Friday, 6 May 2005
My goal for today outside of the requirements of P&P and my usual art stuff is to catch up on sleep. I’ve been thrown off since Wednesday night, and I need a solid 7 hours to get back to normal. I felt quite weak this morning doing P90X Legs and Back, particularly on the single-leg wall squats. To be fair, I never feel very strong doing single-leg wall squats. I try to fake the stoic expression of a Zen monk, but the frenetic shaking of my legs as I try to hold the proper position sort of ruins the illusion.
P90X is going very well, all things considered. I am adding about one extra real pull-up rep to each set before I have to resort to doing chair-assisted negatives instead. My flexibility is improving, too, if my second round of Yoga X yesterday is any indication. I still can’t do the Crane at all, but the other poses are getting better. I only tipped over once during a modified version of Warrior III. 
I love my current diet plan of 50/30/20 c/p/f with only moderate caloric restriction and an allowance for one or two Chinese-style meals a day. Love love love love love it! I have tons of energy (Go figure–a female of Asian descent who was raised on a high-carb diet bumps up carb consumption to 200+ g of clean carbs in each day–and extra energy and alertness ensue. What a shock!) the increased calories compared to my old cutting averages mean that I still get around 1 g of protein per pound of lean mass. The 50% carb ratio also means I can bring back rice and a bit of extra fruit, pushing my meal plans closer to what I consider reasonable and maintainable for an Asian gal who finds most Western food bland and unimaginative. I want to be fit, healthy, and buff, but I need a way to integrate the Asian foods I love on a daily basis if this is truly for life.
My apologies to Bill Phillips and the other American fitness and nutrition gurus out there, but grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli, and brown rice can’t hold a candle to a bowl of Hong Kong street vendor beef noodles in broth with a huge pile of greens, Korean bulgogi prepared fresh at a grill table and served with 20 different dishes of pickled kimchee, a huge bowl of Vietnamese pho, or a big plate of sushi, ginger, wasabi, and a bowl of steaming miso soup. :drool2: None of these dishes is inherently bad for you…just somewhat high in sodium and simple carbs for a bodybuilding diet. Methinks this makes them just about perfect for a little post workout meal. :slappy:
That reminds me…I must check out the passably clean and tidy Kirkman Wal-mart (not the rancid Ghetto-Mart on John Young Parkway) for some cheap ground turkey for the Moo Shu Turkey experiment this weekend, and Winn-Dixie for some pork for the Red-Cooked Pork and Pineapple dish. Both recipes are from the Weight Watcher’s Stir-Fry to Szechuan cookbook, a really excellent resource for tasty, healthy versions of many Chinese recipes.
Oh, and guess what? The scale inched down this week by half a pound and the body fat percentage dropped by an increment even though I’ve been eating (gasp!) white rice and 50% carbs daily with an average of around 1720-1750 calories per day for the week. I guess the keys to fat loss success while eating native foods truly are healthier preparation methods, careful portion measurements, moderation, and cutting out the unplanned cheats.
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5/5/05 P&P Challenge Report
Consecutive Perfect Days = 5 :prop:
Total Perfect Days = 5/62
- 1642 calories eaten /-583 calorie deficit
- 49.0% carb, 34.4% protein, 18.5% fat
- No unauthorized meals
- All supplements taken
- 18 cups water
- All planned workouts performed
Weekly Friday Weigh-In: 135.0 lbs (Start weight: 135.4)
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Nutrition: 1700 calorie low zig zag day
1: 3×1 omelette, 1 c. spinach, 4.5 oz (raw weight) sweet potato chips
2: 1/4 c. dextrose, 1 scoop whey PWO shake
3: 3.5 oz. sauteed whiting, 1 c. broccoli in oyster sauce, 1 medium banana
4: Cherry Garcia shake w/1 T. flaxseed oil
5: Turkey veggie chili with 1 T. chopped peanuts and 1 c. zucchini and butternut squash
6: 3/4 c. FF cottage cheese and 1 c. grapes
Total: 1657 calories, 51.1% carb, 32.6% protein, 19.5% fat
Daily Supplements: multivitamin with iron, calcium 500 + D, 1 T. flaxseed oil
Water: 16 cups minimum
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Workout:
8:00 AM P90X Legs and Back
12:00 PM P90X Abs
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The Awful Truth:
1. Need…more…sleep….
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Brownie Points:
1. Managed 6 reverse grip chin-ups today! Go me!
2. Am down 0.4 lbs this week, right on plan.
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Short-term Goals:
1. Create P90X HanDbase module.
2. Work on paper doll project.
3. Start full sketches for new Oasis prints.
4. Finish fairy girl print.
5. Pick up Mother’s Day card and flowers.
May 6th, 2005 at 2:19 pm
THAT was one of the problems I had with BFL…
I am from Africa, and we eat alot of Carbohydrate based foods–White Rice, Yam, Cassava…etc. God help you if you try to post that on the site, it’s amazing how ferocious:bite: those folks are when it comes to BFL…
Tilly.
May 6th, 2005 at 2:44 pm
I know! Every program will have its own set of devout nutrition Nazis who jump on anyone who dares to deviate from the Official Canon of Authorized Foods. I actually think that it’s the 2-6 monthers who have just finished their first challenges and are still in the grips of BFL missionary zeal who are the worst, not the long time veterans. The vets know you have to live this way forever and some degree of flexibility needs to be in place if you want to stick with it. The missionaries are still running on Challenge 1 enthusiasm. Maybe half of them will make it to a year and mellow out. The others will no doubt disappear from the forums for a while, then slink back with their tails tucked between their legs moaning, “I did BFL last year with a lot of success, but then life got in the way, and I gained back all the weight I lost and then some.”
The longer I live this healthy lifestyle, the more I’m coming to believe in the importance of re-integrating healthy versions of native foods once the gung-ho initiation phase of learning how to eat 5-6 small, frequent meals in the right portion sizes is over. True, white rice isn’t as nutrient rich as brown rice, but unless I decide to compete in a contest, I do not see the need to nitpick over something like that as long as my portions are still under control.
It’s not like I’m proposing the return of grease bomb egg rolls or deep-fried tempura sushi to my daily diet after all. Those aren’t even part of a true Asian diet. They are concessions to the Western culture that invented and sells battered, deep-fried sandwiches.
I just want want to bring back the simple, tasty, and healthy dishes I grew up eating, even though they might contain “white” carbs like rice and noodles. Blasphemy, I know.
I will never view food as just fuel. I love the taste of food in all its infinite variety, and will be trying my hardest to prove that one doesn’t have to give up one’s native culinary identity to get good results.
May 6th, 2005 at 3:08 pm
“I love the taste of food in all its infinite variety, and will be trying my hardest to prove that one doesn’t have to give up one’s native culinary identity to get good results.”
I think this is key. The good thing about BFL and other such programs is that they do make people think critically about what they’re putting into their bodies. The danger, as always, is that you have people clinging to “rules” and “don’ts” rather than taking the time to learn the reasoning behind those rules, and how to adjust things so that foods that aren’t specifically mentioned on the authorized foods list can be accounted for.
Thanks for the recent post with the sauce recipes!
May 6th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
I completely agree with you on the Asian v. American food. I find nothing appetizing about American food.(What does that even mean? Is it fried food and hamburgers? DH always asks me.) Though I will say I can gain about 7 pounds of water after a sushi meal or dinner at my in-laws. (They make homemade kimchi.:drool2:) My MIL swears there’s full sodium soy sauce in all the low sodium shakers at all restaurants.
When I cook for DH I really try to make greens and noodle dishes as healthy as possible. I don’t think my in-laws have even ever heard of eating brown rice and they’re 60 and in amazing shape.
May 6th, 2005 at 4:35 pm
The best dieting I’ve ever done was off of white rice.
Chicken breasts done with all sorts of sauces (hoison, siracha, soys [all the different types], korean bbqs [kalbi, bulgogi, and the spicy pork sauce], and a whole bunch of other stuff), white rice and veggies. You really don’t need that much sauce to make the flavor good.
Also, I tried all the low glycemic index stuff. I always felt tired and slow.
After changing to white rice, I had more energy, muscles filled out more and I actually enjoyed eating it. 
It got to the point that when I would get tired through out the day, I would know I need to go eat another meal. My body would just use up the rice for energy, and when it was out I’d just refuel really quick. So I knew nothing was going to fat. It was being burnt up so quickly that I felt great and my lifts kept going WAY up in strength.
So when everyone always says “low glycemic index is the best” I just tell them, not for everyone.
I have to admit though, some of the food you mention is just so good I don’t trust myself around it.