I actually googled this phrase, not because I didn't know what it meant, but because I wanted to see what people actually thought about it. It's pretty simple right? Being patient is good and being impatient is bad right? To many (like myself) having patience is actually a vice. It's hard to be patient in this world due to how the world runs. We want things and we want them NOW. Patience is something that can be misinterpreted though. This doesn't mean that if you want something, you sit there on your butt and patiently wait for it to fall into your lap. Most of us have to persevere through a lot of trial and error before things come together. As I stood on the scale last week, I weighed 253.5. Almost the same as I did last week. I got very discouraged and wanted to quit. How could I be eating so little, and feel like I am killing myself on some days and not make any progress? I watch youtube videos of all of these people who are absolutely jacked and look amazing and eat way more than I do. Am I incapable of losing weight or looking like them?
Well the answer is No and Yes. I am definitely capable of losing weight, but everyone is different. I learned the hard way that my body does not process carbs correctly yet. It can be in the genes or body type that some people do not burn carbs well. Even with the slight increase that I had (150g of carbs a day) it kept putting the weight on me. Also my cheat meals contribute to this. It's the one step forward, one step back cycle that is easy to get into. I had to realize that I am not Chris Jones and I cannot eat 250 grams of carbs a day and lose weight. It just isn't going to happen. Yet. Since then I've tried something new and am down 3 pounds in 4 days. Yep that may be water weight but my measurements have been awesome. I'll get to that in a moment.
Now am I incapable of looking like one of these bodybuilders? Absolutely not. Sometime with all of the media and videos and articles that we have access to we can get hung up on the top of the line. If you read about having six pack abs every day and see workout videos of people who have six pack abs, you will start to think you have six pack abs after 3 workouts. This will never happen. It's just like the joke a comedian said. If you're on a plane and read about a disease on that flight, you will think you have the disease by the end of the flight. The mind is a crazy thing especially when you dwell on a certain thing day in and day out. Well after some research you will find that bodybuilders have worked out for YEARS. Not get ripped in 2 months, but get ripped in 3-5 years! Some people have crazy genetics and can get six pack abs in 6 months, but us normal folks? Years. That's years of consistent training and eating properly. Straight losing weight can be different depending on how you started out, but even that takes several months. When I lost my big chunk of weight, it took 6 months on a strict diet.
My point is anyone can look like anything, but it takes time. I encourage everyone to read the articles and watch the videos but don't get caught into it. You aren't them, but you can use them for the knowledge they are offering so you can become who you want to become. Make a long term goal, but make smaller goals to track the progress. If you aren't progressing then change what you're doing, but give it at least 4 weeks before changing as sometimes the body has to heal or adapt to doing something different.
UPDATE
So as I mentioned above I am still weighing around the same. I have been around 253-256 in the past two weeks. I changed my diet with the advice of Phillip Stevens (a pro powerlifter on iron radio podcast) to cycle carbs. I was also hearing from some of the top professionals that some people cannot burn carbs properly if they have been or are overweight. I had to face the facts. Although I lost 60 pounds I am still overweight. With my parents both having type 2 diabetes, I may not be able to process carbs as well due to my gene pool. Thirdly I sit down a lot of the day due to my job, I may not be able to expend enough energy to burn off carbs like normal folks. So now, I eat 100-125 grams of carbs on days that I lift. I carb cycle, which means I focus on taking in the bulk of those carbs before my training. After those meals, I switch back to a keto style meal plan in which I eat mostly fat, protein and minimal carbs. So far I've been doing this 4 days and my weight is going down. Today I weight 251.3, the lowest since before Christmas.
My measurements were:
Chest 45.5 (went up .5 inches)
Belly 39 (went down 1 inch!!)
Hips 43.5 (went down .5 inches)
Arms 16 and 17.5 flexed (.5 up in flexion)
Thigh 28 inches (went up 1 again)
This is absolutely crazy to me. I am going up in my main areas. My chest I went up, which means I am putting on some mass in my back and chest. My legs are still growing which doesn't surprise me and my stomach and belly are getting smaller. Right where I want to be. I am going to continue this carb cycling and see where I am on March 1st. If I am in the 240s I wont purchase a coach.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Hey I know this is crazy, I just saw your youtube video, be my coach maybe?
Update
It's been a couple of weeks and since I have the luxury of sitting in front of a computer all day long, I am on information overload. I read about diet and nutrition all day long. I listen to podcasts, and I try different things. I have stuck with pretty much the same thing for a while and am not dropping weight. My family and friends all tell me I look great and getting more muscular, but if I am eating at a caloric deficit, I should be dropping the weight. So I am trying a few things differently for a couple of weeks and I have made a deal with myself.
First thing is I am going to carb cycle. I am going to eat the majority of my carb intake centered around weight training. This will give me the energy and recovery I need, but in the meals after that I will not be ingesting very many carbs. I will split this basically to 75 grams of carbs in the morning before workout and 75 grams after workout. Then at night very little. This seems to already be working as the scale is moving downward. I will not check my weight again until next week. I was down to 252 today.
Second thing that I am going to try is a different workout plan. I want to hit every muscle TWICE a week now. I have read and heard some research stating that those who work out body parts more often have better gains than those who don't. Frequency over quantity. Back in high school there were times where we would bench press three times in a week. Looking back on it, this seemed really stupid and unsafe. HOWEVER, that is when I was at my strongest. I could bench 300+ pounds, Squat 500+ and deadlift 400 pretty easily. So maybe they were onto something. So here is the plan I worked out.
Upper A (Heavy) (Tuesday)
Bench Press 3 x 6
Dips until failure
Bentover barbell rows 3 x 6
Lat pull downs 3 x 6
Shoulder Press 3 x 6
Standing Curls 4 x 8
Rope Pull downs 4 x 8
Upper B (Light) (Thursday)
Incline dumbbells 3 x 10
Machine Fly 3 x 10
1 armed dumbbel rows 3 x 10
seated cable rows 3 x10
Shoulder Press Dumbbells 3x10
Side Laterals 3 x10
1 arm hammer curls 4 x 8
1 arm tricep kick backs 4 x 8
Lower A (Heavy) (Wednesday)
Leg press 5 x 5
Straight leg deadlift 4 x 8
Donkey Calf machine 3 x 12
Lower B(Light) (Saturday)
Back Squats 3 x 12
Lunges 3 x 12
Leg Extensions 3 x 12
leg curls 3 x 12
Calf Raises on Leg press machine 3 x 12
I basically took my normal workouts, split them all in half and combined them into upper and lower workouts with the first of the week being heavy and the end of the week being light.
The deal I made with myself
I made a deal with myself. I watch a lot of fitness and bodybuilder youtube channels.Some of those guys offer coaching. I have never had a coach or a personal trainer or anything. If I am not back in the 240s by March 1st, I am going to hire a coach to get a different prospective on things to try to get my goal of 230 by April 28th. If I am in the 240s I will go ahead and keep doing what I am doing and probably lower carbs. I may be doing just fine right now, but I am such a scale junky that I want to see that lower number on the scale before I focus on physique and getting bigger. Lose fat first, then build muscle. It'll get done one way or the other.
It's been a couple of weeks and since I have the luxury of sitting in front of a computer all day long, I am on information overload. I read about diet and nutrition all day long. I listen to podcasts, and I try different things. I have stuck with pretty much the same thing for a while and am not dropping weight. My family and friends all tell me I look great and getting more muscular, but if I am eating at a caloric deficit, I should be dropping the weight. So I am trying a few things differently for a couple of weeks and I have made a deal with myself.
First thing is I am going to carb cycle. I am going to eat the majority of my carb intake centered around weight training. This will give me the energy and recovery I need, but in the meals after that I will not be ingesting very many carbs. I will split this basically to 75 grams of carbs in the morning before workout and 75 grams after workout. Then at night very little. This seems to already be working as the scale is moving downward. I will not check my weight again until next week. I was down to 252 today.
Second thing that I am going to try is a different workout plan. I want to hit every muscle TWICE a week now. I have read and heard some research stating that those who work out body parts more often have better gains than those who don't. Frequency over quantity. Back in high school there were times where we would bench press three times in a week. Looking back on it, this seemed really stupid and unsafe. HOWEVER, that is when I was at my strongest. I could bench 300+ pounds, Squat 500+ and deadlift 400 pretty easily. So maybe they were onto something. So here is the plan I worked out.
Upper A (Heavy) (Tuesday)
Bench Press 3 x 6
Dips until failure
Bentover barbell rows 3 x 6
Lat pull downs 3 x 6
Shoulder Press 3 x 6
Standing Curls 4 x 8
Rope Pull downs 4 x 8
Upper B (Light) (Thursday)
Incline dumbbells 3 x 10
Machine Fly 3 x 10
1 armed dumbbel rows 3 x 10
seated cable rows 3 x10
Shoulder Press Dumbbells 3x10
Side Laterals 3 x10
1 arm hammer curls 4 x 8
1 arm tricep kick backs 4 x 8
Lower A (Heavy) (Wednesday)
Leg press 5 x 5
Straight leg deadlift 4 x 8
Donkey Calf machine 3 x 12
Lower B(Light) (Saturday)
Back Squats 3 x 12
Lunges 3 x 12
Leg Extensions 3 x 12
leg curls 3 x 12
Calf Raises on Leg press machine 3 x 12
I basically took my normal workouts, split them all in half and combined them into upper and lower workouts with the first of the week being heavy and the end of the week being light.
The deal I made with myself
I made a deal with myself. I watch a lot of fitness and bodybuilder youtube channels.Some of those guys offer coaching. I have never had a coach or a personal trainer or anything. If I am not back in the 240s by March 1st, I am going to hire a coach to get a different prospective on things to try to get my goal of 230 by April 28th. If I am in the 240s I will go ahead and keep doing what I am doing and probably lower carbs. I may be doing just fine right now, but I am such a scale junky that I want to see that lower number on the scale before I focus on physique and getting bigger. Lose fat first, then build muscle. It'll get done one way or the other.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Caffeine Sucks, The Scale Sucks, and I'm Weird
Decided to toss out another update since it's been a while.
Caffeine Sucks
So here is an update on how I have been doing without caffeine...BLAHHHHHHHH...OK it's not that bad but man it was a rough first week. I went from drinking 18 oz of french pressed coffee to drinking 1 coffee mug of green tea. The first few days I switched to a blend of decaf and regular coffee and then switched to just green tea. I haven't really had issues with energy during my workouts. I take A B12 or vitamins (orange triad) on those days and seem to do just fine. I don't have any energy throughout the day but it has gotten better. I did go without the green tea one day and it was awful, I felt like I was a zombie. I do seem to have sustainable energy, but nothing great thus far, but the main thing is I haven't been sleeping better like I thought I would. I did for a few nights but the same waking up in the middle of the night business is still happening. I hope that gets better.
The Scale Sucks
Well my wife did a good thing. She hid the scale from me last week, and she and I agreed that I would weigh first thing in the mornings on Wednesdays. Well I did this morning and....Didn't lose a friggin pound. I was very distraught and wondered what the heck I could be doing wrong. I had her check my measurements and then I saw what happened. I lost an inch on my chest and stomach again. Yes a full inch, so I am almost back to the size I was before my Christmas massacre of calories. The kicker is I haven't lost weight? So what has been happening? Well I been hitting the gym HARD, especially on leg days. I had her check those measurements and BAM. 1 inch gained in my legs and hips. I can definitely tell that some muscles are starting to come out and that I look a bit better, but my legs are growing and they will always be the first to grow. I'm happy with that progress. As long as I am building muscle, the fat will fall off right after, but that doesn't necessarily translate to weight loss.
IM WEIRD
My wife was talking to someone about going to a party. She was asked if she was on that weird diet that I was on. She politely stated that eating real food is hardly weird. She was told that because it had so many restrictions, that it was weird and she stood by her comments. This kind of bothered me at first, but to be honest this is how the world views people who want to be in shape and healthy. It's weird to get up and go to the gym 4 days a week. It's weird to be able to push 850 LBs with your legs. It's weird to eat unprocessed food and watch your calories. If it was easy, everyone would have great physiques and no one would have diabetes or health issues. Folks, don't pay attention to the masses. Everything that you do is going to be weird to people. It takes hard work and dedication to make your fitness goals. It also takes sacrifice. It may be weird to your friend that you don't go out on Fridays and eat like crap and drink all night, but you know what? Saturday morning when you're running and got through a work out. You've accomplished something. You're one step closer to your goals and physique while they're sleeping until noon recovering. If that's weird, then I am all for it. I'd rather be weird and healthy, than "normal" and out of shape.
Caffeine Sucks
So here is an update on how I have been doing without caffeine...BLAHHHHHHHH...OK it's not that bad but man it was a rough first week. I went from drinking 18 oz of french pressed coffee to drinking 1 coffee mug of green tea. The first few days I switched to a blend of decaf and regular coffee and then switched to just green tea. I haven't really had issues with energy during my workouts. I take A B12 or vitamins (orange triad) on those days and seem to do just fine. I don't have any energy throughout the day but it has gotten better. I did go without the green tea one day and it was awful, I felt like I was a zombie. I do seem to have sustainable energy, but nothing great thus far, but the main thing is I haven't been sleeping better like I thought I would. I did for a few nights but the same waking up in the middle of the night business is still happening. I hope that gets better.
The Scale Sucks
Well my wife did a good thing. She hid the scale from me last week, and she and I agreed that I would weigh first thing in the mornings on Wednesdays. Well I did this morning and....Didn't lose a friggin pound. I was very distraught and wondered what the heck I could be doing wrong. I had her check my measurements and then I saw what happened. I lost an inch on my chest and stomach again. Yes a full inch, so I am almost back to the size I was before my Christmas massacre of calories. The kicker is I haven't lost weight? So what has been happening? Well I been hitting the gym HARD, especially on leg days. I had her check those measurements and BAM. 1 inch gained in my legs and hips. I can definitely tell that some muscles are starting to come out and that I look a bit better, but my legs are growing and they will always be the first to grow. I'm happy with that progress. As long as I am building muscle, the fat will fall off right after, but that doesn't necessarily translate to weight loss.
IM WEIRD
My wife was talking to someone about going to a party. She was asked if she was on that weird diet that I was on. She politely stated that eating real food is hardly weird. She was told that because it had so many restrictions, that it was weird and she stood by her comments. This kind of bothered me at first, but to be honest this is how the world views people who want to be in shape and healthy. It's weird to get up and go to the gym 4 days a week. It's weird to be able to push 850 LBs with your legs. It's weird to eat unprocessed food and watch your calories. If it was easy, everyone would have great physiques and no one would have diabetes or health issues. Folks, don't pay attention to the masses. Everything that you do is going to be weird to people. It takes hard work and dedication to make your fitness goals. It also takes sacrifice. It may be weird to your friend that you don't go out on Fridays and eat like crap and drink all night, but you know what? Saturday morning when you're running and got through a work out. You've accomplished something. You're one step closer to your goals and physique while they're sleeping until noon recovering. If that's weird, then I am all for it. I'd rather be weird and healthy, than "normal" and out of shape.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Calories in vs Calories out + Update
Back again for another blog post here. Today I was just thinking how hard all of this can be, and for anyone starting out, but in the end it'll be all worth it. Right now I cook most of my meals, log everything, write about it, research and help other people as much as I can. It can be a daunting task and even tedious in some cases. However this week I saw the weight that I had put on during Christmas start to come off and it gave me a sense of accomplishment and renewed my motivation. Just remember stick to it and you will reap your gains.
A person recently asked me on facebook "Hey how much do i need to do at the gym to lose 10 lb's" My response was to not worry about what you burn rather what you eat. It's easy to think that if we go run for hours or ride a bike that the weight falls right off. I used to think this as well. I'd work out for an hour, do 30 mins of cardio and feel great, only to follow that by going to eat some crazy fast food meal. Lets look at something here:
Estimate calories burned during a 1 hour (yes 1 full hour) of cardio at the speed of 5 without stopping is 600 calories.
A big mac value meal, not even super sized is 1000-1100 calories. So even if you ran/jogged for a full hour you would still be in a caloric surplus! (I know there are other caloric losses after the exercise, this is for simplicities sake) This doesn't even take into account that your meal you just consumed has 200 grams of carbs and only 30 grams of protein. This will leave you hungry in a few hours.
What is all boils down to is calories in vs calories out. This is something I had to learn, and yes Paleo helped me lose weight due to the caloric deficit but it was those foods that helped me feel full and satisfied. A lot of the chemicals and by products in processed food clog up your body's sensors in thinking that it isn't full. Real food does not do this. That is why I stick with paleo(ish) foods. So next time you think about jumping into a gym and doing all of that work, make sure you know what you're eating and that it doesn't sabotage all of your hard work!
Now my hypocritical ass will give an update of how I am doing. It took two weeks for me to start shedding weight. My body either had to get used to me eating normal again or maybe it was the increased carb intake then what I was used to, but it's finally coming out. My two week weight is back down to 254.2. I started out at 261. I could not believe I put on 15 pounds over the holidays, but I can't dwell on the past and just need to focus on the future. My measurements are all the same as they were when I finished the challenge, except my arms are getting slightly bigger (woot!). There are two things that I have decided on and i'll share those in their own paragraphs.
First I am tapering down my caffeine in take and may even cut it out completely (for a while). I have had sleeping problems like no other, and I super caffeine sensitive. SO I have put two and two together and gotten that I may need to cut down or even cut out the caffeine to get to where I want to be. I have already started halfing my caffeine intake from 18 oz of coffee a morning to 9. This already is giving me slight headaches and withdrawal symptoms. Tomorrow I will do even less coffee and by sunday, I am only going to be doing green tea. Wish me luck on this one.
Once I hit my normal weight of 240-245, I am going to start an intermittent fasting protocol. I am going to follow this website's guidelines: http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html Basically the premise of it goes against everything anyone was ever told ever in the fitness world but it has some incredible data. My ultimate goal is to be 220-230 and hopefully this will catapult me into that by my 30th birthday.
As for the Ocean Avenue stuff, I am completely out of the smoothie protein. This stuff was absolutely fantastic. It tasted so good. THe only thing is 1 serving is 13 grams, so I was having to use 2-3 scoops post workout of even for a snack. I still take the empower but I do not see any result or noticeable results from it. I do not take the empower or focus any longer as they were giving me weird headaches. I do have the berry protein and it is good but a little too tart for me. My wife loves it though. All in all the products are very good and if you would like to try them I can put you into contact with the right people for samples!
A person recently asked me on facebook "Hey how much do i need to do at the gym to lose 10 lb's" My response was to not worry about what you burn rather what you eat. It's easy to think that if we go run for hours or ride a bike that the weight falls right off. I used to think this as well. I'd work out for an hour, do 30 mins of cardio and feel great, only to follow that by going to eat some crazy fast food meal. Lets look at something here:
Estimate calories burned during a 1 hour (yes 1 full hour) of cardio at the speed of 5 without stopping is 600 calories.
A big mac value meal, not even super sized is 1000-1100 calories. So even if you ran/jogged for a full hour you would still be in a caloric surplus! (I know there are other caloric losses after the exercise, this is for simplicities sake) This doesn't even take into account that your meal you just consumed has 200 grams of carbs and only 30 grams of protein. This will leave you hungry in a few hours.
What is all boils down to is calories in vs calories out. This is something I had to learn, and yes Paleo helped me lose weight due to the caloric deficit but it was those foods that helped me feel full and satisfied. A lot of the chemicals and by products in processed food clog up your body's sensors in thinking that it isn't full. Real food does not do this. That is why I stick with paleo(ish) foods. So next time you think about jumping into a gym and doing all of that work, make sure you know what you're eating and that it doesn't sabotage all of your hard work!
Now my hypocritical ass will give an update of how I am doing. It took two weeks for me to start shedding weight. My body either had to get used to me eating normal again or maybe it was the increased carb intake then what I was used to, but it's finally coming out. My two week weight is back down to 254.2. I started out at 261. I could not believe I put on 15 pounds over the holidays, but I can't dwell on the past and just need to focus on the future. My measurements are all the same as they were when I finished the challenge, except my arms are getting slightly bigger (woot!). There are two things that I have decided on and i'll share those in their own paragraphs.
First I am tapering down my caffeine in take and may even cut it out completely (for a while). I have had sleeping problems like no other, and I super caffeine sensitive. SO I have put two and two together and gotten that I may need to cut down or even cut out the caffeine to get to where I want to be. I have already started halfing my caffeine intake from 18 oz of coffee a morning to 9. This already is giving me slight headaches and withdrawal symptoms. Tomorrow I will do even less coffee and by sunday, I am only going to be doing green tea. Wish me luck on this one.
Once I hit my normal weight of 240-245, I am going to start an intermittent fasting protocol. I am going to follow this website's guidelines: http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html Basically the premise of it goes against everything anyone was ever told ever in the fitness world but it has some incredible data. My ultimate goal is to be 220-230 and hopefully this will catapult me into that by my 30th birthday.
As for the Ocean Avenue stuff, I am completely out of the smoothie protein. This stuff was absolutely fantastic. It tasted so good. THe only thing is 1 serving is 13 grams, so I was having to use 2-3 scoops post workout of even for a snack. I still take the empower but I do not see any result or noticeable results from it. I do not take the empower or focus any longer as they were giving me weird headaches. I do have the berry protein and it is good but a little too tart for me. My wife loves it though. All in all the products are very good and if you would like to try them I can put you into contact with the right people for samples!
Monday, January 7, 2013
Weekly Update
This was a good week. I went to the gym 4 times and have been getting off of my ass more. I changed my workout splits and don't know why I didn't do this previously. My new splits look like this:
Day 1 : Chest & Shoulders
Day 2: Back & Traps
Day 3: Legs (Quads & Hams)
Day 4: Calves/Bi's/Tri's/Sprints
This helped me get through a full arm workout for the first time in a while. When I was done with the major muscles, my tri's or bi's would be so worn out that I could barely get through anything, and not get sore at all.
This week of eating hasn't gone exactly that great. There was a lot of things that happened that I ended up saying eff it and eating more calories than I was supposed to. I think this was a result of me trying to lower calories too much. I had planned on doing 2200 cals per day for the week and this is just not feasible. Although I make good choices when eating out, I over ate because I was so hungry at the end. This goes back to the low carb thing, but I am not going to go into that right now. On Fridays, my wife and I have date night. This week we ended up going to a local bar/pub type of place. I ate some chicken nuggets that aren't breaded, but wrapped in bacon and fried, then dipped in buffalo sauce. I am sure the 6 wings I ate were in the 750-1000 calorie range, which would've been fine but I ate chips & queso and some french fries. This wouldn't have been a big deal had I not gone over calories the next two days. Ohwell live and learn. I decided this week that I am going to weigh and track everything, but I am also going to listen to myself. If I am starving at the end of the day I need to eat regardless of calories. Being hungry is what causes me and others to fail at any diet change and this was no exception. I have been eating things like rice, beans and oatmeal which are generally not recommended with a paleo style approach. I am going to cut those things out this week and see how I fair in terms of dieting.
The Ocean Avenue products have been pretty good to me. I have been on a smoothie kick and the WheyBeyond smoothie protein mix is far superior to regular protein. It doesn't cause any bloating and it tastes 10x better than just a regular vanilla protein.
I have however decided to discontinue use of the Focus and Invigorate. These things gave me random headaches and the trade off wasn't much energy. Right now, I only have one large cup of coffee in the morning and that is it. I do have several packages left of the Focus energy supplement and if anyone wants to try it, I can send a couple to you to try it out.
Day 1 : Chest & Shoulders
Day 2: Back & Traps
Day 3: Legs (Quads & Hams)
Day 4: Calves/Bi's/Tri's/Sprints
This helped me get through a full arm workout for the first time in a while. When I was done with the major muscles, my tri's or bi's would be so worn out that I could barely get through anything, and not get sore at all.
This week of eating hasn't gone exactly that great. There was a lot of things that happened that I ended up saying eff it and eating more calories than I was supposed to. I think this was a result of me trying to lower calories too much. I had planned on doing 2200 cals per day for the week and this is just not feasible. Although I make good choices when eating out, I over ate because I was so hungry at the end. This goes back to the low carb thing, but I am not going to go into that right now. On Fridays, my wife and I have date night. This week we ended up going to a local bar/pub type of place. I ate some chicken nuggets that aren't breaded, but wrapped in bacon and fried, then dipped in buffalo sauce. I am sure the 6 wings I ate were in the 750-1000 calorie range, which would've been fine but I ate chips & queso and some french fries. This wouldn't have been a big deal had I not gone over calories the next two days. Ohwell live and learn. I decided this week that I am going to weigh and track everything, but I am also going to listen to myself. If I am starving at the end of the day I need to eat regardless of calories. Being hungry is what causes me and others to fail at any diet change and this was no exception. I have been eating things like rice, beans and oatmeal which are generally not recommended with a paleo style approach. I am going to cut those things out this week and see how I fair in terms of dieting.
The Ocean Avenue products have been pretty good to me. I have been on a smoothie kick and the WheyBeyond smoothie protein mix is far superior to regular protein. It doesn't cause any bloating and it tastes 10x better than just a regular vanilla protein.
I have however decided to discontinue use of the Focus and Invigorate. These things gave me random headaches and the trade off wasn't much energy. Right now, I only have one large cup of coffee in the morning and that is it. I do have several packages left of the Focus energy supplement and if anyone wants to try it, I can send a couple to you to try it out.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
New Year Resolution + Ocean Avenue Update
Hey everyone, yes I know I have been slacking on this blog thing and I don't really have a good excuse except the holidays attacked me and gave me the "I don't feel like it's". The holidays also gave me the "I don't need to eat clean" attitude as well haha. Well I managed to gain around 10 pounds, which some is no doubt water weight but my gut blew up a bit. That is perfectly fine. I enjoyed myself, I had a great time with family and friends and it's good to take a break from weighing, measuring and logging everything that I put into my gullet.
It is time to get back to work now, and like millions of people out there I do have some resolutions or goals that I have set for myself and i'd like to share them with you.
1) Blog more! Yes, I am horrible at following this thing sometime. I'll get to where I'll post sometimes twice a day, but then get into that mode where I won't post anything. Some of that is due to me slacking off on diet and exercise, some of it is just purely being busy.
2) Be consistent! Doing what I just did is not recommended. It is SUPER hard to go back to eating clean after eating whatever the FFFF I wanted to eat for 2 weeks. Plus the yo-yo in weight is probably not healthy. I need to learn that a cheat meal is ok, and not to go overboard.
3)GOAL WEIGHT = 230! Sometimes I feel like I won't ever make it there, but I don't give myself the chance due to wanting to cheat. It's tough for someone like myself who is a foodie, but when I follow something to a T, I make incredible strides, but this goes back to #2...cheat meals, not cheat weeks.
4) More Cardio! I tend to follow the weight training is king camp. However, I tend to neglect cardio. Even a little cadio goes a long way. Especially in the winter months. I love to walk and take my daughter on walks, but since it's too cold for her and it gets dark almost right after I get off of work, I need to step it up and do more cardio at the gym. Although I hate it and don't have the attention span to do more than 15-20 mins in one sitting, doing that will help a ton .
The plan that I have to implement these things is simple. I am going to follow a IIFYM (flexible dieting) plan with strict paleo undertones. (sounds like a wine!) I will be getting my carbs in, but MOSTLY from fruit and veggies. I am going to lay off the rice, corn tortillas and everything else I was eating because it fit into my macros. Although while my 3 week trial of that lead me to not gain any weight, I just didn't feel as well as I did when I was eating a strict paleo diet. I will from time to time incorporate those foods as I enjoy them, but they will not be everyday occurrences.
There ya have it. I have the knowledge, I just need to use will power to follow what I know to reach goals. Plain and simple.
As for the Ocean Avenue update, I did continue to take some of the products whilst on my 2 week vacation from dieting and have a few updates on the products. Toward the end, however, I decided to stop taking all of it and to restart once I am back at it which is today.
WheySmart: This is the tub that I have received that is the smoothie mix. I haven't used much of this because it makes my oatmea too thick and sweet. I did buy some frozen fruits yesterday (only 12g per cup!) and will make a fruit smoothie with it, as a snack, post workout or to satisfy any sugar cravings that I have.
WheyBeyond: This is the packets of protein that taste like berries. I have tried this a variety of ways and still have not figured out the way I like it best. It does not mix well as I have stated previously, so I end up taking it with water and end up getting chunks at the bottom of tart and sweet protein. It tastes very good , but don't know that I'd use it regularly. One thing I can report, is if I take it on an empty stomach where I need a snack, I tend to feel like it gives me energy. I'll experiment with that soon.
Empower: I did not see any difference in the way I felt from taking it for a couple of weeks and stopping. I will re-add that in today and see if it helps with anything. My thought is this is most focused toward people who have systemic inflammation and are metabolically deranged. If you are a healthy individual who has their Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio pretty much spot on, you will probably not need this product. I will give my final thoughts on it when I run out though.
Invigorate: This is my favorite of the bunch. It's a green tea extract with other things and supposed to promote weight loss. I do like it because it gives me non jittery energy and seems to help me sleep better when I take it. The only thing was, that I could not balance it and the focus energy packets and I ended up with weird headaches. This could also have been due to what I was eating, so thats why I stopped taking it. As I clean my diet up, I will see how this effects me.
Focus: These are the energy packets that look like a larger pixie stick. These are my least favorite as they do not give me an energy boost like I would imagine an energy shot would, and did not last as long as I'd hoped. Also I had some weird headaches after taking this. I willl give it another shot as I clean up my diet and see if it was indeed this giving me headaches or just the influx in crappy food. I can report that after a week of not taking this, I feel fine when it comes to the headaches, so we will see.
So there you have it, I will update you guys on weight and workout plans etc, in the next few days (I hope) and get back to the grind. Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and as always if you have any questions, I can do my best to answer them or point you in the right direction.
It is time to get back to work now, and like millions of people out there I do have some resolutions or goals that I have set for myself and i'd like to share them with you.
1) Blog more! Yes, I am horrible at following this thing sometime. I'll get to where I'll post sometimes twice a day, but then get into that mode where I won't post anything. Some of that is due to me slacking off on diet and exercise, some of it is just purely being busy.
2) Be consistent! Doing what I just did is not recommended. It is SUPER hard to go back to eating clean after eating whatever the FFFF I wanted to eat for 2 weeks. Plus the yo-yo in weight is probably not healthy. I need to learn that a cheat meal is ok, and not to go overboard.
3)GOAL WEIGHT = 230! Sometimes I feel like I won't ever make it there, but I don't give myself the chance due to wanting to cheat. It's tough for someone like myself who is a foodie, but when I follow something to a T, I make incredible strides, but this goes back to #2...cheat meals, not cheat weeks.
4) More Cardio! I tend to follow the weight training is king camp. However, I tend to neglect cardio. Even a little cadio goes a long way. Especially in the winter months. I love to walk and take my daughter on walks, but since it's too cold for her and it gets dark almost right after I get off of work, I need to step it up and do more cardio at the gym. Although I hate it and don't have the attention span to do more than 15-20 mins in one sitting, doing that will help a ton .
The plan that I have to implement these things is simple. I am going to follow a IIFYM (flexible dieting) plan with strict paleo undertones. (sounds like a wine!) I will be getting my carbs in, but MOSTLY from fruit and veggies. I am going to lay off the rice, corn tortillas and everything else I was eating because it fit into my macros. Although while my 3 week trial of that lead me to not gain any weight, I just didn't feel as well as I did when I was eating a strict paleo diet. I will from time to time incorporate those foods as I enjoy them, but they will not be everyday occurrences.
There ya have it. I have the knowledge, I just need to use will power to follow what I know to reach goals. Plain and simple.
As for the Ocean Avenue update, I did continue to take some of the products whilst on my 2 week vacation from dieting and have a few updates on the products. Toward the end, however, I decided to stop taking all of it and to restart once I am back at it which is today.
WheySmart: This is the tub that I have received that is the smoothie mix. I haven't used much of this because it makes my oatmea too thick and sweet. I did buy some frozen fruits yesterday (only 12g per cup!) and will make a fruit smoothie with it, as a snack, post workout or to satisfy any sugar cravings that I have.
WheyBeyond: This is the packets of protein that taste like berries. I have tried this a variety of ways and still have not figured out the way I like it best. It does not mix well as I have stated previously, so I end up taking it with water and end up getting chunks at the bottom of tart and sweet protein. It tastes very good , but don't know that I'd use it regularly. One thing I can report, is if I take it on an empty stomach where I need a snack, I tend to feel like it gives me energy. I'll experiment with that soon.
Empower: I did not see any difference in the way I felt from taking it for a couple of weeks and stopping. I will re-add that in today and see if it helps with anything. My thought is this is most focused toward people who have systemic inflammation and are metabolically deranged. If you are a healthy individual who has their Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio pretty much spot on, you will probably not need this product. I will give my final thoughts on it when I run out though.
Invigorate: This is my favorite of the bunch. It's a green tea extract with other things and supposed to promote weight loss. I do like it because it gives me non jittery energy and seems to help me sleep better when I take it. The only thing was, that I could not balance it and the focus energy packets and I ended up with weird headaches. This could also have been due to what I was eating, so thats why I stopped taking it. As I clean my diet up, I will see how this effects me.
Focus: These are the energy packets that look like a larger pixie stick. These are my least favorite as they do not give me an energy boost like I would imagine an energy shot would, and did not last as long as I'd hoped. Also I had some weird headaches after taking this. I willl give it another shot as I clean up my diet and see if it was indeed this giving me headaches or just the influx in crappy food. I can report that after a week of not taking this, I feel fine when it comes to the headaches, so we will see.
So there you have it, I will update you guys on weight and workout plans etc, in the next few days (I hope) and get back to the grind. Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and as always if you have any questions, I can do my best to answer them or point you in the right direction.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Week 1 with Carbs and Ocean Avenue
So week 1 of extra carbs and the IIFYM diet and so far so good. I have a ton more strength in the gym, and seem to have the same weight fluctuations. This is probably due to my body not being able to process the carbs well due to being on a low carb diet for so long. I haven't been able to sleep well however and don't really know why. I drink 1 cup of coffee each morning and that is it for stimulants. As for weight, I check it every night and morning. It's kind of amazing to me that I can go to bed at 248 and wake up at 245.8. Body's metabolism is a cool thing. The lowest weight I was this week was 245.6, and the highest being 250.0. The plan said that I would need 18 weeks to get down to my goal weight, so if I am doing well at the half way point, I'll continue, otherwise I may go back to a lower carb diet.
So Ocean Avenue. If you're friends with me on Facebook, I am sure you see a few people posting about having the most amazing opportunity and how things are happening etc etc. It sounds downright cult-ish. It's almost as bad as people who sell Advocare. Well I was approached with this "opportunity" and was told how amazing the products were etc. However they couldn't tell me how the products were because they haven't tried it. This was essentially silly to me. How could I endorse something that I didn't try? Well I guess money talks but that isn't me. I said that I would try the product for 30 days and use as directed and give the results of how it made me feel and give a review. Only then I would give the endorsement to sell and offer it to friends, family and other people. I am definitely a proponent the paleo lifestyle and eating real food, but sometimes supplements can help. So with that one of my good friends over the years, Justin Duran, agreed to give me full products of everything below for me to try.
Today was day 1 and here is what I tried.
WHEY BEYOND
The whey beyond comes in a pouch. It has a sweet fruity flavor with only 1.5 grams of carbs. The downside is that it only has 13 grams of protein, which is HALF of the general protein powders that you buy at the stores. However the ingredients in this are organic which include the flavoring. The main schtick to this protein powder is that it is glutathione rejuvenating. Glutathione is the most essential antioxidant in the body and helps regulate your health and prevent disease. There is a lot of information out there as to what MIGHT raise glutathione levels and different nutrients, which includes whey protein. However it has to be UN-DENATURED, which this is. Denaturing protein is basically making it easier to absorb and process quicker in the body. Which is good for post workout, but if you use it as a snack or supplement, it can cause an insulin response and gas or bloating.
I tried this two ways so far, in some cottage cheese and with raw milk. In the cottage cheese was very good. I noticed the sweetness which comes from organic stevia and the flavor of berry. It turned it almost into a dessert for me. I did not like it in the milk. I didn't like the taste and it left lumps in it that I could not shake out in a regular shaker. I will try it with water to see if I get a different response tomorrow.
WHEY SMART
This stuff is pretty good. This one comes in a small tub with about 1.28 pounds and 30 servings. I am eating this right as I type this with a 1.5 cups of low fat cottage cheese and a few strawberries and I have to say that it is delicious. Again the draw back to this stuff is 1 scoop is only 13g of protein. So to get a decent serving of protein you have to mix it with milk, cottage cheese or take 2 to 3 scoops. This stuff is also gluten free and uses un-denatured protein. This one has a little longer list of ingredients and is directed as a smoothie mix. The flavor is called Vanilla bean smoothie mix. Lol so there ya go, it's more for smoothies. The container says this is targeted for Nutritional weight management for the whole family. The directions state to drink one smoothie a day as a meal supplement. This is great for diabetics. Also, If you drink it with milk this is a perfect SMALL meal. However for someone like myself who takes in 200+ grams of protein a day, this probably isn't cost effective, but a nice treat.
ADDENDUM:
Summer wanted a small snack at night so I offered up some of this product. I blended it with 8 ounces of milk. I shook it up for 20 seconds and it came out smooth. Her take on it is that she believes that it would be a whole lot better with crushed ice and some fruit, however it did taste good and she was able to hold it down being pregnant and nauseous. It was very satisfying as a meal replacement.
EMPOWER
This one proclaims to be a powerful anti-inflammatory which is natural and has zero side effects. The supplement is full of curcuminoids. A quick search on the google-tron and I found that curcuminoids do help with management of metabolic disorders (diabetes, rheumatoid arthiritis etc). I don't see anything wrong with this stuff. I will take it and probably won't have much to report on it in 30 days but it seems legit after looking at the research.
INVIGORATE
This is touted as a weight loss formula. The supplement includes Green Tea Extract, Raspberry Ketone, Panax ginseng root extract and chromium and zinc. All things that generally are touted as stimulant free fat burners except for the green tea as it has caffeine. The main deal is that this is supposed to make you feel good and help regulate a few things in the body. The Chromium helps with the blood sugar regulation. The Panax Ginseng has several things that it could help with. Some studies show it has anti-depressant like qualities like the upping of serotonin levels and other awesome stuff. The green tea is a slow energy release that does get the body flowing because it essentially has caffeine in it. I only took one today and I'll explain why below, but I may have made a mistake in doing so, which I will also explain below. This stuff looks pretty good.
FOCUS
When I take a pre workout supplement and it isn't often. I want a jolt of energy that makes me feel like I can bench press 400 lbs 20 times, and that I can run 3 miles without even thinking about it. Well this stuff did not do this for me. I took it 1 hour before I did some tire sprints. I noticed a bit more energy but I was not jittery pumped or nothing. That is good I suppose because that's what it says it does. 6 hours of jittery-less energy. I noticed a stiff decline in energy 1 hour after my sprints. I am very stimulant sensitive so this was very odd to me. Around 5 hours I began to get a major headache. I then noticed this stuff has Tyrosine in it. UGH. I am very tyrosine sensitive. In the past I have tried to find the correct balance of tyrosine. I feel great when I take it, but feel like trash afterward. If you aren't deficient in tyrosine, you can have an imbalance of tyrosine to serotonin. Many herbal medicine or functional doctors will recommend taking tyrosine in the morning and 5-htp at night. This is where the invigorate comes in. If that indeed does generate serotonin, then it should balance this just right. I was scared of over stimulating myself today that I drank hardly any coffee this morning and I chose to hold back on the invigorate. I will try to do what the bottle says tomorrow and see how it effects me. If I get the same bad headache again, I will discontinue the use of the focus product and send it back to Justin.
Well there you have it, I was lucky enough to get to try this product line and I look forward to writing about it for the next thirty days, and to see how it helps or deters me from reaching my ultimate goal of 220 lbs. I do want to thank Justin again for allowing me to do this and if you want to know more about the product, I can direct you to his facebook page or telephone number.
So Ocean Avenue. If you're friends with me on Facebook, I am sure you see a few people posting about having the most amazing opportunity and how things are happening etc etc. It sounds downright cult-ish. It's almost as bad as people who sell Advocare. Well I was approached with this "opportunity" and was told how amazing the products were etc. However they couldn't tell me how the products were because they haven't tried it. This was essentially silly to me. How could I endorse something that I didn't try? Well I guess money talks but that isn't me. I said that I would try the product for 30 days and use as directed and give the results of how it made me feel and give a review. Only then I would give the endorsement to sell and offer it to friends, family and other people. I am definitely a proponent the paleo lifestyle and eating real food, but sometimes supplements can help. So with that one of my good friends over the years, Justin Duran, agreed to give me full products of everything below for me to try.
Today was day 1 and here is what I tried.
WHEY BEYOND
The whey beyond comes in a pouch. It has a sweet fruity flavor with only 1.5 grams of carbs. The downside is that it only has 13 grams of protein, which is HALF of the general protein powders that you buy at the stores. However the ingredients in this are organic which include the flavoring. The main schtick to this protein powder is that it is glutathione rejuvenating. Glutathione is the most essential antioxidant in the body and helps regulate your health and prevent disease. There is a lot of information out there as to what MIGHT raise glutathione levels and different nutrients, which includes whey protein. However it has to be UN-DENATURED, which this is. Denaturing protein is basically making it easier to absorb and process quicker in the body. Which is good for post workout, but if you use it as a snack or supplement, it can cause an insulin response and gas or bloating.
I tried this two ways so far, in some cottage cheese and with raw milk. In the cottage cheese was very good. I noticed the sweetness which comes from organic stevia and the flavor of berry. It turned it almost into a dessert for me. I did not like it in the milk. I didn't like the taste and it left lumps in it that I could not shake out in a regular shaker. I will try it with water to see if I get a different response tomorrow.
WHEY SMART
This stuff is pretty good. This one comes in a small tub with about 1.28 pounds and 30 servings. I am eating this right as I type this with a 1.5 cups of low fat cottage cheese and a few strawberries and I have to say that it is delicious. Again the draw back to this stuff is 1 scoop is only 13g of protein. So to get a decent serving of protein you have to mix it with milk, cottage cheese or take 2 to 3 scoops. This stuff is also gluten free and uses un-denatured protein. This one has a little longer list of ingredients and is directed as a smoothie mix. The flavor is called Vanilla bean smoothie mix. Lol so there ya go, it's more for smoothies. The container says this is targeted for Nutritional weight management for the whole family. The directions state to drink one smoothie a day as a meal supplement. This is great for diabetics. Also, If you drink it with milk this is a perfect SMALL meal. However for someone like myself who takes in 200+ grams of protein a day, this probably isn't cost effective, but a nice treat.
ADDENDUM:
Summer wanted a small snack at night so I offered up some of this product. I blended it with 8 ounces of milk. I shook it up for 20 seconds and it came out smooth. Her take on it is that she believes that it would be a whole lot better with crushed ice and some fruit, however it did taste good and she was able to hold it down being pregnant and nauseous. It was very satisfying as a meal replacement.
EMPOWER
This one proclaims to be a powerful anti-inflammatory which is natural and has zero side effects. The supplement is full of curcuminoids. A quick search on the google-tron and I found that curcuminoids do help with management of metabolic disorders (diabetes, rheumatoid arthiritis etc). I don't see anything wrong with this stuff. I will take it and probably won't have much to report on it in 30 days but it seems legit after looking at the research.
INVIGORATE
This is touted as a weight loss formula. The supplement includes Green Tea Extract, Raspberry Ketone, Panax ginseng root extract and chromium and zinc. All things that generally are touted as stimulant free fat burners except for the green tea as it has caffeine. The main deal is that this is supposed to make you feel good and help regulate a few things in the body. The Chromium helps with the blood sugar regulation. The Panax Ginseng has several things that it could help with. Some studies show it has anti-depressant like qualities like the upping of serotonin levels and other awesome stuff. The green tea is a slow energy release that does get the body flowing because it essentially has caffeine in it. I only took one today and I'll explain why below, but I may have made a mistake in doing so, which I will also explain below. This stuff looks pretty good.
FOCUS
When I take a pre workout supplement and it isn't often. I want a jolt of energy that makes me feel like I can bench press 400 lbs 20 times, and that I can run 3 miles without even thinking about it. Well this stuff did not do this for me. I took it 1 hour before I did some tire sprints. I noticed a bit more energy but I was not jittery pumped or nothing. That is good I suppose because that's what it says it does. 6 hours of jittery-less energy. I noticed a stiff decline in energy 1 hour after my sprints. I am very stimulant sensitive so this was very odd to me. Around 5 hours I began to get a major headache. I then noticed this stuff has Tyrosine in it. UGH. I am very tyrosine sensitive. In the past I have tried to find the correct balance of tyrosine. I feel great when I take it, but feel like trash afterward. If you aren't deficient in tyrosine, you can have an imbalance of tyrosine to serotonin. Many herbal medicine or functional doctors will recommend taking tyrosine in the morning and 5-htp at night. This is where the invigorate comes in. If that indeed does generate serotonin, then it should balance this just right. I was scared of over stimulating myself today that I drank hardly any coffee this morning and I chose to hold back on the invigorate. I will try to do what the bottle says tomorrow and see how it effects me. If I get the same bad headache again, I will discontinue the use of the focus product and send it back to Justin.
Well there you have it, I was lucky enough to get to try this product line and I look forward to writing about it for the next thirty days, and to see how it helps or deters me from reaching my ultimate goal of 220 lbs. I do want to thank Justin again for allowing me to do this and if you want to know more about the product, I can direct you to his facebook page or telephone number.
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