Improving your Health in the New Year!

Everyone wants to improve their health in the new year. If you can change one habit each week, it doesn't seem as overwhelming. Set a goal for losing one pound per week by reducing 500 calories from your diet each day. Distribute the reduction in calories per day by taking 100 calories off each meal and each snack daily.  For example, take off a large portion of the mayonnaise from your sandwich, remove the bread crust, and only use 1/2 a slice of cheese. By doing this, you have easily removed at least 100 calories from your daily intake!  For coffee drinkers, simply reducing the amount of sugar and cream helps tremendously.  

Tips like these may be just what you need to motivate yourself to make changes in your diet and overall health this year.  Tune into WRSW Mondays & Wednesdays at 8:30am to hear more tips from Kelly on improving your health for 2015!

Aggravating Foot Pain? Read On!

Have you noticed pain in your feet while exercising? Don't ignore that pain. It could be Plantar fasciitis, and you CAN work through this aggravation and continue to exercise.

Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain. The plantar fascia is the flat band of tissue that connects your heel bone to your toes. It supports the arch of your foot. If you strain your plantar fascia, it gets weak, swollen, and irritated. Then, your heel or the bottom of your foot hurts when you stand or walk.

Plantar fasciitis can happen in one foot or both feet at the same time. It usually occurs in middle-aged people or younger people who are athletes.

This is more likely to happen if:

• Your feet roll inward too much when you walk
• You have high arches or flat feet
• You walk, stand, or run for long periods of time, especially on hard surfaces
• You are overweight
• You wear shoes that don't fit well or are worn out (this has happened to several of our customers AND instructors -  supportive shoes are important!)
• You have tight Achilles tendons or calf muscles

The pain is mainly noticed in the morning after sleeping or long periods of rest. The pain and stiffness may decrease after you take a few steps, but it may hurt more as the day goes on.

Treatment:

The following methods of treatment, used alone or in combination, work for most people.

• Rest.
• Wear supportive shoes. You may need to get a new pair of shoes if yours are worn down or old. Pick shoes with a good arch support and a cushioned sole.
• As soon as you get out of bed, put on supportive shoes. Don’t walk around barefoot or in flimsy sandals or slippers.
• Try shoe inserts. Suggested brand is ‘Powerstep’. The heel or full insert depending upon your preference. Use them in both shoes even if only one foot hurts.
• Some may benefit from a plantar fasciitis nighttime splint found at any local drug store. Or you can wear shoes to bed. This helps keep the ligament in your foot in a relaxed position. Many times the foot is flexed tightly down under blankets keeping the ligament in a shortened position through the night.
• Massage.
• Stretching the toes, calf muscle, and hamstrings.
• Ice.
• Over-the-counter pain reliever.

• Athletic massage for plantar fasciitis is offered at Giverny.     

If you are feeling pain in your feet, PLEASE REMEMBER - you CAN work through this! Feel free to ask Kelly if you have questions about foot pain - or any other pain you may be feeling while exercising!

Abs: Where did they go after having my children?

How do I get my abs back after pregnancy?

Tips from Kelly 

This is a question I’ve gotten several times over the years. My clients want to know where their abs went after their pregnancy and why they won’t come back even though they’ve been invited again and again!

Abs are like balloons

Think of a balloon before it’s blown up: it’s small, tight, perfectly shaped. Now, blow air into it as big as it can get, and then let all the air out. Do that 2, 3, maybe up to 6 times in a row. Each time it is stretched, the balloon loses its shape a little more. That is what happens to our abdominal muscles and the fascia around the muscles after a pregnancy.

Other reasons your abs disappear

Not only are your muscles stretched, but there is also the added water weight and blood volume that was necessary for the pregnancy. This tends to leave your stomach feeling “doughy.” The water weight will slowly subside after a few weeks, but the added fat and stretched muscles are left to be worked back into shape. That can feel overwhelming!

It takes proper nutrition, cardio, and core work to get your abs back after a pregnancy. Once you are cleared from your physician (usually around 6 weeks), you can begin working on the core.

My favorite cardio activity to bring back the abs

Dancing for your cardio is a fantastic way to get your waistline trim again. And it’s a blast. You have to think about holding in your tummy while you move, and then dance away!

After my third baby, I saw a big change in my waistline when I began to use dance for my cardio. I added plank work and crunches to firm the muscles through the abdominal and lower back area. Just hang in there, and don’t get discouraged. During your pregnancy, it took nine months for your body to change, so be patient and consistent. Persistence is the key!

Losing weight in your abs/belly

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you CAN lose weight in your abs/belly. The bad news is that there is no way to spot-reduce. In other words, it’s a whole-body process.

The Great Reversal

The weight you’ve gained will actually come off in the reverse order of the way it went onto your body. That is determined by heredity.
So, if you gained it in your hips and glutes, then abs, and then face – you will lose weight in your face first, then abs, then hips and glutes.

Staying committed to losing weight is a process that people give up on too quickly because they don’t see the results WHERE they were hoping. But, if you understand the above process, you will know your efforts are working! So, keep it up, because eventually the weight will start falling off of your abs!

Drop the chips and get off the couch

You will have to create a caloric deficit in order to lose weight while combining the reduced calories with exercise. In other words – eat less and start working out. This is the best way to lose and maintain the weight loss.

However, not all food is created equally. A healthy diet is very important and will include lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and good fats (olive oil, nut oils).

Then COMBINE the good nutrition with cardio, strengthening, crunches, and core work. If you make the mistake of trying to just do the crunches and core work, you will be building your muscles, but under a layer of fat. So, combine!  If you have any questions, please let me know! 

Chronic Pain - Can I Still Exercise?

I have chronic pain. Is it okay for me to exercise?

Are you in pain? Do you feel unsure about the movement you should be doing? We have seen different scenarios throughout the years where individuals have asked, "Is it OK for me to exercise with chronic pain?" Many times, a general practitioner will begin sending his patients with chronic pain (nothing acutely wrong)  to begin exercise programs. It may sound kind of counter-intuitive to add movement to an already painful existence, but it may be just what the doctor ordered.

Not Your Average Candidates

We have known many individuals in the past who have differing circumstances, keeping them from participating in exercise.  In most cases, when asking their doctor, they were told, "Go exercise!" One of these was waiting on a kidney transplant.  Another was born with a congenital heart defect, having many open heart surgeries in her lifetime. Her condition is such that she is not even a candidate for a transplant -- she was recently diagnosed with an incurable respiratory disease and Fibromyalgia as well.  The doctors still told her to exercise!  She is working on increasing her strength and flexibility; she is feeling better and doing a great job with her regimen!

Obviously, there are conditions that are acute and exercise is NOT recommended. But after a doctor’s clearance, just get started! Realize there are other people out there struggling with hurdles like you. You simply need to make up your mind to start and then take one small step at a time.

Redefine your success from looking good in a bathing suit to becoming a strong, healthy person. You may define success as being able to go to the grocery store without becoming exhausted. That goal is simple, attainable, and measurable.  

The best thing you can do for yourself is exercise! Many people have pains that actually are a result of being overweight, having a lack of strength, or simply not moving enough.  These are things that we can change together - you can make that change today!

Please share your struggles and successes so we can keep encouraging each other!  

You Are NOT Too Heavy To Exercise!

If you’ve been overweight for many years, you may think that you can never get in shape - and that thought may have left you feeling discouraged. Maybe you’ve started and stopped exercising and started and stopped diets more times that you care to remember. So the question you may often ask yourself, and one that many of us have asked ourselves: 

“Am I too heavy to exercise?”

And our answer is always:

“Absolutely NOT!”

 A friend of ours recently met a lady on vacation that was desperate to lose weight. She was watching her kids play in the pool and shared how she has been on so many diets that have failed. She had started an exercise program around 100 times over the years and had quit EVERY time.

He could see in her eyes that she had almost completely given up. It made him want to cry for her! But, at the same time, he wanted to scream, “NO! Don’t ever give up! It is never too late!” And, he was RIGHT!

A Simple Way to get Started Exercising

A simple way to start exercising is to start where you are. If you’ve not exercised for a long time, and you’re carrying a lot of weight – fine – that’s where YOU are. No problem! So let’s get started.

As you know, before you start any exercise program, get the okay from your doctor. And once you have your doctor’s clearance, start small. Here are a few tips that can help you get started AND stick with it:

• Exercise for 5 minutes a day (that’s right – 5 minutes), and then 1-2 minutes more every 3 days.
• Begin a resistance program, but instead of heavy weights, use soup cans or books (no need to spend money).
• Get into a routine! Do a little exercise every day. Consistency is the key to the beginning of a new lifestyle. Everyday is NOT forever. Once you feel like you can consider yourself a beginning exerciser, follow the guidelines mentioned in the starter tracks.
• Establish a time and a place. Clear out an area that you can use. If your “best time” of the day is in the morning, that’s a great time to work out. Get into a routine and go with it.
• Finally, don’t try to accomplish all your goals in the 1^st week or even the 1^st month. Concentrate on those small steps and maintaining faithfulness.

The list above can seem overwhelming, so if it is, simply begin your 5 minutes in a chair, by marching in place, or by moving your arms up over your head. Grab the soup cans and start your resistance exercises sitting down. But start! And never, ever give up.

Feel free to comment or private message us. What is your motivation? A refocused motivation can help someone that has given up every time in the past be persistent and succeed! Never, ever, ever give up! 

HOW do I lose weight?!

What can I do?

There are approximately 3500 calories in 1 pound of stored body fat. So, you will need to create a negative caloric expenditure through diet, exercise, or a combination. In other words, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Let’s get very specific.

How to lose one pound per week

So, if you want to lose 1 pound per week, your calorie deficit will need to be 3500 fewer calories that week or 500 calories per day. You can do that with total diet restriction of 500 calories or 250 fewer calories and 250 calories of exercise.

The combination calorie reduction AND exercise is best for sustained weight loss for two reasons:

1. That amount of calorie restriction is hard to maintain.
2. You will not be building the lean muscle mass needed to help keep the weight off.

How to lose two pounds per week

To lose 2 pounds per week, you need to consume 7,000 fewer calories in a week or 1,000 fewer calories per day. Again, this is best accomplished through a combination of a 500 calorie deficit with 500 calories burned in exercise per day.

Another method is taking 15-20% of your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) and reducing your calories by that amount. You can increase this percentage based on your weight loss goals. ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends women never get below 1200 calories per day.

Does muscle weigh more than fat?

This question is asked ALL the time. So let’s be totally obvious: one pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat. However, if you put one pound of muscle next to one pound of fat, the fat will take up twice as much space as the muscle!

Muscle is less dense than fat; that’s why you will look leaner if you are 140 pounds and have 20% total body fat versus being 140 pounds with 40% total body fat.

That is an important reason NOT to focus solely on the scales when you begin an exercise program with strength training. A reduction in body fat with an increase in lean muscle mass will show with inches lost and clothes fitting a little looser. That is exciting!

How Many Calories Do I Need Each Day?

Whether you are new to fitness or have been working out for years, chances are you’ve heard a lot of talk about calories -  burning calories OR counting calories. But how do you know for sure how many calories YOU need? Let's figure out how to answer that question!

For weight loss or maintenance, it is important to know if you are taking in too little or too much energy (calories) relative to your body’s needs. You need a certain number of calories each day to live – even if you never get out of bed. This is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR).

BMR is the energy your body requires for brain function, sleeping, breathing, etc. This continual work accounts for about 60-70% of the calories we use to maintain our body at rest.

The equation below is based on the Harris Benedict Equation, although the one  included below allows you to use pounds instead of kilograms and inches instead of centimeters. They are practically identical in results – your personal BMR could only be a 40 calorie difference from the Harris Benedict Equation.

Finding your BMR will require a calculator – and is really pretty fun to do!

Calories needed: base calculation

BMR=655 + (4.35 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age)

Example: 48 year old woman, 155 lbs, and 64 inches
BMR= 655 + (4.35 x 155) + (4.7x 64) – (4.7 x 48)
655 + (674.25) + (300.8) – (225.6)
1630 – 226
BMR = 1404 calories each day to meet her needs at rest

Lean body mass (muscle) is not accounted for with this equation. So, know that leaner bodies will have an under-estimated total BMR and obese bodies will have an over-estimated total BMR.

How many TOTAL calories do I need each day?

Once you have calculated your BMR, the calories your body needs at rest, you will need to factor in your activity level to find your total needs for the day. This is called your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

Check out the formulas below and plug in your numbers.  A great goal for us is to have you in either the “Very Active” or “Extra Active” category!

 

• Sedentary (little or no exercise): BMR x 1.2

 

• Lightly Active (light exercise or no exercise): BMR x 1.375

 

• Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week): BMR x 1.55

 

• Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/week): BMR x 1.725

• Extra Active (very hard exercise/sports or 2x training): BMR x 1.9

If you have any questions about figuring your numbers or working up to a more active lifestyle, please talk to us! We are here to help you!