kitchen table math, the sequel

For years Ed bugged me about exercise and weight loss (he is super-thin and exercises a LOT), and for years I said exercise did not cause weight loss for me and exercising more would not solve the problem.

I was right.

Hah!

Revised weight loss predictor

Fitness in 6 minutes a week:

• 20 to 30 seconds highest intensity exercise you can stand (running, jumping, etc – not sure about weight-lifting per se)
• 4 minutes rest
• repeat 20 to 30 seconds of highest intensity you can stand
• repeat rest
• continue for 4 to 6 cycles
• repeat 3 times a week

Can You Get Fit in Six Minutes a Week?
by GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
June 24 2009

Fasting exercise:

• 3 groups 28-year old men
• overate by 30% of what they actually needed
• diet was 50% fat
• 1 group did no exercise
• 1 group did rigorous running/cycling exercise 4 mornings a week – two workouts were 90 minutes; two were 60 AFTER eating breakfast & while also drinking sports drinks during exercise
• 3rd group ate the same & did same exercise BEFORE breakfast – in fasting state
• no-exercise group gained more than 6 pounds, became insulin resistant, and began storing fat inside muscle
• vigorous exercise-after-breakfast group gained 3 pounds, also became insulin resistant & began storing fat inside muscle
• fasting-exercise group gained no weight, did not become insulin resistant, and showed increase in protein related to glucose transport in muscle
• exercise in fasting state burns fat, not carb
• probably any level of fasting exercise would be better than nothing

The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast
by Gretchen Reynolds
December 15, 2010

I've decided to put these two together. I'm nixing the 90-minute workout in favor of a 10-minute walk/run with the dogs and 4 high-intensity cycles of jump-rope.^*

Will let you know how it goes

^*Speaking of jump rope, today's jump ropes, the ones with the "precision" ball bearing handles are awful! They spin too fast and too erratically, so much so that my sister calls them "spinny." What happened to the old jump ropes with hollow wood handles & the rope threaded through? Apparently someone's going to have to reinvent them. Fortunately, I discovered today that it is possible to get a very good workout jumping rope without the rope. All you have to do is imagine the rope.

exercise before breakfast:

The experiment lasted for six weeks. At the end, the nonexercising group was, to no one’s surprise, super-sized, having packed on an average of more than six pounds. They had also developed insulin resistance — their muscles were no longer responding well to insulin and weren’t pulling sugar (or, more technically, glucose) out of the bloodstream efficiently — and they had begun storing extra fat within and between their muscle cells. Both insulin resistance and fat-marbled muscles are metabolically unhealthy conditions that can be precursors of diabetes.

The men who ate breakfast before exercising gained weight, too, although only about half as much as the control group. Like those sedentary big eaters, however, they had become more insulin-resistant and were storing a greater amount of fat in their muscles.

Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”
Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
December 15, 2010, 12:01 AM

This year's New Year's Resolution.

Vigorous Exercise Linked With Better Grades

Just staring at this headline is making me feel guilty.

Time to corral the dogs & go for a run.

Have I mentioned Ed has a stand-up desk?

Well, he does.

That's gotta be next on my list.

Ed bought a vertical desk^* this summer that's great. In theory I'm getting one, too, but that project seems to be languishing on the to-do list.

Just saw this at 43 Folders: TreadDesk.

Not sure about treadmill desks, which didn't end up working out for Seth Roberts. Reminds me of the Hawaii Chair, a little.




My mom had an idea: put one of those mini-bikes under your desk and pedal while you're working.

At least, I think it's a great idea. I tried it a couple of years ago, but it didn't pan out. Not sure why.


^* I think that's the one.