The Definitive What I Learned About Health and Fitness During COVID

Special thanks to the following suppliers or partners, none of which are paying me to say good things about them -- #healthline, #Catherine Pearson, #VShred, #TRX, #Bodyfit by Amy, #Beverly International Nutrition, #myfitnesspal, #Cynthia Sass, #Prolon.

At the end of March 2020, I read an article that said during the COVID stay at home period that there were going to be two groups of people with two different outcomes: 1) those that gained 10 lbs. and 2) those that lost 10 lbs.

I committed to be in group 2) those that lost 10 lbs.

Interestingly, according to a March 21, 2021 Healthline article, in a survey of over 3,000 US adults, 61 percent reported undesired weight gains since the Covid outbreak, with 2 in 5 of those surveyed gaining an average of 29 pounds and 1 in 10 gaining more than 50 pounds. Ouch!

Here are my results-

As of April 30, 2021 my weight is down from 227 lbs. to 190 lbs. with an estimated Body Fat % of 17.5% and a BMI of 22.5, well within the healthy range. That’s a loss of 37 lbs., 11.2% in Body Fat %, and about 5 ? inches around my waist.

UPDATE: As of July 31, 2021 my InBody scan shows weight is at 188 lbs, Body Fat % is at 11.8%, BMI is at 22.3, for a loss of 39 lbs. while gaining muscle mass over the past year and a half.

Here’s what I did and what I learned along the way, and I hope my experience will encourage others to consider similar actions.?Please note that I am neither a fitness expert nor dietician. I am sharing what worked for me. Do not make any dramatic changes to your exercise and diet regimen without consultation with your physician and other qualified personnel.

1)????Do some form of exercise first thing, every single day. Before you check your phone, before you get on your computer, before you do anything else, do at least 10 to 30 minutes of somewhat intense exercise, even if you are going to do a gym workout later in the day, or in my case, play golf. I know there are trainers that say take days off, but I find that doing something every single day and the same time simply ingrains the habit. I have performed this habit for almost 400 straight days.?

By exercising first thing, and not checking my phone, I am doing two of the five?things Catherine Pearson talks about in her article?5 Things You Should Do First Thing In The Morning To Be Happier All Day. Here’s her complete list and I am quoting her article’s subtitles-?

1. Pick a wellness habit, then link it to an a.m. ritual that you already have.

2. Get your phone out of your room.

3. Talk to yourself ...

4. … and somebody else.

5. Incorporate gratitude.

The exercise that I might do may be 15-20 minutes on the stationary bike, a treadmill workout, or a VShred or TRX workout (more on that later). I try to do some form of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts at least three times per week. Here are some examples of some of my treadmill workouts-

·??????2 minute warmup, then 30 sec. at fast pace, 1 minute walking, for 5-10 cycles. This is just a great way to start the day, especially when I am doing a gym workout later or playing golf. I can burn 135 calories in 10 minutes.

·??????2 minute warmup, then 1 minute at fast pace with 3 minutes walking, for 5-8 cycles

·??????2 minute warmup, 5 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, 4 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, 3 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, 2 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, 1 minute running, 2 minutes walking, cool down. Each run is successively faster than the previous one, making the 1 minute run the fastest and most intense.

·??????3/12/30 is not actually HIIT but it works. It’s 3 mph on the treadmill, at 12% grade for 30 minutes. I actually worked up to 3.5/12.5/30.

2)????Perform resistance training at least 3 times per week. This can take a variety of forms as I talk about later in this article. Most workouts however split into for example a) upper one day, then lower for the next workout; b) push (chest, shoulders, triceps), pull (back biceps), then legs; or c) torso (back, chest); arms/shoulders; then legs.

3)????Try to get set up where you can do some training at home and leverage online workouts. I am fortunate as I have a home gym with a treadmill, stationary bike, dumbbells and weight benches. However, I also discovered TRX resistance bands and VShred which provided variety to my workouts. Both TRX and VShred have dozens of online workouts which are very easy to follow. TRX has workouts on their website and scores of independent instructors like Bodyfit by Amy have workouts?that are easily accessible on YouTube.

4)????Add variety to your workouts. Whether it’s the exercise first thing in the morning or the resistance training, do different things. I’ve introduced all kinds of different HIIT approaches, and different resistance training schemes. This is where the dumbbells, TRX, VShred, and online videos help me add variety and hit my body differently. For years, I was doing the same resistance workout which got boring and likely stopped doing much for me.

5)????Eat better, of course. We all know that diet is important and despite the multitudes of conflicting information, we generally know what good looks like. Most fitness experts agree that in any weight loss/body enhancement program that 80 percent of the gains come from diet, with 20 percent coming from exercise. We know that higher protein, lower simple carbohydrate diets work best, avoiding the “white foods” such as white bread, white potatoes, white rice, white pasta, white sugar, and white flour which are overprocessed and empty calories nutritionally. We know of course, that salads with low fat dressings are better, and seafood, is better for you than fatty meats and fried foods. I am partial to Japanese food, but it doesn’t take a genius to determine that 500 calories of high Omega 3 sashimi are better for you than 500 calories of chocolate cake.

The COVID era has given me the opportunity to better control my destiny in the diet area as I am not traveling as much, not eating out as much, and often take my own food wherever I go. I have learned that if I want to eat a healthy diet, I need to plan my meals, take food with me, and strategize about what I will eat when I am outside my home. I even study restaurant menus before I go out to make sure that I make good choices.

Eating 4 or more smaller meals versus 2-3 big ones is much better for your metabolism and tends to keep you from overeating. Running your body into a ravenous mode is setting you up for failure. I see it all the time, where people have lunch at 12 noon and then are literally starving by the time they run to their 730 pm business dinner. That is when they start forcing a drink, bread/butter, an appetizer down before they have even ordered. Many restaurants are designed to get you to order the salad with heavy dressing, the big meal with sides and wine, and sometimes dessert, and before you know it you have just consumed 2000 or more calories which should be your daily intake. I do everything I can to avoid this situation, by spreading eating out across the day. Eating at places like Japanese or?Tapas restaurants where I can order small portions helps me a lot. I tend to also eat at the bar in restaurants where there is not as much pressure to overeat. A small salad and a healthy appetizer is often my go-to restaurant meal.

I looked at an 8 day period, leveraging myfitnesspal (more on that to come) which showed the following average daily diet characteristics-

1900 calories most days, 2400 calories on days I played golf as I burned more calories.

40% protein, 38% fat, 22% carb.

191 grams of protein or 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. I use some of the Beverly International Nutrition products, along with lean meats, poultry and fish, and Greek yogurt to get the protein levels up. Beverly International Nutrition products such as UMP, Muscle Provider, Mass Aminos, and Ultra 40 are great supplements.

VShred provided me with a custom diet that I am somewhat following, although I am eating more calories because I am exercising and golfing more. They recommend around 1550 calories per day, and they cycle carbs and protein so that protein ranges from .7 to 1 gram per pound of bodyweight depending on the day. Macronutrients range from 35 to 55 percent for protein, 20 to 45 percent for fat, and 10 to 40 percent for carbs, depending on the day.

6)????Track all exercise and diet on myfitnesspal.com. There are several apps that help you track your progress. I have found myfitnesspal to be fantastic for what I need. I try to have a calorie deficit each day versus the target calories plus the calories “earned” by exercising that the app provides each day.

7)????Consider vitamins and supplements. I take Omega 3 Fish Oil every day for brain and heart health. During COVID I started taking Vitamin D supplements after I learned that in the U.S. 40% of the population is Vitamin D deficient, and there were studies that indicated that Vitamin D deficient individuals were more likely to be impacted by a case of COVID. Further, it’s been well documented that Vitamin D improves bone health which is important as we age. I also take Vitamin E daily. There are some studies that say it aids in heart health and mental function, but it’s not fully clear yet as to the benefits.

8)????Be careful with alcohol intake as these are empty calories. If you ask me if people should drink alcohol or not, I would say that they undoubtedly should not. I know there are studies that show that moderate drinking and especially red wine can actually lead to increased life spans. However, I suspect there may be other variables at play. For example, people that regularly drink red wine tend to have higher incomes and eat better diets, all factors that correlate with longer life spans.

Now, that previous paragraph does not mean that I do not consume alcohol. While I was a teetotaler from age 38 to age 49 when my wife was pregnant and our kids were young, I happen to now like beer, red wine, white wine, champagne, bourbon, and some cocktails. Therefore, my approach is to only drink alcohol on weekends, and defining the weekend can be tricky, but I make sure that there are at least 3 nights during the week that I do not consume any alcohol. Further, I pick at least one week per quarter where I don’t drink anything for 7 straight days. Finally, I rarely drink anything during the day even on weekends and try not to drink late at night which of course further reduces my consumption.

9)????Intermittent fasting works, at least for me. There is a lot of controversy in the diet field, and intermittent fasting is one of those controversies. Many believe in it, while many believe that calories are calories, and its effects are overhyped. Stated simply, intermittent fasting is consuming all of your food in an eight hour window, which for me is usually 11am to 7pm. I find it easy to workout first thing, then work in my office, drinking only coffee, easily giving up food until 11am. Then I have 4 meals approximately 2 ? hours apart. It makes sense to me that intermittent fasting in the end a) causes me to consume less food and less calories because I am eating in a shorter window, and b) helps me burn more fat in the 16 hours that I am not eating anything.

10)?Prolon fast mimicking cycles also helped me move beyond plateaus. Approximately every three months I did a Prolon cycle, averaging around 800 calories for 5 days. The Prolon program is designed to “trick” the body into thinking that it is completely fasting, supposedly rejuvenating your cells and burning fat at a faster rate. Cynthia Sass has a very good May 27, 2020 article online entitled?This Nutritionist Tried the Prolon Diet—Here’s What She Has to Say About This Trendy Fasting Plan. While not easy to do, it’s easier than I thought it would be, I felt very good afterwards, and definitely broke out of my weight plateaus.

I am very happy with where I’ve landed with my learning and results. Since I’m a coach at heart, please reach out to me if you have questions or comments.

Mark Cross

LinkedIn --?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/markcrossnaxoscg/

? 2021 Mark Cross?