My diet and exercise system.

Note, I am not a dietitian or physical therapist or doctor or anything, consult these people before making major changes in your diet and exercise. This is just how I did it.

Before I started playing Ultimate I was in pretty bad shape, I was 100 lbs. overweight and couldn't run for poop. Ultimate no matter what your skill level is about running.

So how did I do it? It was something I had struggled with all of my life and one day I got sick of it. I wasn't good with the ladies and I was convinced my weight had something to do with it. I ate fast food at least twice a day and french fries was a staple of my diet.

I did it by dedication and resolve. I started out by taking it slowly which I recommend for anyone trying to lose weight. Don't shock your system with a complete diet change all at once, it will never work. Instead I would change a few things at a time and got my body to gradually accept all of the changes and make it feel more natural and no so taxing. So for week one cut out soda which has a ton of calories and you like me would rather eat your calories then drink them. This may be the toughest part. I view soda as my gateway drug to bad eating. It goes hand in hand for me, plus caffeine is the most addictive drug in the world and you will go through some withdraw the first week. I recommend you increase your water intake, the more you drink the less hungry you will feel. If you have trouble drinking water, start off with something like Crystal Light and water gradually changing the ration. The next week try cutting out salt. The next week try cutting out fast foods. Now you do need a cheat day maybe once a month so don't think you can't ever have it again.

I am a very routine based person so once I get a routine going I have little trouble keeping it going. The hardest part is to get started.

My diet was as follows and it went along with an exercise routine that I tried to do as often as I could. I can't work out on a full stomach so I would exercise the very first thing in the morning and this would benefit me more than the caffeine which I removed from my diet. The funny part is the day I would take off from exercise to let my body rest and I got an extra hour of sleep, i felt more tired then the days I got up early to work out.

This worked for me, you may be different, this is how I lost 100 lbs. in 8 months. After working out, I would eat a bowl of cereal, and I grew to love total with a banana and fat free milk. For a mid morning to afternoon snack I would chew on sunflower seeds in the shell. It took me a long time to eat them, and since I was eating them for a while It felt like I was eating more than I was. The funny thing about my new diet is I started to eat like a bird more small meals per day, i was eating like six times a day but they were small meals. For lunch, I ate an apple, a Powerbar and one Snyders of Hanover hard pretzel. This was the same everyday seven days a week, like I said, I love routine and this worked for me. For dinner I would make myself a nice sized salad with turkey and Wishbone fat free Italian dressing. This I did six day's a week. On the seventh day I would allow myself a nice juicy steak and some steamed veggies. Whatever carbs. I would eat throughout the day, I would stop eating at 3:00 PM. I want to make a note that the Atkins diet is not good for you as carbs. are a good thing if you are exercising as it helps boost energy and metabolism the problem with them is that it takes a while for your body to process them so if you cut them out mid afternoon, you get what you need and your body has time to digest it. For a nigh time snack I would have low fat/no fat yogurt with a handful of grapes.

That was my diet. As far as exercise, I took the same approach. I took it very slowly getting on a treadmill for twenty minutes and getting on it for 20 minutes a day. I ran as much as I could and in the beginning it was very little. I gradually and minimally increased it every session. I looked at the distance I would go the first session and if I could do even a tenth of a mile more the next day, it was an improvement. Before I knew it I could run for the entire twenty minutes. Then I tried getting faster and faster in those twenty minutes and before I knew it again, I was running eight minute miles. On the weekends I would go out and look for any type of pickup game I could find, soccer, basketball, ultimate, whatever I could. It took very little time before I was fast and could run for long periods of time, and I felt great. before i started I could only play a couple points of basketball before throwing up. I was in real bad shape. You also want to change up your routine as your body adjusts to your exercise, this is why I like to constantly try a little harder, once you get acclimated to all of this you want to try and keep pushing yourself just a little harder as if it is getting too easy then your body is not getting the full benefits. I did the same with adding sit ups and push ups, starting by doing as much as I could and adding a measly five a week to each, three sets at a time.

A funny story, my brother-in-law played some ultimate with me one weekend and while he was only good for a couple points before he called it quits, I played for hours without needing to stop and boy did that feel good.

Now an addendum, over the past five years I have slowly put some of the weight back on as that was a very strict diet and I started drinking my gateway drug, soda and all hell has broken loose. I finally pulled the reigns in and got back on the horse with a new diet that allows for more variety. Which may work for many of you. I start off the day with a workout. I drink a glass of V8 and take a multivitamin some vitamin c and about 3000 mg of Omega 3 fatty acids to help with my depression. For breakfast I blend a shake of all different kinds of fruits, apples, banana, grapes, blueberries, pineapple, whatever. I have about a twelve ounce glass of it and it fills me up until lunch. I may snack on a few pretzel bites to get me to lunch. I pretty much still have the same lunch approach all though I am not as rigid. Sometimes I make another shake, this one is a recipe I thought up on my own. I get about a half cup of vanilla soy milk, a banana, an apple, some organic peanut butter that I get from whole foods. They have this cool machine that grinds peanuts into peanut butter for you so your not getting those added extras the other brands put in. Note, peanuts may have a high fat content but its a good kind of fat and your body needs it so that it wont take away muscle from your workout. I also add a scoop of whey protein for my protein. Blend it up and drink. With this it usually makes two 12 ounce servings so I have two drinks about 2 hours apart. I still love the sunflower seeds although I am trying to wean myself off as they have high sodium, you can get low sodium kinds, I am just trying new things.

For dinner I am constantly trying new things, baking skinless chicken with mustard, soy vey, fat free Italian dressing, garlic and pepper. I also have some fresh veggies with this and sometimes add some brown rice. I have also been turned on to sushi grade fish which I sear on the edges and raw in the middle basted with just a little soy vey. Trust me, it will blow your mind. Make sure you check serving sizes on all of this. I like to cut pieces off the chicken breast before I put it on my plate to adjust for a better serving size. I chop up the extra chicken and give it to my pooch.

I have also tried blending my dinner which I have come up with a recipe that I really like. Basically its a blended salad. Take some lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, bacos, croutons, a little red wine vinegar, some hot salsa, some sunflower seeds un shelled, a little red pepper and blend it in the blender. It can be eaten cold or hot as I like it both ways. To make it hot, stick it in the microwave on high for about 3 and 1/2 minutes. Believe it or not its pretty good.

With this new system I am losing weight at the same ratio as before this time with variety. You don't have to eat the same thing every day, just watch your portions. Like I said if you do it small amounts at a time you will start eating less and not realising it until it starts to feel really good and by then you will be addicted to it. Trust me you will!

I wish you much luck and success with your diet and exercise. if you have any questions or need any help or advice, feel free to contact me at cheesesays @ gmail.com and I will do whatever I can to help.

One last thing, two great tip to help you reduce your portions and eat less, try adding hot spice to your foods, it will help you to eat slower and that will make you full faster and eat less. The second is after you have eaten, brush your teeth right away, you won't taste dinner and since you are actually full you will be able to recognize it.

In the mean time check out this site for free online diet and exercise journal. It helped me and I think it could help you.