Did you know that it can take up to a half hour for your brain to process that your stomach is full? Give yourself a little time before going back for seconds, or better yet, serve your food restaurant style and avoid seconds altogether. When you go out to eat, your server brings you a plate of food, you eat it and that’s that. Do the same at home. Put your leftovers in the fridge – out of sight, out of mind.
Also, only dish yourself out healthy serving size portions and then give yourself time to really digest what you have eaten before you give yourself a chance to overeat. You want to feel satisfied, not full. This is the best way to prevent yourself from overeating.
Here are 5 easy tips that will help you lose weight by not overeating:
1. Serve your food restaurant style – put leftovers away before you eat your meal
2. Eat slowly – chew each bite of food completely, don’t just shovel it down
3. Put your fork down between bites.
4. Have a sip of water in between each bite of food - doing so will help you feel full
5. Use smaller plates – a small, full plate looks like a lot of food – and is probably more than enough to meet your needs
As always, be sure to Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
How to calculate your target heart rate zone for P90X
To get the best results from your P90X cardio workouts, you must keep your heart rate within 65% - 85% of your heart rate zone. Figuring out your zone is very quick and easy to do. To calculate your heart rate zone:
1. Subtract your age from 220. This will tell you your maximum heart beats per minute. (220 - 33 (age) = 187 max beats per minute)
2. Multiply your max beats per minute by 65%. This will be the minimum range of your heart rate zone while working out (187 max beats per min x 0.65 = 122)
3. Multiply your max beats per minute by 85%. This is the maximum range of your heart rate zone while working out (187 max beats per min x 0.85 = 159)
So my heart rate zone is 122 - 159. Now I know that I need keep my heart beating between 122 - 159 beats per minute if I want to be "in the zone" and have the most efficient workout possible. Exercising at the lower range of your zone enables the body to take up enough oxygen so the cells can utilize stored fat.
If you workout within the higher range of the zone you will burn more calories; however, for most overweight people, the majority of energy used will be in the form of carbohydrates and less used up from fat storage.
To figure out your heart rate without a heart rate monitor, place your index and middle finger on the inner part of your wrist. Now count how many beats you have in 10 seconds, then multiply that number by 6. For example, if I count 25 heart beats in 10 seconds, I multiply 25 by six for a heart rate of 150. If you find that you are exercising inside or outside of your zone, decrease or increase your intensity level accordingly.
Thanks for Wendy for posting about this on her HEALTHY LIVING BLOG
As always, be sure to follow me on Twitter
1. Subtract your age from 220. This will tell you your maximum heart beats per minute. (220 - 33 (age) = 187 max beats per minute)
2. Multiply your max beats per minute by 65%. This will be the minimum range of your heart rate zone while working out (187 max beats per min x 0.65 = 122)
3. Multiply your max beats per minute by 85%. This is the maximum range of your heart rate zone while working out (187 max beats per min x 0.85 = 159)
So my heart rate zone is 122 - 159. Now I know that I need keep my heart beating between 122 - 159 beats per minute if I want to be "in the zone" and have the most efficient workout possible. Exercising at the lower range of your zone enables the body to take up enough oxygen so the cells can utilize stored fat.
If you workout within the higher range of the zone you will burn more calories; however, for most overweight people, the majority of energy used will be in the form of carbohydrates and less used up from fat storage.
Thanks for Wendy for posting about this on her HEALTHY LIVING BLOG
Thursday, February 18, 2010
An alternative to the P90X Meal Plan - the 8 Week Transition Diet
There are lots of us that have questions about what we can/can't eat with P90X. Do you really have to follow the P90X meal plan? Is there an alternate plan? Can I eat whatever I want to? Steve Edwards from Beach Body has come up with this alternative meal plan to follow for those that can't, or don't want to, follow the regular P90X meal plan.
The following was taken from the P90X Facebook discussion page; a link to the discussion board is at the end of this post.
"The 6-Week Transition Diet was one of the first things I ever wrote for Beachbody, and it's remained fairly popular ever since. But that was a long time ago, when our readership was just a fraction of what it is today, and chances are that most of you have yet to see it. So here we go again, though this version will be vastly improved from round one. In fact, it has grown to be 8 weeks long, allowing a more leisurely transition into healthy eating.
In its conception, we only had one diet plan available. Nowadays, we've got quite a few, as you know if you happen to own many of our products. But it's always nice to have options as no one eating plan works for every individual. Diets that are conceptual can be easier to follow because you're only given a short list of "no-nos," leaving your available diet to anything else you can find. Of course, that isn't the attitude you want to have for success. Any diet, no matter how easy it seems, will take some willpower on your part if you want to see results. But what's more important is that with this type of plan, your long-range goal should be to eat well, period. If you can accomplish this, results will become a natural extension of your lifestyle, instead of something you need to pursue.
As your healthy eating behavior becomes a habit, you will find the other intangibles (such as weight loss, energy gained, etc.) falling into place. For many people, the easiest way to accomplish this is a gradual transition from food choices that hinder human performance to choices that help you perform better. By making this transition gradually, you'll find it isn't all that difficult.
Week 1
No junk. Eliminate junk food from your diet. That's it, just junk. Other than this you may eat whatever and whenever you like. Now how hard can that be? Guess this depends on what I mean by "junk." But all I'm concerned with this week is the obvious stuff like potato chips, candy, ice cream, cake, etc. You may be stricter if you'd like, but for week one don't be too hard on yourself. For many of you, this step alone will reap huge benefits.
Cheat Days: 2
Since no one is perfect, you get two days to cheat. That's right, two days where you may eat anything you want! A trick on these days (and, yes, this means there will be more) is to listen to your body. At first, it will probably tell you it wants whatever you've been denying it. However, over time it will start to crave nutrients that you're deficient in. Learn to read its subtleties. If you're craving ice cream, you may be short on essential fatty acids. If you crave a hamburger, your diet may lack protein. This way you can make better food substitutions. It's a way of getting in tune with yourself that will benefit you for your entire lifetime.
Weekly focus: Water. Not swimming in it, though that's good too, but staying hydrated with it. You should drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of flat water per day. Diet sodas and such are no substitute as they contain ingredients that alter your body chemistry, even though they may not contain calories. Drinking a glass of water when you feel the oncoming of hunger pangs will not only keep you hydrated, but will stave off your hunger to some degree.
As for other drinks, sodas fall into the junk category. And alcohol should be kept to a minimum. We tend to forget that alcohol has calories. A lot of them: 7 calories per gram. It also can slow your metabolism since it is metabolized like sugar and causes an insulin spike. Mixers can be even worse—not only can they add calories, but they can greatly influence the way the alcohol reacts with your body. When you do drink, red wine is the alcohol of choice, with beer or white wine running second.
Week 2
Each week carries over, so the "no junk" rule from week one will apply until the end, as will each subsequent week's rule. Remember that this is a learning and conditioning process. It's like you're in a school and the subject is your own body.
Get your timing down. Eat four to six small meals a day and no eating for 3 hours before you go to sleep. If you make yourself space in your eating schedule, the size will control itself because you won't get ravenously hungry. Following these rules will keep your blood sugar levels more static and your energy level will stay consistent. Try to keep each snack or meal balanced. Keep a 30% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 30% fat scale in mind, though you don't need to worry too much about it. Just realize that you need a bit from each group. Eat based on what you will be doing for the next few hours (if you're working out, eat a little more; sitting at a desk, eat a little less). The 3-hour-before-bed rule is important, especially for fats and carbohydrates. By allowing time for all the carbs you eat to get into your bloodstream; your body will sleep in fat-burning mode, rather than in calorie-storing mode. This is important because undigested carbs in your stomach at night are stored in adipose tissue (fat).
Cheat Days: 2
Weekly focus: Carbs are not the enemy. Your body needs them, just like it needs proteins and fats. The trick is to choose the right carbs. As a society, we eat too much refined sugar. Complex carbs, like whole grain breads, whole grain rice, sweet potatoes, and legumes are outstanding foods. Even fruits, which have simple carbohydrates that are wrapped in fiber, are very good for you and hard to overconsume. While you don't want a diet based on nothing but carbs, making the right carb choices will maximize your body's potential. Try and avoid white rice and flours. Read labels and try and avoid products that use the word "enriched" on the label, as this means they've been stripped down and overprocessed.
Week 3
Eat colorful, nondense foods. These are foods that take up a lot of space without a lot of calories. Veggies are the most extreme examples. You can eat a salad bowl overflowing with lettuce and veggies and you'll most likely not exceed 100 calories. By eating low-density foods, like veggies and fruits, you will keep your portions under control naturally because they have very few calories for their size. Conversely, high-density foods, like chocolate and butter, are loaded with cals even in the smallest amounts. So beware of salad dressings and other things you add to salads and veggies. Only add enough for flavor; don't fill up on them. When it comes to live foods, the richer the colors the fresher the products tend to be. Try and eat a variety of colors in your diet. This rather simple and somewhat random act will help ensure that you're covering the basics, nutrient-wise.
Cheat Days: 1
Weekly focus: Protein at every meal. This becomes even more important as you eat more low-density food because protein tends to be high-density. Many veggies have a lot of protein, but the amount you must consume starts to become prohibitive. Try and get some protein—meat, dairy products, or legumes—each time you eat. This is especially when you're working out hard as you need to repair broken down muscle tissue. Frequency is even more vital for women, who are able to digest less protein at one time than men. It's almost impossible to get all of your necessary protein at one or two meals, so try and get 10 to 20 grams of protein each time you eat. Reading labels is the best way to learn how to estimate your protein intake.
Week 4
Cook at home. One of the best ways to control your eating is to prepare all of your meals yourself. Eliminate all fast food and most other restaurant food. You may allow certain places where you can be sure of the ingredients (they'll advertise this). But avoid all fast-foods chains, even "healthy" ones. Restaurants need their food to taste good, so often times they use compromised ingredients even when they list low numbers on fats and/or calories. Fast food contains many hidden evils besides just calories. For example, check the sodium levels next time you see one of those nutrition charts. Most fast foods use ridiculously high amounts of salt. Avoiding fast food alone will often bring your body closer to homeostasis. This can be hard for many of us because we now have to plan our meals and prepare ahead of time but try and treat it like school—you don't learn new vocations without a little retraining.
Cheat Days: 1
Weekly focus: Fat is essential. Remember that fat is a vital part of your diet, not just something that makes you fat. What is not vital is a lot of saturated or trans fats. Trans fats are those that are artificial and, hopefully, they've been eliminated from your diet by this point since they're mainly found in junk. Saturated fats are found in dairy products and meats, and you don't need too much. For cooking, try and use olive oil when possible. Also, the addition of either flaxseed or hemp oil can have a pronounced effect on your life. These oils are loaded with essentially fatty acids, omegas 3 and 6. Be careful about that amount of fat. It is dense and has 9 calories per gram, opposed to 4 for both carbs and protein. A tablespoon goes a long way!
Week 5
Reduce starchy carbohydrates. Starches include rice, breads, potatoes, corn, beans, and other legumes. While these are in no way bad foods, they tend to be overconsumed; so what you want to do this week is cut way down on them, if not out all the way. Then add them back in when your body feels as though it needs energy, which it will at some point if you are exercising (and why wouldn't you be?). But don't add an entire plate of pasta; instead, add a serving. Starches are great energy food, but if overeaten they can actually make you sluggish!
Cheat Days: 1
Weekly focus: Sugar is best after a workout. Your body doesn't really need processed sugar. But if you really enjoy it and can't avoid letting some sneak into your daily diet, having it during a one-hour period after you exercise is the best time to indulge. During this window, your blood sugar is low since you've used it up to finish your workout (provided you pushed yourself). So sugar during this time will actually help you recover faster because it speeds into your system and initiates the recovery process. Adding a little protein, but not too much, will enhance this even further. The perfect ratio is 1 part protein to 4 parts carbs. You should avoid fats during this time period as it slows absorption—a good thing otherwise, just not during and immediately after working out.
Week 6
If people make it, don't eat it. This is likely to be the hardest week of your diet. You want to eat only whole foods and eliminate all processed foods for the week. This includes breads, most salad dressings, almost all cereal, luncheon meats, cheese, dried fruits, anything with preservatives, and alcoholic beverages. What you can eat are whole foods such as fruit, raw or steamed vegetables, meat (sans any type of sauce), natural grain rice, poached eggs, etc. Since your eating habits have been slowly changing it shouldn't be all that shocking, but keeping in mind that you only have to eat this way for 7 days will make it easier.
Cheat Days: 1
The 'cheat day' mentality is not a bad one. Rewards such as decadent desserts, a night of overindulgence, or drinking with friends, are good for you as long as you keep them in perspective. These are rewards for a life well lived and you should be able to feel good about doing them. Plus, there is some method to this madness as well in that you still tend to crave nutrients you lack. So if you are cutting the calories down in order to lose weight, allowing a cheat day will give your body a chance to take in what it needs to avoid being malnourished.
Weekly focus: Nuts make great snacks. A handful of raw almonds or cashews are a quick and easy snack that goes a long way. Don't be put off by the high fat count of nuts. It doesn't take many to fill you up and they're loaded with essential fat and many nutrients.
Week 7
Be yourself. No rules—just try and eat healthy.
It might seem a bit much telling you to trust yourself, but you can handle it! Plus, it's an important step in your transformation. Consider the way you've been eating over the last 6 weeks, but don't worry about what you should and shouldn't do. Just eat. The point is to take a mental break. Relax and allow yourself to eat in a way that feels normal. You may be surprised to find yourself craving something healthy instead of a candy bar or a pint of Ben & Jerry's. You will be better at listening to your body because it will tell you what it needs to eat, as opposed to what you're used to eating. Your body should feel somewhat transformed. Does it?
'Reward for a life well lived' Days: 1
Weekly focus: If you are so hungry at night you can't sleep, try a protein shake before bed. You want nothing but protein powder and water. No carbs or superfluous calories. But protein at night, especially whey, will help the body repair damaged tissue and enhance the natural growth-hormone spike that you get while you sleep.
Week 8
Eat a perfect diet. Now it's time for a real challenge—are you ready? The perfect diet is strictly individual as there is no one diet that suits everybody. So who better to choose the perfect diet for you than you? Our bodies are all different and the key to your own perfect diet is learning about how your body reacts to different foods under different circumstances. You journey over the last 7 weeks should have brought you to a new understanding of how food affects your body, both for good and for bad. Now it's up to you to put it to the test. See how well you can eat for a week. In fact, see how well you can eat for the rest of your life. Live and enjoy.
Reward Days: 1, of course!
Weekly Focus: Don't bonk. Bonking is a state where your body runs out of stored blood sugar for energy. If you feel like your workouts are going backwards instead of forwards, this is a likely culprit. Use your energy level as you gauge. As soon as it starts to drop, start adding carbs back into your diet until you feel energized all day long. Then you'll be at a point you want to stay. Also, remember that as you body puts on more muscle, you will need to eat more. Muscle weighs much more than fat and as you gain muscle and lose fat you will shrink at the same weight. You will also require more calories in order to maintain your muscle. So when working out hard, don't be afraid to eat more carbs than you do otherwise."
You can read this article in it's original form on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=13770&uid=96636486820
As always, be sure to follow me on Twitter
The following was taken from the P90X Facebook discussion page; a link to the discussion board is at the end of this post.
"The 6-Week Transition Diet was one of the first things I ever wrote for Beachbody, and it's remained fairly popular ever since. But that was a long time ago, when our readership was just a fraction of what it is today, and chances are that most of you have yet to see it. So here we go again, though this version will be vastly improved from round one. In fact, it has grown to be 8 weeks long, allowing a more leisurely transition into healthy eating.
In its conception, we only had one diet plan available. Nowadays, we've got quite a few, as you know if you happen to own many of our products. But it's always nice to have options as no one eating plan works for every individual. Diets that are conceptual can be easier to follow because you're only given a short list of "no-nos," leaving your available diet to anything else you can find. Of course, that isn't the attitude you want to have for success. Any diet, no matter how easy it seems, will take some willpower on your part if you want to see results. But what's more important is that with this type of plan, your long-range goal should be to eat well, period. If you can accomplish this, results will become a natural extension of your lifestyle, instead of something you need to pursue.
As your healthy eating behavior becomes a habit, you will find the other intangibles (such as weight loss, energy gained, etc.) falling into place. For many people, the easiest way to accomplish this is a gradual transition from food choices that hinder human performance to choices that help you perform better. By making this transition gradually, you'll find it isn't all that difficult.
Week 1
No junk. Eliminate junk food from your diet. That's it, just junk. Other than this you may eat whatever and whenever you like. Now how hard can that be? Guess this depends on what I mean by "junk." But all I'm concerned with this week is the obvious stuff like potato chips, candy, ice cream, cake, etc. You may be stricter if you'd like, but for week one don't be too hard on yourself. For many of you, this step alone will reap huge benefits.
Cheat Days: 2
Since no one is perfect, you get two days to cheat. That's right, two days where you may eat anything you want! A trick on these days (and, yes, this means there will be more) is to listen to your body. At first, it will probably tell you it wants whatever you've been denying it. However, over time it will start to crave nutrients that you're deficient in. Learn to read its subtleties. If you're craving ice cream, you may be short on essential fatty acids. If you crave a hamburger, your diet may lack protein. This way you can make better food substitutions. It's a way of getting in tune with yourself that will benefit you for your entire lifetime.
Weekly focus: Water. Not swimming in it, though that's good too, but staying hydrated with it. You should drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of flat water per day. Diet sodas and such are no substitute as they contain ingredients that alter your body chemistry, even though they may not contain calories. Drinking a glass of water when you feel the oncoming of hunger pangs will not only keep you hydrated, but will stave off your hunger to some degree.
As for other drinks, sodas fall into the junk category. And alcohol should be kept to a minimum. We tend to forget that alcohol has calories. A lot of them: 7 calories per gram. It also can slow your metabolism since it is metabolized like sugar and causes an insulin spike. Mixers can be even worse—not only can they add calories, but they can greatly influence the way the alcohol reacts with your body. When you do drink, red wine is the alcohol of choice, with beer or white wine running second.
Week 2
Each week carries over, so the "no junk" rule from week one will apply until the end, as will each subsequent week's rule. Remember that this is a learning and conditioning process. It's like you're in a school and the subject is your own body.
Get your timing down. Eat four to six small meals a day and no eating for 3 hours before you go to sleep. If you make yourself space in your eating schedule, the size will control itself because you won't get ravenously hungry. Following these rules will keep your blood sugar levels more static and your energy level will stay consistent. Try to keep each snack or meal balanced. Keep a 30% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 30% fat scale in mind, though you don't need to worry too much about it. Just realize that you need a bit from each group. Eat based on what you will be doing for the next few hours (if you're working out, eat a little more; sitting at a desk, eat a little less). The 3-hour-before-bed rule is important, especially for fats and carbohydrates. By allowing time for all the carbs you eat to get into your bloodstream; your body will sleep in fat-burning mode, rather than in calorie-storing mode. This is important because undigested carbs in your stomach at night are stored in adipose tissue (fat).
Cheat Days: 2
Weekly focus: Carbs are not the enemy. Your body needs them, just like it needs proteins and fats. The trick is to choose the right carbs. As a society, we eat too much refined sugar. Complex carbs, like whole grain breads, whole grain rice, sweet potatoes, and legumes are outstanding foods. Even fruits, which have simple carbohydrates that are wrapped in fiber, are very good for you and hard to overconsume. While you don't want a diet based on nothing but carbs, making the right carb choices will maximize your body's potential. Try and avoid white rice and flours. Read labels and try and avoid products that use the word "enriched" on the label, as this means they've been stripped down and overprocessed.
Week 3
Eat colorful, nondense foods. These are foods that take up a lot of space without a lot of calories. Veggies are the most extreme examples. You can eat a salad bowl overflowing with lettuce and veggies and you'll most likely not exceed 100 calories. By eating low-density foods, like veggies and fruits, you will keep your portions under control naturally because they have very few calories for their size. Conversely, high-density foods, like chocolate and butter, are loaded with cals even in the smallest amounts. So beware of salad dressings and other things you add to salads and veggies. Only add enough for flavor; don't fill up on them. When it comes to live foods, the richer the colors the fresher the products tend to be. Try and eat a variety of colors in your diet. This rather simple and somewhat random act will help ensure that you're covering the basics, nutrient-wise.
Cheat Days: 1
Weekly focus: Protein at every meal. This becomes even more important as you eat more low-density food because protein tends to be high-density. Many veggies have a lot of protein, but the amount you must consume starts to become prohibitive. Try and get some protein—meat, dairy products, or legumes—each time you eat. This is especially when you're working out hard as you need to repair broken down muscle tissue. Frequency is even more vital for women, who are able to digest less protein at one time than men. It's almost impossible to get all of your necessary protein at one or two meals, so try and get 10 to 20 grams of protein each time you eat. Reading labels is the best way to learn how to estimate your protein intake.
Week 4
Cook at home. One of the best ways to control your eating is to prepare all of your meals yourself. Eliminate all fast food and most other restaurant food. You may allow certain places where you can be sure of the ingredients (they'll advertise this). But avoid all fast-foods chains, even "healthy" ones. Restaurants need their food to taste good, so often times they use compromised ingredients even when they list low numbers on fats and/or calories. Fast food contains many hidden evils besides just calories. For example, check the sodium levels next time you see one of those nutrition charts. Most fast foods use ridiculously high amounts of salt. Avoiding fast food alone will often bring your body closer to homeostasis. This can be hard for many of us because we now have to plan our meals and prepare ahead of time but try and treat it like school—you don't learn new vocations without a little retraining.
Cheat Days: 1
Weekly focus: Fat is essential. Remember that fat is a vital part of your diet, not just something that makes you fat. What is not vital is a lot of saturated or trans fats. Trans fats are those that are artificial and, hopefully, they've been eliminated from your diet by this point since they're mainly found in junk. Saturated fats are found in dairy products and meats, and you don't need too much. For cooking, try and use olive oil when possible. Also, the addition of either flaxseed or hemp oil can have a pronounced effect on your life. These oils are loaded with essentially fatty acids, omegas 3 and 6. Be careful about that amount of fat. It is dense and has 9 calories per gram, opposed to 4 for both carbs and protein. A tablespoon goes a long way!
Week 5
Reduce starchy carbohydrates. Starches include rice, breads, potatoes, corn, beans, and other legumes. While these are in no way bad foods, they tend to be overconsumed; so what you want to do this week is cut way down on them, if not out all the way. Then add them back in when your body feels as though it needs energy, which it will at some point if you are exercising (and why wouldn't you be?). But don't add an entire plate of pasta; instead, add a serving. Starches are great energy food, but if overeaten they can actually make you sluggish!
Cheat Days: 1
Weekly focus: Sugar is best after a workout. Your body doesn't really need processed sugar. But if you really enjoy it and can't avoid letting some sneak into your daily diet, having it during a one-hour period after you exercise is the best time to indulge. During this window, your blood sugar is low since you've used it up to finish your workout (provided you pushed yourself). So sugar during this time will actually help you recover faster because it speeds into your system and initiates the recovery process. Adding a little protein, but not too much, will enhance this even further. The perfect ratio is 1 part protein to 4 parts carbs. You should avoid fats during this time period as it slows absorption—a good thing otherwise, just not during and immediately after working out.
Week 6
If people make it, don't eat it. This is likely to be the hardest week of your diet. You want to eat only whole foods and eliminate all processed foods for the week. This includes breads, most salad dressings, almost all cereal, luncheon meats, cheese, dried fruits, anything with preservatives, and alcoholic beverages. What you can eat are whole foods such as fruit, raw or steamed vegetables, meat (sans any type of sauce), natural grain rice, poached eggs, etc. Since your eating habits have been slowly changing it shouldn't be all that shocking, but keeping in mind that you only have to eat this way for 7 days will make it easier.
Cheat Days: 1
The 'cheat day' mentality is not a bad one. Rewards such as decadent desserts, a night of overindulgence, or drinking with friends, are good for you as long as you keep them in perspective. These are rewards for a life well lived and you should be able to feel good about doing them. Plus, there is some method to this madness as well in that you still tend to crave nutrients you lack. So if you are cutting the calories down in order to lose weight, allowing a cheat day will give your body a chance to take in what it needs to avoid being malnourished.
Weekly focus: Nuts make great snacks. A handful of raw almonds or cashews are a quick and easy snack that goes a long way. Don't be put off by the high fat count of nuts. It doesn't take many to fill you up and they're loaded with essential fat and many nutrients.
Week 7
Be yourself. No rules—just try and eat healthy.
It might seem a bit much telling you to trust yourself, but you can handle it! Plus, it's an important step in your transformation. Consider the way you've been eating over the last 6 weeks, but don't worry about what you should and shouldn't do. Just eat. The point is to take a mental break. Relax and allow yourself to eat in a way that feels normal. You may be surprised to find yourself craving something healthy instead of a candy bar or a pint of Ben & Jerry's. You will be better at listening to your body because it will tell you what it needs to eat, as opposed to what you're used to eating. Your body should feel somewhat transformed. Does it?
'Reward for a life well lived' Days: 1
Weekly focus: If you are so hungry at night you can't sleep, try a protein shake before bed. You want nothing but protein powder and water. No carbs or superfluous calories. But protein at night, especially whey, will help the body repair damaged tissue and enhance the natural growth-hormone spike that you get while you sleep.
Week 8
Eat a perfect diet. Now it's time for a real challenge—are you ready? The perfect diet is strictly individual as there is no one diet that suits everybody. So who better to choose the perfect diet for you than you? Our bodies are all different and the key to your own perfect diet is learning about how your body reacts to different foods under different circumstances. You journey over the last 7 weeks should have brought you to a new understanding of how food affects your body, both for good and for bad. Now it's up to you to put it to the test. See how well you can eat for a week. In fact, see how well you can eat for the rest of your life. Live and enjoy.
Reward Days: 1, of course!
Weekly Focus: Don't bonk. Bonking is a state where your body runs out of stored blood sugar for energy. If you feel like your workouts are going backwards instead of forwards, this is a likely culprit. Use your energy level as you gauge. As soon as it starts to drop, start adding carbs back into your diet until you feel energized all day long. Then you'll be at a point you want to stay. Also, remember that as you body puts on more muscle, you will need to eat more. Muscle weighs much more than fat and as you gain muscle and lose fat you will shrink at the same weight. You will also require more calories in order to maintain your muscle. So when working out hard, don't be afraid to eat more carbs than you do otherwise."
You can read this article in it's original form on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=13770&uid=96636486820
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Exercising while on vacation - How to stay in shape while you travel
I just got back from a weeklong vacation in Maui and I’m already trying to figure out a way to get back as soon as possible. It’s tough to beat a nice vacation. Taking a break from work, bills and the daily grind is the perfect way to get recharged and ready to face real life again……at least for a little while. Exercising, however, is one thing that I don’t like to take a break from.
While it’s no fun to work out when you could be relaxing on the beach or doing some other relaxing version of nothing instead, it’s too easy for me to slip back into bad (lazy) habits if I don’t keep on some type of schedule, so I try and find some time when exercising doesn’t interfere with my vacation.
I personally can’t sleep in. Doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend or if I’m on vacation, I just can’t do it. So when I inevitably wake up before everyone else, instead of sitting in the hotel room trying to be quiet so others can sleep, I’ll grab my iPod and head off to the hotel fitness room. Everyone wins – I get to work out, others get to sleep in and nobody sacrifices their “play time” for exercise time.
Vacationing can also be brutal on your diet. Road tripping in particular is a sure fire way to wipe out good eating habits when you’re pounding three square fast food meals a day. I’ve never been a big calorie counter; I just try to use a little caution when ordering my food. Order grilled instead of fried. Have one less drink. Skip the soda once in a while and get water instead. Always skip the fries. You get the idea.
Making a little effort to eat semi-sensibly and to exercise while on your vacation always makes it easier for me to get back into my regular workout schedule. Doing so also helps me avoid feeling like crap once I get home, step on the scale or look at myself in the mirror and think “what have I done?”
Here are a few simple tips for exercising and eating right while on vacation.
As always, be sure to follow me on Twitter
While it’s no fun to work out when you could be relaxing on the beach or doing some other relaxing version of nothing instead, it’s too easy for me to slip back into bad (lazy) habits if I don’t keep on some type of schedule, so I try and find some time when exercising doesn’t interfere with my vacation.
I personally can’t sleep in. Doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend or if I’m on vacation, I just can’t do it. So when I inevitably wake up before everyone else, instead of sitting in the hotel room trying to be quiet so others can sleep, I’ll grab my iPod and head off to the hotel fitness room. Everyone wins – I get to work out, others get to sleep in and nobody sacrifices their “play time” for exercise time.
Vacationing can also be brutal on your diet. Road tripping in particular is a sure fire way to wipe out good eating habits when you’re pounding three square fast food meals a day. I’ve never been a big calorie counter; I just try to use a little caution when ordering my food. Order grilled instead of fried. Have one less drink. Skip the soda once in a while and get water instead. Always skip the fries. You get the idea.
Making a little effort to eat semi-sensibly and to exercise while on your vacation always makes it easier for me to get back into my regular workout schedule. Doing so also helps me avoid feeling like crap once I get home, step on the scale or look at myself in the mirror and think “what have I done?”
Here are a few simple tips for exercising and eating right while on vacation.
- Do something. Doesn’t matter if you’re only doing some pushups and sit ups in the morning and evening, just do some type of exercises.
- Find the right time. Nobody wants to hit the treadmill when they could be out playing instead. So find a time when you can grab 30 minutes without interfering with your schedule. Mornings are always great. Evenings and lunchtime might work as well.
- Fool yourself. Plan a little physical activity into your trip. Take a hike, walk along the beach, go on a bike ride. Instead of just sitting on the beach or lounging poolside, why not hop in the water and go for a swim? There are lots of fun vacation-type activities you can do that will also burn a few extra calories.
- Not healthy – just healthier. No need to take carrot sticks and rice cakes with you wherever you go, but you also don’t need to order cheese fries with that double stacked burger – just eat healthier. Skip the cheese and/or hold fattening condiments (like mayo) on your sandwich. A salad is nice, but it doesn’t count when smothered in ranch. Drink water, not soda. Order grilled food.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Another P90X iPhone App
Just stumbled on another iPhone app developed specifically for us P90X 'ers. It's called 12 Week Fitness and you can download it for a buck at 
.
A recent customer review of 12 Week Fitness by mynew3G reads: “This app is great for tracking my fitness goals! I love how I can choose which body part I have worked and how I can log my cardio time.” - mynew3G rated this app at 4 stars.
The product description on iTunes as follows: "12 Week Fitness is a simple guide to keep you on schedule with your workout routine and motivate you to continue. Seeing your progress on a daily basis will push you to continue! Every X means success! This is a good way to set a fitness goal for yourself and stick to it. This basic guide has already helped thousands lose weight, gain muscle, look younger and feel better.”You can download 12 Week Fitness for yourself at.
Read about another P90X iPhone app HERE
As always, be sure to follow me on Twitter
.A recent customer review of 12 Week Fitness by mynew3G reads: “This app is great for tracking my fitness goals! I love how I can choose which body part I have worked and how I can log my cardio time.” - mynew3G rated this app at 4 stars.
12 Week Fitness is $0.99, compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iPhone OS 2.2 or later. It is currently rated at 2.5 stars in iTunes.
The product description on iTunes as follows: "12 Week Fitness is a simple guide to keep you on schedule with your workout routine and motivate you to continue. Seeing your progress on a daily basis will push you to continue! Every X means success! This is a good way to set a fitness goal for yourself and stick to it. This basic guide has already helped thousands lose weight, gain muscle, look younger and feel better.”You can download 12 Week Fitness for yourself at
.Saturday, December 12, 2009
What is better for weight loss, swimming or running?
Headed to Maui in 31 days and would like to make the most out of my exercise time from now until then in order to lose the most weight, but I’m not sure if I should spend more time running or swimming?
Monday – Friday I work out at the gym during my hour lunch break from work; however, between drive times to and from the gym, dressing, showering, etc, I’ve only got about 30 good minutes to work out.
Does running or swimming burn more fat? Where should I spend my 30 minutes? Your thoughts and comments on this are appreciated!
As always, be sure to follow me on Twitter
Monday – Friday I work out at the gym during my hour lunch break from work; however, between drive times to and from the gym, dressing, showering, etc, I’ve only got about 30 good minutes to work out.
Does running or swimming burn more fat? Where should I spend my 30 minutes? Your thoughts and comments on this are appreciated!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Found my P90X DVDs - well, my P90X MP4 files anyway
Guess what I found one day after blogging about losing my P90X DVDs? Figures. They’ve been missing for 6+ months and I find them one freaking day after telling everyone that I’d lost them. I guess technically I didn’t find my DVDs, but I did find my workouts. After getting my DVDs I converted them into P90X MP4 files so that I could have them on my iPhone – What I found were the two CDs that I put these files on. So the quality isn’t that great and they don’t play on my DVD player, but they do work on my laptop so I’m good.
I was so pumped to find them that I did Kenpo X last night. I chose Kenpo since it was always the easiest workout for me to do. It was so easy that I used to complain that it was too easy and not enough of a workout. Uh, I must be in worse shape than I thought because I struggled through this hour-long workout.
Even though I’ve now got my workouts back, I’m not sure if I’m going to start the program immediately. I like the workout that I’ve got going on at my gym right now so I’ll probably just use the P90X cardio workouts (Kenpo, Plyometrics, Cardio X) as supplemental workouts that I do at night.
As always, be sure to follow me on Twitter
I was so pumped to find them that I did Kenpo X last night. I chose Kenpo since it was always the easiest workout for me to do. It was so easy that I used to complain that it was too easy and not enough of a workout. Uh, I must be in worse shape than I thought because I struggled through this hour-long workout.
Even though I’ve now got my workouts back, I’m not sure if I’m going to start the program immediately. I like the workout that I’ve got going on at my gym right now so I’ll probably just use the P90X cardio workouts (Kenpo, Plyometrics, Cardio X) as supplemental workouts that I do at night.
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