Blog "Nuts and Bolts"

*This is a "nuts and bolts" description of the blog entries and what it is you're reading or not reading. Hopefully, they'll make the blog a little easier to follow*




Nutrition
-Every nutrition entry is a journal of everything I have consumed on that particular day. Everything. To make it effective for me and helpful to anyone who might gain something from it, nutrition journaling must be brutally honest. And so I commit to this honesty. If I eat it or drink it, it's in the entry. Sometimes people ask me if I forgot to enter some items because all they see that I drank for days on end was water and a little coffee. The answer is no, it's all there. Soda, juice, gatorade, and the like are mostly poison and reserved for cheat days (rarely, and haven't had a soda in 2 years now, not one).



As for amounts, I almost always measure and portion out my protein sources. So if the entry says 6 oz. of chicken breast (like tons of them do) it's pretty accurate. My fruit and vegetables are accounted for by way of "eye-ball" estimation. As for nuts and other healthy fats, I have a measuring cup so there again, pretty accurate. I include a daily total of water intake which is also accurate based on a running tally of bottles of water drank I keep through out a day. Hydration is so important and since it's easy to get to the end of a day and be dehydrated, I believe it deserves this amount of attention.




The Weekend
-"The Weekend" nutrition entries are not held to the same standard as the others. Since I am often away from the computer and my schedule varies greatly, I don't time or plan my meals nearly as well as during the week. And, I don't follow nearly as strict a nutrition regimen on the weekends. And I'm fine with that and have, despite these weekend misgivings, remained plenty successful. I recommend at least one "cheat day" a week in any well-rounded nutrition philosophy and usually that day is Saturday for me. But not always. Sometimes Sunday. And sometimes a little bit on each of the two weekend days. Again, it's different for everyone. This isn't to say I don't eat well on the weekends. On the contrary, I still consume plenty of good fuel. But I also consume bad fuel and on no particular schedule. So, on weekends, I don't journal every meal. But what I do commit to, for the sake of honesty, is to journal every "bad" thing I consumed on that weekend. And if some of it looks healthy and harmless to you, it's still "bad" to me. Otherwise it's not there. And trust me, it's all there, nothing left out. I don't forget. So, beware, it might be ugly. Note: I will begin starting weekend blogs effective 4/18/09




Fitness
-Fitness entries are where I chronicle my training as it comes. Pretty simple and not much to say here. If I did it, it's there. I try to include a little commentary on how I felt my performance was, what I liked/didn't like, and how I can improve next time. Often I try to include video links to an elite performance of the workout if one exists or some resource in regard to particular skills that were practiced. But, sometimes I might not have much to say about it. Regardless, know I firmly believe even bad days in the gym are more enjoyable than having not been in the gym at all.




Rest Day
-Rest days are so valuable and I generally try not to go more than 4 days of training in a row without taking a day off. When I first started the blog, I wasn't including entries for rest days. But recently I've started to and will, much like they do on the CrossFit main site, be using these days to blog about whatever. It could be anything. Most often though, it will be some info, experience or otherwise pertaining to nutrition or fitness.


*I recognize the blog says this entry was made January 27th, 2009. Fact is, I originally posted a fitness journal on this day, and, in order to make room for a "nuts and bolts" section that would remain at the top of my blog list, decided to erase it and use the space accordingly. This entry was updated 4/16/09.*