Health

Update – One more Pushup

Posted by ngreene on Apr 2, 2012 in Health

Devotees of this blog will remember that my training for the upcoming Tough Mudder event includes me doing a single additional pushup every day between when I signed up for the event and the event itself.

When I started this process, I was barely able to do 3 good pushups before having to fight for another three.

Well, after just passing the 60th day of this project, I can confirm that it does get much easier.

I started by doing as many as I could at once, and then repeating until I hit my goal for the day. Eventually, when the number of pushups began to get larger, I needed to group into a number that made sense for counting purposes, so now I am doing push-ups in sets of 10 or 12 depending on the total.

The last time that I tried to do a series just to find out what my total maximum number of push-ups as of today, I made it to 23, but that was a few weeks ago so I’m sure that I could do even better now.

One thing that I really didn’t plan for in this project is the amount of time that it takes to do these push-ups. I mean, by the time I’m done, I may as well be going to a gym and doing a full workout for the amount of time it will take me to do 200 push-ups.

The big milestone that I’m looking forward to is Friday May 11, 2012, which is the day that I will need to do 100 push-ups. On that day I am hoping to do four sets of 25 so I am planning to build up a little better endurance by continually increasing the number of reps per set.

T-Zone 30 Day Challenge … The Results

Posted by ngreene on Mar 29, 2012 in Featured, Health

So, we’ve come to the end of the T-Zone 30 day challenge.

Here is the final video for the challenge:

As you will remember, Susie and I had a bit of a disagreement about whether or not whole body vibration wouldn’t make any difference whatsoever when added to your daily routine. She was firmly in the believers camp while I was extremely skeptical as to whether the technology would make any difference whatsoever.

The only way to determine who was right and who was wrong was to have a challenge. Susie was to do a full workout on the machine every day for 30 days while My role, as skeptic, was to simply stand on the machine every day for 10 minutes.

We made no changes whatsoever to our otherwise eating and exercise regimes. That said, Susie works out regularly, 4 to 5 times per week for at least 60 minutes. I, on the other hand, don’t work out at all.

When it comes to eating, Susie has a regimented diet that she follows whereas I don’t follow any sort of diet at this time.

If you’ve been keeping up with this story, you will remember that, after two weeks, I was down 5 inches across the areas that we measured, but Susie was only down 4 inches and she was a little upset at my progress being better than hers.

Well, the final results are in. At the end of four weeks, I continue to be down 5 inches across those same areas. Susie, on the other hand, has continued to see success, netting a total of just over 9 inches lost in the key areas that we measured.

My best guess, is that the vibration technology works really well to tone and tighten the muscles in the single area that I was activating by standing on the machine with the pelvic tilt. It looks like, I got all of the benefits of standing on the machine in the first two weeks. I would guess that my muscles got used to those contractions and relaxations and I would have needed to change something in order to continue seeing results. Although, I must admit, they’re definitely does feel like there has been additional benefits in areas that we did not measure. For example, my pants fit looser. Not just in the waist, but throughout the seat and in the legs.

Susie’s experience has been different than mine. She saw the 4 inch results after two weeks but then saw an acceleration in her results, netting in the total of over 9 inches by the end of the challenge. That makes a lot of sense to me given that she was causing quite a bit of muscle confusion by doing all kinds of different exercises and varying her routine day by day.

At this point there are two things that need to happen. First, I need to formally and publicly admit that my wife was right and I was wrong in that whole body vibration technology does make a difference.

Second, now that I’ve seen what kind of difference this technology makes, I need to take advantage of it properly rather than just simply standing on the machine.

N

T-Zone Update #2

Posted by ngreene on Feb 26, 2012 in Featured, Health

Here we are at the half way point in the T-Zone challenge.

Today was the first time to actually take measurements since before getting on the T-Zone VT-15 for the first time. I can’t even believe it, but there are already results to share.

I want to specify that we have purposefully not changed our diet for the duration of the challenge. Also, we haven’t changed our respective overall physical regimes. Susie is continuing her schedule of spinning and personal training while I am otherwise relatively sedentary.

There is no real benefit to my weight on the scale through this process (i.e. I’m actually up 1.5 lbs after 2 weeks), but there is a noticeable difference to how well my pants fit. I know better than to share details about my lady’s weight, no matter how proud of her I am!

The other measurements that we are comparing throughout the challenge are: Waist, Hips, and Thigh. After 14 days, I am down five combined inches and Susie is down four combined inches. Of course, she isn’t pleased that her number isn’t as large as mine. I’m pretty sure that, since her body is used to a high level of almost daily activity, my higher change from the start reflects simply my complete lack of activity from before the challenge.

Take a look at the latest video … We are chatting with Roland about our results and trying some new camera techniques!

T-Zone Update #1

Posted by ngreene on Feb 12, 2012 in Featured, Health

Here we are seven days into the T-Zone Challenge. Here is video #2:

At this point, I have to admit that my body has most certainly registered standing on the T-Zone machine. After the first afternoon on the machine I was exhausted. On the second day I was actually sore as if I had done a gym workout. By today, I think that my body has already gotten used to this level of activity.

We were told that 10 minutes on the T-Zone machine provides the same effectiveness as an hour at the gym. I really don’t feel like just standing on the machine is actually providing that kind of value, but Susie is definitely working much harder than me. She feels that doing squats, planks, and even arm exercises are seemingly more effective on the machine than off.

I can’t wait to see the quantitative results update next week!

The T-Zone Challenge

Posted by ngreene on Feb 4, 2012 in Featured, Health

Over the past few years my wife, Susie, and I have had an ongoing debate about the value of vibration technology to a workout regime. She actually went so far as to buy a schedule of personal training appointments at a studio that featured the Power Plate technology. After a fairly significant investment, I convinced her to stop going because she wasn’t seeing any difference in her results than she had seen simply following her own gym routine.

The debate was reopened recently when we ran into a good friend of ours, Roland, who is now working for T-Zone Whole Body Vibration. He explained how T-Zone actually uses a different sort of technology than Power Plate, in that the machine actually oscillates rather than simply vibrating up and down. This machine’s motion actually mimics a more natural human movement, such as walking, so that your body reacts with a quick series of muscle contractions that it is used to having in the first place.

We heard Roland’s explanation of how the technology works and, of course, Susie was suddenly back on board with vibration technology. I reminded her about how she wasted money on the Power Plate training sessions and I shared the story of her previous experience with Roland. I also, respectfully, described my feelings about vibration technology on the whole.

Roland had a unique suggestion. He happened to have a machine available and suggested a challenge. He would put the T-Zone VT-15 in our living room for 30 days. Susie could use the machine for the full suggested workout and I could simply stand on the machine for 10 minutes per day (He joking suggested that I could stand on it while eating a cheeseburger every day … I’m planning to take that a bit literally for a little fun!). At the end of the 30 days, we would be able to compare a number of measurements that we would take before and after the challenge and prove definitively whether Susie’s faith in the technology was sound, or if my skepticism was rightly placed.

Susie is an avid gym rat who works out regularly. Between spinning, personal training, swimming, and running, she works out at least 4-5 times per week. I am more of a weekend warrior who considers himself to be an athlete based on years of participating in sports.

We decided that this would make a fun project for the blog so we’ve planned for a series of posts and accompanying videos of our experiences. As of today, we have taken our preliminary measurements and gotten a tutorial from Roland about how to use the machine. Susie has defined what her workout routine looks like and I have learned the proper technique for standing on the machine. (i.e. clench your butt cheeks and tilt your hips forward)

Check out the first of our series of videos below, but please forgive our son who has just discovered his voice. Actually, this is a very realistic look into our lives with the baby and dogs making cameos and multiple iPhones and blackberries going off constantly. Kudos to Roland for keeping a straight and professional demeanour despite all of the distractions going on!

Juice Cleanse 2012

Posted by ngreene on Jan 22, 2012 in Featured, Health

When I learned that my wife was planning to do a “juice cleanse” this month, I was excited to jump on board and go along to the ride. I didn’t know much about “cleansing” in general, but I liked the idea of starting fresh for 2012.

We turned to a company that came highly recommended: Total Cleanse, who offered a number of different cleansing options and offered home delivery of their products every 3 days.

They actually have 5 different juices and you can create your own cleanse, but we opted to go with a combination of two of their set packages: Three days of the “Refresh” cleanse and two days of the “Purify” cleanse.

Along with the cleanse, it came recommended that I also participate in Colon Hydrotherapy in order to get a strong start to the process. This was my largest source of anxiety as the ease approached but, in the end found to be both painless and very helpful.

Before starting the process I didn’t ask any questions, but rather relied on the experience of my wife. I assumed that some sort of “cleansing” would occur but really had no idea what that meant or how I would experience the process. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t know up front.

I began with the Colon Hydrotherapy in order to be as empty as possible going in to the cleanse. The folks at D’Avignon Digestive Health Centre use a traditional technique involving gravity fed water. During the process I learned that this type of therapy was actually in use at hospitals in the GTA as recently as the 1940s until laxatives were deemed to be cheaper and easier to administer.

I was informed by the technician that she had noticed a few hard spots in a deeper area of my colon that we would likely not get to in that session. Curiously, the area that she identified had been somewhat tender in recent months. I had just figured I had strained an abdominal muscle.

The next morning our juices were delivered to the house. The “Refresh” cleanse consists of six bottles of juice. Three bottles of the Green Energy, two bottles of the Lemonade, and a bottle of Very Berry for a pick-me-up in the middle of the day. It was quite a sight to see six individual cooler bags full of juice on our front step.

The cooler bags really came in handy. It goes to show that these folks really have thought of everything. We were tempted to taste test all of the juices but the instructions indicated that each bottle should be consumed within 20 minutes of opening.

We expected the first day to be challenging. We expected to feel hungry and cranky. Gladly, we were wrong. With about 1,200 calories per day, the Refresh cleanse is more than enough energy. The juices were all surprisingly tasty. I was expecting the Green Energy to be thick and hard to get down but it was no less viscous than the lemonade. If anything, the Very Berry was the thickest.

Those first few days, Susie had a rough time with the flavour of the Green Energy but, by the end, she had developed a taste for it and even missed it after we were done.

By the end of the third day I was imagining what life would be like living on juices exclusively, as Steve Jobs had done for long periods of time between stints as a vegetarian, fruitarian, an vegan and all I could think about was Walter Issacson’s description of what those around Steve in the 80s thought of his body odour.

For me, day four was a major turning point. Once again, we had awoke to a pile of individual coolers on our front steps. This time, the coolers were full of the combination of juices for the “Purify” part of our cleanse, which meant no more Very Berry … And the introduction of Cashew Milk. I was really looking forward to the Cashew Milk as a new flavour.

This the point in the process where Susie and I veered on very different paths. Her body is quite used to generally healthy eating with occasional cleansing. My system was shocked and unaccustomed to such things. I drank the juices as prescribed on the fourth day, but I also began to experience a true “cleansing” of my gastrointestinal system. It started that afternoon and the “purification” lasted all night long. I was convinced that I had contracted some sort of food borne illness so I had Susie contact the folks at Total Cleanse first thing in the morning of Day 5. They advised that my body’s response was not atypical considering that I had never cleansed before. I was to discontinue with the juices and ensure that I was hydrated until the “purification” was complete.

In retrospect, I’m not sure if what happened to me was really part of the cleanse or if, coincidentally, I simply caught some bug at the same time. Either way, I can most certainly say that I feel much better post cleanse. At no point did I feel low in energy. If anything, I felt energized during the first few days.

People have been asking me about the process and whether or not I thought it was worthwhile. Having complete the process I can honestly say that I would do it again, but not for a while. I can see this becoming part of a routine every two years. I’d like to think that I will be able to know when I need “cleansing” again just by how my body feels. Another question that seems to come up all the time is whether or not I lost any weight. The short answer is yes, I lost 12 lbs in the 4 days that I was on the juice and 4 days afterwards. However, there are a few things to keep in mind with that answer: I always lose weight when I significantly increase the amount that I drink on a daily basis; Much of the weight lost can be directly attributed to the stuff that was removed from my colon during the process. So really, I don’t think that the juice specifically helped me lose much fat or muscle … maybe a couple of pounds, but the process most certainly cleaned out a significant amount.

For anyone considering putting themselves through the same type of cleanse, I have a few recommendations. First, sign up for the three day cleanse and let your body adjust to a new way of eating. Assuming that goes well, you can always add on additional days. Second, have a plan for how you eat going in and coming back out of the cleanse. The folks at Total Cleanse actually offer a raw food diet that I would supplement with on either side when I go through this again.

Great Article on Weight Loss

Posted by ngreene on Aug 5, 2010 in Health

I just read a great article on The Globe and Mail calledThe Secret to Weight Loss Workouts (you may not like the answer)

I’ve been telling people this stuff for years and they never believe me!

Meat is the new Bread

Posted by ngreene on Apr 14, 2010 in Health

The folks at The Globe and Mail have a great article that looks at this beast of a food product. I lifted the following Youtube video from their site for your convenience:

All I know is that I want one! It turns out that we drive right past a KFC (1620 Nevada Highway, Boulder City, NV‎ – (702) 294-8486‎) on our way through Boulder City next week on our trip to see the falls at Havasu so it looks like this calorie bomb will be a snack on the road.

Of course, I just have to imagine that whoever made the call to bring this to market saw this (crappy quality version, but you get the idea) parody commercial made by 30 Rock’s Tracy Jordan:

I understand the irony of placing this post in the “Health” section of the blog but, if nothing else, its a great example of what not to eat!

Healthy Eating for Weight Loss

Posted by ngreene on Apr 5, 2010 in Health

Over the years I have spent a lot of time learning about what is takes to manage ones weight.

As an adult, I have ranged between 200lbs and 265lbs back and forth. Since I am a 6’3″ man I can carry some extra weight and still feel pretty good about myself. I find that I’m pretty happy around 220lbs. Any smaller and I feel like I get tossed around a bit playing basketball and any heavier and I find myself a bit sluggish.

I’ve often looked at the BMI chart used by health professionals with a big grain of salt because it doesn’t seem to make sense to me. The BMI range to be considered “Normal Weight” is from 18.5 to 24.9. That means that the normal weight range for a guy my height should be from 148lbs to 199lbs. Can you imagine a guy that is 6’3″ weighing only 148lbs? I can’t even picture it.

First of all, I should be clear that I never make changes to my activity level when gaining or losing weight so that variable doesn’t come into play as I outline my thoughts below.

I’m not saying that there isn’t a component to a healthy lifestyle that involves being active, I’m simply stating that, in my experience managing my weight, I haven’t used any methods that involve increased activity. I don’t believe in exercise as part of weight control because it doesn’t work as a temporary fix. If you work out to lose weight, then stop working out, you put weight back on … No real surprise to me, but a lot of people don’t seem to get it.

I have a semi regular routine that includes a mix of basketball, running, yoga, cycling, spinning, walking, and various occasional seasonal sports like snowboarding and golf. I’ve never been a gym rat and don’t enjoy “working out” in a traditional way.

I control weight by managing food intake compared to the required output to run my body.

Using the new and awesome wolframalpha I was able to calculate my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR):

Choosing a conservative activity level to match your BMR, you can tell approximately how many calories your body needs every day.

Since we know that you need to short your body 3,500 calories to lose a pound of true fat weight, it’s easy to calculate the shortage that you need to create every day to achieve a goal.

For example, based on my activity level, I need about 3,000 calories each day (i.e. 21,000 calories per week) to maintain my weight where it is today. If I want to lose 2lbs of fat weight per week I need to short my week by 7,000 calories (i.e. 1,000 calories per day), which means that I need to consume no more than 2,000 calories per day

The important part is to be realistic in setting that goal. I can definitely live on 2,000 calories per day and still get the recommended daily intake for all of the usual nutrients.

This is where it becomes easier for a man to lose weight than a woman. The above is relatively easy for me because my body needs a pretty high base line number of calories. Comparing that to an average woman of around the same age and same activity level you will find that to achieve the same results you need to short a starting point of 2,000 calories per day to down around 1,000 calories per day. That is not a lot of energy to play with.

From my observations, women tend to eat fairly well (i.e. Always “on a diet” in the first place) and usually have a pretty solid gym/activity schedule. The trick for women is to maintain the gym/activity schedule that their body is already used to and create a calorie deficit beyond what their diet routine normally looks like. This is hard to do because a calorie deficit will alway leave you feeling tired, run-down, unmotivated, and down-right cranky.

Every diet is some kind of gimmick that helps you to manage this process. It doesn’t really matter which diet you choose, just be aware of what you are eating and keep track.

When I reached my peak weight of 265 I asked my doctor which diet would be the best for me, based on my medical history. Her answer “Nathan, don’t eat so fucking much”. I never forgot that advice and I know when I’m eating too much without even having to keep track.

There are a few guidelines that will hold true across a lot of diet plans. If you’ve ever struggled with weight or read anything about dieting, none of these will surprise you, but it might be useful to have it framed a bit differently.

Nathan’s Rules for Weight Management:

1) Know the daily calorie shortage you need to create to lose weight at an appropriate rate and be realistic with your plan.

2) Write it down. Keep track of what you eat in a manner that makes sense for you. Some people need the discipline of a regimented program such as Weight Watchers which takes all foods and breaks them down to a “points” value to keep track. I set up an anonymous Twitter account and tweet every meal and review each day to ensure that I am on track to plan.

3) Eat protein at least two meals per day. If you are a gym rat consider protein essential three times a day. Protein doesn’t have to be a big steak either … Any complete proteins will do. Just keep portions to a reasonable size of 3-5 oz per serving. This is often described as the size of your hand, excluding the fingers. And, of course, choose the lean alternative whenever possible.

4) Eat fruit. Have a serving of frest fruit every day. I try to stick to the common fruits that have the added benefit of some fibre, such as apples, pears, oranges, grapefruits and strawberries.

5) Eat your vegetables, and lots of them. The great thing about vegetables is that most diets either allow you great big portions or don’t limit them at all. When I’m in weight loss mode I try to eat 2/3 of every plate as vegetables. Also, stick to the more dark green and leafy vegetables as often as you can. (i.e. Spinach, broccoli, kale, etc). The beat test for me when I feel hungry is to aak myself if I want some vegetables. If the answer is yes, go ahead, if the answer is no, then it’s more of a craving than real hunger.

6) Dont avoid carbohydrates, but choose whole grains and whole wheats over white carbs. You want to manage your blood sugar at a nice steady level instead of creating peaks and valleys throughout the day so try to make your carbohrdrate choices a little more difficult for your body to digest.

7) No Booze. This isn’t realistic for many of us, but at least pay extra close attention to any liquid calories. It’s easy to knock back a days worth of calories sitting on a patio in the warm spring air without even noticing it. Drink water as often as possible. A lot of diets tell you to also avoid caffeine because it tends to increase appetite, but I’ve never cut it or noticed an issue.

8 ) Take a multivitamin every day. While you are likely getting everything you need by focusing on the proteins, fruits, vegetables, and carbohydrates as listed above, it never hurts to have a little insurance to make sure there are no deficits.

9) Consistency. if you know you needs routine to be successful, then plan your days and weeks around a specific rotation (i.e. Same meals on every Monday, Tuesday, etc).

10) Avoid circumstances that you cannot control. Going out on a business lunch is always difficult because you have no idea how the food is prepared. This might mean that you gave to take a little break from your social calendar if you have a very active group like my friends.

11) Avoid fat. Minimize the fats that you use as toppings or in the cooking process. You can get great results with steaming and grilling. There’s usually no reason to add fat to a meal, but we do it anyway out of a matter of habit.

12). Spice it up. Keep a full stock of your favourite spices and be creative. I like to take weight loss periods as times to experiment with other cultures and preparation styles. Of course, I love to cook in the first place.

13) Weigh yourself every day, but be aware that your body will change weight with big fluctuations on a day to day basis. Water retention or shedding accounts for wide swings, as do hormones and your body’s reaction to food that tends to be more difficult to digest than the usual crappy North American diet. I like to chart progress over time and create a line of best fit to see how many more days it should take to achieve my goal.

Maintenance after achieving your goal is another post, but the gist is that I try to follow the above rules for most of my meals, but then do whatever I want for one meal each day. That way I never feel like I’m sacrificing anything, but still eat healthy most of the time.

Starting at the end of April I am planning a demonstration of the above in action for a period and goal that remains to be set, simply because I want to prove that the program works and I want documentation along the way.

My plan is to post progress and my exact actions every day so I will likely create a separate content area for the demo.

Race Day – Harry Rosen Spring Run-off

Posted by ngreene on Apr 3, 2010 in Health

Today is race day and I think back to reflect on my training to this point …

Wait a second … What training?

I have had only a few training runs; none more than 5km and none on any kind of terrain aside from nice flat road.

Here is a look at the race map … It goes in loops around High Park, which is anything but flat road!

I’m in trouble.

My usual 10km time with no training is about 1hr, 10 mins. So about 7 minutes per km on average. If I keep that in mind while I run I should definately be able to finish today in about 56 minutes or less, considering that I don’t have to go as far.

I definitely need to refocus training to be able to do a half marathon by the fall.

I will update this post with results later today.

EDIT:
I ended up being a little slower than expected, but not that far off. I finished the run with a chip time of 58:57 so only a few minutes behind my expected finish.

I realize now that this is pretty bad for my class. I was the fourth slowest runner in Men 25-34.

I was so slow that the final water station on the course was out of water by the time I got there.

It’s time to get serious and start with some more intense and more frequent training runs.