Not me, thank the gods, but maybe worse -- my daughter. :-( We're having to start tweaking HER diet, because at 36 she's starting to get into the difficult-to-lose age.
She's comparatively new to the low-toxin-and-carb, higher-fat dietary plan. In the past, she's lost weight with the CW technique, but i've convinced her that a real-food diet is important for herself as well as her kids. Having eased into low-carb from low-calorie, L has even learned to add more good fats. But for some yet-to-be-determined reason, the scales are resisting her.
So we're tweaking! I've suggested that the first thing to do is drop dairy for a week and see what happens. I think i'll suggest next that instead of her usual workout she try tabata sprints.
I also need to get her to use a tape-measure more than scales, now that i think of it! I wouldn't be surprised to find that she's putting on muscle as fast as she's taking off fat, and therefore getting a "false negative" in the loss department. ...I can hardly wait for L to get back from her lunch break so i can ask her some new questions! :-D
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
the old if-then
I don't often get a flashback to middle-school -- those were NOT the happiest years of my life! But ruminating on the better aspects of burning-carbs-with-exercise last week, i pulled up two memories of the old days....
Which classroom gave us our first contact with the subject of logic? I'm not sure; it had to have been either English or science. And, or, if, then: that was the sort of thing my geeky mind found entertaining! (It wasn't until my last year of high school that i discovered algebra could be as fun as working puzzles -- up to then math had just been drudgery.)
SO! IF you're doing a lot of physical work like hauling weights up an 8% grade, THEN you can afford to eat more readily-burned fuel like starches. IF you are not doing such work AND you eat the starches anyway, THEN you will either gain fat weight OR burn the excess calories as heat, but the latter only IF your metabolism is "whole" enough to do that sort of thing.
I could go on like this forever. Central point is, all your hormonal and metabolic ducks have GOT to be in a row to be able to pull off the starch-eating. Most of the time, mine are not.
The other connection from the "bad old days" is just an object-lesson: when i ceased riding the bus the 1.1 mi distance to school and began walking it twice a day, the "seal-puppy" i once was lost quite a bit of fat and got significantly more fit. An adolescent's hormones can be just as F'd up as a middle-aged woman's, i suspect! This SHOULD nudge me to do my 2 miles a day ... but will it? ..."Earth to Tess...?!" [crackle of "dead air"]
Which classroom gave us our first contact with the subject of logic? I'm not sure; it had to have been either English or science. And, or, if, then: that was the sort of thing my geeky mind found entertaining! (It wasn't until my last year of high school that i discovered algebra could be as fun as working puzzles -- up to then math had just been drudgery.)
SO! IF you're doing a lot of physical work like hauling weights up an 8% grade, THEN you can afford to eat more readily-burned fuel like starches. IF you are not doing such work AND you eat the starches anyway, THEN you will either gain fat weight OR burn the excess calories as heat, but the latter only IF your metabolism is "whole" enough to do that sort of thing.
I could go on like this forever. Central point is, all your hormonal and metabolic ducks have GOT to be in a row to be able to pull off the starch-eating. Most of the time, mine are not.
The other connection from the "bad old days" is just an object-lesson: when i ceased riding the bus the 1.1 mi distance to school and began walking it twice a day, the "seal-puppy" i once was lost quite a bit of fat and got significantly more fit. An adolescent's hormones can be just as F'd up as a middle-aged woman's, i suspect! This SHOULD nudge me to do my 2 miles a day ... but will it? ..."Earth to Tess...?!" [crackle of "dead air"]
Saturday, December 29, 2012
ONLY eat more carbs ...
...IF you plan to burn them off with exercise NOW. This is one of the lessons i'm taking away from my vacation experience.
While i was stoically trudging up and down the hills of Seattle, the rice and potatoes i ate didn't seem to mess me up. I'd hike all around after the breakfast that included hash-browns (because no lone omelette is big enough to sate me except the ones at Billie's!), and before and after lunch/dinner (which sometimes included dessert) as well, in order to try different wonderful restaurants in the area. I vowed to myself to bring along a pedometer on all future trips during which i expect to do a lot of walking, just to satisfy my curiosity.
My jeans didn't fit any differently till we got on the train to return home, and i continued the potato-and-rice-including regimen without putting in the mileage. My ability to delay meals markedly declined, as well as "muscle energy." I felt generally less resilient, and distinctly more gassy. Trying to carry luggage up the steep narrow rail-car stairways caused my knees to refuse to straighten.
Back at home, i won't be getting as much or the same kind of exercise. Walking on the flats around my neighborhood with the dog won't give me the same kind of workout i got last week -- for which my back will be grateful! Climbing the countless stairs that i do at home doesn't compare, either. Even if i cared to continue the higher-carb diet (which i DON'T!) i couldn't justify it through energy expenditure, and WOULD gain fat on it.
Exercise like a mad person just so i could eat these bland foodstuffs??? Gag! I'm a hedonist! I want my rack of lamb ... which, coincidentally enough, is for dinner tonight!
While i was stoically trudging up and down the hills of Seattle, the rice and potatoes i ate didn't seem to mess me up. I'd hike all around after the breakfast that included hash-browns (because no lone omelette is big enough to sate me except the ones at Billie's!), and before and after lunch/dinner (which sometimes included dessert) as well, in order to try different wonderful restaurants in the area. I vowed to myself to bring along a pedometer on all future trips during which i expect to do a lot of walking, just to satisfy my curiosity.
My jeans didn't fit any differently till we got on the train to return home, and i continued the potato-and-rice-including regimen without putting in the mileage. My ability to delay meals markedly declined, as well as "muscle energy." I felt generally less resilient, and distinctly more gassy. Trying to carry luggage up the steep narrow rail-car stairways caused my knees to refuse to straighten.
Back at home, i won't be getting as much or the same kind of exercise. Walking on the flats around my neighborhood with the dog won't give me the same kind of workout i got last week -- for which my back will be grateful! Climbing the countless stairs that i do at home doesn't compare, either. Even if i cared to continue the higher-carb diet (which i DON'T!) i couldn't justify it through energy expenditure, and WOULD gain fat on it.
Exercise like a mad person just so i could eat these bland foodstuffs??? Gag! I'm a hedonist! I want my rack of lamb ... which, coincidentally enough, is for dinner tonight!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
CICO is dead, part 42* -- exercise
More "words of wisdom" for my daughter ... and anyone else who may be interested. :-)
The other half of the equation, the "calories out" part, is as much a mistaken principle as the first. YES, to do work with the muscles "burns" an energy substrate -- either glucose or fatty acids. But to characterize the calories burned as the fat off our rumps is just wrong. Most of the energy burned by those sour-looking folks trotting down the street is glucose, from glycogen stored in their muscles and livers, which they promptly replenish from their diets full of hearthealthywholegrains. To burn fat as the primary fuel requires a low-carb diet and a specific kind of training.
So if they're not burning fat on their lengthy dawn jogs, why are they so skinny (or in many cases, skinny-fat)? Several reasons, like their high-carb lifestyles cause them to waste protein as described here; like they're not consuming enough or the right kind of calories to gain significant fat stores (the biggest "benefit" of a low-fat diet is that it's also low in omega-6s); or like they have the kind of bodies that are not prone to fattening in the first place.
The wrong kind of exercise has a big down-side, too. What Mark Sisson calls "chronic cardio" is notorious for promoting body-wide inflammation; ever hear about the theoretically-healthy young runners who drop dead of heart attacks, despite having little-to-no arterial plaque? THAT is the work of the inflammation. If you intrinsically LOVE running, it's bad enough because this kind of exercise is pretty stressful to the body; however, if you're only doing it because you think it's good for you and you basically dislike it, you're doubling-down on the stress hormones. And if you don't give your body time to recover from all the microtrauma (i.e., you run every day), the damage increases even more. The stress-hormone cortisol brings about all kinds of negative effects around the body, as well as increasing your tendency to fatten. You also experience more oxidative -- free-radical -- damage.
Then, the more you encourage the body to burn glucose, the worse it gets at burning fat. Nature is clever, and if it thinks you don't need the ability to do something, it will down-regulate production of the enzymes and other factors needed for it. Part of the process of becoming keto-adapted (able to burn fatty acids as one's primary fuel) is the adjustment of the body to producing all the chemicals needed to do it. If someone has burned glucose very largely for decades, the keto-adaptation period can be long and uncomfortable. The ability to switch between fuels easily is often called "metabolic flexibility" ... and it's a GOOD THING. ;-) Annoyingly, it's pretty easy for anyone to switch from fats to sugars, but not everybody swings the other way very well.
If exercise sucks for fat burning, why do most people -- even i -- think it's a good idea? Because moving around, flexing and relaxing your muscles, does a lot more than just burn energy. Exercise encourages your body to create more mitochondria -- the little power-stations that turn fuel into energy, vitality that allows one to enjoy life. You improve circulation, muscle strength and lung-power. You generate more natural growth hormone, and become more insulin-sensitive. The right kinds of exercise are relaxing and rejuvenating rather than stressful, especially if performed outside in pleasant surroundings or with pleasant company.
So yes, exercise can be a good thing, OR a bad thing depending on a bunch of variables ... like so many other things in life. Do something that you enjoy, which isn't damaging, and doesn't tense you up. Again borrowing from Mark S., the closer your workouts come to being PLAY, the better they are.
________
* okay, okay -- i've read "part deux" so many times, i had to play with the concept ... and everybody knows that 42 is a magical number. ;-) besides, since there's no "CICO is dead, part one" how COULD there be a part two?
The other half of the equation, the "calories out" part, is as much a mistaken principle as the first. YES, to do work with the muscles "burns" an energy substrate -- either glucose or fatty acids. But to characterize the calories burned as the fat off our rumps is just wrong. Most of the energy burned by those sour-looking folks trotting down the street is glucose, from glycogen stored in their muscles and livers, which they promptly replenish from their diets full of hearthealthywholegrains. To burn fat as the primary fuel requires a low-carb diet and a specific kind of training.
So if they're not burning fat on their lengthy dawn jogs, why are they so skinny (or in many cases, skinny-fat)? Several reasons, like their high-carb lifestyles cause them to waste protein as described here; like they're not consuming enough or the right kind of calories to gain significant fat stores (the biggest "benefit" of a low-fat diet is that it's also low in omega-6s); or like they have the kind of bodies that are not prone to fattening in the first place.
The wrong kind of exercise has a big down-side, too. What Mark Sisson calls "chronic cardio" is notorious for promoting body-wide inflammation; ever hear about the theoretically-healthy young runners who drop dead of heart attacks, despite having little-to-no arterial plaque? THAT is the work of the inflammation. If you intrinsically LOVE running, it's bad enough because this kind of exercise is pretty stressful to the body; however, if you're only doing it because you think it's good for you and you basically dislike it, you're doubling-down on the stress hormones. And if you don't give your body time to recover from all the microtrauma (i.e., you run every day), the damage increases even more. The stress-hormone cortisol brings about all kinds of negative effects around the body, as well as increasing your tendency to fatten. You also experience more oxidative -- free-radical -- damage.
Then, the more you encourage the body to burn glucose, the worse it gets at burning fat. Nature is clever, and if it thinks you don't need the ability to do something, it will down-regulate production of the enzymes and other factors needed for it. Part of the process of becoming keto-adapted (able to burn fatty acids as one's primary fuel) is the adjustment of the body to producing all the chemicals needed to do it. If someone has burned glucose very largely for decades, the keto-adaptation period can be long and uncomfortable. The ability to switch between fuels easily is often called "metabolic flexibility" ... and it's a GOOD THING. ;-) Annoyingly, it's pretty easy for anyone to switch from fats to sugars, but not everybody swings the other way very well.
If exercise sucks for fat burning, why do most people -- even i -- think it's a good idea? Because moving around, flexing and relaxing your muscles, does a lot more than just burn energy. Exercise encourages your body to create more mitochondria -- the little power-stations that turn fuel into energy, vitality that allows one to enjoy life. You improve circulation, muscle strength and lung-power. You generate more natural growth hormone, and become more insulin-sensitive. The right kinds of exercise are relaxing and rejuvenating rather than stressful, especially if performed outside in pleasant surroundings or with pleasant company.
So yes, exercise can be a good thing, OR a bad thing depending on a bunch of variables ... like so many other things in life. Do something that you enjoy, which isn't damaging, and doesn't tense you up. Again borrowing from Mark S., the closer your workouts come to being PLAY, the better they are.
________
* okay, okay -- i've read "part deux" so many times, i had to play with the concept ... and everybody knows that 42 is a magical number. ;-) besides, since there's no "CICO is dead, part one" how COULD there be a part two?
Monday, October 22, 2012
a good practice
Last night, my new fencing jacket and shoes got their initiation, and it turned out WELL. I didn't have as much knee pain as when i tested out the Vibrams. My "muscular energy" seemed good, which implies that all the little energy-factories were chugging along happily burning fats/ketones ... or whatever they wanted to burn. My "rate-limiting" parameters were that i was functioning on less-than-optimal sleep, and that i'm old and out of shape. ;-) And i sweated like a pig! Good workout!
This morning i WAS a bit stiff! I drank my morning java in a very hot bath, and now i can feel that i worked my legs and right arm, and various torso muscles. It's too bad i won't have a chance to do it again for a week and a half, but my twice-delayed trip will interfere. I'll just have to make myself do series-es (what IS the plural of series?) of advances, retreats, lunges and ballestras to remind my legs of their new responsibilities, and to work on the tightness in my right shoulder which i don't remember being an issue when i fenced before.
I'm not fooling myself about improving my "game" very much -- i'm not expecting to take the senior fencing world by storm! :-) But as Mark has always pointed out, getting exercise is not nearly as beneficial if it's a chore rather than PLAY ... as it ought to be!
This morning i WAS a bit stiff! I drank my morning java in a very hot bath, and now i can feel that i worked my legs and right arm, and various torso muscles. It's too bad i won't have a chance to do it again for a week and a half, but my twice-delayed trip will interfere. I'll just have to make myself do series-es (what IS the plural of series?) of advances, retreats, lunges and ballestras to remind my legs of their new responsibilities, and to work on the tightness in my right shoulder which i don't remember being an issue when i fenced before.
I'm not fooling myself about improving my "game" very much -- i'm not expecting to take the senior fencing world by storm! :-) But as Mark has always pointed out, getting exercise is not nearly as beneficial if it's a chore rather than PLAY ... as it ought to be!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
HUNGRY today!
After doing all that unaccustomed moving around last night, my appetite is more urgent than it's been in a long time! I assume i used up a lot of muscle glycogen, and my body is finding it a challenge to replenish it. GOOD.
Encouraged by Robb Wolf to follow my workout with a LOW-carb meal, i had sardines and chardonnay, and cream in my coffee before bed. This morning i held out on black coffee till noon, but after my grassfed burger i was still not sated. Hmmmm, unusual. I took a shot of coconut oil and was satisfied till ... all of three-thirty! More unusual still. Just finished an early supper of filet mignon with butter, and tried a small piece of the sourdough rye-n-injun bread i made for my husband (but doing without wine). We'll see how the appetite goes during the evening. ...AND see how the scale reads in the morning.
My decision to fill my water bottle with cold licorice-root tea last night seems to have been a good one. There's a tiny bit of naturally-occurring sugar in the stuff, making it pleasant to rehydrate and also helping my liver with the glucose supply. I tried using my Vibrams in place of fencing shoes, but i'm not sure if it will work -- the front foot (that points forward) was fine, but the back foot presents the arch-side to the opponent, and it wasn't getting the support that conventional shoes provide. I'm gonna have to think about it....
Encouraged by Robb Wolf to follow my workout with a LOW-carb meal, i had sardines and chardonnay, and cream in my coffee before bed. This morning i held out on black coffee till noon, but after my grassfed burger i was still not sated. Hmmmm, unusual. I took a shot of coconut oil and was satisfied till ... all of three-thirty! More unusual still. Just finished an early supper of filet mignon with butter, and tried a small piece of the sourdough rye-n-injun bread i made for my husband (but doing without wine). We'll see how the appetite goes during the evening. ...AND see how the scale reads in the morning.
My decision to fill my water bottle with cold licorice-root tea last night seems to have been a good one. There's a tiny bit of naturally-occurring sugar in the stuff, making it pleasant to rehydrate and also helping my liver with the glucose supply. I tried using my Vibrams in place of fencing shoes, but i'm not sure if it will work -- the front foot (that points forward) was fine, but the back foot presents the arch-side to the opponent, and it wasn't getting the support that conventional shoes provide. I'm gonna have to think about it....
Monday, October 8, 2012
low-carb performance on trial
An hour ago i got back from my first fencing practice as a "low-carb athlete." You may laugh now. :-)
I didn't have a good firm idea as to how i'd do, or feel! Last time i was in a salle d'armes, i belonged to the carb corps! I wondered if i'd run through my glycogen in one bout and end up a big puddle of mush on the floor, or if maybe i'd get light-headed or dizzy.
I needn't have been concerned. Yes, i did tire soon, got a little out-of-breath, and felt a bit of pain in the bad knee. I wasn't as nimble as i used to be -- but i didn't expect to be, either. All in all, it turned out well. As i drove home, i had that "exercise is good!" feeling, but by the time i got to the house i was HUNGRY. I had a tin of sardines and a short glass of wine, then a cup of decaf with cream for dessert. Now ... i'm pleasantly sleepy, with the realization that tomorrow i'm going to have some body aches. I just used a whole flock of muscles that haven't had a good workout in quite awhile.
It's good to be fencing again!!!
I didn't have a good firm idea as to how i'd do, or feel! Last time i was in a salle d'armes, i belonged to the carb corps! I wondered if i'd run through my glycogen in one bout and end up a big puddle of mush on the floor, or if maybe i'd get light-headed or dizzy.
I needn't have been concerned. Yes, i did tire soon, got a little out-of-breath, and felt a bit of pain in the bad knee. I wasn't as nimble as i used to be -- but i didn't expect to be, either. All in all, it turned out well. As i drove home, i had that "exercise is good!" feeling, but by the time i got to the house i was HUNGRY. I had a tin of sardines and a short glass of wine, then a cup of decaf with cream for dessert. Now ... i'm pleasantly sleepy, with the realization that tomorrow i'm going to have some body aches. I just used a whole flock of muscles that haven't had a good workout in quite awhile.
It's good to be fencing again!!!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
just updates
I'm all excited -- i checked out a fencing club in this area, and it looks like the people there will be fun to play with, so i ordered myself a new jacket this morning. WOOOOOHOO! :-) I'm gonna fence again!
This sport was my LIFE when i lived in Oklahoma the first time. Of course, that was also THIRTY years ago! I know i'm going to have to baby my knee around; it's distinctly possible that when i fenced before, i predisposed Ralph to the injury i'm suffering with now. A fencer's knee on the sword-arm side takes a lot of strain if s/he isn't careful. I'm grateful that my original coaches were very picky about how we moved, otherwise i could be in worse shape.
This is the incentive i need to do my bike-tabatas regularly! Yoga, too. Fencing is an asymmetrical activity -- it's important to balance out. When i did it before, is when i first added weights to my fitness routine. ...Boy, does it seem like a long time ago!
A few days ago, i ordered and read (thanks be to Kindle for PC) that "low-carb performance" book. Truth be told, i found it disappointing and lacking in useful content. It seemed to be written to convince a "CW athlete" that LC is possible, not to give helpful advice to a low-carber. But i'll go back and see if i can glean some actual tips....
It will be interesting to see how my body does the old moves with an entirely different fuel system. Then, i was in the full throes of a high-carb diet -- our whole club was -- the first book i owned on nutrition was "Eat of Win"! I'm wondering if ginger- or licorice-root tea will be the best thing to put in my water bottle? Hmmmm.
********
I've been waking up with a headache the past couple of days. I can't tell if it's caused by allergy or posture or oxygen shortage caused by covering my eyes with a pillow to keep light out. However, it's an incentive to finally spring for the light-excluding window shades i've been thinking about for awhile. I tried a sleep-mask, but it makes me all sweaty about the eyes and nose, and i hate that!
Otherwise, i'm getting back to normal at last. I vow, WHEN we go out for meals next week ('cause it's gonna happen), i WILL NOT order a starchy side-dish, nor will i consume more than a half-cup of veggies at a meal! The pleasures of the palate are not worth the bodily discomfort!
This sport was my LIFE when i lived in Oklahoma the first time. Of course, that was also THIRTY years ago! I know i'm going to have to baby my knee around; it's distinctly possible that when i fenced before, i predisposed Ralph to the injury i'm suffering with now. A fencer's knee on the sword-arm side takes a lot of strain if s/he isn't careful. I'm grateful that my original coaches were very picky about how we moved, otherwise i could be in worse shape.
This is the incentive i need to do my bike-tabatas regularly! Yoga, too. Fencing is an asymmetrical activity -- it's important to balance out. When i did it before, is when i first added weights to my fitness routine. ...Boy, does it seem like a long time ago!
A few days ago, i ordered and read (thanks be to Kindle for PC) that "low-carb performance" book. Truth be told, i found it disappointing and lacking in useful content. It seemed to be written to convince a "CW athlete" that LC is possible, not to give helpful advice to a low-carber. But i'll go back and see if i can glean some actual tips....
It will be interesting to see how my body does the old moves with an entirely different fuel system. Then, i was in the full throes of a high-carb diet -- our whole club was -- the first book i owned on nutrition was "Eat of Win"! I'm wondering if ginger- or licorice-root tea will be the best thing to put in my water bottle? Hmmmm.
********
I've been waking up with a headache the past couple of days. I can't tell if it's caused by allergy or posture or oxygen shortage caused by covering my eyes with a pillow to keep light out. However, it's an incentive to finally spring for the light-excluding window shades i've been thinking about for awhile. I tried a sleep-mask, but it makes me all sweaty about the eyes and nose, and i hate that!
Otherwise, i'm getting back to normal at last. I vow, WHEN we go out for meals next week ('cause it's gonna happen), i WILL NOT order a starchy side-dish, nor will i consume more than a half-cup of veggies at a meal! The pleasures of the palate are not worth the bodily discomfort!
Monday, August 27, 2012
benefit from exercise to the struggling thyroid
Don't expect me to tout a vigorous exercise program to help you lose weight if you're hypothyroid -- it ain't gonna help, and it might hurt. Now, is that what you wanted to hear or not? ;-)
Start looking into the subject, and you'll find a lot of the old conventionalwisdom. Since hypothyroids find it easy to gain weight, CW dictates anything you do to combat this is a good thing, including those lovely strictures about aerobic exercise and a balanced diet. The more progressive sites might actually recommend strength training and a lower-carb diet. If you're persistent in pushing that "next" button on Google, you'll eventually find a couple of actual evidence-based sources of information.
Like here: i learned that hard exercise "eats through" thyroid hormone like it's going out of style (kinda like eating a high-carb diet). If, like me, you make enough hormone to get you through a good day but are challenged when things don't go just right, this is a recipe for massive discomfort. In another study, the upshot i got was that you can manipulate the lab numbers all you want, but it's not going to improve the body's actual performance.
This is not to say that i don't believe in ANY exercise, but i now find the argument weak that we believed in so long -- that exercise revs your metabolism, and that a revved metabolism results in weight loss. Wooo's post about that convinced me ... along with my personal experience.
What exercise is best for seems to be the chance to get outdoors, breathe some fresh air, and move at a constant pace for a half-hour or so, giving all my muscles a chance to extend and contract, not just the ones between my ears. ;-) More importantly to those of us who find weight-loss challenging, i believe, is encouraging mitochondrial health and development, which is what the tabatas do.
My experience says that a good brisk walk in nice weather is both pleasant and helpful; it improves the wind (no, not THAT kind of wind) and i find it also dampens appetite. The little bit of tabata-sprinting i've done on the stationary bike seems constructive, too, but what feels best is about three sets of 15-20 seconds of hard pedaling with a couple minutes slow movement in between -- certainly not the full minute of all-out effort in one go, that some sources recommend.
I don't know about you, but i consider my findings rather encouraging! Even if i were convinced that hard aerobic exercise was going to be beneficial ... well, it just would NOT happen. KNOWING that working that much is actually problematic makes me face a "workout session" a lot more cheerfully. I don't have to feel guilty -- as if i ever would -- under the misapprehension that self-torture is somehow good for one.
Start looking into the subject, and you'll find a lot of the old conventionalwisdom. Since hypothyroids find it easy to gain weight, CW dictates anything you do to combat this is a good thing, including those lovely strictures about aerobic exercise and a balanced diet. The more progressive sites might actually recommend strength training and a lower-carb diet. If you're persistent in pushing that "next" button on Google, you'll eventually find a couple of actual evidence-based sources of information.
Like here: i learned that hard exercise "eats through" thyroid hormone like it's going out of style (kinda like eating a high-carb diet). If, like me, you make enough hormone to get you through a good day but are challenged when things don't go just right, this is a recipe for massive discomfort. In another study, the upshot i got was that you can manipulate the lab numbers all you want, but it's not going to improve the body's actual performance.
This is not to say that i don't believe in ANY exercise, but i now find the argument weak that we believed in so long -- that exercise revs your metabolism, and that a revved metabolism results in weight loss. Wooo's post about that convinced me ... along with my personal experience.
What exercise is best for seems to be the chance to get outdoors, breathe some fresh air, and move at a constant pace for a half-hour or so, giving all my muscles a chance to extend and contract, not just the ones between my ears. ;-) More importantly to those of us who find weight-loss challenging, i believe, is encouraging mitochondrial health and development, which is what the tabatas do.
My experience says that a good brisk walk in nice weather is both pleasant and helpful; it improves the wind (no, not THAT kind of wind) and i find it also dampens appetite. The little bit of tabata-sprinting i've done on the stationary bike seems constructive, too, but what feels best is about three sets of 15-20 seconds of hard pedaling with a couple minutes slow movement in between -- certainly not the full minute of all-out effort in one go, that some sources recommend.
I don't know about you, but i consider my findings rather encouraging! Even if i were convinced that hard aerobic exercise was going to be beneficial ... well, it just would NOT happen. KNOWING that working that much is actually problematic makes me face a "workout session" a lot more cheerfully. I don't have to feel guilty -- as if i ever would -- under the misapprehension that self-torture is somehow good for one.
Monday, July 23, 2012
exercise, again
Whew -- just finished my morning workout. I unloaded the dishwasher, started some laundry, tidied up while i was in the basement, pulled weeds, cooked, and did "fur patrol" (a curious exercise which long-haired-dog owners have to deal with on a regular basis -- requires either a dustmop or a DirtDevil). Worked up a good sweat, too.
And the Lancet (i learn via Zoe Harcombe) thinks that inactivity is driving the problem of overweight? Even in our mechanized age with all of our labor-saving devices, a SMALL amount of LIGHT housekeeping is a workout. We lift and step and bend and stretch a LOT in everyday life. If there's any class of person who shouldn't be gaining, by CW rationale, it's young stay-at-home mothers -- taking care of small children is very work-intensive.
You think it might be something else that puts weight on "young marrieds"?
I noticed with interest, the last time i watched that excellent film version of "The Women" (1939), one of the earliest gym scenes i've ever seen; the ladies are tending to their figures ... because they can afford to. (And also to defend their income in their competitive world, ie, to keep their husbands.) Someone else is paid to do the housework. Before that, you hear about exercise for weight loss from William Banting (didn't work), but literature is curiously quiet. I read a goodly amount of fiction and nonfiction from the 19th century, and aside from the heroines going on walks (and the elderly taking their constitutionals), you don't hear much about what we would call "working out."
There was a "physical culture" movement amongst the sort of people who got into vegetarianism and utopian communities, but i only learned about it through a living-history friend who goes in for abstruse fads of the 1800s.
From what i can divine, though, Sport was all about FUN rather than fat-burning (as i believe it ought to be today). Women's magazines showed tennis dresses and bicycling ensembles and swimming costumes ... and there have been special outfits for horseback-riding for over a millennium. I've yet to see anything that was DESIGNED to be perspired in.
IF exercise helped to keep the population lean in the 19th century, it was in concert with their dietary practices, and certainly not the kind you see today. It was the built-in movement of people who LIVED life rather than observing it. People whose intact metabolisms made them want to move around.
And the Lancet (i learn via Zoe Harcombe) thinks that inactivity is driving the problem of overweight? Even in our mechanized age with all of our labor-saving devices, a SMALL amount of LIGHT housekeeping is a workout. We lift and step and bend and stretch a LOT in everyday life. If there's any class of person who shouldn't be gaining, by CW rationale, it's young stay-at-home mothers -- taking care of small children is very work-intensive.
You think it might be something else that puts weight on "young marrieds"?
I noticed with interest, the last time i watched that excellent film version of "The Women" (1939), one of the earliest gym scenes i've ever seen; the ladies are tending to their figures ... because they can afford to. (And also to defend their income in their competitive world, ie, to keep their husbands.) Someone else is paid to do the housework. Before that, you hear about exercise for weight loss from William Banting (didn't work), but literature is curiously quiet. I read a goodly amount of fiction and nonfiction from the 19th century, and aside from the heroines going on walks (and the elderly taking their constitutionals), you don't hear much about what we would call "working out."
There was a "physical culture" movement amongst the sort of people who got into vegetarianism and utopian communities, but i only learned about it through a living-history friend who goes in for abstruse fads of the 1800s.
From what i can divine, though, Sport was all about FUN rather than fat-burning (as i believe it ought to be today). Women's magazines showed tennis dresses and bicycling ensembles and swimming costumes ... and there have been special outfits for horseback-riding for over a millennium. I've yet to see anything that was DESIGNED to be perspired in.
IF exercise helped to keep the population lean in the 19th century, it was in concert with their dietary practices, and certainly not the kind you see today. It was the built-in movement of people who LIVED life rather than observing it. People whose intact metabolisms made them want to move around.
Friday, July 20, 2012
progress addendum: exercise
One of the things i intended to mention but never got around to is exercise -- for the most part, i haven't.
Yes, yes, i fully realize that exercise has numerous health benefits, having nothing to do with aerobic capacity or calorie burning. There have been times when i've conscientiously done my duty -- walked, bicycled, yoga'ed, lifted -- but this year so far has not been "it." Circumstances have simply been discouraging me from doing much, lately.
In the middle of January i started attending a dance class -- hurt my knee and slowed down for MONTHS. It still gives me trouble. When i've been in California, i've walked (or perhaps i should say, been on my feet) extensively but it hasn't been the kind of walking that feels like a brisk hike -- i.e., EXERCISE. Some of my other excursions (and incursions ... of guests) have entailed a good amount of on-foot time, too, but it's the kind that more exhausts than invigorates.
Not to say i'm completely idle. I do my own housework and go up and down countless flights of stairs when i'm at home. (I tried to count how many trips one average day, but lost count at around 18.) I do light gardening. I carry suitcases and bags of dogfood and my reenacting trunks and large containers of water and tubs of coconut and palm oils.... "Moderately active" is the box i check on questionaires.
There's the walking debate then -- my husband likes to take the dog for a walk in the morning before we go out to breakfast: i often have to disappoint him by not going along. I'd have to take the walk, then come home and wash the sweat off before putting on going-out clothes and shoes OR i'd have to wear heeled sandals at this time of year on the walk before driving to the restaurant. :-P I really prefer walking in the late afternoon, because the heat generated dampens my appetite for supper. It is now midsummer in the midwest -- no way on god's green earth am i going to go for a nice brisk walk when it's 100 degrees in the shade!!!
I HAVE discovered the joys of the Tabata sprints on the stationary bike. I just haven't gotten in the groove of doing them regularly. When my knee is acting up, even the bike hurts.
So i'm doing a lot less than is ideal. I am nevertheless doing well with diet and weight-loss. Scheduled exercise is NOT a sine qua non.
Yes, yes, i fully realize that exercise has numerous health benefits, having nothing to do with aerobic capacity or calorie burning. There have been times when i've conscientiously done my duty -- walked, bicycled, yoga'ed, lifted -- but this year so far has not been "it." Circumstances have simply been discouraging me from doing much, lately.
In the middle of January i started attending a dance class -- hurt my knee and slowed down for MONTHS. It still gives me trouble. When i've been in California, i've walked (or perhaps i should say, been on my feet) extensively but it hasn't been the kind of walking that feels like a brisk hike -- i.e., EXERCISE. Some of my other excursions (and incursions ... of guests) have entailed a good amount of on-foot time, too, but it's the kind that more exhausts than invigorates.
Not to say i'm completely idle. I do my own housework and go up and down countless flights of stairs when i'm at home. (I tried to count how many trips one average day, but lost count at around 18.) I do light gardening. I carry suitcases and bags of dogfood and my reenacting trunks and large containers of water and tubs of coconut and palm oils.... "Moderately active" is the box i check on questionaires.
There's the walking debate then -- my husband likes to take the dog for a walk in the morning before we go out to breakfast: i often have to disappoint him by not going along. I'd have to take the walk, then come home and wash the sweat off before putting on going-out clothes and shoes OR i'd have to wear heeled sandals at this time of year on the walk before driving to the restaurant. :-P I really prefer walking in the late afternoon, because the heat generated dampens my appetite for supper. It is now midsummer in the midwest -- no way on god's green earth am i going to go for a nice brisk walk when it's 100 degrees in the shade!!!
I HAVE discovered the joys of the Tabata sprints on the stationary bike. I just haven't gotten in the groove of doing them regularly. When my knee is acting up, even the bike hurts.
So i'm doing a lot less than is ideal. I am nevertheless doing well with diet and weight-loss. Scheduled exercise is NOT a sine qua non.
Friday, July 6, 2012
when will i ever learn?
This week of indulgent vacationing is almost over -- thank heavens! ;-) It's been something of an inversion -- a PERversion of what food-elimination diets are all about. I've eaten things over the last week that i KNOW i should not eat, and am observing the consequences -- and don't try to tell me it's a reverse-placebo effect!
I have body-aches that i haven't felt since last year. Anyone who has read some of my oldest postings might remember my awe when, after three weeks of the Personal Paleo Code program, i took a roadtrip and found that i was able to get out of the car (after driving for 6 hours straight) and experience no stiffness upon moving around. At the time, i was SO impressed with the effects of the frequently-problematic-food avoidance, i couldn't see ever eating them again.
I ate them this past few days. OUCH. Wheat. Corn. Sauces containing mystery ingredients. Industrial seed oils. Sugar.
I HAVE had individual-meal "excursions" before, from my ideal diet, with limited repercussions. One day of being "bad" can affect my knees, my water-balance, my allergies, and/or my digestion. It takes several days to give me this gawd-do-i-feel-old sensation. I'm sitting here right now with my feet up, leaning back comfortably against cushions; my lower-back hurts, my upper-neck hurts and my temples ache -- inflammation causes my glasses to fit poorly, and i get a pain behind my ears, as well. I woke this morning with my hands and feet aching from the water retention. Climbing out of bed was more trouble than it has been for seven months; i limped to the next room.
Today i'm fasting until dinnertime, and i anticipate feeling MUCH better. I'm also going to do a little upper-body bodyweight exercise right before dinner -- some planks, maybe some pushups. (Weightbearing exercise, especially in the upper body, is reputed to burn a LOT of glucose/glycogen.) I'll be drinking as much coffee as is comfortable, with cream if i start feeling hungry. I CAN LICK THIS! ;-)
When i fly home tomorrow, i trust i'll be feeling at least a little better than i do right now. When i get there i'll start being "perfect" again. Perfection is MUCH easier than moderation.
I have body-aches that i haven't felt since last year. Anyone who has read some of my oldest postings might remember my awe when, after three weeks of the Personal Paleo Code program, i took a roadtrip and found that i was able to get out of the car (after driving for 6 hours straight) and experience no stiffness upon moving around. At the time, i was SO impressed with the effects of the frequently-problematic-food avoidance, i couldn't see ever eating them again.
I ate them this past few days. OUCH. Wheat. Corn. Sauces containing mystery ingredients. Industrial seed oils. Sugar.
I HAVE had individual-meal "excursions" before, from my ideal diet, with limited repercussions. One day of being "bad" can affect my knees, my water-balance, my allergies, and/or my digestion. It takes several days to give me this gawd-do-i-feel-old sensation. I'm sitting here right now with my feet up, leaning back comfortably against cushions; my lower-back hurts, my upper-neck hurts and my temples ache -- inflammation causes my glasses to fit poorly, and i get a pain behind my ears, as well. I woke this morning with my hands and feet aching from the water retention. Climbing out of bed was more trouble than it has been for seven months; i limped to the next room.
Today i'm fasting until dinnertime, and i anticipate feeling MUCH better. I'm also going to do a little upper-body bodyweight exercise right before dinner -- some planks, maybe some pushups. (Weightbearing exercise, especially in the upper body, is reputed to burn a LOT of glucose/glycogen.) I'll be drinking as much coffee as is comfortable, with cream if i start feeling hungry. I CAN LICK THIS! ;-)
When i fly home tomorrow, i trust i'll be feeling at least a little better than i do right now. When i get there i'll start being "perfect" again. Perfection is MUCH easier than moderation.
Monday, May 7, 2012
when is a fast not a fast?
Hint -- this is like when Peter asked "when is a high-fat diet not a high-fat diet."
When Dr. Atkins prescribed a "fat fast" for people who are extremely resistant to losing weight, it was incredibly low in calories, and he only recommended doing it for a few days at a time. It had enough fat to suppress the appetite, and it forced the burning of body-fat for fuel, because it certainly didn't supply enough protein to convert to a LOT of glucose. I feel sorry for those on it who didn't have the metabolic flexibility or gut-bugs to get ENERGY from fat, and yet had to go about their daily business....
I assumed that the fat-fast was all about getting into ketosis ... until recently. There are a few blogs where isolated posts give hints on why eating like this may promote weight loss by other pathways, too.
In one of Peter's posts, he speaks of intestinal biota which prompt the brain to eat "fiber" and store fat, or to release stored fat for energy (so the host can go out hunting) ... and fat ingestion signals the latter. The use of fatty foods during an intermittent fast (like drinking coffee with cream) is suggested by the Drs. Jaminet as "not counting" as food....
Here, too, is an explanation for the benefit of oil-swilling in the Shangri-La regimen!
Now we have this discovery that eating fat-with-no-carb spurs glp-1 production, which in turn turns off appetite and turns on spontaneous movement. I find this very exciting. In the average human, excessive energy "wasting" -- i.e., going to the gym -- is discouraged by our very beings (see Naturally Engineered); as a result, forcing yourself to exercise when you don't want to is more stressful and less effective. But by this pathway, the urge to move is instinctive rather than a choice. One gets the benefits of movement on the tissues and the mood-enhancing aspect of exercise in the brain -- all with no hunger or nasty cascades of BG and insulin.
So, yeah -- i now see the fat-fast as being a LOT more powerful than i believed possible, just reading Atkins. ...I'll be sure to eat MORE CALORIES of it than he recommended, though!
When Dr. Atkins prescribed a "fat fast" for people who are extremely resistant to losing weight, it was incredibly low in calories, and he only recommended doing it for a few days at a time. It had enough fat to suppress the appetite, and it forced the burning of body-fat for fuel, because it certainly didn't supply enough protein to convert to a LOT of glucose. I feel sorry for those on it who didn't have the metabolic flexibility or gut-bugs to get ENERGY from fat, and yet had to go about their daily business....
I assumed that the fat-fast was all about getting into ketosis ... until recently. There are a few blogs where isolated posts give hints on why eating like this may promote weight loss by other pathways, too.
In one of Peter's posts, he speaks of intestinal biota which prompt the brain to eat "fiber" and store fat, or to release stored fat for energy (so the host can go out hunting) ... and fat ingestion signals the latter. The use of fatty foods during an intermittent fast (like drinking coffee with cream) is suggested by the Drs. Jaminet as "not counting" as food....
Here, too, is an explanation for the benefit of oil-swilling in the Shangri-La regimen!
Now we have this discovery that eating fat-with-no-carb spurs glp-1 production, which in turn turns off appetite and turns on spontaneous movement. I find this very exciting. In the average human, excessive energy "wasting" -- i.e., going to the gym -- is discouraged by our very beings (see Naturally Engineered); as a result, forcing yourself to exercise when you don't want to is more stressful and less effective. But by this pathway, the urge to move is instinctive rather than a choice. One gets the benefits of movement on the tissues and the mood-enhancing aspect of exercise in the brain -- all with no hunger or nasty cascades of BG and insulin.
So, yeah -- i now see the fat-fast as being a LOT more powerful than i believed possible, just reading Atkins. ...I'll be sure to eat MORE CALORIES of it than he recommended, though!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
BIG discovery
Kindke finds the missing link. I am in awe -- quite literally; i sit and stare into space while contemplating the simple elegance of it.
It's very fashionable in some circles to sneer at what Dr. Atkins called the "metabolic advantage." However, for those of us who not only lose weight better on low-carb diets but FEEL significantly better on them, we know it's real. Dr. Lustig (who also works with REAL LIVE PATIENTS, not mice and rats) made a point in his talk at last year's Ancestral Health Symposium that quality of life is directly associated with the amount of energy one manages to burn. As a hypothyroid who has always had vitality limitations, i believe this wholeheartedly.
Finally, Kindke points out what the mechanism is. What makes it easy to "eat less and move more"? Eating the right things -- duh. For many of us, eating those lauded starches, those healthywholegrains, those FRUITSandvegetables, makes it HARD to do both. His discovery fits in tidily with Dr. Donaldson's observation that, round about the fifth day of his "Strong Medicine" regimen, his patients found their morning walks a lot more do-able.
You gotta go read it in Kindke's words....
Oh -- and by the way, you should read Fred's article, too.
It's very fashionable in some circles to sneer at what Dr. Atkins called the "metabolic advantage." However, for those of us who not only lose weight better on low-carb diets but FEEL significantly better on them, we know it's real. Dr. Lustig (who also works with REAL LIVE PATIENTS, not mice and rats) made a point in his talk at last year's Ancestral Health Symposium that quality of life is directly associated with the amount of energy one manages to burn. As a hypothyroid who has always had vitality limitations, i believe this wholeheartedly.
Finally, Kindke points out what the mechanism is. What makes it easy to "eat less and move more"? Eating the right things -- duh. For many of us, eating those lauded starches, those healthywholegrains, those FRUITSandvegetables, makes it HARD to do both. His discovery fits in tidily with Dr. Donaldson's observation that, round about the fifth day of his "Strong Medicine" regimen, his patients found their morning walks a lot more do-able.
You gotta go read it in Kindke's words....
Oh -- and by the way, you should read Fred's article, too.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
O-O-O-kay! (i.e., blinding light...)
Over a month ago, i expressed puzzlement about my once-injured right knee ("Ralph") and pain-reduction in it, at the same time i seemed to have stressed it some more. Sounds counter-intuitive, i know -- the inflammation was there, but somehow the knee felt stronger, "righter" -- then again, this body constantly does exactly opposite what the "experts" say it should.
Now i know why, thanks to the ever-educational J Stanton at gnolls.org! I won't even try to summarize the mechanism -- it should be read by anyone with interest in getting the best performance out of an aging body! The punchline is: exercise promotes healing.
As a matter of fact, Dr. Donaldson in "Strong Medicine" states, "I had learned the value of exercise in the hospital wards. ...Ninety days of exercise can work wonders." He prescribes specific exercises for various different ills (physical and mental), but doesn't discuss the rationale behind it much; in his day, the exact physiological mechanisms were probably unexplainable.
So even if i hadn't been convinced of the value of the Tabata sprints for metabolic health and flexibility, i now have an additional impetus -- it's the entry point for an UNvicious cycle.
It always seems to pay to revisit the archived posts of good bloggers! You find posts you somehow didn't see before, and you sometimes understand better what you've already read.
:-D
Now i know why, thanks to the ever-educational J Stanton at gnolls.org! I won't even try to summarize the mechanism -- it should be read by anyone with interest in getting the best performance out of an aging body! The punchline is: exercise promotes healing.
As a matter of fact, Dr. Donaldson in "Strong Medicine" states, "I had learned the value of exercise in the hospital wards. ...Ninety days of exercise can work wonders." He prescribes specific exercises for various different ills (physical and mental), but doesn't discuss the rationale behind it much; in his day, the exact physiological mechanisms were probably unexplainable.
So even if i hadn't been convinced of the value of the Tabata sprints for metabolic health and flexibility, i now have an additional impetus -- it's the entry point for an UNvicious cycle.
It always seems to pay to revisit the archived posts of good bloggers! You find posts you somehow didn't see before, and you sometimes understand better what you've already read.
:-D
Friday, February 24, 2012
yes, it still works
The scale was down about the amount i predicted yesterday (it measures in 0.2 pound increments, so "half a pound" is a ballpark figure, not "documentable"). Success! I'll continue being (almost) "perfect" today.
I confess to have had some concerns -- are you familiar with the concept of the One Golden Shot? :-) It's when something-or-other worked GREAT the first time, but you can never seem to replicate the success. The first time you tried the diet it went swimmingly, but another time it totally let you down; the first time you made the recipe or sewed the pattern it turned out spectacular, but when you tried to do it again (for "company"!) it was a flop. You know....
In the weight-loss realm, i suspect this happens because when we first learn about it our excitement level boosts our metabolism a bit, making it easier to lose, AND we are absolutely faultless in our application of the guidelines. Later, we tweak (i'm BIG on this myself). We remember what we were able to get away with the first time, and we start at that point, instead of at the prescribed beginning. Furthermore ... we're older! At this time of our lives, a LOT changes, and FAST. I've already warned my daughter that she needs to be careful to maintain her normal weight, because losing it later is much harder.
So after the rule-bending i did yesterday (salting my meat, having full instead of half-cups of coffee with my meals, even drinking the last 3 tablespoons of wine that didn't QUITE get finished last week), i was pleased and yes, a little relieved to find that the formula still worked. I'm counting my blessings, and vowing to be even better today. Now that i'm caught up on my salt, i'm scaling it back (not omitting it -- that didn't work so well). I'm continuing to use the stationary bicycle because it's kinder to Ralph while still elevating my heart-rate. And since that wine bottle is now safely empty and residing in the recycle bag, i won't be teased by it sitting unfinished on the kitchen counter any more. :-)
I confess, i WILL still indulge myself with the full cups of coffee. ...Since beginning to drink it without even coconut milk, i'm dumbfounded to find that i prefer my black coffee without the single drop of liquid sucralose that i tried last week -- who would have thought! Am i going to end this experience by finding that only simple, plain foods suit me anymore???
I confess to have had some concerns -- are you familiar with the concept of the One Golden Shot? :-) It's when something-or-other worked GREAT the first time, but you can never seem to replicate the success. The first time you tried the diet it went swimmingly, but another time it totally let you down; the first time you made the recipe or sewed the pattern it turned out spectacular, but when you tried to do it again (for "company"!) it was a flop. You know....
In the weight-loss realm, i suspect this happens because when we first learn about it our excitement level boosts our metabolism a bit, making it easier to lose, AND we are absolutely faultless in our application of the guidelines. Later, we tweak (i'm BIG on this myself). We remember what we were able to get away with the first time, and we start at that point, instead of at the prescribed beginning. Furthermore ... we're older! At this time of our lives, a LOT changes, and FAST. I've already warned my daughter that she needs to be careful to maintain her normal weight, because losing it later is much harder.
So after the rule-bending i did yesterday (salting my meat, having full instead of half-cups of coffee with my meals, even drinking the last 3 tablespoons of wine that didn't QUITE get finished last week), i was pleased and yes, a little relieved to find that the formula still worked. I'm counting my blessings, and vowing to be even better today. Now that i'm caught up on my salt, i'm scaling it back (not omitting it -- that didn't work so well). I'm continuing to use the stationary bicycle because it's kinder to Ralph while still elevating my heart-rate. And since that wine bottle is now safely empty and residing in the recycle bag, i won't be teased by it sitting unfinished on the kitchen counter any more. :-)
I confess, i WILL still indulge myself with the full cups of coffee. ...Since beginning to drink it without even coconut milk, i'm dumbfounded to find that i prefer my black coffee without the single drop of liquid sucralose that i tried last week -- who would have thought! Am i going to end this experience by finding that only simple, plain foods suit me anymore???
Thursday, February 23, 2012
back to the definitive program
I found the "limitation of matter" yesterday, lol....
The scale was down a scant 1/4 pound this morning. Yesterday's intake consisted of the last patty of my chuck/liver/parsley/pepper mixture WITH SALT, four full cups of black coffee (half decaf), 3 glasses of water (plus the amount i drank while taking my supplements), 6 oz. of pot roast with salt and pepper, half a cup of german-style potato salad, 4 ounces of sake and 2 of traminette. I didn't "exercise" at all (besides the innumerable stairs i climb as a daily necessity, in this house).
I woke after 8 hours or thereabouts, with more enthusiasm for compliance with the "Strong Medicine" than i have the last couple of days. Between the lower calorie/protein intake and the splurge in wine, i saw on the scale what i wanted AND expected -- a small loss. It's comforting to be able to predict what will result from one's actions!
So, this morning i DID get my before-breakfast activity (stationary bike), my single cup of coffee and fatty-meat ration. Brother, does it make a difference when the meat is cooked RIGHT -- i put a nice marbled chuck roast in the crockpot yesterday instead of doing it on the stovetop. (My stove is impossible to turn down far enough, even using a "flame tamer"! Frankly, for any kind of "cheap" roast, the crockpot does SO MUCH BETTER a job of getting it tender....)
I'll continue to follow the program today, and anticipate a 1/2# loss tomorrow -- it will be reassuring if i'm right, but if the scale is even lower, i certainly won't cry!
The scale was down a scant 1/4 pound this morning. Yesterday's intake consisted of the last patty of my chuck/liver/parsley/pepper mixture WITH SALT, four full cups of black coffee (half decaf), 3 glasses of water (plus the amount i drank while taking my supplements), 6 oz. of pot roast with salt and pepper, half a cup of german-style potato salad, 4 ounces of sake and 2 of traminette. I didn't "exercise" at all (besides the innumerable stairs i climb as a daily necessity, in this house).
I woke after 8 hours or thereabouts, with more enthusiasm for compliance with the "Strong Medicine" than i have the last couple of days. Between the lower calorie/protein intake and the splurge in wine, i saw on the scale what i wanted AND expected -- a small loss. It's comforting to be able to predict what will result from one's actions!
So, this morning i DID get my before-breakfast activity (stationary bike), my single cup of coffee and fatty-meat ration. Brother, does it make a difference when the meat is cooked RIGHT -- i put a nice marbled chuck roast in the crockpot yesterday instead of doing it on the stovetop. (My stove is impossible to turn down far enough, even using a "flame tamer"! Frankly, for any kind of "cheap" roast, the crockpot does SO MUCH BETTER a job of getting it tender....)
I'll continue to follow the program today, and anticipate a 1/2# loss tomorrow -- it will be reassuring if i'm right, but if the scale is even lower, i certainly won't cry!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
i can't bear eating all this FOOD!
The scale is down 3/4 pound again, and i even allowed myself half a cup of cooked white rice with my beef tenderloin last night.
But my discomfort level has risen: between the lack of salt and the high meat intake (about 50% higher than it was a month ago), my stomach is not at all happy, even with daily use of betaine-HCl. Today is a day for readjusting the formula. (I just took a 1/4 t. of sea salt, washed down with water, as a good beginning.)
I was VERY comfortable on the IF technique of coconut milk in my coffee for breakfast, and only two real meals per day. The only trouble with that was, i wasn't losing any weight, despite consuming fewer calories than i am now. (So THERE, CICO people!) When one of Donaldson's patients reported in without having lost any weight on one occasion, it turned out that he had begun skipping breakfast in hopes of reducing faster....
Yesterday, i DID feel improvement in my bad knee, and the other felt pretty much normal again. I did my half-hour of walking on the treadmill upstairs instead of around the neighborhood, because i suspected the cold was affecting my knee badly. Treadmills aren't perfect walking-machines, though -- posture and muscle use don't mimic REAL walking (see Dr. Wong...). Today i'm going to walk outside at a warmer hour, or use the stationary bicycle; i customarily use it for my Tabata sprints, as it's MUCH kinder to the knee.
...I just resolved to name my knees -- "my once-injured knee" is so unwieldy -- so it'll be Ralph (the "bad" one) and Louie. ;-) I'm so original!
Volume of meat is going down! Instead of 8 ounces, it's going to be 6, and i'm going to put salt on it. Truly, it hasn't been my taste buds that missed the salt, it's been my stomach-acid missing the chlorine! In all the agonizing over sodium in the last few decades, "experts" predictably overlooked the other important ingredient of table salt. Without a good source of chlorine, less stomach-acid is produced -- and contrary to what "everybody knows," an awful lot of indigestion is due to LOW acid, not high. As a hypothyroid, i'm already inclined to have low stomach acid (which is why i keep the betaine supplement on hand), and i've been exacerbating it. That stops now.
On the positive front, allergic symptoms are reduced on my lower-toxin diet. I was surprised to see, under the strict PPC regimen, that i still showed a little cheek-flushing in the evenings -- something that i hitherto blamed on wine. The most likely suspects were nightshades (which i took it very easy with), eggs (eaten in moderation), and nuts (mostly consumed in the form of coconut milk). Last night i took stock, and found the flushing significantly reduced.
Well, today is going to be a low-intake day, just to reset my system. I WILL stick to the approved food list in "Strong Medicine" though! Considering that i lost approximately 3 pounds in three days, there's no doubt that Dr. Donaldson was onto something, even though the medicine seems to be a little TOO strong for ME.
p.s. Despite the dire warnings of reduced thyroid function on a VLC diet, i've noticed no such reaction -- and believe me, i know what it feels like. I hypothesize that: 1) sufficient protein ingestion raises insulin levels enough to allow the receptors to work just fine, and; 2) being well-adapted in ketosis with plenty of glucose made by the liver from protein AND fat (as confirmed with my glucometer) provides all the glucose necessary for T4 conversion. Dare i suggest that the trials where thyroid function was impaired took place in particularly-established glucose burners...?
But my discomfort level has risen: between the lack of salt and the high meat intake (about 50% higher than it was a month ago), my stomach is not at all happy, even with daily use of betaine-HCl. Today is a day for readjusting the formula. (I just took a 1/4 t. of sea salt, washed down with water, as a good beginning.)
I was VERY comfortable on the IF technique of coconut milk in my coffee for breakfast, and only two real meals per day. The only trouble with that was, i wasn't losing any weight, despite consuming fewer calories than i am now. (So THERE, CICO people!) When one of Donaldson's patients reported in without having lost any weight on one occasion, it turned out that he had begun skipping breakfast in hopes of reducing faster....
Yesterday, i DID feel improvement in my bad knee, and the other felt pretty much normal again. I did my half-hour of walking on the treadmill upstairs instead of around the neighborhood, because i suspected the cold was affecting my knee badly. Treadmills aren't perfect walking-machines, though -- posture and muscle use don't mimic REAL walking (see Dr. Wong...). Today i'm going to walk outside at a warmer hour, or use the stationary bicycle; i customarily use it for my Tabata sprints, as it's MUCH kinder to the knee.
...I just resolved to name my knees -- "my once-injured knee" is so unwieldy -- so it'll be Ralph (the "bad" one) and Louie. ;-) I'm so original!
Volume of meat is going down! Instead of 8 ounces, it's going to be 6, and i'm going to put salt on it. Truly, it hasn't been my taste buds that missed the salt, it's been my stomach-acid missing the chlorine! In all the agonizing over sodium in the last few decades, "experts" predictably overlooked the other important ingredient of table salt. Without a good source of chlorine, less stomach-acid is produced -- and contrary to what "everybody knows," an awful lot of indigestion is due to LOW acid, not high. As a hypothyroid, i'm already inclined to have low stomach acid (which is why i keep the betaine supplement on hand), and i've been exacerbating it. That stops now.
On the positive front, allergic symptoms are reduced on my lower-toxin diet. I was surprised to see, under the strict PPC regimen, that i still showed a little cheek-flushing in the evenings -- something that i hitherto blamed on wine. The most likely suspects were nightshades (which i took it very easy with), eggs (eaten in moderation), and nuts (mostly consumed in the form of coconut milk). Last night i took stock, and found the flushing significantly reduced.
Well, today is going to be a low-intake day, just to reset my system. I WILL stick to the approved food list in "Strong Medicine" though! Considering that i lost approximately 3 pounds in three days, there's no doubt that Dr. Donaldson was onto something, even though the medicine seems to be a little TOO strong for ME.
p.s. Despite the dire warnings of reduced thyroid function on a VLC diet, i've noticed no such reaction -- and believe me, i know what it feels like. I hypothesize that: 1) sufficient protein ingestion raises insulin levels enough to allow the receptors to work just fine, and; 2) being well-adapted in ketosis with plenty of glucose made by the liver from protein AND fat (as confirmed with my glucometer) provides all the glucose necessary for T4 conversion. Dare i suggest that the trials where thyroid function was impaired took place in particularly-established glucose burners...?
Thursday, January 19, 2012
celebrate
I love the Old Farmer's Almanac; i used to run out and buy it every fall when the new issue went on the news-stands, but in our wonderful* electronic age i can access its information with less trouble and clutter**. I also get their e-newsletter informing me of upcoming holidays, gardening advice, and recipe suggestions (largely useless for a low-carb "paleoid" like me).
OOOH! am i responsible for coining a definitive term? More excitement! ;-)
The newsletter i received yesterday reminded me that this coming Monday is Chinese New Year; in their words: "The new year is by far the most important festival of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is celebrated on the second new Moon after the winter solstice. The holiday is a time of renewal, with debts cleared, new clothes bought, shops and homes decorated, and families gathered for a reunion dinner. Chinese New Year is marked by fireworks, traditional lion dances, gift giving, and special foods."
I firmly believe in celebrating holidays, not least holidays which belong to other belief-systems and cultures. Most people, throughout history and all over the world, tend to celebrate the same basic archetypes, like "light is good" and "starting over gives you a new lease on life." Christmas, Diwali and Channukah (and, without doubt, countless more) are all "light" holidays. Rosh Hashanah (with Yom Kippur coming right before) and the Chinese New Year -- well, you can guess.... "Other people's holidays" give you a chance to realize the idea intrinsic to the holiday, without all the emotional baggage associated with your own.
I'll not be trite and talk about the usual New Year stuff -- i'll concentrate on the celebratory aspect.
Most people need more joy in their lives: it's the antidote to stress. What makes you happy? What do you enjoy DOING? Did you know that exercising in ways you don't like is stress-producing, and thus less effective than something you like? Did you know that exerting will-power in dieting is also stressful?
So FIND some joy! If your old/usual activities are tiresome and no longer exciting, try new things till one "clicks." Maybe you need a challenge. That's why i chose the new activity i did, because i knew it was outside my native skill-set. It makes me move (exercise) in a way that i have to THINK about -- therefore, it isn't mindless and boring, and distracts me from the amount of energy i'm exerting. And my instructor and fellow-students are friendly, supportive, FUN ladies -- the kind of people who don't bring you down.
Monday is the Chinese New Year -- celebrate it! I'm going to buy myself some new clothes, settle (emotional) debts (to myself), and find some traditional dishes that work with my PPC diet options. Too bad i'll have to miss the lion dance....
Happy Year of the Water Dragon, everyone!
*i mean this in the truly literal sense: full of wonders! :-)
**confessing "sins" again -- there are piles of books on most of the horizontal surfaces of my house.
OOOH! am i responsible for coining a definitive term? More excitement! ;-)
The newsletter i received yesterday reminded me that this coming Monday is Chinese New Year; in their words: "The new year is by far the most important festival of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is celebrated on the second new Moon after the winter solstice. The holiday is a time of renewal, with debts cleared, new clothes bought, shops and homes decorated, and families gathered for a reunion dinner. Chinese New Year is marked by fireworks, traditional lion dances, gift giving, and special foods."
I firmly believe in celebrating holidays, not least holidays which belong to other belief-systems and cultures. Most people, throughout history and all over the world, tend to celebrate the same basic archetypes, like "light is good" and "starting over gives you a new lease on life." Christmas, Diwali and Channukah (and, without doubt, countless more) are all "light" holidays. Rosh Hashanah (with Yom Kippur coming right before) and the Chinese New Year -- well, you can guess.... "Other people's holidays" give you a chance to realize the idea intrinsic to the holiday, without all the emotional baggage associated with your own.
I'll not be trite and talk about the usual New Year stuff -- i'll concentrate on the celebratory aspect.
Most people need more joy in their lives: it's the antidote to stress. What makes you happy? What do you enjoy DOING? Did you know that exercising in ways you don't like is stress-producing, and thus less effective than something you like? Did you know that exerting will-power in dieting is also stressful?
So FIND some joy! If your old/usual activities are tiresome and no longer exciting, try new things till one "clicks." Maybe you need a challenge. That's why i chose the new activity i did, because i knew it was outside my native skill-set. It makes me move (exercise) in a way that i have to THINK about -- therefore, it isn't mindless and boring, and distracts me from the amount of energy i'm exerting. And my instructor and fellow-students are friendly, supportive, FUN ladies -- the kind of people who don't bring you down.
Monday is the Chinese New Year -- celebrate it! I'm going to buy myself some new clothes, settle (emotional) debts (to myself), and find some traditional dishes that work with my PPC diet options. Too bad i'll have to miss the lion dance....
Happy Year of the Water Dragon, everyone!
*i mean this in the truly literal sense: full of wonders! :-)
**confessing "sins" again -- there are piles of books on most of the horizontal surfaces of my house.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
new week, new challenges
One of the reasons i undertook this blog was inspiration from the (short, free ebook), "The Flinch" to cultivate talents/skills which i have written -- or shrugged -- off in the past. Consequently to that, i just began exploring something i have a life-long lack of aptitude for: DANCE.
I'm no fan of all the recent television programs featuring this art/sport, although i get a great deal of pleasure and feel a lot of admiration when watching a fine performance. I enjoy evenings out at the ballet. Once i even got to see Baryshnikov, live. :-) Back in my fencing days, i took an adults' class in "ballet" (well, ballet-inspired conditioning, led by a prominent local dance teacher) in an effort to get balance for my body, since fencing is notoriously asymmetric. My wind and flexibility definitely improved, but i became no better dancer as a result.
So when that little devil on my shoulder hinted that, despite not wanting to indulge "the flinch," i might hesitate to enter a new realm of endeavor that featured this bugaboo, naturally i said "screw dat" and went searching for a school. The voice of one of my living-history personae lept to the aforementioned shoulder, kicked the devil overboard, and made a supportive suggestion: Irish dance. She wants to learn to jig. ;-)
Last night, i attended the first class. The atmosphere was friendly and encouraging, and the instructor WELL-versed in teaching adults as well as smaller fry. We plunged right into learning basic steps. Knowing how out-of-condition i am, i took it easy and therefore have barely any aches today, but a little inflammation. The PPC, being an anti-inflammatory regimen, will sure be a help here! I'll continue to take it easy today, with a little stretching and flexing -- maybe, too, do a few yoga moves that seem like they'd be helpful.
Tomorrow i start the Tabata sprints! I was putting off beginning to do them regularly, in anticipation that my weight loss won't continue this well very long. EVERYBODY knows that exercise makes a difference in metabolic support and mitochondrial rehabilitation, even though it sucks for actual weight loss. I WAS saving the heavy artillery for when my footsoldiers (diet) started to get tired. The latter are still battling steadily, but they're going to get reinforcement anyway.
We'll see how this progresses! No doubt, it's going to be a challenge.
I'm no fan of all the recent television programs featuring this art/sport, although i get a great deal of pleasure and feel a lot of admiration when watching a fine performance. I enjoy evenings out at the ballet. Once i even got to see Baryshnikov, live. :-) Back in my fencing days, i took an adults' class in "ballet" (well, ballet-inspired conditioning, led by a prominent local dance teacher) in an effort to get balance for my body, since fencing is notoriously asymmetric. My wind and flexibility definitely improved, but i became no better dancer as a result.
So when that little devil on my shoulder hinted that, despite not wanting to indulge "the flinch," i might hesitate to enter a new realm of endeavor that featured this bugaboo, naturally i said "screw dat" and went searching for a school. The voice of one of my living-history personae lept to the aforementioned shoulder, kicked the devil overboard, and made a supportive suggestion: Irish dance. She wants to learn to jig. ;-)
Last night, i attended the first class. The atmosphere was friendly and encouraging, and the instructor WELL-versed in teaching adults as well as smaller fry. We plunged right into learning basic steps. Knowing how out-of-condition i am, i took it easy and therefore have barely any aches today, but a little inflammation. The PPC, being an anti-inflammatory regimen, will sure be a help here! I'll continue to take it easy today, with a little stretching and flexing -- maybe, too, do a few yoga moves that seem like they'd be helpful.
Tomorrow i start the Tabata sprints! I was putting off beginning to do them regularly, in anticipation that my weight loss won't continue this well very long. EVERYBODY knows that exercise makes a difference in metabolic support and mitochondrial rehabilitation, even though it sucks for actual weight loss. I WAS saving the heavy artillery for when my footsoldiers (diet) started to get tired. The latter are still battling steadily, but they're going to get reinforcement anyway.
We'll see how this progresses! No doubt, it's going to be a challenge.
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