Very Low Carb Performance

Here is an interesting video I found for those interested in running, swimming, biking, etc.

Body Fat Measuring with a DXA (DEXA) Scan

About a year ago I got a body fat test using a DEXA scan machine. I was able to get very accurate measurements and It helped me looked for other cheaper but just as accurate way to measure body fat. Check out my post on tracking progress to find out the methods that I currently use.

DXA scans are used primarily to evaluate bone mineral density. DXA scans can also be used to measure total body composition and fat content with a high degree of accuracy comparable to hydrostatic weighing with a few important caveats.

In the first picture below you can see one of the scans that shows my bones in blue, muscle in red and fat in orange. It is easy to tell that most of my body fat is in my mid-section. This comes at no surprise since, my legs and arms have always been pretty lean and most men have a predisposition to store fat in the mid-section easily and it is hard to get rid of once is there. The body fat result shown here is about 22% (I am currently around 13%).

In the second picture you can see my bone structure and a little bit of my muscles and fat.

During this time, the doctor calculated my maintenance calories to be 1,830 a day. It was close, but now I know that it is actually 2,600 calories a day on a low-carb diet.

Working Out To Failure

I had a really good workout last Friday. It was a great example of how to workout to muscle failure. I have been doing one exercise session per week for the last 8 weeks and increasing the resistance by 5% or more every week. I have increased my strength on the leg press by 49% in just 8 workouts.

I have a trainer help me load the weights in between exercises and time each exercise and repetitions using a chronometer. Last Friday I got a new trainer named Mike because the regular one went on spring break vacation. I told him the usual instructions of how I work out  and we got started.

Leg Press

We started with the planned weight  doing one repetition every 20 seconds for a goal of six repetitions or 2 minutes of exercise. I made sure my legs where always under tension careful not to give them a rest on the positive or negative part of the repetition.

At about 90 seconds, my legs started to get a burning sensation, (this is the point where I would usually quit) there was still strength left so I kept going past the burning sensation trying to keep my pace. While the burning sensation in my legs was still there, I start to feel my legs getting warm like when you get into a hot tub. My arms start to get a tingling sensation, I'm breathing quickly and this does not feel like fun anymore. My heart monitor started sounding an alarm letting me know that my heart rate is now above 170 beats per minute (my maximum hearth rate is 188).

I kept pushing the weights as much as I could until the point where all I was doing was holding the weights and they were not moving at all. At this point I imagined the weights being a rock that is about to crush me if I don't hold it in place. After a few seconds of just holding the weight in place, the weight starts to move backwards (I can't hold it anymore), I wait a few seconds and this is where I rack the weights and finished the exercise.

I tried to stand up right after my exercise, but in between my heavy breathing and not being able to speak, my legs where not able to hold my own body weight and I had to sit down. I took a 30 second rest and I was able to stand up again. I was not able to catch my breath for the next 10 to 15 minutes.

This is one of the best workouts I have had.

Gaining Muscle On A Low-Carb Diet

I was doing some research online about whether is possible to gain muscle while on a low-carb diet and I found this interesting post.

Meetza Is The Low-Carb Pizza

I have not been able to eat pizza for a while and I ran into a recipe for a "Meetza" online, so I decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, this recipe turned out to be pretty tasty and easy to do. It makes 8 servings enough for 4 adults.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving 

• 318 calories, 19g of fat, 3g net carbohydrates and 33g of protein

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of ground beef
• 5oz of mushrooms
• 3oz of green bell peppers
• 4oz of shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• 6oz of low carb tomato basil (about 6 net carbohydrates per half a cup)

Seasonings

• 4oz of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1tsp of salt
• 1tsp of caraway seeds
• 1tsp of oregano
• 1tsp of garlic salt
• 1tsp of coarse ground pepper
• 1tsp of crushed red pepper 

Quick Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit
• Mix all the seasonings in a bowl
• Mix the ground beef with the eggs
• Add the seasonings to the ground beef and mix well
• Place the ground beef on a 12" x 17" cookie sheet. It should cover the entire cookie sheet
• Cook it in the oven for 10 minutes
• Saute the green bell pepper and mushrooms with some butter on an iron skillet, when ready put aside.
• Remove the ground beef from the oven and drain the fat carefully, put aside
• Set the oven to Broil on high
• Put a layer of tomato basil on the ground beef, then a layer of the shredded Parmesan cheese and lastly the saute mushrooms and green bell peppers evenly distributed
• Place the ground beef with all the toppings back in the oven for anywhere between 3 to 5 minutes. You need to check it often because it might burn.
• Take it out of the oven and cut it in 8 slices so that you can use the nutrition facts above

It takes about two slices per person if all you are eating is this Meetza

Photos

Ingredients

Prepared ground beef on a 12" x 7" cookie sheet

Finished Meetza

Meetza cut into 8 pieces (after we ate 3 pieces)

Low-Carb Skewers

I been making Low-Carb skewers for the last few weeks every time I see that I need some extra calories and very few carbohydrates. Everybody at the house eats them as if they were candy. The 7yr old eats two skewers.

Nutrition Facts

4.2g Net Carbohydrates, 24g of Fat and 39g of Protein for a total of 416 calories per skewer

Ingredients Per Skewer

• 1oz of Green bell peppers
• 1oz of Onions
• 6 shrimps
• 8 pieces of 1/8 of an ounce of bacon
• 8 pieces of  about 1/8 of an ounce of pork sausage
• 8 pieces of sirloin

The Sequence

Green bell pepper, onion, bacon, shrimp, sirloin, sausage

Photos

Ingredients

Skewers before cooking

Skewers cooking in a George Foreman style grill.
Don't forget  to close it and turn them every few minutes .

Cooked skewers. I usually eat two of these.

Why We Have An Obesity Epidemic

I made a shorter version of a presentation by Dr. Doug McGuff that explains what happens when we eat and exercise at a cellular level and why we get fat and cannot lose fat. The original video was over an hour long, this shorter version is 20 minutes.

Tracking Progress

Tracking progress can be very simple and you can choose any or all of the following techniques

1. Tape Measurements
2. Body Composition
3. Before and After Photos
4. Weight Scale

Tape Measurements

This is one is probably the easiest one. The objective is to measure your waist, hips and thighs and over time  your numbers should be decreasing given that started with a lot of fat in those areas.

Body Composition

I got an electronic body fat analyzer by Omron called "Omron HBF-306C Fat Loss Monitor". There are plenty out there, but I found out that this one provides very good results when I compared it with the expensive DEXA scan. Other devices like this one are inaccurate.

Before & After Photos

This is a motivator and de-motivator as nobody wants to take before pictures. Take the photos and keep them private and use them for self-motivation and as a reward to show yourself in the future where you were and that all your hard work paid off.

Weight Scale

I don't trust this one too much because I have to keep close track as to whether my weight loss is fat or muscle tissue. An example is somebody who lost  10 pounds in total of which 5 pounds where fat and 5 pounds where muscle tissue. Losing 50/50 does not allow you to look toned. Now, the closer you get to losing 100% fat, the more toned you will look because you have more muscle relative to the fat.

Low-Carb Diet Supplements

I take a "few" daily supplements to complement my low-carb diet. The first two are the most important to me.

1. Fish oil (about 6 to 9 grams a day)
2. Multi-Vitamins (I take GNC's Mega-Men Sport)
3. At least one whey protein shake first thing in the morning with less than 3 carbs and more than 24g of protein. I am currently drinking Cyto Sport Whey Protein.
4. Calcium Citrate (2 grams in the morning and 2 grams before bed, because if you don;t get enough, your body will borrow it from your bones)
5. Potasium and Magnesium
6. Vitamin E
7. Vitamin D3 ( I take this one because I usually don't get any sun)
8. Glucosamine (before bed. It has eliminated the pain in my injured knee)
9. Alpha Lipoic Acid (after every meal if possible)
10. I take a whey protein shake and 10 grams of BCAA after my workout

Low-Carb Picadillo

This is my recipe for a low-carb picadillo for those times when I want something more juicy and flavorful than just meat. In this recipe I did not add low-carb tortillas, but you can easily add a couple if you prefer to make tacos.

Nutrition information

425 Calories, 31g of fat, 3.4g net carbohydrates, 28g of protein

Ingredients per serving

3oz  of avocado
3.5oz ground beef (90% lean and drain the fat after browning)
1oz of shredded mexican blend cheese (zero carbs)
.5oz of tomato sauce with no salt
1-2 tbsp of pico de gallo

Photos

Ingredients

One serving