“Grace’s Asylum”

Ok first here’s the story.. as written to our school and apartments. We live on a campus and they do not allow pets to the students even though we live in family housing.
"About two months ago I received a call that my father in law had had a heart  attack and he was in critical condition. I immediately pulled my boys out of school and took them to see their Grandfather in Washington. Over the next two weeks his health improved and we believed he would recover.
My ten year old son was having a very hard time dealing with all this and being so far away from his home. So we took him and allowed him to pick out a puppy for his Grandfather. This puppy was never bought with the intent to bring back to our home. He understood it would remain with Grandpa.
However shorty after this maybe another two weeks my father in laws health took a turn for the worse and we learned then that he had cancer. The only reason he had improved was because of a blood transfusion, only we didn’t know that at the time. He continued to get sicker and the second blood transfusion did not help him. We learned at this point that he would only survive another few weeks as he had acquired leukemia during his 25 years in the military.
My father in laws only request was that he be allowed to die at home around his family. My children and I sacrificed alot to make this happen for him. It was a great deal to ask of my children and as you can imagine this has been extremely hard for them. The one bright spot in all of this for them was there Grandfathers puppy. No matter how sick he was or how sad my children were this puppy gave them both a little bit of comfort.
I’m sure at this point it’s obvious that when he passed away we were left with this puppy, a puppy my youngest son has cared for through this process and become very attached to. He’s a small dog, he’s been trained and he doesn’t bark. Asking my son to give up this puppy so soon after the loss of his Grandfather will only serve to further traumatize him.
If I could or believed that it would be a good choice for my son I would immediately ask that you just allow us to move. But my son has been through a great deal and I believe he needs the security and feeling of safety in his own home right now. I believe moving him too soon would not in anyway be healthy to his recovering and dealing with the loss of his Grandfather. My children and I love this school and our home here. They feel safe here, they have friends here, the athletes sometimes stop and play football with them at the park. This is their home and I believe they need to be here at least for a little while to help them cope. (Also, because they are so behind on school that moving them would only further set them back.)  Your asking my son and my family to choose between their home or a puppy the bought for their Grandfather. If we were talking months down the road this would all look very different, but they only recently lost their Grandfather and we have been home less then a week. "
This is what we have asked of our apartment directors… now we did not ask to permanently keep the puppy here and be allowed to continue our lease.. were asking for a little time to find an apartment and move.

"Can you honestly tell me under these circumstances that no one can give permission for us to keep this puppy? If we could be given a little time for family to settle and adjust I would be willing to move to someplace that does allow pets. At the very least I’m asking you to allow us to get through the holidays.
Exceptions are made for service dogs and some faculty, can you truly not make  an exception even under these circumstances? We have lived here almost 2 years and never once there has been a complaint filed on us. My children have never been in  trouble here on or off campus.They would be responsible and would even clean up behind their puppy. This not your typical case, we did not go out and think oh let’s buy a puppy and never mind the rules. We could not have foreseen what would happen, but because of the circumstances they have become overly attached to this puppy. I honestly believe taking this puppy away from them or forcing them to move from their homes would only serve to further devastate their lives at this point. They need some time as I’m sure you can understand. "

Now our first response by our apartment manager was that this would not be a problem, she understood the situation. But then her boss says no and has her send an email to that states we have 3 days to resolve the issue. I contact the press (no story has been done on this as of now) and some a little higher up and I’m granted some extra time to find a place to live.. that was today. No definite amount of time I was just told to keep in touch and that maybe I could have a few weeks…. I did tell them I would like to move in January seams reasonable amount of time to me..
I doubt this will end here so …  I guess I will see how this plays out.

Allright folk 6 weeks of this and I think it’s time to wrap it up. I weighted today at 149 pretty damn close to wear I started at. My weight has bounced week to week between 146 and 152 ,,, so my weight  hasn’t changed alot. However I have I do believe my bf has dropped some and I have def added a some mass. My strength has been good, I’ve hit some great pr’s while doing this.. atleast till this week. This is the first I’ve felt my energy levels really drop and I’ve a few maxes this week. So that’s a def sign it’s time to rethink things.

Now if I were a bodybuilder I would continue what I’m doing and execpt the strength loss and maybe even some muscleloss to hit the weight I need to be at, but I’m not and to compete in strength and endurance sports I need to continue progressing strength wise even if it means it takes me alot longer to hit my target weight.

Now I have through this 6 weeks maintained a good diet and restricted my cals and I’ve eaten I’d say 95% on target and clean. Basically I think it’s time I make some changes in my diet,, I belivieve for my activitie level that I’ve taken my cals to low.

New plan basically I’m planning on raising my cals to 1800 a day, and my protein between 175 to 200 gs. I’m still aiming for about 40-30-30. I’m planning on relying more on cardio intensity for bf loss rather really cals. I’m also adding a new sup.. musclespeed which I really hope is going to give that much need boost in engery levels for a while!!!

And basically that’s where I stand! I will still be relying heavily on the protein shakes though.

Well I have encountered a problem on this diet.. I think I’ve been to strict to long on my diet and food choices. I reached a point over the last week where I should didn’t want to eat. Now I really cann’t say for sure that this is a result of the diet, it could be stress related. If your only goal is to drop body fat then this might be a bad thing so long as you can maintain high enough cals and your risking letting your body go into starvation mode. In otherwords you don’t want to go below your bodies basic needs.

If you encounter this problem there are a few things you can do to counter this and boost your appetite back up. One is to add a cheat meal once a week. Try to aim for about 500 cals over your max. calorie goal for that day and it seams to help boost your metabolism and get you over food boredom some. Now I would not do this in the first 2 weeks! Wait atleast 2 weeks into your diet before doing this. I will also that the first few weeks I did this I think I was to strict in my food choices outside the shakes. I’ve since come to think that as long as you stay with in cal ranges and you get enough protein that may not be nessacry. I think you can safely allow for about 5% of your cals to come from anywhere you want them with in reason. That means don’t use your 5% on a candy bar!

I honestly believe some cheats are better then others. Compare a candy bar at 200 cals to ice cream at 200 cals. Candy bars are fast digesting, not filling and will prob trigger a sugar crush,, where as ice cream is slower digesting and heavier so usually more filling and if you can have it as small meal replacement with something healthy like protein then you have a more fullfilling cheat option that will better serve you in your dieting needs…  Don’t make mistake of thinking you cann’t ever cheat or that well if I’m gonna cheat I might as well go all out.. I think these thoughts take you down a bad rode. Instead think about how to have cheats that want overly effect your diet in a negative way. Put some thought into what will satisfy you and how to incoperate that into your diet plan without setting yourself up to binge or ruin your work. Understand that it’s not realistic to think you will never cheat or that you can never have the food you want. Learn how to incorperate satisfying cheats into your diet lesser impacts.

For example if it’s in the afternoon and you want snack or just something sweet so you cave and have a candy bar,, don’t compact that by not having protein with it! Because sugar alone will cause those ups and downs and an hour later if you ate it alone your prob gonna be hungry and craving more sugar.. where as if your aware and combine that wiht some healthier food the impact will lessoned .. and you want be hungry an hour later. I’m just saying becarefull with how you cheat that don’t ruin an entire day and choose them carefully.. I do believe if you have ever had weight problems that are some things you should never have agin. Like a big mac! Comeon will all love them but you could have a much healthier version of a hambuger and still be satifyed!

Now I am still having 3 shakes a day but I’m not having protein shakes at night. I’m using mine around training times in the first half of the day. I just wasn’t happy with replacing dinner and dinner is not where I’m likely to go a stray onmy diet at the moment. I personally am alot more likely at this point to skip meals during the first half of the day when I’m prone to not eating and skipping meals would be just as bad for my goals as overeating can to other people,, so that’s where I’m at. Don’t be afraid as you go through different stages in your diet to change your diet plans to suit your needs.

How’s it going well it’s going that’s about all I can say! I am having the shakes a  day basically to help controll cals and make sure I reach my protein goals … though I’m still not completely on track and I’m not using the last as a replacement for dinner.. but if somethings not working in your diet by all means change it. Atleast I’ve reached a point where 95% of my cals are clean foods.. so that’s a huge part of the battle there now I have to focus on more of the details so here it is.. On I should add that I am dropping some bf and I belive still adding a little muscle.. my training is far not really being effected by the dieting.. currently still making progress on strength and def haven’t lose any muscle mass..

Ok I missed some diet posts this week but rather then catch that up I’m just going to recap the week.. I have my diet prob about 90% where I want it.. I would say 5% of the foods I eat still need to be eliminated and they are always at the end of the day when I’m tired and just wanting to grab something easy.. For the group following My Diet Plan this is why I orginally had set up my diet to have protein shakes for dinner because I know me by the end of the day I don’t want to be bothered by cooking and stuff I’m tired I want easy.. and it was a good idea one I haven’t followed through on. Honestley it’s because I start my day with protein shakes ..I drink them through my workouts and sometimes afterward.. I have to say by the end of the day the thought of stomaching another shake just makes me wanna strap a bomb to my chest and hunt down the people who make these powders and hold them hostage till they come up with one that actually taste like cookies and cream and chalk with dirt crumbs!! OH no LOL a little side tracked on some deep repressed anger issues with the protein makers there!
Allright back to the point here.. so I have about 5% of food choices to clean up and if I cann’t stomach the protein shakes at night then I need to start precooking foods for dinner.. with that hopefully solved then the only other problem left to correct in my diet is the few days where I’m falling to low on cals. ofcoarse the only real solution to this to eat more and not skip any of my meals. I really just have to force this issue. I am going to start keeping protein bars in my bag because I seam to be doing this on days when I’m away from campus and foods not as readily avliable.
And last issue with diet,, because I have more going on during the day now and so sometimes I miss my naps.. I’m making up this sleeping time by going to bed earlier..so some days I’m sleeping 10 to 12 hours at night.. I’ve discussed with my everyone helping me with my diet and training and we decided to start adding protein in the middle of night so from here on I’ll wake six hours after I go to bed and either eat egg whites or have a a yet another shake with whey and cottage mixed. I may be able to cope with this added shake cause really who wants to eat in the middle of the night! I just want it down so I can go back to bed!

Cliffs on my diet plan..

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1. Calorie range is between 1,300 to 1,800. I would like to avg 1,600 a day.
2.Protein goal is about 1.g to 1.5 g per lb = 170 to 200 gs a day of protein
3.Whey before and during training times with some carbs.
4. Cottage cheese before bed
5.Carbs and fats are cycled and bounced around.
6. 30 gs of protein in the middle of the night.

*Note: I’m trying to raise protein to about avg 200 g a day I’m falling a little short on that right now. When my diet is cleaned up that last little 5% of bad foods I have in there for a week then we will add a straight up cheat meal to the end of each week.,, now that cheat should not contain bad foods just about 500 cals extra of good foods. We will also be looking at raising my calorie range next week because cardio is going to increase we need to make up those cals. But we’ll see about when comes.

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Well I had a good week ate pretty clean but I didn’t really stick with velcoity plan so I cann’t really say how it worked this week.. I just had a distracted week and didn’t follow the plan. I did have a good diet week I lost 3 lbs and so I’m happy about that. I plan to get back on track with testing out the diet today!! So I’ll let ya know next weekend how it goes.. I can tell you that on my lower cal days but cause I cycle cal days that on the low cal days I’m having a hard time meeting my protein needs so the shakes will def help there..I promise back on track today to testing out this diet!

#1 Morning coffee-fiber- ½ scoop whey

cals 110 fat 5g  carbs 6g fiber  3g  protien  14g

#2 massxxplosion takin in during weightlifting cals 172 fat 0mg  carbs30g   prot 10g

#3  -3 shakes daily containing 1 sc. Whey, ½ cup cottage cheese, 2 servings fiber, 2 flax,fish & borage oil capsules. Cals.735 Fat 17, carbs 45, fiber 18, prot. 117

per shake  cals 245  fat 6g  carbs 15g fiber 6g  prot 39g

1 shake before/during  weightlifting

2 midday

3dinner

So this is my planned food intake it doesn’t change that leaves me around 600 cals to break into 2 meals.

Totals:  Cals 1,017 fat 21g  carbs 81    fiber 21 protien 141g

So that leaves one meal after lifting- and another meal toward the evening at about 300 cals each..

Now I plan to cycle cals from 1,500 to 1,800 some sometimes I’ll add a snack in. I also plan on one early meal containing carbs like oatmeal and the second evening meal with very low or no carbs.

I thought the orginal velocity was to hard and the second velocity not structured enough so I sorta planned things my way..

This is an export from my livestrong account and under it is a log matching that day of how I log my workouts here on bb.com my pl log.. I’ll combine them in my pl log starting today so everyone can see the two togther.
PL log…
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=271761281&posted=1#post
271761281http://www.livestrong.com/profile/grace_ou/February 11th, 2009

Calorie goal: 1,609; calories consumed: 1,532; calories burned: 1,222
Net calories: 310
Mood: Motivated

Today, I feel… Ok day 4 on the velocity diet light.. so far so good. I’m down 3 lbs now.. don’t get excited most of that will be water weight because of the change in diet from bulking to cutting but it’s still a great sign that my body is responding to the diet. So far I’m finding my energy levels are still up and the diets been easy to follow, not cravings, I’m not starving and training is going very well. [edit this diary entry]

Food Item     Servings     Cals     Fat     Cholest     Sodium     Carbs     Sugars     Fiber     Protein
Millstone Coffee 100% Columbian     1.00     0     0g     0mg     0mg     0g     0g     0g     0g
Dannon Danactive Immunity Light Strawberry     1.00     35     0g     0mg     40mg     6g     5g     1g     2g
Sugar-Free EZ Fiber Fiber Supplement     2.00     40     0g     0mg     40mg     8g     0g     6g     0g
Finest Natural Flax, Fish, And Borage Oils     1.00     25     3g     5mg     0mg     0g     0g     0g     0g
Dole Frozen Dark Sweet Cherries     1.00     90     0g     0mg     0mg     22g     18g     3g     2g
Great Value Half And Half Ultra Pasteurized     1.00     40     4g     15mg     20mg     1g     1g     0g     1g
Hard-boiled Egg     2.00     140     10g     424mg     124mg     2g     2g     0g     12g
Kraft Mayo With Olive Oil     0.50     23     2g     0mg     48mg     1g     0g     0g     0g
Body Fortress Super Advanced Whey Protien     1.50     150     3g     75mg     120mg     3g     2g     0g     39g
Sugar-Free EZ Fiber Fiber Supplement     2.00     40     0g     0mg     40mg     8g     0g     6g     0g
Kellogg’s Fiber Plus Antioxidants Chewy Bar     1.00     120     4g     0mg     55mg     26g     7g     9g     2g
American Cheese Slices Triple The Calcium Borden Singles     1.00     60     5g     15mg     250mg     2g     1g     0g     3g
Better’n Eggs Egg Substitute     4.00     120     0g     0mg     480mg     4g     0g     0g     24g
Finest Natural Flax, Fish, And Borage Oils     1.00     25     3g     5mg     0mg     0g     0g     0g     0g
Kraft Mayo With Olive Oil     1.00     45     4g     0mg     95mg     2g     0g     0g     0g
Body Fortress Super Advanced Whey Protien     1.50     150     3g     75mg     120mg     3g     2g     0g     39g
Tootsie Roll Tootsie Fruit Rolls     0.50     70     2g     0mg     5mg     14g     10g     0g     0g
Nature’s Own Double Fiber Bread     1.00     50     1g     0mg     135mg     13g     0g     5g     3g
Naturally More Peanut Butter     0.50     85     6g     0mg     65mg     4g     1g     2g     5g
Body Fortress Super Advanced Whey Protien     1.00     100     2g     50mg     80mg     2g     1g     0g     26g
Sugar-Free EZ Fiber Fiber Supplement     1.00     20     0g     0mg     20mg     4g     0g     3g     0g
Finest Natural Flax, Fish, And Borage Oils     1.00     25     3g     5mg     0mg     0g     0g     0g     0g
Lowfat Cottage Cheese     1.00     80     1g     10mg     430mg     5g     4g     0g     13g
Fitness     Minutes     Calories Burned

Walking - 3.5 mph     60.0     -257.0
TreadClimber - resistance 0 @ 3 mph     60.0     -473.0
Weight lifting: light (free weights, nautilus, universal)     110.0     -492.0
Totals:     310     52g     679mg     2,167mg     130g     53g     35g     171g

I’m now two weeks into the Velocity Diet and how it’s going really depends on which point of view you use.. :rolleyes:

I weighted in yesterday and since the start of the diet I’ve gained 2 lbs … not really the direction you should be going in on diet.. lol but on the other hand my shoulders are finally adding some mass and my arms are growing..traps are building up. So from the muscle building perspective things are going good.. however from the cutting perspective this is not really where my focus is suppose to be right now.. I’m suppose to be dropping bf %’s not muscle building.. ( I am very thrilled with the muscle gain thaough!! )  So let’s revise the diet..

Velocity light diet is very simple basically you replace 3 meals a day with protien shakes and have 3 regular meals. The idea would be mostly in helping to controll cals and stopping night time eating because your last meal of the day is a shake.. so there should be no snacking at night.. now I think this is a great idea and it can go along ways toward helping to controll your diet. Now it still leaves alot of room for error in that you have to paln your meals well. If the nutrients in these meals are to high or you start adding snacks then oviously you’ll still end up with to high of cals and you want lose weight. Now the first week I controlled these meals very well and snacking and I dropped 4 pounds. That being mostly water weight and glycogen stores it was easily gained back the second week when I was eating higher cal levels. First weeks I was coming in at about 1,600 a day and this week was more like 2,000 a day which about my maintience level but with heavy training and alot of extra sleep I can gain mass off 2,000 clas week. The velocity light diet may not always mean your clas stay in check but it def means you keep the protien high! Personally I’ve taken primarily to one shake 1 to 2 scoops of whey, 1/2 cup cottage cheese,fiber and a fish,flax,borage oil supplement taken with it. I think the addtion of the cottage cheese to my whey makes a much muscle building shake to me then just pure whey. I make one and drink it through my workout.

So in the end while I’m actually up 2 lbs from the start of this diet I’m very happy with the progress on it.. it’s all in how you look at things I guess. Look at the numbers and my diets failing but look in the mirror and it’s going great!!

Ah come oh you know you want to! We’ve all been struck by that desire for something sweet while trying to stick to a diet plan. I don’t know about you but for me it always comes at night time when I’m sitting around watching tv and the last thing I should eat is sugar, sweets or junk food!!! So here’s some ideas for those couch potato nights when you just have to have something sweet!! Or after training hard in the gym and the thought od another dull protein shake makes you think card board would be more to fun to eat!!

Sart with some ice,water,fiberall(becuase it has no flavor) and plain vanilla whey.. then throw in a half cup of cottage cheese and vanilla sugar free jello mix. Now I use the singels packs because they are perfectly packaged for this you want to use only about half the pakage.  Now you have a great vanilla milkshake and I promise it will taste a lot  like  a milkshake!

(you can also do this with chcolate whey & sugarfree chocolate pudding mix)

Ok now you have a base and you can be very creative from here about how you flavor these! I personally like mine with cherries or blueberries! Now personally I find frozen fruit works better for these shakes. I take about half a cup or even less sometimes and I microwave them for about a minute to 2 minutes. This gives a great juice and allows the fruit to blend more evenly. To me it just gives a better taste. Now if you want more of a fruit smoothie then say milkshake flavored then just toss in the frozen fruit right out the freezer!!! It’s just a great way to satify that sweet tooth without ruining all the work you have put into dieting!

Day 7 of my cut and I’m down 4 lbs which is great number for a first week.. it means I’m shedding water weight and bf at reasonable rate. My cals for the upcoming will be set between 1600 to 1800 a day and protein intake should about 200 grams a day, with alot of fiber and carbs limited to 100 to 120 a day. Moderate fats for energy. What this will do is allow me to continue shedding water weight (via the high amounts of protein and low carbs) also the high protein will help me hold on to muscle mass and keep my body burning the fat stores. *

I didn’t start this off on the best footing I was sick the first few days..I cheated the second day it was my sons birthday and we out to eat.. my cals were to low the first few days ect.. but the week worked out well despite all that. I excpet good things for next week!!