2011 Starting Point - Progress Shot

So I have pretty much recovered and started making good gains again since my last blog posting (jeez that one was depressing). I am back to sticking to my diet and hitting the gym (And the Ski Hill) routinely.

One of the things that has helped me most this year is a new application for Android smart phone users, called “calorie count”. It is really designed to help people loose weight, however it can just as easily be used to help someone gain weight. It’s quite simple too…

calorie count app link

You literally scan the barcode, or do a quick search for whatever you are eating, and boom, just add it to your daily log. It also has a calculator built in which tells you how many calories per day you need to eat to reach your goals.

Currently my stats are: 3600 calories per day = a 1lb per week weight gain for me.

Thanks to this application, It has been easier to track what I am eating. Without precise counting, it is easy to say “ehh. I think I’ve eaten enough“.. Without really knowing if you are going to be gaining or losing weight for the day. With this application, I KNOW if I’ve eaten enough. The barcode scanner built in is what makes it really easy. Just scan, select servings, and hit save. Its database has hundreds of thousands of foods stored.

Give it a try. I absolutely recommend it.

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Lost Bodybuilding Progress

Yea, its been another rough time period. I’m working 40 hours a week while in my last semester of college, and the end of a 3 year relationship… Life is busy, and it can suck really bad at times. My weight gain has suffered, but it didn’t have to. It’s easy to get into the mode of hitting the gym less often and skipping out on meals when you dont feel like you have time.

DON’T MAKE THAT MISTAKE!

No matter how busy your life is feeling, never forget the amount of stress you will be able to relieve at the gym. You need to let your trips to the gym be your release, your time away from stress; dont treat it as another speed bump in your day. Going to the gym should enhance your life, not get in the way of it.

Your diet is just as important. A shift into a busier lifestyle requires a shift in eating habits. My days got incredibly busy these past 3 months, so much that I was working through lunch breaks, skipping breakfast, etc. I’d tell myself, Oh, I’ll just have a really big dinner… but you know what, us hard gainers will NEVER be able to eat a big enough dinner in order to make up for all the calories we missed during the day, our stomachs simply cant handle that much food.

Again, this shift in lifestyle requires a subsequent shift in eating habits. You have less time, you need to plan ahead. It might be as simple as grabbing a pack of ramen noodles and eating them dry during lunch, or making a simple PBJ at home to take with you before leaving for the day… I mean hey, at least bring something mildly substantial! remember, when you are hungry, you are losing weight, and that’s a BAD thing… and that 300 calorie sandwich you brought with you to eat at work is going to be 300 less calories you need to make up later that night.

Point being, learn from my mistakes. Don’t let a change in lifestyle get in the way of your progress… Don’t let it even put your progress on hold… Because it will inevitably happen over and over again and keep you from ever achieving your goals.

Become more adaptive and learn to plan your meals in advance… Even if it means planning to stop at burger king on your drive somewhere to pick up a buck double.

My picture at the beginning of this entry demonstrates how important it is to adapt quickly to your changing lifestyle. I seem to learn all of these lessons the hard way, hopefully you will read this and be better able to recognize changes in your life that can indirectly effect you making progress and reaching your goals. I’ve been back in the gym and kicked my diet back into gear for about 1 week now. I’m definitely ready to reverse this lack of progress I’ve had recently.

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Being a server at a restaurant is extremely stressful. You are CONSTANTLY multitasking, queuing up tasks for 3 or more tables in your head CONSTANTLY, running around doing things CONSTANTLY, not a moment to stop and chat… And then you have to put up with assholes that are impossible to please…

I don’t care how much you breath deeply, meditate, or count to 10, your eyes will twitch, your heart beat will increase, you’ll tense up your muscles unconsciously, keep your fists clenched, your shoulders up tight, and IDK how much Swearing burns calories but I’m sure its a lot.

Its just plain damn stressful!

I did make a shitload of money doing it, its probably the best paying part time job a college student can get averaging $15 an hour in tips alone at a modestly priced chain restaurant…. BUT I HATED IT!

I have a new job now, a job I love, everyday is fun and going to work is no longer work. I am never stressed, I am always relaxed… And guess what, I am gaining 1lbs a week on 2500 calories a day at 135lbs and counting… (Actually currently at 139.5lbs )

Moral of the story there are other parts of your life that interfere with your bodybuilding that you may not even realize. You might have to take some time getting other parts of your life in order before you can jump into improving your body. Fix all your annoying little problems and you might find bodybuilding becomes much more naturally.

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ready to drink protein shake

Protein Shakes are

• Nasty
• Kinda Expensive
• Thick and Nasty
• Leave you feeling bloated
• Convenience is the only pro I can think of

Steak is

• Delicious
• Low in Fat
• Extremely dense in protein
• Did I mention delicious?

So a Guy at my gym was drinking these things (over on the right). It’s a $4.00 (outrageous!) ready-to-drink can of flavored protein drink, readily available at GNC… A 12 pack will run you about $50.00, which in my opinion is INSANE! I guess this works out to roughly 8 cents per gram of protein. I can see convenience working in as a reason to have this

Rare Grilled Steak

stuff, but a diet high in meat should render it obsolete. I mean, just tonight, I went down to the grocery store and picked up a nice steak for $3.00 that has 75 Grams of Protein in it… The math on this one is 4 cents per gram of protein. The protein in a steak costs 1/2 as much as the stuff in that nasty can (this is actually one of the cheapest one’s I’ve found lately, usually its not more than $1.50 more though). Could he not wait to get home, fire up the grill and throw on a steak? I usually have time I guess if you are in a huge hurry all of the time you might need the nasty shakes.

But I have another point. People today seem to think getting enough protein is all about supplements and shakes, but it doesn’t have to be! Eat a few eggs at breakfast with some ham, toast and peanut butter, make milk your primary beverage throughout the day, have a meaty sandwich at lunch, and have a steak at dinner, and you are easily at 150 grams of protein in one day without even trying, without consuming one shake! Just eat more meat! Its really low in carbs, low in fats when its not fried; making hamburger patties at home on the grill with lean hamburger is another good source! I think people have forgotten how healthy meat is these days. Meat get a bad rap.

To further push against shakes, the amount of carbs and sugars shakes are usually loaded up with, at the end of the day, will usually transfer to a net amount of fat gain much higher than steak or any relatively lean meat in general. That shake may only say 8 grams of fat, but when you look down and it says 250 grams of total carbohydrates and another 50 grams of sugar (extreme case, read on), you know that’s just going to metabolize into fat anyways! And at that point, the everything comes back down to that single equation, are your calories in greater than your calories out (or vice versa)… Even some of the leanest ” PURE Whey Protein” powders will still struggle to hit the protein : net fat ratio of even some non-lean cuts of meat.

Just something to consider before you start downing shakes like crazy!

This post is dedicated to meat.

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Oh well, progress can officially resume now.

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Here’s how the night that made me quite went: I went out to the bars with my buddies on a Saturday night last weekend. I knew I didn’t want to drink much because I know I get hungover easily, so I paced myself reasonably well. Over the course of 4 hours I had 4 beers, that’s all. The resulting hangover was torture and its effects lasted for 3 days. Sunday morning I was completely crippled and confined to locations where I could lay down and pull my knees to my chest. I was dry heaving for hours. My appetite had completely gone for the entire day, and I _maybe_ got down 500 calories total. My appetite still had not returned for Monday or even Tuesday, It was impossible to force myself to eat enough to gain weight.

Finally today, Wednesday, I am feeling relatively normal. I finally got back into the gym, but I was barely able to repeat the sets:weight amount I had done my previous workout. After I checked my weight on the scale and found I had lost 2lbs!….  And for hard gainers, getting those two pounds back doesn’t come easily. It has set me back, probably 2 whole weeks.This isn’t the first time something like this has happened either.

I do stay hydrated, I’ve tried the oldest tricks in the books to avoid getting a hangover, my only explanation now is that maybe I’m somehow allergic to it? Maybe my great great grandparents hooked up with some Inuits a long time ago and I inherited the alcohol intolerance gene.

And that’s how I decided that enough was enough. If I want to continue making bodybuilding progress as fast as I want, I’d need to completely give up alcohol… Not that I particularly enjoyed drinking that much in the first place.

And so I move on. Have you ever given up anything in order to pursue fitness goals?

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I was at a point with my cold where my sinuses were so inflamed and sore that it felt like my teeth were going to fall out. I couldn’t breathe at all, the last thing on my mind was the gym. That night I went out and bought a “Neti Pot” so I could rinse my sinuses… A co-worker of mine recommended it, and as weird a concept as it seemed I was desperate. (Yes I went to work when i was horribly sick, I need the money haha).

So with this neti pot, you basically pour warm saline solution into one nostril and it comes out the other. Opening up your sinuses and letting them drain in the process. It worked miracles. I used it once at around 7:00pm, and once right before I went to sleep and by the next day I actually felt good enough to get into the gym. IMHO I think if I hadn’t used the neti pot, my sinuses would have gotten worse (or not improved much at all) and I would have been in no mood to get to the gym as fast as I was able too… It probably would have been at least another 24-48 hours before I would have been up to getting into the gym again.

Below is a video of me showing you how to use it. It doesn’t hurt at all, it just feels warm and strange.

This is definitely something I recommend to anyone with blocked up sinuses.

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“Black Hole from Controlled Labs uses naturally occurring alkylamides to fool the brain into believing that you haven´t eaten enough calories and you need more food.”

Whats also ironic is that in their product description they also state “If you want to get big there is no shortcut, no easy way out.” Well this is completely true. Black hole is a shortcut, an easy way out, and guess what, IT DOESN’T WORK!

I took this product as directed and used 3/4 of the bottle and in no way shape or form did it increase my appetite, not even a little bit, and i am definitely not alone if you search around the internet. I didnt even receive the placebo effect that I supposed all the people who have written positive reviews have had (either that or people who are employed by Controlled Lab’s marketing department).

This product has not been evaluated by the FDA, there have been no unbiased controlled studies performed, and it is basically just a mix of herbs (with cool scientific names added) ground up into a pill casing. It is hilarious that it warns users to “not operate heavy machinery after use”…. I guess this is an attempt to make the user think that it is actually going to do something? If this pill does ANYTHING it is purely placebo. There is no science behind it, and after doing more research I feel so stupid for wasting my money on it.

The only way you are going to increase your appetite it by training your body the old fashion way. Stretch your stomach. You will need to eat past the point of getting full, consistently, for a few months. When your stomach starts to stretch you will get hungry more often and you will be able to eat more, easily, without getting bloated. You don’t have to cram food down your throat really fast every time you eat. When you start getting full, slow down, start chewing more and take your time. Finish your plate! And never let yourself start getting hungry. Remember, when you are hungry, you are losing weight! Keep your stomach filled of food all the time all day and you will stretch your stomach and gain weight.

Don’t Trust quick fixes, don’t trust black hole appetite enhancer.

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