Pop Quiz

These are just a few questions I pulled out of the book You on a Diet by Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz. How much do you know? (Answers Below)



1. What is the most reason diets fail?

a. They’re designed so that they’re impossible to stick to long-term.

b. They’re so complicated that you need a math degree to follow them.

c. They are only so many carrot sticks and celery stalks a person can take.

d. Mozarella sticks. Mmmm!



2. Which of the following strategies is most recommended for people trying to lose weight?

a. Weighing yourself once a week.

b. Eating two or three small meals a day.

c. Eating nuts every day.

d. Ex-Lax smoothies for everyone!



3. Which choice is most recommended to cut your appetite?

a. Whole-grain foods.

b. Whole aisles of fruit.

c. Whole lot of diet soda.

d. Whole boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.



4. Of the following choices, which is least dangerous to a long-term waist management strategy?

a. A 1,000 calorie-a-day diet.

b. Higher than usual colonics to remove all fat.

c. Training for a marathon.

d. Playing video games.



5. Calorie for calorie, what fills you up for the longest amount of time?

a. Fat

b. Fiber

c. Fructose

d. French Fries



6. At least how much must you walk daily for optimum waist control?

a. 30 minutes

b. Two hours

c. Any time you can spare.

d. Any, as long as it’s not traveling to and from the fridge.



7. Of the following items, what contributes most to weight gain?

a. Periods of low levels of willpower.

b. Short periods of high-intensity stress.

c. Long periods of low-intensity stress.

d. Periods of high-intensity dessert trays.



8. What is the worst side effect of losing weight?

a. Increased risk of chocolate withdrawal.

b. Increased risk of muscular and joint aches.

c. Increased risk of yo-yo dieting.

d. Increased risk of astronomical tailor bill.



Answers:

1. a. Most diets don’t reprogram you to think and eat automatically, so that eventually you’ll go off the diet just as surely as you went on it.

2. c. Eating a handful of nuts has been shown to help you stay full, while skipping meals can be detrimental because your body will go into a fat-storing starvation mode when it doesn’t have enough calories.

3. a. Whole-grain foods are loaded with filling fiber.

4. d. Playing video games works because it keeps your hands busy, so you can’t eat. (Training for a marathon is actually destructive to your body because of the risk to your joints, and for most people 1,000 calories is dangerously low daily caloric intake. Do we really need to explain colonics?)

5. b. Fiber fills you up. A cup of oatmeal in the morning has been shown to prevent you from afternoon gorging.

6. a. Walk at least 30 minutes – at once or in intervals – every day.

7. c. Chronic stress makes your body store more fat.

8. c. Yo-yo dieting not only has physiological effects, because you end up gaining more weight after you’ve lost it, but it also has psychological effects.

My Eats

Many people often ask me what I suggest as far as eating goes. I have lots of favorites but here's a couple of items I currently indulge:

1. I most always start my day off with a protein shake. My favorite is an Herbalife formula 1 meal replacement shake in french vanilla. I mix it with 8 ounces of OJ for a scrumptious start to the day. However any meal replacement will do just fine. The key here is find something that you really enjoy the taste of. I look forward to my shake every morning (have for about 7 years).

2. Amy's is my new Favorite brand! I've been living off her burritos for lunch. I add some fat free sour cream (25 calories) and salsa (10 calories) to make it extra zesty! She also carries an AMAZING Organic Cream of Tomato Soup (it's also gluten free:). In Liberty, Target is the only place I've found that carries this brand. The best part of Amy's is that she's really affordable. The burritos are only $1.70 at Target while the soup is a little more (but very worth the splurge) at $3.

3. Organic Banana's and Grapes. This may sound crazy but they taste like I remember growing up! I don't think I can ever go back to regular produce after tasting the freshness that comes with organic. The extra investment is totally worth it.

4. This isn't a food, just a tip. I always make lunch my biggest meal. I find that I'm always very super-hungry at this time. It helps give me a boost throughout the afternoon and doesn't leave me starving after dinner. Also a mid-morning snack is a must. Work hard to not deprive yourself of calories throughout the day so you don't have to make up for it at night.

I know it's a short list but it's something! I've been a little "under the weather" this week so I'm just proud to get this up!!

Lynette the Trainer

My mother-in-law, Lynette, is a trainer in South Carolina. Last week she had the opportunity to train a contestant, Amy, from the biggest loser show. The show is being taped as I write this post so we won't see her until the fall. Amy and her husband were selected as contestants for the show about 7 weeks ago. Amy got booted off two weeks ago and therefore began training with Lynette.

Amy's husband is still on the show and has lost around 76 pounds so far (in just 7 weeks?!). She just got invited back to the show and is leaving tomorrow. She works out every day and tries to burn 4000 calories a day and eats only 1000 calories. Not healthy from a personal trainer’s standpoint and very unrealistic to continue on a long-term basis.

This would be one reason why I dislike the show; it shows everyone a very unhealthy way to lose weight by using extreme measures. So instead of losing 1-2 pounds per week, they are losing 10-20 pounds giving viewers at home a feeling that losing that much weight per week is something that should be attained. I understand its hollywood and dramatic results increase ratings but starvation and vigorous exercise for a short peroid of time are only going to cause frustration and set-back. Depriving your body of nutrients makes in crave them ten-fold.




Amy is in the red shirt. Lynette is in black to the left of her.

Health & Money

Money and fitness go hand in hand. Check it out!

1. Poor people that do rich people things become rich.
2. Unhealthy people that do healthy things become healthy.

3. Saving $85 a month doesn't seem like much but after a year it adds up to over $1000. A good amount of spending cash!
4. Losing 5 pounds a month doesn't seem like much but after a year it adds up to 60 pounds gone! A handful of dress sizes different.

5. Money is all about daily choices and self control.
6. Health is all about daily choices and self control.

7. It's hard work and dedication but you can get out of debt.
8. It's hard work and dedication but you can lose weight.

9. It's all about changing spending habits and sticking with it.
10. It's all about changing food and exercise habits and sticking with it.

Overcoming Obstacles

I've tried to write this post a handful of times. For some reason I just can't spit out into words what's going through my brain. There's so many different angles I could take this. The "hump" seems more complicated to me than ever. Nevertheless, here's a handful of theories:

1. (From a post I never published last week)

I've been meditating on "the hump" this week. I wanted to make sure I put enough thought and research into this topic as it's a big one. There are many ideas and approaches to this that entered my brain this week. Although there were lots of keepers, there is one logic that I feel sums it all up.

We only have one chance, one life; make it a good one.

I came to this conclusion earlier in the week. My husband and I were having one of our usual "budget meetings", but this one was far from usual. Instead of discussing monthly goals we visited about our vision for the next 5-25 years. I know there are so many variables and things that could change dramatically during that time, like our income (either up or down). Nonetheless, we set some goals for retirement, kids college funds, future house, car, boat, etc... Then it hit me, we only have ONE chance at this. If we mess it up now, there's not another opportunity because we have just this one life. We're only going to be 30 years old one time. We're only going to have the year 2008 one time. July 6th, 2008 only happens once. Deep, I know. As I was sharing this insight with my husband, he called me Mandy Freud...Funny.

So I wanted to attempt to make this correlate with fitness. I only have one body. If I decide to eat extra calories for the decade of my 30's and omit exercising regularly, chances are when I hit 40 my body will start to show the effects. My knees and hips may decide to fail as well. When I am 80 my body might tell me it's done walking. Who knows? My quality of life later on will more than likely be affected for the worse. Or if I take care of my body now, the 60 year old version of me will look back and thank the 25 year old version of me because of the decisions and choices I'm making now.

I want my "one chance" to be one of no regret as one of the worst feelings (in my opinion) is the taste of regret.

2. The mini steps to get out of a hump.

a. Re-focus.
b. Remember what brought you to the place of wanting to change your life.
c. Revise micro goals into something realistic. Many times we over-estimate ourselves (I do this all the time) and set unattainable goals. The only constant in life is change. Situations change thus micro goals need changed along with life.
d. Find someone or something that inspires you to keep going. I think this is very useful as certain people or situations motivate me such as (as cheesy as this may sound) watching American Gladiators. The show is all about overcoming obstacles and reaching for a goal. Something else that really inspires me is being around healthy people. People that eat right and exercise. I see how they "have it together" and strive for that same situation for my own life.
e. Get to know someone. I find I do this a lot. I try to find people that I can relate to that I want to strive to be like. Maybe I like their character, a personality characteristic, or the way they handle tough situations. I study them (although they never know this) and work to figure them out. I ask them questions to further my investigation which helps me understand how to improve myself more.
e. Check out Gretchen's list of keeping New Year's Resolutions

From Jillian

I really like Jillian Michaels. Yeah she's a celebrity trainer and does quite a few things on her show that would NEVER work in reality. However, we're on the same page for the most part of fitness issues and weight-loss theories. She sends out a newsletter that I get in my "junk email account" most everyday. Here's what she had to say on Monday of this week, I thought it was good so I wanted to share as my "ode to the hump" lots of us are working through.





You Choose, You Win
There's no such thing as mindless weight loss. You can't sleep off the pounds or take a miracle pill that burns fat. Losing weight is about making the right choices, every single day, in a variety of different situations. Here's how one of my online teammates took control:

"I have had such a great weekend that I want to share it with you. I have been to three social events (eating events) since Thursday. I have purposely stayed away from them whenever possible until I felt more in control. I wanted to be able to go and enjoy myself without the anxiety of feeling deprived. It's like I had an Aha! moment and tried a new tactic for me. I made a plan ahead of time. I decided to go, have a good time and not deprive myself.
I decided ahead of time that Saturday would be a high calorie day so in the morning I did a cardio workout that burned 400 calories and that's how much I upped my calories for the day. Then I decided I could have anything I wanted but, I only had a certain amount of calories to spend.

I had a bridal shower for brunch and my son's birthday dinner. At the shower, I decided I would pick out the three things that I thought I would enjoy the most, of course paying close attention to portion to stay within my budget. I probably scanned the buffet for a full 10 minutes to make sure I got the best bang for my buck (LOL) and I drank water because I didn't want to waste valuable calories.

After eating I got up and started walking around taking pictures...it was a big shower and I only knew the bride, her sister, and her mother. Taking pictures gave me a chance to meet people and kept my focus away from the food.

For dinner, we decided on Mexican food and margaritas. Yum, my favorite! Again, I chose to drink water, not wanting to waste any calories. After hearing Jillian say that one margarita has about 800 calories I passed. Not worth it. I had a very satisfying dinner.

When I weighed myself this morning I was down another 1/2 pound. I CAN LIVE THIS WAY! Success tastes so much better than anything I could eat. This afternoon I went through my closet and pulled out anything that was too big. Now they are in a bag at the basement door, waiting pick-up by the Kidney Fund. I don't need them anymore because I will NEVER be that size again." – ngidding

The Hump

Beginning. Middle. End.

The easiest part of starting something new is the beginning and end. In the beginning everything is exciting and new. It's different than normal which adds a new twist to life. The end is also pretty fun because there's triumph in sight as the finish line is within view. Although in my opinion, the middle is where true victory is had-where the champions truly reside.

I see it almost weekly. I meet a new client, run into an old friend at the grocery store or am approached by someone in the gym. Their eyes are filled with excitement and the dream of losing weight and getting healthier. 99% of the time I am holding my new-found exerciser back from spending 7 days a week in the gym. They are filled with joy as their new, improved future vision of themselves is looking up. I love this stage!

However quickly frustration sets in. They did not lose the 20 pounds they wanted to by the end of month one. Slowly but surely the diet and exercise fades. It's no longer very exciting but more of a burden and slowly their dreams of health die away and are declared impossible. The aspirations they once had are gone. I hate this stage!

What I call, the "middle" is the hump, the Wednesday, the stagnat area where all you can do is tread long enough to stay afloat. At least that's what it typically feels like. It's not fun, it's work. There's not much enjoyment because the new has worn away and the end is nowhere to be seen.

Are you sitting on a hump right now? Have you been on a hump in the past and gotten over? If so leave a comment and how you've gotten over it or how you are getting through it.

More on the hump later....