Counting Calories: Update

So after a month and a little bit I am sitting just around 165lbs-167lbs depending on the time of day I weigh myself. I'm pretty happy with the results of losing weight by eating better. Now I think I might actually try for 160 or even 155! I haven't been 155 in over 15 years! But if I do get to 155lbs I'm pretty sure I will be able to see abs. Woohoo!

Garlic Butter Tilapia

I love this recipe. Tried it out a few weeks ago and couldn't stop licking my lips after I was done eating!

Tilapia is a great choice for a low carb diet or any healthy diet.
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
dash pepper
dash salt
pinch dried dillweed or parsley
dash paprika
4 tilapia fillets
Preparation:

In saucepan, combine butter, garlic, pepper, salt, dillweed, and paprika. Heat over low heat until butter is melted and starts simmering. Remove from heat. Brush a little of the butter mixture in the bottom of a shallow baking dish (line baking dish with foil, if desired) then place tilapia fillets on the buttered area. Brush top of each tilapia fillet with the seasoned butter mixture. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes, until tilapia flakes easily with a fork.
Serves 2.

Notes:
-Added hot pepper flakes to it for a spicy kick.
-Instead of just brushing the sauce on the filets and then cooking I poured the entire sauce over the filets and baked (Do this if you aren't really worried about calories, use brushing method if you are)
-takes about 10-12 minutes per inch of fish to cook in the oven.

Clever :D

Taking the next step: Counting Calories

From a few posts before this one you can see that I am big into working out now, specifically weight lifting. I still do 3 days a week of weight training when possible and play hockey once a week (and soon will be starting up Flag football with hockey too). The weight training has been steadily replacing my fat with muscle and my hockey is a great cardiovascular workout that incorporates short intense intervals (1-2min) and a few mins of rest. However since my drop down to 170lbs I have not gotten any lower and it is definitely due to my daily diet.

With school, work, workouts and more school I found myself very busy and extremely lazy to make that effort to find/make something healthy to eat. My quickest and easiest solution was always to go pick up some fast food. That would be McDonald's, Wendy's, Jimmy's (Donairs), Chicken on the Way (Fried Chicken) or a poutine. The only good thing about this was that it kept me at around 2800 calories per day and kept me at a consistent weight of 170 for the last 7 to 8 months.

Now with school wrapping up and all I have is finals left I feel like I can lean up some more and get this body looking SEXY! So I went online and used a few Calorie counters to help me figure out what I need to start my calorie counting. I inputed my height, age and weight and my goal weight of 165lbs. The numbers calculated for me were:

Without Exercise
-2523.8 calories per day to maintain my current weight without exercise
-2487.6 calories per day to reach my goal slowly without exercise
-2023.8 calories per day without exercise to lose one pound per week
-3023.8 calories per day to gain one pound per week

With Exercise
-2760 calories per day with 30 min exercise per day
-3060.7 calories per day with 60 min exercise per day

Macronutrients
50% of my calories should come from carbohydrates
30% of my calories should come from fats
20% of my calories should come from protein

1g of protein = 4 calories
1g of fat = 9 calories
1g of carbohydrates = 4 calories

so to maintain my weight of 170lbs I must eat:
-315.5 g of carbohydrates
-83.3g of fat
-126.2g of protein per day
total calories consumed=2523.8

to get to 165lbs I must eat:
-311g of carbohydrates
-82.1g of fat
-124.4g of protein
total calories consumed=2487.6

With those numbers I am going to try and hit around 1800 to 2000 calories per day and still do 3 days of weight training with 2 days of sports (flag football and hockey). I might start supplementing that with some treadmill action once to two times a week (depending on how busy I am). From all this let's see firstly if I can stick to counting calories (something I have NEVER done) and secondly see my results within a month from now!

The hardest things to over come with this new change in eating is definitely not cheating and eating fast food. Basically I have to cut it out, and if I do eat it, I should only eat it once a week maximum. The other hardest thing will to be cut down on yummy intake of rice during supper and to make sure that I eat a healthy filling low calorie breakfast and lunch as well.

Hopefully this turns out well! Wish me luck!

Sutter Cup Champions 2010!!!

CBHA Minor Midget AAA Rangers are 2010 Sutter Cup Champions!!! I got close with the Midget A Bruins back in 08 (second place) but we finally did it this year. The 5 game tournament started off shaky with us falling behind to the Blazers in the first period but we managed to win that game. The next 2 games vs Red Deer and the Royals were also iffy but we still won. It all started melding together when we had to face the AC Avalanche in the semi-finals. Down 3 goals in the first period the Rangers battled back scoring 6 unanswered goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods to a convincing 6-3 win! Our biggest challenge was next, The Lethbridge Hurricanes. They were the regular season league leaders, their first line which consisted of two twin scored 180 points in total during 30 regular season games (amongst 3 line mates)! We only played them once but lost 9-1 . So we had a tough game ahead of us if we wanted that gold medal. The game turned out really well, our coaches were smarter and out coached the other team's coaches. The other team only had one line and would double/triple shifted them for most of the 1st and 2nd period and eventually they had no more steam. The game was back and forth with them always in the lead and us tying it up. Eventually when all was said and done we won 5-3 with pure hard work. Our goalie Emmet Oh stood on his head and had 51 saves. The MVP of the tournament and total stand out star of our team (totally unexpected) was Christian Nypower (Nypes)!

This was one of the most exciting things I have been privileged to take part in and I am so proud of everyone who contributed to the success of the CBHA Rangers this year! It was too bad that we got swept 3 straight in Provincials, but at least we won the Sutter Cup!

GO RANGERS GO!!!

Awesomely Awkward!

Click Image for larger photo!

Pumping Iron

So I started working out in May 2009 with the Fukami brothers (and now with Xtian) and I have some results to report!

I originally started at 182lbs, I'm 5'7' with a 32 inch waste.

My diet was crap. Ate barely any fruit and drank a ton of Pop. I skipped out on breakfast a lot and always ate late late at night.

I started working out (doing cardio, lifting weights) back in May and doing it till now and I have lost 13lbs and probably about 5lbs of muscle mass since. I am now sitting at 169lbs. I have never weight trained in my life, have only done cardio.

This is what I did and still am doing:

Cut out pop completely and just drink water
I make sure not to eat late at night and make sure I have a health breakfast and eat on time (never skip meals).

May 2009
-I started with Cardio by doing a bootcamp twice a week at 6AM for an hour. This bootcamp lasted for 16 weeks (4 months).
-I started working out with weights 3 times a week. Each workout was comprised of squats, bench, biceps, triceps, shoulders and abs. This was more to get my joints and muscles used to lifting and training with proper technique.
-I was also playing flag football once a week and had Ice hockey once a week.

June 2009
-I was into my second month of Bootcamp by now and hated waking up at 5AM but I still dragged myself out of bed.
-After 4 weeks at 3 times a week I changed my workout. I did 4 times a week, but each day focused on a different group of muscles. I also superset my workouts (I'll post what my routine consists at the bottom of this post). Wed = Chest & Triceps, Friday = Legs, Sat.=Shoulders, Sun=Back & Biceps. Basically killed the specific muscle group on that day and then let it rest for a week.
-Ab workouts 4 times a week. I also superset these. And would do on average 8 different exercises.
-I was still playing hockey and flag football once a week

July 2009
-I was into my third month of Bootcamp, still hated it but still went twice a week starting at 6AM
-Continued my new weight training of 4 times a week. This included doing abs 4 times a week
-Continued to play hockey and flag football and now added Ultimate to the list! Ultimate is a great cardio game.

Aug 2009
-Last month of bootcamp. I was so excited
-Continued my weight training 4 times a week with abs 4 times a week
-Continued to play hockey, flag football and Ultimate
-At the end of this month I ended up injuring my right toe pretty badly by getting turf toe (toe sprain) from all the running in cleats.

Sept 2009
-No more bootcamp
-Had to cut out a few exercises that involved standing on my foot. So no more leg days. Workout was now only 3 times a week with 3 times of abs.
-No sports due to injury

In September I also decided to re-weigh myself and I had hit 168lbs! My arms were bigger, my legs were more toned, lost 2 inches in my waist, and my chest felt more compact!

Oct 2009
-Restarted my weight training with Xtian this time
-Restarted doing my basic weight training of one exercise to get joints and muscles used to lifting and getting proper technique (exact same thing I did in May 09). Did this 3 times a week. Did abs 3 times a week doing 6 exercises.
-Play hockey once a week

Nov 2009
-Back to hypertrophy workout with supersets 4 times a week (W,F, Sat, Sun), with Abs 4 times a week.
-playing hockey still

Dec 2009
-Same as Nov

So here is my hypertrophy superset workouts

Wed = Chesticles and Triceps
Bench press superset (SS) with dumbbell press
Incline press SS with inclined dumbbell flys
decline press SS with push ups till failure
tricep cable press downs SS with bench dips (using a bench for hands and a fitness ball for resting feet on)

Friday = Legs
-Squats SS with Speed half squats (do as many as you can in 30 seconds)
-1 leg lunges (do both legs can hold weights) SS with speed lunges for 30 seconds
-Straight leg dead lifts SS with Hamstring ball curls

Saturday = Shoulders
-military dumbbell press SS with lateral raises
-Barbell shrugs SS with rear deltoid flys
-front dumbbell raises

Sunday = Back & Biceps
-Pulley pulldown SS with Wide grip pull ups (do till failure)
-Bent over barbell rows SS with seated cable rows
-Bicep curls with dumbbells SS with two handed cable curls

*I start the workouts and do it for about 2-3 weeks starting at 8 reps and 2 sets for each exercise (that doesn't have a time limit or that goes to failure)
*I then push it to 8 reps at 3 sets for 2 weeks
*then push it to 10 reps at 3 sets for 2-3 weeks
*then push it to 12 reps at 3 sets for 2-3 weeks (haven't gotten this high yet, but it will be insane when I do!)

After my exams are over I will try to get in 1 hour of biking twice a week to cut fat and increase my cardio.

My STinky

The Accord is gone. Sold it to my girlfriends brother. Have had the Impreza WRX STi since late January of 2009. I definitely miss driving an auto at times, but the STi does have it perks (AWD, 4 doors, bigger boot, and more power).

Since then I have added a few things to it:

-Replaced the god awful "premium" factory stereo that sounded like a bad AM radio with a premium Focal System
-Bronze Advan RS rims for the summer and use the factory BBS for winter
-Toyo Garret XS Winter tyres
-Escort 9500 CI radar/laser shifter system (front/back)
-Rally Armor Mudflaps
-Window deflectors

In the next couple years I do want to get a new downpipe with exhaust, possible headers, CAI and a Cobb Engine Management System to push out a few more horses/torque. I've been researching lately on downpipe and exhaust and it is just so hard to decide on since everyone seems to be split on what brand to go with (Invidia, Perrin, Cobb, etc.). So far I am leaning towards going all Perrin. But I will be patient and do my full homework before diving in to squeeze more power out of her. For now I'll settle with the 305hp/300tq that she offers.

For handling, I'm not too worried about it at the time, but if I do go for a power upgrade I would upgrade the sway bars/end links to get rid of the body roll that the new GR's suffer from and perhaps lower it with some decent coilovers. The pricey component here would be coilovers, and from what I have read so far is that the STi actually peforms worse when lowered, and really I would only need to adjust my suspension if I were to track it in an autocross (which I'll probably never do). So they can wait.

After watching Top Gear now, I am wondering what is better to upgrade first? Power or Handling? Richard Hammond would say Handling and Jeremy Clarkson would say POWER!

New Snowboard

Picked up a new Burton Custom V Rocker 154 cm for the upcoming snowboarding season to replace my 2006 Burton Clash. The V-rocker system is similar to the Banana tech that Lib tech offers, but just a different name. It's supposed to help out with powder as it keeps the nose/tail up a bit more. Took it out to Lake Louise this past weekend with my buddy and it proved to be quite awesome. Much lighter and responsive than my old Clash board. I'll either give my old Clash board to my brother or just use it as a rock board.

To add to this post: The 09/10 snowboarding season is starting off incredibly well. All the mountains around us have been receiving record snow falls and some have been open since early October! Sunshine had a 100+ cm base in mid November! These are definitely Base numbers I don't expect until January. When I was at Lake Louise last weekend the base was 90+cm, which was more then when I went last year at Christmas time! I hope this keeps up for the rest of the season!

February Air

LIGHTS - February Air official music video

Lights+Calgary+2009=AWESOME!

Lights is coming to Calgary this January 13, 2009. She will be performing at The Warehouse (Boo). I already got my tickets for me and the boys, woohoo! I can't wait.

P.S. Who will drive my soul?

P.P.S. I leave you with a better quality of Drive My Soul.

LIGHTS - Drive My Soul (official music video)

Halloween 2008

For Halloween this year I was a....Stormtrooper! I haven't been out for Halloween these past few years due to exams but this time all my exams were done and I partied it up! We hit up the Students Club Crawl that started at Crazy Horse and went to Tangerine, HiFi and ended up at Tequilla (Booo!). It was a lot of fun! Probably one of the best nights I've had in a long time!

The Pros about the costume:
-Everyone loved it
-Looked sweet dancing in it (such a hit on the dance floor)
-Guys/Girls bought me drinks because apparently it was "so sweet"

The Cons
-VERY HOT
-Difficult to see in
-Difficult to sit down in
-Sharp edges cut up the back of my knees and wrists



P.S. I think our group of friends had the best costumes that night!

Obama!