I’m not sure what I think about exercise first or food first. I think it might depend on the person and what they best think they can get motivation from improving. I do think people can get discouraged by “thinking” they are doing all this exercise because they did the slow, elderly dog walk and didn’t drop 5 pounds the first week.
My New Orleans run was a mixed bag. It was not good starting and I was pretty sure my Garmin would mess up because I was in the middle of tall buildings- and it did, but only a little. I started with the headlamp, even though Royal/ St. Charles St was brightly enough lit that I really didn’t need it. It did serve the purpose of startling the homeless folks and drunks enough that no one bothered me. I hated the first Mike- rough pavement or sidewalks, cars coming from behind me and stoplights. I was wondering what I was doing out there. I then turned onto some marginally better streets and promptly ran into a barricade for construction on the route the hotel map showed. I altered the course and finally wound up on the high wall path by the Mississippi River.
I told myself- There is a good thing (at least one) about every run. Today’s was the beautiful sunrise over the river and the fact that my legs felt good. There were barges and river boats, and it was nice. I found a way back to the hotel on a side street that wasn’t too terrible in terms of the pavement surface. 4.6 miles done. Had to rush to get to breakfast where there was incredible food including more beignets!
The Garmin started me about a block away so maybe added half a tenth or so.
Well, correlation may not equal causation, but… to my mind, there’s no reason to drink sweetened liquids, whether naturally or artificially sweetened, and there are many likely reasons NOT to drink sweetened liquids. The correlation is strong between higher weight and soft drinks; there is also the correlation with decreased bone density (https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2014/09/sodas-tea-and-coffee-which-can-lower-your-bone-density/). There are the indications that any kind of sweetener, natural or artificial, affects insulin levels (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/261179.php).
Well, off to do my “long” (8 mile) run of the week…
My reason for drinking artificially sweetened drinks is because I like them! I really don’t enjoy water and iced tea is my main substitute but it’s sort of a production. I have limited diet colas due to the bone density issue, and my doctor said a few a week is a non-issue. I agree that it is all terrible for you, but I don’t have too many vices, and I’ll keep trying to make progress.
Back when I was (to borrow an Idad phrase) a formerly old fat guy, I didn’t start running till I dropped below 160. I focused on diet mostly but started with stationary bike, swimming, elliptical and core/exercise routine. I didn’t want to trash my knees.
I became a “hard core” when I started running again. Workout daily time moved from less than an hour to 2+ hours.
I think the step counters are good in that they make it an easy way to capture the small stuff. I will record walks in my running journal if they are a mile or more.
I agree that one or two diet sodas a week isn’t the worst thing you can do. My concern is with young women like my D - she doesn’t drink coffee or tea, but easily drinks 4 or more diet sodas a day. I think of my diabetic grandmother who required a bypass when they weren’t common - she didn’t drink water, ever - but lots of diet gingerale. Same with my maternal grandmother - lots of health issues, drank lots of Tab. Of course one can’t say diet soda caused all of their health issues, but I can’t imagine it helped!
I like the idea of the longer than 1 mile walks counting, ohio. I’ll be borrowing that for the months of November and December!
I do the same - put on RunKeeper when I expect to be walking at least 15 minutes. I do that frequently at lunch during the week (did today!) 15 minutes, 1 mile - 2000 decent steps! Luckily I can also get this if necessary without stepping outside due to our tunnel/basement system!
I had a nice fast 5 mile run last night. Love the autumn temperatures! Tonight will be a shorter and slower run with the running club.
sabaray - I am worse than your daughter with my diet soda intake.
I started the running first doing the Couch to 5K program and and lost about 10 pounds over about a 6 month period. Then we got Fitbits for Christmas and got all competitive with step counts and linked them to MyFitnessPal and started logging food. That’s when the weight really came off. It took 6 months to lose another 35 pounds. I agree that it is very dependent on the individual whether to tackle diet or exercise first. Sometimes you need to have success at something - anything - to develop the confidence in being able to make real change.
Still keeping my fingers crossed for you and your race this weekend, sabaray. I hope you have some resolution soon so that you can get into the right mindset for your run (plus, it’s hard to type with my fingers crossed…).
If ruminating about what comes first for weight loss, food or exercise, consider this. When you cut back on caloric intake to lose weight, your body will search for energy sources that you have stored. Your body is not a great discriminator about where those sources come from, particularly where you cut back your intake drastically and try to lose more than about a pound and a half per week. The result is that as you lose weight, you lose it not only from stored fat but also from lean muscle tissue, particularly where you subscribe to a so called low carb diet that places your body in a real deficit of energy sources for daily life activities. Lots of very sound studies out there have demonstrated the catabolic process of your body breaking down proteins in your body to get energy under these circumstances.
As a result, exercise is a critical component of weight loss to maintain or even build lean muscle tissue as you lose weight. But not all exercise is created equal in this regard. If your only exercise is cardio, you will definitely burn calories, lose weight and gain the health advantages associated with cardio training. What you won’t get, however, is exercise that will maintain or build muscle tissue. For that, you need to incorporate a program of resistance training into your routine. Remember, weight loss is not simply about the number on the scale. It’s about body composition - the ratio of fat to lean tissue. You want to decrease the percentage of your weight that is fat and increase the percentage that is lean tissue. You don’t want to be a “skinny fat person” who has lost a bunch of weight but in the process has increased the percentage of your weight that is composed of fat tissue, particularly dangerous visceral fat that you can’t see and is not the cosmetic subcutaneous fat. (Not suggesting that anyone on this Board is, just talkin’ conceptually, :). )
So if you are trying to lose weight, give yourself the gift of resistance training of some sort. You don’t have to approach it like some die hard gym rat. Even a reasonable program of body weight training will do just fine. You will not only get the benefit of being stronger and better able to move and engage in daily life activities but your weight loss will better put you on the road to good health.
Hiked 5.5 miles on the trail around a beautiful lake. My knees and ankles were achy the entire hike even though I had taken an Aleve earlier… We are expecting rain this afternoon and my body definitely can feel it!
Made the best cabbage soup yesterday. Besides the cabbage it had carrots, green beans, onions, red pepper and celery in chicken broth. Added a can of Rotel tomatoes for some spice and some garlic for extra flavor. Healthy and tasty! Win win!
Thanks for your post above, MNK (#55207). Well rounded diet AND well rounded exercise together is the ticket. I cannot wait to get back to the habit of regular resistance training.
Five miles of run/walk intervals for me today along with a few more miles of walking.
So I don’t dare to put this in good buy of the day. But people here will get it.
I had a bunch of errands today and stopped into lululemon. They had tons on sale. I picked up a long sleeve swiftly (not on sale) and a run for it hoody (on sale and I think that’s what it was called). But they had down for a run vest in black on sale for $89 but they only had size 12’s. I asked and they called another store who said they will honor that price. It’s being sent to me!
My store had a lot on sale. I think lulu raised their prices but no one is buying so they have to put it on sale. I know I bought a swiftly not on sale but it’s a black long sleeve shirt that I will wear several times a week so cost per use will be good.
But seriously, who designs these things. A giraffe? The arms are so long!
I love that hoodie Deb - give me that, a pair of leggings and a basic tee for underneath and I’m good for the entire winter (except for when I have to work!)
Just did another leg of my 5K-10k. I think I’m about half done. I don’t do it with each run, but I enjoy following a schedule SOME runs. Today was: 5 minute brisk walk (anyone who has done the C25K series can hear that right now…“BRISK WALK!!”), 10 minute jog, 2 minute fast run, 2 minutes jog - repeat that 3 times, 8 minute steady run, 5 minute cool down. Very nice workout for after work.
