A week ago I went over my interval running schedule. Up until now I have been doing intervals of 1 on the treadmill:
5 — 6 — 7 — 8
My eventual goal is to get to 1.5 intervals on the treadmill:
5 — 6.5 — 8 — 9.5
I was starting to get pretty comfortable with intervals of 1, so today I increased my intervals to 1.1 starting with the same base of 5:
5 — 6.1 — 7.2 — 8.3
The distance was hardly much more than the intervals of 1 (2.17 vs 2.12), but I felt like I was being pushed harder. Gradual increases is how you can get to your goal. Once I get comfortable with 1.1 intervals, I’ll bump it up to 1.2, etc, etc, until I reach my goal of 1.5 intervals.
Day 23: Increasing Intervals
January 31, 2012 by
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.
It adds a nice little zip to the cottage cheese. If it were my dad, he would add some Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning.
I’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.
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:
Great 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.
As 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!
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.
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.
I am down a total of 6 pounds since I started Body for Life 3 weeks ago. I’m down from 170 to 164:
Picture in progress from the front:
Picture in progress from the back. You can really start to see the fat getting burned away around the waist:
Now, for the first ever muscle flexing picture in progress (hey, they’re starting to appear):
One thing I enjoyed on my day off. Blue Bell is the best. Mmmmmm….
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:
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:
And of course, my favorite – Tillamook Pepper Jack Cheese:
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:
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.
Mmmmm….melty yumminess. Wrap up and enjoy! Add some salsa or tabasco if you would like for a zestier taste!
Nutritional Content:
| Calories | 210 |
| Protein | 20.5g |
| Carbs | 14g |
| Fiber | 10g |
| Fat | 8g |
