For me personally cheat days are a waste. They provide an excuse to get out of the habit of eating healthy and eating for a purpose. Some people would argue that "I would go insane without a cheat day", I would say why not make it a cheat meal? or a cheat dessert? I will not dedicate an entire day every week to cheating, it just doesn't fall in line with my goals. I can't work as hard as I do through the week with my diet and training only to spend an entire day shoveling 4000+ calories into my body, and trust me once you've done this after eating so clean it only makes you feel ten times worse physically.
Super Bowl Sunday came up pretty quick and while my fiance and I got our chicken strips with garlic spicy sauce ready, I realized that even on a full cheat day we were planning ahead and not making excuses as to what we were going to eat. We did cheat a little, but I made it worth it. My step mom makes this pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting that I made sure to have a slice of. Outside of that one slice I kept it pretty clean, eating shrimp cocktail and munching on lean deli meats for the most part. The point is I try to keep my cheat meals to once a week and keep it moderate. Did I feel bad about that slice of cake? not at all, would I have felt bad about 4 slices of cake? absolutely.
The last thing about cheat meals is this, when you eat clean for long enough you begin to crave healthier foods. Your body is provided with the nutrients it needs and your cravings for fatty, salty, or calorie dense foods drop way down. I look at foods like pizza and donuts and think "I could have that, do I want it though?" not really. It took about a month of eating clean for that change to full take effect. When you do finally allow yourself to indulge once or twice a week, it's a reward and a treat. It does taste better than when it was a ritual to eat such foods.
Progress: Since eating clean my workouts have skyrocketed in energy and progress. I've lost a LOT of weight in my mid section and I'm almost two notches down on my belt. Visibly in the mirror I look leaner, stronger and just more fit. I was worried this morning because I felt that maybe I've gone down too much in weight to look this fit, (thinking I've sacrificed muscle). I got on the scale expecting 189-191 ish. To my surprise I was 195, the same weight as 2 weeks ago but significantly leaner. The protein rich diet is keeping my muscles from being sacrificed. What a boost for the day!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Daily diet
I know it's probably been said thousands of times to some of you guys, but diet is really 80% of the success you are going to see when on any type of fitness program. My diet is tailored to my specific goals, which currently are to maintain my current level of muscle while losing a steady amount of body fat each week, but not too much. It really is a balancing act, losing about 1-1.5 lbs per week for someone looking to shed a modest amount of fat is about right. Any more weight than that and you are dipping in to muscle stores. I shed about 5 lbs for the first 2 weeks when I started but that's mainly because my body was shocked back into a cardio and diet routine, the first 5 always come off pretty easily due to water retention and other factors.
Regarding complex carbohydrates, Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. In other words I taper off my carbs as the day goes on. Here is an example of a daily diet for me;
Breakfast: Kashi Golean cereal, 1 cup of cottage cheese with blueberries and sugar free jelly.
Pre-lunch: 1 slice of ezekiel bread with peanut butter, 1 scoop of Shakeology , 1 scoop of whey protein.
Lunch: 2 chicken breast and brown rice with some lowfat cheese and salsa.
Pre-Dinner: 1 slice of ezekiel bread with peanut butter, 2 scoops of whey protein.
Dinner: 2 portions lean protein (lean steak, chicken, fish, turkey...etc.), a large amount of vegatables (asparagus, broccoli, green beans, carrots...etc)
Before Bed: 2 scoops of casein protein.
Notice the drop in carbs as the day goes on. Your body is not in need of carbs towards the end of the day, you're winding down and getting ready for bed. Your body is entering a less active state and eventually a sleep state, you will be burning through carbs at a much lower rate. This is why they are not needed in the evening especially to promote fat loss, if you do have carb heavy meals before bed your body just ends up storing those carbs as fat. The protein intake almost always stays the same per meal (between 30-60grams of protein) as this is important to maintain muscle size while cutting, it also helps satiety.
Progress: Judging by the mirror I'm definitely losing more fat off my body. It's still steadily coming off and I can see the results. I've given myself a cheat day on Sunday, but when you kick ass all week at dieting and exercise I find myself not taking that cheat day or even a cheat meal. I just don't feel the craving for one thing, and for another I've worked hard and I don't care to set myself back even if it's just by a little.
Regarding complex carbohydrates, Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. In other words I taper off my carbs as the day goes on. Here is an example of a daily diet for me;
Breakfast: Kashi Golean cereal, 1 cup of cottage cheese with blueberries and sugar free jelly.
Pre-lunch: 1 slice of ezekiel bread with peanut butter, 1 scoop of Shakeology , 1 scoop of whey protein.
Lunch: 2 chicken breast and brown rice with some lowfat cheese and salsa.
Pre-Dinner: 1 slice of ezekiel bread with peanut butter, 2 scoops of whey protein.
Dinner: 2 portions lean protein (lean steak, chicken, fish, turkey...etc.), a large amount of vegatables (asparagus, broccoli, green beans, carrots...etc)
Before Bed: 2 scoops of casein protein.
Notice the drop in carbs as the day goes on. Your body is not in need of carbs towards the end of the day, you're winding down and getting ready for bed. Your body is entering a less active state and eventually a sleep state, you will be burning through carbs at a much lower rate. This is why they are not needed in the evening especially to promote fat loss, if you do have carb heavy meals before bed your body just ends up storing those carbs as fat. The protein intake almost always stays the same per meal (between 30-60grams of protein) as this is important to maintain muscle size while cutting, it also helps satiety.
Progress: Judging by the mirror I'm definitely losing more fat off my body. It's still steadily coming off and I can see the results. I've given myself a cheat day on Sunday, but when you kick ass all week at dieting and exercise I find myself not taking that cheat day or even a cheat meal. I just don't feel the craving for one thing, and for another I've worked hard and I don't care to set myself back even if it's just by a little.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Progress... It's coming along
Progress: Since my last post my progress is as follows.
Friday (1-6) - 5 am walk for 1.8 miles and DC Weight training in the afternoon. My diet was spot on. I even avoided some donuts at work, which is much easier when you have a plan. It's hard to have a donut when you know that it erases your morning cardio you worked so hard to get up and do!
Saturday (1-7) - 8am walk for 1.9 miles. I was able to keep my diet in line Saturday surprisingly, this is usually where I start to fall off the clean eating wagon.
Sunday (1-8) - I thought about taking a walk but kept this as a rest day for myself. I stayed in line with my eating habits. I did allow myself one cheat meal and 2 mixed drinks. The cheat meal was chicken noodle soop with garlic bread, so nothing too horrible and still maintained a solid level of protein.
Monday (1-9) - 5am walk for 1.85 miles in 33 minutes, I'm getting faster. DC Weight training in the afternoon. I see my weight training benefiting from my cardio workouts in the morning. I feel more energetic and I'm able to catch my breath a lot quicker.
Weight: I checked the scale since I started I've lost 5 lbs, which was so easy because basically I was maintaining 205 lbs just by eating horribly. My body doesn't naturally want to be that weight, once I cut back and started exercising it started to come back down. The first 5 lbs are always the easiest, we'll see how hard it gets once I want to see some abs!
Next post will be a small post for progress and I will go over the supplements I take and why. I will try to keep it reasonably short.
Friday (1-6) - 5 am walk for 1.8 miles and DC Weight training in the afternoon. My diet was spot on. I even avoided some donuts at work, which is much easier when you have a plan. It's hard to have a donut when you know that it erases your morning cardio you worked so hard to get up and do!
Saturday (1-7) - 8am walk for 1.9 miles. I was able to keep my diet in line Saturday surprisingly, this is usually where I start to fall off the clean eating wagon.
Sunday (1-8) - I thought about taking a walk but kept this as a rest day for myself. I stayed in line with my eating habits. I did allow myself one cheat meal and 2 mixed drinks. The cheat meal was chicken noodle soop with garlic bread, so nothing too horrible and still maintained a solid level of protein.
Monday (1-9) - 5am walk for 1.85 miles in 33 minutes, I'm getting faster. DC Weight training in the afternoon. I see my weight training benefiting from my cardio workouts in the morning. I feel more energetic and I'm able to catch my breath a lot quicker.
Weight: I checked the scale since I started I've lost 5 lbs, which was so easy because basically I was maintaining 205 lbs just by eating horribly. My body doesn't naturally want to be that weight, once I cut back and started exercising it started to come back down. The first 5 lbs are always the easiest, we'll see how hard it gets once I want to see some abs!
Next post will be a small post for progress and I will go over the supplements I take and why. I will try to keep it reasonably short.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Before pics and plan of attack
The Pics: I'm definitely overweight! I hold my weight pretty evenly throughout my body. When I gain, I gain everywhere and when I lose, I lose everywhere. My fatter areas are my butt, thighs, love handles and upper back near my shoulders and triceps.
The Plan of Attack: I will be fast walking about 3-6 times a week for about 30-60 minutes, this will target the fat burning zone and keep muscle loss at a minimum (vs jogging or high intensity cardio which will burn calories from all areas of the body). I will be weight training 3 days a week on the DC Program (more to come on that). The diet will consist of a 40/40/20 (carbs/protein/fat percentages of calories) split as best as I can stick to that. Dinners won't contain any carbohydrates outside of vegatables. I will dedicate a post to why I chose this diet later.
Progress: Yesterday I woke up at 5am and walked the dog for 40 minutes at a fast pace. In the afternoon I took a heaping scoop of Assault and weight trained DC Style (more on this in a future post). I ate 7 meals which are as follows;
Breakfast: Kashi Golean Cereal and 1 cup cottage cheese
Pre-lunch: 1 slice Ezekiel bread with natural peanut butter, 2 scoops of whey / casein protein.
Lunch: Beef Stew made with lean sirloin
Afternoon: 1 slice Ezekiel bread with natural peanut butter, 2 scoops of whey / casein protein.
Dinner: Lean sirloin steak (10oz) and asparagus spears
After Dinner: 1 scoop casein protein
Today I woke up again at 5am and walked the dog at a fast pace for 40 minutes.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The Goal and Stats
The Goal: I plan on losing about 8% bodyfat (about 16 lbs) through a combination of diet and exercise. Weight will be a factor but the way I look in the mirror will be more important. I may possibly gain some muscle while shedding some of the fat, though not likely. I'm going to continue weight training to maintain as much muscle mass as possible throughout this process.
The Stats: Currently I weigh 205 and I'm hovering closer to 20% body fat judging by the pictures I've taken, that's motivation in and of itself! I turned out bigger than I thought on camera (Pics will come later in the week).
My current stats for weight training;
Bench Press - 325 for 7
Squats - 275 for 8
Deadlifts - 275 for 8
I hope to bring up my Dead Lift and Squat as I continue this program as these stats are pretty lopsided.
Progress:
Monday - DC weight training in the morning, then walked (about 3 mph pace) for 45 minutes directly after.
Today - Got up at 5 (ugh) took 2 Oxyelite Pro (more on my current supplements in a future post) and took the dog for a walk (3mph pace) for 35 minutes.
So far I'm feeling good about everything, it's easier than I thought it would be to get back into it. I guess because I've been chomping at the bit to get going. I feel motivated and productive today, a nice side effect of morning workouts.
Later this week I will post pics as well as my full plan of attack.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
A little Background...
A little blurb about me.
While growing up I always looked up to the muscle bound hulks in the movies, Arnold, Sly, Van Damme. These guys, to me, were larger than life both physically and charismatically. Seeing these giants onscreen I always envisioned myself becoming the best I could be physically. In High School I wrestled at 125 weight class, I lost about 5 lbs to get to that weight and did OK at the sport. What I did realize is that I had somewhat of a genetic gift, I grew a muscular physique pretty fast outside of high school with some hard work and a horrible diet (That didn't come till later). My passion for sculpting my body was born. Fast forward 10 years later. I am now 200lbs and at about 18% Bodyfat. (Progress pictures to come) I've definitely gained and maintained a lot of muscle over the years and have dedicated myself to learning as much as I can about bodybuilding and physical fitness.
The purpose of this blog is going to morph over time, I know that already. I would like to start this blog as a fitness log complete with progess pics. My goal is simple: shed about 8% of my bodyfat (or 16 lbs) realistically over the next 4 months while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible, all if I can. I've done the cut and bulk phases before. This time I will be keeping a detailed log of my diet, workout description, and a paragraph or so about how I'm feeling about the progress I'm making and what I may or may not change. I'm creating this blog as a vehicle to keep myself accountable and possible learn something new in the process. As a side effect hopefully I'm providing someone new to the bodybuilding community with some information to keep them determined and motivated.
I hope to update this Blog 1-3 times a week starting January 2nd.
While growing up I always looked up to the muscle bound hulks in the movies, Arnold, Sly, Van Damme. These guys, to me, were larger than life both physically and charismatically. Seeing these giants onscreen I always envisioned myself becoming the best I could be physically. In High School I wrestled at 125 weight class, I lost about 5 lbs to get to that weight and did OK at the sport. What I did realize is that I had somewhat of a genetic gift, I grew a muscular physique pretty fast outside of high school with some hard work and a horrible diet (That didn't come till later). My passion for sculpting my body was born. Fast forward 10 years later. I am now 200lbs and at about 18% Bodyfat. (Progress pictures to come) I've definitely gained and maintained a lot of muscle over the years and have dedicated myself to learning as much as I can about bodybuilding and physical fitness.
The purpose of this blog is going to morph over time, I know that already. I would like to start this blog as a fitness log complete with progess pics. My goal is simple: shed about 8% of my bodyfat (or 16 lbs) realistically over the next 4 months while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible, all if I can. I've done the cut and bulk phases before. This time I will be keeping a detailed log of my diet, workout description, and a paragraph or so about how I'm feeling about the progress I'm making and what I may or may not change. I'm creating this blog as a vehicle to keep myself accountable and possible learn something new in the process. As a side effect hopefully I'm providing someone new to the bodybuilding community with some information to keep them determined and motivated.
I hope to update this Blog 1-3 times a week starting January 2nd.
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