Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds :)

[techie]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

LoOp Thanks VERY POWERFUL. Thank you so much for sharing. Your post clearly illustrates how much one can accomplishment if they want it. SUPER...techie

[Lo0p]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

K9Lover;866518 wrote: I think I'll follow your example and do some before and after shots also

Definitely do it!! If only (especially) for yourself. They are an awesome motivator, and great to look back on and see how far you've come.

They are also a much more accurate tool to gauge your progress than a scale. I weighed 167 when I started on Dec 1st and I weighed 167 until like late January. The scale showed no progress at all but the mirror told the truth, I was burning fat and adding muscle at the same time. Take pictures weekly and you'll be able to see positive changes that you won't otherwise notice because you see yourself daily.

[Lo0p]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

What are your hopes and dreams?

Post them here! Or write them down somewhere! Think about them and plan for them! When the demon is finally dead, trust me, you'll need something to fill the void! Why not fill it with the one thing you really want?

[OverIt2007]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

Very inspirational post LoOp, thanks so much for thinking enough of others to encourage them.

I definately needed some encouragement today! Sometimes I wonder what I am so afraid of. Its almost like afraid to live your dreams for me. Yet, I know my happiness lies on the otherside and my dreams are there still waiting for me to reach out, and grab them.

[Special Brew - no more]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

LoOp, I'd settle for your 'before' photo as an 'after'! Crickey - see me!

My wife's a gym-a-holic, I went fist time last week, and she was so disappointed when I cracked a can when home. 2nd visit last night, and went AF. But pangs tonight, so back on. BUT, only just heard about Baclofen and this site; aim to order some, keep up gym, etc.....but then, i talk from the haze right now, eh.

As others said - good on you for keeping on at this site - good news can only hope us dreamers.

[Lo0p]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

OverIt2007;867450 wrote: Its almost like afraid to live your dreams for me. Yet, I know my happiness lies on the otherside and my dreams are there still waiting for me to reach out, and grab them.
Yup. I remember all that all too well! it's weird but it is like a 'fear'.

Special Brew - no more;867475 wrote: LoOp, I'd settle for your 'before' photo as an 'after'! Crickey - see me!

Ha! We all start somewhere! There was a time that I too would have been overjoyed to have my before picture. I lost my first 50 lbs back in '06.

[lukalee]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

Will you share your workout routine and diet?

[Lo0p]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

lukalee;869124 wrote: Will you share your workout routine and diet?

Sure! I've gotta get to work and then head to the gym but I'll be able to summarize it here sometime within the next couple of days.

[tiptronic_ct]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

Lo0p;869142 wrote: Sure! I've gotta get to work and then head to the gym but I'll be able to summarize it here sometime within the next couple of days.

The time has come to explore the rest of MWO, Lo0P - go check out the health & fitness section! You can spread the gospel there as well :H

And if you're still interested in hosting the little stuffed Tigger: please have some mercy on the poor chap! He's leading a very comfortable life at the moment, sipping cocktails in Raffles an the like :H

[RedThread12]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

Hey, LoOp:

Powerful post, among so many. I have a similar version of what has happened for me with baclofen - I understand the feeling of normal and as things should be.
I note, too, that those feelings did not come when I was not drinking for three years while I was in AA. Nothing against 12-step at all, just that I find myself far more sober with baclofen than I was in that other environment.

Here's a fun little side-story. The doc I went to for my baclofen prescription is a one-time yoga student of mine who competed as a professional body-builder from 2001-2007, winning 1st all the way up to NPC Masters. She took the time to read all the studies (that you had posted!) that I took to her and has been helping others with baclofen as well. BUT her eyes lit up and she got even more interested when I showed her your work-out graphs! I mean, saving lives is one thing, but no soreness after "leg-day?" That really blew her away!!

[Rusty]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

LoOp,


Congratulations! What a transformation! Forgive me but I have forgotten....how many days/weeks were you on BAC when you quit drinking?

Kudos again!!!


Rusty

[Lo0p]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

Okay, here goes...

The most important part of this whole thing is the DIET. The exercise has to be there as a prerequisite, it is like the stimulus, but what actually causes the transformation is the nutrition. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!!!

It works by manipulating your natural hormones through the types of food you eat at certain times of the day before and after certain activities.

The goal: Shed body fat as quickly and healthily as possible while retaining ALL lean mass (muscle). Some people even gain lean mass while doing this. Most fitness/nutrition professionals believe this is impossible to do.

The basics: 6 meals per day, protein in every one. Never consume high levels of fat AND energy dense carbohydrates in the same meal. You need every macronutrient (protein, carbs and fats) for very specific reasons throughout the day. Your meals will either be a combination of protein and fat (P/F) or protein and carbs (P/C).

Fasted AM LISS cardio: LISS cardio means low intensity steady state cardio. This is the boring kind. I put my stationary cycle in front of my TV and cycle for 45 minutes at a slow speed with my heart rate in between 125-135. This should be in between 65 and 75% of you maximum heart rate. It's easy stuff, but mind numbing unless you've got something to occupy yourself. You do this before breakfast. It revs up your metabolism, doesn't burn that many calories in and of itself but is a CRITICAL part of the protocol. You do this 7 days a week.

Two eating schedules: One for days that you train with weights, and one for days off.

A Training day will look like this:

6:30 AM: 45 minutes LISS Cardio
8:00 AM: Meal 1 (P/F) [whole food]
10:30 AM: Meal 2 (P/F) [shake or whole food]
12:30 PM: Meal 3 (P/F) [whole food]
3:00 PM: Meal 4 (P/F) [shake or whole food]
5:00 PM: Piece of Fruit (C)
5:30 PM: Resistance Training
6:30 PM: Meal 5: (P/C) [shake]
8:00 PM: Meal 6: (P/C) [whole food]

A day off will look like this:

6:30 AM: 45 minutes LISS Cardio
8:00 AM: Meal 1 (P/F) [whole food]
10:30 AM: Meal 2 (P/F) [shake or whole food]
12:30 PM: Meal 3 (P/F) [whole food]
3:00 PM: Meal 4 (P/F) [shake or whole food]
5:30 PM: Meal 5 (P/F) or (P/C) [whole food]
8:00 PM: Meal 6: (P/F) [shake or whole food]

You have two main hormones that control whether or not you are adding mass (anabolism) or burning mass (catabolism). These are insulin and glucagon. Insulin is your anabolic hormone and glucagon is your catabolic hormone.

The problem is when you are in an anabolic state you can be adding either muscle OR fat, and when you are in a catabolic state you can be burning muscle OR fat. this is the MAJOR FLAW in most diets. The trick is to manipulate your hormones, nutrition and exercise so that you are burning fat AND adding muscle.

Insulin and glucagon are on a negative feedback loop, meaning the release of one inhibits the release of the other. When your insulin is high your glucagon is low and vice versa.

The quickest and surest way to influence the release of these hormones by your pancreas is to consume carbohydrates. As soon as you start to digest complex or simple carbohydrates and they hit your bloodstream your insulin levels rise and your glucagon levels plummet. This places you in an anabolic state. Normally this is a bad thing when you are trying to burn fat. But it's necessary to place yourself in an anabolic state right after your workouts in order to at least maintain your lean mass (and maybe even increase it).

So the purpose of the protocol is to place yourself in a catabolic state starting first thing in the AM by raising your glucagon with the LISS cardio and keeping it high throughout the day with the P/F meals. Then to convince your body that it needs to spare your lean mass by placing demands on it (training) and feeding it with the high carb post workout meals.

The high fat P/F meals are necessary because they convince your body that you are feeding it regularly, and with a good supply of healthy fats, so it's okay to release and burn stored triglycerides.

Amounts: Okay this is going to be one of the toughest parts to understand.

We measure amounts of food in grams of macronutrients. Macronutrients are protein, carbs or fat. You can find the amounts of each macronutrient that there are in a certain amount of food by going to www.calorieking.com or your favorite calorie counting website.

For example: A piece of chicken breast that weighs 123g cooked has 38g of protein in it. 323g of cooked rice has 70g of carbs in it. 95g of avocado has 14g of fat in it.

I'll use myself as an example. I weigh 165 lbs and am about ~10% body fat right now, however, these amounts work for me whenever I'm in a range of 155-175 lbs and ~8% to ~20% body fat.

This is what my typical training day looks like:

6:30 AM: 45 minutes LISS Cardio
8:00 AM: Meal 1: 38g P 14g F
10:30 AM: Meal 2: 38g P 14g F (shake)
12:30 PM: Meal 3: 38g P 14g F
3:00 PM: Meal 4: 38g P 14g F (shake)
5:00 PM: Piece of Fruit 20g C
5:30 PM: Resistance Training
6:30 PM: Meal 5: 29g P 70g C (shake)
8:00 PM: Meal 6: 29g P 70g C

For breakfast (Meal 1) I'll have an omelette made with 100g of egg beaters, 60g of chicken and 40g of cheese. Those 3 ingredients together make up 38g of protein and 14g of fat. Then I'll add mushrooms and onions in the omelette and throw a cup or two of broccoli or green beans on the plate for a side. Scoop of salsa on top maybe. These vegetables are so low in carbs that I don't count them. I make sure that I get at least a serving of fibrous green veggies in every whole food meal and I don't bother to count them because they are insignificant to my calorie/macro totals.

So my 3 meal components are 38g of protein, 14g of fat and fibrous green + ancillary veggies.

Now it takes a little bit of calculation and planning to make something like an omelette and hitting those macros because egg beaters are just protein, chicken breast is almost all protein and some fat but cheese has protein and fat. I made myself a chart with different meals I could make using different ingredients to make it easy for me.

An easier example would be a chicken salad. I cut up a bunch of lettuce and veggies and throw them on the plate then I measure out 123g of chicken for my 38g of protein. Put the plate on the scale and squirt out one full serving of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (full fat) which just happens to have 14g of fat in it.

Shakes are easier. I buy cheap protein powder from Wal-Mart. I look at the nutrition label and figure out that it'll take 48g of powder to get 38g of protein and dump that in there. Shake it up with water and then grab 24 almonds for my 14g of fat. If I'm headed to work and won't have the time to eat a handful of almonds I'll use 14g of flax or olive oil for my fat and just dump it in my shake.

In all of these P/F meals notice there are absolutely NO energy dense carbohydrates like rice or potatoes or beans.

[Lo0p]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

tiptronic_ct;869160 wrote: The time has come to explore the rest of MWO, Lo0P - go check out the health & fitness section! You can spread the gospel there as well :H

And if you're still interested in hosting the little stuffed Tigger: please have some mercy on the poor chap! He's leading a very comfortable life at the moment, sipping cocktails in Raffles an the like :H
Ha! If I only had the time... Besides, I like it up here.

Tigger will be a real tiger by the time I'm done with him!!! :H

RedThread12;869168 wrote: Here's a fun little side-story. The doc I went to for my baclofen prescription is a one-time yoga student of mine who competed as a professional body-builder from 2001-2007, winning 1st all the way up to NPC Masters. She took the time to read all the studies (that you had posted!) that I took to her and has been helping others with baclofen as well. BUT her eyes lit up and she got even more interested when I showed her your work-out graphs! I mean, saving lives is one thing, but no soreness after "leg-day?" That really blew her away!!

Did you show her the study I found with the rats and the baclofen and the exercise? I'd be really curious about her opinion on this stuff. I'm reluctant to shoot my mouth off about it on the fitness websites I frequent for fear that it'd be abused.

Rusty;869181 wrote: how many days/weeks were you on BAC when you quit drinking?

You can kinda see it in my graph. By day 3 I almost went AF @ 250mgs, but I was shorted on my first order of baclofen so I ran out really fast. That's when I spiked back up. I went AF 3 days after I received my second order and I knew I could take enough for it to work. I hope this answers your PM.

[lukalee]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

Thanks!!!

[Guest]

Hopes and dreams and idle (sober) minds

Loop

I come from an athletics to bodybuilding/fitness-figure background and your plan is very much the sort of thing I follow too. At the moment I'm not as strict regards the foods as long as I have good carbs and protein at all of the meals - for me to jump right onto measuring and getting hung up isn't good and can lead me to flip back into ED or AL land.

I'm aiming to get as lean as possible already my weights are up and I'm now performing cardio 5 days a week AM where possible but if not then after weights. I've got around 20lbs to lose before I'll see my abs but they are there and coming out eventually.