EDH Technique #2 State your goal before your workout

Before every workout, state to yourself or to others, what it is you are trying to accomplish in the next hour.  For me, each workout satisfies several goals.  I have both intensity and duration goals.  I also want to improve mental outlook, burn calories, and increase my metabolism.  I am also meeting a promise to myself, to give diet and exercise my all before I resort to a medication alternative to improve my mood, blood sugar, blood pressure, or insulin sensitivity.  The only way I know of to properly meet all of those goals is to use my heart rate monitor.  I wear it on almost every workout.  I use it to help me know when I have achieved my goals for that day.  I use it to help me run intervals and to stay in a tight range on steady state cardio days. Knowing what it is I am trying to accomplish before each workout really helps me stay on target.  Sometimes I don't meet my daily goals.  Thats a disappointment every time.  

Struggling with carb cravings

I don't know why this is coming up again.  It doesn't make any sense.  I just really like fresh fruit.  This morning I had some cherries and fresh strawberries.  More than I probably should have had on top of my pbj.  I'm going to have to be more careful about that.  

I am down a pound.  I suspect that it was a result of two days of hardly eating anything because I felt so poorly.  I did exercise this afternoon.   I didn't have the endurance level I usually do.  The best approach under those circumstances is to work with the endurance level that you do have and not worry about comparing yourself to your best days performance.  I did 26 minutes of a step workout without risers and 20 minutes of a hi/lo tape.  I plan to do some yoga later.

One thing that I have noticed, is that I'm getting better about not needing to eat everything I make.  This afternoon, per request, I baked two cakes, one was orange and the other is apricot.  I wanted to taste them but I did not.  Yeah!  Thats a victory!!!  I enjoyed the baking process but because I ate a filling lunch of eggs and steak, I was not swayed by the lovely smell of freshly baked cake.  Wow.  If you bake or cook, you may understand how important this is.  

I've been thinking about a rotation style that was posted on the Cathe Friedrich forum but I don't remember the OP's original name, so I do apologize for borrowing your idea, I don't know who you are, please let me know if you read this.  The idea is to use a different kind of exercise every day of the week.  I have not been willing to do this in the past because there are only two exercises which have really put me into my target heart rate, step and walk/runs.  I did try the stationary bike a week ago and I really hurt my butt.  I couldn't hardly walk for three days.  It was ugly.   I did start out gung ho, I did 60 minutes in my THR.  I wonder if that was too much or if I should try folding up a towel to make the seat a little more tushie friendly.  I'm not willing to give up a day of jogging/walking.  I like how that improves my lower body.  I would be willing to add some stationary bike to days where my step workout is not long enough in my THR.  Also, on one of my jog/walk days I can add some jump rope now that it is warmer.  

Yesterday I got out there and did a 3 mile hike even though I didn't really feel like it.  I didn't even wear my hrm.  I just walked.  My endurance was down.  I'm guessing it was from being sick.

Its the diet stupid!

I have read all over the Internet that it is the diet that is the culprit for most people when they are trying to lose weight.  I was sick last night and as a consequence, I did not feel up to going for a jog this morning.  I used to be really worried that a day or several days without a workout would make me heavier.  It doesn't.  When I was recovering from a broken foot, my appetite went way down.  I just did not want to eat.  So, I didn't.  I lost 25 pounds even though I was off of my feet for six months.  When I was working on a film project with a lot of hours and a lot of physical activity, I put on weight.  It was a very stressful job.  I believe that the stress trumps any physical activity added to the equation.  I believe that stress can trump a good diet, too.  

Luckily, the only real stress I'm experiencing right now is that I am looking for work.  I am extremely lucky.  I have a place to live.  I am able to look for work because I have my laptop, Internet access, a wardrobe and a vehicle.  

Although I really prefer to open my day with a workout, sometimes that is just not an option.  This is especially true when I'm not feeling physically well.  Dizziness, nausea, and gastrointestinal distress are good reasons to put off your cardiovascular workout.  The trick with a day that does not have cardio, you must be really careful with your calorie intake and the quality of calories.  Today, all I could manage to eat in the morning was some triscuit crackers and a very small amount of Sprite.  Just now, I was able to get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich down.  I was feeling really hungry probably because I haven't eaten since yesterday morning.  

The best kind of peanut butter and jelly is the closest to clean that you can get.  I use the Laura Scudder peanut butter.  I like the natural kind of peanut butter that you have to stir the peanut oil back into the solids.  I like no salt on my peanut butter sandwich.  I use the grape jelly from Trader Joe's.  It does not have corn syrup and is very inexpensive.  I use 1 tablespoon.  I use the honey whole wheat Sara Lee bread.  Again, it is not made with corn syrup and is whole grain.  This sandwich has a considerable amount of carbohydrates.  As a consequence, on a day when I have one of these I don't have a lot of other grain sources.  According to my calculator, thats 481 calories and 61 carbohydrates.  That is more carbohydrate than I normally eat.  However, sometimes thats all I can stomach.  If I can eat later it will just be some plain scrambled eggs.  I should come in above my target on my carbohydrate intake.  But, my calories will be within range.  The next time that I experience this kind of sickness, I hope that I can keep my carbohydrate intake within limits, I'm just at a loss for how to manage that.  

Delayed Gratification

One of the other things that I delay is purchases.  I am currently in the job market.  I am delaying the purchase of a few non-essentials until I can purchase them without using credit.  I would like to purchase a lower mileage vehicle.  I would like to buy some of the Cathe Friedrich DVDs that I don't have yet.  I am on the 5 year plan to purchase Cathe's DVD collection.  I allow myself two purchases per year, one for Christmas and one for my Birthday.  They are gifts.  I would also like to buy a new computer to edit my audio, video and photos on.

I am grateful for my Cathe DVDs.  These are part of how I keep my sanity.  I love the use of exercise rather than prescriptions to bolster my mood and keep a lid on anxiety.  Exercise has been found (according to Dr. Oz) to be a more effective mood elevator than prescription drugs over the course of a year.  I am very glad that I did not elect to try prescription drugs before I tried exercise.  I do take fish oil.  I am under the impression that fish oil is not addictive.  I also understand that drugs like Paxil or Wellbutrin must be carefully reduced with the supervision of a medical doctor.  If stopped abruptly there are significant side effects.  

AM Cardio is Key

I, for one, find the morning to be the best time of the day to workout.  It is key to keeping me in a fitness mode for the rest of the day.  I have a very small snack before my workout.  This morning it was just three Triscuits.  That is wheat.  I should have had a hard boiled egg.  I forgot.  This is a good time to put into practice one of Renee Stephen's techniques called the "Re-Do."   Its very effective and prevents self recrimination.  After my recent post about the adverse effects of stress and how that in turn effects insulin, you should already understand why it is terribly important to reduce stress both external and internal sources.  That includes learning to modify your behavior without degrading into calling yourself names or beating yourself up.  

In a recent tweet, Sandra Ahten brought up the concept of delayed gratification.  I use that concept to help propel myself throughout my day.  I use my morning breakfast and my carbohydrate (for me its a treat) post workout as my gratification.  I delay it until after my cardio.  I try to keep treats/carbohydrates to only immediately post cardio.  I have read that having one's carbohydrate post workout is important to replenish the glycogen stores in the muscle.  I have also read that tapering your carbohydrate intake throughout the day is an effective fat loss strategy.  I understand that idea comes from Venuto of the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle ebook.  I do not own a copy of that book.  I just heard about it on a forum.  I understand his book is really aimed at normal people and not at those with insulin resistance and PCO (aka easily developed muscle.)  Also, by keeping my cardio pre-breakfast I don't get into the situation of, oops I forgot!  or I feel too tired!  Cause, I know I'm not too tired when I wake up.  I am a morning person, this strategy works for me most of the time.  If I must workout in the evening, its not as pleasant.  I feel odd the whole day.  

Today's Reasonable Diet Tweet

Sandra Ahten posted a tweet suggesting 2 things:

1. What can you leave behind?

Cheese.  I should.  Its not really serving me.  I like it a lot.  I don't think its good for my digestive tract.  I haven't so far because its one of the few things I really look forward to anymore.  I do like my salads.  Preferably with some shredded cheese!  ugh.  ok.  fine.  how about just for one week?

The only real calorie sources in my diet are chicken, pork, beef and good fats (coconut, olive) anymore.  I really have to pack in the veggies too.  But, no tangy cheese?  shoot man!

2. What one, brand new thing, can you do today?  I have a pilattes dvd I have never tried.  I could do that.

Odd things in dieting: 1

People are sold appetite suppressants as though lowering calories was the ticket to weight loss.  One of the things that happens when you reign in your calorie intake is that you automatically lower your carbohydrate intake.  The result is a lower insulin level.  Insulin, as you may recall, is a storage hormone.  The less insulin floating around, the thinner you get.  Insulin is not evil.  It is something to be understood.  An appetite is not evil either.  But food that does not satiate is not (in my opinion) an effective food.  If you eat a reasonable quantity of food with an appropriate variety of nutrients you should be satisfied.  The body naturally regulates how much food it needs.  If, on the other hand, you eat a reasonable amount of a food and still find yourself ravenous or driven to continue eating, let me suggest that is not food.  What you have discovered is a narcotic which is ingested through the digestive system.  Real food satisfies.  Narcotics never really do.  

I have often been told by well meaning individuals that I would lose weight if I would lower my caloric intake to just 500 calories per day.  That tactic did not work for my grandmother.  As a matter of fact, I believe it destroyed her metabolism and that the recommended subsequent diet of low fat was her complete undoing.  I do not believe in a low fat diet anymore.  

Low fat foods do not satisfy me.  They tend to leave me with a stomach ache long before I am satisfied.  A mere 4 ounces of turkey, 1 cup of salad greens, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and drinking plenty of water spiked with lemon juice is satisfying for me.  For me, the protein and the olive oil are key components of my effective diet.