Meal Frequency Myth's Exposed

Today I walked into a meeting that was scheduled before mine. I got lucky enough to hear the last 10 minutes of it and found out the topic was on meal frequency and the importance of eating 6 small meals a day and never more than a few hours apart. I used to follow that advice and, personally, it made me miserable. I was constantly planning, cooking, and preparing food.  Quickly trying to fit 4 of those meals into my work day soon became a huge burden. About a year ago I stumbled upon intermittent fasting, fasted training, and reduced meal frequency. The results since then have been fantastic. My energy levels are up, my body fat percentage is down,  my food intake is actually higher, and I no longer have the burden of needing to cook and prepare so many meals.

A few months ago I ran across an article by Martin Berkhan where he debunked the top 10 fasting myths. Walking into today's meeting reminded me of that and I thought I would post that link in here to share with everyone else.

Feel free to discuss and debate in the comments. I am curious what others thoughts are on the subject of meal frequency and/or fasting.

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

Quick Update

I am exhausted and ready for bed but I have been wanting to get a good post up for awhile so here I am.  It will be a post but I cannot vouch for how good it will be.

As some know, I have been doing a combination of Visual Impact and Leangains for roughly 2 months now and I am really starting to see a difference. Just today I had to cinch my belt up to the very last (homemade) hole. The one usually reserved for when I wear tighter style dress pants. And for the first time ever, that last notch didn't feel uncomfortable!

Although I am losing body fat and weight on the scale, I am not quite ready to take new progress photo's quite yet. Maybe in another month or so.  I really want to go for the ab shot before I put up another picture. If not, I am afraid no one would be able to tell the difference.

Well that is about all I have for now. I am hoping to post about my Whole30 challenge that I have been doing at the office. Maybe by the end of the weekend I can get that up as well.

Theming Machine!

Not sure if Theming is even a word but that is what best describes me the last two nights. First I revamped this site a bit (what do you think?). Then I thought I might as well try and redo my tumblr one as well. My wife was kind enough to take a few shots of my workout today and that provided a good header. I will probably play around with the tumblr one a bit more so dont be suprised if you go to it one day and it looks completely different.

Then there is the fact that I have 2 fitness blogs. I really like the simplicity of it. I just don’t really know if I want to keep and maintain 2 separate fitness blogs. Maybe I will see which one brings in the most traffic!

Had a great workout today. I was working from home because of all the snow we got yesterday. Since I don’t have a lot of weights here I decided to do the P90x Back and Bicep workout instead of my usual strength training session. It was a great workout and I followed it up with some HIIT snow shoveling!

Homemade Dip Belt

Now that I am getting stronger, the need has arisen to add some weight to my pull-ups and dips. I have tried the dumbbell between the legs act but didn't fair so well with it. So I went in search of a good (but cheap dip belt to purchase).  After seeing how expensive they were, I wondered if I could make my own. That was when I stumbled upon this post . After seeing this, I thought I, too, could make my own....and I did.

I started off with some pipe insulation from my local Home Depot (about $2.00). I then purchased 6 feet of chain (about $10.00). I then proceeded to go to Wal-Mart where I knew they had some different colored duct tape (about $4.00) and I picked out a nice blue one. The carabiners I had from a previous project that I did.

The belt is pretty simple to make.

1. Run the chain through the insulation


2. Wrap with duct tape a few times


3. Attach the carabiners


4. and then lift!

I have already used this at the gym a few times and with great success. It has held up to about 35lbs so far and with no discomfort to me at all. If I could change anything, I might try and find a thicker sturdier pipe insulation and one without the slit in it.

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1700 Calorie Lunch

I had a nice 1700 calorie post-workout lunch today. How do you sit down and eat 1700 calories of whole healthy foods in one sitting? Glad you asked! Here is what I ate

• 4 - 1/4lb burgers grilled on a George Foreman type grill. (Sorry Paleo people but I was going for carbs this meal and not fat)


• 4 cups of cubed sweet potatoes


• 1 cup yellow onion


• 1 cup red pepper


• 1/2 cup beef broth


• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste


• seasoning


• Can of tuna in spring water

For desert I mashed up two bananas and mixed it with some cocoa powder. Now that was good!

For supper I kept it light and had a chicken breast and another can of tuna fish. For those that are wondering, I only eat like this on the days that I lift heavy. Tomorrow will be a little similar but with less carbs (was at about 300 carbs today). This weekend I will really cut back and just eat high protein, high fat and very low carb. I will also continue my daily 16 hour fasting schedule that I do. Questions about my diet? Drop me an email. I would love to answer them.

Whole30 Challenge

On January 1st, some co-workers and I started a 30 day whole foods challenge based on the Whole30.  To make it a bit easier and in an attempt to make sure that everyone put forth their best effort, I gave everybody 100 points to start off with.  Whenever a mistake was made, they had to deduct 1 point for each incident. The person that had the most points at the end of the month will be awarded a $25 gift card to VitaminShoppe.

To make it even easier on everyone (because ease of use is what its all about), I found a great website called The 100 Point Challenge.  You setup an account (or use your Facebook account), create a challenge, and then invite people to join your challenge. Every day you log on and deduct a point based on how many "mistakes" you made in your diet for the day.  We started out with about 10 people and so far there are 3 of us that still have 100 points and no one has completely fallen off of the radar yet.

I look forward to the results of the people that joined and really hope that some of them come out with a new respect for clean eating.

**Update - January 7th. I spoke with two people today about their progress. One is down 8lbs since the 1st and the other is down 3lbs. The one that is down 3lbs has also seen his sleep improve and has pretty much eliminated his issues with heartburn. I would say that is some good progress! **

Low Calorie Week Off

I spent the week eating low calorie and getting in a daily run. I also took the week off from weight training to let my muscles refresh and to just relax and enjoy the holiday season. Next week I start Phase II of Visual Impact. I will be working on a combination of size and strength. I am very much looking forward to getting back into the gym. Oh yeah, I also ordered and received a GymBoss to help me with my intervals. I cannot wait to start using it on Monday at the gym.

Today also marks the start of my Whole Foods challenge that I setup with some co-workers in my office. The concept is simple. Follow the Paleo eating habits and avoid all processed foods.  We are using a website called 100 Point Challenge to track it all. I will be posting my own personal struggles with the eating plan along with some tips and recipes throughout the month. At the end of it all, I will put up a summary of my thoughts and any progress that it allowed me to obtain towards my own personal goals.

2011 New Years Resolutions

My New Year Resolutions:

1. Eat better


2. Workout more efficiently


3. Work smarter


4. Live smarter


5. Spend more quality time with my family

Original, I know!  I actually have some really good resolutions that I made but I am keeping them to myself!