Many of you may have noticed that commenting on entries on my blogs isn’t as simple as it used to be. This is because SPAM bots can use the easy forms too well. Effective like 5 minutes ago, everyone who has an AIM ID can now login to post a comment to my blog. Also, the LiveJournal and other authentication methods remain available. If you don’t really want to comment on an entry at this time, but want to test the commenting functionality, feel free to comment on this post with a test comment.
There are a lots of options to authenticate, give one a try.
Blog Changes
If you have been following my ceramics blog from ClayMentality.net, please visit http://art.livecurt.net and update your bookmarks. The ceramics blog is now the art blog, and is at the new location noted previously. The new blog will be more comprehensive, giving me an artistic outlet without overloading the main blog (this one).
What are calories?
[cross posted from body.livecurt.net for your convenience]
A calorie is 4.1184 Joules, which is roughly 4 watts. A calorie is a physical unit of potential energy. When burned by the body a calorie produces electrical and thermal energy as needed throughout the day. Calories come from 3 things: protein, fat and carbohydrates. Oddly, the worse of the three are the carbs. One gram of protein is 4 calories, one gram of carbs is 4 calories, and a single gram of fat is 9 calories.
Protein is the best thing you can get from your daily calorie allotment, it powers your muscles and acts as a stored energy source throughout the day that can be easily accessed. It is best to eat protein rich foods before and after working out for the biggest benefit to your body.
Carbohydrates are evil. They break down very fast and should almost always be utilized immediately, or else, you risk them slowing you down as the metabolism revs up to burn through them and then crashes you right back down after its done. Carbs are best to eat at breakfast, when you can use them as quick fuel to get you started and the chances of them being burned away almost instantly are very high. If you live a life that isn’t active at all, eliminating carbs is likely your only hope for weight-loss, but keep your protein high to protect your muscles.
Fats are GOOD! Fat is very hard for the body to store as fat, because it is more complex and takes too long to break down (your stomach cant just pass fat out to begin building a fat monument on your abs). Fats are relatively quick energy, and aren’t reserved for high-level muscle use. Fast-twitch muscles need a lot of protein, but the slower fibers will settle for the fats. Saturated fats are bad, avoid them if possible. Fats in nuts and milks are usually the best for your body because they usually are carrying other things that are really great for the body.
There is some good news, you can blow off 10% of the calories eaten each day to the digestive process itself.
Want to know how many calories you should eat per day? To determine the number of calories you need to maintain your weight, take your current body weight and multiply it by 11, then take that number and multiple it by your energy multiplier, then add whatever you burn during a workout. So.. in an easier form: (Current Weight*11*Energy Multiplier)+workout calories. If you want to gain weight (bulk), add 500 calories per day, if you want to loose weight, subtract 1000 calories per day.
*Energy multiplier: 1.3 (sedentary), 1.6 (light work), 1.7 (moderate work), or 2.1 (hard labor).
Just a little wisdom I picked up in my research.
Spring Break?
It has just occurred to me that instructors don’t really acknowledge spring break anymore. While there is no class held during spring break, there is no effect on online courses, and in-person classes still have assignments due. My Creative Writing class was on break this week (CPCC break), but assignments are still due on the same schedule. I have been working on the assignment all week, so it doesn’t really affect me, but still, there is no true break because work will still be due. Even more fun is the spring break with my drawing course, the instructor has already made it clear that there will be work that is to be done during that week. The only instructor who isn’t expecting something to be done during spring break is my astronomy instructor, he doesn’t want to see his students, think about his students or have anything to do with the course during the week. All he asks is that his students return to him the Tuesday after break completely refreshed and ready to take on more astronomy material.
I consider spring break to be a necessary break in the semester to allow the brain to recover from the information absorbed during the first part of the semester. Anyway, I’m probably just being irrationally cranky about nothing.
Back to Perspective
So far in Drawing 2 I haven’t enjoyed anything more than I did in drawing 1, until now. We are presently working on perspective. In this course, we are going at it more aesthetically and a lot less technically. I am currently working on a piece that I am really happy with so far. Its sort of like perspective drawing now has meaning.
Workout Buddies are Good to Have
I was worried that when I started this workout routine and made the decision to become fit and to make other positive changes in my life, that I would be alone, and a bit of an outcast among everyone I am in contact with. I am very happy to say that Chris is being very supportive. Chris is encouraging me to workout, is working out with me and has taken a strong interest in making proper nutritional selections. I think that having someone who is this interested in helping me improve myself is going to make the plan a complete success. Also, I think Chris will find that he enjoys working to become more fit himself.
Thanks for always being there for me Chris.
A Little Irony
Earlier I posted a blog entry about having difficulty conceiving a gaudy poem… well… I thought for a few more minutes (10 minutes max) and then decided to turn to my favorite research assistant for help…. Google. I went to the search box in my browser and typed “gaudy poem” (without quotes) and guess what the first hit returned was? MY BLOG POST. It would appear that since I have been abnormally chatty as blogs go recently, the GoogleBot has placed my IP address on speed-dial and my entries appear in the Google index almost immediately. Its a bit cool, but also a bit scary at the same time.
A person should never see themselves as the first hit on any random search on Google… it just isn’t right.
Gaudy Poem
Well… this is what I came up with. It ain’t pretty, but it will get me a grade for turning it in on time (which is all that counts).
Sweat raining down like a waterfall
Intense heat penetrating the body
Kinetic energy pulsating the muscles
Muscles on fire with stress and tension
Push, pull, Push, pull
Blind to the pain
Ignorant to the ripping
Deaf of the muscles crying for relief
Breath in, Breath out
Coach screams like a master of bellows
The pain is nothing
Drone in the heat keeps pushing
Pain is fear
Fear is weakness
Brave the pain
Alienate the weakness
Writers Block in Creative Writing
I have the easiest assignment ever in Creative Writing II that is due in a few hours. It is an assignment called “gaudy poem”. It is supposed to be a very showy poem. Using all available literary devices and language techniques to create a poem to showcase the strengths of a poet. I believe I can do this, but I am currently bouncing around between topics and can’t get my mind to settle on one particular topic to write about. In Creative Writing 1 I could usually come up with a variety of things to write about, and could throw together a poem in any form requested in just a few moments. This course isn’t having that effect on me. I feel pressured into fiction, so I have thought about the next chapter of my novel, due next week. I decided that one of my characters is going to be gay, and that one of the central conflicts of the novel will involve his homosexuality as it relates to his interactions to heterosexual men, primarily, his best friend.
Deprived of Nothing
I expected when I started this plan of personal health and fitness that it would result in me losing some of my favorite foods, but so far, nothing has really had to be ejected. I no longer indulge in carbonated beverages at all, and the only thing sweet I drink is 100% juice and the occasional cup of tea (usually for the caffeine later in the day). For dinner tonight I had what I consider to be a “bad” meal, spaghetti and meatballs. I enjoyed a serving of spaghetti (2 dry ounces), a serving of sauce (1/2 cup), and 2 meat balls for under 500 calories. The negatives of the meal would be the 170 calorie piece of garlic bread that I decided eat with my meal. After the meal I ate a small slice of birthday icecream cake (122 grams) for a little over 200 calories, simply because I craved something cold and sweet. I don’t like that I consumed so many sugars, but I suppose occasionally I am allowed to indulge a little. I am still under 1500 calories for the day and quite full from dinner still.
Next week when I start trying to eat 5 – 6 small meals per day, these big meals will be a thing of the past, but I am trying to go into that fairly slowly. I will also be working on keeping my carbohydrates, proteins and fats in balance more.