Best Fitness Blog

Portion Control ... by Karli Taylor

It seems like everyone, regardless of whether or not they are currently "on a diet", has foods that they consider to be "good" and some that they label as being "bad". I try very hard to break my clients out of this mentality but allowing ANYTHING in MODERATION. That being said, I think it's about time we talked about portion control...

Living in America these days, we all have a warped perception of what a portion really should look like. If you have ever traveled to Europe, or even eaten in an authentic European eatery, you may be shocked at how little is on your plate...Guess what- that's how much we SHOULD be eating!

If you look online for portion sizes, you will see advice like, "A serving size of meat is about the size of the palm of your hand". What they neglect to tell you is that it's the palm WITHOUT the fingers attached!! Even better, you may read that the serving size of a piece of cheese is "equal to the size of a domino." Realistically, how many people under 20 know what a domino actually looks like?? A serving of cheese is about the size of your thumb.

Now I'm sure many of you are thinking: "If I just eat that, I'll still be hungry". Probably. Not because that isn't enough food, but because we have trained our bodies to consume a lot more than we actually need. We don't wait for the feeling of fullness to set in- we just keep eating. Try eating a single serving of everything you eat today and wait at least 20 minutes before deciding that it wasn't enough. Within a week, we can retrain our bodies to feel full on less.

So, knowing how much we should be eating, how do we deal with dinner plates the size of serving platters and snack bags that hold 3 servings? There are a ton of tricks out there for limiting how much you eat both at home or out on the town. What works for you??

Understanding your heart rate ... by Karli Taylor

We live in a society that thrives on instant gratification- we want satisfaction, and we want it now. When we put effort into something, we want to see an immediate result-right?

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but fitness doesn't work this way...Not exactly, anyway.

The problem is that we are looking for results that we can see- something tangible that we can wrap our hands around. Often with fitness, these tangible results take weeks or months to achieve. This does not mean, however, that there is nothing happening during this period of change. Even though you may not see movement on the scale or inches on your biceps, your health is changing with every single step you take on that treadmill.

Don't believe me? Think I'm trying to sugar coat things and make you feel better about not losing 10 pounds this week like they did on that show we talked about last week? What proof do I have that things are changing under your skin? Let's talk about your heart rate.

The rate at which your heart beats before, during and after a workout can be a great measure of your progress.

The first thing you need to do is figure out what your resting heart rate (RHR) is. If you wake up naturally without an alarm, take your pulse for a full minute before sitting up in bed. If you do wake up with an alarm, turn it off and lay still for 2-3 minutes before doing the same. Log this number for 3 or 4 days in a row and take the average. If you are just starting a fitness regimen, write this number down and do the same exercise about a month from now. You will more than likely see a significant drop in your RHR. This drop means that your body is running more efficiently!

If you are already reasonably fit, your resting heart rate may not change too much over time. It can only go so low!! For you, your recovery heart rate may be the number to play with.

The more fit and efficient your body becomes, the more quickly you will be able to recover from an intense effort. Here is an easy way to measure that so you can keep track of your progress:

During your normal workout, increase the intensity until your breathing becomes labored and talking is difficult. Keep this intensity for about 2 minutes and log your heart rate. Now reduce the intensity to an extremely slow pace that causes no muscle tension- almost to the point where you are barely moving. Take your heart rate after one minute at this pace. The more the count drops, the fitter you are!

Focus on these physiological changes for the first 2 months or so of your new routine- by then, the physical changes will be staring you in the face when you look in the mirror.

The State of our Waistline ... by Karli Taylor

I’m not typically a scare-tactic kind of fitness professional. I’m not the trainer who wants to make the client cry. I don’t tell people about the toxins in the meat that their bodies can’t break down as they bit into a Whopper. Today, however, I am going to share some news that scared me. And quite honestly, I hope that it scares you as well.

The children who are of middle school age today are the first generation EVER in the United States to have a life expectancy that is shorter than that of their parents…  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN ???

In 2010, 66% of Americans are currently overweight and 30% of those are obese. 9 out of every 10 adults will become overweight and 50% of those adults will become obese. How is this happening? How are we THAT unhealthy?

In a country where everyone seems to be "on a diet" how are we gaining so much weight? I'm going to throw a few ideas at you that can help explain some of it- but I want to hear what you think.

• Continuous advances in technology have had a major impact on activity levels. We have decreased the energy-cost of work making it easier for more people to live sedentary lifestyles.
• Children have become less physically active as PE classes are no longer mandatory in many places, and video games and TV replace games like tag and hopscotch
• Modern food preferences are for energy-dense, highly flavored foods that are available around the clock- often from your car window!
• Portion sizes have increased. For example, a fast--food hamburger in 1980 was approximately 333 calories. Today it is over 600!
• Americans consume approximately 700 calories more per day today than they did in 1984!
• If you eat an extra 50 calories a day while maintaining the same activity level, you will gain 5 pounds in one year. Do the math!

Here's a fun fact for you: Did you know that the McDonald french fry is only 20% potato?

So- what do we do??

Interval Training 101  ... by Karli Taylor

Do you get on the same cardio machine every day at the same time and watch Friends to pass the time? Or maybe you walk the same route from your office every lunch hour? I hate to break it to you, but if your brain is bored with your cardiovascular routine, your body has been bored for quite some time.  

So lets talk about how to use that TV in front of you to help get you out of your rut, shall we? I play this game with myself on the treadmill all of the time. Pick a 30 minute TV show that you want to watch. Set your elliptical (or treadmill, bike etc) to a speed and resistance that is comfortable for you. Not super easy, but comfortable enough for you to hold a full conversation. Keep up that pace during the actual show- so you can enjoy it- BUT- during the commercials, increase the intensity to a level at which you can barely speak. Sneaky interval training 101.

What if you don't have a TV in front of you and you are listening to your ipod? Set it to shuffle and adjust your speed according to the tempo of the song. Some days may be a little easier, but some may feel impossible! It will keep your mind and your muscles guessing and help keep you out of a rut.

Lastly, if you are walking, cycling or running outside, pick a landmark that you can see in the distance and increase your speed until you reach it. Before you know it, you will have gone 3x as far as you normally do before getting bored.
So now that you know HOW to interval train, let's talk about WHY you would do it...

Put simply, more calories are typically burned during interval training than in lower-intensity exercise because it allows your body to work harder for a longer period of time than if you were training continuously. Therefore, noticeable fitness results may be seen sooner for someone doing interval training than in someone who continuously exercises.
Ready to try it??

Can you boost your metabolism?   ... by Karli Taylor

It is rare these days to pick up a health or fitness magazine without our attention being drawn to an article on the best way to exercise in order to boost metabolism. Unfortunately, we are often exposed to considerable misinformation that can leave us frustrated and more confused than we were before we read anything!

Metabolism, for our purposes, describes the burning of calories necessary to supply the body with the energy it needs to function. There are three major ways we burn calories during the day:

• Resting metabolic rate (RMR)
• The thermic effect of food (TEF)
• Physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE)

RMR is the number of calories we burn to maintain our vital body processes in a resting state. It typically accounts for about 65-75 percent of your total daily calorie expenditure.

The TEF results from eating food, and is the increase in energy expended above your RMR that results from digestion, absorption, and storage of the food you eat. It typically accounts for about 5-10 percent of the total calories you burn in a day.

Finally, PAEE accounts for the remainder of your daily energy expenditure, and, as the name suggests, is the increase in our calorie burning due to any physical activity. Included in PAEE is the energy expended in exercise, the activities of daily living, and even fidgeting.

So how do we speed up our metabolism like all of these articles are telling us that we can??

Your metabolism absolutely speeds up when you exercise, and the longer you exercise the longer your metabolic rate stays elevated. The extent to which it increases is also dependant on the intensity with which you are working out. Makes sense, right? Work out harder, burn more…

So you are probably thinking I can workout harder OR longer and burn more calories. What if you do both?

One frequently asked question is “Do we continue to burn calories after we finish exercising?”  Research clearly shows that we do. How long this after-burn lasts depends primarily on how hard you exercise.

SO if you workout just a little bit longer, and a little bit harder, you will burn more calories. But wait, there is more!

By adding regular weight lifting to your routine, you will increase skeletal muscle mass. It is estimated that each pound of muscle burns about 10 calories per day while at rest, so you would be burning more calories each day just sitting on your couch!