Exercise and Appetite

Yes! I have done it again! I have finished my second day on the plan with no deviations! I know you probably think that’s not much to brag about but I did face some major temptations today…

I started off with a strange (to me) combination of oats mixed in with cottage cheese and a chopped up apple. (I know, yuck!) But it wasn’t really that bad! The cottage cheese has no flavour so all it does is make my oats creamy – something they were lacking since I had to skip the butter and the milk. Once I got past the idea of eating cottage cheese with oats, it was actually rather tasty.

Two and a half hours later I had a slice of toast with 3 egg whites and a portion of low fat feta cheese. I was feeling rather light headed and thought the toast will fill me up, but clearly, my stomach has much more potential than what a measily slice of toast can fill! By 1 o’clock (an hour and a half later) I was starved and facing the gym with some scary cardio workout. So, I made myself drink one of those horrible shakes again. Except this time it tasted better. I don’t know if I am getting used to it or it was my deprived senses, but I found it much more palatable.

My workout was short – 20 minutes. But believe me, it was a killer. I would much rather do an hour of slower type exercise… I was grasping for dear life after it. Basically, I had to warm up for 2 minutes and do 4 intervals of 4 minutes each where the speed or incline gets progressively higher. I chose the elliptical trainer today (cause I was still a bit dizzy) and just increased the levels every minute for 4 minutes. On the 5th minute I go back to the lowest level and then up again. After I completed the 4 sets I had to do one more minute on one level higher than my highest level so far. “Come on” Jeni says “It’s only a minute”. Guys, you have no idea how long a minute can be! And then I had a cool-off minute before hitting the stretches and a cool shower. As I re-read the last paragraph I realise that the description is no match for the impact of the workout. You guys have to try it to understand what I am talking about.

The good news, though, is that by the time I finished I no longer felt the hunger. Strange! But it is time to eat (on this plan I have to eat every 3 hours) so I had 2 ostrich sausages and stir-fried veggies. Yes, you guessed it – last night’s leftovers. I am not much of the cooking type…

After a three hour gap I had the last leftover portion and then for dinner I had meatballs with salad. I had to measure the olive oil that I put in my salad and let me tell you a teaspoon is an awful little bit of oil!

So, a second star on my chart for today and a cup of rooibos tea for bed (the green tea did not agree with my desire to have an early sleep last night!)


Melissa

Jeni:
Melissa is feeling a little “light” which is quite natural in the first few days of a plan that restricts starch consumption. She only eats two servings of starch per day (e.g. oats and a slice of toast) which is not quite as extreme as the “fashionable” Atkins, Pritkin’s and South Beach diets but is a significant reduction and will speed up her weight loss efforts.

The interesting concept for me today was the perceived drop in hunger levels after her exercise session. Interestingly, a study was published in December 2008 by the American Physiological Society, measuring just that – effect of exercise on appetite levels.

They found that aerobic exercise has a dual action on the endocrine system. It suppresses the production of a hormone called ghrelin (which stimulates appetite) and increases levels of the hormone peptide YY (which suppresses appetite). These hormone effects apparently last for a few hours in the body after a cardio exercise session.

Weight lifting, or resistance based exercise, has similar but milder results. It suppresses gherlin levels but has no significant effect on peptide YY levels.

So, next time you feel you are really hungry and can’t make it till the next meal – head for the treadmill… or the Promenade…

Till tomorrow!

Jeni