Thankfully, Ben and Jerry said no to breast milk in ice cream. PETA is craaaazy.

Thinking about getting a copy of Foods That Help You Lose Weight By Neal Barnard, Weight Ladder does a good review of the book.

Since I’ve started biking and working out more, I’ve noticed that my weight hasn’t really changed too much but my athleticism has increased. Running is easier and I run faster. I feel healthier and more active, two things that mean more to me than seeing the number on the scale.

There are three things we should’ve brought that we didn’t:

• A Map: Before you slap yourself and say “Duh!” I have to warn that we thought the trail was just a little walk that could be finished in short order. The trail itself was clearly marked but we weren’t 100% where each trail went. The trail also ended up being far easier to go up than it was to go down, because of the rocks, so our original plan of just back-tracking was adjusted. Regardless, it was a mistake not to have a map (the trail head didn’t have maps either, something we assumed).
• Food: We only ate breakfast at noon and I was starving by the time we made it halfway through. That’s bad… we needed some trail mix!
• Water: We had enough water for our needs but you never know. If we really got lost, we wouldn’t have had enough water.

Even if you think it’s a short hike, be armed with a map and water and food. Don’t be a fool like me.

New scientific research shows that going without enough sleep for more than an occasional day or two can wreak havoc on your health, memory, concentration, mood, and ability to make decisions – even if you think you’re doing fine.

I can recognize the signs of being tired. My brain gets a little duller, I have a harder time understanding and following what I read, and I start getting hungry when I know I’ve just eaten (it’s my body starving for energy because I’m tired I think). When I recognize that, I usually don’t try to fight through it, I do something else or I take a quick nap. Even if I don’t actually fall asleep, the break helps me power through rather than just drinking coffee or soda.

Anyway, it seems like the experts are now confident that 7-8 hours a night is the optimal amount. Sleep more and your waking hours will be more effective.

Make sleep work for you [Fortune Small Business]

JD of Get Fit Slowly wonders if increasing portion sizes are affecting our health, I think they are. As portion sizes increase, mostly for competition reasons (store A has more than store B, store A must be better!), our own minds start to adjust to eating that much. As we eat more, our stomachs expand and we end up needing more food to get “full.” As proof positive, competitive eaters (think Kobayashi or Joey Chestnuts from the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest) will “prepare” for contests by drinking a ton of water so their stomachs expand.

Kevin of Weight Ladder has some good tips for keeping fit while injured.

I agree with Lazy Man, the cookie diet is ridiculous.

Israel of Fat Man Unleashed has lost 4.5 lbs. since last weigh in and his total weight loss since starting the 30-day Isagenix challenge is at 12 lbs.

The story of a 310 lb. college English professor transformed into a lean inspirational health machine is one that’s graced the pages of CNN. If you want to read Muata’s journey, he’s chronicled it for all to read and it’s very inspiring.

I also recommend subscribing to his RSS feed, I especially appreciate how honest he is with both himself and his reader and his level of candor is quite refreshing.

One of my favorites has to be #9 – Hold our liquor simply because the photo is hilarious. I have to contest this one though because even though we may be able to hold our liquor better drink for drink, I think men have a greater propensity to drink more and thus find us less likely to hold our liquor for the entire night. I like the biological explanation though.

As for #5 – play real sports, I have to say that I had a friend once tell me, in jest, that the women’s sports look like men’s sports played underwater. I didn’t say that, a friend did, you judge its accuracy.

My absolute favorite is #3. I’ll leave that up to you to discover which one that is.

What we’ve started doing is walk around the lake after dinner as often as we possibly can. It’s not terribly strenuous but it’s a bit of added activity every day that has the potential of yielding good benefits down the road.

First, it gets us out and about. I spend most of my day on the computer, sedentary; so getting up and walking around more often is certainly a bonus. While I do go to Body Pump twice a week, every little bit extra certainly helps.

Second, it burns calories at a rate of 100 per mile so that’s 300 burned calories each time we go out. If there are 3500 calories per pound of fat, that’s a pound every 12 days if we’re running at equilibrium. In a year, that’s potential 31 pounds.

Lastly, it’s some good quality time where there are few distractions. We get a chance to chat and that’s priceless.

Wrong.

Wrong and a bit insulting to one’s intelligence I might add. Muscle and fat are two entirely different tissues and there’s no way one could convert itself into the other, in either direction, so the mere idea of this is ludicrous.

How did this crazy myth come about? Likely as the result of poor conclusions made from observation. People who lift a lot tend to consume calories. When you stop lifting your muscles will begin to atrophy and the higher caloric levels, if they stay that way, will contribute to more fat in the body. Muscles shrink, fat stores increase, it looks, superficially, as though muscles as turned into fat.

• Beans
• Tofu
• Peanut Butter
• Lentils
• Broccoli

This whole vegetarian thing is still in its nascent stages so don’t have any high expectations yet.

As for this week in the fitness blogosphere:

• Lazy Man talks about how exercise is about more than losing weight. It can provide sleep and mood benefits as well.
• NCN has joined the the 100 pushups craze and cranked out the 42 pushups of day one, week one. Congrats!
• Israel shares some unconventional benefits of weight loss, including the donation of old clothes to charity!

Check out the shake’s nutritional facts and awe at the fact that you get more than three days worth of saturated fat. Fortunately it does not contain Crustaceans (which include crab, crayfish, lobster and shrimp) because that would be way too much! To burn off that drink, it would take you FOUR HOURS on a treadmill going at a moderate pace.

Someone needs to draw skull and crossbones on that thing… it’s got some serious heart stopping power.

NCN gave us an update on his 6th day without soda.

Fat Man Unleased shares a review of Weight View with us.

And last but not least, Lazy Man laments how hotels are horrible for fitness.

On an unrelated note, I’m in the process of securing a Wii Fit, which I hear is all the rage. Looks pretty cool from this 2007 E3 conference video:

Luckily for us, we actually have a more picturesque and longer walk than my parents. It’s about three miles round trip for us to walk around the lake and back, something we can usually do in about an hour, and something we try to do at least once a week. Another side benefit is that the grocery store is along the way so we often stop by there to grab a couple things we needed (saves on gas!).