But this is not a back-patting blog. I'm trying to figure something out.
I've maintained a consistent exercise program throughout the past year, and I believe that is what is mainly responsible for my weight maintenance. Where I've fluctuated is in my caloric intake. While "dieting," I try to restrict calories to 1600-1800 calories, which I figure is my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calorie requirement plus energy requirements for a day's worth of light, routine activity. My calorie deficit thus is created through daily exercise, and when I've done that I've dropped down to the low end of my range: 142-143 lbs. When I'm not dieting (or, in other words, when I'm only trying to maintain a regular healthy diet), I try to shoot for 2000-2300. When I do that, I seem to feed a 145-147 pound body because that's about where my weight stabilizes.
Sometimes, though, I've caught my weight drifting up to the 148-149 range, even though I think I'm still maintaining my target calorie intake and exercising regularly (and intensely). All else being equal, this shouldn't make any sense. Where are those extra lbs. coming from?
I think the answer is that I'm not being truthful, sometimes, in my daily food accounting. And I think the period when I'm the biggest offender of this is between dinner and bedtime. It's as if I think a nibble here and a snack there, if swept under the rug, doesn't count and my body won't metabolize it.
Given my average daily exercise level, I should be able to eat 2300-2400 calories a day without gaining weight and maintaining a steady 145-146 lbs. All it takes to gain a pound in a couple of weeks is to go over my target daily needs by 250 calories each day. I can easily see that happening if I'm fast and loose with my calorie log and casting a blind eye on an "innocent" nosh during a stretch...even with my exercise regimen.
I have to keep this in mind and make a lifelong effort to not get lax. I can't just depend on exercise and assume that the number of 800+ calorie-burning workout sessions gives me license to be careless with my diet. Even after all this time, I still haven't habituated myself to a lifelong daily calorie plan of 2000 calories. When I don't watch myself, I drift upwards. It's insidious.
I've done a pretty good job of restoring myself to an active lifestyle. What I need to do next is to train myself to abandon poor eating idiosyncrasies, like late night snacking or to let myself view a nibble or two of some sweet or fat-laden "empty" calories as having little or no impact on my daily calorie count.
Anyway; to record today's training program results...
I ran a treadmill-based intervals program of "Yasso 800s," choosing a 7-minute pace for the speed segments. That's a little quicker than what Bart Yasso suggests, since I anticipate a marathon time of 3:50:00 to 4:00:00. According to that objective, each 800m (or 880yd) run should be done in 3 minutes 50 seconds to 4 minutes, which is more like an 8-minute mile pace. But I chose to pretend like I had a shot at a 3:30:00 marathon time and so ran my halves in 3:30.
I took a full 440 lap for recoveries, doing a combination of walks and slow jogs to get my heartrate back down to 50-65%. For each speed segment, I recorded my peak HR:
| 1 | 155 |
| 2 | 158 |
| 3 | 161 |
| 4 | 162 |
| 5 | 164 |
| 6 | 165 |
| 7 | 165 |
| 8 | 165 |
My perceived exertion level in those last three was definitely near a "10." I estimate 165 to be around 95% of HRmax for me and I really don't think I could maintain that level for more than a mile, if that. The half mile length was, itself something I was glad to see come to an end. If I have any hope of approaching a 20-minute 5K, I'm going to have to be more comfortable at a 7:00 pace sustained over 3 miles. I'm not even able to do that now in intervals with recoveries built in.
Good workout, but quite an eye opener.
