• What can I eat?
• What foods should I really stay away from?
• Can I get away with 30 minute workouts three times a week?
• Is walking the dog enough exercise for me?
• Who’s more “right”—Gary Taubes or Michael Pollan when it comes to what we should eat, how much, and which foods we should shun? Or are they both right depending on a person’s metabolic make up?

And of course, being human, I had to learn the hard way. Which means I have a bit of weight to lose. The difference now compared to when I let myself get to 260 pounds is that I didn’t let it get so out of control that there’s no way back. And I know how to get the weight off now. The hard part is having the discipline to do it.

Here’s what I learned about how my body uses and stores food and my issues with food:

1. My body does not like processed or refined carbohydrates. Period. So that means limiting carbs to those come from veggies and some fruit.
2. My body needs to be worked out for 45 minutes or more, 5 or 6 times a week.
3. I have the aging process working against my fitness and weight goals and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. (I haven’t quite accepted this one.)
4. I still have same issues with food that I had when I weighed 260 pounds. Which means I  have to make good food choices every time I eat.

I had several false starts on losing the 20 pounds I gained during my experimentation. I’d get the food right, but not the exercise, or vice versa. Since the beginning of 2012 I’ve hit on the right combination of food and exercise and the weight is slowly coming off. I’m averaging about 5 pounds a week right now. I realize that will probably taper off to a couple pounds a week. And I’m good with it. The important thing is the number is going down and my clothes are fitting better.

Everyone’s metabolism responds differently to food and exercise. The trick is finding the combination that works for you and gives you the results you’re looking for.

It’s also important to find the thing that motivates you to keep going when you’re faced with the “fun” choice vs. the “right” choice at restaurants and potlucks and on those nights when you just have the munchies.

My motivation is that I never want to have to take insulin or metformin again. And the other motivation is to continue inspiring my training clients and others who are struggling with significant weight issues. I feel a responsibility to be a good example of a healthy lifestyle. And I’m honest with them about my struggles with eating right.

So, what motivates you to make good food choices or go to the gym when you really want to sit on the couch and eat potato chips? Do you know what foods trigger insatiable cravings in you?

Start Valentine’s Day with a nice, sweaty workout!

Do each exercise as many times as you can in 30 seconds, then move right onto the next one. You don’t get a break until you’ve gone through all five exercises. Then take a 2 minute break and do it all again until you’ve done five rounds. Make sure every rep uses good form so you don’t hurt yourself!

Bodyweight Squats
Standing Overhead Press with small dumbbells
Jumping Jacks
Alternating Bicep Curls with small dumbbells
Crunches on the floor or on a stability ball

That’s all there is to it! It takes about 30 minutes and if you do it right you’ll be sucking wind at the end. Now go drink some water.

(Just a reminder if you don’t know what an exercise looks like, do a search online for an example. There are a ton of sites that show video of how each of these exercises are executed.)

Enjoy!

Work Out for Week of February 1, 2011

We’ve been working on 30-second drills this past week. You don’t need much equipment for this one. Do each exercise as many times as you can in 30 seconds, then move right onto the next one. You don’t get a break until you’ve gone through all five exercises. Then take a 2 minute break and do it all again until you’ve done five rounds. Make sure every rep uses good form so you don’t hurt yourself!

Jumping Jacks
Boxing Punches with small dumbbells
Side steps ups on a low box, as quick as you can while still in control
Crunches
Bodyweight Squats

That’s all there is to it! It takes about 30 minutes and if you do it right you’ll be sucking wind at the end. Now go drink some water.

Enjoy!

Start with a deck of playing cards.

Get rid of the Jokers.

Shuffle the deck.

Assign an exercise to each suit.

For example:

Spades=Squats—either body weight, or hold a dumbbell in your hands close to your chest.

Clubs=Overhead press—with either a bar or dumbbells

Diamonds=Crunches

Hearts=Push-ups

Pull a card and perform the exercise represented by the suit, the number of reps shown on the card. Face cards are 10 reps. For example, for the 9 of spades you would do 9 squats.

Aces are 1-minute rests. You get 4 rests and you don’t know when they will come.

Keep going until you run out of cards. It is about a 30- to 38-minute workout.

You can use any exercise you can think of for this. Make sure you mix it up so you’re getting a good balance of pushing and pulling, upper body and lower body, plus abs.

Have fun!

Protein stays with you longer than carbohydrates, too, so you won’t get as hungry between meals.

For past readers, the blog is going to take a more personal tone as I will be writing about exercise, eating and ramblings about my life in general. I think living a healthy life includes good food, fun exercise options, being fulfilled in your career, and sharing your life with people who enjoy their lives.

One thing I never showed you—before and after pictures. So here goes:

At left, me at my heaviest. At right, 95 pounds lighter.

I’ve kept the weight off for over a year now. I still work out five days a week with three workout partners. I can’t emphasize enough how much easier it is to get motivated to exercise when you have like-minded people to share the thrill pain of working out. There’s a lot of encouragement and good-natured competition to keep you challenging yourself in the weight room.

For past readers: Many of you followed the antics of my corgi Frankie for many years on another blog. I wanted to take a moment to tell you that, unfortunately, Frankie became quite ill over the summer. She passed away on Oct. 24, 2009. I miss her a lot, but I know she had a full, fun doggy life.

What does the TMK stand for?
I’ve had a couple of readers ask me why I use TMK instead of my name? Well, for many years I was part of someone else’s blog. It turned into kind of a running gag because I was always referred to as “K” and my picture was never shown on that blog or anyone else’s (that was part of the gag), just parts of me that wouldn’t be recognized. The first time I left a comment, I signed it “The Mysterious K” as a joke and it just morphed into TMK. (The photo in my profile is the first photo of me that’s been published on a blog anywhere that I’m aware of. I decided to “out” myself a few weeks ago.)

I told you this was a ramble.
I was flipping through some photos over the weekend. Trying to find some “before” photos of myself. There aren’t very many because I’ve pretty much avoided being on the lens-end of a camera for the last 15 years. I did find one of me with a very popular Seattle Mariner who was the subject of a photoshoot I was art directing a few years ago. I didn’t realize how fat I was until I saw myself standing next to this very large athlete and I looked bigger than him.

And some diabetic content.
I got my quarterly lab results back and my Ha1c was 5.4% for the second quarter in a row, on 75% LESS medication. I’ve had completely normal blood sugar levels now for 9 months! I’m waiting for my new doctor to get back from her sabbatical so I can discuss getting off the meds altogether. The other thing that was interesting is that while eating a very high protein diet my kidney function has improved. I was told by the doctor I fired last year that I would destroy my kidneys if went down this dietary path. Not!

P.S. A shout-out to Dorothy. I walked right by you on the stairs this morning and didn’t realize it was you leaving the studio.