Sweets after Meals

This was one of the hardest obstacles to overcome for me when I started my diet. I always loved a treat after dinner whether it is an ice cream sandwich or some kind of chocolate. Well now that it’s out of the question I am glad Men’s Fitness came out with some alternatives to fight the urge to cheat.

1. Eat less sugar and refined carbs during the day. The less sugar you eat, the less insulin your body releases—and the less sugar you end up wanting.

2. Brush your teeth or use a mouthwash after your meal. Or pop some sugar-free mints. Studies show that the flavor of mint helps to curb an errant sweet tooth.

3. Stock up on low-calorie, sugar-free options, such as sugar-free Popsicles, Fudgsicles, pudding, or gelatin packs.

4. Try some fruit. It's sweet, but also packed with vitamins and fiber.

5. Grab a portion-controlled treat. If you must have something sweet, keep it small. This way, you get your sugar fix with the fewest number of calories possible.

Men’s Fitness has tons of articles about dieting and working out. Check it out here.

Calorie Count

I found this really cool website called "Calorie Count". What you do is you fill out some information about yourself such as your weight, height, age, amount of activity, and how much weight you want to lose by a certain date, and it spits out the amount of calories you need to eat, and then how many you need to burn. It also has a really cool feature that lets you keep a food diary online so that you can keep track of everything digitally. I am going to start using this, and keep myself honest with what I eat. If you want to check out more go here.

Being Lazy can pay off!

I ran across an article today about how having some habits that some people say are bad can actually turn out to be good. Here are just a few, but you can check out the whole article here.

Laying around the House
People who get up early and busy themselves all day long are heading for an early grave, says public health expert Professor Peter Axt. He believes lazing about is the key to a long life and an antidote to professional stress, provided people are otherwise healthy.
He suggests: 'Waste half your free time. People who would rather take a midday nap instead of playing squash have a better chance of living into old age.' Research shows that people who run long distances into their 50s are using up energy they need for other purposes such as cell renewal and fighting disease, he adds.
As examples of his thesis, he has pointed to the increased longevity of zoo animals - for instance lions in the Serengeti live only eight years, but can live to the age of 20 in a zoo; Arctic polar bears last 20 years in the wild, but 40 in captivity. Human examples are priests, nuns and monks, who tend to live quieter lives.

Listening to Loud Music
Heading off to rock festivals, or simply turning up the volume on your home amplifier might be good for your brain power.
According to researchers at Manchester University, music fans are stimulating part of the inner ear known as the sacculus, which responds to the beat in music. This gives the brain pleasure and makes us feel good - during the music and afterwards.
The sacculus, which is not thought to have any hearing function in humans, appears to be sensitive only to very loud volumes, above 90 decibels.
Neil Todd, an expert in the scientific study of music, explains that the sacculus seems to be part of a primitive hearing mechanism that has slowly been lost as humans have evolved.

He said it has a connection to the part of the brain responsible for drives such as hunger, sex and hedonistic responses.
When these desires are satisfied, the brain is stimulated into releasing feelgood hormones that make us calm, happy and responsive. So to trigger a dose of happy hormones on a Monday morning, you should, in theory, choose Black Sabbath over chamber music. 

Now I don't feel as bad sitting on the computer and typing on this blog, or cranking up the volume on my stereo. My big goal in this experiment is to change my bad habits, and be a better person, but its hard to stop laying around the house after reading all the benefits! :) But seriously, if you believe this research to be true what are your feelings toward your bad habits that could potentially be beneficial?

 

WORKOUT MUSIC

I am such a huge fan of music while working out! It pumps me up and gets the blood flowing when you are really working hard. I am trying to compile a real sweet list of songs to listen to while I work out and I want to get some suggestions from you guys. You can give me a song, or a band, or even a playlist you like to listen to. I did this with my old roommate Nick last year when we worked out for a little bit and we had some sweet songs but the list needs to get updated. Here is the list we came up with and see if you can do better.

80's Explosion Workout Playlist
Van Halen - Dreams
Journey - Separate Ways
Bon Jovi - Livin on a Prayer
Bonnie Tyler - I need a hero
Paul Stanley - Live to Win
Kenny Loggins - Highway to the Danger Zone
Stan Bush - You've Got the Touch
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
Jefferson Starship - Nothings going to stop us now
Stan Bush - The moment of Truth
John Parr - Man in Motion
Europe - The Final Countdown

Can't wait to hear from you guys!

My Mom said we can't be friends....because your fat

I know that title is a little disheartning but it really could come out of a child's mouth soon after researchers found that kids eat more when they hang out with an obese child. Here is an excerpt from the article in Newsweek :

Now a new study by researchers at the University of Buffalo suggests an even more radical idea: banning fat friends from eating together. Sarah-Jeanne Salvy, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the university's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and her colleagues found that fat kids consume significantly more calories when they chow down with friends who are also overweight than when they eat with lean friends.

In the study, published in the August issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers randomly paired 23 overweight and 42 normal-weight children between the ages of 9 and 15 with either a friend or a kid they did not know. There were 33 friend pairs and 39 stranger pairs. Each pair of kids spent 45 minutes in a room that contained puzzles, games, and bowls of both healthy snacks (in this case, baby carrots and grapes) and calorie-rich treats (potato chips and cookies). The kids could eat as much as they wanted, but only from their own bowls. The researchers monitored the youngsters on closed-circuit TV. Afterward they weighed the uneaten snacks to figure out how many calories the kids had consumed.

The results showed that in general, friends who ate together took in more calories than youngsters who were unfamiliar with their partner. That was true for both fat and thin kids. Not surprisingly, overweight kids ate more than lean kids, whether or not they were paired with a friend. And they ate even more when they were paired with another overweight youngster. The greatest number of calories was consumed by two overweight friends eating together in what Salvy describes as a kind of synergistic effect. "Being friends increased food intake, being overweight and eating with an overweight [person] increased eating, and when you combined those, the overweight friends were eating about 700 calories," Salvy says. (The lean kids consumed several hundred fewer calories.) And, she points out, this is snack food—which means they were consuming a good chunk of their daily calories in that one sitting.

Growing up always being chubby or fat, whatever you want to call it, I know that it was tough enough just trying to fit in. I was lucky enough that my charisma and humor allowed me to have more friends than bullies that picked on my weight. But I know that if another kid had told me we could not hang out because of my weight that would have really hurt my feelings. I think the article brings up some very valid points, but doing this to a child might do some major psychological damage to them down the road. I just hope that any parent that follows through on what the article is suggesting remembers how fragile the psyche of a child is, and how hard that will be for the obese child to hear. What are your thoughts?

View on cheat meals

 I was driving home last night from the convenient store last night when I noticed something that I wish I would have never seen...P. Terry's just opened on William Cannon and Mopac! Maybe I just haven't seen it and its been there for awhile, but I just now noticed it, and started to crave one of their burgers. With such a strict diet I find it so hard to stay on track all the time, and every once in awhile I will find my way back to a cheat meal. The first couple of weeks I was cheating just a little almost everyday with a cookie or cracker, but I told myself I had to stop that or it would never end. Now I try to limit it to one cheat meal a week. I have heard tons of opinions on this subject like "Follow your diet on the weekdays and cheat on the weekends" (My favorite advice ever!), or "If you cheat you will never get good habits so never eat bread again or anything that is tasty! (BOO!)... I personally feel cheat meals will come and go but if they happen don't feel guilty about it, because no one is perfect, and if you try to be you will end up eating 35 slice of pizza at a buffet from all the built up temptation.  So what I am wondering is how do you guys feel about cheat meals? Are you against them or for them? What should the frequency be on them? And if you are on a diet, what cheat meal do you like?

P.S. I understand that some people may not want to divulge this kind of info to the public so please feel free to email me here.

Dudley and Bob spot with Trainers

Today I got to share my workout results with Dale, Bob, Charlie, and Angela with the help of my trainers Thomas and Diana. We also talk about the training process, and Charlie's thoughts on what happens to a man when he works out a lot. Hope you enjoy!

How did I measure up?

Today is the 35th day I have been working with Workshop Fitness. On the first day I went there they measured my neck, arm, chest, waist, hip, thigh, and calf, and today they did the same. The trainer that does the measuring, Diana, was about to cry she was so happy with the results! Here is how much I lost in each category:

Weight:  19 lbs
Neck: .25 inches
Arm: 1.0 inch
Chest: 5.5 inches
Waist: 6 inches
Hip: 3 inches
Thigh: 1 inch
Calf: .5 inches
Total: 17.5 INCHES!

These numbers are exactly what I have been needing to see because I felt a difference in my body but wasn't seeing the weight go down for the first three weeks. Now to see how many inches I lost, I got a great idea of how hard I have worked, and how appreciative I am of all the trainers working with me. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Salsa Dancing

When I decided to lose my weight and change my life physically, I also wanted to work on other areas of my life. So when my trainer Christine Tusa asked me if I was interested in joining her at a salsa dance class my first thought was YEAH RIGHT! But then I started to think if it was something I would never do before this then maybe I need to give it a shot, and let me tell you I am so happy that I did. Salsa class is a great cardio workout, a great way to meet new people, and hopefully with a little practice I can  show off my dance moves sometime! I go to a salsa class on Mondays at Galaxy Dance Studios. Check them out if you want to learn how to boogie.

VEGETABLE RECIPES AND IDEAS

I have gotten some great feedback on my vegetable inquiry from friends, and I would like to share some of these ideas with everyone!

One of my old buddies that I used to play basketball with told me about Mrs. Dash, a company that makes salt-free spices for all kinds of meals. I am looking forward to trying out some of these flavors they have, and on their web site they even have recipes that I want to try. You can check it out here.

I got an e-mail from a high school friend who said, "I LOVE grilled vegetables and it's super easy to cut some up, stick them on a kabob stick, season with whatever you like, and stick them on the grill (or in a george foreman haha!)". I really like this idea, because I do use a George Foreman for some meals.

Another old friend sent me this, "I like to marinate squash, zucchini, mushrooms in balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic for a few hours then grill them. Zucchini and squash are also good roasted in the oven or sauteed on the stove with onions and bell peppers."

I even got an e-mail from the mother of one of my trainers, who filled me in on how to roast my vegetables, "I use parchment paper to keep the veggies from sticking to the pan, but I also use Pam on the parchment and on the veggies themselves. Olive oil Pam is good for this. 400 degrees is the oven temp for most. For broccoli & cauliflower, spray with Pam, season lightly, and roast about 15 min. Sweet potatoes, squash, turnips, carrots, eggplant, sweet peppers... these will probably take about 20 min. Eggplant soaks up oil like a sponge, so roasting is a great alternative to frying. To add some variety to green beans, toast slivered almonds in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes (careful not to burn). Steam the green beans (or try roasting), then drizzle with some olive oil. Season with a little salt and a sprinkle of garlic powder, and top with the toasted almonds. You only need a couple of teaspoonfuls of the slivered almonds. Not a lot of calories, but really fun and tasty on boring green beans."

Then I got a recipe from a college friend on making a hamburger using a portabella mushroom instead of beef.

1 portabella mushroom (stem and gills removed)
olive oil to coat frying pan
1 tomato
1 avocado (optional)
sprouts
low fat cheese
whole wheat bun

Turn your burners on medium heat, remove the stem and gills from the portabella mushroom and place it gill side down on the frying pan in a little bit of olive oil. let it cook on medium for 6 minutes then flip it over to the other side and cook it on medium for 5 minutes. place low fat cheese on to melt. place cooked portabella mushroom on whole wheat bun and garnish with sprouts, tomato, and avocado.

This post was a little long, but I really wanted to share a lot of the ideas I got. I really appreciate all the great information I received, and can't wait to try them all out!

BORING VEGETABLES NO MORE!

As a kid I never really ate that many vegetables besides corn on occasion, and carrots every once in awhile. Now with this new diet I am supposed to eat at least five cups of vegetables a day, and this has been no easy task for me. Eating all the vegetables has given me tons of energy, made me feel healthier, and really opened up my list of foods. The problem with part of my diet is that I am running out of ideas of how to spruce up vegetables to keep them fresh, and exciting. I am calling out all the cooks out there to help me spice up my vegetables, and keep me from going insane with boring green beans or unpleasant peas. If you have any suggestions just leave a comment of e-mail them to me here.

Note: For my diet I have to limit my salt, and butter is not an option. Thank you guys in advance for any tips or recipes sent my way.