Body for Life - Week 2

Ok, week 1 down. I don't remember without going back and reading my last blog if I mentioned this, so I'll do that now. I started toying with the Body for Life program at the beginning of February and since then I've had pretty good results. In these 5 weeks, I've lost a total of 10 lbs, 4 inches off my waist, and 5% body fat. Not bad for just toying around with this. I've been experimenting with different food choices along with weight training and cardio. I'll try to start going into more detail as to what exactly I'm doing food wise as well as exercise.

As I mentioned, last Monday was my official Body for Life Challange start day. My week consists of Monday, Wed, & Friday performing resistance training, and Tuesday, Thursday & Sat doing cardio. Monday was upper body, Wednesday was lower body, and Friday was upper body again. Cardio consisted of what is called HIIT (high intensity interval training). I did this on a treadmill. The entire workout last about 20 mins, but it's an intense 20 mins for sure! And the latest research shows that short, intense interval-type cardio is the most effective for burning fat efficiently and quickly.

Now, you may be wondering what I'm eating. The eating plan is probably the easiest I've ever tried. Basically you make healthy choices. Lean proteins, complex carbs, and healthy fats.

Lean proteins consist of skinless chicken (baked, broiled, grilled, crock-pot, etc.), salmon, tuna, lean ground turkey, and pork loin (pork chop...just don't eat any fat around the edges).

Complex Carbs are things like baked potatos, sweet potatoes, brown rice, whole wheat products such as bread, english muffins, pasta, etc.

Healthy fats include nuts such as almonds, walnuts, olive oil, canola oil, natural or organic peanut butter (just be sure it has no hydrogenated oils). Smucker's Natural PB is what I buy. Also make sure you're not getting "too" much of these fats in your daily plan, but you do need some.

Ok, now to portion size. This is EASY!! Proteins need to be the size of the palm of your hand. For instance, if you have a piece of grilled chicken on your plate, imagine it being the size of your palm (fingers and thumb not included), and that's a correct portion size for you. Your complex carb can be the size of your balled up fist. The other food you'll need in at least 2 of your daily meals is vegetables. Portion size is not limited on veggies. Fruits, however, need to be watched a little closer since they have sugar.

A couple of examples of meals I had last week are a palm-size piece of grilled chicken, fist-size sweet potato (with a spoon of Splenda), and steamed broccoli. YUMMM~ Another meal was grilled lean pork loin, steamed asparagus, and fist-size baked potato. (no butter though...sorry folks!). But I put things like low-fat or fat-free cheese, salsa, jalapenos, etc. to spice it up.

I eat every 2 to 3 hours during the day so this is definitely not a starvation plan! It's awesome. But eating small meals or snacks every 2-3 hours keeps your metabolism running faster so you continue burning fat.

Post comments of any questions you may have. I'll try to help as much as I can. I'm going to enjoy this 12 week journey and can't wait to see my results at the end of it! Anyone else who wants to do this with me, I say BRING IT ON and let's do this thing!!

Mike