Lose Weight in the New Year

As we head into 2013 a lot of people are making New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, exercise more, or to simply be more healthy.  I myself have lost 80lbs since my top weight playing football. I believe the new year is a great time to think about your fitness, yet so many resolutions fail.  Research shows the following are effective strategies for making your New Year’s resolution stick:

    

•  Make sure you are ready – Changing lifestyle can be very difficult. Can you make time to succeed? Are you willing to make the necessary changes? 
•  Do you have a good plan? – If you’re reading this blog you probably have some sort of plan or are looking for ways to make a plan.  Plan out the details and think through how you will accomplish them.  Getting help from a trainer is a great way to implement an exercise and diet plan.  
•  Can you enjoy the process? – Yes, it is important to enjoy something you set your mind to doing, otherwise, it is too easy to give up and go back to doing the things you used to enjoy.  Think of ways to have fun doing your resolution and add them to your plan. 
• Focus on short-term goals while keeping the long-term resolution in mind- Losing 50 pounds means taking 1lb off fifty times.  Set weekly goals, then monthly, etc. It took me about 2 years to lose my 80lbs. You have to celebrate your success along the way. 
•  Include others. Build a strong support team of your family, friends, co-workers and trainer. Sharing your resolution can help you stick to your new lifestyle and reach your fitness goals. 

There are still a few openings in our 10 Weeks to 10lbs Lighter Weight Loss Program. To enroll or find out more details, simply respond to this message.

Happy New Year!

Joey Smith

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REFERENCE:

Problems with goal-setting research in sports—and their solution.

Locke, Edwin A.

Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, Vol 13(3), Sep 1991, 311-316.

Ever Heard of Ethylene Gas?

A good teacher once told me to give the "take aways" upfront. I've got two for you today:

• Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Learn some simple chemistry to save yourself some money.

Most fruit and vegetables give off a gas called ethylene. It's what softens peaches or turns tomatoes red when you store them in paper bags. The gas brings about the natural degradation process in fruits and vegetables. The trick is getting the raspberries to your mouth before they soften and mold, a process that can happen on the drive home from the grocery store. Here are two strategies for maximizing your produce enjoyment.

Know your culprits
Peaches, apples, bananas and watermelon all give off a fair amount of ethylene sending everything else in your crisper drawer into a downward tailspin. Separate these fruits from other produce.

Use an ExtraLife Produce Saver
Those who read this blog know I don't often endorse products, but I think this one is nifty. These little green disks transform the ethylene gas in your crisper drawer into water vapor. This means you can actually have a chance to eat the spinach you bought this weekend and didn't have time to cook. One of my clients gave me a disk last week. I put it in a drawer with some apples, pears and green peppers. All produces seems to be in a state of suspended time. So far so good.  Each disk says it lasts 3 months. If it can save me one carton of blackberries it will have paid for itself.

I've included a link below where you can buy 3 disks for $11.

Mark Thiesmeyer, MS, MPH, RD
734-747-0123

http://www.amazon.com/ExtraLife-Produce-Preserver-Disks-Set/dp/B000MQ8SS8

Words of Wisdom

My client Ester has more energy at 89 than most people do at 29.  How, I asked her, have you managed to stay so healthy and fit throughout your life?

She replied that no matter how busy she is, she always manages to find a few 10 or 15 minute “windows” throughout the day to exercise. (She also mentioned something about wine, but that’s a topic for another blog.)

Among all of the excuses we hear for not exercising, “no time” is by far the most common..  That’s because we’re often seeking out large blocks of time – an hour or longer – to go to the pool or the gym.  Once you factor in all of the transition time – parking the car, changing clothes, showering afterward, driving home, the prospect seems overwhelming.

In busy times, try focusing on short segments of exercise.  Here’s how:

1. Take three 10-minute walks during the day – first thing in the morning, with lunch or a coffee break, after dinner, or whenever you can spare just 10 minutes.  I promise it will give you more energy than spending 10 minutes responding to email.
2. Incorporate at least two stretching routines – optimally once in the morning and another before going to bed each night.
3. Add a simple 15-minute workout consisting of push-ups, crunches, jumping jacks or jogging in place. You don’t always need a gym to get a good workout!

These are just a few ideas of some things you can do. Continue to check out the blog and I will add more simple exercise routines that will help you burn calories and feel great!

Joey Smith
ACE-certified Personal Trainer
734.747.0123

Let's work on our posture...part 2

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about posture. Why is posture important?   Proper posture can eliminate lower back pain, neck pain and reduce risk of carpel tunnel syndrome.  Proper posture also gives you a feeling of self-assurance and people see you as healthy and powerful! 

Last time I focused on shoulder blade squeezes to improve your rhomboid strength. Now that you are stronger in your upper back, try these 3 strategies to further improve your posture:

• Chest lifts - Sitting in a chair, relax your shoulders (down), slowly inhale and gently lift your chest 1-2 inches, hold this position through the exhale and for 5 more breaths. 

• Backward resistance with neck- Seated or standing place your hands behind your head and interlock your fingers so that your head is resting in your palms.  Gently press your palms forward simultaneously pressing the head against the pressure so that there is a contraction in the back of your neck, hold this for 5-10 seconds and perform 10-20 daily.  Remember to also engage your front neck muscles during this exercise by pulling your chin down.

• Build core strength- Core strength helps provide stability in both the lower back and abdominal regions of the body, which is critical in improving your posture!  This can be done with planks, crunches, kneeling supermans/quadripeds, and bridges. 

Working on your posture just 5-10 minutes a day will yield results and increase your awareness of how your carry yourself through the day.

Joey Smith

Certified Personal Trainer

734.747.0123 

Is Beetroot Juice For ME?

With the recent Olympics, beetroot juice has gotten some new attention.  It seems several athletes swear by the performance enhancement of this blood-red beverage. I am here to sort through the hype and give you the facts as we know them.

Beetroot juice is rich in magnesium, potassium and a phytochemical, betaine, which is thought to help with cardiovascular health and may help prevent liver disease. It is also high in nitrate, a precursor to nitric oxide in the blood that helps relax blood vessels.  Indeed, drinking 500ml beetroot juice did lower people's blood pressure 3-4hrs after consumption and for up to 24hrs after according to a recent study. This is exciting news.

A study out of the UK showed last year that drinking the same amount (500ml) of beetroot juice did improve power output and performance (2.7-2.8%) in cyclists doing 2.5-10 miles. While this improvement may be worthwhile for olympians looking for an edge, I would caution a regular exerciser from buying the juicer just yet.  A half liter of the juice contains 232 calories and 50 grams of sugar.  Most people would have to bike an extra 5-6 miles to burn off those extra calories.

The real power of beetroot is in it's potential blood pressure control. While I would normally steer you toward eating whole foods, such as sliced beets on your salad, that's not completely right in this case. Cooking beets reduces the nitrate content therefore you may not get the great blood pressure effects.  Instead, if you would like to experiment with beetroot juice, I'd advise drinking just a cup a day. Some research suggest you may need to have regular doses for it to be effective. One cup contains 110 calories, so skip the post lunch cookie and try this glass of frothy red goodness. You'll have done two good things for your heart.

- Mark Thiesmeyer, MS, MPH, RD

Stay tuned next time for Joey Smith's Part 2 on Posture.
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References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21471821
http://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-fruit-vegetable-juices-organic-vegetables-beet_f-ZmlkPTEwODM0MA.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetroot
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/looking-for-fitness-in-a-glass-of-juice/
http://www.everydayhealth.com/Calories-Burned-Biking.htm

How is your posture? (part 1)

During my career as a personal trainer I have learned that one of the most important aspects of an individual’s musculoskeletal health is their posture.  Poor posture is one of the most common mistakes I see in the gym.  Posture defined is a relative placement or arrangement of an individual’s body or body parts.  Our body is designed to hold our joints in a position that minimizes the stress placed on them.  However, most of our bodies have lost this natural alignment.  

When training a person I will often place his/her lower back, shoulders, and neck in proper alignment and he or she will tell me how awkward and uncomfortable this position feels.  This is because after multiple years of sitting at a desk, walking improperly, slouching while working on the computer or watching TV, the body’s muscles tighten and remodel themselves to find a way to make this poor posture feel comfortable.

For many people the first step to good posture is strengthening their rhomboids. This is easily accomplished at the gym with an exercise such as cable rows.  In lieu of a trip to the weight room, try this simple exercise:

Shoulder blade squeezes- Sitting in a chair, lift your arms to shoulder level with palms facing the floor.  Bend your elbows to 90 degrees.  Sit up big and tall and squeeze your shoulder blades together (think about trying to squeeze your elbows together behind you).  Hold for 5 seconds, repeat 10 times.

Next week I'll cover several more exercises to improve your posture.

Walk tall this week!

Joey Smith

ACE-Certified Personal Trainer

734-747-0123

Better Living is Growing!

I owe you all a quick apology for my lack of blogging this year.  I can't believe we are steps away from August!  It's been an exciting year at Better Living as we've added two new faces and a lot more talent and charisma to the company.

Please welcome Joey Smith and Dawn Trembath.

Joey, like me is an ACE-certified personal trainer. He brings 10 years of coaching and mentoring to the position. He has a degree in physical education from the University of Central Missouri and moved to Michigan with his fiance earlier this year.  Joey will join me in writing blogs about exercises and stretches you can take from your inbox to your fitness plan.

Dawn is also an educator with a master's degree in early childhood education.  She is a mother of two and joined Better Living as our office manager. She brings us much-valued organization. She'll help in ensuring we communicate the latest in fitness much more frequently.

You can find pictures of both Joey and Dawn at www.betterlivingfitness.com.

Be well!
Mark Thiesmeyer, MS, MPH, RD
734-747-0123

Long-term Weight Loss Simplified

The New York Times recently printed an article call "The Fat Trap" by Tara Parker-Pope. Perhaps it is a terrible thing for me to accuse Parker-Pope of inserting her own bias into her writing, because invariably I am about to do the same thing... Parker-Pope admitted that she has struggled both to lose weight and to keep it off. I believe, her struggle lead her to paint a bleak picture of the challenges of permanent, significant weight loss.

I would like to paint a rosier picture from my decade of weight-loss counseling. I have seen many men and women make permanent changes to their exercise and nutrition plans and accordingly, transform their bodies. I've seen the results in young, medium-aged and the elderly. I've watched people replace fat with lean, toned muscle. Here are some of the core principles these people have adopted into their lives:

1. Lose weight slowly (0.5 - 1lb per week).
2. Create awareness of what you eat and drink. Write it down, text yourself, whatever.
3. Preserve you muscles and build some new ones. Strength train at least twice a week.
4. Eat as soon as you wake up, then only thereafter when you feel hungry.
5. Get your beauty sleep. Research shows hunger hormones (ghrelin and leptin) can be out of control after just one night of sleep deprivation.
6. Manage your stress without reaching for a doughnut. This is a difficult one, but you'll be happier and healthier if you figure out some strategies (yoga, tai chi, deep breathing, going to your "happy place").
7. Get in touch with nature. Eat 2+ pieces of fruit AND 2+ cups vegetables every day.
8. Don't pig out. Eat small meals or snacks rather than the traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner.
9. Create bulk in your stomach. Eat plenty of fiber and drink lots of water. The combination is great for expanding food in your stomach and for feeling full longer.
10. Work with a Registered Dietitian. Take some pressure of losing weight off yourself and put it on a professional.

Good luck and happy losing!
Mark Thiesmeyer, MS, MPH, RD
mark@betterliving.biz
734-644-5483