Think, Think Think....

I'm back....

After two terrible weeks, I've managed to regroup and hit it hard. Diet was great and I'd managed to stay clear of the "brewskis" through this week including St. Patty's day. There have also been considerable developments on my employment front so, I'd managed the above through considerable stress. One more week of careful diet and a small taper to my exercise routine from Thurs. --> Sat. and I'll be ready for the "Presidential Towers" stairclimb in optimal shape. I'm aiming for a sub 24 minute time.

While my fitness routine was good, the fallout from the two previous weeks of "backsliding" ( for lack of a better term) has left my ability to focus in shambles. It'll take another week till I'm anywhere back to an acceptable level. Since I've been dealing with the ADD all week, I figure it's a good time to break the norm of my blog and write about something other than diet and fitness. I've also been asked by several friends who are now privy to my situation "What are you like when your ADD is bad?". I've had to think about it, and all week I've been thinking about how to describe it.

Several years ago I saw one of those public service commercials on TV that addressed what it was like having ADD. It basically showed about 30 seconds of a television screen changing channels randomly very quickly. I liked the idea and thought that it was pretty accurate. But there is more to it.  I once had one of my doctors (who is aware of my ADD) confide in me that he too was diagnosed, as an adult, with ADD. He conceded that his was not as severe as mine, but the important fact was that he found that this tendency to continually and quickly move from one channel to another was in fact an asset to him. He actually found that the quick pace of a busy doctor's office was a perfect fit for an adult with ADD.

The thing that affects me most however from a technical perspective is the need to be able to capture numerous steps and attributes in one complete thought, as it were. A good example of this type of thinking would involve a game of chess. A master chess player can focus well enough to see 15 moves ahead being able to envision pins, forks, checks and various other tactical elements all the while keeping track of the various piece values gained and lost. Ask the same chess player to do the same while being interrupted every few seconds and the outcome would be quite different.

Earlier this week I was working on configuring a server that was utilizing a networking protocol "801.q" which will allow for multiple VLANS to be configured to the same network card. When I am able to focus correctly the switch--> cable--> vlan --> subnet--> interface card --> configuration file and all of the various attributes that need to be considered could all be digested in one piece and I'd simply edit the files. Instead, I'd have to get so far, complete one step and rethink the whole process over and over again. It probably took me four times as long as it would have had my focus been intact. Thus we have this weeks blog caption... That is how I feel most at these times.... tapping my head, saying think, think, think to myself!

All through elementary school I was always told how smart I was and with my IQ I could go so far... "If only I'd applied myself". The late 50's and early 60's were not very good times for those of us with ADD. In fact, thinking back, it's absolutely amazing that I grew up to be as good natured as I am. For all practical purposes however, the constant "changing of channels" is pretty easy to deal with on a daily basis. Good habits, a high priority on organization and a good sense of humor can do wonders to allow me to be successful on a daily basis. A continued career in the technical fields for me, however, would be a prospect that would most certainly be doomed to failure.

Speaking of humor as a coping mechanism, I'd recently run into an old "alt.support.attn-defecit" news thread I'd started in January of 1995. It was entitled "The top xx things ADDrs should NEVER do" (it started out as the top 10 list but was so popular we were aiming for the top 50 instead). The many responses and stories were really very funny

Here is a sample of my first top 4 :
1). Never put a warm pop in the freezer for a "few minutes" just to get it cold.
2). Never put coffee/soda/ANYTHING on the car roof "for a sec." until you get the car loaded.
3). Never start some bathtub water and run downstairs "for a sec" to do something real quick.
4). Never pull away from the gas pump without first checking to make sure the nozzle is not in your car, but in it's holder. (I've never had a mishap with this one but, I ALWAYS check because I could just see myself doing it and the consequences scare the heck out of me!)
5). NEVER buy something now that you need later, with the plan to get it out when you need it.  If you remember you bought it, you won't remember where you put it.

I don't remember how many we ended up with but if you need a good chuckle here is a link to an early compilation of it and some of the stories were great:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.attn-deficit/browse_thread/thread/9448537852813c9f/6dc4c87b4f1aeea6?lnk=gst&q=top+10#6dc4c87b4f1aeea6

What I've done this week:
Weekly Totals: (Sunday --> Saturday)
Running - 20 Miles
Rowing - 23,643 Meters
Swimming - 4,400 Meters
Versa - 1 Mile 29:30
Bike - 87 Minutes
Speed Bag/Jump Rope 5 minutes each alternating - 45 Minutes

Diet
19,420 Calories Consumed
8,475 Calories Burned during exercise.
14,616 Calorie Maintenance Goal
10,945 Net Calories ( Consumed minus Burned)
3,671 Deficit ( Goal minus Net)

We're ALL on a diet!

I'm immediately finding some personal benefits to this blogging thing.... First, sometimes when you write things down or say things out loud, even though they're things you are already very cognitive of, they take on a whole new perspective. A perfect example of this comes from the last comment of last week's blog. "I know 30%+ calories on beer is way too much!". I knew that to be true but it didn't really mentally resonate as an actual problem until after I wrote it. I'll mention the second major benefit a little later on.

I therefore NEED to adjust my diet accordingly. But while I'm thinking of the whole diet thing, I'd like to step onto the obligatory "Bloggers Soap Box" for one minute regarding the whole topic of diet and dieting. When did the term "diet" ever become a verb? Whenever people tell me they're "dieting", I want to put on my smart -ass cap and reply; I've got news for you, you've been dieting all your life... It's been a really crappy diet, and your performance in attending to your "diet" has been really negligent!

The whole concept that a diet is something that you only temporarily adhere to in order to fix your previous neglect of diet (noun) is a major red flag that indicates you will not solve your problem. You will only (at best) remedy its symptoms only to return to your previous habits and weight problems. It seems like the very acknowledgement that a temporary fix as valid nullifies the concept of treating diet with a fundimental, inherent, ongoing strategy or philosophy. Whether we like it or not, we have a diet to maintain.... How's it going to look is the real question.

A diet needs to be something that describes our over all continual strategy towards food and fitness. It requires some thought, some experimentation and it is by nature, nothing less than the way we continually look at the food we eat. It doesn't really matter to me if a persons diet is "The South Beach" diet, the "Atkins Diet", the "Clean Foods" diet, the "Zone Diet" or the "Paleo Diet", etc, etc; As long as it works for you. It is my belief that our physical makeups are so varied individually that what works for me would not necessarily work for someone who responds well to a low carb diet. My personal diet is primarily one where I try and balance my macronutrient levels to 40% Carb, 30% Fat & 30% Protein. I try to eat only whole grains with a medium glycemic index, organic when possible. I also try and split my meals into smaller "mini meals" 6+ times per day.

Regarding my personal need to work out as much as I do; I know little about my ancestors on either my mothers or fathers side but, I've determined that at least on one side, I must come from a family of n'th generation miners, loggers, military or any family oriented occupation where there was long hard work. You can't even imagine what would happen if you were to take someone with such a family background, where his genetic code is programmed to burn 5,000+ calories a day, and set him in a position where his entire daily activity levels were minimal. The result in my individual case resembles what I can only describe as two different Darylls. This is one clue to my extreme propensity towards exercise.

Stepping off soap box....

The second major personal benefit to blogging is accountability. I'm now publicly stating that there will be no brewskis' for me this coming week and I'm now going to HAVE to follow through.

My overall plan in getting super lean (160lbs) is so that I can increase my strength training and my participation in crossfit. This should then enable me to put on some extra muscle mass. Knowing my body as I do, I'm aware that I can only either lose weight or gain muscle at any one time... so it's time to ratchet back on my weight so I can replace it and end up at my ideal "fighting weight" of 162lbs.

This week:
I've run 140 floors of stairs
Rowed 22,157 meters
Ran 13 miles
Biked 90 minutes
Swam 2,600 meters

Performed 4 Crossfit workouts:

1. Poopy Diaper - AMRAP (as many rounds as poss.) 20min. 5 Thrusters, 7 Hang Cleans, 10 Sumo- Deadlift High Pull (PR'd I think at 14 rounds.)
2. Clean & Jerk 5,000 lbs., Team workout for two people to do 10,000lbs combined. 
3. The "Filthy Fifty" Fifty Each - Box Jumps, Jumping Pullups, Burpees, Push Press (45lbs), Wall Balls, Knees to Elbows, Lunges, Double Unders.
4. Back Squats 3x5. (125lbs Yeah "buttercup" I know... It'll get better!)

My Current Weight is 164lbs.
18,534 kcal Consumed
7,262 kcal Burned During Exercise
112,72 kcal Net (Consumed - Burned)
Daily Goal 2,088 (maintenance)
Weekly Goal 14,616
Deficit 3,344 (about 1 lb of fat)