Dairy Hates Me

I have a love/hate relationship with dairy.

I love it but it hates me.

At least I think it does.

It seems that every time I eat cheese or protein powder, I get really bloated and gassy. (TMI I know). A few months ago I did a Whole30 challenge and gave up dairy completely and felt great. No pressure. No gas. After the challenge was over I slowly started to add the protein powder and cheese back and slowly the bloating returned. I know its the dairy but its just too hard to give up!

For awhile I bought some low lactose protein powder and it seemed to help. I have also thought about getting egg protein instead but like the low lactose version, its a bit pricey. Some might say to give up the protein powder but when you need that quick fix of protein, nothing fits the bill quite like a protein shake. Plus I make the best smoothies with my protein powder!

This post is random and has no true direction. It's Friday and I don't care. Have a great weekend everyone! I will try and stay away from the dairy this weekend!

 

Issues With the Scale

I really hate the scale. Actually let me rephrase that. I really hate what the scales shows me.  I have never been a big fan of scales (as noticeable in this post) but I have been involved in a couple of fitness competitions at work and with friends so weighing in has been a requirement.

Why I Hate Scales

I hate scales because my weight can fluctuate so much from week to week that I don't really believe it can be an accurate representation of my weight loss. I have always felt that how my clothes fit and how I look in the mirror better represents my journey.

Current Issues

Currently, though, my weight has been increasing. In fact, the scale says I am up 15lbs since this time last year. 15lbs!  I have gained 5lbs in the last 2 weeks alone. What is really perplexing to me, however, is that my pants still fit like they always have and my appearance in the mirror doesn't look like it should for a 15lb weight gain. But I am pretty sure that I have not put on 15lbs of muscle either so I am really confused.

This Week

The scale said I gained 2.5lbs this last week. Here is the breakdown of what I did and the macronutrients that I consumed. Maybe someone else can see where I might have gone wrong.

Friday - Weighed in at 182. HIT with weights

• 2300 calories


• 23g/fat


• 180g/protein


• 338g/carb

Saturday - P90x Plyo
Sunday - Off

• 3000 calories


• 182g/fat


• 177g/protein


• 168g/carb

Monday - 24 hour fast along with a 3 mile walk while in a fasted state.
End of fast meal

• 790 calories


• 28g/fat


• 78g/protein


• 67g/carb

Tuesday - HIT with weights

• 2663 calories


• 110g/fat


• 218g/protein


• 203g/carb

Wednesday - 1 hour intense racquetball play

• 2600 calories


• 157g/fat


• 200g/protein


• 100g/carb

Thursday - Off

• 1600 calories


• 75g/fat


• 120g/protein


• 128g/carb

Friday - weighed in at 184.4

There you have it. I have been trying to keep my carbs a little higher on my weight training days but overall I don't think my diet was worth of a 2.4lb weight gain. Do you?

Down But Not Out

I haven't been feeling the best the last few days. I am not sure if its allergies, a cold, stress, lack of sleep or all of the above. Last night my wife took on all baby duties and allowed me to go to sleep early and get a good nights rest under my belt. I am feeling a bit better today but still not at 100%.  I am suppose to have a workout tomorrow but I may forgo that and allow my body to completely recover.  After all, with Easter just a mere 3 days away, I really don't want to continue to be sick.

I am currently working on a new workout program called HIT. I am hoping this program will allow me to have more time outside of the gym doing things that really matter. Like hanging out with my family and friends.  Spending 5 days a week in the gym gets to be a bit much and I have been doing it week after week for almost 6 years now. I am ready for a change. I just hope that HIT will give me the change I need but still allow some growth.  Time will tell.

I'm Back!

Where have I been?  Around.

It’s been a week since I have posted anything and for that I am sorry. Things have been pretty crazy around my house the last week. My wife's high school dance team was getting ready to put on their annual spring show and most of her free time was dedicated to preparing for that. That meant that kid and baby duty were my sole responsibility.  After everyone was in bed, I just didn’t have the energy to get online and put together a half-ass post. So now it’s a week later and I have no problem putting up something half-ass. :)

Things aren't going so well in the weight loss area. Last Friday I weighed in for a few contests that I am in and I ended up putting a few pounds back on. I am now officially over 180lbs.  Looking back I am not 100% sure where I went wrong. I continue to do cardio, eat well, and lift.  If I could place blame anywhere, I think it might be that I am not eating enough.

Looking back at my logs, I am probably only consuming about 1500 calories a day. I figure my maintenance level is probably somewhere a little North of 2500. Going low calorie for a few days isn’t bad but doing so continuously isn’t good. I think that is where my weight gain has come from.

Could it be that my body is storing fat in anticipation of not getting enough food?

This week I have increased my calories a bit and am now hovering around 2100/kcal's a day. Friday will be the true test to see if that approach has worked.

BTW - Weight loss contests are the worst thing to do if you only have a small amount of weight to lose (less than 10lbs). You will get judged for anything that was gained even though to gain can be quite normal in these circumstances. If you fit this bill and someone asks you to join a contest, you would be best to say now. Just my 2 cents.

Program Jumping

Admitting you have a problem is usually the first step towards recovery. I hope that is true because I am about to admit something big.

I have a problem sticking with a workout program for any extended period of time. Phew! I said it.

Strange.

I don't feel any different.

Background

If you are new to this blog, you may not have a real good understanding of what I am talking about so let me enlighten you a bit. In the past year I have done P90x, Primal eating, Visual Impact, Whole30, Leangains, homebrew workouts, etc. Of all of those, I am currently only still doing the Primal eating.

Problem

It's really two-fold. First off. I get bored with workouts easily. By about the 3rd phase of P90x I am ready to call it quits. Even though P90x has you switch it up with their "muscle confusion" tactics, going back and doing old exercises in that third phase really bored me.

Second - I read too much. I have a blogroll of about 200 fitness blogs that I scroll through on a daily basis. Combine that with about 500 fitness "experts" that I follow on twitter and one can easily see how I get bombarded with the latest and greatest in workouts and nutritional advice. Combine boredom with new ideas on eating and workouts and you can easily see why I end up switching workouts so often. I always think what someone else is doing is better than what I am doing and I need to try it ASAP. At least my diet has stayed consistent!

The biggest problem with going through life this way is that I never really achieve the fitness goals that I originally set out for. I need to settle down and give a workout time to really develop. If I don't, I will continue to just stroll through life. I don't want to stroll...I want to sprint!

Resolution

I didn't start writing this post with a real resolution in mind. I have a few things that I am tossing around in my head that I will discuss in further detail later.  But as of right now, I am just sort of mulling along at the gym while I wait for that next big thing to come along. Hopefully that is soon because even mulling has me bored.

Comments?

I would love to hear from you on some of the workout programs that you are currently involved in. Who knows, I may join ya!

Protein Shake Cleanse

I took an experience from The Healthier Me and his latest post on a 3-day Shakeology Cleanse and decided to do my own 3 day cleanse to jump start my weight loss. I changed it up a bit from his cleanse since I don't have Shakeology (that stuff is expensive!) and instead opted to use some of my own protein powder that I had around the house.

Details

The premise of the cleanse is this. You start your day with a protein shake and some fruit. You have the same thing for lunch and then a healthy dinner. Sounds simple enough and it reminded me of those old SlimFast commercials from the 80's.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBVhQOG6ip0

What I Did

I started the cleanse on Tuesday by making a shake that consisted of almond milk, protein powder, sunbutter, banana's, and strawberries. I made it a double so that I had some for lunch. For supper that night we had family over and they brought Chipotle. I am not one to resist Chipotle and mine consisted of a bowl (no rice) fajita veggies, double chicken, guac, lettuce, and salsa. Pretty healthy by my standards.

Wednesday saw me making the same shake as Tuesday. For supper my wife made up some chicken breast and right before bed I made up a protein shake with some casein protein powder.

On Thursday I wanted to keep my carbs low for the day since I was not working out so I decided to cut out the fruit. The shake then consisted of almond milk and a few tablespoons of Sunbutter. For supper my wife had cooked up some ground beef with onions and cabbage. She also made up some cinnamon apples to which I did have a few pieces. I also splurged and had a piece of string cheese right before bed.

Conclusion

Friday morning is now here and I have decided to continue on with the cleanse if even just through the day. I did manage some time to hop on the scale this morning and my weight is down to 179. So in total I lost 2lbs while doing this challenge. It's hard to say if that weight loss was a results of the cardio I did this week, the low calories consumed (1500 a day) or the shake cleanse itself. All I know is it's not quite the 5lbs that Mike from The Healthier Me lost but it also might be the difference in the shakes we made. I have heard that Shakeology is the bomb. Would love it if someone could send me some samples to try. Maybe 6 samples so I could try the cleanse for real this time? :)

So there you have it. Down 2lbs and hoping to be down 2 more by next week.

P.S. I have joined another weight loss challenge with some friends. Nothing like a challenge to help keep me motivated.