Crazy Catabolic Carb Complex Part I - The diet and exercise

Son of a gun. I had an entire preliminary post typed up and it’s gone. Well I am going to do my best to summarize what I had previously written. All of this was pretty long winded so I am breaking it into a total of 3 posts. 

After coming back from Thailand I had lost weight (mostly muscle). All summer I had been working to put that back on and lose some of the extra padding. Through a good diet and amazing workouts I feel like I have achieved this. With the eve of my departure to Korea looming, I successfully went through one last push.

6 weeks ago I strapped myself into a bubble and had my body composition analyzed. Yesterday, just like Felix I found myself floating in a tin can. The space capsule so happily referred to as a bod pod. My results didn’t come back as expected, but luckily science once again can explain it. 

Stay calm and geek on. I have a good understanding of how foods affect our body and will try my best to explain. But before that as with all science experiments lets look at the methods of procedure.

Diet

Keep in mind I was bartending most of the summer so things are slightly skewed. Then this past week changed.

Breakfast: (11 am)

1 cup blueberries, 1 banana, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 2 cups unsweetened almond milk, 2 scoops protein powder (30 gram protein)

2 slices Gluten Free bread

Post workout shake: (2 pm)

2 scoops Muscle MLK

Lunch: (3 pm)

2 cups brown rice or quinoa or GF pasta

8 oz cooked MFP (meat, fish or poultry)

2-3 cups vegetables (usually carrots or asparagus as they are my favourites)

2 tbsp hummus or guacamole or tomato sauce or goat cheese

Snack: (8 pm)

Clif Bar (chocolate mint is awesome, same with peanut toffee buzz)

Snack: (11 pm if I can sneak it in)

1 oz almonds or pistachios or 1 cup grapes)

Bedtime dinner: (2-3 am)

8 oz MFP

Rice crackers (Maggie’s Organice ones) or 2-4 slices GF bread

2 oz goat cheese

Big Salad

Then this past week, I have changed my workouts and also the diet, limiting carbs a little.

Breakfast: (10 am)

1 ½ cup cooked oatmeal with 1 cup blueberries and 1 tsp honey

2 scoop protein powder or 3 eggs with guac

Post workout shake: (12pm)

2 scoops Muscle MLK

Lunch: (1 pm)

8 oz MFP

3 cups vegetables

2 oz goat cheese

Snack: (4pm)

1 cup carrots w/hummus

During workout shake: (6pm)

2 scoops Muscle MLK

Dinner: (8pm)

Half a chicken

3 cups vegetables

Maybe a little goat cheese or hummus or guac, depending on how I feel

Snack: ½ pint raspberries or carrots and hummus and 2 oz nuts

Workouts:

I can’t find one of the older workouts right now, will post it later, but here is an example of morning Metcon (metabolic conditioning) and evening strength from this past week.

Metcon:

Dynamic Warmup (10 minutes)

Run 1 mile (approx. 8 minutes)

Chrissy Kettlebell workout:

20-25-30-35-40-45 Kettle Bell Swings (16kg)

30-25-20-15-10-5 Burpee pushup Tuck Jumps (superset no rest)

Stength:

10x10 Bench Press (#135) every minute on the minute

4xMax Bench Press (10RM or 185) R=60 sec

10x10 Cable Flys (#23) every minute on the minute

4xMax Cable Flys (10RM or 185) R=60 sec

3x10 Floor Flys (#30e)

3xMax Pushups (superset) R=90

3x25 pistol crunch R=60 sec

300 crunches R= as needed

Or here is another one

In my next post I will detail the results and interpret them a bit.

An interesting composition

Huge thanks to Derek @2110 Fitness, for taking the time to help me last week with the Bod Pod. For those of you that don’t know what a Bod Pod is; here is a link. Essentially this is another tool for anthropometric measurements. Without going into detail as the link explains well, it helps you calculate your Fat mass, lean mass, BMR (calories necessary if you were to sleep on the couch all day), and EEE (estimated energy expenditure). So serious. 

I did this as a means of tracking progress. As I have said so many times to so many clients, muscle weighs more than fat, and there is so much more to life than the scale. Albeit, sometimes the scale is necessary, we shouldn’t live or die by it. Use of the bod pod, my notes and the scale are to track my progression. While another way to track is the physical changes in appearance,  I haven’t had an opportunity to get a picture taken to see the changes versus my return from Thailand and Singapore.

My first bod pod results:

Body fat: 10.9%

Fat mass: 18.7 lbs

Fat Free Mass: 153.3 lbs

Total Mass: 172 lbs

BMR: 1872 calories

EEE: 3257 calories

Over my next few posts, I think I may go into depth on dietary stuff like what I eat for breakfast and explain the necessity of calories, maybe how people unnecessarily restrict too much and don’t get the results they are looking for. 

Well 10.9 is pretty much on par where I expected to be. It puts me into the lean category which is essential for a long and healthy life. Of course, my goal is to push myself dropping into the 8% range, there is something about elite athlete fat % that excites me, to be along the lines of Calvin Johnson or Sydney Crosby in terms of athleticism is  an exciting thought. While I will never compare to the prowess on the field or ice, just one thing that makes me on their level is exhilarating. 

My goals? Wait lets review the previous ones I set not to far back.. Remember these?

• Gain about 7 more lbs of muscle (just over 3 kg) – I have added 7 lbs of mass since returning

• Develop my chest more evenly – It’s coming along nicely, still work to go though

• Get on no less than 4 more hikes this season -  2 down 2 more to go

• Restart my professional career (aiming for pharmaceutical sales, nutraceutical, or agricultural and still thinking a bit about nursing) – Still pursuing this, applying whenever a suitable opportunity arises

• If the right contract comes head to Tokyo, Seoul or Hong Kong or Potentially Europe – Signed my contract for Seoul

•  Climb some of the highest peaks in the world (learn more of mountaineering) – This is longer term, but a friend and I have been discussing Killmanjaro or Mont Blanc

·   Lets Check out some of the new goals 

     Drop fat mass by 3 lbs (1 kg)

·      Increase lean mass by 5 lbs (roughly 2.5 kg)

·      Get body fat into the 8-9% range