Apple-Tuna snack

Here is one of my favourite snacks within the BFL program:

80g Tuna (in Saltwater)
170g Apple
Just cut the apple into small pieces and mix with the Tuna. You get a BFL perfect snack.

Carbs: 20.2g
Protein: 21.3g
Fat: 1.8g
Calories: 128kcal

BFL 4 week results

After having done the Body for Life program for 4 weeks my bodyfat went down from 23.6 to 22.4% (-1.2%) meaning I lost 600g (approx. 1 pound) of fat! :-) I still have the same weight which equals in my muscle mass going up from 40.4kg to 41.1 kg. I am really happy with these results and they motivate me to continue and keep improving. There are certainly some areas in my eating that I can still improve and I will give this some serious thought once I am back from my vacation. I will have enough time then to plan my meals properly and optimize where needed. I will update this post tomorrow with a picture which still needs to be taken.

Keep going strong.

Pasta-Tuna salad à la Zuzana

Today I chose to do a recipe that was acutally created by Zuzana from bodyrock.tv. I tried this before but now I adjusted the ingrediets to give me a good BFL meal. Check out her website if you are interested. She also has some great bodyweight exercises if you are looking for something you can do after the BFL challenge.

For this you will need:
25g of whole grain Pasta
70g Tuna (not in Oil)
7g dried Cranberries
1/4 Onion
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
Coriander


Cook the pasta al dente. While the pasta is cooking cut the onion into small pieces and add to a bowl. Add the olive oil, vinegar and coriander and mix everything to a sauce. Add the tuna, the cranberries and once done the pasta. Serve still a little warm.

You can double the ingredients and eat half of the dish the next day for lunch.

Enjoy!

Carbs: 22.8g
Protein: 21.9g
Fat: 9.4g
Kcal: 261

BFL - Exotic chicken with pear and feta cheese recipe

So here we have the dinner recipe of my dinner from today. It is a exotic tasting chicken with a perfect balance of carbs and protein.

You will need:
1-2 pears (170g)
50g Feta cheese
50g Chicken breast
Salt, Pepper, Paprica
Cooking spray

Prepare the chicken and the pears by cutting them into 1 inch pieces. Then also cut the feta cheese into 1/4 inch pieces and put aside.

Prepare a frying pan with some cooking spray and add the chicken when hot. Season it with salt, pepper and some paprica according to your taste. Then add the pears and the feta. Cook until the feta is melted and pears are just warm but not too soft.

That is already it. Serve and enjoy.

Carbs: 20.1g
Protein: 20.3g
Fat: 10.1g
Kcal: 258

One week in Greece and keep going strong

I am almost at the end of week 4 of my 12 week Body for Life challenge and next week my vacation on Crete is coming up.

I have put quite some thought into this week to make sure that I can continue my 6 workouts and stay clean with my eating.

I bought myself a Theraband and a jumping rope and downloaded some exercise manuals from the internet. With this equipment I hope to get good workouts if the Hotel doesn't have a gym.

For eating I am sure Greece will offer me some nice healthy meals. I just need to watch my portion size. I will be consistent and leave anything that is too much. Even if I always struggle with wasting food but this time it is what I need to do. I will try to find a local grocery store to buy some healthy things for my "snacks" and bring my protein powder. I don't want to go in a Restaurant 6 times a day :-).

I am convinced that with selfdiscipline and a little creativity I can have a successful Body-for-Life week in Greece.

Wish me luck.

Update: Holiday is over and it was really great. LBWO with a theraband does not work.

Set backs and what the challenge is really about

I had my first set back end of last week which was end of week 2 of my Body For Life challenge.

Actually there have been several factors which make the end of the week a set back for me.

First of all I was traveling due to business reasons and I started really well. I moved my weight training (lower body) to the morning instead of the evening. This way I had my exercise covered by the time I left home. This made me really happy and I was proud that I had the strenght to go to the gym 6.00 a.m.

In the evening I went for dinner with the customer and that is when it all started. My meal was not clean, it did not follow the nutrition advice from the website and it was way too much. I tried to convince myself that it was ok and I guess it will be.

Luckily I was finished earlier than I thought and was able to return back home the same day.

As I got up in the morning I must have made a bad move as my back started to hurt really bad. I was not able to make fast movements or lift anything heavier than 2 pounds. I had to stay home and rest. During the day I was really hoping to be able to do my cardio in the evening since it would have been the last thing I had to do to complete my week. But by the time the gym closed I realized that it was not going to happen. The pain was just too much. I felt bad for not being able to make up for the bad dinner from the night before.

I really appreciated Saturday being my free day and I enjoyed it. I rested and I eat what felt good to me.

On Sunday it was absolutely clear to me that I would start my third week of Body for Life whether I was 100% fit or not. And I wasn't. So I skipped the back exercise for my upper body training but did all the rest. I did good and the pain was ok.

I am motivated to go on with the challenge and that is what it really is. I don't think anyone can do this without experiencing difficult times or set backs. If it was that easy it would not be called a challenge.

Consistency is the key as well as self discipline. I am working on both and am sure that I will come out of this as a stronger person (not only physically).

Wish you all the best

xoxo

The benefits of drinking water

Well here are some reasons and explanations why water is good for you:

1. Drinking water enhances fat loss
Water is an essential nutrient. All chemical reactions in the body depend upon it. If you’re trying to lose weight, this is essential. You won’t be able to lose weight without water to flush out the by-products of fat breakdown. Plus drinking enough water will increase the fat burning process by 3%. This may not seem to be alot but you get it for free for just drinking some water.

2. Feel healthier by drinking more water
In many cases, fatigue, headaches and back pain may be caused by dehydration. If you suffer from an afternoon nod off, try drinking more water at lunch. If you or your friends complain of frequent headaches, the amount of water you’re drinking could be responsible. This is something I have expirenced myself. Ever since I have been a child I would have headaches almost every day and also take pain killers almost every day. Ever since I started drinking enough water the headaches have disappeared. I wish someone would have told me that earlier.

3. Drinking water can reduce hunger
Experts say that hunger pangs are often misinterpreted cravings for water. Try drinking water before your regular meals and see if it helps you cut down on the amount of food you eat. It really works as an effective appetite suppressant. Avoid counting tea, coffee, sodas and juices in your fluid intake. Coffee and tea contain caffeine which has a diuretic effect and makes you lose water. Sodas and juices are too sweet—because the body must dilute them, they cause more dehydration.

4. Look younger - drinking water hydrates your skin and can help to prevent cellulite
When the skin is properly hydrated, it looks plump and more radiant. Water will keep the toxins flushed out and help you to cool off through perspiration. Muscles need to have enough water to make them look full too. Plus if your body is dehydrated the connective tissue that holds back your fat cells will loose strenght and cellulite will be worse. Drinking enough water will support this tissue and help it to stay elastic and make your skin look even and firm.

5. Eat less by drinking enough water
Unfortunately our body does not know the difference between thurst and hunger. That is why it reacts with hunger if it is dehydrated. If you feel hungry the next time try drinking a glass of water. A lot of the times this will help and you will end up reducing your calorie intake with no big efforts.

Sore muscles

Now that I am doing regular weight training I am facing very sore muscles. Yesterday I could barely walk because my Hamstrings are so sore.

I have done some research on the internet and there seem to be really only two things that are supposed to help:

1. Magnesium
2. Warmth

The Magnesium I have already tried. I bought some of these liquid Magnesium tubes that you can get in any store that has fitness equipment or fitness supplements. Unfortunately this does not seem to help. At least for me. I still have a little soreness the first day after training and even more the next day. Today is already the third day and my Hamstrings still hurt. Which is awkward. I think I definitely hit my 10 during the weight training if it hurts that much.

I have yet still to try the warmth. Many articles recommend a warm bath to increase the blood flow in the muscles which will help to "heal" the muscle faster. It does sound logical to me but I have not yet felt like taking a bath. Like I never do during summer. I might try just to take a hot shower and concentrate the warm water especially on the area that hurts. I have done my upper body weight training yesterday and still feel good. If these muscles also start to be sore I am really getting into trouble. I hope until then I can walk properly again.

Let me know if you have any tips or tricks that you've tried and that worked for you.

Wish you a nice weekend and much success with your own fitness journey.

Body for Life - Weight training

Yesterday evening I did the lower body weight training of the Body for Life program. I put together my workout according to the instructions on the website (I have still not been able to get a hold of the book). It contains 4 muscle groups with 2 exercises for each. You can find a detailed description here.
After the workout I found that I had not given 100%. Eventhough during the training I felt like I did. Especially during the Hamstring exercises. I will try to push more next time for two reasons:

1) The legs are my problem area (cellulite).
2) The legs are big muscle groups and if I build some muscles there I will burn even more calories during the day.

My gym offered me to program the machines according to my plan. Which I thought was not possible. But I am even happier now that I know it is. I just need flexibility with the weight. I am still trying to find the right intensity and don't want the machine to tell me "You have chosen too much weight". Supported training is good it should just not be restricting.

Body for Life - Cardiotraining

Yesterday evening I completed my first cardiotraining within the Body for Life program. I was really amazed how sweaty and exhausted I was after only 20 minutes. But the interval really does it for me.


To reach your high point at minute 18 and then to keep it up for 60 seconds really takes all you have to give. But I guess this is the point about it. I felt great afterwards.

I am struggeling a little bit with the nutrition part of the program. I can't get a hold of any of the supplements suggested since there is no store or anything like that from EAS and they do not ship internationally. For now I just use a normal protein powder that I bought in a sports store. I would really appreciate one of the protein bars as a snack for in between meals but since it is not available I am going to find another solution. Maybe if I do some research on the internet I will find someone who is importing the products.

Wish me luck.

Careful with dried fruit

A while ago I discovered dried fruit for myself. What a great idea I thought and started eating dried apples, figs, apricots etc. They were delicious. After a while I started using a website to control my calorie intake and had to notice that dried fruit are much higher in calories than I thought. In fact they added so many calories to my diet that I stopped eating them altogether.

At first this did not make sense to me since it was the same fruit just with less water. And this is exactly the thing about it. Since the water is taken out the fruit looses volume and fruit sugar is more concentrated.
While eating an apple takes a few minutes and will fill you up more, due to the water contained in the fresh fruit, eating the same amount of dried apple slices only takes seconds and leaves you less full. This results in you eating more and ending up with much more calories than you think or want.

I am not saying that dried fruit is a bad choice. It is full of vitamins and fibers and low in fat. I would just like to point out that when eating dried fruit portion size is the key. Eat just a little to get the benefits of it. Dried fruit can be a healthy choice and add good things to your diet.

Body for Life

By chance I found this website on the internet: www.bodyforlife.com. The results presented on the site are amazing and it sounds like a logical concept. So I will give it a try for the next 12 weeks.

Today I started with my upper body weight training. I felt really exhausted afterwards and had a protein shake to support muscle growth. I really can't wait to see what will happen within the next 12 weeks.

I will keep you updated.

I am going to post pictures of myself again after 4 weeks to document my progress.

Watch the success and body transformation of Mary Queen.