Sooo Tired......

How often we feel so sluggish and lethargic, and typically relate it to how sleep deprived we are. I know I felt the same way for a long time; "If I could just get more sleep I would feel better." That never turned out to be true for me, until I added regular activity into my day. Now, regardless of how little sleep I get, I have energy to burn throughout the day. The energizer bunny within has turned on, apparently getting a needed battery change. Sleep has not seemed to be the answer for giving more energy, but boosting the metabolism is! And exercise does that!

One serious benefit to sleep that I have found is its impeccable ability to boost my weight loss. I no longer see my lack of sleep in my energy, but I can feel it in my midsection and see it on the scale. When I get a good night's sleep, not only do I feel rested, but I feel thinner, and the scale reflects it! When I see the scale staying stagnant, I know it is because my sleep schedule has been compromised, and I need to fix it quickly. The best fix is consistency, both in a bed time and a wake-up time. Our bodies thrive on a circadian rhythm (the biological 24 hr alarm clock we all seem to have), and when it is regular and predictable we are operating optimally. I know this is one area I have been slack lately, and I can totally see it, and feel it!

In addition to regular sleep/wake cycles, to boost the fat burn throughout the day and night, follow two steps:
1. Stop eating at least 3 hrs before your bed time. This gets your body into hunger mode, which means that it will burn the fat reserves you have in your body through the night to get energy. If you ate a meal, or anything, within this time and do not get to hunger mode, your body would be using the food in your stomach as fuel. What a loss!
2. Eat within 1 hour of waking up, unless you are working out, to get your metabolism jump started first thing! If you are working out in the morning, eat as soon as you finish your workout.

These two steps alone will help to burn fat and boost your metabolism so that you will see awesome results on the scale, and on your body! Make it a great and productive day!

How much do I eat?!?!

So, you've started moving, but your diet is for crap; McDonald's, Taco Bell, or Burger King ring any bells? If this describes you and your life, let me make some observations for you.

First off, the "secret" recipe for weight loss is a decrease in calories with an increase in calories burned becomes weight loss. We decrease our caloric intake by restricting our bodies total daily calories eaten through portion control and stopping when calories are achieved. We achieve an increase in calories burned through cardio and weight training, each which burn loads of calories and work with the body to burn fat.

Now, if you have no idea how many calories you should be taking in, go to http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/calories-burned and input your data for an assessment of what your body burns each day at your current weight and activity level. Now, this is the total your body currently uses, but if you want to lose weight, you need to reduce the calories put into your body. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories, so if you wanted to lose 1 lb per week, you would need to reduce your total caloric intake by 500 calories per day. If you wanted to lose 2 lbs per week, 1000 calories per day. Understand? In addition to this, you can add your daily workouts to boost your calorie burn, meaning that if you reduce your daily intake by 1000 calories, and burn an additional 500 calories each day, you have now bumped your weekly weight loss to 3 lbs per week. Make sense?

The type of calories you consume are just as important as the amount of calories, especially for satiety purposes. Think volume! If a Big Mac has 540 Calories and 29 g Fat, you have just eaten a good portion of your daily amount of food, and you will be hungry again in short duration. This is not in addition to the likely fries and Coke that accompany the meal. But, if you exchanged the Big Mac meal with a Subway 6-inch Oven Roasted Chicken Breast with loaded veggies, which has only 310 calories and 5 g fat, you will have added an amount of calories that your body can effectively handle without adding to your waist line, not eaten so much of your daily amount of food that you will be starving later, AND seriously eliminated the grease, oil, and fried gunk that comes with the McD's option. For the person on the go, Subway is a GREAT option!

The goal is to expand your calories throughout the day instead of blowing through them in one sitting. You will get hungry again later, and it is important for your metabolism to be fed every 2-3 hrs for maximum efficiency! If you eat a high calorie meal every 2-3 hours, your calories will be through the roof! Or, if you get so full with these high calorie meals that you only eat once or twice a day, your metabolism will be horrible and your body will not know what to do with the excess calories...so they turn to fat! Our body can only process so much at any given time, so it is wise to have meals within a 300-500 calories range, depending on your calorie intake, so that the body can effectively process the meal without it turning to fat.

Move more and eat less is a great method to lose weight, but it is always great to do it with a friend or a team of friends. I highly recommend joining with some other people who are like-minded in their goals so you can motivate one another through the difficult times and temptations of life! No matter what, making good choices one day at a time will have awesome benefits in the long-term! I wish you the best on your weight loss journey!

Get Moving...

We have all heard that if we want to lose weight and live healthy lives we need to move more, but what does that mean? Of course, if you live a very sedentary lifestyle, any additional movement added into your day will bring results, but for the majority of people, movement means a more consistent and structured intense workout that includes cardio. Cardio is what really gets the body healthy, especially with all of the benefits it offers, including stronger heart and lungs, reduced stress, weight loss, stronger bones, more energy, better sleep, lowered risk of diabetes and other illnesses, and an overall feeling of vitality. These are just some of the great things cardio adds to our lives.

Although it might not be fun to diligently dedicate the time and energy to doing some cardio, the long-lasting pros to the after effects of a good workout will be far more uplifting than those of sitting on the couch with a Twinkie and a House episode.

How much cardio is recommended? Well, on average 3-5 days a week for 20-30 minutes each time, at a heart rate of 60% of max. Once this activity becomes a regular part of your routine, you will be surprised at how much energy you have now that you are moving more! Seems almost like an oxymoron, right? But, that's what we were designed to do; move! So grab those walking/running shoes, put in that DVD, grab a friend, and get some steps in! Your body will thank you for it!