The Best Shape of My Life!

A LOT ABOUT FOOD! I’ve spent this entire week thinking about food actually. Out of town for a school trip, I’ve had to eat pretty much all my meals at a restaurant. It’s a curse, I know, but what can I do, eh? Anyway, I took the week off officially from logging all the counts, and I also took the week off officially from all workouts. I have done a few workouts, but nothing greatly intense. Mostly getting in the pool, which is actually conducive to swimming laps.

Anyway, back to the food part. My diet has been bugging me for a few weeks now, and I’ve been asking around for a lot of information. Not surprisingly, I have received multiple viewpoints, often contradictory to each other. No wonder people are so confused about what to do nutritionally! Being a personal trainer, I know the basics of nutrition, but only that. Beyond the basics (eat less, move more), I’m by no means an expert. So I started doing some internet research for journal articles, textbooks, and general website information. I gained about the same information that I had received from the people I had asked. So at least people are reading/viewing the information. Comforting? No, not really.

While waiting on my student to compete one day, I went to a Barnes and Noble. I love that store! And I love books. There’s something about the permanency of a book that lends it an automatic credibility. Especially if it is a research-based book written by a credible author. So I went to the diet/health section of the bookstore and starting skimming. After about two and a half hours, I found a book that I had to buy. It’s titled "WHAT TO EAT" by Marion Nestle. After reading only the introduction and chapter 1, I am hooked! She has ripped apart everything that I ever thought about nutrition, and more importantly, the food industry.

A week off can give a guy some new perspective sometimes. This week has definitely opened up my mind to a few things. Despite all the fancy research and advertising pitches that we’re bombarded with, the basic fundamentals of living a healthy life and being in great physical condition, the "rules" are still the same. And anyone can follow them.

1. Eat less! Need I explain?
2. Move more! Need I explain?
3. Get rest, and plenty of it!

So here’s to a new start, right after turning 28. I’m still young, and active, and full of energy. And now that I’m beginning to understand more about the food industry and their manipulative marketing tactics, I’m beginning to realize that I don’t have to follow THEIR rules to be healthy and physically fit.

I’M TIRED OF SUPPLEMENT COMPANIES AND FOOD MANUFACTURERS TELLING ME WHAT I NEED TO CONSUME IN ORDER TO BE HEALTHY AND FIT. I’M TIRED OF TRYING TO FIT A MOLD, FOLLOW SOMEONE ELSE’S PLAN, AND LIVING SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE. TODAY IS MY DAY, AND I WILL LIVE IT ACCORDING TO MY RULES.

Now that I have said that, I feel so much better! So here’s to healthy living, the right way. Wish me the best…I’ll need it.

So I’m going back through some of my Men’s Health nutrition articles, as well as books and online sources I have about dieting. And I’m thinking that I’m doing it all wrong. In order to make good gains like I want, I need to eat 6 small meals a day, spaced out about every 2-3 hours. Ok, I can understand that. Apparently, it helps keep your metabolism from spiking, or something like that. Not quite for sure how our ancestors from long ago (whom fitness gurus are quick to compare us to) managed that when they were scrounging around for food all day long.

Here’s the deal. During the work day, it is downright impossible to achieve this. It frustrates me that the "science" apparently tells us to do one thing, but yet reality is making us do something different. Sure, eating 6 small meals a day might be better for me. But what good does it do to tell me that if I know I can’t achieve it?

I’m a teacher, and my schedule during the day is hectic. I have 6 minutes in between my classes to check my email, talk to students about various issues, get a drink and use the restroom, and get ready for the next class. I have a 22 minute lunch period, and during that time, I’m often working on things that I haven’t been able to complete during the morning sessions. So please, someone tell me when I’m supposed to find time to eat at 7 am, 9 am, 11:30 am, 2 pm, 4 pm, and 6:30 pm. Really, who’s bright idea was this anyway?

Granted, I don’t eat like I should, and I’m trying to fix that. But the above plan simply will not work for me. Maybe during the summer months I can pull it off. But since I work more months of the year than I don’t, how can I integrate the "science" of proper dieting into my life?

I guess it’s a good thing for me that I gave up my goal of having a 6-pack, eh?

Sometimes it takes something big to make the impact. Something we should have known, and do know, but don’t really understand, or follow, hits us like a bolt of lightning. And then, everything becomes clear, and we say, "OH YEAH!"

That happened to me last night with my diet. Sure, I have logged calories (and the breakdown thereof) before, and I have seen my overall diet, and yes, I know that the biggest hinderance to my gains in muscle is my diet. So why haven’t I taken care of all that before? Well, I think it is because I didn’t have anything "big" to put all the pieces to the puzzle together. And for me, the puzzle became very clear last night.

All the science in the world can tell a person to eat so many calories, take in so much protein/fat/carbs, make sure you get enough fiber, and workout as often as possible, etc., etc. But what does it all mean if it doesn’t completely make sense? To make sense of it all, I began looking for a journal to keep track of my diet. And I found it with www.calorie-count.com. The best part: IT’S FREE!

My wife and I have been faithfully logging our calories this week. She is finally in the mood to do it, and so I have much more motivation to do it. Before when I’ve done it, she’s always questioneed why I needed to worry about how many calories I consumed and expended (hello science!). But this week we both kept a log in a notebook, and I think we did a pretty accurate job.

Last night, I registered my free account to calorie-count, and put in all the foods that I ate. The eye opener came with the total calorie count, which I knew was going to be astronomical. A total of 3891 Calories consumed! Even for someone with a high metabolism (or fairly high), that’s still an outrageous number of calories. But the bigger eye opener came when I did the breakdown into macronutrients. About 36.5% fat for the day! And, to be honest, a very large portion of saturated fat!!!! YIKES!

NO WONDER I HAVEN’T BEEN MAKING THE MUSCLE AND FAT LOSS GAINS THAT I HAVE BEEN WANTING! MY DIET IS TOTALLY OUT OF WHACK!!

So this week, I’m trying to make a conscious effort to control my diet. The calculations that calorie-count produced suggest for me about 2600 calories per day, presuming that I expend (doing little to no activity) about 3000 just to live. That creates a deficiency, which is what I’ll need in order to drop some of this fat. I figure that if I go from 188 lbs to about 175-180, I can start rebuilding some muscle with a leaner frame. I don’t mind being small, but I hate being fat.

So what did I learn?

Diet is one thing…..
BUT……

An ACCURATE and APPROPRIATE diet is quite another. Mine was not appropriate.

Good thing I waited till I was 27 to figure that out, huh?   GGGGGRRRRRRR

A much better day!

Breakfast:
3 grilled eggs (w/ fat free spray)
2 slices toast w/butter (not much)

Snack:
Banana
1 serving nut mix (w/ chocolate chips)
1 single serving box fruit loop cereal (dry)

Lunch:
6 inch sub (wheat roll)
w/ bacon slices and grilled chicken
w/ lettuce and onion
w/ swiss cheese
w/ ranch dressing
1 serving potato chips
Diet coke (can)

Snack: (after workout)
Protein shake (40 g protein)

Supper (getting ready to fix):
Baked chicken thighs
Boiled rice
Asian stirfry veggie mix (steamed)

Considering what I had been eating the past week or so, this has been a great day! Maybe I can actually keep my diet in order.

Today I was so ticked at myself, the world, fitness, etc. Third week in a row that my measurements have stayed basically the same, except for bodyfat. Not sure why, but I’ve gone from 9.8% to now 11.68%! In three weeks!!!! I have been very careful about measuring myself in the same spots, pinching the same way, etc. I cannot explain why I would change bf% so fast.

Usually during the winter, I gain a bit of weight and bf, and if this is any indicator of things to come, i’m going to need to really get on the ball. After almost beating myself up and throwing the log book in the trash, I decided to take a more proactive, healthy approach.

Solution 1: Diet Check
Yeah, especially this weekend, it sucked. No doubt. I’m starting to really think about planning meals, even though most of the time I don’t follow the plan anyway. It’s so easy to just not eat at work so that I can get things done. Or, the opposite is true and I eat everything in sight, which is usually junk. So, I need to be very strict. All nice…..but I need help. Finding someone at my work to keep me in line is a no-go. I’m pretty much the only one interested in health/fitness and that would motivate me. So….I’ll have to find the internal motivation.

I CAN DO THIS!

Solution 2: Supplementation
I have been taking a multivitamin for a while, but it’s just a basic one. I’ve added E (400 IU) and Chromium (200 mcg) daily. Today, I looked around for some stuff that might help. I decided to go with a whey protein for meal replacements, snacks, and post workout meals. Powder was cheaper than the ready-to-drink shakes, so I bought the powder. Tastes like chalk, but hey, it’s all the benefit of health and fitness, right? I also decided to go with creatine. I’m finally starting to buy into the effects of creatine, so I’m going to give it a shot. I bought pills instead of powder. Last time I tried the powder I about gagged every time I used it. The pills aren’t too bad…I can shove them down with lots of water (which I need anyway). Finally, with the advice of some others, I’m trying a green tea extract. No, I’m not trying to lose weight, but it will give me some calcium, plus the chromium that I already take, and some green tea extract, which has positive health benefits anyway.

I’m hoping that with a dedicated training program, the two solutions above will help. I’m not surprised by the solutions because they’re quite simple. Just being a skeptic, I’m not sure if they’ll help. We’ll see.

After charting my diet for about two weeks now, I’ve come to realize that if I’m going to make any real changes, it has to be with nutrition. And changing that is much harder than it looks. Now, I don’t plan on getting into my "preacher" position here and talk about how food choices suck, and how the government is not really our friend, and how companies use psychology to get people to buy their crap. Nope, I’m going to focus on me, because that’s what this bodyblog is about.

Right now I’m enjoying 10% bodyfat, which is the lowest it’s ever been. I’ve worked hard to try and get rid of all unecessary sugars, fats, and processed foods from my diet. That is a HUGE undertaking, and not one very easily accomplished. But I’ve tried. There are some things that I will not get rid of in my diet because I don’t think I should have to eat purely healthy all the time. I love cakes and cookies, and I will never quit eating them. I believe I do a pretty good job (and my log shows it) of controlling myself when it comes to these things.

I was thinking to myself the other day…………if I have 10% bf and I eat like a pig, then what would happen to me if I started to really control what I ate? I could probably have a 6 pack ab! But then I thought to myself………how can I control what I eat more than I already do? There comes a limit to things, and I think I’ve about reached them. Could I take out more crap in my diet? Sure. Am I willing to? Probably not. Could I time my meals better? Sure. Am I willing to? Probably not. Could I purchase more health-foods and not so many crappy processed foods? Sure. Am I willing to? Probably not.

I think sometimes…….WHAT’S THE POINT? Why bother? Why try to eat healthy? I haven’t noticed any major changes in the past four years, and my eating habits have become much better. I don’t get any bigger muscle-wise, I’m not getting a whole lot stronger, or faster, or more agile, or more flexible. Yes, I’m quite proud of the fact that I’m in the best shape of my life, but I don’t feel like I’m really progressing.

So what will I be like when I’m 30, or 35, 0r 40? Will I still be able to maintain 3000 calories/day? Will I still be at 10% bf? Will I still be able to lift as much as I can now. At 26, I already feel like I missed the opportunity of a lifetime to get my body where I want it to be. But then again, I think, why care that much? I don’t have to have a great looking body to do what I do. And I’m not getting paid millions of dollars every year to keep my body in top condition. So why spend so much time on it?

I feel confused sometimes. I know to eat healthy, and the research is out there that says all these wonderful things will happen if you do. Just like all the research out there that says all these wonderful things will happen with a consistent strength training program. Seems like I haven’t gotten a whole lot of dramatic results from either one. And when I don’t see dramatic results, I start questioning. Like why spend all the energy and time and money of food that supposedly going to help me and make me feel better and add to my training program…..and why spend all the energy to an intense training program, if it seems like nothing productive comes out of it?

Well, this week is a new start. Just like every week. Time to refocus, think about what’s important in my life (which fitness actually comes in lower on the priority list), and get in the workouts I can. Oh, and yeah, I’ll try to eat one or two less pieces of my daughter’s birthday cake than I normally would. But……..don’t count on it.

Logging my diet. Yep, that’s what has caused my eyes to bulge this past week. It’s AMAZING the amount of calories that I have consumed!!!!!!! As I wrote last week, I bought a DietMinder log book for nutrition. It has spaces to record everything I eat, when I eat it, the calorie content, and then it breaks the grams down into fat, protein, and carbs. So basically, I’m logging the nutritional label on every food/beverage I take in. My best friend this week has been Corinne T. Netzer’s Complete Book of Food Counts, 7th ed., 2006. It has pretty much any kind of food you can imagine in it, even fast foods, etc. For some things (home-made foods, dinners) I have to estimate based on the foods that are in the entrees, but overall, I think I’m getting a really close figure for the calories I’m getting.

3 July
2255 Cal
111.5 g Fat
200.5 g Carbs
114.9 g Prot
12 g Fib
218 mgs Chol.

That was the first day I logged. Too low on Calories, too high on Fat, and not enough fiber. Overall, probably not too bad, especially since there have been other days in the week where I’ve taken in over 5,000 Calories! I can’t imagine anyone needing to take in that many calories. But a lot of people do, and don’t even realize it.

So now I’m going back through my diet and tweaking some things. Using the Food Counts book, I’m starting to plan my meals a little better, and starting to think about not only what I’m eating and the food content of what I’m eating, but also when I’m eating it, and most importantly, HOW MUCH I’m eating. It’s funny that I know the basic serving sizes of foods. But yet, when placed in front of me, I just keep on eating, way past the point of being full.

AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

6 July
2892 Cal
96.6 g Fat
325.2 g Carbs
126.8 g Prot
14.8 g Fib
386.5 mgs Chol

This was a good day, except the cholesterol. Calories intake was right where I want/need it to be. I’m aiming for 2500-3000 calories/day. Fat was a little high, but not over 30% of the total calories, so that even was good. Carbs were a little low, but again, not too far off from where I need them to be. I was very happy with my protein intake, right on target. Fiber still a little low (aiming for > 20 g/day).

Ok, this post is long enough. I’ll keep posting. Feel free to comment.

#1 reason why most people don’t see the fitness/health results they want: DIET!

I log my daily nutritional intake often, and I try to plan my meals/snacks. But during the summer months, as I’m not teaching at school, I tend to get somewhat lax, even while logging. Part of the problem, besides not having a strict schedule to depend on and plan meals/snacks around, was not having an effective logging system. I had created a basic log sheet that covered an entire week. Little boxes to write in what I ate, but no space to log calories and all the extra info that is necessary if one wants to achieve their goals. With the week-on-one-page system, I had no idea how many calories I was taking in during a day, nor did I really have a clue as to where those calories were coming from.

So a friend of mine showed me a nutritional log like I have never seen before. It’s a printed log, published by MemoryMinder Journals. It’s called DietMinder. The website is http://www.dietminder.com/”>www.dietminder.com</a> if you’re interested in looking at the journal or buying one. They’re very reasonably priced for what you get.

The DietMinder has one day split over two pages in a half-size spiral notebook. Lots of room to write in what I eat, when I eat, and also count calories, fat, prot, carbs, fiber, and two other items of my choice (I chose to look at cholesterol today). There’s boxes for totals after each meal/snack. The best part of the log is that each day is split into SIX MEALS/SNACKS, which is what everyone should be eating! Awesome! That’s just the daily log portion.

There’s a spot in the front for me to log my personal goals and write down measurements. Typically, the book lasts for 3-months, if you log daily. So the personal goal should last about three months, though there’s a place for further goals if you need them. Once your goals and targets are set, you can track your progress every day in the "Grand Totals" section of the log.

Added is a small section to add what physical activity I do every day. I’ve ordered the BodyMinder exercise log from them, and it will be arriving within a week or so. It looks really good, too. Better than what I’ve been using. But for now, I’m just logging what I do. For instance, I swam today for about 20 minutes, so that’s what I wrote in the log.

WOW! After just ONE DAY this has been such an eye opener for me!!!!!! I’m learning so much about my diet and overall nutrition. Now don’t get me wrong, as a personal trainer, I know about dieting, I know what proper nutrition is, and I’ve tried to practice it. But I’ll be honest, my system of logging was inadequate, and I had allowed myself to slide back into the "cheater" valley. This new log I think will really help me organize, plan, and execute a much better nutritional program than what I had.

I’m tired of eating poorly and not achieving the fitness/health goals that I want to achieve. I know this will take more time, but if I want to achieve my goals, and remain healthy, and be a model for others at the gym, I MUST DO THIS! So please, feel free to prod me along. Ask me how I’m doing, criticize my daily intake (I’ll log some of them on here), and feel free to provide me with suggestions/alternatives that you have/use.

Have a great day! And here’s to good health.
Nate