Two steps forward, one step back

I did a good job of keeping it low carb yesterday -- new year's eve. But even so I ate too much. We went to a NYE party and I grazed on (beef) salami and pepper jack cheese, with a side of a couple of glasses of wine and some champagne. I was back up to 197.6 this morning. So I guess I got a one month jump on all the New Year's resolution dieters, but now I'm gonna have to buckle down to get the next 30 lbs.
I'm going to try to make it out to run a couple miles this afternoon. Low carb + running = twice as fast weight loss. I went to the gym the other day and put the treadmill on the "fat burner" mode. The fat burner mode tries to keep your heart rate at something like (220-your age)*0.65. I'm 38, so it was 182*0.65=118 beats per minute. Guess what, I didn't have to go very fast to get to 118 bpm. It was embarassingly slow -- 1.6mph, which is about a 37 minute mile. I could actually walk around the block and my heart rate would be higher than 118. But it's not much sense of accomplishment.
Why does the fat burner want me at 118? You will burn more calories at higher levels, but the higher your heart rate is, the more calories are burned from carbs. The lower the heart rate is, the more calories are burned from fat. I went in and had a study done at the physical therapist and they found (when I was running much more) that the crossover for me from burning fat to burning carbs is 156 bpm. So I could probably do more than 118 and be ok. The other thing to think about is that if you're on the atkins diet, you don't have any carbs to burn so maybe you can go higher with heart rate without burning carbs.

Anyway, there's a lot of people with lots of opinions, but one consistent message I've seen is it's better to run slower and for longer times, than to run shorter distances faster. This will help you burn more fat. It's tough if you are a macho guy to run 12-13 minute miles (or even 37 min miles), but that's probably the most effective weight loss strategy.

Also, the Seattle Rock n Roll marathon is coming up in June, and if I want to run I have to start training now! It will take at least six months to get in shape from the state of atrophy my body is in today.

Happy New Year to anyone who reads this.