The Truth About Counting Calories

For as long as I can remember, there has been talk about low fat diets, low carb diets, high protein diets, liquid diets, a million other diets, and of course, counting calories. I have done the whole calorie counting thing many of times, with Excel spreadsheets and everything, and I always end up thinking it's the biggest pain in the ass ever, but it's definitely a great way to be honest with yourself with exactly how much you're eating. It's amazing how some things add up. Anyway, I did some Googling about this today and also have some info from my personal training books, so I'll go ahead and try to have an un-biased opinion...TRY.

First of all, I read a whole bunch of stuff on how a calorie IS a calorie, so if your body needs 1800 calories a day to stay at the same weight, you can use those calories how you want (1 meal at a fast food restaurant vs. 5 small healthy meals a day).... but seriously, who's going to stop at 1 meal (and no snacks that is...)? And don't you think you'd feel a little hungry, or tired, or something, and end up eating a whole lot more? Probably. So really, it's to your advantage to make those calories worth it, space them out throughout the day, and make mostly healthy decisions. The food choices you make will also help with not over-eating. Like if you have foods high in fiber, you're going to feel fuller for longer and that will stop you from making bad choices.

Second of all, calorie counting is super hard, especially when you're not eating at home all the time. SOME restaurants have nutritional information right on the table that you can look at, or posted on the wall somewhere very small, or even on the internet, but how many people actually do that every time they're going out to eat (of course I have before...haha). It's amazing the proportion size they give you at restaurants, which may make it VERY hard for you to estimate the amount of calories you're having. I've also heard that since Americans eat food out so much, they start thinking that what they get served at restaurants are normal, and start making food at home with much larger portions; which obviously leads to you have way more calories than you probably need. So, when people count calories, they generally tend to underestimate the actual amount of calories they are intaking. Of course it's even more inaccurate if you forget to add in that soda you had for lunch, or that chocolate bar you had for dessert. You really should get a food scale if you want to know you're getting the exact portion size...

Third of all, even though a calorie is a calorie like I said before, eating healthy and getting all your veggies, fruit, lean proteins, and whole grains will help beat off diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Eating lots of fat, sugar, and things like that will add to your risk of these diseases and a whole bunch of other ones.

So pretty much what I'm trying to say here, is that calorie counting is probably a good initial thing to do for yourself in the beginning of trying to be healthier because it will really help you see what you're putting into your body and where you can make some positive changes. Just be aware that your ideas of portions may not be correct and weighing your food will really help with that. Also be aware that when you go out, you may be underestimating your calorie intake by A LOT. Even some nutritionists that took part in a study underestimated calories and fat in meals at restaurants by half!

After you have a good idea of how many calories are in different foods, and you know what a real portion is, it really works best (and is less time consuming) to just make healthy choices when you eat and to take smaller portions. When you're at a restaurant, ask for the sauce or salad dressing on the side, or get grilled chicken instead of fried, and be aware that your creamy dressing may add so many calories to your "healthy" salad, that you'd actually be better off getting the bacon cheeseburger. When you're at the grocery store, try to keep to the outer edges as much as possible because that's where the most healthy food is. Eat all your veggies, fruits, lean meats, and whole grains, and treat yourself to a "whatever I want" meal of the week. This way, you're mostly eating healthy, but you still get to have that cheat meal so you don't freak out and start eating everything in sight :).

Don't know how many calories you should have a day? WebMD has a bunch of calculators at this site that will really help you get on your way!

VNUS Closure Procedure - My Experience

So this Friday, I got a procedure done called VNUS closure. If you haven't heard of it, it's a way to go into the veins in your leg where the valves have stopped working and suck them closed with a lot of heat (you can get a medical description online :)). For the past couple years, my legs have been hurting more and more and standing in one place for more than 20 minutes pretty much sucked... plus I had some ugly veins that made me uncomfortable wearing skirts, dresses, bathing suits, which isn't cool when you're still in your 20s. Anyway, this year I finally paid the extra money to get the better insurance from my company (which still isn't good), just so I could get this procedure done. I started on this vein journey in January and thought it'd be done and over and I'd have pretty, pain free legs by the summer, but no, this stuff takes FOREVER!

I went in for my first appointment to the vein people in February and they gave me an ultrasound and confirmed that veins in both legs were acting like a 70 or 80 year old woman and that something needed to be done. This was when she told me that for insurance to pay for the VNUS procedure, I would have to wear compression stockings for 3 months, and then at that point, if I wasn't satisfied with the results, I could get the procedure done. I'm like, awesome... sounds very sexy. At this point I'm like, I don't care IF the stockings help me... I'm not wearing those for the rest of my life. I'm sure they'd look really cool with a bikini. I actually purchased them probably 2 months later. I figured I should give them a chance, and that I should be able to tell the doctor at least how they felt. This helped with some of the pain or "heavy" feeling of the legs, but not completely, and totally not for me. I went back in for my second appointment probably around May. The doctor asked if the stockings worked for me, I said no, and she said ok we'll make an appointment for the VNUS closure procedure. That was really worth the second $30 copay... haha. She told me that the receptionist would call me when she started scheduling appointments for the month I could come in. I'm like damnit... I wanted pretty legs for the 6 weddings I had during the summer :(. The receptionist finally called and scheduled my appointment for August (after all the weddings... sigh). In August, I was training for an off-road triathlon, and realized the procedure was scheduled a week before it. I called the office and they told me I wouldn't be able to train for a week... I had to re-schedule. Which brings me to October... the next opening they had. Little did I know this whole process would go for 9 months.

My procedure was scheduled for the day before my birthday on October 16 (fun). Before I got to the office, I had to take 2 Valium, 3 ibuprofen, and 1 benedryl. I also had to buy a NEW pair of compression stockings because the first time they told me to buy them, they just said knee high, and now I needed thigh high. I searched forever and finally found them for like $25. A lot of the ones they listed out were around $50-$70 and insurance doesn't pay for them. I got to the office and they let me in the room. I had to get nekked from the waist down and put a towel over the rest. I don't know the purpose of the towel because after the nurse did an ultrasound on both legs, they took the towel off and put a little blue towel on my area that was like 3"x5"... I don't even know why they bothered... The doctor then put about a gallon of iodine on my legs / groin / no point of the towel again. At this point I wasn't very happy that the Valium hadn't kicked in yet... I was hoping to not feel much or at least be kind of loopy.

For the next 45 minutes or so, the nurse used an ultrasound from my groin down and the doctor would shove a big vile of local anesthetic with a needle about 4 inches long every few inches... and I felt every single one. The dentist was looking soooo good at this point; that tiny needle they use on your gums feels like nothing. Ok, it wasn't horrible but it was definitely worse than getting the 2 tattoos I have and most of my piercings, or maybe it was because I wasn't used to being jabbed 24 times on my inner legs. In the process of the anesthetic, the doctor shoved a plastic tube thing in my mid calf where he was going to use the long, hot radiofrequency thing to suck my veins closed. At least for this part I didn't feel anything, and they shoved the long thing up to my groin (I think) and they would wait for it to heat up, then pull it out a little, wait for it to heat up, pull it out a little more. This part only took a couple minutes for each leg and then it was over in about an hour total. They put a couple bandages on the 2 hole things but all the injection areas from the anesthesia were still leaking some... really hot. The nurse gave me 2 warm, wet towels and said I could clean up all the iodine stuff. I'm glad they didn't let me wear underwear because that stuff was ALL OVER. Definitely took those 2 towels to get it all off. I put my sexy compression stockings on, and my boy took me home.

This is when I realized the Valium kicked in because I don't remember much of the drive home but I do remember bitching about wanting things to eat, then not wanting things to eat, I'm sure he was happy about that. I spent most of the rest of the day sleeping on and off in bed and then went to an AFI concert for my birthday that we had gotten tickets for. I looked like a complete idiot because to not be in a lot of pain, I had to keep walking around... probably a bad idea to go to a concert right after getting that done. O well. Anyway, 2 days later, they're not too painful unless I stand still. It pretty much just feels like the legs are bruised (which they are a little). I can't do aerobic activity or weight lifting for 3 days so I'm freaking out a bit but I'll get over it. I'm going to shut up now... long post. If you're getting this procedure done soon, at least you know what to expect. Maybe I made it sound worse than it was but it really wasn't bad at all... it was much easier to deal with than 4 cracked ribs. I'm sure the results will be awesome and it has totally been worth it so far.

What's your Yoga Style?

I don't know about you, but when I look at the schedule at my gym for yoga classes, I have no idea what the difference is between the types. I end up going and it's hit or miss on whether or not I'll truly enjoy it. So below I've described some of the most popular yoga styles so you can figure out BEFORE you go to the gym whether or not you'll be happy when you're done.

Hatha - This is probably the most popular when talking about yoga in this country, but it's really very generalized. The class will most likely be gentle, slow moving, and be a pretty good introduction into the basics of yoga moves if you're a newbie.

Ashtanga / Power Yoga (more my type of thing)- This type of yoga is more intense, fast paced, and is more physically demanding than other types of yoga because there is constant movement from pose to pose. In Ashtanga yoga, all poses are done in the same order, but if the class says Power Yoga, it'll include Ashtanga moves but not necessarily in the same order. This type requires strength and balance and will add some fat burning into your yoga, along with all the other benefits of flexibility and stress relief.

Vinyasa- Vinyasa is similar to Hatha in that it's a more generalized term and includes many types of classes, but the difference is that all of the movements are matched to the breath. Vinyasa is also more vigorous than Hatha and includes more intense stretching done near the end of class.

Bikram / Hot Yoga- This type of yoga is done in a room with the heat cranked up to around 100 with a humidity of 40%. Bikram is focused around loosening tight muscles, preventing injury, relieving stress and tension, and is thought to be a cleansing process from all the sweating you'll be doing. Apparently many beginners may experience dizziness and nausea.

Iyengar- This type is mainly based on proper body alignment to avoid injury and to get maximum benefits. The poses are held for a long period of time, there is a great attention to detail with the poses, and props such as blocks and straps are often used to help with alignment. Standing poses are emphasized in this type of yoga.

Forrest- Forrest yoga includes a vigorous sequences of poses, helps you connect to your core to gain strength and purify the body to release toxins. This style will give you an intense workout with an emphasis on ab strengthening.

Sivananda- If you're looking for a yoga style that focuses on overall wellness, this type would be for you. Sivananda focuses on five main principles: proper exercise, proper breathing, proper relaxation, proper diet (vegetarian), and positive thinking and meditation. This style is less vigorous than some of the other styles listed above and focuses more on relaxation and breathing.

Getting Rid of Stubborn Belly Fat

Ok, this is blog request #1, and I'm hoping to get some more to help people learn a little :). I knew mainly what I was going to talk about here, but thought I'd type into Google "How to get rid of stubborn belly fat". Some of the articles I found were filled with a bunch of BS and then tried to sell you some magic drug, others were filled with some more BS and tried to sell some ab machine thing, and some were actually written by people who knew what they're talking about were based on studies, and were helpful.

I guess I'll start off by depressing everyone when I say that there's really not a good way to just target belly fat and make it magically disappear (or other localized fat like those nice deposits on my upper thighs...); that's what liposuction is for. Didn't you ever notice all of those 5'8" 20 something year olds that weigh 120 on Dr. 90210 that have 1 area on their bodies that still has fat? That's proof you can't really spot train well by yourself. Anyway, I degress.

So those expensive ab things on TV, regular ab crunches, crazy amounts of cardio a day, etc are not going to help you. The only thing that the ab machines and crunches are going to do is tone / strengthen your underlying ab muscles which in some cases may even make your abs stick out more. Also, lots of cardio at the same intensity may even burn some of your muscle off, which obviously isn't good since the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn during the day.

The secret to losing "belly fat" or other areas of fat is to reduce the overall fat in your body. By reducing your overall fat, you'll lose it in the problem areas as well. The best way to reduce fat is to get on a healthy diet (i.e. no simple carbs, minimal sugar, none of those pre-packaged food things, and an increase in protein), full body strength training, and interval training. Make yourself get on a plan that you can stick to (no one is going to stick to a super strict diet forever) and just slowly try to take a few things out like sugars and starches and try to replace it with something healthier with some more protein. For example, instead of eating that donut, try a couple lightly salted rice cakes with a couple teaspoons of peanut butter, or even try the protein pudding recipe in my forum (I've found the brand / flavor is really the key here... I've had luck with Designer Whey - Chocolate Peanut Caramel, and Pure Protein - Chocolate). It's good for a post-workout snack. Also, remember to add more lean protein / vegetables instead of that Wendy's cheeseburger.

For your workout, instead of doing so much cardio, try to add some more strength training and try to hit every muscle group at least 2x/week. To really work on your mid-section, do some core training instead of just ab exercises. It will really target all the muscles around the middle of your body including the deeper ones that will help improve your posture, hold your belly in, and make you look slimmer. One trick to make your mid-section look smaller is to work on your shoulders to get them bigger. This will have a visual slimming effect. When you do your cardio, instead of spending 60 minutes at the same intensity, try intervals where you do moderate intensity for 2-3 minutes, then high intensity for 1 minute and repeat. This will keep your body guessing and will help get you in better shape, and you can even cut down your overall cardio time as well to work in that strength training. Good luck!... It's a tough one.

Working Out Green

Going green has become a huge thing in the past couple of years, and most likely it will gain even more interest in the coming years. There are sooo many websites that have tips on going green and are dedicated to this purpose. I thought I'd research about some things to consider as you plan your workouts.

First of all, GET OUTSIDE! This is the best way to make your workouts more green. When you run, bike, play sports, etc outside, you're not using up precious energy. What makes this more fun is getting a friend to workout with you outside, or joining a group. If you need to go to a gym because the weather in your area is not always great, try to find one with eco-friendly qualities. This eco-friendly gym will most likely be easier to find in a large city... I'm pretty sure gyms where I live don't think about these things yet, but to do your own eco-friendly thing at the gym, only use 1 towel (or none), bring a reusable water bottle, and set the treadmill to a higher incline to use less energy.

You can also stay at home and workout. There are great workouts you can do in your house including yoga, pilates, and weight training. Write down or memorize a great workout and do it while you're watching your favorite TV program at night, or better yet, do it in your backyard and enjoy the surroundings. If you need workout equipment, try to buy used and if you need workout clothing or accessories, buy from places like Patagonia, REI, and Gaim that have eco-friendly products.

Ok, I saved the coolest thing for last. There is this thing called Pedal-a-Watt that is an indoor bike stand that's hooked up to a generator so you can help give power to things in your house or even re-charge a battery. Talk about multi-tasking :). There are also some green gyms popping up around the country where a lot of the energy they use comes from people using the cardio equipment. At the one I linked to, members get $1 for every hour they're on the bikes that they can use at the gym... great idea. I can definitely see these types of things becoming more and more popular in the coming years, so you should get on board and see how you can make your workout more green :).

Get ready to be Inspired! Join Earth Cinema Circle and learn ways you can protect the environment and reduce your carbon footprint.

Music Makes Life Better... and Working Out

So I just read that the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology has reported that music enhances endurance by 15%, which wasn't originally the reason for me wanting to write this blog but hey, sounds good :).

Seriously though, I love music. I love it on my way to work in the morning, while I'm working at my desk for 8 hours, on my way home from work, in the evening, and especially when I'm working out.

Do you also have lots of specific playlists or artists you listen to when you're in different moods? For me, when I'm pissed off at work, I'll listen to Korn or Nine Inch Nails, or something like that... when I'm getting all psyched to go out, I'll listen to some Hip-Hop or Techno to get me pumped... when I'm sad I'll listen to some Death Cab for Cutie or something super mellow, I have others too... too much to get into.

For working out, I have this random mix of a bunch of stuff from up beat late 80s/early 90s (ah the good 'ole days), to Techno, to Hip-Hop, to Alternative, to Punk, yeah.... very random. I've found that whether I'm at the gym or working out outside alone, listening to music makes it go by soooo much faster. I pretty much won't workout anymore unless I have my iPod or a friend running with me to bitch about guys with. I love my iPod more than anything and can't really imagine holding my old portable Sony CD player in my hand while running :). Oh, so 1 thing not to do is to get a piercing on your tragus and try to shove an iPod headphone in there the day after... very disturbing.

What does everyone's motivational workout playlist consist of???

Great Reasons to Weight Train

Maybe you think weight training is only for people want to gain muscle mass, get stronger, and get cut. While weight training DOES do those things, there are many more reasons for why it's good for your health too. Here's a few:

• Increases your metabolism (each pound of lean muscle mass burns 35-50 calories/day)
• Improved balance and restoring bone density (which are 2 reasons why weight training actually becomes more important as you get older and falling / osteoporosis is of more of a concern)
• Decreased risk of Cardiovascular Disease by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol (Did you know that for every 10mm hg increase in blood pressure, your CVD risk DOUBLES? That's of course in my ACSM book).
• Better performance in sports, exercise, and life. Weight training makes climbing stairs and carrying heavy objects around easier.
• Helps you look and feel better since weight training reduces overall body fat.
  

There are obviously many more reasons but those are some good ones. I also just read an article off the MSNBC website about a study where they linked decreased blood flow in elderly to loss of strength (which can be reversed with strength training). Here it is. There's also another interesting article on the same site about how weight training may help breast cancer survivors which is really interesting. Here it is.

And on that note, I'm going to cut this off and go do some weight training in my living room before I get in the car and drive the 7 hours to visit my brother in New Hampshire :). Have a great weekend!