Day 27

Hi Everyone. Better late than never right? It is 6:45AM and I am sitting here in goggles and sunglasses trying to type through tears. The surgery went fine although this morning I am having some pretty high sensitivity to light.

So...I'll keep this post short.

Exercise
-none-

Food
Breakfast
red grapes

Lunch
red grapes

Snack
Apple Pie Larabar

Dinner
salad
celery
gaucamole
jale chips

Day 26

Exercise
I got my 30 minutes of running in this evening to finish out week 8 of my 12 week fitness program at work. Things are still feeling good. Depending how I feel next week I may put the time out further so I can work towards a full 5k distance.

Food
Breakfast
green lemonade

Lunch
green salad from the cafeteria salad bar

Dinner
dehydrated Kale Chips

the food was sparse today as I am out of everything in preparation to spend the rest of the week with the folks recouping from my surgery.

Day 25

It was another fine day in raw food land today. It is late so I won't go into the details tonight but I got some good results back from my health screening blood work.

Exercise
I made it my 30 minutes today at 5.1mph, which is a 11.45 minute mile.

Eating
Breakfast/Snack
a banana
sunflower seeds

Lunch
4 apples

Dinner
a raw pot luck
individual ingredients...yeah right

Day 24

Wow Day 24 almost slipped away without a blog post. I had so much to say too...well, maybe not.

I was a bit bummed earlier. I was making you guys a video blog entry tonight showing my green lemonade construction/juicing process but the dinky little memory card on my camera ran out of space. Perhaps next time.

(sorta)Exercise
As I mentioned the other day I was forced to a walking pace today in preparation for my health screening in the morning. So, no pun intended, no great strides to report today.

The Soup Kitchen
Breakfast
a glass of fresh apple juice

Snack
banana

Lunch
2 bananas
apple

Snack
sunflower seeds
apple

Dinner (over time)
glass of apple juice
glass of green lemonade
raw sauerkraut

Monday Weigh-In, Feb 23

It is Monday again so it is back to the scales to see what the lords of mass and gravity have to say. Today was pretty good; my wild streak of a pound-per-day loss is now officially over.

I did, however, lose another 4 pounds this week. That brings my total up or down depending on how you are counting to 32 lbs in 35 days. Being the geek that I am that means I've lost approximately 10.1% of my body weight in a month. Wowzers!

Below you will find my weekly numbers. Bear in mind that these are skewed with me being fully clothed in jeans and a t-shirt with only my shoes and socks off. That includes all the normal stuff I have in my pockets as well.

Monday, February 23, 2009
Weight 283.6
BF% 36.7

Monday, February 16, 2009
Weight 287.8
BF% 39.2

Monday, February 09, 2009
Weight 294.2
BF% 39.2

Monday, February 02, 2009
Weight 302.4
BF% 39.5

Monday, January 26, 2009
Weight 309.4
BF% 37.7

Monday, January 19, 2009
Weight 315
BF% 34.9

Day 23

Today is weigh-in Monday. I have the results on a separate post here.

Exercise
It was another day of treadmill excellence at the YMCA. I got my 2.5 miles complete in my allotted 30 minute window. I hate to push the run length much more with the warm up and cool downs included over the lunch hour so I may have to start increasing the pace next week. (assuming that I can maintain my current level)

Tomorrow I will have to reign it in because Wednesday morning I have a health screening at work and they say no vigorous exercise for 24 hours before hand. Not that I had any real baseline numbers to go from other than blood pressure and resting heart rate but I am curious to see what the bloodwork comes up as after being raw this month. I know my resting heart rate has dropped at least 10 bpm in the last month.

Galley Line
Breakfast
gala apple
banana

Snack
Cinnamon Roll Larabar (dates, walnuts, almonds, raisins, cashews, cinnamon)

Lunch
2 bananas
gala apples

Snack
Apple Pie Larabar (dates, almonds, apples, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon)

Dinner
Hy-Vee Salad Bar Buffet w/
romaine lettuce
baby greens
celery
peas
grape tomatoes
broccoli
red onion
vinegar and oil

mushrooms
cucumbers and onions in vinegar/water

strawberries

What is in my kitchen

I doesn't really take much to stock a simple raw kitchen.

Day 22

Greetings everyone...




Exercise
-none-

Food
Breakfast
2 banana, almond butter, cacao nib smoothie

Lunch
-skipped-

Snack
cacao-goji energy nuggets

Dinner
guacamole
celery
freshly juiced apple juice

Day 21

We have reached the end of week three of the four week challenge. I would say that I am in the home stretch but I do plan to stay highly raw once this month is over.

I mentioned it to the folks but I found it funny that I can remember in exquisite detail what some of my favorite foods taste like. I feel like a combat vet getting ready to ship home and am making plans of everything that I want to have once the 28 days are up. Then I get over it and feel like I could continue eating this way for quite a while.

Time will tell.

Exercise
-none-

Eating
Breakfast/Snack
-overslept-

Lunch
big salad
sauerkraut

Dinner
2 bananas
banana, almond butter, cacao nib smoothie

Day 20

Not much on the pithy comments tonight, I am a bit tired and the post is coming late.

Exercise
One reason for above-said tiredness is that today I decided to go for distance instead of pace on the workout. If you've followed along on my exercise performance you have seen that my current average is 2 miles at a 12 minute pace, meaning 24 minutes.

Today being the last day of my mini-streak of 5 days, for giggles I ran the whole 30 minutes of my usual time at a 12 minute mile pace. Woo-hoo. At my current pace that would put my 5k time down to about 37 minutes, which is nice since I did the Groundhog Run at the end of January in 50 minutes. Not bad, I knocked 13 minutes off my time in a month. (assuming that I can extend my pace out the rest of the way)

Food
Breakfast/Snack
gala apple
fig

Lunch
2 gala apples
medjool dates

Dinner
macadamia nuts

Day 19

You know what I just discovered I am? I am a culinary hypocrite. I just got home from a Green Drinks meeting where the topic was CSAs; that is community supported agriculture if you didn't know. You basically purchase a share of the harvest from a farmer and get a portion of it doled out every week as it ripens throughout the growing season. Anyway, it was important enough to me to make an hour round trip drive time and participate in a Meetup group I have not ever attended since I became a member more than 8 months ago.

Why am I a hypocrite? I hadn't had dinner yet and with nothing in the apartment to eat I stopped at the store on the way home. What did I purchase? Honduran bananas, Chilean grapes and Greek figs. So much for grown local, grown fresh.

The good news is that I now have a bunch of CSA resources to look through so I can help support a local farmer or two.

Exercise
I made my 24 minutes running today with no troubles. I kicked the pace up another 1/10th of a mile so I cut 30 seconds off my 2 mile time. I can't decide whether I want to increase the pace or run longer tomorrow...it is the last workout of the week. Guess I'll figure it out when I get there.

Food
Breakfast
a bunch of red grapes

Snack
Cashew Cookie Larabar (cashews, dates)

Lunch
salsa soup

Snack
Chocolate Coconut Chew Larabar (dates, almonds, walnuts, cocoa powder, coconut)
gala apple

Dinner
another bunch of red grapes

Day 18

One thing about trying to blog the perceived changes that you go through on something like a month long challenge is I am noticing that I don't really pay that much attention to the little things happening to me throughout the day. We tend to get in the work zone and block out external stimulus that does not apply to solving the current problem.

That said I have noticed a few things today:

• I am getting more leg clearance under the steering wheel of my truck. Kinda cool, I must be getting toned.
  
• My, ehem, love handles are shrinking. I see that as a sign of more smaller jeans before long. Pretty soon the song I just don't look good naked any more won't apply.
  
• My XXL shirts are looking a little baggy on me.
• It is nice getting into my smaller jeans this week.
  
• I feel restless if I can't make it to work out on my regular schedule. (I had to go this evening instead of my lunch break)
• I appear to be growing a neck! :)
  

It is the little things you notice along the way that help to give you the confidence and will power to continue when you really want to eat something bad.

Exercise
Day 3 of my mini-streak is in the books although a bit later than I had planned. We had an exercise watch emergency today and I had to give mine up until late this afternoon. I got my 2 miles in tonight with the usual effort. I did have a time drag around 8 minutes in but must have caught my second wind for the rest.

Food
Breakfast
green lemonade

Snack
green grapes

Lunch
salsa 'soup' (fresh salsa with more tomatoes added)

Snack
green grapes
sunflower seeds

Dinner
green lemonade
some celery dipped in:
raw mock ranch dressing (a new recipe...I've gotta cut the salt and/or lemon juice in half next time, whoo)

kinda light tonight...either the saltiness killed my hunger or it could have just been this evening's exercise suppressing my appetite

Day 17

I am beginning to see why so many bloggers post intermittently or quit altogether. It almost becomes a chore to chronicle things every day. What to say; what to post that can keep a blog interesting. I can't keep you coming back on sex appeal alone. Considering I haven't posted a picture, my rugged good looks won't do much good either.

Guess it will have to be the facts, just the facts ma'am.

One major thing that I feel is contributing to my weight loss is my food quantity consumed. Before I started the raw challenge it was the norm that I pretty much went to buffets most work days with the guys. Mexican, Chinese, pizza, Indian and the occasional salad buffet. I had serious thoughts about trying to break the all-you-could-eat-taco record of 24 but didn't want the guys waiting on me to head back to work (I made it up to 15 a couple times with appetite to spare).

One comment my Mom made a month or so back about a show she saw on lap band patients is that their bodies could run on just 4 ounces of food since that was the new restricted size of their stomachs. Between them and calorie restricted diet folks they thrive and survive on much less than the average person.

My daily volume of food consumed has dropped way down in the last two weeks from what it was. One additional conscious effort I am making is to have snacks and dinner to keep my metabolism high. Before I would hit the buffets at lunch and still be stuffed at night so I would skip dinner. I may be having less now but I do think I am eating better.

Exercise
My goal is to do a 5-day streak this week to get my 4 workouts in and make up the 1 from last week I missed. I got my 2 miles in today but it was a bit more effort involved. It could have been a couple factors in the mix: the attendant at the YMCA said it was hotter in the building today than yesterday. The other thing I considered is that I only got about 6 hours of sleep last night so perhaps my workout recovery was not complete.

There's Food?
It was a weird day today related to food. I just kinda grazed all day, no structured meals at all.

Breakfast/Snack
banana
almonds
a date before the run

Lunch/Snack
dates
banana
sunflower seeds

Dinner
a small glass of Green Lemonade from the batch I juiced
small amount of salsa 'soup' from the batch I made for tomorrow
celery tops and cuttings I had while making the above

If I want to try for my 8 hours of rest tonight for my workout recovery I had better cut this short. I say that of course as I type one of my longer posts...go figure. Catch you tomorrow everyone.

Day 16

Well it is Monday again. That means it is weigh-in time again and I made a separate post on the subject here. An unexpected but happy result.

Today I am over my pizza cravings and am buckling down for the push to the end of the month. Will I stay completely raw after that? Probably not but at this point who knows...after a month my body may not be able to handle cooked foods any more.

Exercise
I was back in the saddle again today with the workout. 24 minutes at a 12 min/mile pace was not a problem. Plenty of wind power and leg strength left to keep going if I wanted to. I don't know if it was a bug that my system was fighting off or a quick bout of detox as someone else suggested but I am glad it is over.

Food
Breakfast/Snack
gala apple
banana
2 Larabars
handful of raw almonds

Lunch
2 bananas
almonds

Snack
gala apple

Dinner
salad with:
baby greens
radish
yellow onion
dulse flakes
balsamic vinegar
sesame oil
Braggs Liquid Aminos

Monday Weigh-In, February 16

I wasn't really expecting much to happen this last week. However, but much to my surprise, I still lost another 7 pounds.

That makes 28 lbs in the last 28 days. Who would have thunk it?

I am somewhat incredulous and can't see how I can sustain that rate of loss but I'll take it while I can get it.

I discovered over the weekend that I can now fit into my next-smaller pants. That is always a good thing when your clothing selection expands instead of the waistline.

Stay tuned campers and we will see what happens next week. Same bat station, same bat time...

Day 15

How about that? Two weeks completed on the 28 day challenge. All in all I think that it has been a positive experience so far. My mood seems to be more upbeat and with the exception of the last two days my athletic performance and energy has greatly increased being on raw.

I made an interesting observation this evening. I spend the day with my folks & Mom and I watched a couple shows on Animal Planet (a dog show) and the Family Channel (Cars). The thing I noticed was all of the food commercials. By the end of the evening I was completely dissatisfied with being raw and all I want to do is have a pizza and a burger. Those commercials bombarding you every five minutes over and over again really do begin to have an effect after a while. It just leeches into your subconscious mind. I'm glad I cut my cable. If they can do that with food just think about everything thing else we get mentally pounded away with on the other ads.

Exercise
Nothing today except to help move some furniture up and down stairs. My sore arms from yesterday's class tells me I definitely need to do resistance or body weight training beyond just cardio. I'll try to slay the treadmill monster tomorrow to see if I am over my exercise slump. Tomorrow is weigh-in day too!

Food
Lunch
a fresh pineapple...almost all of it

Dinner
celery
guacamole
(I'm going to eat something else besides this I promise)

gala apple

Day 14

You ever have one of those days where you knew things were not going to work out? Today was that day for me when it came to exercise.

Exercise
After enjoying another good talk by Brandon on immune system health I tried a one hour combo boot camp-calisthenics-yoga class led by Natalie.

I knew something might be off because all day up until then my hands had been cold. My exercise fatigue from yesterday continued this afternoon after only a few minutes with me getting pasty white, out of breath and a cold sweat. I had to leave the class and even had a raw cookie thinking it might be low blood sugar but that did not seem to help. (this happened 2 hours after I had the 400 calories of fruit and nuts from the Larabars + Brandon's drink so I don't think glucose was the problem) After about 20 minutes I finally managed to walk it off.

Food
Breakfast
-none-

Lunch
Pecan Pie Larabar
Banana Bread Larabar
An energy herbal tonic by Brandon

Dinner
salad:
bagged italian mix
radish
carrot chips
roma tomato
broccoli
red onion
green onion
balsamic vinegar and olive oil

celery
guacamole

Day 13

Welcome to Friday the 13th. Hopefully everybody's luck is holding out today with no scariness in sight.

The food item for the day is...buttered popcorn. Yes, the office mates tempted me this morning by having popcorn. Pure torture; cruel and unusual punishment on a Friday no less. I've come to the conclusion that smell invokes a conditioned Pavlovian response in us for all the years we grew up going to the movies and watching videos at home.

Exercise
Well it finally happened. My luck ran out today (no pun intended). I was looking for it but it hit me right smack in the face. The Wall.

I noticed that about five minutes into the run today that it seemed a bit harder from yesterday but at the 15 minute mark I just could not maintain my run pace. I pretty much had to walk out the rest of my time today.

I shouldn't be upset and I'm not really. I've went from 7 minutes @ 4.5mph to 24 minutes @ 5.0mph in two weeks. That is a pretty huge performance jump in a short time.

Was it overtraining in the short term? Could it be the Restasis drops the Doc put me on for my PRK surgery in two weeks? He also had me start vitamin C and E suppliments to offset the immunosuppressant properties of the drops. This is day 3 for those additions & I am noticing a little runny nose. Obviously I am eating about the same foods from last week. So what was the root cause today?

The Chow Line
Breakfast
2 bananas

Snack
Cherry Pie Larabar

Lunch
celery
guacamole

Snack
Cherry Pie Larabar

Dinner
celery
baby carrots
guacamole

One source of my raw inspiration, Tim VanOrden

This is something of a cop-out post but part of why I decided to challenge myself to go raw for a month is because of Tim VanOrden of the Running Raw Project. Tim came to town and gave a talk to members of the local raw foods group in Kansas City last fall. Should you hear of him coming close to your area I would highly recommend that you take some time and listen to what he has to day. He might just change how you see things.

Any way, I will let you enjoy some of his YouTube videos. A complete list of his vids are at http://www.youtube.com/user/runningraw.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRAD3j56_Zg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIP_OayjSMw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRqc3FLQ88k



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JaOoTi6xXg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSKYHxQh_5M


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC63D8ru9t8

Day 12

I had something of an epiphany this afternoon. I was pondering the salad that I ate last night and it struck me that I really would not miss the commercial salad dressings that much if I gave them up. The basic vinegar and olive oil had a good taste. The veggies were not overwhelmed and had a nice flavor as well. I think I will have to withdraw one of my two raw challenge exceptions.

All that leaves is herbal tea.

Exercise
I decided to kick the intensity up a little more today by increasing my pace on the treadmill. I shaved another minute off my mile time, running 2 miles in 24 minutes. I noticed that the breathing was slightly harder at the end and that I hit my max heart rate today of 186. Oddly enough my legs were really not that tired.

All you fitness types out there. What do I work on, lower intensity aerobic cardio to get my heart rate down or keep pounding with the run while letting my fitness level catch up? What is the best way to increase running fitness?

Eating
Breakfast
banana
raw sunflower seeds

Lunch
3 bananas

Snack
Apple Pie Larabar (a raw snack bar)

Dinner
aromatic guacamole
celery

Day 11

Nothing much to report today...I was too busy to pay attention to my cravings. Luckily I can read the computer screen now. I had my eyes dilated for the pre-vision correction exam. Bang! Instant bifocal vision. I could see distance fine with my glasses on but everything was blurry up close. If I took the glasses off I could read my watch.

Exercise
Another day with errands from 12:30-9:30pm so no exercise today. Looks like I'm into the weekend now if I want to make my 4 for the week. Luckily there are at least 2 exercise sessions happening with the local raw foods gang.

Food
Lunch
3 or 4 bananas, I can't remember...I know I started with 9 on the bunch

Snack
Ginger Peach Tea

Dinner
salad w/:
bagged italian mix
carrot
radish
celery
mushroom
broccoli
vinegar & oil

Day 10

You ever have one of those days where everything goes slow and you feel like you are continually playing catch up? Today was one of those.

All I have to say is never buy fresh fruit from a cafeteria where the chilled cut fruit cup is $3 and the fresh is off in the corner without a price tag. I ended up paying $4 for 3 scrawny bananas and an apple. Half the bananas were inedible because the interior was so bruised and beat up. Oh well, lesson learned; bring something with me to work or slip out to the store when nobody is looking.

Exercise
I managed to squeeze in the 30 minute session today around meetings and problem solving. I ran the whole core time of 24 minutes at a 13 minute mile pace (4.6mph).

The chow
Breakfast
3 (score it as 2) bananas
a fuji apple

Lunch
a large salad with...
baby romaine
yellow onion
baby carrot
roma tomato
dulse flakes

Dinner
I had the Hy-Vee salad bar buffet for dinner...
romaine
carrot
alfalfa sprouts
jalapeno
vinegar & oil dressing

peas
corn

pineapple
strawberries
red grapes

Day 9

Welcome to week 2 of the Ricky Rudd Driving School. Just kidding.

Well if you saw my other post today you will see that I managed to misplace another 8 pounds this week. If you happen to find them somewhere, well, you can keep 'em. I don't want them back.

I attended an Eckhart Tolle meetup group this evening where we had a discussion on chapter 1 of his book The Power of Now. One topic discussed the separation of the pleasure/pain body from the emotion of joy experienced by remaining in the present moment. Do you think that when we fixate on a 'diet' and experience success with a certain methodology of eating or exercise that we set ourselves up for failure by expecting our success to continue over and over again? I know I am being unrealistic but I don't want my rate of loss to slow down. I know it will happen and when it does I will probably be irritated. 21 lbs in 3 weeks is a pretty good accomplishment but I don't think I can keep up the pace indefinitely. Not that I plan to slow down but it isn't very realistic to expect it to continue like it has.

Exercise
I was chasing my tail today with appointments, meetings and meetups so I did not make it for my run. Looks like a 4 day mini-streak this week.

Food, what food?
With everything going on I didn't get around to eating much today...
4 gala apples
some raw sauerkraut
32oz water


Tomorrow's lunch salad is pre-made and in the fridge.

I know there are at least a few folks reading the blog. I notice that my diary/log style posts are pretty dry and do not express much entertainment or informational substance. Are there any questions you have of me or something you would like me to watch for or pay attention to? Energy levels, physical or behavioral characteristics?

Monday Weigh-In Feb 9

Once again it is weigh-in Monday. I do cheat and watch my numbers on the scale at the YMCA but it is always nice to see them drop more when it is "official".

Today's numbers:

Weight - 294
Body Fat % - 39.2

So, after the first week raw I am down 8 lbs. The running total for the last three weeks is 21 lbs. Woo-Hoo!

Well, back to work. I just wanted to share the news and my effervescent glee with you all.

Day 8

Today is a quiet, lazy day.

My temptations of the day were from the family's houses when Mom fixed lasagna for Dad. Oh that smelled goood. I resisted. That and Grandma's cookie/zinger jar was an exercise in will power. Who can say no to Grandma? Apparently I could today...

The Food
Breakfast
peppermint tea

Lunch
A blended smoothie:
water
goji berries
3oz blueberries
2 bananas
a gala apple
2 medjool dates
hemp seed

Dinner
water
a big salad with:
romaine
mushroom
bell pepper
red onion
celery
carrot
radish
zesty italian

dessert/snack
dates with pecans
peppermint tea

Day 7

Today marks the 1 week point of my 28 day challenge. While I admit I've had more than one temptation I've managed to avoid giving in to them.

Today I attended an event put on by my friend Brandon from one of the Raw Food Meetup groups here in Kansas City. His class today was entitled Herbal Alchemy 101, Creating the Ultimate Elixir. It was cool stuff, making a drink with vitalized, structured water, mesquite powder, goji berries, cacao powder, coconut oil, chia seeds, stevia and concentrated medicinal herbs. Brandon is an amazing source of knowledge...if you are in the area I would highly encourage you to come check him out or visit his tonic bar. Maybe next week I can record the audio.

Exercise
Nothing today. I have gotten my four sessions in for the week and will take the weekends off unless I have a race or get behind schedule.

Bring on the Food
Breakfast
-none-, I overslept

Lunch
A general health, chocolate cacao drink prepared by Brandon.

Snack
Tried some raw sauerkraut at Whole Foods after Brandon's presentation
Infinitea Kombucha Tea - an interesting taste experience but, pardon the pun, not my cup of tea. I purchased it at Whole Foods.

Dinner
Big honkin' salad - uh, I'm stuffed:
Romaine Mix with carrot and red cabbage
broccoli
mushroom
bell pepper strips
cucumber
tomato
red and white onion
celery
radish
hemp seed

Bubbies Sauerkraut - I liked it so well I bought a jar...its good. Just cabbage, water and salt.

Day 6

Greetings programs! (Tron movie reference) I hope this Friday has treated you all well. As you may have already guessed I have regained my energy, enthusiasm and am back to my happy ol' self today.


Exercise
With the return of my energy I decided to fill out my 30 minutes today with running. I had the 3 minute warm up and cool down but maintained my jog at a steady pace for 24 minutes. Had a good sweat going and cracked 180 on the heart rate towards the end but I could still almost talk. I wanted to sing along with the radio but didn't quite have enough wind to do it. At any rate it was a good day. I may have to increase my pace next week.

Eating
Breakfast
gala apples
water

Lunch
fresh guacamole (or as the office mates called it, garlic with a little avocado)
eaten with celery

Dinner
wasn't too hungry so light eating tonight, just finished off my jar of cashew butter with a spoon

Until tomorrow...

Day 5

It was a so-so day today. I wasn't my perky self or having my usual spark today. I don't know if I was exercising too much too soon or if I didn't get a big enough caloric intake for dinner last night but I felt kinda tired all day. If dinner was the culprit then I should be bouncing off the walls tomorrow cuz I'm stuffed at the moment.

Here in KC it is suppose to be windy and 68 tomorrow so I plan to get outside in the nice weather to soak up some rays for a bit. Y'all know that scene in Superman Returns where he flies up above the clouds to recharge in the sun before attacking the kryptonite landmass in the last dramatic scene? I fancy myself doing the same thing in the breeze and sunlight. Just close your eyes and feel the heat on your skin, energizing you. Make like a Jedi and draw your strength from the Force that surrounds you and all living things.

As an aside, I noticed last June when I did a fruit-centered 80-10-10 diet for a month that I could tolerate the heat of summer a lot better and my fair Irish skin did not seem to burn as much either. Maybe it was because I wasn't covered in an oily sheen from my old diet but I found that just as impressive as my boost in energy.

Exercise
As I said I wasn't feeling especially energetic so I did a light workout according to this week's plan. I did a brisk walk for my time at a Zone 2 heart rate intensity level. In my case Zone 2 is 138-150 beats per minute. Figured I would give my legs a little breather.

Food
Breakfast
peach tea
gala apple

Lunch
medjool dates
gala apples

Dinner
freshly made guacamole with
baby carrots
celery
water

Day 4

Last week there was a post over on Zen Habits entitled 10 Reasons Eating Raw is Healthier For You and the Planet. While from my past experience with eating raw I can identify with most of the author's points what really struck me was the quantity and ferocity of the comments.

People are very passionate about food and all sides are staunch defenders of their points of view. While I will let you read my comment on the towards the bottom on Jan. 30th just remember each of us is different. What works best for one may not work for another, the raw foodies, the cooked crowd and the moderates alike. That is a small reason why I started this blog, to show one person's experience and what I did to achieve it.

Exercise
Today I still had the Energizer Batteries in me somewhere and just let the treadmill go. After my 3 minute warm up I set my jog pace and went for 22 minutes straight. I finished off the 30 minutes with a cool down walk. It is interesting considering last week I was doing good to make it 8 minutes jogging eating the SAD diet. No foot pains today so the running socks helped. (Thanks Mom!) :)

Eating
Breakfast
Sweet & Spicy Tea
medjool dates

Snack
raw sunflower nuts

Lunch
medjool dates
gala apples

Dinner
Energizing/Vitalizing raw herbal drink by my friend Brandon at the Herbal Infusion Tonic Bar in Overland Park...


This drink has water, goji berries, agave nectar, cacao powder, Chinese medicinal herbs and bunch of other good-for-you ingredients that I can't remember at the moment. Yummy.

As a side note, I know it isn't "official" but according to YMCA scale I am down another 6 lbs from my post run weigh in on Sunday. Not bad for 3 days; next Monday should be fun. :)

Day 3

Day 3 had me feeling energetic and alert this morning. Is it the food or just getting to bed before midnight for a change? Could be both. Either way one of my office-mates commented that I was way too happy this morning when he came in.

Exercise
Still no weekly group exercise program from Natalie today so I hopped on the treadmill for my 30 minutes over lunch. I decided that I would just set the pace at my jog level and go with it. I did a spurt of 15 minutes and another of 5 minutes between walking breaks before my time was up. I wasn't really that winded either though my heart rate was around 170 at the end. I think that eating lighter food and meals does help my breathing. On another note I guess I will have to switch to my running socks vs street socks since I almost gave myself a blister today.

Was a bit muscle fatigued and sleepy the rest of the afternoon.

Food
The office buddies were being mean today trying to get me to talk about the best foods around so they could figure out where to go for lunch. It had my mouth watering but I went to run over lunch. I figure that will keep me good better than a lot of things would.

Tonight my temptation was looking at me in the guise of an easy dinner...my loaf of bread and processed peanut butter. I did not cave, I had a spoon-full of raw cashew butter instead to take the edge off.

Breakfast
blueberries
raw sunflower seeds

Snack
Sweet & Spicy Tea

Lunch (after workout)
medjool dates
water

Snack
Republic of Tea - Decaf Ginger Peach Tea

Dinner
Salad with organic iceberg and baby romaine lettuce and...
baby carrots
stoplight bell pepper strips
grape tomatoes
hemp seed
lite raspberry vinaigrette
Bragg Liquid Aminos

Feb 2, Day 2

The at-work kick-off of my challenge seemed to be a fair success today. I told several coworkers that I plan to be raw for a month but other than a couple raised eyebrows only one had any real negativity to express. It was more of an atmosphere of everybody teasing me about the great restaurants they were going to go to this week. Are you sure you don't want to come with us? Those devils!

The closest non-raw thing to tempt me today was a bag of roasted sunflower seeds. All that reminds me to do is take the raw sunflower nuts I have here to work in the morning. Problem solved.

I have not gotten the new workout plan for the week yet so it looks like I get a night off unless I feel especially energetic. Yeah, no; I've a blog post to write. I have not mentioned it yet but the 12-week program has me doing cardio for a minimum of 30 minutes 4 times a week.

Weigh-In
As I mentioned in my last post Mondays are the "official" weigh-in days for the fitness program. We are using one of those fancy scales that you operate barefoot and it will also take a body fat percentage reading. I do not know the model or manufacturer but I can post it later if you ask.

In my intro I confessed that two weeks ago I weighed 315. That is true. I do however have a total of 3 readings to share today.

1/19/09 - Official Starting Weight
Weight - 315
BF% - 34.9

1/26/09
Weight - 309
BF% - 37.7

2/02/09
Weight - 302
BF% - 39.5

So there you go. For the last two weeks I am down 13 lbs. Perhaps I was a little premature to complain about my weight loss. While that is certainly nothing to sneeze at I do find it interesting that my body fat percentage is going up. So what does that tell me? I've lost 4.1% of my body weight in the last two weeks but by body fat went up 4.6%. You saw my month-to-month measurement post. BF% is a new item for me to track. Am I breaking down leg muscle mass with the exercise and not regaining it? Do I need to add upper body resistance training?

Arnold Schwarzenegger said when he competed in bodybuilding that he tried for symmetry by getting his calves to be the same size as his biceps. I have a ways to go, the opposite direction...my biceps have to catch up with my calves. :)

Day 2
After the weigh-in came the food, today I stuck to the plan.

Breakfast:
2 Black Plums

Snack:
Good Earth Original Sweet & Spicy Tea (decaf)
dried Goji berries

Lunch
Large organic spring mix salad with...
radish
grape tomatoes
green onion
yellow onion
hemp seed
Zesty Italian dressing

water

Snack
more dried Goji berries

Dinner
Jicama Fries

Until tomorrow friends. My Jicama is calling to me...

Baseline measurements Day T-1

If you were curious I thought I would post my initial and most recent measurements. I took my initial measurements after Christmas before I started my 12 week fitness program for the new year through work.

12/26/08
Right Arm below Tricep - 14"
Chest (arms up) - 51"
Waist (at navel) - 50"
Hips - 50"
Right Thigh - 27"
Right Calf - 18.75"
Neck - 19.75"

At the end of 4 weeks basic cardio training on the treadmill with my fitness program here are my new measurements.

1/31/09
Right Arm below Tricep - 14"
Chest (arms up) - 49.75"
Waist (at navel) - 49"
Hips - 50"
Right Thigh - 25.75"
Right Calf - 18.5"
Neck - 19.5"

As you can see I am built pretty solid to put it mildly. The weekly weigh-in is tomorrow for the 12-week program so we'll see what my starting point it for the month.

Feb 1, Day 1

What better way to start a 28 day challenge than the 1st day of a 28 day month? I couldn't thing of one either. So here goes.

I am struggling over a few ground rules, i.e. if I should make any exceptions to the basic eating raw rules. The one that is sticking at me right now is I think I will allow myself to have non-raw beverages. That is to say I can cut myself off of the coffee and pop but I do like tea and at times I WANT something hot. I've have read that raw foodies do tend to experience a slightly lower than normal body temperature. I can vouch for that in the limited raw excursions I have made in the past. So...I am going to attempt to limit myself to herbal teas and probiotic stuff that may become available with my local raw community.

One other thing I can think of as the month progresses that I may want that is cooked is a little store-bought dressing on my salad. I have stuff already bought and it is vinigar/oil based Italian type dressings so it is not all sweet, cheesy or bad-fatty like French, Caesar or Thousand Island. If I run out or get all guilt-ridden about it I will just make my own from scratch. :)

OK, enough blathering on.

Day 1.
I decided that I should try to let my digestive system rest before my transition so today I have had nothing but water and a 15oz bottle of Pomegranate Blueberry Naked Juice. Yes I know it is pasteurized so it doesn't exactly qualify as raw but it is just juice with no other sugar or preservatives added (according to the bottle). It was one-off purchase when I was buying other raw groceries, although it was quite good. Just 300 calories for the day, woo-hoo. I figured it was better for me than the lychee bubble tea I was really wanting to get on the way home.

I know Paul Bragg in his Miracle of Fasting book recommends fasting one day a week but at this point I will just use fasting as a method of transition.

Just because my guts rested today didn't mean I did. I did without the SuperBowl (I assume since I don't know when it came on) and went to the local YMCA and got on the treadmil instead. I am ramping myself up to run full 5k's again. With the warm up, cool down, walking and running sturts I ran for 10, 5 and 2.5 minute clips for a total workout of 40 minutes. According to the results uploaded from my Garmin Forerunner 50 watch I burned 444 calories. A net negative for the day not even counting base metabolic rate.

If I can keep that up forever I should reach my weight goal in no time. :)

Who, What & Why

Who am I?
Hi all, my name is Jim Snider and as of two weeks ago I was 315 lbs. I feel like I'm in a 12 step program with an intro like that. Anyway...I am a software engineer at a well known consumer electronics company in the Kansas City metro area. I am a single, 34 year old guy who since the age of 8 has struggled with my weight.

What am I doing and why?
A few friends know that I am trying to reinvent myself this year. The end of February will see me, no pun intended, getting PRK eye surgery. I am also currently participating in a 12 week fitness program administered by my friend Natalie through work to get myself back into shape...but 4 weeks into it I am not seeing the weight loss that I am looking for.

Here is my experiment. I am challenging myself to go raw or as close as possible for the next 28 days.

I know it is very Morgan Spurlock of me but I want to see how my health and weight do in a month along with my ongoing exercise program. I will attempt to log the daily foods that I eat and note my exercise as well since I am accountable to Natalie for that already. More posts on those later.