Food Diary – 3/20/2008

So today was interesting… but it definitely has me double checking my choices now. I brought my protein and L-Glutamine shake with me and basically consumed it when the cubical dynamics slowed down enough. During my “lunch” break, I felt a pang of hunger hit me and decided to get some of the baked and breaded chicken strips combo for a boost of energy. It wouldn’t be until the activity in the office slowed down enough that I could do some research into the “damage” the chicken strips basically caused. My boss, Rich, oversaw and basically said “Holy cow, dude! You’re seriously trying to slim and gain muscle?! I am impressed that you’re researching almost everything you eat!” He then just had an idea to pick up some bread, lean tuna and some deli style swiss cheese slices. From that he ended up just inviting me to make a sandwich with him and we talked seriously on diet. He had given me some great advice on what I need to do for nutritional sake. I just need to be more cautious with what I take in and watch out for trappings that could throw me over my projected caloric intake. Here’s the statistical information for those curious to my intake today.

Whey protein and L-Glutamine shake (16oz) – 400 calories, 36 grams of protein

Office Lunch
5 baked and breaded chicken strips – 500 calories (BAD!)
Sierra Mist (8oz) -100 calories

Quick Dinner
Whole, stone ground wheat bread, tuna, and swiss cheese sandwich – 340 calories

Grand Total: 1,340 calories

Quick Gut-Buster Session

This was more to make-up as an off day for not hitting up the gym… It’s a relatively short set, but I plan to build up more on it tonight after work. After this I will be making my 16oz dose of my protein and L-Glutamine shake to take now and during work. I may dose up on my Clif Builder Bar as a snack. If the pang of serious hunger hits, I may see about hitting the cafe close to the office for a sandwich or something. I will be data logging my eating today and hopefully I should be fine until I get home.

Blitz Set – 4 sets, no break
20 Crunches
20 Bicycle crunches
20 Cross crunches
20 Double-cross crunches

Restful Sleep but a Cost…

I had a more restful sleep, but that was due to me forgetting to set my alarm on my phone. I will probably allow my body to recover for today and just heal. I will probably be mixing up my protein shake and L-Glutamine dose and hopefully that may patch me up for the day. I still have time before work, so I may just hit the hay for about another hour or two, because I think my body needs a bit more rest to properly heal and develop the new muscular tissue. I will probably do a quick gut-buster session before heading into work and then do another on coming home. I can feel the burn, but the more amazing thing is finally seeing some development in my abs.

I will leave you all with two funny note until I arise again… Last night while compiling my nutritional information on the caloric count of my dinner, I figured I would send Braum’s a website e-mail inquiring if they had nutrition facts on their food. I got an e-mail this morning stating the following:

Dear Zero,

Thank you for your email requesting nutritional information on our food service items. As mandated by the Federal Government’s “Nutrition Labeling Education Act”, all packaged goods are federally required to have nutritional information on each package. This federal law gives everyone specific and accurate guidelines with which to follow.

Currently there are no federal regulations governing food service items, and therefore, no guidelines regarding how the nutritional information is provided, calculated, etc. Because of this, many national chains, who have volunteered their information, are facing legal challenges. Not having the resources of the large national restaurants, we have been reluctant to expose ourselves to the expenses in an unregulated environment. When official regulation and guidelines are available, we will be pleased to provide the information, just as we have on our packaged food products. Again, thank you for your concerns and we hope that you will continue to visit the Braum’s store near you.

Sincerely,
[Name Withheld]
Customer Service

In short, it comes off as “We have our prepacked goods (milk, cookies, ice cream, etc) labeled, but due to the fact we’re too small of a restaurant, we’re not required to have nutritional information about our foods.” A shame, but it leaves my caloric calculations at an unknown margin of error.

The second funny thing is that Trussville Mazda is shipping my parts in today, but here’s the catch… instead of my usual name, they somehow contort it to “Patrick”. It’s really funny, but well maybe not… I just need to contact my friend David in Allen and see when we can drop in the parts and etc.

Midnight Gut-Buster Session

Twitch, my friend has advised me today that maybe my intensity is not high enough considering the fact that the fat on my target zones is not reducing from exercise. He did agree that I must be doing something right if my weight is just stabilized at 154 lbs for the past 2 months of just home exercise. He had suggested that maybe the concept of “working out until failure” may be something to consider as it challenges the body to push harder and basically “raise the bar”. He inquired about my ab attack plan that I have been using and he felt that I could probably push a lot harder to seek the gains I want. So I have taken the advice and put it to practice tonight.

I took Twitch’s example and tweaked it to his suggestion. I would take the crunch, the bicycle crunch, and cross crunch; do all of them in a straight cycle for 2 sets of each; take a 2 minute break and do another set. So, if you want a more visual form:

  1. 20 reps of crunches
  2. 20 reps of bicycle crunches
  3. 20 reps of cross crunches
  4. 20 reps of crunches
  5. 20 reps of bicycle crunches
  6. 20 reps of cross crunches
  7. 2 minute break
  8. 20 reps of crunches
  9. 20 reps of bicycle crunches
  10. 20 reps of cross crunches
  11. 20 reps of crunches
  12. 20 reps of bicycle crunches
  13. 20 reps of cross crunches

A grand total of 240 crunches and my abs felt the wonderful burn. It was a burn that after the last cross crunch… I felt the pain of my abs going “Have mercy on us!” I won’t be doing the “working out to failure” routine too much as it is a tad rough. I may keep that principle on my “off-days” when I wake late or just feel more apt to doing cardio at the gym and double up on the gut-buster routine.

Unfortunately, I will have to delicately plan for the Easter holiday… The office has me doing “on-call” for Saturday from 10:30am – 6pm, but my gym is open from 8am – 7pm. Due to Easter Sunday, the gym is totally closed. I will probably make those 2 days my “failure” days and work hard on the abs to make up for the gym being closed.