Do you know the caloric content of a gram of each carbs, fat, and protein? If not, gaining this knowledge can help you to understand food labels better.
A gram of carbohydrate and protein each have 4 calories.
A gram of fat has 9 calories.
Yep, fat packs more than twice as many calories in the same weight as carbs or protein.
This is why something can be so small and still contain so many calories- It's a high fat content.
On ounce of oil (2 Tablespoons) is 240 calories, all from fat.
For that same amount of calories you can have just over 2 cups of unsweetened applesauce, all of the calories from carbs.
See the difference?
So you can actually consume fat calories faster than carb or protein, because there are more calories in a smaller space.
All have a place in the diet, and you don't want to cut fat out entirely. I like to get between 10 and 30 percent of my calories from fat, but I try to get them healthy fats like olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, and avocado. I'm allergic to tree nuts, but for those who aren't they and their oils are also healthy forms of fat. If I'm going to butter something I'd prefer it be the real thing- Butter made from cream.
As a general rule, if a source of fat can stay solid at room temp, it's not good for you.
Incidentally, a gram of alcohol is 7 calories, which is nearly that of fat and almost twice that of carbs and protein. With no nutritional value, there is little benefit to making alcohol part of ones diet.
All calories come from one of those four sources, by the way- Cabs, Protein, Fat, or Alcohol.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Big Changes equals Big Changes
Months ago it was suggested to me that I do a blog about little changes one can make to improve one's health. While I do believe everyone can change some smaller and easier things to make themselves healthier (choose zero-calorie beverages, have the leave mayo off of your hamburger, get 30 minutes of aerobic activity most days, etc.) the reason I haven't blogged about this so far is because I know this in my heart: Small changes yield small results.
I think most of us want to see big results.
Here is the hard reality: The bigger the changes you make, the bigger the differences you will see in your body and health.
This is not what most people want to hear. They want to hear that if they take some magical pill, do some sort of cleansing diet, or perform one specific exercise the pounds will melt away and they will have the body of their dreams.
I'm sorry, my friends, but it just doesn't work that way.
Yet another difficult truth: The changes to your body won't be permanent unless the changes to your lifestyle are permanent.
The fact is that I did many fairly "right things" for many years: I enjoyed lifting weights, but did not do any of the exercises (particularly squats and lunges) that weren't my favorites. I did cardio for 30 minutes, 3 times a week. I always drank diet soda and zero-calorie beverages. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, but truth to tell, I was simply dabbling in good habits.
When I took the blinders off and faced the fact that my own resistance to do the hard stuff was what was standing between me and being the super-fit person I knew I had the potential to be and implementing big changes....... THAT's when I started to see the big results:
-I got serious about my Weight Watchers program and stopped piddling around with it, giving myself Tuesdays (my weigh day) as the day to "Have a break" and eat what I wanted, or going "just a little" over in my points from day to day.
-I cut out most refined foods, to include low-cal treats laden with artificial sweeteners and foods that had names of ingredients I could not pronounce.
-I stopped eating so many processed foods and replaced them with real, whole foods from ingredients as close to fresh as I could find them.
-I all but cut out artificially sweetened beverages (although I will occasionally still drink a diet coke or sweeten my tea with Splenda), and made it a habit to guzzle water, keeping a water bottle with me at all times. (I now drink, on average, a gallon of water a day.)
-I've hired a personal trainers who have incorporated very difficult power lifting moves, squats, and lunges into my workout routine. I don't always like it, but I don't whine and I gave it 100%, every time.
The point? I've made really big changes and embraced them as a lifestyle, instead of something I'm doing temporarily. As result I have a much smaller, more symmetrical, and tighter body with muscles that sometimes illicit compliments from total strangers.
I'm not done... but I'm sure coming along!
So was it worth it, you ask? Yes! A million times over! It will be for you, too. That's a promise I don't mind standing by.
All of this came about one change at a time, but I WAS deliberate about it.
No one I know has ever strolled towards a goal or one day looked in the mirror and said "I look fantastic! How did this happen? Must be all of those small changes!"
The fact is that seeing a big change requires a big change. And to keep the benefits, one must continue on with the big change. It's a truth that hurts, but it is the truth.
I think most of us want to see big results.
Here is the hard reality: The bigger the changes you make, the bigger the differences you will see in your body and health.
This is not what most people want to hear. They want to hear that if they take some magical pill, do some sort of cleansing diet, or perform one specific exercise the pounds will melt away and they will have the body of their dreams.
I'm sorry, my friends, but it just doesn't work that way.
Yet another difficult truth: The changes to your body won't be permanent unless the changes to your lifestyle are permanent.
The fact is that I did many fairly "right things" for many years: I enjoyed lifting weights, but did not do any of the exercises (particularly squats and lunges) that weren't my favorites. I did cardio for 30 minutes, 3 times a week. I always drank diet soda and zero-calorie beverages. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, but truth to tell, I was simply dabbling in good habits.
When I took the blinders off and faced the fact that my own resistance to do the hard stuff was what was standing between me and being the super-fit person I knew I had the potential to be and implementing big changes....... THAT's when I started to see the big results:
-I got serious about my Weight Watchers program and stopped piddling around with it, giving myself Tuesdays (my weigh day) as the day to "Have a break" and eat what I wanted, or going "just a little" over in my points from day to day.
-I cut out most refined foods, to include low-cal treats laden with artificial sweeteners and foods that had names of ingredients I could not pronounce.
-I stopped eating so many processed foods and replaced them with real, whole foods from ingredients as close to fresh as I could find them.
-I all but cut out artificially sweetened beverages (although I will occasionally still drink a diet coke or sweeten my tea with Splenda), and made it a habit to guzzle water, keeping a water bottle with me at all times. (I now drink, on average, a gallon of water a day.)
-I've hired a personal trainers who have incorporated very difficult power lifting moves, squats, and lunges into my workout routine. I don't always like it, but I don't whine and I gave it 100%, every time.
The point? I've made really big changes and embraced them as a lifestyle, instead of something I'm doing temporarily. As result I have a much smaller, more symmetrical, and tighter body with muscles that sometimes illicit compliments from total strangers.
I'm not done... but I'm sure coming along!
So was it worth it, you ask? Yes! A million times over! It will be for you, too. That's a promise I don't mind standing by.
All of this came about one change at a time, but I WAS deliberate about it.
No one I know has ever strolled towards a goal or one day looked in the mirror and said "I look fantastic! How did this happen? Must be all of those small changes!"
The fact is that seeing a big change requires a big change. And to keep the benefits, one must continue on with the big change. It's a truth that hurts, but it is the truth.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Getting started with exercise at home, part IV
So now, it's time to come up with an at-home exercise plan.
I want to make it clear that this is my recommendation, but not a be-all end all to how one should start an exercise program. It's what worked for me, and has helped people I've advised. I know it works, but it's not the only way to go about it.
First, get out that book I said was the #1 piece of exercise equipment and choose one exercise for each major muscle group. For starting purposes, lets not get picky about which exercises to perform- any for that body part will do.
You are going to work your body parts in this order:
Quads
Hamstrings
Calves
Chest
Upper back (the lats)
Shoulders
Triceps
Biceps
Upper abs
Lower abs
Obliques
Lower back
Read thoroughly in the book how each exercise is to be executed, and keep the book next to you as you exercise. Refer to it frequently as you exercise, reviewing each exercise again before you do it (and as you do it if necessary). I cannot stress this strongly enough: Proper form is most important! Do the exercise exactly as demonstrated and pictured!
This first time through, do each exercise with no weights.
Yes, you heard me right- I want you to do the exercises this time through unweighted. This will help to ensure that you execute proper form and don't hurt yourself the first time out. If it makes you feel any better, the first time I try an exercise alone I always do it with no weight. I want to know how "proper form" feels before I add weight to it. This way I can tell the difference between "This is different because I have more weight added" and "This is different because something just ain't movin' right" without causing myself injury.
Do each exercise for one set of 15. (Refer to my blog about sets and reps, if you aren't sure what I am talking about.)
Really work on SQUEEZING the muscles you are supposed to be working both in the concentric (contracting) and eccentric (elongating) part of the move. (In other words, throughout the entire motion). Don't ever just drop the weight back to the starting position. Stay in control of the weight ALL THE TIME!
Keep a steady pace of about 2-3 seconds to get whatever body part you are moving up and 2-3 seconds to get it back to where you started. You can slow this down as you progress, but for now 2-3 seconds each direction is adequate.
When you are done, stretch all the body parts you worked (this should be covered in the book you bought, as well), holding each stretch for about 10 seconds.
And there you have it! That's how you get started.
The next time, if you feel ready, add light weights- start with the lightest ones you have if you still feel a bit shaky, but keep in mind that you want to progress fairly quickly to weights that feel challenging by the time you get to the end of the 15 rep set.
When you have completed all body parts, put that exercise DVD in and give it a whirl. It's a good idea to do at least 30 minutes of cardio, but more sure never hurts.
You can also move cardio to another time of day- it's perfectly acceptable to split your workout into smaller sessions. Currently I do my cardio at 5:30 AM and then get my weight lifting in closer to 10:30AM. Just fits into my schedule better.
When you feel you need more, do two sets of 15 reps of each exercise.
When you feel like you need more yet, switch to different exercises for the same body parts, always starting out at least a few reps with no weight, to get the feel for it.
When you feel like you need more than that, are starting to run out of time because the workouts are getting too long, or just want something different, Email me and we'll come up with a split (working different muscles on different days) that works for you.
No more excuses! Start moving!
I want to make it clear that this is my recommendation, but not a be-all end all to how one should start an exercise program. It's what worked for me, and has helped people I've advised. I know it works, but it's not the only way to go about it.
First, get out that book I said was the #1 piece of exercise equipment and choose one exercise for each major muscle group. For starting purposes, lets not get picky about which exercises to perform- any for that body part will do.
You are going to work your body parts in this order:
Quads
Hamstrings
Calves
Chest
Upper back (the lats)
Shoulders
Triceps
Biceps
Upper abs
Lower abs
Obliques
Lower back
Read thoroughly in the book how each exercise is to be executed, and keep the book next to you as you exercise. Refer to it frequently as you exercise, reviewing each exercise again before you do it (and as you do it if necessary). I cannot stress this strongly enough: Proper form is most important! Do the exercise exactly as demonstrated and pictured!
This first time through, do each exercise with no weights.
Yes, you heard me right- I want you to do the exercises this time through unweighted. This will help to ensure that you execute proper form and don't hurt yourself the first time out. If it makes you feel any better, the first time I try an exercise alone I always do it with no weight. I want to know how "proper form" feels before I add weight to it. This way I can tell the difference between "This is different because I have more weight added" and "This is different because something just ain't movin' right" without causing myself injury.
Do each exercise for one set of 15. (Refer to my blog about sets and reps, if you aren't sure what I am talking about.)
Really work on SQUEEZING the muscles you are supposed to be working both in the concentric (contracting) and eccentric (elongating) part of the move. (In other words, throughout the entire motion). Don't ever just drop the weight back to the starting position. Stay in control of the weight ALL THE TIME!
Keep a steady pace of about 2-3 seconds to get whatever body part you are moving up and 2-3 seconds to get it back to where you started. You can slow this down as you progress, but for now 2-3 seconds each direction is adequate.
When you are done, stretch all the body parts you worked (this should be covered in the book you bought, as well), holding each stretch for about 10 seconds.
And there you have it! That's how you get started.
The next time, if you feel ready, add light weights- start with the lightest ones you have if you still feel a bit shaky, but keep in mind that you want to progress fairly quickly to weights that feel challenging by the time you get to the end of the 15 rep set.
When you have completed all body parts, put that exercise DVD in and give it a whirl. It's a good idea to do at least 30 minutes of cardio, but more sure never hurts.
You can also move cardio to another time of day- it's perfectly acceptable to split your workout into smaller sessions. Currently I do my cardio at 5:30 AM and then get my weight lifting in closer to 10:30AM. Just fits into my schedule better.
When you feel you need more, do two sets of 15 reps of each exercise.
When you feel like you need more yet, switch to different exercises for the same body parts, always starting out at least a few reps with no weight, to get the feel for it.
When you feel like you need more than that, are starting to run out of time because the workouts are getting too long, or just want something different, Email me and we'll come up with a split (working different muscles on different days) that works for you.
No more excuses! Start moving!
Monday, March 8, 2010
How Shortening (or lard) Can Aid in Weight Loss
I'm taking an aside from getting started in exerise to share a story that might help with perspective:
So last night I was talking to my sister on the phone about the snags she has hit lately in her weight loss battle. And in the middle of the conversation she says something that leaves me speechless. Well.... almost.
She says "I have only lost 23 pounds."
Say WHAT?
I replied back, "Betsie, 23 pounds is a lot of weight!"
Her response?
"I have a lot more weight to lose than you did, so it's not as much on me as it is on you."
I asked her what in the heck was she talking about? A pound of fat is a pound of fat, and it doesn't matter who the weight is off of, be it me, her, or an elephant.
Know what she said back to me? (This is so typical Betsie!):
"An elephant loses 23 pounds when it poops."
Sigh.
So, to try and give her a visual of how much she's lost, I asked her to picture 23 pounds of elephant poop. But then it occurred to me that neither one of us really knew what 23 pounds of elephant poop looks like.
So I went to my cabinet and looked at my container of shortening.
Would you like to know how much a container of shortening (I mean the regular-sized ones, not the little apartment-sized containers) weighs? 3 pounds! When I told her she'd lost almost 8 regular-sized containers of shortening she said in amazement "That's a lot of weight!"
Uh, yeah... that's what I'd been saying..... But it even surprised me the volume that 3 pounds of fat takes up.
So next time you get ready to say "I've only lost x-amount of pounds", divide it by three. That's how many containers of shortening you've lost.
And then pat yourself on the back. Because you have something to be proud of! And the more proud of yourself you are, the better you will feel about yourself. And the better you feel about yourself the more you will want to help yourself.
After all, who wants to help someone they don't like?
So last night I was talking to my sister on the phone about the snags she has hit lately in her weight loss battle. And in the middle of the conversation she says something that leaves me speechless. Well.... almost.
She says "I have only lost 23 pounds."
Say WHAT?
I replied back, "Betsie, 23 pounds is a lot of weight!"
Her response?
"I have a lot more weight to lose than you did, so it's not as much on me as it is on you."
I asked her what in the heck was she talking about? A pound of fat is a pound of fat, and it doesn't matter who the weight is off of, be it me, her, or an elephant.
Know what she said back to me? (This is so typical Betsie!):
"An elephant loses 23 pounds when it poops."
Sigh.
So, to try and give her a visual of how much she's lost, I asked her to picture 23 pounds of elephant poop. But then it occurred to me that neither one of us really knew what 23 pounds of elephant poop looks like.
So I went to my cabinet and looked at my container of shortening.
Would you like to know how much a container of shortening (I mean the regular-sized ones, not the little apartment-sized containers) weighs? 3 pounds! When I told her she'd lost almost 8 regular-sized containers of shortening she said in amazement "That's a lot of weight!"
Uh, yeah... that's what I'd been saying..... But it even surprised me the volume that 3 pounds of fat takes up.
So next time you get ready to say "I've only lost x-amount of pounds", divide it by three. That's how many containers of shortening you've lost.
And then pat yourself on the back. Because you have something to be proud of! And the more proud of yourself you are, the better you will feel about yourself. And the better you feel about yourself the more you will want to help yourself.
After all, who wants to help someone they don't like?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Getting started with exercise at home, part III
Before you get started on an at-home (or any) exercise program, you'll need to know the "gym names" of the major muscle groups you'll be working. I realize most already know this, but I want to make sure this base is covered before I proceed any further.
I'm going listing these in the general order that one should work them, which is from big muscles to small per body area. Why? Because generally speaking, in order to fully work a big muscle group you must enlist the assistance of the smaller muscle groups. Therefore, if you work the smaller ones first they're likely to poop out from exhaustion before you can get max benefit out of working the bigger muscle groups. Make sense?
Oh, and by the way, if you are working your whole body in one day it doesn't matter if you do lower body first or upper, but I usually save core for last, because it seems to assist in almost EVERYthing.
So here we go-
Lower body:
Quads- These are the quadriceps, a set of four muscles that compose the front of the thigh.
Hamstrings- A set of mainly three muscles that compose the back of the thigh.
Calves- Er.... you DO know what the calves are.... right?
Glutes- These mainly are the three muscles (Gluteus Maximus, Medius, and Minimus) that make up the butt. I almost didn't mention glutes, because many people don't target the butt specifically- It generally gets hit when you work the hamstrings.
Upper Body:
Pecs- This refers to all the muscles of the chest.
Back- This refers to all the muscles of the back, although I'm gonna break it down a bit further, because there are three main areas of the back that people often talk about targeting. They are:
Lats- Short for Latissimus Dorsi, these are the big muscles that flare out to the sides of the upper back in muscular people.
Traps- Short for Trapezius, this is a big, kite shaped muscle that goes from the bottom of the head and flares out to the shoulder blades, then down towards the small of the back. This is the muscle that you can often see bulging between the shoulders and the neck on muscular people.
Lower Back- Many skip working this important area, but make sure that you don't, because a strong low-back makes for a tighter waistline.
Delts- Short for Deltoids, this refers to all of the muscles that make up the shoulders.
Tri's- Short for Triceps- These are the muscles that make up the back of the upper arm.
Bi's- Short for biceps, these are the muscles that make up the front of the upper arm.
Yes, I put triceps before biceps. Why? Tri's are quite a lot larger than Bi's. It's just that they don't stand up off of the arm as much, so people don't realize this.
And then the Abs (the tummy), which I always break down into three different groups, although a lot of people just lump them together:
Upper abs- generally between the belly button and the rib cage.
Lower abs- generally between the pubic bone and the belly button.
Obliques- the sides of the waistline.
Let me clarify something- the muscles that make up the upper and lower abs are the same. They run all the way down from the rib cage to the pubic bone. BUT, it is possible to target one area of a muscle, and I've found it beneficial to work the lower abs often as a separate group.
This is not an exhaustive list of muscles, it's just the main ones that you hear people referring to when discussing exercise.
Anyone reading this? Questions?
I'm going listing these in the general order that one should work them, which is from big muscles to small per body area. Why? Because generally speaking, in order to fully work a big muscle group you must enlist the assistance of the smaller muscle groups. Therefore, if you work the smaller ones first they're likely to poop out from exhaustion before you can get max benefit out of working the bigger muscle groups. Make sense?
Oh, and by the way, if you are working your whole body in one day it doesn't matter if you do lower body first or upper, but I usually save core for last, because it seems to assist in almost EVERYthing.
So here we go-
Lower body:
Quads- These are the quadriceps, a set of four muscles that compose the front of the thigh.
Hamstrings- A set of mainly three muscles that compose the back of the thigh.
Calves- Er.... you DO know what the calves are.... right?
Glutes- These mainly are the three muscles (Gluteus Maximus, Medius, and Minimus) that make up the butt. I almost didn't mention glutes, because many people don't target the butt specifically- It generally gets hit when you work the hamstrings.
Upper Body:
Pecs- This refers to all the muscles of the chest.
Back- This refers to all the muscles of the back, although I'm gonna break it down a bit further, because there are three main areas of the back that people often talk about targeting. They are:
Lats- Short for Latissimus Dorsi, these are the big muscles that flare out to the sides of the upper back in muscular people.
Traps- Short for Trapezius, this is a big, kite shaped muscle that goes from the bottom of the head and flares out to the shoulder blades, then down towards the small of the back. This is the muscle that you can often see bulging between the shoulders and the neck on muscular people.
Lower Back- Many skip working this important area, but make sure that you don't, because a strong low-back makes for a tighter waistline.
Delts- Short for Deltoids, this refers to all of the muscles that make up the shoulders.
Tri's- Short for Triceps- These are the muscles that make up the back of the upper arm.
Bi's- Short for biceps, these are the muscles that make up the front of the upper arm.
Yes, I put triceps before biceps. Why? Tri's are quite a lot larger than Bi's. It's just that they don't stand up off of the arm as much, so people don't realize this.
And then the Abs (the tummy), which I always break down into three different groups, although a lot of people just lump them together:
Upper abs- generally between the belly button and the rib cage.
Lower abs- generally between the pubic bone and the belly button.
Obliques- the sides of the waistline.
Let me clarify something- the muscles that make up the upper and lower abs are the same. They run all the way down from the rib cage to the pubic bone. BUT, it is possible to target one area of a muscle, and I've found it beneficial to work the lower abs often as a separate group.
This is not an exhaustive list of muscles, it's just the main ones that you hear people referring to when discussing exercise.
Anyone reading this? Questions?
Friday, March 5, 2010
Getting started with exercise at home, part II
I'm preparing to discuss how get get started using that at-home exercise equipment I described earlier.
But before I do, there are a couple of terms you need to understand. I realize most people already know these, but you never know....
Rep- Short for "repetition", a rep simply means the complete execution of an exercise. So for instance in a dumbbell curl, one rep means from the starting position with your arms fully extended to the contracted position where the weight is brought up by your shoulders back to the starting position is one "rep".
Set- A set is performing more than one repetition at at time. So if I am going to do a set of 12 dumbbell curls, I'll be doing 12 repetitions in a row without stopping. (Or at least without QUITTING! Sometimes I have to pause because I've chosen a weight that is really too high to complete my set.)
So, if someone is going to do 3 sets of 12 reps, they will do an exercise 12 times, from start to finish, then take a break and do the same thing two more times.
Make sense?
Any other exercise terms anyone is confused about? Let's get those discussed and out of the way, and then I'll move on to body parts...........
But before I do, there are a couple of terms you need to understand. I realize most people already know these, but you never know....
Rep- Short for "repetition", a rep simply means the complete execution of an exercise. So for instance in a dumbbell curl, one rep means from the starting position with your arms fully extended to the contracted position where the weight is brought up by your shoulders back to the starting position is one "rep".
Set- A set is performing more than one repetition at at time. So if I am going to do a set of 12 dumbbell curls, I'll be doing 12 repetitions in a row without stopping. (Or at least without QUITTING! Sometimes I have to pause because I've chosen a weight that is really too high to complete my set.)
So, if someone is going to do 3 sets of 12 reps, they will do an exercise 12 times, from start to finish, then take a break and do the same thing two more times.
Make sense?
Any other exercise terms anyone is confused about? Let's get those discussed and out of the way, and then I'll move on to body parts...........
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