Actively Living

Acai Burn Trial

2009-08-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

I ordered a free trial of the "Acai Burn" product everyone is talking about lately. It's comprised of Hydroxycitric Acid 50% (Garncina Cambogia), Green Tea Ext, Acai Berry, Gymnema Sylvestre Ext, along with Calcium Carbonate, Stearic Acid, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Croscarmellose Sodium, Magnesium Stearate and Silica.

My beginning weight is 172lbs. I took a "before" picture to compare with after the thirty day trial is over.

Protein Experiment

2009-04-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

The question: Do protein supplements actually help recover from workouts and make you feel better while working out?

The Test: Eat nothing but protein supplements for one day. After working out in the morning I had one Muscle milk protein shake (25g), then at lunch time I had another Muscle milk shake (another 25g). One hour before my Mixed Martial Arts class I had a Detour bar (30g), after my class I had a Met RX "Big 100" bar (31g).

The Results: I felt really good during my class, my stamina was increased, and my strength felt good. After class I was tired, but not exhausted. The morning after I normally feel like I can barely move, but I felt good this morning, really good. My verdict is, protein supplements actually do help.

Day 30

2009-02-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

I've been done for a couple of days but I wanted to finish this out with a closing statement.

When I started I weighed 170 lbs at 12% body fat.

Now I weigh 170 lbs at 10% body fat.

I'll do a picture when I can (hopefully this weekend).

By cutting out all pop, candy, baked sweets, only eating plant based foods during the day, working out five mornings and two evenings a week I feel I was able to lose the 2% body fat. I did zero supplementing while on the diet, and did not experience any ill effects.

I'm going to keep working out the same, and mostly follow the same diet restrictions (I'll allow sugary things on special occasions, like valentines day) but I'm sticking to the no-pop rule. I have an MMA fight in april, and I'm hoping to get down around 7% body fat by then.

Day 26

2009-02-06T04:54:00.000-08:00

Had another hard class last night, I ate a big meal after class (about a half hour before bed again) and I have to say, that does the trick. I've always been indoctrinated that you're not supposed to eat during the two hours before you go to sleep, but there seems to be an exception in my case... The difference is night and day, I feel 100% better in the morning after a hard night of MMA when I eat a big dinner. Now I'll admit, these are some of the hardest workouts I've ever done... I don't think the same would be true if I was just going to the gym and doing half an hour on the treadmil or whatever, so it depends on the intensity.

On the diet front everything is going good, I really haven't had trouble sticking to the plan. Sometimes on a day I'm going to MMA class I'll eat some nuts for lunch instead of steamed veggies, but that's still a "plant based diet" so I'm not really breaking any rules. I would like to have the bulk of my daytime diet come from vegetables because I don't really eat that many in the evenings, but I'm not against eating nuts every once in a while.

Since I'm going to be in a fight next month I'm just going to roll this 30 day thing into next month, but I am going to lift my "no-sugar" ban for valentines day, because my girlfriend is an amazing cook :)

Day 24

2009-02-04T12:10:00.000-08:00

I had my MMA class last night which ended at 8:30. I decided to eat a real dinner after my class to see if I felt better in the morning after (because nothing else had really worked). I grabbed some fazolie's (pizza and bread sticks) on the way home, and went to bed about a half hour later. Surprisingly I felt good this morning... I was a little sore from wrestling, but my energy level was fine, and I made it through the whole workout.

This just reinforces the fact, just because everyone says it is a certian way, does not mean it is that way for you. I've been training five days a week (twice a day two days a week) and have not suplimented protein once, and have not experianced any negative side effects.

Day 19

2009-01-30T09:27:00.000-08:00

Finally! It's Friday... I must say, working out five mornings and two nights Monday through Friday does take it's toll on me by the end of the week. I had a good hard class last night, woke up feeling sore all over, but because I had a banana with some peanut butter before going to bed I wasn't completely exhausted when I woke up. I had another banana before I went to the gym this morning, so that gave me enough gas to make it through my workout. I weighed myself this morning, and I was at 166 lbs, that's a few lbs lower than when I started, I'm definitely starting to see a change in my shape though, so I'm not too worried about my weight. I'm in the last 11 day stretch of my 30 days so there won't be as much to post, but I'll take a picture when I'm done and throw it up there with my other two, that way I'll be able to see how my body has changed over the year.

Day 17

2009-01-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

Well I'm over half way through my 30 day experiment on the warrior diet. My MMA class got canceled last night, so I wasn't able to try anything as far as keeping my energy up this morning. I did weigh myself this morning though, and I'm right around 171 lbs, not far off from where I started, but I do notice a difference in my sides and back. I think I'm loosing fat and gaining muscle.

Day 12

2009-01-23T04:33:00.001-08:00

Last night before my MMA class I ate this...

It's a breakfast burrito :) (eggs, sausage, salsa, cheese, and multi-grain tortilla)

I have to say, I felt much better in my class energy-wise, and strength-wise. Since I did not eat after my class I woke up starving... I was so hungry I was unable to think straight, and I ached all over, like you do when you have the flu or something. So I was not able to finish my workout, I called it quits after about a half an hour (halfway through my workout). By this point I was feeling nauseous, and really thinking that I might actually be sick. I got some coffee and a couple of bananas from the local coffee shop, and a fruit and nut bar, strawberry and banana smoothie. After about an hour I'm feeling much better.

Day 11

2009-01-22T04:23:00.000-08:00

Feeling much better this morning. Virtually all soreness is gone, my energy level was high (for waking up at 4:45 anyways) and my performance while working out was much better than yesterday (I was able to do more reps, with heavier weight).

There are two possible reasons for this day and night difference.

I had quesadillas last night, and consequently about a half pound of meat (the first real source of animal protein I've had in a couple of days.
Because I was feeling so crappy yesterday morning, and wasn't able to finish my workout with my normal intensity, I would basically call yesterday a "rest day".

Tonight I have my class, and since I had a good morning at the gym I'm going to change my evening meal a little bit to see if I feel better tonight and tomorrow morning. Instead of just eating oatmeal for dinner before class I'm going to eat a home-made breakfast burrito (whole grain tortilla, eggs, sausage, onions, & peppers). I'll know tomorrow morning if protein is a better pre-workout meal than complex carbs.

Day 10

2009-01-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

I had forgotten how hard this is... not the diet, but training for a fight. I've been doing well on my diet, really haven't had any cravings for pop in the past few days and I feel better through out the day, so it seems like I'm getting used to hunger again.

Over the weekend I deviated from my plan a little bit by eating lunch on Saturday and Sunday. I don't think eating lunch every once in a while is going to ruin my diet, since for those evenings I ate far less due to eating lunch, and I still held to the no sweets plan.

Last night I had to eat before my MMA class, since it starts at 7 instead of 6 now and I don't want to eat at 9 o'clock after class... anyways I had a bowl of oatmeal last night, and I didn't feel like throwing up, which is good, but my overall energy level was low. It may partially be due to the fact that I'm working out in the mornings as well as going to my class in the evenings on tues and thurs, but I was dog tired at my class, and was not able to complete the workout with the intensity that I would have liked. On the flip side when I went to the gym this morning I was still sore from the previous days work, and lacked the motivation to push myself like usual. It's only wednsday, and I have another class tomorrow, but I feel like I may be on the verge of over-working myself. I think part of the problem may be my diet. I'm reading a book that indicates excessive protein intake can lead to cancer, heart disease, etc. So this week I've had very little protein in my meals, and no supplimentation. Tonight I'm having beef quesadillas for dinner :) so we'll see how I feel in the morning. I need to find a happy medium, where I can eat right, and still push myself to work hard, or else I'll get burned out.

Day 4

2009-01-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

I'm four days into my program, so far so good. I've eaten according to plan, and gone to the gym in the morning every morning so far. I feel like it's already starting to make a difference, just in the way I carry myself it seems like I'm getting leaner. I measured in at 170 lbs and 12% body fat before the week started, so I'll keep checking every once in a while to monitor my progress. I'm not going for a specific shape, or size, but I'm trying to get into fighting shape for march.

On another note, I'd forgotten what cravings were like... it's safe to say I am addicted to pop, and sugar in general. It's been really hard to say no to the guys going out for mexican, and pop, and junk in general. But so far I've been strong.

Is it Friday yet?

2009-01-13T05:20:00.000-08:00

I woke up and my body thought it was friday... took me about five minutes to convince myself that I wouldn't feel any better if I slept for another hour. Apparently the holidays have taken their toll. I'm feeling sore from my workout yesterday morning, since I've got my MMA class tonight I just did some HIIT training on the treadmill for 20 minuts before hitting the weight room. Another reason for running is because doing burpees all the time tend to wear on my shoulders, and by the end of the week I can't lift my hands over my head, so I'm taking it easy in that sense.

I did really well yesterday as far as eating goes. For dinner I had cajun chicken and whole grain pasta. My only regret is while I was waiting for the pasta to cook I polished off half a bag of sun chips (those garden salsa ones :P) while they were whole grain, I could have picked a more nutriant dense snack.

Back to work

2009-01-12T04:44:00.000-08:00

Starting today I'm off of pop completely, no candy, pastries, baked desserts, or super suggary drinks (frapachino's, latte's etc.). I am going to allow myself to drink carbonated fruit juice on the weekends, and the occasional orange juice (fresh squeezed). Coffee will be taken with a zero calorie sweetener (stevia, splenda). 5 days a week I'm going to fast through the day (plant based diet without grains) and plan out my meals through the week so I'm not just eating the same old carb's every night.

I'm going to go to the gym five days a week (mon-fri) and I'll have MMA class tues and thurs night. This is my plan, and I'm going to try to stick to it for 30 days.

Game Plan

2008-11-29T13:19:00.000-08:00

Well, my trainer said I can fight in this upcoming fight in March. So I'm going to have something to work towards now. I've got a ton to learn with boxing, and even more to learn about wrestling. I was kicking around the idea of having a workout plan for one year instead of a month.... I like the structure, but sometimes I make my own goals without having the motivation to carry them through. I think having a fight in the future will help me stick to a plan. I know I need to build strength, but I also need to build speed and technique.

For strength I want to use Pavel's "power to the people" workout (Bench, Deadlift, pull-ups)

For speed (explosiveness) I will work on HIIT training and the MMA workout

And technique will be bagwork, groundfighting, and sparing.

My diet will be focused on lots of water, vegetables, and limiting the amount of junk food I take in.

Day 14- Half way there

2008-09-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't been updating as much as I used to because frankly, there's not much to say.

I read the "ABS diet" and I learned about some intriguing ideas. One of them being the eating six times a day. I'm still being faithful to the warrior diet as far as not eating high glycemic foods during the day, but I do have two snacks between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner. I'll eat some cheese, or some a handful of nuts and some fruit. I've been able to control my eating habits at dinner a little more now that I'm getting more stuff during the day to keep me satisfied.

For breakfast every day I'll have a strawberry smoothie with whey protein powder and flax seed oil. I drink that after my workout (still working out on an empty stomach)

Snack is usually something along the lines of some string cheese and an apple.

Lunch has been steamed vegetables lately, still lovin' my vegeatable steemer (co-workers aren't though)

another snack at around three o'clock

then I eat dinner around six.

I've started training for MMA, so I'm learning lots of groundwork (because all I've ever done has been boxing) so that's a lot of fun, and a lot of work.

Day 1- Rules

2008-09-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

1. I'm only eating fruits and vegetables through the day
2. I'm not having any dessert (candy, brownies, cookies, pop, etc..)
3. I'm allowed to drink coffee this month
4. Eat a big meal for dinner
5. Exercise every day
6. Eat 1 serving of superfood at least 3 times a week

I had my first shake this morning. It was 30 grams of protein powder, frozen berries, flax seed oil, and organic whole milk with DHT added. All in all, pretty tasty :D

This morning I had a light workout, since I was kind of feeling sick from too much junk food last night. That will be the last time I feel like that for 30 days at least ;)

Day Zero

2008-09-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

Summer is finally over. Softball is done. I'm back to my normal routine... at least that's the plan anyways.

Over the last few weekends I've been working on my house with my father. We're turning our old plaster ceiling into a new dry-wall-vaulted-ceiling. Anyways, the reason I'm telling you this completely off-topic subject is because when I'm working construction with my dad, everything goes down the drain. I have very little water, a ton of pop, and eat junk food through the day. Yep... I've trashed my body over these last few weekends. And since I've been working hard on the weekends (enough to be sore anyways) I haven't felt very motivated to work out through the week. I've only actually gone to the Y 3 times a week for the last couple weeks. I haven't gotten on the scale because I know it's gonna be ugly.

So basically I need to get back into the swing of eating warrior style. Only fruits and vegetables through the day. Eating a snack at 3 or 4, then a large meal for dinner.

I've been kicking around the idea of weight lifting again. Just to change my shape a little bit for the heck of it. But I plan on sticking to the boxing routine, maybe checking out a MMA dojo they have down on the campus. We'll see.

I read something about the ABS diet, had some interesting points. It looks like a carb restriction diet though... I may get the book from the library to check it out though.

Day 10- Weekend # 2

2008-08-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

Today I ate a pizza for lunch. Since I've done this the only way I feel I can salvage my "diet" is to not eat anything for dinner. I feel full enough to make it through the rest of the day anyways, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Day 6- overview of the weekend

2008-08-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it through the weekend without drinking pop, I have to admit, I really wanted some for a while, but I just stuck to the water, and I'm glad I did. I did however splurge a little bit on the junk food side of things, I had a bag of recess's pieces, Friday night, a hot fudge sunday on saturday night, and a bowl of peanut butter ice cream on Sunday night. While this was about all the junk food I had over the weekend, I still could have gone without having it every night of the weekend, since there is really no value gained from eating sugar, actually more harm is done than good.

I had trouble getting out of bed this morning, so I skipped the Y. I'm thinking about going this evening and doing some running or something... I'm kicking around the idea of training for a 5K. I don't know, we'll see. I still really want to get back into boxing, so I might not focus on the 5K thing after all, since I train with one focus instead of haphazard training.

Day 1-Dinner

2008-08-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

I had 5 hot dogs and two ears of corn for dinner. I have to say, I wasn't stuffed, so that's what I'm going for. Then later I ate the caramel apple dessert they have at taco bell, I still wasn't stuffed, but once I got the arizona iced tea and sweedish fish I was starting to feel a little bloated... ok, I know what I need to feel like when I need to start backing off the food.

Lesson learned, now moving on.

Time to start the next phase of my evil plan

2008-08-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

I've been doing pretty good with my diet plan as far as only eating fruit and vegetables durring the day (sometime's I'll eat a salad with grilled chicken on it for lunch, without the dressing or croutons). And for my main meal's I've been pretty good about mixing it up as far as mostly carbs for one night, mostly protein for another night. For this last 30 days I was trying the warrior diet I made it for about 20 days without having pop, then I kind of fell apart. As far as eating dessert and drinking pop go, I still stuck to the intermitant fasting though.

I'm making another adjustment to my diet, since the last one was too structured for me to stick to (no sweets, no pop) I'm going to allow myself to have dessert every once in a while (not every night) but I'm not letting myself have pop again. I am really trying to quite drinking pop all together. I'm going to push for 30 days of no pop again, then we'll see. I find the less I drink of it, the less it apeals to me, which is good. The main thing I like about pop is the fizzy part of the carbination, I may start drinking those sparkling fruit juices every once in a while instead of pop after this 30 days. The main thing I'm changing about my diet, how much I eat at one time. I've gotten in the habit of gourging myself at dinner with the mindset "This is all I'll have to get me through to the next meal" while this thought process may have worked for the cave-men (anyone who's seen 10,000BC can tell you :D) I don't belive it to be particularly healthy. I think my digestive system probably has trouble keeping up with the bombardment of food at one time. I am going to concentrate on eating until I'm full, but not stuffed for this next month. I can eat all the fruits and veggies I want durring the day, so it's not like I'm going to go hungry.

Anyways, lets call this day 1 of my diet restructure.

I'm still doing my boxing training in the mornings, here's a workout so you can see what I'm talking about (I do 2 minute rounds)

6 rounds heavy bag
6 rounds speed bag
2 rounds of stepping up and down off of a block real quick... (it's hard to explain, works out your calves)
2 rounds of squating and jumping up onto the block into a squat, then jumping back down into a squat (kills your thighs)
then I do some body weight stuff...
2 sets of 5 towel pull-up's
2 sets of 20 push-up's
2 sets of 20 dips

Day 19- Ugh

2008-08-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

I've been following the plan up until last night, I had half a pizza, half a bag of chips, and half a bottle of dr pepper. Why, I do not know. But I felt like I was dying last night, and some this morning. My weight has pretty much stayed the same through this whole thing, I guess I could cut way back on the carbs and not eat so much meat and more vegetables if I wanted to loose any more fat, but I feel happy where I am, so I'm not really motivated to try and loose another percent or so of body fat.

Here's to detoxing from my binge. Updates comming soon.

Day 14- Morning

2008-08-04T05:41:00.000-07:00

Well I've been busy this last week so I haven't had time to post my progress on here. Here's an update. I played in the softball tournament, and our team got second place (after playing 6 games in one day!).

I've been doing pretty good at following the warrior diet style of eating/fasting this past week, with only a few compromises. One on friday when we went to the drive-in and I only had $3 for a drink, and a bottle of water was $2.50, same as a medium pop. I went with the pop 'cause I was getting something for my GF and I. Honestly, the pop didn't do a whole lot for me, it was mostly just sweet, and didn't really quench my thirst. I did get a sprite though, (not my favorite brand) and lately I've been craving Dr. Pepper. So we'll see. I find that I'm more addicted to pop than I am to coffee, I said no more coffee at the begining of this thing, and honestly, I havn't even thought about it since. And I don't really crave sweet things as much now (I havn't been eating "junk" food for about a week) although, I'm going to go back to eating dessert once in a while, because my GF makes really good stuff :D. I'm just trying to train myself to not eat purely for pleasure, but there is no harm in enjoying the eating process either, so I have to find a happy medium.

I also made a comprimise yesterday (sunday) when I had popcorn at three o'clock, technically this is a comprimise, but I think it was close enough to 4 that I'm not going to worry about it.

Today I'm cleansing with vitamin C, (I had WAY too much meat last night, 3 hamburgers, 2 hotdogs, 2 cobs of corn, and some healthy cheeto's)

Day 8- Morning

2008-07-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

I went to the Y this morning, did a heavy bag/speed bag workout. Then I did some body weight exercises (pull up's/push up's/tricep dips). I'm noticing that in the morning I don't really have that "fogy" feeling anymore, I'm pretty alert once I wake up. This might be due to the complete absence of caffeine in my diet. Today I have some banana's, and I'm going to try to eat that broccoli, I'm never in the mood for it when lunch time comes around.

Day 7- Evening

2008-07-29T05:24:00.001-07:00

I ended up eating only a few handfuls of raisins through the whole day. I was going to go to the pool after work (since I didn't have a softball game after all) but was feeling pretty crappy (headache mostly) So I just chilled out all evening. Had pasta with tomato sauce for dinner, then got a 6" pizza sub from subway. I did pass up on some chocolate cake, so that was good :D.

Day 7- Morning

2008-07-28T05:17:00.000-07:00

I have to say, I feel like crap today (couldn't make myself go to the Y this morning). I feel slightly constipated (going to do a "C" flush today) and just "blah" in general (not rested at all from the weekend).

I am going hard core food-wise today, I bought a bag of broccoli to eat throughout the day, and I have a cliff bar to eat at four o'clock (I have a softball game tonight at 6). Hopefully after cleansing today I'll feel better for the rest of the week.

Day 6- Day of rest

2008-07-28T05:05:00.000-07:00

Well I got about 9 hours of sleep to help recover from my softball day. This was the worst day of the weekend. I went to my GF's family reunion (which wasn't a problem) but it was right around lunch-time, I had about 3 brats, 1 hamburger, and a hot dog. Then I decided to binge on the junk food... I had a bunch of cookies and brownies and etc. By the time I was done I felt like someone needed to roll me to the car.

I've always had this thing where I eat for pleasure. Not all the time, but every once in a while I'll go "I haven't had a binge in a while, what sounds good?" then I'll go all out. I always regret it when I'm so full it hurts, but for some reason I seem to forget that feeling, then I do it again. I've been doing it on the weekends (I guess to "reward" myself for eating good through the week) But I would like to stop now. That is going to be a focus of this 30 day diet (btw, I didn't have any pop or coffee this weekend :D)

Day 5- Softball tournament

2008-07-28T04:55:00.000-07:00

I honestly felt pretty good in the morning, despite the way I ate the night before. My first game started at 10:15 in the morning, so I went and got some blueberries, bananas, clementines, and some oriental trail mix (for after four) before my game in the morning. I did really well energy wise all day long just eating the fruit and drinking the water (I ended up drinking about a gallon and a quarter by the end of the day) At four once I started eating the trail mix I felt pretty sluggish, so that was a mistake, other than that I did really well. My games went until 6 o'clock in the evening (we placed second in the tournament). When I got home I ordered a pizza and bread sticks for dinner, ate as much as I could. Over all I'd say I did pretty good that day (I'm writing in the past tense because I haven't had time all weekend to update) I should have had a little more self control when I was eating pizza, but I was in the mode where I felt like I deserved to pig out (which is scary, because that shows you how warped my sense of pleasure can be... eating until it hurts, "oh yeah, that was fun"...?)

Day 4- Evening

2008-07-28T04:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty much a disaster, starting with Friday night. After I had my softball game I ended up going to the chinese buffet, which wasn't too bad since I stayed away from the fried stuff, and didn't stuff myself. After dinner however, I ate a bag of peanut butter m&m's, and a bag of popcorn.

Day 4- Morning

2008-07-25T04:49:00.001-07:00

I didn't go to the Y this morning, mostly because I was too lazy to get out of bed, but also because I have a softball game tonight, and I'm playing softball all day tomorrow... Going to be sore. Anyways I bought a bunch of organic bananas at Kroger, and a bag of Clementines. Looks like today's menu consist of bananas/clementines/raisins. I'll probably have another cliff bar before my game tonight, we'll see. I've had better performance on an empty stomach though, so I might hold off until after my game to eat my meal.

On a side note, I weighed myself this morning and was 164 lbs. And since I'm going to be running around all day tomorrow I'm going to do some carb loading tonight. I was thinking about those oatmeal pancakes I make every once in a while.

Day 3- Evening

2008-07-25T04:43:00.000-07:00

I had those blueberries, raspberries, raisins and clementines throughout the day. Also drinking about a half gallon of water. At four o'clock I ate a cliff bar, just because I have them at home and wanted to eat it. For dinner I had 8 oz. of grilled salmon, 2 baked potato's, a bowl of vegetable soup, and some Doritos... lol not a bad meal except for the Doritos. Oh well, at least I didn't have ice cream :D. I also drank another 1/4 gallon of water through the evening.

Day 3- Morning

2008-07-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

Got up at 5 this morning to go to the Y and work out. yay -_-

Since I'm resting for my softball tournament I didn't do my boxing workout (my elbow gets sore if I use it too much, from breaking it a while ago, so I want it to be in good shape for saturday) I did do some HIIT training on the treadmill though, I walk for 4 minutes and speed it up to 10 mph for one minute, then go back to walking. I did 35 minutes of that this morning, then went down and did my powerlifting workout. Deadlift/Bench press/Pull up's. Sufice to say, I feel adiquitly "worked out" ^_^

Not a real exciting menu for today, I had some blueberries left over, and went and bought some raspberries (I've already eaten both of those) so now I'm munching on raisins. Around lunchtime when I start to get hungry I'm going to microwave one of those "microwave sacs" of broccoli. Yum :)

Day 2- Dinner

2008-07-24T05:02:00.001-07:00

Save going to the batting cages I didn't work out today. I am resting for my big softball tournament this weekend. I'll be playing softball Friday night and pretty much all day Saturday. For my meal I had 2 hot dogs, and 2 Italian sausages, with some chips. Not a horrible meal... ok so it was pretty bad, but I like grilled food. And of course I had some more chocolate ice cream for dessert, that was a mistake. Oh well, there's no more ice cream in the freezer, so that's good :D.

Day 2- Deja Vu

2008-07-23T13:26:00.001-07:00

Well, the second time around is not as exciting as the first. I pretty much don't feel any different since it was not a very drastic change (that's a good thing I guess).

Last night I had a vegetable stir fry, and three ears of corn, then I finished up with some chocolate ice cream :D (lol, it was good though)

Today I've eaten two bananas, a thing of blueberries, and some raisins. I've also had about a half gallon of water.

Been feeling pretty good today, nothing out of ordinary to report. Oh, I was 167lbs and 11% body fat when I checked this morning.

That's all, peace out.

Day 1- Back to Basics

2008-07-22T04:57:00.000-07:00

I started my diet today, nothing much to report. Just thought I'd note that during this thirty day diet I'm cutting out pop, and coffee. And limiting myself to one or less beer per week. Per my guideline I'm not going to let anything other than water, fruit, and vegetables pass through my lips until 4 o'clock in the evening. Then I'll eat one main meal.

I checked my body fat percentage with my calipers this morning, and I guess I'm already at about 11 or 12 percent, so getting to 10% shouldn't be too hard.

New plan

2008-07-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

I'm getting bored with my nutrition lately. I have a system where I can keep my weight pretty much the same, but I'm not getting any stronger/loosing any fat. I'm going to do a 30-day diet program again. This time my goal is to get my body fat percentage down to 10%. I don't care what my weight is (it will probably be around 160lbs), I just want to loose fat. I'm going to break my effort into two categories: diet, and exercise.

Diet: I'm going to follow my own re-mix of the warrior diet, with some restrictions. Instead of eating a huge meal at once, I'm going to spread my food intake throughout the four hours I'm allowed to eat based on food combining principles of digestion times. I'm going to eat lots of fruit low glycemic fruit throughout the day, without anything else until four o'clock. Then I'll have a whole grain to tide me over until my main meal. Once I get to my main meal (around 6 or 7) I'll eat whatever I want, but not until I'm so stuffed I can't breath. Finally, before I go to bed, I'll drink a 10 to 15 gram protein shake (mixed with water or skim milk).

Exercise: I'm going to train for boxing five times a week. Four times just at the Y hitting the bag's and exercising, and once down at the "friendly house" (our community center) to spar with the guys. I'm also considering getting in shape for a 5k race.

Bored

2008-06-16T05:48:00.001-07:00

Ok, I've been doing this powerlifting thing for the past 8 weeks or so... its working great actually, I've seen my strength go up, and my fat go down, the only thing is... its boring! Deadlift, bench press, pull-ups, every single day. So, it's time for something I never get tired of... boxing. I play softball on Mondays and Thursdays, and in the morning Monday through Friday I go to the Y before work and train. I have time to do 4 rounds of shadow-boxing, 6 rounds of heavy bag, 6 rounds of speed-bag, 15 min on the jump rope, then I superset push-ups/pull-ups/tricep dips.

Since I'm working my muscles more than when I was powerlifting I am feeling the pain in the mornings again (especially after a softball night) So I'm back on the protein, I have one scoop with soy milk right after I work out, and a protein bar about an hour or so after the shake, then I eat my normal fruits throughout the day. After a softball game I'll have a scoop before bed so I can get up in the morning (I swear, it helps). I've been drinking coffee in the morning while I work out since I've heard mixed reviews about it, but I'm going to try and cut back.

I just got back from camping for a week... and I gained about 2 lbs :P I'm back though, shouldn't take too long to get back down to my old weight.

I hope I can get some people to go to the Y in the morning with me so I can train with people... non of the gyms around here have training classes in the morning. (I'd really like to train down at the community center downtown again... some good guys to spar with down there)

Oh well, that's what's happening in my fitness life right now.

Health Nut

2008-05-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

I remember a time when I would go to my local health food store to pick up my protein powder, and I would think "These people are crazy, how can they buy into all this crap?". While I admit, there is a ton of crap in the health world, I am sold on eating pro-organic, and lots of healthy fruits and vegetables.

Good story, huh? Well I just thought I'd give you an update on my healthstyle progress.

I'm still sticking to my regimen of bench press/deadlift/pull-ups. I do two sets of five reps per each exercise, and I wait 1 song in between sets (lol, its easier than looking at the clock) My routine is mainly influenced by Pavel's book "power to the people", its a good book, read it. Anyways, I have a 10 day workout schedule (I work out 5 days a week so it takes 2 weeks to get through a cycle) where I start my first day 45 lbs lighter than my current 5 rep max, and work myself up in weight in increments of five lbs per day. At the end of a cycle I take 3 days of relaxation (no matter what day of the week it is) before starting my next cycle. The next cycle I simply add ten lbs to my first day and offset the weight from there. I'm on my fourth cycle and I've seen my 5 rep max for bench press go from 160 to 165 (i know, I'm a lightweight :D) and my dead lift hasn't really topped out yet, I'm taking it pretty slow, my last cycle ended with 5x245. As far as pull-ups go I started out barely being able to do one body weight pull up (correctly anyways, not talking about chin-stretching pull-ups here) Now I can do a full set of 5 body-weight pull-ups and a second set of 3 or 4. I'm getting closer, once I can do two sets I'll start adding weight to a belt.

On the diet front nothing has really changed either. I am still following the warrior diet principle, only slightly modified. Instead of fasting through the day (which is good for detox) I start my morning with a bowl of oatmeal that has cinnamon/2Tbs flax meal/stevia mixed in. That usually holds me over until lunchtime, unless I worked out in the morning, then I get more hungry earlier. Anyways, once I get hungry I eat fruit, lots of fruit. Not at one time, but through-out the day. Some days I'll eat 6 or 7 bananas, or a bunch of whatever fruit I'm eating that day. If I'm eating bananas I'll eat them two at a time, so as not to overload my stomach, but it only takes about a half an hour for fruit to go through your stomach (that's what they say anyways) so I can eat pretty frequently. I have found that my energy levels are not dramatically affected by what kind or how much of fruit I eat, which makes sense, because fructose (sugar naturally found in fruit) has so low of a glycemic value (on a side note, I have experimented with fruit juices, even though they are 100% juice, they still make me drowsy, I think something changes in the sugar, I'm not sure, but that's my best guess) I'm still working on my evening meals, some days I eat according to the principles of food combining, and some days I just don't care (pizza days ^_^) I usually splurge on friday night, eating whatever I have been craving (like a red bull and a candy bar :D) but the rest of the time I'm pretty good about my portion sizes and not eating dessert.

My weight is hovering right around 162 lbs, which is right where I want it. I started out at one eighty something, thats about a 20 lb difference, not bad for someone who didn't really need to loose weight.

*Edit*

One time I bought five lbs of grapes, and I pretty much ate them in two days. Those days when I was working out (after work) I was not as strong, or energetic as normal. I know this contradicts my previous statement about fruit being equal, but I think the higher glycemic fruits are not fit to be a single source of nutrients, maybe as a snack, but not the only thing eaten through the day. Just yesterday I had a thing of blueberries, two bananas, and two things of raspberries. I haven't felt that hypoglycemic in a long time. I've had pretty good luck with bananas, apples, oranges, mango's, and watermelon. Berries are really good too, I just make sure I eat plenty of fruits along with them.

How I'm doing

2008-04-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

I've been following the warrior diet in a sense for the last few months. While I've made some changes I still follow the core of the program.

I've found that if I eat a bowl of whole grains with water and salt (oats/buckwheat) in the morning I am not even a little bit hungry until about 1 or 2 o'clock. Once I get hungry I eat some fruit, but I don't eat anything after 3 o'clock because I go to the Y at 5 after work and have found that its really not a good idea to work out with food in your stomach/gut.

Note: if i don't eat the whole grain in the morning I eat fruit all day long until 3, depending on how hungry I am sometimes I'll go through 5 bananas or 4 or 5 apples.

I've found that the grain (mostly oatmeal) doesn't have an impact on my energy level during the day, while giving you that stick-to-your-ribs feeling. It also doesn't affect your weight gain/loss the day after, and if you have it long enough before your workout it won't affect your performance in the gym. With this knowledge I'm going to start eating more whole grains, hopefully increasing my intake of fiber and vitamins that whole grains are rich with.

Contrary to the opinion of the warrior diet, I believe it is not conducive to good health to eat as much as you can in one short period of time. With a better understanding of how the digestive system functions I suspect there is a limit to how much the digestive system can handle at one time. So I've been eating less during my "over-eating" stage of the day, and more fruit and grains during my "under-eating" stage. I find that I feel a lot better during the day if I can grab a piece of fruit to munch on, whether its something to do with blood sugar, or something else, it seems to make my day easier, without any negative affects on my energy or performance in the gym. I have found that fruit will satisfy me for about an hour, then I'll be hungry again. While a grain will keep me in a state of satisfaction for much longer, 3 and sometimes even 4 hours.

The reason I'm not worrying about the water fast during the day anymore is because I don't care about losing weight anymore, and since I'm not eating as many calories during the day I find that I get more hungry during the day, and I don't want to fall into the trap of an eating disorder.

I have found that even though I'm only eating one meal and a ton of fruit, I have plenty of energy, and it almost seams like my body is able to operate with less than most people, because I have a very active lifestyle which you think would require a higher caloric upkeep, but honestly, I probably eat less than 1500 calories each day (because the fruit is so low calorie) but the total "volume" of food is about normal. (five banana's should be able to get anyone through a day)

When I started watching my diet a few months ago (before I started this blog) I weighed about 186lbs, as of today I weigh 161 lbs. I've not been trying to lose weight, but it seems like it melts off without me doing much.

New concept

2008-04-10T13:22:00.000-07:00

I've come across an interesting theory... It seems like there is something to "food combining" I read the book "optimal nutrition for optimal health" and it sounded pretty solid. The book basically states that the digestive system needs different stuff to break down different foods, and if you combine those types of food (ie. starch and protein) your stomach won't be able to properly break down the food. In this book it also noted something that really got me thinking. It says that the digestive system is only capable of creating so many enzymes at a given time, and if you try to digest more than say... 7 or 8 oz's of meat, it will just sit in your gut and rot, ultimately poisoning you. If you know anything about the warrior diet by now you know that large quantities of food must be consumed in the evening to maintain your energy levels during the day. in fact, more than 2500 calories is recommended. This poses a problem, I think I've been over-taxing my digestive system. My plan of attack? Bromelain, its a natural enzyme they get from pineapple, and it helps your body digest meat. We'll see if that does anything.

New development

2008-04-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

well I've been doing the warrior diet for about a month and a half now and I've made some changes.

First of all I woke up this morning and was pleased to find that my spider powers have developed, now I won't have to pay for gas to get to work anymore, so thats nice. Thanks Ori!

and second I just want to say that I have an Idol of Ori ordered on Ebay, should get here some time this week. He says I should take deer antler velvet, I take deer antler velvet.

If you haven't figured out by now this is an april fools post, just thought I'd have a little fun.

Re-focus

2008-03-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

This week I've done pretty good about keeping my sugar intake during the day down to nothing (except for some Romain, which I'm sure has some sugar, but oh well) I've noticed another trend that is messing me up. I have a sweet tooth, and since I'm not eating or drinking sugar during the day I like to have dessert after my main meal. I haven't been gaining weight (I'll go up and down between 170 and 167 pretty regularly) but it seems like when I have a carb night, and dessert, I always go up to 170, and the next day I eat real low carb and go down to 167 or so. My theory is that I need to cut back on the desserts. They aren't hurting me, but I don't need them. Instead of eating pie, or cake or something like that, I'm going to eat more fruit, and some dark chocolate (after a low carb meal). I'll see if that makes me do any better as far as fat loss goes.

Wall

2008-03-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

I hit a wall today with my bench press (figuratively speaking of course) yesterday I put up 160lbs 5 times and then 3 times. today I was only able to put up 165lbs 1 time, I was surprised because I didn't think my strength limit would be so abrupt, but there you go. I only have one more day in my cycle before I go back down to the lighter weights so its no biggie, just an interesting observation on my part. since my one rep max was pretty much 155 I'm happy with being able to push 165. I'm going to start the cycle over and see if I can get it to 170. We'll see.

Workout Goals

2008-03-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

As you may already know, I've started powerlifting on a ten workout cycle. In other words I progressively add 5 lbs to each workout for ten workouts. Then at the end of the cycle I rest for a few days and when I start my next cycle I increase my first workout in the cycle by 20 lbs from the first workout of the last cycle. I lift and hit the bag 5 days a week, and on Saturday and Sunday I do some push-ups, and sprints (at least I'm going to start, I've been lazy).

At the beginning of this cycle I tested to see what I could bench and deadlift. I figure my bench was about 155 and my deadlift was about 225. This morning I pulled 215 no problem for a set of 5, and I put up 160 for a set of 5. I'm sure my improvements are due to the fact that I'm performing the same lifts every day and as I grow more familiar with them my technique improves. I'm getting close to not being able to do a set of 5 for my bench press, so I know I'm almost at my limit. My deadlift however is another story, my technique has improved just over the last week or so, and I think I could easily deadlift a 1 rep max of 250-275, but I'm not going to test it because I don't want to hurt myself. slow and steady, that's my style.

Diet Modifications

2008-03-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

I've done the warrior diet for more than a month now, and I'm going to make some changes.

1. Super low glycemic during the day.

This diet is designed so that the person doesn't eat sugar during the day to keep the insulin levels as low as possible in order to make the body burn fat more efficiently. This is an area that I've cheated a little on, after my workout in the morning I'd eat a protein bar and have half a mineral water. This is by no means a lot of sugar (about 20 grams) but I wonder if it is enough for the body to go into insulin mode. And I'd also eat a lot of fruit during the day, another way that my body's insulin levels might be raised. From now on I'm going to skip my "breakfast" (since I have the multivitamin/mineral) and instead of eating fruit during the day I will eat vegetables, probably a leafy green (since it alkalizes you system) like some organic Romain or something like that. Romain is actually pretty sweet, so I don't know where it rates on the glycemic index, I don't really care, it can't be very high.

2. more water

I could drink 20 oz of water during the day and some iced tea in the evening and be fine. I know this isn't enough water, so I've started buying those gallon jugs of water and sipping them all day. I'm trying to drink at least a gallon a day. Some days its hard, some days its easy. I've become well acquainted with the bathroom.

3. follow the food-type alternation more closely

Ori says that you should alternate your high fat, high carb, and detox nights. He goes into detail in his book (more than I want to right now) but I am going to try to follow more of a themed meal approach. Its not always possible to do this of course, but its just an area that I'd like to work on.

In with the allergies out with the cold

2008-03-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Its safe to say my cold is gone, I knocked it out with "Airborne" and "Zicam". I think I took enough vitamins to cure cancer. but yeah, the day I was over my cold my allergies kicked in. Now I'm taking an "Airborne" formula for seasonal relief. Can't really say if its working or not yet, since I've just started taking it. I went out and bought a multivitamin/mineral... this thing stinks to high heaven, and I swear, its got to be a horse pill, the thing is huge! anyways I'm not going to be doing the "protein" bar and "mineral" water in the morning anymore (more like candy bar, and juice)

I'm comfortable with the eating pattern, now I'm working on my following the diet a little more closely. Its a continues improvement project.

Tonight I'm going to load up on cheese and nuts, and maybe a chicken salad. I want to get back down around 167 lbs again. I've been eating kind of crapy lately. (im up to 170.6, so its not like i've gained 10 lbs for falling off the wagon, I even had a beer last night after I'd eaten my easter meal, and a early "breakfast" dinner. I didn't notice any impact in my weight, so i think the occasional alchoholic beverage isn't going to hurt anything)

Oatmeal pancakes

2008-03-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

I had an oatmeal pancake last night. It turned out really good with some natural maple syrup on it...

here's the recipe

New tact

2008-03-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

this blog has untill now been soly for my warrior diet progress. Since my trial period of 30 days is up, I will start journaling my over-all fitness progress. I have no intention of stopping the warrior diet, the only thing I would like to know anymore has to do with bloodwork, and what the long term effects (6 months or more) of this eating pattern are.

Most likely I'll start talking about my powerlifting progress, because that is about the only thing I'm doing for fitness right now. I have a lot to learn yet, and will probably post my revolations. I am also very interested in natural nutrition, so I may do some studys with certian supliments to see for myself if they do in fact improve the quality of life. This blog is not something I'm writing to help other people (if you find it usefull, more power to you) but just a journal for myself. I don't expect people to go through each post and read everything I write, with that in mind, my thoughts might be a little bit scattered at times.

My goal right now is not to build muscle, but strength. I would like to keep my bulk down below 200 lbs and be able to deadlift 3x my body weight. and have a decent bench too. my goals change with time, so I'll keep this updated as much as possible.

im still sick (cold) so right now I feel like crap. give me a few days to beat this thing then I'll feel like singing the praises of the warrior diet.

Day 30

2008-03-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-17T09:28:00.003-07:00

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

2008-03-17T04:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Biological Value of Protein

2008-03-12T07:23:00.001-07:00

I added a link on the side that might be worth your time looking into. It seems that all protein was not made equal, some things that might be high in protein (like nuts) are really hard for your body to absorb the protein, so you can almost not count the protein in certain things.

Day 24- Workout and changes made this week

2008-03-12T04:32:00.000-07:00

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!

Powerlifting

2008-03-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

I've been reading about power lifting today. Most people who train for that use the Bench Press, Squat, and Dead Lift. I'm not interested in the squat right now for two reasons.

1. its hard. the technical aspect causes the squat to be very easy to mess up. I'm going for quality in my work out, and want to concentrate on perfecting my dead lift, and bench press.

2. the dead lift uses most of your muscles anyways, so doing it with the squat is semi-redundant. I want to keep my time spent in the gym-per-day down to about an hour.

my first goal for dead lift is to be able to lift my body weight. and the same for my bench, which will take a lot longer. I still need to figure out what my 1RM is. I'll update my goals and current progress later. I'm still new to the dead lift, and my bench press isn't that great, so first I want to concentrate on form before dumping on extra plates. I'd say that right now I've been working at 60% to 70% as I'm trying to figure out how to do these things right.

Day 23- Workout and a big breakfast

2008-03-11T04:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-10T05:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-03-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-05T11:58:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-04T05:03:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-04T04:50:00.001-08:00

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

2008-03-03T04:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-29T05:08:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-29T03:42:00.000-08:00

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 ^_-

Day 11- "Revived"

2008-02-28T12:54:00.001-08:00

well, it seems like that did the trick. It's 4 o'clock and I'm feeling better, still not great, but better. At least I can think again ^_^.

One other thing. While reading the Max Muscle Min Fat book I found something that said growth hormone pulses when you're in deep sleep and when you're hungry during the day. I've noticed that chewing sugar free gum acts as a hunger suppresor... i've been going through half a pack a day ^_^ it makes it easier! anyways I'm going to cut it back to one piece during the undereating phase, in the hopes that feeling more hungry sends more growth hormone through my body.

Day 11- Crash

2008-02-28T10:58:00.000-08:00

It's about two o'clock and I feel like I'm shutting down (low blood sugar feeling) ... I think a water fast after a carb-o-load night isn't the best idea. I'm going to finish the rest of my vitamin water and see if I feel any better.

Day 11- Max Muscle Min Fat

2008-02-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Ori's book "Max Muscle Min Fat". So far I've read three of his books (The Warrior Diet, and Controlled Fatigue Training) And the only one I would recommend reading is his Max muscle min fat book. The other books are good in their own sense, but they lack.... meat for someone who likes to know "how" and "why" things work, max muscle min fat is for someone who loves to learn about their body. What's even better is the fact that Ori actually sites his references, *gasp* "you mean he has data to back up what he says??" But don't you worry, at the end of the book he made room for 10 or so pages advertising his other "wonder" products.

Don't buy warrior diet.

really don't buy his controlled fatigue training e-book

if you have to buy a book I'd recommend this one (it explains all the things he mentions in his other books)

Day 11- Morning

2008-02-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

This morning I went to the gym.

Wind-sprints

Shoulder presses (3 different types)

Bench press (2 sets for kicks and giggles)

ab work

frog jumps

After my workout I was feeling sick (ori sugests that this feeling is from a depleation of minerals) So I went to kroger's and grabbed one of these protein bars...

And a "revive" vitamin water

I was still feeling sore after I had my "meal" but the sick feeling was gone. The protein bar was absolutly delish ^_^
and I've had three cups of coffee so far this morning (I use very little cream)
Today I'm doing the water fast. (other than my post-workout meal of course)

On a side note: I felt great this morning after eating that pasta last night. I was up by one pound, but my body fat percentage was down, so go figure.

Day 10

2008-02-27T07:55:00.000-08:00

Well, today my co-worker's want me to go out to lunch with them. We're going to Chipotle.

I never decided I was going to do the diet non-stop for 30 days or anything, but im not sure what I'm going to do. Honestly, I don't want to eat because I know I'm going to work out after work today... I think I'm just going to go with a salad or something. The funny thing is... I don't feel bad about deviating from my diet, but I just don't want to. I like feeling good I guess.

Edit:

Well it turns out I never went out to lunch... so I just had a banana for breakfast and one for lunch. I was feeling nauseous around 2ish and realized that I hadn't had any water since my coffee in the morning. So I grabbed a water and was feeling better in a little bit.

My workout after work was intense... I'm reading Ori's other book called "max muscle min fat" and he explains the difference between "fast twitch" and "slow twitch" muscles. I decided to incorperate both aspects into my workout.

First I started with bicep curls, my set conisted of:

5 reps as fast as I could with a really heavy weight, then imedieatly do another 5 reps with a lighter weight really slowly.

I did the same thing with triceps. My whole workout was:

run 1/2 mile

Biceps 2 super-sets

Triceps 2 super-sets

Biceps 2 super-sets

Triceps 2 super-sets

Abwork

and about 3 wind-sprints (for about 100 meters on the track is a straigt-away, then I jog around the curvy section for my next sprint)

For dinner I had spagetti and breadsticks.

2 helpings of spagetti

4 breadsticks

^_^

Day 9- Workout & Overeating

2008-02-27T04:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I went to the Y to workout after work.

HIIT on the track

Leg curl's

Leg extentions

Squats

Cleans and Presses

abwork

and some more HIIT on the track to finish my workout

(I felt energized after the workout, but later in the evening I crashed)

For my meal I had decided to go with a high protein meal instead of a high carb meal to see whether or not it affected my weight the next morning.

Salad

Pot Roast

1 little slice of bread

Protein shake (this was only a half hour after my workout)

after that I went to went to wendys...

Small Chili

Baked Potato with sour cream and butter

and iced tea

since the pot roast was home made its hard to calculate exactly how many calories I had for my meal, but I'd say it was in the ballpark of 1200-1500

On a side note: I had a banana for lunch and breakfast, It seems like my hunger is more noticable when I give myself small amounts of food. Whether this is good or bad I don't know.

Day 9- Fasting

2008-02-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

I am hungry today... I had a banana for breakfast since I've decided to go off of the water fast for a day or so to see how it affects my weight. I think I'm going to get a large chili, baked potato, and an iced tea from Wendy's tonight. After dinner I'll eat nuts until I'm full. I'm going to see if my weight changes at all after having almost no carbs (except for the potato of course)

I'll put some pictures up once I get a chance to take them, but I still have plenty of stubborn fat to lose, so I don't think I've reached the point where my muscle is increasing at a rate that the scale doesn't show any weight change (per my body fat % readings).

Just an observation, it seems like if you break a water fast with fruit or w/e you actually have more hunger than if you just knuckle up and go without eating. I don't know if this hunger pain means your metabolism is going faster, or if your insulin is spiking and your metabolism is actually slowing down.

must look into this and find out.

Day 7 & 8- All you can eat

2008-02-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

I had this idea... What if I go to an all you can eat buffet with my girlfriend so I don't have to worry about getting enough food.

Everything was "ok", but nothing was really good... I felt like I was just eating to pass the time.

I had:
a salad
2 ribs
Mashed potato's
Mac and Cheese
Spaghetti
a taco
and this cheese cake pudding stuff

And when I woke up the next morning I was back up to 172.6 (from 172)

I think that the carb to protein ratio might have been too far offset that I might have gained some water/fat. Go figure. My body has definitely slowed down as far as weight loss goes, and my body fat % seems to be staying still. I still have some stubborn fat to burn so I'm going to have to come up with a system that gets me back on the move. For about 5 days now I've been doing the water fast through the day. Today (day 10) I'm going to eat a banana when I feel hungry and see if that changes anything.

Oh and for day 8 I had a 12 inch pizza sub and some chips, finished off with some dark chocolate. I think its time for me to have a high protein night.

Day 7- One week

2008-02-24T10:17:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning feeling great. I went to the gym before church and ran some sprints, my muscles were achy so I didn't try to lift weights or anything.

I've had two coffee's today and nothing else. I can actually taste this bitter aftertaste that lingers in my mouth. Must be the caffeine.

My thoughts after doing this for a whole week:

1. I have not seen any reason so far as why I would ever want to go back to my "normal" eating habits

2. I'm down at least one percent body fat, maybe more but with my calipers its hard to tell.

3. Fasting is not hard

4. Eating is really fun

Day 6- Dinner

2008-02-24T09:58:00.000-08:00

I think my metabolism is starting to speed up...

I went to see a movie with my girlfriend and couldn't get over how strong and good the popcorn smelled. I didn't get any, but I was definitely hungry, which is good. I'm sold on the idea of water fast through the day, I start to get really hungry around dinner-time, but through the day I feel great!

Anyways, we went out to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner after the movie, first of all, I was hyper. I think it was the coffee we had before the movie (caffeine has never really done much for me, but now it really does). I ordered the 12oz steak (the biggest one they had) and while I was waiting for my meal I grabbed a plateful of spinach and put salt on it, I'm not kidding you when I tell you the taste was perfect, A mix of sweat and salty. When the steak came I started on the steak, eating the whole thing, then I moved onto the mashed potato's (they have really good mashed potato's.... fyi), then I ate all of my steamed broccoli and my piece of whole wheat toast.

You know how the waiter always asks if anyone saved room for desert? And you always say no, for various reasons (being too full, watching calories, etc.). For the first time in a long time I said "yes" because I was neither full, or watching calories ^_^. I ate almost all of my ice cream and strawberries (this thing is huge, normally you could split it with someone)

Thats the most fun I've had in a long time just eating.

wanna know the best part? I woke up the next day and weighed myself. I was just over a half a pound lighter than the day before.

Day 6- The weekend warrior

2008-02-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well here's something interesting, I got on the scale last night before going to bed because I was curious about eating all that pizza for dinner the earlier that night. I was back up to 176 lbs, thinking "oh great, all that salt killed my weight loss". When I got up this morning and weighed myself I was at 172.6 lbs, exactly what I was the day before.

I learned two things from this.

1. always measure yourself at the same time in the day, you'll go crazy if you don't.

2. you can totally pig out on the worst kind of food and still not gain weight.

good to know, I don't plan on hogging out every night, but every once in a while its kind of fun. ^_^

Today I'm doing the water fast again (since I screwed it up yesterday, but at least I learned that having sugar on an empty system really does slow you down)

I worked out at about 11am this morning, felt great through the whole thing.

HIIT training on the track

Bench press

Decline press

Pec Deck

Abs

Leapfrogs

now I'm sipping on a protein shake

Day 5- Overeating

2008-02-23T00:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I went the whole day without eating anything except for that yogurt drink thing in the morning. I waited until about 8pm to eat my meal because I was waiting for my parents to meet me for dinner.

Tonight was a pizza night, Ori has an interesting viewpoint on pizza ^_^ (sorta'v an inside joke for anyone who's read the book)

My girlfriend and I got a salad and an 18 inch pizza to share, I ate three pieces (about a third of it) and was completely stuffed. Its about 3:30 in the morning and I have to admit I feel pretty crummy, I think if I was sleeping I wouldn't notice. My plan for tomorrow (or rather today) is to go on the water fast again (since I messed it up yesterday :/ ) see how I feel.

On another note, I have to admit, pigging out is really fun. :D its ok to go overboard every once in a while and eat something unhealthy (like pizza) until I can't eat any more.

With that, I'm going to go to bed.

Day 5- Undereating

2008-02-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

well, I seriously messed up my plan. was going to do a water fast, but this morning i was in the store and saw this "probiotic" drink, i don't know what i was thinking, but I had one, it turned out to be like a yogurt. now i feel kind of sluggish, I was almost hyper before I had it... shoot me. Oh well, lesson learned

oh and on a side note. I had a protein shake after my workout this morning (almost no sugar in it) and I was flying, so i think if you keep the sugar low the protein shakes shouldn't mess up your under-eating phase

Day 5- Workout

2008-02-22T07:04:00.001-08:00

I went to the gym this morning before work and felt amazing through the whole workout.

HIIT on the treadmill zero incline for 10 min (11mph for 30 sec, 6mph for 90 sec)
2 sets of barbell bicep curls (heavy, 5 or 6 reps per set)
2 sets of over the head tricep extensions (heavy, 5 or 6 reps per set)
1 superset of clean and presses (5 or 6 reps)
Ori's ab workout
1 set of frog jumps (oh the pain...)
1 set of shoulder stretches (just for the heck of it, the thing with a rubber band and act like you're shooting a bow and arrow)

all in less than 45 minutes, and My body hates me right now ^_^

Day 4

2008-02-22T04:37:00.000-08:00

This is an off day for me as far as working out goes.

My eating schedule goes as follows:

7:30-coffee and some blackberries
10:00-banana
12:00-couple handfuls of spring mix lettuce
3:00-half a orange
6:00-Cheddar's
-salad
-two grilled chicken breast seasoned with lemon and pepper (good stuff)
-loaded baked potato
-broccoli
-a honey coated buttery roll
-raspberry iced tea
8:00-handful of Reece's Pieces (haha I couldn't help it ^_^)

I felt ok through the whole day, more tired than the day before, but no complaints. Still had no trouble staying awake in the evening.

Since splint had such good results on his water fast I'm going to try it on day 5

Day 3- Workout and Meal

2008-02-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

well, I went to the gym after work.

I'm trying Ori's controlled fatigue training plan.

HIIT on the treadmill for 10 min. run 11mph for 30 sec, and jog 6mph for 90 sec.

Leg extensions (2 sets)

calf extensions (2 sets)

one legged calf raises (2 sets for each leg)

2 different types of squats (2 sets each)

and some lunges (2 set)

safe to say my legs were burning ^_^

for my ab work I did some hanging leg raises, hanging leg extentions, a couple sets of crunches on the bench, some reverse crunches, and back for some more hanging leg extentions.

Now my abs and legs are killing me ^_^

I ate dinner at my girlfriend's house, she had eggs, and hash browns. I brought over a saled to eat before my meal, and some oatmeal for after. even though I ate two helpings of eggs I was still hungry, so I ran over to sub-way to grab a six inch pizza sub ^_^ after eating all that I still wasn't stuffed, just satisfied. Oh, and she had some homemade donuts ^_^ I had one, it didn't affect the way I felt (they are small, about the size of a donut hole)

I was tired after dinner, but not the kind of tired you get from eating, it was more like my body was tired from the workout. I need to incorporate post-workout meals into my diet.

On another note I've been losing weight like crazy. I'm down to 173.6lbs today, and about 12.5 percent body fat as best as i can tell with my stupid plastic calipers. (don't buy plastic calipers ^_-)

Day 3- Lunchtime

2008-02-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

well, nothing to report here. I had some raspberries and coffee for breakfast, and an orange around 10:30 or so. Now I'm munching on a carrot for lunch, I'm not really hungry, but felt like eating something.

one thing I noticed this morning was during a really boring long meeting I was able to stay fully alert through out the whole thing. Normally when I have a meeting like that I have to fight to stay awake, and my mind is almost "clouded".

On another note, my fellow "warriorer" Splint Chesthair found a really good article about intermittent fasting. check it out here.

Other than that, I still haven't "crashed", felt my blood sugar level go low, been really hungry, or any negative symptoms. I have however been more alert these past few days then before, its like I've been asleep this whole time, and I'm finally awake.

Side note: If you go over to my traineo site, you'll see my weight trend for the last week or so, this week since I've been on the warrior diet my weight change has been accelerated. I'm down to 174.4 lbs

Day 2- Overeating

2008-02-20T03:48:00.001-08:00

well, it turns out I didn't eat the orange like I'd planed, I just wasn't hungry. I was still feeling good, when I went home and sat on the chair (usually I fall asleep as soon as I hit the chair) I was wide awake... my body was a little tired, but my mind was fully alert.

for the overeating part of my day I went to Wendys... Ori would hate me for eating out two days in a row, but you have to realize, I have no kitchen... I have a toaster oven at work, thats it. so lets just say I'm exploring his diet from a more "American" perspective ^_- anyways I don't think I did two bad at Wendys, I had a grilled chicken sandwich, large chili, baked potato (with sour cream), and an unsweetened iced tea (nice to have something other than water). After my "feast" I went to Starbucks and got a cup of regular coffee. About two hours later I grabbed a bag of apple chips from Kroger, and pretty much ate the whole thing. immediately after eating the apple chips I felt kind of "blah" I'm going to miss my high sugar snacks T_T all well, I feel better when I cut back on that stuff.

one thing to note for yesterday was during the day I had just about 160 calories. banana, coffee, carrot, raspberries, and water.

my dinner was about 970 calories (I was stuffed when I was done) and my apple chips were maybe another 3 or 4 hundred (I felt bad if I would have only had 1200 or so calories in a day)

Day 2- Lunchtime

2008-02-19T10:37:00.000-08:00

It's already lunchtime. So far I'm not feeling too hungry or anything.

I had a training class that went from 9 until 1, and just took a bottle of water in with me. When I got back to my desk my stomach was gurgling, not pain, just gurgle. I grabbed a carrot out of the fridge, and munched on a few raspberries followed with some water. Now I feel completely fine, so far no headache, so thats a good thing. My plan for my three o'clock break is eating an orange, that should hold me over until i get dinner.

a side note: when I'd eaten the carrot it had a very noticeable "sweet" flavor to it... with a sort of earthy overtone. I don't know if its because the only other thing I've eaten today is a banana or not, but it seems like its easier to notice simple flavors.

FYI

2008-02-19T07:05:00.000-08:00

Be sure to subscribe to Splint Chesthair's blogg too (on the sidebar). He started the same diet on the same day as I, so it should be valuable to compare the two over time.

Supplements

2008-02-19T05:42:00.000-08:00

Ori recommends a ton of supplements, I'm not going to use everything he suggests, but here's what I already do.

1 Ts of flax seed oil in the morning:

studies show that people with a higher ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 have improved mental health

Gingo Biloba:

I've been taking this as a trial for about 2 and a half weeks, so far i haven't noticed any changes, I doubt I'll be buying another bottle.

Green tea extract:

I just started this one this week, still nothing to report.

Vitamin A:

supposed to improve skin health, been taking it for a couple of weeks and it seems like my acne has cleared up, still too soon to tell.

those are all of the supplements I currently take. I am interested in starting up a multi vitatmin, and a multi mineral. probably from the standard process company.

Day 2 (the real test)

2008-02-19T04:36:00.000-08:00

well, so far this morning I feel fine, I worked out on an empty stomach. I have decided to follow ori's plan for working out (or at least try to anyways ^_^) today my time was a little limited at the Y, I did a quick HIIT on the treadmill, about a thirty second run at 11 mph, and a minuet jog at 6 mph, for about 10 minuets. Then I went down to the chin-up bar to do the ab workout that ori recomends... I can do plenty of sit-ups, but when i tried to do these leg lifts, i couldn't get past the second leg lift. needless to say I have a lot of work to do, but my abs feel completely sore (I went through his exercise as best as I could, taking breaks when needed). So I ate a banana, and grabed a coffee. Right now I don't feel hungry, or tired at 7:44 in the morning.

D-Day

2008-02-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

Hello, this is my first day on the warrior diet.

It's late, so I'll just cover the points of interest

(first for my own information)
Body fat percentage: 17.5%
Weight: 176.8 lbs
Height: 5' 9.5"

The thing i noticed right off the bat was my hunger level was almost non-existent. sure, I'd have a hunger pain when my body realized that I'd skipped my normal cereal, but after I downed a banana and some water there was virtually no hunger. Other than that there was really nothing out of the ordinary. I got hungry at the same time I always do, 10am or so, and ate an orange with some more water. No more hunger. By this point in the day it would have been normal for me to consume 300-350 calories, but today I had less than 200, with less hunger. not bad ^_-. so lunchtime rolls around, still not very hungry, I munch on a small handful of pistachios. at this point I'm starting to notice some more effects, normally after lunch I'm fighting just to stay awake. Today I was fully alert for the whole day. I wasn't hungry until about 3 or so in the afternoon, when i ate a handful of raspberrys. After work I went over to my girlfriend's house to pick her up for our dance lesson, as I was driving I noticed It seemed like everything I could see was.... sharper, I don't know how to explain it, but something about eating the way I had made my sense perception more tuned or something, almost... crisp.

so after an hour dance lesson i wasn't even the least bit fatigued, it was about 7 or so, and we decided to go to chipotle for dinner. when i ordered my food I still wasn't starving, but when i started eating I had all four of my taco's done before my girlfriend had her first one finished ^_^ (they say there's about 50 grams of protein in the steak tacos, and I got my carbs from the shells, oops i didn't eat my veggies though, oh well :D)

normally by this point I'm barely able to stay awake, but this time I was fully awake, even to this point as I write this.

First day, not too bad.

on a side note, I had a little bit of a headache this morning, may have been caused by my body's detox mode...