Going into the fold of my third week of my new life transformation. It has been amazing so far. Already I see my body leaning out. My upper body is always the first to lean, so my shoulders and chest are coming in and getting smaller. This morning I also noticed my stomach a little leaner and yesterday working out, I could see how my inner thighs are coming in nicely as well. Good things are happening!
So I average about 1,000 calories each workout, 5 days a week. Then one day a week I go ballroom dancing with my hubby. Next week is our last week and then they break for the winter holidays. But he told me he wants to sign us up again, so I am very happy about that. So, on the Friday's that we are on break, I will substitute that for a workout. I am going to create a dancing style workout to keep in the spirit of my dance class. That is more of a lighter cardio workout for me, so I will create the program around that same premise.
Total calories expended per week are roughly 5,400, so I am well on my way to transforming. It is easy to see why I am leaning out already as burning 3,500 calories is equivalent to one pound of fat off my body. So at this rate, I am losing about 1.5 pounds of body fat per week. The safe, healthy, and long term way of going about fat loss.
Thanks for checking in to see how I am progressing. Make sure you follow this blog as it helps me to keep accountable to you!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Transforming
Life is full of transformations. Even when you have reached your own personal transformation there is another one of sort around the corner. Pictured is my highest weight on the left to present day on the right.
Me, I am on a journey to transform in a new way. Recently I was on a muscle mass building program. I gained muscle but unfortunately some body fat as well.
Starting a new transition in my life, a fantastic new job a few months ago, temporarily put me off focus of my continual transformation.
Currently I am at 25.7% body fat and my goal is 18%. I will post often to keep myself accountable to me as well as you.
Stay tuned for updates as well as tips to help you start transforming as well.
As always, it is my pleasure to reach out to you. Come back often.
Me, I am on a journey to transform in a new way. Recently I was on a muscle mass building program. I gained muscle but unfortunately some body fat as well.
Starting a new transition in my life, a fantastic new job a few months ago, temporarily put me off focus of my continual transformation.
Currently I am at 25.7% body fat and my goal is 18%. I will post often to keep myself accountable to me as well as you.
Stay tuned for updates as well as tips to help you start transforming as well.
As always, it is my pleasure to reach out to you. Come back often.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Become a Fat Burning Machine!
There are a lot of misconceptions about aerobic training being the only way one can burn fat. It has been proven that anaerobic training is highly effective in the fat burning process.
Your body will burn a mix of carbohydrates, glucose, and fat. What it burns is dependent on how you exercise and what you eat. Fat and glucose are the body’s main pipeline for energy source. Your body always burns a mix of fat and glucose except while at very high intensity. Also, the ratio of the fat and glucose that is burned will vary with intensity and the time of exercise.
The fat burning zone that has become a household term, is really a myth. The body burns fat at a greater percentage when exercise is at a slow pace, or about 90 minutes into exercise. Although you burn more fat going slow, you burn a percentage of fat at much faster intensities. The key is how much energy is expended in total. The ultimate fat burning measure then becomes how much energy is expended.
Intense exercise, which results in anaerobic training, can increase one’s metabolic rate for hours after working out. Aerobic exercise burns fat during exercise, but has little effect after completion of the workout. Interval training has become very popular recently because it is well known that this will have a much greater impact on fat burning that regular cardiovascular activities do. EPOC (excessive post exercise oxygen consumption) occurs in the body after intense exercise drains muscles of their energy source. Your body has no other alternative but to draw from your fat reserves to replenish itself and this can take up to 48 hours to happen. Also, your body’s ability over time to convert energy directly into the muscle increases. The muscles ability to store energy will increase so that the demand for fat release will go up and the body will divert new energy into the muscles instead of your fat stores.
Weight lifting has a profound impact on fat burning. One pound of muscle can burn thirty to fifty calories a day, versus one pound of fat, which burns three calories a day. Weight lifting is predominately anaerobic. Anaerobic exercise can increase metabolism for hours after exercising is complete. Weight training uses carbohydrates as its primary fuel source, where cardiovasicular exercise utilizes fat. However, lifting weights, increases your lean body mass and aerobic training does not. People on low calorie diets and strictly aerobic training, can make them lose muscle and actually make them fat. Losing lean body mass will slow down your metabolism and makes it easier to gain fat. Increasing lean body mass will increase your metabolism and the faster your metabolism, you will burn more fat all day long, even while sleeping. This is because it takes more calories to sustain muscle than it does fat. This explains why bodybuilders have high muscle to fat ratios and can sustain a lean body without doing aerobic exercise.
In order to burn body fat, you have to not only make sure your fitness is on spot, but you also need to make sure your nutrition is clean. This will ensure success because no matter how much you workout, if your nutrition is shoddy, you will not get the results you desire. The three key ingredients in burning fat effectively are aerobic, nutrition, and weight lifting. All three are essential to be successful.
Aeorbic training aides in increasing endurance and cardiovascular health. If you were to just focus on the weight training, your body would not be as healthy because all proponents need to be in the equation.
By providing your body with adequate and sound nutrition, you are setting yourself up for an efficient fat burning machine. When the body has the right fuel that it needs, it can increase metabolism and thereby, increase fat burning. When you eat every 2-3 hours, your metabolism is increasing as it triggers the thermgenic effect of the nutrition you are feeding your body with.
Too much steady state cardio will increase cortisol levels, which is catabolic and therefore destroys muscle tissue. This is why a bodybuilder will not be doing aerobic workouts as it is counterproductive. Muscles are the most metabolically active tissue and by increasing the amount of muscle tissue, you will burn more calories. If you are to do cardio, change the exercises frequently to maximize fat loss.
Your body will burn a mix of carbohydrates, glucose, and fat. What it burns is dependent on how you exercise and what you eat. Fat and glucose are the body’s main pipeline for energy source. Your body always burns a mix of fat and glucose except while at very high intensity. Also, the ratio of the fat and glucose that is burned will vary with intensity and the time of exercise.
The fat burning zone that has become a household term, is really a myth. The body burns fat at a greater percentage when exercise is at a slow pace, or about 90 minutes into exercise. Although you burn more fat going slow, you burn a percentage of fat at much faster intensities. The key is how much energy is expended in total. The ultimate fat burning measure then becomes how much energy is expended.
Intense exercise, which results in anaerobic training, can increase one’s metabolic rate for hours after working out. Aerobic exercise burns fat during exercise, but has little effect after completion of the workout. Interval training has become very popular recently because it is well known that this will have a much greater impact on fat burning that regular cardiovascular activities do. EPOC (excessive post exercise oxygen consumption) occurs in the body after intense exercise drains muscles of their energy source. Your body has no other alternative but to draw from your fat reserves to replenish itself and this can take up to 48 hours to happen. Also, your body’s ability over time to convert energy directly into the muscle increases. The muscles ability to store energy will increase so that the demand for fat release will go up and the body will divert new energy into the muscles instead of your fat stores.
Weight lifting has a profound impact on fat burning. One pound of muscle can burn thirty to fifty calories a day, versus one pound of fat, which burns three calories a day. Weight lifting is predominately anaerobic. Anaerobic exercise can increase metabolism for hours after exercising is complete. Weight training uses carbohydrates as its primary fuel source, where cardiovasicular exercise utilizes fat. However, lifting weights, increases your lean body mass and aerobic training does not. People on low calorie diets and strictly aerobic training, can make them lose muscle and actually make them fat. Losing lean body mass will slow down your metabolism and makes it easier to gain fat. Increasing lean body mass will increase your metabolism and the faster your metabolism, you will burn more fat all day long, even while sleeping. This is because it takes more calories to sustain muscle than it does fat. This explains why bodybuilders have high muscle to fat ratios and can sustain a lean body without doing aerobic exercise.
In order to burn body fat, you have to not only make sure your fitness is on spot, but you also need to make sure your nutrition is clean. This will ensure success because no matter how much you workout, if your nutrition is shoddy, you will not get the results you desire. The three key ingredients in burning fat effectively are aerobic, nutrition, and weight lifting. All three are essential to be successful.
Aeorbic training aides in increasing endurance and cardiovascular health. If you were to just focus on the weight training, your body would not be as healthy because all proponents need to be in the equation.
By providing your body with adequate and sound nutrition, you are setting yourself up for an efficient fat burning machine. When the body has the right fuel that it needs, it can increase metabolism and thereby, increase fat burning. When you eat every 2-3 hours, your metabolism is increasing as it triggers the thermgenic effect of the nutrition you are feeding your body with.
Too much steady state cardio will increase cortisol levels, which is catabolic and therefore destroys muscle tissue. This is why a bodybuilder will not be doing aerobic workouts as it is counterproductive. Muscles are the most metabolically active tissue and by increasing the amount of muscle tissue, you will burn more calories. If you are to do cardio, change the exercises frequently to maximize fat loss.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Commitment
Most things worth something in life form around making a commitment and working at it every day. Think about it. Marriages, friendships, family, career, all involve commitment. Why is it then that so many people struggle with making a commitment for themselves? Our lives are so busy fulfilling commitments that center around other people and we don't think twice about how this affects our own self.
Being healthy is a commitment that not only projects you forward, but also has an indirect effect on those around you. By taking care of yourself, you are able to be there more for your marriages, friendships, family, and career. So why then do we focus on other commitments and not consider ourselves worthy enough to, well, commit to ourselves?
If you are of this mindset, it is time to start committing to your own health and well being. Eating clean daily and being physical every day will instill a sense of well being in you as well as those around you. People look at us more than we are cognizant of. If we are going down a path of poor eating and lack of exercise, it is easy for those around us to jump on board. However, if we commit our lives to a healthy lifestyle, others will take notice when they see the change in you. They will jump on board. Sometimes it happens right away but sometimes it takes years. That is okay. As long as we continue to keep our focus, people will come around.
Stay committed to yourself and those around you will commit to you.
Make it a great day!
Being healthy is a commitment that not only projects you forward, but also has an indirect effect on those around you. By taking care of yourself, you are able to be there more for your marriages, friendships, family, and career. So why then do we focus on other commitments and not consider ourselves worthy enough to, well, commit to ourselves?
If you are of this mindset, it is time to start committing to your own health and well being. Eating clean daily and being physical every day will instill a sense of well being in you as well as those around you. People look at us more than we are cognizant of. If we are going down a path of poor eating and lack of exercise, it is easy for those around us to jump on board. However, if we commit our lives to a healthy lifestyle, others will take notice when they see the change in you. They will jump on board. Sometimes it happens right away but sometimes it takes years. That is okay. As long as we continue to keep our focus, people will come around.
Stay committed to yourself and those around you will commit to you.
Make it a great day!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Nutrition is King
For eight years I worked out intensely pounding out rep after rep, cardio session after cardio session, and yet I was getting bigger? Why? I didn't know. Didn't understand. After eight years of bringing it hard, I finally found the answer...
NUTRITION!
See, I thought, like many others, that if I just workout harder, workout more, I would cancel out the effects of my unhealthy eating and too big of portion sizes. BOY WAS I WRONG! Nutrition is key in any weight loss journey. Once I connected with that and let my nutrition match my fitness, something changed...my body!
What I realized is it is not just about how much you eat, but also WHAT you eat. 1400 calories of junk mixed with some healthy meals was not doing the trick. But 1400 calories of clean eating, was. See, a calorie really isn't just a calorie. They are not created equal and here is why.
Protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats all 'assist' the body in functioning correctly. Saturated fats, sugar, and simple carbs create an unhealthy body and one that cannot function the way it is intended. Protein, in particular, has a thermogenic effect. This means that there is more energy needed in order to breakdown the components of protein to be used in our body. The metabolism is then sped up, thus creating more of a fat burning machine.
But protein alone is not all that we need. Many people have made the mistake of going on these high protein diets. This is wrong! Your body goes into a state of ketosis which then you are catabolizing your muscles. This means your body is feeding off of your lean muscle mass. While it does this, your metabolism is slowed because you have less muscle mass. Remember the more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism, the higher calorie burn you have. Not to mention going in a state of ketosis creates so many problems.
Complex carbs are a necessary staple in a healthy diet. Simple carbs create an insulin spike and then a quick drop. That is why complex carbs are so important. They create a steady blood sugar. Coupled with protein, they work in tandem so that your system will run smoothly and you will be energized.
Healthy fats are key to many healthful benefits. Avocados, olive oil, nuts, salmon, just to name a few, are all great for your system and have many heart healthy effects.
The key to nutrition is finding balance. Each and every meal you have needs to have these three components to them in order to run smoothly. One without the other two will not create a healthy efficient fat burning machine.
Eat five to six small meals a day. Three meals and two to three snacks. Let your meals toward the end of the day be less caloric and less carbs. Have a protein, vegetables, and some healthy fats toward the end of your day. The closer it is to bedtime, the more your body slows down, thus the reason it is important to eat more complex carbs during the day when your body will use it effeciently.
The key to getting lean...fitness and nutrition. They go hand in hand.
NUTRITION!
See, I thought, like many others, that if I just workout harder, workout more, I would cancel out the effects of my unhealthy eating and too big of portion sizes. BOY WAS I WRONG! Nutrition is key in any weight loss journey. Once I connected with that and let my nutrition match my fitness, something changed...my body!
What I realized is it is not just about how much you eat, but also WHAT you eat. 1400 calories of junk mixed with some healthy meals was not doing the trick. But 1400 calories of clean eating, was. See, a calorie really isn't just a calorie. They are not created equal and here is why.
Protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats all 'assist' the body in functioning correctly. Saturated fats, sugar, and simple carbs create an unhealthy body and one that cannot function the way it is intended. Protein, in particular, has a thermogenic effect. This means that there is more energy needed in order to breakdown the components of protein to be used in our body. The metabolism is then sped up, thus creating more of a fat burning machine.
But protein alone is not all that we need. Many people have made the mistake of going on these high protein diets. This is wrong! Your body goes into a state of ketosis which then you are catabolizing your muscles. This means your body is feeding off of your lean muscle mass. While it does this, your metabolism is slowed because you have less muscle mass. Remember the more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism, the higher calorie burn you have. Not to mention going in a state of ketosis creates so many problems.
Complex carbs are a necessary staple in a healthy diet. Simple carbs create an insulin spike and then a quick drop. That is why complex carbs are so important. They create a steady blood sugar. Coupled with protein, they work in tandem so that your system will run smoothly and you will be energized.
Healthy fats are key to many healthful benefits. Avocados, olive oil, nuts, salmon, just to name a few, are all great for your system and have many heart healthy effects.
The key to nutrition is finding balance. Each and every meal you have needs to have these three components to them in order to run smoothly. One without the other two will not create a healthy efficient fat burning machine.
Eat five to six small meals a day. Three meals and two to three snacks. Let your meals toward the end of the day be less caloric and less carbs. Have a protein, vegetables, and some healthy fats toward the end of your day. The closer it is to bedtime, the more your body slows down, thus the reason it is important to eat more complex carbs during the day when your body will use it effeciently.
The key to getting lean...fitness and nutrition. They go hand in hand.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)