Nutrition Deadlifts, Bali & Dieting
Bali time.... Al and I snuck away for 4 days r & r last week. My parents came to visit from Kalgoorlie, so they were on kid duty. In the lead up to coming away I had a flare up of an old lower back injury. My left Sacro-Iliac joint can be a little hypermobile, and it 'popped' while deadlifting. I can't blame the lift for being the cause. I had warning signs, of which I did listen to. I upped my deep tissue massages to once a week, I decreased my weights days to only 3x's per week, & I spent at least 20mins every weights session warming up, which included light lifts building up to my working sets. But it wasn't enough. The warning signs for me were that my hamstrings were particularly tight, more so than usual. But the biggest warning was tightness along the front of my shins right down to the front of my feet, which I haven't experienced before, but I will know for next time. Live and learn!
The day that my SI joint gave up on me I had done all the right things. I had warmed up on the treadmill incline for 10 mins. Did some Glute activation exercises on the floor & started with the bar only, and I worked my way up to my working sets. It was when I got to the 70kg mark (on my way up to 90kg) that I felt it. It was not an excrutiating pain like I have had before, but it was enough for me to know that I needed to not be a hero and continue. I quietly put my weights back & hit the floor for 30 minutes of stretching and foam rolling. I don't know if I could have avoided this injury in truth. Ok, maybe I could have skipped the deadlifts, but I have been deadlifting for almost 5 years & in that time have only ever hurt myself once, and that was trap bar deadlifts anyway so in my opinion it's null and void. I credit deadlifts with being one of the main lifts to help strengthen my back after suffering from a herniated disc at L4-L5.
But this leads me to what I was originally going to blog about, holiday dieting. I am not one to diet before an event as a general rule. I live by the 80/20 when it comes to nutrition, but this time I decided a tidy up of my diet was required. Being Winter, I was indulging in an few extra little comforts & was probably living by the 70/30 rule. Yep, I just made that up ;) Because it was a last minute holiday, I had 10 days to literally tighten my belt. I will share with you what I did, the rules I set for myself and I'll share what an average day of food looked like. I do this hesitantly though. I want to reinforce that this is not a long term diet. I am not an advocate of low calorie, low carb, low fat, miserable life diets. When you have more than a few extra Winter kilograms to shed, consistently changing your mindset and bad habits is what you need to do, otherwise rebound weight gain is probably all you will end up achieving.
I hurt my back at the beginning of the 10 day plan, so that took burning extra calories through exercise out. Other than walking. I walked a lot. Walking is great to keep your back moving when it is injured. I also did some Yoga at home, however I found that Yoga was not what my back needed because the SI Joint already had too much movement, so I took to the floor and did some glute work to give that joint the muscular support it needed.
So what were my weight loss food rules? They weren't that different to how I eat anyway, for me it was just a case of being more strict. For you, these rules may be new, and therefore something you could begin applying to create new habits.
Every meal revolves around a source of Protein. This means breakfast, lunch and dinner. I generally have at least 2 snacks per day also, so I would try to make these protein based but I wasn't so strict with this. If you don't already know how important Protein is when it comes to fat loss then check out my earlier post.
Cut back on starchy carbs. Those who know me know I love chocolate and cake!! I tend to have either or both of these each day. But when you want to lose a few kg's then be prepared to say adios. Not forever though. There is still space for them. You just have to be smart. If you can't eat a row of chocolate without eating the whole block, then don't even think about putting that chocolate in your trolley. If, however, you are like me and can have a row and be happy with that, then the best time to do this is after a weights session. Because I couldn't train I limited my starchy carbs to the densely nutritious variety of sweet potato and good old white potato. I did also still have rice and pasta, but this was in small portions and the only starchy carb I would have for the day. I also had Lindt 85% cocoa dark chocolate most evenings with my cup of tea. 1 or 2 squares of this was enough to keep my sweet tooth satisfied.
Eat fruit and vege - yep, I know. It's a no brainer! It is drilled into us all the time. But really, just do it. It fills your tummy up because of all the fibre, it is fuelling your body with vitamins and minerals, and at the end of the day we eat too many starchy, processed carbs and not enough of the ones that are actually going to benefit us. I did not restrict my fruit consumption either. Many diets will tell you to steer clear of fruit because of the sugars. Given that fruit also gives us fibre, vitamins and minerals, I just can't buy into that sugar argument. I also find that by having a piece of fruit when I am craving something sweet then I am less likely to have something I shouldn't.
Water - I made a conscious effort to drink more. I get a bit slack on the water front in Winter, but it helps when it comes to fat loss simply because it keeps your tummy full. I have a tendency to retain fluid too, ironically by drinking more water this is less likely to occur. A bonus for those women (99% of us) who have cellulite. If you get bored with plain old water I also had Green Tea. This counts ;) Take a water bottle with you everywhere. I always have one in the car. Every time there is a red light I drink water. Try it. Before long you will have created a new, good, habit.
Good fats - I stopped filling up my nut jar for a couple of weeks. Yes they have good fats, but fats are highly calorific. We need them for our brain and hormone health, but we don't need nearly as many as we generally consume. A good guide is a thumb size of fats per meal for women, and 2 thumbs for men.
Here is an example of a day of my food intake leading up to Bali:
Breakfast
65g Mt Barker Basil Pesto Chicken Strips (leftover from dinner)
75g Free Range Pork Mince
1 large egg
3g Butter
90g Mushrooms
Long Black Coffee
30ml Full Cream Milk
1tsp Raw sugar
Lunch
75g Free Range Pork Mince
90g Mushrooms
90g Crunchy Vegetable Salad (Pre-cut from Coles)
20g Fire Roasted Marinated Pepper Strips
15g Sliced Beetroot
Long Black Coffee mixed with 1/2 scoop Bulk Nutrients Whey Hot Choc
Dinner
100g Cooked Chicken Breast
110g Cooked White Rice
50g Cauliflower (steamed)
35g Carrots (steamed)
Snack
30g Energy Fruit n Nut Mix
1 Pink Lady Apple
12g Kraft 100% Natural Peanut Butter
1 square Lindt 85% Dark Choc
Tea with HiLo Milk
This was a typcial day for me, and you can see it is high in protein. Almost 130g of protein to be exact. I know some of you will squirm at the thought of eating meat for breakfast. I never have time to cook meat in the mornings on a weekday, so this only happens if there are leftovers or I have prepped. However as mentioned in my previous post on Protein, it keeps you full for longer and it takes your body more energy to break down which means more calories used. Win win.
This days total calorie intake was approximately 1400 calories. This is definitely low calorie for me. If I am lifting heavy and training hard, I would probably consume around 2000 calories per day, give or take. But remember, this was done not being able to lift :( I did not have a total that I was aiming to hit each day. I just listened to my body and cut out the junk. It turned out to be quite a low carb day for me too, which is why I added the rice. My body loves carbs and by dinner time I was in need!
I have taken great care of my metabolism over the years. I have never been a yo-yo dieter, and this is reflected in the way my body responds. In 10 days of following the above rules, no exercise other than walking (aiming for 10,000 steps daily), I lost 3.3kg. Of course half of this was probably water weight. If we drop our carbohydrate consumption the body can't hold as much water, but there was definite fat loss too. By keeping my protein high I was more likely to maintain muscle, and I was quick to get back to my weight sessions as soon as I could, which was actually in Bali....I made good use of the hotel gym :)
We are back from our break now, and I have retuned to my 80/20 living. The 10 day diet tidy up was a good little boost to get me back on track. If you need help and guidance with nutrition or training please don't hesitate to ask one of our staff members for help. We cannot recommend highly enough that if you have health, fitness and body goals to invest some time and money into the services of a Personal Trainer. We are passionate about helping you reach your potential. Sometimes it helps to be held accountable.