I am halfway through the six week Twenty Pull-Ups Challenge and here is a video of my test result.

Thanks Luciano! How’s it going down in Miami? I should have visited earlier this month when it was -8 here!

Art De Vany, author of The New Evolution Diet, was on Nightline last night, talking about the Caveman Diet.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/rethinking-meat-veggies-13034429?&clipId=13034429&playlistId=13034429&cid=siteplayer

Two months of 2011 have already passed us by! January led with the 10,000 Push Ups, Sit Ups, and 1,000 Pull Ups challenge. Next came The New Evolution Diet February Challenge, and next up is March.

So what to do? Well I’ve decided to combine two activities. Intermittent Fasting, and The Twenty Pull Up Challenge.

First the Intermittent Fasting:

One of the recommendations in the New Evolution Diet was to skip a meal at least once a week. During February I completed several 16-20 hour fasts, and two 24 hour fasts. There are a lot of benefits to fasting and I’ll cover them in an upcoming post. But my goal for March is to continue random fasts. I plan to alternate between 24 hour fasts and 16 to 20 hour fasts.

The Twenty Pull Up Challenge:

Before I started P90X a little over 3 years ago, I couldn’t do one single unassisted pull up. This was rather embarrassing and frustrating to someone who has been doing strength training for several years. Through determination and practice I eventually was able to do one, then three, and eventually 10 consecutive pull ups. Losing weight really helped, but so did just the effort of trying. During that time this quote from Gandhi kept me going:

“Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning.”

Now I know he was primarily talking about ending British rule in India but it has inspired me and has made me realize that our mindset more than physical ability determines what we can accomplish.

So with that said, it is now time to strive for 20 consecutive pull ups. I don’t have far to go. Today I took the initial test and was able to do 15 (though my form on the last one was a bit sketchy). Should be easy, right? Unfortunately pull ups become exponentially harder to do the higher the rep count. Going from 15 to 20 is MUCH harder than going from 5 to 10, or even 10 to 15. But I have a plan. I’ll be following the Twenty Pull Ups Challenge training guide, and although it is a six week program, I hope to accomplish 20 consecutive pull ups by the end of this month.

Today wraps up a month on The New Evolution Diet. Here are the results:

Starting weight: 192.6 lbs (87.36 kg)

After one month: 186.2 lbs (84.46 kg)

Difference: -6.4 lbs (2.9 kg)

Starting Height: 6’ 1/2” (1.85 m)

Ending Height: 6” 1/2” (1.85 m)

Starting Body Mass Index (BMI): 26.1

BMI after one month: 24.6

Difference: -1.5

Starting Waist Measurement: 34” (86.36 cm)

Waist after one month: 32.25” (81.92 cm)

Difference: -1.75” (4.44 cm)

Hips: 39” (99.6 cm)

Hips after one month: 39” (99.6 cm)

Starting Waist to Hip Ratio: 0.87

Waist to Hip Ratio after one month: 0.83

Difference: -.04

Starting Chest Measurement: 41” (104.14 cm)

Chest Measurement after one month: 41” (104.14 cm)

Difference: 0”

Starting Right Bicep Measurement: 15” (38.1 cm)

Right Bicep Measurement after one month: 15.5” (39.37 cm)

Difference: +.5” (1.27 cm)

Starting Left Bicep Measurement: 14.75” (37.46 cm)

Left Bicep Measurement after one month: 15.25” (38.74 cm)

Difference: +.5”(1.28 cm)

Starting Right Thigh Measurement: 22” (55.88 cm)

Right Thigh Measurement after one month: 22.5” (57.15 cm)

Difference: +.5” (1.27 cm)

Starting Left Thigh Measurement: 21.75” (55.24 cm)

Left Thigh Measurement after one month: 22.25” (56.52 cm)

Difference: +.5” (1.28 cm)

I’m pleased with the results. 6.5 lbs. lost almost effortlessly. I’m most pleased with losing one and three quarters inches from my waist. No matter how fit we think we are, there is always room for improvement.

What I Found Effective:

1. Intermittent Fasting (IF). It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. This item warrants its own blog entry so I’ll save my thoughts on IF for that, but I think intermittent fasting can be one of the most effective weight management tools in anyone’s arsenal.

2. Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA). I found BCAA to be really helpful in controlling cravings for carbs, especially at the beginning of the month. While I didn’t take them at every meal, I did have some almost every day.

3. Eliminating Dairy (mostly). I completely cut out milk, cream, and with the exception of one slip-up, cheese. I didn’t cut out butter but I did cut way back on its use. Going forward I will allow myself the occasional piece of cheese but I will be conscious of my dairy intake.

4. Exercise (or lack there-of). Less frequent, but briefer and more intense exercise was something I knew was right but didn’t always practice. I don’t have trouble motivating myself to exercise, but a lot of people would probably be more amenable to it if they knew it would only take 20-30 minutes a couple of times a week for strength training. I can think of a million things I’d rather do than spend an hour on a treadmill.

5. Walking. The weather in February was hit and miss, but when it was good I really enjoyed getting out and walking for 45 minutes to an hour. This was more for my mental health than anything else. It really cleared my head and energized me, especially when I walked while fasting.

Areas I Could Have Improved On:

Sprinting. The cold and snow in February made it difficult to get outside to sprint. I prefer to run sprints in a field vs. doing them on an exercise bike so I only got two sprint sessions in during the month (instead of the recommended four, once a week). I’m going to work on that in March.

Alcohol. It was hard for me to pass up a glass of wine in the evening when my wife was having one. I like a nice red with dinner and sometimes one glass turns into two, especially on the weekend. I also had one beer during the Super Bowl. If weight loss is one of your primary goals, make a pact to keep alcohol out of the house.

More Play. Again the weather was a factor, but I need to work on incorporating more recreation into my life. One highlight of the month was snow shoeing at Echo Lake near Mount Evans here in Colorado. As the weather improves I plan to play more golf and take up tennis, a sport I used to play a lot years ago.

Bottom Line

I heartily recommend The New Evolution Diet to anyone who wants to improve their health, lose weight, reduce stress, and have more energy. For anyone who claims that it is a fad diet, I would ask “What is so faddish about eating the way humans and their ancestors ate for 99.9% of their existence?”.

Primal Poker and a 24 Hour Fast

Day 17 started with a round of Primal Poker. This time I decided to play as follows:

Hearts - Push ups (2 times the card value) Total: 192

Diamonds - Dips Total: 96

Clubs - Weighted Squats Total: 96

Spades - Plank (10 times the card value in seconds) Total time: 16 minutes

To add a twist to it I made all Hearts cards with a value of 10 or higher decline push ups on the staircase. For plank if the card value was 10 or higher I alternated between standard plank and side planks.

I do most of my workouts in a fasted state and then normally don’t eat for at least an hour after I’m done. I didn’t plan to fast for 24 hours but by the time I got around to thinking about eating it had already been 20 hours since dinner the night before so I decided to see if I could stretch it out until dinner that evening. I did drink two cups of tea during the day and plenty of water and it wasn’t that difficult.

Around 3:30 pm I decided to start preparing dinner. We were having boneless pork chops cooked in the Sous Vide so I got them ready by putting some rib rub on them and then vacuum sealing them and heating up the Sous Vide bath to 135 degrees. By 4 pm the water was hot enough and I put the pork chops in to cook.

Next I peeled and cut up some apples to make the sweet and savory apple slices. I had a little incident with the apple peeler and my thumb that reminded me of the Dan Ackroyd Julia Child skit on Saturday Night Live. After tending to that and putting on a band-aid I finished the job. Let me just say that lemon juice and skin cuts are not a good combination! I’m now the proud owner of a device that can core and slice an apple in one swift movement.

The pork chops cooked in the Sous Vide for two hours and then I removed them, patted them dry with a paper towel, added more seasoning and seared them on a hot grill for about one minute on each side. They were out of this world! Funny how hunger greatly improves the taste of the food. I ended up eating almost two of them.

So my second 24 hour fast in as many weeks. Really not as hard as it sounds as long as you keep yourself busy. It is interesting how food becomes the main focus of your attention the longer you go without it.

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my status updates due to work commitments. But I wanted to dash off a quick entry about days 15 and 16 on The New Evolution Diet.

So week 2 ended without much fanfare. On day 15 I didn’t do any exercise as I was busy finalizing my preparation for a webcast I was to give on Wednesday. Not much of note about Tuesday other than the brisket we had for dinner. I had cooked it in the Sous Vide for about 60 hours at 135 degrees Fahrenheit. It came out medium rare and delicious! I put a little low-carb (6 g per serving) barbeque sauce on it. I wanted to make home made sweet potato fries but the store only had pale yams. They were good but a bit soggy.

On day 16 I went for a 45 minute walk as the temperature was in the low 60s. I’m really enjoying listening to The Black Swan on my iPhone while I walk. It is an interesting and entertaining book.

Another trip to Sprouts grocery store yesterday and did we stock up on fruits veggies and meat. They still had the rotisserie chickens on sale for $4.99 so we got two for dinner last night.

Day 17 will be a lot more interesting to read about, I promise.

Monday wrapped up week two of The New Evolution Diet. Here are the results:

Starting weight: 192.6 lbs (87.36 kg)

After week 2: 188 lbs (85.27 kg)

Difference: -4.6 lbs (2.09 kg)

Starting Height: 6’ 1/2” (1.85 m)

Height after Week 1: 6” 1/2” (1.85 m)

(No surprise but I’m glad I didn’t shrink)

Starting Body Mass Index (BMI): 26.1

BMI after week 2: 25.5

Difference: -.6

Starting Waist Measurement: 34” (86.36 cm)

Waist after Week 2: 33.25” (84.45 cm)

Difference: -.75” (1.91 cm)

Hips: 39” (99.6 cm)

Hips after Week 2: 39” (99.6 cm)

Starting Waist to Hip Ratio: 0.87

Waist to Hip Ratio after Week 2: 0.85

Difference: -.02

Starting Chest Measurement: 41” (104.14 cm)

Chest Measurement after Week 2: 41” (104.14 cm)

Difference: 0”

Starting Right Bicep Measurement: 15” (38.1 cm)

Right Bicep Measurement after Week 1: 15” (38.1 cm)

Difference: 0”

Starting Left Bicep Measurement: 14.75” (37.46 cm)

Left Bicep Measurement after Week 2: 14.75” (37.46 cm)

Difference: 0”

Starting Right Thigh Measurement: 22” (55.88 cm)

Right Thigh Measurement after Week 2: 22.75” (57.78 cm)

Difference: +.75” (1.90 cm)

Starting Left Thigh Measurement: 21.75” (55.24 cm)

Left Thigh Measurement after Week 2: 22.75” (57.78 cm)

Difference: +1” (2.54 cm)

So no real change between week one and two. Another .25” off the waist. The rest of the changes are a rounding error. 

Half way through a month on The New Evolution Diet and I’m feeling good! It was another nice day in Colorado, though not as nice as Sunday. A bit windier and cooler, but still for February nothing to complain about.

I’ve decided that this will be my last entry listing what I ate for each meal. I’m sure you are as tired reading about it as I am writing about it. For the next two weeks I’ll only talk about it if I have something interesting or really delicious to eat. I’m also not going to post my supplement intake as they don’t change from day to day.

I will mention what exercise I did, or didn’t, do each day, and I’ll keep you posted on my stats each week.

Exercise:

So day 14 started with a P90X+ Upper Body Plus workout. It is 41 minutes long but about 6 minutes of that is warm up and cool down so it is just a touch over 30 minutes in length. It cycles through chest, back, shoulder, and arm exercises with push ups, pull ups, and dumbbell exercises.

Bonus: Taking advantage of the nice weather I decided to walk to the bank and then to get my haircut. On the way back I stopped at the library and then the grocery store. Total walking time about 1 hour. I don’t think walking does much to help you lose weight but it has a lot of other benefits. This study showed that brisk walking three times a week boosted the size of the hippocampus by 2% in older adults. If nothing else a walk is a great stress reliever and can provide you with an energy boost.

Meals:

Breakfast: Two scrambled eggs and two sausage patties.

Lunch: A Primal Fuel Double Chocolate shake and an apple.

Dinner: Italian sausage with peppers and low-carb tomato sauce.

Supplements:

Ultrathione Health Packs, BCAA (6 g), Creatine (1 g)

My next post will provide the stats (weight, measurements, etc.) after two weeks following The New Evolution Diet guidelines.

About a 75 degree swing in temperature between Tuesday (-8) and Sunday (68) and with the sun shining it felt even warmer. It was strange to see kids sledding in shorts and t-shirts.

Exercise:

The goal for Sunday was a good long walk. I set out at 2:30 pm wearing shorts and a t-shirt and my iPhone, listening to The Black Swan by Nicholas Nassim Taleb. One would have to say that the peaceful (so far) revolutions taking place in the Arab world are Black Swans that no one saw coming.

There are three elementary schools within about one mile of my house so I planned my route to pass each one so that I could take advantage of the jungle gym equipment. When I got to the first one, I used the actual pull up bars on the playground (rare to see them these days) and did one set of 15, one set of 8 and one set of 4, with minimal rest in between. I varied the hand position from wide grip to narrow grip with each set. I hadn’t done any pull ups since last Tuesday when I played Primal Poker so I was surprised at how easy it was to do 15. Definitely shows that muscle growth comes from the rest between workouts.

I continued on my way and walked for another half hour before coming to the next playground. This one didn’t have anything suitable for doing pull ups on so I used the top of a soccer goal instead. I tested it to make sure that it would support my weight and wouldn’t tip over before doing a set of 12, a set of 6, and a set of 3. This time I started from a dead hang and focused on slowly pulling myself up and lowering myself down. I had to bend my legs so I couldn’t use them to help with the pull up.

After another 30 minutes of walking I came to the third playground. This one had ring shaped handles that allowed me to do pull ups with my hands parallel. I did a set of 10, a set of 7, and a set of 5.

After that I headed home. Total walk: 90 minutes. Total pull ups: 70.

Meals:

Breakfast: Two fried eggs, four strips of bacon, blueberries and strawberries and a cup of tea.

Lunch: A Primal Fuel Double Chocolate shake.

Dinner: Buffalo chicken wings. These were good but are better with Blue Cheese dressing.

Bedtime snack: 1/2 tablespoon of coconut butter and two squares of dark chocolate.

Supplements:

Ultrathione Health Packs (2), Omega-3 fish oil (3 g), BCAA (1 tbsp), Creatine (1 tsp).