Fitness Challenge!

[creagdhubh]

Day 2 of my 'back in shape' program was yesterday. I realise it is still early, but everything has been going rather well thus far. I am sore as heck, which is typical, and something not very unfamiliar to me, but I am already sleeping better, and feel the energy boost gradually returning! I have been limiting my daily caloric intake as well (no more than 1,200 calories per day), but without starving myself, which ultimately, never works in the end.

I drink tons of water throughout the day; and pre and post workout, I drink Gatorade G2. I also drink a small glass of fat-free, organic milk with dinner, as well as having a small glass of V8 low sodium every day. I eat a lot of salads, just because I love salad! It's usually always mixed greens with spinach, almond shavings, dried cranberries, and a low-fat vinigarette of some sort. I sometimes add small pieces of grilled chicken breast to the salad as well, for protein. Most of my larger meals, aka, dinner, consist mainly of fish (albacore tuna, mahi mahi, trout, salmon, etc) or chicken, with tons of fresh raw, or steamed veggies. I snack on fresh fruit - blueberries, bananas, cranberries, cantaloupe, raspberries - throughout the day, along with unsalted almonds. Fat-free yogurt and a multi-grain English muffin, or fiber cereal, with orange juice, is usually what I have for breakfast.

Bottom line with good nutrition, it's really all about healthy choices; being consistent in those choices, and portion control. Naturally, if one wishes to lose weight, caloric intake must be less than what you burn whilst working out. I am looking forward to working out everyday now, and the funny thing that happens every time, without fail, is that once you begin to take care of your body physically, you begin to crave healthy foods and not the greasy, fried nastiness - it's amazing - happens to me every time!

Things I cut out completely from my diet:

-Desserts
-Soda
-Fast food
-High-sodium foods
-High-sugary foods
-High-fat foods
-Anything fried
-Candy

*Consumption of alcohol is limited, but not eliminated.


Best of luck to all!

[Brett]

Day 2 of my 'back in shape' program was yesterday. I realise it is still early, but everything has been going rather well thus far. I am sore as heck, which is typical, and something not very unfamiliar to me, but I am already sleeping better, and feel the energy boost gradually returning! I have been limiting my daily caloric intake as well (no more than 1,200 calories per day), but without starving myself, which ultimately, never works in the end.

I drink tons of water throughout the day; and pre and post workout, I drink Gatorade G2. I also drink a small glass of fat-free, organic milk with dinner, as well as having a small glass of V8 low sodium every day. I eat a lot of salads, just because I love salad! It's usually always mixed greens with spinach, almond shavings, dried cranberries, and a low-fat vinigarette of some sort. I sometimes add small pieces of grilled chicken breast to the salad as well, for protein. Most of my larger meals, aka, dinner, consist mainly of fish (albacore tuna, mahi mahi, trout, salmon, etc) or chicken, with tons of fresh raw, or steamed veggies. I snack on fresh fruit - blueberries, bananas, cranberries, cantaloupe, raspberries - throughout the day, along with unsalted almonds. Fat-free yogurt and a multi-grain English muffin, or fiber-one cereal, with orange juice, is usually what I have for breakfast.

Bottom line with good nutrition, it's really all about healthy choices; being consistent in those choices, and portion control. Naturally, if one wishes to lose weight, caloric intake must be less than what you burn whilst working out. I am looking forward to working out everyday now, and the funny thing that happens every time, without fail, is that once you begin to take care of your body physically, you begin to crave healthy foods and not the greasy, fried nastiness - it's amazing - happens to me every time!

Best of luck to all!

your diet sounds pretty spot on for health and your last paragraph sums up the process very well.

[Joshua]

Helped a friend move during a fast yesterday. Amazingly enough, feel great this morning although I did have to sleep in a little. I was a little woozy after breaking down and packing furniture into my truck with just the fuel on my torso. Today's weigh-in was 2lbs less than yesterday, so I guess I did alright.

Art DeVany talks about fasted workouts producing growth hormone, don't know how valid this is but I trust ol' Art - he's a smart guy.

[Brett]

Helped a friend move during a fast yesterday. Amazingly enough, feel great this morning although I did have to sleep in a little. I was a little woozy after breaking down and packing furniture into my truck with just the fuel on my torso. Today's weigh-in was 2lbs less than yesterday, so I guess I did alright.

Art DeVany talks about fasted workouts producing growth hormone, don't know how valid this is but I trust ol' Art - he's a smart guy.

There is some really interesting new research regarding fasting and it's effects on weight loss, health and even strength and muscle hypertrophy and all of it's very positive.

On Martin Berkhead's site, www.leangains.com, he has some really interesting articles that debunk the whole idea of several small meals a day and breakfast being the most important meal of the day.

Some of the current research suggests 2-3 meals a day(intermittant fasting), at most, may have much more positive effects for fighting cancer cell growth and that several small meals might feed cancer cells and increase the risk of mutation to a malignant growth. On the weight loss front, newer research is suggesting fewer daily meals and may blunt hunger better, control blood sugar more efficiency and promote nutrient partitioning better than the frequent meal plan.

[Joshua]

On the weight loss front, newer research is suggesting fewer daily meals and may blunt hunger better, control blood sugar more efficiency and promote nutrient partitioning better than the frequent meal plan.

During my strongman days, I was doing the frequent meal thing, about 4x 750 calorie meals and in-between them, a protein shake, for about 4k kcal/day. If I skipped a meal back then, I was irritable, grumpy, and really couldn't function.

Today, I find I can go up to about 30 hours or so without eating before I'm even affected. Intermittent Fasting really teaches you to punch hunger in the throat.

[Brett]

During my strongman days, I was doing the frequent meal thing, about 4x 750 calorie meals and in-between them, a protein shake, for about 4k kcal/day. If I skipped a meal back then, I was irritable, grumpy, and really couldn't function.

Today, I find I can go up to about 30 hours or so without eating before I'm even affected. Intermittent Fasting really teaches you to punch hunger in the throat.

Agreed.

Over the years of low carb dieting, I have done it many different ways. Compressing my calories into two meals a day really fills me up and controls hunger very well for me.

Conversely, dieting on 6 meals a day ends up being six snacks with none of those meals being very satiating, making diet compliance much more difficult.

[Joshua]

I've started a training log here on Xmarks.

Just ask Alan H. "If you build it, they will come".

For those interested...

I convert all my weights into kg for the reason that I also train at an olympic weightlifting gym that only uses kg and it's easier to record my personal bests that way. It also makes it easier on our International forum... at least I'm not using "stone"... sheesh.

[creagdhubh]

your diet sounds pretty spot on for health and your last paragraph sums up the process very well.

Cheers, Brett!