Things are going well so far. Everyone knows their body well enough to notice changes and in day 2, I already can see a change in my face which is the first place all my fat goes to! This is what I've done so far:
Eating Habits
I've gone back to my low Glycemic Index (low sugar, low carb) eating habits so I'm eating lots of veggies, protein and cutting back my sugar to diabetic levels. A sample of my meals include:
Pre Breakfast - 2oz of organic grape juice
Breakfast - 2 egg whites with vegetables and 3 slices of turkey bacon or turkey slices and 2oz of fruit
Snack 1 - assorted nuts or trail mix
Lunch - simple salad, no dressing w/ 3oz diced grilled chicken
Snack 2 - Turkey Jerkey or Fruit
Dinner - 3 oz lean meat or chicken, salad, steamed jasmine rice or veggies
Late Snack - 1cup of cheerios with skim milk or 2 sugar free popsicles
If you are not used to eating this kind of food, your body might feel off for a day or two, but eating this often keeps your stomach full and you avoid over eating at core meals.
Workouts
As soon as I woke up, I did a 20 minute cardio workout such as what I posted yesterday from youtube. Here is what I did the rest of the day:
Mid morning: Office pushups and tricep extensions on my chair
Lunch: 30 minute stationary bike
After work: Resistance Band full body
Late night: Dumbbell chest workout
Every day I intend to do a morning cardio session as well as a lunch time cardio session while training different body parts every day with home weights. I'm also incorporating 3 gym sessions to the week where I'll focus on Circuit Training to get my body moving and my metabolism up.
So far, I feel great. I woke up this morning feeling lighter and was able to sleep better last night. I know 2 days isn't a lot of time to shout victory, but as I mentioned, everyone knows their own body best. You will know when things are working and as of today, this is working for me. One of my biggest challenge was my work from home day today when I usually enjoy a happy hour with wings at the end of the work day. Today, I was able to push through that and instead incorporate a solid workout and a nice wholesome meal. Next two challenges will be a day off on Friday and of course, the dreaded weekend (see: Weekend Weakness)
I'll keep you all posted in a few days and let you know how things progress.
Until Then,
J
Showing posts with label fatty foods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fatty foods. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
$5 Heart Attack Box
Lately we've seen all of these commercials with the noticeably hefty Charles Barkley advertising Taco Bell's new $5 Buck Box. This is a perfect example of how overeating is often advertised as a cheap compact quick fix for our appetite. What they don't advertise on TV is how unhealthy this box is. Below is the nutritional information for the $5 Buck Box:
Cheesy Gordita Crunch Box
Calories: 1270
Fat Calories: 570
Total Fat: 63g
Saturated Fat: 21g
Trans Fat: 1.5g
Cholesterol: 120mg
Sodium: 2830mg (WOW!)
Carbs: 130g
Sugars: 20g
Volcano Box
Calories: 1380
Fat Calories: 680
Total Fat: 76g
Saturated Fat: 21g
Trans Fat: 2g
Cholesterol: 135mg
Sodium: 3000mg (WOW!)
Carbs: 133g
Sugars: 18g
This is not counting the 20oz drink that comes with it averaging an extra 250calories and 60g of sugar. Overall, this cheap box can total over 1600 calories, 50g of fat and 80g of sugar. Now imagine mixing two sticks of butter and 6 tablespoons of sugar into a bowl and eating it?
Cheap fast food saves us time, but kills our body and in turn takes minutes off our life with every bite.
Weekend Weakness
Weekend Weakness
In talking to many friends who are trying to lose weight, I find that one of the biggest obstacles is getting through the weekend without cheating on their diet. Personally, this used to be the biggest obstacle for me and to date still is at times. During the week, it can be pretty easy to keep a healthy diet and not over indulge yourself with fatty foods or junk. Particularly if you are like me and work in a Downtown Business area with no fast food chains and may have a cafeteria in your building that caters to your requests. The hard part is making it from Friday night to Monday morning and still keep the same habits in line.
Regardless of where we work, we all have stress. For some it is physical, for others it is emotional and for many it is mental. When the end of the workday rolls around on a Friday afternoon, something enters our mind that tells us “I’m FREE and I’m going to do whatever I can to forget the last 5 days and enjoy the next two”. For some, it is alcohol but for many it is food. The LAST thing you want to do is cook after a long week at work especially during your two days off. So what is left? Eat out, order in, etc. and usually this means eating thousands of empty calories full of fat, cholesterol and tons of carbs.
I remember one week, I had worked out every day so I decided to give myself Saturday and Sunday off. I had lost about 3lbs,was able to wear a shirt that I hadn’t been able to for a while, and had a lot of energy. Friday night came and after a stressful work week, I decided to have a couple of beers. As many of you know, Guinness is my favorite beer but at 20g of Carbs per bottle, it can be like eating a half loaf of bread after a fun night. By the time Monday rolled around, the one bottle of Guinness became 6 and along came Taco Bell, 3-Item Chinese food, Round Table Pizza, Sunday Donuts and a box of Lucky Charms. When I weighed myself Monday morning, I had gained back the 3lbs AND 2 more. What a waste…
So the question is, how can we stop from feeling like F, S & S stands for Fat, Sugar and Scrumptious? How can we still enjoy our weekend but not throw out all the hard work we did during the week?
Let’s start with Alcohol.
Click on this link to learn about what Alcohol does to your body in regards to fat:
http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/alcohol.htm
As you can see, how much you drink and the types of drinks you consume can have a great effect on your diet. Even if you think you aren’t doing anything to yourself by drinking that diet coke and Jack or Low fat beer, you are still dehydrating your body making it easier for any calorie you consume to stick to your body like putty. So my rule is, drink moderately and lay off the stout if you can. If you need to have beer, I’ve found that the best are Bud Light, Miller Light and Heffeweizen Wheat beer. If you are going to have mixed drinks, remember ladies that all fruity drinks are packed with high fructose corn syrup and empty calories. Opt for a simpler white rum and coke or cranberry and vodka. Although vodka is primarily a starchy alcohol, it contains less calories than an apple martini.
Now on to food.
Recently I read a very helpful article on About.com that centered on how we can eat healthy on the weekends.
http://nutrition.about.com/od/changeyourdiet/f/weekends.htm
One particular item I was very interested in is the “eating less at restaurants” point. And I agree! Who said it is illegal to cook on the weekends? I don’t know about you guys, but my wife and I seldom have time to cook during the week and we both LOVE to cook. So for me, the only time I get to really try new recipes and play with my taste buds is on weekends. We like to use Sunday as our cooking day and often invite friends and family to enjoy in our cooking. There are multiple benefits to this:
• You save money
• You learn to cook something other than pop tarts
• You get to make your own food and therefore control the ingredients
• You get to spend quality time with friends and family
• You can cook enough to have lunch/dinner for the rest of the week!
If you MUST eat at a restaurant, stay clear of chains that will offer you nothing but high calorie high fat fried foods. If you are not sure as to where to eat, this website offers some great insight into caloric data for your favorite restaurants.
http://caloriecount.about.com/restaurants-mc1
The truth is, we will all splurge from time to time and rightfully so! However, think about it this way… Imagine if you worked tirelessly on building a house and during the first week you put up all the frame work and at the end of the week, you take a sledge hammer and knock it all down. How long will it take you to build that house? It’s the same with your health and body. If you work hard with dieting and exercise, why would you knock it all down on a weekend?
So when Friday rolls around this week, have fun, but watch your waist line!
In talking to many friends who are trying to lose weight, I find that one of the biggest obstacles is getting through the weekend without cheating on their diet. Personally, this used to be the biggest obstacle for me and to date still is at times. During the week, it can be pretty easy to keep a healthy diet and not over indulge yourself with fatty foods or junk. Particularly if you are like me and work in a Downtown Business area with no fast food chains and may have a cafeteria in your building that caters to your requests. The hard part is making it from Friday night to Monday morning and still keep the same habits in line.
Regardless of where we work, we all have stress. For some it is physical, for others it is emotional and for many it is mental. When the end of the workday rolls around on a Friday afternoon, something enters our mind that tells us “I’m FREE and I’m going to do whatever I can to forget the last 5 days and enjoy the next two”. For some, it is alcohol but for many it is food. The LAST thing you want to do is cook after a long week at work especially during your two days off. So what is left? Eat out, order in, etc. and usually this means eating thousands of empty calories full of fat, cholesterol and tons of carbs.
I remember one week, I had worked out every day so I decided to give myself Saturday and Sunday off. I had lost about 3lbs,was able to wear a shirt that I hadn’t been able to for a while, and had a lot of energy. Friday night came and after a stressful work week, I decided to have a couple of beers. As many of you know, Guinness is my favorite beer but at 20g of Carbs per bottle, it can be like eating a half loaf of bread after a fun night. By the time Monday rolled around, the one bottle of Guinness became 6 and along came Taco Bell, 3-Item Chinese food, Round Table Pizza, Sunday Donuts and a box of Lucky Charms. When I weighed myself Monday morning, I had gained back the 3lbs AND 2 more. What a waste…
So the question is, how can we stop from feeling like F, S & S stands for Fat, Sugar and Scrumptious? How can we still enjoy our weekend but not throw out all the hard work we did during the week?
Let’s start with Alcohol.
Click on this link to learn about what Alcohol does to your body in regards to fat:
http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/alcohol.htm
As you can see, how much you drink and the types of drinks you consume can have a great effect on your diet. Even if you think you aren’t doing anything to yourself by drinking that diet coke and Jack or Low fat beer, you are still dehydrating your body making it easier for any calorie you consume to stick to your body like putty. So my rule is, drink moderately and lay off the stout if you can. If you need to have beer, I’ve found that the best are Bud Light, Miller Light and Heffeweizen Wheat beer. If you are going to have mixed drinks, remember ladies that all fruity drinks are packed with high fructose corn syrup and empty calories. Opt for a simpler white rum and coke or cranberry and vodka. Although vodka is primarily a starchy alcohol, it contains less calories than an apple martini.
Now on to food.
Recently I read a very helpful article on About.com that centered on how we can eat healthy on the weekends.
http://nutrition.about.com/od/changeyourdiet/f/weekends.htm
One particular item I was very interested in is the “eating less at restaurants” point. And I agree! Who said it is illegal to cook on the weekends? I don’t know about you guys, but my wife and I seldom have time to cook during the week and we both LOVE to cook. So for me, the only time I get to really try new recipes and play with my taste buds is on weekends. We like to use Sunday as our cooking day and often invite friends and family to enjoy in our cooking. There are multiple benefits to this:
• You save money
• You learn to cook something other than pop tarts
• You get to make your own food and therefore control the ingredients
• You get to spend quality time with friends and family
• You can cook enough to have lunch/dinner for the rest of the week!
If you MUST eat at a restaurant, stay clear of chains that will offer you nothing but high calorie high fat fried foods. If you are not sure as to where to eat, this website offers some great insight into caloric data for your favorite restaurants.
http://caloriecount.about.com/restaurants-mc1
The truth is, we will all splurge from time to time and rightfully so! However, think about it this way… Imagine if you worked tirelessly on building a house and during the first week you put up all the frame work and at the end of the week, you take a sledge hammer and knock it all down. How long will it take you to build that house? It’s the same with your health and body. If you work hard with dieting and exercise, why would you knock it all down on a weekend?
So when Friday rolls around this week, have fun, but watch your waist line!
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