The Poppery

I used to eat a lot of popcorn.  Not the microwave monstrosity but pure unadulterated air popped corn.  It always amazes me that we can take an otherwise healthily food and turn it into the worst possible substance to put into our bodies.  And it really doesn’t taste any better.

So I broke out the The Poppery by West Bend.  This is an old air popper from the 70’s and 80’s that has a 1500 watt heating element.  I believe these are now prohibited at least 40 of the states and will dim the light in your house.  At one time I had 5 of these pop corn workhorses.  These will pop corn to perfection quicker than you can say Jimmy Cracked Corn.

You can still find these industrial strength air pop corn poppers at garage sales and flea markets.  Of course there is an active trade on eBay but expect to pay an average of $40.  The Poppery II is also quite popular but only has a 1200 watt heater.  I picked up all of my poppers at thrift stores for $2 each.  I only have the one Poppery now.  All others have been given away or sold.

I can image that these sold for just a few bucks when new and have increased in value 10 fold.  Why?

Well, they can also be used to roast green coffee beans.  You see, I have always liked to tinker and make my own things -  I bake my own bread, brew my own beer and roast my own coffee. 

Here are some links if you are interested in roasting you own coffee:

Sweet Maria’s

ineedcoffee.com

Coffee Geek

Back to the pop corn from Wikipedia:

Nutritional value

Air-popped popcorn is naturally high in fiber, low in calories and fat, contains no sodium, and is sugar free. This can make it an attractive snack to people with dietary restrictions on the intake of calories, fat, and/or sodium. For the sake of flavor, however, large amounts of fat, sugar, and sodium are often added to prepared popcorn, which can quickly convert it to a very poor choice for those on restricted diets.
One particularly notorious example of this first came to public attention in the mid-1990s, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest produced a report about "Movie Popcorn", which became the subject of a widespread publicity campaign. The movie theaters surveyed used coconut oil to pop the corn, and then topped it with butter or margarine. "A medium-size buttered popcorn", the report said, "contains more fat than a breakfast of bacon and eggs, a Big Mac and fries, and a steak dinner combined." The practice continues today. For example, according to DietFacts.com, a small popcorn from Regal Cinema Group (the largest theater chain in the United States) still contains 29 g of saturated fat, as much as three Big Macs and the equivalent of a full day-and-a-half's reference daily intake.

Metabolic circuits and the science of calorie burning.

The latest installment in the ‘Ask the Physical Therapist’ from PT Dan – Losing weight is not enough.  We want to be lean and mean.  An alternate title to the following article could be “The mirror doesn’t lie.”

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It was not long after Jim Fixx wrote The Complete Book of Running that jogging became a popular activity geared at improving health and losing weight. Hundreds of studies since that time have proven the many health benefits of aerobic activity to include controlling heart-disease, minimizing the affects of mental stress, and of course losing weight. But if shedding the pounds is what you’re after, modern science will point you in a different direction.

Any type of exercise will burn calories. If you run, you will lose weight, assuming you are eating a healthy calorie-reduced diet. But put those same people on a calorie-reduced diet and further modify their activity and the results can be astounding. In a controlled study done at the University of Connecticut, Dr Jim Volek, placed test subjects into 3 groups: Group one was placed on a calorie-reduced diet only, but did not exercise. Group 2 was placed on the diet and performed aerobic exercise 3 times per week. Group 3 was placed on the diet and performed a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercises 3 times per week. Now you already know the results, but do you know why?

The results at 12 weeks revealed that all 3 groups lost nearly the same amount of weight; about 21 pounds per subject. But those who lifted weights shed 5 more pounds of fat than the other 2 groups. The weight that the lifters lost was almost pure fat. The weight loss of the other 2 groups was the result of a 15 pound loss of fat AND a 5 pound loss in muscle. Dr Volek summarizes, “for the same amount of exercise time, with the diets being equal, the participants who lifted lost almost 40% more fat.”

This research has been duplicated many times. Low-calorie dieters who don’t incorporate lifting weights will lose weight revealed as 75% fat loss and 25% muscle loss. The number on the scale will reflect the loss, but how do you look in the mirror? I have my patients use a scale only as a back up, and recommend that they base progress on how their clothes are fitting or how they look in their own reflection. There is fat loss and then there is leanness a measure of muscle density.

Science now reveals that weight training can burn more calories than originally thought-up to 71% more. Based on these findings performing one circuit of 8 exercises in 8 minutes at high intensity can expend 159-231 calories. That’s about the same amount of calories as running at a 6 minute pace for the same time duration!

Enter metabolic circuits; fast-paced, high intensity routines designed to alternate between upper and lower extremity exercises. This might be compared to bouts of sprinting, but while a sprint cannot be maintained for longer durations, by alternating muscles groups between upper and lower extremities you can sustain this level of activity for greater duration and while requiring only minimal rest. The result is resistance training while maintaining steady-state aerobic exercise. Best bang for the buck.

By incorporating 35-45 minute metabolic circuits three times a week, you can maximize weight loss and increase your dense muscle mass. You will be more efficient at burning fat, stronger in the sprints, and look better in the mirror-REWARD, REWARD, REWARD!

In Good Health-

Dan Lent-Koop, MPT, CHT

Dan Lent-Koop, MPT, CHT

http://www.orleansparkrehab.com

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Do you have PT questions for Dan?  Send them to:  james@powermultisport.com .

Weigh In–Week 1

I have said before how much my weight can fluctuate.  Last night I had some spicy baked tortilla chips with my humus.  They were salty.

To be honest, after the super big salad, I also had some ice cream.  I guess it was 5.4 pounds worth ! – I’m joking. 

I am very used to the ebb and flow of my weight.  I record it everyday but then average it for the month.  That is the number that I care about. (FYI - I am down 0.6 pounds for the week).

Don’t forget -

Dan Kent-Loop (local triathlete, runner, Physical Therapist and all around cool guy) is putting on an Injury Prevention Clinic TODAY. Check it out here (pdf).

Ideal Running Weight

I took a few comment to heart.  I have not been eating my veggies.  I don’t know why.  The crisper was full.  (Before I got health I called that drawer at the bottom of the refrigerator ‘the rotter’ because everything you put in there rotted).  But today I brought some of the veggies in to work.  I had an additional half pound of carrots, a half container of tomatoes and a half cup of spinach (on my sandwich).  I really like the taste of all of these I was just be neglectful!

MORE VEGGIES!

In related news, I was reading some blogs yesterday and Jim at 50 after 40 had a post on the idea running weight.  An excellent read! 

He put a couple of links up to a couple of articles and I researched it a little bit further.  What I found was interesting.

The Runner’s World article was discussing the health aspects of weight but then:

Of course, some runners are more interested in fastness than fitness. They want to know: What's my best weight for fast 5-Ks and marathons? Will losing weight help? The answer is almost always yes. But, as with BMI, only to a point. Lose too much weight, and you become weaker and slower, not stronger and faster.

…

Still, there's no denying that healthy runners will race about two seconds per mile faster for every pound they lose. [ I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS! – I KNEW THAT I HAD READ IT SOMEWHERE ] Weight loss boosts maximal aerobic capacity (VO2 max), an essential contributor to distance-running potential, because the less weight you carry around, the more miles per gallon you get from your oxygen. And because losing a few pounds makes running easier, you should be able to increase your workout distance and speed. So losing weight helps you train harder.

The article went on to mention a researcher from the University of Dayton (Paul Vanderburgh) who devised a calculator that would “equalize” performances among runners of different weights – click here.  It says that my last year’s marathon time of 3:08:44 would be equalized to 2:51:04 (equalizing me being 37 years old @ 160 lbs. to 25 years old @ 143 lbs.).  Not world record or anything but I’ll take it.

Furthermore, and this is where it gets interesting,  I know that many of you have followed my FAILED sub-3 marathon attempt from last month (Race Report, Movie) .

2 seconds per pound

The chart above shows the time gained by losing weight.  So last year I ran a 3:08:44 in the Mardi gras marathon.  How would losing a little bit of weight effect the time?  Damn, I can’t believe it!  Ten pounds would gain me 8:44!  What was my time again?  Oh yeah, 3:08:44.  I guess that is how I will achieve my sub-3.

Lite makes right

I have been scripting my meals this week.  I have not been hungry.  I have been seeing results.  While I have been in a calorie deficit I have not denied my self – I have not been hungry.  Matty-O commented that it is indeed hard to eat enough ‘healthy’ calories.  It really is!!!

It is really not as dramatic as it looks.  My weight can bounce around 4 or 5 pounds over night.  The weight will start to stabilize and then I will star adding a couple of hundred calories each day until it is a steady 155!



If you look at the amounts of food that I have been eating, the volume is very high, the nutrients are very high, however the calories are low.  Try eating a half pound of grilled chicken and a half pound of raw carrots plus a half pound of humus for dinner and still being hungry?  And that is just 772 calories.

On top of the scripted meals I have been able to get back into the exercise.  I have been riding the trainer each morning and running at lunch.  The mobility in the shoulder is coming back.  I was able to bust out 20 push ups!  That is a far cry from a couple of weeks ago but I did not experience any pain.  Last week I did 12 push ups and paid for them dearly for the rest of the day.  However, the overhead range of motion is still not better.  There will be no military press ups or chin ups for another week. 

I have a tendency to grab things over my head and do a pull up – I don’t know why I do this.  It is not an ego thing.  It is not showing off.  I even do it while I am by myself.  If I see a door jam with a decent hand hold I will grab it and do a pull up.  Well, subconsciously I did it this past weekend while looking at storage sheds.  Ouch – it hurt so bad.  Massive pain for the rest of the afternoon.

Regarding the back, it is also getting better.  I have discovered that 6 miles is about as long as I can run without suffering consequences.  So, 6 miles it is everyday at lunch.  Nothing fast.  Nothing hard.  Just 6 miles at lunch.

On the positive side, I am nailing the trainer.  My numbers are increasing.  I am feeling stronger.  I am putting in the time!

My body is healing, I am getting back to normal.  I am missing the strength training.

Resetting my Weight

I have done this a couple of times over the years.  When I was a bigger guy I just wanted to to see the other side of 200.  Then when that was accomplished I set a new goal of 190.  Etc, etc, etc, and now today I would like to go from my current, comfortable 160 pounds to 155.

Now, I don’t want to crash diet and touch 155. I want to gradually lose body fat and ‘reset’ my current weight.  If I lose 5 pounds of mostly body fat I can then add a few calories back into my diet and maintain this weight rather easily.  As I said, I have done this several times – see Coach James (before and after pictures).

So, how do I go about doing this?  It just takes a little be of forethought.  I already eat pretty good most of the time.  I have joked about this before.  Ask anyone and they will say that they eat ‘pretty good’.  Most people that say that actually mean that sometimes, if they are lucky, they something that is not an abomination.

For me it means that I eat healthy, good for you food about 80 percent of the time and sometimes eat too much and sometimes I eat like crap.  That being said, my crap is better than most peoples good.  But I digress, ‘pretty good’ is not going to reset my current weight.

If you need to know how many calories you need in a day - I wrote a 3 part series on Basal Metabolic Rate (part1, part2, part3).

But for me to reset my weight, the first step is to start a food journal.  I write down everything that I put in my mouth.  You will discover that the simple act of monitoring what you consume will make you more conscious and you will begin to eat better.  I know that it is much easier to pass up some cookies or candies in the work place if I know that I will have to write down what I am eating.  Being conscious you now know that the cookie has x number of hundreds of calories.  Many times that is all that I need to do.

However, to help with this resetting I have started to script my meals.  This is also fairly easy for me to do.  With regards to meals I tend to eat the same thing most everyday.  I do not mind the routine.  So, this week I am writing down what I am going to eat the day before.  I could go ahead and script the week but most days will be the same.  It is my training plan for food.  You can use any of the many on-line diet tracking programs:  fitday, the daily plate (livestrong), or the one that I am trying out – my fitness pal (there is an android app for you smart phone peoples).

Here is what I ate today:

FYI – the humus is homemade and I know  that sandwiches are not the best items.  I am working  on the balance between convenience and health.

I will be honest with you, with the exercise I I did today I did not eat enough calories (I rode the trainer for an hour in the AM and ran 6 miles at lunch).  But it is hard for me to force myself to eat if I am not hungry.  Besides, eating thousands of healthy calories is tough work in and of itself. 

Tomorrow will be just about the same but I will try to add another small 300 – 400 calorie snack.  Maybe another yogurt with honey and almonds – you have to try that – it is delicious!

Hidden Opportunities

I am an opportunist. I am also an optimist. I see the glass as half full (actually I see the glass as overflowing most of the time). So this week has gotten me thinking. I’m not able to train. Now, this is a big part of my lifestyle – it is a major part of who I am. But I am out of commission. This is frustrating.

But flipping it around it is giving me a real opportunity to rest my legs following the marathon. As you know I have been having some nagging ITB (actually hamstring) issues. Well, my back is pretty sore and my shoulder is pretty sore which equals no running. I can’t tell you the last time that I took a week off running. I’m frustrated but the legs are loving me for it.

On top of that I am continuing to track my weight. I have weighed almost every day for nearly 10 years. I have a routine. I got do my early morning pee and then strip down and weight. I have a yearly calendar on the vanity and write it down. Then I transfer the data to a spreadsheet. I like to look at the trends. I like to keep my weight in check. This is also who I am since I was not always as concerned about my health – see Coach James.

Southerners least likely to exercise–Really?

From the CDC comes a new study about physical inactivity and geography (everyman tri brought it to my attention).  Guess what?  Mississippi leading the again.  Well, actually not just Mississippi but the entire region.  Check out the map below.  I live in the middle of that sea of dark blue.

I’m in that dark blue sea.

According to the CDC -

States where residents are the least likely to be physically active during leisure time are Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee. In those states, physical inactivity rates are 29.2 percent or greater for more than 70 percent of the counties.

A 2008 CDC survey found that 25.4 percent of U.S. adults did not spend any of their free time being physically active, including activities such as walking for exercise, gardening, golfing or running.

CDC previously released maps with estimated levels of diabetes and obesity for all U.S. counties. Combining all three factors produces a map that shows the highest levels of diagnosed diabetes, leisure-time physical inactivity and obesity in the South and parts of Appalachia. The regions with the lowest levels of all three are the West and Northeast.

Physical activity can help control weight, reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, strengthen bones and muscles, and improve mental health.

 

It is nice to know that I don’t actually live in that dark blue area.  I am on the border of the dark blue (about a mile from it).  My county is light blue one surrounded by the dark blue!  I do work in the dark blue area.

Here is an interactive map – check out your county – click here..

The $500 Diet

Have you made a resolution this year?  Let’s see, today is January 5th.  Is your will power starting to wane? 

I always here people talk about the movie stars and the shape that they are in – It goes something like this – I could look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club if I had a personal trainer and $20 million to lose.  Well what if instead of getting $20 million you had to pay $500?

Enter the website stickk.com .   You make contracts with real consequences (optional money) on the line.  You commit to do something and then have a nonpartisan report on you progress.  It is strict accountability! 

How about losing weight.  Say you want to lose 10 pounds over the next 10 weeks.  You set up a goal date and goal weight.  Then you weigh in each week and have the nonpartisan report it.  If you met your goal – CONGRATULATIONS.  If not, your credit card is charged the appropriate amount ($$$) - Would you rather lose a pound next week or $500?  Let me show you how it works.

Just in time for New Year’s Resolutions, here’s a guide to make weight loss resolutions stickK.  It’s The $500 Diet and for a limited time you can read it for free.

Most diet books are written by physicians and scientists, but The $500 Diet is my attempt to give economics and contract law a chance to change how much you want to eat. It’s a seven-step plan to strengthen your resolve – to help you make credible New Year’s resolutions.

Would you rather lose a pound next week or $500?

You can pick from several resolutions – Lose Weight, Exercise Regularly, Quit Smoking, Race!, Maintain Weight, or a Custom Goal.

Optionally you can put money at stake to ensure that you reach your goal.  You give you credit card information.  You can have the money go to an individual, a charity or an ANTI charity (brutal).

You then assign a referee to monitor and report your progress.  If you do not succeed then your credit card is charged appropriately.

Here is the one I made for myself – Mardi Gras Marathon – sub-3 hours.

If anyone needs a referee just let me know.

Exercising in a fasting state - during the holidays

This article was sent to me by my sister - Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

I have mentioned that last year was the first and only year that I have actually lost weight over the holidays. The reason for this was a lot of run volume while training for my first (stand alone) marathon. I had a line in the sand and an aggressive goal time (BQ). I also truly believe that when it comes to running – light is right. Most references note that you can increase your speed by about 2 seconds per mile per pound. For example, 5 pounds could reduce your running pace by 10 seconds per mile - in a marathon that could over 4 minutes (a 3:04:00 marathon is 7:02 pace while 2:59:59 marathon is 6:53 pace). So, last year with this aggressive running goal I was able to not only maintain my weight but lose a little bit of body fat.

For the study, researchers in Belgium recruited 28 healthy, active young men and began stuffing them with a truly lousy diet, composed of 50 percent fat and 30 percent more calories, overall, than the men had been consuming. Some of the men agreed not to exercise during the experiment. The rest were assigned to one of two exercise groups. The groups’ regimens were identical and exhausting. The men worked out four times a week in the mornings, running and cycling at a strenuous intensity. Two of the sessions lasted 90 minutes, the others, an hour. All of the workouts were supervised, so the energy expenditure of the two groups was identical.

Their early-morning routines, however, were not. One of the groups ate a hefty, carbohydrate-rich breakfast before exercising and continued to ingest carbohydrates, in the form of something like a sports drink, throughout their workouts. The second group worked out without eating first and drank only water during the training. They made up for their abstinence with breakfast later that morning, comparable in calories to the other group’s trencherman portions.

The experiment lasted for six weeks. At the end, the nonexercising group was, to no one’s surprise, super-sized, having packed on an average of more than six pounds. They had also developed insulin resistance — their muscles were no longer responding well to insulin and weren’t pulling sugar (or, more technically, glucose) out of the bloodstream efficiently — and they had begun storing extra fat within and between their muscle cells. Both insulin resistance and fat-marbled muscles are metabolically unhealthy conditions that can be precursors of diabetes.

The men who ate breakfast before exercising gained weight, too, although only about half as much as the control group. Like those sedentary big eaters, however, they had become more insulin-resistant and were storing a greater amount of fat in their muscles.

Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”

You can read the actual study here.

Exercising in a fasted state has been debated on countless exercise forums. There are a number of opinions ranging from burning more fat to the wasting of lean muscle mass. This study only reports what happened to these individuals when on an increased calorie, high fat diet (like the holiday season). It did not study what the effects are on a normal diet – well, normal for us – I hope we do not eat a holiday diet year round.

I routinely exercise in the morning; I simply just don’t get up early enough to have a meal before hitting the pavement. I think for more intense sessions (running intervals or cycling time trails) this can be a liability but for moderate intensity up to and including tempo work this fasted state is effective. I do not notice an inability to perform my workouts as long as the duration is less than 90 minutes.  For a race, I get up early and have my oatmeal.

Another benefit of running before breakfast is that it does not matter what happens the rest of the day – I have already done my workout.

Pay yourself first and then go have a (light) breakfast.

Holiday Weight

While I was in Australia a funny thing happened. I lost 5 pounds. Last year was the first year ever that I did not gain weight over the holidays and I am off to a good start this year. Right now I weight about where I was at the start of the New Year – I weighed158 pounds this morning.

Now, while I was in Australia I did not have access to a scale. Here at home I weigh and record my weight every day. I would not say that it is an obsession (but I am sure you could say that it is) but I do like looking back on the data and charting the trends.

In years past when I have stayed with my sister I have gained weight (good beer was cheap in Texas but it is $$$ in Australia – there was not much drinking on this visit). My sister and her family are very healthy eaters but different than myself. They are grazers between meals. I do this also however I am much more regimented. I eat multiple small meals throughout the day. I have to have portion control – these small meals are containerized. I do not have much discipline when I am presented with a buffet type meal. You can forget chips and salsa and that type of food – I do not know when to say when.

So I have been asking myself what was different that allowed for me to lose 5 pounds. One of the differences is that there was always sliced vegetables out on the table during snacks and dinner. Her kids love vegetables but only when they are raw. I love them too but I rarely have a bowl just sitting out. I know that if I did I would also snack on them. I am going to start having broccoli and baby carrots in a side dish at dinner – every dinner.

I also ate a lot more fat. They are all big nut eaters. They are munching on almonds and cashews all the time. In addition, avocados were on every salad at dinner. My sister also ate an avocado for nearly every lunch. She would use rice crackers and scoop out the avocado. On top of this my sister also ate salmon for most dinners and I also had salmon several times while I was there. At least once a week. I eat a fair amount of nuts but nothing like I did last month. I also have to be careful with my portions – the calories in nuts add up quickly. I also do not eat much fish at all. I need to add a meal a week.

I eat a lot more chicken in my home life. I get a lot of protein from poultry – for better or worse.

However, I do not think my weight loss was strictly due to diet. I did run a lot while I was there. Sixty plus miles one week and more 10k’s than I can count. Many days I ran twice a day (10k x 2 = 12+ miles). And it was hilly to boot. I also walked the kids to school every day. I walked all around the city of Sydney. I walked to the grocery store and carried bags of food back home. I walked to the train station. I walked to friends houses that were 45 minutes away. I rode the train and then walked to about 10 different museums. Then once at the museums I walked all through the galleries. Even though I lead an active lifestyle full of exercise (about 15 hours of exercise a week) I am still tied to a desk for 40+ hours each and every week. My level of activity simply increased while I was in Australia.

Take home message –Just because we can run butts off does not give us the excuse to sit on our butts the rest of the day. We need to live a healthy, active lifestyle even when we are not exercising.

The Psychology, Biology and Politics of Food

My sister, Francie, sent me an email the other day and I have decided to post it on my blog.  I found it very interesting.  My sister and her family recently moved to Australia (I am going on vacation to visit for the entire month of November!)  As a side note - I ate a whole bunch of pop tarts while training for ironman last year.

I started watching that course through Yale University about The Psychology, Biology, and Politics of Food. It's great! Of course, it confirms a lot of what I already knew and thought.

Here is a link:
http://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/the-psychology-biology-and-politics-of-food/content/class-sessions

The module I just finished compares the food environment and human body of our ancestors with the current situation. He talks about how hard people used to have to work to get food and how starvation was a real threat whereas today food is every where and overnutrition and obesity are much bigger threats than undernutrition.

They have studies where they make available to lab rats more nutritious food than they could ever eat. These rats eat a normal amount of food and maintain a normal weight. Then they give lab rats an abundant supply of oreos, cheetos, etc--a variety of junk foods--and these rats triple their weight fairly quickly. It's biology--our bodies, like those of the rats, are programmed to go for the fat, sugar, and variety because that's what helped our ancestors stay alive.

Also, if they give the lab rats, just a ton of oreos, they get sick of them. So a key factor is a variety of junk foods.

Apparently, the same thing has happened with the Pima Native Americans in Arizona. They used to be poor and live a traditional life. Then they got the right to open the only casino in Arizona. Guess what happened? With wealth, this population of Pima Indians became obese and with that came an overabundance of chronic diseases like diabetes.

Nearby is another Pima community not a part of the casino. They on average weight 60 pounds less. They are almost identical genetically, but have far fewer chronic diseases.

The difference is in the availability of junk food and the amount of exercise.

One population is sedentary and eats junk food. The other has to work (exercise) and eats a more traditional diet.

By the way, our bodies also tend toward being sedentary b/c conserving energy was another way our ancestors stayed alive.

So one question that came up during the lecture was is educating people about nutrition and exercise enough? If our biology is set towards being sedentary and eating junk foods, is knowledge enough? He made the point that some people can resist, but fewer and fewer can or do, as foods are everywhere and processed foods contain more and more fat and sugar.

It made me revisit the idea of balance and diet. A lot of people advocate for giving kids some exposure to junk food so they aren't overwhelmed when they leave home. Also, most of our public service dollars go toward education--telling people that smoking and junk food are bad for you, etc. But if the environment coupled with the marketing and availability (remember the rats didn't even have marketing or peer pressure or economics....just availability) is so powerful, the question of whether education and moderation is enough is important. Maybe it's the environment that needs to be changed. That would take a miracle in the US--to get the economic forces to sway toward healthy foods and away from junk foods..... If only the health costs of junk foods could be included in the price....I think that could make a difference eventually....


Still here even (Australia) with cigarettes at $17 a pack, people smoke. I see people smoking and wonder How can they afford it??

Biking, running, biking and unplanned eating

On Friday I went to Adult Swim. There were not a whole lot of us and Coach Steve took it easy on us. The volume was down and the intensity was down. However, there was a whole lot of drilling. Overall it was an easy session. At lunch I played a little bit of racquet ball with the ‘Pros’. I got schooled. They were impressed in my ability to run down some of their shots but – I got schooled. When I play racquet ball I am strictly a defensive player. I do not make shots I just keep the ball in play and wait for the other guy to miss a shot. This works pretty well against lesser players. However, when playing someone that can make the shots – well – I got schooled. The easy day on Friday set me up for a good bike ride on Saturday.


A smaller group met up on the south end of town and we ventured forth. This ride was not spirited. There were no big breakaways. No big gaps to bridge. But it was a good solid ride with good solid pulls. I got in one or two really good pulls – really good pulls for me. I have made it a priority to pull for at least a mile at intensity. The good part is that the faster you ride the shorter the duration. Mind you, this is all out for me. I usually have to dig deep and limp back on the pace line. I’m going to have to start pulling my time instead of distance to increase my endurance.

Sunday morning I met up with Dan and Chad for a longish run. They were getting 12 miles and I would have to run to met them. I do these runs on an empty stomach (just 2 cups of coffee). I left the house at 6AM with two gels on me. We (I) talked the whole time and really enjoyed the run. It was not overly taxing and I ended up with 14 miles averaging in the mid-to-high 8’s. I went home to recover. I was still planning on doing the Wednesday afternoon ride. I had a post workout shake and a bowl of oatmeal. At lunch I had a half pound of carrots and some humus.

I got ready for the afternoon ride and looked outside and it was pouring down raining. Not complaints here – we have not had any rain all month. The grass is brown and the plants are suffering. The rain let up a little bit (all in all we did not get very much rain but some is better than nothing) and I headed out the door. Due to the rain the Sunday group was light. I met up with four and then Raland joined us. No one wanted a spirited ride - including me. My legs were dead. Many times they will wake up after a few miles. But with the rainy road spray and the wind blowing hard we were not on our game. I think I got one good pull in and jumped back into the draft. We turned around at Sumrall. Butch, Matt and Raland put together some really strong pulls and sprints on the way back. All of these efforts were in the high 20’s (like 27 and 28 and 29) with one of the sprints at 31. I was just holding on. I rotated quickly out of the pulls.

I made my way home a little early – only 25 miles. I was in a calorie deficit when I started the ride and now I was ready to devour the house. I had set myself up for failure. I ate for about the next 4 hours. There was nothing bad in the house but the volume was impressive. I started with grilled chicken and stream vegetables. A little bit later I had some cottage cheese with fiber one cereal. A little bit later I decided to make some pancakes (high fiber pancakes – a small batch with powdered sugar). And then to finish off the night I consumed two Greek yogurts with honey. After the first meal I really was not hungry I just wanted to consume. I must take care of my nutritional needs better. I should have had a much larger meal between exercise sessions and then ate sensibly after the bike ride. Oh well, live and learn.

Flat Belly Diet for Men - 1 month recap

I thought that I would check in on the diet program front. If you will remember I have been following the Flat Belly Diet for Men for the month (I also now have the Flat Belly Diet Family Cookbook to give me few more meal ideas). How has it gone?


Well, for the most part it fits in with my lifestyle, my routines and my habits. I have been trying to have portion control with frequent small meals. Let me review for just a second – the diet, it is basically five 400 calorie meals no more than 4 hours apart and with a MUFA (monounsaturated fat). That is it – nothing more to it. Oh yeah, there are a lot of recipes in the books that make it pretty easy to have a variety of meals. But I am a creature of habit and I tend to eat the same things over and over. I have starting doing this on this program as well – however, I am getting more variety than I have in the past.

I mean, if I follow the plan I really am not hungry and I am satisfied most of the day. However, I still get into trouble when I get into a huge calorie deficit. This happens a lot because of the exercise. The 2000 calories are fine to survive, maybe even a little bit more than I absolutely have to live. But when you add in a couple of hours of exercise each day, well, that is where the cravings start. I have tried to offset this with eating additional calories for each exercise session but invariably I don’t eat enough. And then by Wednesday or Thursday I am ravenous. At home during the evening I start to grab anything I can get my hands on – it is fortunate that there is no bad food in the house. But you can make bad stuff – cheesy bread, peanut butter (mixed with sugar), lots of almonds.

I have decided that I need more than five 400 calorie meals at my activity level. I think I need closer to seven 400 calorie meals (7 x 400 = 2800 calories). Now eating that much health food really is difficult! This is not even considering the timing. I am awake around 17 hours a day. I get up at 5AM and drink some coffee and then do some form of exercise (run / bike / swim). I do not eat breakfast until 8AM. Then I am in bed by 10PM. So that gives me 14 hours to eat 7 meals. I guess that means I need to start eating every 2 hours. I just worked that out in my head. I think I will try that next week.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not like I have packed on a ton of weight in the last month. In fact, I think I may have lost some body fat but I need to follow the diet more closely and eliminate these unaccounted for calories.

The new game plan: The Seven 400 calorie meals every 2 hours Program.

I need to come up with a better name for this ‘new’ diet plan.

What are some of your diets / programs that have been working you you?

Hard morning rides and following the program.

Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win a Road ID bracelet - click HERE !

My weight was up substantial after the weekend but it is correcting itself!

Tuesdays morning ride started out hard out of the gate. We road easy for our usual warm up – NONE. Well, we did ride easy for the first one mile and a quarter. Then Keith took it out hard. He was pulling at around 25 MPH – and this part of the trace is at a very slight incline. Stephen (Purdue) then took his turn at the pull and kept the pace up. Our B-Team group was strung out all over the place. I was blowing up just hanging on.

We regrouped at Epley Station and decided to head towards USM. I had already made up my mind that I would call it quits early. I took a pull at around 23 MPH – I was keeping everything in check so that I would not just completely blow up. Keith then took the lead and he, for once, kept it reasonable – also at about 23 MPH. This was not fast enough for Lance and he passed us like we were standing still. Stephen was on his wheel. They created a substantial gap between Keith and me. Keith picked it up attempting to bridge the gap. I was holding on to dear life at 29 MPH for what felt like minutes. Keith finally gave it up and was not able to bridge. He told me to lead it out and I gave it my all for about half a mile at 28 MPH.

Thoroughly spent I rolled home with 14 miles clocked for the day.

I had a workshop during lunch so that put the kibosh on exercise. When I got home after work I decided to do an easy run. It was hot in the late afternoon and I ran by pace. No heart rate monitor. I pushed out 5 miles at an easy pace. The pace was much slower than I ran my marathon 4 months ago. Being off of your running peak and the added heat and humidity really make a difference. There is no way that I could run a marathon – FAST – right now!

After the run I made myself on of my premade meals and fired up the grill. Since there was a running club meeting last Sunday my grill work did not get accomplished. No worries – I should be set for another week.

On a side note, I seem to have lost my Garmin Heart Rate strap. I had it on the group ride this past Saturday but I have not seen it since. I have some bids on used ones on eBay. Does anyone have an extra one lying around? 

Back in the Kitchen!

Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win a Road ID bracelet - click HERE !

In other news – I have been asked for years to get this started – the Hattiesburg Multisport Club. So this Thursday, 6PM at the Keg & Barrel will be the first ever meeting. This meeting will really just be a feeler to know what YOU want in a triathlon club. I don’t know if there will be 7 or 70 people but please bring your ideas! This club will not be successful unless people are willing to participate. Ben (who puts on the former Eagleman Triathlon – now called the Mighty Magnolia) has registered the name H.A.M.R. (Hattiesburg Area Multisport and Racing) with USAT and I have put up a rudimentary website – http://hattiesburgmultisport.com/. If you have any questions, concerns or ideas – shoot me an email – james AT hattiesburgmultisport.com .

Back to the diet:

I knew this was going to happen – I got off of the diet program this weekend. We had a running club meeting and – well, there was bar-b-queue, tons of sides and Bops (frozen custard) with waffle cone bowls. I thought I was doing okay but I got so many comments about – we will have to hear about how many pounds he gained on the blog tomorrow. Well, I did put back on all of the weight from the kickstart last week. But, that always happens on the weekends. That even happens if I follow a plan. You see, the weekends are usually bigger exercise days and for whatever reason I put on a couple of pounds just working out. The pounds will fall back off in the next day or two.

Kitchen disaster!

Assembly line style!

Kitchen scale - I weigh everything!

More salad - cucumbers from the farmers market.

The finished product.

I had my five 400 calorie MUFA loaded meals today and they were great. I was not hungry at all – I was just eating by the clock. Tonight, after work I got busy in the kitchen. I started preparing about a dozen meals for the rest of the week. I made 3 breakfasts consisting of 2 egg farm fresh omelets, 3 grilled chicken spinach salads, 2 ham sandwiches, 3 half natural peanut butter sandwiches for snacks, 4 containers of sliced yellow and red peppers. This should be a good start. For dinner I will be having grilled chicken spinach salads or grilled chicken with sweet potatoes. I am enjoying the variety!

Flat Belly Diet - end of the Kickstart

I have lost 5.2 pounds this week! I have been following the 4 day Flat Abs Kickstart program pretty close. Exercise is optional in the diet; however, exercise is not optional in my lifestyle. Therefore, to keep myself from getting into too much of a deficit I have supplemented the program. I have added a couple of post exercise recovery shakes following intensive exercise. Everything else has been spot on – well – the program did call for cutting out coffee – and – well I just not willing to do that at this time.  Regarding the kickstart: 

“Just like a professional athlete preparing to “make weight” in his weight class, you’ll be shedding water and dropping pounds – fast! IN just four days, you’ll lose several pounds and inches, which will start a cascade of motivation and energy that will immediately set you up for success on the rest of the plan.”

This is the only diet book that I can recall that says the weight you will lose in the first few days is primary from water. We all know that is true but most books do not spell it out. I have no unrealistic expectations and know that I am getting back to my preferred weight by shedding water. I wish I would have followed a similar program when I was cutting that last week for the pump and run. It would have been a lot easier than sitting in the sauna at lunch before the race.

After the kick start I will begin following the standard program. The only real difference is that now I will be consuming five 400 calorie meals each day. This will not be as easy as it sounds. I’m not awake enough hours in the day to spread them around. I will have to work out a schedule.

There are only 3 rules for this program. I keep catching myself calling it a program and not a diet. I guess that is because I don’t believe in diets. The word diet has taken on the connotation of a temporary adjustment – and then I can get back to my ‘normal’ routine. Come on, we all know that does not work. The ‘normal’ routine has to be the lifestyle that allows you to achieve your goals. I once heard someone say that the lean body mass and six pack abs were the result of their lifestyle not the goal of their lifestyle. That is my philosophy. Anyway, back to the 3 rules:

1. Stick to 400 calories per meal.
2. Never go more than 4 hours without eating.
3. Eat a MUFA at every meal.

I have been loosely following these rules for years. This program is just providing structure – and a whole bunch of great 400 calorie meals.

I have been drinking the cucumber / ginger / lime / mint firewater – I call it swamp juice every day and I have come to like it. It is no sugar added cucumber limeade. I also went to the farmers market this week and picked up some farm fresh eggs and honey. I have also not put a single packet of sweetener in anything that I have consumed. I have been using the pink and blue packets of evil for years and it is time to wean myself off of them. I am off to a good start!  I have had no problems following the plan.

On the exercise front I actually did a nice recovery ride this morning. I did NOT push the pace. I just rode a nice and easy 20 something miles. I had a nice chat with Steve (the postman) – he was riding 50 miles. We talked about running fast marathons and slow ironmans. We had a good time. I played some intense racquet ball at lunch. It truly wore me out. I was dragging the last couple of games – and it showed.

Last note – I am falling on the contest band wagon. I will be posting a review and a chance for someone to win something – ohhh – ahhh. I know you can’t wait!

New diet - Flat Belly Diet for Men

I went to the library last week and picked up a few diet books. I love looking through these types of books. I also enjoy self help books. I have read so many of them. Most are garbage but a few have very good advice. I have even read self help books about self help books – no joke. I started a blog a couple of years ago where I was going to do a ‘New Year’s’ resolution each month for a year. I think I got about four months into it before the ironman training started to consume too much time.

Anyway, I ran across this diet book called the ‘Flat belly diet for men.’ It is a follow-up to the same book for women. There are also a couple of recipe books in this series.

The premise is pretty close to what I already do – multiple small meals throughout the day. This book has a four day kick start plan. In the kick start phase you have four 400 calorie meals a day. After this phase you start the normal diet which is five 400 hundred calorie meals a day.

Like I said, this is close to what I already follow. The difference is the meals themselves. The book is big on MUFA’s (mono unsaturated fatty acids) – pronounced MOOFAS. Every meal needs to have these good fats. In my normal routine I already follow this to an extent. For a very long time I have been eating oatmeal with peanut butter. Healthy carbohydrates and MUFA’s. However, I have become dependent on that one meal. When I am hungry this is the meal that I grab. There have been days when I have had this one meal four or five times. I am fortunate that I can eat the same things day in and day out but I do need variety. This is where the book is going to help me. There are about 50 different balanced meals that have approximately 400 calories.

There is also this drink concoction called ‘fire water’. It consists of the following:

½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 small cucumber

1 lime

6 mint leaves
3 -4 dashes shot sauce

It does not taste bad. In fact it is a little bit refreshing - it smells like a fancy lotion from bath and body works or something. I am, however, not sure if you are supposed to drink all of the chunkiness. I filtered it through a coffee filter the next day.

With the recipes in the book I am going to make up my own deal-a-meal cards and mix and match. I will keep you posted on the results. Also, since the book does not require exercise I will continue with what I have always done – add a few post exercise meals into the mix. Otherwise I get into this deep calorie deficit and consume everything in sight.

I will keep you posted on the results of the diet!

Back to the heavyweight - How to basal metabolic rate PART 3

Okay, so after a few calculations you now know your resting metabolic rate and how to figure out your activity level. You also know how to add in your exercise.  There are many on line calculators to help tabulate how many calories a given activity burns.   If you missed them - PART 1, PART 2

But let’s go back to the easy routine part.

If you remember, with my sedentary activity factored in I burn about 2000 calories a day. I make sure that I get this amount each and every day. However, I am not a calories counter. I am calorie conscious but I have but up routines to help me better cope with my diet.

I like to eat fairly often – I am not talking 10 meals day or anything more like 4 or 5 meals a day. So I break the 2000 calories into meals. I can have five 400 calorie meals or four 500 calorie meals. I used to make little ‘deal-a-meal’ type index cards. Now I just have these meals in my head.

For breakfast I almost always have a big bowl of oatmeal (300 calories) with a huge heaping tablespoon of natural peanut butter (180 calories). For lunch, well it might be a large bowl of homemade black bean soup – it has squash, black beans, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and jerk Caribbean spices – I call it Jamaican Me Crazy Soup (350 calories) and a hardboiled egg (75 calories). Many times I will have another small bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter for an afternoon snack (250 calories). At dinner I will eat a HUGE salad consisting of spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, sugar snap peas, and a grilled chicken breast topped with a couple of tablespoons of low at ranch dressing (about 500 calories for the entire mix). For an after dinner snack it might be a cup of low fat cottage cheese (150 calories), a cup of vanilla almond milk (90 calories) and a half cup of fiber one cereal (60 calories).

Okay, after I typed that out it does not seem so easy but it really is – my meals are modular and they are all around 400 – 500 calories. I have several to choose from and I can mix and match. The grilled chicken I prepare all at once on the weekends. The Jamaican Me Crazy Soup is also prepared in a weekly batch. Everything is always prepared and you just have to throw it together.

So that handles all of my RMR calories; each and every day. But what about the training calories? Well that is taken care of immediately pre and post workout. Most morning I do not get much to eat before hitting the trail. But I add the calories in protein shakes and extra bowls of oatmeal (complex carbohydrates). So let’s look at last Sunday’s first bike ride. It was an hour of intense cycling. I would guess that it was about 600 – 700 calories. When I got back from the ride I had a scoop of protein power (120 calories) and a large bowl of oatmeal (500 calories). I know that I should not have the fat from the peanut butter but my diet is not perfect.

The take home message is to determine the necessary calories to sustain yourself on a daily basis and then break it up into manageable meals. Next add the extra calories for your training.

Try this out of a couple of weeks. If you want to lose weight then cut out a couple hundred calories. Do the opposite to put weight on. This does not take a lot of math or discipline; it only takes building a habit.

Back to the heavyweight - How to basal metabolic rate PART 2

So now I know my resting metabolic rate - link to PART I, PART 2. If you remember, your RMR is basically how many calories you expend just sitting on the couch doing nothing.

However, most of us are doing things during the day other than sitting on the couch. We have to go to work, we have chores, and we get to train. We need to add those calories to the RMR to know how many calories to eat in a given day.

So, for me, I make sure I get my RMR calories and then I add a few more for my activities. Unfortunately I have a sedentary desk job. No matter how hard I type on a keyboard I am not expending very many calories. (On a sidebar I do boost my metabolism by doing a few exercises at my desk and I make sure I always take the stairs!) I am always conscious with my weight so I am conservative. I doing the Activity Factor of sedentary of which is RMR x 1.2. My daily calories for just living are 1670 x 1.2 = 2004 calories. This includes walking around, sitting in the car other mundane tasks.

Next is factoring in your training. You have to add more calories back into your diet for the calories that you expend. A good rule of thumb for running is 100 calories per mile regardless of speed. This actually works out to be fairly accurate. And remember, we do not have to be exact; we just need to be close. Monday was a recovery day after a lot of cycling miles over the weekend. I went for an easy 3 mile run at lunch with a friend. It does not matter how long the run took; it only matters how far – 3 miles. I add those 300 calories to my RMR + activity calories and get 2004 + 300. To maintain my weight I need about 2300 calories yesterday.

That works out pretty good. On a side note, I almost always underestimate calories burned. The machines at the gym, the heart rate monitors and almost all other methods lie – they grossly overestimate. Take a look at the treadmill the next time you are on it – it is very, very hard to burn a 1000 calories an hour.

Also, you must remember that while you were exercising you were actually alive. Your RMR has already counted those calories. For me that is 1670 calories a day which is nearly 70 calories per hour. Since it took about 30 minutes to run those 3 easy miles I have to deduct 35 calories from my 2300 calories. That might not seem like much but I know some of you are doing 3 and 4 hour bike rides and bricks and such. Those 70 calories an hour do start to make a difference.

I know it looks like it is hard to manage but it is just habit. Stay tuned, I will show you how.