A Libra Trying to Find a Balance

Well, it has been a long time indeed since I have posted and I apologize. Trying to be a full time father, employee, student and plan a wedding takes up all 28hrs of the day! I did want to keep this up and 'running' though and post some more things as the school year winds down.

First and foremost I have forever set my own bar extremely high by proposing to the love of my life ON Valentines Day. Her response was to break down and respond with 'Of course!' 

Second and far behind the first but more specific to my blog, I am still very active and running and just recently bested my own best in the 10k by nearly 5 minutes in the Red Bud Classic!!! More impressive than that to me is the last 2 races I have run in, I do not look like I am having a seizure when crossing the finish line. Trust me, my photos looked scary in the past. 

Actually, this one is a little scary too but it is because I look like a charging crimson red lobster. Too much sun and too little sunscreen make for a bad combination when you have a complexion that even albinos call pale. Nothing like this guy, which is now an internet meme in himself. He is known as the ridiculously photogenic guy.

Him being photogenic

Me being a half-cooked lobster

I have also found as I continue to workout, that I have a much higher metabolism than I would have ever thought. My loved ones and I had grown concerned because I still appear to be losing weight, but it was confirmed that I am in excellent health outside of some dizzy spells that have plagued me since child hood. A bit spooky how much more I can eat when I work out. I have actually come to the conclusion I no longer need to watch my calories as closely because I have such a fast metabolism. It is an interesting mental block to overcome. I always tell people it is your long term habit that dictates the long term result, but I still worry when I am presented with a cookie or something else that is unplanned. Years of bad eating and the few years it took to lose have me conditioned to treat the not-so-healthy items like a recovering alcoholic faces a drink but food addiction/recovery is so much different. I think that is why there are so many extremes to eating disorders: way too much or way too little. I have said it before and I will say it again: It is all about finding a balance. Even in my very limited edition infinite knowledge need to be reminded of that from time to time. =)

Maybe too extreme

Pick It Up Like It's Cold!

Sorry for the delay in posts. Work, life, and school have been taking a bigger chunk of time than I had anticipated. I have come across a few humorous articles as of late that I have been inspired to talk about. The first one is on cracked.com and if you have not been there before, it is worth a looksie. They host some funny articles on there. Today this one struck my eye about a new runner who figured out the runners mentality. People have asked me why I do what I do or wear what I do when I do it or why I eat what I eat or how I have energy to do what I love doing. The bottom line is until you feel that amazing feeling that takes you over you will never know. For the religious, it must be as close to the Ascension as earthly possible once you finish a good run or a terrific workout. You would think it would tire you out, but I always feel much more energized which my loving girlfriend has trouble grasping! haha

Give it a try for no less than 3 weeks and you will understand!

The second article was inspired by a friends facebook post, but it made me curious. He inquired why there are no fat vampires. Hollywood aside, I wondered about how many calories were in blood, if any and found an article that reminded me that there is glucose in a persons blood and therefore calories, not to mention lipids and blood proteins. I could not find anything anywhere that told me these were all dietary fats or proteins, but if I am correct and if the 'Normal' lab values I found for blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood proteins is correct (not to mention my unpracticed math involving conversions) then the average person with 5 qts of blood would be worth about 1465 calories to a vampire including 45cals of sugar (100 mg/dL), 1315cals of protein (6.95 g/dL), and fats (240 mg/dL). In no way do I have conclusive evidence that this is true, but it is still fun to think about.

Finally, I also finished my second half marathon at the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma this year and set a few personal 'bests' including beating my previous 1/2 marathon by 22 minutes with a finish time of 2:45:32, did the first 30 minutes at my designated jog speed (I usually cannot maintain jog speed for more than 25min before a brief speed walk), and got a decent finish line photo where I did not look like I had broken my legs. Unfortunately, both images I speak of are copywritten but believe me when I said the first was baaaaaad. =)

So who else has had a great holiday season so far and how are you dealing with the lack of warmth outside and all the good eats? Now is a great time to get a gym membership if you haven't already, or if you are a gamer both all the consoles have a pretty good selection of video games like Just Dance to getcha movin'. I consider myself in good shape and I was still a bit stiff the day after I did an hour of Just Dance, so I highly recommend it. For those that do not do the gaming thing, checkout some of the fitness DVD's. Trust me when I say you can overcome the winter blues by just keeping active. Being active is a good thing after all! Here is an awesome upbeat song to put you in the mood.

Biggest Loser Math

So is anybody watching the Biggest Loser this season? I was impressed with the week 3 winner (*SPOILER IN THIS LINK*) who lost 17lbs!!! It got me to thinking about how hard he had to work to do that.


I posted before about BMR so let us do another little calculation of his. So I do not give away who it was I took the individuals stats  off of the Biggest Loser page and calculated his BMR to be ~2300 calories meaning that person burns 2300 calories daily without lifting a finger.

Now a pound of fat is 3500 calories just sitting in storage waiting to use and he used 17x that amount in just 7 days meaning he had to burn an additional 6200 calories per day or close to 2.4lbs in a 24 hr period.



To give a better idea of what that means I shall demonstrate what I would have to do. When I ran the 1/2 marathon in June it took me 3 hours and I estimate I burned about 1600 calories. I would have to do nearly  4 times that to be in the ballpark for the work he completed daily. So I would have to devote 3/4 of my waking day everyday to running in order to achieve that type of burn. That is just amazing.

For those of us who do not have professional trainers/drill Sargents riding our hind-quarters, the average person is going to want to create a caloric deficit significantly smaller and here is some advise on how how to get those little extra calories out of your day.

1. Drink green tea. Drinking about 5 cups of green tea has shown to increase the metabolism for someone by as much as 4% or basically another 60-80 cals through a process called thermogenisis activated by the compound Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)
 
2. Eat spicy! Chili peppers like the cayenne pepper have a chemical called capsaicin that not only create a physical burning sensation but also increases the metabolism or how fast you burn calories through
thermogenisis.

3. Drink Caffeine. Caffeine also promotes thermogenisis though this one can have side effects if taken in excess.

4. Eat good fats. Studies show eating anywhere from 1-3g of Omega 3 fats can lead to as much as a 1.2% increase in weight loss when coupled with exercise. You can either supplement this with fish oil pills or just eat 3oz of  salmon for the same effect.

5. Take the stairs. I did this in Las Vegas for my birthday last year when I was on the 23rd floor. Made me feel good about the sin and debauchery that occurred ;) 


6. Park far away. I am always amused by people who park as close the gym entrance as possible. I find my car with less dings if I park away so I leave with a peaceful mind and it only costs a few extra steps. 

see more funny videos, and check out our Yo Dawg lols!

7. Take the long way. Got more than one path to the bathroom? Why not take the longer of two routes.



Now the above are simply suggestions but in the fight against fat any little bit helps. Always be sure to consult a doctor if you have any questions regarding the information above or with any other health concerns. I am not a doctor and not certified for anything (yet), but the above information are things that I applied.

What do you do to burn those extra calories? Who do you think will win the Biggest Loser this season?