Today was a good day

So Summer is officially OVER! Started my Fall out pretty good.


Breakfast: Egg Whites Boiled + Beef Sausage
Snack Handful of Almonds
Lunch: Rotisserie Chicken + Salad
Dinner: Baked Fish + Zucchini

Hit the gym, did 5 Miles on the elliptical machine, about 915 calories burnt, and relaxed in the Steam Room for a few afterwards.

Back on Year End Goal!

So with September beginning time to get back on track for the end of the year goals. With that said, we're moving onto a 4 month plan. The key parts of the plan will be similar to the first three months of the year. Food wise, this will be a majority low carb diet, combined with a mix of weight training and cardio.

One goal deadline will be to run a 5K race mid November, so I will be tracking my progress of training over the course of 3 1/2 months. I am starting with about a 1 mile jogging stamina, as of last week.

Weight training, I will be doing about 4 weeks of full body routines, and then decide if I will move to heavier, isolated workouts.

For the low carb portion of my diet, the hardest part will be cutting out beer again...it's been a long, bbq / happy hour filled summer. They also have built a zeppelin hall Beer Garden near my home.....so I've put back on about 12 lbs in the past 3 months. I will be keeping a log, and picture documentary of my meals going fwd. to keep honest with the program as well.

Today

• Breakfast: 2 Boiled Eggs:
• Lunch: steak & chicken stir fry with boiled cabbage.
• Snack: slice of turkey and cheese stick
• Dinner: chicken and sautéed zucchini

Loving the outdoors

So now that the weather has been better I've been able to run outside.... Such a big difference from the treadmill/elliptical! I'm feeling better all around, trying to add that to the end of my weight workout daily.

The treadmill belt offers some help by pulling your feet back underneath your
body, so you are potentially exerting less energy to move your feet and legs
than if you were not on a treadmill.

When you run indoors on a treadmill, you do not have to overcome wind resistance. The lack of wind means you'll spend less energy running four miles on a treadmill than you will running four miles outdoors. However, it may depend on how fast you are running. For the average person, running 5 - 9 miles per hour (mph) will result in little difference. Some studies say outdoor running expends up to 5 percent more
calories; if you run faster than 9 mph, running outdoors could utilize up to 10
percent more calories because you are working harder against wind resistance.
Other studies say there's no difference. One study demonstrated the way to
balance energy use between indoor and outdoor running is to set the treadmill at
an incline (or grade) of 1 percent.

A few good points that I found on a running site explain it the best...

http://news.runtowin.com/2006/07/20/track-vs-treadmill-whats-the-difference.html

Treadmills are softer. You are going to take more of a pounding on asphalt than you would on a treadmill. If you jump into it too fast, you could hurt yourself. However, running on a grass or dirt trail could be even less impact than on the treadmill while still allowing yourself to stretch out a bit and avoid the boredom.

Running outdoors encourages stronger bone growth. Because there is more of an impact, there is more pressure on your muscles and bones which will lead to faster results when you are training.

You don’t have to break the wind on a treadmill. While you will not spend as much energy pushing air out of the way as you might on a bicycle, it still constitutes a large percentage of the energy that you are using. Air may not seem like much, but it takes a lot of work to get it out of your way so that your body can pass through it, and this is only made more difficult when there is a headwind pushing that air towards you. On a treadmill, you aren’t actually moving, so you don’t have to push nearly as much air out of the way.

Running outdoors gets you somewhere. Running is meant as a means of transportation from one place to another by moving over the surface. Running on a treadmill is having the surface move beneath you. It is not quite natural.

Running outdoors is more exciting. I have a definite bias against running on treadmills, mostly because it is so boring. When you run outside, you need to pay attention to where you put your feet, avoiding traffic and other pedestrians, and enjoying mother nature. There are more distractions that can keep you from dwelling on how tired you are, and to give you something to ignore when preparing for a race and learning how to focus.

Treadmills do not allow you to run downhill. At least, I have never seen one that does. For proper working out of the muscles, you need to work downhill and uphill workouts into your training. Always going along a flat or slight incline is not a natural way to move or to train.

The 5 most common treadmill mistakes do not apply outdoors:

Taking it too easy
Stepping off of a moving treadmill
Using the
handrails
Unnatural stride length
Not realizing how much easier it is

Treadmills are safe from cars, but you are not likely to get thrown off of the ground like you can from a treadmill. Getting hit by a car and being thrown by a treadmill are both experiences I do not really care to repeat.

It is tougher to hyper-extend your back outside than on a treadmill. If you do not use at least a 1%-2% grade on the treadmill, you can wind up leaning back as the belt kicks your legs backwards and you can hyperextend your back and hurt yourself. Using a small grade on the treadmill forces you to lean forward, which helps to protect your back.*

Back OMG[ON MY GRIND]

Oh man, the two weeks off definately took a toll on me! My body is extra sore!

So Monday I hit up Legs, went in with Squats, Leg Press, Leg Extensions and they were a little sore yesterday, but today... WOW I'm walking like Forrest Gump in braces!

Tuesday I hit up arms and back, Pullups, Bent rows, curls, pull downs, cable curls.....30min cardio!

My goal for week one will be to drop 4-5lbs which I know is mostly water weight, but what the heck!

Back OMG!

• Hey folk......
  
  I'm back....
  
  I know I failed on keeping up with the Blog the last month and a half!
  
  I did keep up with my workout and meal plan through the 8 weeks, and lost a total of close to 25lbs.....
  
  

Starting back up with a new 8 week program that will take me from today to May 25th which is Memorial day, also the beginning of Beach season!


I'm going to keep pretty consistent with the lower carb base, adding in carbs in post workout shakes and meals as I will be upping the weights and lowering my cardio on this plan.....

Here is a sample days food intake....

Breakfast: 2 Boiled Eggs + Protien Shake (40 grams protien)
Snack: Hand Full of almonds
Lunch: Rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken salad
Snack: Cottage Cheese

Pre & Post workout shake (20-25grams protien per shake)

Dinner: baked fish and vegetables.

OMG - On My Grind....

Hey Folk,

So day two into week 5 and going strong!

Yesterday hit up the pool in the morning, and kept to the menu...

B-Egg Beaters & Turkey Sausage
S-Handful of Almonds
L-Half of a small Rotisserie chicken.
S-Protien Bar
D-Low Carb Chilli with Cabbage.

Today hit up the weights for a mixed body workout.

I did upper body workout with dumbells, as well as a few sets of goblet squats.

Then followed up with eliptical 825 calories burnt....

Menu... pretty much the same, second half of my little chicken and left over chili.

B-Egg Beaters & Beef Sausage
S-Handful of Almonds
L-Half of a Rotisserie chicken.
S-Protien Bar
D-Low Carb Chilli with Cabbage.

Week 5 enter Water World!

4 weeks done, 15LBS later...Still going STRONG!

What's up good folk, ok so 50% done with the first 8 week program that I stated as an initial goal! I'm right on track for my weight goal to drop 30, with 15lbs down for the first 4 weeks.

Today I step it up for the second half. Partially just do to an increase in energy, after getting used to the workouts, and feeling like I can do even better. Today I started a morning swimming routine, to get me going before work, and to aid in burning excess calories, and getting the metabolism running.

I am going to hit the pool atleast 3-5, days during the work week in the am. I'm going to be continuing with the after work workouts, and stepping up the weight training to match the cardio. Another change will be that I will start to keep a better track of exactly what I do in the gym, to catolouge and rank my workouts.

Gotta drink, drink, drink water....H20 is my friend!