<p>MOWC- What a shock, I am so sorry about your loss.</p>
<p>Bromfield - we are going to hold you to your rest promise! It sounds like you really need to let that ankle heal! We want to hear how you rested for the next week!</p>
<p>Today’s workout:</p>
<p>Dance fitness class followed by</p>
<p>float in pool and work on tan 
</p>
<p>MOWC, 64 is so young. That is very tough. The solace is that your friend was vigorous and enjoying life right up to the end and did not go through a long decline. He sounds like he was a very cool person and it’s great that you knew him and enjoyed a long friendship.</p>
<p>Oh MOWC! So sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. My sympathies are with you.</p>
<p>Walked a few miles today after a crazy night at the U2 concert. Way too many adult beverages were consumed but it was a very fun time. Back to work tomorrow!</p>
<p>I did a 5k walk/jog. First one in 8 days. Our heatwave broke and it was a nice 84 degree sunny summer day with a little breeze out of the north.</p>
<p>My legs were dead from workouts this week. I’m going to have to scale back the squats and stuff because iPod nazi is killing my legs. Kinda slow jogging intervals today, but saw my lowest peak heart rate yet (94%). Nice way to spent 45 minutes huffin and puffin and getting a little sweaty. Got some great classic rock on the iPod in today’s shuffle including Led Zeppelin’s Communication Breakdown and the Door’s Light my Fire.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>BB- I despise the gus, have you tried the shot blox? I find them much more palatable and way easier to get down</p>
<p>The life expectancy in the us is 79 years so 65 is early, especially with someone that is healthy. We never know what other issues may be around - genetics, an untimely infection, etc.</p>
<p>Played 2.25 hours of tennis, then went to the beach where we walked for about five miles. Very nice weather. Kids played around in the water; no sharks sighted. Knees feel fine after the tennis - no knee braces required.</p>
<p>CJane, thanks! GUs taste OK, it is the mess that drives me nuts. When one are running at 7 mph or so and concentrating on not bumping into old ladies and little kids on bikes, it is really hard to pack the wrapper in your pocket without smearing the sticky icky stuff all over your hands, and there aren’t that many trashcans en route.</p>
<p>My exercise today: pulling weeds, climbing a cherry tree to pluck some cherries, and farmers walks with buckets of water. My 16 mile run was a piece of cake compared to this.</p>
<p>Another day of TRX stuff today. About 30 minutes of it… I’m really starting to like these movements!</p>
<p>Also, definitely check out the blog over the next few days. I’ve got a couple new articles that will come out this week including a new feature I plan to launch on Tuesday mornings… My blog is starting to take some shape and I plan to start adding a few weekly features here very soon rather than just randomly posting stuff…</p>
<p>So sorry MOWC. </p>
<p>We had a good workout at the gym. Good arguing about politics. Followed by sushi, an hour at MOMA, a movie, BBQ and we picked up a fruit cheesecake tart and split it when we got home. It was super yummy and I feel at least semi virtuous for only having had half of it. I also only ate about 12 French Fries. I asked the restaurant to only give me some, but the kitchen apparently won’t cope with requests. Dh had a few too, but there were still at least two potatoes worth of French Fries left on the plate. Geez it’s no wonder Americans are obese…</p>
<p>Interesting… The Harvard School of Public Health came out with their own version of the food pyramid (they acknowledge the MyPlate, but still keep their advice pyramid-shaped) - the very bottom of the pyramid is formed by… running shoes, dumbbells, jumping ropes, etc. :)</p>
<p>Take a look:</p>
<p>[Healthy</a> Eating Pyramid - What Should You Eat? - The Nutrition Source - Harvard School of Public Health](<a href=“http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid/index.html]Healthy”>http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/pyramid/index.html)</p>
<p>I actually like it. :)</p>
<p>I don’t know. This statement from the Harvard folk sounds more like agenda/lifestyle driven nutritional advice than science-driven:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I have seen no evidence to suggest that a vegan diet is “healthiest”. In fact, a vegan diet presents some real challenges, healthwise. Especially for physically active men, who are likely to struggle to get sufficient protein from a plant-based diet.</p>
<p>It is an improvement over the government recommendations. At least they don’t completely demonize fat. Still, it is hard to rationalize making grains the major component of a healthy diet for a lot of people, given the prevalence of insulin resistance, type II diabetes, and obesity.</p>
<p>I’m feeling pretty crappy this morning. A few sore spots due to tennis, a few cuts on my foot (upper fortunately) that I took care of and what appears to be a blister forming on the lower part. I packed my running gear for today but we’ll see if I feel better this afternoon for a run.</p>
<p>I’m back to thinking about nutrition differently - I’ve been eating more than my target (target = maintenance - 1,000) and that may be too low or unrealistic. I am having some performance problems in my workouts and think that I should set target to maintenance - 500 instead. That would slow down weight loss but I’m much less worried about that these days. I’m also trying to figure out nutrition and timing for workouts (before and during) - I see that’s being discussed here and there.</p>
<p>I think 1000 calories below maintenance would be very hard to sustain over an extended period of time.</p>
<hr>
<p>Nutrient timing, both from day to day and around workouts each day, is big in the “bro’ science” world of personal trainers. I suspect that it’s mostly just needless complexity with little or nothing to support it for the average joe. Yes, Lance Armstrong’s glucogen stores are depleted after a Tour de France stage. Are my glucogen stores similarly depleated after an iPod nazi workout or stroll along the river? Probably not so much.</p>
<p>I particularly chuckle at the concept of eating more on exercise days and “refeed” days where the sky is the limit on calories and food choices. Both seem to undercut the whole idea of successful fat loss, which is to adapt a new permanently sustainable eating plan.</p>
<p>The one current bro science fad that may have some merit is skipping breakfast and eating just two big meals per day. They’ve given it a fancy bro’ science name (“intermittent fasting”). The merit is not that it is some miracle approach, but only that the success of this approach for some people undercuts the ubiquitous advice that you must eat five or six meals a day to lose weight. I think we can throw that one in the trash bin of nutritional advice next to “eat mostly carbs” to lose weight.</p>
<p>I think that playing two to three hours of tennis does result in a lot of calorie depletion. I’ve had problems not getting enough calories beforehand and my experiments tell me that I need at least about 700-800 calories before playing or I run out of gas. One approach would be to bring food on the court but indoor places typically discourage that. The problem outdoors is that the food melts or disintegrates.</p>
<p>This past weekend I brought a small Igloo cooler with me. Three bottles of ice and one bottle of cold water. The ice bottles kept the water bottle cold. Perhaps I should put some food in that cooler - but the question then is what food? Djokovich eats a banana through his matches. He takes one bite on the changeover. Is that enough?</p>
<p>BTW, Djokovich gave away four of his racquets after his Wimbledon victory this past year. One of the guys on one of my boards bought it for $4K and he’s analyzing it while trying not to harm the value. Djokovich uses a very heavy frame with a very high swingweight. My racquets have a higher static weight but a much lower swingweight. I’m sure that I wouldn’t be able to swing his frames without building up to it. He’s getting an incredible workout on the court and I imagine that he burns a huge number of calories during a match.</p>
<p>I have actually done better on fewer meals. I used to subscribe to the 5 to 6 small meals to lose weight theory - didn’t work so well for me. </p>
<p>MOWC, so sorry about your friend. My grandfather died that way - massive heart attack at the age of 58 - but he’d been a heavy smoker all his life. My father had a quadruple bypass immediately after his cancer surgery (long story) but his heart surgeon said the heavy daily exercise Dad engaged in was what helped him avoid a cardiac event. It’s always going to be something, I’m afraid. </p>
<p>Weekends are tough for me. I need to tighten up the diet. We celebrated D’s birthday this past weekend so headed to one of her favorites, The Cheesecake Factory. I will note that compared to past years we did much better. Shared appetizer (3 tempura shrimp apiece) and I had the lettuce rolls. That was the bulk of my calories for Saturday until I finally got home and had some wine. </p>
<p>Starting Monday with some new resolve.</p>
<p>I have coffee with half and half in the morning. Big lunch: 300 to 500 calories. A 100 - 150 calorie snack late afternoon. Huge dinner: 750 to 1000 calories. And late night snack 100 - 150 calories.</p>
<p>I think eating just two big meals a day wouldn’t work at all for many people, but it does work well for some. The bro’ science “theory” is that the insulin levels are at rock bottom during the morning hours before lunch, giving you an extended period each day when the only available fuel is stored fat and a set of hormonal conditions that allows stored fat to be released. Plus, it allows you to really pig out on two good meals a day, which makes it seem a lot less like dieting.</p>
<p>Personally, I’ve just never been a breakfast eater. I’ve never felt like eating until I’ve been up for a few hours. This seems like a perfect example of how we all really do have to tailor a fat loss diet that will work for us individually. I mean, I have done the exact opposite in every imaginable way of the standard nutritional advice and I’ve lost 90 pounds, skipping breakfast and eating just two meals a day on a high fat, high protein diet.</p>
<p>Idad, in fact, your diet is pretty close to a plant-based diet. “plant-based” does not mean “vegan” or “vegetarian”, it simply means that the bulk of one’s food intake (NOT calories) comes from fruit and veggies.</p>
<p>Back from the gym and ready for my “breakfast”. I don’t eat until I get back from working out and I always have a 300 calorie meal that is mostly fat and protein. I biked, walked on dreadmill and lifted weights this morning. Whew! I really needed it!</p>
<p>Saw a guy who worked out at the same time as me most of the winter and who I hadn’t seen for a while. He has lost 51 lbs in 10 weeks!!! :eek: Said it was strictly diet…high protein, low carb and no carbs at all after dinner. I couldn’t believe how much weight he had lost! He is a weight lifter so was already doing weights.</p>
<p>Hope you’ll sleep better tonight, NMinn.</p>
<p>I have to eat breakfast. I generally have 200 or so calories at breakfast. (egg and fruit or whole wheat Eng muffin half or oatmeal with fruit). Lunch is usually around 300 calories. I have a late afternoon snack that is usually around 100 to 150 calories - most often yogurt with fruit sometimes a granola bar, occasionally carrots and hummus . Dinner is around 400 to 600 calories. And I usually have a late night snack of chocolate or fruit which contributes another 100 calories. I aim to have 1 egg, 1 cup of 1% milk, 1/2 cup or so of yogurt, and 6 to 8 ounces of meat for my main protein sources.</p>