Tag Archives: biology is awesome

Bro, Do You Even Lift?

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We are slaves to cardio machines at the gym, when the weights are where we really should spend more time to get the biggest bang for our exercise buck. I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else–here’s my evening’s cardio. Not too terrible, but could be better.

In any attempt to lose weight and get healthy, exercise is a must. I know, biggest understatement of the year.  I don’t claim to be a fitness expert but I do know that to be fit, one must reduce body fat percentage, increase lean muscle mass, increase stroke volume, and increase VO2 max.  These are things the average bear doesn’t think about–hooray for having a biology background!

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Obesity Research Update: Genes Affiliated with Severe Obesity

skinny-mice

They were all fed the same diet…but only one is overweight.

A couple of papers regarding obesity research have come out in the past week that may be of interest if you are a science nerd like me.

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First Bump in the Road: Ugly Belly

Well I am nearly one week out from surgery, and I have to say that my recovery has been a fairly smooth one so far.  I haven’t had any nausea, any vomiting or any gas pain in my shoulders or chest like my doctor indicated there might be.  I’ve been able to get in all my fluids (and then some) and protein each day, and have been walking a little bit more each time I get up and pace our condo.

Last night was the first night I slept without the abdominal binder that the nurses sent me home with when I left the hospital Tuesday.

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Just Keepin’ It Real, Folks

I have never been so excited about a trip to the bathroom as I was this morning.  When you’re on a full liquid diet, you don’t expect your output to include solids.

That is all.

Pre-Op Diet: Progress Report

Can you believe that bacon is allowed as a fat choice on my pre-op diet?  Me either!

Can you believe that bacon is allowed as a fat choice on my pre-op diet? Me either!

Today marks Day 3 of my pre-op diet, and I have to say, it’s actually going better than I ever expected. I have been stomach-growling hungry only twice so far, and had a wicked headache yesterday.  I think that was partially due to the fact that I didn’t eat breakfast–I couldn’t, because I had an upper GI series scheduled for yesterday morning–and carb withdrawal.  While my surgeon’s plan allows me to consume 1200 calories and 120 grams of carbohydrate, I’m trying to keep my carbs below 100 grams.  I wasn’t given a specific protein goal to hit, but I’m trying to get between 80 and 100 grams of protein daily as this is my post-op goal.  I have also managed to keep my fat grams below 40 each day.  And of course, I’m drinking water like crazy.  So far, the result has been that I’m down 9 pounds (!) and my shorts are fitting a bit more loosely (I need a belt!).

Of course, this is only Day 3 of 19.  Ask me how things are going at this time next week!

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It’s in the Genes

23andmeresultscreenA few weeks ago, I decided to send away for a DNA testing kit from the company 23andMe.  For $99, they will genotype your DNA (a very different process than sequencing), and from this information you can learn about your ancestry, what health conditions you are at risk of developing, whether or not you are a carrier for several common (and some not-so-common) inherited diseases, how you might tolerate certain drugs and what some of your physical characteristics are.  For a long time, I’d suspected that some of my behaviors and physical characteristics had an organic, biological basis and I wanted confirmation that perhaps I was correct in my thinking.

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