As you will probably have gathered from a couple of my recent posts (overtraining and the Primal Blueprint Fitness) I realised that I have strayed from the path a little. I was pushing myself hard to do more exercise and consequently I was eating more, feeling more tired (and grumpy), and feeling a bit fatter 
. I think it’s important to keep tabs on yourself; it was only through reading the Primal Blueprint Fitness eBook that I realised I was a) doing pushups wrong and b) doing too much exercise and probably hindering my fitness and fat loss efforts more than anything.
So, I decided to take down a notch the duration of the exercises I have been doing. Over the last 3 days I have done one sprinting session and two workouts (the same exercises in each one).
Tuesday was my attempt at Tabata sprinting:
I don’t have an interval timer
.
Sprint X metres (or X seconds)
Rest 10 seconds
Do this 8 times.
Yesterday and today’s workout consisted of:
proper pushups (all the way to the ground this time lol) x10
side jump lunge thingies x 20 (10 each leg)
Mountain climbers x 10 and bring knees up to each side (like spiderman) x2 (counts as one set) x 5
Squats x 50 (the kind where you stay down low and bounce)
I did this little routine 3 times. It took less than 15 minutes so I feel like I haven’t done much in the way of exercise lately. Seeing as the overexercising wasn’t working for me though I’m going to try this way for a while. Tomorrow’s a rest day 
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Oh and as a little aside note – I’ve made a little push up challenge with my bf . We have 3 weeks (until September 1st) to reach our individual goals. I have to manage 10 push ups in a row… so far I can do 5 without needing a couple of seconds breather. Wish me luck!
Sounds good! The key to fat loss when involved in HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is low carb-paleo nutrition. Do you attempt ketosis on a regular basis?
I generally eat low-carb all the time and then pick a random day of the week to eat more carbs. I have to admit I probably don’t pay as much attention to my diet as I should… I’ve never dieted per sé but in the past I used to stress about eating too much food. Now that I’m paleo, I prefer to just enjoy it (and life) and not worry too much
. Having said that, I will undoubtedly do a bit more research into ketosis and apply for a couple of weeks to get some results hehe.
What exactly do you do that differs from your normal diet when you attempt ketosis?
When I go into ketosis, I dive in head first. I eat 20 grams of carbs and below. If I’m not entering ketosis I just keep track of my calories to make sure I’m eating enough. That’s an issue I see often; Folks who have switched to paleo or primal typically don’t eat enough. The food isn’t as caloricly (is that a word???) dense as grain or sugar.
Do those 20 grams come from the carbohydrates in foods that are primarily fatty (eg nuts)? Or from lettuce etc.?
I think I have a problem with eating too much lol. The foods I eat now are much more calorically dense (I think that’s the word hehe). I’ve stopped eating more than 6 small meals during the day to just breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner… oh and a snack just before going to bed. I find I don’t actually need to eat all of those meals but through habit I still do. I also don’t do Intermittent Fasting as often as I should. I love to cook and I love to eat too much d’oh.
Anyways, I find it’s good to talk to other people and find out what works for them and share ideas
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The 20 grams normally come from some lettuce, spinach, or other foods that are more complimentary to the main part of my meals; Or they’re from eggs.
Do you track your Kcal or other macros? I haven’t fasted for a while. I CrossFit, avidly. Fasting and CrossFit (for me) don’t work out so well
I agree!! I love finding new blogs and talking to others about what works for them.
No, I don’t really track my macronutrient or Kcal intake. Having said that, I did have a squiz at a few of the low-carb foods I eat most often on fitday.com because I was concerned that reducing my carb intake (from fruits) etc. would deplete my nutrient intake. I think I’ll be fine though and I’ll keep posting about my progress
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why would you do a low carb diet, especially just 20g a day? There are other alternatives such as following your calorie intake. I limit my carbs after 5-6 pm. I know people have different ways and different diets that work for them but man i do not know how people can live with that low of carb. intake.
Hi Hiral,
thanks for your comment. I limited my intake to 20 grams daily mainly because I wanted to see the effect it produced. I like to experiment and who better to try it on that myself
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I am no longer doing this and would put my carb load somewhere between the 50 gram and 100 gram mark. I have to say, though, that restricting my carb intake worked. I lost fat off my tummy and gained more definition which is what I was looking for.
I appreciate the idea of limiting carbs in the evening – it’s definitely something else to consider. Right now I spread my carb intake across the day to avoid a blood sugar spike.
As far as not understanding how people can live with such a low carb-intake, did you know that the body has two ways of getting energy? (well 3 if you count alcohol
). Carbs and fat. The theory goes that if you don’t consume as many carbs then your body must use fat and its fat stores for energy. That’s a very very short summary – it’s far more complex than that (eg protein can convert into glucose), but hopefully you get the idea.
I believe you are wrong and I would debate you on this.
Hiral, I appreciate your concern. I’m no expert on these matters and I don’t pretend to be. Based on what I’ve read and my own personal experiences this is what works for me. This blog is about me sharing what works for my life. You’re welcome to your own opinion of course
.