Santa wants to make sure I keep on running!

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Santa brought me some nifty new gadgets for Christmas which will totally support my running habit, though of late it’s been hard to call it a habit. 

First up, a new heart rate monitor (HRM) with a footpod to track cadence, and give the treadmill runs a bit more data to analyze.  The Garmin FR60 doesn’t have GPS, but I don’t really need all that horse-power.  My new job (I need to blog about that… someday) came with an in building gym and locker rooms with three treadmills, so I have a great facility to continue my drills, so at least until it warms up enough to run comfortably outside, I can use the treadmill and my FR60 to give me the data.  I’m still working out the kinks, but here’s an example of a run event Daily Mile by jon.stueve at Garmin Connect – Details.

Oh July! Starting the Half-Mary Training…

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image I ended last month’s post with a list of things to come for July. I ended up accomplishing most of the items, the one I missed was not joining in with the Do Life tour. Too darn hot to run a 5k in the evening! Ben finished his tour and celebrated with a full ironman that he finished in under 15 hours… that’s just crazy!

Aside from the week of vacation in Galveston, my diet and weight loss was consistent.  Sitting in the car for 8 hours twice in one week just isn’t as active as I’m used to, I guess.  But I did get in one 5k run along the seawall in Galveston, which fulfilled the second run of the Jeff Galloway Half-Marathon training class I started on RunKeeper.

What I like about this training class is the run-walk interval focus, that’s what I’m most comfortable with, and the 4-1 normal run intervals are just right for where I’m at fitness wise.  The longer runs are becoming a bit daunting, but increase only 1.5 miles every other week.  The alternating weeks are 800m intervals with an emphasis on meeting a goal 2:20 half-marathon.  That time is unreachable for me, so I have to be careful that I find a goal pace that stretches me a bit, but won’t lead to injury.  I’ll just take it week by week.

Running the longer distances (which brings with it longer times out on the pavement), has made something apparent in my weight-loss measurements. Here… I’ll show you a chart!!

image

The blue lines are my run distances, with the first 5 mile run on July 9th and lasted 71 minutes.  The next two runs of 6 miles (July 16 – 99 minutes) and 8 miles (July 30 – 117 minutes) are associated with a large apparent weight gain.  A note on my weights: With the heat of this summer, I’ve been getting up and running before breakfast, and weighing in after my run, so my weigh-ins on run days are in a dehydrated and depleted state.  That said, the longer runs (>90 minutes) seem to have a lot more of recovery time to get back to a normal weight than my normal 45 minute runs.  I’m going to be watching this as my distances increase to see if my body gets better at recovering, and also be more careful about what I eat as I recover.

What is good about that chart is that in the last two weeks of the month I pretty much weighed in less that 280 (which was at the point where my loss stalled in May).  So I think I’m back on a good sustainable downward slope.  I’ve adjusted my calories to be at the pound and a half loss per week, and I’m eating back my exercise calories and staying above my LoseIt! Computed BMR.

For the month of August, my goals are to be consistent with my weekly runs, and seeing how a hard interval run can do with my pace.  The longer runs are daunting, 9.5 and 11 coming up in August, and then 11, 13 and 15 in September.  It’s a little scary, but at the same time a bit of a confidence booster to face my fears and accomplish the goals, a little bit at a time.

Quote of the Month: Comes from Shawshank Redemption (Thanks AMC for the re-airing and the pop-up video thingies!)

Red narrating:

… That’s all it takes really, pressure, and time. …

That’s in the middle of a really long narration where Red is describing Andy’s escape from Shawshank prison.  The end of that phrase discusses how Andy crawled to freedom through a sewer pipe for 500 yards, or about 5 football fields.  That is also a help at the end of a run, to remember that running, largely, smells better than crawling through a sewer pipe.

Have a great August!

Well … that is one explanation.

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If you’ve caught up on my last two blog posts you’ll know that I had a challenging May, and switched things up in June to help push my weight numbers back in the right direction.  May was such an up and down month, that when I went to put the tape to my body for measurements I was discouraged and didn’t record them. It just wasn’t very encouraging to watch the numbers rise and erase what I thought was good progress.

The end of May, I went up in how many calories I was eating to “maintenance” (or what I should eat to stay at my current weight) then in June I started a more modest calorie reduction that was aimed at staying above my BMR while consuming at least some of the exercise calories that I’d burned.

image The result was a steady downward trend in weight, right in line with my target goal of a pound per week.  This was while eating about 300-500 calories more than what I usually was eating prior to switching things up after my dismal May.

My exercise totals were about the same as normal for the month of June, thanks to starting to bike commute to work periodically, and continue to train for longer running distances.  I don’t do a lot of strength training, except to help promote knee strength to support my running, and that is mostly just body weight training.

So at the end of June (last night), I braved the tape and took my measurements again.  I had resolved to take what the numbers told me, and just like June was a re-start month, this would be a new re-start.  So after taking all the measurements, in total I didn’t lose any inches since April.  That, however is not the whole story.  It’s where I lost inches and where I gain inches that give a different story.  Waist and chest measurements went down an inch each.  Calf and thigh gained an inch and collectively, and my hips gained an inch all by themselves.  My total weight was down by a pound since April (3.5 since the end of May).

Those numbers are entering arguments for the Military Body Fat Percentage calculation that I keep after each measurement.  End of April I was at 31.1% body fat (BF%), which when applied to my total weight gave me a Mean Body Mass (LBM) of 193.9 pounds. [NOTE: Lean Body Mass /= muscle, just non-fat body parts, including bones, water, undigested food, etc…] After June, the calculation gave me a BF% or 29.7% which leads to a LBM of 196.7 pounds. Or a gain of almost three pounds of LBM.

This is good news, because at least some of that 3 pounds is in muscle, which is the fat burning machine we all have that needs fuel while we are at rest, and is burning calories all day long.  I think I can contribute the gain in LBM to eating and fueling my body more consistently (though I do admit not every single calorie I eat is the best type of food) so my body can repair and generate what it needs to support my activity level.  So YAY!

Now on to the weird stuff.  I’ve realized that losing an additional 108 pounds after my initial 42 pound loss is just not going to happen.  I really think it’s best to not lose significant LBM during a prolonged diet, and for me to reach a sub-200 pound weight goal (and what the silly BMI calculators say I should weigh for my height) I’d have to scavenge from my LBM to get there, or be at such a ridiculously low body fat percentage that is unattainable.  So I have to modify my goals, and frankly … mentally that sucks.  Intellectually, I get it, I’m on board.  Emotionally, I’m a bit bummed.  I know I shouldn’t because the  108 was just a number that I pulled out of a rather obsessive LOST addiction, but it does. 

At any rate, I’m processing that.  A good goal is still 108 in total, which puts my goal weight at around 234, which would put me in the middle of a healthy BF% range of 11-22%.  BMI will still tell me I’m slightly obese to largely overweight.  But I’ve chosen to not believe in BMI, therefore it doesn’t exist. 😀

Some things coming up in July:

Smart Dieting – how to not sabotage your goals.

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I’m not saying that I have everything figured out, a good review of my blog posts on the matter should prove that fairly well. 😀

But I had a light-bulb moment this week, and when I shared it on the Lose-It! forums and on my friends feed it got a lot of comments and questions.  So I think it’s probably worth reciting on the ol’ blog too.

Besides the wonderful LoseIt! forums, there is another website I’ve been visiting and listening to that advocates a smart form of dieting.  It’s Fat2Fit Radio which has a weekly podcast that discusses the progress of one of the hosts, entertains letters from their fans, and dissects a ‘weight-loss’ fad just about each and every week.  Their philosophy is a bit upside down from LoseIt!, so it was initially a bit confusing trying to reconcile the two worlds.  My light-blub moment prompted me to make the following YouTube video (live with my voice!)

 

If you can’t sit through a boring 3 minute lecture, let me sum up.  Fat2Fit asks you what you current weight is and what your weight-loss goal is, and then give your a page with your current BMR, and a table of calories of what you should be eating at your goal weight for a variety of activities.  Fat2Fit’s philosophy is to eat today like you are at your current weight, and by doing that you end up eating like your a thin person for your weight-loss duration, and you just keep eating that way “for the rest of your life”.

LoseIt’s philosophy is to find your current BMR, apply a standard activity level and deduct your weight-loss plan from that to get your daily calorie goal.  So as you lose weight your calorie goal decreases and you slowly adapt to eating less and less.  When you reach your goal weight, you move to Maintenance mode and that includes a jump in calories that can be quite large.  The other issue is LoseIt!’s formula is just an arithmetic problem, and doesn’t account for the possibility that you might be eating below what is healthy for your body.

What I’ve done (and many other people that come to LoseIt!! as well) is start up with the maximum amount of weight to lose, and just keep it there.  Progress is usually good at the beginning then begins to slow down.  After a while weight-loss stalls and people get frustrated.  My theory is that many people (not ALL) have driven the equation below their BMR and are in the middle of starvation mode.  The quick fix is paradoxically, to eat more.  The problem is LoseIt! has no tools to help you determine this on your own, so the forums are filled with the same frustrating question: “Why am I stalled??!?!” and the answer usually is “Eat more!” and the response is usually… WHAT?!?!? you’ve got to be KIDDING ME?! I’m trying to lose weight!

So we need a tool to help us understand what might be happening with this “starvation mode” or more properly eating below your BMR for an extended period of time. This is where Fat2Fit’s information is helpful, but also confusing because they have a different philosophy to how to eat than LoseIt!

The number we want to keep an eye on is our BMR (another issue is that they both use a slightly different formula to compute BMR so the numbers don’t match exactly).  We want to eat above our BMR and below our Activity Level adjustment.  The confusion is that LoseIt! doesn’t display our current BMR, and that Fat2Fit’s calorie recommendations aren’t associated with our current BMR, but with our goal BMR.

So, lets get into the math.

Here’s my current LoseIt! goals:

Weight: 282
Weekly Plan: 1 lb/week
Calorie Goal: 2734 calories

To get my BMR I need to add back my weekly plan goals, and reverse LoseIt!’s Activity Level Adjustment.

2734 + 500 = 3234 / 1.45 = 2230 calories per day.

So my calorie goal is good, I’m above my BMR and below my Activity level of 3234.  So I should lose about 1/lb week if I hit those numbers.

If we look at Fat2Fit, we get a slightly different number (because they use a different mathematical formula to calculate BMR.  We plug in our numbers and they give us the following:

BMR: 2464 (see it’s a bit higher)

But then they give us a table with the following:

Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary 2591
Lightly Active 2969
Moderately Active 3346
Very Active 3724
Extremely Active 4102

First time I read that, and I was just as confused as anyone, because I didn’t read the fine print.

Based on how much activity you do on an average day, the calories in the right column will be the number of calories that you will be able to eat at your goal weight. If you start eating those calories right now (eating like the thinner you), you will eventually become that thinner person. As you get closer to your goal weight, your weight loss will start to slow down. It is OK to eat a few hundred calories less per day (200-300) to speed up your weight loss at this point.

So the numbers they’re giving us are a good range of numbers to eat.  But what should we make our LoseIt! calorie goal?

This is what I’ve determined. The Lightly Active Activity Level is what LoseIt! applies to everyone as a standard (and it’s fairly accurate in the tests they’ve done with volunteers).  So what I’ve decided to do is first set my Lose It! goal so that it comes close to the Lightly Active – Daily Calories goal (I’m actually under that by 200 which about the margin of error induced by the different equations).  Then I plan to eat my exercise calories (which would correct for the additional activity I add by my running training and bicycle commuting).

I’ve done this for the month of June, and my numbers end up right on goal.  So I’ll continue to track this and blog more as I continue fiddling with the controls.

May was No Bueno!

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Hello, blog… it’s been a while.  I’d like to start this off by saying, if the month of May 2011 decided to go away, I wouldn’t be too upset (so long as Danny gets credit for his birthday, other than that it was just rubbish…).

Lots of things were happening, work was stressful (self-inflicted procrastination wound), which made me feel depressed (perhaps another self-inflicted not-eating-enough wound) and then I didn’t handle either of those issues well which pretty much spiraled everything out of control.  What’s funny is looking back at all the data I’ve been keeping on my weight-loss it’s pretty easy to spot when things started heading south, and part of it was a problem going back a few months that I didn’t understand and didn’t realize what I was doing.

So I’ll need to digress a bit to deconstruct what was happening.  I’m writing this post-mortem so I have something to remember if I ever get back into this situation again.

So, let’s remember that dieting is basically slowly starving yourself.  The trick is to make it so that you aren’t actually starving yourself.  It’s the tricky middle, eating enough to support your normal bodily functions, but not too much that your body takes the excess and adds to your fat stores.  Add in an increase in exercise (and the requirements that come with that, repairing muscles after training, etc…) and it’s a complex multi-variable problem.

If you’ve read my blog back into last year when I moved from Weight-Watchers to LoseIt! I struggled through the summer with whether to eat back my exercise calories or not.  Finally in the fall I determined that eating them back for me wasn’t helping my losing goals, but that struck me as odd, because by the math I should be able to eat back my exercise calories and still lose weight on plan.  I couldn’t reconcile the conundrum, and instead just went with what apparently worked.  And I had good results through the majority of the fall and winter.  I had a couple of pauses, and figured it was just a periodic adjustment my body was making, and usually within a few days to a week, all was okay and normal.

Then came spring, and everything just went wacky in late April through the month of May.  I tried eating more, I tried eating less, I slacked on training, I trained harder.  Finally the end of May I just gave up and set my calories to maintenance and took a week off and ate a lot of cheeseburgers.

Then on June 1st, I went back on plan but at a slower rate.  Got into a good schedule at work, which relieved the stress I was feeling from procrastination.  I also signed up for an ran another 5k and completed my first 10k in the first couple weeks of June.  Slowly the numbers what were going wacky started falling in line, and I started losing what I had gained in May.

So which of the variables was the kicker? Stress? Not eating enough? over-training? More than likely all three.  But one thing I really wanted to get a handle on was the not-eating enough.  How much is enough?  How much is too little?  If this was part of the problem, how can I make adjustments to not make the same mistake again.

It’s a little thing called BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) or RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate).  The terms are used interchangeably in many places.  What that means is how much you can consume and keep your body working (breathing, metabolizing food, waste management, etc…) without breaking down your lean body mass as your body tries to find the raw materials to keep your engine running. If you don’t consume enough calories, the body starts to react strangely and holds onto what it has, and instead of burning just fat, it might scavenge lean muscle to get the fuel it needs to keep the lights on.  The problem is, lean muscle itself needs fuel, and it the primary engine we use to burn calories and lose weight.  So for someone on a diet to lose weight, preserving lean body mass is something we want to maximize, just to keep the calories burning.

My issue was I was playing right along that line of not eating enough to maintain my basic metabolism.  Some of the symptoms of going below that point for an extended period of time are: depression, calorie seeking (binging on sweets or cheap calories, constipation, feeling cold all the time, decreased concentration, apathy, anxiety.  Basically that sums up May of this year.  And the fix was to eat more, and when I did, I felt better and my body went back to normal.

I’ve since looked back at the numbers, and I’ve been playing on that line since I’ve tracked things carefully (November) and could probably say the little mini-plateaus I had regularly could be attributed to an extended dip below my BMR.  So I’m working on how to correct that.  Which I’ll opine about in another post.

Anyways, here is an entirely too complex chart that sums up graphically if you can interpret the hieroglyphics.

Consumed Calories v. BMR

Semper Fi

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Tomorrow I’m running in my first 10k.  In the past year I’ve slowly gotten back into running, and this race is one I’m looking forward to running.  I injured my knee last week, and so I’m hobbled a bit, but I’m still planning to go run, and do the best I can.  The race I’m running is called the Wounded Warrior 10k.  From the facebook page for the event:

The event will honor our men and women of the military and help raise money for the Semper Fi Fund, which provides assistance to Marines and Sailors injured in post 9-11 combat, and ReserveAid, which gives financial support to Reserve Service Members from all branches of the military.

So why am I up and unable to sleep at 5am the morning before the race?  Who knows… but here’s what’s going through my mind.  Memories of the Marines and sailors that have impacted my life for the positive.

My grandfather, Stan Stueve, served in the Marines during World War II.  I don’t recall him telling many stories of his time in the Marines, but I do remember how he proudly he displayed his Marine Corps memorabilia.  When I was in high school, my grandfather was State Commander for the American Legion in Oregon the year I went to Boys State.  After I graduated from college, and was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy he bought me my Naval sword.  When he passed in 1990, I was honored to take possession of is M1 Garand rifle.  My grandfather taught me to respect the flag, and honor the service of the people in our armed forces.  So I’ll be thinking of him while I run.

When I went to college, I joined the Oregon State University Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps.  As a freshman, I signed up for the Naval Drill Team, and was adopted by that band of brothers.  From men ahead of me, like John Carlstrom, Matt Biondi, Bill Becker, and Charlie Burk I learned about discipline and integrity.  From my peers that went on to serve in the Marines and Navy, like Rick McCormick, Rick Chambers, Rick Thompson, Dave Heino, Dave Magedman, and Tom Himstreet I learned the meaning of brotherhood and teamwork.  I’ll run with the many pleasant memories of all the Drill Team shenanigans.

After I was commissioned in the Navy in 1990, my best friend from high school was commissioned in the Marines.  Leonard Troxel is my brother from another mother, and I’m proud to call this fine man my friend.  While in college, I also formed life-long friendships with others like Steve Beals and Chris Evans.  I’ll be remembering their friendship as I run.

On my first ship, the USS Rushmore (LSD-47) I took part in Operation Restore Hope alongside the Marines of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.  These black-booted Marines secured the port of Mogadishu to provide a secure environment for peace keeping operations in Somalia.  I’ll be thinking of their service and bravery as I jog along.

I left the service in 1999, a few years before the towers fell and the world changed.  I don’t know personally many Marines and Sailors that have fought in the battles and expeditions in our current struggles.  I honor their service and sacrifices they made in protecting our country.  The Marines I have had the privilege to know live up to the saying, “No better friend, no worse enemy.”

So as I run, I’ll run thankful for the service of the men I call brothers, and for the countless others that serve with pride and dignity, and for all of their sacrifices.

If you’d like to ‘tune in’ and watch my run, you can see it live on RunKeeper Sunday morning starting about 0715 hours CDT.

Happy National Running Day!

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I run because I am happy… I run because I am … la la la la la laaaaa.

I don’t think a year ago that I would be celebrating National Running Day by getting up early and getting in 2.64 miles in 34 minutes. But I did. These next couple of week will be fun, as I have a 5k run on Saturday night (June 4th Firefly Run) and then the following weekend a 10k run Sunday Morning (Wounded Warrior). So the training continues, as does the diet (after a 1 week hiatus where I needed to go up to maintenance because things just weren’t working, and I was stressing about it too much.)

What I learned on maintenance, is that really bad food choices while staying at maintenance calories don’t have a horrible effect on the scale. Which is a good lesson to learn. A better lesson to learn is to make better food choices and still eat at maintenance (where the higher calorie budget made me think, “Hey, cheeseburgers are really yummy!”). Still it was good to put a week of “I don’t really care” under my belt, and still not have 20 kazillion pounds to burn back off. The last half of May was just a train wreck, so I’m looking forward to starting a new month with a new happier attitude.

But this post is about running, and to complement my running training, I invested in a road bike ($159 at Walmart – BOOYA!) and have put in a few longish rides and it feels great to be back in a saddle (though I’m a bit sore in the saddle area). I used to bike quite a bit in high school and college, and it’s true what they say about riding a bike, you just don’t forget how to do it. I’ll like it more when my belly is smaller, but for now it’s gonna work well as a recovery day exercise that will give me a good lower-intensity aerobic workout without a lot of stress on my joints.

How are YOU going to celebrate National Running Day?

Hitting the Wall (from the “This popped up in my Inbox” series)

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Got this in my inbox from a friend.  Been thinking about it all day, so I thought I’d share.image

Hitting the Wall

Serious runners, especially long distance ones, talk about "hitting the wall." It’s apparently something that defies easy description and is different for different people. It’s variously described as that point when "an elephant jumps on your shoulders for a ride" or "your legs feel made of lead – if you can feel them at all." It happens usually around mile 20 or so according to most running websites.

Our son-in-law Chris, who recently ran his first full marathon, said around mile 23 he encountered his nemesis:  "an angry, anthropomorphic Wall with fists." Hitting the Wall is an experience of total energy depletion, of mental fuzziness and self-doubt, perhaps even defeat.

Chris said he had to slow to a walk and then eventually stop. A fellow marathoner paused to check on him and offer help. After a bit he started walking again and soon came up on his merry band of supporters, including his wife (our daughter) EA.

As they walked together up a steep hill, Chris confessed he was discouraged and disappointed he wouldn’t finish the race in his target time. EA answered, "No, but you can finish 15 minutes later than that." Her belief in him got Chris running again, and indeed, he did finish within 15 minutes of his initial goal.

Marathon runners aren’t the only ones who hit the Wall. At one time or another it flattens most of us who run the road of recovery. Maybe it’s a relapse, a consequence, a disappointment or just plain old exhaustion, The Wall crushes you. Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually you’re spent.

So what do you do? How do you get past the Wall? You do what this new marathoner did: You surrender, stop and get your breath, assess your need for help, find support, and start running again. You set a new goal and keep on going.


Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

Marnie Ferree

Somedays (okay … some weeks/months/years) are just like hitting the wall.  But we get to start again, fresh with each new day.  One day at a time, one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.

(the picture wasn’t in the email, but I wanted someplace of me looking like I was really having a good time… running)

Thinking like a fit person…

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image The past couple of weeks I haven’t been thinking like a fit person.  I had met a goal I had been training for since January of running another 5k, I’d trained three-four times a week, and greatly improved my endurance and speed drastically.  I beat my previous 5k time by four minutes.  I should have been very happy.

Truth is, it was in the middle of a stressful time at work, more stresses from home.  During the last few weeks, I didn’t find a good outlet for letting out my frustrations.  I grew increasingly isolated and withdrew into myself. I made some really bad decisions with my time, which only increased the stress I felt, along with guilt and shame.  I should have recognized the signs,  found one of my support friends and worked things out.  Instead I let pride get the better of me (again) and the end result was I regressed.  All of that has nothing to do with dieting, but part of the reason I’m on this journey is to be more fit, and fit isn’t just a physical property, but also a emotional and spiritual component as well.  So this post is the beginning (again) of me trying to think like a fit person, and recommitting myself to the practices I’ve fostered the past couple of years to become the person I want to be.

So… with that as prelude, I’m going to go back to some number crunching. 

Continue reading →

Six months of daily weigh-ins

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Six months (well 180 days) ago I started every morning stepping on the scale, and logging my weight on LoseIt! and The Hacker’s Diet Online.  Here is the result in chart form (click to enbiggen).

HackDiet-6mos

Some meaningful stats that I’ve gleaned for perspective:

  • Days where I recorded a loss: 97
  • Days where there was no gain or no loss: 15
  • Days where I recorded a gain: 68
  • Days above trend: 26
  • Total Trend Loss: 27.6 pounds
  • Total Actual Loss: 29.4

I’m going to continue to log my weight in daily, because I like the motivation I get from the daily accountability to the scale.  I’ve gained understanding that the number is just a snapshot, and going up or down in a day is meaningless without an understanding of the trends in the numbers.  I hope this post encourages other people to not be so dependant on the number on the scale.

If you’re weighing yourself weekly, I’ve done some of the math for that too, including calculating a trend for a ‘weekly weigh in’.  I somewhat cherry-picked the day, since Tuesday seems to be the most consistent down day, but I don’t think it really matters what day is chosen.  Here is the same sort of statistics using the weekly numbers:

  • Weeks where I recorded a loss: 25
  • Weeks where there was no gain or no loss: 0
  • Weeks where I recorded a gain: 16
  • Weeks above trend: 1

So even if your weighing in weekly, determining a trend can help you stay positive even on an “up” week.  The important thing in staying on track and losing weight is being consistent as possible.  Make sure you’re eating close to your calorie goal (I even upped my daily calories in the last two months).  Move more, as you’re able.  Be accountable to yourself and to other people with your goals in becoming more healthy.