Let's Get It Started! with chrisbowers mentor group - CLOSED and ROLLING! (Page 6)

How about another challenge to include WATER!  For those trying to cut back on soda or others, like me, just need to drink more water what do you say about keeping track of our intake. 

They say it takes 21 days to make something a habit, good or bad.  So for 21 days we all track our water intake say by ounces or cups (8 oz), and at the end of 21 days we post, (cups we drank), our results...honor system of course.

The winner gets.....hummmmm a toast in their honor for a job well done.

Lame or good idea let me know your thoughts. 

I'm always up for a challenge and I like this one! I'll start logging today.

Ever since I made the decision to get back in shape, 2 mos ago, I haven't had a problem craving fast food, soda's, sweets or alcohol.  I chewed tobacco for 18 years and my wife and daughter wanted me to quit for years. I tried all sorts of things but after about a week, I would fall off the wagon.  No matter how much everyone around you wants you to stop, you aren't going to do it until you make the decision in your mind that you want to quit.  I came to that point in my life Feb 2010 and haven't had any since.  The same thing happened with alcohol of any type. I realized one day that I've got this huge goal I am going to accomplish and these empty calories aren't helping me get to where I want to be so I decided to stop all together.  It's amazing how much clearer my mind is now.  The mind is a very powerful tool and I firmly believe that if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen.

Here's my weekly goals:

Mon: Swim 1hr/3000yds   Strength Training

Tues: Spin Class 55min   Stregth Training

Wed: Swim 1hr/3000yds  Run 30min

Thurs: Spin Class 55min   Strength Training

Fri: Swim 1hr/3000yds   Strength Training

Sat: Bike ride 30+ miles

Sun: Run 40min

I agree with Brian that whatever your goals are you have to make a decision personally to make them happen. No one else is going to make it happen. I decided in August that I am tired of feeling like crap and looking like a balloon ready to pop. I used to be an athlete so challenging myself is something I am accustomed to. I also suggest writing down (I use an excel spreadsheet) every workout for the next 4, 8, 12 or however many weeks out that you want. You can make adjustments if necessary, but having them on paper just lets you know that today is weights and running or whatever. It makes me feel like if I miss a workout then I will have to find time to make it up which is not easy.

Here are my weekly workouts:

Monday - Weights/run/swim

Tuesday - swim/bike

Wednesday - Weights/run

Thursday - swim/bike

Friday- off

Saturday - Weights/longer run

Sunday - longer bike

right now my runs, swims and weights are 30-40 mins., bike is 60 minute class on tues/thurs and outdoors on the weekend if possible.

I have been logging my activities this past week so I will just continue...now, off to bike class!

Jay

Some really interesting stuff here about diet : 

http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/big-fat-lies?cm_mmc=BicyclingNL-_-770480-_-01052012-_-big_fat_lies

I like the water challenge.  When I started working out last year, I replaced most of the soda with water.  I normally make a guess about how much I take.  But now I have a reason to track it more accurately. 

Also, I did not have even my one soda yesterday.  None.  We will see how long that lasts. 

Good article on nutrition. At some point these articles start getting over my head though. What they are saying to eat is essentially what I have been doing since mid-August. I eat 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. I can't believe how many do not eat breakfast. If you are one of them and don't have much time in the morning, here is a shake that you can take with you that I absolutely look forward to having about once per week.

I don't measure anything exactly but here are the basics with estimated measurements.

1 cup of ice, 3/4 cup nonfat plain or vanilla yogurt, 1 scoop 100% whey protein, 4-5 strawberries (or raspberries, or both), 1/3 cup blueberries, 1/2 banana, a little honey, and 1/2 c orange juice. Blend it up. Add water if it is too thick to get it to the consistency you like. Throw it in a to-go cup and run out the door.  It is quick and easy. Let me know if you try it and what you think.

Jay

Triple post.

My breakfast is very similar.  I start every day with a protein shake.  The basic receipe is 8 oz of SunnyD strawberry orange, a scoop of whey protein (banana cream flavor) and a couple of handfuls of ice cubes.  The total is less than 200 calories.  Now that I am not trying to lose weight anymore, I add either a banana or a Yoplait yogurt or both.  If you add both then the drink is about 450 calories. 

I also eat five times a day. 

For many years I was the skip breakfast person.  But not anymore.

How long do you want it to last? 

Actually I went and looked it up... " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunnyD" Sunny D is water and Corn syrup. In other studies I have read, corn syrup is why so many Americans are over weight. Trust me, if it has corn syrup in it, it's not for you. 

I guess I could use orange juice and strawberries.  I have done that in the past, but this is easier.  I may change it and see what happens.

Good idea.

Did some quick research and this is what I found:

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a manmade sweetener that’s found in a wide range of processed foods, from ketchup and cereals to crackers and salad dressings. It also sweetens just about all of the (regular) soda Americans drink. HFCS used in foods is between 50 to 55 percent fructose—so chemically, it’s virtually identical to table sugar (sucrose), which is 50 percent fructose. Metabolic studies suggest our bodies break down and use HFCS and sucrose the same way.

Yet, after HFCS began to be widely introduced into the food supply 30-odd years ago, obesity rates skyrocketed. And because the sweetener is so ubiquitous, many blame HFCS for playing a major role in our national obesity epidemic. As a result, some shoppers equate HFCS with “toxic waste” when they see it on a food label. But when it comes right down to it, a sugar is a sugar is a sugar. A can of soda contains around nine teaspoons of sugar in the form of HFCS—but, from a biochemical standpoint, drinking that soda is no worse for you than sipping home-brewed iced tea that you’ve doctored with nine teaspoons of table sugar or an equivalent amount of honey.

Even Barry Popkin, Ph.D., a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who previously suggested, in an influential 2004 paper, a possible HFCS-obesity link, stresses that the real obesity problem doesn’t lie just with HFCS. Rather, it’s the fact that sugars from all sources have become so prevalent in our food supply, especially in our beverages. He scoffs at the “natural” sweeteners sometimes added to upscale processed foods like organic crackers and salad dressings. “They all have the same caloric effects as sugar,” he explains. “I don’t care whether something contains concentrated fruit juice, brown sugar, honey or HFCS. The only better sweetener option is ‘none of the above.’”

At EatingWell, it’s our philosophy to keep any sweeteners we use in our recipes to a minimum—and likewise, to limit processed foods with added sugars of any type, including HFCS. We recommend you do the same.

Okay two things I would like to tackle here. Honey is a naturally occurring product that undergoes no industrial process, no interference by man, and GOOD. The body knows how to break it down. It can heal open wounds, it acts as a disinfectant, and is nothing at all like anything manufactured. 

To get the same amount of 'sweetness' as 9 spoons of sugar(did he say 9?) ......well it won't take 9 spoons of honey. What used to be 2 to 3 huge spoons of sugar in my coffee is now one spoon of honey... the taste is completely different.

Our body will always digest or breakdown, natural products more efficiently simply because science doesn't understand everything, it can't possibly understand the mechanics of the differences between refined sugar and natural sugars...

Given this doctors argument we can stop eating fruit and vegetables and just drink water. Because everything the body uses as fuel gets transformed into one type of sugar or another.  

[QU

OTE]Artist - 2012-01-05 2:23 PM

FYI - You can enter your planned training without the paid membership, however, it is more time consuming than just pressing the "download to my calendar" button.

How about anyone interested we start Saturday Jan 7th, for 21 days, so until...well, lets make sure the habit sticks and go to the end of January.  Everyone report your final amounts on the 31st and on Feb 1 we will cheer our winner.

Let's also keep updating on here so we have an idea how everyone is doing.  I am telling you something this easy and I get very competitive!

We can measure my cups drank per day, a cup being 8 oz.

I, too, have been drinking smoothies for breakfast. Mine is a little almond milk (unsweetened), approx 1/2 cup unsweetened greek yogurt (Oikos is my favorite), cup of fresh baby spinach, 2-3 tbs flax, fruit (might be a bananna, frozen peaches, orange etc) I also add a 1/2 scoop protein powder.  It is a very green drink, and a little "earthy" at times depending on the spinach, but I feel better since I have been doing it. Takes just a sec. to make in my blender. The spinach helps with the iron and I have less fatigue all day. No added sugars at all  also help me not bonk in the am.

That shake sounds delicious, I'll try it out tomorrow!