Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Bike and swim

Yesterday, I biked up Roark's cove rd.  Thinking, I'd give it a good solid effort, I started out fast and made it up the steep in 10:30.  Then, due to my lack of fitness, I slowed and made it to the end in 22:15.  Not a slow time but a lot slower than my fastest times.  

In the evening Roya and I swam across the lake and back. Good to burn some calories.  

In 2 weeks, I'm doing my annual physical and blood work so I'm trying to slim down and get my values right so I can qualify for the $250 insurance reward.  

My foot did hurt a bit after the bike climb but has recovered and feels ok this morning.  

2 days ago, I cooked real (wheat) pasta for the first time in at least a year.  Had it with vegs and tomato sauce.  Verified to me that pasta is the single most fat producing food for me.  I woke up at 146.5 lbs and felt noticeably softer in the belly.  I've definitely put that 4 to 5 lbs of 'normal' fat back on.  The minimal layer that's so hard to get off.  Actually, it makes my skin look better than when super lean, especially noticeable when I do planks or pushups, I don't have that wrinkly skin dangling from midsection.  

Will be back to the track on Friday.  

144 lbs this morning. 

Could be our last lake swim of the season up on the plateau.  Temperatures forecast to be in the 50ºs overnight the net week.  I'm sure the river will be warm for a while.  Hoping to get the boar out soon.




11 comments:

  1. To gain overnight a pound of fat would require 3500 excess calories beyond your requirement to maintain your weight. 2 oz serving of dry pasta is 200 calories. So you would need to eat 17 servings, which is like 2 entire boxes of Macaroni. When you consume carbohydrates insulin brings receptors in your muscles and to a lesser extent your fat to the surface and basically pumps the glucose molecules into your fat and muscle structure along with water. So for each gram of carbohydrate there will the three grams of attached water molecules. This is why you wake up heavy and soft after carbohydrate loading, as you just stored up a lot of glycogen. Also tomato sauce is very salty which increases fluid retention as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When you run out of storage capacity for glucose you will convert excess glucose to triglycerides and store them as fat, but the body’s preference is to pack it away as glycogen. Since you aren’t a big carb eater and you exercise a lot your system is primed to suck up and pack away carbohydrates as glycogen when carbohydrates are available

    ReplyDelete
  3. Which means immediate weight gain, but not fat. Unless you are consistently in energy excess

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea, I was thinking it was water and a slowing of digestion, retention of waste.

      Delete
  4. Ask for A1c and fasting insulin test so that you have a baseline. Your Dr likely will go along with A1c and if he asks why you can just say you see spikes on your glucometer. Unfortunately Dr’s seldom look at fasting insulin but it is important because it’s an earlier indicator than fasting glucose. It is used to calculate Homa IR which is a indirect measure of insulin resistance.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Also for accurate assessment of your glycemic status (fasting glucose and insulin) it’s important to stay within the fasting times they prescribe(typically 9 to 12 hrs), eat a mixed diet with plenty of carbohydrates the preceding 3 days(150 grams or so a day), eat energy neutral the preceding 3 days (not losing or gaining weight) and to not have any hard exercise for the prior 48 hrs. For instance, extensive fasting, carbohydrate, calorie restriction and exercise will lower fasting glucose which is a good thing but it doesn’t tell you how your body handles glucose relative to the ranges that have been established by clinical studies. Said differently, ranges have been established for normal subjects eating a mixed diet (carbohydrates, fats, proteins)at stable body weight and who refrained from recent exercise. Since this test is sensitive to these parameters if you have your sample drawn when you are dieting or avoiding carbohydrates or fast 16 hrs the normal ranges won’t apply as they haven’t established ranges for those conditions. So you won’t have as accurate of an assessment.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Don’t let that small carrot ($200) result in a less than optimal read on glucose status. Assuming no current or previous serious disease, glucose status together with strength and aerobic capacity are is a very important contributor to longevity. If for some reason it is unexpectedly high (improbable) then play with parameters (diet, fasting, exercise) to lower it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. No caffeine just water before the draw

    ReplyDelete
  8. And be as sedentary as you can the morning of the draw

    ReplyDelete