I overheard a quote in my circuit class the other day: "You build a strong body in the gym; you build a lean body in the kitchen." And it’s absolutely true. It’s much easier to stop yourself from eating 2 oz of tortilla chips than it is to run for 30 minutes (300 calories in both instances). Whenever I find that my waistband is getting a little more snug than I’d like, I turn my attention to my diet. I often realize that in addition to not paying as close attention to my portion sizes, one of the mistakes that I’ve been making is not eating enough non-starchy vegetables. A loose definition of Non-Starchy Vegetables are those veggies that grow above the ground. Examples are tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, green beans, summer squash, and peppers. In addition to vegetables having lots of essential vitamins & minerals, they also have a 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 . . .
3 pounds
One of my guilty pleasures is that I watch Oprah. No, I'm usually not home at that time of the day, but thank goodness for DVRs so that I can record it; saves a lot of time skipping over commercials, but also, if I'm not interested in the topic being aired that day, I'll just delete it. Yesterday she had Gwyneth Paltrow & Mario Batali on her show to promote a new series that is coming out where Gwyneth & Mario travel around Spain eating their hearts out. The first segment of the show was an interview with Gwyneth about her workout routine (see the video). I can only imagine that they did that so that America wouldn't curse Gwyneth after seeing her eating her way through Spain; giving rise to the fact that no one gets a free ride as far as the calorie formula goes – Calories In Read More . . .
Trick-or-Treat! Here’s a pencil….
Halloween is fast approaching, and since I am a wellness coach, nutritionist and personal trainer I don’t feel like I would be acting responsibly if I gave candy to the trick-or-treaters. For the past few years I’ve been conflicted about what to give the neighborhood kiddos. Candy is fine in moderation, however there really isn’t anything moderate about the abundance of Halloween candy children receive: not to mention that Halloween signals the beginning of the 5 month long sugar-fest that concludes with chocolate eggs and colored sugar coated marshmallows in the shape of chickens & bunnies. One year I tried to sell Gary on giving away those small 8oz water bottles, but he convinced me that we would get egged by the kids. When I looked into it, it wasn’t very economical either. You can get 6 lbs of candy (150 pieces) for less than $25; A case of 48 Read More . . .
I’ll try not to let it go to my head
I was interviewed by the local press last week about the Bodybugg. Jessica, my client did an excellent job in the interview & I think she even upstaged me a little bit. I'm excited about the buzz that it's causing. The news story was even picked up by not only the Texas Cable Network, but also three other markets: Austin, Las Vegas, and Topeka Kansas. How exciting! Apex is thrilled with the exposure, as they should be. It's a really cool device & I'm confident that it will do well. Lately, folks have been asking me if it will work for them. Yes, it will. However, I've been coming up with a list of criteria for those who it will work best with: You're motivated enough to wear it all the time – If you only want to wear it part-time, then just go out & buy a heart rate Read More . . .
Wii Fit
The Wii Fit (different from WWEE or Absolutely Fit) is a new video game launched from Nintendo to get people to move more. For years now there have been reports of folks who have dropped dramatic weight by using video games such as Dance Dance Revolution or some of the other Wii games. As a wellness professional, my first thought is, "That's great! It's getting people up & moving around — off the couch & that's just fantastic!" But then thinking about it for a bit, I start to get sad because it's a video game. I laugh when I think about my massage therapist, Annie. One of the newest hit video games is Guitar Hero. She says that "By the time one gets good at Guitar Hero, they could actually have learned the guitar!" Which is true. But I think that the Wii Fit is a little different. People 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 . . .
But … how do you know? Part 2
The art of weight loss isn’t rocket science, however given the fact that weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry, we can see that it eludes quite a number of folks. Weight maintenance/loss/gain is simply a matter of “calories in” versus “calories out”. On the nutrition side, if you eat more calories than your body needs, you’ll gain weight; if you eat the same number of calories that your body needs, then you will maintain your weight; and if you consume fewer calories than your body needs to maintain it’s weight, you will lose weight. But, how do you know how many calories your body needs to maintain it’s weight? In But … how do you know? Part 1, I explained that our metabolism (BMR),depending on how active a person is, can make up for approximately 75% or less of our calories burned. I also explained how we can estimate 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 . . .
But … how do you know? Part 1
On the bottom of every nutritional facts label there is a foot note. The footnote tells us that diets based on 2000 & 2500 Calories should have "x" amount of Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Total Carbohydrates and Fiber respectively. That's great, but how do you know which one you should abide by? How many Calories do you need in a day? Three things influence how many calories you need in order to maintain your weight. Your Metabolism (aka: Basal Metabolic Rate – BMR) The amount of activity that you get on a daily basis (aka: Thermic Effect of Activity – TEA) How many Calories your body uses to process the foods that you eat (aka: Thermic Effect of Food – TEF) Your metabolism is responsible for using the bulk of your calories in a day – roughly 75%. A few things contribute to your metabolism: Genetics Age Weight Read More . . .
alli or enemy?
Alli is a diet drug that is available today over the counter. Alli is a reduced strength version of a prescription only pill called Orlistat. Orlistat works by preventing the body from absorbing all of the fat that a person has consumed (an estimated 50%). That sounds good. Right? If the body doesn't absorb the fat, then it doesn't absorb the calories that you've consumed through fat. Fat is higher in calories than protein or carbohydrates. Each gram of protein or carbohydrates, holds 4 calories. Each gram of fat holds more than twice that at 9 calories. So then by taking alli, consuming fat isn't as calorically expensive. If I eat the same number of calories and take alli, I'll reduce the number of calories that my body absorbs, thus giving me a calorie deficit; which is what is needed in order to lose weight. Well, thinking about it, where 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 . . .
You are what you eat
For Christmas, Gary gave me a book written by Paul Chek, called How to Eat, Move & Be Healthy. First, Paul Check, for those of you who don’t know him, is a leader in the wellness & personal training industry. The man is brilliant in his approach. Last January, a member on another board suggested that I read the Metabolic Typing Diet. I started it, but never finished (I do that quite a bit). Then a couple of months ago, Gary bought Dr. Mercola‘s book: Total Health. Dr. Mercola also uses the Metabolic Typing Diet. Anyway, even though I didn’t finish it, it really made sense to me that everyone is different in how they metabolize food & therefore we each need different macros & food sources to become optimal in our health. The idea behind Metabolic Typing is that depending on where our heritage originated, the food sources that Read More . . .
I’m just not that important
I was just reading this article about how "Cell Phones Blur Boundaries Between Work and Home", and I think it's true. It seems like many many years ago, but when I started my first business, EDK Enterprises, in 1996, I also got my first cell phone. I loved it when it rang. It was almost like a toy. I was so in touch – so available. My business was important. I was important. But then I was trying to sell myself. I needed to be available because if I wasn't, then maybe someone else would be. But then to put it into perspective, in 1996 I was 28 years old, and still trying to play "grown up". My biggest fear was everyone pointing at me and saying "Fraud". I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but riding the train, and getting a call allowed me to pretend that Read More . . .
True Equality
I am completely intrigued by the fact that time is the one thing that we are all dealt equally in life. What we choose to do with it is all ours to decide. With money, you can make the excuse that one person is paid more than another, and that the reason for that is that they were born into a wealthy family, or they received inheritance, etc. but time is the one thing that has no discrimination. We all get 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and 7 days in a week. So why is it that some people seem to have loads of time, while others are constantly “bizzy”? Is it efficiency? Priorities? maybe a bit of both? What if we could sleep less? Yes, I enjoy sleeping. I’ve needed 8+ hours of sleep for as long as I can remember, or else I’m Read More . . .
You don’t look like a body builder
For the first time in my life I feel like I can call myself an athlete. I competed in two figure body building competitions 1 week apart from one another at the beginning of November 2005. Did I win? No, but I got up there & did it, I am in the best shape of my life, and for that, I won something for myself – something that no one could give me. There are a couple of different reactions that I get from people when I tell them that I am a competitive body builder. First, they look me up & down & state: “You don’t look like a body builder.” I’m never quite sure how to take this comment. Is it a compliment? Or an insult? I assume that “You don’t look like a body builder.” means that I don’t look like a man, so I thank them Read More . . .