Healthy During the Holidays

The holiday season has hit with the force of a tornado.  Welcome to the most hectic 6-8 weeks of the year.  Thanksgiving through New Years’ can be a destructive force for health conscience people.  For those that are not health conscience, this often leads into a tremendous amount of guilt come January.  Born from this guilt will be a new round of “resolutioners” packing fitness centers and gyms across the country until the end of February when they drop off due to a lack of success.  That is a topic for another day.  Here are some key things to keep in mind for the next several weeks so that you are guilt-free in January.  There are two primary reasons that people eat more during this time of year: social obligations revolve around food and stress from over-commitment or pressure to "pull it off' with the organizing and attending of social events.

Parties happen, family get-together's happen, and schedules fill quickly.  Most people probably feel obligated to attend far more parties than they would like.  Pick one or two and say no.  If the stress of attending is outweighing the enjoyment of going it is not worth it.  Emotional stress leads to stress eating and weight-gain.  Skip the stressful situations. Focus on and enjoy the important ones.
 Limit the seasonal coffee drinks.  Everyone has their favorite holiday season drink, have it once or twice, but not every day.  One drink at the coffee shop can add up 600 calories per day to your diet. A 16oz (Grande) Starbucks Peppermint Mocha is 410 calories, 15g fat, 63g carbs (of which 54g are straight sugar), 13g protein.
Shopping can be a stressful experience so avoid the food court at the mall because nothing served there will help you feel better or become healthier. Park as far away from the doors as possible: extra walking equals extra calories burned.Take the stairs, most people can burn an extra 50-100 calories per day this way. It may not seem like much but 50-100 calories per day over the next 30 days will keep off an extra ½ to 1 lb.

Survive the party-day

·    At the party

o   Do not stand near the food; if it is out of sight, it is out of mind.  People eat more in social settings than when at home, so keep your distance from the food, and keep your figure.

o   Minimize the amount of time spent talking with people that are eating.  Again, if you can see food you will want it.

o   Have one drink for toasting and only sip it during the toasting.  Most people drink far more calories than they realize.  A serving of light beer averages 130 calories, wine 150 calories, and hard liquor 120 calories.

o   Drink water when not toasting.

o   If dinner is served focus on meat, fruit, and vegetables.

·         After the party

o   Drink 16 oz. of water before going to bed.  This will help flush out the junk in the morning.  It may also help prevent a hangover is too much alcohol was consumed at the party.

o   Get a full eight to nine hours of sleep, especially if you partied too hard.

Holiday Season weight gain is optional, not inevitable. The solution is pretty simple. People tend to consume more calories this time of year and increased physical activity is the only way to offset that. This does not necessarily mean that a person needs to double the amount of time spent in the gym. However, it does mean that a health conscious person does need to take every opportunity to avoid sitting and get moving. In reality the most guaranteed way to avoid Holiday weight gain is be more concerned about what happens other 48 weeks of the year than what happens during the 6 weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years. Consistency throughout the entire year will offset a short few weeks.

5lbs in 5 days-Friday

Friday: Day Five

      Final weigh this morning and I came in at 182.2.  I missed the target by 0.2lbs.  That could easily be a need for more fiber.  So the theory works while eating more than just chicken and broccoli, good to know.  I can’t say that I would eat this strictly all of the time because I definitely noticed fatigue creeping in on Thursday and Friday due to the calorie restriction.  Limiting myself to just a little over 2000 calories, which is 400-600 calories per day less than I typically eat is ok for two or three days but more than that gets tedious.  Here is the diet I finished the week with:

Friday’s Diet

Breakfast: Omelet: 4 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 2 tbsp. flax seed, 2 c Spinach

Morning Snack: 1 c Black Eye Peas, 4oz Chicken Breast

Lunch: Baked Sweet potato, 8oz Chicken Breast

Post Workout Snack: 4oz Greek Yogurt, 28 Almonds, 1 scoop Protein Powder

Dinner: 4oz Chicken Breast 2 c veggies

Total nutrition: 2141 calories, 87g fat, 132g fat, 213g protein, 20g fiber

Friday’s Workout

Following the dynamic warmup the following lifting workout was completed:

·         Close-grip Bench

o   3 warm up sets

o   4 sets of 8 reps

·         Cable High Pull

o   1 warm up set

o   4 sets of 10 reps

·         Band Tricep Pushdown

o   4 sets of 15 reps

·         Cable Rows

o   4 sets of 8 reps

·         Dumbbell Curls

o   3 sets of 8 reps per arm

After lifting 30 minute bike ride.

5lbs in 5 days-Thursday

Thursday: Day Four

            Thursday got off to a much better start thanks to my new friend.  This morning’s weigh-in had me down two pounds from Wednesday morning to 183.3.  My confidence in the success of this has returned after some brief doubt.  Another highlight to know, in case you have missed I have been gradually eating fewer and fewer carbs per day.  That is crucial to the success of this.  Before starting this project in a typical day I would eat 175-225 grams of carbohydrates to fuel my body for exercise and maintaining my current body composition.  On Monday I ate 142g, Tuesday 127, Wednesday 113, Thursday 105.  There are two important things to understand about low carb diets: 1) carb reduction should be a gradual process.  The body needs a few days to adjust to this to avoid unpleasant sides effects such as fatigue and moodiness and; 2) Women should never cut there carbs below 75g and men below 100g.  Doing so can lead to potential health emergencies due to low blood sugar without proper calorie compensation from fats and protein.

Thursday’s Diet

Breakfast: Omelet: 4whole eggs, egg whites, 2 c spinach, 2tbsp flax seed 2 tbsp. salsa

Midmorning Snack: ½ avocado 6 oz. tuna

Lunch: 4 oz. Chicken Breast, 2 c broccoli, baked sweet potato

Post workout Snack: 4oz Chobani Greek Yogurt Vanilla Chocolate Chunk, 28 whole almonds, 1 scoop protein powder

Dinner: 4oz Ground Turkey, ½ c black eye peas

Thursday Workout

The following was performed as a circuit after the dynamic warm-up.  Each exercise was performed for 1 minute.  All exercises were done without any rest.  A three minute break was taken after completing one round.  A total three rounds were completed.  It is not necessary, but for an extra challenge I did this entire workout wearing a 20lb weighted vest.

·         Battle Ropes

·         Kettle Ball Swings

·         Medicine Ball Slams

·         Sledge Hammer Swings

·         Agility Footwork in a 5 yard box.

After completing this I did two minute intervals on a bike for a total of 10 intervals. During a one minute break between intervals I did a 30 second plank.

5lbs in 5 days-Wednesday

Wednesday: Day Three

            Day three of this challenge began with a little discouragement.  Upon weighing in I found that my weight had dropped only .7 lbs. from the previous day.  This is setback from the pace of 1lb per day.  I was hoping to 185 lbs. or less instead of sitting at 185.3.  I know, I know, there is no sympathy for me considering I have lost 1.7lbs in two days. Do not pity me, I am not expecting it.  I am just anal when I do these little experiments.  It is the perfectionist side of me.  In spite of that, it was discouraging because this day presented to challenges, one I knew about ahead of time and one that required the assistance of a new friend.

            Everyone trying to eat healthy will inevitably run into the challenge of eating healthy while meeting social obligations.  This was the challenge for me that I knew about heading into Wednesday.  Every Wednesday night, as a part of church, our congregation has a community meal together.  Here is a situation where I never have control of the menu and due to time constraints preparing a healthier option this week was not realistic.  Normally this is not a problem because my wife and I plan our meals for the week considering this to me a cheat meal and avoid dietary setbacks.  On this particular Wednesday night the menu consisted of pork roast, cornbread casserole, green bean casserole, baked potatoes, and cake for dessert.  What would you do in my situation?  I ate pork roast and green bean casserole and skipped everything else.  Diet disaster minimized.  This leads into my second problem that required help from the new friend.

            Adam, meet Metamucil.  Metamucil, meet Adam.  After consulting with some friends who compete in body building contests and are more familiar with these short-term crash diets I made a stop at Walgreens after church; four servings of Metamucil before bed and high hopes for seeing a better number on the scale in the morning.  Apparently, these quick diets with sudden carb restrictions often lead to inadequate fiber intake. If I had known better, I would have met Metamucil on Monday.

Wednesday’s Diet

Wednesday    

Breakfast: Omelet: 4 whole eggs egg whites 2 c spinach 2tbsp flax seed   

Morning Snack: 4oz chicken breast 1 c yellow squash 1 scoop of protein powder  

Lunch: Chicken Breast 2 c broccoli sweet potato      

Afternoon Snack: 1 scoop Protein Powder 28 Almonds   Tuna         

Dinner (At Church): 6oz of pork roast, 2 cups of green bean casserole       

Total Nutrition: 2030 cal, 77g fat, 113g carbs, 201g protein, 26g fiber

Wednesday’s Workout

After Dynamic Warm-Up

·         45 degree back extension: 1 set no weight, 2^nd set hold 25lb plate, 3^rd set hold 35lb plate, 4^th and 5^th sets hold 45lbs plate

·         Barbell Squats: 2 warm up sets of 135lbs and 185lbs for 5 reps.  Then completed 5 Sets of 5 Reps with 225lbs with 60 seconds rest

·         Deadlifts: 2 Warm-Up Sets of 135 lbs. for 5 reps.  Then completed 5 sets of 5 reps with 250lbs.

Ride a bike for 30 minutes after lifting

5lbs in 5 days-Tuesday

Five Pounds in Five Days

Tuesday: Day Two

           

            Beginning of the second day and I am down to 186lbs.  This starts me off on track for 1lb per day which is the pace I need to hit the goal of 5lbs in 5 days.  I have come to two realizations regarding breakfast: 1) Spinach and eggs are incredibly bland; to compensate for this I added some garlic powder and black pepper for seasoning; 2) An entire avocado is hard to eat in one sitting because it is also a little bland.  Some black pepper and a few drops of lime juice fixed this problem.  It is nice to have a wife who makes homemade guacamole.  Dinner presented a major mental obstacle; 16 shrimp and 2 cups of diced yellow squash feel more like an appetizer than a meal.  But I prevailed and stuck with the plan.  Mental discipline 1, waking up to a grumbling stomach at 3am 1.  We will call this match a draw.  In an upwards related note, by avoiding elevators, I again climbed 32 floors today.

Tuesday Diet:

Breakfast: Omelet: 6 egg whites, 1 avocado, 2 tbsp. flax seed, 2 tbsp. salsa, 1c milk, 4 pieces turkey bacon

Morning Snack: 2 Baked Pork Chops, 2 c Green Beans

Lunch: 4oz Chicken Breast, 2 c broccoli, sweet potato

Post Workout Snack: 1 scoop Protein Powder, 28 Almonds, 6 oz. Tuna in water

Dinner: 16 medium-sized Shrimp sautéed in 1 tbsp. olive oil, 2 cups yellow squash

Total Nutrition for the day: 2061 call, 88g fat, 127g carbs, 205 g protein, 25g fiber

Tuesday’s Workout

            If you are anything like me you find sitting on a bike or using a treadmill to be an incredibly boring and unappealing way to exercise.  So today’s workout is a challenging mix of cardio based upon a boxing workout. Perform the dynamic warm up before doing this and finish with 5-10 minutes of stretching afterwards. The Boxing part is done wearing a pair of boxing gloves and hitting a heavy bag or one of those ‘evil-looking’ rubber humanoid stands.  Alternate between throwing the outlined punch combinations and jumping rope; the timing of this is 45 seconds of punching combos, 15 sacs rest, 45 seconds of jump rope, 15 seconds rest.  Repeat this until you have completed every punching combination.  Do not sit idle during the 15 seconds of rest.  This is really only enough time to take the gloves on and off.  Keep moving.  After completing the boxing workout ride a bike for 30 minutes.

Boxing Cardio Workout

1.      Left Jab, Right Cross

2.      Jump Rope

3.      Left Jab, Right Cross, Left Hook

4.      Jump Rope

5.      Left Jab, Right Cross, Left Hook, Right Uppercut

6.      Jump Rope

7.      Left Jab, Right Cross, Left Hook, Right Uppercut, Left Body

8.      Jump Rope

9.      Left Jab, Left Jab, Right Cross

10.  Jump Rope

11.  Right Cross, Left Jab, Right Cross

12.  Jump Rope

13.  Left Body, Right Body, Left Uppercut

14.  Jump Rope

15.  Right Uppercut, Right Cross, Left Hook

16.  Jump Rope

17.  Right Cross, Left Hook, Right Hook

18.  Jump Rope

5lbs in 5 days-Monday

Monday: Day one

            Following my typical day; the alarm went off at 5:30am.  I after saluting the porcelain throne I weighed in at 187lbs.  Starting weight established and ready to rock.  I made a snap decision upon arriving at work and it is probably something I should do anyway.  The fitness center I work is located on the 8^th floor of the building; no elevators for the next five days.  As a result and in addition to my normal exercise routine I climbed 32 floors today.  My thought is that I am glad I had an upper body workout planned for today.  Leg training on Wednesday is now a little worrisome.

Here is how Monday’s meal plan went:

Breakfast:  Omelet: 4 whole eggs, 2 egg whites, 2 c fresh spinach, 2 tbsp. flax seed, 2 tbsp. of salsa

Morning Snack: ½ Avocado, 4oz Chicken Breast

Lunch: 4 oz. Chicken Breast, 2 c Broccoli, 1 Medium-sized baked sweet potato

Post-workout snack: 1 scoop of protein powder, 1 granny smith apple, 4 oz. Chobani Greek Yogurt Vanilla Chocolate Chunk, 6oz can of tuna in water

Dinner: 2- 4oz Pork Chops, 2 c Green Beans

Total Nutrition for the day: 2076 Calories, 76g fat, 142g carbs, 201g protein, 28g fiber

Monday’s Workout Program

            I begin every workout with a dynamic warm-up that takes 5-10 minutes to prepare my body for the exercise.  For an example of this view my earlier blog post entitled “Warm Up to a Proper Warm Up.”  This was followed by the lifting workout outline below.  After completing the lifting portion of the workout I rode the bike for 20 minutes.

Monday’s Lifting Routine

·         Bench Press Superset with Pull Ups wearing a 20lb weighted vest

o   5 sets for 5 reps on the Bench Press

o   5 sets for 8 reps on the Pull Ups

o   Go Immediately from BP to Pull-ups resting only long enough to put on the weighted vest.  Rest 90 seconds after completing the Pull Ups before beginning the next set of BP

·         Dips in weighted vest Superset with Barbell Curls

o   4 sets for 8 reps of dips

o   4 sets for 10 reps of Barbell Curls

o   Follow same rest procedure as above

·         Overhead Barbell Press Superset with Smith Bar Rows

o   3 sets for 10 reps of overhead press

o   4 sets of Smith Bar Rows

5lbs in 5 days Intro

Five Pounds in Five Days

            As a personal trainer, I am always interested in trying new things and seeing what works.  Before the start of a recent vacation, nine days to be exact; my wife proposed dieting as preemptive strike against the weight gain she thought inevitable while taking a trip to visit my parents.  Five pounds in nine days, which for her is doable.  My wife can be an incredibly determined and disciplined person.  That got me thinking, and since I agreed to join her in the effort for moral support, I wonder if I can do five pounds in five days: no thermogenic fat burning supplements, no shedding water weight; no sitting in saunas or those reflective, space-suit -looking ‘sweat’ suits.  Challenge accepted. 

I train like an athlete, not a body builder so I have little experience with these crazy crash diets.  I prefer to take a slower approach which leads to permanent changes.  Another reason that I have never tried this before is that eating nothing but chicken and broccoli for several days is incredibly unappealing.  To avoid this I added a few flavor varieties into the mix with the knowledge that this may impede the overall goal.  But since I am not competing in a contest that was not that much of a concern.  I am more concerned with the process than hitting an exact number but something has to be there as a target for the sake of evaluation.

            Our flight left on the Tuesday after the week of the experiment.  Starting on Monday, a week before the flight, the project began.  The most difficult part, like any weight reduction program, is to get the diet right.  Exercise is easy.   My wife and I already a clean diet so cleaning it up even further meant losing some of the variety in our normal meal planning.

Before going into the specifics of each day let me give an outline of how my typical day runs:

·         5:30am-Wake Up, Relieve myself, Weigh-in

·         6:00am-Finish Breakfast, wake up son feed him breakfast

·         6:30-7:00am Leave to train first client of the day

·         7:00am-9:00 Train independent clients before heading to work

·         9:00-5:00pm work, train other clients, teach group exercise classes, work on operational responsibilities, write in the free moments

·         Morning Snack between 10-10:30am

·         Lunch 1:00-1:30

·         Workout 2-3:00pm

·         Afternoon snack after workout

·         5:30pm arrive home

·         6:00pm Dinner

·         6-8:00 Family Time, put son to sleep

·         9:30pm Go to sleep

            If you are going to attempt this or any other weight loss program, weigh yourself in the morning, before breakfast, and after performing the morning ritual.  This is the emptiest your body will get and, thus, the most accurate time to weigh. 

Every morning with breakfast, the following vitamins and supplements were taken:

·         1- Generic Kroger brand men’s health formula multivitamin

·         1-Spring Valley Chewable Vitamin C 500mg

·         2-Spring Valley Fish Oil 100mg/300mg Omega-3 capsules

In addition to these supplements, in the evenings, before bed I had one more of the vitamin C and two of the fish oil capsules.  The only other supplement used was Dymatize Nutrition’s Elite Gourmet Whey & Casein Blend protein powder. 

            Another important factor to consider with the nutritional side is that absolutely no salt was added to any of the food consumed.  The sodium in salt helps the body retain water.  Salt in all of it forms was eliminated from the meal plan.  In fact the saltiest tasting thing that I ate was the two tablespoons of salsa used to season the omelet every morning.  If you want to see big changes on the scale in a short time avoid anything with salt. The lack of salt can lead to excessive water loss and result in dehydration.  To avoid this, I drank a gallon of water per day.

The Sugar Addiction

The Sugar Addiction

            Halloween was just a couple of days ago; it is that candy industry’s golden boy of holidays.  More candy is purchased and consumed in October than the rest of the year combined.  While I see nothing wrong with an occasional sugar fix there is a real danger that is being acknowledged; sugar addiction.  It may seem silly to suggest but there is a growing body of research showing that sugar addiction is real.  It may be part of the reason that health in this country is in an out of control downward spiral.

            So, not sure if sugar addiction is real?  Let’s take a look at two studies that are showing that it is in fact very real.  The first study was a combined effort in 2010 by the Oregon Research Institute and the University of Texas.  Twenty-six overweight young women underwent brain MRIs while drinking a milkshake.  Six months later the scans were repeated, again with the women drinking milkshakes during the scan.  The first notable thing is that the women who gained weight during the six month period showed a decrease in the activity of the striatum region of the brain.  The striatum is responsible for recognizing and acknowledging rewards or positive stimulations.  The same response is seen in the brains of chronic substance abuse such as alcohol or illicit drugs. What this means is that a weight gain decreases sensitivity to sugar and the brain requires more sugar: greater stimulation or a stronger ‘fix’ in order to initiate a response.  The women in this study whom did not gain weight did not show this decreased sensitivity.  Researchers specifically compared the effects to be similar to what chronic cocaine use does to the brain.

            Also, in 2010 a study was conducted at Princeton University using rats.  In this study rats were gradually given increasing amounts of sugar water instead of regular water.  As the amounts of sugar water increased the rats consumption of its normal food decreased.  When the sugar water was taken away and the rats were forced to quit ‘cold turkey’ they exhibited withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, shakes, and tremors just like drug addicts.  It is interesting to note from this experiment that the rats were given two different forms of sugar water: one containing fructose, the naturally occurring sugar in fruit; and high fructose corn syrup, a processed, artificial sugar.  While both types of sugar increased sugar cravings and withdrawal symptoms only the High Fructose Corn Syrup made the rats obese.  No significant weight gain was observed with the rats during the natural sugar consumption.  Similar to this study, a 2007 study done in France found that rats preferred sugar over cocaine when tested to determine which was more addictive.

            So what should a person do if they think they may have a problem with sugar addiction?  First of all understand that not all food craving are bad.  If the body is severely deprived of something that it truly needs than the brain will start desiring it.  Before giving into a food craving, especially a sugar –craving know that processed sugars are the most common craving that the body has, and are the unhealthiest.  The less processed sugar that you consume the fewer cravings will occur.  It is a cycle; consume less, less cravings, consume more, more cravings.  Processed sugars more than any natural occurring food increase serotonin levels; the feel-good hormone; but, they increases are short-lived and the crash leaves a person feeling worse off than before.  Cravings can sometimes be caused by neurochemical or hormonal imbalances.  If a particular unhealthy craving occurs daily or, more than once a day, it may be worth discussing with a doctor.  Here are some simple things that can be done to help control those cravings:

1.    Drink a glass of water and wait fifteen minutes.  Many times people confuse thirst with hunger.  Dehydration can spark a craving.

2.    If still craving have fruit instead of processed sugar this will satisfy the sweet craving without the junk that will harm your health.

3.    Get up and go for a walk.  Just 10 minutes of exercise can kill the craving and burn a few excess calories instead of consuming them.

4.    Brush the teeth and gargle with mouthwash, nothing tastes good immediately after that

5.    Drink at least 64 ounces of water per day

In case you may have low serotonin levels causing the cravings try the following suggestions to naturally increase serotonin levels and discuss it with your doctor:

• ·         Avoid any known food allergins, especially if you have a food allergy to gluten or dairy products
• ·         Avoid alcohol, it lowerd serotonin levels
• ·         Don’t smoke
• ·         Increase sunlight expose by spending 1-2 hours a day outside
• ·         Get 60 minutes of moderate exercise
• ·         Get eight hours of sleep per night