Workout Break: Not Really!

Dog giving musician (me) a shower. Exercising my mind and fingers through music.

I purchased a 20 lb dumbbell Friday evening and Saturday after I walked Penny I hefted it a few times but don't consider that a workout. Sunday I didn't officially workout too. But it was another weekend workout of the non-traditional kind. Saturday I moved about for several hours in my woodworking shop turning a bowl from Red Cedar. Our neighbor's stately, tall, beautiful pine tree, which once perfectly shaded their home from the afternoon sun, died in the drought in 2011. It saddened me to see such a beautiful tree die. I happened to stop by for a visit three weeks ago when they chopped it down and volunteered to turn souvenir bowls from the tree for them to remember and share with their family. Yesterday I turned the first one and I have to say, that tree will deliver some beautiful bowls. The red of the cedar will finish to a lovely luster. Today was another garden workout along with my first chainsaw wielding. There was a large fallen branch that needed removing to clear a main trail and I chopped that branch to nice firewood sized chunks as I cleared the path. Thus, I enjoyed a weekend of exercise outside the bounds of walking and kettlebelling.

A very good friend of mine recommended the book, "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease" written by Robert H. Lustig. I am currently 3/4 way through the book and so far I have learned a lot. The author's purpose isn't to sell a diet, it is to educate the public about new scientific studies that pretty much damn our society's food culture as it stands today and how our obesity epidemic (pandemic) is related to the crap on our grocery shelves and in restaurants (fast food in particular). It is also a reasonably easy read too boot. I have recommended the book to my wife, my children and to friends around me as there is much to learn here that could really affect your life if you start applying the concepts to what and how you eat.

If you recall a few posts ago, I mentioned that Inge and I eat around the perimeter of the store, and from that perspective, we already follow his guidelines. That was a bit of a relief to find out. But I still came away with the knowledge that I must still further reduce the quantity of sugar I consume if I want to get to the type of fit where my lipids drop into very good range as well as dropping the weight. The only thing is, his assertion that it's impossible to just diet your way to weight loss is unsettling. In a way I've succeeded in yo-yo-ing once (down 40 lb, up 20 lb) and I hope that I can get to my goal and stay there through lifetime feedback weight maintenance. So I choose to ignore his statements about the impossibility of maintaining the loss and continue to keep calorie reduction tracking. I'm just going to have to prove him wrong!