So how is your digestion? (Health Feedback)

I went a few years ago to a friend who was attending the Swedish Institute in New York to become an acupuncturist. During the assessment inquiry he asked me “So how is your digestion?” Not having any idea how to judge I said “OK”. Well of course I questioned how to actually judge how your digestion is and it turns out that how your “bathroom performance” is?


To paraphrase Dr. Oz in “You: the owners manual” we are adults and we all do it. It is a great feedback to how your overall health is and I myself ignored it for years. It should be solid single to two pieces that make an S shape just like your intestines. Nothing else in the bowl after you are done and you should not take a long time nor expend a lot of effort.

A Standing Desk

So I have been reading a lot on different blogs about standing desks and then I saw this “sitting is killing you“ that I found on John Durant’s blog hunter-gatherer.com. One of the comments correct stated that link between increased sitting and weight gain is a correlation and not a causation, but I believe it is quite clear that standing has many benefits to sitting, if you are fit enough and physically able to do it. Also, recent studies have shown that diet is more key to weight loss (fat loss) and that exercise is actually more for maintain weight (preventing) gain.

I will repeat the fact that our obesity epidemic here in America (and the world is following us) is a systemic problem. Yes, our food is a factor and our hectic lifestyles. And while we each do have personal responsibility it is still a system problem that has system solutions.

I think that it is obvious that many of our health problems are related to the reduction in physical activity and for complete health we all should get a good amount of regular activity. Something John Durant mentions is being physical not just for good health but also for survival. While we have (opposite of chronic) for chronic health dangers- there may be instantance when we are confronted with an immediate physical danger. Since everyone here in New York is talking about the world ending in a few days who knows what is in store for us.

I have been thinking of switching to a standing desk for the last few weeks and the above link prompted me to take the plunge. It took me about 5 minutes to move my laptop to a shelf at stomach height and figure out how to re-configure Windows to position my laptop and desktop screen. So that was easy. It also helps that I can convert back quickly.


I spent about 6 hours total standing when I would normally be mostly sitting. I felt good and energized. I still made my run that night. I ran two miles instead of my normal three, but it was raining intensely. I had heard at my barefoot meetup.com that running barefoot in the rain might cause blisters, but I didn’t have a problem. I thought it might be too cold as it was in the mid to low sixties, but that was also not a problem.


I am now on my second day and I made it from 6:30am to about 9:30am until I had to sit. The main benefit of my simple conversation is how quickly I can change back and forth as needed. I sat for an hour and then felt the “need” to stand again. I made it until lunch and sat for while eat. I am back standing at my desk and feeling fitter.

I will share about this again next week.

Photo tracking

Since I have found a big help by tracking my progress I now will include facial profile pictures in my weekly blog updates.

My fat loss plan

I have being battling my weight most of my adult life now. When I was growing up I was always skinny kid. I started getting fat after college. I am 36 years old and it is only getting harder. It is a typical story; this is a fight that started when I was out of college working my first professional job. As the first few years went by my diet got worse and my exercise effort trailed off. Before working, I was actually in very good shape. In college I help organize a weight lifting club and maintain our small weight room. We would hold monthly presentations on different workouts and diet information. I have a huge library of diet and exercise books. Most of them I read but never implemented, at least long term. (The term analysis paralysis comes to mind)

You can look at the reference list of books I am taking from to see an example. These are books that I have taken some bit of knowledge from. I am not following any single book in its entirety. They all have parts that I like and don’t like. Some of them are not diet or exercise books and merely provide some useful insight.

Now I am ready and determined to get this right. My weight on my 6’ frame has peaked at 276 lbs. I have been following this morphed diet well for the 10 days. I am down 12 pounds. As I mentioned earlier, my goal for Sunday is 262, 2 pounds and 3 days to go.

Since a whole part of this is a learning experience and I am including facets from multiple sources, I figure I better get the details documented.

Problem statement: Obesity is a systematic problem (watchman’s rattle- this is an obvious point, but it needs to be repeated) and it is part of our nature and culture that is exacerbating the problem.

Principle Solution: The human body will adept to its environment and both diet and exercise are integral to healthly function. The goal is not simply weight loss, but a healthly lifestyle includes exercise, both cardio and resistance exercise, and a healthy whole food diet ( see references below).

Supplements: I am currently taking a high quality multivitamin and omega fat once a day in the morning with breakfast.

Diet principles:

1) no sugar

2) easy to prepare, repeatable meals

3) Lots of greens

4) High quality lean protein (mostly grilled chicken)

5) Plan your meals and have food ready

6) Avoid Dairy, Alcohol, Diet Soda

7) Cheat meal once per week where you eat what ever you want. (It makes following the meal plan easier the rest of the week- and better than a whole day)

8) Drink plenty of water- I shoot for four liters a day—usually don’t drink quite that much. But that is my goal.

I have seen this rule: W = M/2 + 2a + 5b where M is your weight in lbs, a is ounces of soda, diet soda, tea, alcohol and b are ounces of coffee which gives you ounces per day. I think this is way too much and you certainly should waste that much effort. Actually, the new evolution diet had the point it should be that much effort to drink adequate water- especially if it reduces your exercise ability. Avoid soda and beer and drink water.



Exercise: At the beginning I am doing whatever I can. I’ve gotten addicted to barefoot running so my exercise focus has been on running whenever I can. There is a lot of information out there that supports short variable workouts versus sustained repetitive training, but for right now I try to get out 3 miles four or more times a week.

Final principles: Set goals, short term, mid term and long term.

Leverage social support by doing something like blogging about them. Surround yourself with other people with similar goals and healthy habits. Focus not on weight, but fat loss and muscle and performance. Track your progress with measurable quantities (weight, percent body fat, 1-mile time, heart rate, etc.)

I am also using an app for my phone (endomondo.com) that using GPS to track my running performance in concert with a Bluetooth heart rate monitor.



Cold helps with weight loss. Right now in NY it is sufficient to be outside without a shirt. Not sure how I will continue with this as the weather gets warming.



References:

The Spark (The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life

Why we get fat (Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It)

The 4 hour body (The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman)

The new evolution diet (The New Evolution Diet: What Our Paleolithic Ancestors Can Teach Us about Weight Loss, Fitness, and Aging)

In defense of food(In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto)

The omnivores’ dilemma (The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals_

The Paleo solution (The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet)

Born to run(Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (Vintage))