Do It For Your Heart

In celebration of yesterday's Valentine's Day and all the hearts that were being given, taken, and maybe even broken, I thought I'd write up a little something about how important cardiovascular exercise is to YOU and YOUR heart.

For years, studies have been done showing how important cardiovascular exercise is to our overall well-being, yet I am still asked all the time by new and even long term clients, "How much cardio should I be doing?" For someone just starting out, I usually recommend at least 20 minutes 3-5 days per week, depending on their capabilities. For someone who has been at it for awhile in Fitnessville, I will take a look at their current regimen and make any necessary corrections. However, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that YOU should do your cardio exercise for 20-60 minutes, 3-5 days per week at a moderate intensity level. A lot of folks hate cardio (especially men), but the beauty of cardio is that it can be done anywhere and for practically zero cost.

Think about it. All you need to do is lace up your New Balance running shoes and go for a walk or run. Or go for a swim. Or a bike ride. Or shovel snow consistently. Or do some intervals at your local track. Or take a spin class at your local YMCA. The point is to just get that heart rate up for 20-60 minutes, 3-5 days per week at a moderate level of intensity.

If YOU do this now, just look at all the benefits YOU'LL reap: slower resting heart rate, more efficient lungs, decreased bad cholesterol, increased circulation, happy-go-lucky feeling endorphins, stronger muscles, and an improved, better, healthier, more efficient heart. After all, what are you without a happy, healthy ticker?

Update on the Primal Diet

Just wanted to give everyone an update on the Primal Diet. To sum it up: it was a failure. The diet began its end about eight days after it started and officially ended two days later.

When I work out, I normally do so with an intensity level somewhere between 8 and 10 on a scale of 1-10 (unless it's yoga). Well, I was in the middle of a fairly easy chest and back routine when suddenly my energy level plummeted about halfway through. At first I thought that maybe my energy level was low because of the lack of sleep I endured the prior three and a half months. The second thought I had was the diet.

Fast-forward to the next night. I was teaching my spin class at the Greater Portland YMCA when the same thing happened. If my bike had been mobile, I would have crashed into a brick wall about halfway through. The energy just wasn't there. I had gotten a good night of sleep before and never really had any problems working out while not sleeping from mid-September to the end of December. I immediately blamed the diet and its lack of whole grain carbs.

Fast-forward to the next night. A friend of mine called and wanted to go to Flatbread in downtown Portland. Not quite ready to give up on the diet so soon--after all, it was only 10 days old--I agreed to go but decided beforehand to get one of their delicious salads.

Need I continue? Well, all that changed when I sat down in the restaurant, glanced over at the brick oven, and saw a couple of gorgeous pizzas cooking in the heat.

So the diet lasted 10 days and I'm glad it lasted only 10 days. I'm an endurance athlete. I enjoy training at an 8, 9, or 10 on a scale of 1-10 and carbs--whole grain carbs--help me do just that. After tinkering with the Primal Diet a little, I really believe that it would be great for folks who have sedentary jobs, who are looking to alter body composition, or both. Neither of those things are me.

Time to look at the next experiment...

The New Year's primal diet

I'm not usually big on New Year's resolutions. While I'm certainly in favor of a clean start (depending on the circumstance), I don't think it should take a brand new year to start something that you should have been doing all year long. You know you should be exercising. You know you should be eating better. Why wait until January 1st to do this? If you start an exercise routine or a new "diet" after the ball drops, chances are (but hopefully not) you'll be in the majority and drop off by March. So get a jump start during some other time of year and you'll be in mid-season form by the new year!

However, I am a big fan of experimenting (with food, silly!). Experimenting with food, exercise, and how my body reacts to certain stresses and/or diets usually leaves me learning a lot more about myself than I had before the experiment. For instance, I set a goal in the summer of 2010 to go vegan and cut out all caffeine, sugar, animal by-products, alcohol, and gluten for 30 days. Needless to say, this was extraordinarily difficult and I ended it at 18 days. The first day left me with a raging headache and by day 18 I had dropped to a weight that I wasn't comfortable being at. But it was interesting nonetheless. I learned a lot about vegan foods, alternative sources of protein (i.e. soy instead of the animal-based whey), and that rice bread is horribly disgusting and practically inedible! But I'm glad I tried it.

And this leads me to my next experiment: The Primal Diet. This "diet" is growing in popularity in the health and wellness industry. The thought process is that it eliminates processed foods and reduces carbohydrate intake, reverting the "dieter" back to more primitive food sources such as plants and animals. By eating a primal diet, you can improve cognitive function, reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce your risk of many chronic diseases, and improve the functioning of your body at a cellular level (Livestrong, Primal Diet).

So what will I be eating over the next month? Well, the primal diet calls for wild meats, preferably of the free-range variety, and will include chicken, beef, turkey, venison, haddock, and salmon. I'll also be indulging in lots of veggies and fruits, although potatoes and rice will be eaten in moderation and berries are the only real preferred fruit in the primal diet. Pretty much any kind of nut will be a staple, although peanuts aren't considered a real nut so I won't be eating any of these (no honey roasted peanuts....NOOOOO!) Cheese and yogurt are still okay to eat in moderation, as is dark chocolate. And alcohol is supposedly okay to drink, but I'll be cutting this out of the diet completely for the next month. The beauty of experimenting though is just that: it's experimenting! Therefore I'll be cheating a little bit by adding oatmeal to the mix along with one of my absolute staples, whey protein powder.

So there it is! It'll be interesting to see how the month of January goes. Will I lose weight? Will I gain weight? Will I feel healthier, faster, stronger, and more durable? I'll let you all know at the end of the month of the end of the diet, whichever comes first!

But until then, Happy New Year!

The past 94 days of my life

It all started on September 19^th, 94 days ago. The past 94 days of my life have been nothing short of a roller coaster ride.  94 days ago I started my dream job at the YMCA in Portland, Maine. It was 101 days ago that I began working 3^rd shift as a seasonal Frontline Supervisor at L.L.Bean. It was early August that I started working with a couple of new clients at Fitness Success in Yarmouth.  And in late August I started coaching varsity cross-country at Gray-New Gloucester High School in August.

The scenario was simple (ha!): L.L.Bean was relying on me to be responsible for the trainers who were responsible for training 700 seasonal workers. The YMCA was relying on me to jump headfirst in to the state of Maine run ME.First program (more on this to come in a future blog) and help state of Maine workers lose weight and get healthy. Theresa of Fitness Success in Yarmouth, the small personal training studio I operate out of once a week, was relying on me to cover classes for her and to continue to train several clients, one of which was a Miss Maine USA pageant contestant I had been working with since the beginning of August.  And the Gray-New Gloucester cross-country team was relying on me to help build a program that hasn’t seen much glory since its inception many years ago. Four jobs? No problem, consider it done! 

Wait as second…when was I going to sleep?

Up until recently, L.L.Bean had been my “day job” and fitness training, while being my true passion, was nothing more than supplemental income. However, I immediately jumped at the offer t join the YMCA in Portland, but I had already made several other commitments. Being the stubborn yet loyal person I am, I decided that I would sacrifice myself and my sleep in order to remain committed to everyone I had committed to.

The end of September was pretty easy, really. Working four jobs was somewhat exhilarating as I had found a new way to challenge myself—reduce the amount of sleep, increase the amount of working hours, and increase the amount of income.

But then October came. I would work at L.L.Bean from 8:30 PM to 4 or 5 AM, go to the YCMA 8 AM to 1 PM, drive to Gray to coach from 2 to 4 PM, drive back to the YMCA and train from 5 PM to 8 PM. Saying I was tired would be a gross understatement. The YMCA schedule was somewhat variable to meet client’s demands. 3^rd shift at L.L. Bean was ramping up and I was required to put in long overnight hours. The cross-country season was in full swing and my Miss Maine USA hopeful was gearing up for her pageant in November. There were many days that I literally slept for half an hour. There was only one day in October that I actually slept for 8 hours. Just one.

Once November rolled around, I was beyond tired. Fortunately the cross-country season had come to an end at the end of October, but it was now time for hunting season. The sleepless days and nights continued; I probably averaged 3 hours per night/early morning in November. My sanity may have been saved when the YMCA schedule still accounted for the 2-4 PM coaching I was doing. Since I wasn’t coaching I would go straight home, walk Lucy and eat lunch at the same time, then take an hour-long nap. An hour isn’t much, but it probably saved me.

As November came to a close, I could see the light that was the end of December in the distance. “Peak” (L.L.Bean’s busiest time of the year) was in full swing. I was still busy overseeing a different area of the operation (training the seasonal workforce had ended). It was on December 1^st that I gave my notice to L.L.Bean so I could pursue my dream job as a fulltime fitness instructor. I was completely worn out and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.

Now here I am, still wanting to sleep, reflecting on the last 94 days of my life. While “whirlwind,” “roller coaster,” and “absolute craziness” are all understatements to the past three months, I don’t know if I would have changed a thing about it. I learned an incredible amount of how much stress the human body can endure. I’ve learned that sleep is often an under-appreciated time in our day. And I’ve learned that it’s important to stick to your commitments and values. It would have been extremely easy for me to bail on L.L.Bean, but I had committed to them and they relied upon me. I could have bailed on coaching or even my Miss Maine USA client in order to save a few precious hours in my day. But I didn’t because I had committed, and I believe I’m now a better person because of it.

Next time I hear someone say, “I’m too tired to work out,” or complain that they don’t want to do an exercise because they “didn’t get enough sleep last night,” (both excuses I’ve heard plenty of times) I am going to dial up the intensity on them because I know their bodies can handle it. I tend to joke that I’m a “physical specimen” to people who are close to me, but in the end we are all physical specimens. When we ask our bodies to perform or function a certain way, more times than not we can get a positive response from them and they'll do what we ask of them. It's just not always very pretty.

Alright, enough typing.  It’s time to start catching up on 94 days worth of sleep.

VROOOM goes the metabolism

What is this thing called metabolism? Everyone has heard of it but not everyone understands it, as much as they may think they do. Studies suggest that a person's metabolism is directly related to genetics and some people who have a hard time losing weight use this as an excuse as to why they can't lose weight. However, there are ways to increase your BMR (basal metabolic rate, or the rate at which your body burns calories while at rest) without worrying too much about genetics. One thing is for sure, though, and that is everyone would like their BMR to be "higher."

So what does it even mean to "rev" our metabolism and how do we do that?

Metabolism can be defined as the chemical reactions in the body's cells that convert fuel (food) into energy. A person's metabolism is determined by three things: how often they exercise, how much lean muscle versus fat they have, and their BMR. Metabolism is what determines weight loss. Nothing else does. A common myth amongst the general population is that if you stop eating you'll lose weight. WRONG! If you stop eating or severely limit your caloric intake, your body goes into starvation mode and actually lowers your BMR.

Want to know how to lose weight? Are you ready for the secret that will make me rich?!

Here it is: Consume less energy than you burn.

I'd better patent that idea...

This isn't a new concept but there is a little more to it than that. Increase your "burn" by adding some resistance work (weight training) to your workout routine so you can take full advantage of your metabolism. While cardio is an excellent way to burn a lot of calories at once, you need to have lean muscle on your body to rev and and keep your basal metabolic rate high so you can burn more calories at rest. I love chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. I love it even more knowing that my body is burning it off as soon as I put it in my mouth. That is what having lean muscle mass can do for you, and you get that by doing some pushups, curling some dumbbells, and doing some squats. Period.

Here are a couple of sure-fire ways to rev your metabolism:

1. As I just mentioned, weight train.
2. Exercise your cardiovascular system at least three times per week for 30 minutes per day.
3. Eat six small meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism high. Skipping meals will slow your metabolism down. These meals should include lean proteins, healthy fats, veggies, fruits, and/or whole grains.
4. Eat breakfast to wake up your metabolism. And when you do, eat foods rich in carbohydrates and dietary fiber.

So go rev your metabolism so you can have more energy, burn more calories, and perhaps have a piece of guilt-free desert!

A new you in 100 days!

According to Dr. Henry S. Lodge of Columbia Medical School, your body replaces about 1% of its cells every day. Think about that for a second. That means essentially after 100 days you will have an entirely brand-new you! The brand-new you would come at a cost, however. It is up to you to treat those new cells better than you treated the old 1% that died yesterday.

You have a choice. You can replenish your body with brand-new cells that are properly nourished, strong, and energetic, or you can replace them with unhealthy, slow, sedentary cells that are killing you. Personally I prefer the former.

Because of this incredible capability of your body, you could have a new you in 100 days. Most good fitness programs aim for a drastic change in your health and appearance within 90 days of starting (P90X, anyone?) This isn't a coincidence, people. If you exercise hard 6 out of every 7 days, eat right, drink plenty of water, and get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, then YOU can be NEW in 100 days!

Don't you want to look younger, feel younger, and perform younger in 2012? Of course you do! It's time to start building yourself all over again, the way you want to, 1% per day, one day at a time.

 

Holiday Indulgence

Can you believe that the holidays are upon us? I personally can't.  It seems like just last week I was kayaking in Casco Bay and running the Back Cove Weekly 5K and running up Mt. Cocorua with Lucy on my 29th birthday. But now it's almost December! And with December comes the holidays. And with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year comes overeating, stress, and inevitable weight gain. Inevitable weight gain? Bah humbug, I say!

The vast majority of us Americans over-consume when it comes to the holidays. I mean, how can we not? There are plates of delicious cookies, pies, chocolates, buckeyes (my personal favorite), fudge, and so on. It's the American way to over consume. It's also the American way to complain about it afterwards. Well guess what...you don't have to fall victim to "inevitable weight gain." Here are a few tips to keep in mind before, during, and after you party.

1. Plan ahead. The party you are headed to obviously is going to have food. What are the chances the host is going to have a nice fruit and vegetable spread? Not likely. So snack ahead of time. Eat a high-protein or high-fiber snack. Either will keep you feeling satiated longer.

2. Don't go to a party hungry. The more hungry you are the more you will most likely eat. Instead, focus on snacking throughout the day. This will keep your blood-sugar level up, your mood good, and your daily calorie intake in check.

3. Drink water, and a lot of it. For every drink you have, drink a glass of water. Every beer you consume contains roughly 60-200 calories. Soda and juice can be full of sugar and calories. These calories are pure carbohydrates, which are perfect if you are looking to add some unnecessary weight this season. By drinking water you help your system flush the alcohol and help keep you sober, where you are less likely to make bad decisions--eating or otherwise.

4. If you happen to overeat at one meal, go light on the next meal. Balance and moderation is key. Having one extra piece of pie one time won't make you gain weight. If you are a repeat offender, then you'll fall victim to "inevitable weight gain."

5. Try to keep your plate colorful. Brownies, cookies, and pies tend to be more bland in color. Challenge yourself to get as many fruits and veggies on your plate as you can. Fruits and veggies come in a variety of colors so be creative!

Follow these steps and you'll have a much happier holiday season. Let's face it, everyone enjoys a good party and it's not a terrible thing to enjoy a treat or two that you normally wouldn't have at any other time during the year. But challenge yourself to be mindful about what you are putting in to your body. If you can accomplish this then you might just be able to turn the inevitable weight gain into weight maintenance or even surprising weight loss.