You and Your Metabolism

According to the international sports science association metabolism is defined as the chemical process occurring within a living cell or organisms that are necessary for the maintenance of life. In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for vital processes and other substances necessary for life are synthesized. Wow, now that is a mouthful, simply put metabolism is the breaking down of foods like fat, carbohydrates, and proteins into usable energy for the body. Our current physical state is determined by number of things, the foods that we eat, the exercise that we do or don't do, and a small amount is attributed to our genetic make up. When we begin to exercise our bodies change on a cellular level we have increased endurance the capillaries in our bodies become stronger and they dispense more oxygen to vital organs. The heart becomes stronger causing it to pump blood more efficiently which helps decrease blood pressure and our resting heart rate. This means we can do longer and harder works before becoming futiaged. Once this happens the body begins to release any unnesseary fat that it was storing so that you become better at that exercise. This is a perfect example of why swimming, jogging, running, and even bicycling helps burn away large amounts of unwanted pounds. The reason behind this is that our bodies have a base rate of metabolism that it seeks to maintain, this is called your metabolic setpoint it's usually the lowest amount of energy that your body requires in order for it to continue to function. For instance if you have a consistent sedentary lifestyle where you don't do a lot of physical activity that setpoint is naturally going to be lower then a more active person. But don't fear because your metabolic setpoint can always be changed, through physical activity and diet you can reset your metabolism! For the most part I think we are all aware of the three catigories our food falls in, carbohydrates, proteins and fat and we all know that carbohydrates are awesome at giving the body more energy. And I would say that most of you know that when we eat fats they generally stay fats and are stored as such because it has the same structure as our natural body fat. But did you know that Protein helps to grow muscles and repair tissue damage? It also takes longer for Protein to make the transition into fat. So what does all this have to do with your metabolism and getting it to work at an effective level? It's simple, the more exercise and physical activity that you do the more food you have to eat. Think of your body like a car and think of food like gas, you can't run your car without gas so likewise your body can not function without food. Remember food is not the enemy, but a lack of physical activity is. So until next time and as always happy eating!!!

Sample Meal Plan

Okay so here's a sample meal plan for the day.

Breakfast: Two wheat blueberry Eggos, two egg whites mixed with 1 cup spinach and a glass of orange juice.

Snack 1: One cup of yogurt with half cup of granola.

Lunch: One tuna sandwich mixed with avocado instead of mayo on a bed of spinach with two slices of bread and one pear.

Snack 2: Fruit smoothie with at least 1/2 of fruit and one scoop of protein powder.

Dinner: chicken sante fe rice with a small salad and apple crisp.

Snack 3: One round of baby bell cheese and 1 ounce of almonds. (if your up long enough)

Happy eating!!!

Checking Your Homework

Okay so when talking about nutrition and fitness it's always nice to have some reading material that you can refer back to you. I have three texts that I like to refer to when I have questions or need encouragement about my nutrition or my fitness. The first is my personal training textbook, "Fitness the Complete Guide" by Frederick C Hatfield, PhD. The second is "Total Nutrition the Only Guide You'll Ever Need" from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. And finally the third is "You on a Diet The owners manual for waste management" by Michael F. Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. and yes it's Oprah's one and only doctor Oz. Since you all kept track of everything you've been eating for the past week, I'm now going to break down what you should be eating to see how close your week lines up. According Total Nutrition there is a 3-5-7 rule of good nutrition. 3 means three keywords (moderation, variety and balance) anything for the most part is okay as long as it's within moderation, you don't want to go out and eat two packages of cookies a day, but the occasional indulgence is perfectly fine. 5 stands for your five basic food groups, and 7 talks about seven dietary guidelines (which we'll talk about later). According to Total Nutrition by following this 3-5-7 setup you will give your body everything that it needs to function in a healthy way. So let's talk about the five basic food groups: as an adult it is recommended that you get two servings of milk, two servings of meat, three servings of vegetables, two servings of fruit, and six servings of grain. According to Total Nutrition an adult is anyone that's 25 years of age or over,(And we were all so happy to turn 21!) Teenagers to young adults (11 years of age to 24 years of age) have the following recommended health guide lines: four serving of milk, two servings of meat, three servings of vegetable, two servings of fruit and six servings of grain. Now let's add up the amount of milk, meat, vegetables, fruit and grains that you ate for each day, and compare it to the recommended servings that you should be getting. Any discrepancies is a good place for you to start improving your diet. Something else you might want to invest in is a really good calorie counting book. These books give you the amount of calories that are in some of your favorite foods, and a really good one will give you the amount of calories in some of your favorite fast foods. If some of you only knew the amount of calories in the things we all love to eat the most, you would cut them out of your diet in a nano second. So Shop around, because it is impossible to know the amount of calories you are taking in without some sort of guide. And if you don't know what you're putting into your body how could you possibly expect to see changes. For those of you at home that already have a good calorie counter, I want you to go through and write down the amount of calories that you ate at each meal. When you finish with that add them up for the entire day and compare it to the amount of calories your burning. For those of you trying to lose weight let's see if the number is less then what your are burning. If so, great job! For the rest of us, hey it's just the first week and even I didn't do as well as I would've liked. But, Sunday marks the start of a new week and with a new week brings a new promise of hope to do a little bit better then last week. Remember slow and steady wins the race! Until Wednesday happy eating!

Gaining Weight and Muscle

Okay so after posting "Your Body and Weight Loss" I received an e-mail from a friend asking how to gain weight and muscle. So here's the answer for him and anyone else out there who's looking to gain a little muscle. Weight gain is pretty much the same concept as weight loss believe it or not it's probably even a little harder. For example, (and I'll use my real weight this time) I weigh 145 pounds, so I naturally burn 1450 cal. If I'm working out it's a good chance I'm burning at least 200 to 300 cal. that means I have to be sure to add the additional 300 cal to my meal intake for the day putting me in the area of eating somewhere between 1750 cal to about 1800 calories. The more weight and muscle I gain the more food I need to eat, until I reach my desired goal. Then everything becomes about maintaining my results. If you're looking to gain muscle and you want to be lean instead of bulky then you need to do a lot of cardio, and cardio burns a lot of calories. So let's say you're like my crazy boyfriend who likes to go workout for two hours a day, an hour of cardio and an hour of weight training, then your going to be eating more food then a garbage disposal on brussels sprout night! So continue to write down everything that you're eating no matter how good or bad you think it is. At the end of the week or the beginning of next week I'm going sit down and talk to you about how to read that funky little nutrition box on the back or side of all your food products. I'll even talk to you about common enemies of weight loss/gain and your best friend in the fight against waistline vs. bottom line

Your Body And Weight Loss

Let's face it not everyone was meant to be a size 2, and losing 250 pounds in two weeks isn't going to happen without a visit to your doctor. So why do we all try to starve ourselves thin? Losing weight is about getting healthy, and eating 200 calories a day is not healthy. So how can you save your waistline? By eating of course. I know I know that's what got you into trouble in the first place! So let me break your body down for you. First, right down your weight on a piece of paper, I am going to use 160 because it's a nice number for me to work with. Now add a zero to the end of that number, now I have 1600. This new number is the amount of calories that you would burn in a day if you were to sit at home on the sofa all day and watch TV. However, most of us don't sit at home for 24 hours so we tend to burn a little bit more. Now let me explain the way weight loss works. 1 pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. That means in order to lose 1 pound you need to find a safe and good way to eliminate 3500 cal from your daily calorie intake. You guys are so smart, there is no safe way for anyone under 650 pounds to cut 3500 calories from there diet in one day. So let's try example if I burn 1600 cal a day and my goal is to lose 1 pound by the end of the week the plan would be as follows: I would eliminate 300 calories per day from my overall diet and then burn an additional 200 cal by working out, playing sports or any other form of activity. Ok, that's a total of 500 cal per day, 500 times seven equals 3500! Congratulations, you just lost 1 pound of fat! That's how weight loss works. Now your body is a very funny thing, it likes calories. So much so that if you don't eat enough calories your body will store calories from your previous meals and turn them into fat so that it can sustain it's self. This is why crazy diets that tell you to only eat 500 cal a day rarely ever work, and if they do work the results never last. Because once you see the results that you're looking for you stop eating 500 cal and go back to eating 1300 cal you going to gain weight. And usually you gained even more weight than you originally lost this is because your body doesn't trust you, it doesn't know if or when you will feed it again. So instead of burning calories the maximum amount of calories it can it holds on to them only burning the smallest amount needed to keep you going. Calories are what gives your body energy to do the things you love to do! So how do you get your body to trust you again? By eating at least five small meals or snacks a day. I know what you're thinking that's a lot of food and there is no way I can eat that many times a day. But I say, you can! So here's your homework for this week: for the entire week I want you to write down what you eat and what time you eat. Your paper should look something like this breakfast 7:00 a.m. (everything you ate), 1st snack 10:00 am (everything you ate), lunch 1:00 p.m. (everything you ate), 2nd snack 4:00 p.m.(everything you ate), and final dinner 7:00 p.m. (everything you ate). Try to keep a minimum of three hours in between each meal or snack And try not to eat within three hours of going to bed. That's all for right now the big thing is just getting used to eating more meals at smaller portions. Next time will talk about what it is you're actually eating and how to get full and be satisfied on healthier foods.

Greetings

Hello world wide web! This is my first blog and I must say I am both excited and scared. Fit and loving it was designed to help me get into shape! As an ex- certified personal trainer I can say there are three things needed to see good results in fitness. Motivation, diet, and exercise! But after 9 hours at work motivation and exercise are more like a thought and a dream, making eating the first thing I want to do after a long day at work. So that's what I want to talk about, and if any of you are like me then you have also noticed that you can get a burger, fries, and a soda for 5.95 in about 5 min and a grilled chicken breast and steamed veggies for 11.95 in about 45 min. Eating healthy on a budget is hard, but very possible and important if you want to get in to shape. And i promise that once you start eating right you'll feel like a whole new you with more energy ready to try new things. So let's get Fit and Loving It USA!!