Too far, but I wish.

About to head out on Week 6 Day 2 of the Couch-to-5K program, which tells me I will do two 10-minute jogs, separated by a 3-minute walk. It is overcast and according to Listeme, "colder than I might expect." I sneer at the cold.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up my reports. The lapse in reporting does NOT signify a lapse in my efforts.

Had a doctor visit the other day and eagerly await the lipids report. I've been off statins for more than 4 months, two months of which has had these diet and exercise adjustments. We shall see.

I ran Tuesday Thursday, and very deliberately kept my pace to a solid "jog" (nothing like a "run") and felt no strain at all in the calf muscle. I'll do the same today, even though it feels dorky to run at a pace barely faster than walking.

Happy Saturday!

Go Verbie!

On my journey to beginning week 1 of C25K, yesterday I was able to run/jog for a whopping 45 seconds at a time! And on Wednesday in kettlebell class, I deadlifted a 36 kilo bell - that's more than half my bodyweight! I only tried it once just to see if I could - and I could!

Found a good way to do gluten-free lunch, for bland people who don't cook. Well, other than smoothies. (Lunch is tough as it's just me. I can cookish dinner.)

I took a bunch of Ziplock plastic containers and spread them out (8). Put 1/2 cup of frozen brown rice in each, then 1/4 cup each of a bunch of frozen veggies (carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, edamame, etc.) Then 1/4 c of a rotisserie chicken or Perdue Short Cuts in some. I put some garbanzos and kidney beans in some. Then I put some sauces I had on hand over the top -- Gluten-free soy, GF teriyaki, balsamic and a lemon-pepper marinade. Everything back in the freezer. Microwave.

So far so good. The soy and the teriyaki were wonderful. I'm thinking of trying leftover salmon in a couple next time, plus trying a creamy sauce that I'd have to cook. Plus maybe frozen chopped onions. The Chef Boyardee Microwave Rice with Chicken & Vegetables that inspired this was just awful.

I did find Snyders GF pretzels. They aren't bad, but anything that starts out "corn starch, potato starch, tapioca starch..." ain't a pretzel.

I'm not sure I would nuke food in plastic ...

I could always empty the contents into a glass bowl, but I'm not worried about the containers made for repeated microwaving. Some people reuse the dishes from frozen entrees -- that's not a good idea. I don't use plastic wrap in the microwave. The ones I do use are BPA and Dioxin-free.

Yeah .. I would still put it in a glass bowl and cover it with a paper towel or something ...

Depends on what you are nuking. Plastics, pro say per se, will usually pass microwaves and not heat up to any great extent. The liquids in the plastic container are a different matter. Water can theoretically go to 212F. Fats in meats can go to 350+ in some cases. Few plastics can handle 350F. Even at 212 most plastics will get quite soft.

I love you, W4.

Love you back!

I CAN cook, I just don't. I have defined cooking as "applying heat to ingredients as to transform them into something worthy of putting up on Facebook." nope, I assemble. Estiveo cooks. Cooking is an art, assembling Is food.

I have a friend who whipped up some amazing Asian soup from things she had on hand, and posted it to Facebook. Of the 12 ingredients (right there is one problem in my book), I had soy sauce. Everything she makes is cooking.

Sunday weigh-in: 232, -4

A breakthrough week! And this was a travel week, often implicating extra and less healthy food and drink. But I kept to the program. (Minus exercise -- that's a little harder.)

Rode the first organized long ride of the season on Saturday, a 50-miler (half-Century) along the hilly roads of Central NJ farmlands.

The last 10 were in the rain, but what the heck.

Down to about 216; that's about 12 pounds less than I weighed in February.

Looking at a 60-miler in June, with hopefully longer rides leading up to the NYC Century (100 miles) in September.

I'm really starting to believe I will be under 200 by the end of the summer.

Sunday weigh-in: 231, -1

Got the LDL report from my last bloodwork. At 112, still higher than the 100 cap my doc has for me, but not as high as the 116 it went to after quitting the statins. (On statins it was 85.) But he's giving me another 6 months before we reevaluate.

So I'm doubling down on the exercise and diet -- oatmeal (steel-cut!), EVOO, salmon and other fatty fish, nuts, sterol-fortified margarine... will consider Omega-3 supplement. Staying off wheat/gluten. Paying more attention to fat, generally.

And more research.

Verbie - if you want to increase your Omega 3 but can't face eating more oily fish, you could add a tablespoon of flaxseed/linseed (they are the same thing) to your oatmeal. Needs to be freshly ground though - don't buy the already ground, and don't eat whole.

Add an apple a day, a dose of metamucil, and some beans a couple times a week. With the oatmeal you'd have 4 different soluble fibers in your arsenal digestive system sequestering cholesterol.

It's not the fat, it's the carbs, especially the high glycemic index ones, that drive up LDL. Try dropping your carbs to 40-50% of your calories. Even though I was restricting my calories, I didn't lose weight until I got my carbs less than 50%. 40% was too hard for me to sustain.

Dump the spread* and use small quantities of good old-fashioned butter.

*

Verbie, try these gallettes, too, made from oat bran, both as a change from oatmeal and a mouth-satisfying bread substitute.

2 tbs, nf Greek yogurt
2 tbs. oat bran
1 egg white

Big batch
1 c nf Greek yogurt
1 cup minus 2tbs oat ran
1/2 c egg whites

I add herbs and spices for flavor. Stevia powder and cinnamon, coriander and black pepper, try your favorites.
Cook over medium heat about 3mins per side. Experiment.

I went to the store to get ready for a trip I'm taking soon (NOLA, HERE WE COME). I bought a pair of size fucking 6 NYDJ shorts! Even in high achool i wasn't a size 6. My good cholesterol is 61, my bad 114. I've started adding food groups back into my diet, though i find the things I once craved aren't so yummy any more. I've added a second 30 minute walk to my routine. Still doing yoga on Sundays with a class and a few days a week by myself. Yesterday I started daily situps and pushups. Began with 20 situps, 20 crunches and 10 pushups, will add one each day. Also 3 lb. weights whenever I remember - biceps and triceps, began with 20 each, up to 60 now.

Getting old appears to agree with me.

How do I measure it? (It would help if I knew what a high-glycemic index carb was )

I'm eating this fruit/nut bar. It says 25g Carb. (4g Dietary Fiber, "Sugars" 17g). What column does that fall into? How do I count a dish of green vegetables, or an apple, or a bowl of oatmeal?


I definitely would... it's a little tricky since listeme is off dairy.

In general we've cut WAY back on the butter and butter substitute, especially since dropping wheat.

We're trying a new Smart Balance product called "Spreadable Butter and Canola & EVOO". Ingredients: Butter, Canola oil, water, EVOO, fish oil, plant sterols, salt. We'll probably switch back to sweet butter, if only for cost, and just use tiny amounts.

Yep. Except I've become increasingly intolerant of butter over the past year or so. I think in general we will just have to have separate butter/margarines in this house.

Interesting. I HAVE been adding ground flaxseed to the oatmeal -- I really like it. But not fresh-ground, I didn't know that.

I've also tried some packaged oatmeals that have a few of the whole flaxseeds in them. Is there something bad about that, or is it just suboptimal?

I am thrilled that as of yesterday, I have lost 27 pounds in the last seven weeks -- and that includes the few days I pigged out after my kitty died. Actually, compared to other stressed related pig outs I've had in the past, it was pretty tame. I guess I'm finally learning to eat better. Yeah .

For those who love crunchy foods or have a sweet tooth, I discovered a great way to deal with both of them -- freezed dried (FD) apples. I did some testing and found that not all FD are the same. Some lack the crunch or the quality of taste and favor that I found in my two favorite FD apples. Both of my favorites contain nothing but apples -- no extra sugar or other additives. The first one is the Target Archer Farms brand. A whole bag is only 90 calories and has what I call good mouth texture. My other favorite is from a company named Crunchies. The slices are a little thicker than the Target brand and has cinnamon which makes the apples tastes sweeter. They have are a little higher in calories than the Target brand, 1.5 oz (one small bag) is 175 calories.

The only bad part of these snacks is that they are both somewhat expensive -- $3.50 for Archer Farms and the cheapiest I have found (at Walmart) the Crunchies is about $3.70. The price can be a dollar or more higher at other places. So far, I've decided they are worth the higher costs (compared to other snacks) because they taste great and more importantly, they both fill my need for crunchy food and a both good for and low in calories -- especially compared to the same size of corn chips, potato chips, etc.

Crunchies has a wide selection of both FD fruits and veggies. I've tries the mixed fruit and apples, and the apple one is by far my favorite. If you want to learn more you can go the Crunchies website: Crunhies Website

I will try those! Thanks.

That's a decent program. I would love to add swimming, myself. Starting to research gyms/pools around here. It's not encouraging. Though our sub-development has a small rec center with a pool that's open in the summer -- walking distance! Don't know about their adult swim times. We shall see.

Glycemic Index of Foods

I've been using myfitness pal to count calories, carbs, fat, protein. The food part is pretty good for items that have labels. The exercise part is not a good way to count calories spent for exercise, I think the calorie credits for activities is too high. The advice/forum/discussion part is pure nonsense - all the usual diet foolishness you'll find anywhere like it's not cardio it's weight-lifting blah blah blah. Horse pucky. Weight loss is 95% about diet.

Thank you! That's a great page. I did some gloggling in the meantime and found some introductory guides and a similar look-up tool, so this is a good start. I'm beginning to get the picture.

It looks like most fresh fruits (except watermelon) are just below 50; bananas higher than apples. Dried apricots look good, which is cool 'cause I love 'em.

I think I need to just track my 'normal' diet for a few days, to get a feel for things. Probably the highest GI foods on my current diet are:

• Occasional bowl of rice chex/corn chex
• occasional candy bar
• gluten free breads (not lately)
• french fries, potatoes
• gluten-free crackers, pretzels

I'm so happy to see hummus so low! I've been thriving on hummus lately.

I'm not a dietitian, but there has to be more to it than the glycemic index. The glycemic index is nothing more than a number relative to how fast the food spikes your glucose level. What's worse: A food that spikes your blood sugar, but does it with only a little sugar, or a food that doesn't spike your blood sugar as much, but keeps it elevated over a longer period of time?

I'd rather go with the glycemic load. To me that gives a better index of what the food is doing to your body over the long haul.