Drop it..

Well, in lieu of the upcoming festivities, we have institued the "Countdown to Gown" program at our house. The snappy name came from one of the pieces Amy usually edits for Exercise TV, and we borrowed it for our own use. Basically, we've been working on slimming down for our wedding/trip (not sure why...neither of us needs it...especially her), so we can fit into our respective outfits for the wedding.

Over the last 3 weeks, I've been able to drop 7 pounds, and keep them off through the combination of training and just plain eating right. I've also been subscribing to Coach Frank's "Eat Less, Ride More!" philosophy, and by golly of course it works! Unfortunatly for a while, I was struggling with what appeard to be either GERD or acid reflux. I wasn't sure where/how it started, but, after talking to the doc, he offered a few opinions. First off, being a cyclist, and, in that 'hunched' over position, you can effectively shorten the esopgagus, and, when you drink, your diaphragm goes out of whack while breathing heavily. Additionally, the diaphragm raises higher on the esophagus in the hunched position, therefore the stomach ascends a bit and the distance between the stomach & lower esophogeal sphincter essentially gets shorter. Therefore, the acid has more of a chance to flow backwards. Again, couple this with the off pattern/heavy breathing and poorly timed ingestion of liquid, and, you've got a recipe for acid reflux.

Now, this is not the ONLY probably cause/contributing factor. I eat so damn fast. Too damn fast for my own good! I'm full before I even finish chewing, and, food just backs up as it gets in the queue. So, I've been pracitcing eating WAY slower...actually putting my fork down in between bites, chewing smaller bites, and not cramming food AND drink down all at once. What a remarkable difference this has made. I fully feel like my symptoms are gone, and, only rarely do I get a little upset/sour stomach on the bike anymore. I wasn't sure what was making me randomly nauseaous, but, now I think I figured it out...the excess stomach acid. The combo of some Zantac and slow eating has pretty much ironed out all kinks. I'm actually not taking the Zantac anymore. I also find that I no longer feel like I've overeaten, which gives me this eaters guilt...almost like buyers remorse! Not so much that "oh I ate that?!?!", versus "ugh...Why did I eat that". By eating slower, in smaller amounts, and, being less anxious at the table, I've cured the burn and most importantly dropped some great weight in the process.