Thursday, April 7, 2011

Panera Bread = Love

Okay... Lots of stuff to cover today.

As you all know, I killed a bird yesterday. I should've known that was a sign of how the rest of my day would be.  I got to work, and it was credit application insanity.  I processed almost 40 applications yesterday.  That is a lot.  I normally do about 15-20.  I also had a supervisor freaking out, because she wanted me to set up a new user for her right then! 

I was so stressed with work and assisting the death of a bird, I decided to go eat at Panera Bread.  Let me tell you why that place is amazing.  It has the calories next to each of the items on the menu.  HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT!  So Katie (one of my friends from work who has been running 5K's with me) and I ordered the "You Pick Two." I got the Garden Vegetable w/ Pesto soup and Greek Salad.  The total calories were 300!  Let me tell you.  It was amazing, and it felt like I ate way too much when I was done.

I used to hate places like Panera. It is pricey, and I never felt like I got enough food.  I felt like for the price I should have been able to pick 5 not 2.  Now the meal fills me up.  So that is how healthy people eat.  I get it now!  I understand why my mom loves eating there so much.

I had an appointment with the trainer I met with back in January to do a follow-up visit.  I have only talked to this guy once, and he measured my fat and showed me 8 machines that could help me with running.  It was a basic visit, and I was grateful for what he showed me, because I wasn't sure what to do on my non-running days.  I now go to boot camp and strength training, so I don't follow the program he set up for me. 

I got to the appointment, and he was Captain Negative from the start.  I am sorry, but if I was a trainer and someone I worked with lost over 50 pounds, I would be ecstatic.  He measured my weight and my fat and really didn't have anything good to say.  He said that I shouldn't just run, because I will lose weight but not fat.  I did not understand that. What would I be losing?  I am lifting weights and doing other things in my classes. 

Needless to say, I left that meeting feeling really dejected and frustrated.  I felt like I wasn't doing good enough.  If you are moving in the right direction, you should never feel that way.  I understand I still have a long way to go.  I was really fat, but come on!  I will not be going back to you, Mr. Trainer. I hope you have a good life, but you will not be talking to me about mine ever again.

SO I TOOK ALL MY FRUSTRATION AND KILLED IT IN BOOT CAMP THIS MORNING!  Best workout in a long time. I loved it!

3 comments:

Angela Brown said...

I just wanted to say that I think maybe the personal trainer wasn't intending to be a jerk. He doesn't really know you, you have only seen him twice. He probably thought that he was being helpful by giving you advice. That being said you still shouldn't feel dejected you have done a great job.

Unknown said...

WEWWWWEEEIIIIIIII

wam said...

Panera Bread is a favorite of mine as well. I dig the pick 2 with Fuji Apple Salad with Chicken and the Asiago Roast Beef (apple as the side). 640 calories and 40 grams of protein.

As far as the personal trainer goes, if you go with a PT, it's critical to find one that you actually like and look forward to spending time with. No matter what the issue, if you find yourself resenting or not liking the PT, you're not going to be enthused about following the advice given or striving to impress him/her with your accomplishments. One comment though, you said "He said that I shouldn't just run, because I will lose weight but not fat. I did not understand that." The issue is that distance running (and most other forms of endurance cardio) can be catabolic (muscle burning). Basically, as you run longer, the body becomes more stressed ("Hey, I'm burning a lot of calories here, what's up with that?") and releases cortisol. This can also occur with non-aerobic exercises, like weight lifting, but as the heart rate is generally slower than aerobic workouts, you generally get a good hour of anaerobic workout time before cortisol begins to spike. Cortisol is a hormone that reduced protein synthesis and is involved in the breakdown of muscle mass into usable energy stores.

This is probably why your trainer was saying you needed to do more than running. Your bootcamp program should certainly help, but extra dedicated time lifting weights would probably help as well. Personally, I'm training for a half marathon and as my runs have gotten longer, I've noticed that my muscle definition seems to have diminished some. Nothing major, but noticeable. Of course, I've also lost more fat, so on balance, I'm happy.

Oh, two things I've picked up while confirming facts for this reply. Apparently caffeine and exaberate cortisol production, so limiting coffee might be a good thing. Also, apparently insulin spikes associated with eating some carbs after workouts can "clear Cortisol levels" (both of those points were tips listed at: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/losing-muscle-cortisol.html). Finally, I've seen multiple sites recommend L-Glutamine supplements as a catabolic inhibitor. I may end up exploring that myself.