With travel (and more coming up), visiting guests, and the great stomach flu of June 2013, I have completely and totally gotten out of the exercise habit I had built up through the winter/spring. Its amazing---it takes so long to build up a good habit, but no time at all to erase it!
My problem now is that I just can't get up early enough to make working out feasible. Also its hot. And humid. And rainy. So many excuses.
I've got a two-fold approach to this problem. 1) Lights out by 10PM every night (at least every week-night). This means going upstairs around 9:30-9:45. This means no TV shows with G unless by some miracle we get the kids to bed and everything clean & ready by 8:30. After a week of solid sleep I will start 2) Set alarm for 5AM. L is still waking up anywhere between 4:45 and 6 (if the former, he can be coaxed back to sleep eventually by bringing him into bed with us---this means one of us is pinned under him in bed until he wakes up again around 7). I have the best chance of working out if I get up BEFORE he does and get going.
I'm motivated by the fact that I am woefully out of shape right now: I have trouble carrying my 21-month-old very far, I notice that people are PASSING ME when I'm walking into work (this never used to happen unless I was pregnant), and I get out of breath chasing L around. I'd also like to lose some portion of the 15 lbs I've gained in the past 5 years. (its a lot on my small frame).
I know exercise isn't going to get all those pounds off, but when I work out I actually feel motivated to eat better so its good all around. Plus when I workout in the morning I am hungry for breakfast. Otherwise I have no appetite in the morning. I've seen a couple of recent studies (one in mice, one in women)* supporting the idea that the majority of one's calories should be eaten in the morning (evening for mice), with a moderate lunch and a light dinner. This is how my kids naturally eat. By 6:30 PM they are done with their day and not needing more energy input.
I tend to eat in the more typical American fashion of skimpy breakfast, moderate lunch, and ginormous dinner. I'd like to change that. My biggest hurdle is that if I get hungry at bedtime I absolutely CANNOT sleep until I've eaten. I've tried to ignore it---it resulted in being up until I finally gave in and came down to the kitchen at 1AM to have some cereal (at that point it was 2 huge bowls of cereal). I guess I need to make gradual changes, so my body doesn't freak out. Bigger breakfast, reasonable lunch, afternoon snack so that I'm not ravenous by dinner time? I actually cut out the snacking because I was eating that in ADDITION TO everything else, and I figured since I wasn't pregnant/nursing anymore I really didn't need it. So I'm wary about that approach.
Anybody successfully change their eating patterns and have any advice?
*The study in women (unpublished abstract) had 2 groups of women with
PCOS eating the same total calories but one group had a heavy breakfast,
the other a heavy dinner. The breakfast-heavy group had improved
glucose metabolism. In mice, both groups received a high-fat diet. One
group had 24-hour access to food. The other was restricted to eating
during their active cycle. The group that ate only during the active
cycle were resistant to the effects of diet-induced obesity (weight
gain, diabetes, etc...). In humans, that would translate to "don't eat
at night". I won't even get into the data on the effects of night-shift working on metabolic health. Glad I worked out like a fiend in medical training or I'm sure it would have been easy to gain weight eating all kinds of crap at all hours.
Have you thought about doing a Whole 30? Whether or not you keep up with that way of eating, it is a fantastic way to "reset".
ReplyDeletehttp://whole9life.com/2012/08/the-whole30-program/
OK, I looked at that link and I'm a little unclear about what I CAN eat. No grains, legumes, soy, peanut butter, dairy---do I eat meat & vegetables only? I'm asking quite seriously---if you did this, what kind of foods did you eat? I am mostly vegetarian so I'm not sure what I'd feed myself.
DeleteI did do it, and it was fantastic. I ate a lot of veggies, eggs, lean meat, some fruit, and nuts. Although, I do think it would be more difficult for a vegetarian to complete.
DeleteI found that cutting out the sugars and grains really regulated my cravings and made me feel much less hungry between meals. That ravenous feeling when coming down from the sugar high is gone, and I feel more in control.
Eventually I will write something about it on my own blog...I'm just really busy lately and haven't updated that dusty space in a while.
As far as the eating goes, I found that once you start it, it's really easy to maintain that kind of eating (and I feel terrific, so I saw no reason not to). I eat some kind of eggs with veggies (and usually a little meat protein) in the AM OR I hollow out a cucumber, fill it with avocado and top it with chicken, turkey or proscuitto. For lunches, I eat huge salads. For dinner, its usually some kind of grilled meat/veggie with some fruit for dessert(really easy to do in the summertime, wondering how to maintain this in the winter). When needed, I've snacked on almonds, hard boiled eggs, lara bars, and dried apricots. *Since completing the Whole30, I also added cheese and yogurt back into my diet. Man, I really missed those for that 30 days!
Hope this helps.
Actually, it looks like there is a modified version of the Whole 30 for vegetarians. Here is the shopping list http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Vegetarian-Shopping-List.pdf
Deleteok, with the vegetarian option you can have yogurt and legumes. You can also have nuts---I was wondering about nuts. Hmmm. You've intrigued me...not sure I'm ready to go for it yet (travel where I really can't do my own shopping/cooking) but maybe next month...
DeleteYes, AJ, update your blog! I poked around & liked what I read so far...
DeleteOK, so I actually spent some time on the Whole9 website and the false claims ("cures type 1 diabetes"??? wtf) and pseudoscience ("legumes cause inflammation"...quick pubmed search to make sure I wasn't missing something in my specific research area confirmed that there is no evidence for that claim) turned me off. I think lowering carbs and dairy are a great idea, and everyone who I know in person or on-line that has done the diet has loved the results. So I may incorporate some of those ideas into my life without actually doing the challenge. Also, I like my legumes.
DeleteI'm a midnight snacker and can't sleep at all if hungry. I find that if i eat a banana or a glass of milk with cracker before bedtime, I can usually survive til morning!
ReplyDeleteI tend to eat light breakfasts, too, because I just don't have a huge appetite in the morning. But I used to skip breakfast entirely so this is progress for me.
Two things I can't stomach---bananas and milk. I can have cereal with a bit of milk. I need to buy some cereal that is unsweetened and not cheerios. I am so sick of cheerios---serving them, stepping on them, cleaning them out of every nook & cranny of the house...I don't want to EAT them.
DeleteYes, the main thing for me was forcing myself to eat breakfast even if I wasn't hungry. When I found out I had PCOS, I started eating oatmeal (whole rolled oats, half a cup in 1 cup water, microwave one minute 30 seconds) with cinnamon and fruit bits and/or nuts for breakfast. Currently I'm not doing that-- I'm on a yogurt and granola habit.
ReplyDeleteThen with the PCOS, I try to eat a snack every two-three hours, usually a piece of fruit, maybe some nuts. Lunch is usually pretty substantial. Dinner when I'm not pregnant or nursing is generally pretty light. (Nursing means if I don't eat in the evening I wake up at 4am famished and can't get back to sleep. Also I have a 200 calorie larabar along with my piece of fruit.)
That is VERY different to what I did back before ttc and finding out about the PCOS many years ago. I skipped breakfast, didn't snack, and had huge dinners. Forcing myself to eat breakfast, eliminating refined carbs (sob) and listening to my hunger meant that pounds just melted off. It was insane. (Metformin also makes pounds melt off, but I hate taking it so I don't unless I'm ttc.)
okay, i am having trouble reading the comments due to nausea :) but just wanted to say that i'm not sure i buy into the whole 'timing of food' thing, regardless of the PCOS article. i do think we are probably physiologically wired to have a ~10 hr fasting period (ie, eat, digest a bit, then go to sleep) and true night eating would not be good for anyone, but having a bigger breakfast vs dinner.
ReplyDeletei am also wary of restrictive plans like whole30. i've thought about trying to LOWER carb/grain intake (actually considered it when i felt really puffy a few weeks ago . . . when it turned out i was preg, oops) , but to cut it out entirely wouldn't be sustainable and i think if i did it temporarily it would just trigger an all-out carbfest! i say moderation, maybe cut out some extra treats temporarily and definitely get back into the exercise, for mind as well as body :)
oops, didn't mean to leave a sentence fragment there! i means not sure having a bigger breakfast vs dinner really matters if they are both nutritious and the day's intake is reasonable.
DeleteSo the thing that kind of convinces me about the food timing is the pretty convincing evidence about exercise timing and glucose metabolism (i.e. 15 minutes of activity within 30 minutes after each meal improves glucose metabolism more than 45 minutes of activity at any other time) it makes sense, knowing how exercise affects glucose in type 1 diabetics, for example. Since the majority of Americans seem to go-go-go all day and then collapse on the couch after dinner, it makes sense that for glucose metabolism, eating lighter in the evening would help, unless you planned to work out or go on a long walk afterwards. Not sure it would lead to weight loss or any other benefits. Given the fact that I have PCOS (despite being lean) and my mother has mild T2DM despite being lean, I am concerned about my glucose metabolism more so than you might need to be...
DeleteBut yes, I agree with you about hating restrictive diets. What I took away from the Whole30 plan (and all the blogs I found extolling its virtues when I googled) was that I don't NEED as many carbs as I think---and there were some awesome recipes for grain-free meals that made it seem do-able. Probably cutting back on the pasta/rice/bread, even if whole-grain/brown/"healthy" is a good idea for me.
DeleteGetting a CSA automatically caused us to cut down on grain and meat consumption, just to keep up with the veggies. We're not doing one now though because we're too busy and exhausted to deal with processing random veggies every week.
Deletesoooo late on this reply :) but i wanted to mention that interestingly, in our type 1 patients if anything we have them limit carbs (or use a higher insulin:carb ratio) in the morning. counterregulatory hormones (like cortisol and GH) are higher in the early AM, making you more insulin resistant. so, you'll secrete more insulin eating a donut at 7am compared to 3pm.
Deletethat said, i hadn't realized you had PCOS (although i believe personally that lean PCOS and obese PCOS are likely truly 2 different conditions lumped together) and given those study findings, it may make more sense to try it. PLUS, maybe it just would translate to healthier choices as i know i am more motivated to be healthy in the AM compared to at the end of a long day. you will have to let us know how it's going!
also, good point about the activity and glucose disposal. i guess maybe the biggest carb heavy meal should be lunch then :)
DeleteI wish I had a better suggestion for you. I'm battling the "evening eating" myself right now ... I know that going to bed earlier helps, but sometimes I'm just HUNGRY. I try to eat fruit. Unfortunately I'm addicted to dried mango, which is not so great for you in huge quantities.
ReplyDeleteI can understand the working-out difficulty, too ... now with working, I leave by 7:15, get home after six, and am exhausted to do anything by the time all of the dishes and laundry are done and lunches and camp bags packed for the next day. I do think that healthier eating is the way to go, and trying to exercise while doing normal things ... going up the stairs, etc. I also saw a 7 minute workout recently in the Times ... ah, here it is: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=HL_TS7_20130510
I'm trying to get more ACTIVITY worked into my day, as well. I'm coveting a fitbit. I think I may go for it so I can challenge myself to get those 10K steps in, by getting up more from my desk during the day, taking more stairs, etc... It seems pricey but I've spent more than that on a pair of shoes without blinking an eye, so...I better get my priorities straight!
DeleteRight there with you. I had a foolish fantasy of working out at 6am. Uh, nuh uh. Even though I know I discovered climbing up the hill on my way home makes me out of breath. PATHETIC. I have started running up and down the stairs at work as a way of waking my brain up. Maybe if I just take them (I'm on the 6th floor so it ain't no joke) I can sneak in a miniworkout. Hey, this is all about ME! Just mean to say I'm struggling with similar things. Keep me posted on the big dinner thing. I am also struck by the difference between how my kids eat and how I do. Also, some Europeans, right, with the little dinner?
ReplyDelete