Green and Gorgeous

Green has never been one of my favorite colors; with the exception of trees I can think of very few green things that I love… and then there’s this:

My very first green smoothie!  You’ve probably heard of green juice, but this might be a trump.

Juice Just Isn’t Good Enough

Why?  Fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and other organic items (meaning items that are not artificial, not in the “THIS IS ORGANIC” marketing way) have a lot of fiber – you’ve probably heard that word a million times in your life.

Fiber is the part of food your body can’t break down, absorb, and utilize.  If you didn’t already know that you probably wonder why we need something our body can’t use.  Fiber allows your digestive system to keep moving!  You need your car to drive down the highway, and the food you eat needs fiber to be carried through your gastrointestinal system.  Basically, it keeps you pooping.

When you juice fruits or veggies you don’t eat the pulp, skin, and fleshy bits.  That means you’re missing out on a lot of valuable vitamins, minerals, and FIBER. 

One more reason to want to smoothie instead of juice: a smoothie you can make with the blender you already have.  Juicing requires a juicer (and most of us don’t have one of those).

Green Smoothie!

What makes a green smoothie green?  A leafy veggie – like kale or spinach.  Having a green smoothie as a snack or start to your day means stepping off with a ton of natural sugar for energy (from fruit), vitamins and minerals your body needs (from fruits and veggies), a bunch of antioxidants (again from the F & V), and a good shot of fiber to keep you regular.  If you opt to include a scoop of greek yogurt you’re also getting some active cultures, and that’s going to keep you on the regular as well.

Urban Amazon Green Goddess Smoothie

• 2 Cup Kale (or spinach)
• 1 Large Apple, cored (I left the peels on for more fiber)
• 1 Banana
• 1.5 Cup Orange Juice (some use water, to me that brings down the flavor)
• 1 “Thumbs Worth” fresh ginger, peeled (ginger is a natural anti-inflammatory.  Try to have some every day!)
• 1 Cup Frozen Strawberries or Pineapple (why use ice?)

Throw it all in a blender until smooth!

Every green juice I’ve ever had I hated – they always have a ton of celery, which I like on my own but tastes like dirt when mixed with Kale.  The fruit in this smoothie takes all the strong bitter flavors away from the greens and they balance so well.  With the added fiber of the kale or spinach your body absorbs the sugar from the fruit more slowly, keeping you off of a crash.  Experiment with your own combos, and add some lemon for a little tang and even more natural anti-inflammatory power!

Introducing: Widsom Wednesdays

I love quotes.  Not just due to my love of Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.  They serve to remind us that those who came before us have dealt with similar struggles.  Insightful ones can humble us and they provide food for thought.  To that end, I introduce Wisdom Wednesday!  I share some thought nugget that’s stewing in my brain, and I encourage you to SHARE WHAT INSPIRES YOU!  Put ideas for quotes in the comments (this is always more fun if it’s a conversation).

This quote, from Siddhartha Buddha, pushes me… though I choose to apply it to non-religious ideas.  What do you just talk about?  What do you just read about and never do?  This is the ancient world equivalent of “put your money where your mouth is”.  How can you step up and really live the ideas you currently talk about?

Why Diet Alone Wont Do It

Some fun facts to start your Wednesday:

According to the American Council on Exercise, of individuals who have lost more than 20 lbs and kept it off for more than 1 year:

• 89% use diet and exercise
• 1% use exercise alone
• 10% use diet alone
• Of those three groups, those using only diet are the least likely to keep the weight off

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the faster you lose that weight the more likely you are to put it back on.

The question that may immediately came to my mind is: “why”?  Why, with diet alone, are you more likely to put the weight back on?  Another, possibly more important, question: is it healthy?

Lets start with the first question: why do people who only use diet to lose weight drop pounds faster and then put it back on?

The answer seems to start with America’s obsession with the scale.

We want to see a low number because we think that means we’re healthy.  The desire to see that number drop is so strong that people go on fad diets.  They cut out or add in specific food items or entire food groups under the belief that they will have the magic bullet to losing fat, but in the process mess with their metabolisms and don’t learn healthy and sustainable eating habits.

Know anyone who did Atkins?  Sure, some people were successful in shedding pound, but did they keep it off?  The majority of people who saw some marginal success slammed the pounds back on as soon as they started eating carbs again.  The idea that you can live without carbs is a myth!  Your body literally needs carbohydrates to survive.  You can get them from healthy natural sources like dark greens, nuts, and whole grains.

But we’re talking about losing pounds.  On a fad diet your body is kind of freaking out.  In the shortage of what it needs it starts to break down different kinds of stores: fat for fuel (awesome), muscle for protein (oh no!), and sometimes even bone for minerals (OH SHIT!).  So now you’re losing weight, but you’re losing it from some majorly wrong places AND you’re not learning good eating habits for when you go off the “diet”.

Awesome.

People who being to lose weight with diet and exercise tend to lose that weight more gradually, partly because their body composition is changing.  They’re losing fat, but they’re also creating a pound or two of lean muscle tissue and increasing the density of their bones (WOO HOO, no osteoporosis!).

Is “Diet Only” for Weight Loss Healthy?

Okay, so we know fad dieting sucks.  It’s stupid and doing it is the exact opposite of loving yourself…. but you do it anyway.  You drop 30, 40, maybe even 50 lbs!  Then late summer and fall and winter hit and you blow it.  The holidays kick your ass and you’re back up to your start weight or even (heaven forbid) a bit heavier.  Given your scale obsession you freak out.

But you can do it again… “you did it before, right?”

Well.  Lets talk about that.   When you were carrying around that extra 40 pounds you had extra muscle to deal with trucking it around.  You changed your diet on the short term and messed with your metabolism, ripping up some muscle and bone on the way; but did nothing for your sedentary lifestyle.  As you lost the weight your body had less to carry, only encouraging it to shed more lean tissue…. and then as the pounds came back on you had less metabolically active lean tissue and more fat.

If you’re a little confused, let me break it down for you:

In January 2010 Eric, who is 27, was 220 lbs.  Lets say 160 lbs of that was lean tissue (muscle, bone, organs… the good stuff).  Healthy body fat percentage for men is around 5% (in the high teens to 20′s for women depending on age); we’ll round up and say a good weight for Eric in Jan. 2010 would’ve been around 170 for the amount of lean tissue he had.  Eric is carrying 50 lbs of extra fat.

Eric goes on a fad diet, cutting out carbs including natural ones like fruit.  He doesn’t work out at all.  He gets down to 160; but some of what he loses is muscle mass and bone.  He’s probably in the teens for body fat percentage, meaning he’s really not all that “healthy”.  Sure, he’s thin, but he skin looks like crap, his breath smells bad, and he’s got no energy (but he’s so SKINNY!  And he can eat all the bacon he wants!).

Eric starts eating carbs again; but now he’s only got 140 lbs of lean tissue.  He puts the weight back on so he’s 220 again in August of 2011; except now instead of 50 lbs of fat he’s got 70 lbs of fat!!  His metabolism is slower and he probably has more joint issues because his muscles aren’t as strong.

For our new friend Eric, losing weight a second time around is going to be harder because he’s lost the powerhouse of fat burning: lean muscle.  In most cases Eric isn’t going to return to his original weight; he’s going to go even higher.

But What if You Work Out?

Here’s the big difference between those who lose with diet and those who lose with diet AND exercise: more lean muscle.  I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase before that muscle is more dense than fat.  For our friend Eric, exercising as well probably would’ve meant not dropping all the way to 160 – he may have been in the 170′s – but instead of losing lean muscle he would’ve been building up more!

I hear all the time from women: but I don’t want to get big and build lots of muscles.  I just want to lose fat.  Ladies! The difference between a man’s potential to build muscle and a woman’s is HUGE!   You will not look like Arnold!  You will burn more calories at rest, which means being able to go harder, longer and having a more metabolically active body for the rest of your life.

Phew… sorry about the yelling there… just often seems like no one is listening when you say that.

Conclusion? Sure… a “diet” will bring the scale number down.  But that shouldn’t be the only number you care about.  Proper nutrition (and learning what that means) and resistance training will help you refine your body, improve the percentage of fat to muscle, and give you a whole host of other benefits.

As they say in the book Skinny Bitch:

Give up the notion that you can be sedentary and still lose weight.  You need to exercise, you lazy shit.  Eating properly will dramatically improve your health, body, and all aspects of your lift.  But you’ve got to move your ass.  Anyone with a brain can do the math: When done in conjunction with a good diet, exercise will make you lose weight faster than healthy eating alone…. You want to be a Skinny Bitch, not a scrawny bitch.

Well put, ladies.

Try Something New: Intensati

My friend and colleague Alison Foster (check out her blog Foster Fitness) has been hard at work becoming a certified Intensati instructor.  Intensati is a blend of yoga, martial arts, aerobics, and meditation.  Foster’s nearly there; all she has left is leading a few practice classes to refine her technique, and given my love of new things I couldn’t help but jump at the chance to join her.

For Foster’s first class we did the WarriorSati routine.  ”Group fitness” has never really been my thing (read: classes) but this was fun and interesting.  There is a definite meditative component to the positive reinforcement chanting you do while shaking your butt.  If you like aerobics classes you may really enjoy the affirmation aspect of Intensati.  For now I think I’ll stick with yoga and meditation for my karmic needs and running and cycling for cardio.  Check out Foster Fitness to keep up with Alison; she’s always got product reviews and positive juju.

A Little Grumpy? Drink Up!

Feeling a little disagreeable this morning?  Maybe a bit grumpy?  Perhaps you’ve got a low grade headache or you feel more sore from yesterday’s workout then you should be?  Try as you might, you can’t put your finger on why?

Maybe you’re dehydrated.

A study published in the Journal of Nutrition by the American Society for Nutrition in December showed a notable increase in moodiness in mildly dehydrated women.  How dehydrated?  1.36%!  And with that very slight dehydration also came headaches, fatigue, soreness, and a decrease in physical and mental performance.

So why is that?  (Get ready for a little Jr. High bio here)  Water is a major component of your blood.  Your blood is intended to flow easily through your arteries & veins, each cell bouncing along the walls of your circulatory system carrying oxygen and nutrients to the rest of your body.  Over half of your blood is made of plasma, which is the fluid that carries the red and white blood cells.

 

Picture a water slide, but add a high powered pump at the beginning (that’s your heart).  If there’s plenty of water in the slide you ride down fast and easy, screaming and laughing the whole way.  Picture what would happen if there’s not enough water: your ass sticks to the slide sides, you get a nasty rash, and if there’s someone right behind you they smack into you, right!?

When you’re even mildly dehydrated your blood thickens and can’t flow as smoothly.  That means your heart has to work harder and your muscles and organs aren’t getting what they need as quickly and efficiently as they should.

How do you know if you’re dehydrated?  

Quick check: if you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated (which means if seeing the drop on the leaf at the top made you thristy… you guessed it – you’re dehydrated RIGHT NOW.)

The easiest way to tell over the course of the day: the color of your urine.   Yup, how dark is your pee?  By mid-day you should already be running clear, and it should stay relatively light in color for the rest of the day.  At lunch time, when you go pee, if it’s really dark use that as your reminder to go drink some water… or if by lunch you haven’t peed all morning that’s because you haven’t been drinking and you should! (GO DO IT!)

How much water do I need?

This is a great question and I get it during consultations all the time.  Science hasn’t given us a concrete answer; but what we are starting to determine is the “8 by 8″ rule is insufficient (meaning eight – 8oz glasses of water a day).  The best I’ve come across is the idea that a bigger person needs more water and to use your urine as a gauge.  Also, if you’re eating a high-fiber diet (and you should be) you need a bit more to “keep things moving”, if you catch my drift.

Try this Water Needs calculator on for size and see if you’re getting anything near what you should be.

And then go drink up!

Feeling Hip

Just got back from my first training run since I hurt my hip.  Oh, did I mention I hurt my hip?  Yeah… I know I didn’t.

Just like any athlete, I’ve always been frustrated by injuries. You come to expect so much from your body that getting hurt pisses you off.  But in the past few months it’s been like someone poured boiling water on that feeling: being hurt as a personal trainer sucks.  You’ve spent months studying anatomy and movement patterns so you can help others work on their own bodies; but analyzing your own movement properly is nearly impossible, and we all know that strong-willed people don’t want to ask for help when it comes to something so intimate as the alignment of your joints.  Cause I’m supposed to know what I’m doing, right!?

But here’s the trick: to really watch movement properly you have to be able to see it from all angles.  To watch it.  And my head is stuck at the top of my neck and there are only so many reflective surfaces on the west side bike path for me to check myself in (and hopefully not look narcissistic).

A little over a month ago my right hip started lighting up like a Christmas tree.  To make a long story full of frustration short: I’m pretty sure a muscle in the front of my right hip is getting strained when I practice a certain kick and causing everything else in my hips to twist.  Bummer.  I have barely been able to train for weeks and it’s been killing me a little.

Fortunately I’ve got a few generous co-workers who’ve been helping and rest really is all it’s cracked up to be. So I’m on the mend and…

I’m 2 weeks away from my first race of the season, the Penny Harvest Run For Change.  I did this race last year as part of the Something New experiment and feel it’s only fitting to return.  Today was a hill run and, despite the steep climbs of the Bay Ridge, I still brought my time in under last years finish time.  Looking forward to kicking the tires and lighting the fires 14 days from today!

Goal Setting: Making a Plan

Lets get back to goals.

It’s the end of March.  You’ve had 90 days to start on your “resolutions” (or, hopefully, you agreed that “resolutions” are bullshit and set goals).  How’re you doing?  (Seriously, I want to know.  Drop some comments and share).

If the reason you’re not sharing how you’re doing is because you’re not doing… then lets talk about that.  (If you haven’t set any goals yet head over here and take 5 minutes to get started… I’ll wait…)

No One Said You Had to be MacGyver

With enough tricks up your sleeve plans become obsolete… but we’re mere mortals and we’re not diffusing nitrate bombs while our hands are zip-tied.  So plans are in order.  A good plan is something you can unquestionably do; otherwise what’s the point?  Why plan a vacation you know you can’t afford or to a place you know is impossible to reach (moon trip anyone?).

We want to build doable plans:

Break it Down

By now you should’ve broken down 4 or 5 goals for the next year.  Maybe lose some weight; maybe go back to school or save some money.  They should be SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-specific).  But how do you get there?  You break it up into manageable chucks, each chunk itself a mini-SMART Goal.

Lets use a savings goal as an example since it’s easily translatable into other goals (weight loss, event training, etc) and most people over the age of 10 have done this at some point:

You want to save $5,000 for a big vacation.  You crunch the numbers and you’re able to save $500 a month if you shave out your daily latte, don’t buy that extra pair of shoes, only go out one night a week, and bring your lunch.  This vacation is going to be fucking awesome so you don’t mind giving up those little things for 10 months.

The $500 is a monthly goal that you then broke down to a weekly $125 goal.

But lets say you’re blowing it every week.  You keep going out and drinking when you know you shouldn’t and you’re just not hitting that $125; so you need to rope yourself in even further.  You’d need to put $17.80 in an envelope every day to save $125/week.  At the end of every week you put that in a savings account to keep yourself on track.

Okay, great – so now you’ve reviewed your 10 year old self savings plan.  What does this have to do with weight loss and fitness?

Say your 40 lbs overweight.  A pound of fat has 3,500 calories.  It would kill you to try and cut 3,500 calories a day (or if it didn’t it would cause you a serious eating disorder, screw with your metabolism, and make you very sick).  For healthy weight loss it’s recommended that you try to lose 1 – 2 lbs a week; that translates to between 3,500 and 7,000 calories per week.

Great Dar, what the hell does that mean for me?

It means to lose 1 pound a week you’ll want to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day.

Again, great… but how the hell do I do that?

It’s now generally accepted in the medical community that self control is an exhaustible resource in the brain.  That means that if you try to change too much too fast you’re setting yourself up for major failure (yo-yo diets, anyone?).  So you want to start with something you know you can change and then make it a habit.  For example:

Week 1 – 3: Go to the gym 3 times these weeks.  Whether you’re doing strength or cardio just GO!

Week 4 – 6: Begin to track everything you eat and keep going to the gym 3x/wk!

Week 7 – 9: Keep going to the gym and tracking everything you eat, but start tallying up the calories.

Week 10 – 12: Keep going to the gym and tracking, but start trimming back the number of calories you eat by 200 less every week.

You’ll notice that each of these is in a 3 week chunk.  Research shows it takes most people about three weeks to create a new habit; and until something is a habit it takes up our precious self-control juices in the brain.  Try to form too many new habits at once and you run out of habit-juice…and then you binge eat, burn out, and end up back on your couch feeling worse than you did when you started.

Write it Out

Get a piece of paper (just DO IT).  Now ask yourself: what can I change right now to my daily life that I can keep up for the next three weeks?  And what can I add to that in three weeks?  What about three weeks later?  Feel free to tweak the 3 month outline above.

Oh, and the numbers?  If you’re working at appropriate effort levels you should burn between 300 – 500 calories per gym session (30 – 45 minutes of work).  Just the effort of tracking tends to help people shave off 300 calories per day; so by week 4 you’ll naturally drop about .5/week… and then by that third month you should be well on your way to 1 lb/week.

Share Your Plan

The act of telling someone naturally holds us to our goals.  Post here or tell your buddies to keep your feet to the fire.

SuperBetter Reboot

SuperBetter got a face lift and has gone public, which I consider to be a gift to the world.

Back in the fall I was lucky enough to be a part of the SuperBetter beta.  Here’s the quick jist: a brilliant woman named Jane used her background in game theory to develop a framework for recovery from traumatic brain injury to help herself recover from a blow to the head.  Being the altruistic soul that she is she shared the info about said framework on her blog… and people started to use it… and they got better (dare I say SuperBetter?) – so Jane and her compadres developed a front end interface so the masses could play along.

In the fall I used SuperBetter to help me keep my eyes on the prize while dealing with some major change.  I’ve been raving about it so much that the SB team asked me to make a little video (sorry for the crappy sound/audio lag):

 

 

The new version is LIVE!  It’s very pretty, user friendly, and they really responded well to user feedback.  I’ve only just dipped my toe in, but I’m really happy with the changes they’ve made.  If you’re reaching for any goal, not just overcoming an injury or illness, I strongly encourage you to take a look at SuperBetter as a way to help you write the map to success.

Knock It Off: 5 Thing You’re Doing that are Keeping You From Your Fitness Goals

It’s two months into 2012: check yourself.  How’re you doing on those goals you spent the first weeks of the year mapping out?  (if you didn’t bother, go back and do it punk ass!)

Feel like you’re not reaching your full potential?  Well, maybe you’re doing some things to sabotage yourself and you don’t even realize it.  Here are 5 simple things you might be doing wrong that could pay off.  Big time.

1: Not getting enough sleep

“Gata get 8″ was a mantra among my closest in college; meaning gata get 8 hours.  Okay, maybe your body doesn’t need 8, maybe you only need 7.  But if you’re waking up and struggling through a three-stroke cycle of the snooze then you’re not getting enough zzzs, and that matters for a lot more than just your brain.  Why?  I’ll tell you:

Most people don’t realize that adaption happens while we’re sleeping.  Why do you care about adaption?  Think about it: we work out to stimulate our bodies.  No matter what you’re goal is: bigger, faster, stronger, leaner, more toned you want to change your body.  What does adapt mean?  CHANGE!  The actual chemical processes required to break down old tissue and rebuild new ones (not to mention repair torn up ones) happens when we are at full rest.  Read: while asleep.  If you’re not getting enough zzzs you’re not getting full recovery.

Want more?  More and more research is stacking up to support the idea that self-control is an exhaustible resource in the brain. When does this resource regenerate? Bingo! While we’re zonked out; so if your goal involves habit change (losing weight, working out more, not texting your ex) then you need to get enough sleep or you are setting yourself up for failure.

(One more reason: when you’re under-slept you’re a lot more likely to eat CRAP!)

2: Eating out or getting takeout

I will admit it now: I am often guilty of this.  Being a trainer means working odd hours and never having time at home during normal meal times…but honestly, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t cook when I have down time and bring a box with me – I’m just lazy, right?  Well, that means I’m not hitting my full potential!

Eating out means bigger portions and a serious lack of control about what is going into your food.  Even with these new “healthier” quick dining options, unless you know the guy who works in the kitchen (and, honestly, the guy who runs the distribution system) you really have no way of knowing for sure what the hell you’re putting in your can.  A fine example is the salad dressing dilemma: what kind of dressing do you put on that carefully crafted salad that you’re patting yourself on the back for?  ’Cause I’ll bet you my left pinky toe that its got processed or artificial sweeteners in it…and there’s no label for you to read to be sure.

One of the hands down best things you can do to change your habits and help reach your goals is make your own food.  Do it for a month.  A month!  Honestly, who can’t just cook for one month?  And just like masturbating, drinking, and drugs, cooking is more fun when you have a friend or two.  Invite people over; start a recipe swap; spend time with your spouse.  Just learn to freakin’ cook.

3. Think about what goes in your face after you workout

We all know the drill.  You go hard and after the steam and shower you’re starving.  You walk out of your gym and: a) stop at the juice spot for a smoothie, b) pop into the bodega for one of those protein bar things, c) chug some post-workout powdered crap, d) eat junk.  You know what sucks about all these options?  They all have high calories and lots of processed junk.  Have you ever really thought about what’s in one of those post workout powders or bars?  How about the 4 pumps of agave they put in your smoothie?

If it’s more than 300 calories it’s probably a meal; and that includes all of the above.  Post workout what you need most is a little bit of high quality protein and long-string complex carbs.  Best thing I can recommend?  An apple and peanut butter.  (You’re going to start hearing that phrase a lot from me I bet… I say it constantly to my clients because it’s true.)  It’s also a great thing to have about 40 minutes before a workout because it provides you with a lot of available energy with out a huge sugar rush and provides high quality protein ready to go when you wrap your workout.

4. Learn how to track your heart rate (and work at the right range)

No, you do not need to get a fancy heart rate monitor; though it will certainly help improve your performance.  Unless you’re confident in your cardio training (and if you’re not sure if you are, the answer is no) it’s very likely you’re not working hard enough at your cardio.  There are lots of scales to choose from; a few examples are the talk test, karvonen ranges, or perceived rates of exertion.  All are valid and helpful, just figure out which one works for you.

The trick is pushing yourself.  If you aren’t pushing you wont adapt (remember when we talked about that above?), and if you’re not adapting then you aren’t hitting your goals.

5. Lifting too light (or with crappy form)

Ever feel like you hit the end of a set and you could do 5 more?  10 more?  20?  Then you’re not lifting enough weight!  Whether the program you’re working on calls for 6 reps or 15, I don’t care; if you get to that last rep and don’t feel like you could only do 1 or maybe 2 more then you’ve got to either add more weight or find another way to make that exercise more challenging for your body.

Now, rewind that last part again: “add more weight or find another way to make that exercise more challenging for your body.”  Did you catch the “or” and everything that came after it?  Adding more weight is not the only way to up the stakes.  What about bringing your feet closer together?  Are you moving through a full range of motion.

Form is a big part in all this.  If you’re not moving properly you’re asking for injury; especially if you’re also adding a ton of load to the mess.  Your gym probably offers you a complementary training session or fitness consultation…USE IT.  And tell the trainer you’d like to fix your: squat/ deadlift/ power clean/ split squat/ curl to press/ whatever!  Check ‘em all!  Can’t hurt; might make you better.

Exciting and New

Today is March 1.  Two months in to 2012.  So how’re you doing on those goals?

It’s an exciting and scary time over here in Amazon-vill.  In two months time I’ve started with Equinox’s flagship on Greenwich Ave in New York, passed the national certification exam with the National Council on Strength and Fitness (with flying colors thank-you-very-much!), have been cleared for ViPR, and I freaking love it!

You may have noticed a serious lack of posts.  I know… I suck.  I’ve been spending most of my time designing programs, carrying weights, and helping clients reach their goals.  It looks like the pressure cooker is about to let off a bit, which means more regular writing (yippie!).  I miss writing.  Hopefully you miss new posts.  We’ll get to fix that for both of us real soon.