Yes, I am a nerd :)

I am a list maker. I have been since I was little. Once I ran across a list I made when I was seven. It was a list of things to do at my grandma's house and included things such as "play in old chicken house" or "look at old coins". The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. My mom was a list maker and my eldest, at the age of 9 is showing tendencies, too, though he keeps track in his head. Some people call this anal retentive or crazy, I call it a way to maintain sanity in a crazy world :) I get a big satisfaction crossing things off of my "to do" list. I've even been known to write stuff down that I've already done just so I can cross it off! In the pre-smart phone era/pre palm-pilot era, my ex was given the equivalent of a Dayrunner at his job. It was some corporate push to increase productivity. He brought the binder home and gave it to me, saying "you are going to love this". It brought list-making to the extreme. One could make a list and then prioritize with an A or B, and then further prioritize with a number. Therefore item A1 was more important than B9. Then, one could block off time to complete these tasks. Wow! How exciting! In addition to fueling my list addiction, this binder turned me onto goal setting: a perfect marriage of list mania and number crunching. I could now make a list of things to accomplish...and then measure how well (and how fast) I did it. I am at the 2 month point in CrossFit. I love it. I constantly feel the need to quantify what I am doing. In fact, on my enrollment paperwork, I noted that CrossFit was cheaper than a tummy tuck. At $100 a month, I can do CrossFit for 60 months vs. a $6000 tummy tuck. A couple of weeks ago, I took some baseline measurements and set a goal to lose 1" from my waist. I am happy to announce that I have lost 1/4" a week for a total of 1/2" gone from my waist. If I continue at the same rate, I'll lose the other 1/2" in two more weeks. However, when I asked the trainer if an inch a month would be a reasonable goal, the reply was a joking "you wish :)"...and then he further noted that it is really hard to say as it depends on metabolism. We'll see.....

Adventures in Intermittent Fasting

I am absolutely starving as I write this post!!!! Today is day two in my experiment with intermittent fasting (IF). I was encouraged by a two pound decrease this morning when I weighed myself. Seems recently that the scale has only gone up up up....I'm sure it's not water weight loss as I've been drinking a bunch to keep my belly full. The mornings are not bad. This morning I had a little tummy rumble when I inadvertently licked the peanut butter spoon while fixing my Body by Vi shake for latter consumption. I suspect that my body is already trained to delay food consumption in the mornings as years of taking thyroid medicine will do that. (Can't have food in belly with that medicine) Evenings are killer!!!! I am so used to eating later (7 p.m. some nights) and maybe even having an ice cream snack (....or chips n'crack). Tonight's dinner was at 5:30. The good news is that both boys like pork chops on the grill now. The bad news is that my pork chop and veggies have worn off. So what is IF? It is not a diet, but a timing of eating. There are many variations on the theme including skipping meals, going days without meals, but I have chosen a daily fast of 14-16 hours (includes bed time). One consumes the normal allotment of protein, carbs, etc in a smaller window of 6 to 8 hours. In my case, I'm having a Body By Vi shake (almond milk and peanut butter) at 11 a.m., which is one hour prior to my CrossFit class. I then have a big meal after my work out, along with some healthy afternoon snacks. I then have an early dinner with my boys. Why? some have suggested that frequent meals can trigger fat production, especially if the meals are of high glycemic carbs. I have yet to see any scientific evidence that supports either small, frequent meals (the long time suggestion for weight loss) or fasting. I don't think anybody really knows the answer...All I know is that what I have been doing isn't working, so it's time to try something new. I'll probably give it a month and then reevaluate. Anybody out there with IF experience?