<p>NM, I saw that on the evening news last night and found it very interesting. I think the other thing they emphasized was the quality of the diet as a weight loss strategy rather than just a simple reduction in calories. I may be mistaken, though. Here’s a link of a preview of the article for anyone who is interested. Unfortunately, I’m not a subscriber to the New England Journal of Medicine! </p>
<p>Competitive exercising is for the kids – you know, the guys doing bicep curls in the mirror at the gym. The only thing that really matters to any of us is relative to our own fitness. As Mike Boyle says, “At our age, if you aren’t getting worse, you’re getting better!”</p>
<p>I remember when I was sweating buckets and gritting my teeth to do 15 seconds of side plank from my knees. Does that mean that it wasn’t good exercise because somebody else could do 2 minutes of side plank on a BOSU ball? Heck no. That was probably the best exercising I’ve ever done. And the same for bench pressing my original 5 lb dumbbells.</p>
<p>You are in awe? I’m bent over panting like an ol’ wore out huntin’ dog after jogging 2/10ths of a mile. So I can’t even imagine those here who take off on 5 mile runs. But, that’s OK because my little 2/10th mile jogs are fantastic exercise for me.</p>
<p>This is on the vegan Eco-Atkins diet. I’m putting it here because I don’t think they want us talking about nutrition studies in the “Weight Loss for Dummies” thread.</p>
<p>Anyway, I found a description of the actual vegan Eco-Atkins study at the Atkins site:</p>
<p>The USNEWS article is a bit misleading because this study didn’t compare the vegan diet to a diet that includes meat. It compared a vegan diet with a n ultra high carb vegetarian + dairy diet and found that the lower carb vegan diet had some advantages.</p>
<p>I posted this in the “weight loss for dummies” thread, but thought I’d add it here, if thats ok:
I just got my labwork back from my physical-- entirely too healthy:
My cholesterol is 180, HDL 69, LDL 100, triglycerides 57 glucose 88, BP 104/70. No severely low carb diet for me Will continue with healthy eating, balance of fruits, vegs, moderate carb, lower fat. Stay tuned. </p>
<p>So I will let myself enjoy some birthday cake this weekend :)</p>
Nope-I’ve always had very low BP. Maybe its beause I don’t hold stress in-- I vent on CC . Seriously, once I went to give blood and they wouldnt take it b/c my BP was 88/72 (I had just been out running before I went to give blood). They made me lie down, LOL!</p>
<p>So if I am so friggin’ healthy, why am I dieting?? Oh yeah, I want to lose weight…</p>
<p>When I was in the hospital about to deliver a baby, the nurses were VERY concerned because my pulse was so low. Finally one of them asked me if I was a runner…</p>
<p>Mine’s pretty low these days. Typically 50 to 55 bpm at rest. My blood pressure is actually lower after working out when my resting pulse is higher (65 bpm) for an hour or so.</p>
<p>Your blood pressure is typically lower for a period of time after cardiovascular exercise. Resistance training can increase BP, but I would imagine interval training like what you do is more like cardio than resistance training…</p>
<p>More anti-potato articles out in the news today.</p>
<p>It’s pretty interesting as some of the articles compare nuts to potatoes and implicitly show that fats can be good for you.</p>
<p>Regarding the debate on whether or not low-carb is sustainable over the long run - I have one coworker that has been on it for decades. If I can get down to 160-165, then I will be light enough to run or play tennis as much as I have time for without worrying about knee injuries. It’s obvious that you can lose significant weight with diet alone and it appears that you can maintain it with portions of nuts, yogurt, fruits, vegetables and/or exercise - that is how I read the articles on the study - that adding one or more of these things and getting rid of the things that add weight, can keep you on a declining glidepath. I guess they crowd out other calories. Once you get to a weight where you can exercise vigorously without damaging joints, then I think that you have a mechanism for adjusting your body if you do put on excess weight.</p>
<p>I do plan to continue tracking after getting to where I want to go.</p>
<p>Small victory for today: I wore a size M (medium) pair of shorts to work today. I actually have it on right now. I haven’t worn this since the 1990s. It comes with a built-in belt which does close. Wearing your old clothes = priceless.</p>
<p>I grew up on potatoes–my father grew a lot of them in his garden and we had them all winter…in addition to bread and rice. We all stayed nice and slim, I think because we didn’t eat a LOT of anything. You know how some mothers just love to feed you and always ask if you want seconds? Not mine! LOL She was good at portion control and when my brothers were growing, they would just get up and make PB & J sandwiches after dinner, cause dinner was all gone. </p>
<p>Those Depression-era folks, they knew how to save pennies.</p>
<p>mommusic – portions were a lot more controlled in the late 50s and early 60s for many families – food was relatively a lot more expensive than it is now. We routinely made dinner for parents and 5-7 kids with one pound of ground beef, 1 pound of spaghetti, and a jar of spaghetti sauce. </p>
<p>There was also a lot less fruit. Other than apples, which were plentiful and which grew in the area, most fruit was expensive and not served too often. The varieties and quantities of fruit available in the grocery store today are mind-boggling in comparison.</p>
<p>So- the big event of the weekend is the Nashville Beer Mile. Invitational only. I was invited because- well, I hang with the cool kids. I am NOT running a beer mile. I would puke for hours, and puking disqualifies you. I am, however, officiating! Have to make sure the contestants down the entire 12 ounce can every 1/4 mile (without puking) and don’t leave the drink station until they have finished. It’s all really quite hilarious and the contestants are some of the top runners (male and female) in Nashville. </p>
<p>I thought this was appropriate to share on the diet and fitness thread!</p>
<p>Vertigo is all gone, but I stuck with my decision to take a full week off from weight lifting. Aches and pains seem to be completely gone, but I’m going to give it a few extra days just for good measure.</p>
<p>Pooring rain and freezing cold for another day so it was back to back Airdyne days (swings and burpees wouldn’t be a vacation for my sore bits. Went back to 90 second intervals today, but cranked the pace up from 65 rpms to 70 rpms. Doesn’t sound like much, but every little bit is brutal on the Airdyne. Saw max heart rate of 98%.</p>
<p>These heart rate recovery intervals are interesting because the rest periods steadily increase with each additional interval:</p>
<p>1:54
2:25
2:51
2:49
3:05
3:32</p>
<p>You can see how a fixed recovery time interval session is so brutal as whatever fixed time you pick will be easy at first and too short for the later intervals. My recovery time (to get back to 65% of max heart rate) more than doubled from the first interval to the sixth interval.</p>
<p>Speaking of “mediums”, I have now shrunk out of “large” shirts, which is really a troubling turn of events. Like most guys, I have a closet full of large Izods, large t-shirts, large workout shirts, large short sleeve casual button up shirts, and large long sleeve dress shirts, many of which are fallling off of me. Time to run the washer/dryer on some high temps I think!</p>
Will continue with healthy eating, balance of fruits, vegs, moderate carb, lower fat. Stay tuned. </p>
. Seriously, once I went to give blood and they wouldnt take it b/c my BP was 88/72 (I had just been out running before I went to give blood). They made me lie down, LOL!</p>