Gettng Back on Track

After a weekend of being less than perfect, Tuesday was definitely one that could be chalked up in the win column.  A great session at Crossfit in the morning, and an entire day of eating the way I want to, and you have a recipe for feeling good. 

I had a few moments today in the afternoon where I craved refined starches, it’s the first time in a while where I could have gone for some Doritos, or Tortilla Chips.  Chips and salsa are a weakness of mine, or perhaps I should say that the chips are a crunchy delivery method for the salsa, causing momentary lapses of insanity where I can pound half a bag of chips, and a bottle of salsa.  If I had to swim in particular type of food, I’m sure it would be salsa.

In the end I didn’t eat anything bad, in fact I went to Starbucks and bought a bag of nuts to satisfy my hunger.  Every time I can overcome a temporary moment of weakness, by not choosing the easy route I am taking a giant leap towards my goal weight of 185 lbs. 

While on the subject of nutritional intake, recently I learned of a UC Berkley Scientist by the name of Bruce Ames.  Ames is renowned for his Ames test, a cost effective simple system used for testing the mutagenicity of compounds. 

His most recent hypothesis known as the “Triage Theory”, can be best explained in examining how a battlefield hospital triage unit functions, it assess wounded soldiers as they are brought in, the most essential resources are applied to those who require the most rapid care, and have the highest chance of survival.  In the body a lack of proper nutrients causes the “triage allocation mechanism” to engage and takes the scarce resources and applies them to function which are essential for short term survival.  As a result our risk of long term degenerative diseases rises.    

Bruce Ames has also theorized that obesity is a result of the deficiency in micronutrients in our foods.  Essentially we are overfed and undernourished.  Professor Ames believes that our undernourished bodies are starving for nutrients, thus causing interference with our satiety.  Even though we eat high calorie foods, the over processed foods often have all the nutrients processed out of them, so our brains tell our bodies to keep eating, a biological mechanism used to bring in more of what the body needs.

A recent University of Rochester study showed that in a study of 10,000 children ages between 2 thru 16, that the obese children had a significantly higher deficiency of iron.  The risk factors were high enough that the authors of the study suggested that an elevated body mass index should be used as a risk factor for anemia.

Iron deficiency manifests themselves through symptoms of lethargy, learning problems, and impaired immune response. 

All I have to say is…exactly. 

I wrote a few weeks back that in the past I was over eating but under nourished (I broke up with Food Today).  This theory of Bruce Ames hasn’t been proven yet, but is one that is gaining strength in the scientific community.

To learn of Professor Ames’ theory is one more reason for me to continue eating the way I have been for the last three months.  I can’t believe how full I feel at 2000-2500 calories a day.   I sometimes have to force myself to eat entire meals to make sure I don’t under eat my caloric allocation, as the last thing I want is for my body to think I’m starving, and cause all the wrong hormones to be released and my body to start breaking down muscle tissue.

Bruce Ames was like the cherry on my Ice Cream Sundae, after a great day of eating, exercise, I got a huge emotional push from a guy I’ve never met. 

07/05/2011

Daily Recap

After 3 Days of Rest, I was looking forward to my morning workout with Liz at Crossfit, I felt like I was missing something and could use a good workout.   Liz apparently had the same idea.  She’s great at delivering bad news in a perky way. 

Our warm-up was an AMRAP where I would do on the minute 5 ring rows, then finish the minute out with jumping rope.  She set the timer for 10 minutes of work.  Rounds 1-3 I felt good, my body was starting to loosen up and I could feel sweat about to break through my skin.  Rounds 4-6 were tough, it was taking me about 20-25 seconds to do the 5 ring rows, I would then jump rope for 15 seconds straight rest for 5-6 then finish the minute out with 8-10 seconds of the rope.  Rounds 7-10 were difficult, but with my mind solely focused on finishing strong I was able to get through it, and the final two rounds I was able to jump rope for 20-25 seconds straight, which for a guy my size is no small feat. 

After the warm-up she had me stretch out on a foam roller, because we were going to do back squats.  Squats are something I’ve wanted to do for a while, as I know how great they are for leg strength, and prior to 4 weeks ago physically I couldn’t do them properly because I just couldn’t get low enough.  Liz had me warm up first with just the bar doing 2 sets of 5 reps, when I told her I was tight in my inner thigh she had me do a stretch which significantly improved my mobility. 

We added 15 lbs on each side to do 2 more sets of 5 reps for a further warm-up.  The actual weighted work involved 5 reps each of 105 lbs, 135 lbs, and 155 lbs, when we finished the three sets, Liz prescribed a simple Metcon for my actual workout.

The Metcon involved rowing for 300 meters, doing 10 Push Jerks, doing 10 push-ups and then taking a 1mintue rest, then repeating the cycle for four total passes.  My times got faster as the Metcon went on, 2:23 for the 1^st, 2:11 for the 2^nd, 2:07 for the 3^rd, and 2:03 for the 4^th.  After the first cycle I had to do the push-ups from my knees, my chest just felt weak.  I had problems just supporting myself in the position of a push-up. 

It was a great way to start my short week.  Tomorrow I see Liz again at 9 AM, then I will box with Ali, and go to a free LA Boxing class to try them out. 

All I have to say to my fellow contestants is I know everyone else had a tough week, but it’s time to bring it. Bring it or I’m going to send you pictures of my big yellow hairy ass, and I will continue to send you pictures of this rotund hunk of hairy meat until you start to bring it.