This is Why You're Fat, Salad Edition
Earlier health check-ins:
Where were we?
It's been awhile! I wrote one of these at the end of last March and was around 250lbs.
Where are we now?
I've basically been at plateu since then (currently ~256 lbs).
What changed?
At the beginning of this year, I switched from the X3 Bar to kettle bells and wrote a big ass google spreadsheet that uses a random number generator to generate workouts each week. I heard on a random podcast that bench presses can cause shoulder pain if you don't know what you're doing, and damn if that didn't explain the intense shoulder pain I had in Spring/Summer of 2022.
Spent this week trying out different kettlebell exercises and building a workout generator.
— SimianLogic (@SimianLogic) January 7, 2023
It uses the date as a random seed and generates 6 exercises with sets/reps in a printable format.
I can dupe/freeze it each week to track progress. pic.twitter.com/o4ji46g3RV
I've been gout free for the last year, so I dropped Allopurinol. I did end up shedding most of the supplements I was taking.
Current Supplements
- vitamin d
- omega-3s (with vitamin d)
- olly hello happy (saffron + vitamin d)
- creatine
Current Exercise Routine
- M/W/F - leg day
- 2 big leg exercises (usually 1 squat and 1 deadlift) and kettlebell swings
- 45 mins of Beat Saber
- T/TH - arm day
- 3 kettlebel exercises (usually 1 curl, 1 row, and 1 shoulder or chest exercise)
- sauna for 30 mins
- rock climbing on Tuesday nights, Archery on Thursday nights
I did a LOT of rowing earlier this year. It's probably better for me muscle-wise, but it burns about the same number of calories as Beat Saber and is about 100% less fun. I'll probably continue to cycle between months or quarters of Beat Saber/Rowing, but I'm also thinking about dropping the structured arm workouts and just rowing on those days so I'm not completely gassed for climbing/archery.
Gadgets
Amazon killed the Halo. I switched to a FitBit Inspire. It's only okay. It doesn't broadcast HR data like the Halo did and the app is pretty annoying unless you pay for premium.
As I mentioned above, the X3 bar is back in the rotation for deadlifts only. I might do squats on it later as well, but right now I get plenty out of doing squats with 50lbs of kettlebells on my shoulders.
I ordered a Slack Block after hearing about it on a podcast. I have an Indo Board and like doing balance stuff when I need to think, so it's been a nice small addition to just have lying around the office.
I tried rucking for awhile with 20lb/30lb plates, but it mostly made my plantar fascitis act up.
Maybe the biggest realization (that I haven't yet acted on) – after taking a 3 week vacation and coming back home, I realized our mattress was completely shit (it's ~8 years old). Three weeks of hiking/hotels – no back pain. One week back in Atlanta – hello back pain! We're looking at latex mattresses that won't compress as bad under my bulk.
Diet
About the same. Dinner is likely the biggest culprit, but it's the meal I have the least control over. My dad was over at the house a week or two ago and said something to the effect of "Now THAT's a salad!"
That's not what you want to hear about your salads.
This is Why You're Fat, Salad Edition
I decided to weigh out my "typical" salad and compare it against my "spreadsheet salad."
Here's what I think I'm eating:
Rough total: 471 calories, 40g protein
(Plus some salad dressing, 100-200 calories)
Here's me actually building a salad:
Step 1: Arugula
- Weight: 65g
- Calories: 16
- Est. Calories: 5
- Delta: 11 calories
Step 2: Feta Cheese (Well, there's your problem!)
- Weight: 130g
- Calories: 390
- Est. Calories: 140
- Delta: 250 calories
Step 3: Radishes
- Weight: 53g
- Calories: 8
- Est. Calories: 5
- Delta: 3 calories
Step 4: Radish Sprouts
(These aren't always on the list)
- Weight: 10g
- Calories: 4
- Est. Calories: 0
- Delta: 4 calories
Step 5: Alfalfa Sprouts
(These aren't always on the list)
- Weight: 6g
- Calories: 2
- Est. Calories: 0
- Delta: 2 calories
Step 6: Carrots
- Weight: 16g
- Calories: 7
- Est. Calories: 52
- Delta: -45 calories
🤔 Wow, 1/4 of a cup is way carrots more than I thought!
Step 7: Bacon
(On the plus side, this is also +4g protein)
- Weight: 28g
- Calories: 120
- Est. Calories: 60
- Delta: 60 calories
Step 8: Egg
- Weight: 40g
- Calories: 68
- Est. Calories: 68
- Delta: 0
Step 9: Blueberries
(Recent addition. No guilt here. I was out of blackberries this day but 48g of blackberries are 21 calories.)
- Weight: 48g
- Calories: 27
- Est. Calories: 0
- Delta: 27
Step 10: Chicken
- Weight: 90g
- Calories: 130
- Est. Calories: 130
- Delta: 0
Step 11: Dressing
(I've been favoring this Japanese steakhouse dressing, but might switch back to hot sauce + vinegar.)
- Weight: 66g
- Calories: 170
- Est. Calories: 0
- Delta: 170
Step 12: Jalapenos
(forgot these, so weighed them on their own)
- Weight: 42g
- Calories: 12
- Est. Calories: 0
- Delta: 12
Total: 1,007 Calories
Yep.
I'm just about double the original spreadsheet, and this looks like the lion's share of my "missing" 600 calories/day.
My salad game is too strong.
New plan: weighing out the bacon (14g) + feta (50g) at the beginning of the week will cut 325 calories/day. Everything else is fine. Blueberries and blackberries aren't the problem.
The ginger dressing is tasty. It can stay.
I've been mixing in hot sauce dressings a couple of times a week (Costco's new Green Sriracha is a shitty hot sauce but a great salad dressing!), which will help.