<p>If you’re working out regularly, your metabolism should carry you for a day or two, right?</p>
<p>Plus, you’ve got to really eat some serious calories to put on a pound of weight. 3500 calories above your maintenance level. That’s a lot of extra calories and generally takes a sustained effort over time. Unfortunately, that is also why losing fat takes a sustained effort over time!</p>
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<p>I can do that pretty easily.</p>
<p>I’ve always been able to knock off two extra large pizzas at one sitting. That’s 2,400 calories per pie. I used to do that after five hours of tennis and working out and never gained an ounce from it. Today, I’d gain some weight from it.</p>
<p>Running 12 miles for me burns roughly 1,200 calories. What’s 1,200 calories? A few good slices of Beecher’s Flagship, some crackers, cut up fruit and a glass of wine. A mere pre-dinner snack. It is very, very easy to eat 3,500 calories in one sitting, even for this 125-lb woman.</p>
<p>However, I agree with i-dad: if someone developed a habit of eating healthy, an occasional indulgence in not-so-healthy stuff will not result in long term damage.</p>
<p>Hello! Trying to get in the routine again. Hit the gym with a vengeance this morning as I missed getting in to the gym Friday through Sunday!!! :eek: Rode my bike for 70 minutes and then spent 40 minutes doing pushups, lifting weights and doing kettlebell throws. My knee was screaming at me with the kettlebell squats so I had to quit. Being away from the bike just kills my bad knee and I hate to miss my gym time as nothing keeps the pain away like the biking. I love the livestrong site. It really helps keep me on track. My breakfast sandwich of egg whites, veggie breakfast pattie, light multigrain English muffin and 1/2 TBS of extra virgin olive oil is a great way to start the day: 300 calories: 33.33% protein, 32.14% fat and 34.52% carbs. That’s pretty darn close!<br>
I have found the high protein/low carb/moderate fat diet has really helped me with losing weight. Even with all of my exercise I still need to keep calories around 1200 or I gain weight. I don’t use Livestrong’s exercise database since I have my HRM. Still plugging away as I haven’t met my goal yet.</p>
<p>Congrats on the finish MOWC!</p>
<p>Speaking of heavy lifting:</p>
<p>I just successfully moved a 75 gigabyte iTunes library from one computer to a new one – and it all works, including all my song ratings, playlists, last played dates, album artwork, podcasts, and the whole nine yards! That is a serious lift when dealing with something as flakey as iTunes. But, can you imagine if I had lost iPod nazi or my Workout Muse airdyne interval soundtracks? I’d be lost…</p>
<p>Now, I’ve got one more ju-jit-su move to pull off. I managed the successful move by creating a folder in exactly the same place on the new computer as iTunes looked for my songs on the old one (and I wore blue jeans, running shoes, and a black mock turtleneck just like Steve Jobs so iTunes thought I was hip enough). This, however, is not where iTunes typically stores the iTunes library in Windows 7 – and lord knows, Apple software demands rote conformity. So, I’ve got to move the library to the correct location on the new computer. Since it’s all working now, I’ll probably wait until I’ve done a full backup first. No use tempting the iTunes gods.</p>
<p>I moved some content over the weekend too and I just had to try to run it and iTunes asked for verification and authorized the new computer and I was able to play the content. I’d hate to have to do that for every individual piece of content though. I later just backed up my music folder off my laptop. I didn’t realize that you can’t re-download content from Apple - so you need to backup your stuff and not delete it. You can’t use Apple as a cloud locker.</p>
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<p>Remember that if you are looking to compare yourself against “normal” in the US, “normal” is fat. This does not mean that “normal” is healthy. On the other hand, “normal” in some other places like Japan is much less fat than it is in the US.</p>
<p>11% to 14% body fat should be perfectly healthy for a adult man (regardless of BMI, which is much less important if you are tracking your progress by body fat percentage). It may seem unusually lean compared to the rest of the US population (especially at 57 years old), but that is because the rest of the US population is quite fat on average.</p>
<p>Japan is somewhat more sensible, in warning people about the dangers of obesity based on waistline rather than weight or BMI. However, they use the same threshold for everyone of the same gender, instead of adjusting for height as would make more sense (the male threshold is 85cm, or 33.5", which happens to be half the height of the average Japanese man of 170cm or 67").</p>
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<p>While it is rare to be “too thin”, very low body fat percentages (as one might see in some very elite athletes and body builders) do carry the risk of weaker immune functioning. However, non-extreme levels of leanness (e.g. 10-15% body fat in men, 17-22% body fat in women) are generally not considered a problem.</p>
<p>Also, being underweight, regardless of body fat percentage, is considered unhealthy in various ways. Note that underweight people (like fashion models) often have relatively high body fat percentage due to having little muscle.</p>
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<p>With all due respect, is your “disagreement” with the Cooper study (they are not the only study which makes this suggestion) and your statement that you “think” there is no such thing as too thin based on solid research or is this just your subjective opinion? I’m not challenging, just asking.</p>
<p>If your mind is open and you enjoy reading material which challenges the mainstream thoughts on body weight and longevity, read *The Obesity Myth *by Paul Campos. It might blow your mind-it certainly has provoked my thoughts on the subject, as well as my own subsequent reading. I too found some of it hard to believe-but my “beliefs” are largely based on my nursing education and untested personal opinions.</p>
<p>Also, I wish I could post the link, but the most interesting, informative, and thought provoking information I have ever been presented with regarding the causes of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, (and how they diverge from what we’ve been told by the government and other special interest groups) is called “Big Fat Fiasco.” It was presented by Tom Naughton and examines how the government made its conclusions about obesity, heart disease, and diabetes and therefore made important dietary recommendations (known as the current food pyramid) based on “bad science.” If you google “Big Fat Fiasco” one of the hits is Tom Naughton’s “Fathead” web site, which provides the link to the “Big Fat Fiasco” video recording of his presentation.</p>
<p>It may just challenge some of your notions, but you would have to be open to the possibility that you might not have it ***all ***right.</p>
<p>nrdsb4:</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the link to the Fatheads lecture. That was really entertaining. A terrific presentation of the argument that the whole low-fat anti-cholesterol jihad was bogus - not only wrong, but potentially the cause of obesity and diabetes epidemic.</p>
<p>The most staggering slide in the whole presentation was the one showing Raisin Bran, Shredded Wheat, and Whole grain flour all having a higher glycemic index than white sugar or Coca Cola. Wow. Kinda puts the recommendation to eath five or six servings a day into perspective.</p>
<p>^^Huh?</p>
<p>The chart i found lists Coca Cola at 77, and various kinds of whole wheat bread at 69 and 53. All high numbers, to be sure, but no way is Coca Cola preferable to whole wheat bread.</p>
<p>Ran 4.25 miles - felt really good while running too - best run since October.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4- As I said, I know enough about nutrition, health and fitness (in large part through 30 years of close association with Cooper Clinic) to know that I will not accept the rationale that being fat is OK as long as you are fit. Oxymoron. It is better to be fit than unfit, but better yet to get the pounds off.</p>
<p>Tough workout for me today. These supersets are kicking my ass like the early attempts at Spartacus. I alternate between two exercises, six reps of each (12 if you have to do both sides), starting every minute on the minute for ten minutes. Basically, 30 seconds exercise (or a little more), 30 seconds (or a little less) of rest.</p>
<p>The problem is that the exercises are really hard. One superset has reverse lunges – six on each leg. I’m doing them with one 30 pound DB at the shoulder. This alternates with DB incline presses with two 30 pound DBs.</p>
<p>The other is brutal. A 1 and 1/4 squat. Squat all the way down, raise up a quarter of the way, go all the way back down, stand up. Six times, with one 30 pound DB at the shoulder and one 30 pound DB at the side (just to make it interesting). This assymetrical load stuff is insanely tiring. These squats alternate with sets of six chinups. Well, supposed to be six. I could only manage 4 on the final two sets, starting with my heart rate still above 90%.</p>
<p>Core included the ValSlide Alligator Walks again today. I was a little better at them, but still collapsed in a heap at both ends of the hall. The cat freaked completely out at me sliding down the hall!</p>
<p>1634 calories</p>
<p>25% protein
26% carbs
49% fat</p>
<p>That included some Planters Dry Roasted peanuts, but I actually managed to hold myself to 30 of them, eating them slowly one at a time, and then put the jar away. I used to wolf those things down by the handful.</p>
<p>Big piece of salmon (in a butter and white wine sauce) and a mountain of brocolli for dinner. I’m out of tangerines and will try to stay that way for a few days. I’ve been going to town on those things lately, which is fine, but I was starting to eat too many of them.</p>
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<p>I hope you are not suggesting that the people who are like fashion models who are borderline underweight (or actually underweight) with little muscle are healthy.</p>
<p>I have a hard time keeping carbs out of the high-30s.</p>
<p>I couldn’t sleep so I decided to do a bit of early morning weights and stretching. Two cups of coffee, one late afternoon will keep me up until 2 or 3 AM.</p>
<p>I only ate about 1,500 calories and actually only had about 800 until about 10:00 PM. It was a crazy day running around all over the place and busy at work too and got home from work around 9:45. Looks like I may get a workout on Wednesday moving furniture for a relative.</p>
<p>Good workout today – ran 2 miles + other cardio. New (Brooks running) shoes are da bomb!</p>
<p>Well, I’m sure that it will be just a short visit and maybe several weeks before I’m back – my recent trend has been a sharp drop, then a while bouncing around before finally consolidating the gains. Still, I’m gonna count it!</p>
<p>I lost 5 pounds!</p>
<p>It’s a long slow drift these days. This is only the second five pounds I’ve lost in 2011 compared to the early days when I was cranking them out every three weeks. On the other hand, these are big milestones because they are target weights I never dreamed to even think about. This is the 16th time I’ve lost five pounds, for a total weight loss of 80 pounds.</p>
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<p>Fantastic! I always like the days when the workouts feel good and you want to do a little fist pump at the end. And, then there are the days when you just have to put on the sneakers and “punch the clock”.</p>