Weight - Its just a Numbers Game..

Weight - the Only thing everyone always wants Less of.

Weight can fluctuates between 1-7+ pounds in just 1 day, from morning to night.

Find your True Weight - before you decide to start dieting, just continue your normal everyday activities and meals. Routinely weigh yourself in the morning right after you wake up and pee and before you had anything to eat or drink. For about about 2 weeks to month see how much your weight changes each day, it'll usually go up or down -+2 pounds. See which number it settles at and you'll find your 'true' average weight. It's better for women to do this longer, because Aunt Flo can definitely skew the number with a higher level of water retention.

-why is this important? because those 10lbs that you lost.. might really only be 6 lbs because of the fluctuations of your body or vice versa.

Common Scenario - You weigh yourself in the morning, and then after a nice 'All you can eat Buffet dinner', your weight increase 7 pounds at night. With the Holidays approaching, this is definitely something we worry about during Thanksgiving and Xmas.

Don't freak out- you didn't really "Gain" 7 pounds in body mass. Your body can't turn everything you ate into Fat clumps in your butt so quickly. But it WILL without an action plan. With a plan, you can still have your cake and eat it too. That's my motto..

What makes up most of this weight?

1- Water Retention
2-Food Stored in your stomach and GI tract which may take 2-4 days for your 'All you can eat Buffet meal' to pass down into the toilet.


Action Plan - when you do eat a big meal one day, plan to do some nice detoxing and cleansing the following days to prevent all that food in becoming fat.


DETOX -

Ginger tea is a great way to detox & it helps promote digestion (slices of ginger root + hot water)
Lemons and water
Oatmeal and other High fiber foods (look for high Insoluble fiber content)
Dark Leafy greens
WATER - lots of water -not soda -
You want to make sure everything goes down the toilet (at least once a day)
If you need some help, Coffee and Apples are a natural laxative.


Activities-

Increase your activity level during the next few days, exercise also promotes movement in the GI tract. You don't need to run a marathon, but cleaning the house, walking the dog, playing in the park with your kids, washing windows or the car, are great ways to burn off some calories = multitasking.


After a week of "daily cleansing and activities" you should be back to your 'true' weight, if its still higher, you might still have some stuff in your GI tract or your body HAS turned that 'All you can eat Buffet' meal into Body Mass/Fat, and now its time to hit the gym.

How many calories is a pound?
~3500 Calories = 1 pound of body fat.

Est Calories burned for 1 mile
Running = Your Weight x .63
Walking = Your Weight x .30

Road Rash

This weekend I had my first fall.. It wasn't a bad fall, but a fall none-the-less..

Hence.. the road rash on my knee.. I took the advice of other bikers and online forums they said 

(A) cleaned it, peroxide, ointment, keep it moist and covered with tagaderm for 7 days... 

after 2 days it still looked as worse as ever, oozing all over the place.. yes..  my leg was oozing.. it wasn't pleasant (for other people). 

Luckily I already had an upcoming apt with my dermatologist which she gave me very conflicting information. 

(B)  Clean it, 'scrub' out all the puss, Air it out, Let it dry, DONT cover it and put a cream called Biafine (I have the $7 generic version called - Prutect) - prescriptions are needed. 

after only half a day with her recommendation my leg looks much better.. 

I really don't know where this Keep it Moist and covered theory came from, but I do not think that is the best method for healing road rash. 

Due to popular demand..
Visuals..
Its really not that bad of a fall..

 Sunday

Tuesday

Certified Triathlete

I did it! My first Sprint Triathlon on Sept 19. 2010.. Something I've been training for, for almost 1.5 years (learning how to swim was definitely the challenge) but going from a barely doggy paddle to free-style ocean swimming is just invigorating! And I Can't wait to do it again!  70.3 (one day)!!!

Since I was on vacation the week prior, it had been awhile since I had ran, been on a bike, and in my new wet suit swimming. So Saturday morning, Connie and I woke up at 5am, met up at 630am, went down to Corona Del Mar to run 3 miles, Swim 1/2 mile, and bike 18 miles. It was definitely good to get a feel for all 3 activities again before the big day. I was pretty exhausted all Saturday, but I kept busy, packing, and triple checking I had everything. I forced myself to NOT  nap because I wanted to crash and sleep right away, (which worked out well). I didn't really carb or protein it up the night before. I just had a bowl of rice noodle soup with some veggies. I just wanted to eat something safe, and easy to go down, and not too much sodium.

So the big day.. Sunday

I woke up at 4am, ate my breakfast of 1 egg white, protein & soy shake, peanut butter and banana sandwich, got dressed and met Connie at 5, where we headed off to Long Beach.

We arrived at the transition around area around 6 ish, unpacked all our gear, and organized everything, and Wet-Suited up. taking photos getting our numbers drawn on, using the restroom, it was time to line up at the water..

The swim was better than I thought. I didn't get kicked in the face, which was what I was worried about. But people did run into my legs.. so I hope it was them, and not me..

Being so excited I did take 2 mini breaks in the water to gather myself and move forward. I took Kate's advice and just counted my strokes, and then we were out of the water and onto our bikes! I didn't wear my tri/cycle top in the water because it was cold that day, so I just put it on when I got to the transition area. It wouldn't have saved me much more time, if i had it on.

Biking was really fun. It was great going as fast as I could. The 2 loops wasn't that bad, it was really wide (most of the way) but it did have lots of narrow turns, which forced you to slow down a lot.

then the Run.. which I 150% underestimated.
I figured being a runner, this last part would be the easiest.. boy it was NOT. After the bike, my legs felt like bricks running. My legs were so heavy and not aware of what the *BLEEP* was going on. My muscles trembled and spasmed due to the sudden shift in muscles being used. I had to stop after a mile in to stretch just to warm up my legs.

That was the hardest 5k I've done.. thank goodness it was flat and short!!

It was great seeing my family there, and they were really proud. Usually I don't care if people come out to my races, because they're pretty boring to me, I don't want to put others thru that, but i was excited for them to come experience my first tri with me. They really enjoyed themselves as well.

just a fabulous experience and I cant wait to do it again!!

Soon enough I'll work up to a half iron man.. but for now.. we'll look forward to an Olympic..

Damage Control

Logging my meals will help me stick to it..  cus that'll just be embarrassing.. :)

I'm not a huge nutrition junkie, (the ones that have nightmares about sugar and street tacos). I Like Sugar, and I Like Street Tacos.... and if i can't have those things, then theres not point in me working out at all. hahah. I know I can step up my "fitness game" if I really got hard core into it, but to me, "if you can't eat, then its what's the point?!"

My meals aren't based on any science or southbeach/atkins/whatever-fad diet and may not be the best caloric/non-carb option.. its merely whatever I have accessible in my apt. Anything in moderation (low fat, high fiber) is fine for you.

Day 1 -
Breakfast - can't really remember.. but it wasn't that great.
Lunch - boiled greenbeans, carrots, onions and red potatoes, barley tea.
Dinner - Fish, vegies, brothy soup.

PM - 4.5 mile run (Protein Shake - PS)

Day 2 -
Breakfast - PS, Wheat toast, apple,  coffee (black)
Snack - 1-2 cups of grapes
Lunch - Spinach salad, oatmeal, 2 hard boiled egg whites.
Dinner - chicken and potatoes, shaved ice with mangos and grass jelly.

AM - 20 min yoga
PM - 8+ mile run
(strangely my body has detoxed itself pretty quickly by this point)

Day 3 -

Breakfast - Toast and 2 hardboiled egg whites, coffee
Lunch - Corn soup, spinach salad, apple
Dinner - Chuckroast with mushrooms and onions.

AM 20 min Yoga
PM 30 min Resistance
(Seriously sick of Spinach at this point and I have a costco size carton in my fridge that has a tiny dent)

Vacation Gorging

Vacays are always hard to stick to diet and exercise.. its really not in the itinerary..  and who likes counting calories in a foreign country.. they do use the metric system.. so everything goes out the window..

I went to Europe for 6 days a friend's wedding in London... Being my first time in Europe (I really hate flying) I decided to make the most of it and see Paris along the way to London. fyi Dramamine is a Godsend!!

I even packed my gym shoes and clothes and booked hotels with gyms in them, and had planned to wake up a 6am to do at least 20-40 mins of cardio and resistance.. But the hotel gym only opens form 9-5. WTF? no one can make it to the gym during those times.. seriously Europe? WTF?

Yea... None of that happened.. my shoes never even came out of the suitcase.. trying to adjust to the time and the exhaustion of flying, just getting enough rest was a feat in itself..

I aint gonna lie.. I did alot of USA chanting.. cus damn.. California is GREAT!! where else can you drive 45 mins and be snow boarding, or tanning at the beach in the SAME day. Where else do you have a 24 hour fitness, awesome trails and roads to go running and biking.. Seriously traveling makes you realize how great CA is.. U-S-A! U-S-A!! (the only exception would be Hawaii.. cus nothing really beats Hawaii)

Anyways, I hope to have a better workout/travel plan in the future.. but for now.. DAMAGE CONTROL!

I don't even need a scale to know I GAINED weight by the muffin top billowing out of my sweat pants. Immediately the next day when I got back to the states I went for a jog, and boy that was tough..

Endurance is a funny thing.. it takes forever to build up.. but so quickly it can disappear.. my legs felt like bricks, my shins flared up, and my knees were aching from the extra weight. The fascinating thing about running is how in-tune you are with your body.. You really sense every little inch of your body and you can feel when something is "Not right"