Archive for October, 2008
Friday, October 31st, 2008
When you think about losing or gaining weight, you think about strict calorie deficient diets with bland food to lose weight, and sugary flatulence-inducing weight gainer shakes to gain weight. These ideas are not reality.
The average American gains 2 pounds a year, which is 7000 total calories. Divided by 365 days, that’s about 19 or 20 calories a day. It makes sense then, if you want to gain weight over the course of your lifetime, possibly to put on a couple pounds of muscle each year in order to stay fit and healthy, just eat 20 calories a day over your maintenance level.
It also makes sense that if you want to stay lean and trim for the rest of your life, with no major weight fluctuations, just eat 20 calories under your maintenance level each day.
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Tags: Diet, fat loss, nutrition, weight loss
Posted in Nutrition Tip | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
Hello everyone. I have been busy lately working my 2 jobs plus side projects plus weight training and kickboxing. Today my truck broke down and is in the garage, and my kid is in the hospital. I’m also sick with a nasty cold, didn’t even get out of bed on Sunday. All these things equal: I haven’t had time to write a decent post, so I’m just going to post this video demonstrating some Olympic lifts.
Olympic Lifting
Here we see this dude busting out a power snatch and a couple clean and jerks. These are great exercises for overall strength and conditioning, but not necessarily for specific strength or for bodybuilding purposes. If you are looking to be a powerlifter or a bodybuilder, chances are Olympic lifting is not for you, at least not on a consistent basis.
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Tags: clean, clean and jerk, hang clean, olympic, olympic lifting, power clean, power snatch, snatch
Posted in Weight Training | 2 Comments »
Friday, October 24th, 2008
This was another solid 4-workout week: 2 kickboxing classes and 2 weight training sessions. Everything feels good except that I’m only getting about 6 hours of sleep per night on average. If I were to force myself into a healthier lifestyle, I would be getting 8 hours of sleep each night.
After 5 long nights of 5-6 hours of sleep combined with staying up late on the weekends, I’m pretty much beat on Friday. My only salvation is that I don’t get much strenuous exercise on the weekend, which helps me to recover.
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Tags: Personal
Posted in Workout Logs | No Comments »
Saturday, October 18th, 2008
Initially, you thought fat people eat so much food because it gives them pleasure. Well guess what? You were wrong! In fact just the opposite is true.
Dopamine
Dopamine, a substance that makes us feel good, is one of the best-known neural chemicals. Though it is often thought of primarily as a manufactured substance it is actually produced naturally in the body. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that activates dopamine receptors, which makes us feel a sense of euphoria.
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Tags: Diet, Medical, nutrition, overeating, overweight
Posted in Diet, Healthy Lifestyle, Medical | 4 Comments »
Thursday, October 16th, 2008
A decent week in the gym and the dojo, I managed two sessions of weight training and 2 kickboxing workouts. In the middle of the week, my PC at work died and I struggled through trying to get it back online while simultaneously attempting to finish work on a software project that was due on Friday. This resulted in my missing my kickboxing workout on Wednesday.
Both kickboxing workouts were excellent, especially Friday’s, which is surprising because I lifted from 3:30-4:30 then kickboxed at 6. Somehow I had just as much energy for kickboxing as I did for weight training, and I think this is due to my post workout nutrition strategy.
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Tags: Personal
Posted in Workout Logs | 2 Comments »
Monday, October 13th, 2008
This is a recipe for a creamy seafood pate, or dip, which you can put on crackers, vegetables, or wedges of bread. You will need to get a brain mold, or some other kind of mold, to use to shape your pate. Makes a nice shrimp or crab flavored dip, which can be spooky as long as you use a spooky mold.
I found this brain mold for sale on Amazon. You can pick one up and do some additional Christmas shopping for the kids while you are at it.
The Recipe
- 1 can (about 10 oz) reduced sodium, low fat cream of mushroom soup
- 8 ounces reduced fat or low fat cream cheese, softened
- 1 envelope unflavored (and sugar free) gelatin softened in 1/4 cup water
- 3 pounds cooked shrimp, coarsely chopped (or 1 pound crab meat)
- 1 cup lite, reduced fat, or low fat mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Tabasco or creole seasoning to taste
- oil or Pam non-stick spray for surface of mold
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Tags: brains, food, halloween, healthy food, recipe, Recipes
Posted in Recipes | 16 Comments »
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Another great gross-out Halloween snack for you and the kiddies. Looks like someone just squeezed a bit zit! Arrange them on an hors d’oeuvres platter as the recipe says, and you will have a fun and healthy treat for a Halloween get together.
You could also make a handful of these and keep them in the fridge for a quick snack or a small meal. They are also easily taken to work for lunch because they are small and very portable.
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Tags: Diet, food, halloween, healthy food, meat, nutrition, recipe, Recipes, sammies
Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
High in protein, low in fat and carbs, this fun Halloween food is both delicious and nutritious. Eat your bloodshot eyeballs as a snack or serve them to the kids for some good laughs.
The Recipe
- 6 hard boiled eggs
- 6 oz whipped lite or low fat cream cheese
- 7 oz green olives with pimentos
- red food coloring
- optional – a sprinkle of paprika
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Tags: eggs, halloween, healthy food, nutrition
Posted in Recipes | 1 Comment »
Monday, October 6th, 2008
A subpar week indeed, due to stressors at the office and at home, I was unable to make my workouts for Thursday and Friday. This was both good and bad. Good because I didn’t sleep much last week and was starting to feel sore. Bad for discipline and consistency reasons.
Kickboxing was good for the two days that I attended. My cardiovascular condition is improving with each high intensity thai kickboxing workout. Weight lifting was good for the one workout that I completed. Strength was up all around. Check out the stiff leg deadlifter at the bottom as today’s inspirational video.
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Tags: Personal
Posted in Workout Logs | 3 Comments »
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
Check this out: in recent Consumer Reports news, we find out that some cereals have more sugar than a glazed Dunkin donut. The worst offenders are the sticky sweet cereals like Golden Crisp and Honey Smacks, and I tend to think that my beloved Cocoa Pebbles really aren’t that great either. I’ve mentioned time and again to stay away from food in boxes, especially sugary breakfast cereal.
So what are we to do? You know your kids are going to want something sweet and tasty for breakfast, and in all likelihood you probably don’t want to eat eggs, egg whites, or eggbeaters every day either. Here are some tips to make breakfast both tasty and healthy. I’m happy that I can promote another of my favorite cereals, Frosted Mini-Wheats… good stuff!
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Tags: breakfast, Diet, health, healthy food, nutrition
Posted in Diet, Healthy Lifestyle | 17 Comments »
