My diet has been absolutely horrible.
Trying to be moderate is actually harder than being really strict. It's probably a psychological thing. Eating a cookie or having a few chips or eating rice are invitations to disaster. So, I'm turning back to my more extreme eating methods.
One thing I'm going to try is eating the same or similar meals everyday. It's not as hard as one might think. The trick is to re-frame food as fuel and not as a source of pleasure.
This isn't to say that taste doesn't matter, because it does. If the fuel (food) tastes bad then it becomes torture. So, it needs to be moderately tasty even as it is viewed as fuel.
I'm also falling back on my protein shakes. So many people I've met think its junk. My response is simple - you can't argue with my results. When I add protein drinks in place of some meals I get results. I lose weight, I get stronger and my running is solid.
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, April 18, 2010
20 lbs down and feeling better
While I haven't written on the blog in a while - that will change soon as I just bought a MacBook Pro today and now will be able to write more regularly - I have been keeping up on my workouts and on my eating habits.
First things first: I set a goal for myself several weeks ago. My goal was to get down to 225 lb by April 15. Well, I'm sorry to report that I only got to 227 lb as of the 15th. While I set my goals with the intention of achieving them, I'm not completely disappointed. I've lost 20 lbs since I began really working out and eating better near the end of January. That's not bad!
While that's only about 2 lbs per week, I know the accomplishment is more significant because in those 10 weeks I had a lot of bad weekends where I ate very poorly. I give myself credit for hanging in there and staying committed despite my own failures in self-control.
I feel better than I have in quite some time. This evening I went out for a 3.4 mile run. It was 1/3 up hill, 1/3 down hill and 1/3 flat. My early pace was a 12 minute mile or better but I slowed down as each mile passed by. I finished in 43 minutes. It may not seem like a lot in absolute terms (it isn't) but relative to where I was in mid-January of this year, this is a solid accomplishment.
In mid-January I could only jog 3 minutes on the treadmill before I had to slow down to a walk for at least 1 minute. I've built up from there, first on the treadmill and then more recently on the road, by adding resistance (inclines) and distance. Once I build up my strength and endurance for this distance (3.4 to 4.0 miles) I can then focus on getting a bit faster.
It's a Sunday night and I had another well balanced food weekend. There were no binges. While I definitely had some night food each day, I did not succumb to bread, rice and sugar.
It is easier now to avoid the junk food and the starchy, empty calories because I've had a few weekends of good eating and I can now look back on those and see the impact good eating has on my physical well-being. When I am tempted to eating unhealthy food I try to remind myself of how crappy I will feel shortly thereafter. It doesn't always work, but if nothing else, it does keep me from indulging more often!
First things first: I set a goal for myself several weeks ago. My goal was to get down to 225 lb by April 15. Well, I'm sorry to report that I only got to 227 lb as of the 15th. While I set my goals with the intention of achieving them, I'm not completely disappointed. I've lost 20 lbs since I began really working out and eating better near the end of January. That's not bad!
While that's only about 2 lbs per week, I know the accomplishment is more significant because in those 10 weeks I had a lot of bad weekends where I ate very poorly. I give myself credit for hanging in there and staying committed despite my own failures in self-control.
I feel better than I have in quite some time. This evening I went out for a 3.4 mile run. It was 1/3 up hill, 1/3 down hill and 1/3 flat. My early pace was a 12 minute mile or better but I slowed down as each mile passed by. I finished in 43 minutes. It may not seem like a lot in absolute terms (it isn't) but relative to where I was in mid-January of this year, this is a solid accomplishment.
In mid-January I could only jog 3 minutes on the treadmill before I had to slow down to a walk for at least 1 minute. I've built up from there, first on the treadmill and then more recently on the road, by adding resistance (inclines) and distance. Once I build up my strength and endurance for this distance (3.4 to 4.0 miles) I can then focus on getting a bit faster.
It's a Sunday night and I had another well balanced food weekend. There were no binges. While I definitely had some night food each day, I did not succumb to bread, rice and sugar.
It is easier now to avoid the junk food and the starchy, empty calories because I've had a few weekends of good eating and I can now look back on those and see the impact good eating has on my physical well-being. When I am tempted to eating unhealthy food I try to remind myself of how crappy I will feel shortly thereafter. It doesn't always work, but if nothing else, it does keep me from indulging more often!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Lack of focus leads to crappy workout
I had a lot on my mind yesterday. Usually a good workout can clear my head but alas the little things tripped me up in the end and resulted in a very crappy workout.
I signed up for laundry service at FFC. When I got to the gym my laundry bag was, as expected, in my locker. Great!
But wait - the clothes were all damp and smelly - not so great. I almost allowed myself to walk out of the gym without working out. Instead I put on the damp clothes and did some of my work out.
Yesterday was my day to lift weights. Specifically, to work on my legs and chest. I started with my legs and did all the exercises I needed to do. I was able to hit the right level of intensity during this phase of the workout. It took me about 20 minutes. But then, rather than moving on to dumbbell chest presses, I jumped on the exercise bike for a mild 25 minute ride. The heart rate monitor said I got my heart rate to where it needs to be for my age for a cardio workout (I have my doubts about that because I hardly broke a sweat).
I'm glad I got through the workout though. I weighed in afterwards and was surprised to see that I had lost 5 lbs. since I first weighed in at the beginning of the month. Not bad.
The positive feedback from the scale was enough to keep me motivated through the rest of the day. I had a couple of sandwiches for dinner - tuna w/ dijon mustard and roast beef w/ dijon mustard (both on whole wheat bread) and some skim milk. It was a lot better than the tradition rice and fatty/rich Indian dishes I'm often tempted with most nights.
Overall, 2/18/10 turned out to be a good fitness day.
I signed up for laundry service at FFC. When I got to the gym my laundry bag was, as expected, in my locker. Great!
But wait - the clothes were all damp and smelly - not so great. I almost allowed myself to walk out of the gym without working out. Instead I put on the damp clothes and did some of my work out.
Yesterday was my day to lift weights. Specifically, to work on my legs and chest. I started with my legs and did all the exercises I needed to do. I was able to hit the right level of intensity during this phase of the workout. It took me about 20 minutes. But then, rather than moving on to dumbbell chest presses, I jumped on the exercise bike for a mild 25 minute ride. The heart rate monitor said I got my heart rate to where it needs to be for my age for a cardio workout (I have my doubts about that because I hardly broke a sweat).
I'm glad I got through the workout though. I weighed in afterwards and was surprised to see that I had lost 5 lbs. since I first weighed in at the beginning of the month. Not bad.
The positive feedback from the scale was enough to keep me motivated through the rest of the day. I had a couple of sandwiches for dinner - tuna w/ dijon mustard and roast beef w/ dijon mustard (both on whole wheat bread) and some skim milk. It was a lot better than the tradition rice and fatty/rich Indian dishes I'm often tempted with most nights.
Overall, 2/18/10 turned out to be a good fitness day.
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