281.2

The same today as yesterday. I'd better kick it in a bit today because the weekend is going to be tough. I will be doing more physical work, because I will be camping with the scouts, but we have a good menu planned, and what's funner than eating on a campout. Must, practice, moderation...

281.2

I thought yesterday's was a bit low. I probably was a little dehydrated when i weighed in yesterday. I did have 2 "Moulderburgers" since yesterday's weigh in, one last night and 1 for brunch. That's all I've eaten so far today, but I will have a reasonable dinner and be good.

280.2

OK, this is even a bit fast for me. I didn't eat much yesterday, and was hungry a bunch because of it. For breakfast I had 4 tiny twice baked potatoes, lunch lightly mayo'd sandwich (not light mayo cause that's just sick), and dinner (late ~9pm) about 2 cups of strawberry mini spooners (Mini-wheats).

284.4

Ok so the last post (my first in the series) was my first weigh-in from Friday. After a weekend of eating normal ammounts I have lost about 5 pounds. Still just eating smaller portions.

289.8

That is my weigh-in weight for our boggest loser competition. If you haven't signed up yet please call 801-796-7961 and make an appointment to weigh-in. I hope to use this blog to document not only my progress in the competition by to clearly state the "why" behind my weight loss techniques.

Let me give you some history about me, I had always been very skinny, had difficulty putting on weight, etc. in high school. That changed on my mission in Alabama. Being on a bike most of the time meant my appetite went way up, and I was getting older so my metabolism was slowing down. We were also fed extremely well with dinner appointments of good southern cooking nearly every night. I went out about 185 and came home about 245. Since then I haven't really gotten out of control. When I met Sarah I had just been on a fad ephedrine diet and lost about 20 lbs (down to 225). When I got married I was 255, and have just crept up a few pounds per year over the last 13 years of marriage. I would be happy to get down to my freshly married weight of 255, and could realistically only get down to about 225 or 230 as an absolute low. I don't think it would be healthy for me to lose 35 pounds in 8 weeeks, but I am shooting for a good 20 pounds before the end of biggest loser.

The plan for the first couple weeks of the competition (which ends October 8, 2010) is to eat like a human. There is no secret about why I am heavier than I should be, I love food. I love cooking old favorites, and trying new things that sound really good. I enjoy the time spent with family and friends while eating, and enjoy making people feel welcome by feeding them well. I don't believe anyone has left the Moulder house hungry after being invited for dinner. All of this means that I just eat too much food, so the plan for the first stage of this project (I love projects) is to simply eat smaller portions. No crazy diets, no low carb (yet), no grapefruits, just eat about half of what I normally eat. I figure this will put me in the ideal 2000 to 2500 calories per day relm.

I usually start this by fasting for 24 hours with lots of water. I didn't get to do that this time, but I think it helps shrink my stomach so I don't feel so hungry. The key is breaking the fast with as small of a meal as you can so your body doesn't feel like it is just holding out for "the big one" at the end of the fast.

It is always a good idea to take a good multi-vitamin while losing weight. The extra nutrients really help cut down on cravings, so I've started those as well.

Good luck with your own weight loss goals and keep watching here for more updates!

www.mountmahogany.com

www.mountmahogany.com

We are pleased to announce that our web page is up and running. It is still not complete, but it will replace our blog here. Check it out, and sign up for email updates by sending an email to info at mountmahogany.com. If you sign up for email updates you will receive $5 off your next visit.

What is Myotherapy?

Myotherapy is a term that literally means muscle therapy. We use the term myotherapy to differentiate our services from those that one would find at a typical spa or resort. While we can do spa-type services, we have chosen to focus on therapeutic techniques to effectively treat muscle pain or soft tissue injuries. These therapies include trigger point therapy, myofascial release, deep tissue, and sports massage. We can also employ active and passive stretching, and hot and cold therapies into each individual treatment plan. There is some good that can come from simply relaxing for an hour, but we believe that these therapies are far more effective at changing the structure and function of the muscular system than simply “spreading lotion around.”

Contributed by: Dr. Moulder and all myotherapists.

Ice vs. Heat

This is a common one that comes up in our office all the time. There are a couple questions that you have to ask, but as a general rule ice is better than heat. Ice reduces inflammation which is generally responsible for the sharp pain you may be experiencing. Many times we use ice to aid the healing process. There is no healing without inflammation! The problem is that inflammation is not very efficient on its own, it tends to all rush in and try to fix the problem all at once, creating a gridlock-like situation in your blood vessels. Ice closes down the blood vessels, squeezing the inflammatory cells and blood products out of the area. This allows new, fresh blood products and cells to come in and heal the injured area. In this type of icing, the number of cycles that you have the ice on and off is critical to how well the ice works. The more cycles you can ice, the better, and faster, the area will heal. Think of it as wringing the soap out of a sponge. The soap never really gets rinsed away if you simply run water over the sponge, but if you squeeze the sponge you can clear the soap very quickly.

Heat is appropriate in some situations. It is generally easy to tell when to heat by the type of pain you are having. Sharp or stabbing pain should always be iced, dull or achy pain that does not have any kind of sharp component (like with certain movements) can be heated. This type of pain is very common after a good workout, but wait about 24 hours after the workout to make sure there is no sharp pain which would indicate an injury. It is also appropriate to heat an area after an injury as long as ALL of the sharp pain has passed. Heat will allow the blood vessels to expand, which will clear any lactic acid built up in well worked muscles. It will also make the muscles, tendons, and ligaments more flexible which will relieve a lot of stiffness. Stretching after heating is a great way to increase flexibility without risking additional injury to the soft tissues. A hot tub is one of the best ways to heat an area, but if one is not available a long, hot bath will do just fine. Even a long shower can be a very beneficial method of heating an area. A dry heating pad placed over an area is the least effective method of heating. Without the moisture the heat never really penetrates the skin to get to the muscles below. Some heating pads come with a wettable cover to supply moist heat, but I am not a big fan of mixing water and electricity.

I hope this has been educational for you. As a reward for reading this post tell us the secret password: CHATTANOOGA for $5 off of one of our high quality ice packs that we have for sale in the office.

Contributed by: Dr. Moulder