Intensity

I have linked to another blog this week. It is called Burn the Fat. This week he has some great tips on circuit training. Ironically, this weeks tip from his blog is stair intervals. As a large group of us have done stairs already we know how good of a work out it can be.
These last few weeks are important to keep on pushing. Remember there is at least 1000 dollars to the winner for this competition. Keep up the good work.

Health Eating

I am posting a section from an article placed on dove.com. I really like their focus on the Real Beauty campaign. To read the full article, click on the title of this posting.

If dieting is bad how do we go about losing weight?
I think we are focusing on the wrong things. There is no quick and easy way to lose weight -- it took time to gain it, its going to take time to lose it. We need to develop awareness about portions; portions are extremely large. If you simply reduce portions, increase fruit and vegetable consumption, and add activity where you can, you'll have a slower weight decrease but the weight will stay gone.

Think of it this way: An extra 100 calories every day for a year adds 10 pounds. Can you find ways to cut?

No one can avoid fast foods and restaurants all the time. How do you make smart choices even in an unhealthy environment?
Sometimes I think salads are the worst choice, because they are huge and the dressing has a lot of calories. My advise is to order what you want, but eat only half -- watch portion sizes. Stick with water for a beverage and ask for all dressings and things like mayo to be on the side.

This article went on to recommend three foods to cut out from your diet immediately, which are; white flour, hydrogenated oils and things with high fructose corn syrup.

Three foods to add right away are more fruits and vegetables -- no one in particular, omega 3's, and whole grains.

Making the Map

When driving from Portland to San Diego, I can generally follow the road signs and get there. I am way to anal for that, so I opt to print out directions for each step of the way. On the way to San Diego I check the map many, many time to make sure I am heading where I need to go.

The same is true for setting goals. The first step is writing the weight loss goals down. These goals need to be reasonable or you will set yourself up for failure. For our 12 week program 12-24 lbs of weight loss is a reasonable goal. Anything more than that is possible but takes a lot of extra work. Now that those goals are written down, they need to be looked at often. My map to San Diego would not be useful to me if I didn't pick it up and stare at it every time I came near a new highway. We need to remind ourselves of our weight loss goals every time we sit down to eat. It may make you steer away from that cookie or fast food for lunch. Knowing the weight loss goal is not enough.

This is another reason I like the websites that help you track food and exercise. Most of the websites have charts to show you were you should be with your weight loss if you stick to the goals. If you find you are gaining weight again, it is time to look at the goals again so as not to become lost. Click on the title to this blog post to learn more about goal setting.

Trimming the Fat

It seems to be an easy concept to eat less and work out more, but for some of us it is not that easy. Some weeks we gain weight or fail to lose the weight we expected to lose. If this is the case it is really important to write it all down. I have mentioned in the past there are free websites to track the calories. One is www.livestrong.com and the other is www.sparkpeople.com. I tend to like spark people a little better. It seems a little more user friendly. My name is Harpie19 on the site if you want to link up with me or give me referral credit.
Otherwise write down everything you eat. I have found the days I think I am getting around 1700 calories I am actually eating around 2000. It makes a difference in what I need to do for a work out if I am eating more than I think I am.
Also it is helpful to look for ways to trim the calories here and there. I cannot start my day without a good Chai. Starbucks has some low calorie options but I found if I make it at home not only do I save money but save on calories. I also switched my Chai from low-fat milk as a base to almond milk. The texture of my Chai is not as creamy as with dairy but it is still the rich spicy flavor I am looking for. I save myself 30 calories with every Chai made that way, but by the end of my five day week, I have saved 150 calories, which means the first 15 minutes of my Adapt work out is now just burning fat calories and not Chai calories. :) What ways do you think you can trim the fat/calories?

A History of Eating

Just some fun facts. The government occasionally keeps track of what people are eating and we also use how much restaurants serve as a guide now as well. The last official data from the government was from 2005.
In 1909 the average American consumed 3500 calories a day but most of it was vegetables and carbohydrates and the jobs involved more labor than anything else. By the 1970's people were consuming around 2300 calories a day. The latest data says Americans now consume 2800 calories a day. The 500 calorie increase is mostly due to sugar and fat consumption. Our consumption of sugar has gone down by 28% since 1970 but our consumption of corn sweeteners has gone up by 490%!!!
So what does all of this really mean? In the sedentary world we live in, we have to eat less than or equal to what our body burns(our Basil Metabolic Rate)just by being awake. The average sedentary female BMR is around 1900 calories a day. If we consume 2800 calories a day and only burn 1900 a day that means we are gaining .3 pounds a week. It's not much so it can easily sneak up on us weeks at a time.
Just remember 1 pound is equal to 3500 calories so burning 500 extra calories a day ( or a work out equivalent to an hour of hard dragonboating) will help burn off one pound a week. Keep up the good work all.

Nighttime Noshing

Any of you have your biggest meal of the day for dinner? Or, find that you snack quite a bit and eat 50% of your days calories before bedtime? If it is a consistent thing it may be Night Eating Syndrome, which is considered an eating disorder. More can be read about it by clicking on the title of this posting.
If it is just an occasional problem here are a few tricks to help out
* Brush teeth after dinner
* Plan a healthy snack for after dinner
* Buy 100 calorie snack packs
* Plan events to keep your hands busy at night
* Write in a journal if you feel anxious about eating
* Eat breakfast with in 45 minutes of waking up even if not hungry

A combination of these tricks may help keep calories down at night. Working on eating breakfast and snacks in the morning will also eventually help to decrease night time hunger. Again if the issue persists, it may be an eating disorder and requires seeking professional help.

Comfy on the Couch Syndrome

Ever get that snuggled in feeling? Where you get home turn on the TV and feel like you are content to park it for the rest of the evening? Well I do. I have awesome at home work outs like Windsor Pilates and P90X but sometimes I just don't want to stop watching my shows. To combat this feeling I have taken a great idea given to me by my good friend Christine Pezzulo. I grab a deck of cards and assign a work out to each suit. Sit ups for hearts, push ups for diamonds, mountain climbers for clubs, and squats for spades. Pick another exercise to replace any or all if these if you feel you cannot do one or more of these. Shuffle the deck well and turn over one card at a time. The number on the card indicates the reps, face cards are worth 10 reps and aces are 15 reps. If you do one card right after the other, the work out can be done in 20-30 minutes and you can still watch your show through most of it. Don't want to miss a minute of your show? Flip the cards on the commercials instead and you will get the work out done in just under an hour. Either way by the time you finish, you will have done 99 sit ups, 99 push ups, 99 mountain climbers, and 99 squats. A work out without any extra equipment or thinking and all done while keeping the tv on. Try it out.