The Good Ole' Days

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Just because you could eat anything you wanted in college and not gain weight doesn't mean you still can. Now I realize that a few of you have maintained a lifestyle that allows you to eat plenty, but if you are just starting an exercise program, even if it's the same one that coach had you doing back when you were a PAC 10 linebacker, you still need to watch what you are eating if you intend to lose weight.

Years of being sedentary will have several effects on your body that work against successful weight loss.

• Lowered Metabolism - As we age, our metabolism tends to creep downward. Studies suggest that this effect is mostly avoidable by doing strength training, but most people don't strength train, and, as a result, experience age-related metabolic decline.
• Lowered Intensity - Someone who is just beginning an exercise program won't be able to exercise with an intensity that is going to make quick changes. It takes time to build up the strength and endurance needed to really torch those calories.
• Lowered Muscle Mass - Long-term couch potatoes tend to have very little muscle mass to begin with. This lack of muscle takes time to rebuild, and during that building phase, intensity will be quite low.

My point is this: Everyone should be doing a program of strength training and cardio work. If you enjoy spending hours running, then great, do that for your cardio. If you have only a limited amount of time, spend that time doing hard intervals. You'll get a far better fat-burning bang for your buck. But remember, even if you follow the advice of starting to exercise, results will be MUCH slower without also monitoring the calories that you are consuming. Nutrition is 80% of the weight loss battle. Strength training and cardio are the other 40% of the battle. :-)

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Portion Distortion

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More people are eating out at restaurants for many of their daily meals. As time has gone by, restaurants have been making portions much larger than they need to be. Now I don't know which came first, jumbo-sized meals, jumbo-sized appetites, or jumbo-size butts but either way, when you order a meal at a restaurant, you are likely to get a meal that would be more appropriately 2 or more servings. McDonald's sold meals in the 1950's that would be considered a kid's meal today.

I recently went to a highly rated local eatery and was stunned when my plate of food arrived. In hindsight, the portions were definitely on the large side, but the plate that it was served on was, without a doubt, the largest plate I have ever seen. Large plates make large portions seem normal-sized. Here are some guidelines for appropriate portion sizes for different items:

• Lean protein (i.e. chicken, beef, pork, etc) - a piece the size of a deck of cards
• Cheese - 1 oz. - volume equivalent to 4 dice, or a piece the size of your thumb
• Carbohydrate (i.e. pasta, rice) - 1/2 cup - an amount the size of a tennis ball
• Vegetables - 1 cup - an amount the size of baseball, but seriously no one gets enough veggies, eat all you want

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Quick Tips for Healthy Grocery Shopping

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Buy most of your food from the outer perimeter of the store

Most grocery stores have basic staple items around the perimeter of the store. Produce, dairy, meats, and bread can usually be found by avoiding the store aisles. The aisles house the things that most people should avoid...processed, boxed, and canned goods. The exception is frozen vegetables. They do tend to be located in the frozen food aisles. Pick up those frozen vegetables, but avoid the frozen pizzas, etc. What about canned vegetables, you ask? Of the three choices, fresh, frozen, or canned; canned should be at the bottom of the list. Canned vegetables tend to have lots of extra sodium added to them and they leach water-soluble vitamins and minerals into the water in the cans, which is typically thrown away. Stick with frozen or fresh vegetables.

Don't go shopping while you are hungry

This is a no-brainer. If you go to the grocery store while you are hungry, you are more likely to buy things that you don't need...and those extra items tend to fall into the junk category, i.e. high fat, high sugar items. By allowing yourself to get hungry, you will crave foods that provide a quick jolt of energy and the last place you want to be when that happens to you is in a grocery store with an "unlimited" supply of such foods for purchase.

Make a grocery list before you go...and stick to it!

I would even suggest you take it a step further and think about planning a few meals for the week. This will let you easily create a grocery list of items that you need, you will have a few of your meals planned and you will be less likely to get home and say to yourself, "I don't know what to cook tonight. I think I'll just hit the chinese buffet down the street." Stick to the list and you might even save a few dollars by avoiding the temptation to buy things that you don't really need.

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Not-So-Healthy Health Foods

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Excessively Sweetened Yogurt - The worst offenders here are the "fruit-on-the-bottom" style yogurts and the super sweetened, kid-friendly yogurts. If a cartoon character is on the box, beware of the sugar content. Fruit on the bottom yogurt is another example of taking a healthy food and turning it into something not healthy while still allowing people to rationalize to themselves that they have made a good choice. Don't fall for this trap.

Breakfast Cereals - The largest breakfast cereal makers are doing a great job of plastering the 100% Whole Grain label on all of their cereals, which is great, but don't be seduced into believing that makes Fruit Loops healthy. Consider the sugar content, as well. Flip over the box and look at the Nutrition Facts label. Glance at the grams of sugar and divide by 7. Each 7 grams of sugar is equivalent to 1 tablespoon of sugar. For example, Kelloggs Fruit Loops contain 1/4 cup of sugar. That's a heck of a lot of sugar for a 3/4 cup serving size!

Energy Bars - Need a "pick-me-up" when the afternoons doldrums hit? Walk on down to the nearest vending machine and grab a Power bar. Athletes eat them, why shouldn't you? Whatever! The fact is that the lack of energy you feel has nothing to do with a lack of energy. Even the leanest people out there have enough fat stored to run hundreds of miles. Do yourself a favor and start exercising. Get your body using those fat stores instead of growing them. And those energy bars, from a nutritional standpoint, differ very little from plain, old candy bars. If that's the case, which would you prefer, a sawdust textured power bar or a tasty candy bar?

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Holidays are On the Way

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All of the articles that I've been reading on the Internet for the past few weeks have been discussing ways to handle the Thanksgiving holiday, carefully examining which foods are best to eat and which foods are forbidden. Here are some of the well-meaning suggestions that I've read...if you're into this sort of thing:

• Eat only the breast meat with no skin.
• Have a slice of that pumpkin pie, but only eat the filling. Leave the crust.
• Make those mashed potatoes with skim milk and no butter.
• Skip the pecan pie, it's got 500 calories per slice.
• Skip the cranberry sauce, it's just sugar.

Wow. Some holiday, huh. If you've read any of my posts in the past, you know that I'm definitely a proponent of eating healthy. But I'm also of the opinion that holidays and special occasions should be just that...special. If you want spend the holiday counting calories, knock yourself out. I won't fight you for that extra helping of steamed veggies, if you let me have your piece of the pumpkin pie.

Priorities

It doesn't matter what you do for 10 days out of the year, i.e. holidays, birthdays, anniversaries. What really matters is the other 50 weeks of the year. I think it's a case of mistaken priorities to freak out over the holidays, but ignore the remainder of the year. Most people mistakenly believe that they gain 10 pounds over the holiday season. The reality is that those who do gain weight, gain closer to 1.5 pounds over the end of the year holiday season. Not great, but not 10 pounds, either. When you step on the scale on January 1st and find yourself 10 pounds heavier than last year, most of that came from the first 10 months of the year, not the last two.

Pick 4 days during the months of November, December, and January (i.e. Thanksgiving, Christmas party, Christmas, New Years, etc.) and eat whatever you would like. Just don't use the holiday season as an excuse to lose control for 3 months and eat like crazy all day, every day.

Whatever you decide, remember to enjoy the holidays.

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The Number One Rule You Must Follow to Lose Weight

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One of the interesting things about running this site is that I get to see what people who end up here are searching for. Yesterday, someone asked the question: What is the number one rule the you must follow if you want to lose weight?

The answer: You must burn more calories than you consume. That's it. Whoa there, Scott? What about dieting? What about exercise? What about fat-torching weight loss pills? Well, here's why they are a secondary concern.

I've started to exercise, but I'm not losing weight. Why not?

Great. Starting an exercise program is a great start and you may lose weight as a result, but it isn't a guarantee. If you burn 1500 calories per day including your new exercise program, but continue to eat 2000 calories per day, you WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT. That's the bad news. The good news is that you aren't gaining weight as quickly as if you didn't exercise. If this is you, and weight loss is a goal, you must eat less and/or exercise more.

I'm eating healthier, but I'm not losing weight. Why not?

Again, eating healthier foods is a positive change but eating "healthier" doesn't mean that you will be in a calorie deficit. If you are sedentary or only exercise a small amount, then your daily calorie requirements are quite low. Switching to healthier choices is a good start, but may not get you to consume fewer calories than you burn.

I'm taking the miracle pill being hawked by Richard Simmons. Why am I still not losing weight?

That's what you get for listening to Richard Simmons. Even the prescription medications available for weight loss, require that you follow a "sensible diet and exercise" program to work. If you are following a "sensible diet and exercise" program in the first place, you wouldn't need the medicine! So what is causing the weight loss, the pill, or the sensible diet and exercise program.

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Alcohol and its effect on fat burning

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Alcohol is a powerful chemical depressant that effects our body in many ways. Here are a few reasons why alcohol and weight loss don't mix:

1. Empty calories

Alcohol has 7 calories per gram, less than fat, but more than carbs or protein. These are completely nutritionally empty calories that would be better spent on nutrient dense foods.

2. Lowered inhibitions result in greater food consumption, usually calorie-laden food

You can't go out for a drink without getting something to snack on. And we all know that nothing goes better with a beer than...a salad? Ha. I don't think so. How about some cheese fries, or nachos? Now we're talking. The types of food that people eat while imbibing certainly don't help the situation.

3. Alcohol halts fat metabolism

Your body cannot metabolize alcohol and burn fat at the same time. All fat burning stops until your body has processed and eliminated alcohol from your system. Went out on a bender on Friday night? It could take up to 3 days to eliminate the alcohol, and no fat burning is taking place during this time...only fat storage.

4. Lowers testosterone levels, raises estrogen levels

One of the many jobs of testosterone in the body is to synthesize protein into muscle tissue. Lowered testosterone levels halt this important repair process and over time can result in a lowered metabolism. Estrogen is partially responsible for the storage of fat in the body and increased levels help this process along. Alcohol causes increased levels of estrogen and with it, more fat storage.

Having a drink or two occasionally won't have a huge impact on your weight loss goals. But if you have a glass of wine or a beer every day, and you are not achieving your weight loss goals, consider cutting down on your alcohol intake. It may be holding you back.

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The Four Minute Workout of Death

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That's right in only 4 minutes, you can do an effective, proven fat-burning workout. It's called the Tabata protocol, named for the Japanese researcher who "discovered" it. It is a very specific, precisely timed, interval technique. Now to be totally accurate, including the 5 minute warm-up and cool-down, it would be a 13:50 workout. DO NOT SKIP THE WARM UP AND COOL DOWN if you are going to try this. You are going to need them.

Tabata, the researcher, studied the effects of this protocol versus a more typical, moderate exercise program and this protocol increased aerobic capacity even more than the moderate program while at the same time increasing anaerobic capacity. Yeah, yeah, but what about fat loss, you ask? Well, it turns out that the participants in the study burned more fat using the interval protocol than the moderate cardio protocol, even though the moderate cardio group burned more calories during the exercise sessions. How is this possible? The interval protocol was so taxing that the participants using it had an increase in metabolic rate that lasted for many hours following the actual interval sessions, leading to a total calorie burn exceeding the moderate cardio group. What this technique lacks in terms of time spent exercising, it makes up for, and then some, in intensity.

Protocol Specifics

• 5 minute warm-up
• 20 seconds - hard
• 10 seconds - easy
• 20 seconds - hard
• 10 seconds - easy
• 20 seconds - hard
• 10 seconds - easy
• 20 seconds - hard
• 10 seconds - easy
• 20 seconds - hard
• 10 seconds - easy
• 20 seconds - hard
• 10 seconds - easy
• 20 seconds - hard
• 10 seconds - easy
• 20 seconds - hard
• 5 minute cool-down

That is basically 8 "bouts" of 20 second intervals of real work separated by short, 10 second rest periods. Now that doesn't sound too bad, but more explaining is required. The only times that you are really working is during the 20 second intervals marked "hard". When I say hard, I mean HARD. This doesn't mean pick up the pace a little. This doesn't mean reading a magazine while doing your intervals. I mean, ALL OUT, Dorothy, we are definitely NOT in Kansas anymore - HARD! Those 10 second rests between the hard bouts will be the shortest 10 seconds of your life.

Exercise Choice

What I haven't mentioned so far is anything about what exercises to do. The great thing about this protocol is that the actual exercise doesn't really matter. You can sprint the hard parts and jog the easy parts. Pedal hard on a bike then back off for the easy parts. Treadmills don't work very well because they take too long to ramp up to top speed, but stationary bikes and elliptical machines should work fine. You can also do body weight exercises like mountain climbers, squats, jump squats, etc. The possibilities are limited only my your imagination. Again, in choosing an exercise, follow these two criteria:

• You must be able to quickly increase to maximum intensity. Sprints outside work great...treadmills do not.
• The exercise should be include as many muscle groups as possible. Squats are great...bicep curls are not.

This is a program that you should ease into. I don't recommend you switch your 3 cardio sessions a week all to Tabata sessions. Try doing it one day a week to start, then gradually do more.

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How many miles are in a Big Mac?

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What do we know about calories, besides the fact that consuming too many of them makes us fat? Well, a calorie is a unit of energy, technically the amount of energy required to raise 1 milliliter of water 1 degree Celsius. A calorie is a very small amount of energy. When we talk about calories in terms of food energy, we are really talking about kilocalories, or the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a liter (about a quart) of water by 1 degree Celsius. For some reason, the food industry uses the term calorie for kilocalories, or 1000 calories. So when you see that an apple contains 50 calories, that means that an apple contains enough energy to raise the temperature of a liter of water by 50 degrees Celsius.

Who cares about raising the temperature of water? Your body converts food into energy to go about your daily activities and to lose weight you've got to burn off more of those calories than you consume. So how much work is required to burn off the food that we eat? Here are some examples of a variety of foods and the amount of time that a 175 pound person would have to run (10 minutes/mile) to burn them off:

Food	Miles needed to burn it off
Big Mac, Large Fries, Large Soft Drink	10.72
Subway Meatball Marinara Sandwich, Chips, Large Soft Drink	7.88
Starbucks Venti White Chocolate Mocha, Honey Bran Muffin	7.85
Chili's Awesome Blossom (2710 cals, 203g of fat!)	20.45
Chili's Mushroom Swiss Burger w/Fries	11.55
P.F. Changs Great Wall of Chocolate	16.91

A typical restaurant meal with an appetizer, meal, dessert, and drinks can easily provide enough calories to run more than a marathon. If you aren't running marathons, then that energy gets stored as fat. What this post should demonstrate is that it's much easier to not eat these things than it is to burn them off. If you justify frequently overconsuming at restaurants by doing a minimal amount of exercise, you are just fooling yourself into thinking you are making progress. Remember, there are a lot of miles in that Big Mac.

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Intervals for Increased Fat Loss

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If you enjoy hour upon hour of running, like I do, than getting in your cardio for the day is never a problem. I get the distinct feeling that I'm in the minority, though, and most people would rather not exercise, or they exercise grudgingly because they know it helps keep excess weight off. For these people, getting the biggest fat loss bang for their buck is essential. The key to losing the most fat with the shortest investment in workout time is with intervals.

Technique

Intervals are simply high intensity periods of exercise intermixed with short rest periods. You can get a great interval workout in 20 minutes, but you must remember that the intensity level must remain high during the intervals. This is not an easy workout. The exercise choice is up to you. You can run sprints, cycle faster during the intervals, jump rope, or if you don't have any equipment, air squats or jump squats are a real butt kicker. Start by warming up for 5 minutes by doing your exercise at a low intensity. Then begin the intervals by increasing the intensity to a hard level for one minute and thirty seconds. Then decrease the intensity to a low level and rest for 30 seconds. Repeat the hard/easy cycle for 4 more times and finish up with a five minute, low intensity cool down. That's all there is to it...a superb fat-blasting workout in only 20 minutes. As your fitness increases, try to add more intervals or try to increase the length of the intervals.

Superb Fat Burning

I've talked about the myth of the "fat burning zone" in the past. While doing lots of easy, steady state cardio may burn a higher percentage of fat, more vigorous exercise burns many more calories, and burning calories counts more for weight loss. In addition to burning more calories during the actual exercise period, high intensity interval training has been shown to increase metabolism for up to 40 hours after the completion of the exercise, burning even more calories. If you are short on time and want a great workout, give intervals a shot.

Have you ever tried high-intensity cardio, or do you prefer the slow and steady method?

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Fast Food 4-1-1: Subway

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Sometimes you just don't have time to cook and you have no choice but to stop at a fast food restaurant to pick up a meal. Now what? Which selections are the best and which are the worst from each restaurant. The Fast Food 4-1-1 series is an attempt to show not only the best choices from the menu, but the worst. This week's highlighted restaurant: Subway.

Subway has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the healthiest choices in the fast food world. I mean, if it worked for Jared, how can it possibly be wrong? From the perspective of good choices, there are plenty, so first let's highlight the sneaky, not-so-good choices. Because Subway has so many options, I am including the nutrition information for six-inch subs only. If you go with the salad option and get the "sandwich" on lettuce, instead of bread, you save about 200 calories.

All worst choices will be compared to the archetype of fast food bad choices, the Big Mac. Now I don't hold a grudge against McDonalds, I'm just picking on them because more people on Earth have had one of these, than those who have not. After all they have sold "billions and billions" of them.

	Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs(g)	Protein(g)	Fiber(g)
McDonalds Big Mac	540	29	45	25	3
Subway Worst Choices
Chicken and Bacon Ranch Sandwich	580	30	47	36	6
Meatball Marinara Sandwich	560	24	63	24	8
Tuna	530	31	44	22	5
Subway Best Choices
Veggie Delight	230	3	44	9	5
Turkey Breast	280	4.5	46	20	5
Turkey Breast and Ham	290	5	47	18	5
Subway Worst Condiments
Ranch Dressing	120	13
Mayo	110	12
Chipotle Southwest Sauce	96	10

If you are in a pinch and you find yourself looking for something quick to grab for a meal, Subway is probably one of the best choices out there. Just don't make the mistake of thinking that everything on the menu is healthy...no matter what Jared says.

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How many calories can you burn?

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Want to know how many calories you are burning in 30 minutes doing your favorite activity? I've listed some of the more popular exercise activities and the number of calories that they burn. All of the calorie calculations assume a 150 pound person doing the activity for 30 minutes. If you weigh more, you will burn more calories. If you weigh less, you will burn fewer calories.

Bicycling

• >20 mph - 545.5 calories
• 16-19mph, no drafting - 409 calories
• 14-15.9 mph, no drafting - 340.9 calories
• 12-13.9 mph, no drafting - 272.7 calories
  
• Mountain biking - 289.7 calories
• Stationary: moderate, 150 watts - 238.6 calories
• Stationary: vigorous, 200 watts - 357.9 calories

Running

• 6 min/mile - 545.4 calories
• 7 min/mile - 477.2 calories
• 8.5 min/mile - 392 calories
• 9 min/mile - 374.9 calories
• 10 min/mile - 340.9 calories
• 11.5 min/mile - 306.8 calories
• 12 min/mile - 272.7 calories
• up stairs - 511 calories

Walking

• 12 min/mile - 272.7 calories
• 13 min/mile - 214.7 calories
• 15 min/mile - 170.4 calories
• 17 min/mile - 129.5 calories
• 20 min/mile - 112.5 calories
• 30 min/mile - 85.2 calories

Gym Activities

• Aerobics, low impact - 170.4 calories
• Aerobics, high impact - 238.6 calories
• Step Aerobics, 10" - 12" step - 340.9 calories
• Step Aerobics, 6" - 8" step - 289.7 calories
• Elliptical Machine - 245.4 calories

Click here for a great online calorie calculator to find out the number of calories burned during your favorite activity. It not only includes "exercise" activities, but lots of "around the house" activities, as well. Enjoy.

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Best Diet Ever: Eat Smaller, More Frequent Meals

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Every time I mention this as a tip, people think I'm some sort of food "nut job". Apparently eating meals more frequently qualifies me for some kind of 12-step program. The rumors are NOT true. I DO NOT set an alarm to remind me to eat every 3 hours. *But I have thought about it.*

Eating six small meals, spaced out every 3 hours is a better way to eat for maintaining or losing weight. Here are some benefits of eating this way:

• By eating more often you don't get as hungry, so when you do have a meal, you are less likely to overeat.
• It is also much easier to eat fewer calories for the same reason; when you sit down to eat you are not as hungry.
• Your body uses energy to digest food and more meals per day means a few more calories required to process those meals.
• "Dieters" traditionally eat very little during the day, and end up gorging at night. By consuming calories throughout the day, your metabolism remains stable and you minimize cravings.

This is one of the tougher tips to actually implement because it requires a bit of planning. You will need to bring enough healthy food to eat throughout the day. The strategy that I use is to cook enough food for dinner that I have enough to freeze for a few days. I package the leftovers in small 1-cup sized reusable containers and freeze them. Each day I bring 3 of the containers and some fruit, maybe some yogurt, or cottage cheese. A "meal" typically consists of frozen leftovers and a piece of fruit, a handful of nuts, or a yogurt.

Lean Cuisines are a good pre-packaged option, but they are very low in calories. I know people who bring a Lean Cuisine for lunch and don't eat anything else throughout the day. If that's you, you need to eat more. You can't expect to eat 250 calories during the day and not be starving by the time you get home. Bring 2 or 3 to work and eat them throughout the day.

Now, I always like to use the word "meals", as opposed to 3 meals and 3 snacks. If I say you should have 3 snacks between meals, most people visualize junk from a vending machine. Again those six meals should consist of "real food", not junk food.

Of the Best Diet Ever tips, I think that this tip is the most effective. Monitoring when and how often you eat is essential to controlling your eating. If you don't allow yourself to get hungry, you simply won't eat as much.

Have you ever tried eating smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day? How did that work for you?

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Best Diet Ever: 1/3 of Calories Should Come from Fat

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Fat is unfairly demonized because people think that the fat they eat ends up as body fat. That simply isn't true. Excess calories end up stored as body fat, but fat is no more likely to end up as stored fat than any other type of food. Fat is a necessary nutrient, and while our diets are typically high in bad fats, they tend to be low in the healthiest types of fat. Aim to consume more foods high in monounsaturated fats like avocados, olive oil, and canola oil. Other good choices for healthy fats, especially the Omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, are salmon, flax seeds and oil, and nuts.

Low fat diets have been popular for a long time but no research has ever shown that low fat diets are superior to any other diets in reducing body fat. In fact, new research is suggesting that a low fat, high carbohydrate diet may increase the likelihood that you will become obese, but regular exercise can mute this effect. If you do not engage in regular exercise, you should definitely minimize the processed carbohydrates in your diet, but that post is for another day.

Another benefit of consuming fat is that is has a hunger-curbing effect. It is true that fat has more than twice the calories per gram as protein or carbs, but foods high in fat are satisfying for a longer period of time than foods high in carbohydrates or protein. I don't recommend you do things like add half and half to everything to increase the fat in each meal (you listening, Atkins dieters), but do eat more healthy fats by switching to olive oil, or canola oil, and eat more nuts throughout the day.

As an experiment, for about two weeks, I tried to keep the fat content in my diet to below 10%. I was able to hang on for the two weeks, but I can tell you, I've never felt more hungry in my life. I was logging my food so I was eating the same number of calories, mostly carbohydrates, but I could hardly concentrate on anything else because all I could think about was food. If your goal is to lose weight, a very low fat diet is definitely not recommended.

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Want to Lose Weight? Get Off of the Scale, Part II

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In Part 1 of this series I discussed using body fat percentage as a better indicator of progress than scale weight. Hopefully you've gotten a device to measure your body fat, now what? What is the best way to maximize fat loss and minimize muscle loss? Here is a four-pronged approach to maximizing fat loss.

Track your body fat percentage

The first step is to take your body fat percentage. This is the number that you want to see decrease. You should continue to use a scale to measure your weight, but remember, as your weight begins to go down, your body fat percentage should also go down. You are definitely doing something wrong if your weight is decreasing but your body fat is staying the same. That is an indicator that you are losing muscle mass...something that you do not want to do. Usually this is caused by one of two things. One, you are not eating enough food. If you drastically cut your calories to a level far below your maintenance level, you will lose weight, but your body will consume muscle mass to feed itself and your metabolism will drop through the floor. You do not want this to happen. Don't eat less food than a 500 to 750 calorie deficit per day. The second possible cause of losing muscle mass is that you are not strength training. It is as important to strength train as it is to do cardio while losing weight. It will slow down the rate of weight loss, but you will lose mostly fat, and you will be much more likely to keep it off. Stop making excuses and strength train!

Nutrition and Diet

In order to lose fat, you must eat fewer calories than you burn. There is no way around this fact. No magic pills will melt the fat away, nor are there any mythical foods that help your body burn more fat. All of that crap is the domain of TV infomercial fantasy. You must eat fewer calories than your body burns each day. You can do this either by dieting alone, increasing the amount of exercise that you do, or with a combination of both diet and exercise. The combination is the best choice, since you will get health benefits that come along with regular exercise, as well as the weight loss benefits and you will keep your metabolism from decreasing.

How do you know how many calories your body burns each day? Here is an online calorie calculator that uses the Harris-Benedict equation to estimate your daily calorie requirements. Plug in your information and the result is the number of calories that you must consume each day to maintain your current weight. To lose 1 pound per week, you must consume 500 calories per day fewer than that number. Understand that the daily calorie number is an approximation based on research and fancy-pants statistics. Your actual number of calories required each day may be lower or higher. If you think you are eating at a 500 calorie deficit and you are not losing weight, log your food intake for a week or so, ensuring that you are staying under your allotted calories. If you still haven't lost any weight you may need to lower your food intake by 100 or so calories per day and reevaluate after another week. Continue lowering calories until you begin losing weight or, if you are a female reach the 1200 calorie level, or if you are a male reach the 1500 calorie level. You should not consume fewer calories than this. If you are at these levels and still not losing weight, you need to include more cardio and strength training to increase your metabolism.

Keep looking for positive feedback that you are moving in the right direction. If you are...congratulations on figuring this thing out. Keep it up. If you are not making progress, then re-evaluate and make changes. Don't continue doing something that is not working. If you continue doing the things that don't work...they are not going to suddenly start working.

Exercise

I believe you must do some type of cardio to stick with a diet for the long term. The simple reason is that doing consistent, regular cardio of some type lets you eat more and still lose the weight. If I didn't exercise regularly, I would have a much harder time maintaining my weight, because, honestly, I love to eat. I'm not willing to deprive myself of eating the foods that I enjoy, so I compensate for that by exercising. So what exactly is "exercise"? Well, the CDC defines exercise as a repetitive activity that works up a sweat. Really, that's the official definition. Actually, I'm taking paraphrasing liberties, but you get the idea.

For a healthy heart, it is recommended that you do 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week. For weight loss, I'm sorry to say, it will probably take more. If you are doing moderate intensity exercise, 60 minutes for at least 5 days per week is an average for the participants in the National Weight Control Registry.

If you are pinched for time, then you should try intervals. Research has shown that by introducing bouts of higher intensity exercise into your exercise routine, you can get more fat-burning bang for your time spent buck. If you are interested in getting into the nitty-gritty details, search for HIIT or the Tabata protocol. If you could care less about the research, just warm up for 5 minutes, followed by alternating between an easy pace and a hard pace every 60-90 seconds. Do that for about 10 minutes, then cool down for another 5 minutes. There you have it. The short and sweet way to do interval training in only 20 minutes.

Strength Training

Strength training is the real secret to losing fat. You may lose weight without strength training, but focusing on fat loss is much more difficult without hitting the weights. I will admit that I don't really enjoy strength training, I'm just a wuss that way, but I do recognize that it plays an important part in injury prevention from all of the running I do and I like what it does for my body composition. So I force myself to do it. When I go to the gym I'm definitely looking for the greatest benefit in the shortest amount of time, so here are my rules for getting a good strength workout quickly:

• Stick to compound exercises - If you are pressed for time, this is the most important rule. A compound exercise is a movement that involves more than one joint. For example, a chin-up is a compound movement. Think about it. You bend at the elbow to pull yourself up, as well as at the shoulder. A chin-up is a great compound exercise that works your lats, upper back, and biceps. In contrast, an isolation exercise is a movement that involves only a single joint. The classic example is a bicep curl. You only bend at the elbow and the bicep is the only muscle used. Minimize the number of isolation exercises that you do in order to optimize your time spent in the gym. Here I've listed some of the best compound exercises that you can perform. If you have never heard of these movements and would like to see an example, go to ExRx.net, the best site I've ever seen for demonstrations of every conceivable strength training movement.

• Squats - the king of the compound exercises, well, maybe squats would have to fight it out with deadlifts, but it's really a great exercise.
• Deadlifts - Standard Deadlifts, Romanian Deadlifts
• Rowing movements - Bent Over Row, Cable Row, One-Armed Dumbbell Row
• Pull up variations - Chin ups, Pull-ups, Wide Grip Pull-up, use the Gravitron machine if you need to.
• Dips - Great chest and tricep exercise, use the Gravitron machine if you need to
• Shoulder presses - Military Press, Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Chest Presses - Bench Press, Incline Bench Press, Decline Bench Press

• Use the proper amount of weight - Most people don't use enough weight when strength training. If you are using a weight that you can comfortably lift, using proper form, for 20 repetitions or more, you are using too little weight. Depending on your goal, you may want to use a variety of rep and weight ranges with the exercises. When I talk about a rep range, here is what I mean. If I say that you should lift in the 8 to 12 rep range, find a weight that you can lift between 8 and 12 times, but no more. When you reach the point that you can lift that weight 12 times, increase the weight. Here is a short list of rep ranges that are appropriate for different goals.

• Hypertrophy (Muscle growth) - 8 to 12 repetitions per set is the bread and butter of the bodybuilding world. If your goal is to get bigger muscles, start with weights in this range. And don't think that you're going to get "hyooge" just by lifting in this range. To gain muscle you must eat appropriately, as well.
• Hybrid Hypertrophy/Strength - 6 to 8 repetitions per set is a middle ground between focusing on hypertrophy and strength.
  
• Strength - 3 to 5 repetitions per set is the recommended repetition range for increasing strength. Beginners who want to focus on increasing strength should stick with the higher end of this rep range. I wouldn't recommend that a beginner lift any weights that are so heavy that they can only lift 3 times. If you are a beginner, try a 5 sets of 5 reps protocol for one or two of the big compound exercises and you'll get good strength benefits while lowering the risk of injury.
  
• Power - 1 to 3 repetitions per set is recommended for increasing power. This rep range is definitely not recommended for beginners. This range uses very heavy weights and without perfect form, close supervision, and a spotter, the risk of injury is very high.

• Be a stickler for proper form - this goes out to that guy in my gym who curls, in the squat rack, no less, with 135 pounds but never moves his elbows from the 90 degree position. He just moves the weight by rocking it up with his back. He's moving the weight, but his arms are not getting any bigger or stronger as a result of doing that movement. If you are going to take the time to do the work, make sure you get the proper benefit of each exercise. Lifting too much weight using bad form is not going to make you any stronger, more toned, or give you bigger muscles. Use good form!

• Change up your routine every 4 to 6 weeks - "Everything works, but nothing works forever." Don't change up your routine too much, or you won't be able to judge your progress, but every 4 to 6 weeks you should make minor changes to the exercises that you are doing. Try switching from barbells to dumbbells. Stand instead of sitting while doing shoulder presses. Change your grip from an overhand grip to an underhand grip. Switch to a narrow grip. Switch to a wider grip. Change to a variation of the same exercise. Change exercises altogether. The key to continued improvement is to look for small changes that will keep you interested and keep your body guessing. If you continue lifting the same weights, doing the same exercises, do you think that you will continue getting stronger as a result? You won't...your body will adapt and you will plateau. You've got to keep mixing it up.

• Mean business when you are in the gym - if you aren't spending hours and hours in the gym each week, then you must focus on getting to work when you are there. Minimize socializing, and if you are reading a magazine between sets, you're not working hard enough. You must compensate for less time in the gym with more intensity. Try to improve on your last workout every time you set foot in the gym. Aim for one more repetition, less rest time between sets, add a small amount weight to a movement, or perform a movement slower. These are all progression methods that will keep you on the road to improvement.

Losing fat and keeping it off is a difficult process. Make the changes necessary to your lifestyle and let time do the rest. This is not a get thin quick scheme to help you lose 10 pounds (of water weight) in 10 days, but if you follow these recommendations for 6 months you will see changes to your body that you never thought possible. Sticking with the program becomes much easier as you begin to see results and feel better. So what are you waiting for? No one can decide to do this for you.

If you exercise regularly, what motivates you to continue? If you don't, what keeps you from starting, or being as consistent as you would like?

Related Posts:

• Want to lose weight? Get off of the scale! Part I
• Exercise? No way, that stuff will kill you
• Strength Training: What you need to know.

Best Diet Ever: Don't multi-task while eating

photo by sculpture_grrrl

Of all the tips and tricks mentioned in the Best Diet Ever series, this is as easy and pain-free as it gets: When you are eating, don't do anything else that may distract you. What I mean by this is don't eat while you are busy doing work, or while sitting in front of the TV, or driving, etc. Anything that distracts you from eating tends to distract you from feeling when you've had enough to eat. How many times have you sat down in front of the boob tube with a bag of potato chips, planning to "eat a few", only to reach down 30 minutes later into an empty bag?

Now I'm not saying to ignore your family and lock yourself in a closet when you eat, either. Having a conversation while eating may distract you a bit but it also causes you to eat slower, giving your body time to signal that you've had enough food. Eating slowly and mindfully allows your body time to process what you've eaten and enjoy the taste of your food.

If you must eat while on the run, or while doing something else, try to eat a measured amount. Don't grab the family size bag of chips, look for something that is packaged in an individual serving like a granola bar. Even a small bag of chips is better than grazing for an hour in a large bag.

Do you often eat while watching TV, browsing the internet, sitting in front of the computer, etc?

Related Posts:

• Best Diet Ever!
• Best Diet Ever: Eat lean protein with every meal and snack
• Best Diet Ever: Drink one gallon of water a day

Behavior Self! Setting the Right Goals for Weight Loss

photo by sailing nomad

Successful weight loss usually begins with a goal...to lose a certain number of pounds. Most people will decide to cut out some junk food, maybe eat "healthier" foods and just see what happens. At first, it's easy, the motivation to lose the weight is strong, but after a week or so, the motivation starts to wane and the diet is out the door. Unrealistic expectations coupled with a lack of smaller, achievable steps leading up to the weight loss leads to another "diet failure".

It's what you do that will get you there

The key is to set behavior-based goals, not just milestone goals. What good is it setting a goal of losing 10 pounds if you don't plan how to get there? Whether you are trying to lose 5 pounds or 100 pounds, you must determine what behaviors will lead to those goals and make a smaller, daily goal of incorporating those behaviors into your activities. For instance, trying lose 100 pounds can seem to be an impossible, overwhelming task, but going for a 30 minute walk seems much more achievable. Here are some smaller, daily goals that you can use that will lead to losing weight:

• Eat 1500 calories of healthy foods in 6 small meals spread throughout the day (you may have to adjust the calorie level up or down)
• Go for a 30 minute walk
• Strength train for 30 minutes
• Skip the usual doughnut and eat a healthy breakfast of oatmeal, instead
• Snack on fruit and yogurt in the afternoon instead of raiding the vending machine
• Bring a healthy lunch to work
• Drink water instead of soft drinks

Each day, focus on hitting one or more of these small goals and the weight will take care of itself. If it is going to be 100 degrees outside, then maybe that would be a good day to focus on your eating. Take your plan for the day into consideration when choosing which daily goal on which to focus.

Notice that none of these goals mention weight loss. I would suggest not making goals such as, "Lose 5 pounds this week". Those types of goals are unrealistic and don't take individual differences into consideration. Climbing mountains is a tough, arduous task, but taking a single, small step is not. If you take enough of those small steps, they accumulate and you might just find yourself at the top of a very big mountain.

Do you set small daily goals? Or do you just throw caution to the wind and try to stick to a loose plan? What has worked, or not worked for you, in terms of goal -setting?

Related Posts:

• Expectation Letdown Fatigue
• Five not-so-painless changes
• Best Diet Ever!

The Cooking Spray Conundrum

photo by xgot_rice64x

Cooking spray, also know as Pam, is pure, marketing genius! It's promoted as a fat-free alternative to those darn oils that keep food from sticking to the pan and, well, are just plain tasty. Let's have a little closer look at what's in the can.

A quick look at the Nutrition Facts label shows that it has 0g of fat and 0 calories. It's perfect! What is this magical product made of? Let's see the ingredient label says the first ingredient is...that can't be right...CANOLA OIL?! I'm holding a full can of Pam in my hot little hands and it is mostly canola oil. Yet it is somehow fat-free and calorie-free. Unless Con Agra has magical elves removing calories and fat from canola oil, something is rotten in Denmark, or in this case, Omaha, Nebraska. By the way, if you believe the magical elf theory, STOP READING "THE SECRET"! I just love beating up on that book.

Obviously, magical elves are not involved in the process, but something is amiss. The "secret" to cooking spray's fat-free, calorie-free status is in its serving size. Why don't you grab a can and see what the serving size really is? Take your time. I'll wait.

It's all there if you just read the labels

The serving size is a 1/3 second spray. Is that even possible to only spray for 1/3 of a second? Why 1/3 of a second? Because the amount dispensed in that time comes in just under the guidelines for being fat-free and calorie-free. The FDA allows a product to contain less that 0.5g of something and still claim that it contains 0g of that something. In this case, that something is the fat from canola oil. So do you still think that soaking those pans with cooking spray is really giving you something for free?

Actually, cooking spray isn't so bad because it allows you to control how much oil you use, but don't be fooled into thinking that you are getting a low calorie product if you spray 10 seconds worth of it into a pan. If you do that, why not save some money and just use regular oil? A better, less expensive alternative is to fill a pump aerosol sprayer with olive oil and use that to dispense a smaller amount of oil than you would normally use...same thing, but no chemical propellants and less expensive.

Do you use only the recommended amount of cooking spray? Or are you guilty of the infamous "10 second" spray?

Related Posts:

• Best Diet Ever!
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• Starting a running program

Best Diet Ever: Plan "cheat" meals

photo to jainnie_c

As I mentioned in a previous Best Diet Ever post, cheat meals are a great tool to help keep people eating healthier. But there's more to it than just eating a cheat meal whenever you feel like it. That's called, "Johnny used to be on a diet, now he eats enough to feed a small country."

Don't just fall victim to temptation, polish off an entire cheesecake and call it a cheat meal. Plan them for times you know that you won't be able to make better choices. If you and you significant other go to a nice restaurant on most Friday evenings, then plan for that meal by eating a little less during the day on Friday. If your family always has Sunday dinner at Grandma's house, enjoy yourself...just don't use up your "cheat" meals before Sunday evening. Save your cheat meals for the times that you know you will need them...birthday parties, social gatherings, etc.

The concept behind the cheat meal is that you don't have to "give up" any food, so you're less likely to binge on your favorite treats that may not be so healthy. Cheat meals are a fancy term for what is otherwise known as living. You don't have to live on bean sprouts, spinach, and grilled chicken breasts to eat healthy, but you should make healthier choices most of the time.

Related Posts:

• Best Diet Ever!
• Best Diet Ever: Follow the 90% rule
• The skinny on getting thin

Health and Fitness Sites

photo by johnny_w

Looking for a great place to find interesting, helpful information on the topics of health, wellness, exercise, and weight loss? The following sites have lots of great, well-written, easy to understand information. Check them out.

Health Sundae

• Health and Fitness Forum - Vol. III

FitBuff.com

• Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival #11