Stave off cravings: fight fire with fire

I had a hard night last night.  I was ultimately craving an alcoholic beverage.  I was ultimately craving junk food.  I was starving.  I was starving because I didn't eat a big enough lunch, and now I was paying the price.  Something had to be done.  What?

Well, the logical answer would be to go for a run, but I already did that, and that may have been part of the problem.  Earlier in the day I ran, worked out on the elliptical at the health club, and did lower body.  I also played basketball and went for a bike ride with Myles.  So I was overly exhausted, starving, and craving a beer.

So, what I did was, instead of letting myself crash, I had two beers and a few extra pretzels.  I think that was much better than getting lost in a pizza, drinking five beers, getting bloated.  I basically ended my craving with about 300 extra calories as opposed to 1500.  Sooooo, kudos to me.

My advice, therefore, is it's better to give in to your cravings, just enough (barely enough) to take the edge off, than it is to crash.  Having a nibble of a chocolate bar once daily (my wife lost 50 pounds doing that once), or having a beer a day, or whatever, will not prevent you from losing weight.

If you can lose weight by giving everything up you love, great.  However, if you are having temptations: fight fire with fire.  It's better than crashing ans staring over.

No more starting over

About a month ago my wife signed me up for a competition at a local health club.  I weighed in at 112, which was kind of disappointing considering I was down to 202 after doing the BFL from January to March.  I would like to note here, however, that I am now down to 200 and I will not go back up this time.  I am soooooo tired of quitting, and, thus, I am going to make that my new motto: "I'm tired of quitting."

Actually, I think the following would sound better: "No more starting over."  It's frustrating starting over, especially when you get down to where you were three months ago.  Actually, last year I was down to 192, so it's still hard to feel excited even about 200.  

However, I feel good, and that's what it's all about.  I feel good right now.  I feel like I have lost weight.  Better yet, I feel as though I've been eating healthy and lifting weights.  I feel good.  That, my friends, is what it's all about.  It's not about how much weight you have gained or lost, it's about how good you feel.  If you feel god about being overweight, then go for it: have another pizza.  

Me, on the other hand, I'm sticking to my new mottoe: "No more starting over." 

Day 1

Just because I don't write on hear every day doesn't mean I'm not working out, although it doesn't mean I'm working out either.  Today I decided I MUST get back on the wagon.  I decided to change the way I do things.  I decided that I'm up at 5 a.m. every day anyway to write, so I might as well sacrifice some of this time early in the morning to run.  So, today, as I had planned as I sat at work last Tuesday afternoon, I woke up today and trudged outside.  I didn't run far, because I was worried the 43 degree weather would bother my asthma, and it didn't.  I ran three long blocks down -- oh, what's the name of that street... I ran south three long blocks, cut over to James Street, and ran back.  I feel great for doing it.  Now I'm going to add to this.  I'm going to eat good today, and when I get home I'll feel GREAT knowing I already did my workout.  Hopefully I can build on this. Rick.

Day #68 of 84

Had a great upper body workout yesterday.  I did the following:

1. Chest: Chest presses followed by dumbell flyes for final 12
• 12 reps @ 115 pounds
• 10 @ 125
• 8 @ 135
• 6 @ 145
• 12 @ 135
• 12 @ 40
2. Shoulders: Shoulder presses followed by front raises for final 12
1. 12 @ 25
2. 10 @ 30
3. 8 @ 35
4. 6 @ 35
5. 12 @ 35
6. 12 @ 20
3. Back: wide grip lat puldowns, followed by close grip for final 12
4. Triceps: puldowns followed by overr head extensions at 35 pounds
5. Biceps: 20 pounds, 25 pounds, 25 pounds, 30 pounds; barbel at 20 pounds each side

Great burn.  Really worn after workout.  

Later in day set ramp on treadmill as high as would go and walked at 2.5 mph for 20 minutes.  great burn and great workout (100 calories)

Today did an interval run, with 3.5 lowest and running at 5mph for 6 of those minutes.  Great workout.  

Tips for fighting the urge to eat

So you are done eating your meal, and you still feel hungry.  Thankfully there are some things you can do do fight the urge to eat.  Here are some of my tips:

1. Chew sugar free gum
2. Have a tick-tack or a mint (but sugar free gum is better)
3. Brush your teeth when done eating.  This will send a signal to your brain that you are done eating
4. Drink water.  Drink lots of water.  It will fill your stomach.
5. If you must, eat free foods such as vegetables or pickles
6. Treat yourself after dinner to a treat (sugar free jello or pudding)
7. Find something else to do during your weak moments (like go for an extra run, play a game with your kids, go for a walk, go outside, go to the park, go to the library)

A change in diet

Well, we are now into week nine.  Yes, it sounds good to see eight weeks crossed off my BFL tracker.  I hit a wall about three weeks ago, and decided I needed not get frustrated but make a few changes in my workouts.  I discussed that last week.  I also had to make some changes in my diet.

When I start any diet I usually make my portion sizes on the high end.  I do that because I think if you start on the low end you will probably starve yourself.  Yet once your stomach gets used to the new diet, then you switch to the low end.  However, I think I went with the high end a little too long and my body figured out what I was up to.  So I hit a wall.

So this week I decided to start with the lower portions.  Its a little tougher, yet all last week I did pretty well with it.  You feel a little more hungry, but you start brushing your teeth, chewing more gum, and drinking more water instead of eating more.

Changing up your workouts is a good thing

I find that it's okay to mix and match your workouts because you'll need to confuse your body. It's good to do a variety of aerobic activities, and it's good to vary your weight training.

I notice that there are some folks who get concerned when they are lacking on time and wait 30 seconds between reps instead of a minute, but I think that's fine.  It often forces you to get an aerobic activity on a weight day, and it forces you to use a little less weight as well.  Light and rapid equals good.  

Another thing I do is mix up the way I do upper body.  Some days I do Chest, Shoulders, Back, Triceps and then Biceps.  But sometimes I do the exact opposite.  I think it's neat because on the days I do the former by the time I get to Biceps I can't lift that much.  Yet on the days I do the later, I find I can lift almost twice as much with my Biceps.  So I think it's good to mix it up.  

I think the next time I do such a workout I'm going to do back first, because that usually gets tossed into the middle.  I wonder how much weights I could lift with my back muscles if they were fresh.  

I also think it's good to do a variety of aerobic activities, such as basketball, racket ball, sprinting, etc., as opposed to getting on the treadmill each day.  Yet in the winter the treadmill is the only option for me.  So most days I do interval training, yet sometimes I mix it up and run at a slower pace and go for distance.  Yet since time is usually precious, I usually have to do the interval training.  

So mixing it up is good.