Martinpanduh

So did anybody dress up? Hahaha I came as a *surprise* Panda. All my life, people keep alluding to the fact that I look like a Panda and I decided to prove them either right/wrong this Halloween. Hahaha here with my friend who came as Pebbles, don't stone my angry face! Post your Halloween pictures! HOLLAAAAAAA.

Epic! What was your starting weight? I'm so happy for you!

Reppin' that Spanish keyboard hahaha! Enjoy Peru!

Hey guys! I just finished my last day at my office (thank God, I hope they don't call me back anymore) where I do freelance design and event planning for them. Anyway, whatever. The point is, I'm planning to branch out on my own for a while. It's exciting stuff, I have a plan and all. Exciting things--bottomline is, I'm going to have more time to go to the gym. Work's been such a distraction honestly, but the great thing is--I've kept up with my diet which is my #1 goal. I can honestly say I am loving the life without carbohydrates. I feel brighter for some reason, if that makes sense. Springy. Whatever haha! In other news, it's Halloween and my sister is throwing her yearly party, with costumes and like a ton of people. I invited like 20 of my friends and I'm just going to go out and say it now: I plan to get sloshed. This could be very detrimental to my diet, with all the soda and all. I haven't touched anything but water for almost three weeks so I deserve this (nat)! I don't plan to drink beer but I definitely can't drink the hard stuff without the sugar. I am so stoked. Hope everybody has a good week! Enjoy the holidays (this might sound odd but here in the Philippines, Halloween is definitely a holiday--All Souls Day and all that stuff * Semester break), don't break your diets though! Cheers.

changed my mind, tried it over the weekend. failure saturday, success sunday. just the bar, i don't dare try heavier yet. modifications: my press is REALLY weak, so instead of going up on weight, between rounds i stuck with the same weight and did an extra two rounds instead. I'm far from being an expert but out of the entirety of the bear complex, I find the press the easiest: I suggest you train first with a clean and press motion to get your shoulders in shape. Or solely an overhead press. I'm really not sure but that's the most obvious solution, for me though the squat component is the deadliest doing the Bear (cardio + body weight + extra weight). You can do it!

Doing well with my diet! I tried on some shirts yesterday, yea my old ones that don't fit right anymore (belly section) and lo and behold, they almost fit again. Almost being the key word. No real results yet but I feel like I'm getting there, Paleo is a revelation! As for exercise, I gotta be honest when I've only been making half of my 3/4 times a week quota at best. Work just got in the way. But my main challenge this month is the diet so I'm going to try to ramp up the exercise these next few days.

Kudos Lwow! That's awesome progress, just savor the feeling and keep going! Great job!

Thanks for the tips! Definitely going to buy some chicken today! Cheers.

Share the recipe! All in a crockpot kind of thing? But oh no, beans haha.

Still going strong with the Paleo diet, lots of temptations around the office though but I've kept my resolve strong! It's not easy working in a language school (Spanish to be exact) where the concept of fiesta is not to be taken lightly. We celebrate everything down here, with croquettas, paella and CAKE. Nothing I can eat! But it's okay, almost halfway through this challenge. Almost time to go to the grocery again, I've almost burned through my 3kg of chicken breasts. This time around I'm going to get chicken thighs, fuller flavor definitely and I prefer dark meat over white meat anytime. Any thoughts on this? I've read that there isn't much difference in calories and cholesterol. Also I realize I need more breakfast options! I don't want to eat 2-4 eggs each morning, any other breakfast ideas? Other than an omelette? Thanks guys! Keep going!

How much weight did you get up to? I have yet to go past my 50lbs + bar max but it already gets pretty intense! Hahaha I love watching this video though, the pain is so tangible on their faces and it gets me motivated to go out there and do it myself.

I didn't like the first book so much, well I didn't hate it but it didn't push me to read the 2nd and 3rd. Not a good sign, maybe I'll try it again soon!

So I have a few questions, Paleo related for sure. 1) So I've been pretty much eating chicken, super content thanks to Mark's Daily Apple marinade guide, but mostly I've been eating the breast part or white meat. Recently though, I've been reading that the breast has little difference with the thigh part, in terms of calories and cholesterol content. I'm a dark-meat kind of guy so I was just wondering: is it counter-intuitive (Paleo diet to lose weight) to eat the thigh parts? Or is it perfectly okay? 2) How many eggs can we eat in a day? Lol simple, and I know it's okay to eat more than one (read up on it online) but here in the Philippines, they really love the "Oh you can only eat half an egg each day" and I'm like "WTF" so for once and for all. Thanks! Cheers!

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I highly recommend you read the Hunger Games trilogy, it's a "hot" book right now for good reason. Very compelling, great story!

Oh yeah, I definitely mix this up with pulls and presses (bench press, inverted rows and deadlifts) plus definitely some running.

Anybody out there like (Forever)Young Adult? Haha I'm 22 myself but I (still) love Harry Potter. I recently read the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins and I died. It was beyond epic. Mix of Battle Royale and some other cool movie. It was heart wrenching, anybody else here read it? Know any good titles to recommend out there? I just started reading the Percy Jackson books and they weren't up to snuff, too light I guess but I'm still reading. Cheers!

Check this out! I don't know if this falls under cross-fit or whatever (neither do I know what the implications are, people around the net get so hot-headed when it comes to that stuff) but I do recommend doing this exercise. It gets you winded in all the right places, it's a time saver and from a personal stand point, I like the muscle areas it hits. Anybody out there familiar with this? The video is pretty epic. Let me know how heavy you guys can go. Currently I can do 35lb plate per side, so that's 70lbs plus the bar of 20lbs I guess. Not bad and it's super tiring. Thoughts?

Great job on the workouts! Though I have no idea how to work out with a club, I did see your reference pictures and they remind me of kettlebells: in a more pointy kind of way I guess haha. A mandolin is like a guitar no? I used to play the cello, completely given up on it though I'm sure I could still whip out some Eine Kleine Nachtmusik haha. I dunno, it just got to the point that my teacher goes "If you don't practice for 6 hours a day, it's pointless" so I was like "uhhh... okay!" hahaha. Honestly, between the cello and college at that point, it was no-contest. I don't miss it but I still appreciate the music. Good times.

I know! Any recipe marinades? Basically the Bear sequence is a combination of exercises I learned from my rowing training days: namely high-pull, front squat, overhead press, back squat etc. It emphasizes full body movement and circuit training (cardio component): it's super tiring. Check this video out (the girl is too epic, I can't take it.) All the time! But I have no access to a rowing machine right now, if ever I did, I would not go for the distance legs. They are killer! Go try out those marinades, they rock!

The typhoon was intense but mostly in the North. The Capital of the Philippines, Manila, is in the southern part of the northern region (if that makes sense) and we only suffered 1/10th of the damage they had up there in the north. Very strong winds. This was nothing compared to the storm last year which had a lot of parts of Manila flooded up to the 2nd story. I kid you not, these aren't homes you see on TV. These were the homes of my friends living in posh villages, it was intense. Global warming for you. Thankfully, my house was spared from any flood (housing 5 of my rowing crewmates for 12 hours, since we had training that day). Though I couldn't say the same for the street next to mine, it was practically a river. It was that bad. ANYWAY. Speaking of planning ahead, oh my god it could not be more simple. Just buy a bunch of chicken breasts (I personally like thigh/leg parts myself but the breast is infinitely healthier I hear) and marinate it for 2 hours (or overnight if Tandoori/check recipe) and then after, just saran-wrap them and they go straight to the freezer. Just pop some out, defrost in the microwave and bake/stir-fry. Trust me.

Soy sauce also includes soy. Soy is the devil. I generally find eggs and fatty meat a good substitute for anything. Why is soy the devil? Other than the fact that I heard it has estrogen? Sorry ignorant but genuinely curious!

Guys check this out, Mark's Daily Apple: Meat Lover's Guide to Marinating Meat (Plus 10 Primal Marinades) http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-marinate-meat/ it's been such a joy exploring new recipes and getting a handle of the different healthy spices out there that could revolutionize your diet. Check it out! I tried Tandoori and the Grilled Chicken Marinade, details at my own post. Cheers! Goodluck this week guys!

Almost a week and a half into this thing and it's been great. Though I can't say that I am seeing any tangible results as yet, I do feel good and I plan to stick it till the end of this challenge. I went to the grocery last weekend and I bought a ton of stuff. I bought so much chicken, I couldn't help but be happy at the counter. The cashier gave me a look, but I didn't give a fu--haha. Anyway, I went over to Mark's Daily Apple and referenced his Meat Lover's Guide to Marinating Meat (Plus 10 Primal Marinades) http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-marinate-meat/ to make my Paleo journey much more tasty. I tried out the Tandoori marinade (lots of yogurt) and the Grilled Chicken Marinade. I have yet to try the (1 kg worth) of Grilled Chicken Marinade I made but the Tandoori turned out well, though I think it could be better with more spices. To anyone who want to try it, I suggest you don't skimp on the paprika/cumin/turmeric as I think that's what makes the Tandoori, exactly that, Tandoori. And the yogurt of course! Cooking new things really motivates eating healthy, I kid you not. I would recommend doing this to everyone. On the exercise front, I went yesterday to the gym and did the Bear complex (50 pounds plus bar) basically a sequence of a clean, front squat, overhead raise, normal weighted squat,then overhead raise x 5 = 1 Bear sequence x five sets. Before that I ran for 20 minutes, a steady state of 6.5miles per hour and then did a Chest press (100+bar) for five reps, five sets. Pretty grueling, I hope it's enough to induce some results. Here's to another week of no grains and healthy eating! Cheers <3

I find getting enough protein in, at every meal, paired with either eggs (breakfast) or vegetables keeps me full until the next meal. I think the key to Paleo (from my own personal experience) is getting enough protein and healthy fat with every meal. I couldn't have given up grains if I didn't switch it up with more protein and vegetables.

So far so good, I'm having a blast with the Paleo diet. It really is true what they say, good food keeps you full longer. I only crave (or want to cave) into eating carbs when I'm hungry and I have no food for myself. Once I get down to eating some protein and a salad, I'm good till the next meal time. With a lot of preparation and foresight, Paleo isn't as hard as I thought it would be. Paired with the right exercise plan, I think I can finally achieve the results I want. Hey guys, do you know any other easy recipes there for protein? So far I'm just sticking with the easy chicken breast, I marinate, saran-wrap them (however, way you spell it HAHA) and I put it in the freezer. Pop them out to defrost and pan-fry with a hint of olive oil when I'm hungry. Super safe, super accessible. Anyway it's the weekend! I'm proud to say I went out last night with my friends and I didn't touch any beer or hard drinks, all for the sake of this challenge! It was tempting but if there's a will, there's a way haha! Cheers!