Workout Spotlight: Masters Swimming

Tonight was my Masters Swimming workout. The "masters" in the title refers to age (18 and up) and not ability level. Our group has two workouts, one for the beginners, and one for intermediates, and I am swimming with the beginners. We generally have four or five swimmers in each lane, so we get a little friendly interaction with the people in our lanes as well as a workout.

In my last masters group, there was actually one person who was just learning to swim, but I think it would be hard to learn that way, because there is usually one coach for 30 or so swimmers. Private or semi-private lessons would probably be better in that situation. If you have some basic swimming ability, though, masters swimming is a great way to improve your skills and get yourself in the pool at least once a week. You can search for a group near you on the U.S. Masters Swim webpage. My group charges a fee to pay for coaching and facility use in addition to the USMS dues.

When I swim on my own, I tend to just do a bunch of laps. In tonight's workout, however, there were one-armed swimming drills, "Tarzan" drills (freestyle swimming with the head out of the water, really stretching arms out in front with each stroke, as if grabbing for vines), and kickboard sets with all of the different kicks. I am terrible at the dolphin kick, the kick used for the butterfly stroke, but even a bad dolphin kick works the abs like nobody's business. I know I will wake up feeling that one tomorrow morning! The coach was able to give me some feedback on how to improve that kick, and that's one of the benefits of the group -- the chance to get some expert feedback and advice.

I have heard that swimming is not the greatest exercise for weight loss, but I think it's a great all-over strength workout, as well as a great workout for your core muscles if you do it right. The water provides a lot of resistance and you have to hold in your abs to be able to move efficiently in the water as you rotate for the strokes. I think that as long as you don't go on the Michael Phelps diet (at least unless you are working out 6+ hours a day and have the metabolism of a guy in his 20s), it can be a great addition to your fitness program.

Looking for a good, simple online workout tracker

I am interested in tracking my workouts online so that I could post a link to my workout journal for blog readers who were interested, so I didn't have to spend the time writing blog posts about my weekly workouts to be able to share that information. I want something very simple. I looked into SparkPeople, but it looks like it is more complicated than what I want -- all I want is something that will let me track activity and duration. For example: TRX suspension training, minutes. Etc. Nothing that wants me to enter every single exercise I did and the number of reps. That's too much work for me.

The closest thing I've found so far is Athlinks "What did you do today?" I may use that if I can't find anything else.

I would prefer something that either had an iPhone app or a mobile-optimized interface so that I could journal right from my iPod Touch/iPhone.

Anyone using something they love? Drop me a comment or an email.

Thanks!

The Biggest Loser Special: Where Are They Now?

I would have missed "The Biggest Loser: Where Are They Now?" special if I didn't have a DVR. I had heard a while ago that something like this was coming up, but then I sort of forgot about it, and hadn't seen a lot of promos for it.

Luckily "The Biggest Loser" loves to do reruns, so you can probably catch it if you missed it. Sometimes they show up on The Fine Living Network about a week after they air on NBC, and Bravo also does reruns. For this reason, I won't do too many spoilers of the surprises, just give a few hints.

It was interesting to hear Dr. H. talk about starting the show. He said they didn't know whether they could take people who had never exercised and put them on an intense exercise routine, "We knew that professional athletes could work out like this, but they had been fit all of their lives." To me, that is the most impressive thing about "The Biggest Loser," that they are able to take people who don't think of themselves as able to work out and turn them into athletes. And besides the people who have been on the show, there have been lots of people who see the show and have started their own fitness programs.

I have to hand it to the show's producers. They didn't cherry-pick their successes and only show people who had maintained at or near their lowest weights. A few people were able to maintain at low weights, but they worked very hard to do it. I noticed that the magic number for a lot of maintainers seemed to be around 160 -- even if they had dropped more than that for the show to compete for prizes, this was where they "lived their lives." And even though some people might not think of that as success, I do. The contestants were able to live happy, active lives that were realistic for them. You could see a real light in a lot of their eyes that wasn't an act put on for the special. I think that was an important message to get across to people watching at home -- that you don't have to look like a fitness model to be a success.

The show focused on all kinds of successes. There were some segments highlighting some of the romances in the contestants' lives, and even weddings, including those who met on-screen (Matt & Suzy) and off (Neil). Several of the contestants have also competed in races, sometimes in big groups. I was especially teary-eyed to see the clip about Matt's Ironman race. Many are now working as fitness trainers, touring as motivational speakers, or volunteering to help spread what they learned to other people in their communities. Some talked about feeling better-equipped to do their jobs and take care of their families. Ali has written a book, which I plan to read and review at some point.

As I said, the special didn't shy away from talking about contestants who are struggling. Matt and Suzy talked about the weight they've regained, and how they want to turn it around so they can be good examples for their kids. They still seem to be keeping pretty active (especially Matt), but they admit that it's a lot harder in the real world than it was on the ranch. Bob also pays a visit to a contestant won the "Biggest Loser" title but who's regained most of his weight and talks to him about how he can turn it around. What I liked is that when this contestant said he was reluctant to go back to "the strict life," Bob said he shouldn't, that he needs to find a lifestyle he can live with day-to-day instead. At first glance, it actually seems to be better to be an also-ran on "The Biggest Loser" than the winner: Three out of seven of the winners (Ryan, Matt, and Eric) have regained a sig nificant amount of the weight they lost. But the other four, including the three women who won (Ali, Michelle, Helen, and Bill), seem to have maintained pretty close to their finale weights. I think it may come down to what motivated them to lose. I didn't see Season One, but Matt and Eric both seemed to be really motivated by the competitive aspect of it all. Ali, Jim, and Michelle seemed to focus more on changing their lives. Helen is sort of a hybrid.

One of my favorite segments was seeing Mike from last season looking like a fit, happy college kid. He and Ron seem to be doing fine, and better yet, Mike's brother Max got a chance to go to the spa at Fitness Ridge over the summer and has lost some significant weight. I was always sad for him because he saw his dad and brother go away and come back fitter, and he was left out of it all. It was great to see him getting some help to get started. They didn't say that the show had sent him, but my guess is that he got to go either free or at a reduced rate as part of a trial of the new "Biggest Loser" branded spa experience, since he appears in the commercials for it.

I'm sort of sad to know that Jillian was in Michigan twice and she didn't come visit me. Doesn't she know I'm her biggest fan? But of course, if she came here, she might want to work out with me, and I know she'd crush me like a bug.

I really thought the special did a good job of both showing the challenges of losing and maintaining weight while still showing that it is possible to change your life. Though a "Biggest Loser" program wouldn't be realistic for people to do in the real world, I think the show can help us all see that our limits probably aren't anywhere near where we think they are. That doesn't just have to mean weight loss -- I liked that the special showed people living their dreams in all kinds of different ways. The message of the show is to figure out what you really want, and then do whatever it takes to get it.

The Biggest Loser Week 11: It's the Final Countdown

This was the all-important week where the final four contestants will be chosen. Bob and Jillian rightly focused on getting the contestants ready to transition from the artificial environment of the show to their real lives, with all the problems and complications that come with those lives. At first, all the contestants gave "Miss America answers" that they were going to have no trouble getting their fit on at home, but then after some prodding, Danny admitted that he was really scared.

There were a couple of little "moments," like Amanda and Bob having a heart-to-heart and Danny and Liz talking about how great it was that they were able to support each other. I felt like these were awkward to watch and went on for a little too long. I was waiting for Allen and Rudy to have their own "moment," but it never happened, and no one cuddled with Jillian either. I felt like Amanda had real feelings for Bob but Bob saw Amanda as mostly another contestant, albeit a really pretty and engaging one. Liz and Danny's ended kind of weirdly, like a couple on the telephone where neither wants to be the first to hang up. "Thank you," "No, thank you," "No, thank you." If I were the director, I would have yelled "CUT!" a lot sooner on this one."

Interestingly, they had a segment with Suze Orman about financial fitness this episode. I wouldn't have thought about it, but it makes sense: Many of the same issues that contribute to out-of-control weight gain also contribute to financial messes. Being afraid to face reality, for example, or not having a sense of security. Danny especially seemed to equate his weight problems with his financial problems. All along he has suggested that he sometimes feels like a failure as a husband and a father, and as a TV cameraman, he may not have a secure and stable income. There was a financial quiz that focused on the costs -- to employers and employees -- of obesity, but there was no mention of the fact that discrimination also plays a role. I was stunned by the figure of 4.4 billion dollars spent on the U.S. on gastric bypass surgery, and also of the $1,000,000 cost to the average person of being overweight for 40 years. Suze Orman sort of looks scary to me, with all those teeth, but the contestants appreciated the advice and really appreciated the $3,000 - 4,000 emergency fund each one was able to earn during the quiz.

There were some inspiring workout segments that showed the Day 1 contestants struggling, and the Week 11 contestants smiling through what was now an easy workout. The fact that they have come so far in 11 weeks is just stunning -- sure, the weight loss is great, but the achieving the kind of fitness they've built in 11 weeks would take a normal person in a normal situation years.

There was also the obligatory challenge where they carried their old weight and "tackled" their former selves. This time the challenge had a football theme, with the contestants harnessed to a barrel that contained 10 footballs, each of which represented 1 week's weight loss. For Rudy, they had to somehow make the first football weigh 28 pounds. The contestants had to run to the end of a football field, which lifted the barrel containing 9 of the footballs and carrying the first one, and drop off the Week 1 football on the 100-yard line. Then they ran back, dropping the barrel so they could pick up the next football. At the end, they ran to the end of the field and knocked over a tackling dummy that had a life-sized picture of them from the first day. Allen was the only one who really knew how to tackle, and it was fun to see him make his big hit when he won.

Because of the Danny-Liz-Rudy-Allen alliance, Amanda knew that she had to have a great weight loss week to have a chance at the final four. Because she is one of the fittest contestants, she was able to really work hard in the gym, doing lots of running. After a dramatic weigh-in, in which Danny finally set his own record of the most double-digit weeks of weight loss in a row, Allen and Liz ended up below the yellow line. Amanda got to cast the final vote. I like Allen and really wanted to see him in the final four, but Amanda had more of a friendship with Liz, so that was what made the difference in the end. As much as Liz talks about how her tendency to give to her relationships has been a problem to her, it also turned out to be her biggest strength in this game.

Allen looked great and seemed really happy to be back with his family and have a chance to give back to his community. I stayed tuned to Leno so I could see more of Allen, and he had lost even more weight and looked terrific. The interview with Leno wasn't all that interesting, though, and I turned it off before the "Cooking with Charles Barkley" segment.

Next week is the finale. I think I'm rooting for Amanda.

New Weight Watchers program: Wish list and wild speculation

It's no big secret. Every December, Weight Watchers introduces its new program materials. I think they do this in December, when meeting attendance is generally lower, so that all the leaders have a chance to get any questions or problems figured out before the big January surge. Every now and then, a post comes up on the Weight Watchers boards about it, and everyone basically tells the Original Poster (OP) to shut up and wait until the program rollout. If any real information did leak onto the boards, it would be quickly swept away by the moderators, because what's the point of rolling out a new program if you can't generate some excitement with it?

Sometimes the changes are major, like when the Core option was introduced. Sometimes the changes are minor, like when the Core option was renamed the Simply Filling Technique. Sometimes there are just fiddly bits around the edges, like changing the look of the program materials. Each time, there is an opportunity to buy a whole new Dining Out Guide and Complete Food Companion. I had three or four different versions at one time.

I thought instead of trying to puzzle out what Weight Watchers actually planned to do this year, which would probably be impossible, it might be more fun to say what I would like Weight Watchers to do (short of making chocolate and wine 0 point vegetables):

• Customizable Weight Loss Goals: It would be nice if you could customize your weight goal and get a corresponding points allowance. With the holidays coming up, it would be nice, for example, to set my goal to just maintain from now to January 1. With a paper tracker and the maintenance booklet, it would be technically possible to do that. You could just follow the recommendations for someone at their weight goal. It would be a really nice option to do this in eTools automatically and/or have an option in the quiz where you set your points target. You could adjust back up at New Year's, when you were feeling motivated. I don't know about others, but once I am over my points, it requires a stronger act of will to keep tracking, as stupid as that is. This option would make it easier for people like me to stay within range.
  
• Revisions to the Good Health Guidelines: Are two servings of dairy really necessary for everyone every day? I'd rather up my fruits and veggies and drop my dairy to one a day. And do you really need two teaspoons of liquid oil each day if you also eat foods, like nuts and avocados, that contain healthy fats? Also, how about a little more clarity on the whole grains? Weight Watchers has a good track record of keeping up with new health research, so I think it is possible that we will see some revisions here.
• Ditch the Weight Watchers Junk Food: The two-point bars, smoothies, and other snacks they sell in meetings have to be designed for superlong shelf lives, so they don't taste all that great and they're full of chemicals. Maybe it would be better for Weight Watchers to get out of the junk food business. It seems to go against their Good Health Guidelines, which focus on whole foods, to sell this garbage at the meetings.
  
• More for Maintainers: I think it would be great if Weight Watchers set up once-a-month regional maintainer meetings where people could specifically focus on the challenge of maintaining. The idea now is that maintainers attend regular meetings to serve as a good example for the rest of the members, but what tends to happen is that they either weigh in and leave or they disappear for a few months and reappear 10-20 pounds heavier, like I did. Maintainers could still attend regular meetings but they might feel more motivated if they knew they were going to be meeting with other maintainers instead of sticking out as the only skinny person in the room.
• Improvements to the iPhone App: I think you should be able to track your Good Health Guidelines on it, and your weekly weight. As it is, it's only a supplement to the website, not a substitute.
  

I don't have a lot of suggestions because I feel like it's already a solid program. I will go out on a limb and say that I don't expect any major changes this time around. Anyone else care to throw their hat in the ring with some wild speculation? All the cool kids will be doing it.

What to do about my meeting...

Tomorrow is my regular meeting/weigh-in day. I know my weight is not down from Thursday. It may well be up. I have had a disaster of a not-quite-week since then, feeling completely unfocused and not particularly motivated to eat right or exercise. I had workers in my house today and will have them here again tomorrow.

That was the actual post I started to write tonight about how I wasn't sure how to handle my meeting, especially because with workers in the house, I really didn't want to leave for the meeting. So what should I do? Do it? Skip it? Say "anything goes" until after Thanksgiving? Then I got the brilliant idea to look for a meeting in the early morning so I could go and be back in time for the workers. Then, as I was doing that, I realized there was a meeting at 6:30 at my regular center. It was 6:00. I felt scuzzy from sitting around all day and had just eaten dinner and had eaten handfuls of salty cashews right out of the bag in the afternoon, but I knew I needed to get out of the house before I decided that next week was going to be a complete loss with the holidays and gave in to the idea of not tracking.

I took a quick shower, put on a somewhat cute outfit and makeup, and went to the center with wet hair. I decided to do the "No Weigh In" option, because after a not-so-great few days (I just weighed in on Thursday) with dinner still digesting, I didn't want to face the scale. I just needed to give myself a signal that this floundering around had to stop. I don't think I've used the no-weigh option before, because I always sort of felt like the weigh-in was the whole point of the meeting, but the point of the meeting is to get motivated and have a chance to be around like-minded people with the same goals. Thursday's meeting didn't really do it for me, but tonight's was better. The people there seemed down-to-earth and the leader was sincere. I even picked up a cookbook on sale for $5.

Tomorrow I take my first dose of my new meds. I really do think that worrying about the whole thyroid thing on top of the epic home-improvement projects and the impending Family Time just seemed like too much to handle. But it's not, really.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving:

• I'm grateful to have a doctor who took the time to listen to me
• I'm grateful to have health insurance and prescription coverage
• I'm grateful to have a home that I love
• I'm grateful to have the resources to do the home improvement projects that needed to be done
• I'm grateful to have a family I love and the chance to spend time with them.

Most of all, I'm grateful I figured out a way to pull out of the tailspin this time. Thanks for reading.

Recipe: Toasted Peanut Butter Oats

I finally found a way that I like oatmeal. The secret is toasting the oats first, before cooking them, and then adding some peanut butter, which is my favorite thing in the world. I'm not sure where the idea of toasting the oats came from, but I got the idea to put peanut butter in them from Jenna's blog. She is always making oatmeal with all kinds of goodies.

I apologize for the lack of pictures. The next time I make this, I will come back and add them if I remember.

I used Bob's Red Mill Thick Rolled Oats. I prepared them according to the package directions, but with a twist:

While I boiled the 1 cup of water and dash of salt (for one serving) in a small saucepan on the back burner, I toasted 1/2 cup of the oats in a small skillet on the front burner over medium-high heat, stirring them with a wooden spoon so they would toast evenly. The oats start to smell really good when they toast, and that's how you know they are ready. For me, it took about the same time as it took for the water to boil.

When the water boiled, I dumped the oats into the boiling water. There are some small dark specks that seem to be a part of the oat that toasted faster than the rest. I was afraid they would give the oats a burnt taste but they didn't. I reduced the heat to medium and stirred gently every few minutes for 10 minutes.

When the 10 minutes were up, I turned off the gas, dropped 2 tablespoons of peanut butter on top of the oats and covered them. I let them stand for about 2 minutes off the heat to absorb the rest of the water and melt the peanut butter a little so it would be easier to stir in.

Then I uncovered the pan, gave everything a good stir, and poured it into a bowl. I sliced a small, ripe banana on top and dug in.

I had this (and 14 cashews while I waited for the oats to cook) for breakfast yesterday after my run (I had a slice of toast with butter before my run) at around 8:00 before going out for a busy shopping day. I didn't get hungry for lunch until 2:00!

Test results

My test results came in the mail yesterday. I still have high levels of thyroid antibodies and everything else looks borderline, so my doctor suggests taking a low dose of synthetic thyroid hormone. I have to call in tomorrow with my pharmacy information.

I am curious to see what the effects will be. I am also going to read as much on the condition as I can so I know what to do to help the medicine work.