<p>KMC, some of us have been on this thread for quite a while and have been part of past discussions. We might have seen, say, beefs about the food cooked at home in the past. We also might feel it’s more helpful to encourage someone to take an active role than to fall into a habit of “I have no choice but to eat food I don’t want to be eating.”</p>
<p>I do most of the meal planning, and the cooking around here too, and I think I do a reasonably good job. But I have taken grief for “demonizing sugar.” That’s not so fun. </p>
<p>Saba, it can be so difficult to get past the low fat, cereal eating for weight loss and fitness mentality, especially with the cereal marketing. The other day I saw an ad with a “healthy” family gathered around a breakfast table with a chocolate or other sugar cereal plopped on the table. It seems almost criminal that people should be persuaded that this is a healthy breakfast for their kids. Then there’s the ad campaign for cereal with the measuring tape wrapped around the box. Or the packaged junk carb food that helps you fit into that skin-tight dress. The marketing for anti-nutrition is powerful, and effective.</p>
<p>I feel fortunate that I enjoy cooking, have gotten pretty efficient at it, and have nearly complete control over what I eat. I know that gives me a big leg up on this whole diet thing. Part of that is that I just don’t eat out very often and, when I do, I am reminded of how hard it is to eat “healthy”.</p>
<p>You are absolutely right about the marketing. H works around food all day long. He’s in the business of making sure college students get fed. Most of his eating isn’t conscious…he just eats because it’s there in front of him all day long. Food is like a drug for him; he eats when he’s stressed. It’s almost medicinal. He argues that I’ve substituted exercise for food, and perhaps I have to a certain extent. I’m hoping that having the next two weeks off will allow him to have a more regular schedule to develop some healthy eating habits. Being able to control what you eat 100% definitely gives you a leg up, iDad!</p>
<p>Track day. I’m convinced that running never gets any easier. When you get comfortable with a pace, you have to go at an even faster pace. When go 4 miles, you have to go 5 miles. No going back! Ran 4 x200s and 4 x 400s at the track today. Ran with some (late 20s early 30s 40s?) guys doing 400s. Think they were surprised that the old man could keep pace with them. Low 70s for the 400s. Nice to have a group to run with.</p>
<p>Speaking of age, I don’t think I would ever do well as one of these carnival game “age guessers.” Take the guys I was running with today. I’m talking about a 20 year spread. And some 50 year old men/women could pass for 30 or 70 somethings!</p>
<p>Gym Day
Rowing Intervals
Pilates/Core
KB swings
Lots of Squats (these were looking good. Nice and deep.)
Lots of Deadlifts (finally checked the weight on these – 155lb. Felt challenging, but doable.)</p>
<p>Shout out to whomever recommended the waterproof iPod Shuffle, san-dee?
Put the thing to the test in the pool yesterday and it worked like a boss. Really pleased with it.</p>
<p>I understand. Part of H’s job involves sourcing restaurant food for a large, family friendly tourist place down here. He works to balance customer demand, scale, cost, chef’s demands, profit, guest health, company image…Food is not only part of his job, but part of the currency of communication with co-workers, vendors, and guests. There are so many messages to balance for work, and then there’s me, the wife, person who feeds him most often. And his cardiologist 
I know he often feels conflicted. The best I can do is work with what I think is good for him, and plan and cook accordingly. Fortunately, I like to cook and take the healthy aspect of it as a personal challenge. But there’s not doubt, it certainly would be a lot easier if some half of the convenient processed food garbage that tempts just went away. BTW, I’d eat the homemade cinnamon roll (and celebratory chocolate cake), too.</p>
<p>Running doesn’t get any easier! The same with spin class. It’s still hard- you just get better at it.</p>
<p>Stretch/strength/core</p>
<p>On communication, indirect jabs aren’t clever in my opinion and are hurtful. Addressing matters directly and sincerely takes a lot more bravery. And to do it without eye rolling or sarcasm can take a lot of effort. Yeah, just plain work.</p>
<p>
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<p>Me, too!</p>
<hr>
<p>Back to the basement. I really wanted a rest day after hiking, but I wasn’t sore and didn’t really have a good excuse. More Phase 3 of this random exercise program I found on the internet. These Phase 3 workouts are running a bit too long for my taste. They are supposed to be about 70 minutes, but they are taking me 80 minutes or so. The heat and humidity doesn’t help. It’s 73 in my basement, but dripping with dampness. Big fan that I move around to blow on me for every exercise.</p>
<p>Did chinups in today’s workout. Two sets of 4 really good slow reps, chin above the bar, lower all the way down. One set of 5 quick ones</p>
<p>BC…looking for a new tennis racquet for D2 as a surprise gift. What is supposed to be the new latest and greatest??? I’ve been away from the courts too long!</p>
<p>MOWC…D2 has been doing some networking through her grad program soirees. 
Seems like a lot of the big muckity mucks are interested in her running/races. Running seems to be helping make her memorable at least! :)</p>
<p>NMinn- It does help! Good for your daughter! It is sometimes the small things that get you noticed in the business world. I had a really important bonding moment a couple of months ago with a co-worker when he discovered I could talk college baseball with him!</p>
<p>A San Francisco Bay area fat loss program has been posting a series of lectures by prominent nutrition/obesity experts. Here’s a terrific presentation by Robert Lustig. He’s on fire with his explanation of how we ended up in this mess…</p>
<p>[Robert</a> Lustig - Part 1](<a href=“JumpstartMD: Dr. Robert Lustig, "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 1 - YouTube”>JumpstartMD: Dr. Robert Lustig, "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 1 - YouTube)
[Robert</a> Lustig - Part 2](<a href=“JumpstartMD: Dr. Robert Lustig, "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 2 - YouTube”>JumpstartMD: Dr. Robert Lustig, "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 2 - YouTube)
[Robert</a> Lustig - Part 3](<a href=“JumpstartMD: Dr. Robert Lustig, "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 3 - YouTube”>JumpstartMD: Dr. Robert Lustig, "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 3 - YouTube)
[Robert</a> Lustig - Part 4](<a href=“JumpstartMD: Dr. Robert Lustig, "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 4 - YouTube”>JumpstartMD: Dr. Robert Lustig, "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 4 - YouTube)</p>
<p>Anyone wanting to start losing weight should watch this one. I like watching these kinds of presentations from time to time because they reinforce my resolve to walk right by those huge displays of Red Twizzlers and other poisons in the front aisle of the grocery store…</p>
<p>Thanks, idad, great find, as usual!</p>
<p>5 miles at 8:10 pace on my home treadmill - got home really late again…</p>
<p>Yoga oy vey! So boring. After doing insanity I find it hard to slow down for yoga.
Interested in learning what type of “hype” music follow posters listen to during workouts. I like anything loud and angry! Rock to rap. Also I work graveyard shift so my workout is usually done in the morning on an empty stomach prior to oatmeal and bedtime. Any comments on working out on an empty stomach?</p>
<p>Good morning. HappyDaddy, I have no idea about yoga. I do my little a.m. Workouts before eating, but do recall a personal trainer telling me years ago to make sure I’d had some carbs before doing an intense strength routine. See what feels best :)</p>
<p>Cjane, I am coveting your waterproof shuffle and should promptly acquire one with your shout out. Technically, its probably my NEIGHBOR who would love for me to have an iPod shuffle instead of blasting early morning music while aquajogging :)</p>
<p>Idad, re
You are so right. She’s pretty funny. That said, I’d eat cake to cheer her up too :)</p>
<p>I would eat some of your breakfast stuff before your workout. Just a few spoonful of oatmeal, e.g. Definitely try and experiment a bit. </p>
<p>I run early in the morning on Sundays to escape the heat. However, I would not last more than 15 miles if I do not eat breakfast before the run. I found that oatmeal is the best breakfast food for this purpose and can be earn safely 30-40 min before the run.</p>
<p>1.52 mile walk with 8 minutes of running. Planks, glute exercises and calf stuff.</p>
<p>Next week is supposed to be the start of my half training program. I’m not 100% yet, so I’ll have to just walk a lot of it. Lol, I’m wondering how this is going to turn out. I’m going out on a limb and signing up for a 10k race at the end of Aug.</p>
<p>HappyDaddy:</p>
<p>Sports researchers are really interested in exercise after eating various types of foods or after not eating at all. There’s a bro’ science hypothesis that exercising in a fasted state may improve fat loss, but that appears to be without much merit. I really don’t think they have conclusive evidence that it makes much difference what or when you eat for exercise lasting less than an hour as your body has more than enough glycogen stored for an hour of exercise. Once you get to endurance events lasting a couple of hours or more, you’ve either got to replenish glycogen as it is depleted and/or condition your body to conserve glycogen by burning fat.</p>
<p>Probably the top researcher in this field is a PhD at the UCONN, Jeff Volek. He is particularly interested in very low carb diets and sports performance, but also involved with new slow-release, low-glycemic energy carb for endurance athletes, Superstarch.</p>
<p>Here’s an interesting 3 minute clip of him discussing the effect of exercise on weight loss in general:</p>
<p>[The</a> Role of Exercise in Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance](<a href=“The Role of Exercise in Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance - YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2-BCBqJMY)</p>