Dieting on the move

Weirdly enough, When I travel for work, I usually lose weight. Those time, I do not count calories. I approximate. Which is kind of a traumatic experience for an engineer, I concede. Surprising enough, It seems I am eating less than at home. My first guess is , when I am counting calories at Home, If i come short at night time, I will indulge myself with some cookie, glass of wine, anything to bring me close to the target.

Starbuck bistro box : 480 calories

On the opposite, when I am eating outside, I am always a little afraid to over eat, and ends up, even without conscious restriction except than some common sense, to eat less certainly. Knowing the food helps. Who would have guesses that there is almost 500 calories in a small starbuck proteins box ? And this should be my lunch ;)

Another thing that helps is that nowadays every hotel got a fitness cage. Usually small, and deserted, those are usually open 24/24, and it is easy in those boring stay to find one hour to go run and do some work.

Argonaut's "fitness center"

Paradoxically, being out of home free at lot of time, and I certainly exercise more than usual.

Last but not least, the five fingers packs super easy and I can take them all the time, even in the smallest bag.

No excuses !

Forrest gump on steroids - the real one

My last post remind me of this enlightened experience that freed Rich. No, I do not know him. Even if I read his book.But, "Rich" is cool, he would not mind I call him by his first name.

Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, 

Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself

"Then came what I like to call the Run (...) So instead of turning back after thirty minutes as I’d planned, I kept running, with a mind switched off but a spirit fully engaged. At two hours in, I was painlessly cruising over rolling grasslands above Brentwood and the famed Getty Museum, without a soul in sight.(...) A moment later the realization hit—I was still running away from my truck! (...) 
It let me know not just that I’d be okay, but that I was on the right track—that, in fact, this wasn’t just a run. 
It was the beginning of a new life. I did turn around, eventually, even though I really didn’t want to.(...)
For a guy who hadn’t run more than a few easy miles in countless years, it was remarkable.(...) It wasn’t until much later that I’d fully appreciate the extent and impact of the morning. But as I showered the grit and grime from my worn legs that afternoon, my body hummed with excitement and possibility. And without conscious thought, a huge grin spread across my face. In this moment I knew one thing for certain: I’d soon be seeking a challenge—and it would be a big one."

After this he went for the Ultra Man experience. Not sure I will follow him there, it looks a little out of my league. For now.

UltraMan SunRise

The ULTRAMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS are an athletic odyssey of personal rediscovery; as such, they are the next step in the endurance challenge of being human. Covering a total distance of 320 miles (515 kilometers), on the big island of Hawaii, they require that each participant complete a 6.2 mile (10 K) open ocean swim, a 261.4 mile (421 K) cross-country bike ride, and a 52.4 mile (84K) ultra-marathon run.

And you have to pay for it. $1500. And this is on invitations only. Only the 35 bests. OMG.

The story

Or for free, you can come to have a run with me. Less glorious, for sure ;)

Forrest gump on steroids

Well, not really, but I liked this title.

Last week, while in San Francisco for work, I woke up early (like all the others days in fact), And went for a small run. Did not have any plan, just wanted to run along the docks. Ended up to push it through the golden gate pillar. Only issue, I was already 40 minutes in, which is usually my limit, and had to come back.

I forgot how beautiful the Bay was

I guess I was just following the pace and enjoying the view. My only concern was for my hip. Would it hold ? And it did. After stretching, I felt more my sore muscles and foot skin blisters than anything else. I thought I was cured. Well, the day after, I could still feel it, then I revisited this opinion by : It is way better. I can now run 7 miles at a 5 mph pace (which is quite slow, I agree). However, running 80 minutes is way more than I Ever did in a long long time.

Now I am reading this:

What is the next step ?

(relatively) Easy Diet explained (1) : Fears (7)

My wife asked me to do a real post for a change. She suspected I did not have anything else to say. How wrong. I have always some fears to share ;)

How long will I have to do this diet ? All my life ? Will I be struggling for the rest of my life with food ? Will that have to become part of me ?

Quick answer is : No. :)

The only goal of the diet  is to bring me to my "ideal" weight, and from there, to keep it. The reason is obvious, if you have to stick to a weight for the rest of your life, why not pick 155lbs instead of 180lbs ? It became an evidence to me that I will have to do some weight management in any case. You cannot just gain weight over and over, a couple of pounds every year. That was happening to me those last 5 or 6 years. Insidious. One pound every year, give or take. Slow and unconscious process. Now that I understood, OK, I will have to hold to my weight, it became obvious, Well, let s make sure that we make this worth it, let s stay to a weight that is ideal.

In fact, in a book about running, that was the first comment : It is way easier to run light than heavy. Then, If you want to lose weight, do not try to train and lose weight afterward. Lose weight now, and starts to train when you are light enough to not damage your joints and overall body structure. I told this already, but any sport that is hard on the joint should not be the first one you pick to try to be "back in shape". Running is bad for joints. Runners are one of the most injured category of all. Try swimming. cycling. Even steps seems to me to save your joints.

But again, weight management is not about doing exercise. Weight management is all about to learn about food, daily needs, and hunger management.


"Appetite is important. It is your body’s built-in mechanism for food intake regulation, and its job is to drive you to eat enough to meet your body’s energy and micronutrient needs, and no more. The appetite mechanism works very well under normal circumstances, having survived millions of years of evolutionary testing to the benefit of our health. But our modern lifestyle does not constitute “normal circumstances” in relation to the environment in which most of our evolution took place. Consequently, we can’t rely entirely on our appetite to ensure that we don’t overeat."

by Matt Fitzgerald

Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance

And the beauty of the thing is eventually, you get used to eat less. The body is a wonderful thing. It can adapt to eating too much, and it can adapt to eat just enough.

Training seen from an adaptation perspective:

Training results in fatigue. Following the fatigue phase, a period of recovery and then supercompensation follows. If training does not occur, then a return to baseline fitness follows (adapted from Selye, 1956).

1000

A few post ago, we went over 1000 pages read. I guess some people finds this diary interesting enough to at least click on it, if not reading it ;)

In doubt, I will continue...
After all, I am not writing this for you all, but for me ;)


To celebrate this, I have added tags to all my 42 posts !

Salute !