Goals for the start of 2011

This month I'm planning on some hard gaining. I lost a good 10 lbs last year when I blew out my left knee. I'm just now getting back to my 185, but I don't want to stop gaining there. My goals for early 2011 is going to be to get to 195 solid mass. Right now I'm taking NO (Force Factor) and Creatine along with my normal protien mix. Just cycling them in for the month and then next month clean living and eating. I also just purchased some Cyto Gainer (Muscle Milk Mass Gain Powder), so I hope to up my Calorie intake to about 3,000-4,000 calories per day with that in the mix.

Now I have a HUGE benefit at my workplace, we have an amazing cafeteria that is open all day. So when I realize I haven't eaten anything it is very easy for me to just walk down the hall to the Cafe and pick something up. And the variety is pretty healthy so it's easy to always grab something that's good for me.

A typical food day for me looks something like:

Waking up:
Whey Protein Powder – 110 Calories – 26g Protein
(16 oz water)

Trip into Work:
Venti Non-Fat Carmel Macchiato – 280 Calories – 17g Protein

Breakfast:
2 slices turkey bacon – 70 Calories – 4g Protein
Hash browns – 150 Calories – 2g Protein
Wheat Toast – 90 Calories – 6g Protein
2 Eggs – 140 Calories – 12g Protein
Quaker Oat Meal – 160 Calories – 4g Protein
Tropicana Orange Juice – 210 Calories – 4g Protein
Apple – 65 Calories – 0g Protein

Lunch:
Chicken Tostadas – 350 Calories – 24g Protein
Chicken Soup – 170 Calories – 12g Protein
Orange – 50 Calories – 0g Protein
(16 oz water)

Afternoon Snack:
Yoplait Light Yogurt – 100 Calories – 5g Protein
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich – 300 Calories – 12g Protein
(16 oz water)

Dinner:
2 Grilled Chicken Breast – 562 Calories – 70g Protein
Sautéed Broccoli and Onions – 200 Calories – 6g Protein
Juicy Juice Orange Tangerine (Juice Box) – 130 Calories – 0g Protein

Evening Snack:
1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter – 80 Calories - 4g Protein
Whey Protein Powder – 110 Calories – 26g Protein

Totals: 3327 Calories - 234g Protein
Hopefully the Cyto Gainer 500 Calories and 50g Protein per serving should push me much closer to my goal of 4k Calories and 280g+ Protein per day.


Side note:
Hard Gaining is a lot harder than losing weight, eating the right calories with the right types of workouts to get results you are looking for. There's a simple secret to gaining size though EAT EAT EAT EAT EAT. Even when you feel like your going to be sick, keep on eating. It's the only way to gain size.

Also I keep hearing people say "but I try so hard to gain weight and I can't do it". I've been a Tri-athlete coach for many years and it's usually the people that are big on the biking and running. You have to have 1 goal at a time, if you want to work on your running and biking and endurance and you want to gain weight? You are going to fail. You need to STOP all of your cardio and just focus on eating and gaining mass. That needs to be a single goal. OR you need to be focused on your biking and running and swimming. You're setting yourself up for failure if you try to do both at the same time. Pick 1 goal, and do that for 6-10 weeks, then pick a different goal and focus on that for the next 6-10 weeks.

A Full Month of Healthy Living - Shopping List

So I am doing this competition for work that focuses on healthy living. It's a six week competition that offers challenges like stretching 10 minutes every day, working out 30 minutes every day, getting 8 hours of sleep every day, etc.

It's not really for people that are already at my level of fitness, but it's something that I love to take part it because it allows people that aren't at my level to have a good start on their road to becomming healthy.

One of the challenges is to journal all of your food intake for weeks 1 and 4, and to make sure that you stay within a Calorie limitation that is based on your sex, age, and current height/weight. I started to think about it and I decided that I wanted to post a good example of a healthy shopping list that fits for a lot of healthy people. I've learned through my own experiences that the best thing to do when you decided to get healthy is to go through your refrigerator, freezers, and cabbinets and to THROW AWAY everything that you would consider unhealthy. Then go to the store with a solid shopping list that fits your tastes and eating habbits, and buy only HEALTHY food that you can enjoy eating.

When only have healthy food at home, you'll only be able to eat healthy food at home.
And so,

A Full Month of Healthy Living - Shopping List:
1. 2 packages of Strawberries
2. GV Fat-free whipped cream
3. 1 Packages of Thomas Whole Wheat English Muffins
4. 1 Loaf of Nature’s Pride Whole Grain Bread
5. 1 Package of Oroweat Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins
6. 2 jars of Simply JIF Peanut Butter
7. 2 jars of GV Classic Italian Spaghetti Sauce
8. 2 Boxes of GV 100% Whole Wheat Spaghetti Noodles
9. 3 boxes of cereal: Life, Kashi Cinnamon Squares, GV Wheat Chex’s
10. 1 tub of Quaker Oatmeal
11. GV sugar-free water flavoring
12. 2 bottles of GV Ketchup
13. Large pack of Whole Grain Crackers with Cheese
14. 4 packages of Juicy Juice Natural Fruit Juice Boxes
15. 5 dozen Large Eggs
16. 1 gallon GV Fat-Free Milk
17. 3 Fat-Free GV Cottage Cheese
18. 2 packages of Borden Fat-Free American Cheese
19. 3 Large packages of GV vegetables: Mixed Veggies, Corn, and Broccoli
20. 2 packages Ego Whole Grain Low Fat Waffles
21. 1 package Weight Watchers Low Fat String Cheese
22. 1 package of Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage
23. 1 package Butterball Turkey Bacon
24. 2 packages Whole Grain Wraps
25. 1 package Oscar Meyer Turkey Dogs
26. 5 packages GV Frozen Chicken Breasts
27. 2 lbs. Butterball Oven Roasted Turkey Breast
28. 1 lbs. Ground Turkey Breast
29. 5 cans of GV Tuna
30. 2 GV 400 packets Sweeteners (or 1 large bag)
31. 2 packages Dole Romaine Lettuce
32. 1 can GV 100% Arabica Coffee
33. Kraft Fat-Free Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
34. GV Fat-Free Grated Parmesan Cheese
35. Spices and Seasonings

Now this is just an example of MY shopping list every month, this is not necessarily the shopping list for YOU. Look through it and see the general theme of low fat, high fiber, whole grains, and lean meats. If you don't see everything you like to eat, here's a list of some additional healthy alternatives or additions to the list that might work well for you.

Other alternatives:
1. 1 package GV Beef Jerky
2. 1 jar of GV Green Olives
3. 1-8 packages of GV Sugar Free Jell-O
4. 1 package GV Fat-Free Cream Cheese
5. 1-2 packages Pork Chops
6. 5 lbs. of 93/7 Ground Beef
7. 1 Coffee mate Sugar-Free Hazelnut/French Vanilla Creamer
8. 1 bottle Kraft Fat-Free Dressing
9. 1-3 Packages of Thomas Whole Wheat English Muffins


Also a nice thing to note, I live in Nevada so our Walmarts are AMAZING. They are clean and nice, with good quality on most of the food. I'm not a huge fan of the produce, but the rest of the selection is great. Most things marked as GV are the Walmart brand for Great Value. My monthly shopping list usually costs me under $200 dollars. So considering the amount of food that you are getting, it's a very reasonable amount of money to spend on a month of food.

Introduction: The Lifestyle of Living Healthy

Hello all,

My name is James and I'm trying to start a new blog that focuses around health and fitness. I do a lot of things to maintain and improve my health level of physical fitness. Like watching my diet and nutrition, as well as going to the gym on a daily basis and keeping up to date on the latest training techniques and fitness information.

Let me tell you this, there is a LOT of bogus information out there. Some of basic principles in staying healthy are easy to follow if you just have a simple guide. So that's mainly what this blog is about. Giving people a simple guide to a better life. A lifestyle of healthy living.

I plan on posting health and diet plans, as well as workout programs and training regiments.

So that's it! Thanks for reading, and thanks for this opportunity to share with people my Lifestyle of healthy living!