This week I'm doing an experiment on the effectiveness of short interval cardio. I know a lot of us rather workout less if we can still get the same result. I mean why spend one hour on the treadmill if you can get the same result by working out say 20 minute.
But the question is, can you get the same result by working out less? Well this is the point I try to find out this week. So far for the last 8 weeks I have been under the assumption that more is better. So I have been consistently doing cardio for 60 minutes 6-7 days a week and on top of that I have been trying to do strength training 3 times a week. However that needs serious time commitment and I wonder if why I get busy I find myself an excuse that I don't really have the time to go to the gym. Another downside of long workouts is the possibility of injury and wear an tear of our joins.
My new cardio consist of the following formula which I learned when I was doing body for life 10 years ago. I will give this combo 2 weeks to test the result. I'm still doing cardio 6 days a week in the morning and weights 3 times at night because I tried to do the cardio after weights and it just doesn't work. It is too intense of a work out and my body just didn't have the energy.
Effort 5 should be easy get your heart rate going but you should be able to be at this difficulty for extended period of time. When I started body for life level 5 is like 3 mph speed on treadmill. I'm at 4 mph now
On treadmill
Minute 1 level 5. 4mph
Minute 2. Level 5. 4mpr
Minute 3. Level 6. 4.5mpr
Minute 4. Level7. 5mpr
Minute 5. Level 8. 5.5mpr
Minute 6. Level 9. 6mpr
Minute 7. Level 6. 4.5mpr
Minute 8. Level 7. 5mpr
Minute 9. Level 8. 5.5mpr
Minute 10. Level 9. 6 mpr
Minute 11. Level 6. 4.5mpr
Minute 12. Level 7. 5mpr
Minute 13. Level 8. 5.5mpr
Minute 14. Level 9. 6mpr
Minute 15. Level 6. 4.5mpr
Minute 16. Level 7. 5mpr
Minute 17. Level 8. 5.5mpr
Minute 18. Level 9. 6mpr
Minute 19. Level 10 6.5mpr all out( you should be in heart zone 5 now really super intense for me was like 175-180 hr)
Minute 20. Level 5 cool down
Around minute 15 is really tempting to give up but resist the temptation and you will feel greate at the end.
You should adjust your levels according to your own body. You can start at level 5 be equivalent to 2mpr and increase say .2. Notice your work out if you feel you can do more then add a little higher intensity next time. If its too hard reduce it (start slowly you can always slowly add more)it may take a few try to get it just right and from that point on you will need to increase it periodically (once a week would be good) because you will get stronger. If the pace gets too fast you can increase the difficulty from increasing the incline setting.
I find it useful to write down ahead what I'm doing in my notebook and have that in front of me when I workout so I don't get confused. My average hr from this 20 minute workout is 155 as oppose to one hr on treadmill I'm usually at average of 130-140hr range
Showing posts with label 90 day challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 90 day challenge. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Even better than expected 3rd weight in results (week #2)
I woke up early to go to the gym to get my measurements as part of the 90 day challenge. It has been exactly 2 weeks since I started the challenge and here is my latest results! Drum roll please...
Weight: this week is 128.5, last week was 132.1 that's 3.6 lbs! 2 weeks ago my weight was 134. That is 5.5 lbs in 2 weeks! When I started in January 3rd i weighted 136
Body fat percentage: this week is 28.8 %;last week was 27.8 % and two weeks ago was 31.7. Since the challenge I have lost 2% body fat January 3rd my body fat was 32.8%
Body Measurement wise since January 3 rd
I lost 2.5 inches in my waist, 2 inches in my hip, 2 inches at lower waist (around belly button) I can't wait to try on the black dress I brought from Zara last year that was too tight and see how it fit now
This is also second week of my low carb journey. Except the very first two days, I really feel good and ate delicious nutritious meals that didn't make me feel deprived. Even my old favorite thing rice, has lost it's attraction ;)
Here are some of my observations:
1) dietary fat doesn't translate to body fat. During these last two weeks I tracked meticulously everything that enters my mouth and I can say with certainty that my fat intake (both saturated and unsaturated from plant say coconut oil, or animal say fat on ribeye and butter) did not cause me to gain fat rather I lost fat. Our daily calories from fat is about 55-60, calories from carb is around 17-25 %and protein is 20-28%
2) the meat we eat is exact same amount than before usually 3-4 oz per meal. The difference is the leanness. We now eat fattier meats then before, like thighs, lambs, ribeyes occasionally.
3) I slacked off big time in work out this last week. I only did weights on time as oppose to 3 and my cardio was more lay back like walking or elliptical at easy setting. I totally didn't do any pushups either. That may explain why I lost some weight that wasn't fat... I'm hopping it is water and not muscle, but this week I will refocus on workout. I don't want to loose my precious muscle that I work so hard to get. I'm surprised that despite all I lost 2.6 lbs and 1% body fat. Nutrition and what one eats is really important.
What I will change to my routine and do different this week
Last week I wrote that I want to walk after meals for 15 min and not eat anything before bedtime ( if I'm really hungry I will drink half a cup of warm almond milk, but I hadn't have to all week) the result is I didn't do the walks consistently but I was able to stop snacking before bed.
This week I will continue to not snack before bed or even 3 hr before bedtime and I will also do push-ups on tue, thu and Saturdays so they don't conflict with weight lifting days.
After weight lifting instead of doing one hr regular low heart rate cardio I will do 20 min interval cardio.
I will continue on the low carb diet since I can't see going back to the old way of eating. I do budget for 2 cheat meals per week but so far I have been using just one a week because I don't have any strong cravings.
Lets see if those changes will improve next week numbers!
Weight: this week is 128.5, last week was 132.1 that's 3.6 lbs! 2 weeks ago my weight was 134. That is 5.5 lbs in 2 weeks! When I started in January 3rd i weighted 136
Body fat percentage: this week is 28.8 %;last week was 27.8 % and two weeks ago was 31.7. Since the challenge I have lost 2% body fat January 3rd my body fat was 32.8%
Body Measurement wise since January 3 rd
I lost 2.5 inches in my waist, 2 inches in my hip, 2 inches at lower waist (around belly button) I can't wait to try on the black dress I brought from Zara last year that was too tight and see how it fit now
This is also second week of my low carb journey. Except the very first two days, I really feel good and ate delicious nutritious meals that didn't make me feel deprived. Even my old favorite thing rice, has lost it's attraction ;)
Here are some of my observations:
1) dietary fat doesn't translate to body fat. During these last two weeks I tracked meticulously everything that enters my mouth and I can say with certainty that my fat intake (both saturated and unsaturated from plant say coconut oil, or animal say fat on ribeye and butter) did not cause me to gain fat rather I lost fat. Our daily calories from fat is about 55-60, calories from carb is around 17-25 %and protein is 20-28%
2) the meat we eat is exact same amount than before usually 3-4 oz per meal. The difference is the leanness. We now eat fattier meats then before, like thighs, lambs, ribeyes occasionally.
3) I slacked off big time in work out this last week. I only did weights on time as oppose to 3 and my cardio was more lay back like walking or elliptical at easy setting. I totally didn't do any pushups either. That may explain why I lost some weight that wasn't fat... I'm hopping it is water and not muscle, but this week I will refocus on workout. I don't want to loose my precious muscle that I work so hard to get. I'm surprised that despite all I lost 2.6 lbs and 1% body fat. Nutrition and what one eats is really important.
What I will change to my routine and do different this week
Last week I wrote that I want to walk after meals for 15 min and not eat anything before bedtime ( if I'm really hungry I will drink half a cup of warm almond milk, but I hadn't have to all week) the result is I didn't do the walks consistently but I was able to stop snacking before bed.
This week I will continue to not snack before bed or even 3 hr before bedtime and I will also do push-ups on tue, thu and Saturdays so they don't conflict with weight lifting days.
After weight lifting instead of doing one hr regular low heart rate cardio I will do 20 min interval cardio.
I will continue on the low carb diet since I can't see going back to the old way of eating. I do budget for 2 cheat meals per week but so far I have been using just one a week because I don't have any strong cravings.
Lets see if those changes will improve next week numbers!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
A few personal observations of my low carb experience
After watching the video "Why we get fat" I immediately started a 2 week personal experiment to rid all pasta, rice, bread, sugar, beans, legumes from my diet. I started on Sunday Feb 17, and thanks to the meticulous food log i have been keeping I can look back and write this review.
This list below is my personal experience. I'm not sure if its correct, but it is how food makes me feel this week:
1) before I started watching for the carbs i was eating between 1250 and 1560 calories and about 150-170 grams of carbs. After I implement the low carb, except for the first day Sunday I had 104 g of carb the rest has been lower than 60 grams. The last 2 days has been below 50 grams and calorie wise i have been less than 1250 every day.
2) I always eat something when I'm hungry. I believe that hunger is our body's way to tell us a message. I never starve myself or miss a meal. the first 2 days on low carb I ate 104 g and 74 gram respectively and like I said i felt really tired and hungry by 4/5 pm. I was so tired i had to lay down and take a nap. I think my body was used to use the carb in the food, but since i was eating less carb, and the body hasn't gotten used to use stored fat as energy, its nagging for me to feed it more carbs. I notice that if I feed my body cheese or protein or nuts, the hunger will not go away until i give in and feed it a bit of starchy carb. The second day i had to eat some whole wheat pasta (1/4 of cup) because of this same reason. However once my body readjusted to this diet for the past 2 days I was able to eat less total calories and feel full all the time. I think my body is burning stored fat and absolutely no carb craving.
3)I have to get rid of milk and yogurt. I have switched from low fat to whole fat yogurt and milk for a while. I usually drink a milk after work out. I have been doing this for more than a month, but I have to stop. I'm never too crazy for milk any ways and it has a lot of sugar even the whole milk. I cut back on dairy and now I feel much better.
4) I'm enjoying a new found freedom with this new food paradym. Like most of you I'm sure, I have been brainwashed in thinking that low fat is better. Now i think moderated fat (fattier cut of meat, cream, butter, avocado, coconut oil, coconut milk and nuts) are all good for us and I feel no guilt eating one of the home made grapefruit panacotta, or home made coconut chocolate both without using sugar or honey, just al natural.
5) I eat a lot of colorful veggies now that I'm low carb then when i was eating balance. colorful veggies such as kale, broccoli, cauliflower, butternut squash, spaghetti squash all have low carbs compared to fruits and super low glycimic index. Fernando says our bodies have evolved to eat this kind of veggies as opposed to fruits. Because fruits are only available in certain seasons, and climates and they weren't as abundant or as sweet as now.
6) over all i feel better with low carb diet and i feel it is more healthy for me. I think carb (rice, pasta, bread) are addictive. Once you have a little it is impossible to stop. So my strategies is not to eat them during the week and only eat them on the weekend. This way, I can satisfy my cravings for say Chinese food and ramen, but still during the weekday i don't have any temptation of over eating, because no rice is available lol. I will implement this lifestyle once the two weeks are up. I may extend it to 1 month. I'm planning on getting blood work done after 30 days.
7) I'm very happy that this diet is good for Jose, my diabetic father in law. He doesn't cook at all, so he has to eat whatever I prepare lol. He has replaced his old breakfast of 2 or 3 thick slices of whole wheat bread with 1 banana and blue cheese to a nopales omelet and an apple or pear. His portions have reduced for all meals. He is eating lunch with us now where before he was so stuff with the bread he would skip lunch and not eat anything until dinner. Myrna also likes all this new foods I've been preparing. I think the rice with arsenic article really got to her.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Amazing results in my 2nd 90 day challenge weight-in
Today is the second weight in since I started the 90 day challenge at lifetime fitness. When I first signed up for the gym back in the beginning of January I weighted 136 lbs and had a body fat index of 32.7.
Last Tuesday when I started the 90 day challenge my official weight in was 134 lb and body fat was 31.8
Today's official weight in was 132.1 lbs and body fat of 29.8 %! I lost more weight and body fat in the last week then the previous 6 weeks combine! I'm very excited about the result. My goal is to reach 20% body fat and 120 lbs (which was my weight in college). Fernando also promised me to take me to eat at French laundry when I accomplish this goal
Like I have said, my workouts has been pretty much the same since jan 3rd. May be last week I workout just slightly harder and didn't miss any day ( but even before I started the challenge I was working out 5-6 days a week)
I do think this significant progress is due to my diet and directly related from cutting out pasta, rice, starchy veggies. Another change I started was I added cla supplement from Costco last week. I take two capsules with meal 3 times a day.
Before i start on low carb i was already not eating any sugar product and nothing processed, but i was eating moderate amount of rice, pasta and carb with each meal because that is what a balanced meal should be. The first day on low carb I felt pretty sleepy and moody. The second day which was yesterday was equally miserable around 4-7 pm. I had to eat a small amount of whole wheat pasta. But today it's going well so far.
Cla has shown in studies that combined with exercise it help body release fat from fat cells and utilize them. It also shown that it can reduced the size of over stretch fat cells thus reduce belly fat. One literature I read says that it may increase triglyceride in blood so I'm getting my blood work done after I finish my 30 day supply before I repurchased.
It's week I'm going to implements a few changes to my routines
1) 15 min slow pace walk around the house immediately after each meal
2) do not snack before going to bed. Try to go to bed no later then 11 pm (at 12 is when I really star getting hungry) if I'm hungry I will have a small piece of cheese or half a cup of warm almond milk.
I have been reading the " why are we fat" book and it is really eye opening. I will write a book review when I'm done with it.
Last Tuesday when I started the 90 day challenge my official weight in was 134 lb and body fat was 31.8
Today's official weight in was 132.1 lbs and body fat of 29.8 %! I lost more weight and body fat in the last week then the previous 6 weeks combine! I'm very excited about the result. My goal is to reach 20% body fat and 120 lbs (which was my weight in college). Fernando also promised me to take me to eat at French laundry when I accomplish this goal
Like I have said, my workouts has been pretty much the same since jan 3rd. May be last week I workout just slightly harder and didn't miss any day ( but even before I started the challenge I was working out 5-6 days a week)
I do think this significant progress is due to my diet and directly related from cutting out pasta, rice, starchy veggies. Another change I started was I added cla supplement from Costco last week. I take two capsules with meal 3 times a day.
Before i start on low carb i was already not eating any sugar product and nothing processed, but i was eating moderate amount of rice, pasta and carb with each meal because that is what a balanced meal should be. The first day on low carb I felt pretty sleepy and moody. The second day which was yesterday was equally miserable around 4-7 pm. I had to eat a small amount of whole wheat pasta. But today it's going well so far.
Cla has shown in studies that combined with exercise it help body release fat from fat cells and utilize them. It also shown that it can reduced the size of over stretch fat cells thus reduce belly fat. One literature I read says that it may increase triglyceride in blood so I'm getting my blood work done after I finish my 30 day supply before I repurchased.
It's week I'm going to implements a few changes to my routines
1) 15 min slow pace walk around the house immediately after each meal
2) do not snack before going to bed. Try to go to bed no later then 11 pm (at 12 is when I really star getting hungry) if I'm hungry I will have a small piece of cheese or half a cup of warm almond milk.
I have been reading the " why are we fat" book and it is really eye opening. I will write a book review when I'm done with it.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
First day of my sort-of low carb diet
I consider it's sort of low carb diet, because by all means I'm eating carbs specially vegetables, and some low glycemic fruits. what I'm not eating in the next 2 weeks is white rice or brown rice, corn, starchy veggies like potatoes, taro, yam etc. I'm also not eating any product made with white or even whole wheat flour, no pasta of any sort. The purpose of this food experiment is to see if I those carbs are causing secretion of extra insulin which prevents fat loss. I'm also not eating any process food and sugar of any kind( see my article about " why e get fat")
We all have our weakness when it comes to food, some of us may like sweets or bread or pasta, and when we are in front of our favorite food it's so hard to stop or exert any kind of self control. My weakness is rice :) I'm lucky that I never crave for sweets or any other starch the way I crave for rice.
My new diet consist mainly of protein, green veggies, nuts, some fruits, whole fat yogurt, squash, cheese, eggs.
In the morning I made 3 egg (1 whole egg with 2 egg white) omelet with nopal into, green bell pepper, onion and spinach for Fernando and I. We also had coffee and half of an red delicious. I think going forward I will make the omelet with whole egg and add some cheddar cheese in addition to the veggies. I will also replace apple with grapefruit or strawberries.
We had breakfast at 8-8:30 am. This breakfast kept me full until about 11:30 am. I felt hungry so I ate a handful of walnuts. That was 148 calories! I don't know who claimed that fats from nuts keep you feeling full, that was not the case with me. By 12 noon I was starving again. This time I fixed some lunch. I ate left over pork chop (3oz) and 2 cups of sauté kale. I think I may need more protein or add portion of squash or something because I was hungry again at 1:30-2 pm. I foraged in the kitchen and drank 3/4 cup of unsweet almond milk with unsweet cocoa(just 45 cal) I was feeling pretty tired and just over all a sense of dissatisfaction. It gave me a headache and I felt sleepy. At 3 pm I ate 1/2 of a small grapefruit and took a nap. I only sleep 6 hrs last night and may be my headache was due to the lack of sleep. I woke up at 6 feeling hungry and so I got up and made Chinese American style chicken (4 oz) and 1 cup of bake butternut squash and 1 cup of broccoli. Feel so much better now
I think tomorrow I will pair my protein with squash. I think it makes me feel better and more satisfied. I'm thinking about making spaghetti squash and pair that with meatballs. Hopefully I was just tired for lack of sleep and not having a rice withdraw lol.
Observation
1) fat from olive oil, butter, nuts and avocado don't keep me full. Need to eat those high cal food with care
2) I ate about 90 g carb, 94 g of protein and 46 g of fat but so far only 1079 cal. After my work out I probably will eat some yogurt to complete 1200 cal at least. But I'm really not hungry after dinner. I think I need to make lunch portion bigger next time.
We all have our weakness when it comes to food, some of us may like sweets or bread or pasta, and when we are in front of our favorite food it's so hard to stop or exert any kind of self control. My weakness is rice :) I'm lucky that I never crave for sweets or any other starch the way I crave for rice.
My new diet consist mainly of protein, green veggies, nuts, some fruits, whole fat yogurt, squash, cheese, eggs.
In the morning I made 3 egg (1 whole egg with 2 egg white) omelet with nopal into, green bell pepper, onion and spinach for Fernando and I. We also had coffee and half of an red delicious. I think going forward I will make the omelet with whole egg and add some cheddar cheese in addition to the veggies. I will also replace apple with grapefruit or strawberries.
We had breakfast at 8-8:30 am. This breakfast kept me full until about 11:30 am. I felt hungry so I ate a handful of walnuts. That was 148 calories! I don't know who claimed that fats from nuts keep you feeling full, that was not the case with me. By 12 noon I was starving again. This time I fixed some lunch. I ate left over pork chop (3oz) and 2 cups of sauté kale. I think I may need more protein or add portion of squash or something because I was hungry again at 1:30-2 pm. I foraged in the kitchen and drank 3/4 cup of unsweet almond milk with unsweet cocoa(just 45 cal) I was feeling pretty tired and just over all a sense of dissatisfaction. It gave me a headache and I felt sleepy. At 3 pm I ate 1/2 of a small grapefruit and took a nap. I only sleep 6 hrs last night and may be my headache was due to the lack of sleep. I woke up at 6 feeling hungry and so I got up and made Chinese American style chicken (4 oz) and 1 cup of bake butternut squash and 1 cup of broccoli. Feel so much better now
I think tomorrow I will pair my protein with squash. I think it makes me feel better and more satisfied. I'm thinking about making spaghetti squash and pair that with meatballs. Hopefully I was just tired for lack of sleep and not having a rice withdraw lol.
Observation
1) fat from olive oil, butter, nuts and avocado don't keep me full. Need to eat those high cal food with care
2) I ate about 90 g carb, 94 g of protein and 46 g of fat but so far only 1079 cal. After my work out I probably will eat some yogurt to complete 1200 cal at least. But I'm really not hungry after dinner. I think I need to make lunch portion bigger next time.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Why we get fat? What surprised me and may shock you too
Many of you may have heard me complained about the fact that despite my diligent and consistent exercise and keeping a calorie journal i have not lost much weight in almost one month and half. My family would even as far as call me obsess with counting intake and expenditure calories however if the conventional wisdom is true that for every 3500 calories in deficit I should loose one pound of fat then I should have lost at least one pound per week or more so by now I should have lost 5-7 pounds and not just 1.8 pounds.
I always say lack of success doesn't mean lack of progress, because I do feel that I'm stronger and I can surely lift more weight, run faster and do more push up then I started so I'm happy with the progress. Also i have noticed that i enjoy exercise more and my skin is better as result of all the cardio, but I really want to know why I'm not loosing more weight, body fat and inches. According to my last thursday weight in i have lost 1% body fat from 32.7 to 31.8. mind you, this is after 7 weeks of hard labor. This curiosity really drives me crazy.
In an article in the January/February issue lifetime fitness magazine (which I read religiously when I'm bored in the sauna) I read an interested article that make mention of a book call" why we get fat" the author gary taubes seems to have impressive credentials and if anyone claims to know why we get fat (or why we can't loose the fat) I want to know!
At home with Fernando we googled the talk by Gary taubes
Wow, it really open my eyes! This is an old book it was out in 2011 and his previous book good carb bad carb was out in 2007. I guess I'm just a late adopter and I'm just now hearing it for the first time. I highly recommend you watch this youtube video. I never really understood all the fuzz about the low carbs, paleo diets and like many of you thought Akins diet was suicidal. I wish someone would have explained to me in such simple terms as Gary did in this video years ago.
What I learn from this video are the following conclusions and for supporting arguments/evidences please refer to the book or the video.
1) while calorie in and calorie out is important more important is why our body use the calorie to store it instead of using it ?
2) insulin controls the gate to the fat cells; when insulin levels is high fatty acid goes inside of fat cells and when insulin is low the fatty acid leaves fat cells ( thus reducing the size of fat cell)and the fatty acids can be used as fuel and energy to maintain body functions.
3) as we know, insulin is secreted primary as a respond to high glucose in the blood. High glucose or spike in glucose is caused by eating too much, sweets or refined carbohydrates or other high glycemic food such as white bread, pasta and some fruit such as bananas and grapes.
If those statements are true then if insulin levels are high, even if you are exercising and eating less, your body will not allow you to used store fat. I have said before that I believe in eating in moderation and I don't restrict any type of carb. In other words I believed an calorie is a calorie no matter what and white rice is just as good as brown rice when eating in moderation, under your calorie budget. But now I see that while calorie wise they may be similar the white rice will increase my insulting thus making burning stored fat difficult and facilitate increase of new fat storage
While I'm still going to research more on this subject and will continue to update the readers on my findings I will change my daily routine to test a few hypothesis:
1) I will still count calories with myfitnesspal but starting from tomorrow I will research the glycemic index of all food I put in my mouth and only eat high glycemic index food. In addition I will cut rice, (brown or white) flour and all flour derived products (white and whole wheat), corn, potatoes and all starchy carbs. I'm not saying I will never eat them again (I'm too much in love with food to make that kind of long term commitment) but for this experiment I will do so for 2 weeks at least. Since I'm in the 90 day challenge at lifetime, I will get my body fat accurate measured every week so I should be able to see if this changes anything. I will eat plenty of veggie, mostly lean protein, but I will eat egg yolks and and whole milk product
2) after workout I usually drink 1% milk to replenish carb and protein. I will change it to whole milk or whole yogurt even thought the calorie is higher but glycemic index is lower. Instead of drinking anything with added cane sugar as ingredient (in protein shakes) I will eat a piece of lowglycemic fruit.
3) as far as exercise I will keep it the same so that I can easily compare to previously 7 weeks. Basically I do 7 day cardio for one hour with heart rate between 120-130. I also do 5 sets of push up 3 times a week and strength training 3 times a week rotating from upper and lower body.
4) I will research more about insulin and find out what else triggers insulin secretion in the body and if there is any other triggers for fatty acid movement (in and out of fat cells)
5) I have started to take cla supplement from Costco 3 times a day(2 tablets each) some literature suggest that cla plays a role in helping body burn stored fat with moderate exercise and reduce fat cell size.
6) eat smaller meals and more often to reduce glycemic load and maintain insulin levels constant
This should be an interesting experimentation. I would be happy to report back and share my results. In addition I'm also researching genetic differences between Asian and American population and what should be the ideal diets for optimal health. So stay tune!
I always say lack of success doesn't mean lack of progress, because I do feel that I'm stronger and I can surely lift more weight, run faster and do more push up then I started so I'm happy with the progress. Also i have noticed that i enjoy exercise more and my skin is better as result of all the cardio, but I really want to know why I'm not loosing more weight, body fat and inches. According to my last thursday weight in i have lost 1% body fat from 32.7 to 31.8. mind you, this is after 7 weeks of hard labor. This curiosity really drives me crazy.
In an article in the January/February issue lifetime fitness magazine (which I read religiously when I'm bored in the sauna) I read an interested article that make mention of a book call" why we get fat" the author gary taubes seems to have impressive credentials and if anyone claims to know why we get fat (or why we can't loose the fat) I want to know!
Wow, it really open my eyes! This is an old book it was out in 2011 and his previous book good carb bad carb was out in 2007. I guess I'm just a late adopter and I'm just now hearing it for the first time. I highly recommend you watch this youtube video. I never really understood all the fuzz about the low carbs, paleo diets and like many of you thought Akins diet was suicidal. I wish someone would have explained to me in such simple terms as Gary did in this video years ago.
What I learn from this video are the following conclusions and for supporting arguments/evidences please refer to the book or the video.
1) while calorie in and calorie out is important more important is why our body use the calorie to store it instead of using it ?
2) insulin controls the gate to the fat cells; when insulin levels is high fatty acid goes inside of fat cells and when insulin is low the fatty acid leaves fat cells ( thus reducing the size of fat cell)and the fatty acids can be used as fuel and energy to maintain body functions.
3) as we know, insulin is secreted primary as a respond to high glucose in the blood. High glucose or spike in glucose is caused by eating too much, sweets or refined carbohydrates or other high glycemic food such as white bread, pasta and some fruit such as bananas and grapes.
If those statements are true then if insulin levels are high, even if you are exercising and eating less, your body will not allow you to used store fat. I have said before that I believe in eating in moderation and I don't restrict any type of carb. In other words I believed an calorie is a calorie no matter what and white rice is just as good as brown rice when eating in moderation, under your calorie budget. But now I see that while calorie wise they may be similar the white rice will increase my insulting thus making burning stored fat difficult and facilitate increase of new fat storage
While I'm still going to research more on this subject and will continue to update the readers on my findings I will change my daily routine to test a few hypothesis:
1) I will still count calories with myfitnesspal but starting from tomorrow I will research the glycemic index of all food I put in my mouth and only eat high glycemic index food. In addition I will cut rice, (brown or white) flour and all flour derived products (white and whole wheat), corn, potatoes and all starchy carbs. I'm not saying I will never eat them again (I'm too much in love with food to make that kind of long term commitment) but for this experiment I will do so for 2 weeks at least. Since I'm in the 90 day challenge at lifetime, I will get my body fat accurate measured every week so I should be able to see if this changes anything. I will eat plenty of veggie, mostly lean protein, but I will eat egg yolks and and whole milk product
2) after workout I usually drink 1% milk to replenish carb and protein. I will change it to whole milk or whole yogurt even thought the calorie is higher but glycemic index is lower. Instead of drinking anything with added cane sugar as ingredient (in protein shakes) I will eat a piece of lowglycemic fruit.
3) as far as exercise I will keep it the same so that I can easily compare to previously 7 weeks. Basically I do 7 day cardio for one hour with heart rate between 120-130. I also do 5 sets of push up 3 times a week and strength training 3 times a week rotating from upper and lower body.
4) I will research more about insulin and find out what else triggers insulin secretion in the body and if there is any other triggers for fatty acid movement (in and out of fat cells)
5) I have started to take cla supplement from Costco 3 times a day(2 tablets each) some literature suggest that cla plays a role in helping body burn stored fat with moderate exercise and reduce fat cell size.
6) eat smaller meals and more often to reduce glycemic load and maintain insulin levels constant
This should be an interesting experimentation. I would be happy to report back and share my results. In addition I'm also researching genetic differences between Asian and American population and what should be the ideal diets for optimal health. So stay tune!
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