Review of “Chubster” by Martin Cizmar

I picked Chubster: A Hipster’s Guide to Losing Wight While Staying Cool, by Martin Cizmar off the libraries new shelf on a lark last weekend. Not that I needed his advice as my current diet (calorie restriction plus exercise) has been working quite well.

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Turns out, I was already on the right path as Cizmar points out the basic way to lose weight is to count your calories and take in less than you exert. Perfect! Add in some moderate exercise (Cizmar disdains gyms) like walking, biking, hiking or kayaking and you are apt to lose weight.

So, why did I keep reading after all this was outlined in the first chapter? Curiosity, mostly. I glanced ahead a few chapters and liked what was coming. Plus, at 200 pages in small format, it was an easy read. Cizmar doesn’t belabor the point either, like other weight-loss “gurus“. He makes a point and moves on.

My favorite parts of Chubster were the middle chapters where Cizmar recommends various foods that are good, bad or ugly for dieters. First, he delves into single-serving microwavable meals. What!?! In a weight-loss book? Yes! I truly appreciated this, as I have found that these style meals are an easy way to control portion size and calorie intake without busting your budget. These points are similarly made by Cizmar. Cizmar gives the meals a “Good” or “Awful” rating based on taste, calorie value or both. I do have to take some displeasure at his “Awful” taste listing for Lean Cuisine’s Chicken Enchilada Suiza, which I really like, but to each their own.

The Micro-Meals section is immediately followed by a — gasp — Fast Food section. Where, yes, Cizmar finds actual fast food items that are good for a dieter. Most tend to be grilled chicken and salad, but at least he puts them out there and says, “yes, go ahead and eat fast food if you want.” I carefully scrutinized this section and copied down  some suggestions for when I have to deal with fast-food. It is quite difficult to justify seeking out a “green” restaurant for lunch when I am traveling ten hours on the clock.

Cizmar continues his scrutinizing look at various types of food by delving into ethnic food and giving the reader a good understanding (based off his calculations from national chains) of foods that are low in calorie and high in taste. He even continues into various ingredients that rate either a “seek” or “avoid” rating.

The food chapters, which take up most of the book, as they should, are followed by an alcohol chapter. What Hispter can go on a diet and forsake alcohol? Certainly not Cizmar, nor should any other. He then sets out what alcoholic drinks tend to have lower calorie counts (liquor and wine – no surprise there). Cizmar also sets the reader straight on “light” beers and what he calls “alcopops” (sweet, fruity drinks). Cizmar’s rationale is that you can still drink while on a diet, but be sure to count all of those calories too (something I don’t but will likely consider now).

The last part of Chubster outlines basic exercise principles and “cool” activities that a Hispter might partake in (walking, biking, hiking) without joining the “meat-heads” at the gym. Cizmar also discusses the “cheat” which is common in other calorie-based diet plans, especially in regards to exercise. There is no “cheat” in the Chubster plan, as all calories (even liquids) are to be counted.

Cizmar wraps up by discussing ways to maintain, which many consider to be the hardest part of any diet. Once reaching a target weight, Cizmar encourages continued smart food choices, scale-watching, calorie counting and altering your wardrobe to get rid of larger-sized clothes.

Chubster was a good, quick read with a lot of detailed information packed into a small portion. I felt like I learned some more tricks for diet and exercise and took home quite a few new, interesting facts. Even if you are already on a diet (like I was) I would recommend this book. Most of the advice is common-sense and Chubster is a great common-sense vehicle that helps to reinforce the basic diet points: count calories and enjoy moderate physical exercise.

Finding friends through running

I barely had any friends in Springfield until I found OMRR.

 

I moved here in January of 2011 and tried all sorts of strategies to find people to connect to – online dating, meetup, trying out a nearby church, going to the local bars, looking for similar interest groups, you name it, I may have tried it. All that strategy ever got me was that I never needed to order at Houlihans.

 

I began running in the fall of 2012, as my job took me on the road and I had nowhere to workout in the evenings. There was a short, flat road, which would yield me a two or three mile run. Soon, I was running in my very hilly neighborhood near the Nature Center on weekends. I decided at the end of October to find a 5K and lucky for me the Bass Pro races were coming up.

 

At the beginning of the Bass Pro 5K was the first time I ever heard about OMRR. The announcer said something like: “Thanks to Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners for helping out with the race” before we took off.

 

I thought to myself: “I wonder what that group is?” before suffering through my first 5K. By the end of the race, I realized giving it my all to run 3.1 miles was not so bad, I was enthused with the crowd and I liked the free food, beer and shirt. Plus, I had a decent time of around 26 minutes.

 

During a long road trip from Nashville to Chicago and back with a good friend over the Thanksgiving break, I threw the thought out that maybe I could run a half marathon, she was supportive and it stuck in my head.

 

On my return from vacation, I noticed a sign at the YMCA about a Triathlon Training Class. I thought: “well, that would be one step towards a half marathon, it would certainly help with the cardio work I would need.”

 

So, I signed up for the Indoor Triathlon Training class at the YMCA and from there, my life changed.

 

I soon realized that several of my classmates knew each other and wondered how that could be. After all, I had never seen them around the gym. I quickly found out that Tara Homberg, our teacher, along with Brian Wright, Madeline Hardison, Meredith Harper, Doug Haning and Bryan Campbell were all in some sort of running club (though I still was mystified by which one).

 

If it were not for meeting these dedicated folks at the Triathlon training class, I would have had no idea there was an incredible running community here in Springfield (well, I might have figured it out at some point).

 

One morning, they told me about the End of the World 5K that was going to happen on 12/21/12 and told me, “just find OMRR on Facebook” to get all the information about the run. So, I found OMRR on Facebook, got the information about the run and joined a bunch of crazies running down Charleston Street, in the dark, on a Friday night in the winter time.

 

Now that I was on this OMRR Facebook page, I paid scant attention to start. Somehow I kept seeing all of these posts about runs here and there. I would think about how it might be interesting to get to one, but I made excuses about not being able to go to this or that because it was too cold, or too windy, or my schedule would not fit, or whatever. So, I continued my training runs, by myself, in south Springfield.

 

Many of you may not think this now, but, by nature I am a typically shy person. So, on top of all of those excuses I was making about not going, the biggest one was that I was sacred of meeting and interacting with new people. I am an introvert and I would rather read a book at the bar or on a bus or whatever than actually have some sort of conversation with them.Yikes! How dare I think I was going to go to some group run and meet people and actually talk to them!

 

But, somehow those posts about a run here and there (OK – daily posts about daily runs) finally got to me and I decided to haul my butt out of bed some very early Sunday morning and attempt the Go Girl training run in early April. I was, after all, training for the Kansas Half Marathon at the end of the month and really needed to know what it was like to run 13.1 miles. There, I met a very kind Linda, who directed me to a good pace group. That was all well and good, until I got out on my own and missed a turn. Whoops!

 

But that did not deter me from future group runs. Next thing I knew, I was out there meeting folks on the Galloway trail on a rainy, cold, windy Thursday afternoon just a few days before my half. I knew I needed to get out and get miles in and the only thing that drove me out into that nasty weather was the fact that there were going to be other crazy runners out there, too.

 

I think the run that hooked me with the group was an Andy’s run on a nice warm day at the end of April. I met Stephanie, Tiffany, Jon T, James and several other smiling, happy runners, who were all too kind to include a new person in their group.

 

Everyone was friendly and accommodating. No one made me feel bad if I was too slow (or too fast) and everyone had encouraging remarks about the run. Not to mention that there were plenty of smiles and a few faces were slowly beginning to become familiar. Plus, ice cream!

 

By the time summer rolled around, I was getting to as many training days as I could – when I was in town at least. Then, I met the real crazy trail runners. They got me out on Busiek in the summer time. And, believe it or not, even though I work at Wilson’s Creek, I had never run there. That is, until OMRR ran out there one muggy summer morning. There were fun poker run events in the middle of the summer, which got me out and moving on the hottest days of the year.

 

People were actually starting conversations with me! (The secret hope of all introverts). I was meeting all sorts of fun people who were accepting of everybody no matter what. People were interested in what I had to say and I kept meeting more and more people who remembered me. People who remembered my name and where I lived and what I liked to do (other than run). Whoa! I had friends! Not just any friends, but friends who had been out there and suffered in the heat and wind and rain and cold and humidity and whatever else the elements could throw at us. Plus, I found people who liked to have a nice cold beer and sit around and talk (even if it is mostly about running) whenever and wherever.

 

Whenever I was having a bad day at work, or some online date went terribly wrong, or I was just feeling down, I knew that I could look up OMRR, find a group run and get myself out there among awesome people who truly enjoyed being outdoors, exercising and, of course, talking!

 

Even now, that I have taken most of the winter off to recover from injuries, I still feel like I am welcome at any training runs, events, or pub crawls that you guys might invent!

 

Unfortunately, after finally finding friends and an accepting community, I will be moving away from Springfield. I do promise to keep up with all the OMRR adventures on Facebook!

 

I will be living in Denver and working on my altitude training running the steps of Red Rocks – so one year I can come back and kick butt at Dogwood! Anyone can feel free to look me up for places to crash when they come run the Boulder Bolder or their Colorado race! It has been fun and I will always talk up the best running group in the country – Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners!

Inaugural Two Rivers Trail Half Marathon

I ran a trail half marathon. A year ago, I could have never sad that. Six months ago, I had not even run a half marathon. I just finished my fourth half marathon – this time on a trail. And it was every bit as hard as I could have imagined.

Thanks to some local benefactors, a system of mountain bike trails is currently under construction south of Springfield at a place called Two Rivers. Not sure the official name, but everyone just calls it Two Rivers. They have about 8 miles complete and want to add more mileage. Thus, to benefit the park, the idea of a trail race was launched.

I had been thinking about the idea of running the trail half for a while – but, as with most of my races, I tend to make them last minute decisions. Who waited until after Bass Pro Half was sold out earlier this month to try and get in? Yeah, that was me. Well, this time I had the idea floating around and finally arrived at the decision on a running night at the local running store – that $20 gift certificate certainly helped influence my decision. For a $60 race, I basically paid $40 and got $20 of random stuff from the running store.

I had been to Two Rivers to run twice before the race. Both times kicked my butt. I went once with the Sunday morning OMRR Trails group and once on my own. Having to stop every half a mile or so just to let my screaming legs have some rest should have given me a clue what to expect at the race. Two Rivers has a 6-mile long loop that circles all of the other trails. This, twice, plus something extra somewhere was going to make for the distance to get the half marathon. The direction the loop would take would mean a grueling hill, with some mean, mean switchbacks from miles 1-3 and again for 7-10, or something along those lines. Also, the trail was mostly built with mountain bikers in mind, meaning some of the trail features would add to the difficulty of the race.

I even went out there a third time to help with raking leaves and rocks off the trail on a beautiful, sunny, warm Sunday afternoon before the race. Then, a cold front moved in over the week – an inch of rain was dropped one day, the winds started blowing and the temperature dropped.

No Easy Trails!

Now my first trail race – forgot that part – not only my first trail half but first trail race, ever, would be run under cold, cloudy windy conditions on a Saturday morning. At least the start time was at 9,  which gave me a chance to sleep in until 7. No need to get to the race site early and stand around freezing to death. Plus, I needed time to tape my right foot/ankle, which had been bothering me in the week leading up to the race.

 

 

What can I say about the race? Well, I ran two loops. Seriously. By the time I was done, I was practically delirious. The first loop I felt great and ran most of it without walking. I was on an 11-minute pace, which I am not sure if it was good or bad. I was out there, running, for the most part on my own, once I reached the back half of the course. As I was coming off the hill on a steep one-mile drop to the trailhead I heard some very fast footsteps and “coming in hot!” as I jumped off the trail to let the person who would win the 10k race pass. Certainly, I was still doing great, even if someone who started 20 minutes after me, in a different race, caught me after 5.5 miles.

 

I looped through the trailhead and back out to the course. Starting on the slow, slow climb back to the top of the hill, this loop is where my training, or perhaps lack of training started to come in. I slowed way down. Tiny hills were now giant obstacles. I had signed up to run the half and that is what I was going to do, no matter what. Other runners would catch up to me and run with me for a bit, encouraging me and taking my mind off the pain of the race. One lady, in particular, stuck with me throughout the slog up those brutal switchbacks, even continuing to yell out encouragement from above as I let her pass and she slowly faded from my sight.

 

Still climbing and climbing. I was not even sure this trail had downhill anymore after I started that second loop. I pulled into the middle aid station and tried to force down some pretzels, which did not help at all. Suddenly, a very perky 20-something female, who I had traded places with a couple of times already, told me that “we were going to finish this race together” and took off down the course. What else could I do but follow? We had a lively conversation and helped push each other on throughout the back half of the loop.When we needed to walk, we walked. When we needed to run, we ran. When we needed to commiserate about pain, we commiserated. This new friendship certainly took my mind off of my wrapped foot and lower leg having been numbed for several miles, the brutality of my legs not wanting to function, not being able to eat, being cold and frozen and whatever else I had been contemplating while I was out there chugging along on my own. We stayed together until the final downhill.

 

Finally – I reached the top! With only another mile of straight downhill to suffer through. I could feel the tears beginning to well up as I limped my way down the home stretch. Hungry, hurting, but happy. Happy that I could now say I have run a trail half marathon. But especially happy for the great people who made it not about a competition, but about a completion. Happy to enjoy a beer at the end and to congratulate the others who helped me accomplish my goal.

 

Thanks to all the runners who inspired me, chatted with me and encouraged me. I hope that I did the same with others. Maybe I will see you at another trail race – once I decide to start running again. My body needs a break after running probably 1000 miles, and 10 or 11 races in the year since my first race – the Bass Pro 5k in 2012. Happy trails!

 

A beautiful fall day at Two Rivers, training before the race.

 

Review of two fitness apps

There are two apps that I have found very useful in my fitness journey.

The first is Endomondo, which I started using at the beginning of September. I had been using a Google mapping product most of the summer, but it had begun to crap out and stop receiving satellites. A friend of mine had been doing a lot of running and posting his runs to Facebook via Endomondo. I finally got curious enough download it to my phone and started using it right away.

I really like the format of the phone interface, which lets you choose between a large selection of workouts. The two best features of the tracker are that it, of course, tracks your miles and it tracks how many calories you have burnt.

I think that you can also find routes in your area, which others have made, and follow those, but I do not get that far into it. Endomondo has a website where you can monitor all sorts of statistics. You can view a map and chart of your route, which is really cool. It also gives best distance times for several activities. I have spent several hours just cruising around the website and looking into various statistics.

One of the greatest features, which I only found recently, is the ability to manually enter workouts. You can design a route that you wish to follow (say for a run or ride) and get the mileage of said route. That helps me a lot when I am on the road, I can map out a run in an area that I might not be familiar with before heading out.

The other great part about manually entering workouts, is in times when you forget your phone (or can’t have it with you – like while swimming or during hot yoga) you can enter the time and distance later. I have found this very useful for entering workouts that I do on machines in the gym, or the duration of a yoga or Pilates class. This can be done both through the phone or online.

Endomondo also allows you to link to friends. Thus, you can create a spirit of competition and camaraderie with others. And, it gives you a running newsfeed and ability to like and comment on others workouts.

The second app that I have found very useful is Myfitnesspal. I decided to start calorie counting again at the beginning of the year (like so many other folks, probably did too). It, too has a website that is easy to navigate. Myfitnesspal allows me to link in my Endomondo account, so that I can see how many calories I have burnt for the day in comparison to the amount I have consumed. The one drawback to that is that, if you have done a long workout, you see a large calorie deficit. For me, this sometimes means I can sneak that unhealthy food I have been craving.

Myfitnesspal has a large database of common foods, and if you cannot find the food, you can enter information off of the label (provided you have one). There are sometimes wide variations in foods that are listed as “generic” or “homemade” where users have entered their own data. However, it is usually close enough to get a reasonable count.

The best thing I can say about Myfitnesspal is that I have lost 15 pounds and counting since I started about six weeks ago.