The How and What I Eat While Intermittent Fasting

I've gotten several questions lately about how and what I eat while doing intermittent fasting, so I thought I'd post some more details here. I always hate writing about my particular food intake because there are always people who "scold" me for eating carbs/sugar/not enough vegetables/etc. 

I am a firm believer that everybody should eat what makes THEM feel best; what works for them both mentally and physically. We are all trying to find out that perfect balance, but that's just it--none of us is perfect. I would never tell someone how I think they should eat!

That said, I am very happy with the way I eat (and with what I eat) so I am not looking for advice or criticism about what I eat. I never delete comments--even the ones that are mean just to be mean for no reason--but for this post, I won't publish comments that are rude and critical of my diet. They just aren't helpful.

You can totally disagree with what and/or how I eat, and that's fine. But the purpose of this post is just reply to those that are curious about how I've been working the intermittent fasting into my life. 

So, that said... here are some details about how I've been doing intermittent fasting for the last six weeks.

First, I have to say that I LOVE this way of eating. This is definitely a lifestyle, something that I could see myself doing forever. Jerry feels the same way, so it's great that we're on the same page.

There are lots of different methods of intermittent fasting, and I won't get into them all here. I choose to do a 20:4 ratio of fasting to eating. That means I fast for 20 hours and then eat my day's worth of calories within a 4 hour window. 

Lots of people do their fasting periods differently, some allowing certain beverages or bone broth, but I do a "clean fast"--meaning I only drink plain, unflavored water. (To understand more about this and the purpose behind it, I suggest reading 'Delay, Don't Deny' by Gin Stephens. -Amazon affiliate link) I also allow plain black coffee or black tea, but I very rarely drink those. I stick with water.

If you're considering intermittent fasting, I'd recommend reading the above book to learn about the different types of fasting. What works for me may not work for you. And what works for you may not work for me.

I usually choose 4 pm to 8 pm as my "eating window". If I'm very hungry at, say, 2:00, then I might have decaf coffee with heavy cream and sugar to fill me up and then I'll cook dinner a little later at 5:00 or so. And then I'll close my window at 6:00. Otherwise, I plan to cook dinner to eat at 4:00. 

I make large, filling dinners to ensure that I'm getting enough calories for the day. I make a lot of the same dishes that I always have--I just look for ways to add calories. I cook with more fat, I add some side dishes I normally wouldn't (roasted cauliflower with garlic, olive oil, and parmesan cheese, for example), and I eat bigger portions.

A common misconception of intermittent fasting is that the weight loss comes from eating less calories--if you're only eating one meal a day, for example, people think that of course you're eating less calories and you're going to lose weight. That's not necessarily true. I highly recommend Dr. Jason Fung's book, 'The Obesity Code' and another called 'The Complete Guide to Fasting', (Amazon affiliate links) which explains this very well.

My weight hasn't dropped a ton--in fact, I didn't lose anything for the first two weeks! But my body composition changed and I lost inches. I was able to wear clothes I couldn't before, but my weight was only down a couple of pounds.

So anyway, I want to make it clear that I am eating a "normal" amount of calories. I haven't calculated, but because I know calories like the back of my hand, I would guess that I eat anywhere from 1400 to 1800 calories a day.

On most days, I break my fast with my dinner. I'll eat a filling meal and usually I am too full to want anything else. (I'm not stuffed, because I hate that feeling of being super full, but I definitely feel like I've had enough.)

After dinner, I will usually have decaf coffee with cream and sugar--and I sip this for probably about an hour. Sometimes I'll make dessert for the family (I made a peach crisp with ice cream last week) so I'll skip the coffee and eat the dessert a couple of hours after dinner. 

Most of the time, I don't eat all throughout the entire four-hour window. I usually have the one meal and then a dessert or snack if I feel I want it before my window closes.

As far as what I eat... I literally eat anything that I want to! I have found that while intermittent fasting, my tastes change. When I haven't eaten all day, I look forward to a filling meal. I don't crave sweets (at least not until after I've eaten "real food". Interestingly, I crave healthier foods. Once I've satisfied that craving, then I may or may not be interested in dessert. If you know me at all, I used to live for sweets! And I still love them... but I have to be in the mood for them.

All of that said, I went grocery shopping today so I made a list of dinners to have in the upcoming week. These are nothing special... just things that are in my go-to homemade recipe book. Most of the recipes are on my blog, so I'll link to them. (Depending on how filling it is or if I am getting in enough calories, I may make a side dish to go along with them.) I cook a lot of skillet meals or one-pot meals, so I mix a lot of stuff together rather than serve the typical meat/potato/vegetable type of thing.

Ground Turkey and Cabbage in Spicy Peanut Sauce

Hawaiian Fried Rice

Keema with Rice

Beef Stroganoff
(I'll have to post this recipe in the future--I made it today and it was delicious!)

Also, there were a lot of mushrooms in this, but hardly any of them made it from the stove to the bowls. I love mushrooms! The rest of the family doesn't like them, so I just picked them out and ate them while I was cooking ;) 

Moroccan Meatballs Over Orzo 
(This is shown with rice, but that was likely because I didn't have any orzo on hand)

Shipwreck Skillet Dinner
(I haven't made this before, but I found it in a cookbook today; I'll post the recipe if it's any good)

Sausage, Peppers, and Corn Hash with an Egg on Top
(I think I forgot to add the corn on the day I took this photo! But the corn is one of the best parts.)

And that's it--a week's worth of dinners. These are all foods that I made before--before I lost weight, while I lost weight, after losing weight. 

If any of you do intermittent fasting, I'm curious about your method and how you like it! Please feel free to share :) Likewise, if you have questions, I'd be happy to do a Q&A post later. Although I'm not sure how much more I can really say!

Continue Reading...

How to Play Grandma's Game (solitaire) - A video tutorial

I shared this video five years ago, but I thought now, amidst this coronavirus social distancing, it'd be a great time to share it again.

I never knew what this game was called until I wrote about it on my blog, and a couple of people suggested it was called "Grandma's Game" or also "13 Stacks". I think the way I play it is slightly different than those rules, but it's very similar.

You can find digital versions of this game, but I think most of the fun of it is playing with actual REAL playing cards. The deal is the funnest part of the game!

You use two decks of cards (no jokers). To explain it in words here is nearly impossible, so I made a video way back in 2015 explaining how to play. I've only ever ONCE won the game, and it was so exciting! Here is what I wrote in my blog that day:

"I've mentioned the game in my blog several times, because it really helps me to keep from binge eating sometimes. I like to play it with real cards (not digitally). I've been playing the game for over two decades, and I'd NEVER WON. Not once! 

Well, apparently, today was my lucky day. I ACTUALLY WON. My heart was pounding toward the end, because I was doing so well, and I couldn't believe it when I actually won. My mom is the one who taught me the game, and she only won it one time (about 40 years ago). It's a really difficult game to win! 

I was dying to tell someone, but nobody really cares(!) so I decided to make a video that I've been planning to do for a long time but just never got around to it. I made a video that explains how to play the game. It's a hard game to describe, and I never even knew what it was called until I wrote about it on my blog a couple of years ago (the closest game I can find to what my mom taught me is called Grandma's Game). 

Anyway, if you're into playing solitaire, here is a video that explains how to play. I wish it was a little closer up, but I hope that it's pretty explanatory."

So, here is the video. Give it a try! You'll be hooked for life, because the odds of actually winning are nearly impossible, hahaha.



This is a photo of what it looks like when you win... Good luck!

Continue Reading...

The "Golden Rule" That Helped Me Lose 125 Pounds

When losing weight, everybody asks how you're doing it. It's inevitable. And everybody wants to hear the special secret to it. Eating nothing but lettuce? Eating pounds of bacon and zero carbs? Eating only red fruits, green veggies, and white meat? Consuming nothing but coffee and smoking cigarettes? Dancing around a fire in the woods at midnight every day of the week?

I could always see that the spark of interest in their eyes while they asked the question was immediately extinguished when I said that I was just eating less food. (And eventually, exercising--I started exercising after I'd lost 60 pounds.)

I used to be just like them. I read every single success story, every single weight loss book and magazine, watched weight loss shows like The Biggest Loser... constantly looking for the special secret that I could do.

I tried all the diets, and I never stuck with them long enough to see results.

On August 19, 2009, I had an epiphany. It was the first day of yet another attempt to lose weight. I made an important decision after that first day of my (eventual) 125-pound weight loss. It's kind of funny how it came about...

There are very few foods that I dislike. I am willing to try eating anything at all, several times over. One food that I've tried umpteenth times is yogurt--I hate yogurt! I've tried all the flavors, all the types, and there is just something about it that I cannot stand.

I also don't love salad. I don't "hate" it like I do yogurt--sometimes I'll go through phases where I really like it and eat it for a few weeks--but I am definitely not a salad person. You will never see me go to a restaurant and order a salad.

Well, never say never...

(I must have been in a phase! But if I DO order a salad, it'll always be a caesar)

So, you know what I did my very first day of losing weight on August 19, 2009?

I ate both of those foods! I gagged down yogurt, because hey, it's "healthy" and that's what you're "supposed to eat". For lunch or dinner, I can't remember which, I ate salad. I'm sure that I wasn't in a salad mood and I probably gagged that down as well. WHY?

That night, when I was thinking about how much I hated trying to lose weight, and how badly I wanted to quit, it occurred to me that I hated it so much because I ate foods I didn't enjoy and I didn't eat the foods that I do enjoy. It seems completely backwards. Of course losing weight was miserable!

I decided that day that I wasn't going to do it anymore. I wasn't going to eat foods I hated just to lose weight. If I lost the weight by eating yogurt and salad, I would likely have to do that forever to maintain the weight loss. And that sounded miserable to me.

Another instance from that summer was when my friend asked me if I wanted to audition for The Biggest Loser with her. Even though I was fatter than I'd ever been, I said no. I was desperate to lose weight, but I was NOT willing to exercise for eight hours a day and eat next to nothing in order to drop 5+ pounds a week.

I told her that if you lose the weight that way, the only way to maintain it is to continue to do that. Your body will get so used to it that you'll have to continue. And of course I would burn out. I knew for sure that even if I auditioned, and was chosen, and hell, even if I WON the show, I would never be able to maintain that lifestyle. And I didn't want to live in misery for months on end while losing the weight.

Between those two instances, it finally hit me that I had been doing it all wrong for all of those years. Every time I attempted to lose the weight, I made changes that I hated. I tried doing tough workout videos, I tried eating yogurt and salad, I tried cutting out carbs, I even did a 10-day "master cleanse" where I consumed nothing but water with lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. I could lose the weight in any of those ways if I stuck to them (I lost 16 pounds from the master cleanse, but a month later, I was right back to where I was before), but I certainly couldn't do those things forever.

I guess technically, I *could* do them forever... so that is why I chose to word my newfound "golden rule" the way I did:

Don't make changes you're not willing to do for the rest of your life.

This is something I've talked about and written about from the beginning of my weight loss, and it's probably been the biggest key to my weight loss and (semi) maintenance. Whenever people ask for my weight loss advice, the first thing I say is "Don't make any changes you're not willing to do for the rest of your life."

That sentence says so much and so little at the same time. I don't think I've ever written a post that really explains how and why that became my golden rule and how it helped me to stay determined to lose the weight, so that's why I chose to write about this.

I could certainly use a reminder myself right now! ;)

From that day forward, it was my golden rule. It's tempting sometimes to try all the new fad diets that everybody seems to be doing, but I just don't want to live like that. I want to enjoy my life!

(This is a reason I never wanted to get weight loss surgery, either. Eating tiny portions of food and getting sick every time I ate something I wasn't supposed to--for the rest of my life--was just not something I was willing to do.)

My golden rule made the process of losing weight more enjoyable. I don't want to say it was "easy" (nothing about losing weight is easy), but it made the process easier, enough to make me stick to it for the long term.

I was willing to eat smaller portions. I was willing to eat healthier things during the day if I could still have something for a "treat" at night--dessert or wine or something like that. I was willing to eat out less and cook more.

I was NOT willing to give up carbs. I was not willing to give up any foods that I enjoyed. I was not willing to force myself to exercise (at the time; I later wanted to do it). I was not willing to eat differently than my family (i.e. "special" foods for me while they ate "regular" foods).

And what a shocker--it actually worked!

I didn't have to do or eat anything I didn't want to, and I didn't have to give up things that I love. I only made changes that I was willing to do for the rest of my life, if need be.

It's such a hard thing to do when there is advice everywhere online--what to eat and what not to eat, what's the "best" diet for weight loss, what's the "healthiest" way to eat, etc. I try not to let that get in my head. The only thing I've ever been able to stick with long term (10 years now) is doing what is feels best for ME.

And I like ice cream. A LOT.

The things that I'm willing or not willing to do may change here and there, but that doesn't matter. As long as I stay true to my golden rule, I can enjoy my lifestyle.

It's so hard to believe it's been over 10 years since I had that epiphany. But I know that if I hadn't, I would have failed at that attempt at losing weight just as surely as I had all the other times. I found a better way. And it worked.

Continue Reading...

TUTORIAL: How to Make a Pet Feeding Station

The post with the photo of my "pet feeding station" was so popular that I decided to do a quick tutorial on how I made it so that it has a post all of its own. It's very simple, really, so there isn't a lot to share. But here goes...

Materials:

• Book shelf (make sure it's a very sturdy one made with real wood and not particle board--I bought mine for $10 from a secondhand store. It seemed to be handmade, and it's VERY heavy)
• jigsaw
• oil-based primer
• oil-based paint (I used Sherwin Williams in "Carnival" and "Aviary Blue")
• paint brushes
• metal dog/cat bowls, whatever size you'd like
• contact paper to decorate the back if you'd like
• silicone caulk
• Kreg pockethole jig, if you have one (here it is on Amazon- affiliate link)

This is the bookshelf I used. I found it super cheap at a secondhand store. It's extremely solid and heavy, which is what you need for a project like this.

First, decide where you want your pet bowls to be. I wanted two on the bottom for my dog's bowls and two on the top--one for the cat food and the other for the cats to climb through (so they could jump to the lower shelf and then climb through to the top--it didn't work out that way, so I'd just cut one on top.) The water for the cats is elsewhere.

After realizing the cats weren't going to use the second hole, I filled it in and covered it over with a piece of carpet that I nailed in place. Sometimes I sprinkle catnip on the carpet, and they like to scratch it with their claws. Bonus!

(I should probably paint it, but you can't see it unless you're on the floor.)

When you make the cuts for the bowls to fit in, you want to make SURE that the holes are smaller than the lip of the bowls (you don't want the bowls to fall right through). To do this, you can turn the bowl over and draw a pencil line around the lip of the bowl (tracing it) and then find a round container that is slightly smaller than that diameter (I'd allow about 3/4" to 1" space between the outer circle and inner circle).

Trace the smaller circle inside of the larger one. You will ignore the larger circle, and the smaller one is the pencil diameter you will follow to cut. (I did mine backwards, tracing a smaller circle and then cutting a bigger one--but that is more difficult, so don't do that!) Using a large drill bit, drill a pilot hole near the edge of the inner circle (on the inside of the circle, careful not to cut outside the line).

Then, using the jigsaw, place the blade through the pilot hole and carefully cut along the circumference of the inner circle you traced.

One you cut the circumference, the circular piece will come out easily, and you'll have a perfect hole. Set the cat bowl in it to make sure that it goes down as far as you want. (You'll notice my dog bowls go all the way down, but the cat bowl sticks up a little to make more room on the shelf underneath. I used a slightly smaller hole for the cat bowl.) Repeat for a second hole on the top, if you want one.

Now it's time to remove the shelf that you want to lower. Just look where it's attached and unscrew it to take it out (mine had a few thin piece of wood underneath it holding it in place, so I removed those).

Do the same process to cut holes in the bottom shelf--although this time, you'll want to cut two--one for food and one for water for the dog. (You could probably do that for the cats on top, too, but there wasn't much space on mine to do that.)

To replace the shelf in a lower position, I just lowered it to where I wanted it to be, using a level to make sure it was level all the way across, and traced lines where it needed to be. Then I put a few screws into it from the outside (I didn't have my Kreg pockethole jig at the time, or I would have used that!)

Now you'll have a shelf with two holes that should allow the dog dishes to sit inside them with a lip over the top. And the top shelf will have one (or two) holes for the cats. It'll look like the photo above.

Next, prepare to paint--set down some plastic sheeting so you don't get paint on the floor. Use primer to paint over the entire shelf. The primer should dry fairly quickly. After that, paint it whatever color you wish (I used the blue on the outside and orange on the inside.) The paint will take 24 hours to dry--minimum. I'd put on a second coat then, and give it another day or two.

When the paint is dry, measure the back areas of the book shelf between the shelves to see what sizes of contact paper you need. Cut the contact paper to size, and carefully peel off the backing and put it into place. (This is tricky! I had to peel it off several times and reposition it.)

Once the contact paper is in place, you'll want to seal all of the inside edges with clear silicone caulk. The reason for this is because dogs are sloppy and get water everywhere. You don't want the water to seep into the cracks and rot the wood. The oil-based paint works well for keeping water from damaging the wood, but I would still use the caulk.

I later added a little shelf about halfway up the side of the bookshelf for my cats to jump onto in order to get to the top without having to jump so high (they're pretty lazy!).

To do this, take a rectangular piece of wood about the width of the bookshelf. Find something round to trace, where the diameter is roughly the width of the rectangular piece of wood. You'll lay the round piece over the rectangle at the end and trace just half of it with pencil (the purpose of this is just to round the edge of the ledge instead of having sharp rectangular corners. I used the jigsaw to do this. You could always freehand it to round the corners as well.

To attach the ledge to the side of the bookcase, I screwed two scrap pieces of wood onto the side, a little lower than where I wanted the ledge (I used these for support). I added the ledge on top and screwed it into the scrap wood as well as into the bookshelf to be extra sturdy. Here is a picture from underneath:

 As you can see, I used a Kreg pockethole jig to make pocket holes for the screws. You could also place screws from the inside of the shelf into the wood on the outside for the ledge.

Once the ledge is secure, then either paint it or cover it with contact paper. I chose to use contact paper.

If you have room, you could add a couple of hooks for dog leashes or whatnot; I had a hook at the top of mine, but I removed it when I added the ledge for the cats.

Overall, I love how this turned out! It's kind of quirky (which is totally my style) and it's super convenient for the pets. Now the dog can't get into the cat food (the cats have water elsewhere) and I have a shelf for their treats, catnip, food, etc.

It was super easy (and cheap!) to make :)

Continue Reading...

MAF Carbohydrate Intolerance Test (and explanation): Day 1

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, I decided to try a drastic dietary test to see if certain foods are causing random symptoms I've developed in the last few years. I spent October, November, and December running at a MAF (maximum aerobic function) heart rate, a formula that was developed by Dr. Philip Maffetone as a program to build your aerobic system for endurance training.

There is a whole lot of science around it, and I've been reading his book "The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing" (Amazon affiliate link). I was never interested in the nutrition aspect of the MAF method, because I've always held my belief that moderation and variety is the best way for me to eat.

Like everyone, I know that eating a healthier diet is going to be better than eating junk food; but I wasn't willing to give up junk food. I'm still not willing to give it up entirely! However, I am willing to be open-minded enough to see if cutting way back on it makes me feel better and gives me more endurance when running.

Getting back into running, as well as reading his book (which I only started because I had questions about the MAF training that I wanted to find answers for), made me think a bit about his two-week test for carbohydrate intolerance.

Now, as soon as I hear the word "carbs" as far as dieting goes, I immediately feel cynical. I think that giving up carbs just isn't sustainable (at least for me) and I don't think it's healthy to cut them out. I think it's best to have a variety of foods in moderation. This is why I never paid attention to his ideas on nutrition, because after hearing about "carbohydrate intolerance" I assumed it was like any other low-carb plan. Maybe it's great for some people, but definitely not something I was interested in.

When I read about the two-week test, however, and the reasons for doing it, I was much more open-minded. I can certainly try something for two weeks. And the reason for it is NOT for weight loss, but to test how well your body burns fats versus carbohydrates (I'll write more about this below) and to see what foods agree best with your body and give you the best results for health and training.

The two-week test is very strict about carbs; but after that, you gradually add them back in, taking note on how they make you feel. The other purpose is to make your body sensitive to carbs so that it learns to burn more fat for fuel (something that is important in endurance training--running, in my case).

I'll try not to get TOO detailed, but the gist is that endurance training uses the aerobic system, which prefers to burn fat for fuel because it lasts a long time (and our bodies, even very fit ones, have enough stored fat to get us through long endurance races). If our bodies burn primarily fat, rather than sugar/carbs, then we can endure a sport much longer. (There isn't nearly as much glycogen, or stored sugar, as there is fat.)

The carbohydrate intolerance test is a way of seeing just how much your body relies on sugar versus fat to get through any sort of exercise or daily living. If you don't really see results from the two-week test, then it's likely you're already burning primarily fat. But if you see a drastic change as your body uses the fat for fuel (because you're not supplying it with more sugar/carbs all day), then it's likely that your body is used to using sugar for fuel.

I have a strong feeing that I am part of the latter group because I eat a lot of carbs. So, my body is burning carbs all day long for fuel. To be a better runner, and be more fit, I want my body to be able to rely on burning fat so that I can run longer with more ease.

Hopefully that makes sense! If you don't want to read the whole book, I'd at least check out Dr. Maffetone's website, where you can read more about the gist of it. (I linked to a few helpful pages of his site at the bottom of this post)

An example that helped me understand it better is when you think of "the wall" in a marathon--when a lot of runners just sort of crash around miles 18-22. I assumed it was just a normal right of passage for any marathoner. But from what I read in the book, the reason is because they are used to burning mostly carbs for fuel (and using simple carbs like gels to keep replacing the carbs they are burning).

At some point (usually around miles 18-22), the sugar reserves (called glycogen, and stored in the muscles and liver) are just depleted. If the body isn't used to burning fat for fuel, then it can cause a big crash--the dreaded wall. If your body is used to burning fat for fuel, then you shouldn't hit the wall; you have plenty of stored fat to get you through a marathon.

So, for me, this two-week test will hopefully help me to see what happens when I don't fuel my body with carbs and force it to rely on fat.

And since I'm expecting that my body primarily runs on carbs, in order to build up my endurance (aerobic system) in the most efficient way, I need to teach my body to burn more fat for fuel. There are several ways to do this, and nutrition is the most important one. Like I said, I can start adding back carbs after the two-week test, but I have to add them one at a time (each day) and keep in tune with my body as to how it reacts. I don't want to cause an inflammation response or to stress my body (the stress causes all sorts of problems as well).

I had a major lightbulb moment when I read about this, especially regarding overtraining and how stressful it is on your body. Overtraining can be super easy to do--running easy runs too hard (higher than MAF heart rate) or doing too much speed work, or just not letting your body recover from workouts--can cause serious stress.

When I trained for my 10K, I trained super hard for six months, and I ran the best race time I've ever had. Training very hard definitely works... temporarily. After that 10K, though, it's like my body totally crashed. I was burnt out from training, I gained 30 or so pounds very quickly, I developed depression that lasted 10 months, I developed chronic pain out of nowhere, and I just did not feel good at all.

While I was certainly doing well with running my easy runs at an easy pace (I used a heart rate monitor and did my MAF heart rate), and keeping my speed work to 20% of training, I was fueling my body with primarily carbs. So, my body was able to get through my workouts with no problem--I had lots of glycogen at the ready. However, there is no way I could run a marathon or even half marathon like that, because I would run out of fuel and crash (despite being super fit).

I suspect that all the problems I had after my 10K were related to the stress that the training had on my body. If I had truly focused on building my endurance the correct way (including nutrition), then perhaps I wouldn't have felt so terrible afterward.

When I start to add back carbs after the two-week test, there is a particular way to do it, which Dr. Maffetone describes, so that I'll continue to teach my body to burn fat for fuel and to develop my aerobic system by way of the MAF method.

I've written about it several times, but the MAF (maximum aerobic function) method is a way of building your endurance. You run with a heart rate monitor, keeping your heart rate under your personal MAF rate (there is a survey you can take on the MAF website and app to tell you your rate, which depends on a number of factors).

The way it works is that you train without ever going over your MAF rate (at least for several months), which may mean that you have to go SUPER slow or even walk for a while. Over time, though, you'll be able to run faster at that same heart rate. So, as you continue to train, your heart rate is always going to stay at MAF--but you will develop your aerobic system to be so efficient that you can easily run at a faster pace and it won't feel any harder than the first (very slow) workout. (During a marathon, you run--if I remember correctly--15 bpm over MAF. So, it'll only feel slightly harder than an easy pace, but you should never hit the wall and you should run a good race.)

As far as how long it takes to get to that point, it depends on how good your endurance is now. If your heart rate gets high really quickly, then you've got a lot of work ahead. MOST people, from reading all the comments from people who have done it, start out much slower than they want. It's frustrating to run so much slower than you're used to (or what you think you can, or should, be running). It feels like you're not doing any good for your body to go so slow!

So anyways, that's the explanation of the two-week test for carbohydrate intolerance and the MAF training. Since my next race goal isn't until May of 2021 (which I wrote about in yesterday's post), I have a long time to work on this method and see if it actually works! And unlike times in the past, I have the patience to do what it takes--even if it means walking most of my "runs" as I build endurance.

Once a month, you take a MAF run test to see if there is any improvement. I did my first one yesterday. After filling out the surveys, I was given 133 bpm as my MAF heart rate (which is a full 13 bpm lower than what I've been doing or the last three months!). I've been running slowly at 146 bpm, so I knew that dropping it to 133 bpm was going to mean that I'd be adding in walking.

I really don't like that I have to take 10 bpm off of the 180 formula (180 minus your age) for the simple fact that I take daily medication (for bipolar). But that's what the guidelines say, so I'm am putting faith in it for now.

My MAF test was to be as follows: 12 minute warm-up, where you gradually bring your heart rate up to MAF (he really stresses how important the warm-up and cool down are... something I never used to do). Then run two miles in the MAF range (123-133 bpm for me). Then a 12-minute cool down.

Jerry is doing this with me, so the two of us went to the local high school track yesterday morning. I chose the track because Dr. Maffetone suggests picking a consistent route (flat) that you can use for each test. A track is perfect for that.

It was FREEZING outside, and I definitely underdressed. I also didn't realize it would be so windy! Since I was going to keep my heart rate under 133 bpm, I knew I wasn't going to get much warmer. But I toughed it out. Jerry's test was slightly different from mine (he had to run one mile at his rate--141 bpm), so we didn't run side-by-side; just on the same track.

I started with a slow walk, and gradually picked it up over the 12 minute warm-up. My plan was to jog as slowly as possible (in order to run longer before having to walk) and then as soon as my heart rate hit 133 bpm, walk slowly until it dropped to 128 bpm. Then jog again. Over and over for the two miles of the test. Then for the cool down, do less and less jogging to get my heart rate back down slowly.

I completed the test without problems. I just had NO idea how much walking I'd have to do or how slow my "run" was going to have to be for two miles. (The goal is for my two-mile time to be faster at the same heart rate in a month.)

Here is what it looked like:

Warm-up: 12:00 minutes, 19:14/mile average pace, HR 121 average bpm
Two mile time: 32:11 minutes
Two mile average pace: 16:05/mi
Two mile average HR: 130 bpm
Cool down: 12:00 minutes, 17:17/mile average pace, HR 124 average bpm

As you can see, all those little spikes are the run/walk/run/walk to keep from going over 133 bpm.

I actually wasn't upset by these results at all. In the past, I would have pouted about how slow I had to go, that I had to walk, and then I'd just quit--saying it's ridiculous. But right now, I have lots of patience, and I truly am curious how all of this will play out. Maybe the training will work, maybe it won't... but it'll be interesting to give it a try.

I was only able to "run" for about 20-30 seconds at a time before my heart rate would reach 133 bpm. Then I'd walk for about 20 seconds or so until my heart rate was lower then 128 bpm. Then I'd jog again. Ideally, I'd keep my heart rate at 133 (or just under) for the entire two miles, but when walking/running, it's nearly impossible to keep a steady heart rate.

Once I'm able to jog the entire two miles without going over 133 bpm, then I'll hopefully be able to keep it steady. I suppose I could walk very fast (with no jogging) to keep my heart rate steady, but I was so desperate to warm up and the jogging actually felt better on my feet than the walking.

I wore my Altras, and because I was going to be jogging so slowly, I thought it'd be the perfect time to work on landing on the middle/balls of my feet instead of my heels. I learned what this felt like when I ran barefoot in the grass at cross country practice. When you run barefoot, you'll notice it's nearly impossible to land on your heels!

Based on these MAF results, my goal for February 1st is to see a faster two-mile time than 32:11. I'm looking forward to trying it! For now, I will run every other day: 12 minute warm-up, 30 minutes at MAF (133 bpm), 12 minute cool down.

Now as far as the nutrition part of yesterday--it was Day 1 of the carbohydrate intolerance test (Jerry is doing this with me as well). I was VERY surprised that I wasn't hungry all day. Carbs are my favorite foods, and I was sure I was going to starve without them. But Dr. Maffetone says to eat a lot of the approved foods during the test, because if you try to cut calories, it will stress your body.

We woke up late yesterday morning, after having a late night on New Year's Eve. We are supposed to eat within one hour of waking, so I got to work prepping veggies for scrambled eggs. I sliced mushrooms and chopped onions and green peppers. Then I scrambled some eggs (three for each of us) with the veggies and added some feta cheese, and that was breakfast.

I wasn't at all hungry for lunch since we ate breakfast at 10:00. For dinner, I had taco meat that I'd prepped the day before (ground sirloin with homemade taco seasoning) with lettuce, tomato, cheese, avocado, and sour cream. It was super filling.

For a snack later, I had some pistachios (in the shell, so that it would take me longer to eat them--otherwise, I could eat them by the handful!).

Notes about how I felt yesterday:

- I felt semi-full after breakfast (not stuffed, but certainly satisfied). Having breakfast and then running shortly after didn't cause any stomach upset.

- I felt fine during the run (other than being freezing)

- About an hour later, I had a headache. And it lasted ALL. DAY. LONG. I woke up this morning and I still have a headache.

- At around 2:00 pm, I completely crashed in energy. My whole body felt so sluggish! We went to the Apple store at the mall to get Eli's phone looked at, and walking around the mall felt so difficult. I just wanted to sit.

- I was very surprised at how easy it felt to get through the day without caving in and eating some sort of sugar or carbs. I wasn't tempted by the cookies at the mall or when the kids had some Christmas cookies at home. I don't think this is due to the diet, however; I think it's more to do with my determination to finish out the two weeks. When I get determined, I feel like nothing is going to stop me.

- Even though my body felt very tired, I wasn't ready to go to sleep until nearly 1:00 AM. I played a game with the kids, wrote in my journal, watched a show with Jerry, and just didn't feel sleepy. My body was tired but my mind wasn't.

- I woke up at 6:00 this morning and my head was hurting so badly I didn't want to try to sleep anymore. So, I didn't get much sleep last night.

- I ate the same breakfast (at 6:30 AM today) as I did yesterday. It's now 2:30 PM, and I'm still not hungry. We are going to have an early dinner, though, because Eli has his first lesson with the baseball coach tonight. For dinner, I plan to make chicken with homemade marinara and mozzarella/parmesan cheese. And sauteéd Brussels sprouts to go with it.

- So far, I'm surprised to say, I don't hate this! (I could never do it forever, but I think I can handle it for two weeks)

Hopefully my updates won't be so long from now on. I just wanted to explain the whole two-week carbohydrate intolerance test before getting into the explanation of my first day.

Some links to Dr. Maffetone's website that explain things better than I can:

Two-Week Test (Nutrition/Diet) Explanation (There are at least a trillion comments, which someone who works for Dr. Maffetone replies to--I spent a lot of time reading them, and they were super helpful!)
MAF Training Explanations (this is the most beneficial read)
Aerobic Training Guidelines
Quick Explanation of the MAF Method Overall

Continue Reading...

TUTORIAL: How To Make Your Own Headboard (out of scraps!)

Since I've been doing a lot of DIY projects (my new favorite hobby!) and several people expressed interest in seeing posts that describe the process of my projects, I thought it'd be fun to highlight my projects step-by-step when I do something like this.

Jerry and I got rid of our headboard and footboard a couple of years ago because they were large and bulky, and I just felt like they were very outdated (even though I'd spent a ton of time painting them when I was in a hypomanic state).

When we got rid of those, we ordered a bed frame from Amazon, which I was very happy with... but it didn't have a headboard and I had no idea just how much I'd miss not having one. There was a gap between the mattress and the wall, so our pillows would wedge down in there. And if we wanted to sit up in bed, it was nearly impossible without piling a ton of pillows on top of each other.

I'd been wanting to make a headboard for a long time, and I had an idea in mind of what I wanted to do, but I just never got around to making it. Finally, I was feeling energetic a few days ago and decided to see if I could build a headboard entirely from scraps in the garage.

And I did! I didn't spend a single cent on this, because I already had everything.

Here are the materials I used:

• 3/4-inch particle board (enough for 10 pieces that are 12" x 12")
• An old fleece blanket
• A large piece of canvas fabric that I'd bought when I was going to try my hand at reupholstery (I have a HUGE roll of dark gray that I'll never be able to use in a single lifetime)
• One 2x4x8 board
• Two 1x2x8 boards
• Upholstery staples
• Screws (#8 1-1/2 inch and #8 2-inch)

Tools used:

• measuring tape
• pencil
• level
• straight edge
• circular saw
• Kreg rip cut guide
• drill/driver
• staple gun for upholstery
• Kreg pockethole jig

First, I measured the area above my bed where I wanted the headboard to be. I wanted it 60 inches wide and about 24 inches tall. That worked out perfectly, because I could easily divide that into two rows of five 12"x12" squares.

I measured and marked the wall with pencil (using the level and straight edge) so I knew exactly where the studs were and where the center of the wall was (to center the headboard). I also wanted to make sure I placed it the correct distance from the ground, so that it rested just an inch or so below the mattress.

In the garage, I found a few large pieces of particle board that I had leftover from when I made the kitchen countertops.

I cut them with a circular saw using a Kreg rip cut guide. Using the guide helped it go much faster than if I had to carefully cut freehand for each piece. When I was done, I had 10 squares that were perfectly even.

I knew I wanted a little padding between the particle board and the fabric on top, and I happened to have an old fleece blanket in the garage that I didn't mind cutting up. So, I laid the canvas fabric down first, the blanket on top of that, and then all of the squares on the blanket. I spread them out on the living room floor a few inches apart for cutting, to allow room to fold the fabric around to the back of the square.

Then, I cut out the squares (just freehand--they didn't have to be perfect).

After that, I used the staple gun to secure the fabric to the squares (holy hell, that was hard on my hands! It's a manual one, so you just have to squeeze really hard--I wound up with blisters and my carpal tunnel flared up that night.)

I laid the canvas down first, then the fleece, and then I placed the particle board on top of that. Then I pulled the sides of the fabric up and around to the back of the particle board, where I started stapling the edges.

It was kind of hard to get the corners to lay nicely, and after the first square, I started working corners first. I trimmed off some of the fleece to make it less bulky where I was stapling, too.

The stapling was the most painstaking part of the whole thing. But when I was done, I had 10 squares that were covered with gray canvas fabric, with a light padding underneath. And of course, they were covered with stray fibers of fleece (and dog hair--let's not forget that).

Next, I had to decide how to piece them all together. I didn't have a solid sheet of wood that was big enough to attach them all to, so I decided to make a frame out of a couple of 1x2x8 boards. I cut two pieces that were about 59 inches (just short of the length that I wanted the headboard to be) and some smaller 10-inch pieces to connect them.

In retrospect, I wish I'd built the frame first. It would have been easier and faster. But as it was, I placed five of the squares facedown as tightly as I could next to each other. Then I laid one of the long 1x2 boards across the center of them, and I screwed that into the squares (squeezing the squares tightly together with each screw).

Then I repeated this with the other five squares, so I had two sets of five squares that were linked together with a 1x2 across the back.

I laid the two pieces facedown on the floor and butted them right up against each other (so that there were five squares across and two down). Then, using my Kreg pockethole jig, I connected the long 1x2's with shorter 1x2's (again, squeezing the frame together as I went).

I know that the boards aren't spaced evenly, which will drive some of you crazy, but because the boards were slightly warped, I had to place the cross pieces in the spots where they needed to be pulled in the tightest.

When I was done, I was pretty impressed with how good it looked!

However, I had no idea how I was going to hang it on the wall. After some research on the web, I found a solution that worked perfectly for me (because I already had the materials).

Basically, you rip a 2x4 at a 45 degree angle right down the center. Then you'll have two long pieces of 2x4 that each have a 45-degree angle on one edge and that fit together perfectly. The idea is to screw one of them into the wall, and the other onto the headboard, and then you hang the headboard by placing the 2x4 back together. (The photo shows it better than my explanation).

The headboard is HEAVY because of the use of the 3/4" particle board (1/4" would have been much easier, but I had so much extra particle board that I wanted to use up scraps).

I wanted to make sure the 2x4 was super secure on the wall, so I screwed the 2x4 into two studs and three anchors in the drywall.

I placed the other half of the 2x4 on the back of the headboard and screwed it into several places to make sure it was good and snug.

I didn't want the headboard to wind up angled down at the bottom (with a 2x4 at the top, the top of it would be farther from the wall than the bottom). So, I used a scrap piece of 2x4 to place along the bottom, just to keep it the same distance from the wall. (I plan to either paint the 2x4's or put a trim along the sides to hide it. But for now, it just looks like this when you look closely. It's not as noticeable as the photo makes it look.

Jerry came in to help me hang it, and it was perfect! I love it. It makes such a big difference in the room. I'd still like to get a painting or photo or clock or something over the headboard to fill that space, but this headboard made a huge improvement. (The bed is against a different wall in this photo than it was in the "before" photo, but typical me--I forgot to take a proper "before" photo when I started working on this.)

Again, here is the before and after. A headboard isn't just practical, but it really makes a difference in how the room looks!

And now...

Pretty fun, right? I love making things out of scraps!

---

I asked recently on Facebook if anyone has suggestions for topics for me to blog about next year. One of my goals is going to be to blog daily, even if it's super short. But it's nice to get input, so if you have suggestions, please let me know!

Continue Reading...