Monday Morning Motivation

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

~ Albert Einstein

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

~ Samuel Ullman

Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our tears once in a while, so that we can see Life with a clearer view again.

~ Alex Tan

When you find yourself stressed, ask yourself one question: Will this matter in 5 years from now? If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go.

~ Catherine Pulsifer

The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.

~ Mark Twain

Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Watermelon, Cucumber & Yellow Tomato Salsa

This was from the Food and Wine section of the San Francisco Chronicle, a great healthy and wonderfully fresh dish. David made it too!


You can find the recipe on my Pinterest board. Just click on the link, it will take you to a lovely picture then click on that to be taken to the actual web page where it appeared. I love Pinterest, it is such a great way to keep track of anything on the Internet.


This dish serves 4-6 (I would say 4). I will explain what we did and then please go to the actual site for the detailed information. 


If using wood skewers you need to soak them for 20 minutes in water so they don't flame up on you. I just pop them in a tall glass and turn them once in a while.


Make a "salsa" with watermelon; yellow tomatoes (you can use red but the contrasting colors are nice); cucumber; white balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. I thought it would be great with some diced up serranos but then I love spicy food. Make it ahead and let it sit a bit.


Thread raw, shelled large shrimp onto the skewers. I usually buy bags of Wild Blue Shrimp from Mexico at Trader Joe's. They are lower in sodium than other frozen shrimp and they are very sweet, I eat a lot of shrimp.


Rub the shrimp with olive oil, salt and pepper. 


Grill them on a BBQ, just until cooked through. We did them 3 minutes a side, I don't like tough, dry shrimp!


Place a skewer on a plate, serve with a side of the wonderful salsa and a salad.


I cannot wait to have this again!


I ate the left over shrimp the following day, cold in a salad, it was stupendous.

Cardio

Goals- it's all about your goals. If you just go to the gym without a specific goal in mind, you may not necessarily be "wasting" your time, but you certainly are not maximizing your efforts. 


What are you doing there? Killing time? Socializing? Reading? Watching TV? 


Why are you there? Meet people? Lose weight? Lose fat? Gain muscle? aha! These all require different things!


Please...please...please! Really think about what you want out of your time in the gym. Every goal is possible- no matter where you "are" in your current fitness state, but you have to put the time and effort into it. It won't be easy, it may not always be pleasant, kind of like pregnancy and childbirth, you will forget the pain and delight in the rewards for years to come.


I am finishing up my current program with Roy and in a week we move onto some new things, I get so excited when I know we will change my training. We are moving from heavy weights and long rest periods to lighter weights and shorter rest periods, all designed for greater hypertrophy. I'm all about hypertrophy!


Now this does not mean that to gain mass you should always train this way, on the contrary, you should never train the same way day in and day out. Just look around you at all those people doing the same thing ever single day. They look the same every single day don't they?  You need to change it up!


But back to goals. You should have specific goals and understand how to get there. What do you want to look like?  That is how you need to train then.


Do you want to have shape and full, strong looking muscles? Say...like me possibly? Then you have to lift, you have to lift heavy and frequently. Muscles only develop when forced to, they need to be challenged to grow.


Do you want to look thin, sort of like the models on the magazines? Personally I think it's a very unattractive look, but if you want to look like that, so you have very thin, shapeless arms, and you look emaciated, don't lift weights, just do endless cardio and starve yourself.


If you are not training for a specific sport, then the best idea is a combination of both. You need the weight training to develop shape and add strength, and the cardio is basically to burn some extra calories, it does not add any shape to your body. Of course everything has exceptions, and this is no different. There are certain types of "cardio" that will add shape, such as sprints. Those are explosive, high intensity exercises that will really develop the glutes, hamstrings and quads. No, your legs and glutes won't get huge!  No one's butt just "blows" up" from sprints or anything else for that matter. 


I talk to endless people at the gym who ask me what to do, how can they look like me? I tell them to lift weights yet I rarely see them doing that. What I don't understand is I tell them that I see them doing an hour of cardio, and that is not a good idea, they will remain thin and skinny looking forever if they do that, yet day after day that's what I see them doing. And they don't understand why they don't change.


Too many people, especially women believe cardio machines are the ticket to a beautiful body. And if you want to look like an anorexic movie star (and by the way- skinny is not attractive), then endless cardio is the ticket. But if you want to ride my train, it's heavy weights all the way!


If you have limited time in the gym and must choose- always choose the weights, always.

Fritatta

I have been experimenting with a no starch diet now for a month, it has been great. The only problem is,  I dropped weight and now have re-gained it. I guess I enjoyed it too much! Don't panic, I am talking two pounds, and that can fluctuate based on just what I ate and drank the day before!


So the idea of my "no starches" is that I need to increase fats. Well, I increased them too much I think, I was lazy and didn't weigh and measure. I am now doing that again so I can actually make an intelligent decision on all of this.


One thing I have quite enjoyed is fritatta. It is so easy and you can basically make it with whatever you have on hand. This started because David made something and it required 8 egg whites so I stopped him from throwing the yolks away. I combined them with slightly more egg whites from a carton!


I used whole eggs basically, full fat cheese, vegetables and pancetta (Italian bacon). So, if you were watching your weight you might use mostly egg whites (a couple yolks for richness and the flavor), low fat cheese, vegetables and no bacon or maybe turkey bacon (never tried it so I'm not sure). 


It can be low calorie and delicious, I know as I have made it before that way! You know how to do it!


In a well seasoned fritatta pan (or a pan that can go in the oven- don't use a non-stick). Coat it well with butter or olive oil ("no" calorie watching or "yes" calorie watching). Add whatever chopped ingredients you wish, here I had sautéed zucchini and pancetta, I am just warming it at this point in the process, the vegetables and pancetta were already cooked. Pour over the eggs (whole eggs or a combination of some whole eggs and some egg whites), add mozzarella cheese (or any cheese you like) and then with a rubber spatula, gently lift the edges as the eggs cook, the uncooked egg with run down the sides and fill up the space.

Add some more mozzarella (here I have small pieces of fresh buffalo mozzarella, the white chunks). 

When it is mostly set, after gently lifting the sides away and letting the uncooked egg run under, it will be time to put it under the broiler. 

The egg puffs, the top browns and the cheese melts. this was only a few minutes. It depends on the oven, the pan and the distance from the burner. I would go anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes. 

All done and ready to cut into wedges. This is great served hot, room temperature or cold. In the picture at the top of the page I had it with avocado. See why I gained some weight? I should have left out the avocado....

Do try this, even on a low calorie diet. Just use less whole eggs, less cheese, and more vegetables. Eggs are a super good source of protein and this is a great breakfast, lunch or dinner!

A Glorious Day Lifting

Here is my new "bigness",  all 130 pounds of it! These pictures were taken Monday afternoon, before I went to lift with Roy. In yesterdays post I was whining about how "big" I was feeling, and I'm over it now!

Sorta

I feel more in control now and that's the biggest help. I find that if I don't feel I can control an issue, then it's a problem for me. I am not talking crowd control, not talking saving the world, I am talking me. Controlling my actions.

I have the wheel again

Oh I am still trying to add mass, and I have done quite a glorious job with that haven't I? LOL! I am now actually back to portion control and I feel I can take care of any back sliding I did. It won't take long, wait and see. Of course, I have been on vacation, and will be again all next week, so the food fest continues, but I know what I need to do. 

Monday and Tuesday were what I call a Glorious Day Lifting, I felt wonderful and you know what? When I feel good I look good! Monday I was sore from sprints, I am sore all the time these days and I think we need to de-load soon, I need a break, at least my body does.


It was "hammies" with Roy, so that meant I would be doing very slow back extensions holding a 14 pound bar over my head, I can feel it in my lower back, glutes, obliques, upper back, my core. Oh it hits the entire posterior chain, I can feel it as I shake near the end of each set. 


Then off to the Glute Ham Raise, the devil's child. I love to hate it, mostly love though. The distance is moved closer, so the knees are resting more toward the middle of the pad, less ability to use leverage this way. I surprised him I think, I hit 10. Then I hit 11, then he said go for 13, I did.


He then said it was too easy and the next time it gets moved closer. He measured it for me, I repeat this on my own later in the week, I need to get it right when he's not there, and I will.


Tuesday when I woke up I felt strong, and I felt better since I now had a plan, I felt like I was on course again. It was chest day, not my favorite but I have two more weeks Roy said.


Dips, I warmed up then found a weight belt and added 15 pounds. Yes, it's not much, but I am doing 5 sets of 10, and I am going all the way down and slow. I am doing them right. I time my rests, 2 1/2 minutes and then I hop back up.


Bench press. Again, I am working on the eccentric move, I warm up then it's 95 pounds. 5 sets of 10, slowly, slowly. I start the stopwatch and rest it on my belly as I lift. I am aiming for a slower set, but this is a hard one for me. I still did better than last week and that is all I can ask for. 

Improvement

Then I get one shoulder exercise because I am so worried about losing size in my shoulders, Roy throws it in to placate me I think. Single arm press. I do 5 sets on each side, 30 pound dumbbell. Concentrate on the eccentric, I am aiming for a minimum of 75 seconds time under tension. One arm is stronger than the other, always.

I pat myself on the back, reminding myself that I am trying to add mass, I am not on a competition diet so I cannot except to be the lean gazelle I am so used to. It's OK, I feel good, I look good.

Bring on Friday for another Glorious Day Lifting (x2).

Update on The Diet

It's been a month- a month since I decided I would cut starches. Now let's qualify that - I admitted that I would not be a Nazi about it, and I wasn't. In fact, I ate a few things off the diet each week. But for the last two and a half weeks - nada.


No rice, no potatoes, no bread (I rarely eat bread anyway), no pasta, no sweet potatoes, no beans, no nothing! (Wait- once David and Cooper got on my butt about not trying something David made- a potato. So Cooper says "Just stick it in your mouth and taste it and spit it out!!) See what my challenges are???


So how do I feel? I feel BIG. I know I am not fat, but I have gained weight, I lost three then gained two, so a net loss of one, but I  feel "large". Why? I have been having a hell of a time!

Have I ever told you how much I like to eat?

Let's back up a bit. Why did I start this? What were (are) my goals? What are my future plans?


I'm really not quite sure and that is where I have failed myself. If you read into my Monday Morning Motivation, it told it all. I feel like I failed at my experiment. I jumped into this without properly educating myself and without having a well thought out plan. It's OK though, I have another plan, but first a bit of background.


So here's the deal. I watch all the "Paleo" people eat bacon, and butter, and ribs, and avocado, and cheese. Yum. Did I say Yum? Yum!


So that's what I did. Except one teeny tiny problem. I forgot that all of these people I know are not Figure Competitors.  Oops!


So, while I am sure I could eat the same "diet", I still need to watch my calories! One small item I overlooked. LOL Jokes' on me!


So a net loss of 1 pound is not a big deal, and I could be back down lower in a couple days, but still, I am already bigger than usual so combine 7 days a week of heavy weight training (three of those days are twice a day lifting), with unlimited food and voila! I could easily become one Big Mama!


Stomach still looks decent but I have this thing, this obsession with being lean. I want to have big muscles and be lean and not diet...sounds like what everyone wants! So why should I be any different?

I never really ate much starch anyway. I would usually eat it twice a day. In the morning after training I would have sweet potato or oatmeal, or maybe a piece of very heavy spelt toast. Then at 10:00 am I would have 4 ounces brown rice or sweet potato. That's it, nothing after. I have never been a bread freak, I don't snack, it hasn't been a challenge. I thought I could just eat copious amount of meat though, and that was a silly mistake. 

I need to educate myself. I am very smart when it comes to fat loss, I can get so lean it frightens people, so why am I even playing around with my diet? I just want to do what is best for my body. Oh, I want to enjoy myself too. You know the song by Cindi Lauper?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

I have been reading this book and enjoying it quite a bit ( it's the kind of stuff I like to read about- I guess it might be boring for many folks).

I am not insulin resistant, that's obvious. I have no cholesterol problems, no weight issues, no diabetes, no heart concerns. I am healthy. I want to stay that way, so I may not  really need to eliminate anything from my diet, maybe I just need to better understand the physiological effects so I make the best choices. 

I already live low-carb. I may not need to do much.

So on Monday when I went to see Roy I was feeling, let's just say rather large. I told him and he agreed, yes, I am bigger, I have gained muscle and fat. Kinda hard to gain only muscle, not unheard of but really, if it were easy don't you think more people would be doing it?


I decided I really need to track my food again, I hadn't been at all. I logged into my FitDay account (I hadn't used it since 2009, I always used paper logs), and I tracked my food for the day. It was a typical day, but I know that I ate less because I actually weighed it out. I hadn't been, that was my biggest downfall. I was hungry all day. I usually am since I get up at 4:00 am even on my days off, so I have a long day to stretch out the food. My calories were fine, fairly low. Carbs were low, and really only as high as they were since I eat a small banana in my whey drink immediately following lifting. No starch.  


So what's the plan now? I am going to stay in this "diet", so I will be avoiding starches most of the time. I will be weighing out my food again, and avoiding high fat meats and choosing the leaner cuts just as I used to. I will supplement with healthy fats such as avocado, coconut oil, olive oil, CLA, Fish oil, almonds (and other nuts). 


I will keep up my journal and I will finish this book and read a few more! The food below represents a typical day, and I trained twice on this day. 5:00 am to 6:15 am (at Gold's Gym on my own) and then 5:30 pm to 6:50 pm (with Roy). I was off so I took a 45 minute nap in the middle of the day too!



Here is what I ate for the day:


Protein 42%
Fat 41%
Carbs 17%

Food Name	Amount	Unit	Cals	Fat (g)	Carbs (g)	Prot (g)
		Total	1,881	91.6	90.7	207.4
MyoFusion	1	serving	150	2.0	9.0	24.0
Egg, white only, cooked	1	cup	84	0.3	1.2	17.7
Egg, whole, raw	1	jumbo	93	6.5	0.5	8.2
Squash, summer, zucchini, includes skin, cooked, boiled, dra...	0.5	cup, sliced	14	0.0	3.5	0.6
Ketchup, Heinz Low Sugar	1	serving	5	0.0	1.0	0.0
Coffee, regular	3	mug (8 fl oz)	8	0.1	0.3	0.8
Cashew Butter 1 Tsp	1	serving	31	15.0	1.3	0.0
Cabbage, green, cooked	2	cup	135	7.6	16.6	3.8
Beef, stew meat, cooked	5	oz	430	28.6	0.0	40.3
Fish, cooked	4	oz, boneless, cooked	127	1.4	0.0	26.4
Squash, summer, cooked	1	cup	69	4.2	7.8	1.6
Tomatoes, cooked	0.5	cup	20	0.2	4.8	0.9
Almonds, unroasted	15	almond	104	9.1	3.6	3.8
IsoFast	1	serving	172	0.8	9.0	37.5
Banana, raw	1	small (6" to 6-7/8" long)	90	0.3	23.1	1.1
Shrimp, cooked	5	oz	204	3.3	1.8	39.1
Cucumber, raw	2	oz	7	0.1	1.2	0.3
Fish Oil & CLA	3	serving	72	7.5	0.0	0.0
Watermelon, raw	2	oz	17	0.1	4.3	0.3
Mixed salad greens, raw	1	cup, shredded or chopped	9	0.1	1.8	0.8
Olive oil	0.33	tablespoon	39	4.5	0.0	0.0
		Total	1,881	91.6	90.7	207.4