The Glowing Edge

Tag: diet

The “Screw It” Moment of Training for a Fight
If you had asked me last Friday “How’s training for your fight going? How are you feeling?” you might have heard me growl and scowl and say I didn’t give a damn anymore. I was wholly, mortally sick. Of. It.

Done. Screw it, I’m outta here.

So I made the reasonable choice and did a flaming, flying swan dive down into the dark, seedy mental nightclubs where I proceeded to party down while throwing the finger to everything boxing related. To mark the special moment, I stopped into Bojangles and devoured a 2-piece fat-enhanced meal with a side of dirty (that was especially satisfying) fries AND a motherfucking biscuit. With butter.

I thought about driving up to the Krispy Kreme, but I was feeling so warm and sated after the Bo-party all I wanted to do was head home and sleep it off. I decided I could finish out with a hefty double shot of 12 year old Macallan’s Highland single malt scotch, but by the time I got home I was too wasted on fried chicken and biscuits to find the liquor cabinet.

I slept like a sabertooth tiger with a belly full of giant sloth.

And I proceeded to very studiously NOT TRAIN for the next three days.

Which would have been especially sparkling and glittery, except that prior to the flaming flying swan dive, I had trained at my cheapie $10-a-month gym with a guy who put me through an hour-long upper and lower body workout that (I found out later) just happened to hammer the holy living Elvis out of my calves and triceps.

On Saturday I was surprised at the level of pain and misery cramping up my legs and arms, and I knew I was in for a rough Sunday, because I get hit hardest by 2nd day muscle soreness when I screw up like this. And sure enough, rolling out of bed and putting my feet on the floor Sunday morning was the sheerest kind of torture. It took me hours of patient work to get everything stretched out and functional, and Monday was only marginally better.

Still, I was off the training wagon and didn’t care — upcoming fight be damned. If I could have summoned the cosmic unicorn wish fairy and been able to get in the ring and have my match Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday night I would have done it in a skinny minute just to get it off the event horizon of the sucking black hole that was my mental attitude.

I started to repent on Tuesday morning. Which was reasonably smart, considering that the church of boxing was scheduled to hold high holy services just 9 days hence.

I put on my sackcloth and ashes and headed to Second Round for my punishment. As you might guess, I wasn’t all smiles. I pretended I’d never even thought of, never even considered the ring name “Relentless.”

I got in without too many people noticing, and quietly set up the ring with a double slip line. My calves wept silently. I ignored them and thought about fried chicken instead.

And Cinnabon. I thought about Cinnabon a lot.

But not my fight. I resolutely didn’t think about my fight. And I noticed something interesting.

My quads were fairly happily taking me smoothly and easily under that slip rope, back and forth like a well-oiled machine. My heart rate stayed steady and my jabs weren’t catching on the line. Everything was working. For the first three rounds, and the next three, and the next three. By round 10 I was feeling normal again. Boom. I wanted to say, Hey all you doctors out there, quit prescribing Wellbutrin and Elavil and Zoloft! Tell your patients to shadowbox 10 rounds with a slip line! After eating dirty fries and biscuits!

My coach ambled up and I confessed (some of) my sins. He was nonchalant. Rest is good, he said. You got this. Then put me through a solid pad workout for another 6 rounds. I love my coach.

Powah was mine, badasses. I did a few victory dances around the ring while he pretended not to see. He probably didn’t roll his eyes.

So I finished out with speed bag and jump rope rounds, after which I strolled home like a convict whose prison sentence has been unexpectedly commuted. And here I had thought I had flushed all my training down the toilet. I have much to learn, clearly.

Did I mention the fact that I went to the bookstore on Saturday and read the first 5 chapters of Tim Ferriss’s 4 Hour Body? I have some modifications I’m making to my training, more on that later. (My husband is all like, You’re such a control freak.)

Meanwhile, my lessons learned:
1. Ten to twelve weeks is waaaaay too long for a training camp for attention-deficient me. Why did I start that early? Excited, I guess. Seven weeks is probably optimal for most people, assuming one is in reasonably decent shape. Five weeks would be tight but do-able.
2. Factor in “screw it” days or weeks, especially if you’re doing a longer training camp.
Sometimes good enough is, amazingly, good enough. All is well in Whoville. “Relentless” rides again. After the fight, meet me at the Cinnabon.
January 16, 2013
How to Train FASTER
I’m officially about 8 weeks out from my next fight, which is just the right amount of time I need to set up my training goals. About a year ago I started categorizing the main areas of my boxing training, and since then I’ve refined my system enough to find it pretty useful as I plan my workouts.

(It would be fair to say I’m a bit compulsive about organization. Obsessed, even. But people hire me for it, so I’m allowed. Note to you: try to get paid for the stuff that makes you weird.)

The acronym I use to lay out my goals is FASTER, although if you want to be picky about it — which I generally enjoy doing — you could also say FASSTER, because it stands for Form, Anaerobic Conditioning, Strength, Speed, Timing, Eating Clean, and Resting.

But first, a note about training hours…

How many hours of training each week?

Remember those awesome gold star stickers from first grade? I’ll still do damn near anything for those suckers.

So when I’m in my normal routine, I use a “medal” system for every week of training. This means I give myself a mental bronze medal for every week in which I train three times, a silver for four good training sessions, and a gold for getting in five training sessions for that week.

I used to train two hours or more at a time, but now that I’m more efficient, I train about an hour to an hour and a half each time. If I’m focused and not jacking around, I’m finished inside of an hour.

I know plenty of people who put in far more training hours, but I just don’t have that luxury. And anyway, I would die of boredom spending long, slow hours on a trail or treadmill; besides, that sort of training doesn’t produce the kind of conditioning you need for boxing (see Anaerobic, below).

I average about 4 hours of training in a normal week, but when prepping for a fight, I try to stay consistently in a 5 workout-per-week mode.

Form

Ideally, you get your form cleaned up by shooting video of yourself sparring or working the heavy bag. That way you can watch yourself and correct the sloppy stuff. You can also watch yourself in a mirror. Either way, make sure you always have a form goal you’re working on.

Here are a few examples of good form goals:
Anaerobic conditioning

Anaerobic (coined in 1863 by Louis Pasteur, from the Greek: an – “without” + aer “air” + bios “life”) is very different from aerobic conditioning. Anaerobic conditioning means you’re teaching your body to function at high levels for very short periods of time with a shortage of oxygen to your system.

The win here is in interval training. Nobody cares if you can run five miles because what you need to be able to do in boxing is sprint hard for two (women’s rounds) or three (men’s rounds) minutes, recover in one minute, sprint another round, recover, and sprint again.

You can do interval training on pretty much everything. Weights, jump rope, treadmill, stair runs, box jumps, tire flipping, elliptical, rowing, sprints, you name it.

Boxing Interval Training: Do as much of your training as you possibly can in rounds or two or three minutes each, with 30 second recoveries between. Work crazy hard during the round, and keep moving during the recovery. Don’t slouch over or put your hands on your knees during your rest period. Stand tall and get plenty of oxygen back in to your system.

Tabata Interval Training: I generally keep my intervals to boxing round times, but that’s not the only way to do it. Tabata interval-style training was founded by a Japanese scientist named Izumi Tabata, and someday soon I’ll write a post on Tabata training, but the basic gist is this: After your warm up, you do 8 intervals of 20 seconds all-out intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest. Sound short and easy? Check out these killer Tabata-interval burpees. (Note he slouches to breathe at 2:30; Tabata will do that to you.)

Strength

For fight sports, speed and strength go hand in hand. When I do strength training I typically use light weights and high reps because I’m working for quickness and explosive power as well. Although I also slow it down and work heavier weights now and then because it’s so good for your bone density.

I’m not a huge exercise gadget person, but I do make use of dumbells, freeweights, tractor tires, sledgehammer, and medicine balls, and if I were in a fancy gym I’d be using slam ball, kettlebells, heavy rope, balance rings, and harness pulls as well.

Speed

You can build your speed by focusing on agility, explosion, and sprinting exercises. I have an agility ladder, but I’m just as likely to work along a sidewalk line or parking lot stripe. I also use dot drills, box (or wall or bench) jumps, and my general interval training to train for quickness.

You’ll definitely want to build up a set of reaction drills to use in building speed, too, and for some of those you need a partner. Practice letting your partner throw jabs at your head while you slip and duck. (good for Timing too, see below). Tie up a slip rope and work your way down it, moving quickly and lightly as you duck under and bob up on the other side.

Timing

If there’s an area in which I shortchange myself, it’s in timing. I do regular rounds on the speed bag (which really should be called a timing bag, because that’s what it trains), and once in a while I get on the double-end bag, but most of your practice in timing will come by way of regular sparring.

There’s just no substitute for learning to get out of the way than by having someone come after you with a blazing fast combo. And when you are getting regular sparring in, you’re also building timing by looking for the open shot and trying to land it consistently.

Eating Clean

My dietary outline comes mainly from the Dr. Sears Zone Diet, but I also incorporate Paleo once in a while. Above all, I work pretty hard to avoid the Forbidden Five foods (white bread, white rice, white pasta, white potatoes, and high fructose corn syrup). If you’re subscribed to my emails I love to send out recipes (as well as workout plans, training stories, playlists, random shenanigans, and free books once in a while; sign up here if you haven’t already).

And yeah, I cheat. You should too. Make your goals for eating sustainable, not ridiculously lofty. My goal in this area is usually to eat 80% clean every week. Which leaves room for spinach, mushroom, sausage, and onion pizza once in a while. (With extra garlic, yeah baby.)

Rest and Recovery

You’ve probably already heard the newsflash that you don’t build muscle while you’re training; you build muscle as you’re recovering. I have never been a train-every-day person anyway, but since I’m in my forties I’m particularly aware of a) being efficient with my time and training, and b) not getting injured by overtraining or making stupid mistakes.

Your turn…

What’s missing? What do you include that isn’t listed here? Leave me a comment below and share your ideas, additions, and training secrets.

CC image by Andrius Petrucenia
November 26, 2012
Back in the Zone
The first week of December I re-injured my shoulder, and spent two solid months in physical therapy and out of boxing. I became the cardio mistress (wore my thigh-high leather boots, carried the whip) but the intense PT schedule meant I had to give up some of my regular workouts. I got sloppy with my diet and ate depressively and now I’m five to seven pounds past the weight I like most to be.

I have a plan: move less, eat more.

Wait! No, I remember, it’s move more, eat less. (The funniest part of that Mad TV vid: “Bullcrap, you don’t know me!”)

And to that end, I’m picking up my workout schedule and writing out my meal plans again. As you may already know, I typically follow The Zone (by Dr. Barry Sears), which controls weight by controlling insulin. It’s not a low-carb or a high-protein diet, but rather a protein-carb-fats balanced diet. I used to use the one-third / two-third rule: eating one part protein (lean meats) and two parts low-density carbs (fruits and veggies) with a sprinkling of good fats (mostly monosaturated, like you find in olives and almonds).

But I got sloppy about it.

Now I’ve decided to work with the “blocks” that Sears outlines in his books. In the back of each of the books I own there’s an index of sorts that lists lots of healthy foods and tells you how much of that food equals a block. Most women want to plan meals with 3 blocks of protein, 3 blocks of (low density, which equals fruits and veggies) carbs, and 3 blocks of good fats. Guys can do 4, 4, and 4.

I invested in a scale so that I can actually figure out how much 3 ounces of something is, and I’m measuring everything until I get a sense of the amounts again.

So, here’s my meal plan for my first day back in the Zone:

Breakfast
- 2/3 cup (cooked) steel-cut oats = 2 blocks carbs
- 1 cup raspberries = 1 block carbs
- 2 soy sausage links = 1 block protein (can’t bring myself to get 3 blocks)
- 3 tsp slivered almonds = 3 blocks fats
Snack
- 1 graham cracker = 1 carb
- 1/2 tsp peanut butter = 1 fat
- 1 mozzarella cheese stick = 1 protein
Lunch
- 3 oz chicken breast = 3 protein
- 3 cups broccoli = 1 carb
- 2 cups fresh sliced strawberries = 2 carbs
- 3 tsp almond slivers = 3 fats
Before boxing snack (one set of blocks from my dinner)
- half a Zone bar (gawd, I love these, esp the peanut butter ones) = 1 carb, 1 protein, 1 fat
After boxing dinner
- 1/2 Zone bar (in car, on way home) = 1 carb, 1 protein, 1 fat
- 1/4 cup black beans = 1 protein
- 1/2 cup hot salsa = 1 carb
- 1/3 tsp (a drizzle) olive oil = 1 fat
This outlines a pretty stringent Zone day, and as you saw, I didn’t quite get the breakfast balanced. But for me the really tough part about this plan is the period between lunch and boxing. The best way I know to do it is to eat lunch about 1 or 2 pm, so that I’m not perishing for food by 6, when I’ll tuck into my Zone bar.

But I’m resolved to get on the plan once again. I’ll keep you posted.
March 11, 2010
How to Cheat on Your Diet (and do it well)

1. Don’t try to be Polly Pure.

It won’t work. Try for “sustainable” instead. Unless you are in training for a very specific period of time for a major goal (a marathon or a big fight), your diet should look and feel like something you can continue to do for the rest of your life.

2. Don’t go hungry, but if you do, snack better.

The number one secret (and it isn’t a secret, really) to eating right is to not starve yourself. This means you have to eat the kinds of foods in portion sizes that help you maintain better insulin levels all day long. This takes some planning.

One of the best ways to manage when you don’t have time to prepare a meal or can’t get to a place where you can, is to have good snacks on hand. I keep Zone bars and a bag of almonds in my desk, gym bag, and glove compartment. This curbs the impulse to swing through McDonald’s for a quick fix.

3. Change “cheat” to “treat”

I don’t actually think of my forays into the universe of junk food as cheating, as if I were trying to hide something. Instead, I know ahead of time that I’m not going to be Polly Pure, and I work it into the way I eat in as healthy a way as I possibly can. See below.

4. Treat yourself regularly.

I have a treat pretty much every day, and I exercise control with portions and frequency more than specific food items. Rather than eating a whole bag of M&M’s, I limit myself to 10. And I only do that maybe once a day, and that’s my treat for the day. I also love Cheetos, omg I LOVE Cheetos! So I limit the number I eat, and I only buy them about twice a month. Lucky for me I live in a house with four other Cheeto hounds, so the bag will be gone pretty soon anyway.

5. Your diet should include room for real splurges.

REAL splurges. A splurge isn’t something you do every single day. Think of it like a vacation. You don’t have a vacation every day, do you? But you do have them, and they’re part of what makes life lovely.

A splurge for me is a giant basket of onion rings, and you can bet your boots I’ll be having some at the State Fair this year. (Note: when you have a pretty clean diet, some splurges will make you feel a bit ill afterwards, which will cause you to limit it next time. Or not! I’ll have an o-ring hangover, but won’t care.)

6. Achieve balance with exercise.

Nobody’s diet is going to be in balance without exercise. When you splurge, add an extra two miles of sprints to your regular workout, or do 500 stairs. Just don’t try to make up a huge junk food orgy in a single workout, it isn’t sustainable. See above.

7. Prepare yourself for friendly (and not so friendly) commentary

Balancing your diet and including regular exercise in your life is such a difficult task that most people will never try it at all. Or they will, and they’ll abandon their efforts because they’ve tried something that isn’t working for them or it is just too hard. There is SO much bad advice out there, it’s no wonder people get discouraged. Plus it’s work, and we all have a ton of work in our lives already. So when people see you having treats, they’ll sometimes say, “Hey, wait a minute, aren’t you supposed to be Ms Healthy?” This gives you the opportunity to

a) Enjoy it, play the “food porn” game, and brag a little: “Mm-hm, and tomorrow I’m going to eat baaaaacon! Cause my marathon is next week.”
b) Challenge them to match you in your extra exercise. “I hereby swear to an extra 15 minutes of jump rope sprints. Wanna join me?”
c) Ignore it and let your body speak for itself. If you’re looking great and feeling energetic and fit, it will show!

8. Recovering from a major screw-up or holiday season.

For this, you have to take the long view. You’re probably going to see a weight change and you may feel crappy, both mentally and physically. But honestly, big screw-ups happen, and the best thing to do is start with one good meal, one good workout, and one good day. Then add another and another. Set up your goals again and tape them to your computer. And know that in a couple of weeks (depending on the size and duration of your lapse), you’ll be back where you want to be.

Image credit: atomicjeep on Flickr

August 27, 2009
5 ways to Eat Fast Food and Still Cut Carbs

It’s good to start by eating less fast food, but even when you find yourself at the local burger, chicken, or waffle joint, there are ways to keep from loading up on insulin-jacking, straight-to-fat-storage carbohydrates.

1. Order protein, eat the guts
If you avoid the bun that comes with your standard burger, dog, or chicken filet, you’ll make a huge difference right there. It’s okay to eat your burger with a fork! What do you think people did before the Earl of Sandwich came along?

2. Don’t drown your food
This is about the forty different little packets of corn-syrup hell (read the ingredients, it’s not good news at all) that every fast food restaurant wants to foist off on you so that you won’t notice the flavorless taste of their food. This includes mayo, bbq sauce, sweet-and-sour, ketchup, all of it. You’ll cut not only carbs here, but also bad fats and empty sugars. Eat the food, but leave the sauces behind.

3. Drink water
Our family has a “water only” policy for eating out which not only saves us a lot money, but it’s also healthier. Avoid the lemonades, sodas, sweet tea, and even the orange juice and other fruit juices offered by pancake restaurants and the like. I see so many moms feeding their kids boxed juices when they should keep a water bottle handy instead. If you’re at a fitness club smoothie bar, substitute water or milk for the carb-heavy juices. The constant sugar is expensive, bad for your teeth, causes you to “crash” about 30 minutes later, and it also trains your body to want more sugar. How helpful is that?

4. Eat your friend’s french fries
Don’t order french fries! But allow yourself to eat (no more than) five of a friend’s. If you don’t have a friend with you, no fries. I try to always take a friend. 🙂

5. Regular-size me
All the huge servings in fast food restaurants are not helping anyone to stay healthy, and Americans are learning wrong portion sizes. Get small sizes of everything. Avoid the big stuff like the plague. It’s not “cool” to eat a super-biggie-monster size, it’s unhealthy.

Most of you have had to run this obstacle course already — what tactics are you finding work best? Leave me a comment and share the wisdom!

Image credit: Urbanshoregirl on Flickr

August 17, 2009
4 Reasons Why Your Workout Isn’t Working

1. Low, slow cardio

I see this in the gym all the time. People on the elliptical or treadmill who are going so slowly that they can comfortably page through a magazine and even talk on the phone. That’s fine if it’s getting you where you want to be fitness-wise, but if you’re dissatisfied with your progress, look here first. If you are trying to be faster, stronger, and heart-healthier, you need pay attention to your heart rate.

To get a general estimate of your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. Your best cardio work will typically be when you get your heart rate up to at least 60-80% of your max heart rate. I try to keep my cardio workouts at 80% of my max, and because boxing requires me to work anaerobically for short bursts, I make it a point to push my heart rate up to the max at least once every 5 minutes or so. As you get in better and better shape, you will have to work much harder to achieve the 60-80% and to touch your max.

2. Same ol’, same ol’

If you do exactly the same workout every single time, your body begins to adapt. It gets good at that particular workout, and you may not see progress toward your fitness goals. So change it up. Get off the elliptical and try rowing. Stop running the same route around your neighborhood and start swimming laps at the community center instead. Get off the bike and give the treadmill a shot. Find three or five new weightlifting exercises and retire some of your old ones for six weeks or so. Not only will your body begin to respond to the new challenges, but you might find you don’t get bored with your workout so quickly, either. In fitness, change is good. Make it happen!

3. Your diet sucks

Exercise has to be supported by good food choices, period. This takes some planning ahead, prepping ahead, and contingency plans as well. My fast-and-dirty rule for eating to support boxing is “one-third, two-thirds.” This means I eat one-third lean protein and two-thirds low-density fruits/vegs (and throw in a little of the good — that means monounsaturated — fats/oils) at every single meal or snack. I also keep power bars (the ones made by The Zone are perfectly balanced already) in my car and in my desk drawer so that I don’t get tempted to drive through the Wendy’s or overload on M&M’s. The good news is, even if you screw up a meal or snack, you can always start fresh with the next one.

4. No goals

This is probably the number one reason people fail at fitness. Quantify what you want to achieve! Put a number on it and set a timeline. If you want to become a runner, sign up for a 5K and start building your mileage for race day. Then set up a gold, silver, and bronze medal goal: Bronze might be “Finish the race,” Silver might be “Finish in under 30 minutes,” and your Gold medal goal might be to beat your top time. The clearer your goals are, the easier it will be to see and celebrate your progress.

Image credit: colros on Flickr

July 31, 2009
Fuel Your Sport

This is a very typical day of fuel for me.

I eat oatmeal almost every day; I buy organic rolled oats, the kind you’re supposed to slow cook. However, since I hate goo, I never slow cook them; I just boil a half cup of water, add a half cup of oats, turn down the heat and by the time I’ve chopped my apple it’s finished. I add a handful of crunchy, shiny flax seeds and some cinnamon to finish it.

It’s rare that a day passes without a small splurge, too, and M&M’s are probably my favorite for that. I keep a jar of them and only choose colors to match something in particular. I typically only eat 10 or so.

I didn’t include all the quantities, but believe me, I pile on the veggies. I never make salads with anything but spinach, and I make them in the biggest bowls I have and load up with vitamin-rich goods. When it’s good green fuel, don’t skimp.

I buy decent wines, which makes all the difference in the world. And life is just too short to eat only low-fat cheese like mozzarella. I buy every kind of adventuresome cheese I can lay my hands on. There’s a food world out there waiting for you to explore it! And it can fuel your body and feed your spirit as well.

Breakfast
Steel cut or rolled organic oatmeal, chopped apple, cinnamon, and flax seeds
One slice of lean ham
Water, coffee with cream

Lunch
Spinach salad with grilled shrimp, sugar peas, yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes
Balsamic vinaigrette made with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, herbs
Water to drink

Post-workout Snack
Smoothie with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, soy milk, soy protein, creatine

Splurge Snack
M&Ms!! Red and brown to match my Diet Dr. Pepper.

Dinner
4 oz lean grilled pork loin
Steamed kale: salted, peppered and drizzled with olive oil
Fresh orange slices
Water to drink

Late Night Snack
Red wine and cheese

June 3, 2009
Five Forbidden Foods

Now and then people ask me what I eat during boxing training. But I don’t have a training diet different from my regular diet. I follow The Zone, which is primarily a way of eating that controls your insulin production. Since that sounds like a complicated answer (and it is, a bit) I often find it’s easier to tell them that there are five foods I almost never eat:

I rarely eat potatoes, rice, bread, corn, or pasta.

And I’ve also eliminated many of the refined sugars and oils I used to take in.

This causes some shock to most people, and the truth is that these foods aren’t utterly forbidden; I do actually eat them on rare occasion. But the fact of the matter is that these five foods once made up about 80% of my diet (as they do for most Americans) and they are all high-density carbohydrates that shoot your insulin through the roof because our bodies just don’t need the level of energy they deliver at the speed they deliver it. Therefore most of their fueling power is wasted and simply goes into storage as fat. And you are left, an hour or so later, with the inevitable crash followed by the desire to get another fix in order to recover.

Sounds like a drug, doesn’t it? And it’s not a bad metaphor.

Our bodies just haven’t evolved to handle this kind of abuse, which is why eating practices like the Zone are also called the paleolithic, or caveman diet. You’ll also find it in Crossfit nutrition.

The One-Third, Two-Thirds Meal Plan

The way I approach it is pretty simple. At every meal, I eat one-third lean protein (no bigger than my palm and no thicker) and two-thirds vegetables and fruits that are low on the glycemic load scale. This means these fruits and vegetables are typically lower in carbs and higher in fiber than other fruits and vegetables.

At the top of the list of favorable fruits are berries of every variety, and at the top of the list of favorable veggies are just about everything except corn and white potatoes (although carrots are down there at the bottom, too). Pretty simple.

The idea is to not only eat the right foods, but to also eat them in correct ratios of protein to carbs, since they work together.

If I have wine (high sugar and carbs), I pair it with a low-fat cheese (protein). If I have chicken I pair it with kale or mushrooms or steamed apples or something else delicious, always in the one-third protein, two-thirds veggies/fruits arrangement. There’s Eggables omelettes (which are lower in fat) stuffed with veggies, turkey meatballs paired with asparagus and bell peppers, and even fruit smoothies with protein powder to enjoy. Once you get used to it, it seems incredibly easy and obvious.

About twice a week I will eat a roll-up (about the only bread I ever take in) with lean ham, melted cheese and a pile of nutritious spinach. Or a slice of whole grain filled-with-seeds toast.

I’m also a huge fan of fruit (low-density carbs) and cottage cheese (protein) or plain yogurt (protein). I typically add almonds for some good fats.

And I do splurge.

I love M&M’s but I’m able to eat only ten. I adore Funyuns, and will buy a lunchbox-sized bag to enjoy once in a rare while. I like microwave popcorn, which is filled with empty carbs and bad fats. And I would choose Barnum’s Animal Crackers over birthday cake any day of the year. The trick with all your splurges is to have them, but understand what they are, and have them rarely.

Eating this way means I have to shop more frequently for the fresh produce, but it also means most of my visits to the grocery are faster, since I mostly shop the perimiter of the store and skip most of the aisles. And it’s a huge leap forward in healthy nutrition, and it supports my boxing, which is it’s own motivation.

And I do read labels. High-fructose corn syrup is in nearly everything. I avoid most processed foods, particularly breads and cereals (except whole oats, which are one of the few good grains — pair it with half an apple and a round of Canadian bacon). I rarely drink juice or soda, both of which are crammed with empty sugars, although I will have a diet Dr. Pepper once in a while.

If you want to read more, I encourage you to pick up one of the Zone Cookbooks, which I’ve been using for quick and simple ideas ever since I started eating this way. It helps you get out of a food rut when you can pick up your cookbook and see a dozen new ways to plan some meals at a glance.

The nicest thing about all of it is that you will loose weight and be healthier. And you will do it all without being hungry (a pleasant side effect of keeping your insulin balanced in “the zone”).

So set small goals: try eating one Zone meal each day, and build up until you have your feet under you. And if you screw up, getting back on track is only one meal away.

May 22, 2009
In the Zone!

I want to lose five pounds.

I know, people in America say this ALL THE TIME, and it’s onerous, I know it is. I have been a pretty average weight all my life, but after I turned forty, things seemed to shift slightly. Anyway, there it is. Five pounds. I’ve never been on a diet in my life. I’ve always done different things for exercise, but now I am going to think about both.

This is totally ironic, considering my two posts below, “not full” and “three words from God.”

So my PLAN is, up the exercise, cut back on the calories. I know, complicated. So today I’m running again, and it happened! I got in the zone! Getting in the zone while running is the closest I’ve ever been to sleeping while exercising. If you’ve never experienced it, it’s hard to understand. You work and work and work to get good at something, then, laaaaa, you get it, your body just does it and it’s effortless. It doesn’t last long at first, but it’s very exciting when you find it. I haven’t been in the zone since last year. Running is 80% mental (I’m not kidding, if you’ve ever tried it you know this). I spend so much of my run time trying to fight my busy brain and my still out-of-shape body. If you listen to your negative self, you won’t run. So today I finally dropped into the zone and Bad Lisa was practically speechless:

Bad Lisa: Criminy, you haven’t even gone one mile and you’re beat. No way are you gonna make it three miles.
Runner Lisa: I don’t have to run all three miles; my goal is just to keep moving for thirty minutes*. In fact, I’ll walk up that next hill.
Bad Lisa: If you walk, those people up there will see you and know you can’t keep it up**.
Runner Lisa: I’ll walk, then I’ll start running again by the time I pass that bench.
Bad Lisa: You talk big.
Runner Lisa: You talk too much.

Runner Lisa: I did it! and I’m not even breathing through my mouth. Hellooo second mile.
Bad Lisa: It’s hot out, isn’t it?

(time passes)

Runner Lisa: Ahhhh, the zone! Hey, we’re in the zone! Ahhhhh, bliss.

(time passes)

It’s wonderful, it truly is. It makes you want to go right back out the next day and run some more.

*This is the single most effective tactic to keep you running. Let yourself walk sometimes. If you aren’t so hard on yourself, you can eventually get to the point where you can run the distance.

**This is the single most effective counter-strike to the above tactic. Bad Lisa knows me. She knows I am vain. But when I allow myself to walk even if other people see me do it I can not only beat the rap, I also open the path to advanced running and training tactics, like intervals.

March 15, 2007