Recently in General Category

I tried this last year and it went no where, absolutely no where. I don't want to do that again. I can't let myself do that again. I have been on a very much day-light waking pattern lately, and I kind of like it. As a result of this pattern, I have more control over my body and what I do during my day. Over the past several weeks I have lost weight, a considerable weight by the feel of it. I am making a point of not using scales this time as that really seems to do nothing more than discourage me and make me do the wrong thing. So, instead I am going to be doing this a little bit blind. I am going to be using GITI to track my actual workout information, but I will be avoiding doing any quantitative measures on myself for a while. I have been losing weight due to a change in diet primarily, but also due to a little more increased physical activity. Today is February 14, 2010, Valentine's day. This is the day reserved for things related to love, and to the planting of the love apple (tomato). At this point there is about 6-8 weeks before planting season begins, which also gives me 6-8 weeks to work on my body, and I intend to do so. I will make it a crucial part of my wake up routine to exercise. While the weather remains cold I will concentrate on doing my workouts indoors, but once the weather warms up a bit I will likely add running to my activities and try to in general exercise outdoors away from distraction and annoyance. For hot weather, my only option will be to exercise before the sun comes up completely.

I have managed to collect a large amount of supplies for this particular activity from previous attempts or just times that I thought I wanted to do something about the way things had become with me. For this particular attempt though, I do have one more piece of equipment on the way, an iron gym, for pull ups, dips and assisting with ground exercises. Other than that, I believe I am set and ready to get started immediately. Initially my goal is to exercise about 5 times per week, Monday through Friday roughly. I intend to define my schedule starting this week so that I have a set routine.

Things failed last time because I managed to let my sleep and everything else slip about the time I was starting. I can't allow myself to do that again. I want to be my ideal body image. I want to get there, and stay there.

Upon the recommendation (direct order) of a friend, I am reactivating this blog, and will soon begin making posts about my progress again. I am not happy with the way I let things go last year and I realize that I did not have enough of a plan to make things work last year. I focused too much on nutrition and not enough on physical activity. Moving towards a healthy way of life will require a focus on both. I have a nutrition class this semester as part of my academic schedule, so I will have nutrition flying out my ass, so that only leaves the physical to work on.

I miss being able to blog on this blog and spending time with my body being a focus of my daily life.

This blog will no longer be only about my personal progress. My personal updates will be posted, but I will now be focusing this blog on health and exercise in general. I wish to become part of the fitness community and as such, I can no longer be self-focused on this blog. I feel that moving to a more communal feel will allow me to be more motivated.

I'm still working on the whole body improvement thing, but not as insanely as at first. I am still eating better than before, but not as insanely as at first. I am actually allowing some sweets in my diet now and I am in general teaching myself how to eat healthy. This process will take longer than 90 days, but I will reach my ideal body. I am dedicated to it. (Also now armed with a new book: "Mind Over Muscle").

I am about 3 weeks into my personal fitness plan and I have lost about 7 lbs. I am on track at losing about 2.5 lbs per week, and considering that the maximum safe amount to loose per week is 3 lbs, I feel like I am doing well. Since my last measurement 1 week ago, I lost 2.2 lbs. I am still having a hard time balancing carbs and proteins, but I seem to be doing ok. I am building some muscle and I am slimming down where it counts. The most important thing for me in all of this, is the progress is occurring and I still don't feel like I have given anything up or like I am having to do any excessive work to achieve it. 

I have been trying to get through my plan without any type of supplements, but I am finding that with my eating habits, it simply cannot be done. I am having difficulty keeping my protein up and my carbohydrates down, but somehow, my fats are right on target, their daily percent of my diet usually matches the recommended percentage. The one day I managed to keep my protein almost at its goal and my carbs right where I wanted them, I had my fats low and only consumed about 60% of my required daily calories. Due to my genetic pre-disposition to having a high percentage of my body weight be fat (either that or there is pecan pie and german chocolate cake between the strands of my Deoxyribonucleic acid), it is essential that I keep my calorie consumption on target (not above or below) as well as keep enough protein in my body to protect my muscles. The human body has a hard time consuming more than 1000 calories per day from its stored fat supply, after that, it begins eating at muscle.

To summarize what I am babbling about.... I have decided that I need more protein in my diet, but a lower amount of carbohydrates, so I have purchased a whey protein powder. It has enough calories to help me meet my daily need there, and will provide me with 20grams of protein in each serving, which is like 12% of my daily requirement.

The container pictured above is what I obtained, it is 5Lbs of whey protein, in vanilla flavor, somehow I doubt it will actually taste anything like vanilla, but it can't be worse than pureed seaweed.

A calorie is 4.1184 Joules, which is roughly 4 watts. A calorie is a physical unit of potential energy. When burned by the body a calorie produces electrical and thermal energy as needed throughout the day. Calories come from 3 things: protein, fat and carbohydrates. Oddly, the worse of the three are the carbs. One gram of protein is 4 calories, one gram of carbs is 4 calories, and a single gram of fat is 9 calories.

Protein is the best thing you can get from your daily calorie allotment, it powers your muscles and acts as a stored energy source throughout the day that can be easily accessed. It is best to eat protein rich foods before and after working out for the biggest benefit to your body.

Carbohydrates are evil. They break down very fast and should almost always be utilized immediately, or else, you risk them slowing you down as the metabolism revs up to burn through them and then  crashes you right back down after its done. Carbs are best to eat at breakfast, when you can use them as quick fuel to get you started and the chances of them being burned away almost instantly are very high. If you live a life that isn't active at all, eliminating carbs is likely your only hope for weight-loss, but keep your protein high to protect your muscles.

Fats are GOOD! Fat is very hard for the body to store as fat, because it is more complex and takes too long to break down (your stomach cant just pass fat out to begin building a fat monument on your abs).  Fats are relatively quick energy, and aren't reserved for high-level muscle use. Fast-twitch muscles need a lot of protein, but the slower fibers will settle for the fats. Saturated fats are bad, avoid them if possible. Fats in nuts and milks are usually the best for your body because they usually are carrying other things that are really great for the body.

There is some good news, you can blow off 10% of the calories eaten each day to the digestive process itself.

Want to know how many calories you should eat per day? To determine the number of calories you need to maintain your weight, take your current body weight and multiply it by 11, then take that number and multiple it by your energy multiplier, then add whatever you burn during a workout.  So.. in an easier form: (Current Weight*11*Energy Multiplier)+workout calories. If you want to gain weight (bulk), add 500 calories per day, if you want to loose weight, subtract 1000 calories per day.

*Energy multiplier: 1.3 (sedentary), 1.6 (light work), 1.7 (moderate work), or 2.1 (hard labor).

Just a little wisdom I picked up in my research. 

When I started this plan, I had a quite strong list of texts that I was intending to use. Those texts were:

• USMC Guide Book of Essential Subjects (0-967-51236-0)
• Anybody's Guide to Total Fitness (0-7872-9878-1)
• Men's Health Hard Body Plan (1-57954-229-8)
• Men's Health Book of Muscle (1-57954-769-9)
• Complete Book of Abs, The (0-375-75143-2)
• 3 Minute Abs
• Body Sculpting Bible for Abs
• USMC Workout (1-57826-158-9)

After looking through all of them at least a little, I have decided to drop a majority of them for now and focus on using the following three books:

• Men's Fitness Total Body Plan (1-572-43971-8)
• Body Sculpting Bible for Abs - Deluxe DVD Edition (1-578-26264-X)
• Men's Health Book of Muscle (1-57954-769-9)

I selected the Total Body Plan book because it provides a good overview of essential topics for my plan to be properly executed, something none of my other books offer. Next up, the Body Sculpting Bible for Abs. This book is focused on a special area of interest for me, my abs. I had purchased a copy of this book previously and enjoyed using it when I was "playing around" with ab exercises. I decided to buy this new copy because it includes the DVD. The DVD contains all of the exercises that are in the book, but provides narration as well as videos of the exercises being performed. It is a very specialized book and DVD. Finally, the Book of Muscle. It is designed for people who want to build muscle primarily, but also provides a lot of full color photos, muscle diagrams and workout instructions for a variety of exercises for each muscle group.

Together, these books should cover almost anything I need to know in the next few months. I can't believe that I have the amount of books that I do and haven't begun something like this before.

I consumed 943 calories today.  This is a small amount for me. I have been mostly drinking water and eating only what I need to at each meal. I am going to try to keep this number small at first and then let it grow as needed for muscle development, energy for workouts and such. I will not eat food just because it is there. I resisted eating my own Chicken Alfredo Pizza tonight because I couldn't justify 310 calories per slice, I didn't do 310 calories per slice of workouts today.

I think the key to solving problems I have had in the past is balance. I need to balance food intake with energy burned.

I will go to bed tonight satisfied, happy, and looking forward to my morning sprints. (oh, and also with a negative calorie balance for the day)

I got up this morning at 8am, and I was full of energy. I found a good way to make up for my lack of having a running track at home. I have marked the driveway with chalk in a section where it is fairly straight, giving myself a nice sprinting area.

My arms are still sore from the chin-ups I did yesterday, I find it to be a pleasant feeling. The bar in the doorway is just so inviting to work on. I don't have to go through any special trouble to use it, I just reach up and there it is, ready for me. I having it there. I am becoming happy that the bar isn't inside the bathroom door, that would place it too far out of sight.