I was checking out a recipe for power bars the other day and came across an ingredient with which I was not familiar. Along with lots of other healthy-sounding ingredients such as dried fruit, whey protein powder and organic peanut butter, this recipe called for ½ cup LSA. So I went on a Google hunt to learn more!
LSA is a blend of flax seeds, sunflower seeds and almonds and carries quite a nutritional punch! The product, LSA, is not available in the United States, but appears to be a staple in Australian homes for healthy eaters. By following this simple recipe, though, you can have LSA to add to your diet, too.
Ingredients
3 parts whole flax seeds
2 parts sunflower seeds
1 part almonds
For my first batch I used 1 cup flax, 2/3 cup sunflower and 1/3 cup almonds which produces 2 cups of LSA)
Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and grind to a fine mixture. Put in air-tight container and store in the refrigerator. It is suppose to last for a month.
From my first blending experience, I’d caution you that as these seeds contain a high quantity of oil, your blender blades may need to be cleaned and the whole mixture shaken up before completion. In my Magic Bullet, the mixture tended to clump up around the blades and the edge of the cup. I just cleaned off the blades, broke up the clumps and blended it some more. It worked out in the end.
The nutritional value of this little mixture is powerful! 1 tablespoon contains 72 calories which breaks down into 52 calories of fat, 11 calories of carbs (mostly fiber with only a little sugar) and 9 calories of protein. However, the real value comes in the form of the actual nutrients such as vitamins of all kinds, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, selenium, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, etc. Just Google any one of the three ingredients above for nutritional content and sit back and read the accolades!
By now you must be thinking, “So okay, what do I do with the stuff?” Good question. The real answer is that I’m still experimenting, but here are some easy-to-use initial ideas.
1. Add a tablespoon of LSA to boost the nutrition content of various foods such as oatmeal, yogurt, other cereal, smoothies, etc. If you taste it, you will see that, as anticipated, it’s just a nice nutty blend that will not significantly alter the flavor of whatever you add it to. Of course, it is grainy in texture, so if you add it to something smooth such as yogurt, you will notice the graininess when you eat it. I don’t find this to be a problem, but we all have our peculiarities about food textures.
2. From what I’ve read, it looks like LSA is often used as a substitute for flour in whole or in part when making things like muffins or brownies. I haven’t experimented with this yet, but will report on my results when I do.
3. LSA is a great ingredient to add to homemade power bars or granola bars. I am planning to make peanut butter power bars later today and will report back on the results and provide the recipe if it turns out to be a good one.
In summary, I think this is a powerful nutritional booster and am currently pursuing options for integrating it into my diet. As I learn more about it, I will share this via my blog, both pros and cons as I find them. In the meantime, I’d urge others to try it out and let me know via comments what you think about LSA. Perhaps you already use it and would like to share a recipe or two!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Pulling My Head out of the Sand
I started this blog and discussion group to work through all aspects of making a life style change to health and fitness. When I’m in the groove (exercising regularly and pushing the edge, being smart about what I eat, feeling good and losing weight), then I have no problem coming up with articles and stimulating discussion. But when I start heading down the slippery slope that takes me back to old habits (failing to exercise even a little, opting for more calories and less nutrition, gaining back a few pounds), then I seem to avoid both blogging and discussing anything about the process.
What needs to surface here is that both sides of the fitness coin are real and need to be held up to the light of day for scrutiny. I need to own the bad behavior and poor choices as much as I own the good behavior and smart choices. After all, it’s all me, making decisions and taking actions that effect me. What’s there to not own?
Things have slowly broken down since I took my last vacation in September. I don’t think the vacation was the catalyst for lapse, nor was it the fact that my personal trainer decided to stop working in my area on Saturdays. I still have access to two gyms free of charge and I still have all of the information I have gained over the years about good nutrition and working out. This is just the time frame in which the slipping began.
The difference between this down-slide and others, is that I am hyper aware of it and have not let everything go. The progress I have made regarding preparing healthy meals and taking healthy food into work for lunch and snacks still holds. The difference in eating has been that I tend to eat more calories over-all and I indulge in empty calories such as pita chips or cookies. As a result, my weight hasn’t change much, though I notice a few pounds and my clothes fit a little tighter.
I think the most significant thing this time is that I just quit exercising. I have ample opportunity, I just haven’t done it. As a result, the biggest change I notice is the lessening of muscle tone (softer tummy and thighs and even upper arms.) This is the biggest loss for me. I really like feeling fit and toned.
So why don’t I just go exercise? I don’t really know. I have plenty of excuses, but none that are truly sufficient to prevent me from establishing some kind of exercise routine. The only real excuse that may in fact have some merit is that I’m going through yet another stage of perimenopause and am having a lack of drive to do a lot of things I typically do. I’m going to see a new doctor after the first of the year to see if I can get a plan in place to improve my focus and energy to do things again, and I hope that this will put me back on track with fitness and nutrition. Although I have been going through perimenopause for about seven years now, I have never been on any kind of hormone replacement therapy because of concerns about negative side-effects and my personal history of cancer. However, I have found an alternative medicine treatment center that uses natural hormones and formulates the correct compound for each person they treat. I’ll certainly write about the experience, and I hope that it truly makes a difference.
In the meantime, I’m asking myself, “Why don’t you just go back and exercise?” Since there really is no good answer to that except that there is no answer and therefore I will go back and exercise, I’m hopeful that this will jump start a return to good behavior that will improve my fitness.
So all this is to say that there are always valleys with the peaks. I’m thinking that the appropriate response to the valley time is to acknowledge it for what it is, own it and find another peak to start climbing. Ignoring it just allows it to keep on keeping on. For me, that’s not acceptable. I simply will not go backwards!
I hope my next post is to write about the process of getting back into the swing of things. However, if that doesn’t happen, then I will write about the continuing process of working my way back to establishing that new life style that embraces health and fitness. Check back to see what happens next!
What needs to surface here is that both sides of the fitness coin are real and need to be held up to the light of day for scrutiny. I need to own the bad behavior and poor choices as much as I own the good behavior and smart choices. After all, it’s all me, making decisions and taking actions that effect me. What’s there to not own?
Things have slowly broken down since I took my last vacation in September. I don’t think the vacation was the catalyst for lapse, nor was it the fact that my personal trainer decided to stop working in my area on Saturdays. I still have access to two gyms free of charge and I still have all of the information I have gained over the years about good nutrition and working out. This is just the time frame in which the slipping began.
The difference between this down-slide and others, is that I am hyper aware of it and have not let everything go. The progress I have made regarding preparing healthy meals and taking healthy food into work for lunch and snacks still holds. The difference in eating has been that I tend to eat more calories over-all and I indulge in empty calories such as pita chips or cookies. As a result, my weight hasn’t change much, though I notice a few pounds and my clothes fit a little tighter.
I think the most significant thing this time is that I just quit exercising. I have ample opportunity, I just haven’t done it. As a result, the biggest change I notice is the lessening of muscle tone (softer tummy and thighs and even upper arms.) This is the biggest loss for me. I really like feeling fit and toned.
So why don’t I just go exercise? I don’t really know. I have plenty of excuses, but none that are truly sufficient to prevent me from establishing some kind of exercise routine. The only real excuse that may in fact have some merit is that I’m going through yet another stage of perimenopause and am having a lack of drive to do a lot of things I typically do. I’m going to see a new doctor after the first of the year to see if I can get a plan in place to improve my focus and energy to do things again, and I hope that this will put me back on track with fitness and nutrition. Although I have been going through perimenopause for about seven years now, I have never been on any kind of hormone replacement therapy because of concerns about negative side-effects and my personal history of cancer. However, I have found an alternative medicine treatment center that uses natural hormones and formulates the correct compound for each person they treat. I’ll certainly write about the experience, and I hope that it truly makes a difference.
In the meantime, I’m asking myself, “Why don’t you just go back and exercise?” Since there really is no good answer to that except that there is no answer and therefore I will go back and exercise, I’m hopeful that this will jump start a return to good behavior that will improve my fitness.
So all this is to say that there are always valleys with the peaks. I’m thinking that the appropriate response to the valley time is to acknowledge it for what it is, own it and find another peak to start climbing. Ignoring it just allows it to keep on keeping on. For me, that’s not acceptable. I simply will not go backwards!
I hope my next post is to write about the process of getting back into the swing of things. However, if that doesn’t happen, then I will write about the continuing process of working my way back to establishing that new life style that embraces health and fitness. Check back to see what happens next!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Exercise Makes You Feel Better
One of the people on my Google group discussion list,
http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape, asked about ways to get
motivated to exercise. She said that she experiences depression and
that it's really hard to make herself get on the treadmill and stay
there long enough for a good workout. While I don't experience
clinical depression, I have certainly gone through bouts of being very
low and have experienced the apathy it causes in most everything
including exercising. This was most intense for me when perimenopause
set in about five years ago, also about the same time I decided to get
serious about fitness. Part of what follows comes from my own
experience and part is taken from information I found with a little
searching from the web site sited below.
When I decided to do something about fitness, I spent a lot of time
making myself exercise before it became something I really wanted to
do. I think this is fairly typical. And, if in addition, you cope
with depression, too, then that increases the challenge. Still, if
you exercise to the point of a really good work out, one that leaves
you a little sweaty, breathing hard and feeling tired and sore, then
you can begin to shift that apathy a bit. Your body releases
chemicals when you exercise that give you a natural boost. It's just
hard to make yourself work out to that point if you have the mind set
that you really don't want to exercise.
For more information about how exercise can lessen depression, or keep
it at bay when you're feeling good, check out this article,
"Depression and Anxiety: Exercise Eases Symptoms," from the Mayo
Clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-and-exercise/mh00043
This article is full of excellent information such as: "Doing 30
minutes or more of exercise a day, for three to five days a week can
significantly improve depression symptoms. But smaller amounts of
activity — as little as 10 to 15 minutes at a time — can make a
difference." and "Don't think of exercise as a chore. If exercise is
just another "should" in your life that you don't think you're living
up to, you'll associate it with failure. Rather, look at your exercise
schedule the same way you look at your therapy sessions or medication
— as one of the tools to help you get better."
Note that it is a two-page article and you need to click "next page"
to see all of it.
When doing cardio, something I find particularly boring, I read. If
it's a good book, then the time definitely goes faster. I also find
it motivating to workout in a fitness center with other people. While
this has its own set of challenges, once I get comfortable with the
center, I draw encouragement from those around me. It's a silent
encouragement as we mostly don't talk, but there's just something
reinforcing about other people choosing to do the same things I'm
doing.
The sticking point for most folks is that you have to push yourself
regardless of how you're feeling in order to get this all started.
And then you have to allow yourself to fail and quit and start back
again. Eventually, when you start to really feel and notice the
benefits, you begin to want to do it and it's not such a struggle.
It's an easy thing to say from this side of the battle. I can
remember listening to friends tell me similar things when I was trying
to get started and not believing them or wishing they'd just shut up
and admit that working out was a miserable activity. And it was
miserable for me initially. It was so foreign to my usual routine of
inactivity. I'd spent years being inactive and it wasn't easy to
force a change.
Keep at it and you can turn the corner too. I was telling someone
just the other day that it's finally starting to feel like a real life
change for me, something that could really become permanent. This has
been several years in the making and I'm not ready to call it a life
change yet, but forward progress is definitely being made!
Just remember that it's worth it because it's your fitness and
well-being that is at stake. You are so worth the effort!
http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape, asked about ways to get
motivated to exercise. She said that she experiences depression and
that it's really hard to make herself get on the treadmill and stay
there long enough for a good workout. While I don't experience
clinical depression, I have certainly gone through bouts of being very
low and have experienced the apathy it causes in most everything
including exercising. This was most intense for me when perimenopause
set in about five years ago, also about the same time I decided to get
serious about fitness. Part of what follows comes from my own
experience and part is taken from information I found with a little
searching from the web site sited below.
When I decided to do something about fitness, I spent a lot of time
making myself exercise before it became something I really wanted to
do. I think this is fairly typical. And, if in addition, you cope
with depression, too, then that increases the challenge. Still, if
you exercise to the point of a really good work out, one that leaves
you a little sweaty, breathing hard and feeling tired and sore, then
you can begin to shift that apathy a bit. Your body releases
chemicals when you exercise that give you a natural boost. It's just
hard to make yourself work out to that point if you have the mind set
that you really don't want to exercise.
For more information about how exercise can lessen depression, or keep
it at bay when you're feeling good, check out this article,
"Depression and Anxiety: Exercise Eases Symptoms," from the Mayo
Clinic:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/depression-and-exercise/mh00043
This article is full of excellent information such as: "Doing 30
minutes or more of exercise a day, for three to five days a week can
significantly improve depression symptoms. But smaller amounts of
activity — as little as 10 to 15 minutes at a time — can make a
difference." and "Don't think of exercise as a chore. If exercise is
just another "should" in your life that you don't think you're living
up to, you'll associate it with failure. Rather, look at your exercise
schedule the same way you look at your therapy sessions or medication
— as one of the tools to help you get better."
Note that it is a two-page article and you need to click "next page"
to see all of it.
When doing cardio, something I find particularly boring, I read. If
it's a good book, then the time definitely goes faster. I also find
it motivating to workout in a fitness center with other people. While
this has its own set of challenges, once I get comfortable with the
center, I draw encouragement from those around me. It's a silent
encouragement as we mostly don't talk, but there's just something
reinforcing about other people choosing to do the same things I'm
doing.
The sticking point for most folks is that you have to push yourself
regardless of how you're feeling in order to get this all started.
And then you have to allow yourself to fail and quit and start back
again. Eventually, when you start to really feel and notice the
benefits, you begin to want to do it and it's not such a struggle.
It's an easy thing to say from this side of the battle. I can
remember listening to friends tell me similar things when I was trying
to get started and not believing them or wishing they'd just shut up
and admit that working out was a miserable activity. And it was
miserable for me initially. It was so foreign to my usual routine of
inactivity. I'd spent years being inactive and it wasn't easy to
force a change.
Keep at it and you can turn the corner too. I was telling someone
just the other day that it's finally starting to feel like a real life
change for me, something that could really become permanent. This has
been several years in the making and I'm not ready to call it a life
change yet, but forward progress is definitely being made!
Just remember that it's worth it because it's your fitness and
well-being that is at stake. You are so worth the effort!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
My Personal Journal: The Recent Years
Late in 2006 I hired a personal trainer, Steve Roy.
http://www.royfitness.com/
He asked me in the initial interview what I wanted to accomplish. I
stated rather vaguely that I wanted to improve my muscle tone and lose
some of the softness, said while patting my stomach. Steve's response
was that he could help me exercise to improve muscle tone, but that
the softness would only go away if I reduced my daily caloric intake.
Fortunately, he was able to help me learn how to do this wisely.
Following the direction Steve showed me to achieve a better balance of
fat, carbs and protein while cutting the over-all number of calories
consumed within a day, I began to really read and study the
nutritional content of all the things I ate, and since this was more
startling than I'd ever considered, I also started evaluating things I
didn't typically eat in order to find worthwhile substitutions. Other
posts to this blog will address specifics about diet and nutrition,
but the key point with regard to my personal journey to fitness is
that this is the point at which nutrition became a significant focus
in changing my life-style toward one that would support my fitness
goals.
It was not all clear sailing by any means. Learning what is best and
implementing it into my daily routine are two entirely different
things. The former is driven by intellect and the latter by habit.
Habit is by far the stronger force.
During 2007 Steve moved a little farther away and was no longer
training in my area and I lost my focus, slipped back into old
patterns and put back on all the weight I had previously lost. I made
a few false starts during 2008, but at the beginning of 2009 I was
back to nearly 200 pounds and without any regular exercise routine or
control over my diet. This is the point at which I decided that the
only way to make the change permanent was to turn what I knew
intellectually into habit. I had to not only squelch the old patterns
of behavior that were detrimental to fitness, but replace them with
new patterns of behavior to support fitness. Again, there's a huge
difference between deciding to do this and making it happen, but I was
pretty determined and Steve started training in my area again which
gave me extra support.
I lost down to 174 pounds by the end of 2009 and had a pretty good
handle on what I was eating and how I was exercising. The results
might have been more dramatic, but I broke my foot in June of 2009 and
had to restrict certain aspects of my exercise routine while it
healed. I was also by myself in the apartment, not going into the
office for some of this time which tended to lead me back into old
patterns of munching and not regulating my meals. Still, I was pretty
pleased with the loss of 26 pounds.
But as I started 2010, I soon learned that old patterns don't just go
away because I know they are bad. I put back on about six pounds and
fought to maintain a regular workout routine. I then read the book
"The Body Fat Solution" by Tom Venuto, and was immediately
reenergized. Everything he wrote reinforced what I had been trying to
accomplish. When I added to my efforts his personal trainer version
of the power of positive thinking, it all really began to feel like a
life-change.
To date I have just broken that barrier of 170 pounds – a struggle
that took me several weeks to accomplish, and have clear goals for
moving forward. For the first time, exercising and eating smart feel
very right and I'm not forcing myself to do either. I actually want
to do both! I am not, however, confusing this with any form of
victory. It is simply progress along my path to fitness.
I host a Google group on health and fitness at
http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape
and I provide regular check-ins every Sunday. The updates I will make
on my blog via the personal journal category will be less frequent and
will offer a summary of progress to date. As of today, my check-in
looks like this:
The facts:
I made smart choices about what I ate this past week, staying at or
under 1600 calories a day.
I exercised five times – 2 weights/strengthening and 3 cardio.
I feel good and weigh 168.5 pounds.
My goals:
I make smart choices about what I eat and stay at or under 1600 calories a day.
I exercise 5 times a week.
I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week on average.
I feel good, am making progress toward fitness and weigh 153 pounds by 10/08/10.
I am fit, toned and feeling good, and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
I maintain my fitness through making smart choices about what I eat
and regular exercise, and perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
I still workout with Steve on most Saturdays and have a routine for
workouts throughout the week. I've recently been focused on how to
maintain an exercise routine and smart eating choices while traveling
as I have been traveling three weeks in a row for work with more to
come. For those three weeks I managed to maintain my weight, and
though I didn't lose any, I still consider this progress as I
typically gain weight when traveling. I have two more weeks of travel
during July and hope to improve my record. However, one of those
weeks is a vacation, and I will be realistic about what I will achieve
while on vacation! Still, smart choices are good any time, right?
http://www.royfitness.com/
He asked me in the initial interview what I wanted to accomplish. I
stated rather vaguely that I wanted to improve my muscle tone and lose
some of the softness, said while patting my stomach. Steve's response
was that he could help me exercise to improve muscle tone, but that
the softness would only go away if I reduced my daily caloric intake.
Fortunately, he was able to help me learn how to do this wisely.
Following the direction Steve showed me to achieve a better balance of
fat, carbs and protein while cutting the over-all number of calories
consumed within a day, I began to really read and study the
nutritional content of all the things I ate, and since this was more
startling than I'd ever considered, I also started evaluating things I
didn't typically eat in order to find worthwhile substitutions. Other
posts to this blog will address specifics about diet and nutrition,
but the key point with regard to my personal journey to fitness is
that this is the point at which nutrition became a significant focus
in changing my life-style toward one that would support my fitness
goals.
It was not all clear sailing by any means. Learning what is best and
implementing it into my daily routine are two entirely different
things. The former is driven by intellect and the latter by habit.
Habit is by far the stronger force.
During 2007 Steve moved a little farther away and was no longer
training in my area and I lost my focus, slipped back into old
patterns and put back on all the weight I had previously lost. I made
a few false starts during 2008, but at the beginning of 2009 I was
back to nearly 200 pounds and without any regular exercise routine or
control over my diet. This is the point at which I decided that the
only way to make the change permanent was to turn what I knew
intellectually into habit. I had to not only squelch the old patterns
of behavior that were detrimental to fitness, but replace them with
new patterns of behavior to support fitness. Again, there's a huge
difference between deciding to do this and making it happen, but I was
pretty determined and Steve started training in my area again which
gave me extra support.
I lost down to 174 pounds by the end of 2009 and had a pretty good
handle on what I was eating and how I was exercising. The results
might have been more dramatic, but I broke my foot in June of 2009 and
had to restrict certain aspects of my exercise routine while it
healed. I was also by myself in the apartment, not going into the
office for some of this time which tended to lead me back into old
patterns of munching and not regulating my meals. Still, I was pretty
pleased with the loss of 26 pounds.
But as I started 2010, I soon learned that old patterns don't just go
away because I know they are bad. I put back on about six pounds and
fought to maintain a regular workout routine. I then read the book
"The Body Fat Solution" by Tom Venuto, and was immediately
reenergized. Everything he wrote reinforced what I had been trying to
accomplish. When I added to my efforts his personal trainer version
of the power of positive thinking, it all really began to feel like a
life-change.
To date I have just broken that barrier of 170 pounds – a struggle
that took me several weeks to accomplish, and have clear goals for
moving forward. For the first time, exercising and eating smart feel
very right and I'm not forcing myself to do either. I actually want
to do both! I am not, however, confusing this with any form of
victory. It is simply progress along my path to fitness.
I host a Google group on health and fitness at
http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape
and I provide regular check-ins every Sunday. The updates I will make
on my blog via the personal journal category will be less frequent and
will offer a summary of progress to date. As of today, my check-in
looks like this:
The facts:
I made smart choices about what I ate this past week, staying at or
under 1600 calories a day.
I exercised five times – 2 weights/strengthening and 3 cardio.
I feel good and weigh 168.5 pounds.
My goals:
I make smart choices about what I eat and stay at or under 1600 calories a day.
I exercise 5 times a week.
I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week on average.
I feel good, am making progress toward fitness and weigh 153 pounds by 10/08/10.
I am fit, toned and feeling good, and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
I maintain my fitness through making smart choices about what I eat
and regular exercise, and perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
I still workout with Steve on most Saturdays and have a routine for
workouts throughout the week. I've recently been focused on how to
maintain an exercise routine and smart eating choices while traveling
as I have been traveling three weeks in a row for work with more to
come. For those three weeks I managed to maintain my weight, and
though I didn't lose any, I still consider this progress as I
typically gain weight when traveling. I have two more weeks of travel
during July and hope to improve my record. However, one of those
weeks is a vacation, and I will be realistic about what I will achieve
while on vacation! Still, smart choices are good any time, right?
My Personal Journal: The History
I've kept a running record of my fitness and nutrition journey in
various places over the years, but decided this week that I should add
this information to the Train Your Brain for Fitness blog. Since I'm
51, this could take a while!
The short story is that with only periodic exceptions, I did not spend
much time thinking about fitness and nutrition until about five years
ago. I say "periodic" because I have always been aware of the
importance of these things, and would occasionally do something to
improve the way I ate or to increase physical exercise, but for the
most part I just flowed along with the masses around me, eating fast
food, heavy Southern cooking, lots of high calorie sweets, drinking
soda, sweet tea, beer, etc. And mostly I didn't exercise. I bought
various pieces of exercise equipment such as a stationary bike and
some kind of universal contraption, and then proceeded to not use
either on a regular basis. I would occasionally increase exercise
through walking, but nothing that was consistent or focused on what I
really needed.
As a result, I went from being a skinny high school girl to a plumper
and plumper woman who seemed to add about ten or fifteen pounds per
decade until I found myself in my forties shopping in the plus size
racks.
My maximum size was about 200 pounds and a size 18 in clothes. I'm
five feet six inches tall and my body shape is a good one, so I
carried this weight pretty well and knew how to dress to maximum
advantage, but I was still aware that I was overweight and more to the
point, not fit and healthy. I had bad eating habits born of not
wanting to devote the energy needed to preparing good foods,
gratification from the sweet-and-salty munching pattern, and poor
judgment about what was "good," (e.g., high calorie carbs, high fat
content foods, things I thought tasted good.) I no longer even
pretended to exercise. Interestingly, my annual physicals showed me
to be in good health, with the only negative being my actual weight.
I think this is because my annual physical focused on things like
heart rate, lung function, blood tests and urinalysis, and paid
absolutely no attention to muscle tone, strength, endurance, etc.
Around 2005, I started paying more attention to fitness. (Note I did
not say nutrition.) This is probably linked to the fact that I had
changed jobs, taking one with a national-scope program which put me in
front of audiences around the country, and a change of location which
moved me from the south to the east coast. More people around me were
focusing on health than previously. I also had a friend who was
staying with me for a while who started making use of the gym in my
apartment complex and she pushed me into working out with her. I was
also starting a new relationship with a guy and was thinking more
about my appearance.
I came to like the exercise (mostly treadmill and elliptical
workouts), and I liked the results. I lost weight and felt better. I
wasn't weighing myself at this time, so I don't know my actual weight,
but I was able to fit into size twelve pants. This lasted about a
year until I, for whatever reason, didn't manage to maintain the
exercise.
The good news for me during this period is that I had really started
thinking about my over-all fitness and health. It was no longer a
surface consideration about how clothes fit me, but a real concern for
my health. I was tired of the size roller coaster and decided to put
some real consideration into how I could take control.
Late in 2006, when I no longer fit comfortably into my size twelve
pants and was purchasing fourteens and even sixteens again, I hired a
personal trainer. This was an admission that whatever it was going to
take to give me control of my fitness, I didn't know how to do it
myself. I needed guidance, information and someone to hold me
accountable. I was also pretty sure that if I was going to spend the
kind of money it takes to hire a personal trainer that I'd give the
whole thing the attention it really deserved.
Even this did not miraculously resolve all of my issues, but I did
start learning about fitness and nutrition. The introduction of
really focusing on nutrition in addition to exercise was a key factor
which set in motion the life-change needed to get real and permanent
results. Knowledge about what to eat and how to exercise was not all
that was needed, but it certainly gave me a base from which to work,
and to which I could return when the roller coaster took me up again.
This then, was the real beginning of my journey to better health,
fitness and nutrition. While better late than never is a true
summation, there is nothing particularly smart about waiting till I
was nearly 48 to do this. My sincere hope is that people will start
learning and implementing well-known facts about how to be healthy and
fit at a much younger age than did I. It's not exactly rocket
science, but it's definitely not built into our current culture.
Though my poor condition manifested in excess weight, there are many
thin people who are not fit either. Though fitness is often measured
in body size, it is not really about size. It's about strength,
endurance, balance, flexibility, strong bones, good skin, good
cardiovascular function, etc. While the resiliency of youth can hide
a lot of the damage our life-styles can have on fitness, it begins to
show up as we age and then we're in the position of having to do the
best we can with what's left. It would be much smarter to set all
this in motion while we are at optimal potential for good health and
fitness. Nevertheless, I'm dedicated to seeing how far I can get with
better late than never!
various places over the years, but decided this week that I should add
this information to the Train Your Brain for Fitness blog. Since I'm
51, this could take a while!
The short story is that with only periodic exceptions, I did not spend
much time thinking about fitness and nutrition until about five years
ago. I say "periodic" because I have always been aware of the
importance of these things, and would occasionally do something to
improve the way I ate or to increase physical exercise, but for the
most part I just flowed along with the masses around me, eating fast
food, heavy Southern cooking, lots of high calorie sweets, drinking
soda, sweet tea, beer, etc. And mostly I didn't exercise. I bought
various pieces of exercise equipment such as a stationary bike and
some kind of universal contraption, and then proceeded to not use
either on a regular basis. I would occasionally increase exercise
through walking, but nothing that was consistent or focused on what I
really needed.
As a result, I went from being a skinny high school girl to a plumper
and plumper woman who seemed to add about ten or fifteen pounds per
decade until I found myself in my forties shopping in the plus size
racks.
My maximum size was about 200 pounds and a size 18 in clothes. I'm
five feet six inches tall and my body shape is a good one, so I
carried this weight pretty well and knew how to dress to maximum
advantage, but I was still aware that I was overweight and more to the
point, not fit and healthy. I had bad eating habits born of not
wanting to devote the energy needed to preparing good foods,
gratification from the sweet-and-salty munching pattern, and poor
judgment about what was "good," (e.g., high calorie carbs, high fat
content foods, things I thought tasted good.) I no longer even
pretended to exercise. Interestingly, my annual physicals showed me
to be in good health, with the only negative being my actual weight.
I think this is because my annual physical focused on things like
heart rate, lung function, blood tests and urinalysis, and paid
absolutely no attention to muscle tone, strength, endurance, etc.
Around 2005, I started paying more attention to fitness. (Note I did
not say nutrition.) This is probably linked to the fact that I had
changed jobs, taking one with a national-scope program which put me in
front of audiences around the country, and a change of location which
moved me from the south to the east coast. More people around me were
focusing on health than previously. I also had a friend who was
staying with me for a while who started making use of the gym in my
apartment complex and she pushed me into working out with her. I was
also starting a new relationship with a guy and was thinking more
about my appearance.
I came to like the exercise (mostly treadmill and elliptical
workouts), and I liked the results. I lost weight and felt better. I
wasn't weighing myself at this time, so I don't know my actual weight,
but I was able to fit into size twelve pants. This lasted about a
year until I, for whatever reason, didn't manage to maintain the
exercise.
The good news for me during this period is that I had really started
thinking about my over-all fitness and health. It was no longer a
surface consideration about how clothes fit me, but a real concern for
my health. I was tired of the size roller coaster and decided to put
some real consideration into how I could take control.
Late in 2006, when I no longer fit comfortably into my size twelve
pants and was purchasing fourteens and even sixteens again, I hired a
personal trainer. This was an admission that whatever it was going to
take to give me control of my fitness, I didn't know how to do it
myself. I needed guidance, information and someone to hold me
accountable. I was also pretty sure that if I was going to spend the
kind of money it takes to hire a personal trainer that I'd give the
whole thing the attention it really deserved.
Even this did not miraculously resolve all of my issues, but I did
start learning about fitness and nutrition. The introduction of
really focusing on nutrition in addition to exercise was a key factor
which set in motion the life-change needed to get real and permanent
results. Knowledge about what to eat and how to exercise was not all
that was needed, but it certainly gave me a base from which to work,
and to which I could return when the roller coaster took me up again.
This then, was the real beginning of my journey to better health,
fitness and nutrition. While better late than never is a true
summation, there is nothing particularly smart about waiting till I
was nearly 48 to do this. My sincere hope is that people will start
learning and implementing well-known facts about how to be healthy and
fit at a much younger age than did I. It's not exactly rocket
science, but it's definitely not built into our current culture.
Though my poor condition manifested in excess weight, there are many
thin people who are not fit either. Though fitness is often measured
in body size, it is not really about size. It's about strength,
endurance, balance, flexibility, strong bones, good skin, good
cardiovascular function, etc. While the resiliency of youth can hide
a lot of the damage our life-styles can have on fitness, it begins to
show up as we age and then we're in the position of having to do the
best we can with what's left. It would be much smarter to set all
this in motion while we are at optimal potential for good health and
fitness. Nevertheless, I'm dedicated to seeing how far I can get with
better late than never!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Setting Goals, Part 2
Short-term and Long-term Goals
Once you've determined the starting point for improving fitness,
specifying what you want to accomplish is the next step. To continue
with the GPS analogy, now that you've entered the point of origin,
it's time to enter the point of destination. It's equally important
to note though, that just like the GPS, you will have a series of
points along the map to successfully reach before the destination can
be achieved. Also like a good GPS, if you deviate from the steps
along the way, you will need to recalculate your route.
Most of us start out with a destination in mind. Using the same
method you chose to assess the starting point for your body size, form
a positive statement about the goal you want to ultimately achieve.
Next, based on the distance between where you are now and where you
want to be, set a reasonable timeline for achievement.
Personally, I think reaching my goal at the rate of one pound a week
is reasonable. While I can in fact lose 2 pounds in a week without
going to extremes, I know that I will also have weeks in which
maintaining is all I can do and other weeks in which I will gain back
a pound or two. So using one pound a week as an average, I set the
timeline for achieving my ultimate goal.
The "Train Your Brain for Fitness" approach to getting fit is not
really intended for quick weight loss. While it's possible to apply
some of these techniques for starting a power weight loss and fitness
program, I don't think this is actually the best way to affect
long-term change that will stay with you. I have too often done the
quick power routine only to be right back where I started or even
worse a few months later. Learning what we need to know to lead a
lifestyle that supports fitness and making it habitual is what this
approach is designed to accomplish.
Using body weight as an example, here's how I'd suggest that you set your goals.
1. Look back at where you recorded your current body weight.
2. Write down the body weight you want to ultimately achieve.
3. Determine the difference between the two numbers by subtracting
your goal weight from your current weight.
4. Turn this number into number of weeks (e.g., 40 pounds = 40 weeks).
5. Using a calendar, count out that number of weeks from the current
date. I advise adding in a few more weeks as it is really not
practical to assume that you will drop a pound every single week.
Remember that you will have holidays and vacations and other occasions
for distraction along the way that will make steady progress
difficult. 40 weeks can easily be made into 45 or even 52 weeks.
6. Write your ultimate goal statement as though you have achieved it
such as "I weigh 140 pounds by 06/01/11."
Next, take your ultimate goal and break it down into periodic
milestones. If your ultimate goal is one year out, then breaking it
into evenly spaced, quarterly goals is a good way to do this. Using
the example above of reaching a goal 40 pounds away in a year, the
milestones will be 10 pounds a quarter.
1. I weigh 140 pounds by 06/01/11.
2. I weigh 150 pounds by 03/01/11.
3. I weigh 160 pounds by 01/01/11.
4. I weigh 170 pounds by 10/01/10.
In this example you are working from the macro to the micro. You may
find it more useful to reverse this list once you've set all of your
goals, but starting with the ultimate and working your way back
through the stages through which this will be accomplished is a good
way to set the goals in the beginning.
It's important to remember that body weight is only a measuring tool.
The real goal is to be fit through good nutrition and exercise.
Achieving the goal body weight is just one way you will know that you
have met your fitness goals. Therefore, let's write goal statements
about how you want to achieve this new body weight.
Once you've established the goals based on body size, do the same for
your food intake. Working from your established eating norm, set
goals for food intake that will achieve your body size goal. Examples
of goal statements are:
1. I make smart choices about what I eat.
2. I eat 1600 (or fill in the appropriate caloric intake for yourself)
calories or less a day.
3. I choose foods rich in protein to build muscle.
4. I eat carbs that are complex and beneficial.
5. I check nutrition facts about new foods before I eat them.
The point here is to write your goal statements about eating so that
they promote the behavior you want to achieve. Making them positive
statements of achievement makes it possible for your subconscious to
use them as triggers for daily activity.
Finally, go through the same process to set goals for exercise. Look
at your established level of daily activity and decide how you will
increase it. Then form positive statements about these goals.
1. I exercise 5 times a week – 3 with weights and 2 cardio.
2. I take the stairs to and from my office each day.
3. I walk for 30 minutes every morning.
4. I attend yoga classes twice each week.
5. I play basketball with my colleagues every Saturday morning.
Once you've established your goal statements, write them out in a way
that makes sense to you. Mine look like this:
1. I make smart choices about what I eat.
2. I eat 1600 calories a day or less.
3. I exercise 5 times a week – 3 weights and 2 cardio.
4. I feel good and am getting fit through better nutrition and exercise.
5. I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week.
6. I feel good and weigh 166 by 07/08/10.
7. I feel good and am making real progress and weigh 153 by 10/08/10.
8. I am fit and toned, feel awesome and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
9. I maintain fitness through smart eating and regular exercise and
perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
You can see that I start with the immediate and then work my way up
through a year and end with a projection for keeping this going for
the next 5 years. This list spells out "life change" for me
specifically, and your list should do the same for you.
This is a living, breathing work in progress. I write out my goals,
all of them as above each week when I measure my success. The list
changes a little each week depending on what is going on in my life.
If I'm taking a cruise next week, then I don't say that I'm going to
stick to 1600 calories each day, or that I'm going to exercise 5
times. I decide what I want to achieve while on my cruise and then I
write it out accordingly. When I return home and am back to a regular
routine, then my list looks like it does above. Choosing achievable
goals and setting them out in a way that fits into your life so that
they can become a part of your life, is the only way I know to make
this long-term change to a healthier lifestyle.
I want to once again acknowledge that I have pulled liberally from Tom
Venuto's book "The Body Fat Solution." I strongly urge you to get a
copy of this very inspirational book and add it to your reading list.
It provides a wealth of information!
Once you've determined the starting point for improving fitness,
specifying what you want to accomplish is the next step. To continue
with the GPS analogy, now that you've entered the point of origin,
it's time to enter the point of destination. It's equally important
to note though, that just like the GPS, you will have a series of
points along the map to successfully reach before the destination can
be achieved. Also like a good GPS, if you deviate from the steps
along the way, you will need to recalculate your route.
Most of us start out with a destination in mind. Using the same
method you chose to assess the starting point for your body size, form
a positive statement about the goal you want to ultimately achieve.
Next, based on the distance between where you are now and where you
want to be, set a reasonable timeline for achievement.
Personally, I think reaching my goal at the rate of one pound a week
is reasonable. While I can in fact lose 2 pounds in a week without
going to extremes, I know that I will also have weeks in which
maintaining is all I can do and other weeks in which I will gain back
a pound or two. So using one pound a week as an average, I set the
timeline for achieving my ultimate goal.
The "Train Your Brain for Fitness" approach to getting fit is not
really intended for quick weight loss. While it's possible to apply
some of these techniques for starting a power weight loss and fitness
program, I don't think this is actually the best way to affect
long-term change that will stay with you. I have too often done the
quick power routine only to be right back where I started or even
worse a few months later. Learning what we need to know to lead a
lifestyle that supports fitness and making it habitual is what this
approach is designed to accomplish.
Using body weight as an example, here's how I'd suggest that you set your goals.
1. Look back at where you recorded your current body weight.
2. Write down the body weight you want to ultimately achieve.
3. Determine the difference between the two numbers by subtracting
your goal weight from your current weight.
4. Turn this number into number of weeks (e.g., 40 pounds = 40 weeks).
5. Using a calendar, count out that number of weeks from the current
date. I advise adding in a few more weeks as it is really not
practical to assume that you will drop a pound every single week.
Remember that you will have holidays and vacations and other occasions
for distraction along the way that will make steady progress
difficult. 40 weeks can easily be made into 45 or even 52 weeks.
6. Write your ultimate goal statement as though you have achieved it
such as "I weigh 140 pounds by 06/01/11."
Next, take your ultimate goal and break it down into periodic
milestones. If your ultimate goal is one year out, then breaking it
into evenly spaced, quarterly goals is a good way to do this. Using
the example above of reaching a goal 40 pounds away in a year, the
milestones will be 10 pounds a quarter.
1. I weigh 140 pounds by 06/01/11.
2. I weigh 150 pounds by 03/01/11.
3. I weigh 160 pounds by 01/01/11.
4. I weigh 170 pounds by 10/01/10.
In this example you are working from the macro to the micro. You may
find it more useful to reverse this list once you've set all of your
goals, but starting with the ultimate and working your way back
through the stages through which this will be accomplished is a good
way to set the goals in the beginning.
It's important to remember that body weight is only a measuring tool.
The real goal is to be fit through good nutrition and exercise.
Achieving the goal body weight is just one way you will know that you
have met your fitness goals. Therefore, let's write goal statements
about how you want to achieve this new body weight.
Once you've established the goals based on body size, do the same for
your food intake. Working from your established eating norm, set
goals for food intake that will achieve your body size goal. Examples
of goal statements are:
1. I make smart choices about what I eat.
2. I eat 1600 (or fill in the appropriate caloric intake for yourself)
calories or less a day.
3. I choose foods rich in protein to build muscle.
4. I eat carbs that are complex and beneficial.
5. I check nutrition facts about new foods before I eat them.
The point here is to write your goal statements about eating so that
they promote the behavior you want to achieve. Making them positive
statements of achievement makes it possible for your subconscious to
use them as triggers for daily activity.
Finally, go through the same process to set goals for exercise. Look
at your established level of daily activity and decide how you will
increase it. Then form positive statements about these goals.
1. I exercise 5 times a week – 3 with weights and 2 cardio.
2. I take the stairs to and from my office each day.
3. I walk for 30 minutes every morning.
4. I attend yoga classes twice each week.
5. I play basketball with my colleagues every Saturday morning.
Once you've established your goal statements, write them out in a way
that makes sense to you. Mine look like this:
1. I make smart choices about what I eat.
2. I eat 1600 calories a day or less.
3. I exercise 5 times a week – 3 weights and 2 cardio.
4. I feel good and am getting fit through better nutrition and exercise.
5. I achieve my goals at a rate of one pound a week.
6. I feel good and weigh 166 by 07/08/10.
7. I feel good and am making real progress and weigh 153 by 10/08/10.
8. I am fit and toned, feel awesome and weigh 140 pounds by 01/08/11.
9. I maintain fitness through smart eating and regular exercise and
perhaps set new goals, 2011-2015.
You can see that I start with the immediate and then work my way up
through a year and end with a projection for keeping this going for
the next 5 years. This list spells out "life change" for me
specifically, and your list should do the same for you.
This is a living, breathing work in progress. I write out my goals,
all of them as above each week when I measure my success. The list
changes a little each week depending on what is going on in my life.
If I'm taking a cruise next week, then I don't say that I'm going to
stick to 1600 calories each day, or that I'm going to exercise 5
times. I decide what I want to achieve while on my cruise and then I
write it out accordingly. When I return home and am back to a regular
routine, then my list looks like it does above. Choosing achievable
goals and setting them out in a way that fits into your life so that
they can become a part of your life, is the only way I know to make
this long-term change to a healthier lifestyle.
I want to once again acknowledge that I have pulled liberally from Tom
Venuto's book "The Body Fat Solution." I strongly urge you to get a
copy of this very inspirational book and add it to your reading list.
It provides a wealth of information!
Setting Goals, Part 1
Training Your Brain for Success
There is a lot of information out there about setting goals. As with
anything else associated with improving fitness, you will need to
select the method of goal-setting that suits you best. My favorite
method and one that I firmly believe to make the most sense, is
promoted by personal trainer, Tom Venuto in his book "The Body Fat
Solution." For more information about this book and other information
from Tom Venuto, visit: http://www.tomvenuto.com/.
The key factor in achieving the goals we set, is to believe that we
can, and the key to believing that we can, is to set this message of
achievement into our subconscious. There is a tremendous amount of
research about the role of our subconscious and its impact on our
daily activity, and experts agree that over 90% (and that's a very
conservative number as most experts actually say 95%), of our daily
activity is driven by our subconscious. In addition to the things we
almost never think about such as breathing, blood circulation,
digestion, etc., many of the things we learn to do such as driving,
walking, eating, sports, cooking, cleaning, work routines, etc. also
become mostly driven by our subconscious. Though we are usually aware
of the activity and even direct it with conscious thought, a lot of
the triggers start up prior to consciously deciding to do so. When
the phone rings, we don't stop to think that we need to pick up the
phone, press a button, place the phone just so to be able to both hear
and talk and say hello. We just do it. Our conscious mind engages
long enough to determine who is calling and to determine appropriate
responses, but most of the actions involved in using a phone are not
conscious activities. This becomes very apparent when you get a new
phone and have to make yourself think about using it until it, too,
becomes something you can do without conscious thought.
So if we accept that most of what we do is triggered by our
subconscious, including eating and exercising, then the trick is to
train our subconscious mind to give us the triggers needed to make
smart choices. To do this, we need to understand that our
subconscious mind responds best to positive statements (i.e., "Do
this," as opposed to "Don't do that.") Again, this is hardly cutting
edge information. How long ago was the popular book "The Power of
Positive Thinking" topping the best-seller list? A more recent
article on this topic that I found to be a good refresher is
"Motivating Yourself in Three Simple Steps Using the Law of
Attraction" by Steve Jones and Frank Mangano:
http://www.tomvenuto.com/articles/motivation_and_the_law_of_attraction.shtml
This is all a rather elaborate introduction to setting goals for
fitness and nutrition, but a necessary introduction in my mind. When
we set our goals, it is important to frame them as positive statements
of accomplishment. If we want our subconscious to trigger the actions
that will help us achieve our goals, then we must frame statements
that our subconscious can use. Instead of saying "I will lose 10
pounds" or "I won't eat dessert" or "I will make myself exercise
today," we should say, "I achieve my goals one pound at a time,:" or
"I make smart choices about what I eat," or I get to exercise today."
These are statements that our subconscious can understand and use to
trigger activity. Telling it to lose something or not do something
doesn't quite compute. Also stating our goals as though we have
already achieved them gives us a powerful visualization of the
behavior we want to exhibit and makes it more likely that we will do
it. When the underlying thought is "I make smart choices about what I
eat," then it is so much easier to choose fruit to go with your
sandwich at lunch instead of fries or chips. And when the underlying
thought is "I get to exercise today," then you go do it with energy
instead of dragging against the more negative thought of "I have to"
or "I really should exercise today." "I get to" means that it is
something you want to do and are excited about doing, whereas "I have
to" or I really should" means that you would rather not and it's a
real chore that you have to make yourself accomplish. The power of
these underlying messages is tremendous and harnessing that power to
affect positive change in our lives will set us on the road to fitness
through better nutrition and exercise.
There is a lot of information out there about setting goals. As with
anything else associated with improving fitness, you will need to
select the method of goal-setting that suits you best. My favorite
method and one that I firmly believe to make the most sense, is
promoted by personal trainer, Tom Venuto in his book "The Body Fat
Solution." For more information about this book and other information
from Tom Venuto, visit: http://www.tomvenuto.com/.
The key factor in achieving the goals we set, is to believe that we
can, and the key to believing that we can, is to set this message of
achievement into our subconscious. There is a tremendous amount of
research about the role of our subconscious and its impact on our
daily activity, and experts agree that over 90% (and that's a very
conservative number as most experts actually say 95%), of our daily
activity is driven by our subconscious. In addition to the things we
almost never think about such as breathing, blood circulation,
digestion, etc., many of the things we learn to do such as driving,
walking, eating, sports, cooking, cleaning, work routines, etc. also
become mostly driven by our subconscious. Though we are usually aware
of the activity and even direct it with conscious thought, a lot of
the triggers start up prior to consciously deciding to do so. When
the phone rings, we don't stop to think that we need to pick up the
phone, press a button, place the phone just so to be able to both hear
and talk and say hello. We just do it. Our conscious mind engages
long enough to determine who is calling and to determine appropriate
responses, but most of the actions involved in using a phone are not
conscious activities. This becomes very apparent when you get a new
phone and have to make yourself think about using it until it, too,
becomes something you can do without conscious thought.
So if we accept that most of what we do is triggered by our
subconscious, including eating and exercising, then the trick is to
train our subconscious mind to give us the triggers needed to make
smart choices. To do this, we need to understand that our
subconscious mind responds best to positive statements (i.e., "Do
this," as opposed to "Don't do that.") Again, this is hardly cutting
edge information. How long ago was the popular book "The Power of
Positive Thinking" topping the best-seller list? A more recent
article on this topic that I found to be a good refresher is
"Motivating Yourself in Three Simple Steps Using the Law of
Attraction" by Steve Jones and Frank Mangano:
http://www.tomvenuto.com/articles/motivation_and_the_law_of_attraction.shtml
This is all a rather elaborate introduction to setting goals for
fitness and nutrition, but a necessary introduction in my mind. When
we set our goals, it is important to frame them as positive statements
of accomplishment. If we want our subconscious to trigger the actions
that will help us achieve our goals, then we must frame statements
that our subconscious can use. Instead of saying "I will lose 10
pounds" or "I won't eat dessert" or "I will make myself exercise
today," we should say, "I achieve my goals one pound at a time,:" or
"I make smart choices about what I eat," or I get to exercise today."
These are statements that our subconscious can understand and use to
trigger activity. Telling it to lose something or not do something
doesn't quite compute. Also stating our goals as though we have
already achieved them gives us a powerful visualization of the
behavior we want to exhibit and makes it more likely that we will do
it. When the underlying thought is "I make smart choices about what I
eat," then it is so much easier to choose fruit to go with your
sandwich at lunch instead of fries or chips. And when the underlying
thought is "I get to exercise today," then you go do it with energy
instead of dragging against the more negative thought of "I have to"
or "I really should exercise today." "I get to" means that it is
something you want to do and are excited about doing, whereas "I have
to" or I really should" means that you would rather not and it's a
real chore that you have to make yourself accomplish. The power of
these underlying messages is tremendous and harnessing that power to
affect positive change in our lives will set us on the road to fitness
through better nutrition and exercise.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Finding the Starting Point, Part 3
Part 3: Determining Your Physical Activity
This part is all about figuring out how much you move your body during
the day. This won't be as complicated as establishing your eating
norm because we typically don't get active as often as we eat, hence
the need to affect change!
Using the lists below, check the items that most closely resemble your
level of activity. If there is something that you do to be active
that is not listed, then add it to your own list. The purpose is to
establish how active you are right now so you can make smart choices
about how to change that level of activity to achieve your fitness
goals.
1. In a typical work day, I am:
• Sedentary – sit at a desk or work station with little to no
additional activity.
• Moderately active – sitting mostly with some walking about for
periods longer than 15 minutes at a stretch.
• Active – mostly on my feet and moving throughout the day with only
occasional periods of sitting that exceed 15 minutes at a time.
• Very active – I'm always moving about and also do lifting, product
movement, control machinery, etc.
(Note: If you do not work but engage in some other daily activity such
as going to school or volunteering, then pick the item above which
most closely represents your activity or create a new item that
describes your activity more accurately.)
2. In the evening after work, I am:
• Sedentary – sit on the sofa and watch TV till bedtime.
• Moderately active – tidy the house, do light work in the yard, play
active games with the children before relaxing in front of the TV or
with a book.
• Active – work a second job that involves physical movement, do heavy
work in the yard or around the house, play sports with the children or
friends, work out.
3. I do a specific workout routine:
• Once in a while but nothing regular
• 2-3 times a week
• 3-5 times a week
• 6-7 times a week
4. My routine lasts for XX minutes and here's what I do:
(Note: give a brief description of the type of exercises included in
your routine.)
5. Other physical activity include:
(Note: write in anything else you do such as kayaking, skiing, golf,
etc. and include the frequency this occurs.)
Record the information above directly on your "My Starting Point"
document. You have just entered the name of the city into your GPS,
thus completing the point of origin!
Summary
Now you have the information you need to make smart choices about how
to move forward. You know your body size plus critical information
about what you eat and how you expend energy through activity. You
know that to maintain this course with no changes, will either keep
you at the body size you are now, or perhaps keep pushing you in the
direction you don't want to go such as gaining weight or continued
muscle deterioration. The next step will be to set your goals, break
them down into immediate, short-term and long-term, and to determine
the changes you are willing to make to achieve those goals.
Before you move on to that, take time to really assess what you've
recorded as your starting point. Make sure that it is as accurate as
you can make it and then really take a look at it. You are doing the
things you've recorded because you have been doing them for a long
time. Most of us are not following any set plan, but simply engaging
in a set of behaviors that we have built over the years with little or
no thought about the consequences. The result of this non-planning
approach is what we see in the mirror or feel under our hands. You've
taken this big step because you want to change that image in some way,
and to do that, you need to fully comprehend if not how you got here,
then at least what here truly is. You can't edit a story without
reading it and this is your chance to read the story of your current
level of fitness. If you don't like the outcome, then it's time to
start editing!
This part is all about figuring out how much you move your body during
the day. This won't be as complicated as establishing your eating
norm because we typically don't get active as often as we eat, hence
the need to affect change!
Using the lists below, check the items that most closely resemble your
level of activity. If there is something that you do to be active
that is not listed, then add it to your own list. The purpose is to
establish how active you are right now so you can make smart choices
about how to change that level of activity to achieve your fitness
goals.
1. In a typical work day, I am:
• Sedentary – sit at a desk or work station with little to no
additional activity.
• Moderately active – sitting mostly with some walking about for
periods longer than 15 minutes at a stretch.
• Active – mostly on my feet and moving throughout the day with only
occasional periods of sitting that exceed 15 minutes at a time.
• Very active – I'm always moving about and also do lifting, product
movement, control machinery, etc.
(Note: If you do not work but engage in some other daily activity such
as going to school or volunteering, then pick the item above which
most closely represents your activity or create a new item that
describes your activity more accurately.)
2. In the evening after work, I am:
• Sedentary – sit on the sofa and watch TV till bedtime.
• Moderately active – tidy the house, do light work in the yard, play
active games with the children before relaxing in front of the TV or
with a book.
• Active – work a second job that involves physical movement, do heavy
work in the yard or around the house, play sports with the children or
friends, work out.
3. I do a specific workout routine:
• Once in a while but nothing regular
• 2-3 times a week
• 3-5 times a week
• 6-7 times a week
4. My routine lasts for XX minutes and here's what I do:
(Note: give a brief description of the type of exercises included in
your routine.)
5. Other physical activity include:
(Note: write in anything else you do such as kayaking, skiing, golf,
etc. and include the frequency this occurs.)
Record the information above directly on your "My Starting Point"
document. You have just entered the name of the city into your GPS,
thus completing the point of origin!
Summary
Now you have the information you need to make smart choices about how
to move forward. You know your body size plus critical information
about what you eat and how you expend energy through activity. You
know that to maintain this course with no changes, will either keep
you at the body size you are now, or perhaps keep pushing you in the
direction you don't want to go such as gaining weight or continued
muscle deterioration. The next step will be to set your goals, break
them down into immediate, short-term and long-term, and to determine
the changes you are willing to make to achieve those goals.
Before you move on to that, take time to really assess what you've
recorded as your starting point. Make sure that it is as accurate as
you can make it and then really take a look at it. You are doing the
things you've recorded because you have been doing them for a long
time. Most of us are not following any set plan, but simply engaging
in a set of behaviors that we have built over the years with little or
no thought about the consequences. The result of this non-planning
approach is what we see in the mirror or feel under our hands. You've
taken this big step because you want to change that image in some way,
and to do that, you need to fully comprehend if not how you got here,
then at least what here truly is. You can't edit a story without
reading it and this is your chance to read the story of your current
level of fitness. If you don't like the outcome, then it's time to
start editing!
Finding the Starting Point, Part 2
Part 2: Establishing Your Eating Norm
Using the GPS analogy, you have entered the zip code and now it's time
to enter your street address. I can't stress enough how important it
is to get a handle on exactly what is the norm for your current eating
habits. I have multiple issues with prescribed diet plans, but one of
them is that they don't address your habitual eating behavior. Even
if the diet plan works, once the goal has been achieved, we leave the
diet plan and go right back to our old way of habitual eating which
then puts us right back where we started. Sound familiar? Well,
let's break that vicious circle!
We mostly eat out of habit. Yes, it's essential to life and we get
hungry, but it's habit that makes us pick up the same things at the
grocery store and prepare the same food at home. It's habit that
drives us to stop at the same fast food chains, pick up a grande
calorie coffee on the way into work, drink a few beers in the
afternoon, or pull out the same snacks while watching TV. The first
step to changing those habits into habits that will promote fitness is
to understand clearly what it is that we do. This is what I mean when
I say that we need to establish our eating norm.
The only way I know to do this is to make a list. We absolutely must
write down everything we eat over the course of a day. How much
information you record on this list or the number of days that you
keep the list going is up to you. As I've mentioned before when
discussing body size and will undoubtedly mention again, the key is
doing this in a way that suits you so that you'll really do it. We
can design the perfect widget, but if you won't use it then it's a
waste of time. So while I can't think of any way to work around
making a list of food consumed within a day, below I offer several
ways you can gather and record this information.
First, go back to your "My Starting Point" document and write: "My
Eating Norm" and add today's date. Then start a list with the title
"Food I eat in a day."
Method 1: The Basic List
This list is really the minimum information you can gather and still
hope to have something you can use. It's just as it sounds. Start
writing down everything you eat within a day. Make sure it's really
everything and try not to use too many generic terms. So if you
record that you eat cereal, write down what kind of cereal such as
frosted mini wheats. Don't leave out anything such as the piece of
candy you picked up when walking through the lobby of your office or
the soda you drank while out running errands. It must contain
everything.
This is harder than it looks on the surface. You will need to figure
out the best way to make it happen. You could carry a note pad with
you and write things down all day. You could open a note page on your
PDA and record it that way. You could wait till you're home in the
evening and sit down to write a list from memory. However you do it,
be honest and thorough.
In order to get a really good snapshot of your eating norm, keeping a
list every day for a week is best. Since how we eat is mostly
habitual, it is often driven by our other daily activities. So if you
work in retail or some other industry that doesn't allow for much time
to eat while you are working, then you will discover that your work
day eating habits look very different from how you eat on your day
off.
If you can't bring yourself to make a list every day for a week, then
pick two or three days on which you do very different kinds of things
and make lists for those days. In the end you want an accurate
assessment of what you are feeding your body so that you can make
smart decisions about how to improve your eating to achieve your
fitness goals.
Method 2: List plus Portion Size
To provide a little more information with which to work, beside each
food item on your list, write down the portion size. Weighing,
measuring and calculating it from the package information is the most
accurate way to do this, but if that's too much, then record the
portion size in some way that will be meaningful to you. So if you
recorded that you ate frosted mini wheat for breakfast, and you can't
bring yourself to use a measuring cup to determine how much you put in
your bowl, then you could write something like "frosted mini wheat,
blue bowl about ¾ full." With that information you can later decide
if you want to give yourself more or less than your typical serving to
achieve your fitness goal.
Method 3: Caloric Distribution
This is my preferred method of establishing my eating norm and later
to track changes to how I eat in order to achieve my goals. If this
is the street address information for the GPS, then the basic list is
like putting in the street name only, adding portions is like putting
in an approximate street number, and writing down calories is like
putting the exact full street address. The more information with
which you choose to work, the more accurate your results will be. But
of course, accurate information does you no good if you won't collect
it. Regardless of my obvious preference, it's still about choosing
the method that you will use.
To establish an eating norm through calories consumed, you need to
track calories at four levels: total calories, calories from fat,
carbohydrates and protein. If you have health issues such as diabetes
or high blood pressure, then you may also want to track other things
such as carbohydrates broken down into fiber and sugar, or sodium
content. But to establish a baseline for weight gain or loss, this
basic break down is sufficient.
Now when you look at the food you eat during a day, you want to look
up the nutrition facts about that food and record this caloric
information. This also requires more specific portion size
information. No source is going to be able to calculate the caloric
content of frosted miniwheat, blue bowl about ¾ full. You can,
however, easily learn that a cup of frosted mini wheat has 183 total
calories, 9 calories from fat, 135 calories from carbs, and 16
calories from protein. If you added a half cup of whole milk to that
bowl of cereal, you added 75 total calories, 36 calories from fat, 22
calories from carbs, and 16 calories from protein.
No way am I going to say anything but that this is a lot of work.
When I started out charting calories, I was totally surprised at how
much time I spent thinking about feeding myself! It's just another
indicator as to how much eating is habitual which means that we mostly
do it with little to no consideration. Of course, it's this lack of
consideration that got us into the situation of being less fit than
we'd like, and so it's going to take some effort to reverse this.
If you choose this method to establish your eating norm, collect the
information and then go to your "My Starting Point" document and
write: "My eating norm:" followed by summary information from your
daily chart such as "day 1, total calories XXX; fat calories XXX" etc.
Keep the complete daily list somewhere handy so you can refer bakk to
it when it's time to make decisions about needed changes to achieve
your fitness goals.
For more information about charting calories, check out an earlier
posting to this blog, "Counting Calories, The Bane of Any Fitness
Program"
Using the GPS analogy, you have entered the zip code and now it's time
to enter your street address. I can't stress enough how important it
is to get a handle on exactly what is the norm for your current eating
habits. I have multiple issues with prescribed diet plans, but one of
them is that they don't address your habitual eating behavior. Even
if the diet plan works, once the goal has been achieved, we leave the
diet plan and go right back to our old way of habitual eating which
then puts us right back where we started. Sound familiar? Well,
let's break that vicious circle!
We mostly eat out of habit. Yes, it's essential to life and we get
hungry, but it's habit that makes us pick up the same things at the
grocery store and prepare the same food at home. It's habit that
drives us to stop at the same fast food chains, pick up a grande
calorie coffee on the way into work, drink a few beers in the
afternoon, or pull out the same snacks while watching TV. The first
step to changing those habits into habits that will promote fitness is
to understand clearly what it is that we do. This is what I mean when
I say that we need to establish our eating norm.
The only way I know to do this is to make a list. We absolutely must
write down everything we eat over the course of a day. How much
information you record on this list or the number of days that you
keep the list going is up to you. As I've mentioned before when
discussing body size and will undoubtedly mention again, the key is
doing this in a way that suits you so that you'll really do it. We
can design the perfect widget, but if you won't use it then it's a
waste of time. So while I can't think of any way to work around
making a list of food consumed within a day, below I offer several
ways you can gather and record this information.
First, go back to your "My Starting Point" document and write: "My
Eating Norm" and add today's date. Then start a list with the title
"Food I eat in a day."
Method 1: The Basic List
This list is really the minimum information you can gather and still
hope to have something you can use. It's just as it sounds. Start
writing down everything you eat within a day. Make sure it's really
everything and try not to use too many generic terms. So if you
record that you eat cereal, write down what kind of cereal such as
frosted mini wheats. Don't leave out anything such as the piece of
candy you picked up when walking through the lobby of your office or
the soda you drank while out running errands. It must contain
everything.
This is harder than it looks on the surface. You will need to figure
out the best way to make it happen. You could carry a note pad with
you and write things down all day. You could open a note page on your
PDA and record it that way. You could wait till you're home in the
evening and sit down to write a list from memory. However you do it,
be honest and thorough.
In order to get a really good snapshot of your eating norm, keeping a
list every day for a week is best. Since how we eat is mostly
habitual, it is often driven by our other daily activities. So if you
work in retail or some other industry that doesn't allow for much time
to eat while you are working, then you will discover that your work
day eating habits look very different from how you eat on your day
off.
If you can't bring yourself to make a list every day for a week, then
pick two or three days on which you do very different kinds of things
and make lists for those days. In the end you want an accurate
assessment of what you are feeding your body so that you can make
smart decisions about how to improve your eating to achieve your
fitness goals.
Method 2: List plus Portion Size
To provide a little more information with which to work, beside each
food item on your list, write down the portion size. Weighing,
measuring and calculating it from the package information is the most
accurate way to do this, but if that's too much, then record the
portion size in some way that will be meaningful to you. So if you
recorded that you ate frosted mini wheat for breakfast, and you can't
bring yourself to use a measuring cup to determine how much you put in
your bowl, then you could write something like "frosted mini wheat,
blue bowl about ¾ full." With that information you can later decide
if you want to give yourself more or less than your typical serving to
achieve your fitness goal.
Method 3: Caloric Distribution
This is my preferred method of establishing my eating norm and later
to track changes to how I eat in order to achieve my goals. If this
is the street address information for the GPS, then the basic list is
like putting in the street name only, adding portions is like putting
in an approximate street number, and writing down calories is like
putting the exact full street address. The more information with
which you choose to work, the more accurate your results will be. But
of course, accurate information does you no good if you won't collect
it. Regardless of my obvious preference, it's still about choosing
the method that you will use.
To establish an eating norm through calories consumed, you need to
track calories at four levels: total calories, calories from fat,
carbohydrates and protein. If you have health issues such as diabetes
or high blood pressure, then you may also want to track other things
such as carbohydrates broken down into fiber and sugar, or sodium
content. But to establish a baseline for weight gain or loss, this
basic break down is sufficient.
Now when you look at the food you eat during a day, you want to look
up the nutrition facts about that food and record this caloric
information. This also requires more specific portion size
information. No source is going to be able to calculate the caloric
content of frosted miniwheat, blue bowl about ¾ full. You can,
however, easily learn that a cup of frosted mini wheat has 183 total
calories, 9 calories from fat, 135 calories from carbs, and 16
calories from protein. If you added a half cup of whole milk to that
bowl of cereal, you added 75 total calories, 36 calories from fat, 22
calories from carbs, and 16 calories from protein.
No way am I going to say anything but that this is a lot of work.
When I started out charting calories, I was totally surprised at how
much time I spent thinking about feeding myself! It's just another
indicator as to how much eating is habitual which means that we mostly
do it with little to no consideration. Of course, it's this lack of
consideration that got us into the situation of being less fit than
we'd like, and so it's going to take some effort to reverse this.
If you choose this method to establish your eating norm, collect the
information and then go to your "My Starting Point" document and
write: "My eating norm:" followed by summary information from your
daily chart such as "day 1, total calories XXX; fat calories XXX" etc.
Keep the complete daily list somewhere handy so you can refer bakk to
it when it's time to make decisions about needed changes to achieve
your fitness goals.
For more information about charting calories, check out an earlier
posting to this blog, "Counting Calories, The Bane of Any Fitness
Program"
Finding the Starting Point, Part 1
Finding the Starting Point (Part 1 of 3)
Part 1: Body Size
All you have to do is use a GPS device to know that in order to map
out directions to reach your goal, you must first enter your point of
origin. To achieve your fitness goals this means determining the
point of origin for three factors: size, food intake and physical
activity. I was recently asked to mentor a friend in developing a
fitness program to achieve her goals, and as I am not a licensed
trainer with a bag of tricks at hand to accomplish this, I decided to
write out a plan to get this program started. It is my experience
that completing the following information will establish the point of
origin in your personal journey to better fitness, so that you can map
out reasonable directions to reach your destination.
Before we go any farther, open a blank document on your computer or
pull out a blank piece of paper and write at the top, "My Starting
Point" and then add today's date. As you work your way through each
of the following sections, you will add more information to this
document.
1. Body Size
If your goal is to improve fitness, then there is something about your
physical body that you want to change (e.g., more weight, less weight,
better ratio of muscle to fat, smaller waist, bigger arms, etc.)
Therefore, in order to measure progress, it is essential to establish
the size at which you are starting. Below I offer four different
methods for measuring body size. My personal preference will probably
be obvious, but the important thing is that you pick the one that you
will use. Measuring your body size is not only how you determine your
starting point, but it is how you will measure your progress
throughout. For this reason, it needs to be something that you will
reliably do.
Method 1: Body Weight
This is probably the simplest and most straightforward method of
measuring body size. You buy a reliable scale and then you step on it
and get results. However, I acknowledge that some people really have
a problem with evaluating weight in pounds. I've been there myself.
Our culture is not kind, particularly to women, about body weight.
It's ironic that in the USA we are so obsessed with the runway model
standard for body size when we have the highest rate of obesity of all
industrialized countries. What's wrong with that picture?
I like the advice given by personal trainer, Tom Venuto. Weigh
yourself without putting a judgment value on the results. It's
neither good nor bad. It's just feedback. If your goal is to put on
10 pounds of muscle and you step on the scales to learn that you are
down a pound from last week, take the information for what it is …
feedback that you need to look at your behavior over the last week and
make changes to achieve your goal. Make a little sign and hang it
over your scales that says "It's just feedback!"
If this is the method of measuring body size you choose, switch back
to your document and write "Body weight:" and fill in the appropriate
measure.
Method 2: Body Fat Percentage
This is exactly as it sounds … the total weight of your body fat
divided by your total weight. This method is preferred by some
trainers, though it is not one that I choose to use. There is a lot
of discussion around the most effective way to determine body fat
percentage as well as dispute over what is an appropriate number to
achieve. Equipment and skill to use it or complex formulas are
required to measure body fat, and again there is some controversy over
which method produces the most accurate results. If you're working
with a personal trainer or some other professional who reliably uses
body fat percentage as a measure of body size, then feel free to use
this as your measure for a starting point and to determine progress.
If you choose this method, then go back to your document and write
"Body fat percentage:" and fill in the appropriate number.
To learn a little more about body fat percentage, start with this
information from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage
Method 3: Body Measurements
Perhaps you have a very clear picture of the body measurements you
want to achieve. Your goal could be to have a 32 inch waist or to
increase the size through muscle toning of your upper arms. In this
case, using a tape measure to determine the size of your body could be
effective.
This is more easily accomplished with a trusted friend, though if you
are patient and persistent, you can do it by yourself. Consistency is
the key. However, you measure yourself for this starting point is how
you need to measure yourself to determine progress later. Choose one
of the following:
Measure yourself while:
• Fully dressed (If you choose this one then make sure you wear the
same thing the next time you measure.)
• Wearing underwear (Same caution as above.)
• Naked (This will give you the most accuracy about your body measurements.)
Next, choose some or all of the following targets to measure. Feel
free to add others.
• Bust/chest
• Waist
• Hips
• Upper arms
• Thighs
• Wrists
• Ankles
Measure around the fullest part, keeping the tape measure parallel to
the floor and snug, but not tight, against your body. Stand relaxed
and do not inhale or hold your breath.
The most experienced group of body measurers I know are
seamstresses/tailors. They pull no punches because when they are
done, the garments must fit the body size that you are and not the
body size you'd like to be!
If this is the method of measuring body size you choose, go back to
your document and write: "Body measurements:" and follow it with a
list of body parts you are monitoring along with the appropriate
numbers.
Method 4: Clothes Size
Some people need to start out with a non-threatening way to discuss
body size, and making it about clothes size is one way to do this. It
is the least accurate method and provides the least feedback about
progress, but if it is the one that works for you, then use it.
Keep these things in mind.
• Different manufacturers size clothes differently. It's best to
select a few things that you wear a lot and use these garments to
judge if you are making progress.
• You have to change your body size pretty significantly in order to
change your clothes size. It takes about 20 pounds to move you into
the next size. So this is a method that is not going to give you
weekly feedback. However, you can tell if the clothes are getting
tighter or looser, though this is somewhat of a subjective judgment.
If you choose this method of measuring body size, go to your document
and write "Clothes size:" and then list your size for tops and
bottoms.
Part 1: Body Size
All you have to do is use a GPS device to know that in order to map
out directions to reach your goal, you must first enter your point of
origin. To achieve your fitness goals this means determining the
point of origin for three factors: size, food intake and physical
activity. I was recently asked to mentor a friend in developing a
fitness program to achieve her goals, and as I am not a licensed
trainer with a bag of tricks at hand to accomplish this, I decided to
write out a plan to get this program started. It is my experience
that completing the following information will establish the point of
origin in your personal journey to better fitness, so that you can map
out reasonable directions to reach your destination.
Before we go any farther, open a blank document on your computer or
pull out a blank piece of paper and write at the top, "My Starting
Point" and then add today's date. As you work your way through each
of the following sections, you will add more information to this
document.
1. Body Size
If your goal is to improve fitness, then there is something about your
physical body that you want to change (e.g., more weight, less weight,
better ratio of muscle to fat, smaller waist, bigger arms, etc.)
Therefore, in order to measure progress, it is essential to establish
the size at which you are starting. Below I offer four different
methods for measuring body size. My personal preference will probably
be obvious, but the important thing is that you pick the one that you
will use. Measuring your body size is not only how you determine your
starting point, but it is how you will measure your progress
throughout. For this reason, it needs to be something that you will
reliably do.
Method 1: Body Weight
This is probably the simplest and most straightforward method of
measuring body size. You buy a reliable scale and then you step on it
and get results. However, I acknowledge that some people really have
a problem with evaluating weight in pounds. I've been there myself.
Our culture is not kind, particularly to women, about body weight.
It's ironic that in the USA we are so obsessed with the runway model
standard for body size when we have the highest rate of obesity of all
industrialized countries. What's wrong with that picture?
I like the advice given by personal trainer, Tom Venuto. Weigh
yourself without putting a judgment value on the results. It's
neither good nor bad. It's just feedback. If your goal is to put on
10 pounds of muscle and you step on the scales to learn that you are
down a pound from last week, take the information for what it is …
feedback that you need to look at your behavior over the last week and
make changes to achieve your goal. Make a little sign and hang it
over your scales that says "It's just feedback!"
If this is the method of measuring body size you choose, switch back
to your document and write "Body weight:" and fill in the appropriate
measure.
Method 2: Body Fat Percentage
This is exactly as it sounds … the total weight of your body fat
divided by your total weight. This method is preferred by some
trainers, though it is not one that I choose to use. There is a lot
of discussion around the most effective way to determine body fat
percentage as well as dispute over what is an appropriate number to
achieve. Equipment and skill to use it or complex formulas are
required to measure body fat, and again there is some controversy over
which method produces the most accurate results. If you're working
with a personal trainer or some other professional who reliably uses
body fat percentage as a measure of body size, then feel free to use
this as your measure for a starting point and to determine progress.
If you choose this method, then go back to your document and write
"Body fat percentage:" and fill in the appropriate number.
To learn a little more about body fat percentage, start with this
information from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage
Method 3: Body Measurements
Perhaps you have a very clear picture of the body measurements you
want to achieve. Your goal could be to have a 32 inch waist or to
increase the size through muscle toning of your upper arms. In this
case, using a tape measure to determine the size of your body could be
effective.
This is more easily accomplished with a trusted friend, though if you
are patient and persistent, you can do it by yourself. Consistency is
the key. However, you measure yourself for this starting point is how
you need to measure yourself to determine progress later. Choose one
of the following:
Measure yourself while:
• Fully dressed (If you choose this one then make sure you wear the
same thing the next time you measure.)
• Wearing underwear (Same caution as above.)
• Naked (This will give you the most accuracy about your body measurements.)
Next, choose some or all of the following targets to measure. Feel
free to add others.
• Bust/chest
• Waist
• Hips
• Upper arms
• Thighs
• Wrists
• Ankles
Measure around the fullest part, keeping the tape measure parallel to
the floor and snug, but not tight, against your body. Stand relaxed
and do not inhale or hold your breath.
The most experienced group of body measurers I know are
seamstresses/tailors. They pull no punches because when they are
done, the garments must fit the body size that you are and not the
body size you'd like to be!
If this is the method of measuring body size you choose, go back to
your document and write: "Body measurements:" and follow it with a
list of body parts you are monitoring along with the appropriate
numbers.
Method 4: Clothes Size
Some people need to start out with a non-threatening way to discuss
body size, and making it about clothes size is one way to do this. It
is the least accurate method and provides the least feedback about
progress, but if it is the one that works for you, then use it.
Keep these things in mind.
• Different manufacturers size clothes differently. It's best to
select a few things that you wear a lot and use these garments to
judge if you are making progress.
• You have to change your body size pretty significantly in order to
change your clothes size. It takes about 20 pounds to move you into
the next size. So this is a method that is not going to give you
weekly feedback. However, you can tell if the clothes are getting
tighter or looser, though this is somewhat of a subjective judgment.
If you choose this method of measuring body size, go to your document
and write "Clothes size:" and then list your size for tops and
bottoms.
Stretches
Caution: What follows is a description of exercises based on my
personal experience. Before attempting any exercise, please take into
consideration your own body including your current physical condition
and any medical issues and medication taken that may affect physical
activity and your reaction to it. If you are concerned about any pain
or discomfort resulting from attempting these exercises or the
positions described, you should consult a doctor or another
professional before continuing.
*** Introduction: Flexibility is an important part of fitness.
Stretching your muscles before, during and after other exercise, will
provide you greater ease of movement and will add to your over-all
fitness. I strongly recommend including a series of stretches with
any exercise routine. Stretching can also be relaxing and refreshing
any time during the day. You may find that it relieves tension and
helps you to focus mentally and physically on your daily tasks.
*** Leg and Hip Stretches
1. Sit on the floor and bend your knees outward, placing the soles of
your feet together. With your hands or elbows, press down on your
knees or thighs till you feel the stretch. The point to this stretch
is to get your legs flat against the floor or as close as possible.
Hold this stretch for at least a minute or as long as you like!
2. Keeping one leg bent as in the previous stretch, extend the other
leg fully in front of you. Keeping the extended leg flat on the
floor, lean forward at the hips and extend your arm toward your toe.
Touch your toe or reach as far as you can and hold this stretch for at
least a minute. You can press against your bent knee with the other
hand for a more extensive stretch. Then reverse your position and
stretch the opposite leg in the same manner.
3. Lie on your back with both legs fully extended. Bend one knee and
clasp your hands around your shin, pulling your knee toward your
chest. Keep the extended leg flat on the floor with your foot flexed
(toes toward the ceiling). Hold this stretch for at least a minute,
then stretch the other side.
4. Remain on your back with both legs extended on the floor. Raise
one leg in the air, keeping the leg straight and lift as high as
possible. As before, keep the other leg flat on the floor and keep
the toes flexed toward the ceiling. Hold for one minute, then reverse
to stretch the other leg.
5. Remain on your back and bend your knees up with the soles of your
feet flat on the floor. Place your right ankle against your left leg
just above the knee, similar to the way you might cross your legs when
sitting by putting one ankle on the opposite knee. At this point, you
will still have your left foot on the floor. Lift your left foot,
keeping your right ankle pressed just above the left knee, and clasp
your hands behind your left thigh, pulling it toward your body. When
positioned properly, you will feel this stretch in your right hip.
Hold this stretch for one minute and then change up to stretch your
left hip.
I start every exercise with the routine of 5 exercises described
above. It takes about 10 minutes.
*** Calf and Thigh Stretches
1. In a seated position, flex your feet, pulling your toes up toward
the ceiling and back toward your leg as far as you can. You will feel
this stretch in your calves. Then extend your toes pointing toward
the floor. Repeat this series of 2 stretches, holding each for a
count of 15 seconds. This is a good stretch before taking a walk.
2. For a more extensive stretch of your lower leg muscles, stand
facing a wall and take a giant step back with your left foot. Flex
your right foot and place your toes against the wall. Position your
left foot flat on the floor at a comfortable distance to maintain
balance and provide a stretch. Then lean in toward the wall. Reverse
and stretch the opposite leg in the same manner. This is good to do
before getting on the treadmill or doing some other form of
cardiovascular exercise.
3. For the next stretch, you will need to stand on one foot. If this
is difficult for you, then stand next to a wall so that you can keep
one hand on the wall for balance. Lift your left foot as though you
are trying to touch your heel to your butt, and grasp your ankle in
your left hand. Pull on the ankle so that you feel the stretch in
your thigh. Hold this stretch for one minute and then stretch the
right leg. This is a good stretch to do after you have given your
upper legs a good workout.
*** Technique to Prevent Shin Splints
I learned this little gem of a technique from a massage therapist who
happened to be getting a Seeing Eye dog the same time as I a number of
years ago. He said this is what he teaches competitive bicyclists to
do so they can keep on biking. It really works!
In a seated position, find the top of the muscle that runs along the
outside of your shin. It's about 3 inches below your knee and just to
the outside of the long bone. You can make it more defined for the
purpose of finding it by flexing your foot. Press both thumbs at the
top of this muscle and keeping as much pressure as you can, slowly
drag your thumbs all the way down to your ankle. If you don't have
enough thumb strength, you can use the tips of your other fingers or a
clenched fist using your knuckles. The point is to press in on this
muscle with a constant pressure all the way down. Repeat this motion
three times on each leg. I am very prone to having this muscle
tighten up painfully when walking for any length of time, and this
technique really keeps it from happening 9 times out of 10.
*** Back Stretches
1. Kneel on the floor and sit back on your legs with your butt over
your feet. Lean forward as if to put your face on the floor while
maintaining this kneeling/sitting position and stretch both arms over
your head. When you are fully in this stretch, your legs from your
knees to your toes are on the floor, your butt is over your ankles,
probably not touching, but hovering as closely as you can manage, your
stomach is over your thighs with your arms extended along the floor in
front of you with your nose almost touching the floor. This is
sometimes called the prayer position or the child's pose. You will
feel the stretch in your lower back. Hold this stretch for one
minute.
2. Lie face down on the floor and place your hands on either side of
your chest as you would do for push-ups. Press up with your arms to
lift your upper body off the floor, but keeping your hips and legs
pressed tightly down. With your arms fully extended, you will feel
the bend in your back. This is sometimes called the cobra position
and is awesome for relieving back stress.
3. Lie on your back with your legs fully extended and your arms over
your head. Lie still for a few seconds to be sure that you are
comfortably extended with your arms and legs feeling very natural and
relaxed. Then stretch your right foot down and your right hand up,
keeping everything on the floor and reaching as far as you can.
Remember, you are not lifting any part of you off the floor. You will
feel this stretch in your side. Hold for about 10 seconds and then
relax back into the previous position. Then stretch the left side.
Repeat this stretch to either side several times and finish by just
lying still and relaxed. This is a good stretch with which to finish
an exercise routine.
4. Lie on your back with your knees up and the soles of your feet flat
on the floor. Stretch your arms straight up from your body toward the
ceiling. Drop your knees to the right and twisting at the waist,
stretch your arms to the left. Hold for about 15 seconds and then
reverse the stretch. Repeat several times and enjoy the stretch in
your back.
*** Neck and Arm Stretches
1. Standing, place your hands on your hips and let your head fall back
until it rests comfortably over your back. Do not try to make it
stretch any farther than is natural for putting your head back. Then
slowly roll your head over your right shoulder, to the front, over
your left shoulder and back around to the back. This should be a
slow, smooth continuous motion with no extra exertion to increase the
stretch. Just let the weight of your head provide the stretch needed.
Make several rotations in this direction, and then reverse it. If
your neck feels particularly tight in any position, stop the rotation
at that point and let the weight of your head pull on the spot that is
tight. Then continue the full rotation.
2. Lift your left arm up and angle it across your body as if you are
trying to scratch your right shoulder blade. Your left arm will be
coming across your face and your elbow will be pointing toward the
ceiling. Then lift your right arm till you grasp the back of your
left arm just above the elbow in the crook of your right arm. Use
your right arm to pull against your left shoulder till you feel the
stretch. Hold for a minute and then reverse to stretch your right
shoulder.
3. Sit on the floor Indian style or in whatever upright position is
most comfortable. This stretch can also be done from a standing
position. Raise your left arm above your head and bend it at the
elbow reaching down behind your head and neck and as far down your
spine as you can reach. At the same time, bend your right arm at the
elbow and reach it in an upward position also behind your back with
your hand along your spine. The point here is to stretch from both
directions and try to clasp your hands at the center of your upper
back. Stretch as far as you can even if your hands don't touch. One
elbow is pointing up and the other is pointing down. You can also use
a strap of any kind, (a tie or scarf or hand towel will work), and
holding it in the hand that is reaching from the top side of your
back, grasp the strap with the hand reaching upward and work your
hands along the strap toward each other. Repeat this stretch again,
switching your arm positions.
These arm stretches are very good after a good workout with hand
weights or the exercise straps.
personal experience. Before attempting any exercise, please take into
consideration your own body including your current physical condition
and any medical issues and medication taken that may affect physical
activity and your reaction to it. If you are concerned about any pain
or discomfort resulting from attempting these exercises or the
positions described, you should consult a doctor or another
professional before continuing.
*** Introduction: Flexibility is an important part of fitness.
Stretching your muscles before, during and after other exercise, will
provide you greater ease of movement and will add to your over-all
fitness. I strongly recommend including a series of stretches with
any exercise routine. Stretching can also be relaxing and refreshing
any time during the day. You may find that it relieves tension and
helps you to focus mentally and physically on your daily tasks.
*** Leg and Hip Stretches
1. Sit on the floor and bend your knees outward, placing the soles of
your feet together. With your hands or elbows, press down on your
knees or thighs till you feel the stretch. The point to this stretch
is to get your legs flat against the floor or as close as possible.
Hold this stretch for at least a minute or as long as you like!
2. Keeping one leg bent as in the previous stretch, extend the other
leg fully in front of you. Keeping the extended leg flat on the
floor, lean forward at the hips and extend your arm toward your toe.
Touch your toe or reach as far as you can and hold this stretch for at
least a minute. You can press against your bent knee with the other
hand for a more extensive stretch. Then reverse your position and
stretch the opposite leg in the same manner.
3. Lie on your back with both legs fully extended. Bend one knee and
clasp your hands around your shin, pulling your knee toward your
chest. Keep the extended leg flat on the floor with your foot flexed
(toes toward the ceiling). Hold this stretch for at least a minute,
then stretch the other side.
4. Remain on your back with both legs extended on the floor. Raise
one leg in the air, keeping the leg straight and lift as high as
possible. As before, keep the other leg flat on the floor and keep
the toes flexed toward the ceiling. Hold for one minute, then reverse
to stretch the other leg.
5. Remain on your back and bend your knees up with the soles of your
feet flat on the floor. Place your right ankle against your left leg
just above the knee, similar to the way you might cross your legs when
sitting by putting one ankle on the opposite knee. At this point, you
will still have your left foot on the floor. Lift your left foot,
keeping your right ankle pressed just above the left knee, and clasp
your hands behind your left thigh, pulling it toward your body. When
positioned properly, you will feel this stretch in your right hip.
Hold this stretch for one minute and then change up to stretch your
left hip.
I start every exercise with the routine of 5 exercises described
above. It takes about 10 minutes.
*** Calf and Thigh Stretches
1. In a seated position, flex your feet, pulling your toes up toward
the ceiling and back toward your leg as far as you can. You will feel
this stretch in your calves. Then extend your toes pointing toward
the floor. Repeat this series of 2 stretches, holding each for a
count of 15 seconds. This is a good stretch before taking a walk.
2. For a more extensive stretch of your lower leg muscles, stand
facing a wall and take a giant step back with your left foot. Flex
your right foot and place your toes against the wall. Position your
left foot flat on the floor at a comfortable distance to maintain
balance and provide a stretch. Then lean in toward the wall. Reverse
and stretch the opposite leg in the same manner. This is good to do
before getting on the treadmill or doing some other form of
cardiovascular exercise.
3. For the next stretch, you will need to stand on one foot. If this
is difficult for you, then stand next to a wall so that you can keep
one hand on the wall for balance. Lift your left foot as though you
are trying to touch your heel to your butt, and grasp your ankle in
your left hand. Pull on the ankle so that you feel the stretch in
your thigh. Hold this stretch for one minute and then stretch the
right leg. This is a good stretch to do after you have given your
upper legs a good workout.
*** Technique to Prevent Shin Splints
I learned this little gem of a technique from a massage therapist who
happened to be getting a Seeing Eye dog the same time as I a number of
years ago. He said this is what he teaches competitive bicyclists to
do so they can keep on biking. It really works!
In a seated position, find the top of the muscle that runs along the
outside of your shin. It's about 3 inches below your knee and just to
the outside of the long bone. You can make it more defined for the
purpose of finding it by flexing your foot. Press both thumbs at the
top of this muscle and keeping as much pressure as you can, slowly
drag your thumbs all the way down to your ankle. If you don't have
enough thumb strength, you can use the tips of your other fingers or a
clenched fist using your knuckles. The point is to press in on this
muscle with a constant pressure all the way down. Repeat this motion
three times on each leg. I am very prone to having this muscle
tighten up painfully when walking for any length of time, and this
technique really keeps it from happening 9 times out of 10.
*** Back Stretches
1. Kneel on the floor and sit back on your legs with your butt over
your feet. Lean forward as if to put your face on the floor while
maintaining this kneeling/sitting position and stretch both arms over
your head. When you are fully in this stretch, your legs from your
knees to your toes are on the floor, your butt is over your ankles,
probably not touching, but hovering as closely as you can manage, your
stomach is over your thighs with your arms extended along the floor in
front of you with your nose almost touching the floor. This is
sometimes called the prayer position or the child's pose. You will
feel the stretch in your lower back. Hold this stretch for one
minute.
2. Lie face down on the floor and place your hands on either side of
your chest as you would do for push-ups. Press up with your arms to
lift your upper body off the floor, but keeping your hips and legs
pressed tightly down. With your arms fully extended, you will feel
the bend in your back. This is sometimes called the cobra position
and is awesome for relieving back stress.
3. Lie on your back with your legs fully extended and your arms over
your head. Lie still for a few seconds to be sure that you are
comfortably extended with your arms and legs feeling very natural and
relaxed. Then stretch your right foot down and your right hand up,
keeping everything on the floor and reaching as far as you can.
Remember, you are not lifting any part of you off the floor. You will
feel this stretch in your side. Hold for about 10 seconds and then
relax back into the previous position. Then stretch the left side.
Repeat this stretch to either side several times and finish by just
lying still and relaxed. This is a good stretch with which to finish
an exercise routine.
4. Lie on your back with your knees up and the soles of your feet flat
on the floor. Stretch your arms straight up from your body toward the
ceiling. Drop your knees to the right and twisting at the waist,
stretch your arms to the left. Hold for about 15 seconds and then
reverse the stretch. Repeat several times and enjoy the stretch in
your back.
*** Neck and Arm Stretches
1. Standing, place your hands on your hips and let your head fall back
until it rests comfortably over your back. Do not try to make it
stretch any farther than is natural for putting your head back. Then
slowly roll your head over your right shoulder, to the front, over
your left shoulder and back around to the back. This should be a
slow, smooth continuous motion with no extra exertion to increase the
stretch. Just let the weight of your head provide the stretch needed.
Make several rotations in this direction, and then reverse it. If
your neck feels particularly tight in any position, stop the rotation
at that point and let the weight of your head pull on the spot that is
tight. Then continue the full rotation.
2. Lift your left arm up and angle it across your body as if you are
trying to scratch your right shoulder blade. Your left arm will be
coming across your face and your elbow will be pointing toward the
ceiling. Then lift your right arm till you grasp the back of your
left arm just above the elbow in the crook of your right arm. Use
your right arm to pull against your left shoulder till you feel the
stretch. Hold for a minute and then reverse to stretch your right
shoulder.
3. Sit on the floor Indian style or in whatever upright position is
most comfortable. This stretch can also be done from a standing
position. Raise your left arm above your head and bend it at the
elbow reaching down behind your head and neck and as far down your
spine as you can reach. At the same time, bend your right arm at the
elbow and reach it in an upward position also behind your back with
your hand along your spine. The point here is to stretch from both
directions and try to clasp your hands at the center of your upper
back. Stretch as far as you can even if your hands don't touch. One
elbow is pointing up and the other is pointing down. You can also use
a strap of any kind, (a tie or scarf or hand towel will work), and
holding it in the hand that is reaching from the top side of your
back, grasp the strap with the hand reaching upward and work your
hands along the strap toward each other. Repeat this stretch again,
switching your arm positions.
These arm stretches are very good after a good workout with hand
weights or the exercise straps.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Locker Room Etiquette
I started out working on this article to satisfy my own curiosity and
to provide information to other people who are blind who may want to
know how much nudity is acceptable in communal locker rooms. It's a
situation at which people who are blind are at a disadvantage in that
we can't just observe what others are doing and figure out the norm.
It's the same situation I find myself in when trying to determine if I
am under- or over-dressed at professional functions. Others can just
look around and see that most people are wearing suits or business
casual or very casual clothes, but unless there is someone to whom I
feel comfortable asking for this information directly, I just have to
guess. To be on the safe side I probably typically over-dress as it
is more acceptable to be dressed in a suit while others are in casual
clothes than the reverse.
In a locker room, though, undressing to change clothes is the whole
purpose for being there, and I think it helps to have some feedback
from others regarding what is generally considered acceptable. To
this end, I asked several women I know who have had some experience of
locker rooms around the country and in at least one instance in other
countries, and here's what I learned.
1. Most women who need to use communal locker rooms spend some time
adjusting to and getting comfortable with nudity, usually their own in
a public setting. In locker rooms you change clothes, often including
the step of taking a shower, and some nudity is expected. If no
private changing rooms are provided, then public nudity is
unavoidable. Everyone experiences it regardless of their personal
level of comfort with public nudity.
2. How much nudity is acceptable is driven by both culture and
personal preference or comfort.
A. Culture: Different parts of the country and different countries
vary in the culture of nudity. My friends tell me that the West Coast
of the USA is fairly open about nudity in locker rooms and that in
Japan, in hot mineral spring baths called Onzen, nudity is often the norm.
Other regions are more conservative and I suspect that this includes
my East Coast region. So in California while nudity exposed going to
and from the shower is mostly acceptable, here in DC, wrapping up with
a towel for this little trip is probably more the norm. Another
cultural consideration is the location of the gym such as one that is
provided for use of professionals working within a particular office
complex versus a public gym open to anyone. Co-workers who see each
other every day often to conduct business are less comfortable seeing
each other nude than might be the case for strangers who only meet in
the gym.
B. Personal preference or comfort: Within the scope of what is
generally acceptable for a particular gym or location, is the comfort
level of the individual with exposing her body in public. This is a
call that you make for yourself, and as long as you stay within the
norm for the gym you are using, no one else will have a problem with
whatever you choose.
3. More women than not, at least here in the USA, seem to prefer
maintaining some level of privacy. It is typical for women to change
clothes in stages so that at no time are they completely naked.
Another expression of this modesty is to turn your back to the others
using the same changing area so that only your back is exposed while
changing clothes. If even this level of exposure is uncomfortable,
then there is usually a toilet stall that can be made private in
women's locker rooms and you can sometimes use this for changing
clothes. However, be sure that there is another toilet stall open for
people to use and come out as soon as you are covered enough to manage
the public areas so that the toilet stall can be available for it's
intended purpose. Again the bottom line here is that some level of
nudity is expected in even the most conservative locker rooms and so
therefore you are well within the norm to expose your body to some
extent while changing clothes in the public places provided.
4. Usually by the time women get to the sinks to dry hair and put on
make-up, they are mostly dressed. It is pretty common to wait to put
on your top after putting on make-up and drying your hair, but
otherwise you probably want to be fully dressed. Remember that at
this point you are typically facing one or more large mirrors and so
whatever you are exposing is on display for anyone and everyone.
5. Women often help to increase the sense of privacy in a public
changing area by not looking directly at one another or by looking at
faces. Of course, being blind, I know that I'm not looking at
anything, but others often don't know this as it is not readily
apparent that I can't see. Even if they've noticed my cane, people
often think I can see a little. So I make an effort to be sure that
I'm not facing people directly. I usually tuck my chin down a bit as
though I need to look at what my hands are doing, or I stay slightly
turned away from the people around me even if I'm talking to them.
Even if they know I can't see, this is following the norm and puts
everyone at ease.
In summary, public changing areas make most women a little
uncomfortable and some very uncomfortable. Nevertheless, if we want
to take advantage of the awesome facilities provided in a public or
private gym, then communal locker rooms must be navigated. If you
can't see what's going on around you, know that none of the other
women there have any kind of magic remedies for covering nudity. At
some point, to some extent small or large, everyone is exposing parts
of their bodies as they remove one set of clothes and put on another.
It's okay to find your own level of comfort to do the same, and like
most things, it gets easier over time. I don't know if men have
similar issues or their own set of issues around nudity in communal
locker rooms, but if any men are reading this, feel free to comment on
your experiences. I don't intend to investigate men's locker rooms
any time in the near future!
to provide information to other people who are blind who may want to
know how much nudity is acceptable in communal locker rooms. It's a
situation at which people who are blind are at a disadvantage in that
we can't just observe what others are doing and figure out the norm.
It's the same situation I find myself in when trying to determine if I
am under- or over-dressed at professional functions. Others can just
look around and see that most people are wearing suits or business
casual or very casual clothes, but unless there is someone to whom I
feel comfortable asking for this information directly, I just have to
guess. To be on the safe side I probably typically over-dress as it
is more acceptable to be dressed in a suit while others are in casual
clothes than the reverse.
In a locker room, though, undressing to change clothes is the whole
purpose for being there, and I think it helps to have some feedback
from others regarding what is generally considered acceptable. To
this end, I asked several women I know who have had some experience of
locker rooms around the country and in at least one instance in other
countries, and here's what I learned.
1. Most women who need to use communal locker rooms spend some time
adjusting to and getting comfortable with nudity, usually their own in
a public setting. In locker rooms you change clothes, often including
the step of taking a shower, and some nudity is expected. If no
private changing rooms are provided, then public nudity is
unavoidable. Everyone experiences it regardless of their personal
level of comfort with public nudity.
2. How much nudity is acceptable is driven by both culture and
personal preference or comfort.
A. Culture: Different parts of the country and different countries
vary in the culture of nudity. My friends tell me that the West Coast
of the USA is fairly open about nudity in locker rooms and that in
Japan, in hot mineral spring baths called Onzen, nudity is often the norm.
Other regions are more conservative and I suspect that this includes
my East Coast region. So in California while nudity exposed going to
and from the shower is mostly acceptable, here in DC, wrapping up with
a towel for this little trip is probably more the norm. Another
cultural consideration is the location of the gym such as one that is
provided for use of professionals working within a particular office
complex versus a public gym open to anyone. Co-workers who see each
other every day often to conduct business are less comfortable seeing
each other nude than might be the case for strangers who only meet in
the gym.
B. Personal preference or comfort: Within the scope of what is
generally acceptable for a particular gym or location, is the comfort
level of the individual with exposing her body in public. This is a
call that you make for yourself, and as long as you stay within the
norm for the gym you are using, no one else will have a problem with
whatever you choose.
3. More women than not, at least here in the USA, seem to prefer
maintaining some level of privacy. It is typical for women to change
clothes in stages so that at no time are they completely naked.
Another expression of this modesty is to turn your back to the others
using the same changing area so that only your back is exposed while
changing clothes. If even this level of exposure is uncomfortable,
then there is usually a toilet stall that can be made private in
women's locker rooms and you can sometimes use this for changing
clothes. However, be sure that there is another toilet stall open for
people to use and come out as soon as you are covered enough to manage
the public areas so that the toilet stall can be available for it's
intended purpose. Again the bottom line here is that some level of
nudity is expected in even the most conservative locker rooms and so
therefore you are well within the norm to expose your body to some
extent while changing clothes in the public places provided.
4. Usually by the time women get to the sinks to dry hair and put on
make-up, they are mostly dressed. It is pretty common to wait to put
on your top after putting on make-up and drying your hair, but
otherwise you probably want to be fully dressed. Remember that at
this point you are typically facing one or more large mirrors and so
whatever you are exposing is on display for anyone and everyone.
5. Women often help to increase the sense of privacy in a public
changing area by not looking directly at one another or by looking at
faces. Of course, being blind, I know that I'm not looking at
anything, but others often don't know this as it is not readily
apparent that I can't see. Even if they've noticed my cane, people
often think I can see a little. So I make an effort to be sure that
I'm not facing people directly. I usually tuck my chin down a bit as
though I need to look at what my hands are doing, or I stay slightly
turned away from the people around me even if I'm talking to them.
Even if they know I can't see, this is following the norm and puts
everyone at ease.
In summary, public changing areas make most women a little
uncomfortable and some very uncomfortable. Nevertheless, if we want
to take advantage of the awesome facilities provided in a public or
private gym, then communal locker rooms must be navigated. If you
can't see what's going on around you, know that none of the other
women there have any kind of magic remedies for covering nudity. At
some point, to some extent small or large, everyone is exposing parts
of their bodies as they remove one set of clothes and put on another.
It's okay to find your own level of comfort to do the same, and like
most things, it gets easier over time. I don't know if men have
similar issues or their own set of issues around nudity in communal
locker rooms, but if any men are reading this, feel free to comment on
your experiences. I don't intend to investigate men's locker rooms
any time in the near future!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Shin Splints
I have long been prone to getting shin splints, and while I rarely
push myself hard enough for this to become a real medical condition,
it nevertheless interferes with extended walking and exercising. A few
years ago I met a guy while getting one of my Seeing Eye dogs. He was
a fellow student in the class and his profession was sports massage.
He showed me a little massage trick that has been a shin saver for me
ever since.
Before starting your exercise, use your thumbs to press steadily while
moving from the knee to the ankle, pressing along the muscle that runs
along the outside of your shin bone. My understanding is that this is
actually a group of muscles called the Tibialis muscles which connect
between the Tibia (shin bone) and the Fibula (a slender bone which
runs alongside the Tibia from knee to ankle.) The Tibialis muscles
are used to move the foot. To find the spot at which to start this
massage, put both hands around your leg just below your knee with your
thumbs together just to the outside of your shin and then flex your
foot. You will feel a definite movement that let's you know where to
begin. Relax your foot and then press both thumbs in, slowly working
your way down to your ankle. Repeat this at least three times for
each leg and voila! no more shin splints!
Another massage therapist told me that at the beginning point of the
massage described above, is a pressure point known as the three-mile
march point. The story is that Chinese foot soldiers use to stop
every three miles to press this point to gain energy to continue
marching. I usually find this point, press and hold for a half a
minute and then continue the massage down to my ankle. I admit to
being skeptical at first, but I was having trouble keeping up with my
new, young dog in class and was ready to give it a try. It worked then
and has continued to work for me ever since.
Now when I get ready to use the treadmill, I first do my stretches and
then give each leg the massage described above and I just never have a
problem with tightening muscles any more. It's definitely worth
sharing!
For more in-depth information about shin splints, check out:
http://www.eorthopod.com/content/shin-splints
push myself hard enough for this to become a real medical condition,
it nevertheless interferes with extended walking and exercising. A few
years ago I met a guy while getting one of my Seeing Eye dogs. He was
a fellow student in the class and his profession was sports massage.
He showed me a little massage trick that has been a shin saver for me
ever since.
Before starting your exercise, use your thumbs to press steadily while
moving from the knee to the ankle, pressing along the muscle that runs
along the outside of your shin bone. My understanding is that this is
actually a group of muscles called the Tibialis muscles which connect
between the Tibia (shin bone) and the Fibula (a slender bone which
runs alongside the Tibia from knee to ankle.) The Tibialis muscles
are used to move the foot. To find the spot at which to start this
massage, put both hands around your leg just below your knee with your
thumbs together just to the outside of your shin and then flex your
foot. You will feel a definite movement that let's you know where to
begin. Relax your foot and then press both thumbs in, slowly working
your way down to your ankle. Repeat this at least three times for
each leg and voila! no more shin splints!
Another massage therapist told me that at the beginning point of the
massage described above, is a pressure point known as the three-mile
march point. The story is that Chinese foot soldiers use to stop
every three miles to press this point to gain energy to continue
marching. I usually find this point, press and hold for a half a
minute and then continue the massage down to my ankle. I admit to
being skeptical at first, but I was having trouble keeping up with my
new, young dog in class and was ready to give it a try. It worked then
and has continued to work for me ever since.
Now when I get ready to use the treadmill, I first do my stretches and
then give each leg the massage described above and I just never have a
problem with tightening muscles any more. It's definitely worth
sharing!
For more in-depth information about shin splints, check out:
http://www.eorthopod.com/content/shin-splints
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Avoiding Empty Calorie Excess
Call it what you will, munching, carb loading, fulfilling a craving, snacking, having a treat … it’s all the same thing …. Taking on excess calories. Of course, if we only reached for carrots or apples to meet this “need,” then it really wouldn’t be a problem. But the food that usually appears in our hands and subsequently in our mouths is more typically chips, ice cream, cookies, candy, etc. Do we enjoy this? Yes. Have we been inundated since early childhood by advertising to do just this? Absolutely. Is it smart, thoughtful, useful, beneficial to our bodies in any way? Hardly! Other sources address the “why” of this behavior. This article addresses ways to control it so that it no longer subverts our efforts to achieve fitness.
First, take a close look at what you eat every day. Just write down all that you eat. Next, look at what you are doing while you’re eating, (e.g., sitting at the dining table, working at your desk, watching TV, browsing the web.) Your list might look something like this:
• Cereal, coffee and juice, 7:00 a.m., sitting at the dining table
• Coffee and doughnut, 8:00 a.m., grabbed in the break room and taken to my desk
• Soda, 9:30 a.m., at my desk
• Sandwich and chips with soda, noon, eating with colleagues
• Soda, 1:00 p.m., taken back to my desk after lunch
• Coffee and M&M’s, 2:30 p.m., at my desk trying to get an energy boost
• A beer and a couple of jalapeño poppers with friends after work
• Chicken, rice, squash and broccoli, 7:00 p.m., sitting at the dining table
• Popcorn and soda, 8:30 p.m., sitting on the couch watching TV
• Milk and cookies, 10:00 p.m., getting ready for bed and watching the local news
Looking at this all written out makes you want to say, “I don’t eat like that. That’s way too much food!” But I am willing to bet that if you’re concerned about those pants which just don’t fit like they use to, that your list, if you’re honest with yourself, will be very similar. Pick up an old grocery receipt and really look at what’s on it. Look at what’s on your kitchen shelves or in your refrigerator. Large or small, the behavior is there.
Once you’ve made such a list, cross out the meals and then look at what’s left. This is the part that contains most of the excess empty calories (i.e., the calories that have little to no nutritional value and serve no purpose for your body except to pack on extra weight.)
Once you clearly recognize and acknowledge this behavior in yourself, then you can work to change it. Here are some tips that can help you make this change.
• Keep a list going every day. Believe me, your conscious mind doesn’t want to keep seeing that junk on your list.
• Start reading the nutrition facts about the extra foods you choose to put in your mouth. Read the package or check it out online.
• Once you know what’s in the food you are thinking about eating, ask yourself, “what does this do for me?”
After you have repeated the above steps enough, you can boil all of this down to one simple question. “Is eating this food a smart choice?” If the answer is “no,” then consider taking another action. Here are some tips on other actions.
• Choose to eat something else to which the answer to the “smart choice” question is “yes!” Try fruit, yogurt, nuts or seeds, a protein drink, an energy bar or some other small snack that you know to have nutritional value (i.e., something that feeds your body with protein or vitamins.)
• If you’re not really hungry, then do something else. A lot of this munching behavior is driven by the need to be doing something in addition to or other than what you’re already doing. Find something to do with your hands … crafts, crossword puzzles, games, web-surfing, etc. At work I keep a star-shaped slinky on my desk and when I feel the need to reach out and grab something, I pick it up and run it through my hands till the urge passes. It’s much better for me than M&M’s and co-workers love to play with it, too. At home I crochet to keep my hands busy while watching TV. It’s all about finding something to do instead of picking up worthless food and putting it into your mouth.
Here are a couple more tricks to break this unconscious behavior.
• Don’t keep that kind of food in the house or office. This can be a problem if you live or work with others who don’t have the same commitment to improve eating habits, but see what adjustments you can make. You don’t have to stock the foods that really tempt you. If chocolate is your thing, then buy cookies for the family, but don’t buy chocolate cookies. Minimize your bad options so that at 10:00 at night when you find yourself in the kitchen looking for something to munch, there just isn’t anything there that’s bad for you.
• Choose the time when it’s okay (i.e., the least damaging to your fitness and health), to eat the things you really like. If you really love ice cream, then use it as a treat for yourself after you’ve gone a whole week without excess eating. I definitely like sweets and so I limit myself to only eating sweets that are really very good and therefore worth expending the empty calories. This means that I don’t munch doughnuts just because someone brought them into the office, but if we go out for lunch to a restaurant that has great tiramisu, then I let myself have it. But it has to be really great as opposed to just on the menu!
Finally, no discussion of consuming empty calories is complete without discussing alcohol. When, where, what and why you drink alcohol is your own business and not the topic of this article. Being aware of calorie intake when you drink alcohol, is. Hard liquor ranges from 25 to 110 calories per shot, and liqueurs are closer to 150. Mixed drinks really start to escalate caloric intake and those with several kinds of alcohol, sweeteners and whipped cream start to rival rich desserts for calories. 16 ounces of beer averages around 200 calories and 4 ounces of wine ranges from 65 to 100calories. The important thing to remember here is notwithstanding claims of benefits to health from wine, these are all empty calories, and should be given the same choice test above for eating snack food. Any perfectly nutritionally balanced day topped off with consuming 500 calories of alcohol will result in weight gain. But don’t take my word for it, just step on your scales!
We’re talking about replacing a bad habit with deliberate action to improve fitness. It’s not easy, but it is the smart thing to do. There are basically three steps:
1. Identify and define the behavior of consuming excess, empty calories for yourself.
2. Identify what triggers this behavior.
3. Either eliminate the trigger or replace the behavior it triggers with something more beneficial to your health.
The goal is to be able to say, “I make smart choices about what I eat!”
First, take a close look at what you eat every day. Just write down all that you eat. Next, look at what you are doing while you’re eating, (e.g., sitting at the dining table, working at your desk, watching TV, browsing the web.) Your list might look something like this:
• Cereal, coffee and juice, 7:00 a.m., sitting at the dining table
• Coffee and doughnut, 8:00 a.m., grabbed in the break room and taken to my desk
• Soda, 9:30 a.m., at my desk
• Sandwich and chips with soda, noon, eating with colleagues
• Soda, 1:00 p.m., taken back to my desk after lunch
• Coffee and M&M’s, 2:30 p.m., at my desk trying to get an energy boost
• A beer and a couple of jalapeño poppers with friends after work
• Chicken, rice, squash and broccoli, 7:00 p.m., sitting at the dining table
• Popcorn and soda, 8:30 p.m., sitting on the couch watching TV
• Milk and cookies, 10:00 p.m., getting ready for bed and watching the local news
Looking at this all written out makes you want to say, “I don’t eat like that. That’s way too much food!” But I am willing to bet that if you’re concerned about those pants which just don’t fit like they use to, that your list, if you’re honest with yourself, will be very similar. Pick up an old grocery receipt and really look at what’s on it. Look at what’s on your kitchen shelves or in your refrigerator. Large or small, the behavior is there.
Once you’ve made such a list, cross out the meals and then look at what’s left. This is the part that contains most of the excess empty calories (i.e., the calories that have little to no nutritional value and serve no purpose for your body except to pack on extra weight.)
Once you clearly recognize and acknowledge this behavior in yourself, then you can work to change it. Here are some tips that can help you make this change.
• Keep a list going every day. Believe me, your conscious mind doesn’t want to keep seeing that junk on your list.
• Start reading the nutrition facts about the extra foods you choose to put in your mouth. Read the package or check it out online.
• Once you know what’s in the food you are thinking about eating, ask yourself, “what does this do for me?”
After you have repeated the above steps enough, you can boil all of this down to one simple question. “Is eating this food a smart choice?” If the answer is “no,” then consider taking another action. Here are some tips on other actions.
• Choose to eat something else to which the answer to the “smart choice” question is “yes!” Try fruit, yogurt, nuts or seeds, a protein drink, an energy bar or some other small snack that you know to have nutritional value (i.e., something that feeds your body with protein or vitamins.)
• If you’re not really hungry, then do something else. A lot of this munching behavior is driven by the need to be doing something in addition to or other than what you’re already doing. Find something to do with your hands … crafts, crossword puzzles, games, web-surfing, etc. At work I keep a star-shaped slinky on my desk and when I feel the need to reach out and grab something, I pick it up and run it through my hands till the urge passes. It’s much better for me than M&M’s and co-workers love to play with it, too. At home I crochet to keep my hands busy while watching TV. It’s all about finding something to do instead of picking up worthless food and putting it into your mouth.
Here are a couple more tricks to break this unconscious behavior.
• Don’t keep that kind of food in the house or office. This can be a problem if you live or work with others who don’t have the same commitment to improve eating habits, but see what adjustments you can make. You don’t have to stock the foods that really tempt you. If chocolate is your thing, then buy cookies for the family, but don’t buy chocolate cookies. Minimize your bad options so that at 10:00 at night when you find yourself in the kitchen looking for something to munch, there just isn’t anything there that’s bad for you.
• Choose the time when it’s okay (i.e., the least damaging to your fitness and health), to eat the things you really like. If you really love ice cream, then use it as a treat for yourself after you’ve gone a whole week without excess eating. I definitely like sweets and so I limit myself to only eating sweets that are really very good and therefore worth expending the empty calories. This means that I don’t munch doughnuts just because someone brought them into the office, but if we go out for lunch to a restaurant that has great tiramisu, then I let myself have it. But it has to be really great as opposed to just on the menu!
Finally, no discussion of consuming empty calories is complete without discussing alcohol. When, where, what and why you drink alcohol is your own business and not the topic of this article. Being aware of calorie intake when you drink alcohol, is. Hard liquor ranges from 25 to 110 calories per shot, and liqueurs are closer to 150. Mixed drinks really start to escalate caloric intake and those with several kinds of alcohol, sweeteners and whipped cream start to rival rich desserts for calories. 16 ounces of beer averages around 200 calories and 4 ounces of wine ranges from 65 to 100calories. The important thing to remember here is notwithstanding claims of benefits to health from wine, these are all empty calories, and should be given the same choice test above for eating snack food. Any perfectly nutritionally balanced day topped off with consuming 500 calories of alcohol will result in weight gain. But don’t take my word for it, just step on your scales!
We’re talking about replacing a bad habit with deliberate action to improve fitness. It’s not easy, but it is the smart thing to do. There are basically three steps:
1. Identify and define the behavior of consuming excess, empty calories for yourself.
2. Identify what triggers this behavior.
3. Either eliminate the trigger or replace the behavior it triggers with something more beneficial to your health.
The goal is to be able to say, “I make smart choices about what I eat!”
Counting Calories: The Bane of Any Fitness Program
Let’s face it. None of us like to do it. Some of us don’t know how to do it. Some of us know how, but aren’t any good at it … all those numbers and conversions and deciding when to add, subtract, multiply or divide! Some of us are pretty good at it, but get really tired of all the time it takes to count everything that goes into our mouths every day. To overcome this kind of bad calorie karma, there must be a very strong “why” behind the need to do it. Fortunately, there are several, very good whys.
Like any other goal we want to achieve, the outcomes are strongly tied to what we put into it. Our pets’ social behavior is much enhanced if we put time and effort into training them. That big project at work is more successful if we put in the right amount of time, research and energy to get it done. Our cars run better if we spare the expense to maintain them properly. Similarly, our bodies become more fit if we make smart choices about what we feed ourselves, and the only way to make really smart choices about what we eat, is to become very familiar with the nutritional content of the food we prepare. Sure, we can read the nutrition facts on the package and we can read books about nutrition and all that is very worthwhile, but to take it to the next level, to be able to determine exactly what all this means in terms of our daily intake of food, we have to turn that microscope on ourselves and what goes into our mouths.
For years, we have associated “good food” with what tastes good. It’s mostly about what we like to eat, which is strongly driven by the types of food to which we are exposed. I’m not going to go into how food can be tied up with all kinds of psychological aspects of our lives, but it is, and therefore our lifetime of experiences with food very much drives the choices we make today. In order to change those choices, we must first understand what it is we’re eating and what it is we can eat that will help us be more fit.
The good news is that we don’t have to count calories forever. Once you’ve done it long enough to be aware of the basic nutritional content of the things you typically eat, and once you’ve made enough smart choices about food to know what to eat to achieve the daily caloric intake that works for you, then the daily counting is no longer necessary. You will be able to think back over the day and mentally assess both the quantity and quality of your food intake and decide what if anything you should add to it.
How long does this take? That depends on you and how much work is needed to boost you over the learning curve. I can tell you that it takes real commitment initially. I counted and charted calories for about 2 years, charting daily intake for stretches of six weeks to 4 months, with breaks between, before I reached the point where I can do this without charting. That’s not to say that I won’t ever chart again, but by being fully aware of everything I eat, stopping to choose whether to eat it or not, and looking up the nutritional value of new foods, I can effectively keep myself at or under my daily goal.
Here are some tips for counting calories.
• Find a good, go-to source for nutrition facts. This can be a book or a web site or a phone app, or a combination of several such things, but it’s important to know where you can go to find the information you need. I have found that putting “(food name) nutrition facts” into a search engine will do the trick most times.
• Decide whether you want to count your intake in calories or grams. There will always be the need to convert grams to calories to get the full picture, but on your chart, you can choose to record in calories or grams. I like calories. You’ll notice that nutrition facts typically give you total calories, fat calories, and then everything else in grams. This isn’t really enough information. I convert the grams into calories and count calories from fat, carbs, protein and total calories.
Converting Grams to Calories
Fat G X 9 = calories
Carbs G X 4 = calories
Protein G X 4 = calories
• Decide your method for keeping track of calories. There are a number of web-based methods for tracking your calories. If this is for you, find a site with nutrition information you trust and then sign up to track your daily intake. Most of these are free. Excel spread sheets are good for tracking as well as you can put in formulas to do the calculations. If you’re comfortable using Excel, this method may work for you. It’s my preferred method and I have a set of spread sheets that will help you calculate what your daily intake should be as well as chart your daily intake for free at http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape. There’s also nothing wrong with a pen and pad. Put it somewhere handy and just jot down what you’ve eaten, look up the caloric content and keep a running total each day. The method is only important to the extent that it works for you. Find one and stick with it.
• Be honest with your tracking. You don’t have to show this information to anyone else if you don’t want to, but you must be honest with yourself. It’s not okay to leave out that mocha frappuccino you grabbed after lunch just because you don’t usually do that. You need to know what you were putting into your body when you drank it and therefore you will be able to decide whether you want to do it again and how often. It’s not about taking away the things you really like; it’s about learning how to manage the things you really like so that they don’t interfere with your over-all fitness. (BTW, 16 ounces of Mocha Frappuccino Light with no whipped cream from Starbucks is 167 total calories, with only 18 fat calories. Not a bad thing to know, huh?)
I’m not trying to tell you that counting calories is easy, but I am trying to tell you that it is necessary. Understanding and regulating our daily nutrition is not a skill set that most people have. If we really want to get fit and maintain that fitness, it is a skill set we need to learn. Counting calories is how it’s done. Give it a try and I think you will be surprised at what you discover!
Like any other goal we want to achieve, the outcomes are strongly tied to what we put into it. Our pets’ social behavior is much enhanced if we put time and effort into training them. That big project at work is more successful if we put in the right amount of time, research and energy to get it done. Our cars run better if we spare the expense to maintain them properly. Similarly, our bodies become more fit if we make smart choices about what we feed ourselves, and the only way to make really smart choices about what we eat, is to become very familiar with the nutritional content of the food we prepare. Sure, we can read the nutrition facts on the package and we can read books about nutrition and all that is very worthwhile, but to take it to the next level, to be able to determine exactly what all this means in terms of our daily intake of food, we have to turn that microscope on ourselves and what goes into our mouths.
For years, we have associated “good food” with what tastes good. It’s mostly about what we like to eat, which is strongly driven by the types of food to which we are exposed. I’m not going to go into how food can be tied up with all kinds of psychological aspects of our lives, but it is, and therefore our lifetime of experiences with food very much drives the choices we make today. In order to change those choices, we must first understand what it is we’re eating and what it is we can eat that will help us be more fit.
The good news is that we don’t have to count calories forever. Once you’ve done it long enough to be aware of the basic nutritional content of the things you typically eat, and once you’ve made enough smart choices about food to know what to eat to achieve the daily caloric intake that works for you, then the daily counting is no longer necessary. You will be able to think back over the day and mentally assess both the quantity and quality of your food intake and decide what if anything you should add to it.
How long does this take? That depends on you and how much work is needed to boost you over the learning curve. I can tell you that it takes real commitment initially. I counted and charted calories for about 2 years, charting daily intake for stretches of six weeks to 4 months, with breaks between, before I reached the point where I can do this without charting. That’s not to say that I won’t ever chart again, but by being fully aware of everything I eat, stopping to choose whether to eat it or not, and looking up the nutritional value of new foods, I can effectively keep myself at or under my daily goal.
Here are some tips for counting calories.
• Find a good, go-to source for nutrition facts. This can be a book or a web site or a phone app, or a combination of several such things, but it’s important to know where you can go to find the information you need. I have found that putting “(food name) nutrition facts” into a search engine will do the trick most times.
• Decide whether you want to count your intake in calories or grams. There will always be the need to convert grams to calories to get the full picture, but on your chart, you can choose to record in calories or grams. I like calories. You’ll notice that nutrition facts typically give you total calories, fat calories, and then everything else in grams. This isn’t really enough information. I convert the grams into calories and count calories from fat, carbs, protein and total calories.
Converting Grams to Calories
Fat G X 9 = calories
Carbs G X 4 = calories
Protein G X 4 = calories
• Decide your method for keeping track of calories. There are a number of web-based methods for tracking your calories. If this is for you, find a site with nutrition information you trust and then sign up to track your daily intake. Most of these are free. Excel spread sheets are good for tracking as well as you can put in formulas to do the calculations. If you’re comfortable using Excel, this method may work for you. It’s my preferred method and I have a set of spread sheets that will help you calculate what your daily intake should be as well as chart your daily intake for free at http://groups.google.com/group/health-scape. There’s also nothing wrong with a pen and pad. Put it somewhere handy and just jot down what you’ve eaten, look up the caloric content and keep a running total each day. The method is only important to the extent that it works for you. Find one and stick with it.
• Be honest with your tracking. You don’t have to show this information to anyone else if you don’t want to, but you must be honest with yourself. It’s not okay to leave out that mocha frappuccino you grabbed after lunch just because you don’t usually do that. You need to know what you were putting into your body when you drank it and therefore you will be able to decide whether you want to do it again and how often. It’s not about taking away the things you really like; it’s about learning how to manage the things you really like so that they don’t interfere with your over-all fitness. (BTW, 16 ounces of Mocha Frappuccino Light with no whipped cream from Starbucks is 167 total calories, with only 18 fat calories. Not a bad thing to know, huh?)
I’m not trying to tell you that counting calories is easy, but I am trying to tell you that it is necessary. Understanding and regulating our daily nutrition is not a skill set that most people have. If we really want to get fit and maintain that fitness, it is a skill set we need to learn. Counting calories is how it’s done. Give it a try and I think you will be surprised at what you discover!
Why Train Your Brain?
You can make me do what you wanna do
But you got to know how,
You can make me cry, you can make me sigh,
But you got to know how,
You can make me do like this, you
can make me do like that,
Woh, baby, but you got to know how.
(Lyrics from “You Got to Know How” by Bonnie Raitt)
I don’t think Bonnie was writing about fitness and nutrition, but the underlying premise still holds true. How can we expect our bodies to do the smartest things (e.g., buy, prepare and eat the best food, respond appropriately in the physical world to maintain balance and prevent falls), unless our brain has all the knowledge necessary to give out the best instructions?
How many of us did the absolute minimum required throughout our formal education regarding physical education and nutrition? If you’re like me, you took what was absolutely required, did exactly what was needed to get through, no more and no less, and then promptly forgot about it once the necessary credit was obtained. How can we expect this limited introduction to fitness and nutrition to help us make the smartest choices about what we eat and how we exercise for the rest of our adult lives, not to mention making choices for our children?
Of course, the simple and apparent answer is that it doesn’t. Sure we all know that vegetables are good for us and doughnuts aren’t, but our choices about what we put in our mouths are rarely that obvious. Which vegetables are best and what happens during the preparation process? What’s really in all those packaged foods? Out of the hundreds of varieties of bread on the grocery store shelves, which one is really the best for us? What kind and how much exercise is right for us? What are the muscles that help us maintain balance and how do we strengthen them?
These are the kinds of things we need our brain to know so that it can better direct our bodies to take the most informed and appropriate actions. I frankly find it hard to make deliberately stupid choices, and I don’t think this makes me unique! We learn all sorts of things about our jobs so that we can perform our duties in the safest and most productive manner possible. When we decide to have children or buy a house or choose a university, we learn all that we need to know to make smart choices. Our health, the one thing that will have the greatest impact on the quality of the rest of our entire lives, is certainly worthy of the same if not a greater level of acquired knowledge and skills.
I finally connected all these dots around age 47, and I’m not proud that it took me so long. However, if better late than never is really true, then I’m glad to give it my full attention now. It’s been a slow growth process and I’m not done yet. I decided though, that I wanted to share what I’ve learned through this blog and hopefully pick up more information from those who will comment and perhaps guest blog.
So let’s make our bodies do what we want them to do by learning how!
Posted by Donna Smith
But you got to know how,
You can make me cry, you can make me sigh,
But you got to know how,
You can make me do like this, you
can make me do like that,
Woh, baby, but you got to know how.
(Lyrics from “You Got to Know How” by Bonnie Raitt)
I don’t think Bonnie was writing about fitness and nutrition, but the underlying premise still holds true. How can we expect our bodies to do the smartest things (e.g., buy, prepare and eat the best food, respond appropriately in the physical world to maintain balance and prevent falls), unless our brain has all the knowledge necessary to give out the best instructions?
How many of us did the absolute minimum required throughout our formal education regarding physical education and nutrition? If you’re like me, you took what was absolutely required, did exactly what was needed to get through, no more and no less, and then promptly forgot about it once the necessary credit was obtained. How can we expect this limited introduction to fitness and nutrition to help us make the smartest choices about what we eat and how we exercise for the rest of our adult lives, not to mention making choices for our children?
Of course, the simple and apparent answer is that it doesn’t. Sure we all know that vegetables are good for us and doughnuts aren’t, but our choices about what we put in our mouths are rarely that obvious. Which vegetables are best and what happens during the preparation process? What’s really in all those packaged foods? Out of the hundreds of varieties of bread on the grocery store shelves, which one is really the best for us? What kind and how much exercise is right for us? What are the muscles that help us maintain balance and how do we strengthen them?
These are the kinds of things we need our brain to know so that it can better direct our bodies to take the most informed and appropriate actions. I frankly find it hard to make deliberately stupid choices, and I don’t think this makes me unique! We learn all sorts of things about our jobs so that we can perform our duties in the safest and most productive manner possible. When we decide to have children or buy a house or choose a university, we learn all that we need to know to make smart choices. Our health, the one thing that will have the greatest impact on the quality of the rest of our entire lives, is certainly worthy of the same if not a greater level of acquired knowledge and skills.
I finally connected all these dots around age 47, and I’m not proud that it took me so long. However, if better late than never is really true, then I’m glad to give it my full attention now. It’s been a slow growth process and I’m not done yet. I decided though, that I wanted to share what I’ve learned through this blog and hopefully pick up more information from those who will comment and perhaps guest blog.
So let’s make our bodies do what we want them to do by learning how!
Posted by Donna Smith
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