Month: August 2018

Winter Season Adjustment

This blog never was about being on a diet to lose weight; it is about my attempt to return to fitness with My Fitness Triangle, Food plan-Exercise plan-Peaceful spirit. I am restating that because I am stuck. After my weight dropped to 225 pounds and I was feeling good about the progress, everything came to a standstill. The pounds stopped dropping off and my back went out.

The Plateau

It took me about 3 years to make the psychological and physiologic adjustment to living in the Great Northwest, a place with winter. I grew up in Southern California and that is how my head and body worked. In the rustic outback of Oregon, I learned there are jobs and tasks to go with each season. As the weather and temperature change, your mind and body go through changes too. I believe something similar is happening to me now, an adaptation period. The Mayo Clinic defines a weight-loss-plateau: “Muscle helps keep the rate at which you burn calories (metabolism) up. So as you lose weight, your metabolism declines causing you to burn fewer calories than you did at your heavier weight”.  https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/weight-loss-plateau/art-20044615.

Here are 4 things they say to do. 1). Reassess your habits. Research suggests that off and on loosening of rules contribute to plateaus. 2). Cut more calories. Further cut your daily calories. 3). Rev up your workout. Increase time and intensity plus add weight training to increase muscle mass which will help burn more calories. 4). Pack more activity into the day. Think outside the gym. Walk more, use the car less, do more to burn calories. This all fits for me.

Basal Metabolic Rate

    I used to work with a guy who looked really lean. His name was Cleary. He would park his car about 3 blocks from our work front door. I asked him why? Cleary said he used to weigh over 300 pounds and now was 187. I was amazed, so I ask what diet he had used. He said he had not used a diet but rather had used portion control and walking to lose the weight over a 3 year period. He said he parked his car each day farther and farther from where he was headed to get more activity until it was now his healthy habit. He had the answer for him.

  WebMD on weight loss plateau says the #1 tool is “Imagine you healthy and vibrant”. This is from Katherine Tallmadge, MA, RD, author of Diet Simple, “The mind is a strong tool__use it to achieve what you want. Have a vision of success”. I like that and I can meditate on My Fitness Triangle.

  If I stick with my plan it will all work out. BMR is on my side. Basal Metabolic Rate is the minimum number of calories your body organs need to function while you perform no activity. I think of it as the amount of energy I’d burn if I stayed in bed all day. I used an online BMR calculator to find that my body uses 1806 calories a day on that. I am doing a 2030 calorie a day plan, at some point, my weight has to come down.

 

In the spirit-Dave

Tony Horton is a Personal Trainer, Author, and Creator of the P90X Extreme Workout. He has a Ted Talk telling everyone about health and fitness. His focal points are 1. Move, at least 20 minutes or more a day with a variety of activities, 2. Consistency, 5 to 7 days a week, 3. Intensity, push to add and do more, 4. Purpose, why do this stuff, 5. Food, he describes eating right. This should sound familiar to my readers. Google: Tony Horton Ted Talk and you will get 10 minutes of motivation.  My last weeks’ exercises were a good variety of activities. I swam in Huntington Harbor, walked through Gum Grove Park which is a Tongva tribal camp area in Seal Beach, and lifted weights in my garage. These were accompanied by my regular neighborhood walks on off days. A variety of activities is supposed to speed weight loss and fitness. The weather was hot so most activities were early, but a good week.

Eating Right

   I read an online article in To Your Health from 8/1/18 titled A Groundbreaking Way to Live Longer. It claimed the Fountain of Youth can be found by reducing your calorie intake by 15 percent over a two year period. The article cited a study published in Cell Metabolism indicating that your body processing less may equate to less cell damage. That sounds good. A lot of aging studies are published in Cell Metabolism. As I mentioned, MyFitnessPal has set my caloric goal at 2030 calories per day. I think that is probably an easy 15 percent below what I was eating.  At some point, I’ll look at 1724 as a new goal, not now. I am still working on this goal as a challenge. I went out to eat 3 times last week and I tend to overdo when out. I found myself making good choices but too much volume. I guess I’m still struggling with that moderation thing.

                 

  No Fast Food. Do you still eat at McDonald’s? Big Mac has 540 Propylene Glycol washed calories, add french fries and it goes to about 900 calories. Ugh. Propylene Glycol is a version of ethylene glycol which is as dangerous to consume as antifreeze. Its food function is to prevent products from becoming too solid. 90% of all frozen burgers have this. Ugh.

BE HEALTHY

In the spirit, Dave

   My daughter asks me for the specifics of the diet for my PLAN. She thought pulling the details from the blog made it unclear. Here is my food plan.

The Fitness Triangle Diet

DO’S

Eat Fruits or Vegetables with any meal or snack.

Eat Clean Whole Foods.

Eat Organic, in season, local when possible.

Eat Less Meat: grass-fed, free-range, wild caught when possible.

Use Olive Oil or Coconut oil

Do keep to a calorie count appropriate for your goal.

DON’Ts

No Fast Food.

No Soda, diet or other.

No or limited Processed Foods.

Limit Starches, bread, and wheat based products.

Limit Dairy.

Watch out for Sugar, Nitrates, Sodium, High fructose corn syrup.

Watch out for anything with a really long name.

Remember everything in moderation including moderation.

The keys to weight-loss success

  Successful weight loss requires long-term changes to your eating habits and physical activity. This means you need to find a weight-loss approach you can embrace for life. You’re not likely to maintain whatever weight loss a diet helps you achieve if you then go off the diet and revert to old habits.

  Diets that leave you feeling deprived or hungry can cause you to give up. And because many weight-loss diets don’t encourage permanent healthy lifestyle changes, even if you do lose weight, the pounds can quickly return once you stop dieting.

  You’ll likely always have to remain vigilant about your weight. But combining a healthier diet with more activity is the best way to lose weight, keep it off for the long-term and improve your health.

What oil is best?

   My choice is Olive Oil or Coconut Oil.  There is a lot of talk and controversy around Canola Oil. It markets a benefit as being high in Omega 3. We want that. The issue is that it is made from a GMO developed in Canada and Monsanto is involved, I am OUT on this. We want cold-pressed virgin oil.

In The Spirit, Dave