The $500 Diet

Have you made a resolution this year?  Let’s see, today is January 5th.  Is your will power starting to wane? 

I always here people talk about the movie stars and the shape that they are in – It goes something like this – I could look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club if I had a personal trainer and $20 million to lose.  Well what if instead of getting $20 million you had to pay $500?

Enter the website stickk.com .   You make contracts with real consequences (optional money) on the line.  You commit to do something and then have a nonpartisan report on you progress.  It is strict accountability! 

How about losing weight.  Say you want to lose 10 pounds over the next 10 weeks.  You set up a goal date and goal weight.  Then you weigh in each week and have the nonpartisan report it.  If you met your goal – CONGRATULATIONS.  If not, your credit card is charged the appropriate amount ($$$) - Would you rather lose a pound next week or $500?  Let me show you how it works.

Just in time for New Year’s Resolutions, here’s a guide to make weight loss resolutions stickK.  It’s The $500 Diet and for a limited time you can read it for free.

Most diet books are written by physicians and scientists, but The $500 Diet is my attempt to give economics and contract law a chance to change how much you want to eat. It’s a seven-step plan to strengthen your resolve – to help you make credible New Year’s resolutions.

Would you rather lose a pound next week or $500?

You can pick from several resolutions – Lose Weight, Exercise Regularly, Quit Smoking, Race!, Maintain Weight, or a Custom Goal.

Optionally you can put money at stake to ensure that you reach your goal.  You give you credit card information.  You can have the money go to an individual, a charity or an ANTI charity (brutal).

You then assign a referee to monitor and report your progress.  If you do not succeed then your credit card is charged appropriately.

Here is the one I made for myself – Mardi Gras Marathon – sub-3 hours.

If anyone needs a referee just let me know.

Exercising in a fasting state - during the holidays

This article was sent to me by my sister - Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

I have mentioned that last year was the first and only year that I have actually lost weight over the holidays. The reason for this was a lot of run volume while training for my first (stand alone) marathon. I had a line in the sand and an aggressive goal time (BQ). I also truly believe that when it comes to running – light is right. Most references note that you can increase your speed by about 2 seconds per mile per pound. For example, 5 pounds could reduce your running pace by 10 seconds per mile - in a marathon that could over 4 minutes (a 3:04:00 marathon is 7:02 pace while 2:59:59 marathon is 6:53 pace). So, last year with this aggressive running goal I was able to not only maintain my weight but lose a little bit of body fat.

For the study, researchers in Belgium recruited 28 healthy, active young men and began stuffing them with a truly lousy diet, composed of 50 percent fat and 30 percent more calories, overall, than the men had been consuming. Some of the men agreed not to exercise during the experiment. The rest were assigned to one of two exercise groups. The groups’ regimens were identical and exhausting. The men worked out four times a week in the mornings, running and cycling at a strenuous intensity. Two of the sessions lasted 90 minutes, the others, an hour. All of the workouts were supervised, so the energy expenditure of the two groups was identical.

Their early-morning routines, however, were not. One of the groups ate a hefty, carbohydrate-rich breakfast before exercising and continued to ingest carbohydrates, in the form of something like a sports drink, throughout their workouts. The second group worked out without eating first and drank only water during the training. They made up for their abstinence with breakfast later that morning, comparable in calories to the other group’s trencherman portions.

The experiment lasted for six weeks. At the end, the nonexercising group was, to no one’s surprise, super-sized, having packed on an average of more than six pounds. They had also developed insulin resistance — their muscles were no longer responding well to insulin and weren’t pulling sugar (or, more technically, glucose) out of the bloodstream efficiently — and they had begun storing extra fat within and between their muscle cells. Both insulin resistance and fat-marbled muscles are metabolically unhealthy conditions that can be precursors of diabetes.

The men who ate breakfast before exercising gained weight, too, although only about half as much as the control group. Like those sedentary big eaters, however, they had become more insulin-resistant and were storing a greater amount of fat in their muscles.

Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”

You can read the actual study here.

Exercising in a fasted state has been debated on countless exercise forums. There are a number of opinions ranging from burning more fat to the wasting of lean muscle mass. This study only reports what happened to these individuals when on an increased calorie, high fat diet (like the holiday season). It did not study what the effects are on a normal diet – well, normal for us – I hope we do not eat a holiday diet year round.

I routinely exercise in the morning; I simply just don’t get up early enough to have a meal before hitting the pavement. I think for more intense sessions (running intervals or cycling time trails) this can be a liability but for moderate intensity up to and including tempo work this fasted state is effective. I do not notice an inability to perform my workouts as long as the duration is less than 90 minutes.  For a race, I get up early and have my oatmeal.

Another benefit of running before breakfast is that it does not matter what happens the rest of the day – I have already done my workout.

Pay yourself first and then go have a (light) breakfast.

Holiday Weight

While I was in Australia a funny thing happened. I lost 5 pounds. Last year was the first year ever that I did not gain weight over the holidays and I am off to a good start this year. Right now I weight about where I was at the start of the New Year – I weighed158 pounds this morning.

Now, while I was in Australia I did not have access to a scale. Here at home I weigh and record my weight every day. I would not say that it is an obsession (but I am sure you could say that it is) but I do like looking back on the data and charting the trends.

In years past when I have stayed with my sister I have gained weight (good beer was cheap in Texas but it is $$$ in Australia – there was not much drinking on this visit). My sister and her family are very healthy eaters but different than myself. They are grazers between meals. I do this also however I am much more regimented. I eat multiple small meals throughout the day. I have to have portion control – these small meals are containerized. I do not have much discipline when I am presented with a buffet type meal. You can forget chips and salsa and that type of food – I do not know when to say when.

So I have been asking myself what was different that allowed for me to lose 5 pounds. One of the differences is that there was always sliced vegetables out on the table during snacks and dinner. Her kids love vegetables but only when they are raw. I love them too but I rarely have a bowl just sitting out. I know that if I did I would also snack on them. I am going to start having broccoli and baby carrots in a side dish at dinner – every dinner.

I also ate a lot more fat. They are all big nut eaters. They are munching on almonds and cashews all the time. In addition, avocados were on every salad at dinner. My sister also ate an avocado for nearly every lunch. She would use rice crackers and scoop out the avocado. On top of this my sister also ate salmon for most dinners and I also had salmon several times while I was there. At least once a week. I eat a fair amount of nuts but nothing like I did last month. I also have to be careful with my portions – the calories in nuts add up quickly. I also do not eat much fish at all. I need to add a meal a week.

I eat a lot more chicken in my home life. I get a lot of protein from poultry – for better or worse.

However, I do not think my weight loss was strictly due to diet. I did run a lot while I was there. Sixty plus miles one week and more 10k’s than I can count. Many days I ran twice a day (10k x 2 = 12+ miles). And it was hilly to boot. I also walked the kids to school every day. I walked all around the city of Sydney. I walked to the grocery store and carried bags of food back home. I walked to the train station. I walked to friends houses that were 45 minutes away. I rode the train and then walked to about 10 different museums. Then once at the museums I walked all through the galleries. Even though I lead an active lifestyle full of exercise (about 15 hours of exercise a week) I am still tied to a desk for 40+ hours each and every week. My level of activity simply increased while I was in Australia.

Take home message –Just because we can run butts off does not give us the excuse to sit on our butts the rest of the day. We need to live a healthy, active lifestyle even when we are not exercising.

The Psychology, Biology and Politics of Food

My sister, Francie, sent me an email the other day and I have decided to post it on my blog.  I found it very interesting.  My sister and her family recently moved to Australia (I am going on vacation to visit for the entire month of November!)  As a side note - I ate a whole bunch of pop tarts while training for ironman last year.

I started watching that course through Yale University about The Psychology, Biology, and Politics of Food. It's great! Of course, it confirms a lot of what I already knew and thought.

Here is a link:
http://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/the-psychology-biology-and-politics-of-food/content/class-sessions

The module I just finished compares the food environment and human body of our ancestors with the current situation. He talks about how hard people used to have to work to get food and how starvation was a real threat whereas today food is every where and overnutrition and obesity are much bigger threats than undernutrition.

They have studies where they make available to lab rats more nutritious food than they could ever eat. These rats eat a normal amount of food and maintain a normal weight. Then they give lab rats an abundant supply of oreos, cheetos, etc--a variety of junk foods--and these rats triple their weight fairly quickly. It's biology--our bodies, like those of the rats, are programmed to go for the fat, sugar, and variety because that's what helped our ancestors stay alive.

Also, if they give the lab rats, just a ton of oreos, they get sick of them. So a key factor is a variety of junk foods.

Apparently, the same thing has happened with the Pima Native Americans in Arizona. They used to be poor and live a traditional life. Then they got the right to open the only casino in Arizona. Guess what happened? With wealth, this population of Pima Indians became obese and with that came an overabundance of chronic diseases like diabetes.

Nearby is another Pima community not a part of the casino. They on average weight 60 pounds less. They are almost identical genetically, but have far fewer chronic diseases.

The difference is in the availability of junk food and the amount of exercise.

One population is sedentary and eats junk food. The other has to work (exercise) and eats a more traditional diet.

By the way, our bodies also tend toward being sedentary b/c conserving energy was another way our ancestors stayed alive.

So one question that came up during the lecture was is educating people about nutrition and exercise enough? If our biology is set towards being sedentary and eating junk foods, is knowledge enough? He made the point that some people can resist, but fewer and fewer can or do, as foods are everywhere and processed foods contain more and more fat and sugar.

It made me revisit the idea of balance and diet. A lot of people advocate for giving kids some exposure to junk food so they aren't overwhelmed when they leave home. Also, most of our public service dollars go toward education--telling people that smoking and junk food are bad for you, etc. But if the environment coupled with the marketing and availability (remember the rats didn't even have marketing or peer pressure or economics....just availability) is so powerful, the question of whether education and moderation is enough is important. Maybe it's the environment that needs to be changed. That would take a miracle in the US--to get the economic forces to sway toward healthy foods and away from junk foods..... If only the health costs of junk foods could be included in the price....I think that could make a difference eventually....


Still here even (Australia) with cigarettes at $17 a pack, people smoke. I see people smoking and wonder How can they afford it??

Biking, running, biking and unplanned eating

On Friday I went to Adult Swim. There were not a whole lot of us and Coach Steve took it easy on us. The volume was down and the intensity was down. However, there was a whole lot of drilling. Overall it was an easy session. At lunch I played a little bit of racquet ball with the ‘Pros’. I got schooled. They were impressed in my ability to run down some of their shots but – I got schooled. When I play racquet ball I am strictly a defensive player. I do not make shots I just keep the ball in play and wait for the other guy to miss a shot. This works pretty well against lesser players. However, when playing someone that can make the shots – well – I got schooled. The easy day on Friday set me up for a good bike ride on Saturday.


A smaller group met up on the south end of town and we ventured forth. This ride was not spirited. There were no big breakaways. No big gaps to bridge. But it was a good solid ride with good solid pulls. I got in one or two really good pulls – really good pulls for me. I have made it a priority to pull for at least a mile at intensity. The good part is that the faster you ride the shorter the duration. Mind you, this is all out for me. I usually have to dig deep and limp back on the pace line. I’m going to have to start pulling my time instead of distance to increase my endurance.

Sunday morning I met up with Dan and Chad for a longish run. They were getting 12 miles and I would have to run to met them. I do these runs on an empty stomach (just 2 cups of coffee). I left the house at 6AM with two gels on me. We (I) talked the whole time and really enjoyed the run. It was not overly taxing and I ended up with 14 miles averaging in the mid-to-high 8’s. I went home to recover. I was still planning on doing the Wednesday afternoon ride. I had a post workout shake and a bowl of oatmeal. At lunch I had a half pound of carrots and some humus.

I got ready for the afternoon ride and looked outside and it was pouring down raining. Not complaints here – we have not had any rain all month. The grass is brown and the plants are suffering. The rain let up a little bit (all in all we did not get very much rain but some is better than nothing) and I headed out the door. Due to the rain the Sunday group was light. I met up with four and then Raland joined us. No one wanted a spirited ride - including me. My legs were dead. Many times they will wake up after a few miles. But with the rainy road spray and the wind blowing hard we were not on our game. I think I got one good pull in and jumped back into the draft. We turned around at Sumrall. Butch, Matt and Raland put together some really strong pulls and sprints on the way back. All of these efforts were in the high 20’s (like 27 and 28 and 29) with one of the sprints at 31. I was just holding on. I rotated quickly out of the pulls.

I made my way home a little early – only 25 miles. I was in a calorie deficit when I started the ride and now I was ready to devour the house. I had set myself up for failure. I ate for about the next 4 hours. There was nothing bad in the house but the volume was impressive. I started with grilled chicken and stream vegetables. A little bit later I had some cottage cheese with fiber one cereal. A little bit later I decided to make some pancakes (high fiber pancakes – a small batch with powdered sugar). And then to finish off the night I consumed two Greek yogurts with honey. After the first meal I really was not hungry I just wanted to consume. I must take care of my nutritional needs better. I should have had a much larger meal between exercise sessions and then ate sensibly after the bike ride. Oh well, live and learn.

Flat Belly Diet for Men - 1 month recap

I thought that I would check in on the diet program front. If you will remember I have been following the Flat Belly Diet for Men for the month (I also now have the Flat Belly Diet Family Cookbook to give me few more meal ideas). How has it gone?


Well, for the most part it fits in with my lifestyle, my routines and my habits. I have been trying to have portion control with frequent small meals. Let me review for just a second – the diet, it is basically five 400 calorie meals no more than 4 hours apart and with a MUFA (monounsaturated fat). That is it – nothing more to it. Oh yeah, there are a lot of recipes in the books that make it pretty easy to have a variety of meals. But I am a creature of habit and I tend to eat the same things over and over. I have starting doing this on this program as well – however, I am getting more variety than I have in the past.

I mean, if I follow the plan I really am not hungry and I am satisfied most of the day. However, I still get into trouble when I get into a huge calorie deficit. This happens a lot because of the exercise. The 2000 calories are fine to survive, maybe even a little bit more than I absolutely have to live. But when you add in a couple of hours of exercise each day, well, that is where the cravings start. I have tried to offset this with eating additional calories for each exercise session but invariably I don’t eat enough. And then by Wednesday or Thursday I am ravenous. At home during the evening I start to grab anything I can get my hands on – it is fortunate that there is no bad food in the house. But you can make bad stuff – cheesy bread, peanut butter (mixed with sugar), lots of almonds.

I have decided that I need more than five 400 calorie meals at my activity level. I think I need closer to seven 400 calorie meals (7 x 400 = 2800 calories). Now eating that much health food really is difficult! This is not even considering the timing. I am awake around 17 hours a day. I get up at 5AM and drink some coffee and then do some form of exercise (run / bike / swim). I do not eat breakfast until 8AM. Then I am in bed by 10PM. So that gives me 14 hours to eat 7 meals. I guess that means I need to start eating every 2 hours. I just worked that out in my head. I think I will try that next week.

Don’t get me wrong, it is not like I have packed on a ton of weight in the last month. In fact, I think I may have lost some body fat but I need to follow the diet more closely and eliminate these unaccounted for calories.

The new game plan: The Seven 400 calorie meals every 2 hours Program.

I need to come up with a better name for this ‘new’ diet plan.

What are some of your diets / programs that have been working you you?

Hard morning rides and following the program.

Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win a Road ID bracelet - click HERE !

My weight was up substantial after the weekend but it is correcting itself!

Tuesdays morning ride started out hard out of the gate. We road easy for our usual warm up – NONE. Well, we did ride easy for the first one mile and a quarter. Then Keith took it out hard. He was pulling at around 25 MPH – and this part of the trace is at a very slight incline. Stephen (Purdue) then took his turn at the pull and kept the pace up. Our B-Team group was strung out all over the place. I was blowing up just hanging on.

We regrouped at Epley Station and decided to head towards USM. I had already made up my mind that I would call it quits early. I took a pull at around 23 MPH – I was keeping everything in check so that I would not just completely blow up. Keith then took the lead and he, for once, kept it reasonable – also at about 23 MPH. This was not fast enough for Lance and he passed us like we were standing still. Stephen was on his wheel. They created a substantial gap between Keith and me. Keith picked it up attempting to bridge the gap. I was holding on to dear life at 29 MPH for what felt like minutes. Keith finally gave it up and was not able to bridge. He told me to lead it out and I gave it my all for about half a mile at 28 MPH.

Thoroughly spent I rolled home with 14 miles clocked for the day.

I had a workshop during lunch so that put the kibosh on exercise. When I got home after work I decided to do an easy run. It was hot in the late afternoon and I ran by pace. No heart rate monitor. I pushed out 5 miles at an easy pace. The pace was much slower than I ran my marathon 4 months ago. Being off of your running peak and the added heat and humidity really make a difference. There is no way that I could run a marathon – FAST – right now!

After the run I made myself on of my premade meals and fired up the grill. Since there was a running club meeting last Sunday my grill work did not get accomplished. No worries – I should be set for another week.

On a side note, I seem to have lost my Garmin Heart Rate strap. I had it on the group ride this past Saturday but I have not seen it since. I have some bids on used ones on eBay. Does anyone have an extra one lying around? 

Back in the Kitchen!

Don’t forget to enter for your chance to win a Road ID bracelet - click HERE !

In other news – I have been asked for years to get this started – the Hattiesburg Multisport Club. So this Thursday, 6PM at the Keg & Barrel will be the first ever meeting. This meeting will really just be a feeler to know what YOU want in a triathlon club. I don’t know if there will be 7 or 70 people but please bring your ideas! This club will not be successful unless people are willing to participate. Ben (who puts on the former Eagleman Triathlon – now called the Mighty Magnolia) has registered the name H.A.M.R. (Hattiesburg Area Multisport and Racing) with USAT and I have put up a rudimentary website – http://hattiesburgmultisport.com/. If you have any questions, concerns or ideas – shoot me an email – james AT hattiesburgmultisport.com .

Back to the diet:

I knew this was going to happen – I got off of the diet program this weekend. We had a running club meeting and – well, there was bar-b-queue, tons of sides and Bops (frozen custard) with waffle cone bowls. I thought I was doing okay but I got so many comments about – we will have to hear about how many pounds he gained on the blog tomorrow. Well, I did put back on all of the weight from the kickstart last week. But, that always happens on the weekends. That even happens if I follow a plan. You see, the weekends are usually bigger exercise days and for whatever reason I put on a couple of pounds just working out. The pounds will fall back off in the next day or two.

Kitchen disaster!

Assembly line style!

Kitchen scale - I weigh everything!

More salad - cucumbers from the farmers market.

The finished product.

I had my five 400 calorie MUFA loaded meals today and they were great. I was not hungry at all – I was just eating by the clock. Tonight, after work I got busy in the kitchen. I started preparing about a dozen meals for the rest of the week. I made 3 breakfasts consisting of 2 egg farm fresh omelets, 3 grilled chicken spinach salads, 2 ham sandwiches, 3 half natural peanut butter sandwiches for snacks, 4 containers of sliced yellow and red peppers. This should be a good start. For dinner I will be having grilled chicken spinach salads or grilled chicken with sweet potatoes. I am enjoying the variety!

Flat Belly Diet - end of the Kickstart

I have lost 5.2 pounds this week! I have been following the 4 day Flat Abs Kickstart program pretty close. Exercise is optional in the diet; however, exercise is not optional in my lifestyle. Therefore, to keep myself from getting into too much of a deficit I have supplemented the program. I have added a couple of post exercise recovery shakes following intensive exercise. Everything else has been spot on – well – the program did call for cutting out coffee – and – well I just not willing to do that at this time.  Regarding the kickstart: 

“Just like a professional athlete preparing to “make weight” in his weight class, you’ll be shedding water and dropping pounds – fast! IN just four days, you’ll lose several pounds and inches, which will start a cascade of motivation and energy that will immediately set you up for success on the rest of the plan.”

This is the only diet book that I can recall that says the weight you will lose in the first few days is primary from water. We all know that is true but most books do not spell it out. I have no unrealistic expectations and know that I am getting back to my preferred weight by shedding water. I wish I would have followed a similar program when I was cutting that last week for the pump and run. It would have been a lot easier than sitting in the sauna at lunch before the race.

After the kick start I will begin following the standard program. The only real difference is that now I will be consuming five 400 calorie meals each day. This will not be as easy as it sounds. I’m not awake enough hours in the day to spread them around. I will have to work out a schedule.

There are only 3 rules for this program. I keep catching myself calling it a program and not a diet. I guess that is because I don’t believe in diets. The word diet has taken on the connotation of a temporary adjustment – and then I can get back to my ‘normal’ routine. Come on, we all know that does not work. The ‘normal’ routine has to be the lifestyle that allows you to achieve your goals. I once heard someone say that the lean body mass and six pack abs were the result of their lifestyle not the goal of their lifestyle. That is my philosophy. Anyway, back to the 3 rules:

1. Stick to 400 calories per meal.
2. Never go more than 4 hours without eating.
3. Eat a MUFA at every meal.

I have been loosely following these rules for years. This program is just providing structure – and a whole bunch of great 400 calorie meals.

I have been drinking the cucumber / ginger / lime / mint firewater – I call it swamp juice every day and I have come to like it. It is no sugar added cucumber limeade. I also went to the farmers market this week and picked up some farm fresh eggs and honey. I have also not put a single packet of sweetener in anything that I have consumed. I have been using the pink and blue packets of evil for years and it is time to wean myself off of them. I am off to a good start!  I have had no problems following the plan.

On the exercise front I actually did a nice recovery ride this morning. I did NOT push the pace. I just rode a nice and easy 20 something miles. I had a nice chat with Steve (the postman) – he was riding 50 miles. We talked about running fast marathons and slow ironmans. We had a good time. I played some intense racquet ball at lunch. It truly wore me out. I was dragging the last couple of games – and it showed.

Last note – I am falling on the contest band wagon. I will be posting a review and a chance for someone to win something – ohhh – ahhh. I know you can’t wait!

New diet - Flat Belly Diet for Men

I went to the library last week and picked up a few diet books. I love looking through these types of books. I also enjoy self help books. I have read so many of them. Most are garbage but a few have very good advice. I have even read self help books about self help books – no joke. I started a blog a couple of years ago where I was going to do a ‘New Year’s’ resolution each month for a year. I think I got about four months into it before the ironman training started to consume too much time.

Anyway, I ran across this diet book called the ‘Flat belly diet for men.’ It is a follow-up to the same book for women. There are also a couple of recipe books in this series.

The premise is pretty close to what I already do – multiple small meals throughout the day. This book has a four day kick start plan. In the kick start phase you have four 400 calorie meals a day. After this phase you start the normal diet which is five 400 hundred calorie meals a day.

Like I said, this is close to what I already follow. The difference is the meals themselves. The book is big on MUFA’s (mono unsaturated fatty acids) – pronounced MOOFAS. Every meal needs to have these good fats. In my normal routine I already follow this to an extent. For a very long time I have been eating oatmeal with peanut butter. Healthy carbohydrates and MUFA’s. However, I have become dependent on that one meal. When I am hungry this is the meal that I grab. There have been days when I have had this one meal four or five times. I am fortunate that I can eat the same things day in and day out but I do need variety. This is where the book is going to help me. There are about 50 different balanced meals that have approximately 400 calories.

There is also this drink concoction called ‘fire water’. It consists of the following:

½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 small cucumber

1 lime

6 mint leaves
3 -4 dashes shot sauce

It does not taste bad. In fact it is a little bit refreshing - it smells like a fancy lotion from bath and body works or something. I am, however, not sure if you are supposed to drink all of the chunkiness. I filtered it through a coffee filter the next day.

With the recipes in the book I am going to make up my own deal-a-meal cards and mix and match. I will keep you posted on the results. Also, since the book does not require exercise I will continue with what I have always done – add a few post exercise meals into the mix. Otherwise I get into this deep calorie deficit and consume everything in sight.

I will keep you posted on the results of the diet!

Back to the heavyweight - How to basal metabolic rate PART 3

Okay, so after a few calculations you now know your resting metabolic rate and how to figure out your activity level. You also know how to add in your exercise.  There are many on line calculators to help tabulate how many calories a given activity burns.   If you missed them - PART 1, PART 2

But let’s go back to the easy routine part.

If you remember, with my sedentary activity factored in I burn about 2000 calories a day. I make sure that I get this amount each and every day. However, I am not a calories counter. I am calorie conscious but I have but up routines to help me better cope with my diet.

I like to eat fairly often – I am not talking 10 meals day or anything more like 4 or 5 meals a day. So I break the 2000 calories into meals. I can have five 400 calorie meals or four 500 calorie meals. I used to make little ‘deal-a-meal’ type index cards. Now I just have these meals in my head.

For breakfast I almost always have a big bowl of oatmeal (300 calories) with a huge heaping tablespoon of natural peanut butter (180 calories). For lunch, well it might be a large bowl of homemade black bean soup – it has squash, black beans, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic and jerk Caribbean spices – I call it Jamaican Me Crazy Soup (350 calories) and a hardboiled egg (75 calories). Many times I will have another small bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter for an afternoon snack (250 calories). At dinner I will eat a HUGE salad consisting of spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, sugar snap peas, and a grilled chicken breast topped with a couple of tablespoons of low at ranch dressing (about 500 calories for the entire mix). For an after dinner snack it might be a cup of low fat cottage cheese (150 calories), a cup of vanilla almond milk (90 calories) and a half cup of fiber one cereal (60 calories).

Okay, after I typed that out it does not seem so easy but it really is – my meals are modular and they are all around 400 – 500 calories. I have several to choose from and I can mix and match. The grilled chicken I prepare all at once on the weekends. The Jamaican Me Crazy Soup is also prepared in a weekly batch. Everything is always prepared and you just have to throw it together.

So that handles all of my RMR calories; each and every day. But what about the training calories? Well that is taken care of immediately pre and post workout. Most morning I do not get much to eat before hitting the trail. But I add the calories in protein shakes and extra bowls of oatmeal (complex carbohydrates). So let’s look at last Sunday’s first bike ride. It was an hour of intense cycling. I would guess that it was about 600 – 700 calories. When I got back from the ride I had a scoop of protein power (120 calories) and a large bowl of oatmeal (500 calories). I know that I should not have the fat from the peanut butter but my diet is not perfect.

The take home message is to determine the necessary calories to sustain yourself on a daily basis and then break it up into manageable meals. Next add the extra calories for your training.

Try this out of a couple of weeks. If you want to lose weight then cut out a couple hundred calories. Do the opposite to put weight on. This does not take a lot of math or discipline; it only takes building a habit.

Back to the heavyweight - How to basal metabolic rate PART 2

So now I know my resting metabolic rate - link to PART I. If you remember, your RMR is basically how many calories you expend just sitting on the couch doing nothing.

However, most of us are doing things during the day other than sitting on the couch. We have to go to work, we have chores, and we get to train. We need to add those calories to the RMR to know how many calories to eat in a given day.

So, for me, I make sure I get my RMR calories and then I add a few more for my activities. Unfortunately I have a sedentary desk job. No matter how hard I type on a keyboard I am not expending very many calories. (On a sidebar I do boost my metabolism by doing a few exercises at my desk and I make sure I always take the stairs!) I am always conscious with my weight so I am conservative. I doing the Activity Factor of sedentary of which is RMR x 1.2. My daily calories for just living are 1670 x 1.2 = 2004 calories. This includes walking around, sitting in the car other mundane tasks.

Next is factoring in your training. You have to add more calories back into your diet for the calories that you expend. A good rule of thumb for running is 100 calories per mile regardless of speed. This actually works out to be fairly accurate. And remember, we do not have to be exact; we just need to be close. Monday was a recovery day after a lot of cycling miles over the weekend. I went for an easy 3 mile run at lunch with a friend. It does not matter how long the run took; it only matters how far – 3 miles. I add those 300 calories to my RMR + activity calories and get 2004 + 300. To maintain my weight I need about 2300 calories yesterday.

That works out pretty good. On a side note, I almost always underestimate calories burned. The machines at the gym, the heart rate monitors and almost all other methods lie – they grossly overestimate. Take a look at the treadmill the next time you are on it – it is very, very hard to burn a 1000 calories an hour.

Also, you must remember that while you were exercising you were actually alive. Your RMR has already counted those calories. For me that is 1670 calories a day which is nearly 70 calories per hour. Since it took about 30 minutes to run those 3 easy miles I have to deduct 35 calories from my 2300 calories. That might not seem like much but I know some of you are doing 3 and 4 hour bike rides and bricks and such. Those 70 calories an hour do start to make a difference.

I know it looks like it is hard to manage but it is just habit. Stay tuned, I will show you how.

Back to the heavyweight - How to basal metabolic rate

After my return home from Boston I was scared to set foot on the scale. Lack of exercise and overindulgence on food and drink would nudge the number higher. I have not been following my diet since the Pump and Run. I was a little under weight for that race – for obvious reasons but I rebounded more than I would have liked. Normally I bounce around 159 – 161 pounds. So I got on the scale after the travel and I was 8 pounds over my Pump and Run weight. That is over 5 percent in a month. I weighed 165 pounds which is the most this year!

Last year while training for ironman I dipped down to right around 155 pounds. I think it would be tough for me to get down there again. I have put on some muscle mass (not just from the pump and run) this year.

A full day of calories for many people!

Simply getting back into my routine has allowed for my body to respond and drop some of the weight. I have dropped 3 pounds in 3 days but that was the water weight. The next few pounds will be harder. It is time to get back on the horse and start the food journal back up. If you want to change something you have to know where you are. I actually have a pretty good understanding of where I am but the practice of documenting will get me on the fast track.

For those that do not know where to start, first you need to know your basal metabolic rate or more accurately their resting metabolic rate. This is the amount of calories you need to just live – nothing more. There are two formulas for calculating your BMR or RMR (for our ball park purposes these terms are interchangeable). The standard formulas are the Harris-Benedict and the Muffin. Where w – weight in kg, h – height in cm, and a = age. Let’s run the numbers for me – weight = 161 lbs = 73 kg, height 5’7” = 170 cm, age = 37.

H-B MEN = (13.75 x w) + (5 x h) – (6.73 x a) + 66 = 1670.74 calories

H-B WOMEN = (9.56 x w) + (1.85 x h) – (4.68 x a) + 655 = 1494.22 calories

Muffin MEN = (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) + 5 = 1612.5 calories

Muffin WOMEN = (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) – 161 = 1446.5 calories

These are all pretty close. This is the amount of calories you expend sitting on the coach, doing nothing. Next you can multiply the RMR by an activity factor.

Activity Factor Category Definition
1.2   Sedentary Little or no exercise and desk job
1.375 Lightly Active Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week
1.55  Moderately Active Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week
1.725 Very Active Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week4
1.9   Extremely Active Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job

So, for example if I take the RMR from the Harris Benedict calculation and I say that I am Very Active then I get – 1670.74 x 1.725 = 2882 calories per day. A Big Mac, large fries and a large regular soda is 1350 calories. Almost half of you daily allowance (if you are indeed VERY ACTIVE). If you are sedentary then you will only need 2004 calories and this meal is nearly 70% of your daily calories.

There have been numerous studies that indicate that it is not that important for the numbers to be extremely accurate; it is enough to see results if the numbers are just close. This is because the average person has no idea the number of calories in the food that they are consuming. Most people will grossly underestimate the number of calories in their food and then grossly overestimate the number of calories that they expend. They will see results if they can just get close to reality.

I remember a few years ago I was talking with a co-worker that was very overweight. She stopped at Hardee’s on the way to work and picked up a 6 pack of their little hamburgers. I think they called them slammers (I don’t think they make them anymore). I told her that the amount of calories and fat were more than she needed for the entire day much less than for lunch. She looked up the nutritional information on the website and said “See there, they are only about 100 calories each.” I took a look at the website and she was reading the chart incorrectly. They only weighed about 100 grams – not calories. The number of calories for each slammer was 280 calories (6 x 280 = 1680 calories). She still did not believe the numbers and was certain that the website was mistaken. Good figure.

Now if you look at that VERY ACTIVE amount of calories (2882) and try to eat only health, nutrient dense foods you will see that it is a whole heck of a lot of food. Do you know how many raw vegetables that is? How many boiled eggs? How about glasses of almond milk? How many pounds of lean chicken breast? When you eat healthy it is hard to eat enough!

Link to a BMR Calc

Eating on the road

While the title of this post could easily be about gels and sports drink while cycling it is much more mundane. It is actually about driving. You see this past weekend I took a short trip to my father’s house. He lives in east Texas about 6 and half hours away.

Now I know that I am a snacker when I am bored. So to combat this practice I usually bring a ton of good foods with me for the ride. By good foods I mean baby carrots, fat free refried bean burritos, maybe some granola bars, etc.

I have eaten so many baby carrots while driving that I have even coined a term for it – carrot belly. This is when you have eaten 2 pounds of carrots in as many hours. I swear my skin is an orange tone and I have a slight belly ache.

The problem is that when I am bored I will eat. I eat non-stop. So even though I pack these good nutritious foods they are gone before I hit the highway.

I mean, I will eat the snacks and lunch in the first couple of hours. One time I was travelling to see some friends back in the Midwest. This time I had to fly and the airport is about an hour away. I had a couple of fiber one bars during the drive and another couple while at the airport. Due to some non-act of God the flight ended up being cancelled. By the time I got my airfare refunded I had consumed 12 fiber one bars – 100 + grams of fiber in about 3 hours. I was unpleasant to deal with.

So this time I took a different route. I would be driving for about 6 and half hours on Saturday and the same amount of time returning on Monday. I dug around the refrigerator before I left and I grab a single grilled chicken breast. True to my nature the chicken breast was gone in the first 2 hours. But I had nothing else to eat and I did not stop. This was enough. I did not need all of the snacks.

On the return trip I did not pack anything at all. I had a good breakfast before leaving my father’s house and I was not hungry until several hours later. I did stop and have a subway sandwich. Calorie wise, I did much better than in the past.

Sometimes planning ahead is not the right answer.

Mississippi tops U.S. obesity rankings - 5 years in a row

Okay, I had another post in mind but I have to jump on the soap box for just a moment. I do apologize.

No, I am not defending Mississippi and saying that other states are almost as bad. And I am not going to blame the Southern foods that everyone eats.  From the CNN article:

Mississippi has kept its U.S. heavyweight title for a fifth straight year, among both adults and children.  The percentage of adults classified as obese went up in 23 states, but Mississippi, with 32.5 percent, stayed atop the latest annual rankings ...

While deep-fried Southern cooking is legendary, Mississippi also ranks high in poverty statistics and low in education -- two factors commonly related to obesity. But Thompson said education appears to be more closely related to obesity than poverty.

"We do see obesity among people who are in lower socioeconomic levels, but we see it in higher socioeconomic levels as well," he said. "Being poor does not not make you obese, and being rich does not make you thin."

I am simply amazed at the complete lack of responsibility that people take for their lives. I do not work with poverty stricken people. I do not work with uneducated people. But I do work with people that continue to eat crap for food each and every day. I do work with people who decide to indulge themselves more often than they restrain themselves.

When I ask them why they continue to go out to eat to the all-you-can-stand buffet and various other near fast food restaurants they simply say because it is that good. Very few people in my work environment are at a healthy weight. Even fewer of them have any semblance of fitness. As I said, these people are not making these decisions because they are uneducated and they are not making their purchasing decisions because they are poverty stricken. They are making these decisions because they want instant gratification. They are not willing to make changes today so that they can live a healthier lifestyle.

As in the famous “Marshmallow Experiment” which was conducted in the 1960’s. Children were given a marshmallow and promised another, but only if they could wait 20 minutes before eating the first one. Some of the children could wait the 20 minutes and some could not. I believe that we are now living in an era with an endless supply of marshmallows. There is no need to wait the 20 minutes.
We know that if we eat the marshmallow another one will instantly appear regardless if we waited or not.

Unfortunately this has the cost of long term health implications.

I hate to sound so harsh but this issue hits very close to me.  I was always heavy growing up and continued to make poor choices throughout my twenties.  Temptations are everywhere but you really must look at the big picture. 

Self-Sabotage ?

While cruising the web, I ran into an interesting question on peertrainer. The post was titled "Positive Psychology" and Stopping Weight Loss Self Sabotage. I am making a leap of faith here and please correct me if I am wrong, but I would be willing to bet that most of us do the right things most of the time.

However, sometimes I do things that I know I will regret. I know this before I even do them yet ‘sometimes’ I still do them. Just to continue with the peertrainer thread, sometimes I eat food that I know is bad for me and I know I will feel bad for eating it. I understand that this is not a healthy way to view food (however, that is for another discussion).

Here at work people go out to eat every day. I almost never want to go out to eat. I do not enjoy the experience. I do not see eating out as entertainment. I would much rather go to the gym for my lunch hour. However, sometimes I do go out to eat and since this is southern Mississippi it is almost always to a buffet. There are so many all-you-can-stand restaurants here it is ridicules. Before I even head out of the door I know that I will eat more than I should. I know that I will be lethargic during the afternoon. I know that I will feel guilty for overindulging. This behavior is not that hard to overcome. I might go out to lunch 3 times a year. But I still do it sometimes.

On the other hand, the evenings are almost always a difficult time for me. Although my home is devoid of ‘bad’ food I can create something less than optimum if left to my own devices. I was turned on to something called ‘Nasty snack’ a few years ago. It was originally straight margarine with granular sugar and flour all mixed together. Now I never liked that concoction but I created my own which I call ‘snatch’. Snatch is peanut butter with a couple of heaping tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar. Mixed all together it forms a sugary, fatty paste. This is what I crave when I want something sweet. I will usually feel guilty for having this calorie dense food in the evenings. (3 tbsp peanut butter = ~600 calories + 3 tbsp of confectioners’ sugar = ~100 calories = TOTAL 700 calories).

So, why do I sometimes do these behaviors? On peertrainer the following question was posed:

What has to be true in your life in order for you to sabotage your weight loss efforts?

I think this is an interesting question and I have thought about it for the last day or two. For me, I deviate (sabotage) from the plan when the following are true:

1. I am idle. The plan is empty for the day (or the plan has ended and there is no near term goal in place).

2. I have done some major exercise and I have not eaten properly. I am in a caloric deficit for the day or the week.

3. Following number two, I have a false sense of entitlement. I work hard so I deserve an indulgence.

I am sure that there are other fundamental reasons and these reasons are just on the surface. I might have missed the scope of the article by being so granular but I still found value in investigating my actions. Just identifying these reasons I think that I can be at better curbing the behavior.

For the snatch eating, I need to not be idle. I have plenty of stuff to do and if I am busy then I do not indulge in these behaviors. Also, I need to have something that I am working towards.  If I have worked out hard and not replenished my calories with good, healthy food then I get cravings. And last, I need to always reward myself with positive actions and not self defeating actions.  I need to think of the benefits of not doing the negative action. I need to think of how not doing the negative action brings me close to success.

I think it is an interesting question and it does not only apply to diet. On peertrainer the article continues to explore the question on a more global life scale.

Body fat scan ...

My legs were still tired. Not so much from the running on Tuesday but from squats this week. This always happens. Anytime that I do any strength training with my legs – it takes days for them to recover. And these weren’t like I was pressing a ton of weight. On Monday and Wednesday I did several sets of ‘body weight’ squats. Just body weight squats. My legs were just tired.


I stepped on the scale the first thing in the morning and I weighed 159.0 – this is the lowest I have been in months. This was encouraging. I felt good about my sticking to my diet and seeing results. With my legs tired I skipped the morning workout. Jim and I had already planned for a good tempo run at work.

I walked over to the HPR building to meet Chris. We talked a bit and then he did the Dexa Scan. As I had mentioned earlier, my body fat scale reads 8.x in athlete mode and 18.x in normal mode. I would be happy if it split the difference. I was very frustrated with the results. The Dexa Scan indicated that my body fat was 17.5 percent. I was surprised that it was that high. Chris was surprised that it was that high. I mean I can see my ribs and some of my abs (very vague but they can be seen in just the right light). There is slight definition. But the Dexa Scan is very accurate. What are you going to do?

Chris and I talked for a bit about diet and exercise. We have talked before. I always eat too few calories and I need to work on this area. When I want a calorie deficiet I cut too much.

The run got skipped at lunch. The weather has been cold and rain started to move into the area. Lunch brought cold temperatures and rain. Jim and I both passed on the run. I thought about doing the tempo on the treadmill. I actually wanted to do the tempo run but my legs were still fatigued. I played racquetball instead.

Body fat? I wonder...

I got up on Wednesday and all that I knew was that I did not want to go for a run in the 25 degrees. Having run the Yasso 800’s the night before the legs needed a rest. The fitness center would be opening back up toady and I had trouble deciding just what I wanted to do today. I could ride my trainer and watch some television on the internet or I could go to the gym and ride the exercise bike and read a book. I have been enjoying reading but with my race bike on the trainer it is difficult to read - I am in an aero position in the aero bars – it just does not work well for the reading. Watching television is not a problem.


Anyway, I weighed the pros and cons and it cost me valuable time. I do so much better when I actually work a plan and just follow it. With the running I have not been following a plan but there is some structure. I am doing my main workouts – intervals, tempo and long runs – with several races spaced throughout the plan. It is the cross training where I am having difficulties.

So I decided to just stay home because driving to the campus and then walking to and from the gym would eat up even more minutes. I only rode about 20 minutes on the trainer – it was a little more intense but I should have managed my time better.

At lunch I got in the pool for the first time in about 2 months. I took my wetsuit but, fortunately, it was not necessary. I do wish that swimming was like a bicycle. I feel like I have lost a lot of swim fitness. Sam and Chris were also in the pool and we just worked on drills. I only got about 1000 yards (20 minutes or so) but it was productive – the numbers are just not impressive. I spoke with Chris about a Dexa Scan – so that I could get a baseline on my body fat. I have a Bioelectrical Impedance scale but it is not accurate, however, I do believe that is precise. I have always just used it to track trends. Used in this method it is functional. But, I would like to know the offset. In the athletic mode the scale reads my body fat in the 7’s but in the normal mode it reads about 20 – big variance. I had calipers done a year or so ago and it was around 15 or 16. Before the ironman they had a Bioelectrical Impedance scale at check in and it read 12 percent. So I do not know where I am – with the Dexa Scan, the new gold standard for body fat analysis, it will give me the offset – I will know how much to add to the 7.x. Much better tracking.

I had some time on my hands after work and I hit the gym again. I wanted to run on the treadmill at a 7 minute pace – to see how that felt and make a determination if that is the pace that I want to run this weekend’s half marathon. That was my gold medal pace for the Ole Man River Half. I ran that at a 7:09 but I went out way too fast. I think that I have some more speed – just not sure if it is 7 or FASTER. The last race that I ran – the Steam Whistle 12k – I was able to ‘hang on’ for the 7.45 miles at 6:39. I have been thinking – wondering – if I could have held on for another 5 miles. The answer is NO – but what about a 6:50? Not sure on that one but I would love to see a 1:29: xx!

The run did not work out – my legs were just too tired. In addition, I lack motivation in the evenings. It is much harder to get the job done. I canned the run after mile and did a little strength training. I then called it a day.

I am still working the health eating plan and I am having success. I weighed in at 159.8 – the first time that I have been in the 150’s since just before my ironman (just prior to the taper in fact). I have been eating very well and it has been easy. I do very well when bad food is out of sight – it truly is out of mind. This is what my dinners have been looking like – good stuff.

No SWIM for you!

I got back to work today –not real excited about swimming but ready to get back in the pool none the less and guess what? The fitness center here at the university was closed. The heating is broken and the center will not open back up until Thursday. Bummer – I was planning on getting back to the swim. It has been freezing here in Mississippi (actually in the 30’s – I know it is not that cold – I did live near Chicago for a dozen or so years so I do know the cold). The pool is going to be a block of ice! I think I will have to bring my wetsuit.

With no fitness center – what was I to do? Jim wanted to go for a run at lunch but I am trying to be smarter than usual and I said “No way” to the run. My legs feel fine but I know that the recovery time is when you make your gains. I really want to bank some of the “Holiday Running Camp” miles. I did get a few body weight exercises done in my office. A couple of my co-workers joined in – it was just 3 sets of 30 pushups / squats (super set) with 1 minute of recovery. That does not sound like much does it? It was tough and none of us completed the pushups. To be fair these were REAL pushups – controlled and slow. But still – we all should have been able to nail these.

It was also nice to see the bulletin board wiped clean and several people had already updated their weights. There are lots of unhappy people this time of year - I know because I am usually one of them. It is always back to the grindstone. As they say – you can manage what you measure!

I am looking forward to my body mass getting back into line. I have been doing very well with eating health and enjoying the results. I brought 5 lunches and 10 snacks to work and I will follow through. I have also started the diet log once again. I was even tempted to start a diet photo log - take a picture of everything that you eat. That is real motivation - it is a lot harder to put some crappy food in your mouth if you have to show everyone exactly what you are eating. I'm not sold on the idea yet but it will be put into place if necessary (you will have to put up with the boring pictures if I go this route).

Holiday Running Camp

Well, with the holidays officially over I have not only been able to maintain my weight, I have actually lost a little bit. I have been watching what I eat and avoiding my trigger foods. I have also upped my exercise during this holiday.

I decided to take advantage of my time off (2 weeks –and no travel). I did go to New Orleans the first weekend for a race (Ole Man River Half Marathon– 1:33:53 PR) and I behaved for the most part. I did have two ice creams for dessert at lunch post race. I also had a few drinks in the French Quarter the night after the race. But other than that I have been on task regarding my diet.

Further taking advantage of the holiday, I conducted a little running camp. I thought that this would be a good time to really up the mileage and increase some of the paces. Without having to go to work it gave me time to get some time to do some long runs without having to run in the dark hours of the morning or evening. Even more importantly, the time off, has giving me time to recover from these endeavors. I have been impressed with my recovery this past 2 weeks. This is an area that I have really struggled with in the past. I remember my first half marathon in November of 2008 – 14 months ago. It took me nearly 2 weeks to recover from that race alone. I tried to run a little bit and push the pace and it just was not there. So during this time off I was able to successfully race twice by meeting or exceeding my goals. The chart below shows my running for the 2 weeks – 16 days. I took a total of four complete days off from running and had two days where I ran really short but pushed the pace. These short intense sessions were to decide on paces for the upcoming races. I also did the longer runs in groups of 3 and then took a day off (on these off days I rode the bike trainer – total time on the trainer during the holiday was 6 hours). The three day run groupings broke down as follows:

1. 28.71 miles / average 9.57 miles per day
2. 33.16 miles / average 11.05 miles per day
3. 43.13 miles / average 14.37 miles per day

I finished up the holiday with  12 miles (7.45 miles at race pace), 16 miles and then another 15 miles - back to back.  I never felt any discomfort while running – sure the legs were tired and a little sore immediately following the runs and also during the morning the next day – but it was manageable.