The Daily Grind..

Below is my food for the day, I am still learning about macronutrient breakdown so any feedback is most welcome

M1 8am

Two slices of apricot & date bread

50g low fat cottage cheese

Soy latte (small)

M2 11am

Organic Food Bar ‘Active Greens’

Grapes (small bunch)

M3 1pm

Two 100g Sushi handrolls (1x tuna, 1xsalmon)

Peach

Soy latte (small)

M4 4pm (pre-w/o)
Soy yoghurt 175g

Blueberries 70g

Sweet potato 60g

M5 8pm (post w/o)
Kavli light wholegrain crispbreads x 2

Protein powder

50g Low fat cottage cheese

M6 9pm

2 cups steamed vegetables

150g fresh fish

M7 11pm 

100g Watermelon

250ml Light soy milk

Total Calories: 1756

Fat: 38.6g (19%)

Protein: 120g (27%)

Carbs: 238g (54%)

I am making an attempt at eating better pre and post workout also. My calories are a bit low today, as I have reduced portion sizes across 7 meals instead of 6 to help me reduce bloating (it’s working so far!), obviously this will take some practice as I have some 245 calories left to fill!

I’m also wanting confirmation of how many calories I should be taking in based on my stats and activity, I will write up my stats etc in another post soon..

K2BL

Yesterday I felt particularly fresh, and as the weather made it unsafe to ride on the roads, I decided to go for a jog.

I planned to start out and do the usual 5min warm up/30mins jog/ 5mins cool down but as I got into a bit of a rhythm I started to do some random ‘accelerations’ to get the heart rate up. Felt like I could take on more, so I picked up the pace and progressed my jog into a run for a few mins, then backed off to a jog to recover. I repeated this a few times and it felt great to actually be able to get both feet of the ground to RUN!!

I am sure this isn’t very exciting to most people, but before July 07′ I had never actually done anything more than a walk (..to the fridge, mostly).

Following the ‘Couch to 5km’ program last year, over about 9 weeks I was able to build myself up to a 30min jog through walk/jog interval training. Now that I can comfortably jog 30mins, I would like to challenge myself to take on running. I am going to do this using the same interval concept as the Couch to 5k program, but I will jog/run.

I really enjoy jogging, perhaps because it is so different from cycling and resistance training. I use my morning jogs as a chance to load up the iPod with new music/podcasts and just get into my own headspace, settle into a rhythm and do my own thing

Bring on the challenge!

Had my training session last night and I was able to squat 15 reps of 50kgs (plus bar)! I have been nervously anticipating it all week

My first milestone in my new lifting regime, it’s fun playing with the big weights! I performed the exercise quite comfortably and was able to retain form, I am on track to squat the equivalent of my own weight soon.

Light. Weight. Baby! (lol)

Did tricep pushdowns for the first time and loved it, I could really feel the direct burn in my tri’s. Lots of stretching afterwards to help my body deal with the extra loads

I went for a jog afterwards and I find it interesting that my legs felt great, considering the leg weights I had done prior.

Glad I listened to common sense and only jogged the usual 30mins, despite feeling like I could keep going forever, as this morning my entire lower body is t.i.g.h.t! A good ‘worked’ feeling that makes me smile smugly to myself everytime I get out of my chair..

My calories came in a bit low yesterday (1700) due to my basic eating and the bloat appears to be minimal today. I will re-introduce cottage cheese today to begin the process of finding and eliminating the bloating food item. No PP yet, protein will come from tuna and tofu sources.
Today is Back and Bi’s, with cycling session afterwards.

Looking forward to my rest day tomorrow!

My mysterious bloating was at its worst yesterday.

(Stop reading now if you don’t want to read about my GI Tract and all involved with that!)

I resorted to taking charcoal tablets, and a natural fruit laxative last night as the bloat was eventually accompanied by constipation
Taking peoples advice, I had started to cut recently new foods out of my diet with the idea to re-introduce them slowly. Yesterday that started with cutting out protein powder and cottage cheese, incase it was dairy. Note: these are the only dairy products i have, as previously dairy had started to bloat me so i changed to soy - i left the cottage cheese in my diet as it didnt appear to bloat. The PP was a new type though.
Yesterday played out like this, before the worst of the bloat:

8am          2 slices fruit toast (this is usual)

Tbsp Natural PB (new for the past week)

Small soy latte (usual)

10.00am   Ginger and lemongrass tea (in an attempt to relieve the existing bloat)
11.30am   Apple, Peach (apple is usual, peach is new)

1.15pm    Small soy latte (usual)

100g tuna in springwater (usual)

1 cup mixed salad - corn, celery, mixed lettuce, grated beetroot, mushrooms, avocado (more than usual)

1 tomato (occassional)

3.30pm  Ginger/Lemongrass tea

*extremely bloated by 4pm… so much so that I didn’t want to eat afternoon tea - needed a meal before workout, so ate something anyway*

5pm  175g soy yoghurt (usual)

watermelon slice, pineapple slice (usual), cherries (new)
*Post W/O - Bloat still the same, so did not have post w/o PP shake* 

8pm  Prune juice (new - to relieve bloat), charcoal tablets
125g tofu (usual)
slice seedy bread (usual)
.5 cup mixed salad (same as lunch, but less)

10pm *bloat reduced somewhat after laying on the floor and massaging stomach for 30mins, and BM (sorry, but it’s important!*

11pm  175g soy yoghurt (usual)
‘Bounce’ protein ball (have had these before and been ok - had no other PP so this was my only option to up my protein intake for the day)

Yah…
Today I feel less bloated, and I think the charcoal tablets are helping with this. But I can’t be on them forever.

I am running out of foods to eat!! No PB, No PP! No cottage cheese! Not much veges! B.O.R.I.N.G.

Today, the diet is as bland as bland. I’m making sure I take in enough water aswell.

Going to continue with the charcoal tablets and see how this all plays out over the next few days, diet bland with no new additions. If this continues then it’s a visit to the doc for some food sensitivity tests :/

Where is the love, people, seriously?

Over the last week I have been experiencing some extreme bloating.. I can’t put my finger on the exact cause, but there have been several changes to my food within that time. The bloat could be caused by either one!

I have been fine-tuning my diet which was very clean to start with - but I have focussed on: increasing my protein intake from 90g to 130g+/day, increasing my calories (adding 100 - 200/week until I hit 2500), eating a larger volume of vegetables and fruits and adding more good fats (avocado, flax etc).

I know each of these *can* cause bloat on their own, so it’s no surprise that I feel like I am 6 months pregnant and about to give birth to a giant ball of gas!! Excuse the graphic image..

Another thing that may be responsible is I have been using a new protein powder at night, it’s a ‘time-release’ based powder. I assume this means that the protein is designed to hang around my gut for a bit and be absorbed slowly.

It is very uncomfortable, and each change to my diet is for the better - so I don’t want to stop either one of the changes.

Ideas anyone?

I have backed off on the fruit - I weighed one of my fruit salad bowls the other night = 550grams! And that was just my nightly fruit intake, I had eaten 5 peices of fruit during the day also..

Reluctant to reduce the vegetables or protein.

Will it just be a matter of ‘wait and see’, or is there something I can do to reduce the extreme bloat, without taking out all the good changes to my diet?

I won’t be updating this blog with every daily detail, but I thought I would start with a sample of my typical daily menu - feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Keep in mind that I have just spent the last year eating for fat loss, and for me that was 1900 cal’s/day. Been on maintenance and for the last week I have been gradually increasing my calories, I am now at 2000 cal/day and aiming to be somewhere above 2500 cal/day of healthy and clean foods to be in a position to gain muscle. I have worked this out through several online calculators and went with the average - if this calorie intake doesn’t sound right, then please do comment!

Meal 1 (post jog)

fruit toast (2pcs)
Soy latte (small)

(alternate to this is 80g home-made muesli with a banana and soy milk)
Meal 2

Fruit: Nashi, Orange & 75gms blueberries

30g Protein powder (time release) with water

Meal 3

100g lean grilled chicken breast

175g steamed vegetables

50g cooked cous cous (only garlic added for flavour)

Soy latte (small)

Meal 4

Kavli crispbreads (3) with 1tbsp natural peanut butter

glass soy milk

Meal 5

Sushi (2 handrolls)

1 cup mixed salad

Meal 6 (post workout)

175g Soy yoghurt

Watermelon, cantaloupe

30g Protein powder with water

Total 1800cal’s: F 40g/ C 235g/ P 125g
…this only brings me to 1800 cals, so i need to add more food somewhere. Perhaps more yoghurt.

Do my food choices/ macro’s look right?

I like fruit a lot, and that is reflected in the 115g of sugar intake… is this too high and does it matter that it’s mostly from fruit?

Feedback appreciated!

Workout 09/01/2008: Personal training session, this session will mark the beginning of heavier lifting and set/rep changes to stimulate growth.

Bike warm-up, Lunges, DB Chest press, Assisted chin-ups, BB squats, 1000mtr rowing sprint
I am impressed that I was able to squat 45kgs for 15reps, this is a huge improvement over my last session (35kgs)! Next week I am to do 50kgs.

5 minute warm-up on the bike

Barbell Deadlift

*10×20kg warm up set*

12/12/12/10 @ 25kg/27.5kg/27.5kg/30kg

Leg Extension

*15 x 20kg warm up set*

12/10/8/12 @ 30kg/32.5kg/35kg/32.5kg (to failure last set)
Leg Curl

*12 x 19kg warm up set*

10/10/10/13 @ 21kg/22.5kg/22.5kg/21kg (to failure last set)

Standing Calf-Raises

*20x body weight warm up set*

20/20/20/20 @ 20kgs

5 minute cool down on the bike 

Trying something new: 4 sets of each exercise, less reps and lifting heavier

Having been in ‘fat loss’ mode for so long (atleast 2 years),  I gotta say -  i’m having difficulty switching to a ‘bulking’ frame of mind.

I know this is something that time will heal, but it’s very frustrating in the meantime!

I have been eating 1900 calories in the past and this has done me well for fueling exercise and producing fat loss results. It looks like my bulking calories would be upwards of 2500 calories - this seems like a big jump for me so over then next few weeks I am going to increase the calories progressively until I hit 2500.

So far, increasing the food intake has brought about feelings of guilt and ‘gluttony’, and I feel a bit bloated but I guess that will also fix itself. I’m going to check my body fat % / lean mass etc in about a month to see if it’s working according to plan!

Until then, I will silence that little voice inside saying ‘No!your eating too much!’ with a huge cup of shut-the-hell-up.

K2BL

A new year, a new blogging method! I have joined up to keep track of my lifting and goals, and to have somewhere to park my progress pictures etc. Some feedback from others would also be great

My main activity is cycling (road, with some mountain biking) and I aim to improve my performance. My goal is to improve my sprinting/ power as it is currently my weakness. This year I would also like to get some long distance cycling under my belt: 200km+.

I enjoy cross training with jogging and weights and I am always looking for new ways to ‘mix it up’ in my workouts.

The last 2 years of my life have focussed on losing weight, I have been through the ups and the downs and lost 40kgs. I am now at what I feel is a healthy and realistic weight to maintain. Eating clean, healthy and low processed foods is what I enjoy: eating to live, not living to eat!

I have somewhat of a compulsive personality, and can go overboard at times! I am aware of this, but sometimes I can turn this around to my advantage

So let’s see how this blogging thing goes..

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