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<p>became overweight doing this, despite also doing this</p>
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<p>Of course, what passes for “cardio” and “strength training” for many people is ineffective.</p>
<p>Yes, this means walking at 2mph on the treadmill or pedaling very slowly on the exercise bicycle, and then lifting the 1 pound dumbbells or using the weight machines set to the lightest possible setting.</p>
<p>What passed for “cardio” for me was 10k, half and full marathon training on a team comprised in part of Iron Man champions, coupled with boot camp classes, spinning classes, triathlon training, high impact aerobics, step aerobics, kick boxing, cardio tennis, pilates, and countless hours on the stairmaster and treadmill set a good bit higher than 2 mph, I assure you.</p>
<p>“Strength training” was one on one with a personal trainer who was a champion female body builder doing full body workouts, squats with over 100 pounds, I bench pressed 110 pounds at my best, lots of big boy weights.</p>
<p>Food intake was weighed, measured and logged daily – low fat, whole grains.</p>
Fascinating stuff.
I think the real take-home message is that each of has to look at what we are doing (both diet and exercise) and decide whether we are getting the results we want. If we are, then keep doing it. If we aren’t, then what can we change? Getting results is going to require somewhat different approaches based on our genetics, what we can sustain over the long haul, what kind of exercise we enjoy, what kinds of foods we can’t live without, etc.
As a general premise, I think three common things that may warrant looking at are: trying to eat too little fat, eating too much carbohydrate, and relying too heavily on cardio. The problem with doing the treadmill four to six mornings a week is that it is eventually going to lose its training value without constantly increasing the speed and/or distance. Yet, if you keep increasing speed and distance, you’ll eventually reach a point where the sheer volume of cardio is wearing you down. To me, one of the real challenges is to find ways to keep exercise presenting new challenges without having to resort to frequency and intensity that grinds me down with excessive workload.
For example, I’ve cut the number of sets I’m doing in the NROL4A workouts this time around. I simply cannot beat myself up as hard as I did the first time I did the workouts with a pace that left me panting.
I’ve increased the challenge in other ways: more weight, doing the exercises better, and so forth. But, the workouts are not as metabolically demanding. That’s a change I’ve had to make in the interest of long-term sustainability.
<p>Wow. Some excellent insights here on my DH’s struggles to lose weight. </p>
<p>Ucbalumnus – I agree on oatmeal vs. Cheerios. I eat oatmeal every other morning with plain Greek yogurt, a little maple syrup, dehydrated strawberries from TJ’s. Stays with me for many hours. I agree that Cheerios are not the same as plain old oat meal.</p>
<p>interesteddad – That is an excellent point about the protein. He comes home just famished, making dinner a really hard meal to navigate. The company he works for is headquartered in france and they have an outstanding cafeteria – lots and lots of great options, good fish every single day, etc. I’m going to push him to stop with the vegetable soup and crackers and instead get a fish or chicken dish and vegetables at lunch. </p>
<p>Thanks guys!</p>
<p>BTW – if any of you are near a Trader Joe’s the little pouches of dehydrated strawberries and blueberries are fantastic on hot cereal. They are virtually without calories, plump up nicely when moistened and full of antioxidants. Less work than pulling frozen berries from the freezer and defrosting in the microwave.</p>
<p>sewhappy:</p>
<p>I’m a huge soup eater. I would say I have some kind of veggie/chicken/french onion/split pea/whatever soup for lunch about half the time. Large portions, low calorie. And, soup is often a good way out of a restaurant trap where everything on a lunch menu is high carb. So, I can’t understand your husband’s choice.</p>
<p>Having said that, I get adequate protein from dairy, a daily portion of cheese, large portions of meat and seafood, and the occasional egg breakfast. As a general guide, a physically active person should aim for between a half gram to one gram of protein daily per pound of bodyweight (or perhaps per pound of target body weight for a fat guy). I always get the half gram, hardly ever get the 1 gram, and usually fall close to 7/10ths gram. That’s probably OK for my age group, would be light if I were a young whippersnapper looking to get strong.</p>
<p>One of the real problems with the mindset that eating fat is bad is that people, in general, now think that the good protein sources (dairy, cheese, meat, etc.) are 'bad" for them. </p>
<p>Maybe he could mix it up at lunch with some soup that has a little protein? He’s got very little fat in his diet, so he really doesn’t need to be limiting his lunch options for that. If he needs the carbs to start the day (I would still nix the orange juice which is one of the unhealthiest food items known to man), then getting a little protein and fat at lunch would be good. Veggie soup doesn’t have much fuel.</p>
<p>^ Thank you for your help on this, I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>One extra challenge my DH has is a sensitive stomach. He can’t tolerate nuts at all. Also, salads at lunch are starting to be impossible. His grandfather had most of his stomach removed in his fifties. My DH seems to have the family “bad stomach”. He is in meetings most of the day and just can’t sit thru them if his stomach is in an uproar. So part of the challenge is finding foods that are healthy but that don’t set off “The Stomach”!</p>
<p>I also love bean soups at lunch – lentil and split pea, especially. But my DH can’t handle them. He swells up and has to go off some place and discharge gas. Sorry to be gross.</p>
<p>We talked about the Cheerios. He is agreeing to switch to oatmeal. I’m going to add in a morningstar soy sausage to his breakfast. Fortunately, he has no problem digesting soy protein.</p>
<p>He is down 3 pounds this morning. Not so grumpy.</p>
<p>I really applaud you, sewhappy, for your supportive stance toward your h’s efforts and your recognizing his individual situation. I totally get his frustration of feeling like he is doing everything “right” and not seeing results. </p>
<p>The sensitive stomach is something I can relate to, as well. That has been one aspect of switching to low carbs that has been challenging. Because, for me, high fat and protein sit heavier in the stomach, there are times when none of my choices are appealing to me. Sometimes I feel a little queasy in the morning and have to nibble on something bland and carby. When that happens I do have a couple of Saltine crackers, because I can easily gauge portion size and I just need to have a few of them to settle the stomach.
I did find that my tolerance for things adjusted over time. Protein shakes used to make me feel sick, ditto eggs. Now they rarely bother me. In the past, I could eat oatmeal or cereal any time, day or night, it always made me feel better, now neither are an option.</p>
<p>Sewhappy, you mentioned that your h. comes home famished. This makes things very difficult. I used to go for long stretches without eating and was very hungry, found it difficult to make good choices and exercise portion control. I think it would help he paced his food intake and had some high protein as a snack between lunch and dinner. Better yet, treat his lunch as his main meal, since he has so many choices. Have a filling meal then, a smaller snack midafternoon and a very light dinner.</p>
<p>Omelettes, hard boiled eggs, vegetables, most soups, avocados, simply prepared fish, chicken, steak with salad and veggies and a little fruit are my staples. I honestly rarely miss the bread, pasta, potatoes, rice or cereal unless it is right in front of me. It’s only been about half a year for me, though, so we shall see.</p>
<p>Yay, Mr. Sewhappy. 3 pounds should put a smile on his face!</p>
<p>7 miles to go for my 1500. Trying not to sulk because it isn’t 2009’s 2000. If I add in the biking and hot yoga, I probably have the equivalent…</p>
<p>Cool gear report. LuluLemon Inspire jacket…older model and didn’t have my size anywhere in stores or online, but I found one on eBay. It’s black, which I don’t like for night running, but does have reflective piping. Cool features, including woven cuffs with built in mittens and thumb loops AND a cutout in the cuff for your Garmin to show through. Lots of pockets and places for your earphones to pull through. Have a pic of the cuff on Facebook. 28 and clear this morning in PA and it was perfect over a tech top.</p>
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<p>Why not regular sausage? I think if he tracked his food for a few days, he would find very high carb, low fat, and low protein. By removing all the fat from his diet, he will get hungrier sooner and will “need” to eat carbs throughout the day. That’s the trap of this whole “low-fat” thing.</p>
<p>In general, I’m not sold on the whole wheat belly paleo thing. However, if I had trouble digesting a wide range of foods, I probably would consider the possibility of allergies/reactions to wheat gluten or grains or nuts or legumes. Paleo guy Robb Wolf and the Wheat Belly guy William Davis are proponents of this sort of thing. I don’t think the whole wheat gluten thing is a figment of the imagination. I have to believe that there are a lot of people who struggle with this. Wolf can recite chapter and verse (and usually does on his podcasts) of how to remove food groups from a diet to find the source of those sorts of reactions.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, gas is a largely inevitable consequence of adding fiber to your diet, whether from beans, psyllium husk, or whatever. Fiber, by definition, doesn’t get digested until bacteria starts to break it down in the large intestine. The by-product of that bacterial action is methane gas. Dr. Lustig, who believes that eating fiber is hugely beneficial, boils it down to a simple choice: fat or fart. Another example of how each of us has to find something (when we eat our fiber!) that works for us.</p>
That’s nice, sewhappy. That’s too bad that his stomach is so sensitive…is this something that might be helped by medical evaluation? Kind of scary to think that his dad lost a big chunk of his stomach. (Ulcers? Cancer?)
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<p>Oooh. That looks seriously cool:</p>
<p>[run:</a> inspire jacket | women’s jackets & hoodies | lululemon athletica](<a href=“http://shop.lululemon.com/products/clothes-accessories/women-jackets-and-hoodies/Run-Inspire-Jacket-32036?cc=8996&skuID=3419043]run:”>http://shop.lululemon.com/products/clothes-accessories/women-jackets-and-hoodies/Run-Inspire-Jacket-32036?cc=8996&skuID=3419043)</p>
<p>Have you found the Garmin GPS to work reliably with a long sleeve covering it? Mine seemed to work pretty well in Washington with a North Face fleece over it, but I really haven’t used it much that way, yet.</p>
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<p>If I can track down the CC one liner hall of fame thread I will add this one, Interesteddad.</p>
<p>The wheat belly hypothesis is very intriguing. Don’t we come to crave the substances to which we are allergic? It’s hard convincing my DH to turn away from the grains. He still thinks fats, and especially animal fats, are poison.</p>
<p>I’m pretty keen on helping him thru this. He was wonderfully supportive of me when I went thru a number of months of severe chronic pain and worry over my health. “In sickness and in health . . .” and all that stuff.</p>
<p>arabrab, his grandfather lost part of his stomach back in the 1950s just because of constant gas and pain. The old guy lived to 101 and was spry and slim, took a long walk every day up to the day he died in his sleep. My DH thinks losing part of his stomach probably helped him live longer! He just couldn’t eat a big huge meal after that. So he was forced to eat moderately and stay slim.</p>
<p>IDad. The Garmins DO work fine under sleeves, but I like to see my mile splits and hit the stop button if I stop during the run. One feature I love about the 310xt is that it gives you an electric shock at every mile (well, really it vibrates…) which keeps you from having to glue your eyes to it because God forbid you might miss a split telling you about your 10:30 mile. :)</p>
<p>Sewhappy- that absolutely belongs in the great one liners thread.</p>
<p>Lol!!! Great one liner!</p>
<p>Sewhappy: can your H’s stomach handle Greek yogurt? I pack a container of yogurt for DH to eat as an afternoon snack in between his meetings. It seems to help to keep his hunger in check. Yogurts are usually easily digestable. Another thing to try is berry-flavored kefir (sp?) drink - it is just like drinkable yougurt, and it is almost lactose free.</p>
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<p>Yeah. That was pretty clear from your list of his typical diet, with only one portion of fish or chicken, the low-fat milk, etc. It’s hard not to think that way, what with forty years of having it drilled into our heads.</p>
<p>I would be so frustrated if I ate like he does, did cardio on a treadmill six mornings a week and still found myself gaining weight. He’s doing everything according to “the book”. At least when I got fat, I knew why: I ate like a moron and never exercised! That’s why there’s a growing backlash against the standard recommended diets and exercise. The obesity and diabetes rates suggest that standard advice has just not been working very well.</p>
<p>If he wants to stick to high-carb, low-fat and still needs to lose weight, then his only real option is calorie restriction. That’s going to mean a hunger versus willpower paradigm. I, personally, don’t think it’s smart to bet heavily on willpower in a battle against biochemistry.</p>
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<p>I don’t think that the glycogen thing is a problem. I think that you
get about 200 calories floating around in your body that the body
maintains until you start to exercise and then your body needs to
convert fat or muscle. The walk is 300 calories so he’s getting his
first 200 for free. I would guess that the remaining 100 calories
could be converted from fat at that intensity. I only started having
problems running around 6 MPH at around 3.5 miles. If he does need the
extra carbs, then 25 grams should be enough.</p>
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<p>I do think that this formula can work for maintenance and fat loss but
it might not be the most efficient way. My wife mostly walks. She
does do some weight stuff with one or two pound weights but it’s
probably more aerobic than anaerobic. She’s basically in weight
maintenance mode. I have not been able to get her to work with heavier
weights and she isn’t much into bodyweight exercises.</p>
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<p>My feeling on this is that you can get to a certain point where you
are burning a certain number of calories for a given distance and
speed. 600 calories in 40 minutes at 6 MPH is a significant number of
calories and you are building and maintaining muscles while running.</p>
<p>You can get more efficient but I believe that there is a point of
balance where calories burned are linear to time.</p>
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<p>I think that it takes a lot of experimentation to find that point and
that you get to the point where you know what works and what doesn’t.
There’s a fair amount of knowledge on running, how much, which days,
nutrition, technique, etc. and you learn that along the
way. Unfortunately, some of the stuff that you don’t know can hurt
you.</p>
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<p>The thing about cardio is that it’s great for competitive people that
don’t necessarily want to risk sudden impact injuries in sports like
basketball, football, soccer and hockey. The improvement potential is
unlimited and you have the endorphins to give you that high.</p>
<p>I think that those other sports, and I’ll include tennis, table
tennis, and the many free-form sports, give you the chance to work
various muscles and the chance to work them when you’re not expecting
to work them.</p>
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<p>I just got back from the supermarket and spent about twenty minutes
going through the cereal aisle. I think that F-Factor is still one of
the best cereals out there for fiber but it tastes like rabbit food
(don’t ask why I know what rabbit food tastes like). I don’t know if
they’re going to stay in business with their products.</p>
<p>I did find one interesting product though: Kellog’s Special K Protein
Plus. 100 calories per serving with 3 grams of fat, 14 grams of carbs
(5 are fiber), and 10 grams of protein so carbs are below 50% and net
carbs are around a third. It does list BHT as a preservative but I
think that Cheerios does too. It also contains sugar and HFCS but the
sugars are only 2 grams.</p>
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<p>MorningStar Sausage patties are 3 g fat, 10 g protein and 3 g carbs
with 1 g fiber. That’s pretty low-carb. Our household preference is
Tofurkey Italian Sausages. 13 g fat, 29 g protein, 12 g carbs with
8 grams of fiber. They are extremely spicy and may not be good for
sensitive stomachs. You can cook them in the microwave or toaster
oven and they go great with eggs.</p>
<p>Did a bit of weights last night and skipped tennis this morning.
I got a ton of sleep Friday and Saturday and feel well-rested.
I still skipped tennis as Friday’s workout was tough.</p>
<p>2 miles on the dreadmill 11 m/m pace.</p>
<p>Doesn’t sound very ambitious, but it is week 1 for the 10k training plan and I decided to stick with the run/walk technique, so I am fine with it.</p>
<p>I haven’t actually picked a 10K to run, but I thought it would be complimentary training to the cross country skiing when I was away from the snow and it has a reasonable weekly workout schedule that includes cross training of all sorts.</p>
<p>Tomorrow I am off to 10 days in the sun. Not many workout options besides the dreadmill and hotel style weight room. Hope everyone has a great holiday season, I know that you will all stay strong, the thought of which will keep me inspired at the buffet line ;)</p>