Just DO it!

Ok, now that I've had a chance to breathe, after moving out and driving, I'd like to write about a conversation I had with Dave on Saturday night. I think we were talking about how my weight had actually gone up since Health and Fitness Week (september 2006), not down. Dave would have guessed that I had lost weight, he said. Since I've been doing a lot of strength work, I said that of the 8 or 9 pounds I had gained since then, I was willing to believe that 4 or 5 (at most) of those pounds are muscle, and the rest was fat, due to emotional eating, etc.

Dave then told me about a friend of theirs (him and his wife, Val) who had trouble keeping weight off on different raw food programs. He said to this friend, "you really should try to do 8-1-1." She responded that she had tried it, and it didn't work for her. To that, he said, "[insert friend's name here], you really have to DO it. Most people who think they are doing it are actually not. Unless you've experienced it at an event or something, it's hard to REALLY understand how to do it." She said, "ok, I'm willing to try it. Tell me what I have to do." Long story short, she's been following the program to the letter since Thanksgiving, and she's lost 3o pounds!

Hearing that story really made something click for me. Yes, I've been living healthfully, but have I actually been DOING 8-1-1 these past few months? Probably not. The emotional eating nut extravaganzas are one aspect that isn't serving me well (and probably the main reason I've packed on a few pounds this winter!). But another key aspect I haven't been following is that on days when I've been working in the office (5 days per week), I often eat 4, 5, or 6 times per day rather than the 2 or 3 times per day that would be much better for me.

So, hearing the story of Dave's friend caused me to remember something in Doug's book, and then it came together why I was struggling with this. Here's the excerpt from Doug's book, The 80-10-10 Diet (page 239, in the FAQ section, under "why didn't the 80/10/10 diet work for me?". hope he doesn't mind the quote!):

Why didn't the 80/10/10 diet work for me?

People come to me at times having tried this method of eating unsuccessfully. Upon examination, I found almost invariably that they were not actually doing what I recommend. As I truly desire to help people succeed, I want to mention here several key factors that people often overlook when adopting the 80/10/10 lifestyle.

You are not following 80/10/10 if:

• Less than 2% of your total calories come from vegetables and leafy greens. For true health, I recommend consuming 2 to 6% of calories from leafy greens. For 4% of your calories to come from vegetables on a 2000-calorie diet, you would have to eat roughly a pound of greens per day.
• Your caloric intake is insufficient to maintain your desired body weight.
• You burn less than 1/5 of your total calories through physical activity (at least 400 calories per day if you average 2000 calories).
• Your habitual sleep pattern doesn't meet your body's needs.
• You eat all day long rather than one to four meals a day.
• You lack emotional poise (your lifestyle is sufficiently stressful to cause your system ongoing adrenal exertion).
• You expose your fully (or substantially) unclothed skin to moderate sunlight less than 30 minutes per day. (Our bodies require approximately 15 minutes of sunlight exposure per day to produce sufficient vitamin D. I would consider 30 minutes a day a healthful minimum...remember, our species wasn't designed to live indoors.

So, that's the excerpt. Anyway, it really hit home that in order to distract myself from a job I didn't enjoy, I would eat...munching and grazing all day. Dave's story about his friend inspired me to "just do it." I know from experience that the program works really well, when I actually follow it!

The past 4 days, I've actually been following the program (eating meals, not grazing), and it feels great! I feel like the digestive load is much lighter when I'm not constantly eating.

Today's workout:
25 minutes on elliptical machine to warm up
2 minutes rowing machine
arm circles
Upper body strength workout (almost all sets to failure within 5 reps):
3 sets negative assisted pull-ups
3 sets assisted chest dips
3 sets negative assisted chin-ups
3 sets push-ups
3 sets straight arm pulldowns (7 reps failure)
3 sets flatbench dumbbell flyes
3 sets upright rows
3 sets rear delt flyes
3 sets front raises
3 sets preacher curls
3 sets assisted triceps dips

Today was a recovery day for my legs/core, which surprisingly aren't too sore! Hooray for fast recovery, facilitated by sleep!

No breakfast
Lunch after workout - lots of persimmons and bananas. 2 stalks celery.

Went for a bike ride in the afternoon - short and easy (I can tell my legs are not fully recovered from yesterday!). Rode to the grocery store and back. (About 1 hour 10 minutes total, including about 20 minutes in the store?).

Dinner - 2 small papayas. papaya-tomato-basil soup (yum!!!!): 2 small papayas, 1 pound tomatoes, four leaves fresh basil. nappa cabbage-papaya-lime wraps (yummm!!!!!): 1 small head nappa cabbage, 2 small papayas, juice of 1/2 a lime.

Fourth day in a row of meals, not grazing. It feels really good, and light. =)