I’ve now seen or heard this quote at least three times in the past week, and I think it warrants some further examination, something must of been telling me to blog about it.  I mean, it is pretty straightforward, but sometimes people don’t hammer home the concept as they should.

What you find is that no matter how hard you workout, no matter how many hours you put into your exercise routines, no matter how many pushup’s, sit-up’s, core work you do, you will not get the results if you don’t EAT right.  It’s a pretty easy concept to really get, but we are human after all aren’t we?  The human body is built upon what you put in it.  What you drink the foods you eat.  I myself,  am constantly battling the food side of my fitness ventures.  It’s a constant struggle.

Think about it.  Simple I think.  If you put in the bad stuff, your body is going to react to it in a bad way. Your body isn’t going to simply say, ok, just because your working out hard, we’ll let it slide.  We’ll make up for it with the calories you are burning.  In the end? The bad will catch up to you.  You can only go so far on the cardio portion of your workout’s to keep you going along.  At some point that bubble will break.  You need proper foods in order to sustain your energy,  There is no extra 1/2 hour here or 1/2 hour there to compensate. 

So what can we do?  What are some ways to help keep ourselves from fallen into our bad habits, our old ways of eating and drinking what we really know isn’t going to take us to that next level of fitness? Why continue to put in those empty calories that give us zero health benefits, zero gains in reaching the health/fitness levels we are reaching for.  Approach this with lifestyle change in mind. Not some short term quick fix to getting results.  Only when you change your lifestyle will this work.

• general cooking skills –> Most people typically don’t eat right because they simply can’t make the foods they need to. I’m the same. I’ve done better but still have a long ways to go to really start taking control
• Think first –> Ok, simple. Think about what you are putting into your mouth each and every time.  Think about the value it is providing you.  If it doesn’t, why eat or drink it? Look for the alternative where ever you are. There is something that you can choose that will be the lesser of two evils. 
• Variety of Color –> If you want to keep full, feel satisfied after eating, give your body the proper nutrition, eat the colorful stuff. Hell if I can do it, anyone can. I have never been one for eating vegetables or fruits as much as I do now.  With some proper cooking and variety of spices you can really turn some of them into very tasty add-on’s to your meals.
• Lean meats –> fish, chicken, beef
• Protein –> Don’t need to go insanely crazy with the amount of protein.  Use this as a gauge, 50 /35/15 for percentages   Carbs/Protein/Fat.
• Learn to use your kitchen utensils –> Alright one of the biggest complaints I got from the wife about my general change in nutrition was that if I wanted to eat it, I had to learn how to actually cut it up, clean it, and package it for the fridge, etc.  So you have to take an active role in preparation, not only in cooking it.  Make it a family affair.
• Just say NO –> If you pass a fast food restaurant, if you see that ice cream store, if you see that chocolate bar just say no.  We all do have our ‘vices’ that you know what, you can keep if you are already in control.  But not till then. Eating/Drinking habits are no different than any other bad habit. It takes time to get over it to the point where your body/mind stop wanting it. 
• Eat Often –> Eat every 2 –3  hours and smaller portions.  By keeping a level stream of healthy nutrition in your system, you’ll find that your energy is higher.  Don’t skip meals.  Don’t overeat.   Reduces cravings and constant hunger if you eat more smaller portions. It does work.  Don’t eat just to eat.  Have purpose, its your fuel and energy for the day.  Just like a car, you put in the low grade stuff, you're car will suffer over time. No different than the body.

So, eat clean.  You don’t need to follow your calorie counts. You don’t need to write down everything you eat.  It might help in the beginning, but once you have taken control of your eating and drinking habits, it won’t matter. You’ll instinctively know when you are doing something you shouldn’t.  You are what you eat and there is no doubting that statement.  You cannot and will not out train the bad diet that you may be following now.  That extra 1/2 hour running won’t cut it.  Be a conscious eater/drinker.    If necessary try a meal replacement.  One such one is Shakeology.  You wouldn't’ believe what is inside this and how healthy it is for you.  Go over here and take a look at what makes this up and what it would cost you if you tried to make it yourself.  It really does taste good and will keep you satisfied to the next meal. There is no other like it out there. Want more information, let me know.

Lead by example and you’ll see yourself getting better results out of your workouts.  I am always looking for healthy alternatives. If you have any favorites pass them along by dropping me a note here or a comment. I would love to try something new or add into my pretty standard routine.  Variety helps keep you interested in what you are doing.  Food is no different than your workout’s.

Any questions, contact me, I’m always looking for feedback.

Yep, the ‘insanity’ has started.  This evening I performed the first fit test that is associated with the 60 day all out go till you drop routine.  It was pretty crazy for just being a ‘fittest’.  I ended up burning 414 calories in the mere 27 minutes that the test encompassed.  My numbers are below for the 8 exercises. No idea where they stand overall, but not worried as they are specific to my own fitness level which is what I am worried about as should you.  You do what you can as best you can.

1. Switch Kicks                - 51
2. Power Jacks                 - 59
3. Power Knees               - 86
4. Power Jumps               - 35
5. Globe Jumps                - 9
6. Suicide Jumps             - 17
7. Push-up Jacks              - 26
8. Low Plank Oblique       - 52

Every 2 weeks (day 1, day 15, day 36, day 50, day 63) through out the Challenge, there will be another fit test performed to see how well the progression is going.  So will have to really bring it for each one and see how well I’m working myself. I’ll of course post the numbers as  I do them.  Insanity Unplugged and Uncensored.

Other tidbits of information. So following the book, I calculated my Total # of calories that I should be taking in each day.  I was a bit SHOCKED at the # since I have been consistently hovering around 2000 calories right now for the past 7 months during my P90x workouts. 

Calorie Values:

1662.1 – This is to maintain my current weight without exercise.

1.7        - Multiply Exercise factor (‘very active’,  hard exercise 6-7 days)

2825.57 calories  - This is what my energy requirements will be for maintaining my weight.  As stated in the guide, you may find yourself needing more as you get going through the first and into the 2nd month in order to maintain your weight.  The nutrition guide is pretty thorough. 

My daily food intake is cataloged  Here.  I highly suggest if you do plan on doing any workout routine, that you keep track of your food.  Drop me a line to discuss.  I have the meals laid out as they are in the guide for 5 meals a day.   I’ve been posting what I eat everyday and will continue to do so during these 60 days. I will be making some shifts in what I eat and see how well i can follow the nutrition guide provided, but I do tend to stick with what I can do with the family.  Real world tends to override ‘ideal’ scenarios.  This is more indicative of what the average Joe can and will do. 

Photo’s/Video’s  will follow. Tomorrow I’ll have a link to a section with photo’s for each day of the challenge so I can myself as well as anyone else see the transformation.   For your own accountability, you should really do this.  Gives you great perspective of how well you've progressed.

Again the challenge has begun.  It is time to see what I am made of and how far I can take my body.  I hope to have a great 60 days of hard work.  If interested in this at all just drop me a note on my Contact page.  I would love to answer any questions you might have.  If ready to actually take the challenge go grab Insanity here.

I found an article this morning, that was quite interesting, at least to myself.  It goes along the lines about what I was saying previously about finding foods, snacks that have substance without all those calories.  The example they use between a 1/4 cup of raisins which  have high caloric content, vs's  2 cups of grapes?  I mean that is awesome. I can sit and munch on grapes like that fora while, and it would satisfy my crunching crave, etc. while taking longer to eat it all.   There have to be a ton of examples like that, and at the moment I have none. But any kind of vegetable is going to give you the same kind of benefit ultimately. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/17-07/lbnp_nutrition (Wired Magazine)

Calorie-Dense Foods Are Doing Us In

"When you're doing something that dramatically changes your eating habits, it's not sustainable," says Barbara Rolls, the Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State University. "A lot of diets are very prescriptive, like ‘Just don't eat white foods.' People lose weight, but then those foods are singing to them in the night. We're not a species with a lot of willpower."

Rolls started to research satiety — or what makes us feel full. "The data clearly show that calorie density, which correlates to water content, has a significant effect on energy intake. It's not portion size per se that makes people overeat; we're eating big portions of calorie-dense food." Rolls' diet plan — called Volumetrics — focuses on the energy density of foods.

The key is to focus on foods that contain fewer calories per a given volume, so you feel full without consuming as many calories. Rather than a 100-calorie snack of raisins (a quarter cup), with Volumetrics you'd have 100 calories of grapes (two cups).

"The exciting thing about this as a strategy for weight management is it directs you to healthy, nutritious foods you should be eating anyway," Rolls says. "Because our eating behavior is so sensitive to volume cues, regardless of caloric density, there are a lot of opportunities to make changes and eat less. We have such good food technology now that we can get more vegetables in and get fat out and not lose taste. But the food industry is very slow to change. We need to motivate the people who provide food to us to do this."
–Joe Lindsey

So right now, for my own personal ACCOUNTABILITY, I have been tracking what I eat each day. At least most days. Sometimes I do miss.  For me, this is my way of forcing me to THINK about the food I am putting into my mouth each and everyday. Forces me to REALIZE the effects that food has on our fitness levels, our energy levels and overall health.  I don't' necessarily watch the calories I eat each day, I watch the type of foods and the quantity.  I personally don't think counting calories is really a necessity if you are eating correctly. Lots of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, good sources of proteins, etc. are the key ingredients.

One nice thing about these tracking sites, I'll list some below, is that depending on your goals or needs you can customize them pretty good. And they all have pretty deep databases of food's and their values.  Some workout programs, such as P90x or Insanity have you stick to certain percentages/ratios of carbs/protein  through out the program.  With these tools, you can adjust it accordingly so you can see how well you are sticking within those goals from your program. You may not follow their routines to the letter, I certainly don't, but it does let you know how you are doing in relationship. 

Anyways, I plan to keep trying to post my daily journal each day, but you can also follow my directly on the site I am using currently at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/kprice.

Here are some others that I've seen mentioned, I can't speak to their capabilities yet, but I've read some other reviews that they work pretty similar to myfitnesspal.com.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com
http://www.fitday.com
http://dailyburn.com/
http://www.myfooddiary.com (pay site)
http://www.google.com/webmasters/igoogle/calorie.html
http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/
http://www.dietagenda.com/

http://www.nutritiondata.com/ (for label information)

If you know of any others, let me know and I will update my list.  Give me some of your impressions of these sites and your thoughts on food accountability and tracking. If anything it makes you think before you take a bite, at least that is what I hope.

I find myself day to day trying to find something to keep me occupied food wise.  Something healthy to be more specific. So i'm always looking for those little snacks that are either 'filling' or the 'crunch' factor.  Here are 5 of my favorites to throw into the mix day to day. But would love to hear what others are using to help curb those desires to eat someting they really don't want to.

1. Baby Carrots
2. Wheat Thins - Multigrain (15 crackers)
3. Raisins (1/4 cup)
4. grapes (1/4 - 1/2 cup)
5. celery stick cup into slices (dip in a small portion of peanut butter)

So i struggle with this one espeically when I run out of something.  I can only drink so much water during the day to fill the void.

Suggestions, comments welcome as always.

I've slacked a bit with keeping my food diary / accountability.  It has waivered from time to time. It is definitely a struggle to find the right foods in certain situations and keep oneself on track.  But continue to make strides and making adjustments which are definitely for the better to strive towards my goals. You can check out the images from my diary at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/kprice directly, or you can see the my screenshots in the full post.  Any suggestions on some daily food's are most welcome, just drop a comment. More...

Considering this is an extended weekend, families getting together, cooking out, eating lots of food, ahven't done so far.  Couldn't pass up some cake made by dear o' mom.  Just too good to resist.  It is nice to see all the large gatherings as you drive around with families getting together and having a good time.  Read on to see my journals for the past couple days. More...

So yesterday i was right at my supposedly maximum per day that i've set.  All in all wasn't too bad.  As you see, not much varierty.  :).  But I'm consistent.  Anyways, below is the link to the food summary for that day. More...

Here is my food journal from yesterday. Clicking the image will open a new window where you can see things clearer.  Goal is to stick around the 2000 calorie mark.

Today did pretty good with my food.  Wasn't starving at any point in time.  didn't do any crazy binging on anything.   So turned out pretty good, all in all.  Below is today's food journal.

;