November 2013 – Windy Recycling Day

Teach Something
I’m taking a few minutes to catch up on some online reading, and came across this gem from the Angry Coach at EliteFTS.

In other words, don’t just tell me I have to manage my time effectively. I’ve bought your book or clicked on your article because I want to hear how you, the guy who supposedly knows how to do it better than me, manage your time. Do you wear a watch? Do you have an alarm clock, or do you use the one on your phone? What kind of phone do you have? What do you use it for? Do you keep a calendar? If so, is it a written datebook? Or do you use an online service like Google Calendar? If so, which one do you use, and how do you use it? Do you color code things? If so, what colors do you use, and for what categories?

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. Several years ago, when I was transitioning out of non-desk job into a career that required me to sit in an office all day, I wanted to know how successful people set up their offices and their desks. I wanted to see what kinds of computers they used, where they put their keyboards and monitors, what kinds of pens they used, and where on their desks they put them. I wanted to see what type of lighting they preferred, and I wanted to see how organized they were, what types of filing systems they used, and where they put stuff. I wanted to know everything about the office logistics of successful people.

This is so true, and so very frustrating. There are hundreds of self-help, productivity, and time management blogs and sites out there, all posting exactly the same things:
- Get up early
- Use Google Calendar
- Use Evernote
- Hustle!
They post lists, and they post tools, and they post photos of their awesome desks with nothing on them but their Apple computers. But the majority of them never say how. They never say why.

TELL ME WHY YOU ALL USE APPLES! WHY!?!?!?

Any thoughts on good resources? Who does this well, in any field?

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I Got Fat
Well, I did.

My bodyweight and bodyfat have been pretty happily at 230-235 pounds and about 20% for quite some time. That’s kind of a set point for me, and while I’m not Captain Health at this size, I feel good, my blood pressure is fine, I can move, and training tends to go well.

Over the past month to six weeks, though, I haven’t been feeling as well; and in the last two weeks, it’s really started to bother me. Mostly, I feel out of shape (I am), fat (I am), and I know based both on measurement and feeling that my blood pressure is up. I’ve been drinking too much (it’s far too common for me to have a cocktail AND a couple of glasses of wine with dinner or a beer or two), and eating like I’m 23, not like I’m 43.

Part of the issue was I took some time away from training because of a nagging shoulder thing. That’s cleared up now, so there’s no excuse not to get in the gym. There was never an excuse to stop everything, but I did.

Anyway, I decided today I need to make some changes, and hopped on the scale to get my baseline: 235.5 pounds (right in line, just a couple of pounds heavier than I had been running), 41 inch waist (at the navel, as big around as I can remember being). That works out to about 24% bodyfat.

Yikes.

Luckily, I’m pretty disciplined, I know a lot about nutrition, I know how to get lean, I have access to great food, I work primarily from home, and it’s a slow time of year for us. So this is a great time to get my diet in check and drop some fat.

That said, it’s also the holidays. Lots of parties, Thanksgiving, all of it. I’m not a crazy dieter, though, and can fit in fun stuff and good food/drink without losing sight of the main goal.

The Eating Plan:

Simple rules work best for me. I think one of the best fundamental eating plans for people who lift/train athletically is John Berardi’s Precision Nutrition. It is fundamentally just a set of rules, easy to follow and execute, with room for error. These are not the exact rules he published, but they are close, and what I’m going to do.
- 235g Protein every day.
- 5 servings veggies every day
- Less than 200g carbs per day on non training days, less than 300g on training days
- Carbs consumed primarily around training, and typically all before noon on a normal day.
- No Cocktails at home
- Wine only with food
- No limits on fruit or veggies
- No dessert/sweets (the carb limit pretty much excludes these, anyway).
I will follow these guidelines pretty much all the time, however, if we are going out to dinner, or are entertaining, or it’s Thanksgiving, I’m doing whatever I want. Berardi says to follow the rules 90% of the time, but I don’t include his meal frequency guidelines. Not every day will be perfect, but if I do most of these most of the time, I’ll be OK. Frankly, this is how I should be eating all the time, anyway. I’m not going to do anything signficant or drastic. While I know I can make body composition changes more quickly using a more aggressive diet, I also know that the change tends to be temporary.

The Training Plan:

I still want to get back on the platform, so I’ll stick with my Conjugate/Westside style training. I’ll walk in the morning on non lifting days, and for now, I’ll walk on a treadmill after lifting. As I get into better shape, I will replace the treadmill with the prowler.

I reasonably expect I’m going to need to drop down to 210-215 to get my waist down where I want it. There is research that points to simply your waist measurement as a predictor of health issues; keep your waist under 1/2 your height (in my case, that’s 35 inches), your general health risks are reduced. Plus I’ll feel better.

I don’t know how much I will update progress here, I’ve gotten out of the habit of posting training, I guess we’ll see.
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Teach Something

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I Got Fat

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