You should be proud of every "win".
I still believe that being healthy is much different than losing weight just to see a different number on the scale.
My wins are completely tied to the numbers going down. Weight, cholesterol, triglycerides and a bunch of other ones that I don't know the meanings of. I do feel fortunate for the success I've had with things affecting my health and quality of life.
Typically, if the body craves something, its good to listen. Its understanding the difference between the body actually needing something or our subconscious wanting of something. I've played the carb battle many many times being sensitive to changing insulin levels. My approach was to limit carbs, but everytime I had even a bit of excess, I crashed and wanted more.
My body wants to be drunk and fat while smoking a cigarette and maybe contracting herpes. What my body wants is on my Ignore List. Ideally I am getting 40% of my calories from carbs so it's not that 'no' carbs thing at all. Getting the scoop from me about this plan is really a disservice to this plan. The book does a good enough job of pitching itself that they don't need me for that and I think you'd like reading it.
Amazon.com: The Zone: A Dietary Road Map (9780060391508): Barry Sears, Bill Lawren: Books
This brings me back to "working out". You can easily regulate insulin ups and downs by needing it for protein synthesis in the muscles. Your body won't use fat stores for energy when elevated levels of insulin are present. It's attempting to use the carbs you just ate and thats why the "energy" feels different. Muscle groups take time to recover and your body will adapt to releasing insulin much more steadily to carry all those amino acids to muscles needing repair.
It took some time, but a few weeks of working large muscle groups and then taking down simple sugars right after a workout made managing carbs much easier.
I don't really understand all that. I barely got a grip on what it was that the book was trying to explain about all that and that's a book. The author aside from being an MD is a PH.D. and has a list of medical trials a mile long. He's also done some work/testing with elite athletes. He never suggests doing anything with simple sugars.
I don't have the will power to eat an exact diet- most people don't. Most people fail.
That's the part that I find works for me. I've had the time off work to spend preparing and planning out these meals and so long as I stick to that, it's all good. I guess if I had to put a number to it I would say that I've complied 85% to 90% of the time.
Allowing the body to take on more processes and do more with the food we eat will tip the scales in favor of success.
Not sure what that means either.
Its your lifestyle, they're your choices, but I really think incorporating some kind of resistance training sooner than later is prudent. I'm not saying you have to come up with a 7 day split and go buy spandex outfits (get out your spandex outfits) and become a complete meat head. Just take even 10-15 minutes three times a week and work hard.
No spandex? I'm out!
I really don't even know where to begin with that. From time to time work affords me the opportunity to move a few thousand pounds around in the course of a day and that's usually all the abuse I'm interested in.
5 pushups everytime you post is a good start, but doing as many as you can in 10 minutes is exponentially better. Its 10 minutes man. Your mental approach to this whole process will change profoundly.
My chest is pretty sore from the push ups I did yesterday. I'll work into that. Walking the 3 miles to and from my local redbox a few times a week has become progressively easier since I started all this. It doesn't sound like much but 20 pounds ago my knees would be tender during the walk. 10 pounds ago they would only be tight after the walk. Now it's like nothing to go up there and back.
I'm about 185 now and have fluctuated a bit the past couple years, but at 24 I was 260 with health problems no kid should have. I was really thankful that somebody kicked my *** after a while and was no longer interested in what the scale said when I stood on it. He gave me the tools to lose the weight and maintain a lifestyle to stay healthy years down the road. I no longer worry about insulin- I've drank enough beer that I'm pretty sure my pancreas is pickled.
I'd sure be interested to see what you thought about insulin after reading that book. Your results are impressive and I'm sure you've spent a considerable amount of time learning what you needed to know to get there. I've only ever taken the time to get this one program figured out well enough to follow it. So far so good. I don't know that I want to lose 75 pounds ... that seems like way too much work.
Thanks. You too.
