gymfreak713’s BodyBlog

I was interested in something I saw on someones blog that showed the macronutrient breakdown of a meal she prepared.  It looked great and I was told I could find it at a website called fitday.com.  I looked it up and immediately found something wrong with it.  I started to build a recipe I make, and chose ground turkey as my main ingredient.  I set it up for a 4 oz precooked size and what should have been 170 calories and 23 grams of protein was listed at over 220 calories and 34 grams of protein.  I think the main reason is that with meats, it doesnt give you an option to choose the leanness of said meat.  I will still use this site for some of my vegetarian friendly recipes or some things that arent necessarily going to vary by leanness as most of the cuts are uniform etc.  Just wanted to post a blog regarding this as someone might have been assuming they were eating more protein, or less calories etc and were misinformed.  Its always good to have more than one source for the amount of calories in a food.  I still recommend this fitday.com site though.

I love cooking with buffalo.  I don’t but Trader Joe’s though because it is disgusting.  I either buy it in a regular store or from a butcher.  It is usually leaner than red meat, has a little more protein per ounce, and is not extremely game tasting.  I use it to make ranch burgers, basically taking a tiny tiny bit of low fat, but not non fat ranch dressing, and mixing it into the meat with a little tiny tiny bit of italian bread crumbs.  I then form patties and serve it with something with fiber and slow carbs like black beans.

I have also tried draining some black beans and adding them to my buffalo meat to boost the fiber content and add some carbs.  it basically becomes a meat meal.  I know, some of this must sound disgusting, but to me, if i can just take a bowl, add some meat (turkey, buffalo, beef, etc.) and something to add fiber and slow carbs, and then just form a patty and keep these patties for a few days, i will do it.  So i add the black beans, some chopped jalapeno, some garlic, and an egg or two and make buffalo bean patties.  full of protein, a little fat from the red meat for testosterone support, some fiber and slow carbs from the beans along with a little more protein, and of course the spice of the jalapenos.  Feel free to mince up a smoked jalapeno, or chipotle, and add that instead.

I added some recipes to the forum, but here is one I make both to add mass and to diet down since it is so filling.

Brown 1 lb of ground sirloin or turkey depending on if you are cutting or not, take out of pan and clean pan, brown 1 medium onion, and some garlic, add beef back to pan, along with 1 small can of tomato paste, some chopped jalapeno, some cumin, some cilantro, and black pepper to taste. basically make your own spicy rice.  Spices dont add calories just flavor.  Now, If you are cutting, just take some of this mixture, stuff it into a hollowed out bell pepper and eat. For adding mass, heres the secret weapon: low fat neufchatel cheese or non fat ricotta cheese.  both have protein and get creamy when melting. Stir this in until creamy, then stuff into a hollowed out bell pepper and warm in the oven. 

Wow, so i guess my gyms scale is very very wrong! I am actually 20 pounds heavier than previously thought.  At 320, i am almost where i was when i Started at 360 last year. all of the hard work it took to get down to 270 has been thrown out of the window as I allowed outside influences to prevent me from training, i have eaten very very badly, and have been sleeping too little.

Here are some changes: Back in the gym, not just to lift, but I am adding my evening cardio sessions again.  These seem to keep me both motivated, and on a schedule so that I dont have time to let myself cheat or get lazy or distracted.  I believe the cardio is what helps me drop the weight faster, but also gives me that euphoric feeling after exercising.  Its the pick me up I need to stay motivated and lose the weight.

I am also cutting out all "Debbie Downers" in my life.  Basically, if someone isnt supportive of my goals, or if they are just too negative in their thinking of how they approach their own life, I am no longer having anything to do with them.  Its not my job to be anyones sounding board for them to neg me out.  I believe that who you surround yourself with and what you allow into your brain is what reflects on the outside.  So positive people are who I am choosing to surround myself with.

Each week, I will be updating the weight on this site, and we can all watch the progress I am making.  More progress pictures to come, more comments are always welcome.  Time to stop being the Hippo and become the Rhino again.

I absolutely love using Cottage cheese later in the day.  I always buy the non fat variety and eat it either in the afternoon or right before bed since it is mostly casein and will provide a steady supply of amino acids all night long.  I mix 1 cup of non fat cottage cheese with 1 tablespoon of honey and just dig in.  If I know I will be havnig company, and I dont want to miss out on the social aspect of eating, I take some cottage cheese, fresh strawberries, a little almond extract, and some slivered almonds, and throw it all in a food processor.  Its a great little snack that everyone enjoys.

I also love using this in my version of a bodybuilding lasagna.  I uase zucchini strips instead of noodles, ground turkey, a low sugar tomato sauce, and cottage cheese and layer it into a lasagna.

Sometmies at night, I will take some cottage cheese, some protein powder, and some water and blend it in my blender… its not the smoothest thign in the world, but it does the trick because the next day, i always have a killer workout.

Well, until next time, keep lifting!