Scientists have been working on a drug that's produced increased stamina in lab mice. Seems the treated mice could run 44% farther and 23% longer than untreated mice. The drug is supposed to chemically mimic the effects of exercise according to Ron Evans, the author of the study. The drug is called AICAR.
So I have to ask myself, if I could get all the benefits of exercise just by taking a pill, would I? Should I?
Short answer:
Scientists and savvy marketers are constantly and consistently discovering substances, devices and methods that promise to make me lean and fit while keeping my butt firmly planted in my Lay-Z-Boy. Take a pill? I think I'll pass. The less I put into my body the better.
Shorter answer: No.
There is satisfaction in achievement by virtue of effort. There are other benefits that can be derived from this new drug (such as preventing complications associated with heart bypass surgery), replacing exercise shouldn't be one of them.
Today's awesome distraction of really good stuff:
My experience is that weight loss is not easy--- but it is simple. Why not keep it that way? Hey- I wish I could make it easy but hey-hey, few positive long-term activities are.
Changing myself was a process of conditioning; pounding a square peg into a round hole until it either fit or got really good at taking a pounding. It didn't happen on the first whack/day, it's been more than a year now and I'm still whacking.
The thing is, for ME, it is easier to adjust (even dramatically) something I'm already doing than to start an altogether new activity and stick with it long-term. That's one of the reasons I never bought into any of the programs that my friends were trying. I would hear about so-and-so trying xyx and a-friend-of-a-friend trying abc and think, what this "trying" business, because it seemed to me that if anything was worthwhile, it was worth sticking to forever. Not just trying. Trying one diet or another would most likely provide shot-term results at best. Joining an exercise class would most likely end prematurely as would any other activity I wasn't already doing.
So I didn't try anything, instead I decided to modify something I was already doing, something I should/could change and should/could stick to for the rest of my life. So what was that one thing?
Eating. I was already doing it, I just needed (desperately) to start doing it right.
Good stuff:
6/26/08
The missus and I had an awesome time in a great place and are back and raring to... well.. hey, we're still married, alright? Truthfully, twenty years has been the duration of a blink of an eye. It's been great thus far and I look forward to many more years with a person who's earned sainthood many times over. Articulation and eloquence evade me when I attempt to describe just how I feel about my wife so I'll put it this way, she rocks, and rocks hard!
Some day I'll figure out how to say stuff right. Moving on...
Surprisingly there is a downside to having a decadent vacation of self-indulgent whimsy. I call it a conspiracy of consumption and binge-side gastro-economics or, in simpler terms, eating lots of crap adds a few pounds. Turns out that the metabolic honeymoon is over for this old fart and acting like a Roman emperor just before The Fall is a sure way to roley-poley martyrdom by way of congestive heart failure.
To our credit, we did quite a bit of walking but as I've learned over the past several hundred days, over-consumption trumps exercise just about every time in the weight loss game.
So- bringing things back into focus and on target to reach my goals is the first order of business today. I've been to to gym, had my smoothie, and am dedicating myself to organization and planning so that reaching my current goals is an inevitability. I'll be tracking all food intake and exercise on the FitDay website (it's worked for me and it's free so it's double-awesome) and applying everything I've learned while losing the previous 150 pounds.
This morning's workout consisted of:
Biceps Curl - 160/10/3
Pull Downs - 130/10/3
Butterfly - 220/10/3
Triceps Extension - 100/10/3
"Not Worthy"* - 70/10/3
Calf Raise - 60/10/3
Leg Lift - 150/10/3
Bike to and from gym
Today's smoothie:
1/2 Banana
1S EAS Protein (chocolate)
1S Ground Flax
1/2S Açaí Pulp
1T Peanut Butter
1P Crystal Light
Water
*"Not Worthy" is done on a weight machine but is based loosely on the following:
The gym was blissfully underpopulated this morning and that was freakin' awesome compared to this past Saturday. I walked in and went right to work. I didn't even feel the anxiety-driven need to sneak onto the scale for a weigh-in; I just walked over and stepped right up- didn't feel anyone eyeballing me or anything. Bonus! Down enough to call another pound.
My tips today:
#19 - Chew Gum
Preferably something sugar-free and Trident-like. This type of calorie-free chewing helps offset the calorie-rich pastry chewing of days bygone.#20 - Eat Enough
Skipping meals puts my body in "storage mode". Better to eat enough of the right kind of nutrition throughout the day than skip and binge.#21 - "No" Means No And It's A Perfectly Suitable Response
It's totally OK to take the potatoes and and continue passing without dropping a dollop on my plate. And a polite "No thank you," hurts only my mother's feelings when a plate of goodies is jammed in front of my face.#22 - Sleep Sans TV
The bedroom is for sleeping and... um... sleep inducing activities- and that doesn't mean watching C-Span. It should be a quiet, peaceful refuge from distraction that promotes deep, restful log-sawing. If the log-sawing becomes a distraction, get it fixed.Down another pound this morning which is awesome because I had a couple of brownies tonight- Doh! Do as I say, not as I do. Here's a three-fer:
#43 - Cut Intake By 1/3
Really, you'll survive. I was surprised by what I discovered doing tip #45. Even a guy my size really didn't need to carbo-load the way I was and discovered that just by cutting the overall quantity of stuff I was eating by 1/3 I was starting to feel a little less bloated all the time.
#44 - Avoid The White Stuff
Ah, the miracle of processed foods. They make our cakes fluffier, our breads whiter, and our asses wider. I stick with whole grains now and have really come to like breads made from sprouted grains (no flour). Good stuff. Still though, moderation is the key (even for the good stuff).
#45 - Keep Track, It's A Shocker
I really didn't think I was eating all that much. I mean, I would skip meals from time to time, even eat about half of what I normally would at the buffet but what a shock after I spent a week keeping track of my daily food on www.fitday.com! It was a realization I sorely needed and by tracking my food intake I'm better able to make sure I'm getting the right kinds of food.
I discovered that by doing little things like what I describe here, I've able to develop some beneficial habits while applying the brakes to some others. Will they work for you? Another thing I learned is that each person is different and everyone has to do their own thing- it isn't an overnight process and results take time.
Hang on tight, we're going to move a little fast. First, I'll talk about today's smoothie:
"Bleh."
That's about all I want to say about it. For those who are interested in the ingredients, here you go:
1S EAS Premium Protein
1S Ground Flax
1/3C Frozen Apricot Slices
Water
I suppose I was expecting a little more flavor. Suffice it to say that mild disappointment doesn't taste all that great. It was a rather bland 234 calories.
Moving on...
Those predisposed to math may have noticed that I am up a pound since my last weigh-in. It turns out I have more than math to blame and no, I'm not talking about the scale. it's the message, not the messenger.
So how do I account for the increase? Self-Sabotage. I'd been doing so well for so long that I became lax and the radical side of my personality just could stand no more and lashed out in the form of Almond Clusters and Biscotti. That's right, a snack attack- the type of dietary terrorism that, with stealth and cunning, demoralizes the dieter and squelches determination. How? These types of things go down so easily, so quickly- before you know it the bag is empty and guilt begins to build. And the guilt, unless converted to determination, edges the dieter closer to the edge of that familiar slippery slope that leads to weight gain.
Simile and metaphor really aren't my thing; I toss them around like a game of fetch where the dog runs and gets the ball but drops it about twenty feet away and barks at you like you're supposed to know what to do next- only you don't because it's a dog for crying out loud and second-guessing a dog is like dodging poo when you have your back turned to the monkey cage at the zoo.
Wait. It's really not like that at all and losing weight has nothing to do with terrorism; it's all about making the right choices when it comes to nutrition and exercise- choices that must be repeated at every opportunity because if you don't your scale is going to deliver some bad news.
The good news is that you DO have a choice, perhaps several choices a day that can get you closer to your goals. Making each little choice correctly (no thank you, I'll pass on the Biscotti) gets you closer to your goals- especially when you finally realize that weight gain is the cumulative effect of these little choices. Forget that and well, the terrorists have already won.
Losing weight is simple- eat less and exercise more. What could be easier than that? Whoa! Losing weight is SIMPLE, not EASY. I never realized how hard it was to do those two simple little things until I started this journey a little over six months ago. That eating less part is especially tough; it requires serious commitment to change.
I have a couple of friends who went the gastric-bypass route over a year ago. Each experienced fairly dramatic weight loss. For both, it was the way to go and when asked if they'd recommend it, both said they would.
I understand that there are a couple of ways to go about similar processes and while I couldn't recommend any one way over another, Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding (LAGB) looks interesting. It's called the lap band method. Instead of suturing off a section of stomach, the lap band surgeon puts an adjustable band around the upper portion of it- creating a smaller stomach pouch that takes a lot less food to make you feel full. This is all done through a couple of tiny incisions and is both adjustable and reversible. More info can be had at the JourneyLite web site.
