I haven’t been checking in for a long time but I noticed I’ve gained a fair few followers, so I’m just putting a message out to all of you - Hi there! And welcome. I hope you gain something from what I’ve posted so far.

I’m still pretty much IF-ing and working out the same way as before except I have now lessened the frequency of my workouts to about 1 to 2 times a week. This is because I’ve been really busy and haven’t been catching a lot of sleep, which has really affected my health somewhat in the sense that I notice I am coming down with more coughs and colds than before… So I lessened the amount of workouts I do to give my body time to rest. I noticed that my coughs and colds are actually non-existent or even if they do come back, only last a day now, because of this.

So yes do keep IF-ing and working out, but listen and trust your body and instincts. If it’s telling you you need a rest, maybe it’s time to do just that.

And yes, sometimes the best cure for tiredness and slow recovery after workouts is just a good dose of sleep. Really. Don’t just reach out for the food. Maybe try sleeping. That might help more actually

Sleep is for winners.

Source : http://www.myzeo.com/sleep/knowledge-center/infographics/how-sleeping-pro-can-boost-your-game

Today I did the usual. Ate a very light pre-workout meal of 2 rice cakes slathered with butter and a medium-soft-boiled egg. Worked out, then stretched. Then had a post-workout protein shake, bowl of oats with a desert spoon of set honey, and an apple. Well it’s still mid afternoon so not sure what I’ll be having for dinner yet. It’ll either be me or my husband cooking lol

I said in my previous post that I’d be measuring myself and posting it up here. The first time I measured myself and posted the measurements here was on Day 94. Back then it was shoulders 93.5 cm; waist 68.5 cm. Bearing in mind my height is 160 cm (hasn’t changed since I was in my 20s. I stopped growing taller obviously!) 

Well today these were my measurements and it’s not that much of a difference really. 

Shoulders 93.8 cm

Waist 67.5 cm

And I did an extra measurement today of my biceps which I didn’t do the last time : 21 cm

Well there you have it. 

As you know, I’m doing this fasting and exercise regime to gain weight, not lose weight - although it’d be good to lose the bad kind of fat - like the layer of paunch around my tummy from having 3 kids - but its pretty flat these days. It may be wrinkly but that’s something only surgery can fix and I’m not having surgery just for that. I’m happy its flat now, that I don’t look 3 months pregnant. 

So now my goals are really just to maintain my tummy’s flatness (or maybe even make it flatter, if that is possible, lol), increase muscle size and weight in other areas of my body, particularly my shoulders and arms because they are so very scrawny. And my legs could do with some muscles. They are not too bad. I never did badly in marathons and had a lot of stamina. But yeah you can say the typical African stick thin long distance runner build is in my genes. I don’t look to try and defy those genes by becoming an endomorph. I just want a bit more meat on me bones lol

I’m quite pleased with today’s measurements. Not much change but still a bit of change showing I am inching a little closer towards my goals. Which is great :)

I worked out yesterday again, and that was because I preferred to wait until my muscles aren’t sore anymore. I did a 14 hr fast, ate 2 rice cakes with a bit of Nutella in them, and an egg. Worked out, then had a protein shake with a bowl of oats. Had a dinner of fish and chips later (yeah not the healthiest, but then again I am not calorie-counting since I am underweight). Then had a slice of toast with set honey spread on it late at night before bed. My arms are bigger now. I don’t measure them though. Maybe I should :) Next post, I will. 

I am trying to sleep earlier these days. Well I used to stay up late until crazy o’clock just reading stuff and typing up blogs and things. Not anymore. I still have this lingering occasional cough from my bronchitis episode recently. I have learnt a few things about my body from that bad episode. Firstly - sleep is SO important. Your body heals when you sleep. I slept enough for the first week of my bronchitis, and was on the road to recovery, when I slipped back into my usual pattern of sleeping really late, and then before you know it, I had a 39 degree Celsius temp again on the 8th day of bronchitis, and then had to go back to sleeping early and drinking enough water, etc… to be recovered on the 14th day. Looking back, there was no doubt if I hadn’t slipped back into my usual patterns of sleeping very late, I would have recovered from my bronchitis within a week rather than 2 weeks. I missed working out so much! So no more sleeping late for me. 

Usually I try to type my blog posts late nights… but as workout days are usually hectic for me (I have 3 kids!) I can only find time to type out the posts really really late, before I go to sleep. I stopped myself yesterday from doing that. I realised that was gonna happen again. So today I am typing this. I know I used to type my blog posts on the day I workout, but I don’t think this is a pattern I’m going to continue anymore. If I don’t have time and am going to risk sleeping late, I am just gonna type my posts the next day.

I’m BAAAACK! Yesterday I worked out for the first time since I had contracted bronchitis. I have by now, stopped coughing uncontrollably and the amount of yellow phlegm I cough up now is barely negligible… and more importantly, I actually feel like I’ve got my mojo back. So yeah I reckon it was okay to start working out again. And you know what? It felt great :)

However, I did take it a bit easy on myself. I was noticeably a bit weaker - well coughing your lungs out for 2 weeks was never gonna be easy on your body. I couldn’t do as many reps as I could just before I fell ill. But it was great to feel like I can start on this again. Can I just say that during those 2 weeks of illness, I really missed working out? I was practically pining for it. I had had enough of sitting around coughing eating snorting and spitting out chunks of horrid phlegm… in a weird way, I actually got a bit bloated as well - must be due to eating and drinking all that water to stay hydrated during illness and not being able to work out to get rid of all those calories!

Anyway, despite all of that, my muscles ached today all day. It ached. And I felt a bit weaker. I am a tad wary that I might have overdid it yesterday, even by just a little. I think it’s possible that I might take 1 or 2 more days of rest before working out again though. i don’t want to go backwards and fall ill again and have to stop working out for god knows how long more. Now *that* would truly floor me.

Darn that icy, near freezing weather. It was inevitable my kids caught something from their class. Everybody in my family (except my husband, who, touchwood, is well) has been taking turns with the bug. I started feeling slightly feverish round about last Saturday. My fever eventually shot up to 39.4 Celsius in a few hours and I decided to down a Nurofen to get some sleep as it was giving me a headache. I got a fairly good night’s sleep only to wake up the next day with the dreaded itchy throat and uncontrollable coughing bouts. Bah! I’ve got it now. But apart from the horrible throat and cough, and the tight chest, I am generally okayish. I have slightly elevated normal temperature (near 38 degrees Celsius but not there) so I did not medicate it. I just dressed myself warm.

My 10 year old daughter on the other hand, is having a hellish time. She has had a fever either near or over 39 degrees Celsius since last Monday, and it only goes down if she takes fever meds. She also has a horrible cough that keeps her up all night and gives her no peace in the day. Took her to the doctor 3 days ago, who said it might be bronchitis - though her lungs seem clear, and gave her some amoxycillin liquid to be taken over 5 to 6 days. And ibuprofen for the fever. And her cough has gotten slightly better but its still quite bad. She has lost her appetite, often just straight out refuses any food… I manage to get her to eat 1 meal a day, 2 if I’m lucky. The doc said to bring her back if it doesn’t improve. I’m just hoping my daughter will be alright. I’m really worried she will get pneumonia or worse. Her body doesn’t seem to be coping well this time and she’s lost some weight already in a week :-(

So yeah… until my bronchitis gets better, I’m out of training or fasting for now.

First off, I wish everyone reading this a Happy New Year and I hope you all have a good year. I hope for peace in the Middle East too. And peace on Earth. Stop fighting!! LOL…

You might be wondering why my subject title of this post has differed from the previous in that there is now the addition of a “pre-workout light meal”? 

Well, it’s all because this has been the new regime I’ve been trying out the past week or so. I’ve done 3 workout sessions on this regime now and I have to say, it has enabled me to perform more reps than before. 

I started this after reading this article, which says that eating a light meal prior to workout which includes some protein and carbs will give you more energy and power to do more reps. I was not sure if it will work for me. I hoped it would, because sometimes I feel like I am plateauing a little. I just can’t get a significant increase in the number of reps over what I can usually do. A significant increase would be like 4 or 5 more than usual, since I lift a bit heavy for myself (I want to bulk you see, even if my body shape is ectomorphic and naturally beanpole). It turned out it did work. I manage to do more reps on average now with the same exercise routine, compared to previously when I used to train on a completely empty stomach after fasting.

I also noted a comment at the bottom of the article where someone says he/she recommends eating the light meal 30 mins before training. Well I experimented with that in a way - not purposely. One day I ate a light meal, got sidetracked on Facebooking, and started working out much later than 30 mins after the food. I think it was about an hour or slightly more. I wasn’t hungry yet by then but my stomach felt half empty already by then. And yes on that day, I didn’t manage as many reps as the other 2 workout days when I made sure I worked out about 30 to 40 mins give or take, after the light meal. 

Usually this light meal, for me, consists of a large-sized boiled egg and 2 rice cakes with butter and some marmalade spread on them. And some water. 

Then usually, within half an hour of finishing the workout, I would drink a protein shake and eat 2 more rice cakes or some other starchy foods with it.

On another note, Brad Pilon recently wrote on his FB status that he was going to revise his “How Much Protein?” book based on some new research. One of the comments asked if he had any thoughts about this recently published paper. It is very recent. It is dated 27th November 2012. And Brad said yes. 

Now I’m not trained in biology or nutrition so I could only try to understand what the practical ramifications of that paper could be. Some basic vocab I had to get accustomed to :

Anabolic, which means “building up”, i.e. increase in muscle size

Catabolic, which means “breaking down”, i.e. similar to muscle atrophying or getting smaller I think

Anyway so, I skimmed the article (it is full of chemical/nutritional/scientific jargon which I can’t claim to fully understand) and noted mainly the Summary and the Conclusion. In the Summary, it said (note that all parts of the study that I’ve copied and pasted onto here will be in bold) :

Several recent publications indicate that the maximum stimulation of muscle protein fractional synthetic rate occurs with intake of 20–30 g protein. This finding has led to the concept that there is a maximal anabolic response to protein intake with a meal, and that the normal amount of protein eaten with dinner will generally exceed the maximally-effective intake of protein.

What this means to me, is that in the recent past, several studies indicate that there is a maximal amount of protein needed per meal to build larger muscles. In other words, previous studies have indicated that there is no point eating over that amount, it wouldn’t improve your gains that much. Just stick to 20-30g per meal.

However, protein breakdown has not been taken into account when evaluating the anabolic response to protein intake. Protein anabolism occurs only when protein synthesis exceeds protein breakdown.

Higher protein intakes when protein synthesis is maximized is characterized by suppressed protein breakdown and via that mechanism leads to a greater anabolic response. This explains why when net protein synthesis is measured, the relationship between amino acid availability and net gain remains linear, without any apparent plateau of effect at higher levels of availability.

Well, I don’t understand the mechanics behind it exactly, but what this says to me is that there seems to be a problem with the way studies were concluded in the past regarding the 20-30g maximal amount of protein per meal for muscle-building hypothesis. And this study’s authors have found that it was flawed.

We conclude that there is no practical upper limit to the anabolic response to protein or amino acid intake in the context of a meal.

So this study’s authors have concluded that actually, in contrary to previous studies, there is actually no such thing as a 20-30g maximal amount of protein/amino acid intake. You can actually eat more, if you like, and it could make a difference.

And the Conclusion here (I’ve snipped off a huge chunk of it and only left the part that contains the gist of the message) :

The practical implication of this conclusion is that protein nutrition can be improved by increasing the protein intake at breakfast and lunch and maintaining a high amount of protein intake with dinner, or increasing the amount of protein eaten with dinner if that is more convenient. Alternatively, replacing low quality proteins with high quality proteins, containing higher levels of a balanced essential amino acid mixture, will additionally stimulate protein anabolism.

So let me make it into point form for you here. It seems the study concludes that you can enhance your body’s absorption and utilisation of proteins to build muscle after workout by doing any of the following :

a) Eat more protein than usual for brekkie, lunch and dinner.

b) Eat the usual amount of protein during brekkie and lunch but eat MORE protein than usual for dinner.

c) Replace low quality proteins with high quality proteins. High quality proteins are proteins that contain higher levels of a balanced essential amino acid mixture. I think your typical whey protein shake containing BCAAs would count. But also not forgetting natural proteins found in meat and dairy. And low quality proteins I would assume are vegetable proteins, like those found in legumes.

Anyway, I was a bit disappointed really. I mean, what does this study tell me that I haven’t already heard elsewhere?

But since Brad Pilon is going to add his thoughts about this study in his new edition of the “How Much Protein?” book, I suppose you could get the book and see what he has to say about this. It obviously goes against what he said in the book in the previous edition anyway. FYI I think he said in the previous edition that it’s not necessary to eat more protein to build muscle. I don’t know what he’s gonna say now. Maybe he will refute this or point out inaccuracies in the study. Or maybe he might change his tune slightly. I don’t know. In any case, I doubt I am going to get the new edition. Simply because my pockets are tight this month - I’m going down to Birmingham for a short 2 day trip with my girls for a Science event at the Thinktank Museum :-)

I’ve been working out 3 times a week regularly now. I can see it produces better results (more muscle) than 2 times a week. I notice nowadays that I can go without food for more than 15 hours (this is common with people who fast consistently and regularly - that their tummies “shrink” and they don’t feel the need to eat as much) although I normally will force myself to eat 15 hrs on because I am worried about losing too much weight. I am already underweight, and I am on this regime so I can gain weight or bulk, not lose weight! I want to gain good, clean weight of mainly muscle… as I have this mummy tummy from having 3 children, I am very keen to lose the fat that has accumulated on my belly. I have to say, it is producing results. Already I am noticeably slimmer belly-wise. Ahh but my diastasis rectii (which I managed to close to just over 1” by doing the Tupler exercises after the birth of my 3rd child) is the culprit now for any bulging seen in my tummy though if I consciously keep a good posture and pull my tummy in, it’s hardly noticeable.

My husband makes a great roast. He’s South African so has always been great at barbecueing too (it’s something all Afrikaner men are proud of it seems - their ability to do a good roast on a barbecue). But no actual outdoor barbecue for us in the dead of winter, in a maximum 6 degree minimum 0 degree temperature, this time of year. He made us satay chicken in the grill… it was delicious! So that’s my protein fix for tonight. Alright, I’m not that obsessed about keeping up protein levels anymore after reading Brad Pilon’s “How Much Protein” book, which I talked about in an earlier post. But still, I like to make sure I eat at least 30% of my daily calories from protein sources, because protein is less fattening than carbohydrates. No sugar hit with this one. Carbs are notoriously bad for making me hungrier even though I feel full immediately after consuming some.

Oh yes, and I have reduced my gluten intake by quite a significant amount these days. I made the conscious decision to do this after having read several reports in newspapers and in Psychology Today about the sort of illnesses that gluten intake has been linked with - from mental illnesses to IBS. I have suffered from IBS and I notice that ever since cutting down on the gluten, I have had no more stomach cramping or loose stools. But I say “cut down” on gluten rather than “cut out” and that’s because I think cutting out on gluten completely is too much trouble (and costs more than my family can realistically afford). Also I am wary of eating too much of rice and potatoes for the simple fact that… well, they are sugar highs - intense sources of carbohydrates! And well, weight gain is well documented amongst people who have switched to gluten free diets for this reason. So I don’t abstain from gluten completely. We still have pasta (not the gluten free variety) once or twice each week and we still eat cake and muffins on the odd week.

My attempt to cut down on gluten is in line with my decision to reduce my consumption of lactose-containing products since a few months ago (after learning that as someone of East Asian descent, I most likely than not, am lactose-intolerant). So in my attempt to reduce my (and my family’s) gluten intake, I just made the simple switch from bread to rice cakes. I get these Kallo organic rice cakes from Amazon delivered to me on a subscription and it works out pretty cheap considering they deliver it to your doorstep. I am not actually that particular about eating organic food, but as it so happens, Amazon does a great deal! So I have been eating all my usual bread spreads such as egg mayo, butter, jam, nutella, peanut butter - on rice cakes. Rather than bread. Rice cakes don’t fill you up as much, but they are very crunchy and take a bit more effort to chew through, so by the time I get through the rice cake(s) I feel about 70% sated in terms of hunger.

Well what do I do? I put MORE topping on the rice cakes to make me feel fuller .. and also, I always eat 2 rice cakes for lunch, but maybe only 1 if its just a quick snack, 2 if I’m quite hungry. It works fine. I suppose with them being significantly lower in calories and energy compared to bread (about 1/5 of the calories in bread), I am actually eating lesser than I was before.

In terms of weight or muscle gain, I have noticed a bit of a difference. If I don’t eat some extra something else to top up the calories or protein, I will feel slightly sore the next day after workout. Especially since I do usually push myself a little during workouts - I always lift a bit heavier so my workouts always offer a bit of challenge. But doing that means having to keep my protein levels at decent (not excessive) limits in order to help recovery. Otherwise I can forget about working out 3 times a week. One thing I’ve learnt from my errors is to never work out when my muscles are sore. It always invariably makes me weaker. That’s just for me though. May not apply to you!  

Never mind.

I normally just go for a slice or two of good, yummy, almost lactose-free, Jarlsberg cheese to make up for some of the protein/energy deficit caused by my recent switch from wheat bread to rice cakes. I normally purchase Jarlsberg cheese in 600g packs from my local Costco at a good price. MMmmmmm :) 

Well finally, found my bearings after returning from my London trip 3 days ago. 

Today was the first day I worked out. It went well. I wasn’t rushing it, I was paying attention. But still my shoulders ached. Understandably, because I’d gone 7 days without working out before that.

My son has a bad phlegmy cough and nearly lost his voice. It’s some kind of bug. And I’m afraid I may be coming down with a case of it right now as I type. I started getting this achy feeling in my throat about a few hours ago and it’s never stopped. I feel it every time I swallow. Grr… really hope I don’t fall ill now. It’ll mean I’ll backtrack on my progress so far.

When I was in London I managed to eat rather healthily half the time. Albeit, rather expensively. Once we ate at this sandwich bar called EAT and the entire meal for me and my 2 girls came up to just over £20 for a sandwich/salad each (me and my youngest both picked sandwiches but my eldest picked a noodle crayfish salad) and 2 desserts and 3 drinks (1 small cup of tea for myself and 2 bottles of fruit juices for them). But the food was healthier than McDonald’s and I loved my Cream Cheese with Smoked Salmon sandwich with malted bread. Mmmm… yumm :)

There was one day when we had very little food for lunch. We’d just arrived at Euston station in London, and were only meeting up with my friend and her child a few hours later, so we went into the M&S supermarket at the station and bought a dark chocolate nougat bar for myself, and a bag of potato rings for the girls to share. With a bottle of juice each. That was kinda like our lunch that day. We did quite a lot of walking around to sightsee during that few hours. That burned a good amount of energy. Plus when we met my friend and her daughter, it was so my girls could join her daughter in a weekly Aikido session. My daughters have never done any martial arts training before, and it’s so cool my friend offered us to join her daughter for one session to try it out - not that we would be able to continue with it even if we liked it. We don’t live in London anyway. But if they liked it I could then find similar classes to enrol my daughters in when we came home. But nope… my daughters didn’t really like the combat aspect of it. The exercise portion of the session though, they found really fun. Like the tumbling, the hopping on one leg, the crawling on the floor like a worm, stuff like that. My daughters are already attending dance lessons… so I’m thinking this is a bit similar to what they do already in dance. Although if they went to gymnastics classes, they’d get more of all that athletic stuff… so I am considering it. If money allows.

We had one occasion only, out of the 6 meals we had in London, where we ate fastfood for a meal, and it was at Burger King, which I think is slightly better quality than McDonald’s - though still junk food really. I had a whole chicken nuggets adult meal - not as calorific as a burger meal right? Actually it worked out okay. My stomach did not react as it did with the McDonald’s meal I had last week! Also another time we had a light McDonald’s for after dinner at an Asian Fusion restaurant with friends - me and my eldest each had an apple pie. That was it. My youngest however, does not like Asian restaurants and so refused to eat anything I offered her at the restaurant, so I bought her a Happy Meal to eat as dinner afterwards. Which is fine although I wish my kids wouldn’t like McDonald’s so much. I don’t know what I’ve done wrong, LOL 

I only let them eat McDonald’s very occasionally - once a month or so. And on other days I typically cook home-cooked dinners and healthy options for breakfast and lunch - mainly gluten-free fair that is also paleo like almost - so no processed crap. Just simple good food. Some grains - because our finances are such that we cannot afford to go grain-free yet. But little to no wheat some days. And that’s fine with me! 

I think McDonald’s food is strangely addictive for my children. Do they like… put some sort of drug in their food to get some people hooked? I just wish my kids were the sort who *never* ask for it. Oh well … nevermind. 

kenisfuckingawesome asked: Hi!! i really like ur blog. It's very interesting and quite a read. I started IF last week and am already having this intense cravings for anything sweet (red velvet cakes?). How do u keep urself from grabbing d nearest chocolate bar?

Thanks for your comment :)
Well, I found the beginning month the hardest. After that I got used to the lower sugar intake and don’t crave it so much. I was so used to chomping on Nutella on toast and regularly snacking on Cadbury’s milk chocolate. What worked for me was to slowly cut down on the unhealthy snacks. So no more snacking on candy and milk chocolate. But not cutting it out entirely. I would have one square of chocolate a day as a treat perhaps. And oh yes I stopped buying Nutella for myself. I only ate butter with bread or toast.

Nowadays I still eat cakes, sweets and chocolate occasionally. I don’t eat milk or white chocolate mostly though, only the dark stuff, as that’s more nutritious and less sugary than the others.

I don’t like calorie counting like a fanatic, but it does help me keep a perspective on how much I eat per day. When I’m travelling, I hardly get enough opportunity to eat properly. If I have a dark chocolate bar as a substitute for lunch, I just won’t eat anything else until dinner. I try to then have a reasonably nutritious dinner. Even if all I can get hold of is a ham and egg salad sandwich.

So I guess occasionally I will have a rather large serving of sweet junk, but I make sure that calorie wise, I don’t overeat that day, and that might mean just eating that sweet junk food for lunch and nothing else, except a drink (and I don’t mind if its water, coffee or tea. Just not juice, because juice is very high in sugar).

Yesterday I worked out after a 16 hour fast and had a protein shake, a banana… after which we decided to take the kids to McDonald’s. What a wrong decision. Because after I ate my Big Mac medium meal (I thought I can, after a heavy workout) I had the worst tummyache and gas… had to go to the loo and had diarrhoea. My goodness that was bad. Somone tell me I’m NEVER eating McDonald’s again. Well I lie because in about 3 days’ time I am going down to London again for a workshop and I know … I just know I am bound to end up McDonald’s somewhere along the way because we will be staying at Travelodge and the food served at the Travelodge restaurant (for lunch and dinner) is the worst food I’ve ever had - yeah, even worse than the Pizza Hut branch near my home. And I’m not sure if my wallet will allow eating out at proper restaurants in London this time. It’s so hard to eat well when you’re travelling on a budget isn’t it?

But I think I know now why sometimes I get horrible diarrhoea with McDonald’s and sometimes I don’t.

See, every instance when I’ve had such bad luck with McDonald’s is when I’ve eaten a medium sized meal. I believe the culprit is the McDonald’s fries. I’ve eaten burgers on their own, with no chips as a side order. Or the apple pie on its own. Never had an issue. But add chips in the equation and it always makes my tummy go whack. I wonder what the hell is in those things. I Googled it and apparently McDonald’s fries contain a whole host of other stuff in it that are NOT potato. So it could be any one of those chemicals they’ve added to the fries that my tummy just doesn’t agree with. I don’t know which. But I am not doing it again. 

It’s only me that has this problem in my family though. My 4 year old son, bless him, gobbled up all of his chicken nuggets and fries and drink yesterday at the same sitting and didn’t suffer the same fate.

So no more medium or large “meals” for me at McDonald’s. Actually I hardly ever go large. But a burger and a drink. Yes. An apple pie and a drink. Yes. Just keeping the orders small. Actually, scratch that. I think when we’re in London in a few days’ time, I will be trying to persuade my girls to have a good old prepackaged sandwich or pasta from… I don’t know… a sandwich bar like Pret A Manger, if our budgets allow, or at cheaper Tesco’s branches, with a drink of their choice and a fruit. Still better than McDonald’s. 

Yesterday I worked out again after a 15 to 16 hour fast. I really pushed myself with the external rotations though - by using a heavier weight than before. Also really pushed myself with the push ups… Today feeling a bit sore around the shoulders and back… not the bad kind of sore though, not like I badly injured places I shouldn’t have. But I think it’s mostly to do with the external rotations more than anything.

I’ve just finished reading (or well, I’m about 7/8’s) through Brad Pilon’s “How Much Protein?” ebook. It was very interesting. So basically the gist is, protein intake has a minor effect on muscle growth, but not as much as we thought. What does have scientifically demonstrated effects on muscle growth in a significant manner though, is Creatine Monohydrate. But the effects of Creatine on muscle growth are only most dramatic somewhere in the first month or 2 of a weight-training regime. After that, the gains are significantly lesser… but that leads to another point being that muscle growth is finite. If you don’t use steroids, it is finite and dependent on your natural genetics and diet and most importantly, how effective your workout routine is in helping you get to your goals. Even if you do use steroids, muscle growth is finite too - except you will definitely achieve a far better result on steroid use than if you went steroid-less. In fact, steroids are so effective at building muscle that in scientific experiments where men were given steroids but were not engaging in any workout regime at all, still ended up gaining an impressive amount of lean muscle!

Another important info I gleaned from the book is that it doesn’t actually really matter very much whatever time you want to have your protein. You could have it pre-workout, post-workout, whatever, and it still wouldn’t make a jot of difference to your muscle growth. So that “drink your protein shake within 20 mins of working out” instruction on my Met-Rx Whey Protein Shake powder container is just a load of bollocks then, I guess. That’s not to say protein is useless, because he then goes on to say that all scientific evidence considered, a protein intake anywhere from 70 to 120 g a day does make a difference to the amount of muscle gained - albeit not a very dramatic difference, say, anything from 1 to 3 pounds extra muscle in total, but it is still extra muscle.

Hmm mm, I’m sure everyone has their own opinions on these matters, but what I read sure gave me food for thought (no pun intended)! See, the thing is, I know I can sometimes really obsess on my protein-intake, worrying about whether I am taking in enough protein. And to be told that actually, this may not be worth worrying about at all is kinda freeing but also, I think I would rather err on the side on caution and keep taking enough protein. After all I did see a noticeable increase in muscle when I did up my protein intake, in the first few weeks of embarking on this IF regime. According to him then, my muscle growth should be on it’s way to slowing or have slowed already. Maybe that’s true. I have noticed that my muscles haven’t really gotten as dramatically bigger as in the beginning. But all this working out and eating less sweets and cakes is good. I like it :)

It’s also like the 3rd day I’m on Omega 3 pills. I am following label instructions - take 2 softgels twice a day preferably with meals. I don’t know if it’s psychological or what, but I actually felt my mind is much clearer (less brain fog) ever since I started taking them. I also feel less depressed. I remember feeling a bit down last week because I really hate where I’m living at at the moment. Wanted to move ages ago but can’t because of financial restrictions. It was a drag for me sometimes. But I haven’t felt that down since. I don’t know why. 

But I have to conclude it’s probably more psychological than not. I’m ovulating as far as my fertility signs go, and that may well have an effect on me psychologically. The PMS onslaught will come soon in the next week or so. BUT… this Omega 3 is supposed to make the PMS better too, right? Hmm… we’ll see.

And as for the muscle-building and fat-loss effects that Omega 3 is purported to have… hmmm… well… judging from my achy shoulders and back today… haha, maybe not. Or maybe whatever effects it has on my body are rather subtle. LOL 

My husband took the day off and wanted to do something special with us… but as I haven’t worked out today or yesterday, I told him could you please take the kids out for the morning so I can work out, then after workout we could go get lunch at the sushi restaurant of my choice. 

Haha! If this isn’t proof of my obsession with my training, what is? 

That said, I had a big chunk of chocolate cake tonight (it’s actually kinda like my birthday cake but without the candles? I’m not big on birthdays LOL) All the more reason to work out tomorrow!

I have been admiring the results of my work today - my biceps are hard when I flex my arms - I have not been doing any bicep curls or bicep-specific work actually, for the past month. In my workout routine, there are loads of squats, rows, deadlifts, shoulder presses, i.e. mainly just strength-building compound exercises that target lots of different muscles at once and at least one major muscle group. Yes my biceps may not be big compared to some others - like my husband’s - but for someone my size and skinny fat all my life until I started on this IF/workout thing, this is something to be proud of. I am so hooked on this. Isn’t this amazing? To see that your body is actually sculptable?

Actually I’m feeling happy that tomorrow is workout day. It always feels so good to work out. I feel alive when I exercise.

Another good day of workout… absolutely pummeled my shoulders, arms and thighs LOL… I mean, why not? After all I have been developing enough resistance in my muscles that I hardly if ever get sore muscles anymore no matter how sensibly hard I train. Oh and for my birthday meal, we went to Yo! Sushi. I had a shit tonne of salmon sushi and salmon sashimi with a rather iffy-tasting Lemon Custard Cake, and some Mochi which my kids didn’t like.

I am pretty sure all that wasn’t very healthy… well but it is healthy in the sense that it was loaded with Omega 3s and good fats and all that… 

The price tag was shit though. £70+ for the entire family meal. Are you kidding me?

Luckily I had a 1/3 off the price Birthday code… which I used, and that got our bill down to £49. Whew!

I would have preferred eating at a proper Japanese restaurant really… I mean, in terms of food quality and service, Yo! Sushi will never win the 2 good Japanese restaurants near me ever. But the kids definitely enjoyed their time at Yo! Sushi because of the conveyor belt system. They loved watching the food go by and the concept of taking the food you want off the belts as it comes. I’m sure if we went to a proper Japanese restaurant, they would be bored. 

All they ate were Dorayaki (Japanese custard filled pancakes) and plates of fruit today though… as nothing else appealed to them. They don’t like proper cooked food, no. So no rice or noodley dishes… that’s a sure way to waste your money on them. Although if we cook at home that’s all they have - proper home cooked food. Not pancakes and fruit for dinner!

But I’m glad we went to Yo! Sushi. See, if the kids enjoyed it, that meant they didn’t give us a hard time, and that meant the meal went smoothly. And it did.

On another note - I bought myself a 120-capsule bottle of Salmon Oil Omega 3 online and am waiting for it arrive. Omega 3 apparently is great for many many things. Like some sort of miracle Cure-All…  So many I am just feeling really sceptical about it all. My first thought - “Snake Oil”…  If my therapist didn’t tell me to try it for my typical absent-mindedness and PMS, I wouldn’t have bothered. But she really sold me on the idea. She seem so convinced. She also said I must take enough for it to work so I need to take a high enough dosage and especially so for the first 6 weeks so I can build up a good level of Omega 3 in my system… after that, she said I can then take a lower dose just for maintenance.

After speaking to her, I did my research… so if WebMD mentions this, then surely it must work on some people… it’s not like homeopathy or cranial-osteo… whatever therapy with no hard scientific backing right?

Oh well. Shall see how it goes. One more thing that I researched online about Omega 3 that also kinda helped sell me on the idea of trying it out - it apparently helps in the muscle-building process and fat loss!

So worth a try eh ?

16/11/2012

Proper knackered LOL… 

I increased the weight of the dumbbells today for the lunges. Actually, I am finding that I need heavier weights all round nowadays compared to when I first started this blog. Not that much heavier though. 1 kg heavier on each arm. If I keep it the same as it used to be, then I find that the number of reps for the exercises don’t really exhaust me by the last rep. 

Which is a good thing, right? Means I’m getting somewhere. 

I really like this new blog entry on Brad Pilon’s site. Basically it gives you a formula 

C x H³

to use to calculate how near or far your bodily proportions are from the Golden Ratio. Now I shan’t go into explaining how to use the formula and all that, because it would be better if you just go on down to the article and read it for yourself - lots of useful info there on how to take proper measurements of your waist and shoulders as well - stuff I never realised I was wrong about until I read that one! 

So I used that formula and measured my shoulders and waist the way Brad described, and found out that my shoulders are not at the “ideal” proportion to my height, though my waist is. To be precise, my waist is 68.5 cm, my shoulder measurement is 93.5 cm and my height is 160 cm. So this means my waist is 42.8% of my height, which is good. I must just maintain it. And my shoulder measurement is 58.4% of my height, which is not quite ideal.The ideal shoulder measurement should be around 62% of your height. This is not surprising, as I often bemoan the fact that my shoulders are naturally skinny and narrow. In fact, shoulders are mostly what I’m working on now, though I don’t only do shoulder-centric exercises. I have stopped doing the upper-body/lower-body split training schedule that I started off with, as I’ve found that a total-body workout produces much better results on me - not to mention, less injury and less time-off for recovery. But also, I’ve learned a few lessons in weight training along the way and I know now not to overdo things, and try to just push myself to the limit, work up a sweat, but not going over the limit. Well, I always try to push for “just a little over the limit” as opposed to “way over the limit” if you get my drift. If I am to be well enough to train again in the next 1 to 2 days, this is important. And the more time I take off, the slower to see results.

I have been keeping at the Perfect Shoulders routine in this book for the past few weeks now… let me see… since Day 66… so I have been at it for about a month. Right? And let me tell you, it has produced results. My jeans are now more filled out around the thighs (oh I am so glad I am that bit closer to getting away from the “skinny chicken legs” syndrome). I wear my jeans proudly now, oh yes :)

I noticed recently that my tops are more filled out around the shoulders, which gets a big thumbs up from me. I just hope this continues to grow though, just by the fact that if I stick to the same workout, and just increase the weights so that I can reach exhaustion by the end of the reps. I’m pretty happy with sticking with the same routine and don’t feel the need to change as long as it works. 

Also I have to be realistic. My genes dictate a lot of what kind of body I will end up with no matter how I train. It may well be that shoulders that are 62% of my height is not possible for my body type. Brad Pilon did say on his FB feed discussion  that this formula covers about 95% of the population, and there will always be that 5% for whom this formula will not apply and the trick is to recognise whether you fall into that 5% or not, and then altering your goals accordingly.