Showing posts with label The Zone Diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Zone Diet. Show all posts

Saturday, March 31, 2012

enduraFit Challenge Week 2

Warning: If you are hungry you may not want to view this post, right now. 

Well, I just completed another week of the enduraFit Challenge with enduraLAB.

Here is my update.
 - I spent way too much money at Sam's Club === In my defense, I stocked up. So, this week my total should be reasonable. Fingers Crossed. Legs Double Crossed.
 - We all know this, but junk food is more affordable. I'm not even buying organic crap, I'm just buying healthy crap. CRAP. CRAP. Yes, two craps are necessary.
- Trey told me to stock up on the eggs, so I did. When he saw them in the fridge he was like WTH is that?! So, far we've made it through one and a half cartons. Cartons = grey thingies.
-
 A Peek Into My Fridge

Fast Grab and Go Protein, hard boiled eggs.
A Peek Into My Fridge
I've adopted a baggie system. You can call me the bag lady, that's cool.
A Peek Into My Fridge
I label the baggies, so I don't have to measure, when I'm ready to cook. I can just grab "2 blocks of squash" and get them in the oven. It was a time saver. Washing and chopping the veggies also helped.
A Peek Into My Fridge

Here is an example of a Zone Diet snack. You've got 1 oz of protein, a serving of carbs, which mine happened to be half an apple and a side of fat. I picked avocado slices, but I could've done nuts or oil. You can't see all the chicken, but it's buried under there.
A Peek Into My Fridge
I love a colorful plate and the herbs made it taste so fresh. In case you don't recognize it, the protein under the bush of herbs is flounder.
A Peek Into My Fridge
I was so disappointed, I bought crab meat thinking I would love it, but it was disgusting. I ate it all, but believe me, I drowned it in lime juice and Louisiana hot sauce. It needed something! Later, I read the label  and it said imitation crab meat. I don't' know if that is why it tasted off to me or if I just don't like crab anymore. I thought I liked it....
A Peek Into My Fridge
Chicken Lettuce wraps, smothered in salsa. This week, I'm on a salsa and pepper kick.
A Peek Into My Fridge
So, that's my update on the challenge. During the workweek, I stayed right on track. Now, it's the weekend and well, I'm not really worrying too much about it. I'm even taking a break from exercising. It felt good to sleep in this morning. I've got to enjoy these low key mornings while they last, Dakota will be here before I know it. 10 more weeks!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Week 1 of enduraFIT Challenge

I thought I'd give you an update on how my 10 week challenge is going. This is an update on the diet challenge. At this time, I won't cover the exercise or rest/recovery portion. This is week 1 and slowly, but surely the Zone diet, is starting make more sense to me. I'm following the Zone, but still sticking with the Paleo Food Groups, meaning I'm avoiding dairy, legumes, and grains. Meat, Veggies, Fruit, Oil, and nuts are my food friends. I'll probably add oatmeal, sparingly, to my breakfast menu in a few days?/weeks?, but I want to give this a good try, before doing that. I'm not trying to be a Paleo or Zone poster child, so don't expect perfection. This weekend we have friends and family in town and I will not be strict, when eating out. Did someone say nachos?
Here is an example of what a typical eating day looks like for me. IT's SO MUCH FOOD!

Breakfast at 5:30 am:
3 Eggs, 4 Slices of Bacon, 3 Cups of Broccoli, 1/3 of a banana, and 3 almonds (not pictured). So ,all this food is considered a 4 block zone diet meal, at least I think it is. I'm trying to wrap my mind around how this whole zone thing works, but give or take, this is a 4 block meal. I think Trey needs to follow a 5 block Zone Diet, which means more food for him.
  Typical 4 Block Zone Diet
Snack at 9 am: 
Whey Protein Shake (half scoop) with Almond Milk (4-6 oz)

Lunch at 12 pm: 
Salad, measured accordingly
Herb Infused Apple Salad
Snack at 3 pm:
1 oz of meat/protein, half an apple, a few almonds

Dinner at 7 pm: 
6 oz. of Meat, 2 cups of tomato sauce, 1 cup of broccoli with EVOO, half an apple.
Meatballs wit Veggies and Apple Slices
That's a butt-load of food
What I don't like about the Zone is all the measuring I have to do. I have to weigh my meat and measure my veggies and fruit to make sure I have the right amount for my blocks. When I was eating Paleo, I liked it because there was no measuring, but I feel like with the zone, I'm eating more of a balanced meal...with Paleo it was free for all - anything goes. There is definelty more structure following the Zone plan.

So, now that you see what I eat in a typical day, you're probably thinking oh, my goodness that's probably a zillion calories. I know, that's how I felt. I mean I'm eating huge portions and cups and cups of veggies and fruit. Out of curiosity, I've been calculating my caloric intake and considering my workout regimen and I've been either right around my target caloric range or slightly over or under. Interesting.