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A boat full of carbs

  • 03-09-2013 8:33am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭


    The idea of starting this log came to me when I was in a 12 hour boat trip from Athens to Lesvos where the ferry had nothing but carbs to eat. I mean just sandwiches, cakes, croissants etc etc.. So i had to survive 12hour on the nuts I had with me, pretty amazing for me as I am hungry every few hours.

    Anyway, as I am thinking taking things a bit more serious this year, just for my self rather than anything else, I will write here all my daily battles with food and the training. If you are following Pete's food log, I am very strictly following the LCHF diet and we will see how this will affects things this year. I 've completely eliminated all carbs, I 've killed my cravings for sugar and generally I am a happy man. As of this morning, I weigh 79kgs which brings me a kilo down from the end of July with no exercise and a lot of food and drinks, but holidays are now over. I don't promise for this log to be very interesting but i ll do my best. I do plan to race cyclocross starting in a few weeks time (do you hear that holyboy? :P) but I am seeing it as training more than a race, I am not in a racing shape by any means.

    So to start off:

    Sunday

    Training: 50km spin, very low intensity, mostly flat with 1-2 very short sharp hills. Felt great.
    Food:Breakfast was few pieces of brie cheese with butter fried bacon and one apple. Lunch was two salmon fillets with mayo and spinach salad. Dinner two pork chops with two fried eggs on top, all done in butter. I had various nuts throughout the day.

    Monday

    Training: Back to the gym in the evening. I am doing twice a week a crossfit session which helps me deal with issues on my knee and my shoulders. 1hour of pain.
    Food: Breakfast was cheese with ham. Dinner was pork chops again with spinach/rocket salad. I wasn't hungry for lunch so I just nibbled on some cheese and ham.

    More later today.


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭ford2600


    An awful lot of pig. Mix it up with lamb and beef, for most part grass fed in Ireland?
    While I'm not in the Heaven hates ham brigade, the commercial pig has a life far removed from his natural environment, much like factory chickens.
    If your diet is for your health, and basically a return to pre farming way of eating(without the hunting!)why eat so much of an animal raised in an unnatural manner?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    Because I was just back from holidays and that's all I had in the freezer :D I am usually beef eater. I am going today to the butcher to stock up!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭ford2600


    Ask butcher for beef ribs. Paul Flynn, Tannery restaurant, slow cooks them for hours.
    Going to try myself over weekend.

    My butcher can also get pigs blood so home made black pudding on the way.

    When doing SKt tour last weekend all food stops had was carbs in one for or another, so not quite 12 hours, but between cycling in an out it was a long day on a handful of olives and nuts!

    If near Wicklow, venison should be easy enough to source. Need a hunter who knows what he's doing though, deer can often have TB infection


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,833 ✭✭✭niceonetom


    Good luck Astra, I'll be following with interest.

    I'm about 10 days into a pretty strict LCHF regime - I had an apple last night and nearly wept at the sweetness of it. I've been more or less paleo (in a broad form that allows dairy, fruit and some complex carbs like sweet potato and very occasionally a little rice) for nearly a year so it's not a massive shift from before but the reduction in carbs, especially fruit which I think I was using as a bit of a crutch is significant enough to make me feel very different.

    I've done several long spins on this, 5 hours in Wicklow being the most demanding, and have found it tough but doable. Performance is down and recovery is absolutely terrible. It's early days but I'm keeping in mind that LCHF is, for me, not going to be a long term approach. I'm going to continue through September as I feel that this is a time of year when I can experiment and I want to lose some weight so I can return to a decent racing weight while having a better body composition. Subjectively, even in these early days I appear to be losing body fat.

    It'll be interesting to see how you get on with CX - while I can crank out the long Z2 miles and do some short efforts up hills (rarely more than 10 or 15 minutes long in this country) I don't think I would do well at CX style intensity/duration. Maybe that's a question of adaptation but I'm still reasonably convinced that if performance is the goal then carbs are necessary for anything involving threshold-or-above exertion for more than a few minutes. Of course if immediate performance is secondary to other concerns like health or performance improvements next season or something that's different.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,604 ✭✭✭petethedrummer


    AstraMonti wrote: »
    Training: Back to the gym in the evening. I am doing twice a week a crossfit session which helps me deal with issues on my knee and my shoulders. 1hour of pain.

    Be very careful with crossfit. Yes they extole the paleo diet, but they incorporate a lot of skill based movements to generate fatigue. A sure fire way to injure yourself.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    I 've been doing crossfit since last Christmas and I am coping very well with it. I need to keep doing it as my shoulders and knees need the extra exercise I get from crossfit in order for them to behave properly. I 've seen a change to my body, especially my back. It's only two (brutal) hours a week and I think the intensity of it might help on the bike as well. I find a lot times myself gasping for air and it's the same feeling as on the bike.

    Food: Breakfast was in the work canteen, 2 eggs, 2 bacon 2 sausages and a bit of cheddar. But I ll stop eating here as they use vegetable oil to fry the stuff. Lunch was salmon fillet with green salad.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,604 ✭✭✭petethedrummer


    AstraMonti wrote: »
    I've been doing crossfit since last Christmas and I am coping very well with it. I need to keep doing it as my shoulders and knees need the extra exercise I get from crossfit in order for them to behave properly.
    Well I hope it goes well for you, I toyed with idea of trying it but decided against it. I think most of the problem is around the olympic lifting exercises done with poor technique and high reps.
    http://breakingmuscle.com/crossfit/how-injury-proof-your-crossfit

    Or go to 21 mins in to this interview, he describe their approach to training as "butterfly hunting with a bazooka".
    http://www.philosophyinaction.com/archive/2012-12-05.html
    http://board.crossfit.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    Training: 1h:10mins. 15mins warm up, 4x4mins on/off intervals and the rest slowly get back to home. I felt great again, my legs felt fresh regardless of the squats yesterday on the gym. HR says I hit 210bpm, but I am not buying it, unless the fat diet unclogged all my arteries :D At exactly the 1h mark I start getting hungry, had nothing with me. Arrived home and ate a piece of cheese and a piece of 70% choco.

    Food: Dinner was 220grams of shrimps. Easy and super yummy. Butter, chopped garlic, a slice of thick bacon cut in small pieces. Cook them until bacon is golden, throw the shrimps, salt, pepper, chilly flakes.

    smYKuc1.jpg

    Set a good amount of spinach on a plate and throw everything on, juices too. Fecking yummy too.

    LdJyu2n.jpg


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,831 ✭✭✭ROK ON


    Best of luck Astra.
    I have failed immeasurably. I moved house this weekend and as a result had a lot of heavy lifting and no gas in the cooker so ate takeaways for three days washed down with beer and g&ts.
    Met a very small man tonight who forced mento have a beer. I did find a gluten free beer - Estrella Dauro. Nice actually.
    One thing that I would be very interested in hearing about from you and the other advocates is energy levels.

    When I started a loose LCHF meal plan I noticed no change in energy levels. In fact on several very early morning cycles I set some PBs on local climbs - nit just slight PBS but absolutely killed my previous times.

    However in the past few weeks I have hit a brick wall. Colossally lethargic. Plagued with mouth ulcers and saddle sores. Generally feeling run down. Stopped cycling completely.

    I am not saying that it is related to food, in that I have been busy with work and the house. I am sleeping well but still consistently tired.

    Just wondering what other folks have gone thru in terms of energy levels.

    Anyway - best of luck. Also, more receipies and photos.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    Wednesday

    Training: 20mins ABS, 5mins chin ups and 45mins running with a bit of squats and sprint work in there. Felt amazing, better than ever. Had the garmin with me with a different HR strap today. What did it say? Max hr 197! WTF is going on? I 've never knew I could hit those numbers, I mean the last two years I was dying around 188, and now I felt I could push even harder if I wanted to. Recovery from the previous day seems good, but I think it's because my body is fresh from the holidays, we ll see as the weeks go by.

    Food: Breakfast was two sausages done on the grill not fried, boiled egg, piece of cheddar cheese. Had few nuts until lunch. Lunch was haddock with a buttery sauce and some greens but I was still hungry. Had some jerky beef and a square of dark chocolate. Unfortunately I saw later that the jerky had sugar in it and lots of it, so if you have any ideas of good jerky please share. Dinner was home made, chicken fillets cut in strips, on the pan with butter, garlic and cream cheese finished with peppers and spring onion. Rocket and spinach salad for the side. I might have another piece of dark chocolate or an apple, haven't decided it yet.

    7LyttWC.png

    P.S. Day 32: "The honey" and the family still think I am mental and that I am going to die from heart attack. 7 books have been ordered from amazon and I would leave them hanging around, I hope they get read.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    As of this morning my weight is the same 79kg. What I have been noticing is that I am sleeping much quieter. I used to snore all night like an asthmatic camel after a training session, this has been reduced to almost no snoring.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    Today's training: wanted to go out for a spin but left work a bit late so I went to gym. 1:15 mins of multiple 6x1mins intervals of squats with 50kgs, chin-ups, push ups, burpees. Very hard, felt dizzy and I feel exhausted now.

    Food: the same breakfast as yesterday, 2 sausages, 2 eggs, 1 piece of cheddar. Lunch at the work canteen was grilled chicken with green salad and parmesan cheese on top. I had cheese with grapes as a snack and more cheese with ham and olives before gym. Dinner was two fillets of salmon done in the oven with mayo and butter/bacon fried broccoli.

    270586.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,358 ✭✭✭Ryath


    Cookery Forum this way ->
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=610

    Only joking Astra have found Petes log and your contributions very interesting and have really helped me clean up my diet. Never really any issues with my weight have always been fairly slim maybe a bit soft around the middle now and again but a long way from being being over weight. I'm 174cm and heaviest I've been is 76kg or so that was towards the end of school though when I training a good bit and carrying a good bit more muscle . Was around the 70kg mark for several years this quickly dropped when I started cycling regularly three years ago to being a fairly steady 65-66kg maybe a kg more or less depending on how much I was doing. I've always eaten fairly well mostly cook everything from scratch and don't have a sweet tooth. Only have the occasional drink and even less since the kids came along. I love my food though and eat absolutely everything and lots of it. If there's an animal on the menu I haven't eaten before I'll try it. I will eat crap though especially if I'm hungry I get very strong hunger pangs and get very irritable.

    Went back to college earlier this year and with the canteen and temptation of getting sausages wedges and beans for elevenses or a cereal bar with every latte the weight creeped back up to over the 70kg mark. Put some of it down to not getting out on the bike as much but when I started back training more and racing in the summer I wasn't getting any lighter even after month.

    Had seen Petes Cult log and started to take some of it onboard. I haven't gone full HCLF but have cut down on the carbs a lot and just eat healthier options. Used to have porridge every morning only have it now on a Sunday before a long spin. Breakast now is usually eggs of some description omlette or some scramble/fried with bacon and mushrooms, or a big bowl of blueberries nuts and natural yogurt. Lots of salads Nicoise, Black Pudding with apple and walnut, Goats Cheese with roasted sweet potato. Eat more veg with my meat dinners and less spuds. Snack on nuts and fruit a lot.
    Have almost entirely cut out bread the odd time though it has been my only option so it can be hard to avoid sometimes.

    I love my pasta dishes and curries with rice too much to cut them out completely but days I do have them I will try and make sure my other two meals of the day are low carb. Hard with a young family as-well as I can't make every meal to my requirements. Main thing I've taken from the log though is to cut out the sugar. What ever about all the arguments about carbs ,low fat paleo etc it really isn't natural or healthy to be eating and drinking the quantities of sugar we in the modern world consume. I wouldn't be even have been that bad compared to average and still reckon I consumed to much.

    End result after two months I'm back around my racing weight of 65kg. I was down to around 68 after a month but even at that weight I was leaner around the middle than I would have been at 65kg previous years. Have been training hard enough the last few weeks so it probably accounts for some loss the last month. Will be interesting to see what happens to my weight over winter with less training. Big difference I've noticed is getting hungry does not bring the same crash I don't get the same ravenous hunger pangs and would be a lot less irritable.

    I feel your pain of the boat load of carbs college canteen feels like that sometimes hot counter and snacks options are all high carb there is a salad counter but a limited selection to make a decent meal and some days I'd prefer something hot.

    Only intended to make a quick comment sorry it turned into a rant. Interested to see how you get on with it. Will probably try out to go full HCLF for a while at some point in the future to see how I get on with it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    If you like your pasta and don't want to cut them off your diet try to make them yourself, they are not that hard, but take some time to roll out. The ready stuff is processed in such way that they can keep a shelf life for over a year and if bacteria don't eat it, then you shouldn't probably either :D. At the temperatures they're drying them out they kill out all nutritional stuff, so what you're body is essentially eating is sugar. At least try to eat whole-grain pasta, it's less bad. I was reading about pasta in a blog but I can't find it now.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,358 ✭✭✭Ryath


    Never thought about the dried vs fresh pasta thing. Would be interested to see that blog as you say its dried at such high temperatures some of the nutritional value is gone. I'm sure some pastas are better than others though usually buy Decceco or Barilla. Used to make fresh pasta occasionally its good few years now though. As you say it is easy but pretty time consuming. Used to really only bother for making stuffed pastas like ravioli and tortellini. Do use fresh refrigerated pasta a fair bit but for some dishes the dried is nicer. Will try and stick with the fresh stuff now though still keeps for a week or two in the fridge. You can't beat Pasta for convenience though tin of tomatoes few bits and pieces you have in the fridge and cupboard you can make quite a decent meal.

    Your right about the bacteria saw this afew months ago
    BDGUG7wCcAAhAot.jpg


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    Here it is http://bodyecology.com/articles/avoid_pasta.php
    I 've no idea about the statements regarding noodles.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,874 ✭✭✭Zyzz


    Goddam you have some sexy plates.

    Where to buy?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    LOL! Dunnes' finest.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    Training: sort spin on the new cx bike, up and down the hill. My legs were not in bits by yesterday's session in the gym so happy days.

    Food: Brie with bacon and an egg for breakfast. Two salmon fillets with salad from last night for breakfast. For dinner we went out and the miss chose The counter. I had a burger with salad instead of a bun and some onion rings I shouldn't have eaten. I also had some coated peanuts that messed up my stomach.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    Saturday

    Training: None, rest day

    Food: I woke up really late which is very surprising for me and for breakfast I had an egg with bacon and some cheese. I had no lunch and for dinner there was a massive t-bone steak with some horrific hollandaise sauce I made along with some green salad. I ll need to revisit the sauce.

    I only have a pic of the precooked steak.. so yummy..

    ZHs5wqG.jpg

    Today:

    Training: 74kms spin with RokOn. I was feeling fine and I wasn't really pushing at all, but at the 62k mark I was completely drained from energy. I had a banana and two handfulls of brazil nut (i would guess around 12-15) but they didn't really help. Need to bring more food with me next time, but I don't know what yet.

    Food: Breakfast was 3 slices of ham along with two boiled eggs and some cheese. Dinner was some lamb cooked in olive oil and fresh oregano, just amazing, with green leafy salad with walnuts. Also there was another dish made with orzo and beef but I barely had two bites out of it. I have no pics because it disappeared quite quickly :D After that the table filled with 7-8 different kinds of sweets but none of them appeal to me, so I just had a piece of dark chocolate.

    Weight is still at 79kgs.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,831 ✭✭✭ROK ON


    ^
    100k for me at a very easy pace.
    Then I was abducted back to Astras place where after some truly excellent olives, cheese and lamb with salad I was force fed chocolate and various types of home made preserves and jams with Greek yoghurt.
    It was disgusting how Mr & Ms Monti simply forced me to eat all of this sugary goodness.

    Seriously you haven't lived if you haven't had MsMontis lamb and beef.
    You have never seen heaven if you haven't had Turkish delight jam. Seriously addictive.

    Thanks man.


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 3,899 Mod ✭✭✭✭Planet X


    ;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    Yesterday

    Training: none, was working late and then had no interest of going out. My legs kinda felt heavy too.

    Food: Boiled eggs, cheese, sausage for breakfast. Lunch was beef steak with salad. I had grapes, nuts and cheese for a snack. Dinner was aromatic duck with egg noodles. As I found out later egg noodles have flour in them (yes I am an idiot for not knowing :rolleyes: )

    Today

    Training: 1h crossfit, half an hour running and half hour on the bike.

    Food: 2 eggs and some ham. Lunch was an omelette with cheese,onions, ham and peppers. Pecan nuts for snack and a piece of dark choco. For dinner I had butter fried prawns with greens.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,604 ✭✭✭petethedrummer


    AstraMonti wrote: »
    Yesterday

    Training: none, was working late and then had no interest of going out. My legs kinda felt heavy too.

    No wonder, over the 8 days from Sunday to Sunday you trained 7 days! Off the back of doing nothing for a month. When are you going to schedule in rest?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    I had a rest day on Saturday as well, but I might needed another day as I was back after holidays, you're right on that.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,604 ✭✭✭petethedrummer


    AstraMonti wrote: »
    I had a rest day on Saturday as well, but I might needed another day as I was back after holidays, you're right on that.

    Why don't you try not exercising until you feel like it. In a few days when you have fully recovered you should be jumping out of your skin wanting to exercise hard again. If you are tired and you do more exercise, you are going to just get more tired. Or you're going to adapt to this schedule by performing it at a less than optimum intensity and not actually get much fitter despite all the work. IMO!

    You don't need to maintain a calories in vs calories out deficit as you've already demonstrated last month that you can maintain weight with no exercise or hunger.

    Or you could start taking steroids.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    I am not worried about my calories intake or my weight, I 've been stable the past two years, going 76 to 81.

    But I followed your advice and didn't go out today as I had plan because I wasn't feeling like it. Now I am thinking that I should have gone out, so I am going to leave the house tomorrow very early for an hour an half spin to the office.

    So training nada today.
    As for food, I had brie with bacon, an apple, steak with broccoli and feta cheese, more cheese, salami and nuts for snack and I planning to have another steak with an egg now.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,833 ✭✭✭niceonetom


    Getting to that time of the year when my mind turns to crosstraining and saw this

    AstraMonti wrote: »


    What are you taking from that, for a cyclist? I did a bit of heavy weights last winter and felt generally better for it (though I don't know that it helped on the bike at all). This year I'm planning on lifting again but am trying to navigate all the advice on the net to figure out what kind of lifts, depth, reps v load I should do that might translate to more power on the bike.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,718 ✭✭✭AstraMonti


    My humble and very unscientific opinion is that probably deep squats with low weight and many repeats will work better for road racing. My trainers always push me for really deep heavy squats (even if it goes just 1 repeat) but I am not sure if they have studied anything out of the norm. I ll chat with them today and see their response.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,833 ✭✭✭niceonetom


    Yeah - light, deep and high rep was what I was taking it to mean too. I've been doing a few pistol squat sessions as prep for going heavy next month but now I'm thinking that the pistols (which are ass-to-ground) might be enough in themselves. Maybe combined with heavy deadlifts to target the glutes/hip abductors etc.


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