Wrapping up a 2 week Pre-Summer Health and Fitness Reset!

Program Summary

This post is a summary of a 2 week experiment I am trying to help reset my health and fitness habits and routine before summer. Features of the program include daily exercise, a vegetarian keto eating plan, and intermittent fasting. For more details on my plan and also a list of foods I will be avoiding, please take a look at my previous blog post for the introduction and week 1 summary.

Video Summary

Here is a quick video to summarize this program, with special emphasis on how my multi day fast went.

Top Tips

I have some great tips to offer based on my experience with this plan! Take a look below:

1. If you are watching what you eat in any way shape or form, make a plan before you go out to eat. It is possible to find something for any dietary needs or choices, but you do need to make a plan in advance. Look at the menu of the restaurant you would like to go to, and also the nutrition facts if they are available. Do not be afraid to ask questions or make special requests when you order.
2. Choose real food. By eliminating 3 highly processed ingredients as part of my plan (sugar, processed oil, grain), I was left with more wholesome, real, unprocessed food options.
3. Exercise Outside! Doing some of your exercise outside, especially during summer just makes you feel better, it’s fun, plus you get some natural vitamin D production!

Week 2 Meals and Fasting

June 8

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 8 am: Bulletproof coffee (coffee with butter and coconut oil)

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: Coleslaw made with veggie slaw mix, avocado mayo, sriracha sauce, salt and pepper, apple cider vinegar. Olives and sliced cheddar, mixed nuts.

Fasting Window: 14 hours. Bulletproof coffee breaks a fast.

June 9

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 2 fried eggs topped with cheddar cheese, coleslaw with sliced avocado on top. Mixed nut butter with coconut flakes and hemp hearts.

Fasting Window: 23 hours

June 10

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 9 am: Bulletproof coffee

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 2 pm: Coleslaw with sliced avocado, 2 fried eggs with cheddar cheese and diced tomatoes. Mixed nut butter with coconut flakes and hemp hearts.

Fasting Window: 15 hours. Bulletproof coffee breaks a fast.

June 11

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 2 egg omelet with cheddar cheese, with sliced avocado and diced tomatoes on top. Mixed nut butter with coconut flakes and hemp hearts.

Fasting Window: 28 hours

June 12

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 12 noon: Chicken kabobs, steak, cheese, Coleslaw.

Around 6 pm: Chicken kabobs, marinated olive and cheese.

*did have meat, and 2 scotches today, so a little out of compliance for my plan.

Fasting window: 19 hours

June 13

Morning: Black Coffee, water

During the day: Water, iced coffee, “fasting margarita” (fresh lime juice, salt, water, ice).

Around 5:30 pm: Quick broth made with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chili powder, water.

Fasting window: All day.

June 14

Morning: Black Coffee, water.

During the day: Water, green tea, ice coffee, fasting margaritas.

Around 5:30 pm: Quick broth made with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chili powder, water.

Final Fasting window: 60 hours. Bulletproof Coffee Tuesday morning June 15.

Week 2 Exercise

June 8

Total Gym Row- 12,13,14

Ab Wheel Roll Out- 10,10,10

Reverse Crunch- 10,10,10

Pull Up- 5,7,7

Kettlebell Swing- 53 lb 14,15,15

Stretching and foam roll.

June 9

4.9 mile run, no stops, 48:00 minutes.

*note about my run loop, the distance is what my phone tells me. When I time, I know the distance is the same, even if my phone is not correct on the exact number.

Stretching and foam roll.

June 10

Deadlift- 135x 5, 155x 5, 205x 5, 225 x 3,3

Pushup- 14, 12, 13

Hang leg raise- 10,10,10

Dip- 5, 6, 7, 8

June 11

4.9 mile run, no stops, 48:06 minutes.

Stretching and foam roll.

June 12

Stretching, foam roll, active rest.

June 13

Morning run, around 3.5 miles.

Yard work, about an hour.

June 14

Morning walk, 50 minutes, about 2.5 miles. Stretching and foam roll.

I chose a walk for today to try and give myself the best chance to keep my fast going. For me, weight lifting tends to make me hungry soon after.

Program Before and After

Before (Photo)

After (Photo)

Weight Before: 207.2 pounds

*Weight before was taken immediately after a weekend away with lots of treats and little exercise. This being the case, the number is slightly higher than typical for me, baseline is more like 200 pounds.

Weight After: 196.0

*I did take a weight at the mid-point of my plan, as well as the end, mid-point was 200. I add this to point out that the majority of weight lost was before the multi-day fast, and likely due to cutting out the junk after a weekend away. A multi-day fast will likely result in some weight lost, but there are many other potential health benefits associated.

This is purely my opinion, but if weight loss is a primary goal, starting by keeping food journals is a more sustainable approach than jumping in to a multi-day fast. Someone accustomed to eating 3-5 (or more) times per day and/or consuming processed food will not have built the metabolic flexibility to be successful or have a pleasant/sustainable intermittent or multi-day fasting experience. Once again, check out Dr. Jason Fung for more information and science behind all things fasting.

Waist Circumference Before: 4th belt loop. This is my own measure, no tape needed. 3rd belt loop is not good, 4th belt loop is ok, 5th is better.

Waist Circumference After: 5th belt loop.

Program Compliance Grade

I’ll give myself a solid 90% grade for this 2 week program. Given I can count the days I slipped up on 2 fingers, I’d say I did very well. The multi day fast was a significant achievement, and a great learning experience.

What is Next??

Well, first I plan to enjoy family vacation! I am going to make myself a plan to include some intermittent fasting, body weight exercise, running, and stretching as part of the week. Of course, I will be having some treats, but I do feel coming off this plan will keep moderation.

I will be looking for inspiration for future experiments which I can turn into blog posts or series and share with you. Until next time!

My Plan for a Quick Pre-Summer Health tune up

Why a Pre-Summer tune up?

I am choosing to identify a block of time to lock in some healthy habits and patterns related to nutrition and exercise. Periodically, it can be beneficial to identify some time to do this, especially if you find that the business of life is starting to dictate some of your choices related to your health and fitness routine, rather than you choosing your own priorities. Why 2 weeks? For me, I have 2 weeks before our family vacation, and a want a little bit more flexibility to have some treats on the vacation, while still getting benefits of this plan. For me, 2 weeks is a manageable amount of time set some positive patterns.

Additionally, I have been noticing that my nutrition is not as dialed in as I would like it to be. Reaching for some snacks, maybe a weekday drink or two…we’ve all been there, right? There are a lot of excuses or potential reasons why I have seen some slippage in this area, for me I’d say mostly work has been very stressful. At the end of the day, I am responsible for my health and wellbeing regardless of any circumstances or excuses (valid or not), that I may have. I see this is a great opportunity to get my routines back on track before the summer.

What is the plan?

Based on some of my previous experiments with different nutrition plans, I am going to try to weeks of a vegetarian keto diet plan, with intermittent fasting. Vegetarian can still include eggs and full fat dairy, and I am interested in the challenge of not eating meat for a small window of time. The way I have done keto is moderate protein, so not eating meat might make this macro-nutrient number a little bit easier to reach. For those not familiar, keto diet plans mean very low carb, moderate protein, and high fat. Please see my previous blog post if you want to see how this plan went for me previously.

Will I be counting calories or macros? I will not. I am going to draw from my previous experience and “eye ball” portions, and macros. My main focus is going to be elimination of certain food groups during this 2 week period. Counting marco-nutrients and measuring portions can have its place, it is just not going to be part of my current plan. When eating real food and cutting grain and sugar, I’ve found portions to be more intuitive.

Dates will be June 1- June 15. At the time of posting, I have already completed one week.

For my fasting protocol, most days will include a 16-18 hour fasting window, some more, some less. Additionally, since I have been working on fasting for a while and have some experience, I want to include one 48 hour fasting period in my two week plan. Fasting is allowing for only black coffee, unsweet tea, water, and salt, nothing with significant calories (black coffee has a few calories, but does not break a fast). Please note, what I plan on doing is not a zero to hero guide to intermittent fasting. If you want to start at the beginning, do some research, and maybe try this:

1. Stop eating at 6 pm, have only water after 6 pm.
2. Do not eat a meal until 6 am the next morning, have only water or black coffee if you are up early.
3. You have just fasted 12 hours!

This may seem basic, but late night snacks, and caloric beverages at night will torpedo your intermittent fasting. What has worked for me is to try the approach above, and continue to push out the time of day to eat my first meal. Hydration (with water) and sometimes supplementing salt can be very important to success in this area. For more information about fasting, google search Dr. Jason Fung.

What is not allowed?

Aside from what I will be including in my plan (keto and intermittent fasting), I am going to give myself a strict list of food and drinks that are not allowed as part of my reset, to help break up any patterns I want to change.

Not allowed:

1. Meat (hence vegetarian)
2. Processed seed oils (vegetable oil)
3. Processed or added sugar
4. Grain
5. Artificial sweeteners
6. Alcohol

I find that creating categories of food or ingredients that are not allowed makes guidelines easier to follow. For example, grains and processed oils eliminate thousands of different junk snack foods. Rather than bullet listing all the different junk food I am not allowing, I can read the ingredients list to see if any of my food categories on the naughty list are contained. For more information on decoding food labels and finding problematic ingredients, please take a look at my previous post on the topic.

Exercise Plan

My plan for exercise is going to have some flexibility, but also some routine that I will hold myself to during this 2 week program. Here are some guidelines I will set for myself, while following training logs:

1. Weight training, at least twice per week.
2. Run/jog, twice per week.
3. Planned exercise, 5 times per week.
4. Days with no planed exercise, move or stretch.
5. Exercise outside, at least twice per week.
6. Daily stretching and/or foam roll.

Program Goals

Given that this is a very short program, I do not have any weight loss or fitness goals. My goals for the program are as follows:

1. As close to 100% compliance as possible to food guidelines.

2. Exercise or move daily.

This is a program about discipline every bit as much as it is health and fitness for me.

Stats to track

I will track certain markers to see any notable changes or progress during my two week plan. Here are before stats:

Photo

Waist circumference

4th belt loop (my own measurement, 3rd not good 4th ok, 5 ideal).

Weight

207.2 pounds, taken post morning walk. Also of note, at the time of the photo I was just coming off weekend away with lots of indulgence and little exercise.

Best Run

4.9 miles, 51 minutes total.

Week 1

Summary [Video]

Here is a video summary of the program outline, and how week 1 went for me.

Tip of the week

If you are going out to eat, make a plan. Look at the menu in advance and see what meets your personal dietary guidelines. Some restaurants have nutrition facts available online as well. My only deviation from my dietary guidelines was because I didn’t make a plan before going out to eat.

Meal Logs and Fasting

June 1

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 4 fried eggs topped with cheddar cheese, avocado 🥑 and diced tomatoes. Roasted seaweed. Macadamia nuts.

Fasting Window: 23 hours

June 2

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 8 am: Bulletproof coffee (coffee with butter and coconut oil)

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 4 scrambled eggs with cheese, diced tomatoes. Avocado with sliced olives. Seaweed snack. Coconut flakes.

Fasting Window: 14 hours. Bulletproof coffee breaks a fast.

June 3

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: 4 fried eggs topped with cheddar cheese, avocado 🥑 and diced tomatoes. Roasted seaweed. Macadamia nuts.

Fasting Window: 23 hours

June 4

Morning: Black Coffee, water

Around 8 am: Bulletproof coffee

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: Keto bowl with mixed nut butter, coconut oil, coconut flakes, hemp hearts, and salt. Macadamia nuts. Diced avocado. Roasted seaweed.

Fasting Window: 14 hours. Bulletproof coffee breaks a fast.

June 5

Morning: Coffee, green tea, water 💧

Around 12 noon: Bowl of tomato soup, wedge salad with blue cheese while dining out.

Note: I had a bit of a keto fail with the soup, because I definitely tasted sugar in it. Next time, I’ll ask, or look up nutrition facts online if available. Also, the salad came with bacon, so not vegetarian today.

Around 4 pm: Coconut flakes. Olives, pickle, cheddar cheese 🧀

Fasting window: 18 hours

June 6

Morning: Coffee, water.

Mid morning: Lots of water, ice coffee, seltzer.

Around 1 pm: Guacamole made with avocado, garlic, dice tomato, jalapeños, salt and pepper. Cheddar cheese, Olives, pickles. Macadamia nuts.

Around 5:00 pm: Sliced mozzarella cheese with tomato 🍅, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Fasting window: 20 hours

June 7

Morning: Black Coffee, water

At work: Water, green tea (1)

Around 5 pm: Sliced mozzarella with tomato, avocado, and olives. Roasted seaweed. Mixed nuts.

Fasting Window: 23 hours

Training Log

June 1

Morning: Foam roll, 50 minutes of walking, around 2.5 miles.

June 2

Pull up 5,7,8

Total Gym row 10, 12, 12

Lots of stretching and foam roll due to sore right hip flexor.

June 3

Morning: Foam roll, 50 minutes of walking, around 2.5 miles.

*Did not run due to tight hip flexor.

June 4

Push up- 13,14,13

Deadlift- 135×5, 155×5, 205×5

Dip- 6, 9, 7

Stretching and foam roll

June 5

30 minutes weed whacking outdoors, stretching.

June 6

Morning: Run, unknown distance, a little over 1 hour.

Mid morning: Mow lawn, around 1 hour. Stretching and foam roll.

June 7

Morning: Foam roll, 50 minutes of walking, around 2.5 miles.

Compliance Grade for Week 1

I’m going to give myself a solid 95% compliance to my plan, my only slip up being going out to eat with no plan on Saturday June 5. Other than that, all meals met my guidelines. Additionally, my fasting was on point, and I had variation to the fasting window over the week. I was able to exercise or move daily, and meet all exercise guidelines I set. This is very encouraging, I’m excited for one more week!

Looking Ahead to Week 2!

One more week to dial in before it is family vacation! I do want to stay motivated to finish my program strong, and also make myself a plan for vacation so I can keep some of the nutrition and exercise momentum strong on our get away. I want to come back from vacation feeling more relaxed and generally better than when I left, so I will need to make a plan to not overdo the treats, stay hydrated, and get plenty of sleep and rest.

Additionally, I will make a plan for my 48 hour fast during week 2. Initially, I am thinking about targeting the weekend, and complete my extended fast towards the end of the program. Cheers, see you next week!

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