The Journey From Flab to Fab!!!

My thoughts of fat loss and muscle building... Personal experiences, facts that I know about, programs that I promote... basically to help increase knowledge of fat loss (and muscle building)

Thursday, November 30, 2006

RECIPES FOR LOW FAT FOOD

When I was on the Musclenow program, I cooked all of the meals myself. Surprisingly, most of them tasted quite ok :) LOL! Ok ok. I won't say that I cooked up a storm, but the food was palatable :P And some of them turned out to be quite savoury. Hehe.

Anyway, I'd like to share two recipes that might help anyone who is on their way towards losing that extra pound of weight (FAT) through healthy eating :)

Pan Fried Spicy Chicken Breast

What you need:
* around 7-8 ounces of boneless chicken breast (SKIN OFF!)
* one tea spoon of extra virgin olive oil
* one clove of garlic
* one challot
* some oyster sauce (not too much. you want to look out for the high sodium content)
- or alternatively, you can change the taste to black pepper by using black pepper sauce instead

Instructions:

1. Season the chicken breast with a good amount of pepper and (little) salt. Leave it for a over 5-10 minutes;
2. Get a non-stick frying pan, heat it up and put in olive oil;
3. Thinly slice, dice or crush the garlic and shallot and on medium heat, fry them until the spicy odour come up;
4. Add in the chicken. As soon as it goes in, brush on each side with some oyster sauce (or black pepper sauce... or if you wanna add the two it would be ok too);
5. Flip over from side to side until the chicken turns brown...
6.... Ok... There is no six. Just take the chicken out and do what you want with it. You can have it with two slices of whole wheat bread, or even with brown rice. Add in some veggies of course :)

- I give no guarantees on how it's gonna taste like. It tasted ok when I cooked it. But since I've left cooking for quite a while now... hopefully I got the recipe right... LOL! :) But you can improvize as you go along.


Chicken Wrap

what you need:
* 7-8 ounces of boneless chicken breast, and yes... SKIN OFF!
* oregano (the type that are dried... in small bottles)
* corriander leaves
* barbecue sauce (or barbecue powder)
* 1 1/2 tea spoon of olive oil
* Low fat lebanese bread

Instructions:

1) Dice up the chicken breast, and add in the oregano and also chopped up corriander;
2) Add in some black pepper and a teeeny bit of salt, and add in some barbecue sauce (or powder);
3) Add in the olive oil also;
4) Using your (clean) hands, mix them up together;
5) Using a non-stick frying pan, pan fry the mix...
6) Take one slice/piece of lebanese bread, and spread the mix around...

- Then using your own imagination and expert craftsmanship, try to wrap up the chicken using the lebanese bread. I usually make a mess of thing. LOL!


Ok. So those are the two recipes that I often made when I was on my fat loss phase using the MuscleNow program :) I dont guarantee that it will work any wonders, and I'm not saying that it has magical healing or fat loss powers or properties. It's just the type of food that I consumed during the time, and yes, I did lose fat eating them :) BUT of course, it was coupled with good cardio and weight regimes.

So, happy trying, and hopefully we would all succeed in the road to weight and FAT LOSS!

Amennn.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

THE DANGER OF INDISCIPLINE IN WEIGHTLOSS/FAT LOSS and MUSCLE GAIN

Losing weight, or gaining muscle, which ever the case maybe, requires discipline.
With discipline comes persistence, and also with discipline comes resilience!
I have been on the weightloss (sometimes misspelled weightloose :P) battle ground longer than anyone can ever imagine. And indeed I have had my ups and downs.

Let me share you the danger that indiscipline can bring about.

You go on a weightloss or muscle gain program... and in some of them, they permit a cheat-meal or cheat-day. This is where you can go out of the program's (usually) diet regime, and eat what ever you want!!! Cheat-meals or cheat-days are actually a good thing in my opinion... but for those who are just looking for an excuse to go off the program, this option can be devastating for his/her weightloss goal.

I went on the Musclenow program about two years back. And I was consistently practising my one-day cheat-day :) Even though the program discouraged this, it kept me going for I had one day to look forward to :) But since I was rather indisciplined back then, one of my cheat-days turned out to be a cheat-month! And it didn't stop there, the month went on and on and on, and before I realized it, I was no longer dieting the way I should! I was eating crap day in day out...!!! Of course I was finishing my Masters degree at the time, but that was no excuse for binging!

My workout also went out the window... I figured... "If I'm not following one part of the program, then why bother with the other parts? (weight lifting and cardio)".

The short stint of indiscipline caused me to gain back the FAT I lost... and along with that, a few extra unwanted kilograms!!! I was also led back to my laid-back lifestyle of non-exercising, and I also re-started my smoking 'career'!

I consinued for some time, but soon after began to realize what I had done. INDISCIPLINE had caused me great loss! (In the form of unwanted FAT GAIN!)

So I really2 need to stress the importance... the UTMOST importance of discipline. Because, lack of it would only make you to fall after starting what ever program! Trust me. I've seen it (and experienced it) much too often.

So, if you're really keen on starting or JUMP-starting your weightloss or musclegain campaign, start by setting goals, and STRENGTHENING your discipline :) It really needs to be there. Like I said, Discipline makes for Persistence. And in case you fall, Discipline makes for RESILIENCE! :)

WIth all that said, I wish you all the best in your weightoss or muscle gain endavour :)