I’ve been taking that quote to the bank lately. If you recall I conducted a few experiments lately, one with exercise and one with supplements, and now I’m doing one with my diet and one with the scale … maybe I am bored ?!?!
I’m going to have to give the supplement experiment a big fail. As I indicated when I first started taking them, I didn’t notice any sort of difference in my body at all. The first product I took was a pre-workout drink that promised to deliver energy to help fuel me through the grueling workouts that lay ahead, but that didn’t happen. Eventually my body became accustomed to the workouts and I wasn’t as tired as I was during the first week or two, but that’s just my body responding and getting more physically fit to endure them, I don’t believe the juice had anything to do with it. One thing I did notice was that shortly after drinking it, I felt a tingling sensation in my fingers and hands. You know that sharp, prickly feeling you get when your foot falls asleep ?? So obviously it was doing something, but what I don’t know. It actually scares me that I can drink a product that has that sort of immediate and bizarre affect on my body. I remember years ago, when ephedrine was still legal in Canada in larger doses, I used to take these pre-workout pills for the exact same purpose. Now those pills definitely gave me a boost; I could feel my heart racing shortly after taking them, practically pounding right through my chest wall, and my whole body got jittery and I was bursting with energy. At the time I thought this was a good thing; now I think I was just nuts for doing that to myself.
The second supplement was the recovery drink, which first and foremost was supposed to help me recover faster from my workouts, making me less tired and sore in the hours following. FAIL !! For the full 4 weeks I was beat up after the 2 hour workouts … if that drink actually did help I’m afraid to know how I would have felt without it. Again it was supposed to do other stuff at the cellular level, but its stuff you can’t really prove, so I’m not going to fork over my hard earned dollars on something if I have no idea that it’s actually delivering on it’s promises. Okay … hard earned dollars might be a stretch right now, but you get the picture.
Experiment # 2 was doing the 4 week advanced Phat Camp workout. I never missed a day, and as for the workouts themselves, I give them a giant two thumbs up. I noticed a huge difference in my body in those 4 weeks. I lost 2 pounds, which I know doesn’t sound like a lot, but I really didn’t need to lose any weight. So I believe the 2 pounds I lost was pure fat, and I leaned out a lot more in those 4 weeks. I actually had several strangers at the gym, including women, come up to me and compliment me on my hard work and on how fit I looked – I gotta tell you that felt great and certainly is a great motivator.
Now all that being said, it’s been over a week since I ended that program, and the 2 pounds I lost have found there way back to my body. So while I say the workouts themselves were great and I gave them a passing grade, there’s still a small part of me that hesitates to call it successful. These workouts were crazy tough, and definitely not something anyone could continue indefinitely. And as soon as I stopped doing them, what I lost (or gained, if you refer to my fitness), came right back as soon as I stopped them. Yes I took 3 days off, but that’s perfectly normal and even good for you, but after those 3 days I got right back into routine again. I actually maintained the basic weight workouts, but cut back on the cardio to ½ hour per day instead of 1 hour, and I combined shoulders and arms so I’m doing 4 weight training sessions a week rather than 5. This makes it a bit more realistic and flexible for me. So it’s similar to a fad diet in that regard; it got me the results I needed for the time being, but as soon as I stopped the results reversed themselves. And like a fad diet, I ultimately stopped because the program is too tough to do forever and ever, and ultimately we naturally fall back into our regular routine, or at least to what's comfortable.
That weight gain is what prompted my next experiment with the scale. Although I typically weigh in every day, I don’t record it except for Fridays, which I’ve deemed my official weigh in day and keep a record of those numbers. Now I am recording my daily weight, just to see the fluctuations. I started with my Friday weigh in, stayed the same for the first 3 days, then lost half a pound the next day, another full pound the next day, up 2 again, etc etc. This is a risky experiment for those that put so much faith in the scale and let it affect their lives so drastically, however even though it’s hard for me to see those bigger numbers, I know better. I’m doing this to prove to myself that I should not put so much merit into what I see on the scale, as the body’s weight can fluctuate greatly from day to day, even hour to hour. Sometimes I weigh myself before I go to bed, and in the morning I’m 3 pounds lighter !! I suppose if I was smart I’d just throw the damn scale away and forget about those blasted numbers, but being a life time accountant I can't do that. It’s ALWAYS about the numbers.
New experiment #2 ... for the past 2 weeks, I stopped recording my calories on that website. It’s been over 2 years since I started using the calorie count website, and about a year and a half since I reached my goal. And even though all my readings and even the site itself tells you that to maintain, you shouldn’t have to record your calories daily, I still did this nearly every day since I started. I found for myself, when I stopped recording, my brain would tell me that I could cheat a little, since it wasn’t written down and who would know the difference ?!?! It doesn’t make sense I know, but that’s how my brain works. Accountability remember? But those little cheats would usually get bigger and sometimes free for alls, and that’s when my weight started to creep back up. This week however, I’ve been keeping in line with a clean diet, but not counting. I certainly do know by now how much I should eat to maintain my weight, and the daily weigh ins will show me if it’s working.
Hopefully one day I can live in a world where I eat what I want, never get on the scale, and still be happy with my own body.
Dare to dream ...
Did you get that book I told you about yet?
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