Diet/Eating Plan Comparison

Since about mid-June I have using a detoxification diet called the Fat Flush Plan (http://www.annlouise.com/fat-flush/overview/the-fat-flush-plan-overview.html). I have done two rounds (about 4 weeks) of the strict initiation eating plan under the FFP and I have lost about 20 lbs. I usually lose around 5 lbs. a week during the time I follow the initiation phase. While 20 lbs sounds great, it is really just the weight I gained since moving to Northern California a year ago. I was 179 lbs when we moved and I was in about the about the 6th week of Body-for-Life. With the move and a new job, I totally fell off BFL and just couldn't get to the gym or afford to repurchase the home gym equipment I had sold in Virginia to work out at home.

I was looking at my pictures from BFL and I definitely looked better at 179 lbs under that plan than I do at 179 lbs under the Fat Flush Plan. Mostly that would because I had actually lost more weight because I had also put on probably five pounds of muscle. So I my body fat percentage was actually less at 179 lbs under BFL.

While doing the Fat Flush Plan, I have been slowly increasing my cardiovascular workout. I started just walking, and I now daily run a mile and a half and walk half a mile. This daily workout only takes about half an hour and there is no travel time to the gym, so it really fits my busy schedule.

The things that I like about the Fat Flush Plan are 1) the detoxification really does help relieve my congestion systems, which is great; 2) it is easier to strict to because while the eating is more strict, it is less regimented in both its workout schedule and eating scheduled, which is easier for me; 3) because I have not gained a bunch of muscle mass, my weight loss is not dependent on my continued completion of the weightlifting program; and 4) I am much much less likely to injure my self with my very gradual increases in cardiovascular workouts. With BFL life, if I injured myself, which I did twice while on BFL and the weight came crashing back on because BFL is not a low calorie diet and the muscle mass starts breaking down into fat.

I admit that I miss the weightlifting in BFL. I miss measuring my biceps and calves and seeing them grow on weekly basis. And it is nice to be able to be on a plan where I am never hungry.

However, I have I cholesterol and family history of diabetes, so my main concern has to be major weight loss and maintenance of that low body weight. So I am trying shoot for more of a long distance runner's body. Once I reach my goals on weight maintenance, I will see if can add some muscle mass slowly, without injury.

Day 40 -- Loving My Gold's Gym Membership

I am lovin' the Gold's Gym membership. They have everything! I feel like my workouts are so much more effective with all the tools there. Today was the last day of my 7-day VIP membership. So next week I will have to start paying the daily fee on my weight lifting days. I hit some very cool lifting milestones this week. On Thursday, I benched 175lbs three times on my own and three more times with help from a guy who agree to spot me. On that same day I also reached a new high by preacher curling a 90lb curling barbell 6 times. I am definitely gettin stronger and can push myself more at Gold's. The back of my neck hurt after I did actual squats so I have been using a machine now to do the squats, but I have been squating around 200lb six times for my max. I also upped my wieght for my calves today to 150lbs. I could barley lift the weight, but I have to do something to make my chicken little calves grow. I have also been working on some more videos of meals that work under BFL guidelines and as soon as I edit them, I will post them. I made them with my nine-year-old son as camera man and main helper -- so it was tons of fun. I am really hoping that I break under 180lbs tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Day 11 -- BFL -- I Miss Muscle Media Magazine

What happened to Muscle Media magazine?!! During my last two challenges, I could look to Muscle Media to new ideas, recipes and ways to mix up my work out. One of my favorite articles was ab boot camp. The ab work out in BLF training program really doesn't work for me. I do not know why I would do decsending reps of 12 through 6 for my abs work out. But check out this article from Muscle Media http://musclemedia.com/training/BootCamp.asp!!! The work out in there is not for beginners. I have not sarted it yet, but when I am ready -- BAM! -- this abs boot camp work out is the ticket. It worked beauifully for me before, and I guarantee it will work for you. But seriously, wait until simple exercises like 75 floor crunches and 50 bent-knee leg raises just aren't doing it for you any more. The last thing you want is an injury so early in you Body-for-LIFE transformation. The Muscle Media website has no search engine, so to find articles you must search in Google for the term "muscle media" and then insert the topic you are looking for. Kind of a pain, but the search is worh it if you find an old article like abs boot camp.

Day 8 -- Chosing the Right Meal Plan

I know that Body-for-LIFE can work. Just look at that skinny guy in the photo from my first success. But I also know that it is important to choose an eating plan to meet my transformation goals.

With my first challenge, the variety of Myoplex drinks and bars available now, did not exist. I just purchased a big variety pack of ready-mix Myoplex nutrition shakes. I cooked three meals a day and had three shakes a day, pretty simple plan, and I finished the entire challenge. I later injured my knees, stopped working out completely and put on a bunch of weight.

For my second challenge, I decided that I wanted to bulk up more. EAS now offered a variety of products, including ready-mixed drinks in a lite formula or carb control. I decided to take on the strength and power eating program, and I went for the Myoplex Deluxe drinks along with Phosphagen XP. I started bulking up and did not worry about losing any weight, because I figured it would come off at the end due to the fat burning machine I would become and by cutting calories. However, around week 5 I sustained a hernia injury and that was the end of my weight lifting regime. I had bulked up and become substantially stronger, but I ALSO HAD NOT LOST ANY WEIGHT!

I tried Atkins and South Beach diets to try and loose the weight without working out, but those plans made me feel "wigged out" all the time.

So here I go again, challenge number 3. This time I am drinking the ready-mix Myoplex lite and eating Balance protein bars. I have already lost some weight even in this first week. I am still taking the phosphagen XP because I know how important building muscle is to create my own Body-for-LIFE. I know that loosing weight is very important to my appearance and to my overall health. Once I meet my healthy weight, only then I can pursue a "bulking up" nutrition plan.

After week one, I feel I have chosen the right meal plan for me. We'll see how I feel in week 6. I also feel great under the BFL system, unlike Atkins or South Beach.

Day 3 -- Body-for-Life -- Eating-for-LIFE at O'Faolain's

All four of my kids were gone today. My two oldest girls at camp and Jonathan and Ellie went to Aunt Stephanie's for what will no doubt be an XBox extravaganza. So tonight was Shelley-and-Marc night out. We decided to go to an Irish restaurant called O'Faolain's that was featured in Northern Virginia magazine. It was awesome! We started out with steamed mussels in a white wine sauce with garlic and chili flecks. The sauce had not been simply pour over boiled mussels. You know what I mean? Instead, you could taste that the mussels had really simmered in the sauce and were permiated with flavor. The dish was so good that I asked the waiter for the receipe. Unfortunately the chef said it was a secret. I'm glad today wasn't cheat day, or I would have selected the baked brie in a berry Guinness sauce for an appetizer, and entirely missed out on the mussels. I was tempted by many BFL non-compliant entrees, such as the chicken pot pie and the beer-battered fish & chips. The Shepard's pie might have been okay, but I played it safe and ordered the corn beef and cabbage with parsley boiled potatoes. I had a "hankering" for good corn beef for a while now and this dish had the perfect portions of protein, carbohydrates and even my second serving of vegetables. Perfect! What made the corn beef and cabbage particularly good was the selection of imported mustards from Ireland. I can't recall the names on the lables, but one was an extra sharp mustard and the other, which was seriously "to die for" good, contained whole mustard seeds in a whiskey sauce. I still have trouble sticking to my BFL schedules. My morning work out was three hours off schedule, which also caused me to miss my 10 am scheduled meal. I am proud though that I had the flexibility and commitment to reschedule and complete my exercise.

Day 2 Eating-for-LIFE -- Plug for meals by "Let's Dish"

I just need to put in a quick plug for Let's Dish (http://www.letsdish.com/). Let's Dish is a company that prepares all the ingredients for dinners (chops up veggies, single servings of protien ready, etc.), and then customers can come in to mix and bag 12 to 24 dinners in a single night. Shelley will go to Let's Dish once a month and create pre-made dinners that are kept in the freezer. The dinners are then made up really quickly when it is meal time, with very little mess! We save a bunch of money because our family dines out much more when Shelley or I are too tired to put together a dinner from scratch. HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO "EATING-FOR-LIFE"? As follows: When I start on the Body-for-Life eating plan, it is difficult to find recipes that work for both me and my "family" at dinner time. I have four kids, 6 to 15 years old. However, the Let's Dish dinners seem to generally work. Its not always perfectly consistent with Eating-for LIFE, but it is a great way to still have family dinner each night while only preparing one meal. For example, last night we had Italian Chicken with Cous Cous. The chicken was not breaded, but baked in a tomato sauce with some low fat mozzarella cheese melted on top. The cous cous are not whole grain, of course, but a "palm" sized portion of chicken and a "fist" sized portion of cous with some steamed broccoli was a pretty good meal the whole family could eat. Tonight we are having Dry BBQ rubbed Chicken with mashed sweet potatoes. The recipe could come straight out of Eating-for-LIFE. Convenience that lets you still enjoy a family dinner. ISN'T THAT GREAT!!

McDonald's Asian Chicken Salad?

Today I ate the Asian Grilled Chicken Salad at McDonald's. It wasn't on my eating plan, but my errands ran way over and while I had had a protein bar mid-day, my kids were starving.

NUTRITION: Without the dressing the Asian Salad has 300 calories, 10g fat, 23g carbs, and 32g protein. The HUGE package of dressing has 90 calories, 2.5g fat, 15g carbs, and 1g protein. I used about a third of the dressing and so total was 330 calories, 11g fat, 28g carbs and 33g protein. That fits within my BFL guidelines! Also the salad comes with Mandarin oranges, edemane, snow peas, red bell peppers and sliced almonds, so you fit in a serving of vegetables and nuts to boot. All this with only 1 gram of saturated fat because the fat comes from soybean and sesame seed oil and the almonds. Not bad!

TASTE: Compared to anything else on the menu, this salad actually tastes pretty good. I really enjoyed the edemane (soybeans), snow peas and sliced almonds.

Blood Tests

As part of my health improvement program, I also want a complete set of blood work results. Every year for my annual physical, I found out about my cholesterol, but that is about it. After reading "You, The Owner's Manual", I know that I need to know a lot more about my blood. I need to know my levels of cholesterol (total, LDL, HDL), blood sugar, homocystein, hormones, minerals, kidney and liver functions and disease screening such as PSA for prostate cancer. So I am having my blood work done today. I recommend using Health One Labs (http://healthonelabs.com/user/inside.php) because they offer comprehensive testing at reasonable prices. First, I went to several pharmacies to see if I could test my blood sugar and cholesterol levels myself, and you can. However, the cheapest kits, to test just those two levels, cost about $50 to $60. The Health One Labs comprehensive screen cost $59. Which is by far the best price I found for this type of testing. There are some really cool websites that give more comprehensive testing and an analysis of the results, but these test usually run about $300 (see http://www.yourfuturehealth.com/services_healthprints2.htm). Not in my budget right now, but I am bummed that my testing will not include my hormone levels or a thyroid screening. So my big hope is that not only will I look and feel better by completing the BFL Challenge, but that I will see measurable improvements in the health and real age of my body. I hate needles. So wish me luck!

Day 2 - Body for Life -- Public Humiliation

WARNING: DUE TO THE DISTURBING GRAPHIC NATURE OF THESE PHOTOS, YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS POSTING. TO AVOID INJURY TO YOUR OPTICAL SENSORS, QUICKLY SCROLL DOWN TO THE NEXT POST. It is very difficult for me to look at these photos. Nevertheless, I am posting my before photos here to track the transformation and give myself motivation to complete the BFL Challenge. Well, I still have pretty skinny ankles!