Work-In Plan

Why hello everyone!

I recently got a request from a reader to post my workout plan!

Now what I want people to keep in mind is that I am trying to lose weight but in a healthy way. This means I am not trying to gain muscle mass, but work on burning fat. As a result I am not doing any weight lifting or muscle building.

So I say work-in, not workout. Why is that Greg?

The reason is because I hate the term workout. Over time, I have grown to hate the idea of workouts. I have taken the out to mean taking time out of the things I enjoy. This has been one of the primary reasons I have chosen to not workout in the past.

The difference between a work-out and a work-in is that a workout is an arduous task that takes a bunch of time from your day, and isn't fun or exciting. A work-in on the other hand, is something you look forward to, something that is enjoyable. The key is finding a task that is actually enjoyable for you!

This summer I was more fit than I have been in a long time. I was sprinting, doing chin ups, but the most important thing I was doing was boxing.

All I had was a punching bag in my backyard, but as I'm sure you can imagine, I'm pretty big (that's the 6"4' coming into play). My punch is powerful. My 100 pound bag was just enough of a challenge for me to hit it and move it, but only by exerting myself.

It was fun! It was something I decided to do, by myself, I went out and bought the punching bag, the gloves, the wraps, educated myself on technique, etc. Over time, the fun slowly went out of it - but because I started thinking of it as a workout.

The important thing to take away from this is that working out in is something that you have to enjoy - for now, in the winter, that means biking for me on an indoor bike.

Now, my work-in plan!

Monday - 45 minutes on the exercise bike, as many chin ups as I can pull off (close to 2 -_-), and core exercises, looking at planks, sit ups, etc. Basic toning.

Tuesday - 45 minutes on the bike, more if I have the time.

Wednesday - Starting to get busier! 30 minutes high intensity - hardest difficulty almost the entire time. Toning and core as per the other days, if time allows

Thursday - I don't have time to workout. I have class all day :(

Friday - Same thing. Also, this conveniently gives me two days of rest during my week!

Saturday - When I can, I try and switch things up here. Do more toning, core, and a little bit of lifting (the ladies have to see my arms, y'know?) with my weights for my arms. This also works core, so is a dual purpose exercise.

Sunday - Technically the day of the lord's rest (Used to be a catholic - old habits die hard!) But as long as I remember and aren't too tired, I do another 30 minutes to an hour, depending on available time on the exercise bike.

Hope this answers some questions! Get back to me in the comments section and let me know if it doesn't.

tl;dr - I'm focusing on cardio, and I walk anywhere I can.

Random link - I have friend whose brother runs an LSAT prep school. He's marketed as one of the best out there, and with highly competitive pricing! Check it out if you're interested in the LSAT - I am! LSAT Prep

The Work-in Plan - Copyright Greg von Euw, 2012

Giant Greg Out

Whistl-at-er!

Hey all!

My play on words for my title was so bad this week... I want to apologize. But what's written cannot be unwritten!

Not me - BUT INSANELY HAPPY GUY

I have been lacking in terms of my postings, because I went to Tofino with my family! See my sister's blog Em's Blog! for a full explanation of our time there.

But then I got back from Tofino, and was scared to weigh myself. We ate a lot in Tofino, and I was worried that I had gained. BUT I LOST!

I am now 281, and feeling great! Lighter than I have been in a couple years, and singing like a beast, working out etc. I love it.

My drink of choice

So I gave myself a treat. I went to Whistler with some friends for a night! Partied it up, drank (alot) and had a blast!

Anyways, the play on words is actually relevant! When I was waiting for the greyhound, I actually had a girl check me out, for the first time in ever! Caught her staring at me twice - felt really good about myself after that.

So there are noticeable differences! It's cool. I will post a picture of me in the near future - show the difference!

Giant Greg Out

IT'S A TRAP!

I figured it out!

My problem is portion control!

During my vegan week, I felt pretty awesome (yes, it`s over, and no, I don`t think I`m going back to it full time. Maybe a week a month or something)

The point is, during that week, I ate as much as I wanted, didn't feel guilty about anything. Problem is, I just came back from the SFU food court, trying to find healthy food. Got some noodles and such. They weren't horrible, but the amount of food I got was excessive. And then, of course, being me, I ate it all.

I was hungry! I hadn't eaten today! I had no time to prepare a lunch! 

All bad excuses. I shouldn't have eaten it, or at least so much of it. SIGH. Gonna have a long workout tonight, maybe an hour on the bike once I get home (at 10 PM...).

Here's a picture that inspired me, on the side. 

Ahh, General Ackbar - you never fail to make me laugh!

Thanks for reading guys.

Check out this video - it's funny!

League of Legends - An ADVENTURE

Giant Greg Out.

Update: Had a workout tonight. 760 calories, 45 minutes on bike. WOOHOO!

Basil Metawhosiwatsit?

So first of all, I'm confused today.

Yesterday I wasn't hungry all day, so I didn't eat very much at all. I had a grapefruit, some hummus and flatbread chips, some healthy stir fry by Mum that night, and some tofu. Also a couple things of tea, and I worked out.

What I don't understand is that I gained weight. WTF body.

There's no way I took in over 500+ calories yesterday. Even if I did, my BMR - I know, not the basil Metawhosiwatsit, but rather my Basal Metabolic Rate, is really high.

The BMR is the rate that your metabolism passively burns calories without you doing additional work to prod and push it to burn more (aka cardio).I calculated mine at two different websites, within 5% of each other the results were the same. To see what your BMR is, Click Here!. Mine on this site was 2666.3 calories, assuming being in bed all day.

So following my math correctly, I burned 2666.3 (BMR) + 500 (Workout) = 3166.3 calories burned. Not including the fact that I wasn't in bed all day yesterday, but was in fact tutoring, singing, walking, etc. But first thing this morning, when I weighed myself, I was 285. WTF BODY.

Can someone explain to me exactly how, when I have that many burned calories, that little intake of calories, how I could possibly have GAINED weight overnight. I don't understand, but damn I want to know.

Thanks for listening to my rant :)

Also, my veganism ended today. I haven't decided if it really has or hasn't yet though - I'm a thinking.

Giant Greg Out.

Update: Had a 45 minute bike workout, 900 calories down dem tubes. Yeah!

The End of Days.

For me at least. My veganism ends tomorrow!

However, I think I have had a change of heart. Originally, I was only going vegan for a week. But I think that has changed. I'm going on a family trip to Tofino shortly, and to eat vegan there is very difficult and pricey. So I think that for the time I am in Tofino, I will eat whatever the rest of the family is eating (except my sister, she will still be vegan), and when I come back, shall reassess the situation.

Though I am leaning heavily towards veganism if not vegetarianism.

I like what it does for me. I have lost significant amounts of weight, feel like I have more energy, am happier, and my workouts feel better. Less arduous.

That being said, I am up a pound today >.<

Foolish Greg! Damn that hummus sitting there in the fridge with those tortilla chips nearby! They were so tempting at 11 o'clock last night - irresistibly so. I ate a bunch of it, and before I knew it, was out of chips. That's where the pound came from, SIGH. Oh well. I have another day of loss before a return to normal and maintaining!

Also, for those interested, these are two of the single most creative and talented guys I have ever seen on Youtube - check them out. They are incredible! The Piano Guys . A friend told me about them, and I am going crazy for them.

So far today, I had a grapefruit, some hummus and flatbread chips (so irresistible!) and a few glasses of water.

On the note of my family vacation coming up - I am looking for some music that my family would enjoy. They enjoy almost all kinds of music, but with minimal swearing, and ideally something I can torrent, since I don't have much money. Leave your thoughts and suggestions in a comment below! Thanks all.


That's all for today!

Giant Greg Out.

Update: Long day so far! Waiting at Starbucks for my debate executives to arrive so that I can plan the last details of the tournament I'm running this weekend. Awesome! Also, had a workout - 500+ calories, half hour on the bike! Didn't have much time today between tutoring, vocal jazz, midterms, papers, job hunt, Ututor, and debate. Oh well!

Scaling weight!

I'm so excited guys! I'm now 284 - the lowest I have been since I started this whole deal! I'm so excited - this is clearly working, and this is before the exercise! I can only imagine what tomorrow will be like!

Just wanted to let you guys know this is working :)

Update 1: Just finished a workout. 546 calories burned, and metabolism pumping away! Excellent. Gonna go eat, including my leftover cake from Naam :)

Update!

Today and yesterday were interesting days.

Last night I made my first foray into the world of vegan restaurants, and it was awesome!

My girlfriend planned a date for us, since she wanted to support me in my cleanse, and its been a while since we were able to spend some substantial time together, so we went to a restaurant in Kits, called Naam. It's this sweet little place, that has vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free menu's and best of all, it's open 24 hours a day! Perfect place for my vegan taste buds : )

So we went in, and as soon as you walk in, you walk in - again. There are two doors to get in, and then there is a standing line to get a seat. There is live music, many small tables, and a ton of people, both working, and inside. It was pretty sweet.

Anyway, I ordered the Naam Burger Platter, since I was super hungry, hadn't had much to eat that day (aka, some juice, and an apple or two). It was a carrot based burger, on a whole wheat bun, with Dijon mustard, garlic aoili, sprouts, tomatoes, and lettuce. There was a side of sesame fries, with miso gravy, and a salad with a ton of avocado dressing. It was awesome. I couldn't even finish the salad because I was so full! It was soooo goood. Definitely going back there! (Click Here! )

Then my girlfriend and I went down to the beach nearby, walked and talked for a while. Very sweet <3

Today tested my resolve. I was running a debate tournament at my old high school. For those who know about debate, it essentially means gratuitous amounts of free pizza and cookies, and generally unhealthy food. I was also then put in charge of dealing with the food... so hard to stand behind a ton of pizza, and not eat any of it. I did it though! Had like 5 apples during the tourney, and a ton of water, so I survived. Then my debaters did really well at the tourney, and they took me out to White Spot for dinner. Not many vegan options there.

I had to get the Portobello Provolone Burger, and held the cheese, the patty, the mayo, and the colesaw. They added extra portobello mushrooms which made it ok, and gave me a discount which was cool. Awesome server.

After I finally made it home on my bike (Oh - didn't I mention I biked everywhere today?)  I was surprised by my wonderful vegan sister (Click Here!) She's awesome, and her blog has some amazing food recipes. If only I had time to make them : ( Good thing I get to try some of hers!

Anyways, today was a good day. Ate some awesome food, loved it, and am gonna work out tomorrow again, since I have some time. Off to sleep for now though, I'm exhausted! Thanks for reading.

Giant Greg Out.

The Great Cleansing!

So this is working.

I weighed myself two days ago, and I was 296.

Now, I am 287.

This is totally working!

Plus I started working out again, so I think that contributed.

Food diary time:

Yesterday I ate 2 apples, a handful of seeded grapes, 3 oranges, a small banana, two vegan chocolate chip banana oatmeal cookies - I broke down :( - a big stalk of celery, a large salad, and a bunch of cherry tomatoes. Oh, and I drank like 6 liters of water or something ridiculous.

My plan today is a bunch of celery and cherry tomatoes, 3 oranges, 2 apples, a lot of water, and some pistachios. When I get home after school tonight I'll probably eat something else, so I will update before bed tonight.

Giant Greg Out.

A Pill a Day Brings the Doctor to Stay.

Blog – Incorrect facts

This week for my class, I had to find a website that had ridiculous facts or errors about my topic, which is healthy weight/weight loss. I found this page

Right off the bat, I want to say this is ridiculous. There is no such thing as a pill that will make you lose weight like this. If such a thing existed, then we would all take them. We wouldn't have to worry about food.

Just to make it clear – THESE PILLS ARE FULL OF HORSE MANURE.

Alright. So let's go through the pills one by one.

Adapexin - Hungry? Not anymore!

Starting with Adapexin-P. This is an appetite suppressant mainly, that limits your body’s ability to feel hunger, to make you lose weight. The problem with this, is that to lose weight, you can stop eating sure. But that won't get you to a healthy weight. Rather, this will cause your body to go into 'starvation mode' eating all of your lean muscle, because it believes that it is starving. So yes, this pill will make you lose weight, but in such a way that it is incredibly unhealthy. (Department of Health, 2008)

Phenphedrine - It'll give ya the munchies

Phenphendrine (That sounds like a bad pokemon name ;) ). This one is similar to the previous, but has one additional side effect, which is probably why the website argues that it is their highest order/re-ordered product – it gets you high! The previous pill was mainly an appetite suppressant, with the goal being to simply lose weight, pretty much ignoring how the individual feels. This one imitates the feeling that you get when you work out, with a rush of endorphins, causing you to feel good. This one is not only a bad way to lose weight, for the same reasons as #1, but in addition, could potentially be addictive!

Examples of patented ingredients of DecaSlim

Deca slim – This one I can't actually find much issue with. It seems to simply be a concentrate of 10 superfoods – blueberries, nuts, broccoli, red wine extract, green tea, safflower oil, tomatoes, dietary fiber, spinach, garlic, and flaxseed – which seem harmless. The issue that this pill has in particular, is that almost all of these foods and the extracts used in this pill are patented, and produced by large corporations. That is an issue. That, and that if you just ate the bloody foods themselves, you would benefit even more – whole foods are 100% better than the concentrate or extract - so says James Duke, a retired US Department of Agriculture botanist, who studied the differences between supplements and the whole food version of them. (Duke, 2008)

Anoterix – kind of sounds like a dinosaur. And that's exactly what it is. An outdated conception on how to lose weight and the body. Again, this one focuses on the idea of losing weight as a whole, not targeting fat, and not a healthy weight, focusing on starving yourself to lose that weight. The bottom line to learn from this is, is that losing fat and getting to a healthy weight is not pain free. That this is only a solution if you don't care about your health, but just a number on a scale.

To be honest, it's not even worth listing the rest of the pills on this page. The rest all do the same thing. They take away your appetite, so that you don't eat, and have side effects like restlessness, frequent urination, caffeine sensitivity, and jitteriness. These are not worth what you lose – since what you lose is not what you aim to.

The pills do what they promise to. You will lose weight.

The key word here is lose.

You lose self-esteem. You lose appetite. You lose energy. You lose muscle.

You lose weight, but at a steep cost.

Not worth it. Hard work is the simple solution to losing weight. It's no secret that continuous aerobic fitness over time will lead to fat burning, and getting you back to a healthy weight. It's not easy, but it is guaranteed.

That's it for today.

Giant Greg Out.

Citations

http://dietpilluniverse.com/products/decaslim/ (The site I found the information on DecaSlim from)

http://dietpilluniverse.com/?gclid=CM2Lms21gK4CFSUbQgodcEAS2w (The site I got the rest of the diet pills from)

Department of Health, U. (2008, August). Very low calorie diets. Retrieved from http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/PDFs/verylowcaldietsbw.pdf

Duke, J. (2008). The green pharmacy guide to healing foods: Proven natural remedies to treat and prevent more than 80 common health concerns. Rodale Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=PYoUo6_qjAAC&source=gbs_similarbooks

Let the cleansing begin!

No, the title has nothing to do with my having German heritage!

Rather, it has to do with the fact that I am starting a cleanse!

For the next week, I am going to eat nothing but fruits and vegetables (and upon a little prodding from my stomach) nuts.

I weighted myself this morning. 292. Down 5 pounds from my point of origin, but that was close to a month ago now. My progress is not moving ahead as rapidly as it was, and it is now time to try something a little bit drastic. I had a workout today for the first time in a while, and as I was looking in the mirror, I realized that I had a pouch of fat hanging over my waistline. Admittedly, I was biking at the time, so hunched over, thereby exaggerating my paunch, but not by too much. I hated the way I looked. So change is necessary - I can't be hating the way I look. That's unhealthy.

Either way, the cleanse has started. I have an assignment that has to get posted here shortly, so you'll see that in the next day, but I'm also gonna keep you guys updated on what I'm eating to keep me honest!

Today I ate a juice of oranges and apples, an orange, a banana, and a bunch of grapes. Let's see what the weigh in says tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Giant Greg Out.