So – earlier this month I wrote about how calories don’t count. This was quite an important insight, and one that’s continued to haunt me over these past week days.
OK – I’ll be entirely honest right now. I’ve been looking at those progress pics, and the results aren’t quite as astonishing as I’d've liked them to be. In part. I knew that I was after weight gain, and with weight gain, you gain fat too. But it’s getting to the point where I’d like to get my waist down a little it more – shed some of those love handles (as they’re annoying me more and more now).
I’ll admit, that the growth I’ve experienced on the upper body has really helped me out a lot. It makes the love handles ‘appear’ a lot less, but still, they’re not going down a whole lot. This weekend I bought some board shorts in 36″ waist! Again. I don’t want to be here.
So I’ve decided to make a couple of changes… and will make even more when I get back from my trip.
Right now – I’m starting to have breakfast every morning immediately after the gym. This is to replace the heavy weight gainer I’ve been taking. I’m going to have 4x egg whites and 2x whole eggs, bacon and brown bread. The bacon because it’s a nice intake of fats (hopefully the right kind???), the eggs before of the protein in them, and the brown bread because of the carbs.
Then – instead of having the weight gainer later in the day, I’m going to replace it with Myoplex Deluxe. I get almost all the same benefits, with some additional BCAAs, just without all the calories.
By removing both of these, I’m taking down my daily calorie intake by 500 cals. Over a week, that’s 1lb.
In addition, I want to be more careful with my other food. I’ve been eating more and more steak, not realizing just how fatty it is. I should stop doing that. I think steak once a week is sufficient. The rest of the time I should focus on turkey and chicken. Far more lean.
Also – and this won’t happen until I get back from my holiday – but I want to add another meal to my daily schedule – this one later in the evening… say at 8pm or 10pm (not sure which one). It’ll probably be a chicken breast with some form of side (a chicken breast in a bun???). But I want to flip around this ’5 meals without food’ and 2 with, to 4 with, and then 3 without. I think it’ll be a lot better for me in the long run – and more healthy. Less chemicals 
Oh yeah – I also need to add this… talking about that original blog post where calories don’t count… I need to start working on a breakdown of carbs, protein and fat – which is what the body does understand. I’ve been reading through, and it seems as though a breakdown of 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fats is good… and that translates to:
- Protein: 250g
- Carbs: 250g
- Fats: 50g
To achieve this, I’ve downloaded this great little iPhone app called ‘Lose It’. It lets you track each individual item that you’re eating, as well as showing the breakdown of the above specs! It’s pretty awesome in fact It’s giving me huge insight into my diet right now – where I need to change / improve / bolster. It’s quite enlightening 
So that’s what’s giving me the motivation to get on things better – today the app’s informed me that I’ve had 40% fat (more than any other item LOL).
In summary (LOL)… training’s going extremely well. I need to revise my goals and change my nutrition accordingly… I want to get healthy – not get ripped, but get more lean. Down to 180lbs if what I think I’ve mentioned prior to now. That’s about 15% bodyfat based on my current scale