Fitness Safari

Stress: Physical, mental or emotional strain. Yup. That's about right and I've dealt with all three in the past week alone - and on more than one front. I won't bore you with all of the details, but let's just say that the emotional roller coaster of life has been kicking my ass lately. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I'm f-ing tired and completely drained - and there's no end in sight. On the bright side, I've lost another pound, but can still lift more than ever. I'm weighing in at a whopping 116 lbs now and, last night, I deadlifted 145 x5 and could have easily done twice that many. For chins I did BW +15lbs x 4, +10 lbs x5, +5 lbs x 5 and BW x 8...then did another 8 after my abs. On top of that, I'm struggling to stave off a cold. It started a few days ago, but it hasn't totally reared its ugly head yet. Last night I had that drippy nose and teary eyes thing that keeps you up. I firmly believe that it's my diet and fasting that's...

I'm sitting at a Hampton Inn in northern Maryland preparing for day 2 of the house-hunting trip with my husband. As soon as I left my room on the second floor, I was bowled over by the sweet and spicy smell of sweet rolls, donuts, sausage and maple syrup. Venturing forth for my morning cup of black coffee with splenda - cortisol be damned - I was determined not to be intimidated by my nemesis: the glazed donut. I can't help it, really. My love affair with glazed donuts stems from the Tastee Donut store I used to frequent as a child. They were serving fresh, warm glazed donuts long before the Krispy Kreme folks we're around. I digress. So, I'm sitting in the breakfast room as my senses are bombarded with the smell if breakfast past and I am NOT eating a glazed donut. I am sipping my coffee and watching the people around me load their plates with piles of waffles, sausage, sugary cereals and, yes, glazed donuts. While these foods may offer a few minutes of pleasure, the l...

I've had more than a few folks contact me here or on Facebook asking about the specifics of how I'm approaching Leangains. My personal goal is to lose a signifcant amount of bodyfat while also adding compact muscle and strength - I was skinny fat when I began in January and wondering why all of my jeans were getting too tight. The holidays and my poor eating habits had caught up with me, and I had gained more than a few extra pounds despite killing myself with HIIT at the gym 4-5x's a week. I worked out like a crazy person and could not get fit. Well, turns out, you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet. When I first stumbled on Martin's blog in early January, I was tipping the scales at about 128 lbs and had a significant belly as well as a lot of padding all around. I think I may have been close to 30% bodyfat and it made me sick. Call it genetics if you want - my parents are both thick in the middle - but, after reading Leangains, I was determined that having...

Yesterday at the gym I was ready to deadlift. My back had been bothering me for weeks since I landed flat on it snowboarding, but I was finally feeling pretty normal. I've been deadlifting about 110lbs, 5x and the past couple of times and it was pretty hard. I would then then decrease the weight for a couple more sets. I am keeping a pretty meticulous training journal of my weights and reps and sets, etc., and thought I could start a little heavier... This time I started at 125 and did 5 with very little effort. Damn. So I blew my initial strength on too low of a weight. So I waited a few minutes and did one more set at that same weight. Still too easy. Hmmmm...Could I be getting that much stronger this quickly? So I waited a few more minutes, threw on two more 5 lb plates and did 5 at 135 lbs. Still too easy. I did one more drop set of 8 and then decided to just stop and start much heavier next week. After about 5-10 minutes of rest, I did weighted close-grip chinups (my fave). I ...

I don't know whether it was the massive amount of deep dish chicago pizza I ate on Thursday or the ensuing lack of appetite I experienced for three days post-pizzaextravaganza, but I finally busted through my plateau of 119 lbs. This morning, I am proud to announce, I'm down to 117 lbs! For those of you who missed it, here is the chronology of my pizza feast at Pizzeria Uno in downtown Chicago last Thursday afternoon. Pictured here is just the demise of a single slice. I, however, took my refeed very seriously and consumed TWO of these gargantuan pieces of pizza. It was a quarter of the pizza. I even out-ate my much larger colleague who I was dining with. He has to wonder where in the hell I put it all! I waited more than 13 years for this! What a delicious mess... OMG, so stuffed and SO worth it! For kicks, I looked up the nutritional info on the Numero Uno pictured above. I had a quarter of a regular size pizza, so I think it was 2 servings, but I could be wrong. Either way, ...

Lunch today: 8 oz rotisserie chicken (white and dark meat) 7 brussels sprouts (sauteed) 4 organic strawberries The nutrient breakdown is as follows (I forgot to add the couple tsp of bacon fat I cooked the sprouts in, so the fat is actually a bit higher than posted below). Click the picture to enlarge. All in all, 52 g protein, 20 g carbs, and 530 calories. Just under half of my allotment of 1300 for a rest day. Dinner is ribeye steak (probably about 6 oz, broccoli-cauliflower mash, green beans and some blueberries in protein milk for dessert. Mmmmm...too bad I'm really not that hungry yet. Not sure how I'll eat 90 more grams of protein before 9 pm.

Today's lunch 7 oz (cooked weight) grilled chicken, 1/2 avocado, a cup of zucchini and a half-cup of my homemade red potato/cauliflower mash. Approx nutrient breakdown... Any questions?

Just got back from Chicago and my first trip while following Leangains. I wasn't gone but 2.5 days, but found that getting protein on the road that's not laden in fat or sodium is no easy proposition. My first flight was easy as it was in the morning. No breakfast was even offered on the plane, so I had some black coffee with a sprinkle of splenda and watched Riding Giants on my iPad. Had a 2-hour layover in Minneapolis - I know! But it was the cheapest way to get to Chicago. By now it was about 12:30 EST and nearly time to eat my first meal. I found a Chili's Too by my gate and studied the menu. Burgers...too much fat...no pasta, no quesadilla's...so I settled on the quesadilla explosion salad. It was grilled chicken, corn, cheese, black beans, tomatoes, with a vinaigrette of some kind. Sounds good, right? Well, it eventually was, but the first one they brought out -i forgot to tell them to put the dressing on the side...it was so soggy that the lettuce was actually tr...

Sticking to the LG approach to life while I'm home or at the office has been pretty easy. I only eat between 1 pm - 9 pm every day; I eat at least half of my calories as protein and the rest as fats and veggies with the occasional starch thrown in on workout days... But what is a girl to do when she's traveling for business and forced to follow someone else's schedule? Next week I'm headed to Chicago for business. The agenda? Wednesday night cocktail party/schmooze fest with the CEO. Wine and hors d'oeuvres a plenty...Piles of protein - Who knows? I'm thinking I'll fast most of the day until I get to Chicago (airline food sucks anyway) and find some kind of massive protein to eat before the party. I'll bring some BCAAs and my shaker cup to help tide me over. At the worst, maybe I can get some kind of protein and veggies in Minneapolis on my layover. Yippee. Thursday I'm planning a major refeed - my first, actually. I haven't eaten authentic dee...