I’m doubled over in agony. Why?
What could make me feel like throwing away all of my objectives for the week
and becoming best friends with the Porcelain Pony? Was it my diet, or was it my
workout routines? I wasn’t sure what was causing it, but one thing was clear to
me: this was not going to be a good week.
My
class had taken a week of vacation due to our professor’s crammed schedule, and
I therefore attempted to have a cleansing process occur during the break. To elaborate further, I tried to bring my diet
back to equilibrium while detracting workouts from my daily routine so as to
not affect my future progress or potential degradation. Now, I’m assuming that
you are thinking this cleansing process was an excuse to be lazy - you aren’t
totally wrong. As much as this was a chance to stabilize my body, it was also a
chance to escape the gym and its painful repercussions such as pain, fear, and
the occasional inability to pick up small objects. I had thrown my diet plan
towards the wind and I regret absolutely nothing.
Let’s
get back on track, shall we? Fast forward one week, and I’m back in the dreaded
diet phase. This time around, it was a high-carb diet aided with constant
exercise to aid in the development of this little experimental blog project. My
first few thoughts could be summed up as “high-carbs? Does that mean more rice
and tater-tots? I love this diet already!” What type of person would hate to
eat more carbohydrates and starches everyday? As a past resident of Hawai’i, my
lifestyle consisted of having rice and macaroni salad with almost anything you
can imagine. Therefore, don’t think for a minute that I was in any way against
this meal plan. However, I soon came to find that my happiness would turn into
despair – starchy, delicious despair.
The
first few days went very smoothly in terms of my happiness and energy levels.
Carbohydrates are known to store energy for daily usage and are a major source for
developing metabolism. However, in a 1996 study conducted by Dr. Meena Shah and
Dr. Abhimanyu Garg for the American Diabetes Association, they found that “a
high-carbohydrate hypocaloric (low calorie) diet does not favor weight loss
compared with a hypocaloric high-fat diet as shown by the numerous inpatient
and outpatient weight lose intervention studies.” This study made me feel somewhat
pessimistic of my goals for the week, but I pressed on against the odds.
After
about two or three days of high carbs, I began to feel a strange feeling in the
depths of my stomach. It almost felt as if nausea and guilt had created a warm,
cozy home within my body; in other words, the bathroom became my closest
acquaintance. I knew it was the diet, as working out has never made me feel
this way – excluding the time I had to run miles upon miles for soccer
conditioning. The intense waves of fear and nausea scared me at first, but I
knew that it would pass after a week’s worth of the diet. To take my mind off
of this odd occurrence, I wanted to run and I wanted to run hard.
This
meal plan was designated for energy storage, and that’s exactly what it helped
to accomplish. I had more energy this week than I had ever imagined I could
gain from such a fattening diet - as in +1 pound fattening. Still, I was
astounded to find that my runs were so efficient and short. Normally, I would
alternate between jogging, walking, and crying while on my daily routes.
However, I was now jogging pretty much most of the way and decreasing my
average of 26 minutes per 1.9 miles to 20 minutes per 1.9 miles. Not only was I
running faster, I felt better doing it. I was cutting through the wind faster
than an icebreaker cuts through tension. It was simply unbelievable.
On
the other end of the spectrum, I eventually found out from a friend that
high-carb diets are meant to help build muscle while low-carb diets are meant
to help burn fat. Therefore, I decided to test this theory in the recreational
center. I always feel intimidated when going to the gym, but even more so when
everyone around me is lifting way more than I am. Keeping to my training
regiment, I found that I had indeed lasted longer and lifted more weight than I
had previously done. As I previously mentioned, I had gone through a cleansing
week where I did not workout. Therefore, my muscles were somewhat new and were
not as trained if I had worked out every week leading to this diet change. Here are my biceps and lats results for the
week: one set of Bicep curls (16 reps at 15Ib), two sets of seated Bicep curls
(10 reps at 20Ib), two sets of lat pulldowns (16 reps at 60Ib), two sets of
seated lat rows (12 reps at 15Ib), two sets of overhead tricep extensions (10
reps at 10Ib), two sets of Bicep curls (9 reps at 15Ib), and one set of seated
Bicep curls (8 reps at 15Ib). Here are my shoulder and tricep results for the
week: four sets of Shoulder Press (10
reps at 15Ib), two sets of Side Shoulder Raises (10 reps at 12.5Ib), two sets
of Tricep Kickbacks (12 reps at 12.5Ib), two sets of Overhead Tricep Extensions
(10 reps at 7.5 Ib), three sets of alternating Deltoid Raises (6 reps at 10Ib),
one set of Reverse Deltoid Flys (8 reps at 7.5Ib), and two sets of Arnold
Shoulder Raises (6 reps at 10Ib). Though this week was exhausting both
physically and mentally, I can’t totally call this diet beneficial or
detrimental simply because both sides were so balanced. Next week, I’ll be
comparing this to the low-carb diet approach. Wish me luck, and I hope that I
won’t break down.
Works Cited
·
Shah, Meena and Garg, Abhimanyu. “High Fat and
High-Carbohydrate Diets and Energy Balance.” October 1996, American Diabetes
Association. May 17, 2013 < http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/19/10/1142.full.pdf>
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