Books for the buff 
Tom Venuto: Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle
Detailed info on healthy nutrition, goal-setting and motivation, the basics of weight-training,
and cardio for fat loss. If you could
have just one volume on getting lean, this is it.
Ian
King, Lou Schuler: Men's Health The Book of Muscle
Terrific guide to weight training for
both sexes. High-quality photos, innovative exercises as well as standard
fare, good background in laymen's language.
Lou Schuler: The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess
Tells women what they need to know about lifting weights: their workouts should be heavy and intense, just like a guy’s.
Barbara
J. Rolls: The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan : Feel Full on Fewer Calories
The science of satiety. This book teaches real-world portion control and how
to make healthful, filling choices.
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An article recently posted to MSNBC.com’s health section tells us, in a nutshell, that we should choose a food plan (diet) we can live with. To me, the whole point of changing one’s diet is to improve one’s health in every way: by reducing bodyfat, by taking in more of the good stuff (antioxidants, vitamins, phytochemicals) in healthy foods, by reducing one’s consumption of trash (transfats, refined grains, sugar).
The "diet" shouldn’t be something that can’t be sustained with pleasure for a lifetime. I plan to eat this way for the rest of my life. Once I’m not working on losing bodyfat, I can increase my calories moderately. But the portion-control and food-choice habits I’ve learned are not ones I want to ditch as soon as I reach goal. What would be the point, given that I hope to maintain a healthy weight?
I’ve done the Zone diet, Atkins, South Beach. They all "work," from the standpoint that all result in caloric reduction, which results in a loss of bodyfat. Atkins is untenable (at least long-term) for anyone who works out. I found the Zone too rigid–always having to worry about eating a "proper" ratio of carbs to protein.
Read Walter Willett (see "books for the buff" at left) for specifics on eating right. Then eat the right number of calories to lose fat, maintain bodyweight, or build muscle.
Here’s the MSNBC.com link:
Finding the right diet
"Proven weight loss" is a claim often made by weight loss programs. Yet two recent studies show that which diet you choose is less important than how well you stick with it.
Just for chuckles, I’m investigating a personal-trainer certification program offered by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Once upon a time (early ’90s) I took some graduate courses in exercise physiology and was considering a master’s degree. Still have all of my textbooks in physiology, functional anatomy, etc., as well as some current books on designing strength programs etc.
If (big if) I decide to work toward certification, I’ll use the summer to study for it, then take the test in autumn. Summer is down time for me, as most of my musical commitments go on hiatus, leaving just a full-time job, my husband, six dogs, my fitness program, and occasional freelance articles to occupy me. Piece of cake, right?
We shall see. I’m not contemplating a career change but would like a new goal to work toward.
A woman’s reach should exceed her grasp, or what’s a heaven for? (Apologies to Robert Browning.)
I was sure the new size-8 jeans would be snug. Nope. They fit great. OK, it’s a style that runs large, and there’s no way I could wear a pair of size-8 Dockers today. But I’ll take it.
In other news, body-pump class is tomorrow morning, and I’m wondering how I’ll get through the lunges, given the second-day soreness I’m bound to have. It’s bad enough today.
I did an extended drop-set with the leg adduction machine yesterday and discovered that at the lowest weight, I could do about, oh, dozens of reps . . . and reps . . . and reps. Nice burn Thursday. Big soreness today.
Just for fun–and to help raise money for arthritis research (and to get a T-shirt)–I’ve decided to take part in the local Arthritis Walk, sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation on April 30.
If you’re interested, visit the foundation’s website, where you can learn whether a walk is sponsored in your community. You can sign up to walk, create a team of walkers, or join an existing team that’s looking for members. You can also create your own page, with which to invite people in your community to sponsor your walk.
I’m discovering that I need more fat in my diet.
I didn’t set out to do super-low-fat because I don’t believe that’s necessary or healthful. A reasonable goal would be 30 percent calories from fat, but I haven’t been getting that because I haven’t been eating much meat or much in the way of peanut butter, cheese, or eggs. Also, because I get in a rush, I’ve been tending to grab fruit rather than spend the time to make salad–and thus I haven’t been getting my olive oil either.
20 years ago when I had a brief fling with bodybuilding competition, most people thought the best way to drop fat pre-contest was to eat as close to zero fat as possible. That’s what I did–and I felt like I was starving all day long, although I was also eating literally all day long. The weight came off, but I was miserable.
These days I’m finding that my small, lowfat meals aren’t holding me very long. (After eating, say, 250 to 300 calories of something like soup and pita bread or oatmeal and yogurt, I’m ravenous again in 90 minutes.) So I’ve got to start eating more cottage cheese, eggs, olive oil, nuts, and meat.
I probably also need more protein for satiety. I haven’t been trying to reduce my protein intake (that would be dumb, as I’m lifting weights three times a week), but my new focus on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains has in effect reduced my protein consmption.
So I’ll make these tweaks to my reduced-calorie regimen and see what happens. Today is a maintenance day. What joy.
Let us begin with the penultimate stanza from "Jabberwocky":
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy.
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
Today I have cause for celebration, having met my three-month fat-loss goal (to lose six pounds of unsightly blubber, taking me to 140 pounds) one week early. Woo-hoo!
Jumped on the scale before the dog walk this morning and saw the numbers 139.8.
Met my friend at the gym at 8 a.m. to work legs and do cardio and was buoyed up by having met the goal. Celebrated later by buying two pairs of size 8 jeans. They’ll probably be a fraction tight for a little while, but the 10s are getting way baggy.
My planned splurge, though, is to choose something from the Nike catalog–something I normally wouldn’t buy because I’m allergic to Nike’s prices.
Now it’s time to set the next three-month goal. I will probably be more ambitious this time–now that I’ve figured out I need to count calories to stay on track.
10 pounds perhaps? 130 pounds (while maintaining lean body mass of 108-109) by, say, May 20? Exciting. Scary.
Yesterday was chest, back, and shoulder day again. I’m enjoying benching with 95 and got two sets of five plus one assisted rep per set.
I probably scared the crap out of my workout partner in the process. I was completing rep number five on the second set–albeit rather slowly–and I guess she thought I was in trouble. Her hands touched the bar, and I said "no!" Much louder than I meant to. I was in one of those intense moods and very psyched up.
Afterward I thanked her for being observant and wanting to help and clarified how she’ll know when I actually want a spot. It makes sense for us to explain to our spotter before the fact exactly what we hope to accomplish–how many reps, how she’ll know if we’re in trouble, what we’ll say if we’re in trouble and she hasn’t realized it.
Made me think about the philosophical differences inherent to our respective backgrounds. My partner is a former occupational therapist who is used to helping people with extreme limitations. Obviously the goal there is not to push clients to maximal efforts but to help them get closer to normal efforts without causing injury.
A lifter’s perspective is different. If you’re going for a maximal effort, you psych up, narrow your focus, and think only of tearing the roof off the sucker (or whatever metaphor you like). The last thing you want is not to reach your maximal effort, not to know where your limitations are. Unless you’re about to crash and burn, the last thing you want is for someone to help you, in other words.
Speaking of joint pain, I’m gonna be in a world of trouble if the FDA takes all the COX-2 inhibitors off the market. My (relatively low) daily dose of Celebrex makes all the difference between having an occasional tiny twinge in my extremely arthritic right ankle and a constant, nagging pain that makes me limp.
Pain-free Mary on Celebrex lifts weights, walks dogs, uses the treadmill, and works like hell on the elliptical trainer. Mary without Celebrex . . . well, I don’t like thinking about it.
Here’s a Reuters article published on MSNBC.com this evening:
U.S. may pull painkillers, researchers say
Doctors who led three studies showing prescription painkillers called COX-2 inhibitors raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke said the whole class of drugs was in danger of being pulled from the market.
One of the sources quoted in the article praises acetaminophen as a good and safe drug. Sure. And for me, it may as well be a placebo.
Maybe it’s time for me to reconsider plain old aspirin.
When I first started lifting weights seriously in 1983, one of the things I noticed was how good my body felt. I remember telling someone I felt like I was "walking around on springs." I’ve started feeling that way again, nine months back into my regular appointments with the iron.
I don’t do as many sets as I used to, and I’m less wacked out if I end up altering my workout plan because time is short or I have pain somewhere or I just feel like doing something different. The main thing is just showing up and lifting. And my muscles have that great springy feeling again.
These days I have occasional joint problems to cope with, and it’s weird when I have a morning on which my lower back aches like a son of a gun (largely because I haven’t been doing my flexibility work) but the rest of me feels like a million bucks.
Joints or no joints, I feel about 10 years younger now than when I started back into the gym. Can’t remember who said it or where I read it–but someone made the statement that weight-training is the fountain of youth. It’s certainly the fountain of energy–and of firmness.
Received the latest issue of Muscle & Fitness Hers yesterday in the mail but couldn’t read it because I had my regular send-the-newspaper-to-press deadline to cope with first. Started reading it today while doing my time on the ellliptical trainer and was very impressed by the one-page bio I read of a 46-year-old complete fox who just took a silver medal in some worldwide kickboxing competition. She looked gorgeous and is obviously extremely fit. It’s great to see 40-plus muscular women.
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