Easy Come, Easy Go
I remember reading once about body types that “gain and lose weight easily”… and of course I always thought… “huh, I gain weight easily, I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose weight easily”.
As a kid, I was always pretty much over weight. Short, soft, round, bookish. I was the computer nerd, I was supposed to be “out of shape”. I always assumed that I was the classic endomorph: short, round, soft.
A one-word description of the endomorph body type (or endo, for short) is curvy. If you’re an endomorph, your body fat may have a tendency to settle into the lower regions of your body, predominantly the lower abdomen, hips, and thighs, rather than being distributed evenly throughout your body.
An endomorph body typically has the capacity for high fat storage, and unfortunately puts fat on pretty easily. Although all body types are susceptible to excessive weight gain, as an endomorph, you are more inclined to become obese.
Of course, as strange as this may sound, I always longed to be an ectomorph, long, skinny. The ectomorph is an interesting persona in American body image. I wasn’t into sports as a kid, so my “idols”, they were rock stars, movie stars, and computer geeks… sure, the nerd with glasses, and when Hollywood or tv wants to portray a nerd, they don’t pick the fat kid nerd, no, they pick the tall skinny kid. So all of my “body role models” were ectomorphs:
A one-word description for the ectomorph body type (or ecto, for short) is slim. If you’re an ecto, mesomorphs and endomorphs usually don’t want to stand next to you. It’s not that ectomorphs aren’t personable, it’s just that you’re probably a tall, slender individual who has trouble gaining weight (oh darn!). As you may have guessed, the perfect example of an ecto is a fashion model.
Sitting around, being the fat kid, dreaming of being a rock star or a super nerd, I wanted to be thin. I wanted to have that slender long lean body. There was a small stint in high school, for about 3 months, where I decided I wanted to get fit, I worked out pretty regularly (albeit in secret) at the local gym. I lost fat quickly… but I didn’t get skinny. In fact, the more I worked out, the more disappointed I was… because I was actually gaining weight, and bulk… I was gaining muscle quickly. In retrospect, I guess this evidence supports that concept that my body falls into the classic “mesomorph” body type.
As muscularly defined, athletic-looking individuals, mesomorphs are full of energy, are physically capable of a lot of activity, and tend to be aggressive athletically. (Usually no couch potatoes in this group.) Although mesomorphs generally store fat evenly all over their bodies, they can become overweight if they are sedentary and consume a high-fat and/or high-calorie diet.
It’s interesting that underneath my soft exterior as a child, there was this untapped potential of an athlete. The classic description of the mesomorph: “Gains muscle easily, gains fat more easily.”
I don’t regret the path I lead from fat kid to Ironman, and I don’t dwell on “could’ve beens”… but it is interesting to consider, how easy it is for a mesomorph to become overweight, and how willing society was to drop me in the category of endomorph, destined to be soft and round for my entire life. Not once did a coach, PE teacher, or adult mentor offer to help me find fitness potential. There were chances: I played soccer briefly as a kid in 2nd-4th grades; my favorite teacher in Jr. High School was the math teacher, and track coach; but nothing developed from these relationships. Had my fate been sealed?
In the last four year I’ve been watching very closely how my body reacts to food and exercise. The evidence is strong that I don’t need a lot of calories to keep my engine running. My body is apparently very efficient at storing excess calories, and tapping into those reserves quickly when I need them. I have had days when I’ve eaten no breakfast, and jumped on my bike first thing in the morning for a 50+mile ride without out eating anything, and finishing the ride refreshed and not at all hungry.
So what about fat loss? Well, my weight is coming down pretty quickly… but I feel like I have plenty of energy. I weighed in at 149.9lbs yesterday morning and 147.3lbs this morning. Clearly, I must be losing water weight. But I also credit these results to my new attention to eating detail. My body responds very quickly to calorie deficits coupled with activity. Especially now that I’m providing “just enough fuel”… by eating several smaller meals throughout the day.
Easy weight fluctuations– Curse or Blessing? Well… I guess it’s both. If I pay attention to my fueling, I can easily control my weight, get lighter quickly, build muscle quickly, store extra fuel for a 12 hour race effort… But if I fall asleep at the wheel, and ignore my intake and each just a little more than I need, BAM! my body goes into storage mode… ready for the next big adventure whenever it might come… and the weight stacks up quickly.
“Easy Come, easy go” is a reciprocal property… it also means “Easy go, easy come”.
Health:
- Date: 02/29/2008
- Weight: 147.3
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
Filed under: Diet, Weightloss, athletes, body image, body types, computer geeks, ectomorph, endomorph, exercise, mesomorph, movie stars, rock stars
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Phew… Not as bad as it seems.
Ok, so after the alarming news last night that I am more than 20lbs heavier than my desired racing weight, and 10lbs heavier than my “don’t cross this line” high water mark… I decided in my oh so driven way to dive into the deep end of the pool and whip myself back into shape. So, this morning, I started my new 100cals/hour diet, and jumped on my fixed gear funny bike for a mid-distance training ride. Read the rest of this entry »
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 02/23/2008
- Time: 15:16:30
- Total Time: 3:25:00.00
- Average Heart rate: 147
- Max Heart rate: 170
- Calories: 3253
- Distance: 61 miles
- Average Speed: 17.85 mph
- Max Speed: 28.8 mph
Filed under: Cycle, Diet, Fitness, exercise, fixed gear, fixie, healthy eating habits, leafy greens, losing weight, low calorie diet, starvation mode
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Oh boy… Worse than I imagined!
I’ve been avoiding the scales for the last month or so… I knew they were going up. I knew I was breaking all the common sense rules of healthy living. I was exercising rarely, I was eating large portions, I was enjoying a drink or two with dinner, I was eating treats with the kids, I wasn’t sleeping well… these are all key ingredients to the recipe of weight gain. It was all capped off of course, by a decadent week in Puerto Vallarta. So, I’m home now, time to get serious… and that means first taking stock of the situation. Drum roll…. Read the rest of this entry »
Health:
- Date: 02/22/2008
- Weight: 160
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
Filed under: Diet, Getting back into shape, exercise, healthy eating habits, overweight, training, weight loss, whole foods
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Weight & Food: 1/6/2008
Food Today: (These are total guesses, I wasn’t very good at tracking today.)
- Breakfast - Egg & Turkey & Cheddar on Bagel - 400 cals
- Lunch - Bean, Rice, Carne Asada Burrito, w/Corn Chips - 600 cals
- Dinner - Sloppy Joes, Tator-Tots, Broccoli - 8520 cals
- Post Run Snack - Smoothie - 350 cals
- Amish Friendship Bread - 300 cals
Health:
- Date: 01/06/2008
- Weight: 145.8
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
- Calories: 2500
Filed under: Diet, food, weight
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That’s what it feels like to eat less!
Here’s the thing… usually… you should probably be hungry. There, I said it. I will admit that I don’t like saying it. Not because I think we should all eat whatever we want. No, the reason I don’t like saying that usually you should be hungry… is that most of us associate hunger with diets, and we associate dieting with a restriction, denial, and hardship… almost punishment. Read the rest of this entry »
Health:
- Date: 01/02/2008
- Weight: 148.6
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
- Calories: 1505
Filed under: Clinically Obese, Diet, Ironman, Losing 50lbs, Overweight Americans, exercise, saber tooth tigers, triathlon, weight loss
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New Year! Time to get back at it!
We all know the holidays can be a hard time to keep with your fitness and diet routines. There are all the parties, the food, the commitments which fill up your schedule. I am just as human as the next person, I too struggle with these issues. This year, I had the double whammy of a busy holiday season as well as a very busy schedule at work. We did, after all launch a whole new version of Konamoxt, now branded Sweat365. Read the rest of this entry »
Health:
- Date: 01/01/2008
- Weight: 150
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
- Calories: 1800
Filed under: Diet, Fitness, New Years Resolutions, exercise
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Six Pack Abs in only Six Weeks?
Seriously… that’s the email I just got from a health magazine from a reputable publisher. I’m almost tempted to take the challenge and document the process just to expose the program/publisher for the shame that they are. Mind you, I’ve definitely had a down week as far as exercise goes. And my diet, although not disastrous, hasn’t exactly been the healthiest it could be. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Diet, awesome body, exercise, hard body, six pack abs, six pack abs in six weeks
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Marathon Training - 6 EZ Miles
Second to last run before my Marathon this weekend. The good news is that running 6 miles at sub 8 minute pace now feels genuinely easy. The bad news is it was rainy and cold. The worse news is that this Marathon training has been horrible for my weight.
Seriously… I weighed in at 148lbs this afternoon. Now I’m sure some part of it is from carbing up and water retention and reduced effort during my taper. But another part is that since I’ve been focused exclusively on running. And since in the words of my coach “The goal is for you to qualify for Boston, not just do a bunch of exercise…” I’ve been significantly cutting into my total volume of exercise, and that means the pounds are adding up. No point in changing anything now, with only a couple days left.
But man… after this weekend, I plan to get back on my bike and ride these extra pounds away!
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 11/28/2007
- Time: 18:34:04
- Total Time: 00:48:00.00
- Average Heart rate: 151
- Max Heart rate: 165
- Calories: 698
- Distance: 6.04 miles
- Average Pace: 7:56.82/mile
- Max Pace: 7:30/mile
Filed under: Diet, Run, exercise, marathon, run, weight, weight loss
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Dairy Free for 1 Month
Yep, it’s been one month since I decided to start a dairy free diet. So how’s it been going? Well, the good news is I didn’t have any of the really scary dairy detox symptoms I found described other places on the internet. I will admit that it hasn’t been easy, and there’s been some digestive issues, but nothing too unpleasant.
But the question is, has it helped any? Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Daughters, Diet, Fitness, Weightloss, cheese, cooking, dairy detox, dairy free diet, detox, food, respiratory congestion, withdrawal symptoms
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Non-dairy Diet Still on Track
One week into my non-dairy diet and I’m doing fine. I’ve been a little relaxed on my exercise as I’m trying hard to save my fitness focus for preparing to qualify for Boston. This means that although I’ve come down a little from my “sitting on my butt for two weeks straight after my ironman recovery period” weight of 148.5, I’m still a couple pounds over my preferred fighting weight.
However, the change in diet wasn’t about weight… it was about congestion… so how’s the dairy withdrawal going you ask? Read the rest of this entry »
Health:
- Date: 10/08/2007
- Weight: 142.5
- Mood: Normal
- Sleep Hours: 7
- Sleep Pattern: Normal
Filed under: Diet, Fitness, Weightloss, dairy detox, dairy free diet, exercise, food, nutrition, respiratory congestion
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