Reduce Exercise Stress During the Holidays

It's mid-November and just a few days before Thanksgiving, and if you're not feeling the time crunch already, you know it is coming and fast - the Holidays.

Exercise is a stress buster and helps maintain mental alertness. During the holidays, it is absolutely essential to fit in those workouts, if only for sanity's sake. The compressed timeline of family, social and year-end obligations works against that sanity break.

While no one has invented a way to add extra hours to the day, or a way to workout without burning time along with calories, here are a few tips to get the most out of your routine:

1. Increase how often you work out, but decrease the amount of time you spend doing it. When you are pressed for time every day, it is easy to skip that hour-long workout with an excuse about a lack of time. Break up those hour-long, three day a week plans with 30-minute options like interval training or high intensity lifting. Take a half-hour walk at lunchtime, do the stairs each day - you can find 30 minutes every single day for fitness.

2. Keep it simple. Use basic moves and equipment to get the most out of your workout. Squats, lunges, pushups, deadlifts, chinups, tricep dips - body weight moves that can be done with or without weights. Pop in a workout DVD and get it done.

3. Leave the gym feeling better than you did before. Less time in the gym at first might seem a call to "compress" a regular routine into a shorter time period. Fewer reps, higher weight or pushing speed on the treadmill seems like an efficient use of time, but when you can't walk up the stairs and you are falling asleep at work because of nighttime leg cramps - it is a bad idea. Save those crazy-hard workouts for the new year (when the newbies are hogging the machines anyway).

4. Try new things. This may seem counter-intuitive to #2, but if you are that one-hour, three day exerciser, switching things up will prevent the pitfalls of #3. Go to that early-morning spinning or yoga class, hit the gym at lunch or schedule a 30 minute personal training session. Do a kickboxing workout you find on YouTube. If you are a seasoned runner, cyclist or other sport enthusiast, cross-train.

5. Get your workout in early. Hear me out.

First, working out early requires planning. You need to go to bed early and prepare your stuff for the next day. So, in the process, you make time instead of finding time. That’s huge at a stressful time when you’re inclined to miss a session altogether.

Second, most people have better energy in the morning than after a long day of work. It does take time to warm up to the idea (and feeling) of working out early. If you’re going to make the switch, give it a few weeks and be consistent with it; you’ll find that you get more and more comfortable with mornings with each time you do it.

Third, I’m a firm believer in the adage that one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight. When you train in the morning, you’ve got to get to bed earlier or else it simply isn’t going to happen.

6. If things are just too crazy one day, skip the gym. That's right. After all this admonishment about going to the gym - things happen - and if that workout just isn't going to happen, let it go. Retrench and come back strong the next day.

You are committed. Make it happen.

Make Your Holidays Happy (Not Heavy)

And here we are, back around to the holidays. Actually, we're halfway through the holidays, if you start the season off by raiding your kid's Halloween stash.

Don't give up on yourself, though. It is possible to navigate the last two months of the year without feeling like a big failure.

I've blogged about this before.

Additionally, mind your P's and Q's:

Portions: Keep your dinner portions small and pick out what you must have.

Traditional family dinner? Set up your plan beforehand. Stay out of the kitchen, away from the "grazing area" (you know what I mean - that countertop/table set up with all manner of hors d'oeuvres) and set up distractions. Have a walk, play with the kids, talk to your Uncle Milton.

When it's time to eat, limit your options and limit your portion size. Pick only what you can put onto your plate and only that ONE plate. No double-stacking. Same goes for parties or other social gatherings. One plate, one trip to the food table, one drink. Keep it sane.

Quality: Take the time to circle the room and check out what's on offer. Sniff out the best food and drink. Decide what is a must and what is a meh. Grab a glass of water to give yourself a few minutes to make up your mind, instead of an alcoholic drink. Plot your plate and let your eyes & nose be your guide. Resist the temptation to taste-test. You'll feel better for it.

Even if you go out of control one night, don't sweat it. Save that for the gym.

The Right Way to Permanent Weight Loss

On the last Three Voices program, the Voices and I spoke about how to get started with exercise and where people go wrong (i.e. starting a program too quick, drastic changes, extreme dieting, short-term mentality, etc.).

Want to do it right? You don't need to give up your life, change your mindset overnight, buy a ton of diet books or hire a personal trainer.

Try what Jamil Macias did: 300-Plus Pound Student Exercised in Secret

1. He decided to make a change, then worked out what he wanted to accomplish. While he'd been an athlete as a young boy, his weight gain left him lonely and embarrassed. He didn't want to be the "teddy bear" anymore; he wanted to be a healthy teenager.

2. He went to the doctor for an assessment. So important. It is worth the co-pay to know where your starting point should be. For example, if you have high blood pressure and start a weight-training regimen without advice from your doctor, you could be risking serious complications (lifting weights, especially heavy weights, temporarily increases blood pressure).

3. Jamil took on the charge no matter what. Since he didn't want scrutiny from others, he worked out at night and in his garage, away from prying eyes. Instead of focusing on the negative, Jamil made positive goals rather than becoming bogged down by negative thoughts.

4. Failure was not an option; progression was. After breaking the family's elliptical machine, Jamil walked. When he felt comfortable, he began running.

5. He asked for support from his family. His mother and family helped him with his goal of eliminating processed foods and making healthier choices.

6. While Jamil kept track of his weight loss, he didn't obsess over it. "I didn't have a set amount of how much I wanted to lose -- I just wanted to keep going until I felt good about myself," he said.

7. He researched on his own, but didn't follow a specific diet. Some people need more protein to fuel their bodies; others need a larger ratio of carbohydrates to feel good. Jamil used common sense and made healthy food choices rather than depend on a strict diet to plan meals.

8. Health is a way of life, not just a diet plan or fitness regimen. Just as one doesn't get fat overnight, good health is a learned habit that can be just as hard to break! The positive feelings and motivation make it all worthwhile for Jamil, who states, "I wanted to be more engaged in life, and I knew that (losing weight) would help me do it."

What Counts as Exercise?

Here's an interesting question: You've signed up for a wellness program or fitness challenge at work. You are ready to get started but not sure where to begin. How to get into a basic exercise routine without spending a lot of money joining a gym or buying lots of workout equipment. How to get it down without committing hours in the gym every week and without giving your life over to reading stacks of workout books and magazines?

1. Analyze your starting point. Get a physical exam from your doctor. (I cannot stress how important this is for anyone who wants to begin a fitness journey.) Sighing this baseline is super-important. Sign up for a free two-week pass at the local gym or YMCA. Find out your body statistics (weight, BMI, body fat percentage). Let them do it for you! Establish your and consider what numbers are most important to you.

2. Set goals based on what you perceive as most important and attainable. Why worry about something that doesn't feel like an accomplishment? If you haven't truly "worked out" in a few years, setting a goal of running a marathon in the next six months is not attainable, and at the beginning, will not be as important as building the fitness base necessary for long-distance running. Sorry, Biggest Loser fans, we all can't work out 8 hours a day and run a marathon in a reality-show season.

3. Consider this fitness base. The number = 10,000 = steps per day as a basic, I-am-not-a-couch-potato level. A good pedometer can be had for about $10, so get one, along with a new pair of shoes! Establish this base and get a routine going with this level. It does take work if you're not already up and about often. (We did this at work through a wellness program. I thought I was doing just fine until I saw the vast gulf between the number of steps I thought I walked everyday and how many steps the pedometer showed. 10,000 steps = 3-5 miles.) Remember: this is what you should be doing every single day, without fail, to simply be upright and actively mobile.

Increase your pace:

• Park farther away from the store entrance
• Take the long way around the office or walking out and about
• Get up and walk around as much as possible at work
• Take a 5-minute walk before and after lunch
• March in place during commercials
  

4. Add on some aerobic exercise. What is considered aerobic exercise? First, it needs to be something that brings your heart rate into the aerobic zone (which is about a 6.5 - 8 on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being couch potato and 10 being run-for-your-life). Second, that elevated heart rate should be sustained over a period of time - longer times at 6.5 and shorter at 8 - until you've worked up to 10 minutes, 3 times each day. See what I did there? That meets the 30 minutes per day standard recommended for aerobic fitness.

Try these functional aerobic exercises:

• Duck unders: Squat deep (no knees over toes) and crouch like you're going under something - step wide, then back - you can build up a head of steam doing this!
  
• Walking lunges
• Walking up stairs (let go of that banister!)
• Brisk walking or biking
  
• Lo-jacks - low impact version of jumping jacks
• Kickboxing - surprisingly low-impact. Bust out those Billy Blanks Tae Bo tapes!
  
• Play with your kids outside, run with/after them, play catch, ride bikes, swim
  

Remember, whatever you're doing for aerobic exercise does not count toward that 10,000 steps per day, so you're working alongside that goal as well - which will up your overall calorie burn and fitness level.

5. Take two days a week to build muscle. This can be done in as little as 20 minutes, using a $10 resistance band and your own body weight. Squats, lunges, biceps curls, triceps extensions, overhead presses, planks and push ups - that's all you really need to start out. Building muscle helps burn fat faster and keeps you burning calories longer.

6. Get plenty of sleep. Moving more means your body has to adapt and recover. Be kind to it by going to bed 30 minutes earlier than normal until the earlier bedtime is the new normal. Then, do it again. Your body, your appetite and your metabolism will thank you.

The Art of the Tweak: Adding Fiber to Your Diet

...Without alienating the rest of the world.

1. Start slowly. Do your research about adding fiber to your diet. The recommended daily intake of fiber is 25-30 grams. If you're like most Americans (or humans living in the Westernized world generally), your current intake is around 15 grams. Doubling your fiber intake too quickly will leave you bloated, gassy and unfit for socialization.

2. Drink more water. Before upping fiber intake, increase water intake to the proscribed eight glasses per day. Water will help move the fiber through the digestive system and everyone will be happier for it.

3. Do not supplement. Unless you have a medical condition that keeps you from eating real food, do not resort to the myriad products that claim to contain 30% of your daily fiber or that are advertised as helping you "stay regular" - those things contain concentrated fibers that will violate point #1 above. Most real foods that are fibrous contain between 5-9 grams of fiber per serving - not 10-15. Eat real fiber foods and space them out over the course of the day.

Real fiber foods: The fiber for the beans is doubled in this chart, since a serving of beans/legumes is 1/2 cup

Fruits	Serving size	Total fiber (grams)*
Raspberries	1 cup	8.0
Pear, with skin	1 medium	5.5
Apple, with skin	1 medium	4.4
Strawberries (halves)	1 1/4 cup	3.8
Banana	1 medium	3.1
Orange	1 medium	3.1
Figs, dried	2 medium	1.6
Raisins	2 tablespoons	1.0
Grains, cereal & pasta	Serving size	Total fiber (grams)*
Spaghetti, whole-wheat, cooked	1 cup	6.2
Barley, pearled, cooked	1 cup	6.0
Bran flakes	3/4 cup	5.3
Oat bran muffin	1 medium	5.2
Oatmeal, quick, regular or instant, cooked	1 cup	4.0
Popcorn, air-popped	3 cups	3.5
Brown rice, cooked	1 cup	3.5
Bread, rye	1 slice	1.9
Bread, whole-wheat or multigrain	1 slice	1.9
Legumes, nuts & seeds	Serving size	Total fiber (grams)*
Split peas, cooked	1 cup	16.3
Lentils, cooked	1 cup	15.6
Black beans, cooked	1 cup	15.0
Lima beans, cooked	1 cup	13.2
Baked beans, vegetarian, canned, cooked	1 cup	10.4
Sunflower seed kernels	1/4 cup	3.9
Almonds	1 ounce (23 nuts)	3.5
Pistachio nuts	1 ounce (49 nuts)	2.9
Pecans	1 ounce (19 halves)	2.7
Vegetables	Serving size	Total fiber (grams)*
Artichoke, cooked	1 medium	10.3
Peas, cooked	1 cup	8.8
Broccoli, boiled	1 cup	5.1
Turnip greens, boiled	1 cup	5.0
Sweet corn, cooked	1 cup	4.2
Brussels sprouts, cooked	1 cup	4.1
Potato, with skin, baked	1 medium	2.9
Tomato paste	1/4 cup	2.7
Carrot, raw	1 medium	1.7

4. Eat your veggies and fruits as raw as you can, with the skin on. That's where the good stuff is!

5. Know the difference between soluble and insoluble fiber & eat a blend of both:

• Soluble fiber is found in oats, barley, nuts, seeds, legumes, peas and most fruits. It slows digestion and maintains even blood sugar levels (among other health benefits).
• Insoluble fiber is found in whole wheat, vegetables and other whole grains. It causes an increase in contractions in the large intestine, helping to move food through and out.

**NOTE: Unless a food is labeled "100% Whole Grain" it is not required to be made with the whole grain - it can be enriched flours or other things that do not a whole food make**

There, now don't you feel better?

If you can't do anything else, consider this

I read a little blurb in Prevention magazine (or was it Reader's Digest?) that said most Americans are so unfit - not fat, just not fit - that they could not perform these three functional tasks:

Carry 40 pounds up or down three flights of stairs - roughly the weight of a small child

Make a controlled descent from a two-story window

Climb out of a hole/depression shoulder-deep - a ditch or overturned car

Could you do those three things with an unlimited amount of time? Could you do any of those three things in one minute? How about if you had less than that? It is something to think about, if you are struggling with long-term goals or worried about gym time interfering with family time.

Functional fitness is not a typical approach in the mainstream gym. Many times, functional exercises are considered "therapeutic" and relegated to Active Older Adults classes or kids' fitness times. If you have ever done chest flyes on a exercise ball or side stepped with a resistance band around your knees, you know that functional fitness can create a burn you don't get with traditional weight training.

Try these to increase your endurance and daily fitness:

1. Interval training. In case you have been living in a cave, cut off from all health information, interval training is one of the best ways to increase aerobic endurance and speed. Warm up with your cardio of choice, then alternate with 30 seconds of hard effort and one minute of moderate recovery, cycling through until you've reached the 25-minute mark. Cool down with the moderate pace for 5 minutes. Do this on the stairs at work! 2-3 times a week and you will likely notice gains in a month.

2. Work large muscle groups, then small. Squats and lunges have infinite variations, they can be done anywhere, using your own body weight, and adding in jumps or controlled lifts will train your core muscles. More strength, less strain on the joints, more stability in the core means better posture and balance in general. After the large muscles are warmed up, doing concentration exercises will engage small muscles, which support those large muscles and help with flexibility.

Try these: 3 sets of 8, per side where applicable

Squats: regular, wide-legged and jump (lower body)

Lunges: stationary, reverse and twisting (lower body & core)

Overhead shoulder press: Use a resistance band anchored under your heels if you don't have dumbbells (shoulders and back)

One-legged bent-over row: Lift your leg off the floor while you're doing this exercise to improve your balance. Anchor with toe if you feel unstable (upper back and core)

Plank/side plank: Use modified versions until you can progress to full versions (core, back)

Superman lifts/swimmer lifts: Works stabilizing muscles in the back, butt and abs; hold each upward movement for 2 seconds before lowering

3. Be flexible. Sitting for long periods of time shortens the hamstrings and poor posture pulls the back and abdominal muscles out of alignment. Cardio and weight lifting are great, but if the muscles, ligaments and tendons are not able to stretch to their normal length, it will limit the maximum benefit of that capacity and strength. No Ashtanga yoga or reformer Pilates necessary; try these stretches after your workout and/or before you get out of bed in the morning:

Quad stretch (point knee to ground and push hips forward slightly)

Modified lunge (keep front knee in line with ankle)

Figure-4 stretch

Hamstring stretch & triangle stretch

Chest stretch

Upper back stretch

Lower back stretch

Runner's lunge

4. Don't be afraid to try new things that will challenge your daily fitness. Indoor rock climbing will build agility and leg strength (try it - it's not as hard as it looks, really!). Hiking builds lower body strength and aerobic endurance. Try a pilates or yoga video. Do a few jump squats or try to finish a rep set on one leg. It's not 100% or nothing.

Your life, or someone else's, may depend on it!

Some Thoughts About "Heavy"

I watched the first episode of Heavy last night (A&E, 10pm EST, Sundays). I'm a fan of Intervention and interested in how the show would portray the extremely obese and what the doctors/trainers/support team would do to help people who are well beyond typical medical intervention.

The episode revolves around two individuals who are paired up to work throughout the show's arc. They start with the usual personal montage and biographical background, move to their daily life and how their weight has affected their well-being and outlook. A medical exam and prognosis by an obesity specialist rounds out their evaluation.

You can read Jodi and Tom's stories at the site.

There are some interesting (and yes, obvious) parallels between the people on Heavy, Intervention and Hoarders: Buried Alive. It is the pattern & cycle of addiction. There is usually a trigger of some sort: Jodi's father dying, Tom's dropping out of high school. Paired with a lack of coping skills and/or emotional support, they start down the path of self-destructive behavior. Their family attempts to intervene, which (maybe) works for a while, but they relapse. The family is upset, then angry, then disgusted, pushing the addict deeper into self-loathing, guilt, isolation and denial. This happens repeatedly until the crisis stage, where it is literally do or die.

On Heavy, the rehab facility is a weight-loss center, where Tom and Jodi are thrown into a diet and exercise regimen for 30 days to learn weight-appropriate exercises (because a 600+ pound man needs a pool workout to preserve his joints), how to shop, portion control, etc. There is no "cleansing," no liquid diet and no way to make excuses. A lot of weight comes off - 51 pounds for Jodi and even more for Tom - before they rejoin their families for real-world interaction.

While Tom initially backslides, resulting in a return to the facility, Jodi takes charge of her personal life. She describes her live-in mother as a "cancer," and Jodi kicks her out of the house when it becomes clear that is what has to happen for Jodi to reclaim her health and work on her now-crumbling marriage. There are moments of realization that not everyone is rooting for her to succeed and a lot (A LOT) of whining & crying. Nevertheless, Jodi does what she needs to do to get healthier for her family and hopefully she will continue on the path to wellness.

Tom has a much tougher treatment prognosis. He is massively obese and upon his return home it seems his family is actively trying to undermine his success. This may be reality TV editing, but only offering unhealthy food options with a smirk is classic passive-aggressive behavior and shows how much Tom needs to deal with aside from his food issues and body mass. Tom does manage to get to the 100-pounds lost point and undergo the lymphedema surgery he needs to continue progressing.

What I would like to see more of in this series is a focus on the emotional aspect of food addiction and what the health team does in order to create better coping mechanisms in their patients. There is no greater authority on how to lose weight than an fat person and no greater barrier to weight loss than actually being fat. (Read that again, and believe it.) The cycle of helplessness, anger and guilt that accompanies emotional eating is just as strong an addiction as alcoholism or drug addiction. Since one can't give up eating, strategies for dealing with emotions would be a great thing to highlight and might add some depth to the treatment segments.

Looking forward to next week's episode already.

The Stupidest Thing I've Heard (So Far) This Year

I caught a short tidbit on CNN this morning from Travis Stork, one of the hosts of "The Doctors," and author of The Lean Belly Prescription.

This is what he had to say about exercising and being active:

"It's not about going to the gym everyday...no one can go to the gym every single day [oh, really?] You don't have to go to the gym at all if you don't want to. If you're making three ten-minute calls in a day, get up on your feet while you're making those calls, pace around the house, or go ahead and walk outside while you're talking to mom back at home. Then that's 30 minutes of walking and you've done it and you haven't taken any time out of your day."

You've also not done a damn thing to improve your health or fitness level. The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of "moderate-intensity" exercise on most days of the week to maintain health (that is, if you're already at a healthy weight). Walking around the house? Pacing while on the phone? Those things are certainly not going to get your heart rate into the "moderate" range of 50-70% of maximum - i.e., you're slightly breathless and taxed. Your caller would certainly ask why you sound so out of breath.

Obviously, Dr. Stork does not take his own advice, and works out consistently (and likely, at least 6 days a week) given his muscular frame and stature:

Yep, that totally looks like a guy that just paces around his office while on the phone instead of going to the gym. Look at the definition in his pecs! His receiver must be huge!

Get real. And get to the gym.