Let’s Increase Protein! (and decrease carbs and sugars. . . maybe. . .)

At work there is a girl who I’d say is EXTREMELY fit. She is maybe 5’5″, 110 lbs and crazy fit and strong. When we used to go to the same gym I’d sometimes see her there and I was  both impressed and a little scared seeing her pump out so many push-ups and pull-ups. Her idea of a short run is 8 – 10 km and she’s into muay thai boxing. She doesn’t actually do much (or any) work at work but she’s a fun person and very helpful in giving me advice in my goals. She gave me advice on running/jogging, how to progress to eventually do pull-ups (though I no longer have access to an assisted pull-up machine), how to do push-ups, nutrition and more. I call her my Unofficial Personal Fitness Consultant.

Since I’m in the 2nd month of P90X I’ve noticed that I’m definitely stronger but I don’t look any different. I don’t look more toned and don’t seem to have lost the fat that I’d like to drop a dress/pant size. (More into future goals later). Since I exercise almost everyday I can only conclude from this that it must be my diet that is contributing to this. I eat a fairly balanced diet but I sometimes have  unhealthy binges at 10pm on foods like rice cakes, chips, Twizzlers, etc – very unhealthy and high carb and fat foods at the worst time of the day.

High Protein Foods = YAY!

Lots of carbs, sugars and fat = Boo!

I talked about changing my diet over with Unofficial Fitness Consultant and she suggested I change my diet to increase my protein intake and decrease my carbohydrate and sugar levels. I eat too much carbs and sugars and not enough protein. Protein is necessary to repair/build muscles and if I don’t have as much then I can’t repair/build enough muscle. More protein will also help me because I’ll feel satiated and not have those late night cravings and binges. I’ve decided to heed her advice and make small changes every week and see if I notice any results in the next month. I was considering joining Weight Watchers but this way I save money so I’ll try this for a month or 2 and see how it goes.

The changes I’ve made thus far are (1) Having a protein drink post-workout and (2) Including more protein in my breakfast. Up to an hour after working out is the prime time to repair/build muscle. Having protein and a bit of carbs to help that out is a great idea. Since protein powders don’t taste all that great I usually mix it with some fruit. I have one almost every time I work out. For breakfast I used to have some yogurt, a piece of fruit and toast with peanut butter. Now I’ve switched it to steel oats with fruit and yogurt or an egg with toast and yogurt or a piece of fruit.

My next step is to have one of my meals a day be a salad with a good source of protein in it. I haven’t figured out how to do this yet but I will at some point. If you have any good recipes please let me know!