Random post here with some answers to comments or emails I have gotten recently:

Do you have any tips that you want to share on how to become a runner? Did you follow a certain training plan when you started running? Thanks. I started with the Couch to 5K program. I thought I hated running, turns out I don’t! I just didn’t know how to get started. Even though I was not running a whole 3 miles at the end of 9 weeks, I could run for 30 minutes straight. Then I just worked on speed until I got down to that.

How many servings of protein are in your Zone bar? Zone bars and Balance bars have 15 grams of protein in them. Ratios are approx 40/30/30.

I’d always hoped to avoid the skin problem — some say losing slowly helps? If losing slow prevented loose skin, I would be tight as a drum about now LOL! Loose skin may or may not happen, but don’t ever let that stop you from losing weight. I would much rather have the loose skin I have now than have it filled up with 100 pounds of fat again!

What do you think about the equations that take into account your age, height, and activity level, and calculate how many calories you can consume to maintain your current weight? Accurate or not? Are there other factors they are not considering, like different metabolic rates? Short answer, I think those are generic at best. The more I am reading about weight loss and maintenance, particularly for those that have lost a lot of weight, the more it seems like those numbers need to be tossed out the window. Just was talking with John last night that I seem to be some physical anomaly that I am burning over 2000 calories a day, eating 1500ish and staying the same. Something doesn’t add up there.

What’s up with the Great Vegetable Experiment? I grew up detesting most forms of vegetables. Even through most of my adult life, I only ate a small hand full: broccoli, carrots, potatoes, corn, lettuce, cucumbers. Not an exciting variety to have in the diet. And I really wanted to incorporate more veggies in my diet. Fruit – no problem, but veggies are hard. So, I decided that I would at least try new veggies about once a week and make sure they were fresh. Canned veggies to me are ick. Anyway, it can’t hurt to try, and now that I have preparation methods I enjoy, such as roasting – more vegetables are appealing to me. I have found some I now eat that I would never have believe possible (brussel sprouts, who knew??), and others that shall never cross my lips again (raddichio). It’s been a fun experiment, I have to say.

Does blood donation hurt? Not really. Not that much anyway. Sometimes it depends on the tech. The needle is big; it has to be so the blood cells don’t get all torn up. There are times I have barely even felt the needle go in, and other times where there was more discomfort. It lasts for just a few seconds, then the donation itself doesn’t hurt at all. Plus you get snacks at the snack table (Hooray for Lorna Doones!), and you have an excuse to be lazy for the rest of the day. Only 3% of people donate blood. Scary thought if you ever need any, right?

What kind of exercise do you do? I try to keep my workouts updated here.

So, there are your random thoughts for the day!