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Weight Loss For Rock Climbers: My Climbing Went From V2 to V6!

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Before and After Jason

 

My climbing abilities jumped:  I had never sent a V3.  Afterwards, I was able to send a few V5’s and V6’s.  This is my story of how I lost 22 lbs. of fat, gained 7 lbs. of muscle and improved my climbing from V2 to V6.

 

The usual disclaimer: This is just my experience and my opinion. This is what works for me. If you have a different experience, feel free to share in the comments. I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on the interwebs.  However, I embrace the concept of self-experimentation and the value of N=1 data for personal improvement.

 

MY PERSONAL THEORY FOR IMPROVING CLIMBING

  1. Improvement in overall fitness should lead to improvements in climbing
  2. Improvement (reduction) in Body Fat Percentage should lead to improvements in climbing

My Experiment

All I wanted to do was lose some belly fat (maybe even lose weight fast) and climb a little stronger.  I didn’t have an end weight in mind and I really didn’t know if I would lose weight or add muscle or both.  Mentally, I was prepared to just accept the data.  And I had no idea how this would affect my climbing.  I was hopeful that I would get stronger; I just didn’t know how much stronger. Continue Reading

The Importance Of Self-Experimentation: YOU Are In Charge Of Your Health

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You Are In Charge Of Your Health

If you are not hitting your heath, weight-loss, or sports performance goals, it may be worthwhile to ask yourself a few questions:

  • Is what I am currently doing for my health, working for me?
  • What if some of my personal beliefs about diet and exercise are off?
  • Where did my information about diet and exercise come from?  Why do I believe it?
  • Am I open to trying something completely different?

When it comes to losing weight and getting healthy, you are in charge. Let me write that again:  YOU are in charge.  And this is exactly why self-experimentation is important to you.

Before and After Jason
Before (190lbs) and After (176lbs)

The picture to the right shows the results of my self-experimentation.  The pictures are only 30 days apart!

I am n=1: The Importance Of  Self-Experimentation

Calories That I Ate On Jan 22
FAT: I ate like this to get in the best shape of my life

There is a current trend to shed the popular one-size-fits-all low-fat diet and (a-hem) your doctor’s bad advice about eating and health and sports performance; and embrace this concept of n=1.

What is n=1?  N=1 means, “I will find out what works for me!”  N=1 is a way to describe an experiment with one test subject…YOU.  N=1 means that you collected data about yourself.   N=1 is anecdotal evidence.  But, can n=1 give groundbreaking information about you?  Maybe.

A very simple example for me is:  When I eat a high-fat, low-carb diet (as the graph shows); I lose weight, sleep better, feel better, and some minor joint pains go away.  This is what works for ME.

Do you know what works for you?

If you have found something that works for you, please share in the comments.

More details soon about the crazy way I lost 20 pounds of fat and gained 7 pounds of muscle.  I also went from bouldering V2 to V6 during this experimentation time.  (I used this increase in bouldering ability as MY true measure of success during this diet and exercise program that I created for myself.)

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You Will Be Okay!

Did you overeat this Thanksgiving weekend?  Feeling fat and bloated?  Mentally beating yourself up for all the dessert you ate?  Oh, how human of you!

It is human of us to enjoy good food.  It is human of us to associate a wonderful meal with happiness and contentment.  It is also human of us to not exactly know how to get the fat off our our midsection, butt, and thighs.  Is it human of us to have to sort through tons and tons of diet and weight loss information and opinions?

There is no need to beat yourself up mentally about where you are with your health, fitness, or fat loss goals.  If you haven’t found what works for you yet, just keep looking.