When Fitness is a Lifestyle

I hope everyone is doing well! As you know, calories in verses calories out determines your weight. But, what happens if you are within your caloric intake and you are still not losing weight? Below are some things that may be hindering your progress.

1. Quality of your food. When we eat our bodies use the nutrients to fuel our bodies. So, if you are eating food that is low in nutrition but high in calories, you are not fueling your body.  This is especially true with foods high in sugar or consuming alcohol. When the human body has a sense of starvation it will store fat based on genetics to keep us alive from 2000 years ago. Even if you are at your caloric number, you could be starving your body of the vitamins and minerals you need. When food is digested it takes energy (calories). Simple sugars and alcohol are not too complicated to digest. So, let’s say you eat 100 calories of simple sugars/alcohol.  It may only take only 10 to 15 calories to process and digest. Let’s take 100 calories of a good quality protein. It may take 30 to 40 calories to digest and process the food. So, your net calories would be less eating higher quality food. When you eat quality food, it sticks with you longer. Who wants to feel hungry all the time? Let’s say you are taking in 2,000 calories a day, and 1,000 calories are empty crappy calories. Chances are you will remain fat, and most of it will be around your mid-section.

2. Volatile blood sugar. The human body always wants to stay in homeostasis. This means if you are hot, your body makes sweat; if you are cold, your body shivers. If you start your day off with a sugar shock jolt of  Starbucks, orange juice, bagels and/or most breakfast cereals, your pancreas releases insulin and pushes the sugar into the cells. Eventually the sugar shock wears off. When blood sugar is low your body will crave SUGAR. The key is to eat more protein, which has no effect on insulin, and eat complex carbohydrates which take longer to digest and don't give you the fast sugar spike.

3. Underestimating food consumed. If you eat out for your meals, it may be harder to know what the correct calorie content is. Calorieking.com has a nice database with most restaurants. I like to go to Applebee’s for their Weight Watchers meals which have the calories listed on the menu. At home, you should be weighing and measuring food. Target has a nice digital scale for about $50.00. Don’t forget about any food that is eaten off someone else’s plate. Your body counts every calorie, even if you “forget” about keeping track of it.

4. Overestimating exercise calories burned. After a hard cardio workout, the cardio machine shows you burned 800 calories. But how accurate do you think it is? I have been wearing the Bodybugg (which is a device that measures energy output). My cross-trainer shows that exercising for 60 minutes on it at a level 15 interval program burns 976 calories. The Bodybugg showed a calorie burn of 465 calories. That is a huge difference!! My suggestion is to try to not eat the calories burned with exercise.

5. Not getting enough sleep. What is the function of sleep? Shakespeare called sleep “nature’s soft music”, referring to its restorative stage. While we sleep, our bodies secrete hormones that affect our mood, energy, memory, and concentration. One of the released hormones is growth hormone. Growth hormone helps control the body’s proportion of muscle to fat. When your body is producing less of this hormone, the body will tend to keep a stronger hold of fat. Another hormone that is affected by the amount and quality of sleep is Leptin. Leptin is secreted from body fat, and travels to the hypothalamus to regulate the amount of body fat via controls of appetite and energy output. A lack of this hormone will ultimately make you eat more food without even knowing it. Serotonin is yet another critical component of weight loss. A large amount of serotonin is produced while sleeping. Serotonin is synthesized from the amino acid tryptophan. Serotonin plays a role in sleep, appetite, nausea, migraine headaches, and regulation of mood.

A lack of sleep will also keep you from exercising. When you are exhausted and feel like crap the last thing in the world you want to do is physical activity. So, it’s really a double edged sword. Even though exercise would be beneficial to increase your energy level and help you to sleep better.

So what is enough sleep? Most experts agree that 8 hours is about right. More importantly, it's best to go to bed and get up at the same time everyday. However, most people sleep differently during the weekends and disrupt their Circadian Rhythm.

Client of the Month

April has been coming to Functional Conditioning since September of 2007. In 2006, April was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She had been working with a physical therapist (she still does), but wanted to improve her strength and energy level. The first thing we did was cut out simple processed sugars from her diet. Almost immediately she started to feel better, and did not want to fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon. Next, we put a very nice Vision Fitness recumbent bike in her house, so she could get daily exercise. In addition to that, I gave her exercises to do at home using a fitness ball and the resistance bands. Every other week, April would come in to our gym for a 30 minute workout and a massage afterward. Her progress has been remarkable! I am so proud to work with her, and see her “can do” attitude. I asked her to share some thoughts about her journey thus far. Here is what she has to say:

Well… basically back in September I could barely walk to the bathroom. I was unable to drive, go to work, walk up the stairs etc. Now, I can do all of those things and I have the stamina to make it through the day without a nap. Because I started exercising on the bike and the ball, along with stimulus needling by my PT and monthly massages, I can now bend my right leg and walk with a cane without too much fear of falling. My PT tests my strength weekly and I just keep improving. I also changed my diet to include more protein and exclude unneeded sugars, which has improved the way I feel tremendously. I can now drive my daughter to gymnastics twice a week and walk through the grocery store to get my prescriptions. I use a scooter for long distances, but I am okay with that for now. All of this in only 6 months! My goal over the next 6 months is to be able to walk without the cane for short distances. Thanks to you, Brian, I made a huge life change and am where I am because of it.

I have the greatest job! I am very grateful for the people that allow me to make a difference in their lives. Here is how you can help. MS is a disease that is near and dear to my heart. My wife, Christine, was diagnosed in November of 1998. Although we have been fortunate with not too many MS attacks, it still sits in the back of your mind. A dear friend of Christine's, April was diagnosed with MS in 2006. Her MS is more aggressive and she has been working out at Functional Conditioning since September of 2007. Please join us in this great cause. I promise you will not regret it!!!

Click here for details http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?fr_id=9111&pg=entry