The end of Carpal Tunnel: Time for more surgery.

If I had died at the age of 41, I would have died with just one surgery on my record.  That was a  tonsillectomy that took place when I was about 6 or 7 years old.  That's even more interesting given the fact that most doctors consider  the tonsillectomy an unnecessary procedure in this day and age.  It's an artifact of a bygone era, and a mistaken approach of an archaic past.

As it happened, I lived past age 41, and I have had 3 surgeries in the past 3 years.  Really, it's more like 3 surgeries in the past 26 calendar months.  I've had both knees done, and the gastric bypass.

Guess what?  It's time for more.  Surgery number 4 & 5 are on tap over the next two months.  Dr. Eli Ziv, a buddy and partner of Dr. Bachner, will be cutting into the palms of my hands.  I was supposed to contact that surgical scheduler Friday to set the date for my right hand.  I hesitated.  I'll get to him Monday.  We'll get the left hand next...  Dr. Ziv is the hand specialist in the orthopedic surgery group Bachner is partnered with.  His mother-in-law also happens to work for my company.

I am a little queezey, but grateful.  This will be the end of the Carpal Tunnel that's (1) holding me back and (2) driving me crazy.  Although I detest going under the knife again, this syndrome can't end soon enough.  The sooner the better.

So just what is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), and how do you fix it surgically?  First, CTS is not tendinitis created by typing all-day-long.  To be frank, it's not even a repetitive stress injury.  Incompetent doctors of the 1990s characterized it as such when it was a very trendy diagnosis in the new era of info-tech employees.

True CTS occurs when the transverse carpal ligament in the palm of your hands grow stronger, larger, heavier, or inflamed.  When this occurs, the ligament applies a crushing pressure on the median nerve that runs along the Carpal tunnel of the wrist.  This crushing pressure effectively cuts off the electrical signal from the brain to portions of the hand.  The solution is to surgically bisect the transverse carpal ligament.  Cut in half, the transverse carpal ligament can no longer apply a crushing pressure to the carpal tunnel or the median nerve.  The condition is eliminated.

So you slash a tendon, leave it slashed in half, and you release the pressure.  Whooooooaaaaa!  Slashing tendons permanently?  Isn't that going to cripple your hands?

Nope.  It turns out that the transverse carpal ligament is an evolutionary vestige of biological epochs long gone.  It is just like the appendix in your intestines.  It now serves no purpose.  Anthropologists, of whom I am one, believe that this vestige was once used by human ancestors who walked on all fours, on the palms of their hands.  The transverse carpal ligament helps the palm of the hand function better as a heel, but not much in this day and age.  It has degenerated considerably.

Ergo, you can slash it without any long-term ill-effects.  In the short-run it hurts like a sonofabitch.  More hydrocodone.

When Doctor Ziv explained all this to me, my natural response was "Well shit, Doc!  You shouldn't have told me that!  I have a perfectly good Spyderco ZDP-189 knife right here in my pocket.  I'll fix that nasty transverse carpal ligament right here, right now.  I am DIY guy!"

Nah!  Just kidding.

So the question remains:  how in the world does the transverse carpal ligament grow strong, heavier, swollen, or inflamed? How the hell does any tendon grow thicker and stronger?  Through exercise and heavy use, that's how.

Who knows what it was in my case.  Was it the shake weight?  Was it the kettlebells?  Was it push-ups and pull-ups?  Was it the ROM?  Was it Elliptical Cross Trainer?  Was it Olympic Rowing?  In sooth, I shall never know.  The key point is that I subjected myself to a vast array of exercises over the 10 months prior to the eruption of this problem, and all of them could have contributed to the strengthening of this ligament.

Dr. Ziv also mentioned that hormonal changes could contribute to the thickening and strengthening of this ligament.  What hormonal changes?  To the best of my knowledge, ligaments and tendons only respond strongly to one hormone:  HGH, human growth hormone.  This is released in great quantities during weight loss, and body building.  Many of the substances I use promote the release of HGH.  I am sure that the quasi-natural supply of HGH in my body is way higher now than it was 1 year ago.  This is why I am doing the Benjamin Button thing.  HGH is the key hormone in age-reversal.

Unfortunately, even this blessed condition can have unwanted side-effects.  I hit the Jack-Pot again.  This means I get to have surgeries #4 and #5.  Shit...

In verity and sooth, this isn't all that bad.  Dr. Ziv says that there is only about a 5% chance that the transverse carpal ligament can regenerate, and the CTS re-appear.  There is a 95% chance that he will slash my wrist, and I will never be bothered by this condition for the rest of my life.  When you think about all that I have gained (and lost) in the past year, this isn't such a high price to pay.  It could have been dramatically worse.

If everything works out for me, this will be a one-time-only fix, and I can go on about my business.

183.4 and I hope I am not loosing my muscle

So the official score a few moments ago was 183.4, and that is a tad scary. During this post-surgical weight loss period, I touched 181.9 pounds once, but it bounced right back up again. 183.4 is an awfully low figure. I hope I am not losing my muscle.

Lately, I've been cruising around 184.8 to 186.9. That is approximately a 2 pound range. That is a normal oscillation factor. This can be accounted for by body-water and body-waste. I've been bouncing around in that range for more than one month.

But this was before I learned how to cook beans...

What is the big deal about beans? It turns out that beans, all kinds of beans, constitute a diet super-food. Just about every "get-ripped" diet focuses hard on consuming beans. If the rhetoric from countless certified dietitians is to be believed, beans are a magic weight-loss food. They deliver a pretty solid nutrient pop, whilst being low in calories and high in fiber. They deliver a lot of mass with a very small calorie load. You can eat your fill of beans and wind up with a low calorie total... Even if you have a big stomach. If you have a 90% surgically reduced stomach, as I do, your fill of beans constitutes almost nothing in terms of calorie load.

My family never ate much in the way of beans as I was growing up. Bean dishes were frowned upon as "poor-man's food." This fact may well be implied by my former body weight. Consequently, on those rare occasions when I attempted to cook them, it didn't work out well. I didn't know how to cook them well.

It doesn't help that 8-24 hours of soaking is called for my many recipes. That's 8-24 hours of soaking before several hours of simmering. It doesn't help that the "speed method" involves boiling and resting for one hour before pressure cooking. All of these methods are long. In stark contrast, rice can be prepped in 12-30 minutes if you use the speediest methods.

It turns out there is a rapid method. You put 8 oz of raw/dry/hard beans (by volume) in 32 ounces of clean water, and you pressure cook for 31 minutes. My Cuisinart electric pressure cooker needs 31 to do a masterful job. Your pressure cooker may need less. Once the beans are done, you discard he water by draining them in a colander. You then dress them like salad: Olive oil, a tab of butter, some balsamic vinegar, a dash of Tabasco sauce, and a generous amount of sea salt gets the job done.

If you pressure cook the beans with some fresh Thyme, Bay leaves, and Rosemary, you will like the results better. You also need a bit of oil in the brew to prevent foaming.

Speaking of salt, salt was the absolute key factor in my past failures with beans. No salt until they are done pressure cooking. No salt when you soak. No salt when you boil. No salt when you pressure cook. No salt until they are done.

This is contrary to all culinary laws, and highly counter-intuitive. Still this is correct. No salt until they are done. The answer lies in the chemical composition of the bean skin. The bean's skin reacts chemically with the salt. It hardens enormously on contact with salt. This will prevent the bean from cooking. What you get is a rock-hard bean that is inedible. If you forgo all salt until they are done, they come out fine.

Since I learned how to cook them, I have fallen in love with beans. I eat a lot of them now. They are great in pesto sauce also. Coincidentally, beans in pesto makes for a very nutrient rich mixture, especially if you use spinach and mixed nuts to make the pesto. The calorie load goes up a bit, but it still isn't bad. They are delicious together.

This remarkable drop into the 183.4 just might indicate that the bean diet is working.  On the other hand, it may indicate I am losing my muscle.  I sure hope the latter isn't the case.

Bod Pod X: Moderate Risk

So I had my 10th Bod Pod test this morning. It was pretty good. As per usual, it was not everything I had hoped, but (all things considered) it was a pretty damn good milestone. Just like Super Bowl X once was once regarded, this was the best one ever (thus far).

I apologize for the wet-spots on the paperwork, but I spilled some water on the documents.

In summary, the facts of the case are these:

1. My total weight was 196.731, a little higher than expected, but a reduction of 7.003 pounds
2. My fat-mass went down from 55.912 pounds to 48.964 pounds; a reduction of 6.948 pounds
3. My lean weight decreased from 147.821 to 147.767 pounds. This is scarcely 0.05299 of a pound, or 0.86 of one ounce of loss. This is within the margin of error.
4. My Body Fat Percentage decreased from 27.4% to 24.9%. This is a reduction of 2.5%, and just barely enough to move me into the Moderate Risk Category.
5. Conversely, my lean percentage increased from 72.6% to 75.1%.
6. My body volume decreased from 89.135 to 85.61 liters; a reduction of 3.525 liters.

Since I began testing with the Bod Pod on May 13th, 2011 I have done all the following:

1. I have reduced my body fat percentage 19.2% from 44.1 to 24.9.
2. I have lost 65.126 pounds of pure fat, down from 114.09 to 48.964 pounds.
3. I have increased my lean weight 3.027 pounds. I am still net-positive on the lean weight front.
4. I have decreased my total weight 61.92 pounds, down from 258.651 to 196.731 pounds.
5. I have decreased my body volume 31.5 liters, from 117.111 to 85.61 liters.

As we were finishing the test, the fellow conducting my test related a horror story to me. He said he had just performed a test for a woman who showed virtually no change in a month of work. She burst out in tears and challenged the whole Bod Pod methodology. He then asked if he could introduce me to some people and show them my chart. I said "sure!" After all, what would I want to hide?

We walked over to where a television production crew was setting up cameras. Evidently, this was the crew of Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. The CHLI rep introduces me to a pack of three beautiful blonds. I was a bit shy. They were just two pretty. He shows them my chart and explains the situation. They congratulate me profusely. I took a bow. I was a little overwhelmed.

Of course, there was a connection point unstated there. I am sure the woman who cried was (is) one of the subjects of the show. I am sure she was pissed at her lack of progress and public embarrassing. I am sure he was bolstering the credibility of the method by showing me off. Still, it was fun. I got another ego stroke out of that.

I just need to stop being shy around the beautiful blonds. I am not the same old fat guy I used to be. People I know don't recognize me anymore.

One other factor: The Bod Pod was undergoing routine maintenance and certification yesterday. The crew was not undergoing training. Maintenance was the reason the Bod Pod was unavailable to me yesterday. Interestingly enough, I weighed in at 197.2 pounds on the Tanita this morning and 196.731 on the Bod Pod. The gap of 0.85 pounds has now closed to just 0.469 pounds.

Interesting... one day after routine maintenance the gap has closed from 0.85 to 0.469. My Tanita is closer to accurate than I originally suspected. The Bod Pod is a little less accurate than I suspected. In any case, the gap is there, but smaller than suspected.

199.2 and so close

Today the score was 199.2 pounds on the Tanita scale. This means the Bod Pod would have me at 198.35. I am so close to the 40% mass reduction point it's not even funny. I am also very close to the 25% body fat percentage I have been seeking in this two-week cycle.

For the record, I weighed in around 330 pounds on January 15th, 2011. My orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Evan Bachner, had ordered me to lose 30% of my gross body mass (permanently) or face the wheel chair. 30% of 330 is approximately 99 pounds. I passed his directive when I crossed under 231 pound mark.

Since then, I have been pursuing the goals my general practitioner and my gastric bypass surgeon set for me. It's one thing to avoid crippling arthritis pain by loosing weight. It's quite another to reach a healthy body fat percentage.

40% of 330 pounds is 132 pounds. 330 -132 = 198. As you can see, when I hit 198 pounds, I will have reduced my gross body mass by 40%. I am so damn close it ain't even funny. I am just 0.35 of pound away from that target. That's just 5.6 ounces folks.

There is a double bonus. I have reason to believe my lean mass has been increasing. Why? I can see my muscles growing. Furthermore, it ain't just me. Others are noticing too. I just had the car battery replace in my Sonata, and the mechanic asked me the following question:

"Have you been doing some body building lately?"

"Yes I have."

"I can tell! You're getting more muscular. You were a little chubby a few months ago. You're getting knobby now."

Incidentally, for those British members of the audience, knobby doesn't mean sharp elbowed bastard who makes stupid comments. It's a local euphemism for a dude whose muscle definition is showing. Of course, I am very flattered by this comment.

But I digress.

If my lean weight should finally reach 150 pounds, and if my total weight should be 198 or less on Bod Pod day, I will have officially made it under the 25% BFP mark. That's easy math folks.

Bod Pod X is promising to be a significant landmark and milestone in this process. The landmark is the 40% mass reduction, and officially crossing under the 200 pound mark. The milestone is the fact that I will officially cross over from the High Risk health category to the Moderate Risk category. That's big news folks. Team Quilici just might declare victory at this point, although I doubt it. They still want me to hit 17-18% BFP.

One thing is for sure, when I walk through the door at Dr. Quilici's office, I'm not going to look like one of his typical patients. They will notice that fact, I assure you.

Speaking of Bod Pod X, I just called a little while ago to make my appointment for this Friday. I was greatly dismayed by what I heard. The Life Measurement trainers will be visiting the California Health and Longevity Institute on Friday, to conduct certification training for the Bod Pod. The Bod Pod will not be available at all on Friday.

The alternative to was to move it to 10:00am on Saturday. I was not pleased with this move because it breaks the perfect rythm I have established. Still, we have to recognize that life happens, and this not my fault. I would have done it on schedule if I could.

Recognize what this means: I get 15 days in this cycle instead of 14. This is an opportunity to lose an extra half-pound of fat if I play my cards right. An extra half pound of fat should just about do it this time. If I don't go under 198 with 48 pounds of fat, I have no one to blame but myself.

I'm going on the record and predicting all of the following for Saturday Sept 17th, 2011:

1. The Tanita will weigh me at 197.7 pounds
2. The Bod Pod will have me at 196.85
3. I will have 48 pounds of fat on my frame
4. I will have 148.85 pounds of lean on my frame
5. My body fat percentage will be 24.384%

I am being a bit pessimistic and conservative on the lean weight. I would greatly prefer a 150/46.85 ratio, but let's be cautious.

199.6

The advent of a major historical moment for me. I just went inside the 200 pound mark for the first time since summer of 1989. This was a more than a year before my dear little Leo girl was born, and she is now a junior at USC. [She likes to boast that she had classes with Clay Matthews III in her freshman year, incidentally.]

The score this morning 199.6 on the Tanita scale. The Bod Pod would have me at 198.75. Wow, man... That is already 4.99 pounds in just one week. I am absolutely surging again. The sweat lodge was something else, but I don't think I scrapped off a pound.

What is even more interesting is that I am scheduled to take a walk in Burbank today with a Pisces woman I met online at Zoosk. Allegedly, she was born 2/23/1972, but she seemed to know her planet lineup and she disagreed with the one I presented to her. She shouldn't have done that. This tipped me off that the year was wrong. I suspect she's fudging about her age.

I understand that women never lie. They don't lie about their weight. They don't reduce the number of relationships they have had, and they never, ever, ever lie about their age.

Anyway, I am looking forward to it anyhow. What a surprise that the first girl I meet online just happens to be a Pisces. Who would have thunk that? A Pisces and Virgo together? Nah! Can't be.

The trouble is that we have some remarkable thunder pealing out across the sky right now. Storm clouds seem to be moving in on the San Fernando valley. This is a most unusual atmospheric event during Septembers here in SoCal. Have you ever seen one of those bad romance movies [like the Notebook] where the boy and the girl meet in the pouring rain?

203.2... and 12.21 miles before breakfast

The Tanita score this morning was 203.2, meaning the Bod Pod would have me at 202.35. This is a new low.

That was the score before 30 minutes, 374 kcal, and 10.1 miles on the bike. It was also before the 22 minutes, 2.21 miles, and 366 kcal on the elliptical motion machine. I did all that before breakfast. I bet you can't tally 12.21 kcal before breakfast. And I am on a heavy-duty calorie restriction diet also.

Something strange seems to be happening to me. I seem to be transforming into Superman and nothing can stop the process.

I hammered a ROM full cycle in less than 20 minutes yesterday morning. I worked far too long on my 2011 NFL predictions, and was way too sedentary during that time. After finishing that piece, I was full of the lethargy and fatigue that comes with inactivity. If you are on a calorie restricted diet, your body will take any opportunity afforded to shut down the any unnecessary expenditure and conserve energy. This is why you have to constantly ratchet your metabolism up through exercise.

I felt a little too weak to do both weights training and aerobic training, so decided to lift. I have prioritized lean muscle over fat loss in these past cycles. The workout at my local 24 Hour fitness was very successful. I increased my weight and my reps on nearly everything.

Afterward, I downed my second Pure Pro 50 of the day. By that point, I had consumed 180 grams of protein for the day. I had 30 grams in a Big 100 bar as well. This is (by far) the largest protein total I have consumed since having roux en Y gastric bypass. I felt this was too much protein, but you just can't skip the protein after weight training. You waste your workout that way.

The funny thing was this: Less than 30 minutes later, I was at loose ends, burning up with energy. I knew I wasn't finished for the night. I decided I would at least do a Sauna at 24 Hour Fitness in Thousand Oaks.

I did a hell of a lot more than that. I did 12 minutes of initial warm up on the tread mill, because a lame dude was wasting time on my Olympic rower. I did 12 minutes on the Olympic rower, and I went hard. This was after a full weight lifting regime that included rows and pull downs. I went back to the tread mill and did 10 minutes at higher speed, finishing at 4.1 miles per hour and a level 8 incline. I jumped on the bike and did 15 minutes, burning 220 kcal. I jumped back on the Olympic rower and did 5 more minutes.

It was around that time I noticed a very young, blond, Pisces-looking girl shadowing me around the gym. She positioned herself on the Elliptical machine just in front and too the left of my rower. Of course, this gave me an excellent rear view. This was her third move to position herself near-by me. Co-inky-dink? I think not.

I wouldn't put her a day over 21. She was allowing her custom-cut-up sweat top to droop over her shoulder, exposing her sports bra suggestively. That was no happen-chance accident. That was orchestrated.

Despite strong distractions, when all was said and done, I hammered 54 minutes of constant aerobic activity burning 688.5 kcal. I didn't take time to rest between these exercises. I went straight from one station to the next.

I wasn't precisely exhausted either. I felt I could do more. That was when I started to realize that I was transforming into Superman. Such a workout would put most 45 year old guys under ground. I wasn't really tired.

I hit 11 minutes in the steam sauna, and realized I still had some nervous energy left. I decided 20 minutes of laps in the pool would be the best thing. I proceeded to practice my backstroke.

Somewhere around minute 12 or 13, I noticed that the 21 year old blond Pisces had returned. She was at poolside. She was sitting on a stool, to the right of me, text-messaging. This was night-time folks. It was around 10:00pm. There was nobody there but us chickens. I felt this was unusual behavior on the part of young lady... unless she's interested.

I decided it wouldn't be wise to break the workout to talk to her. Too forward. Finish the workout, then see if you can have a word. I kept swimming. She got tired of waiting after about 5 or six minutes, and started walking around the pool a bit. That was when I knew she was trying to get me to notice her.

I kept going. I was going to finish. She got tired of waiting and went into the hot sauna. Perfect, I thought. That's where I am headed next. We spent about 11 minutes in the sauna together. she was listening to Pandora music on her smart phone. He had about 6 minute conversation about Pandora. She was pretty shy in conversation. She took off after that. I finished my sauna.

Piscean women are usually shy and retreating, and fearful of rejection. There are exceptionally aggressive and assertive specimens, but they are few and far between. Most Pisces girls are not like Rihanna. That was a first brush. It will be interesting to see what happens the next time we bump into each other at the gym.

She'll be surprised when she finds out how old I am.

However, this is another indication that I seem to be transforming into Superman. I'm still around 27% body fat. I am going to be absolutely fucking deadly when I reach 10-12% body fat. I'm not joking either. I'm a little scared of the prospects.

I am going to keep my protein consumption level at around a 150 grams per day from here on out to the finish line. I think this doing me a world of good.

Bod Pod IX... Meh!

The results of the Birthday Bod Pod are in, and in the famous words of Tedy Bruschi, that ain't what were looking for. That is probably a Bellichick saying.

The findings of the study are these:

• My scale weight was 203.734, down from 209.340,
• This is a loss of 5.606 gross pounds
• I now have 55.912 pounds of body fat, down from 62.414
• This is a loss of 6.502 pounds of fat.
• I know have 147.821 pounds of lean weight, up from 146.926 last time
• This is scarcely 0.895 of one pound increase of lean. I guess that beats a poke in the eye.
• My body fat percentage is now 27.4%, down from 29.8% last time.
• This is a 2.4% reduction in Body Fat Percentage, matching my BFP drop last time
• My body volume is now 89.135 liters, down from 92.042 liters last time.
• This is a decrease of 2.907 liters of body volume.

I guess anytime you increase you lean and decrease your fat, it's a pretty good week. The BFP reduction is equal to the one during the previous cycle. Still, I can't help but think it is a mediocre, mediocre, mediocre showing. I have done better before. I was hoping for my best cycle ever. This did not happen.

I should balance that sentiment out by meditating on the look of awe displayed on the Bod Pod operators' faces when they see my progress charts. I must admit that the purple trend line on the BFP chart is as constant as the Northern Star. It just keeps going down and down and down and down on a straight trajectory.

They openly say they wish they owned a trend line that looks like mine.

Still the pronounced saw-tooth pattern on my lean-weight is a spoiler and a bitch. I need to get my lean up to 160, post-haste. I am announcing a new plan to start training with my linebacker buddy as soon as possible. The lean has got to increase.

The cumulative totals the Bod Pod history show are impressive. In just 16 weeks:

• I have Reduced my BFP from 44.1 % to 27.4%
• My lean percentage has gone from 55.9% to 72.6%
• I have altered my body composition 16.7%.
• Cut my body fat weight from 114.090 down to 55.912 pounds
• That is a loss of 58.178 pounds of fat.
• I have cut 51% of my fat weight in 16 weeks.
• I still maintain a net positive 3.261 pounds of lean weight.
• My body volume has diminished from 117.111 liters to 89.135 liters.
• My body volume has dropped 27.976 liters. Think of 28 x 1 liter bottles of Pepsi vanishing from under my skin.

At the same time, we have the sobering fact that I remain in the high risk category. Anyone carrying more than 25% body fat is considered to be at high risk for obesity related health problems. As far as I've come in all this time, I'm still not out of the woods just yet.

Just how far do I have to go get out of the woods? The Bod Pod will change my check mark for the first time when I go under 25%. Unless I do better on this next cycle, it won't happen on September 16th. If I nail the same 2.4%, I will be sitting right on the 25% mark. They will still check the high risk box in that case. Even if I should score a -2.5% BFP reduction, the check box will only indicate moderate risk.

I won't get into the healthy category until I reach 19.99%. How far away is that? At present speed, it will happen in 6 weeks. This is presuming 6.5 pounds of loss each cycle, and no change in lean. In other words, a sub-average performance. This means it should show up on the October 14th Bod Pod. At that time, my body weight should be 184.233 pounds. I should have no more than 36.412 pounds of fat on my frame. Presuming a constant lean, I would have 147.821 pounds of lean mass.

There are better and happier scenarios, but let's not bank on it.

The fact is that my GP and Dr. Quilici have settled on the figure of 17-18% BFP as their ultimate target for my good health. When will that happen? 8 weeks from today is the earliest we should expect to see such a figure. It should show up on the October 28 Bod Pod.

206.2... again?

I just weighed in at 206.2 again. This was my weight as of my last log entry a couple of days ago. Two days ago, after a full-slate of aerobic workouts, it went all the way down to 205.2.

Of course, the indication is 16 ounces of lost water weight through sweat. Still, I am surprised that it remains at 206.2 two days later. This could be a good thing.

Yesterday, I completed a full ROM cycle (11:45 minutes of exercise, performing all movements) in less than 22 minutes of real-time. I took very little rest between these intense exercises. I also did a couple of minutes of shake weight in there. It was pretty brutal.

That wasn't enough for me, though. I still went to the gym around 11:00pm for a short weight lifting workout. Short but brutal. Nautilus style workouts are short but sweet.

After this workout, I downed a Pure-Pro 50 protein drink. As the name suggests, this provides 50 grams of pure protein. It's mostly Whey protein, which is the most preferred protein source for Gastric Bypass patients. It provides the protein you need, and stimulates fat-burning at the same time. Whey is less efficient than albumin (egg protein), however, we are willing to trade some protein efficiency for the fat-burning effect whey offers.

This morning, muscles all over my body feel pretty hard, stiff and sore. I got something out of that training last night. I got something out of those 50 grams of whey protein.

Let's remember, the main objective of this cycle is to regain and protect lean weight. I am not happy with my lean weight. This is the two week cycle where I don't give a damn about scale weight. Body fat percentage is the only thing that matters.

My USC linebacker buddy, Aaron Graham, is scarcely 2 inches taller than I am. He currently weighs in at 215 pounds, and he is much leaner than I am. If we put Aaron in the Bod Pod, I doubt he would have 16% body fat. I would guess 13%. This would indicate that he has a mere 27.95 pounds of fat on his frame. This would indicate that he has 187.05 pounds of lean weight on his frame.

My General Practitioner once thought I had 190 pounds of lean, although I am now skeptical of that.

Aaron is a linebacker, I am a nose tackle. I aught to have a lot more lean than he does. He has graciously invited me to go weightlifting with him. I am going to take him up on that offer.

206.2

Just weighed in a moment ago on the Tanita scale, and the score is 206.2. This means the Bod Pod would have me at 205.35 this morning. This is exactly 4.01 pounds less than the last Bod Pod test.

I have been very diligent about protecting my lean weight during this cycle. I executed my 4th Nautilus-style workout of this 2 week cycle yesterday. Two more will follow before my Friday test. Most of my weights and reps went up. This is usually an indication of increasing lean weight. It is usually impossible to increase in strength or stamina without some increase--no matter how small--in lean weight.

This is the right way to kick off the week. This is shaping up to be a very nice test indeed.

207.9 a new post-gastric bypass low

This morning, the digital read-out on the scale flickered back and forth between 207.8 and 208.0. Once again, the Tanita rounded up and not down. The official score is 208.0. For the sake of argument, let's presume I am 207.9. This means that the Bod Pod would show me at 207.05 this morning.

[Editor's note, sorry for the inconsistent math before correction. I wrote this before my morning Muscle Milk.]

Not quite a pound less than I was 9 days ago. Hummmm... kinda scarry eh? Nah, not really. I've been completely focused on lean weight this time.

• Nautilus-style workouts with free weights and machines.
• The ROM.
• The shake weight.
• Core training.
• Push-ups.

Everything is focused on muscle strength and tone. I do believe this is producing tangible results. All my resistance levels are rising. My muscle tone has improved dramatically in just 4 workouts. My muscularity seems to be rising. Muscle memory is a wonderful thing.

I've been aggressive about raising the resistance on the Elliptical Cross Trainer also. I am now working exclusively at level 16, which is very, very intense. At level 16, I burn 365 kcal in just 22 minutes. This is 16.59 kcal beyond RMR/BMR every single minute. That's pretty brutal baby. Most people burn 8-10 kcal above RMR on the bike or the treadmill. A woman performing 1 hour of aerobic dance will burn approximately 7.5 kcal about RMR for the duration. We're talking about a cool 221.2% increase in intensity over that.

Everything is getting easier, and my capacity to do work continues to grow. I can't help but think that my lean/fat ratio is improving.

Provided that my fat loss has been strictly average, I should have lost 0.5 pounds per day on each of the past 9 days. This means 4.5 pounds of fat loss. Knowing that I am scarcely 1 pound lower in terms of absolute weight, the indication is that I have regained 3.5 pounds of lean.

Is this possible? Yeah sure, given muscle memory, it is possible. Remember, I lost 2.556 of pure lean on the last test. That weight might have snapped back as a result of re-hydration. I might have added a new pound in the past 9 days.

If all this is true, my fat weight should now be approximately 57.5 pounds and my lean should be equal to (207.05 - 57.5 = 149.55). My BFP should then be equal to 27.77% this morning. This is progress folks; -2.03% of progress, to be precise.

Since I have been averaging 1% of fat loss per week for the duration of my testing, -2.03% in just 9 days is very fast-paced progress indeed. It is disappointing that such rapid progress still leaves me with 27.77% body fat, which is still considered obese and high risk. I still have a considerable distance to travel.

Is it legit to consider people with 27.77% body fat obese? Consider the following facts. When you go to the butcher's counter, lean ground beef contains around 10% fat. Not so lean beef contains 15% fat. Fatty pork contains about 20% fat. I contain 27.77% fat. I contain more fat than the ground pork on at the butcher's counter. I still contain my bones and my vital organs... at the present moment. If you made a fillet of Dave, that fillet would certainly contain more than 27.77% fat.

Now, isn't the fatter meat the tastier meat? Don't all the super-star chefs on the Food Network say "Zero percent fat, zero percent flavor"? Doesn't Michael Symon say that the most tragic term in the English language is "Lean Beef"? Of course they do.

But with that said, I still have rendering-out to do. I think it is fair to say a man should meet the standards of not so lean beef before we can call him healthy.

212.0 and all is well

It's curious that we are now 6 days after the last Bod Pod [where I weighed in at 209.34], my current weight is 212.0, and I am pretty fine with it. Why is that?

As you know, the last Bod Pod indicated that I lost 2.556 pounds of lean weight. That is not okay. I am not okay with that fact. Presuming I hadn't lost that lean weight, my weight would have been 211.896 last Friday. Interestingly enough, my weight popped right back up to 212 within 24 hours of the test. This probably indicates that I was temporarily dehydrated.

However, it is interesting that 6 full days later, my weight remains the same, and I am still fine with it. Why is that?

I began a regime of serious weight training again this week. Today, I will execute my 3rd serious Nautilus style workout. Weren't you supposed to do that before? Yes, but I didn't have the heart. I modified my existing regime to focus on stress and intensity over duration. I did not actually add a Nautilus regime to my training. Now I have.

I will do more than just a Nautilus workout today. I will do a full-cycle ROM in just a couple of moments. I will probably do some light cardio at lunch also, just to stay awake this afternoon.

I also added swimming to my regime. I do an evening swim at 24 Hour Fitness. I try to spend 20 minutes in a nice chilly pool, and I do at least 20 100 meter laps. That's 2K folks. That ain't bad. The thermogenics of it should help me to loose more pure fat than ever before.

Essentially, I have decided that this is the 2 week cycle where I am not going to worry about scale weight. I am just going to worry about strength training. For the sake of science, I am going to work on the hypothesis that I am loosing 0.5 to 0.6 pounds of pure fat each day. This loss is courtesy of surgical modifications in my digestive tract. It is reliable and dependable. I can bank on it. I am focusing exclusively on muscularity and strength. I am trying to raise my resistance each time out, and do more reps.

I am hoping and praying the kiss of the Nautilus is activating my muscle memory, and doing so at a pace that is equal to the rate of pure fat loss. If such is the case, I should have lost 3 pounds of pure fat, and added 3 pounds of pure muscle. This is certainly possible, as only 0.5 pounds of that muscle would be new muscle. The rest would be recovered lean weight.

If this were to continue all the way through to Sept 2, my fat weight will drop from 62 to 55 pounds and my total weight will remain constant at 212. Mathematically, 55/212 = 25.94%. In other words, my body fat percentage will drop quite considerably. Ultimately, this is the only thing that matters.

My body weight is already within acceptable parameters according to my orthopedic surgeon. Now leanness and muscularity are the only goals worth pursuing. Absolute weight is neither here nor there. In fact, I would prefer my body weight to remain slightly over 200 pounds whilst achieving a lean mass of 10-15%.

I don't want to be skinny, skinny, skinny.

212.0 before and after the pool party

Yesterday morning I weighed in at 212.0 on the Tanita scale. This morning I also weighed in at 212 on the Tanita scale. This was before and after the pool party yesterday.

I manned the grill at the pool party. This was a lot of fun, as I rarely get a chance to cook these days. The items on the menu were not of my choosing, but the standard sort of pool-party fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, a bit of Kielbasi, and a few steaks. A good time was had by all, and they liked the way I seasoned the steaks.

Next time, we will do a Paella.

Of course, manning the grill means quality control work. This taste testing. I ate a lot more at this party than I would normally eat in a day. I was quite surprised at the easy with which I consumed hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, and steak. Normally, I wouldn't have had more than one of those items in a day, and I would never mix. The more complex a dish, the more difficult to digest. Ordinarily a variety of complex proteins, eaten at one time, gives me trouble. Not yesterday. Who knows... maybe I crossed another threshold yesterday.

I wasn't too concerned about my weight this morning. I presumed that eating all that protein was a good thing. I am trying to gain back my lean weight. I did not consume a bunch of worthless candy, cake, cookies and ice cream calories. Nevertheless, I was... interested in the score this morning.

Evidently, the drop down to 209.34 was just a preview peek, and not a real or immediate achievement. I wonder if the 2.556 pounds of lean weight was just water weight, lost to dehydration. Of course, the Bod Pod would score me at 211.15 on both of these past two days, and this is 1.81 pounds higher than the Bod Pod test on Friday. This suggests that I may have lost a little lean weight, but it is not as bad as I originally thought. Just 0.746 of a pound, or less than 12 ounces.

I ran into a former employee of my current firm at the party. He hadn't seen me since the days of 320. He had no idea I had the surgery. This is a big-time Chicago Bear fan who had purchased Walter Payton and Dick Butkus jerseys back in the days when I was building my collection and organizing shipments from China. He flipped out when he saw me.

It turns out that a female cousin of his just had the surgery Friday. I also had my surgery on a Friday. His cousin was in a pre-diabetic stage, and needed the surgery to prevent this long-term terminal condition. It was interesting seeing the look in his eyes and watching his mind boggled. I don't need ESP to know what he was thinking. He was considering the magnitude of transformation his cousin was about to experience. He looked downright inspired.

That was the most memorable moment of the pool party. It must have been a divine appointment. He'll probably go visit with his cousin and tell her my story. This will serve as encouragement to get her through the early days of surgical recovery, which can be a little bit rough.

Bod Pod VIII: Victory spoiled

So today was Bod Pod VIII day. Just what were the results?

• My body weight went down from 220.348 to 209.34.
• This is a loss of 11.008 pounds
• 8.452 of those lost pounds were fat
• 2.556 of those pounds were lean tissue.
• My fat weight dropped from 70.865 to 62.414 pounds.
• My body fat ratio dropped 2.4%
• My official BFP is now 29.8%
• I am now over 70% lean.
• My body volume dropped from 97.356 liters to 92.042 liters
• This is a loss of 5.314 liters of body volume
• For what it is worth, my BMI is now between 29 and 30. Few medical professionals take BMI seriously.

There are reasons to be excited, there are reasons to be disappointed

• I was hoping to go inside 60 pounds of fat.
• I was hoping to go inside 28% BFP
• My BFP dropped 2.4%, which is 0.4% more than we would expect under the benchmark average.
• I lost 1.452 pounds more fat than we would expect under the benchmark average
• This came at a high trade-off, as I lost 2.556 pounds lean more than I should not have lost
• I also failed to gain new lean, increasing the negative.
• The net difference in terms of body fat percentage is negligible. If I had simply kept my lean and been 2.556 pounds heavier, my BFP would be only 0.34% lower.

As always, I was hoping for better. To make it short and sweet, it was an exciting week of rapid loss, spoiled at the very last minute by lean weight loss instead of lean gain.

The next Bod Pod will be on my 45th Birthday. Yep, that's right folks. We are officially 2 weeks away from the moment when Dave turns 45 years old. Shocking, isn't it? Where has that ocean of time gone? How have I dissolved half of 90 years already?

212.6... oh-oh!

T-48 hours and counting to Bod Pod VIII and my weight just took it's made its move in the other direction. I just weighed in at 21.6. That is up approximately 0.7 of a pound from yesterday, and I was confidently predicting I would be around the 210 mark today.

I spiked up before the last Bod Pod test, and that test turned out pretty well. This is not a reason to panic, but it is interesting. I am seeing a new pattern of a strong downward trend followed by some temporary movement up.

I wonder about one thing: Does this signify the end of the free-fall after the breakage of the last set-point? If so, it means I am going to be stuck here for a little while. It's awfully soon for another set-point to emerge.

We'll have to see. As I go lower and lower, it would be logical for my naturally endomorphic system to fight harder and harder against further loss. Further, my BMI shrinks more and more, tightening the window for weight loss.

211.9...?

This morning the scale was wobbling back and forth between 211.8 and 212.0. It had trouble making up its mind which to display. It settled on 212, once again choosing to round upward, rather than downward.

Just in case I haven't mentioned it, the Tanita scale I own is only capable of displaying weights in increments of 0.2 pounds. I am sure this high-end medical supply firm makes better and more accurate scales, however, I didn't buy one of those.

For the sake of argument, let's say I weigh in at 211.9. This means the Bod Pod would weigh me in at 211.05. This brings my total progress to 9.298 pounds with 3 days to go. The plummet continues, but it is slowing down.

I swear I'm going to bust the 10 pound barrier this time, and probably by a comfortable margin. I need all that weight to be fat weight, and some additional lean gain under the hood, if I am to have any chance of getting back on schedule.

I was about 8.5 pounds of fat behind schedule, when last I checked. If I were to loose 10 pounds of fat during this two week cycle, I would bring that deficit down by 3.0 pounds, putting me just 5.5 pounds behind the power curve.

Of course, if I have gained a pound of lean in the process, I would have lost another pound of fat under the scale's radar. That would leave me just 4.5 pounds behind the power curve.

The curiosity and excitement is building. Let's see how far I can push it this week. I look forward to this Bod Pod test with great interest.

212.4

I know, I know, I'm starting to sound like a broken record. 212.4 was the score this morning, according to the Tanita scale. This means the Bod Pod would have me at 211.55 this morning. With nearly 4 full days to go before Bod Pod VIII, I have now lost 8.798 pounds. I might reach 10.798 in gross loss this time.

Incidentally, I just noticed a typo in a previous blog post. I am going to have to go back and correct it. I was pretty groggy yesterday morning.

Down and down I go. The size 42 suit pants I bought yesterday aught to be nice a comfy, with a loose fit.

213.0

Ever had one of those mornings where you wake up feeling like an emaciated skeleton? One of those mornings where you felt like you could see every bone in your rib cage?

No, of course not. Kinda stupid question, isn't it? It would be completely preposterous, save for the fact that I just woke up feeling that way about a half-hour ago. I woke up feeling metabolically low, but I had a gut-level feeling that tremendous progress had been made

This morning, I weighed in at 213.0 on the Tanita scale. This was one of those mornings where the scale couldn't quite make up it's mind just how much I weighed. The digital read-out flickered back and forth between 212.8 and 213.0 about five or six times. The message is clear: I'm somewhere between 212.8 and 213.0, and the scale was having some difficulty determining whether it should round up or round down.

For the sake of argument, let's say I am 212.9 exactly. You know what this means. The Bod Pod would say I weigh 212.05 this morning. This brings my progress to nearly 8.298 pounds in just 8 days. There can be no doubt that I am bursting out of the set-point now. That's just way to fast.

For the sake of argument, let's say that 8.298 pounds was entirely fat-loss. I have some serious doubts about that, but let's hope it's true. This means I should have lost 4.29948 liters of body volume, and my body fat weight should be 62.567 pounds. If my lean remains constant, by Body Fat Percentage (BFP) should now be 29.5%. Further my total body volume should now be 93.056 liters. Wow...

I should admit that I woke up this morning feeling like 3 day old dog shit, run over by a truck, and warmed up in the microwave. Well... maybe not that bad. Perhaps, that is an exaggeration, but I feel like I have been through the ringer.

I am still trying to shake off the grog. This is the reason why I am exercising my brain, writing this blog entry. I'm trying to wake up.

Folks, I still have 6 days to go before Bod Pod VIII. Down and down I go, where I stop, nobody knows. I am looking right down the gun-barrel at an unprecedented week of remarkable progress. Although the way I feel is a red-flag warning sign, things are looking pretty damn good numerically. The anticipation is growing. I am really curious to see the results of this test.

Not a moment too soon, either. One of my Leo buddies is having a birthday pool-party next Saturday afternoon.

The shape of the new Murder-Days

Intro

In the early stages of body composition testing, I decided I did not like the results I was getting. To make strides at improvement, I intensified my workout routine greatly. I began working out twice a day rather than once a day. I began doing the ROM upper body workout again. I began raising the intensity and speed of all my exercise. I added in the sauna.

Well, all that was fine in those days, but it is pretty fucking passé nowadays. I’m way beyond that level at this point. Frankly, I’m scaring some people with workload I’m taking these days. There ain’t one dude at my company who can carry the weight of my jockstrap in a cardio stress test. Perhaps BB [the black-belt holding marathoner] can battle me, but I wouldn’t bet on her if I was you.

What does the new murder-day look like? Yesterday was a new-style murder day. Let me tell you about what I did yesterday.

Morning Workout

• One minute of shake weight.
• 4 minute ROM upper body workout
• One minute of shake weight
• 4 ROM Lower body workout
• One minute of shake weight
• 90 seconds of ROM Abdominal rows
• 90 seconds of ROM Oblique twists

Lunchtime workout

• 22 Minutes of Olympic Rowing, at level 10, covering 4,650 meters 256 kcal
• 16 minutes of treadmill walking ranging between 3.6 and 4.0 miles per hour at 6 to 8.5 elevation. 210 kcals burned

Evening workout

• 12 minutes of biking starting at 160 watts of resistance, finishing at 210. 156 kcals burned
• 22 minutes of Lifefitness Crosstrainer, the mountain patern, @level 15, burning 361 kcal, covering 2.3 miles.

Commentary

Whether you realize it or not, it is the ROM that is the power gear in this workout routine. It is far and away the most difficult of these exercises, and it sets up everything else. Incidentally, the ROM is set for 210 pounds of resistance, which is far above my ideal body weight. If I wanted to comply with the easy rules, I would take my resistance down to something between 180 and 190. I am working 20 pound heavier than I have to according to the rulebook.

You might comment that the duration of those exercises trends to the short side. You are quite correct. The emphasis is on intensity and difficulty of resistance. The focus is not on duration of the exercise. The objective is to get my heart rate and respiration rate up rapidly, and stretch that capacity. If my muscles aren't sore and full of lactic acid at the end of each run, I did something wrong. I will need to intensify again next time for sure.

You can't argue with success. The new focus on difficulty and intensity is producing great results. I just experienced a fine recovery of lean muscle tissue, and new growth continues. I just shattered my last set-point and I'm racing again.

I pulled out the old Voldyne 5000 they gave me at the hospital after Gastric Bypass. This device is designed to help you stretch your lung capacity [and measure your lung capacity] in the immediate aftermath of major internal surgery. I rang the bell on my very first breath. I popped the meter all the way up to the 5 liter mark on the very first try.

Just what does that mean? It means that I have the capacity to suck in 5 liters of air (or more) with just one breath. It ain’t hard either. This means my lungs have excellent capacity. All else being equal, this should lead to an excellent capacity to do cardio vascular work. Believe me, it’s true.

Looking forward to Bod Pod VIII

I weighed in at 215.0 this morning on the Tanita scale, and Bod-Pod VIII happens in just 6 days. Just what can I expect? Well, let’s lay out what we know:

• I would weigh in at 214.15 on the Bod Pod this morning.
• This indicates that I have lost 6.148 pounds of gross tonnage in the past week.
• I have been losing weight at an average of approximately 0.5 pounds per day since this process began.
• This almost exactly in-line with the doctrine Dr. Quilici’s people have quoted for me.
• We have 6 days to go.
• Ergo, it is theoretically possible for me to lose another 3 pounds of fat during this time.
• I just broke through my last set-point, and my progress is bursting.
• According to the hypothetical projections I made in June, I am something like 7-9 pounds behind schedule, despite my burst of progress.

These facts leave me with a pair of monumental questions to answer. These questions have to be answered if I am to accurately predict where I will be on Friday

• Will current burst of progress produce a full catch-up effect? Will I get back on schedule because of this present burst?
• Even if the present free-fall catches me up, will this burst complete my catch-up by Friday? What if it finishes on the Monday after Bod Pod VIII?

If I were to lay-down a set of reasonable predictions, they would look like the following:

• I will lose 3 more pounds of gross tonnage
• I will add 2 pounds of lean weight to my frame
• My total fat loss will be 6.148 + 3 + 2 = 11.148
• My total weight will be 211.199 pounds
• My total lean weight will be 151.482 (149.482 + 2.0 = 151.482)
• My total fat weight will be 59.717 pounds.
• My lean/fat ratio will be 71.725% / 28.275%
• My body volume will decrease by 5.776 liters (11.148 / 1.93 = 5.776)
• My total body volume will be 91.58 liters
• This will leave me 10 pounds behind schedule

These are ambitious figures, but I think the present burst out of my last set-point justifies these predictions. Now, lean weight will play a major factor here. A drop in lean weight, or big gain in lean weight, will change these numbers significantly. As always, I have to watch my lean and maintain my lean carefully. I need to ensure my protein intake is sufficient in this coming week.

One very interesting point to make special note of: When I began testing, my body volume was 117.111 liters. If I hit my targets, my body volume will be 91.58 liters. This will mean that I will have lost some 25.531 liters of body volume since April 13, 2011. That’s a 21.8% reduction in body volume in a little more than 3 months. I will be something like 78% of my former size, and will have lost more than a fifth of my volume in just that time.

Think about 13 of those 2 liters of Pepsi you like to buy for game day. Imagine me walking around with 13 of those bottles attached to my body. Now imagine all of those bottles disappearing. That’s a stunning thought, isn’t it?

Of course, this pales in comparison to the 115.8 pound and (estimated) 60 liter drop in volume I have already experienced.

215.2

The plummet continues unabated.

Just a few moments ago I weighed in at 215.2 on the Tanita scale. You know what that means. The Bod Pod would have me at 214.35. Yesterday, the score was 216.4. That's another 1.2 pounds overnight.

I am now certain I have broken through another system set-point. We have a full-scale metabolic capitulation here.

It's Wednesday, August 10, 2011. Hardly 5 days have elapsed since my last Bod Pod. Five days ago, my weight was 220.348, and today it is 214.35 (on the Bod Pod scale). In less than 5 days, my weight has plummeted 5.998 pounds. That's too fast. Team-Quilici would flip-out.

Still, it makes up for a long and lingering hang-up at the end of my last set-point. They would understand that. I guess you could say I am playing catch-up. I've gotten quite a burst of progress here.

Down and down he goes, and where he stops, nobody knows. Who knows where this next plummet will finish off. This could be my final descent. This one might take me all the way inside 200 pounds.

One thing is for sure, this next Bod Pod test is going to be a good one.