Day 30

Not a whole lot to say that hasn't already been said... I tried the warrior diet a month ago, the guys at work thought I'd only last a week or so. I'm still doing it. From now on I'm not going to count the days, I'll just keep updating my fitness progress, that's the main purpose of this blog, for me to keep a journal of my fitness over time. I plan on going to school for nutrition, so maybe some day when I have enough expirence I can write a book about my exploites.

In my opinion, the warrior diet works. To clear up any confusion as what I mean by "work" you have to define what you want out of a diet. If you want imediete fat lose, in the shortest possible time, with little or no work, then this diet is not for you. The warrior diet is more of a lifestyle than a diet. It still embraces the fundimentals that most people want to cheat, if you want to be as healthy as posilbe, you must eat good quality food and exercise. By good quality I'm talking about, fresh fruit/veggies, meat, and whole grains. I think that it would be very easy, and benificial to eliminate corn syrup from your diet. People talk about the evils of sugar, then corn syrup is the worst kind of sugar, I don't mind eating some dark chocolate, or bread, or cookies, but as soon as I have some pop, or candy, or anything like that I feel like crap.

So if you are looking for a way to be more healthy, then this is a great tool to teach you how to eat what is good.

Ugh

I feel drowsy today...

its either because I only got 5 hours of sleep,
I'm sick,
I've been taking massive doses of vitamins,
or all three.

anyways I decided to share something about the bench press that I do in the mornings.

when the bar is going towards my chest I flex my arms like I'm trying to bend the bar, this makes the bench press much more efficient. A lot of people don't like it because they think it's overrated, it is, but there are ways that you can get more value out of it.

that's all class.

Day 29- Sick/Exercise

Well, whatever splint had last week must have moved west. This morning I had to wheeze through my workout... I still met my goals for the day, but I was having a harder time than normal. Splint said something about sitting in a steam-room to help with a cold, I sat in one for about 15 min, and was feeling a little more decongested, good call splint. Then I jumped in a cold shower because I'm a jerk and I wanted to shock my body (and I remember reading somewhere that exposure to cold can boost fat burning). I am also taking Zicam (the dissolveable tablet, in case you're worried about losing your sense of smell... who needs that anyways ^_^) and Airborne (basically a mega-dose of vitamins, I may keep taking it after I'm sick just as a multi-vitamin, its kind of fun because you put the tablet in your mouth and it foams in your mouth... I'm easily amused :D)

well, I've got my mom and dad on the warrior diet now, and I didn't even pester them, they just asked me about it because they've been able to see the change in me over the past month, having more energy, losing fat, and eating better.

Workout:

5 reps deadlift 190lbs
5 reps deadlift 185lbs
5 reps bench 135lbs
5 reps bench 130lbs
5 reps pull ups assisted with 5 plates (however much they weigh...)
5 reps pull ups 6 plates
Didn't do any boxing because I decided to sit in the steam room, glad I did.

Day 26- The wagon went to a rest stop

Yesterday I went out to lunch with my co-worker. We went to applebee's and I got a Cesar grilled chicken salad. I ate it without the dressing, and did not touch my croutons, so my sugar intake was still really low, but I'm sure the chicken was cheating, so I confess. I have to say though, it wasn't that bad after lunch, I was still hungry so its not like I stuffed myself. One interesting thing to note though, when I went to dinner I just ordered a normal amount of food (not warrior portion) and after eating it I was full. I've been kind of weary of the fact that I'm eating a ton at one time, and was wondering if I for some reason decided to go back to my old ways, would be able to go back to "normal" portions, without feeling the need to stuff myself. So yesterday gave me a little peace of mind. Oh, and after dinner I had a pack of mento's and some of my girlfriend's sour patch kids (Oh yeah, I figured if it was a cheat day, I was going all out :D) Lets just say... super processed sugar seems to have more of an effect after you've been off it for a while.

So I guess I'm glad that the wagon pulled over for a little bit, but I'm glad to be back on the road.

power lifting is going good, I've met my goals every day this week. I found out what my 1 rep max was, then bumped it back by 20%, and am adding 5 lbs a day for a ten workout cycle. Then at the end of my cycle I'll re-test my 1 rep max and repeat the cycle. slowly climbing my way up to massive lifts :D. I'm doing the same thing for my bench press, and I've added wide-grip pull ups to my routine, to make sure I'm working my upper back. I've taken the last couple of days off of the heavy bag because my shoulder was getting pretty sore, I think I'm hitting it too hard, go figure. I'll start that back up on Monday.

Day 24- Workout and changes made this week

First off I'm kind of pumped because I blasted my goal of being able to deadlift my body weight out of the water.

1 rep max is pretty much 225lbs
2 reps 220lbs
3 reps 210lbs
4 reps 205lbs
by this point I was feeling very fatigued, so I decided to stop deadlifting while my form was still good.

My bench press also went up, but not as much...

3 reps 145lbs
3 reps 135lbs
4 reps 125lbs
4 reps 115lbs

I was starting to feel pretty tired so I decided to go hit the heavy bag. I only managed 3 rounds this time, I think I am still tired from my 5 rounds yesterday, and a combination of lifting, so I'm not worried about it. I'm going to approach boxing like I do lifting, go as hard as you can until you can't do it with good form, then quit. Hopefully I increase my endurance on the bag like I increase the weights on the bar.

I have made a few changes this week that I thought I should note. First, Monday I started trying to drink a gallon of water a day. I get close, but I just want to make sure I'm getting enough water. Then I obviously made my workout change. and.... that's all I can think of right now.

oh! on Monday I was craving carbs like crazy, so I went to fazolies (Italian fast food) and got a big bowl of pasta... amazing, but thats not the point. I was up to 170.6 on yesterday morning (Tuesday). For dinner last night I had raw almonds, and- get this- 12 oz's of co-jack cheese. For desert I had some Honey roasted almonds. I was very full (and sick of cheese at that point ^_^) but didn't feel sick, just full. I woke up this morning and weighed myself at 167.4lbs!

Day 23- Workout and a big breakfast

After much research (sitting around reading various fitness books) I have decided to follow Pavel Tsatsouline's aproach (read "power to the people" if you want all the details) He is more focused on strength building than bodybuilding, without going into elaborate detail, its not how big the muscles are, but what they can do that matters.

I am going to be working on two main exercises, Dead lift, and Bench press. I am also going to incorperate my boxing training into my new program when I'm not doing those exercises. So, today: 5x5 dead lift
5x5 bench press
5 2 min rounds on heavy bag
tomorrow: 6 rounds shadow boxing
6 rounds heavy bag
6 rounds jump rope
and some sprints (or push-ups if im too winded)
the day after: lifting ruitine again...

you get the idea.

my starting dead lift weight was 155lbs, and my bench was 130, I could have done more on both of those, but I want to make sure I can keep good form and build up power slowly. I have to say, after doing the dead lift yesterday, and today, my legs are killing me.

I had a kashi crunch protein bar, really good stuff (they don't have my jaybars any more >.<)
half a vitamin water
organic apple
medium coffee with splash of cream
and I feel full

Day 22- Ori is not god

lol ^_^ check out this post on Ori's website, I (isoulride) got my hand slapped for making it sound like all of his books aren't the best books in the world.

http://www.defensenutrition.com/forum/index.php?topic=441.new;topicseen#new

Day 20- The Machine

Today was a long day. I started by eating a banana and a couple cups of coffee. We made it out to the resort at about 9:30, and snowboarded for about 4 hours. I ate a orange for lunch and had half of one of those G2 gatorades. I should have gone with a vitamin water instead... oh well. was feeling pretty good until about 1 or 1:15ish and I just had an energy crash. I don't know if I needed more fruit, or if the gatorade caused me to crash... it only had 7 grams of sugar, I guess it was corn syrup, go figure.

we went to bob even's for dinner and I had my usual sausage and cheese omolet, and a chery cobler for desert. good stuff :D

Day 19- Ski Trip!

Not a whole lot to say. last night I was stupid, my meal was sbaro and dary queen. then I topped it off with some red bull and a dr pepper. big mistake. I actually had to hold back vomit. one weird thing about the pop, it tasted amazing, like an explosion in my mouth. but as soon as it got past my tastebuds I felt sick... one thing i've gained from the warrior diet is the sensitivity to quality. normally I would have been fine after eating like that.

today I decided to go on an extreme water fast. no coffee. no fruit. just steam distilled water until my eating time. I had wendys for dinner. cesaer chicken salad, spicy chicken sandwich, baked potato, chili, craisens, dark chocolate, a handful of kashi crunch, and a few cubes of cojack cheese. we're on the road to holiday valley in new york (hey splint!) to catch the best snowstorm of the year! so im posting this from a cell phone.

Day 18- Undereating

I'm taking a few days off from working out before I start my new program. Last night I had one of those chicken Cesar salads from wendy's again (i don't put the dressing on) and I ate a few handfulls of raw almonds. later I snacked on some 86% dark chocolate (you can't eat very much because its pretty stout) and a couple handfuls of banana chips and a bowl of instant oatmeal. I woke up this morning to weigh at 169lbs! and my body fat % is also going down.

Two things to note.

1. even though i was full last night, I was craving carbs... like I wanted to go out and buy an apple pie or something from mcdonalds (i didn't ^_^) and into the next day (today) I really want some carbs, even though I had a banana.

2. I have a headache (common for someone going through a detox) I want carbs...

Day 17- Lovin' life

I'm working my butt off today so I can take tomorrow off and go see "Wicked"

been doing a little reading and I think I'm going to revise my workout rutine. Ori's just doesn't seem in depth enough. and im bored so there.

Day 16- Meal

Due to the ice storm we had I wasn't able to update this last night.

I went to Bob Even's last night:

Sausage and cheese omelet
Home fries
2 Sausage patties
and I had some 86% dark chocolate later with some banana chips.

Thoughts on fasting

Over the past couple of weeks I've been fasting through the day (except for that yogurt-drink fiasco :X). And over the past couple of weeks I've felt almost obnoxtiously energetic even in the morning at work. I have been bouncing back and forth about the "water"fast, and the "controled" fast. Some people have speculated that you would benifit more from doing a water fast as far as fat loss goes. I'd like to do a study to determin if I can measure if one way is better or not.

I am keeping track of my data on an excel sheet. Things I'm watching are:

Weight (lbs)
BF% (%)
Lean body mass (lbs)
Total body fat (lbs)
Sleep (hrs)
Carbs/Protein
Water-fast/controled-fast

Day 16- Thoughts

I've been doing this thing for more than two weeks now. The first week I was dropping fat about a pound a day. Once I got to a certain body fat percentage, it seems like my body has adjusted to my eating style. I still eat whatever I want in the evenings (I've been following the carb/protein alternation plan) as much as I want. My weight naturally goes up a little the day after I carb-0-load, but it always goes back down the day after I eat more protein. It seems as if I've hit a plateau... I'm going up and down about 1.5-2 lbs a every other day. The good thing about this is, once I get to where I want to be, maintaining won't be hard. But since I'm not where I want to be yet, I need to make some changes to knock out that last 1-2 percent body fat.

I think carb loading is counterproductive if you want to lose fat. (at least the way I do it... pizza and cookies anybody?) So for a little while anyways, I'm going to try and make my meals higher protein (even if I do eat spaghetti or something, I'll have a protein shake or something with it). Also I want to improve the quality of my meals too.

Hopefully by making these changes I can lose those last few pounds of fat around my back/waist area. Once I get to where I want to be I'm confident that I can maintain.

Before I started this diet I at zero vegetables or fruits. I'd eat granola cereal in the morning and feel pretty healthy about myself. I went out to lunch almost every day. It wasn't until like two weeks before I started the Warrior Diet that I started even counting my calories.

My initial reason for starting this eating pattern was to loose fat. Now I would only call fat loss a side effect, the best thing about the warrior diet is increase in energy, without a doubt.

I'm not a big fan of Ori (the author of the warrior diet) but I will say he introduced me to the idea of intermittent fasting (which has been around long before he wrote the book) I think its the fact that he charges $300 for 30 min of talking to him on the phone about your diet. Some people think he's god or something on the forums, its pathetic really.

Day 15- Meal

After work I had my swing dancing class with my girlfriend, that's a lot of work... but we're getting the hang of it, so its kind of fun.

We went to Wendy's after dance class. I was pretty hungry so I got a big cesear salad with chicken, a spicy chicken sandwich, a baked potato, a small chili, and a iced tea. Technicaly this was a protein night, so I tried to include some kind of protein in most of my meal (baked potato was the only exception).

I felt good after eating all of my food. wendy's isn't the best place to eat, but if you need something quick, it will do.

Day 15- workout

I went to the gym before work today, I must say, I feel great this morning.

4 rounds of shadowboxing
4 rounds of heavy bag
2 rounds of jump rope

20 rep squats
ab work

I had a jaybar after my workout, those are really good, but $3 apiece, expensive.

Well its been 2 weeks today and I thought I'd say a few words to acknowledge it...

I have not had any cheat-days and haven't really been tempted to, one thing I've noticed though is it is harder to fast on a weekend. I haven't given in though, I just notice the hunger more when I'm not doing anything.

Day 13

Nothing new to report. I put up some before and after pictures. Today was a protein day so I had a steak burger at cracker barrel.

Oh, and it was a chest day at the gym.

Day 12

When I woke up in the morning I got on the scale, after pigging out at chipotle i figured I would be up in weight, but I was down 2.8 lbs! and my body fat percentage was down to 8.5%!

I took a half day at work, then went to the gym.

I tried something new, 20 rep squats. by the end of it I was light-headed, and felt like throwing up.

then I did my standard leg workout.

Dinner was half a pizza (18") and some dark chocolate.

February Results

Day 11- "Heaven, I'm in Heaven"

I picked up my girlfriend as soon as I was done with work and we went to Chipotle. I swear they put crack in their steak... beside the point ^_^ I always get the crunchy taco's because I don't like the burritos. Instead of ordering 3 taco's like I normally do, I ordered six steak taco's with sour cream and cheese! I ate every last bite, and still wasn't full... so I got a bag of chips (the taco's are expensive, and chips are only 70 cents ^_^) I ate the entire thing. I wasn't feeling stuffed when I left, but very.... "happy on the inside" thats the only way I can describe it. :D When I was going home I stopped and grabbed one of those Hershey's Select dark chocolate bars. Over the next few hours I just slowly worked on it, and ate the whole thing, very good stuff.

Oh, and here's the nutritional stuff on my chipotle:

82 grams of protein
1800 calories
60 grams of fat
10 grams of fiber
8 grams of sugar
103 grams of carbs

and my chocolate bar....

3 grams of protein
460 calories
30 grams of fat
8 grams of fiber
26 grams of sugar
42 grams of carbs

want to know the best part? well you have to wait until I have time to post for the next day ^_-