Get A New You This New Year
The first New Year’s resolutions were made back in Roman times. Shortly thereafter the first resolution was broken. This is a tradition with truly ancient roots.
Modern resolutions are a way of closing out the old year and beginning the New Year on sound footing or with good luck. Today the most common resolutions are:
These are all positive changes and anyone would benefit from making such choices and sticking to them. Realistically, we don’t.
If these popular resolutions are positive changes that would benefit us why won’t we stick to them? The reason is that resolutions are tests of willpower. We say we will resist temptations and even though all our impulses tell us to do one thing, we will resolutely do another. With out learning the important techniques that lead to permanent and lasting change willpower will ultimately fail. We all get tired of fighting eventually and old habits return in force with no change but added guilt for giving up the uphill battle and failing once again.
The best resolution you can make is to not make a resolution. Setting yourself up for failure won’t help you reach your goals. Learn how to make change permanently and realistically so that you can achieve your goals and be successful.
Are you ready to change? Let’s find out how ready you are and create a program you can live with. Forever.
LiveFit!
Marc
By Marc Mason, December 9, 2010
Knowing GI Can Make Slim You Down
We can rank the foods you eat by the effect they have on your blood sugar. This system of scoring is called the glycemic index (GI). Scores are lower for foods that have a slower rate of digestion and make a smaller change in blood sugar levels and scores are higher for foods that digest quickly and have more dramatic effects on sugar levels.
People with diabetes and high cholesterol have been able to manage their conditions by avoiding high GI foods. Why would this matter to those of us who do not have these chronic conditions?
It’s the absorption rate.
Put it more simply, it’s how soon do you feel hungry and want to eat again after a meal? Lower GI foods (scores below 70) leave you feeling fed and satisfied longer than high GI (scores above 70) foods which don’t seem to “stick with you” as long.
The lower the GI, the less hungry you feel and the less mindless munching you’ll do. The less munching, the easier it is to control your body composition. Get it?
See the GI list and a full report on the effects of GI.
For years I have heard good things about the herbal sweetener Stevia. Much sweeter than sugar you need much less of this extract to get the same result as sugar.
There is enough skepticism about the safety of all un-natural sweeteners that I avoid them out of a sense that adding a lot of man-made chemicals to my body can’t possibly be benefiting me.
What I choose instead is to use real sugar, syrup, etc for my sweeteners. I just use very little of them.
What I have found is that the less raw sugar I taste, the sweeter the sweet is when I taste it.
But what about people looking for a less fattening alternative? What do I recommend? Stevia.
Although there has been some uncertainty about it’s long term safety, several major food companies are selling Stevia based products. Non-fattening and natural, Stevia is available at most health food stores. So if cutting down on sweet is not for you, how about changing the type of sweet?
LiveFit!
Marc
www.m2workout.com
How do you approach the holidays? Are you the planner, the reveler or observer? Everybody has a different way of dealing with the excitement, the stresses and the togetherness of the next seven weeks.
The planner has a list for everything: presents, parties, cards and invitations. This person is on top of her game. No surprises and the unexpected gets put onto a new list and is dealt with. Often our planner is stretched very tight at the seams this time of year. There is so much to do, so many people to please, so much additional stress, but it is only temporary and life gets back to normal in January.
The reveler is ecstatic! Parties and food and presents and lights and garlands; what’s not to like? The reveler may not remember who sent him cards last year or whose party he went to. But he knows darn well there will be presents and parties this year. Fancy food, flowing beverages flashy clothes it doesn’t get any better than this! Reality kicks back in after New Years. Until then, anything goes.
Our observer likes to hang back. She’ll make a list or two and there will be parties to enjoy but the holidays are a spiritual event. It’s a time to be with loved ones and share special moments. The observer takes in spiritual energy at the end of the year and her life continues much like normal. She’ll get through the holidays without turning her world upside down and enter the new year with plenty of energy and feeling well.
How do these three people cope with next seven weeks? The planner will prioritize and put non-essential activities on hold. She’ll catch a second wind and get caught up with a mad frenzy next year. The reveler will party without a care only to feel worn out and somewhat empty when the excitement dies. The observer will still have energy and feel good about herself and life in general when the hubbub passes.
Now is the time to decide how to approach the next month-and-a-half. Planner, reveler or observer, how are you going to take on the season?
LiveFit!
Marc
PS: Get your free copy of my “21 Secrets to a Better You” at www.m2workout.com!
1. You are under-muscled. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Whether you’re running, reading or sleeping, no matter what you’re doing, muscle burns three times as many calories than fat.
What to do: Lift weights. It’s not like you have to be a body builder or an elite athlete. Most people never use more than a third of the muscle mass they already have. Put what you already have into play and see, and feel, the difference it makes. If you don’t know how to start a new strength training program or want to know how to improve yours, ask me.
2. You underestimate the calories you take in. A recent study found that overweight people miscalculate their calorie intake more than others. And other studies show that the greatest underestimating occurs when the meals are the largest such as family style dinners and dining out.
What to do: Use measuring spoons, measuring cups and a food scale to guide you. Then plug in your food choices on my site or another reputable one to calculate your calorie intake. Eat half of what they serve you in restaurants and don’t help yourself from a common bowl. Put servings directly on a plate and keep “leftovers” out of sight. When buying foods, read every food label for serving size and calories. If you need more help ask me how to measure portions and to track your calorie intake.
3. You overestimate the calories you use. Don’t look at the calorie numbers on your treadmill. It has no clue. It’s easy to eat much more than your work out burns.
What to do: Learn how to monitor your exercise volume and calorie burn. Methods like heart rate training allow you to very closely balance your activities and your food intake. Ask me how to estimate your training heart rate.
LiveFit!
Marc
Don’t hate your scale. I mean it. Don’t hate your scale. It’s an inanimate object. Your hostility will have no effect on it anyway. You stand on it and it
The Scale is NOT Your Enemy!
calculates a number. That’s all it can do. That number is not you. It’s your current body mass. And it doesn’t tell you how much of that mass is good and healthy and how much is not desirable. I don’t hate scales. I just don’t trust them because they don’t give a complete picture. They don’t give you an accurate description of your body.
Thanks to a $40 billion dollar a year weight loss industry, I have to talk about weight loss for most people to relate to what true fitness (or more importantly, wellness) means. It’s really a tragedy because it trains people to be fearful of an irrelevant number and worse, teaches people to be afraid of eating and enjoying food. I love food. We are all programmed to love food. Everyone has their favorites and to profit from telling people that they are “wrong” or “bad” for being normal is down right cruel.
Fasting or “crash dieting” is the most common way people try to lose their extra weight and meet the diet industry’s crazy expectations. Exercising more takes a quick second and then pills and of course medical procedures. No what method or combinations of methods a person uses, the end result is a constant cycle of chasing their own tails. Diets and pills and even surgery (sorry doctors) are self defeating. They train you to keep chasing an unrealistic, unattainable and unmanageable goal. That is to lose weight and to constantly do battle with your scale. Which we said before couldn’t care less who steps on it or what they weigh.
Confused now? Most likely you are. Here’s what I want you to know. People are not at their healthiest with the least amount of body fat possible. People are healthiest when their bodies are in balance. That means strength, flexibility, stability and body composition are all in their optimal ranges.
Did you hear the word weight in there? No. That’s because it doesn’t matter what your body weight is if you feel great, your clothes fit well and you have lots of energy. How can you be your best? Focus on your metabolism and not on your body weight.
I am 48 years old. My stomach is not as flat as it could be. But it’s not because I am 48 years old. It’s because my metabolism has slowed (5% per decade) and I haven’t fully adjusted to it. I am a big muscular guy. But that doesn’t mean that I can eat as much at 48 as I did at 28 and not gain weight. In fact I have to eat about 500 calories a day less than I did back in my twenties. It’s an adjustment I don’t always stick too.
For a typical woman my age the difference is not as dramatic. Maybe your metabolism has dropped by 200 calories over the last 2 decades. Did I hear a sigh of relief? Don’t relax too soon. To put that into perspective, 200 extra calories per day represents 10-20 pounds of fat gain in a year.
The Fix:
Focus on preserving or increasing your metabolism!
Weight is weight. But there is good weight and undesirable weight. Good weight burns calories at a high rate. Bad weight is sluggish and holds you down. This is the difference between lean mass and fat mass. Muscle tissue burns calories 3-4 times faster than fat mass. And even better, it takes very little space. Strong muscles burn calories fast!
The weight I want you to be aware of is your lean mass. This is your power house, your furnace. Get a professional to measure your lean mass and concentrate on maintaining and even increasing that part of your body weight. You’ll be amazed at how you will be sleeker and stronger and yet your body weight may not change! Relax and enjoy the feeling of being strong and vital and looking like a million bucks!
Never, never, never go on a crash diet! By starving yourself your weight will drop but your metabolism will too. Muscles become slack, your energy level drops and you find yourself on a continuous uphill battle against poochy stomachs and baggy thighs. Preserving your metabolism means cutting no more than 500 – 1000 calories out of your total energy needs. This means you must also take into account the amount of exercise you get before deciding how many calories you need. This is crucial to building a healthy metabolism.
This also means you should be patient. Reprogramming your body and creating healthier habits takes some time, but lasts a life time. Your weight loss (I hate that term) will be more gradual but the results will be worth it and so much easier to maintain.
Learn how to maximize your metabolism and feel your absolute best. Stick that scale away in a corner somewhere. It’s not helping. Become stronger, match your eating to your activity level and be the person you most want to be. It’s worth it. Ask me how to get started.
Marc
PS: Get your free copy of my “21 Secrets to a Better You” at www.m2workout.com!
It just sounds monotonous. Of course repeating it three times would. But that is what we have to do in order to keep those pounds burning off and staying off but even more importantly, to live longer and in better health. Cardio, cardio and more cardio is there an end in sight?
Like you, I’d much rather lift weights and do functional exercise than walk, jog or run on a treadmill for hour after hour. Take heart. This is good news. The experts in health and longevity say that your heart rate needs to be elevated every day for at least a half hour, if not an hour every day.
Why you may ask is this good news?
It’s good news because the experts do not demand boring time on a machine. It’s all about the heart rate baby! More specifically it’s the principle of progressive overload. Muscles and organs have a tendency to adapt (create a new normal) to repeated stimulus meaning it takes less energy and effort to execute the same task. This can inhibit the improvement in cardio capacity and of course, slow the rate of fat loss.
When talking about cardio there are two basic types of overload:
Here is why your heart rate becomes such an important factor. How do you know when you are working harder, when you are really achieving that level of overload that causes your body to change? You can always gauge by how you feel at the time but what if you always feel the same way, every time you exercise? What if you always feel tired and ready to quit at the same point? If this is the case you are most definitely exercising (burning calories) so this is good. You are not progressing though and each successive workout is burning fewer calories for you because your body is no longer coming out of your “normal” activity level.
Training to a specific heart rate means that you always reach overload. If you use a heart rate monitor the same overload principle leaves the gym with you and can be applied in the garden, on the hiking trail, on the bike paths, wherever you are active and most importantly enjoying yourself (including the weight room).
A strong healthy heart and lungs are important to your long term wellness. Keep them strong and make them stronger by leaving your comfort zone. If you choose to use a heart rate monitor you will always be able to tell whether what you are doing is helping you or not. If it doesn’t get your heart rate up, then it’s not the best choice for cardio. Ask me or your fitness professional about your heart rate and heart rate monitoring. Then see the results and feel how much better it can be to be your best.
LiveFit!
Marc
This Curry Chicken recipe seems too high in fat at first glance, but those fats come from olive oil and yogurt. Both of them are very good for you. Remember, “everything in moderation” means you can enjoy this dish and stick to your fat loss food plan. Just don’t finish it all in one sitting. Better yet, share it with a friend!
LiveFit!
Marc
Exercise benefits can be fun
According to an article published by the Mayo Clinic exercising is very good for you. The benefits may even surprise you!
Read on:
1. Exercise improves your mood.
2. Exercise combats chronic diseases.
3. Exercise helps you manage your weight.
4. Exercise boosts your energy level.
5. Exercise promotes better sleep.
6. Exercise can put the spark back into your sex life.
7. Exercise can be — gasp — fun!
Are you getting the benefits?
For info on how to get your exercise program started click here: www.m2workout.com!
Follow this link for your free guide: “21 Secrets to Weight Loss“
