Eat before you go grocery shopping
Many people do their week’s grocery shopping on Saturday or Sunday, do not go to the store hungry or you will most certainly put things in your cart on impulse.
Keep healthy snacks on handy in the car
Whether you are traveling or running errands, carrying a healthy snack will keep you out of the drive-thru lane.
Keep a food journal
A journal will make you more mindful of what you are putting into your mouth. A recent study found that food journaling actually doubled weight-loss efforts!
Limit eating out
Try to avoid fast food all together. If you do eat out remember to eat reasonable portions and eat all your vegetables.
Limit your alcohol consumption
There are a lot of empty calories in alcohol. It also reduces your inhibitions to eat junk food AND makes you feel hungrier.
Plan to get some exercise
Schedule in exercise either one or both days. If you are away from home and no equipment is available simply put on your walking shoes and get moving!
After the weekend, reflect back…
o Which tactics above did you try? Did they work?
o What did you do well?
o Ask yourself: What can you do better next weekend?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
How weekend behavior affects weight loss
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis studied how weekend behaviors affect weight loss.
The study involved 48 healthy adults aged 50 to 60 years. Prior to starting these programs all participants were found to consistently gain weight on weekends, but not weekdays! In fact, the average weekend weight gain would have led to an extra nine pounds over the course of one year.
The researchers divided the participants into 3 groups:
Group 1 (diet group) took in 20% fewer calories each day but didn't change their activity level.
Group 2 (exercise group) increased their daily exercise regimen but didn't change their diet, to have a comparable energy deficit as Group 1.
Group 3 (control group) did not change their diet or activity level.
What happened? During the year-long program both Group 1 and Group 2 did well during the week, however on weekends the diet group stopped losing weight and the exercise group gained weight due to higher calorie intake.
According to Susan B. Racette, PhD, assistant professor of physical therapy and medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, "We thought weekends would present a problem for some people attempting to lose weight, but the consistency of our finding before and during the interventions was surprising. Subjects in the diet group lost weight during the week, but over the weekend, they stopped losing weight because they were eating more."
The study involved 48 healthy adults aged 50 to 60 years. Prior to starting these programs all participants were found to consistently gain weight on weekends, but not weekdays! In fact, the average weekend weight gain would have led to an extra nine pounds over the course of one year.
The researchers divided the participants into 3 groups:
Group 1 (diet group) took in 20% fewer calories each day but didn't change their activity level.
Group 2 (exercise group) increased their daily exercise regimen but didn't change their diet, to have a comparable energy deficit as Group 1.
Group 3 (control group) did not change their diet or activity level.
What happened? During the year-long program both Group 1 and Group 2 did well during the week, however on weekends the diet group stopped losing weight and the exercise group gained weight due to higher calorie intake.
According to Susan B. Racette, PhD, assistant professor of physical therapy and medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, "We thought weekends would present a problem for some people attempting to lose weight, but the consistency of our finding before and during the interventions was surprising. Subjects in the diet group lost weight during the week, but over the weekend, they stopped losing weight because they were eating more."
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Improve your Metabolism
By: Ryan Jennings
I recently attended a fitness convention in Chicago to update my personal training skills and earn CEC’s (continuing education credits). One of the most cutting edge workshops I attended was entitled: “Metabolic Training: The New Cardio Program”. The course promised to help people identify one of their own metabolic markers and systematically use it to improve their metabolism. The training was presented by Fabio Comana, who teaches exercise science and nutrition at the University of California-San Diego and is also the exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
A Quick Review of Energy Sources
To understand metabolism you need to recognize that your body uses different sources of energy for different purposes. The two major sources of energy are fats and carbohydrates. Fats provide most of the energy your body needs at rest and during low intensity activity for respiration and circulation. Carbohydrates provide the majority of energy during higher intensity exercise to keep up with increasing demands of the muscles.
History of Cardio-Vascular Training.
Historically, cardio exercise has been dominated by two competing schools of thought: Low Intensity and High Intensity. Lower intensity exercise targeted ‘calorie quality’ by burning mostly calories from fat. High intensity exercise targeted ‘calorie quantity’ while ignoring the type of calories burned. Opting to burn fat meant lower total calorie burn and vice-versa. The promise of Comana’s work is that you can increase the amount of total calories burned while improving the quality of the calories burned.
Comana also expresses concern with any exercise program that uses ‘target heart rates’ based on standardized age formulas. Age is irrelevant to Comana because “Your metabolism is as unique as your fingerprint”.
Establishing a Metabolic Marker
So if we shouldn’t use standard age formulas to establish target heart rates for exercise intensity, what should we use? According to Comana, most people can benefit from establishing the ‘crossover point’ where the body transitions from burning mostly fats to mostly carbohydrates. This is the Ventilatory Threshold (VT1) and is unique to each individual and cannot be predicted by using age formulas.
Comana notes that the test for VT1 is straight forward and is commonly known as the ‘talk test’. You can establish it by slowly increasing your exercise intensity until speaking out loud just becomes uncomfortable. Ideally you will use a piece of cardio equipment and maintain any given intensity for at least 2 minutes before reciting something from memory out loud that is 20-30 seconds in length. Repeat this cycle until you find the point at which you are no longer sure it is still comfortable to speak. This is your VT1 or ‘crossover point’. Note: Be sure to consult with your physician before attempting this or any fitness test or beginning an exercise program.
Cardio Training Using VT1
Once you have established your personal ‘crossover point’, Comana recommends developing a cardio-vascular training program that gradually works just above and just below this metabolic marker. By doing this, exercisers can actually shift the crossover point and continue to burn mostly fat at higher intensities. This is exciting news for anyone who wants to improve their metabolism.
Do you want more information about improving your metabolism or VT1 testing? Contact us info@xofitness.com
Ryan Jennings is a certified personal trainer and co-owner of XO Fitness, LLC in De Pere.
I recently attended a fitness convention in Chicago to update my personal training skills and earn CEC’s (continuing education credits). One of the most cutting edge workshops I attended was entitled: “Metabolic Training: The New Cardio Program”. The course promised to help people identify one of their own metabolic markers and systematically use it to improve their metabolism. The training was presented by Fabio Comana, who teaches exercise science and nutrition at the University of California-San Diego and is also the exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
A Quick Review of Energy Sources
To understand metabolism you need to recognize that your body uses different sources of energy for different purposes. The two major sources of energy are fats and carbohydrates. Fats provide most of the energy your body needs at rest and during low intensity activity for respiration and circulation. Carbohydrates provide the majority of energy during higher intensity exercise to keep up with increasing demands of the muscles.
History of Cardio-Vascular Training.
Historically, cardio exercise has been dominated by two competing schools of thought: Low Intensity and High Intensity. Lower intensity exercise targeted ‘calorie quality’ by burning mostly calories from fat. High intensity exercise targeted ‘calorie quantity’ while ignoring the type of calories burned. Opting to burn fat meant lower total calorie burn and vice-versa. The promise of Comana’s work is that you can increase the amount of total calories burned while improving the quality of the calories burned.
Comana also expresses concern with any exercise program that uses ‘target heart rates’ based on standardized age formulas. Age is irrelevant to Comana because “Your metabolism is as unique as your fingerprint”.
Establishing a Metabolic Marker
So if we shouldn’t use standard age formulas to establish target heart rates for exercise intensity, what should we use? According to Comana, most people can benefit from establishing the ‘crossover point’ where the body transitions from burning mostly fats to mostly carbohydrates. This is the Ventilatory Threshold (VT1) and is unique to each individual and cannot be predicted by using age formulas.
Comana notes that the test for VT1 is straight forward and is commonly known as the ‘talk test’. You can establish it by slowly increasing your exercise intensity until speaking out loud just becomes uncomfortable. Ideally you will use a piece of cardio equipment and maintain any given intensity for at least 2 minutes before reciting something from memory out loud that is 20-30 seconds in length. Repeat this cycle until you find the point at which you are no longer sure it is still comfortable to speak. This is your VT1 or ‘crossover point’. Note: Be sure to consult with your physician before attempting this or any fitness test or beginning an exercise program.
Cardio Training Using VT1
Once you have established your personal ‘crossover point’, Comana recommends developing a cardio-vascular training program that gradually works just above and just below this metabolic marker. By doing this, exercisers can actually shift the crossover point and continue to burn mostly fat at higher intensities. This is exciting news for anyone who wants to improve their metabolism.
Do you want more information about improving your metabolism or VT1 testing? Contact us info@xofitness.com
Ryan Jennings is a certified personal trainer and co-owner of XO Fitness, LLC in De Pere.
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