More myths about dieting and general updates

Alright, I'm on a bit of a kick on sorting fact from fiction. Yahoo! has another good article about diet and exercise myths, and I admit I've fallen victim to number 2 to some extent. My thoughts when I first started running were "I run a lot now, so I can eat a lot more". Yeah, that's wrong. Oops! I know I'm not the only one who thinks that way, and it can be really hard to find the balance in eating and exercise. We can't stop eating, but we can't go overboard just because we're getting more exercise in.

On a similar line of thought, check out the latest news on Olestra. Turns out fake fat makes you fat. It's similar to the fake sugar makes you fat news. While the thought of Olestra has always made me ill, I do admit to a Coke Zero with lunch when I'm at work. The rest of the time I am drinking water, and when I eat out sometimes unsweet tea. It's my vice, and I figure there are worse things I can do.

As far as how I'm doing, I've discovered something that I suspected would happen. Some of my larger muscles are atrophying. This is why I knew I'd need to get some new exercise in if I didn't want to stick with running for the summer, but it's not making me happy. I have a feeling that while I hadn't been gaining weight before it will start coming back because I don't have the muscles burning away all day long like I did before.

My excuse? Well, aside from the horrific heat we've experienced so far in Georgia it's all revolving around the lack of a fan in my basement and how it needs to be cleaned. Lame? Oh yeah. Is it working? Sure is. I still haven't done a damn thing in the exercise department. This weekend I am cleaning the basement and buying a fan!! And because I said it here, I will feel guilty until it is accomplished. Hopefully. We'll see :)

Calorie Myths

Since running involves more awareness of fueling your body and a good diet, I thought readers might find this particular article interesting. I've been doing more and more research lately about what a "healthy" diet really means, and I've also been noticing something about myself. Even though I haven't been exercising much, okay at all, I've been keeping off the weight I lost training for the half marathon and in fact I think I've lost a little more.

Here's a couple things I've noticed in the past several months:

• Even though I was training like a fiend for the half marathon, I only lost 10 pounds. WTF?! All that training and only 10 pounds were lost??? I know I gained some muscle too, but sheesh...
• I had to eat like crazy for that training. If I didn't pretty much eat all day long, I was dealing with major hunger issues. This confirms my belief that you can't cut calories and exercise a lot without some major repercussions.
• Now that I'm not training or exercising, I expected the weight to pile back on. It hasn't (as I mentioned above).
• Careful grazing (I eat on a very specific schedule) with protein packed into each meal has keep my hunger down and keeps me focused.
• Cutting sugars (with the exception of whole fruit) has been a major success. My glucose levels don't spike and my skin has cleared up. Most people don't realize that excess sugars in your diet cause acne breakouts.

Long story short: I gave up calorie counts, caloric burn, and obsessing over weight loss. This has allowed me to just be content, enjoy food, and feel better overall.

I hope this helps if you're trying to lose weight. Weight loss is different for everyone, and there is no "easy fix". Good luck!

Approaching the crossroads

Due to some recent changes in my own life (new job which means more than double the distance from home and triple the commute time), I've had to face a challenge that most people face in their lives. That challenge is a lack of time. When training for the half marathon (which I am still proud to have completed), I was able to get weekday runs in due to the close proximity of several parks to my old job and being closer to home. I could beat the sunset and still get a couple miles in before heading home. Weekends were easier to deal with as well since the weather was cooler, allowing me to sleep a little later and still have decent temperatures and weather.

All this background is to let you know that conditions are not ideal, but they're not the end of the world either. I now spend significantly longer in the car, and if parks are close by I'm not aware of them just yet. This will make it hard to train longterm. It's also summer here now, so even with the sun staying up I get to deal with remaining heat (we've hit 90 degree temps already and summer has barely started). The other major nuisance is the massive mosquito population here. I get eaten alive during warmer weather.

These external hindrances combined with a desire to try something new have led me to do a little research on the latest and greatest in sports fitness. I've come across a unifying theme throughout my searches. Less can be more. If you've been reading the blog for the past several weeks, you may remember this post. Workouts like this have become more and more popular for several reasons, but here is what makes them appeal to me:

For a quick workout, it offers significant benefits and can be more effective even than running.

As you can tell already, I'm a bit strapped for time. Like most women, I have to deal with household chores on top of working and whatnot. I also crave downtime to relax mentally by reading books, watching an occasional movie, and hanging out with friends. The tough part is going to be making a new routine. This was a major hurdle regardless of whether I chose running, going to the gym, or anything else. Now that I've found a workout method I want to try, I'll start trying to build the right habits again.

Does this mean I've given up on running? No way! This means I'm taking a break but am looking forward to trying to run more 5ks in the future. I miss the casual racing. I'll probably sign up for the Publix half marathon again.

I really wanted to write this post because I want you readers to know that there are other options out there. Find what works for you, and don't be afraid of change and challenge.

What is a healthy diet?

If you read medically accepted advice, then you know you should be eating a low-fat, high protein and high carb diet. I say high carb because it's suggested to eat a lot of grains if you look at the food pyramid. This is where I deviate drastically from popular advice. See, being hypoglycemic means I feel the affects of lowering blood sugar. It doesn't necessarily mean my glucose is low, but I certainly feel the dip more than most. This ends up meaning I should treat my diet carefully. Here's what my diet ends up consisting of:

• Wheat bread for sandwiches
• Fruit
• Veggies
• Chicken
• Beef
• White rice
• Whole grain pasta
• Almond milk
• Fiber cereal
• Low-fat yogurt (2%)
• Butter
• Butter
• Butter
• Bacon grease
• Butter

I can hear you now. You eat butter?! And how in the world do you eat bacon grease??? Well, for one I'm Southern. Bacon grease can be used in place of oil in a skillet. And let's face it - butter is good. It's unsalted butter, but it's butter. What I focus on is lower carb and lower sodium ratios. I don't try to eat too much fat - not a whole lot of alfredo sauce, cheese, milk, or fatty meats. I just don't sweat the fat I do eat. Fat helps with slowing the absorption of sugar, which means I don't have as many spikes in glucose. No spikes equals happy Diane :)

Why do I bring this up? I found this really interesting article on Yahoo! that asks if skim milk is actually making us fat. Even if you prefer the no fat version of milk, I think how skim milk is made white will make you give it up forever. Gross!

Warrior Dash May 2011

I'm finding I have a pretty predictable cycle. Around April and May I goof off and the Warrior Dash comes along and then I half-assedly complete it.

Today was the SE Warrior Dash, and it was very fun! There were some differences from last year's race. First, slightly different obstacles and trail. I skipped one that involved climbing a wall with a rope. I just don't have the upper body strength for it. The lake was significantly higher this year due to recent rains, so I ended up doggie paddling a lot of it because I couldn't walk it. Second, two t-shirts! Muwahahaha!

What made the experience better was planning for the race in advance better than last year. We made the trek up to Mountain City Georgia the night before and stayed in a nearby hotel (The Dillard House). This allowed us to avoid the two hour drive just before the race and to get to the racing area early. We ran in an earlier heat, parked much closer, and when we were finished we had a real shower to clean up in. The only downside? The hot water at the hotel room wasn't working, but the manager helped us out with compensation. Lunch at the same hotel was amazing, as always.

Overall I think getting the hotel room makes a major difference. Next time I think we'll get a room for both Friday and Saturday nights. That way there's no rush to check out on time.