From Fat to Fit --Living Your Best Life!

                Fitness = Exercise + Nutrition

Bodies at rest tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. It's the laws of inertia and thermodynamics. So be your own force and get your body moving!

As many as 50 million Americans are living sedentary lives, putting them at increased risk of health problems and even early death, a leading expert in exercise science told the American Psychological Association today.

Given that these individuals are doubling their risk of developing numerous health conditions compared with those who are even moderately active and fit, we’re looking at a major public health problem.

The truth is that although exercise is VERY important, they say that six pack abs are made in the kitchen and it's true. A lean physique is 80% nutrition!

There is no need to reinvent the wheel, just look at what successful people do! Dwayne Johnson is 46 years young and has a superb physique so let's take him as an example.  His full regimen is here.

When he is in beast mode, his diet consists of:
oatmeal, egg whites, steak, chicken, halibut, cod, white rice, broccoli, asparagus, baked potato, salad and protein powder. *

He also takes vitamins and supplements such as glucosamine to protect his joints

What he does NOT consume:
bread, pasta, pizza, pastries, (any gluten), cereal, hot dogs, hamburgers, wings, potato chips, fried food, dairy, Starbucks, fast food, alcohol etc.

Note that he LOVES pizza and brownies and pancakes so when he is done training for events or movies he goes an a major BINGE and overcompensates for the time lost, which I do not advocate. Instead, I recommend (unless you are training for a competition) to have 1 cheat meal per week where you have something you like such as a pasta dish and dessert that you miss or a breakfast that you love. I recommend quinoa pasta, or black bean pasta (from Trader Joe's). It has a higher protein content and no refined white carbs. I recommend trying to avoid swinging from one extreme to another so that one does not go from fit to obese like a yo-yo. This happens in the body building world.

The thing about extreme dieting is that you can feel deprived and cranky/moody when you don't eat what you are used to eating. There's a lot to say about the focus, will power and self-control that people who undertake these kinds of regimen's accomplish and how they transcend their desires and become a master over their bodies. I know of some people on very high spiritual levels who are able to conquer and negate physical temptations and bodily pleasure to the point that it does not exist at all for them but that's a rare breed and not where most of us are holding.

In general I feel that if you eat 80% healthy, it's good enough but there is always room for improvement. I'm going to start the new year with a 90 day modified Dwayne plan (will add salmon and lamb for example as a protein source and kale as a green source) and see what happens. Who's with me?

Don't be part of the 35% of sedentary Americans. Make it a lean 2019!

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Quantity VS Quality

There are so many weight loss myths out there. I shared an uber with a personal trainer not long ago and I told her that I want to lose 10 lbs. She said I needed to eat MORE and she is RIGHT! When I did the body building competition I had to eat every 3 hours. I was consuming more calories and I was leaner. This is counter-intuitive: eat more*, weigh less. How is this possible? Because the calorie counting model that nutritionists teach is outdated and wrong. It's not about calories, it's about boosting metabolism (the rate your body BURNS calories). Also, not all calories are created equally. Refined white sugar carbs won't get rid of stubborn fat but a diet rich in green vegetable carbs and lean protein can. If you eat lean, clean and green, without skipping meals, drink plenty of water and exercise 5 days per week for an hour, you should be in good shape. If not, you need to research your body type (and maybe even blood type) and do some fine tuning according to your genetic constitution. Taking emotional inventory is also important to make sure food consumption is not being used as an emotional crutch.

*According to data from the Harvard Health Newsletter, after walking two 15-minute miles and weightlifting for 30 minutes, a 125-pound person burns only 210 calories and a 185-pound person burns 333 calories. So as you can see the calorie counting method just doesn't add up mathematically to the results that they claim are true.

If weight loss equaled calories consumed minus calories burned then all people eating 4,000+ calories per day should be morbidly obese (it's impossible to burn that much in a day with exercise*). But they are not necessarily, some have a very low body fat percentage. The movie star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, in order to maintain his legendary physique, eats more than 5,000 calories a day. The calories, spread over seven meals, include roughly 2.3 pounds of cod, a fish particularly rich in protein.

Case and Point: If I posted the visual aid above without the words and asked you which man ate 2,000 calories per day more than the other man, most people would guess that Patient X had the higher calorie consumption because he looks over-weight.

The truth is that it's not calories that count, it's metabolism. How do you boost metabolism? Small frequent meals and exercise. I am quite certain that WHAT they eat is also very different. The Standard American Diet is full of unhealthy fats, processed foods, additives, preservatives, food coloring and refined carbohydrates. THAT plus a sedentary lifestyle is why Patient X is Morbidly Obese while The Rock is, well... A beast & A LEGEND! You can eat more and weigh less. It's what you eat and how you eat it that matter too, not just numbers!!!

So stop counting your calories (unless you are in a body building competition) and start eating lean, clean, and green and GET MOVING! There is no magic pill for success, you put in the effort and time will do the rest.

Lastly, don't be fooled by appearances. Some people may look skinny on the outside but they could have a lot of fat around their organs on the inside and can actually be in bad cardiovascular shape. I remember in high school a very skinny girl (genetically vata ectomorph banana small frame) had 3% more body fat than I did (pitta mesomorph pear medium frame) and I was physically bigger than her. So looks can be deceiving.

The bottom line is that if you are not getting the results that you want then it may be time to modify your nutrition and fitness routine. 2019 is a great opportunity to do that. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year.

If you don't believe eating clean works, here's my personal testimonial. When I was in graduate school I did the allergy elimination diet to try to find the source of my sinusitis. I ate only organic fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, gluten free grains including white rice, lamb, lentils, beans, and olive oil. I am 5'5" and I started off at 125 lbs. 6 weeks later I was down to 118 lbs. I went to my naturopathic clinic at school because I didn't like that I became so thin. My legs looked like I was riding a horse. I was eating PLENTY of calories but I could not keep the weight on. They advised me to eat more nut butters. The take home message is that your body will shed whatever it doesn't need when you give it what it does need! Our bodies need clean protein and vitamins and minerals from nutritious food. Eat good, feel good, look good. Good?

So when it comes to quality vs quantity, quality wins by a landslide! 

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