Today is diet day number two. I have already lost one pound. All it took was a little exercise and a massive amount of self-control. Fun stuff!

Last winter, I read a little bit in Bicycling about a little cheater trick for burning fat. I can’t find the issue with the information in it, but I will pass it on.

The advice the article gave (several ideas) was bad advice, and the article was up front about that. One of my favorite and safest pieces of advice was concerning a morning workout. During sleep, the body shifts to fat burning for energy. Upon waking, the body continues fat burning until a certain threshold is reached. The advice is rather simple.

Upon on waking, head out the door with nothing but water in the stomach. Take some backup carbohydrate source for later. Don’t do a hard workout, but go at an easier effort for about 40 minutes to an hour. It is pretty obvious when the body switches to muscle burning mode because the head starts to feel a bit off. If that point is reached, eat some sugar. I like Hammer Gel, although a Cliff bar or something else of solid substance may be more desirable since a fast is, well, being broken (thus, breakfast). The reason for finally consuming something is obvious: we don’t want to lose muscle.

The next part of the weight loss equation is my favorite. Head home and eat a healthy breakfast. My favorite breakfast is actually quite good for an active day – it holds a little more than 1/3 of my daily calorie intake for weight loss on a sedentary day:
• Stonyfield strawberry yogurt with Udi Vanilla Almond granola
• Hot cereal or a hard-boiled egg
• Two slices Healthy Choice 7-Grain toast with Jelly
• Hot tea

This leads me to another point. I believe one of the reasons why these 10 Fall pounds were packed on so easily over the last couple of months is because of my fluid intake. I always drink a lot, but the types of beverages I drink change from season to season. This fall, I have been indulging in lot of beer, iced tea with sugar, and coffee with milk and sugar. In single-serving sizes, these beverages are all wonderful and have their benefits. In massive quantities, they pack on the pounds. I have switched back to herbal tea that does not require added sugar to keep my palate happy.

I have been too lazy to drive anywhere, so my preferred exercise of choice has been snowshoeing. It is amazing how snowshoeing can wipe me out after only an hour. With skiing, I can go for twice as long, but that may be because my senses are flooded with many thoughts like, “I’m gonna die!” and “Woohoo, this is fun!” I have to admit, while I like snowshoeing, it definitely lacks the excitement of skiing. It does have its merits, however.

Where’s Di?

My HughesNet (doesn’t deserve a link) decided to take a poo, Thursday afternoon. I have been without internet ever since. I have decided to travel to Cyberia Café (deserves a link) in Houghton, MI (thanks for the internet access!) to post this garble to my blog. Unfortunately, there may be a few more days of interruption to this somewhat regularly scheduled blog. I will continue to write, however, and post when I have a chance.

In the meantime, I have been celebrating the wonderful season of Advent (more about that later) in preparation for Christmas. A holiday season photo essay will follow.