Round TWO - The 2-Week Challenge

Here we go again... as you enticed me with a challenge, I absolutely accepted and here's the deal...

Hello!!

I would like to share one of the secrets I have learned about how to boost the metabolism and eliminate a few items to re-set the furnace in the body for burning fat. This is what I do to get back on track. Combined with a consistent workout program, it is amazing how you will feel and look at the end of two weeks. It's like MAGIC - Maybe you will give it a try as...

HERE WE GO AGAIN, MY LIVERMORE FITNESS CAMPERS!! GO LIVERMORE, YOU ARE F A B U L O U S !!!

Here's my eating regime:

Lean Proteins	Starchy Carbs	Fibrous Carbs
Egg Whites	Potato	Broccoli
Chicken Breast *	Corn	Cauliflower
Turkey Breast *	Tomato	Carrots
Tuna	Sweet Potato	Green Peppers
Shrimp	Peas	Yellow Peppers
Grouper	Oatmeal	Red Peppers
Mahi-mahi	Cream of Rice Cereal	Mushrooms
Cod	Brown Rice	Onions
Halibut	Jasmine Rice	Asparagus
Salmon	Basmati Rice	Spinach
Swordfish	Couscous	String beans
Lobster	Corn Tortillas	Cucumbers
Shellfish		Celery
Sushi		Artichoke
Marlin		Romaine, green leaf or other green lettuce (no iceburg lettuce)
Wahoo		Zucchini
Tofu		Swiss Chard
Whey Protein		Squash

*non vegetarian

Meals are simple - I eat food every 3-4 hours. The first meal begins within 1 hour of waking up.

For each meal I pick one food from each group. It’s as simple as that. Serving sizes are 3-4 ozs for proteins and 4 ozs for starchy carbs and 6-8ozs for fibrous carbs unless it’s an item such as a potato where you I would have a medium sized one.

At first, sometime I just do equal servings of all 3 food groups. The serving sizes can be roughly the same and the I do not have to measure the amounts, but eventually my best results are achieved when when the serving sizes are as above.

The examples below are only samples of what I did and note I did not eat within 1 ½ hour before working out and ceased eating 3 hours before bed.

I drank plenty of water! Multiplying my body weight x .62 and that is how many ounces of water I needed to have per day not counting what I drink when I workout. I had to get at least 5-6 meals in per day.

One or two meals was sometimes a Meal Replacement (MRP) but I prefer and have the best results eating real food. Sometimes I ate breakfast for dinner and lunch for breakfast, dinner for breakfast, etc.

Seasonings and marinates were low in salt or salt-free, and also mostly sugar-free, and fat free except when homemade and those marinades are best.

I always take and my daily regime of:

Multi-vitamin , EFA (essential fatty acids, including fish oil)

Joint Repair (including MSM, Glucosamine, Chondroitin)

My Typical Food Journal

Here is a sample of two days.....

Gettin the ice and cooler ready!

DAY ONE - Meal 1

Multi vitamin/EFA/Joint Repair
Egg white omelet with 4 egg whites
Bell pepper slices
Oatmeal

Meal 2

Tofu
Peppers
Couscous

Meal 3

EFA
Chicken
Potato
Salad

Meal 4

Multi vitamin and MRP shake

Meal 5

EFA/Joint Repair
Fish
Brown rice
Broccoli

DAY TWO - Meal 1

Multi vitamin/EFA/Joint Repair
Cream of Rice cereal
Add maple extract and Stevia, if desired
Leftover steamed broccoli from the night before

Meal 2

MRP shake

Meal 3

EFA
Tuna
Rice Cakes or cherry tomatoes
Carrots and celery

Meal 4

Multi vitamin and MRP shake

Meal 5

EFA/Joint Repair
Steak
New potatoes
Green beans

* I use olive oil for cooking or an olive oil spray (at the Whole Foods Market)

* I use oil and vinegar for salad, no diet dressings, etc. I collected a tone of stuff from my favorite internet sites or recipe books for homemade dressings with an olive oil base.

* I sometimes use Stevia as a sweetener because it is real (diabetics use it) to dress up the hot cereals or sometimes splenda, but I am not a huge fan of man-made sweetners. I came up with a special pancake recipe following below that sounds odd, but is really satisfying and tasty.

OATMEAL PANCAKE
4 egg whites and 1/3 c dry oatmeal. Mix and add maple extract or vanilla extract and Stevia, pour 1 large pancake or two into a heated pan with little olive oil or cooking spray. Carefully flip over. These are good hot or cold. Sounds strange, but is filling and has a good texture. If you must use an artificial sweetner, consider “Torani Syrup” in the sugar-free version available from World Market in vanilla, hazelnut, strawberry, etc. Good!

** I eat no fruit, it has natural sugars.

** Dairy has natural sugar, so I give up my latte and just drank black. I had NO dairy!

** I have to forgo the carbonated beverages like tonic water...but 10% of the time, it was okay! Good thing I gave up diet soda moons ago!!

** I drink water, tea, iced tea, black coffee

** I totally use the 90/10% rule which has no negative effects with 2 cheat meals per week, my cheat meals are Wednesday and Saturday.

Are you are interested in giving this a try?

Have a great week and I will enjoy hearing from you... feel free to COMMENT (below) on the blog or E-MAIL anytime me at bethmidfitness@comcast.net

Good luck and good health and happiness to you!

CHEERS,

Beth