some thoughts after a month

More or less a month ago I started some form of Whole30. I slipped a few times and to be honest, got bored with very strict keeping with the rules. But still, I was eating much better, which really paid off. I slipped again yesterday with my typical vice: chocolate ;-) But got up again.

Today I took some measurements of my body. And even with my, non-strict, version of Whole30, I have some nice results in the field of fat reduction. I lost one inch under my breast, an inch in waist, half inch in tummy and over an inch in hips. yay! what's funny that my weight actually went slightly up ;-) go fat, come muscle!

I added heavy cream only in terms of dairy and it seems like my body is totally fine with it. I am not missing cheese that much, so I will wait with adding any of it. But I think sour cream might appear in my fridge soon... I love it!

I picked up in my local library DVD with "Billy's Boot Camp Basic Training", and my, does it kick butt :) I had to do three days off after it, my whole body was sore. In a good way! I will do it again today and see if I can actually do it properly with no breaks! I like that it's very simple, basic moves, no super coordination necessary which is a must for me :)

Fasting and paleo

When I was on my old way of eating (high-carb), I had extremely difficult time with any kind of fasting. When I tried to fast a whole day (for religious reasons, like Yom Kippur), it was a nightmare. Very soon after waking up I would already start to feel bad. A few hours later I would have no energy, had problems with moving my legs fast, my head would feel as if made of lead with pounding pain. Toward the end of the day I would be lightheaded, dizzy and sometimes close to fainting. I thought it was just my nature...

On Monday we had "Back to School Night" about which I completely forgot. It meant that instead of going home before 5pm I made it at 9pm. With no extra food, on some eggs, coffee with cream and protein shake. Hardly any hunger, no headache, energy and full mental attention.
I used to say how I simply couldn't not eat a breakfast. I would be sick and nauseated with this deep, painful need to eat at that right moment. Nothing like that anymore - when I am hungry, it's a normal signal, no attack from inside. It's fascinating to me how all of that has changed.

Yesterday I did my "refeed" dinner. And I had too much. I see on other blogs how people make these humongous meals, sometimes calling them variations of "refeeds". How do they do it? I tried three beef sausages, three eggs with two extra yolks and a bit of veggies (broccoli, green beans, mushrooms). I felt full one third in. I wasn't sure if I should just stop or try and force to eat more. I decided to try and it more, because I don't want my body to think I am starving it, so it would go into starvation mode or something.

Each day this week I came back late from work, so no workout yet. And tomorrow I will be even later... Friday it will be, then. And maybe Saturday as well. I have to do a good strength workout and practice more on pull up bar. I am beginning to being able to do pull up! I have big problems with that... I try with support, and it gets better. chin ups get better as well, now I can do 3-4, and same with parallel chin ups.

Some good medical/diet/health links

Over at Evolutionary Psychiatry a good and simple explanation on why our brains need Omega-3. I have started to take supplements (Krill Oil) a while ago realizing that I just dont' eat enough fish. I don't have the access to fresh fish, I don't cook much out of frozen, and I don't want to rely on cans only. I wan't to make sure I get enough essential fatty acids.

Interesting discussion on the need of calorie counting if someone wants to lose weight.

Since going paleo I stopped counting anything other than paying attention to carbs. I found that I let myself eat too much of the good. I love cream too much, and I think I really eat too much of protein and fat sometimes. I am not in paleo to loose weight, I want to be healthy and strong. BUT I do want to look good naked. I always loved athletic bodies, I find female athletes much more sexy than some skinny celebrities. Give me strong arms and a six pack and I am drooling all right ;-) So yeah, I would like to lose a bit of the fat around my waist, esp. that it's the risky fat as it's often a sing of fattening of inner organs. I am exercising and do strength training, and I feel that I do have muscles.. but I would like them to be properly seen :) So I want to uncover them from the cushion of fat. I won't suddenly change much, but I will cut on fat a bit and stop overeating. I am interested in doing PSMF just to start the system. And I still want to make my muscles stronger and bigger (esp. arms). We will see.

Here is one of many articles criticizing the China Study and why it is not scientifically sound. This one comes from dr. Mercola.

fasted training

Once in a while I workout when I am hungry, or on really empty stomach (but not feeling any hunger at the moment). Since going paleo I can fast hours and feel ok, with a lot of energy and no touch of the old nausea as I used to have on old carb-focused diet. Most of the time I don't even plan on fasting (even though a lot of paleo do it for health reasons), it just happens - I forget to take lunch with me, or don't eat breakfast etc. There are many studies that show benefits of hunger and fasted state for human organism. Some hormones work better, the body has a chance to cleanse a bit, get a breath, strike a balance. If you workout when hungry, which was very common for paleolithic peoples (workout = hunting/gathering/escaping/building), your growth hormone is released, insulin sensitivity improves , and it's even more easy for you body to use fat as your fuel.

In this blog entry there is even more explanation on the benefits, with links to some new studies. Here is just a small excerpt:

As you can see, the fasted training group beat the fed training group on almost all relevant parameters. More importantly for some perhaps, the fasted training group saw significant improvements in all parameters relevant to improving body composition and health, where as the fed training group saw comparatively lackluster results here.

This study strengthens the notions I covered here, which is that fasted training may provide some unique benefits to those training in the fasted state, whether it be endurance training, conditioning or bodybuilding. However, this study may be somewhat more relevant considering the higher exercise intensity used, which is closer to, albeit not exactly similar, to CrossFit, kettlebell training and weight training. That is, activities which rely on glucose utilization to a greater degree than fat oxidation.