I love summer!  It’s so nice to be able to spend time outside doing the things you love while burning calories at the same time.  My only issue is that I don’t want to work out inside because I’d rather be outside!  I’ve definitely been finding myself taking my dogs for longer, faster walks in the morning, followed by shorter weight workouts (and sometimes a HIIT cardio workout) instead of spending my time doing a circuit weight routine or a P90X workout.  I’ll admit, my walking probably isn’t as affective as the cardio I get from my regular routine but it’s more fun and my dogs love me for it

There are so many ways to keep fit through fun outdoor activities!!  Here are some of my favorites things I’ve come across this summer.

Workout in the Park!

I went to a soccer tournament a few weeks ago with my hubby and my pups that our friend’s two daughters were playing in.  I noticed fantastic outdoor exercise equipment in the field.    What a great idea!  I’ve come across few different plans for these for future parks during my career at my last employer but seeing it in real life was inspirational.  It’s so great to see that cities and towns encouraging people to keep fit while having fun outdoors, not to mention for FREE!  The picture posted is not of the actual park that I saw but it’s very similar.

There are plenty of ways to get a good workout in a regular park as well.  You just need some monkey bars (hanging leg raises, chins ups), a bench (push ups, tricep dips, step ups, one legged lunges, etc) and maybe a skipping rope or a hill to run up for some added cardio. But you may find yourself feeling a little more self conscious if there are people just playing there with their kids

And then of course there are the fantastic outdoor boot camp classes hosted at parks throughout the City.  I love this idea!  Last summer I participated in a lunchtime boot camp class hosted by a wonderful coworker who is also a registered PT and I loved every minute of it.  Even though I was still doing my P90X or Insantiy workouts every morning before work I found it hard to stay away from participating in her lunch time class. It really helped break up the day and keep my energy going in the afternoon.  So if you’re lucky enough that a lunch time outdoor boot camp is offered at your work, you should definitely take advantage.

Hit the Greens!

This summer my latest obsession is playing golf.    I’m not very good (not at all!) but I have so much fun playing and it’s a great way to spend a few hours outdoors during a beautiful summer day.  Though I admit my husband and I like to rent a cart most games, if you are motivated enough to walk a course it’s a great workout! Or hit the driving range if you want to get your heart rate going.  Hitting ball after ball is a good workout for your upper body, core and heart!  After my first few rounds of golf this season I was so surprised at how sore my arms and entire mid section was (especially my obliques!).  I love that feeling!

So many people think golf is a lazy persons sport but it’s really not!  18 holes takes over 4 hours on most courses and if you’re walking it that’s a lot of moving around!  Just try not to down too many beers during your round

And though this isn’t an outdoor activity – if you’re a lover of golf but not a lover of this crazy hot weather we’re having, here in the GTA – yesterday my husband and I decided to stop into a Golfzon Park “Golf & Lounge.”   We’ve noticed a few of these popping up throughout the City.  Have you seen any of these? There is one just up the street from my place (just North of Yonge and 16^th).  Well when my husband stopped the car I rolled my eyes at first but I am glad we decided to check it out!  It’s a really cool place to hang out, having a few drinks, some pub-type food and golfing!  But I’ll blog about that another time once I’ve experienced it for myself.  It looked like a fun place from our tour though!

Biking!

My husband and I started biking regularly last summer.   We do two different types of bike rides – one for the dogs and one for us.  We try to take the dogs out running with our bikes at least 1-2 times a week and then once in a while we’ll leave the dogs at home and go for a longer ride ourselves as the pups can’t handle anything too fast or too long and we don’t get much exercise biking at their pace.

We’re always looking for new trails to try out in the GTA – so feel free to message me with recommendations! Last weekend we went to the Tom Taylor Trail in Newmarket and it was fantastic.  This trail is fairly long, it runs from just South of Mulock all the way past Green Lane (almost to Mt. Albert!).  Since we were with the dogs we were only able to explore a small portion of it (we biked approx. 7kms in total).  Curious as to how we manage to bike with our dogs (especially since one is a beagle)? Check out this springer bike leash – one of our best purchases for the dogs!  Our dogs are really great with it and if they do see something and decide to lunge away from the bike, the spring and bungee cord that we use with it takes most of the force and doesn’t have much impact on my bike.

If you live close enough to your work, why not bike there? I walked or biked to work for one summer when my husband was working in the opposite direction (we share a car).  It was a great way to start the day.  The only thing I don’t like about biking to work is that it either cut my morning workouts short, or I had to get up earlier than 6AM to get in a good strength workout, bike to work and shower before I start my day.    My husband has been talking about biking to work this summer but I’ve yet to see it happen.  I think he may be waiting to purchase an electric conversion kit for his bike first  :)

So what are your favourite outdoor calorie burning summer activities?

Well I did it again!  I dropped the ball on keeping up with my blog posts.  I can give you a million excuses but I won’t bore you with them.  But I’ll be honest; blogging isn’t the only thing I’ve been slacking on lately.

This past month has been all around busy – both work and play.  I’ve had my fun but now it’s time to get back to my regular healthy routine.  I didn’t go completely off track but I definitely spent a lot less time working out and a lot more time eating out.  For some reason when I don’t exercise I am not as strict with my diet.  And then when I’m not as strict with my diet I start to lack energy for my workouts and it’s a vicious cycle that needs to be broken!  So here I am, trying to break it before it gets out of control!

I feel like this is a constant battle with so many people in my life.  My parents, my husband, my friends!  It’s really not that hard it’s easily accessible, it doesn’t require you to sweat or to deprive yourself, and most times it doesn’t cost you any money! You just have to DO IT!  What am I talking about?  DRINKING WATER! 

Water is so important for your health – can’t emphasize this enough.  I aim to drink 8 to 10 cups of water a day for numerous reasons.  Not only do I enjoy drinking it, but I know all the reasons why I should.  But before I get into that, coffee, tea and soda do NOT count as water.  Anything that tends to dehydrate you does not count in your daily water intake, and in fact another cup of water should be added for every cup of dehydrating beverage you decide to drink.  At least that’s my rule of thumb.

Forming a healthy habit of drinking water can seem hard at first but you just need some discipline to stick with it.  Many people are discouraged because in the beginning you feel like you have to go to the washroom every 5 minutes.  But if you stick with it, eventually your body will get used to drinking lots of water and your bathroom trips will be less frequent.

I drink water all day when I’m at work (I keep a 750ml bottle next to me at my desk) and I always have a glass close by when I’m home.  I even take one to bed with me!   Most nights I don’t wake up to drink it but I always reach for it when I wake up.  Most times when I go out to eat I just drink water and nothing else.  Maybe people think it’s because I’m cheap (I am), but really it’s because it’s the healthiest choice.  I’m already eating out, why add extra calories with a calorie heavy beverage?

Drinking water keeps your energy up, your digestive system intact and is just great for your overall health.   Don’t believe me? Keep reading as I quote what some “experts” have to say.

Here are some reasons why you should drink water

(taken from http://www.allaboutwater.org/drink-water.html):

• Water is absolutely essential to the human body’s survival. A person can live for about a month without food, but only about a week without water.

• Water helps to maintain healthy body weight by increasing metabolism and regulating appetite.

• Water leads to increased energy levels. The most common cause of daytime fatigue is actually mild dehydration.

• Drinking adequate amounts of water can decrease the risk of certain types of cancers, including colon cancer, bladder cancer, and breast cancer.

• Water leads to overall greater health by flushing out wastes and bacteria that can cause disease.

• Water naturally moisturizes skin and ensures proper cellular formation underneath layers of skin to give it a healthy, glowing appearance.

• Water aids in the digestion process and prevents constipation.

• Water is the primary mode of transportation for all nutrients in the body and is essential for proper circulation.

What is the best way to drink water? 

Personally I don’t think it really matters as long as you get it in you daily, but here are some tips that I read online by Dr. Willie T. Ong.

• Drink water when you wake up. Your body loses water while you sleep, so drink a glass before you go to sleep, and another glass when you wake up. You are naturally thirsty or dehydrated in the morning. Drinking water in the morning helps flush out the toxins that have accumulated all night.

• Drink 8 to 12 glasses a day. According to the Mayo Clinic, a 120-pound individual needs 8 cups of water a day, while a 190-pound person would require 12 cups daily. Dr. Robert Tanchanco says that we should monitor our urine color and keep it on the light side. However, drink only a maximum of 16 glasses a day, and not more.

• Drink little by little throughout the day. It is preferable to sip water throughout the day rather than to drink two glasses all at once. This will lessen the stress on the heart (especially if you have heart disease) and give your body more time to absorb it.

• Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink water. By the time you feel thirsty, you’re probably already 2 glasses below your normal water needs. Elderly people are also less sensitive to the body’s need for water.

• Drink water, not soft drinks, alcohol or coffee. Some experts believe that tea, sodas and coffee can be potentially dehydrating. Moreover, the high phosphorus and sugar content in cola drinks can lead to conditions like osteoporosis and diabetes. One study shows that adults who drank six cups of coffee daily experienced mild dehydration. Drinking alcohol is much worse because it actually dehydrates you by making you urinate a lot.

So for those of you who drink 1-2 cups a day, start drinking more!!  Improving your health isn’t just about losing weight, it’s about creating healthy habits for your insides and sticking with them.  Making small healthy changes is the best way to create healthy habits.  If you try to make too many lifestyle changes at once you may feel deprived of your old lifestyle and eventually revert back.  So try increasing your water intake slowly while decreasing your coffee intake.  Your body will thank you!

Wow, so it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to blog.  Life has been busy and exciting!  Work is busy and I started my own little side business (yay!) so finding free time to blog is not easy.  But enough with the excuses…

Losing weight is really challenging once you get close to your goal weight.  With only 3-4lbs to go, I’ve been struggling to budge the number on the scale.   Ok I admit it, I’m probably struggling more than I should because I still insist on eating whatever I want on weekends, but I’m getting better, I promise!

However, I bought a body fat monitor and I feel better about my weight not going down.  Progress is progress!  I’m satisfied with my body right now so as long as I’m not gaining and I’m still able to enjoy my food, I will keep on smiling  But regardless, a goal is a goal and I’m still trying to reach it!

I hit 124lbs back in December and I was so happy!! I hadn’t seen that weight since my husband and I started dating.   But then I went on vacation, then Christmas happened, etc etc.  After all that eating I gained a few lbs and had to work hard to get back to 124.  And finally after reaching 124 I had to take some time off of my workouts because of surgery.  Luckily I didn’t gain any weight during recovery!  Well 4 weeks after recovery I was still 124 and though I try very hard not to obsess with the number on the scale it was driving me nuts.

What am I doing wrong?  I’m eating well 5 days a week and better than I was on weekends in 2011.   I work out 5-6 days a week doing a mix of workouts, most of them being the crazy intense P90X workouts.

Though I couldn’t see anything really “wrong” with what I was doing (I did lose 13lbs doing pretty much exactly what I was doing) but decided to make some changes in my workout:

•  Instead of doing P90X weight workouts I decided to make up my own circuit routine using weights one upper body and one lower body routine.

•  All my circuit routines included at least one core based exercises.

• Instead of doing most of the exercises on a regular surface, I decided to incorporate the Bosu ball (a recent new addition to my gym) as much as I could into all my exercises (even for the few P90X workouts I decided to keep in my routine).

•  I utilized a foam roller after all my workouts to massage the body parts that I worked.

While I didn’t make any crazy changes in my diet, I did make a few that seemed to help me:

•  I started using MyFitnessPal to track my nutrient intake and calorie expenditure during workouts.

•  I alternated between raw honey and ½ scoop of protein w/ ½ serving on NutraCleanse before bed (instead of just using honey).  I find that on the nights before a morning weight training workout the evening protein shake works well and the extra fiber from NutraCleanse was probably a big catalyst in breaking my 124lb plateau.

• Changed up my lunches/snacks during work the best I could without ruining my diet.  My usually lunch is broccoli with a piece of protein (usually chicken).  Instead of always having broccoli I try to have different vegetables and once a week I’ll throw in a carb at lunch or for my morning snack.  The real reason why I don’t like to eat carbs at lunch is that I find it actually makes me hungrier in the afternoon and has me craving more.

• I eat very low calories (800-900) on Mondays after my weekend of very high calorie days.  I find this help get rid of my weekend bloat, and I’m sure many professionals may say this is a bad I idea, there are many others that support the idea of “intermittent fasting” or “calorie cycling.”  MyFitnessPal tells me that I’m at the risk of going into “starvation mode” when I eat less than 1200 calories.  Though I understand their intentions in putting in that warning, one day a week won’t put you in starvation mode.  But more about that another time.

The first week that I incorporated these changes I broke my 124lb plateau.  Ok so maybe it was just over half a pound but it still counts!!  And now?  I’m at 122.8lbs!  Yay me!   It may not sound like a big loss, but I had been sitting at around 124lbs since December so it was getting frustrating!

I often get asked about how to lose weight, what exercises to do, etc.  The truth is there are MANY different ways to go about it.  Some trainers/nutritionists will swear by their methods and practices and say that it’s the only way to lose weight.  Well from my experience, everybody’s bodies respond differently to different types of workouts.    Even the same person may respond differently during different phases of his/her life.   Maybe when you had 50lbs to lose, doing 45mins of cardio of day was all you needed to drop the first 20lbs. But now you have another 30lbs and you can’t seem to lose anymore.  Sound familiar?   As your body changes it starts to adapt and respond differently to your routine so changing things up is the only way to keep your body guessing making it work harder.

Are you used to breaking up your weight workouts into upper and lower body?  Try breaking it down into 1-2 muscles a day.  Are your weight workouts 3 exercises per body part, 3 straight sets, 8-10 reps purely anaerobic?   Try circuit training!  Do you like to lift heavy when weight training? Try doing higher reps with a lower weight, or drop sets!

I do believe that if you are following a clean diet and you are putting in your full effort during your workouts and you have excess weight to lose, the weight will come off!  And if it isn’t, maybe you’re not as dedicated as you think you are and you need to re-evaluate exactly what you’re doing.  I always preach write it down, because it makes you accountable!  I posted about the importance of keeping a food journal, but an exercise journal is helpful too.  So many people think that “tiny” handful of m&m’s (mmmmmm I love peanut m&m’s!) or skipping one of their scheduled workouts a week won’t hurt their goals.  And maybe it won’t once in a while, but if it happens regularly, then maybe that’s the reason the scale won’t budge.  Try it…write it down, I bet you will think twice before reaching for those m&m’s or skipping your workout!

Or maybe you’re not eating enough or overdoing the cardio.  Oh, I could create whole blog dedicated to how frustrating it is to hear about women who are dieting and barely eating but can’t lose weight.  Wake up!  If you’re barely eating and not losing weight, it’s obviously not working!

The other reason you should write it down is because you will learn a lot about what works for you, and what you did to achieve your goals.  And if for some reason you gain some weight in the near future you have your own diet reference book to tell you what worked and what didn’t, how great is that?  I love looking back and seeing all the things I did wrong and all the things I did right.  I also like looking at how crazy and dedicated (mostly crazy) I once was  working out twice a day.

As I flip through MyFitnessPal profile I see that I don’t always track my food intake on the weekends.  And yes, my weight loss is pretty freaking slow for more reasons than just the fact that I’m in my “ideal” weight range.  But I own up to it, and I know why.  If I don’t want to make the changes then I have nobody to blame but myself!   Reminding myself of this is what keeps me on track and keeps me from making excuses for myself!

So throw out your excuses, and be dedicated to your goals!  If your current routine isn’t giving you the results you want,  try something new!

No, I’m not going to lecture you on not drinking alcohol because we all know that’s probably not going to happen and I’d be a complete hypocrite.  No doubt alcohol is bad for your liver, but you gotta live, right? But if you’re damaging your liver with alcohol, you may be in need of a liver cleanse.

In a previous post I stated that Natasha Turner, writer of the Hormone Diet wrote that “not correcting sleep problems, digestive health and liver detoxification are the most commonly overlooked aspects of a successful fat loss program.”   I’ve blogged a lot about digestive health so let’s look at liver detoxification.

Why is a healthy liver important for weight loss and your overall health?  Well, first of all your liver acts as a control system for your body. It is responsible for making everything else in your body function properly.   If your liver shuts down, your body will only survive a few days.

Here are some of the most important functions of your liver:

1)   Managing cholesterol – your liver controls production and removal of cholesterol

2)  Metabolizes, stores and synthesizes energy transferred from the food  we ingest.

3)   It play a large role in amino acid synthesis

4)   Clears your blood of waste products, drugs and other toxins

5)   Stores vitamins, sugar and iron to help give your body energy

6)   Releases bile to help digest food and absorb important nutrients

7)   Produces or activates ALL of the hormones in the body that are necessary for fat-burning

The last point is probably the most interesting for those of you looking to lose weight.  The liver produces insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which is a fat-burning hormone. IGF controls blood sugar during the relatively long-period that you go without eating, which usually only occurs while you sleep.

During sleep, your blood sugar levels fall and the liver generates IGF to cause the fat tissues to burn fat to boost blood sugar. Again, if liver function is not as good as it should be, this hormone is not produced efficiently and you don’t burn as much fat.

The other thing that occurs is that your blood sugar will go lower than it should and you wake up in the morning feeling very fatigued and irritable.  In my post about raw honey, the theory behind eating raw honey before bed is to stimulate your liver during sleep and prevents your blood sugar from dipping too low so you don’t wake up feeling overly fatigued.

Ok so in my last post I said I stopped counting calories.  It was true; I haven’t counted calories for years.  I said that I heard great things about MyFitnessPal but haven’t checked it out for myself, but this week I decided to give it a try.  I’m addicted! Here we go again!

But seriously, this app rocks!  It’s so much better than any other PC, Ipod, HP Pocket PC or Palm Pilot app/program I’ve ever used tracking calories and workouts.  The interface is so user friendly and the food data base is probably the best I’ve ever seen.  It even includes NutraCleanse  In the past I’ve always had trouble finding the food that I am eating in the programs database.  So far I haven’t had any problems, except for a chinese dim sum dish.  But once I enter it into the database it asks if I want to share it with other users!  So this why the database is so complete, as soon as one person enters in a food that they can’t find they can share it with everybody else using the program.  What a great idea!

The other great thing about this program is that they have a web-based version and a smartphone app.  I’m not sure if it is available for other products other than the Iphone but it’s great that you can update your food/exercise journal on your phone or computer.  As long as you are connected to the Internet when you are on your phone everything you input will automatically be in sync with the web-based program.   One thing to note is that most of the settings such as your nutrition goals can only be modified through the webpage, or at least I haven’t figured out how to modify on my Iphone App yet!

The barcode scan feature for your smart phone is also a neat add on.  It doesn’t work all the time but maybe it’s my shaky hands   But it’s a fun feature to try.

I’m a big fan of the way it tracks your progress too.  Everyday I can see what % of my calories came from carbs, fat and protein.  And it always tells me where I am with my target intake of each of those nutrients as well.  And it allows you to customize a lot of settings to suit your goals and eating habits.  For example I added 30g of fiber as an extra goal so it shows up on my diary every time I look to see where I am in terms of my targets for the day.   The other thing I changed was what my target breakdown was of my nutrients.  Originally I think they have a 50% Carbs, 20% Protein, 30% Fat breakdown and I changed mine to 40% Protein, 35% Carbs and 25% Fat.  

I’m trying hard not to let this consume my life and not to take the calorie count too seriously, but it’s kind of hard  :) For example, yesterday for lunch I went out for sushi with some work friends.  Myself and my friend both decided to be healthy and order the salmon sashimi bento box.  The serving was HUGE and though we didn’t eat everything that was there we still ate approximately 12-15pcs each.  When we got into the car my friend pulled out her phone and too add it to her MyFitnessPal diary and was shocked that we consumed 700-800 calories and almost 50g of fat!  Well it does sound really scary and though I know salmon is very high in calories, (good) fat and protein I was still kind of shocked as according to MyFitnessPal I should only be consuming 1200 cals/day if I’m not exercising and I want to lose 0.7lbs/week.  So basically after lunch I was done eating for the day because Friday morning I only did pilates and little cardio so my goal calorie intake was only 1450cals.

So this is why I think counting calories is BAD because the salmon sashimi were really healthy calories.  It’s high in Omega 3’s and that is where all the calories come from (9cals/g of fat!) and there was over 80g of protein in that serving as well.  It’s the perfect food to eat for somebody who is working out and trying to eat healthy but the calorie count is scary if you’re tracking.

This week I broke my plateau of 124lbs!   I hit 124.2lbs in December before my trip to Jamaica, gained a couple lbs on my vacation and then lost it again before my surgery.  And though I didn’t gain any weight during my recovery of surgery, I was unable to lose weight for the first few weeks afterwards as I couldn’t work out very intensely.    Last week I started my regular workout routine and by the end of the week I weighed in at 124.0lbs.  Oh and in case you’re wondering why it says my starting weight was 125lbs, I made a mistake and didn’t know how  to change it to 124lbs    This week I started using this app and though for the most part I didn’t change how I ate because of it I did manage to lose 0.6lbs….I’m now 123.4lbs!

Why do I think I was able to break my plateau this week? Well I’m not 100% sure but this is what I think.  The first day I tracked my intake I realized I ate less than I should have because of the intense workout I had (508 calories).   And then when I looked at each nutrient intake I could see that if I wanted to increase my calories I needed to eat protein and fat to keep my 40% Protein/35%Carbs/25%Fat breakdown on track.    So I decided to eat the 2^nd protein shake that I had been skipping lately.  I mixed ½ scoop of whey protein with ½ scoop of NutraCleanse instead of my usual plain ground flaxseed that I was using for my 2^nd shake.

I really think adding this extra shake back into my diet really helped, and I think using an extra ½ scoop of NutraCleanse in the shake also helped.   This is my first time actually tracking my fiber intake and now I know how even more how important NutraCleanse is in my diet as I don’t get much fiber otherwise.  I eat broccoli everyday but at 6g for 1 cup, one serving just isn’t enough.

So I think that a program like this is helpful if you find yourself stuck in a plateau with your weight loss goals as it allows you to fully analyze what you’re eating and you will likely see where your diet is lacking.

Oh and I almost forgot one of my FAVORITE features of this app…it is also a social media application like facebook where you can add friends! This is great as you can see your friends progress and motivate each other!    I’ve made my profile completely public so anybody can view it even if they don’t have a Myfitnesspal account.   My diary can be viewed here.  And if you do decided to join Myfitnesspal feel free to add me! My username is wildfirefitchick.  Lets help each other reach our goals!

I’ve done a lot of different things in my life to try and lose weight.  Counted calories, tried the Weight Watchers points system, an extremely low calorie diet, a low carb diet, excessive cardio, weight training like a man, etc.  And of all my attempts, the successful ones had one thing in common – I tracked my food intake.  Most times I tracked my workouts as well, but if I did not track what I ate I usually did not lose weight despite how hard I worked out.  One really great thing about tracking what I ate was that I am able to look back to see what methods worked and what methods did not.  I am able to see what worked for short-term weight loss and what methods worked and allowed me to maintain for longer periods of time.

When it comes to keeping a food journal there are many different ways it can be done.  You can be completely obsessive and count every calorie, protein gram, carb, fat, etc. which can be educational to start.   But takes too much effort as a long term routine, unless you have an easy to use electronic program to help you out.  Or if you don’t,  you can just simply write down what you eat and at what time you ate it.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, when I was  about 15 (maybe even younger?) I bought my first calorie reference book and I used to look up every food in this big dictionary-sized book and write down every calorie, fat gram, etc in my food diary.  Later in my university years I got a cool “Palm Pilot” and installed a calorie tracker type program but it wasn’t very user friendly.  I could list all the different programs I’ve tried for my computer, Palm Pilot, Pocket PC and Ipod Touch but it would probably take a long time  But one thing they all had in common was that they took way too much time to input all the food, and their data bases were always missing some foods that I liked to eat so it would take a lot of time to manually input it into their data base.

These days there are a lot of better electronic programs for your computer or smart phones to help you track your calorie intake without it consuming our life.  I’ve heard great things about a program called My Fitness Pal which allows you to scan bar codes of the food you’re about to eat.   I haven’t personally tried it so I can’t give you much feedback, but from what I heard it is pretty user friendly and useful.

Personally, I don’t believe that the whole “calorie in calorie out” theory is 100% correct.  All calories are not created equally and just because you eat the theoretically right number of calories a day to lose weight, doesn’t ensure that you will lose fat.   However, if you eat over the number of calories you require to maintain your weight, you will gain weight (fat!).  Seems unfair doesn’t it?  So though I think it’s important to make sure you don’t eat too many calories, I think it’s more important to know where your calories are coming from.  So if you’re going to choose to track all of your nutrients be sure to make sure you focus on the % of your calories that are coming from Protein, Carbs and Fat and not just the actual calorie count.  Because you could eat one Big Mac meal and nothing else the rest of the day, and though you may be under your recommended calorie intake, I don’t think you’ll be helping your body with shedding excess fat

My Collection of Journals

Another reason why I do not bother tracking my calories these days is because I’ve been doing it off and on for so many years that I have a pretty good idea of what I’m eating.  So if you’re completely new to watching what you eat, I do recommend tracking your calories and other nutrient counts for a week to see where you stand on your current diet.  I think many people would be surprised at how many calories they actually do eat in a day.

Ideally, I believe that the breakdown that should be followed is 40%-50% Protein, 30%-40% Carbohydrates and 20%-30% Fat.  And your carb intake should include at least 25g-35g of Fiber.  These are just my basic guidelines, I will admit that the ideal situation is quite hard to achieve and my diet is more of a 30-35% Protein, 30%-35 Carbs and 30-35% Fat breakdown.

So how do you calculate these percentages?  Well here are the facts:

1g Fat = 9 Calories

1g Protein = 4 Calories

1g Carbohydrate = 4 Calories

1g Alcohol = 7 Calories ( just thought I should throw that one in there)

So it’s just some simple math.    For example, if in one day you eat 1500 calories and 50g of Carbs that is 50g x 4 cals/g divided by 1500cals = 13% Carbohydrates.  Or if you want to figure out how many carbohydrates you should be eating to achieve 30% carbohydrate diet simply multiply 0.3*1500 cals = 450 cals .  Divide that by 4 cals/g = 112.5g of Carbs.

The next question is, how many calories should you eat in a day?  These days you can do a quick google search and find a calorie intake calculator. There are so many different methods of calculating this but here is a basic one.

1) Determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is how much your body burns at complete rest just to keep you alive:

Men = 66+[6.23 x weight (lbs)] + [12.7xheight (inches)]- (6.76x age in years)

Women = 665+[4.35 x weight (lbs)] + [4.7xheight (inches)]- (4.7 x age in   years)

So for me, my BMR = 665+[4.35x124.2] + [4.7*61.75]-[4.7x30] = 1343 Cals

2) Now you have to take into consideration how active you are.

Little to no exercise = BMR *1.2

Light exercise (1-3 days per week ) = BMR * 1.375

Moderate exercise (3-5 days per week) = BMR *1.55

Heavy exercise (6-7 days per week) = BMR * 1.725

Very heavy exercise (twice per day, intense workouts) = BMR * 1.9

So again, using myself as an example, to maintain my weight with my typical exercise level, I would need to consume:

1343cals * 1.55 = 2081 calories per day.

3) If you are looking to lose weight,  to lose 1lb/ body fat per week (3500 calories) you’d have to eat 3500 calories less than your body needs in a week.

3500calories/7 days/week = 500 calories.  So you would have to eat 500 calories less than your body requires a week to lose 1lb a fat.

Using the same example,  that would mean I would ideally eat 1581 calories/day to lose 1lb fat a week.  Now you can probably see why it’s not healthy to try and lose more than 1-2lbs a week.

Once you are familiar with the nutritional content of what you’re putting into your body there may not be a need to track in detail but I feel it is a good idea to write it down if you’re looking to lose weight or improve your eating habits.

Why?  Well because it makes you accountable.  You will probably be less likely to eat those M&Ms that are calling your name if you know you are going to write it in your journal.  It helps you track where you went wrong and you will be able to understand why you may not have enough energy or why your body may not be losing weight like you think you should.   Maybe you’re not eating enough calories, or maybe you’re eating too many refined carbohydrates.  It will help you fine tune your healthy eating habits and you will learn a lot about what foods agree with you and what ones do not.

This tracking and accountability method is the reason why programs like Weight Watchers andP90X work.

Here is what a typical entry in my journal looks like: 

7:30AM – 1 scoop Whey, 1/3 cup Nutracleanse

10:00AM – Laughing Cow Light Cheese, 15 whole almonds

12:00 -    2 Chicken Thighs, 1 cup Steamed Broccoli

3:00PM – ½ cup Greek Yogurt with 1tbsp raw honey

5:00PM – ½ scoop whey protein, 1tbsp ground flaxseed

6:30PM – Pork Tenderloin, ½ sweet potato w/ light sour cream, Green beans

9:30PM – 1/2 tbsp raw honey

Workout

6:15AM – P90X Plyo-X – 45mins, Average HR 150, 512 calories

Cooldown/Stretching/Abs 19mins, 145 calories

Total Calorie Burn:  657 calories

I hope you found this information helpful for keeping yourself on track with your goals!  It’s a healthy habit that works for me, so I hope it works for you too!

Another “new” healthy food I tried last year is raw honey.  I was flipping through my Clean Eating and my other health magazines and noticed that it is used as the sweetener in a lot of healthy dessert type recipes.  I was confused, what is “raw” honey?  I went to look in my cupboard for my Billy Bee Honey bottle and the label said “pure honey.”  Surely it’s the same thing, right?   WRONG!!  Raw honey is honey that has not been pasteurized (heated) or processed in any way.  It comes straight from the extractor.  Its appearance is cloudy compared to the pure honey that we find in our regular grocery stores.  But I’ll get more into that later.

I was intrigued by this sweetener that appeared to be so popular; I’ve been reading health and fitness magazines since my early twenties and never really noticed this before.  And suddenly it seemed to be everywhere. It can’t be that much better for you than regular pure honey?   So of course, I did what most people do these days….I googled it!

I found several website supporting raw honey as a healthy choice for a sweetener and some that claim that it can help you lose weight!   Well before I read any material about all the supposed health benefits, the first thing I did was look up its Glycemic Index to see how it compared to other sweetener options.

http://www.glycemicedge.com/

For those of you who don’t know what the Glycemic Index (GI) is, it is a measure of how foods containing carbohydrates effect your blood sugar levels.  As I mentioned in a previous post, Insulin is the hormone that plays a large roll in converting carbohydrates into fat and the level of insulin that is in your body is determined by how much sugar is in your blood.  And thus the GI system, which was originally created to help diabetics, is now a widely use for people looking to lose weight or maintain a healthy body weight.

Below is chart containing the GI of some common sweeteners that I found at http://www.organiclifestylemagazine.com/blog/healthy-sugar-alternatives.php

The GI system uses Glucose as a reference with a value of 100.   Foods with values of 55 or less are considered “Low GI”, 55-69 are “Medium GI” and 70+ are “High GI.”  As you can see from the table, pasteurizing honey changes it properties making it go from a “Low GI” sweetener to a “High GI” sweetener.  After learning this I was anxious to learn what else made this sweetener so special compared to regular honey.

The most informative website that I found is called Benefits of Honey (www.benefits-of-honey.com).  And here is a summary of some of the ways raw honey can be used for our health that I read from this site:

• Honey is a natural energy booster – Try it before your workout or use it instead of an energy drink.

• Honey is a great immunity system builder – It’s antioxidant and anti-bacterial properties can help with digestion and can help you stay healthy and fight disease.

• Honey is Anti-Cancer – It contains carcinogen-preventing and anti-tumour properties.

• Honey is a natural ailment remedy for many ailments – Some of these ailments include athlete’s foot, arthritis pain, hangovers, sleeplessness and sore throats.  I’m sure most of you are interested in the theory behind the hangovers so I’ll elaborate on that one.  According to this site, the natural sugars speed up oxidation of alcohol by the liver, which acts as a “sobering” agent.  I haven’t tried is personally but it’s worth a shot next time I’m hurting after a night of partying!

• Honey can help with weight loss – There are a few ways listed that honey can be used as a weight loss tool on this site, but the one I found the most interesting was the Hibernation Diet.  In fact, the main aspect of this diet is something I’ve incorporated into my own daily regime.  Every night before bed for the last 6 months or so, I’ve been taking 1^st of raw honey most nights before bed.

 According to this website:

 “Natural honey when taken prior to bed is believed to be able to fuel the   liver, speed up fat-burning metabolism, ease stress hormones and help us get a better night’s sleep. This oldest natural sweetener also contains a wide variety of vitamins, including vitamins B6, B1, B2 and B5, and minerals such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, sodium and zinc, anti-oxidants and amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.”

And

“due to its 1:1 ratio of fructose to glucose, honey is the most ideal food that can provide a fuelling mechanism for the body at night, keeping blood sugar levels balanced and letting your recovery hormones get on with burning fat stores.”

I was a little skeptical about eating sugar before bed at first but so far it definitely hasn’t made me gain weight and I am still steadily losing weight.  I’m not sure if the honey itself has anything to do with it, and maybe it’s all in my head.   But I haven’t felt bloated in the morning on the nights that I’ve taken 1 tsp of honey before bed, despite what else I’ve eaten that day. As well, my morning workouts always seem to be energetic and effective, so it’s definitely not hurting me!  One other thing I do like about this is that some evenings I have a sweet craving and taking a tsp of this makes it go away immediately!

I also put a tsp of raw honey in my Plain Greek Yogurt which is something I try to eat every week day.

So where can you buy raw honey?  Well so far the most convenient place I’ve found is Longos.  The brand I use is called Dutchman’s Gold.  But don’t make the mistake that I made the first time…make sure the label says RAW.  The first bottle I bought was from a Farmer’s Market in Lindsay.  The label said “unpasteurized” but the honey it was very clear, and according to my research raw honey should be cloudy, not clear.  So after I paid $10 for the bottle I decided to do some more reading and I finally emailed the manufacturer asking if the honey I bought was indeed raw.  He told me that the honey I bought was not raw, but was unpasteurized – it had been heated only enough to be filtered, but not enough to be to reach the temperature of what would be considered pasteurized.  I’m sure this honey still had many health benefits but the heating and filtering it likely removed many of the healthy enzymes and nutrients that we look for when buying a raw honey.

So the point is, buying true raw honey does require a little education on the product.  The raw honey I buy is always solid.  From what I have read, raw honey crystallizes quickly and this is a sign that this is true, raw, unpasteurized honey.  Since the honey I buy is usually already crystallized, I heat it by placing the bottle with it’s lid off in a pot of water on the stove and heating it until it liquefies, being careful not to let the water boil or to overheat it.

As some of you may know, I just recently had laparoscopic surgery. Without going into much detail I will tell you that it was in my abdominal region and unfortunately it means I had to stop all exercising for at least 2 weeks.    I am looking forward to my appointment with my doctor next week and I’m hoping she will give me the go ahead to go back to my regular workout routine!

The two and a half weeks between my last update and my surgery, I only lost 0.6lbs following a similar workout schedule/diet as I posted in my last update.  I lost less “weight” this time, but I can see from my measurements that I did pretty well in terms of fat loss.

The day of my surgery I weighed myself and I was 124.4lbs which was exactly the weight I was before I left for Jamaica.  Great! It took me 4 weeks of my regular routine (first week of Jan didn’t count as I was just doing light cardio) to lose a measly 3lbs that I gained in 2 weeks (1 week binge eating in Jamaica followed by 1 week of binge eating Christmas food/candy) :)  Granted I didn’t follow a “strict” diet but that doesn’t mean I didn’t work hard!  But it’s annoying that I will likely have to lose some of that weight again after I fully recover.

Lying down all day/night is hard, luckily my puppies were good company  But seriously, lying down all the time is an easy way to gain weight!!   If I’m not even walking around doing my regular every day activities but eating the same, of course I’ll gain a little.  My body is burning a lot less calories a day even if you don’t take into consideration the calories I burn during a workout!  And honestly, I love food.  I can’t “diet”, it’s impossible for me!

Now I’m afraid to weigh myself but luckily my body fat analyzer has arrived and hopefully it helps me gain some perspective on my weight.    Once I get used to using it and I can judge how consistent it is, I’ll be sure to blog about it   I felt that this purchase was well worth the $40 investment as before my surgery I found myself obsessing about why the scale wasn’t budging much even though my clothes and measuring tape were telling me that I was in better shape each week.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Even though it’s one of the most accurate ways to gauge  your progress, I hate measuring myself. I always feel like I’m not being consistent every time.  Did I pull too hard on the tape?  Did I measure in the exact right spot?  I am pretty obsessive and the only way I can explain why all these measurement tools are important to me is that I always feel like my goals and progress have to be measurable – it keeps me motivated.  And besides, if I wasn’t so obsessive about these things I wouldn’t have my past weight loss attempts for reference and blogging material!  Hopefully once I reach a point where I feel satisfied with my body I will put all these tools away.  But will I ever be COMPLETELY satisfied?

Anyways, now with my body fat analyzer I will be able to tell myself that it’s ok that I’m not lighter…I have less fat and more muscle.  Though I’m sure with my obsessive-compulsive personality, that will quickly turn into a new obsession

So the first few days after my surgery were not so good.  It was the weekend and I was bored so I ate, A LOT.  I don’t even know if I was always hungry when I ate, but I felt like I just kept eating.  My lovely husband always treats me so well and made my favorite comfort foods….instant noodles, grilled cheese, mac and cheese, etc.  Oh and a good friend of mine baked me some delicious cookies, I couldn’t help myself!  Why am I even admitting this?  LOL…

It took me a few days to realize that all this food wasn’t actually making me feel better (and definitely not more comfortable) so I put a halt to it halfway through Superbowl Sunday.  I tried to eat well during the week (it wasn’t too hard as my husband was away ) but I had some lovely visitors (aka. my sisters) who were kind enough to bring me food.  I’m not going to say that I ate BADLY with them, but our meals were definitely out of my normal calorie/carb intake for a weekday lunch.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

And then came this past weekend.  Oh boy, where do I begin?  Well my husband came back Friday afternoon and my friend Lena came to visit me for lunch.  We ate pretty healthy though, we ordered some kebobs from nearby Middle Eastern restaurant.  But it went downhill from there.    I don’t know if it was the fact that I missed my husband and was happy for him to be home, or if I was feeling depressed about going back to work after the weekend or if my body was just got used to eating all the carbs over the last week and just kept craving more!    All I have to say is my weekend consisted of potato chips, chocolate and even CHEESECAKE (did I mention how much I love my husband?).  *SIGH* but I don’t regret it, it was really yummy.   Though I may by my weigh in day on Friday!

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Alright so here I am, back to work this week and trying to get back into a regular routine.  This week I vow to get right back into my regular eating habits and this weekend I will try much harder not to indulge in (too much) junk food.  I have a friend’s birthday party and it’s a long weekend, so (as usual) I don’t expect to be perfect.  And hopefully after my appointment on the 22^nd I will be able to start working out again!

And now to finish off my review on the rest of the P90X workout videos…

Kenpo-X (55 mins) – Umm…I rate this one about a 6/10.  Remember Billy Blanks and his Tae-Bo series?  It’s pretty similar I haven’t done it in a while because I don’t find it to be a great cardio workout or a great muscle workout.  I like to do it on my recovery weeks or if I’m feeling too tired for a harder workout.  At first I loved it because all the kicking and punching helped me get out my pent up anger (ha ha) but after doing it 3-4 times it became boring to me.    It’s not a BAD workout but definitely not as extreme as the rest of the series.

X Stretch (57 mins) – Unfortunately I haven’t even played this DVD so I can’t comment

Core Synergistics (57 mins) – This one is a tie with Plyometrics for my favorite workout.  At first it’s pretty hard, especially if you’ve never concentrated on working your core before.  It’s all about using more than one muscle group at once with a big emphasis on your core and balance.  There are pushups involved, supermans, banana rolls and some other crazy exercises I had never seen before doing this workout.  I always feel great after I’m done, and the next day when I feel sore around my middle I feel super lean Remember the Reach High and Low pushups from my Circuit #1?   Core Synergistics is where I was introduced to this exercise, which is now one of my all time favorites.

Cardio X (43 mins) – This is a combination of yoga, core synergistics, plyometrics and kenpo workouts.  He basically dedicates 10mins to each of these workouts so it’s a good way to get an idea of what these workouts are all about if you’re new to P90X.    It’s not too intense, especially since the yoga is so boring and kenpo isn’t too hard.  I definitely recommend doing this one instead of jumping right into plyometrics if you’re not in good cardio shape.    This one doesn’t make my regular workout cycle due to lack of intensity, but once in a while I’ll throw it in for variety.

Ab Ripper X (16 mins) – This workout is a short yet intense one.  I definitely do not do it often enough.  It’s a combination of regular ab crunch/situp type exercises mixed with some pilates-based moves (eg.  the roll up).  Overall it’s a great ab workout, and I think I will try to make this more of a regular part of my routine.

Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps (55 mins) – This workout is part of Phase 2.   Even after doing all the phase one workouts for weeks I found this one challenging.   The push-ups are a little different from the ones in the Chest and Back workout as he concentrates on different speeds instead of just doing as many as you can as fast as you can.  In this workout you only do one set of each exercise (there are 24 different exercises in total). The rotation of exercises is Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, then repeat.

The craziest exercise that Tony does in this workout is the Plyo push-up.  He actually leaves the ground in between push-ups (see picture above).  I can’t do this, and I don’t anticipate ever being able to do this version.  Like me, everybody else in the video is doing the easier clap version,   I think he just put this on in there to show off

Back and Biceps (51 mins) – This is another phase 2 workout.  This is a pretty good workout but the chick in it is super annoying.  I mean Tony gets annoying after watching him everyday for months but for some reason this girl just rubs me the wrong way.  But anyways, back to the workout.  This one is a little different as you do 2 back exercises followed by 2 bicep exercises.  Again the back exercises consist of a lot of different types of pull-ups but he adds some different ones that you don’t see in the Chest and Back or Legs and Back workouts from Phase 1.

In conclusion,  I think this program as a whole is solid in every way.  It has a great nutrition program and the workouts are not too long but are intense!   There is also enough variety that you won’t get bored too quickly.  I think it’s a great workout for people who are in decent shape and want to lean out and/or build strength.  I think if you were to follow this program exactly, you will definitely see some great changes in your body.  Most other workout dvds I’ve tried pales in comparison to P90X when it comes to intensity.

I definitely would not try to jump right into following the program in full if you haven’t been working out regularly for at least a couple months.  But I think it can still be a great workout tool even for those who are not yet in great shape but want to be.  You’ll have to modify the program at first, but the easier videos like the weight based workouts (eg. Shoulders and Arms) and easier cardio workouts like Cardio-x and the Kenpo-x are a great way to get you ready to tackle the other workouts or even the full program.

And of course, for people like me who just want to add some variety to their workouts or if you’re just looking to try something new, P90X workouts are great to add to your regular workout regime.

The only thing I’m not a fan of is how he tries to push his recovery shake during some of his workouts.   I’m not saying that it’s not a good idea, but I doubt his shake is any better than just supplementing with some quality Protein, a BCAA and Glutamine after your workout.  Or maybe I’m wrong, I really haven’t done much research into the P90X shake.

I recently tried some of the P90X+ workouts as well. In these he pushes the Bowflex Select Tech dumbbells, which I also find annoying.  No offense to the dumbbells because they’re probably great, but he uses standard hex dumbbells in the original series which seem to do the job!  Personally I prefer using standard ones over the adjustable ones.    Buy anyways, I just don’t like feeling like I’m watching a commercial during my workout but I guess endorsements are all part of the business.  I mean, if Bowflex was going to pay me lots of money to promote their product I’d probably do it too, right?

Looking for Part 1 of this review?  Click here.