VP Health & Fitness

No, not the movie.  :D  The lesson that I gave to my church youth group last wednesday.  We reviewed the story of David & Goliath and learned about having NO FEAR when we are faced with obstacles in our lives.  We talked about having a plan on how we are going to react when we come to those difficult times in our life. - and most importatly relying in God when things get tough.  The same applies to fitness. 

If we don’t have a SMART plan, it will be really hard to get to where we want to go by just wingin’ it. 

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Time Bound 

This past week I just winged it and rolled with the punches.  The result of that… GULP — a 4 lb weight gain on the scale.  Now, most of that it probably water weight, but I do feel my clothes fitting a a bit more snug, so I’ve probably gained inches as well.

Today is a new day - a new week.

I haven’t planned my complete meals for this upcoming week YET, but today is done and I will be working on the rest of the week this afternoon.

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AGENDA FOR TODAY
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• 7 hours of sleep last night
• Planned Exercise: PNP D1W1- Lower Body
  • TOTAL TIME: 60
  • TOTAL Calories Burned: 884
• Water (aiming for ATLEAST 128 oz.) - 1 gallon down + more!
• EATS: You can check out my Food Log HERE:
  • TOTAL Cals: 1,804
• Supps: Fish Oil, Calcium +D, BCCA’s & Glutamine

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I’m back! :D  I was able to get in a 20 minute run/walk interval & and 20 minute walking incline interval in before the gym closed!  Whew….

My eating was pretty basic except when the muchies hit at night after 10 pm… I still stayed within my 1700 calorie range, so it should be ok however, I don’t want to make a habit of late night snacking!

Tomorrow will be my 1st day of working out.  I am currently trying to decide what program to use of the many that Phit-N-Phat has to offer.  Turbulence training is my #42 on my 101 in 1001 project list, so i’m sure i’ll be completing that within the next 2 years!
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UPDATES & AGENDA
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• 9 hours of sleep last night
• Run/Walk Intervals; Incline Intervals
  • TOTAL Minutes: 40 mins
  • TOTAL Calories burned: 528 cals
• Water (aiming for ATLEAST 128 oz.) - done!
• EATS: You can check out my Food Log HERE
  • B - no breakfast, woke up late
  • S - Fruta Vida
  • L - Breaded Chicken Tenders w/ Veggies & Radish Salad
  • S - Kashi TLC Bar, 1 oz string cheese 
  • D - Caldo de pollo
  • Post Workout - Caldo de pollo
  • S - TLC Bar, Sugar Free Protein Chocolate Pudding 

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It’s 12:02 am here and past my bed time.  :O  I’m going on my 4th day of low carbing using Protein Power and I gotta say i’m finally getting over that slump and i’m feeling more energy and not craving much junk food anymore. But… I haven’t had energy to workout.  At all.  :-(   I need to get back into it because I know my body needs it and it’s the only way I know to lose fat and keep it off.  Hopefully i’ll have enough energy to workout later on today.

One thing i’ve noticed about eating low carb, at least for me, is that i’ve been eating pretty “bad” according to what I know is nutritious.  These past couple of days my diet has consisted of cheese, cheese & more cheese + some pork rinds and more cheese.  Uuuggghhh!  I don’t want to develop these bad habits.  I need to come up with a list of healthy allowed foods and stick to that and dump the cheese or at least eat it in moderation and only once a day OR just go back to my regular healthy and balanced way of eating while still avoiding the carbs that trigger my bloatiness & make me feel like crap (ex. wheat products, rice, etc…).  :?  What to do…. what to do…

Hmmmm…. I think I might need a personal trainer and I need to start planning out my meals better.  I’m still searching high and low for the perfect meal planner/grocery shopping list maker/budget organizer software.   The one that I tried out a couple of days ago had some type of bug in it and I also tried the Budget for Windows, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for.  Maybe I need to come up with my own software….. Hmmm…. one day soon.  As soon as I finish my CIS degree.  If you know of one or have excell spreadsheets that you would like to share…. please do!  I would really appreciate it!

That’s it for now….

~ Vilma

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Well, my 1st day of low carbing has come and gone and I feel pretty good.  I went a little bit happy with the mozzarella cheese sticks and cream cheese, so that definitely will have to change, or I will have to get a lower fat/calorie recipe if I want to eat that much! My calories were pretty high (over 2,500- You can check out my Food Log HERE ), my protein was above my recommended mimimum & most importantly, my net carbs were at about 27 ECC (48 - 21 g of fiber = net carbs).  So all in all, a pretty good day.

No update & agenda today since I wasn’t able to workout…

Good night world!

~ Vilma

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The BEAST has arrived!!! Arrrrgh!

I’m retaining water like C-R-A-Z-Y… eating horrible hasn’t helped either. Sigh.

I will be re-starting my end of 2007 challenge tomorrow with new exercises & a new eating plan. I’m about half way through the protein power book and have finally come to the part where I find out what my minimum protein intake and ECC (effective carbohydrate) range is. Since i’m over 20% of my ideal weight and I still have about 50 lbs of fat to lose, I will be starting on Phase I intervention.

In a nutshell, this is what I have to do:

• Protein: Determine my protein needs and plan my meals around the right number of grams of protein. You need to know your lean body mass and your activity level to do this. Since I already keep track of my lean body mass on my measurement tracker, I know that right now my lean body mass is about 127 lbs. How did I figure this out? Check out the post titled, How to measure body fat percentage. Now, according to PP, I now need to calculate my activity level from 5 different options (sedentary, moderately active, active, very active & athlete.) I chose very active because i’m planning to engage in vigorous physical activity lasting and hour or more, five or more times a week. All I have to do to find out my minimum daily protein need is multiply my LBM (lean body mass) by the activity category number which was .8 for very active.
  • 127 (LBM) x .8 (activity level) = 101.6 daily minimum protein need
  • Divided minimum protein needs (101.6 grams) by how many meals you are planning to eat: 101.6/5 = 20.32 g per meal

• Carbohydrates: Add 30 grams of NET carbohydrates per day or less divided throughout the day for phase I (About 6 g of NET carbs per meal). Remember to subtract fiber grams (25 g or more per day recommended) from total carbohydrate count to find out net/impact carbs.
• Fats: Healthy fats should compose the rest of my macro-nutrients. My body can and will be using fat as fuel in this phase.

And THAT my friend is pretty much Phase I Intervention of Protein Power. I am planning to stay on this phase for 3-4 weeks and then slowly transition over to Phase II Intervention where I can consume 55 g of NET carbs. I will stay on Phase II until I reach my goal weight and then transition into maintenance for life where I can increase my carb grams and options significantly.

I will keep a daily journal because it keeps me publicly accountable.  Additionally, you will probably see me frequent the PP message boards as well.

As far as my exercise goes… I will again be using Turbulence Training because it’s quick, effective, and the program where I saw the fastest results in terms of body composition.

So…. to all my low carb readers, please keep my in your thoughts! Words of advice and encouragement are also welcomed as I embark on my 1st ever serious low/moderate carb journey.

Be on the lookout for a Protein Power book review later on as well as other programs i’ve tried.

That’s it for now…. make it a GREAT week everyone!

~ Vilma

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I finally got the Protein Power book I ordered last week. I just started reading the book and so far i’ve learned a bit about insulin and how carbohydrates, especially refined ones, are more or less the same thing as sugar to your body. The body breaks them down with great ease and quickness into sugar because they simply are sugar molecules chained together to create longer structures. So, i’m coming to the conclusin that there is probably more to nutrition than just calories in and calories out. It’s about how everything we put in our mouth affects our body whether it’s fat, protein, or carbohydrates.

The thing that i’m liking about Protein Power (PP) is that there is really nothing that is off limits as long as you stick to portion sizes that don’t put you over your ECC (Effective Carbohydrate Content) for the day. That doesn’t mean some foods aren’t ‘off limits’ — but it’s for what they contain, not their carb content. ** No matter what particular program you are following, you should always avoid foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils (trans fat) & high fructose corn syrup (fructose). Anything that has these ingredients should be OFF limits!

Protein Power is not a NO-carb plan, but a low-carbohydrate one, emphasizing the consumption of the healthiest types of carbs: vegetables (except starchy ones like potatoes, peas, carrots, and corn) and some fruits that are lower in sugar and higher in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants (like berries, peaches, melon). Adding fat to your vegetables greatly increases how easily they are absorbed by the body.

Most importantly, PP emphasizes on the importance of protein (hence the title). Getting an adequate amount of protein is essential to your health. It helps maintain or increase your muscle tissue which makes you stronger, enhances your endurance, and increases your metabolism so that you burn more calories just sitting still.

Well… that’s that for my book review! LOL
On another note, I skipped my workout yesterday. Why? I don’t really know. My 1st week of my End of 2007 Challenge is not turning out so great.

Need to refocus…

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UPDATES & AGENDA
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• 6.5 hours of sleep last night
• Exercise planned for the day: no exercise
• Water (aiming for ATLEAST 128 oz.) - done!
• EATS: You can check out my Food Log HERE
  • B - 2 EAS Advantage Carb Control Shake
  • S - EAS Advantage Carb Control Shake
  • L - bad eating after lunch…
  • S -
  • D -
  • BTS -
• Supps:

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