Skip to main content

I'm Hungry

Despite my jacked-up efforts in the weight room, this is not a common occurrence.

I've been eating about 80 grams of lean protein a day (.8 g per lb of my bodyweight as recommended by numerous fitness sites), along with lots of veggies, beans, walnuts and minimal whole grains such as sweet potatoes and wheat breads all divided into about 5 meals/snacks a day. I'm only drinking water and green tea. If I stick to the plan, I can generally stave off the hunger - for the most part.

Today I made two mistakes. I didn't have a mid-morning snack and I made pasta for lunch. I think the two events are related. When I get hungry - and I mean really, really hungry, I crave carbs. The pasta is Dreamfields which claims to be a minimal carb pasta, but it tastes like the real thing (some sort of top-secret process virtually eliminates the glycemic spike normally associated with pasta). It has some protein and fiber, but apparently not enough of either as I was still hungry after I ate a good-sized bowl.

Lesson learned.

I realized that by working out hard, my body is continually working hard to repair damaged muscle fibers - the key to increasing lean body mass. To build muscle, you need protein, so I downed a lo-carb protein shake (EAS Chocolate) made with skim milk to correct the problem. Now, it's mid-afternoon and I'm hungry again so I grabbed a snack that will not blowout my calories for the day. Enter: Muscle Milk Light protein bar. Yum.

At 160 chewy-chocolatey calories it packs in 15g of protein, 18g carbs, 4g fiber, and 5g fat. It will stave off my hunger until dinnertime while giving me the energy I need for an after-work trip to the gym.

F.Y.I.

My average caloric intake in food over the past two weeks has been approximately 1,200 calories a day. My body needs about 1,325 calories just to maintain what I've got - and that's at rest. But, if I want to lose about a pound a week, I need a deficit closer to 500 calories a day. Since that would allow me only 875 pathetic little calories to eat, I have to make up the difference through exercise.

LUCKILY, training with weights (and I mean training, not just tinkering around) I'm torching calories, revving up my metabolism and building muscle. I'm already starting to see the difference and can't wait to see how I look in 30 days.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I may never eat ice cream again

What looks like ice cream and tastes like ice cream, but has 12g protein, 19g carbs, a paltry 2.5g fat and just 150 calories packed in a 1.5-cup serving? It's not frozen yogurt, it's not fat free ice cream and it's not sugar free ice cream. What you see in the above photo is my newest creation and the clear front runner for my evening dessert choice for the foreseeable future. Meet Strawberry Cottage Delight.  To whip up your own bowl of this delectable must-try, you will need the following: 1/2 cup 2% lowfat cottage cheese ~1cup or 5-6 large frozen strawberries - no syrup, chopped (could prolly sub other chunky frozen fruits) 1/2 - 1 tsp Truvia or your favorite zero-calorie sweetener to taste Add all ingredients to a food processor and puree until it reaches your desired consistency. I personally enjoy some strawberry chunks in mine. I plan on experimenting with canned coconut milk, bananas and nut butters in my next attempts.  In comparison, an identical

Optimal Fasting Times for Female Fat Loss - A discussion.

How long should I fast? This is probably the most common question I see among women new to Intermittent Fasting. Unfortunately there is no hard-and-fast definitive answer to this question. We all react to stress differently. Yes, I said stress. Fasting is a stressor to the body - especially the female body. Like money worries, relationship drama, and exercise, fasting will cause the body various levels of stress which can, and often will, result in negative consequences regarding our health. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing most of you have jobs and financial responsibilities, relationships, some of you have children or are care takers of family members. You probably rarely get eight hours of sleep and, let's face it, who has time to meditate daily when living in the real world? All of these things are life's stressors. Now, add lack of sleep, job and family/relationship stress to a boiling pot of intense daily exercise and a lack of food and your bo

Finally - Progress Pics

Recently I've been struggling with my motivation. I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. My workouts stalled (poor diet, lack of discipline and no sleep). Then, today, I hopped on the scale to a solid 116.0 lbs (was literally 117.8 yesterday at the same time). I think the two pints of Guinness I had to celebrate St. Patty's with my girlfriend and the bar appetizers I shouldn't have eaten may have given me the "Whoosh" that Martin Berkhan speaks of. "By the way, a nice bonus after a night of drinking is that it effectively rids you of water retention. You may experience the "whoosh" effect, which I've talked about in my two-part series about water retention. That in itself can be motivating for folks who've been experiencing a plateau in their weight loss." In any event, I'm pleased at my results so far and look forward to seeing how I will look in another two months - just in time for Memorial Day at the Jersey Shore. Here the