.... in search of greatness ....
At some point you have, or will, struggle with unwanted middle aged excess weight, and it has been no different for me. In fact, my fitness, or lack there of, has seen its struggles as far back as my late twenties. Between eating and drinking […]
I love potatoes, do you love potatoes? My personal favourite is a baked potato that has been mixed with butter and cheese, twice baked and loaded with all of the fixings. Unfortunately the amount of carbs and calories that come along with this treat are […]
This past New Year I jumped on the scale, looked between my toes to find my weight at over 216lb, again. Now I was intentionally gaining weight last year, eating alot and strength training regularly. So this was not a huge surprise, but I didn’t […]
Been so busy these recent weeks, but as promised I am checking in with progress on the Impact Fitness Challenge that I embarked on. It has been a daunting challenge pushing myself to melt off 25 lbs in 6 weeks, and I typically wouldn’t recommend […]
I have been looking for something to up the ante with my training lately. I didn’t know exactly what, but something that would continue to push my training regimen to the next level. I found a call out for a “Best Self Challenge” from Impact Fitness […]
I love potatoes, do you love potatoes? My personal favourite is a baked potato that has been mixed with butter and cheese, twice baked and loaded with all of the fixings. Unfortunately the amount of carbs and calories that come along with this treat are extremely high; definitely not conducive with the typical low calorie diet or those striving to be in Keto or eat low carb. I have tried a few different takes on alternates and found this particular one to be my absolute favourite, it uses a zucchini to be the “boat” to keep it all together and the mash is mostly cauliflower which gives it that dense creamy texture. For a massive serving it is only 9 net carbs (big improvement to the 50g carbs found in a twice baked potato – ie. The Keg), and provides more protein and beneficial nutrients … not to mention it tastes amazing!!!
Creates 2 servings of open faced Twice Baked Zucchini Boats
INGREDIENT PREP
DIRECTIONS
This makes 2 servings of the Twice Baked Zucchini Boats. Each serving has the following nutrition:
| Twice Baked Zucchini Boats – Nutrition | Calories | Fats(g) | Carbs(g) | Fiber(g) | Net Carbs(g) | Protein(g) |
| Per Serving | 446 | 37.5 | 12.7 | 3.7 | 9.0 | 17.9 |
KETO … a very misunderstood word and approach to eating, some might picture a food plan that is strictly meat, eggs and butter. This is simply not the case, it’s not nearly as restricting as one might think it is, and there is certainly much […]
This past New Year I jumped on the scale, looked between my toes to find my weight at over 216lb, again. Now I was intentionally gaining weight last year, eating alot and strength training regularly. So this was not a huge surprise, but I didn’t […]
At some point you have, or will, struggle with unwanted middle aged excess weight, and it has been no different for me. In fact, my fitness, or lack there of, has seen its struggles as far back as my late twenties. Between eating and drinking everything and anything in front of me while counting on a metabolism that was beginning to wind down, in combination with multiple sport injuries that reduced my active life to a relatively dormant existence, the pounds slowly crept up on me until I stepped on the scale one day and was surprised to see it register 230 + lbs.
It was a day I’d rather forget. I took off my shirt and took a hard, long look at what was in front of me. It was certainly not the young athletic man that would compete in 10k races and would have no issue maneuvering a difficult rock climbing route. At that point I told myself that I would get back in shape, no more messing around…..
It has been a few years since then, and my weight and general fitness has fluctuated up and down with the multitude of “get fit quick” plans, diet programs, in combination with a general lack of discipline. I have tried many different ways to lose the weight, and I was not entirely unsuccessful in my attempts. In fact, I lost significant amounts at times, but would ultimately gain some, if not all of it back.
It was not until recently that it became clear that I was obsessing over the scale and not truly focusing on my main objective – getting fit! I had dropped to my lowest in years, around 175 lb, but was what the fitness folk call “skinny fat” (which might have been worse than where I started). My base metabolic rate was way down and without a low calorie intake it wouldn’t be long until the fat regrouped. I had low drive, low energy, and after a visit to the doctor I even had low testosterone levels. Not exactly what I was looking to achieve when I had set my self on that “get fit” path!
I began strength training a lot more, putting cardio nearly on the back burner, eating with a daily surplus to ensure I would gain muscle. It was working, I felt better, and within half a year not only did I feel stronger but I also was happy to find that my T levels had risen back up (phew!!!). Unfortunately, with these positive gains also came the undesired fat, or dirty gains as the body building community calls it. A result of eating much more than I needed, all in pursuit of building muscle, it had me trying to knock my weight back down again.
It’s been difficult trying to dial in the right diet with an active lifestyle that I can maintain on a daily basis, but I am determined to get it right…in fact I am determined to get in the best shape of my life. Not the easiest task at the age of 38, but nowhere near impossible, I am giving myself less than 2 years to make it happen.
I am setting out to become fitB4forty….
Sick of the same old mediocre offerings that life seems to bring your way? Feel like you deserve more? Deserve the best? I couldn’t agree more, but it doesn’t just come by chance, we need to seek it out and discover the best that life […]
This past New Year I jumped on the scale, looked between my toes to find my weight at over 216lb, again. Now I was intentionally gaining weight last year, eating alot and strength training regularly. So this was not a huge surprise, but I didn’t want to go much above 200lb, if at all for that matter. “Dirty gains”- the term is thrown around alot, but I was definitely a prime example by the end of 2017. I had focused so much on trying to put on the muscle that I had “dieted” away, that I wasn’t tracking my food intake and probably had just a couple too many cheat meals hahaha. Although I was definitely feeling alot healthier than I had been a year prior, feeling much stronger and more muscular than the year before when I had hit my lowest scale measurement in my adult life (I had become “skinny fat” – just look at my arms below, practically noodles, hahaha).
I really shouldn’t complain too much about my shape last year, atleast I felt comfortable taking my shirt off then, it was a decent accomplishment losing over 55 lb to reach 175lb. I definitely wouldn’t have been very enthusiastic about going shirtless 3 years ago when I was post-knee surgery obese at +230 lb.
Regardless, the goal was to put on muscle over last year, not fat, so I had to revise my approach to gain only lean mass while losing this extra fat I put on. And I had better act fast, it was 3 months to my wedding, gotta look good in that suit you know. And then the honeymoon would be happening a few weeks after that, so I had to figure this out and quick. I had my motivation, knew what I wanted, but the question is how…?
You can ask pretty much anybody and they will tell you the general rule of thumb is either you are trying to lose weight, or gain weight … you cant do both efficiently. But that was exactly what I wanted to do, I knew that I needed a calorie deficit to lose the fat, but also needed a calorie surplus with the strength training to keep building muscle. So I read, alot, I read up on feeding and fasting cycles. Also researched on the duration of protien synthesis that occurs after strength training in order to fuel muscle repair and building. After combining a handful of research studies I had come to my own theory; a person could succesfuly lose fat tissue while also building muscle if they cycled how they ate over a weekly or bi-weekly cycle. During the days that you want to lose fat you operate at a significant calorie deficit (I chose to intermittent fast 3 days a week with small evening meals – giving me a 6000-7000 calorie deficit on these days). On the days that you are building muscle tissue you need to begin feeding and fueling your muscles immediately after your work out, and continue for the next 36 hours (I would strength train 3 days in a row but using a Training Split that worked different muscles each day, I made sure to eat very well after my first work out and have a 500 cal surplus on the 3 days that followed).
This cycle I have been doing has let me maintain a fed state when weight training, while also allowing for a weekly net calorie deficit of 4000-5000 (equivalent to 1-1.5 lb). And I can definitely say that it is working, I see my muscles and strength continue to improve, while I am down 5 lbs in less than 5 weeks since I have started this approach. Going to keep at it and will keep you all posted.