WELCOME!
I plan to post awesome things here on my blog so I hope you enjoy your stay!
I plan to post awesome things here on my blog so I hope you enjoy your stay!
My first post on my blog will set up an "Intermittent Fasting" experiment that I plan to partake in. I don't know if anyone will follow this even, but it will be a good place for me to put down my thoughts at least! (If anyone is reading this, please bare with me as I have very little writing experience!)
ME.
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First, a quick history of my health and fitness past is in order. I undertook a pretty huge life transformation not too long ago. (I plan on going in to detail and really exploring this further with pictures some time down the road)
From the fall of 2007 to summer of 2010 I went from morbidly obese 424 pounds to a healthy 170 pounds. That's more weight lost (>250 pounds) than anyone on "The Biggest Loser!"
I mention that not to toot my own horn, but just to show how much of an amazing adventure this has been for me. I did this through determination, hard work and a constant desire to do better. I love striving to be healthy, sexy and in control of the quality of my life.
However, the last two years have been a little up and down. I've learned so much, but fitness wise I've kinda been stuck in a "skinny-fat" stage. On one hand I've kept the weight off that I lost and could not be more proud of what I've accomplished. (I look amazing and not even like the same person I once was.) On the other hand, I am always striving for more. (I wanna be stronger than the moon)
THIS YEAR, RogLaw, & IF...
This year in particular has been a bit of a struggle as I tore my meniscus in my right knee and had to have surgery. I was laid up, out of work and out of the gym for a couple months. I currently work as a waiter (sometimes bartender). This led to me straying from my focus and gaining a little fat back. The upside is that it spurred me to hire an truly awesome consultant, Mr. Roger Lawson of RogLawfitness.com. Together we have gotten me back in the gym, hitting the weights hard and I'm on the path to being strong.
Roger is a fan of Intermittent Fasting (IF). This is a style of eating that I've gone through phases of using in the past few years. It cycles periods of little to no calories, to almost "over feeding" periods. (read more at LeanGains.com)
The basic structure of IF is that you plan to eat big meals late in the day when you're likely to be gathering socially and you fast the rest of the time. You average the same amount of food intake, but with more of an on/off, with intermittent eating and fasting periods.
Note: IF has shown to have some cool effects on the ability to gain muscle and lose fat. It is not, however, some magical end-all-be-all diet, just something I've practiced in the past and want to give another go at. As long as you hit your caloric needs on average at say the end of the week, the most important thing is what works for your lifestyle!
I'm actually adopting my training and diet to fit my lifestyle for once, and not the other way around. Which is pretty cool!
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| I have to have a boring, stale diet to get lean and strong? |
The basic structure of IF is that you plan to eat big meals late in the day when you're likely to be gathering socially and you fast the rest of the time. You average the same amount of food intake, but with more of an on/off, with intermittent eating and fasting periods.
So, inspired by my coach's own recent fasting experiment, I'll be taking IF to the extreme. Or actually reducing it to its basic premise depending on how you look at it. I'll lift weights in the early afternoon 3 days a week and have all of my calories in the post workout period before bedtime. Then I'll fast on the other 4 days. These are days that I am fairly busy because I work 8 hours on my feet. I usually don't eat much on these days anyways! This set up will, in theory, allow me to go out and have awesome meals and still make progress towards my goals without much sacrifice.
Note: IF has shown to have some cool effects on the ability to gain muscle and lose fat. It is not, however, some magical end-all-be-all diet, just something I've practiced in the past and want to give another go at. As long as you hit your caloric needs on average at say the end of the week, the most important thing is what works for your lifestyle!
I'm actually adopting my training and diet to fit my lifestyle for once, and not the other way around. Which is pretty cool!
THE PLAN:
After thinking about the idea for a little while, and how to adjust it to my personal schedule and food habits, here is my (almost every-other-day) IF experiment:
"Off Days"
-These are days when I work 8 hrs (waiting/bar-tending)
-These are days when I work 8 hrs (waiting/bar-tending)
-These days will be mostly spent in the fasted state (I will allow diet soda, coffee with a splash of cream
if I need it. I tend to ingest a decent amount of caffeine at work
anyways and this is an appetite suppressant.)
-Exception: a single-serving snack (~250kcals) in the car for the long drive home after work
-Exception: a single-serving snack (~250kcals) in the car for the long drive home after work
"Training Days"
-Train "fasted" with BCAAs before hand
-Eat a lot of deliciously awesome food! I will eat relatively high amounts of protein (No particular eating window, just all day)
-I do have macronutrient (pro/carb/fat) targets (I am not going to be super strict, but I will be tracking my intake. This is because I don't do well with completely free form unchecked eating)
That's it! I want to keep it fairly simple and easy to follow.
Length of trial: 8 weeks (or until I fail miserably and go back to a more typical day to day nutrition)
Potential Difficulties:
avoiding food situations on work days
morning hunger?
staying relatively close to macronutrient targets on eating days (not just free for all binging)
Potential Benefits:
fat loss
muscle gain
being able to go out and eat a decent amount
becoming a ninja
Starting weight: 186 lbs
Recent Lifting stats:
Barbell Deadlift: 185x4
Barbell Bench Press: 125x4
Body weight Chin-Ups: 3
Front Barbell Box Squat: 115x5
I will update this post every Wednesday with a weekly recap !
-I do have macronutrient (pro/carb/fat) targets (I am not going to be super strict, but I will be tracking my intake. This is because I don't do well with completely free form unchecked eating)
-Take a few supplements like a multivitamin, vitamin D, creatine and some fish oils
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| Lots of sushi will be easy to fit into the plan/belly. |
--HERE WE GO--
Length of trial: 8 weeks (or until I fail miserably and go back to a more typical day to day nutrition)
Potential Difficulties:
avoiding food situations on work days
morning hunger?
staying relatively close to macronutrient targets on eating days (not just free for all binging)
Potential Benefits:
fat loss
muscle gain
being able to go out and eat a decent amount
becoming a ninja
Starting weight: 186 lbs
Recent Lifting stats:
Barbell Deadlift: 185x4
Barbell Bench Press: 125x4
Body weight Chin-Ups: 3
Front Barbell Box Squat: 115x5
I will update this post every Wednesday with a weekly recap !
