The Progressing Pilgrim

Insights for developing a healthy body, mind and spirit

How To Use The MyFitnessPal App On Your Mobile Device

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how to use myfitnesspal mobile app

Disclosure: We received no compensation from MyFitnessPal or Under Armour for this post.

In a previous post, I showed you how to use the MyFitnessPal app to calculate your daily food consumption for a ketogenic diet. For Barbara and me, this app has been absolutely essential to our keto diet success story.

However, shortly after publishing that post, I realized that most of our friends probably use their mobile devices a lot more than a laptop. Unfortunately, the screenshots I used in that tutorial were from my laptop.

So, in order for you to experience the same keto diet success that Barbara and I have had, I thought it would be helpful if I put together a tutorial on how to use the MyFitnessPal (MFP) app on your handheld device too. [Read more…]

Our Keto Journey Part 5: Important Tweaks We Made For Keto Success

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In previous posts, Barbara and I have talked about our goals and successes with the ketogenic diet. In my last post, I showed you the simple strategy we use to configure our macros for the diet. 

You’re now familiar with what a keto diet is and how ketosis affects your body. You’ve established why you want to go keto (e.g.. weight loss, help in treating a specific health condition, or enhanced physical performance). And you’ve solved the mystery of macro calculation.

So now you’re ready to dive right into the keto diet, right? Well, not so fast. Slow down a bit.

You’re not going to just jump into a lake without knowing something about the depth of the water or its temperature. So it is with the keto diet. Even after knowing what your daily macronutrients should be, there are still several other important things about the Keto diet that you need to know.

You might have heard some of the horror stories from people who’ve tried keto. Some report that they experienced the dreaded “keto flu”. Others complain that their strength training suffered horribly, some are hungry all the time, and others complain that they just can’t find good keto recipes.

In this post, I’ll show you how Barbara and I avoided most of the problems associated with the ketogenic diet and how we quickly corrected a very annoying unexpected problem. [Read more…]

Our Keto Journey Part 4: How We Calculate Our Keto Diet Macros

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beef, liver, onions, bacon, paleo, gluten free, quick easy recipe

In this fourth post in our series Our Ketogenic Diet Journey, I’ll give you a behind the curtains peek at how Barbara and I configured our ketogenic diet.

The keto diet with its amazing health benefits is finally becoming mainstream. More and more people are turning to the diet as an effective weight loss strategy and as an important means to help in the management of a variety of health problems.

However, a common criticism of the diet is that it’s extremely hard to configure and follow. I read on forums all the time people asking questions like: how many carbs can I eat? What should my maximum protein intake be? I’m eating a high-fat diet so why am I not losing weight?

People want to follow the diet. And they want the health benefits it confers, but they think it’s too complicated to follow and get right. But it doesn’t have to be. In this post, I’ll show you why. [Read more…]

Our Keto Journey Part 3: Defeating A Skinny Fat Body And Healing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

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Our Keto Journey

This is part 3 of our series Our Keto Journey. In our last post, Barbara highlighted how a ketogenic diet helped her shed fat and is helping her guard against Alzheimer’s Disease. However, as I mentioned in this post here, not everyone goes keto for the same reasons. Remember, a keto diet is high in healthy fat, moderate in protein, and very low in carbs (<30 net grams /day).

In my case, I wasn’t overweight, but I did have a metabolically dangerous visceral fat issue that required I go keto. Also, since the keto diet has potent anti-inflammatory effects, I wanted to see if it was possible for the diet to get me over the last hurdle of recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

Let’s first take a look at my use of a ketogenic diet for my fat problem.

A recent report found that the obesity epidemic in the United States is continuing to grow to unhealthy proportions. This means that tens of millions of Americans will continue to be at a high risk for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and many types of cancer.

But did you know that there are millions of individuals who don’t look obese, who are technically not overweight, but who are metabolically obese? [Read more…]

Our Keto Journey Part 2: Getting Rid Of Stubborn Pounds And Guarding Against Alzheimer’s

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In the first post in this series, John presented a 5,000-foot view of what a ketogenic diet looks like. If you’re completely unfamiliar with a keto diet, we suggest you read that post first. In this post today, I’ll share why I went keto. In the next post, John will be sharing his story.

The important takeaway in these next two posts is that not everyone goes on a keto diet for the same reasons. Some go on it to treat a specific illness while some go on it because it may have the potential to prevent certain diseases. Others go on it because they want to lose a lot of weight quickly, some believe it’s a healthy way of eating, and others are seeking enhanced sports performance.

Let me tell you why I decided to go keto and why you may want to consider it too.  [Read more…]

Our Ketogenic Diet Journey Part 1: Keto Is Red Hot! Here’s Why

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PURE studyBarbara and I have been on a ketogenic diet for about eight months, and we’re absolutely amazed at the results. So far, I’ve lost 4 inches off my waist, I’m full of energy and I haven’t lost any muscle mass or strength. Barbara is also experiencing excellent results.

Now throw into the mix that we’re never hungry and it sounds like the perfect diet, doesn’t it? Well, no diet is perfect because we are all individuals with different needs. But if you need to lose weight, want to heal from a particular illness, or are an athlete looking to fuel your body in a more efficient way, the keto diet might be for you.

Barbara and I have similar but also different reasons for going “keto”. In this series of posts, I’ll tell you why we’re following a keto diet and how we’re doing it. [Read more…]

How to Recompose Your Dad Bod in Less Than a Year (Even if You’re in Your 50s)

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How to Recompose Your Dad Bod in Less Than a Year

Okay, guys. You’ve put your kids through school. Your mortgage is almost paid. Your job… well, we won’t dwell on that. It could always be better, right?

You’ve come to that place in life where you can finally start to think about living the dream.

But then you start to notice little things about yourself. You’re a little (I’m being kind here) larger around the waist.

And you’re not really comfortable in a bathing suit because of your moobs and all.

You can’t bound up a flight of steps like you once did. And you hope none of your friends asks you to help him move because you know your back won’t stand the strain.

Then the reality of mortality really sets in. You visit your doctor, and he says to you, “Your cholesterol and blood pressure are a little high.” And, then he drops the final hammer, “Your blood sugar is high as well.

He doesn’t give you any medicine this time, but he tells you that if you don’t lose weight and your numbers don’t come down, he’ll have to give you a prescription for ___________ (you fill in the blank) at your next visit.

What do you do? If you gain weight or even keep the status quo, you’ll probably end up on a statin, BP meds, or a diabetes med for the rest of your life. And, remember, those meds don’t come without some adverse reactions.

And even if those meds reduce some symptoms, chronic disease will eventually take its toll.

Fortunately, you can pursue another course of action.

You can take control of your health and in the process transform that dreadful dad bod into a lean, metabolically healthy machine, similar to the one you had years ago or (if you’re like me) into one you never had. [Read more…]

Why I Needed To Recompose My Body At 60-Years Old: The Skinny-Fat Problem

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When I started strength training three and a half years ago, my main goal was to regain some of the muscle I had lost from years of inactivity due to chronic fatigue syndrome.

After my initial two and a half years of barbell training, I accomplished that goal and more. Not only had I improved my muscle mass, but I had become stronger than I’d been in the previous 27 years.

However, what I had failed to do was eliminate 40 years of excess fat around my abdomen and chest.

Here’s something I learned after three years of lifting. If you’re in my age range, you won’t lose significant pounds by simply weight training.

If you’re a serious lifter or doing a lot of high-intensity training you might induce weight loss if you’re burning huge amounts of calories.

But if you’re an older guy you won’t lose weight. Sorry, exercise doesn’t produce significant weight loss.

Now here was my specific problem. The excess fat I was carrying around posed a significant health risk.

Even though I wasn’t terribly overweight my waist was approaching obese territory. And it was out of proportion to my legs and hips. Also, I was carrying around a disproportionate amount of fat to muscle.

This is called a skinny-fat body type and is considered by health professionals to be metabolically unhealthy.

With that in mind, my goal now was not only to continue to get stronger but also to become leaner and healthier.

In part 1 of this series, I’ll discuss the problems associated with a high waist measurement and excess body fat.

In part two I’ll explain how I was able to increase my strength and lose body fat and significant inches off my waist.

[Read more…]

Adjusting My Programming As A Masters Intermediate Lifter – Weekly Workout 9/18

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Strength coaches will tell you that strength training programming for us older guys and gals can be difficult.  If we’re not careful, excess volume or intensity can wear us down very rapidly.

Since we don’t recover as well as 25-year-olds, the danger of over-training for us masters lifters (45 years old and up) is always something to be critically aware of.

However, under-training can also be problematic as it often leads to stagnation or regression.

Finding the proper balance between overtraining and undertraining requires experience and self-awareness. [Read more…]

My Deadlift Injury And The Starr Rehab Program- Weekly Workouts 8/28-9/4

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This week was the first time I wasn’t able to complete a lift session because of pain. On the 5th rep on my second working set of deadlifts (235# 1 x 5), I felt a shooting pain travel down the left side of my lower back.

Because it hurt a lot more than an ordinary back spasm, I thought I had torn a muscle. As it turned out, I hadn’t, but the experience reminded me that I had to pay special attention to how I lifted going forward.

I had suffered three episodes of bad back spasms in the last two months, and now I had the worst one during a lift. Something wasn’t right.

It was time to reevaluate my lifting program. [Read more…]