Month 1, Days 10-13 of the 6 pack abs challenge – a few things to quickly bring you up to speed on my weight loss and Abs goal – and avoid boring details:

• 9 Days into the challenge I was down 13 pounds
• all moved into the new place (boxes are moved anyway and we can see floors in a few areas so I’m counting that as moved)
• 10 day cleanse completed on Friday
• Great weight loss in the first 10 days 
• Getting back to normal routines
  • early workouts
  • late pickups for kids practice
  • one day on the lake relaxing!

Now here is the scary part…

10 Day Cleanse results

Remember when I said at the end of day 9 it would be interesting to see how I adjust after the 10 day cleanse?  Well, let’s just say it wasn’t what I expected, but I did find out some things that I think caused me to yo-yo weight like a M F’r.

Here is how it played out.

Day 10 – ended at 191 – up one pound from the day before, but kinda of expected a bit of fluctuation.

Day 11 – stayed steady at 191 – nice. Thought I would add one there after the cleanse.

Day 12 – 193.5. WTH? Maybe just an anomaly. Let’s see how tomorrow turns out…

Day 13 – 193.5. Confirmed WTF in progress.

OK, time to step back and analyze this ish! (I told you a long time ago I, Joe, am very analytical so you knew this was coming)

Why did I gain weight?

There are only a few reasons you(I) gain weight…

1. Eating more calories than you burn
2. Eating salt or basically holding water
3. Building muscle
4. Exercising less
5. Sleep deprivation
6. Eating the wrong kinds of foods – wrong balance of carbs, fat, protein, etc. This varies by person.
7. Medical conditions/drugs/Metabolism decreases

Since this was a fast jump, I can rule out the last one – medical conditions/drugs/etc. I hope

For the same reason, I can rule out building muscle – although I think I am long term, short term there is no way I added 3-4 pounds of muscle in a day (no, neither can you)

I can also rule out Exercising less – I missed one workout, but did lots more activity with the move.

That leaves Eating more calories, Eating salt, Eating the wrong kinds of foods, and Sleep deprivation.

Was it eating more calories?

I came off the cleanse at day 10, but I didn’t really eat that much more.

What did happen is I didn’t have all my kitchen stuff unpacked so I did eat out more. However, I ate the healthy options and I’m pretty sure I didn’t eat too many calories – even if I did, it wasn’t 12,000 calories wrong in 2 days…

One tricky thing I found was some trail mix I bought because I didn’t have my normal protein snacks I make. I was eating handfuls of what I thought was good for you stuff – nuts, raisins, cranberries, yogurt… wrong! It was WAY more calories than I guessed – should have turned the package over and looked first.

Was it eating salt?

Ahh, now we may be getting somewhere.

That same trail mix was LOADED with sodium. Also, most fast food, even the healthier choices, are high in sodium.

A couple of other potential problems… Most of the foods come with a flavor or sauce. Sauces are almost always very salty. Another problem is I packed my normal energy aka caffeine drinks and I didn’t have them so I reasoned it would be ok to have some of my favorite soda – Diet Mountain Dew. I will admit I have had an addiction to that stuff forever. I haven’t been drinking it, but I did the last few days. I also ate some peanut butter filled pretzels. More salt.

OK, part of it is definitely salt.

Was it eating the wrong kinds of foods?

Over the years, I have found that I have a problem most people don’t…

I love protein and carbs and almost never crave fat. On my normal days I force myself to eat a balance of fat – nuts, coconut, some from meat, peanut butter, butter, etc.

These days I didn’t focus on it so I bet I ate nothing but protein and carbs.

Trust me, I understand people who crave fat like chips, ice cream, and stuff, I just have kind of the opposite cravings.

I could eat bread, cereal, and any other carb you can think of… a LOT of it! I had stopped eating bread and cereal during the 10 day cleanse. Hmmmm.

So this is obviously part of the problem as well.

Was it sleep deprivation?

Now before you go judging me, I already know the importance of sleep. I always say I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

The question is, was it a factor here? Well, during the move and leading up to it, I was so busy working and moving from 5am to 10pm that I was sleeping solid for 6 hours, maybe 7 or 8 some days.

That probably sounds like I wasn’t getting enough, but that is 2-3 hours more than my normal.

My “normal” is go to bed at 11 or 12 and get up at 3 or 4 at the latest – 5 days a week. On the weekends I will sleep 8.

I’ve been doing this for 30 years or more. Even before that, as a little kid, I would stay up very late reading, playing games, and running around outside – you know, the stuff kids used to do before they permanently buried their noses in their phones and games. Then my Dad would always wake me up early to help him work. He is 76 now and works 50+ hour weeks in construction, has a side business selling vegetables and fruit, and is still strong as an ox. I inherited his sleep habits I guess.

Now here is the interesting thing – the day I jumped back up was the day I went back to my “normal” sleep. And the next day was the same sleep and same weight.

That has to be related.

So now you have a better idea of where I am and where I think I sabotaged myself. Not 100% certain on the cause or causes so what am I going to do about it?

The weight factors adjustment plan

I would like to say I will adjust all of them and be perfect, but that would be a lie. I won’t. If I did, I would fail in one day and that doesn’t help anyone.

The last one I’m going to do, at least for the next 5 years, is change my sleep habits. Until my girls grow up, move off to college, and I have no practices to chauffeur, and no side projects running through my brain, I will be in this mode.

To see if what I think is the problem is really the problem, I am going to do three things.

One and two, reduce my salt intake drastically, cut out Diet Mountain Dew, watch labels closely for sodium and be diligent about getting the right number of calories.

Three is probably going to be a little harder with football season here and the lake still calling my name, but I have to get the right balance of food. I’m going back to no bread or cereal and focusing on good, clean fats, protein, and carbs.

Sounds simple enough, so let’s see how this goes. I really don’t want to sleep more so I hope this fixes it!

Here is the chart showing my progress – that is a couple of hella swings isn’t it?

Check how I am progressing on my abs goal this month here!

Or go straight to Days 3-9 here

And Day 14 here

Comment below if you have ideas or suggestions or just want to share your experience with weight loss/gain!