OK – so based on todays results, it seems like I need to start doing a little more cardio… and/or supplement with solutions that can help to burn off just a little bit more fat.
Here’s what I’ve started to think about implementing… and this is a list that can quite easily grow / evolve as time goes on:
- Insulin management – as I’ve been reading, whenever there’s a spike in insulin (whether from sugar, or white bread, etc…), the body shuts down the burning of fat and turns on the storage of fat (this is something I want to research a lot more into). Well – then I should avoid as much as possible the irresponsible insulin spikes… I say irresponsible, because insulin’s anabolic, so there are times in the day (ie. immediately after the workout), where it’s really valuable to have that spike (so that muscles are more likely to inject the nutrients in the bloodstream, that they need to grow).
- No carbs after 7pm – in association with and in additional to the insulin management, it’ll be important to have no carbs after 7pm. This is something I did a year back, and it worked really well.
- EFAs – according to my good friend Glenn, apparently EFAs are good at fat loss in the stress area that is the love handles. That’s perfect for me. Also – EFAs are extremely good for the skin – so it’s a win-win.
- BCAAs – the building blocks of protein, apparently these should promote the creation of lean mass while also energizing fat out of the system. So, that’ll hopefully work?!
- Cardio – old reliable. Doing cardio. Last time I was working out – back in last year – this really helped. I was only doing two sets of cardio a week – and it was only for about 30 mins. But the fat really started to drop off. Yeah – sure – I was eating a lot less too… but every little bit helps. As I rotate my gym plan, I’m going down to 4 days a week, but on that 5th day, I’ll be doing cardio. Something like 2 sets of 15 mins – on rowing and bike with a 5 min warm-up on the cross-trainer.
I also want to keep more of an eye on this. I want to do regular weekly size checks on the waist and hips. Try to see if I can maintain and improve on a weekly basis. We’ll see. It’s not my primary goal right now – gaining size still is the #1 goal, but I don’t want to see those love handles increase any more than they already have. They went down a lot in the first 4 weeks, and now have just faltered. I’m wondering why. Anyways… LOL