Out Of The Mouths Of Babes
Yesterday I did an upper body workout and my son said, “Wow, you do more push ups and do them better than I do.” Nice compliment, but… Day before that he told me “I know you’re 48 but you look 25.” I thought how nice. Then he said, “But only because you’re so short.” Thanks kid. At least he didn’t say I look like a Hobbit. Probably because my feet aren’t hairy.
The Three Hour Workout
Yesterday I started my workout at 1:30 pm and finished it at 4:30 pm. Wow, a three hour workout!
Well, not exactly. I got interrupted about every 15 minutes or so by a pet wanting to go out / come in, or a chore begging to be done like moving laundry from washer to dryer. Bruno got home early, wanted lunch, then demanded the definition of some ridiculously big word. I had to Google it because I couldn’t think of a good explanation with sweat dripping off my forehead. Then Jerry got home and I took another break to ask him how his day went and look at some goodies he brought home (Thanks, Don!) and read the mail.
So I probably got an hour or so total workout time over the course of three hours. I clocked 35 minutes on the Rock N Roll Stepper (timed), and 6 sets each x varied reps x 5 body parts (triceps, biceps, shoulders, back, chest) of weight lifting.
The point I wanted to make is that you don’t have to carve out a whole one hour block of time to workout. Exercise is cumulative. You do not have to literally jam every exercise, every set, and every repetition into a rigid block of time. Breaking up your workouts into multiple spread throughout the day has even been shown to raise metabolism better than one session.
Studies show that post aerobic metabolism returns to normal within 60 minutes of working out. If you break your aerobic workout up into several sessions spread throughout the day you are raising your metabolism more often. The same thing happens when you eat your daily caloric allowance spread across six meals instead of three. Food and digestion have a thermal effect and raise metabolism. The more times you eat (small meals not Super-sized Big Mac meals) the more often you raise metabolism.
Weight lifting raises your post workout metabolism for a longer period of time - you can get an after burn up to 48 hours. This is another example of the value of weight lifting / resistance training.
“Accumulate is so important because exercise is accumulative, so you don't have to do it all at once. Which means you can split our workouts into as many different sessions in a day that you want. Two 15 minute workouts, three 10 minute workouts or ten 3 minute sessions (you get the idea) Splitting your workout into manageable portions works wonders for most people especially those who don't have access to a gym. So you can workout at home while watching the Today show in the morning and then workout again while watching Oprah in the afternoon. I have had lots of clients lose so much weight and get so healthy splitting their workouts like this.” - From “Can You Exercise For Just 10 Minutes and Still Lose Weight? by Kenn Kihiu
Cheat To Lose Week Three
I’m on day 16 of The Cheat To Lose Diet by Joel Marion and it’s a relief to not be eating so strictly. Week one, which looks like Atkins induction without cheese, was hard on me.
A day on week one looked like this:
Breakfast – egg white omelet with vegetables
Snack – protein shake
Lunch – 3 ounces chicken, mixed greens with 1 tablespoon olive oil
Snack – 2 tablespoons peanut butter and celery sticks
Dinner – 4 ounces fillet of sole, spinach with butter
A day on week two, Lower GI/GL, looked like this:
Breakfast – Scrambled eggs, 1 cup strawberries
Snack – 3 ounces ham, pineapple slices
Lunch - 2 tablespoons peanut butter on whole wheat toast
Snack – protein shake with ½ banana
Dinner – 4 ounce pork tenderloin, ½ cup sweet potato, zucchini
Week three which is Higher GI/GL allows pasta, potatoes, pancakes, and the like (all three of which I’m just not into but hey, I’ll make an exception). Last night I had two stuffed breadsticks with my one cup of spaghetti and meatballs! And breakfast this morning was ham on a 100 % whole wheat English muffin with dried fruit. I LIKE week three. And I definitely feel better and have more energy now that I’m eating some carbohydrates.
I find it ironic that a diet (more on The Cheat To Lose Diet) meant to allow for greater flexibility than most diets was harder for me to follow (particularly week one). My time on the Power 90X Nutrition Plan was more flexible and I didn’t have to pass on the pasta, fruit, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, or or whole wheat bread. And I enjoyed pizza and wine when I wanted it (about once a week on the pizza). After losing about 10 percent body fat and 10 pounds I was staying between 112 and 116 pounds for months.
When I got the flu in February and missed a month of workouts and ate erratically (very little food to anything I wanted) I topped out at 120 pounds. Now, don’t laugh at me, I’m 5 feet tall on a good day. And my body fat percentage, while in the decent range of 18 to 22 percent is not where I want to be when we open our swimming pool this summer.
Now on week three I’m at 116.5 pounds (barely post menstrual so that may go down soon), and I’ve lost 3 ¾ inches since January 15th. No big whoosh but not bad either.
Right now I think I could live on The Cheat To Lose Diet particularly when I’m passed the Priming Phase of three weeks (one week of low carb, one week of Lower GI/GL, one week of Higher GI/GL, day 22 is cheat day), and I’m on the Core Phase (two days low carb, two days Lower GI/GL, two days Higher GI/GL, day seven is cheat day).
But I’m not seeing any grand whoosh.
Kitten Photos - Three Days Old
