Lifestyle Inspiration

(I found this on MSN and thought it was incredibly inspiring.  If a single mom can lose 100 lbs and become a personal trainer, anyone can!)

Christina is 5′7″, started out weighing 248 lbs.  In 2005, she began changing her entire lifestyle and now is a personal trainer who weighs 140 lbs.  She’s been at her goal for 2 1/2 years.

The Problem  ”I gained 105 pounds when I got pregnant with my daughter.  After my daughter was born, my relationship took a turn for the worse and soon ended approximately eight months after she was born. As many can relate to, this created a terrible sense of security and self image, emotional instability and just the added stress of being a new, single mommy. This took an immediate toll on my health and diet. I carried the weight for a few years after having her.”     The Push  ”I did months and months of research online (it was the best option for the single mommy budget) to find out what, how, when, how much, etc. it would take to get the results I needed. I changed my diet SIGNIFICANTLY. I went from eating maybe two to three times a day (if that) to eating every two to three hours. Portion control of healthy options became a way of life. I began doing cardio every morning as soon as I got out of the bed and would do this at least five days a week. After work at night, I would weight train.”   The Point “I truly feel in order to get the results you want, all major components must be there: diet, cardio and weight training. One without the other will only prolong the results, which could ultimately lead to me giving up. And that wasn’t an option. I do feel diet was truly 80 percent of my results.”    The Present “…Watching my daughter follow in my footsteps with being healthy. She ALWAYS asks, “Is this healthy, Mommy?” and more often than not, asks for broccoli instead of fries because she knows it’s healthy. To hear a 7-year-old say that will stop you in your tracks. As well, I did my first two figure competitions and was blessed with a modeling career where I’ve been published dozens of times. Two significant publications were “2006 Sexiest Female Model” and “2007 Hottest Fit Body.”  

tomorrow i start over

Today C. and I begin a new journey. Today we are resetting our eating habits with the help of the Fat Smash Diet program by Dr. Ian Smith. For anyone who knows me, weight loss has been my issue since I was in high school. In recent years, I’ve discovered that 1) I wasn’t overweight in high school and 2) my weight gain as an adult has been related to undiagnosed health issues.

Now that I’m past all of that, it’s time to create new habits for the great life I’ve created for myself. It was C.’s idea to use the Fat Smash program as our guide. I’ve had the book for years and was a fan of Celebrity Fit Club, but I never really investigated the program. I’m just not a diet person, but after reading the book, I found I liked the approach of resetting my relationship with food. I have to do something. I don’t want to be this weight and lifestyle and health dictate that I have to do something more aggressive than what I’m currently doing.

So today C. and I are meeting to buy our food and plan out Phase 1 - nine days of vegetarian eating. I can’t wait.

little indy 500 bloomington

5 minutes walk from my house

Today was the little indy 500 bike race in bloomington.  The frats and sororities partying like crazy in the streets. Today a few patients and the last several hours sitting here with the founder of  Bloomington raw food gatherings.

Lots of ideas for future meetings, conferences, and workshops.  Little bit more of a rest day after pushing hard all week.

Talking a little bit  about eating more wild greens as opposed to organic veggies from the health food store.

Delightful weather: warm, sunny, and breezy.  Scents of flowers everywhere.  Feeling the need for quiet.  Lots of cultured veggies and flax crackers the last day.  Feeling the effect of the probiotics.  Rolling around a bit on the magnetic chi qong balls.

Love and Light

Dr. George

Checking in On My "Pointless" Month and "The Microwave Scrambler"

Happy Friday and happy weekend to you all!! It is officially one month since I stopped counting Weight Watchers points and started with my new approach. It has been a good month, and I’m still very happy with my decision. I promised a weigh-in post today, and I’m happy to deliver.

Before I get into all of that, I thought I’d tell you about my lunch today. I made a batch of black bean taco filling a couple of nights ago, and immediately started thinking of other uses for the beans. The tortillas I use have to be heated in a skillet in order to be good, so an actual taco wasn’t really a lunchtime option. I’d considered the omelette possibility, but I couldn’t really whip up an omelette at work either. I could, however, do the next best thing and make a scramble! At least, I thought I could. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but here’s what I did:

I put my black bean filling and my cheese in a little container, and put 1/2 cup of egg beaters with some salsa in a bigger container. I didn’t think it would be smart to mix them this morning because I was afraid that the beans might soak up the eggs while sitting in the fridge.

 

When lunchtime rolled around, I set the cheese aside and heated up the beans. Then, I mixed the beans into the egg beaters and put it in the micro for 30 seconds.

I took it out, stirred it, and zapped it for 30 seconds more. I repeated the process, and, after thirty more seconds, I had a perfectly respectable microwave scrambler in my bowl!

Since I try to focus on getting plenty of protein in my diet, I often favor eggs over bread when it comes to choosing a food “holder.” I think it was just a matter of time before I figured out how to put this to play at work. The experiment was a success, and I have a whole new option for a quick and easy lunch made with leftover veggies and meats! Hooray for the “microwave scrambler!!”

Shifting gears now, if you are a regular reader you may recall that I decided to stop counting points and worrying so much about weekly weigh-ins because it was becoming counterproductive, and I was feeling like I was in a major rut. You can find the post about my decision to switch here. Almost immediately, I decided to start counting calories because I found that I wasn’t comfortable without some sort of framework. I felt bad about it at first, but now I’ve realized that it is a step in the right direction.

I’ll say it again, Weight Watchers worked very well for me. If you are reading my blog and are currently following the Weight Watchers plan, please know that I don’t mean to be negative or discouraging about WW in any way. It is still in my list of options, and I will return to it in a heartbeat if I find that I’m unable to manage my weight with my new approach. I’d just been doing it for so long that I felt like I really needed a change. I stuck with it for the past four years because it DOES work. 

I discovered some things about the way I’d been eating when I made the switch to calories and went “pointless.” First, I realized that I might have been eating way too much fiber and not enough fat. Admittedly, if I’d been diligent about eating my daily requirement for oil under the WW plan, that might not have been a problem. I’m not sure, and I don’t love math enough to go back and figure it out. What I do know is that I’ve found some higher fat foods to be much more satisfying than what I was eating before, and I’ve felt more satisfied with my food choices over the last month than I have in a long time.

I also realized that I might have been too good at gaming the system. I might have been eating too many zero point foods of the healthy variety, since I knew my zero point options like the back of my hand, and I’ve learned that even my spinach has some calories in it. Well, I knew that, but now I understand it much better! A calorie is a calorie. Period. There’s no formula to apply. There’s something comforting about that to me. 

WW taught me well that eating a bunch of empty calorie foods, although staying within my points, would not necessarily fill me up. That’s a lesson that has carried over, and many of my meals look just the same as they did while I was counting points. One thousand calories worth of chocolate would never keep me full like one thousand calories made up of oat bran, omelettes, fruits and veggies. I think that keeping that in mind when making day to day food choices is key.

When I decided to go “pointless,” I was also struggling with the fact that my weight had stayed the same for the last few months. When I weighed in on March 20th, I was at 159.8. After a week of going “pointless” I dropped down to 153.8. I was so surprised! I think that there is much to be said for shaking things up. Today, the scale said 158.8. So, am I saying that I lost a pound this month? No. I’m getting better at looking at my weight over the course of time and not pinning all of my hopes on one snapshot weigh-in day a week. My weight had stayed around 155-157 for most of the month, but I don’t think that my weekend of eating Williamsburg’s best helped me out much for today’s weigh-in. The thing is, I’m not so freaked out about it anymore.

When I decided to make the switch, I also decided to make healthy choices and just see what happened rather than making myself miserable with the pressure to keep shedding pounds. This has done wonders for me, but I find that it is one of the things I struggle with the most. I’ve been so much more relaxed with my eating this month, and I’ve enjoyed so many things that I would have avoided before. I tend to fall back into the old patterns of worrying about staying on track in order to have a loss more often than I’d like, but I’ve gotten better about reminding myself that I don’t have to lose when I find myself in situations where I want to be less strict– like last weekend. The thing is, after a month of being more relaxed, I haven’t gained back 50 pounds. I’ve hovered around the same number and even lost a little. I needed to know that it was possible to achieve that, and I’m so very happy about it. 

My goals moving forward are to continue to stay around the weight I’m at now, or somewhere below. I really don’t want to gain anything back, but I’m ok with maintaining where I am. I also want to get better at paying attention to hunger signals. I feel like I’ve made some improvements in this area over the course of the month, but I have far to go. I would also like to focus even more on making healthy choices than on the scale number or the calories logged in my Sparkpeople calorie tracker. In other words, I’d like to keep working on eating more intuitively. 

This is an on-going process, and I know that I’ll always struggle with my weight. After this month, however, I’m even more convinced that the struggle is well worth it AND that I have the tools I need to be successful while enjoying my life. Isn’t that, after all, the best of both worlds?

As an example of the new approach in action, I will leave you with this:

I attended a retirement ceremony this afternoon at work, and I decided that I really wanted a piece of the celebratory cake. I actually decided to have cake before I even went to the party so this wasn’t a case of seeing it and wanting it. I just wanted it. Period. I used to avoid the cake completely and munch on whatever fruits and veggies were available. That’s definitely a healthy strategy and one that I rely on often. Today, however, when I had my heart set on cake, it wouldn’t have been the best tactic for purposes of avoiding feelings of deprivation. I had my cake, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Yum! Cake with frosting is a major treat in my book! Striving for some balanced choices, I decided to finish off my LaLoo’s this evening without the usual side of chocolate cake from the freezer since I’d already had my cake today. I had a couple of reduced fat nilla wafers instead. I feel good knowing that I didn’t deprive myself of something I really wanted, and that I found a way to balance that out without guilt or deprivation. I’m figuring this thing out, one bowl at a time.  

This is post #99. I’m excited!! You’ll be hearing about my 100th post giveaway in my next post. If things go as planned…. that will be happening tomorrow! For now, thanks for reading, and I hope that my experience can be helpful to someone or, at the very least, kind of interesting. Writing it all out is definitely helpful for me. Thanks for reading it. Ciao for now, bloggie friends!

04-23-09

This week has seemed to go on forever.  I’m glad tomorrow is Friday!  I’ve been doing a little better on my eating plan this week, but not up to par yet.  I also haven’t done any walking, except the amount that I do in the normal course of going through the day.  Lately, it’s felt like a marathon just walking from the parking garage where I park at work to the office, even though it’s almost right across the street!

Next week, I’m getting an ergonomic assessment of my workspace at work.  I’m hoping that I’ll end up getting a new, more comfortable chair out of the deal.  We’ll see.

My brothers and I are looking into a companion care service for my father.  He’s really not up to doing everything on his own anymore.  He needs some help with grocery shopping, laundry, straightening up the house, etc.  He’ll be 85 years old next weekend, and given his age, he’s still in half-decent shape, he just needs a helping hand.

My Phillies are off to a somewhat lackluster start after their World Series victory last October.  Their legendary hall of fame broadcaster, who was also the voice of NFL Films, passed away recently.  R.I.P. Harry Kalas.

WhatYouNeedToSucceed

It is a well-known fact that 97 % of network

marketers fail . So what  do these 3% success-

ful ones got  that the failures don’t have ?

People say, the choice of  the right company

with excellent management, excellent product

with a huge market, excellent compensation plan

and customer support a with new style of market–

ing methods and lead generation. These are  are

known ingredients for  success in online internet

business.  But  even if all the above factors

are in place, many network marketers  still fail

and quit  their online businesses and remain in

the 97% bracket of miserable failures. Why?

The answer, I believe is found in the networker

himself. He is the best product to promote. He

has the power to succeed. He can  do what ever

he wants to do with his life. He can be contented

of where he is,  or he can dream and  create a

goal of what he wants to accomplish. His positive

mental attitude about life is  so important for his

future. If  he  allows  negativity to dominate him

or let the negative people  around him  rule his

life, then he is a failure. But what would you do

with the negative relatives, much more with a

negative spouse ? You cannot just get rid of

them !

The answer lies in what the eagle, that king of

birds does during  the storm.  You see, the

ducks and other birds hide, take shelter for

safety and comfort. The eagle flies over the clouds,

above the storm and even  uses the wind   to

propel itself  high-up above  the clouds  to

overcome the storm.

So the important word is  “overcome”. You have

to overcome the negativity that surrounds you:

everybody that laughs at your network

marketing efforts  including members of your

own family,  everybody that tells you that

what you are doing will not work, and you are

crazy and  just wasting your time !

Yes your sttitude is important. your inner guts

are helpful. But another most important factor is

your ability to  choose    a  successful network

marketer   and follow what he does.  Experts say

that if you want to be successful, copy and

follow what successful people do and you can

duplicate their successes. But again, do you have

the guts to do what they do?

How You Can Overcome The Basic Problems Of Self Employment

How You Can Overcome The Basic Problems Of Self Employment

You must already know that self employment is not a rosy ride all the way. There will be problems you will have to encounter, and you will have to be ready for those. But let those problems not deter you from employing yourself. There are definite ways in which you can come on tops here. Let us check out some of the common problems that self employment brings in, and how you can strive to overcome these problems:-

1. The most commonly faced problem in self employment is the sudden responsibility. You have to manage every part of the business yourself, and that could really be intimidating. But then, you can easily overcome this problem by hiring people to work for you. One word of advice here - do not hire people just because you know them, hire them for their talent. And hire people on a freelance basis, since you can then easily build good working patterns with them.

2. Finance is a very significant problem, and most businesses are nipped in the bud due to lack of it. In self employment ventures, there is also a huge need for contingency expenses, and these happen because generally you do not know how much the business is going to cost you. However, if you make a clear analysis at the outset and talk with someone who is already into the business, you will know most of these overheads in advance. Also, there are financial institutions that will readily give you money. But, you must speak with them even before your venture starts and know how to approach them when the time comes.

3. Be prepared for slumps. That is a very common bane of self employment. There will be periods when you will have no work to do. That is the reason why you must always take at least one extra project. Take at least one project that is not so strict on the deadlines and will be your backup if some of the better ones were to fade out. Most self employed people use this ploy. They retain some low paying jobs just tucked away for a rainy day.

4. In self employment, if you are not dynamic, you will go out like a dwindling light bulb. You will have to keep up with market ups and downs. Sometimes, there will be problems of comparison. Clients will compare you with your rivals. If you are keeping a higher price than your competitors, then you have to keep something better than them. You will also have to upsize or downsize your business with changing market trends.

That’s how self employment is actually. You create the venture and then it starts controlling you. But if you are well aware of what is going to happen, and can anticipate things, then you will always be on tops. Self employment requires a bit of courage, and you have to develop it within you.  New business get on the ground floor.

Fat Photos - Time for Analysis!

Alright, everyone, I have lost thirty-four pounds as of today. Let’s compare this photo to two weeks ago. It’s only four pounds difference, so it may be hard to see a difference. I think there are some difference. My armpit fat is smaller still. And while my belly looks a bit pudgier, that’s due entirely to my pants and belt. My love handles have shrunk a bit. Beyond that, though, four pounds has not made an enormous difference. The distinctions between bi-weekly photos will not be as impressive as it once was. But it is always fun to place it against the original.

April 6th

April 20th

The Original

Hormones are not everything.

I’ve been really moody lately.  The past couple weeks have been the worst.  I’m either crying, or laughing so hard I could pee myself, or biting the heads off of the people I love the most for stupid reasons.

I hate it when people boil it down to hormones.  I HATE it.  To me it’s just not acceptable to blame everything on shifting hormones.  Like when a woman is experiencing PMS, she can tend to get a little moody, and this is because of the shift in hormones.  I can’t stand it when people walk around and use it as an excuse to treat people like dirt though, it bothers me.

I guess it is just on my mind quite a bit, because I seem to have been quite hormonal and moody lately.  I guess it stands to reason, since I have had PMS and because I have done a complete diet overhaul in the last couple of weeks which has got to be affecting my insulin levels (hopefully for the better).  I have also done some research which points to a connection between insulin resistance and depression and other mood disorders.  So while I can see there being increased mood swings with the diet overhaul, I hope that they will improve over the next while.

However, having said all that, I still see it as being quite silly to blame hormones for my actions.  Yeah I have hormones that are very out of whack…but I need to be able to recognize and deal with them in a manner that does NOT, alienate the people in my life who are most important.  Hormones being out of whack is difficult to deal with, but not impossible.

In other PCOS news, I keep getting these rude awakenings like learning more statistics.  Like women with PCOS who have never been pregnant have 3 times the risk of getting endometrial cancer, and those who are 21-50lbs over weight run that same risk…for those over 50lbs over weight (me) the risk increases to 10 times.  Those stats found here

This is scary stuff….I’m glad I am taking action now.

Week 11 Update

I suppose this week delivered what I thought it would, a small increase in weight, but cm loss in the lower body as the walking starts to have its impact.

All Easter Eggs are finally out of the house, with the exception of my sons, and so I need to buckle down and just get on with eating well and exercising, while not giving myself any little outs or excuses.

weight loss week 11

The Emotional Affects of Losing Weight Quickly

If you’ve ever lost any good amount of weight within a short period of time, you probably can relate a lot to what I’m about to talk about. Having large amounts of excess weight adds so much more to our lifestyle than just being labeled “unhealthy”. It takes away from our self-confidence, which in turn, affects almost every aspect of our lives.. personal and work-related. We then start to feel “stuck”, and our self-worth goes down a notch everytime we are reminded we are overweight, can’t fit into cute clothes, or not “the pretty one” or the “good looking one” out of a group of friends. Over the years, this can take it’s toll. Damage is done slowly, but surely.

More weight is added, more rolls appear out of nowhere, our faces become rounder as the shame grows.

We deny it, but it’s there. Depression creeps in, and we start feeling like we just don’t want to be out in public as much. Staying home and feeling ‘comfortable’ is the most enticing option on a Friday night. It becomes habit, life becomes boring, and we become lethargic as we crawl about in our day-to-day lives.

This is the Vicious Cycle of Being Overweight

In addition to actually losing the physical weight, there is SO much work that we also have to do mentally. We have set ourselves on a vicious cycle that we have to learn to break out of. For me, It was feeling like I couldn’t succeed, no matter how hard I tried. Being pudgy affected my confidence in ways that were almost unrelated to being pudgy. I had literally NO social life. I avoided all of my old friends, turned down many good events and decided I was “happy” being that way. I also became highly unmotivated, and I was happy sleeping as much as I could to avoid everyday life.

I know many people don’t have extreme feelings such as mine, but I believe everyone deals in their own way, and getting out of the rut we’ve created for ourselves by being overweight is almost as hard as losing the weight itself.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve made a lot of changes in my life. What’s odd is that these changes came naturally, as my confidence increased. Starting to feel like my former self, I have been more social, done more business, and even felt more comfortable in public situations. I know some of you may be thinking “Why was she so bummed about her weight, I weighed like 100 lbs more than her!”  The truth is, I was not huge. While medically considered “obese”, I really just looked thick, and I covered it up pretty well, with just the right clothes. This gave me the biggest complex ever. I felt almost manly, even though I am rather curvacious in shape. My arms were NOT meant to be that thick, and my frame was not even close to being naturally that large looking.

Throughout the last 5 weeks, I learned a lot about what it takes to mentally recover from being overweight. I’m learning that I need to put myself out there more, and grab whatever I want in life, because it’s much too short to sit around fretting about how I can’t lose weight; because I CAN lose the weight, and I am!  I am doing the best that I can do get healthy, and from there… the sky’s the limit!

Have you encountered some emotional changes within yourself while losing your weight??

Week 15 Weigh In

This past Thursday was my fifteenth week following the Weight Watcher’s plan. Two weeks prior, I had reached my 10% goal !!! Here is my chart:

So, this week my Meeting Leader took a photo of the two of us. She is such a wonderful person and I really enjoy her motivation and leadership.

I’ve also made a commitment to get more exercise. Last night, during the meeting, I purchased a pedometer. I also signed up for the Momentum Walk-It Challenge and the local 5K event that will be held on July 19th. I am convinced that July 19th will now be the hottest day of the year!

I now weigh 241 pounds and I feel great!  That is 34 pounds gone ! I have started to wear clothing that was tight on me. Some of this clothing has become quite loose! I’m almost to the point that I cannot wear one pair of pants because they are just way too big. That is a GREAT problem for me to have!!

Next post will have updated photos, I want to put on the same clothes as the original photos and look at the difference.

Reminded to Live My Best Possible Life

Yesterday my grandmother passed away and since then I’ve been in a very strange mindset.  I’m sad, but relieved, and happy that her pain is over; both mentally and physically.  My grandmother lived her life regretting so much and feeling embittered for those regrets, and if I have learned nothing else from her, it is that I don’t want to do the same thing.

This morning as I’ve been reflecting on everything and I’ve come to really, truly realize how precious this life is.  Not in a Hallmark card sort of way, but I’ve really FELT it.  I know we all know how short life is, but today it really struck me that I need to stop spinning my wheels and wasting my life being fat and really get myself in gear and live the life I am meant to have.

My grandmother always told me how pretty I was (complimenting me on my skin, my application of eyeliner, etc.), but I also know that she always wished I was at a healthier weight.  For my appearance, sure, but also so that I wouldn’t have health problems.  Toward the end of her life my grandmother always talked about the importance of being healthy.  And while she was never overweight, she didn’t lead an active lifestyle and I do believe that that contributed to many of her health problems (and issues of depression) later in life.

So I’m going to take these lessons and really put them into action.  I don’t want to live a life that isn’t all that it could have been.  I want to make sure that I am making each day count, that I am appreciating the gift that is life and family and friends, and the best way for me to show my gratitude for all the blessings I have is to take control of my health.  No more half-assed, pussy footing around weight loss for me.  I’m really going to act as if my life depends on losing weight, because it does.

I’ve been really sick with a terrible cold all week so I haven’t made it to any of the workouts I had planned earlier in the week, but I have been doing well on food, and I AM going to a WW meeting tomorrow, despite everything else that’s going on.  I need to, and I don’t want to put it off any longer.

That it will never come again Is what makes life so sweet. ~Emily Dickinson

A shocker

Good day all…

Yes, I am trying to be happy but mainly I am a bit shocked. I weighed myself today and I was not all all happy with the results. I guess I really have let myself go a bit and weigh much more than I ever wanted or thought I would again. I am really disappointed in myself for allowing this to happen. It was really a wake up call for me to start  pushing myself more and start focusing on what I need to do to stay on track.  I know I have said this numerous of times but I guess I needed this shocker to get my butt into gear again. So with the help of  Jason suggestions. There are two new things I am going to attempt.

• Weigh myself once a week and my new weigh in dates will be Fridays.
• Get my Body% taken everyday, via the scale, and take an average of 7 days. Doing this consistently and under the same conditions each time.

So when I wake up on Thursday night/Friday morning. I’ll be posting the first results. Then it will be posted the same each week. So I bet you’ll all be shocked to see what my new heavy fat and very high Body Fat % is. I know I was when I did it  recently out of curiosity. I am so embarrassed but I need to do this because it is me being real and throwing it all out there. No sense in hiding it anymore.

The good news is that in the past I would have given up already with what I saw on the scale. This time it’s different. I see it as a very good motivator to push myself and to try even harder this time. I feel it will work and I think I have a more positive attitude this time as well.

So wish me luck as I open up to a new me

Day Fourty-Six

I hate the fact that although it’s not even winter yet, the winter weather has already hit hard where I live.

Other places in Australia are still experiencing beautiful summery days and yet outside I see dark skies, grey clouds, rain and wind.  The first three I can handle, but when it’s blowing a Gail force outside and you have to walk down to the gym whilst you are being knocked around by the freezing cold air, it definitely makes you want to stay inside somewhere warm.  Preferably in pyjamas.  I am trying to push through the cravings of being snuggled up inside but it’s definitely hard.

Tuesday, as always, was Personal Training.  My trainer changed up my routine by adding lunges.  A lot of lunges.  Yesterday I felt the pain that was this new addition to my training by the inability to sit down normally, cursing the two flights of stairs that lead to my office desk, and shuffling around instead of walking.  Today I still felt the repercussions of the lunges but decided to head to Body Pump at 6:15am anyway.  As you do.

So tomorrow morning I bet I will be cursing myself when instead of getting out of bed, I will be rolling out sideways and losing all ability to move my legs in a normal functional manner.  The things we do for fitness!

- Harelda.

Lose Fat, Save Energy

Fat. Nearly everyone at some point in his or her life has been concerned with it. Our image-conscious, fast-food culture is obsessed with new diet trends because no one wants to look or feel overweight.

Interestingly, a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says that some fat - brown fat - is good for our health and burns calories. Brown fat exists partly to generate heat and keep the body warm. White fat stores energy - brown fat burns it.

People in colder climates tend to have more brown fat than those who don’t. This infers that people who live in cooler residences could develop more brown fat, too.

This is good news for energy conservation! Instead of persuading people to turn down their thermostats to prevent global warming and save out-of-sight-out-of-mind polar bears, we can now say it may prevent them from becoming fatties. No painful exercise. No harmful pills. No disgusting food. Sure, they’ll be a few shivers here and there, but who says we have to live at 72 degrees, anyways? And, it’s more persuasive than telling people to throw on a cardigan sweater as Jimmy Carter learned the hard way.

Turn down the heat. Save energy. Save money. Save your waistline.

Day 34: Jay and the Amazing Technicolor 6-Pack

DAY 34 DIARY:

Breakfast: grapefruit.

Lunch: xxx.

Soda Pop: none.

Coffee: none.

Alcohol: wine.

Dinner: xxx.

Snacks: none

Exercise: none.

Marriage: We had a good talk last night, during which I said she was my first and highest priority to which she responded “it doesn’t feel like it.” I felt hurt and angry. She always says stuff like that. Then, last night, I had a bunch of

Week 2 Weigh In

I’m trying to stay positive.  Every other time I’ve been on a diet, I’ve just lost a bunch of weight in the beginning without exercising.  I’ve actually never stuck to the exercise thing.  So in the past, I know I’ve lost a lot of muscle and probably very little fat.  Now that I’m exercising, I’m adding new muscle tissue, which adds weight.  So hopefully the weight I’m losing is fat, which means that it’s a slower process.

I’m down 3 pounds from last week.  I know that’s good.  And anything is better than a gain.  But it’s still just so hard to only be down 7 pounds in 2 weeks when every other time I’ve been down at least 7 in the first week alone.  I lost 11 pounds in one week a few months ago because I was eating very low carb.   So the three pounds is a little bit bittersweet, but I’ll take it.

I’ll just be glad when the first month has passed and I can take my measurements again.  I hope to see a loss there.  Hopefully that will be more encouraging.

In other news, I can now walk on the treadmill at an 8% incline.  I can also do the elliptical at 4%.  And when I exercise now, my heart rate only gets up to around 165 at the highest instead of 180 like it was in the beginning.  That’s a good sign.  As my heart gets stronger and I get more fit, my heart rate doesn’t get so high with exertion.  Of course, that means that as I go along, I’ll have to work harder to get into my target heart range during exercise.  I’m going to buy one of those heart rate monitors.  That way i don’t have to hold on to the handles on the treadmill. I feel like I can’t work as hard doing that.

The circuit was easier today too, except for the chest press.  That still kills.  I guess those must be my weakest muscles.  I’ve had to bump it down to 45 pounds and I can usually get in 12 reps instead of 15.  I struggle to get the 12.  Hopefully I’ll be up to 15 by next week. That’s my goal.

It feels good, all in all.  I know I’m getting healthier and that makes me feel better than anything. 

There were these people in the gym tonight.  These two girls.  They probably weighed around 120 at the very most.  They spent most of their time talking and went to the elliptical and didn’t even break a sweat.  The tried to do leg presses and just sat on the bench for the most part.  I normally wouldn’t notice something like this, but they were just so loud, talking back and forth about how they just didn’t have the energy to exercise.  It felt good that I could.  I’m usually the one sitting in the background talking about how I can’t do the things the “skinny” girls can.  But tonight, I kept on going, even when it hurt….even when I didn’t have the energy and it felt damn good.

Future Trends in Global Obesity

A couple of weeks ago, the OECD (Organisaton for Economic Co-operation and Development) released a working paper entitled:

The Obesity Epidemic: Analysis of Past and Projected Future Trends in Selected OECD Countries

In that paper, the OECD has brought together the most accurate data on the current state of obesity in its member countries.

For those of you interested in health, obesity and staring at pages and pages of graphs and charts, prepare to enjoy.

And for those of us who aren’t so graph-inclined, I have taken it upon myself to crunch the numbers for you.

And what I found most interesting was that there was an obvious difference in the obesity trends between one group of countries and a second group of countries.

Group #1

Group #1 consists of Australia, Canada, England and the United States.

I grouped these four countries together because they represent phase 1 of the globalization of the Western Diet.

The people of these countries were the first to:

• Replace real food with junk food
• Replace water with Coca Cola
• Replace whole grains with Wonder bread
• Replace walkable communities with SUV required suburbs

As a result of their early adoption of this lifestyle, their current and future levels of obesity are much different than the other countries surveyed by the OECD.

If you look at the graphs below, you will see that:

1. Group 1 countries can expect a substantial further increase in obesity.
2. Conversely, the percentage of simply overweight citizens should level off or even decline.

A closer look at the statistics from these countries shows that the “numbers of individuals in the lower sections of the overweight range have been decreasing sharply in these countries, while numbers of individuals in the upper section of the overweight range have been increasing.”

These changes are projected to broadly offset each other, leading to stable or slightly decreasing overweight rates.

So, what do all of these numbers mean?

It means that in these countries, the chubby population is disappearing. Overweight people are either getting fit and dropping back down into the healthy weight category, or graduating to full fledged obesity or even morbid obesity.

Maybe the animators at Pixar had it right?

Obesity Trends - Group #1

.

United States of America

Obesity trends - USA

Canada

Obesity trends - Canada

England

Obesity trends - England

Australia

Group #2

Unlike Group #1, the obesity rates for Group #2 countries are projected to grow at a relatively slow pace.

However, their overweight rates are expected to increase at a much faster pace…especially South Korea.

Why the difference?

Even though there is not enough data to conclusively prove it, the general assumption is that Group #2 countries are simply at an earlier stage in the progression of obesity caused by the Western Diet/Lifestyle.

They are simply becoming overweight as a precursor to their evolution into full blown obesity.

Obesity Trends - Group #2

.

France

Obesity trends - France

Italy

Obesity trends - Italy

Austria

Obesity trends - Austria

South Korea

Obesity trends - Korea

.

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Reference

OECD Health Working Papers No. 45,  20/03/2009, English, 82 pages, doi: 10.1787/225215402672 The Obesity Epidemic: Analysis of Past and Projected Future Trends in Selected OECD Countries Franco Sassi1; Marion Devaux1; Michele Cecchini; Elena Rusticelli1

1: OECD, France

No Gym today.... :( :( :(

It was such a busy day and I had so much to do that I ended up running out of time and didn’t get to go to the gym.  I seriously almost had a panic attack.  I didn’t overeat or anything today, though I did take a couple of bites of ice cream, but all I could think about were those calories I wasn’t burning off.

So, I busted out the ole Wii Fit.  It’s been forever since I’ve even turned the thing on.  It’s so funny cause before I had such a hard time doing some of the stuff.  I did 3 sets of advanced step, followed by 2 sets of Advanced boxing, then the Beginner Run, then the 6 minute advanced hula (1904 hulas!!) and then the beginner step to cool down.  I don’t think I was in my target heart range at all, but at least I was moving.  I felt a little better after the workout.

I’m thinking about taking a day off from the gym once a week anyway and maybe I’ll just do the Fit.

Bloomington is Blooming

Its a beautiful saturday in Bloomington… The blossoms should hit peak in the next several weeks., and I am sure the weather will be outstanding before the summer heat arrives….

I am noticing that this is a more challenging time to do raw foods  in the midwest, as the organic produce is a little more confined during this time….So my daily diet is a little repetitive…

Think I need to get the kitchen stuff set up, dehydrator, vita mix, juicer, etc… things like flax crackers and raw cultured veggies are not available here… my roommate is a raw food  chef so hopefully we can do most of these kind of things on our own…

I was at the farmers market this morning and the organics was pretty limited.

Those of you in the raw food circles, have heard I am sure that Angela Stokes and Matt Monarch are getting married I believe June 21st.  Sounds like a big one week gala events.  Congrats!  what a great couple.

Today I Ate:

Raw young coconut water and 5 oz. of  e3live

Mixed young green salad with brazil nuts, and olives, sundried tomoatoes, cucumber.

Stawberry, bannana, apple, pear salad with coconut, golgie berriers, and cocnut.

Several figs with raw tahini for desert….

Missing some of the cardio as I was doing an hour a day  in santa cruz.  should be remedied shortly…

Will be adding the om gym to my workouts, and some sparring.  Gotta get some revisions on my hip to continue the Brazalian Jui Jitsu, which is so much fun and a great workout… and great people. 

I have a bit of a craving for a raw food vegan buckwheat pizza… see what we can do.

Love and Light

 

Dr. George

Anticipating the Difficult

So, today will probably be a little more difficult.  I don’t have to work today.  No school for my daughter.  Which means that I’ll be tempted to snack and graze all day.  Plus, I woke up at 6:30 this morning and FELL BACK ASLEEEPPPPP….so I didn’t get to the gym as I had planned.  I’ll have to go tonight to do my cardio and third circuit. 

To deal with this, I have a plan.  I’m going to clean my house and do a little laundry while listening to some music…that’s a good way to keep my mind off food.  Then, I’m going to leave the house all together.  I won’t be tempted if I’m not at home.  I’ll take the kids to the park or something.  The storms have stopped, so they could play and have a good time.  Besides, my husband wants me to look for him a suit to wear to church on Sunday.  I could shop a bit.

Just stay away from the fridge and freezer.  I don’t keep any snack foods in the house, but my husband has certain things he likes…these mini frozen pizzas that I really like.  They’re about 400 calories and 20 grams of fat per pizza.  That’s a WHOLE workout.  So, I’m avoiding them like the plague.  I don’t even walk to my freezer.

I will get through this day

I will get through this day

I will get through this day

I will get through this day

"you're lost in this workout crap..."

Those were the exact words from my husband tonight.  I knew he would get tired of it eventually.  I really don’t know why he’s trying to de-rail me.  He’s upset tonight because he’s in some kind of Mortal Kombat competition on his xbox thingie.  He told me that once the real competition started that he would need me to help him.  When I asked him how I was supposed to help, he got angry and stormed off.  He came back and told me that he wanted my help watching our daughter so he could play.  Nevermind that I always try to go to the gym when he first gets home from work because otherwise I’ll never get to sleep.  So I told him that I would after I got back from the gym….then the infamous response.

Oh well.  I guess he’ll just have to be angry.  I’m doing this for me, for my health.  That’s why I’ve never been able to do it before…because I haven’t taken time for myself.  I’m doing that now, with or without his help.

Day 73: Focus on the Moment

While I know the big picture, it is great just focusing on the day. Yesterday was really the first day I stuck to 200 calories every 3 hours, ate a reasonable dinner with the kids and a small snack after dinner. It only took 72 days. But hey, who’s countin’? Oh, I am.  I have lost, gained & lost some more in the 72 days but it was through dramatic changes that were spurts. I am focusing on today and I am doing well again. I was STARVING at lunch and a chinese restaurant was right next door to where I was picking something up. I was SOOOO tempted. SO tempted and I would typically say to myself that it’ll be ok and just go get lunch. Instead I saved 10 bucks and probably 1,000 calories.

I also went off my fibromyalgia medicine but quickly went back on it. Lyrica really rocks. You just have to take it early enough in the evening. I didn’t sleep the night I went off of it and was completely “off” the next day. I am back on it and much better. I realized my nerve pain is gone too! It’s the little things ya know.

A friend and colleague of mine found this article on Yahoo on getting quality sleep. And it was different from the other ones I have read. It talks about eating late at night and your body focuses on digesting the food vs. going into a deep sleep.

It’s a good day.

Post Workout

Just finished.  And it was HARD.  I did 25 minutes on the treadmill at a 6% incline at 3.4 mph.  Then I went to the elliptical and did 8 minutes (only did 5 last time).  I tried the stationary bike, but was burning calories at WAY too low a rate, so I decided that it wasn’t worth my time.

Then I went to the weights.  I completed 2 circuits (I should have done 3…plan on starting 3 next week). 

• 3 reps of overhead press with 15 lb resistance
• 3 reps of lat pulldown in the forward position with 50 lb resistance
• 3 reps of lat pulldown in the leaning position with 50 lb resistance
• 3 reps of triceps with 50 lb resistance
• 3 reps of rotary torso with 15 lb resistance (both sides)
• repeat all of the above

The whole workout took me about an hour and 15 minutes.  My arms ache but I feel better for having done it.  I did, however, get sick when I got home.  I was just so nauseated after working so hard, then drinking so much water all at once.  But much better now.

Side Rant:

My husband called me while I was at the gym.  He wanted me to go get him something to eat when I left.  I didn’t have any money, so I had to go home first.  Got home, cried for a minute because I felt so bad, got sick, then went and got his food:  2 double quarter pounder meals from McDonalds.  Keep in mind that I haven’t had dinner yet.  I worked 12 hours today and just didn’t have time to stop.  I had grilled fish and a baked potato for lunch.  Those fries smelled SO good!  I didn’t even touch one though.  Just kept the bag closed until I got home and gave it to him.  He’s naturally thin, so he doesn’t have to worry at all about what he eats, weight wise.  I guess it’s a guy thing to not think about how tempting it was for me to actually go through the McDonalds drive in and then sit here with him while he ate it.  Then he asked me if I got anything for me.  ????????????  ummm…can’t eat McDonalds.  It’s completely counterproductive to work my ass off at the gym then stuff a quarter  double quarter pounder with cheese down my throat.  But it’s ok.  Maybe it helps to know I can resist temptation.

At any rate, I feel much better now.  Another day down, another day closer to forming a permanent habit.  What is it?  After a month, your actions become habit?  I think so….

16 days to go.

Closer To Getting Extreme With ChaLean

Any day now I should be getting my replacement bulb for my television, I never thought it would take this long for my television to get fixed, but it has.  Since it has been a couple weeks since Ben and I have done the Chalean Extreme workout, I think we might just start over from day 1.  I hate to back track, but we want to make sure that we get the most out of the Chalean Extreme routine.  It is not written in stone that we might start over, but it has been brought up in conversation.  

So I have been nursing an injury to my right bicep for about 5 days now and it is starting to feel better, I even did an upper body workout on Monday with light weight.  Instead of going for heavy weight and only doing 6-8 reps, I did lighter weight and did about 20 reps, until I started to feel the pressure.  My bicep still hurts when I do a curl, but only with heavy weight.  So I think my bicep is going to be fine if I just take it easy.  You can read up more on my other blog about my workout on Monday and the workout I did on Saturday.  Just click this link P90x

Zumba burns hella calories!

After work today, I was feeling pretty good. Last week this time, I was wiped out. Slowly yet surely, I think my body will adapt to my over-scheduled schedule. Off work at 5pm, off to the gym at 6:00. I was going to do Pilates, but it woud have meant rushing to the gym, and I just wasn’t in the mood, plus, I worked out this morning. :] (Lazy bones!)

I hit the treadmill to warm-up. It was about 17 minutes long, I burned 170 calories, and ran at 5.0 MPH, altering the incline to 3.0% and then back to 0 every few minutes. The ghetto treadmill at my gym started squeeealing like a little pig when I stepped on the “wrong” part of the belt, and when I increased the speed to over 5.0. I didn’t notice this at first, though. I have my iPod blasting, (I’m hard of hearing anyways, and then add amped-up working-out on top of that, the volume is on MAX.) So, I’m running along, listening to the new Lady GaGa CD, feeling good, feeling peppy, amping myself up for a good hour of salsa/aerobics/dancing, and I’m a little confused when I start noticing a lot of attention in my direction. Girls are literally double-taking, and even turning around mid bicep-curl to look at me. I’m kind of freaking out, because either my shorts have fallen off, or I’m so hot people can’t stop looking. Knowing it wasn’t the latter, I pulled an earbud out to see if I could hear some chatter, and what do I get? SQUEALING. The belt is screeeeaming along, seriously, making the worst noise ever … I decreased my speed from 6.3 to 5.0, which is the point the sound from the devil stopped … So while it wasn’t a challening run, it was a nice warm-up before Zumba.

I paused the workout on my HR monitor, and began it again when class actually started. At the end of it, I’d burned a decent amount of calories with my little warm-up and an hour of salsa/latin exersice. Those latinas know how to get their groove on. And why do all the white girls looks so silly trying to shake their hips? As long as we are all looking ridiculous together! :]

Zumba/Run Workout Stats: 449 kcals burned - 50% fat

Max: 85%

Average: 66%

Max HR: 169

Avg HR: 132

Total exercise time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Tonight's To-do List

I’m absolutely shattered tonight but I’m going to write myself a simple to-do list so that at least I can achieve something! Tonight I will:

• Wash bedroom window and paintwork and put up a new net curtain (Bought for only £3.00!)
• Plan out meals for tomorrow.
• Make my packed lunch for tomorrow.
• Iron clothes for tomorrow.
• Take dead daffodils out of vases.
• Take my body measurements.
• Get my new blog up and running ready for tomorrow!

allie diet pills, what exactly is it?

Recently, I have seen the allie diet pills advertised on television. In the ad they make a big deal out of being the only FDA approved diet pill and promote their diet plan. So I decided to look into it a little bit, and see exactly what allie is. Allie’s active ingredient is orlistat, a pancreatic lipase inhibitor. In plain English it binds to the emzyne that the body produces to break fat down so that it can be absorbed into the body for use. If the fat can not be absorbed by the body it simply pass through and exits the body, thereby reducing the amount of fat intake. Regarding the FDA approval, orlistat was initially approved by the FDA as a prescription under the name of Xenical and contained 120 mgs of orlistat. In 2007, the manufacture reduced the dose to 60 mgs, and received FDA approval to market orlistat over the counter as allie.

There are several side effects associated with orlistat, oily spotting on underwear, flatulence (farting), urgent bowel movements, fatty or oily stools, increased number of bowel movements, abdominal pain/discomfort, and inability to control bowel movements. After reading thes side effects, I recalled seeing these same side effects a while back.  Remember the Lay’s potato chips that were marketed as WOW potato chips? Where they used a new oil, olestra to stop the body from absorbing the fat and were marketed as fat free. Well the side effects which caused the chip to be removed from the market, as far as I recall,  were and are pretty much the same. With that said, depending on where you look, the stats I have seen say that between 1 in 250 and 1 in 70 patients experienced one or more of the side effects in the first three months and that about 50% were resolved with in one to four weeks. Additionally, since orlistat also can keep certain vitamins such as vitamins A,D,E, and Beta Carotene, from being absorbed by the body and recommend that a multi vitamins be taken either several hours before or after the use of orlistat. Lastly, the cost. I found the starter kit of allie cost about $55.00 for 90 tabs and came with a CD program. The refill which consisted of 120 tabs cost was about $65.00. These would last you about 30 to 40 days based on the recommended dosage. Allie has also learned that people do better with weight-loss when diet and exercise are included and that there is some kind of follow-up, or counseling that is connected with any weight loss plan. What I found interesting was if you go to their website you will initially enroll in their diet plan and management system, no shopping cart to purchase allie, but they do ask if you have or have not already purchased the pills.

I personally would not use this product for several reasons. I do not like the side effects associated with them, and do not believe that their use actually makes any long term changes to the amount of fats consumed. Additionally, my personal benefactor of gaining weight is carbohydrates, not fat. Lastly the cost, why pay 50 to 60 dollars a month to block something from being absorbed into my body, when its cheaper, easier, and less costly not to eat it or at least as much of it in the first place. There are a lot of weight-loss programs out there that are good and promote healthy eating choices, as well as a lot of fitness and exercise programs that are geared to long term, lifestyle changes to control weight. At the end of the day the choice is yours, educate yourself and make the decision that is best for you, many people like and do well on supplements, and in some cases they are needed to get the materials your body needs.

 

 

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Walking Weather

I’ve procrastinated all weekend and now it’s crunch time. I was trying to do some homework while drinking my coffee this morning, but Maggie has been needy and keeps distracting me! I got started on my chemistry lab, but I still need to do a lot of work on it and then I need to do a ton of reading for my other classes. I just ate some Frosted Mini Wheats so I can digest by the time I go to the gym this afternoon.

I realized that I need to do a better job of  blogging my food and exercise habits, mainly for my own good to keep a genuine list of my energy intake and expenditure. So for today I’ve had about 3.5 cups of black coffee (~10 calories) and about 1.5 servings of the Mini Wheats with skim milk (~405 calories). I’m keeping a food log using Self’s Diet Club online.

I’m off to take Maggie to the park so hopefully I can get some work done when we get back!

A-Z celebrity diet secrets revealed

A-Z celebrity diet secrets revealed

Nearly all movie stars, TV anchors, top models and singers look like gods. Perfect legs, slim waists, cool hairstyles, tanned bodies. They look effortlessly beautiful, but you should not be deceived by the appearances. Aside from a handful of people, all the rest have to work hard at it. Dieting and workouts are among the most important things in the life of a high-powered star. Because if they don’t look right, they don’t get contracts and they are soon out of the public minds and hearts. Such is life in Hollywood.

And just like any place where money and ambition meet, there are a lot of people trying to push this or that idea as the best thing since sliced bread, or something like that. And celebrities many do fall for this stuff, mainly because celebrities are just like the rest of us and have a hard time finding a diet that works. Since we are all a bit different from each other, there’s no single diet that works the same for everybody, which means that one has to try this or that eating plan in order to find which one is best. And the search can get a bit rough sometimes.

Famous model Claudia Schiffer, for instance, is not on any kind of diet. Naturally, she ahs tried a lot of them and has finally concluded that diets are messing with her metabolism and that she is better off sticking to a three meals per day plan. The meals are rich in vegetables and fruits, which are fast digested by the body, and she tried hard not to resort to snacks during meals. However, she does give in to temptation every now and then and eats a bit of chocolate or some other forbidden food. The crucial thing is not to give in to the temptation of eating a whole box of sweets.

Three meals per day rich in vegetables and fruits is also the cornerstone of Geri Halliwell’s eating plan. After going through excessive exercising and a long row of bizarre diets, Geri decided that enough is enough and turned to what she calls “sensible eating”. She is now part of the growing trend of celebrities that would rather have a nice set of curves to show than a skinny figure. So a bit of fat here and there is no longer a problem, which means that she can be less stressed about the whole dieting thing.

The same basic idea worked for TV presenter Claire Sweeney, who chose the Weight Watchers diet precisely because it let her eat foods that she likes and that other diets forbid. She had already gone through a detox plan, which she could not stick to, an Atkins diet that gave her a kidney infection and a dozen other dieting ideas. Weight Watchers worked for her better than anything else and so she’s still on the program.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has been on a macrobiotic diet plan for years. She would not touch meat, eggs, dairy products and caffeine and stuck with it until her recent pregnancy. After giving birth to her daughter, Apple, Gwyneth returned to her eating plan, but she says she is not as strict as she once was. While still avoiding foods that drain her energy, the actress has found that a relaxed attitude is better than looking like a bean pole.

It seems that the stick figure is slowly going out of style after the excesses of the ‘90s. More and more stars find that maintaining a healthy balance between their cravings and their image is better than denying themselves every pleasure in order to reach an unreasonable beauty standard. And it turns out that this is not a bad approach at all.

how much should i weigh

 

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Cutting Calories Can Get it Done

Everyone knows the formula for weight loss: Burn more calories than you take in. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, with that in mind, it seems like one of the simplest ways to lose unwanted fat would be to cut calories. After trying it for a couple of days, many people realize that it is easier said than done. At least that’s the case before the true facts are revealed to them. First off, understanding Calories can be key to finding out how you can make cutting calories as easy as cutting a piece of bread.

The first step to losing weight by counting calories is to understand what a calorie is and how it applies to your weight. A calorie is a unit of measurement that measures the amount of energy contained in a food or beverage.

Your body uses caloric energy to perform everything from basic biological functions to typing on your keyboard or jogging around the block. We all have a certain caloric requirement needed to maintain our current weight; if you eat fewer — or burn more — calories than that, you will eventually lose weight. This is called a caloric deficit. A good rule of thumb is that a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories leads to a weight loss of approximately one pound.

DNA For Living Well!!!

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You Love Me! You Really Love Me!

Two — count ‘em, two – separate readers (whom I both went to highschool with, but that’s besides the point) made sure to send me variations of this story today, regarding the near-death of a woman on the Grapefruit Diet. Here’s an excerpt:

 A case report in this week’s issue of The Lancet describes how a woman developed a blood clot in her leg that was worsened by a high intake of grapefruit.

Doctors at Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Washington, say the slightly overweight woman had begun an aggressive weight-loss diet that included grapefruit every morning.

Three days after starting the diet, she went on a relatively long car ride. The next day, she felt pain radiating down her lower back to her left ankle and noticed that her leg had turned purple. She went to hospital complaining of difficulty walking, shortness of breath, and light-headedness.

An ultrasound confirmed the woman had a large clot in the veins of her left leg, from the hip down to the calf.

Isn’t that terrifying? I’d be afraid of grapefruits forever because of that. Good thing I’m The Man Without Fear. I am so appreciative that you people — my, you the people would care enough to make sure I don’t die from Grapefruiting. 

Also, please research all my remaining diets to ensure No Death. Thank you. I expect your reports on my desk come Monday morning.

Our Mission at BODYFUELZ

We love everything about fitness and nutrition. We love talking about it. We enjoy researching on it. And we absolutely relish talking about and helping sports players, athletes and fitness enthusiasts reach their fitness goals through diet/nutrition counselling. We don’t call ourselves as Pioneers in Sports Performance Nutrition for nothing.

At BODYFUELZ we release products keeping our users in mind.  Our long association with some of the top players and athletes in India has helped in identifying and addressing requirements in terms of their fitness, nutrition and dietary needs.

It is our singular mission to help players and athletes win games.

BODYFUELZ regularly interact with India’s leading sports training centres, coaches, personal trainer’s players and athletes from all corners of India. We have been doing it for 5 years. And now our products are well accepted and accepted by some of the top sports players in India.

In our observation and various trials conducted, we see sports players reduce their fatigue levels, improve lean muscle mass and get more strength and stamina through AminoNutrition.

But here is the good part.

BODYFUELZ is not exclusively for sports players. We are also helping fitness enthusiasts to reach their fitness goals.

 Drop in your comments with your queries and contact coordinates and we will tell you how.

 

 And if you can convince us that you are a sports player or a serious fitness enthusiast, mail to pmt@bodyfuelz.com to experience BODYFUELZ sports and fitness nutrition products

 

Also why not check our power point presentation here at: 

PERFORMANCE NUTRITION to FUELYOUR GAME

Body Snatchers

If you head over to Dana’s and read down a ways you’ll see a post about missing body parts. I must confess that even as young as I am (just 23) I have experienced similar problems. My once svelte body has been switched with a chubby little woman who has a round little Buddha belly instead of the 36 inch waist that she was used to. And when I say 36 inches, I mean at the just above the hip line where I wear my jeans- not at the true waist where  you’re supposed to measure and its higher up and therefore skinnier. So you can imagine my chagrine when I measured my waist recently at the high spot and it was more than the low spot used to be.  Cuz I have a dunlap tire around my waist here guys and that did not please me. I decided at that point that it was high time I finally did something about it instead of just complaining. So I started drinking these green smoothies that aren’t actually green but they’re good for me I guess with all the veggies and fruits and what have you. And I started doing yoga. Seriously every morning I get up and do a half hour workout.

When I started all of this, I was sceptical. I hate exercising because I always get bored with it and I never see enough results to feel the effort was worth it. Plus, that elusive and mythical endorphin rush that everyone says comes with a good workout? Thats similar to the high you get from good sex or really good chocolate? I didn’t believe in it because it had never EVER happened. All I ever felt at the end of a workout was relief that it was over and dread that I was going to have to do it again soon. Well thats all been different since I started this yoga stint. I get up in the morning and am excited (Seriously!) to be doing my yoga. I get done and feel this delicious all over feeling of… well its kinda like my entire body is saying “Sweet mother of god YES!” just like it does after good sex or really good chocolate. “Huh” I said to my husband the other day (after the good sex), “Thats what I feel like after doing my yoga! I guess that wasn’t a myth after all kinda like the G-Spot. You just gotta work it right and you’ll get there.” He laughed at me but in a good natured way.

And along with all the happy feelings that don’t require men or vibrators or anything else extra, theres the fact that I stepped on my scale yesterday morning and I was down 10 pounds from my starting weight. And I put on a pair of jeans and the dunlap along with its nasty cousins the muffin twins was gone. I haven’t quite lost the pooch yet, but its going away along with the cottage cheesy look to my thighs and butt. My husband enjoys the yoga because he likes to watch moves like extreme forward bends (I can put my head on the floor now) and downward facing dog, plus me setting such a good example with my workout has encouraged him to get back into shape as well so we can strut our stuff on the beach at the family reunion without out fear of having to swim with our shirts (and board shorts for me) on over our swim suits.

The final bonus to all of this is (as I just found) the fact that Netflix has a couple of DVD’s called “Hot Yoga” and “Hot Male Yoga” altho they apparently offer more eye candy than yoga instruction. Ehh, if it will get you started, why not give it a shot? *grins*

So I’m fighting back against the body snatchers and I guess I just wanted to share that with you guys.

Day 5 and nasty thoughts

So, as you know from my previous post, this morning I weighed in at the beginning of my day 5 and I had lost another 2.25 lbs putting my grand total to 7 lbs!  Very nice!!  Well, today was hard to get through, not so much because I was tempted to eat, but it was hard emotionally.  I’m just stuck in this lull, this rut, this unmotivated, emotionless rut.  I swear.  It has to have something to do with the sugar/carb withdrawl!  Because I can’t even fake energy and enthusiasm, even if I want to!  My sister-in-law (SIL) was over at my mom’s place and brought her three kids.  I could hardly even manage a smile to SIL and hunt the kids down to  attack with smooches like I usually do.

My mom asked if I was tired and weak and maybe not eating enough.  The truth is, she might be on to something, but it really isn’t that bad.  I think I could probably handle 150-300 calories more per day, but my energy isn’t being affected terribly.  I don’t get terrible hunger pangs, just regular “feed me soon” reminders - lol.   So it couldn’t have been all about that.

But then this evening I went to Target to go get a couple things.  I was talking on the cell to BFF and mentioned how I’ve been really mean to myself lately.  I’ve been saying mean things in my head.  It’s the weirdest thing ever because I have NEVER been one to do so much bad self talk.  I mean, I am a normal person who gets in their moods about “Blech I feel fat, why me, why did I do this blah blah” but I’ve also been one to own up to my body, what I’ve done to it and how it’s been under my control (or rather out of control) but it’s nothing I was hateful about.  My inner monologue hasn’t been so terrible… at least I didn’t think so.

I’m continuing - as hard as it is to admit - doing WELL on the program.  Day five nearly down.  And it’s as if my inner demons (sounds all scary) realizes that hunger and habit aren’t going to “get me” to give in.  And so it’s come out in other terrible ways.  Here I am, I’ve just lost 7 lbs.  And I’m telling myself in my head how disgusting and huge and ugly I am.  So unattractive, don’t deserve this n that, pathetic excuse, lazy, useless, blah blah blah, terrible wife, mother, daughter, friend… it’s the strangest thing.  I have always tried to give to those around me so that they’d feel loved and yet here I was insisting I was the opposite - being so mean to myself.  BFF told me as weird as it was, it made sense.  She’s right.  It really does.  And y’know what else?  I’m actually starting to think it might be a good thing??  It’s  like in the movie, Labrynth, when they are starting to go the right way, all the stone walls are telling them they’re going the wrong way to lead them off course.

I don’t know why I’m doing that to myself, but I know for a fact that I’m doing WELL.  I want success so much, I’m going to continue to venture forward through the unseen, to the places that I haven’t been before, to discover new things about myself and most importantly, heal the ones that have held me down so long.  Like my mother said days before that seemed so prolific, “You’ll still be all the wonderful things about you.  You’ll just be letting go of the things worth letting go of.  You’ll no longer be held down by them.”  It’s a beautiful though, really.  My weight seems to have been my definition, my plight, for so long.  I am more than my weight struggles.  And I’m interested to see what’s waiting to reveal itself - and most of all prove to myself that this, what I’ve wanted for so long, is in my control.  It’s really quite an amazing thought.  And I wonder what other mountains I’ll suddenly want to climb, and what else shall be revealed to me about myself.  Is life just one long journey of self discovery?  It’s been pretty interesting so far.

Nutritional Information on Restaurant Menus - Does it make any difference?

IHOP menu

Almost a year ago, New York City enacted legislation that forced all fast food restaurants to begin printing calorie counts on their menus.

At that time, there was a lot of squawking from the restaurateurs about the effectiveness of the new bylaw.

Since then, quite a few different communities have adopted similar legislation.

And still, the restaurateurs (and others) question if these bylaws have done anything to improve the eating habits of their patrons.

So, have they?

According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research,  people will make healthier choices if restaurants provide nutritional data.

The Science

Researchers found that “using only the sense of taste, smell, and sight to accurately estimate the levels of calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium found in a typical restaurant food serving is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for most consumers.”

No surprise there. Countless studies have shown that people habitually underestimate how many calories they eat per meal / day.

So, they set out to examine how providing calorie and nutrient information on restaurant menus and menu boards influences consumers’ food-related evaluations and choices.

They looked at how participants’ prior expectations came into play and whether providing calorie and nutrient information after the meal changed their future food choices.

The researchers found that providing nutritional information can influence subsequent food consumption, especially when consumers’ expectations are not fulfilled when they examine the information.

“When a ‘great taste’ claim was used to describe a restaurant menu item, the provision of calorie information did not affect consumers’ perceptions, presumably because foods that claim great taste are typically expected to be relatively high in calories”.

Translation: People know that the Quadruple Bypass Burger is loaded with calories, salt, saturated fat, etc, and counting calories is the last thing on their mind. For these customers, nutritional info printed on a menu is a waste of time.

Quadruple Bypass Burger from the Heart Attack Grill

“On the other hand, when a ‘low calorie’ claim was presented but the menu item was higher in calories than expected, the provision of nutritional information increased the perceived likelihood of 1) gaining weight and 2) developing heart disease.”

The study shows that nutritional information can help consumers moderate their eating over time. In one study, participants ate a sandwich that they later found was unexpectedly high in calories. After this discovery, the participants consumed fewer snacks throughout the rest of the day.

Translation: Customers concerned about the amount of fast food calories that they inhaled at lunch cut back on their intake for the rest of the day.

They didn’t cancel their trip to McDonalds, they just skipped the afternoon coffee & muffin to make up for it.

Conclusion

Based upon the current research, nutritional info printed on fast food menus:

• Is a useful tool for people that are concerned about the quantity & quality of the food that they eat.
• Is irrelevant to those people who don’t give a damn

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Related Posts

• The Politics of Obesity
• NYC Food Police
  
  
• Big Brother v.s Childhood Obesity
• Obama’s stimulus bill and Health Care
• Are fat kids victims of child abuse?
• Fat babies become fat kids become…
• And just when you thought the obesity epidemic couldn’t get any worse
• Does Alli work?
• HIIT: The Cure for Obesity

Reference

• EurekAlert
• Journal of Consumer Research

20 Reasons Why I Need to Lose Weight

Before I started my first Weight Watchers diet… before I ever even heard about Medifast, I was sitting in my room one night. Just pondering life, and all of it’s potential. I started brainstorming the many reasons I wanted to lose weight. There were many more than I thought there would be, and I decided to write them all down. Kind of tough to share, but I’ll do it anyhow.  Perhaps they’ll help you realize why you are losing weight, or thinking of losing weight.

20 Reasons Why I Need To Lose Weight

1. I am not healthy at this weight, and am considered “obese” by medical standards.
2. I am not happy with the way I look or how cute clothes no longer look ‘cute’ on me.
3. My weight is affecting my self-confidence, and even my professional life.
4. The more weight I gain, the more introverted I become. I was never an introvert before!
5. I avoid almost all family and friend gatherings that I possibly can.
6. My thighs rub together, and they wear down jeans in a matter of months.
7. I love to run, and now my knees detest running.
8. I have adorable clothes in my closet that I can’t fit into!
9. I owe it to my first-born child to be at a healthy weight when I conceive.
10. I owe it to my husband to take care of myself to be around as long as possible.
11. My face is round. My jawline is lost somewhere in my face pudge.
12. My husband and I will be having our honeymoon later this year, and I want to be trophy-wife hot!
13. I was an athlete in high school, and that’s when I was my happiest
14. I have back fat rolls that chill under my bra-line. I call them “bye bye wings”, because you see them when I walk away.
15. I have a small spare tire that is annoying as heck.
16. My stomach has a few light stretch marks, but I’ve never been pregnant
17. My otherwise ‘hourglass’ figure is looking quite warped in the middle.
18. To break the cycle. My mother has had a never-ending struggle with her weight.  I’m going to end this.
19. To be a good example.
20. I believe that health and success are directly correlated with each other. You can’t have one without the other… it’s just not right.