Amateur hour

Well I got my phone/earbuds sorted and ran with the app this morning.

Now, you might say, "Aren't you only supposed to train every second day, and work other parts of your body on the off-days?"

And, you would be right.

Yesterday was comparatively easy, and I woke up feeling fine today - not sore the way you usually do if you've really worked your muscles - so I thought, "Why not?" Especially since I wanted to "catch up" as I hadn't used the app for day one, so I wanted to "re-do" it. And yesterday I did more jogging than was actually necessary - it's meant to be 8 x 60-second runs on the first day, and I think I did that plus 4 x 90-second runs - so I thought it would be a piece of cake.

And it was fine!

Except now my legs are really sore.

I’m back!

I signed up for a 5k!

The last time I ran a 5k was in 2010, a fundraiser for the Brain Tumour Foundation after my mother died of cancer. This time, it’s a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Foundation, because a friend had “triple negative” (a very aggressive type) but thankfully survived! Here’s her story:

So, I bought some new running shoes, and this morning started the “Couch to 5k” regime. Or, actually, a version thereof, because I don’t know where the earbuds for my phone are, so I just alternated running 60 seconds/walking 90 seconds eight times, then running 120 seconds/walking 90 seconds 4 times. Good enough for day one. Need to get my phone sorted though so I can do it properly!

The best part for me was that I did not cough once on my run! My lungs have been terrible this year - my darling son brought home all kinds of germs in the winter, and I couldn’t take sick days when I needed to because there was too much work to do and I was the only one able to do it. Two rounds of antibiotics when they thought I had pneumonia; then the diagnosis changed to pleurisy (what is that you ask? If you remember The Glass Menagerie, it’s the illness that Laura had in high school which caused her to miss months of classes—then called “pleurosis” which led to the nickname “blue roses”).

Ha, I coughed just now because I am writing about not coughing I guess!

I was fine for a while after I eventually recovered, but the first week of summer vacation, my darling son again brought home a nasty bug, and I can’t seem to shake the cough that came with it. Partly, I think, due to the terrible humidity that has cloaked the city in a veil of smog and pollen.

So I am thrilled that I was able to run and breathe this morning! The sun was just starting to beat down upon the city in my final stretch home; next time I will try to get an earlier start.

Hitting the trail again!

Okay, after the worst winter ever—sick and coughing for two and a half months, two rounds of anbiotics that did nothing, an eventual diagnosis of pleurisy—I am getting back at it!

I really missed my walks. When I was sick and breathless, I could barely make it from room to room let alone walk a mile and a half to work. So I am thrilled to be walking again, especially now that spring has sprung. Birds! Flowers! Heavenly!

Current routine is walk to work, walk one and a half or two miles at lunch, and then walk home. Today I did more than five miles in my raincoat!

I am also pleased to say that, even after months of not doing it, I had no trouble doing 30 situps this morning. To think when I started, five and a half years ago, I had to really struggle to do 20—mostly couldn’t. I may not be perfect, but I have indeed come a long way.

Oh, calories.

Just came across this article: The calorie is broken. It suggests that the old “calories in, calories out” rule doesn't work for weightloss. Don’t bother clicking the link; even though it is presented as “news,” nothing in it is new!

To summarise:

Calories in food are often measured inaccurately. Sometimes on purpose (oh marketing, how you deceive!), sometimes by accident or due to ineffective measuring methods.

There’s also the issue of serving size. After visiting over 40 US chain restaurants, including Olive Garden, Outback Steak House and PF Chang’s China Bistro, Susan Roberts of Tufts University’s nutrition research center and colleagues discovered that a dish listed as having, say, 500 calories could contain 800 instead. The difference could easily have been caused, says Roberts, by local chefs heaping on extra french fries or pouring a dollop more sauce. It would be almost impossible for a calorie-counting dieter to accurately estimate their intake given this kind of variation.

Obvious solution here—if you are trying to get healthy, why on earth are you going to chain restaurants and eating french fries? Anyone with a grain of sense will know that is not something you should do on a regular basis. In addition, if you are hoping to lose weight, you need a fairly significant difference between calories in and calories out—500 fewer calories every day will result in about 1 lb of weight loss weekly. If you are aiming to eat 1600 calories when you expend 2100, but accidentally eat 1900, you won't lose weight as quickly but you should make some progress (or at least stop gaining). When I track my intake/output, I usually try to err on the side of caution. Is that banana “small” or “medium”? I will select “medium” to be on the safe side.

Main point though, is that this doesn’t disprove calories in/calories out, it just demonstrates that—as with everything—accuracy counts.

Next issue: people burn calories at different rates. This comes as a surprise to no one. A variety of factors including health issues can affect how people process food. This is why tracking systems like fitday offer a choice of different ways to calculate your baseline metabolic rate.

Try one. Does it seem to fit? If yes, great. If not, try another. Or input a custom baseline if that’s what works.

Again, this doesn’t disprove calories in/calories out, it's just another demonstration of the need for accuracy.

And there have been many, many studies showing that people kid themselves about how much they actually eat and how much they actually exercise.

The article then goes on to describe a “new” diet based on satiety. In the past this has been sold as a diet of “nutrient dense” foods. I dimly remember a diet book from the 1970s comparing the calories and nutrients in a cubic inch of brie to a cubic inch of shrimp, and obviously suggesting you go for the shrimp! This is not new.

All of this silliness reminds me of someone I used to know who was obsessed with his physique. He was terrified of consuming any amount of fat. Instead, he would opt for things like a butter substitute which was some sort of viscous yellow liquid in a spray bottle (I shudder to think what the ingredients might be) and would eat marshmallows by the bucketload—because they are fat free! or the various people who have been “shocked” to discover that vitaminwater is no different from pop, nutrition-wise, or that nutella is actually more candy than health food. 

It always comes back to the same thing. Eat what your grandmother ate. In moderation. use common sense. Looking for some extreme rule or fad diet to follow—or an article to excuse you for overeating at chain restaurants—is an exercise in delusion.

not another inhaler!

i swear, since that first bout of pneumonia right before i got pregnant with my son, my lungs have just never been the same.

before that, i was fine and never thought twice about breathing.

since then, i have had "reactive airways syndrome," chest infections, and flirted with an asthma diagnosis.

this past fall and winter have been stressful - single parenting a special-needs kid, full-time job, part-time school. this winter i had to travel for work twice in one month - and not fun fly first class and stay in a hotel travel, more the leave home at 5 o'clock in the morning to drive across the province for a 15-hour day of work kind of travel.

at the beginning of september, i had a nasty cold with a cough that never really went away. it would get better, and then return. in december it came back with a vengeance, and i just about knocked myself out with the wrong kind of robitussin. apparently some people drink cough syrup for fun? i had just 2 tsp and felt like i was losing my mind.

anyway, i got through the winter break with not enough r & r, but enough to tide me over. but starting the work year with more travel did me in. i suppose the cold snap didn't help either - i think it was -20 on my first day back, and of course i walked!

long story short, by the time i dragged myself to the doctor the following week it was officially pneumonia.

i've finished my round of antibiotics, and feel somewhat better, but still so very tired and headachey. standing to sing during sunday morning's service was exhausting. walking a flight of stairs is exhausting.

i have a flovent inhaler to take for the rest of the month - and a refill if needed. hoping i am back up to speed well before then!

Pedometer

So at work the other day, we were all given pedometers.

It’s for a competition, to encourage us to get healthy “with the goal of reaching 10,000 steps—about 10 kilometres!—per day.”

Meh.

Firstly, 10,000 steps is more like about 8km, although obviously it depends on your gait. Secondly, the main inspiration here is nothing to do with anyone’s health and well-being, it’s because one of the elevators is being shut down, and they want to prevent employees from using the elevator. It’s more about surveillance than health.

But I have never been fond of the whole pedometer trend.

I know that when I walk briskly and take long strides, it’s better for me—I know that because I can feel it, in my legs, lungs, and heart.

“Why don’t you try taking more little steps,” suggested my kid, for the sake of upping my score in the competition.

And that’s why I don’t like pedometers. It feels more like a way to game the system than anything. Doing a one-block sprint to the bus stop once a day will do more for bone density than a one-mile saunter taking baby steps, but which gets you more points on the pedometer? Striding gives you a better cardio work out, but also gets you fewer points on the pedometer. Sustained activity—like walking 5k all at once, briskly—will do more for your heart than spreading the same number of steps throughout the day, 10 steps here, 10 steps there.

Having this cute little gizmo allows someone who is not doing all that much to tell themselves they’re doing great.

Also, the pedometers they have given us are really poor quality! They don’t count every step, or they over-count, or they stop counting and reset themselves. I can rack up 50 steps just by jiggling it with my finger.

So what’s the point? There is none! It’s just the usual quick-fix consumer (non)solution to the age-old problem: we just need to eat less (or better) and move more, but most people don't want to make the effort.

Looong post

I came across a comic strip the other day which has sort of stuck in the back of my brain. There’'s something about it which just doesn’t sit right with me.

It’s called 5 ways I’ve learned to love myself as I gain weight, and it’s about coming to terms with internalized fatphobia and learning to love yourself, both of which are good things, I think.

Being nice to your body is important. Absolutely.

Doctors blaming every illness on fatness is horrible and unhelpful. Agree 1000%.

We’re all different sizes and shapes, and that is okay. I’ve posted before about how my body has changed and weight has changed and mostly these two measurements change in ways that are unrelated. I know I’ve had doctors look at me differently after weighing me and doing a quick BMI calculation—when I was young and fit and strong, I weighed more despite being thinner. I think my doc did a “she doesn't look fat though” double-take in those days, as I balanced on the 24.9 point, just barely this side of “overweight.” As I got older, my weight stayed the same but my body got bigger as muscle turned to fat. My body also got weaker when that happened. My BMI didn’t change, and so the changes in my health and fitness didn't get noticed.

And this is where I take issue with the comic.

There are good reasons for bodies to change. If you are young and still growing. If you are recovering from illness, or recovering from an eating disorder. If you are pregnant. If you are working out and building muscle.

There are also bad reasons for bodies to change. Eating disorders or emotional eating are obvious ones. There are also all sorts of health conditions that include “unexplained weight gain/loss” among their symptoms. It’s also the side effect of any number of medications.

These are all reasons why body change shouldn't just be “accepted.” Unexplained loss or gain could signify anything from cancer to diabetes to thyroid problems to lung disease.

Step number one in the comic strip on loving yourself as you gain weight is “never keep old clothes.” This made me go “wha?” because keeping old clothes is my number one vector for tracking my health! And overall, I would say it is a more useful/reliable measurement than weight—since in the past I gained body fat without gaining weight. I also lost strength, and frequently found myself short of breath. I was still in the general “healthy” zone weight-wise, a BMI of 24.9 for years. But as my body got bigger and softer, my health got worse. I would be out of breath at the top of a flight of stairs. I even relied on inhalers at one point!

Keeping old clothes is the easiest way for me to keep on track. Sometimes I am super diligent about health, sometimes I’m relaxed or a total slacker. But when I have a struggle to do up the button on my jeans? That’s when I know it’s time to look at myself, think about what I’m eating, check what kind of exercise I’m doing.

My rule number one: maintaining is easier than changing.

If I start focusing on my health when my jeans feel too snug, it’s easy to get back on track because I haven’t yet gotten very far off. For me, this means walking more briskly, drinking more water, doing calisthenics every morning, eating more fresh fruit and veg, and not snacking on junk in the evening.

The great thing about using your own clothing as your yardstick is that it means you are only comparing yourself to yourself—not worrying about whether you weigh more or less than decreed by some chart or media ideal, but “What was healthy for me before? How can I stay like that?”

The comic seems to be advocating gaining weight for the sake of being better able to empathize with people who are dealing with fatphobia and fatshaming. To me it sounds like a road to poorer health—especially if the weight gain is caused by some underlying health problem.

It goes both ways too; unexplained weight loss can be just as problematic. I personally know people who've congratulated themselves on losing weight effortlessly, right before getting diagnosed with diabetes.

I guess what I would say is: keep your clothes. accept yourself for who you are, and think before you change. You don’t need to gain weight to gain empathy.