Wow, so it's been more than 10 years since I updated my blog. I thought about starting a new one for my new project, but the name I wanted was already taken ... by somebody who's doing the same challenge ... and there's really no reason not to use this one.
So the project is 101 goals to accomplish in 1001 days. Someone I met recently is doing this challenge, and I thought it was a wonderful idea. Here's the website: https://dayzeroproject.com/
1001 days is about 2.75 years, so it gives plenty of time to plan and schedule, and multiple years for seasonal activities. I'm sure that there will be goals that I will not reach, but just doing the process has gotten me moving towards goals that I've had FOREVER (like the trip to Belize that I was planning more than 10 years ago when I was previously writing in this blog, which I'm going to do for my 50th birthday in just a couple of months.)
I'm still working on the logistics of posting it so I can organize, track and update it, but I've got it up on the dayzeroproject.com site, and I'm doing it! (and maybe it's cheating a little to be writing the goals while I'm planning a trip, but they're real goals, and there's nothing wrong with a head start!)
I've recently come across http://www.daniellelaporte.com/thedesiremap/ and I'm planning to use my Desire Map to write many of these goals based on how I want to feel.
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Cardiovascular Intensity
Cardiovascular exercise intensity can be tracked by using your "target heart range." To determine your personal target heart rate, subtract your age from 220. This is your estimated maximum heart rate level. Your heart probably won't actually explode or anything if you go over that number, I've done it a few times, but you'll probably feel sick, dizzy, and weak.
Your maximum heart rate represents 100% effort. Very few people, even highly trained athletes, can maintain that level for very long. The level where you'll want to exercise depends on your goals. As I mentioned in a previous post, this summer I worked myself pretty hard, a lot of high intensity cycling, hard and fast. I noticed that the exercise was getting a lot easier, my resting heart rate slower, and overall I felt better, but I was rather disappointed with the slowness of my fat loss results. That's because I was exercising over my anaerobic threshold.
Your anaerobic threshold is the point where your body stops burning fat for fuel and switches over to the faster burning carbohydrates. For most people this happens at about 75% of their maximum heart rate. So if your goal is fat loss, you'll want low to moderate-intensity exercise = 60% to 75% of your estimated maximum heart rate level. For me, at 39, my maximum heart rate is about 181. So for the best aerobic fat burning workout, I want to keep my heart rate between 109 and 136. So now on a long haul ride, I'll hit a groove right around 125 beats per minute. I'll still throw in some peak efforts to work my heart, though.
High-intensity exercise = 80% to 90% of your estimated maximum heart rate level, will help strengthen your heart and lungs. For me, this is the 145-163 range. At this level our bodies burn more carbohydrates than fat during the exercise, but burn more fat the rest of the day than if we don't exercise at all. However, if you're burning carbs, you have to make sure that you keep your body supplied with them or it will go into a semi-starvation state, and slow down your metabolism.
Your maximum heart rate represents 100% effort. Very few people, even highly trained athletes, can maintain that level for very long. The level where you'll want to exercise depends on your goals. As I mentioned in a previous post, this summer I worked myself pretty hard, a lot of high intensity cycling, hard and fast. I noticed that the exercise was getting a lot easier, my resting heart rate slower, and overall I felt better, but I was rather disappointed with the slowness of my fat loss results. That's because I was exercising over my anaerobic threshold.
Your anaerobic threshold is the point where your body stops burning fat for fuel and switches over to the faster burning carbohydrates. For most people this happens at about 75% of their maximum heart rate. So if your goal is fat loss, you'll want low to moderate-intensity exercise = 60% to 75% of your estimated maximum heart rate level. For me, at 39, my maximum heart rate is about 181. So for the best aerobic fat burning workout, I want to keep my heart rate between 109 and 136. So now on a long haul ride, I'll hit a groove right around 125 beats per minute. I'll still throw in some peak efforts to work my heart, though.
High-intensity exercise = 80% to 90% of your estimated maximum heart rate level, will help strengthen your heart and lungs. For me, this is the 145-163 range. At this level our bodies burn more carbohydrates than fat during the exercise, but burn more fat the rest of the day than if we don't exercise at all. However, if you're burning carbs, you have to make sure that you keep your body supplied with them or it will go into a semi-starvation state, and slow down your metabolism.
Sweet Tooth
Wow. So the adventures in vegan cookies were a bad idea. All that sugar precipitated a major dental emergency.
I cracked my right lower back molar on a lemon poppyseed Clif bar at the finish festival for Reach the Beach a few years ago. I had some work done on it, but my managed care dental program put me through the run-around for ages. It was finally too far gone for a root canal to make sense, so it had to come out. I was waiting for a good time, but I don't think there's ever really a good time for dental extractions. Waiting for the holiday season made it a lot more complicated.
I started having pain from the tooth on Christmas weekend. I took some NSAIDs and ignored it, I was out of town and then working. Sunday, December 30, the pain meds stopped working. By the time the dentist could see me on Wednesday, I had an abscess and my jaw was all swollen. It made my throat hurt, even to swallow water. They put me on antibiotics and sent me to a specialist the next day to get it pulled.
Putting off dental work is crazy, it only makes a bad situation worse.
Overall, I would not recommend this as a diet technique, but now that I'm recovered I have to say it was a remarkably effective way to take off those extra pounds I put on over the holidays. I dropped 16 pounds in about a week, taking me to a new low of 61 pounds dropped. There was some metabolic backlash, but I seem to have stabilized and kept off about 6 of that.
However, I've really slacked on the exercise front, it's time to get back in the saddle. We moved the bike into its own room, so I can't hear the TV, which makes the indoor bike boring. Tooth pain is intensified by exercise, so I didn't bike for well over a week. I've often noticed that after a break in exercise, it's harder to get motivated to do it. I had a little affair with Krispy Kremes and pizza on Thursday, which pushed me back up to my dreaded "high" weight of "only" 50 pounds under my starting weight. I'm not beating myself up too much (unless I don't get right back to losing now that I've hit that point!) but I know it's time to get back to burning off the fat!
I cracked my right lower back molar on a lemon poppyseed Clif bar at the finish festival for Reach the Beach a few years ago. I had some work done on it, but my managed care dental program put me through the run-around for ages. It was finally too far gone for a root canal to make sense, so it had to come out. I was waiting for a good time, but I don't think there's ever really a good time for dental extractions. Waiting for the holiday season made it a lot more complicated.
I started having pain from the tooth on Christmas weekend. I took some NSAIDs and ignored it, I was out of town and then working. Sunday, December 30, the pain meds stopped working. By the time the dentist could see me on Wednesday, I had an abscess and my jaw was all swollen. It made my throat hurt, even to swallow water. They put me on antibiotics and sent me to a specialist the next day to get it pulled.
Putting off dental work is crazy, it only makes a bad situation worse.
Overall, I would not recommend this as a diet technique, but now that I'm recovered I have to say it was a remarkably effective way to take off those extra pounds I put on over the holidays. I dropped 16 pounds in about a week, taking me to a new low of 61 pounds dropped. There was some metabolic backlash, but I seem to have stabilized and kept off about 6 of that.
However, I've really slacked on the exercise front, it's time to get back in the saddle. We moved the bike into its own room, so I can't hear the TV, which makes the indoor bike boring. Tooth pain is intensified by exercise, so I didn't bike for well over a week. I've often noticed that after a break in exercise, it's harder to get motivated to do it. I had a little affair with Krispy Kremes and pizza on Thursday, which pushed me back up to my dreaded "high" weight of "only" 50 pounds under my starting weight. I'm not beating myself up too much (unless I don't get right back to losing now that I've hit that point!) but I know it's time to get back to burning off the fat!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Schwarzbein Principle/Metabolic Syndrome
From the Choose Your Diet website:
Read the entire Choose your Diet review here and more information on the Schwarzbein website. This is one of the clearest explanations I've seen of the weight gain aspect of Metabolic Syndrome/Syndrome X.
According to Dr. Schwarzbein and all the other proponents of low-carb diets, carbs cause the blood sugar to spike. When insulin levels remain at high levels, the body becomes resistant to insulin, which is responsible for converting glucose to energy. This, in turn, causes the glucose to turn to fat, contributing to obesity.
In Step 1 of the Schwarzbein Principle, you’re encouraged to: never skip a meal again, cut out unhealthy carbs, eat balanced meals, center your meals around a protein, add some healthy fats, enjoy real carbohydrates, consume nonstarchy vegetables, snack, eat solid food and drink plenty of water.
Step 2 focuses on stress management. Step 3 calls for the elimination of nicotine, alcohol, refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, narcotics, MSG, preservatives and additives, fake fats, caffeine and certain prescription drugs. With Step 4, you’ll implement an exercise program with flexibility, resistance and cardiovascular training. Lastly, Step 5 concentrates on hormone replacement therapy.
Read the entire Choose your Diet review here and more information on the Schwarzbein website. This is one of the clearest explanations I've seen of the weight gain aspect of Metabolic Syndrome/Syndrome X.
According to Dr. Schwarzbein and all the other proponents of low-carb diets, carbs cause the blood sugar to spike. When insulin levels remain at high levels, the body becomes resistant to insulin, which is responsible for converting glucose to energy. This, in turn, causes the glucose to turn to fat, contributing to obesity.
In Step 1 of the Schwarzbein Principle, you’re encouraged to: never skip a meal again, cut out unhealthy carbs, eat balanced meals, center your meals around a protein, add some healthy fats, enjoy real carbohydrates, consume nonstarchy vegetables, snack, eat solid food and drink plenty of water.
Step 2 focuses on stress management. Step 3 calls for the elimination of nicotine, alcohol, refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, narcotics, MSG, preservatives and additives, fake fats, caffeine and certain prescription drugs. With Step 4, you’ll implement an exercise program with flexibility, resistance and cardiovascular training. Lastly, Step 5 concentrates on hormone replacement therapy.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Post Christmas Pre New Years
Well yikes. I was doing pretty well with my maintenance for a while, but I made and ate quite a few Christmas cookies, and got on the scale the day after Christmas with a whopping 11 pound gain! YIKES! I'm already down 6 pounds from there, just by cutting back on the sugar.
Traveled to see family for Christmas, but before we left I baked a prime rib roast. Marinated it for two days in olive oil, roasted garlic, and spices. Seared it at 450 for half an hour, then backed it down to 325 for another 2 hours. It was the most meltingly delicious meat I have ever eaten. Because it was prime rib it was very fatty, I think I'd like to try the same treatment for an eye of round roast.
Traveled to see family for Christmas, but before we left I baked a prime rib roast. Marinated it for two days in olive oil, roasted garlic, and spices. Seared it at 450 for half an hour, then backed it down to 325 for another 2 hours. It was the most meltingly delicious meat I have ever eaten. Because it was prime rib it was very fatty, I think I'd like to try the same treatment for an eye of round roast.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Adventures in Vegan Cookies
I've been experimenting with vegan cookies. I didn't feel like trying to keep track of which of my Christmas cookies were safe for my vegan friends. The first batch, peanut butter chocolate chip, came out beautifully. Peanut butter's texture lends itself beautifully to vegan cookies. Today I tried whole wheat snickerdoodles. Well. This was more of a learning experience.
First of all it seems that I haven't done enough baking lately, my whole wheat flour is just a bit stale. Not horrible, but not great either. I'm told that whole wheat flour keeps best in the freezer. Trouble is that when you bake, all ingredients should be at room temperature. So you have to plan ahead a little more and get the flour you need out of the freezer ahead of time. My little freezer is full so until I get a big freezer, I'll just have to bake more to use the flour up! :) Then I have to find testers since I don't have room to freeze the cookies....
First major hurdle: the shortening. All of the margarine and shortening in my house today has whey or "natural butter flavor" which I assume means it came from a cow. I used light olive oil for the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, but I'm nearly out due to a kitchen anomoly which has swallowed two bottles of the stuff with no trace. So, I tried canola oil.
I use a powdered egg replacer from Bob's Red Mill. It's made with soy flour and wheat gluten. One tablespoon egg replacer powder and three tablespoons water replaces one egg. Since canola oil is more liquid than vegetable shortening, I decided not to add water with the egg replacer. By the time I got all the flour mixed in, the dough wouldn't hold together at all. In the end I think the amount called for in the recipe would have worked pretty well despite using oil instead of shortening. The recipe called for rolling the dough in one inch balls and then rolling the balls in cinnamon sugar. I only added enough water to get the dough to stick together in a ball, although it was still quite crumbly.
The recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies. I did 1 dozen per sheet. The first sheet I formed the balls and left them alone, baked them for 8 1/2 minutes. They didn't spread nearly as much as I expected, and they shattered/crumbled very easily.
For the second sheet, I flattened the cookies with a drinking glass. This was NOT a good choice, as when they cool they are still very brittle and the unflattened ones seem to hold together better. I baked these for 9 minutes, still not quite enough. These cookies might work to make a vegan cookie pie crust, but they are just too crumbly and brittle to be good for eating out of hand.
Once they cool the unflattened snickerdoodles are still very crumbly but they don't fall apart quite as easily. They are pretty good although the salt the recipe called for was too much, next time I will add half as much. I added more water to the last batch. I thought it was too much as the dough seemed a little too soft, but it definately held together much better. These spread more, and I didn't hear the timer so they are a little darker than I'd like.
These cookies are surprisingly filling and very satisfying. Since I know better than to think I can skip eating cookies when I bake them, I baked them for brunch. I ate 4, and a few small bites of the dough. I can't eat another one, even though I want to test the last batch. I'm surprised and pleased.
I made them a little bigger than an inch because it was easier to keep the dough in a ball that way, and I'd have guessed each cookie had about 100 calories. I did some rough math and got closer to 120 calories: 53 calories from the canola oil, 31 from whole wheat flour, 32 from sugar, 4 from the egg replacer. With the additional water so the balls could be made smaller, they probably would be closer to 100. Certainly not the healthiest food, but better than what I could buy. The recipe says it only makes 24 cookies, but I got 34. I like using canola oil, it's close to olive oil in the "good fats". I probably could have used half the sugar in these snickerdoodles, and the sugar on the outside would still make them taste very sweet.
Finally ate one of the last batch. It was crispy but didn't shatter, the texture was delightful. I usually prefer my snickerdoodles a little soft, but that would probably be achieved with a shorter bake time, and I think they'd be even better. So the main thing I learned from this try is that the texture of your cookies will be similar to the texture of your dough. Seems like that should have been fairly obvious, but I hadn't really thought about it like that before.
The recipe I used is on the back of the Bob's Red Mill egg replacer. Here is the snickerdoodle recipe and there is a link in the recipe so you can get the egg replacer if you can't find it in your local store. They also have a "store finder" if you don't want to pay for shipping, but it doesn't give you the option to search by product and not all stores that carry Bob's products carry the egg replacer. I live pretty near the factory store so I often shop there, but I usually end up spending a little more than I'd intended while I'm there. Having the things I really need delivered cuts down on those impulse buys.
First of all it seems that I haven't done enough baking lately, my whole wheat flour is just a bit stale. Not horrible, but not great either. I'm told that whole wheat flour keeps best in the freezer. Trouble is that when you bake, all ingredients should be at room temperature. So you have to plan ahead a little more and get the flour you need out of the freezer ahead of time. My little freezer is full so until I get a big freezer, I'll just have to bake more to use the flour up! :) Then I have to find testers since I don't have room to freeze the cookies....
First major hurdle: the shortening. All of the margarine and shortening in my house today has whey or "natural butter flavor" which I assume means it came from a cow. I used light olive oil for the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, but I'm nearly out due to a kitchen anomoly which has swallowed two bottles of the stuff with no trace. So, I tried canola oil.
I use a powdered egg replacer from Bob's Red Mill. It's made with soy flour and wheat gluten. One tablespoon egg replacer powder and three tablespoons water replaces one egg. Since canola oil is more liquid than vegetable shortening, I decided not to add water with the egg replacer. By the time I got all the flour mixed in, the dough wouldn't hold together at all. In the end I think the amount called for in the recipe would have worked pretty well despite using oil instead of shortening. The recipe called for rolling the dough in one inch balls and then rolling the balls in cinnamon sugar. I only added enough water to get the dough to stick together in a ball, although it was still quite crumbly.
The recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies. I did 1 dozen per sheet. The first sheet I formed the balls and left them alone, baked them for 8 1/2 minutes. They didn't spread nearly as much as I expected, and they shattered/crumbled very easily.
For the second sheet, I flattened the cookies with a drinking glass. This was NOT a good choice, as when they cool they are still very brittle and the unflattened ones seem to hold together better. I baked these for 9 minutes, still not quite enough. These cookies might work to make a vegan cookie pie crust, but they are just too crumbly and brittle to be good for eating out of hand.
Once they cool the unflattened snickerdoodles are still very crumbly but they don't fall apart quite as easily. They are pretty good although the salt the recipe called for was too much, next time I will add half as much. I added more water to the last batch. I thought it was too much as the dough seemed a little too soft, but it definately held together much better. These spread more, and I didn't hear the timer so they are a little darker than I'd like.
These cookies are surprisingly filling and very satisfying. Since I know better than to think I can skip eating cookies when I bake them, I baked them for brunch. I ate 4, and a few small bites of the dough. I can't eat another one, even though I want to test the last batch. I'm surprised and pleased.
I made them a little bigger than an inch because it was easier to keep the dough in a ball that way, and I'd have guessed each cookie had about 100 calories. I did some rough math and got closer to 120 calories: 53 calories from the canola oil, 31 from whole wheat flour, 32 from sugar, 4 from the egg replacer. With the additional water so the balls could be made smaller, they probably would be closer to 100. Certainly not the healthiest food, but better than what I could buy. The recipe says it only makes 24 cookies, but I got 34. I like using canola oil, it's close to olive oil in the "good fats". I probably could have used half the sugar in these snickerdoodles, and the sugar on the outside would still make them taste very sweet.
Finally ate one of the last batch. It was crispy but didn't shatter, the texture was delightful. I usually prefer my snickerdoodles a little soft, but that would probably be achieved with a shorter bake time, and I think they'd be even better. So the main thing I learned from this try is that the texture of your cookies will be similar to the texture of your dough. Seems like that should have been fairly obvious, but I hadn't really thought about it like that before.
The recipe I used is on the back of the Bob's Red Mill egg replacer. Here is the snickerdoodle recipe and there is a link in the recipe so you can get the egg replacer if you can't find it in your local store. They also have a "store finder" if you don't want to pay for shipping, but it doesn't give you the option to search by product and not all stores that carry Bob's products carry the egg replacer. I live pretty near the factory store so I often shop there, but I usually end up spending a little more than I'd intended while I'm there. Having the things I really need delivered cuts down on those impulse buys.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Food and exercise 12/7/2007
So I still have a little battle with what I want to post and what I don't. I mean, who other than me really CARES what I eat or anything? I suspect that if I eat something I shouldn't I will wimp out and not post it, but maybe not. Over the last year I've learned that little things make a huge difference in weight loss because they all add up, collectively and over time. If it makes me hesitate even a little bit more when I want to eat something, it's worthwhile. If I say something in passing that helps someone else on a similar journey, that's even better. I'm still not at a place where I can be comfortable posting my actual weight, but I might do it in a total pounds to go tally or something.
I haven't logged my food or exercise in a month and a half. I hit my first big goal, the lowest weight I've seen in at least 15 years, and decided to maintain for a month or so. For tracking my nutrition and exercise, I use a software called ProTrack from Global Health and Fitness. I think it was worth the price of the membership all by itself!
My last weigh-in was on 26 Oct and I'm the same weight today. Woot! I usually try to over-estimate how much my portions are because I know most people tend to underestimate. I have a food scale which I use for portioning, but unless I'm feeling the need to be really strict for a goal or to break a plateau, it's just too much trouble. It was great for learning what portion sizes really look like, though.
Got up late, did about 30-40 minutes of hard cycling, so I started out the day with a calorie deficit. Yay me! I worked it pretty hard, ProTrack says about 600 calories negative.
Coffee with about 6oz unsweetened soy milk, 1tbsp cocoa powder and 1tbsp cocoa mix plus 1 cube lo han quo. Call that about 240 calories. It was a very late breakfast.
Vegan boyfriend came over and we made vietnamese sandwiches. 3oz vienna roll, 2oz tofu, 1tsp seasoned vegan mayo, about 1 cup various sprouts and pickles. Crisped the rolls in the oven, it was glorious!! Call it... wow, 420 calories! Wouldn't have expected it to be so much, but that's the benefit of looking at this stuff! That was really my breakfast even though it was almost 2. That's kinda bad but I don't often skip breakfast and I got a little crazy with the walnuts last night so I wasn't in any danger of starvation mode.
I really wasn't very hungry all day, I've noticed that happens sometimes when I work out hard in the morning. I sorta forgot to eat. I made some hardboiled eggs, ate three of them mashed with some fat free butter. 245 calories.
Watched an episode of Firefly on the exercise bike, burned another 400 calories.
The next time I remembered to eat, was a few minutes ago. Vegan boyfriend was sweet and left me the rolls and sprouts and such for more yummy sandwiches. This time I used some leftover lemon pepper turkey breast instead of tofu. The turkey breast came from Celebrity Foods, it was absolutely lovely. Pre-seasoned, just throw it in the oven for 45 minutes and you've got lunch meat with no nitrates! Since the turkey is lower in calories than the tofu, that came in closer to 350 calories.
So ProTrack is set up for a goal of 1662 calories, a 500 calorie per day deficit, theoretically enough to lose 1 pound a week. It calculates calorie balance when you enter your food and exercise for the day. My balance is currently at 246 so I have 1400 calories left for the day! Sweetheart wants to spend them on an Outback Bloomin' Onion but I'm inclined to hoard them.
I haven't logged my food or exercise in a month and a half. I hit my first big goal, the lowest weight I've seen in at least 15 years, and decided to maintain for a month or so. For tracking my nutrition and exercise, I use a software called ProTrack from Global Health and Fitness. I think it was worth the price of the membership all by itself!
My last weigh-in was on 26 Oct and I'm the same weight today. Woot! I usually try to over-estimate how much my portions are because I know most people tend to underestimate. I have a food scale which I use for portioning, but unless I'm feeling the need to be really strict for a goal or to break a plateau, it's just too much trouble. It was great for learning what portion sizes really look like, though.
Got up late, did about 30-40 minutes of hard cycling, so I started out the day with a calorie deficit. Yay me! I worked it pretty hard, ProTrack says about 600 calories negative.
Coffee with about 6oz unsweetened soy milk, 1tbsp cocoa powder and 1tbsp cocoa mix plus 1 cube lo han quo. Call that about 240 calories. It was a very late breakfast.
Vegan boyfriend came over and we made vietnamese sandwiches. 3oz vienna roll, 2oz tofu, 1tsp seasoned vegan mayo, about 1 cup various sprouts and pickles. Crisped the rolls in the oven, it was glorious!! Call it... wow, 420 calories! Wouldn't have expected it to be so much, but that's the benefit of looking at this stuff! That was really my breakfast even though it was almost 2. That's kinda bad but I don't often skip breakfast and I got a little crazy with the walnuts last night so I wasn't in any danger of starvation mode.
I really wasn't very hungry all day, I've noticed that happens sometimes when I work out hard in the morning. I sorta forgot to eat. I made some hardboiled eggs, ate three of them mashed with some fat free butter. 245 calories.
Watched an episode of Firefly on the exercise bike, burned another 400 calories.
The next time I remembered to eat, was a few minutes ago. Vegan boyfriend was sweet and left me the rolls and sprouts and such for more yummy sandwiches. This time I used some leftover lemon pepper turkey breast instead of tofu. The turkey breast came from Celebrity Foods, it was absolutely lovely. Pre-seasoned, just throw it in the oven for 45 minutes and you've got lunch meat with no nitrates! Since the turkey is lower in calories than the tofu, that came in closer to 350 calories.
So ProTrack is set up for a goal of 1662 calories, a 500 calorie per day deficit, theoretically enough to lose 1 pound a week. It calculates calorie balance when you enter your food and exercise for the day. My balance is currently at 246 so I have 1400 calories left for the day! Sweetheart wants to spend them on an Outback Bloomin' Onion but I'm inclined to hoard them.
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