One Month in Tony Horton's Kitchen!

If anyone knows anything about me, its that: (1) I love to eat and (2) I can eat put away rather large quantities of food at one time- such is my struggle with nutrition. I try to eat well, but cannot sustain it. If I eat healthy for dinner, an hour later, you'll find me raiding the snack drawer. Since taking up running in 2010, I have not lost (nor really gained, thankfully) a single pound. 205, give or take, is where I reside. The true testament of how much nutrition dictates your weight, so much more so, than excercise does.

So, enter: Tony Horton Kitchen, a (relatively) new food delivery service by fitness guru, Tony Horton, the creator of the ever popular, P90X. THK provides healthy prepared meals and takes the guesswork out of nutrition. One month ago, I took the plunge. Why? While dealing with an ankle injury for more than 2 months (starting Dec '12), at which time I did very little activity, I ended up putting on about 10 pounds. I knew with my track record of eating and nutrition, even with the ankle issues resolved, there was very little chance of taking those 10 pounds off without help. I also knew if I didnt take these extra 10 pounds off, it would likely lead to another injury. This seemed like the perfect time to give this a try and get my nutrition in order.
Cost
I also looked at how much I was spending on food. For the "flexitarian" plan (which includes chicken, fish and some beef) is $180 per week for the 5 day plan, $252 for 7-day, which rounds out to $36/day- which is the most expensive of the 3 plans (others being Vegan and Vegetarian). Some will look at that and completely jump out of their skin and say it is too expensive. While true for some, have we all taken a magnifying glass to how we spend on food? Adding up how much I was spending on eating out, ordering in, groceries and lunch during the work week, the amount I was spending was shockingly close to how much THK would cost. Realizing this, the decision to take the plunge was a no-brainer. Ultimately, the cost may be a bit higher, but that was something I was willing to pay for: convenience. No prepping meals. No trips to the grocery store (ok, less trips).

The other angle is: this is your health we're talking about here. We spend all this money on ourselves to make ourselves look better (clothes, gadgets, etc). Why not spend a little on our health?

Food
Onto what you're probably most interested about- the actual food. Let me tell you, no one could be more skeptical about this than me. One who could easily polish off a pie of pizza on my own, wondering if Tony Horton could provide a meal that could satisfy my seemingly unsatiable appetite? And keep me full until the next meal? No easy challenge.

The first delivery arrives on a Friday evening and its packed really well (did I mention its free shipping? a 25+lb package, shipped free? no way!), with ice packs still frozen! After putting all the meals in the fridge, I excitedly tear open what would be Monday's dinner (since I already had dinner plans) and quickly take the leap. Heating is simple- either by microwave, oven or stovetop- I chose stovetop; once that's done, you're ready to go. Directions also indicate that you can "spice to taste". My usual aresnal of spices: any combination of salt, white pepper, garlic powder, chili powder and black pepper.

First meal: Lentil Soup with Plantains. What? Where's the meat, Tony Horton!? You've got to be kidding me! Ok, fine, I trust you Tony. First taste, hmm, okay, its not bad. I'll admit, a little bland, but doable. Though it wasn't terrible, I totally wouldnt have minded a burger or steak. But you know what, it really wasnt quite as bad as I thought it would be. The thing was, though I wasn't hungry anymore, I was nowhere near what I would normally consider as "full", which, again, for those that know me, is- until I cannot eat any more. So that is where my skepticsm was. The "testimonials" on the website and some commenters on their facebook page (most which are women) all said that the meals would leave them "stuffed". The meal definitely did not leave me "stuffed", but to my surprise, I was not starving (but was a little hungry) when I went to bed. Whew.

For the next day (Saturday), I decided I would do all of the following Friday's meals. Thought it would be a wise idea to try this out on a day where I had nothing else planned, so I would be home. Less temptation to run out to grab a bag of chips. Or Twinkies. Or a doughnut, mmmmm, doughnut.

Breakfast was Mixed Vegetable Egg White Frittata, which is essentially a veggie egg white omlette. I chose to heat this one up via regular oven, and it left the outside a little crisp and dry, while still leaving the inside not quite as hot as I would have liked. I added salt and tabasco to this. I normally dont mind veggies, but I was just not a fan of one of the ingredients, I want to say its the onions, since that is my least favorite. All in all, again, not great, but not bad. I did supplement with coffee and a handful of cereal. Level of fullness, on a scale between 1 (least full) and 5 (most full), I'd say I was a 2.

Lunch is where it picked up a bit. Italian Vegetable Lasagna with Beef Ragu. FINALLY! Some "real" food! THK uses brown rice pasta here (quinoa pasta other times), since they are gluten-free. The tomato sauce was really good and really tasty, with ground beef (grass-fed) in it. All I added was crushed red pepper. The only thing I disliked here was that there wasnt enough! Again, I was no where near "stuffed", but was a solid 2.

Dinner that night was Black Eyed Pea Minestrone Stew. Not much is different here- flavor was decent, added some salt and white pepper to liven things up a little. And again left me at about a 2.

With the "flexitarian" option, your meat is included for lunch and is usually chicken or fish (cod, salmon are the most common). Thankfully, I'm a big fan of fish. If you're not, this will not be for you. A lot of the dinners are stews/soups or similar. That may be by design, so you're not eating as much for your last meal of the day. That initially was not enough, but after the first week or so, its been plenty.

My favorites are definitely the pasta dishes and most of the ones that include fish. The apple strudel for breakfast is great also. Least favorite so far (and thankfully only had it twice in the 4 weeks)- veggie purees. It was probably the consistency, but c'mon THK, I'm an adult. Feed me solid foods! I felt like I was eating baby food. It was very hard to stomach. The other thing is that a lot of the dishes (usually the dinners) start to taste the same, but can be helped by adding different spices. Considering a lot of the dishes use similar ingredients, this is not entirely a surprise. Thankfully, I dont require much variety in my meals. If you do, this may be a problem.

Supplementing
I am supplementing a bit, mainly at breakfast. For the "non-frittata" breakfasts, I will add egg whites to supplement. Also need my morning coffee (with cream and sugar, yes, bad, I know!). As mentioned above, I do a bit of running, and most of it is after work. Since I'm eating lunch around 1pm, and runs start a little before 6pm, I do need a little snack. I've been going with fruit (banana, strawberries, apple, etc) or a Larabar, or almonds. Sometimes also a PM coffee (again, with cream and sugar). Some meals will allow me to go straight through without a snack, but is not common. And keep in mind I'm only supplementing in the PM on the days I run, about 2-3 days a week. After a run, I'll have a recovery shake- protein powder, sugar, salt, water.

The Bottom Line
So after 4 weeks of THK, how has it helped me? Here goes:

(1) the 10 pounds I needed to lose? Yea, GONE! (214, 24% fat, down to 203.4, 21.5% fat)

(2) Portion control. This is what was hardest for me, but also means its had the greatest impact. If the food is there, I'm going to eat it. If I'm not full yet, I'll keep eating. This eliminated both- and thus, the weight loss. I feel like I can eat more, but I cant (since there isnt anything left!). It defnitely doesnt take as much as it used to to satisfy my hunger AND keep me full until the next meal.

(3) Decreased cravings. No desire for a chocolate chip cooke from Pret, a Twinkie, or a doughnut (mmmm...doughnut...)! But notice I said "decreased" and not eliminated. I do still treat myself once in a while (even Tony does this!).

(4) I no longer think about food. I defintiely went from "Live to Eat" to "Eat to Live". I'll admit, that first day (listed above), I was thinking about food, ALL DAY. All that was on my mind was when the next time I got to eat was. As the days, then weeks went by, I thought about food less and less, to the point where I dont even wonder when my next meal is.

(5) Detox. Since I'm on the 5-day plan, there are still 2 days where I need to fend for myself. Sometimes, old habits will sneak back and I'll either over eat, or eat bad foods, or both. I find myself wanting to get back onto THK meals to get my body back in order.


You're not getting 5-star restaurant, gourmet chef type food here. What you are getting, is "Delicious, nutrient-rich meals delivered to your door"- which is gluten-free, dairy-free, and organic. It started off shaky for me, but my body did need time to adjust (you dont undo 30 years of bad eating in a day!). These meals won't knock your socks off, but you know what? If this can transform the nutritional mindset of a 6 foot, 200+ pound guy, with an enormous appetite - this will work for you.

Running Recap (8/6 through 8/12)

I ended the last post saying I may be ambitious and do 7 miles. Well, I didnt, I did 7.5! Hah! We've been having some great weather, and that day in particular, felt really good. So I did the full 6 in central park, and when I got back down to 59th, I decided to do a bonus lap on the southern loop. But right as I got to the 7.5 mile mark, my legs were completely exhausted.  I could not take another step, even if i wanted to.  And to my surprise, my lungs were actually ok. If my legs would have cooperated, completing the southern loop at the end would not have been a problem.  I'm still at a snail's pace, hovering around an 11 min-mile for the longer distances. But hey, at this point, I'm just looking to finish this half-marathon. Which, by the way, is in exactly a month from yesterday!!

Sunday 8/8 turned out to be a nice day, so went for a quick 3 miles at the Cross Island path. That turned out to be harder than I had anticipated, given the conditions. But I got the run in, and thats all that mattered. The next day, 8/9, I had planned to do just another 3 miler (twice around the southern loop, central park), since it was near 90 degrees and humidity was moderate. But as I head out, it seemed cooler and less humid than was forcasted. I still set out for my 2x around, but as I'm finishing up the 2nd lap, it felt SO good, that I did an extra 3rd lap, for a total of 5.2 for the day.  And really, I felt like I could have kept on going! Great run for the day.

And then theres Wed 8/11, I'm not even sure what my plan was, but it was a complete off-day. My legs felt the slight burn in the beginning, which is completely normal as I warm up. But, as I'm approaching the end of the first lap, the burn was still there, and I found it hard to breathe. It was warm and humid, and the sweat was dripping off my arms! So, I completed the loop and called it a day. There was really no point in furthering that run.

So, tomorrow (8/14) is looking to be a really nice temperate, low humidity day...so again, going ambitious. The plan is 8.  We'll see how that goes....'till next time!

Running Recap Week of 3/1 and a Horrible Reminder....

Spring is (almost) in the air and with that, came my first 4-run week. Ran on Mon, Tue, Thur and Sat., with distances: 2, 3.5, 3.5, and 3 miles; for a grand total of roughly 12 miles! Very productive week, with the Saturday run feeling very easy and energetic. I also split the Saturday run into 1.5 splits (CIP Path- Crocheron Park to Ft. Totten), doing an easy pace for the first 1.5, then intervals for the second 1.5.  Pace is still in the mid to high 10 min/mile- so definite room for improvement there. Weather is looking good (and warmer) this week, so hoping to match last week's outting.

So a couple weekends ago, we made a trip to PetCo to pick up some dog food for little Oreo. We were orignally going to pick up two 5-lb bags, but figured we'd save some money by just buying the big 20 pounder.  We didnt use a cart, because we didnt think we needed it.  I ended up just picking up the 20 lb bag and carrying it around. This is when I got a really really stark reminder of what it felt like to weigh 230+ pounds. As we walked around a little more, which could not have been more than 5 min, with an addition 20 lbs in hand, my knees and hips started to ache. I was getting fatigued. Just to think- at my current 205-210, with the added 20lbs, put me right back to where i was. That was a very scary thought. Never again, will I let myself go like that. Never.

End of Jan Update!

It has been four weeks since I've started eating cleanly, and eating less in general, and its paid off pretty well, see for yourself:

1/4- 211.8 lbs @ 22.5% fat (47.7 lbs of fat)
1/29- 204.2 lbs @ 21% fat (42.9 lbs of fat)
Net: 7.6 net weight loss, (4.77 lbs of fat-loss, roughly 10%).

As you can see, about 40% of my weight loss was lean body mass as well, and that could be a result of restricting too many calories. Recent daily calorie requirement calculations has me around 2660 calories perday, if i am lightly active (working out 1-3 times a week). I have been averging about 1500 calories/day on the weekdays, and higher on the weekends, of course.

I have also been out running four times in the past 2 weeks, in an attempt to start my half-marathon training. Distances so far: 1.6, 1.6, 3, and 2 miles. Not the greatest, but its a start! I also did Ab Ripper X on Tuesday, and I'm still a tiny bit sore today, 3 days later. Had planned on doing a run yesterday, and one tomorrow, but the weather is not cooperating. So, the plan is PlyoX tomorrow, and maybe Intervals X Plus on Sunday.

We'll see how I end up.

Day 5: Legs & Back (finally), Day 6: Kenpo X

Ok, so I did Yoga on Friday, and L&B was supposed to be on Saturday. Suffice it to say, the weekend went terribly (workout-wise). Took both days off, so ended up doing Legs & Back yesterday (Monday). It went decently, my left knee is still a little problematic. Got better as the workout went along. I did a few of the moves on the stairs for better form. Bought a new pull up bar which is more accomodating of our new set up. $9 from walmart! Works well. Followed up the workout with ARX. Did 16 reps of all exercises (except leg climb and mason twists).

Tonight should be Kenpo, but I have softball. I'll see how that goes, may even do it after I get home, but not likely. Still working on my diet. Yesterday was about 30/35/35 (protein/carb/fat). Right now, I'm at: 35/40/25.

Tomorrow should be Chest & Back. May have to shift things around a bit, so it might become Shoulders & Arms. Stay tuned....

P90X: Round 3

So last night I started Round 3 of P90X. So after having done it twice before, losing over 30 pounds, one would think to themself, well, it should be easier this time around. Well, one would be DEAD WRONG!!!! I had as difficult of a time as I've always have, and even got a headache halfway through. In my defense though, it has been over a month since I last worked out (hey, I had a wedding, honeymoon, and trying to get settled into a new place). So here starts Day 1, again. Here are stome stats (Haven't taken photos yet, but will soon).

Day 1: 8/17/2009
Weight: 202.2
Body Fat%: 20.5%
Waist: 36"
Gut: 36"

(yea, waist & gut went up an inch in one month!! not good, not good at all)

Plateau

its been a long time since i've updated. so here goes!

so, it looks like i've really hit a wall in my weight loss journey. i've been stuck around 205 lbs since the middle of april, and its May 14th today. weighed in at 206 @ 20.5% fat. wondering what i'll need to do to get that jump started again. Currently in week 7 of P90X (round 2.5). Will have a recovery week coming up and then Phase III, so i'm hoping that will do the trick. or perhaps i'm just not working as hard! =P in any case, here's a summary of results so far:

	1/7/2009	5/14/2009	Totals
weight	223.8	206.4	17.4
fat %	26%	20.5%
waist	40"	35.5"	4.5"
belly	42"	35.5"	6.5"