Weight: 145.8
I had ultimate practice yesterday, and it was noteworthy because normally when I have a weekday evening practice I'm tired and have no energy, but yesterday I felt great and energetic right through to the end of practice. It's quite possible that a lot of that was mental/mindset, but because I found it so interesting, I thought I'd note what food contributed to my energy-full practice.
First I should mention that I got about 7.5 hours of sleep the night before, 10:45pm-6:15am.
Breakfast: (~7:00 am)
3 large pieces of bacon
2 eggs fried in bacon grease
coffee w/ half'n'half
Snack: (~12:00 pm)
20g of 85% cocoa dark chocolate
Lunch: (~2:30 pm)
McDonalds:
1 McDouble minus the bun
1 grilled chicken ranch snack wrap minus the wrap
Snack: (~3:30 pm)
iced espresso with about 1/4 cup of whole milk and 1/8 cup half'n'half
handful of mixed macadamia nuts and filberts
Dinner: (~6:30 pm)
About 5 breaded chicken tenders dipped in ranch dressing
half of a big juicey cheeseburger, minus the bun, topped with avocado and bacon
small handful of french fries
and then practice was from 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm (ish). i should also mention that I had my multivitamin in the morning and fish oil capsules totaling 1200mg of Omega 3s throughout the day. Anyway, the big dinner didn't remotely slow me down! And interestingly, even though I had a bit more carbs at dinner than usual for me, I didn't feel an energy dip at any point afterward (or if I did it was before practice really got going, so it didn't seem to matter.)
Anyway, things are going well and I hope to keep it up!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
healthy eating pays off
Weight: 144.4 (yesterday's weight)
So I got a calorie-counting iPhone app with the intent of just using it for fun and not actually letting it affect my diet, but of course I can't help myself and have actually been eating a bit less (especially fewer carbs) because of it. And it paid off with the lowest weight on the scale that I've seen in a while. :)
I survived the tournament this weekend and I thought my knees would be a lot worse off, but they seem about the same as they were last week. I am however still recovering from a pulled upper hamstring, which I'm annoyed about but it seems to be nothing serious. I'm totally failing on my shoulder PT, but I'll try to get in my exercises tonight at least. We have an ultimate practice tomorrow and we had a track workout on Tuesday, good good. Obviously my eating has been good and I'm also remembering to supplement as planned... Oh and I will keep trying to update this thingy more often. Maybe next time I'll include real content instead of a super-quick summary. Who knows?
So I got a calorie-counting iPhone app with the intent of just using it for fun and not actually letting it affect my diet, but of course I can't help myself and have actually been eating a bit less (especially fewer carbs) because of it. And it paid off with the lowest weight on the scale that I've seen in a while. :)
I survived the tournament this weekend and I thought my knees would be a lot worse off, but they seem about the same as they were last week. I am however still recovering from a pulled upper hamstring, which I'm annoyed about but it seems to be nothing serious. I'm totally failing on my shoulder PT, but I'll try to get in my exercises tonight at least. We have an ultimate practice tomorrow and we had a track workout on Tuesday, good good. Obviously my eating has been good and I'm also remembering to supplement as planned... Oh and I will keep trying to update this thingy more often. Maybe next time I'll include real content instead of a super-quick summary. Who knows?
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Track workout!
Weight: 146.6
Well I have certainly jumped right in on some of my goals, though right off the bat I forgot to do my PT exercises yesterday. (Note to self: do them tonight before I go to sleep!) I've been remembering to take the fish oil supplements much more consistently. I went to practice on Monday, which was largely just one long bout of frustration as I wasn't happy with my throws and cuts, but then again adversity is good for you. :P
Yesterday's track workout went really well. We worked on footwork using an agility ladder for a while. I always feel like I'm accomplishing nothing on those, but really I'm going fast and occasionally stumbling over my feet, so presumably with repetition it will be helpful. The conditioning was pretty tough, one of those workouts on which I probably would have just stopped halfway through if I didn't have teammates there. It was 2 miles of running interspersed with burpees, mountain climbers, sit-ups, and rest periods. Unfortunately it really is glaringly obvious how much more out of shape I am than pretty much all of my teammates... I was the last one to finish. And I finished further and further behind after each new rest period. (One could argue that it's because I had a shorter rest period than everyone else since we started each new section together, but really we all rested until we felt like we could do more running, so really my endurance just sucks.)
In general I'm feeling pretty good today, though I'm not looking forward to being stuck in a seated position for pretty much the rest of my day. Also, I need to keep an eye on my knee, it's been bugging me a bit now and then, especially if I'm sitting or lying and try bending it, it feels like the kneecap is occasionally misaligning.
Diet-wise still doing pretty good on the carbs. Had a small frosty after the track workout, but I figure I was pretty depleted at that point, so it's ok. :)
Well I have certainly jumped right in on some of my goals, though right off the bat I forgot to do my PT exercises yesterday. (Note to self: do them tonight before I go to sleep!) I've been remembering to take the fish oil supplements much more consistently. I went to practice on Monday, which was largely just one long bout of frustration as I wasn't happy with my throws and cuts, but then again adversity is good for you. :P
Yesterday's track workout went really well. We worked on footwork using an agility ladder for a while. I always feel like I'm accomplishing nothing on those, but really I'm going fast and occasionally stumbling over my feet, so presumably with repetition it will be helpful. The conditioning was pretty tough, one of those workouts on which I probably would have just stopped halfway through if I didn't have teammates there. It was 2 miles of running interspersed with burpees, mountain climbers, sit-ups, and rest periods. Unfortunately it really is glaringly obvious how much more out of shape I am than pretty much all of my teammates... I was the last one to finish. And I finished further and further behind after each new rest period. (One could argue that it's because I had a shorter rest period than everyone else since we started each new section together, but really we all rested until we felt like we could do more running, so really my endurance just sucks.)
In general I'm feeling pretty good today, though I'm not looking forward to being stuck in a seated position for pretty much the rest of my day. Also, I need to keep an eye on my knee, it's been bugging me a bit now and then, especially if I'm sitting or lying and try bending it, it feels like the kneecap is occasionally misaligning.
Diet-wise still doing pretty good on the carbs. Had a small frosty after the track workout, but I figure I was pretty depleted at that point, so it's ok. :)
Monday, June 29, 2009
Reboot
Weight: 145.4
Imagine my surprise when I realized that I haven't posted a thing in a month and a half. Happily I didn't just sit around and do nothing that entire time, fitness-wise. I started taking Kung Fu classes, which I then had to stop when I realized just how much time Ultimate was going to be taking. I think those classes would be great though, so I plan on trying again when the Ultimate season is over. I went to the beach for a week and mostly goofed off, but managed to run around a play in the waves and even did a pretty intense workout out on the sand which left me sore for several days afterwards. ultimate practices started up and I've gotten a bit less rusty. On the down side, I haven't been to the gym at all, and I'm probably losing some muscle because of it. Also, probably the worst thing, I completely stopped doing my shoulder physical therapy exercises, probably contributing to a pretty bad moment playing Ultimate a few weeks ago. My shoulder popped out and it was a good 30 seconds before I could relax enough for it to shift back into place.
Diet-wise, my eating started to deteriorate as I started letting more sugary things back into my diet. I also fell off the gluten-free wagon and started munching on bread if there happened to be some in front of me. (i.e., at restaurants.) However, after coming back from the beach I've totally buttoned down and feel pretty good about my diet right now. I'm really not craving sweets at all.
So, in the spirit of always having a fitness plan, there's about 3 months left in the ultimate season. In that time my goals are to:
1. Post to this blog regularly, I'm shooting for 3-4 times per week.
2. Do my physical therapy exercises every day
3. Attend my weekly Ultimate practices- 2 per week plus a scrimmage
4. Attend my ultimate team's weekly track workout sessions
5. Limit sweets to maybe 1 dessert per week and keep working to limit carbs in general
6. Get 7.5 or more hours of sleep each night, go to bed early, and wake up early
7. Supplement with daily multivitamin, fish oil, and vitamin D
I also recently did a good benchmark workout- 400m of walking lunges in 19 minutes, 25 seconds on June 16th. I would like to do that workout again on or around July 28 (6 weeks later) and on or around September 8. (12 weeks later)
Imagine my surprise when I realized that I haven't posted a thing in a month and a half. Happily I didn't just sit around and do nothing that entire time, fitness-wise. I started taking Kung Fu classes, which I then had to stop when I realized just how much time Ultimate was going to be taking. I think those classes would be great though, so I plan on trying again when the Ultimate season is over. I went to the beach for a week and mostly goofed off, but managed to run around a play in the waves and even did a pretty intense workout out on the sand which left me sore for several days afterwards. ultimate practices started up and I've gotten a bit less rusty. On the down side, I haven't been to the gym at all, and I'm probably losing some muscle because of it. Also, probably the worst thing, I completely stopped doing my shoulder physical therapy exercises, probably contributing to a pretty bad moment playing Ultimate a few weeks ago. My shoulder popped out and it was a good 30 seconds before I could relax enough for it to shift back into place.
Diet-wise, my eating started to deteriorate as I started letting more sugary things back into my diet. I also fell off the gluten-free wagon and started munching on bread if there happened to be some in front of me. (i.e., at restaurants.) However, after coming back from the beach I've totally buttoned down and feel pretty good about my diet right now. I'm really not craving sweets at all.
So, in the spirit of always having a fitness plan, there's about 3 months left in the ultimate season. In that time my goals are to:
1. Post to this blog regularly, I'm shooting for 3-4 times per week.
2. Do my physical therapy exercises every day
3. Attend my weekly Ultimate practices- 2 per week plus a scrimmage
4. Attend my ultimate team's weekly track workout sessions
5. Limit sweets to maybe 1 dessert per week and keep working to limit carbs in general
6. Get 7.5 or more hours of sleep each night, go to bed early, and wake up early
7. Supplement with daily multivitamin, fish oil, and vitamin D
I also recently did a good benchmark workout- 400m of walking lunges in 19 minutes, 25 seconds on June 16th. I would like to do that workout again on or around July 28 (6 weeks later) and on or around September 8. (12 weeks later)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Feeling Phlegmy
Weight: 145.2
Let's see, I had Ultimate practice on Saturday. It was warm and sunny, and now I'm sunburned. I felt pretty good, though clearly I still need to get my stamina up. I ran hard and played some good defense so I'll take it. We're still figuring out our final roster so I was playing with a lot of people whose playing style I'm not familiar with. My Offensive play therefore was a bit crappy, but one of my goals this season is to improve my handling especially so it doesn't depend so much on me being on exactly the same page as whoever is cutting for me. I want to be more adaptable. It's a work in progress. At the start of practice my right calf was feeling a bit strained, and then as practice progressed I was feeling it mostly in my right hamstring and by the end of practice it was almost all my right glute that was hurting. Not quite pulled I think, but not just sore either. I guess those deadlifts last week were a good wake-up call.
I'll try to get to the gym today if I'm not feeling too crappy after lunch. This week is supposed to be an evaluation week for me, but I'm thinking I'll keep it light today and then test my max lifts on Friday or Saturday.
I've been contemplating my diet, and I'm very happy with the whole low-carb thing, I'm feeling full and satisfied and not at all deprived. But I can't help but notice that I'm not losing weight! Hmm. Well perhaps I'm still a bit insulin resistant, but starting a few days ago I'm moving to a little more of a "dieting" mentality. A very gentle one, I don't intend to get into a mindset of feeling seriously deprived and miserable, and I'm honestly not even planning on counting calories. I'm instead trying:
a) Eating breakfast first thing after I wake up. It's been quite a while since I've done this, but so far Day 3 it's feeling pretty good. I'm eating eggs and avocado, and generally getting coffee on my way to work, and then I'm set until I finally get around to eating a late lunch.
b) Drinking less coffee. I was going pretty nuts there for the last month or so. I'm cutting back to one cup in the morning and maybe a cup of decaf in the afternoon when I feel the strong "coffee break" urge. Tea just doesn't seem to have enough bite for me.
c) Getting hungry between meals. Feeling satiated is all well and good, and I'm glad I took the time to really get to enjoy it without my weight creeping up, but I really don't think I'll do myself mental or emotional harm in the short term if I deprive myself a little now and then. I've been down that road enough times to be pretty good at recognizing the signs when I hit that point. Honestly my biggest concern is that I keep myself fueled enough to stay active, so I'll be watching myself closely.
I also want to refocus on one of my goals that I've been neglecting- getting more sleep! Hopefully cutting back on the coffee will help with that. In fact I really want to move towards getting to bed much earlier, so that I can wake up and take my time in the morning. My lofty goal is to start waking up without an alarm in the mornings, that would be crazy!
Let's see, I had Ultimate practice on Saturday. It was warm and sunny, and now I'm sunburned. I felt pretty good, though clearly I still need to get my stamina up. I ran hard and played some good defense so I'll take it. We're still figuring out our final roster so I was playing with a lot of people whose playing style I'm not familiar with. My Offensive play therefore was a bit crappy, but one of my goals this season is to improve my handling especially so it doesn't depend so much on me being on exactly the same page as whoever is cutting for me. I want to be more adaptable. It's a work in progress. At the start of practice my right calf was feeling a bit strained, and then as practice progressed I was feeling it mostly in my right hamstring and by the end of practice it was almost all my right glute that was hurting. Not quite pulled I think, but not just sore either. I guess those deadlifts last week were a good wake-up call.
I'll try to get to the gym today if I'm not feeling too crappy after lunch. This week is supposed to be an evaluation week for me, but I'm thinking I'll keep it light today and then test my max lifts on Friday or Saturday.
I've been contemplating my diet, and I'm very happy with the whole low-carb thing, I'm feeling full and satisfied and not at all deprived. But I can't help but notice that I'm not losing weight! Hmm. Well perhaps I'm still a bit insulin resistant, but starting a few days ago I'm moving to a little more of a "dieting" mentality. A very gentle one, I don't intend to get into a mindset of feeling seriously deprived and miserable, and I'm honestly not even planning on counting calories. I'm instead trying:
a) Eating breakfast first thing after I wake up. It's been quite a while since I've done this, but so far Day 3 it's feeling pretty good. I'm eating eggs and avocado, and generally getting coffee on my way to work, and then I'm set until I finally get around to eating a late lunch.
b) Drinking less coffee. I was going pretty nuts there for the last month or so. I'm cutting back to one cup in the morning and maybe a cup of decaf in the afternoon when I feel the strong "coffee break" urge. Tea just doesn't seem to have enough bite for me.
c) Getting hungry between meals. Feeling satiated is all well and good, and I'm glad I took the time to really get to enjoy it without my weight creeping up, but I really don't think I'll do myself mental or emotional harm in the short term if I deprive myself a little now and then. I've been down that road enough times to be pretty good at recognizing the signs when I hit that point. Honestly my biggest concern is that I keep myself fueled enough to stay active, so I'll be watching myself closely.
I also want to refocus on one of my goals that I've been neglecting- getting more sleep! Hopefully cutting back on the coffee will help with that. In fact I really want to move towards getting to bed much earlier, so that I can wake up and take my time in the morning. My lofty goal is to start waking up without an alarm in the mornings, that would be crazy!
Thursday, May 07, 2009
gym report
Weight: 146.4
Assisted Dips:
5x "4"
5x "4"
5x "4"
Try for "3" next time.
Dead Lifts:
3x 165 lbs
3x 170 lbs
3x 175 lbs
start at 175 next time.
My physical therapist gave me more exercises and says I can scale back to every other day. The new exercise routine is still internal and external rotations with the theraband, but now starting out with my elbow at my side and working my way up to my arm being out at 90 degrees through the course of 20 reps. She also admonished me again to hold off on the pullups, even though I didn't mention that I was doing them again! tricksy.
Ultimate practice scheduled for this weekend and the weather forecast looks good.
Assisted Dips:
5x "4"
5x "4"
5x "4"
Try for "3" next time.
Dead Lifts:
3x 165 lbs
3x 170 lbs
3x 175 lbs
start at 175 next time.
My physical therapist gave me more exercises and says I can scale back to every other day. The new exercise routine is still internal and external rotations with the theraband, but now starting out with my elbow at my side and working my way up to my arm being out at 90 degrees through the course of 20 reps. She also admonished me again to hold off on the pullups, even though I didn't mention that I was doing them again! tricksy.
Ultimate practice scheduled for this weekend and the weather forecast looks good.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
rain rain
Weight:146.2
Practice today was cancelled due to rain. So we went to the gym!! Fantabulous. Really though it was quite nice except I developed a headache while foam rolling/stretching and it refuses to go away. I'm a bit concerned about these headaches, I feel like I'm getting them with some regularity, like once a week or so, when I used to really only get headaches when I had a cold. Then again I do feel like I've been fighting a cold off and on for a while now (feeling phlegmy) so maybe that's what it is. I'll start paying closer attention now.
Single Leg Decline Press- I've avoided machines for so long, but all the squat racks were being used and honestly I kinda wanted to give my back a break anyway. Also, in the spirit of switching up how I work my legs, this was an interesting experiment. I definitely was feeling it a lot more along the outside of my quad, as opposed to back squats when I tend to feel it in my groin. I don't think I pushed this quite as hard as I could have, I was a little nervous about my non-working leg, which was just chilling in the middle, probably not the safest place for it. If I do this again I may try a different leg press machine.
5x 90 lbs
5x 90
5x 90
Assisted Dips:
5x "5"
5x "5"
5x "4"
I'm working on plank holds! I'm doing 2 with a break in between each time I go to the gym. I'm up to 1 minute 30 seconds on each. Gar, I used to be able to do 3+ minutes.
Practice today was cancelled due to rain. So we went to the gym!! Fantabulous. Really though it was quite nice except I developed a headache while foam rolling/stretching and it refuses to go away. I'm a bit concerned about these headaches, I feel like I'm getting them with some regularity, like once a week or so, when I used to really only get headaches when I had a cold. Then again I do feel like I've been fighting a cold off and on for a while now (feeling phlegmy) so maybe that's what it is. I'll start paying closer attention now.
Single Leg Decline Press- I've avoided machines for so long, but all the squat racks were being used and honestly I kinda wanted to give my back a break anyway. Also, in the spirit of switching up how I work my legs, this was an interesting experiment. I definitely was feeling it a lot more along the outside of my quad, as opposed to back squats when I tend to feel it in my groin. I don't think I pushed this quite as hard as I could have, I was a little nervous about my non-working leg, which was just chilling in the middle, probably not the safest place for it. If I do this again I may try a different leg press machine.
5x 90 lbs
5x 90
5x 90
Assisted Dips:
5x "5"
5x "5"
5x "4"
I'm working on plank holds! I'm doing 2 with a break in between each time I go to the gym. I'm up to 1 minute 30 seconds on each. Gar, I used to be able to do 3+ minutes.
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