Yeah, I bet IDad would have been too. It would have been a great discussion. I think the client will be able to do it. He’s only 5’8" but has a very heavy boned frame supporting a ton of fat. I told him to expect to take at least a year to do it so that the loss will be manageable, the changes in his exercise and eating behaviors sustainable and so he minimizes the loss of lean tissue in the process. I’m shooting for an average loss of 5 lbs a month. He’s already lost his first 5 lbs.
I am laughing about your sled dragging plans! If your wife likes grass as much as I do, she could be doing a happy dance “ding dong the lawn is gone!” 
Not much done today other than some free weights and pushups/planks, but I ate very well and healthy: eggs, yogurt, a tiny slice of cheese quesadilla, rainier cherries, Greek salad, smoked herring. Smartwater, green tea, and a small glass of outstanding 2013 Rombauer Zinfandel. Of course, it was not all eaten at once - I spread the joy throughout the day.
Massive weeding is planned for tomorrow!
Found a very interesting and thought provoking article on intermittent fasting diets such as the 5:2. The upshot: real issues of sustainability and adherence over time and totally inappropriate for athletes training every day. Lots of other thought provoking points addressing the good, the bad and the ugly.
http://www.healthylivingheavylifting.com/an-objective-review-of-the-52-diet/
Michael- your business is growing! I’m glad you can help these folks.
Yeah- in Dallas we thought our driveway was flat until my husband put on rollerblades for the first time. Off he went! It wasn’t pretty.
Bunsen- did you keep it under 500 calories?
Michael, I so wish you could work with Mr. Sabaray - he needs someone like you!
10.23 hot, humid, pollen-y (is that a word?) miles this morning. How glad I am that is done! Planning a quiet, relaxing day today.
Good for you, sabaray! I wish we could have run together. It was very hot and humid for my 8.7 and I added some hills to get ready for my race next Saturday. I really struggled and my HR was higher than it should have been due to the weather. Done!
Michael, Bunsen and other nutrition folks, I tried a new product this morning as a pre-run food. I don’t like to eat much before I start, and didn’t need a whole lot for 8 miles, but I wanted something. I need to be careful that I don’t have stomach issues. This tasted great (sort of like oatmeal baby food). I think I will need more before a half marathon, though. It’s only 140 calories. What do you think of the nutrition breakdown? I might need a little more protein pre-run???
http://www.clifbar.com/products/Athlete-Series/organic-energy-food/banana-maple-oatmeal#nutrition
That’s a good analysis of the 5-2 diet, Michael. I suspect there is a lot of over-eating on the non-fasting days and also a lot of under-estimating calories on the 500 calorie days. It is also true that it creates a strange relationship with food.
MOfWC, I actually do not know, because I am on cherrytarian diet - as I already mentioned it in the past, when June cherries hit the stores and farmers markets, I eat as much as I can stomach. Cherrytarian diet is great - no counting, just eat as much of the wonderful stuff as you can… If you have too much, the body will let you know right away!
Sabaray, pollen-y is the right word! Here in my neck of the woods, pollen season was brutal. I am still scrubbing the stuff off everything! I have never seen it so bad - I can’t see the sky through the skylight in the master bath!
Re: underestimation of calories. It happens all the time. Interestingly, the bigger the size of a portion, the more off the guess is. Both fat and skinny people are bad at guessing it:
Oohhh. I like the Cliff Oatmeal thingy, MOfWC!
Personally for me, something like this would be perfect as a pre-exercise fuel, but I would eat it 1-1.5 hours before the run, not 2-3, as the makers suggest. I don’t think you need a whole lot of proteins pre-run, but post run your body will need some to rebuild and strengthen the muscle. I will leave it to Michael to fill in the details! 
@MOWC, that Cliff product is not bad but is a little light on protein and perhaps carbs, depending on what you intend to do. The general recommendation for a pre-exercise snack or meal is 5-10 gms protein, 25-50 gms carbs and low fat and fiber (maybe not more than a couple of gms each). Timing is important too in order to derive the benefit of pre-exercise nutrition. Food stays in our stomachs for 1-4 hours before it goes into our intestines and can be absorbed into the bloodstream. So if you ingest your nutrition just before the event, you may never see the benefit of it depending on the duration of the event. The general recommendation is to have your pre-event nutrition at least 30-60 minutes before the event.
BB and I cross posted. I don’t disagree with her comments about timing. Everyone’s gi tract doesn’t time things the same and her recommendations are really in the same pre-event window. And there will be differences in uptake and absorption between hi and low GI nutrients. The Cliff is mostly high GI ingredients so it probably will be absorbed faster. I agree that waiting 2-3 hours is probably unnecessary.
I probably had 45 minutes between eating it and starting the run. My race starts at 6:30am next Saturday, and there is no way I’m eating it 2-3 hours before that! I’ll eat it before I leave the house (30 minute drive) or on my way. It was really good, though. Thanks for the feedback! I’ll probably have a banana with it.
I remember back in high school I had a phobia about eating before a race or having any food in my stomach (usually consisting of a 1/2 mile and a mile.) If I had an evening race, my lunch time meal was a brownie and a coke. I think back and wonder how much more effective I would have been if I was properly fueled.
Bike day today. 28 miles.
I like your plan, MOfWC. With those ingredients, it should taste good!
Having something to eat before a race is almost always a huge issue for me, because those races start too darn early. In Boston, I had to be at the shuttle departure stop at 7, and the hotel’s restaurant did not open until 6:30. Thank goodness the front desk suggested ordering room service which started deliveries at 6. That was one and the only time we ever had food delivered to our room! My last race was even worse - we did not have a kitchen in our hotel room, and the race started at 6 to beat the heat. I have to have oatmeal 1-1.5 hours before my races, so what did I do? I filled a paper cup with oatmeal at breakfast the day before and saved it in the little beverage cooler which, thank goodness, our room had. So I ate a cup of cold oatmeal and a banana at 4:30 am as my pre-race breakfast, LOL! If I had those Cliff things, I would have been so happy!
I usually eat half a Picky Bar before a short race or longer run, but this was better. Ohio- I never used to eat anything back in the day before aces except for marathons.
6 miles with the run club this morning as we taper for the San Diego Rock & Roll half next weekend. I heard a lot of comments like “6 miles isn’t even worth getting out of bed for” etc, lol. This from people who back in January were starting at the 3-mile distance. Its amazing how fast you can make progress.
I ran a 4-2 ratio with a couple of nice ladies - I decided to get over myself & run the same run-walk ratio that everyone else is doing so I could have some company. It was a little slower, but far more enjoyable.
Gertrude- that makes me feel better that your group did 6 for a taper. I was worried that 8 wasn’t quite enough.
I made an obnoxious comment like that when I was a new-ish marathoner, declaring that “6 miles was a spring.” Some of my friends had a t-shirt made for me that said “The Sprinter”. I learned my lesson.
But! 6 miles IS a sprint! 
At least how I treat it - bust your butt all the way to the finish… panting like a mad dog. It is too short of a distance to allow myself any slacking off. It is one of the hardest sprints, IMO.
It is too rainy to do yard work, so yhe weeds got a reprieve. Instead, I hopped on the treadmill and ran 3 slow miles, ca. 8:50 pace - my first run post injection. So far, I do not feel a difference, but it is too early. It is way past lunch time, but I am not hungry. I loaded up on cherries at Costco, and Mr. bought a huge watermelon for our weekend hydration. We are having people over, so I am plank-grilling wild salmon and making some yummy sides.
Ran in my new old Bondi shoes. BTW, earlier, I mentioned that I was experimenting with a shoe stretcher to fix my too-narrow-for-my-widened-feet Louboutins. It was a success! This stretching business does work.