Polygon Feast & Fitness Vol. 3

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Hello Polynauts! Round 3 of the Feast & Fitness thread, and spring is here! Finally reaching temperatures where it is comfortable to exercise and BBQ outdoors! Just don't forget sunscreen!

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三杯鸡 - San Bei Ji - Three Cup Chicken

Submitted by: Sterling Smith

Recipe source: original

Results: Delicious

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Three cup chicken is a traditional Chinese dish particularly popular in Taiwan. It is named after the three cups of sauces require to make it: a cup each of soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil. It also has a good quantity of ginger and Asian basil added, giving it a unique flavor that I quite enjoy.

It is usually served with rice and a leafy green. We made sauteed Chinese broccoli as our leafy green, but decided to do something special with the rice. We cooked jasmine rice in a pot on the stove, bringing it to a boil then reducing to low heat for 15 minutes. Then we added cubed sweet potato and sliced Chinese sausage, and left it on low until those were cooked through without burning the rice.

It turned out really well I think, and we had leftover for a few meals the next day.

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High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T)

Submitted by: Sterling Smith

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via www.precisionnutrition.com

High intensity interval training (or HIIT training) is a form of cardio intersperses intervals of high-intensity exercise (such as sprinting) with intervals of either low-intensity exercise (such as walking at a slow pace) or complete rest. Studies have shown that training in this way, as opposed to more traditional cardio like jogging at a steady pace, can burn more fat and calories working out the same length of time.

Bodybuilding.com has a beginner's guide/introduction to HIIT training that I am going to try and follow and see how it goes. I'm starting at ~23% body fat, and hoping to get that below 20%.

My weight loss progress:

Starting weight on January 23, 2014: 195 lbs (88.4505 kg)

Starting BMI: 29.6

Starting waist size: 36 inches

My goal: 175 lbs by late May.

Update #1: January 31st

I weighed myself this morning, and I was pretty happy with the results, especially considering I haven't gotten to the gym much this week. I started my first fasting day on Tuesday, and my second is today, then I'm hoping to fast on Mondays and Thursdays as regularly as I can.

New weight: 192.6 lbs (87.3619 kg)

New BMI: 29.3

For breakfast this morning, I had cottage cheese with some pineapple chunks, 100 calories. Later I'll be eating some fresh greens with strawberries and blueberries with some smoked salmon as my dinner. And then tomorrow is right back to normal, including eating at an awesome food truck known for their fusion of Southern and Asian cuisine.

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Update #2: February 4th

Just a quick update: After fasting on Friday and Monday, but eating heartily this weekend, I'm now down to 190.2 lbs (86.2733 kg). I also thought I'd add this chart I made from a Google Docs spreadsheet of my weight loss.

Update #3 - February 13

I've been eating a little too badly on my non-fast days and not exercising enough, I think, as my weight has been yo-yoing a bit the past week. I hit 188 after fasting on Monday, but in the two days since I'm back up to 189.8. Today is a fasting day though, and I'll be hitting the gym, and this weekend I should be able to make it to the gym and eat better in general than the past few weekends, which I hope will get me back on track.

Update #4 - April 20

Been awhile since I updated this, heh. Well, I've been keeping with the fasting, but haven't had as much progress as I did right at the beginning, which is to be expected. I hovered in the 184-186 pound range for quite a while, but I didn't really record my weight during that time frame, so you don't see the spikes like I had before. I'm now down to 181 pounds (82.1 kg). I think I can make my goal of 175 pounds by late May. I've decided to add a subgoal of increasing the muscle definition in my arms and chest, which might interfere with the weight loss, but honestly the number doesn't matter to me as long as I'm healthier.

Update #5 - April 25

After fasting yesterday and working out multiple times this week, I've dropped a few more pounds! Yesterday I probably fasted too heavily. I had about 300 calories, and I was planning to have the rest at dinner, but I got too busy with other stuff that by the time I could make dinner, it was already really late and I just decided to get some sleep instead. Now back to a more normal diet for Friday. For my non-fast days I'm trying to do something close to a keto diet, pretty low in carbs, high in protein, with the rest of my calories coming from fats. I'll report back how it goes.

Links

Polynaut Fitness group on Fitocracy


Closing

Everyone please chime in with more food stories/photos/ideas and fitness information that you care to share. This is meant to be collaborative, and for people besides myself to create future entries for the featured sections. If anyone with more Photoshop skill than I has an idea for some good headers for this post or subsequent entries, I'd greatly appreciate the help.