I'm still here. I'm still going to the pool and exercising three times a week. I've lost about 30 pounds now and I am still learning. My blood pressure is slowly coming down and I'm also employing some relaxation moments to help my BP readings.

The relaxation exercise done just before taking my reading has really helped to get my BP down lower than it was. I'm finding numbers like 148/85 again, and I'm glad. What I do, is close my eyes and "look" inside my body with the idea of relaxing in mind. I take a few slow deep breaths, and let my shoulders drop. I am usually holding them up. Then I let my jaw un-pry itself and drop down enough to relax and let go. Then I look kind of deep inside the trunk and let go the abdominal muscles. I can feel the relaxation spreading. Most of the "holding" that I do is in the jaw, shoulders, and trunk and it really feels good to relax for a space of time.  I can see that I need to do this periodically throughout the day... and it always feels good.

Today I've been reading and listening to some expert bodybuilder-types named Joel Marion and Craig Ballentyne who have some very interesting things to say about fat loss, when to eat carbohydrates, and the best way to exercise to keep your body burning fat for 24-48 hours after your workout. (If you are interested, the link to their free download is here: http://247fatloss.com/rptdwnld.html)

As usual they are selling their workout videos, but they are also sharing some interesting information that might make a difference on a fat loss program. One of the things they talked about, that really perked up my ears, was about the hormone called leptin. If my understanding of what they said was correct, Leptin is the thing in the body that allows you to burn fat because it affects your metabolism. When you have an adequate supply of leptin, your body will burn fat and you will lose weight, with the opposite also being true that without it, you won't burn fat because your metabolism has slowed down.

They gave an example of how the loss of leptin shows up when you are on a diet -- and they also have a surprising way to restore your leptin and increase your fat loss.  The example they used was one that every dieter is familiar with. When you first undertake to reduce your weight and go on a diet, the first week is always a very good fat loss week. The second week you still lose weight, but not as much, and by the third week things begin to slow down to a crawl. As time passes you may even hit a plateau and the frustration that comes with it from still following the program you are on, but not getting any results.

They said the problem is that as you diet, and reduce calories and carbs, your levels of leptin (and your metabolism) begin to go down also, meaning the ability to burn fat is getting weaker. They have a very surprising solution to replenish your leptin and keep your fat loss metabolism at its optimum. They suggest that once every seven days you have an "overfeeding" day on which you eat pizza, cake, cookies, whatever carbs you like and this fills up the leptin tank. When the leptin tank is full, you then get back on and continue your weight loss program the next day, and this time, you will lose weight, again because your metabolism has been cranked up.

This one is a carbohydrate addicts dream. I guess you would have to actually to try it out in order to find out if it works in your body or not. And they were not talking about diabetics, so I might think a diabetic would have to do this in a sensible way, too, because I'm not sure it is good to suddenly have a huge blood sugar spike like this. I think the addict (like me) would have to be reminded that this can only be done on the seventh day -- which means it would have to be the same day every week. You could not do it on Monday, then again, on Thursday, then on Monday again -- that would most likely get you really off track.

I think it would really put an ease on social gatherings, too, if you chose, say, Friday as your feeding day. If you are already in the habit of going out with friends on a Friday and eating decadent food with them, you could still do that, then get back on the program and still lose weight over the next six days. You could even eat the donuts at work on a Friday and not bat an eye.  How flabbergasted would your friends be to watch you eating like a pig on Friday and still having optimum weight loss each week on your program?

This is still such a strange idea. I have actually heard of this before and used the idea to explain away (to myself) having a high carb day once in a while, but I never really planned a program that included it. Wait... I have a memory from long ago, of reading a book by a very obese man who did this. He lost weight, but when I tried it, it did not work for me. Perhaps this method works differently for the two genders. For men, they may be able to eat wildly the whole day long, but we women may have to be a bit more modest and only eat wildly for one, maybe two, meals on the seventh day. But, hey, if it works, it works. On the other hand, if you try it and it does not work, well then, you have your answer. 

I am ramping up to try this out and have chosen Sunday as my Carb day. I chose that day, because that was the last day that I "overfed" and I know I need the six days of eating right in between to make it work. I am a little leary of over feeding for the whole day so I am going to start off with just two meals with carbs on that day. I also think I need to do it more like a "reward meal" from the Carbohydrate Addicts' program than simply bellying up to the macaroni and cheese trough. The CA program suggests eating thirds of veggies, protein, and carbs -- and if you are still hungry to have more of all three. I am not sure if that will defeat the metabolism response that I am going for... it is just so hard to let the guard down and do the carb overfeed for the whole day.

I know, from experience, that one day of high carbs also wants to repeat itself the next day (like it was in charge!) so I don't want to run into that trap either. I'm thinking that it might be better for me if I plan restaurant or fast food meals so I don't have to buy the carbs and have them in my house the rest of the time. Not having the carbs in the house really supports me. I already know that if they are in the house I will reach for them first. Not kidding. I'm an addict and I know it. If I find this new twist does not work to help me maintain and increase my weight loss then that will be bagged as easily as any other bad prescription. The main point is that you just have to try it, if you want to know.

Here I go, again.

Hope all is well with you.

Be back soon,

Marcia