jenbacca

Category Archives: health


by

3rd day results!

well, day 3 of low carbs was tougher than i expected… mainly it was due to unexpected things happening. i was supposed to meet a friend for lunch, i ended up having to get a “grab and go” dinner, and we decided to have sushi tonight. shows how important planning is – i went wayyy over in carbs today :S tomorrow is another day, and i will attempt a no carb day; even no carbs @ breakfast……… we’ll see how that goes over!

overall, i think i did “ok” for my very first attempt over these 3 days. at the least, i learned a lot.

here is my food log from today:

meal 1: 1 orange, 1 bowl of vector with skim milk, and a 3 egg white omelette with low fat ricotta cheese

possible improvement: swap cereal for oatmeal, and take out the ricotta cheese

meal 2: 3/4 cup cottage cheese with 1 tbsp peanuts and cinnamon; and zucchini sticks

possible improvement: take out the peanuts

meal 3: 1 banana, 1 whey isolate protein shake, 1 6″ sub

possible improvement: i dont have subway often – i had plans to go for lunch with a friend

meal 4: 1/2 can tuna with udo oil, 1 tomato, 1/2 yellow pepper, carrots

possible improvement: none, i am totally good with this

meal 5: 1/2 6″ sub

possible improvement: ixnay the sub, replace with 1/2 protein shake and 1/2 serving of oatmeal

meal 6: salmon sashimi and 1 spicy tuna roll

possible improvement: ixnay on the roll with the rice


by

carb cycle day 2: NO carbs

So – how did day 2 go? Pretty well, I think, although maybe a little under in the calories, about 1400… Here is my food log 😀

Meal 1 6:15-6:45am: 2x eggs, 2 bowls of cereal with skim milk (yikes!), 1 small cup of coffee

~440 cal

Meal 2 9:30-10am: 3/4c cottage cheese with 1tbsp peanuts and cinnamon, sliced raw zucchini

~230 cal

Meal 3 1:00pm: grilled chicken, 1tbsp Udo oil, spinach, tomato,  sliced cucumbers, carrots

~230 cal

Meal 4 4:00pm:more of the grilled chicken salad; finished the carrots. I was pretty full by this point. I snarfed down 1 tbsp peanuts and 1/2 tbsp peanut butter, too.

~300 cal

Workout 6:00pm

Meal 5 7:00pm: whey isolate protein shake (immediately post workout); followed by scrambled egg & egg whites and boiled cauliflower. I was stuffed, and could only eatthe equivalent of 1 scrambled egg and 1/2 cup of cauliflower.

~200 cal


by

day 2 of a new way of eating

alright, so i haven’t posted in many many months. well, now i am coming out of the woodwork again. i have been reading tons and tons and tons of articles about getting lean & mean. that’s right – not losing weight, but decreasing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass. this has been a very confusing topic for me; well, maybe not so much confusing as “unsure who to trust”. here is the summary of what I’ve discovered:

  • i should be eating around 1700 calories a day; this is a lot, and i don’t really need to count because of this giant allowance. if i eat when i am hungry, and stop when I’m satisfied, i will easily be in range
  • i should be eating 100-160g lean protein (this range is self-prescribed, a lot of sources online say 1g protein for every pound of body weight, but i think that’s too much. if i don’t get the results I’m looking for, then i will stick closer to the 160g a day)
  • i should be eating 160g carbs
  • i should be ingesting some fattier protein, along with a fat supplement (Udo’s oil FTW!)
  • i can eat as many vegetables as i want; i also want the world to know i would be a super happy Jen if i could have 3 red peppers a day! hah! but, i still think too much of even something THAT healthy would somehow end badly

anyway, during my research venture, i looked inside myself, too. i like to eat. i like to eat when i am bored, when I’m lonely, when i am happy, when i crave something, when i watch TV, when I’m with friends, when I’m at Starbucks etc etc – i think you get the picture. for me, i do not see food as “fuel necessary to run my body”, but more-so as a huge enjoyment in life. i spend a lot of time researching or inventing recipes, i enjoy cooking for myself and others, and LOVE to bake. with this in mind, i discovered something i think is going to help me psychologically to “eat right” while still satisfying my enjoyment of eating. it is called carb cycling. no, it is not a low carb or no carb diet… it’s is the daily control of carbs to allow extra carbs one day per cycle! Day 1 is HIGH carbs, day 2 is NO carbs, and day 3 is LOW carbs… the entire point of this is to mentally tell myself that every 3 days, i can have almost unlimited carbs! Sounds good, right?

today is day 2. i started off yesterday with high carbs. quite frankly, my experiences in the past of trying go cold turkey into a new eating plan have resulted in MEGA cravings and therefore BINGES! Bad Jen! Bad Jen! So, this time, I am starting with the fun part 🙂

today is also supposed to be NO carbs. But again, cold turkey does not work for me. I had eggs with cereal for breakfast. Now, the rest of the day is supposed to be extremely limited carbs. I have a super protein and veggie packed day! it looks yummy, but the true test will be tonight between 5pm and 10pm – will Jen reach for the pasta, bread, or cereal? Or will i remember that i only have to wait until tomorrow to have 3 meals with carbs, and then UNLIMITED CARBS ON FRIDAY! Sounds doable – place your bets!

the cycle will start again Friday…

  1. Friday: HIGH carbs
  2. Saturday: NO (or very limited) carbs
  3. Sunday: LOW carbs