My Paleo Story

This post is to point everyone to past posts that give you a snapshot of where my family and I were before Paleo and how things have progressed.

A Brief History gives you a glimpse into my life leading up to Paleo and some detail on the first month or so.

This is what Paleo did to my Cholesterol gives you a look at some before and after blood work that really shocked me.

The St Patty's Challenge posts chronicle a challenge I cooked up as a way to hold myself publicly accountable and see how far I could take this thing.  At the end of the challenge I will be at 8 months on Paleo and give a full break down of stats from body measurements, to blood work, to some of the more challenging moments.  I may even post some pictures but I am not so sure about that yet.

As always please shoot me an email if you have any questions or comments and thanks for checking out the blog!

Chuck

February is time to pull out all the stops

So here I am 4 months into the St. Patty's Challenge and my weight has been stalled between 172 and 175 for a while.  I have even noticed an up tick from time to time into the 175 to 178 range.  I am certainly not obsessed with the scale and really can't complain since I continue to see improvements in my physique. The scale can be a terrible demotivator especially when you hit a plateau along the way.  Taking pictures of yourself regularly is great way to keep your head in the right place when the scale isn't cooperating.

Six Pack

From all my stats and photos it appears my body fat is dropping very slowly and lean muscle mass is increasing at a slightly higher rate, hence the slight weight increase. With my goals in mind this is actually ideal but I wouldn't mind having a nice six pack by the end of the challenge and just in time for spring.  I have been eating very clean Paleo with only some very infrequent and minor deviations.  The only real exceptions are beer and corn chips.  I seem to have those a little more frequently then I would like to admit.  So February is going to include a few minor tweaks to see if I can knock the body fat down into the six pack territory.


So for the month of February I am going to do the following and see where it takes me.

1. No beer, in its place I will be exclusively having Brady Nutrition NorCal Margaritas
Cutting the beer will both ensure I am completely avoiding gluten and should significantly reduce carb and calorie intake as well.  While many of your average beers are in the range of 100-200 calories many of the micro brews out there are significantly higher and just a couple can really throw a wrench in the program.

2. No Tortilla Chips
I just love tortilla chips and well you can't just eat one.  This is a bit of my own acceptance that I have let something creep back into my diet with less control than I would like.  So a month off of the tortilla chip is a good prescription for getting back on track.

3. Shifting all significant sources of carbs to post workout and evening meals.
While I have done some carb back-loading post workout in the past, after doing a little research on John Kiefer's carb back-loading and carb night eating methods, I decided a little more structure to my carb intake might be just what I need to get things moving.  I will write a little more on these methods after I have a little of my own experience to share.

Making progress with your health and wellness is a continuous personal process that will on occasion require you to mix things up and experiment a little.  Paleo can quickly and dramatically change your life but everyone will undoubtedly hit a plateau from time to time.  The key is to recognize when you hit these plateaus, fight off any discouragement, and make a plan to shake things.  In the process you will learn how your body reacts to minor tweaks in your diet and exercise.  This experience will build an invaluable resource as you navigate your own Paleo story.

More to come, thanks for stopping by!
Chuck

Long Overdue, New Year Update

Happy New Year! I am still here.  Wow, have I been MIA on the blog.  Thanks to those that prodded me to get back on here and apologies to those of you who have been loyal readers.

As you may or may not know my family has a tradition of hunting in the fall.  This generally means that most things get back burnered between sometime in October and the New Year.  That is not a very good excuse so I will have to do a little better next season. At least this year we had some pretty good luck out at the Hightree Camp.

Since my last update I have continued to refine my personal Paleo philosophy and have stayed the course
even through the holidays.  I have generally stuck to my training plan which has been pretty light up until a few weeks ago. I have started doing more strength work and in light of the upcoming Shamrock Half-Marathon I thought I should work in some long runs

Nutrition:
I have been primarily estimating my macro-nutrient intake and believe I run about a 25% Carb, 25% Protein, and 50% Fat breakdown.

Stats:

My weight has continued to stay steady between 172-175. I have not gone for a follow up bodpod scan yet but have been using calipers to estimate my body fat.  While it seems to be slowing my body composition still seems to be improving and based on all the evidence believe my body fat is right around 10%.  I will be returning to the bodpod soon for a midpoint body fat check.  Stand by for those results.

General Wellness:
I continue to feel great as long as I stick to a pretty regular sleep schedule and avoid significant cheats

Summary:
While I have fell off the blog for a while the St. Patty's challenge is still alive and well.  The challenge will be topped off with the Virginia Beach Shamrock Half Marathon in March.  Following the race I will get a body composition work up and some blood tests and post the final results.

I have a number of posts I am working on and those should be coming out regularly over the next few weeks so stay tuned.

Thanks!
Chuck

Developing the Training Plan for the St. Patty's Challenge

Developing the training plan for a lifestyle

Cville Fall Classic 10K 2013

I started running when I was pretty young and think I ran my first 5K when I was 11 years old. I ran track for a year and cross country for part of a season in high school before getting injured. I then ran to stay in shape on and off most of my adult life. As an adult I routinely found myself getting talked into 5Ks which would get me motivated to head out and run a little more. The goal was always to train for the distance to gain that minimal confidence I could finish without walking or worse. Eventually I ran a couple 10 milers and had the same distance focused approach.  After running a race I would generally reflect back on prior times and determine if I was in better or worse shape. If I had recently ran a few races I had an expectation I would be faster and if I hadn't I just hoped I hadn't lost too much ground. I developed expectations for myself without any plan for getting there and in many cases hitting the finish line meant a met the main goal and was done training for a while, maybe years. This was not a prescription for improving or maintaining my health.  

I talk about lifestyle a lot. If your training plan is too focused on a specific event, isn't something you can maintain before and after an event, or is so intense you run the risk of injury, then it is not going to stick and become part of your lifestyle. Training in these ways almost always results in falling off the wagon. 

One of the main purposes of my St. Patty’s Challenge is to aggresively7 document and find things that work for me and can become part of my family's and hopefully others lifestyles.  These things include how we cook, train, eat, etc and they have to be things my family can sustain so we keep up on that wagon. The following are the key things I have studied and considered when developing the my training plan.

What are the training goals?

Before mapping out any training plan the first question must be, “What are your goals?” Your goals can be a variety things.

• Are you trying to reach a distance, number of reps, or weight?

• Are you trying to hit a personal record for a particular race?
• Are you trying to maintain cardio for general health?
• Are you trying to reach your peak fitness level?
• Are you trying to beat your buddy (BIB 130) at the next race who keeps betting you by 30 seconds? (uh this one is all mine)

Your goals should ultimately drive how you train but without some thought and planning your results will not be optimal.  For me at this point my goal is optimal total performance and the last bullet up there on the list.

What is lactate threshold and why should you care?

Nothing that I am going to say here is new or revolutionary but when I learned what my lactate threshold was and got a little education on how to train based on it, several light bulbs all went off all at once.

Lactate threshold is the exercise intensity at which lactic acid starts to accumulate in the blood stream. Prior to reaching this threshold lactic acid levels stay fairly constant due to the body’s ability to metabolize the lactic acid. As exercise intensity increases lactate acid production increases and at some point exceeds the body’s ability to keep up. In many athletes the threshold occurs at a fairly specific level of exercise intensity followed by a very rapid build-up of lactic acid and in others the buildup occurs more slowly over a period of time. As this build-up occurs one’s ability to perform decreases rapidly. The lactate threshold is one of the best predictors of an individual’s performance. Understanding where your threshold is and the rate of increase of lactic acid at different exercise intensities can help you predict your peak performance over different spans of time and help shape an optimal training plan. An individual’s lactate threshold can be increased over time through an increase in training volume and by training above the threshold.

How can your lactate threshold shape your training?

If you are looking to maintain cardio vascular health it will likely be adequate to exercise at or slightly below your lactate threshold with consistent or slightly increasing volume. But that’s not very exciting. If your goal is to increase your distance for a race or personal goal, it will likely be adequate to exercise at or slightly below your lactate threshold with a continuously increasing volume of 10-20%. If you are looking to reach your peak performance, hit a new PR, significantly increase your speed or cardio vascular capacity then you need to incorporate training at levels well above your threshold.

What if I don’t know my lactate threshold?

While you may not know your lactate threshold or want to go through the test there are ways to get a good approximation. The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale and a heart rate monitor can be great tools and give you an idea of where you lactate threshold might be. 

Grab an RPE chart like the one on the right and head out for a run. Start off with an easy jog and slowly increase your pace. At regular intervals note your pace, heart rate, and your RPE. It may help to have someone with you to help record the measurements. When training below or at threshold you should be able to exert yourself for a significant period of time without any notable drop in performance and your RPE is likely to be around 11-12.  For high intensity training your RPE should be around 15-16. 

An individuals RPE should fairly consistently map to heart rate. With the measurements you took you can identify target heart rates for both low (11-12 RPE) and high (15-16 RPE) intensity training sessions. You will want to re-run the test every 6 months or so as your RPE, heart rate, and lactate thresholds will change over time.

Slow-Twitch vs. Fast-Twitch

As you exceed your threshold there is a transition from the use of slow-twitch muscles to fast-twitch muscles. Slow-twitch muscles are those used to do slow steady activity where fast-twitch are those used for more explosive activity. According to Dr. Weltman, of the UVA Exercise Physiology Lab, recent studies are indicating that fast-twitch muscle recovery times are around 72 hours while that of fatigued slow-twitch muscles is closer to 48 hours.  Keeping high intensity sessions for a particular muscle group or cardio 72 hours apart is likely to produce optimal recovery and forward momentum.

Increasing Volume

To avoid injury due to over training, increase the volume by no more than 10-20% per week. I have ignored this and spent months with a physical therapist as a result! It's also a good rule of thumb to take a few days off to stretch and roll if anything is not fully recovering.

Fueling, Back-Loading, and Protien

This is a subject of pretty wide debate and this is purely my opinion based on the various information I have and personal experience. Even on a fairly low carb diet like paleo you are most likely receiving plenty of carbs and fats to fuel you through low to mid intensity workouts of less than an hour. For those workouts that are of significant intensity or for duration close to or over an hour fueling and back-loading is a good idea.  Fuel before and during for long endurance activities, and back-load with carbs and protein.

The Training Guidelines Emerge

All of this information along with a desire to meet the lifestyle requirement led me to series of guidelines. This post has a bit of a cardio flavor but these concepts and guidelines can be applied to any type of training. 

1. Training for performance should include two high intensity workouts per week well above the lactate threshold, ideally at an RPE of 16.
2. Training can include as many short to medium volume at or under the lactate threshold as desired.
3. Do not exceed the weekly total volume by more than 10-20% week over week.
4. Endurance training sessions at or below threshold should be placed as far from high intensity sessions as possible.
5. Fuel before high intensity sessions with simple carbs
6. Fuel before and during endurance training sessions with simple carbs
7. Fuel after high intensity and endurance training sessions with simple carbs and protein
8. Have at least one full rest day per week or more if not recovering fully.
9. Training should be easily conducted wherever you find yourself.
10. Training sessions should be brief and focused as to ensure they get done.

With these guidelines I developed two primary plans.

• Performance Focus
• Two high intensity workouts per week
• One endurance training session placed at the furthest point between the high intensity session
• One rest day best after the endurance day
• Two days of low intensity training up to weekly volume limits 

• Maintenance Focus
• Five low intensity workouts per week
• Two rest days

Here is the weekly schedule I came up with.  I will be following the performance plan for the challenge unless I am injured or fatigued and will then follow the maintenance plan.  The performance plan brings together both cardio and resistance training intensities on similar days. One could certainly take these guidelines and apply them per muscle group and cardio allowing for low and high intensity training on a daily basis and effectively allowing one to train much more. I did not do this since I was aiming for something easy to follow both in terms of schedule and duration per day, that whole lifestyle thing.

So here goes nothing, let's see if this plan produces results you can see.

Thanks,

Chuck

A St. Patty's Challenge Update

The past couple weeks have been a bit crazy so it has been a while since the last St. Patty's Challenge update.  The challenge has now been going for 14 days and I still have a lot of work to do.  I have developed the training plan for both myself and my wife.  We should actually start implementing it this week.  I have tracked all my food as accurately as possible using http://caloriecount.about.com  The site is really pretty good.  You can create custom entries, scan foods that have bar codes, and the website provides pretty good analysis of your eating even if it is based on generally accepted guidelines.  If you eat out it's a little more challenging but not impossible to get a good approximation of the food.

Nutrition:

Up until now I had been estimating my calories and macro-nutrient content based on nothing more than my general intuition.  It has been nice to see some numbers that approximate reality.  My carb intake was right on with my estimates at 125g per day on average.  Checkout the full breakdown below.  My goal for the challenge is to not worry about exactly what I eat but keep tracki of what it is so ultimately I can understand how things are working or not.

 Fat - 43.9%
 Pro - 25.7%
 Carb - 26.8%
 Alcohol - 0%
 Other - 3.6% 

	Cal (kcal) 1,900	Carb (g) 238	Pro (g) 95	Fat (g) 63	SFat (g) 21	Chol (mg) 300	Sod (mg) 2,400	Fib (g) 25
AVERAGE INTAKE	1,868 98%	125 53%	120 126%	91 144%	33 156%	574 191%	2,328 97%	17.3 69%

Exercise:

I ran the Charlotteville Fall Classic 10K on the 13th of October so much of my exercise was with that in mind.  I did a handful of pull-ups, push-ups, and dips during the time but nothing structured or regular.  

September 30th: Ran 1 minute on 2 minute off sprint intervals for 15 minutes and then a slow 2 mile jog.  Total time 30 min.

October 2nd: Did my VO2 Max test which was 26 minutes of running

October 3rd: Ran 5 miles at a real easy almost 12 minute pace.  Total time about an hour.

October 5th: Ran 3.5 miles at a comfortable 11 minute pace. Total time about 40 min.

October 7th: Ran 1 minute on 2 minute off sprint intervals for 15 minutes and then a slow 2 mile jog.  Total time 30 min.

October 8th: Ran a little less than 3 miles at about a 9 minute pace.  Total time about 30 min

October 13th: Ran the Charlottesville Fall Classic 10K.  Total time about 53 min.

Total for the first 2 weeks, 4.5 hours of mostly jogging, which averages to about 20 minutes or 2 miles per day.

Stats:

So far my weight has stayed steady between 172-175.  As I expected my weight loss has plateaued but while it is difficult to tell from day to day I believe my body composition is still improving.   

General Wellness:

I have felt very good overall but did have a few nights in week two where I did not sleep well.  This was likely due to various work and family stresses that had my brain running overtime.  I think this led to a very difficult set of sprint intervals on OCT 7th.  This just highlights to me how huge a factor sleep can be in both performance and general well being.  I guess I need to jump on some meditation and get to bed a little earlier. 

Summary:

The first two weeks have gone great.  I have not got everything organized to keep me on track for the challenge but have taken some significant baby steps.  I am in the habit of tracking my food daily and it has really shed to light some of my good and bad habits as well as given me a good understanding of my macro-nutrient breakdown.  This will be very valuable tool as I may need to make some adjustments if I plateau for too long. I have put together a good training plan based on my families time constraints and what I believe will give us the best results with the least time.  I will give a rundown on the training plan after we have had a few weeks to burn it in and fine tune were necessary.

More details to come, thanks,
Chuck

The St. Patty's Challenge Baseline Stats

As promised, here are my baseline statistics. I highlighted some key measures I will be most interested in when I get tested again in about 6 months. I was pretty surprised by the 12.9% body fat and setting a goal of 10-12% body fat by Christmas or St Patty's is hardly a significant challenge. This also highlights the incredible inaccuracy of my home scale in measuring body fat.  My pace at lactate threshold was also a little surprising.  While I didn't really have any true expectations, after the fact, I would expect or hope to be in the middle 9s but was my threshold pace was a little under 11 minutes.  I will dedicate a few upcoming posts to fully explaining these stats and how I am using them to tailor my training plan.  

I am still considering what my new targets will be but for now I am hoping to achieve 8% body fat, any increase in lean body mass, and a lactate threshold pace of 9 minutes or less.  

In my next St Patty's Challenge post I will give you a glimpse into the nutrition and training plan I am developing based on prior plans and Dr. Weltman's feedback.  Please shoot me an email at chuck.brady@bradynutrition.com if you want to get an idea of what to expect from UVA's Exercise Physiology Lab or how you might use the results to optimize your training.  

Thanks again for your support and interest!

Weight	171.897
BP Systolic at Rest	130
BP Diastolic at Rest	70
Resting HR	82
Avg Sleep	7.5
Neck	14
Bicep	12.3
Forearm	11
Chest	37
Waist	34
Hips	40
Thigh	21.3
Calf	15.5
V02 Max	55.6 mL/kg/min
BP Systolic Peak	150
BP Diastolic Peak	80
Lactate Threshold Pace	0:10:54
Peak Pace	0:06:40
Lactate Threshold RPE	11
Peak RPE	18
Lactate Threshold HR	140
Peak HR	186
Body Fat	12.9%
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)	1794
Total Energy Expenditure (Active)	3122
Total Cholesterol	160
HDL	65
Triglyceride	55
VLDL	11
LDL	84

Christmas Challenge Becomes St. Patty's Challenge?

I spent two and a half hours at UVA's Exercise Physiology Lab and to be honest I have a lot of information to digest. First and foremost is the fact that after discussions of my results and the technology I was easily convinced that it would be best to wait for 6 months before returning for a second run of tests. I guess that means this is turning into more of a St. Patty's Challenge and honestly that goes a bit better with a name like Brady Nutrition and my known vices :-)

If you are familiar with the UVA medical center you know it pays to know where to park and were to not even try, especially at lunch time.  I remembered this after a few laps through some clogged full parking lots, just head straight to the parking garage!

I was greeted by Shannon Slovensky, an Exercise Physiology Researcher, and we headed back to the lab.  First stop was the Bodpod and a little paperwork.  Before I go any further, I have to add that Shannon was the first person that contacted me from the lab.  She was extremely responsive and helpful.  Shannon walked me through all the tests the lab conducts and helped me understand how each would meet my goals.  Shannon discussed some basics with me concerning the bodpod and handed me the first pair of bikini underwear I had or would ever experience.  I had three runs in the pod, each lasting less than a minute, and the last run involved me following some specific breathing instructions into a tube located in the pod.  The bodpod uses air displacement technology to develop the measurements and you can tell by pressure you can feel inside the tube, a bit like the first couple minutes being in a pressurized plane.

So now it was off to the larger lab area where the treadmill was located.  I had read all kinds of material on how blood might be collected and the nerves I had been carrying around all day were now at full peak.  See the truth is, I cannot handle needles at all.  Shannon informed me that the nurse would be up in a few minutes to put in a line, a line I thought sounded more invasive and needly than the finger pricks I read about online.  I think I was starting to turn flush and the nurse hadn't even arrived.  I ate up two Lara Bars and chugged some Brady Nutrition Endurance Drink to fuel up for the run.  The nurse arrived a few minutes later and got to work.  This is where Shannon really shined by encouraging me to go on about paleo and my training techniques.  This totally kept my mind off the line being placed in my hand.  

After about 5 minutes of watching my color completely return, Shannon got me up on the treadmill and attached a bunch of electrodes to my body.  Judy Weltman, the Excercise Phisyology Core Laboratory Manager, helped suit me up in what looked like a sweet mesh tanktop I wore back in 1985.  This mesh was to keep all the wires from flailing around while I was running.  Next it was time to strap on the Darth Vader mask.  Let me tell you this thing really limited my visibility which makes staying in a general area on the treadmill a little challenging.  

 Judy let me know how the test would be run and how and when she would pull each blood draw.  The test started at a 12 minute pace and increased by 1/2 mph every three minutes.  At each three minute mark Judy drew blood from my line to test my lactate levels and Shannon asked me how I felt on the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. The run went great and I felt very good for most of it. I lasted over 25 minutes and when I pulled the plug I was definitely spent.  

I cooled down a bit and then spent about 30 minutes discussing my results with Dr. Weltman.  He asked what my goals were, explained all the results, and gave me some solid recommendations based on my goals and results.  I also asked Dr. Weltman a number of questions concerning training and nutrition and he gave me very detailed and informative feedback.  It was a very valuable discussion for me and the development of my training and nutritional philosophies.  

I am going to post the details of my results and baseline measurements in my next blog entry after I have had some time to digest them and rethink my Christmas Challenge into a St. Patty's Challenge.  I would like to thank Shannon, Judy, and Dr. Weltman for the awesome experience.  I only wish I had gone months ago to have a baseline prior to my major lifestyle changes. I highly recommend their services especially if you are just beginning a serious lifestyle change or want to take your training to the next level. I look forward to my next visit, minus the needles. Go check them out on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/uvaexlab or shoot them an email at exlab@virginia.edu and let them know Chuck Brady sent you.

     

Christmas Challenge Baseline Tests are on the Way

Hey everybody, the Christmas Challenge is on.  I started recording everything I could yesterday and am headed to UVA's Exercise Physiology Lab today to get a Bodpod scan and VO2 Max test with lactate threshold.  This is going to be fun, if I understand correctly I will be run until I am just about throwing up and have blood taken several times along the way.  I will also get some time with the lab doctor to discuss my results and plan between now and Christmas.  I should be able to get all my baseline info up on the blog tonight. Wish me luck

My Christmas Challenge

Unfortunately, I have not been very diligent about taking pictures of myself, measuring body fat accurately, or taking general body measurements during my Paleo adventure.  So to get myself to track things a little closer, have a little extra accountability, and show everybody out there what a paleo type lifestyle can do for you, I have decided to give myself a Brady Nutrition Christmas Challenge AKA before New Years resolution.

Over the next 3 months I will continue my transformation and fully document it on this blog.  During this time I am going to evolve my own Brady Nutrition Philosophy, to include how I eat, train, play, work, etc.  I believe that my body fat is somewhere around 19-20% (based on my cheap inaccurate scale) and as of today I weigh 174lbs.  I am going to schedule a Bodpod scan and VO2 Max test as early as possible to get a true body fat baseline and some general fitness measures.  My blood work is pretty recent so it should work as a baseline.  Every week I am going to post everything I eat, how I feel, exactly what exercise I am doing, all the measurements I can accurately take at home, and a picture.  My goal is to take my health and fitness to the next level.  I primarily want to achieve greater lean body mass and general fitness, not necessarily weight loss.  At the end of the experiment I will get fresh blood work, VO2 Max, a Bodpod scan, and post the final results.  I hope to reach 10-12% body fat, which is a little ambitious but should keep me focused.  I am not too concerned about my blood work but it will be interesting to see how the numbers change.

Thanks for everyone who is supporting me and I hope I can be an inspiration to some of you to change your lives and get healthy.  If you are interested in taking your own Brady Nutrition Challenge let me know and I can help you make a plan and support you on your adventure.  We can document your progress and results on the blog if you like.  Here goes nothing, my next post on the challenge will have my initial numbers.

Thanks
Chuck