PraxisFitness

I work at a gym here and aside from personal training, I do fitness consultations, which are orientations for new members.  We discuss current habits, take measurements, define goals, and help them create a plan to get there.   In talking with people, it constantly amazes me that they assume that just coming in to the gym and doing some walking will solve all their health issues.  I am not knocking walking - it’s fantastic exercise for any one.  But at the same time, many of them expect to succeed with large weight loss goals without making changes to their diets.  This is Louisiana, the fattest state in the nation, and on top of that - New Orleans, famous for rich everday fare.  A nutritional diet isn’t exactly high on people’s priority list, or even in many people’s knowledge base.

I ran across this video post over at Cataput Fitness and thought it was just a fantastic representation of trying to out-train a poor diet… and just how futile it can be.  Watch it and let me know what you think!

Craig Ballantyne at a sub-6-minute-mile vs. Brad Pilon and a pizza and soda… and the winner is?

My sister Mingo has been flirting off and on with fitness for a long time, buying into lots of fitness tools (and yes, ok, some gimmicks as well).  Her job is very busy and stressful, and she has a husband and several “furry children” to take care of, plus she regularly volunteers at charity events.  Basically. she’s in the same situation many American women are in, struggling to fit in taking herself on a daily basis - every one else is first.

A couple of months ago, she bit the bullet, so to speak, and joined a training group for 5K running.  The runners, walkers, beginners and competitors are split into abilty/goal groups.  Some folks are brand new, just trying to walk to a finish, others want to run some or all of the 5K, others are going for medals. In any case, they are out there 2 to 3 times a week, rain or shine, in nice weather and in freezing.

Mingo has made it to most of the runs, but the last week she missed the entire week because she was sick.  The “mid-term” 5K was this past weekend, and she was very concerned about finishing.  The runs were mostly walk-run combos, and they had progressed to a longer run interval than walking, and just hit the 3 mile distance, while Mingo was sick, so she’d not even completed the distance before.

I think the week off was good for her - she not only finished the 5K, she RAN THE ENTIRE THING.  Still being a bit in the coughing-fit stage, she really had to moderate her pace to keep going - and amazingly, she found she could actually keep going. Big shout out of CONGRATS and a HUG to my sis - GO YOU!!!!

The GizFit name was always a temporary placeholder while I thought of a name for my fitness writings. It’s not really a meaningful name, it’s too close to MizFit (whose site I adore), and really, who even really understands it but me?  But, it did it’s job and held the place.

I was just reading Tom Venuto’s The Body Fat Solution, when I stumbled across the word praxis. He describes a problem solving formula with three rules:

1. Understand cause and effect.
2. Think differently.
3. Act on the answer.

Within “act on the answer” is the little blurb about praxis:

3. Act on the answer. You must take action. One of the biggest reasons for failure is having a large gap between what you know and what you actually do. From the ancient Greek comes a work called praxis, which refers to the practice or doing of what you already know.

As soon as I saw the definition of praxis, I knew it was the name for my site. How many people out there actually know what to do for health, and yet lack the gene-motivation-impetus-whathaveyou to actually put it into practice? I’d bet more than you might initially think. I’ve talked to many people who are just overwhelmed by diet and fitness advice, advice that seems to change with each day’s news… but what really works has always worked. It just needs a few tweaks for today’s lifestyles.

I haven’t finished the book yet to be able to say whether it’s a worthwhile purchase, but even having only gotten through chapter one, I’m leaning toward yes.

MizFit wrote on Friday about the Concept2 rower and  trying it again after many years of not using it.  I work in a gym with tons of cardio equipment: treadmills, ellipticals, stair climbers, stepmills, stationary bikes, recumbent bikes, striders… at least two dozen each for the treadmills and ellipticals.  Along with all this equipment, we have two older Concept2 rowers.  If you go to the Concept2 site, you’ll see they currently sell two models, with two different computers: PM3 and PM4.  I don’t know which model my gym’s rowers are, but the computer is PM2.  I’m sure the folks walking around the track seeing me flip the little computer all over were wondering what I was doing - but the label is not on the front!

So anyway, I agreed with MizFit about the difficulty of the rower, especially if you haven’t used it in a while; even the Concept2 site recommends starting out with only 3 to 5 minutes of rowing!  I’d been doing 5 minutes here and there, mixing it in with other cardio, and still feeling the ankle burn (there’s a lot of ankle flexion involved) and the grip fatigue… well, after Miz’s post, I went to the Concept2 website and noticed they are hosting a challenge: “5000 meters a day keeps March madness at bay!”

Basically, the goal is to row 5000 meters a day for at least 25 days during the month of March. I couldn’t get to the gym Sunday, but I did create myself and online logbook at Concept2, and comitted to doing the challenge.  Five minutes after I decided I started thinking about 5000 meters… and wondering just how long that would take me.  I had just been doing the 5 minutes, and not bothering to turn on the computer on the rower. Those here-and-there 5 minutes are the most I’ve ever gone.

Today I challenged myself to do my entire half hour of cardio on the rower.  I’m sure I’ll be feeling it tomorrow because wow, it was tough!  On the other hand, it wasn’t as tough as I expected, and the meters added up fairly quickly.  Within 33 minutes I was able to get my first 5000 meters, and I’ve put the requisite sticker on my calendar (anyone else do that?  I know it’s so second grade… but it really helps me).

24 more days to go.  MizFit, if I complain it’s your fault… beat it out of me, LOL!

and it’s amazing what damage you can do in a short time!  Over Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas, I did not gain any weight…. but a few drinks and too much time waiting on floats to pass by…  suddenly I’ve gained four pounds.  Good thing this is the week to actually do the “eating like I’m on foodstamps”…

Speaking of eating… there was a new study recently talking about dieting.  You know there’s always a new study on that, each one “proving” its author’s diet is the best.  Well, this new study from the Harvard School of Public Health demonstrates that many diets are equally effective for weight loss, with a couple of caveats:

The findings show that would-be dieters should choose the weight-loss program that they are most comfortable with, as long as it is high in fiber and low in calories and saturated fat.

“You can’t go wrong,” Dr. Frank Sacks of the Harvard School of Public Health, whose study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, said in a telephone interview. “Our bottom line is, choose a diet that is good for your heart and there’s a big range of what you can eat. Then just be reasonable about your intake. If you need to lose weight, eat less.”

This study shows what seems to be obvious… but what is also often lost in the latest diet fads: eating should not be as complicated as a lot of diets are!  Sure, it’s one thing to manipulate your macronutrients (ratios of fat, carbs, and protein) if you have an esthetic goal such as a fitness or bodybuilding competition… but overall - just don’t make it too hard on yourself.

Any opinions out there?

Ok, this is a challenge from Everyday Sensei, to shop and eat for 5 days as if the only money available was what you’d be given if you were on food stamps.  It’s quite a challenge to do this and eat the healthy foods I’m used to grabbing, but I am grateful that I have a slow cooker and a little flexibility with time - for example, I can imagine that some people of food stamps would be working multiple low-paying jobs, leaving them with very little time.  A flexible schedule also allowed me to get various items at different stores, depending what was on sale where.  Even so, it was still difficult!  I am not sure there is enough food there, calorie-wise, and I may need to add oils (which were not included, but I only have 50 cents left!) to help compensate.  Definitely a lean week.    About half the items were store brand, but if all of them were, I could have saved a little more and therefore had a slightly better volume of food.  The volume here is what we would eat to lose a couple of pounds!  No snacking in the evening is going to be pretty tough as well.

Here is what I bought for the week, for two, which allowed $58.70 in total:

• 1 pound carrots @ 0.95/lb = 0.95: total $0.95
• 1.74 pounds apples (4) @ 1.59/lb = 2.77: total $3.72
• 2 ea bell peppers @ 1.89 ea = 3.78; total $7.50
• 1.5 pounds zucchini (5) @ 0.99/lb = 1.49; total $8.98
• 1.87 pounds butternut (1) @ 1.29/lb = 2.41; total $11.39
• 1.28 pounds bananas (3) @ 0.64/lb = 0.82; total $12.21
• 1 head romaine @ 1.89 ea = 1.89; total $14.10
• 1 head red leaf @ 1.69 ea = 1.69; total $15.79
• 1.9 pounds onion @ 0.99/lb = 1.88; total $17.67
• 3.5 pounds yams (6 med) @ 0.99/lb = 3.47; total $21.14
• 0.2 pound garlic (2 heads) @ 2.39/lb =  0.48; total $21.62
• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes @ 1.73 ea = 1.73; total $23.35
• 4 15-oz cans French green beans @ 0.97 ea = 3.88; total $27.23
• 1 pound bag dry small red beans @ 1.59 ea = 1.59; total $28.82
• 1 pound bag dry lentils @ 0.99 ea = 0.99; total $29.81
• 1 16-oz bottle salsa @ 1.00 =  1.00; total $30.81
• 1 12-oz can tuna @ 2.99 ea = 2.99; total $33.80
• 1 can Tony Chachere’s w/herbs  @ 1.39 ea = 1.39; total $35.19
• 1 half gal skim milk @  3.50 ea = 3.50; total $38.69
• 1 24 oz  lowfat cottage cheese @ 2.99 ea = 2.99; total $41.68
• 1 dozen eggs @ 1.69/dz = 1.69; total $43.37
• 0.78 pound long grain brown rice (2 c) @ 1.49/lb = 1.16; total $44.53
• 0.25 pound pearl barley @ 0.99/lb = 0.25; total $44.78
• 2.17 pounds whole wheat flour (for 1 loaf) @ 0.99/lb =  2.15; total $46.93
• 0.6 pound steel cut oats (1.5 c) @ 1.39/lb = 0.83; total $47.76
• 1 jar natural peanut butter @ 3.39 ea = 3.39; total $51.15
• 1 bottle mustard @ 1.69 ea =1.69; total $52.84
• .22 pound almonds @ 8.99/lb = 1.98; total $54.81
• 1 small jar mayo @ 1.39 ea = 1.39; total $56.20
• 1 pound chicken (2 breasts)  @ 1.99/lb = 1.99; total $58.19

As you can see, the money is extremely close - no wiggle room at all.  From those purchases, here is the plan:

Mon - Fri, breakfast for both: baked oats/barley w/1 apple, 3 c milk, 3 egg whites  (baked once and nuked the rest of the week; it’s much better with a few dried cranberries, a little maple syrup, and a scoop of protein powder, but that was out of the budget)

Mon am snack - me (just me, husband doesn’t snack):  1 hard boiled egg

Mon lunch - me: homemade bread with peanut butter & banana; DH: homemade bread with peanut butter & banana

Mon pm snack - me: 1/3 c cottage cheese, 1/2 banana

Mon dinner - both: lentil soup (lentils, 2 carrots, garlic, Tony’s, 1 bell pepper, 2 zukes, 1/2 can tomatoes, mustard)

Tue am snack - me: 14 almonds (had office meeting and a free slice of King Cake as well)

Tue lunch - me: hard boiled egg sandwich with lettuce & mustard; DH: tuna salad sandwich (3 oz tuna, mayo, zuke, carrot, Tony’s, homemade bread)

Tue pm snack - me: 1/2 apple with peanut butter

Tue dinner - both: butternut stew (butternut, other 1/2 can tomatoes, red beans, Tony’s, 1/2 bell pepper, onion, garlic) (I usually make this with chipotle chilis as well, but that’s out this week)

Wed am snack - me: 1/3 c cottage cheese

Wed lunch - me: leftover lentil soup; DH: leftover butternut stew

Wed pm snack - me: 1 hard boiled egg, a few almonds

Wed dinner - both: frittata (6 eggs, 2 cans green beans, garlic, salsa); salad (greens, vinagrette, diced steamed yams)

Thu am snack - me: 14 almonds

Thu lunch - me: tuna sald (3 oz tuna, mayo, zuke, carrot, Tony’s) over red leaf lettuce; DH: leftover frittata

Thu pm snack - me: 1/3 c cottage cheese, 1/2 banana

Thu dinner - both: chicken with peanut sauce (chicken, peanut butter, milk, Tony’s, garlic) over brown rice, green beans on the side

Fri am snack - me: 1 hard boiled egg

Fri lunch - me: homemade bread with peanut butter, 1/2 apple; DH: homemade bread with peanut butter, 1/2 apple

Fri pm snack - me: 1/2 apple, peanut butter

Fri dinner - both: tuna salad (6 oz tuna, 2 zuke, 2 carrots, almonds, mayo, Tony’s, mustard over remaining lettuces), baked yams

Like Miz said, “ain’t nothin’ new under the sun” (well, she used different words)… but I’m going to write about a few tools anyway. No, not tools as in stupid men or construction equipment, but tools that can help you achieve your fitness goals.

One such tool is the food diary.  Can I just say (actually, yes, I can - it’s my blog, eh?) - I hate keeping a food diary!  It feels tedious and childish, but mostly just tedious.  And I don’t even keep a detailed diary.  You can do it many ways; nutritionists & lots of places on the web often recommend listing the foods, the portions, perhaps even the calories and macronutrients (fat/carbs/protein).  Some people might need to do that, especially if their goals are very dependent on a specific dietary intake, but whoa, baby! Too much work for me.

However, studies show that keeping a food diary increases weight loss, so if that’s your goal, why not try to do it?  Here’s one study from Kaiser Permanente that showed keeping a diary doubled weight loss - that’s some compelling information.

Food journals can work for other reasons too. For example, my goals are more nutrition oriented at the moment:  get in 2 servings of whole grain, 2 servings of legumes, 3 servings of fruit and 4 servings on vegetables per day.  Along with that I try to be sure I have a decent portion of protein in every meal; after working with a nutritionist, I have a good idea of what a serving of protein looks like for me, so I just eyeball it.  These goals are to help me kick a sugar habit - and I’ve found that by only allowing sweets after I get the above in… I’m a lot less likely to want said sweets.  However, without the food journal I’ve not been succeeding at it, so it’s time to dust it off and dig out the pen again. I’ve found this item, picopad, is handy for me because it’s tiny and I can carry it everywhere (and it comes with a pen so I have no excuses).  There are also lots of online diaries, examples being NutritionData, Fit Day, SparkPeople, CalorieKing… I personally like NutritionData but that’s certainly not to say the others aren’t good. Try them and see which works best for you.

PS For those of you more connected (or more willing to spend bucks on a cellphone), there’s also Lose It! for your iPhone…

A couple of months ago I ran across the recipe for the “Ultimate Power Breakfast” from Men’s Health magazine.

Here’s the recipe (copied/pasted directly from the link above):

The Ultimate Power Breakfast
Powerfoods: 8

1 egg
1 cup low-fat milk
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup mixed berries
1 tablespoon chopped pecans or almonds
1 teaspoon vanilla whey protein powder
1 teaspoon ground flaxseed
1/2 banana, sliced
1 tablespoon plain yogurt

In microwave-safe bowl, mix egg well, then add next 6 ingredients and nuke for 2 minutes. Remove, let cool for a minute or two. Top with sliced banana and yogurt.

Serves 1

Nutritional information, per serving: 590 calories, 30 g protein, 80 g carbs, 17 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 193 mg sodium, 12 g fiber

To be honest, I haven’t made it exactly as stated. I use 2 egg whites instead of an egg, and since I don’t have rolled oats (which is what I assume the recipe calls for), I use about half the amount in steel-cut oats. I also add a good shake of cinnamon, as I found the first batch a tiny bit bland. Different berries would improve the oomph too - all I had was some blueberries, which are yummy but not really zingy, if you know what I mean.

Since I only need about 300 calories for my first meal of the day, I eat about half this recipe - it would probably be great as is for a guy. It also works really well if you make most of the recipe ahead and refrigerate it for the work week. Scoop out a bit in the morning, nuke, top with milk, sliced banana and yogurt. Really, really tasty and filling enough to last.

I happened across some research news the other day on Yahoo… it seems that men are better at turning off their brains to resist cravings than women are.  An excerpt:

In the experiment, the volunteers did not eat for a day and were then asked to suppress all thoughts of food.

When questioned further, the male participants reported fewer hunger pangs and fewer cravings for food.

Then, by using a brain scanner, scientists tried to see if this was backed up by differences in the patterns of brain activation between men and women.

After the men were told to resist their cravings, there was far less activity in regions of the brain called the amygdala, hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex and striatum, reports the BBC.

The men seemed to do better and brain scans later revealed they had far less activity than the women in a part of the brain linked to desire for food.

So does this mean a gal should just give up resisting foods that she 1 - knows aren’t conducive to their goals and 2 - doesn’t necessarily even really want? Heck no! I’m not a researcher but I’m pretty sure the old adage still applies: “Practice makes perfect”.

Stick to your guns and keep trying,
giz

Or fat, or lazy, or would never succeed at something?

Time to stop!!  And Gal over at “60 in 3″ has posted a great little essay about conquering this bad habit… go read it!