Gee, This Stuff Works Wednesday, May 28 2008

There’s a little less of me.

I’m standing on the ancient metal scale in the antique locker room of the New Orleans Athletic Club. It has a huge, clock-style face, and the needle is bouncing, then settling. Then slowly comes to rest… four ticks short of where it did six days ago. I weigh 212 lbs. It’s a little more than I want to weigh, but it’s a little less than the 216 I used to weigh.

Nice.

I don’t have a weight loss goal. The goal is to lose 4.5% body fat in 90 days, not to lose a certain amount of pounds. But I’m eating less and working out more, so it seems pretty logical that I’d lose some weight.

I have a few other immediate effects from stepping up the workouts: More energy than I can use at my desk, great nights of sleep and better posture (it really lingers after you work out, since so much working out involves standing up straight).

What’s more: I’m not hungry.

“You should never feel hungry, but you should never feel full,” Danny says.

And that’s about it. I get little food cravings, but I haven’t cavorted with Mrs. Freshley in weeks, and the snack machine has lost a regular customer. I skipped my usual pork fried rice on Wednesday, but I still had my Chinese food. I even hung out with the neighbors at Juan’s Flying Burrito last night, though I ate a little less than I normally would and stuck with water instead of brew. In all, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.

Tomorrow, I work out with Danny again. I just stopped hurting from last week’s weight training yesterday, so it should be an exciting morning.

Bryan Harris

Ps: Don’t forget to share your own health and fitness stories!

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How I Flunked Grocery Buying Tuesday, May 27 2008

I’m walking through this grocery store like one might maneuver a mine field: afraid to touch anything.

Danny set a calorie goal for me of 2,400 calories per day, including 135 grams of protein.

I’m not really on “a diet,” I’m just watching what I eat and sticking to my calorie goal. You can check out what I’m eating here. The first few days were kind of bumpy. I’m not sure bran muffins are any healthier than chocolate muffins by the time they get the little dab of cream cheese on top. Things have gone better since then, and I’m getting better at tracking calories, which you can also see on my diet log.

So, on Saturday, I head to the grocer, hoping to get a cart full of healthy food.

I left clutching only a protein bar for lunch.

Moving around the store, I realized I had no idea what foods had what kinds of things in them. A certain cut of meat might have protein, but it might also have saturated fat. Then there are a few other things I’m trying to avoid: aspartame — a very common staple of diet foods, which my friend Dr. Hebert thinks will slowly kill me; sodium — one of the staples of processed foods; corn syrup — also nearly unavoidable in processed foods; and don’t even get me started on trans fats.

By the time I’m done avoiding all of these things, I’ve ruled out the majority of any major grocer’s products.

Sunday I regrouped my effort to buy some healthy groceries, and came out with two packages of ground turkey breast, two bags of frozen vegetables, three more protein bars and some Diet Coke with Splenda, rather than aspartame.

Hopefully the trips to the store will get better as the trips to the gym do.

Bryan Harris

Ps: Let us know about your workouts and diets! Post feedback!

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Ouch. Friday, May 23 2008

“Are you ok?”

That’s what one of our sales guys asked me when he saw me limping back to the newsroom this morning — the day after my first workout with Danny.

Actually, I feel great. I’m walking like I have a peg leg because every muscle from the butt down feels like it has been kabobbed. But that means we did something right.

I also slept like a rock last night. It wasn’t the half-sleep of an over-caffeinated office worker who gets mentally fatigued but not bodily exhausted. It was the good-as-dead sleep that follows hard labor. And now, not counting some stiffness and muscle pain, I feel great.

This weekend’s project is to get my diet under control. If you’ve been following what I’m eating then you might have noticed my diet still isn’t the best. There’s some stray fat and sugar wandering around in there.

Well, last night, Danny e-mailed me some personalized nutrition guidance:

Here is some nutrition info.  Your calorie target is about 2400.  This is an estimate, so adjust when needed.  You shouldn’t feel starved, but not really full either.  You should be getting around 145 grams of protein a day and about 35 grams of fiber.  With carbs, pick whole grains and carb sources high in fiber.  Limit simple carbs (sugars) to fruits, veggies, and other natural sources.  Fats should be mostly unsaturated.  Some saturated is OK, but no trans fats.  Pick lean sources of protein.  Let me know if you have any questions.

I read both your blogs.  That’s pretty cool I’m on there now.  Feeling better from the morning workout?  It only gets easier…of course we make it harder then, but that’s progress.

So, tonight, I’m going to make a trip to the grocery and see about changing up a few things that go in my kitchen cabinets. Stay tuned for more.

With any luck, maybe I’ll walk straight again by tomorrow.

Bryan Harris

Ps: Leave comments — tell us how fitness has affected your life, and share the fun of getting in shape.

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“Keep It Moving” Thursday, May 22 2008

I’m trying not to vomit.

I have a friend of mine who threw up last year in the last leg of The Ironman, the marathon, when he was almost to the finish line. He swam, he biked, he ran, he puked.

It’s Thursday morning and I, too, am exerted to the point of nausea but the difference is I’m on the second exercise of my first workout with my personal trainer. Yeah, I’m no iron man.

But I’m trying. Like the man says, “It’s called work for a reason.” And I want to lose that 4.5% body fat. And I’m doing what I can. And I swear to God every Mrs. Freshley’s cupcake I’ve absconded with from my office snack machine is ready to jump out of me right there in the weight room of the New Orleans Athletic Club.

But all I’m thinking is — back straight, chest out and, jeez, don’t throw up.

Danny’s advice when I’m pausing at the top of my squats and dead lifts: “Keep it moving.” Danny’s not a yelling, grunting personal trainer. He’s calm, informative and pragmatic.

I lift. I gasp. I pause. I’m told “Keep it moving.”

So I do.

Right as I’m thinking I’m getting light-headed and nauseated, Danny begins to explain that I might be feeling light-headed or nauseated. He says this often happens if a person doesn’t eat enough before working out.

I guess that 70 calorie Special K bar I scarfed while I ran out the door was not “enough.” I’m also not hydrated. And, yeah, I didn’t get enough sleep before our 7:30 a.m. workout.

I limp out of the gym and drive to work. As unpleasant as all this sounds, I have to say — I feel great afterward. It wasn’t the best, but it was a start, and I’m energized and in a good mood.

Share your own fitness stories right here by leaving comments.

Bryan Harris

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Danny Navar: Motivation For Sale Wednesday, May 21 2008

Two of the main things I need to set my fitness straight are knowledge and motivation. I evidently don’t have enough of either to get the job done right, so I’ve hired an expert.

His name is Danny Navar. He’s a fitness trainer at the New Orleans Athletic Club, where I work out.

I peel myself off the bed early and head for the gym. Danny’s briefcase is pregnant with the charts, figures and tools necessary to figure out just how badly I’ve been taking care of me.

We walk through my health history. Then he puts on a stethoscope and slaps the blood pressure cuff on me. Next he whips out a tape measure and sizes me up like a tailor. Then he’s marking my bare chest with a pencil and squeezing pinches of fat with calipers.

Then it’s time to do push-ups, three minutes worth of stepping up and down and some measured stretching.

He starts cross-referencing the figures with his pile of tables and charts, then gives me the rundown.

It’s a mixed review. My blood pressure is high and so is my pulse, which he informs me means my cardiovascular system needs work.

Pause for a moment: this is a problem. I hate running and I hate the typical cardio machines for a variety of reasons ranging from “painful” to “boring.”

My upper body strength is in an acceptable range and my flexibility is decent. But there’s enough fat in my core that I’m almost at risk for heart disease.

In all, Danny’s calipers reveal, my body is made of about 23.5% fat.

We talk about my diet and he cautions me on portion control. Of course, I know that washing down three Fiber One bars with a pair of Java Monsters every morning isn’t good for me — I just do it anyway.

We conclude our meeting by setting goals: I will lose 4.5% of my fat in 90 days, and gain some strength while I’m at it. He tells me I’ll need to do strength training twice per week, and cardio three times per week.

He also advises me to cut down my portion sizes — one Fiber One bar per morning is good enough, and knock it off with the sugary drinks. He also tells me to start writing down what I eat.

That’s my fitness story for today — so now post some of yours. Leave a comment telling us the difference fitness has made in your life.

Bryan Harris

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It ain’t broke, but it still needs fixing. Tuesday, May 20 2008

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

This is a pretty popular mantra among typical working people who don’t work out.

My body’s not broke. I’m 31. I can jog a mile. I can do 30 push-ups without a ton of effort. I’m not obese. My looks don’t slow down my social life.

But my blood pressure’s a little high, and so is my pulse. My energy level can be described as “eh.” I don’t feel bad — but I don’t feel great. I’m soft. I clean up nice, but I don’t turn any heads at the pool.

I figure a lot of you probably feel the same way. Like many professionals, I sit at a computer at work. Then I go home tired and sit some more. And when I’m ready to blow off steam, I enjoy a town full of fantastic food — laden with fat, sugar and salt. On a really fun night, I might wash it down with a few brews.

I go to the gym, but my workouts lack strong results without guidance and organization. If I take a brisk walk to the street car, I might figure that’s enough exercise for the day.

It’s not terrible, but it’s far from the best possible.

So, in the coming weeks, I’m going to share the details of my quest for fitness in this blog: Meeting my trainer, setting my goals, adjusting my diet, and finding fun physical activities that seem more like play than work while still burning calories.

I’m hoping some of you might join me, since we have these needs in common. I’d like you to post comments that share your experiences, and tell us how fitness affects your life.

Click back soon — there’s much more to come.

Bryan Harris

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