Workout Routine

I haven’t kept up my food journal.  It’s a lot of work although I think it would probably be beneficial to meeting my workout targets.  I couldn’t find anything that helped me quickly calculate nutrition information for the meals I eat.  I tend to make all my own food for supper and I’m a non-measuring type cook so it’s very difficult to track what I’ve done!

The good news is the workouts are continuing and I’m already seeing improvements.  It feels good to sit at your desk and actually feel the muscles on your body instead of just feeling like a gelatinous blob. I’m absolutely appalled at the low weights that I’m doing but that will improve with time.  I didn’t realise that I had let my strength slip so much!  The last time I really did weight training with free weights was in Dallas around 1998 so it’s been a while.

Strength Training Day 2

Today is break day and I need it!  I cannot walk normally because my leg muscles are so tired.  This would be great news if I hadn’t taken it so easy last night.  Nevertheless what’s done is done and I’ll do it again tomorrow.  Today’s food is quite said.

• 2 Cups Coffee (0 *)
• Boston Chicken Sandwich, unbreaded (581 cal, 79g pro, 24g carb, 13g fat)
• 2 Cups Jasmine Tea (0 *)
• Chicken Fillets w/mushroom, tomato (343 cal, 66g pro, 9.5g carb, 5.5g fat)
• 1 White Pitta (150 cal, 6.25g pro, 59g carb, 0.75g fat)
• 1/2 tub hummus (316 cal, 11g pro, 13.5g carb, 41.5g fat)
• 1 cup whole milk (146 cal, 8g pro, 11g carb, 8g fat)
• 3 cloves raw garlic (just for fun)

Total for the day:

• 1,536 calories
• 170.25g protein (48% – 681cals?)
• 117g carbohydrates (33% – 468cals?)
• 68.75g fat (19% – 618cals?)

Strangely I get 1,767 calories when I use 4 calories per gram for protein and carbohydrates, 9 calories per gram for fat.  I’m not sure what’s happening here but I’ll use my original numbers until I figure it out.  I’ll have to increase protein and fat from what I took in today I guess.  Suggestions?

Strength Training Day 1

I’ve never really done strength training. My swimming provided fitness training and, of course it made me stronger but it wasn’t actually strength training. I tried with Erik when I lived in Dallas but our enthusiasm ran out after just a couple of months. The strange thing is that I’m faced with an odd situation of actually needing to eat more. I just added up my food for today.

• 2 Cups of Coffee (0 *)
• 1 Large Bowl Chicken Laksa Soup (630 cal, 43g P, 49g CH, 31g Fat)
• 4 Pieces of Bacon (300 cal, 32g P, 0 CH, 19g Fat)
• 1 Yellow Pepper (50 cal, 2g P, 12g CH, 1g Fat)
• 2 Medium Tomatos (22 cal, 1g P, 5g CH, 0.2g Fat)
• 1 Large Hummus Tub (632 cal, 22g P, 27g CH, 83g Fat)
• 2 White Pitta (300 cal, 12.5g P, 59g CH, 1.5g Fat)
• 3 Cups of Milk (438 cal, 24g P, 33g CH, 24g Fat)

This makes my total for the day:

• 2,372 Calories
• 136.5 grams Protein (28%)
• 185 grams Carbohydrates (38%)
• 160 grams Fat (34%)

The dietary guide that I’ve been reading suggests about 3,000 calories, 180g Protein, 180g Carbohydrates and 120g Fat. It looks like I need to try to get my protein and carbohydrates up and my fat intake down a bit. Unfortunately, it appears that hummus might have to be reconsidered as a major part of my diet and I might have to start drinking semi-skim milk again.

Tonight was the first night of my circuit. I’m absolutely stunned at how little strength I have in my upper legs. Everything else made about the showing I expected but I could barely manage fifteen pound weights in each hand while doing static lunges and even then I barely made my 15 reps per set. I’m looking forward to seeing how long I can keep this up though!
Weigh in: 78 Kg

Twenty 20 Cricket at the Oval

We went to a Twenty 20 match at the Oval last year and it didn’t quite live up to our expectations. This year however, we had a much better time. We were in line with the wicket so we could see what was going on and we were not sitting in the sun! Come to think of it, not frying in the sun might have had a lot to do with our satisfaction. Now for the bad news: Surrey lost to Sussex (counties in England, btw).

Amino-Peptides

Olay Regenerist™ lotions are simply amazing. I’ve been reluctantly using lotion for the last few years since I can’t stand the sandpaper dryness that my face has become but it always felt as if the moisture was actually the lotion and once it evaporated then the dryness was back. Amino-peptiudes are different though. I applied the night cream version then went to bed. When I woke up in the morning and gave my face that half rub, half slap morning treatment I suddenly stopped on the first slap. I just couldn’t believe how soft my skin was. I took a shower and when I got out and dried off, it was still soft and moist!

Immensely impressed, I set about applying it daily from then on. I’ve missed some night applications due to my friend Mr. London Pride and I even skipped one day because I didn’t think I needed it but other than that I’ve become a devout follower of amino-peptides. I’m starting to sound like my mom when she was in her thirties which is a little worrying. I remember aerobics tapes and our healthier eating attempts and they mimic my current life to perfection.

It’s quite sad but I guess this is just another item that firmly confrms me as a metrosexual. More worrying is that I’m writing about lotion on the same day that Michael writes about Krav Maga!

The Start of the World Cup (in High Definition?)

You may know that I’m not a huge sports fan so a post on the topic might be a bit surprising. I don’t follow football regularaly but it’s pretty difficult to not be excited about the World Cup games when you live in any country in the world but the US. Businesses close down. Pubs fill up. Faces are painted. Everyone is wearing sports gear but you’re not surrounded by chavs. Overall it’s just a great time.

I thought that I would be able to treat myself and some mates to matches in high definition television for the first time. We could see two out of the three matches in glorious detail. Only one had to be watched in the blocky and blurry resolution that’s been around since the 1950s. Can you guess which one? Of course it was the England match.

We still managed to have a great time and cheer on England to a win. We had a great BBQ and I can’t really complain. From tomorrow I’m looking in to why I can’t get BBC in HD and I hope to have it all sorted out as soon as possible. In time for the USA match tomorrow is doubtful, for the Korean match on Tuesday is possible but I’ll be at work and Thursday we’ll probably watch it in the pub if we can find a place to stand. So I guess I don’t have to be in too much of a hurry about it.

Americans are already familiar with the improvements that highdef broadcasts give you but the UK is only launching service now. You can get it on Sky and a mere 450 of us are trialling the broadcast in London. I felt lucky when I was selected but the wind fell out of those sails on yesterday. Hopefully I’ll be able to watch at least one England match at full resolution!

Come on England!

It’s only fair to provide some impressions of the high definition TV (HDTV) service. At first we weren’t that impressed but I think it’s because we were just too picky and looking for very specific details. We settled in to the first half and were quite shocked when we switched back to the standard definition TV (SDTV) during halftime as a comparison. All of the sudden, everything looked blocky and blurry. We really couldn’t believe that we had to watch the England game like that! It is something that you just get used to after a while and forget how good it is. What I could have done without was watching the sweat pour off of Jim Rosenthal’s face. At the start of the halftime broadcast he was dry as a bone but mere minutes in and he was dripping wet. We went back to the SDTV broadcast and you couldn’t notice a thing at all. Announcers must hate HDTV!

Now, for the Americans who might not realise that a game with contestants from all around the world is actually happening, you can view the BBC World Cup 2006 Schedule. USA is ranked quite highly this year so you should tune in! The games are being broadcast in HDTV to the US too as far as I know.