Dry Skin Tip - Olive Oil

My hands get very dry and crack during the winter and it's uncomfortable and a pain in the ass. I heard on the radio someone talking about using olive oil for their face so this weekend I figured it wouldn't hurt and used a dab of Extra-Virgin (you don't need a lot) as a lotion for my hands. It was almost like a miracle cure. All the cracks are gone and the dry skin is about 75% gone, except for the callouses from pull-ups and such but even those look better and less likely to tear.

Here's some more Olive Oil Tips

Crossfit: Fight Gone Bad

"Fight Gone Bad!"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

I did this today. The only thing that wasn't as Rx'd was the wall-ball because I could only find a 15 pound medicine ball. Otherwise, everything as Rx'd.

Rounds of 91, 95 and 96 for a total of 282. I'm not sure if people keep track of every rep of every exercise or not. I'm not going to but if I had to figure I would guess it was about 25 wall balls, 20 sumos, 21 box jumps, 15 push press and 15 calories. Something around there. I don't know what it is but I just feel better after these workouts than low-rep high-weight workouts. Not necessarily more tired or like I've done more work but I feel energized more whereas the other workouts pretty much wipe me out for most of the day.

See what I was talking about, I'm not in order, I skipped the Split Jerk WOD because I can't do it at home and the gym only has 10-pound bumper plates so I'm kind of limited. I guess if something like that comes up I can just use regular plates and go as heavy as conditions permit, or I could work on my squats or overhead presses or overhead squats for that matter.

Crossfit: "Helen"

"Helen"

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

I did this as Rx'd (got to use my new kettlebell) on Saturday, 03/29/2008. I finished in 13:47. I had been neglecting my running and sprinting while focusing on Stronglifts and it showed when I started the first 400 meters, my legs felt like molasses. I know I can get that under 10 minutes.

Update

It's funny, I've not made a major effort to stay on the Warrior Diet but I find myself gravitating towards it now a lot more. I mentioned before that I had a natural inclination to eat that way feeling more forced to eat breakfast because it's "the most important meal of the day" rather than actually feeling hungry at breakfast. Whenever I stray and eat during the day I find it's most often because I'm bored or because other people are eating. And when I eat during the day, I'm pretty useless for the next 2 hours after eating, feeling lethargic and tired. I've tried eating zone meals during the day, and they help a bit, but even the perfect zone meal can make me feel blah. I think it's a good time to re-dedicate myself to the Warrior Diet. My 30-day experiment wasn't such a good measure of the diet because of being sick the last three weeks. What I do need to do is change my eating window. It was 6-10 P.M. but that was a little late and I started having trouble falling asleep if I ate too much after 8:30. Many times I didn't get home until 6:30 so that gave me a 2-hour eating window for that was just too small. I'm thinking I can bring my leafy green salad to work and eat that during the last hour of work and then have a 5-9, or 4:30 to 8:30 window that would fit much better for me. Or, I could probably even change my work schedule so I get to work earlier, then workout after work and then be able to eat right after the workout. It might be nice to get home earlier in the day during the summer. However, the gym is way too crowded for me in the afternoons so I'd have to my own weights and power rack, something I've been considering. Which brings me to my next point.

Changing workouts. I love the Stronglifts 5x5 workout. My squats and dead lifts increased by a ton. But I've always had a problem moving heavy weights consistently. My joints get sore and I feel tired and overall it just becomes an unpleasant experience for me. It could be mental or maybe I'm just not tough enough but there you have it. So I think I'm going to start following the Crossfit workouts. I'm going to stay a day or two behind just so I'm not waiting for the WOD to post. I've already started and feel fairly confident I can do most of the workouts as prescribed with a few subs here and there. I've spent about 21 weeks doing Simplefit's basic program and that really changed my body but I enjoy the mystery aspect of the Crossfit WOD and being able to see what other people scored. I think Simplefit has a random workout generator too but I'm just curious to try Crossfit and see how that works. I'll keep track of my workouts here. I'm a little off right now as far as following the workouts but I'll get on track soon enough.

Back on

Mild congestion and cough is the only remaining signs of the 3 week sickness I've been dealing with. I haven't missed a workout although my eating habits are effected when I'm sick. I've had nothing but a banana today and after a few days of eating normally (breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack), I'm now quite hungry. I can't wait to tear into some food when I get home. When I think back on the experiment, I realized that I already was eating similarly to the Warrior Diet, at least during the week. I often skipped breakfast, worked out, had a shake and then an apple sometimes later in the day before dinner. Many times though I'd grab a pop-tart in the morning or bring leftovers with me for lunch under the misguided notion that I wasn't eating enough during the day. Truth is, I really enjoy skipping breakfast and not having to worry about lunch. Plus I enjoy being really hungry for dinner.

Finally, a light appears

I've never had a cold or flu or whatever that was so on/off. I first thought I was getting sick over two weeks ago and it didn't hit me fully until just this past Tuesday and Wednesday. Today, I actually feel like I'm getting better, rather than the symptoms just disappearing. I'l still a bit stuffed up but the caughing has subsided. I'm proud that I didn't really miss any workouts either. I don't think working out with the cold prolonged anything, my wife and several people I spoke to also mentioned they had oddly long illnesses recently with symptoms that come and go.

Anyway, on to a new challenge. Partly from clicking around on Beast Skills, I want to incorporate more challenging bodyweight positions. To me, nothing says fitness more than being able to handle your bodyweight with ease. What I'd like to do is work on my muscle-ups, handstands, hand stand push-ups and the straddle planche and front levers. Dragon Door has an article on progessing through the planche and front levers that I plan to incorporate into my training. In fact I'm going to start it right when I'm done here. Besides looking at Beast Skills, the other thing that motivated me was that, to my surprise, I can now do one rep of one-armed push-ups. I had bought Pavel's Naked Warrior book several years ago and practiced them for two months without getting anywhere and gave up. I pretty much gave up on them and then a few days ago I tried to see if they were as hard as I remember and I surprised myself by actually doing one. I also really began to see definition in my abs when I started doing L-sits off the pull-ups bar so I know these types of exercises really sculpt the body. There are no fat noodle armed gymnasts. You can see in the photo series at the top of the page right where I started doing L-sits, right between photos 4 and 5 the weight didn't change much but I started doing the exercise 3 times a week.

Right now, I can't balance more than 10 seconds in the frog stand, and the tuck front lever is probably less impressive than that. I cannot free hand stand long enough to impress anyone so I certainly can't do any free hand-stand pushups although I can do 1-2 hand stand push-ups using a wall for support. I cannot do any muscle-ups although I can do pull-ups on the rings and dips on the rings without problem.

So, I guess by the end of summer (I'm not sure how long this takes, I could be giving myself too much or too little time) I'd like to be able to do the following:

Minimum 20-second free hand stand
(then) 1 Free Hand Stand Push-up
1 Muscle-up
(then) 2 Consecutive Muscle-ups
Working for Time on the Advanced Tuck Planche
1 Tuck Planche Push-ups
Working for Time on the Advanced Tuck Front Lever
1 Advanced Tuck Front Lever Pull-up

That all seems impossible right now. But I've always thought the Flag was one of the coolest moves to show off. Sure, a 500 pound deadlift is nice but you can't say, "Hey, watch this!" with any spontaneity with deadlifts. Anyway, I figure I'll practice these 3 times a week and see how far I get.

Sick

I can't believe that it took 10 days of feeling sort of semi-sick for the full blown cold to take hold. Can you believe that yesterday and today I am sicker than I have been over the the past 10 days when I said I was sick? This is ridiculous.

I still managed to get to the gym though. I feel better when I'm working out. Then I sit in the sauna and alternate sauna/cold shower/sauna/cold shower for as long as I can stand it. That usually helps decongest me. The fake decongestants they sell at the stores because of meth heads certainly don't help. Now I've got to go show my ID to the grocery store and fill out a bunch of papers to get real cold medicine. I'm sure that put a real dent in the meth problem. Idiots.

Day Thirty - Finale

Technically yes. I was originally interested in the Warrior Diet and my belief is that you need to try something to find out if it will work for you. So I promised to try it out for 30 days and see what it was like. One problem was that I've been sick for the past two weeks or so which led to a weak finish. I switched from a goal of fat loss to one of muscle gain halfway through. But I'm not looking to go "off" the diet. There's a lot of good things I learned. I don't plan to count calories anymore and I don't plan to post what I ate when and a daily diary of experiences. I'll post occasionally as I learn new things and probably more during a planned phase to cut down for summer where I think I'm going to follow Crossfit workouts and get out of the weight room more. I find I get depressed when I workout indoors during nice weather.

Below is a list of things I learned about the Warrior Diet that pertain to me only. That is, I'm not saying that you'll experience the same thing, maybe you will but it's also quite possible you won't.

1. Quality is important. The quality of my diet increased tenfold with the Warrior Diet. It was very difficult to gain fat eating high quality foods. Even eating 3000 calories of high quality foods resulted in some fat loss. It seemed that when I slipped up and ate processed sugars/cereals/breads the fat went back on quick.

2. Energy is not a problem. I had more energy while fasting than I ever had eating breakfast. I hit several personal records in Simplefit and Crossfit-type workouts and weight lifting. My deadlift 5 rep-work went from 205 to 275 and I 1-repped 300 yesterday. Working out on a empty stomach was a little weird the first two days but the energy was always there and I just kept telling myself that my body could do this. That there was no reason I needed to eat something to accomplish work. My body has a designed system to deal with these circumstances and I'm exercising that system.

3. Focus is enhanced. I had a class during this experiment and that papers had to write were much easier to focus on. A couple hours of work would go by in a snap. It was just easier to focus on things.

4. No hunger pangs. I can count on one hand the number of times I said, "Damn, I'm hungry." It may have been my mental state in that I readily accepted the fact that there's absolutely no need for me to be "hungry" 3-4 times per day. People can go 30+ days without food and yet I should think that because I didn't have breakfast that I'm unable to function? That's B.S.

5. Processed foods burn out your taste buds and make fruits and veggies taste bland. Stay away from processed foods and sugar. The flavor of fruits and veggies will increase many times. Many people say they do not like fruits or especially veggies. You need to train your taste buds to savor the delicate flavors once again. When I was eating processed foods I never had salads at night. Now, I find carrots very sweet and parsnips too. Berries taste like candy apples taste candy-coated.

6. It's fun to be actually hungry. While I don't feel hungry during the day, when I start putting my salad together to break my fast I get really hungry and can't wait to tear into it. Eating is much more satisfying when you're really ready for it. Plus, speaking of quality, I think I ate about 6 bags of spinach over the last month. I'd eat 3-4 cups (chopped) in a salad every night. I ate more spinach this month than probably over the past 3 years.

7. Stay away from foods with a high Gycemix Index during the day. Nearly all processed foods have high GI but natural foods do as well. But you need to experiment. The Warrior Diet book says apples are bad and bananas are good but GI tables show bananas rank higher in GI than apples. I crashed once after an apple but never after a banana. You need to experiment and find things that don't raise your insulin levels.

8. I may have had some trouble sleeping when I ate too soon before going to bed. I seem to remember several days where I just couldn't seem to fall asleep. I wasn't able to put the circumstances together though. If I had to guess, it was a combination of eating too much, too soon before bed. The second week I really over ate like a pig and I think that may have had something to do with it.

9. I can't really get all that enthused about all the minute details about the Warrior Diet that Ori recommends. All these freaking supplements (deer antler velvet? milk thistle?) and people asking if it's OK to boil broccoli instead of steaming it and whether 1% milk is better than 2%. None of those specifics is going to magically make you drop 20 pounds. You need to eat well and exercise to lose weight. Supplementing with Ori's Special Warrior Milk or Warrior Protein made from the protein of special cows isn't going to increase your health exponentially. Eat good quality foods, the more they look as God made them, the better. Strawberries=good, Strawberry Flavored Skittles = Bad.

10. Exercise. I like the Stronglifts 5x5 as a strength-building program and I recommend it to everyone that asks. I'm using it now and have been for a while. My strength has increased dramatically. You can easily do this for a year without needing to change. I also like Simplefit and Crossfit type workouts and throw those in every once in a while, on weekends, or if I can't get to the gym. In the summer I like to get outside for my workouts and so the strength training usually suffers although I manage to fit in benches, squats, and deadlifts in some fashion. I think you should always fit those into a workout routine, even if it's only to maintain a certain level of strength until you get serious again. Once again, you need to experiment. You can't go expect to go through a program on autopilot without recording and evaluating results.

11. Counting Calories. For most of my life, I didn't believe one had to do it. However, I tried DietPower and it opened my eyes to the way I was eating. I had a lot of saturated fat in my diet and the quality of my calories was pretty poor. After nearly a year of using the software, I no longer use it on a daily basis. I have a pretty good idea of when I'm eating well and when I'm not. Same thing with the Warrior Diet, I can tell between a good day of eating and a bad one and I can tell the different between a sub-2000 calories day a 2500 calorie day and a day above 2500 calories just by how I feel at the end of it. I would say that if you have trouble losing weight, you should at least try counting calories so you know for sure how things are going. Measure everything. If you don't get results then at least you've eliminated a variable and getting fit and healthy is mostly about eliminating variables.

12. I think there is something to the benefits of intermittent fasting but I'm no scientist. I think the idea that humans evolved to make the best use of foods in that manner makes a lot of sense. You'd nibble here and there on what you found as you hunted and when you finally made the kill, you ate as much as possible. This doesn't work with the modern foods available though, you can't nibble on Pop-Tarts and candy and Raisin Bran and Frosted Flakes and bagels and then eat a BK Broiler and fries. You need to imagine yourself hunting in the wild, maybe you get a handful of berries, maybe find an apple tree or walnuts.

13. Bored Eating. I found on the weekends that I would open the fridge just because I was bored and looking for something to do. Then I'd shut the door remembering I was fasting. I wonder how many people who eat 4-5 meals a day engage in bored eating. Like, I'm bored, I guess I'll go find something to eat. Even if it's a healthy choice of food the idea that you're eating because you're bored and not really hungry is kind of unhealthy in itself. I did this quite a bit in the first few days of the Warrior Diet. I'd eat carrots or apples or bananas because it was "lunch time" and I was looking for a break instead of actually feeling like I needed a snack. I really learned how to identify when I really needed a little something.

14. Alcohol: I didn't drink any beer on this diet. I had a a few glasses of wine one Sunday but I really couldn't fit beer in and I love beer. There just didn't seem to be a place for it. I generally like beer with a meal or without a lot of food in my stomach. But I didn't want it after a 20 hour fast and I was too stuffed after the overeating phase to want any beer. Just what I experienced.

15. Supplements I did take: Multivitamin daily and a post-workout why protein shake.

16. Oh yeah, Ori recommends working out right before the overeating phase. That's great but I can't do that because I have to work out in the morning. I didn't find it that big of a deal although on the days I was able to workout in the late afternoon, it was enjoyable to have the overeating phase right after it.

17. I also have a suspicion that my reduced carbohydrate intake during the first week played a large role in the rapid weight loss. Perhaps the same thing would have happened without the intermittent fasting. I do happen to think it's easier to reduce carbs and calories eating once a day rather than 5-6 meals a day, at least for me.

Like I said, I'll still post things as I learn them. I still need to post my final measurements and a photo. If you have questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

Day Twenty Nine - Exercise & Undereating

How many days was I supposed to do this, 30 days, one month? Well, Happy St. Paddy's! I was up coughing and congested all night last night but managed to get to the gym this morning. I feel better after working out even when I'm sick so I make a point of doing that. I had a very good workout, moved up in weight on everything and felt pretty good about it. Deadlifted 300 pounds for the first time evah, so that was nice and that was after squats. I'd like to be able to do twice my bodyweight 360 pounds doesn't seem that far off for deadlifts but every pound feels heavier when you get up there. One thing's for certain, there's no need to worry about muscle loss on the Warrior Diet, at least not if you're an amateur. Eat the right foods and you'll be fine. Although this morning I did have some walnuts and some apple/raisin/couscous salad for breakfast as an experiment and I felt that was a pretty good thing to do. I don't normally eat breakfast at all but when I did before trying the Warrior Diet, it was a Pop-Tart or Granola bar, something with a lot of sugar and probably very high Glycemic Index. Even with the banana I'll have later and the post-workout protein shake it'll still be less than 600 calories during the undereating phase.

I feel bad that it wasn't a proper experiment in that I bailed out on the losing fat portion of the diet somewhat. I'm a little curious to see what would have happened had I continued how I started the first week, which resulted in the 6 pound weight loss. But I got scared that maybe a lot of that was muscle and it didn't make sense to sacrifice muscle with fat loss in the middle of winter. I think it might be a good idea to try that in a month or so before summer comes.

I guess I still need to take some final measurements and probably post some final photos. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I won't look as ripped as in the first week photo (certainly not in the midsection), but I may have added more muscle. I haven't made measurements in a while and with being sick my weight/bodyfat readings are all over the place. I'll try to post something this week sometime.

Will I continue? Probably not as strict a undereating/overeating dichotomy. I think mostly what I learned is to control the carb crash that I really didn't think I was experiencing. I touted many times that carbs don't effect me when it's apparent to me now that garbage carbs do. They're responsible for poor morning energy and afternoon sleepies. At least that's what I figured out because I suffered from none of that on the Warrior Diet. I also enjoyed not having to eat lunch or prepare something to take with me. It was very freeing to know that I can go 20+ hours without eating and feel nothing but increased energy and focus. It's funny now to hear people say at like 1:00 P.M. "OMG, I'm so hungry, I haven't had anything since breakfast." Really? Do you think you'll survive? I'm no conspiracy theorist but it certainly seems better for the food industry to keep you eating 4-5 times a day rather than once. Yeah, you may eat the same amount but on the Warrior Diet, I find I like wholesome food that I can buy in bulk a lot better. If you don't eat for 20 hours, when you final get to it, you don't want potato chips. You want a whole chicken, avocados, apples, nuts, bulk steel cut oatmeal, carrots, err, I need to stop, making myself hungry. That was the best part of the Warrior Diet, re-learning the delicate flavors of natural food. Eating processed food blows out all your taste buds making fruits and vegetable sugar bland and unflavorful. Try it yourself, take a bite of apple then eat a fruit-roll-up, then take another bite of apple. The second bite will probably taste like bland mush.

I'll probably post occasionally in the meantime, but not 3-4 times a day anymore, that gets old quick. Hopefully what I've put up here can inform others thinking about trying the diet. I'll still monitor and try to answer any questions. There's only one way to know if something will work for you.

Day Twenty Eight - Rest Day

Today is a rest day from exercise. Undereating is some apples, a banana, some raisins, and a good healthy doughnut, whoops.

Overeating is going to be some chicken breast and broccoli and cheese couscous.

Looks like a high carb today.

Day Twenty Seven - Overeating

I had my protein shake after the workout and then I started eating pretty much right after that and I skipped the salad just because I didn't feel like having one today. I had the other half of the roasted chicken, some walnuts, raisins, fried potatoes, an apple and some Kashi Go Lean Crunch with dried cranberries added. That's less than 2000 calories but about 123 grams of protein. I'll probably have a few more snacks before bed.

When I ate upwards of 3000 calories for a couple of days a few weeks ago, I was really overeating, partly because I got freaked out about the 6 pound weight loss in the first week and partly because I was taking advantage of the whole "overeating" part of the overeating phase. I actually ate myself uncomfortable a few times. I've really learned just about exactly what I need to feel satsified. I think why this diet is so successful for some is that it's pretty easy to restrict calories on this diet, if that was something you wanted to do. I need to average about 2500 calories a day, give or take but it'd be easy to eat say 300 calories during the undereating phase and then fill up on 1500 calories during the overeating phase. You'd feel pretty satisfied after 1500 calories but you'd still be in the negative.

Last Sunday when I was sick and after two days of poor eating I weighed in at 186 pounds but this morning, focusing on better foods throughout the week even though I was still off and on sick, I'm down to 175. I've never had an 11 pound swing like that before in less than a week. I feel it has something to do with this way of eating. It's like if you eat a lot of crap, you get fat quick, but if you eat good food, the fat melts off. Does that make sense? That's probably not possible but it feels that way.

Day Twenty Seven - Exercise and Undereating

Today I had coffee, a vitamin and two apples during the undereating phase. In the afternoon I decided to workout. I wanted to do something longer than normal and something that would really get me sweating and sucking wind. After a warm I tried my hand at the 300 Workout:

Pullups - 25 reps
Deadlifts with 135lbs - 50 reps
Pushups - 50 reps
24-inch Box jumps - 50 reps
Floor wipers - 50 reps
1-arm 36lbs Kettlebell Clean n Press - 50 reps
Pullups - 25 reps

I had to do some modifying because I was at home and I don't have all the equipment necessary. For the deadlifts I put a 53-pound kettlebell on top of the 80-pound sandbag and deadlifted that 50 times. That took longer than I would have on the bar because I had to keep readjusting the kettlebell but it worked reasonably well. Instead of box jumps I just jumped up and touched my knees to my chest. For the floor wipers, I couldn't use the kettlbell/sandbag combination without the kettlebell smashing my face so I only used the sandbag. I have 16 kg. kettlebell so the clean-n-press was not an issue.

I finished in 30:16. Truthfully, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be the 100-burpee challenge makes me sweat more but I can do that in 9:47. I think I'll try the 300 Workout and try to get that time around 20 minutes. I had to take rests here and there for water and to catch my breath.

After that I did:
ring dips 3x5
ring push-ups 4x8
Full squat cleans with 53 lbs kettlebell: 3x5 each arm
Hanging leg L holds: 4 sets to failure
20 minutes of heavy bag work
Oblique work with 53lbs kettlebell 4x15 each side
Figure 8 with 53lbs kettle 3x20
Tabata Squats: Score 13 (bad, I was tired)

Total workout time about an hour and a half.

Just letting my body know what's up if it ever decides to get sick again.

Day Twenty Six - Overeating

The usual salad, half a roasted chicken, some cheese, an apple, some cranberries, 10-grain hot cereal with raisins and a glass of chocolate milk, oh and two chocolate truffles. 2300 total calories for the day. 150 grams of protein.

I'm so wiped out from working out this morning and being sick. I'm planning a kick-ass workout tomorrow just to let my body know who's boss. Like a two-hour marathon of killer exercises. That'll teach my body to let its guard down against germs. Next time those white blood cells are thinking about taking a break they'll remember what happened the last time we got sick.

Day Twenty Six - Undereating

I had a protein shake after working out and then a pear and some ginger slices at lunch. The ginger slices I had were low-sugar type made with raw sugar which I guess is better, by a fraction. But, I didn't experience any sugar rush and crash or anything like that. I only had two. Ginger may benefit heart disease and have anti-cancer properties along with being tasty and keeping you from throwing up if your stomach is upset.

Day Twenty Six - Exercise

So yesterday I felt pretty crappy all day long and I felt the same way this morning but made sure to get to the gym, even if I only did a light workout. Once I got started though I felt much better. I stayed at the same weight with the squats because I had some trouble on the later reps with form and I think I improved that this workout. I improved in number of reps on the bench press. I improved form on the barbell row. I Dropped down 20 pounds on the overhead press to start over. That's no big surprise, the overhead press is likely going to be the first place you stall out. I sat myself in the sauna for 20 minutes to try and help my cold. I had a protein shake after working out.

Day Twenty Five - Overeating

Salad, rest of the shrimp, soft taco, cheese, apple, 10-grain cereal and cranberries, and a protein shake. That made a little less than 2000 calories for the day and 110 grams of protein.

Day Twenty Five - Undereating

I went through the day with only a few handful of blackberries. I had some coffee in the morning and some tea in the afternoon. I could probably manage to get a decent workout in but I'm going to rest today and make sure I get up early for tomorrow's workout. I hate missing a Friday workout because it makes me feel like I should get to the gym on the weekend, which is completely out of the way unless I'm going to work.

Day Twenty Five - Sick

I didn't do any exercise this morning. I had to take some NyQuil last night before bed and couldn't wake up this morning. I'll probably so some light workout when I get home. This stupid cold has an on/off cycle that is really frustrating. I wish it would just run its course so I can move on.

Day Twenty Four - Overeating

More spinach salad with an avocado cut up on top. This diet has really made me appreciate avocados. They're delicious. Two dozen shrimp. Meatloaf sandwich. Bob's Red Mill 10-Grain cereal with some dried cranberries for dessert. That's about 2000 calories for the day with 130 grams of protein.

Day Twenty Four - Undereating

One thing the Warrior Diet has done for me is increased the amount of quality foods I'm eating. My intake of fruits and vegetables has increased many 2-3 times as much per day than before. I tend to shop more on periphery of the grocery store focusing on the fresh produce and fish and meats. I'm wary of the highly processed foods as they not only wreak havoc on your blood sugar/insulin levels but also complete destroy the ability to enjoy the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables. The other day I listened to an interview with Michael Pollan at Democracy Now. Pollan is the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and there was point made that really upset me.

MICHAEL POLLAN: Yeah, it’s a literary scientific experience now going shopping in the supermarket, because basically the food has gotten more complex. It’s—for the food industry—see, to understand the economics of the food industry, you can’t really make money selling things like, oh, oatmeal, you know, plain rolled oats. And if you go to the store, you can buy a pound of oats, organic oats, for seventy-nine cents. There’s no money in that, because it doesn’t have any brand identification. It’s a commodity, and the prices of commodity are constantly falling over time.

So you make money by processing it, adding value to it. So you take those oats, and you turn them into Cheerios, and then you can charge four bucks for that seventy-nine cents—and actually even less than that, a few pennies of oats. And then after a few years, Cheerios become a commodity. You know, everyone’s ripping off your little circles. And so, you have to move to the next thing, which are like cereal bars. And now there’s cereal straws, you know, that your kids are supposed to suck milk through, and then they eat the straw. It’s made out of the cereal material. It’s extruded.

So, you see, every level of further complication gives you some intellectual property, a product no one else has, and the ability to charge a whole lot more for these very cheap raw ingredients. And as you make the food more complicated, you need all these chemicals to make it last, to make it taste good, to make—and because, you know, food really isn’t designed to last a year on the shelf in a supermarket. And so, it takes a lot of chemistry to make that happen.

I thought about that some more and it started to piss me off that it was so obviously true. Nobody makes money selling bulk items, they've got to process it somehow, most often reducing and nutritional value and then selling it back to you at 10 times the bulk value. I don't think I want to be a major part of that anymore. It just seems so stupid. You're paying more for less and getting sick because of it. I'm not against people making money and I think they should be able to sell whatever they want but I don't have to buy it and I've already started buying fresh and bulk.

Today I got a 5.5+ pound bag of steel-cut oats for $4.40. That comes to 79 cents a pound! Do you know how many servings of oatmeal 5.5 pounds of oats makes? The comparison would probably be a 55-count Quaker-Instant Oats box retailing at $16.00. Even if you're adding sugar to your oats you'd still be saving money not to mention the loads more nutrition you'd be getting. So I'm slowly building up some bulk grains in the pantry and I've been buying fresh meats at the grocery store to bring home and cook, like the shrimp yesterday.

Also, for the past several years I've entered into an agreement with a local farm that delivers fresh produce/bread/milk/grass-fed beef to my door once a week. I found them through Local Harvest. There's a whole slew of different agreements out there depending on the farm. Mine has several options but I rarely need to go produce shopping during the season and I'll probably make better use of it this year thanks to what I learned on the Warrior Diet. Not to mention it supports local small family farms over polluting corporate feed lots. Nice to have local small farms in the areas, big factory feed lots stink, both literally and figuratively.

Anyway, I had my protein shake and banana this morning and then a nectarine and some blackberries for lunch. I'll probably have an apple this afternoon sometime. This is one thing I don't see me changing too much after this experiment, the under-eating phase. I'll probably stick with fruits and vegetable during the day as I find it so freeing and energizing. I may experiment with eating something as soon as I wake up for workout fuel but I haven't felt the need for it much at all.

Day Twenty Four - Exercise

I'd be a liar if I said I felt great this morning. I did move up in weight on the squats and barbell rows but bench press stayed the same as did the overhead press. I was still sore from Monday's workout and the only exercise that I enjoyed doing was the squats. After that it was pretty much just doing it to get it over with and I think that's a result of still being a bit sick. My throat is still a little swollen and through last night and this morning I seem to have developed symptoms involved with the common cold. Not enough to refrain from working out but apparently enough to effect the performance. Just have to battle through it. I'm going to have a protein shake and a banana. I do much better now that I've worked out though.

Day Twenty Three - Exercise and Overeating

I did a bit of heavy bag work and then some core exercises and finished off with a few sets of kettlebell swings. Nothing too demanding.

I found a good deal on some shrimp so after my salad, I cooked those up and ate a couple dozen for a healthy dose of protein. I then had some walnuts, a meatloaf sandwich, an apple, and some oatmeal with cranberries and a glass of milk.

Around 2200 calories this evening. If I weren't doing a 30 day experiment, I wouldn't even be counting calroies.

Day Twenty Three - Undereating

I was wiped out this morning again and my throat was sore. A few hours later I felt fine though. I don't know what the heck kind of bug I have but it apparently attacks at night. Remember how I said I couldn't seem to drink enough liquids the past couple of days? Well, I weighed myself yesterday and I was up to 186 pounds! Then last night I had to get up to use the bathroom 4 or 5 times. I weighed in this morning at 179 pounds. I don't know what that means but it's pretty crazy.

Today I just had some coffee and then some blackberries and a banana for lunch. I'll probably have an apples in the afternoon and then do some heavy bag work before dinner for my exercise. Keeping it light today.

Getting sick has a way of derailing us from our fitness plans, schedules and goals. Our minds as well as our bodies weaken and comfort is our main priority. I don't think anything is wrong with "giving in" for a short period of time. I like to take one day and do whatever it is that will make me the most comfortable, sleep in, eat a pizza, take a hot bath, whatever. My plan is that I take one day to not worry about the sickness interrupting my schedule. One day of total rest is better than three days of semi-rest. Then after that I like to add things in gradually. Like this past weekend I spent 20 minutes at the heavy bag, still woozy from NyQuil, just working on combination forms, barely hitting the bag. I didn't even break a sweat but just moving around made me feel better. So it's better to take the time to rest then push yourself through sick days and end up getting worse and giving up for good.

Day Twenty Two

I slept straight through until 10:00 A.M. this morning. I felt much better. I didn't really track what I ate and drank yesterday. I couldn't stay hydrated yesterday. I think I drank a gallon of gatorade and didn't have to go to the bathroom all day. I guess my body was definitely fighting something. A little after I woke up I ate a hamburger then I went to the gym and had a great workout. Again, I improved in either weight or repetition. I had a banana and a protein shake after the workout. Later in the evening I had a meatloaf sandwich, apple, taco and some oatmeal with cranberries. I think I'll probably get about 2400 calories in total today.

Day Twenty One - Sick

Friday morning I thought I may be coming down with something as my throat was a little scratchy but by the afternoon it was gone and I was feeling fine. Yesterday I didn;t feel sick at all. I was a bit tired but I figure it was jst because of the good workout I had on Friday but I did notice that I didn't have much energy when I was hitting the heavy bag and doing ab exercises. I didn't have any oomph and I thought that was a bit odd. Even if I was tired from exercising I should have had more energy than what I was feeling. But still, I felt fine. This morning I woke up around 4:00 with a very sore throat. I could barely swallow and I had to struggle to tilt my head back when I gargled with salt water. I went back to bed and woke up around 8:00, after morning coffee my throat felt fine and I've only had a slight headache all day so I'm not sure what's going on. Either way, I've been eating a little all day because, well, it just feels like something I need to do. I'm not sure if I'm getting better or worse or what's going on.

Day Twenty - All in One

Today was tough because I started to feel sore from an intense workout yesterday so I was pretty lazy all day which made me want to snack and watch TV. But I was good and only had coffe, blackberries, strawberries and some carrots during the undereating phase. I managed to hit the heavybag for a while and do some ab exercises in the afternoon and followd that with a protein shake. A couple of hours later I had a salad to start the overeating phase. I had about 2500 calories during the overeating phase.

Day Nineteen - Overeating

About 2600 calories, give or take. I had a big salad, tuna, almonds, pizza (quite a bit of it), yogurt and some cereal with milk.

Day Nineteen - Undereating Phase

I had a protein shake this morning after working out. Then a banana and some blackberries in the afternoon. Also had my usual coffee in the morning but today I took my multi-vitamin after working out. Doubt it makes much of a difference.

Fun

It's not all diet and exercise with Splint Chesthair. I find Desktop Tower Defense extremely addicting. I have dreams about strategic positioning of the towers. I'm convinced the 100 Levels Challenge is impossible.

I don't even know why I post it, probably hoping to hook other people as well so we can devise positioning strategies.

Day Nineteen - Exercise (and some philosophy)

You know, I try to search the internet for other people's experiences on the Warrior Diet and there's a wide range, like everything else I guess. That's why when people ask my advice, I always tell them what I like to do and then explain that nothing works for everyone. That's why you need to try different things. Find what works for you. If you love carbs and eating low carbs makes you feel miserable, then it's probably not a long-term solution for you. You'll eat a pizza one night and you'll gain 20 pounds of fat over the next 3 months.

The top complaints about the Warrior Diet include: constantly hungry, no energy for training (or fear of same), and getting sick eating so much in 4 hours.

Constantly Hungry - Nope, not even close for me. I rarely even think about food during the day. The only effect I experience during the day might be a slight signal from my stomach requesting a little bit of something to tide me over. That's usually a handful of berries, a banana, a protein shake on workout days, etc. I rarely eat over 400 calories during the day. Many days I eat nothing at all.

No Energy for Workout - I feared this, especially working out in the morning. How could I expect to do so on an empty stomach? Well, it hasn't been a factor for me. I actually have more energy in the morning if I don't eat. Today I lifted weights for an hour and 20 minutes and I bested my previous workouts in either weight or reps completed. Then afterwards, just for the heck of it I did weighted dips AND pull-ups in a super-set fashion. Doing HIIT sprinting feels a bit different but it's not a lack of energy. There's almost a feeling that the body is burning a fuel that it's not used to burning. It feels sort of like being in the "zone". There's a good interview with Ori over at T-Nation. Ori explains:

T: But to be a true warrior — someone who needs to endure physical hardship, or even an athlete who needs to compete — you need some sort of glycogen storage, right? And that's hard to do when you eat only once a day.

OH: You're reaching a very important point. You've got to eat in such a way that you're capable of fighting for two hours straight, or wrestling or marching for hours on end, or being without food, or whatever. When I was a Navy SEAL(* - ed.), that's what we trained to do. By not eating, we learned to stretch our glycogen reserves. Those who train on empty, more and more and more, will find out that they have more and more glycogen reserve ability in their muscles and liver. The last time I looked up the research — I think it was a year ago — sedentary persons with what was thought to be about 200 or 300 calories of available glycogen reserve could stretch it up to 2,000-3,000. Some people even had 5,000 calories of glycogen reserve. There's a whole area of science about the situation of a body under glycogen depletion, and it's so relative. But one thing's for sure, as long as you are glycogen depleted — what I call fasting — your insulin sensitivity gets higher and higher, as does your protein efficiency. Sometimes, it goes 30-50% higher. That means that, after fasting, your protein efficiency could be 30-50% higher. You can eat less than 30% and still digest as much protein.

* = Apparently Ori wasn't a U.S. Navy Seal as claimed in the interview, but a special-ops in the Israeli army or something like that. Of course people are upset about that, and rightly so, that's pretty lame if he claims that. I've said it before, there's a lot about Ori and the Warrior Diet that I find to be B.S. but I don't throw the wheat out with the chaff.

Can't Eat So Much at Once - I eat until I don't want to eat anymore. Over four hours it's not that difficult. I often finish up in 3 and have a little dessert before bed. I don't feel sick at all, I feel satisfied. I also rarely crave junk food. When I get home, I immediately start putting my salad together and that's REALLY what I want to eat, it's so good. I sometimes add avocados. I've got this great olive oil and Pomegranate-Infused Red Wine Vinegar that I use as a dressing. The salad is as big as a football and it's delicious. You know how many times I've come home from work and put a salad together for myself before I started this diet? How about never. Of course, I've always been a big eater. I guess that's why it works for me.

So there you have it. If you're going to ask me if the Warrior Diet will work for you, well, I can't answer that. You might be hungry all the time, you might have zero energy for working out and you might not be able to eat so much in 4 hours. What can I say? Find another diet.

Day Eighteen - Overeating

I got about 2600 calories in this evening. I'm starting to take a liking to avocados in my salad. I had a huge ham sandwich on a bagel with a bunch of provolone. That was delicious.

The avocado put my mono-unsaturated fats way above the RDA. That brings up a question I have to research. Mono-fats are the good fats but I imagine you can eat too much of them too. I'm guessing the RDA on mono-fats is quite low but I'd like to get a good idea of whether I'm eating too much of them. I tend to doubt it as I've seen some people say they drink fish oil and/or olive oil to get their fat intake to 50% of the daily caloric totals. I'm no where near that as on high-fat days, I may hit 40%, and usually around 35%.

I also had the lowest bodyfat reading I've ever registered for an afternoon reading, 15.1% I think I might get some calipers so I can give myself a more accurate body fat reading. These scales are good for measuring trends but that's about it.

Oh, here's a good article for starters on Oils, fats, etc.

Most cardiologists and nutritionists sing the praises of high-mono oils like olive and canola because monos are especially vital in heart health—keeping damaging LDL cholesterol low, while boosting levels of cholesterol-clearing HDLs. But our hearts are not the only beneficiaries. In countries where high-mono fats predominate in the diet, rates of some cancers are remarkably low. No wonder plant geneticists rushed to develop high-mono hybrids of safflower and other traditionally low-mono oilseeds, by boosting their content of heart-friendly oleic acid. High-oleic sunflower and safflower oils are now widely available, and high-oleic corn oil isn’t far behind.

This one from the Harvard School of Public Health sums it up just about the way i thought:

Detailed research -much of it done at Harvard - shows that the total amount of fat in the diet, whether high or low, isn't really linked with disease. What really matters is the type of fat in the diet.

Seems that if you're getting mono-fats, don't worry about how much.

Day Eighteen - Undereating

I had coffee with milk, my multivitamin, and a latte for lunch. In the afternoon, I had one banana. I find that mostly during the day I am very thirsty. More thirsty than hungry. I've read in several places that the body sometimes sends hunger signals when feeling thirsty. I wonder if my body has adapted to the fact that I eat very little during the day and has foregone the hunger signals for those of thirst. Because I honestly can't tell you the last time I felt an uncomfortable attack of the "hungries". Even before I eat my evening meal I'm not really ravenous, I'm just pleasantly hungry and content in the fact that I can eat as much as I need to in order to satisfy my hunger.

I know I'm not dehydrated. I drink between 32-64 ounces of water during every workout plus another 32 ounces of iced tea throughout the day. Lipton's Cold Brew tea bags are pretty cool. I don't want to know why they work so don't find out for me or tell me. It'll ruin it for me if they get tea to brew in cold water by, say, feeding it to third-world goats and having young children pick the semi-digested leaves out the dried goat turds.

Day Eighteen - Exercise

I did 10 intervals on the elliptical machine this morning 1 minute sprint followed by 2 minute normal pace. I took my heart rate from 130 during the "rest" phase to 170 in the sprint phase. This is the first time I monitored heart rate. I was just curious but you can see the benefit as it took a little over a minute for my heart rate to drop from the peak to around 130 again. So instead of a 30 minute workout at 130 BPM, I'm getting a 30 minute workout with about 10 minutes at 130 BPM and 20 minutes between 130 and 170 BPM. Big difference.

Then, just for the heck of it I did some Hang Clean sets. For some reason the trapezius is one of my favorite muscles and hang cleans are a good exercise for it, better than shrugs.

Day Seventeen - Overeating

A little under 2500 calories this evening. Five ounces of tuna and another protein shake really made it a high protein day. Good thing I like tuna because it's a perfect food for adding muscle. Low on protein? Crack open a can of tuna and you're probably good for the day. Almost 30% of my calories came from protein today. I think that's going to be the plan. High protein on days when I've lifted weights and higher carbs on the off days. That way I'll have ingested a lot of carbs the night before a morning workout routine. That should mean more energy, theoretically.

Day Seventeen - Undereating

Coffee, bit of milk, multi-vitamin, protein shake w/Skim Plus milk, 1 banana and 3 ounces of blackberries. How odd that this seems like a great deal of food to me now. It's perfect though on days when I lift heavy weights. I feel strong everyday and not even a bit overworked.

Day Seventeen - Goal Update

I think I mentioned it yesterday but I've changed my goals for being on the Warrior Diet. Initially I wanted to focus on losing the stubborn fat around my midsection. When the first week went by and I lost almost six pounds and dropped 1.1% body fat, it was pretty obvious that this diet lends itself to accomplishing that goal. But a concern of mine at the beginning was timing. Why would I want to accomplish that by mid-March? That seemed something more suited to mid-May when the nice weather starts in. So right now I've been focusing on eating more calories and protein than I did during that first week and instead I'm going to focus on the muscle building aspect of the program. If the body fat drops, so much more the better but I'm really not looking to lose weight for the purpose of losing weight. I'd rather focus on gaining muscle over the next 2.5 months at which point I can up the cardio and do what I did during week 1 of this experiment. Don't get me wrong, I didn't starve myself during week 1, I ate about the same number of calories I had been eating previously, around 2200, but I've tried to get over 2500 since then. So we'll see how the next two weeks go. It was interesting that I dropped the 6 pounds, increased the calories and gained about 5 back but at a great muscle/fat ratio, for example, dropped 4 pounds of fat and 2 of muscle but gained back 3.5 pounds of muscle and 1.5 pounds of fat. I'll take that every week.

Day Seventeen - Exercise

Nothing but an hour of weightlifting today. Squats, bench press, barbell row, overhead press, and pull-ups. David recommended the 20-rep squat routine. I've seen that before and I'll probably try it at some point, maybe when I decide to cut down for summer, like mid-May or something. I just went through a high-rep workout routine and I'm looking for something a bit different at the moment. I've had good results messing around with the Stronglifts 5X5 so I'm basically doing those exercises in that manner with a little modification to suit my needs. I had a lot of energy this morning and moved up in weight in all the lifts, except the bench press but I did more reps at that weight than last time so it's good.

Day Sixteen - Overeating

2200 calories this evening meal. Salad, some peanuts, trail mix, big bowl of split pea/bean soup, protein shake, strawberries, and an apple.

And milk and cookies. Can't give those cookie up although they're not very unhealthy, as far as cookies go. There's only 2/3 cup of sugar in the 2.5 dozen. Other than that it's 2/3 butter, oatmeal, 2 eggs, flour, chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Better for you than Oreos.

Day Sixteen - Undereating

Today I had my usual multi-vitamin and coffee in the morning. Later I ate a few handfuls of blackberries that tasted like candy and provided a burst of energy with no crash. It's very enjoyable how fasting brings out the tastes in fruits and vegetables that processed foods destroy. I remember when I first read the book The Warrior Diet. There's a part that describes what the Roman soldiers would typically eat and one part mentioned they would snack on onions. When I first read that I thought, eww, how can someone "snack" on an onion? I like onions but I don't snack on them. But now that I'm intermittently fasting, onions taste sweet, not like an apple but in a different way and I would welcome eating one during the day.

Day Sixteen - Update

I just thought I'd let everyone know that I'm back up to 177 pounds but my body fat measurement didn't increase accordingly, it's right around 17.3%. I must admit I got a little freaked out the first week when I dropped nearly six pounds and 1.1% body fat. That's a good chunk of fat but also some lean mass so I made an effort to eat more calories and it obviously worked. I don't want to lose any lean mass in the pursuit of stubborn fat loss, at least not at this point in winter. I may be willing to sacrifice 1 or 2 pounds of lean mass around May when shirtless weather starts coming. Maybe not, that seems pretty weak. I'd rather be stronger with a bit more fat. I've already got a wife. I want strength, not perfect form.

So basically I dropped 6 pounds and 1.1% body fat the first week and then gained about 5 pounds back but only ~.2% of body fat. That means lean mass gain. Too bad I haven't measured my waist yet because I can swear I've lost around my midsection too. I'll check that one of these days.

Day Sixteen - Exercise

I've kind of made a temporary change in my workout program. Over the past 7 months, the Simplefit formed the core of my workout program and I would do that first above all else. At the higher levels though, it's exhausting and I just don't have as much energy to hit the free weights afterwards. So, I'm thinking I'm going to focus on weightlifting for a couple of months here and fit the Simplefit workout in-between when I feel it's appropriate. The plan is full-body workouts 3 times a week focusing on dead lifts, squats, overhead presses, bench presses, barbell rows and weighted dips and pull-ups. I'll have one day off on the weekend and the other three days will be wildcard days where I'll do whatever I feel like doing on that day, maybe Simplefit, maybe Crossfit, maybe heavy bag work, or like today, HIIT sprinting. I did 8 rounds then some ab exercises.

Day Fifteen - Overeating

Overeating managed 2200 calories this evening. Protein at around 25%. I started with a spinach salad, then some almonds, bean sound, casserole, and trail mix. I had a bunch of strawberries and some cookies and milk before bed. I've got to have the homemade cookies.

Diet

I hate the word "diet" and you may have seen me use the terminology Warrior method of eating, rather than diet. Diet itself is a good word meaning "way of life" and not necessarily associate with food but the word has been usurped by the quick fix weight loss programs.

One reason I hate it is that "diets" don't work. Anything promising you quick fixes is probably not going to work for you. You may try something and it becomes a catalyst to jump-start you on your way to a healthier lifestyle but chances are if you spend money on a specific diet, it won't work long-term for you.

I don't really consider the Warrior Diet a "diet" in a sense that I'm following something I couldn't do for the rest of my life. The major changes I've made in the food I eat is really only eat a good salad to kick-off the overeating phase and reducing garbage carbs. I'm not going to rail against carbs but I think I have been looking at foods in a calorie-conscious manner rather than quality calories. Like I'd choose eating crackers over almonds because the crackers had less calories and fat. Well, that's probably not the best choice if I want to lose stubborn fat.

Those are the little things that are important to learn. I've got two more weeks on the Warrior method of eating and if I don't continue to follow it completely I think I will definitely reduce my garbage carbs. I was so sleepy yesterday it was silly. I'm tired now but it was because of the good workout this morning and I don't think I could nap if I wanted to.

Day Fifteen - Back on the Wagon

I feel so much better today, early as it may be, than I did yesterday. I had absolutely no energy after I had a bagel for lunch after those cookies. In the morning , I sprinted up the stairs noting how effortless it was but in the afternoon I plodded up the stairs and even stumbled once banging my elbow. The odd thing was that it wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. It was the same kind of feeling you get when you crash in the afternoon and would pay $100 for a 15 minute nap. Maybe it was so much more noticeable because of the seeming extra energy I've had since starting on the Warrior Diet and intermittent fasting.

This morning I did dead lifts, bench presses, barbell rows, overhead presses, and dips. Last week @ 255lbs. I did 5 sets of 4-4-3-3-3. This morning @ 255lbs. I hit 5-5-5-5-3. Much better, I should be able to hit all 5 on Friday when I dead lift again.

I'll have a protein shake as soon as I feel it's necessary, I can usually tell.

Day Fourteen - Rest Day

I basically took the day off today. It was an rest day for exercise and sort of morphed itself into a rest day from the Warrior Diet.

I pretty much felt tired and groggy all day and took a nap in the afternoon for the first time in oh, at least 13 days.

The carbs I ate during the day really effected me. If I had the choice, and I do, I'd rather be a little hungry during the day. It seems that once I started eating stuff like crackers and a bagel, I couldn't make myself feel full. Even now, my stomach is full but I don't feel satisfied like I do when eating the way prescribed in the Warrior Diet.

What was really noticeable was how the cookie I ate changed the way the apples tasted. For two weeks, the apples I've been eating tasted like candy. After one cookie, the apples tasted bland. That's sad. I think it's good to take a day off from everything and sort of regroup. It's good for perspective. I don't think I want to take any more days off again, though. Even if I don't continue with the Warrior Diet, I think I'll have learned a lot about when to eat certain foods.

Day Fourteen - Undereating

Well, I didn't really undereat. There were these homemade cookies you see, and I just licked the batter and then I got hungry and I tried an apple but I still had to have a cookie. I ate one. Then, I ate two more. Then I was still hungry so I had a sandwich and some cheese and crackers.

I noticed I got a little dizzy one I stood up after eating those cookies. I guess my body's not used to that rush of sugar, especially on an empty stomach.

I'm not the type to linger on mistakes so I'll just get back on the wagon tomorrow. It's actually easier during the week. It's just a matter of not eating breakfast and lunch. It's not like there's a big plate of homemade cookies just sitting there begging to be tasted.

I feel like I need a nap though, ugh.

Day Thirteen - Overeating Phase

About 2700 calories this evening. Normal stuff. If I do decide to conitue with this or try it again sometime, I'd be fairly confident that I wouldn't need to count calories on it. Seems like the day after I'm close to 3000 calories, I naturally reduce to around 2000. Same thing on days I workout and days I don't. When I don't workout, I eat about 2000 calories or even less. Days with a good workout seem leave me able to eat more calories at night. Can it really work that way? I don't know, maybe it's just all in my mind.

Day Thirteen

I had some coffee with milk and my multi-vitamin during the undereating phase and a bite of apple. No problems. Later in the afternoon I worked out for about an hour using my kettlebells and then I hit the heavy bag for about 4 rounds. I can tell my shoulders are going to be sore tomorrow from pressing that 53 lb. kettlebell. I had plenty of energy all day today, even when I work up. I definitely need to limit carbs before bed, at least the more processed types.