What Chuck Does

Nutrition/Diet/Results: Live and Learn

I have learned a few things about dieting and the results over the last couple of months from being on and off a strict diet.

• My recent feelings of being “run-down”, tired, and on the verge of getting sick are a result of not consuming enough calories. This happened 1-2 weeks before the wedding when I was last consuming 300-500 calories less than my daily expenditure. I was constantly tired, moody, and needing more sleep. So not fun. When it happened again a couple days ago, I ate more and then felt better.

• Weighing yourself on the Tanita scale after showering creates a lower fat % reading and higher hydration % reading. The weight is the same. I speculate that this is a result of the water or humidity on the skin as well as the temperature of the body (primarily the feet).

• The scale mistakens excess food for more muscle mass. Before leaving for Hawaii in August, I had not broken into the 10’s but when I came back with a full stomach, the scale registered my first 10.9% fat reading. I’ve noticed that any time I binge eat/drink and then weigh myself, the scale registers a lower fat % reading and higher hydration % reading.

• Even though I’ve been eating more than I burn, I have been losing weight. This is a loss of muscle mass and a gain of fat. It’s unfortunate but muscle atrophies very quickly without stimulation and proper resistance training. Which reminds me, I promised to work out today. I will try to get in a small workout after work.

posted at 4:32pm

I Hurt My Back

In the first game of tonight’s volleyball session, I took a pass that sent me into the knee of a teammate. His knee hit the middle of back towards the left side. It’s mostly a muscle pain but on deep inhalations and also while bending over I am in a lot of pain. It got worse as the night went on, obviously I did not sit out after he hit me. I feel like there’s some internal pain like I might have hurt my left kidney although I think it’s a little high for the kidney area. I’ll see what happens but this feels like something that might keep me from walking for at least a few days!

posted at 11:19pm

Well Rested

After yesterday’s bout with narcolepsy while working out, I decided to turn-in early. I was in bed by 10:15 but didn’t really fall asleep til about 10:30pm or so. But I got a solid 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep in last night and what a different a night makes! I feel awake. I feel present. For the most part I feel “reset” which is what I’ve needed after last week’s bout with food poisoning and all.

“The National Sleep Foundation in the United States maintains that eight to nine hours of sleep for adult humans is optimal and that sufficient sleep benefits alertness, memory and problem solving, and overall health, as well as reducing the risk of accidents.^[8] A widely publicized 2003 study^[9] performed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine demonstrated that cognitive performance declines with fewer than eight hours of sleep.” - Source

I’ve always been a huge proponent to getting enough sleep. Much of this is due to my personal inability to deal with sleep deprivation. I’m one of few individuals that I know who is capable and willing to forfeit leisure time for sleep. Admittedly I have slept poorly since I’ve stopped surfing 3 weeks ago; the bachelor party, Larry’s b-day, and Catherine’s friends staying over, while extremely fun have each played a part in disruptive weekend sleep. As such I have had to constantly attempt to make-up lost sleep on the weekdays.

Sleep is also functionally important to me because it allows me to grow new muscle which is critical in my endeavor to shed fat and increase muscle mass:

“Non-REM sleep may be an anabolic state marked by physiological processes of growth and rejuvenation of the organism’s immune, nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems… Wakefulness may perhaps be viewed as a cyclical, temporary, hyperactive catabolic state during which the organism acquires nourishment and procreates.” - Source

Getting more sleep is probably the second easiest thing that one can do to improve his/her quality of life. (The first is drinking more water). Now go to bed already!

posted at 10:48am

Basketball Sleep - Part Two

I suppose this is why you don’t play basketball 2 hours before going to bed. We played 6 games last night, losing the first 3 by devastating blowouts did not help. We later redeemed ourselves by winning 2 convincing games back to back but then dropped the 6th in a 21 point game. I’m not too worried about the 6th game though because most of it was in good-ole-fashioned fun, just relaxing and messing around.

Having played 6 games and sat out two (or three?) meant being at the courts for almost 3 hours even though actual time played was only an hour or so. I didn’t leave until just before 9PM. That combined with the intensity of the games don’t help my cause when I’m trying to get shut-eye hours later. So here I am at 4:30AM tossing and turning, physically weary but mentally awake. My GrindAlert says I’ve been bruxing tonight even though with my semi-state of consciousness throughout the night, I didn not notice the alarm going off (more on GrindAlert later).

In retrospect however, I’ve slept lightly at least a couple of nights in the last week. Part of this was due to the bachelor party and staying up til 6AM playing poker. I guess this past Friday and Saturday aren’t helping the cause either.

I guess I’ll write for a bit and try to go back to bed later.

posted at 4:39am

19 Days

19 days since my last day of rest. Finally a day of rest. While it is well deserved, it doesn’t quite feel like enough. That’s probably because I slept at 6am last night and just woke up at 1pm. I’m sore from pretty much head to toe from paintballing and I’m tired as hell.

Looking ahead there’s basketball tomorrow and I’m not sure I want to play. Basketball usually gives my back a pretty good workout. I think I might opt for a weight-lifting session instead.

posted at 10:08pm

Oops

Scratch that last post. I’m on my way over to Allen and Larry’s house right now and Larry just suggested that we run 3 miles. I guess that means no rest for me today. posted at 6:30pm

17 Days Since...

17 days since my last day of rest.

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been tired and fatigued. Since Wednesday I’ve taken it easy with rock climbing and lifting weights. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy all the physical activity, but sometimes you just gotta listen to your body.

Sometimes you gotta just stop and reassess your plan of attack.

Today we rest. Tomorrow we paintball!

posted at 5:37pm

Sleep or Carbs?

I was tired Tuesday and Wednesday and I’m not sure if it’s because I wasn’t sleeping enough or because I am not taking in enough carbohydrates. I’m guessing it’s sleep deprivation because even after eating I still felt tired. Then again I could feel my stomach growling in the middle of Monday and Tuesday night.

The third possibility is that I simply need physical rest and not necessarily sleep. Looking through my logs, I haven’t had a full day of rest since Monday June 23, 2008. That was 2 weeks and 2 days ago!

Working backwards, I’ll be recovering from the bachelor party this Sunday, paintballing on Saturday (cardio). That leaves just today and tomorrow for working out. Since I’ll be up late tomorrow night and don’t want to overextend myself, I guess I have to do a workout or some cardio today. Rest can wait just one more day…

posted at 1:59pm

1/2 a Night's Worth

There is only one reason sleep is so important to me: I can’t function properly when I don’t get enough sleep. I might as well not be awake because by the end of the day, I can’t remember a thing and the entire day is a blur. This is on top of falling asleep at the wheel, in meetings, sometimes even nodding off while standing up. In fact sleep deprivation is primarily the culprit for why I suspect I am marginally narcoleptic.

Last night, I slept well for the first half of the night. I think it was around 3am that I got up to use the bathroom and the rest of the night I slept lightly. So I guess I got “basketball sleep” for only half the night. I suppose it could have been worse.

posted at 4:32pm

Basketball Sleep

Every Monday I play basketball starting 6pm. Sometimes I leave early at 7pm, but the nights I play past 8pm are the nights I get what I call “basketball sleep”.

Basketball sleep is basically very light sleep. This is compounded by the fact that I have to pee 20,000 times from over-hydration. I’m practically awake all night and I never fall into the deeper elements of sleep. The harder and later I play on Monday nights, the lighter I sleep at night.

Will I have basketball sleep tonight? I hope not. There’s only 8:15 left anyway. I hope I sleep well.

posted at 11:10pm