Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Eating Pumpkins, Tuna, and Cottage Cheese:
I mentioned in a previous entry that I went to a birthday party in Chinatown on the last Saturday of October. This acquintance of mine named Bernie was there and he told a story that has really motivated me. His younger brother, whom I had met a few times, had a massive heart attack last year and is lucky to be alive. Get this: he was only 35 years old. That really stuck in my head. I've been trying to get back into shape for the past two years. Everytime I've blown off workouts, eating pizzas like crazy, or gained back weight that I've lost, I've told myself that I'll just get in shape later on. I'll make up for it in the future. This heart attack story made me realize that if I keep putting off health and exercise into the future, then eventually a CVD, Type II diabetes, and a variety of other ailments would present themselves as my unfortunate reality. Age thrity-five is only six years away and I've already been spinning my wheels since I was in great shape two years ago.
Now, I've made some progress in the past two years. Around this time last year, I was already on a running and weight lifting routine. I even made time to exercise when I was on vacation this time last year. In late May, I found myself in good enough shape to run 6 miles nonstop. In June, I went to my cousin's ordination and I had a week off where I ate everything in sight and didn't exercise. In two weeks, I easily gained 10 lbs and it took me awhile to get back into another exercise program.
What I avoid doing for a long time was to address the "diet" part of losing weight. Using fitday.com helped me a ton in 2002 and 2003. I watch what I eat better when I'm measuring everything and inputting my foods on fitday. The closest I've done to counting calories is to kept a running total in my head. I could estimate what I was eating since I used to measure what I ate daily. Two weeks ago, I decided that it was a pain to keep having to keep a running count in my head, so I logged onto fiday and have been logging everything ever since.
I never do anything a speed less than hardcore. I have trouble maintaing that intensity in the long run, but I'm good and starting projects and giving them maximum effort for at least a few months. Notice that I was able to sarge hardcore for about 10 months. For the past two weeks, I've been keeping a good workout routine and I've been eating better. The crazy thing is that I eat so much fewer calories that I did just a few weeks ago, yet I'm feeling great. I don't like vegetables, so I've been drinking vegetable juice. Last week, I learned about canned pumpkin. That stuff (not pumpkin pie mix, but pure 100% pumpkin) is great. A can is about 120 calories, 18g fiber, and a bunch of vitamins and minerals. I've been eating lean proteins and I've been aiming for about 140g or more of protein. I've been keeping carbs minimum. According to this definition I saw on the bodycomposition forums, I'm on a ketogenic diet. Well, it's more of a targeted ketogenic diet as I'm eating carbs around workouts to make sure that I have enough energy for the workouts.
I've regained my interest in reading about diet and exercise. I used to read the misc.fitness,weights newsgroups about 4-5 years ago. There was lot of junk there, but I learned which posters knew their stuff. One of the best posters was this guy named Lyle McDonald. About two weeks ago, I decided I wanted to reread some some about fish oils, so I did a mfw google search. I then decided to see what Lyle was up to, so I googled him and came upon his new site: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/
It has a great forum. I've spend countless hours searching the forums for various things of interest.
Anyway, that's what I've been doing. I feel great now and I hope I can get back to my ideal weight and be in great shape again. I think I'll be able to maintain my conditions because I'm getting in shape for the right reason now: my health. Back in 2002 & 2003, I worked out because I wanted to get in shape so I could "pick up girls." Reading "The Game" and sarging for almost a year made me understand that getting girls isn't about working out. I'm sure I'll get better results when I'm in shape and out sarging, but I saw that I could get positive responses when I sarged while fat. When I sarge when I'm in shape, the majority of my better success will be due to a confident inner game.
Tat's a long way away, however. My inner game is shot to shit right now. At least I've gotten diet and exercise down. Work and sarging are condition: negative right now, but hopefully I'll get things on track soon.
I mentioned in a previous entry that I went to a birthday party in Chinatown on the last Saturday of October. This acquintance of mine named Bernie was there and he told a story that has really motivated me. His younger brother, whom I had met a few times, had a massive heart attack last year and is lucky to be alive. Get this: he was only 35 years old. That really stuck in my head. I've been trying to get back into shape for the past two years. Everytime I've blown off workouts, eating pizzas like crazy, or gained back weight that I've lost, I've told myself that I'll just get in shape later on. I'll make up for it in the future. This heart attack story made me realize that if I keep putting off health and exercise into the future, then eventually a CVD, Type II diabetes, and a variety of other ailments would present themselves as my unfortunate reality. Age thrity-five is only six years away and I've already been spinning my wheels since I was in great shape two years ago.
Now, I've made some progress in the past two years. Around this time last year, I was already on a running and weight lifting routine. I even made time to exercise when I was on vacation this time last year. In late May, I found myself in good enough shape to run 6 miles nonstop. In June, I went to my cousin's ordination and I had a week off where I ate everything in sight and didn't exercise. In two weeks, I easily gained 10 lbs and it took me awhile to get back into another exercise program.
What I avoid doing for a long time was to address the "diet" part of losing weight. Using fitday.com helped me a ton in 2002 and 2003. I watch what I eat better when I'm measuring everything and inputting my foods on fitday. The closest I've done to counting calories is to kept a running total in my head. I could estimate what I was eating since I used to measure what I ate daily. Two weeks ago, I decided that it was a pain to keep having to keep a running count in my head, so I logged onto fiday and have been logging everything ever since.
I never do anything a speed less than hardcore. I have trouble maintaing that intensity in the long run, but I'm good and starting projects and giving them maximum effort for at least a few months. Notice that I was able to sarge hardcore for about 10 months. For the past two weeks, I've been keeping a good workout routine and I've been eating better. The crazy thing is that I eat so much fewer calories that I did just a few weeks ago, yet I'm feeling great. I don't like vegetables, so I've been drinking vegetable juice. Last week, I learned about canned pumpkin. That stuff (not pumpkin pie mix, but pure 100% pumpkin) is great. A can is about 120 calories, 18g fiber, and a bunch of vitamins and minerals. I've been eating lean proteins and I've been aiming for about 140g or more of protein. I've been keeping carbs minimum. According to this definition I saw on the bodycomposition forums, I'm on a ketogenic diet. Well, it's more of a targeted ketogenic diet as I'm eating carbs around workouts to make sure that I have enough energy for the workouts.
I've regained my interest in reading about diet and exercise. I used to read the misc.fitness,weights newsgroups about 4-5 years ago. There was lot of junk there, but I learned which posters knew their stuff. One of the best posters was this guy named Lyle McDonald. About two weeks ago, I decided I wanted to reread some some about fish oils, so I did a mfw google search. I then decided to see what Lyle was up to, so I googled him and came upon his new site: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/
It has a great forum. I've spend countless hours searching the forums for various things of interest.
Anyway, that's what I've been doing. I feel great now and I hope I can get back to my ideal weight and be in great shape again. I think I'll be able to maintain my conditions because I'm getting in shape for the right reason now: my health. Back in 2002 & 2003, I worked out because I wanted to get in shape so I could "pick up girls." Reading "The Game" and sarging for almost a year made me understand that getting girls isn't about working out. I'm sure I'll get better results when I'm in shape and out sarging, but I saw that I could get positive responses when I sarged while fat. When I sarge when I'm in shape, the majority of my better success will be due to a confident inner game.
Tat's a long way away, however. My inner game is shot to shit right now. At least I've gotten diet and exercise down. Work and sarging are condition: negative right now, but hopefully I'll get things on track soon.
