By Joe Tong RN, CPT
There's no lazy way to lose weight and keep it off; you need to exercise. But some days with busy work or school schedules, that hardly seems possible. Our days are overbooked already! Yet experts agree that exercise must become part of your overall daily lifestyle. And starting your day with morning exercise can give you the best results of all.
The key to any fitness program is to set a goal to move your body as much as possible no matter what time of the day. Park your car a few spaces farther away at work; the extra walk will do you good. Take the stairs rather than the elevator. These are habits you can get used to doing, and they will add up.
By starting your exercise in the morning, you set the day's pace. Most of my clients who exercise in the morning tend to stick with their exercise routine. By doing the bulk of exercise first thing in the morning, you’ll get your exercise completed and start off on a positive note before other distractions can deter you. Once the day gets going, it's hard to get off life’s treadmill to make time.
The Case for Morning Exercise
There is a large amount of research being conducted that suggests that morning exercise improves sleep, a benefit that could also promote weight loss. One study of overweight women between the ages of 45 to 75 showed that the group who engaged in consistent morning exercise (between three and four hours per week) slept better than those who exercised less. The evening exercisers (with the same hours and exercise routines per week) had more trouble falling asleep.
Medical science knows that if you sleep poorly, it influences certain hormones that control your appetite. It’s possible that by exercising in the morning, instead of the evening the exercise will play a role in helping to regulate your body's circadian rhythm (internal body clock) so you’ll get better-quality sleep. Good sleep helps control the hormonal balance that helps control appetite.
If you exercise on an empty stomach in the morning then you have been without food for a longer time so your body has less carbs stored. This will cause your body to go into a fat burning mode at a faster rate, which will increase fat loss.
It takes discipline to get up a little early to exercise, but if you're overweight, you're at risk for a heart attack. So if you don't do something about your weight, it's an indirect self-destructive behavior. In the long run, it could have the same effect as smoking a pack of cigarettes daily or drinking a pint of booze. A consistent exercise routine has got to be the highest priority because it's your health. Think of your morning exercise like a business appointment that you can't cancel.
One way to make sure you get your daily workout is to blend it into your regular lifestyle. Physical activity, not just gym exercise, can become part of your daily routine. Some people want to get back into shape so bad that they think in extremes. You don’t have to lace up your running shoes and run a 5k to call it exercise. I’m talking more about integrating physical activity into your daily schedule.
Structured physical activity is also important. Walking, yoga, lifting weights, biking, running, and swimming could be used as a morning exercise choice. Here's an estimate of the average calorie-burn potential from 30 minutes of exercise:
Vigorous Exercise
Running or jogging (5 mph) = 295 calories
Bicycling (10 mph or more) = 195 calories
Swimming (slow freestyle laps) = 255 calories
Aerobics = 240 calories
Basketball = 220 calories
Moderate Exercise
Walking (3.5 miles mph) = 140 calories
Weight training (light workout) = 110 calories
Stretching = 90 calories
Biking (less than 10 mph) = 145 calories
Dancing = 165 calories
Getting Started on Your Exercise Routine
If you're really trying to lose weight and keep it off, start off with 30 minutes three times per week in the beginning few months this can include a 10 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down. Then work up toward a goal of 60 to 90 minutes of exercise three to five days per week.
To get your morning exercise ritual going, here are some tips:
1. Talk to a doctor first. If you are overweight and if you have risk factors for heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or a family history of heart disease, get your doctor's ok before starting an exercise program. You can never be too safe
2. Start with walking. Set short-term goals: 10 minutes, 15 minutes… Gradually increase the number of days that you exercise per week. Walking a dog is great because it can get you out for 20 minutes in the morning, and then 20 more at night. When I get a new client up to 30 minutes or an hour of exercise during the day, I consider that a major success. You can't ask anyone to immediately start exercising for 90 minutes. You have to start with small, gradual lifestyle changes and increase from there.
3. Consider a health club or certified personal trainer. Some people need a lot of variety to stay interested in exercise or maybe just a few sessions with a trainer to make sure you’re doing the right exercise for your body type. Remember what works for one person might not create the same results for another. Health clubs and trainers are a great way to tailor an exercise regimen to your individual goals and abilities. And if you're paying for it, you're likely to go.
4. Don't forget weekends. If you make exercise part of your everyday lifestyle, stick with it on weekends, too. Keep treating it as an appointment. Don't let anything interfere. It's your protected time and nothing else should intrude. There’s no greater investment than an investment in your physical and mental well-being.
Five Weight Loss Myths
By Joe Tong RN, CPT
No matter how well you follow your diet or fitness routine, sometimes you can’t help but cut corners. Most of us have tried at least one quick fix to drop weight for the long term, such as fasting or eliminating certain foods and nutrients from our diets. The end result is only to gain the weight back, often packing on even more pounds then when we started the diet.
You should be suspicious of any quick and easy weight loss solutions. A lot of people desperate to lose weight will believe the misconception that doing something in the short term will give you long-term results. While you may want to lose weight quickly, fad dieting and gimmicks can actually do more harm than good when it comes to losing and maintaining your weight.
Myth 1: Snacking Is Not Good When you’re Dieting
You don't need to starve to lose weight. The idea that you shouldn't eat between meals is a myth. When you start to feel your stomach rumble, your probably also hearing a little voice in your head telling you not to ruin your appetite. But having snacks in between meals might actually help you eat less, and stave off the urge to overeat or even eat food that you shouldn’t have. In fact, dietitians often recommend that you have five to six smaller meals a day, instead of consuming your calories all in one sitting.
One of the main reasons snacking has a bad rap is because of the choices we make…from vending machines to the quickie-marts that are packed with chips, cookies, candies, and other fattening treats. Not all snacking is bad. Of Americans who snack, 70% now use this as a means to incorporate healthy foods into their diets such as fruits, veggies and nuts.
If you tend to dive into a bag of chips or candy when you're hungry, try having nutritious snacks instead, and eat moderate amounts of fruits, vegetables, and nuts when you chose your snack items. Try to eat things you don't normally have during mealtime. For ladies who are not big milk drinkers, you’ll still need to meet your daily requirements of calcium. A good way to satisfy this is to have non-fat cottage cheese or yogurt.
Myth 2: No More Fast Food
So the cheeseburgers, hotdogs, fries, and ice cream sundaes are out, but you don't have to stop fast foods all together to stay on your diet. It's part of our culture here in America so you need to learn to make better choices with your selections.
The biggest problem with fast food is that the sodium content is so high. It's a problem that might be hard to avoid, unless you stick to salads, trying to skip the extra salt. With that in mind, here are some other healthy choices:
• Get a salad as a starter.
• Choose the grilled chicken over fried, breaded chicken.
• Keep the sauce and dressings on the side or scrape off as much as possible
• Skip the fries because they are a huge source of sodium
• Try to find a sandwich shop instead of a burger joint
• Hold the cheese
Myth 3: Carbs Are All Bad
Carbohydrates are not all created equal, so you’ll want to avoid processed carbs that are often high in sugar and white flour. Instead, try oatmeal which can lower cholesterol, brown rice, sweet potatoes and whole wheat pasta. Make sure to get fruits and vegetables, which provide a host of nutrients and fiber, are low in calories, and can help reduce the risks of several diseases.
Myth 4: Certain Foods Make You Burn Calories
There are no foods that increase your metabolic rate, or help you burn calories. Even if foods did increase your metabolism, the amount is so insignificant it would make no real difference.
Instead, try weight lifting. Why? Because by building muscle, you increase the number of calories your body burns when at rest. This is because when you increase your ratio of muscle to fat, you then speed your metabolism as well as boost it to another level. I also recommend that you eat foods with a high fiber content because they stay in your system longer, a plus for taking off the pounds.
Myth 5: If You Eat and Exercise Consistently, You Will Never Gain Weight
You have to accept that you will need to make lifestyle changes and dietary adjustments as you age, change, and grow. The fact is your metabolism slows down as you age. As a result, you often have to either eat less or exercise more to avoid gaining weight. You will start to see your biggest change usually occurs around the age of 40. Your metabolism will continue to slow down more gradually over the years, so always keep your food and exercise plan flexible.
In closing, remember the saying;”You are what you eat”. Sounds hokey, but it’s oh so true. This used in conjunction with an exercise program, will start you on your way to better overall
Six Tips to keep you Motivated on your Diet:
Can't lose weight? Maybe you need some diet or motivational tips for success.
By Joe Tong RN, CPT
If your diet is looking like a yo-yo on a string, always going up and down then here are some diet and motivational tips that can help you.
Everyone has tried to diet before. Most of us start by getting rid of the cookies in the cupboard, and vigorously refusing the cake at the office party. And then, as a few weeks pass, your motivation begins to lose steam. Maybe you hit a plateau in your weight loss, or you're bored with the same type of food for dinner night after night, or, tempted by a special dessert, so you decide that just this once won’t hurt. After all it’s only one time. Then one time turns into a few slip-ups and you're totally derailed, physically and emotionally.
If this wasn’t your first New Year's resolution to lose weight, then maybe you just haven't had the right diet motivation. It turns out that the key to losing and keeping weight off isn't simply a matter of what you eat or how much you exercise, it's your mental attitude. Remember, that your mind is your strongest muscle. Lasting weight loss is a slow process, so for most individuals it’s easy to give up before you reach your goal. With the right tools however, your chances of diet success can be greatly improved and help to keep your diet, on that winning track to losing those unwanted pounds.
Diet Motivation Tip 1: Set Realistic Goals you can Achieve:
One of the strongest predictors of long-term diet success lies in setting the right goal at the start. If you set unattainable goals, like losing 30 pounds in just a month, then you're setting yourself up to fail. Instead, you'll be more likely to stick with a diet if you focus on your health and create sensible eating strategies. Take baby steps in the beginning by setting smaller goals, like losing 5 pounds or a single dress size over a one month period, this will give you the confidence to continue with your diet.
Diet Motivation Tip 2: Start off Slow:
You didn’t wake up one morning 30 pounds overweight, because that just doesn't happen. You’ll have a better chance of losing fat and not muscle along with keeping the weight off if you lose it slowly. People who are starving, get irritable and have a higher failure rate. If you cut back 200-300 calories a day, then you stand a better chance of keeping the weight off.
Diet Motivation Tip 3: Expect Small Setbacks:
We all are human and at times everyone is bound to give in to temptations either from sweets, pastries, fried foods, etc…. Danger doesn’t lie with a single splurge but instead letting it become an excuse for an all-out binge. It’s ok to treat yourself at times but just don’t go overboard.
Diet Motivation Tip 4: Don't Be a Perfectionist:
Perfectionist thinking gets in the way of success more than anything I know. Studies have shown that people who always demand perfection tend to procrastinate, this is due to the feeling that if they don’t start something then they cant fail. Another issue with perfectionist thinking is that they set themselves up to fail by setting unrealistic goals that aren’t obtainable or unhealthy, and then they become discourage and give up. Bottom line when you slip up, forget about it as the damage has already been done. Tomorrow is a new day which will bring a fresh new beginning.
Diet Motivation Tip 5: Remain Patient:
One of the biggest diet motivation stoppers is the dreaded weight loss plateau. You seem to be doing everything right, giving 100%, exercising and eating well, and the numbers on the scale have been steadily dropping. Then without warning the scale stays stuck for several days in a row. This is perfectly normal on a strict diet. Instead of getting down or giving up try turning it around and congratulate yourself on the diet success you've had so far and how far you’ve came. When you hit the plateau, you may want to add something slightly different to get your diet rolling again. Commit yourself to some extra time on the treadmill or even cutting back your carbs in one of your meals.
Diet Motivation Tip 6: Reward Yourself:
Dieting is hard work and it's not always a whole lot of fun or everyone would be in great shape. Small rewards can provide an incentive to keep going. But make sure your rewards are not food-related. Set mini-goals each week and reward yourself when you reach them. Your reward could be a massage, a weekend getaway, a shopping trip, or a hot bubble bath.