White Rum (any kind of your choice that is NOT flavored)

Lemon Juice

Flavored seltzer water (I like black cherry for this drink)

Stevia (liquid drops)

First you pour the seltzer water in to your glass any flavor that you desire is good, but I personally like the fruity flavor of cherry mixed with lemon. Next you add the white rum this is where you determine calorie count each shot of rum is roughly about 60 calories with no carbs.

 So if you do one shot your drink will only consist of 60 carbs, 2 shot 120 and so on and so forth. Next you add about a quarter cup of lemon juice but this can vary depending on how much you desire to have a lemon taste in your drink. Finally you add about 20 to 30 drops of stevia to add the sweetness to the drink. Stevia can be found at most vitamins shops like a GNC for instance.

Mix it all up and BAM! As Emeril Lagasse would say, you have heaven in a glass, but don’t let the smooth taste fool you this drink can have you slurring you words if you drink too much or too fast. Give the ByeByeBigGuy’s White Lightning Lemon Water a try and I guarantee you will be very happy with the results.

Thanks for taking the time to read a please feel free to leave a comment or inbox me if you have any questions. PEACE!

The first diet I will be exploring on the site is the GM diet. This diet has roots entrenched in myth. The diet was supposedly created by the GM Company to gets its employees in shape. I did some research and can not find anything to suggest that this is true even though some other blogs make the same claim regarding the diet being invented by GM. This is a seven day diet and it is very restrictive but can be very effective in quick weight loss. During these seven days you must consume 10 glasses of water and must not drink any alcohol.

The first day of the diet you are allowed to eat all of the fruits you want with the exception of bananas and nothing else. It is suggested that you eat a large amount of melons during this day. (Surprisingly this was by far the most difficult day for me but I dropped 2 pounds on day one).

The second day of the diet you are allowed to eat all the vegetables you want and nothing else. You are to start the day off with a baked potato in order to get your fill of complex carbs but you can not consume any more potatoes after the one for breakfast. (This day was pretty easy, but I was a challenge to put a menu together).

The third day of the diet is fruit and vegetable day with the exception of bananas and potatoes. (This is the day I started craving meat, but I made it through and had already dropped 6 pounds).

The fourth day of the diet is bananas and milk day. Your are allowed to eat up to 8 bananas and 3 cups of milk on this day. There is also a GM special soup that consist of 28 oz, Water, 6 Large Onions, 2 Green Peppers, Whole Tomatoes, 1 Head Cabbage, 1 Bunch Celery, 4 Envelopes Lipton Onion Soup Mix, Herbs and Flavoring as desired that you can have in unlimited amount on this day. (Meat craving were through the roof! I substituted regular milk for soy milk since I am lactose intolerant. This was another hard day but I am determined to make it through).

The fifth day on the diet is listed as beef and tomato day. According to the directions you can have up two servings of beef in quantities of 10 oz. and you can have up two 6 tomatoes. You must also increase your water intake as well on this day. (I substituted chicken for beef, seemed to work out fine down 9 pounds at this point).

The sixth day of the diet is beef and vegetables day. You can eat an unlimited amount of beef and veggies on this day. (Once again I substituted chick for beef).

The seventh day of the diet is brown rice, fruit juice, and vegetable day. (Probably one of the easiest days because I knew it was almost over)

In the end I lost 12 pounds in all in the 7 days of the diet. Sounds good right? Well not so fast my friend. I gained back 15 pounds when I went back to my normal eating habits which are not bad if I say so myself. So in the end I had a net gain of 3 pounds. I did notice that I was more regular (poo poo) after this diet and did drop the gained weigh relatively easy after a week or so.

Review: I would recommend this diet as a periodic cleanser. Maybe something that someone does every 6 months or maybe just once a year. The diet is too restrictive to maintain on a long-term basis and as such I think it would fail. There is also very little protein in this diet so that to makes it on that is not balanced to do long-term. Any question? Please feel free to leave a comment and we will respond with any answer to your questions.

Hey everybody out there in bloggerville, I have not posted in about 3 weeks. I’ve been really busy trying to get my workouts in and making sure I’m on top of my nutrition. My weight is currently 196 pounds. That’s right I have finally broke the 200 pound mark (hooray for me).

I have really intensified my workouts as of late because I want to start to see the muscle gain.

I have recently been debating on whether or not to take a protein shake and I must admit I am a bit confused. Some people swear by protein shakes and claim that their recovery is aided by the use of these products and that they receive the benefit of quickly absorbed protein to aid with the muscle rebuilding process post workout. Others claim that protein shake are not needed and may even have some additives in the product that are harmful, I personally am still on the fence.

I have decided to give protein shakes a try on a limited basis and I’m going to stay away from the shakes with lots of sugar, aspartame, or splenda. I’ll let you guy know how it goes I’m also posting a few links the give the pros and the cons of protein shakes. Good luck!!

http://www.improvingyourworld.com/health/pros_and_cons_of_protein_shakes_001661.html

http://www.improvingyourworld.com/health/pros_and_cons_of_protein_shakes_001661.html

Is salad dressing sabotaging your weight-loss? This is a really good question because when I speak with people and they tell me I’m eating three salads a day and I’m not losing weight. The first things I say is why are you eating only salad and what type of dressing are you putting on that salad. Now I don’t advocate eating only salad because there is normally not enough protein or variety in salads, so I wouldn’t recommend a salad diet only. Now that being said what you put on that seemingly healthy can derail you.

I use to eat salads and I would pour Italian salad dressing all over it, in essence what I was doing was turning a healthy 300 or 450 calorie salad into a 1050 calorie meal! Two teaspoons of Italian salad dressing is 110 calories and most of us use far more than 2 teaspoons and blue cheese, ranch, and French dressing can be even worse. Now what should you do? No one wants to eat a salad with no dressing, that’s just blah!!! Here is what I would suggest you can try those spry spritzers, 20 sprays is about 20 calories but the sugar count is a little on the high side. You can also try having your salad dressing on the side, dipping your fork in it then eating your salad.

Finally here is the approach I take because I don’t eat much sugar I use rice vinegar instead of salad dressings. I love rice vinegar because it is only about 5 calories per serving and comes in several different flavors. So try some of these suggestions and maybe you salad dressing will stop sabotaging your weight-loss.

I tried something new in the kitchen this week and it came out pretty good, so I decided I would share it with you guys. I made what I call my pineapple mustard Pork Chops! Here what you’re going to need

Ingredients:

Package of Pork Chops

Can of Pineapple Juice

Can of Pineapples

2 Cups of mustard

40 drops of Stevia (can be found in GNC) or 3 tablespoons of splenda

Complete seasoning

Lemon pepper seasoning

The first thing that you must do is marinate the pork chop in pineapple juice for at least an hour. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Next combine the 2 cups of mustard, the splenda or stevia, and a ½ cup of pineapple juice. Next glaze each pork chop with mustard, pineapple juice combination.

Then season pork chop with complete seasoning, and lemon pepper seasoning on both sides. Bake pork chops in the oven uncovered for 10 mins. Then add can of pineapples and a cup of pineapple juice cover pork chops and pineapples with aluminum foil and bake for 45 mins. Done! The pork chops should be sweet and tender (fall off the bone).

How to make a meal using gas sstation food! I actually had this situation come up not that long ago. I was at work and being that I work the graveyard shift nothing was open except the local Quick Trip gas station.

Now normally I bring my food to work, but I was in a rush and figured I would be able to find something on the way to work. Nope! Didn’t happen, so there I was practically starving with the evil vending machine tempting me at every turn. Then I thought there must be something that I can get from the gas sstation that would not derail my diet.

So as usual I did my research and found something that I can share with you all. Now depending what type of diet your on will determine what is relevant.

Here are some of the low carb choices, followed by a video that can give you more choices if you are not on a low carb diet.

1. Nuts

Nuts are one of the easiest things to grab at a convenience store, and are often the best choice. Nuts contain protein, fiber, and healthy fats, so they are satisfying as well as being tasty. Peanuts and almonds are the best choices, at about 3 to 4 grams of effective carbohydrateper ounce. Cashews have about 8 grams of effective carb per ounce.

Caution: Read labels carefully when buying flavored nuts. Many of them have sugar added.

2. Sunflower and Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds are another great choice at 2 to 3 grams of effective carbohydrate per ounce. Again, watch for flavorings. Some flavored sunflower seeds not only have sugars, but unhealthy trans fats as well.

3. Cheese Sticks

Cheese sticks, such as string cheese, are good snack choices at about 1 gram of carbohydrate per stick.

4. Raw Vegetables

I’m starting to see more packages of these, and some are good choices. Celery is an excellent choice, as 3 ounces of celery has just 1 gram of effective carbohydrate. 3 ounces of carrots has 6 grams of effective carbohydrate, and 3 ounces of broccoli has 3 grams. Look for a low-carb dip to go with them if you like, or pair them with peanut butter if it’s available.

5. Hard-Boiled Eggs

Occasionally you will see hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator section.

6. Jerky and Sausages

Beef or turkey jerky are commonly found in convenience stores along with similar products such as Slim Jims and other plastic-wrapped meat products.

Caution: Many of these products have a surprising amount of sugar. Read packages carefully. Some don’t have nutritional information, so look for sugars in the ingredient list (list of ingredients that mean “sugar”).

7. Pork Rinds

Pork rinds, or chicharrones, can often be found with the chips and other bagged snacks. They are often flavored in various ways, but almost all of them are low in carbs. Although pork rinds may sound very unhealthy, their greatest problem is that most of the them are loaded with salt. Depending on how they are fried, most of the fat is usually monounsaturated, and about a third of the fat is saturated. Also, they are “fluffy” so the calories per serving is not high — usually around 80 to 90 calories.

8. Sugar-Free Candies

Occasionally I see sugar-free candies in convenience stores. However, care must be taken to avoid the higher glycemic sugar alcohols, such as maltitol. At the bottom of this page is a chart of sugar alchohols.

9. Hot Dogs

This is sort of a “last resort” item, and I know what you’re thinking: “a hot dog without the bun?” Even if you’re willing to eat it with a fork, the condiments slide off. But there is a way, even without a fork. If you wrap it in a low-carb tortilla (carry it in a plastic zip-top bag), you can make a low-carb hot dog wrap.

10. Beverages

Water, sparkling water, and diet drinks (including diet iced tea) are all low-carb beverage choices.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cqIUHH0aR0]

10 Ways to Fatten Up Your Kids

Apr 13th, 2009 | By Parth | Category: Beginner Training, Featured Articles, lifestyle

If you’re a parent, then I urge you to pay attention to what you’re feeding your kids. You may be a healthy parent, or an overweight parent, but either way your kids future depends on the example you set for them. I’m not a parent, I don’t even have a girlfriend, so I’m not going to teach you how to raise your kids. But, I would like to share a few experiences that I believe effected my weight when I was a kid:

1. When I was around 4-5 years old, I began eating pizza on a frequent basis. My mom would take me to this place called Singas Famous Pizza, and order a half a pie of pizza almost every day. A full pie these days is around $4.50, so a half pie was probably extremely cheap back then.
2. Every time I went to the playground, I didn’t really do much. I wasn’t playing with the other kids. I remember my mom was trying to get me to play on the monkey bars, but all I really did was go down slides and swing on theswing set. Swing sets are fun, but they don’t really burn off any calories.
3. Also, at the playground, the only time I did any running was when the ice cream man came. My mom whipped out a dollar every day for me and let me run like the wind.
4. When I started grade school, my mother would pretty much give me the same thing everyday: bread and butter sandwhich, a juice box, and fruit snack. That’s all just carbsand sugar. If she gave me fruit, I didn’t eat it.
5. As I got older and began to receive an allowance. I threw out the food in the lunch box (cuz you can’t trade a bread and butter sandwich), and stood on the lunch line to be fed either a bagel with cream cheese or microwave pizza.
6. In middle school, the lunch lady remembered that I was a vegetarian. So on days where there was no pizza or pasta, she would make me a special cheese sandwich: a bread roll with three-four slices of cheese. Put some ketchup on it, and gobble it up. Eat that everyday and see what happens to your man boobs.
7. In high school, I went into the other direction, and became border line anorexic. I was skinny fat because I probably ate only 1000 calories a day. Combine that with a daily 1-2 mile run, 60 minutes in the weight room, and two intense martial arts training sessions per week, and you’ll have hunger pangs as loud as a speeding train.
8. After high school, I learned how easy it was for me to drive down to Taco Bell in between my classes and gobble up a nice Mexican Pizza or Bean and Cheese burrito. Top it off with a tall cup of soda, and drive back to another boring lecture.
9. Speaking of boring lectures, there was a Starbucks on campus. I began knocking down tall lattes to help me stay awake in class. When those didn’t work, I started a ritual of latte in the morning and Monster energy drink in the evening.
10. Finally, as if this story couldn’t get any worse, there is an Indian restaurant near my dad’s place. It’s good stuff. I would gobble up around 3parotas(a type of bread) with Palak Paneer (literally, spinach and cheese), almost every week.

There you have it. If your goal is to fatten up your kids so that one day they can audition for the Biggest Loser and win half a million dollars for entertaining other fat people who are too lazy to go to ShahTraining.com and try out a quick bodyweightworkout, then just follow my tips, and you’ll achieve your goal.

Over the next few months, I will be spending a lot of time on developing content for overweight and obese individuals looking to lose weight. I realize some of the limitations that even bodyweight training can have for the morbidly obese. But I also see a lot of potential for teaching basic bodyweight movements to these individuals. I’ll get into this in a future post.

About the Author

Parth Shah is an average joe who’s tired of all the nonsense he sees in mainstream health and fitness media. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website, ShahTraining.com. (Feed – http://feeds.feedburner.com/shahtraining/UQuk)

]]> http://www.byebyebigguy.com/health/133/feed/ 7 http://www.byebyebigguy.com/weight-loss/im-still-on-protein/ http://www.byebyebigguy.com/weight-loss/im-still-on-protein/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:22:41 +0000 byebyebigguy http://byebyebigguy.wordpress.com/?p=130

What up! Yep I’m still researching the importance of protein in my diet. I’m kind of flabby since losing weight and I now feel that I need to build muscle to combat the fat I still have on my body. I mean I’m 193 but I still have over 20 percent body fat! I’ve been working out and reading, reading, reading. There so much information out there that I sometimes forget about my own  blog. Well what most experts are saying about protein is that when lifting weights to gain muscle you should have at least 1 gram of protein for every pound you weight. That means that I should be eating 193 grams of protein! Wow that is alot of food Huh? That why they make protein shakes, I was torn on whether I should be taken them because I don’t want to gain any fat but what I’m going to do is monitor my calorie intake very closely and ensure that the added shake don’t cause me to go over my 2000 calories, which I very seldom go over anyway (actually don’t eat enough some days, Go figure!). Well that is all I got today I’ll be sure to get more info and pass it along. Oh heres a few links for you guys to check out.

http://www.beverlyslist.com/health-hygiene/article1438.htm

http://www.axislabs.net/blog/importance-of-protein

http://www.criticalbench.com/importance_protein.htm (I like this one the best)

Let me ask you a question if a person is addicted to crack cocaine and they wean themselves off of it for 6 days should we applaud them for then indulging on the 7^th day? I (as you can probably can tell) do not believe that any diet or life change will be successful over the long haul if you don’t break all of the old bad habits. I think by incorporating a cheat day you are only reinforcing the bad habits that you have.

Now don’t get me wrong I do think that you should cheat every so often but not as frequently as weekly and not for a whole day. I has fell off the wagon plenty of times, heck I even planed to cheat on Thanksgiving. The thing I don’t do however is subscribe to a cheat day. Lets look at this example:

Lets say during lunch I decide I want a scoop of ice cream, I ‘ve just added about an extra 500 or 600 calories to my daily calorie count. Bad, yeah but not horrible. Now lets say on my cheat day I have pancakes, grits, and eggs for breakfast (1100 cals). Then a cheese burger, fries, and a shake for lunch (1510 cals). Finally a big bowl of spaghetti with cheese, garlic bread, and a piece of cake for desert (1332). I would have consumed a total of 3942 calories about 1942 calories than I should have.

So I suggest that when you cheat and you will make it a meal not a day and don’t do it as a reward or on a weekly basis. Alright fam as usual I will Holla…..