VP Health & Fitness

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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