<p>Someone mentioned Mark Bittman. I saw him on the Today Show this morning. He prepared a delicious braised beef with red wine. I could almost smell it!</p>
<p>I sent that to my son. We had an argument over sugar this morning. He asked for a few Stonyfield Yogurts (as did my daughter). I bought them but told them that I wouldn’t buy them again and pointed out that they had 26 grams of sugar per 6 ounce container. He said that they had less - he asked for Vanilla - I looked it up and Vanilla has 21 grams. Still a boatload. We don’t do juice or soda and the household is generally pretty good about sugar (after I went cold turkey a few years ago), but the low fat mantra is still in his brain.</p>
<p>I am amazed at how hard that one is to fight but it seems to be reinforced everywhere you turn.</p>
<p>35 min treadmill run. Pretty quiet at the gym overall. One young man was working hard over at the weights, and yes, it involved grunting. Sometimes the young guys like to hang out and have a male gabfest there by the dbs. I don’t consider that all bad. Men need camaraderie, too. This guy, though, no chat. Pure lift.</p>
<p>Well, I’m here. Long week. MOWC, what a wonderful life your friend lived. I continue to hold out hope that I’ll eventually be able to run even a 5k. I think dropping a few more pounds will help. </p>
<p>Today’s numbers are a bit better: </p>
<p>Calories: 915
Fat: 46 g
Carbs: 106 g
Fiber: 13 g
Protein: 39 g
Sugars: 28 g </p>
<p>22 of my sugar grams came from a coconut yogurt with mix-ins. Also 230 of my calories. I am happy to report it was worth it as a very occasional splurge. I am still teetering on the verge of another five pound loss. Hopefully I can keep on track this weekend. </p>
<p>I hear you on the less than supportive family. That would be H. He is very, very close to 300 pounds. Sigh. I can’t do it for him.</p>
<p>Back from the basement. Good workout. I did the 7 exercise M. Boyle mobility warmup. And, my [agility</a> ladder](<a href=“http://www.gemsport.com/images/auto/products/16A601%20Pic-1000x700.jpg?nshop=ea2875dfedcb7a073b77ed0c05bf2feb]agility”>http://www.gemsport.com/images/auto/products/16A601%20Pic-1000x700.jpg?nshop=ea2875dfedcb7a073b77ed0c05bf2feb) arrived. so I did a few minutes of that. Didn’t fall down and hurt myself, so that’s a start. But, my fat carb-eating cat put me to shame waltzing down the ladder! It’s amazing how it gets you huffin’ and puffin.</p>
![http://www.gemsport.com/images/auto/products/16A601%20Pic-1000x700.jpg?nshop=ea2875dfedcb7a073b77ed0c05bf2feb]agility](http://www.gemsport.com/images/auto/products/16A601%20Pic-1000x700.jpg?nshop=ea2875dfedcb7a073b77ed0c05bf2feb%5Dagility){kind=link}
<p>Chin ups were really good again.</p>
<p>I spoke to my son on the drive back about sugar (and a lot of other things) and I think that he got the message. He tries to keep his sugar down - it may be that my consumption is excessively low. I think that he tries to keep it below 50 grams a day which is generally considered low. His main drink is water, doesn’t drink juice, soda, tea, coffee, etc.</p>
<p>7.05 miles at the office today. I was thinking of going to the Y this evening and doing another two but I got home late and there was this pan of Mousaka on the dining-room table so I caved in to hunger and will be content with 7.05 miles for the day. Also,</p>
<p>Smith Machine
Abs-Dolly-Plus
Dumbbells: farmer’s walk, rows, delts, squats, curls, lateral raises, front raises</p>
<p>I was really wiped out after yesterday’s workout and slept quite soundly last night. It has been a long week too.</p>
<p>1461 calories
83 g fat, 74 g carbs, 150 g protein (18% carbs)
9 g fiber, 11 g sugar</p>
<p>My average running per day is 3.77 miles so I have a comfortable margin for 1,000 miles this year. I may get in 40 miles this week (need about 4.5 tomorrow), something that normally happens only once or twice a year for me. The cold that I had in February is about 99% gone.</p>
<p>Here’s Robert Lustig’s article on his new sugar/diabetes study:</p>
<p>[Still</a> Believe a Calorie is Just a Calorie?](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Still Believe 'A Calorie Is a Calorie'? | HuffPost Life)</p>
<p>Here’s an article from the British paper, the Guardian, about this study:</p>
<p>[Sugar</a> is behind global explosion in type*2 diabetes, study finds | Society | The Guardian](<a href=“http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/27/sugar-obesity-type-2-diabetes]Sugar”>Sugar is behind global explosion in type 2 diabetes, study finds | Diabetes | The Guardian)</p>
<p>I found the quote from the head of the British version of the American Diabetes Association to be rather perplexing:</p>
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</p>
<p>Curious, I wanted to see what nutritional advice his organization had for Type 2 diabetics. At their website, I found a page with [Ten</a> Steps to Eating Well for People with Type 2 Diabetics](<a href=“http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Food_and_recipes/Eating-well-with-Type-2-diabetes/Ten-steps-to-eating-well/]Ten”>http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Food_and_recipes/Eating-well-with-Type-2-diabetes/Ten-steps-to-eating-well/).</p>
<p>The # 1 piece of advice for type 2 Diabetics is:</p>
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</p>
<p>OK. I’m not sure that the most important piece of advice, or that it’s even necessary, but OK… Seems harmless enough.</p>
<p>The #2 piece of advice for Type 2 Diabetics is:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Huh? Say what? That’s the #2 most important piece of advice for Type 2 diabetics from Diabetes UK? For a disease that is, by definition, a broken insulin regulation mechanism for controlling blood sugar after eating carbohydrates? This is the second piece of advice?</p>
<p>What am I missing? That makes absolutely no sense at all. Woudn’t you want to tell Type 2 diabetics to ease back on the sugar and carbs a little bit to avoid the big swings in blood sugar, since they are insulin resistant and can no longer produce sufficient insulin to control big sugar spikes? This is Alice in Wonderland stuff…</p>
<p>There is a debate in diabetic circles regarding diets. One group advocates low fat, high carb diets while the other is low carb. My glucose levels are far better controlled by reducing carbs. I really can’t eat white bread, pasta or potatoes or my levels spike dramatically.</p>
<p>I can see why they’d be recommending not skipping meals and spacing out three meals evenly during the day. Critical to control the blood glucose level.</p>
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</p>
<p>Certainly makes sense for Type 1 diabetics and the Type 2s who are taking insulin. The insulin can drive the blood sugar too low.</p>
<p>But, low blood sugar is not the problem for Type 2 diabetics (who aren’t taking insulin). Their problem is high blood sugar and insulin resistance caused by chronically elevated blood sugar/insulin levels. But, at least there’s no harm in eating three meals a day.</p>
<p>Traveling, so just a brief check-in.</p>
<p>Congrats, Bromfield on your weight loss. I love your workouts. I wish you lived close – I am convinced that you and I would make great work out partners.</p>
<p>Condolences to MOWC, always hard to say good-bye to someone, even if they lived a long and full life, another chapter closes – I am finding this difficult to adjust to in my own life. Not to be glib or insensitive, but perhaps a bit of retail therapy could be useful-- have you checked out the new Nuu Muu designs?</p>
<p>Idad- enjoy the agility ladder. I think that this is the only piece of equipment designed to raise the HR that I truly love. I am a complete klutz on hops’ slidey thing, but I invariably get dubbed Twinkle Toes when they bring this thing out. It’s great using resistance bands, as well. Saba and the other real dancers here, you might enjoy some exercises utilizing this. Idad – let us know what you end up doing with it.</p>
<p>CountingDown, didn’t mean to overlook your weight loss achievement. Don’t let the loose skin stuff get you down. I have friends who have lost significant amounts of weight, 100 lbs. plus, and they had a lot of the loose skin firm up after the weight loss was complete and they had been exercising for a while. I am not saying that it went away entirely, but there was remarkable improvement that took place quite a bit of time after the initial weight loss.</p>
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</p>
<p>Yes, you both do impossible workouts!</p>
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</p>
<p>Hah. I’m taking it nice and slow! I learned from carioca that I just have to start in slow motion and let it come to me over time.</p>
<p>I’ve got a video of Mike Boyle teaching drills. It came with a DVD of [Mark</a> Verstaggen](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Verstegen]Mark”>Mark Verstegen - Wikipedia) at Athletes Performance coaching agility ladder drills. And, I’ve got this Perform Better video of drills:</p>
<p>[Agility</a> Ladder Instructional Video](<a href=“http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10751&languageId=-1&pagename=314]Agility”>http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PBOnePieceView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10751&languageId=-1&pagename=314)</p>
<p>Today, was just trying out some really simple stuff forwards, backwards, and lateral. I tried one that was very hard: hopping on one foot from box to box to box the length of the ladder. </p>
<p>I also did my weighted walking lunges down the ladder. Stepping forward two boxes is just about the perfect length stride for me. That’s good, because I’ve got the ladder stretched out on the floor where I do my walking lunges.</p>
<p>Speaking of impossible workouts, a study published this week looking at 10 weeks of Crossfit workouts.</p>
<p>[Crossfit-based</a> high intensity power trai… [J Strength Cond Res. 2013] - PubMed - NCBI](<a href=“Crossfit-based high intensity power training improves maximal aerobic fitness and body composition]Crossfit-based - Search Results - PubMed”>Crossfit-based high intensity power training improves maximal aerobic fitness and body composition - Search Results - PubMed)</p>
<p>Nice gains in VO2 max and fat loss over 10 weeks for both men and women. But, not all good news. 54 people started the experiment. Only 43 finished the 10 weeks. 2 dropped out due to time contraints. 9 dropped out because of injury (described as “overuse injury” in the study abstract). A 17% injury rate in just ten weeks of an exercise program is horrible.</p>
<p>Okay, watched some of the video and want to immedialely clarify my own horn tooting.
I am quite good at the LOWER body drills – I have never done nor want to do the upper body ones :eek:</p>
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</p>
<p>I don’t know if the CrossFit study is really such devastating news, certainly not unexpected. </p>
<p>According to the CDC:</p>
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<p>The Ruus aren’t out until March 10. I like the pockets!</p>
<p>^yes, I am holding out for this one with pockets:</p>
<p>[Nuu-Muu</a> ? Water Lily](<a href=“http://shop.nuu-muu.com/collections/nuu-muu-classic/products/water-lily]Nuu-Muu”>http://shop.nuu-muu.com/collections/nuu-muu-classic/products/water-lily)
.</p>
<p>3 miles running tonight after 2 beers. Not recommended.</p>