Magically Delicious?

It's MAGIC! That's what some people would have you believe about certain foods. You've heard of them before I'm sure – food that actually MAKE you lose weight! Everything from grapefruit to celery have been grouped into this category and I suspect many a person have made a pretty penny (or thousands) telling us all about it.

Folks, I'm here to tell you there is no such thing as Negative Calorie Food! That's an oxymoron of the likes of “jumbo shrimp,” “Dodge Ram” and “Holy War.” It just doesn't make sense. Food, by its nature, has calories.

Admittedly, the essence of most of the arguments are somewhat true (if not quite a bit off base). Celery for instance. The argument is that you burn more calories chewing it than are actually in it. Guess what? IT'S TRUE (please keep reading before you go buy a cart load). The net “negative calories” from chewing a stalk of celery is about 10 calories. You can eat yourself skinny? Puh-leeaasse!

Given that there are about 3500 calories in a pound, you'd need to eat 350 stalks to lose 1 lb. But even that probably wouldn't work because of the kind of calories you'd be putting into your system (namely celery calories). We won't go into detail on this one, but your body is not going to thank you for it and it is likely to have an overall negative impact on losing weight (I guess, in that way, it is a “negative” calorie food).

The bottom line is that some of these foods might make good snacks, but quite frankly most fruits and vegetable make good, low calorie snacks. There is nothing magical about certain ones.

Don't look for magic beans (or celery or grapfruit or whatever). Weight loss takes really serious commitment, exercise, and a well planned and monitored diet...and there's nothing magical about that. It is hard work – but it is SO worth it!

Mid-week check in and I've lost another 3 lbs. That's a total of 30 lbs so far. I've gone down one shirt size and lost about 3 inches in my waist.

I'll be on hiatus for a few days. So, in the meantime. Keep at it and use the time to think about what other fitness related topics you want to know about...and then let me hear from you!

Crunch Time?

Crunches\Sit-ups will not help you lose weight around your tummy...at least not any more than push-ups or many other exercises.

There is a long standing myth that if you want to lose that belly, you need to do more sit-ups. I can not tell you how happy I would be if that were true, but the reality is: targeted weight loss (weight loss that focuses on one specific "problem area") is a scam.

The reason for this is pretty simple actually. When your muscles burn fat (that's a big part of their fuel) they don't just burn it from the fat closest to them. Your body is a fully integrated system. When muscles burn fat, it comes from all over.

Crunches\Sit-ups ARE a great exercise. When you exercise you want to get as many muscles as possible involved and there are a lot of muscles in your mid-section. And...that washboard abs look is achieved (in part) by doing crunches. The problem is, you can actually have washboard abs but they can be covered by fat if you aren't living a healthy lifestyle.

The trick to losing belly fat is the exact same trick to losing ANY fat. Exercise (build muscle, keep your resting metabolism up) and eat a healthy diet (very little bad fats, sugars and enough protein, vitamins and fiber).

For many of us, when we start a weight loss program some of our belly goes first (probably sub-cutaneous belly fat), but that last bit (probably visceral fat) seems to be the hardest to get rid of. The trick is, just like before when you hit plateaus (I still can't believe that's the way to spell that), trust your system.

Also, now that you are in better shape, it might be time to step up the interval training a bit. So, try short bursts of whatever exercise you are doing followed by a recovery period of exercise. In other words, if you are jogging in place (a great weight loss exercise), try doing a 45 second burst of energy every 5 minutes and then resume your normal jogging pace. This has lots of health benefits, but the one I like best is that it is a very good way of encouraging your body to burn visceral fat.

So, it's not that crunches are bad – they are actually good! They just might not be doing what you think they are!

Keep at it – you can do this! And let me know what fitness tip you'd like to know about!

What Do You Want?

My message at church today (don't worry I"m not going to give you a sermon here) was “Wisdom vs. Truthiness” and I looked at how God delights daily in wisdom. As I prepared for it, I came across a story that I didn't use, but thought it would be great for this blog.

It's a story about a proud young man who came to Socrates asking for knowledge. He walked up to the muscular philosopher and said, "O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge."

Socrates recognized a pompous numbskull when he saw one. He led the young man through the streets, to the sea, and chest deep into water.

Then he asked, "What do you want?"

"Knowledge, O wise Socrates," said the young man with a smile.

Socrates put his strong hands on the man's shoulders and pushed him under. Thirty seconds later Socrates let him up. "What do you want?" he asked again.

"Wisdom," the young man sputtered, "O great and wise Socrates."

Socrates crunched him under again. Thirty seconds passed, thirty-five. Forty. Socrates let him up. The man was gasping. "What do you want, young man?"

Between heavy, heaving breaths the fellow wheezed, "Knowledge, O wise and wonderful..."

Socrates jammed him under again Forty seconds passed. Fifty. "What do you want?"

"Air!" the young man screeched. "I need air!"

"When you want knowledge as you have just wanted air, then you will have knowledge."

...The question is “what do you want?” The last time I lost a lot of weight my parents were talking to me about it. I told them that I had arrived at the conclusion that losing weight (particularly a LOT of weight) is only for those who really, REALY want it. Sort of like the guy in the story wants air. Otherwise, you set yourself up for mild success and ultimate failure, and let's face it, we overweight people tend to feel bad enough about our weight; we certainly don't need something else to feel bad about!

You have to need it. That's what's going to give you the determination to exercise diligently, put down foods with wasted calories (like cake, chips, and yes even salad dressing), and say a polite “no thank you” when offered an extra adult beverage or bowl of ice cream.

Wanting it is not quiet enough. Lot's of us fat people WANT to lose weight. Self-help guru Tony Robbins would say that if you want something you are ensuring exactly that – that you'll continue to want it. You have to be determined to get it. It's the mindset of needing it and determination to have it that will ultimately work.

I can't help but quote Yoda here as well. when it come to weight loss, "Do or do not. There is not try."

Lost one more pound! That's five for the week - 27 total!

Seriously, let me hear from you! What would you like to know more about?

Why You Stressin'?

You have probably heard it said that stress causes you to gain weight. Those of us who eat to deal with stress have no doubt that it is true, but those who can't eat when they are stressed probably think the whole idea sounds a bit nutty.

The reality is our bodies actually are wired to get fatter under stress (we'll talk about why in a minutes). For those of us trying to use our natural external response to stress (over or under eating) to argue for or against stress having a role in weight gain, I'd just ask you to pause for a minute and think about it. It is not the actual stress that is making you gain or lose weight – its the over or under eating!

What I'm talking about is much more diabolical than that. It relates to all kinds of stressors. It can be the stress of life, the bodily stress of an internal injury or even the stress put on your body from under-eating or fasting. (I know - it seems odd that that fasting can make you gain weight...that's because it can't).

The reality is the concept that stress cause you to gain weight is sort of true...but not really. What I mean is (while certain stress might make you gain weight) what stress really does is increase the amount of fat produced by the body, which deceases its ability to burn fat and increase its desire to make more fat.

It's a primative instinct of the body. A long, long time ago (in a land far, far away), stress was primarily an indication of threat (come to think of it, it really is sort of the same thing now) and in the face of threat the animalistic instinct is simply survival. One of the keys to survival is sustenance. So, when stressed our bodies start converting more of the food that we eat over to fat in order to have something stored up for the tough times in order to insure survival. So, while it is possible that you are still loosing weight while stressed out – it is very likely that you are also becoming less fit because you are increasing your Body Mass Index.

So, stress is evil. It's that simple. Stress can kill a fitness program – and you may not even know it is happening. What can you do? Well...(your going to LOVE this), one of the VERY best ways of relieving stress is exercise! (I told you that exercise is more important than diet!).

Other things that will help: Support group; don't keep it inside, talk with family and friends. (First walk it out, then talk it out). Laugh: a lot, even at things that aren't that funny – maybe even the thing you are stressed about. Sleep more. Slow down; maybe yoga is for you (it's not for me...so maybe its for you...it's gotta' be for somebody). Take a few really deep breaths; you'll be surprised what a little extra oxygenated blood will do for you. Finally, learn to let go of the things you can not control; try using my mantra for such occasions which came from my Benedictine Monk Spirituality Professor, “It is what it is.”

Dropped another 2 lbs – that's 4 for the week so far! 26 total.

Let me hear from you. What do you want to know more about.

And keep at it – you can do this!