Hmm, I'm assuming more weight lifting is going to be involved? Personal trainer maybe? I'm curious to hear about your plan.

I will try to post everything tonight - I am absolutely swamped at work right now... but I did want to drop in because today was my weigh-in day. Down to 176.2! WHOOHOOO. And I drank SOOOOOOOOOO freaking much water yesterday that there is no way I was dehydrated!

Yo man.....

Hi there!

I wondered if you ever stopped by my little ol' journal-

On this forum I stopped doing the whole journal thing. I simply don't have the time and typically don't like doing random driveby postings... they seem so empty.

Not trying to be self-important or anything... I don't expect anyone to stop by mine either, lol. Not like anyone does at this point.

I'm primarily here to offer help for those who privately message me and clean up spam.

Man I'm jealous. I think I am going to go drink some water, NOW!

When I came up with my meal plan for the week I really wanted to focus on healthy clean foods and increasing my protein intake. I am a picky eater, so this was hard for me - but after some research I found a days worth of food that seems pretty nutritious. I chose to have 5 'meals' per day as I tend to overeat if I wait to long between meals.

Meal 1
-Smoothie (1 banana -or- pineapple; 1.5-2 scoops of protein powder; 1/2C. FF Plain yogurt; 1 TBL all natural peanut butter)

Meal 2
-1 serving chicken salad (made with grapes, almonds, veggies, etc...)
-1 serving cherries

Meal 3
-4oz white fish with extra virgin olive oil
-1C brown rice

Meal 4
-3oz turkey (made into turkey balls from ground turkey)
-1 apple

Meal 5 (varies day-to-day)
-1 serving lean protein
-1 serving veggies
-1 serving carbs
=============================================
Approx: 1800 Cals, 130 g. protein

I took some tips from the new book by Tom Venuto. He recommends a 90/10 compliance with the above diet. I eat 35 meals per week, giving me 3.5 free meals which I will break down to: 1 free lunch, 1 free breakfast, 1 free dinner, and 1 free snack. (one could use all of these meals at once and have a free day)

I made a little chart where I can track which meals are healthy and which meals are free/cheat (just so I don't lose track...)

So far, so good. Things got a little hard for me yesterday (day 3) - everything just tasted bland and I didn't want it... at all. I ate healthy all day (meals 1-4) and then had a free meal for dinner. It was perfect(ly good) Now that my cravings are satisfied I feel ready for another few days of healthy/clean eating!

I am really focusing on water intake as well. Trying to get as much as possible.

My new weigh-in day is every Wednesday to coincide with the July Challenge and I am happy to see my weight going down at a very lovely pace (around 1%/week)

I hope this meal plan will help me obtain my goal body when I get to my goal weight!

7/1/09 - 178.0
7/8/09 - 176.2

Great stuff!

In really, a meal off plan isn't at all bad assuming you don't go overboard. I don't plan out my nutrition near how I used to back in the day. But when I did, I might have chicken, brown rice, olive oil, veggies on the menu for dinner.

But when I come home I find my wife made pork tenderloin with a marinade with some rice pilaf and veggies.

Well food is food. I'm still getting in protein, carbs and fats and in fact... the absolute amounts probably aren't much different. I wouldn't even consider this example a "cheat."

Perception is a powerful thing though and I know for a lot of people, when the deviate from a plan, they tend to *really* deviate. It's this damn all-or-nothing mentality that really trips them up.

So be aware.

Looks great though.

I agree. For me, the free meals are completely a mental comfort. If I new that I could never (guiltlessly) eat another hamburger and french fries I would feel trapped / boxed in by my diet. I need to know that, if I really wanted to, I could have those foods (in moderation, infrequently) without ruining my body / program. Also, the longer I am on a plan the less I tend to crave unhealthy foods and the cheat meals turn into small treats...

In past attempts to lose weight I ABSOLUTELY had the all-or-nothing mentality. If I 'cheated' then I was a failure and there was no point in continuing the diet. It's silly looking back, but that is exactly how I thought!

I had a pretty high calorie dinner last night, but I got up this morning feeling really great and actually look forward to my healthy foods today.

My free dinner is really the only time I plan to go all-out. For my other 'free' meals I will look forward to small treats like a PB&J sandwich for lunch, or a cookie for a snack, or maybe some toast with jelly and milk for breakfast (just a break from the norm, really. Not a deviation from my regular daily calories).

I'm glad my diet makes sense to others... sometimes things sound better in my head

My reply to you in Kara's journal:

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/weigh...more-go-6.html

That is what I thought it was - I saw the post on your forum and downloaded the book. I want to start reading it this weekend - what I've read so far is really good!

Since I revamped my diet, I thought I would also restructure my exercise plan. Previously I was running. 5 days a week, just running. I now know that was probably a bad idea

My new plan still includes running, but also weight training (like I should have been doing all along!) I have to admit that I am pretty clueless when it comes to weight lifting (or any exercise other than running...) I've been doing some research and tried to develop a plan that would 1.) fit into my lifestyle and 2.) not kill a novice like me!

Monday
-Rest Day

Tuesday
-Short run (between 2-4 miles)
-push-ups; sit-ups

Wednesday
-weights

Thursday
-Short run
-push-ups; sit-ups

Friday
-weights

Saturday
-push-ups; sit-ups
-Yoga

Sunday
-Long run

Running: I know I still need cardio because I still have a good bit of fat to lose. Instead of running 5 times a week I will only go 3 times a week. I'm going to go as far as possible during my long runs and moderate distances on short runs... although I did 4.5 miles on Tuesday

Push-ups / sit-ups: I am doing the 100 push-up challenge and 200 sit-up challenge. It is 3 days/week for 6 weeks. I know it may seem lame to some, but working toward a deadline really helps me and I really want an extra focus on my torso.

Weights: I am following the 5X5 program that I saw on this forum in a few places. I only have 10 pound weights at home and some bands, so this program my not work for me in the long term. I may revamp the weight portion once I do more research. I'm basically doing something for now until I find the right exercises, etc...

Yoga: I have a nice yoga dvd made especially for runners - I will do this on Saturday to prepare for my long run on Sunday.

As always, any advice is appreciated!

Great... enjoy! You'll learn oodles.

Hey ya gotta start somewhere with the weight lifting so it sounds good to me. In the Advanced forum I was asking about doing the 100 pushup challenge in conjunction with my normal weight lifting routine and everyone who replied said not to. They recommended I just do pushups on my upper body days as a warm up to my chest exercises. Since you are going so light with the weight lifting though, I think you will be fine. After the pushup challenge is over though, you probably will need to go heavier. It will all be great for you though and these are the kinds of challenges and newness we all need in our routines.

Glad to see you are so motivated again. Don't forget to take good photos of yourself NOW and then again in 6 weeks so you can see that you are getting more toned.

YAYAY - just got the key to the fitness center in my townhouse community. I went to check it out and they have tons of free weights (up to 50 pounds) and a weight bench! I am so excited... this is exactly what I need to move forward