most part only fruits. On Day One my girlfriend (who’s also enduring this diet with me] and I went to Whole Foods and bought about $60 worth of apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, kiwis, you name it. We chopped up all the fruit and made a gigantic fruit salad. Which by the way, we had to refill twice, so our total price of fruits for the week was perhaps close to $100. The sensation was weird to say the least, the day before we just came back from a wedding and pretty gorged ourselves the past three two in anticipation to this diet and now we’re buying nothing but fruits to sustain us on this week alone. Weird.
On Days One and Two were easy enough to get through, however on Day Three I was feeling wrecked and going through major sweets and junk withdrawal. On a side note, it’s only when you’re going through a major diet lifestyle change do you realize just how many product placement and food commercials their actually are. I was going from over 1200 calories a day to about 800 per, and my body was feeling it. It was essential to have oatmeal and saltines, as the program requires, because the body simply cannot function properly without daily doses of the minimum carbohydrates. Going into Days Four and Five, I can easily say my body adjusted to fruit meals and saltines and I wasn’t going through any wicked withdrawals, but that’s not to say the cravings were gone. It wasn’t long before I was coming around to the idea that I just may be able to pull this off.
On Day Seven, which also happened to be a Saturday, we decided to lay low from all our friends and bunker down in the house, the shitty rainy weather was clutch! The idea was stay away from all temptations and most importantly to stay away from the bars. It really didn’t help when our friends invited us to what sounded like a fantastic Seafood Festival, like I mentioned earlier, the cravings were still there. Mmm, shrimp scampi… In end though, celebrated our final day of Week One with our last fruit bowl and a glass on white wine.
In the end of it all Week One wasn’t as bad as I thought I was going have to endure, the tough part for me will be Week Two, when it’s vegetables only and no fruits at all. I already know I’m going have to substitute some of the veggie snacks with saltines and hummus, but more on that later…
Week One Meal Plan
Breakfast: Instant Oatmeal, 1 cup of Orange Juice
Snack: a Banana
Lunch: Fruit Bowl [1.5-2 cups] & Five Saltines
Snack: an Apple
Dinner: Fruit Bowl [1.5-2 cups] & Five Saltines
Weight Loss
Day One Weigh In: 196lbs
Day Seven Weigh In: 187lbs
