Bring on those May flowers! I have begun spring sand volleyball league; on the first day we had a warm, bright day that reminded us what summer could feel like…and the other was overcast with cold rain stinging like my reinitiated forearms to the fast-flying, sand-caked sphere. HOORAY, SPRING! I am grateful for the opportunity to play a team sport again, as this was the main form of exercise that I participated in when I was younger. Along with volleyball, I have played soccer, field hockey, tennis, lacrosse, softball, and kickball; as an adult there are fewer opportunities for a given sport but I have had luck in larger cities, particularly ones with universities nearby, as “unofficial” club teams can pop up and will accept an outsider or two.
Move it to lose it
In April’s #LOSERin2018 post, I shared the ultimate piece of truth that got me on my weight loss, aka, CICO and the tools to figure out your own formula. As I mentioned, I had the opportunity to be very active in sports when I was younger and as such, I had been completing plenty of physical exercise also considering my other interests of hiking/creeking and was chasing friends during school recess. Physical exercise has been shown to have a great benefit to our holistic health, with cardiovascular exercise boasting fantastic conditioning effects for cognitive processes and reducing the strain of baseline functioning of the body. The additional benefit is that when you work out, your body has to use more calories and thanks to CICO, that means MORE FOODSTUFFS! Regardless of how closely you are monitoring your calories, you can expect on a day that you moved more (the intensity and the length of time of exercises are variables that will change the energy expenditure), your body will have a deficit. If you are on a weight loss journey, this is the jackpot! With a modest or even mild deficit, it is possible to lose weight for any person. If you achieve a deficit by using physical exercise, the food that you eat will be used to rebuild the small injuries in our muscles that help us grow stronger. When you have a goal net amount of calories you will be able to maintain the same trajectory as you would without working out, you would have less of a “budget” of calories to spend on a given day.
What to “buy” and why
As mentioned last week, I wanted to shine the light on a couple of ways of eating that I began exploring around this time last year and helped spark the biggest changes in my quality of life and health. I had known that my fast food and highly-processed diet was not ideal, but I had very little functional information about nutrition. We followed a low fat, low sodium way of eating in my childhood home and I ballooned out quite considerably, especially with high amounts of fat in my midsection. Apart from the difficulties associated with binge eating, I was raised following the 1992 USDA’s food pyramid, founded on nutritional studies which has since been shown to have been tainted by special interest groups for personal financial gain. Whether by the hand of sugar industries or government subsidized crops like corn and soy beans, the consumers are being found to be sacrificing their health for the strength of a select “worthy” cause (obligatory “free the market!” plug). While it is appreciated that the government guidelines have been updated to reflect more accurate ways-of-eating (WoE) per peer-reviewed research, the fact remains that nutrition has not been given the respect it deserves for unlocking potentials for sustaining health.
Forks Over Knives 2011 Directed by Lee Fulkerson
My sister and I were wrapping up another weekend that we had spent ordering take-out, dutifully joining one another on smoking breaks, and in my head, I was chastising myself.
”You know how harmful smoking is; you know that eating pizza is not giving your body anything valuable to replenish the occasional gym visit.”
I had been telling myself that I did these things to cope with feeling like hot garbage smells. I was exhausted, I had mystery pains that I had been too nervous/broke to investigate further and I didn’t want to hear what I knew was true: I was sabotaging my own health. Perhaps my sister was feeling the same way because when firing up another Netflix binge session, she selected a documentary about plant-based, whole foods and the evidence that had been observed when attempting to study the complexities of human nutrition. This documentary follows Fulkerson as he embarks on a 12-week physician-supervised nutrition program that encourages high amounts of produce vs animal or commercially processed products. Along with his own personal journey, Fulkerson interviews professionals that support this WoE and shares a few success stories from people who were successful in treating illness by focusing on holistic health including diet, among other lifestyle choices. This documentary was a first nudge toward choosing a plan of a future me, rather than focusing on the momentary pleasure I could achieve with the highly processed foods.
My May measurements became an opportunity to see how inflamed my body had been, by adopting an approximately 80% plant based diet a few days into April. I was able to see a difference in my pictures, but what I wanted to see was a change in my measurements. I pulled out the tape and began checking all over after one month of cutting down on “junk foods” and eating at home and well… you check out the results!
| Location | Circumference (in) | Change (From 3/1) |
|---|---|---|
| Thigh | 25.75 | -0.75 |
| Bicep | 15 | -1 |
| Butt | 46 | -2 |
| Butt crack | 46.25 | -1.25 |
| Waist | 36.75 | -4.5 |
| Stomach | 45 | --- |
| Bust | 41 | -1.5 |
| Neck | 15 | --- |
| Forearm | 11 | --- |
| Wrist | 6 | --- |
11 inches lost! This was a very motivating start to changing my health and I was motivated to continue to move forward with the changes that I had made. I had been shooting for loss of about a pound a week at the time was finding that it was much easier to keep to my calorie goals when I was eating more nutritiously dense whole foods than processed foods with many hidden calories in the form of sugars, oils and sodium.
A side by side comparison to the previous month shows a significant reduction in the stomach area, which I believe was a high amount of inflammation and water weight.
The yearly comparison is not much different from the previous month, as I have been eating at maintenance calories through intuitive eating, with a few indulgences in my favorite forms, because it very possible when done in moderation. Anyway, the “bad” things I crave are nowhere near as naughty as when I started this journey last year (pizza takeout ring a bell?) I am happy for warmer weather, as it has made it much easier to convince myself to get outside and moving; I have to if I want a chance at the Volleyball League Title!
##Are you already a #loserin2018 ? Feel free to share your own information about how you have achieved success and help our global community grow healthier in the comment section!
And remember, the steem work makes the dream work! ;*