Saturday, December 14, 2013

Continuing the Quest for a good work-out bar

So.... after concluding my rant against "low sugar" bars that are high in sugar alcohols, I've started trying out different bars.  There's no real scientific method to this--I just try whatever is on sale at the grocery store.

The challenge for me is to find a bar that is ideally made from natural ingredients and that helps me get through my work-out.  Since I'm worried about nutrient intake, anything with nutritive value is the best.  

Here's a few that I've tried over the past week.  The grand idea is that I will eventually get a whole spreadsheet of these going, with rankings.

Raw rev 100 calorie bar Chocolate Coconut Bar.  This tasted OK. It was a bit weird in terms of mouth-feel.  The chocolate-coconut combination was one of my favorite candy combinations as a child, so I had high hopes for this.  But--meh.  The coconut feels a little lackluster because it's not toasted. However, on the plus side, I love the fact that all the ingredients are natural. On the energy factor--I find I need two of these to get through my toughest work-out class. Also (and I didn't realize this would be a problem, but....) the bars are bad on stomach feel--these are tiny so I hardly feel like I've eaten anything. I didn't even know this could be a problem until I tried this bar!

Balance bar.  This brand boasts 40-30-30 nutrition profile (40% carbs 30% fat 30% protein). I tried the dark chocolate peanut and actually liked the taste. It had actual peanuts and a bit of a dark chocolate fudge topping. I also found that I was sustained by the energy from it enough to get me through my class. 

Balance bar.  Dark chocolate crunch--this was pretty good--almost like a dark chocolate bar. I enjoy crunchy foods, so this was satisfying.

Raw Rev 100 Bar.  Spirulina dream. This was very.....green. I could practically taste the chlorophyll. Taste was ok. You already know how I feel about the stomach feel of this line.  But it was very....green. What is spirulina anyway?

Odwalla protein bar--chocolate chip peanut. This bar was very grain based--you could literally taste the oatmeal and the other ingredients (a few small chocolate chips throughout). The ingredients were all natural, which is great. It made me feel like I was having a granola bar rather than some manufactured nutrition/protein bar. 

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Finding the perfect pre-workout/breakfast bar

"Hey. Hey you--wanna eat some compacted potting soil? What if it's coated in some enticing chocolatey or peanut buttery goodness and called "Super Duper Protein Wower Power Bar????" 

This must have been the conversation my subconscious mind fed to my rational brain in order to justify me buying "low sugar" protein bars the other day.  I've figured out that it's most efficient for me to go to the gym immediately after dropping the kids off at school.  This, however, means that with the morning out-the-door rush, I don't have time for a proper breakfast, and my work-out actually suffers from it.  I literally find that I don't have enough energy to get through a good group exercise class.  So, I decided to try protein bars as a portable breakfast.
"After all" I figured "they're meant for people who exercise."

So, silly me stood in front of the protein bar section of my local grocery store and decided on trying the "Think Thin" bars. I bought up a few different flavors with the grand scheme of testing out a different flavor every day.

Well, today, after going through about 4 different "Think Thin" flavors (one each day), I'm abandoning the idea of a "low sugar" bar.  
"Low sugar", of course, just means high "sugar alcohols" like xylitol, maltilol, godknowswhatsinitol. The things were awful tasting--they did have the texture of compacted potting soil covered by a coating of some sort. Worst of all, these things gave me a headache.  I should have known.  

[Begin Science-Based Know-it-all-Rant]:  
You see, the brain, like all other parts of the body during exercise, needs proper glucose to function.  And the sugar alcohols work to cheat some parts of your body by telling it that the sugar is there, when, in fact, it's not readily available for either brain or body to use in periods of high intensity (like during complex group exercise routines!).  The result for me was a bad headache at the end of the class, and the feeling that I hadn't really performed well. 
[End Rant--You may resume breathing normally]. 

So, no more bars sweetened exclusively with sugar alcohols. My body actually needs the sugar.  

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Been Working Out........

So, I joined a local gym about two months ago and it's been......awesome...... and sometimes painful.  I realized after doing my half marathon (and getting far more injured than I normally would) that a) my core was COMPLETELY shot after having two babies in less than 2 years, and that b) I needed cross training not only for my core, but for everything else too.  Boy was I right.  Within the first week of joining the gym, I realized just how bad all my muscles throughout my body had become, with my core muscles being the worst. This was particularly obvious when I did any kind of balancing exercises--the whole rest of the class would be able to stand on one leg just fine, and there I would be teetering and wobbling away.  I'm still not great at balance, but with a little persistence (not to mention slowly strenghtening my core!), I've gotten better and better and better.  The same can be said for any other aspect of exercise.  With Step classes for example (which I had never done before even though I had done all sorts of aerobics exercise classes pre-babies), I literally FELL OFF THE STEP in one of my first classes.....  eeep! Now, however, I've gotten better, and can actually manage to navigate the darn step bench for the whole class.  Yippeee!


Oh. Yes.  You probably want to know how all this exercising has impacted my weight loss.  It hasn't. My weight has stayed the same as of last week (when my scale stopped working).  However, my dress size has actually gone down. Well, in the hips, chest and everywhere-other-than-the-waist.  That dreaded core again.  Hopefully, I don't still look pregnant.  Eeeep!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Yeah. I know. It's been a while...........

Yeah. I know.  It's been a while since I've posted anything. But I have a really, really good reason for not blogging about my weight loss. Well, ok....it's actually sort of a crummy reason.   The weight loss simply hasn't been happening. At least not as far as the scale is concerned. 
I joined a local gym about 2 months ago, and have been going about 5 times a week to some class or another. That darn scale hasn't budged in terms of the numbers.  But,  I have noticed a change in the way I look. My clothing looks better on me, and I have even been able to squeeze into some clothing from before my two kids were born (Yay!!!).  But..... the darn scale hasn't moved! I keep telling myself that it's actually my body trading muscle for fat...... but that's probably an excuse.  It doesn't help, of course, that the Holidays are here.   Pretty much since Halloween onwards, there's been lots of high calorie temptations around.  So, I'm back to blogging, partly to not derail all the hard work that I've done so far (and, dare I say, actually manage to get back on track DURING the holidays!).