Ben Stiller on the Jimmy Kimmel Show

Really funny clip of Ben Stiller talking to Jimmy Kimmel about P90X - check it out!

Tracking Weight Loss with the bodybuggSP

Announcement! I finally made the decision to purchase a bodybuggSP^TM. It arrived today in the mail and I have it charging right now. As I use it I will provide feedback via this blog. I plan to begin using it tomorrow morning.

It took me a while to make this decision due to two factors. 

Factor 1: Cost
Honestly I didn't want to spend this much money, but after reading quite a bit of information and contemplating a Polar heart rate monitor I went with the bodybuggSP^TM. I caught it on sale for a holiday special and so I paid $199 with free shipping (about a $50 savings). This new version (as opposed to version 3) will sync with my iPhone. That seemed to be the smartest thing for me because I wanted real time data but didn't want to have to wear a wristband. I like my own watch.

Factor 2: Calories in, calories out
It is absolutely true that weight loss in its simplest description boils down to calories in vs calories out. If you consume more calories than you burn and therefore walk around, or may I say sit around, in a calorie surplus you will surely gain weight. If you break even, you will maintain your weight. If you create a deficit, you should lose weight. Sounds simple, right? Sure, if scale weight is your only concern. Most of you who read this blog know that I believe there is a lot more to it than that. I believe in changing your body composition (lean mass/body fat) rather than just focusing on scale weight. That's a blog post for another day, but I want to be clear that I'm not dissing the importance of getting excess body weight off, but I'm also not shifting from my stance that losing body fat is more important than losing body weight as the end goal.

Side bar (because I must): your weight on the scale is ONE piece of the picture. Scale weight can fluctuate wildly within a 24 hour period of time and is impacted by what you eat, your bowel habits, fluid intake or loss, hormones, menstrual cycle, etc. Don't use it as your sole measurement of success.

Back to this post. So I'm sure you're thinking, okay brainiac, then why did you spend that kind of money on something to help you track calories? 
Two reasons. 

Reason 1: Need for data
I have hypothyroidism and while I've yet to prove it I feel certain my basal metabolic rate is as slow as a snail. It's a challenge to figure out my optimal calorie range. Standard calculations do not seem to work for me. If I eat too little food or carbs, or if I don't time my food right I bonk during intense workouts and take longer to recover. If I eat the typical recommended amount of food or carbs, my weight will not come off and stay off. I seem to have to work harder than the average Jane in order to see the same type of results. Mind you I am not complaining, I just want more data to understand what is going on with my body. This is one way to get as much real data as possible. It's a fine line and I am trying to hit it just right. Somewhere between killing myself to get lean and mean and relaxing a little and getting soft and pudgy. Sigh. So don't think I don't understand your struggles. It's a journey for all of us.

Reason 2: Need for consistency
I'm a tracker. When I track things I do well, when I don't track things I slide off course. As much as I would like to be an intuitive, free spirit eater, the need for constant feedback, data, organization and consistency is woven into my genetic make-up. I teach people how to think on their feet, make good food choices when faced with bad ones and how to be prepared to gracefully handle the most unexpected sabotage. This works for me as well, but until I can fully grasp what my body requires I need data. It keeps me consistent and holds me accountable.

More to come on the bodybuggSP^TM.
If you use a bodybuggSP^TM, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Links in this article are to provide the reader with additional information about the.bodybuggSP^TM. I purchased this product without prompting with my own funds and do not receive any compensation for the purchase of this product through a link. 

Fat Acceptance

I caught an interesting video from the Today Show regarding fat acceptance. The discussion revolves around whether or not fat acceptance is a cop-out.

Sometimes when complex topics are covered in a short amount of time on a talk or news show it only allows time for the stating of opinions, but not enough time for meaty discussion or education. I guess it is good to bring awareness to the topic, but I'm always a little bummed that there's never enough time to get more helpful information out of it. Whether I'm fat, skinny or somewhere in between I need a takeaway tidbit that points me in a positive direction.

There is a 40-something year old female model included in the clip. She looks energetic, strong and vibrant. She's also carrying extra weight even though she reports that she watches what she eats, and it's pointed out that according to the BMI Chart she's obese. It shows her swimming in a pool, discussing acceptance of herself as being a larger person and encouraging others to do so as well. She says she's thrown away her scales. In sharp contrast it shows a quick clip of runway models.

Let's talk about runway models for second. I find them quite fascinating, sort of in the same way that I'm still fascinated that I can send a piece of paper over a phone line. How do those little bitty legs (probably smaller than my arms) pick up those heavy high-heels and move forward? I think most of us would agree, even if we long to be svelte, that the emaciated look of a runway model is not the goal.

While I'm at it, let me just throw in something about the BMI Chart. According to the BMI chart, my husband is obese at 5' 8" and 180 pounds. He's also a state and national level masters bodybuilder competitor who took home 2 first place trophies this year at 6.4% bodyfat. So that might tell you something about the accuracy of the BMI Chart.

Back to the show. After the clip, several key points are brought out but unfortunately not discussed enough. One is that some research shows you can be fat and fit. I feel a need to see that research for myself, but there are people who are classified as fat that are very active and strong with great endurance and are deemed healthy on physical exam. They also point out that there are skinny people who eat poorly and have little to no activity, which can be detrimental to health, it's not just about the fat. It's also not just about how we look in our jeans. How a person looks may not translate to actual level of health. They touch on the social component of accepting people, fat or not. It's mentioned that a person who is very overweight but thinks she should be a size 4 may feel defeated and never even try, whereas fat acceptance might encourage her toward some positive change. One opinion stated was that our country doesn't have an obesity problem, rather we have an inactivity problem. The conversation was brought around to the fact that physicians fear the message of fat acceptance due to the monumental obesity issue and we cannot deny or ignore the negative health impacts of diabetes, heart disease and cancer that we know is impacted by fat.

I say we should love people and hate fat.

We have to have some meat on our bones if we're going to be strong and energetic. That meat, however, should be predominantly muscle. It's not enough to "watch what we eat". Choosing foods that our bodies can use most efficiently as fuel for energy and supporting our body systems is typically not food that will pack on extra weight in fat, particularly if portions are considered. Weight can be lost without activity, but the loftier goal is to lose fat. Resistance training and well-designed energy systems work promotes the loss of fat. Throwing away the scales can be a good move if we put too much emphasis on an arbitrary number. Throwing away the scales just so you don't have a measurable reminder that you're too heavy isn't truly helpful. The BMI chart, like the scales, is just one measurement in the overall picture. Waist/hip ratio measurements and body fat measurements should also be done and may be more helpful. We may never look the way we'd like to look in our jeans, but we can ask ourselves these questions: do they fit? are they getting tighter or looser? am I consistently buying bigger sizes? does the size I need right now seem right?

Most importantly is that we need to love and support each other. Human nature baffles me in that we don't want to accept people who aren't exactly like us. If we live long enough, we'll all have some battle to overcome. Let's love each other and help each other to overcome this excess weight/fat battle that seems to be taking over our lives. At the same time, we must accept and find joy in who we are, and that means taking care of ourselves. We simply cannot accept gaining unnecessary weight or fat or becoming complacent with it. There are too many negative effects on our joints, hearts, organs and intricate body systems. Most people that I encounter that are too heavy are not like the woman in the video clip. I can tell you I wasn't when I was 30 pounds heavier. (I still am on the warpath to get leaner).

What are you thinking right now? If you find yourself gaining weight, or you are already battling fat, please do not just wave the flag of surrender. You can find the courage, education and support to battle it and win. You are important. It's not about being a cover model, it's about being strong, healthy and fit so you can live your life well, whatever shape or form.

As a person who is actively declaring war on fat, I would be happy to help in any way possible and I always want to hear your thoughts. Comment or contact me. You can view the Today Show video here.

Related posts

Fitness and Nutrition: How Does It Fit with Healthcare?

Weight vs Body Composition

Translating the Benefits of Exercise into Every Day Life

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss Part I

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss Part II

Weight vs Body Composition

Did you know that you can lose weight, only to become a smaller version of the current you? Think about that for a minute. Look in the mirror. I'll bet you not only want to lose weight, but you want your body to be different in terms of shape too. You may even have a clear picture in your mind of the way you want to look. I'll also bet that mental picture is a happy, healthy, strong, vibrant you, whether you're male or female. If that's the case, what we must keep in mind is that weight loss is just one part of the picture, and this concept seems to hang us up on the journey.

I went through a period of my life in which I lost all my excess weight. At first it's motivating for the scale number to be down, to buy new clothes in smaller sizes and for people to comment on your weight loss and how small you look. The trouble was, I was just an overall smaller version of my old self. I still had the same soft spots and fat pads I had before, they were just smaller. I didn't feel any better in a bathing suit and I still couldn't find jeans that fit quite right. Truth is, I wasn't exercising while I was decreasing my calories. For some reason my smaller body and my mental picture weren't synching up.

Let's talk about weight loss and the scales, because those two things are usually come to mind when we become determined to make a change.

If you have a lot of weight to lose and it's just apparent, that may be the task at hand and the scales will be a helpful tool to you at first. Increasing activity and cleaning up eating habits can do wonders for jump starting your weight loss. (Please notice I didn't say anything about going on a diet. The word diet is a 4-letter word for a reason. We're moving away from the dieting mentality). Less calories eaten and more calories burned typically translates to a drop in the number on the scale. In this way, it's true that weight loss is a game of calorie balance.

Seems obvious, but keep this in mind:

• The scale is one helpful tool when you have excess weight to lose
• When the number goes down, your entire body weighs less (doesn't necessarily mean you've lost fat)
• Unless you want to be the same shape only smaller, weight loss alone won't get you to your goal

I won't go into the dreaded plateau here, but I will say that during the time I had lost weight and gotten to my magic number on the scale, I still had too much fat and not enough lean mass. I was consuming a ridiculously low amount of calories a day and couldn't go any lower. I'd lost weight, but my body composition was still undesirable. I soon discovered there is much more detail than the scale number once excess weight has decreased.

If you want to really change your physique you need to improve your body composition. This means you want more lean mass and less fat. This is how your shape changes, and to do it, exercise and clean eating must be a part of the picture. The goal should shift from a focus on weight loss and becomes one of losing fat and either preserving or building muscle.

A few more things to keep in mind:

• A change in body composition (increased lean mass, decreased fat) is what changes your body shape.
• Exercise is an essential tool in decreasing body fat and preserving or building muscle
• Eating habits can make or break your efforts toward a body composition improvement

Josh Hillis, a personal trainer certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, has said: "Scale weight tells me how many calories someone ate vs. how many calories they burned. Body fat percentage tells me the quality of the food you ate and the quality of your workouts. To get where you are going, you may need to change both."

Very well said, I couldn't agree more. Decreasing your body fat percentage is about keeping your metabolism firing, burning calories, working with intensity when you exercise, and eating high quality foods your body can use as clean fuel to keep stoking the fire. This is what will spark the changes in your body that are the most likely to get you to that mental picture of yourself, regardless of what number is on the scale. Your body will be strong, your shape will begin to change and you won't even care anymore what the scale says!

I'd love to hear more about where you are on your own journey, and your thoughts about weight loss, fat loss and body composition.

Related Posts:

Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss Part I

Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss Part II

Less Food or More Work?

It's easy to get stuck in a rut with fitness goals, especially when they revolve around weight loss, fat loss and trying to figure out the nutrition end of it. We know that to get the weight off we must create a calorie deficit. That means either eating less food or doing more work. Which should you choose? A calorie deficit could be created by doing either, but if you've been working at this a while and need a boost my vote is for more work.

Eating less and less food to lose weight is a nasty cycle. I've been on that ride before. Your body is designed to adapt and survive. It will learn to survive on less food (you can only give up so much). And guess what? In case of a famine your body decides it would rather hang on to the fat and give up the muscle. So cutting your calories dangerously low or for an extended period of time eventually backfires. I'm convinced my long ago time period of eating as little food as possible blew my metabolism. Your body needs an adequate amount of good, nutrient dense, clean fuel for general operation, and even more so to power you through your workouts. So as tempting as it is to start slashing calories right and left, it's a wild cycle I would not recommend. Start first with cleaning it up and getting compliant.

Another thing to remember is that just because you lose weight, it doesn't necessarily mean that weight was fat. Hmmm.

So, for me, looks like it's more work.

More work doesn't have to mean longer work. Ramping up intensity may do the trick, such as lifting heavier, adding more sets or reps, or even doing combinations of heavy lifting plus circuits and intervals. Interval training has been shown to be very effective for fat loss (hallelujah!) and when done right it's a lot of work in a little bit of time. The beauty of interval and other metabolic work is the bang you get for your buck in terms of continuing to burn calories after the actual workout. This helps blast fat. Newbies do not need to be intimidated by resistance training or interval training. Even beginners can do it. Some of the most effective exercises are the basic ones you've been hearing about for years, and if you are just starting out you can get results from using your bodyweight for resistance. Squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, rows, presses and chin-ups can do wonders. Same is true of interval training. You don't have to do wind sprints. It's relative to your level of fitness now and can progress over time.

In addition to intensity, it may truly boil down to adding more work over the course of a week to keep your metabolism fired up. I find that while 3 days of resistance training a week is effective for me and necessary for muscle recovery, it's not enough total activity for me. I am my leanest when I keep the burn going by incorporating work on the resistance days that revs my metabolism up and then adding interval training and/or select body weight workouts on the off days to keep that fire going.

Lastly, we've just got to get up and move and spend more time on our feet than on our backsides. Now it's time for me to get off the computer and go do something.

Related Post(s):

Workout Plans and Intensity

Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss Part 2

Which is your focus, weight loss or fat loss? Here are some of my thoughts simplified.

Weight loss is:

• a great initial motivator (what gets us off the couch and out of the pantry)
• the beginning of the journey
• one part of a much bigger picture
• a super goal when in 5-10 lb increments
• a provider of early victories
• bondage to an arbitrary number on the scale
• a de-motivator when the scales get stuck

Fat loss is:

• a consistent motivator
• a meaningful goal
• measureable progress beyond the scale plateau
• freedom from bondage to the scale!
• change in body composition (less fat, more muscle)
• not for the faint-of-heart
• a path to optimal fitness and better health

Related Post(s) Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss Part 1

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss Part 1

Everyone is talking right now about losing weight but not a lot of people use the word fat. The interesting thing is that we are conditioned to think in terms of weight loss instead of fat loss, and this is how we typically talk about it. I had a break-through in recent years when I finally shifted my focus from scale-based weight loss to fat loss.

When I was focused so much on my weight, it kept me on the scales. What a love-hate relationship! It was exciting when the numbers went down and discouraging when they popped up. When I let it discourage me, it seemed futile to continue pushing forward and I would let it sabotage me every time. I finally changed my mindset when I saw my body and my measurements changing even when the scale weight didn't change. I was able to acknowledge the fact that the scales weigh everything; muscle and water along with fat. So now I use my scales as one gauge over time but not as a primary focus. I certainly no longer let the scales master my mood!

I realized I want lean muscle mass with a healthy percentage of body fat. It is possible to lose weight and still have a body fat percentage that is too high. I know because I've done it. Skinny fat is not what I want to be. By incorporating balanced nutrition (not diets), strength training (weights) and cardio interval training, I'm making progress toward building muscle, dropping body fat and changing the very shape of my body.

I have seen appropriate nutrition and training transform bodies, regardless of what the scales say on a daily basis. Weigh when you need to, but make sure you're taking a look in the mirror, paying attention to how your clothes feel and fit, and please measure your body over time. You will be amazed at the results.

Fitness and Nutrition

This blog is going to be all about fitness and nutrition. I am fascinated by the human body, what it can do, how it works, and how it was geniusly and deliberately designed. I'm also intrigued by our society's sedentary lifestyles, rising obesity rates, poor eating habits, and haphazard health management and at the same time our obsession with weight loss, anti-aging, quick fixes and the easy way out. All types of training for fitness are interesting to me, but I particularly love strength and interval training. Fat loss and metabolism are also of special interest to me. I find that so many people would like to make positive changes in their lives in the areas of fitness and nutrition but don't know how or where to start and may not have the right information or support. My goal is to dedicate this space as a helpful tool to achieving higher levels of fitness and optimal nutrition.