Good Diet = Good Performance

Before I get into the heart of today's post, I just wanted to share some news: I officially kicked off my summer running program. My goal is to be able to pretty solidly run/jog (whichever I tend naturally towards, I guess) 2-3 miles. I'm still deciding this week whether I want to train with the standard Couch to 5k program (7 weeks to be able to walk/run a 5k, or a little over 3 miles) or with this "8 Weeks to Become a Runner" program over at Runner's World (8 weeks to run nonstop for 30 minutes, or a little over 2 miles). One lets me cover more distance, one lets me go for longer times. But regardless of which I end up with, the first week works roughly the same.

Unlike prior attempts at running, this summer I am not just deciding to myself that it would be cool. I have roped in my parents to keep me honest, and I will be printing out my training schedule once I decide on it and posting it in the kitchen, for all to see, crossing off days as I complete them. If I can complete either of these programs by the time I get to San Antonio in late August, I will be prepped and ready to join the half-marathon training group run by my school. Today, I went power-walking with my dad for a good 75 minutes or so, on hilly terrain, with 7 separate jog intervals thrown in. Not by time, but rather by distance. We estimate that the majority were about 100-125 yards, but one was an absolute killer, and included a pretty decent hill. I'm still working on keeping my pace slower but my foot rate quicker, and I experimented with the whole "leaning forward at the ankles" style. It shows definite promise, but it's going to take some getting used to.

So much for a quick update!

What I've really been wanting to get on here and talk about for a few days now is nutrition and work-out recovery. Not in the traditional sense of what to eat immediately following a workout. Rather, how my overall nutrition has affected my ability to recover from workouts.

Though I started making an effort last summer, I didn't really start eating in a totally nutritious manner, focusing on whole foods, until this past month. And despite the fact that on my first day back at Superfit I could barely squeak out reps on Blue, I am now solidly in Red, even on my weaker muscle groups like biceps and chest. I can do the full set of reps, and not be dead the next day. I'm eyeing the calendar for when I want to make the transition into Silver. I've never done Silver, but then I've never had my muscles repairing themselves this quickly.

Beans have been a large part of my focus. Refried beans with melted white cheddar for breakfast, red beans and rice for lunch or as a dinner side, sauteed tofu every which way, Cuban black beans with a little feta on top, hummus (the perfect homemade hummus is still a work in progress), sauteed falafel (nailed it on my first shot, and now it is an essential), burritos, and black bean chilies. Good sources of healthy carbs, protein, and with the exception of the tofu, fiber. All low calorie, as well. I'm not really counting calories as I go, but when I look back to see how I've been doing, I can tell that I'm staying nicely under 1500 most days.

I'm not doing milk much anymore, preferring to drink water with meals and use yogurt for my cereal, but I'm still getting in dairy. As I just said, yogurt features prominently. Still can't stand it plain, unless it is for my tzatziki sauce for my falafel, but vanilla on its own, or mixed with some Kashi Go Lean Crunch. Pretty hooked on Trader Joe's non-fat Greek yogurt right now, but I'm going to need to find an acceptable alternate, because Texas has no Trader Joe's. The nearest one to my university is over 600 miles away. Boo. Also eating small amounts of many different cheeses. Still having love affairs with feta from my time in Greece and goat cheese from my time in Paris, of course. And sometimes when I'm feeling naughty I use my vegetarian parmesan (and white cheddar if it is in the house) to make an alfredo sauce for my whole wheat penne. Made with limited butter, non-fat milk, and whole wheat flour, so I'm not being too horrible, but definitely not a simple pesto or marinara sauce.

Grains are always easy to work in. I finally got a strainer small enough to rinse my quinoa, and it really does make a difference to the taste! It's wonderful now! I'm making up batches of brown rice or quinoa each week to have as a side with my tofu, since I found out that tofu has no fiber (who knew?). Though I bet the sprouted tofu I've seen at Trader Joes does... must investigate. Then, of course, there is whole wheat pasta, corn tortillas, and the occasional healthy whole wheat pancake inspired by the various creations of Angela at Oh She Glows.

I want to work in more vegetables. A few weeks ago I was able to eat some stir-fried carrots and broccoli without the customary gag reflex (pretty much entirely a mental thing). I've asked my dad to help me learn how to do it myself. I'm also aggressively attacking my issue with onions (they make that horrid squeaking sound in your ear when you bit into them) by adding them to as many recipes as I can find. Raw but processed in my falafel, and whole but sauteed in my Cuban black beans. And more Green Monsters. I just want to figure out a way to do so that keeps the amount of beans, grains, nuts, and yogurt that I am enjoying in my diet right now, and the right amount of calories to give me enough energy to continue moving up in my weights. Especially now that I am adding in cardio to my non-Superfit days. I will have a slight increased need for calories, but I don't think I will actually need to increase my intake much at all.

From my small binge last week, I learned that I actually have significantly decreased my stomach size, or whatever else it is that causes you to feel full at various quantities of food. When I was bingeing horribly in France, I could pack away a disturbingly large portion of food before I felt it. Last week, it was easily half that before I had to take a "I feel sick" pause. I'd like to not alter that with added consumption of vegetables. So it's something to consider.

But, point being: being fit is so much easier when you are fueling right! Letting your body recover and build strong new systems with the right nutrients feels wonderful and speeds up improvement. Something to remember for the future, when I am tempted to stray into packaged meals and all white food and the like.

Binge Danger Zones

This morning I made a sort of mash-up between the Healthy Spelt Pancakes for One and the Spiced Up and Stacked Pancakes by OhSheGlows, which I've been wanting to do for a while. Basically, unsweetened almond milk, whole wheat flour, and some spices. I barely made it halfway through, and these are supposed to be single serving. Just dense, perhaps? I alternated between two different syrups. One, my perennial favorite, standard thick sugary syrup. The other, I decided to dress up some pure maple syrup with some PB2. I'm not a huge fan yet of pure maple syrup on its own, but once I let these two combine, it was magic. Any thoughts on how maple syrup would fare on a hot skillet? Because I feel like this combo would be a wonderful marinade for my sauteed tofu.

As I said, I've been wanting to make these for several weeks, but I've been putting it off because, no matter how healthy they might actually be, it's hard to feel like I'm staying on track when I'm eating pancakes! But this morning, I decided they might actually be a proactive, preventative necessity. I've got some extended periods to myself coming up for the next few days, that I have known about for some time. All week, as they approached, I found that little voice in the back of my head excitedly planning all of the uninterrupted bingeing I could do. Some of this is latent habit- in previous times of living with people, I have always taken "advantage" of large chunks of solitude, because I don't have to worry about hiding my food. [A key part of binge eating, by the way- shame about eating, so you eat in secret, hidden places. You know when you take a candy bar or cookie into a bathroom stall that you have a problem] I also have had the binge urge creeping up a lot in the past week or so. I slightly gave into it over the weekend, when I talked a friend into making a whole batch of cookie dough, but I didn't go whole hog. I ate to the point of feeling uncomfortable, yes, but then I stopped. Normally, I go through about three cycles of eating to the point of serious discomfort, waiting about ten minutes until it fades, and then re-gorging to discomfort, etc. etc. So, perhaps this was a mini-binge? Or maybe this was just they way normal people overeat. That would be exciting.

So the pancakes this morning were to feel indulgent and maybe even a bit naughty, but while still being healthy. Hopefully, this will help me hold off a run to the local grocery later today. I'm also considering finally having some Top Ramen again- this is one of my biggest comfort foods (only Oriental flavor, eaten chopped up and scooped onto Wheat Thins), but is pretty much nothing but empty carbs. And if I'm not going to give up grain carbs like all of the weight loss programs suggest, then I at least need to be eating whole grain carbs. But maybe, when I'm in such a vulnerable state, eating unhealthy but portion-controlled will be the key? Or should I try powering through on just super healthy stuff? I'm worried about that backfiring right now. It hasn't been a problem for the past month, but I'm worried about getting to my last alone session and panicking over the end of a chance to eat poorly and loading up on cake and chips in one huge binge session.

Still working on that.

Natterings From a Recent Return Home

Snippets From Here and There....

I'm noticing that country music videos inspire me to work out. I think some of it is that I like the music, and if is an upbeat song, I want to move to the beat. But a large part of it is that I love the idea of living in Nashville for a time, and wouldn't it be fun to be one of those girls in the video? Need to have rocking abs for that...

I had this whole post ready to go on my brainwave to use DDR for some cardio work this summer, in lieu of talking my parents into shelling out $150 for a cardio machine on Craigslist. Then, disaster. I thought I brought home my whole DDR set up with me from Texas a year ago, but I can't find the PS2! I have the dance pads, the discs, even the game controller, all here. No console. This is problematic.

I am now on the 12th straight day of my food diary. This is unprecedented. And it's pretty impressive to go back and read over, as well... A lot of repeat items: tofu (sizzled in a pan a la Daily Garnish) and non-fat Greek yogurt (vanilla) are the most notable, I think.

IT IS SO NICE HAVING A KITCHEN AND FRIDGE AGAIN. Tofu every day, done up any way I want it. Chili. I have my eye on several soups. Cheese! Almond milk! Green Monsters!

Probably my proudest dinner thus far was a serving of peanut sauce tofu (a serving is the size of one fist) and a half of a Green Monster. Protein, healthy fats, fiber, SPINACH. Oh yes.

Cheat Days- The Dilemma

I am running into a problem with my cheat days. You are supposed to allow yourself one a week, under pretty much any reasonable eating plan. In times past, I would usually be on the eating plan for maybe a day, then suddenly give into temptation and call it my cheat day, then never really get back on the plan. This time, I'm sticking to the plan. But I keep putting off the cheat day.

Maybe my problem is I'm not sure if I'm on the plan enough to warrant it. I allow myself some popcorn and peanut M&Ms when I go to the movies. We ate out one night, and I got a four-cheese pasta dish. I'm eating reasonable portions of all of this, and I can tell I am already starting to slim down, but is it enough for a cheat day? The nutritional science would seem to indicate that one pizza in an otherwise healthy and properly portioned diet doesn't affect the body much- it's the repeated consumption in a relatively short space, or a bad diet over time. I have fallen to both such habits in the past. I think I'm dealing with a slight fear of the cheat day. What if it wipes out my gains of the past week? After all, doesn't every little bit this week add up to a gain or loss next week? Alternately, the fear of repeating previous failures. What if it signals the end of the diet to my habit-trained brain?

I think maybe I'm still working through the ideas of how I eat while I'm still trying to get to my healthy weight versus how I hope to eat for the rest of my life. I think right now, I'm eating in maintenance mode, not loss mode. Now, of course, because I'm "maintaining" a smaller figure, I am still losing weight, just at a different rate.

I guess it comes down to this: as long as my diet is clean, healthy, and properly proportioned all around, is it better to allow myself small regular indulgences, as they come up and at my discretion, or one scheduled day of guilt-free indulgence to look forward to on a weekly basis?

Diet Debates

I don't like the word diet because of the connotations it has, but I suppose I am on one, to a certain extent, and it also does apply to the idea of what one eats as a whole, so there you go.

I was going to post a weigh-in update, but I realized that certain hormonal changes have it out of whack this entire week. So my initial "starting weight" might not be all that accurate either. Well, we'll stick with it for now. Fluctuations or not, the scale showed about 2 pounds, which is a respectable number for a week. It's the recommended one, as I recall. I was rather hoping for a few more, but if I can keep that rate for the rest of the summer I'll be in pretty shape indeed.

Having my beans and cheese each morning for breakfast is proving quite easy. How often do we really change up our breakfast routines, anyway? We generally go for the same thing each morning, so it's been pretty easy to stick with it this past week. Aside from having to keep a much larger stash of beans in the house than before (much cheaper than sugary cereal- bonus), it's going to be pretty easy. I'm trying to ease off on how much cheese I put on top, though. Cougar Gold is a little pricey! And I haven't checked, but I very much doubt that it is a low-fat cheese, as preferred under the Five-Factor Diet. As mentioned before, I am not sticking exclusively to this diet while I'm in weight-loss mode, but I can see it being a major part of the rest of my life, for life-long maintenance of what I plan to achieve this summer.

I do still find myself attracted to many grain options right now, however. These are perfectly fine under the 5-Factor alone, but bump up against the no-grain parameters designed for quicker shedding of weight. I'm currently debating the merits of sticking with non-grain/starch snacks, or going with Five-Factor low-calorie, whole grain and protein ones. My current thought is a compromise. One compromise might be to go with the 5-Factor option most days, and once or twice a week decide to really kill it for a day and cut out the grains (before dinner- I'm leaving dinner as a healthy and portion controlled but open meal). Another option is to simply impose a before-noon rule. No starch or grains before noon, then continue on with healthy and portion controlled and Five-Factor Friendly.

Right now, the biggest temptation is granola and muesli. I've discovered a love for non-fat Greek yogurt (vanilla bean- I still can't abide plain yogurt) in this past week that I never knew existed. I sort of liked it before, but now I'm eating it daily and actually orchestrated an otherwise unnecessary grocery run yesterday because I ran out. Now I'm stocked for at least... a week. If I don't start doubling up some days. It's wonderful on its own, but I'm so intrigued by mixing in Kashi Go Lean Crunch, or even getting fancy and making my own granola a la Oh She Glows. I keep remembering a little snippet of an interview with Peter Jackson. For those of you who don't know, he is no longer the lovable puff-ball of the Lord of the Rings DVD special features. He got healthy! When asked about it, he said "I just got tired of being overweight and unfit, so I changed my diet from hamburgers to yoghurt and muesli and it seems to work." 


Well, Superfit later today (sadly, no Zumba until Saturday- note to self: wear sunscreen this time), so the next few hours will be spent on my writing goal (and very likely the White Collar marathon on USA) instead. 

Introduction to Zumba

We couldn't make Superfit last night, so we went this morning to the 9am session, which coincided nicely with a new feature of the summer: Zumba! It seems a member has a daughter over at WSU who is home for the summer, and she is offering free Zumba classes to Superfit members on Saturday mornings for the rest of the summer. Not going to deny, shaking my hips salsa style in the middle of a parking lot with cars honking as they drove past was a little bit awkward, but surrounded as I was by a whole group of women, it was mostly just fun. A killer cardio work-out on top of a pretty solid resistance workout- today was a killer ab set followed by repeating bicep and tricep work, with some squats and lunges thrown in. So, two solid hours of non-stop, high-intensity working out. I've convinced my mom to go for it each weekend. I also might succeed in getting a cardio machine in this house at some point this summer. Craigslist can work wonders.

On the food front, it's not been super easy, but when I look back at the food diary I've started keeping, I'm actually not doing as horribly as I think. On Thursday, we went out for the evening, and I was convinced that I had blown my diet for the entire week. Only when I actually wrote down what I had had and compared to to the entire day, I probably still came out ahead! It's all about portion control, people... love it. And my PB2 finally came on Friday, so I was able to make the oft-dreamed of peanut-sauce encrusted tofu of Daily Garnish. It didn't rock my world as much as I was expecting, but I've identified what I need to change (cut down on the amounts of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and especially sesame oil and replace with more water) to bring it more to my taste. Also, cutting my tofu a little thicker. I forgot that draining tofu compacts it as well, so I ended up with some pretty skinny pieces. The thicker pieces tasted better. But her method of cooking/frying tofu is spot-on. I foresee much of it in my future this summer.

Going to weigh in tomorrow morning and see what's what. Will check in then!

The Inaugural Green Monster

I JUST HAD MY FIRST GREEN MONSTER!!!! The most basic one, just chia, spinach, banana, almond milk, and ice. It was absolutely terrifying- I actually made my mom come and make it with me because I was wigging out about it so much. We only made a half recipe, and then we split that, but that's still more spinach than my body has seen in... pretty much ever.

In other news:

On the sad side: my go-to decently healthy ballpark meal is not being served this year, I found out this afternoon. I liked to get the little microwave things of brown rice and put teriyaki sauce on it. In the future I should be able to work around this sad development by bringing in my own sauce (probably Emily's healthy peanut sauce, since teriyaki sauce might infringe upon the no-liquids/beverages rule), because a different Asian place finally offers brown rice this year, but only plain soy sauce. I cannot abide plain soy sauce.

On the happy side: We unexpectedly got out of the Mariners game in time to hit Superfit, so I jumped headfirst back into working out! Wasn't expecting to start until Friday. Hurriedly located my workout clothing in my as-of-yet unpacked suitcases, went, and nearly killed myself. It was awesome. We started out with mat abs, which is always the scariest, and he had us doing a round of minute long holds: static leg raise, side bridges on both sides, static push-ups, regular forearm bridge. He told us the 30 and 45 second marks and said we could stop at those if we needed. I probably should have, and will regret my decision tomorrow, but I somehow managed to eek out the full minute each time. Which of course shocked my little out-of-shape body and it wasn't the happiest for the rest of the time, but I managed. Doing interval bursts at level 17 on the elliptical during one cardio break probably didn't help either. But instead of progressing up to medium and heavy weights, I stayed at light weight for all three sets. I need to be able to move on Friday when I go back in!


But main point being: I just had my first Green Monster, people. This is highly momentous. My plan is to try and have them at least three times a week (likely as a pre-workout drink, maybe an hour before? Thoughts on the timing of that?). I'm actually really excited to try the Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bomb one and the Pumpkin Pie Protein Power one. The regular one was good, and is probably the one I will drink the most of, long-haul, but my mental game is still pretty shaky with regard to vegetables, so I think smoothing the way with chocolate and peanut butter is wise.