Posts tagged diet
5toFit Day3and4
Oops, I let the last 2 days get away from me without posting updates on my 5toFit adventures! Sorry about that - Adventures are tiring and I’m wiped -I can’t even remember what I did yesterday :). But in a nutshell, I have eaten a lot of food of the green vegetable variety, shunned starchy sugary foods and alcohol, and kept my workouts on track. The number on the scale has dropped everyday, but I attribute that to water loss and try not to get obsessed by it (though it helps for motivation). I did realize today that when I set a specific goal and create a game plan to achieve it (which includes publicizing it), I really go gung ho and focus. This is something that I’m going to try to translate to my professional /creative life. I have martial arts/ fight training again tomorrow along with bunch of writing work before I head to San Fran so I need to get some sleep! Nite all
T
#5toFitDietDay2
Evenin’ folks! Just wanted to touch base and thank so many of you for following along and for your kind and supportive comments! This is Day 2 of my 5 day adventure to get back on track with my intense training and diet regime. I always find ‘body image’ a difficult topic to address with candor publicly because it’s really important to support a healthy body image and good nutrition…and not glorify the Hollywood ideal…but also be realistic about how much work it can take to transform your body into your goal physique. My body is curvy but muscular so the camera can be unkind to it if I’m carrying some extra weight.
I pretty much stuck to my intended diet except for a little diversion at 6pm to the granola cereal box. Dinner was chicken, yellow peppers, snow peas, and onions that I simmered in low sodium chicken broth, lemon and white wine. I had a protein shake for breakfast, two eggs, steamed spinach and a no sugar protein bar for lunch after my fight training (don’t mix the protein bar with eggs- stomach agony) and an apple and a few almonds as a snack. And lots of water with lemon. Not bad :) How was your day? Off to decompress before bed.
Sweet Dreams!
#5toFit workout Day 2. Had karate/ fight training today after a 2 week break due to my shoulder injury. After yesterday’s workout and then the hour plus with my instructor today, I will definitely be feeling it tomorrow.
A lot of you ask me what I do in a session. It changes a lot. Today we warmed up with traditional boxing and kickboxing on the focus mitts and then went into kihon- which are basic techniques: strikes, blocks and kicks that are done up and down the court, focusing on hip action, breathing, combinations and foot placement. We then took a set of five kicks and one counter block and strike to the focus mitts- ie. i was attacking my instructor. We did them over and over again. We then mixed it up with more boxing rounds for cardio and then finished with a traditional kata which is what the video shows. We actually filmed this a month ago abut its what I also did today. I am currently working on 3 different katas (which mean forms). They take a very long time to perfect and mine are still very much a work in progress. :)
How was your workout?
#5toFit: Nutrition, Day 1.
I’ve been aiming to follow the same diet for about most of my time in LA, since I was diagnosed with severe hypoglycemia (I have diabetes in my family) almost a decade ago. I started having low blood sugar attacks when I first moved to LA and was an assistant at WMA -where I was surviving on sugar coffees, teriyaki rice bowls and pretzels (carb overload with long periods between food throwing my insulin into overdrive). I finally saw a nutritionist (the late, famed ‘food nazi’ Hermien Lee) who put me on strict, balanced diet that saw me eating every few hours and getting rid of sugar, salt and preservatives. For those of you who know me as a ‘ziplock queen’ carrying broccoli and almonds around with me, it’s because of Hermien. She was also instrumental in me understanding that looking your best comes from strict but healthy nutrition and that it also can be really hard work; there are no quick fixes to losing weight and looking your best, especially if you weren’t born with the genes of a super model (and despite what the magazines tell you.)
Being an athlete, I like to see the body as an engine, so my goal this week is to get it working as efficiently as possible. My diet is as follows:
1. Little meals every few hours to maintain metabolism even if calories are reduced.
2. A diet heavy on lean protein (chicken, fish) and vegetables and some essential oils.
3. No alcohol. (I love wine so this is hard for me)
4. Low salt (seriously- it makes a huge difference).
5. No sugar, flour, pasta, crackers, cereal, cheese, ice cream, candy, etc.
6. 2 exceptions to that rule: A piece of dark chocolate (if I’m really craving sugar) and agave in my coffee.
7. Lots of water, especially with lemon.
8. Lemon on everything- use as a substitute for dressing.
9. Eat dinner at least 3 hours before I go to bed.
10. If I start getting b*tchy I’ll add some rice / quinoa to my lunch. :)
This diet has worked for me EVERYTIME I have stuck to it. But you have to PREPARE for it. I spent my lunch hour chopping up veggies to put in tupperware containers and will be grilling up a big batch of chicken tomorrow. And you have to eat more often than you think, or that sandwich/ burger/ taco will look really tempting as will that box of wheat thins. Tonight I had steamed spinach, a piece of salmon with sliced tomatoes on top with a lemon garlic marinade. Yes, I made it. No, it wasn’t as good as it sounded, as I overcooked both the spinach and the salmon. But Hermien would be proud.
Hope this inspires you to treat your body well! Keep the comments/ tweets coming too, I’ll try to respond to them all.
T
#5toFIT Workout Day 1
Some of you were suggesting that I do CrossFit to power up the fitness this week. Thanks for the suggestion! I don’t do CrossFit per say, but I do integrate heavy interval training into my workouts, especially when I’m with my fight trainer. I’m limited as to what I can do upper body wise because of my torn shoulder muscle (which is REALLY frustrating) but I’m trying to work around it. Just no pushups, pull ups or burpees for me right now.
Today’s workout:
1. Warmed up legs with squats.
2. 20 mins on Stairmaster (caught up on Hollywood Reporter).
3. 30 mins on Elliptical with interval sprints (incline 4-13, levels 10-13).
4. Circuit Training: 10 power jump squats (as high as you can jump-holding a kettle ups the intensity), 20 rapid mini jump squats, front plank (1 min) sides planks on each side (30 sec each), bicep curls and hammer curls (15-20 each side, 10 & 12 pounds) balancing on one leg to engage core and glutes. REPEAT 3 TIMES!
5. Stretch.
Then I went grocery shopping- I’ll post that excitement later tonight with some leafy green pictures ;)
How was your workout today? Don’t forget a focused, intense 20 min cardio and body weight workout (squats, pushups, burpees, planks, sprints) does more for your body than a mindless 40 minutes on a cardio machine. You have to be building muscle if you want to burn fat.
Happy training!
t
#5toFIT
Who wants to join me in a little five day Operation BABE bootcamp? Let’s just say I’ve been indulging a wee bit too much food and wine over the past month without countering it with extensive workouts (I pulled my shoulder doing pull-ups) so I decided to step on the dreaded scale this am and yup, that number is definitely higher than it should be. But beyond the number, I don’t feel as sharp and fit as I like to be, more puffy and fuzzy. As I’m heading to San Fran this weekend with family (ie. dinners!) AND have to be in front of the camera next week (I’m shooting a very cool project), I am going to dedicate these next five days to being a lean mean exercise and diet machine. Just because misery loves company (eating really healthy and not drinking when you’re stressed from work is not easy!), I thought I’d post updates here in case you want to power up your body with me. I’m going to hashtag it #5tofit…not that someone can become fit in just 5 days, but it’s a great way to jump start any diet.
Disclaimer: I’m not a certified trainer or nutritionist…just an aspiring action hero.
Let’s do it!
