BMR

Basal Metabolic Rate = the amount of energy (calories) needed to maintain the body's typical metabolic funtions at a resting state.

I like this link that figures BMR as well as how many calories you need in order to maintain your current weight and/or lose weight.

I'm currently using http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/ to track my calories and percentage of fat, carbs and protein. It also tracks my servings of each food group based on my weight that I need per day.

I've used. www.calorie-count.com in the past to track my food intake. There are many websites that are free and offer an on-line food journal of sorts. These are great ideas if you are looking for an inexpensive way to track your food intake. Weight watchers isn't horrible but lately I've noticed a handful of my clients not losing weight from that particular program. A couple of ladies aren't eating enough over their BMR to keep their mitochondria (the fat-burning cell) fired up to burn fat efficiently.

Fat Burning Workout Revealed

Here's one of my favorites!

3 minutes cardio @ RPE 17
3 minutes cardio @ RPE 11
Repeat 5-10 times depending on your current fitness level.

Cardio could be walking, jogging, biking, swimming, elliptical training, stair stepping, or rollerblading.

Borg's RPE = Rate of Percieved Exertion (how hard you are working scale)
6
7 - Very, very light
8
9 - Very light
10
11 - Fairly light
12
13 - Moderately hard
14
15 - Hard
16
17 - Very hard
18
19 - Very, very hard
20 - Exhaustion

More 5K Options!

A couple more summer events:

Summer Sizzler 5K
This one looks like fun, it's June 28th at 9pm.

Teri Mathis Zenner Memorial Walk

Thanks Johnna for finding these great options!

Walk and Run Club for Women in Liberty!

Wow, I have a lot to say today! This is very exciting news. My trainer friend, Mendy and I are merging our two walking and/or running groups together into one! Therefore, walkers we need to make a good showing this weekend so let the runners know we are dedicated. Here's the info:

When: Every Saturday
Time: 5:30am
Location: Liberty Community Center
Mile Options: 3-11 miles

I know many of you ladies aren't going to like me too much considering most of you don't like to get up this early on a Saturday. HOWEVER, there are many many reasons Mendy and I have the club meeting this early.

1. If you are planning on doing a half marathon your body needs to get used to walking/running at this time. They all start early.
2. The weather is going to get hotter and hotter as the summer months progress so the earlier, the better!
3. This way we all can make it. Too often our Saturdays fill up with sports schedules, weddings, showers, you name it! This way we all can get our long or short mileage in and be done with it.

A little Testimony from Mandy:
It took Mendy close to two months to get me to actually make it to an early morning meeting. I HATE getting up early and if possible avoid it at all cost. However, once I made it to the first meeting I couldn't wait to go back the next week. It was SO MUCH FUN running or walking with a group of women. It's so much better than walking or running on my own. I am very confident you too will have the same experience. Everyone is so nice and encouraging. Please come!

Check out the northland women's website to print your map for this Saturday, May 24th.

BMI Link

I really like this link for Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a scale that doctors, personal trainers and I'm sure many other people use to classify a person's weight range.

Here are the categories:

Underweight = <18.5
Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
Overweight = 25-29.9
Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

Here's the link:
Body Mass Index Calculator

However, there's a slight glitch in the BMI system which is why exercise experts never exclusively utilize this technique when measuring obesity. It doesn't take into consideration muscle mass. We all know muscle weighs more than fat, thus this method can miscalculate the category.

Here's an example of miscalculation: My hunky husband (aka: my Guinea pig) weighs 230 pounds and is 6 feet 5 inches tall. His body mass index is 27.3 which puts him in the overweight category. However his body fat percentage is a mere 13% (this is very low).

My point is this, take into account how much muscle you have. This can be a very complicated process and can include taking into account a person's Somatype

See...this exercise stuff can be complicated!

Client of the Month: Johnna

This is something I'm just beginning. So many of my clients amaze me day after day so I felt that this is a way I can recognize what I observe. Therefore, each month I will be on the lookout for that person that goes above and beyond my expectations and then blog about them.

The first "Client of the Month," is Johnna. I could literally go on and on about her but I want to point out some things that stand out to me about Johnna-things that I LOVE.

1. She's lost 122 pounds!
2. She never makes an excuse and I can honestly say I've never heard her complain when I ask her to do some new, weird, challenging exercise. Secretly, I think she likes it!
3. She has drive and determination. She's working to complete a 1/2 marathon in SF this fall with the group. Not only that-she's already completed a couple 5K's and an 8K which lately seems to be cake for her!
4. She's inspiring to others. She can relate to many people and give them hope because she's been where they are sitting.
5. She's resourceful. She always has some new health recipe or snack that's very tasty and low in calories.
6. She has a Type-A personality. I love this because she's always tracking her miles and counting her calories. Literally there hasn't been a week that's gone by where she couldn't tell me off the top of her head how many miles she's walked and how many calories she's eaten.
7. She doesn't miss a session. If she's in town-she'll be there. I love how she makes fitness a top priority in her life.
8. She's constantly challenging herself. Not to mention the 5 and 8K's she's completed in the last couple of months-she also attends a yoga class once a week along with getting at least two hours a week of training in with me as well as all the walking she does on her own.
9. She's one of the nicest, sweetest people you will ever meet. Very compassionate and talented at what she does for a living.
10. The best part-I didn't fabricate or make any of this up! She's a real living, breathing person that's come a long way and is doing a fantastic job!

WAY TO GO JOHNNA!!!!!

Link 5K

There's a 5K on June 14th that's only $12 to participate if you register before June 6th. Email me: froehlich.mandy@gmail.com if you are interested in participating. I can get you a form to fill out-it should be a good one! It's in Independence.

May Race: Walk for the Homeless

Today there were several of us that walked/ran 2.8 miles for the hillcrest ministries. The weather was warm and it was good!

Soy?

To follow up with my last post, I found this article that best aligns with what my doctor friend presenter was talking about last weekend. My disclaimer: I still need to research this more, I am only passing along what I learned. I am NOT a soy expert!

Brain Overload

This weekend I attended a 2-day fitness conference where I was able to hear from the “best of the best” in the industry. There were a variety of presenters from all over the US. I was also amazed to see some of my favorite instructors from Fit TV and popular infomercials give presentations.

My husband knows best that whenever I learn something that’s very fascinating to me, I regurgitate it to him and most anyone I think would be interested to hear what I have to say. In the spirit of things I deem intriguing, here’s a list of 20 things I learned this weekend (in no certain order):

1. The worst possible food you can eat is anything with Trans fat.
2. It’s very important for women to get 800-1200 micro grams of Folic Acid/day.
3. When taking vitamins the best form is capsule but if required to take in a tablet form, make sure it can be broken in half very easily. Otherwise very minimal nutrients will be absorbed by your body.
4. When running marathons (or half) make sure to increase your antioxidant intake.
5. Marathon runners have a higher risk of developing cancer in their life because of the oxidation process and the oxygen requirements it puts on the body. I found this extremely interesting and intend to do more research on the subject. (Note: my husband has an aunt that passed away a couple of years ago from cancer, ironically she was a PE teacher and avid marathon runner. She was in her 40’s when she passed.)
6. When buying eggs, get Range Free.
7. All “fresh” produce in regular grocery stores barely hold any nutrient value. Example: Oranges are expected to have 100-150% vitamin C of your RDA. When a sample of 1000 oranges from 48 states and 25 grocery stores were tested, the oranges only comprised 10% RDA of vitamin C.
8. The reason that produce does not have any nutrient value is due to the fact that fruits and veggies are picked from a distance far away from the grocery story BEFORE they are ripe. Thus the nutrients from the tree cannot get into the fruit. The fruits are then sprayed with MSG for preservation. MSG is a toxic chemical, that when they spray MSG on the produce full body zip up suits with oxygen masks are to be worn by the people spraying our food.
9. Caffeine decreases nutrient absorption.
10. Do not intake soy unless it’s fermented.
11. There is no nutritional value to milk. Interesting.
12. Functional Strength is missing in our youth’s physical education program.
13.I learned a tidbit of the Egoscue Method.
14. 10 functional abdominal progressions.
15. The pelvic placement is crucial in shoulder mobility.
16. 2 new techniques to do crunches that should help with neck pull.
17. Many, many new exercises with the medicine ball, ball, and band.
18. I have Gliders and the bender ball along with fun exercises to go along with them.
19. 7 new cardiovascular programs to promote fat metabolism.
20. A new look on periodization and exercise programming.

This list could literally go on and on, I learned so many applications its ridiculous. So to my many clients: Don’t be scared by this list yet be energized as we are going to have some adventures together. I look forward to trying every little tidbit I learned this weekend on you in the future!

Ahhh...my toolbox feels full again!

Saturday, May 10

This Saturday we will be meeting at the Liberty Community Center to walk or run 4 or 5 miles (depending on which race you are training for). Please feel free to join in even if your intentions aren't walking or running a half or full marathon in October. Please print out the course before you come.

4 mile course

5 mile course


*I will not be there this weekend. I will be in Myrtle Beach for a fitness conference (to get more torture ideas).

Fast and Easy Healthy Recipe

I love this recipe. I make it literally everyday for lunch! Although I don't have a name for it. Maybe we could call it, healthy turkey wrap?

Ingredients:
1 slice green pepper
1 slice red pepper
1 slice onion
1.5 slices low sodium sliced turkey lunch meat
1/2 slice provalone cheese
1 Tbsp fat free sour cream
1 Tbsp salsa
1 100% whole grain tortilla

Chop onion and peppers. Saute in pan for 5 minute on medium heat. Put onions, pepper, cheese and turkey one one side of tortilla. Fold tortilla over and place in pan for 3 minutes over medium to high heat, flip and repeat.

Take off heat and add salsa and sour cream if desired.

Note: you can add any of your favorite veggies to this and/or omit meat for my veagan friends:)