If anyone is wondering where the posts have been recently (sound of pin dropping…oh okay…nevermind…) I have been a little busy getting everything lined up for Tom Venuto’s Burn the Fat Summer Challenge. I have been trying to finish reading “Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle” and I am still only half way through. I have been easily sidetracked by cool fitness blogs like this one everytime I go online to research a question that has popped into my head.
So how is it going you ask? Well I have made the following changes:
1. I am back on a heavier weightlifting program (or should I say will as the last two workouts I did were from the month 1 “break-in” routine and they were too easy…) a la Rachel Cosgrove’s Female Body Breakthrough. The workout for month 2 is exactly what I need (per recommendations from the Burn the Fat book and Holy Grail – why buy them not to at least try the recommendations?) as the rep levels are around 6-8 reps per exercise – ie. muscle building vs fat burning.
2. I am watching my calories. Both Burn the Fat and Holy Grail recommend not taking your base daily calories below your basal metabolic rate (amount of calories your body would burn just to maintain size and organ function without taking into account any daily physical activity). Mine is somewhere in the high 1200′s or mid 1300′s depending on method used.
In the past I have gone under this level. Why? Well…many diets have you take your basal metabolic rate and then multiply this by a number based on your daily activities to get a reasonable estimate of your daily caloric needs. Then, what you do is calculate how many calories to cut out by percentage alone. I used to think, oh I am lightly active, so I will multiply by 1.3 (go here to get an explanation on this method) this gives me 1690 and then I need to do a 40% deficit (the diet I was on at the time assigned weekly calorie deficits from 30%-40%) so I cut 676 calories this leaves me with…1014 calories per day. Okay…and off I went about my business.
Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle argues that any time you go below your basal metabolic rate you are at risk for losing muscle. I think this makes sense. Today I am calculating my activity level at 1.5 (workout 3-4 days per week) for a daily calorie burn of 1950. I am aiming for eating anywhere from 1300 something to 1500 something per day as this meets those requirements and I would still be in a 500 something or more deficit for the day.
3. I am eating 5 small meals per day. Both Burn the Fat and Holy Grail recommend this method. Personally, I do not believe eating lots of small meals will boost my metabolism. However, I want to follow the suggestions for the challenge and see how this goes. I almost never feel hungry, and frankly sometimes I am almost annoyed to be eating. AGAIN.
4. I am eating 1gram of protein per pound body weight. I try to do 30g of protein per meal just to keep things balanced. This week I have eaten lean ground beef, turkey breast, eggs, egg whites, and whey protein. Tonight I will roast a premarinaded pork tenderloin I bought earlier this week.
Along with protein I am eating veggies – lots of veggies – at the same time. I am also adding in portions of carbs, but trying to keep the amount low as carbs always make me feel hungry later. I bought a bag of sweet potatos and a bag of white potatos. I roasted a bunch on Monday and all I am doing is cutting off a half to one quarter for 1-2 meals per day. Other people could probably add in more… The rest of the calories I eat come from fat be that fish oil tablets, egg yolk, flaxseed, avocado, nuts, fat (from meat I am eating for protein) or oils.
My daily macronutrient breakdown is 40% protein, 30% fat, and 30% carbs. Every meal is blend of these macronutrients. I do not eat protein just on its own for the most part…except for breakfast $2 it looks like and that’s just “oops.”)
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Sample meals:
Get up and workout.
Breakfast #1 Drink post workout shake with one scoop whey protein, 1/2 cup frozen berries, 1TB flaxseeds, 1/4c frozen spinach, 1 cup water.
10am Breakfast #2 One egg scrambled with 1/4 cup egg substitute (basically egg white), garlic, salt, spinach if I have some. Sometimes potato for extra carbs post lifting.
1pm Lunch #1 Meat plus veggies (combination of everything currently available. Roasted green beans, roasted cauliflower, raw spinach, bell peppers, cherry tomato – just whatever sounds good) plus potato.
4pm Lunch #2 same as above but I usually eat different veggies for variety. No back to back broccoli for me thanks.
6-7pm Dinner. At this point I look at how much I have eaten all day and see what I am missing. Do I need more protein? Fat? etc. And then I sort of fill in the blanks or eat what is on hand.
Post dinner – snack sometimes.
5. I am working out in the mornings and the evenings on some days per recommendations from Burn the Fat and Holy Grail. Why? Well…so…the idea is working out boosts your metabolism, so I thought well lets do it in the morning where I can benefit all day, vs at night where it keeps me awake. Plus, this allows you to spread your workout throughout the day. Lift in mornings, cardio in evening. Holy Grail focuses on how to build muscle and burn fat simultaneously and this is one method they suggest for improving your chances. Plus think about it, adding in a second workout is one of the best ways to reasonably add in more time. After work, you can only do so much without hitting your maximum limits. If you break your workouts into two, you can workout for less time per session, but collectively when added together – you are working out more.
Things I have noticed:
Today I got up and did a 30min walk first thing in the morning. Everyone I saw said “hello” to me. This is unheard of where I live. Morning runners are ridiculously friendly it appears.
People on the Burn the Fat Inner Circle board/challenge members are also very friendly. I got a near immediate hello from Carrie, who is also in Seattle. So I thought that was fun.
My husband is super supportive yet abhors this nasty “eat clean” style food I have going on. He is used to really flavorful food and I suspect its only a matter of time before he starts eating crazy food at lunch to get his fix. Unlike me, he’s already super lean and fit, so he’s not in need of any dieting – poor guy. 
Sunday I will update my stats, so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out Burn the Fat (burn fat), Holy Grail (burn fat and build muscle), or the Burn the Fat Inner Circle if you are looking to lose weight and get in shape with like minded, supportive people.
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