Gotta Have Strength with HBP

You have to have strength to make it through the transistion from a normal eater to one with high blood pressure. At first you are probably a little scared when the doctors tell you what could happen and all the effects to your body from uncontrolled high blood pressure.

After awhile the harsh warnings begin to fade away with lure of fast food and other high sodium foods. My story began with "we will cut down on the sodium" then that changed to let's go out this once since we have guests in town.

The reality of it was I was craving foods I had not eaten for a while. Could it be that food is an addiction? I can't live without it, but should I be treating it as an addiction. Who knows the answer to that question but the reality of going out to eat high sodium foods just once led to a weekend of eating out. Not only did we spend a huge amount of money in relation our normal eating budget, but after the first meal I did not feel like cooking which lead to all the other meals being eaten at food establishments.

The truest fact that I need to be strong about my food consumption was the scale. I had packed on more than 23 lbs in three days. It worked out to gaining almost 8 lbs every time I went out to eat. This told me that even once a month was too much. losing 8lbs requires a lot of hard work. I had almost gained back 3 months of extra hard training with three simple meals.

Each time somebody mentions let's go out to eat I remind my self that I will gain 8 lbs. Now I am proactive and tell my guests. we love to have you visit but I am not going out to eat because of my blood pressure.

Finally Cleared

My cardiologists Told me no exercise until my B.P. was under control. Monday I was given the go ahead to restart my plan to loose a few pounds and continue exercising.

So with that said. Tomorrow will be my first real post.

Day 4 Pre Race Day

Today must be an easy relaxing day. As much as I would like to work out hard tomorrow I have my very first road race.

My workout was simple
Stationary bike on a very low setting for 20 minutes 93 burned calories (just enough to break a sweat)
Lifitng was very light with higher repetition.
Bicep curl 3 sets of 25                                            Seated Dumbell curl 3 sets of 20
Tricep curl 3 sets of 25                                           Overhead tricep extension 3 sets of 20
Wide ( bar) grip pull up3 sets of 10                         Dumbell shoulder shrug 3 sets of 20
Alternating front dumbell raise 3 sets of 10

Breakfast 2 whole wheat pancakes, 1 egg 1/4 cups sugar free syrup coffee.
Last night I decided I would make a beef stew packed fulled of veggies such as carrots, broccoli, onions, garlic, green & yellow peppers, black beans. The broth will partly be used as a sauce for hand made pasta. The trick with broccoli is to trim the edge and cut off the hard outer stem. The inside is soft and tasty. cut into cubes and put in the slow cooker. Total time to make the beef stew 15 minutes. It will now cook on low until dinner tonight!

Day 3 My First Rest

Wow my body is sore. I need to rest for two reasons, the first one is I am running my first road race on Saturday. After the last few days of running on treadmills, stationary bikes I need my legs to be fresh for this run.
Day four will include some weight lifting.

Meal Plan
Breakfast 1.5 cups cooked quick oats (skim milk) with banana and raisins. 1 tablespoon brown sugar and coffee.
Lunch 6 oz Roasted chicken thigh without skin 11 oz mixed green salad.
Snack 4 crackers with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
Snack 1 slice of bread with unsalted butter ( I know it's bad)
Dinner Roasted chicken with 1 whole wheat pancake and home made cantelope bbq sauce.

Day 2

My meal plan for Day 2 was very tasty with breakfast being a twist on steak and eggs. A few days ago I was in a local Asian market and found in the meat section thinly sliced eye of round steak. Each steak was sliced thinner than bacon. Each piece weighed approximately 0.25 ounces. I grabbed two packages, one of eye of round steak and one of chicken breast.

Meal Plan:

Breakfast, 3 whole wheat pancakes with ¼ cup of sugar free syrup, 8 slices of thin steak, 1 egg and a cup of coffee. Use a calorie free, fat free spray for cooking.

Lunch, 110z mixed green salad with 6oz salmon combined with 3 tablespoons of home made dressing, 10 grapes.

Dinner 1.5 cups of cooked Spanish brown rice with with tomato, onion, garlic, jalapeno, 5 oz of thinly sliced chicken.

Snack ate one of leftover whole wheat pancakes with 3 slices of thin steak.

Workout was heavy, to warm up I used the stationary bike for a 50 calorie burn. Once warmed up the process for the day was combining what used to be a two day lift session. Fatigue eventually kicked in a my lift session turned into 1.5 days worth of lifting.

Leg extension, 3sets ( 10, 12, 12,)

Squat 4 sets (6, 8, 8, 10,)

Leg press 3 sets ( 6, 6, 6,)

Hack Squat 3 sets (10, 10, 10,)

Lying leg curl 3 sets ( 10, 12, 12,)

Romanian dead lift 3 sets ( 10, 10, 10,)

Incline dumb bell Fly 4 sets ( 6, 8, 8, 10,)

Flat bench dumb bell press 4 sets ( 6, 8, 8, 10,)

Cable cross over 3 sets ( 8, 10, 12,)

Military press dumb bell 3 sets ( 8, 10, 12,)

Behind the neck over head press 4 sets (6, 8, 8, 10,)

Day 1

Day 1 weight 321 lbs.

Meal plan

Breakfast 1 cup of quick oats made with skim milk, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, a whole banana and 10 red grapes.

Lunch 11oz mixed green salad with 2 teaspoons of olive oil dressing.4.8 oz of skinless chicken thigh including bone.

Dinner steamed 6 oz rainbow trout fillet, 12oz mixed green salad with 20 ml of salad dressing for the salad and fish.

Snack was 4 whole walnuts, 3 super light beers.

Work out plan

Workout 1 started with riding the stationary bike for 127 calories, this was followed up with running on the treadmill for an additional burn of 189 calories.

Workout 2 was a simple 2 mile walk to the store instead of driving. The burn of calories is estimated to be 325 calories.

Workout 3 was a 5K run on the treadmill at various speeds, the total calorie burn was 559 calories.

Tools To Manage My Meal Plan

I enjoy grocery shopping and shopping for food. So naturally the first thing I had to do was purchase a couple things.
A few sets of measuring spoons and measuring cups. I spent some big dollars ($34) on a digital scale that can also tell me the nutritional value of the food I am preparing.

I purchased a Composition note book to record my daily exercise and food consumption.