Since my recent break up, I have been trying to improve my life by being more active, social, and eating better. In the last three months, I have lowered my cholesterol 50 points and I have toned my muscles. I owe most of the plan to Tim Ferris, but I have tailored my exercise and eating routine myself. It has also saved me a lot on my food spending.
For those of you who have never met me, I am about 5'7″ and 140 pounds. I am not by any means a big guy, and I am interested in losing a little fat and gaining a lot of muscle. Losing fat while gaining muscle is very difficult, as the inputs to gain muscle counteract any weight loss. Without those inputs, you can't easily gain muscle.
So, I have created a sort of hybrid diet and exercise routine. I do my best (not perfect) to follow this six days a week. From Sunday morning when I wake up until Friday sundown, I eat healthy. From Friday sundown until I wake up on Sunday, I don't keep track.
Diet
For my diet, I have tried to cut out cheese, simple carbs, and fatty foods. I focus on eating more fresh foods, vegetables, and low fat proteins. This has been instrumental in losing fat and lowering my cholesterol.
With Tim's insipration, I try to make meals from the following foods:
- Egg whites
- Tofu
- Chicken
- Fish (generally salmon)
- Black beans
- Fresh vegetables
A few key things I have cut back on are candy, chips, anything full of sugar, white bread, pizza, pasta, and white rice. I can't be perfect when I eat out, but I have committed my home kitchen to my health. To avoid waste, I am eating my other, non-healthy foods but I am not replenishing them. When I go to the grocery store, I only buy healthy.
Exercise
My goal is to go to the gym or exercise at least three times a week. I have not been great at keeping to this schedule, but I am motivated to continue doing my best. I found a good skinny guy workout plan to get started, and I custom tailored it from there.
I have a gym in my building, so I use the equipment there. I am generally using the free weights and big weight machine for upper body and the sit up bench to get sexy abs. I exercise my legs on my bike.
The best consensus I found for weight lifting is to do as many sets of ten as you can at the highest weight possible without hurting yourself. If you are not sore for a day after your workout, you need to work harder. In a perfect workout world, I would lift on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and get out on my bike Tuesday and Thursday. I am a social guy, though, and don't work out every day.
Wallet
Eating better has been good for my food spending. I have forced myself to eat at home and cook myself dinner most days. I also try to bring my lunch more often to avoid Chipotle and Jimmy John's. Doing this has saved me between $100 and $200 per month.
What Do You Do?
I know I am not the only one here who likes to eat healthy and exercise. I am still trying to perfect my routine, and I am interested in what works for you. Please give me your workout plans and diets in the comments.
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