God's Diet Plan and Presidential Fitness Challenge Updates

Recently I have been instructed by a doctor and encouraged by others to really clean my diet up.  Most the recommendations as he gave them sounded like my earlier posts (started here and continued for 12 other posts or so).  A few differences was his emphasis on good fats, especially avocados, and Omega oils.  I've never taken Omega supplements but will start out on them and see how all this works together.  A number of years ago I really cleaned up the diet, so I know it's possible and beneficial.  In that case I lost something like 25 pounds while not losing much strength, was healthy and vibrant, and still ate well.  Like most people, it's really the convenience of fast food/processed foods that results in me eating so much of them.  It definitely isn't the varied taste, as the overwhelming flavor when you really think about it is SALT!  Ok, maybe some meat taste if it is at a higher quality place, and some cheese or veggies, but sometime ask yourself what you are really tasting/craving and I'll bet more often than not it is salt, followed closely by chemical sweet.

So I am trying to zero the processed starch, sugar and added salt while ramping up the whole foods, fresh fruits and veggies, nuts and good fats.  I'll keep lifting to preserve muscle mass and liking will lean out 10-15 pounds, but that really isn't the goal.

As I posted about earlier this week, maximizing the counted activity keeps my rolling monthly average for Presidential Fitness Challenge points at 10,000 points.  At that rate I should finish up silver and gold qualifications reasonably quickly.  The 1,000,000 point platinum award?  How about sometime next decade?  Hey, it's a goal at least!

Rest and recovery day two

Still pretty wiped out so taking today "off" too.  Will probably do some light stretching tonight but overall having a physically easy day while working and taking care of some admin/personal matters.  I've found that in my 40s rest and recovery are as important as the workouts, as are diet and sleep.

So tomorrow I'm back at it with a short lifting workout around work and a friend's retirement ceremony.

Update and observations on Presidential Fitness Challenge: Odd events

I continue to progress accumulating points toward Presidential Fitness Challenge awards.  For the last month or so I have been tracking everything, and I mean everything, when it comes to earning points.  I topped 52,000 points this weekend!  I've also earned just over 10,000 points in the last rolling month period after slowly bringing it up from 2000 to 5000 and now to 10K.  One way I've done this is by becoming more active on projects around my house, yard and garage.   Adding in a couple of "moving parties" and lots of points for "lifting/hauling" and the points total skyrockets.  This is because there are all kinds of activities that earn points if you make the effort to log them.  Big ones recently have been "home repairs", "household tasks" and the aforementioned "lifting/hauling".  Unfortunately I have also discovered it is possible to overtrain while lifting and hauling, as helping some friends move Saturday wiped me out as I finished recovering from my cold.

 

If you think those are some odd point earning activities (as I get points for folding clothes as a light household activity) there are even more odd events and scoring.   As I've scrolled through the list of ways to get credit, I've noticed these categories:  Baton Twirling, Billiards (and Darts), Hunting and Sailing.  How about this problem:  If you log time spent bowling-does the snack bar and beverages cost you points?  A couple of beers or sodas, a greasy pizza slice and sharing some nachos and I don't think three games of bowling are much benefit-although a fun way to spend time with friends.  Here's another one I saw, and fitting since I had just talked with a duck hunting friend about shivering in cold water:  Hunting awards 4.8 points per minute as it only has one intensity level.  Is that freezing in a duck blind, stalking or walking with your dogs and gun, or time spent up in a tree stand?  I find the categories fairly arbitrary-some make complete sense as fitness activities and some seem added just to increase scope and inclusiveness without much thought of the muscle and bone building or aerobic components of the event.

 

That said, I'm going to need to claim every point I can to ever get to the platinum award level of 1,000,000 points!