Freeletics, diet and progress

I'm sure it's a riveting read (NOT) about the Freeletics sessions, certainly for me it seems each session is now just a case of getting to that sweet spot of doing all exercises without stopping to catch a breath and all in good form.

Progress wise I can tell a huge difference since day 1 where I struggled to do ten burpees without being massively out of breath and yet yesterday the first exercise was to do 25 burpees out of a total of 150 and I did one after the other with no rest or breaking a sweat. Same goes for pressups, at first struggling to get into double figures in the MAX exercises which gives you 100 seconds and now I can reach over 50 in the same time.

I have craved that body which you see Levent and Arne etc on the 15 transformations and it has been a slow burner. My weight has dropped by 5  pounds since the start but the difference is in my clothes. I have lost two inches from my waist and most impressive of all is that my chest is pretty damn firm and my shoulders have rounded out. It's only when you look back at the photo on day one and look at the times that you did first off that you think, WOW how far have I come?! That coupled with the fact that I have another 5 weeks to go makes me even more determined.

Diet

So what about diet? It's OK doing all this exercise but if you aren't putting the correct fuel in then you aren't going to get the most out of it. Before I start I best point out that I am in no way whatsoever a nutritionist and the points here are just what have worked for me.

At the start I pretty much ate normally which for me would be 2500 - 3000 calories a day with little thought put into the makeup of it and maybe a litre of water a day. During that time I did see some improvement, however the real gains came over the past few weeks. My neighbour is getting fit too, except that he is going to the gym and loves biking. However it's nice to have someone to talk to in regards to what you eat and what you are doing, even if it's just to see what food each of us have cheated with.

Stay hydrated

My first change was the amount of water, I went from 1 to 1.5 litres per day to 5 to 6 per day which may sound a lot even to me, especially when I was only drinking a few cups of tea each day. However it's not that hard to drink 5 litres, firstly the water does act as a hunger suppressant and stops me snacking, or at least wanting to snack! Also dehydration causes you to feel tired, another good reason to stay hydrated. Finally your muscles need water during high intensity exercises and after reading an email from Freeletics.com it points out that you should drink a litre of water approx 90 mins before exercising. That is good in two ways for me, firstly I have a good reason to drink a litre and secondly it commits me to exercise, it's as if by drinking that bottle I am committing to doing a session. (Just drinking a litre now)

Eat right

I felt the need for a low carb, high protein diet for the last few weeks of the session in an effort to really burn off the stubborn fat and build muscle and it's surprising how much you can eat yet still be in a calorie deficit.  I currently have 1350 calories per day with 155grams of protein and 67grams of carbs which by the end of the week I do feel a little tired on but with a cheat day consisting of a slab of black chocolate and plenty of fruit for that sugar boost I am back to feeling awesome again the following day.

However as you can imagine, I don't feel hungry in my day to day food.

Breakfast

Beans, mushrooms and two poached eggs. Two pans and ten minutes. Dead easy.

Higher in protein than carbs and very filling. I switched when a friend of mine Paul (paulfightscancer.co.uk) gave me some very welcome pointers. Huge thanks and kudos Paul, it's working! What an awesome guy, his site is a goldmine of information and inspiration.

Lunch
brown rice cooked in veg stock with one chicken breast and 100grams of broccoli and 100grams of cauliflower.
I really should split this up across a couple of meals because it is so filling. The veg stock is to give it plenty of flavor  otherwise it would be a bit lacking.

Tea
Tuna salad consisting of some slices of pepper, tomatoes and spring onions along with lettuce.
Mix of nuts and berries to munch on afterwards.

Nice and light for the evening meal, quick to prepare. The nuts and berries are surprisingly filling too!


So there you have it, that was yesterday's food, pretty much the same today. I'm happy having similar food day to day at the moment because I go into autopilot when making meals. This low carb high protein plan is only for while I am doing Freeletics coach sessions. Once these are over I shall swap it up to have more of a balance on the carbs and protein. For now though it is working great.

Oh yes, nearly forgot, I also have two protein shakes, one before working out and one after to ensure there is excess protein hanging around for my muscles.

Don't forget to sleep well too. I have been known to work well into the night and also do marathon 30+ hour coding sessions at work but it's no good for your body and you do need to rest. So during this 15 weeks I have tried to maintain a good 7 to 8 hours a night.

Not always done especially last night when the two dogs woke me up at 4am to go to the toilet and I couldn't get back to sleep, so only 5 hours last night.

Stay healthy people, much love.
x