From KT – July 6
Yo DaVita !
Quick update on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
I resisted any diet cokes today, even though I was falling asleep while trying to read a book on Thomas Jefferson outside. I have read books on all the Founding Fathers, but this is the first one on him that I think is high quality.
My tiredness did not come from lack of sleep, I got 7 hours last night. Except maybe lack of sleep in the context of the amount/intensity of exercise. Today was an intense 90 minutes on the road bike, with 1900 feet of vertical. My time on the big hill was 47:56, one of my better times over the last 3 years. After the bike ride I did 20 minutes of therapy, which unfortunately appears to be creating the same pain in my shoulder rather than avoiding it. I will see what the PT says at my next appointment. Anyway, after the rehab we did a 105 minute hike with a fair amount of vertical, on beautiful trails.
Finally, I am about to do 20 minutes of stretching in a hot steam room, to try to loosen up the legs a bit after the last 4 days of pushing them quite hard each day with timed and strenuous hill exercise. Then I will get a 90 minute deep tissue massage, which as many of you know means a painful one where they find the trigger points and try to release them through pressure. But this should get me back on the trails tomorrow – the 5 mile run I did yesterday, after several months without running, has my thighs so sore I can barely walk down steps.
So this will be an exceptionally strong day in terms of minutes and quality of exercise and physical rehabilitation.
Based on my belt, however, I doubt I am doing much on the weight front. Quite embarrassing.
Hopefully many of you with 3 goals are hitting on all 3! I am not giving up on my third one. And I am not giving up on any of you. I hope you saw some of my responses from yesterday, I am trying to squeeze them in, while also trying to limit work to 2-3 hours today and 4-5 tomorrow. I hope you are all well!
It is easy to be mindful. It is hard to remember to be mindful.
All the best, KT
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Jan Schneider said,
July 8, 2013 @ 3:40 pm
I want to encourange you on the weight front. I have lost just over 40 lbs. since late August last year. I started because of the Village Vitality program requiring healthy actions and my BMI and blood sugar numbers being out of range. I have reached my goal weight and both numbers are back to normal range now. I hope my experience will inspire others. One for all!
My suggestion to help with this, because it worked for me is to cut down on carbs overall. When I go out for a steak or chicken or fish dinner, I simply ask the waiter if I can substitute extra veggies for the baked potato or rice and make sure I pick an unbreaded option. I have not found a restaurant yet that will not do this. When I would hit those plateaus where the pounds just didn’t want to go away, all I did was limit my carbs even more and in a couple weeks, a few more pounds melted away. Sometimes it would take as little as 15 – 20 grams per day, but only for a few weeks at a time periodically over the last year.
Carbs tend to make us crave more carbs and also the science makes sense. Carbs stimulate insulin and insulin tells the body to store the calories we consume as fat regardless of how little we may eat. This is why people who diet all the time may still find it difficult to loose weight even when they reduce their calorie intake, because they are eating the wrong type of food. And for me, being over 40 makes the insulin effect more pronounced. I have developed some amount of insulin resistance which can develop over time as we age making the body secrete more and more insulin to compensate, thus resulting in storing more and more calories as fat. A vicious circle.
When I do choose carbs, I choose the healthier options. Whole grain, rye or flax instead of white flour, brown rice instead of white, sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes and super food fruit options like blueberries and strawberries. Everyone has to find their own level of carbs that they can tolerate without gaining back the weight they have burned off and I am currently working on finding that right maintenance level.
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