I'm BACK!

Ok so I took a little time off. Stayed about the same weight, but I am sure I lost some muscle.  I am re-booting on Thursday as I am in a % loss competition from now until Christmas.  Numbers to follow soon!

Starting Over with the Slow Carb Diet and Occam's Protocol

Today I am starting over. I had a 2 week hiatus for celebratory reasons, and now it's time to get back to work.  I did not hit my goal of 205 by graduation - missed it by 1lbs - but I will take it as a victory since I was starting 230 in the face in January. 


Here are my measurements that I will be starting from.  Weighed in at 213.5 - a gain of 7 lbs from my last weigh in 2 weeks ago.  Yes it's a lot to gain in a short period of time, but, I ate and drank about as terribly as I could and only worked out once. If I were to stop this diet all together, I wouldn't typically have the schedule I had. 


AGG stack has started up again as well.  I found a "Natures Made" garlic tab at Costco and am going to give it a shot.  I took 2 a day during the last week of dieting and I did not stink up the place, so we shall see. 


And what would a re-start be without the cold showers?! Yes, I will begin those as well.  If you go back and look at my weight loss, I lost the most in February by far, and that's when I was doing the more aggressive approach to the cold therapy. 

2 weeks off

I am taking 2 weeks off from the 4HB diet due to celebratory and familial events.  I will resume my stacks, diet and cold showers on Monday May 9 2011.  I will post my initial measurements for all to see. 

Lucky or Smart

Just finished "Lucky or Smart" by Bo Peabody.  It was ok. I liked his opening chapters message: Lucky things happen to entrepreneurs who start fundamentally innovative, morally compelling, and philosophically positive companies. He contends that lucky entrepreneurs are those that understand that often times things fall together not because of a strategy, but because the entrepreneur formed the right team and allowed them to lead.  This I agree with.  Many times entrepreneurs stand in the way of creative people because they cannot give up control of their baby.


I did not really agree with his selection process. He contends that great entrepreneurs are B students, and great managers are A students - the entrepreneurs are good at a lot of things and master of none and the managers are excellent at one or two things. Considering I have been an entrepreneur in the past and am an A student, I disagree with this completely. Additionally, I have been given advice that being a "jack of all trades" and "master of none" was a terrible position sell to potential employers.  I would far prefer an A student over a B student - if I could afford them!


In all, its a very quick read and there are some interesting anecdotes, but it's probably not really worth your time if you are a well rounded business person. 

4 Hour Body Blood Test Results

I had a lipid panel done on 1/21/2011 just as I was starting to diet, and the results were scary.  I hadnt started the 4HB stuff until 1/31/2011.


For those of you that are searching for PAGG results, the diet slow carb diet results or the cold shower results, stop looking and view my blood test results. They speak for themselves.  I've stopped 2 medications I was on and have cut my risk of heart disease in half and now am considered normal and even below normal for most metrics.  My doctor said he has NEVER had a patient turn around as fast as I have.  And the truth is, it wasnt that hard.  Just daily choices that began to compound. 


Click the image below to see the results. I have the 4.21 on the left, the 1.21 results next, and the percentage change.  Notice his comment too about my AG stack - I asked about these earlier in the year to make sure they were ok with my meds. 

Week 10 - Tale of the tape using Occam's Protocol and The Slow Carb Diet

Week 9 tale of the tape using cold therapy and Occam's Protocol

Not as big of a change as last weeks, but that was crazy.  This week I can definately notice the difference in my legs.  And after my brutal leg workout, I really wasnt too sore. Not like in the beginning when I couldnt walk the next day. 

Still skeptical? Cold therapy, slow carb diet, and Occam's Protocol results after 60 days

For those of you who are still skeptical about if these approaches work, look at my weekly "Tale of the Tape" updates.  It's not that difficult of a diet and workout program, and I haven't felt this good in YEARS.  I bought size LARGE shirts for the first time in a decade. Stop dipping your toes in the water and jump in. What do you really have to lose?  If you are like me, you've been messing around with dieting and exercise for a long time with limited success.  This works and it works well.  


Things have been extra busy with wrapping up my masters program, but soon I will do another video update, and I think you will be able to see the results. 

Lots to update...2 workouts plus week 8's tale of the tape!

I've been incredibly busy - too busy to update this blog!


Occam A from 3/24/2011

Occam B from 3/28/2011

Tale of the tape week 8 results. Take notice of total body inches now - all the way to the right - and the total body inches at the start. It's quite impressive! 

Occam B workout results

Made some changes again.  Why? Because I am getting stronger and want to move over to free weights.  I added the leg press and it was much easier to do with some actual leg strength! I could really feel all my muscles working.  I got off the machine for incline bench and moved to dumbbell press for that.  Bring it. 


I will be going to the free weight preacher curl next week.

Tale of the tape - week 7 results

Below are today's tape measurements.  It's pretty clear that I am all over the map with how to accurately measure bodyfat, and am ok with assuming I still have A LOT of it.  I weighed in at 210 today, which is just .5 lb down from last week.  I would like to note that I had "spring break" last week from school and treated myself to a few non-diet meals to some unforeseen circumstances and just plain fun. I will be having a mid week "binge" day next week to celebrate Kim's defense, so that's another piece coming up. 


In all,  am pretty psyched to be down around 210 considering the week I just had.  Here I come sub 200!

Rockin and rollin on the Occam protocol

Added upright rows into the mix. My workouts should be pretty static for the next four weeks. 

I will do a week 1 - week X comparison soon.

Vacation is an SOB

I've had the week off of school, and while that seems like a small added bonus, its pretty sweet. So, considering I hit below 210, I decided to give myself a small break from the diet grind and had a few non-diet sanctioned meals. I will be back on this Friday 3/18/2011.  For those wondering, I had more pizza on Wednesday (some friends ordered food and I had to be gracious and accept) and today I had an all day shopping situation with the fiancée and I said what the heck, it's vacation. 


So, I may weigh in on Tuesday the same, but, no more binge-esque days for me this week. Next "binge" day/meal will be  3/26/2011. 


Tomorrow (Friday 3/18/2011) is Occam A and I will be adding upright rows into the mix and lowering the weight on my two back exercises. It's not that I do not have the strength to do them, is that at a lighter weight the form and failure is more consistent. I seem to be working my hands more than anything. 


Also, interesting article about the impact 7 M&Ms a day can have on you.
http://hypothermics.com/2011/03/seven-mms/

Tale of the tape - week 6 results

Well... I think it's time to officially change my April 1 weigh in goal from 210 to 205 because I weighed in at 210.5 today! WOOT!  Results below....

Strong like bull

Here are my Occam B results. I decided to switch up to the leg press today. The squat rack with the guides just isnt doing it for me. Notice the nice gains in bench and preacher curl. I also added french press into the mix.  I think I have enough of a base where I can start adding. 

Stay tuned.. tomorrow is the tale of the tape!

Binge Meal

I cheated today and stepped on the scale.... I weighed in at 212lbs! WOOT!  Still keeping the strategy at one binge meal, not 2, and not anything I can shovel in.  It was really tough today because I went to a birthday party (3rd in 4 weeks) and had NO pizza, NO cake, NO ice cream and NO philipino food (which looked delicious!).  I had my fillet and broccoli. 

My binge meal was 3 pieces of pepperoni pizza with extra cheese + 1 snack bag of cool ranch doritos + 3 girl scout cookies.  

I am headed over to a friends house tomorrow and someone there will be making gourmet pizza. Might be too tough to pass up. I guess one extra meal wont kill me eh? 

Book Sale Results!

Went to the local library's book sale today and got some gems for a grand total of $13.50.
Here they are with Amazon links

Ugly Americans - Ben Mezrich
Who's Looking Out for You? - Bill O'Reilly
The New Realities - Peter Drucker
Ronald Reagan In Private - Jim Kuhn
Getting to Yes - Roger Fisher and William Ury
Real Money - Jim Kramer
The Age of Turbulence - Alan Greenspan
Rigged - Ben Mezrich - I already own this, got it so I could give it out as a gift
The Way Things Ought to Be - Rush Limbaugh
Next Man Up - John Feinstein - I listen to "The Tony Kornheiser" show and he's a constant guest. Figured I'd give him a shot. Possible gift for my step-brother
Leadership - Rudy Giuliani
7 Habits - Steve Covey - for my dad. He cant find his copy
A Good Walk Spoiled - John Feinstein - for my dad as a gift
The Majors - John Feinstein - for my dad as a gift

Occam A workout results from 3/10/2011

I had an extra day of rest this week because I was too busy with project work to get out to the gym for even the 20 minute workout. Here are my results from this week.  This is an exported report from the iFitness program I use on my ipod. I dont do them in this order - no idea why it does that.

Tale of the tape

Needless to say, it's been a busy week. I wanted to do a video update, but I just dont have the time for the back end processing.  So here you go. I decided to do a screen cap instead so you could see the changes for yourself. Now - the body fat data is still suspect because Kim and I are new to using the calipers.  Let's see what happens next week.  That should give a better picture of what's going on. 

Click the image to see the data better

Occam B workout and my new binge day strategy results

Occam B
Did the Occam B workout today. Still couldnt get to 10 on the squat, but I can definately tell my legs are getting stronger.  I am upping the weight on the bench next time around as I hit 9 reps this time around at 120.  Preacher curl was good at 7 but I will probably increase that as well.

Incline bench - 120lbs 9 reps
Squat - 185lbs 7reps
Preacher Curl - 50lbs 7 reps

My weight Saturday morning was 216.

New Binge Day Strategy
Instead of having an entire day (12ish hours) to eat whatever I want, I decided to make it just one meal.  I had a normal no carb  breakfast/lunch and then had mexican food for dinner and a piece of birthday cake.  This morning I weighed in at 215 Sunday morning so it was all good.  Still sticking to the AG (ALA + Green Tea) regimen and it seems to be working great.

My new weight in tactic just to drive home the point of not looking at the scale is to not look for an entire week. So, after my weigh in on Tuesday for measure day, I will stay away from the scale until the next one.
Stay tuned!

Occam A workout today and a change in cold plans

Occam A
I had a headache walking into the gym today. Added to that I had a 2pm phone appointment and it was 1:30 when I walked in.  The headache really prevented me from getting a good workout in.  Just not a good mindset to have when wanting a good workout.  The pressure built up bigtime as the workout began and you can tell how it affected my results.

Pull Down - 130lb 7 reps - this is too heavy. I increased the weight either too much or too early. Going back down to the 120 next time.  While I did do 7 reps, they were not a good solid 7. Maybe more like 5.5 or 6. Headache maybe.

Shoulder Press - 80 lb for 6 reps. I still am hitting a wall here. This is by far my weakest muscle set, but I can say with certainty my headache really affected this exercise.  

Lat Pull down - 120 for 5 reps. Again the headache here was in full force and the weight was too heavy.  When adding the new exercises I am wiling to give them 1-3 workouts to find a good weight to use. I should have stopped due to my exploding head, but I wanted to keep going for the sake of the experiment.

Bosu crunch - 18 reps - these I did until failure. Hoping for 22 next time.

Change in cold plans
My school schedule is beginning to get pretty hectic.  This means less time for other things, like a 15 minute shower in the morning.  I have 24 days of data with a 10 minute cold shower and 3 showers at a minimum of 5 minutes. Some of those 10 minuters were 11 or 12 minutes too, so it could average out ok.  Needless to say, I have a decent data set to work with.

I have decided for the month of March to do the cold pack every other night for 20 minutes and compare the results.  I just got a new replacement pack from Kaz Incorporated - the one we bought had a leak from day one - and its about 16 inches long and 5 inches wide. It goes all across my back, so I know coverage is ample.

My first day of the cold pack was 3/2/2011.

New books

Just purchased a number of new books over the past 30 days and will be critiquing these as I finish them. Obviously, this may take some time.


Chaos:Making a New Science
Drive: The Surprising Truth About what Motivates Us
Leading Change
Selling the Wheel
The Personal MBA
Rigged - Started 3/1/2011
The Big Short - yea I know I am late to the party
Blink
Outliers
Linchpin
The Paradox of Choice
One Up On Wall Street

27 days of cold showers...

Body fat measure video


Body fat measure site

Another body fat measure site


Here are my results for Week 4 in case you dont want to watch the video.
Measurements - Week 3 ** Week 4
Chest - 43.00 ** 44.00
Right Bicep - 14.5 ** 15.00
Left Bicep - 15.00 ** 15.00
2" above navel - 41.00 ** 41.00
Navel - 45.00 ** 44.00
2" below navel - 43.00 ** 43.00
Hips - 45.00 ** 45.00
Right Thigh - 26.00 ** 27.00
Left Thigh - 26.00 ** 27.00
Total Inches - 301.00
Inches Lost - (2.5)
Skin Fold - 00 ** 30
Ab - 40mm
Sup - 30mm
Tri - 20mm
Thigh - 30mm
Body Fat % - 27.25 @ 5'10" 215lbs
Total Fat - 000.00 ** 58.7lbs
Total Lean mass - 000.00 ** 156.8

What a workout!

Sheesh.  Anyone who says this is an easy workout or not enough of a workout is a fool or a liar.

Occam Protocol B
Treadmil - 5 min 2.7 speed 1 elevation

Incline bench (free weightish machine - stack plates)
120lbs x 8 reps *** Went up 20lbs!! And this is the machine I have been using for all but one workout. Remember, last Occam B was done at a different gym. Pretty psyched about this!

Seated Preacher Curl - not the free weight one, but not a machine either.  You still stack plates on it.
50lbs x 8 reps -- I can barely type right now... no idea how I will drive to class later.

Squats -
185lbs x 8 reps - still not 10 but close. I think I am hindered here by not having a spotter. Perhaps it's all mental right now, and perhaps I started with too heavy of a weight. Oh well.

Biked for 5 mins around 80rpm on level 6.

Still recovering...and Occam's Protocol B today

Recovery
Yesterday I must have had a 1.5 gallons of water to drink.  I took a short cold shower (4 mins) because I was hung over and had a headache.  I figure one day is not going to ruin the entire experiment. I felt so dehydrated and beat down. I cannot believe how little I had to drink over 4 hours and how much it messed me up. Additionally, how on earth did I survive my 20's?

At least today is leg day!  I weighed in this morning at 216.  I know its 1 lb more than yesterday, but read my earlier sentence.  Back to the hobo diet and damn it - my brothers birthday party is this weekend.  I was going to skip a binge day this week, but we shall see.  Birthday cake is a crazy thing.

For those interested, breakfast was 2 hb eggs, some pinto beans + kraut + coffee.

Occam's Protocol B today.
Squats, Incline bench, and the newly added preacher curl.  I will update later with weights and reps, but I expect the squat weight to be 185 and around 8 reps.  Still closing in on 10.

The aftermath of binge day 4

I don't recommend drinking alcohol.... It made my foods after 10pm all awful choices.  Weighed in this morning at 215.5.  Considering all the alcohol I had, I will take the 1lb gain. Ugh.....

4th binge day food

Weight - 214.5lbs
10:30am - 10oz cold water + AGG stack (300mg, 325mg, 200mg)
11:30am - Breakfast - 3 3 minute eggs + black beans

2:00pm - 10 minute cold shower
3:00pm - AGG stack (900mg, 325mg, 200mg)
3:25pm - 40 air squats, 20 wall presses
3:30pm - 2 regular Arby's roast beef (I took the meat from one and put it on the other, so only one bun), the meat + cheese from a ham and cheddar melt, 2 loaded potato bites, 1 Trefoil and 1 Thin Mint girl scout cookie.

5:00pm - AGG stack (900mg, 325mg, 200mg)
5:25pm - 40 air squats, 20 wall presses
5:30pm - 1/2 snack bag of Doritos - I had to go to the pharmacy and I am a sucker for Doritos.
6:00pm - 2oz cheese filled ravioli + tomato sauce, 3 oz penne + 1oz of alfredo, 3oz macaroni + tomato sauce, 1 garlic breadstick
6:15pm - 1 small scoop Coffee ice cream, 2 thin mints

7:30pm - 10:00 - 3 miller lite beers
10:30pm - 11:00pm - 2 vodka tonics + 2 pieces of pizza + 1/2 snack bag of Doritos + 1 slice of swiss cheese

11:45 - bed...... I know I said it wasnt a "Anything I can shovel in" type of day, but.... I dont think it really ended up that way, it just may seem that way to me due to how I have been eating lately.  I think in a normal day, this would have been a normal-ish eating day. Plus, I didnt start my first "off" meal until 3ish, and it was BARELY off.  Here's to the weigh in tomorrow!

4th Binge Day and updates

Video update #1 - Four Hour Body Progress

Best roast beef ever...

My brother gave me cooking method for his beef roasts and it's awesome, so I thought I'd share.  For this particular roast, it was a 4.5lb rump roast (the one with the string on it).  In a perfect world I would have done a higher cut of meat, but I am a broke grad student and it's all I can afford right now. 


Get the meat home, unpack it, and dry it off.  Then put your rub into a large ziplock baggie and coat it throughly.  If you dont have a rub to use, you can use mine which is below, it's awesome. 

RUB - 1 tbs of each: Garlic Powder, Ground Mustard, Black Pepper, Salt


Take your roast out of the baggie - I put a baggie on my hand and just grabbed it - and put it on the roasting pan, FAT SIDE UP.  You want the fat side up so the fat will cook during the process and send flavor inward.


Take a meat thermometer and place it as center as possible to the roast.  Once inserted into the beef, make sure its as close to the middle as possible. 

Take 2 cups of beef broth and about 1-3 tbs of red wine vinegar and put them at the bottom of your roasting pan.  This will allow the roast to stay moist and provide you with an au jus if you want one for later. 

Let the roast sit for 3 hours. Yes that's right 3 hours.  You want the roast to warm up about 10 degrees.  You'll know this because the temp on the beef will go up.  Mine was around 38 degrees when I put my thermometer in, and when I put it in the oven, it was around 47.  This will cut a good amount of time off of your cook time.  Do not worry about it 'going bad' or anything like that.  Aged beef is left out for days!  


Now, the temps are VERY important, and please do keep in mind the size of your roast.  This one cooked fast at about 2 hours, start to eating.  Set your oven to 480.  Once preheated, put your roast in and leave it at that temp for about 10 minutes.  If your roast is larger or you like a more crispy crust, go longer.  After how mine came out, I probably should have gone for 15 minutes.  I wouldnt go over 15 tough. 


Once you hit the 10 minute mark, turn your oven down to 220 and leave it until your roast hits the desired temp.  The desired temps are tricky.  This roast was a 4lb roast and I waited until it hit 120 because I like my meat medium rare.  The larger the roast, the lower the temp for a medium rare meat.  So if you have a 20 lb roast, maybe something like 105 is best.  Remember, these a large pieces of beef and continue to cook for up to 30 minutes after you remove them from the oven.


Once your desired temp is achieved, take the roast out of the oven, but leave it in the roasting pan.  Flip the roast so the fat side is now down. 

Let the roast sit for about 20 minutes.  This will allow for it to cool down a bit.  If you cut into the meat too early, all the moisture in the meat will drain out.  


As you can see, mine came out pretty good, with the outside 1/4 inch crusty.  

I like mine with Heinze Horseradish sauce. Pretty awesome. 

New belt soon....

I bought a new belt in November.  When I started using the belt, there were 2 holes still available if I slimmed down.  Then the Holidays hit and that number grew to 3.  Now there are ZERO!  Yup. Last hole on the belt.  Not too shabby. 


In the last 10 days or so, my net weight loss is .5 lbs as I weighed in today at 217.  However, if you look at my inches lost results, you will see they are increasing.  I expect some losses again next week. I have decided my goal is 210 by April 1.  I think I can hit it. 


Yesterdays Occam B workout wasn't too bad.  I can actually walk today from the squats, but, I could only do 7, not the prescribed 10.  I don't want to change the weight, because I did one more than last week.  I think I can get the 10 next week, considering I can walk today and last week I was sore for 3 days after.  I also could have done more on the incline, but I wouldn't read too much into that as I was at a different gym on a different machine, and that difference in machine could be the 'increased strength' I felt.  Why was I at a different gym?  To show my dad how its done.    

Life is a game of inches...no really..

So my dad tapped out. He was trying the diet and the Occam Protocol, and he decided to add 30 minutes of cardio and go back to the traditional Atkins diet.  "I haven't lost any weight since Friday/Saturday." That was his reason for the switch. 


Then, 10 minutes later in the conversation, he said "I put my jeans on and I thought they were my 'fat' jeans, but they were my skinny jeans. And Laura said I lost my belly."  My response was "Listen to what you just said. Is your goal to make the numbers on the scale go down, or to become smaller?" He wants to make the number go down....  I will still help him. 


Here are my measurements from week 2 to week 3.  Kim is doing the measuring, and we are doing each one 2-3 times to make sure its correct.


Area - W2; W3
Chest - 44.0; 43.0
Right Bicep - 14.5; 14.5
Left Bicep - 14.5; 14.5
2 " above navel - 40.5; 41
Navel - 45; 45
2" below navel - 42.5; 43
Hips - 45; 45
Right thigh - 27.5; 26.0

Left thigh - 27.5; 26.0

Total Inches - 301; 298.5

Inches Loss - 3; 2.5

Weight 217.5; 217.5

So as you can see, my weight stayed the same, but my total inches was 2.5 less than I was last week. I am happy with my progress!

Body fat measurements

Picked this up today. I know I should have done them from the start, but I figure not having them for only 4 of 16 weeks wouldnt be too bad.

Tomorrow morning is measurement day and Occam B protocol workout.  I will post the measurements.

Post binge day - 3rd week & Occam's Protocol

I had a one year olds birthday party and a family dinner yesterday, so, my binge day was a little more than I really wanted, and I didnt do all the exercises that I wanted to before meals, but I did go to the gym in the morning for my Occam workout A.

 

9:00am - Weigh in 217.5

9:45am - AGG 

10:00am Bfast - Hobo diet = 2 HB eggs, black beans, kraut

10:30am Occam A - These are an export from my iPhone app iFitness.

19-Feb-11 | Machine shoulder press  80 lb 5 reps to failure

19-Feb-11 | Machine lateral pull-down 120 lb 7 reps to failure

19-Feb-11 Bosu crunch 15 reps

19-Feb-11 Treadmill 2.7 speed 1 incline 5 minutes

11:00am - 11 minute cold shower

12:30pm - AGG 

1:15pm - Lunch - 1 piece ham+pineapple pizza, 1 piece sausage pizza, 1 piece square pepperoni pizza, 4oz antipasto salad, 1 diet Pepsi, and 1 piece of vanilla. 

6:30pm - 2 FULL DOSES OF Alpha liopic acid + GG 

7:00pm - Rolling appetizers with french bread, oil & spices for dipping, spinach & artichoke dip, and chips and cheese.

8:00pm - Teriyaki Chicken, red and orange peppers, onions, mushrooms, shrimp, and some white rice.

9:00pm - 1 slice of Boston Creme Pie 

9:45pm - 3 Girl Scout Cookies - I am a sucker for these - 1 Terfoil, Thin Mint, and Tagalong. 

Weigh in this morning 2/20/2011

217.5

I know its the same, but I will take it.  Please note, I did not want TMI on here, but from 4pm yesterday and noon today, 11 movements took place. 

PAGG Stack...For me, just AGG stack + 5 Hour Energy vs Red Thunder

AGG Stack
As noted in an earlier post, I am omitting the Polascinol from my stack. 


Wednesdays are my days off, as its in between my off days, and the week of Feb 28th will be my week off of all supplements. 


Here are the supplements I bought the second time around. My first supply was from "The Vitamin Shoppe" and expensive in comparison. I bought 1 bottle of alpha lipoic acid and egcg on Amazon for half what I paid at "The Vitamin Shoppe". What a ripoff. 


I bought these on Amazon, and they may not be the cheapest per item, but I have Amazon Prime, so I figure that into the equation.  Many of the items in these categories have a high per item ship cost, and their window of delivery is huge. I dont mind paying $3 extra to get it asap over 14 days, at least right now. I decided to add the garlic into the mix. I found a good deal. 

GarliPure Maximum Allicin 600mg - 100 - Tablet although I think they started looking around because I paid $7.14 per bottle, and now they are up to $14 per bottle and got 2. 


*****I have dropped the Garlic as of Feb 25. NOT worth the garlic odor from your body and mouth.  They lie when they say odor controlled. *****

Good N Natural - Standardized Green Tea Extract 500 mg (800 mg Polyphenols, 350mg EGCG) - 120 Caps - I paid $11.50 per bottle and got 2. 

Alpha Lipoic Acid 300 mg 60 caps - they have since added the 120 cap bottle, which I would have gotten instead. I bought 3 bottles at $4.59 each. I can stand taking 300mg at a time, and more, so why get the 100mg tabs?  

5 Hour Energy vs Red Thunder Energy Shot

Additionally, I take a 5 hour energy every two days or so, to get the vitamin B. I also like them a lot. I bought two 12 packs at costco for $35, and then found just about the EXACT SAME THING a week later at Aldi for $24. Their brand is called "Red Thunder Energy Shot" and is .99 per bottle.

Here are the ingredients:

5 Hour Energy **** VS Red Thunder

Niacin - 30mg **** Niacin - 30 mg

Vitamin B6 - 40mg **** Vitamin B6 - 40mg

Folic Acid - 400 MCG (.4 mg) **** Folic Acid - 400 MCG (.4 mg)

B 12 - 500 MCG (.5mg) **** B 12 - 500 MCG (.5mg)

Sodium - 18mg

 **** Red Thunder has 80 mg of Vitamin C and zero calories, while 5 hour energy has 4 calories (Red Thunder marketing could claim 5 hour has 400% more calories!) and zero vitamin C. 

Energy Blend - 1870mg **** 1580 mg - I wont list them all, but between the two products, they are the same ingredients, just different amounts, and I am sure that's the "proprietary blend".

Enjoy the cash I just saved you. 

Busy

I am still doing the slow carb diet, cold showers, and Occam's Protocol.  I havent updated lately because I am quite busy with school/client work, and this weekend is busy as well.  I will post my next updates about the diet and how its going on Monday (2/21/2011).  


BTW - Weighed in at 217.5 today. Shivering getting worse in the showers, and as previously stated, I think its because I am losing fat. 


See ya!

Measurements - Week 3

Week 1(1/31/2010)
Chest - 43.0
Right Arm - 15.0
Left Arm - 15.0
2" Above Navel - 43.0
Navel - 45.5
2" Below Navel - 44.5
Hips (widest point) - 45.0
Right Thigh - 27.0
Left Thigh - 27.0
Total Inches - 305.0
Inches (loss)  NA
Weight - 223.0

Week 3 (2/15/2010)

Chest - 44.0

Right Arm - 14.5

Left Arm - 14.5

2" Above Navel - 40.5

Navel - 45.0

2" Below Navel - 42.5

Hips (widest point) - 45.0

Right Thigh - 27.5

Left Thigh - 27.5

Total Inches - 301.0

Inches (loss)  3

Weight - 217.5

Cold Therapy Tips

So today's 11 min shower was the first where I actually shivered forcibly.  I think that's a sign that I am losing more fat? 


Anyways, there seems to be little "how to" out there, and without giving a video post - nobody wants to see that again - this is my technique/process. Not saying it's the right one, but its what I use and it gets the job done. 


I do the glass of cold water first thing, plus my AG stack and other supplement (Fish oil) and my meds. 30 minutes later I eat - usually 2 hb eggs + beans + kraut. 30 minutes later, the cold begins. 


I have an iTouch, and I downloaded Timer+ because my GF was probably sick of me screaming "HOW MUCH TIME IS LEFT!?".  I made a few different timers for my showers as I was starting out at 5 minutes (1/31/2011) and working my way up to longer showers like todays 11 minutes.  I use a timer for 16 minutes, 5 minutes to shower with normal warm/hot water, and 11 for the cold.  Why limit yourself to a 2 minute shower?  Just make sure you set your auto-lock in your general settings to "Never" or else you will have no idea how much time is left after it locks, which sucks. Also, i didn't like playing music, because I knew how long most of the songs were, and I couldn't focus. 


I set my iTouch on the closed toilet lid, and peek out every few minutes to see how much time I have left.  90% of the time, the water is on my back, just below my neck.  I do a SLOW count to 60, and every count to 30 I do a SLOW 360.  I think my 60 count is around 3 minutes.  I know it seems lame, but, I have found that by picking one area on the wall to stare at gives me an excellent focus point. 


That's pretty much it.  For the evenings, because I have classes from 6-9 most nights, I try to do a cold pack before I leave from 4:30 - 5 or whenever I get home.  It doesn't happen all the time. I have noticed lately that I am REALLY hot around bedtime and I think a cold shower just before bed is needed.  

Weight and eating + lifting + the world and night owls

Weight & Eating
Weighed in at 218 today.  Measurement day is tomorrow (Tuesday) so stay tuned. I am expecting some interesting results. 


Eating is an issue though.  I can barely eat.  I have NO appetite. Even on my binge day I had a tough time getting food down my gullet. 2 HB eggs and some beans this morning felt like a turkey day feast. Even as I am writing this, one egg and some beans are staring up at me, challenging me to eat them. And its a challenge that is tough. I will win though. 


Lifting
Lifting yesterday was fun. And short. I am thinking of adding one exercise to each protocol, but I keep reading Tim's suggestion to resist to do more.  It's just the eyes of the people at the front desk judging me as I leave after 20 minutes thats pushing for more.  Stupid peer pressure.  


Protocol A 
Pull Downs - palms facing me this time - 7 x 100lbs - I would say I did this to failureish.  Again it was my hands that failed, not my back. I did another set, only 5 reps though.  


Shoulder Press - 80 for 6.5 reps - till failure for sure.  There were 2 meat heads watching me and laughing when I stalled out on the 7th rep and came down with it slow.  I was about 15 seconds from puking.  Don't read too much into the difference in weight.  One of the aforementioned meat heads was on the machine I used last time, so I had to switch to a more traditional press machine with pulleys. The one I did last time was with plates. I will use this press from now on though, as I like the movement much better. 


Night Owls
Why does the rest of the world have to conform to the early birds?  Why can't there be a week or month where they conform to our schedule?  It has nothing to do with being lazy, I just get much more done between 10pm and 2am.  I always have. Additionally, when I get home from class around 9:30 - 10:00pm, its tough to go right to bed.  Do you go to bed an hour after you get home from work? No. You have dinner, a drink, watch some tv, read a book, whatever.  This being my FINAL SEMESTER of school FOR EVER (no PhD - I think), my thinking may change one day. But for now, it stays as a challenge to the rest of the world. Give it a shot. 

2nd binge day

10:30 am - weighed in at 220.5 - I've been hovering around this weight for a while, but I know I am losing inches.

11:00am - AG stack (400 mg, 750mg)11 minute cold shower

11:15 - 2 HB eggs, pinto beans, + kraut

1:15 - 40 air squats + AG stack (600 mg, 750mg)

1:30pm - Six inch Subway chicken sandwich + small bag of Doritos.  I couldn't finish the sandwich. Still have another 6 inch in the fridge. Looks like its Kim's! I also had a single bite from three different doughnuts.

3:30 - 30 sit ups and 20 air squats

3:45 - 1 swiss cake roll

6:30 - AG stack (500 mg, 750 mg)
7:00 - 1 cup brown rice + chicken + vegetables + teriyaki sauce

7:30 - 1 fork-full red velvet cake, 5oz ice cream - I bought 4 of the little 5oz ice creams of varying flavors and had 1/4 each.

8:45 - 5oz white cheddar popcorn

9:00pm - 2 chocolate + shortbread cookies

11:00am 2/13/2010 - 219.5lbs

The Hobo Diet - slow carb diet

Kim has amazingly labeled this diet as "The Hobo Diet".  Pretty awesome. 


So here is the pic of my Hobo lunch. 

As you can see, some lean beef, beans, kraut, and spinach. Not too bad at all.


I did Protocol B today at the gym, and I can barely walk. But it only took 20 minutes!


10 minute cold showers are a breeze now. No biggie. 

Weight, diet, lifting

Weighed in a 220 today. I guess I have been 220-223 for the past week or so, but, considering my super bowl sunday meal, I am ok with that. I will get some measurements done later today though cause its measurement day!


Diets been consistent, although I am still going through some cheese that was bought just before I read Tims suggestion of not allowing it.  Once that's all gone, I will be cheese free.


The cold shower was actually fantastic after the gym yesterday.  10 minute no  problem. I think I am getting used to them.


My lifting routine will be the Occam's Protocol A & B Tim suggests starting out with.  My little brother is coming along for the ride too. I will try to get him to get his measurements etc. asap.
I used the 5 seconds down/5 seconds up approach to failure.


Weight is individual dependent. Mine will probably change, especially in the pull-down because my hands have no callouses (computer nerd), so my hands almost gave up before my back did.


Protocol A (Monday)
Pull-down: 12 reps x 40 lbs --> 8x 60 lbs
Machine Shoulder Press: 12 reps 25 lbs --> 8 reps x 50 lbs


Protocol B (Thursday 2/10/2011)
Incline Press - machine - TBD
Seated leg press - TBD
Stationary bike - 3 mins 85 rpm for lactic acid reduction


***Added 2/11/2010***
Turns out I am not as good at skimming as I once thought. I "read" the protocol 3 minutes before I left the gym and somehow the ONE SET UNTIL FAILURE didnt sink in. I did 2. FOR BOTH PROTOCOLS. I could barely walk today after the leg routine. Quite sore in the AM I am sure. *** 

What a day....maybe a little less skeptical too!

Super Bowl Sunday - seems like the best cheat/binge day ever right?


I weighed in yesterday morning at 223.5. Not too bad. 


10:45am - Breakfast - 2 hb eggs, a few fork fulls of kraut, some black beans
11:15am - Cold shower - 8 min
11:30am - 40 standing squats
1:15pm - Started the AG stack. See previous post as to why just AG. 
1:45pm - Lunch -  5 pieces of Hungry Howies pizza and a chocolate cruller doughnut- does it really  matter what was on it?
3:30pm - 40 squats, 30 push ups, 30 sit ups
5:00pm - AG stack 
6:00pm - 7:00pm- 15/20 blue corn tortilla chips dipped in hot nacho cheese with ground turkey
7:00pm - 2 more pizza slices, 1/2 creme filled doughnut
7:30 - 8:00 - Ice pack
8:30 - 1 swiss cake roll


I have no idea how many calories I ate, but I did not drink any. I did eat way more than I usually would. I somewhat felt gross. 


Weighed in this morning at......220! I was shocked!

PAGG stack... hmm....

So obviously the next step in this 4HB experiment is the PAGG stack right? Not for me. 
Being a graduate student, funds are hard to come by, plus, I am quite skeptical of most supplements - fish oil for my triglycerides and and potassium for my sodium sensitivity is ok, recommended by my doctor. 


I did my own research on these supplements. Some are good and from what I have found, some may be a waste of money. There are ZERO medical trials, information, etc about these being taken in conjunction. Having said that, this is what I found.  


Policosanol - Despite a number of studies funded by the Cuban government, which produces and markets the drug, independent clinical trials have found no evidence of the efficacy of policosanol.


Alpha-lipoic acid - Does what he says it does, "...helps you store the carbs you eat in muscle or in your liver as opposed to in fat."


Green tea favanols - hate to say it, but it does what he claims it will do. "...inhibits GLUT-4 recruitment in fat cells."


Garlic extract - Claims this helps GLUT-4. I didnt find any information about it doing that, and this seems to be a whipping boy of the supplement industry. If you find something, leave a comment. 


While I found ZERO medical tests about the stack as a whole, this is what I found about them individually. They may have the desired effect when used together, I dont know. Just showing you what I found. 


I emailed my doctor and the reply was different than I expected. 


Hi Jeff,
I do not see anything in these supplements that is harmful or will interact with any of your medications.  Looks like a pretty good supplement regimen actually.
Hope that helps!
Dr. B.


Still hitting the cold showers though...

10 minute mark - Shower # 4

For those of you still curious, as soon as you really get under the cold water, you almost get tunnel vision and start to hyper ventilate. Past that, adrenaline gets pushed out, your heart beast fast, and you really wake up. Keep breathing!

Yesterday I pushed my shower to six minutes, thirty seconds. I have added a 360 spin with my head directly under the water stream every 2 minutes or so. That really wakes me up, plus, it gets me so cold so fast. I did 2 cold pack applications, 30 minutes each, one later in the day, and the final, around 9pm. I used my cold pack for the early application, and a bag of frozen peas for the evening application. The peas worked real well. Might just stick to those. 

Today, I went the full 10 minutes. Once you get to 6 minutes, there's really no difference between 6 and 10. What a difference afterward though. I was still cold 90 minutes later. Not super uncomfortable, but every 20 minutes or so my body would shiver.

I will be adding  a second shower later in the day into the routine. 

As to the food, 2 hard boiled eggs, and some black beans. Lunch was a can of tuna and a small salad.

Dinner to be determined. 

Also, I may start doing video updates. Got the new camera and why not?

Weight, Diet, and a cold shower

Clocked in this morning at 221.  I had already eaten breakfast and had my 2 glasses of cold water. I would assume my weight as soon as I got up (the time I usually weigh in) weight was closer to 219, but for the sake of honesty, its 221 today. 

My eating has been about the same for the past few days, weeks in fact. 2-3 eggs in the morning, salad and protein (tuna, beef, chicken, fish), some almonds or a south beach bar for a snack, and about the same for dinner. 

Now onto what you really read this thing for, the cold showers. I didn't take one Feb 1 for personal reasons, and Feb 2 I just wimped out. Today is another story. I went 6 minutes. Video below -- its clean -- hello, I'm taking a shower! No really. SFW. 

Books

I read a lot, either for school, professional skills, or just enjoyment, so in casual conversation, I tend to recommend books often. If it's for enjoyment, I usually go with an audible book. They really bring a good fiction to life, plus you cannot beat the price - $15/mo. 

Here are my current recommendations, with links to Amazon to purchase.

Free Agent Nation - great breakdown of how things are shaping up economically in the PSTS (professional, scientific, technical services) economy. 

Linchpin - Some hyperbole, but after you get through that and see the forest through the trees, the message is still sound - be the best you can be at something, and make sure you are indispensable. 

4 hour work week - I don't like the name anymore than you do. Tim has a very matter-of-fact tone, and I like it. He doesn't take excuses and doesn't put up with those that accept mediocrity in their life. Is this all original material? No. Is this applicable 100% to everyone? Absolutely not. But what's here does have great value. For instance, Tim's time management strategy involving interruptions dances around the TOC explanation of it. He's so close to nailing his explanation. 

 I've read MANY reviews, blog posts, etc of people bashing Ferriss, all the while stating they haven't read the book. 

The Goal - I don't think any one book has changed my thinking and direction in life more than this. For me, it all starts here. Say what you will about TOC - "Its just JIT", or "It's too subjective." Ok. No book sells as much as this and has a critical following in production globally and is just JIT. I have a number of other TOC books I can recommend, but they are primarily academic so I recommend them with caution.

Critical Chain - I am a TOC junkie, as noted above. I've read almost every book from Goldratt and company. I use TOC for management & strategy development. TOC is based in production, but I dont work in that field, so I apply its tools to management, perhaps at a journeyman level. This book is great for anyone who is a project manager or wants some help at time management. It's written in novel form, which makes for easy reading and comprehension of difficult material. 

Thinking Strategically - This one is on game theory. It's a dry read, but its the best I found without getting super-academic. I would recommend reading the first 2 chapters then flipping through to see what you might be interested in. 

Influence - This is more a book on how your emotions/brain interpret situations. I found the info about reciprocity to be the most interesting. I would say this is the science behind "Achieving Success Through Social Capital" or any other book on social capital. 

Emotions Revealed - Ekman will probably be given his due after he dies. This guy is amazing. Is this subjective? Maybe. His science has been sensationalized by the Fox show "Lie to Me", which I do love. Having said that, the story of his science and how this happened is amazing. 

Freakonomics - If you haven't read this yet, read it. It's informative and fun. The podcast is cool too.

Flawless Consulting - With the "Free Agent Nation" upon us, this book is a great resource.  If you are going into consulting, its invaluable. I have completed around 12 consulting jobs thus far, and after reading this, I see exactly how problems could have been averted or jobs saved. It was a required reading in a consulting course. One of the few books that was required that I have found to have actionable information. 

Outliers - I liked this one the best of all of Gladwells books.