Fitness and Exercise Blog

Like most of you, my fitness and nutrition program wet on the back-burner over the holidays. Between family, work, vacation, and all that great holiday food…I gained about 5lbs. So; from when I decided to lose some weight in early November, I first lost 10, then gained back 5.

This is not a problem, however, the alternative would have been to cram in workouts around much needed family time and be stressed trying to watch calories during holiday meals. I’d rather just enjoy my break and then make up for it later. It is a lot healthier psychologically as well, to not try and hold yourself to an unreasonable standard.

The hardest part is getting back into the routine of working out and watching what you eat after a break. Just force yourself to get through that 1st week back at it, then it will become routine again. I’m not talking anything drastic either. My workouts are 30-45 minutes, 2-3 times per week, that’s it! My diet plan is about 2100 calories per day (185lb male) and once a week I eat whatever I want (additional 500-1000 cals) for a day. This keeps my metabolism from slowing way down in response to the reduced calories. I’m not hungry all the time either. They key is eating nutritious foods, not fast food junk which has very little nutritional value and leaves your body craving more.

So, I eat eggs for breakfast, something like a sandwich for lunch, and a decent dinner with meat, a starch and vegetables. I usually have enough calories in my budget left over for a beer or a glass of wine. I don’t eat desserts unless it is my cheat day. It is two weeks after New Year’s day and I am already 2.5lbs ahead of where I was before the holidays. I have lost a total of about 13 lbs since the beginning of November, which is a little more than a pound per week which was my goal. Slow, steady, weight loss which is sustainable…I’m not expecting “Biggest Loser” style 10lb+ per week results. I have a life outside of living in a mansion with personal trainers….

I heard a great radio interview with Denise Austin (Fitness Celebrity) and she mentioned that she makes it a habit to do something fitness related for 30 minutes every day. First thing in the morning, she either does some Yoga, Pilates, cardio or strength training. She mentioned that starting out; you would just do 10 minutes and slowly add time. Anyone has 10 minutes per day for fitness. This is a great, and easy, alternative to trying to fit in two to four 30 min-1 hour long workouts which is the more traditional method.

This morning, I mixed it up with a “high octane cardio” workout which involves sets of kettlebell exercises followed by a “rest” period where you jog for a minute or two! I just grabbed 2 kettlebells, headed to my front yard, and made it up as I went along. I had fun, got a great 30 minute workout in and even finished up with some kettlebell juggling; 30 reps of 2 hand swing, flip, and catch (See the “Ultimate Tough Man Kit” which includes a KB juggling DVD! for more info).

The bottom line is to plan for, and expect to slide back a little, during busy times, vacations, or holidays. Don’t beat yourself up over it. This is a journey, not a sprint. Don’t just quit, get back into it by starting small and doing a little something each week. You will look, feel, and be, much better for it!

Well, I was down 4.5 lbs and even did well on Thanksgiving! I did a hard kettlebell workout in the morning so that the excess calories I ate would be put to good use building muscle. Also, I timed it with my overeating day for the week. The problem is, I also had after-hours duty at work and as an insurance adjuster during a winter storm…that is kinda high stress and many additional hours.

So…I haven’t been eating very healthy the last few days. That’s OK. Most people at this point feel like failures and give up (then balloon back up!). Weight loss and healthy living is a lifetime thing, sometimes it is going great, other times not so much. So, this week, I’ll get back in the swing of things with my diet and kettlebell exercises as things slow down some. No real harm, I’m still at a net loss from where I started. That’s progress, and continued progress is all that matters.

I decided to make today my “overeating” day for the week since there is a Thanksgiving potluck at Church. I mentioned before the importance of overeating once per week so your metabolism doesn’t go into a starvation mode and slow way down. It only makes sense to pair that up with when you know you will overeat anyway!

I didn’t stop there though…since I’m going to consume between 500-1000 calories over my diet allotment today, I also gave those calories something to do. Yesterday, I did a high volume kettlebell weight workout. This will allow me to use some of these extra cals. as recovery from the heavy lifting.

Thursday (Thanksgiving) will be my next overeating day, so you can be sure I am going to do more high volume, heavy weight kettlebell exercises that morning as well!

My progress so far is I am down 4lbs in a week. That probably isn’t 4lbs of fat though, and I don’t get too hung up on the exact weight. I just weigh myself 1X week and look for continued progress.

Okay, today was my 1st day on my diet. So, I’m supposed to be at 2158 cals. per day. Not an exact science either so 2100-2300 is OK. Anyway, the “Lose It” app will take any calories burned from exercise that day and add them to my total of what I can eat. I think what I’ll do on kettlebell exercise days is just have a protein shake recovery drink (~300 cals) and call it good.

As far as nutrition goes…here are some general guidelines: Avoid fried foods, sugars (I’m mainly talking about deserts and sugary drinks, there is some sugar in almost everything). High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is particularly bad. Also, fatty meats esp. pork. Alcohol is also just empty calories (about 7 cals. per gram). This one is hard for me, especially because I love micro brews and the hops in beer tends to lead to extra belly fat on top of the extra cals. My plan is to have no beer except on my overeating day and no more than 2 drinks the rest of the week. Hard alcohol isn’t too bad at about 80-100 cals per 1.5oz. So my Rum and Coke Zero is a ~100 cal drink. The beer I like to drink would be 175-225 cals.

Foods to emphasize: fresh vegetables, fruits, lean meats, eggs, good fats like olive oil, coconut oil, nuts. It is important to also have 1 day per week where you eat as much as you want (within reason), about 500-1000 cals more than your diet amount. Don’t force feed, just eat what you like. This will keep your metabolism from going into “starvation” mode and slowing way down. A pound of fat is over 3,000 calories…so 500-1000 extra 1X per week isn’t gonna de-rail your progress anyway considering the 6 days of reduced intake plus exercise.

Today I was at about 2,000 calories total. I had too much fat (2 eggs and hashbrowns for breakfast just to get started, beef stroganoff for dinner). I was a little hungry all day, but not too bad. Not a workout day either, I did trot up 7 flights of stairs at work and did some exercises on 4 of the landings just to get moving though.

Nutrition is my weak point, I need to emphasize more fresh veggies…I always used to make up for poor nutrition with high intensity workouts. I’m looking for a better balance.

For way more outstanding info on nutrition and weight loss, I highly recommend you get The Truth About Abs by Mike Geary, it covers everything I’ve touched on here and waaaay more!

When I received this update from my partners at Prograde my jaw nearly hit the floor. I was just about to write an article like this myself. But since they’ve already done the work I got permission to share it with you. I also use the EFA icon everyday, 25% off is a great deal!

Seriously, this one will be a revelation.

Enjoy!

Brian
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Hey, it’s Jayson back with an awesome article for you that is really going to open your eyes.

You see, not all Omega Fatty Acids are what you think they are. There’s much more to the story than the mainstream media lets on.

Discover for yourself the Bad News About Omega Fatty Acids:

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Oh, and don’t forget that our ultra-potent EFA Icon is 25% off RIGHT NOW, so be sure to stock up.

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Yours in health,

Jayson Hunter, RD, CSCS

Prograde Nutrition

PS – Don’t just diet…add in a highly effective kettlebell workout!

I really do get asked this all the time:

“When is the BEST time to workout?” (preferably with kettlebells ; )

Well, in reality, the best time truly is whenever you are actually going to do it.

Look, some people love to get their training in first thing in the morning.

Some love to go during their lunch hour.

And, of course, many people just wait until after work.

Hey, with some many people completely out of shape and unhealthy I’m happy whatever time you go and workout, so long as you actually go!

But many people are confused as to what and when they are supposed to eat based on when they get their workout in.

And they are also baffled as to when they should take their supplements.

You’re in luck if you’re one of the confused! My partners over at Prograde Nutrition have created this really simple chart that shows you examples of what you can eat and when, and it’s all based on what time of day you workout.

Plus, it also shows good times to fit in your supplements for optimal results.

Even better is that they made a version for men and a version for women.

Check out the female version here: http://fitkettlebell.getprograde.com/how-to-use-prograde-products-female.html

OR

Check out the male version here: http://fitkettlebell.getprograde.com/how-to-use-prograde-products-male.html

Yours in health,

Brian

Quick update for you today:
First, if you’re feeling the heat this summer you definitely want to try this cool dessert from my partners at Prograde Nutrition.

It’s just what the fitness pro ordered! http://fitkettlebell.getprograde.com/protein-packed-freedom-cups.html

Second, Prograde has ALL of their killer powder products – Meal replacement, Protein and Post-Workout – on sale at 10% off until this Friday, so hurry on over to this one for the coupon code! http://fitkettlebell.getprograde.com/specials.html

With all the buzz recently about how “hydrogenated” oils are bad, “trans-fats” etc. (which we used to be told were healthy), what is really healthy? Can certain fats help us lose weight? Here is a great article that explains a big part of the equation by discussing essential fatty acids (ones our body can’t make), why they’re important, where to get them…and why they sometimes put “Contains Omega 3s” on egg cartons! Check it out here:

http://fitkettlebell.getprograde.com/why-you-need-omega3-fats.html

-Brian

Smart phones (iphone, blackberry, droid etc.) are all the rage now.  Since I just got back from Iraq and needed a new phone anyway, I got an iphone.  I had no idea how cool the apps were!  So, I decided to try out a free fitness app called “Lose It!”  This is a calorie counting and exercise tracking program.

It is pretty easy to use; I just plugged in my height/weight etc. and decided to shoot for 1/2 lb weight loss per week.  It spat out a target of 2328 calories per day.  Any exercise you do gives you that much more calories you can eat that day. So, if a 45 workout burns 300 calories, I could eat 2628 that day and still be on track.  It has an extensive list of exercises and activities to include chores like mowing the lawn.  It doesn’t have anything to really replicate high intensity training like sprinting or kettlebells so I just used high intensity circuit or weight training.  You can create custom exercises, so I created a custom workout for my Tacfit Commando bodyweight routine.

The food tracker is pretty extensive and includes lots of foods and restaurants.  More are added with updates, and you can create your own custom foods for stuff you eat a lot that isn’t in there.

The results?  Well, I have to admit, I didn’t actually care as I was just trying it out.  My starting weight was 187.5.  My first week I was 2600 calories over my weekly budget and my weight crept up a 1/2 lb.  My next week I was 3,000 over. The week after that, 1,600. The next 2 weeks I was 445 under and 318 over respectively.  The end result after 5 weeks is I lost 3 1/2 lbs down to 184, so it actually worked!   That’s an average of .7 lbs/week.

It was a hassle at first to enter everything, but it quickly became a habit.  The inputs, esp. setting up the program, were less than ideal since it didn’t take into account your activity level.  However, a serious user would adjust it to fit them better.  It did give me a good idea of how many calories I am actually consuming and how that affects my weight and to what degree.  I now know my maintenance level is about 2600/day or so and less than that will have me losing.

Surprisingly, even though I was just messing around with it, (not seriously trying to lose weight), it still worked because I started to want to hit the target and liked seeing green bars on the daily graph and not going over.  So, if you are serious about losing weight, I would definitely give one of these free apps a try, at least while you are on the weight loss and or exercise program.

-Brian

My wife and I went to a concert yesterday and seeing all those people in one place, it struck me how many are overweight…morbidly obese in fact.  Interesting term: “morbidly obese”, it means you are literally eating yourself to death! (A long, slow, painful one at that)

One thing that has always bothered me about the US fitness industry is that it is all about looks.  From the emaciated Hollywood actress extreme on one end to the puffed up muscle-bound bodybuilder on the other.  Funny thing is, neither is healthy though both look “good” depending on your definition of good.  So, since the most important reason to lose weight is for looks (so society says) then a more convenient answer to obesity is to just be happy with “who you are.”

While that is all very nice and swell…it still won’t protect you from that long, slow painful death (and miserable life, especially the last decade).  Trouble breathing, joint pain, skin rashes and yeast infections, diabetes (loss of limbs, blindness), no energy…and heart problems.

I’ve always placed function over form. I work out so my body can perform the way I need it to in a crisis.  I also work out and maintain a healthy weight so I can avoid all the miserable complications I saw people suffer with during the 3 plus years I worked in a hospital.  Better self-image and esteem is a healthy side effect of maintaining a healthy weight.

It’s all about choices.  I don’t want to hear excuses.  That’s one thing I learned in the military (especially combat arms).  Excuses don’t matter when lives are on the line.  Either you accomplish the mission or people die.  It doesn’t matter how hard it is to eat right or how hard it is to exercise (to find the time, the energy etc.) or how nature dealt you a raw deal with genetics or “gland” problems.  Get over it, you’ll either accomplish the mission…or die (early and miserably).

So, if you need to lose some weight, start by making a healthy choice today.  Not because of looks or esteem or to please others…but to start saving your life, you are worth it!

-Brian

P.S. I know it isn’t easy, I get it.  I also know it is much harder for others than it is for me…but you and your family deserve for you to do whatever it takes to get down to a healthy weight.  That doesn’t mean you have to be a fitness model, but you do need to be withing 20 lbs or so of your ideal weight and exercise at least the recommended minimum for heart health of around 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days per week like walking, wii Fit : )  or 3 20 minute sessions of intense exercise like kettlebells, circuit training, calisthenics etc.