9 Months to Tri

Yesterday was Friday, and I was feeling completely wiped out. I had so much work to do before getting ready to start ‘vacation’ today, that I didn’t get out of work until 9 pm.  I did my hour of cardio, but every part of my body was just sore. “Too much!” it cried out. It wasn’t that ‘I just don’t want to do this today’ kind of attitude, it was that ‘Please, just one day off’ kind of feeling.  But, I was about to get 2 days off, so I pushed thru it.

Today, I’m still sore.  My legs especially are sore.  Even when I sit around doing nothing, my legs are sore. All I want to do right now I go upstairs and take a nap. To top it off, on the whole its been a very busy day. We ran around town doing our shopping for the week, cleaned some house and put the radiator coverings back on. I’m getting ready to start cleaning and unpacking boxes in my office as well. Still, this soreness persists.

So, instead of going back to work right away, I think I’ll just sit here and type some more.

On Thursday, I sat down with Jamie for a half hour, and got some good information out of her.  First, we went over my food journals. Overall, she seems pretty happy with where I’m at to start.  As she spoke to me, it became obvious that she wants to keep making adjustments as needed over time to help round out and refine my food choices, which I am all for.  Food education is going to be key to keeping the weight off.  She pointed out a few items where choices might have been better (i.e., the Avocado Turkey Burger from Ruby Tuesday’s that I hadn’t realized also had cheese and bacon), and some items where choices were right on (like the You Pick 2 at Panera where I stop for lunch after swimming to get 1/2 Sierra Turkey sandwich on whole grain, and 1/2 Chicken Ceasar salad).

Then we started to talk about my habit of eating out. Actually, its not MY habit, its more of my wife’s habit that kind of gets passed on to me, because either she’s cooking dinner, or we’re going out. Left overs would be fine, except we don’t eat at home enough to really load up on left overs.  Now, to be fair, my wife is a very busy person. She’s a work from home mother who is in the middle of starting a new business (http://intelligentacnetreatment.com). She’s vowed that if the business starts to do well, the first thing she’s splurging on is a personal chef so that we can all eat at home more often.

Then we talked about all sorts of alternatives to stuff I’ve been eating. Need to round out the menu. I’ll add them below as tips.

TIPS:

After you work out hard, your muscles are crying out for the sugars and nutrients that they’ve just burned thru during the work out. For the next hour or two, your body will absorb just about EVERYTHING that its fed, if it is fed properly. You want a combination of proteins and carbs (maybe Jamie or Mike can explain why). However, stay away from fats, since fats will inhibit your body’s ability to process the foods and you will lose the benefits of the other foods.  Also, remember that foods eaten up to about an hour before you work out will also be absorbed this way, since they’re first on tap.

When you eat out, you lose control over the foods you eat; how food is prepared, the quality and quantity of it, and the ingredients that go into it are all pretty much out of your grasp. Eating at home more often let’s you take control of what goes into your body.

Fruits:
Heavier, more watery fruits, will fill you up faster than more dry fruits and foods. The ratio of a food’s total calories in proportion to its total mass (generally in grams on food labeling) is called “calorie density”. The bottom line is this: foods that fill you up more with fewer calories are often preferred, since you no longer feel hungry.  A good example is that in terms of calories, 1 large banana (86 calories) = 2 apples (88 calories) = 4 cups of strawberries (90 calories).  Which would fill you up faster?

Berries are your friends. They are very low in calorie density, so they fill you up with a small calorie intake. You can eat them plain. You can make fruit salad. You can warm them up and eat them for breakfast with crunchy oatmeal or Fibre One, or another healthy cereal. Or you can put light whip cream on them for desert, either warm or cold.

Berries (and peaches I found today, but didn’t see any apples) can be bought frozen, and warmed or thawed a portion at a time.

Dried fruit is also good to have on hand for snacking.

Grains:
Jamie
is a big fan of Oatmeal, and we talked about even the Quaker Instant
Oatmeal that comes in the packets. Fast and easy. And there is even a
really tasty low cal version.

Grains and some other foods can foil the “calorie density” concept above. For instance, items like pretzels may be somewhat low in calorie density, but their nutritional value is also very low.  Also, foods like peanut butter are high in calorie density, but also contain some necessary fats and oils.

Protein:
The white of an egg has most of an egg’s protein, but only 15 of its 70 calories.  Jamie says that she often boilds eggs, and eats 6 whites in a sitting, while only eating one yolk. The fat in the egg yolk will trigger your body that you’re full.

On days where I feel like a bottomless pit, I can try eating one egg white and then walking away. Egg whites are very filling.

I should have Whey Protein Powder on hand to create a shake in case I want a quick snack.  Something about the Whey Protein is most easily used by the body, and so is the best choice for this purpose.

That’s all I’ve got. Next time I talk to Jamie (Dec. 6 I believe), we’re supposed to talk about meal planning, since planning food ahead of time will help in a number of ways.  Also, look below to see if Jamie posts and additions (or corrections!) to what I’ve written here.

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