Alpha Lipoic Acid & Acetyl L-Carnitine
I was going through my supplements to check what I needed to reorder, and suddenly realized I had run out of the ALA/ALC. Damn! That explains the tiredness! I just discussed this stuff the other day, and was crowing about how it allows me to live on less sleep. Dope that I am, I had ran out of this stuff the last time I prepared my vitamins (every few weeks I fill old prescription containers with my daily supplements) and intended to order it - then promptly forgot.
Better get this stuff on order.
For me, it’s little short of amazing to see a supplement that actually has such a profound and noticeable effect. Most of them I take on faith - hoping that what I’ve read is indeed true and I’m not wasting my money.
I’ve proven to myself that the ALA/ALC is a game changer.
Exercise
Did my 20-minute mile this morning after my coffee. As mentioned yesterday, my heart rate was down by about 12 BPM from previous days. Just to see what would happen, I did the exercise after.
The BPM was at the previous range - 110 - 117 BPM. What’s interesting here is after 16 oz. of caffeine, my heart rate was essentially unaffected from the average BPM from the week before.
As I can feel the impact of the coffee - it does increase heart rate, my conclusion that I’ve already conditioned myself in about a week doing 20 minute miles on the treadmill and have strengthened my heart to the point that it doesn’t need to work as hard at the same level of activity.
I find this a wee bit incredible. Can such a trivial amount of exercise on a very out of shape bod really have a substantitve impact in such a short amount of time?
Alternate explanations are welcome, as I don’t like going off half-cocked.
Eats
Got up around 6am. I’m on vacation for the remainder of the year, except for Monday, and I thought I could pull back a bit from my 4am regimen. One commenter recommended it, I resisted, and then I did it.
It’s a familiar psychological pattern for me: say no, then think about it.
Had my 16 oz. of coffee with cream, then went to the gym.
Around 10am I had 2 mini burgers with onion and low carb ketchup - wrapped in a lettuce leaf.
Early afternoon I had 2 of the Italian sausages with some parm cheese. I also had a piece of low carb toast with butter.
I had a company Christmas party to go to, and was not really holding out much hope for the day weight-wise. We went to the party and I had 3 martinis, then switched to water. When the food came out I had a large salad, then finished up with some beef and pork. I had none of the bread, pasta, etc., etc. that you would normally find at a fancy Xmas party.
They had a live band that was about 3 notches above what you’d typically expect at this sort of thing, and everybody there seemed to really enjoy the music. I’m sure the consumption of alcohol helped here.
I grew weak toward the end when the dessert came out - I had at least a half-dozen chocolate-dipped strawberries, and a piece of bread pudding - a particular weakness of mine, bread pudding.
I also had coffee and 2 other itsy-bitsies from the dessert buffet that I don’t know the names of. (Should we adhere to a rule ‘if we can’t name it, don’t eat it?’)
We left around 11, was home by about 12. I was hungry when I got home - not surprisingly - I didn’t eat all that much, and the sugar hit I gave myself at the dessert buffet was more than enough to induce hunger.
I had an apple turnover and a glass of milk, with my wife looking on uncomprehendingly, saying: “Why?!?”
I left the question unanswered. I could come up with any number of answers, but probably the most accurate one might be: “I dunno.”
Anyway, the morning scale didn’t penalize me - in fact it rewarded me with a half-pound decrease to 209.2.
OK - I’ve navigated this far through the holidays: two holiday parties behind me, weeks of being surrounded by Christmas carb crap - and admonitions to eat - behind me - and while I haven’t lost anything, I haven’t gained either. I have started exercising - a fragile beachhead I hope to be long-term, and have cut way back on my daily coffee consumption. These are 2 solid changes that I think will contribute to my long-term overall health.
I have a little less than 2 weeks to go - I must still navigate at least 2 over-the-top meals of Christmas and New Years. I plan to keep things a quiet and low-key as possible for the rest of the year.
Alpha Lipoic Acid & Acetyl L-Carnitine
I was going through my supplements to check what I needed to reorder, and suddenly realized I had run out of the ALA/ALC. Damn! That explains the tiredness! I just discussed this stuff the other day, and was crowing about how it allows me to live on less sleep. Dope that I am, I had ran out of this stuff the last time I prepared my vitamins (every few weeks I fill old prescription containers with my daily supplements) and intended to order it - then promptly forgot.
Better get this stuff on order.
For me, it’s little short of amazing to see a supplement that actually has such a profound and noticeable effect. Most of them I take on faith - hoping that what I’ve read is indeed true and I’m not wasting my money.
I’ve proven to myself that the ALA/ALC is a game changer.
Exercise
Did my 20-minute mile this morning after my coffee. As mentioned yesterday, my heart rate was down by about 12 BPM from previous days. Just to see what would happen, I did the exercise after.
The BPM was at the previous range - 110 - 117 BPM. What’s interesting here is after 16 oz. of caffeine, my heart rate was essentially unaffected from the average BPM from the week before.
As I can feel the impact of the coffee - it does increase heart rate, my conclusion that I’ve already conditioned myself in about a week doing 20 minute miles on the treadmill and have strengthened my heart to the point that it doesn’t need to work as hard at the same level of activity.
I find this a wee bit incredible. Can such a trivial amount of exercise on a very out of shape bod really have a substantitve impact in such a short amount of time?
Alternate explanations are welcome, as I don’t like going off half-cocked.
Eats
Got up around 6am. I’m on vacation for the remainder of the year, except for Monday, and I thought I could pull back a bit from my 4am regimen. One commenter recommended it, I resisted, and then I did it.
It’s a familiar psychological pattern for me: say no, then think about it.
Had my 16 oz. of coffee with cream, then went to the gym.
Around 10am I had 2 mini burgers with onion and low carb ketchup - wrapped in a lettuce leaf.
Early afternoon I had 2 of the Italian sausages with some parm cheese. I also had a piece of low carb toast with butter.
I had a company Christmas party to go to, and was not really holding out much hope for the day weight-wise. We went to the party and I had 3 martinis, then switched to water. When the food came out I had a large salad, then finished up with some beef and pork. I had none of the bread, pasta, etc., etc. that you would normally find at a fancy Xmas party.
They had a live band that was about 3 notches above what you’d typically expect at this sort of thing, and everybody there seemed to really enjoy the music. I’m sure the consumption of alcohol helped here.
I grew weak toward the end when the dessert came out - I had at least a half-dozen chocolate-dipped strawberries, and a piece of bread pudding - a particular weakness of mine, bread pudding.
I also had coffee and 2 other itsy-bitsies from the dessert buffet that I don’t know the names of. (Should we adhere to a rule ‘if we can’t name it, don’t eat it?’)
We left around 11, was home by about 12. I was hungry when I got home - not surprisingly - I didn’t eat all that much, and the sugar hit I gave myself at the dessert buffet was more than enough to induce hunger.
I had an apple turnover and a glass of milk, with my wife looking on uncomprehendingly, saying: “Why?!?”
I left the question unanswered. I could come up with any number of answers, but probably the most accurate one might be: “I dunno.”
Anyway, the morning scale didn’t penalize me - in fact it rewarded me with a half-pound decrease to 209.2.
OK - I’ve navigated this far through the holidays: two holiday parties behind me, weeks of being surrounded by Christmas carb crap - and admonitions to eat - behind me - and while I haven’t lost anything, I haven’t gained either. I have started exercising - a fragile beachhead I hope to be long-term, and have cut way back on my daily coffee consumption. These are 2 solid changes that I think will contribute to my long-term overall health.
I have a little less than 2 weeks to go - I must still navigate at least 2 over-the-top meals of Christmas and New Years. I plan to keep things a quiet and low-key as possible for the rest of the year.