New School Year – New You!

I have often thought of the beginning of the school year as my new year, versus the calendar year – January 1. I don’t know if it’s because I have a fall birthday, but since I was young, I always felt like the school year was a year to start fresh: I had a new teacher, and could really reinvent myself and start new. So, it’s typically around this time of year that I start to think about what goals I want to accomplish for the upcoming year, where I want to be in the next year and reflect on the past year’s events. Starting new habits when the school year starts is actually a really good strategy when you want to start a good habit, like exercising, or even drop a bad habit, like going out for your morning coffee. Its easier to start a new habit in the Read More . . .

This is why I do what I do

Last week, I had a really bad night's sleep, but had set my alarm to wake me early to go running. As I lay in the dark, I had contemplated blowing my run off, but really, I was already awake & decided to use that time productively. Before I headed out, I checked my email & overnight had received an email from my sister letting me know that she had been diagnosed with Lobular Carcinoma In Situ (LCIS). LCIS is defined as:  "Lobular carcinoma in situ is a condition caused by unusual cells in the lobules of the breast.It is usually not considered cancer, but it can indicate an increased risk of future cancer. Unlike Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS), LCIS is not associated with calcification, and is typically an incidental finding in a biopsy performed for another reason." There were two lumps close together, which her surgeon removed. Her Read More . . .

Back on the Wagon

I just posted a new newsletter to my website! If you’re not on my newsletter list, please feel free to sign up here. I try to send out newsletters once a month. I’m not really sure what happened, but apparently I took a 9 month hiatus! Initially I think I can blame it on my bodybugg. I’ve been trying to add more activity in my life, and sitting, doing computer work does not accomplish that goal. Eventually, it became a daunting task, my self talk being something like: "Well, now it needs to be an AWESOME newsletter because you’ve been saving all of this information up. It needs to be rockin’!" That type of self talk reminds me of what we do to ourselves all the time when it comes to LOTS of areas in our life; whether it’s eating "I can’t start eating better until I’ve gotten all of Read More . . .

bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 4 – Activity & Accuracy

<< Previous Round bodybugg vs fitbit: Round 3 – Sleep Tracking So the reason I was initially drawn to the bodybugg was that it allowed me to see how many calories I was burning in a day. I knew how many calories I was eating. What I didn’t know, was how many I was burning; but why is that even important? Weight loss is a simple equation of consuming fewer calories than your body burns. There are TONS of food logging websites & tools, and as I mentioned, I knew what I was eating, because I was logging my food for years prior to knowing about the bodybugg. But eating is only half of the equation in weight loss and weight management. I can tell you that if you eat 500 fewer Calories per day than your body needs, you will lose 1 pound per week; I already knew that. Read More . . .

Bodybugg Calories Burned

Another Frequently asked question about the bodybugg application is: "Why do I have two different Calories Burned Numbers? I just got my Bodybugg last night. It seems to be working and when I uploaded data from the armband to computer, at the bottom it said I had burned 31 calories-had only been wearing it for a few minutes. The top display for the overall day is completely out of whack says 381 calories burned so far which can’t be done in wearing it a whole ten minutes?" The Red arrows in this screen shot point out the conflicting data. Clearly the numbers are different, but why? The top number shows the total number of calories burned during the entire day. The bottom number shows the number of calories burned during a specific time of day, typically your waking hours, which is illustrated by the darker gray area that the blue Read More . . .

Consciously Incompetent

When I imagined that I would be skating in rollerderby, I didn’t necessarily imagine that I would be blocking every body hit & skating with the fluid moves of a butterfly: zipping in & out of other girls around me. I guess I thought that it might be a little difficult at first, but with a little time & stick-to-it-ness, I’d be okay. After I invested in all of my equipment, I certainly felt the pressure to make it work. But after 8 weeks of skating 2-3 times per week, neither did I imagine that I would lose my balance & fall when I was just standing on my skates! I’m completely in awe of my coaches, Sparkle Plenty & Devil Grrl. They’re both so at ease on their skates. When Sparkle talks, she “paces” in her skates – backwards, forwards, sideways… it’s as if her skates are part of Read More . . .

Bodybugg or No Bodybugg that is the Question?

Yesterday, I posted an article about whether the Bodybugg is useful for fitness pros. It was spurred by a conversation on twitter with another personal trainer, out of Seattle, @Targettraining. He asked if he could post a response. Here it is: Guest Post by Shayne P. Norton In the small article I will discuss why the Bodybugg is not for everyone, and why would you want it. So there are many controversies about calories in versus calories out, fat loss and weight loss. Well I am here to tell you the difference and obsession with the people of today. I have learned in my field of personal training that personal trainers will lie to you at a corporate gym due to the pressure of sales from the management. Trust me I have been there and done that, also if there is a personal trainer that has said that they haven’t Read More . . .

How Quickly Will I See Results?

I received a question on Twitter today that I thought warranted a blog post. @dasschus asked “how long does it take for a surplus of calories to show up as a weight gain? How long until is shows as stored fat? Curious.” The answer to this question is pretty complex & like everything in health & the human body, what may be the answer for one person may not be the solution for all. Therefore, I’m going to answer this question from my own personal experience. The short answer is that it doesn’t happen instantly. That’s good and bad news because just as one day of eating poorly isn’t going to derail your weight loss goals, neither will one day of excessive activity make a noticeable difference either. The body ultimately takes an average of my calories in & calories out over a period of time. I notice a lag Read More . . .

Roller Derby Bad @**

I joined the Texas RollerGirls Recreational Roller Derby League! I don’t know what the heck I was thinking. Actually, I know exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking that summer is approaching in Austin, and since I’ve been running, I enter summer a really strong runner (running 10 – 13 miles on my long runs) & by mid-June, I can barely run for 40 minutes without taking a walk break. So, summer is the time when I start thinking about cross training. I am highly influenced by the power of suggestion, so when someone suggested that I sign up for Roller Derby, I did it. Aaack! After not being on roller skates since I was in high-school (maybe) I googled "how to roller skate", and came up with some good sites. After watching a bunch of videos, I put on my pads, laced up my skates & promptly fell Read More . . .

3 Tips for Maintaining Motivation

Part 2 in the Runtex University Bucky & Bob Speaking Series We’ve all done it; whether it’s a New Year’s Resolution, or disliking the way you look in pictures, or even wanting to fit into a cute pair of pants again that have gotten a little too snug. We start off with a vengeance; vowing to change our life this time for good. Then, about 6 weeks later (maybe sooner, maybe later) our stick-to-it-iveness begins to wane. What strategies can you use so that you maintain your motivation & make those behavior changes that you desire? 1) Set Goals Goals are SO important in life in general. Goals allow you to be proactive in your life instead of re-active. When I think about life without goals, I think about the song Once In a Lifetime by the Talking Heads. The tips I’m outlining here can be applied to health, personal, Read More . . .

3 Tips for Eating & Weight Loss

Part 1 in the Runtex University Bucky & Bob Speaking Series My husband tells me that I eat more food than anyone that he knows. He’s probably right. I can eat large volume of food. I also remember as a kid going to an ice cream parlor with my sister. After I finished mine, I finished hers too. She looked at me & stated "Your stomach is a bottomless pit." Looking back, it’s really not a mystery to me that I ended up overweight, but also that I’ve devised a few really good strategies for being able to eat, not depriving myself & still being able to maintain my smaller size. 1) Don’t Drink Your Calories Have you seen the calorie counts on some of the Starbucks coffee drinks? A Venti Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino® Blended Crème has 670 Calories! That’s about a third of my calorie budget! Plus, in Read More . . .

The Best Kept Secret in Austin

I’ve lived in Austin for almost 8 years (yikes! has it been that long?). I’ve been actively engaged in the fitness community for about 3 years now. When you come to Austin, you can’t help but know about RunTex & the running community here – Runtex has such a presence here. I think they sponsor absolutely every race imaginable; they provide cold water on the town lake hike & bike trail; through word of mouth, they are THE store for runners, everyone talks about RunTex; and they have RunTex University, which I had heard of but never understood: until now. RunTex University’s mission is to improve the fitness of our community, state and nation through the support of endurance events and training programs. We look forward to sharing our passion with each of you. I was confused about RunTexU because when I went to look at their training programs, I Read More . . .

You Can’t Fool Mother Nature

Last night I saw this commercial for the Jenny Craig weight loss system. It's Valerie Bertinelli stating that for the first year in 20 years that she will not be making a new year's resolution for weight loss, because she has hit her goal & maintained it. The commercial kind of hit a chord with me because I feel very similarly. For the first time since I've been on my nutrition journey, I feel like I'm not 'white knuckling' it. People who know me probably want to smack me right now. They'd probably say, "What the h*ll are you talking about? You're not fat." I was over-fat 10 years ago & came to my smaller resting size about 6-7 years ago. To the unobserving eye, although my weight has shifted in small increments (maybe not even enough to notice), I haven't had huge fluctuations; I am at a good size Read More . . .

In the interest of Self-Disclosure

To so many folks battling with their weight, next month’s O Magazine cover shows an unre-touched Oprah at her current weight, next to a photo taken 4 years ago, is like reading a page from their own diary. It’s an all too familiar story of weight lost, feeling confidence & power over food, and then regaining the weight. Oprah: "I’m mad at myself. I’m embarrassed. I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my weight. I look at my thinner self and think, ‘How did I let this happen again?’" I empathize with Oprah’s struggle, and anyone else who has struggled with their eating and health habits. And HABIT is the key word there. We are the size and shape we are because of our habits. As a Wellness Coach I help people change their behaviors, or rather, Read More . . .

What do you say to yourself?

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my bodybugg? I also have the display device which, when I originally got it, didn't think it was that useful. After all, I uploaded my information on a pretty consistent basis – twice or three times a day. Since it doesn't take that long to upload the data from the armband, it was really easy for me to keep track of the number of calories I was burning. Well, once I got the digital display, I realized that I didn't need to update as often as I had been doing, because the digital display allows me to see almost real time how many calories I'm burning. Yes, Exactly! It allows me to be even more anal retentive than I had been before! So anyway, I recently set a goal to burn 100 calories per hour, or 2400 calories per day. I burn Read More . . .

The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

It’s not that people lie on purpose; when it comes to weight loss, the most recent statistics show overweight people underreporting daily food intake by 30-40% while normal weight individuals underreport by 16%. Virtually no one over-reports their food intake. Additionally, they’ll overestimate how much they move. The combination of those two little white lies that folks tell themselves is partially to blame the expanding waistline of the American public. I’m not immune to these lies. I feel like I’ve struggled with my weight for years. Well, wait… let me back up there. For most of my life I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It wasn’t until I was in my first marriage that I used food to emotionally cope with my problems. Although I wasn’t fit when I got married, I was thin, and when I got divorced,I was definitely fat. Here’s my transformation in case you’ve Read More . . .

It’s always something

A few weeks back, my husband, Gary & I were walking into Sports Authority when we saw the dreaded folding table set up in front of the entrance surrounded by little girls holding boxes of cookies! Girlscout cookie season has started. What really struck me about it was that this occurred just 3 weeks after the New Year. I thought about all of those people who had made resolutions to "eat healthy" this year, or "give up junk food". I thought about them because after three weeks of eating differently; depriving yourself of everything that you think is good (because that's what healthy eating is. Isn't it?), all that is needed is one innocent little girl selling something that only comes around once a year to derail you from your commitment to your health. Two weeks later was the SuperBowl. It is now said that the SuperBowl is the 2nd Read More . . .

Healthy Eating: beyond poached fish and celery sticks

I love food. I love the flavor of it, texture & aroma. I love eating. I am a self-described foodie. Wikipedia defines a foodie as "A gourmet is a person with a discriminating palate and who is knowledgeable in fine food and drink. The word is a corruption of the French word gourmet, a valet in charge of the wines. It is often used as an adjective for meals of especially high quality, whose makers or preparers have used especial effort or art in presentation or cooking the meal, or for facilities equipped for preparing such meals, such as a restaurant." I don't know if I fall into the gourmet part of this explanation; I certainly don't waste my calories on "common foods" like candy bars or fast food. Although it has to be good, it doesn't have to be gourmet & I'm all about volume. Why do I tell Read More . . .

New Year’s Resolutions

I am typically not a person who makes New Year's Resolutions. I definitely make goals, but I guess that I've never put much stock in New Year’s Resolutions because I am continually evaluating my life, where it is and where I want it to be, that I don’t wait for the beginning of the new year to set my goals and start working towards them. I think that the New Year is a good time for reflection; looking back on what has happened over the past year, observing which aspects of my life are better, which have stayed the same, and which are worse off. I’ll often try to imagine myself at the end of this year. What do I want to be different? Just imagining what my life is going to be like in a year, five years or ten sets the foundation for my life; because if I Read More . . .