"I approach food as I approach medicine"

 

4 mile run yesterday

Once in the gym this week

 

 

So, despite the fact that I was able to exercise this week I must my admit that my eating has been way off. I destroyed a thing of Pringles this week and there was Halloween candy laying around and I just had this desire to fill my stomach. I also grabbed a "Mexi-burger" from this place called Toast around the corner on Tuesday and then met a friend for lunch on Wed. and had a Philly Cheese steak. It was definitely challenging to stay "Fit over 40" this week.

 

My inner desires ruled my flesh this week and I allowed it to happen.

 

I've mentioned a few times on this blog about my faith and this week I was thinking about the intersection of my faith and my physical well-being and how and where they meet up.  When I'm not staying fit or not eating well I can feel it. I become apathetic, slow, slothful and weak. I end up with zero energy. The same can be said when I'm not working out my soul. This week as I was thinking about all of this I came across a reading of St. Augustine from his "Confessions" book and it was about food. He discusses his inner motives, desires, needs, pleasures and his hunger for things that are good and how he can take it to entirely different level when he indulges.

 

He said , "Now, let us be honest, eating and drinking are pleasurable, and good food is healthful for the body. But I may sit down to eat and drink for the sake of health, and then for pleasure go on to eat and drink far more than I need or over what is healthful. Often it is so difficult to tell the difference, whether my body has a healthy appetite or whether I am being deceived by my own overwhelming greed until I am seduced into thinking that I really cannot control my appetite. So then I eat for the reason of gluttony and not in thankfulness to God."

 

First off I'm just glad to know that someone who lived that long ago struggled with the same "food" issues that I struggle with now in the year 2013. Augustine goes on to admit that he struggled daily against his "sinfulness" in his eating and drinking.  He believed that our weakness was found in human delight. We can take good things and rip them to shreds. When we move from being hungry to having a full stomach there is that place in between where opportunity to delight in greed take over. He even went so far as to call it "self-seeking evil". He took this stuff pretty seriously because for him it wasn't so much about eating this or that but what over-eating revealed about himself, who he was and what he believed about himself. For Augustine food "triggers" came from this darker place in the heart.

 

So, here's the take away for myself (You can decide if you want to take this perspective with you today or not). I am a spiritual being. I believe that I was created, even knit in the womb by GOD almighty himself and not only given life but created in "His" image. He gave me desire and he created things that are just awesome - like chocolate, pasta, cheese, bread, beer, Philly cheese steak sandwiches and Mexi-burgers. When I lose the "health" battle it is not because I ate something that was "bad" for me. Ultimately it's because I lost sight of my identity. My health is tied to my spiritual health. So, something new to think about as I consider exactly what "Fit" over 40 means.

 

So, be honest with yourself when you make your list of food triggers. Is it really boredom, T.V or that it's gloomy outside that is causing that inner drive to pick up that thing of Pringles? Consider that you were created by God, that your body is a temple and to take care of your body now possibly an act of worship and that staying in shape and being healthy brings Glory to your Father in heaven. Then decide if you really want to eat that entire bag of Pringles. That picture at the top of this blog is from a spot on my longer 6 mile run. I pass it every time and it's a reminder that being healthy and staying fit brings Glory to God. I think it makes him smile to see me run.

 

Thank you St. Augustine

 

 

Thought/Quote for the day: "Today, Father, I will be strong with myself - and honest. I will not call any drive a need, when it has grown into an appetite that takes over and becomes a demand."

St. Augustine



LOST

I lost those nasty two pounds. Nuff said!

Not to shaby

Uh huh, that's right. I'm up to 2 pounds. Well, what can I say except the last couple of weeks have been rough. Didn't eat all that well and work has been keeping me pretty busy so I missed a lot of workouts. I took that picture on Saturday morning but haven't wanted to share it. Time to be honest though. You have set backs, It's a part of life but I'm still on track. I'm watching what I'm eating and I've been back in the gym working harder on the weights and as far as my running is concerned I'm running farther. I'm consistently hitting 5 miles in less than an hour. It used to take me an hour to run 4.

So, that said I feel great and yea, I'm not afraid to think I look a heck of a lot better than I used to and feel better as well.

When it's cold I love hot stuff like chili, soup, etc...You know - Comfort food. So what does a guy do when he likes comfort food and he's trying to be healthy. Here are some options I found on Runners world Magazine.

comfort-food-gets-healthy-makeover

Chili
Make a chili with 95% lean ground meat, or a mix of lean ground meat and ground turkey breast. Add some beans, canned tomatoes and spices for flavor.

Soups and stews
Stew meat is extremely lean. Add veggies (fresh, frozen or canned) for a comforting meal that tastes great. When making chicken noodle soup, think more broth and veggies and less noodles. Try using a whole grain—like barley—instead of noodles for a nice chew.

Hot cereal
This is one of my personal favorites. Instead of buying the presweetened varieties, buy plain oatmeal and add a protein source (skim milk, soy milk, hemp milk, almond milk or protein powder), a sweetener (preserves, maple syrup, honey, brown sugar), fruit (fresh, frozen or dried) and spice (ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, even a dash of cayenne).

Mac and cheese
Play with a mac and cheese recipe too much and you may get a very unsatisfactory dish, but you can swap a few ingredients for a lower calorie treat. Try using evaporated skimmed milk instead of whole milk or cream. You can also use less cheese if you use a variety with a stronger flavor like Gruyere or Fontina.

Chicken pot pie
Mark Bittman offers a great recipe for this true comfort food, which is typically full of fat in other recipes. Click on the link above to see the full article and a link to this recipe.

Trigger Happy

Stopped tracking the days as of today
Ran 5 miles today in 50 minutes

As I was crossing over Monument Ave. and running into the neighborhood I saw it. All by itself, crumpled up and waiting for me. I was feeling lazy today and really did not want to go for a run but the sun was out again for only the second time in the past week and a half I almost felt obligated to go and just "be" in the sun. I also "OVER" ate big time last night. We had steaks and my wife makes this amazing homemade pasta alfredo. I started out ok only having half of the steak but then
I dove into the pasta. It's my favorite thing other than chocolate. I love pasta. So, of course when I saw that dollar bill just laying there I was like "wow, that's awesome. This literally paid off today." Cool.

So I've been thinking about my triggers. Those moments when I feel the urge to eat my self silly for absolutely no reason at all. Here's the list:

1. Boredom
2. Tired
3. Bad mood /Bad hair day/ Apathy all around kinda day
4. Eating while I'm watching my favorite shows. It's like I feel this mental "need" to eat while I'm watching television. It's weird!
5. About 30 minutes after lunch and 30 minutes after dinner. Even if I ate a big dinner or lunch I still have this weird "need" to fill my stomach.

Couple of small goals I'm setting for myself starting now:

• T.V eating - "Ok" to have a snack but nothing after 8pm
• Issues after eating lunch and dinner - Make sure I'm eating enough for breakfast. It's the champion food right?
• Smaller plates at dinner - Trick the eyes to the soul into thinking I'm filling up my plate.

Here are helpful links on "Triggers"

Weight Watchers - Eating Triggers

www.eatingwell.com - Get a nonfood life

www.mayoclinic.com - Gaining Control of Emotional Eating

Hedonic Hunger

 

Smaller plates

 

 

Thought for the day: I feel more motivated to be careful about my eating when I'm exercising

Just 5 more to go

DAY 71

• Last weekend - 5 mile run 500 calories burned
• This week - daily walk with the dog / Gym twice this week - total hour and a half
• Eating - Not so good. I devoured a Pizza Hut pizza last night with bread sticks.

I haven't kept the blog up for a while I know. It's been more than 10 days and to be honest I have not been moving the needle. I've been stuck at 160+ . I'm officially plateauing I think. The body has become comfortable with the routine and the new eating habits. All that means is that my body is finding ways to become efficient. At this point my body has stopped burning energy and is now storing it. This made perfect sense back in the "hunter-gather" times but at this point it's really more of an evolutionary annoyance. I don't want to hang out here and to reach my weight goal I need to get to 155...only 5 more pounds.

I have been over-eating. Not crazy but I've been going over my allotted W.W. points by 5, sometimes 10, points. That said, I also have my extra points that I get for working out and I've been going over on those as well. A friend of mine sent me a website that picks out workouts of your choice and it helps you shake it up. I'm going to give it a shot this week and try to really focus on the eating this week.

http://www.wodshop.org/wods.html

 

 

The truth of the matter is that I've been making poor choices. Just this week I got a kick in the butt from a friend who busted me eating a brownie this week at a get together. What he saw was me eating one brownie. What he didn't know was that I had already eaten like 5 of them. I need to take control of things before they take control of me as they have the past. If that happens again I am destined to end up back near 170 and I DO NOT want that again.

 

So, here we go - 5 pounds here I come. I need some ideas for ways to shake it up, so please tell me yours in the comments section. I would love your thoughts or things you've found to be successful. I came across another blog today that had some interesting, creative ideas by a Mom who is committed to healthy living. A few of her ideas I liked and I might try:

• Drink a lot of water - I've been really busy at work. This is a trigger for me, meaning that I tend to drink a lot of coffee when I'm busy.
• Wear a bracelet or something around your wrist that I can assign super powers to. Basically it will remind me of my goal when I go to reach for snack food that I do not need to eat. I admit that this sounds a little corny but what the heck. I'll give it a shot. It's my personality as well to need little things like that to help me along (I am king of sticky notes) and hey the MC from the  Sons of Anarchy T.V. show wear cool stuff on their wrists. Why not me?
• Make a list of triggers: I've never really thought about this but I do tend to eat during certain times or when I'm feeling a certain way. I need to think through the major trigger times for my more emotional and distracted eating.
• Shake up the points by eating only my points and then eat less than that once or twice this week. The object is to wake my body up from its nice happy comfortable nap. She also had the idea to switch out a processed food for something natural.

Wellness without pity at http://diaryofareluctantathlete.blogspot.com/

 



 

 

Thought for the day: I usually think of Saturday as a day for "whatever". Today will be different though. Today I will be focused.

 

 

Another interesting site I came across...8-foods-we-eat-in-the-us-that-are-banned-in-other-countries

 

 





A bounce backwards

DAY 57

Weigh in

Well, I've been kinda waiting for this to happen. A little bounce backwards. Only by half a pound so I'm not terribly upset. I was bummed to see 160.2 and not 158.8 which is where I was last weekend. I was telling my wife this morning though that while I was a little bummed I'm not freaking out about it. This is about "Long-Haul" living so this week I become more focused. I need to shake up the routine a bit and really watch my eating although it's not like I totally lost control over the week. I also have to remember that I am gaining muscle and that could account for the half a pound.

Look, here's the other thing - I've been at this now for 10 weeks. I'm loosing weight, feeling better, my head is clear, I'm more focused than I have ever been and I'm building muscle and I'm 43 years old (which isn't really that old but things do change once you cross the 40 line). Time does feel like it's gone from 45 miles an hour to 80 miles an hour and 50 feels like it's creeping up fast. I'm doing all this though by carving out time to go to the gym, run, exercise and eat better while at the same time enjoying things like Ice Cream, "good beer" and other things that I enjoy. It can be done. You do not have to give up "everything" that you enjoy. Heck, sometimes I don't go to the gym if I don't feel like it or if I'm just feeling whipped. I just look for another way to get some exercise in like raking the leaves, taking the dog on a little extra long walk. I throw in push-ups or sit-ups during the day. The short term goal is to lose weight. The long term goal is live a healthy lifestyle and stick around for the "long-term".

Thought for the day: I'm going to enjoy this beautiful day that Lord has made and continue the "Long-Haul".

There is a reason they call it "Fall"

Day 56 (whew!)
30 minute walk with the dog
1 hour raking leaves

There's a lot to love about fall: crisp air, dark beer, pumpkin ale, October fest, Halloween, carving pumpkins, picking apples, bonfires, apple cider and of course football games, but lets face it, there is a reason they call it "Fall" and those leaves are starting to pile up on your front lawn.

One of the benefits of working from home is that you have time and some flexibility to get stuff done that you would otherwise put off till the weekend. The leaves have been mocking me all week and today I started the task of trying to stay on top of the leaves instead of going to the gym or on a run during my lunch break. I don't have a huge front yard but I do have a large Oak that drops a gazillion leaves on my yard this time every year. The backyard is another story (HUGE tree).

So, I chose not to go to the gym today in order to prove a point which is raking leaves can be a solid workout.  It helps build upper-body strength, as well as core strength (strength in your back and stomach). As you're raking, your abs are working to stabilize your body while your arms are moving. A recent AARP article indicated that a 135-pound person could burn about 240 calories raking leaves for an hour. One calculator I looked at today said I burned about 300 calories raking leaves for about an hour. You can also make your wife "really" happy.

Taking care of business like this is a vigorous aerobic workout that involves prolonged repetitive motion, twisting, bending, lifting and of course carrying those bagged leaves around (watch your back and lift with your knees).

It also helps to have Metallica blasting in your ear while your raking (see the last post)

Thought for the day: I will stay on top of the leaf raking this year. Last year was out of control. I will not allow that to happen again.