So I'm finally trying to lose some weight in an attempt to complete goal 'get abs'. The past week has definitely been a hard one but in saying that, this week seems to be over already.
I looked in the mirror just that one time too much before realizing that even though my cholesterol levels are normal, my heart is going strong and that I'm much grateful for genes that grant me immunity to diabetes, despite my sweet tooth; I just didn't feel like a healthy guy. I started searching for the most healthiest and efficient ways to losing weight.
People with gifted ectomorphic metabolisms could probably scoff down whole cakes and chocolates and burn the calories off a few hours later. I found losing weight much harder and could not stand hearing about the amount of cardiovascular exercise you would have to do to burn off certain foods; I sure as shit wasn't going to do it either. Much similar to the endorsements from people claiming a particular fat loss diet worked after trying 'everything' else, I myself was a little skeptical in trying a 'carbohydrate cycling diet' I had stumbled upon.
Instead of testing how deep the water was, I dove right in, cutting my carbohydrate content to no more than 400 grams on the first day. I cut breads, pastas, starchy vegetables, sugar, sugary drinks, sugary fruits; if it had an '-ose' at the end of it, it was gone. I remember my first breakfast where I ate 3 whole eggs scrambled. It was the most dreadful thing I'd ever eaten for breakfast considering brekky was usually my largest meal of the day and it was one that I enjoyed the most.
Today I actually craved for one egg yolk in my 5 egg whites scrambled and in the 7 of so days on the carb cycle diet I've come full circle with my thoughts and am definitely a lot more informed about how my body reacts. My second day on the diet would see me cut this carb content even lower. Instead of the scarce amount of wholegrain bread I was allowed to have with my turkey and cheese sandwich, I was allowed an extra scoop of protein powder. Instead of the extra piece of fruit I was allowed with my protein shake, I was allowed an extra scoop of protein powder. It killed me by day 3 when all I could think of was what I would have for my cheat meal on Sunday.
Powering through it all, I hit the scales early on Saturday night to see if much had changed. When the scale said 116.4, I hopped back down to check if the thing was working right. Even after re-weighing myself, and again after getting Martin to weight himself to see if it was right, I was ecstatic. Not even a week after trying this diet I'd lost 1.4 kilos, down from 117.8kg. This saw me eat hard on Sunday and train even harder. Even the four pieces of KFC didn't do damage to my weight as when Tuesday came around, I dropped another 800 grams, I was now as light as I was at the end of high school, nearly 5 years ago.
I promised Martin that I would see 114 next week although in my mind, the challenge of losing the first kilo is no where near as hard as losing the next, I knew I could do it. So today, 2 days after, and a week and three quarters after my diet started, I'm at 115 flat (114.8 before training).
Check back at this space in few weeks, you'll want to start losing weight too once you find out how easy it gets.
Ly Truong, still that fat man but 2 and a half kilos lighter...
121.8 ---> 116.4
It's getting there slowly.
I've come to accept that everything happens for a reason. Despite this, what still puzzles me is why some happenings only happen to certain people. I don't understand the reasoning behind how luck or fate works but I can confirm that the spinning arrow of chance usually lands on me.
A quick wiki search came up with a list of cognitive biases which may describe my mental behavior but even though my mind might make more connections through coincidences of random life happenings, and it's neglect on the rather 'good' moments in life, I still reckon that classing them as coincidences just doesn't really explain it. Confused? I am.
Let me give you a few examples. As I've blogged about recently, the boat progress has been going on at quick pace. We completed her last Tuesday after I got her registered and finalized a few other little things. Our main run in was scheduled for Sunday that week over at the port of Brisbane but being so excited that we finished the boat ahead of time, we planned a pre-launch the following night.
Martin and Phuc got first dibbs for the first launch which was to take place at 9:30pm after Phuccie had finished work that night. Martin invited Paul to go for a fish as they both finished uni together at 6:30 and would have time to head home, grab a feed and then get ready. Everything was just coming together; we just never realize that tomorrows fate would just make things seem like they were supposed to happen.
Fate got the best out of all parties the next morning when I finished my morning prac early and both Phuccie and Martin and Paul decided that they skip work/ uni that afternoon; I received their phone messages shortly after I had finished my prac class. We did the final checks on the trailer and boat safety gear and we were off to the Brisbane River, the first run of the white beast, it's resurrection after the 5 or so years of us sitting around wishing we had a boat to go fishing in; my dream, our dream.
To be continued....
Most of us started the QUT university year last week however due to my laziness in attending lectures, it started this week when I attended my first tutorial for the year. It's been a pretty hectic year so far, disregarding the fact that I've only got 2 subjects this term, keeping up with uni and juggling the two jobs I've kept since last year as well as my vast amount of interest in pretty much everything has been pretty full on.
It's always the little things which add up that take most of your time away. The hour or so long allocation I give to centrelink every Monday lets me question whether it's actually worth the 60 or so bucks they give me. I hate being there, especially when I know half the people standing in line with me don't actually need it; beggars can't be choosers hey?
I think most of my time is spent traveling to places. The hour or so trip it takes to get to uni in the morning is absolutely terrible, considering it takes only a quarter of the time to get home. There's also work 5 days a week to and from work and the occasional trip to sunnybank for a feed or the gym for a workout.
With time such a restraint this past week, I'm left wondering why I've gotten so much more done with such limited free time. Holidays flew by occupied by work 5 days a week and sleep probably took up a major part of the free time left over. We've hit the gym more than we had during holidays and Phuccie and I worked on the boat for the first time since holidays started; we finished it in 2 half days of work.
I seems like this year is slowly kicking off. Can't wait to see what happens in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll learn to time manage more effectively and tick more of those blooody goals off. Ciao
