Category: Hobbies

Being around my family presents great challenges when it comes to eating healthy. With all of the southern comfort foods we all love (potato salad, macaroni and cheese, biscuits, chick and dumplings) being made fresh and put in front of us, it is hard to resist. I tried to let myself go a bit today as well as keep things in balance. Overall I feel like I did ok, although, I probably enjoyed the two pies that I made a little too much. In a few moments it will be midnight and I return to counting calories, carbohydrates and everything else that is bad for me, and start working out overtime to burn off the excess calories from today. I enjoyed giving myself the freedom from the measurements today and just being conscious of what I have eaten. Tomorrow, everything must be counted, with great accuracy.

[cross posted from body.livecurt.net for your convenience]
A calorie is 4.1184 Joules, which is roughly 4 watts. A calorie is a physical unit of potential energy. When burned by the body a calorie produces electrical and thermal energy as needed throughout the day. Calories come from 3 things: protein, fat and carbohydrates. Oddly, the worse of the three are the carbs. One gram of protein is 4 calories, one gram of carbs is 4 calories, and a single gram of fat is 9 calories.
Protein is the best thing you can get from your daily calorie allotment, it powers your muscles and acts as a stored energy source throughout the day that can be easily accessed. It is best to eat protein rich foods before and after working out for the biggest benefit to your body.
Carbohydrates are evil. They break down very fast and should almost always be utilized immediately, or else, you risk them slowing you down as the metabolism revs up to burn through them and then crashes you right back down after its done. Carbs are best to eat at breakfast, when you can use them as quick fuel to get you started and the chances of them being burned away almost instantly are very high. If you live a life that isn’t active at all, eliminating carbs is likely your only hope for weight-loss, but keep your protein high to protect your muscles.
Fats are GOOD! Fat is very hard for the body to store as fat, because it is more complex and takes too long to break down (your stomach cant just pass fat out to begin building a fat monument on your abs). Fats are relatively quick energy, and aren’t reserved for high-level muscle use. Fast-twitch muscles need a lot of protein, but the slower fibers will settle for the fats. Saturated fats are bad, avoid them if possible. Fats in nuts and milks are usually the best for your body because they usually are carrying other things that are really great for the body.
There is some good news, you can blow off 10% of the calories eaten each day to the digestive process itself.
Want to know how many calories you should eat per day? To determine the number of calories you need to maintain your weight, take your current body weight and multiply it by 11, then take that number and multiple it by your energy multiplier, then add whatever you burn during a workout. So.. in an easier form: (Current Weight*11*Energy Multiplier)+workout calories. If you want to gain weight (bulk), add 500 calories per day, if you want to loose weight, subtract 1000 calories per day.
*Energy multiplier: 1.3 (sedentary), 1.6 (light work), 1.7 (moderate work), or 2.1 (hard labor).
Just a little wisdom I picked up in my research.

I expected when I started this plan of personal health and fitness that it would result in me losing some of my favorite foods, but so far, nothing has really had to be ejected. I no longer indulge in carbonated beverages at all, and the only thing sweet I drink is 100% juice and the occasional cup of tea (usually for the caffeine later in the day). For dinner tonight I had what I consider to be a “bad” meal, spaghetti and meatballs. I enjoyed a serving of spaghetti (2 dry ounces), a serving of sauce (1/2 cup), and 2 meat balls for under 500 calories. The negatives of the meal would be the 170 calorie piece of garlic bread that I decided eat with my meal. After the meal I ate a small slice of birthday icecream cake (122 grams) for a little over 200 calories, simply because I craved something cold and sweet. I don’t like that I consumed so many sugars, but I suppose occasionally I am allowed to indulge a little. I am still under 1500 calories for the day and quite full from dinner still.
Next week when I start trying to eat 5 – 6 small meals per day, these big meals will be a thing of the past, but I am trying to go into that fairly slowly. I will also be working on keeping my carbohydrates, proteins and fats in balance more.

I have been a little nervous about the concept of posting a link to my supplemental blog for my personal “body renovation” project, both because of my self-esteem issues related to the blog, and because I don’t think most of my readers would be interested in such things. I have been trying to post a synopsis entry here for every few entires I post there. Anyway, for anyone who is interested in the other blog, it is located at:
http://body.livecurt.net
The supplemental blog isn’t required reading, as I will continue to make a synopsis post here, since it is still relevant to my general life. The other blog is more detailed and focuses only on my progress and things I learn along the way.

Over the past few days I have significantly reduced the amount of calories I take in. I have stopped drinking carbonated beverages completely, falling back to water, juice and small amounts of tea. I have been picking up more workouts each day too it seems. I started with Chin-ups, then went to chin-ups and sprints, and on to chin-ups, sprints, push up, crunches, oblique crunches and some lower ab workouts. Today I added some more upper body work, including some exercises for my triceps and my favorites, some bicep curls. In the next few days I will begin dividing up my calories into their types and determining how much of each type of calorie (fat, protein, carbohydrate) I should eat.
I will likely take Sunday as a day to relax and not workout at all, except for a morning sprint. I intend to have a serious workout at least four days per week, and stick with fairly standard rotation routines for most of my body parts. Abs will be on a three to four day cycle, something like lower abs, obliques, then upper abs and then a rest day. Then something compatible for the arms and legs as well.
I am a little upset because I missed my morning sprint today because of rain.

I have gotten so attracted to my chin-up bar. It is like totally staring at me, daring me to use it, daring me to do more reps. Only discouraging factor is the way my hands feel after. My hands get sore from the bar, but I am not letting that deter me at all. I am going to get some protection for my hands this weekend to make things a little better. Now I just have to get myself this motivated about daily sprints (or runs) and working my abs just as hard as I am working my arms.