How I Justify Drinking My Sweet Tea

I got to thinking about it one day and wanted to see if my sweet tea recipe was really better than drinking a coke, both by volume and by how much I'd normally drink of it. I needed to do a little bit of math to help with this project, but math isn't the worst thing ever, right? So, what do we need to know?

Let's start with the hard parts: Calories per gram of sugar - between 3.5 and 4 (source). How many grams of sugar are there in a cup? From the same source as previous, approximately 200. Now we're primed for some math.

Normally, I like between 16 and 20 fluid ounces of whatever it is I'm drinking. Personal preference, I'd call it. And having consumed far too many 20 oz. cokes, I can attest that it's exactly what I want almost every time. Ok, so according to Coca-Cola, a 20 oz. coke has 65 grams of sugar and 240 calories. Given that many of my meals with this diet are right around 240 calories, it seems rather silly now to blow an entire meal by simply drinking a coke, plus not near as filling.

My sweet tea recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar per 3.5 quarts of water (and a gallon sized tea bag with Lipton or Luzianne being my brands). But, how does that compare to a coke? With 32 fluid ounces per quart, 3.5*32 = 112 fluid ounces per brew. Sugar per ounce would be 200 / 112 = ~1.785 g/oz. So, for a 20 oz. serving of tea, I'm looking at roughly 35.7 grams of sugar. Taking the worst case of 4 calories per gram, 20 ounces of my sweet tea is just under 143 calories.

So, I save myself 97 calories aka nearly 6 minutes on the elliptical by simply drinking tea instead of coke. Conversely, if I want to indulge, I know I can pay it off with 6 extra minutes on the elliptical. Neat :)

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't first mention that this is the recipe my mama taught me, so props and thanks go to her. And now, the recipe:

Recipe: Sweet Tea

• 1 Gallon Size Tea Bag (or 4 single serving tea bags)
• 1 Cup of Granulated Sugar
• 3.5 Quarts of Water

Boil at least 1 quart of water. Remove from heat, add sugar and tea bag. Let rest for 10 minutes. Remove tea bag and stir while adding remaining water. For stronger tea flavor, use more tea bags.

Temptation...

So, the diet's been going for a good while now, 6 months in fact. I've seen nice steady progress up until the last few weeks and the "plateau of motivational destruction." During that time, we've had lots of cakes, cup cakes, homemade ice cream, cookies, and other extra foods all in the house. And they're good too, my wife's an excellent baker...which tends to be a problem. So, how do I deal with the temptation of all these?

Tip

If you've used food as a reward, find a new reward.

Part of the dieting process is psychological, learning enough about your thought processes to find why you're not at the weight you want to be. For me, it was that I would use food as a reward. For example, we'd celebrate virtually every significant accomplishment with a "nice dinner." So now I've had to replace that reward with a fun activity like watching a movie or playing a game. Now that I've got the reward part, it's time to apply it.

Oh those tempting cupcakes, how good would one be right now? Quite! But, as mentioned, is it worth 12 minutes on the elliptical for something I'd eat just to eat? Nope. Sometimes that's not enough though. Rewarding myself for good behavior had to become my staple. "Great job, me! Here, watch this movie you like!" Yes, this is exactly like training a dog. Who ever said that it could only apply to dogs? I'm trying to correct my own behavior, so why not reward myself when I do the good thing? Makes sense to me.

Needless to say, .

Kidding. With the recent influx of tasty treats in the house, I've gotten some good game and movie time in. Of course, I've slipped up too, which could explain my recent plateau. I realize that I've given no direct advice on reducing temptations, because I honestly don't know how to reduce them. However, I do have one piece of summary advice:

Temptations will always be around, so reward yourself when you don't succumb to them.

Finding Motivation during a Plateau

So for the last three weeks, I've been stuck at the same weight. Just like in anything else, this is known as hitting a plateau. Great. I work my butt off for 3 straight weeks with nothing to show for it. Naturally, I start to question what I've changed and what I should change to get things going in the right direction again. Then again, maybe it's just one number that's not changing...

I know exactly what I've changed. In my diet, I went from having a double serving of a protein shake for lunch (240 calories) and almonds as a snack later (85 calories) to a meal that didn't leave me feeling terrible every day by the time I got to the gym. Now, it's 4 oz. sliced turkey breast (116 calories) and 6 fl. oz. fruit-on-the-bottom greek yogurt (140 calories) for lunch, and a banana (~125 calories) plus some peanut butter (~95 calories) as a snack. That is approximately a 151 calorie per day gain. But, I also increased the number of days at the gym by 2, one being cardio-only. Averaged over a week, that should actually result in another 1000 calories lost. There is potential that I'm taking in too much protein and not enough fat, so I may have to make some additional changes to my diet to make sure I'm not hindering myself. Also, let's not forget that dinners could be the problem. Lazy cooking (aka, reheating pizza) could have easily put my entire diet plan off.

Looking at the numbers, though. In the time I've been in the plateau, I've increased the weight attempted on bench press (both dumbbell and barbell), incline bench press, shoulder raise, triceps extensions, and reverse fly. I've also come much closer to completing my current weight on front squat and overhead squat. Also, I'm completing the full 30 minutes of level 13 elliptical with more regularity. One thing is that I've had to eliminate pull up, hang clean, and hang snatch from my routines while my neck has been sore, coinciding quite nicely with this plateau. Maybe we're on to something here.

Regardless, I'm still making progress in some areas, so it's not time to try anything drastic. I let my progress, weight or otherwise, be my motivator. As long as I'm making progress, I'm not going to worry too much. Though, maybe the lazy fare needs to be better for me.

My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 8)

In my last post I mentioned one dieting tip, and I'd like to put out a few more, along with some of the principles that companies like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig use.

Let's start with those principles. It's long been accepted by the fitness and nutrition communities that 3500 calories lost will cause you to lose a pound. Also, eating more often keeps your metabolism high. Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, etc. all use these principles to help you lose weight. They will absolutely work if you follow them strictly and are only after losing weight. Most of them will tell you that you can expect to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. They design their diets to hit that mark. If your body needs 2000 calories a day to function, they have tests to determine this, then taking in 1500 calories per day will result in losing a pound a week. These same companies try to get you to eat more often along with the caloric reduction, usually 4 to 5 times per day. My guess is they do this to try to ensure their success because they probably assume you cheat regularly.

Rather than recommend simply starting one of these for weight loss, I'm going to address one thing that these companies don't really specify but that happens. Weight loss is not fat loss, but that's generally the true goal of people participating in these programs. Your body is not going to take that caloric debt and do nothing about it. It is going to pull those calories from somewhere to ensure its survival. But it's not going to be completely discriminant when it does. Sure, it'll take fat, but it will also take muscle. Would you really like to be less fit as a result of dieting? I know I wouldn't.

Increasing my fitness level was my goal when I started my journey. I did not want to lose muscle due to losing weight. That's where resistance training comes in. Building muscles and strength is the way to good fat loss. Muscles need fuel to work, and they get that from the food you eat and the fat you have. I went with the philosophy of eating nearly enough to fulfill my calorie requirements and exercising to about a 500 calorie loss. I have averaged losing nearly a pound per week during this diet and only 4 of them have been muscle (which probably wouldn't have happened if I didn't do so much cardio). I'll stop there with dieting technobabble and get on to the tips

The first tip is incredibly important regardless of your motives, measure what you take in (even if it's just noting the nutritional information on the label). For example, I know I eat 4 ounces of turkey breast and 6 oz. of greek yogurt for lunch. This will help you know how much you're eating and where you can cut back if you need to.

Have a daily calorie goal. If you're trying to lose weight, make sure you get enough to not feel sick or lightheaded. That level depends on the person, so there's no general number I can tell you.

Colorful food is both more visually and mentally appealing, watch your favorite tv chef and see what they do for presentation. Not everything has to come in some shade of brown or green. More appealing food is easier to say yes to. Brighten up that salad with some nice yellow squash, orange carrots or mandarin oranges, red tomatoes, maybe even some red onions or cabbage. Conveniently, fruits and vegetables come in lots of colors, are low in calories, filling, and full of those vitamins we need. Use a variety of them in your meals to help you be more excited to eat food that's good for you.

Fat is not a bad thing to be avoided at all costs. But, like everything in life, moderation is key. Also, vegetable fats are better for you because they much more digestible. Saturated fat, which comes mostly from animals, is not digestible and is one to keep to a minimum. In fact, the name "saturated" tells you that it's not digestible. The level of saturation refers to the number of available hydrogen bonding points. A fat that is saturated has none available, so our stomach acid (hydrochloric) can't bind to it and break it apart. In summary, get your fats primarily from vegetables and nuts, and eat lean meats like poultry and fish.

Eat only when you're hungry, but whenever you actually get hungry. If you get hungry every 3 hours, don't just sit there and starve, have something ready to eat and eat it. I keep almonds around for stacks between meals, a little over a handful is about 85 calories and enough to tide me over until lunch or dinner.

Have a cheat day once a week. Don't go insane and drink a tub of warm shortening or anything, but designate one day per week to get those guilty pleasures in. It's a whole lot easier to stick to a diet if you don't have to give up everything cold turkey.

Final tip, to keep your grazing (defined as eating when you're not hungry) to a minimum, think of how long it will take you to burn off those extra calories. If you will put in the extra work, have that extra snack. Personally, I look at it in terms of minutes on the elliptical. So I look at the can of Mountain Dew and think, "Is this really worth 10 extra minutes on the elliptical?"

My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 7)

So, I've been over what I've done exercise-wise and why, now let's address the changes I've made in life to positively affect it's quality, fitness or otherwise.

First, let's address more of the common knowledge that people gloss over. You've been taught it since you were little--ignoring it then and today--but it's all quality advice. Eat your fruits and vegetables, drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep, and go outside and play. Oh how many influential people in my life told me that stuff. It's probably the best advice you can impart in 15 seconds...well aside from the occasional "Duck!" but that's situational at best. Applying this advice is the hard part.

Palatable salad dressing tip: get your favorite, high-fat dressing on the side. Compose your bite then dip it in the dressing.

Eating fruits and vegetables is hard in busy schedules. Usually we get some veggies through salads at restaurants, those are easy, but it's side dishes to restaurant meals where I get my veggies in. I try to get as many veggies as possible with my meal. Also, I eat them first. I figure, if I'm not as hungry when I get to my inevitably-worse-for-me dinner, I'll eat less of it. But what about getting more fruit?

This has been a tough one for me. I absolutely love most fruit but rarely eat any of them, so I had to make a real effort to get them. A banana a day gives me a ton of lasting energy, so much so that I can't go to sleep within 2 to 3 hours of eating one. Plus they keep for 5-7 days without any special effort. Other than that, I've recently taken to a diet that has me eating some Fruit-on-the-bottom Greek Yogurt. I'll address that more in the next post.

Water. Great tasting, smooth and creamy, and enticing are all phrase I don't use to describe water. But, I learned a fair number of things about water and being thirsty. If you're that bored, look up how your body uses water and in how many ways. Until I started drinking water regularly, I couldn't tell when I was thirsty at all. Of course, I didn't exercise and was rather inactive, so maybe my case isn't that unique. Today, I focus on drinking lots of water. Usually 32 fluid ounces between lunch and workout, then more with and after dinner as I get thirsty. The neat thing about being that hydrated is I never really need any water during workouts. Water also plays into getting plenty of sleep.

Oh sleep, how much I wish I was doing that right now. Moving on. Sleep is something most of us get far too little of too. This stems from being busy people and simply choosing to stay up rather than listen to our bodies when it says it's bed time. One other major factor in it is caffeine. In my efforts to get more sleep, I have no caffeine after lunch. Instead, and I mentioned it played a role, I only drink water once I'm done with lunch. Next, I listen to when my body says it's bed time. It really is a neat thing that your body can say when to sleep, and sleep is easy to achieve during that time. Once that sleepy feeling goes away though, it's a lot harder to go, isn't it? Think of that biological clock that we all have. It says "go to sleep" then it moves on to the next step "maintain current state." So, if you go to sleep when it says to then you'll stay asleep just fine. If you ignore it, you'll be able to stay awake easier than fall asleep. So, I've been trying to follow what my body says in that regard. I do fairly poorly at it, but I do try. When it's time to get up, I get straight up and get moving. To help with that, the alarm clock is across the room. I have to get up to make that noise stop. Then, since I'm already up, I stay up.

Playtime when I was little involved the swimming pool, the woods, bicycles, front and back yards, etc. Of course, I was a skinny little kid with a tan. High school through college and beyond, playtime became movies, computer games, and watching TV. With that, I changed into a rounder individual with no tan. Part of my fitness goal was to occupy that leisure time with time outside playing. Jumping on the trampoline, running, bicycling, swimming, and hiking are all perfectly acceptable ways to get back outside. Work takes up most of the daylight hours during the work week, so that's what I try to do on the weekends. Nothing like a little sunlight to make the day seem better and happier.

Next, vague dieting tips and my diet.

My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 6)

Stretching is uncomfortable, to put it lightly. Contorting in weird positions that usually make it hard to breath is simply not fun, nor does it seem all that challenging. It is, despite the negativity, extremely important.

I'll start this whole thing off with a link, again to Trainer David's Youtube page, but specifically: Pre & Post Workout Stretching

I won't cover what he does in his video for a variety of reason, including eliminating redundancy and the fact that he's the expert. I just want to talk about my stretching routine and how it's helped me. Back when I started all this, I couldn't touch my toes and didn't know how to stretch properly. After each workout, I was extremely sore and tight. This was all because, as the internet meme goes, I was "doin' it wrong." I'd stretch cold, first thing, go work out, then leave. I was always sore the next day, and I never got any more flexible. That's now changed, largely thanks to that video.

I've probably mentioned this already, but my routine goes like this: cardio, stretch everything, lift, stretch the muscle groups used during lifting. Since starting that, I now grab the back of my foot just to prepare for stretching. I took his advice, combined it with what I've learned of myself to reach my current technique.

What I like to do is stretch to two separate levels. This came out of two things: learning that there's such a thing as a "stretch reflex" and a desire to get the most out of stretching. The stretch reflex does about what you'd think, when you stretch a muscle the stretch reflex causes it to contract in response. That's generally why that initial reach is more comfortable than holding the position. So, what I do is reach to a point where it is mildly uncomfortable then wait for the discomfort to subside, then really stretch. Both points are held for 10 seconds. Those last 10 seconds are uncomfortable, and hard to maintain, but so effective. I've progressed such that I can fold my fingers over my toes with ease, and as the point I wait before really stretching.

Finally, I want to address the foam roller that Trainer David uses in his video. That little invention is like having your own personal masseuse. You control the pressure and placement and only ever have to pay one time. Back sore? Roll it. Legs sore? Roll them. I highly recommend picking one up. In addition to how Trainer David uses it, use it immediately if you notice soreness while working out. It can really help out with next-day soreness. Of course, use it then too.

Up next, quality of life changes

My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 5)

Ok, cardio. This part of exercising has been the worst for me. But, it's also where I've made the biggest improvements. I started off only really capable of using the recumbent bike for half an hour at level 1 (keeping in mind these levels only really mean something relative to the bike model in question). After a few weeks of burning nearly 300 calories, I looked over as someone was getting off the elliptical and saw they'd burned 50% more than me in the same amount of time. I was annoyed and felt like I hadn't been using my time in an efficient manner. The next day, I tried out the elliptical for the first time and found out that it wasn't going to be easy. I was able to get about 20 minutes before I was breathing far too hard to continue.

Tip

Your heart rate getting too high will exhaust you. So scale back the resistance, and you can go longer

It was all a learning experience for me. Learning how long I could go before I was exhausted, or before my knees would hurt, or before I'd blister my feet, or my calves would rebel. The first thing that I learned was to keep my pace constant. This allowed my heart rate to get up to a workout level, but not dip and spike like it would if I were taking breaks. Next, breathing was an issue. Given that cardio is working your cardiovascular system (heart and lungs), finding a good breathing method allowed me to sustain my efforts longer. In through the nose, out through the mouth, in tempo with my right foot and making an effort to expel as much air as possible while exhaling. That gets me enough air to keep going. Finally, I focus on not checking the clock. There is nothing worse than looking down to see you've got another 22 minutes to go.

Tip

When running, try to land closer to the ball of your foot than your heel, like you would if you're barefooted.

Running. Running to me is really fun but is awful. When I started my exercising adventure, I had knee issues when running. It would either hurt on the side or bottom of my knee. Luckily, knowledgeable trainers are around and clued me in on a very important part of running: TECHNIQUE IS IMPORTANT.

Running with your heel hitting the ground first causes knee problems. "Why?" I'd have you ask. Great question, I'm glad I had you ask that. Think of your skeleton for a bit. In your leg, you have a few bones that connect to your knee, the tibia and the femur. If you land on your heel, the heel is aligned with the tibia and femur. That means that all of that impact is absorbed by bone. Now, imagine landing with the ball of your foot. The impact compresses your foot down and your calf muscle flexes to absorb much of the impact. Then, your knee is bent slightly so your quadriceps and hamstring absorb more. Sounds better, right? It is. Do this and your knee problems while running should greatly diminish, at least they did for me. Of course, the first several times you try this your calves will hate you. But they'll forgive you in time, and your knees and even hips will love you.

To close out the cardio section, I'd like to talk about pacing in your exercise of choice. As mentioned earlier, my preference is to aim for a constant pace in whatever I'm doing in order to keep a constant heart rate. On the Elliptical, I shoot for between 65 and 70 rpm. On the bike, 70 to 75 rpm. On the rowing machine, 27-30 strokes per minute. On the treadmill, I simply put it on one speed and go. Currently, that's 6 mph. With a constant pace, I increase the resistance on the machines to push myself. For example, my current setting on the Elliptical is 13. Pretty much each time I can barely finish it, but I am finishing. Level 12 used to be like that, so I'm getting better.

Next up, Stretching.

My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 4)

I'll stop with the vague info for now and get on to some specifics about my personal journey through what I've described. Along the way, I'll provide a few tips as they occur to me.

Tip

Bring a notebook with you and record everything (exercises, reps, sets, etc.) to track your progress.

At the start of 2011, I weighed about 200 lbs. and was really quite sick of it. I'd learned from Trainer David all I needed to learn to get me started. I had my notebook ready, bought some workout clothes and signed up for the gym. When I got there, as mentioned previously, they measured my fitness and here's what they got:

1. % Body Fat : 24.2%
2. Fat Weight: 47.9 lbs
3. Lean Weight: 150.1 lbs.
4. BMI : 27.3

I started doing my workout from college which took probably 75 minutes, but amended it once I got to work with the trainer. Now, each of my lifting workouts take around 30 minutes doing about the same number of exercises, but pairing two together that work different muscle groups. Here are my workout as they stand, organized into routines.

Routine A

1. Hang Clean
2. Bench Press
3. Reverse Fly
4. Shoulder Press
5. High Row
6. Fly
7. Triceps Extension

Routine B

1. Hang Snatch
2. Push up
3. Lat Pulldown
4. Shoulder Raise
5. Incline Press
6. Supine Pull up
7. Dip

Routine C

1. Body Squat
2. Exercise Ball Crunch
3. Front Squat
4. Plank
5. Deadlift

Routine D

1. Front-to-side Lunge
2. Exercise Ball Plank
3. Overhead Squat

I'm still working on that last one; I'm thinking I'll add leg press to it. I don't want to add another core exercise to it because of how strenuous Overhead Squat is on the entire core. I alternate weeks on what order I do these, but the order is either A, C, B, D or C, A, D, B.

Now, let's talk directly about how these routines have affected my weight. Thanks to a request, I present you a graph of every day I recorded my weight (through June 14th).

As you can see, during nearly every week my weight fluctuates by 3 or so pounds. But, there has definitely been a downward general trend. Some of the longer gaps are from breaks due to soreness, illness, or external factors. I find I weigh the least at the beginning of the week, and that weight show me my actual progress.

That covers the lifting portion, up next: Cardio

My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 3)

Fitness is a funny thing. Every trainer, every expert, etc. has a slightly different opinion what to do and how to do it. For example, current research shows that the popular mindset of low-weight + high-rep lifting helps to build size and keeps from building size. Great, huh? Some of it is not as contrary, though. If you've ever watched a P90X infomercial, they talk about muscle confusion. As I understand it, this principle talks about not having a set routine every workout so that your muscles will develop general fitness instead of getting very good at a few set movements. It seems like the experts all like that idea, so I went with it.

In addition, they seem to agree that a combination of resistance training and cardio is best for fitness. Good fitness will lead to weight loss, therefore I had my plan. A combination of cardio and resistance training that varies day to day.

Every workout, I start with cardio. 30 minutes of cardio to be exact. Typically I hit the Elliptical machine, but I also hit the Treadmill, Stationary Bike, and Rowing Machine. One thing my trainer said to me about cardio is to keep pushing myself, whether it's for distance, time, or some other metric. I wanted to keep my time the same, distance seems to vary from one machine to another, so I can't get a consistent apples-to-apples comparison out of them. Therefore, I record the number of calories the machine says I burn. I find it is a good measurement of how hard I feel like I've worked. So there was my goal, to keep pushing the calorie count in 30 minutes. I do this by keeping a consistent rpm on the elliptical or bike, and ramping up the resistance level. On the treadmill, I increase the speed.

For resistance training, I alternate between working chest/arms and legs/core on subsequent days. I have two routines for each set. Monday I'll do routine A, Tuesday routine B, etc. Each of these contains body-weight exercises (pushups, pullups, situps, dips, etc.), and lifts (bench press, front squat, etc.).

Routine goes vaguely like this:

1. Cardio
2. Stretching nearly everything
3. the daily routine (a, b, c, or d)
4. stretching the areas that I worked that day

My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 2)

I knew a few things going into all this:

• I was eating too much
• It took me a while to put on the weight, so it would take a while to take it off
• It takes a loss of 3500 Calories to lose a pound

Armed with that knowledge, I made a few changes to my lifestyle that some might think are weight-loss secrets, but they're not. They are the truths you've known for a while that you've been refusing to accept.

First change was to actively try to eat less. Could I go to a restaurant and eat the 2/3 pound burger? Sure, easily. Did I need it? No. I could be perfectly satisfied with the 1/4 pound burger. How about ordering the small spaghetti rather than the large? Also I try to eliminate unnecessary caloric intake, like getting water with meals rather than soft drinks. Finally, I virtually eliminated red meat and fried foods. This was a very significant change in my eating habits, but continues to work well for me.

Second, I had to establish a realistic time frame for all this to happen. So a little math told me that a loss of just 500 calories per day will allow me to lose 1 pound per week. I wanted to lose 35 pounds, so allowing for a little wiggle room, I set my sights on 40 weeks for this project.

Next, I got help putting together a workout regimen using a single 30-minute personal training session per week. This was a two-fold help to me. The obvious part is that I had a professional assisting me and making sure that I was exercising properly. The other part is directly related to my own psychology. I love to perform and I hate to waste money. So by having a personal trainer track my performance, I could perform, showing how much better I was getting. At the same time, I was motivated to keep going because I don't want to just throw money down a whole and get nothing out of it.

In part 3, specifics on the fitness part.

My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 1)

Good afternoon to you. Today I'm going to talk to you about losing weight, in general, and as it applies to me. I shall start at the beginning...of this year, 2011. After having looked in the mirror and hating what I saw for a while, I finally decided to do something about it. Then, nearly a month later, I did something about it. I found I was not motivated enough to actually exercise at home. There were too many distractions and too many fun things I would much rather be doing than exercising while I was at home. I'd even purchased some home equipment. It is still doing its job of staying put and being heavy quite nicely. So, I joined a gym.

This gym, like most from what I hear, sets you up with a lipid profile test, body composition test, and a fitness test. What I saw in those results was stuff I already knew. I was overweight, out of shape, not getting hardly any exercise, and eating rather poorly. Armed with the knowledge of my own poor shape, I set out to change it following some of my own contrived advice, facts I'd learned, and great advice from the staff at the gym.

In part two, the changes.