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February 2007
If I can take the first step/punch you can!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My goal is to walk the 1/2 marathon in November. I have been tested, measured, weighed (my favorite - yeah right) and stuck with needles. I am with trainer, Sara Baker and acupuncturist, David Hobb. I meet with a psychologist and dietitian this week. I am excited about my journey to a better life.
While waiting to hear from the AJC I started working out at Fitness Factory and with trainer, Creed, doing boxing.
I have decided instead of having an image of a face on the punching bag the image needs to be unhealthy food that I eat and keep punching the bag till I knock out all of it from my body, mind, and soul. I plan to knock out my unhealthy life and will with the help of Sara and her team. Along with my faith in God, and support of family and friends.
If you need/want a healthy life take the first step or punch, it only takes one to start! Mine was writing the AJC!
Permalink | Comments (31) | Categories: Fitness Challenge
Dieting Alone Can Affect Bone Density
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A recent report in JAMA and the Archives of Internal Medicine outlined the results of research examining the effect of calorie reduction alone and calorie maintenance with regular exercise on bone density. The study participants who reduced their calorie intake only lost 2.2 percent of their bone density and lost 18.1 pounds on average after one year. The group who maintained their calorie intake and exercised regularly maintained their bone density and lost 14.8 pounds on average.
WHY DOES BONE DENSITY MATTER?
Bone density below what is considered normal is called osteopenia or osteoporosis, depending on the severity of bone loss. Loss of bone density puts a person at risk of fractures, and osteoporosis, a potentially painful and debilitating disease.
This study reinforces the message we hear over and over……diet AND exercise are the best way to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. It ISN”T all about the dress size….it’s about how you are going to age gracefully with strength and the ability to live an active, involved life.
Check out the link to summary of the above study on Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061212091854.htm
JT- You caught me…..thanks for your correction. I hope you found the content of the blog interesting and useful.
Skinny is Relative
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Especially when your relatives are skinny. I’m thirteen pounds thinner than when I submitted my essay to the AJC (196 from 209), so I’m feeling downright svelte. But then my size-two mother comes over, and I’m rudely jarred back to reality. Thank goodness I finally weigh less than my six foot-plus brothers!
Does anyone else struggle with being the family fattie?
Workout update: I’ve completed three sessions with Tina Gee. She is very upbeat and positive and appears to know her stuff about fitness. We haven’t really started with the personal training yet; I’ve participated in three of the classes she teaches at Gold’s Gym: 20/20/20, Boot Camp and Treadmill. I don’t think I’ve ever been closer to cardiac arrest that during boot camp. My skin could have lit a cigarette it was so hot …not that I had the slightest bit of extra lung capacity required to smoke. And no, smoking is not one of my vices. Think pasta, bread and cheese and you’ve got my number.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Fitness Challenge
Cydnee D.: All about me
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wouldn’t you want to make the world a prettier place? Well, help discover the gorgeous body that lurks underneath my 65 pounds of fat and make Midtown that much more attractive!
Some people are world class artists, some are natural born singers. I can gain wait without the slightest bit of effort. Unfortunately, this talent is not particularly fruitful or healthful. But I’m working on discovering new skills (walking, yoga, eating conscientiously, taking the fork OUT of my mouth) and would love the help of a professional in this quest. (Since October I’ve dropped 30 lbs.) I currently weight 209 and would like to see what I look like at 150. I’m 5’6” tall.
I’m larger than my boyfriend. Can you help me get smaller than he? I really don’t want to have to shop for a larger man!
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Move over Kirstie …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There is a new fat girl in town! People have frequently said that I look like Kirstie Alley. Now that she has taken off a lot of weight, I don’t want them to say I look like the FAT Kirstie. So, tomorrow I start working out with Tina G. Thanks to the AJC, I get four months of FREE (!) personal training three times a week. I’m sure Tina will make me work out at a far more demanding pace than anything I’ve done on my own. I don’t know which is more intimidating, working out with a trainer or publicizing my starting weight. Ayyy.
Read Cydnee’s entry
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9 Red Flags to Look for before Going on a Diet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You already know that I am no fan of any diet, in the “four” letter sense of the word. If diets worked, then there would be no reason to have to invent a new diet it seems like every year. The other day on my show Fitness Mythbuster (at RadioSandySprings.com), I interviewed Ilana Katz, R.D., L.D. She is one of few R.D.’s that I have met that understands the role of supportive nutrition and implementing a sound exercise regime (not just walking) of resistance training and progressive cardiovascular exercise.
During the interview, she gave me a list of 9 Red Flags to look for before going on to any diet. Funny thing is, every diet imaginable has one or more of these red flags.
- If the recommendations promises a quick fix.
- Dire warnings of danger from a single product.
- Claims that sounds too good to be true.
- Simplistic conclusions drawn from complex studies.
- Recommendations based on a single study.
- Dramatic statements that are refuted by reputable organizations.
- Recommendations made to help sell the product. (Did you see the recent expose about LA Weight Loss recently? They’re all about upselling products that include food, pills, and powders).
- Recommendations based on studies published without peer reviews (in other words: appealing testimonials of few people’s success, appearing in “trendy” magazines rather than scientific journals)
- Recommendations from studies that ignore differences in individual groups .
Once again, what I want you take from this is not to go on a search to see if there is a diet that doesn’t have any of these red flags. As I said, most “diets” will have these red flags and none of them are for everlasting change. If I were to make any recommendation it would be to follow Eating for Life (which is a spin-off from Body for Life). Though it could be portrayed as a diet, Eating for Life is about how you’re suppose to be eating and it is something you can stick to.
Permalink | | Categories: Nutrition
Move It
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our bodies were designed to move, not to sit for eight hours in front of a computer five days a week. The constraints our modern technologically advanced world places on our bodies produces postural problems, sedentary lifestyles, repetitive motion injuries, etc. On a daily basis I see clients who have injuries and postural dysfunctions caused or exacerbated by sitting behind a computer all day for a living.
The reality is that computers, electronic entertainment, etc, are a permanent fixture in our work and personal lives. The challenge is to learn how to manage the use of these devices and the habits or postures we create around this technology. I suggest the following to my clients on a regular basis to help moderate the impact of technology on our bodies:
-Set an alarm every 20 minutes on your work computer to stretch, get up, and/or check your posture. Check out the following link for free computer alarm software: http://www.tarsoft.com/
-Get an ergonomic screening at your work station. Many large corporations have physical therapists or other qualified professionals who will come and do a survey of your workstation and posture. They will make recommendations for adjustments to your chair/computer/phone and can select appropriate furniture and devices to meet your work and postural needs.
-Get regular exercise outside of work to help combat the lack of movement in the office.
-Embrace the everyday opportunities to MOVE…..stairs, parking away from the door, lunch time walks, etc…
Anyone else have strategies or tips you’d like to share?
Permalink | | Categories: Lifestyle
Alli- The name Sounds Safe, but Is It?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Another “new” fat blocker that is on the market has raised its ugly head. Funny thing is it’s not new at all. The only thing that is different is that it is now available over the counter and has been given a different name. The drug that I speak of is Orlistat (also known as Xenical).
Xenical has been made available to the public by prescription for many years now. The intentions of Xenical are to block the absorption of fat into the body. Therefore, the idea is that if you block fat you’ll use the fat you have and lose weight. Unfortunately, for most, it isn’t effective at all. Of course it isn’t, as there is no focus on a healthy diet or exercise regime. The other problem is that you need fat, so you block healthy fats as well.
If you don’t believe in healthy fats, let me educate you. First, there are four fat soluble vitamins which are vitamins A, D, E, and K. Secondly, you have essential fats known as Omega 3 and Omega 6. You block these fats, then you severely risk you health.
However, if that’s still not enough to convince you not to use it, then let me share some foul side-effects. When you use Alli you can suffer from diarrhea, intestinal gas with discharge, an increased number of bowel movements, poor bowel control, a need to have a sudden bowel movement, and best of all oily spotting (anal leakage). Now, that just sounds sexy doesn’t it?
The worse part about this drug and many others is that it has hardly any positive benefits whatsoever. In clinical trials it showed minimal results, like a pound a month (which was probably the result of the oily stools). Alli is also just another example of how you can continue to make profits on a drug (when profits begin to fail) just by changing its name, putting it in a different bottle, and making it available over the counter. Even worse, there are people flocking to buy it because it’s been approved by the FDA and are told that it is safe. Very unfortunate this stuff even gets approved!
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“Control the Weight, Don’t Let It Control You!”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I say, “control the weight, don’t let it control you,” I’m usually talking to a client as they are lifting a weight going too fast. When you do the exercise too fast, you are at a risk of hurting yourself as you do the exercise. As you weight training, you are performing isotonic (don’t stay up late trying to remember that) contractions which involves two phases (two separate contractions).
One of the contractions is known as the positive (concentric) contraction and the other is known as the negative (eccentric) contraction. For example, when doing a biceps curl, as you curl the weight up you are doing the positive contraction. At this time the muscle fibers in your biceps are shortening. When you lower the weight, you are doing the negative contraction and the muscle fibers are lengthening. Unfortunately, it is during the negative contraction where most people will lose good form. (For a related article read Maximize Your Training Efforts.)
This is where the phrase (“control the weight…”) can have a double meaning. It is during the negative contraction that you develop true strength, improve muscle tone and most importantly, the ability to improve your metabolism (thus, controlling your body weight). To give your a real world example, look at any Olympic power-lifter. They are large and even strong, however, they are not lean and don’t have that much muscle tone. Yes, they are extremely powerful, but power has nothing to do with strength. In power-lifting, the only type of contractions involved are positive contractions.
Without getting too technical and talking about things such as the sliding filament theory and cross bridges in muscle fibers, just know that when you take your time in the negative contraction you will create more lean muscle tissue. When you create more lean muscle tissue, you increase your ability to burn more fat. Muscle is the only tissue in the body that uses fat as energy.
So, the next time you lift some weights, take your time. Don’t try to get through it as fast as possible. You will be less likely to hurt yourself and turn yourself into a fat burning machine (so long as you eat right and do cardiovascular exercise too).
New Way to Burn Fat Faster?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A recent study detailed on web site Science Daily caught my attention last week. A group of researchers from the University of New South Wales studied the weight loss patterns of 45 women. One group biked three times a week sprinting for 8 seconds and then cycling lightly for 12 seconds, for a total of 20 minutes of biking. The other group cycled at continuous pace for 40 minutes three times a week.
The women who sprinted repeatedly for only 20 minutes lost three time more fat and lost most of the weight from the thigh and buttocks. The researchers contribute this weight loss to the production of catecholamines and the unique metabolic response produced from the sprinting.
The two intriguing outcomes of the study are; higher weight loss in the group who exercised for less total time, and the spot reduction of fat from one area of the body.
This study will be sure to spark further investigation into the physiologic response of the body with short intense bursts of exercise and energy expenditure. And may lead to significant changes in aerobic exercise recommendations.
To get more details check out the following link to Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070207185835.htm
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The Naked Truth to Diet Failure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are very few books that I recommend that you should read to help you with your health, fitness, and weight loss goals. Most of the books I recommend are rarely best seller’s. One of the reasons for this, is that most best seller’s are quick-fix, misinformational, and one-dimensional literary works driven more by greed than passion.
Simarly, you can the same about most of the food and pharmaceutical drugs that are on the market promising to help you lose weight and feel better.
On my radio show, Fitness Mythbuster (myth topic “All Diets Work and Labels Never Lie”), I had the pleasure of interviewing the author of Diet Failure… the Naked Truth. Her name is Phoenix Gilman. After years of working as a fitness professional, she went on a research quest of four years to get the bottom of why diets fail.
In her book and on my show, she explained why 98% of all diets fail and how they actually can be a part of the obesity problem. Being a fitness professional myself, I have learned a lot about the role of serotonin and insulin in the body. Beautifully, Phoenix emplains it in simplistic form.
She also discussed a lot about the deception of the diet, weight loss, and food industry. The truth of it is, that nearly everything you hear that is sugar-free, helps you lose weight, or is suppose to make you feel good is a big fat lie. If you think the government or special organizations are protecting you, then you would be sadly mistaken.
The whole point of the book is to empower you to give you the knowledge you need to help control your life. It is not about profit, but it is about passion and inspiration. It is for this reason I highly recommend you read it. Though it probably never will be a best-seller, it is books like this one that more and more people in this country need to read. You can get a autographed copy of book by going directly to her website www.DietFailureTheNakedTruth.com.
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