Pinki’s Journey

ENERGY
Not as much energy as yesterday (as expected), but as long as I’m not starving, and have enough energy to lift SOME weights, i’m happy. Come on now… I’m eating under 25 grams of carbs a day, my calories are low AND i’m spending over 2 hours in the gym per day… don’t really expect much energy, just enough to get through my workouts!

PROTEIN
I kinda had a “day of bad protein”… I have so many different sample packets from so many companies that I finally decided to start trying them… today, all the ones I tried were icky. Maybe tomorrow will be better. NOTE to anyone that has my address and intends to send me ANY more samples of ANYTHING: please DO NOT send me protein bars under any circumstances!! They got carbs… I end up giving them away… but it’s tempting!! Peanut butter crunch sounds really tasty, though…

THYROID SHELF
I also stopped by the Vitamin Shoppe… apparently the Thyrotabs hang out on the shelf with the rest of the "thyroid stuff"… I did not know this shelf existed, so I was kindly escorted out of the "weight loss" section and lead through the "herbal remedies" section to the well concealed "thyroid stuff" shelf… couldn’t they put them somewhere people would see them?! Not really my problem, but really! I was looking for them in the wrong place! Who knew there was an entire "thyroid" shelf… hell, half the people who would benefit from these don’t know where their thyroid is, let alone that it has it’s own shelf!

Check out the LOG:  http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=2246201

10 Weeks to go! I will be taking Gaspari Thyrotabs and Cytolean for most likely the remainder of my prep. Looking forward to some GREAT results! I will be posting a LOG on the FORUM as well as here. Check back for updates!

Here is a link to the LOG in the FORUM: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=2246201

  …yea, I take my cardio very seriously! Usually I AM half-asleep when I get on the treadmill in the morning… so I thought the pic would fit the blog, even though it was taken over a year ago. This week was a little crazy, i got a lot leaner, but instead of feeling “cut” i’m starting to feel “skinny”, even though everyone is telling me I’m absolutely nuts. Got in touch with some of the photographers I used to work with, scheduled a few photoshoots for the coming months… can’t wait to get in front of the camera again!
TRAINING: Today was an off day, no weights, just a little ab work.

CARDIO: Ok… so I was SUPPOSED to do my 2 sessions of 45 and 30 minutes… which somehow turned into two sessions of 50 minutes each. I honestly don’t see the problem with doing more cardio than I’m supposed to… 20 min stairs, the rest treadmill 12.5 degree incline, 3.7mph… total of 1100 cals… or something to that effect
DIET: The lowered cals don’t feel too bad, I’m eating the same as I was before, minus the end of day freak-out over forgetting to eat some meal… so I guess that worked out in my favor. Still addicted to diet soda and jell-o… but I really don’t want sweets any more… now i want real food! Like cheese… lol.. or meat… or an extra egg here and there.

SUPPS: I found something really cool… in my supplement drawer, to be exact. Ephedra5 by Viridis Labs. I used to be an ephedra junkie back in the day and as I watched the Ironman this past February, an adverisement for this product kept popping up… it said it was the "only" fat burner with ephedra currently on the market (don’t know if it’s true or not)… so of course I bought it. The other day, as I crawled out of bed at 4:23AM, I realized that my Hydroxycut Hardcore had been misplaced (TRAGEDY!)… this was a chance for this no-name so-called-ephedra-containing-fat-burner to prove itself! I swear, I did an hour of cardio without looking at my watch a single time… a very brisk walk up a 15 degree incline… usually I can last 15 minutes at that intensity… so this was kinda crazy. I was bouncing off the walls until probably noon that day (even though I barely got any sleep the night before). THe next day the experience was not as intense (as expected), and today it was comparable to my Hydroxycut (which by the way is still missing in action!). I don’t know how effective this product would be long-term, but I can tell you, that for those days that you want to switch things up, this is JUST THE RIGHT PILL! Anyone else have any experience with this product?

…after being on this website  for a few weeks… i hate them all! lol OK… maybe not all… but I do hate them, for the reason that I am sick of people always asking “What supplements do I need to take?” The answer to that is simple. NONE. You NEED food, water and air… that’s it… maybe even sleep, under extreme circumstances (jk). Everything else is optional, and depends entirely on what it is that you are trying to accomplish with your body. I only say this because many people (especially those that are new to this), buy the supplements FIRST, then join a gym, then expect results, then get absolutely nowhere, then go and spend another hundered dollars on NO Explode and Cell-Tech then come on this website and complain about it rather than reading all the information provided… but i digress. Instead they should learn about training and nutrition FIRST, and once they have a solid DIET and TRAINING ROUTINE, they should supplement it with SUPPLEMENTS. DUH!

To get where I wanted to get, though, I needed a few things. My diet did not provide me with much food variety, so a good multivitamin was a must. My joints have also given me grief in the past and I found that taking a MSM/Chondriotin/Glucosamine supplement kept my knees and elbows happy.

My daily protein intake remained pretty high, so protein powder was a MUST. ON Double Chocolate and Rocky Road has been my absolute favorite protein for a long time (although I don’t think the quality is best, it tastes good, that’s all that matters to me at the time). I’ve also always been a big fan of Syntrax Nectar… I have tried almost all the flavors and they are all great, with the sad exception of Peach which as I recall induced a violent rage directed toward my shaker or some other inanimate object. Another staple in my protein cabinet is Nature’s Best Micellar (Vanilla, to be specific), which is a great blend protein and my bedtime treat (it tastes really good). I’m forgetting my glutamine! lol… essential, IMO

Next I needed something with a kick, something that would wake me up in the morning and keep me up all day as I endured through low carb hell! So there started the search for the perfect fat burner…

[get ready for an extra long post on that topic tomorrow]