Project: Muffin Top Reduction - Week 2

It's been two weeks, so here we go....

What went well:

• Waist measurement went down
• Normally I would have had out of control cravings, and while they were still there they were a lot more manageable
• This would also normally be the week I'd see my weight go up by a couple pounds - very happy to see it stay almost the same

What didn't go well:

• I did indulge a little bit more than I would have liked to at the training sessions I was attending (they had snacks!)
• My runs didn't go as well as I would have liked - too many extra breaks

What I'm going to do differently:

• Focus on my mental state while running - pushing through the "this is hard, and would be easier if I took a break" thoughts
• Plan my meals and snack options for the next two weeks, and do my best to eat lots of veggies when I'm at my parent's for Easter

Foam Rolling

The other week, when I had major Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), I used the foam rollers at the gym every time I was there.  I try to do this anyway, but it's more of a challenge when your muscles are already super sore and you're squashing them against a roller.  More than once I was grimacing, and holding my breath counting the moments until it was over.

So why do it?  Why put myself through that pain and agony?  Simple - if I foam roll on a regular basis the pain and agony goes away and it actually becomes relaxing (in a way).

Since I've read a lot about it, and viewed tons of videos on how to do it, I thought I would capture some of the benefits here.  In the hopes that this will help me get back to doing it on a regular basis, and to the point where it's no longer as painful.

The benefits of foam rolling include (source):

• Improved blood circulation (through skin, fascia, muscles, tendons, and ligaments)
• More efficient exchange of nutrients and waste products (as a result of the improved circulation)
• Lengthening of short (tight) muscles, ligaments and tendons (particularly good for those muscles that are hard to stretch)
• Optimize spine range of motion (as a result of rolling your spine over the roller and focusing on tight areas)

A simple search on-line will result in tons of videos to show how to use the roller for various body parts.  I generally use it for my quads, inner thighs, IT band, calves, and back (mainly my lats).  I find that usually my quads are the sorest, although at the moment it's my IT band as well as my quads.  If nothing else the foam roller helps me stretch my IT band, which I have a very hard time stretching otherwise, and my inner thighs (as they are really tight and it's making it hard to do some exercises like side lunges).

Workouts Last Week

I'm still having slight issues with my legs, but it's odd.  When I stretch nothing feels "bad", but when I walk or run on the treadmill or try to do squats and lunges I can tell something isn't right.  I'm just not able to figure out exactly what the issue is with which muscle.

However, I've been doing lots of reading (my running book and on-line) and everything indicates that as long as it isn't too bad and I'm not feeling it while walking I should be okay to keep up with my running.  With that in mind...my workouts last week:

Monday - Run 5 minutes, Walk 1 minute x3, Run 2 minutes, Walk 1 minute x1.  Followed by upper body weights, which felt better than the week before I the muscle soreness didn't last nearly as long.  The run was actually pretty tough, but I felt happy that I finished it.  I made sure to spend a lot of time stretching out and foam rolling.

Tuesday - Rest

Wednesday - Same run workout as Monday, but it felt much better.  Leg was still sore during it (a tiny bit), but the run iteself was boarderline fun.  I managed to do squats after the run, but as soon as I started lunges I could tell there was something too tight/wrong with my right innner thigh.  Rather than continue with the lunges I stopped and spent time stretching everything out and foam rolling.  This is when I figured out that I wasn't able to replicate the pain with the stretching (not that I really want to be in pain, but I want to be able to pinpoint the issue).

Thursday and Friday - Rest

Saturday - Same run workout as Monday and Wednesday and it went well.  I've really figured out that I need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and a lot of this is pushing myself mentally.

The plan for this week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday running.  Do a bit of yoga at home on the off days to assist with the stretching.  I'm going to put the weight workouts on hold for this week in the hopes that this will give my muscles a chance to recover.

Vegetarian, Vegan, or something else?

I've been really examining my diet in the past couple months (as most people do at the beginning of a new year).  After watching Forks over Knives the other weekend and reading The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, I've been remembering how it felt not to eat meat, and very little dairy or eggs for a couple months last year.  My body felt amazing, my workouts seemed easier, I had more energy, and I slept really well.  Not to mention that my digestive system was working better than it had in my entire life.

Why did I switch back to a more meat diet?  I'm not really sure, but I think it came from a belief that I would only eat a little bit of meat and I had intensified my weight training, so thought I "needed" the meat.  Even though everything I had read told me it wasn't necessarily true.

This past week, I've still eaten meat, but my focus has been on eating more plant based meals and snacks.  And I've noticed the changes already.  My digestion is working really, really well, and I'm sleeping a lot better.  My energy levels are high and I've been able to focus on doing good work and accomplishing more.

So, why haven't I completely committed to a vegan diet (because truthfully I don't really drink milk, and cna definitely cut out eggs, cheese and other dairy products).  I think it has to do with the feeling of categorization and restriction.  I don't really want to proclaim myself vegan, in case I do decide to have an egg, diary, or meat on occasion.  And by 'on occasion' I mean the times when I decide I want to eat them and enjoy them fully, which for me is usually once a month or less.  I don't want to have people say "but I thought you were vegan" if I decide to eat a bit of animal product, or purchase something that might have leather, wool or other animal products in them.

In the end, I've decided to not 100% proclaim myself vegan, but I don't want to proclaim myself flexitarian either.  So, I'm going to quietly focus on eating non-animal foods, and choose to focus on how my body feels on a daily basis as a result.  When I do indulge in an animal-based food, I'll make sure it's a conscious decision, I'm aware of the impact of the choice on the animal and environment, and it will be a rare occasion.

Project: Muffin Top Reduction - Week 1

I've decided to call my bi-weekly "weight/measure-ins" Project Muffin Top Reduction.  I think this reflects my goal more accurately, as I do have specific weight/measurements I'm aiming for but the more important goal is how my clothes fit.  So, to make this fun I've taken a picture of my current muffin top in my size 14 jeans to watch it "disappear" over the next couple months.

Most of these bi-weekly posts will be short and sweet.  Post the picture with the measurements, and say what went well, and what didn't go so well.

Here goes the first one (the Starting measurements are from two weeks ago (February 28th)):

What went well - I began focusing more on eating plant-based meals, and as a result my digestion is working super well.  I think that was a partial contributor to the great Hip measurement (plus, some normal bloating went away, but as I know it "will be back")

What didn't go well - I'm having a hard time with eating all of the food on my plate, when I'm know I'm full and eating all the food I take to work even though I'm not hungry.  I know this comes from the "clean your plate" upbringing.  So I'm going to help myself by taking at least one snack that is not perishable, so I won't feel it will go to "waste" if I don't eat it the next day.  And I'm going to try and focus on portions for my lunches and dinners.

Workouts last week

This past week was not stellar when it came to my workouts.  I had great intentions at the beginning of the week, and my plan consisted of:

Monday - Run (4 minutes running, 1 minute walk x4), Weights (upper body)

Wednesday - Run (4 minutes running, 1 minute walk x4), Weights (lower body)

Friday - Run (4 minutes running, 1 minute walk x4), Weights (upper body)

Here's what actually happened:

Monday - Run (4 minutes running, 1 minute walk x4), Weights (upper body) - Run was a lot harder than expected, since I didn't think that sking, snowshoing and walking through the snow on the weekend had tired out my legs that much.  Upper body went well, but I used really heavy weights and since it was my first time doing weights in about two weeks that wasn't the wisest choice.  My chest muscles were still tight and sore on Sunday.

Wednesday - No run.  I did my lower body weight workout first, and as soon as I started doing lunges my quads felt like they were pulling and sore.  I should have stopped right then, but instead choose to continue and as a result I ended the workout with very, very sore quads.

Thursday - Every step was painful.  My quads were definitely sore, and my glutes were even a little sore (which doesn't happen often).  Didn't do anything except go to work, and get my hair done.  While at work I tried to get up from my desk and walk around more than normal to stretch out the muscles while they recovered.

Friday- Quads and glutes were still sore, but felt I really should run as I only ran once the week before and I really didn't want to get too behind in my schedule.  I thought the running might help with the muscle soreness, and I'd also be at the gym and could stretch and use the foam roller after.  So I ran...and it was tough!  I managed to run 4 minutes, rest 1, run 2, rest 1, run 2, rest 5, run 4, rest 2, run 2, rest 1, run 2.
So in spite of my sore legs I managed to get the minutes in for my run, just not consecutively, as I should have.

By Sunday, the legs were still sore, but only when I bent them to move up or down stairs, or squat.  Each step was no longer painful, so I decided to get that third run in at the gym, plus some stretching and foam rolling.  The run went a lot better than my other two, but I did end up taking two water breaks, plus a 30 second break during my last 4 minute stretch.  Even with that though, I felt good afterwards.  Like I set a goal and managed to mentally push through without giving in to the desire to stop and rest.

My hope is that this week will go much, much better both for my runs and for my weights.  I'm going to attempt the same schedule as last week.

Exposure

My February focus was exposure, and I have to admit this one was a bit more of a challenge to practice than the Rule of Thirds, since there's a lot more involved.  I had originally chose this as my challenge for February since I though it would be a basic one.

Exposure, or Exposure Value, as defined in Wikipedia is the combination of the camera's shutter speed and realative aperature.  The Exposure Value (EV) is also used to indicate an interval on the photographic exposure scale, with 1 EV corresponding to a standard power-of-2 exposure steps, commonly referred to as a stop.

The shutter speed (measured in seconds) plays an important role in that it determines the length of time the shutter is open, and can create interesting effects by blurring motion or halting motion at different levels.  Most commonly seen in pictures of moving water, where a slow shutter speed blurs the moving water, and a fast shutter speed halts the movement of the water.
Each number represents seconds.  For example, a scale that goes 2, 1, 1/2, 1/4 these are 2 seconds, 1 second, 1/2 second, 1/4 second.

The aperature (the f number) determines how much light enters the camera.   The larger the f number the smaller the opening, the smaller the f number the larger the opening.  Therefore, larger numbers let in less light and smaller numbers let in more light.  The aperature also effects the depth of field, but I'm going to leave that to look in to another month.
Each number represents one stop in the camera (f-stop).  For example, for a scale that goes 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, from 1 to 1.4 is one f-stop, and from 1 to 2 is 2 f-stops.  Each stop is relative to the one before, so that 1.4 lets in half the light that was let in when the f-stop was 1, or conversely 1 lets in twice as much light as 2 (because there's a stop in between, 1.4, which lets in one time as much light as 2).
Note that digital cameras can sometimes go up in 1/3 or 1/4 of a stop because they are more finely tuned that a traditional or older camera (just something to be aware of when adjusting the aperature).

Shutter speed and aperature have a direct relationship with each other.  The smaller the aperature the faster the shutter speed, and the larger the aperature the slower the shutter speed.  The camera will indicate when it is at an optimal setting by indicating a '0' rather than '+' or '-'.  When a camera is in "Auto" it will always look for the '0'.  If a picture is over-exposed the "whites" or highlights will be too bright, and if you under-expose the dark areas will be too dark.  Both have the same effect - you loose the details.

I took a series of shots with the same subject to show the effect.  I shot these with my camera in Shutter priority mode, which means I set the shutter speed and the camera chose the aperature setting for me.



Shutter speed - 1/2000, Aperature - F 6.3



Shutter speed - 1/8, Aperature - F 4.0



Shutter speed - 1", Aperature - F 8.0



Shutter speed - 4", Aperature - F 8.0



Shutter speed - 8", Aperature - F 8.0

 My favourites would be the 1" and 1/8" shutter speed, and it's pretty close between the two of them.  If I had to choose one it would be the 1/8" shutter speed with the F 4.0,  simply because the railing in the background blurs a bit more and the angle is more sharply in focus.

What I learned about my camera - That on my camera when I look at the shutter speed, if it's red the image will be too dark or too light.

Even though I should focus on something totally different for the month of March I don't feel like I've worked with exposure enough.  So, I'm going to spend my practice time using  my camera in Shutter Priority, and take a few more experimental shots.  I may move in to Aperature priority to work on Depth of Field, but we'll see what the month brings.

Sking and Snowshoeing

Yes, I got a bunch of exercise last week.  After walking the dog and snowshoing on Sunday while I was at my parent's I decided to give running a try on Tuesday.  I finished the run, but my knee was still a bit sore.  Since I had other plans for the end of the week I decided to rest until Friday.

I spent Friday morning shovelling snow off my brother's deck, which got me warmed up in time to go sking.  We were sking for about 4 hours, actually I skied and my brother was snowboarding.  We had a good time and chatted quite a bit on the chair lift.  Little brother was pretty impressed with how much better I am.  He actually has to make an effort to catch me on the hill and I handled the black diamonds (which I wouldn't have done a year ago).  I definitely credit all my weight training for the improvement as I didn't ski at all last year.  My legs are so much stronger and my balance is a lot better, which means I'm a lot more confident.  We followed this up with a big lunch out, and once we were back at his place headed out on the snowshoes for about 40 minutes to help lunch digest.

I thought I was doing pretty well, and not feeling sore or too tired.  However, I moved during the night and the pain in all my back muscles and the cramps in my calf muscles decided to wake me up.  Luckily Saturday was a pretty easy day - just a bit of trudging through snow to cut down trees (brother even showed me how to use the chainsaw).  We did go out snowshoing again, this time with his girlfriend and her dogs.  I think we were out for almost an hour.  Of course, we enjoyed some spiked hot chocolate and huge dinner that night which definitely wiped out any calories burned during the day.  We were all ready to pass out by 10:00.  Yup, party animals we are not!

Given that the cookie monster has lived in my stomach for the past two weeks, I wasn't expecting great results when I did my "check in weigh in" this morning.  Two weeks ago was the last time I weight myself and my weight was 176.7 lbs.  I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped on the scale this morning and saw 175.8 on the display.  Not close to my goal of 171 for next week, but a lot better than I was expecting.  Besides all the cookies, my portions have been out of control too, so I've been feeling full a lot more than I've been feeling hungry.

Next week will be my full weigh in/measurements, and I hope to be closer to 171.  Realistically I know that I'm not on track right now to reach that goal, but I should be able to get close (down 1.5 to 2 more pounds if I stick to my plan).  I've been focused on my fruits and veggies, as well as non-meat based sources of protein.  Fingers crossed!

Rule of Thirds

My January photography focus was the Rule of Thirds:

The rule of thirds is a "rule of thumb" or guideline which applies to the process of composing visual images such as paintings, photographs and designs.  The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.  Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would. (From Wikipedia)

I was watching my parent's dog for a couple weeks, so took advantage of a couple long walks to take some pictures where I think I've successfully applies the rule of thirds.  And some lovely Chick-a-Dees flew around my head, landing close enough for some great shots (as long as I was quick).

This picture is just cute - not sure what the little bird was looking at.













I like the perspective in the picture on the right, as  you can tel I was standing below the bird, but I managed to capture him in the left third of the photo with the lovely tree a blur in the background.
 

  

Casey sat very nicely watching the ducks, while I took her picture.  I think the picture captures her focus, and keeps the interest in the bottom left third of the picture.

This picture is a bit blurry, but I wanted to include it as I like the way the road leads from the right, bottom third of the picture up to the bridge, which is still in the right third.  I think it would have been a better picture, if I had kept it in focus and had placed the bridge more in the upper right corner.

Again, this picture is a bit blurry and I'm not sure why, but I really like the perspective.  I like that the first post is in the right third and the othe posts are in the background.

"Best Shape of my Life" Plan

I've decided not to use the words "diet" or "workout regime".  Instead this is my "Best Shape of my Life" plan.  The main goal is to change my life by creating a lifestyle that I can sustain and enjoy.  The result will be the healthiest and fittest me I can be based on good food and great exercise.

For the food part of this plan, I'm going to focus on what makes me feel the best and supports my workouts and other activities.  In thinking about what this food includes, I watched the documentary "Forks Over Knives" and was reminded of how great I felt when I ate a mainly plant-based diet.  This included great sleep, regular bowel movements (at least more regular for me), and I didn't experience the crazy cravings for sugar.  So, that is what I'm going to be doing - transitioning back to a plant-based diet.  I'm definitely not saying I won't eat meat, dairy, or eggs.  I will try my best to make these occasions special, with organic, free-range, and responsibly farmed animals.

My goals for the food part of the plan are:

Reduce constipation

Increase energy

Increase the amount of good sleep

Reduction of skin issues (specifically the rosacea on my face)

The workout part of this plan is going to focus on building a program that I can follow realistically, that is flexible, and fun. 

My goals for the exercise part of the plan are:

Run three 5Ks, setting new PRs at each one

Complete the Warrior Dash

Enjoy a two week canoe trip in Killarney

Increase my strength to the point that I can do 5 unassisted pull-ups

To keep myself on track and accountable on a daily basis I have some specific plans.  I'm going to continue to use My Fitness Pal to track my calorie intake and weekly exercise calories.  At the end of the week, I'll use the information to determine my success at eating a plan based diet, but I'll also use the notes section of the app/website to record how I'm feeling each day (full, hungry, tired, et cetera), and also my bowel movements (more information than  you probably need to know).
I also use My Fitness Plan to track my measurements, and even though I don't like doing it, I have set aside a morning every two weeks to record my body fat percentage, my weight, body mass index, and arm/chest/waist/hips/leg measurements.

My end goals are:

21-33% Body Fat

125-169 Body Weight in pounds

19-25 BMI

My end goal target is May 3rd, which is realistic if I get back on track (as I'm slightly behind the plan already).  I will provide updates over the weeks...

Fresh Start

My goal for this blog in 2012, was to post an average of one post per week.  I almost made that goal, but in looking back at the blog the posts were all over the place in terms of topics and timing of the posts.
In 2013, I didn't have posting on this blog on my list of goals for the year, but it makes sense for me to start doing this on a regular basis to keep me accountable for two of my goals.

Goal #1 - Reach a healthy, happy body size/weight/strength/fitness level.
Goal #2 - Develop my photography skills.

So, I've decided to change the focus of this blog and really make it about my fitness and photography.  Keeping that in mind I've gone through my past posts and removed any that I felt didn't fall in to either of these categories (trust me you're not missing out on anything...they turned out to be a lot of posts about my dating/relationship issues).

My goals are actually more specific than they appear above.

For goal number one, I have an actual calendar with body size targets and various 5K runs, canoe trips, and a Warrior Dash to help with the fitness goal.  Which I'll share in another post, and maybe create a separate page for, if I can figure out how to do that.  My plan is to blog about my progress each week, and try to share anything I learn or blogs/websites I like as I go alone.

For goal number two, the specific goal is to learn about one new photography technique each month and then spend at least three hours practicing that specific technique.  With the end result being that I'm more consistent producing pictures that are pleasing to my eye (and hopefully other's as well).  I'll be posting at least twice per month, once about the technique, and then a second time to share my favourite photos that I took during my practice sessions.