Day Twelve - Overeating

Wow, the spinach salad I made for myself to break the fast was delicious. It was huge. Almost 5 cups of chopped raw spinach. I prefer the mature leaf to baby spinach. Then I add a tablespoon of chopped garlic and mix it up. Chop in a quarter onion, two carrots, some green beans, 4 spears of asparagus, one avocado and top with some parmesan cheese, a tablespoon of flax seeds, and some sea salt and fresh black pepper. I then take almost a tablespoon of olive oil and drizle that over the salad and then pour some balsamic vinegar over the entire thing. Mmm, I'm stuffed now and it still sounds tasty.

I then had some almonds, some trail mix, and some homemade bean/split pea soup with lots of ham in it. I took a break and hit the heavybag a little bit just playing around and tried out my new kettlebell. I was suprise that I could clean and jerk 53lbs with both arms with pretty good form. I think 10 reps each would give me a challenging workout.

After that, a protein shake. Then a break for a while. Then I finished off with a small bowl of steel cut-oats with some dried cranberries and milk and then another protein shake. That made about 2000 calories, 39% Carbs, 36% Fats, 25% Protein. I couldn't much more in this evening.

Day Twelve - Undereating

I didn't have anything to eat today during the undereating phase. I had a vitamin this morning, some coffee with a bit of milk and then a latte, no sugar, a little milk at lunch and some tea with a little milk in the afternoon. Not eating during the day isn't even a problem. Rarely do a I feel hungry or light headed or have any discomfort at all. I really do enjoy being hungry in the evening. It really reduces the desire for any processed foods as I find their taste too strong after I've been fasting. I do tend to get a desire for carbs before I go to bed but that likely has a large psychological basis. If I have a little high-glycemic carbs like raisins or something similar or some kind of processed sugar, I immediately want more. That's probably why fast food restaurants put a little sugar in their hamburger patties, gets you wanting more.

New Addition - 53 lbs, 0 ounces

Since I don't eat lunch anymore, I use that time to get errands done. This afternoon I stopped by a local fitness place and picked up a new kettle bell for the home gym. This is approximately 1.5 poods (24kg or 53lbs). They were out of the 20kg. I probably would have gotten that one if they had it but the one I got will be effective. $70 cash out the door for the 24kg. I've seen them cheaper online, but not by much and certainly not when you factor in shipping. I might go back and get another 1 pood (16kg) to have matching bells to use at the same time. A pair of 16kg, a 20kg, and a 24kg would be nice for just about anything I wanted to do.I can't imagine needing less than 16kg. The 24kg will be too heavy for some exercises but will allow me to reduce reps on others and it'll really be fun with swings. With two 16kg, and a 20kg added, I can work with weights 16kg, 20kg, 24kg, 32kg, 36kg, 40kg, and 44kg. Couple that with the 80 pound sandbag I made and I've got some fun weight to throw around.

Some people say that you can do the same things with regular old dumbbells that you can do with kettle bells, and that's true, I won't argue it. But kettle bells do feel different when you're doing the exercises, the way the weight hangs and moves is much more fluid. Does it benefit? I dunno, but they're fun and they look hella cooler than dumbbells. What exercises can you do with kettle bells?

Swings
Turkish Getups
Clean and Press
Snatch

eh, you know what? Let's just say every exercise plus some unique to kettle bells can be done with kettle bells, no need to link them all here.

Day Twelve - Exercise (a little about carbs too)

I have to admit that I'm not eating as well as I did the first week. I'm not eating entirely bad but I've been taking advantage of the advice to eat carbs at the end of the evening meal while ignoring the fact that they should still be limited. I'm not even hungry but I still want to enjoy some carbs at the end of the day. I lied in the previous post and omitted the half cup of gelato I had before bed. Oops, and the yogurt was probably the full-of-sugar kind. The dried cranberries are pretty much sugar too if I'm being honest, I mean, it takes a lot of sugar to make cranberries palatable, even the dried kind, but they're so good in oatmeal. I also didn't count the spoon I dipped in the marshmallow fluff and then had to clean off with my mouth. But I did count everything in the calorie total and macro nutrient breakdown. I didn't go hog wild on these foods but I should be enjoying one or two of them, not all of them in one night.

The reason I relay the above information is because this week I've been having trouble waking up in the morning. Not waking up, but physically getting out of bed. I'm 75% awake at 5:00 A.M. but my body feels like I have no energy whatsoever. I don't know if I'm explaining it properly but it's not a feeling I've ever had before. I didn't have it last week when doing a better job of limiting the late night carbs so that's my culprit. I need to do better on that. I should substitute a protein shake for a last snack and maybe one of the foods I mentioned above.

Anyway, once I warm up in the gym I feel a lot better. Today I did Level 7 Day 3 of the basic Simplefit program. How fast can you do 40 pull-ups, 80 push-ups, and 80 squats. I did it in 9:47. That's almost 2 minutes off my previous attempt. The program suggests that once you can do a Day 3 in under 5 minutes you can go to the next level. Shaving almost five minutes off this workout seems nigh impossible but I've said that before. Just gotta keep at it.

I didn't have a lot of time because I got to the gym late (sleepy feeling, remember) so I did some deadlifts next. I usually like to lift heavy on Fridays so I don't feel the need to go to the gym on the weekend. I went up 5 pounds this workout to 255 and didn't get the 5 sets of 5 reps in, I got 4-4-3-3-3. Seems weird that I could do 250 and hit all reps, then move up 5 pounds and not get it but that's how it goes. If I don't get all reps by the next 2 workouts, I'll drop down to 200 or so and start over. Incidentally, when is it OK to use straps during deadlifts? I feel like I'm close to the point where my grip is beginning to be an issue. I don't use straps because I want to train my grip as well but at some point the grip will fail. Also, I don't want to be a girlie man. Maybe I could alternate, one workout with straps, one without. I hate using gloves too but my hands get so sore, mainly the callouses. I probably need to do a better job of reducing them before I puss out and wear gloves.

I then finished up with machines bench presses. I won't bother to mention the weight, it's a machine, they're all different. But I like these because they're the kind of machines that use regular plates so it's a bit more realistic then cable machines. I don't have any way of bench pressing heavy with free weights. All the people in the gym when I get there are retirees so I can't ask for a spot. But whatever, improvise and overcome. Total workout time was probably 45 minutes, not including warm-up.

Day Eleven - Overeating

Spinach salad, meatballs, cheese, protein shake, almonds, walnuts, apples, dried cranberries, prunes, yogurt, steel-cut oats, milk

About 2200 calories total and I'm stuffed but I wasn't extrememly hungry this evening probably because I didn't work out today. Maybe a bit more carbohydrates than what I'm shooting for but the protein choices are getting slim around here. Lots of sstuff is frozen and I keep forgetting to take it out to thaw.

Day Eleven - Undereating

I was looking for something to snack on today but since I didn't have anything here besides an avocado I'm saving for my salad tonight, I didn't get anything to eat. I was quite thirsty throughout the day and managed 4 cups of water plus 2 cups of tea, no milk. I realized I was thirsty when I wrote that last sentence and filled my water bottle up again, so make that 8 cups of water. I noticed that when I wanted to eat something it wasn't because I was hungry but more like I was looking for a break and getting something to eat was more legitimate than just getting up and walking around. Must be a social thing. I was prepared to eat a big lunch at a Thai restaurant this afternoon as I was invited out but plans were canceled at the last moment. I was prepared to be sleepy this afternoon as I don't think any meal comes without white rice and I'm sure I would have ordered it and eaten the entire thing.

Day Eleven - Exercise

Rest day today. I haven't had a complete day off in over a week so I'm going to take that today. Plus I overslept so it all kind of works out. If I feel like I have some energy I could always work the heavy bag a little at home. But that's one of the drawbacks of the Warrior Diet, at least for me. I get home around 6 in the evening. That means the overeating window is from 6 to 10 (4 hours). That leaves an hour before I go to bed around 11 and by that time I'm too sleepy to do anything because I'm stuffed with food. That would be fine if I could spend part of the day doing things around the house, but alas, I've got to work.

Day Ten - Overeating

Nothing of any significance to report. I ate about 2500 calories and have a fairly good idea of how many calories I can consume in a the overeating window. If I'm sticking to better quality foods and I don't eat until I uncomfortably stuff, I'd guess that I'll be in 2200-2500 range 99 times out of a hundred. That's right about what I should be eating. Macro-nutrients remain in the same range 35-C, 35-F, 30-P

I didn't drink enough water, I'm sure of that.

Day Ten - Undereating

I had some coffee and tea with a splash of milk. Jealous? After everything I ate yesterday, I just didn't feel very hungry for anything today, and didn't desire a protein shake after working out either. I will probably have one later tonight though. I'm all out of leafy greens though so I'll have to forgo my spinach salad for the first time in 10 days. I was going to but some during lunch but forgot and getting through the supermarket right before dinnertime and at rush hour is a pain. I'll just munch some veggies. It'll be good. Inflexible diets are never a success. If the success of the Warrior Diet is hinged on the need to eat leafy greens every night, then it's not something I will be following. I will say that I've had that clear focus all day today. Probably finally burned off those excess carbs. I'm beginning to think that grain carbohydrates are the worst, the more processed, the worse they are. I'm fine when I eat bananas or apples (except that one time) or any fruit and veggie carbs but when I loaded up on pasta and ate that bowl of cereal, I felt like garbage. But steel-cut oats don't seem to bother me, probably because they are less processed and harder to digest. I don't know. That's why I experiment.

Day Ten - Exercise

I felt pretty good this morning once I got warmed up. I completed Level 7 Day 2 of the Simplefit program in 9:48, that's almost 2 minutes better than my previous best of 11:39. Granted, I only tried that workout once before but still. I was still feeling good so I did some squats and bench presses. I know, deadlifts and squats in back-to-back days. That was probably stupid but if I didn't do it today, then I'd be off schedule for heavy lifting on Friday, which I like to do because I don't go to the gym on the weekends. I then finished up on some core work.

Because of the nearly 3000 calories I packed away last night, I don't feel the need for a protein shake right now. I think I ate too much last night, I was physically uncomfortable. We've got these little meatballs in tomato sauce, man, I could eat 3 dozen of them, easy, and they're about 500 calories per dozen. I ate too many carbs last night, 46% of my calories, I didn't need that bowl of cereal to top things off. That was all sugar and to be honest, I was a little groggy before my warm-up at the gym and I would guess it was because of all the carbs yesterday. I feel great now.

Day Nine - Overeating

Put down about 2900 calories this evening. Big bowl of Reese's Puffs* added a good chunk, I couldn't resist, they looked so good. 2900 is way more than I usually eat. Before I started, I was averaging about 2200-2500 range. It's starting to get easier to eat more at night. This afternoon when I stepped on the scale I was up to 176.0 pounds (from 172 something) but my bodyfat reading was down to 15.5%, the lowest reading ever. So maybe there is something to the muscle building aspect of the warrior Diet. That would be a nice bonus, but it's only been a week or so.

Incidentally, I was having a discussion about my body fat % over at traineo. When I say my body fat is 15.5%, that's using the old Tanita scale I have at the setting I've always used it on. It's not necessarily accurate, just what I know. I switched the Tanita from normal "Adult" mode to "Athlete" mode and I get a body fat reading of 7.0%. I believe the true answer lies somewhere in between. I think the difference in the setting is based on the amount of muscle mass you believe you have. Just so you know in case you're looking at my photos and thinking that they don't look right according to the numbers I'm using. The Tanita varies widely depending on the time of day, the wetness of your feet, the food in your stomach and the amount of water you've recently consumed. I've found that using it first thing in the morning is most consistent, although not nearly an accurate reading.

* = I actually substituted Kashi Honey Almond Flax at the last minute. That has 9 grams of protein so it wasn't a total loss but the carbs did effect me.

Day Nine - Undereating

I felt pretty wiped out today, probably because of the good workouts I've had over the last two days and this morning. It was a combination of things as well. It was cold and wet and the first day back at work and my muscles were sore all over. I had a protein shake in the morning and 4 carrots in the afternoon. Nothing spectacular about the undereasting phase to report today. The whole day was kind of blah. It's nice to be home in fuzzy slippers, getting ready to eat.

Day Nine - Exercise

I was a bit tired this morning. That happens sometimes when I follow an afternoon workout with a morning workout. One thing I notice is that once I start my warm-up my energy increases quite a bit, far more than usual. I did heavy deadlifting today 5 sets of 5 reps @ 250 pounds. I followed with some overhead presses and then some miscellaneous weightlifting. I really didn't feel like doing any cardio this morning, so I didn't. This could have easily been a rest day but I haven't done deadlifts for a few days so I wanted to make sure I got those in.

I don't have time to exercise!

Some cheese with that whine?

Oh, I know what you're thinking.

Mr. Chesthair, you are the very epitome of manliness. I would like to try and get in shape but I just don't have the countless hours you obviously devoted to your near-perfect physique. Nor do I have the funds to pay for some gym with the what I assume is some sort of super-technology that sculpted your mind-blowing physique.

Don't be embarassed. I get that a lot. Here's what I use in my "gym" (the unfinished basement):

Pull-up bar - Homemade
Heavy bag - (left over from when I was a kid, I wouldn't go out and buy one)
Sand-bag (80 lbs) - Homemade
Kettlebell - 1 pood - (Because they look neat and I use it often too I guess)
Gymnastic Rings - Homemade
6 foot PVC pipe - for warm up drills

The foundation for my workout regiment is bodyweight exercises. The reason for this is that I don't ever want an excuse for not working out. Keeping a foundation of bodyweight exercise allows me to get a great workout in at home or anywhere really. I can find a place to do pull-ups anywhere. I enjoy searching for them. "Isn't that sculpture beautiful?" "Yeah, and I bet you could do pull-ups on the end there."

Last summer I found Simplefit and it changed my entire outlook toward getting in shape. Sure, I life weights at the gym, but I do that because I like doing it, not because I feel I have to do it. If next week I didn't feel like going to the gym, I could manage to put together a workout routine I could do at home that would be just as effective and intense.

As far as time goes, the Simplefit program shouldn't take you more than 30 minutes a day and often much less. If that was the minimum you did, 3 times a week, you'd be seeing results in less than 1.5 hours per week. Anyone that can't find 1.5 hours per week in which to exercise probably isn't out of shape to begin with since they're so busy. So remember, I don't have money or time is not an excuse.

Day Eight - Overeating

I managed about 2700 calories this evening. I had some pasta and that upped the calories quite a bit. Cravings for sugar or anything sugary sweet like candies are virtually non-existent although that was never a problem for me before. I do tend to get sugar cravings when actually restricting calories, but I don't get here, no even during the day, and I'm not restricting calories. But sugary stuff is just not compelling. When I'm hungry, it's not something I think about and onve I've started eating, I really don't want anything sweet until later. I usually have a chocolate truffle before I go to bed and that seems to top everything off nicely.

For comparison:

Once you have the photo software up, it's fun to play with it. At one point last summer I all but accepted the fact that I would probably never again be fit. Looking back on the past 8 months, it really wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and I mostly had fun with it.

Day Eight - Exercise

I cleaned out the garage this morning after I got bored editing my research paper. Editing out a thousand words isn't easy. There are only so many "is going to"s that you can change to "will"s. That's 66% more precise however.

I didn't have anything other than coffe all day and while I had a glut of energy before noon, after I cleaned the garage I was pretty wiped and chastised myself for wasting all my workout energy on cleaning the garage. I read a little bit for a while and then figured I'd go through my warm-up routine and see how I felt. My body felt a little tired but I wasn't sleepy like I normally get in the afternoon.

I went through my warm-up routine and felt a little beter and figured I'd give it a go. Level 7 Day 1 of Simplefit is max rounds of 4 pull-ups, 8 push-ups and 12 sqauts in 20 minutes. I did 17 today doing all the push-ups on rings. The push-ups on rings was the limiting factor here. As you progress through the rounds, your stabilizer muscles get tired first and the rings become much harder.

I then did 2 sets of 25 reps of clean and presses with the kettlebell for each arm. That's 50 per side. Then I grabbed the sandbag (80 lbs) and did 5 sets of 10 thrusters. Hanging leg raises, floor wipers, and side bends with the kettlebells finished off the core work. I included a post-workout protein shake. During the workout I got another burst of energy that made me feel as jacked up as I was this morning and made cleaning the garage sound like a fun way to pass the time.

Here's a photo of my homemade rings. I have adjustable straps now instead of ropes that make things a lot easier. The straps I got at the hardware store. Maybe $15 total to make these and that's only if you screw up the first step like I did.

Day Eight - One Week Photo Results

The first photo was taken the morning I started the Warrior Diet. The second photo taken this morning. If I had to critique, the biggest difference I can see from these two photos is that there seems to be less fat around the midsection. I have been working the abs quite a bit harder than normal so it may be a combination of the two. But other than the midsection I don't see much difference. This could also be a result of water weight lost.

Day Eight - Weigh-in & Why?

Another questions from THE NEW ME:

what made you decide to do the warrior diet if you were having success with the way you were eating prior to it?

I have a bit of stubborn fat around my midsection that doesn't want to go away. When I try to increase my cardio workouts or reduce my calories, or both, it seems to effect my performance lifting weights. The Warrior Diet purports to target the stubborn fat. The undereating phase forces the body to burn stored fat. It seemed like a great way to get everything I need to keep muscles healthy while losing that fat around the midsection.

Here's the results of one week of being on the Warrior Diet:

Weight: From: 178.2 To: 172.8
Body Fat %: From: 18.1% To: 17.0% (morning reading, always high, afternoon reading is like 15.5%, but I do it in the morning to be consistent)
Waist (1" above navel): From: 32.50" To: 31.50"
Waist (1" below navel): From: 34.50" To: 33.75"
Hips: From: 38.25" To: 37.75"
Bicep: From: 13.25" / 15.75" To: I measured this incorrectly in the beginning and I'm not going to measure it anymore. It was really 14.75" flexed and they still are.
Chest: From: 41.50" To: 41.50"
Thigh: From: 22.00" To: 21.75"

I have some theories. First and forements, I've read a lot about people retaining water with high carb diets and then losing a ton of weight when they switch to low carb. Perhaps the same can be said of eating consistently throughout the day, that the body holds onto a lot of water when you're eating all the time. I know during the day when I'm not eating, I drink a helluva lot more water than I normally do. Could be because my body isn't holding onto a lot of it. That could account for much of the weightloss. Take the measurements with a grain of salt, I never exactly know where to measure or do it consistently or pull with equal pressure. There definitely was change though, that's all I'd be willing to vouch for.

Lest you think I'm making this up David seems to be having similar results after one week of the Warrior Diet, very similar.

Dat Seven - Overeating

Eating one meal a day is pretty entertaining. I ate a huge 10 ounce ham steak without blinking an eye. I notice that I have little cravings for carbs anymore, and I love carbs. The biggest change in diet is the carbs dropped about 10% in my daily totals where it was once 50% of my calories, it's now around 40%. The carbs I do eat are mainly from vegetables and fruits rather than grains.

I packed away about 2300 calories this evening. I'm only measuring because I'm curious, I eat until I'm stuffed. Very difficult to eat more than that over 4 hours unless you're eating junk.

Here's the macro breakdown for those 2300 calories:

Day Seven - Undereating & Exercise

If anyone reading this decides is trying this diet and gives up a few days in because it's too difficult, I promise you it gets easier, much easier. It was past noon before I even remembered I was trying the Warrior Method of Eating (I don't like saying "diet", it sounds weak). Around 3:00 P.M. I had a handful of blueberries and an iced coffee (no sugar) for a little pick me up and then washed the car and re-hung my heavy bag. I am working on a final paper for an MBA class that nearly 40 pages long and I finished 75% of it between yesterday and today. I had an outline all finished but the focus that this method of eating produces is intense. Hours of work can go by quick.

After finishin up for the day on the research paper, I did some sprint intervals outdoors on hills, 9 intervals of 1 minute sprints followed by 2 minute jogs. Then I did 5, 3-minute rounds on the heavy bag and then 50 leg lifts.

I've earned my meal.

Day Six - Overeating

A little short on the protein today, which isn't much of a problem considering I didn't work out. Looks like about 2200 calories today.

Question

THE NEW ME asks:

"what kind of diet did you before you started the warrior diet?"

The main change to my diet that allowed me to lose the weight, I believe, was learning and exercising portion control. I can eat a great amount of food. My appetizers used to be a bag of doritos and a can of cheese dip. I would often drink half a case of beer in a day along with a half a pizza. When I started journaling my calories (tracking calories is what I did, set a limit, and keep under it), it really hit home how many calories/bad fats/sugar was in the food and how small real portions were. I like trail mix and would often eat 1 or 2 cups worth. I figured that wasn't a problem, it's trail mix after all, healthy stuff. But a 1/4 cup of that stuff had 225 calories. If I eat two cups, I've got nearly my calories for the entire day. Not a good thing to snack on in front of the TV. My diet now isn't much different although I've made a point to cut out garbage sugars like corn syrup while on this diet. They seem to effect you more during the fast, making you crash hard. But I don't believe in cutting out foods you enjoy, learn how to enjoy them in moderation. When I first lost the weight, my macro-nutrient breakdown was something like 45% Carbs, 30% Fats, 25% proteins. It's been a lot like that this week. The only difference is that most of the carbs are fruits and veggies over grains and the fats are up a bit because of all the nuts/seeds I'm eating. Both are positive changes in my opinion. Like I said before, I don't have any great secrets to give about changing diet to lose weight. Figure out how many calories you need a day, keep under that and workout.

Day Six - Workout

No workout today, just some yoga. Yoga is much more pleasant when your stomach is completely empty. I had a couple of handfuls of blueberries earlier in the day with no effect on energy.

Day Six - Undereating

Hopefully the weekend won't be a problem, though I'm now questioning my decisions to start some homemade ham and bean soup. The entire house smells like smoked hamhocks. Just the thing for when you're fasting during the day. I keep telling myself that homemade soup always tastes better the next day, and that's true, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I don't think there will be a problem. I don't feel hungry and I haven't really had any trouble fasting. I do think this method of eating would be very difficult for some people, either the adaptation would be like withdrawal systems or they might not be able to adapt at all. I keep getting a metaphor in my head that has to do with smoking cessation. Obviously some people have a very difficult time trying to quit, some people never quit. When I was smoking, it was mainly when I went out to bars on the weekends. I could smoke two packs over the weekend and not have any cigarettes at all throughout the week. It just wasn't something I found difficult, there was hardly any craving for a cigarette. When going out on the weekends gradually diminished, so did my use of cigarettes. I think that's probably an apt metaphor. Some people can fast throughout the day and exercise in the middle without having any trouble but I bet many people would feel tired and take a much longer time to adapt, if at all. This is probably why intermittent fasting won't ever be popular. But this is also why it's important to try things out for yourself. I always say, even if 99.9% of the world experiences something one way, that still leaves 6 million people that experience it differently.

Day Five - Overeating Phase

I had the protein shake after my morning workout and that didn't seem to cause any sleepiness or drowsiness that would be associated with elevated glucose levels. That's good. Other than that I wasn't really hungry for anything. I had a couple of cups of tea and some water. I had my usual spinach salad when I got home. Then I finished up the rest of the burger patties and had a slice of pepperoni pizza. An apple and a banana, half a Fiber One bar, and some dried cranberries and some dark chocolate. I'll have some oats and fruit before I go to bed and that will make about 2000 calories for the day. A similar macro-nutrient breakdown as yesterday. Sodium was high, from the pizza no doubt. I'm not trying to eat to a certain ratio, just seems to turn out that way, about 40% Carbs, 35% fats, 25% proteins. If I go buy some chicken breast or tuna I'll likely flip the fats/protein ratio.

As far as body composition, I'm going to update that weekly but here's what I measured in at the day I started on the Warrior Diet and Intermittent Fasting:

Weight: 178.2
Body Fat: 18.1% (first thing in the morning, real body fat% was about 16.4%)
Waist (1" above navel): 32.50"
Waist (1" below navel): 34.50"
Hips: 38.25"
Bicep: 13.25" / 15.75" (at rest and flexed, a stupid vanity measure)
Chest: 41.50
Thigh: 22.00"

The Dumbbell Bear

While looking for a new, dynamic workout one day, I stumbled across The Fitness Conduit. That day the featured dumbbell exercise was something called The Dumbbell Bear. The set-up is 5 Dumbbell Deadlifts, 5 Dumbbell Hang Cleans, 5 Dumbbell Thrusters performed on the minute for 20 minutes with a load of 45% of bodyweight. This will give you about 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest for 20 minutes. Sound easy? It's not.

This first time I tried this exercise I grabbed the 40 pounders and immediately put them back because they felt heavy. I grabbed some 35's and started the exercise and was only able to complete 4 sets before I ran out of rest time. I dropped down to 25's and finished 11 more rounds before the 20 minutes was up. I was exhausted and dripping sweat. I immediately loved this exercise. I've worked my way up to the 35 pounders and can finish all 20 rounds in 20 minutes now. My goal is be able to do it with the 40's which will put me just above the 45% of bodyweight goal.

Intermittent Fasting = Better Health?

Found an old article about Intermittent Fasting (IF) on Science News. It's from 5 years ago so studies on IF aren't that new and go back at least as far as 1946.

Skipping Meals Might Offer Health Gains

I suggest reading the article if you're thinking about trying IF, here are some teasers:

animals have improved insulin sensitivity. In people, this change protects against diabetes

improved the animals' resistance to a neurotoxin that simulates Alzheimer's disease

The sometimes-fasting rats also showed muted cardiovascular responses to stress, suggesting that they more readily adapt physiologically to such situations.

meal skipping may be analogous to exercise in how it improves physiology

The article also interviews a nutrition researcher who basically dismisses the idea by saying that eating once a day reduces overall calorie consumption and that is the cause of the benefits. Unfortunately, my experience hasn't shown that. I was eating 2000-2500 calories in the weeks before I tried this experiment my evening meal is right around there. Last night I said it was around 1900 calories, but that didn't include the 4 squares of extra-dark chocolate I had before bed. That pushes the total up over 2000. Interesting stuff.

What I notice now is that it's more satisfying to have one huge meal then spread across the day. 3 meals of 700 calories aren't as great as 1 of 2100. When I was losing weight not once did I say "no thanks, I'm full" and mean it. I've said that 4 times this week.

Day Five - Morning Workout

Today I started out with Simplefit program Level 6 Day 3. This is where you try to see how fast you can perform a set number of reps. Level 6 Day 3 is 32 pull-ups, 64 push-ups and 64 squats. My best ever time was 5:18 in 6 previous attempts at L6D3. My time this morning?

5:06

Sweet. That's 12 seconds off my personal record. Other times for this workout ranged from 6:00 to 11:00 minutes, you know why? Because they were performed in the morning after eating a little something because "that's what you're supposed to do" and I didn't have the energy or strength to do them well. The previous record of 5:18 was done around noon on a day I had off, like 6 hours after I had eaten breakfast.

I then did some squats and bench presses followed by some barbell rows. I finished up with some core work. Total workout time, about an hour, including warm-up.

I'm debating whether I should take a protein shake this morning. I'm fairly certain that protein absorption is most efficient after working out. The only carbs are in the Skim Plus milk, and the GI and GL are low. Yep, new rule, on weight lifting days, protein shakes will be drunk after the workout.

Day Four - Overeating Phase

Phew, I'm stuffed. I came home and made a big spinach salad. 4 cups of raw spinach, one carrot, one parsnip, and a quarter onion with a little kosher salt and some olive oil and cide vinegar. I can't get over how good this tastes after a 20 hour fast.

Cooked up two more hamburger patties. These aren't as unhealthy as I thought they'd be, only 9 grams of fat each compared to 14 grams of protein. Commercially prepared hamburger patties are better for you then something you'd get at a fast food place. I also had some cheddar cheese with that. Then I ate a handful of almonds and a handful of walnuts. Then I had a protein shake. By the way, if you think Supersize Me is a poignant movie, then you are not good, unless your argument is that the point was to show how you can take something obvious and shock people. Maybe you've heard of the evils of diydrogren monoxide? I'm going to eat as much food from McDonalds as I can for 30 days. OMG, I got fat and I don't feel good! But I digress.

A little bit after that I ate a banana and two apples.

If I can manage to make a little room before 10:00 tonight, I'll add some steel cut oats with dried cranberries and dried cherries. Mmmmmm. Then maybe another protein shake before bed. That'll bring me to a total of around 1900 calories for the day.

Here's the breakdown of nutrient for the overeating phase. If you thought it might be unhealthy eating, check this out:



That's a great macro-nutrient breakdown and I'm getting all my major vitamins and minerals head on. The only fat that's elevated is Mono, the healty fats. That's perfect. Fiber is less than 100% RDA but let me tell you that 30 grams of fiber in a day puts you in the 99th percentile. The RDA is way overboard on that one, they must have stock at Scott Tissue.

I should be trying to hit just over 2000 calories. I don't like being below 2000 calories for the day. I don't want to lose any muscle. So far though I'm not seeing any performance drops so I guess that's not happening at the moment. I feel strong and lean. I might try to up that alcohol amount this weekend. Zero is way too low, I might be suffering from an alcohol deficiency. A nice Riesling should take care of that.

Complete Fast

I had no problems all day. I didn't eat a lick of anything. I had a couple cups of tea with a little bit of milk. There was no sleepiness or hunger pains at all. I felt a heightened state of awareness all day long. Taking a deep breath tasted good. I feel lean, and fast, and I would swear I can feel the fat leaving my midsection. I accomplished a lot of work today and the day flew by. I can understand why religions often incorporated fasting into part of the experience. It definitely transforms your perception. It seems like I focus intently on whatever task is at hand, save for that one craving for almonds earlier. Maybe we should put all our ADD kids on intermittent fasts. I had an idea yesterday that I was eating just because I hadn't eaten for a while and not because I felt like eating. I'm pretty sure that was the case. I had very few thoughts about food throughout the day and certainly wasn't struggling to get through the day. I am looking forward to the big evening meal though. However this turns out, there's definitely something to be said about actually being hungry when you eat and enjoying the experience of being hungry and the satiety that follows the big meal.

He's nuts...mmmm...nuts.

The weirdest thing just happened. I was reading something and the phrase "This is nuts" was in the text describing a situation and I immediately had an extremely intense craving for some of the almonds I have at home. The tin of them flashed brightly in my mind and I could taste almonds in my mouth. I thought it was funny because people doing intermittent fasting tell a lot of similar stories. One guy said he passed some fresh roadkill and felt the urger to pick it up and slap it on his grill. Weird stuff, no wonder fasting makes you so alert. In the distant past, you'd have to be constantly on the alert for an animal to walk by or notice a beehive somewhere. No time to be off thinking about girlies. You couldn't afford to miss a feeding opportunity.

More on Intermittent Fasting

I was looking for more information on the Warrior Diet so I did some searching on the RossTraining forums (link added to sidebar). I found this thread that has a lot of useful information from people that actually tried it. That thread included this link to a Performance Menu forum discussing Intermittent Fasting (also about to be added to the sidebar). Apparently, people will completely fast (no calories) for most of the day rather than limiting themselves to low GI fruits and veggies. The consensus seems to be that the Warrior Diet is an easier to follow version of IF (Intermittent Fasting). Some go so far to speculate that you'd see more benefits from a total fast rather than the Warrior Diet fast. I'm on the fence. I can see both sides. If fasting regulates blood glucose and insulin and increases fat metabolism, and all studies show that it does, then eating throughout the day is going to raise those levels and effect fat metabolism to some degree. However, I believe that if you're strict about the fruits and vegetables you eat, i.e. make sure they are low GI foods, then you can minimize the increase in blood glucose and the benefits of the vitamins and nutrients of the fruits and veggies are worth the minor disruption to fat loss.

That being said I am going to try a complete fast today. Only coffee, tea and water. I've added a tiny amount of milk but I'm not counting this. If everything goes OK I think it might be good to throw in a couple of complete fasting days every now and then.

Day Four - Morning Workout

What can I say? I felt great this morning. I got up early, went to the gym and did 8 rounds of sprint intervals on the treadmill. 2 minutes jogging at 6.0 mph followed by 1 minute of sprinting at 10.0 mph, with 2.0 incline on the treadmill. 3 minutes of warm-up/cooldown on each end for 30 minutes total. Then I moved to the rower and did 5000 meters in 22:00 minutes. Finished up with 95 pound good mornings and some more floor wipers (I like those). Total workout time, about an hour.

Day Three Meal

I was able to get about 1900 calories in my evening meal. The weight lifting must have made me extra hungry. I ate a total of about 2500 calories. I know it doesn't matter but I like to keep track of my approximate total number of calories. Eating that much at once is satisfying to say the least. I seem to reach a point were I can't even look at anymore food. One problem I need to fix is that I seem to be getting too much fat. I simply don't have that many lean protein choices in the house. At least I don't have any that aren't frozen solid. I should set out a few chicken breasts, or ham steaks, yeah, I'll set out some ham steaks for tomorrow night. They're less fatty than the two hamburger patties I ate last night.

Lean protein sources aren't cheap. Well, I guess cans of tuna are pretty cheap but it's pretty easy to get sick of tuna.

All cramped up...

I'm not trying to sell this diet, just relate my experiences while trying to follow its main tenets. Everything going well today until about 2:00 in the afternoon when I started feeling, eh, maybe sleepy? I wasn't tired although I felt like I could lie down for a while. Odd feeling, not carbo-sleepy, just uncomfortable. I started to get a hunger pains and drank some V8 juice and it got worse. Then, I kind of noticed it was on the outside of my stomach and now I think it was a cramp in my abdominals. I have been doing a lot of difficult core work lately but I never felt cramps like that. I got up and stretched and they seemed to go away. I ate some blueberries and now I'm feeling fantastic, like I could go for a run. Did the diet cause muscle cramps or was it over-exertion? maybe both? Just a coincidence that I experience cramps in my ab muscles for the first time in my life when I'm fasting during the day? Of course, it's my first week of incorporating floor-wipers into my core workout. Too many variables.

Putting on my cyber-sleuth hat, I did some digging around to possible causes of muscle cramps. I was looking for some kind of nutritional deficiency that I may be unknowingly experiencing. Guess what can cause muscle cramp? Hypoglycemia, or a relative drop in blood sugar (glucose).

As hypoglycemia progresses a variety of symptoms can occur including muscle twitching. Amongst 300 patients in one study (185 female, 115 male) found to have relative hypoglycemia (a drop of 20% or more below the fasting blood sugar level during a 6-hour glucose tolerance test), 23% had muscular twitching or cramps.

I'm not suggesting I have hypoglycemia or that you'll get it, but low blood glucose levels can apparently cause cramps. What confuses the topic is that there's a form of hypoglycemia that's called "fasting hypoglycemia" but it has nothing to do with the cause of the hypoglycemia, only when it occurs, i.e. in the morning before eating. I was thinking that maybe low glucose levels during the day brought this on, especially with the tough workout this morning.

I checked with Dr. Wikipedia and the good doctors mention that "As the duration of fasting is extended, plasma glucose levels can fall further, even in healthy people. In other words, many healthy people can occasionally have glucose levels in the hypoglycemic range without symptoms or disease."

So, intensely performing new exercises in the midst of a 20 hour fast increases the chance of muscle cramps. That's my hypothesis. My solution is to drink more water and have another banana.

Intermittent Fasting

The operator of Simplefit pointed out some articles he had up on the site about intermittent fasting. This is one of the main tenants of the Warrior Diet.

The first article on the Simplefit site is fairly straight forward, intermittent fasting regulates glucose in the body and is good for your brain. The second article about intermittent is a little more technical but you can guess what the point is. I looked up some of the terms to be sure. But the summary is that glucose levels in the body determine how much fat is burned. Glucose is regulated by the release of insulin in your body. Insulin inhibits fat metabolism. The more glucose, the more insulin, the less fat you burn. This isn't calories burned were talking about, it's the actual fat on your body. Intermittent fasting results in low levels of glucose in the body. When your body has low levels of glucose, it has low insulin levels and burns more fat.

Following this concept, it makes sense to keep low glucose levels during the day for as long as you can. The Warrior Diet does this by creating a 20 hour controlled fasting period where glucose levels remain low and you burn fat. Eating only vegetables, and low glycemic fruits with maybe a little protein/fats during the day creates this controlled fasting state that allows the body to burn fat more efficiently.

At least that's the theory.

Day Three - Morning Workout

I had some coffee and a vitamin this morning about 6:00 A.M. I didn't feel hungry at all. I finished my warm-up and I did Level 6 Day 2 of Simplefit. That's 5 rounds of 6 pull-ups, 19 push-ups and 32 squats. I performed all repetition straight through except for the last set of squats when I took a 5 second break at the 20 rep point and then did 12 more. The noticeable difference was that during this part of the workout, several time I felt, not weak, but different. As if my mind was reminding me that I didn't eat this morning. But there was no noticeable drop in performance, in fact, I'd say it was one of the better performances I've ever had at this level.

After completing those 5 rounds, I did 5 reps of chin-ups with 10 pounds on a weight belt and then 2 sets of 4 reps with 20 pounds on the belt.

Then I did 5 sets of 5 reps of deadlifts at 245 pounds.

Then some shoulder presses on the machine and followed with some ab work (side bends with a weighted bar overhead and floor wipers.

This workout was 1 hour and 15 minutes in the gym including warm-up and stretching afterwards, confirming my previous statement that my workouts rarely go longer than an hour.

One other noticeable difference, I felt something different about 45 minutes into the workout, almost like I got a big burst of energy and I didn't feel wiped out at all after I was done. I still feel good and I don't feel hungry in the least. I don't think I've had hunger pangs once yet and almost no sugar or carb cravings at all. Although when I went to the grocery store yesterday, the smells from the bakery nearly knocked me over.

I'm going to have my after workout protein shake in about 15 minutes, about an hour after the workout. I'll probably have a banana* then too.

*Demetri Martin: I feel stupid when I write the word banana. Its like, how many na's are on this thing? 'Cause I'm like 'Bana ... keep going. Bananana ... damn.

Day Two Overeating Phase

Again, it looks like I'll be able to get about 1600 calories in during the overeating phase. I ate about 400 calories during the day and I ate a bunch of leftover taco meat with some cheese on top. This diet should be good for cleaning up the leftovers. I'm quite stuffed. I am still counting calories but only to get an idea of how many calories I'm eating every day during this experiment.

As far as changes, it's still too early to tell although there was an irregularity at the body fat scale this morning. Yesterday morning I measured 178.2 pounds and 18.1% body fat. Morning body fat readings are generally high as the body is often dehydrated. 18.1% in the morning means about 16.0 to 16.5% actually. Anyway, this mornings I weighed in at 174.8 and 17.5%. That's a pretty big one- day difference without any real change in total daily calories. Could be nothing but I haven't weighed in below 175 in weeks.

Day Two Workout

I didn't get a chance to do any HIIT training due to familial obligations so I ended up doing 45 minutes of Tae-Bo Advanced with Billy Blanks. It's my penance for waking up late. Anyway, I had plenty of energy, no worries, I felt fine. Tomorrow I'm definitely going to get to the gym for a morning weight workout and see how that feels.

To hell with the Warrior Diet

"What did you do during Phase One when you lost 37 pounds?"

I'm not giving up already, just sure some people will want information about Phase One. Incidentally, that's just an arbitrary nomenclature that I've assigned to that period of time. I never had a plan with separate phases. I'll go into detail eventually, or if you'd like to leave a comment and ask a specific question, I can help with that too. I will say that I'm not harboring and secret Jedi tricks of weight-loss and a good many of you may be disappointed with the explanation on how I lost 37 pounds to go from 212 to 175 and 28% body fat to 15%.

I will say that I used the DietPower software. I tracked calories. The Warrior Diet doesn't ask you to track calories and I am fine with that, it gets annoying. But I can honestly say that the 6 month period where I tracked every piece of food or drink that went into my body was a great learning experience. You learn quite a bit about your food ratios, how much fiber, protein, sugars, and fats you get from certain foods and how that effects your macro-nutrient ratios (daily Carb-Fat-Protein ratios). You learn to guess fairly accurately the number of calories in something along with the appropriate portion size for that item. For one, I wasn't aware that a half cup of my favorite trail mix was over 500 calories. When you're trying to lose a bunch of fat, sitting down eating trail mix out of the bag isn't probably your best option as an extra 500 calories can sneak up on you quick. DietPower is free to try for 15 days and that's what I did. I lost 10 pounds the first two weeks I tried it, so I bought it outright. FitDay is free and so is The Daily Plate. I found DietPower easier to use than Fitday and I didn't become aware of the Daily Plate until after I bought DietPower so I never used it. Whichever you use (and if you try or buy DietPower, why not use the links in the sidebar? I'll get like 50 cents or something, I'm not too proud to accept it), I think it's important to take some time to log everything you eat. Not just for tracking calories, but to gain a basic knowledge of food and nutrition. Studies have shown that most people severely miscalculate what they eat during the day and if you don't know what you're eating, how are you going to be able to get in shape?

People estimate that, on average, they make about 15 food- and beverage-related decisions each day. But the truth is, they make more than 15 times that -- more than 200 such decisions.

Homemade Juice?

Juice This

The Warrior Diet mentions drinking fresh juice throughout the day in the under-eating phase. I don't have a juicer so that's not something I'm going to be doing. I'm certainly not going to buy a juicer. I bought some V8 at the grocery store during lunch. That should cover the juice angle although I'm sure that Ori would find it blasphemous because it's not organic and fresh. Whatever, horse manure is organic and fresh but I wouldn't want to drink the juice. After the "apple fiasco" this morning, as it shall henceforth be known, I couldn't decide on any fruits that didn't have too much sugar in them like apples. Pears can be sweeter than apples sometimes, plums, peaches and nectarines too. Pineapple tastes like candy. Maybe it's the type of sugar in apples? I dunno, I didn't buy any fruit because I think bananas might be the perfect fruit for this method of eating and I love them have two big bunches of them. I bought some carrots, asparagus and green beans at the grocery store. I'm not feeling any hunger at all and am eating some asparagus and a parsnip right now just for the heck of it.

Day Two

One thing this diet will not do is cure you of your habit of finding it difficult to get up early on the first day back to work after a long weekend. I slept in so I didn't get a chance to do any cardio this morning. I'll do some after I get home, before my evening meal. I was able to get about 2000 quality calories in yesterday, but it was a struggle.

David has a website up to track his progress. You can follow his experiment on Wild at Heart. There's also a link in the sidebar. David asked me:

"did you finish the book? he has a pretty interesting workout plan, im thinking about trying it, since i like to box the high intensive short interval workout should be beneficial. how was your dinner? it was weird for me because even right before i ate i wasn't starving, even though i'd only had 3 or 4 hundred calories in my whole day...

and i have some trouble with stop when more thirsty thing, what if im eating something salty?"

My workout plan is already very similar to the one in the book. My workouts are no longer than an hour and include a variety of heavy lifting, Crossfit, Simplefit workouts, Stronglifts 5x5, and High Intensity Interval Training, HIIT cardio. What’s more, I don’t like following prescribed routines. I often go into the gym in the morning without knowing exactly what I’m going to do. Most of the time, I put together my workout when I’m doing my 10-minute warm-up. I like it that way. It allows me to find exercises and try them out and incorporate them into my training without feeling that I’m getting behind on some program.

My meal yesterday was straight after my workout and I ate a ton, about 1600 of my 2000 calories for the day came after 5:30. I wasn’t hungry until the first bit of food hit my mouth, then I ate a bunch. I didn’t crave sugary foods though. After my first wave of eating, starting with a spinach salad and then fats and proteins with a little carbs, I got extremely thirsty even though I drank 32 ounces of water during my workout not too long ago. This is the point where the Warrior Diet recommends you quit eating. I did that and just drank another 20 some ounces of water. About two hours later I was feeling like having a little something so I cooked up some steel-cut oats and added some dried cranberries, my final carbs for the day. I had a whey protein shake before bed. I was still pretty stuffed which is unusual as I’m most often feeling a little hungry before I go to bed but had always heard it’s bad to eat so much in the evening. This morning I woke up, late, but wasn’t hungry. I’m still not hungry yet and it’s 9:00 A.M. I thought I’d miss the morning breakfast. I usually have a PB&J on the way to the gym in the morning. I must admit that I never got the whole “eating before a workout” down consistently. Sometimes I would eat and feel good working out, sometimes I felt tired and it never seemingly mattered what I ate, oatmeal or eggs. Rarely did I feel as good as I did yesterday during the workout though. This morning I took a muti-vitamin and had some coffee. I brought two apples, a banana, a parsnip and a carrot to snack on today. I will get home around 6:00 and probably do 30 minutes of HIIT cardio then start my meal.

UPDATE: Oh crap, I just read apples, grapes and oranges are to be minimized or avoided due to their high sugar content. I brought two today plus I have two bags at home. What am I supposed to eat if I can't have apples? I love apples. Although I did just eat one and I feel sluggish, not like the alertness I had yesterday. Maybe I'll save that second apple until later tonite. The banana I ate yesterday did not have the same effect, nor did the parsnips or carrots, as one would expect.

First Meal

After I finished my workout, I started with leafy greens, as recommended. I ate two huge bowls of spinach with a little onion and a carrot and olive oil and balsamic vineger dressing with a little kosher salt. The taste was intense. I could have eaten another bowl but I figured that's way too much spinach, I'd need diapers tomorrow. I then ate some walnut halves, and almonds. Then I had some ribs, chicken pieces (breaded, but that's all we had), turkey breast, and some cheese. I also fit my protein shake in their with the meats. That totals about 1300 calories so far for the day. I've been eating between 2000 and 2500, about 750 of which is pretty junky. I'm a bit stuffed right now so I'm going to get a shower an then stack up on some carbs. Steel-cut oats with dried cranberries is something I have in mind. I think I should probably be able to get another 600-700 calories in tonight. Protein wise I'm at about 95 grams, which is pretty good anyday. The Warrior Diet argues that people may go overboard with protein and that training the body to absorb most of the protein once a day (the evening meal) makes it do so more efficiently. We'll see.

First Workout

After controlled fasting all day, I performed Level 6, Day 1 of the Simplefit workout program. I've recently returned to Simplefit after a shoulder injury. I was performing at Level 7 but dropped back down to ease back into to it. Today I did 23 rounds of 3 pull-ups;
6 push-ups; 10 squats; in 20 minutes. That's not my best number but today was the first day that I used rings to do the pull-ups and I used them for every round. That makes the push-up portion a little more difficult and restricted the number of rounds I could do in 20 minutes.

I then did 5 sets of 5 reps of dips on the rings. Then I did tabata squats (score 15 for 8 rounds). Then kettlebell swings and finished everything off with some ab exercises. A good 1 hour and 15 minute workout.

How did I feel? Fantastic, honestly. I felt light and strong on the pull-ups and today was the first time I was able to use the rings for push-ups for the entire 20 minute period. I just finished and I feel great. I'm going to forego the after-workout protein shake right now because I'm about to start the evening meal with a spinach salad. Leafy greens, then proteins and fats, then carbohydrates last. I don't want to get overexcited but wow, I really felt great during the workout. We'll see how I do tomorrow morning though with a tough cardio routine. Off to eat as much as I want (except it can't be junk food, there's always a hook).

Multiple Experiments

Follow two experiments for the price of one. A fellow Traineo member, David, also coincidentally started the Warrior Diet today. He's starting a website soon and I'll add a link to it once it's up. He has had a similar first-day experience saying:

"right now i feel lean, and alert, usually after lunch i can barely stay awake."

Me too.

David also asked me about morning workouts. Ori seems to assume you'll be working out in the afternoon, just before your big meal, but I workout in the morning too. My plan is to follow up the morning workout with my regular protein shake. I may eventually try and see what happens when I go without but I don't want to start that way. I'm afraid I'll pass out somewhere and it's winter and I don't want to get frostbite.

So far, so good...

Don't expect so many updates here. Today is the first day of this experiment and I am off work today. This morning I almost spoiled it by grabbing some cinnamon-sugar left in bowl left over from cinnamon muffins made yesterday. I put some in my mouth, realized it, then spit it out and washed my mouth out. I wasn't sure whether I'd try this experiment so soon but I noticed I've been eating more and more junk out of nothing but boredom over the blahs of being in "maintenance mode", i.e. no longer trying to lose weight. When you're trying to lose weight, there's a purpose for not eating junk. Last night I ate some candy and felt like crap, not mentally for eating candy, I'm not the type of person to beat myself up over things like that, but physically weak from the sugar rush and crash. That's what kick-started this blog to begin today. No time like the present.

This morning I had some coffee and a banana. I went for a two mile walk. Then I went to the grocery store and bought parsnips, carrots, spinach, spaghettis squash, almonds, walnuts, steel-cut oats, hamhocks (for bean soup to be made later), apples and blueberries. Warrior Diet is big on berries. the most expensive fruit in the store, sheesh. I ate a parsnip when I got back and I must admit it tasted good. I've always noticed how much better things taste when you're hungry and the Warrior Diet mentions this in the book. You develop a taste for the things you're body needs. I've got a craving for a carrot now and will get one after this post is done. Surprisingly, I've got quite a bit of energy now. I need to move my heavybag and pull-up bar and then I need to workout yet still today. That'll be a test, can I do an hour of intense exercises on veggies and fruits. I do plan to follow up the workout with a protein shake.

What the hell, I wasn't going to post again today but I might as well take the time off I have to do something with it.

Why I won't follow the Warrior Diet point by point:

The Warrior Diet - A Sample Day
Upon Awakening:
2 cups water, Vitamin C,
Grape seed extract, Milk Thistle, Probiotics, Warriozyme
Warrior Minerals, Ginkgo Biloba, etc...

That's a sample from the book, Warrior Diet. I don't believe one should buy any special supplements and by special I mean things like milk thistle and the Warrior Diet products. I don't have anything against these nutritional supplements only that I don't want to spend money or time hunting down a milk thistle dealer. It's hard enough to get good quality food when junkfood is so prevalent around you. I take a multi-vitamin or two every day and I have a a whey protein shake mix that I use after a workout. I get them both from the local GNC. The multi-vitamin is Mega Man Sport and the protein is 100% Whey Protein. I don't have any affiliation with GNC save proximity. That's the only special supplements I use. I'm not going to use any other special supplements that the Warrior Diet recommends and there are many of them. I like Bob's Red Mill cereals, especially the one with flax seed. If it turns out that this method of eating isn't feasible without all the supplements, then it's just not for me. I also don't quite understand the whole supplementation angle of the book. I mean, the author presents his theories in the face of historical diets of the Roman soldiers and the instincts of primitive hunters and then the diet is full of all these supplements that these groups never had. If I can't get what I need from food and minimal supplements, then how good a diet can it be? But, I always tell people to try something for at least 3 weeks before they pass judgement. So that's what I'm going to do, but I'm not buying the extra supplements, period.

Purpose

Today I decided to try out The Warrior Diet created by Ori Hofmekler. The main point of the diet is to eat little during the day with little grazing on fruits and vegetables and maybe a little protein, say, after a workout. Then when you get home for the evening, eat as much as you want until your satisfied. Of course the food you indulge in should be of good quality. You wouldn't want to eat a bag of Doritos for example. That's sort of the hard part. I've heard this diet sold before on the "eat as much as you want" bait that hooks a lot of people no doubt. People think, nice, I can eat a dozen doughnuts! Well, no, the food needs to be good food. There are other details to follow and I haven't finished the book yet even but I'm not working today and thought it'd be a good day to see how I feel eating a small bit live, raw foods and juice during the day and then eating a big meal in the evening. I thought I'd document it here.