Back when I was doing "Fit to Strip" as exercise and eating 1300 calories a day of whole wheat muffins and fat free yogurt, I set some goals for myself. No, no, I didn't want a muscle up or an HSPU or to do Fran in under 4:00 minutes or a double body weight deadlift (410lbs, baby - now there's a fucking goal!). Silly, silly you for thinking that! No, back when I gauged all my progress on the scale, there was nothing I wanted more than to be 135lbs.
Yes, how exciting. To go through life with gravity exerting just enough pressure upon me so that a calibrated scale would note in the morning, immediately after getting up and peeing, and while wearing no clothes, that there was exactly 135lbs of pressure being exerted on the ground underneath my stationary feet was a thrilling thought. Imagine that accomplishment! There could be nothing sweeter!
Well, it's taken five years but today I finally got to experience that tingling thrill. And let me tell you, it doesn't really mean a damn thing. I am sorry to report that there really is nothing different about today than yesterday. Or the day before that when I weighed something other than 135lbs. Robin, did point out one special and exciting benefit. When I'm doing body weight squats, it's super easy putting a pair of 45's on a bar. I'll let you know if she's right.
Edited to add:
I can't believe I actually typed the following sentence.
"Since I am a couch potato with no lung capacity, I’ve been sticking with the 40 minute basic routine and will add in stripper moves when I’m ready."
General enthusiast of sweaty activities. Cave girl foodie. This is a blog about that. And sometimes cats.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sometimes I kind of make sense...
Really, it sometimes happens. Not, like, all the time or anything. Actually, I talk out of my ass a lot - it's a skill I put to work quite often on the job site. Heh! Anyways, I belong to a couple of message boards that get traffic from people who trying to make some lifestyle changes. And sometimes I write shit that kind of makes some sense. Or, at least it does to me, based on what I've learned over the past five years. And then it gets bumped down the threads and eventually lost in the ether.
A few months later, I run across a similar question and have to retype whatever response I've come up with and it's never as good the second time around.
I've made a few posts over the past few days that I don't want to lose in case I want to use them again.
On Body for Life's binge/starve inducing "Free Day" concept:
Don't freaking binge then starve yourself. You're doing this to get fit and healthy. You're not doing this as a punishment for being overweight or unfit. So, stop treating food as a reward or punishment. It's neither. Food is good. It's life, it's community, it's sharing and it's fun. Celebrate food by eating good, real food. Starving yourself is just stupid and it's not going to make up for an earlier binge. It's telling yourself you're not worthy of life. And, to be honest, isn't binging just more punishment on your body? It's telling yourself you're worthless and someone to disrespect. Neither behaviour is going to bring you joy. And neither is certainly going to get you where you want to go.
On attempting to accurately gauge calories burned to calories consumed to ensure perfect two-pound losses each week on the scale:
Dr. Mat Lalonde, who is both exceedingly hot and smart, has a great quote. "You are not a bomb calorimeter."
You can't just weigh and measure the inputs and outputs and then get perfect results. Our bodies are way too exciting, interesting and complex for that. There is a whole host of wacky hormonal things going on as your body does this thing called living. On top of that, your scale weighs EVERYTHING. It doesn't show you body composition shifts. It doesn't tell you if you're retaining water that day. Yep, even those expensive ones that use bio-impedance (horribly inaccurate - FYI). It just tells you how much force gravity is asserting on you at any given time.
Stop doing math.
Your body is giving you feedback all the time. Now you need to start learning to listen to it. Focus on your actions. Are you eating food that is high in nutrients and that nutures your body? Are you constantly hungry? Preoccupied with eating? Are you gassy, bloated or constipated? These are all signs you need to tweak what you're eating. Or do you feel pretty good (i.e. hungry when you should be hungry, comfortable after meals with happy digestion). Are you moving your body and challenging yourself in ways to improve your fitness? Are you lifting weights to get and stay strong (you should be... weights improve insulin sensitivity, bone density and darn if they don't make you look pretty!)? How`s your cardio-endurance? Do you have lots of energy throughout the day? Do you feel pretty positive? Are you having fun? How do your joints feel? Are you getting stronger? Are you getting faster? If not, you might need to tweak your workouts. You'll want to make sure you're getting enough rest and recovery between workouts so you are seeing improved performance. And you'll want to make sure you're bringing it to your workouts. Lots of people make the mistake of working out longer and longer instead of just upping the intensity of what they're doing. Longer just means more wear and tear on your joints. Harder generally results in improved fitness.
The weirdest thing starts happening as you stop doing math and, instead, just get consistent with all those behaviours that promote health and fitness. Eventually, you start looking like a healthy and fit person. And that's because you are. Surprisingly, the number on the scale generally goes down as well.
A few months later, I run across a similar question and have to retype whatever response I've come up with and it's never as good the second time around.
I've made a few posts over the past few days that I don't want to lose in case I want to use them again.
On Body for Life's binge/starve inducing "Free Day" concept:
Don't freaking binge then starve yourself. You're doing this to get fit and healthy. You're not doing this as a punishment for being overweight or unfit. So, stop treating food as a reward or punishment. It's neither. Food is good. It's life, it's community, it's sharing and it's fun. Celebrate food by eating good, real food. Starving yourself is just stupid and it's not going to make up for an earlier binge. It's telling yourself you're not worthy of life. And, to be honest, isn't binging just more punishment on your body? It's telling yourself you're worthless and someone to disrespect. Neither behaviour is going to bring you joy. And neither is certainly going to get you where you want to go.
On attempting to accurately gauge calories burned to calories consumed to ensure perfect two-pound losses each week on the scale:
Dr. Mat Lalonde, who is both exceedingly hot and smart, has a great quote. "You are not a bomb calorimeter."
You can't just weigh and measure the inputs and outputs and then get perfect results. Our bodies are way too exciting, interesting and complex for that. There is a whole host of wacky hormonal things going on as your body does this thing called living. On top of that, your scale weighs EVERYTHING. It doesn't show you body composition shifts. It doesn't tell you if you're retaining water that day. Yep, even those expensive ones that use bio-impedance (horribly inaccurate - FYI). It just tells you how much force gravity is asserting on you at any given time.
Stop doing math.
Your body is giving you feedback all the time. Now you need to start learning to listen to it. Focus on your actions. Are you eating food that is high in nutrients and that nutures your body? Are you constantly hungry? Preoccupied with eating? Are you gassy, bloated or constipated? These are all signs you need to tweak what you're eating. Or do you feel pretty good (i.e. hungry when you should be hungry, comfortable after meals with happy digestion). Are you moving your body and challenging yourself in ways to improve your fitness? Are you lifting weights to get and stay strong (you should be... weights improve insulin sensitivity, bone density and darn if they don't make you look pretty!)? How`s your cardio-endurance? Do you have lots of energy throughout the day? Do you feel pretty positive? Are you having fun? How do your joints feel? Are you getting stronger? Are you getting faster? If not, you might need to tweak your workouts. You'll want to make sure you're getting enough rest and recovery between workouts so you are seeing improved performance. And you'll want to make sure you're bringing it to your workouts. Lots of people make the mistake of working out longer and longer instead of just upping the intensity of what they're doing. Longer just means more wear and tear on your joints. Harder generally results in improved fitness.
The weirdest thing starts happening as you stop doing math and, instead, just get consistent with all those behaviours that promote health and fitness. Eventually, you start looking like a healthy and fit person. And that's because you are. Surprisingly, the number on the scale generally goes down as well.
Friday, July 09, 2010
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