January 9, 2012

Enjoying 2012 so far?

How's the new year treating you? Are you happy with yourself or displeased with what you have/haven't done so far? If you're down on yourself, just STOP IT and think about tomorrow as New Year's day. Do with that new start as you will, or not, but don't waste time worrying about the past week or so.


I had a great walk this morning. The last one was less fun because it was mostly in "sugar sand" and felt like I was walking along a beach. Very tiring!


I had  residual fatigue after that and even after 2 days off I noticed a little tightness when I started off this morning. The 2 off days were because of family activities but I wasn't eager to walk yesterday anyhow.


So this morning I walked for an hour on much better footing and enjoyed the scenery and the activity much more.  At one point in my walk I went past the edge of the golf course I live next to and I was delighted to see a white heron. 


I was in a "working" state for most of the walk, feeling warm with increased but not labored breathing and for the final 20 minutes my body was ready to stop at any time but I wasn't in sharp distress. Needless to say, my breakfast of yogurt and fruit about 3 hours later tasted GOOD!


The delay between finishing my walk and eating breakfast was because I am one of the many for whom exercise means little or no appetite. I think it's because I perform very well in a fasted state--my bodily easily releases and burns stored fat so I don't need food for energy--and my mildly aerobic walks don't burn fuel fast enough to exhaust the stored fuel in my muscles and/or the replacement of those stores from the burning of released fat. And stoking up my metabolism with brisk walking floods my system with endorphin and fuel so  I don't feel a need to eat for quite a while afterward. So there's no need to eat before, during or after the walk but that would probably not be true for highly intense activity. 


I'm also happy with my eating in the past week. On most days I had a green salad with my main meal but a couple times I skipped the salad. On a few days I ate cuts of whole meat and on others I ate bone broth stew with chunks of several types of meat and cooked vegetables. Yesterday I was unusually hungry so I ate a little more than other days.


Yesterday after my usual breakfast of full-fat fruit with yogurt I had a nice large piece of browned ham steak at mid-day and in late afternoon I ate some crispy/baked chicken wings. So it was a low carb day although it wasn't VERY low. In case you're wondering, I was very high energy for my walk today and at the end of the hour I wasn't lagging or starving so obviously I did just fine on what I ate the day or two before.


And that's what it's all about--I am skeptical of people who say I HAVE to go very low carb or very high carb, or very low meat or very high  meat. I think I should eat what I'm hungry for from my supply of whole meats and foods and let nature take its course. Since I notice some variety in what I'm hungry for from one day to the next I'm unconvinced of there being one "right" way.


Well, if you followed my weight-loss series please don't be a stranger. Leave me a comment and tell me what I got wrong and what you're learning from your own reactions and experiences after any eating/activity changes you've made.


My next post will be about binge eating. That may take me a day or a week but it will be posted fairly soon.







4 comments:

  1. I've enjoyed reading your weight loss installments. As usual, your writing style is encouraging, relaxing, and informative. I like your advice today about pretending tomorrow is New Year's Day all over again. I've been procrastinating bike riding and walking, but now I think I will start, because after all, tomorrow really IS a new day full of promise!

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  2. As a professional procrastinator, I love the idea of 'every day is new year's day' Just before Christmas I read something on Jack Kruse's blog that inspired me... I had intended to give up sugar at New Year. Instead, I did it there and then - before Christmas (!)
    I'm still 'on the wagon' and feeling really good about myself... and it wasn't as hard as I'd imagined. In fact, the most difficult part has been dodging the saboteurs... :-)

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  3. Ah, yes, Janet. You just have to love the saboteurs, don't you? It puzzles me that loved ones will support me in many areas but are stressed when I change how I eat even though it's so important for my health. Hmm.

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