A few things…

I got a Twitters. Add me at MsFitGeek!

I’m not very good at the Twitter thing. At least, not with a public one. I actually have another private one where I am completely and utterly inappropriate, but that one is going to stay under wraps. I don’t want to give away all my potentially offensive and off-putting idiosyncrasies just yet…

Exercise Set Point?

In other news, I found this article over at the NY Times blog to be rather interesting. It poses the question of whether or not we have an exercise set point. In other words, if we exercise during the day, does that mean we will move less later on? If we don’t exercise, does that mean we will move more (walking, fidgeting, etc.) to make up for it? Certain researchers argue that we aim to reach our own unique exercise set point to maintain our weight. A study was conducted on several groups of children who all had very different P.E. requirements. One group was required to have 9.2 hours/week of physical activity at school, while another group was only required to have 1.6 hours of P.E. Yet all the children had very similar levels of activity. Obviously, read the article for the details.

So if it is true that each of us has a daily cap of activity that we unconsciously meet, it could offer some insight into why overweight and obese people have trouble losing weight. Even if they exercise, they may compensate by moving less the rest of the day. BUT, I’m not making conclusions either way. The study group was comprised of only 70 children, so who knows how much gravity the study has in the adult world. Regardless of whether or not we do have an exercise set point, it’s clear that NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis, the energy we expend doing daily activities that don’t include exercise) plays an important role in our body composition. So what does that mean? Invest an a pedometer and keep walking! If you want some more creative ways to up your NEAT, try high-fiving people, giving them lots of hugs, brushing your teeth an extra minute, flossing (you know you’ve been slipping on that), tapping your foot to a song or picking your nose in the car. At the very least it provides me with entertainment on my drive home.

Veggies!

I kind of a had fail with a curry soup I made. Just tastes weird. But it will not go to waste! It’s actually pretty decent when I put alfalfa sprouts and hummus in it. Hummus is seriously the savior of all my culinary screw ups.

Today I had more luck with sauteed chard. Had it with garlic, onions and tomatoes and it was gooood. Surprisingly good. I would have taken a picture but I was too busy wolfing it down.

Remember that thing I said about off-putting idiosyncrasies?

Here’s one of ’em: TMI!

No, that is not a dog penis. It’s what was under a crucial blister I got in my self defense class. And those ridges on the top of my feet were from my socks. Hey, I needed some kind of picture to include here, and that’s about as interesting as it’s been lately.

Anyway, it’s late and I’m supposed to wake up at 6 a.m. for my daily dosage of masochism at the gym. Byeeeeee!