Spring is in the air! Spring is a time of fresh renewal. New season, fresh flowers, green grass, and I believe, elevated energy.
I don’t consider January 1
the beginning of anything. The numbers on the calendar just start at number 1… again. Truly, the month of January is smack in the middle of everything busy in my life. The kids are still in school. We are in the thick of numerous sports seasons. My work is usually busy with people starting their own resolutions. Really, my energy at the first of the year is exactly the same as it was at the end of the year – drained.
Springtime is different. The first warm breeze accompanied by sunshine gives me a brighter view of the world. I suddenly have more energy, and I am happier. I seem to have more hope for the future.
Happier, more energy, hope… now that seems like a time to make positive changes in my life. Maybe I will evaluate my family’s nutrition. Maybe I will decide to train for a triathlon. Maybe I will decide I don’t have enough balance in my work hard/play hard motto that I try to live by. Regardless of what I choose to improve, I believe I will have more success now, during springtime, a time of fresh renewal and hope.
So I would like to invite each of you to spend some time in the outdoors now that spring is here, where you may find that you have more energy, and perhaps catch a renewed sense of hope.
Maintaining hydration is a concern for people who exercise regularly. People who are dehydrated will fatigue earlier and lose coordination skills. Performance can suffer when as little as 2% of your body weight is lost due to dehydration. Hydration is also important for keeping high levels of energy during daily activities. Exercising in warmer weather is another time to pay attention to your fluid levels. Warmer weather is coming… I know it!
There are 2 easy ways to monitor your fluid levels. 1. Weigh in before and after a workout. Then consume 2 or 3 cups of fluid for each pound lost. OR 2. Check urine color. A dark gold color means you are dehydrated. A pale yellow color, or no color, means you are headed toward a state of hydration. Be aware that drinking caffeine, which is a diuretic, will create a pale or clear urine even though you are indeed dehydrated.
So, in the interest of living a high performance lifestyle, “work hard, play hard”…make sure you drink enough water!
According to the latest news, the fish oil supplement that you are taking could in fact contain high amounts of PCB's. PCB's are polychlorinated biphenyl compounds which were banned from production in 1979 due to their high toxicity levels and classification as persistent organic pollutants. They have been shown to cause cancer. The Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation announced on March 2, 2010 that they are suing ten fish oil companies. Everything in the environment is subject to the exposure to toxins, and as we continue to mass produce products that are eaten on a daily basis, we are subjecting our food and therefore ourselves to those toxins. When it comes to fish oil supplements products will often say "treated" to reduce or remove PCBs, but the products don't disclose what level the product was before and after "treatment".
This brings up the point that we have labored on when it comes to taking vitamins, minerals, or any supplement, you really need to get it from a reputable source and those sources usually are only found in health food stores. A few brands that the Studio recommends are Barleen’s omega 3’s, Carlson’s line of omega 3’s, as well as Nordic Naturals (which we currently sell at the Studio). Dr. Mercola, a well known health advocate, recommends taking krill oil instead of fish oil because it is more pure and actually has more health benefits when compared to the fish oils. He also advocates that it is better for the environment as it is a more environmentally sustainable product. The important thing which was not highlighted on the news stories about fish oil is that the benefits for your health are numerous and well researched. Getting a good omega 3 supplement in your diet can make a significant difference in your health. Due to the recent findings about contamination we highly recommend that you find a reputable source of fish oil as opposed to stopping taking them. If the supplements still have your feeling nervous than make sure that you eat wild caught fresh water fish, ground flaxseeds, or walnuts regularly to obtain your omega 3’s naturally.
In an earlier blog we discussed the power of what you believe and how that could influence your chance of achieving successful behavior change. We were discussing self efficacy and how research shows that how hard you work at a goal is directly related to how much faith you have in your ability to actually reach it. When it comes to weight loss this can be very powerful. We looked at the influence of modeling of the behavior, which is finding others who have similar stories who have been able to achieve their goal, this really helps us believe that we can do it. The other powerful influence is past experiences.
This is a tough one because many people start attempting to lose weight at a fairly early age. So if we have tried and failed we have a lot of history to overcome. This is why I think it is critical to build a careful plan before attempting to make a behavior change. Instead of using past experiences as evidence that you can’t change. Use those experiences to design your new plan. What didn’t work and be honest with yourself. If you found that you were not able to make yourself get up early to exercise then maybe try another time of the day. If you found that you hated eating certain diet foods, then don’t try those ones again. If you found that you didn’t have the right information, then get better information. Past experiences are very useful in moving forward towards success. Each time you fail you learn something valuable that will help you next time, and you have never really failed until you give up trying.
So if you are ready to change, then determine how much faith you have in your ability to master this goal. If it is low then spend some time researching other people, like you who have had success. Look for real stories of successful weight loss, not diet advertisements. Realize that if they can do it you can do it. Then take your past experiences and use them to develop a fool proof plan. Then put it into action. We often recommend that clients begin thinking of themselves at their goal weight. For example, if my goal weight is 135 lbs, then I need to start thinking that I am 135 lbs. How does a 135 lb person eat? How do they feel? How often do they exercise? Then start doing it. Focus on the positive. If you goal is realistic, then it can be attained.
As January is fast approaching many of us are turning our attention to weight loss. How will we take off the Holiday pounds? How will my New Year's Resolutions be different this year? Will I be able to achieve my weight loss goals? For many of us reaching this goal of weight loss means trying something different this year. Albert Einstein claimed that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Yet many of us follow the same pattern every January to reach our weight loss goals.
This year, let's try something different. The first and hardest step in changing a behavior or pattern is taking an honest look at what is causing you to repeat the pattern. So in this instance what is making weight loss so hard? What beliefs do you have or patterns do you repeat that keep you from achieving success? This is a loaded question because many of us do not know or understand the problem. We think if we did, then we would solve it. A great way to begin to understand what you are eating, why you are eating, and how much you are eating is to record everything you eat for at least one week, not just what you eat, but how much, why you ate it, how you felt before and after. Get to know if emotions are related to your eating and if so when and why. This also gives you an honest look at how much you are eating. Most of us underestimate how many calories we get in a day by as much as 80%. This makes weight loss difficult because we don't even understand or recognize the problem. So start by recording as much information for a week or two as you can. Record everything right away, do not wait until the end of the day or week, you will not have an accurate record. Instead carry something with you or record it online, make sure you count everything that you eat or drink. Then review this information and start tackling the problem of how to eat less. This year will be different. This year you will reach your weight loss goals.
This time of year is pretty crazy for most of us. Holiday parties, shopping, and all the other obligations of the season can really affect our fitness routines. So how do you remain committed to exercise during the busiest time of year?
Here are a few suggestions
Don't be committed to spending a certain amount of time in the gym. If you typically spend an hour exercising, cut your routine down to 30-45 minutes. This can be accomplished several ways. First, you can focus on large muscle groups when strength training. Chest, back, and legs are the mainstay body parts that keep your metabolism rolling and stave of that yule tide cheer.
Next, if you typically do 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise on a particular machine, mix it up, pick a piece of equipment that you don't normally do and try it for 20 minutes. The change in working muscles will do wonders for calorie burning!
If you are a person that goes to the gym four to five days a week but are beginning to find that a bit overwhelming this time of year, make a commitment to go 2-3 times per week for a couple of weeks. You will maintain a certain level of conditioning until you can get back to your normal workout routine.
Finally, if you feel that you just cannot get to the gym at all during this hectic time, try a yoga DVD or go for a walk. Both of these activities are wonderful for relieving stress!
Make sure to take the time to take care of yourself this busy holiday season.
Whether you think you can, or you can not, you are right – Henry Ford
The power of what you believe
When it comes to losing weight or getting healthier there is nothing as powerful as believing you can do it. This is called Self Efficacy, and it is a person’s belief in their ability to succeed in certain situations. It was coined by psychologist Albert Bandura who believed that our belief in our ability to execute tasks not only influenced whether we were successful but also how much effort we put towards achieving the task or goal. If we don’t believe we can lose weight or get healthy, then we can’t. That is certain. So how do we gain self efficacy? How can we convince ourselves that we can achieve what we want?
It is believed that two things that build self efficacy are modeling of the behavior and past experiences. Modeling means that if we see the behavior modeled by another person who is like us then we think we have a better chance of being able to do it. For example if another person was able to lose weight on a certain program or supplement then we have a better chance of believing that we can do it. Past experiences are just as they sound, we judge our ability to change on if we have been successful attempting the same or similar behavior in the past. If we have done it before we believe we can do it again, if we have tried and failed we have less of a belief in our ability to do it. As personal trainers we see these factors play out all of the time. We will discuss modeling in this blog and past experiences in the next.
Modeling, is why every weight loss method is advertised showing other people who have lost weight and or offers testimonials of other people who have lost weight with their product. This is critical because individuals use this information to help determine if it will work for them. A funny comment I got a lot after each of my pregnancies was, “how did you lose the weight?” I always thought this was an odd question because in almost every case I had just given weight loss advice to this person. So my first thought when asked this is, I did exactly what I am suggesting you do. There is no trick, I ate well, exercise, etc., just like I am telling you. But people needed to hear that it worked for me or for someone else before they were willing to consider it might work for them.
The important thing here is that there have been millions of people who have lost weight through diet and exercise, people in every demographic and with almost every situation have managed to do it. This should be encouraging because it illustrates that someone somewhere in a situation similar to yours was able to lose weight. The best thing to do if you feel you are struggling with believing that you can do it is to find stories about people who have done it with whom you can relate. How did they do it? What worked? What didn’t? It doesn’t mean that what they did is exactly right for you, but it might give you the encouragement to take a serious look at what you are currently doing and what you could change. Take whatever is your biggest reason for not achieving success and find a success story of someone who has overcome that same situation and achieved success. For example if the belief is that you do not have time, have become too unhealthy, have gained too much weight, can’t afford it, don’t have the willpower, etc, find people who talk about overcoming these same obstacles. How will you find them? Ask your personal trainer, google weight loss success stories, biggest loser successes, wherever you can find your inspiration, find it and move forward. The more you believe you can succeed the harder you will work at succeeding. Have you ever heard the saying – if you knew you could not fail, what would you do? This is the idea behind this. Take out the concern that you might fail, and move forward with your goal. You can do it!
We will discuss how past experiences plays a role in behavior change in the next blog.
The Studio will be going Red for Women on
Friday February 6th. We will be offering free ½ hr consults to discuss
how exercise and nutrition can benefit your heart health! We will have
healthy snacks available for all participants.
This is your year to get healthier. This is your year to take
control of your health risks and reduce the chance of illness and
disease. Research shows that over 70% of health risks are lifestyle
related. This means that the odds are in our favor. By getting
healthier, we can reduce our chance of illness quite significantly.
Regardless of genetics, regardless of past behaviors you can get
healthier and make a difference in your life. Let Friday be the
beginning of a healthier life!
Many people dread the holiday weight gain.
It can start as early as Halloween and continue all the way through New
Years. There are so many different strategies for avoiding the yearly
weight gain that it can be quite confusing. So this year keep it
simple; just follow the 80/20 rule.
The 80/20 rule is the idea that as long as you are pretty good with
your eating and exercising 80% of the time the other 20% doesn’t matter
as much. This means that if you know that you have a holiday party on
Friday and you might over-eat, then make sure that you eat really well
each day leading up to the party. That way when you are at the party,
if you overindulge, you don’t need to feel guilty. Just relax and
enjoy knowing that you will get back on track the next day.
The same can be said for exercise. When things get really busy you
might find it harder to make time for your exercise sessions. Although
we recommend trying to fit it in as it is a great stress reliever,
there will be times that it just won’t be easy to do. Again, you can
plan for these times; if your entire extended family is arriving on
Thursday and not leaving until Sunday, make sure you exercise as much
as you can leading up to Thursday. Then relax and enjoy your company
and get back to exercising as soon as you are done.
The 80/20 rule is nice because it takes out the guilt of the
not-so-healthy behaviors that sneak in during the holiday season. It
does require some planning to ensure that your interruptions do not get
you completely off track for the entire season. This is generally where
people gain the holiday weight: they get off track and then just don’t
get back on. You have to get back on track in between the parties and
the shopping and the visiting if you want to avoid gaining the weight.
It’s easy to do, if you just take the 80/20 rule as your guide.
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