Blog's Back!

It's been about 7 months since last post but I have a new health goal so I thought it would be helpful to start writing about it again.

Update Since Last Summer:
With my diet/exercise plan as is was (very high fiber), I started having issues with my digestive condition. I have Crohn's Disease and at times have flare ups; the diet was negatively affecting this. Over the past few months I have modified everything I have been eating to figure out what works with me and feel like I have a pretty good plan. I haven't been overly disciplined recently and have only gained 9 lbs. from my lowest so I'm starting this next challenge at 164 (Weight at the start of the blog was 207).

New Goals:
 I have been particularly interested in body transformations recently. The show Biggest Loser, P90x commercials, and even seeing what actors can do to prepare for a role are very impressive (The most recent I've seen is Matthew Fox for the movie Alex Cross).
 
So I want to see what happens when I really commit to a pretty extreme diet and exercise plan. There's no real specified goal but I'm going to go as hard as I can and see what I look like at the end of 3 or 4 months.

(Very) General Plan:
I will post specifics soon but in general I am going to do a high protein, low calorie diet 6 days a week with a "binge day" similar to my original plan/ I am going to do at least 20-30 minutes of cardio every day plus at least 30 minutes strength  training 5 days per week.

Things Coming Soon:

• Current Pictures
• Specific Diet Plan
• Specific Workout/Strength Plan
• Ongoing Updates

So I am starting this tonight/tomorrow and we'll see where it goes, definitely excited to find out!

Before and After Pics 2.0

I posted some before and after pictures on September 13 of last year. That is the most popular blog post of all so I just wanted to update it a little bit.

Here is the original before picture (Beginning of February, about 1 month in; ~195-200 lbs.):

Here is the one from last September (about 8 months in; 167 lbs.):

Here is the most recent from my lowest weight yet, 155 lbs.:

Not a crazy amount of weight loss but I'm getting to the point where there is not much more to lose. I'm still following pretty much the original diet; using a lot of the recipes I have posted on here. I am still using mostly the same exercise plan that used leading up to my duathlon and half-marathon; that's seems to be what helped me break my plateau of weight-loss. When I was a freshman in high-school, I remember that my weight on my physical for soccer was 154 lbs. so I'm right where I was as a 14 year-old.

People keep asking me where I'm going to go from here and the answer is...I'm not really sure as far as weight loss goes. I'm not really pushing to lose any more weight but if I can shed a couple more pounds of body fat I would be cool with that. The truth is that I'm comfortable with my current diet and lifestyle and don't really feel like I'm sacrificing too much; and I really like how I look and feel right now. But where to go from here...I want to keep challenging myself; so marathon, triathlons, maybe half- or full-ironman eventually. I want to be in the kind of condition where I won't be too intimidated by anything, so I guess that's where I want to go from here. If you have any suggestions of how I can challenge myself, I'm open to any thoughts.

Recipe #10: Home-made Pinto Beans

In an earlier post I had a "recipe" for pintos. But this just involved using canned beans and adding stuff to them. For the last couple of months, I have been making pintos from scratch, two pounds of dry beans at a time. I developed the recipe using a method that my mom found online (no pre-soak required). My final mix of seasonings has been constantly evolving but this is my current blend; my favorite so far.

Ingredients: 2 lbs. dried pinto beans, 3-4 quarts of water, 3 minced jalapeno/serrano peppers,  4 tbsp. canola oil, 2 tbsp. salt, 1 tbsp. garlic powder, 1 tbsp. sugar (or sugar substitute),  1 tsp. red pepper flake, 1 tsp. Old Bay

1. Rinse dried beans well and place in a large pot.
2. Add the water to the pot of beans; make sure it covers the beans by at least a couple of inches.
3. Put the pot over high heat, covered and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for a couple of hours.
4. When the beans are the proper texture, it's time to add all of the other ingredients. Stir well and bring back to a boil, uncovered.
5. After about 10 minutes, check the consistency of the liquid and once it is as thick as you like, turn off the heat and let the beans cool.
6. Stir occasionally while the beans cool, otherwise they will develop a film on top.

 This will make 6-8 servings of beans and this, with some chow chow, is my lunch pretty much every day (along with a can of green beans).

Turning them into Refried beans: 
Turning normal pintos into refried beans is really simple. Over a skillet on medium-high heat, put in a tablespoon of oil and a teaspoo of minced garlic and let garlic become fragrant. Add some beans to the skillet, add a teaspoon of cumin and mash with a spoon while they cook. Once they are a heated and the right consistency,  they are ready.

50 lbs. lost!

I have lost 50 lbs. since starting to change my life less than a year-and-a half ago!

Starting status: 207 lbs. ~ 30% body-fat

Current status: 157 lbs. ~ 7.6% body-fat!

 

First Half-Marathon Results

Last Sunday I raced in my first ever half-marathon. (My third race of any kind, following my first 5k and my first duathlon). 13.1 miles of what would hopefully be running. I ran in the RunRaleigh which started and finished at Cameron Village shopping center in Raleigh, NC, just a few miles from where I live. It started at 7 am which seems to be the norm for these kinds of events but getting out there and running and doing anything active that early is kind of a shock to the system. Everything went okay and I'm happy with my results.

Preparation
I had been training for this half-marathon as well as the duathlon that I raced the week before so I had been doing a lot of running and biking. If I had just been training for one, then I think it probably would have helped my results but then playing soccer 2-3 times a week also didn't allow for total focus on any of the events either. But I'm essentially doing these to challenge myself and for fun so quitting other activities is not really in the cards. I generally tried to get in one "long" run every week leading up to the half; so like a run 5-7 miles, as well as my other running and biking. I did one run of 10 miles but that's as long as I went. The week of the race I kept on normal pace except I just took rest days on the 2 days prior to the event (except for the soccer game I played the night before; more on that later). I've still been following my same diet and didn't really change it until right before the race. The day before was a binge day so I could have eaten anything but I did the same chicken and brown rice dish that I had done the week before and at turkey sausage and brown rice for breakfast the next morning. Going back to the soccer game; in order to get rid of the lactic acid from my legs after the soccer game I took an ice bath. Essentially, I put 20 lbs. of ice in the bathtub and soaked my legs for 15 minutes; it sucked but seemed to work.

Good ole' number 2124

Race Day and Race
Got up at 5:45 and ate breakfast. I had prepped all of my clothes and everything the night before so getting ready didn't take long at all and then I drove the 4 miles over to the race site. When I got there, I went through warm-ups and stretches and just tried to pass the time until it started. 

Once the race started, I just went at my normal comfortable pace and was feeling good. I was worried about going too fast and not being able to finish strong but this didn't up being the case. I was passed by hundreds of people even though I didn't start near the front but I knew that it was a long race. Starting around mile 6-7 my legs and feet started to noticeably hurt but I expected that too. It certainly wasn't unbearable but definitely uncomfortable. I never had any problem with my lungs, just with my legs but had to power through it. The race course went north from shopping center, came back by it and then turned toward downtown Raleigh on Western Blvd. where you ran all the way over towards southeast Raleigh and came back. For the most part, it was pretty flat. Eventually, I felt like I was picking up my pace (about mile 10) and started passing a lot of people. The biggest hill of the whole event was in the final mile and I was able pass a bunch of people there as well and even pick up my speed even more as a saw the finish line. So I was able to run the whole way and felt pretty okay afterwards as well.

Results
Time: 2:04:08
Time/mile: 9:29/mile
Place: 390 out of 909 overall finishers (42%)
           227 out of 361 men
           37 out of 52 25-29 year old men
           Overall Results

And............MEDALIST!!!!!!!!!

It was exactly like getting a participation trophy for playing sports when you were a kid; except now you knew why you got it. It will have a special place to sit next to my 2004 City of Raleigh Dodgeball Championship Trophy.

So, I didn't finish so great but I did run the whole way and beat my goal going in. There are a lot of people that are in pretty good shape around the area. Overall I was really proud of myself and completing in the event and I'm now looking forward to my next challenge for once soccer season is over. Maybe a true triathlon; will just have to work on my swimming. 

Here's some pictures from the finish line:

Duathlon Results

I haven't posted for a bit. I'm not really sure why. I have cooked many new recipes and had new successes recently and will post about them soon. But today is about my duathlon that I completed this last weekend. This is an event that is like a triathlon but the swim is replaced by a run so it goes run-bike-run. The particular event that I competed in was the Cary Short Course Duathlon that was a 2.5 mile run, a 17.65 mile bike, and a 2.5 mile run to finish.

Preparation
I had been running and biking daily over the month leading up to the event. I was also preparing for a half-marathon at the same time (which I'm running this weekend). I rode many 30 mile rides and continued my typical weekly schedule of running, 10+ miles per week and was feeling pretty confident going in. This increased amount of physical activity along with some tweaked nutrition got my weight down to a new low, 159 lbs. with 8.8% body fat. The only way I changed my diet additionally for the duathlon was to add some rice into my meal plan the night and morning before in order to have a higher carbohydrate level for energy during the race. I was pretty nervous/excited going into the event so I got extra-packed/prepared the night before and tried to get plenty of sleep.

Race Day
For the 9:00 am start-time, I woke up at 6:30 and got dressed and ate a breakfast of brown rice and turkey sausage at about 500 calories; this would be plenty to get me through the entire race without any additional sugar or carbs and it should be decent on my stomach (I wanted to avoid fiber). 

 Here I am before the race started; I really got there too early and had to figure out a way to kill time before the race started.

Race

So the race started a little after 9, 129 people were doing the same race that I was, and the first run went really well. The transition into the bike also went well and then...in the bike I got passed by what seemed like 50 people. I didn't know what to expect though and I did what I could, the second run also went really well. So here's how I finished:

Run 1: 19:42 (7:52/mile avg.)

Bike:  1:03:35 (~17 mph)

Run 2: 19:44 (7:53/mile avg.)

64th place overall.

My big disappointment was the bike; I thought I would have been faster, by like 10 minutes. So I will certainly have something to begin to work on immediately. Here's a link to the overall results; I will definitely look to do something similar very soon. I will also be looking to post some of my new recipes, techniques, and exercises that dropped me down to a new low as well as a recap of my half-marathon that I am running this Sunday.

 

Plans for the Spring

I have mentioned before about the idea of doing things that you enjoy instead of just exercising for the sake of exercise. Another thing that I think is helpful is to schedule activities in order to keep yourself excited about getting and staying in shape. Here are the things that I've got planned for the spring so far.

Spring Outdoor Soccer Season

 I play for Hibernian FC in a local adult league. We play 10 Saturdays starting at the end of February going to the beginning of May.  It's a fun team to play with, we are sponsored by a local pub and it gives me a group a team to play with pretty much year-round.

My First Duathlon

 So what is a duathlon? It is basically a triathlon that replaces the swim with another run; it goes run-bike run. This is good for a couple of reasons: they can be held anywhere (not constrained to being by a body of water or pool) and they are good for someone (like myself) that are not as strong of a swimmer. We are off for essentially one week in the spring from soccer so this is the duathlon I decided on:

 

FS-Series Cary Short Course Duathlon. It is a 2.5 mile run, 17.65 mile ride, and a 2.5 mile run on Saturday, April 7. I decided on the short one (half the other distance) because of the other things I am trying to do and because I wanted to be able to "race" it instead of just finish. This is the third of three duathlons in the FS Series; I would have liked to have done at least one of the other two but I didn't really want to miss a soccer game. I have done a few of these on my own before but not this long of a distance; it will be interesting to train for and I definitely excited to try it. Here is the link if you want to check it out or sign up.

My First Half-Marathon


One of my goals for the spring is to race a half-marathon and now I am signed up for one.

 My current maximum-distance for a run is 7.5 miles and I am constantly increasing distance so I am not too worried that I will be able to run the whole distance. This is 13.1 miles on Sunday, April 15; yes, one week after my duathlon and one day after a soccer game (I think I will be playing goalie that whole game). Here is a link to the RunRaleigh site. This will be another step on my path toward reaching my other goals. (And here are my originals/longterm) 

Hopefully I will be adding other events to this schedule soon (the possibility of a "mud run" has been brought up). Here is the lead-up and review of my first 5k that I raced late last year. If you have any other ideas, let me know but it's already going to be a busy Spring!

  

Movie Workouts

I am a big movie fan. I collect DVDs; I watch movies daily and love to go to the theater as well. One thing that I am constantly impressed with is the shape that actors are able to get into for their different roles.

You might think that they have a lot of help: trainers, lots of time to work out, funds for whatever they need, etc. which is true but, as we all, know there is know solution to getting into great shape other than putting in the work with diet and exercise.

A thing that is cool about this also is that you can find pretty much every workout (and usually their diet too) for every actor for every role.

One of the first and most popular movie workouts is Brad Pitts from Fight Club. Here is a detailed diet and workout plan. If you read into it, you realize the commitment that he had to make, especially from a diet perspective, to get down 5-6% body fat.

Some other recent and popular movie workouts include: Tom Hardy in Warrior; Chris Helmsworth in Thor; Chris Evans in Captain America; etc. There are literally thousands of these things online. Remember Ryan Reynolds in Amityville Horror? No? Well he was ripped, too and you can follow his workout if you want as well. There is so much interest in these workouts that Google completes the search when you start typing the actors' names with "workout."

For the most part these things are just interesting to read but one thing I do like to use them for is to get ideas when I don't really no what to do or am looking for something different to do. So this week I started with the "workout" for one of the biggest fitness-inspired movies ever: 300.

I put workout in quotes because the actual workout is more of a fitness test, something they worked up to instead of doing it daily. It is called the 300 workout because of the name of the movie (obviously) and because there are 300 total reps and you do it as fast as you can.

Here is the workout:

Pullups - 25 reps

Barbell Deadlift with 135 lbs. - 50 reps

Pushups - 50 reps

24-inch Box Jumps - 50 reps

Floor Wipers - 50 reps

Single-Arm Clean-and-Press with 36 lbs Kettlebell - 50 reps

Pullups - 25 reps

I had to modify it some. First, because I don't have all of the equipment to do some of the exercises. And second, because this thing is impossible for almost anyone to do. I tried for the 3rd time this week today to do my modified workout and did respectable but still not really close. Here is a link to a very descriptive page that has original, intermediate, and beginner versions of the workout; all are good. It also has pictures and a video description of the workout.

So today I got in something that was a mix of all 3:

• 15 pullups
• 2x20 lb. deadlift 50 times
• 50 pushups
• 50 body-weight squat jumps
• Floor wipers with 2x20 lb. dumbbells 30 times
• Single-arm Clean-and-Press with 20 lb. kettlebell 50 times
• 10 pullups

I'm not sure how long it took me but during certain points, I definitely felt like I was going to throw up. This is something that is a new challenge and I look forward to making progress on it.

Recipe #9: Restaurant-style Salsa (with dish)

I always have a craving for chips and salsa. It is one of my go-to snacks every binge day. There's a small problem though: most store-bought salsas are not very good. I'm not a big fan of "thick and chunky" salsa in the first place, which is what almost every jar contains, and most of them seem to be average in taste at best. I do like the salsa that you can get at Mexican restaurants around here and I've figured out a way to make it very easily, although I'll give you some possible extras as well.

Ingredients: 2 cans of "Rotel"-style tomatoes with green chiles (2 if it's a 15 oz. can, 3 if 10), 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder

• For the basic recipe, all you do is combine the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. You can certainly modify the spice level to suit your tastes as well.

Other possible ingredients/techniques:

•   Varying levels of fresh ingredients - I would almost always use canned tomatoes because they are just so easy and they work so well but you can mix and match fresher ingredients as you see fit.
• Chopped serranos or jalapenos instead of the green chiles found in Rotel. One of these will make it pretty hot and it will go up in heat from there. You could also use canned versions of these for more heat just realize that they will be pickled.
• Fresh cloves of garlic instead of garlic powder (2 would work well). You could also use jarred, minced garlic as well (1 tsp.)
• You can certainly use fresh onions as well instead of onion powder (1/4-1/2 chopped depending on the size of the onion)
• When adding these ingredients I would put them in before my tomatoes to make sure they're good and small before mixing it all together.

• Roasted ingredients - Roasting your ingredients adds a certain sweetness and affects the overall flavor. You can roast you fresh tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and onions on a grill, in a frying pan, in your oven's broiler or, in the case of the peppers, straight on top of the burner on your stove. After you roast these you'll just want to make sure you remove the burnt skins. You can also buy most of the stuff pre-roasted and canned as well.
• Varying levels of chunkiness - If you would like a chunkier salsa, you can use a little bit different technique. First add your peppers and garlic to the blender or food processor and mince. Next add 1/2 your tomatoes and onion powder and puree. Finally add the second 1/2 of your tomatoes and stir with a spoon. Whatever you want to have chunks of just add later and don't blend it.
• Additional spices/ingredients: You can add something extra to your salsa with cumin, fresh cilantro or some lime juice depending on your taste and all can add something positive. 

 My salsa definitely looks like spaghetti sauce.

What to do with your salsa:
As I said above, I always want chips with my salsa but I have yet to find any kind of chip that's on my diet. But you can use your salsa to cook with on your non-binge days. Here's something that I did today:

1. Took some chicken thigh filets and cut into large pieces and generously coated both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Seared on both sides in 2 tbsp. of olive oil over medium-high heat.
3. Added about 1 1/2 cups of salsa and turned the heat down to a simmer and let it sit for awhile.
4. For some greens I added a little of what I had at the very end: 1 can of drained green peas and 2 cups of baby spinach. 
5. Once these were stirred in I cut the heat and used it as one of dinner meals

It might not look so good put this was definitely a good home-made, Mexican-style dinner. And I am looking forward to putting my salsa to good use this Saturday when I can get some tortilla chips.

 

Recipe #8: Roasted Chick Peas

This new recipe was supposed to go as a replacement for salty snacks like potato chips or nuts. I do eat a lot of almonds and peanuts but these both have a good amount of fat so I am always looking for an alternative. I got the idea out of Men's Fitness but altered the recipe significantly in order to make it better (theirs wasn't tasting so great).

Ingredients: 1 can of chick peas (garbanzo beans) drained, 1 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. cumin, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste

1. Put the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and add the chick peas (Make sure you don't use extra-virgin olive oil because it has a low smoke point).
2. Add the cumin, salt, garlic, and onion powders and saute for 2 minutes.
3. Place the chick peas on a baking sheet and put in a 400-degree oven for 25 minutes.
4. Let the chick peas cool on the baking sheet before storing.

When I made these things the first time I ended up adding a pretty good amount of salt; the initial recipe only called for cumin but it wasn't really doing it for me. I ended up making 3 cans and baking them all at once and it worked out pretty well. I am going to try to bake them for a little longer next time because they weren't as crispy as I would like. Maybe finishing them in the broiler would work too. With the ones that I had left-over the next day, I added some salsa and micro-waved them and ate them with a spoon and that worked as a change in texture from the usual beans that I have for lunch.

I tried with black beans today and it didn't really work at all; they tasted fine and will be okay to eat but they didn't crisp up for use as finger food.