Sunday, April 27, 2008

BGB-1 Week 4

Monday

I did the Learn segment of Turbo Jam's Learn & Burn. I was a little more coordinated this time than I was the first time. I have decided to to the Learn part every morning this week, and hopefully I will be able to Burn enxt week! I also did the standing Ab Jam segment. Next week, I'll do both.

Eating was horrible today. I don't know why I make such bad choices. I had 2 bowls of chocolate cereal, 3 small pancakes, and a chocolate Easter bunny within half hour. I feel sick now. I'll do better the rest of the day, but I am making homemade pizza for dinner (crust and all).

Tuesday

I am back and having a good day. I practiced my Turbo Jam moves and I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'll keep up with them all week and give the Burn a go.

On plan with food today. I made some brown rice salad for my post workout meals this week. This stuff is fantastic. Alton Brown is my hero!

I think what I need to do is have a written menu for every week, outline what I can and cannot have. I know that won't necessarily keep me from binging on bad things, but maybe having it written out and posted on the kitchen will help. There's no junk in the house right now, but one of my problems is my husband. If I ask him to go buy me chocolate, he will, without a second thought. I must break him of that. New policy - if I'm craving chocolate, I will make something here at home. If I'm too lazy to make it, I don't need it.

I have to kick this bad habit of impulse eating crap foods. It was easier to quit biting my nails and a lot easier to quit smoking. I used to think quitting smoking is the hardest thing in the world to do. Not any more. Eating right is the hardest thing, for me, to do. I've got strength training down, no problem. My cardio is ok - certainly I could do more. Weight loss is primarily diet, and I suck in that department.

Wednesday

I'm trying really hard to be good today. I wanted to skip my intervals after I lifted, but I talked myself into doing it. I was going to practice my Turbo Jam, but my legs were dead. I'll do it tomorrow. It will give me something to do before I take my son to the playground.

Food is ok. I've learned that I don't need a man to make bacon! I used to have my husband do all the bacon cooking because I was afraid of screwing it up, but he kept "forgetting" to cook it up and I really needed it for the rice salad yesterday. So, after realizing I could make it for that, I made it for lunch. I love turkey bacon.

Thursday

I don't know what to do. I lost it last night with my husband's chocolate covered peanuts. I just couldn't turn them down. I debated with myself for 15 minutes, and I still could not resist them. Of course, that triggered more cravings, so I ate my son's M&Ms. Damn it. I'm really angry with my lack of self control.

I'm taking a few days off from weighing and measuring my food. I get so food obsessed. I need a break for a few days. And I need to stop making special trips to the store for junk food.

Or, I need to keep my refrigerator stocked with fruit. Or maybe I need to go back on Atkins. I never had cravings like this on Atkins. I ate more vegetables and wasn't thinking about food all the time. This sucks.

Friday

Workout was great. I'm really loving the dumbbell lateral throws. They almost give me the confidence to try come complexes. Built has some good ones on her blog. I might give those a shot one of these days.

I forgot, again, to practice the Turbo Jam moves. That's ok. I'll work on it a lot Monday.

Food still sucks. I bought a lot of produce when I went grocery shopping today. I'm tired of chicken, though. The store didn't have any on sale. I have a little left from the last trip to the meat packer. I'll have to go there again. They sell huge chicken boobs.

Saturday

I skipped cardio today. My legs were like jelly after weights today. I increased the weights for 3 of the exercises, and I could really tell! Still, hours later, they are shakey.

No food comments. This sugar addiction is killing me. I don't know what to do. I know what I need to do - swear off sugar and make better choices. I don't know how. I swear, it was easier to quit smoking cold turkey. Evenings are the worst. I need to find a healthy alternative to eating. I don't want to just eat fruit or something else healthy in place of candy. I don't need to eat when I have the cravings. I just want to eat chocolate and sugary things.

Sunday

We went shopping for stuff to start a garden today. Maybe growing my own vegetables will help me eat better. I'm in the midst of a transition to greener living, and that includes gardening, recycling, and composting. I am ready to start gardening and recycling, but the composting will have to wait a couple weeks, when my husband has more time to work in the yard.

Here's what we are planting:

green peppers
jalapeno peppers
green beans
lettuce
zucchini
carrots
broccoli
tomato
pumpkin
scallions
beets
cantaloupe
cucumber
watermelon
peas
spaghetti squash
parsley
rosemary
oregano
spearmint
dill
chives
basil
-- I'll pick up some cilantro next weekend.

I've created a "menu" that I'm going to try to follow on workout days:

pre-workout snack: apple & cottage cheese

post-workout meal:
chicken and rice or sweet potato or whole wheat pasta
or
tuna patties & whole wheat mini bagel

early afternoon meal/snack: fortified french toast, yogurt

After 3 PM and on non-lifting/cardio only days, I'll stick to non-starchy stuff: vegetables, nuts, eggs, lean meats, cheese, beans. And because meat is getting so expensive, I'll be using beans as a substitute for half my normal meat intake. My husband refuses to have dinner without meat, but I told him he has to cut back, too.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Cucumber & Dill Recipes

Dill is my new best friend.

I found these gems in my MasterCook program. I can't wait to try them out. Probably tomorrow.

Swedish Cucumber Salad

2 cucumbers
OR
1 long, seedless cucumber
1 small onion, optional
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Fit cucumbers into Salad Shooter food chamber, trimming if necessary. Using slicing cone, slice cucumbers into mixing bowl. Remove outer skin of onion; cut to fit in food chamber. Slice into bowl with cucumbers. Toss with vinegar, salt, and sugar; let stand for 30 minutes. Drain. Mix mayonnaise, sour cream, dill, and parsley; add to cucumbers and mix.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups. Serves 4

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 392 Calories; 41g Fat (88.7% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 27mg Cholesterol; 787mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 4 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Stuffed Cucumber

1 straight cucumber
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon dried onion flakes, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
paprika

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 439 Calories; 40g Fat (79.6% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 12g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 124mg Cholesterol; 342mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1 Lean Meat; 2 Vegetable; 7 1/2 Fat.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

BGB-1 Week 3

Monday

We had a road trip today, and I am very proud to say that I packed my own food and stuck to that! Yay! I haven't had any junk today. On one of my muscle boards, there's a clean eating challenge, and I joined, hoping that accountability to people other than myself (and this blog, which is really just me anyway) would help. We have to post EVERY DAY whether we ate clean or cheated. Hopefully that will help me.

Tuesday

Good workout today. I think I'm going to increase the weights for this group. It almost feels easy.

Food sucks. I totally suck.

Wednesday

See Tuesday's entry.

I did end the day on a positive note, though. We went to a buffet for a birthday dinner. This buffet has the most fantastic dessert bar. I did not get anything from the dessert bar. Heck, I didn't even get the buffet. I ordered an entree instead, with the salad bar. A small victory, but I'll take what I can get.

Thursday

I did very well today. Since I had no exercise scheduled, it was a lower carb, lower calorie day. I'm exhausted from my company being here and the carb crash really bites. I need a few nights of good sleep and a few days of good eating to get me back on track.

Friday

Good workout today. Overhead presses were easy, so I'm adding weight next week. Also to the barbell pullovers. Adding reps to lat throws. Those are fun. I love those.

Food has been decent. I need to get more vegetables. I should be eating my starches pre and post workout, but I think I'm too starchy. Even mini bagels have quite a few "bad" carbs. Maybe I'll switch back to the whole wheat bagels.

I ended up not even eating dinner. I was so disgusted with my lack of options that I didn't bother.

Saturday

GREAT food and exercise day. I love leg day because a) it's leg day and b) I know I don't work out the next day. But I hate leg day because it's also when I do my intervals. I know I need to do them right after training, so my legs get a day or more of rest, but it's brutal. Though, I will admit I feel pretty good after doing them. Physically, I'm exhausted, but there's still a bit of a high I get from the accomplishment. Not that it's anything great, but at least I did it.

Sunday

I really hate Sundays. I'm constantly hungry. I did well with food today, though, and I'm proud of myself. I spent the afternoon entering some BFL/BFFM recipes in my MasterCook program. I've decided that I'm not going to be such a stickler for calculating things down to the exact calorie or gram of carbs, protein, and fat. I'll still track my food, of course, but I'm not going to bother recalculating recipes when I use a different brand of rolled oats (for example).

I haven't been on the scale in 2 weeks. To be honest, I am worried about the effect my binges had on my weight. My rings are still loose, so that's good. My birthday is in a couple weeks - maybe I'll challenge myself to stay off the scale until then.

Light Deviled Eggs

Here's something I threw together this morning. It was really, really great!

3 hard boiled eggs
2 tbs light mayonnaise
2 tbs low fat cottage cheese
1 tsp dill weed

Slice the eggs lengthwise, discard 1 of the yolks. Mash the other 2 yolks in a bowl. Add mayonnaise, cottage cheese, and dill weed. Scoop into egg whites. Eat!

Per entire recipe:
294 calories
10 fat
6 carbs
16 protein

Sunday, April 13, 2008

BGB-1 Week 2

Monday

I ate a bit badly today, okay, really badly. In my lame defense, I did spend the day shampooing carpets, moving furniture, climbing ladder. I finished the second half of the house for spring cleaning. I'm totally beat. And starving. It wasn't a chocolate binge though. How I would have loved that.

Tuesday

I'm exhausted. I've been having problems staying asleep lately, and last night my husband didn't get home from work until almost 1 AM. I just can't sleep when he's not home. Surprisingly, I did get up when he got up for work, and I worked out, instead of going back to bed. I tried bribing my son to take a nap, but it was too early in the morning for him to sleep. He won't nap most days. Coffee is good.

Just messing around today with a spotter, I tried to see what my 1 rep max would be for bench press and deadlifts. The goals I set for myself are to bench press 100 pounds and deadlift my body weight (whatever that will be at the time) by the end of summer. This time, I benched 88 lbs and deadlifted 138 lbs. My husband suggested we go through each exercise and see what my 1RM is each, then retest every 2-3 months. I think that would be fun.

Wednesday

I practiced doing some regular barbell on the back squats this morning, two sets mixed in with my scheduled front squats. Front squats hurt my wrists, and I was afraid to do a regular squat because I wasn't sure I could get the bar positioned correctly. I think I'm getting it. I need to find some exercises to deal with the wrist issues so I can continue front squats. But I'd also like to start doing some regular squats as well. Actually, are they even "regular" squats? I have no idea. I'm going for the 1 RM tonight when my husband is home to spot me.

Biceps curl 1 RM is 68 lbs, and just prior to that attempt I did a set of 5 at 52 lbs. I guess the 3 sets of 8 of 23 lbs I did this morning are wimpy.

And it really helps if I get the name of the exercise right. I'm doing overhead dumbbell presses, not military presses. Anyway, my 1 RM is 30lbs for OHPs. I actually did a military press and my 1 RM is 62 lbs.

Thursday

Off today. I have a lot of computer crap to catch up on, and I have a few new strength training forums I want to check out. I'm aiming for a lower carb/calorie day, but the avocados I bought are super ripe and calling my name.

Friday

I'm a total screwup. Food has been horrible the last two days. I don't care at this point. I know I will pull myself out of it eventually, but at this moment, I just don't give a crap. At least I'm still working out. I had a problem with my bb pullovers. Turns out I was doing them improperly, so I had to lower the weight significantly. That's ok. I'd rather do them right!

Saturday

I'm ridiculously bloated from all the garbage I continue to eat. GRRRR. I did have a good workout, though. Cardio kicked my butt. Leg days suck.

Sunday

Two things I've noticed during this week of bad eating - I've had heartburn and I'm exhausted. I don't eat sugar alcohols because of the effect they have on my body. I think I should treat these symptoms the same way. Avoid binging to prevent the heartburn and constant exhaustion. Maybe if I look at it that way, I'll be able to stick to the healthy stuff.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

BGB-1 Week 1

Monday

This is how it's going to work. I'm only going to post once per week, but I'm going to write in each weekly post every day. So it will just be one long narrative of my week. I won't be posting menus or numbers anymore, but I will still stay accountable if I cheat or binge.

Tuesday

I've modified my schedule a bit. I'll be taking 2 days a week completely off.

Mondays - Turbo Jam (cardio w/ abs)
Tuesdays - BGB (rack pulls, BB rows, BB presses, DB flyes, calf raises)
Wednesdays - BGB (front squats/bicep curls superset, DB split squats, SHELC), elliptical intervals
Thursdays - OFF
Fridays - BGB (lat pulls, BB pullovers, military presses, side lateral raises)
Saturdays - BGB (deadlifts, good mornings, DB walking lunges, skull crushers), elliptical intervals
Sundays - OFF

This way, I get in some cardio and intervals AND days off after leg days.

Wednesday

I made some vegetable beef stew for dinner, with some homemade bread sticks. They were really, really good. It took everything in me not to eat the leftovers (half the batch).

Thursday

No workout today. It feels weird. But I am cleaning my house, and will be for the next week. Light stuff today. The heavy stuff starts tomorrow.

I was able to resist he breadsticks last night but there are still some in the refrigerator. I told my husband to take them to work but he forgot. I'm sure my son will eat them up, though, so that's good.

Friday

After 2 BGB workouts, had some pretty good DOMS. It's better now, but right now I'm sore from cleaning and anxious to be done. I won't finish all my cleaning until the middle of next week some time. It will feel god though! I won't be counting the cleaning activities in my calorie burner.

Oh, and ate the breadsticks. I spread them out over 2 days and 3 meals, but I still ate them. And I don't feel guilty.

I was doing really, really well today and lost it. I resisted Burger King, came home and had some cottage cheese and an apple. Then some Cheerios. Then I stopped tracking my calories. Then I had a big bowl of Apple Jacks. A hotdog. Crackers. Pancakes. I hate that I deal with anger with food.

Saturday

I'm really kicking myself over last night's binge. I have to get a handle on this crap.

Workout today was great!!! I love doing intervals after legs because I feel like I work harder. I do love this new routine.

Sunday

146.0 this morning. Stupid binge. At least I ate well today, on plan. I spent the day cleaning my house, and more of the same tomorrow, so I'm not going to do my regularly scheduled cardio. There's a lot left to do (carpet shampooing, moving furniture, lots of laundry) and I want to get it finished tomorrow so I can relax after workouts this week. I also need to plan my menu for the inlaws' visit. I will admit, I am looking forward to exercising when they are here - I can show off my new muscles! LOL

All in all, I love the Baby Got Back routine. Here are the current parameters that I'm starting with. It did take some adjustments as I started. On some days, I can do supersets to shave some time off the entire workout.

rack pulls - 5x5 - 73 lbs
lying db rows - 3x8 - 32 lbs
bb press - 5x5 - 47 lbs
db fly - 3x8 - 15 lbs
calf raise - 3x8 - 15 lbs

front squat - 5x5 - 32 lbs
db split squat - 3x8 - 10 lbs (I hate these, for the record!!)
SHELC - 3x8 (I hate these, too)
bicep curls - 3x8 - 22 lbs

lat pull - 5x5 - 78 lbs
bb pullover - 3x8 - 22 lbs
military press - 5x5 - 20 lbs
one arm db lateral throw - 3x8 - 10 lbs (I found these after doing side lat raises and these are so much more fun to do!!!)

romanian deadlift - 5x5 - 78 lbs
good mornings - 3x8 - 12 lbs
walking db lunges - 3x8 - 10 lbs
skull crushers - 3x8 - 22 lbs

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Pre-BGB Stats

From Monday, March 31:

Neck - 13.75
Chest - 40.5
Rib Circumference - 35.5
Waist - 36.5
Belly - 39.5
Hips - 39
Thighs - 22.5 (R), 22.75 (L)
Calves - 14.25 (R&L)
Biceps (flexed) - 12 (R), 12 (L)
Triceps (gotta measure those batwings!!) - 13 (R), 13.25 (L)
Forearm - 10.25 (R), 10 (L)
Wrists - 5.75 (R&L)
Weight - 144.5 lbs
Body Fat (from Tanita scale) - 33%
Lean Body Mass - 97 lbs
BMI - 26.5

I did take pictures, but as usual, they aren't pretty. And some of my measurements are up from my early March set. I really need a more accurate method. Or at least consistent. I can't do it very well by myself.