Is there kryptonite in NYC water?

I am in a dangerous state of mind. Maybe some kryptonite filtered into New York City water, I am feeling pumped and raring to go!
I did my core synergistics in the morning, ate clean all day and still I want to go for a 2 miles interval run in the evening?
What's going on? And, more importantly, should I be trusting this sudden burst of energy?

In the last year of working out with various exercise programs I had ups and I had downs.
What I've learned about ups that while the energy outbursts are enjoyable they

a) don't last very long
b) if indulged in too much, may lead to overtraining!

Overtraining is an unpleasant thing. It starts as a feeling "out of all of it" , "not quite all there" feeling and "totally not up to it" feeling.
Before I figured put what it was, I would wake up, plug in the DVD and just sit on a couch and find myself unable to move a muscle!
I wanted to exercise, I woke up for it and got dressed for it, why was I not able to bring it?
It was very frustrating: I wanted to reach my goals, but my body refused to comply.
Then I read on some thread about overtraining, and it became clear what's going on - I was not sick or lazy or lacking motivation, I was overtrained.
So, instead of struggling with it, I gave myself some time off, and after a while my body was able to do what my mind wanted it to do.

These feeling maybe accompanied by serious symptoms such as increased heart rate, insomnia, loss of appetite, sudden onset of colds and injuries.
Body and muscle aches plaque an overtrained person, as well as fatigue, headaches and depression.

Sounds like a unpleasant situation? That's because it is, and that's why one should really try to avoid it.

Overtraining is training beyond the body's ability to recover. So, if one gives one's body enough time to recover, he or she will avoid overtraining.
Sounds simple enough, but in practice it is not easy at all. Everyone's body is different, therefore the symptoms are different, so each person has to learn from his or her own experience how to recognize the onset of overtraining syndrome.
This is why it is so important to keep training a training log and listen to your body. To make sure you are getting enough rest, you can check your heart rate every morning upon waking up, and. if notice any marked increase, take it easy for a day or too.

Or you can use the orthostatic heart rate test developed by Heikki Rusko.

This is how to go about that:

Lay down and rest comfortably for 10 minutes the same time each day (morning is best).
At the end of 10 minutes, record your heart rate in beats per minute.
Then stand up
After 15 seconds, take a second heart rate in beats per minute.
After 90 seconds, take a third heart rate in beats per minute.
After 120 seconds, take a fourth heart rate in beats per minute.
If you are well rested, this will show a consistent heart rate between measurements,
but Rusko found a marked increase (10 beats/minutes or more) in the 120 second-post-standing measurement
of athletes on the verge of overtraining.
Such a change may indicate that you have not recovered from a previous workout,
are fatigued, or otherwise stressed and it may be helpful to reduce training or rest another day
before performing another workout.

I wish I could say that I only overtrained once. No, it happened again, and now although I learned to recognize the symptom of the onset overtraining, I am still not
sure if I learned to avoid it all together. But I am very cautious with my ups, knowing that they quickly lead to somewhat long downs, so it is much better to go slow and steady then overtrain and hit the wall. Kryptonite or not, I am giving serious consideration to my impulse to double up any of my workouts today, or any day!
I hope you do the same!

Day 2 - Cardio X - I am a pedestrian!

Day 2 – Cardio X.
First of all, Tony is obsessed with yoga! He started Cardio with good deal of veniasa and I was quite out of it, and .. like – really? You know how silly one can be first thing in the morning…
Overall impression: I am pretty darn good aerobically. Thank you , Debbie Siebers! I was able to follow the super-fit dudes and a babe in almost everything and my balance was “superior” (quoting Tony from P90)
Tony is funny. He is hilarious! He makes a pretty good imitation of Arnold totally unexpectedly.
I mean this is a serious business, these workouts, are they not? ! ?
Well, I really don’t mind. In fact I don’t mind at all - it is good to have a chuckle. It is really good!
Laughing keeps you young, and Tony is a goof!
Revelation: I am terribly pedestrian! I never jump! Tony made me jump! I felt like I am doing something good for my brain, like preventing Alzheimer, but doing something so out of character!
People: if you haven’t jumped today – get to it!
I’ve done my part for today, though. My butt hurts, and I am flagging.
Xer Jenny is out!
See you tomorrah!

Day 1 : Core Synergetic :" I am a rabbit!"

First Day of P90X – Core Synergetic!
I did not preview Core Synergistics in advance. Or maybe I did preview in a scan mode and did not get any impression, I am not exactly sure now. As it stands it was a complete surprise! A good surprise, though. I did feel at times that I am warming up out with a bunch of trapeze artist. All the strange floor exercises were so new and exotic. But I am grateful I did not feel like I was on some scary roller coaster about to throw up. But maybe this is coming next. I don’t know. I am totally kidding, by the way!
So, Core Synergistics works all parts of your body. Tony constantly reminds to engage the core. Well, today I was too overwhelmed by the newness of all the movements and trying to replicate my version all them in the very limited space I have not occupied by boxes filled by my kitchen utensils, dishes and various other implements that focusing on my core was a bit challenging. I took a mental note about that. Now I wrote about it so as I move through the days all of it does not become a blur and I learn and improve.
How difficult is Core Synergistics? Generally, I did not feel like I was totally out of my league, but considering that I am not a champion in the push-ups department - those were difficult for me! Plus the push-ups were weird. Asymmetrical. You really got to see the tape to know what I mean! But I knew that push-ups are not my strong suite and I need to work on that, so I cannot be too ambitious at the start of the program. The alternative would be to keep doing other programs, and frankly I was getting bored with that. So I am happy to do as many reps as I can, like a big girl, and build up slowly.
Speaking of building up, I was really bad at recording reps in the past. I want to improve that so I can see progress. I am sure it would be an encouraging thing to do. I mean I will see that I improve and stuff. And I feel like a scientist, organized, methodical and systematic. And I will feel like a lab rat at the same time. Well, maybe not a rat, but a rabbit. Yes. A rabbit is a better mental image.
So, here we go.
The scientist’s log entry:
“Tomorrow’s experiment for the rabbit is Cardio X. I can’t wait how the rabbit will react. I am sure you cannot wait either! The rabbit needs the restful night sleep before the experiment. Good night, Rabbit!”
Good night, you all! Bring it!

P90X - Day 0

The wait is over. I am starting P90X tomorrow!!!

Here's were I am right now: I was training for almost 10 months and in the middle of August I fell into slump – I just had to stop and give myself a break. Going through a messy renovation did not help the fact that I was not getting enough rest between the rounds. I will try and take more than just one rest week between rounds. And another lesson learned – stress is a huge factor in my life and I have to actively manage it! I have a few thoughts on that that I hope address in the near future as well.

I don’t think that stopping for a several weeks threw me back in any major way – for the most part I was eating within my maintenance calories and my weight (135-138) stayed the same. But I am getting too cozy with sleeping late and my eating is starting to deteriorate so it is time to get back on a horse!

I just had a conversation with my friend Peg Tyre - check her bestselling book The Trouble with Boys at www.pegtyre.com. She gave me a boost as far as my positive influence on her with fitness, dealing with age-related symptoms and life in general. This is not the first time she tells me that, and but frankly I am dumbstruck when I hear it!!! When I asked her to clarify what exactly she sees in me, she said that what important to her is my life philosophy of thriving to be fit without trying to be a super-woman . I never thought of myself in that light, but I guess I should trust her opinion, because I generally do!

Strangely, I am having trepidation right now because I want to start P90X and I built some image in my head that this is like some sort of major tough race, like a marathon, or something. It is probably not much harder then Slim Series, just a bit different. I know I need to exercise and stay focused, I know I will do it and I know I will be grateful when I complete this challenge and proud of myself and others on this way with me!!!

So, ladies and gentlemen, I'll be honest with you - I am not an energizer bunny. I am planning to ease into the routine, start nice and slow, but then finish it with a bang!

My goals are – to keep building strength, to get as fit as I can and feel in control of my body! I want to know that I’ve done my best to be healthy for myself, my family and the society – because, in the end, each individual's health impacts all of us collectively!

Track your outdoor workout

If you like to exercise outdoor whether you walk, jog or bike – do you ever wonder how far you go?
Take a guess out if your outdoor aerobic workout – plat your walk/run/ride using free online tool!
The sites are:

If you walk - www.MapMyWalk.com
If you run – www.MapMyRun.com
If you bike – www.MapMyRide.com
Easy!
The sites allow you to track your workouts, find fun runs, calculate calories and much much more!

Check it out and take your walk/run/bike to a new level of fun!

Bring it!

Caffeine: Positive and Negative

When it comes to caffeine, everyone is different, and it’s important to gage your own reaction and usage. Mild excess (over 350mg in a day) in some people can cause restlessness, nausea and headaches, although these side effects vary from person to person. Others might suffer from disturbed sleep. Women especially need to be aware of their caffeine intake, particularly since the Journal of American Medicine links caffeine intake to the calcium loss leading to osteoporosis. And if you’re concerned about your iron status, you should know that some of the substances in coffee and tea could interfere with iron absorption, particularly if you drink a caffeinated beverage with meals. Similarly, the USFDA and the New England Journal of Medicine warn that high caffeine consumption can make it difficult to become pregnant, and/or lead to miscarriage or low birth weight infants. Caffeine also shows up in breast milk, so it’s best to avoid as a nursing mother.

Caffeine does have some positive benefits however. The Journal of American Medicine recently published a report that higher caffeine intake is associated with a “significantly lower” incidence of Parkinson’s disease. It also appears to increase the metabolism. A Danish study found that caffeine not only raises the metabolic rate, it makes body fat more readily available as fuel to exercising muscles. In addition, caffeine appears in many over the counter headache and cold remedies. While studies do disagree on benefits, at least one study in the Archives of Neurology showed that caffeine is “highly effective” in treating migraines. This is because by narrowing the blood vessels, caffeine restricts blood flow. And since blood vessels tend to widen prior to some headaches, especially migraines, narrower arteries can ease the pain.

Caffeine works by stimulating the central nervous system. It acts as an adrenaline rush on the body, and the following takes place upon ingestion: your pupils dilate, your breathing tubes open up, your heart beats faster, your blood pressure rises, your liver releases sugar into the bloodstream for extra energy and your muscles tighten up ready for action. This chain of events produces the "fight or flight" behavior, since your system believes it to be in a state of emergency. It also increases the rate and force of the heartbeat and thereby providing the brain and other tissues with more oxygen.
So you can see why your body might like caffeine in the short term, since it helps you feel alert and injects adrenaline into the system to give you a boost. But the problem with caffeine is the longer-term effects. If you take more caffeine to get the adrenaline going again, you are putting your body in a state of emergency all day long. Not only is this not very healthy, it is also the explanation why too much caffeine will make you jumpy and irritable. Therefore, it is up to each person to decide on the amount they take in each day.

Here are some common caffeine amounts in beverages:
• Coffee, brewed 40 to 180 mg per cup.
• Coffee, decaffeinated 3 to 5 mg per cup.
• Black Tea, about 40 mg per cup.
• Tea, brewed 25 to 110 mg per cup.
• Tea, decaffeinated (CO2 certified organic process*) 10 mg per cup.
• Cola, and other soft drinks with caffeine, 36 to 90 mg per 12 ounces.
• Cocoa, 4 mg per cup.
• Chocolate, milk 3 to 6 mg per ounce.
• Chocolate, bittersweet 25 mg per ounce.

Many caffeinated beverages are available in decaffeinated forms. For a healthy alternative to caffeinated drinks, try organic herbal tea, juice or water.

Thanksgiving Challenge!

ANNOUNCING Thanksgivings Challenge!

Dear friends!

I hope all of you had a great summer and took advantage of brilliant weather we were having!

I have a great news to share: I have a great reason to celebrate in November!

It will be 1 year anniversary of working out with BeachBody and acquiring strength, hope and confidence that I can look and feel great at any age!

I was thinking of how to celebrate this event and decided that the best gift I can give myself is to involve the people I love in this wonderful healthy lifestyle!

I know all of you were very supportive of me and my success, and I am hugely appreciative of that!

In this complex world where everything is "fair and balanced", it is hard to say that you believe in something 100%. But I believe in BeachBody HUNDRED PER CENT!

So, I want us to get cracking and get FIT and BEAUTIFUL for Thanksgiving!

All we need is 6 weeks of commitment to working out and eating good diet and we will have great new bodies to show off on the Turkey Day!

Doable?

I say – yes!

The start date is October 6 2008!!!

Here is what we are going to do:


1. We will hide our ugly scales and take measurements instead – because scales LIE!

2. We will do Slim in 6 DVD (or other BeachBody program) at home but we'll " meet" in the WOWY (Work Out With You) at a specified time 6 times a week! You will see your workout buddies on your screen and say hello and thank you for the great workout! This works! No need to get to the gym! You will shower in your own bathroom! This is brilliant!
3. We will eat very clean! We will enter daily food intake into food calculator, either in BeachBody, myfitnesspal, FitDay, SparkPeople. This will ensure that each of us is creating a deficit of calories and so we can lose weight in a healthy way!
We will be with each other every step of the way helping to make sure our diet is efficient!
4.We will post our progress, share our ups and downs on the thread
(no, you DON'T have to post your pictures unless you want to)

Research shows that people that have daily accountability and a support network are successful in losing weight and keeping it off! Together will can do it!


So, let do it, girls and boys!

We have nothing to lose but pounds!

Who is up for a Thanks Giving Challenge?

I AM!!!!

LETS DO IT!

Marry Your Best Self

I am reading the book Optimal Thinking – How to Be Your Best Self by Rosalene Glickman.
Let me tell you, this is not an easy read! Optimal (not positive, which often becomes wishful) thinking is a lot of work. I am reading and re-reading the whole chapters…The book encourages a close and hard reexamination of all areas of one’s life, and it is painful… There are some areas of my life that are far from perfect and I may not be always ready or willing to admit to it. You can imagine that it drives me nuts. It makes me depressed one moment – hopeful the next. While I am reading it; and my positive voice and my negative voice shout over each other in my head, this brilliant idea just jumps at me:” “Marry Your Best Self”.
Ms Glickman talks about the importance of self-esteem, about visualizing positive self-image she comes up with this amazing exercise.
Here it goes:
“Below is an adaptation of a portion of the sacred marriage vows between husband and wife…
Will you permit your best self to be your internal caretaker, to live together in the estate of inner matrimony? Will you allow your best self to love you, honor you, comfort you, and keep you, in sickness and in health; and be true to you as long as you both shall live?
If you answer yes, please proceed.
I hereby empower my best self to be my internal caretaker to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.
“By accepting yourself unconditionally – regardless of where you are in your journey toward becoming all you can envision – and choosing the wisest path in the present moment, you are maximizing your self-esteem!”
Am I ready to marry my best self? I am, but it won’t happen overnight.

Weight Loss: Stages of change - Action

OK, we are finally coming to the point when we are ready to bit the bullet and spring into action.
You are starting this phase with renewed commitment to weight loss.
You made all the necessary preparations
You know that cheap change won't do - only the hard work!
You know there is no "magic bullet" - you will try to employ all the techniques and processes you've learned about and reach for all the support you can get from friends and family!
You will let go of old coping mechanisms, all the situations the led you to overeating and develop new habit

Even though the success is never guaranteed, utilizing tool at your disposal will help you avoid the usual pitfalls and traps.
When you are dieting, and you are experiencing a "snack attack", try to employ a countering and counterthinking and environment control and reward techniques.
The countering techniques are:

1) Active diversion:

Piano playing, crossword puzzle, knitting, walking, reading, calling a friend on a phone all constitute a good active diversion from eating.
You can come up with a few of your own!

2) Exercise

you know it is good for you and should be a part of your weight loss program in a first place!

3) Relaxation

We are all emotional eaters! Relaxing, putting your mind at ease can eliminate the desire of snacking as it eliminate the reason my we reach out for food when we are not hungry!!!
Relaxation can have other, very desirable, side effects such as increased energy, decreased blood pressure and muscle tension, decreased anxiety, improved sleep, improved concentration and overall health!

4) The counterthinking :

Eliminating self-deprecation thoughts that lead to anxiety by more positive and constructive thoughts. Instead of thinking "Everybody must love me" think "what is the worst can happen if some of my husband's new friends won't take note of me?" Instead of "I hate eating food that don't taste good" think "I like how the thin feels!" You get the drift! The anxiety induced craving should subside when you think that way!

The environment control techniques are:
1) Avoidance
We already talked about avoiding known situations in which your need to overeat is hard to control. You can't be a member of the Baker of the Month contest and be on a hard carb-limiting diet!
2) Cues
You can't avoid the situations in which you overeat forever. Eventually you'll be forced by life in one of those, so you better be prepared. A good prep for trigger inducing situations is to play the scenarios in your mind! Use your imagination to create a event and work out your reactions in advance! This sounds like a child play, but it works!


The reward techniques are:

Whenever you successfully resisted the temptation, give yourself a reward! Give yourself a pep talk for a job well done, take yourself on a shopping trip once you achieved you weight loss milestone! if As easy as it sounds some people have a problem rewarding themselves - you can even save up the money by not eating Three Musketeers every afternoon and give these money to charities, if that feels less selfish to you! Reward yourself by giving to others!The positive reinforcement of good behavior puts you on the road to weight loss for good!

Stages of Change - Preparation

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There is a subtle but a very important stage between contemplation and action the presence or absence of which can really make or break the effort to change. This stage is preparation.
I see a lot people I try to help to lose weight jumping onto a good system without being really prepared for it. Needless to say it leads to delaying the action in the best case, and disappointment in the worst.

Preparation is a lot like contemplation but a lot more forward looking, with focus on the future you.
It involves careful planning, positive self re-evaluation and commitment.

In the preparation stage we start to turn away from the past. Letting go of the activities and circumstances that lead us to overeating, like eating while in an depressed state, changing hobbies - picking up knitting instead of baking, finding new fiends who enjoy exercising and healthy eating.

Also in this stage it is important to insure support of your family.You need to explain to them that you decided to get fit and lose some weight in the process and it will require certain investment of time and resources as well as some changes in the usual routine.

During the preparation stage:

- Take small steps:

Details are important: buy exercise clothes or a set of measuring cups or a small scale for your kitchen, or any other logistics that you need for the weight loos program you selected. There is an excitement in little steps like this that build up for the big day! Speaking of date...

- Set a date.

Once you feel ready - set a date within a month, not longer so that your excitement does not wear out.
Once you set the date - stick to it - no excuses!


- Go public:

Announce your decision to lose weight to people in your daily life. That includes work, and people outside your family. That will helps you stay accountable and won't keep your colleagues and friends guessing.

- Treat your change as a major event:

Yes, it is as if you had an appointment for a serious operation. It is that important and will require all the emotional energy you can master!

- Create your own plan of action:

You can borrow other people plans but you must adapt it for yourself. Learn from other people plans of actions but don't follow them blindly. If the program requires you to workout on empty stomach and you are not a morning person, come up with a plan on doing the afternoon workout that will allow you to comply with the recommendation. If you are following a diet plan from a book but are vegetation, make appropriate substitutes. If the program call for a 2 day fast and you don't like to fast - find out if fast is mandatory!

- Commit to your plan!

Commitment is a "willingness to act, but also a belief in your ability to change, which in turn reinforces your will."* You evaluated your problem, worked through pros and cons of losing weight and honestly believe that your life will be enhanced by losing weight! Keeping in mind all of the above, you are ready for action!

Stages of Change - Contemplation

Transition from denial to contemplation stage of the change happens quietly, but once it happens you find yourself listening to people that offer you their advice for losing weight. You don’t switch the channel if the commercial is about some piece of exercise equipment; you find yourself picking a copy of Fitness magazine in the hair salon and actually reading it with interest!

This is an important stage to educate yourself about your weight loss, and design a strategy.
Things to beware in that stage:

- Avoid wishful thinking: wishing you could achieve your weight and fitness goal without having to change.
We all wish for a diet pill that would allow us sleep in and eat from sunrise to sunset and be in ideal shape. There is not such diet, so stop day dreaming and get to it!

- Don’t jump into action:
The rush to act may turn against you. You need to do a certain amount of prep before you are ready. Starting a diet without really committing to change may lead to a conclusion that "dieting is really not for me". Keep in mind: you cannot successfully diet and still be on your baking recipe circle or your bacon tasting club. Prepare a ground for yourself: insure support of your family, clean up your house of junk food and insure support of people who are successful at getting their diet under control.

- Don’t get into analysis paralysis. This is another extreme: trying to acquire a perfect understanding of you weight problem and perfect solution!
Some people take forever to learn everything there is to learn about the weight loss and can't commit to any program while waiting for a in depth understanding of the issue. While theoretical knowledge about various diets is good, you will not know what work for you until you try! So, get your feet wet, already!

- Don’t wait for magic moment to start the weight loss program: while some circumstances are less then ideal, like starting a new job, moving to another city, starting a new relationship, when you are handling way too much on your plate, there isn't a perfect moment to start a new regiment, so once you got your plan together - go for it!

4 myths about weight loss

You want to lose weight. You know it would be good for your health; you want to fit into smaller size pants; you want your family to be proud of you; you want to play sports with your friends and win, but ... you’ve failed in the past and you just don’t have the faith that you can! The thoughts that go through your mind are likely similar to the four common myths that Dr.Prochaska et al. describe in "Changing For Good":

Myth #1 “People don’t really change”

People do change. In our everyday lives we meet people who quit smoking, eliminated their alcohol dependency or rid themselves of unhealthy eating habits! People change their lifestyle, lose weight, learn how to eat right and get fit! It may take several tries, but to say that people don’t change is to admit defeat in the face of facts to the contrary!

Myth #2: “I’ve tried everything – nothing works”.

In this day and age, it seems that everybody is trying to lose weight and everybody and their uncle knows how to do it. Everyone wants to sell you that pill, detox and ab machine that will get you there in a flash. If you tried one of those, I’d say you have tried the wrong thing. Do your research again and this time make sure your main criterion for lifestyle change is your health. Choose a diet that you can maintain for the rest of your life. Choose the exercise program to go with it. Once you chose the system, stick with it for the recommended length of time and beyond – I guarantee you will have the results you want! I did!

Myth #3: "It takes willpower to change".

Yes, if by willpower you mean “a belief in our ability to change behavior, and the decision to act on it.”

Willpower does not however represent each and every effort towards weight loss. If that were the case, yeah, you’d commit to your goal of weight loss and, bam, you are done and wearing size Small jeans. The reality of change is that if you rely only on your willpower and you fail, which can happen for reasons outside of your control, you’d have a hard time trying again and again until you were successful. “Failure to change when relying only on willpower just means that willpower alone is not enough”.

Myth #4 “Change is simple”

When you are feeling down about your seeming inability to lose weight, somehow that notion that someone somewhere can change at the drop of the hat lodges itself in your mind! You think - I am struggling and it should not be hard, it should be easy!

Losing weight, like any self-change, is not simple. Most of us go thought several stages of change, and not once. We start at the stage of denial (“Pre-contemplation stage”) Then we move to the Contemplation stage, which is followed by Preparation, Action and Maintenance. Sounds like quite a process, indeed. In my next posts I will be considering each of these individually, so that some of you, who tried to start a weight loss regiment in the past but fell of the wagon for one reason or another, may realize that it happened not because you cannot change, but because you were not in the right stage for self-change. This may help to re-evaluate past “failures” as a learning experience and renew your efforts of finding a fitter, lighter, healthier you!

The sugar fix – more than a weight problem!

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So, yeah, if the diet high in fructose was only affecting the expanding waist lines, that would be half as bad.
But the weight problem leads to high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, kidney and liver disease, and metabolic syndrome which is a cluster of all health problems mentioned above.

How does fructose cause this terrible damage?

Apparently, high fructose has sneaky habits.
High fructose does not satisfy your appetite. Dr Johnson explains: ”When you eat most types of sugar, your body responds by producing appetite hormones, which signal your brain that your body has consumed enough food to meet its energy needs. As this occurs, the feelings of hunger subside. But unlike other sugars, fructose escapes the attention of appetite hormones. Because of this phenomenon, your brain never gets the message that your body has consumed a load of calories. “
No wonder I felt hungrier after eating McD than I was before (It was a looooooooooooooong time ago, but I remember being puzzled by that and avoiding McDs as a plague!)

What’s more – high-fructose foods may interfere with the signaling system that controls your appetite for all foods. “Chronic consumption of sugary foods seems to promote biochemical changes that prevent the brain from receiving messages from appetite hormones – even when you are not consuming fructose”!

Studies show that fructose is not metabolized in the same way as other sugars, and because of that causes rapid weight gain. Once conditioned this way, it may very well sabotage the weight-loss effort, because the body becomes ultra-sensitive to even small amounts of high fructose and resists weight loss!

I am convinced more than ever that the clean diet is the way to go - all the more reason to stay away from the highly processed foods and eat foods from the top of Michi’s ladder!

Bring it in the kitchen, people!

The Sugar Fix - you think you are safe?

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Seems like my little thing about HFCS piquet some interest amoung my own family.
My cousin sent me the reply “We have not bought a soft drink for about 10 years....”
You think that makes you safe from Fructose overload?
Think again!
According to the Corn Refiners Association, food processors may use high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the following products:
Asian-style sauces
Baby foods
Bacon
Beer
Biscuits
Bologna
Brandy
Breads and rolls
Breakfast serials
Breakfast meats
Cake and dessert mixes
Cakes
Candy
Canned fruits and fruit fillings
Canned vegetables
Caramel Coloring
Carbonated beverages (nondiet)
Cat and dog foods
Cheese spreads
Chewing gum
Chicken products
Cocoa
Coffee creamer
Cookies
Cordials
Crackers
Dessert toppings
Diet foods
Doughnuts
Dried meets
Egg products
Fish products
Flavorings
Frosting, icing, glazes
Frozen dinners
Frozen puddings and custards
Fruit drinks and juices
Fruit sweeteners
Peanut butter
Pickles
Salad dressings
Sauce mixes
Sausage
Seasoning mixes
Vinegar
Wine
Yeast
Etc. etc…

Check your labels!

The Sugar Fix - Introducing HFCS

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One rainy Saturday my husband and I were caught in the rain and went to the Dunkin Doughnuts that was separated only by a glass window from the hallway leading to the adjacent Pathmark supermarket. As we were sitting drinking our coffee the people with full shopping cards were marching down to the parking lot allowing us a perfect view of some of the content of their shopping carts and their not too slim figures. It seemed too much of a coincidence that almost every person’s shopping cart contained soft drinks.
As a nation today 32% Americans are obese. Add to that 1/3 of Americans that are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Weight problem reached epidemic proportions; it affected rich and poor, adults and children, people form every educational and racial background.
The epidemics seemed to occur in the last 3-4 decades.
Could all of us at one acquire bad genetics?
Or did something drastically change in our environment?
Richard J Johnson, MD, the author of the new book “The sugar fix” thinks that the reason for the epidemics lies with increase in high fructose consumption. “Americans consume 30 percent more fructose today than in 1970. Our rising consumption of this sugar begun at roughly the same time that obesity rates in the United States were climbing sharply”.
Dr Johnson goes on explaining that fructose consumption increased due to the wide spread usage of the controversial sweetener called high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS):”which is used in wide variety of processed foods and beverages. If you were to start reading product labels, you’d find that HFCS is also in many foods that might surprise you, such as pasta sauce, yogurt, soups, ketchup and other condiments, and sandwich bread.
In 1970, the average American consumed less than ½ pound of HFCS per year. By 200, per capita consumption of the corn-based sweetener had risen to more than 42 pounds per year”
42 pounds per year of stuff that should make you fat and does not fail to! That’s the figure I’ll leave you with until the next time when we explore the health threats that HFCS contains, other than obvious increase in bulge.
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Get Fit With Barbie: Day 24: Turbo Jam...This is Truly Love

Get Fit With Barbie: Day 24: Turbo Jam...This is Truly Love

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My ultimate exercise motivation

My paternal grand mother is my ultimate exercise reason. At the age of 70 she decided not to get up from her bed reasoning it would extend her years on this Earth. During my childhood and youth my grandmother, my parents and I were sharing a small 2 bedroom apartment. I don’t have to tell you how wrong that decision was for her, and how it affected the life of our family, but the direct impact on me was the decision not to be like that as much as possible for as long as possible.

The longer I live, the more this decision is being reinforced by my personal experiences, common knowledge and the new scientific discoveries.

I read the brilliant and incredibly optimistic book by a great doctor and author Sherwin B. Nuland: the Art of Aging. The author, himself in his 70es, gives an honest and encouraging view on aging with grace and wisdom. He puts a great stress on the importance of exercise. The cornerstone principle of being physically (and mentally) fit is this: you don’t use it, you lose it!

Yes, it is true says Dr Nuland that we all are given different set DNAs and that drives a lot of how we age, but all else being equal, the well oiled mechanism will last longer then the neglected one.

While explaining the complex changes that happen in the aging body, he stresses the importance of vigorous exercise as means for slowing the aging process.

Exercise improves:
1) the heart muscle: ”A heart that has been benefited by a consistent schedule of vigorous exertion can respond to stress like a heart several decades younger, not only by its added ability to beat more forcefully and faster, but also by the capacity of its muscle cells to take up the required supplemental supply of oxygen from the blood.”
(From the personal experience, I used to have a heart murmur since birth, but not even a sonogram shows it now)
2) the cardio-vascular system - by improving” the ability of the larger arteries to adapt to the heightened blood flow required by exertion, and it increases the sensitivity of certain pressure monitoring structures”
3) the appearance: ”Planned vigorous exercise is a far better anti-aging treatment then all the elixirs, creams, lotions, potions, and cosmetic surgery in the world”
4) lessens bone loss: “The more stress put on the bone by the forces of the muscle attached to it, the more its’ cells respond by doing all they can to maintain and even add to bone mass and strength, including increasing the absorption of calcium from the bloodstream. Just as sedentary life encourages the loss of bone, a vigorously active life encourages increase in bone density”

These few excerpts from Dr Nuland’s book alone should convince you that exercise is invaluable in slowing down aging and assuring your version of the 60es, 70 and beyond are a far more optimistic one then the stereotype. Dr Nuland revives a concept stated by Oliver Wendell Holmes more than 150 year ago: “Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing”. Or, as we in BeachBody land say “Bring it!”

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Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Surgery at the Yale University School of Medicine and a Fellow at Yale's Institute for Social and Policy Studies. He is the author of nine books, including Doctors: The Biography of Medicine, The Wisdom of the Body, The Mysteries Within, Lost in America: A Journey with My Father, and The Doctors' Plague: Germs, Childbed Fever, and the Strange Story of Ignác Semmelweis. His book How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter won the National Book Award and spent thirty-four weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.
[exercise motivation]

Running and Weight Loss (or lack thereof) Explained

I am a runner, and at this point running became a part of my personality, something that I need to do to maintain my sanity.
I ran for almost 10 years. I completed numerous half-marathongs.

I could never lose any weight while running!

I ran 20-25 miles a week, added biking to it, all to no avail. I was still carying a spare tire around my waist. My weight stayed at the same level.
Running half-marathons sure gave me the runners high, but never made me feel good in a dressing room.

It was a kind of rediculous situation.

Dissatisfied with it, I've started Slim in 6 in November of 2007, and I put my running on hold. Now I run very little - I call it maintenance runs - and focus instead in BeachBody programs and diet.

In other words - Slim in 6 got the magic formula (see the previous post "Slim in 6 Explained").

When I go to the park where I live I see a lot of people doing aerobic exercise, especially women. I think that Team in training and other charitable walk-a-thons and initiatives and literature about the benefits of the aerobic activity must be having an effect on the health-conscious population. But when I think on my experience and that of the runners I know who remain unable to lose weight, I scratch my head and reach out to science for the explanation

Here's the exserpt from Christian Finn, TheFactsAboutFitness.Com explaines this phenomenon:

"Aerobic exercise has a small effect on the rate of fat loss
Some answers come from a recent review of several hundred weight loss studies, conducted by Dr Wayne Miller and colleagues at The George Washington University Medical Centre (Miller et al.,1997). The team examined 493 studies carried out between 1969 and 1994. Miller and his associates wanted to determine whether the addition of aerobic exercise to a restricted calorie diet accelerated weight loss. Twenty-five years of weight loss research showed that diet and aerobic exercise provides only a very marginal benefit (in terms of weight loss) when compared to diet alone.
TABLE 1. Average weight loss over a 15-week period
Method Weight Loss
Aerobic exercise 3.3kg (7.3lb)
Restricted calorie diet 7.8kg (17.2lb)
Exercise and diet 9kg (19.8lb)

This is not the only research to cast doubt over the effectiveness of moderate aerobic exercise. A study completed at Appalachian State University also showed little effect on body composition over a 12-week period (Utter et al 1998).
The research team assigned a group of 91 obese women to one of four groups. Group one followed a restricted calorie diet (1,200 - 1,300 calories per day), group two performed moderate aerobic exercise for 45 minutes, five days each week, while a third group combined the exercise and diet programme. The fourth group acted as controls.
TABLE 2. Fat loss following a 12-week programme of diet and exercise
Method Weight Loss
Aerobic exercise 1.3kg (2.9lb)
Restricted calorie diet 6.8kg (15lb)
Exercise and diet 7.2kg (15.8lb)

"Moderate aerobic exercise training," says Alan Utter, the researcher leading the study, "has a minor, nonsignificant effect on fat mass."
Despite the popular support for aerobic training, it does not appear to significantly accelerate fat loss, even when combined with a low calorie diet. When performed without restricting calories, moderate aerobic exercise has only a very small effect on body fat levels.
Why moderate aerobic exercise is so ineffective
This isn't surprising when you consider how many calories are contained in a pound of fat. Each pound of fat contains the equivalent of approximately 3,555 calories (McArdle et al., 1991).
The most fundamental aspect of any fat loss programme is to create a caloric deficit - to expend more calories than are consumed. Unfortunately, moderate aerobic exercise has only a moderate caloric requirement - around 187 calories per session (Utter et al., 1998). Based on this estimate, it could take up to 19 moderate aerobic workouts to lose just 0.45kg (1lb) of fat.
This might come as a surprise to those of you using the calorie counters on exercise machines to monitor energy expenditure during a workout. Unfortunately, these digital readouts are not always accurate. The most reliable way to assess energy expenditure during exercise is to measure oxygen consumption. Each litre of oxygen that you consume generates approximately five calories of energy. For example, if you were to exercise for 30 minutes and consume 30 litres of oxygen, you would have expended approximately 150 calories (five calories x 30 litres). Without directly measuring oxygen consumption, it's difficult to establish an accurate estimate of energy expenditure during a workout.
A second factor affecting the reliability of calorie counters is the difference between net and gross energy expenditure. Gross energy expenditure refers to the energy cost of exercise plus the metabolic rate. Net energy expenditure refers to just the energy cost of exercise. Calorie counters often display gross energy expenditure - so they don't accurately represent the additional energy that is used during exercise. In fact, during a 45 minute workout, net and gross energy expenditure can differ by almost 30% (Utter et al., 1998). The moral? Don't always believe what the machine tells you.
Another popular misconception is the idea that aerobic exercise increases caloric expenditure AFTER a bout of exercise, thus making a further contribution to fat loss. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (the name given to the increase in caloric expenditure following a workout) is more likely to occur after high intensity exercise. Moderate aerobic exercise has very little effect on post-exercise metabolic rate (Sjodin et al., 1996). Furthermore, when an increase in physical activity results in a caloric deficit (as would occur with diet and exercise), there is evidence to show that the metabolic rate does not rise at all (Sjodin et al., 1996)."
The author goes on to say that aerobic exercise has it's benefits: it reduces the risk of gaining weight and can promotes healthier patterns of eating.
But if you found this page chances are it is because you see that I was successful in LOSING weight and that's what you want to do as well. In that case BeachBody products (like Slim in 6) are your answer! Happy losing!

Slim In 6 Explained

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BEACH BODY FITNESS

Slim Training: Yes You Can Change Your Shape!

Beach Body has created a new technique for slimming the body, called "Slim Training™", which is the basis for a new program called Slim in 6™ - but it’s something you can create on your own as well. While Slim Training is not a revolutionary fitness concept altogether, it is the first time it has been tested andorganized into a system to work for everyone.

Slim Training combines many elements from traditional fitness programs into one routine that specifically targets all of your energy systems in order to slim down your body. If you have ever done basic training in the military or completed a pre-season "hell week" for a sport, chances are that you have done a similar type of program. What makes Slim Training unique is that instead of being targeted at a sport or performance-related goal, this program is designed to target the way you look and feel!

Sound science: Slim Training is, for the most part, sound science. For six weeks, six days a week, each session you should warm-up, stretch out, work out all of your muscle groups, and your cardiovascular system, then warm down. The 6-week program starts at an easy pace and increases in intensity over time until you peak around the sixth week. Then you should take a break for rest and recovery.

Revolutionary science: Slim training differs from most techniques in that you work all of your muscle groups every day for 6 consecutive days. This is in stark contrast to what most professionals say is optimum. The reason it works is that each workout doesn't totally max each muscle group. While the overall workouts should be intense, you shouldn't overload each muscle group to the point where it needs the standard 48 hours for recovery.

If you decide to use Slim in 6 to get the results of the Slim Training technique, the program's "coach" and creator, Debbie Siebers (also of "Thin Thighs Guaranteed!") is there to make certain that you don't overdo it. If you decide to construct a Slim Training™ routine of your own for six weeks - for instance combining the Sculpt and Sweat tapes of Power 90 into one daily "Slim Session", each workout should tax your system enough so that you can ensure strength gains and maximize your body's fat burning capabilities WITHOUT OVERTRAINING. Use low weight and high repetition resistance training. This allows for only very slight muscle hypertrophy (growth), which is offset by the body's fat loss over the course of the 6 week program. The result is a slimmer, fitter you.

Important: If you decide to turn your current program into a Slim Training program: If you are working your body to its maximum right now and try this, you could overload your body and "overtrain". Overtraining can lead to compromised progress, injuries, and eventually illness. When you workout hard (like in Power 90), your body breaks down. You need to wait for it to recover to train again. That’s how you get stronger. But if you work out too soon, then you will actually reduce your strength and weaken your body’s systems. You must exercise caution not to overdo it if you decide to put your own Slim Training program together!

Overtraining is why the time between resistance workouts should normally vary from a day to as many as 6 or 7 days, depending upon individual recuperative ability, size and type of muscle, efficient use of supplements, diet, rest and other restorative techniques, and the severity of the overload.

Six to seven days for recovery is for severe overload only and is in the realm of the serious athlete. "Normal" gym type workouts will not generate this much "microtrauma" to your system.

Overload is what we call intensity of the workout, with intensity meaning purely resistance training. Meaning simply that for Slim Training, the amount of weight that you push around should be reduced. You don't want to attempt to lift your maximum weight. If you ever fail at less than 12-15 reps, then lighten the load. You can recover quickly from daily aerobic exercise but resistance training (heavy weights, plyometrics, etc) will hammer you if you attempt to do it to the max each day. This doesn't mean that you don't work hard. It just means that you need to re-set your gauges for the purposes of Slim Training™. Don't attempt to lift the same weights you were lifting when you were resting a day or more between sessions. That would be a recipe for overtraining. But if you can make yourself re-adjust and go backwards (hard for some), then you can turn your current program into a Slim Training program and expect results.

Finally, remember that Slim Training was designed to only last 6 weeks. It can be a taxing program. You should back off once you peak and give yourself some time to recover while you get ready to blast away at your next program.

So if you want to change your body shape from say, a pear shape to a V shape, you’ll find this Slim Training technique is a great tool for you when utilized correctly!

Changing habits, Part2 - Negative Thinking

I have a problem.
No matter how much progress I make, every time I look in a mirror, I see the things I don't like:

-My arms and shoulders are too fat
-My belly fat will never disappear!
-I hate my posture!

On the other hand, a friend I made on the BeachBody Forums gives herself a positive review every time she completes a program.
She somehow finds improvements in her body almost every day, while I need others to point them out to me.

Why am I so blind?

Come to think of it, it apples not only to my appearance.
Whenever I complete a complex assignment at work, I don't feel elated, I feel exhausted.
I catch myself thinking bitterly: " If I were smart I'd have done it a long time ago and I should have done it better ... "

Well, you get the drift.

The other day I was talking to my mother who is in her 70es. We were talking about computers and she started seriously putting herself down
for her computer skills! I mean, WOW! English isn't even her first language; she had a computer for only a few years!
Let me tell you - the woman can create masterpieces using Microsoft Paint! I am not kidding! She creates amazing photo collages!
She sends the cutest self-made electronic birthday cards! And she is telling me she is no good?!?

Well, yeah, I know who I am getting that from....But weather it is in my brains chemistry or acquired second hand from the environment I grew up in, the fact is that
with anything I do I put a double shift : first - doing the thing, second - fighting my own negativity!

That's insane, is it not?

But identifying the problem is 50% of the solution. So I have a bad habit. I am going to change it.

From now on when I look in a mirror and I will force myself to notice positive things first.
And in fairness:

- I am already standing much straighter!
- My arms are stronger, therefore will get leaner soon enough!
- My belly is firmer then it was when I was 20!
- And, and, and - I will think of more good things as time goes by!

It took my body 7 months to adjust to a new way of eating, I give myself as much for changing my negative thinking.
I am in no rush!

Changing habits, Part1 - Eating

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Look, Ma, no (clock) hands!

After 7 months of eating 5 meals a day I no longer need a watch to tell me what time it is.

I have my breakfast after the workout about 8 AM.

Then if I am ready for my first snack - it must be 10:20 AM.

The thought of food enters my mind again - you better believe it is 12:30 P.M, my lunch time!

A twinge in the stomach again - I can bet it is 3 :30 P.M., time for my second snack of the day!

Later if I get restless and your watch does not say 6 PM, you need to change the battery!

This amazing feature emerged on its own, I was not living strictly by the clock, or being extremely punctual or deliberatly eat only by the strock of certain hours or bust.

I was loosely adhering to guidelines Beach Body was providing, and look, Ma, no (clock) hands!

This unintended but nevertheless welcome consiquence of change in my diet is incauraging because it makes me think what else I could change
given some length of time and a bit of attention?

Maybe my erratic sleep patterns? I still need an alarm clock to wake me up...

What habit would you like to change?

I don’t remember when I stopped enjoying my birthdays.
I think since around 35 the increasing number started to scare me. It signified aging and all the scary things that supposedly come with it. I was trying to attract as little attention to my birthdays as was possible. Once, when my dear husband sent me a wonderful flowers to my office on my Birthday, I went through a lot of effort to hide them and sneak them home in the evening so no one would notice.

How funny!

How sad!

This time it is different! The miraculous thing is that I am proud I turned a year older! With me feeling fit and trim, the birthday is an occasion to flaunt the fact that I turned a year older and I don’t feel it, and some say, I don’t look a day older ___ (fill the blank here).

This is the cause to celebrate! Here’s to feeling healthy and looking fit!
Here’s to Debbie! Here’s to clean eating!

Happy birthday, me!

About perfectionism.

So you are eating clean and exercising regularly, for a week, two, three. Everything is perfect.
Then something gets in your way. Let's say, it is a piece of chocolate, your favorite, and this one proved to be irresistible, unlike all the ones you saw in the 3 previous weeks.
You have the piece of chocolate.
You blame yourself for having a piece of chocolate.
You get in a bad mood...
You miss your work out.
It is all downhill from there...
Sounds familiar?
Why does this happen?
You do it 100% or don't do it at all? You are that kinda guy/gal, right?

" I am a perfectionist", you say.

Well, perfectionism is not good when it comes to fitness.

To tell you the truth, I don't really know when it is good.

I 've been trying to break myself off the perfectionist way of thinking for the most of my adult life - thanks, mom!.

So, what is happening here?

By setting perfect goals we set ourselves for disappointment. Life isn't perfect! So many things are out of our control!
And yet we expect a perfect performance out of ourselves? That makes no sense, if you think about it for a moment.

The perfect version of me would freak out and give up at the first sign of things not going my way.
In the imperfect version of me, when things don't go "according to the plan", I get myself up, dust myself off and tell myself "Move on!!!"

Since I adapted the "imperfect" way of thinking, I've been able to start things and stick with them. When I was doing Slim in 6,

I did not expect 100% out of each work out, or 100% of scheduled work outs. I accepted 90%, 80%. And yet, I got results!

The Memorable Moments

Human memory is selective. Normally, we remember well the important moments in our life. I remember looking at a picture of me after my 4th half-marathon in October of 2007, and thinking "This is unfair!" All this training, all the pavement pounding - and look at these sagging sides and ugly rolls of fat!
The rest of my story is typical - I saw the Slim In 6 commercial and thought - looks a lot like that class in my gym I can never make. The DVDs arrived in the beginning of November, and in a week I was let go from my very stressful job and faced the dead season as far as prospect of looking for a new one during the holiday season. I told myself – it‘s a good time to conduct a little experiment on me, to see if this old cow could do something about her body other then obsessing about it. I was generally fit because I was a runner, and took body toning classes in the gym from time to time, but something was missing because the stubborn layers of fat were never going away. It left me feeling middle aged, worn-out, defeated… I did not expect a miraculous weight loss from Slim In 6. I told myself: worse come to worst, I would be in excellent shape for the ski season. Well, to my delight, it was excellent in more ways than I expected.

I was excited about all parts of Slim In 6 program. The food guidelines were amazing and easy to follow. I felt like I finally got a key to the treasure box I owned for yeas and but could never find out what’s in it. Things finally made sense!!!
I found support on the message boards and made friends . Friends were helping and motivating me and I was repaying with the same – something that was not present in my daily life. That was giving me the greatest satisfaction!!!
And on top of all of this the 10 pounds that I hated to accept slowly melted away!
At this point I know I can take any of the BeachBody programs and apply them to achieve results that I want. Even more – having done this with my body, having been that excited about it made me think that doing other things in life that do not excite me is …a bit wasteful! Why settle for anything that is less satisfying?
I decided to become a coach and help others on a journey of fitness and self-discovery!