Lex29’s Body Forum

Whats up fam!!

So yesterday wasn’t a good day for me regarding my diet.  Its not that I ate badly, its the fact that I barely ate.  I was completely out of it.  Not sick…just felt, eh.  My head was pounding, eyes wouldn’t stop watering, and on top of that for whatever reason i was bloated.  I felt like professor klump from The Nutty Professor!!  So while i was able to eat here and there, it was nothing like what I normaly put away in a day.

But that is not the case today.  I woke up this morning hungrier that ever before.  My stomach didn’t just rumble, it roared.  My wife woke up asking what the hell was wrong with me!!  I had to feed the beast….before it went after small children & animals.  So breakfast was definately in the making. 

1 1/2 cup Oatmeal with Banana

6 egg whites with onion & tomato

1 cut chicken breast, with spoon of Salsa

Can’t wait until its mid-morning snack time!!

Whats up Fam!!

Seems like I am on a roll with the blogs today, so I’ll keep the magic going.  By now a lot of you  know that I was diagnosed with Hypertension.  Although I haven’t allowed it to slow me down in the gym, or alter my goals, it has had an effect on my supplementation.  For whatever reason Dr’s are against us Hypo’s (Thats a good one) taking supplements.  According to them they have far too much sodium for us.  My Dr has me on a diet with no more than 2000mg of sodium intake a day.  So at the time my protein shake was a problem and I had to come off it.  Along with my workout drink IntraVol & Creatine. 

Since then I’ve been a label reading junkie.  I was actually amazed at home much sodium was actually in a lot of the things I ate.  My family and I were falling into that rut with the quick frozen meals, and so forth.  When I started reading the labels, i was seeing, 330 - 880mg of sodium per serving!  I was shocked.  I always concerned myself with the fat content, trans fat, and protein.  I never really paid attention to the sodium.  But there is some good news in this.  By reading my labels I realized that depending on the flavor of the protein shake, actually resulted in how much sodium was in it.  For example.  I love Optimum Nutrition Products, especially their Chocolate Shake Whey.  I used to put in two scoops before and after my workouts, and then finish it off at night with their Casein Protein.  But the sodium was too much daily.  Two scoops of the whey twice a day was giving me 400mg of sodium, and the casein twice a day was another 520mg totaling 920mg.  Before the end of the day with everything else I ate, I was in the realm of 2300mg.  But when I started looking into the other flavors, I noticed the vanilla was less than the chocolate, and the strawberry was a whole lot less, only 50mg to be exact.  Dr. couldn’t say squat about my shake at that point.

But the big thing that worried me was my performance and gains in the gym.  I was worried that being off the protein and so forth that whatever muscle gains i acheived, and strength gains i made, would be wiped off the map.  Truth is….I DID lose something.  Its been about three weeks, since I’ve slacked up on the shakes, and what I noticed was that towards the end of my sets, usually the last one or two, I fatigued a lot easier than before.  Where as I used to be able to push for one or two reps after my goal rep, I couldn’t do it any longer.  I continued to go up in weight, but I didn’t really have the energy or the drive to push it further. 

I am slowly getting back to my regular form.  I’m back on creatine, but in small dosages, and only post workout.  In the meantime, I’m still looking into other forms of supplementation that will be low in sodium.  Its not easy.  The sodium is what makes a lot of these things tast good, so with that in mind these companies pack it in.  Protein bars, forget about it….some have up to 500mg in just one bar! But like everything in life, my temple is a work in progress.  Whatever i lose in supps, I’ll make up the old fashioned way.  Through real food.  And i aint mad at that!!

Whats up Fam!!

I know its been a minute since I wrote a blog for my adoring audience.  Hope you didn’t miss me too much.  But I had to get this one in today, because i think we have a growing epidemic within our training facilities.  Yesterday while training shoulders, I happened to witness what had to be the trainer from hell.  He was like Sgt Slaughter on three shots of expresso with a whey protein chaser.  That may sound funny, but its the truth.  Here’s the description:

Fatigue pants, with matching headband

Black Y-Back tank top, with black wrestling boots (3/4")

Black leather gloves

And a silver whistle (This has its own story)

This guy was definately not a regular at the gym, so he had to have been there just to train this lady.  Where in the hell she found him I have no idea….Craigs list maybe.  But I could tell this guy was going to be a problem.  As the pair make their way down the aisle towards the stairs, Commando kept talking at the top of his lungs, "WE BOUT TO GET BUSY HERE….THIS AINT NO TIMMMME FOR THE WEAK, WE BOUT TO GET IT IN"  Now mind you the lady he was training was about 5′5, and I could tell she had not a clue what she was "bout" to get in.  But she followed this pork bellied drill sgt over to the free weight section anyway.  From the look on her face, it was evident she wished she had done her research. (So i thought)

What happened over the next 20 minutes was nothing short of humiliating.  This dude persisted to shout instructions at her for sit ups, push ups, and dumbbell curls.  At one point he was so close to her face I thought he was gonna bite her.  He counted off each push up with that damn whistle.  Tweet, Tweet, Tweet, I wanted to shove that damn thing inbetween one of his side rolls.  Finally he gives her a break and went upstairs for whatever.  So me being curious, I went over and asked her if that was her regular trainer, to which she said, "no…..thats my husband!"  (Can we all make the Homer Simpson sound now…..DOUGH!!)

I walked away and vowed, YET AGAIN, to mind my damn business !!

What up Fam!!

So basically I’ve proven that I am a man of my word.  This morning I woke up and prepared for a morning of outdoor running.  Fed the baby, kissed the wife and wished her a good day, and I was off.  Since we have a park right across the street, I figured I had absolutely no excuse not to start today.  The sun was out, birds were chirping….so Let’s Get It!!

So after i get onto the track I first had to duck, dodge, bob and weave what had to be a prehistoric bumble bee from the dark ages.  Once I paid him off to leave me alone I got into my exercise.  Being that I haven’t been on a track in centuries, I walked around twice before getting into my jog.  By half way I was feeling real good, wasn’t realy breathing hard and my stride was smooth.  The treadmill work was working.  I got this on lock!!

After a few more feet my lungs were on fire, breathing got labored, and my legs felt like i was running uphill.  This cant be right, can it? it was all too true.  I damn near looked like Heathcliff Huckstable when i reached my starting point.  Toungue hanging out, sweat pouring off my head.  I’m there looking around to make sure no poparatzzi were watching for mediatakeout.com.  I had to walk around the track twice afterwards just to get my breathing back to normal.  But I didn’t quit.  I ran around halfway again, then walked anothe rhalf, than ran another half and walked around one full time before walking back home.

Whats the moral you ask?  The moral is a treadmill aint gonna turn you into Carl Lewis.  The track is some serious stuff, so pace yourself first.  While slightly dejected at first, I realized that I still got a good cardio workout.  And when i walked back up the hill to my house, I felt great.  I’m upset with myself for not taking cardio seriously in the past, but I’m proud that I am doing something about it.  My goal is to be able to jog around the track 4 times, before my birthday in september.  To all you treadmill junkies…..get off the machine and get outside….it fantastic!!

Just wanted to send a quick message to all the mothers out there.  Sometimes its a thankless job, but you guys are definately the lining that keeps families and childrens lives in tact.  As a husband I see the moments when you just want to collapse in bed and sleep for like a day.  Between work, home life, kids, and every other extra activity you guys are truly worth your weight in gold. 

Happy Mothers Day Ladies!!

Whats Up Fam!!

So its Friday, and its been a great week of training and dieting.  My energy has risen and even though i’ve cut back big time on my supps, (Dr.’s orders) I haven’t missed a beat in the gym.  Which leads me to wonder if these things really do what they say they do, or is it all mental.  But thats another blog. 

So as I was saying my diets been on point and I was focused on finishing up strong.  And thats when it happened.  First the wife plants the seed.  "You know the baby was a trooper earlier on in the week with her allergies, I think we should do something special tonight for her".  Now I’m no fool.  Diong something "Special" in this household is always revolved around food.  But I played it cool.  Told wifey that sounds good, what did she have in mind.  You think she would come up with a suggestion, oh no, that would be too easy.  Instead she goes to the worse possible source……the three year old!!

"What would you like for dinner tonight baby"….and the #1 enemy to a diet was answered back with emphasis.  PIZZA!! Great…just great.  I tried to put up a front saying that we should have something else, but I got sucker punched with a right cross  i never saw coming.  There she was….finishing off a spoon of frosted flakes, milk dripping down the side of her puffy cheeks, looking up at me with those eyes that I will kill for, saying….."Daddy, I want Pita Hut" (AKA Pizza Hut).

What could i do……so it looks like its a pizza night. 

Wife & 3yr old - 2,543,659

Daddy - 0

I’ll just chalk it up to a cheat day.  F@#k it! 

Hey fam!

Just wanted to throw this out there and see what the consensus was.  Whats your opinon on Competitive Eating?  Is this really a sport, or just propaganda?  Last year for whatever reason I found myself watching two eating events.  One was in Las vegas where contestants shoved everything in their mouths from pounds of baked ziti with cheese, to burgers i beleive.  Dont quote me on the latter.  The second event later that month was the famous hot dog eating contest.  I believe the winner was an american and for some reason that was something to be proud of.  This guy ate about 40 plus hotdogs, with bread.  It was the most disgusting display I’ve ever seen. 

Now the commentators were continously regarding these individuals as athletes.  They talked about how they "Train" for events like these.  Now I am not trying to demean anyone.  I just want to understand the nature of the beast.  Is it fair to consider these people athletes, or should they be something else?  If so…..then what?

Yesterday I posted a blog about obesity in our youth.  Today I received a link from a friend about a burger joint in Arizona.  To put it simply….I was disgusted.  This is not a joke.  This is a real establishment.  Please look at the link below.

http://www.heartattackgrill.com/media.html

Whats up Fam!!

I need to vent my frustration on our youths obesity issue.  I was in the deli this morning getting my morning oatmeal.  They pretty much know my routine now, and I must say that they don’t fuss about my special requests.  This morning was a little busier than normal so I had to wait for my order.  There was this young man ahead of me waiting for his breakfast sandwich.  He was about 5′8", but was severely out of shape.  I happened to peak at what the guys behind the counter were serving up for him and was shocked.  Bacon, eggs, xtra cheese, jalepino peppers, avacado, salt pepper, ketchup, and hot sauce on a roll.  The sadnwhich was so big, the cook had to mash it down just to wrap it in foil.  As they handed him his meal, they said, "here’s your usual"  So I had to ask.  "Hey bruh, how many times a week do you eat that?"  He told me he gets it everday except on weekends.  Its his favorite!!

This kid was a high school student.  If he’s eating that for breakfast, what the hell is he eating the rest of the day?  I’m worried for him, because I personally know the dangers of High Blood pressure, and what it can lead too.  But whose to blame for these kids and their eating habits?  We can blame lots of things.  For example, kids dont play outside anymore.  They instead play video games all day long, and if they do go out, its to a friends house to play more video games.  I dont see kids riding bikes, playing tag, damn chase some girls even!!  I’m worried about where are kids are going to be five - ten years from now helathwise.  We can also blame the parents and maybe even our education system.  To be honest I didn’t really get a broad understanding of the benifits to healthy eating and clean living, until i was in college. We need to incorporate a healthy attitude, and asense of good eating habits early.  We cant wait until it becomes a problem. 

If I went on a rant, I apologize.  But I had to get it out.  Obesity is becoming a monster, and we need to recognize it, and deal with it for the future of our youth.

Peace!

Whats up Fam!!

So I’ve been on track with my diet and training now to the point that its become almost religion.  People on the job, as well as some friends and family continue to ask me if I am losing weight.  So just to find out if I am or not, I jumped on the scale.  Haven’t been on for about two or three weeks, because I know the scale is not the best tool for what I am trying to do. 

Now when I was on the scale last i weighed in at 238lbs.  I wanted to go down to about 230, but there was no time frame in which this had to be accomplished.  So last night I jump on the scale and when i looked down i started laughing.  The damn thing said 242lbs!!  The reason I started laughing is because at that moment i realized that my scale was a full fledged, bonafide HATER!!  If I had not been seing the subtle differences in my physique, this probably would have seriously discouraged me.  However I know my BF% is decreasing.  I can see subtle differences in my appearance.  I feel better thanks to my diet, training, and water consumption (You heard right).  As a matter of fact, I had to take 3 pairs of pants to the tailor to have the waist taken in. 

So with the progress I’ve made physically and mentally, the only plausable conclusion for me is that my scale is a hater.  It hates the fact that I don’t rely on it for information about ME any longer.  It wants to discourage me from my course of action, and be solely dependant on it for answers.  I got news for it.  Those days are gone.

Here’s the tip people.  A scale will never be able to tell you information other than weight.  It cannot differentiate between Body Fat, and muscle.  Muscle weighs a little more than BF, but its a lot healthier to have on you. So where as you might have weighed less a week ago, you probably gained muscle in that time frame, but your BF% went down. Dont put all your confidence in the scale.  Instead rely on the mirror, your mood, and your energy levels.  Compliments from family and friends are good indicators as well that you are on the right track.  As for me, I’m about to charge my scale rent becuase its usefullness has run its course!