Trouble Losing Weight- Lack of Sleep and Exercise

I feel like I am not losing weight fast enough. So my focus is going to change! Recently I have not been sleeping enough. Working too late and going home very late. Staying up and going to bed late. So I am going to try to get to bed earlier and get some more sleep at night. I think lack of enough sleep has been hurting my weight loss. I have also been eating late at night- but I am not sure if that is really a problem. Maybe eating too much! I have also not been exercising enough. Last week I did a stress-echo and never got back into the gym. On the weekend I fished on Saturday and tried to sleep and recover on Sunday from 2 hours of sleep the night before- driving and early rising for fishing. I did get some sun and exercise out fly fishing for stripers- it was a ton of fun as my friends showed me how to catch fish. We caught about 25 fish and they let me land about 6 and finally I caught one on my own while wading on a sand bar. A super fun way to fish. So I have not been doing any long bike rides on the weekend. That needs to change.

Today I made it to the gym and did 60 minutes on the bike with a 4 minute Tabata that was tough- I rode the recumbent and started at level 15 for the first 3 intervals then I kicked it up each time, level 16, level 17, level 18, level 19 and finally level 20. It was only 4 minutes but my heart rate was near my calculated max of 175. I recovered during the last 8 minutes- after about 2 minutes I had recovered and was going easy again to finish the hour with 800 calories down. My goal is to do 1000 calories an hour. I will get there. I like to take it easy and go Paleo/Primal with cardio. After my bike ride I really wanted to do a little "Bruce Protocol"- I was disappointed that the treadmill only goes to 15% grade at my gym. I made it to 18% grade during the stress test. The protocol goes to 22%. So I started at 10% and did what I could going for 10 minutes total time with an increase of stress every 2 minutes. At 15% grade all I could do was speed up the treadmill so I was running slowly at about 4.3 mph. That was enough for me- I was spent! I feel like it is a pretty good interval training although it is only 1 interval with high intensity. As I lose weight I am sure I will be able to run a little better- but I don't want to hurt myself. So for the next 30 lbs or until I am down to the 260 level I am going to focus on cardio. I will lift heavy things if I can, but my time and energy will go into cardio and try to fat burn for now.

I weighed in and met my goal this week! 292 lbs! I really want to break into the 280's next week. I plan to fish on Saturday and do a long bike ride on Sunday. I probably should not have eaten so much- but I had another BAS day at Sweet Tomatoes. BAS is a Big Ass Salad. Which is taken from Mark's Daily Apple Blog (link on the right). I felt full but not stuffed from all the salad. I will have a small dinner tonight and do some more Cold Therapy. Funny how I found a machine now that does Cold Therapy for spot fat burning. The biggest question I have is what temperature does it use for an $800 1 hour session? And can I simulate the same therapy with a bag of ice for $1? I am doing both ice therapy and actual cold therapy in a cold tub of water. Let's see if I can become "cold adapted". I will report in 3 months time if my fat cells have been reduced by ice therapy. It seams like there is some science behind it- enough to develop an expensive machine and market it to those desperate for spot burning. I just need to make some commentary about the crazy K-E Diet.

Here is the latest controversy that is getting bad press- the K-E Diet. A ketogenic diet- which in my opinion is a good diet principle. 800 calories for 10 days. This is pretty severe way to go low-carb. And could be a shock to the system. I think it is getting too much criticism. For 10 days one could simple fast with plenty of fluids. 800 low-carb calories is probably better. What I think is crazy is paying $150 a day for a feeding tube! Heck just eat 4 low carb meals that are 200 calories each in an 8 hour time period for your 800 calories. You can do this by eating Quest bars- Maybe I can start a new diet- THE QUEST BAR DIET. Or mixing some small protein shakes with a little half/half in a hand shaker. But I guess if you did this nobody would think you are crazy and it would not be in the news. Anyway the principle is solid- Ketosis burns fat! What is not solid is after you paid $1500 and lost some weight after 10 days- WHAT NEXT? The doctor should include a copy of the Primal BluePrint in the program. So in honor of this latest controversy I am going to mix in a couple of 800 calorie days- I HATE counting calories- so it may be hard for me. I am sure my salad above had way more than 800 calories! I may do my 800 calories in 1 meal or maybe 2 or split it up with a couple Quest Bars and a small meal.

So that is my plan! I really want to hit 280 soon.