reading material

here are a couple of things i came across today:

a) good article about nutrition and how we burn fat. #1 factor? diet and nutrition, and by a longshot. you'll also notice that a key factor is to perform high intensity anaerobic exercises (short intense bursts - think jumping rope, jumping in general, sprint intervals on the track, etc.), rather than longer aerobic workouts (think running 5 miles, riding 50 miles, etc.). in other works, you're probably better off jumping rope and lifting weights for a total of 15 minutes, in a high intensity fashion, rather than running on the treadmill for an hour.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_hierarchy_of_fat_loss

(ignore all of the groin-heavy photos if that's not your thing)

footnote - something not addressed in this article, but a fact nonetheless - you can increase your aerobic performance by doing anaerobic exercises, but doing aerobic work actually hurts your anaerobic capability. i'm going to prove this myself by doing some long runs this year (double dipsea and quad dipsea) using strength training and interval work as my primary preparation, and ignoring longer runs. stay tuned.

b) Gary Taubes just released a book called "why we get fat and what to do about it." it's a recycling of one of his earliest works, but reduced into a more concise and coherent format. i bought it today and it is on the way. will report back. short answer - carbs are killing us, and the "i will lose weight if i burn more calories than i consume" logic is flat wrong if the quality of the calories (i.e. if they are carbs that are negatively affecting your insulin levels) are bad for you. i had a friend recently tell me that they cut out most of the fat in their diet - red meat, sausage, etc. that is the WRONG thing to do. cut out anything with high fructose corn syrup, anything sugary not from plants, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, etc., and watch the pounds come off dramatically.

http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294203305&sr=8-1