Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

Wow, so here I am into week 3 of clean eating and P90X2 (although this is my 4th week of X2, but the first week was an “eat anything” week).  I’m seeing results.  I can tell I’m slimming up, my core is better, my shoulders hurt less, and all the other good things that come with getting into a routine that just doesn’t beat you senseless.

And on top of it, in my physical therapy, we’re are doing less strengthening and more work to challenge the body and the shoulders in the form of Tough Mudder training (more on this later).

This week is an odd week for me with some traveling coming up (heading out to Las Vegas for the Team Beachbody Summit).  So not a full X2 week on tap, but with 2 scheduled workouts with Tony Horton, I’m sure I’ll get plenty of X-style workouts in.

So I’m pleased, but….

I’ve been doing some research into how men (and women, but mainly men, since I am one) on why we store fat differently and what may be the cause behind it.  I’ve also read a lot about leptin, another hormone involved in weight loss, and am coming to a few conclusions about an experiment I plan on running with my body.

First, I want to refer to this diagram (taken from http://www.healthhabits.ca/2009/08/12/hormones-problem-areas-and-your-body-fat-map-part-2/):

The theory here is that hormone imbalance lead to men storing fat in different areas.  The chart is fairly self-explanatory, but the reasons behind may not be all too obvious.  The link has a lot of great information behind what may cause things such as low T levels, high E levels, and Insulin levels that cause the fat storage.

So I started thinking about my trouble spots and decided that its time to make some changes to my diet.  So here we go:

1.  My Chest

I don’t have large man boobs, but I do seem to store a decent amount of fat in my chest.  This is very annoying, and while I’m losing the fat, I cannot help but to wonder if high E levels may have something to do with it.

The problem is, this is the only symptom of high estrogen that I show.  All of the other things I have read about do not line up with how I feel.  But its worth the experiment.

So the correction:  Lower E, Raise T, manage insulin.  Back to the Primal Blueprint style diet, but with a slightly higher carb load (120-150) with some possible carb cycling, which I’ll talk about a bit later.

2.  My back

Of all the places that REALLY annoy me, its my back.  I have back muscles, but this big blob of goo covering them makes me look a lot bigger than what I really am.

The correction:  Again, Primal Blueprint diet, but increase fiber.  More on this too….later.

3.  My abs

This is common for all men.  I’m not stressing as much about this as the others, but the results should take care of themselves.  Our lower abs are usually the last place fat leaves.  And this one may be the trickiest due to cortisol.

The good thing is, cortisol can be corrected overall by a few steps:  Better rest days (P90X2 has 2, which is good), better sleep (7+ hours), and unwinding time away from the TV.  I personally am trying to read and listen to music more to help manage stress.

Outside of this, the other thing of note here is “Low Growth Hormone” levels.  I’m not sure if this is the issue, and I’m going to assume it is not (I get a decent amount of aminos).

Correction:  Primal Blueprint with more fiber.

The correction is just simply holding to the path I’m taking now.  I attempted the X2 diet, but just kept slipping back to a paleo/primal style diet.  I felt better on days I ate more fat with the lower carbs.

But I’m going to make some other adjustments and see how it works as well.

1.  Carb cycling – On days where I have an X2 routine and PT, I will opt to eat higher carb, lower fat.  My carbs will come mainly from sweet potatoes (1 or 2) and extra fruit.  I will aim for 30-40% of my intake from carbs that day, with 25% protein and the rest in fats.  The thought here is that doing this can help regulate leptin.  Regulating leptin should help keep the fat burn consistent.

2.  Cheat days – This is a bit controversial.  I am 16 days into my focused diet and have been eating well above the 90/10 I set out for myself.  The only day I did anything extra was on Father’s Day where I allowed myself to have some rice as well as a handful of popcorn chicken and (literally) 4 fries.

But, the last thing I want to do is burn out.  And I’ve had success following the 1 cheat meal a week plan.

I’m going to start out with 1 cheat meal every 2 weeks starting in phase 2.  When I do that, the 2 days after the cheat day, regardless of what is going on, will be normal lower carb intake primal eating days.  I will probably opt for only one cheat meal, as opposed to the full day.

3.  Fiber intake – Honestly, I do not eat nearly enough veggies.  I could eat fruit all day (have I ever mentioned how much of a sugar addiction I have?), but veggies are just harder to come by.  And with a primal/paleo style of eating (no beans, no whole grains, no oats, etc), fiber can be difficult to get.  So I did research and ran across this list of highest fiber fruits and veggies.  Seems like a complete enough list to give me some ideas of what to eat.

I like avocado on salad, so I will start incorporating it more.  And while not 100% primal compliant, I will probably opt to get the Shakeology Fiber boost.  This would give my shake a total of 10g of fiber, roughly 30% of what I’m going to aim for each day.  If I can reach 30g a day I may see the affect of the hormones correct themselves.

All of this I must do without risking performance.  I believe the carb cycling will actually help performance, and the cheat meals should keep me from hating life, so to speak.

After I return from Summit I’ll be blogging more with more details about how I’m trying to reach these goals.

Brent Nutrition And Diet, P90X2, Primal/Paleo Eating fat loss, fiber, hormones, p90x2, paleo, primal, primal blueprint, Shakeology

Ok, anyone who just glances at my blog knows that I am a coach with Beachbody and I support all of their products.  I use a good portion of them purposely (they work).  But, one product in particular can be fairly controversial with a Primal Blueprint style diet.

Shakeology, of course.

So I decided to do an experiment on my own body:  Eat primal, do not take Shakeology often (or at all), high protein/no fat breakfast, more carbs are night, etc.  I decided to do this after reading some post out there about a study where the participants ate more carbs at night, less in the morning, and how it affected their leptin levels, their weight loss, etc.

The results:  Not pretty.  In 2 weeks, I managed to only lose .25″ off my waist, only .2% body fat.  .2%!  That’s ridiculous for someone in the 18% range.  I ate at a deficit each day, exercised at least 3x a week (first of 2 weeks was doing P90X, the second I decided to let PT do it’s job and recover some from this impingement).

Not only did my fat loss nearly stop, but I was more irritable (ask my wife).  I didn’t sleep as well.  I did not feel as good.  I started having cold like symptoms.  I had cravings (MASSIVE cravings for sugar, breads, etc).

Moral of my story:  I’m not doing that again.  In fact, I’m going to revert back to how I was doing it:  More carbs in the morning post workout, veggies mainly at night.  I may mimic the Asylum style diet where no carbs at night, and a carb at lunch 2-3x a week (I’m thinking 1/2 a sweet potato at lunch every now and then).   I’m also going to log, for one week, everything I put into my mouth again to make sure I’m eating enough.

But Shakeology will be on that list everyday.

Brent Nutrition And Diet P90X, primal blueprint, Shakeology

I’m in my 3rd real full week of P90X (excluding the first two weeks of the year, where I just did cardio and abs) and I’m already seeing things I need to adjust, both in my diet and in my exercise.

For starters, I’m taking 2 recovery weeks.  Yes, that’s right….two.  I think it is best for my shoulders that I take a bit longer to rehab them in recovery.  Phase 2 can be brutal.  The shoulders are feeling okay minus the left bicep tendon (deep discomfort here).  I think two weeks of just doing PT and swapping in P90X2′s Recovery and Mobility will do me a lot of good.

Then I’ll hit phase 2, recovered, and hopefully stronger.

For my diet, I ran across an article from Mark’s Daily Apple forums about the effect of low/no carb breakfast with heavier carb suppers.  The results were greater weight loss, better leptin levels, better sleep, etc.  So I have started making that shift for the next 2 weeks and see how it goes.

That’s all for today.  Plyo rocked…my world again.  This routine never gets easier!

Brent P90X P90X, primal blueprint

P90X Chest and Back today, along with Ab Ripper X.  My bicep tendon was a bit of an issue at time today.  I’ve actually learned that part of the problem is that my arm is internally rotated (when your arms are relaxed to your side, your hands should face each other…my left arm faces straight back).  So working on that through stretching and strengthening in place.

To help towards the end, I pulled out my medicine balls to work stability and gave myself a bit more of an incline from my knees.  This actually helped relieve the pressure on my shoulders.

I did take Beachbody’s Energy and Endurance pre-workout drink this morning.  I’ll be writing a full review of it later this week.

I’m tracking what all I eat on my diet for the next few days.  My main concern is getting enough calorie and carbs.  Not that I’m eating a lot of carbs, but I want to keep in that 50-100 range the best I can.  Today, I just barely squeaked in.

My macros for today look like this:

Calories:  1608 (-392 from my goal)
Carbs:  53g (within range)
Fat:  100g
Protein:  145g (within range, possibly a tad high)

So I need to get calories up around 400 without increasing carbs.  Carbs were okay (would be a bit higher and be okay) and fat can go higher, protein was near where it needed to be.

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, p90x chest and back, p90x primal eating, primal blueprint

I’m three weeks into my transformation into eating via The Primal Blueprint and using P90X (modified) for my workouts.  It’s been a great three weeks and the transition has been easier than what I anticipated.  Although I’m not able to “bring it” like I want with P90X due to the shoulders, I still feel like I’m getting a lot out of going through the routine of daily exercise.

As far as Primal eating, here are my thoughts on the first three weeks:

1.  I should have detoxed some before I started.  I spent part of November and most of December eating tons of sweets.  Yummy, tasty sweets yes, but when you make a change to a low carb lifestyle (i.e. Primal), the first few days can be/will be pretty rough.

2.  This is by far the best tasting diet I’ve been on.  Let’s face it:  Grains are not really all that tasty.  In order for them to have real flavor you add fat or you add carbs.  So why not just cut out the grains and add more fats?  That’s the mental approach I’ve taken with this.  Now…there are some things I miss:  Garlic bread, for instance (tonight we had Italian, I had spaghetti squash noodles instead of pasta).  But, the things I miss about the bread are the butter, the garlic, and the cheese.  Pizza too.  I have not had a hamburger either, although I think I’d do fine without the bun there.  Just being real here…

3.  I still notice myself short and grumpy, even 3 weeks in.  It’s not nearly as bad as I expected, but I still notice it.

4.  I don’t think I take in enough carbs, even trying to hang in the 50-100g range for fat loss.  So I’m going to start tracking everything I eat, including measuring it out.  It’s going to suck doing it, but at least I’ll know where I am.

5.  I weigh myself more often than what I ever suggest others to do.  I usually tell people to throw away the scale initially and focus on inches.  I weigh myself daily.  I don’t really care a lot about the number, but I do use it to help me track salt as well as a guide on whether to review what I am doing or not.  With that said, I’ve only lost a little over 11 pounds, but I can notice a big difference in my clothes already.

6.  I’ve learned a lot about nutrition.  Not just “eat this, not that” type nutrition, but really the nuts and bolts of micro-nutrients as well as the real purpose behind the macros.  I knew a lot already, and now I just know more.

7.  This is a long haul diet.  I could see this being something where for some people, possibly myself included, it could take 2-3 months to really see the effects physically, even if I am feeling great.

So what is the plan for the next 3 weeks?

For starters, keep my dairy intake low.  I’m limiting myself for the next little bit to butter only.  After 3 more weeks, I’m going to add dairy back in just to see if I notice a difference or not.  And by dairy, I mean just a bit of cheese, maybe some sour cream here and there.

Also, the Super Bowl is coming up.  So my goal is to plan Primal friendly foods for the big game (I’m thinking buffalo wings, maybe some cream cheese and sausage dip with sweet potato chips, and meatballs with a better primal bbq sauce.

Since I’m back into a full P90X routine, the goal is to focus on form, and rehab weights instead of all out muscle blast (although I know part of why I am having some of my problems, which I’ll be focusing on in therapy).

I’ll take another set of partial measurements next week and then a full set after the official phase 1 4 weeks of P90X.  I was already down over an inch in waistline in the first 2 weeks, and my goal is to drop another inch or so by the end of this phase.

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, primal blueprint

This weekend I was put to the test…

Friday night we decided to go out to eat.  With 3 kids, all young, we decided to hit a buffet place.  Now, you may be quick to judge and criticize our decision to visit such a place that contributes to the obesity problem in America, but just know that with kids like ours (age wise), it is best to go somewhere that we can get food in front of them ASAP.

But, like most places, it becomes a struggle to determine what to eat, portions, etc.  Lucky for me I do not “calorie count” on the Primal Blueprint.  Instead, I eat veggies and meat.  So, that’s what I did.  A salad to start with lots of greens and some meat, then some chicken and steak.  Instead of hitting the ice cream and cakes, I had some strawberries and pineapple for desert.

Then Saturday, we found ourselves at a Mexican restaurant.  I should mention here that I LOVE chips and cheese dip (and salsa, too).  But, chips are not on the blueprint.  So I waited for my food:  A steak topped baked potato.  It was too much potato, so I ate only half plus the skin of the other half.  Topped it with a good amount of salsa and pico de gallo, so plenty of carbs there.

The point is, you can eat out and survive.  If you go to a buffet place, find one that serves meat and has a good salad bar.  And at other places, it is just a matter of exercising some self control.

And it pays off:  My weight is down a total of 10 pounds.  I’ve lost 1.75″ from my chest and 1.25″ from waist in just 2 weeks, before the major fat burn really kicks in.

Tomorrow starts P90X over for me, as I can start adding in more stuff from home.  So will begin week 1 again and add in the upper body work with some modifications to protect my shoulders.  Should be interesting!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, paleo diet, primal blueprint

Being 9 days into P90X and Primal eating, I’m learning a lot.

I’m learning that veggies are meant to be abundant, and that I’m probably not eating enough.  I read once where I should be aiming for 9 servings a day.  9 cups of veggies!  That’s a lot of stinkin’ salad!  Just kidding, but I know I have a lot of room to improve here.

I’m also learning that it is possible to function quite well on a limited carb intake.  I’ve kept mine successfully between 50 and 100 on average over these 9 days without suffering any major negative affects.  Sure, I’m still a bit edgy at times (my wife would say “most times”) but not nearly as bad as I expected.  I have plenty of energy to get through my day, do my workouts, spend time with my kids, help around the house, and not feel like I am going into a coma.

What else have I learned?  I’ve learned a lot about nutrition in general from the other end of the spectrum.  I’ve learned a lot about proper Omega 6:3 ratios.  I understand more the importance of fish in the diet, although I do not eat any.  I understand why grass fed/free range is healthier, even if not certified organic.

And I’ve learned that I LOVE eating like this, even if I’m not eating enough veggies.

What’s great about this diet is this:  I’m not counting my calories.  I’m not even measuring my portions.  I’m just eating until I’m full, eating when I’m hungry, and if I’m hungry and it is not time to eat, I don’t eat.  Pretty simple.

Combining that with my P90X workouts, I seem to be doing well.  Obviously right now I’m not doing all of P90X because of the pesky shoulder issue, but still doing abs, plyo, kenpo, legs and back (and I hope to add in shoulders and arms soon).  In one month the results will not lie.

Speaking of P90X….

I miss the heavy lifting.  I know I need to diligently rehab the shoulders, but I miss pumping out push-ups and pull-ups on Chest and Back day.  I miss the upper body work in Shoulders and Arms.  I love those two routines…they incorporate my favorite areas to work on overall.  And the shoulders are getting better, and the intensity of rehab is increasing (slowly), but I’m ready for the X again.

And then I’m ready for P90X2.

So those who are doing P90X currently, enjoy the upper body routines for me, will ya?

By the way, the picture above is from FitBomb.com.  I saw it some time back and though it was cleaver.

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, p90x chest and back, p90x2, paleo diet, primal blueprint

Anyone who knows me and my philosophy on fitness and body composition knows that I believe weight to be a “high level watermark” only and not something to pay a lot of attention to.  My opinion is that your body fat measurement is the key indicator of your health along with your measurements, in particular the waistline in males.

But, I do track my weight.  I use it to get  a quick gauge of progress.  If I stop losing, then I go to body fat and inches measurements to make sure I’m still progressing.  And I do this for one simple reason:  It takes more time (and another person) to measure my body fat and inches.

With that being said, I’ve been paying attention to my weight after this first week of primal eating and P90X.  And in the first week, I’ve dropped a tad over 9 pounds.

9 pounds!  Are you kidding me?

Of course, disclaimer:  I’m the first to realize that most of that is holiday bloat.  After all, I went on a cruise where I ate (a lot), came back to Christmas where I ate (a lot), and basically sugar binged for nearly two weeks.  By the way, I love sugary foods, which does make keeping accountable to plans like this tough(er).

But, I have noticed less bloat in my stomach.  I am going to wait until next week to measure inches and body fat, and then will measure at week 4 of P90X and take a set of one month pictures.  Well, technically day 28 pictures, but whatever…

After eating like this for just over a week now, I’ve learned a lot about eating primally:

1.  It is easier than it looks.  Giving up grains/carbs is not that difficult.

2.  Giving up sugar is harder.  In fact, I’m looking for primal diet friend recipes to satisfy the “sweet tooth” but keep me within my goals of primal eating.

3.  But even giving up sugars, I have not had any major cravings.

4.  Energy level dips at time.

5.  It is nice not counting calories, but sometimes tough keeping an eye on carbs (in particular, making sure I’m getting enough most days).

I’ve kept this plan fairly simple:  Eat when I’m hungry, don’t when I’m not.  If I get hungry and I do not have anything on hand to eat, I just do not eat and deal with the hunger (after all, would Grok have done the same?).  Only once have I felt hungry, and I simply ignored it and just drank more water.  Once the hunger has subsided, my energy level actually increased somewhat.

Now, I have also learned a few things about doing this plan with P90X, even as altered as my round is so far.

For starters, keep sweet potatoes on hand.  You’ll need them for post workout nutrition.  I usually use mine for breakfast.  It’s not that I’m trying to quickly replenish muscle glycogen, but rather just get some good carbs into me so that process can begin (even if it is slower because I’m taking in fats and protein…the body will work it all out).

Also be aware on days you need more carbs/less carbs.  If I had my choice, I’d take more carbs in on the lifting days, if I were lifting heavy.  Instead, I take in slightly more carbs on Plyo days and my Legs and Back day, since these are the hardest two workouts I’m doing as far as force and power.  I try to hit right around 100g on these days, and keep a bit above 50 on my other days.

What is my overall impression after a week?  This diet is easily maintainable while doing P90X.  If you are doing a full round, you may take your carb intake higher than mine (I suggest either sweet potatoes or Shakeology…preferably the Shake, but some Primal types want to lean towards chewable foods only).  But in a week or two, I should see a significant reduction in body fat, and I’ll post my results then.

On another note, I miss P90X Chest and Back and Shoulders and Arms routine….very much!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, p90x and paleo, p90x and primal diet, paleo diet, primal blueprint

I’ve been asked this a couple of times now:

Are you watching your cholesterol with this new diet?

It’s a fair question.  In fact, I’m glad that people are concerned about me enough to ask if this is going to hurt me or not.  But I’ve done a lot of reading from Mark’s Daily Apple and other sites and have come to this conclusion:

Fatty foods do not raise cholesterol.  Carbs do and high levels of Omega 6′s do.

The SAD (Standard American Diet) would have you believe that fat from most sources is bad for you, especially animal sources.  They also want you to believe oils like Canola oil are good for you. They have it backwards.  Animal fats are good for you, and even better for you if they are raised in a natural way (grass fed and grass finished, and not in large feed yards where they eat nothing but grains and stand in their own feces).

The problem is, so many of our fats contain a higher ratio of Omega 6′s and not the heart healthy Omega 3′s.  The more this ratio is out of line, the more likely things will go wrong (such as a higher cholesterol profile, bigger risk of inflammation, heart issues, etc).  Thank you conventional livestock raising!

But grass fed meats and pastured, free range eggs contain a roughly 2:1 ratio of Omega 6/3.  With some basic fish oil supplements, you could easily achieve a nearly 1:1 ratio of Omega 6/3 which would be near optimal and pretty darn good for you.

Ok, so you’re probably wanting my sources.  I’m going to link some articles from Mark’s Daily Apple, and he has a lot of other references there.  Do the research, do the digging, and you’ll see that I’m not crazy for doing this diet.

The Definitive Guide To Cholesterol

Mark Sisson Is Not Afraid of Fat

Rethinking Diabetes and Cholesterol

The Definitive Guide to Saturated Fat

You can do your own digging from these sources.  But go back and also review some of the success stories from his website and see people’s physical reports.  You’ll be shocked how a diet like this can actually improve your numbers.

Brent Nutrition And Diet, Primal/Paleo Eating cholesterol, paleo diet, primal blueprint, primal diet

So I’m settling into this diet more and more and starting to feel less of the effects of low carbs already.  I’m not completely over the hump yet, but compared to day 2, I’m much more awake overall, feel less crabby, and generally feel happier.

No, I’m not perfect yet, mainly because I’m still struggling with variety of food choices and figuring our what is best.  Lunch will always be the hardest meal for me since I prep my meals and take them to work with me (the disadvantage of where I live is it is too far to drive home to cook lunch).  Breakfast variety must get better.  I cannot eat eggs everyday and expect to stay sane!

And today was definitely an exception-to-the-rule type of day.  I overslept.  As in, my alarm was set for 5:30am, I don’t think I heard it, and slept until after 7am.  That’s never a good way to start the morning, much less when you have food prep to do.  Needless to say, my P90X yoga session had to get put on hold until the afternoon.

But I survived and got things pull together well.

After yoga this evening, it was time to do something I’m trying not to do:  Track calories.  But more than tracking calories, I needed to see where my carb in take was.  The Primal Blueprint calls for 50-100 for “effortless weight loss” and 0-50 for faster weight loss on a limited basis.  I figure I’ve been playing near the 50 mark and possibly below, but wanted to make sure.  So I tracked.  Here is what all I had today:

Breakfast
4 slices bacon, crumbled in a 3 egg omelet with onion, bell pepper, fresh chopped cilantro, some cheese, topped with salsa.  Had about 1/2 cup of strawberries to go with it.

Lunch:  Around 3 cups of homemade chili with 1/8th cup of cheese, and somewhere between 1-2 servings of pork rinds.

Snack:  1 gala apple with around 1 tbsp almond butter

Supper – 9 oz ribeye with a cajun butter sauce on top, with some veggies cooked in a bit of butter (pictured at the top of this post)

My totals look like this:

January 4th Food Diary

So, 59g of carbs falls well into the range.  I was shocked at the protein intake of 176g.  My goal for protein should be much lower (.7-1g per pound of lean body mass, which means 152g should be my max).  I guess 24g over is not too bad.

There is still one major obstacle I’m going to have to face:  Kicking my workouts up a notch.  Sure, Plyo X was tough, and it took a toll on my with my second day of low-carb.  But I’m going to have to work harder overall on getting more workout in (with the blessing of my therapist, of course).  Tomorrow is a therapy day, and then Friday will be a doubles of sorts (Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X in the morning, therapy in the afternoon).  I’ll up my carbs slightly that day, and probably increase my overall intake as well.  I may need around 2,300 calories that day to make it.

Until tomorrow…

Got a question about Primal eating and/or P90X?  Ask in the comments sections below!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, p90x yoga, paleo diet, paleo eating, primal blueprint