Saturday, December 30, 2006

Weight Increase - Who gained it?

All right! Who gained the weight over Christmas... I know you are out there. I know I might have place a couple of pounds somewhere but usually after Christmas and New Years, I lose the weight over again and will be back to the usual weight in a couple of weeks.

Now there is a little time to write down what your goals are for the upcoming year. It is a good idea to write down what your goal is for losing weight and/or gaining muscle. I personally have another child on the way and she will be taking up a lot of my time so I might not be able to hit the gym like I normally do but I have an elliptical machine in the basement so I will be spending time on that instead. I guess my wife will finally have what she wanted, me to stop lifting and just do cardio.

BORING! Is my response to that.

I hope everyone has a great New Year and I will talk to you next year.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Weight Management - Why so much explanation

I was asked earlier today about the human body. The question was looking for an exact answer to a human body question. All of the information has not yet been extracted from the human body and I expect that we will not have all of the answers to a complex machine. Because this machine is always changing and adapts to everything and then passes down the adaptations to its children.

The answer that I gave to this person was to have them look into the problem that they want an answer to and think about it on a more simple stand-point. Right then and there, they were able to answer the question about their body and that they need to eat right and smartly for their body to develop in the manner that they want.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Weight Loss - What is the point?

I understand that a person wants to lose weight by cutting down on certain ingredients in order to lose the weight, but in the process they completely cut the taste out of the food and brought it down to the first ingredient. For instance, we wanted to cut the fat and calories out of these cookies that we made. So we cut half of the sugar out of it and then also cut half of the fat out of it. At the end of the day we came up with a new way to warm up a pretzel. The original recipe was to take half of a rolo and place it on a mini pretzel and bake it for 5 minutes. This was to make a cookie which we were going to have for a christmas treat. Well, we cut so much of the candy out of it, that we removed the chocolate and carmel flavor to the treat. Like I said, it now just tastes like a warm pretzel.

My suggestion is to make the treats that you want, just minimize the amount and frequency that you eat them.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Weight Loss - Glycemic Index

Back in May 05, 2006 I talked about how my daughter eats. That she uses her natural instincs in finding the correct food and eat correctly as far as not stuffing herself. I talked to my mother today and she is ona diet that is called the Glycemic Index. The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, and have proven benefits for health. Low GI diets have been shown to improve both glucose and lipid levels in people with diabetes (type 1 and type 2). They have benefits for weight control because they help control appetite and delay hunger. Low GI diets also reduce insulin levels and insulin resistance.

Recent studies from Harvard School of Public Health indicate that the risks of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease are strongly related to the GI of the overall diet. In 1999, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommended that people in industrialised countries base their diets on low-GI foods in order to prevent the most common diseases of affluence, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

You can check what the glycemic index is in certain foods by going to this site and typing in the food of your choice, Glycemic Index Database.

The point to this posting is that the glycemic index tells people that if they try to keep the foods as clean and natural as possible, then they have a better chance in losing weight because they are probably eating foods that our bodies have evolved to. our bodies were never intended to eat and digest artificial flavors and sugars. There are chemicals within most foods that I have a hard time pernouncing and that were never indended for our digestion. Keep it simple and your body will love you for it.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Weight Training - Stay on Track!

Just to re-interate the last second to last post. No matter how your friends or family (who see you every day) critzise you that you are not losing weight or looking thinner...stay on track. Keep lifting and doing your cardio like you have been. If you see yourself getting stronger and that cardio training is starting to get easier, then you are doing the right thing. If you are getting stronger then you are gaining more muscle. If you are gaining more muscle and staying the same weight then you are losing fat. If you are gaining more muscle then you are able to burn more calories per time you have been using to do your cardio.

If you feel you are making progress and can see them in the mirror then you need to keep it up. That should be your only motivator and don't rely on what other people think of you. I have been getting more definition slowly but I can see it because at the end of the day, I am my biggest critic.

As a suggestion, if you are not getting as big of a result as you would like and you do not train your legs much, start. Your legs are the largest muscle group on your body and they are the largest consumer of calories than anything else. So work more on getting them bigger and stronger so you can burn more calories and start looking better....in your eyes.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Weight Loss - Spoil yourself!!!!!

Their is one key advise for anyone trying to lose weight.........spoil yourself once in awhile. I know what you are thinking....why eat something that might possibly add to what I am trying to lose.? Here is the answer. When you try to eat very healthy and stay away from the unhealthy items i.e. fast food, candy, or pastries; your hunger for those foods grow and grow. If you let it grow to large and don't try to lower it by having one or two of those things, you will get discuraged and kick off of the diet. It is easier to satisfy those cravings once in awhile so you don't lose site of your goal.

What is your goal anyways? Are you trying to lose weight so you look good, fit so you can play harder and better, or just trying to get that body back so your wife will be physically attracted to you again? If you are trying for any of these eventually you will get there and stay there. But how good would you feel if you didn't get to indulge in some of the good stuff while you look good.

My advise to you is to indulge the temptations just a little bit....moderation. I like to have a special treat once a week. I look forward to Sunday so I can have fried chicken and ice cream, but the rest of the week days I eat sensible and healthy.

So enjoy losing weight but most importantly, enjoy life because we only get one chance at it.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Weight Training - Keep going, you'll get there.

I have been noticing in the last few months that I have started to get more trim. I have not lost weight but I can see more definition on my body. I am a lifter that concentrates more on form than weight though I am not a weakling. I eat relatively healthy and don't always load up on protein and red meat for creatine. I eat sensible meals and try to eat the lean meat and fresh vegetables and fruits.
I do cardio everytime I am done with lifting which has helped in my toning. I work on the elliptical machine for 500 calories. Sometimes it takes me 36-45 minutes to go through the 500 calories...it all depends on the mood and how I am feeling after my lifting.
I do just want to say one thing though. I have not increased my weight that much but yet I still see improvements in my physical appearance.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Weight Loss - It's good for you but it's not.

I was at the fair just yesterday and being the good self controlled individual that I am I had some cheese curds, shaved ice, and a funnel cake. Yes I know, this is not healthy nor is it good for me. The only alternative that my wife and I saw at the fair was corn on the cob. Now, if anyone who normally watches their weight goes to a fair, that normally happens once a years, sees the option of fried cheese curds or corn on the cob (which they eat at least once a week)....they will go for the unhealthy option and reason the choice because of its annual occurrence.

But the reason of this post is because of the conversation that overheard of two big people eating corn on the cob after they prepared it. I witnessed them plunging the corn into a bucket of melted butter and then dowsing them with salt. While they were eating the corn they mentioned on "how good this is for us." "We should eat more of this corn because it tastes great with the butter and salt." I just about died laughing. They just took corn, high in nutrition and natural flavor, and brought it down to a bucket of melted butter and salt. If they keep consuming that corn in the same manner, they will have some major heart problems in the near future let a lone increasing the weight problem.

People misunderstand the point of eating healthy and good for you over cosmetically covering the potential healthy item to turn it into a transporter of high calories and fat. Cosmetically covering healthy fruits and vegetables, with fatty and high-caloric makeup to improve the taste, will only increase their weight, decrease nutrition, decrease energy, and increase heart problems in the future. I said "decrease nutrition" because the ratio of healthy : non-healthy increases on the "non-healthy" side which decreases the ratio to good side.

Why not just speed things up by drinking a bottle of ranch or french dressing which will make it easier on your bodies digestive system.

At the end of the day as far as eating "healthy and good for you foods" use any enhancements with moderation and not to mask the fruit's and vegetable's taste.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Music, Man, Music!

Who would say they listen to music to help take their mind away so they can either do cardio? Who would say that they like to listen to music so they can get themselves pumped before lifting and listen to that music to keep the pump going? If you say yes to both, then you are not alone. I have recently started creating a website called My Training Locker, www.mytraininglocker.com. This site has a list of music that has been surveyed on to bring to light what music other people listen to. I wanted to capture cardio and weight training becuase those are the most common kind of exercises that people listen to music while doing. When I say listen to music, I mean that they are listening to their mp3 player. I own a Creative Lab MUVO 256Mb and I love it. There are no moving parts and it has create sound quality. Besides the fact that it has great bass, it also runs on a AAA battery which lasts for 16 hours. This eliminates the special battery and it also eliminates the charging issues that some battery manufactures have had when a battery is incorrectly charger.

Getting back to My Training Locker. This site provides a compiled list seperated out by artist and track that is currently being used by many other people exercising. To see more tracks of music just suggest them and you will see more.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Weight Loss - "and it's good for you."

What exactly does this mean? I mean, I try to make healthy alternatives to my favorite foods. Like a low sugar ice cream and a healthier version of a delicious smoothy, but I wound't go as far as saying that it is good for you unless it is packed with replentishing vitamins and minerals.

I hear this phrase quite a bit and I am starting to get sick of it. I know most people say it to cover the fact that they made an item better for you than the original sin, but it is not good for you. My definition of "Good For You" is that you should be able to eat as much as you want and it will help you in replentishing your vatimins and minerals and make you feel better about yourself after eating it. When I eat a turkey burger, I am happy that I ate something that was better for me that red meat but I wouldn't eat it a lot on a regular basis because the protein in it is good for me, to much will make me fat and possible heart attack because of the fats.

I can see right now that this article might suggest to be a stricked vegetarian because those items are good for you. There are other items that are good for you and would be better for you if we, HUMANS, did polute the water and air. Because fish would be good for you because of the good omega fatty acids that are in the meat and also high concentrate of protein found in the meat. BUT, due to our polution mercury levels are inceasing every year and making people sick from eating to much.

I don't know what the evolution schema had in mind for the dietary intake for humans, but I see nothing but benefits in eating more veggies, fruits, whole grains, and little meat than what is suggested. OK, don't hate me but in future articles I will promote eating more meat in your diet to gain muscle and increase your weight lifting performance. You just have to take the protein where ever you can get them. But, if you are planning on losing weight, then I would suggest to decrease meat in take and increase veggy, fruit, and whole grain intake. Those three are "good for you," this is something that my wife knows and promotes because she does a great job in recreating healthy treats by using these three as a driving factor for essential ingredients.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Weight Loss – Water Water Everywhere….So Lets All Have A Drink.

A famous quote from the well known Homer Simpson from the “Simpsons.” When my wife and I go grocery shopping, we see a lot of people buy a large amount of soda. I have nothing against soda, aka “Pop,” but why fill yourself with that much calories and sugar when you very well that you cannot burn all of that at once unless you live a very active life style…..most people don’t. The caloric count of a soda can would be the same as if you were going to eat a couple of apples. At least with the apples you will satisfy some hunger needs and which will keep you satisfied longer than a can of soda.

I just find if interesting that people can drink so much soda and not think anything of it. I feel guilty after having a can of soda that I want to go and hit the gym but you know what? You need to treat yourself now and then to satisfy those hungers because if they are taken out of your diet you will either do one of two things: Go crazy and just engorge yourself in a bucket of candy and fried foods; OR Stop the diet all to together and then you are still eating that crap. I propose that you have a treat now and then. You could have a treat everyday at the end of the day, but be careful of what you are eating. You could also have one day set aside, Sunday, to eat whatever you want. This will give you a goal at the end of the week which is what I do. I feel that if I eat really good throughout the week then I can have a fried chicken and wash it down with some soda. What I have noticed by leaving your treats to the end of the week is that you are already in that train of thought so you limit yourself to what you eat on Sunday. I got to the point that I was not interested in candy bars and any kind of fried foods. I would crave shicken salads with an extra broil chicken breast on the side. I am talking in the past tense for the simple fact that I am a father of one and a husband to one. We eat healthy but my wife gives into the ice creams and candies so I give in too. If we didn’t think about it I would not have a problem with not having any of it in the house. I know what you are thinking, he is full of s*it and I would have to partially agree with you. I suggest having those things during the week day and she gives in, but the thing is…she is really slender and it does not seem to phase her one bit. She feels guilty afterwards but she doesn’t have to worry about her weight because she runs after a 22 month all day……let me tell you, that is an aerobic exercise if I have ever saw one.

Weight Training – What The Hell Is All Of The Jerking About?

I was lifting in the gym the other day and I was watching this gentlemen lift weights. The person was very skinny as if he was just starting to weight train. I compliment any person who is that skinny to come into a gym where most of the people don’t have necks and sit along side them to train. I do have a problem when the person that is starting out does not do any research to find out what proper techniques are to use on each body part. When I started I learned from my father and I mostly learned from books and some videos. That is the only way to do it unless you like to look like an idiot and be criticized. This person was doing a barbell curl with 20 lbs on each side. At first I was impressed with the weight that he was going to do for his size until I saw his form. To me, form is everything in order to get consistent data and have consistent increases. The form that he was using was to bend over and make his body horizontal to the ground and then jerk his upper body back so he can swing the weight up to his chest. I have always thought to increase your strength, you have to actually use your muscles to lift the weight. I predict that this person will never see any increases and if he does it will take him forever.

Weight Loss – Don’t Be Lazy!

The parking garage that I was going to park in was under construction so we had to take a detour to another parking garage which made a whole lot of people late including myself. I was carrying my clothing, bathroom supplies, laptop (for work), and my gym bag. I had to admit that I was enjoying the exercise but I almost busted a gut when I saw all of the people that I was walking with take the escalator instead of the stairs. Granted the stairs was going directly to the third story but it was still funny. There was a long line waiting for the escalator and no one, I repeat, no one was taking the stairs. I avoided the escalator and walked up the stairs, two at a time, and beat everyone that was ahead of me by a great distance. We were all trying to hurry to make it to the closest train and I got on board just in time. While we were leaving I noticed the group that I was with to be still walking to the train. I just couldn’t help but laugh to see how lazy people have gotten these days. I understand if you have leg problems or a health issue but all of those people could not have had either one of those.

If you would do a little extra exercise to get something done i.e. walking instead of taking the horizontal escalator. This is correct that you will walk faster but this might be a kick in the ass to actually be punctual instead of procrastinating to the last second. I know I was that way in college and also in high school but that is also why I gained the weight that I did. In college I gained 50 lbs in one semester because I was a sloth and never would leave my dorm room for anything but to go to the bathroom and get more food. I would have about 10 hours of homework at night and also eat non-stop. I am not talking about grazing, “Weight Lose – How We Are Supposed to Eat.”, I am talking about continuous eating of popcorn, transfat, and other junk food. Not to also mention the food that was served at the cafeteria which I would not say is healthy by any means. The only healthy food that they had was the salad bar which also needs to be revamped.

One last point that I want to make about people these days being lazy. If people would do a little bit of manual labor or a little bit more walking than just standing or sitting. People would not be so heavy and also wouldn’t have a many problems with walking, running, and stair climbing. You shouldn’t be tired from walking through a terminal to get to your flight, if you are, then you need to do it more often so you are not so winded. To build up you cardio endurance, a person should try to get some form of exercise in every day. At work, I could get into my car and go to the different plants that I am needed but I choose to walk to them because even thought a get my exercise in everyday in the morning before work, I still want to get some more exercise in to keep it going.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Weight Loss - How We Are Supposed To Eat

For the last 22 months of my daughts life, I have been taking notes of how she eats and what she eats. We have always taught her that fruits and vegetables are good foods and for the most part kept candy and a lot of sugar out ofher life. Because of what we have done, she prefers fruit over anything else that we offer her. We have actually tried to give her chocolate over strawberries and sure enough, she wants the strawberries. That was a quick summary of what she eats, now to how she eats. When she is hungry at any time of the day, she lets us know and we give her a nice healthy treat. The treat is realatively small and just enough to fill her up. Then I thought, this is a grazing method of weight control. You only eat when you are hungry and not on a specific time schedule. Then I started to think about why we eat on a regular schedule and that we only eat three meals a day. The only thing that I can think about is we were told to from the beginning.

As Neanderthals, they would eat when they were hungry and when they were hungry, they went out and hunted. They would hunt for vegetation and also for live animals, but they would only do it when they were hungry and not because it was 11:00am or 5:30 pm. With the grazing method, the person eats just enough to take off the edge of being hungry. This would keep your body from going into starvation mode and store the next thing that comes down the hatch. Think of your hunger as a small paper bag. For breakfast, lunch and dinner we tend to fill that paper bag with a lot of food that sometimes makes it over flow. Well your body, unless you are training for a marathon, only needs that bag to be filled up either a quarter or half full. If all of the food given was not used, then the food gets stored and also thrown away. So this means a lot of waste will be coming out and weight gain will start to happen. When I was eating like this, I had very little waste at any given point in time and I was never really hungry. I felt very energetic and with a little bit of food I was satisfied. I was also weight lifting and trying to build muscle so my diet consisted of whey protein and chicken. It was also filled with vegetables to help keep the cravings down and also a very usefull snack.

So that is my thoughts on how we should eat, grazing.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Weight Loss - Control Portion Size

Controlling your portion size has been the easiest way to help control your weight if not promote weight lose. It takes your stomach about 20 minutes to deliver a message to the brain telling it that the stomach is full. This is where portion control will help eliminate the need for the stomach to slowly tell the brain anything. Your stomach is the size of your fist, if not a little bit bigger, but when you keep eating until your stomach tells your brain anything, it is already to late. Your stomach, at this point, is about twice the size as it is at rest. When your stomach is that large and you don't plan on running a marathon in the next couple of hours, it will go to storage (fat) or waste. When you control your portion size you will have very little storage regardless of what you do and you will also have little waste. I have found that little meals throughout the day (Grazing) keeps me from getting hungry and also gives me a great feel of energy in the morning and at night. I have the best results with about six meals a day but sometimes I will have seven or so. The other thing to keep in mind when you are eating is to eat slower than you usaually do. This will by you more time for your stomach to talk to the brain.

I will admit, it is hard to get into the habit of eating like this for the simple fact that you need diversity in your food and sometimes grazing holds you to a select kind of food that you might eat once, twice, or even three times in a day. Normally your stomach will get used to it in about a weeks time or so. It all depends on how you ate before this method.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Weight Training - More Cardio Based Training for the Summer

Next week I will be trying a new program but I will still be using the Weight Lifting Journal to track my progress. For this routine I will be changing up my lifts every week, like usual, but I will not have a 3 minute rest period between sets. I will decrease that to one minute to make this more of a cardio workout instead of just a mass and strength workout. For the summer months I want to trim down a little more for definition and during the winter months I eat more and train heavier.

With having one minute rest between sets, this allows for little time for me to catch my breathe. After completing one set I barely have time to add new weight and then lift again. The nice thing about lifting this way is that it shocks your system, if you are used to something else, and is a great fat burner. I lost the most weight when I was doing this system and I also increased my endurance and stamina. The only thing that I do differently with this method is I increase very slowly throughout my progress. I do that because if I try to go to fast then I will actually see reverse effects. When you increase your weight to much to soon you might hurt yourself or you don't do as many reps and therefore don't do as good of a workout. If you can't get the reps out of the workout, then you are treading thinly on a fine line of reverse effects because your muscles haven't been as fatigued

My protein intake will increase substantially due to the switching of routines. I have found that if I switch up routines I will be sore sooner and for a longer period. Because of this I will increase my protein intake to help fill in the new gaps that my lifting has opened. I will then start to see a fat lose for a certain time period until I a plateau. Once I hit that plateau I will do more cardio outside of the gym, if I haven't started already. The key though, and this is something that I need to keep in front of me, is to control my diet and my portion size. I will need to create me healthy snacks and more healthy drinks. My normal snack option is to have a mixture of celery and carrots. I think this year I will change it to include green peppers and broccoli. If anyone else has a good suggestion for a nice healthy snack, please let me know.

You can download the excel file on the right side of this site.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Work smarter not harder

There is a lot of contradiction going on in that sentence. For all that are lifters, you would think that that would be switched around, but I have a method and a tool that keeps that statement true. The tool that I use is called "Weight Lifting Journal." This journal is not just any ordinary journal that is nicely created just to put your information down. This tool, with the help of engineering data analysis, will take your information and give you a representation of your lifting history. It will allow you to view the information and see when you might start to go up or if you are currently at a plateau. I have been using it for over 2 years and I have seen more increases than ever before. The accuracy of the information coming out of the tool is just as important as the information going into the tool. I have some methods of taking great notes from each exercise that you will perform. I will go over my routine from start to finish and I will explain everything as I go. My reason for this blog is to have a dumping ground for ideas and tools that have helped other people on their journey to achieve that goal body. This blog is also intended for people to ask questions while using the tool so that I can help them. I gave it to a couple of my college friends and their lifts went up with a little help from me to guide them. They are now using it completely on their own and still seeing the increases. This tool helped me understand what works for my body and that is why I cycle my lifts every three weeks. I believe is shocking your body so I change my routine for three weeks and then start all over again in the next cycle. Every cycle that passes I go up in weight from as low as 5
lbs to as high as 10 lbs. If I go up 10 lbs I find that I will plateau so I try to control myself to just 5 pounds. I will also take off a week or two just to let my body fully recover and then when I hit it again I might go up again or I might go down again. Usually I go up in weight by having that time off.









Down to the Meat and Potatoes:

Before I hit the gym I write down in my paper journal to exercises that I need to perform, the lifting weight from last time and the predicted lifting weight this time.

I do cardio for 20 minutes to warm myself up before I start lifting. I also wear a sweat shirt and sweat pants to keep myself warm enough to stay limber. This allows me to have longer rest time between sets so I can push as hard as I can on every rep.

After I get done with one set I record my experience in my paper journal. I write down the weight that I lifted and indicate the intensity so I will know for future reference if I should increase, decrease, or stay the same. If the lifting was good and I have completed all of the reps without a lot of difficulty, then I place a straight line after the weight. This tells me for next time, that I can increase or stay the same depending on how I feel. If I have a difficulty lifting the weight but I am able to complete all of the reps, then I place a squiggle mark (~) after the weight. This tells me that I should stay the same for next time and try to get a straight line. If I am not able to complete the reps then I will place a squiggle mark at the end of the weight and make a one to two word note as to why I was not able to complete the reps. After the data has been entered into the notebook I will then enter that into
the tool, "Exercise Progression" tab, so I can then see my progression on the various charts. This allows me to analyze my information and determine my next step for lifting. If I was not able to complete the reps, then I make the number red in the data fields as a flag to tell me to review my notes to see how the exercise went.


The "Progression Data" should not be tampered with because that does the calculations for all of the charts. The "Exercise Progression" tab is the area that should be used to change the lifting exercises and enter your data from your lifts. If you enter your exercises in column "B" it will update the rest of the "Routine" fields on so you don't have to. One thing that you will realize is
that everything is linked together so it makes it easy for the user to click on the exercise on the routine tab and it will take you to the field for that cycle and that date. The only fields that need to modify is the exercises within the "Exercise Progression" tab. The tool is setup to report or transport you to the different areas of information.