Thursday

Workout:

Today was an amazing workout day. I changed the hill I run up to a steeper one and the effect was tremendous! I even had to walk the last half of the hill on my last "sprint". The core workout was wonderful too, V-Ups are my new favourite exercise.

Hill sprinting (short, steep hill) (8 times up and down) - 20 mins
3 sets of (Core Workout II)
V-Ups - 15
Supermans - 20
Chinnies - burn

Now here's the reason why my body isn't sore.

Food:

Ok, here's my diet for today. This is the first time I've measured and weighed my food so prior to this I was on the T-Dawg's diet "break in" phase. I didn't expect to get the diet right on my first try but I think I got pretty close.

Measurements are calories (kCal)/carbohydrates (g)/protein (g)/ fat (g)

Anything underlined is a problem area, bold is a satisfying result.

14 cups of water
Multivitamin
Fish oil capsule x 2
Cottage cheese w/ onions & chives (150g) - 127.5/5.2/20.9/33.5
Red salmon (one tin) - 335.9/0/35.6/21.4
Protein shake
-Semi skimmed milk (500mL) - 250/24/18/9
-Skim milk powder (57g) - 206/30.2/20.6/0.3
-Banana (150g) - 133.3/34.3/1.7/0.5
Fish oil capsule
Sausages (6) - 510.8/10.2/20.0/43.4
Eggs (3) - 196.6/11.3/19.8/8.6
Semi skimmed milk (100mL) - 50/4.8/3.6/1.8
Oats (75g) - 267/45/8.25/6
Red salmon (one tin) - As above
Peanuts (100g) - 62/9/4.9/0.7
Semi skim milk (200mL) - 100/9.6/7.2/3.6

Total - 3171.6/198.9/225.3/202.615

Observations:
-I drink a lot of water these days! I didn't used to drink that much water.
-Tinned food is much more convenient because you can eat it in the tin's proportions to save you weighing it.
-Red salmon is basically pure protein so I can eat as much as I want.
-I ate twice the amount of carbs I was supposed to but that's nothing compared to what I used to eat.
-I ate 100g less protein than I was supposed to but I'm surprised that I was eating so much anyway. Another 2 tins of salmon would have given me enough but I'd prefer to cook my meat ahead of time next week so I can cook twice a week for day time meals.
-Salmon is pretty expensive but definitely worth buying because it tastes great and gives Omega 3s.
-More meals every day means more washing up! (I had around 5 today)
-Tesco value chicken breast is the cheapest protein I could find here. I'll be eating a lot of that.
-The amount of carbs in bananas was a real surprise even though it shouldn't have been. I'm going to stay away from banana flavouring my protein shakes for the time being BUT my shakes do give me a pretty decent 38.6 grams of protein which is quite impressive for something so low cost which is home-made.
-Another surprise which shouldn't have been was the amount of protein in peanuts. It's almost worth eating them while on the T-Dawg but my carbs would rocket.
-Oats (obviously) give the highest carbs, I'm glad I ate them after my workout. I think I can't have too much in the way of veggies if I have too much oats in a day. Today I ate half my usual serving of oats and I still ended up with 45 grams of carbohydrates.
-I need more veggies, which means making more space for them by reducing carbs from other items. I wanted to have some broccoli but I didn't have any room left for them after all that meat.
-Eating well is a real balancing act!

Does anyone know a good site where I can find nutritional info? It's not always shown on packaging here. I'm currently using www.nutritiondata.com, which is ok but doesn't have all the info I want.

Next week I may be putting down the timing of consumption too, depends.

I dont think your carbs from oats are a problem- they are low on the GI scale and wholegrain oats are proven to have additional benefits to your body.
I would take issue with sausages as a staple food source- 43 grams of saturated fat, nothing 'essential' about those fatty acids. Low grade processed meat product. Avoid it or become 'Dr. Fatkins'

Tinned salmon (especially in brine) does not retain an awful lot of its good fat, and with the capsules you take its not much of an issue. The cheapest protein source you will find in your local Tesco is their 'value' tuna chunks in brine. i buy in bulk every week

Yeah, I was getting rid of the sausages, they were about to go off. I'm a student, I can't just throw food in the bin. The oatmeal's fine, no way I'm going to eliminate that at all, I really need to get my fibre . I think I'll cut out the banana though because although it's got plenty of potassium, it's basically pure carbs.

I think that even if it's not of great value in terms of Omega 3s I'm going to continue to eat canned salmon because it's basically "free" protein (no carbs). I'm against eating tuna because of the high concentration of heavy metals. Basically, I'm going to follow the suggestion of only eating summer flounder, wild Pacific salmon, croaker, sardines (not too fond of these), haddock and tilapia.

Thanks for the advice. Any clue where I can get more info on the prices of items at Tesco and other supermarkets so I can compare them? This amount of protein per day could get pretty expensive pretty quickly.

Also, what do you think of the routine? I'm thinking I've come close to overworking my legs so I'm not going to train them for the rest of the week, give them some time to recover. (My hamstrings have become sore finally)

I think I'm going to keep the sprint sessions in but swap my day 6 conditioning session to a breakdancing session rather than a sprint (surprising how breakdancing can hit muscles hard that no other exercise seems to for me, especially adductors and glutes). (The idea being that I do 3 maximal strength training sessions a week and 2-3 conditioning/endurance sessions a week with Sunday off for rest) I'm just so happy with the hill sprints that I can't imagine not doing them twice weekly.

Plyometrics are still not great for me, I just don't have the maximal strength to avoid injury while doing them. I plan to incorporate those in 6 weeks time when I'm a bit more well rounded when it comes to my fitness.

Thanks for the heads up on the home delivery service, I'll check it out. (Not buying just checking nutritional values)

Fair enough enjoyment and balance are the two most important things to aim for in a training schedule- none of us here a professional athletes, we all work to be the best we can be whilst holding down jobs, playing with our kids, studying our classes and other day to day things that have to be dealt with. None of us are likely to ever reach the stage where we will be testing ourselves on the world stage. Hobby, pastime, obsession, chore. Whatever we consider our training, it must always be as enjoyable as we can make it to ensure we do it regularly, and it must be sound in principle to make sure we stay safe and experience some improvement for our efforts.
enjoy your sprinting, its a damn hard and rewarding way to spend 20 mins

Ok big update today. Lots of math calculating all of this. I'll go through day by day.

Friday 22 Dec 2006

Today is my "modified free day" for food. This means that I can have either one meal with anything I want to eat OR I can be a bit flexible with every meal I eat today. The results were abysmal but that's ok on a modified free day.

Workout:
3 sets of (Beginner's Training Plan day 5)
Diamond push-ups - 15 reps (Tough!)
Body rows - 8 reps
Squats - 25 reps
Hamstring curls - 10 reps
Pike press - 8 reps
Internal RC Band Pull - 10 reps
External RC Band Pull - 10 reps

Food:
9 cups of water
Multivitamin
Fish oil (2)
Cottage cheese with onion and chives (150g) - 127.5/5.25/20.85
Sardines (180g) - 311.4/0/39.6/16.92
Banana protein shake - 589.3/55.9/40.3/9.77
Peanuts (100g) - 598.6/15.3/28.1/52.5
Fish oil
Kettle chips (1 bag) - 723/84/9.45/38.7
Red salmon (212g) - 334.9/0/35.6/21.4
Eggs (3) - 196.6/11.25/19.8/8.6

Total - 2881.3/171.7/193.75/181.39

Observations:
-This workout is tougher than BTP day 1 although very similar.
-My calories are close to the requirement for the diet, however my carbs are way too high. This is acceptable on a free day but shouldn't carry on tomorrow.
-I'm still under 200g of protein which is worrying. It's tough to eat enough to get over 300g in there.

Saturday 23 Dec 2006

Workout:
Rest day (Optional)

Food:
9 cups of water
Salmon (213g) - 264.12/0/38.98/11.76
Goat's cheese (125g) - 381.25/4.38/193.4/31.25
Peanuts (20g) - 120/3/5.6/10.5
Multivitamin
Fish oil (2)
Salmon (213g) - 334.9/0/35.6/21.4 (Different brand)
Sardines (180g) - 311.4/0/39.6/16.92
Eggs (3) - 189/1.02/16.61/13.12
Peas (150g) - 116/20.57/7.81/0.55
Brie cheese (50g) - 167/0.23/10.38/13.84
Fish oil
Skim milk (200mL) - 70/9.7/6.8/0.36

Total - 1953.67/38.8/180.8/119.712

Observations:
-I really went overboard this time with cutting carbs. It's really a lot more difficult to maintain a constant nutrition and still have variety. I'll get it eventually though.
-I also dropped my calories by 1000 kCal!

Sunday 24 Dec 2006

Workout:
Rest day

Food:
8 cups of water
Multivitamin
Fish oil (2)
Salmon (213g) - 333.9/0/35.6/21.4
Brie (80g) - 267/0.36/16.6/22.14
Sardines (180g) - 155.7/0/19.8/8.5
Peas (100g) - 77/13.7/5.21/0.37
Fish oil
Skim milk (250mL) - 88/12.12/8.53/0.45

Total - 922/17.33/85.73/52.86

Observations:
-Abysmal, really poor. I don't know why but today I just can't eat much.
-Carbs at 17g has to be unhealthy. I'll definitely pick them up tomorrow however because tomorrow it's

Christmas Day Monday 25 Dec 2006

Workout:
3 sets of Beginner's Training Plan day 1
+ 20 gripper grips
5 pinch grips

Food:
8 cups of water
Multivitamin
Fish oil (2)
Oats (50g) - 178/30/5.5/4
Skim milk (200mL) - 70/9.7/6.8/0.36
Cottage cheese (150g) - 127.5/3.3/12.5/1.4
Cheddar cheese (50g) - 202/0.64/12.45/16.57
Broccoli (250g) - 275/11.95/7.03/0.72
Carrots (125g) - 51/11.97/1.16/0.3
Sprouts (125g) - 54/11.19/4.22/0.38
Cheddar Cheese (30g) - 121/0.64/7.47/9.94
Turkey (45g) - 72/0.1/12/2.5
Skim milk (400mL) - 584/19.4/13.64/0.72
Cheddar cheese (50g) - 202/0.64/12.45/16.57
Fish oil
Plain protein shake
Skim milk (500mL) - 175/24.25/17/05/0.9
Skim milk powder (57g) - 206/30.2/20.6/0.3

Total - 2317/161.01/132.87/54.16

Observations:
-Christmas ain't going to stop me from working out!
-I think I misplaced one of my food items. I definitely ate more turkey before the broccoli.
-I've swung back to too many carbs and I'm still too low on protein (definitely didn't even hit 200g with the turkey I missed).
-At least my calories are back up a bit.
-After I ate my Christmas dinner with all the veggies I felt REALLY tired. I actually fell asleep for around 2 hours and I could barely stay awake for my workout.

Tuesday 26 Dec 2006

Workout:
Minute drill #1 (20s reps)

I'll keep Ross' advanced workouts to myself. I don't just want to put his whole book for display online. If you're interested, get a copy of Never Gymless.

These minute drills are amazing! Suffice to say that before this drill, I didn't even know the meaning of "high intensity". This was way tougher than my usual 20 minute hill sprints. I almost collapsed at the end of it but recovered surprisingly quickly. The drill is 12 minutes but it feels like forever.

I also forgot to do core training today. I was just too worn out I guess.

Food:
9 cups of water
Multivitamin
Fish oil (2)
Cheddar (50g) - 202/0.64/12.45/16.57
Turkey (125g) + (125g) + (100g) - 560/1.1/94.8/19.6 (Ahh that's more like it! I had this through-out the day)
Plain protein shake (750mL)
Skim milk Powder (57g) - 206/30.2/20.6/0.3
Skim milk (750mL) - 245/33.95/23.87/1.26
Fish oil
Peas (150g) - 116/20.57/7.81/0.55
Eggs (3) - 189/1.02/16.61/13.12
Cheddar (30g) - 121/0.64/7.47/9.94
Semi skimmed milk (200mL) - 100/9.6/7.2/3.6 (Changed back to semi skimmed because it's got more calories. I might just switch back to regular full-cream milk for the calorie content.)

Total - 1739/97.72/190.81/64.94

Weight: 92kg (202lbs)
Waist size: 92cm (36 inches)

Observations:
-I finally managed to pull the protein back to close to 200g. Now onto 300g!
-Perfect carb amount too, today was a really good day compared to the past few (being Christmas, I suppose), apart from the low calories.
-I dropped 1kg and 4cm off my waistline. This is pretty good for losing weight but I'm more interested in gaining strength and endurance...

Wednesday 27 Dec 2006

Workout:
3 sets of BTP day 3

Food:
9 cups of water
Multivitamin
Fish oil (2)
Cheddar (75g) - 302/0.96/18.67/24.86
Sardines (180g) - 155.7/0/19.8/8.5
Turkey (175g) - 280/0.6/47/9.8
Prune protein shake (500mL)
Semi skim milk (500mL) - 250/24/18/9
Skim milk powder (57g) - 206/30.2/20.6/0.3
Prunes (110g) - 136.4/37.4/2.75/0.4
Peas (150g) - 116/20.57/7.81/0.55
Cheddar (100g) - 403/1.28/24.9/33.14
Eggs (3) - 189/1.02/16.61/13.12
Fish oil
Cottage cheese (75g) - 63.3/1.7/6.2/0.7

Total - 2101.4/166.03/182.34/100.37

Observations:
-Prune... protein shake? Seemed like a good idea at the time. Because I'm a student I had to drink every last drop and love it. (No throwing away edible stuff!)
-Actually, it's debatable whether that shake was edible after all... Oh well, at least it had lots of fibre.
-Calories are back on the rise but this time it's from fat! I'm glad that I'm beginning to get a hang of getting my calories from fat rather than carbs to avoid insulin spiking.
-Thanks to that stupid prune shake, my carbs have spiked again.
-My protein is slipping again.

Ok so that's the past few days in detail for me. I've got some questions for who ever will answer them:

How do you reckon I'm doing on the vitamins and minerals side of things? I'm taking a multivitamin every day but 100g of carbs doesn't allow for much in the way of vegetables.

How the heck do you eat 300g of protein in a day?

I realise that I should be eating 50g of protein a meal (6 meals) but heck, I don't even buy that much meat yet. Fortunately, I'm going to be eating way more in the ways of Tesco value chicken now that Christmas is over.

I don't think the local Tesco even stocks enough sardines to feed me 300g of protein in a day!

If I'm progressing like this now, I wonder how I'd progress with that much protein.

On the upside it looks like I've figured out how to control my carb intake, more or less. Now I've got to increase my protein...

Edit: I've switched to using http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/ for my calculations because you can just input the weights and get the nutritional information calculated for you. Saves a lot of calculator work.

Also, it just occurred to me that I might not need 300g of protein a day because T-Dawg is a bodybuilding diet. However, I still think that my protein per day is lower than it should be at the moment.

By the way, I only intend to keep the food log until I can get an understanding of how to eat a low carb diet "instinctually". Also, I want to get a few recipes together in my long-term food log which I can use and be sure that they'll contain good nutritional content.

P.S. The resistance bands and the ab-wheel I ordered came in! Woohoo!