Ben Tuck #418. A cross country race in Texas in early September.
Occasionally we photographers seem to like to go off topic and talk about our philosophies regarding fitness, diet and weight control. A common belief circulating on some photo blog sites around the web is that finding the correct combination of foods and beverages will do the trick. I don't believe it for a second. I think weight loss is easy. Same with maintaining an optimum (healthy) weight and BMI. Here's the secret formula = At first light (or earlier) haul your butt out of bed, strap on a pair of running shoes, don on some weather appropriate clothing and head to your favorite running trail. Warm-up gradually for the first ten minutes and then try to hold seven or eight minute miles (or faster) for the next hour. Warm down a bit at the end. Go home, take a shower and then eat anything you want.
Get up the next morning and do it again. Get up the next morning and do it again. Get up the next morning and do it again. Get up the next morning and do it again. Get up the next morning and do it again.....
During the day be sure to take the stairs instead of the elevators, walk to lunch, take a midday break to do some push ups. Eat whatever you want. This has been Ben's routine since his sophomore year in high school. My preference is to swim but I still run a couple of days a week. If you move (and move fast) you will burn calories and you will regulate and attain a good stasis over time.
It was well over 100 degrees yesterday by early afternoon. I swam in the morning but the workout was a bit truncated because of some (coach driven) scheduling mistakes. After a post swim breakfast and some time spent helping around the house I pulled on my running shoes and hit the trail to do the 7+ mile course. I'm sixty three and had already swum for 1.5 hours so I set a brisk walking pace instead of trying to over do and run it. Too hot to go hard on a second workout...
It was hot enough to thin out the crowds on the trail but I spied someone coming towards me fast. Oh, yeah, that's just Ben getting in a Sunday run. Doing the course in the opposite direction.
He came over to the house for dinner last night. His mom made a healthy salad full of cabbage, lettuce, kale and radishes. She also roasted a bunch of cauliflower. Me? I bought the steaks and I was in charge of cooking them. Ben and I ate steak like we hadn't seen food in a while. I got up this morning and......I'd lost a pound.
Wanna lose weight? Move to Texas and run. Run in the heat. Or just run. Don't be too easy on yourself; you need to get tired and sweaty and sore. Then you'll know you're doing it right. Swimming is a good substitute if you've already trashed your knees. Or......you could just search aimlessly among the millions of self-certified diet gurus to find yet another "magic bullet" theory, complete with boring food and no discernible pay-off.
I prefer to do my dieting in the pool or on the trail. If you are swimming or running I can pretty much guarantee that you are NOT snacking. Just don't fill that water bottle with anything but.
YMMV but it should at least be mileage and not just yards.....
11 comments:
Photography is not a good excuse not to exercise. The faster photographers move the more ground they cover, the more opportunities they have to see new stuff.
I subscribe everything here. Just adding that, if for any reason you can't step up you physical activity, the only diet that worked for me was "just eat less". Reduce everything a 20% in portions of the same food you like to eat and the results will talk by themselves. There is no magic bullet, just perseverance.
Kt, just cross through "swimming" "running" and substitute bicycling. UP hills, down, and across town. 20 miles a day at 15-17 mph average. Come home eat properly and prosper. (Not one of those electric bikes- might as well drive a car).
Jb
Good genes help.
I grew up in Montreal, now live in Ottawa. Montreal's public transit is top rate, forget driving there, it's a construction/pothole nightmare this year. Several good museums and art galleries, all within walking distance of each other. If you want good food, there's everything you want. It's just a really pleasant place to walk around in, not all cities are like that. Stay downtown, walk the length of Sherbrooke St., a gorgeous stretch of urban road, what downtowns should be. If it rains, most of the places you want to go to are connected underground, either by walking or by subway (called Métro). Have crêpes in Old Montreal in between visiting the galleries.
In addition to the good genes I mentioned above, good headphones and a list of interesting podcasts or audio books take the boredom out of exercise. If I could find something that worked in a pool I'd start swimming.
Hi Typingtalker, there are several companies that make earphones for use while swimming. The main controller clips to the goggle strap behind your head. They work well. But I do take exception with the idea that exercise is boring. Swimming with a good masters group provides common purpose, camaraderie, and competition. The hours fly by. Especially if you mix in some butterfly....
Remember Jim Fixx.
Better to die face down in a pool, after a fun swim, than in a hospital bed not even recognizing family.
Very true. Just one of life’s ironies.
So after my 8 mile run in the Florida heat and humidity this morning, I thought about your this post again. I'm slightly older than you Kirk, and I've been running, biking, crossfitting, moving with intention most of my adult life. If you're running 7 miles in 49 to 56 minutes at your age, you're killing it.
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