Food Porn

So I have finally figured out how to get my pics from my phone onto the blog. Now everyone can see the food I ate on Saturday. Notice how big the brownie bar is, and that is 1/2 a bar. I didn't get all the food but you'll get the point. There is also a pic of the pills I take to help control the insulin spike and crash. I take those before three of the biggest meals. Also if you have any suggestions for foods to eat this Saturday, comment on my Facebook page.

Yesterdays workout:
incline bench 10set x 5 reps @240 ( i missed 1 rep on 7, 9,10)

Cheat day and Monday result

So over the weekend it was my cheat day. I have stated how much I look forward to these days. So much so that I actually wake up early to get my workout and first meal out of the way. So I got up Saturday morning did my back and bicep workout and went and bought some supplies at the Dutch Market. This place is a cheaters heaven. Pies, cakes, candy, cookies, breads and pretzels. It is amazing to walk in this place and have free reign to eat what ever you want. So I bought some pancake mix, maple syrup and a brownie bar. I went home took a protein shake and my pills then started cooking. So here is what my day looked like:

8- workout
930- protein shake
1030- pancake and eggs
130-330- Basketball
330- Double cheese burger and large fries
430- brownie bar
730- pizza
900- chik-fil-a chocolate milkshake
930- Watched "The Fighter" while eating junior mints and twizzlers

The only thing that sucked was our waiter forgot to put my order of mozzarella sticks and calamari in, Whit had to convince me not to beat him up, so I calmed down and got over the calamari I was dreaming about since Thursday.


The Results
I was a little disappointed last week because I didn't drop any weight. On Saturday morning I weighed the same as I did last Saturday, but I know there is more to this process then the numbers on the scale. Plus Monday's are the official weigh/measurement day. So this morning I woke up and got on the scale and took out the tape measure:

January 24, 2011

Weight- 222.5 (-6lbs)

Belly button- 38 ½(-1 1/4 in)

Hips- 38 (-1/2 in)

Chest- 46(+1 1/4)

Arm- 17(same)

Quad- 26(+1 in)

Neck- 16 ¼(+1/4 in)

I was a bit upset when I stepped on the scale but once I did the measurements I was very happy. The lost inches in the belly button and hips represent lost body fat, but the best news was that my chest and quads got bigger. These measurements mean that while I have lost some fat I have also gained some decent muscle at the same time. This should be the goal anyone strives for. Lose fat and gain some muscle! I am pretty excited about the results so far but this week I am going to change some things up to see if I can speed the fat loss process up a bit.

The last week and a half I got a bit lazy and didn't take the showers or do the ice packs at night, I just did 3 ice baths( although all of them lasted 5-10 min longer then original plan). So this week I am going to do the cold showers in the morning(sucks!) and the ice packs at night on the nights I don't take the ice baths. I am also adding back in the ice water before breakfast. I only have 3 more weeks for this experiment. 

Some people have asked me my goal is and truthfully I don't have an exact goal in mind. I say get to 210 or 10% body fat. But there are a couple of problems with those goals 1) I may not get to 210 if I keep adding muscle like I am (I am fine with that) 2) I never took my body fat since I didn't really have anyone that could. I would estimate that my bf was at 17% and is now about 13% but those are rough estimates. So I guess the real goal is to see if I could see all rows of my abs in this 6 week experiment ( i can see about 1 1/2 rows now if I squint and the light is right-jk). So the only thing I would really love to see is my belly button measurement get down to 37 inches. That may be a tall order but it would be cool.

Shrinkage

So last week I found the threshold for number of bags of ice I can tolerate. 16-20 lbs seems to be the limit. I decided to see what would happen if I threw in an extra bag, and the results where no good. Within the first 5 min my toes where stinging, my legs felt like little needles were being shoved in my thighs and well my man parts felt like they were going to fall off! I pushed thru and lasted the 20 min, and when I got out it looked like I had a sun burn all over, and that was not the worst part. (TMI warning: in case my mother-in-law reads this.) My testicles were no where to be found. Best guess is they were in my chest( they came back down thank god)!

Saturday was my cheat day and was not the best for a all out feast for everything I was craving. I got terrible doughnuts( Dunkin sucks), I had to eat wedding food, which is never that great and was to bust C-walking to even eat any cake. The positives were I got wings and grilled cheese from Hooters ( they need an upgrade on the talent for sure) and got some McD's burger, fries and sundae. But over all I wished I had waited till Sunday. I did have a few drinks at the Wedding, Jack and ginger to be exact not the greatest when trying to drop some body fat.

Sunday was another ice bath and may have been the worst after effects of the experiment. I stayed in a bit longer then the 20 min time limit, and didn't think it was that bad. Then once out of the tub and I got dressed the extreme shivering started. I could do nothing to get warm, so much so I had my pregnant wife lay on top(fully dressed) to help me out. That didn't work very well, plus she keep telling me how stupid I was for doing this. I have pretty much figured out that the longer I stay with no clothes on the better it is. The clothes seal in the cold radiating off my skin and make the post bath shivers worse.

Tuesday nights ice bath was not very cold at all. I typically do 10 min waist deep then 5 min with the torso, and 5 min with as much of my body as possible. Well last night I did about 10 min waist deep and 20 with my whole body submerged. I am not sure what made this bath so tolerable for 30 min, because I had the same amount of ice in the tub of every other time. I still did have some shivering after the bath though.

The Number:
Weight: 203 ( -5 1/2 lbs), I was 220 on Saturday morning
Belly Button: - 1/4 in (- 1in)

Workout
Monday
Incline- 250 10 sets x 3 reps
reverse fly- 20 10x8

Seated military- 70lbs 3x8
ext rotation off knee- 20lbs 3x8

Tuesday -off

Wednesday
Squats- 305 10x3

Like a fat kid loves cake

So this is the second Thursday of my ice bath/ fat loss experiment. An experiment that I have set for 6 weeks and, then i will look at the data and decide whether to proceed further. But it is always on thursday that I start longing for the weekend, and not because I work a crazy 50hr + work week, because I don't. I long for that Saturday cheat day. I so look forward to this day that I actually have food dreams starting on Thursday morning and then they haunt me till Saturday, then I am ready for another 4 or five days without junk. Now some may think this is an unhealthy way to go about dieting, and maybe. But I think you have to know yourself and I know that if i say "you can have a few cheat meals during the week", those cheat meals will turn into cheat days, then into cheat weeks and then finally back to a chubby 235. Even if I workout everyday the bad food catches up to me. So I know myself well enough to know that if I give myself a light at the end of the tunnel, I can push through six days a week to get to that beautiful Saturday and and eat myself into a comma.

The thing I have started doing to get me prepared for this glorious day is I started keeping a journal of things I want to eat on this day. This Saturday is going to be tough because I have a wedding to go to so the food choices will not be all up to me. But there are a few things I will do to prepare for this day. I will be making some brownies I have been craving after walking past them in the aisle with a shopping cart full of salad and meat. The other I have going for me is there is like a 2 hr gap between wedding and reception, and I believe there is a few delicious restaurants right next to the reception site. One of which is Hooters, so wings and grilled cheese may be consumed before the wedding dinner. Also you know there will be CAKE, and I love cake. I just hope it is good ( chocolate or yellow with a butter cream frosting), I don't like when people try to get fancy with there wedding cake and add fruit. Then I may end the night of drinks and dancing with a stop at the drive thru of a local McDonalds.  


And oh by the way lost another lb for a total -7.5 lbs in less then 2 weeks. Although official results don't get calculated till Monday.

Workout update: Last post was a week behind
Monday
Incline bench - 10x4 @240

Tuesday
Squat- 10x 4 @ 295

Wednesday off

Thursday
Standing milt press- 10x4 @ 160

Ice bath part deux, diet and workout updates

Well this post is coming straight from the second ice bath of the week, so pardon any spelling or gramatical mistakes as my body temp is dropping rapidly. I actually enjoy the feeling of the baths and could fall asleep in here. Some people have asked if I am crazy or is it safe. Yes to both questions. But the baths serve 2 purposes really. 1)Fat loss (hopefully) 2) Recovery - ice baths have long been used to repair sore muscles and help heal tendons. Pro sports teams use these baths all the time, so no one worry about the safety.

The Diet:

Pretty simple low carb 6 days a week then Saturday is a free for all (sort of). I have done this type of diet before but this time on Saturday(my cheat day) has some weird rules: 1) The first meal has to be a low carb meal with at least 30 grams of protein. 2) before each cheat meal I must engage in 90 to 120 seconds of muscle contraction 3) before at least the first cheat meal I will drink a glass of water with lemon and take a fiber supplement.

Besides that it can be an all out junk food fest. For example this past Saturday consisted of : A protein shake and some cashews( i then worked out for about 30 min of weights) had another shake, then 4 doughnuts, and 2 glasses of chocolate milk, I played basketball then a Chipotle burrito and chips, then lasagna, bread and butter, 2 pieces of birthday cake and ice cream, and ended the night with a double cheese burger from McDonalds. And the total weight gain on Monday- 0lbs.

Now I did play basketball and lifted weights, but in my experience with low carb diets I usually gain at least a lb or 2 after carbs are re-introduced even for just a few meals.

The Workout: Week 1
Monday:
incline bench press 10x5 at 225lbs
bent over raises 10x 8-10 at 20lbs

seated military dumbbell 3 sets 8-10 65-70lbs
ext rotation off knee 3sets 8-10 reps 20lbs

Tuesday
Squats 10set x 5 reps at 280

(if I feel like it I will do these)
leg curls
leg extension

Wednesday- off

Thursday
Standing barbell shoulder press 10sets x 5 @150lb
Shrugs 10 x 8 @225

Incline dumbbell press 3 sets x 6-8 reps

Friday
Barbell deadlifts 10 x 5 @ 405lbs

Saturday
Thib lat pull down 4 sets x 6-8

superset of
Lat pulldown and straight arm pull downs 3 sets x 8-10
then some bicep curls 3 or 4 sets

Sunday off


THE END

Holiday fat and some crazy new ideas

I am a sucker for any diet/workout book that gets put out.. Especially when the names that contribute to the content are the top of the industry. I got The Four Hour Body before Christmas and was immediately intrigued by one one of the chapters in the beginning of the book on fat loss. What was this intriguing little trick? ICE BATHS!!! Sit in a bathtub full of cold water and 2 10lb bags of ice for 20 mins three times a week and increase your rate of fat loss by 300%! There is a slightly less brutal protocol that involves 2 cold showers and ice packs and 60% of the results of the above protocol. So since I have tried everything(legal) I decided after the holidays cold showers and ice packs would be my key to rapid fat loss and a six pack!

So on the morning of January 3rd I woke up and took my first ice cold shower...and WOW! Tim Ferris the author of The Four Hour Body wasn't lying when he said "this will wake you up like a fog horn." The morning showers suck bad and the evening showers suck slightly less. The ice pack on my upper back for 30 mins is not bad at all. My thoughts were to try this and in in one ice bath on the weekend. The ice baths are a whole new animal.

Last night I stopped by a 7-11 and bought 2 10lb bags of ice and on the drive home I was giddy with excitement. I got home filled the tub and threw the ice in. I then slowly crawled in and sat in ice cold water up to my waist for 10 mins then scooted down and got as much of my body under water as I could for the last 10 mins. Now this protocol is supposed to induce shivering which it did, but it wasn't that bad. And actually overall the bath wasn't bad and I actually closed my eyes and enjoyed it for a bit, and actually stayed in the tub for about 25 mins. Now while the shivering wasn't terrible during the bath, it was what happened after the bath that was a bit more uncomfortable. I could not get my body temp back to normal. I knew this would happen but was not prepared to be as cold as I was for as long as I was. I had to sleep in wool socks, pants and a sweatshirt. Other then the cold nights rest, the bath felt great! I am thinking of switching over to the baths 3 x's a week versus the shower/ice packs.

Now the numbers:

Taken Monday Jan. 3rd in the morning and will be taken every Monday Morning.

January 3rd:
weight: 228.5
hips(at belly button): 39 3/4 in

January 10th:
weight: 225 (-3.5 lbs)
hips( at belly button): 39 1/4 in (-1/2 in)