Fighting the Colonel

[Morrigainz]

I stumbled across this paleo bread while looking for recipes. Not sure how invested I want to get $$ wise in all this, so don't know if I want to buy the almond flour, etc, but...it's intriguing. And would satisfy the bread craving.

[GemNoir]

Hmm why does everything "healthy" for you when losing weight/building muscle, involve nuts? I hate nuts. Lol.

And this is always the issue right- the money. How much do you invest. I mean, luckily enough I already have a set of dumbbells because of a mad fitness burst about two years ago (I do that) which didn't last very long. So I have the dumbbells to be able to do the dumbbell rows I do in the BWW. I've also forked out for a dance game/mat for my PS2 because I figured that was a good way of warming up before exercise - bouncing around on that for a few songs should be good.

As soon as my bloody training at work is over I'll have time to do other stuff too, but all that costs money. Like joining sports clubs here at the uni. I'm going back to volleyball next week and I've been forever wanting to start up some martial arts - probably kung fu at a club near where my new house will be next year. But I don't have the money to do all this stuff... :-(

[Morrigainz]

I am in the same boat. I would love to really do the home gym thing, with a proper set up and free weights and stuff.

Also gym membership. I want to lift 3x a week but I just can't do it at home. There is no way I can finagle the stuff I have at home to work for me, especially for squats.

I like nuts They are full of protein and FAT! GOOD fat! Yum. I have actually been nomming on sunflower seeds lately. I wonder if almond flour etc actually tastes like almonds?

Anyway I've already more than doubled what I'm spending on groceries every week, just buying fresh veggies and trying to find organic/natural alternatives to things. If I go the next step, it's going to mean shopping at a high-end grocery store (ok *I* consider it high-end) like D&W or VGs or something instead of Walmart. I know, I know, I hate Walmart, and I try to shop at our local grocery also, but those are the only 2 grocery stores within 20 miles.

/rant

[GemNoir]

Lol I would love to eat fresh every day but he problem is that I'm on my own. I don't live with my family or a partner or anything so it becomes very difficult to buy fresh stuff for one. I use it once and then it's mouldy before I can use it again. So I tend to just go for the frozen veg thing. I know that's shit and you should try and use fresh stuff but the maths speaks for itself, it really does. I'll just have to settle for fresh fruit and frozen veg :-P If I get really fitness-freak style (I mean, I don't consider them freaks, I consider those people to be damn well dedicated and worthy of respect, but you know the kind of people that LAZY people call fitness-freaks lol) then I might start forking out the money. But as I'm just getting started, I don't want to try loading too much onto myself and am, instead, going to focus on one thing at a time.

I might have to find some nuts I can stomach.... :S What nuts taste the LEAST like peanuts? Because I hate peanuts lol.

[Morrigainz]

Yeah I definitely understand. Usually when I buy fresh stuff, it's to use in cooking. Like this past week I bought fresh green pepper, orange pepper, red pepper, mushrooms, and onion...OK I ate the green pep raw but I used the other ingredients in a huge stir fry that I made last night.

I also have bags of frozen veggies...yesterday I tried Spezzy's "eat an entire bag of steamfresh veggies" trick and it worked out pretty well...I was so full afterwards!

Focusing on one thing at a time is the way to go. I sometimes get over excited and am like, do ALL the things! but it quickly becomes way too much for me to do.

I actually really like almonds. They have a bit of a sweeter taste. Definitely not like peanuts. I don't eat them by themselves very often though...I usually use them for baking.

[GemNoir]

Hmm... I may have to try almonds then. Normally I just avoid all nuts because I'm not a big fan. Nutella is the closest I get and that's only because it has chocolate in it! Lol.

I shall also have to look into spezzy's bag of veg trick.

I just bought a red pepper today which is probably the first time I've bought fresh veg since I moved out of my parents' which was nearly 2 years ago lol. I used part of it for my dinner tonight which worked well and the other half is sitting in my fridge wrapped in clingfilm. I just have to remember to use it :S

I always try to go the whole hog. Like, if I'm gonna be healthy I do the diet and the exercise and the daily scrubbing of the face to feel renewed all the time and basically I just end up failing at it all because I'm trying to take on too much which is why I'm taking the exercise thing one day at a time. I mean, normally I would have gone for this BWW every day like a mad woman but I'm being sensible about it this time as I've learnt that exercise (and our bodies) don't work that way. So hopefully this time will be the time I manage to stick to it because I'm being careful about it . (I hope) Lol.

[GemNoir]

Okay today's report:

6 hour shift at work today (yesterday was only a practice on open so I was only in there for 2 hours - still a significant victory to have not had food though) and I had no KFC! Whoop! Got up deliberately early this morning (5:30am) and got an earlier bus into the city so that I could pick up a lettuce and chicken sandwich (I have nothing in the house to make sandwiches out of - yes I realise store bought stuff is not great) and also bought some drinks and a bunch of bananas.

6:00 - 1/2 pint of water and squash to wake myself up.

7:30 - one sandwich (had a pack of two), a banana and an innocent fruit smoothie. (3 of 5 a day)

11:30 - break, had lunch: the other sandwich, two bananas and half my orange juice. (another 3 of 5 a day)

2:30 - rest of orange juice.

18:30 - roasted chicken and pepper with rice. (1 of 5 a day)

21:00 - pint of water and squash after exercise.

Okay had a lot of bananas I know, and the orange juice is high in sugar. But I did have a lot more fruit and veg than I would normally have in at least half a week and I've drank a lot more water than normal which is good. So those were my high points in my diet today.

Exercise:

3-5 mins of jumping jacks and knees up for warm up.

20x body weight squats

10x push ups (on knees)

35x walking lunges (I felt good after 30 and tried to go for 40 but a decreased quickly and started to lose form so stopped)

80x dumbbell rows (40 on each arm. 1.5kg dumbbell)

25 second plank

30x jumping jacks for cool down

Was really close to not doing exercise today and a hairs-breadth away from buying chocolate twice But I didn't! I didn't buy it and I got my arse out of my desk chair and did the exercise like I was supposed to! Whoop!! 3 days without chocolate and 4 days of successful exercise routine! I'm the kind of person who can give up with the slightest inclination so I'm rather proud of myself right now. Once it becomes habit it's easy for me, it's just really hard to get to that point.

Am considering increasing the weight of my dumbbell in the rows and doing few number (or the same if I can manage it). Not sure if that's progressing too quickly. What's generally better more reps of a lower weight or fewer at a greater weight?

Still waiting for my dance mat and game so that I can have a fun warm up :-(

Hopefully going back to volleyball next Wednesday! Can't wait!!

Now I'm off to stretch do some of my uni reading and sleep. I feel so smug... Lol.

EDIT:

Note to self: When stretching, mind the lamp-shade.

[Morrigainz]

Great job!!!

As far as reps/weight, it depends on your goals. If you want to increase muscular endurance, i.e. be able to carry things a far distance, low weight/high reps are your friend. If, however, you want to lift heavy things, do fewer reps at a higher weight. I would recommend 8-12 reps at most for growing muscle. The same goes for the squats and the lunges...if you add some weight in there, you'll be working your muscles harder. Oh! And with the rows...your back is probably stronger than you think...I'm sure you can row more than 1.5 kg! It's definitely not bad to start out at a low weight or bodyweight, to be sure you get the form down, but once you think you have good form, definitely up your weight.

Awesome job for getting out there and getting it done! I know how hard it can be when you're not in the zone

[GemNoir]

Hey thanks MirGSS!

Yeah, I basically have a little (I feel so n00bish) rack of three sizes of dumbbells. I started with the lowest because I kinda figured, hey I'm out of shape - I need to start slow, and then that was just piddly easy so I started on the middle one 1.5kg. It's hard for me to know what is "a lot" and what isn't very much. My next dumbbell up is 2kg. I'll start using that. Should I maybe consider investing in some heavier ones, or are these a normal set? :S

How do I add weight to the squats and lunges, do I just hold dumbbells while I do it? Only with the squats my arms are out in front to keep my balance so I'm not sure how that would work lol. Or maybe I should wear my backpack and put the dumbbells in there? Lol.

And thanks for the cheering on. I was so out of the zone yesterday but I'm glad I forced myself to do it. I'm feeling really good today from all the fruit and exercise. And I've been trying to wake up earlier and get myself going earlier in the day which is making me feel more awake and able to get done some of the stuff I've been stressing over, like uni work and stuff for my job training. So yeah, overall I'm feeling good.

And I don't hurt at all today either. I feel really good

[GemNoir]

Hmm not much to report today.

Diet wise -

7:30am - banana to kick start metabolism.

10:30am - my lunch of beans on toast.

4:00pm - I had a Krushem. :-( BUT it was a calculated choice. I had misguidedly forgotten to pack some good food for my break at work, was absolutely starving with the whole mouth watering at the smell of chicken thing, so I got a strawberry Krushem minus the biscuit bits which as far as I'm concerned counts as about half of one of your five a day because there's a crap load of strawberries in that sauce. I did NOT have the chocolate ones which I restrained myself from and despite the heck of a lot of sugar in it it filled me up so I did not have any junk food. I consider this a not great, but small, victory.

8:00pm - dinner consisted of a strange concoction I made up pretending I was all MasterChef winner and involved sauteed potatoes on a tomatoey-meat base and melted cheese on top. I think I left it in the microwave too long though and it kinda concealed all together. Didn't look very appetising but it tasted pretty good. (I'm running out of stuff in my cupboards before food shop day).

So yeah, not as healthy as yesterday but still much better than it could have been. And I'm now day 4 with no chocolate!

This is all good practice because I'm going to go vegetarian for Lent and I'm thinking of giving up chocolate at the same time, but am wondering if this is too much of a sacrifice... :S

As for exercise, today is my off day so I did some stretches this morning and have been restful Other than all the walking around I do at work and across town. Did some power walking on the way to work this morning because the damn bus was too slow.

Also woke up at 5:30 this morning in an attempt to get my body working to that schedule and have proven to myself that I can stay awake when I wake up that early because here I am at 11 still reasonably with it lol. Am going to give myself maybe an extra half hour today as I'm quite tired, making it 6. But I'm not caving more than that!

Going to sleeps now... Night!

PS: This is rapidly becoming more of a journal than a workout log. I sincerely apologise. :S

[GemNoir]

Okay report on yesterday is that there is no report.

I crashed yesterday as I had a ton of work to do, got home exhausted and watched a movie to chill out and then had enough time either for a work out or a bath. And as I already needed a bath, I didn't think skipping it in lue of getting sweaty was a good idea. So yeah, I failed on my exercises yesterday. Bugger.

Also failed on my diet but yesterday was my shit day. Which is basically the day when I eat what is left in my cupboards because I've forgotten to do a food shop the day before, and, because there isn't enough in the cupboards, have had to buy a load of not-cheap food while I'm out and about. I also call it my treat day in which I'm allowed to buy what I want. I wasn't going to do it this time - I was gonna be careful. But after I was so stressed out from my day I just went - sod it, I'll have my shit/treat day.

So I think the high/low lights of the diet yesterday were 4 chocolate muffins and a chocolate brownie.

Please note, that I did not eat any actual chocolate which is my vice, and I have a low fat yoghurt at lunch along with fresh milk for my calcium. I also bought some almonds and was munching them in the evening, and, with my microwave dinner I bought fresh veg which I rarely have. So it wasn't a complete loss.

I'm not going to do exercise today - I'm going to keep it the schedule of it being a rest day because a) this is about to be the busiest day of my life and I'll probably be working late into the evening and I'm hoping to go to volleyball again tomorrow and will also do exercise routine on that, so I'm not gonna exercise today because I'm doing it tomorrow.

First fail day! Doh! But I think it's important to list in here when I've failed at something as well as when I achieve because if anyone is actually out there reading this (probably not but oh well) I think its important that they don't just see yays and feel bad if they can't produce the same. So the bad days have to be unashamedly reported also.

[Morrigainz]

It's ok to have bad days. I have them too (like all this weekend..ugh). And it's ok to not be perfect 100% of the time!

As for adding weight to squats and lunges, you can just hold dumbbells while you do them. For squats you might try goblet squats (you can check out youtube for the form). I'm not sure about adding weight to a backpack although I thought Steve said he might have done that in one of his articles. Or maybe that was someone else. I've been doing a lot of reading lately

I'm about off to the gym myself...last couple of days have been rough and then we are going on vaca Thursday so...definitely need to get on it.

Congrats on keeping everything updated!

[GemNoir]

Okay have had a few changes and been mad mad busy in the last few days so here's my slightly late update:

Diet has gone out of the window for the past few days because I have been trying to eat all of the non-vegetarian things in my cupboards and keep forgetting to do food shops so have been buying food out and about which is a ridiculous waste of money, but I can't seem to get my butt in gear.

I've been working near constantly to meet a deadline at work so I haven't had time to keep up with the exercise for the last few days (I even had the miss the volleyball I was looking forward to so much :-( ).

But now tis different. Kinda. I'm on track. Not done but on track. So I should be able to spare time for myself again. Therefore and therein I'm ready to detail my new plan.

I am going vegetarian for lent (started yesterday) and am giving up chocolate. So no choco and meat for lent. In preparation I have been munching on almonds to get used to them and have bought some eggs to replace my protein.

I've gone too many days without exercise so I am restarting my routine today. Once back from university I'm going to do my exercises which I'm actually looking forward to. I'm going to add weight to my lunges but for the squats I'm still struggling to keep my balance and don't think I'll manage the goblet squat just yet, but I will definitely be progressing onto that. Once I feel like I can manage 30 squats instead of 20 for a few days, I am going to then switch to 20 goblet squats.

I'm going to again go back to the exercise on and off days.

I'm not going to try and be strict on my diet for the next 40 days. I'm going to say that I can eat whatever I want provided that it's vegetarian and not chocolate. If I start focusing on not eating crisps or biscuits etc as well then it's going to be too much and I'm going to give up. So the rule for the next 40 is going to be that I'm allowed whatever I want provided it fits with lent. After Lent I'm going to decide whether to keep up the vegetarianism and either way, will start focusing on a proper fitness "diet".

But now I'm off to a busy day at uni and will be back to do my BBW.