Leigh Peele

I hope I spelled her name right. Leigh is a diet guru. She has a book and website devoted to the subject. She focuses on diet and exercise. I have purchased a copy of her ebook, The Diet Troubleshoot. I am going to give it a go. The difference for me, is that I am allowing myself some fruit and starch. She recommends a little more carbohydrate than what I normally eat. I had been on a low carb diet for a long time and when I was on induction, I actually gained weight and my body temperature took a dive. After that experience, I increased my carbohydrate intake to 45-60 grams per day. That has been fine. However, I really like having some fruit, it satisfies my soul, steel cut oatmeal does too. Leigh has a wonderful quiz that helps you figure out exactly how many calories are required for you in a day. My number was higher than I was allowing myself to eat. I seem to have underestimated what I needed. Last fall, I did a four month experiment where I weighed/measured all my eats and did everything by the book. I counted my calories. I calculated how much I burned in my workouts with my heart rate monitor. I always aimed for a deficit of 500 calories per day. I neither gained nor lost a single pound. Needless to say, I was bummed because I was actually hungry the whole time. And, my body temperature went down and so did my energy level.

So. I decided at the beginning of this year to increase my workout intensity and to go back to calorie cycling. I haven't really gained or lost from that either. Bummer, right?

Well. Back to the drawing board. Into the fray, once more.

Leigh has come to the same conclusion that I have, which is that workouts don't make you thin. She doesn't recommend high impact while you are trying to lose the weight. I wonder if she counts jogging? I don't know. I like to jog. It really helps with my lower body area.

Matt Stone says "Duck Fiets". Yeah. I say Duck Fiets too. My Fall 2010 experiment did not work. So, I am going to try Leigh's program. Its fairly simple. Moderate calorie deficit. Moderate carbohydrate intake. Keep the protein up. Use fat to slow stomach emptying and to keep your blood sugar even. She is all about staying honest with yourself about what you actually ate. In order to keep myself from dropping too low on the calories, I will embellish my meals with coconut oil. It stokes the metabolism.

So, how does this all break down? Well, for me it looks like this:

PreWO snack: 1/2 c. steel cut oats,

PostWO: 1 c. of berries, 1 c. of melon, 3 oz. of protein or 3 eggs, 2 tbsp. coconut oil, 1 c. raw spinach

Lunch: 1 apple, 1 c. raw cabbage, 2 c. mixed greens, 3 oz. protein, 2 tbsp coconut oil,

Snack: Banana and peanut butter or cream cheese

(This would only be eaten 3x/week on higher calorie days).

Dinner: 1c. cooked napa cabbage, 1 c. broccoli, 3 oz. protein, 1 tbsp. olive oil

Aim:

Lower calorie days: 1576 calories.

High calorie days: 2100 calories.

As for my rotation, well, I'm going to focus on LSB workouts. I'm also going to make a point of getting my yoga most days of the week. Here is my workout breakdown (which must stay fluid to accommodate a varying work schedule.)

Sunday: AM: Cathe Friedrich Steady State Step workout (Like Cardio Hits)

PM: Yoga Today with Sarah Kline

Monday: Long Run, 60 min. no walking

PM: Yoga Class with Gary Bromley

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: Run/Walk/Run 3 min. jog, 1 min. walk 60 min.

Thursday: Cathe Friedrich MMA workout

PM: Shiva Rae Yoga

Friday: Fun Run! Run to peak, then walk it down. + Desi Yoga Solar

PM: Desi Yoga Lunar

Saturday: Rest

I will start this program next week.