What Works For Me (for Super Bowl)

Do you have a game plan for Sunday (in terms of what you're going to eat)? I just finished mine, so I thought I'd share a few "plays" with you. Remember, my focus is high protein / low carbs.

Deviled Eggs

Lunchmeat Wraps (piece of lunchmeat, spread some onion and chive cream cheese on it and wrap a pickle up in it ... then cut into pieces and put in a toothpick).

Celery sticks filled with Merk's Cheese

I'm planning on having a few dips, BUT, I'll be dipping with celery or carrots (I avoid crackers and tostidos)

Also, I plan on working out before attending the party to help get my metabolism going .... remember, muscles continue to burn fat even after your workout!

That's my game plan.

What Works For Me

There are sooooo many diets on the market today, and bookstores have rows and rows of diet books to choose from -- "The Paleo Diet", "The Sonoma Diet", "Neanderthin", "Protein Power Life Plan", "The Zone Diet", "Good Carbs Bad Carbs" etc., etc.

One common denominator is low carb, low sugar (no artificial sweetners and no high fructose corn syrup) and good quality protein. Basically, 90% of your food groceries should be purchased from the perimeter of the store (I like Trader Joes!).

The hard part is TIME. In the beginning, it took TIME to read labels to figure out what is good and what is bad. I was surprised to find out how many salad dressings are loaded with sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup). I was surprised on the sugar (or artificial sweetner) content on yogurt. What I look for on the label is:

# of Carb grams (I limit my daily intake to about 75-90 grams)
#of Protein grams (I try to eat about 4 oz of protein every 3 hours)
# of Sugar grams (As low as possible - not to exceed 20 grams per day)
Also, I check to see if the product has high fructose corn syrup in it. If it does, forget it!

The first month or two took TIME, but not any more. I know what brand(s) are good, I just grab it off the shelf.

It takes TIME to pack my lunch/dinner, but it has become part of my routine. Again, in the beginning, it took some adjustment, but the benefits have paid off so much, that I truly don't mind. You learn creativity as you go.

For example, this is what's in my breakfast/lunch box right now (I'm working early shift):

Protein Bar (14 gms protein, 10 gms carbs & 5 gms sugar)
Bag of Almonds (9 gms protein, 8gms carbs & 2 gms sugar)
2 Tomatoe & Basil Pizza Burgers (20 gms protein, 14 gms carbs & 4 gms sugar)
1 Cheese Stick (8 gms protein, 1 gm carb & 0 gms sugar)
2 slices of ham (11 gms protein, 3 gms carbs & 3 gms sugar)
5 Oatmeal granola bites (3 gms protein, 16 gms carbs & 8 gms sugar)

I literally threw this stuff into my breakfast/lunch box in less than 5 minutes. I didn't stop to read labels because I know what's good and what's not. I didn't have enough time to pack a salad, so I'll stop at McD's or Wendy's. They have nice side salads for $1.00.

I'll probably have chicken and broccoli for dinner.

This is what works for me in terms of food intake.

What Works for Me...

In a word, CHANGE.

In the last year I have rarely repeated the same "workout routine". That's not to say I haven't repeated my favorite exercises or duplicated the structure of my workouts. But, by and large every workout is a new experience. And while they aren't all successes, they' have all contributed to the evolution of my personal physical fitness program.

Up until about two years ago I maintained the same approach to fitness:

• Day 1 - Chest and Triceps
• Day 2 - Back and Biceps
• Day 3 - Shoulders and Abdominal
• NO LEGS!

Throw in a 1.5 mile run every once in a while and there it was; a workout schedule that rarely changed and nearly always contained six exercises each day with ten sets per body part. Nothing imaginative or challenging about that. The older I got, the harder it got to maintain my strength. My body had long since adapted to the repetition of my routine and was not responding. I started to experience chronic injuries and could see marked decreases in my personal strength standard, "bench press". CHANGE became a matter of necessity and since then CHANGE has become the staple of my workouts.

I now have no workout schedule. No set muscle groups, no set number of repetitions. My workouts are not scripted days or even hours in advance. Generally speaking, with the exception of a few CrossFit standards, the majority my workouts fall into one of only four structures:
10 Sets of 10 for Time. Two exercises. Example of one set:

• 10 Deadlifts
• 10 Plyo Push-ups

5 Sets of 5 for Time. Five exercises, each having an ascending number of repetitions. Example of the set:

• 5 Burpees
• 10 Pull-ups
• 15 Kettlebell Clean & Presses (15 each arm)
• 20 24" Box Jumps
• 25 Sit-ups

5 Sets Interval Training. One run followed by two exercises of the same muscle group. Example of one set:

• Run 400M (1/4 mile)
• Max Reps Bench Press (set weight)
• Max Reps Ring Push-ups

Max Sets in 15-Minutes. Two exercises: one a push & one a pull. One set equals nine repetitions of each exercise done: 1-1/3-3/5-5. Example of one set:

• 1 Thruster (set weight)
• 1 Pull-up
• 3 Thrusters (set weight)
• 3 Pull-ups
• 5 Thrusters (set weight)
• 5 Pull-ups

Although I'm comfortable with these structures because of the flexibility they offer, I am not satisfied and continue to "test" other structures that appear to be interesting or would seem to offer a greater degree of challenge. The 1-1/3-3/5-5 you see above came from CrossFit Football and was the result of one of those tests.

If your not happy with your state of physical fitness or if it's just getting harder to "find" time to workout, I encourage you to consider a CHANGE. Explore the information resources we're offering and find what works for you.