Half Assed Fitness

Emotional Eating

2009-05-07T23:02:00.003+12:00

Awhile back I realized I am an emotional eater.

It's funny how blind you can be to such things. When my cat got hurt and had to be put to sleep, I headed straight for Starbucks and got a mocha. A bad day at work and I'd go out for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and probably end up splurging on dessert. I didn't realize that for a long time.

My emotional well being has been pretty good for awhile. I've had some stress and transition issues since moving to the island but today I got a break up email from my boyfriend in the States. I have been too busy with prior obligations to have time for emotional eating; but I'm thinking about it. Maybe since I've had time to think about it I can prevent it this time. I hope.

Is anyone else out there an emotional eater? What do you do? Do you just go with it because it's occasional, or do you find pretty much every day is stressful enough that you seek the comfort of good food? Are you an emotional eater but haven't realized it yet? What would a healthy alternative be that's just as gratifying? Anyone?

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Finding My Own Way

2009-04-11T20:56:00.002+12:00

Most exercise and weight training programs advise you to have a rest day between workouts to give your body time to rest, recover, and repair. I think this makes sense if you are brand new to working out or are a hard-core body builder. For me, I've decided this is bogus.

As we all know, I only give fitness a half-assed approach as it is and when I add rest days in there, it just makes it worse. I've been working out very regularly except during my recent move for at least a year straight and I manage to stay the same but not make any visual improvements.

Not gaining weight is great, don't get me wrong but I want to be firm, and tight too. I lift weights as my main form of exercise so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Again, I don't get too serious about it but I would think I would look a little firmer than I do.

My main motivation for this desire is fueled but the fact that I am in a location where swimsuits are a staple apparel. And I've always been self conscious.

So, to get back to the whole working out every other day thing....I've decided not to worry about that. I'm going to go every time I feel like it...if its everyday, great! I'm hoping to get to that point. Currently it's a few random times a week but I want to up that...a lot.

I believe the body will adapt and shape itself to what it is being used for, not break down from overuse. Especially when the use isn't that strenuous to begin with. We'll see how it goes!

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I've Been Slacking on my Posting But Not on my Program

2009-04-08T21:53:00.003+12:00

Wow,
A whole month since my last post....I always hate when I run across these types of posts on blogs. It usually means the poster is a slacker and the blog will be gone soon if it isn't already. You have to admit..I was a pretty heavy poster until I got to the island.

Not much changes here on a daily basis and keeping track of my calories so I don't gain weight has been my main objective since I've been here. I am very happy that I have not gained at all since I've been here. For one reason, because I think it proves that the method I use works. Counting calories.

Sometimes it sounds overly simple but it's not, especially in the beginning. Going from eating way too many calories to your recommended amount for losing weight can be a big jump and hard to tackle all at once.

I subscribe to MSN's Health and Fitness newsletter and sometimes they have some great articles. This week's article is called 78 Ways to Cut 100 Calories.

Truly, every little thing you can do to cut back helps. Baby steps, little at a time is great and will eventually produce results. It takes diligence and persistence more than discipline and strictness. And making small changes and building on them over time will get you there too. How fast it happens is usually what encourages or discourages people but just keep at it and you'll get there!

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More Proof of the 80/20 Rule

2009-03-13T21:33:00.004+12:00

For those of you new to this blog I have recently moved to a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called Kwajlein. You can check out my adventures on my other blog Kwajalein Adventure.

The reason I bring it up here is because in this new environment things are much different than my old life. Mainly, the main form of transportation here is bicycle or on foot (mostly bicycle)and we get to eat for free in what I call the mess hall. As much as you want, all for free...there is a salad bar and several entree's to choose from, there is water, coffee, soda and milk at every meal and there is dessert and ice cream on hand at all times as well. The ice cream machine is offline a lot but that's another story.

What I've been observing is that a majority of the folks that live here are overweight and quite a few are flat out obese. Yet they all ride bikes every day of the week as well as quite a few other activities, it's warm all the time here so there are a lot of outdoor activities to participate in. But they are still overweight.

I mentioned in a previous post 80% of weight loss is diet and 20% is exercise. It's much easier to make a significant reduction in the amount of calories you take into your body than it is to exercise enough to burn the excess. I proved this in my own weight loss journey.

Getting into an exercise routine is tough. Breaking the inertia of being a non-exerciser takes some time and effort. So I would exercise a little here and there. Then it got to be more and more over time but what I did do was start tracking my calorie intake and using the weight loss equation. I kept my calorie intake less than my calorie expenditure and I lost weight. A lot of weight.

Another example of how the 80/20 rule applies is to take a sample of some numbers. A Big Mac meal from McDonalds with a medium fries and a Coke is 1130 calories; for one meal! Pair that with a Denny's Grand Slam for breakfast and a deli sandwich for dinner and you are looking at over 2500 calories for the day. If you are a snacker or drink several sodas or gatorades or have a few beers at the end of the day and you could hit 3500 easily. My calorie goal to maintain my current weight is 1800 or less. If I ate 3500 calories a day I would gain a pound every two days!! That doesn't sound like that much food does it? It adds up.

Now lets look at exercise. Lets say I'm going to go ahead and eat like the above example everyday but I'm going to try to exercise the extra calories off so I don't have to cut back on my meals. Using my calorie goal I would need to burn 1700 calories a day to keep from gaining weight. I would have to run at a pretty intense level for almost 4 hours a day to burn those calories! 4 hours! Is that going to happen? Heck no!

Portion control and calorie tracking are the way to go. You still want to exercise, it makes you healthy and will make you look and feel better but you will not achieve your goals with exercise alone.

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My Own Personal Hell

2009-03-06T18:10:00.003+12:00

Well, not my own personal Hell. It's the Hell of anyone watching their weight or trying to lose; all you can eat, all the time.

I am currently living on a military installation and we basically eat in a chow hall. It's not quite as basic as that sounds but almost. Part of the employment package includes housing and food. This means free meals. There is a sign on the wall that says "Feel free to come back as many times as you like - just make sure you get a clean plate". Well let me tell you, the majority of the people here are taking full advantage of this "benefit".

I have been hyper-vigilant since I got here. I'm glad I'm armed with the knowledge of the the weight loss equation. If I didn't know it, I would be FAT, FAT, FAT in a very short amount of time.

One of my first purchases once I got here was a scale. I can't ensure I won't gain weight if I don't know how much I currently weigh and keep a close eye to make sure any fluctuations are just that and not an incremental climb up the numbers.

One thing that impressed me was that at the very least, they are posting the calorie count next to most of the dishes they provide. Not all of them and a lot of people seem to be unaware of why that number is there but I appreciate that it is provided. One of the big problems with the whole scene is that they give you a giant spoon to dish up your food with. In many cases, one scoop is more than twice the posted serving and calorie count. Since the main goal is to move people through, I doubt that is something that can be changed.

I am really considering offering a "calorie awareness" class or something. I don't know yet if people really don't understand how in control of their size they are or if they just don't care.

As an additional observation, the folks who are here with their families do not get free food from an assembly line and overall they are much slimmer than the folks that eat in the chow hall. I think this screams to the portion control problem and needs to be addressed.

I'm still very new here but I will keep my eyes peeled for opportunities to help where I can. For now, my main goal is to set a good example and not gain any weight. That's my goal anyway!

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Ultimate Ab Workout - 4 Week Program

2009-02-27T22:15:00.002+12:00

Well, I've had to modify my plan a bit. I originally intended to follow the Sexy Abs In 6 Weeks program that I found on Fitnessmagazine.com but in my new environment I only have a dial up connection and unless I want to wait until I'm old and gray for the videos to load, I opted for a plan that was printable. I don't enjoy trying to figure out exercises from a worded description but I've got to work with what I've got.

So this is a four week plan, no where does it state how often you are supposed to do them. I'm going to shoot for every other day. I'll report back soon and let you know how it's going.

Click here to see the workout.

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Oh.My.God. - That felt GREAT!!

2009-02-24T21:00:00.003+12:00

I finally made it to the gym. It's been an entire month!

Here I thought I was going to miss like two weeks or so. I walked to work when I was still in Helena and I've been riding a bike (in the wind) since I've arrived on the island so I'm not just sitting on my butt but it felt SO good to lift weights again. It felt like an actual workout.

I was quite impressed that I haven't really lost any progress. Just to be safe I reduced the poundage on a few of the exercises but didn't really feel like I needed to. It's been so long I know I will be sore tomorrow. Probably for a few days. I'm not going to be doing any cardio at the gym, not when I bike a few miles a day now. I can't wait for my mountain bike to arrive, this loaner does not fit me at all. That and the bearings are going out...doesn't help the situation. I probably wont see my stuff for another month though. I might just have to walk for awhile.

So now that I'm back at the gym..I'm going to start that ab workout I mentioned before. First I'll post all of the exercises I'll be doing here and then I'll report on how it's going.

Oh and have you been thinking about what you would do if you had all the free food you could eat everyday....I'm in that situation now and I'll be posting about it soon.

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New Life, New Exercise Program

2009-02-21T21:13:00.002+12:00

I am just now getting settled after my 5,343 mile move across the world. I now live in the Marshall Islands on a tiny island called Kwajalein. This world is totally different than my last one.

The tropical weather is nice; shorts, short sleeves, and sandals, all the time; even to work. Because it is an island and there is not much elevation, the wind blows all the time. It's actually a good thing or it would be miserably hot. So the nice weather makes it more enjoyable to be outside. No more excuses about it being too cold.

One of the biggest differences is that now I do not have a car. It's not even an option. The island is small so the main mode of transportation is bicycle. I work just over a mile from my living quarters and on the way to work the wind is at my back but on the way home or any time I need to conduct business "downtown" (you have to see it to know why that is in quotes) I ride against the wind. What a workout!!

Today I had to run several errands spread out over the course of the day so I made 4 trips into the wind altogether and besides my rear end being sore because I rarely rode a bike up to this point, I'm pooped. It takes a lot of effort! I'm not complaining...it's a fun new way to burn calories and I'm kind of happy about it.

I finally found the gym here today but because we are on a military base, it has a code on the door and I couldn't remember it so I didn't make it in. I'll try again tomorrow. I really want to lift some weights!

I will be experiencing snorkeling tomorrow for the first time in my life. I'm not sure if it's exercise or not but I'll find out and let you know.

My apologies for taking so long to get back on track, this was a pretty major change and I can already see some new topics for discussion coming up so stay tuned!

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Routine Interrupted

2009-02-10T08:12:00.003+12:00

Getting ready to move out of the country has disrupted my exercise routine significantly. I'm squeezing in what I can, walking a lot, a bit of yoga, moving boxes....

When I get where I'm going next week though, I'm going to try a "6 Weeks to Sexy Abs" program I found at Fitness Magazine.com. I can't link directly to it because you have to have an account to view their videos but I'll see if I can put together a breakdown of the exercises and report back on how it works.

Moving to a tropical island means a lot of bathing suit time so I'm going to be a bit obsessive about the workouts I think. Plus I need to make up for lost time.

To see what's going on with the move and how this all came about, visit my other blog Kwajalein Adventure. I leave in three days and I'm starting to freak out a bit. I still need to keep my diet and exercise in check no matter what's going on in my life!

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Workout Haiku

2009-02-06T00:00:00.001+12:00

Despite what you think,
It's not a torture chamber.
Give the gym a chance.

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Product Review - Boylan's Soda

2009-02-04T00:00:00.000+12:00

One of the restaurants we regularly frequent started carrying Boylan's sodas. This was during my refined sugar free trial and I noticed that they are made with all natural ingredients and cane sugar. I was having a bit of a hypoglycemic moment and thought I'd give it a try. I tried the Black Cherry and whoo hoo it's sweet, but yummy. I may have been a bit overly sensitive having had no refined sugar nor any other type of sugar other than from fruit for over two weeks at this point. I almost couldn't finish it and if I hadn't been eating, I know I couldn't have. One thing I enjoyed about it was that it wasn't overly carbonated. Black cherry has always been one of my preferred flavors and this one was just as black cherry as the next. While the sweetness was on the same level as other black cherry soda's, cane sugar sweetness is just different.

A couple of days ago, I tried another one. This time I tried the Creamy Red Birch Beer. It's very red but tastes very much like root beer. It's a fun drink, the color is very cheerful and the vintage styling of the bottle makes it extra fun. I'm a root beer fan too but normally I can never drink a whole one because of the intensity of the sugar. With cane sugar, it's more of a mellow sweetness. Birch beer and root beer aren't exactly the same;

The difference between birch beer and root beer: They’re close, but made from different barks. Birch beer is made from birch bark extract (and can vary in color depending on the species of birch tree the sap is extracted from). Root beer is made from non-specific roots and barks (often sassafras and/or sarsaparilla plus herbs like wild cherry, wintergreen and ginger. The original root beer, created in the mid-1800s by Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Hires, was actually a beer — a very low alcohol, naturally effervescent beverage made by fermenting sugar and yeast with the aforementioned ingredients. Today’s products have no alcohol content.

—Karen Hochman

I'm going to try the remaining flavors since I've enjoyed these two so much. There is a Creme Soda and an actual Root Beer I'm interested in trying. I'm not a cola fan so if anyone has tried the Cane Cola version of this, let us know what you think.

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31 Days Sugar Free In Review

2009-02-02T06:36:00.003+12:00

Amazingly going sugar free of the 31 days of January turned out to be much easier than I anticipated. As a reminder, my rules for sugar free were this:

No refined sugar
No corn syrup
No high fructose corn syrup
No sugar substitutes
Fruit OK
Carbs OK
Natural sugars OK

I had been on kind of a sugar bender through the holidays and thought I would have a much harder time giving it up.

For the first 5 days or so I ate a lot of fruit. I wasn't getting the refined sugars anymore so I had to up the natural sugars to kind of balance things out. After that I still ate a few pieces of fruit each day but not as much for the sugar as just to have something to snack on.

The most unusual part of the whole thing to me was how much hungrier I felt in general. I had to keep a close eye on my calorie intake because I was overly hungry the entire time. My theory on this is that sugar kind of numbs your hunger. Coffee will do the same thing for me. I can stave off eating with coffee for awhile, not forever.

So one of the gains that I made was an awareness of how much sugar is around and how often I reach for it out of habit. I also learned that there are many natural alternatives and natural sugar doesn't wreak havoc on your system like refined sugar does. I didn't experience the usual highs and lows in my mood or energy levels that had become part of my life. That was a huge thing.

Typically a "sugar free" diet consists of removing ALL sugars and anything that gets converted into sugar by the body as well.

White rice, pancakes, bread, corn flakes, crackers, parsnips, and potatoes are some of the foods that act like sugar in your body.

This is borderline crazy to me. The rational part of me knew there was no way I could possible cut ALL of these without failure.

I've decided to continue on with refined sugar free and make it part of my life. How about you? Anybody else have a different experience?

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Sex As Motivation? How About Exercise?

2009-01-27T12:56:00.005+12:00

My boyfriend is such a sweetie. Even though I gained over 25 pounds in the first year we were together, he would still tell me how sexy I was. I don't know if he realized it but it made me feel bad in a way because I knew I didn't look as good as when we got together and I felt far from sexy.

Spouses and significant others do still love you when you gain weight; you are still the same person right? Whether you or they realize it though, you're not quite the same person they were attracted to in the first place and it can have an impact on your sex life. It did on ours. Like a lot of things though, I didn't realize it until after I lost that extra weight again. All the sudden I was getting a LOT more attention and many more "you're sexy" comments.

I read an article one time about a woman that had gained something like 110 pounds over about 20 years and it had reduced her relationship with her husband practically to the status of "roommate". She finally hit her threshold, got motivated and lost all of her excess weight in about 5 months. She went crazy on the elliptical, several hours each day and started eating right. Besides feeling healthier, and feeling better about herself in general, her husband was attracted to her again and they renewed their relationship.

If you are overweight this may not seem very motivating now. The excess weight may lower your sex drive to the point where you don't really miss it. I can tell you though, it's a great extra benefit and if you remember hot steamy nights, the excitement and pleasure but just don't seem to find the energy or inclination anymore...it can be a very fun goal to work toward!

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Calories Are Cheap

2009-01-26T00:00:00.000+12:00

Have you ever noticed how cheap calories are?

At the drive thru a 770 calorie Whopper at Burger King is only $2.39 (in my area), for something like another $2.25 I can add fries and a drink for another 550 calories. That's $4.64 for 1320 calories! What a deal.

If you go to the grocery store, the high calorie, ready to eat or quick fix items are always the cheapest. Box of mac-n-cheese...$.99, bag of chips...$.99. Quick easy, mindless.

On the other hand, buying fresh meat and vegetables and cooking at home takes a lot more time and typically will run you more money. For one it's perishable so if you don't eat it right away, it's completely wasted. If you take a look at this article at My Money Blog you can see that as you spend more money on the 200 calorie example used, the food gets healthier and fresher.

To quote the article:

We Are Getting Fat
You can really see the differences in prices as you go down the tables. The cheapest calories are from very basic items like flour, sugar, and oil. The next items are primarily processed snack foods - potato chips, candy, cheetos, and crackers. The most expensive calories include all the fresh fruits and vegetables.

How does this affect us? An estimated 30% of adults over the age of 20 are obese, and that number is rising. On top of that, the poor tend to be more overweight than the rich. Is this because we like to buy the cheaper (and more calorie-dense) food, with the poor even more so than the rich? I certainly ate my share of $2.99 Value Meals in high school because I could afford it. If you’re hungry and broke, you just want something that’s cheap and filling. Donuts and chips sound much better than white bread.

Maybe the less affluent are not as well educated about nutrition. On one hand, I can’t see how people can confuse a Burger King Stacker for health food. On the other, I think if there was a huge calorie label painted in food coloring on every single thing we ate, including eating out, it would definitely change my behavior.

I don't know if it's possible to reduce this trend or not but the wiser we are with our food and money choices, the healthier we will be overall.

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Transitioning: What do I do Without a Gym For Two Weeks?

2009-01-24T06:44:00.005+12:00

I've gotten to the point where I love going to the gym. In general I love being active but the gym is my biggest resource for that since I live in Montana and I can tell you, it's 5 degrees above zero right now and there is no way I'm going outside for some exercise.

Currently, I'm in the middle of a transition. I had to give a 30 day notice to cancel my gym membership and I wasn't 100% sure when my transition was going to take place. The way it worked out, I am going to be gymless for two weeks before I get to my new destination. I imagine it will take a few days to a week to get settled and find the gym and how it fits into my routine in the new location so probably three weeks I will have to find ways to be active without that resource.

So far I am planning to walk to work more. Granted it's still a cold activity but I can dress warm enough for that, it's not like I'll need clothes that provide flexibility and range of motion for that. It's just short of two miles from home to work so it's a pretty decent amount of exercise. Especially if I go both ways.

Yoga was part of my weekly routine for awhile but with the move my house is a wreck and I don't have the space for it. I'm going to clear a space for my yoga mat and include that again too. Between those two activities, I should keep from going stir crazy or getting too out of shape before I can get back into a formal exercise environment. I'm really going to miss the weightlifting but I am moving so there are boxes to lift!

Anyone else have any ideas? I've never really worked out at home unless I owned equipment like a Spinning bike or Bowflex. I don't have those anymore because of the move so I could use some suggestions.

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Choosing a Gym

2009-01-21T00:00:00.001+12:00

When I decided to start going to the gym again, I wanted to make sure to choose one that I would want to go to, not have to go to. There are quite a few factors to think about when choosing a gym; they are not all the same.

Some things to consider:

Location
Equipment (quantity and selection)
Classes (variety and schedules)
Hours of operation
Ambiance
Shower availability

About the time I started looking, I think at least 6 new gyms had just opened in addition to the 3 old original gyms that have been the only choices for years. I actually visited at least 5 when I was looking, some of them all I had to do was walk in the front door, walk around and walk out. Others I actually talked to someone, got a trial and gave it a go.

There is one gym in town that about three-quarters of my gym going friends have memberships at and I really wanted to go there too so I could meet up with them and work out sometimes.....unfortunately, I could never get comfortable there. I went three times to try and give it a fair shot and I really can't put my finger on why I didn't like it. I joke that it must have been built on an ancient indian burial ground because I could never come up with a valid reason but nope...couldn't do it.

Being open 24 hours wasn't really that important to me but it was a nice option. I live in a pretty small town, I can get from one end to the other in roughly 20 minutes (in a car) so location wasn't that important either. Classes that I like and fit my schedule are always a bonus but still not one of my main motivators.

I ended up at one of the newest gyms in town...they weren't even finished building it when I joined. Things kept showing up for the next couple of months, clocks on the wall, benches in the locker room, the electronic check in system, stuff like that. I'm happy with my choice, unfortunately it's become very popular and it's almost busier than I would like but I'll be moving away next month so I can put up with it for a few more weeks. Normally I would have to go through this whole process again in my new location but I'm not really going to have a choice where I'm going.

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Seemingly Inconsequential Rewards

2009-01-19T11:00:00.004+12:00

There are a couple of rewards from losing weight that I never consciously expected but thoroughly enjoy. They go along with my post You never know what you've got 'til its gone. I wasn't really even aware of these things at the time but now that I've experienced them they could be goals in and of themselves for me in the future.

No more jiggly belly:
When you are heavy, everything jiggles, and you get used to it. Your middle jiggles, your back jiggles, everything jiggles. It just seems like the way it is. I remember the first time I was aware that I didn't jiggle. I was out for a walk when it hit me; it felt great! It's a very satisfying feeling and one that I want to continue so I think about it when I'm being careless with my calorie intake.

Clothes are no longer torture:
Another thing that I didn't realize I was doing until I stopped was coming home from work and immediately changing into something more comfortable. The whole day was spend with my waistband of my pants digging into my stomach or dealing with tight shirts or "gapiosis" where there is a peekhole between the buttons of your shirt where its pulled too tight. Everyday I would get home and head straight to my closet to put on my sweats.

After working hard to lose quite a few pounds, I remember coming home a few times and getting involved in other things like checking the mail, sitting down to check my email, heading to the kitchen to make dinner, everything but trying to immediately escape my "work" clothes, I felt like I had really accomplished something.

How about you? Are there any small rewards you weren't expecting with weight loss, or any specific goals similar to theses that you are aiming for?

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100th Post

2009-01-15T16:00:00.004+12:00

I really wanted to make my 100th post something special....so I've been putting it off to give myself time to get it right. The pressure is just too much; I've got nothing!
I'm going to give credit to some of the really good fitness and weight loss blogs out there that have been around a lot longer than 100 posts and have some really great information and inspiration in them. Please check them out and then come back!

Do you have any to add?

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Is This a Plateau?

2009-01-11T11:56:00.006+12:00

Today I finally got around to taking another batch of pictures for my before and after documentation. It seems that my half assed efforts have only managed to keep me looking exactly the same. I scrutinized those pictures for an hour and I can see no difference in the way I look except for one very interesting thing. In my before pictures, I was somewhat concerned with the fact that one of my shoulders was noticeably higher than the other; in all of the pictures. Front, back it didn't matter it was very obvious. I had never noticed that before. Well now, after two months of doing the Stronglifts 5x5 program, my shoulders are now even. That's something I guess. I am calling these my during pictures since there is no visible change. (Before-During-After)

So now I'm wondering what is really going on. To be honest, I have actually put on a total of 6 pounds since I started the program. I am squatting 100 pounds, bench pressing 50 pounds and I'm doing more pull-ups, chin-ups and push-ups than I ever thought I would. But I don't look any different. These are great achievements I think and the weight doesn't bother me so much since my clothes still fit and you can't tell by looking at me that I have gained but if I've put on 6 pounds of muscle, why cant you see it? I have to admit, when I flex my arms, they look pretty impressive but that's all so far.

Well, I have to assume that I'm at an in-between stage. I haven't put on enough muscle for it to show and I apparently haven't lost any fat. I'm trying to decide if I'm just going to continue with my current routine or if I'm going to try and bump up the intensity some. Again, this is Half Assed Fitness and I could ruin my reputation if I push it too far.

One thing I know is that my weight gain is not from food. I have been tracking my calorie intake carefully so at least I know that is not the culprit. The downside to that is if it was food, it would be very easy to make adjustments there.

Some of you may recall that I have cut out all refined sugar, sugar substitutes and any high fructose corn syrup products this month. It has not affected my weight at all but my complexion is clearer and my energy levels are more even keeled than usual. That is after about the first 5 days. I went through a period of being very hungry and needing a lot of fruit and then things evened out. One night I dreamt about eating donuts and sweets but overall, I haven't really had any cravings for sugar. I can see how much of a habit it was though. I catch myself reaching for stuff just because but it seems more a doing habit than a wanting habit.

I think I will continue on the way I have been going and see how it goes. My weights will continue to increase so something is bound to change.

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Health Haiku

2009-01-10T00:00:00.000+12:00

Take care of yourself;
listen to your body, now.
Before it's too late.

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Delicious Haiku

2009-01-09T14:00:00.000+12:00

Lose inches with lard...!
Fight fat with peanut butter...!
The alarm clock sounds.

The above haiku quoted from:

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Weight Loss Haiku

2009-01-08T00:40:00.001+12:00

You know you want to.
Impossible, it is not.
Put down that ice cream!

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You Do Know Not to Count All the Time You Are at The Gym Right?

2009-01-05T04:17:00.002+12:00

Now why do you suppose you wouldn't want to give yourself credit for every minute you spend at the gym? You work hard when you are there, it should count shouldn't it?

A lot of time spent at the gym is transition time. You move from one machine to another, you rest between reps, then there's the obvious; changing your shoes and maybe showering.....these things shouldn't be counted or you will be off in your calorie burning calculations and it could cause your weight-loss goals to stall.

My typical routine at the gym includes 45 minutes of weight lifting. Now some of that time, I'm loading the weights or resting between reps, or just trying to get access to the station that I want. I am not spending 45 minutes solid working my muscles to exhaustion. For tracking purposes, I only write down 25 minutes to ensure all of that non-active time is accounted for. This is totally a guess and I try to underestimate as a rule. I could pay more attention and give it a more accurate number if I found that I was not losing weight as expected but it's been working out so far.

Trusting the treadmill (or other equipment) to figure the amount of calories you've burned is not going to help your cause either. I'm not sure what formula they program into those things but they are very generous with the numbers. Underestimating the calories you've burned is the easiest way to stay ahead of your goals; overestimating and then eating the extra calories you think you have burned is not going to produce the results you are looking for.

The number of calories you burn does depends on a lot of factors; how much you weigh, how intense you exercise, how long you sustain the activity. There are almost as many formulas out there for figuring calories burned as there are people. I've always used this formula:

4 calories per minute for light exercise like walking
5 calories per minute for a little higher activity like walking fast uphill, the elliptical, weight lifting
7 calories per minute for what I consider high intensity, which means I'm sweating and panting.

Rarely would I (personally- this is Half Assed Fitness remember) do what I would count 10 calories per minute exercise, if you are a runner, you may hit this mark. 10 calories per minute can only be reached after intense, sustained activity. I've done one or two kickboxing classes and had a few Spinning sessions with a super crazy instructor that got me there but I still didn't count the full 10 per minute for the entire class. It probably took me 10 minutes to get to the point where I was burning that much and then there is always the cool down. For an hour long class then I would probably count about 30 minutes at 10 calories per minute and the remaining time at 5. Like I said, I tend to underestimate but it works out well for weight-loss.

If you want an "official" calculation to use, try this one.

Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com

When, How and Why to Weigh

2009-01-03T00:00:00.000+12:00

Weighing yourself when trying to lose weight is necessary so you know if what you are doing is working or not. It's also necessary when you are in maintenance mode so that you can catch any weight gains before they get out of control. It's a lot easier to lose 3 or 4 pounds than 5 or 10.

For some the number on the scale is an obsession, for others it's an embarrassment they want to avoid altogether. What you really want is for it to be a tool. One that helps you keep on track and focused.

The first thing to remember is that all scales are different. As much as you would think it would (and should be) an exact science, it just isn't. Maybe the more expensive ones but I can vouch for the fact that if you weigh yourself on three different scales, you are typically going to get three different results. I always weigh more on the doctors scale than I do on my home scale. Like every thing else in weight loss, consistency is the key.

Use the same scale all the time. The weight fluctuation on the same scale will be accurate as opposed to the different readings on different scales.

Calibration is necessary. You will need to weight yourself every day for about two weeks at various times of the day to see when you are consistently lightest. For whatever reason, I weight the least on Wednesday mornings. After that ONLY weigh yourself once a week at that time to keep tabs on where you are. If you weigh yourself more than that, you will drive yourself crazy.

You are typically going to be lightest in the morning. It's best to weigh before you've had anything to eat or drink and if possible after you've eliminated. Every little bit helps.

Weigh yourself naked. No socks, no robe, nothing. This adds to the consistency. If you weigh with nothing but a t-shirt one time and wear a robe the next time, you are going to alter the numbers. The only way to know if it's actually your weight is to be naked with no food in your stomach.

Weight fluctuates, it just does. Don't beat yourself up over a pound or two either direction. It could be that you ate a lot of salty food and you are retaining water, or you haven't digested that last hamburger all the way. If your weight is down, you could be dehydrated. There are all kinds of variables and again......consistency is key.

Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com

Volkswalking

2009-01-02T00:00:00.000+12:00

My Mom is an avid Volkswalker. I don't think she does it for the exercise as much as for the exposure to new things and places that she normally wouldn't see.

Volkswalking (or Volksmarching) is a world-wide activity with it's origins in Germany. The American Volkssport Association can be found here. With over 350 walking clubs across America you can likely find numerous organized walks to participate in. This is a fun way to get out and get moving.

A volksmarch is a non-competitive 6 mile (10 kilometer) walk. These walks are open to the public to come and enjoy. Trails are marked and/or mapped, with checkpoints and refreshments along the way.

Some of them offer stamps or pins that you can purchase as a souvenir of your walk. By the time my little brother was 10 I think he had about 75 pins from Volkswalking with my Mom. He kept them all on one very heavy vest!

So if you are looking for something new to shake up your walking or exercise routine, Volkswalking may be just the ticket!

Try the Calorie Counter at MyFoodDiary.com