Archive for November, 2008
Winterizing Your Fitness Routine (November 25, 2008)
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008Outdoor fitness and winter sports are a great way to pass the time during the colder months. Given that people consume, on average, an estimated 600 additional calories each day during the holidays, staying active is also a particularly good way to keep the pounds from packing on.
Managing Stress Through Fitness (Nov 17, 2008)
Monday, November 17th, 2008Stress is a given in life. In good times and in bad, work commitments, family obligations, finances, traffic, even the noisy neighbors can cause anxiety and stress. Some of these challenges generate positive results, because they force us to make adjustments, push ourselves, and reevaluate situations.
Pyramid Workout (November 11, 2008)
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008Feeling guilty after eating too much or having a big weekend? Don’t beat yourself up, we have a workout that will melt the fat away and leave you feeling good. Just follow our 20-30 minute high-calorie burning workout.
Exercise of the Week: Reach and Press (Nov 7, 2008)
Friday, November 7th, 2008This is a great way to close a cardio circuit, because it stimulates muscle fibers throughout your upper leg, works your core, and promotes balance.
Nutrition Essentials: Timing & Moderation (Nov 3, 2008)
Monday, November 3rd, 2008Nutrition Essentials: Timing & Moderation
This week we finish our discussion on the five essentials to better nutrition. Meal timing and moderation play a significant role in how your body responds to the nutrition you provide it. In order to keep metabolism in check, energy up, maintain mental focus and avoid cravings, we must understand these concepts. How many meals should you eat each day? When should you eat them? How many calories should each meal be? What types of food should be eaten at what times? Read on and get the answers that you need to stay healthy, feel great, and stay inSHAPE!
How many meals should you eat each day?
Everyone has different schedules, so one plan doesn’t fit all. However, in order to increase your metabolic output (how many calories you burn), you need to eat frequently. When you eat sporadically or skip meals, your body responds by slowing down to conserve energy. Ideally, therefore, you should try to consume something healthy 5-6 times a day. This may sound unrealistic, but these should be smaller meals (mini-meals) packed with nutrient dense foods. Think about it this way, after several hours without eating, your body “panics” and goes into starvation mode – skipping a meal may sound like an appealing form of punishment for eating too much at a previous meal, but metabolically, you are doing more harm than good. If you eat regularly (every 2.5-3.0 hours) your body will release its fat stores more readily because food is more efficiently absorbed. It is much more difficult for your body to utilize the nutrients ingested in 3 larger meals and the result is that the body stores the excess as body fat.
How many calories should each meal be?
This is dependent on how many calories your body needs, as we all have different body sizes and activity levels. This is also dependent on how active you are before and after your meal. If you are going to be more active for the next several hours you may need to consume a higher calorie count at the meals prior to activity. You just need enough energy to sustain yourself until the next meal. All mini meals do not need to be equal but they should be in a fairly close range of each other. If you consume 2000 calories a day, each meal should be approximately 333 calories, if you are having 6 meals a day. You may have one or two that are closer to 400-500 and one or two (healthy snacks) that are closer to 200 calories.
When should you eat the meals/snacks, what time of day?
You should always start with a healthy breakfast to “break the fast” between last night and the new day. Your body has been without food for 8-12 hours (unless you sleep walk to fridge at night) so you need to replenish your fuel stores. Eating breakfast can increase your metabolism by as much as 10%. Following breakfast you should eat every 2.5-3 hours. On workout days you need to pay special attention to your pre and post workout meals. If your goal is to lose fat you need to have your pre-workout meal about 2 hours prior to exercising so that you burn more from fat stores. And your post-workout meal should be consumed within 1 hour of completing the workout. This hour is a window of opportunity where nutrients are more effectively absorbed after the workout.
What types of foods should be eaten at what times?
Your body responds differently to a meal consumed in the morning than it does to the same meal eaten in the afternoon or evening. After 7-9 hours of “fasting” during sleep, your body needs to replenish glucose, your body’s energy source. During this fast, the body compensates by releasing glucose that has been stored in your muscle tissue and liver, called glycogen. Once all the energy from the glycogen stored is used up, the body breaks down fatty acids to produce energy. Carbohydrates are the source of glucose, and without carbohydrates, fatty acids are only partially oxidized, which can cause reduced energy levels. This means that your breakfast should include carbohydrates, especially whole grains and fruits. These foods also boost your metabolism and help you stave off unhealthy snacks once you get into the office.
In the evening, on the other hand, your body craves foods that will metabolize super slowly in preparation for the nightly fast. If your final meal of the evening is chock full of carbs (think: an extra serving of pasta or potatoes on your plate), your body will metabolize and store all of those extra calories in fat cells. The bottom line is to balance your diet, eat a variety of foods, in moderation, and enjoy each bite.