Dan's Journal

D

DanHarris

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I am going to start a journal hopefully tomorrow to document what I have had to eat etc. Eventually I may add in what workouts I have done but for now I will just list if it was a weights, cardio, both, or rest day.

If you have any tips of the diet please let me know. You will see tomorrow how boring the diet will be! I eat most of my foods plain because I don't know many tasty sauces that are actually good for you.

Anyway I am also going to be taking my weight and bodyfat measurements again tomorrow evening and will post that up to. I am hoping that my weight will have gone up since last time. So far I have been:

4th June 07 - 149lbs / 15.7% BF

5th July 07 - 146lbs / 14% BF

But during that time I had a lot of difficulty sticking to my diet and getting to the gym due to being overly stressed by Uni deadlines. That won't happen again though hopefully and shouldn't have any major deadlines next year until I get near the end.

I am looking forward to weighing myself and taking my BF% tomorrow afternoon anyway. All measurements above and all future ones are taken at 4pm in the afternoon to keep it consistent. I would like to see my BF% down and my weight up...if that is possible?

I am going to try to keep this up to date daily.

Cheers!
Dan
 
Glad to see your journal!..............Rock on Dude!~
 
Hi chillen,

It was quite a good day as I have kept to my diet. I am quite good at doing this anyway but I consider any day I do not stray to be a good day.

I did not post all of my meals for today as I thought it would be easier to start fresh tomorrow. I do track them but just have never kept a journal on the forum so far. I will post some pictures in about another 4 weeks, but I doubt there will be much difference compared to my ones from the 4th July.

The next pics after that will be around christmas time :)

Had an alright workout today although not sure I ate close enough to my workout, it was 2 hours before today, usually I make it 1 hour otherwise I get hungry during it like I started to today.

Currently I am bulking but when it comes to October I will probably try and cut to get more defined.
 
30th July 2007

6:30am
Meal 1:
Oatmeal w/ scoop of whey - 183 Cals (Oatmeal + Semi Skim Milk) + 161 Cals (Whey)
1 Piece of Wholemeal Toast - 100 Calories

10:30am
Meal 2:
Chicken Breast - 150 Calories
250g Rice (Too large a portion I think...Dont eat rice often) - 396 Calories
1 Apple - 80 Calories

2:00pm
Meal 3:
Chicken Breast - 150 Calories
250g Mixed Veg - Cauliflower, Brocoli, Carrots - 102 Calories

3:00pm
On the walk to the gym:
1 Apple - 80 Calories

5:00pm
Meal 4 (Immediately after workout) - Post Workout Part 1:
Whey Protein Shake w/ Water - 161 Calories
Medium Banana - 100 Calories

6:00pm
Meal 5 - Post Workout Part 2:
Fresh Chicken Breast in a - 150 Calories
Wholemeal Tortilla Wrap with Lettuce and Onion - 177 Calories

7:30pm
300ml Sem-Skimmed Milk - 147 Calories

10:00pm
Meal 6:
2 Eggs mixed with 100ml Semi-Skimmed Milk - 269 calories

Total: 2406 Calories
Target: 2800 Calories

Wow I really haven't been eating as much as I thought. Plus the rice was a big contribution to the calories today and I do not think I can eat that every day, it would be a bad idea??

Any suggestions on how to up the calories in some of the meals or do I just need to start eating every TWO hours instead of around every Three???

Is it okay to add more to breakfast? I could throw in two eggs in the morning with the oatmeal and toast....

Would it be a bad idea to make the chicken breasts at 10:30pm and 2:00pm into sandwiches which would add an extra 400 Calories (4 Slices Bread), it is also adding more carbs but they would all be before my workout...so I am not 100% sure if it would have a negative effect at the same time as giving me more calories.

Any advice really appreciated :-D - What about more milk?
 
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DAN,
Good on you dude! this log is going to help soooo much. Mine sure has me. I will watch and try to make yo9u laugh when I can.

ha!

see! that was funny!

hejhehehe

FF
 
you can add 2 eggs, full eggs. which is anohter 120 calories. Also your after workout is not really good. At some oatmeal. And more protein like tuna if you like. ANd some Almonds, or walnuts for good fats.

Things like that will add calories quickly.
 
soccergod said:
you can add 2 eggs, full eggs. which is anohter 120 calories. Also your after workout is not really good. At some oatmeal. And more protein like tuna if you like. ANd some Almonds, or walnuts for good fats.

Things like that will add calories quickly.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. I have some almonds in my desk at work, just never got round to eating any today lol.

When you say my after workout isn't very good do you mean the chicken breast, wholewheat wrap, lettuce and onion?? I know you said add some more protein in, but is there anything else I need to add to the part 2 post workout meal above? More simple sugars? I don't have that every time it is just what I had today. Looking for tips on how to refine my diet though so eventually I can write out 2 or 3 meal plans that meet the calorie requirements and just switch between them to keep it interesting :D

I aim to get my protein shake in within 30 mins of finishing (Usually right after I finish) to start the repair process right away and to eat some solid foods with some protein and carbs in there within 2 hours of finishing.

Do I just need more protein? Like two chicken breasts or a tin of tuna, or do I need more carbs or fats in there?

Cheers!
Dan
 
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Okay start of another day. Unfortunately I was very busy last night and all I have prepared so far is two chicken breasts. Would it be okay to have rice with one of my meals again today you think or limit it and leave it out today? I am thinking in terms of it being easy to make with the limited supplies at work.

I am also going to eat one of my chicken breasts in a sandwich with veggies and some almonds. Also going to have some oatmeal for my pre-workout meal. The post workout protein will be coming from fish later too, probably haddock, yum!

If you have any advice post it here today so I can read up in work if I get a chance hehe. Oh yeah!! Lets do this!!
 
DanHarris:

DanHarris will Surpass the reletive Mass through diet Sass
As long as he doesn't kiss his Ass and Pass Gas to the forum member Class


:)

Rock it forward dude.
 
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Ooh oops I didnt see Post Workout's had parts or not. Anywyaas ya its a good post workout, good protein. But I think you can add more carbs or just have oatmeal. I have 1.3 cups of it, about 500 calories. Anywyas its good if you dont want to change it.
 
31st July 2007

6:30am
Meal 1:
Cheerios Oats Cereal + Semi Skim Milk - 176 Calories
1 Piece of Wholemeal Toast - 100 Calories

8:00am
Activia Strawberry Yoghurt - 110 Calories

9:30am
Meal 2:
Chicken Breast - 150 Calories
2 x Wholemeal Sliced Bread - 200 Calories
125g Rice - 180 Calories
Banana - 100 Calories

12:30pm
Meal 3:
Chicken Breast - 150 Calories
2 x Wholemeal Sliced - 200 Calories

1:45pm
Meal 4:
62.5g Cottage Cheese - 49 Calories
1 Apple - 80 Calories

3:30pm
Meal 5:
Whey Protein Shake - 161 Calories

4:30pm
Sugar Free Red Bull - 7.5 Calories

7:30pm
Meal 6 (Pre Workout):
Oatmeal + 20g Whey = 80.5 Calories
1 Slice Wholemeal Toast - 100 Calories

09:00pm
Meal 6 - Post Workout Part 1 - Imediately after workout:
Whey Protein Shake - 161 Calories

10:00pm
Meal 7 - Post Workout Part 2:
Haddock Loin - 90 Calories
120g Mixed Veg - 30 Calories

11:00pm
300ml Semi-Skimmed Milk - 147 Calories

Total: 2272 Calories
Target: 2800 Calories

Another bad day today really. I had to leave half way through my workout which is why the nutrition is messed up between 3:30pm up until 9:00pm. I had to leave the gym but went back a bit later so the oatmeal and Toast was my actual pre-workout meal in the end, which isn't the bad thing. Just that I had to do a bit of running around so I was off a bit.

The cheerios for breakfast were down to me being in a rush to be into work early today, and the red bull was very bad and I never drink it, but thought I really needed SOMETHING today because I was exhausted from meetings in work all day etc.
The problems today were:

- Shouldn't be eating rice this often (2 days on the run)
- Red Bull at 4:30pm
- Interruption to training led to me being out of synch with what I was expecting
- TOO MUCH BREAD

I need to not rely on bread for my calories as much as I have today, and at the same time find something I can add in to up the calories more. I currently take all my Whey Protein Shakes with water and don't think using milk instead would be a smart way of adding some extra calories.

Can anybody think of suggestions how to make my meals bigger?

In terms of the workout, even though it was pretty much cut into two it went well and I feel that my strength is still increasing, but I won't be getting much size until I sort out this diet! By the end of Sunday I will hopefully have started to nail down the diet more. Once I can write out say 1-4 meal plans that all add up to the correct calorie intake then I can just make sure I choose one of those 4 options each day, which will stop it getting boring and also make it easier to plan ahead.

If you can give me tips on how to increase my calories in some of my meals that is great. How bad is it to eat rice every day? I have to make the boil in bag type that you microwave when I am in work and I think these should be a big no no??

Anyway spirits are still high and the actual training is still going great. Adding weight to my lifts as often as I can too. But this log is mainly about nutrition :D
 
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Hi Guys,

No update today, been out 13 hours for work travelled to sheffield for a training day, and came back today, its 2 hours travelling each way and I had to get up at 5am, got home 7.30pm

Nutrition has been all over the place so haven't kept an accurate log but tried my best with what I could but been on the move so much and wouldn't be practical to carry around a load of food with no fridge for 13 hours!

Will be the same tomorrow unfortunately :( Work were too cheap to put me up in a hotel for the night. If they had I could have gotten good nutrition compared to what I did and could have made it to the gym, but taking today and tomorrow as rest days as I was shattered today and felt a bit ill.

Will see how I am tomorrow to decide if I make it to the gym or not. I don't think two days will hurt my lifts atall, going to try and add weights to all my lifts on friday :)
 
No updates for a while due to work and other stuff. Today I will be picking this back up though. Still need some help on how to increase these calories though.

Is the brown Basmati Rice a problem as that is where a lot of calories have been coming from...Unfortunately it is boil in the bag stuff because all we have in work in a microwave.....

Any help appreciated!

EDIT: Also forgot to mention, having my bodyfat % etc taken this afternoon so will post that up. Unfortunately I doubt my weight will have gone up because I am finding it hard to get these calories in. But I would hope it has gone up a bit and I want to drop the BF% a bit too, even if its 1%-2% it is still increasingly closer to short term goal of reaching 10% or less by christmas.
 
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Good afternoon guys. I'll be posting my nutrition log for today later this evening. Just wanted to post here my stats for today:

146lbs and 12.6% bodyfat.

That is a loss of 1.4% bodyfat in 4 weeks which I am quite pleased with. However my weight has remained the same! This is due to me not eating enough calories.

But my trainer did some other calculations on the paper and she said it works out as I lost 2.2lbs fat and gained 2.2lbs muscle over the 4 weeks. I am not sure how accurate she is with this but all I can do is trust she is right :)

Is 2.2lbs gained in 4 weeks alright considering I have not been getting enough calories? (Going to nail it this week though!!!). I hear some people throw around 1lb of muscle a week but I am just not so sure that is as easy as people say and 2.2lbs seems like good progress taking into account diet.

Well it has motivated me that extra bit anyway to know I have made an improvement. Also my waist measured at 33inches four weeks ago and today measured 31 inches...Is that possible? I did think my work pants have been loose but thought I was imagining it....
 
Thanks, FF. Really trying to give it my all at the moment and want to nail this diet and get a few meal combos written down, that way I can choose one and always know I will hit my calories :)

I get my BF% taken by a personal trainer at the gym I go to. I book in for an hour every 4 weeks just really to see how my stats are looking and to go over what I have been doing in the gym and in the kitchen, just to really have a talk over anything I want advice with and also to make sure my technique etc is still okay.

Today I had a 1 hour session and went through some new lifts I had not done before, and also on a pullover I have been doing with a dumbell to work my lats I have been increasing the weight and wasn't sure if I could go up more again but was more happy to try it with somebody there to spot the first time, as usually I have to workout alone! - But that just one example of things I get from these sessions.

No doubt seeing a trainer more regularly is beneficial but for me the once every 4 weeks is good to get my stats checked professionally and just for the chance to have 1 hour with somebody else 1 to 1 to work on my routine etc :)

I find it helps anyway and when you see the results on paper getting better (as well as what you see in the mirror) just to confirm your eyes aren't playing tricks on you haha). Also explains why my work pants have been getting looser when I thought I was imagining it.
 
7th August 2007

7:15am
2 pieces of soya + linseed bread toast – 220 Calories

9:00am
Oatmeal + Semi Skim Milk – 180 Calories
9:40am
1 Apple – 80 Calories

11:20am
Boil in bag rice (microwave) – 360 Calories
Chicken Breast - 150 Calories
Wholemeal Pitta – 140 Calories

1:30pm
1 Apple - 80 Calories

2:25pm
Whey Protein Shake w/ Water - 161 Calories
Chicken Breast – 150 Calories
Wholemeal Pitta Bread – 140 Calories

5:30pm
Whey Protein Shake w/ Water – 161 Calories

7:30pm
Oatmeal + Semi Skimmed Milk – 180 Calories

09:45pm
300ml Semi Skimmed Milk – 147 Calories
10:30pm
Chicken Breast – 150 Calories
300ml Semi Skimmed Milk – 147 Calories

Total: 2446 Calories
Target: 2800 Calories

I wasn’t that far off today really, but damn I need to try and eat more. This seems like the amount of food I can eat at the moment but this is barely giving me a surplus of calories, obviously by looking at my diet you can see it is the reason my weight has remained the same (Although there is an equal muscle gain to fat loss according to the figures – So it isn’t terrible). Atleast I hadn’t LOST weight yesterday.

Are my figures going okay in terms of BF% reduction and muscle gain? I think there would have been more than 2.2lbs more of muscle if I had eaten more but would that subsequently mean also that I would have not lowered my BF% by as much?

Thanks for ANY tips with the diet guys. Still not sure about that boil in bag rice but it is a huge boost to my calorie intake and we only have a microwave in work. Should I replace it by cooking some past fresh at home the night before and then heating it up in the microwave at work? You aren’t supposed to re-heat rice you see!

Thanks again :D
Dan

P.S Please post ALL comments whether good or bad about anything I have mentioned in this journal 
 
8th August 2007

7:00am
2 pieces of soya + linseed bread toast – 220 Calories
300ml Semi-Skim Milk - 147 Calories

9:15am
Oatmeal + Semi Skim Milk – 180 Calories
1 Apple – 80 Calories

11:15am
Chicken Breast - 150 Calories
Wholemeal Pitta – 140 Calories

12:00pm
Boil in bag rice (microwave) – 360 Calories
1 Apple - 80 Calories

2:45pm
Whey Protein Shake w/ Water - 161 Calories

6:00pm
Chicken Breast – 150 Calories
300ml Semi-Skim Milk – 147 Calories

7:00pm
Oatmeal + Semi Skimmed Milk – 180 Calories

08:15pm
Whey Protein Shake w/ Water - 161 Calories

11:00pm
Chicken Breast - 150 Calories
300ml Semi-Skim Milk - 147 Calories

Total: 2450 Calories
Target: 2800 Calories

I still have one more meal to have tonight so will update with the last meal of the night before bed. This was a complete rest day by the way. I am hoping my BF% continues to drop like it has been but if I start hitting the 2800 calories a day to bulk I guess it means I will hardly lower my BF% in the next 4 weeks compared to these previous drops?
 
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