Less is More?

Unless you are training for a marathon, and yes we have been there and will be again, forget about those long workouts.  More and more research, including a study reported in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, is supporting that the most efficient, time-saving and health-benefiting way to exercise is to do interval training or intense bursts of activity.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a form of training that incorporates cycles of intense bursts followed by rest or low intensity for recovery.  HIIT has been used for many years by athletes but it isn't until more recently that scientists have recognized the health benefits of HIIT in the general population.  Jamie Timmons, professor of systems biology at Loughborough University, has spent many years researching the health benefits of HIIT training in normal people.  He has shown that as little as three minutes of HIIT a week can improve the body's ability to cope with sugar surges, which is your metabolic fitness, as well as how efficiently your heart and lungs transport oxygen in your body, or your aerobic fitness.  Both of these measures are important predictors of future health.

The really exciting part of the study is how little HIIT is necessary to reap the benefits.  Just three sessions per week for four weeks (12 minutes of exercise) is enough to make a difference.  In addition to improvements in metabolic and aerobic fitness, HIIT can also result in more powerful muscles and less abdominal fat. 

So what does this mean to you as a Metabolic Warrior?  Good News!  Metabolic training goes one step beyond HIIT when done properly.  Metabolic Training is Rest Based Training.  This means that instead of working on a set interval where you may have the tendency to pace yourself to get through the interval, you "go until you can't, and rest until you can".  Remember how we tell you not to pace yourselves, to push hard until you have to rest?  The above mentioned benefits are why we tell you to give 100% and then rest when you need to.  And your rest is relative.  It can be 2 seconds, or 20 seconds, or longer. You rest until you are ready to go again. 

Are we suggesting that you exercise only a few minutes per week?  Definitely not!  There are many other gains to be made through daily exercise.  But once again, we recommend finding that balance between spending endless hours working out or doing nothing at all.  Of course we believe that the perfect balance can be achieved through Metabolic Training twice per week and balancing that with a lower intensity activity that you enjoy such as walking, biking, hiking, etc. on other days.

Readers Ask...How do you know the calories of different foods?

One of our readers & Metabolic Warriors sent us the following question after reading the post about fat loss two weeks ago. He wrote "Great info. So here is my problem, how do you know the calories of different foods? Do you have a good book, cook book that has good recipes for two? That is where I have the most difficulty is in choosing those lower calorie good tasting foods. I have tried a few of the recipes on the blog and they were good. We eat very little red meat, once a month at best,  lots of veggies and a fair amount of chicken may be twice to three times per month. I do not like goopy foods or sauces. Any help here will be very much appreciated."

Here is our short answer:) Great questions. We find that the practice of looking up foods that you commonly eat starts to give you an idea of the calories. There is a web sight called www. calorieking.com  that you can type food into and it will pop up with calorie content. Also using programs like www.mynetdiary.com (or the app) are great for giving you an idea as to how you eat and where you need to tweak things. I use it as a temporary tool every few months to stay on track with my eating.

For recipes I commonly use www.eatingwell.com and www.wholeliving.com. Both are nice resources for a variety of healthy meals. Look at recipes that put together foods that you enjoy and don't be afraid to put your twist on them. For instance, if something calls for butter I use butter flavored olive oil that can be purchased at Divine Oils in Shugrues Hillside shops or Old Towne Cottonwood. For salads I love the flavored balsamics and oils from Divine Oils. Again, just healthier fats and zero or next to zero calories on the balsamic but amazing flavor! 

Some of our readers are eating healthy but they are not eating enough. Skipping meals...relying on coffee to  be their breakfast. That is a whole blog in itself but the tip of the iceberg is that you are setting yourself up for a Titanic disaster when it comes to your metabolism. Food intake or lack of food both send hormonal messages to your body and both can lead to fat gain when not balanced. So start the day with a quality breakfast, it doesn't have to be big.

The key to changing to good eating habits is to make a plan for eating. Make sure you have things that you like to eat at your fingertips. Here are some of the things that we have found to work in our home.  Perhaps yogurt? Do you like the smell of hot bread in the morning? Toast some bread and smear it with peanut butter. Scrambled eggs? They take 2 minutes to make. One more minute and you can add a little Boars head Tavern Ham and green onions or salsa and avocado or spinach and feta. Really unmotivated to make anything or just need an inbetween meals pickup? Have some good balanced protein bars on hand. We also keep fresh fruit on the counter in easy reach of all for a better carb choice than chips and quick hit of natural sugars. (there are chips in the house too:) We keep a bowl of nuts on the counter for a good fats snack. I boil eggs every week so that we have a bowl of them in the fridge for a quick protein source. Recently, I decided to spend Sunday making rice, beans and quinoa. I put all in the fridge to be used for the week, for lunch or dinner they are ready to go, just add your favorite fruits or vegetables and/or proteins and you have either a main dish for lunch or a side dish for dinner. Pre-planning and a little forethought go a long way to eating better.

Sherry and I love food and we have our vices, so we strive for  balance and it all works out a-ok!  Let us know if we can assist you personally with your nutritional questions.

Get Motivated... or get Medicated?

More often than not, our clients come to us with goals of changing what they see in the mirror, or on the outside of their bodies.  But as we have said before, some of the most important changes you will experience start on the inside, and then if you stick with it long enough, you will transform what you see on the outside.  Many of the health problems that people face can be eliminated, or at least minimized, if they would just MOVE! 

Medical research backs up our point of view that if people would reach for their sneakers first, they may not have to reach for the medicine bottle later.  The Mayo clinic calls exercise "A drug-free approach to lowering high blood pressure".  They also say that "Lifestyle changes can help reduce cholesterol and possibly keep you off cholesterol-lowering medications".  They advise people to lose weight, stating that "Carrying some extra pounds — even just a few — contributes to high cholesterol. Losing as little as 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can help significantly reduce cholesterol levels. Exercise on most days of the week.  Whether you're overweight or not, exercise can reduce cholesterol. Better yet, moderate physical activity can help raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the good cholesterol."

WebMD echoes the Mayo Clinic, emphasizing that "Millions of Americans are overweight or obese, inactive and eating poorly, and chained to a pillbox full of medications for a constellation of related conditions, particularly high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, and osteoarthritis. If you’re one of them, experts say that the chances are good that you could dramatically cut back on the number of medications you have to take daily, or even transition off them entirely, if you make just a few lifestyle changes."  Once again, they recommend exercise.

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And the health benefits or reduction in medication are not limited to physical ailments.  The Harvard Health Publication cited a study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1999, that divided 156 men and women with depression into three groups. One group took part in an aerobic exercise program, another took the SSRI sertraline (Zoloft), and a third did both. At the 16-week mark, depression had eased in all three groups. About 60%–70% of the people in all three groups could no longer be classed as having major depression. In fact, group scores on two rating scales of depression were essentially the same. This suggests that for those who need or wish to avoid drugs, exercise might be an acceptable substitute for antidepressants.

As your Personal Fitness Trainers, our first piece of advice to you is always going to be keep moving your body and your dumbbells as long as it is safe for you to do so.  And while we would never recommend that you stop taking prescribed medication without talking to your doctor, we will recommend that you have regular follow-up testing to determine if the medication is still necessary.  Many of our participants have experienced significant drops in blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels, either reducing the amount of medication they need to take, or eliminating it entirely.

And if that is not enough to motivate you...  remember, changes that start on the inside often start showing up on the outside in the form of slimmer waistlines, triceps instead of wings, more lean muscle definition, and the list goes on.

Foundation for Fat Loss

We often hear the words... I want to lose weight. The quicky way? Take off your clothes...you will lose 2-3 pounds instantly. This is most likely socially unacceptable and not the answer you were looking for. Take a step back and examine a possible different point of view.

What is weight? Isn't it any measurement of pounds that makes the scale go zinging up to a number either you love or hate....clothes, water, muscle, fat, bones, organs all make up this number....so which part were you thinking of losing?  Most likely fat! Think in terms of....I want to lose fat and you will be on the right track. Don't negate the scale but don't use it as your only tool of measurement.

What you do need to look at....
#1 Genetics. Your genetics are a really cool and unique code of who you are so you want to learn how to work with that code. You may look at athletes, siblings and best friends as mentors but please do not compare yourself to them unless you happen to be an identical twin! There are helpful guidelines in fitness and nutrition but few things are hard and fast rules, you still need to remember that you are a unique person and that means a little trial and error to find what works for you.

 #2  Calories, the units of energy needed for daily activities. Standards for men and women vary depending mainly on age, size and activity level. Each person is unique in their needs so totally view this as a guide not one of the hard and fast rules. Quality of calories matter. Quantity of calories matter. Too many and you end up with the spare tire, too few and you end up either with no change or skinny fat. Neither situation is healthy. Women need an average 2000-2200 and men 2600-2800. These numbers are variable. Excessively low calorie diets are dangerous. Your brain alone needs 500 calories a day to function so if you are only taking in 500....something is going to suffer. Eating junk calories is like putting sugar water in your cars gas tank, how far will you get before you putz out? Healthy choices come from lean proteins, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables.

 #3 The burn! How active are you? Sit all day at the job, come home and sit on the couch, repeat the next day and the next....YIKES! You can't change by doing what you have always done so MOVE! Make a plan. Get out the door. Buddy up with someone for fitness. Be accountable. Efficient exercise is HIT workouts. High intensity training that can be done in 30 minutes or less. You get the benefit of cardio and strength training all in one session. Do this 2-3 times a week and charge your body up for a metabolic burn. Supplement it with stress reducing walking.

#4 Sleep. All of the above efforts are sabotaged if you do not get adequate rest. 6-8 hours a night are a good rule but there are a few that need more or less. Sleep is when your body rejuvenates so make it a priority. Beware that alcohol and some foods are disruptors of a good nights rest.

So in summary, work with what you've got, be aware of the calorie guidelines and quality of such that you put into your well tuned machine and know what it takes to get the maximum out of that machine. Lastly, be patient, changes do not happen overnight, and understand that to be successful this must be a LIFESTYLE change with small goals leading to the accomplishment of big ones!