Day 22: Spicing Up Your Cottage Cheese

January 30, 2012 by

Many nights in the evening as my last meal, I’ll eat 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and some fruit (grapes, cherries, raspberries, etc). The cottage cheese is the protein and the fruit goes for the carb. I like cottage cheese, but it can get a tad bit monotonous after eating it routinely. I’ve found that if you add a little cayenne pepper to your cottage cheese it creates a nice little spice to it and changes things up.
Spicing up Cottage Cheese
Spicing up Cottage CheeseIt adds a nice little zip to the cottage cheese. If it were my dad, he would add some Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning.
My Dad's favoriteI’m on day 2 of week 4 now and still going strong. I hit the gym today for a solid upper body workout. Instead of doing the free-weight bench press I did the machine fly this time for the chest. I’m trying to start mixing things up so I’m not doing the exact same routine for each muscle group every time.

The Body For Life website recommends that you’re not supposed to eat for at least 30 minutes before a workout. After a workout you should immediately consume protein. I consumed two of the 8 oz Muscle Milk Light containers when I got home. The two together were a total of 300 calories and 40g of protein. I usually don’t have that much protein after a workout, but for the upper body workout it gets pretty intense. Maybe the extra protein will help the muscles grow faster. Honestly, I’m not sure if the extra protein will do that much. I think your body can only consume so much at a time…I should probably go read up on that.

I’m still a little guy, but I can see and feel the muscles starting to grow – and that’s a nice feeling.

Filed Under: Body For Life, Nutrition, Recipes, Workouts Tagged With: ,

Day 21: It’s not just about the pounds

January 29, 2012 by

When I weighed in yesterday, I had only lost 1 pound from the previous week. Some would be discouraged by only losing one pound after eating so healthy and working out so much. I’m totally ok with that and not upset in the least bit – here’s why…

You may have heard that muscle weights more than fat. Technically 5 pounds of muscle weighs the same as 5 pounds of fat. 5=5 the last time I checked. The only thing that defies such a simple mathematical equation is when 2+2=5:
Awesome ThinkGeek shirtGreat t-shirt from Thinkgeek…ok, back on topic. What is really intended to be said when people say that muscle weighs more than fat is that given the same size mass of fat and muscle, the muscle would weigh more. It really has everything to do with density. To put it plain and simple – muscle is more dense than fat. To demonstrate, here is a picture of 5 pounds of fat and 5 pounds of muscle that I got from an excellent article on the topic at http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/muscle-to-fat.html.
5 pounds of fat and muscleAs you can see, 5 pounds of muscle is much more lean than 5 pounds of fat. Think about how you would look if you replaced all of the fat in your body with muscle. Here is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t have the scale be the judge of your success. Here is a picture of a girl who looks way better at 9 pounds heavier!
Sort of...

(credit Kathy’s Fit Blog)

Now, I know I previously mentioned that my target weight is 155. That may not really be my target weight. Depending on how much muscle I gain and fat I lose, I could end up weighing more. The most important thing when determining success is how you look and how your clothes fit. I can see progress in my Week 3 pictures, and that’s all that matters to me. Don’t let the scale be the final judge as to how successful you are in your weight loss program. And hit the gym more frequently while you’re at it. I think we’d all rather have more muscle in our body and less fat.

Filed Under: Body For Life, Health Tagged With: ,

Day 20: Week 3 Weigh-in

January 28, 2012 by

Time for my week 3 weigh-in. This morning I was 164 – down one pound from last week.
Down One Pound
I am down a total of 6 pounds since I started Body for Life 3 weeks ago. I’m down from 170 to 164:
Down 6 pounds
Picture in progress from the front:
looking better
Picture in progress from the back. You can really start to see the fat getting burned away around the waist:
You can really start to tell a difference
Now, for the first ever muscle flexing picture in progress (hey, they’re starting to appear):
starting to see definition
One thing I enjoyed on my day off. Blue Bell is the best. Mmmmmm….
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Filed Under: Body For Life, Pictures Tagged With:

Day 19: 210 Calorie Chicken Soft Taco

January 27, 2012 by

So I made a great find at HEB (my favorite grocery store down here in Texas). They have a product line of fully cooked meats that are easy to prepare. Preparation just involves microwaving. I found some cooked shredded chicken and used it to make a delicious chicken soft taco that is only 210 calories.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup HEB Fully Cooked Shredded Chicken (but if you don’t have a HEB, you could cook your own chicken and shred it)
  • 1 Mission Carb Control Whole Wheat Tortilla
  • 1/2 slice Tillamook Pepper Jack cheese (or 1/2 oz of your favorite cheese)

The fully cooked shredded chicken:
Shredded Chicken
The Mission Whole Wheat Tortillas are very tasty. If you’re going to have a tortilla, have one of these – not the all white super enriched flour tortillas. I actually prefer these over the white:
Carb Balance
And of course, my favorite – Tillamook Pepper Jack Cheese:
seriuosly yummy...
Heat up the shredded chicken in the microwave for 60 seconds. Take out and place on tortilla. Then place the half slice of cheese on top of the meat:
before microwave
Then, microwave for 20 or 25 seconds to melt the cheese and heat up the tortilla. One a side note, when heating up a tortilla in the microwave, place a paper towel underneath the tortilla. It will absorb any condensation and prevent the tortilla from becomming soggy.
mmmmelty
Mmmmm….melty yumminess. Wrap up and enjoy! Add some salsa or tabasco if you would like for a zestier taste!
yummy
mmmmmm
Nutritional Content:

Calories 210
Protein 20.5g
Carbs 14g
Fiber 10g
Fat 8g
Filed Under: Body For Life, Nutrition, Recipes Tagged With:

Day 18: Protein Shakes – Myoplex Lite vs Muscle Milk Light

January 26, 2012 by

As one of the 5-6 meals, I’ve generally been drinking a protein shake. I know it is cheaper to buy the powder and mix it up yourself, but I just bought a round of the pre-packaged ones to try out. They do cost a little more, but if you buy them in bulk and try to find a coupon you can generally get one for around $1.50. Right now, I have a variety of two types that I’m rotating between:
Muscle Milk and Myoplex Lite
I picked up a 24-pack of the Myoplex Lite Chocolate Fudge at Amazon for $39.84 ($1.66 each). This was about the same price as at our local grocery store, but it’s hard to beat the convenience of having them delivered to your front door. I haven’t tried it yet, but Amazon offers 15% off if you sign up to have them delivered automatically each month (or every 2nd or 3rd month — you choose the frequency). Not a bad idea. I’ve been thinking about doing that with all of our common household items. Figure out how often we go through them and sign up on Amazon for auto-delivery so we don’t ever have to think about those things and can save time at the grocery store.

Back on topic…I picked up the Muscle Milk Light at Costco when they had a $6 off coupon. I don’t remember what I paid for them, but I believe it was around the same per package. Now, to compare the two. The Muscle Milk tastes better, but probably because it has twice the fat…and that is even with the light version! 2g vs 4g. It’s not a true one-to-one comparison, though, as the Muscle Milk Light is more concentrated (8.25 oz vs 11 oz). Each containst 20g of protein. The Muscle Milk has only 9g of carbs, though, compared to Myoplex Lite’s 20g. As far as all around nutrition goes, the Myoplex Lite has more nutritional value than the Muscle Milk Light.

Myoplex Lite Chocolate Fudge
Muscle Milk Light Nutritional Info

Winners:

Protein Content TIE
Lowest Fat Content Myoplex Lite
Lowest Carbs Muscle Milk Light
Overall Nutritional Value Myoplex Lite
Taste Muscle Milk

There really is no clear winner in my mind. Both shakes are good and have their strengths. I like to stock multiple protein shakes for variety so I don’t get tired of one particular brand and burn out. I used to cringe at the idea of drinking a protein shake years ago, but really like the taste of them now. Maybe it’s an acquired taste, or maybe they have just gotten better at making them taste good over the years. Either way, they’re great to down after a workout.

Filed Under: Body For Life, Nutrition, Technology Tagged With: ,
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