No Sweat

 
So, just when I paid my gym fees the New York Times destroys my grim determination to lose weight by publishing this article:

Weighing the Evidence on Exercise

How exercise affects body weight is one of the more intriguing and vexing issues in physiology. Exercise burns calories, no one doubts that, and so it should, in theory, produce weight loss, a fact that has prompted countless people to undertake exercise programs to shed pounds. Without significantly changing their diets, few succeed.

Okay, this is the bit that stopped me.

“In general, exercise by itself is pretty useless for weight loss,” says Eric Ravussin, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., and an expert on weight loss. It’s especially useless because people often end up consuming more calories when they exercise.

And that's true. I usually run either an 8K or a 12K on a non-gym night. And I get back ravenous! I'm walking the house literally looking for something to eat - like a pillaging army I assault the fridge and eat everything from leftovers to the kids' vitamins. Apparently, this is normal.

The NY Times goes on to say that this is especially true for women who are biologically programmed to replace lost calories to maintain energy stores for reproduction.

Also that exercise is good for keeping weight down ... you just have to lose it first.

And lastly, since we succumb to this horrific calorie-compensation if we exercise hard, low intensity workouts are probably the way to go. The report shows that simply standing at work  instead of sitting (or lying down - I suppose a lot depends on your line of work)  forces one to burn many more calories without the need to eat afterward.

I'll think about this on the way to the fridge...

Running Man

 
After the Chinese New year break I started running again. This is an act born out of necessity. The Lunar New Year involves gluttony and egregious drinking to the point that I started hiding in my room by Day 5. After the descent to sanity it became clear that if I was ever again to wear my existing pants and shirts with any vestige of dignity, severe action was called for.

Ergo the running.

Now I am no stranger to running. I learned how to do it at school, the SADF injected it into my DNA and my wife reminds me about it every morning when I dress. In years before, I ran long and even completed a marathon in each of 2005 and 2006. Although I did not qualify for the Olympics, I also was not casevaced by the Bus of Shame that picked up the DNFers.

Yet, now I feel as though I'm starting from running kindergarten again. My legs ache before, during and after I run. It's no fun and I believe neither am I pretty sight.

Also I fear that this plan will either drive me to religious fanaticism or alcohol as I alternately hallucinate about beer and pray on my evening runs...