Healthy Eating.. The easy way.

Its interesting, I am really an "all-or-nothing" type of person.   When I run/exercise regularly - I want to eat well, focus on my over-all well-being, get enough rest, etc.   When I get injured (which seems to be  the only thing that really makes me stop exercising), I start eating chocolate cake.. Fast food.. Ice Cream.. etc.

So, I want to change my focus to healthy living over all.  This will help me when I can not run, to continue to focus on great things.

[caption id="attachment_2876" align="alignright" width="225"] You don't have to deny yourself treats![/caption]

One of the BIGGEST aspects of Healthy Living is the food we eat.  I do very well at eating right - IF I pay attention.  So I am returning to my using MyFitnessPal to track my eating habits.  I have found that if I put in my food BEFORE I eat it, that I make much better decisions.  In fact, If I know I am going to be having some sort of "treat" that day - I put that in first thing.

The Insanity of it all.

My 3rd Anniversary here on wordpress seems like a great time to start faithfully blogging again! As I mentioned in my previous blog posting, it seems the perfect time for a change of attitude and direction in my fitness goals.  As everyone reading this blog knows, I am a runner.  This is my form of exercise.  I run.  I added in Yoga to help with my flexibility, but even that was simply a cool down from my run.  No Run = No Yoga.

Well, I'm bored.  I am still limited to a treadmill many times (just due to child care and timing), and its boring.  I enjoy watching the Walking Dead, but its STILL boring.  Tie this in with the fact that my wife has started doing Krav Maga, running isn't going to be enough.  Now, I think the running is still important (after all, I may need to run away from her and her new-founds skills!), and it is still my preferred form of exercise - but I want something more.  I have debated picking up a total gym/bow flex - and neither of these are off the table for the future (ju$t for the pre$ent if you catch my drift), or joining a gym.  As I weighed (See what I did there?) these two options, it occured to me to pick those Insanity DVDs up, and give them another shot.  They say the third time is the charm right?

[caption id="attachment_2434" align="alignright" width="180"] I totally needed this yesterday.[/caption]

So, I have completed the first three days of Insanity, and I have to admit - I am able to walk much better today!  Yesterday, If you could have seen me walk up stairs - it would have reminded you of your grandfather!  But today, I am back to super tired muscles, instead of agonizingly-painful-to-move-in-any-way-at-all muscles.  This gives me 2 months to decide on the Gym or not.  With a 2 mile warm up before starting it (that I will be increasing as time goes by), it is really going to help me build up my stamina and core!

My thought is to consult with a physical trainer at the end of the Insanity to help me decide the best path from there!

I heard a fantastic phrase recently.   "Dieting helps you look better in clothing.  Exercise helps you look better naked."   Since I want to improve both - it seems that diet and exercise will continue to be a factor!

#Janathon - Day 16 - Full Body Workout

[caption id="attachment_2319" align="alignleft" width="183"] After being stuck in the house for 5 days - I still look this suave. Honest.[/caption]

So, after an absence of several days - I have returned!  My Sinusitis turned upper respiratory infection (I think they are just guessing and throwing out fancy sounding generic illnesses) is improving, My temperature is only 99.9 now. But that is no excuse to miss Janathon is it?

So what sort of exercise did I do? A Fullbody workout!  I have been slacking for several days, so I figured I needed to jump right in.  Now I will admit that I did concentrate on my abs, my diaphram and my rib muscles.  I didn't stop there however!  My the scalenes, sternoclidomastoid, upper trapezius, levator costorum, paraspinals and subclavius for inhalation; and, the pectorals, serratus anterior, latissimus dorsi, and serratus posterior muscles also received a great workout and all with only one exercise!

#janathon - Day 6 - The "rest" run.

Another gorgeous day here in Crofton, MD.  The temperature was a gorgeous 50 degrees.   Since I have just moved here, I have no idea if this is normal winter weather or not - but I am certainly enjoying it!  Two days outside in a row!

Today is a "rest" day, so I figured a mile or so would be good.  My shortest look is around 1.5 miles, so I figured I would just go out and run it slowly.

Oops.

My first mile was done at an 8:29 pace, and the second .6 of a mile was done at 8:36.

Better Diet. (Not Dieting)

[caption id="attachment_2070" align="alignright" width="240"] Ok, So this is "Bad." I get that part.[/caption]

So, I started thinking about what I was eating a while back and how I could improve it.  The first obvious step - is eat fewer calories than I am burning.  Myfitnesspal works well on helping me with that.  Not only that, its method of using basic math to lead to weight loss - definitely works!

Now, that I have "burn less than you eat"understood - I am attempting to move into the "make better choices" stage - Some of which I have already begun.  It's obvious that broccoli is a better snacking choice than cookies.   But there is obviously more to it than that.

Let me speak up here and say that I am not becoming a vegetarian.  I did it for quite a while at one point in my life - and have no real plans on going back to it.  I like Bacon Cheeseburgers, and a tofu-burger with genuine tofu-bacon on it does not come close.

Calories

I happen to work next to a Dunkin Donuts.. This has been very convenient (I love coffee), and not nearly as dangerous as I had feared - as long as I bring food with me.  On those days that I have forgotten to bring my greek yogurt, or that I have run out... Its dangerous.

Today is one of those days.  As such, I took a look at their nutrional information before heading over.   I find myself staring at a very definite first world issue, but an issue none the less.  The calorie count.



I think the hardest part of this issue - is that consistency doesn't exist.  What I mean by that - is it is impossible to guess calories on foods - unless you do use a tool like "Myfitnesspal" or "fatsecret" - in which case you aren't guessing anymore.  But back to the donut.

Sometimes a change of perspective helps us see what is important.

So for the last 24 hours I have been in the Cardiac Care Center of Wilson Memorial Hospital while my mother in law had a valve replacement done.  The surgery went well and she is recovering nicely.  In fact, the surgeon called it "Text-Book," as everything has gone according to plan.



While here, we spoke with someone whose husband

Taping Plantar Faciitis again.

So I pulled the tape off that I have had on my foot for 4 or 5 days.  The tape was not quite in the same shiny white condition it had been.  In fact,I think the technical term would be - nasty.   But I hadn't been wearing it as a fashion statement, instead I had been wearing it as I had been able to walk mostly pain-free with the tape.  Having removed it, my first question was how much it would (or wouldn't) hurt to walk with its absence. so I was curious as to how it would do without the tape.  The foot-log felt good with out the tape, so I tried walking.  there was some uncomfortableness (is that a word?) when I walked - so I decided (With my wife's brilliant input) to re-tape it.  Well, that means I asked my wife to re-tape it and she agreed. Have you ever tried to tape your own foot?

I miss running.

Injury free Running seminar at Binghamton University

I find it difficult to believe that there are many runners out there that wouldn't like to run "injury free.". I especially think that any runner who pulled their calf muscle five times last year AND got shin splints that hurt enough that even the doctor thought it was a stress fracture REALLY needed to attend a seminar called "Injury Free Running," by Mathew Nark of Plaza Fitness in Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany NY.   The evening of the St. Patrick's 4 mile run I had the opportunity to go to just such a seminar that the Triple Cities Runner's Club sponsored.  I was bound and determined to walk out of there with at least three big things I could change, and I was not disappointed.

Probably the most fascinating piece of information I got out of it was the idea of muscle activation.   Mathew stated something along the lines of (I don't have an photographic memory) "About half of the people I see come in for injuries - aren't injured.  They have muscles that simply aren't firing properly.  Think of an army with 100,000 people. If only 20,000 are working - then it isn't going to be doing its job well.  This is also true with Muscles - if only 20,000 of 100,000 muscle fibers are working - the muscle isn't going to work as well."  Muscle activation is the idea of increasing the number of "working" or activated muscles fibers.  Even if you only get it up to 60,000/100,000 fibers - you are going to be able to do MUCH more than if you were at 20,000/100,000.  He then demonstrated with someone who had a recurring IT Band problem (and stressed that this is not guaranteed to be someone's issue just because they have IT Band pain, but that it WAS worth looking into if you did) come up as a "volunteer."  With this person, he