Sunday, Day 1, Week 8

No measurement day for last week because I was away for the weekend. I didn't eat particularly well last weekend, or for the following two days after it. I've now re-instated my no dessert rule, although I'm still not really eating according to the Warrior Code of Eating, so I should try to start doing that again.

Front:


Back:


Measurements:

Weight: 175.5
Hips: 33.5
Waist: 31.75
Chest: 40.0
Neck: 15.0
Left arm: 12.75
Right arm: 13.0
Left leg: 22.5
Right leg: 23.0

So the weight actually went up a half pound, and the waist stayed about the same. My progress seems to have stalled, so I'm thinking of giving up the warrior diet and switching to a more convential eating plan instead, to try and kickstart my body again.

Saturday, Day 7, Week 5

I went to a friends house today and didn't end up following the Warrior Diet. I had a bunch of nacho chips with cheese on top at around 11:30. At around 2:00 I ate a bunch of candy. At around 5:00 I had a bunch of pretzels. Dinner was essentially some salad to start off with, and then a whole bunch of chilli. Oh and I also had some icecream and a slice of cake for dessert, and a slice of apple pie and some more icecream.

On a different track, after thinking about how my progress has stalled, and why my progress may have stalled, I've come to the conclusion that it may perhaps be due to the fact that I've been eating desserts recently, and that I've been eating more food than I need. Although you are allowed to eat lots on the Warrior Diet, that doesn't necessarily mean you're supposed to eat as much as you can. You're only supposed to eat as much as you need, and I think I've been eating more than that recently. I also think I may need to be drinking more water. So, for the next week, those are my goals. Only eat as much as I need, drink more water, and have no dessert.

Sunday, Day 1, Week 5

I'm posting this 6 days after the actual event, because things have been a little crazy for me recently, so no thoughts for this post, since I can't remember back that far.

Front:


Back:


Measurements:

Weight - 179.0
Hips - 33.25
Waist - 32.75
Chest - 40.0
Neck - 15.0
Left arm - 13.0
Right arm - 13.0
Left leg - 22.75
Right leg - 23.0

Sunday, Day 1, Week 4

Measurement day today. Can't believe it's been three weeks already. I don't think I've eaten properly according to the Warrior Eating Order for at least a week, so I need to get back to doing that or risk halting my results, I think. I should also be drinking more more consistently.

Front:


Back:


Measurements:

Weight: 178.5
Hips: 33.5
Waist: 32.25
Chest: 40.0
Neck: 15.0
Left arm: 12.5
Right arm: 13.0
Left leg: 22.5
Right leg: 23.0

Gone down another pound and a half without really losing any leg or arm measurements, so I'm presuming it to be fat. Hips have gone up by 0.25 but that could just be a random fluctuation. Waist down by only 0.25 instead of 0.5 this week, and I think it might be because I've stopped eating as well as I was to begin with. I'll have to work harder on that next week. I've also decided not to use those body fat calipers because I don't think they're accurate enough to really be worth it.

Saturday, Day 7, Week 3

On Thursday night at 7:00 I stopped eating. For 43 hours. We were doing the 30 hour famine, to raise money for the poor starving children in Africa and all that. Since we were going to stop eating after breakfast, I decided to just stop eating after dinner that night and end up with another 13 hours of fasting. The hunger wasn't bad, probably mainly because I've become so used to it that hunger isn't a big deal to me any more. Even when those who weren't fasting busted out some food I didn't really feel all that hungry.

It was also my first day of any real exercise (though still only moderate in intensity) in five and a half weeks. Essentially the exercise was doing a fairly vigorous walk in hilly terrain without a path for half an hour on Friday night, and then some balls-out maximum effort jogging around 1:00 PM on Saturday. Oh and some fairly intense digging for treasure on Saturday morning. It wasn't that bad, even though I was running without food. I discovered how dismally out of shape I've gotten in 5 weeks, but I don't think there was much decrease in performance due to lack of food. This is good news for when I decide to start training again.

Concluding thoughts: Going without food even for 43 hours doesn't really feel all that bad any more. The exercise without food wasn't bad either. 43 hours of fasting may have messed up my or something, but oh well big deal, I'll just do it right next week.

Thursday, Day 5, Week 3

Got skin-fold calipers from www.accumeasure.com yesterday. Gonna have to add that to my list of measurements. Oddly enough they claim to be within 1.1% of underwater measuring, yet they only take one skin-fold site... I'm thinking of looking up a guide to getting a test with more sites than just one.

Sunday, Day 1, Week 3

Hard to believe it's been two weeks already, but at the same time, hard to believe it's only been two weeks. Measurement day today.

Front:

Back:


Measurements:

Weight: 180.0
Hips: 33.25
Waist: 32.5
Chest: 40.0
Neck: 14.75
Left arm: 12.5
Right arm: 13.0
Left leg: 22.5
Right leg: 23.0

Lost another two pounds and another half inch at the waist. Some odd fluctuations in the arm measurements, but it's probably just a random fluctation from wrapping the tape measure around them slightly tighter or something. Next measuring day I might put up all the pictures so far side by side for comparison.

Thursday, Day 5, Week 2

From this point on I'm only posting when I actually have something interesting to say. Such as, on Tuesday, I ate 4lbs of dinner. I weighed myself before and after (just out of boredom). Before weight: 181.5lbs After weight: 185.5lbs

Definitely need to drink water during the day or else will get very thirsty at night. The desire to eat food gets worse when you're feeling more depressed.

Monday, Day 2, Week 2

Was pretty hungry today. Didn't bring any fruit to school. I think it was a bad idea. Might have been hungry because I didn't eat as much as usual last night, might have been hungry because I ended up eating some carbs at lunch because someone offered me food and I couldn't politely refuse (it was just a bite or two but perhaps it was enough to get me hungry?).

I've noticed that although I don't really get thirsty during the day, if I don't drink enough during the day, I get ridiculously thirsty during the night. I think that maybe that's because my PSNS isn't active during the day, so I don't really need to use water for all that much. But then at night my PSNS kicks in and starts demanding water, and I don't have any stored in me.

Had a whopping dinner tonight. A plate full of spaghetti and meat (with a bunch of veggies as well, of course). Entire plate full, and stacked about two inches high. Very good, began reaching my eating limit towards the end, but ate it all and felt good about it afterwards. Need to remember not to make milk the last thing into my mouth after a meal - it leaves a gross feeling in the mouth. I've also discovered that I don't actually like the taste of 2% as much as skim/1%.

Concluding thoughts: Drink lots of water during the day or else you'll get really thirsty during the night and wake up and feel gross. 2 litres isn't enough for me. Also, make sure you eat until you actually feel rather full, or else you'll be hungry the next day (I think).

Sunday, Day 1, Week 2

Woke up at 8:00 and took measurements and pictures again. I added the measurements of arms and thighs.

Front:

Back:


Measurements:

Weight: 182.0
Hips: 33.5
Waist: 33.0
Chest: 40.0
Neck: 14.75
Left arm: 13.0
Right arm: 12.75
Left thigh: 23.0
Right thigh: 23.5

So, down two pounds and lost half an inch around the waist. Not bad.

Today I went and hung out with a friend. Since we ate at her house, I didn't eat as much dinner as I normally would. Partly because she had no idea how much I would be able to eat, and partly because I didn't want to eat her out of house and home. So I had a small dinner - perhaps half of what I've been eating. Didn't feel hungry again before bed, so didn't eat again. Drunk about two litres of water throughout the day, and 250ml of skim milk at dinner.

Concluding thoughts: Although I lost weight, only my waist measuments went down, so I'm presuming it was fat. Eating ridiculously large amounts of food for dinner could be a social hazard.

Saturday, Day 8, Week 1

I'm making this day 8 of week 1 so that I can have my measuring day (Sunday) as the first day of the week each week.

Woke up today and was sore from the work yesterday. Banana at noon. Grapes at 4:00 PM. Went out to a movie at 7:00 PM, but didn't want to eat beforehand, since I'd then be drowsy and inattentive during the movie, which would be wasteful. Dinner at 9:45-10:10 or so. Had three tortillas with ground beef in them. Only a meal and a half today. Had two squares of cookie bar for dessert. Had two glasses of 1% milk. Didn't drink enough water today.

Concluding thoughts: Need to make sure I drink more water on the days that I'm home. Hunger not bad, still. Only ate a meal and a half today, not sure why. I like milk. Measuring day tomorrow - I'm excited.

Friday, Day 7, Week 1

First day of doing anything remotely physically demanding today. Working with a guy who is building his own house, so moving some drywall around, general cleanup, etc. Brought some grapes with me, two strawberries, and an apple. Didn't eat the apple, but enjoyed the strawberries and the grapes. Didn't drink much water. I did a bunch of lifting of drywall today. If we had two people lifting one 8'x4' piece of drywall, it wasn't too heavy, so I figured my concussion would be ok. Most of what I did was lifting drywall, though, so after about four hours my head started to hurt. So I switched to vacuuming duty instead, but the bending over wasn't exactly the best thing for my head either.

After I got home I ate 4 slices of Honey Maple Turkey Breast. 20% meat protein, 100g. Very little carbs, very little fat. I ate this because I wanted to make sure that my muscles had some protein after doing the lifting, and I'd heard that you're recommended to eat around 20-30g protein after exercise when on the Warrior Diet.

I didn't eat again until dinner, at 8:00. I continued to eat until 8:50. I started out with omlette (eggs, ham, and cheese). That was about 1/3 of a plate. I then moved on to about 1/3 of a plate of meat loaf (it was only about a quarter inch high, though). I then proceeded to have two buns. In each of the buns was a piece of maple flavoured ham (same as from yesterday) that was about a quarter inch thick and around 4 inches across. There was also a slice of cheese in there.

I estimate that it was more than two meals there. Funny thing is that I didn't even feel that gross-bloated-sick feeling that I always used to feel when overeating. I just felt the, "Mmmmmmm, so good" feeling of having a ridiculously full stomach. However, I felt very drowsy afterwards, and like I was trying to think through a fog. I went to bed at 10:30.

My concussion effects lasted from 1:00 until around dinner, and after that I'm not sure if it was the food or the concussion, but I definitely felt drowsy, and it was hard to think, and I felt very odd in the head. Probably the concussion. That's not good.

Concluding thoughts: The concussion is still bad, so I think it will probably be at least another two weeks from now before I can do training again, probably more like a month. As for the food, I think the drowsiness after dinner was due to the food, and partly the feeling like I was thinking through a fog. I notice the difference now between post-food alertness/brain function and pre-food brain function. I think this is because before it was always the same level throughout the day because of the 4-meal thing, but now there is actually a difference, so I notice it.

Thursday, Day 6, Week 1

I don't seem to get very hungry during the day any more. Dentist appointment at 1:00 PM today. Had an apple before it, in case I needed it to handle the stress of having someone put an extremely pointy scythe-shaped object into my mouth and poke around at stuff. Had a banana at 3:00 PM in order to get the dentist-taste out of my mouth afterwards. Not feeling hungry at all.

7:30 PM - I just had a huge dinner. I started it out by chowing down on a piece of maple flavoured ham about a half inch thick and about 4 inches in diameter (it was an oval/circular shaped piece). Then after that I had some veggies (carrots/corn/peas/beans), and about two plates of pasta with onion mixed in, some kind of sauce, and some more ham mixed in. Totally felt stuffed at the end of it all, to the point where I actually left a little bit of food uneaten. Haven't drunk any water at all today, though I drank two cups of 1% milk at dinner.

10:20 - going to bed. Nothing special to report. Tomorrow I'll be on my feet all day, helping a guy who's building a house. I won't be doing hard labour or anything, but it will be more exerting than just sitting around all day. We'll have to see how my energy levels play out.

Concluding thoughts: I definitely think I'm starting to eat more at dinnertime. I need to record my calories/carbs/protein/fat at dinner sometime soon. Hunger not bad at all.

Wednesday, Day 5, Week 1

Hunger not so bad today, either. Woke up and didn't feel hungry at all. Felt hungry by the time I had the fruit drink (7:45), but didn't feel hungry after that. Only slightly hungry all day, and didn't need the fruit I brought with me. Lunch was a bit of a problem because the guy next to me had Ichiban Soup in a tupperware, and it was all steaming hot, and I had the strong urge to eat it. I don't seem to get made particularly hungry by the presence of food, but rather I get sudden and compelling urges to eat said food.

Alertness pretty good today. Began feeling drowsy during a lecture at around 2:15, but the lights were out because the projector was on, so that's probably why (coupled with my late nights recently, at least). Once the lights were back on I was fine for sleepiness.

Gotta be quick, headed to bed now. Didn't feel much hunger all day, drunk around 3 litres of water. Dinner at 10:30 PM. About 1/2-3/4 of a tray of meat loaf (will figure out how much that actually equates to later), about 1/3 a plate of vegetables, as well as a full plate and a quarter of rice with plenty of butter. Seems like at least two meals to me. Feel good now, not too bloated. Very nice feeling.

Concluding thoughts: Hunger really is becoming a non-issue now. Keep drinking plenty of water. Dinnertime is a very nice time of day. I'm actually enjoying this.

Tuesday, Day 4, Week 1

7:30 AM - hunger not so bad today. Maybe I'm adapting. Gotta make sure I take in plenty of water today, as well. Today will probably be an earlier dinner, and I might have two stages of dinner - one a couple hours after the first. We'll have to see.

10:50 AM - hunger has been unnoticeable since the fruit drink this morning (1/2 a litre this time). Drunk one litre of water already. I'm noticing recently though that my hands feel fairly cold, and I don't often get cold hands. Perhaps this has something to do with the diet, or maybe it's just because the weather seems a little cold outside. Most likely the diet, though. I'll have to consider this and try and figure out what reason there would be for decreased warmth in my hands (and feet somewhat, too).

11:00 PM - heading to bed. Hunger really hasn't been much of a problem today. I went to school decked out with a banana, an apple, and a couple of strawberries and some grapes. I didn't feel the need to eat any of them. Afterwards, I got home and ate at around 7:00 PM. I was an eating machine. I could have just kept going, although limited resources forced me to stop. I started out with some lettuce and some salad dressing, followed by about 1/3 of a plate of chopped ham, topped with cheese and sweet and sour sauce. I then got more meat, having another 1/3 or so, with cheese and sauce again. After that I moved on to the rice. It was white rice, and I put some butter on top. I felt like I could have gone for more but I couldn't be bothered to get any more since I'd already put everything away.

I felt quite satisfied afterwards, and didn't feel hungry at all before bed. I considered getting more, since I had room for more and didn't want to eat too little, but I read an article on T-nation that had some guidelines for the Warrior Diet, and it said not to eat a second meal unless you're actually hungry after the first one, and I wasn't, so I didn't eat again.

Concluding thoughts: The hunger isn't bad, not bad at all. I didn't really feel hungry enough to warrant eating fruit snacks during the day, so I didn't eat anything until dinner. Maybe my body is adapting already.

Monday, Day 3, Week 1

Most notable thing about today so far – I've had three litres of water and one litre of fruit juice. And I've had to piss like a racehorse. I had no idea before how much you gotta go to the washroom if you take in the right amount of water, since I'd never drunk enough water before, but it's quite impressive.

So, woke up at 6:15 AM today, and felt most decidedly hungry. At 7:45 AM, I had a fruit drink. Some strawberries, some mango, a little bit of Tropicana orange juice (I need to cut out the bottled juices, but it's very thick without it), and some yogurt. It turned out to be about a litre of juice, and I drank it all. About an hour later, I was desperate for the washroom.

Didn't feel too hungry today. Ate an apple around 10:45 AM, and then proceeded to drink a litre of water over the next hour and a quarter. Didn't really feel very hungry. Drunk another litre and a half between then and 5:00 PM or so. Had a banana around 5:30 PM. Total of 3 litres of water drunk so far. The hunger isn't so bad while you're doing other things. Idleness brings out its edge, though. 7:30 PM now, currently idling, and currently feeling fairly hungry. I don't plan to eat until around 9:30-10:00 PM. I need to remember to stay away from where people are eating, though. When I smell meat, I get a strong urge to eat it.

11:30 PM - eaten at last. I had a plate full of about 5/6ths rice and 1/6th carrots and broccoli, and three chicken thighs with BBQ sauce to top it off. I ate the chicken thighs and veggies first, in accordance with the Warrior Code of Eating (that's what I call it, at least), and then the rice last. Surprisingly enough, I didn't have any problem with eating the veggies, and I even ate them without ketchup and without any complaint for the first time in as long as I can remember! (I hate veggies)

I'm wondering if I'm beginning to experience the "instinctive eating" that Ori Hofmekler talks about, since I wasn't particularly interested in the rice (unusual), and I was more interested in the veggies (also unusual), and meat (of course). Perhaps this is because my body is learning to tell me what I need to be eating and what I shouldn't be eating. I wonder...

I was definitely more noticeably alert today. A study group that runs for only two or so hours ended up running for four hours, and although on a normal day I start to zone out and get drowsy and feel like I'm trying to work through a fog, today I had none of that even though it ran on twice as late as usual. Definitely more noticeably alert. Perhaps this diet actually works after all.

I'll need to make sure I get more food for dinner next time. I finished eating and I didn't feel bloated, didn't feel full, didn't feel stuffed. I merely felt satisfied. I could have eaten much more, and I worry that if I don't overeat, it won't make up for undereating.

Good news, though - this undereating has succeeded in having me drink around 4 litres of water today, in addition to the 1 litre of fruit drink this morning. I'm also learning to deal with hunger better, as well. What would have once had me complaining about how hungry I am now just seems like no big deal. Interesting. This is quite a fun diet, in certain ways.

Bed time now, at 11:50 PM. I don't really feel too tired, though I'm a bit more tired than I was at 11:30 PM. I'm wondering if having my Sympathetic Nervous System (referred to as SNS from here on) active all day means I don't get tired as easily, and perhaps I can run on less sleep? We'll have to find out. Day 3 down.

Concluding thoughts: The hunger wasn't so bad today, perhaps because I drank plenty of water. The stuffing yourself at night is also an incredibly good feeling, and pretty much everything tastes good after fasting for 17 hours of waking time. I'm noticing that I'm more alert, and I'm beginning to suspect that I might also be able to get by on less sleep. I'm a little worried that this might just be the placebo effect, however. More to come on that on future days.

Sunday, Day 2, Week 1

Measurement day today. I have decided to take front and back pictures every Sunday morning upon waking, and take hip, waist, chest, and neck measurements. Neck measurements taken because of this article, about body fat monitoring. Weight is also measured.

Front shot:


Back shot:



Measurements:
Weight - 184.0 lbs
Hips - 33.5 in
Waist - 33.5 in
Chest - 40.0 in
Neck - 15.0 in


Today I seem to be more alert than usual. Although running on less sleep than usual, I managed to pay more attention this morning than usual. The hunger isn't too bad, although I need to make a note to not hang around when the rest of the family is eating lunch. I kept getting urges to eat, although they seemed to disappear after I spent ten minutes or so there. I had an apple when I woke up, and I had a banana at lunch time. The hunger is definitely there, but it's not too bad. It's almost refreshing, actually.

4:30 PM now, and being hungry is starting to seem less refreshing. The hunger is always there, and it's definitely uncomfortable. Maybe the fact that I haven't drunk any water yet today doesn't help. 4:45 PM and I've had another apple now. That's taken away the edge of my hunger, and I'm feeling fine now.

7:30 PM - just finished dinner. Had about a dinner and a half in one sitting, and I'm feeling gooood about it. Initially I was worried that the apple had satisfied my hunger to such an extent that I wouldn't be able to eat as much as I should be eating, but I quickly disproved that theory. I had a half plate of omlette, followed by a half plate of fries, followed by a third plate of the pasta mix from last night. I threw in some of the same carrot/peas/beans/corn mix from last night as well. I guess that equates to almost two meals there. If I get hungry before bed, I'll reheat some more of the pasta mix. So I ate two meals, but yet I don't feel gross. I feel rather satisfied, actually, though I feel like I've got a very big stomach right now. However part of that slightly bloated feeling may be due to the three cups of water that I had in quick succession, and downed slightly too quickly. Either way, I'm feeling very satisfied, and rather stuffed. It feels good. I still haven't drunk any water today except for those three glasses of water, however, so I'll try to drink a bunch more once the bloated feeling wears off. I really need to drink more water each day...

10:15 PM - gonna go to bed now. I still feel nicely satisfied from dinner, and although I feel like I'm returning to a state where I'm gonna be borderline hungry soon, I don't want to eat again for fear of overeating, since I'm not actually hungry yet (although I think that I'll probably end up undereating on this diet, so we'll have to see how this goes). The hunger from earlier today seems almost like an unpleasant memory now, rather than a reality as it did earlier. I've drunk around a litre of water since the 7:30 PM entry, and it feels good. Tomorrow will be my first day back at school after starting this diet, so we'll have to see how that goes.

Concluding thoughts: The hunger was worse on the second day, but not unbearably worse. I really need to be drinking much more water throughout the day, so we'll see how much I down tomorrow. Concentration levels appear to be higher, but tomorrow will be the real test for that.

Saturday, Day 1, Week 1

Woke up around 9:00 AM. I didn't really feel very hungry for a couple hours, but I was sure the hunger would set in soon enough. I began to feel the hunger around 11:00 AM, so I ate an apple around noon. I didn't do a lot today, I just mainly sat around. I went out to a get-together at 7:00 PM. Around 7:30 PM or something, had a small handful of strawberries, and had a small handful of grapes. Unfortunately, food was provided at the get-together, but it wasn't very hard to resist eating the food. It was mainly unhealthy food like soda, chips, and desserts. Could this be what Ori Hofmekler says about your body instinctively knowing what to eat? I came home and ate at 11:30 PM. Pasta and ground beef and some kind of sauce. And a corn/carrots/peas mix, mixed in with the pasta/beef. I think I may have eaten too much, because I felt a bit sick afterwards. However, I felt a bit better by 12:15 PM. I went to bed at 12:30 PM, and fell asleep pretty quick. First day down.

Concluding thoughts: The hunger pangs aren't particularly bad, which means they didn't make it too hard to follow this diet. Maybe this is just because it's the first day, but we'll see. Didn't notice too much about being alert and all that stuff, but then again I feel fairly alert most days.

History 101

Just to get this on the record - this is a brief history of my physical activity levels recently, in order to put this diet into perspective.

In September, I began weight training in order to train for rugby season, but also for the sheer joy of it. Yes, I actually enjoy working out, something that many of my friends don't understand. I was doing three sets of ten reps for each excercise, and I usually did around three exercises for each body part, as well as some random core exercises at the end of the workout each day. I worked out five days a week, from around 3:30-5:00 in the afternoon. In December, I began to add some cardio HIIT to my program, in order to get my cardio into better shape for rugby.

Up until this point, I had been gaining weight. I started at around 185 pounds after dinner, and had moved up to around 197-198 pounds after dinner. However, with the addition of the cardio, I stopped gaining weight. In fact, I began to lose some weight, and dropped down to around 194-195 pounds after dinner.

Then rugby season started, and during the first two to two and a half weeks, I dropped down another couple of pounds. On Tuesday, March 27th, I suffered a minor concussion. I ceased all physical activity, and took Thursday and Friday of that week off school. I then got sick just before going away for Spring Break, and on Thursday, April 5th, I received another heavy blow to the head, prolonging my concussion. When I got back after spring break, on the 7th, I was mostly recovered from my sickness, but I had lost around five pounds, bringing me down to around 185-186 pounds after dinner. I then decided that since I wasn't able to train, I had better look at my nutrition, since I had always been told that nutrition is at least 50% of your athletic performance, and I had been meaning to do something about my nutrition for some time.

I did extensive reading on www.bodybuilding.com on diets. Fat loss diets in particular. After reading an article and deciding to make my carbs/protein/fat intake equal to 40%/40%/20% of my caloric intake, and counting up all my calories for the day, and grams of carbs/protein/fat, I read an article about the Warrior Diet. It sounded pretty sketchy, and I was very skeptical at first. However, I figured since the guy who conducted the interview in the article said it worked for him, there's gotta be some element of truth to it. I then did a lot more research into the Warrior Diet, and found that there did seem to be quite some good scientific evidence behind it, even though it contradicts most of what we are told nowadays by most nutritionists. Something about the Warrior Diet seemed to strike a chord within me, and I became convicted to try it. I figured that you can't really say whether or not a diet works or not unless you try it yourself, and since almost all of what I read from people who tried it said that it works really well, so I figured there must be some basis of truth to it.

So here I am, starting the Warrior Diet, and keeping this blog to record my progress. With any luck, it will turn out well. My goals are mainly to have fat loss, and not a lot of muscle loss. However, I anticipate some muscle loss due to my inactivity because of my concussion. I will also attempt to evaluate the effect of the Warrior Diet upon physical activity (ie. energy levels during exertion when the Warrior Diet is undertaken).

I'm 16 years old, ~5'10", ~185 pounds, and undertaking the Warrior Diet. Stay tuned.