Mark's Diet & Training Journal

[dfmark1111]

August 4. 2008

The adventure begins.......day 1
Body for life week 2.

Starting stats:

age 39
height 73 inchs
weight 292
lean body mass 231 (20.9% bf)
basal metabolic rate 2559

goal weight 250

Need to get online pic. I had some before photos taken a month back.
Did buy Fitday software, but need to enter stuff yet.


Right now I'm continuing with a body for life fitness program in the mornings. I'm starting a new cycle. One full week into it so far.

Just today I'm going to start writing down a journal of what i eat, trying to get 3k calories per day. After a few weeks of working out, I'm going to tweak it. Here is what I ate today.....total calories 3000. A little heavy on the fats, that is probably where I'll tweak later. Finding the macronutrient balance seems a bit wierd when I need so many total calories.

Forgive the formatting, it's my first try:

Food and time protein carb fat calories

4:30 Body for life lower body workout.

5:30 Protein shake 50 9 1 250
6:10 Veg Soup 8 48 2 250
1 tsp peanut butter 3 3 8 90

9:00 Banana 1 27 0 105
1 tsp peanut butter 3 3 8 90
Cheese Stick 7 0 3 60

1225 Milk 1 cup 8 13 5 130
Protein 24 3 1 130
Walnut oil 0 0 10 100
Yogert 6 17 1 100
Apple 3 35 0 150
One piece chocolate candy 1 6 3 50


3:00 Banana 1 27 0 105
1 tsp peanut butter 3 3 8 90
Cheese Stick 7 0 3 60


5:30 Mixed Veggies 10 60 0 300
Sirlion Steak (7.5oz) 117 0 21 540
Mixed nuts 9 11 34 400

Going to try hard not to eat after 6 pm at night.

Protein 34%
Carbs 35%
Fats 32%

I'll drop the fat % as I try to lose weight. Wanna take it slowly though. (like 1 pound a week)

[Lady C]

Welcome to DF. Like all things it takes time to become comfortable with it. Keep it up.

Tip: Eat more veggies, less PB and shakes. BFL say you need them with every meal.

Originally Posted by dfmark1111

Going to try hard not to eat after 6 pm at night.

Why? That is a total myth. Eat when the body needs it. This is where the fat - like a PB shake is best. I've done BFL and you can eat within an hour of bed.

[minime]

hey mark, welcome!

I agree with Lady C, I often eat right before bed if I am hungry.

Nothing wrong with higher fat, I favor fat myself and tend to get at least 40% of calories from it per day. Fat is good for you

[dfmark1111]

HIIT Cardio on Elipical Machine

2999 Calories today

25% protein 37% carbs 36% fat

289 pounds on scale in the morning

Have Fitday software configured, and really like it.

[dfmark1111]

Upper body workout. Felt great. Arms are still a bit shaky.

2993 Calories today (Fitday is great!!)

41% protein 24% carbs 35% fat. Ate a lot of red meat today.

290 pounds on scale in the morning.

Ended up doing after work rather than before. I really had a lot more energy today.

I think you are doing a good beginning job of keeping a nutrition and training journal and I encourage you to keep up the good work. It will serve you well with the archival information it provides, and will help you see the progress you have made.

To increase this archival benefit, I encourage you to include more details about your training such as load, sets and reps. If you have a heart rate monitor, I encourage you to use it when doing cardio and record details about your heart rate performance. Trust me, as I have been keeping a detailed journal for years, the information is very good to confirm the progress you have made and make your strive to raise the bar higher in your superfitness journey.

[dfmark1111]

HIIT Eliptical Machine.
Average HR most of the time 130 (Resting HR tonight is 69, bp 125/79)
Peak HR 152 during hardest portion of exercise.
Cardio felt really good today.

3010 calories today. 38% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fat

Chicken breast, raw broccoli, tuna, avocado, yogurt,
Apple with a bit of natural peanut butter
Chicken noodle soup, olives, cherry tomatoes
Chicken breast, yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes
Blueberries, Rice Crispy bar, yogurt
Special K cereal /w milk, cottage cheese, raw egg, sugar snap peas.

A few notes:

I'm using body for life workouts for the structure and timing. Having a plan keeps me focused and busy at the gym (without overdoing it). I'm not really going for the quick cut approach for the eating otherwise. As you can see, I like quite a bit of food. =)

I'd like an eating plan I can stick with forever. Since I end up eating quite a bit at work, the foods are pretty simple and don't require cooking generally. Most are low glycemic index carbs, and foods without saturated or trans fats in them. I'll probably have to work hard to add some variety so I don't burn out on the eating portion.

I keep a journal at the gym for weights lifted and such, might be kinda tedious to post all that here. I might do some max lifts every 3 months when I do a body analysis. I guess I'm newbie enough yet to get some pretty easy gains, so easy to see progress there.

[minime]

Saturated fat is not bad for you, only trans fat.

So feel free to mix up your meats to avoid boredom. Beef, pork etc. are fine. As are eggs (yes, yolk too... not sure if you have been eating the yolk)

keep up the good work!

[dfmark1111]

calories 3000- 3500

Waking up this morning I actually had a trim, anti-bloated feeling, which was really great.

This was sort of a free day for the eating. I had some tacos for lunch and some tasty pork sandwiches for dinner at a party. The party host really couldn't have served healthier food. I must be getting used to the smaller meals, I filled up really fast at the party, even eating light.

Did lower body workout late, and it actually seemed pretty easy.

[dfmark1111]

2997 calories today

29% protein, 34% carbs, 37% fat

Did bike for cardio today. Not a great HIIT workout, but got my pulse up a bit.

I borrowed some calories from late night last night, since I slept in today. My free day was within about 500, so not a big deal. I figured it would be nice to keep on track for kicks. I actually had to work to get in all the calories tonight anyhow.

protein shake, almonds, yogurt (post workout, early early am)
tuna, almonds, pear
Bachelor shake, raw broccoli, almonds
Cereal/milk, almonds, yogurt
rice crisply bard, cereal/milk
Bread with dripping oil, mixed nuts, tuna, 2 raw eggs (whole egg)

[dfmark1111]

weight 287
Calories 3002
protein 24% Carbs 40% Fats 36%

Went for a long bicycle ride today. It took an hour and I think the round trip was maybe 10-12 miles.

Gonna mess around in the gym a little yet tonight. Just a little stretching and messing around with some lifts I normally don't do.

One thing I've noticed from my food journal is my tendency to lump meals together on the weekends. I think spacing things out makes me feel much better.

I just ended a 12-day food journal episode to achieve about a 6 lb. weight drop. For me, trying to eat no more than 500 calories per "sitting" was the most effective.

[dfmark1111]

Weight 287.5
Calories 3009
protein 32%, carbs 30%, fats 36%

Upper body workout today.

I'm glad I got it done before work, because after 4 hours ot, I'm not sure I would have made it to the gym.

Nothing special, but another productive day is good.

[dfmark1111]

weight 288
Calories 3005
protein 29% carbs 31% fats 37%

Great HIIT cardio on eliptical machine today.

I've really messed up my sleep lately. I'm working tons of overtime, and too often take a super long nap after work, leaving me awake most of the night. I'm going for a bicycle ride in a bit, hopefully I'll unwind and be ready to sleep well tonight.

Starting morning workouts has been incredable for me, since I don't have to get any ambition after work. I'm sure when I'm wiped after work that I'd start skipping workouts.

The eating is going great. I think the calorie amount is about perfect. I hope to continue it.

Overall, my body feels so loose, warm, and relaxed during the days now. Probably a good mix for me to stick with for a while. Just need to sleep during the nighttime hours.

[Bob44]

Hi Mark,

Just wanted to say Hi and I have been enjoying reading your fitness journey. Keep up the good work.

Bob