Repeat this 3-4 times resting 1 minute after a full set
15 half burpies
15 Jump Squats
15 Pushups
30 seconds in forearm Plank
30 seconds of scissor feet
20 Walking Lunges
30 seconds of High knees
Good luck!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Answers to Common Questions
A lot of people ask me the same questions over and over again, so I thought I would clarify them here:
1. How many days I week should I workout?
Everyone is different starting out. You can not start working out 5-6 days a week and stay successful. Start with 2-3 times a week with cardio and strength training, then gradually add days to it. It takes a 5-6 day a week workout schedule to dramatically change your body image. Starting out gradually and building up will help prevent burn out on working out and injury.
2. How many calories a day should I eat?
There is a magical formula to do this! Calorie tracking programs like Myfitnesspal.com or even googling BMR calculators can give you are accurate amount of calories to aim for.
3. Should I replace the calories I burn in exercise?
YES!!!!!!!!! I feel like a broken record with this topic but YOU HAVE TO REPLACE THEM. Your body needs to NET a certain amount of calories, no less than 1200 (and the 1200is very low). For example, with my height, weight, age and level of activity I should eat 1405 calories a day to lose 1 pound a week and remain healthy and have a fully functioning body. The 1405 calories creates a 500 calorie deficit a day. If I exercise and burn 500 calories I get to eat 1905 calories for the day.
If you don’t replace exercise calories, yes you will lose weight. But you will lose muscle, liver function, brain function, immune system, and then your body will start storing fat causing you to gain weight. By replacing your calories burned you will lose healthy weight. You must your butt in your workouts, might as well make it count. You have to replace the nourishment.
4. What counts as exercise?
Anything that gets your heart rate up above 115 for more than 30 minutes is a general rule of thumb. Wear a Heart Rate Monitor while exercising so you can monitor yourself in the fat burning zones.
5. Do shake weight/ab toner belts/ toning shoes work?
Seriously? If there was an easy way out don’t you think we all would be doing it. No belt, shoe, or shaker is going to get you super toned and fit. Honestly, these are the biggest waste of money.
6. What diet pill do you recommend?
Again, seriously if there was a quick fix that worked we, the USA, would not be the most obese nation. Pills are dangerous, can kill you, and DON”T WORK. Instead of spending $60 on pills that will give you liver problems or a heart mummer, spend that $60 on a personal trainer session, on a gym membership, on some exercise equipment (that isn’t a scam), or on books to create your own workouts.
7. Why can’t I just eat 800 or less calories?
Eating too few calories can be the start of a vicious cycle that causes diet distress. When you cut your calories so low that your metabolism slows and you stop losing weight, you probably will become frustrated that your efforts are not paying off. This can lead you to overeat and ultimately gain weight. Instead of opting for a fad diet or low calories, find a reasonable eating and exercise plan that allows you to lose one-half to two pounds per week. There is evidence that people who lose weight at this rate — by making better nutrition choices, eating smaller portion sizes, and exercising — also have the best chance of keeping it off. Make a plan to adopt new healthful habits that you will be able to stick to indefinitely, and always allow yourself a little wiggle room for special occasions.
8. When will I see results?
Everyone is different, everyone pushes themselves different, everyone loses diffrent, we are all different. YOu will not see results after one workout, you probably might not even see them after 12 workouts, but give a program 6-12 weeks to see results. But you have to contionious with teh workouts/program and really dedicate to the workouts and eating healhty. Remember: "There is no I can't, just I won't" when it comes to workign out and exercise. Try it once, atleast. Then try it again and again until you can do it.
9. I never have time to workout! How do I find time?
The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. ~Author Unknown
If you want it bad enough, you will find the time. Whether its getting up an hour earlier or not watching Glee (or while watching you exercise), you can find time. Everyone has 30 minutes to spare.
1. How many days I week should I workout?
Everyone is different starting out. You can not start working out 5-6 days a week and stay successful. Start with 2-3 times a week with cardio and strength training, then gradually add days to it. It takes a 5-6 day a week workout schedule to dramatically change your body image. Starting out gradually and building up will help prevent burn out on working out and injury.
2. How many calories a day should I eat?
There is a magical formula to do this! Calorie tracking programs like Myfitnesspal.com or even googling BMR calculators can give you are accurate amount of calories to aim for.
3. Should I replace the calories I burn in exercise?
YES!!!!!!!!! I feel like a broken record with this topic but YOU HAVE TO REPLACE THEM. Your body needs to NET a certain amount of calories, no less than 1200 (and the 1200is very low). For example, with my height, weight, age and level of activity I should eat 1405 calories a day to lose 1 pound a week and remain healthy and have a fully functioning body. The 1405 calories creates a 500 calorie deficit a day. If I exercise and burn 500 calories I get to eat 1905 calories for the day.
If you don’t replace exercise calories, yes you will lose weight. But you will lose muscle, liver function, brain function, immune system, and then your body will start storing fat causing you to gain weight. By replacing your calories burned you will lose healthy weight. You must your butt in your workouts, might as well make it count. You have to replace the nourishment.
4. What counts as exercise?
Anything that gets your heart rate up above 115 for more than 30 minutes is a general rule of thumb. Wear a Heart Rate Monitor while exercising so you can monitor yourself in the fat burning zones.
5. Do shake weight/ab toner belts/ toning shoes work?
Seriously? If there was an easy way out don’t you think we all would be doing it. No belt, shoe, or shaker is going to get you super toned and fit. Honestly, these are the biggest waste of money.
6. What diet pill do you recommend?
Again, seriously if there was a quick fix that worked we, the USA, would not be the most obese nation. Pills are dangerous, can kill you, and DON”T WORK. Instead of spending $60 on pills that will give you liver problems or a heart mummer, spend that $60 on a personal trainer session, on a gym membership, on some exercise equipment (that isn’t a scam), or on books to create your own workouts.
7. Why can’t I just eat 800 or less calories?
Eating too few calories can be the start of a vicious cycle that causes diet distress. When you cut your calories so low that your metabolism slows and you stop losing weight, you probably will become frustrated that your efforts are not paying off. This can lead you to overeat and ultimately gain weight. Instead of opting for a fad diet or low calories, find a reasonable eating and exercise plan that allows you to lose one-half to two pounds per week. There is evidence that people who lose weight at this rate — by making better nutrition choices, eating smaller portion sizes, and exercising — also have the best chance of keeping it off. Make a plan to adopt new healthful habits that you will be able to stick to indefinitely, and always allow yourself a little wiggle room for special occasions.
8. When will I see results?
Everyone is different, everyone pushes themselves different, everyone loses diffrent, we are all different. YOu will not see results after one workout, you probably might not even see them after 12 workouts, but give a program 6-12 weeks to see results. But you have to contionious with teh workouts/program and really dedicate to the workouts and eating healhty. Remember: "There is no I can't, just I won't" when it comes to workign out and exercise. Try it once, atleast. Then try it again and again until you can do it.
9. I never have time to workout! How do I find time?
The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. ~Author Unknown
If you want it bad enough, you will find the time. Whether its getting up an hour earlier or not watching Glee (or while watching you exercise), you can find time. Everyone has 30 minutes to spare.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Mistakes I KNOWYou are Making
"If you're on a fat loss diet, it's vital that you take some time to learn the most common mistakes that are often made by those on fat loss diets. Neglecting to take these into account could very well mean that you make the exact same mistakes and therefore fail to see the results that you're after.
Fortunately, with a few quick adjustments to your current diet plan, you can be sure that you get right back on track with where you need to be. "
Lack Of Protein
The first and biggest mistake people make is not getting in enough protein. Women, especailly, believe that protien makes them fat and gain wight. Infact protien does the exact opposite.
If you want to be successful with weight loss, you must take in enough protein. Protein is the nutrient that is going to help maintain your lean body mass and keep your metabolism humming right along.
The best protein sources to concentrate on are white fish, chicken breast, egg whites, as well as low-fat dairy products.
Too Few Calories
Second, another huge issue that many women face is too low of a calorie intake. There's no question about it, you definitely do need to take in a calorie reduced diet in order to see results with your plan. But that said, there's such a thing as too few calories.
If you aren't getting in enough calories on your weight loss diet, your body is going to take this as a signal that you may be starving and thus slow the entire system down. This means each and every day, hour by hour, you're burning up fewer calories.
Eventually this is going to cause your fat loss to plateau and you to become more frustrated than ever. If you want to have weight loss success, you want a low enough calorie intake that your body is using up body fat for fuel but not so low of an intake that the metabolism slows down. Most women should never go below 1200 calories per day, not only for metabolic purposes but also to ensure adequate nutrients are consumed.
Improper Meal Timing
Finally, the last thing you don't want to get wrong with your diet is your meal timing. Far too many women are in the habit of entirely skipping over their breakfast meal and then eating nothing but a light salad for lunch.
While you may think you're doing yourself a favor by 'saving' calories for later on in the day, all you're doing is causing you to feel sluggish and low on energy. Additionally, this will further tell your metabolism to slow itself down, meaning you burn fewer calories throughout the better portion of the day.
Then by the time the evening hits you're so low on fuel that you binge on whatever you can find, rapidly replacing all the calories you skipped earlier.
Spreading your meals out throughout the course of the day is a far better way to go about this so ensure that your diet is structured correctly.
Drinking your extra calories
While we do need to stay hydrated, the choices of what you hydrate will make all the difference. Drinking your calories in juices and other sweetened beverages can add up to about 250 calories each day. While many appear to be energy enhancing and vitamin rich, the truth is you just don’t need the extra calories from beverages.
Not Replacing Exercise Calories
This is so important to do.Your body needs to NET certain calories to maintain its daily functions. For example: For my height, weight, and activity level I am allotted 1450, thats with a 500 calorie deficit already factored in. If I burn 500 calories by exercising I get to eat 1950....See the math?? You have to eat more to lose more!
Your body reacts to fewer calories by slowing down your metabolism -- burning fewer calories each day just to maintain your body functions. If you don't add exercise along with the diet, you will lose lean muscle mass as well as fat and water weight. When you lose muscle, your metabolism is slowed even further and you would have to eat even fewer calories per day to continue to lose weight. It takes a conscious effort to increase exercise when on a diet.
If you don't exercise and then you fall off of the diet, the weight will come back on even faster, as your body is burning fewer calories per day. Even worse, the weight will come back on as fat rather than as the muscle you lost. Your body will look even less lean and healthy.
Ditching Dairy
Milk, cheese, and ice cream are taboo for many dieters, but ditching dairy foods may be counterproductive. Some research suggests the body burns more fat when it gets enough calcium and produces more fat when it’s calcium-deprived. Calcium supplements do not appear to yield the same benefits, so dairy may have other compounds at work as well. Most dietitians recommend sticking to nonfat or low-fat milk, cheese, and yogurt.
Losing Track of Your Snacks
Maybe you count calories meticulously at every meal, but what about all those nibbles in between? There’s the bag of pretzels at your desk, the little slice of cake at an office party, the taste of your son’s ice cream cone. All of this mindless munching adds up and could sabotage an otherwise well-planned diet. If you’re serious about counting calories, you may want to use a notebook to keep track of each bite
You are "dieting" not eating
Determined to lose 10 pounds fast, you turn to a crash diet. Perhaps your plan calls for nothing but grapefruit or cabbage soup each day. You slash your daily calories to fewer than 1,000 -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories more slowly -- and gains weight more quickly -- than ever before.
At first a diet can give you a sense of control. You are taking charge of your eating patterns. You may see success as the scale drops. But soon you are fighting cravings for forbidden foods, as well as hunger pangs and a lack of energy from the lower calorie level. Eventually you rebel against the diet and start "cheating." If your cheats are small you can still be losing weight, although more slowly. But soon you may go into full rebellion and return to your old eating habits.
Studies are finding dangers in the yo-yo diet cycle of losing weight, gaining it back plus a little more, losing, and gaining again. It is stressful on the body systems to have wide swings in body weight. We think each time that this time we won't gain it back, but the statistics show that most of us will.
Yo-Yo Dieting May Weaken Immune System.
Eat wholesome foods. Only shop in the prduce and meat section of the grocery store.
So there you have three key mistakes that many women are making in their diet plans. Are you making any of these critical errors?
http://www.muscleandfitnesstrainer.com/home/articles/diet-mistakes-you-might-be-making-as-
Fortunately, with a few quick adjustments to your current diet plan, you can be sure that you get right back on track with where you need to be. "
Lack Of Protein
The first and biggest mistake people make is not getting in enough protein. Women, especailly, believe that protien makes them fat and gain wight. Infact protien does the exact opposite.
If you want to be successful with weight loss, you must take in enough protein. Protein is the nutrient that is going to help maintain your lean body mass and keep your metabolism humming right along.
The best protein sources to concentrate on are white fish, chicken breast, egg whites, as well as low-fat dairy products.
Too Few Calories
Second, another huge issue that many women face is too low of a calorie intake. There's no question about it, you definitely do need to take in a calorie reduced diet in order to see results with your plan. But that said, there's such a thing as too few calories.
If you aren't getting in enough calories on your weight loss diet, your body is going to take this as a signal that you may be starving and thus slow the entire system down. This means each and every day, hour by hour, you're burning up fewer calories.
Eventually this is going to cause your fat loss to plateau and you to become more frustrated than ever. If you want to have weight loss success, you want a low enough calorie intake that your body is using up body fat for fuel but not so low of an intake that the metabolism slows down. Most women should never go below 1200 calories per day, not only for metabolic purposes but also to ensure adequate nutrients are consumed.
Improper Meal Timing
Finally, the last thing you don't want to get wrong with your diet is your meal timing. Far too many women are in the habit of entirely skipping over their breakfast meal and then eating nothing but a light salad for lunch.
While you may think you're doing yourself a favor by 'saving' calories for later on in the day, all you're doing is causing you to feel sluggish and low on energy. Additionally, this will further tell your metabolism to slow itself down, meaning you burn fewer calories throughout the better portion of the day.
Then by the time the evening hits you're so low on fuel that you binge on whatever you can find, rapidly replacing all the calories you skipped earlier.
Spreading your meals out throughout the course of the day is a far better way to go about this so ensure that your diet is structured correctly.
Drinking your extra calories
While we do need to stay hydrated, the choices of what you hydrate will make all the difference. Drinking your calories in juices and other sweetened beverages can add up to about 250 calories each day. While many appear to be energy enhancing and vitamin rich, the truth is you just don’t need the extra calories from beverages.
Not Replacing Exercise Calories
This is so important to do.Your body needs to NET certain calories to maintain its daily functions. For example: For my height, weight, and activity level I am allotted 1450, thats with a 500 calorie deficit already factored in. If I burn 500 calories by exercising I get to eat 1950....See the math?? You have to eat more to lose more!
Your body reacts to fewer calories by slowing down your metabolism -- burning fewer calories each day just to maintain your body functions. If you don't add exercise along with the diet, you will lose lean muscle mass as well as fat and water weight. When you lose muscle, your metabolism is slowed even further and you would have to eat even fewer calories per day to continue to lose weight. It takes a conscious effort to increase exercise when on a diet.
If you don't exercise and then you fall off of the diet, the weight will come back on even faster, as your body is burning fewer calories per day. Even worse, the weight will come back on as fat rather than as the muscle you lost. Your body will look even less lean and healthy.
Ditching Dairy
Milk, cheese, and ice cream are taboo for many dieters, but ditching dairy foods may be counterproductive. Some research suggests the body burns more fat when it gets enough calcium and produces more fat when it’s calcium-deprived. Calcium supplements do not appear to yield the same benefits, so dairy may have other compounds at work as well. Most dietitians recommend sticking to nonfat or low-fat milk, cheese, and yogurt.
Losing Track of Your Snacks
Maybe you count calories meticulously at every meal, but what about all those nibbles in between? There’s the bag of pretzels at your desk, the little slice of cake at an office party, the taste of your son’s ice cream cone. All of this mindless munching adds up and could sabotage an otherwise well-planned diet. If you’re serious about counting calories, you may want to use a notebook to keep track of each bite
You are "dieting" not eating
Determined to lose 10 pounds fast, you turn to a crash diet. Perhaps your plan calls for nothing but grapefruit or cabbage soup each day. You slash your daily calories to fewer than 1,000 -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories more slowly -- and gains weight more quickly -- than ever before.
At first a diet can give you a sense of control. You are taking charge of your eating patterns. You may see success as the scale drops. But soon you are fighting cravings for forbidden foods, as well as hunger pangs and a lack of energy from the lower calorie level. Eventually you rebel against the diet and start "cheating." If your cheats are small you can still be losing weight, although more slowly. But soon you may go into full rebellion and return to your old eating habits.
Studies are finding dangers in the yo-yo diet cycle of losing weight, gaining it back plus a little more, losing, and gaining again. It is stressful on the body systems to have wide swings in body weight. We think each time that this time we won't gain it back, but the statistics show that most of us will.
Yo-Yo Dieting May Weaken Immune System.
Eat wholesome foods. Only shop in the prduce and meat section of the grocery store.
So there you have three key mistakes that many women are making in their diet plans. Are you making any of these critical errors?
http://www.muscleandfitnesstrainer.com/home/articles/diet-mistakes-you-might-be-making-as-
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Whats for Dinner?? Thai- Dyed Turkey Burger
Thai- Dyed Turkey Burger
These burgers get their zest from garlic, ginger, and cilantro pastes. Look for these flavorin- a-flash pastes in the produce section of the supermarket, or make your own with a food processor. SOme of you many have noticed, I LOVE BURGERS!!!!
Ingredients
Serves: Prep: 8min |Cook: 12min |Total: 20min
NOTE: Ingredients for a changed serving size are based on a calculation and are not reviewed by the author or tested. Please also consider scaling up or down cooking containers as needed.
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
3 scallions, thinly sliced
4 mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped carrot
1 tablespoon garlic paste
1 tablespoon ginger paste
2 tablespoons cilantro paste
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
6 ciabatta rolls, split
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup thai satay sauce
6 tomato slices
1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded
Directions
1. PREHEAT the grill. Stir together the turkey, scallions, mushrooms, carrot, pastes, soy sauce, pepper, and salt. Shape into 6 burgers. 2. GRILL the burgers for 10 to 12 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink. Brush the rolls with the oil and place on the grill 1 minute before the burgers are done. Divide the rolls among 6 plates. Spread 1 tablespoon satay sauce on each roll. Top each with a burger, tomato slice, and cabbage. Nutritional Facts per serving CALORIES 325.1 CAL
FAT 13.9 G
SATURATED FAT 3.8 G
CHOLESTEROL 74.7 MG
SODIUM 947.4 MG
CARBOHYDRATES 26.7 G
TOTAL SUGARS 4.7 G
DIETARY FIBER 2.8 G
PROTEIN
These burgers get their zest from garlic, ginger, and cilantro pastes. Look for these flavorin- a-flash pastes in the produce section of the supermarket, or make your own with a food processor. SOme of you many have noticed, I LOVE BURGERS!!!!
Ingredients
Serves: Prep: 8min |Cook: 12min |Total: 20min
NOTE: Ingredients for a changed serving size are based on a calculation and are not reviewed by the author or tested. Please also consider scaling up or down cooking containers as needed.
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
3 scallions, thinly sliced
4 mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped carrot
1 tablespoon garlic paste
1 tablespoon ginger paste
2 tablespoons cilantro paste
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
6 ciabatta rolls, split
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup thai satay sauce
6 tomato slices
1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded
Directions
1. PREHEAT the grill. Stir together the turkey, scallions, mushrooms, carrot, pastes, soy sauce, pepper, and salt. Shape into 6 burgers. 2. GRILL the burgers for 10 to 12 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink. Brush the rolls with the oil and place on the grill 1 minute before the burgers are done. Divide the rolls among 6 plates. Spread 1 tablespoon satay sauce on each roll. Top each with a burger, tomato slice, and cabbage. Nutritional Facts per serving CALORIES 325.1 CAL
FAT 13.9 G
SATURATED FAT 3.8 G
CHOLESTEROL 74.7 MG
SODIUM 947.4 MG
CARBOHYDRATES 26.7 G
TOTAL SUGARS 4.7 G
DIETARY FIBER 2.8 G
PROTEIN
Monday, May 16, 2011
HCG, the worlds DUMBEST DIET SCAMS EVER
[2-
].
So why is everybody jumping on the HCG bandwagon? Because everybody wants a quick fix. The diet promises 40 pounds of weight loss in six weeks. People will do anything to feel more beautiful, more valuable, more desired, more socially acceptable.
Don’t be tempted, my friends. The HCG diet is unsafe, it doesn’t work, and it’s little more than beautifully packaged snake oil. So do your body and your pocketbook a favor and steer clear.
Instead, if you need to lose weight to be healthy, do it the good old fashioned way that really works. I know everyone wants a quick fix, but real, sustainable weight loss comes from eating less, focus more on wholesome foods, and EXERCISE.
What is HCG?
Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) is a hormone found in the urine of pregnant women. More than 50 years ago, Dr. Albert T. Simeons, a British-born physician, contended that HCG injections would enable dieters to subsist comfortably on a 500-calorie-a-day diet. He claimed that HCG would mobilize stored fat; suppress appetite; and redistribute fat from the waist, hips, and thighs . There is no scientific evidence to support these claims.Moreover, a 500-calorie (semi-starvation) diet is likely to result in loss of protein from vital organs, and HCG can cause other adverse effects. Gabe Mirkin, M.D., has noted.
Keep in mind that HCG is a hormone most commonly used in fertility treatments and to aid adolescents with endocrine problems during puberty. It is not — and never had been — a weight loss drug.
Dr. Simeon did a study to “prove” his claims, but no other researchers were ever able to reproduce his work. After the HCG diet was discredited by the scientific community, the diet mostly disappeared until 2007, when infomercial king Kevin Trudeau began promoting it as the secret diet your doctor isn’t telling you about. And suddenly, products appeared all over the internet and doctors at integrative and alternative medicine centers started jumping on the bandwagon, causing the diet to experience an unfortunate resurgence. Variations of the diet exist, but most require daily HCG injections, drops, or sublingual dosing, and costs can run you up to $1500/month (padding the pockets of many a doc). The pregnancy hormone is combined with a highly restricted, low calorie diet of 500 calories/day.
The pregnancy hormone tricks the body into believing that you’re pregnant, and because you’re starving the body, it starts eating away at fat — and you get no hunger pangs! Sounds good, right? To bad it eats away muscle first!
The only reason why anyone loses weight off this diet is because they’re eating 500 calories a day. While calorie intakes are different from person to person, most nutrition information at the grocery store is based off a 2,000-calorie diet. For healthy weight loss, a daily intake of 1,200 to 1,800 calories is generally acceptable. While calorie intakes are different from person to person, most nutrition information at the grocery store is based off a 2,000-calorie diet. For healthy weight loss, a daily intake of 1,200 to 1,800 calories is generally acceptable. When a body is subsiding off 500 calories a day, the body leeches protein from the muscle in the heart, and that makes the heart muscle irritable, which can lead to ventricular tachycardia and sudden cardiac death.
Being a fitness trainer, I can’t beileve I’m writing an article about a 500 calorie diet. If you’re a teenager or an adult, 500 calories for anyone is way too little. If you heard from a friend or anyone who suggested that you consume 500 calories a day to lose fat, then you have been provided with bad advice. Sure, at first you will lose weight which is obviously the goal, however your health will deteriorate and you will also lose a lot of muscle which is a bad thing.
A 500 calorie diet deprives the body from not only the much needed nutrients, but also from sufficient energy it needs to operate. Your body alone burns approximately 900 to 2000 calories on it’s own. Take that number and add on the calories required for your daily activities and you will find it is generally above 1,200 calories. The bare minimum is 1,200 to 1,300 calories a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle but also lose fat.
If you chose to only consume 500 calories a day, you would notice a few changes. You would feel completely without energy during much of the day, your body will feel depleted and sluggish. You will also notice weight loss which is exciting, but you will also notice strength loss from the loss of muscle tissue. When you realize a 500 calorie diet is unhealthy and decide to quit, you will gain all the weight back plus MORE. Why? Because the loss of muscle tissue creates way for more fat gain. In order to build that muscle back up, you will have to perform resistance training with either freeweights or machines.
wedmd
So why is everybody jumping on the HCG bandwagon? Because everybody wants a quick fix. The diet promises 40 pounds of weight loss in six weeks. People will do anything to feel more beautiful, more valuable, more desired, more socially acceptable.
Don’t be tempted, my friends. The HCG diet is unsafe, it doesn’t work, and it’s little more than beautifully packaged snake oil. So do your body and your pocketbook a favor and steer clear.
Instead, if you need to lose weight to be healthy, do it the good old fashioned way that really works. I know everyone wants a quick fix, but real, sustainable weight loss comes from eating less, focus more on wholesome foods, and EXERCISE.
What is HCG?
Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) is a hormone found in the urine of pregnant women. More than 50 years ago, Dr. Albert T. Simeons, a British-born physician, contended that HCG injections would enable dieters to subsist comfortably on a 500-calorie-a-day diet. He claimed that HCG would mobilize stored fat; suppress appetite; and redistribute fat from the waist, hips, and thighs . There is no scientific evidence to support these claims.Moreover, a 500-calorie (semi-starvation) diet is likely to result in loss of protein from vital organs, and HCG can cause other adverse effects. Gabe Mirkin, M.D., has noted.
Keep in mind that HCG is a hormone most commonly used in fertility treatments and to aid adolescents with endocrine problems during puberty. It is not — and never had been — a weight loss drug.
Dr. Simeon did a study to “prove” his claims, but no other researchers were ever able to reproduce his work. After the HCG diet was discredited by the scientific community, the diet mostly disappeared until 2007, when infomercial king Kevin Trudeau began promoting it as the secret diet your doctor isn’t telling you about. And suddenly, products appeared all over the internet and doctors at integrative and alternative medicine centers started jumping on the bandwagon, causing the diet to experience an unfortunate resurgence. Variations of the diet exist, but most require daily HCG injections, drops, or sublingual dosing, and costs can run you up to $1500/month (padding the pockets of many a doc). The pregnancy hormone is combined with a highly restricted, low calorie diet of 500 calories/day.
The pregnancy hormone tricks the body into believing that you’re pregnant, and because you’re starving the body, it starts eating away at fat — and you get no hunger pangs! Sounds good, right? To bad it eats away muscle first!
The only reason why anyone loses weight off this diet is because they’re eating 500 calories a day. While calorie intakes are different from person to person, most nutrition information at the grocery store is based off a 2,000-calorie diet. For healthy weight loss, a daily intake of 1,200 to 1,800 calories is generally acceptable. While calorie intakes are different from person to person, most nutrition information at the grocery store is based off a 2,000-calorie diet. For healthy weight loss, a daily intake of 1,200 to 1,800 calories is generally acceptable. When a body is subsiding off 500 calories a day, the body leeches protein from the muscle in the heart, and that makes the heart muscle irritable, which can lead to ventricular tachycardia and sudden cardiac death.
Being a fitness trainer, I can’t beileve I’m writing an article about a 500 calorie diet. If you’re a teenager or an adult, 500 calories for anyone is way too little. If you heard from a friend or anyone who suggested that you consume 500 calories a day to lose fat, then you have been provided with bad advice. Sure, at first you will lose weight which is obviously the goal, however your health will deteriorate and you will also lose a lot of muscle which is a bad thing.
A 500 calorie diet deprives the body from not only the much needed nutrients, but also from sufficient energy it needs to operate. Your body alone burns approximately 900 to 2000 calories on it’s own. Take that number and add on the calories required for your daily activities and you will find it is generally above 1,200 calories. The bare minimum is 1,200 to 1,300 calories a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle but also lose fat.
If you chose to only consume 500 calories a day, you would notice a few changes. You would feel completely without energy during much of the day, your body will feel depleted and sluggish. You will also notice weight loss which is exciting, but you will also notice strength loss from the loss of muscle tissue. When you realize a 500 calorie diet is unhealthy and decide to quit, you will gain all the weight back plus MORE. Why? Because the loss of muscle tissue creates way for more fat gain. In order to build that muscle back up, you will have to perform resistance training with either freeweights or machines.
wedmd
Friday, May 13, 2011
Free WORKOUT! 20 Minutes of INERVAL TRAINING GUT BUSTING CARDIO
Set an Interval Timer for 18 rounds and intervals of 10 seconds (rest interval) and 30 seconds (work interval). The key ot this workou tis to really push your self to do as many as possible. Since it is a short workout you need to push to do the max!
• 10 seconds rest
• High Knees
• 10 seconds rest
• Push Up w/ mountain climber
• 10 seconds rest
• High Knees
• 10 seconds rest
• Squat, then side kick
• 10 seconds rest
• High Knees
• 10 seconds rest
• Crunches on Balance Ball
• (you will repeat this sequence 3 times)
• 10 seconds rest
• High Knees
• 10 seconds rest
• Push Up w/ mountain climber
• 10 seconds rest
• High Knees
• 10 seconds rest
• Squat, then side kick
• 10 seconds rest
• High Knees
• 10 seconds rest
• Crunches on Balance Ball
• (you will repeat this sequence 3 times)
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Workout for the Week: Quickie Cardio
Repeat this 3-4 times with a 1 minute rest; Do each move as fast as you can.
50 Step Ups with punches - use a chair, ottoman,staircase, something to stand on (picture #1), when you come up do one punch each arm.
15 Push up burpies (picture #2) - preform a pushup,to the best of your ability, and full burpie up
30 (15 each side) Crab Toe Touches- Get in the crab postion and touch the opposite hand to teh opposite toe. Repeat.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Pills to Make You Skinny!!- GET REAL!
So lately it has been driving me nuts about how many people want to take a pill to be skinny. Seriously, if there was a pill that made you skinny without having to exercise and eat right obesity would cease to exist. Don’t you think if doctors and the FDA had a pill that did this, they would prescribe it! People are to obsessed with a quick fix that has temporary results, if any results. I see people posting and asking “what about ______ pills?” or “ What diet pill do you recommend?”. PEOPLE STOP! Get your @ss in a gym, join a class, start a walking club, buy some DVD’s, hire a personal trainer, do something aside from trying to take a pill. The $60 you are going to pay for a bottle of pills can buy a lot of DVD’s and months at a gym.
"Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!"
"Block the absorption of fat, carbs, and calories with this pill!"
"Wear this and watch the pounds melt away."
Whether you're flipping through a magazine, scanning the aisles of a health store, or watching late-night television, you're bound to see slogans like these touting the latest and greatest product designed to help YOU lose weight.
But chances are the only thing you'll lose by purchasing the latest "miracle diet product" is money. Diet scams are big business with sellers vying for their share of the nearly $35 billion that Americans spend each year on weight loss products and programs.
There have always been quack weight loss schemes out there because nobody ever believes that you can't lose weight faster than you gained it," says registered dietician Althea Zanecosky.
"It maybe took two years for them to gain those 15 pounds, but they want to lose it in two weeks."
A more realistic timetable for lasting weight loss is to lose about a pound or two a week, says Zanecosky.
Experts say relying on pills, patches, creams, and other gadgets to lose weight keeps millions of people from seeking weight loss programs that could really help them lose weight and reduce their risk of disease. The sale of diet pills continue to be on the rise in North America. Many people are lead to believe that they are a safe and effective way to lose weight. Most diet pills on the market are not safe, can cause serious side effects and have resulted in death. Popular diet pills such as Acutrim and Dexatrim contain a combination of phenylpropanolamine and caffeine. Phenylpropanolamine is a stimulant and effects the central nervous system. It can produce symptoms such as increased heart rate, dizziness, high blood pressure, nausea, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, dry mouth and diarrhea.
The biggy’s in the diet scam industry right now:
1. Metabolism-boosting/calorie-burning pills
At the top of the list of diet scams are pills based on herbal ingredients that promise to boost your metabolism and help you burn calories or fat faster.
“New herbs always seem to percolate to the top as potential diet aids, as one leaves another shows up because the FDA doesn’t monitor herbs,” says Zanecosky. “Most of time they are just ineffective; once in a while they are dangerous.”
Two recent examples of herbal diet pills that caught the attention of the FDA as dangerous are ephedra and kava (Piper methysticum, also known as kava kava).
Until recently, ephedra was found in many herbal dietary supplements for weight loss, but in February 2004, the FDA banned the sale of ephedra in any dietary supplement in the U.S. due to the risk of illness or injury. The herb is a close chemical cousin of methamphetamine or speed and can cause high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, insomnia, nervousness, tremors, seizures, heart attacks, strokes, and even death.
Kava is a plant found in the islands of the South Pacific. Supplements containing the herbal ingredient are often promoted for relaxation as well as weight loss. But the FDA issued a warning in 2002 that use of supplements containing kava has been linked to severe liver injury.
2. Fat- and carb-blocking pills
Pills that claim to block your body’s absorption of fat and more recently carbohydrates are also commonly-sold diet scams.
Even if these fat and carb blockers worked as they say they do, researchers say the effects can be dangerous if not just plain unpleasant.
It’s like making someone lactose intolerant, says Zanecosky. By making the body unable to breakdown nutrients in the body, which leads to gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea, bloating, and gas, these pills also block the absorption of the vitamins that travel with these nutrients.
“Why would someone purposely submit themselves to that?” says Zanecosky. “Some fat blockers might have something in them that can interfere with how people absorb fat, but they’ve never been shown to help with substantial weight loss.”
3. Weight loss teas
Teas based on herbal ingredients are also touted as diet aids, but researchers say the main ingredient in many of these teas is caffeine, which is a diuretic and leads to water loss.
“Losing water isn’t losing weight,” says Zanecosky. “Caffeine can also increase metabolic rate by a small amount but not enough that you would be able to say that it contributed to weight loss.”
Registered dietitian Nelda Mercer agrees and says the only potential weight loss benefit of drinking herbal teas might be using them as a substitute for high-calorie beverages.
Mercer says that with some diet teas, it’s the program the comes along with the teas that may sometimes promote weight loss, such as teas that recommend you drink it after dinner and then not eat anything else until morning. That way it could curb late-night eating, but it’s not necessarily a result of drinking the tea itself.
4. Diet patches and jewelry
Patches that deliver drugs though the skin have become popular for helping smokers quit and delivering estrogen to relieve menopausal symptoms.
But experts say no effective weight loss drugs have been designed to be delivered through the skin via patches. Most of the time, these patches contain the same ineffective herbs found in dietary supplements or teas.
Also included in this diet scam category is jewelry, such as earrings or bracelets, designed to be worn on the body with the promise to help people shed pounds. According to the FTC, any claim that people can lose even a pound or more a week using these devices is false.
5. Body wraps or “slim suits”
If there were an “oldie but goodie” diet scam prize winner, experts say it would likely go to body wraps.
The thick, layered sweat suits once popular decades ago have morphed into silver “slim suits” and fat-melting body wraps designed to lock body heat in and melt away the pounds.
But researchers say the only type of weight loss caused by wearing these outfits is water loss caused by excessive sweating. As soon as you take a drink, you’ll gain all that water weight back.
6. HCG- Tune in next week for why this is the biggest scam of all! This one ruffles my feathers the most so I will have an ENTIRE post about it!
How to Spot a Diet Scam
Experts say the only way to lose weight for the long haul is to burn more calories than you eat, and that process is slow. That means any diet products or program that promises “quick and easy” weight loss without any effort or sacrifice is bound to be bogus.
But if that’s not enough to raise your suspicions, here are some frequently used buzz words to watch for, according to the FTC:
No Diet! No Exercise!Lose 30 Pounds in 30 DaysEat Your Favorite Foods and Still Lose WeightShrinks Inches Off Your Stomach, Waist, and HipsScientists Announce Incredible Discovery!Revolutionary European Method! Ancient Chinese Secret!Turn On Your Body's Fat-Burning ProcessAutomatically Convert Fat to Lean Trim Muscle!Absorbs FatDeveloped After Years of Secret ResearchNew Scientific/Medical Breakthrough
Not only do diet scam pitchmen tend to use the same words in their advertising, the FTC says they also employ some of the same sales techniques, such as:
—Extravagant claims of dramatic, rapid weight loss.
—Testimonials from "famous" doctors, researchers, or other medical experts.
—Dramatic before-and-after photos depicting substantial weight loss.
—Ads that tout the latest trendy ingredient in the headlines.
—A footnote hidden somewhere in an ad noting "diet and exercise required."
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Rueben Made Betta
Rueben Made Betta is one of my favorite lunches!
Ingredients
1/4 cup canned Sauerkraut double rinsed and drained well
1 Tbs Crumbled Feta Cheese
1 tbs Low Fat Thousand Dressing Kraft Light
2 Slices Jewish Rye Bread Oroweat
2 Slices Hormel Deli Turkey
1 Slice Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese
Directions
Mix the Sauerkraut, Feta and Dressing in a small bowl,
Spread on 1 bread slice. Top with Turkey, Cheese and the remaining bread slice.
Coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat until hot. add the sandwich and grill for 2-3 minutes per side until the cheese has melted.
Per Serving:
335 Calories, 23 g Protein, 42 g Carbohydrates, 9 g Fat (3 saturated), 1,625 mg Sodium, 5 g Fiber
Serving Size: Makes one sandwich serving
Number of Servings: 1
Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 347.4
Total Fat: 8.4 g
Cholesterol: 34.8 mg
Sodium: 1,224.7 mg
Total Carbs: 53.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.9 g
Protein: 16.6 g
Ingredients
1/4 cup canned Sauerkraut double rinsed and drained well
1 Tbs Crumbled Feta Cheese
1 tbs Low Fat Thousand Dressing Kraft Light
2 Slices Jewish Rye Bread Oroweat
2 Slices Hormel Deli Turkey
1 Slice Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese
Directions
Mix the Sauerkraut, Feta and Dressing in a small bowl,
Spread on 1 bread slice. Top with Turkey, Cheese and the remaining bread slice.
Coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat until hot. add the sandwich and grill for 2-3 minutes per side until the cheese has melted.
Per Serving:
335 Calories, 23 g Protein, 42 g Carbohydrates, 9 g Fat (3 saturated), 1,625 mg Sodium, 5 g Fiber
Serving Size: Makes one sandwich serving
Number of Servings: 1
Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 1
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 347.4
Total Fat: 8.4 g
Cholesterol: 34.8 mg
Sodium: 1,224.7 mg
Total Carbs: 53.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.9 g
Protein: 16.6 g
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
What/How do I eat??
Alot of people have been asking to see an example of my food journals! So here is a cut and paste from myfitnesspal.com, if you go to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/erinhale you can see my food journals also. I reccomend to everyone trying to lose wieght and those wanting to gain control of their eating to join myfitnesspal.com! You can add me as a friend, erinhale, and I will check your food journals!
Breakfast
Gnc - Women's Ultra Mega Active Vitamins, 2 caplets
Gnc Wellbeing Be-Hot - Vita-Pack, 1 pack
Breakfast wrap, 1 serving
Lunch:
Fresh Express - Triple Hearts Crunchy Romaine, Tender Greenleaf, Sweet Butter (Lettuce)
Vegetable - Cherry Tomatoes, 3 cherry tomato
Greek Dressing - Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar,
Organic Red Onion
Dinner
Generic - Salmon Grilled 4 oz, 4 ounces 140 0 4 23
Green Giant - Green Giant Green Beans, 1 Cup 20 4 0 1
Snacks
Met-Rx - Big 100 Colossal Super Cookie Crunch Bar, 1 Bar (100g)
Glaceau Vitamin Water Zero - Rhythm,
Nabisco - Oreo Sandwich Cookie Double Stuff,
Quick Added Calories, 420 calories
Great Value Ics - Whole Milk, 1 cup
I earned 707 extra calories by working out!
*You've earned 707 extra calories from exercise today
Breakfast
Gnc - Women's Ultra Mega Active Vitamins, 2 caplets
Gnc Wellbeing Be-Hot - Vita-Pack, 1 pack
Breakfast wrap, 1 serving
Lunch:
Fresh Express - Triple Hearts Crunchy Romaine, Tender Greenleaf, Sweet Butter (Lettuce)
Vegetable - Cherry Tomatoes, 3 cherry tomato
Greek Dressing - Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar,
Organic Red Onion
Dinner
Generic - Salmon Grilled 4 oz, 4 ounces 140 0 4 23
Green Giant - Green Giant Green Beans, 1 Cup 20 4 0 1
Snacks
Met-Rx - Big 100 Colossal Super Cookie Crunch Bar, 1 Bar (100g)
Glaceau Vitamin Water Zero - Rhythm,
Nabisco - Oreo Sandwich Cookie Double Stuff,
Quick Added Calories, 420 calories
Great Value Ics - Whole Milk, 1 cup
I earned 707 extra calories by working out!
*You've earned 707 extra calories from exercise today
What counts as exercise??
So lately myfitnesspal.com users are making me mad. I see women put in all teh time "carrying around 10-15 pound baby" 20 minutes, or "sex". I saw someone out 700 calories burned during sex. unless you are doing some crazy trantic karma sutra sex, you only burned about 50 calories every 30 monites! These are not calories you really need to be replacing. So I put this list together to help you very confused people on what exercise REALLY is.
Walking
Does It Count? IT DEPENDS
A leisurely stop-and-shop visit to the mall won’t get your heart rate up to the cardio zone and keep it there. What does? A walk at a peppy pace of at least three miles per hour done in chunks of 10 minutes or more. Still, adding up steps at any speed is smart since studies show that those who take more of them are healthier. In one recent study, participants who increased their daily step count over five years not only lowered their body mass index (or BMI, a scale body weight), they lowered their risk of diabetes. Researchers estimate that going from 3,000 to 10,000 steps a day would improve a person’s insulin sensitivity threefold. MORE: What's Your BMI? Calculate it, fast!
Cleaning the House
Does It Count? YES
There's a reason they call it housework, honey. You can burn serious calories and work major muscle groups during a marathon cleaning session mopping floors for 30 minutes burns 112 calories and works your shoulders and biceps. Chores that don’t get your heart pumping? Folding laundry, ironing and washing the dishes. MORE: Dance away dirt with this Ultimate Spring-Cleaning Playlist
Walking Your Dog
Does It Count? YES
You have to walk your dog anyway, so bump up the workout with this little game: When you're in your yard or a fenced-in park, get a head start on your dog so it's chasing you. Then change direction so it races for you again. Try walking for three minutes and then sprinting for 30 seconds. Chase your pup fives times every doggy outing, and you'll burn 98 calories per 20-minute stroll.
Taking the Stairs
Does It Count? YES
Think of climbing a flight of stairs as a series of butt-firming, leg-toning lunges that counts as anaerobic exercise. (Spread it over 30-minutes on the StairMaster and now we’re talking cardio.) To get the best fitness benefits, it’s best to take them two at a time, according to a study at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. “You use bigger muscle groups when you skip a step,” lead author Jinger Gottschall, Ph.D., says. “Since these muscles require more energy to be active, you end up burning more calories.”
Carrying Your Baby or Pushing a Stroller
Does It Count? IT DEPENDS
New moms likely rack up a couple dozen biceps curls each day by scooping up junior and a prolonged arm muscle contraction by cradling him—but cardio exercise it’s not. A better bet: Pushing the stroller at a 3-mile-per-hour pace or playing tag with your toddler.
Gardening
Does It Count? YES
Between all the up-and-down moves, lugging materials from the shed, winding up a hose after watering the lawn, and much more, 60 minutes of gardening can burn more than 250 calories all while working your arms and backs of your legs.
Playing Wii Games
Does It Count? IT DEPENDS
You won’t work up a sweat if your video game of choice is Guitar Hero, but a study by the American Council on Exercise found that others like Wii Fit’s Island Run and Free Run burn about 5.5 calories per minute. Still, say the study authors, it’s a “very, very mild workout” so opting for a Wii Sports title may be more of the jumping around you need to turn up the burn.
You can make physical activity a regular part of your life by deciding what to do and making a realistic plan. Check out your choices below.
Aerobic exercise
Aerobic exercise increases your heart rate, works your muscles, and raises your breathing rate. For most people, it’s best to aim for a total of about 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week. If you haven’t been very active recently, you can start out with 5 or 10 minutes a day and work up to more time each week. Or split up your activity for the day – try a brisk 10-minute walk after each meal. If you’re trying to lose weight, you my want to exercise more than 30 minutes a day.
Here are some examples of aerobic exercise. Check off the ones you’d like to try.
•Take a brisk walk (outside or inside on a treadmill).
•Dance.
•Take a low-impact aerobics class.
•Swim or do water-aerobics.
•Ride your bike outside.
•Use a stationary bike inside.
•Go ice-skating.
•Go roller-skating.
•Play tennis.
•Do a workout DVD, go tot eh gym and run on a treadmill, get a personal trainer, GET MOVING
Strength training
Strength training, done 2 to 3 times a week, helps build strong bones and muscles. It makes everyday chores like carrying groceries easier. Strength training can also help prevent weight gain. Here are some ways to do it.
•Lift weights at home.
•Join a class to do strength training with weights, elastic bands, or plastic tubes.
• Do a wieght trainign DVD, google quick workouts, get a DIY plan for you that incorperates both cardio and weights.
Flexibility exercises
Flexibility exercises, also called stretching, help keep your joints flexible. Gentle stretching for 5 to 10 minutes makes aerobic activities such as walking more comfortable.
•Take an aerobics or fitness class that includes stretching.
•Join a yoga class.
• take 10 minutes a day to get stretch
Be active throughout the day
Look for opportunities throughout your day to be active. Being active burns calories.
•Walk instead of drive whenever you can.
•Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
•Work in the garden.
•Do some housecleaning or other chores.
•Park at the far end of the shopping center parking lot.
•Walk down every aisle of the grocery store.
•Walk in place or stretch while you watch TV.
•Walk around the house or up and down stairs while you talk on the phone.
Making my plan for physical activity
Choose the activities you’d like to do for each type of physical activity. If you have health problems, talk with your health care team to make sure your choices are safe for you. Then make a detailed plan.
Don't replace your calories unless you heart rate is in the "areobic zone" for 30 minutes or more.
WomensHEalth/WEBMD/Fitness MAg
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Whats for dinner?? Cranberry Chops and Roasted Vegetable Risotto
Cranberry Chops
Ingredients
• 1 1/4 lb thin boneless pork chops
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried sage (optional)
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 C white wine
• 1/2 C water
• 1 C cranberries, chopped
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp grainy mustard
Directions
1. Sprinkle pork with salt and sage. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in nonstick frying pan over high heat and brown pork, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Remove and lower heat to medium-low. Cook garlic 1 minute. Add wine and scrape up brown bits. Stir in water, cranberries, honey, and mustard and simmer until thickened, about 7 minutes. Spoon over pork.
Roasted Vegetable Risotto
Ingredients
• 1 cup 1/2" cubes peeled, seeded butternut squash
• 1 cup diced cremini mushrooms
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 4 garlic cloves (2 crushed, 2 minced)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups arborio rice (a short-grain variety)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, toss the squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, and crushed garlic with 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake until golden, 5 to 10 minutes.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a 4-to 6-quart pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the butter on medium. Add the onion and minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until the onion softens, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
3. Add a ladleful of broth to the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until absorbed. Add more broth, a ladleful at a time, making sure it's absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Cook the risotto until the rice is al dente, about 15 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat, stir in the vegetables, Parmesan, and basil. Adjust the seasoning and top with more Parmesan.
Recipe Tips
One-Pot Principle: Customize a basic recipe for the season
Ingredients
• 1 1/4 lb thin boneless pork chops
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried sage (optional)
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 C white wine
• 1/2 C water
• 1 C cranberries, chopped
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp grainy mustard
Directions
1. Sprinkle pork with salt and sage. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in nonstick frying pan over high heat and brown pork, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Remove and lower heat to medium-low. Cook garlic 1 minute. Add wine and scrape up brown bits. Stir in water, cranberries, honey, and mustard and simmer until thickened, about 7 minutes. Spoon over pork.
Roasted Vegetable Risotto
Ingredients
• 1 cup 1/2" cubes peeled, seeded butternut squash
• 1 cup diced cremini mushrooms
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 4 garlic cloves (2 crushed, 2 minced)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups arborio rice (a short-grain variety)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, toss the squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, and crushed garlic with 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake until golden, 5 to 10 minutes.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a 4-to 6-quart pot, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the butter on medium. Add the onion and minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until the onion softens, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
3. Add a ladleful of broth to the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until absorbed. Add more broth, a ladleful at a time, making sure it's absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Cook the risotto until the rice is al dente, about 15 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat, stir in the vegetables, Parmesan, and basil. Adjust the seasoning and top with more Parmesan.
Recipe Tips
One-Pot Principle: Customize a basic recipe for the season
Monday, May 2, 2011
Whats for Dinner?? CRISPY TROUT AMANDINE and apple and endive salad
CRISPY TROUT AMANDINE
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
1 trout fillet, about 6 oz
1 Tbsp cornmeal
1/2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1 cup green beans, trimmed
2 tsp sliced almonds
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. While the pan is heating, sprinkle the flesh side of the trout with salt, pepper, and cornmeal, pressing lightly so the corn- meal sticks.
2. Place in the pan, flesh side down, and sauté for 4 minutes. Flip it and cook for another 2 minutes. Top with the parsley.
3. Place the beans in a steamer basket and steam for 5 minutes. Toss them with the remaining oil, the almonds, and the salt and pepper. Makes 1 serving
Simple side: apple and endive salad
• 1 head endive
• 1 small green apple
• 1 tbsp diced walnuts
• 1 tbsp low fat balsamic vinaigrette
Directions
1. Peel off the outer leaves of the endive (think of it as a single serving of lettuce) and chop into bite size pieces. Core the apple, then chop it into bite size pieces. Toss well, then top with the nuts and dressing.
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
1 trout fillet, about 6 oz
1 Tbsp cornmeal
1/2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1 cup green beans, trimmed
2 tsp sliced almonds
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. While the pan is heating, sprinkle the flesh side of the trout with salt, pepper, and cornmeal, pressing lightly so the corn- meal sticks.
2. Place in the pan, flesh side down, and sauté for 4 minutes. Flip it and cook for another 2 minutes. Top with the parsley.
3. Place the beans in a steamer basket and steam for 5 minutes. Toss them with the remaining oil, the almonds, and the salt and pepper. Makes 1 serving
Simple side: apple and endive salad
• 1 head endive
• 1 small green apple
• 1 tbsp diced walnuts
• 1 tbsp low fat balsamic vinaigrette
Directions
1. Peel off the outer leaves of the endive (think of it as a single serving of lettuce) and chop into bite size pieces. Core the apple, then chop it into bite size pieces. Toss well, then top with the nuts and dressing.
Workout for the Week: Sexy Core
To really benefit from this workout, do it 2-3 times a week on non-consecutive days. I have all my cleints do this as "homework" because it such a great workut in 6-8 minutes!
Do as a contunious set:
30 Sec Plank, Rest 30 Seconds, 30 Sec Plank
30 Sec Slow Mountain Climbers , Rest 30 Seconds, 30 Sec Slow Mountain Climbers
30 Sec Side Plank, Rest 30 Seconds, 30 Sec Side Plank (build up to repeating side plank so both sides get done twice)
Plank: Start by lying face down on the ground or use an exercise mat. Place your elbows and forearms underneath your chest. Prop yourself up to form a bridge using your toes and forearms. Maintain a flat back and do not allow your hips to sag towards the ground.Remember to not let your hips and back sag. This exercise will only be effective if you work to maintain a flat line from your shoulders to your feet. You might want to start in front of a mirror to learn the technique.
Mountain Climbers: Lie prone on the floor with you hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Come up to a push-up position by extending your arms and keeping your body straight.
Bring your knees up one at a time, as if running up a mountain but GO SLOW (holding the knee to chest for a 2 second count). Try to keep your knee in as close to your chest as possible. Keep your head up, eyes forward and your mind focused.
Side Plank:Lie on your side with your right hand on the ground or use an exercise mat. For beginners, it is recommended to begin this exercise on your elbow. Lift yourself up to form a plank with your right arm straight and your left arm on your side.Remember to keep your body in a straight line, tightening your abs and butt muscles. You might want to start in front of a mirror to learn the technique.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Whats for Dinner?? ENCHILDA LASAGNA with POPEYE AND OLIVE OIL SALAD
ENCHILDA LASAGNA
What You'll Need
1⁄2 lb ground turkey breast
1 1⁄2 c reduced-fat Mexican-blend or Cheddar cheese
1 c canned diced tomatoes, drained
1 c low-fat, low-sodium cottage cheese
1⁄4 c canned jalapeño peppers, diced
1⁄2 c chopped scallions
2 tsp chili powder
2 cloves garlic, crushed
9 6" corn tortillas
1 c taco sauce
How To Make It
Brown the turkey in a nonstick skillet. Let it cool, then combine it in a bowl with the cheese (reserving 1/2 c), tomatoes, cottage cheese, peppers, scallions, chili powder, and garlic, stirring well. Coat an 11" x 7" baking dish with cooking spray. Place three tortillas in the dish and top with half of the turkey mixture. Layer three more tortillas, then the remaining turkey mixture. Place the last three tortillas on top, pour taco sauce over them, and sprinkle with 1/2 c cheese. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings
POPEYE AND OLIVE OIL SALAD
Ingredients [ View Metric ]
1 1/2 c chopped baby spinach leaves
1 1/2 c chopped romaine lettuce
3 slices chopped prosciutto
1/3 c mandarin orange slices
1/3 c sliced strawberries
2 tbsp diced red onion
1 For The Dressing
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp red-wine vinegar
1/2 clove garlic crushed
1/8 tsp black pepper
Preparation
Mix and enjoy.
What You'll Need
1⁄2 lb ground turkey breast
1 1⁄2 c reduced-fat Mexican-blend or Cheddar cheese
1 c canned diced tomatoes, drained
1 c low-fat, low-sodium cottage cheese
1⁄4 c canned jalapeño peppers, diced
1⁄2 c chopped scallions
2 tsp chili powder
2 cloves garlic, crushed
9 6" corn tortillas
1 c taco sauce
How To Make It
Brown the turkey in a nonstick skillet. Let it cool, then combine it in a bowl with the cheese (reserving 1/2 c), tomatoes, cottage cheese, peppers, scallions, chili powder, and garlic, stirring well. Coat an 11" x 7" baking dish with cooking spray. Place three tortillas in the dish and top with half of the turkey mixture. Layer three more tortillas, then the remaining turkey mixture. Place the last three tortillas on top, pour taco sauce over them, and sprinkle with 1/2 c cheese. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings
POPEYE AND OLIVE OIL SALAD
Ingredients [ View Metric ]
1 1/2 c chopped baby spinach leaves
1 1/2 c chopped romaine lettuce
3 slices chopped prosciutto
1/3 c mandarin orange slices
1/3 c sliced strawberries
2 tbsp diced red onion
1 For The Dressing
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp red-wine vinegar
1/2 clove garlic crushed
1/8 tsp black pepper
Preparation
Mix and enjoy.
GreenWay Tour This Saturday @ 8:30am!! Come Join Us CHARLOTTE!
I would like to extend an invite to everyone, my clients and I are doing a Bicycle Greenway tour every Saturday in May. We are doing a few mile bike ride this Saturday starting at 8:30am at Mallard Creek Elementary School. This is a leasurily ride but make sure you bring water!
Don't let a "few miles" intimidate you, honestly its so easy!
Directions:
I-85 to Exit 45 (WT Harris Blvd)
Take WT Harris West to Mallard Creek Rd
Turn Right on Mallard Creek Rd
Follow Mallard Creek Rd until you see Mallard
Creek Elementary School on Left. Parking allowed in lots closest to street.
We will start promptly at 8:30am (as long as Gemma, my 15 month old, allows it!)
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Yummy Breakfast!
Don't those foods look great! AND THEY ARE HEALTHY TOO! I know alot fo people struggle with breakfast, but its so important especailly if you are ttrying to lose weight! BReakfast will make you feel fullr throughout the day and prevent snackign and grazing, also breakfast will help you have more energy so you can make it to the gym!
A great Sunday morning breakfast!
STUFFED CINNAMON FRENCH TOAST
INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp part-skim ricotta cheese
2 slices whole-grain bread
1 tsp honey
Pinch + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 Tbsp sliced almonds
1 egg
1 Tbsp 1% milk
Handful of fresh berries
PREPARATION
Spread the room-temperature ricotta on a slice of whole-grain bread. Drizzle the honey over the cheese and sprinkle lightly with a pinch of cinnamon. Top with the sliced almonds and another slice of whole-grain bread. Whisk together the egg, milk, and teaspoon cinnamon. Dip the bread into the egg mixture and cook over medium heat on a nonstick griddle or skillet coated with cooking spray, until the bread is lightly browned and the cheese is melted. Serve with the berries.
I eat this almost every day!
HUEVOS RANCHEROS WRAPS
Ingredients
• 2 eggs
• 1 scallion, sliced
• 1 medium whole wheat tortilla
• 2 tbsp shredded reduced-fat mexican-blend cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 2 tbsps salsa
Directions
1. In a microwavable bowl, beat the eggs and the scallion, and microwave for 2 minutes. Spoon the eggs onto the tortilla; top with the cheese, cilantro, and salsa; and roll up.
For you runners and high calorie burners! This is the breakfast for you!
THE ULTIMATE POWER BREAKFAST
Ingredients
• 1 egg
• 1 cup 1% milk
• 3/4 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 cup mixed berries
• 1 tablespoon chopped pecans or sliced almonds
• 1 teaspoon vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
Directions
1. In microwave-safe bowl, mix egg well, then add next 6 ingredients and nuke for 2 minutes. Remove, let cool for a minute or two. Top with sliced banana and yogurt.
Yummy Muffins!
CRAN-ALMOND MUFFINS
Ingredients
• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 3/4 C plus 2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 lg egg
• 1/2 C milk
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 2/3 C whole cranberries
• 1 tbsp butter, cut in 12 cubes
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 C sliced almonds (optional)
Directions
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Mix first 5 ingredients. Whisk next 4 ingredients. Fold into flour mixture. Stir in cranberries. Put batter in muffin pan lined with 12 baking cups. Top with butter, 2 teaspoons sugar, cinnamon, and almonds. Bake until test done, about 22 minutes.
A nice way to start off a Saturday!
High- Protein Pancakes with Sunflower Seeds
Serve with Apricot-Prune Whip (below).
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for the griddle
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup soy flour
• 2 tablespoons oat bran
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Directions
1. In a blender or food processor, combine the yogurt, eggs, oil, whole wheat flour, soy flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Process to blend.
2. Preheat a griddle and brush lightly with oil.
3. Ladle the batter by 1/4 cups onto the griddle. Sprinkle each pancake with about 2 teaspoons sunflower seeds. Cook until bubbly, then turn over and cook the reverse side for about 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter and seeds.
Serving Suggestions
2. Apricot-Prune Whip: In a small saucepan, combine 6 pitted prunes and 6 dried apricots with water to just barely cover. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let sit until cool. Drain the fruit and transfer to a blender or food processor and puree with 5 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt and 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar.
2. While bacon is cooking, combine milk, eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl; whisk until well blended. Pour mixture into a pie plate or shallow bowl.
3. Dip 2 bread slices into egg mixture and let stand 30 seconds to absorb the liquid. Flip bread over and let stand in mixture another 30 seconds.
4. Heat a nonstick skillet lightly coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add 2 dipped bread slices and cook for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Flip over and continue cooking for 1 minute or until done. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with remaining 2 bread slices.
5. On each plate, place 2 strips of bacon and 2 slices of French toast. Garnish with berries or apple slices, if you'd like, and serve with syrup.
A great Sunday morning breakfast!
STUFFED CINNAMON FRENCH TOAST
INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp part-skim ricotta cheese
2 slices whole-grain bread
1 tsp honey
Pinch + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 Tbsp sliced almonds
1 egg
1 Tbsp 1% milk
Handful of fresh berries
PREPARATION
Spread the room-temperature ricotta on a slice of whole-grain bread. Drizzle the honey over the cheese and sprinkle lightly with a pinch of cinnamon. Top with the sliced almonds and another slice of whole-grain bread. Whisk together the egg, milk, and teaspoon cinnamon. Dip the bread into the egg mixture and cook over medium heat on a nonstick griddle or skillet coated with cooking spray, until the bread is lightly browned and the cheese is melted. Serve with the berries.
I eat this almost every day!
HUEVOS RANCHEROS WRAPS
Ingredients
• 2 eggs
• 1 scallion, sliced
• 1 medium whole wheat tortilla
• 2 tbsp shredded reduced-fat mexican-blend cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 2 tbsps salsa
Directions
1. In a microwavable bowl, beat the eggs and the scallion, and microwave for 2 minutes. Spoon the eggs onto the tortilla; top with the cheese, cilantro, and salsa; and roll up.
For you runners and high calorie burners! This is the breakfast for you!
THE ULTIMATE POWER BREAKFAST
Ingredients
• 1 egg
• 1 cup 1% milk
• 3/4 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 cup mixed berries
• 1 tablespoon chopped pecans or sliced almonds
• 1 teaspoon vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
Directions
1. In microwave-safe bowl, mix egg well, then add next 6 ingredients and nuke for 2 minutes. Remove, let cool for a minute or two. Top with sliced banana and yogurt.
Yummy Muffins!
CRAN-ALMOND MUFFINS
Ingredients
• 1 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 3/4 C plus 2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 lg egg
• 1/2 C milk
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 2/3 C whole cranberries
• 1 tbsp butter, cut in 12 cubes
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 C sliced almonds (optional)
Directions
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Mix first 5 ingredients. Whisk next 4 ingredients. Fold into flour mixture. Stir in cranberries. Put batter in muffin pan lined with 12 baking cups. Top with butter, 2 teaspoons sugar, cinnamon, and almonds. Bake until test done, about 22 minutes.
A nice way to start off a Saturday!
High- Protein Pancakes with Sunflower Seeds
Serve with Apricot-Prune Whip (below).
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for the griddle
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup soy flour
• 2 tablespoons oat bran
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Directions
1. In a blender or food processor, combine the yogurt, eggs, oil, whole wheat flour, soy flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Process to blend.
2. Preheat a griddle and brush lightly with oil.
3. Ladle the batter by 1/4 cups onto the griddle. Sprinkle each pancake with about 2 teaspoons sunflower seeds. Cook until bubbly, then turn over and cook the reverse side for about 2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter and seeds.
Serving Suggestions
2. Apricot-Prune Whip: In a small saucepan, combine 6 pitted prunes and 6 dried apricots with water to just barely cover. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let sit until cool. Drain the fruit and transfer to a blender or food processor and puree with 5 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt and 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar.
2. While bacon is cooking, combine milk, eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl; whisk until well blended. Pour mixture into a pie plate or shallow bowl.
3. Dip 2 bread slices into egg mixture and let stand 30 seconds to absorb the liquid. Flip bread over and let stand in mixture another 30 seconds.
4. Heat a nonstick skillet lightly coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add 2 dipped bread slices and cook for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Flip over and continue cooking for 1 minute or until done. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with remaining 2 bread slices.
5. On each plate, place 2 strips of bacon and 2 slices of French toast. Garnish with berries or apple slices, if you'd like, and serve with syrup.
Whats for dinner?? Steak Fajitas and El El Bean
STEAK FAJITAS
Ingredients
• 6 oz flank steak
• 1 small onion, cut into eighths
• 1 green or red bell pepper, cut length-wise into strips
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, cut into rings
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
Directions
1. Cut the meat diagonally and across the grain into thin strips. Place it in a large ziplock bag with all the other ingredients and shake well to combine. Dump the mixture into a skillet that's been preheated over medium-high heat. Cook, turning frequently, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the meat reaches the desired doneness. Serve with 4 whole wheat tortillas and salsa.
El EL BEAN
Ingredients
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup canned corn kernels, drained and rinsed
• 1 sliced green onion
• 1 teaspoon diced cilantro
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Mix ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy!
Ingredients
• 6 oz flank steak
• 1 small onion, cut into eighths
• 1 green or red bell pepper, cut length-wise into strips
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, cut into rings
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
Directions
1. Cut the meat diagonally and across the grain into thin strips. Place it in a large ziplock bag with all the other ingredients and shake well to combine. Dump the mixture into a skillet that's been preheated over medium-high heat. Cook, turning frequently, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the meat reaches the desired doneness. Serve with 4 whole wheat tortillas and salsa.
El EL BEAN
Ingredients
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup canned corn kernels, drained and rinsed
• 1 sliced green onion
• 1 teaspoon diced cilantro
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Mix ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy!
Friday, April 29, 2011
The best excuse TO workout! Massage!
More and more sports and fitness enthusiasts are including massage as a part of their conditioning programs. It's not just for the professional athlete or the person who is training for the Olympics. Massage is for everyone and needs to be looked at as a health benefit and not a luxury. People just like you and me are including massage as part of their regular exercise programs. Almost anyone can benefit from massage, athlete or not.
A lot of people avoid massage because of the costs, but look at it as an investment in you body. You can over train your muscles. That is what knots, extreme soreness and cramping are. IF you are tight, knotted, and/or cramping you NEED a massage. If you do not get them massaged out then you are wasting your time exercising through the soreness. You are just making the muscles even sorer, and not building muscle.
Fitness enthusiasts/athletes will find that massage helps improve their flexibility; muscles tend not to be as sore and stiff; it helps in their recovery time, and reduces the anxiety of athletic competition. Massage can help improve performance, increase endurance, and help lower fatigue levels. By reducing fatigue, althletes can train better with longer more effective workouts. When you choose massage or stretches between workouts, there is a high increase in recovery time.
The idea behind massage therapy is to reduce the stress and damage that the muscles endure throughout the day. When muscles become stressed, fatigued or injured, they can block oxygen and nutrients from reaching the rest of the body and the brain. This blockage can lead to inflammation, usually in the form knots. This can cause a build up of toxins in the muscle tissue. This is when a massage can really help the muscles release the toxins and getting the blood and oxygen circulating properly again and help bring some relief. It is always important to drink plenty of water after a massage treatment, this will help the body to purge out any of the toxins released during the massage treatment.
Today massage therapy is well accepted as a method of reducing stress, relieving pain and promoting relaxation.
There are many styles of massage around, so shop around and find the one that is best for you. A few styles to look for that are good for people involved with an exercise program are Swedish,DeepTissue, Shiatsu and Sports massage. Each is very different. A good massage therapist may use many different styles and gear the massage toward your needs.
I found http://www.soothinghandsandstones.massagetherapy.com/ and his rates are super affordable and he is excellent. Sometimes he offers a buy 4 get one free package. Honestly you can’t beat his prices (90 minutes for $45!!!) and his professionalism. I personally use him every month for a deep tissue hot stone massage.
Also, renewedwellnessmassage.com offers a great massage I recently tried where she uses Bio-freeze and warm towels to help relieve the tired muscles. This treatment is ideal for anyone who has muscle tension due to athletic training and/or repetitive movements or for those individuals that suffer from chronic pain. This massage targets the neck and back, arms and hands OR legs and feet and is customized to each clients needs. Therapeutic massage lotion is combined with "Biofreeze" enabling the therapist to work deeper into the muscle fiber giving the client an intense cooling sensation which releases tension, decreases pain, and invigorates the muscles. Warm towels are placed over the area to help relax the muscles even further.
It was very relaxing and I felt great afterwards. The bio-freeze is incredible, especially if you are training hard or are a runner. My new routine is killing my shoulders and she really worked it out!
Mistakes that are holdign you back from your goals!
When you stick to a routine, it's easy to become, well, stuck. "We fall into a comfort zone, and we keep doing the same thing even when we're not seeing any improvement," says Barbara Bushman, PhD, a professor of exercise physiology at Missouri State University in Springfield. If you're not trimming down, toning up, or feeling any fitter, it's likely due to one of the following exercise errors. Read on for how to reboot -- and get the body you want, pronto!
Mistake #1: You Rely on Cardio to Peel Off Pounds
For most women, sweaty aerobic exercise alone isn't enough. "Research shows that weight loss is minimal if it isn't accompanied by dieting," says Amy Luke, PhD, a nutritional epidemiologist at the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago. "We may compensate for the extra energy we're burning during physical activity by doing less the rest of the day, or more commonly, we feel famished after working out, so we eat more."
The Solution: Keep your diet in check. To drop a pound, which is 3,500 calories, in one week, aim to eat 300 fewer calories every day (300 x 7 = 2,100) while burning 300 calories from exercise five times a week (300 x 5 = 1,500). Follow our "Slimmer in 7 Days!" plan, not only to burn 1,500 calories a week but also to firm up from head to toe. Plus, to beat the post-workout hunger attack, pack a low-cal snack like a piece of fruit. "You plan for exercise. You need to plan what you're going to eat afterward," says John Porcari, PhD, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse and a FITNESS advisory board member. Drinking lots of water helps too
Mistake #2: You Race Through Your Reps
Two things could be going on here: Either your weights are too light, which is often the case for women, or they're too heavy, and you're letting momentum or gravity take over. Either way, your muscles aren't being sufficiently challenged, which is why they're not getting more toned. "To see an improvement in definition, you need to have an increase in the protein content of muscle fibers, and that happens when the muscles are stressed and being called on to exert more force," Bushman explains.
The Solution: If you don't believe you've done just about all you can do by the end of a set, pick a heavier weight. "You want there to be a bit of strain on the second-to-last and last reps," Bushman says. Reach for a lighter dumbbell when you aren't moving the weight with steady control as you lift and lower.
Mistake #3: You Stick to the Bike for All Your Sweat Sessions
If you feel as though your thighs are getting bigger than you'd like, you may be overdoing the cycling. "On an exercise bike, you're working a very specific group of muscles, and if you're hitting it hard four or five times a week, you will see development there," says Gary Sforzo, PhD, a professor of exercise and sport sciences at Ithaca College in New York.
The Solution: Unless cycling is your competitive event, cut it to once or twice a week and fill the gap with a variety of on-your-feet activities, from using the elliptical trainer to taking a dance class. "Every exercise affects your legs in different ways," Sforzo says. When you do cycle, lower the resistance level and increase the speed, Bushman suggests. "It's the overload on the muscles that causes the increase in muscle mass," she adds.
Mistake #4: You Aim to Stay in the Fat-Burning Zone
It's no wonder you think you need to do this to lose weight: Many cardio machines tell you when you're above and below the zone. But this reason for sticking to low-intensity exercise has been completely debunked. "Because fat takes longer than carbs to be converted to energy, you burn a higher percentage of it when you're sitting or walking than when you're running. So the old thinking was that with low-intensity exercise you could torch body fat and lose weight," Porcari explains. But the theory didn't work in practice. "In one study, we had people walk or run for half an hour. On average, the walkers burned 240 calories, 44 percent of which were fat, so they burned 108 fat calories. The runners burned 450 calories, 24 percent of which were fat, so they burned 120 fat calories. Whether you look at total calories or fat calories, the runners clearly came out ahead," Porcari says.
The Solution: There's nothing wrong with low-intensity exercise, particularly if you have joint problems. "But to lose weight, you'll probably need to do it for longer than half an hour. Just for general health, the recommendation is 30 minutes five days a week," Porcari says.
Mistake #5: You Skip the Warm-Up
You may think you're saving time, but you're actually just compromising the first 5 to 10 minutes of your workout. "Your body literally needs to warm up so that blood flow increases, the nervous system wakes up, and the body starts to use energy and oxygen more efficiently," says Michael Bracko, a sports physiologist and director at the Institute for Hockey Research in Calgary. The upshot: Every step feels like less of a slog, and calorie burn kicks into high gear.
The Solution: Bracko says that the best warm-up is to do your chosen exercise at a low intensity. Runners, for example, should walk, then jog. "Keep at it until you break a sweat," Bracko says. Alternately, you can try "dynamic" stretches, which are moves that take your body through the range of motions you're about to do. For a runner, that can mean high knees, butt kicks, and forward, reverse, and side lunges. "Avoid static stretching, where you're holding poses for several counts. That actually calms the system down and can impair performance," Bracko adds.
Mistake #6: You Overcrunch Your Abs
If you're doing more than three sets of 15, you're wasting your time. "Extra crunches aren't going to cinch your waistline," says Michele Olson, PhD, a professor of exercise science at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama, and a FITNESS advisory board member. "You're working the rectus abdominus, which is only one of four muscles in the abdominal wall. But it's the other three deeper muscles [internal obliques, external obliques, transverse abdominis] that give you a leaner look by helping you with your posture."
The Solution: Take a temporary break from your usual crunches and target your obliques and transverse abdominis with our waist-cinching express ab workout, "Firm, Flat Abs Fast!" Olson suggests trying these Pilates-based moves as well: (1) the plank (balance on floor on forearms and toes and hold for 30 seconds), (2) double-leg stretch (lie on your back, knees bent 90 degrees with feet in air and shins parallel to the floor, shoulders off the floor with arms loosely hugging knees; extend your legs and arms out in a wide V, then return to start), (3) the side plank (lie on the floor on your right side, propped up on right elbow, feet stacked; lift your hips up, using your left hand on floor in front of you for support. Hold for 5 counts, then lower. Do 10 reps; switch sides and repeat). Do 10 reps of each move, three or four times a week.
Mistake #7: You've Been Doing the Same Weight Circuit Since Forever
The reason it seems easy isn't because you're getting stronger and stronger. It's because your muscles, having adapted to the program, are utterly bored. "You need to continually challenge them," Bushman says. "Muscles improve only when they're doing something they're unaccustomed to."
The Solution: There are myriad ways to change things up. "Use the machines, free weights, resistance bands. You can manipulate the number of reps, amount of weight, length of rest periods between sets, number of sets, and the overall number of exercises," Bushman says. Try doing 12 to 15 reps of light weights one session, 8 to 10 reps of moderate weights the next, then 4 to 6 reps of heavy weights. "Ideally, you want to do something different every time you go to the weight room, or at least once every two weeks," Sforzo adds.
Mistake #8: You Only Do Yoga
While it's great for flexibility and helps improve strength, the typical yoga session is not going to incinerate calories. A recent study found that it takes 90 minutes of hatha yoga to burn 200 calories -- about the same as window-shopping or a casual stroll.
The Solution: If you're doing an hour of yoga five days a week, you need to shift three of those days to aerobic activity, says Kara Mohr, PhD, an exercise physiologist and founder of MohrResults.com, a fitness and nutrition consulting company. "I always encourage my clients to do yoga because it's excellent for raising the mind-body connection, which helps stop overeating," she adds. But you need to think of it as a supplemental activity if your goal is weight loss.
Mistake #9: You Always Run at a Steady Pace
If you want to increase your speed, you won't improve your time without interval training. "It teaches your muscles to burn energy more efficiently, so you can go faster," Porcari says. "You're also training your legs to move quicker and getting mentally used to the idea."
The Solution: Porcari recommends starting out with a one-mile warm-up, then doing four to six rounds of running at slightly faster than your regular pace for a quarter mile and slightly slower than your regular pace for a quarter mile. (If you're outside, try going from telephone pole to telephone pole.) "The goal is gradually to lengthen the faster-paced intervals and increase the tempo," Porcari explains. He adds that to prevent injuries, it's best to keep such speed work to once or twice a week.
Mistake #10: Your Workout Is the Sole Activity You Get
Sit all day and you're missing out on burning an easy 900 extra calories. That's the difference between what people who aren't sedentary melt in non-exercise activity during a day versus what couch potatoes burn, says James Levine, MD, PhD, an obesity expert at the Mayo Clinic and author of Move a Little, Lose a Lot. "Humans are basically built to be moving. The mechanisms that drive metabolism switch on when a person stands and they switch off as soon as she sits," Dr. Levine says.
The Solution:
The more active you are, the better. At the very least, you should get up every hour and walk or march in place. One easy change Dr. Levine recommends: Pace the floor when you're on the phone. Make it a habit and weight loss will be just several calls away!
womenshealth/mayoclinic
Mistake #1: You Rely on Cardio to Peel Off Pounds
For most women, sweaty aerobic exercise alone isn't enough. "Research shows that weight loss is minimal if it isn't accompanied by dieting," says Amy Luke, PhD, a nutritional epidemiologist at the Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago. "We may compensate for the extra energy we're burning during physical activity by doing less the rest of the day, or more commonly, we feel famished after working out, so we eat more."
The Solution: Keep your diet in check. To drop a pound, which is 3,500 calories, in one week, aim to eat 300 fewer calories every day (300 x 7 = 2,100) while burning 300 calories from exercise five times a week (300 x 5 = 1,500). Follow our "Slimmer in 7 Days!" plan, not only to burn 1,500 calories a week but also to firm up from head to toe. Plus, to beat the post-workout hunger attack, pack a low-cal snack like a piece of fruit. "You plan for exercise. You need to plan what you're going to eat afterward," says John Porcari, PhD, a professor of exercise physiology at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse and a FITNESS advisory board member. Drinking lots of water helps too
Mistake #2: You Race Through Your Reps
Two things could be going on here: Either your weights are too light, which is often the case for women, or they're too heavy, and you're letting momentum or gravity take over. Either way, your muscles aren't being sufficiently challenged, which is why they're not getting more toned. "To see an improvement in definition, you need to have an increase in the protein content of muscle fibers, and that happens when the muscles are stressed and being called on to exert more force," Bushman explains.
The Solution: If you don't believe you've done just about all you can do by the end of a set, pick a heavier weight. "You want there to be a bit of strain on the second-to-last and last reps," Bushman says. Reach for a lighter dumbbell when you aren't moving the weight with steady control as you lift and lower.
Mistake #3: You Stick to the Bike for All Your Sweat Sessions
If you feel as though your thighs are getting bigger than you'd like, you may be overdoing the cycling. "On an exercise bike, you're working a very specific group of muscles, and if you're hitting it hard four or five times a week, you will see development there," says Gary Sforzo, PhD, a professor of exercise and sport sciences at Ithaca College in New York.
The Solution: Unless cycling is your competitive event, cut it to once or twice a week and fill the gap with a variety of on-your-feet activities, from using the elliptical trainer to taking a dance class. "Every exercise affects your legs in different ways," Sforzo says. When you do cycle, lower the resistance level and increase the speed, Bushman suggests. "It's the overload on the muscles that causes the increase in muscle mass," she adds.
Mistake #4: You Aim to Stay in the Fat-Burning Zone
It's no wonder you think you need to do this to lose weight: Many cardio machines tell you when you're above and below the zone. But this reason for sticking to low-intensity exercise has been completely debunked. "Because fat takes longer than carbs to be converted to energy, you burn a higher percentage of it when you're sitting or walking than when you're running. So the old thinking was that with low-intensity exercise you could torch body fat and lose weight," Porcari explains. But the theory didn't work in practice. "In one study, we had people walk or run for half an hour. On average, the walkers burned 240 calories, 44 percent of which were fat, so they burned 108 fat calories. The runners burned 450 calories, 24 percent of which were fat, so they burned 120 fat calories. Whether you look at total calories or fat calories, the runners clearly came out ahead," Porcari says.
The Solution: There's nothing wrong with low-intensity exercise, particularly if you have joint problems. "But to lose weight, you'll probably need to do it for longer than half an hour. Just for general health, the recommendation is 30 minutes five days a week," Porcari says.
Mistake #5: You Skip the Warm-Up
You may think you're saving time, but you're actually just compromising the first 5 to 10 minutes of your workout. "Your body literally needs to warm up so that blood flow increases, the nervous system wakes up, and the body starts to use energy and oxygen more efficiently," says Michael Bracko, a sports physiologist and director at the Institute for Hockey Research in Calgary. The upshot: Every step feels like less of a slog, and calorie burn kicks into high gear.
The Solution: Bracko says that the best warm-up is to do your chosen exercise at a low intensity. Runners, for example, should walk, then jog. "Keep at it until you break a sweat," Bracko says. Alternately, you can try "dynamic" stretches, which are moves that take your body through the range of motions you're about to do. For a runner, that can mean high knees, butt kicks, and forward, reverse, and side lunges. "Avoid static stretching, where you're holding poses for several counts. That actually calms the system down and can impair performance," Bracko adds.
Mistake #6: You Overcrunch Your Abs
If you're doing more than three sets of 15, you're wasting your time. "Extra crunches aren't going to cinch your waistline," says Michele Olson, PhD, a professor of exercise science at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama, and a FITNESS advisory board member. "You're working the rectus abdominus, which is only one of four muscles in the abdominal wall. But it's the other three deeper muscles [internal obliques, external obliques, transverse abdominis] that give you a leaner look by helping you with your posture."
The Solution: Take a temporary break from your usual crunches and target your obliques and transverse abdominis with our waist-cinching express ab workout, "Firm, Flat Abs Fast!" Olson suggests trying these Pilates-based moves as well: (1) the plank (balance on floor on forearms and toes and hold for 30 seconds), (2) double-leg stretch (lie on your back, knees bent 90 degrees with feet in air and shins parallel to the floor, shoulders off the floor with arms loosely hugging knees; extend your legs and arms out in a wide V, then return to start), (3) the side plank (lie on the floor on your right side, propped up on right elbow, feet stacked; lift your hips up, using your left hand on floor in front of you for support. Hold for 5 counts, then lower. Do 10 reps; switch sides and repeat). Do 10 reps of each move, three or four times a week.
Mistake #7: You've Been Doing the Same Weight Circuit Since Forever
The reason it seems easy isn't because you're getting stronger and stronger. It's because your muscles, having adapted to the program, are utterly bored. "You need to continually challenge them," Bushman says. "Muscles improve only when they're doing something they're unaccustomed to."
The Solution: There are myriad ways to change things up. "Use the machines, free weights, resistance bands. You can manipulate the number of reps, amount of weight, length of rest periods between sets, number of sets, and the overall number of exercises," Bushman says. Try doing 12 to 15 reps of light weights one session, 8 to 10 reps of moderate weights the next, then 4 to 6 reps of heavy weights. "Ideally, you want to do something different every time you go to the weight room, or at least once every two weeks," Sforzo adds.
Mistake #8: You Only Do Yoga
While it's great for flexibility and helps improve strength, the typical yoga session is not going to incinerate calories. A recent study found that it takes 90 minutes of hatha yoga to burn 200 calories -- about the same as window-shopping or a casual stroll.
The Solution: If you're doing an hour of yoga five days a week, you need to shift three of those days to aerobic activity, says Kara Mohr, PhD, an exercise physiologist and founder of MohrResults.com, a fitness and nutrition consulting company. "I always encourage my clients to do yoga because it's excellent for raising the mind-body connection, which helps stop overeating," she adds. But you need to think of it as a supplemental activity if your goal is weight loss.
Mistake #9: You Always Run at a Steady Pace
If you want to increase your speed, you won't improve your time without interval training. "It teaches your muscles to burn energy more efficiently, so you can go faster," Porcari says. "You're also training your legs to move quicker and getting mentally used to the idea."
The Solution: Porcari recommends starting out with a one-mile warm-up, then doing four to six rounds of running at slightly faster than your regular pace for a quarter mile and slightly slower than your regular pace for a quarter mile. (If you're outside, try going from telephone pole to telephone pole.) "The goal is gradually to lengthen the faster-paced intervals and increase the tempo," Porcari explains. He adds that to prevent injuries, it's best to keep such speed work to once or twice a week.
Mistake #10: Your Workout Is the Sole Activity You Get
Sit all day and you're missing out on burning an easy 900 extra calories. That's the difference between what people who aren't sedentary melt in non-exercise activity during a day versus what couch potatoes burn, says James Levine, MD, PhD, an obesity expert at the Mayo Clinic and author of Move a Little, Lose a Lot. "Humans are basically built to be moving. The mechanisms that drive metabolism switch on when a person stands and they switch off as soon as she sits," Dr. Levine says.
The Solution:
The more active you are, the better. At the very least, you should get up every hour and walk or march in place. One easy change Dr. Levine recommends: Pace the floor when you're on the phone. Make it a habit and weight loss will be just several calls away!
womenshealth/mayoclinic
Whats for dinner??? Black bean ans Sweet Potato vegetarian/vegan chili
Black bean vegetarian chili I normally double or triple this so I have extras and freeze them for those lazy days where I do not want to cook!
Ingredients:
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 15 ounce can black beans
• 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
Preparation:
Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil for a minute or two, then add sweet potatoes, carrots and bell pepper until onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium low, and add remaining ingredients, stirring to combine well.
Simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes, until flavors have mingled and vegetables are cooked.
Makes 5 servings of homemade black bean chili.
Nutritional information (per serving):
Calories: 427, Calories from Fat: 67
% Daily Value:
Total Fat: 7.5g, 12% / Saturated Fat: 1.2g, 6% Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 368mg, 15%
Total Carbohydrates: 72.0g, 24%
Dietary Fiber: 17.3g, 69%
Protein: 21.4g
Vitamin A 289%, Vitamin C 65%, Calcium 15%, Iron 31%
Ingredients:
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 15 ounce can black beans
• 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
Preparation:
Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil for a minute or two, then add sweet potatoes, carrots and bell pepper until onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium low, and add remaining ingredients, stirring to combine well.
Simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 20-25 minutes, until flavors have mingled and vegetables are cooked.
Makes 5 servings of homemade black bean chili.
Nutritional information (per serving):
Calories: 427, Calories from Fat: 67
% Daily Value:
Total Fat: 7.5g, 12% / Saturated Fat: 1.2g, 6% Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 368mg, 15%
Total Carbohydrates: 72.0g, 24%
Dietary Fiber: 17.3g, 69%
Protein: 21.4g
Vitamin A 289%, Vitamin C 65%, Calcium 15%, Iron 31%
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Are you REALLY eating correctly?
Are you eating correctly??
The answer is you probably think you are, but you are not. Lets first chat about “eating clean” and metabolism.
Eating a clean diet is a health conscious way to improve your health and rid your body of unnecessary toxins and other elements that are bad for you. Clean foods are generally considered those to be natural, free of added sugar, trans fats and hydrogenated fats and any other unnatural substances. This type of diet can be used to lose weight as well as to improve your health and energy levels. Generally, a clean diet is combined with a healthy diet approach of eating 6 small meals a day. This would include breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as three healthy snacks.
**THE MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION YOU”LL EVER READ** You should eat every 2 to 3 hours throughout the day to promote increasing your metabolism and curbing your hunger. Portioning is also important when eating. A meat portion for lunch should be a fist size serving and a diner portion should be a first and a half. A vegetable portion for lunch should be half a fist and for dinner a whole fist. A starch or carb portion should be half the fist at all times. Snacking on fruits, vegetables and nuts throughout the day is also recommended. Eating 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch, 1 snack, 1 dinner and 1 snack is the ideal eating to increase metabolism and bettering weight-loss results.
Your body reacts to fewer calories by slowing down your metabolism -- burning fewer calories each day just to maintain your body functions. If you don't add exercise along with the diet, you will lose lean muscle mass as well as fat and water weight. When you lose muscle, your metabolism is slowed even further and you would have to eat even fewer calories per day to continue to lose weight. It takes a conscious effort to increase exercise when on a diet.
If you don't exercise and then you fall off of the diet, the weight will come back on even faster, as your body is burning fewer calories per day. Even worse, the weight will come back on as fat rather than as the muscle you lost. Your body will look even less lean and healthy.
Of course, the diet advice we'd all love to hear is "Eat more and lose more weight!" But what really works is "Eat more often, and you'll lose more weight." Small, but frequent, meals help keep your metabolism in high gear, and that means you'll burn more calories overall. Your best bet for keeping metabolism revved: Build muscles, snack on low-calorie, high-protein foods, eat often, and keep moving!
If you are excersising as well as dieting it is important to replace the calories you burn. If you choose not to eat them, you may experience quicker weight loss to start with but will then experience tiredness, fatigue and increased injury rates, and a longer harder to push over platue. You will also see a slowing of weight loss as your body tries to conserve every calorie you put in. Replace what you burn! Myfitnesspal is a great tool use it!
Real or Sales Pitch? Health/Life coaches
The movement of “health/life coaching” is gaining some traction in health care circles.
Lets explore this phenomenon. Health/life coachs, among other duties, “help people clarify their health goals, and implement and sustain behaviors, lifestyles, and attitudes that are conducive to optimal health; guide people in their personal care and health-maintenance activities; and, assist people in reducing the negative impact made on their lives by chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.”
That sounds suspiciously like what primary care is supposed to do, but can’t within the current paradigm of the 15-minute office visit.
So, instead, people with no prior medical training are taking advantage, by signing up for courses over the internet and training to become a health coach. There is no fixed route to become a life/health coach, many people flock special coaching academies. Often these academies are often run by other life coaches, in what amounts to a pyramid scheme.
Some sites promise $121 an hour (“at least”), without having to leave home, and there are no worries about malpractice.Are you really going to trust someone that took a quick course, with no medical training, and no degree to tell you how to be healthier??
Imagine what those with an actual medical degree can do as a health coach. See a dietician, a nutritionist, or a real doctor. Normally people with out degrees or certifications are trying to sell you something, which make them money. I'd be very careful. I have heard of these self-proclaimed "health coaches" promise weightloss, cancer free, reduce free-radicals, blah blah blah....as long as you buy their products. Becareful because its all probably just a sales pitch.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Whats the best way to lose belly fat/my baby pooch/my stomach/what ever you want to call it”.
As a personal trainer I always get asked “Whats the best way to lose belly fat/my baby pooch/my stomach/what ever you want to call it”. So here is the thing, you can’t pick where you lose weight from. I wish, but we can’t and even though many diet products and exercise machines claim they can, they are false claims.
Here are some common myths I want to get out of the way:
• AB machines cannot develop Abs better than exercises done with our body. Abs machines are not very successful in working right muscles in right order and they can not eliminate belly fat. If you have to lose belly fat you must take proper nutrition along with training and cardio exercises.
• AB rollers do not work at all although Advertisements pitch that rollers can easily create amazing Abs. But the truth is that they may cause serious damage. They do not protect your neck and may cause painful/ devastating cervical injury.
• Sit-ups is not the solution to abs and are dangerous. With feet anchored to floor with you flexing at high speed, you may actually strain your hip flexor muscles. This is not a way to losing belly fat.
• Floor crunches work but the bad news is that they are overused; mediocre results can be expected. Excessive crunching can shorten the abdominal walls as you are pulling head forward drooping shoulders.
• Starvation diets/ crash diets don’t deliver. Correct nutrition is important.
• Fat burning pills are totally misguided. They may treat symptoms but don’t remove causes. You would soon gain back the fat you lost along with interest.
• Machine based equipment such as bicep curls makes muscles work while mind stay inactive and that may lower your neurological response.
To lose belly fat first and foremost step is to eliminate “five c’s: candy, cookies, cake, cola, and chips” from your lifestyle; limit fried foods.
You might feel that it is easy but that’s not all. Going gets tougher with regular strength training/ aerobic exercise are especially effective to stem the growth of belly fat. Working on all muscle groups (arms, shoulders, chest, abs, back and legs) reduces belly fat by 10-15 %. Length of workout must be increased slowly. To lose belly fat, aerobic exercises and methods such as HIIT and Tabata Protocol are also helpful. More exercise you perform, more belly fat you lose. Start by walking, swimming, cycling and lose belly fat.
Diet is of utmost importance where belly fat is concerned. Eating fat-friendly diet would not only stop enlargement of belly but would also help body to fight fat. You must start eating 5-6 mini meals in a day rather than 3 main and larger meals. It would help lose belly fat as we will be eating less during main meals. Small and regular interval meals also boost metabolism as body requires more energy in order to do frequent digestions. Apart from frequency of meals, type of meal is also important. Some foods help lose belly fat like fish/ vegetables/ fruits/ black chocolates etc. Contrary to this, few foods destroy the efforts to lose belly fat. Foods high in saturated fats/ sugar must not be included in our diet.
If you are looking on tips on how to lose belly fat, also look to drinking correct drink; best drink being water. Water is essential and vital for our body as it helps liver proper function and that accelerates fat burning process as liver has the ability to burn fat stored in reserves and convert it to energy. So drink lots and lots of water avoiding full dairy drinks like milk shakes or chocolate drinks and soft drinks. Better alternative is Fresh fruit juice but eating fruits is even better.
Exercise is key to losing belly fat. Combining resistance/strength training with cardio is the best and most effective way! Resistance training exercises: It includes various Weight lifting exercises that help body to fight fat along with building muscles. There are not any of specific or particular exercises to lose belly fat particularly without losing fat from other area. Working with abdominal exercises, stomach muscles may get tighter as well as stronger. Other weight lifting exercises include squats/ dumbbell rows/ chest presses etc.
Cardio exercises: These are also very beneficial if you plan to lose belly fat. Cardio exercises also accelerate heart rate making us breathe faster thus body spending more energy. While exercising, it is important to feel increasing heart rate and faster breathing. In case you are exercising without feeling any pressure, results won’t be that good. Exercising must be done regularly (at least 3-4 times/ week). Exercising only once and not doing it for a month is more like nothing done at all. To completely change your body an ideal plan of 4-6 times a week is more accurate.
A lot of people feel that a treadmill, elliptical for 30-60 minutes a day is going to help them burn the fat that they want. The truth is, you will burn more calories in a class like body pump, jazzerice, or zumba than you ever could on a treadmill.
Think of it this way: Which gets your car cleaner, a machine or by hand. Which gets you skinny quicker: by hand!
Plateua, OHHH NOOO!!!
You've diligently worked to improve your diet and exercise habits, and you've been rewarded by seeing the number on the scale continue to drop. But then for no reason you can see, the scale doesn't budge — even though you're still eating a healthy, low-calorie diet and exercising regularly. You've hit a weight-loss plateau. It’s inevitable. At some point during your exercise program your body will fail to respond to the exercise and diet that has guaranteed you results in the past. Strength increases dwindle; fat loss slows; lean muscle gains aren’t as apparent. Life was good at the beginning of the program when your body responded by shedding massive fat, gaining pounds of muscle, and gaining superhero strength almost overnight. Welcome to reality.
Before you get too discouraged, you should know that it's normal for weight loss to slow and even stall. By understanding what causes a weight-loss plateau, you can decide how to respond and avoid backsliding on your healthy-eating and exercise habits.
What is a weight-loss plateau?
A weight-loss plateau occurs when you no longer lose weight despite continuing with your exercise and healthy-eating habits. Being stuck at a weight-loss plateau eventually happens to everyone who is trying to lose weight. At that point, losing additional weight becomes more difficult. Although hitting a plateau is common, most people are surprised when it happens to them, believing that if they just maintain a reduced-calorie diet, they should continue to lose weight. The frustrating reality is that even well-planned weight-loss efforts can become stalled.
What causes a weight-loss plateau?
The progression from initial weight loss to a weight-loss plateau follows a typical pattern. During the first few weeks of losing weight, a rapid drop in pounds is normal. When calories from food are reduced, the body gets needed energy by releasing its stores of glycogen, a type of carbohydrate found in the muscles and liver. Glycogen holds onto water, so when glycogen is burned for energy, it also releases the water — about 4 grams of water for every gram of glycogen — resulting in substantial weight loss that's mostly water.
A plateau occurs because your metabolism — the process of burning calories for energy — slows as you lose lean tissue (muscle). When you lose weight, you lose both fat and lean tissue. (The notion that overweight people have a slower metabolism is a myth. In general, the higher a person's weight, the higher the body's metabolic rate.) Your weight-loss efforts result in a new equilibrium with your now slower metabolism. This means that in order to lose more weight, you need to increase activity or decrease the calories you eat. Using the same approach that worked initially will maintain your weight loss, but it won't lead to more weight loss.
How can you overcome a weight-loss plateau?
If you're at a plateau, you may have lost all of the weight you will given the number of calories you're eating each day and the time you spend exercising. At this point, you need to ask yourself if you're satisfied with your current weight or if you want to lose more, in which case you'll need to adjust your weight-loss program. If you're committed to losing more weight, try these tips for getting past the plateau:
• Reassess your habits. Look back at your food and activity records. Make sure you haven't loosened the rules, letting yourself get by with larger portions or less exercise.
• Cut calories. Reduce your daily calorie intake by 200 calories — provided this doesn't put you below 1,200 calories. Fewer than 1,200 calories a day may not be enough to keep you from feeling hungry all of the time, which increases your risk of overeating.
• Rev up your workout. Increase the amount of time you exercise by an additional 15 to 30 minutes. You might also try increasing the intensity of your exercise, if you feel that's possible. Additional exercise will cause you to burn more calories.
• Pack more activity into your day. Think outside the gym. Increase your general physical activity throughout the day by walking more and using your car less, or try doing more yardwork or vigorous spring cleaning.
• Make sure you replacing what you are burning. Wearing a heart rate monitor can give you a more accurate view on how many calories you are burning in a workout session. Your body needs the extra calories through out the day. You must eat more to lose more. If your body is in a negative caloric state, it will not burn fat.
Don't let a weight-loss plateau lead to an avalanche.
If your efforts to get past a weight-loss plateau aren't working, talk with your doctor or a dietitian about other tactics you can try. You may also want to revisit your weight-loss goal. Maybe the weight you're striving for is unrealistic for you. If you've improved your diet and increased your exercise, you've already improved your health even without further weight loss. For those who are overweight or obese, even modest weight loss improves chronic health conditions related to being overweight.
Whatever you do, don't revert back to your old eating and exercise habits. That may cause you to regain the weight that you've already lost.
Try the following:
Is it a plateau? – A plateau is 1-2 weeks, not 1-2 days! When was the last time the scale moved? Are you really facing a weight loss plateau?
Follow your plan – Be sure you are following your weight loss program eating guidelines each day and are not inadvertently eating non-approved foods or too much of the higher-carbohydrate foods.
Too many carbs? – Reduce the total carbohydrates in your plan. For example, if your weight loss program includes a lot of vegetables, choose the lower carbohydrate vegetables for a week or two. Also, consider your choice of condiments. For example, are you adding high-carbohydrate salad dressing to your salads? Follow the Golden Rule of carbs, a 4:1 ratio.
Do not skip meals – Skipping meals can cause your metabolism to slow down and cause you to lose weight more slowly. If anything, you should consider eating smaller amounts more frequently, 5-6 times per day.
The little things – Do you add a lot of cream in your coffee? If so, try a creamer with less fat. Do you chew gum or eat mints? These can add a surprising amount of sugar throughout the day, depending on your choice of gum or mints. Record everything that touches your mouth. EVERYTHING has calories in it, record it.
Women – If you are female, are you on your menstrual cycle? This can certainly cause a temporary slow-down of your weight loss.
Water – Do you drink enough water? A minimum of 64-ounces per day is recommended. More is usually better!
Near your goal weight? – Are you nearing your goal weight? If so, you can expect the rate of weight loss to slow down. Be patient and persistent.
Exercise – Are you exercising? If not, start – but slowly. If you are already exercising, try adding a few more minutes (or more) of daily exercise. Make sure you are changing your routine every 4-6 weeks and challenging your body to do more reps, more weight, and more time. On the other hand, it is possible to be getting too much exercise to where your body is fatigued. Maybe you need to back off a little. It may also help to change the type of exercise you do for a while. For example, if you always run on the treadmill, try using a stationary bike instead for a couple of weeks.
Stress – Have you been under more stress lately than normal? Additional stress can cause your body to change and slow your weight loss. It can also cause you to behave differently. For example, when you are stressed and tired, you may grab some fast food on your way home from work, then feel guilty about your food choice.
Illness – Have you been sick lately? Even having a cold, for example, can cause your body to lose weight less efficiently as you fight the cold symptoms. Focus on getting healthy again and then resume your regular program.
Rest – Are you getting enough sleep? Most of us don’t but this is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves. A lack of sleep can wear your body down and affect your weight loss efforts.
mayoclinic/webmd/womenshealth
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