past the halfway mark

well, it was a bit of a plateau there, but i've pushed past the halfway point. scales today show me to be down 27 pounds from the start -- over the course of about 16 weeks or so. my body fat is down to a reasonable 16.6% (skin fold measurement) from an unmeasureable amount at the beginning and over 23% a few weeks in.

still haven't posted pics, but i've got them in the camera.

low fat chili recipe

while i'm trying to take in about 200g of protein a day, it's important to find good sources of this in the foods that i eat. one of the staples in my diet is lean beef -- i eat eye of round and lean ground beef quite a bit. i'll go a few rounds with skinless chicken breasts, but i just can't do it often.

in any case, here's my chili recipe, that i've refined to some pretty good measure. i have done it with everything from 93% lean beef all the way to 98% lean. it's good with everything. i don't measure things, so be sure to adjust the seasoning to taste.

ingredients:
3 lbs 96% lean beef
1 yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 jar spaghetti sauce (i use classico spicy red pepper)
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (optional)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon fennel seed
4 tablespoons paprika
1 can kidney beans (optional)
1 can pinto beans (optional)
kosher salt to taste
cracked black pepper to taste
1 can beef broth, chicken broth, or water
non-stick cooking spray

start the spaghetti sauce in a crock pot on high. without any oil brown the beef in a skillet on medium, medium/high heat -- you may have to do this in 2 or 3 batches. add salt to the meat -- if you are using kosher salt, which is less salty than table salt, you'll use a good bit -- remember it's 3lbs of beef! try to get some real browning and caramelization going. this is difficult without oil, but you should see some once the water content in the beef is cooked off. place browned beef into crock pot. deglaze skillet with a few tablespoons of beef broth and pour into crock pot. spray skillet with non-stick spray and cook onion and peppers on medium heat. again, try to get some caramelization during this process. once the vegetables are soft add all the spices to the skillet and cook a 1-2 minutes. this will help them develop some depth of flavor and release some oils. deglaze with beef broth and introduce to crock pot. if you'd like beans, open the 2 cans and pour into the crock pot. add salt and pepper to taste. pour in enough beef broth to barely cover everything. leave the crock pot on high for 15 minutes and then reduce to low and allow to simmer for 4-6 hours (i even let it cook all day/all night). this makes about 8-12 servings, depending on the size of your bowl/appetite.

nutrition info (with beans):
260 calories
5.5g fat
22.1g carbohydrate
31.7g protein

nutrition info (without beans):
170 calories
4.8g fat
4.7g carbohydrate
25.9g protein

double digit weight loss

scales show me 12 lbs down today versus day one -- that's pretty good in 3 weeks. in fact, a lot of folks will tell you that's too much, but i don't expect i'll sustain those kind of numbers. they'll creep up to the 2-3 pound a week range here, but the first few weeks, it's easy to shed water weight and such. one thing is for sure, it's great for motivation.

brown fat

an report came out early this week about "brown fat" -- a good kind of fat found in babies and present in adults. the purpose of this fat is to burn energy and release it as heat (something about mitochondria). this is key for babies because they don't have other good means to regulate body temperature -- they can't as easily wander over to their coat closet and throw on another layer.

in any case, the interesting thing about this is that scientists have found that this fat gets energized when the air temperature drops and it burns calories to provide heat -- even in adults. so, what does this mean? brown fat can burn an extra 500 or so calories per day, and researchers are no doubt searching for the next diet drug, but it may not take that at all -- just crank the a/c down and let the brown fat do its thing.

missed workout!

i missed my first workout since i started going regularly yesterday. sick in bed the whole day -- i came home and collapsed at 5pm and slept 'til 9am the next morning. feeling much better this am, however, and got right back at it.

that's what it takes to lose weight -- there will always be some mis-steps, but if you get right back on, you'll do fine!

hardest thing about working out / dieting

my workout partner asked me the hardest thing about our workout / eating routine. for him, it was giving up the 2 pots of coffee a day. for me, i thought it was going to be getting up at 4 in the morning, but so far, no complaints.

now, i'm not going to say that it's easy, but it is something that anyone can do. if you can follow directions, you can lose weight. all it takes is planning and sticking to the formula.

2 weeks (10% complete) in, and i'm going strong.

first compliment

barely a week into my workout and eating regime, i received my first notice. a co-worker mentioned that she could tell that i was losing weight, that she could see it in my face. it's nice to hear, but of course, there are other places that i'd like to lose weight :).

actually, i'm about 6 pounds down now and my belt is feeling looser.

. . . all good things. more to come.