No - that's an online dating headline. Trust me. It's what happens when what I do for a living creeps into my personal life. I probably should cross-post with my professional blog - but I won't. :)
In a recent post, I mentioned I was tracking my resting heart rate (RHR) in an effort to head off getting colds and whatnot. It worked! So far I have successfully thwarted two immune system invaders. I don't think people really believe me when I say I work in a petri dish. Given this little experiment started a month ago... maybe ya'll will give my words a little weight, eh?
A guy I work with said to me the other day, "I keep losing weight." I resisted the urge to launch into my "single data point is useless when there is no other context" diatribe. In addition to tracking weight, I started looking at body-part measurements and body fat percentage. I've lost a substantial amount of "weight" in the past - but there's a good chance it was muscle. There are times I've lost it fast and felt like crap too.
Using the livestrong.com site I really looked at what I was eating and never realized I wasn't getting enough fat. Adding a salad with balsamic and olive oil dressing, lunch incorporating avocado and adding seeds like pumpkin and sunflower have me in the 80-some-percent now. I was in the 20% range. I think this has had a great deal to do with why I was never able to successfully sustain a vegetarian diet. Please don't ask me why fat would make the difference - I have no earthly clue. The only thing I know is I made the switch about 3-4 weeks ago and I feel fantastic. I am closing out a really hard week and I feel awesome - on a vegetarian diet around 1,200 calories a day... and 6-hours of fitness a week.
Again, a lot has been changing as I've had to make a lot of notes, chart a lot of data, etc... I'm sleeping more. I am taking in lots of fluids. I eat very few processed foods. Those two assaults on the immune system had me taking massive doses of C, Zinc and Airborne.
I'm still doing a lot of tinkering. I just read about a Duke Study on Splenda. I have a big sweet tooth and use at least six packets a day during the week. I'm looking into substituting Agave Nectar as the trade for not only weight loss but better gut bacteria is important to me.
For the Devil's Advocates out there, yes, one can go too far. You can analyze and change and tinker only so much. And for what? I'm not a professional athlete. I'm able to laugh at myself (see videos in previous posts). But, the benefits I get from this - how I feel, how I look - it's all worth it. Every bit.
