Phase 1 Nearly Over

24 Jan

What a busy week studying, working and training, been a bit demanding and I haven’t been able to write as much as I would have liked to.

So down another week, and it really doesn’t feel to hard at the moment. Enjoying the diet, have my goals to work for, so my motivation is quite high. Food has been good and I have stuck to my diet completely, and it doesn’t feel too much like a diet, the only thing is the constant eating which is a bit of a problem for me. I also had to cut out a portion of protein as I have been having problems coping with 7 to 8 meals. This weeks results have been a bit sharper than expected, personally I feel like I have lost too much weight again, although am happy with the results of my waist measurements. This might be due to higher intensity cardio sessions (boxing and sprinting) and the removal of a protein portion.

My measurements were:
Weight: 90.1kg
Neck: 40cm
Chest: 109cm
Waist: 92cm
Hips: 101cm
Left Thigh: 57.5cm
Right Thigh: 57.5cm
Left Calve: 40cm
Right Calve: 40cm
Left Bicep: 35.5cm
Right Bicep: 35.5cm

I have had weirdly an increase on my chest, which is great, as the optical illusion means it makes my waist look smaller. So not complaining at all. I will see how the diet goes this coming week as next week I am decreasing my protein intake and increasing my carb intake. I am also changing my workout structure a bit, focussing on lower reps, but higher weights. Aiming for the 6-8 rep range. Cardio will also increase by about 5 minutes to compensate for the loss in reps during my workout.

Hopefully I will have a bit more time this week to blog and can put some information on about what my workouts looked liked in the last 4 weeks and where I am heading in the next 4.

Train Hard, Eat Better

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Heading in the right direction, but with a few bumps in the road.

18 Jan

Success! It seems that my macronutrient and calorie ratios are on the mark. I have achieved my goal of only losing 0.5kg for the week and on top of that I was able to knock off another 2cm around my waist. Extremely happy with the results and I am continuing for the next 2 weeks on my current ratios and will then change things up again to prevent my body from hitting a plateau.

Saying all of this, it hasn’t been without it’s bumps in the road. Yesterday was the toughest day so far on my diet, I hit the “why-point” as I refer to it. The “why-point” is when you start to feel a bit down with constant thoughts of “Why am I doing this to myself?”. I am impressed that this only hit me after 14 days, I used to reach it at around day 7. My friend is also dieting and she hit the why-point about 4 days before me, I immediately picked it up in her demeanour. I had to constantly remind myself, that this is all in achieving my dreams and that this feeling does not compare to all of the self loathing that you experience when you are overweight and that the sense and joy of reaching your goals. All you need to do is push through these feelings and thoughts. Helps that I have my support on this.

Today I woke up feeling a lot better, I only had one moment of weak thoughts when I walked past a plate of biscuits and thought “Just one wouldn’t hurt and would be so good”! Nonetheless I didn’t touch them. Towards the evening I started feeling extremely agitated with everything, when this happens the smallest things can set me off. Luckily by the time I got into bed the agitation had subsided.

My measurements for this week are:
Weight: 91.4kg
Neck: 40cm
Chest: 108cm
Waist: 94cm
Hips: 102cm
Left Thigh: 59cm
Right Thigh: 58cm
Left Calve: 40cm
Right Calve: 40cm
Left Bicep: 35.5cm
Right Bicep: 35.5cm

Very happy with my results this week, hoping to keep I up over the next couple of weeks. Food are not too dull as of yet, and I am continuing with my nutrient and calorie ratios from the previous week.

Training has been going well and seeing some good progress in certain areas.

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BSN Syntha-6 Whey Protein – My View

11 Jan

In my monthly quest to try at least 1 new protein, I was told to try BSN Syntha-6 as it is quite tasty apparently. So during my monthly supplement shop I decided to grab myself a tub and considering that the small tub was quite pricey, I opted for the larger 2288g Tub. I was a bit weary at the start, as it is a bit higher in fat and carbs than a standard whey concentrate, but thought this might come in handy as a lean meal replacement. I had never had Chocolate Peanut Butter flavour protein before so decided to go for a tub of this rather. I am a massive fan of Peanut Butter.

Nutritional Information Per Serving

Total Calories: 200kcal
Protein: 22g
Fat: 6g
Carbs: 14g

Too my surprise it was the best tasting protein I have had to date. Very flavoursome and now more like a treat to me. It mixes very well water and almond milk. The one gat thing about it is, if you severely reduce the liquid, to about a 3rd of the recommended amount it has a thick consistency, almost like pudding. This is my favourite way of having it and I have added berries or nuts to it, to make it even more like a dessert.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a lean meal replacement or a better tasting protein. I have also tried to the cookies and cream version and find it better than any other cookies and cream protein I have had, although would say that the chocolate peanut butter one is still my favourite.

Definitely will be buying this again… and again… and again.

tfj

Train Hard, Eat Better

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That First Time Fear Down for the Count

10 Jan

Every year I try to gain a new skill, this year I decided to do something that I have never done before, but always wanted to do, boxing. It is a good skill to have and it is a great calorie burner.

It all came about by coincidence, a trainer at the gym told me on the way home on the bus that one of the trainers at the gym is an excellent boxing coach. I decided to have a chat to him about it and he suggested I come in for a session. I told him that I had never done boxing before, I haven’t even thrown a punch in my life and that I personally think I am very uncoordinated (I have the habit of knocking things over or bashing my head on doors). Most tall people would tell you that they feel quite uncoordinated and being 6ft3 I am no different.

My first reaction when I realised that I would be doing this was, “Oh God, the entire gym is going to see how uncoordinated I am!” It’s the same fear that most first time gym goers experience, which I went through as well, that fear of looking like a fool, looking inadequate or feeling that you don’t belong.

I have memories of feeling ashamed that I had to do pushups on my knees, commonly referred to as a “girlie pushup” or when I tried to finally do a pull-up and had to jump to do one pull-up. Or the time I finished my maximum bench of 20kg only to be followed by a guy that warms up with 40kg loaded onto a bar.

It is not an uncommon feeling amongst anyone attempting to go to the gym for the first time. We struggle with the fear that we will not be as good as the person next to us or make a fool of ourselves, or that people would judge us for being overweight and this can be true of anything we attempt in life. Remember everyone had a first time in the gym, everyone stood there thinking; “I have to do pushups on my knees and the guy next to me does 20 standard ones”, “I can’t do even one pull-up” or “I feel so fat in my t-shirt, look how thin he is”.

I still see people struggling with pushups or benching 20kg. And it puts a smile on my face as I realise how far I have come and it makes me proud that I kept at it. Now I am that guy that uses 40kg for a light warm up. Remember everyone was once a beginner, just keep on fighting through it, I promise it gets better.

I then realised how stupid I am of being afraid of people thinking I look like a fool boxing, because in a year, I will be better at it and someone will look at me and go, “I want to be able to do that”! And if I didn’t try it, I wouldn’t have discovered how much I love it. I had the same fear of yoga classes and spin classes.

One important thing that this journey has taught me is that if I live my life in fear or cloud my mind with self doubt, I will never experience new things and hold myself back from achieving the things I want to achieve.

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The First Week’s Results Are In

10 Jan

I have completed my first week on my new diet and the results are not unexpected, except for the waist. I was expecting a 2cm loss but achieved a 3cm loss. Food I played around with a bit to reach my macronutrient profile that I was aiming for, all in all still easy to follow, with no cravings so far, except for what I refer to as Sunday movie night syndrome, where I used to like to have a pizza, but that was fended off by going to the gym prior to spending the evening on the sofa.

My measurements were:
Weight: 94.8kg
Neck: 40cm
Chest: 108cm
Waist: 96cm
Hips: 104cm
Left Thigh: 60cm
Right Thigh: 58cm
Left Calve: 40cm
Right Calve: 40cm
Left Bicep: 35.5cm
Right Bicep: 35.5cm

Food for yesterday was as follow: (non-weight training day)

Meal 1: Protein Porridge – 75g Oats, 2 Scoops of Whey, 1 Banana
(5g of Creatine, 5g of Glutamine, 2000mg of CLA, 1 Multivitamin)

Meal 2: 1.5 Wholemeal Bagel with 3 Egg Whites and Cinnamon

Meal 3: 200g Chicken Breasts, 75g of Rice and a 100g of Corgette
(2000mg of CLA)

Meal 4: 200g of Steak with green leaf salad

Meal 5: 225g of Prawns and 100g Mishrooms with 10ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Meal 6: 100g of Low-Fat Cottage Cheese and 2 Scoops of Whey
(2000mg of CLA)

Zinc and Magnesium before bed.

This all comes to a total of 2693kCal, 246g of Carbs, 333g of Protein and 63g of Fat. I have hit the numbers I wanted to hit finally with my diet, and will see how my body responds this week, ideally I am hoping for no more than a 500g weight loss, which is the ideal rate I want to work at for the next 3-4 weeks and then get my weight to hold steady. The big aim is to lose a centimetre around my waist every week.

Training was abs in the morning followed by 20 minute cardio and a 25 minute stint in the evening on the cross trainer.

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The Fish and My Bad Memory

4 Jan

Yesterday was my first day back at work for the New Year. Woke up in the morning at 5am and I was packed and ready to go. This is a big achievement for me, ask anyone, I am not a morning person at all. Took all my supplements, hit the gym hard, 20 minutes on the cross trainer and followed it up with my ab routine, which is awesome by the way. Have a look at it here. I made it through 4 sets before I started having cramping in the muscle. Next time it will be 5!

At first glance it seems a breeze, but try to complete the entire routine 5 times over and it becomes agony. My final goal would be cut out the rest in between and do some skipping for 30 seconds.

There has been a marked improvement on my nutrition and I am closer to target macronutrients ratios, but carbs are a bit low, my fats are about right and my protein is around the 300g mark which I am happy with. Calories are still out though by about 300-400 a day.

Here is the breakdown:

2388kCal
327g of Protein
195g of Carbs
58g of Fat

But once again my bad memory let me down. I always forget things, especially when it comes to tablets and yesterday was no exception. Forgot to take my CLA over lunch. I always forget something, especially when it comes to supplements.

The only other issue I had was my 4pm meal I had Cod steamed in lemon juice, garlic, chilli and coriander. When I reheated it, it became very dry, I think overdid it a bit. Normally I am not a big fan of fish, unless it’s battered with chips. The only fish I can do is Tuna, Prawns and Salmon. I think I will skip the reheated Cod during my diet, hating something even before you start a diet, will make it even more torturous than it needs to be. Will rather use Cod in my dinner plans, which means I can freshly cook it and it usually quite moist when not reheated. Today I have substituted with Smoked Salmon, but have to decrease the portion size as it is high in fat and calories, do remember that it is good Omega fats, but still too much of a good thing can be bad.

Most importantly I am on track.

Train Hard, Eat Better.

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First Day Done… 573 to Go!

3 Jan

So the first day of the 11 week strict diet is over. This is all in preparation for my long term goal, which is to compete in a Bodybuilding competition in July 2013, so I will need to control my food intake. I have done my measurements and will continue to do so on a weekly basis. Done my food preparation for the next week or two and completed my 2 workouts. It was a busy one.

Measurements were:
Weight: 94.8kg
Neck: 40cm
Chest: 111cm
Waist: 99cm (the worst it has been in over 2 years)
Hips: 105cm
Left Thigh: 62cm
Right Thigh: 59cm
Left Calve: 40cm
Right Calve: 40cm
Could not measure my biceps as I need help with this and my flatmate was not around.

Food for the day was as follow:

Meal 1: Protein Porridge – 75g Oats, 2 Scoops of Whey, 1 Banana
(5g of Creatine, 5g of Glutamine, 2000mg of CLA, 1 Multivitamin)

Post-Workout: Kinetica Shake with 5g of Glutamine and 5g of Creatine

Meal 2: 1.5 Wholemeal Bagel with 3 Egg Whites and Cinnamon

Meal 3: 200g Chicken Breasts, 75g of Rice and a Cup of Broccoli
(2000mg of CLA)

Meal 4: 225g of Prawns and 1 Cup of Spinach with 10ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Meal 5: 100g of Low-Fat Cottage Cheese and 2 Scoops of Whey
(2000mg of CLA)

Zinc and Magnesium for bed.

This all comes to a total of 2285kCal, 256g of Carbs, 263g of Protein and 45g of Fat. This is not enough calories for me, as my body burns about 2450 without exercise at my current weight. Tomorrow I will increase my calories a bit more to reach 2750kCal. I also require my protein content to go up to 300g per day. From my diet structure, you should be able to see that I take all of my carbs early on in the day and switch to fibrous green vegetables later on (usually after 3pm).

My workout routine today was strength training and I trained Biceps and Triceps first thing in the morning:

EZ-Bar Curls 5 sets of 15,15,12,12,12
Hammer Curls 3 Sets of 12,12,12
Concentration Curls 4 Sets of 15,12,12,12
Lying Tricep Extensions 5 Sets of 15,15,12,12,12
Bench Dips 4 Sets of 15,15,15,15
Cable Pushdown 3 Sets 12,12,12

I split my arms separately from my chest and back, as I really want to focus on these parts as they are flagging behind the rest of my body. I will also alternate starting with the Triceps and Biceps each week to ensure that they get the initial burst of energy from the start of the workout, which means higher intensity.

Completed my run is evening for 30 minutes, trying to keep my heart rate at 80%. So it’s a fairly slow jog.

The first day has been quite easy to get through, but it always is with any diet. Motivation is high and you don’t have cravings due to the fact that you most likely had all of the bad foods the last few weeks. Also weight loss would be the most rapid in your first, as your body is still used to a higher calorie count coming in.

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Supplements for my Diet: To Supplement, Not Magically Cure

1 Jan

Before I even start my blog post on supplements, I always start with the following disclaimer:

There are no magic pills or shakes that can replace hard work and a good diet, if there was we would all look like cover models. I use supplements to fill in gaps in my diet to try and get my body to perform at it’s peak.

For my diet over the next 11 weeks, I have stocked up on some of my preferred supplements and they are as follow:

Whey Protein
Good for baking, extra lean protein to my diet.

Glutamine
An Amino Acid produced in the body. Fantastic to keep the immune system healthy and help with the muscle building process. I take 5g in the mornings and 5g before and after weight training workouts.

Creatine
Loads of stigma around it. Naturally produced in the body. It provides energy to the muscle, thus fuelling the processes within it. I take 5g in the morning when I wake up and 5g before and after my workout.

CLA
A fatty acid that can help reduce body fat and increase lean muscle, effects are minimal in these areas, but it is also an anti-carcinogen, so extremely beneficial. I take 3 doses of 2000mg with meals a day.

BCAA’s
A mixture of amino acids, which I add 5g to my water during weight training, prevents the body from breaking down muscle during workouts. Tastes really bad!

BSN Syntha 6
Emergency meal replacement protein for my bag, as it has carbs and protein and I add a bit of oats to it, to make it more of a meal.

Zinc and Magnesium
Commonly known as the trademarked, ZMA. I take 3 before bed, don’t take this with calcium (prevents absorption of the zinc). Usually has some B6 in it as well. Zinc is important for testosterone and reduces the conversation rate to oestrogen in men.

A Multi-Vitamin
Any good Multi-Vitamin will do, even though I take varied foods, this ensures that I always get all my vitamins and prevents deficiencies that may occur within a modern diet.

Pre-Workout Supplement
I liked to take something that will give me a bit of a boost for my workout. My favourite being Jack3d. I will do a bit of a comparison on these at some point.

Brief and short description of each, why I take them and how much I take, I will talk about these over the coming weeks as well in my posts and expand a bit more on some of them.

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The 3 P’s: Planning, Preparation and Prevention

1 Jan

One of my friends posted the following on my Facebook page:

“If you could help with my nutrition that would be SO useful. I’ve stopped eating wheat (as much as I can of course as sometimes an emergency sandwich is needed at work), plus I’m addicted to any sort of cake / danish… and have NO self control. The rest of the time therefore I eat next to nothing to make up for eating 1000 calories in one Chelsea Bun… and KILL myself in the gym.”

Now there are actually quite a few things I can take from this and I will break it down to how I would approach it.

My first question would be why they have cut wheat out of their diet? Is there a specific dietary requirement for this or are they having problems due to this. For instance I am trying to remove certain lactose sources from my diet, because I have an allergic reaction to them. If there is no reason for it, then I would recommend keeping wheat in your diet (specifically from wholewheat sources).

The second issue I would raise is the concern about eating a sandwich for an emergency source of nutrition and for me this is the more important issue raised within this question. And this is where my 3 P’s come in.

Planning
If you are trying to lose weight then planning your food should be a very important of this process. Decide what your daily meals will consist of for the week. My life can become quite crazy sometimes, with work and other commitments and if I don’t plan, then I end up eating anything and everything that is in front of me. Everyone has time constraints and If you can’t find time to be healthy, you will need to find time be ill.

Preparation
I spend some time every weekend cooking my food for the week and placing them in freezable bags or containers and then freezing my meals. My supplements for the week gets packed into my bag and always ready to go. Taking the couple of hours every weekend to do this saves you load of time during the week. I rarely spend time cooking during the week, mostly dinner and breakfast and I have some quick and easy options for these meals when I am tired or in a rush as well.

Prevention
So, you have planned and prepared, in the afternoon your meeting runs over and you left your bag in the office, your hungry and need to eat. This is where some preventative tricks come in to play. Learn about foods from local shops, have a look at what there is on the shelf and sanction 3 meals, and when you are hungry, pick from these 3 meals. Knowledge about the food you eat gives you the power to make informed choices. But the most powerful tool of prevention is ensuring that you eat regular small meals, every 2-3 hours. This will keep blood sugar levels stable, which will prevent you from craving sugar.

Finally we get to the Danish pastry. The average Danish Pastry has about 300 calories (medium size), for me that’s a 20 minute run on the treadmill. In the grand scheme of things not a major outlay in calories, but the problem is still that, bad foods do not add value to your daily diet. Having one as a treat, once in a while (on a monthly basis in my books) is fine, but it is when it becomes part of your daily routine that it becomes an evil. Also, remember excess calories in your meals will be stored as fat, so eat too many calories in a meal and don’t burn it off in time and it will become fat.

Consider why you crave these foods. Is it emotional, is it due to the fact that the rest of your diet is terrible and then weigh up your options. This is a quick treat, which in all likelihood take 5 minutes to consume, worth the guilt you suffer for hours or in my case sometimes days afterwards?

Your results will only be as good as your diet and killing yourself in the gym for a bad diet never works. Period!

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My Favourite Motivational Quotes

21 Dec

What gives you motivation? What makes you keep on going forward?

Everyone has different motivational triggers. It can be anything from anger to pain to sadness. I have my own motivational triggers, those are some of my triggers, but as these are emotions they are not always present. For me the most important motivational tool is your support network, the people who give a word of encouragement, drag you out if bed to the gym or just say the words “I am here for you”. I have had the good fortune of someone like that in my life and for her I am always thankful.

But realistically, that support can not always be around. For this I have my quotes that inspire me, the people that inspire me and sometimes even images that inspire me, to keep me on track. Most importantly reminding yourself constantly of why you are doing this, helps a lot.

Below I have listed 9 of my favourite quotes. They serve as mantras to keep me on track. Inspirational words are good to keep you sane and if you have a personal affinity to a quote, it can trigger a motivational or emotional response, which can keep you driving forward when you feel like giving up.

Maybe you will find one here that inspires you:

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” – Sun Tzu


”Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” – William Jennings Bryan

“Will you look back on life and say, “I wish I had,” or “I’m glad I did”?” – Zig

“Pain is only weakness leaving the body” – Marine Corps

“A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.” – Winston Churchill

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong

“That which does not kill me makes me stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

“If you don’t invest very much, then defeat doesn’t hurt very much and winning is not very exciting.” – Dick Vermeil

If you have some good motivational quotes to share, let me know. I always like adding more ammo to my arsenal.

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