On my second pass through the book I focused in on this:

Mix and match from the following list, constructing each meal with one pick from each of thethree groups. I’ve starred the choices that produce the fastest fat-loss for me:

Proteins
*Egg whites with 1–2 whole eggs for flavor (or, if organic, 2–5 whole eggs, including yolks)
*Chicken breast or thigh
*Beef (preferably grass-fed)
*Fish
Pork

Legumes
*Lentils (also called “dal” or “daal”)
*Black beans
Pinto beans
Red beans
Soybeans

Vegetables
*Spinach
*Mixed vegetables (including broccoli, cauliflower, or any other cruciferous vegetables)
*Sauerkraut, kimchee
Asparagus
Peas
Broccoli
Green beans

Eat as much as you like of the above food items, but keep it simple.

I didn’t exactly miss this the first time I read the book (in fact it’s in my notes) but I didn’t realize how important it was. This is an example of why I’ve been saying anyone following the advice in this book should read it again after 3 weeks. You’ll have a different perspective.

So I cooked  up a couple of proteins, a couple of legumes, and a couple of vegetables and put them all in containers in the fridge. Whenever it’s time for a meal I heat up a scoop of each and I’m done.  Use various spices or hot sauces for variety and change the selections within each category every few days. Easy as pie. Pie. Tomorrow is cheat day. Pie.

Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates
Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again.
Rule #3: Don’t drink calories.
Rule #4: Don’t eat fruit.
Rule #5: Take one day off per week and go nuts.

Also eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up.

I don’t recommend starting this just based on reading this blog entry. There’s a little more to it. I recommend reading the book and listening to the Timothy Ferriss interview on the Nerdist Podcast.

Any real, useful, lasting diet I’ve ever heard of requires a certain amount of boredom. Dr. John Berardi says if you examine the diets of the world’s top performing athletes you’ll find over and over that they eat the same thing all the time.  They keep just a few boring, but balanced and nutritional, meals in rotation.  And they eat to live, they don’t live to eat.

Well that would just be a smack in the face to my heritage. In an Italian family when you’re sad, you eat. Happy? Eat. Birthday? Eat. Football game on TV? EAT! Columbus Day? Parade, then eat.  Death in the family? Pray, then eat. New Baby? Feed it!  It’s Tuesday? How ’bout a nice lasagna?

This is a losing battle.  And I have chocolate.

And then today happened.

I drank nothing but coffee (no decaf), I had lunch at Steak and Shake (wow, that’s awful), and followed up lunch with a Cookie Jar Blizzard at DQ (amazing).  Then, just about completely dehydrated, I trained.  I held down the blizzard through warm ups (and for the rest of the night, for that matter) but I spent the entire night fighting off cramps.  My legs were cramping like crazy.  In sparring I was terrible, even for me.

Start over tomorrow.

Habit 1: Eat every 2-3 hours.
Habit 2: Eat complete, lean protein with each feeding opportunity.
Habit 3: Eat vegetables with each feeding opportunity.
Habit 4: Eat veggies/fruits with any meal. Eat “other carbs” only after exercise.
Habit 5: Eat healthy fats daily.
Habit 6: Don’t drink beverages (soda, beer, etc.) with more than 0 calories.
Habit 7: Eat whole foods whenever possible.

These 7 rules cover a large chuck of the 27 listed in my post.

I know how to do all sorts of stuff.  I know how to eat healthy, exercise, and set up triangles from the guard. I know how to train dogs to stay out of the trash.  I know how to cut the grass and take the trash to the dump.

But surely in all those years someone should have mentioned that knowing was in fact quite easy, and that the other half of the battle – execution – was at least as important and much more difficult.

I’m also back on no deep fried food and no calories in drinks.  I’m generally avoiding sugar.

My overall goal is to make 219.9 by September 12th for the Dominion Grappling Championships IV, or at least by September 19th for the George Pendergrass Gi Classic 2009.  I’m not putting any more effort in to this than those few diet changes. If I make weight, good, if not I’ll just fight And Up.

Well, whatever the wagon expression is that people use to mean they’ve gone back to drinking, it applies to me diet-wise.  I had a pretty good thing going with the Zone, but it’s been a constant battle with the carb cravings.  Traveling makes it even tougher, and on top that I haven’t spent a great deal of time in the gym recently.   It all amounts to me putting about 5 of the 15 pounds I lost back on, in addition to a general feeling of lethargy.

But there is good news – after a couple of months of not sleeping more than an hour at a time I’ve slept though the night for 3 consecutive nights.  Horray for sleep.

I have a sort of unofficial goal of reaching 220 lbs before a time still to be determined.  I guess setting a target date would be helpful, but this way I can’t fail – I just remain in a permanent state of “goal not yet achieved.”  I picked 220 because I think it’s realistic (15 pounds) and because it’s the cut off for Heavy Weight in US Grappling’s rules (well, 219.9).

Anyway, the closest I can come to roadwork is time spent on my bike.  I put in a solid 30 minutes today maintaining a good pace the whole time.  The battery on my bike’s computer is dead, so I don’t know how far I went.

Last year I posted 27 Rules for Diets (which I don’t follow) on this blog. To help me reach my goal of 220 I’m going to start enforcing just the first of these rules – “No calories from beverages.”  I’ve never been a soda drinker, but I occasionally drink fruit juice and I love sweet tea.  Fortunately I also like unsweetened tea quite a bit.