Lately, I have been adding up the numbers to get an idea on how far I have travelled over the course of 2014. By the end of October, I had walked 3100 km, which is about the distance from Ottawa to Calgary. If I add in the distance I covered on my bike this summer, about 1400km, I have travelled the equivalent of the distance from Ottawa to Vancouver. Not too shabby.
Add in approximately 100 workouts with the weights, you might think that I would be ripped by now.
No, not me, for I am cursed what my doctor refers to as a thrifty metabolism. I am incredibly efficient and turning glucose into fat and storing it. Restricting my intake of simple carbs has helped a bit, but no where near what I thought I could bring about by combining a lot of exercise with a low fast-carb diet.
So, what's left to do?
Well, since I have come this far, I might as well go all the way -- cutting back on alcohol. I read lately that besides the extra calories and the stimulation of the appetite, one of the negative effects of alcohol consumption, especially for people who are trying to shed fat, is that our bodies will burn off the alcohol first before returning to burning glucose and fatty acids. In other words, a couple of glasses of wine with a good meal is a great way to undo the positive effects of all the exercise during the week.
Consequently, I have decided that in addition to limiting myself to one cheat meal per week, I also will limit myself to just one unit of alcohol. So far, so good. I haven't had any alcohol for the last three weeks. We'll see where this brings me.
According to my son, who also works out and watches what he eats, if this one last piece of the puzzle doesn't bring about the fat loss that I'm looking for, I should accept the fact that I will die fat.
"Fit-Fat", I replied. Even if 25% of my body mass is fat, you have to be in pretty good shape to cover 5000 km during a single year. At the moment, I am right on track to do so.
It would be a great way to end the year!
