It's a cool article Ginger!
Tina I missed it so much when I was dieting in sept. I will always run from now on unless I am injured, no more rapid weight loss!
so I did quarter repeats at 7:30 per mile pace last night! training with the coach today at 1pm (short day at work).
so psyched to get nutrition speeded up. will be doing 1500-1800 cal using 40/30/30 ish. tracking in the daily plate. my body bugg look alike is here, so I will set it up today after weight training.
So cool Wendy to read about how you solved the Greatest Cookie Present Ever in the best possible way.. sampling every flavour in a minute amount.
Reminds me of how a dear forum friend (who used to post here too) spent 2-3 weeks on a cruise ship. She has a truly low maintenance and eats like a bird in order to maintain. Yet, she managed to come back from the cruise at the same weight she started.
Solution: she saved up the calories by not eating too frequently and be extreeeeemely picky about what exactly to eat, which for her meant she had slivers of nearly every dessert imaginable.
Just enough to taste everything but not so much that her calorie intake would be outrageous.
This explains to a T why I track meticulously and how I would love to enjoy food. Sampling nearly everything, not banning any food, as long as it's not a food intolerance (which makes my diet more restrictive than yours) and yet still creating a deficit.
I'm with you on the criticism of the IE book.. some people just won't spontaneously lose weight when they eat intuitively as their appetite would still be too big. As a matter of fact, having gluten intolerance /dairy allergy will seriously mess with appetite.
Oh.. and weren't you also doing Oly lifting? If you do, check out what I posted in my new log and also in Jane's log ... awesome video of female lifters by Gqartguy
Oh well, here it is too: Strengthmill :: Video :: Female Olympic Lifters
yep, espi, tracking always helps me, particularly if I want to be in a deficit. I love the concepts of intuitive eating, and the book is great. there is another book called overcoming overeating. again, love the basic concepts, but some of the things they recommend are silly, like stocking your house full of the processed shit that you formerly binged on. stupid. I already know I can eat anything I want anytime I want, I don't need to proove that to myself, lol.
oh, and nope on the 0-lifting, but I have just completed 8 weeks with a coach who coaches o-lifting on a national level. I am super happy with where my strength is now as a result of his programs. and my pictures really don't show what's happening to my body in real life. I am really doing well with the muscle gain! my baseline 5k should be interesting on saturday.
I still love all the food I used to eat too much of in the past.
And in the wrong week of the month will eat it too, so Berardi's rule still (almost) fully applies: if it is not in the house it also will not be eaten.
Yet.. it's getting better & better.. ice cream & sherbets can survive for an amazingly long time. Soft candy is my weakness... hard candy is very good for eating in small quantities, like adding to tea (lemon lozenges) or even coffee (there's special coffee candy plus of course dark chocolate) for flavour.
The mantra I try to follow is one of a fitness trainer/nutritionist: 'the food will always be there" . Except for things that are unique for the season.. GOT to buy those. White chocolate is also a dangerous thing.. I've been able to cut 25 grams of dark & milk chocolate to add to coffee, but both of the 175g caramel-filled white chocolate bars were inhaled in just 1 sitting (makes 2 sittings for both).
Me too. I am always in this log and Tcolye's too because I can live my dreams a little through these logs and thier stories while not destroying my other goals.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
yep roland, I have the newest version and the old version. talk about food porn. the bestest of the bestest!
yep karla, so many sports, so little time. as I was running along the schuykill river in philly, I was watching the crew teams rowing their morning pieces. wish there was a triathlon called row/run/eat instead of swim/bike/run. I am truly a multisport athlete at heart, which was why triathlon suited me so well. no boredom ever.
I am sure that I will change sports a gazillion times over my lifetime. but running and weightlifting will likely always be the base of what I do to stay fit.
oh, and I have completely decided that physique sport is not something that I want to do. at my gym, we have a woman who is an IFBB pro fitness competitor and nationally known. she runs figure camps and women come from all of the country. she is offering a camp for locals. it is tempting, because some of the body transformations are miraculous. women my age looking amazing. and then I found out what is involved on the nutrition end. for me, I just don't believe that this is the right thing for me to do to my body--the level of restriction and dieting before a contest, some of the dehydration that is involved, some of the other practices that my MD brain says, "no way is this good for optimum health".
not everyone has to do crazy things to get crazy lean, however.--- one of the competitors has always been lean, and is a naturally lean person. so for her, no big. for me, big big big deal. and above all, I care about my performance in life, with secondary goals of performing well in my sports.
so as tempting as those after pictures are on the walls of my gym, I am just saying "no" to a lifestyle that involves the extreme dietary modifications that seem to be necessary to get someone to the stage.
yep roland, I have the newest version and the old version. talk about food porn. the bestest of the bestest!
yep karla, so many sports, so little time. as I was running along the schuykill river in philly, I was watching the crew teams rowing their morning pieces. wish there was a triathlon called row/run/eat instead of swim/bike/run. I am truly a multisport athlete at heart, which was why triathlon suited me so well. no boredom ever.
I am sure that I will change sports a gazillion times over my lifetime. but running and weightlifting will likely always be the base of what I do to stay fit.
oh, and I have completely decided that physique sport is not something that I want to do. at my gym, we have a woman who is an IFBB pro fitness competitor and nationally known. she runs figure camps and women come from all of the country. she is offering a camp for locals. it is tempting, because some of the body transformations are miraculous. women my age looking amazing. and then I found out what is involved on the nutrition end. for me, I just don't believe that this is the right thing for me to do to my body--the level of restriction and dieting before a contest, some of the dehydration that is involved, some of the other practices that my MD brain says, "no way is this good for optimum health".
not everyone has to do crazy things to get crazy lean, however.--- one of the competitors has always been lean, and is a naturally lean person. so for her, no big. for me, big big big deal. and above all, I care about my performance in life, with secondary goals of performing well in my sports.
so as tempting as those after pictures are on the walls of my gym, I am just saying "no" to a lifestyle that involves the extreme dietary modifications that seem to be necessary to get someone to the stage.
I'm with you on this! Back in my 20s, I would have loved to look like this and was in pretty decent shape where people would tell me how fit I looked. Of course, I never saw it. But that was a time in my life before kids and when I had time to spend two hours at the gym.
But now that I'm in my 40s, my main goal is to be heart healthy since there is heart disease in my family and that's my motivating factor to move my ass. I'm not even sure where I want to end up weight wise. I'd like to lose 40, but would be happy with 30 something. I just want to get to a point where I can say to myself, 'You're good and be happy with where you are." Does that make sense?
hey steel , makes absolute sense to me! And I totally admire women my age who have physique goals and physique sport as their focus- I admire the drive but I don't admire the unhealthy unnatural things that they do to themselves to achieve a certain look. Some of them at my gym do steroids, prescription water pills. Restriction of entire categories of foods for months. Even if I did those things to my body, I would still have extra skin, stretch marks from weight gain, wrinkles from being 44-I could go on! I don't need to get contest lean. I need to become healthy lean!
Good choice Wendy on staying away from the compeition world. I am wading in that pool right now and I will probably be okay with doing it (if I am careful) but you are correct in your observations from what I have observed...
1. The competition dieting is largely not healthy.
2. Being that lean is not healthy (long term but you can get away with it short term).
3. Because of all the variables associated with food and minds and mis-information you see all sorts of SICKO mentalities in this game. (one girl is blogging right now about doing 2 hours of cardio a day and eating 700 cals a day to make the Arnold)
4. The post contest binge - need I say more?
5. Drug use muddying the waters even more (mis-information)
Personally I think anyone who is a foodie should stay FAR away from this world as I see nothing but bad things happening to those people who cannot remove emotion from eating to a large degree. They do all sorts of really sad things to themselves in order to get on stage. I mean if you have to hide foods because you are always starving what is the point exactly? Another thing that scares me is that there is so much mis-information about the whole scene. Trainers telling me to eat 10g of fat a day only, no carbs, no salt, no water, etc.... CRAZY CRAZY stuff.
These reasons ares exactly why I will not even begin to consider wadingn in this pool without the guidance from a nutritionist that I trust. If I was foodie I would not do it at all. Like you said, why would you deprive yourself of something that you love to do and to what end? Cost versus benefit isn't there at all especially for someone like me (older lightweight).
Besides there are SO many other cool options out there to all of us that are healthier and better. I too will end up switching my goals around a lot as the time wears on. I have always wanted to try bbing so that is what I am now doing. I am not a natural bber though as a lightweight and have wrinkles and stretch marks and am 45 years old so.... Obviously not a long term choice. That said I know though this past years experience that lifting will noow always be a part of who I am and I am looking forward to doing some more running again soon.
Until then I will live through you in your log... Thanks for letting me take the ride with ya! LOL!
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Wendy,
Again, I admire the way you think and the fact that you relay your thoughts, so well.
"Foodie" or not, if you wanted to take that route, you could and you would achieve success - just like you have with your other goals. The fact is (at least it sounds to me) you are making the clear decision not to focus on that as a goal.
It cracks me up seeing some of the bbers at my gym. They spend all this time working on thier physical appearance and yet they are doing horrible damage on the insides, with their eating, roids, pills and such.
And I am not talking about just getting ready for a show (that is very different), I am talking about all the damn time.
We all have our different goals and while some of the activities that some may choose to do may not support another's set of goals, it doesn't mean anyone is any better (or smarter, for sure) with what they decide. I love reading about what everyone is doing and if I ever get the itch to do something else, I most certainly find some motivation with you Gals.
Anyway, just wanted to tell you that. And why do your posts always make me ponder?
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Ginger
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." ~ John Bingham
We've redefined "foodie." A foodie is someone who love food, the variety, the history, the process, the environment, cooking, creating, etc. I think we're mixing up foodie and emotional eater.
You can be an emotional eater and a foodie or just one or the other. I'm both, but I have a much better handle of the emotional side of things now. Being happy with yourself, rather than just the current situation, is the key to curbing emotional eating. When I got happy with myself, I got better. Mostly
As to the foodie side of me and slimming down... Yes, I have to eat less good food (quantity-wise), but when I want the good stuff, I make it count.
lol, yep, guys I am a self described foodie. I refer to myself as a foodie in this log and in my life, so there is no question that the word foodie applies to me, and everyone who reads my log knows that. but my definition of foodie is exactly roland's definition. and john berardi's definition. who, by the way, is extremely successful at being a foodie and living in a very lean body year round, with periods of being "contest lean" for a particular photo shoot or other goal. I had the privilege of having a 16 week "insiders look" into the lifestyles of some famous fit foodies, dr berardi, and his administrative assistant, amanda graedon, as well as my two coaches for the lean eating program, ryan and erin. all 4 are self described foodies who adore fine dining, cooking, and zest for all things gustatory. and amanda just kicked ass in her first figure comp and is headed to the national stage.
so I am not convinced that foodies should stay far away from the world of bodybuilding. I have role models that tell me otherwise. (not local role models, mind you, but ones I could access via email and sometimes still do
and thanks ginger for the confidence you have in me, just like I had confidence in you as a runner!! you are quite correct in your assessment: if I wanted to be a body builder, I would be one. and if I wanted to be a figure competitor, I would be one. I could do the necessary leaning out ala berardi, I could have plastic surgery to ixnay the belly skin, and I could totally be on the stage of the debbie kruck classic locally. debbie told me I could. believing I can do anything is why I was able to go from a total nonswimmer who would drown in the water to someone who finishes the chicago accenture olympic triathlon with 8000 of her closest friends....in an overweight, non-athlete body, by the way. a 0.9 mile swim in lake michigan in 64 degree water with a gazillion competitive athletes, when the year before you could barely keep yourself afloat with the doggy paddle. so, umm, yeah. I have what it takes to get on the figure stage. or the body building stage. at least at the amateur local level just for kicks, lol. and I'm a total exhibitionist anyway, so that part would be a breeze, LMFAO.
and roland, your point about separating the term "foodie" from "emotional eater" is very well taken. you can definitely be one or the other. and both. interestingly, for me, when my emotional eating was at its worst, I actually ate mostly processed crap. storebought bullshit. the foodie thing came later as part of my journey of losing 80 pounds of fat. and occasionally I still have small portions of processed crap, lol. my food snob behavior is actually one of my strongest, toughest, most effective tools I have AGAINST emotional eating.
compare processed icky lean cuisine and a weight watchers 3 point dessert or bare grilled chicken breast and steamed asparagus with
the amazing satsuma orange/agave/cilantro marinated swordfish, grilled outside. with a tropical quinoa salad with chopped macadamia, red peppers, mangos and steamed sugar snap peas.
which meal helps you feel more nurtured, satiated? which meal would encourage dissatisfaction, hunger, binge eating... you get the idea.
lol ginger, glad that my posts make you ponder. the pondering posts. I think that this journey is a tough one that we are all on. and there aren't any right or wrong answers.
as far as removing emotion from eating??? bahhh. again, food is a pleasurable experience for most. why would you want to remove emotions from food? the happiness I felt when my friend sent me cookies (see cookie post...) or insert a traditional body builder/figure food--- the delight of a freshly seared rare ahi tuna filet-that perfect mix of smoky, seared crust and rare juicy innards. the taste of the starbucks green tea latte that ed and I shared tonight at our beach with the full moon. the look on jay's face when he first tasted this awesome wine we brought to thanksgiving. yes, it is about relationships, but food is a really cool part of my relationships. and while, I might temporarily make the choice to not indulge in something that is not optimal for my physique or my athletic performance, I refuse to live a lifestyle where emotions are disconnected from food.
and with that, I am off to sleep so I can run my baseline 5k tomorrow.
as far as removing emotion from eating??? bahhh. again, food is a pleasurable experience for most. why would you want to remove emotions from food? the happiness I felt when my friend sent me cookies (see cookie post...) or insert a traditional body builder/figure food--- the delight of a freshly seared rare ahi tuna filet-that perfect mix of smoky, seared crust and rare juicy innards. the taste of the starbucks green tea latte that ed and I shared tonight at our beach with the full moon. the look on jay's face when he first tasted this awesome wine we brought to thanksgiving. yes, it is about relationships, but food is a really cool part of my relationships. and while, I might temporarily make the choice to not indulge in something that is not optimal for my physique or my athletic performance, I refuse to live a lifestyle where emotions are disconnected from food.
Right! Might as well talk about removing emotion from sex. You just have to recognize it and manage it.
I could go all scientific on y'all here. it is all about the dopamine reward pathway, the nucleus accumbens, among other happy brain places. the final common pleasure pathway. sex. food. alcohol. physical activity. lots of things I can list here. I admit. food lights my dopamine fire. mmmm food. mmmm the rest of the things on this list too!!
yep roland, I have the newest version and the old version. talk about food porn. the bestest of the bestest!
I just don't believe that this is the right thing for me to do to my body--the level of restriction and dieting before a contest, some of the dehydration that is involved, some of the other practices that my MD brain says, "no way is this good for optimum health".
Wendy,
I've been enjoying your log, the food info you post, and all your accomplishments. You know what you want and what you don't.
I could go all scientific on y'all here. it is all about the dopamine reward pathway, the nucleus accumbens, among other happy brain places. the final common pleasure pathway. sex. food. alcohol. physical activity. lots of things I can list here. I admit. food lights my dopamine fire. mmmm food. mmmm the rest of the things on this list too!!
You forgot television. Food, sex, and tv. The trifecta, as George Costanza would say.
I'm a total food slut. I'm too shy to use traditional methods to meet women, so I rely on my knowledge of food and my spectacular cooking skilz to reel them in.
hey diana, so glad you enjoy my random ramblings! yep, I am an MD. I don't come out of the closet often.
ah yes. television. the ultimate sedentary dopamine enhancer. the costanza triathlon, like it!
oh, I admit that I am a food whore. culinary promiscuity? yeah, that's me. don't care who I cook for. friends. family. strangers. simply love enjoying food with people. I am lucky that ed shares my food passion, and we have negotiated an open marriage where food is concerned. he's a bit of a voyeur if you want to know the truth. I think he gets his dopamine on when others enjoy my cooking.
Don't know about American bodybuilders, but whenever I meet European bodybuilders, it just appals me at how incredibly unhealthy their habits are.. 9 out of 10 smokes, drinks and uses recreational drugs.
It is sooooo NOT about health it's almost scary.
And alas, because of the widespread use of anabolics and the simultaneous banning of these drugs it also makes it a very criminalized scene. Something I once thought to enjoy, really revolts me now.
Too bad as I even am very much into ergogenic LEGAL substances (beta-alanine, creatine etc.. everything enhancing performance w/o being illegal). And also too bad as anabolics can have their own place and do wonders for old , sick & injured people that have muscle wasting. Even a close friend of mine, lost 20kg (45lbs) in a very short period of time due to illness.. she might have profited from a little help.
Let alone a young man I know, who had a complex broken leg that just would NOT heal after even 1 year! Did his doctor think of AS? NOOOOO .. it was just painful to read about it.. AS can truly work wonders for those people. Or think about HIV/AIDS sufferers.
It's then especially painful to see how while anabolic hormones are deemed evil, catabolic hormones (BCP & corticosteroids) are enthusiastically embraced and pushed/shoved onto people despite the bad side-effects... I'm not really seeing much progress.
How do you think about this particular topic as you are in the medical field yourself?
wow espi, those are some complicated questions! physicians are evidence based creatures. so to answer your questions, I would need to search my online med library and see what evidence exists for using AS in muscle wasting. so do the benefits outweight the risks? is there scientific evidence that AS improve clinical outcomes? who knows. haven't looked at the literature.
as far as docs 'pushing' BCP and corticosteroids. BCP have some amazing medical benefits as well-decrease in certain cancers for one. and corticosteroids can be life saving. if I have intractable asthma that could potentially kill me, I want the steroids that will save my life. it is all about risks and benefits. are BCP without risk? of course not. are corticosteroids without risk? of course not. it is all about risk benefit for each particular patient.
could physicians do a better job of practicing holistically? well yeah, some could. are our tools imperfect? yeah, of course they are. but you have to go with whatever science is available to you at the time. as new science becomes available, we change our practice.
Don't know about American bodybuilders, but whenever I meet European bodybuilders, it just appals me at how incredibly unhealthy their habits are.. 9 out of 10 smokes, drinks and uses recreational drugs.
It is sooooo NOT about health it's almost scary.
If you read any bodybuilding magazines or just listen to them talking, it's absolutely NOT about health - it's about getting laid.
Period.
The irony is that half the crap they put in their bodies to get big so they can get women also makes them unable to perform if they actually get one!
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