“All parts of the body which have a function, if used in moderation and exercised in labors to which each is accustomed, become healthy and well developed and age slowly. But if unused and left idle, they become liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly.”
The other day after not exercising for about a week I reluctantly dragged myself to my car and headed to the gym. I stopped at the mailbox on the way and sat for a while looking at the mail. Finally, I started driving again. Once I got to the parking lot I made a couple of phone calls…no one answered; so, I grabbed a notepad and made a few notes of some things I had been thinking of. Needless to say I was stalling. Eventually I ran out of excuses and slowly walked into the gym. I ended up having a great workout and felt great after it was all said and done. Sometimes the hardest part of exercising is the 15 minutes before you start. This is especially true after missing your workouts for a while. Here are three tips to help you get past the 15 minutes and start your exercise.
1. Right now commit to yourself when you will exercise tomorrow. This doesn’t mean “I’ll set my alarm clock for 5:00am and see how I feel”, or “I’ll see how I feel after work tomorrow”. I can tell you exactly how you will feel, tired and unmotivated. Decide on a very specific time and commit to yourself to exercise at that time. Write it in your calendar, tell your spouse, put your alarm clock on the other side of the room, do whatever it takes; keep this commitment with yourself. You owe it to you.
2. The next tip is to commit to someone else to exercise. Sadly, we often find it easier to keep our commitments to others rather than to ourselves. If you find that this is the case use it to your advantage. This can be done by planning to meet a friend at the gym or to go jogging. Set up a kid swap with your neighbor to allow each of you kid free time to exercise. Hire a trainer or sign up for a class at the local gym. If you know someone else is planning on you exercising, you will find it easier to keep your commitment to do so.
3. When all else fails tell yourself “15 minutes”. If you are really having a tough time getting moving then decide you will exercise for 15 minutes. Like I mentioned before, taking that first step on the treadmill or doing that first rep is usually the hardest part (at least mentally). Chances are, that 15 minutes into your exercise your blood will be pumping, your muscles will be warm, and you will feel like completing your workout. At the very least you will have exercised for 15 minutes which is better than nothing.
There you have it. Get past the 15 minutes before your workout and start experiencing success. Football coach Lou Holtz said, “If you don't make a total commitment to whatever you're doing, then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It's tough enough getting that boat to shore with everybody rowing, let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his life jacket on.”
Two types of exercise exist: aerobic (running, walking, elliptical machines, bikes, etc.) and anaerobic (weight lifting, resistance machines, push ups, etc.). Most people that are trying to lose weight feel that aerobic exercise is all that they should be doing. Aerobic exercise is great for burning calories (essential for weight loss). In addition aerobic exercise is wonderful for a individuals cardiovascular system as well as over all physical and mental health.
Anaerobic exercise is equally important and can be very beneficial for someone trying to lose weight. Though not as many as aerobic, anaerobic exercise does burn calories. Anaerobic exercise also increases the amount of calories your body burns throughout the day. Anaerobic exercise increases your muscle mass and muscles burn more calories than fat. In other words, increased muscle will increase your bodies BMR meaning that your body will naturally burn more calories each day just to survive. Increasing your BMR will help keep the fat off over a longer period of time.
Both aerobic and anaerobic exercises have tremendous benefits. Everyone should be doing at least one of these kinds of exercises regularly. Combining these two types of exercises will maximise results leading to longer lasting overall health.
At some point each one of us will have to deal with some type of cravings. These cravings can range from overeating to alcohol abuse, to gambling, to shopping. No matter what you believe, everyone deals with some type of cravings that they must master. Only by exercising self control can an individual achieve success in all aspects of life. Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl wrote, "Between stimulus and response, there's a space, and in that space is our power to choose our response, and in our response lies our growth and freedom." As obvious as it may sound, the only difference between someone without self control in a specific area of their life and someone with total control, is that the person that exhibits self control has exercised self control. (You may need to read that line again). Exercising self control is no different than exercising a muscle; the more you do it the stronger it becomes. Marathon runners can run marathons because they have worked at running marathons, likewise a person that can turn down every sugary sweet can do so because they have worked on not eating that type of food.
Focusing on thoughts and feelings that lead to succumbing to cravings can help a person overcome them. Alan Marlatt, director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington says, "When there's a fork in the road, and a craving is pulling you one way, what's the other way? You have to look down the other road and see where it takes you. Then, you have a choice, instead of being on autopilot." One way to resist cravings is by using a tactic known as "urge surfing". Marlatt compares cravings to waves - they rise to a peak, and then they fall. Most people feel like their cravings will escalate endlessly until they give in, however, the crash of the "craving wave" will happen whether you give into the urge or not. In actuality, giving in to cravings only reinforces them, while resisting reinforces resistance. Marlatt suggests watching your urge, noting its peak, and "surfing" it, rather than allowing it to wipe you out.
To learn more about Urge Surfing click here:
http://www.mindfulness.org.au/URGE%20SURFING.htm#TheTechniqueofUrgeSurfing
If you have read the previous two posts you may be asking the question, “If losing weight is as simple as calories in versus calories out, does it matter if I eat cookies or carrots as long as I maintain my appropriate calorie levels?” The short answer is yes, it matters.
Now for the long answer.
There are a few reasons why overeating sugar and simple carbohydrates (white bread, white pasta, etc.) can drastically hamper ones ability to lose weight and can lessen a persons overall health:
1. Eating foods high in sugar starves your body of essential nutrients. 1000 calories of soda, candy, and cake have virtually no nutritional value. Your body is an amazing machine and it realizes that even though it just ate 1000 calories it still doesn’t have enough of the proper nutrients to survive. To combat this, your body will increase your appetite in hopes that you will give it more nutrients. This is where the term “empty calories” come from. Eating sugary foods can actually leave you feeling hungrier, which can cause you to eat more sweets, which can cause you to feel hungrier, which can…you get the idea. In addition, when your body lacks proper nutrients your energy level will be low making it that much more difficult to motivate yourself to exercise.
2. Even though a calorie is a calorie, sugars make it harder for your body to burn fat. When you eat sugars and simple carbs your body produces insulin as a way to lower blood sugar levels. High levels of insulin in your blood stream suppress the production of glucagons in your body. Glucagons are important hormones that contribute to the metabolizing of carbs and the burning of fat.
3. Sugar and simple carbs, or rather the lack of complex carbs, can also make you appear fatter. Fiber found in vegetables and whole grain foods clean out excess bile found in your intestines. When allowed to remain in your internal organs, this built up bile can make you appear to be bloated. This build up can also lead to colon and intestinal problems.
4. Simply put, sugar is bad for you. High sugar and simple carb diets can lead to many health problems, such as: diabetes, heart disease, kidney problems, high cholesterol, etc. The list goes on and on. This type of diet can also lower your immune system and make you more prone to physical injuries. It can also affect your moods and can lead to psychological disorders.
The bottom line is, too much sugar and simple carbs are bad for you. Whether your goal is to lose weight, feel better, or be healthier, lowering your intake of (or eliminating) sugars and simple carbs is essential to your success.
In the last post we determined that in order to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week we would need to create a 500 calorie deficit in our diet. Before you read the rest of this you should make sure you have figured out what your daily caloric intake should be. The formula for this is in the previous post. Now we will look at how to break these calories into the appropriate amounts of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates (carbs). All food can be broken down into these three parts and most foods contain a combination of all three of these things. All of these “ingredients” are necessary for a balanced healthy diet.
Before I go on I must make one point. All of these numbers are estimates. It will be nearly impossible to be perfectly exact with our diets. These numbers are goals and should serve as a general guideline when planning meals and deciding what to eat. As long as we are close to these goals we should see success. Also, these numbers may need to be adjusted (in both directions) as we progress.
The first thing we need to determine is how much fat we need in our diet. That’s right, I said need. Fat is necessary for a healthy diet. Consuming fat does not make us fat, consuming too many calories does. As a rule 20%-30% of our calories should come from fat. So for Joe (who we meet in the previous post), about 593 calories should come from fat. (2371 calories divided by 4) One gram of fat contains nine calories; in Joe’s case this equals about 66 grams. (593 divided by 9) Some good sources of fat include: fish, nuts, and seed.
Next we need to determine our appropriate amount of protein. The USDA recommends a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight. People who engage in regular exercise will need more than this. For example body builders and hard core athletes should consume about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight each day. Each of us will need to determine where we fall. We will say that Joe wants to eat an even half of gram of protein for each pound of body weight. This works out to be 100 grams of protein for Joe. (Half of his 200 lb body weight) One gram of protein equals four calories so Joes target would be 400 calories from protein. Some good sources of protein are: turkey, chicken, fish, lean meat, eggs, and nuts
Next up is carbs. Just like fat is not bad, neither are carbs. Determining your appropriate amount of carbs is easy. We know that Joe will be eating 593 calories of fat and 400 calories of protein. We also know that Joe wants to eat about 2371 total calories. This means that the remaining 1378 calories should come form carbs. Here is the formula: Total Calories-(Fat+Protein)=Carbs. One gram of carbs equals four calories; therefore Joe would need to consume 345 grams of carbs. (1378 divided by 4) Some good sources of carbs are: vegetables, fruit, oatmeal, brown rice, and whole grains
Let’s sum up Joes numbers. Based on our calculations Joe should be eating 593 calories of fat, 400 calories of protein, and 1378 calories of carbs; or 66 grams of fat, 100 grams of protein, and 345 grams of carbs.
Clear as mud? Now figure out your numbers.
Once you know your numbers you can start to keep track of where your calories are coming from. Here are some resources to help you find the nutritional information for the foods you eat:
1. Read the labels
2. www.acaloriecounter.com This is a good site you can use to find things that may not be packaged (apple, potato, carrot, etc.)
3. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp This website can be used to enter ingredients from a recipe and get the nutritional information per serving.
As I mentioned earlier, all you have to do to lose weight is burn more calories than you consume. This means that if one day you want to eat more protein…no problem, as long as you decrease fat or carb calories, or visa versa . Remember we are looking at total calories. Next I will talk about why you want to eat certain foods and avoid other foods even though you may be consuming the appropriate caloric levels.
P.S.
I am looking for a better title for this post, so if anyone actually reads this post all the way to the end please leave me a comment with a better title.
Here is the only way to lose weight, ready? Burn more calories than you eat. That’s it, nothing else. Good luck!
…okay I’ll explain more
Calories are found in almost everything we eat or drink. Our bodies use these calories to survive. Breathing, walking, and sprinting all require calories to happen. When the amount of calories we consume are less than the amount of calories our body uses, we lose weight. If we consume the same amount of calories that we use, our weight stays the same. And, if we consume more calories than we use, we gain weight.
There are only two ways to make the amount of calories we consume less than the amount of calories our body uses. We can eat less, or, we can exercise more. Either one of these ways will work but combining the two of them will maximize our results.
How many calories do we need? This answer is different for everyone and it may take a week or two to get it exact, but here is the formula…
Adult Women: 655+(4.3 x weight in pounds)+(4.7 x height in inches)-(4.7 x age in years)=BMR
Adult Men: 66+(6.3 x weight in pounds)+(12.9 x height in inches)-(6.8 x age in years)=BMR
Your BMR is your Basal Metabolic Rate. This is how many calories you need to survive if you did nothing but lay in bed all day. Now take your BMR and multiply it by your activity level.
You now have the amount of calories you can eat to maintain your current weight. Confused? Suppose Joe is a moderately active 30 year old male that is 6 feet tall and 200 pounds. Joe’s formula would look like this: 66+(6.3 x 200lbs)+(12.9 x 72in)-(6.8 x 30yrs)=2050.8
2050.8 x 140%=2871.12 We will round it to 2871 calories.
What does this mean? This means that if Joe eats 2871 calories every day his weight would stay the same. Since our goal is to lose weight we need to lower the amount of calories we bring in. A good rule of thumb is to lower our caloric intake by about 500 calories. Therefore, Joe’s daily caloric intake should be around 2371 calories per day to lose 1-2 pounds a week. 1-2 pounds of weight loss a week is a healthy amount to lose. More on this later…
(Also, if Joe's goal is to gain weight, he would need to add about 500 calories a day to gain about 1-2 pounds a week.)
We will need to evaluate our weight loss regularly to see if we are not losing weight, gaining weight, or losing weight to fast. These numbers are not an exact science and may need to be modified after a week or two.
Does this mean Joe can eat whatever he wants under his 2371 calories and still lose weight? The simple answer is yes. However, we will talk about what to eat and why later. For now try to eliminate sugar, lower fat, increase protein, increase whole grains and increase vegetables.
