Nutrition is key

Amongst a well balanced diet, having sorted that out, I have elected on a number of supplements that will see me through the next eight weeks of training. It has come as a result of a great deal of reading and listening to advice from others.

Game on!

Whey Protein
Testo Tribulus
Creating monohydrate
BCAA’s – branched chain amino acids
Glucosamine
Fish oil
Juice Plus – fruit – veg – berry blends

Watch this space

With the promise of some progress photos, I was initially reluctant to do so mainly because
I had not done as well as I would have hoped. You’ll see a little photo edit where the initial
‘before’ photoset was before the Lucifer Lab Rat came online.

Throw into the boiling pot Christmas Festivities and lower limb injuries, I have certainly been handicapped. Aside from all of this though, I have still been able to make some reasonable progress. A step in the right direction.

I’ll be interested to see, at 37 years of age, what I can manage now I have decided to incorporate a structured gym program in conjunction with cardio.

Watch this space.

A change of tact

We’ll it has been a bit of up – and a lot of down – the past four to five weeks. I sustained a serious grade two tear of my right calf muscle, a grade two tear of my left hamstring and required a knee operation on my left leg. It is an understatement that this has hampered my training.

I have had to change tact. Given that my surgeon has told me now more running. SO! Into the gym we go.

Rather than steer back down the line of triathlon and ironman, it’s going to be pecs like slabs of concrete, sleave busting guns, abs of steel …. pretty much an all-round transformation.

It’s been years since I have thrown the dumbells around, but I have a fair knowledge base from my previous weight training experience when I was – cough – younger. So as not to do too much too soon, prevent injuries and not pull up feeling as though a bus has hit me, I have put together an entry program which will see me through the first six weeks.

My first session this evening – it will all be about focusing on good technique. Basically setting some good foundations. Armed with only one addition to my supplements. BCAA’s (Branch Chain Amino Acids). I will also increase my intake of protein supplements pre and post work out.

Having taken some ‘before’ photo’s, I am armed to the teeth and very keen to see what I can achieve.

Onwards and upwards.

Have a great weekend folks

Be sure to train hard this weekend and eat clean. That’s what it’s all about. Enjoy your time away from work (for those lucky enough)

P.S Watch out for cats!! They’ll sneak right up onto your tail

Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Fingers With Honey Mustard. Fantastic New Song From Jameson.

When I get to my first goal,
This will be my prize!

I Sing In The Kitchen

It has been a long time since I made a pretzel chicken dish. (Last time was this yummy recipe).

What have I been waiting for? I forgot how good a crisp pretzel coating tastes on moist, tender chicken. The honey mustard dipping sauce is the perfect accompaniment.

Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Fingers With Honey Mustard

Ingredients:

6 ounces thin pretzel sticks
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
3 Tbs honey
1 1/2 pounds chicken tenderloins
Salt and pepper
6 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Process the pretzel sticks in a food processor until finely ground, about 20 seconds. Transfer pretzel crumbs to a shallow dish. Spread flour in a second shallow dish. Beat the eggs with the Dijon mustard in a third shallow dish.

2. Whisk remaining 1/2 cup mustard with the honey in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Pat chicken dry with…

View original post 231 more words

How many bags of flour have you lost?

The biggest challenge I have identified in myself over the years when it comes to fitness and weight reduction is keeping the impetus going. Motivation is sometimes in short supply and it is quite easy to slip into a bit of a rut, return to bad habits, and all of a sudden you find yourself back at square one.
This is not a very nice place to be, with the wind out of your sails, at the base of the same mountain you have to start climbing again. Your very own game of ‘snakes and ladders’ if you will.

To prevent this from happening, it is important to realise every success and take pride in every achievement no matter how insignificant it may appear on the face of it.

I distinctly remember when I was quite a lot younger, getting into some level of training and watching what I was eating. While I wasn’t really fat fat, I was certainly chunky and was really quite self-conscious –as the majority of us are. My Dad, who has always been, and continues to be fit, trim, taught and terrific – was very much in tune to what I was trying to achieve, and very perceptive when I became dishevelled and motivation starting to wane.

Without saying a thing, my father went to the pantry and started piling onto the kitchen bench, one kilogram bags of sugar and flour.
“How much weight have you lost since you started?” he asked me.
“About five kilo’s” I replied.
He up ended my school bag, emptying the contents before counting out five bags of sugar and flour as he dropped them into the backpack. He walked up to me and motioned for me to put the backpack on. (I’ll add here that I was in my running gear about to depart on my normal 5 kilometre run route).

“Take that out with you on your run, and you’ll soon see how much difference it’s made without you even knowing it.”

I went for the run as he instructed. It was a hard slog. However, despite being uncomfortable with the accompanied chaffing to my shoulders, it was into the second kilometre when I started to smile. Enthused, I started running faster, and faster still. The last 500 meters I was ‘eye balls out’ digging deep and powering through. I set a PB.

When I came inside the house, my father smiled at me. I was pretty damn elated, sweat dripping of me. He remained nonchalant.

“Now, put them back in the cupboard before your Mum sees.” Was all he said.

So there are a few points I took from this.
One, it is important to realise the improvements you have made from the start and to put it into perspective.
Two, providing support to one another when the chips are down is equally as important.

I track my progress daily. I graph my weight and look at it each morning. Visually, I am able to see the overall improvement as well as identifying where I can improve.

How many bags of flour have you lost?

Ginger and sesame rice with poached chicken

It is becoming abundantly clear that healthy wholesome eating is the way forward, particularly in the early stages of weight loss.

This was fantastic! Pure goodness. Substituted the Jasmin rice with Brown and Red rice.
(Recipe from Bill Granger, photo by me ;-).

Ginger and sesame rice with poached chicken

2 tbsp peanut oil
4 tsp sesame oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 heaped cups jasmine rice
1 litre chicken stock
500g skinless chicken breast, cut into thin escalopes *
Finely sliced green shallots
Freshly chopped red chilli
Soy sauce

Heat the peanut oil and sesame oil in a medium saucepan over a medium-low heat.
Add the onion and stir occasionally for 5-6 minutes or until the onion is soft.
Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 2 minutes more.
Add the rice and stir to coat the grains of rice in the oil.
Add the stock and bring to the boil.
Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.
Place the chicken in a single layer on top of the rice.
Cover again and simmer for a further 7-8 minutes or until rice is just tender and chicken is cooked through.**
Remove from heat and set aside with lid on for a further 5 minutes.
Serve topped with sliced shallots, chilli and drizzle with soy sauce.

Chicken Thai Noodle Salad

I love noodles. Like, really really love noodles. In the past I would cook up mammoth bowls of Singapore type noodles, or perhaps four packs of instant Mi-Goreng noodles. The amount of oil, sodium and sheer caloric intake was ridiculous.

Here is a quick, easy and simple way to put together a fresh Chicken Thai Noodle Salad. The qualities are pretty easy to judge by the photograph. Just use a small (half tsp) fish oil with two tablespoons of lime juice and two tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce. After soaking the rice vermecelli noodles in boiling water, I drained off the water and stuck them in the freezer while I chopped the ingredients, it meant they were cool when it came to mixing all the ingredients.

Chicken breast or similar pressed chicken cut into strips
Vermicelli rice noodles
Spring onion
Lebanese cucumber, sliced
Carrot, shredded
Chopped coriander
Sweet chilli sauce
Fish sauce
Lime or lemon juice

A lesson learnt – weight loss

Putting this into perspective, I am reasonably happy with my progress so far. Last weekend I attended a couple of birthday events and failed somewhat in really watching what I was putting into my mouth, as well as a few celebratory drinks.

I’ll take this slight hiccup as a positive where I can actually see the negative effect this has had on my weight loss progress, and pushing me above my targeted progress.

As a result, I have since had a long hard look at myself and basically what it comes down to is, what I want to achieve isn’t simply going to occur without being 100% strict and completely committed.

Moving forward, alcohol is out the window! Completely. If I know I am attending an event where healthy food is not likely to be available, I’ll either organise it myself or just choose not to indulge and fix myself a more appropriate meal when I get home.

Lesson Learnt

Novus Initium

Novus Initium – New Beginnings

So the first week went pretty much as well as I had hoped. As a kick start I have decided to incorporate the ‘Five & Two’ diet which includes two fasting days where my caloric intake is reduced significantly.

By way of exercise I got to my local pool and splashed out a 1 hour session (circa 2.5kms). This session was mixed up with 500 meters freestyle, 200 meters with kickboard and fins and 200 meters using a pull-buoy focusing on good technique (repeat). You can see by the photo the beautiful weather didn’t make it too much of a chore dragging myself poolside.

The highlight for me was the light 5 kilometre run where I managed to hold a semi-respectable pace of 5:07/km. I should mention at this point that I have a triathlon background so I have taken some comfort in these three activities to begin with. The cycle component has simply been commuting to and from work which is only 12kms/day.

If you do not already own a Nutri-bullet, it is certainly something you might like to look at investing in. For me personally, I have struggled to get enough fruit and vegetable into my diet. This has made it so much easier, and it’s actually fun putting whatever you want into it. I have provided two examples of my ‘recipes’ below.

Cucumber
Mint leaves
Pineapple
Watermelon
Spinach
Chia Seeds

Celery
Cherry tomatoes
Spinach leaves
Mulberries
Carrot
Snow Peas
Cucumber