Sunday, March 6, 2011

Continually tweaking the diet.

I've really been tired this past month. The feeling is hard to describe, other than just beat up, and not just mentally. There are some personaly reasons why I wouldn't be feeling my best, but I've still been feeling like something is wrong. Although I feel like I am starting to look better and better, I don't feel like I should feel lousy. When I weighed myself earlier this week I weighed 188 pounds. That means I've lost about eight pounds since I've started the paleo challenge here at CFOT. That made me think the two are linked, and I think I've found the answer, I'm not eating enough protein.

I was originally a Zoner. Although I'm now following Paleo, I've been trying to combine the two. From what I've calculated earlier, I should have 4 block snacks and 2 block snacks. That's for a total of 16-18 blocks (and that was when I was weighing 205!). I've always felt this wasn't enough, but the calculations keep getting back to that result. It's 7 grams of protein a block, so that means I've been eating roughly 112-120g of protein.

That is waaaay too little.

A good rule of thumb is you should eat a gram of protein for a pound of lean body mass. Assuming a 15% bodyfat (Which, honestly, I feel is generous because I seem to have better definition then when I was in High School and that was when I had 12%), I have 160 pounds of lean body mass. That means I should be eating roughly 40g of protein more than what I've been doing.

When I first figured this out I'll admit my first response was something akin to "Well great, how am I going to get that much protein?" I already feel like I'm eating all the time, and preparing/buying even more protein is going to be costly both in money and in time. So what's a crossfitter to do?

I think the answer is protein shakes. I've always been hesitant about them, not sure why. I guess because they're unnatural? I don't know. But whatever gave me pause isn't an issue now, because I've been downing a shake at least once a day.

I know everyone has their own personal preference of protein powder, and what I'm trying now is about time protein. One of my friends works for them, and so of course it came highly recommended. I got Chocolate and a trial taste of mocha mint and cinnamon swirl. So far I've tried it with some almond milk, and it's pretty tasty, but not very filling. However, since I've started taking them I have started feeling much much better. I mean I still feel sore as hell, but I just feel better.

This tweak and my daily GHD work will hopefully get me that freaking six pack I've always wanted.

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