Good morning!
Wow. I actually slept.
As a matter of fact, I slept a lot through yesterday too.
The band rehearsal was cancelled. I cancelled it, because I had absolutely zero energy. I had so many bad nights in a row, and I just couldn't muster up the will power to go. So we cancelled.
Instead, I took a complete off-day. I did absolutely nothing. Not even walks, workouts or biking. Nothing.
My fitbit says I had 4 active minutes in the day, and that is when I walked to a little store next door to buy dinner. That was literally all the exercise I did.
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I made sure my food/calorie intake matched my (lack of) calorie burn. I came out of the day with a deficit of a couple of hundred calories. Not much, but better than nothing. I made no bad food choices, and I did well on all accounts.
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We went to bed around 8:30 PM, and I slept all the way through to 7 AM. Still a LOT of restless sleep, but man can I tell a difference. I slept well, and I feel so much better today.
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Yesterday, I was reading up on exercise. I was reading up on a lot of things, but something kept grinding my gears, and it still does.
It's about the cardo. It's about long time cardio sessions vs. HIIT.
I completely get it when some of the bloggers and "fitness experts" talk about wasting time on cadio.
This last week, I saw no real results from all my excess walking. All I got out of it was that I was physically drained, and hungry. The result of that was that I went into the candies a few times, and ended up with a weight gain.
Also, I spent a LOT of time doing a whole lot of walking, with really not much of a calorie burn impact.
And then yesterday, I had such an easy day. Sure, I only burnt 2200 calories according to Fitbit, but I only consumed 1900 calories, so there was still a fat loss. All my macros were met, and I couldn't be in a better spot. It was very very easy.
This made me ponder - again.
Is the many hours of walking worth it? When I do my daily walk, about an hour, I burn about 320 calories. Do I need that burn, or is it actually more of a benefit to just lower my intake by 300 calories and save the time and energy for other things?
Of course, there is the OTHER benefits from walking. I do get that. I have a heart that isn't doing exactly what it should be doing, and walking and exercise is good for it.
I'm not talking about NOT doing ANY cardio. I walk a lot already. I took over 110,000 steps last week - INCLUDING my lazy Sunday.
What would happen if I just go for 50,000? Or just wing it? Go when I can?
Wife and I don't own a car, so there will always be walking involved, and quite a bit of it.
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Yesterday, my entire body was exhausted. I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I was tired from not sleeping, and I was tired from excess walking.
I got out of bed with the best intentions of both walking and playing music, but I am really happy that I skipped it all. I feel like a completely different person today.
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My conclusion, for right now at least, is that I don't need all that cardio. I don't need excessive walking. I have found myself walking quite a lot just to walk, just to up my calorie burn, just to do more, more, more, and I didn't like it. Not at all.
I like my morning walks. I like taking a nice, long walk, listening to my audio book, enjoying some alone time. I love that. But I don't love a forced walk to keep my calorie burn up to a certain level, just to create a deficit.
If this is the case, then I think it's much more beneficial to me to lower my intake for the day where I don't get to move as much.
It doesn't even have to be the same day. Everything I do is based on averages, and they even out over time.
The key to this is to not go so excessively high in calorie intake that it can't be caught up (which is what I've been doing, and thus gained weight) or so low in calorie burn that it becomes pointless, or impossible to reach my macros AND be in a calorie deficit at the same time.
I know what I'm doing here, I feel, and I think it makes a lot of sense.
I do so much walking, so much cardio this way, and it really isn't all that necessary if the rest of the cards are played right.
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What I WILL do instead, is more HIIT. As much as it is TOUGH for me to do, I like the feel of it. I like the extra burn that it gives, and I like the feeling of accomplishment that I get from it.
In theory, I could do this every day that I don't do strength training.
I'm not sure I will, though. It is HARD work. Very, very hard.
I still can't believe that 6 tiny 30 second bursts can kill me like this. LOL. But boy, how they can kill me.
Doing it is fun though. It's a different thing to do, and it gets me out of the house, as I like to do them at the gym on the elliptical. This is where I feel that I get the most out of it.
Besides, I haven't really felt that I could bike a whole lot, because my legs have been so tired from all the walking. Maybe by walking less, I can shift some HIIT sessions to the bike at home. I did this a couple of times, and it was equally exhausting.
The thing that I could NOT do on the bike at home was the four minute cooldowns between the bursts, and this was simply because my legs were too tired.
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Lots to ponder on today.
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In a moment, I'm gonna go to the gym and do my workout. I'm really looking forward to it.
After that, I will probably do my walk.
See, it's not that I will completely skip my walks! :) I just don't want to do them "just to do them". I want to feel like doing them.
One thing that I really found as a valuable lesson from yesterday was to see my calorie burn for a lazy day. I don't think I will have days with much less movement than what I had yesterday. Like I said, I only had a tiny walk to a stor that is literally across the parking lot behind the apartments I live in. That was all.
Well, I came out of the day with a calorie burn of 2100. Not all that bad, I'd say.
So, technically, if I just stay at around this number for my food intake, all exercise would be extra burn, and this more fat loss.
This is great info for me.
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If I stay passive all day, I can consume 2000 calories with no real danger of fat gain.
If I am more active, I can either have a larger fat loss, or consume more.
If I have more activity than my body fat can handle (and I risk losing muscle mass), then I need to eat some of the calories back it.
It's really pretty simple.
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Anyways, it's time for gym, and a walk.
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Today, I'm thankful for:
- SLEEP!
- Wife!
- A nice cup of coffee, while writing my journal.
- My buddies. Again, I really appreciate hearing from you guys. I haven't still gotten back to everyone that inbox me, but I'm working my way through it.
Have an awesome week! I will make this one the best in a while! In the words of Dee Snider: "Never Let The Bastards Bring You Down!". :)
Life is good!
EDIT:
After finishing my journal entry, I went to read a little in the community forum. I came across
THIS post, and it really made me think.
I feel that confirms a lot of my thoughts on exercise, but it also (re)opened my eyes to something.
We don't need to be standing on an elliptical, or riding a bike, or taking hour long walks to exercise.
What we NEED to do is to generally be active. We NEED to not sit slouched in the couch for hours upon hours every day. We NEED to not spend 20 minutes finding that parking spot closest to the entry to the mall, but just park wherever and walk the rest of the way.
This is what I will be working harder on. General activity. I will have time for it, when I don't waste that time on cardio. Go figure. :)
END OF EDIT.