Fueling for Life

 

FOOD = FUEL

It’s been 7 weeks since a started a 90 day challenge to improve my health. Before I go any further let me explain a little bit about me… I am competitive, you know the kind of competitive where you want to be perfect in everything you do. Its really not a competition against anyone just myself. I am my biggest challenge. When I started this 90 day challenge I had a regular fitness routine and my body seemed to be accustom to it. My eating habits were ok but everything can be improved.

I asked my friend if she would do it with me, I knew if I had someone else competing I would push myself to be the best and reporting in with someone made me accountable for my actions. If she was seeing results my ass better be seeing results to… and they better be better or equal to what she was seeing.

It’s been 7 weeks and I have lost 18lbs and 2 inches all around, people are asking what did you? At first I took a step back and thought damn I was not fat… but then again I obviously had some extras I could afford to lose. So what did I do….

Let us first start with the food. I do not have the kind of time where I can be logging every damn calorie but I have a pretty good knowledge of what types of foods I need. The first thing people need to learn is that food is fuel. Let’s say you bought a brand new Mercedes, fully loaded, leather seats, sun roof, and a nice stereo system. This car is your dream car, when you walk out to your car and you see it just waiting for  you, you get all excited and say to your… “damn that is mine!” Its time to fill up that car, your car requires diesel but the other gas smells better, so you put the other gas in it. How will your car perform? Do you care? You just spent 50k on this car… now do you car?

Start thinking of your body like your dream car.. shit start thinking of your body like your dream body.. wait… Start TREATING your body like you dream body. Now that I have painted the picture for you spend the time to understand your fuel. You need carbs and you need fats.. its all about the type of carbs and fats you feed your body. Candy Bar = bad fat, avocado = good fat. White rice = bad carb, Oatmeal = good carb. I am not a nutritionist but there is plenty of sites that can tell you what you need.

After you understand the type of fuel you need, you also need to understand portion sizes. I eat every 2 hours during the day.. I don’t have the time or damn energy to be logging everything I eat.. but as a natural born analyst I log my food for one week to see where I need to improve. I like livestrong.com, but any app or site that shows you the total nutritional facts will do. You are looking to see what is your intake versus what you are burning. In the beginning you are building your discipline, the easiest way to stay away from temptation is to eliminate it.. I pack my meals every day.

This is my typical meal plan:

Wake up: WATER.. of course while I am waiting for the coffee to brew.

8am: Oatmeal w/ Splenda brown sugar

10am: Banana and yogurt

12pm: Grilled asparagus and turkey and cheese sandwich (mustard and spinach)

2pm: Strawberries

4:00pm Protein shake w/ shot of espresso

6:00pm Steamed Veggies (broccoli and cauliflower) with Salmon

8:00pm Protein shake

This is what works for me… maybe you don’t like asparagus, that’s ok. The point is to find good choices that you can fuel your body with. I highly recommend prepping for the week, have plenty of good choices on hand that you can grab.. OH… if you have anything in your reach that is not good fuel and you don’t think you are discipline to not eat it throw it out! Not worth it. Last and never least.. HYDRATE.. You need water!