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Travel Tips Two

My latest business trip took me to Germany last week, with the above picture being taken in the German Alps where the conference I was attending had dinner one night. Like my previous business trip to Seattle, I was able to lose another 1.5 lbs. during the week of my trip.

As before, I booked hotels that had a fitness room, and had my portable scale with me, along with my Sportea ice tea. I also went food shopping when I first arrived so that I would not be dependent on the food at the conference for my nutrition, and I could have my breakfast at a time of my choosing rather than during the prescribed times set by the conference/hotel. This way, I can better fit in my morning exercise without worrying that I have to be somewhere for breakfast.

Every morning I fit in an hour of exercise, and it has been my experience that from 6 am to 8 am is the busiest time in the morning at these hotel gyms, so if one gets there earlier or later, it is easier to immediately get on a piece of equipment rather than having to wait. Typically, I got to the gym at around 5 am, this way I could go immediately to my equipment of choice, and left myself enough time to check my e-mails as I was having breakfast in my hotel room after I exercised. Remember, that these gyms have limited pieces of equipment, so if you are unable to get on immediately, you may not be able to get on before your meetings start.

Another technique I use is to avoid desserts, and order fresh fruit instead if possible. During these conferences, particularly the ones in Germany, there are many desserts, and they pack a lot of sugar and calories. Avoid these desserts, and order fresh fruit instead, and you will less calories to burn off the next day during your workout. That also goes for alcohol, since that also has many calories, but few nutrients, so it is best to limit one’s consumption if you are trying to maintain or lose weight. Instead, get some sparking water as a cocktail, and if you have wine or beer, only drink a small amount.

These are just some further strategies that I use when I travel.

Danger Will Robinson — Treadmill Use May Cause Injury

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am not a fan of treadmills, and find them to be a dangerous piece of equipment. That was confirmed this week by a May 5, 2015 article in the New York Times, entitled “Treadmill May Be Riskiest Machine, but Injuries From It Still Rare”, by Sabrina Tavernise, following the death of David Goldberg on a treadmill. According to the article, although deaths are rare, 30 reported from 2012 to 2013, treadmills were the riskiest of all workout machines, accounting for 24,400 injuries associated with their use in 2014.

In putting together any workout routine, one needs to come up with some activity that can be done conveniently, and/or inside when the weather is not so accommodating. For runners or walkers, that would seem to be the treadmill. For me, it is the recumbent bike, or elliptical, neither of which easily cause an injury when one has a lapse of concentration, plus they lend themselves to multitasking (watch TV, listen to music, read, make phone calls, etc.), which can help pass the time when one is exercising.

One of the problems with a treadmill is that it forces a set gate on your walking or running, but when we walk or run outside, our gate does vary. Another problem with the treadmill is that to achieve an aerobic workout, one must run on it at high speeds, and/or have the machine steeply angled — both dangerous configurations. One really needs to have aerobic workouts if you want to achieve significant weight loss.

Every Sunday I take a 8 mile, 2 1/2 hour walk/run in New York’s Central Park. I walk most of the route, to preserve my knees from the pounding stepping on hard pavement can cause, but I briefly run in the middle of the route so as to keep my body in shape for running longer distances, like when I run the New Year’s Eve race in Central Park. I have taken this walk in both sizzling and freezing temperatures, and in rain or snow storms, and just adjusted my clothing to the conditions. In the extremely rare circumstances of extreme weather, like a hurricane, or blizzard, I stay inside and instead go on my bike or the elliptical for a longer period of time, or increase the intensity of my workout. So my advice is simple, unless the weather outside is dangerous, run or walk outside, and when then you do have to come indoors, choose a safer piece of equipment than the treadmill.

Weight Loss Strategies for Commuting, and Where to Sit in a Restaurant

Over the years I have collected articles and studies that I believe are relevant to one’s well-being and health, and I will occasionally be referring to same in my blog as references. One such article appeared in the AAA’s monthly magazine, Car & Travel, the May 2011 edition, entitled “Angst, Lethargy, Unhappiness – All in a Day’s Commute”, by Tom Vanderbilt. That article discussed that the most time we can tolerate commuting to work (round trip) is around one hour a day (without traffic), and that beyond that time, the commute starts to make us miserable. For me, my commute to work, for many years, was over 2 hours daily, without traffic, but now with telecommuting, I can now cut down on the days I am subjected to drudgery of commuting . The article suggests that if you want to feel happier, lessen the duration of your commute as much as possible, and definitely below an hour.

There are also studies (I will find them later), that show that the longer the commute, the more weight we tend to gain since we are more apt to eat in the car during our commute, and what we eat, tends to be the junk variety. To counteract that tendency, I employ a few strategies: (i) I do not eat in my car commuting to or from work, and will wait to eat breakfast at work, (ii) I have unsweetened ice tea in my car, which I drink to work, and have water on my return home (I never have any soda, sweetened drinks like Gatorade, fruit juices, etc., even if they are the diet variety), (iii) before leaving work I sometimes have some peanut butter or nuts as a snack to hold my appetite in check, and (iv) I carry a mint spray in my car in case I need a little fresh taste in my mouth. All these strategies have helped keep me from eating during my commute. Another strategy, which I will discuss in greater detail in future blogs, is that I have set in place a system wherein dinner only takes 15 minutes to prepare, so that is the first thing I do when I get home, and helps me to better deal with the sense of hunger caused by commuting.

The other article I wanted to share, is a NY Post article, from September 27, 2014, entitled “Can Where You Sit in a Restaurant Make You Thin?” by Susannah Cahalan. In that article, she refers to the finding in a book from a Cornell Professor, Brian Wansink, entitled “Slim By Design”. Professor Wansink’s findings are that people eat healthier if they sit by the window, or in well-lit areas, where they might be more conscious of people watching them eat and what they are eating. He also found that people eat less healthy at tables further from the front door, in darkly lit areas of the restaurant, or in booths, presumably where less people can see what they are eating and watch them eat. He also suggested staying away from buffets, which I also believe in, since one tends to overeat when things are plentiful. Particularly at breakfast, I always try to order off the menu, rather that get the buffet, but that is not always possible. So here are some tips: (i) use smaller plates, (ii) decide ahead to time exactly what you are going to get, and what portion size, (iii) get all your food at once, which will take away the temptation for seconds, (iv) stay away from bagels or white bread, so if you want bread only get whole wheat or multigrain slices, and make sure they are toasted, (v) stay away from fruit juices, as they contain lots of sugar, and instead get fresh fruit, making sure to drain any liquid they are contained in (but if you want fruit juice, then dilute it with water, particularly, sparking water), and (v) have lots of water with your meal to fill you up.

Hopefully these articles and tips will help you not to gain weight from your commute, and provide you with some helpful guidance when dining out.

Remembrance

April 28, 2008 — my girlfriend/partner, Monique Yazigi (who her best friends, her grandmother, and I called Gigi), knew she was dying of cancer, yet she still had not admitted that to me, although I knew it from her appearance, increasing inability to eat food or drink liquids, and her lack of energy. We had been together for over 24 years, knew each other since we were kids, and thought of each other as identical teammates, a phase she had used to describe the relationship she had with her grandmother.

On the 28th, she insisted that we go to her safe deposit box and put it in both our names. She had previously shared that box with her beloved grandmother, who had passes away in 2002. I do not think she ever recovered from that loss, and I think it just ate at her heart, and caused all of her sicknesses just a few years later. When she went to that safe deposit box, shortly after her grandmother’s death, she was surprised to find a boxed hotel bar of soap, from a hotel they had once stayed together in Albany, and inscribed on the box was a note saying “Dear Gigi, keep clean.” One final posthumous expression of love.

When we went to the safe deposit box in April 2008, and changed it over to both our names, Gigi went into the bank vault herself, presumably to check on the contents of the box. That was the last time I was at the safe deposit box until after her death, in July 2008. I do not remember the date, but when I did go back to the box, I did not find much, but what was there was the boxed bar of soap her grandmother had left for her, and a note to me, written on an office calendar page from April 28, 2008, which said “Jamie, you keep clean too!, Love you, Gigi, *Thank you for everything, xox”. A photograph of that note is posted above, and she obviously wrote that up the day we changed the box to both of our names.

To this day, almost 7 years later, I still get teary-eyed and emotional when I see that note. It is my most prize and cherished possession. And when I think of her, I think about what Cher said about Sonny Bono in her eulogy, that he was the most unforgettable character she had ever met, and for however long she lived, or whomever she met in her life, that person would always be Sonny. That person for me is definitely Gigi.

So why talk about this today? Well, last night I went on my first date since breaking up with a very nice and lovely woman who I dated steadily for 7 months. As it turns out, last night’s date was more interested in getting her feet wet in the dating scene (after ending a relationship), than in starting a new relationship — disappointing from my view, particularly since it was so calculating. I met both last night’s date, and the woman who I had previously dated, through online dating. While these two experiences were very different, it just hit me last night how I will never again be with my Indentical teamate, who was Gigi. Which is not to say that I have not loved someone since Gigi passed, nor that I will never find love again, but just that it will never again be that young first love — with an unforgettable person, a deeply close and trusted friend having many similar views and interests , and one who was such a major influence in my life.

However, I do not dwell in the past (although it is important to always remember), but instead live in the present, and look towards the future. So I view my life as having two buckets — my life up to when Gigi passed away, and my new life from that point on. What I learned from her is that life is short, life is fragile, so you better live it to the fullest since you never know what will happen. With that in mind, I have been working hard to fill that second bucket, and hope to find another woman to share and build life with.

P.S. Switching gears just a bit, just to make a social commentary. As the disease progressed, Gigi lost lots of weight, and when she passed away, she was way under 100 lbs — just a skelton covered with sagging skin. Yet up until about a month before she passed, she remained active in the NYC social scene, wearing her wig out to events. But I remember her telling me how her social friends told her they were so happy with her, in that she had lost so much weight, and that she looked so great — all the time, that weight loss was due to sickness and she was dying. The thinner the better was the rule, and it did not matter how you got there. A perversion, which unfortunately still continues to this day.

Upcoming Challenges

Since I was 8 years old, I have played tennis, love the sport, and played it my entire life. Moreover, for over 20 years I have had subscription tickets to the entire US Open tennis tournament in New York, and go every year as if it is my summer vacation, which it has become. As I was gaining weight, I was still playing tennis, but from around 2001 until 2008 (when my girlfriend passed away from cancer), I had stopped playing regularly, although I continued going to the Open.

As I started to lose weight, starting in 2010, I began playing tennis again, and slowly got in great condition, and raised my game back to a competitive level. I joined a tennis club, and have since been playing at least twice a week, for a total of around 3 ½ hours of tennis a week. And in 2012, I went to tennis camp in Florida, where I played tennis for a full week – something I had not done since college. And when I went to 2012 Formula 1 Race in Monaco, I made a point to play tennis at the Monte Carlo Country Club — see the above photo — which was blast.

This all brings me to the present, when around 3 weeks ago, when I was playing tennis, my shoulder started hurting, and it got to the point where I could no longer raise or move my arm without tremendous pain. As it turns out, I tore my rotator cuff, which I later learned is common in active men my age. I now face surgery, and the prospect that my right arm will be in a sling for months. Certainly my rehabilitation will have an impact on my workout routine, which has been a key component to maintaining my weight loss, and I am more concerned about maintaining my weight loss during my rehabilitation, than I am of the risks and pain of the surgery.

I have already reached out to my doctor inquiring how quickly I can resume my exercise routine, and what can be done to help me work through any impediments that might restrict the amount, and rigorousness, of my exercise routine. Another thing that I am drawing on, in facing this challenge, is the strength I witnessed when my girlfriend battled cancer. She was, and still is, the bravest and strongest person I know, and she faced illness with a tenacious fight that inspires me to this day. If she could battle cancer, I can certainly overcome my injury, and she also inspired me in finding my inner drive to eventually address my weight issue. Her life and passing puts everything in perspective for me, and that is a good thing.

Travel Tips

Last week I was on a business trip to Seattle, yet ended up losing 1.5 lbs. when I weighed myself on Saturday, the day each week when I record my weight for the week. So how is that possible? Planning, and hard work.

First off, before I leave for a trip, I look for hotels that have a fitness room with the exercise equipment I want to use (recumbent bike and elliptical trainer), and only book a room in hotels so outfitted. That is not always possible, so under those circumstances, I search for fitness centers near where I will be staying, and make arrangements to use same when on my trip. And if all else fails, I try and find a place where I can run/walk outside the hotel, or swim, e.g., on a business trip to Germany last year, I brought swimming trunks, and swam in a nearby lake.

Also part of my planning is to bring with me a portable scale, and a quart container for brewing unsweetened Sportea ice tea (both pictured above). With the scale I weigh myself each morning, so I can adjust my food intake (and the amount of exercise) depending on how I did the previous day. As for the ice tea, Sportea has electrolytes, no calories, and a citrus taste, and is a good alternative to water (in that it has some taste, plus it has electrolytes), and does not have the calories, or artificial sweeteners, of sports drinks. While packing for my trip, I put one tea bag in the container (and bring extra tea bags for my trip), and once I clear airport security, I purchase bottled water, and fill up the quart container, while keeping the empty water bottles to be filled up once I reach my destination. This way, the tea brews while I am traveling, and so when I get to my hotel, it is all ready to be poured in the empty water bottles, which I end up storing in hotel room’s mini-fridge.

Another part of my planning is to bring lightweight exercise clothing, that wick water well, and plastic bags for storing wet clothing during the trip. It is important to bring clothing that are lightweight, and wick water well, since otherwise, the weight of your wet exercise clothing will cause your suitcase to weigh more as you return from your trip. For example, in 2012 I took a two week trip to Europe, primarily to watch the Monaco F1 Grand Prix and the French Open, and when I arrived at the airport for my return to the US, my suitcase was way over the 50 kg limit, and I was looking at playing around $300 for the extra weight of my suitcase, which was due to my wet exercise clothing. Luckily, I had a carry-on bag with sufficient space to lessen the weight of my main suitcase, thereby reducing my overweight baggage charge. If I had brought clothing with more technical fabrics, instead of cotton, I would not have such a problem with my suitcase’s weight, and since that trip, I have packed more t-shirts and shorts made of technical fibers. Another suggestion is to bring a small spray bottle of Febreze air freshener to lessen the smell of wet clothing.

Also before I leave for the airport, I pack various fruits (including dry fruits like dry mangoes, figs), vegetables (like carrots, small cucumbers, celery), Wasa crackers, low-fat string cheese, and homemade popcorn that I can snack on during my flight. With most airlines now charging for food, it makes financial sense to bring your own food, and this way, you can better control the total calories you eat, plus have better food quality than what is served on the plane.

Once I reach my hotel, one of the first things I do is go to the fitness room and work out, particularly after a trans-Atlantic flight to Europe. Typically, flights to Europe arrive early in the morning, and one of the best ways I have found to push through jet lag, and get on a local time schedule, is to exercise when I first arrive at my hotel. During my stay, I will continue to work out first thing every morning, and if possible, in the afternoon/evening. The latter being more difficult since the evenings of a business trips usually involve late night social activities. It is hard work, but you will feel much better about yourself, and it helps to offset all the eating that typically takes place on business trips. I also look to find a local market around my hotel, at the start of my stay, so that I can stock up on fruits and vegetables, that are not always present in large quantities during meals. This way, I can eat less during the meals, yet get the nutrition I need from the food stashed in my hotel room.

These are just some of the strategies I use when I travel, and I expect to discuss other strategies in upcoming posts.

When You Fall Down, Get Up, and Do Not Give Up

“If you fall, get up, and chase the player that got around you.” That was father’s advice whenever I played soccer, and a life lesson, which I try to live up to every day, and has served me well in life. Determination and perseverance are critical in establishing and maintaining that inner drive to achieve one’s goals.

I thought about that lesson, in a funny way, when I wiped out when skiing just the other week. When I was in middle school, I broke my leg skiing, and ever since then I have always had a bit of trepidation while skiing – the fear of falling and somehow injuring myself. Due to that, I always held back a bit while skiing, but that fall strangely changed my mind set, in that I now know that I could take a bad fall, and still not suffer any injuries. I just got up, and skied again, but this time without that nagging inner voice telling me to take it easy since I might fall down again, which was a much more pleasurable way to ski. Just wished I had come to that realization sooner. So when you fall down, or have set backs, get up, and continue chasing your goals.

BTW — The picture is of my high school varsity soccer team, and I am number 6 in the middle. The picture brings back nice memories, as my father taught my how to play soccer, and to love the sport, and I started playing soccer with him in my parent’s bedroom, with their closet as one goal, and under a love seat the other goal.

Mashed Cauliflower

As an alternative to mash potatoes, particularly for Thanksgiving, I now serve mashed cauliflower as a more healthy and less filling alternative. This way, you can still enjoy something similar to mash potatoes, but with a lot less carbohydrates, and dairy fat from butter, sour cream, etc. Here is my recipe.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
Olive oil spray for cooking in microwave
Around 3 ounces Boursin cheese (or other garlic and herb soft cheese)
Around 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (a handful)
Around 1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Place cauliflower florets in microwaveable container, and spray with olive oil. Cook in microwave until cauliflower is knife tender.
2. Put florets in vegetable mill or potato ricer, and grind up florets into bowl.
3. Add cheese (Boursin and Parmesan), salt and pepper, and finely minced garlic to taste, and fold with spoon.
4. If riced cauliflower is too liquidity, add some of the pulp from the ricer.

Seat Belt Extender, etc.

Here is a journal entry from December 2010, which captures my thoughts on finally not having to use a seat belt extender, being proactive while on trips, etc. Hopefully, this journal entry can provide some real-time insight about what I was experiencing during my weight loss.

“December 26, 2010. This week I took a vacation, and traveled to Miami. My experiences traveling, and during the holidays, is that you have to be proactive, focused and vigilant. For example, I only book hotels that have exercise equipment similar to what I have at home, and make a point of working out every day like I do at home. I also travel to locations where I can do other physical activities; for example, this week I was in Miami, where I was able to take long walks, play tennis and swim.

It is amazing to be swimming again. It has probably been 6 or 7 years since I last went swimming since I was so embarrassed about how I looked, and had a difficult time finding a bathing suit that fit. But, now, I was swimming every day and not too self-conscious about how I look.

I had a good reality check earlier this week about how much further I have to go, and why I need to continue to push myself to reach my weight goal. As I mentioned in an earlier journal entry, I no longer need to use a seat belt extender in airplanes. I used to travel with them since I hated asking for one once on the plane, and had a seat belt extender for domestic travel and international travel, since they used different seat belt designs. But I digress; the reality check is that although I no longer need to carry a seat belt extender, I still needed to wear the seat belt at its largest setting, so I am only a few extra pounds from again needing a seat belt extender — a very sobering thought and a good reason to maintain my focus.

Staying with the proactive theme, I find it very important to be careful about what I eat, and be active to ask for my meals to be adjusted according to my dietary needs. For example, I was at a Mexican restaurant one night, and came up with a way to enjoy the meal, yet to cut down on the calories I eat. Typically at a Mexican restaurant one eats chips, guacamole and salsa, but what I did is essentially eliminate the chips. I ate the guacamole with my fork, and saved the salsa to put on my main course, which was a skirt steak. So I only had about 4 chips in total. Also, the skirt steak was to come with rice, but I instead asked for vegetables, and put the salsa and left over guacamole also on my vegetables. For most other meals I sent the bread back, and if I ate any bread, did not add any butter. For desserts I ordered fruit, and I went food shopping at a local market so I had tomatoes and Wasa crackers to snack on if I was hungry between meals, or did not feel the dinner or luncheon portion was sufficient. Also, I ordered salads without dressing, and used balsamic vinegar instead. Finally, I brought Lindt 99% coca chocolate bars with me if I wanted a sweet snack, and ordered unsweetened ice tea and water instead of cocktails or wine.

Yet, even though I was proactive, and physically active, I was disappointed to lose only about ½ lb. this week, now weighing 285 lbs. I would have thought I would have lost more weight, and that is a bit disappointing. I wonder whether air travel is again affecting my weight like it did when I flew to Europe, and that next week I will be seeing a significant weight loss. We’ll see. On Wednesday, I will be headed back to the Canyon Ranch Spa to spend the New Year’s, and to come up with a exercise and nutritional plan to lose the remaining 105 lbs.”

Postmortem: I still (in 2015) have my seat belt extenders (for both domestic and foreign travel) in my apartment, to remind me what I have experienced and achieved, and as a reminder of the vigilance I need to maintain so as to never allow myself to approach my old overweight condition.

Use Better Planning To Enhance One’s Willpower and Discipline

Often people who are overweight are thought as lacking the willpower and discipline to lose weight. From my own experience, I know that is not the case, and there are ways to enhance one’s willpower and discipline simply through better planning. In an August 17, 2011 article by John Tierney, published in the New York Times, entitled “Do You Suffer from Decision Fatigue?”, Mr. Tierney discusses how decision fatigue (to me, indecision) wastes energy, and makes it harder to have the mental energy for continued self-control, willpower, and discipline.

The article refers to experiments by the social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, who studied mental discipline, and whose studies showed that each person has a finite amount of mental energy for exerting self-control, and when a person is fatigued, it makes it more difficult to sustain one’s self-control, willpower, and discipline. The studies pointed to boosting one’s mental energy through increased energy input (like through sugar intake), but also pointed to making one’s mental energy last longer by lessening the amount used on each decision, with the idea that each decision uses a certain amount of a finite amount of mental energy, so lessening the amount used for each decision makes that energy go further. Let’s call it mental efficiency.

For me, improving one’s mental efficiency has worked best (because, e.g., increased sugar intake which can increase your weight), and that matches what I have experience in my business dealings. In my experience, the hardest thing for a business to deal with is indecision. If something is negative, you can come up with a course of action to fix it, and if things are going well, one can look to do the same thing, or look what improvements can be made; however, if one does not know what to do, that is the most stressful position to be in, which causes the most stress for a business.

So how can better planning help one’s willpower? Easy – if each decision one makes takes up a certain amount of their mental energy, one can lessen the amount of cumulative mental energy used by making many decisions easier, thereby using less energy for those decisions. In practice, what that means is that you decide ahead of time what you are going to do, what you are going to eat, how long one is going to exercise, etc.

What I have done, and continue to do, for example, is decide on the weekend what I will eating for dinner each night, and then go about preparing and planning my evening meals for the upcoming week on the weekend, including preparing the food for each night’s meal in advance so dinner will be ready in 30 minutes once I get home from work. Also, when I travel, I always pick a hotel that has a gym with the exercise equipment I use, so I know in advance that I will be exercising when I travel, and am comfortable in the equipment that will be used. I also make it a point to travel with a scale, so every day I understand if I am gaining weight, losing weight, or have staying the same. The whole point of these types of action is that I have shifted these decisions to a time when I have more mental energy use on these decisions, so that during the week, when I am confronted with many more decisions, I do not waste energy on those decisions, which gives me greater mental energy to maintain my self-control and discipline for other matters that come up doing the day. Call it mental energy shifting. So start planning ahead, making those lists, and filling up that calendar, and you too should find that extra mental energy to enhance your self-control, discipline, and willpower.

Drive From Within