Overview of Research Program

As promised (and late) here is a general outline of what I will be doing over the next 16 weeks, and beyond. You can find a link to the article here

If you don’t want to read the link then basically the researchers with the University of South Australia are looking at how continous dieting and intermittent (on/off) dieting compare.

The inclusion criteria for the research was:

Aged 18+
BMI over 27kg/m2
Healthy of have type 2 diabetes managed by diet alone or stable doe metformin
Not pregnant of breast feeding (I didn’t have to worry about this one)

Exclusion criteria was:

Previous surgery for weight reduction
Drinking more than 2 standard drinks per day and not able /willing to decrease (due to high calorie contend)
Participating in any ongoing dietary studies
Eating out more than once a week and not able/willing to decrease for the duration of the study

As I didn’t meet any of the exclusion criteria is was all go from there.

I am sticking to a 5500kj (1315 cals) diet per day and it is structured out so I am meeting a certain amount of fats/ oils, vegetables, protein etc.

A day for me will be broken down as follows:

Cereal: 50g High fibre cereal (3/4 cup)
Bread: 3 Slices per day
Dairy: 2 serves
1 serve is equal to 250ml skim milk
200g diet yoghurt
20g full fat cheese or 40g reduced fat cheese
Fruit: 2 serves
1 serve is equal to 150g fresh or tinned, unsweetened fruit
150ml unsweetened fruit juice
30g dried fruit
Protein foods:
Lunch 50g cooked meat, poultry or fish
Dinner 150g of lean meat, poultry or fish (raw weight)
Vegetables: 4 Cups (no potato or sweet potato)
2 cups of salad greens and 2 cups of mixed greens
Fats and Oils: 20g of poly or monounsaturated oil or spread

I am now in my third week and already 2.3kgs down from starting weight (I report back fortnightly) and apart from feeling quite hungry initially, I am on the right track now and starting to adapt.

Along with this I am required to 10,000 steps per day, but since my City to Bay Run on Sunday I have not been feeling the best and haven’t been able to train as much as what I would have liked to.

So with this, I have a couple of extra days of “recovery” and time to finish planning my program which will now start from Monday and I hope to add this to the blog at some point over the weekend.

Until next time, happy fitness!

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Paleo not for weight loss

I was reading the local (online) rag earlier today, and found the following article quite interesting. Dr Loren Cordain, author of ‘The Paleo Diet‘, explains how Paleo is not really to be used for weight loss, but more directed to help with the eating to reduce the risk of chronic disease.

I am not on a specific diet or “fad” as some people will refer to things that aren’t considered normal, so this is from a complete outside point of view. In saying that does a Paleo diet only work for Crossfit, and can only Hippies have a vegeterian/ vegan food intake?

Here is a link to the article online

Personally I think that whatever food you choose to eat/ not eat shouldn’t be based on how you think you are perceived. I am trying to learn the art of Crossfit, but don’t eat a Paleo specific diet. I am not a person who runs around in the fields hugging trees ( a bit over the top I know) wearing hemp pants, but don’t eat tofu and vegetables etc. I have gotten to where I am by eating.

Yes, I give in and have a takeaway burger. Yes, I will have a beer (just no where near as much as I used to). Yes, I enjoy an ice cream or lolly with my son and daughter. But, while I do all of those things I offset it all with hard work and strictness Monday through Friday. I know I am never going to stick to the perfect diet or meal plan, but what I know is – I will always do the right thing towards losing more weight and being healthy and not go back to how I was.

What I do is take a recipe from column A and another from column B based on what I feel like eating that week. So maybe I have found the “perfect” diet…haha! I love reading about how these specific diets work for everyone else, and their outlooks about what they choose and why. I did recently read an article from a blogger Pink and Paleo which I really enjoyed – Paleo vs. Vegan.

I’d love to hear what your choice/s are and and why.