AlanBarber.Org
Fitness Log
Monday, May 31, 2004
My Dietary Changes
Ok, I promised I’d do a post about my dietary changes so I guess I better get to it.
Along with the exercise routine I made some dietary changes. Now I didn’t go on a “diet” like so many people do. Instead I decided to just make permanent adjustments to my eating style. Personally, I think diets are a crock. All those 30 day diets, liquid diets, atkins, south beach, weight watchers, etc are just a waste of time in my opinion.
People go on diets to loose weight. However, for probably 90% of them once they loose the weight they go off the diet. They return to their old style of eating and as a result just put the pounds right back on. It’s becomes an endless cycle of gain and loss.
This is why I refuse to go on a “diet.” From the very beginning I understood the problem was very simple, I needed to eat less! However, it’s not just about eating less, it’s about eating less of the so called “bad” foods and more of the “good” foods. Notice I said LESS of the “bad” and MORE of the “good.” I didn’t say I was cutting out anything! I wasn’t going to just do a short term change of my eating pattern but make permanent changes.
This is the fundamental idea you need to keep in your brain. Sure you could spend two or three weeks eating nothing but carrot stick and water and you’ll loose the weight. However, soon as you loose your willpower once you are lost. You spend an evening eating an entire box of Oreos or Ben and Jerry’s and you admit defeat and give up.
Instead, what you want to do is cut back on the “bad” foods but still allow yourself to eat them. When you keep the cravings at bay by allowing yourself to have the “bad” foods from time to time you will find that it’s easier to stay the overall course and keep on your new improved diet.
So what are the “bad” foods? The “bad” foods are those that have so called empty calories. For me that means all your junk foods (cookies, candies, chips), sodas (all sodas even so called diet sodas), caffeine, alcohol and everyone’s favorite new “bad” food, high carb foods!
Basically, for me I’ve cut down on junk foods but not got rid of them. For me I know follow very closely the serving size of a snack. If the box says 2 cookies than that’s all I’ll eat now. I’ve cut out sodas completely. Yes even the diet sodas. I’ve managed to loose probably 15-20 pounds just from not drinking soda. Ok, I do occasionally break down and have a soda but I average maybe one a week instead of 4 or 5 a day. In similar light to sodas I’ve cut back on anything with caffeine or alcohol. Caffeine and alcohol have so many side effects I could write a whole paper on them so I won’t. Suffice to say that cutting back can do a lot to improving your overall quality of health.
Now for the big guy, carbs! I’ve cut down on my intake of carbs but not completely. Simple put, I try not to eat potatoes, white bread, etc and stick with whole grain breads, rice, etc.
As for the “good” foods. This includes fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, nuts, high fiber foods, etc.
Along with my food changes I’ve also started taking some vitamin and supplements.
(500mg) oyster shell calcium
(50mg) zinc
(500mg) Vitamin C
(1000mg) Fish oil
(400iu) Vitamin E
1 pill of Osteo Bi-Flex - this is special supplement that claims to help maintain your joints.
Honestly, I don’t know how much good they do but they claim they help. If you take the time to research the claimed benefits of all these things it sure sounds like a good idea to take them?
Remember that above all you have to start exercising too! By changing your diet you can help to remove excess calories but it takes exercise to raise your bodies metabolism so that it also uses the remaining calories more efficiently so you can loose weight.
on 05/31/2004 at 04:26 PM
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Week 5 Day 29
Well 2 weeks of being sick has not been fun at all! It's really messed up the program again. Seriously, I seem unable to go more than two weeks without something happening to screw me up.Well Last week was a complete loss. After working out Tuesday I stopped the program entirely due to being sick with tonsillitis. My throat was sore, tonsils swollen, and had a fever. The fever didn't break till Monday. I began anti-biotics Thursday and just finished today. The infection is still there though which has me a bit worried being as I've been sick for 2 weeks now. I don't think I've ever had an infection, bacterial or viral, that's last more than a week or so. Whatever though, I'm feeling probably 90% back to my usual self.
Anyways, as I stated I pretty much stopped all exercise while I was sick. I started working out again Thursday, minus the running. Weight wise I'm at 171 pounds right now. At the end of week 4 I'm should weight 172 pounds so I'm a pound ahead of schedule.
Actually, I've been thinking about my weight goal recently. Originally, I had set the goal to loose 15 pounds and get down to 165 pounds. However, the more I look at myself the more I begin to think that I could stop right now. I'm amazed at how much I've shrunk!
My pants are too big now. I wear 36(waist)/32(length) jeans and I'm using the last hole on my belt just to hold them up. When I first bought those jeans, oh about a year and half ago, I didn't need a belt at all! However, over the last year I cut out sodas and lose enough weight that I needed a belt by Christmas time. So I've come a long way. In fact I just found an old pair of 34(waist) jean shorts that I couldn't wear a year ago and they fit again!
My t-shirts are all getting big too. I've always bought XL because plain old L were usually just a bit too small and with my stomach sticking out I was self-conscience of how I looked. I've slimed down enough and my confidence has grown to where I think I can now buy plain old large. I know I could never get away with mediums. My chest has no definition and my stomach is still a too flabby.
Anyways, me rambling again. The point being that I think I may have actually lost enough weight. Oh heck I'll probably just go though and loose the last 6 or so pounds I have to go. There's still more than enough flab around my waist that I should probably stick with the original plan. I'm not really sure though. Since I'll be going back to the doctor for a checkup this week I'll just have to ask.
Ok, I said I was going to write about issues and things I've learned from this workout plan and I know I didn't today. Tomorrow I'll write a post completely about my dietary changes.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Week 3 Day 16
I've decided to cover actual topics about my exercise plan to share some of my experiences I've learned. First though I'll give my update.Well week 2 is over so here is where I stand.
My weight is 173.5 pounds. I'm scheduled to weigh 176 pounds at the end of week 2. Since the plan is to loose two pounds a week I'm still a good week ahead of schedule. This is great news!
I'm doing ok with all my exercises. My only problem spot has been my abs. Doing the ab exercises are just still difficult to do so I've been bad and skipped twice last week. I did make up and do them this weekend because I felt guilty though. I'm doing very well on my running. In fact I ran almost every day last week! I've just had so much pent up energy this last week and running has been one of the ways to help me relax.
Speaking of running I'm suppose to add 5 more minutes to the running portion. That is I do a 10 minute walk to warm up, 15 minute jog/run and a 10 minute walk to cool down now. I don't think it should be too much of a problem to add 5 minutes but I think I might just slow down my pace a bit so I don't kill myself.
So anyways today I wanted to write about the energy I've gained.
You want to start working out and get into shape. You've though about trying to loose a few pounds. You try to run but you're out of breath and feel like you're about to collapse after just five minutes of jogging or you can barely go up a flight of stairs without needing to sit down and rest. I know the feeling!
No matter how much you want to you just don't seem to have the energy to go exercise. Well now that I've been doing this exercise routine for about 4 weeks now I've found out something wonderful. After about 2-3 weeks of exercise you'll actually start gaining energy. Yes that's right! I went through about 2 weeks of just hating to go out to run or do my exercises. It was hard, I would get tired and my whole body just felt like trash afterwards. I pushed through though. There's this first hump of lack of energy. Once you get into the routine you'll find that as your metabolism rises and you start dropping pounds you're energy levels go through the roof.
All of the sudden you can run up and down flights of stairs without being winded. You actually try to run more than you plan to just to see how long you can go now!
That energy follows you all day too. I used to take forever to get out of bed in the mornings. Now I can jump out and get moving as soon as my eyes open. I no longer need shots of caffeine from coffee or tea to wake me up or sodas to keep me going throughout the day.
It's a great feeling. So, just remember though it might be hard to get going once you push through that first hump you'll find your daily life gets easier and easier.
Monday, May 10, 2004
Week 2 Day 8: Reloaded
Ok, The last two week I basically fell off the exercise program. I know I'm not suppose to make excuses but with the big projects in my computer classes, finals week and graduation I just sort of slipped up bad.This should be the start of week 4 actually. However, I've decided to roll back two weeks and so this is now week 2 day 9.
There's nothing to report since I'm just starting the week. My weight is 176 pounds so I'm now actually at my target weight for the end of this week. That's at least one good thing is that I'll now be a week ahead on my weight loss.
So, anyways I just wanted to get this put up so everyone knows where I am on the exercise plan. Now that school is done I'll try my hardest to keep on schedule.
Oh yea, I took some pictures yesterday so I can see how much I improved since I began. No, I'm not going to post them publicly. I'm way to self conscience to do that. Besides who really wants to see pictures of a fat hairy guy like me? That's a rhetorical question because the only answer is that no one does!
Ok, I'm off to do my abdominal exercises and run. Yes I know it's my off day but they're talking about storms all week so I might as well get my running in any chance I can incase I get stuck inside for the next few days. That is the one downfall to not exercising at a gym. You're a slave to the whims of Mother Nature.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Week 2 Day 8
Well I'm into this fitness thing now. Everything seems to be doing pretty well being the first real week. No pains or soreness to report. I think now that I'm into a routine the joints are wearing into place or something. The first few days I ran my right knee was killing me but now it's just fine. Well honestly, it's a bit stiff in the morning but once I'm up and moving it's ok.So here's my end of week report.
Running is going fine. I'm doing a ten minute walk to warm up, a ten minute run/jog and a ten minute cool down. Doing it only 4 days a week is probably about right I believe. The day off between lets me rest my legs but more important it gives my mind a change to relax so I feel good and actually want to go run. I think if I ran every day I would be more tired and in my mind I would give myself time off. That would just start a domino effect and I would be likely to start by skipping a day then two then more and more days. As a result I'd end up just giving up and stop running completely.
My ab exercises are doing well. The crunches and oblique twists are easy to do and I can feel the burn after doing them. The reverse crunches on the other hand are very hard to do. I just don't have the muscles built up yet and so I have troubles doing a proper reverse crunch. I try my hardest though and with time it will become easier. My gut still looks the same though but I know it's only week one. With time it will improve. Ok, I have to admit I've been kind of bad in doing my ab exercises. Both Monday and Friday I skipped doing them. But I forced myself to do them the next morning before I went out and ran.
My pectoral, triceps and biceps exercises are fine. Chest flys and pushups are easy exercises and work very well for targeting the pectorals. Bicep curls and triceps dips as the names imply target the triceps and biceps. Again no real visible changes yet but with time they will get toned and shape up nicely.
On the weight front thing are doing excellent. I weighted myself this morning and the scale said 177.5 pounds. That means I meet and exceeded my goal of 178 pounds for week one. I'm very happy with this because honestly I wasn't eating too well the first half of the week. I binged a bit on ice cream Monday and Tuesday having big sundaes. Beef and Noodles on top of mashed potatoes one night. Plus on Saturday I ate a big breakfast after running. I was just so hungry I went overboard and ate a huge bowl of Chex cereal (it's high fiber though), two Bob Evans mini sausage sandwiches and Kellogg's Pop Tarts. I'm rather surprised I meet my goal. I can only assume that my metabolism has increased since I started exercising so my body is burning more calories. Actually, now that I think about it, it's probabbly because my girlfriend and I went ice skating last night. We skated for almost 2 whole hours. We were crusing too and most of the time were doing laps around people. So our little two hour aerobic exercise probabbly helped me burn the extra weight off me.
So, that's the week in review. I'm feeling pretty good about the schedule I designed and the level of the workouts. I'm thinking I might up the rep levels on the biceps and triceps exercises just because I'm not really feeling I'm working them to their full potential. Although, that's probably because I'm only using like five pound weights for the bicep curls. Either I'll find something heavier to do the bicep curls with or I'll up the reps. I'm just not sure which yet. Either way I'll have to adjust the triceps dips to match the workout level of the biceps.
See you next week.
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Week 1 Day 1
Today officially is the beginning of my exercise routine. Yes I've been working out this last week but it was really just a testing/warm-up week. I wanted to get myself into the mental state to work out and also to test to see how well my fitness guide I made matched my ability. I've found I am able to adjust most of the guide as far as number of sets and reps as well as running times. So you can see my updated and now official fitness guide here:http://www.alanbarber.org/gallery/files/fitness/fitness_guide.doc
So to start I did my bicep and tricep exercises. I did 1 set of 10 reps of bicep curls and 1 set of 10 reps of tricep dips. This is actually up from 1 set of 8 for each as I originally planned. That's not much of a difference but I realized it wouldn't kill me to do two more reps twice a week.
Just now I finished my running. I did a 10 minute walk to warm-up, 10 minute light jog for the main exercise and a 10 minute walk to cool down. This is up from 10 walk, 5 jog, 15 walk. After I was able to run for a full 20 minutes Thursday I knew I could up the jog time. However, I was very sore after that 20 minute jog so just adding 5 minutes seemed a good compromise. I also decided to keep an even 10 minute warm-up and 10 minute cool down were as originally as I upped the jogging time I shrunk the warm-up and cool down times. It just seems better to have a solid 20 minute walk to add to the total exercise time.
My weight right now is 181.5 pounds according to the scale. However, I am wearing my running clothes minus the shoes and socks so we'll just round it to an even 180 pounds and this will be the starting weight. I plan to loose two pounds a week for the next 8 weeks to get down to 165 pounds where I hope to stay at.
From now on I plan to post weekly updates every Sunday since doing daily updates is pretty much a waste.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Morning walk and worked on my pecs
Pinch me I must be dreaming!Man, it's a beautiful day. I don't know if I can handle all this much warm sunny weather all the sudden. Going from months of cold, dreary weather to 75 and sunny is a real shock on the system. Isn't it funny! I would complain and complain about the horrible weather all winter and now that it's nice I'm complaining even more. I really need to learn to be more thankful.
Well today started out really well. I walked instead of running. My girlfriend and I walked a local trail in the morning. It was an old abandoned railroad. The park district converted I believe something like 13 miles of the railroad into a paved pathway. It's very well maintained and great to walk on. It's much better than walking around the block or using a treadmill because of the changing scenery. It starts out in the middle of town with all the homes and industry and go out into the country with open fields, woods, etc. Of course being early spring the trees are still just budding and not much wildlife is out and about yet. However, it's still great to use.
I'm not too sure how far we went but we walked for about an hour and a half so I figure we did something like 4 or 5 miles. We got finished just in time too. When we started there was nary a soul to be seen but as we were getting done lots of people on bikes started coming by. I definitely don't hurt as much as I did from running that's for sure, although my right knee is killing me. It's the family curse I guess since my father always complains about his right knee too.
Anyhoo, we went out to eat at Bob Evans. I had their sausage and cheese omelette, home fries, wheat toast and cranberry-grape juice. I was good though and just ate a little of my home fries since I'm trying to cut back on excess carbs. Plus I didn't eat the crust of my wheat toast just so it would be that much less carbs. But I have a fondness for bread that I'll never get rid off.
I took some Advil for the pain then took an hour nap when I got home then I did my exercises for my pecs. I did one set of ten reps of pushups and chest flys. I know it's not much but I'm just looking to tone not bulk up. Plus this is my first week so I'm just taking it ease my body into the idea of working out.
Now I just have to find something to do for rest of this great day that doesn't involve that dreaded word "work".