Sunday, May 1, 2011

Day 29: Health & Wellness Update 2


So I've decided to update biweekly to keep things a little more interesting. Like I mentioned before, progress has been slow but that is what I expected. 

There were a couple things that happened that I didn't expect. First was that I gained weight in the first three weeks. If you look at my gut, it actually looks like I started to slim down. Which is what I thought. My guesstimated starting weight was 265 lbs (which I hovered around for the last 2yrs). I finally bought a scale last sunday (4/24), and I weighed in at 275.9 lbs (end of wk 3). WTF right?!?! The other was, that at the end of week 4 being today, I weighed in at 269.4 lbs (5/1). 

A couple things happened here. For the first three weeks I was drinking 2 protein shakes with whole milk as well as a creatine mix after my workout. The weight gain I saw was from the muscle I gained (thats what I think anyway). As you can see in the week 3 photo, I'm the fattest person you know with abs

Weight loss from week 4 I believe came from the fact that I ran out of all my supplements. I was starting to feel bloated anyway. Week 4, I didn't really change my diet. Only significant difference was I replaced the 80+ grams of protein from the shakes, with plain tuna. I eat a lot of tuna, I'm talking three to four cans. 

Other than my multivitamins and herbals, I am going to see how I do without the use of supplements. I didn't like feeling bloated from consuming so much liquid (10+ 20oz bottles minimum) etc.... now I feel stronger. Start of week 1, I wasn't lifting free weight on the bench because I couldn't even put up two 20kg (44lbs + 25lb= +/-70lbs) for a full chest work out. End of week 4, and I finished my workout with (2) 20kg, (1) 15kg plate on both sides for a total of about 267lbs (1kg is 2.2lbs). I did a full chest workout with 267 lbs unspotted and I could have gone higher. Felt great.  

Okay, I've talked your ears off and I'm sure your eyes are bleeding from the photos above... deal with it. 
If you've been successful in your fitness goals I would love to hear about it. 
If you've hit a wall and have had nothing but challenges, I want to hear about it! 
If you have any suggestions for me, or interesting workouts you think I might like, I want to hear about it.... 

and don't say put a shirt on, cause' in the next picture I'll take my damn panties off!! (okay I promise I won't)
my fingers were crossed :x

P.S. Yes, I have more to say

P.S.S. So I came across an article in Fitness RX asking: "is tuna shrinking your balls?" oh F*@kin' great! Great news! I consumed about 30lbs of tuna... and now its shrinking my balls...anyway.... 
Long story short stay away from generic tuna, and eat chunk white/Albacore. Supposedly generic tuna is more likely to have been harvested in sea water where the fish have high mercury levels. Mercury is highly toxic, and in males it inhibits testosterone production and can lead to abnormal amounts of estrogen in the blood.  Ahhh more great news... I think the man boobs are large enough.  While you'll never know where the fish was caught, and how much mercury may be contaminating your can of tuna, there's a reason chunk white/Albacore is more expensive. It is usually farm raised or wild caught in areas that are either naturally protected from pollutants or controlled wild environment. 

8 comments:

  1. I don't want to write to much so I am going to just throw out a couple things and make multiple comments. Supplements are your friend well certain supplements are your friend. I do use protein powder, creatine, multivitamins, and green tea and caffeine capsules. I STRONGLY recommend you start taking green tea and caffeine capsules first thing in the morning and right before your workout. I'm not going to go into the science behind why but I am just going to say it help your body burn more fat and increases your energy without the normal crash from beverages etc....

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  2. The weight gain more likely was from your muscles intaking more water because of the creatine. The whole milk is bad to have anytime of day and is extremely bad to have after your workout. If you want to use milk it should be skim milk. I use skim milk for my protein shakes after my workout and I use 1% any other time of the day. I usually drink 3 or 4 protein shakes a day. The brand of protein you are using is probably the reason for the bloated feeling you have. You need to find another brand. I use Muscle Feast which is a company in Ohio which may be hard to get since you are out of the country, but I use to use Optimum Nutrition. I tried at least 5 before I found Optimum that didn't cause me to feel bloated. The reason I really recommend protein is because your body really needs that nutrition fast. When you eat whole/regular foods your body has to break it down so it can be used while protein powder is already in the form ready for your body to use and that hour window after your workout is key.

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  4. I forgot to mention that fat after your workout slows down the absorption speed of the nutrients which you really don't want after your workout. Your muscles are basically screaming for food and nutrients. Having fat is a bad idea for the first meal after your workout. On the flip side if you drink a protein shake before bed, having it with nuts would be a good idea to slow down the absorption, so it can be used over the time you are sleep. Make sure you also drink a gallon of water per day. Doing anything less may decrease your strength because the body may be dehydrated, you can lose up to 20% of your strength if you are dehydrated. Tips for workout after about 6 to 8 weeks I don't know what your rest periods is but if it's over a minute between set switch it to about a minute. For that next month to 6 weeks drop set your last set of each exercise. So if you are using 267 do your set and then immediately drop it to 135 and do as many as you can. Also if you are not doing any cardio after your workout I would recommend you start with 15 to 30 minutes, after your workout. Or even better if you can do 30 minutes of cardio in the morning before you it, which is at least 5 hours or so before you do your weight workout that would even be better.

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  5. Thanks TJ! Definitely some good advice. Right now Im running into a little difficulty getting vitamin shoppe to send my order since the shipping address doesn't match my billing... thats just a phone call to customer service I hope.
    Muscle-tech is the brand I was using, out here the 4lb protein costs $119 add another 11 for the US conversion....prices are insane. Thats why I thought in the meantime i'll see how I do without, using tuna and other lean meats in place.

    I read somewhere that your should consume 1 to 2grams of protein per lb of weight...ever hear about that? (so I should be having no less that 270grams of protein/day??)

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  6. Yea I read that a while back myself, I would be closer to the 1 than the 2. The max I have been reading recently is 1.3 grams is the max you should be intaking, anything above that is a waste. That price is CRAZY for protein, I will ship it to you if need be, I spend like $40 for 5lbs. 270 grams sounds like a good place to be. I don't know what your other meals are like but I would recommend eating brown rice, wheat pasta and sweet potatoes if possible, with your protein of choice, and vegetables. Me personally I don't eat any red meat or pork but you can. I eat turkey, fish, shrimp and chicken. I forgot to add fish oil to the supplements, it helps with soreness after workout as well as it's good for your blood pressure.

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  7. Typically I start the morning with a cup and a half of musesli, mid-day load up on tuna, usually with a salad dressed with either just fresh lime juice, or just a couple tablespoons of vinegar. Dinner any meat is game and some sort of vege, typically potatos, corn, or eggplant (apart from another salad)
    throughout the day I snack on cashews/seeds/pistachios and fresh fruit. I'm full everyday so I'm definitely not starving myself.

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  8. keep up the good work! Ever since the pregnancy and they suggested the solid white albacore and all the mercury in the other I haven't gone back I was like eek what I have been eating all these years...why is it just advice giving to pregnant women :-/ anywho...Terrance above has a lot of good information and I think its awesome your committment to your health!

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