Fueling your body

"If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise - not too little and not too much - we would have found the safest way to health" - Hippocrates



This is one area I really struggled with. I was working out consistently but not losing weight, building muscle or noticing my clothes fitting differently. So, I started using the selfdietclub.com tool and found I was taking in way too much fat, not near enough protien or carbs and wasting calories on booze (that was the hardest pill to swallow by FAR!).



It took a lot of discipline but I pulled back on fats (bye bye cheese, we had a good run) and starting taking in more carbs and protein. At first it didn't feel right but after the first 2 or 3 weeks I noticed I was not struggling as bad at the end of my workouts. About 5 weeks into it I noticed my clothes fitting better and some muscle definition. At 9 weeks I had lost 8 pounds. Here was my trick though, I NEVER deprived myself. If I wanted a glass of wine, I had one. I went out and bought the individually wrapped Ghiradelli chocolates and if I want something sweet I eat one, and only one. Once every 3 weeks or so I let my hair down and had many beers. But as time went on, I didn't like the way I felt the next day, my workouts were worthless so even that scaled back but I never felt deprived.



I also started looking at healthier alternatives to snacks. I almost always have red, orange and yellow peppers cut and ready to eat. I eat those with a sandwich at lunch instead of chips. If I do want cheese, I have low fat string cheese in the frig. I am a big fan of pistachios. I will count out a serving size on a napkin and put the bag away and once they are gone, they are gone. If I want something sweet I try to eat fruit instead of chocolate.



These are things that worked for me, everyone is different. I didn't make these changes over night, it took awhile to build the discipline but now that I have I love the way I feel. I fall off the wagon sometimes, but I get right back on because I know that if I don't give my body the right fuel I will not make it through the 750m swim, the 12 mile bike and 3.1 run in October.

Trying a Triathlon for 2009!

Hey ladies, here we go! We will use this blog to keep track of the training plan, motivation, tips, tricks, diet ideas to keep us fueled up for the training and for the big day. If I understand correctly you guys are looking at the Akron triathlon that is to take place on September 5th or 6th so this will be a 6 week plan. I am going to assume that you have been doing some training already so we are going to start aggressively with 6 workouts a week. PLEASE NOTE: modification can be made the training schedule as you see fit as long as you get all of the work outs in each week. If kids/husbands/boyfriends/family/work get in the way of a workout it is OK too. This plan is designed to build endurance, it is most important that you exercise the minutes/yards that are defined, if you have to stop and rest, stop and rest. There is no need to hurt yourself for no reason. Also, we are going to have days that we are just tired and the workout may not "feel" as good as previous ones. That is OK. It has taken me a long time to come to terms with that (I am not competitive at all, I swear, LOL). On the days that I am tired or just plain slower than usual I can at least be proud to say that I did it.

So here is this weeks workout:
Mon - OFF/Rest
Tue - Run: 20 min (9 min warm up, 9 min jog, 2 min cool down)
Wed - Swim 300 yards (warm up 50 yards easy, 4x50s freestyle with 15 seconds rest in between, 50 yard swim easy cool down)
Thu - BRICK - this is a combination work out - 30 minute bike, 10 minute run, 20 minute walk
Fri - Swim 400 yards (warm up 50 yards easy, 6x50s freestyle with 10 seconds rest in between, 50 yard swim easy cool down)
Sat - Run 40 min (9 min warm up, 4 min jog, 1 min walk, 4 min jog, 1 min walk for remainder of time)
Sun - 12 mile bike