What Chuck Does

It's hard to eat only good foods...

First of all it’s really hard to eat right. I mean to really eat right. Whole foods. Fruits and vegetables. Secondly it’s hard to eat right and eat a lot. How many salads can you eat in a day? How many protein shakes can you drink in a day? How many chicken breasts can you eat in a day?

Trying to gain muscle for the next 3 weeks but figuring out how I’m going to sustain a healthy caloric surplus is freaking hard. If only I could eat burgers and fries all day…

I already know that I’m going to get to the point where if I see another dried-ass chicken breast, I’m going to slit my wrists… I just know it.

posted at 5:44pm

Strong Core

I’m working out 2-3 times a week. Eating regularly trying to gain muscle but truthfully not putting enough effort into it. Pound for pound I’m the strongest I’ve ever been. I would say I’m 90-95% as strong as when I was 175 lbs. I only weigh 146 lbs. now. For a 30 lbs. difference I’ve shattered the notion that I need to weigh a lot to be strong. 

Lately, I’ve been doing pull-ups with a 45lbs. dumbbell in a backpack. I can pull off 3 sets of 5 reps. It’s just general training for my back and also helps me do more bodyweight pull-ups for the 300 challenge.

However with all that being said, it’s mostly an illusion what you see below. My back is probably the strongest part of my upper body, but it’s the lighting that makes the cuts you see below:

My goal is to get back to 100% of the strength I was at when I weighed 175 lbs. If I train with heavier weights regularly like I do with the pullups, I’ll get there pretty quickly… Only problem is I don’t have a bench press at home with 175 lbs. nor do I have access to 135 lbs. for shoulder press. Might have to figure something out.

posted at 8:03am

All 300 Reps

Yesterday Paul and I did all 300 repetitions of the 300 challenge. They include:

25 pullups
50 pushups
50 deadlifts (at 135lbs)
50 box jumps (with 24” box)
50 floor wipers (at 135lbs) 
50 clean and press (with 25 lbs I forgot it was supposed to be 36lbs)
25 pullups 

It took us about an hour. I actually don’t know how long it took because I wasn’t keeping track. But we finished it.

I started feeling sore last night and Paul sent me an email saying, “Dude, good 300, my back aches…”

Today I really feel it, so I sent an email back saying, “Dude. I’m destroyed from the 300 yesterday… mostly back and legs.”

Paul then emails back saying, “OMG, I feel like a psycho gorilla just wailed on my back with a tree…” LOL :)

I’m going to revisit the 300 again, when I’m healed. Gotta get this under 30 minutes. Totally doable.

posted at 12:54pm

I got published!

Well kinda… not really. Someone was writing an article online about eating disorders and likely went onto flickr and queried “eating disorder” and found a picture of mine. They asked me if they could use it in their article and I said, “sure”.

Truth be told, my “picture” really isn’t a picture. It’s a freaking screenshot of my nutrition/food records… oh well. It’s a start!

Here’s the article: National Eating Disorder Awareness Week: February 22-28, 2009

posted at 10:07am

Taking stock of injuries at 29

I figured I’d do a quick “inventory analysis” of my injuries at 29 years of age. Here’s what I’ve accumulated

Permanent Injuries
- scar tissue from torn ligament in left neck
- scar tissue from torn ligament in left hip abductor
- tendonitis/bursitis in left and right elbows
- scar tissue from torn rotator cuff left shoulder
- over 60% attrition in enamel and dentin in molars
- chronic soreness of jaws from bruxism

Temporary Injuries
- fracture in right ball of foot
- sprain left ankle
- bruising front and side of left hip
- bruising front and side of right hip
- brusing left/right knees

Vulnerabilities
- bruising of back on hyperextension
- sore knees on long runs

What are your injuries?

posted at 10:28am

Eating Right: Small and Often

It’s really hard to eat too much actually when you eat small meals frequently throughout the day. For the past 2 days I’ve eaten 8 meals a day. Each meal varies between being a light snack to 1/2 a typical lunch meal. For example:

9:30AM: Egg mcmuffin (300 cals)
11AM: Cereal with milk and banana (335 cals)
1PM: Protein shake (200 cals)
2PM: Nigiri sushi (300 cals)
3PM: 1 piece of orange (20 cals)
5PM: 1/2 salad (200 cals)
6PM: Ding Tai Fung (500 cals)
10PM: 1/2 salad, 1/2 Egg Mcmuffin, chips (550 cals)

Total: 2205 calories

Why this works: I’m simply not hungry. I can’t possibly be hungry. I’m eating sometimes at hourly intervals and it’s too frequent for my stomach to be empty (again). So without being actually hungry, the volume of my intake is diminished. I can’t possibly eat as much as I would normally if I only eat 3 meals a day.

The benefits are huge. Sustainable energy throughout the day without converting foods into fats.

posted at 4:48pm

I Know Why People Go Bulimic

Take 1 individual with orthorexia nervosa, a dose of body dysmorphic disorder, a healthy sense of guilt, and an all-you-can-eat buffet… Now I know why people stick their fingers down their throats after binge-eating.

Seriously. I semi-thought about it as I was in the bathroom after consuming 1200+ calories at a Korean BBQ. I’ve been sick for 5 days now and the lack of exercise has been getting to me. Combine that with a large buffet and now I’m accruing a huge surplus of calories that will likely turn into fat unless A) I exercise or B) I barf it out.

posted at 3:26pm

Nutrition/Diet/Results: Live and Learn

I have learned a few things about dieting and the results over the last couple of months from being on and off a strict diet.

• My recent feelings of being “run-down”, tired, and on the verge of getting sick are a result of not consuming enough calories. This happened 1-2 weeks before the wedding when I was last consuming 300-500 calories less than my daily expenditure. I was constantly tired, moody, and needing more sleep. So not fun. When it happened again a couple days ago, I ate more and then felt better.

• Weighing yourself on the Tanita scale after showering creates a lower fat % reading and higher hydration % reading. The weight is the same. I speculate that this is a result of the water or humidity on the skin as well as the temperature of the body (primarily the feet).

• The scale mistakens excess food for more muscle mass. Before leaving for Hawaii in August, I had not broken into the 10’s but when I came back with a full stomach, the scale registered my first 10.9% fat reading. I’ve noticed that any time I binge eat/drink and then weigh myself, the scale registers a lower fat % reading and higher hydration % reading.

• Even though I’ve been eating more than I burn, I have been losing weight. This is a loss of muscle mass and a gain of fat. It’s unfortunate but muscle atrophies very quickly without stimulation and proper resistance training. Which reminds me, I promised to work out today. I will try to get in a small workout after work.

posted at 4:32pm

I Have the "Best Kind" of Eating Disorder

Yes. I have an eating disorder. I also have body dysmorphic disorder. Really the two go hand in hand.

Here’s a sample of my eating disorder:

That’s Monday and Tuesday for the past 2 weeks. Here’s the full version.

So it turns out I have Orthorexia Nervosa. From Wikipedia:

Orthorexia Nervosa is a recently discovered disease because it was thought to be Anorexia earlier on. This type of disorder is an obsession with eating only healthy types of foods. This disease usually occurs when people are so driven to become thin that they start to become obsessed with everything that they are consuming. Someone who struggles with Orthorexia Nervosa will do things like planning out their meals for the next day. This means that they will have a strict planned schedule of breakfast, lunch and dinner. This person will try to be constantly limiting the amount of food that he/she is eating in order to maintain a certain weight. People who have Orthorexia Nervosa are often critical of what others eat, and usually isolate themselves from surroundings (“Eating Disorders”, 2001).

This describes me down to a tee.

During a conversation about my eating habits, he says “Dude, you have like the best type of eating disorder”. And it’s true! Of all of the horrible types of eating disorders that exist, binge eating, bulimia, anorexia, othorexia, and compulsive exercising… I have the best one!

Yay me!

posted at 4:29pm

Egg McMuffin - What's Unhealthy?

Here’s my take on the Egg McMuffin.

• Tastes great
• Bread, margarine, Canadian bacon, egg, and cheese
• 300 cals. 18 grams of protein who cares about the fat.
• Easy access at thousands of McDonald’s locations

Question is, is it “healthy”? Read on if you’re curious…

posted at 11:13am