bwestgat’s BodyBlog

Here is my meal plan for today:

Meal 1) 1 egg, 5 egg whites scrambled, 1 bowl of raisin bran with skim milk, 1 cup of coffee, 2 glasses of water, 1 multi vitamin, 1 omega 3 fatty acid tablet

Meal 2) One turkey wrap (had a turkey breast roast the other night)  I use cut up turkey breast, no fat mayo (just a bit), shredded low fat cheddar cheese and lots of spinich on a whole wheat wrap. 2 glasses of water

Meal 3) Protien shake - 30 grams of protien in a whey powder, one banana, 1/3 of a cup of oatmeal, 6-8 frozen strawberries.  Blend it up in the blender.  2 glasses of water

Meal 4) Salmon, brown rice, brocollii and carrots (from last nights dinner), 2 glasses of water.

Meal 5) Asian beef stir fry - stir fry up sirloin steak, cabbage, celery, garlic, onion, with lite soy sauce and crushed red pepper flakes and add to whole wheat spagettii.  I make huge portions so I have lots of this for lunches for the next few days.  (I use zip lock containers to portion out the rights sizes for eating that way I don’t over eat).

Meal 6) casien protien and water (30 grams) - caseins is a slow digesting protien.  Alternatively you can eat cottage cheese which is also slow disgesting.

Other than protien powder, a multi vitamin and a onega 3 fatty acid tablet, I don’t take any supplements.  I try to stay to whole food as much as possible.

Nutrition seems to be the most diffficult thing for people wanting to get in shape.  here are my thoughts on what you can do to loose weight while maintaining muscle and doing it healthy. 

1) I eat 6 well proportioned meals a day
2) every meal contains about 30 grams of protien, only complex carbs (no sugar or white stuff) and a fruit or veggie.  These meals should be small enough that you get hungry in about 2 hours.  Wait 2.5 to 3 hours then eat again.  If you are not hungry at 3 hours you ate to much and if you are hungry after an hour you didn’t eat enough.  It is easy to be hungry for 1/2 an hour cause you know feeding time is shortly.
3) Get rid of the salt shaker!
4) Avoid calories in drinks, I stick with water and drink about 12 cups a day.  Coke, beer, apple juice (juice is not healthy it is just sugar from fruits without the fibre), etc. are all banned.
5) I get my protien sources from low fat cuts of meat (chicken breast, turkey breast, sirloin steak, xtra lean ground beef, etc), eggs, egg whites, cottage cheese, whey protien, etc.
6) Complex carbs include brown rice, whole wheat wraps, whole wheat bread, potatoes, etc.
7) The biggest thing for me is the planning, I can’t head off to work then go hmmm what should I eat. I need to make all my meals the night before that way I don’t eat cheat food (this means making 3 lunches a day). I also make huge dinners then wrap them up in containers for the next days lunches.  Without doing this the night before most of us cannot find the time inthe morning to pack 3 lunches.
8) I drink green tea at least once a day, it speeds up metabolism, its an antioxidant and when I start getting hungry the tea keeps the hunger pangs away until it is time to eat.

Good luck and drop me any other questions you may have.  I’ll send you another e-mail laying out what I am eating today…

This is the interval cardio routine I did today to melt off the fat while maintaining my muscle.  Try it and let me know what you think.  I am not a runner, but you can see the basic principles of my routine.  You can go slower or faster depending on your fitness level.  Good luck!  By the way it is only 23 minutes long!

Minute  speed (mph)

1          6.3

2          7.3

3          6.3

4          7.4

5          6.3

6          7.5

7          6.3

8          7.6

9          6.3

10        7.7

11        6.3

12        7.8

13        6.3

14        7.9

15        6.3

16        8.0

17        6.3

18        8.1

19        6.3

20        8.2

21        6.3

22        6.0

23        4.0

Done.  The variablility keep you from being bored and the intervals really get your heart rate up.

I then did abs…

Are you having a hard time transforming your body?  Do you cheat or miss those workouts.  Here are a few tips that may help… 

Eliminate obstacles.
Pre-plan your way around known obstacles to increase your chances of success. Learn to say "no" (respectfully) more often to those who drain your time each day. Be willing to train early or late in the day around your responsibilities (I train at lunch time.  WHile everyone else is eating or socializing I am in the gym hitting the weights.  I eat before and after my workout at my desk). If food temptations are too great, eliminate all bad foods from from your pantry! Get rid of pop, chips, cookies, crackers, baked goods.  All these are not healthy and are not bodybuilding foods.  If you don’t remove them you will eat them.  I know I would so I do not keep them in my house.  It’s simple, when you are sitting in front of your TV at 7:00 pm get a craving you go to the cupboards.  If you have no bad foods you’ll eat nothing or eat something healthy.  You probably won’t go shopping after you have gotten yourself comforatable in front of the TV in your PJ’s.  Set yourself up for success don’t allow for failure.  Eliminate the need/desire to consume fast foods by cooking volumes of food such as chicken breasts and rice or cottage cheese yougurt and fruit and storing them in containers. Two or three microwaveable containers with a chicken breast, rice and a vegetable are portable, convenient and well balanced.  Again this sets you up for success.

It isn’t rocket science setting yourslef up for success but it does require planning ahead.  If you can take advantage of these tips you will set yourself up for success.  Good luck.

Protein pancakes are delicious.  Just make sure you use no sugar syrup (try E.D. Smith)
The recipe is as follows:
1 cup of whole grain oats
6 egg whites
1 cup of fat free cottage cheese
1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of splenda
(you can add a pinch of cinnimon if you like)  

Mix all this together in a blender then fry up like regular pancakes (use Pam on the frying pan)
Serve and add no sugar syrup with a few mixed berries like strawberries or blueberries.  Very tasty.
This will feed 2 people, If you are alone just put the rest in the fridge and eat it the next day after you microwave it.