Last week, I didn't get as far as I was hoping but I did make some serious progress. I also learned a lot along the way. Like turning fat into muscle is harder than calories in and calories out. That's a big lie. What you eat, when you eat and how you eat are all important too. Eating at night isn't helpful for optimal weight or eating when you're in a hurry and not chewing your food doesn't go very far either. Processed foods aren't really food, they're more a science project of tastey chemicals and food additives with some colorful dyes added to make it all come together and look more appealing. So going forward hopefully I can remember the work it took to make this progress and keep it up. The really sad part is that once you start missing work outs or making bad food choices it's so much harder to get back on track and you lose everything you worked for so fast. Though I didn't not get as far as I hoped that I would at the beginning of this twelve week, I plan to still continue on this path and make healthy choices. If you look at the overall idea and picture of my project it may not look like much and the amount of progress that was made also make quite small (see presentation for details on big picture) you have to zoom in and look at the amount of progress time and dedication that it took to do the things that I accomplished. If the only resource that I was basing my project off of wash a normal scale then it would have been no problem to lose a considerable amount of weight but with the recrouses and technology that I was able to use i was able to safely and correctly change by body weight accordingly to my muscle mass and fat mass. All this begging said to bring a wrap to the project. I'm pleased with what I have achieved and the knowledge that I know I will be using all of this to continue on my path to finding a bigger and healthier me.
0 Comments
This is week eleven on my get fit journey. As I said I realize I have to take a long view on this. I want to be healthy and fit so I am committed to the plan. I also know that my plan will need to evolve as I learn more about health and how my body responds to different experiments I put myself through. So far I have learned that the standard american diet is definitely not for me, Paleo was better but still not enough or maybe it was the “sometimes” things I would eat was enough to thwart my efforts. Learning about keto was helpful but too many rules so this meat only thing is easier to follow and I like meat so that helps. So right now I am eating meat, eggs, butter, and drinking water sometimes with salt added in. I haven’t been taking any supplements but am considering adding some desiccated organ meat capsules. I have continued with a minimum four work-outs per week but my goal is five or six. I am making a point to move every hour even when I am working on school stuff for hours at a time research shows improved cognitive function with more frequent moderate intensity exercise. I have also been trying to get enough sleep. Dr. Matthew Walker is a sleep researcher who calls sleep the “swiss army knife of health” so I guess it is pretty important. Stress is also a big part of why people get sick, stay sick and can’t get healthy so I think I should work on that but not sure where to start. Being healthy and fit will also help with having a good immune system which is always important but even more now. Sleep, Exercise, Nutrition, Stress four things that have a lot of stuff that can either make me stronger or make me weaker. I want to do the things that will make me stronger. Sometimes these choices are hard to make because they aren’t the normal choice a lot of the time.
This week was not quite as productive as I had imagined that it would be. I was honestly quite disappointed. I started off the week great with working out and sticking to the same way of eating (low carb, higher protein and fat) but was drowned in school work and burnt out by the end of the day leaving no time to work out. I have been trying to workout as much as possible but with such a heavy workload it ends up being like ten thirty or eleven o'clock by the time that I get finished and get a chance to work out. Because of this I have not made as much progress this week as I have in past weeks unfortunately. I am still keeping my end goal in mind to keep me going and driving me forward. I'm going to use this failure as fuel to drive me into next week to do better. I am learning that it's about the long game here, experimenting and refining my program and way of eating to achieve my health and fitness goals. The pillars I have been working on so far are only going to get me so far. Nutrition and movement are of course pivotal but I also know that my stress will keep me down and interfere with sleep. They all seem connected. If I am able to schedule in workouts regularly it motivates me to eat healthier and then I sleep better too. I have noticed a difference in my sleeping lately in a positive manner. Eating earlier is also better, I guess then my digesting gets done so my brain can focus on sleeping. I know there are a lot of trackers out there and I am thinking about investigating a few of them to see if I think they would be of any benefit to me. I kind of like not being connected to something all the time though and think about what the long term effects of these things may be on my health. For now I may just start tracking my heart rate before and after workouts or something.
This week was not all bad considering that I am still in the experimental stages of my new food plan. IT has been pretty interesting experimenting with the different new recipes that contain only meat. After seeing the results of only one week of a carnivorous diet I was ecstatic to go into the next week and do even better with it then before. At the beginning of this project I was consistently weighing about one hundred and seventy eight pounds to a hundred and seventy nine pounds. During the course of this project I have been losing weight at a gradual safe pace I know weigh one hundred and sixty five pounds. I was very aggravated with myself this week because I had no intentions of eating out this week or cheating myself by eating something outside of my select foods, but of course that is exactly what happened. We went out for a little celebratory dinner, which of course absolutely destroyed everything that I had been working towards for this week. It seems that the weeks that I set goals and try to keep super strict to my schedule then more often than not those are the weeks that something comes up and I end up breaking my schedule. So from now on I will be taking more of a wing it approach but still eating only meat and keeping that idea at the forefront of my project. The pollen levels have still been extremely high lately so I still have not been able to run outside without dying. I am however still working out on a regular schedule of five days a week. I am also continuing to work out in the evenings because this has proven to be the most beneficial time to workout for me. Lately I have been experimenting with different protein powders trying to find one that didn't taste so much like protein powder. After many different brands and flavors I finally found one that is on point, it is called perfect keto. I use protein powder when i'm in a pinch or need a fast source of protein for breakfast or something like that.
This week I had plains to stick to a more strict carnivorous food plain cutting out everything but meat and eggs. This is exactly what I did and it made huge advances in my productivity. Last week read 73.6 percent muscle and 23.9 percent body fat. After one week of eating like a carnivore my muscle mass read 75.8 percent and my body fat was 21.4 percent. I do not plan to stop here though, I have not yet eliminated everything that is not meat from my diet. My muscles are starting to look more defined than they have in the past. I am also getting stronger and setting new personal records with heavier weights than ever before. I feel even better than when I just cut out carbs and I even have more energy than I had before. During my workouts I listen to music. I always use amazon music unlimited but I decided to get apple music because some friends were getting a group together to divide the cost. I was not impressed with apple music at all so I do not use them during my workouts. For the home gym we have gotten some body tension tube bands to work out with which have been a great extinction to the workout equipment. As for the workouts I have bummed everything up to fifteen reps for four times five days a week with Saturday and Sunday off. I currently weigh in at 169 pounds. I plan to lose at least another ten pounds if everything goes according to plan. One of the hardest things to avoid are cravings or snacking throughout the day I found the easiest way to avoid that problem is it to wait until you are actually hungry during the afternoon as for the cravings the best way to fill that void is to find a carbonated water that you like I use a powder called Element labs that you add to water. Giving into your cravings never helps the situation and neither does eating just a little bit of it, it only makes it worse.
This week I was stuck in a rut. The only thing that was going my way was my weight has been steadily decreasing at the correct rate other than that nothing has been going the way that it should. My muscle mass has been on a decline since week five. My body fat percentage has been fluctuating but mostly rising for the most part. I have been working out consistently without breaking my routine as surprising as that is. I felt decent and my workouts felt good. I even increased the intensity of my workouts with hopes that it would increase my muscle mass and burn more fat. Everything that I have been doing does not seem to be working. It has been a ruff start for the carnivore's diet. I have not been super strict with it. I am really hoping that next week I am able to stick with it and get more strict about only eating meat. I don't want to create a plain that I can only stick to for a month or so. My goal is to try and find a plain that I am going to be able to stick to for ever or for however long is necessary. Eating only meat is a lot harder than I originally thought that it was going to be. I would have to say that lunch is probably the hardest only because there are so many other things you can eat for lunch and I personally think dinner is the easiest. Due to the pollen levels my allergies have been horrendous I have to use a nasal irrigation system daily to keep my congestion to a minimum as well as allergy shots. Because of the pollen being so bad I have not been doing as much running or biking. I have been doing some kayaking though to change up my exercise methods and keep everything fresh. Next week will be more limited as to what I will eat and getting closer to an all meat diet, gradually working towards being one hundred percent meat should be more beneficial than just jumping in and limit my room for failure.
This week after my body index reading I made the discovery that my body is having a negative reaction to something that I am eating. I believe the culprit to be a diary. I plan to eradicate it as soon as possible. I believe this because my brother has been food tested and is sensitive to dairy. In The Carnivore Diet Dr Shawn Baker talks about how animals protect themselves with fiscal means but that raises the question as to how plants protect themselves, he goes on to talk about how plants produce natural chemicals to protect themselves which can cause unwanted effects on some people. Starting monday I will begin working towards a totally carnivorous diet so in the beginning there will be linancy gradually working towards a total carnivore diet. I will still continue to not consume refined carbs while doing this. I have noticed that my energy levels have been increasing and my workout performance has continued to increase, with heavier weight and more reps. My sleeping has also been better than it previously has been since I have not been eating anything after 7 going to sleep later and waking up later than I have been in the past. Using the body composition machine has been a huge motivation factor for me compared to me. If I had just been using a scale I would have been making great progress since I have lost a total of nine pounds but since I have been using the body mass index machine it has told me that I need to increase my muscle mass and still further decrease my fat percentage. Without the machine I would not have my motivation that I have now to work towards my end goal and get there in the safest and best way possible.
After this week's reading I have discovered that I have lost a total of eight pounds. My body fat percentage has gone down by one percent. I have completed my 15 day detox so now I am back to eating on more of a regular basis. I have been using a food scale to track the amount of proteins that I consume in a day and making sure that it does not exceed what my body needs. I am also motoring any high carb foods making sure that I do not consume any of those for the time being and for research purposes to see how my body reacts. While I have been monitoring what I eat It has come to my attention that I am eating too much protein and need to adjust what I eat according to what the options are. To help increase my chances of meeting my goal of decreasing my fat mass I sent my DNA away for a food sensitivity testing. All though I have had my food allergies tested it was a long time ago and technology has advanced even further to give people more precise readings. Knowing exactly what I am more sensitive to will tell me what to stay away from once I have figured this out then saying I am sensitive or even possibly allergic to. This week I will also be using the new tools that I have added to my arsenal to change up my workouts a little bit and give me new workouts to do. I also have obtained an apple music account to give me some new background music to listen to when I workout. My functional medicine doctor has put together a daily vitamin and supplement plan for me to take. These supplements will be suited to my needs and most beneficial to me and my diet. This week I have an appointment with the chiropractor to make sure that I am all aligned and my body is functioning perfectly, to decrease my chances of getting hurt while working out. I feel stronger and better than I have before while I have been montering what I eat and making sure that I do not consume any junk food.
Going into this week I knew it was going to be kind of challenging because I was coming back from a friends house where I had not eaten as well as I should have. Which unfortunately meant that I was going to have eat even cleaner throughout the whole week to make sure and maintain a low body fat percentage. After my fourth reading I have discovered that I am very sensitive to carbs and dairy products therefore I am trying my best to consume the minimal amount of these things as possible. I am trying my best only to eat complex carbs like non starchy vegetables such as leafy greens, broclaily, cabbage, and cauliflower. During my workouts I feel very good. I can workout out longer and do more reps than I have been able to do in the past. It has been very nice outside for the past week so I have had the opportunity to work outside and I have taken full advantage of that. All though during the beginning of winter and the beginning of spring my allergies start to pick and get really bad not allowing me to be able to run as well outside. I found that my autatimal time to work out is eight to nine so I have changed the time that I go to sleep and get up in the morning to enhance my energy, mood and appetite. According to Dr. Matthew Walker a sleep expert adolescence sleep patterns for optimal health are a couple hours later than that of adults and then wake time is a couple hours later as well. Altering these patterns has created the optimal time for me to workout and I am actually tired once I go to sleep and not just going to sleep just because. This along with changing the way I eat has definitely made positive impacts on the way I workout and the way I feel. Due to the fact that I did not eat well last weekend my fat percentage read the same as last week as well and weight and muscle percentage. The last few weekends in a row I have not eaten as I should have this weekend however I was at home so I did eat accordingly and I will continue to this week so it should be pretty productive if all goes as planned.
I am currently 6 days into my 15 day cleanse program of shakes and vitamins. I feel good throughout the day. I don't feel sluggish or nasty inside like I would when I would eat bread or something like that. I feel a lot more productive if I do not eat carbs and I stay full longer without them. Also when working out I feel much better especially if I workout after 8 o’clock that is my most productive hour to get my workout done. As for the cardio I have slacked a little bit this week but I do plan to go full speed into this coming week and run and bike everyday with all of the nice weather that we have been having. It has been very nice to get outside and workout during the warmer days of the week. I have found that my body can support a minimum healthy carbohydrate intake and still function well and I feel better not eating refined (bad) carbs although there is definitely an occasional temptation. The second week of training I found that after eating bread I felt very bloated and frustrated with myself because I did eat the bread or pasta and it wasn't even satisfying. If I crave something I would tend to give into it but I found it just wasn't worth it to give in. I felt a lot better if I just stuck with the plan and stuck to eating what I was supposed to eat. During the first week I weighed in at 177 pounds with 23% body fat, the second week I weighed 173 pounds with 24% body fat, and the third week I weighed 172 pounds with 22% body fat. After getting the reading for the third week I made the connection that the spike in my body fat percentage in the second week could be linked to the increase in refined carbs that I had consumed. So during the third week I made sure to avoid any bad carbs and it brought my body weight and fat percentage down and increased my muscle mass which is the goal.
|
Details
Griffin 2/22/21This is my first blog entry for my genius hour project . I am getting together my food plans. All of my workouts planned, also which days I will be working out and what will be working out for that day. Also which days I will be running and/or biking. As well as planning out when and how many times I will be measuring my body composition. My food schedule will also cycle throughout the course of time but all sticking to low carbohydrates modest to high fat and moderate protein. I think I will be able to achieve these macros through modified ketogenic or paleo type diet types. I am also taking a high quality multivitamin-mineral and Omega. Keeping a schedule of daily work outs mixing Cardio and resistance training with flexibility sessions. I do not like the flexibility part but I will try to get that in at least one to two times per week. ArchivesCategories |