Diet & Exercise: There's Gotta Be More to the Story!

My little weight loss experiment:

I have read and re-read everything I can get my hands on regarding the subject of "calories in vs. calories burnt". Here is what I understand. When one burns 3500 calories more than one eats, one loses one pound. Simple, right?

With the absence of any weight loss despite eating about 1,300 calories a day and exercising 6 days a week I'm wondering what part of this story is missing? So I decided to do a little experiment. I visited The Daily Plate. For those of you not familiar, it is a rather nice, free website that serves as a food/exercise journal, calorie counter data base. I put in my stats and the lovely Plate told me that in order to lose 1 lb. per week I should consume 1,600 calories per day. So I say BINGO! Eureka: I'm not eating "Enough". That's gotta be it, right? Nothing else makes sense - read more articles and we hear about metabolic shut down when the body thinks it is starving, blah, blah, blah. That's it, right? I must be starving. I will be the first "chunky" girl on earth to starve to death and still be technically over weight! The daily plate is really useful because it tracks both calories in and calories out (exercise). So once I put my daily exercise in, usually averaging 400-700 calories, we're up to about 2,000 calories a day and still losing a pound a week.

So, here is the experiment: eat all of the calories I am supposed to (1,600 + exercise calories burnt) in a day, keep a food and exercise journal. Fill the calories with "good" food, in other words I can't just grab a giant bowl of ice cream to make up for the remaining 500 calories at the end of the day. I learned that complex carbs will pack the greatest calorie punch. First lesson - it's not easy to get 2,000 calories chewed and swallowed in one day without junk food. I actually fell a couple of hundred calories short most days and that is with eating 6 times a day. Second lesson, it is hard to pack a complex calorie punch without eating wheat/gluten. Okay, so I "suffered" through my little experiment for two weeks. Eating like a panda bear, munch, munch, munch. I felt good; good energy, well nourished for my workouts, slept well. During this time I did not miss any planned workouts. Ready for the big revelation? The outcome of my ground breaking medical experiment? I gained two pounds!

So clearly all of these articles and professionals that are so eager to tell us that this is quite simple - calories in vs. calories burnt are leaving out something critical. I think this little missing tidbit is the holy grail! I think it is this one missing piece of information that is fueling the billion dollar diet and fitness industry. I think it just boils down to the world being filled with endomorphs and ectomorphs. One can not change genetic predisposition.

And on that note I have read a few disturbing articles recently regarding running. This one appeared last week in The New York Times. Basically declaring that "slow" runners or joggers have no place participating in athletic events, namely marathons. It goes on to say that these people are not "runners" to further fuel the ire or the "slow running" scene I noticed a link to Pearl Izummi's ad on one of my favorite blogs. OOoooooo-eeeee were there some heated comments. So it seems to me that there are a couple of camps here. Fast runners who feel that anyone slower than them are not "real" runners and "slowER" runners feeling like they have every right to be called a "runner". Wow, sounds like a topic fit for the school guidance counselor at my kids' elementary school. I also read an article about how real runners should not wear ipods, they are unsafe and unproductive. The true athlete would become more inspired by their own breathing and listening attentively to their foot strikes.

Enter experiment number two. I decided to take my run today without my ipod (or dogs). I would listen attentively to my footstrikes, breathing and I would ponder the subject of what it means to be a "runner" and more importantly "am I a runner"?

Here are the results: 45 min. run, average heart rate 150, listening to my breathing: thiii-iiii-sssssss--hurr--rrrrr--tsssss, listening to my foot strikes: thump, thump, thud, thump. But here is what I conjured up from my pondering: One of the women that was quoted in the NY Times article, Adrienne Wald, a cross country coach said: "It's a joke to run a marathon walking every other mile or by finishing in six, seven or eight hours". The most absurd part of that comment is that Ms. Wald is a coach. She inspires young people to achieve? Hmmm.

So, back to me . . . am I a runner? Am I a jogger? Holy crap, am I just walking? Then I pause (in my mind, not my jogging, walking, sorta wanting to run, but not really feet) and I ponder this for a moment: Last spring when I ran my first half marathon, I was working hard. I trained hard. I was serious about building my endurance. I tried to build speed, but just could not find any. Then as I was giving it my best shot in Central Park, I came upon (as in caught up to) the Pace Leader. He's the guy who's job it is to "run" at prescribed pace. He was designated by a special

shirt and carried balloons with the pace (per mile) time he was leading on his balloons. Well, this pace leader who I was working so hard to catch up to was speed walking. I pulled up along side him, huffing and puffing and I grunted - Oh, my God!! Are you walking? He said, "yes, but I am walking really fast". So I said, "could I do that"? And he suggested I give it a try. So I changed my gait slightly, stretched out my stride, lost the bounce in my step and attempted to do that shake your booty thing that speed walkers do. Lo and behold, I was going the same speed as when I was "running". That was disheartening! I quickly abandoned that idea and picked up my former stride - my goal was to "run" a half marathon, and so I did!

Here is my bottom line, I do believe that the difference between running, jogging and walking is a bio mechanical one. I believe that the definition is in the stride. I have an odd obsession with looking at photographs of the feet of people who are running. Runners feet both leave the ground at the same time, they actually take flight. I also am a firm believer (and I practice) heart rate zone training. I think it is a rather shallow observation of a runner to refer to another as a "plodder" without more insight into the slower runner's level of exertion.

Am I a runner? No, sadly I do not think that I am. I am certainly not taking flight. I would like to become a runner - I am not sure of any other way other than to keep on "plodding" along, working on strength, flexibility and endurance. Seek the counsel of experts, practice, practice, practice. One thing is for sure, I will certainly not take the expert advice of Coach Wald, and just stay home!

Oh and one last thing - next time I will bring back the ipod - waaay to much brain work without it.

The Gig is Up: GF Food Review

I used to say that all I needed in the life was the three B's. That would be BEER, BREAD and BEANS (as in coffee!). Throw in a Swiss Army knife, a bandanna and some duct tape and I could be happy and self sufficient. Boy have those days changed. My need for comfort items has changed wildly and my B's have been seriously disrupted. Thankfully no one has messed with my coffee but those of us on a gluten free diet know that good gluten free beer and bread can be very hard to come by. This has not necessarily been a bad thing for me as I do credit my lack of beer and bread with a considerable (and much needed weight loss). It has been pretty easy to fore go the gluten free options. But what's happening now? Is my weight loss scheme in danger? A few weeks ago I went into a nice local coffee house and am usually able to just saunter right on by the case of baked goods - nothing for me there, no interest to me, not even tempted. But I stopped dead in my tracks as I came face to face with a giant muffin, oddly named - the fitness muffin, that was labeled gluten free! I had to force myself to look away and keep walking. Several weeks later I am still thinking about that muffin. What will become of me if I am once again faced with choices?!

Before giving my review of a couple of products that I have recently sampled I should add the note that I am picky about my baked goods and my beer. I have spent countless hours baking all types of wonderful (gluteny) breads. I loved baking bread and not only lost out on one of my favorite foods but one of my favorite hobbies. I also loved brewing beer. I never made anything quite as great as could be purchased but it was a lot of fun! So, these acceptable alternatives are just that - acceptable alternatives. I am not sure anything but a cure to Celiac Disease will come close to satisfying the real critic. But I offer these to hold us over in the meantime.

Beer:

I was very happy when gluten free beer started coming to the market a couple of years ago but after trying a few, including Redbridge and Dragon's Gold I actually found that I'd rather save the calories and my money. But now the gig is up - I recently tried Green's Beer. This is an import from Belgium. Clearly they know how to brew beer!! It is offered in a medium amber, a triple blonde and a dark stout. The dark stout being my favorite, I'm a Guinness fan and this was by far no Guinness, but it was an acceptable and palatable alternative. Very rich, a little on the sweet side. The amber was also very good. A little less sweet and more suitable with a meal. I did not care for the blonde, but that would not be my first choice in any beer so I may not be the best critic on that. I found it far too sweet and not "crisp" enough. But other reviews for the blonde are raving and I would give them more credit as again, it is just not my preference in beer. I purchased all three at Whole Foods. They were a bit pricey (as are all things gluten free) but come in 16 oz. bottles - great to share a bottle and not have to commit to a full six pack of crummy beer. Also, nice not to pay $12 (going price in some places for Dragon's Gold) for a six pack of less than mediocre beer. I believe the Green's was about $5.25 for a bottle. Again, expensive but oh soooooo good!

BREAD:

I have spent a lot of time trying to master a gluten free bread recipe. I think I came up with something reasonably respectable. It included every imaginable flour - brown rice, white rice, potato, tapioca, corn starch, almond meal and flax meal. A lot of work - okay return. I tried packaging it into smaller "mixes" so that it would be less time consuming. But ultimately my whole family decided that this bread was not really worth the trouble. After having given up on bread entirely for about a year - I gave in and tried Pamela's Amazing Bread Mix after reading several encouraging reviews. It is excellent! Most excellent is the fact that all you need to do is add oil, eggs and water, stir and bake. Could not be any easier. I also add 1/4 flax meal. Again, I find this product to also be a little on the sweet side. It may be the fact that I do not eat a lot of sugar and so I am a bit more sensitive to the sweet side of things. But this bread has sort of a molasses type sweetness to it. Not at all offensive - although fairly high on the carb count for diabetics. This bread is very moist in contrast to most dry, crumbly GF bread products. It also holds up pretty well unlike the many that go stale within hours of baking. Freezes well too. I use it to make sandwich/burger rolls that are so convincingly "normal" that my kid's friends at school were nervous that I had given them the wrong lunch. The kids came home squealing with delight that their sandwiches looked like everyone else's - that's important when you are 9!

And ONE MORE:

I take baking seriously! I am still prone to watching the Ace of Cakes while I am on the treadmill. I never, ever understood the purpose of "Brownie Mix". I mean, you melt the chocolate and butter, throw in a few eggs, scoop in the flour and sugar and you've got brownies. The same can hold true for GF brownies - and it is very VERY possible to make a delicious gluten free brownie from scratch. But again it involves many different types of "alternative" flours that need to be mixed in the right proportions. If you do not stock all these flours or are not into food science and measurement, this may be a task you just don't take on regularly. So to that end the other night, while making dinner I threw a batch of Betty Crocker's (NEW!) Gluten Free Brownie Mix together and into the oven to bake. Very, very decent brownies, piping hot from the oven and done with by the time I was clearing the dinner plates off the table. I have nothing negative to say about this mix - and huge kudos to General Mills for taking this huge leap in the right direction! I am not sure I can bring myself to try the GF chocolate chip cookie mix but again am so glad that General Mills is getting some skin in the game on this! The new Betty Crocker Mixes (chocolate cake, vanilla cake, brownie and chocolate chip cookie) can be a bit elusive to find. I was unable to find them in my area. But can be ordered somewhat reasonably on Amazon.

Now I better get my training into high gear as I can see this gluten free diet is not longer going to be an easy recipe for weight loss - think I'll grab a beer tonight!

Cheers!