July 22, 2010
Continuing with the topic of creating that caloric deficit as a means of losing excess bodyfat - in addition to bustin' your butt, literally and figuratively, in order to jack up your body's caloric needs, the other half of the caloric deficit equation naturally involves carefully and methodicallyrestricting your caloric intake (starving yourself while performing said butt bustin' is never a good idea!). There is MUCH that could be said of this...and more will be said tomorrow! Until then, consider all the varied components that might go into how you structure and organize your own restriction of calories.
July 21, 2010
Continuing yesterday's thought, we need to create a caloric deficit, ideally on a consistent daily basis, if we have any expectations of losing excess bodyfat. Obviously, we use our muscles in exercise as a tool in helping to create that deficit.
There's LOTS more to the following concept, which perhaps we can cover in the future, but basically our muscles as we view or think of them are made up of massive numbers of microscopic contractile units, each of which individually use energy liberated from chemical processes to perform their work of contraction to produce movement. Again, there's a whole lot more detail than that simplistic explanation provides, but the point is this: on a muscle vs. muscle basis, the larger the muscle(s) used, the more total energy will be needed (i.e. calories burned). Contracting the muscles of my thigh require far more energy than contracting the muscles around my eye that enable me to blink. This concept is something to consider when planning your workouts because unless you love spending massive amounts of time exercising, you'll want to choose exercises and activities that make the most out of the above principle in order to reach your goal of the most amount of bodyfat reduction in the least amount of time (assuming, of course, you're like most people and that is indeed a goal of yours!).
As an example - barbell squats vs dumbbell bicep curls - the squats utilize far larger muscles (not to mention a larger number of total individual muscles working as a group) than the bicep curls and thus will burn more calories.
Keep this principle in mind in choosing exercises - as much as you can, include ones that utilize larger muscles, muscle groups with large and/or multiple muscles, and have intensity levels on the higher side (e.g. running > walking, weighted squats > body weight squats, etc.). The bottom line is the more muscle you use and the higher the intensity level as you use them, the more calories you burn!
July 20, 2010
The main key to losing weight (i.e. excess bodyfat - we shouldn't be content to simply lose weight - not all weight loss is created equally!), as we all know, is to create what can be called at caloric deficit by utilizing more calories through exercise than we are taking in through food intake (notice how I framed that relationship! ;) ).
3500 calories are the equivalent of the energy stored in 1 lb. of bodyfat. If you want to lose a pound per week, which seems modest but is realistically a very sound, achievable, and healthy goal, you need to create an average daily caloric deficit of 500 calories between what you are expending and what you are taking in (500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories).
So what's the best way about getting there? Check back tomorrow for more on this topic...
July 19, 2010
It's been a while but in honor or what I'm going to start calling "Motivational Mondays", here's something I've been thinking about ever since a conversation I had with a client last week.
While talking about potential excuses people might have for avoiding exercise they know they should be doing, it occurred to me that there is very little separation between one individual'sexcuse for not working out and another's reason for working out. Often times, the issue might be the same thing! For example, one might feel he or she can't work out or it's too hard to do so because he or she is too heavy, out of shape, lethargic, etc. Another person, on the other hand, might also be all those same things but view them as the reasons he or she wants to work out. Following either logic in response to the obstacle will almost assuredly take a person in two very different respective directions and land that person in two very distant places, depending on how long he or she chooses to follow such logic. What a difference a choice (yes, a CHOICE) in viewpoint and approach to exercise can make!
So don't give yourself excuses, or a way out. Give yourself reasons, or a way forward!
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"To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never done."
When it comes to fitness goals, how many of us are guilty of trying to achieve higher results using the same lower-order habits and consistency?! I know I am at times. Keep the above thought in mind, live by it, and reap the rewards :).
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1 lb. of bodyfat = approximately 3500 calories of energy
Let that simple fact guide your monitoring of your fitness and nutrition accounting. For the most part, the formula is simple: if you want to lose fat weight (the only weight you should be concerned about losing), through a combination of increasing expenditure and decreasing energy intake, you need to create a calorie deficit of 3500 to lose 1 lb. of fat.
As was mentioned, there's more to the story than just that simple math (for example, eating nothing to create that deficit is NOT HEALTHY!), but this simple concept is an important one to remember for anyone trying to lose weight and achieve a leaner overall body mass.
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Park as far away from the entrance of stores, buildings, etc. as you can. Why? Obviously, you have to walk farther, thereby increasing the number of calories burned (and if you have kids, you get a better bicep workout, too!). This may seem to be of little significance, but cliche as it might sound, all the little things really do add up.
For many of us, where we are at the present time compared to where we want to be with our fitness levels is something we likely consider a huge and mighty task to be accomplished. But, to use an analogy, the giant tree in the woods doesn't come down with one single swing of the ax, no matter how strong one is, no matter how sharp the ax. It takes consistent, well-timed, well-placed hacks. The same is true with our attempts to achieve our fitness goals.
In addition, getting into the habit of doing the "little things", even if you start with just one, gets you into a more regular mode of thinking and searching for other little things that you can do to take better hacks at that tree, if you will. In my experience and observations, however, ignoring that little inner voice that gently encourages you to do the little things leads to "hearing" it less and less.
So, one thing at a time, but start hacking away at that tree. The chips will start to fly and pretty soon, that tree will fall!
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When it comes to our efforts to achieve change that we deem desireable, all of us tend to have a pre-set notion about our natures. We might call this our "default perception" of ourselves. For many of us, we find ourselves on the treadmill of ever being in the pursuit of that desireable thing that we're not, or at least something we have yet to become. For many of us, this is painfully evident when we slip into comparing ourselves to others, or around this time of the year when we're making New Year's plans or resolutions but we start to get discouraged and intimidated by daunting tasks that may lie in front of us.
Let's examine the expression, "Something we're not" - therein lies a big part of the problem! The default perception we often have of ourselves is a negative one, a nature that is inherently "bad" or opposite of what we would like it to be. Whether it be our nature with regard to a fit lifestyle, the way in which we treat those around us, or any other "way of being", we all tend to have mindsets of who we are, mindsets that can prove stifling and impossible to overcome.
I would suggest that most of these mindsets are not accurate ones. However difficult to accomplish, these default perceptions MUST be overcome! Think of this general statement a person might make who is starting out the new year with hopes of a new healthier lifestyle: "I'm going to stick with a fitness routine this year." In my mind, the use of the phrase "stick with" implies that this person's deeply-held belief is that he/she is NOT the type of person who naturally will engage in regular fitness-building activities. Else why the need to say, "stick with"?
By no means am I suggesting that we eliminate the use of positive self-talk or other positive inner motivational tactics on ourselves. But I am suggesting that most of us could benefit from looking deeper at the way we think about and view ourselves as a potential barrier to our achieving our goals (We're often our own worst enemy!). Positive change, for it to last, has to be about so much more than just establishing good habits. Perhaps there's a better word for it, but I think 'conversion' describes best what needs to happen in our hearts and minds to help us truly become who we feel we ought to become. Gritty determination and willpower can establish good habits, even for extended periods of time. But I believe that if such habits are not founded upon a true and genuine nature, there will be inner conflict, a lack of peace, and probably an eventual faltering of that determination.
How do we accomplish that? Well, I'm sorry to say that there's no magic bullet, that it takes a lot of work! A lifetime of it, in fact :). (And I'm probably not qualified enough to be a teacher on that, although I know of plenty of resources out there which are) But starting with overcoming irrational core beliefs and re-setting our default perception of ourselves can be a powerful agent in achieving positive change! Something to keep in mind as the new year unfolds.....
