Diet of the Month

I don't like the way I've been looking lately. I've been eating out and drinking a lot and getting noticeably softer. It's been getting darker earlier, so climbing after work won't be a viable activity anymore. Perfect opportunity to refocus on my fitness goals (i.e. spending more time in the kitchen).

I'm going to do my usual low calorie, high protein diet. It seems to be higher in fat than carbs, but that's not to say it's a low carb diet. My first two meals of the day are pretty carby.

It works out to be around 2100 calories a day. I have a theory that people just don't understand or want to accept how few calories they actually need. I always hear stuff like, "I can't workout while eating so few calories!" Shrug... I workout everyday (sometimes twice a day), climb 4 times a week or more (and not wimpy 1 hour sessions, but like 3+ hour sessions), plus I have a (relatively) large amount of muscle mass... and guess what... I can get by on less than 2000 calories a day.

Ok, I'll get off my high horse... here's the diet...

Muscle Milk and Oats

I've just recently discovered this. It's just a pre-measured cup of oats mixed with some Muscle Milk. Just dump in hot water and you've got a nifty little 300 calorie meal with 30 g of protein and 30 g of carbs. I buy it from Body Building dot com. It's like $2 per little container, which is a complete rip, but hey it's convenient. Buy here.

Cowboy Soup

This has become a staple of my diet. Basically it's just a shit load of vegetables and some steak. It doesn't seem like it from reading the ingredients list, but it smells and tastes fantastic. It's not bland at all. I top mine off with a dollop of Fage Greek yogurt and some Chalula hot sauce. This rings in at about 350 calories per pound (seriously, it's mostly vegetables). Snag this gem of a recipe from here.

Muscle Milk

Mix with water for an easy 300 calories and 32 g of protein. Vanilla is still mind blowingly good.

Grilled Chicken Salad

5 oz of grilled chicken on top of salad greens with half an avocado, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, garnished with 1 oz of feta cheese. I make my own dressing: balsamic vinegar infused with pomegranate, lemon, garlic, olive oil, Splenda. Surprisingly caloric at 400 calories.

Baked or Grilled Salmon

I just get the bag of individually wrapped and frozen salmon filets from Costco. Thaw and cover the filet with House of Tsang Szechuan Spicy Stir Fry Sauce, the pop in the toaster oven for 12 minutes. 400 calories including a lot of protein and good fats.

Muscle Milk Shake

I swear this could pass as a milkshake. Just take a serving of Muscle Milk and blend it with water, ice and half a frozen banana. We'll round this up to 350 calories.

My Current Diet

I typically go on "food kicks" where I really get into a certain type of food, then get bored with it in a month or so. What that translate to is that my diet changes about once a month. Soooo... here's what I'm on this month.

---

Breakfast - 900 AM

If I plan on being performant (i.e. going for a tough climb), I'll eat cream of wheat with peanut butter and brown sugar. Otherwise, I'll have a serving of Muscle Milk blended with half a frozen banana or half a frozen peach.

Lunch - 1200 PM

A chicken wrap made with baked chicken breast, whole wheat tortilla, avocado, tomato, red onion, Fage Greek yogurt and Chalula hot sauce.

Post Workout - 300 PM

One serving of Muscle Milk. Sometimes I'll complement that with some almonds or a slice of turkey with a slice of swiss cheese.

Dinner 1 - 600 PM

Cowboy Soup is a staple of my diet. It's mostly vegetables, beans and steak. It tastes super good though and I don't seem to get tired of it.

Dinner 2 - 900 PM

Baked salmon marinated in some Asian sauce. I alternate that with pan fried lemon/garlic pepper encrusted tilapia with avocado on the side.

Bedtime - 1130 PM

One serving of Muscle Milk blended with half a frozen banana or half a frozen peach.

---

I'm not giving exact measurements in this post because everyone's daily requirements are different. I'm pretty small and workout everyday as well as rock climb 3-5 times a week. My portions are such that I eat about 2200-2500 calories a day.

My current cardio routine

A couple of weeks ago I posted my resistance training routine, so now it's time for the cardio routine. I've always hated cardio and consider myself a cardiovascular wimp. I never thought I'd ever be doing this much cardio...

Every weekday (Monday - Friday) I run 4 miles when it gets dark (around 8:45 PM these days). I'd estimate my pace to be around a 9:30 mile. I pretty much just jog, but sometimes I run.

On Tuesdays I do Mike's spin class and Thursdays I do Ryon's. Both are at noon for 45 mins at Pure Austin.

On the weekends I swim a mile. It's always in a lake, not a pool, and I usually breast stroke half the way.

Of course, I'm out climbing about 16 hours per week, usually spread across the weekend and one weekday. Climbing is an interesting sport though. When I say I'm out climbing for 16 hours, the vast majority of that time is not actually spent climbing. Most of it is spent hiking, talking, tying knots, belaying, trying to stay hydrated and out of the sun, etc.

So to recap...

• M-F - 4 mile run
• TTh - spin class
• SSu - 1 mile swim
• 2-3 days per week - rock climbing

It sounds like a lot, but it's really not. Most of my nights are spent bored, reading on the interwebtubes. We should hang out... post a comment!

My current resistance training routine

Here's my resistance training routine. It's pretty easy. I don't believe in killing yourself in the gym (rather achieve your goals via dieting and nutrition). Every exercise is supersetted and each is done for 3 sets, 10 reps each. There is a strong emphasis on abs and shoulders. The supersetted exercises are grouped together.

Monday - Back / Heavy Abs

• wide grip pullups
• straight leg medicine ball lifts (lying on a decline bench)

• tbar rows
• straight leg lifts (hanging from a pullup bar)

• close grip cable rows
• weighted crunches (on decline bench, hold weight straight up with straight arms)

• reverse curls without thumbs (forearms for climbing)
• machine crunches

• broomstick with rope and weight on end (forearms for climbing)
• machine bicep curls (a vanity exercise)

Wednesday - Chest / Shoulders

• incline dumbell press (4-5 sets, increasing weight)
• bent over rear delt dumbell raises

• flat barbell bench press
• rear delt machine (reverse pec deck)

• machine chest flies
• smith machine shoulder press

• tricep pulldowns on cable machine
• machine shoulder side laterals (chicken dance machine)

• dumbell kickbacks
• dumbell side laterals

Friday - Legs / Light Abs

• squats on smith machine (5 sets, increase weight)
• plate drag on bosu ball

• leg press
• medicine ball lifts (between knees) on flat bench

• quad extensions
• some weird ab machine where you push forward with straight arms
• seated calf raises

• hamstring curls
• medicine ball (or 25 lb plate) twists (for obliques)
• standing calf raises

Notes

I don't really rest... meaning I don't sit and do nothing. I rest by walking between stations, getting a drink, racking the weights, etc.

Workout should take about an hour.

The only exercises I do to failure are bench press, machine flies and the leg lifts. It is not by design, it's just freaking hard sometimes.

I vary the exercises sometimes, especially the grip (wide to narrow and vice versa).

Killer Spin Class

According to my Polar heart rate monitor, my average heart rate was 101% over the course of a 45 min spin class. The max was 106%. Thats 193 bpm avg, 204 bpm max. That's really good for me, who's a self proclaimed cardio wimp.

The spin class was great. It was an instructor that was new to me and she challenged me just hard enough to where I was constantly giving full effort. Sometimes if the instructor is too hard, I just give up, ya know?

Scivation Xtend

Bodybuilding.com's glutamine product of the year!

This is a solid amino acid product that has the standard 2-1-1 ratio of l-leucine (3.5 g), l-isoleucine (1.75 g) and l-valine (1.75 g). It also contains a healthy dose of l-glutamine (2.5 g) and citrulline malate (1 g).

Does this stuff work? I dunno. It's hard to say with nutritional supplements, ya know? It's the same as taking whey protein... there's no real night and day difference, but you take it anyway just to be sure. I do feel like the duration of my post workout soreness has decreased (as l-glutamine is advertised to do), but maybe that's also just a side effect of regularly going to the gym 4 days a week for the past 4 months.

Ok, just to make this "review" easy, let's assume that you believe in amino acid supplements and you are trying to decide which one to get. It'll boil down to price, taste and quality.

I think the quality is good. Scivation has a very good reputation on bodybuilding.com and Xtend has a huge following there.

Price is alright, I guess. Dang amino acids are expensive. It's $50 for a 90 serving container. People take between 1 and 3 servings a day. I take 1.5 servings.

Taste is where it gets interesting. It's advertised as tasting like Koolaid... and yes it does, after you get used to it! The first two or three times I tried "refreshing apple," it tasted like bitter chemicals. So much so that I would sometimes cringe after taking a swig. Then I learned to add more water. 2 scoops per 1 liter seems to do the trick. After that, it started to taste kind of good.

The watermelon flavor was the opposite. It tasted watered down and diluted. After upping the amount to 3 scoops per 1 liter, it actually tastes pretty good.

By now, I'm very used to Xtend's flavor and actually find it very pleasurable. I sometimes drink it just cuz I'm thirsty and am craving something sweet. Tastes like how Jolly Ranchers smell. The watermelon is definitely sweeter than the apple, and I like it better overall.

BSN Syntha-6

Funky red bottle.

Syntha-6's gimmick is that it has 6 different proteins: whey concentrate, whey isolate, egg albumen, milk protein concentrate, calcium caseinate, micellar alpha and beta-casein caseinates. Each type of protein has a different absorption rate, so one shake theoretically gives you a steady protein supply for up to 8 hours.

Here's the macro breakdown for a 44 g serving:

22 g protein
15 g carbs (2 g sugar)
6 g fat (2 g saturated)
200 calories

Compare that to a 70 g serving of Muscle Milk (which also has a blend of different types of protein):

32 g protein
16 g carbs (2 g sugar)
12 g fat (6 g saturated)
300 calories

Ahh, but the serving size is different. Let's put them on equal ground. Here are the macros for a 70 g serving of Syntha-6:

35 g protein
24 g carbs (3 g sugar)
10 g fat (3 g saturated)
325 calories

It boils down to significantly more carbs, and significantly less saturated fat. Note though, that Muscle Milk claims its saturated fat is good for you (medium chain triglycerides, that are more readily metabolized for energy).

So how does it taste? I got Chocolate Peanut Butter and when blended with a banana, ice and water... it tastes damn good. So good that I immediately want to make another one. I think it definitely lives up to it's claim of "ridiculously" delicious. I haven't tried it in plain water yet.

Update: I just tried it in plain water... it has nothing on Muscle Milk. Not bad, definitely good as far as protein goes, but nothing close to retardedly delicious like Muscle Milk.

All in all, I think it's a perfect alternative to Muscle Milk for people who don't like the high amount of (saturated) fat.

Fun factoid... on BodyBuilding.com's best seller list, Syntha-6 is ranked number 4 and Muscle Milk is ranked number 5. BSN has two products on the top 10 list (top 5 actually).

Muscle Milk - Cake Batter

Wow, this stuff actually smells and tastes like cake batter. I'm very impressed.

Now the million dollar question... is it better than Muscle Milk's mind blowingly good vanilla? Ehh, not quite. It's just not as rich. Maybe I mixed it with too much water though. We'll see when I make it again tomorrow.

I have to say though, it's my second favorite flavor right now.

End communication.

Sludging it up

Head SciVation dude demonstrating how to make sludge.

I made (SciVation) sludge for breakfast this morning. It's really thick. Every spoonful took a decent amount of time to eat. It's pretty delicious though. I thoroughly enjoyed every single bite. I highly suggest trying this.

Although I didn't use blueberries this morning, I'm including them in the recipe. I made some other modifications to the recipe as well.

Ingredients

• 1.5 scoop (SciVation) vanilla whey
• 2 tbsp (32 g) all natural almond butter
• 1 tbsp sugar free, fat free chocolate pudding mix
• 1/2 tbsp (Ghirardelli) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp (2 packets) Splenda
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries (thawed)
• skim milk

Procedure

1. Mix all the powders in a small bowl.
2. Mix in the almond butter with little splashes of milk until you have very very thick sludge.
3. Mix in the blueberries.
4. Put in freezer for a few mins.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	40.0	27.18	22.15	391
almond butter	4.5	6.4	17.7	190
whey	33.0	1.5	3.0	108
pudding	0.0	6.18	0.0	27
cocoa powder	0.0	1.5	0.75	8
milk	2.2	3.1	0.2	23
blueberries	0.3	8.5	0.5	35

Notes

Next time, I'm going to try to cut the calories by only using 1 tbsp (16 g) of almond butter.

The original recipe calls for 1 scoop of protein, but I always like adding a bit more.

SciVation Whey (vanilla)

A while ago, I asked the SciVation owner/president for a sample their whey protein via email. He promptly answered and asked for a shipping address. I never received the samples. I'm a little miffed about that, but I bought some SciVation products anyway. I'm pretty sure it was just an honest mistake. SciVation is extremely active on the bodybuilding.com forums and has a fantastic reputation for customer service.

I used Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey before and was very happy with it. There are 2 reasons why I decided to try out SciVation's whey.

• Price. It's cheap as hell.
• The company seems very promising with a focus on customer service, lab tested products, and being owned and run by bodybuilders (who obviously use the products).

It's good stuff. It has the thickness and consistency of EAS Myoplex (it's much thicker than ON 100% Whey), but without the chalky taste. Now granted, I put my whey in fruit smoothies but still, I can tell it tastes good. I mean, I put all my whey in my smoothies and it's like this: nothing can mask the nasty chalky flavor of Myoplex Lite, ON 100% Whey more or less doesn't affect the smoothie at all, SciVation Whey makes the smoothie thick and has a bit more vanilla flavor.

The macro ratios are good. 22 g of protein, 1 g of carbs (sugar), 1 g of fat. I just wish whey protein isolate was listed first in the ingredients (whey protein concentrate is instead)... just for mental peace of mind.

I would definitely buy this product again.

Healthy Cheesecake / Mousse

This is another oldie, but goodie. I perfected this recipe in college, but then lost it and forgot how to make it. The recipe posted below is my best guess...

Ingredients

• 1 cup cottage cheese (low fat or non fat)
• 1 tbsp sugar free, fat free pudding mix
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• vanilla extract (couple drops)
• coconut extract (couple drops)
• Splenda (optional, to taste)
• 1/2 cup thawed frozen strawberries

Procedure

1. Put everything in a mixing bowl.
2. Go sparingly with the extracts.
3. Blend until silky smooth using a hand blender.
4. Put fruit on top and put in refrigerator.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	52.5	26.28	3.9	359
cottage cheese	28.0	6.1	2.3	163
whey	24.0	4.0	1.5	130
pudding	0.0	6.18	0.0	27.0
strawberries	0.5	10.0	0.1	39.0

Notes

For pudding mix flavor, I use cheesecake or white chocolate.

You can add unsweetened cocoa powder to make it chocolate, but then you need to add extra sweetener or it will be bitter.

Instead of using the extracts and Spenda, you can use a couple squirts of Davinci or Torani sugar free syrups.

Using a hand blender is a chore. It's too thick to do in a blender. Maybe a food processor would work better?

How to get fit... a super brief primer

So apparently I lost something like %5 body fat in less than 3 months (heh, I still don't really believe it, I'm going to have it measured again). I went from those pictures above to this...

...in just two and a half months. Here are my thoughts on the process.

On nutrition...

Nutrition is everything. It is by far the most important part when it comes to losing body fat and gaining muscle. Everything is secondary to a proper nutrition plan.

If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. Period.

The quality of food and types of calories consumed dictate what type of weight is gained or lost.

Eat natural foods. Protein bars are bad. Protein powder is a poor substitute for real food. Anything processed is bad (refined sugar and refined flour are especially bad).

Carbs are not bad. I eat lots of carbs everyday. Eat large amounts of fibrous vegetables with every meal (I go through 4 lbs of asparagus and 3 lbs of broccoli a week). Eat small amounts of starchy vegetables and fruit early on in the day, but no so much at night.

Eat large amounts of protein. This helps reduce the amount of muscle you lose when trimming down.

Get your essential fats from natural foods like nuts and salmon.

On physical aesthetic...

Do not concern yourself with weight, only body fat percent. I weighed about 140 in those "before" pictures... and I looked like shit. I weigh 138 now and look much better.

You can lose weight and still be just as flabby as before. You need to replace fat with muscle (i.e. reduce your body fat percent).

On metabolism...

Muscle burns calories just by existing. Fat does nothing. Replacing fat with muscle will increase your metabolism.

You must eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. This will level out your blood sugar and increase your metabolism. This is very important, probably the second most important thing besides nutrition.

On goals and motivation...

Write down a 3 month goal and read it every day. It should be something a little intimidating. It must be measurable.

Reprogram your brain to be motivated. When you catch a negative thought in your head, say (out loud) "stop", then replace it with a positive thought. This will (re)condition your subconscious.

On suppliments...

Don't bother with anything except whey protein powder and a multivitamin.

On cardio...

You need to do cardio. I do it 4-5 times a week.

"Low intensity cardio burning more fat calories" is smoke and mirrors. Let's do a little math game. Let's say that low intensity cardio burns a ratio of 70:30 fat to carbs calories and that high intensity burns a ratio of 50:50. Now lets say you do low intensity for 1 hour and burn 500 calories, that's 350 fat calories. Now I do high intensity for 1 hour and burn 1000 calories. Guess what, I burned 150 more fat calories than you and 500 more total.

This is a bit harsh, but who do you want to look like? Housewife McFatty walking on the tread mill? Or the triathlete that just ran 5 miles at an 8 minute per mile pace?

My favorite cardio is spinning (stationary bike). Cranking up the resistance on the bike always makes my legs sore... so I feel like I'm actually building some muscle rather than just doing cardio.

On weight training...

You need to do this to replace fat with muscle and/or to make sure that you don't lose too much muscle while trimming down.

Always make improvement every time you go to the gym, even if it's a tiny improvement. Get a notebook for this.

Parting thoughts...

If you want a harder look than my "after" pictures, try cutting down on sodium (salt), fructose (sugar from fruit) and dairy products. Unfortunately my diet is high in all of these.

This post is an extremely brief introduction to fitness. If you want a thorough and detailed guide, read Tom Venuto's e-book (the site looks like spam/scam, but it's not).

Can't wait to show results in another 3 months!

ALLMAX Nutrition Product Samples

I'm looking for a Syntax Nectar substitute because apparently Syntrax is an evil company. I asked an ALLMAX representative for a sample of IsoKool, which he obliged and then some (check out the picture of all that he sent)!

Here are my thoughts on the products.

IsoFlex Bar - Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge

Yum... this thing tastes great! Kind of reminds of a Charleston Chew, but not as chewy. I give it a 4/5 on flavor, I most definitely enjoyed eating it.

When it comes to bars though, I'm very skeptical that any are good for you. Weighing in at 330 calories, this is definitely a meal replacement (very close in macros to my daily Muscle Milk shake). It has a nice amount of protein at 31 g, the first ingredient being whey isolate, which is good. It has 12 g of fat (6 saturated) just like Muscle Milk. Then it has 26 g of carbs, 21 of which are sugar alcohols. I don't know how I feel about sugar alcohols.

IsoFlex - Peanut Butter Chocolate

They sent me two packets of this stuff. I made a smoothie with the first one out of a whole banana, 2 spoons of vanilla yogurt, ice and water. The second time around, I used only half a banana and more ice.

Wow! This stuff is delicious! You can really taste the peanut butter and it tastes great. I usually put a tablespoon of almond butter in my smoothies, but with this stuff there is absolutely no need (unless it's for the calories). I generally like ON 100% Whey, but this definitely tastes better than any of the ON chocolate flavors.

Now for the downside... it's 1.5 times more expensive than ON 100% Whey... $35 for 2 lbs... ouch. Guess that's the price to pay for 97% whey isolate.

IsoKool - Green Apple

Great taste, but it's hard to mix. It clumps up and gets all gooey on the spoon. Oh well, that's more or less expected with this type of protein powder. The taste is right up my alley though, and I was just about to buy some when I saw the price... $35 for 2 lbs. Ugh!

Hmm, I just checked and Nectar is $29. I don't remember it being that expensive, but granted I was buying that stuff a few years ago. So I guess $6 more for the IsoKool isn't that bad.

I'm going to buy this. I remember not liking Nectar's apple flavor, but this stuff is pretty good. For the record, Nector's Fuzzel Navel flavor is good... tastes like orange juice.

IsoKool - Lemon Ice Tea

I'm not going to review this tonight because I'm pretty set on the Green Apple flavor. If this flavor turns out to be the bomb, I'll edit this post later.

IsoKool - Tropical Fruit

This flavor doesn't interest me at all, but same goes for it (as the Lemon Ice Tea).

Conclusion

I'm pretty impressed with the sample products they gave me. I will definitely buy the IsoKool Green Apple, but I was in the market for that type of protein anyway.

What's really impressive is that I'm a hair away from buying the IsoFlex Peanut Butter Chocolate, even though I think it's quite a bit out of my price range and I had no prior intention of switching brands for this type of protein. I just really liked the taste, which surprised me given its nutritional profile.

I also think it's really cool that ALLMAX sent me all this stuff just for asking. Seems like the company is on the right track when it comes to customer service.

P.S. The tee shirt is too big but I'm definitely going to use that condom tonight!

Gooey Protein Cake (aka Protein Brownie)

JACKPOT!! Congratulations, you have found the greatest health food recipe of all time.

Full credit goes to this blog post for the original recipe. I have modified it slightly, thus getting different macro nutrient counts.

I can't believe how good this is. I just ate 50g of protein and I'm craving more. It is absolutely delicious.

Oh and get this... it only dirties one bowl and spoon, and takes less than 5 minutes to make. Yeah, greatest health recipe ever.

Ingredients

• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (whey)
• 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp sugar free, fat free chocolate pudding mix
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp Splenda (2 packets)
• 1/4 cup water

Procedure

1. Mix all the ingredients (except the water) in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Mix the water in slowly so the mixture doesn't clump. Add just enough water to have a thick brownie-like batter.
3. Zap in the microwave on high for 1 to 1.5 mins.
4. Turn the container over and give it a good knock and the cake/brownie should plop right out.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	22.0	9.2	2.75	142
protein powder	22.0	1.0	2	108
cocoa powder	0.0	1.5	0.75	7
pudding mix	0.0	6.7	0.0	27

If an ingredient isn't listed in the table, it's because it has no calories.

Notes

Notice the gooey center in the picture? That is the best part. Do not overcook it or your won't get that gooey center!

I used Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey French Vanilla Creme. SciVation Chocolate Whey is supposed to be very good for this recipe also.

Update: I use Scivation vanilla whey now and the nutritional information has been changed to reflect that.

If you use chocolate whey, you don't have to use the cocoa powder.

The original recipe calls for 1 tsp on olive oil. I made it with and without and couldn't tell a difference. 1 tsp of olive oil has 4g of (good) fat and 40 calories.

Add a squirt or two of sugar free flavored syrups (Davinci or Torani) for extra awesomeness. I have hazelnut and caramel coming in the mail, I'll let you know how it goes. If you use these syrups, you should probably cut back on the Splenda (unless you want it really sweet).

I can't stress enough not to overcook it. You don't want it dry, you want it moist and delicious.

Taste it... then look at the nutritional info... your mind will boggle.

Reached my goal 2 weeks early...

Two and a half months ago, I read Tom Venuto's book and gave myself a goal of 10% body fat in 90 days. I estimate that when I started, I was at 15% or higher. One month in, I was measured at 13.5%. Two and half months in, I was measured at 9.3%! The best I have ever done previously is 14.5%, and that was in college while taking some questionable "supplements".

This comes as kind of a shock to me. I don't feel that lean. I definitely don't think I look that lean. In fact, I've been doubling up my exercise on the weekends out of fear of missing my goal. I'm so skeptical, that I'm going to have another test done in a week.

The strange thing is... I hope it's wrong. Why? I don't like my mid section, and I'm hoping that I'm not genetically predisposed to not having abs, despite low bf%. Ryon (my favorite trainer at Pure Austin) says I just need to build some abs using heavy weights. I hope that's the case, because my stomach still seems flabby to me... especially when I'm sitting down.

Well, assuming that it's right and I'm really sub 10%, I look forward to writing my next post about how I did it and the key points that I learned from Tom Venuto and his book.

Btw, Tom is a natrual bodybuilder and is more or less my fitness idol. You really should subscribe to his blog. He's very well spoken (and written), extremely thorough, rational, logical, consistent, but at the same time, very down to earth and relatable. He's great.

Chicken Stir Fry

So simple to make and so damn good. It totally satisfies my "Chinese takeout" craving, but doesn't completely destroy my body.

Ingredients

• half chicken breast (roughly 4.5 oz)
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1/4 onion
• 2 tbsp House of Tsang Szechuan Spicy Stir Fry Sauce

Procedure

1. Bake or grill the chicken, very light marinade optional.
2. Cut onion into slices. Cut broccoli into bite sized pieces.
3. Spray Pam in frying pan, throw in the veggies, cover with a pot lid, stir occasionally.
4. Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces.
5. When the veggies are done cooking, toss in the chicken and the sauce, stir until fully coated.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	33.9	24.2	4.2	266
chicken	29.5	0.0	1.6	141
broccoli	3.8	9.1	0.5	46
onion	0.6	7.1	0.1	29
Tsang sauce	0.0	8.0	2.0	50

Notes

I usually marinate the chicken with Central Market Teriyaki Marinade. It's organic and very low calorie (15 per tbsp) and most of it runs off the chicken anyway.

I like broccoli. I usually use more than a cup. The listed nutritional info is for 1.5 cups.

Obviously, the bad stuff are the sauces which are mostly sugar, but it's only 6g total if you don't marinate the chicken (just use salt, garlic powder, pepper, onion powder).

Hole in the Head

That's what Aimee calls it anyway.

Ingredients

• 1 slice 100% whole wheat bread
• 1 large whole egg

Procedure

1. Make hole in the head, err, bread.
2. Toast one side of bread in frying pan with a little Pam.
3. Flip bread over, put egg in hole.
4. Let egg cook for a while, then flip the entire thing over.
5. Let cook until yoke is desired consistency.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	10.0	20.0	6.0	170
bread	4.0	20.0	2.0	100
egg	6.0	0.0	4.0	70

Notes

I use my fingers to pinch a hole in the bread, but I imagine a cookie cutter works better.

I like my yoke a little runny.

I top mine off with hot sauce (Cholula).

Muscle Milk - Dulce de Leche

It's good, but it's not crazy good like Vanilla Cremé or like how Chocolate Milk used to be.

End communication.

Caesar Chicken Wraps

Salad dressing is usually extremely bad for you (creamy blue cheese, ranch, Caesar), but I found some yogurt based salad dressing that is really good. Thus this recipe resides in my "healthy" stash.

Ingredients

• 1/2 chicken breast
• 1 tbsp Caesar dressing
• 1 whole wheat tortilla (burrito sized)
• shredded lettuce

Procedure

1. Bake the chicken breast with some light seasoning. I use cracked salt, cracked pepper and garlic powder.
2. Chop the chicken and let cool. I shove it in the freezer for 5 minutes because I'm impatient.
3. Toss chicken, a handful of lettuce and the Caesar dressing in a mixing bowl.
4. Heat the tortilla on both sides in a frying pan. Don't use oil or anything.
5. Dump the chicken/lettuce/dressing mix onto the tortilla and wrap it up!

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	35.5	29.5	7.9	299
chicken	29.5	0.0	1.6	141
dressing	0.5	1.5	3.2	40
tortilla	5.0	25.0	3.0	110
lettuce	0.5	1.6	0.1	8

Notes

The dressing I use is yogurt based and made by Bolthouse Farms. It's good stuff; no preservatives or added sugar.

Use 100% whole wheat tortillas. Note that "wheat" nor "whole wheat" is the same as "100% whole wheat". If you're unsure, just use these.

Breaded Chicken

Ugh, processed flour! It's not as much as you think though. See the nutritional info and notes section.

Ingredients

• chicken breasts
• flour
• 1 whole egg
• splash of milk
• breadcrumbs
• tomato sauce (optional)

Procedure

1. Beat the egg and milk in a mixing bowl like you're going to make scrambled eggs.
2. Dry the chicken breasts with some paper towels.
3. Cut the chicken breasts in half (like you're flaying) so you have thin chicken breasts.
4. One half-breast at a time, roll in the flour, dunk in the egg, and toss in the breadcrumbs
5. Bake for 15 mins at 350 degrees.
6. Optionally serve with 1/2 cup tomato sauce poured on top.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	37.0	33.9	4.9	341
chicken	29.5	0.0	1.6	141
flour	0.5	3.8	0.0	18
egg	1.0	0.1	0.8	12
breadcrumbs	4.0	20.0	1.5	110
tomato sauce	2.0	10.0	1.0	60

Notes

See? It's not a carb overload. In fact, the protein to carb ratio is over 1

When I make this recipe, I use 3 whole chicken breasts, which makes 6 servings total. I estimate 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs for each serving. 1 egg easily covers all 6 servings (I even have to throw away left over egg). I estimate that 1/4 cup of flour covers all 6 servings.

Use organic tomato sauce. I know, I know... it's literally twice the price... but it has a third of the sugar! HEB tomato sauce has 6g sugar vs only 2g sugar for Central Market organic.