Is Exercise More Than Just Burning Calories?

Lately, to keep active while staying off my feet and and from running, I've been riding on my stationary bike. You know, the bike with mechanical/magnetic resistance and LCD display of resistance levels, heart rate, calories burned, and other metrics.

What I've noticed these last few weeks of sitting on the bike that my level of focus on my exercise regime has dropped dramatically. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm not doing what I want to do (in other words, running outside than stationary biking indoors, though I could ride a bike outside) or something else, but either way, something's different.

So you ask, what's different? Here are a few things.

1. On run days, I would discipline myself in terms of food intake - what I could eat and when I can eat. In terms of "what," I wouldn't eat something that would be hard to digest, oily, greasy, etc. - such things could cause my sensitive stomach to turn against me during runs. In terms of "when," I would not eat (or drink) anything three hours prior to my run, to allow ample time for digestion, to avoid a similar fate mention before.
   
   Now, I find myself eating whatever and whenever I want because biking doesn't have that effect on me. No feeling of vomiting or side stitches during a bike workout, as of yet. It's not necessarily a bad thing, per se, because I can stay hydrated and energized throughout the workout. And for that reason, I should do it. But something that has been loose is the foods that I eat. On run days, I would never eat ice cream or pizza because it would kill me on runs. Now I eat these things because I can bike and not kill myself. I've given myself an excuse to eat these things, and incorporate them into my diet without feeling bad about it.
   
   
2. I notice that I'm watching the calories burn metric a lot when I'm on the bike. Don't get me wrong, burning calories is good! But am I just sitting on the bike, burning calories, just for the sake of burning calories? Is it because I had a slice of cheesecake for lunch, and I felt bad for eating it, so I forced myself to bike for 30 minutes to cancel it out?

#1 shouldn't be a major concern for me because once I start running, I'll be back in my normal eating routine... that is, if and when I can start running. And I'm pretty good about what I eat - there's just some days where I lose it and crave something, which is fine once in a while. I just need to make sure it doesn't become a daily habit, especially the unhealthy food!

#2 got me thinking. I mean, I have no problem with watching my calorie burn - it's a good thing. I'm all for a more active lifestyle, burning calories, and being fit. That's how one loses weight and lives better. But what I'm more concerned about is the trend that I noticed in my own lifestyle - eating something that I shouldn't or too much of, and then exercising to burn it off. What is my end result? I guess I may have increased my fitness a little or something just by exercising, but at the same time, I feel that I've put myself in a cycle of complacency.

What do I mean by "cycle of complacency?" It means that I can eat all the junk that I want, and then all I have to do is exercise to burn it off. But you say, "That's a good thing!"

It is, no doubt, but another question to ask is: Where does that leave me? What progress is made from that cycle? In my opinion, not much, if any.

Think of it this way. If I eat something unhealthy, it's like taking a few tiny steps back in my health. If I exercise, it takes me a few steps forward. If this is done every day, depending on how much I eat and exercise, the graph can look like the stock market. It may have an overall upward progression, but there are so many fluctuations in the process. It could even be an overall downward progression!

Is the point of exercising so that I can eat whatever junk food I want, and then burn it off, just to be at the same level of fitness I was at the day before? I would think not. I would rather see my health be a steady climb with no drops, or even an exponential increase! There has to be more to exercise than just to "get even." We all know of the benefits that exercising can bring and how it can positively impact other aspects of our lives, and it's true. But when we put ourselves in a cycle of the same things or going through the motions, sometimes we may not be mindful about other things, thinking that it'll be okay because we can just "burn it off." Although it can feel satisfying at that moment, but it may not be beneficial in the long run.

I guess the same goes with life, spirituality and everything else. Am I just going through the motions from day to day? Am I just doing some good things to right the few wrongs so I can be even? Is doing something "good enough" good enough?

Life isn't just about living. There's more to it. It's about making progress, continuously doing the right things, making the right decisions for ourselves. It means constantly improving ourselves in our health, relationships, careers, spirituality, faith, self-esteem, and everything that plays a role in the essence of life. Being even, or mediocre for that matter, in anything is not good enough.

What am I going to do and How are questions that I can't answer yet. That's something I can only figure out for myself because I control my own thoughts, feelings, attitude, actions, and ultimately, my destiny. I know I can't change everything in one day, and it's a life-long process. I'm going to give it a shot, and to see what differences I can make. It starts out with doing the little things right first, such as fixing my slightly cyclical bad eating habits.

Sore Achilles Tendon, a Warning?

Recently, I've been plagued with a sore Achilles tendon. For your reference, the Achilles tendon is the ligament that connects your heel to the calf muscle. It's considered as one of the strongest tendons in the human body, and rightfully so because it plays an important role for propulsion of the body while walking and running. Here's a diagram:

When this tendon becomes sore, it can be very crippling. For the last few days, I've been hobbling around as if I had a sprained ankle, overcompensating my strong side for the weak side. It reminded me of little 巧巧 (my cousin's daughter) when she said in Taiwanese, "馬馬 ㄅㄞˋ ㄎㄚ" as she twisted her toy pony's legs in some deformed way. As cute as her reaction is, a sore Achilles tendon is a matter to be taken seriously and with caution.

I am not too sure how I ended up with a sore Achilles. I have a few hypotheses: 1) running that one morning during the week, shortly after I woke up = sleepy and slow body with stiff muscles/tendons; and/or 2) lift session in the evening on the same day where I may have overdone it. It was either (1) or (1)+(2). Nevertheless, I ended up with this undesired result of discomfort and temporary disability.

Since then, I've been researching and reading on causes of a sore Achilles tendon, treatment, prevention, etc. As an individual with athletic interests and habits, I didn't want this to end the freedom of motion and active lifestyle of sports that I enjoy doing. I wanted to make sure I treated this injury correctly and properly, giving my body enough time to recover and taking the proper precautions to not make it worse. Even if it is 100% recovered, I need to also set up preventative measures to strengthen the area of concern so the injury does not return. I probably need to also be aware of my shoes, my running form, the time of day I run, my physical condition, etc., as these are all factors that can cause such pain to return.

Likewise, I related this to our spiritual lives. When things are going well in life, it has to be some kind of indication that our spirituality is "pretty good," which means that we are doing something right and under God's protection and blessings. On the other hand, if something goes wrong in our lives, I would have to guess that there's a reason for that. Then is when we need to think about what's going on in our lives, why it is happening, how we can overcome/handle/treat it, and what we can do to prevent this from happening again. We need to spend time to think and reflect, just like doing research when we get injured and want to get back on our feet, to start playing again.

Looking back, I don't think I've done enough of that. I don't learn from my mistakes so I end up being re-injured. This applies in both my physical and spiritual lives. It can be very frustrating, and it will continue to be until I make a change. Even after changing, we need to make sure we don't ease up, and fall back into our old habits, and re-injuring ourselves. We need to be cautious about everything we do, just like walking on thin ice.

My Achilles tendon is getting better, but that doesn't mean that I can go back to the way I handled myself. I'm going to have to change something in my exercise regime, or do something extra to ensure I don't encounter this sore Achilles again. I can't guarantee that I'll be pain-free (unfortunately, I'm past the years of my prime), but I'm going to make sure that I give all that I've got to keep it that way.

Are You a Victim of Life?

First off, Happy Fourth of July! It's a blessing to remember this day, 234 years ago, when this country fought for and gained its independence to become the United States of America. Hope everyone in the states is enjoying the festivities and the fireworks. And I salute to those who are fighting for us overseas - may you be remembered for your service.

I recently read an article from SUCCESS magazine titled "Tough Love," which talked about Jillian Michaels' (yes, the brutal and tough co-star trainer on NBC's The Biggest Loser) views on fitness and personal development. She made a statement which summed up her philosophy:

"I don't allow people to be victims, because if they're victims, they're not in control of their own destiny."

This sentence got me thinking quite a bit. There may be times where we (including myself) face situations in which we feel that we are victims of life. Sometimes things happen that are out of our control, that we did not cause, or for whatever other reasons, and we've become the victims. Maybe it is rightfully so that we feel that way. We didn't do anything wrong, and misfortune has decided to tag us.

But if we let ourselves become victims, life will treat us like victims. This was a realization that Jillian had when she was training with her instructor at the age of 13:

"And so I realized that if I behave like a victim, life was going to treat me like a victim..."

And it's true. When we have the mentality that we are the victims, it impacts other parts of our lives. This self-pity virus starts to infect our emotions, mental strength, physical abilities, career advancements, etc. It's almost a chain reaction with a potential to deal significant damage to our lives. We may ask "Why me?" and dwell on the past, moping and complaining about life's unfairness. As a result, we may lose the energy to exercise or to excel in our careers. And in the end, we have become victims of life.

The only way to resolve this is to do something about it. Fight back. Be tough. Turn the misfortune to an opportunity and learn something from it. Press forward. Only when we do something about it do we have the chance to change our lives, to have control of our lives and destinies. And if we don't, life will not change for us, and we remain as victims.

Relating this to the special day, did the 13 colonies behave like victims when under the reign of England? Not when they decided to fight for their freedom. Going to war wasn't an easy fix for them - the American Revolutionary War lasted 8 years (1775 - 1783). But in the end, they won and gained independence. Now we can live in this land of the free and the home of the brave.

As I look back on my life, there were times when I became a victim of life, sitting in a dark corner, and wondering what I could have done in those situations and why I did what I did. I was going through life emotionless, lacking enthusiasm, feeling numb. No energy to do anything, even activities which I love to participate in. All to gain what? Nothing. I had to get out of this "slump." I had to fight my way back to normalcy. Of course, I couldn't pretend that the events never happened, but instead of dwelling on them and feeling sorry for myself, I had to go on with life. I have to note down the lessons learned and apply them to my life. And once it's done and done, I have become stronger than I was before.

I'm glad I read this article, because it gave me a different perspective on a person's mentality (thank you, Jillian Michaels!). Yes, life can be tough and unfair. Yes, there are things out of our control that happen to us. And unfortunately, we cannot turn back time and alter the course of time (perhaps maybe in the future). It's all part of life. But we can change the future, and it begins with this "I am not a victim of life" mentality.

I will end with two quotes, which I found encouraging:

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

- Maria Robinson

"... But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."

- Phillipians 4:13

And here's to her motto: "Inspired by Jillian, empowered by YOU!"