The Diet/Fitness Thread

[Calidore]

I agree that overeating is the worst exercise one can engage in.

You can make exercise out of any activity. For example, one-handing a loaded pizza slice builds dexterity. If several slices must be eaten while practicing, well, sacrifice is often necessary to achieve one's goal.

[qimissung]

All you guys who don't like yoga-haters be haters. Feeling Taylor Swifty here.

[YesNo]

I haven't looked up the research, but I read in a book on hypnosis some time back (can't remember the name) that if you visualize yourself exercising, it is almost as good, in terms of things like weight loss, as actually exercising.

[Hawkman]

For peaceful, enjoyable exercise I heartily recommend hawking. You get to spend hours traipsing through the countryside, breathing fresh air and looking at the pretty wildlife. You have the company of one of nature's miracles on your fist, (which is like carrying a 2lb bag of sugar in your left hand all day) whilst climbing up hills. Good cardiovascular exercise, this. Then, when you see some pretty wildlife which looks tasty (either to you or the hawk) you let slip the bird and it chases the quarry down, with you in hot pursuit. This is when you get a really good workout, as sprinting, all togged up in your wellies and hawking gear with a game bag and a telemetry set slapping around on your hip, boosts the circulation and allows you build on all that good work you'd been doing when you were just climbing hills. You also get to leap over streams, wade through mud, and battle your way through hedges. And when you finally track your hawk down, you will, hopefully, have some really healthy food to put in the fridge or freezer. Game is very good for you, being pretty much fat free. I lost loads of weight when I was hawking regularly.

The only downside is the bird's predilection for squirrels. Nasty things, squirrels. Teeth like chisels. If your bird latches on to one of these, you need to get in quick so it doesn't get bitten. Not much eating on a squirrel either. One time my bird took off after a roe deer. It saw something furry with a flashing rump and must have thought it was jumbo rabbit. You should have seen the disappointment on her face when she got close and realised how big it was!

[Iain Sparrow]

I haven't looked up the research, but I read in a book on hypnosis some time back (can't remember the name) that if you visualize yourself exercising, it is almost as good, in terms of things like weight loss, as actually exercising.

You lose weight by burning more calories than you consume. Unless you're under some hypnotic trance while jogging you are not going to lose weight.

My god, have we become so decadent and lazy that instead of exercising and sticking to a balanced diet, we just need to visualize what it might be like to be healthy? Two years ago I weighed 210lbs, after making some lifestyle changes and working at it, I'm now at my proper weight, 180lbs.

[qimissung]

For peaceful, enjoyable exercise I heartily recommend hawking. You get to spend hours traipsing through the countryside, breathing fresh air and looking at the pretty wildlife. You have the company of one of nature's miracles on your fist, (which is like carrying a 2lb bag of sugar in your left hand all day) whilst climbing up hills. Good cardiovascular exercise, this. Then, when you see some pretty wildlife which looks tasty (either to you or the hawk) you let slip the bird and it chases the quarry down, with you in hot pursuit. This is when you get a really good workout, as sprinting, all togged up in your wellies and hawking gear with a game bag and a telemetry set slapping around on your hip, boosts the circulation and allows you build on all that good work you'd been doing when you were just climbing hills. You also get to leap over streams, wade through mud, and battle your way through hedges. And when you finally track your hawk down, you will, hopefully, have some really healthy food to put in the fridge or freezer. Game is very good for you, being pretty much fat free. I lost loads of weight when I was hawking regularly.

The only downside is the bird's predilection for squirrels. Nasty things, squirrels. Teeth like chisels. If your bird latches on to one of these, you need to get in quick so it doesn't get bitten. Not much eating on a squirrel either. One time my bird took off after a roe deer. It saw something furry with a flashing rump and must have thought it was jumbo rabbit. You should have seen the disappointment on her face when she got close and realised how big it was!

Or maybe just hiking, lol. Although hawks are utterly gorgeous.

Also, Iain, there's an article in today's New York Times Magazine, "The Thought That Counts," which tells about a study by a psychologist of 84 hotel chambermaids. "The maids had mostly reported that they didn't get much exercise in a typical week. The researchers primed the experimental group to think differently about their work by informing them that cleaning rooms was fairly serious exercise-as much if not more than the surgeon general recommends. Once their expectations were shifted, those maids lost weight, relative to a control group ( and also improved on other measures like body mass index and hip to waist ratio). All other factors were held constant. The only difference was the change in mind-set."

It's just one study, but it does seem to demonstrate the power of suggestion.

[Calidore]

What are the other factors that stayed constant? My initial reaction is that once given the idea of cleaning as exercise, those maids likely approached it that way and were more vigorous in their work. Does it also say by how much exactly their weights and measurements changed?

[qimissung]

Those are very good questions but that's pretty much all it says about that one study, Calidore. The whole article was pretty fascinating, though.

[Iain Sparrow]

Or maybe just hiking, lol. Although hawks are utterly gorgeous.

Also, Iain, there's an article in today's New York Times Magazine, "The Thought That Counts," which tells about a study by a psychologist of 84 hotel chambermaids. "The maids had mostly reported that they didn't get much exercise in a typical week. The researchers primed the experimental group to think differently about their work by informing them that cleaning rooms was fairly serious exercise-as much if not more than the surgeon general recommends. Once their expectations were shifted, those maids lost weight, relative to a control group ( and also improved on other measures like body mass index and hip to waist ratio). All other factors were held constant. The only difference was the change in mind-set."

It's just one study, but it does seem to demonstrate the power of suggestion.

Oh I definitely believe in the power of suggestion. I think mindset and perception is incredibly important for things like aging, and even weight loss and exercise... but I would need to see a follow up study on those 84 chambermaids, determine if such things have staying power. I've read studies on mindset and boosting or slowing metabolic rates, and there isn't much proof that it works.

*edit*
And I almost forgot... earlier this year I listened to an interesting audiobook, 13 Things That Don't Make Sense by Michael Brooks. Most of the chapters I was expecting; why we haven't come up with a Grand Unifying Theory for the universe, how is it that the first organic life came to be on Earth, dark matter and dark energy, and so on... but then there was a chapter on the Placebo Effect, and that was perplexing. Scientists don't know to what extent or even why the placebo effect works, only that it is far more dynamic than we once believed. Indeed, there are some popular medications and medical therapies/treatments that won't have the desired outcomes for patients unless they are fully aware that they are taking the medication, and or what to expect from certain therapies.
That is if they were unknowingly slipped the medication, it would have little to no effect on them. So I'm left wondering if that is what the chambermaids experienced, the placebo effect?

[qimissung]

The placebo effect is discussed in the article. Here it is, by the way:


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/ma...-set.html?_r=0

[Sancho]

Good article.

"The mind is a terrible thing, and it be stopped in our lifetimes."

I think we can have it both ways in the case of the hotel maids. By both ways I mean, calories in-calories out, as well as the power of positive thinking. Deep in the human psyche there is a need to do work as efficiently as possible, to save energy so to speak. But then take that work and call it a healthy exercise program and all of sudden movement is prioritized over efficiency. I'll bet the maids who thought of it in this respect took more steps while doing their job, made more trips back and forth to the cart in the hall, took the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. And if you hooked them up to an activity monitor I think it'd prove it.

Papaya and I are in the Fitbit club. The Fitbit is a little digital doohickey you wear on your wrist and among other things it tells you how many steps you take each day. I can guarantee you I move more when I wear it than when I don't. I'll make two trips to the barn carrying smaller loads rather than one big trip. I don't skip my daily run as much. I park farther from the building. I absolutely don't take the elevator. Every week they e-mail you a summary in which they tell you your average daily step count, how many miles you went that week, how many active minutes you had, and here's the kicker - they give you these little digital badges for milestones: 100 miles, 500 miles, 1000 miles, I'm embarrassed to say how much I enjoy getting a new badge.

[YesNo]

The placebo effect is discussed in the article. Here it is, by the way:


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/ma...-set.html?_r=0

This sentence from that article makes sense to me:

When we are “actively making new distinctions, rather than relying on habitual” categorizations, we’re alive; and when we’re alive, we can improve.

Although I try to pay attention, I realize I don't do it often enough.

[YesNo]

Papaya and I are in the Fitbit club. The Fitbit is a little digital doohickey you wear on your wrist and among other things it tells you how many steps you take each day.

I like gadgets. It looks like a potential Christmas present. Don't they have apps like this for your phone?

[Sancho]

Yep, Ya gotta download the app to your phone or tablet and then it'll automatically synch itself, but Ya gotta buy the doohickey - 'bout a hundred bucks. It's got a motion sensor of some sort and a Bluetooth connection. I probably won't replace it when it breaks. By then, with any luck, there'll be a smart watch that incorporates all that happy horsesh*t into one device. Then I'll be back down to one wrist. Woo-hoo.

[YesNo]

Hopefully by the time it breaks there will be something better. I like the idea of not having something on my wrists. No wrist watch either. I assume the phone is more accurate.