Day #68 of 84

Had a great upper body workout yesterday.  I did the following:

1. Chest: Chest presses followed by dumbell flyes for final 12
• 12 reps @ 115 pounds
• 10 @ 125
• 8 @ 135
• 6 @ 145
• 12 @ 135
• 12 @ 40
2. Shoulders: Shoulder presses followed by front raises for final 12
1. 12 @ 25
2. 10 @ 30
3. 8 @ 35
4. 6 @ 35
5. 12 @ 35
6. 12 @ 20
3. Back: wide grip lat puldowns, followed by close grip for final 12
4. Triceps: puldowns followed by overr head extensions at 35 pounds
5. Biceps: 20 pounds, 25 pounds, 25 pounds, 30 pounds; barbel at 20 pounds each side

Great burn.  Really worn after workout.  

Later in day set ramp on treadmill as high as would go and walked at 2.5 mph for 20 minutes.  great burn and great workout (100 calories)

Today did an interval run, with 3.5 lowest and running at 5mph for 6 of those minutes.  Great workout.  

Tips for fighting the urge to eat

So you are done eating your meal, and you still feel hungry.  Thankfully there are some things you can do do fight the urge to eat.  Here are some of my tips:

1. Chew sugar free gum
2. Have a tick-tack or a mint (but sugar free gum is better)
3. Brush your teeth when done eating.  This will send a signal to your brain that you are done eating
4. Drink water.  Drink lots of water.  It will fill your stomach.
5. If you must, eat free foods such as vegetables or pickles
6. Treat yourself after dinner to a treat (sugar free jello or pudding)
7. Find something else to do during your weak moments (like go for an extra run, play a game with your kids, go for a walk, go outside, go to the park, go to the library)

A change in diet

Well, we are now into week nine.  Yes, it sounds good to see eight weeks crossed off my BFL tracker.  I hit a wall about three weeks ago, and decided I needed not get frustrated but make a few changes in my workouts.  I discussed that last week.  I also had to make some changes in my diet.

When I start any diet I usually make my portion sizes on the high end.  I do that because I think if you start on the low end you will probably starve yourself.  Yet once your stomach gets used to the new diet, then you switch to the low end.  However, I think I went with the high end a little too long and my body figured out what I was up to.  So I hit a wall.

So this week I decided to start with the lower portions.  Its a little tougher, yet all last week I did pretty well with it.  You feel a little more hungry, but you start brushing your teeth, chewing more gum, and drinking more water instead of eating more.

Changing up your workouts is a good thing

I find that it's okay to mix and match your workouts because you'll need to confuse your body. It's good to do a variety of aerobic activities, and it's good to vary your weight training.

I notice that there are some folks who get concerned when they are lacking on time and wait 30 seconds between reps instead of a minute, but I think that's fine.  It often forces you to get an aerobic activity on a weight day, and it forces you to use a little less weight as well.  Light and rapid equals good.  

Another thing I do is mix up the way I do upper body.  Some days I do Chest, Shoulders, Back, Triceps and then Biceps.  But sometimes I do the exact opposite.  I think it's neat because on the days I do the former by the time I get to Biceps I can't lift that much.  Yet on the days I do the later, I find I can lift almost twice as much with my Biceps.  So I think it's good to mix it up.  

I think the next time I do such a workout I'm going to do back first, because that usually gets tossed into the middle.  I wonder how much weights I could lift with my back muscles if they were fresh.  

I also think it's good to do a variety of aerobic activities, such as basketball, racket ball, sprinting, etc., as opposed to getting on the treadmill each day.  Yet in the winter the treadmill is the only option for me.  So most days I do interval training, yet sometimes I mix it up and run at a slower pace and go for distance.  Yet since time is usually precious, I usually have to do the interval training.  

So mixing it up is good.  

Day #36 of 84

Yesterday was upper body day, and as promised, I mixed it up a bit: I did the workout backwards.  

1.  Biceps: (one arm curls)

• 12 reps at 20 pounds
• 10 reps at 25 pounds
• 8 reps at 30 pounds
• 6 reps at 30 pounds
• 12 reps at 25 pounds
• 12 reps Hammer curls  at 25 pounds

Result:  Great burn.  Perfect

2.  Triceps: lateral tricep pulldowns

• 12 reps at 50 pounds
• 10 reps at 60 pounds
• 8 reps at 70 pounds
• 6 reps at 80 pounds
• 12 reps at 70 pounds
• 12 reps of barbell tricep extensions with 25 pounds -- very winded after this workout

Result:  Great burn. Perfect

3.  Back: Wide grip lat Pulldowns

• 12 reps at 50 pounds
• 10 reps at 60 pounds
• 8 reps at 70 pounds
• 6 reps at 70 pounds
• 12 reps at 60 pounds
• 12 reps of back extensions at 10 pounds

Results: great burn

4.  Shoulders: Front raises

• 12 reps at 10 pounds
• 10 reps at 15 pounds
• 8 reps at 20 pounds
• 6 reps at 25 pounds
• 12 reps at 25 pounds
• 12 reps of side raises at 20 pounds

Results: good workout

5.  Chest: Incline Chest presses

• 12 reps at 25 pounds
• 10 reps at 30 pounds
• 8 reps at 35 pounds
• 6 reps at 40 pounds
• 12 reps at 35 pounds
• 25 reps of the red thing with both arms 

Overall:  Great workout.  Great burn at end.  Also shoveled snow for warmup.  

Took the rest of the day off as a free day.  

Day #34

It's been a very tough week. Monday and Tuesday I worked, and on Tuesday I was so worn out I skipped my workout.  On Wednesday I made up for it with a killer aerobic workout, the best so far.  And on Wednesday night work sucked, and I was so exhausted Thursday the lower body workout was poor.  Plus for some reason I'm staring this week.  Yet I don't give in.  Can't wait for my freeday. Yet the diet goes on well... for the most part.

Last night there was so much snow I spent most of today shoveling and blowing snow, and so I'm counting that as my workout today.  I'm sorry, but the sniffles and sneezes struck again today -- I just can't shake this cold, have had it almost two months -- so I'm taking tonight off.  I'm taking tomorrow off.  I am craving food.  I am going to have a beer and some chips and take a few days off.  

Despite the obstacles, I'm doing well on the RFL.  I will get back at it on Sunday.  I think the free day will help to recharge me.  

How to eat well in the hospital cafeteria

So there are days when I work that I did not bring my own healthy BFL worthy lunch.  On these days I am forced to buy some food from the hospital cafeteria.  I have found though, that on most days, you can mix and match what is provided to put together a healthy meal.  

For instance, today the choices were:

1. Pizza
2. Fiesta wraps (grilled chicken cubes, salad, tomato, Ranch dressing, rolled into a tortilla shell)
3. Club sandwich (turkey and bacon and cheese)
4. Sandwich bar
5. Salad bar

You can see there are many options.  Keep in mind this is a meal, and you have to make it at least three hours by my rules without eating another meal or snack.  So, you need to eat enough to fill yourself.  You don't want to be bloated, but you want to fill yourself.  In other words, if you leave the cafeteria hungry, you failed.  

So, what are healthy BFL options:

1. Pizza.  Sure.  Go for it.  One piece of pizza once in a while is just fine
2. Fiesta wrap made your way:  I had the lady wrap chicken in the tortilla shell and that was it.  Hmm, it was sooo good.  
3. Sandwich.  You can have a turkey, ham, or roast beef sandwich on any kind of bread.  I like the pretzel bread.  I know you're supposed to eat wheat bread, but I see no reason you can't treat yourself to what you love best.  Remember, this is the Rick for Life, not the 12 week BFL you're doing. 
4. Salad bar: this is out only because there's nothing on this bar that will satiate your hunger and last you three hours.  Now, you can have a salad, but no bacon bits, no cheese, and you must have low fat dressing.  You can have salad, but you have to be very careful.  (actually, on the RFL you can have bacon and cheese.  Just be careful.  But I prefer to skip the salad.

See.  You can find plenty of options at the hospital cafeteria.  Other things I'd eat are: Lasagna, hamburger and bun, spaghetti (although I don't love it, it's filling), etc.  About the only thing I try to avoid is anything that looks like it has been fried, cooked in butter, or with nuts (like green beans cooked with nuts).  

However, its better to eat something not 100% healthy for you than to go hungry.  If you starve yourself and you get sick, or you crash, that's worse than eating one not perfect meal.  So use your head dunderhead.