PPW 3 Recap: Weeks 1 and 2

By this evening (Tuesday October 30th) you should have turned in your first 2 weeks of your “Lean Body Success Checklist” and picked up a new one.

So how did you do?

First of all I want to congratulate everyone who turned in their card, regardless of your compliance percentage. You took action, and that is what it’s all about.

You have discovered over the last 2 weeks where your strong points and challenge points are, and now over the next 2 weeks you can build on that improvement and keep getting better.

We have received a lot of feedback on the cards, and that is also good. Some of you were surprised at the level of (or lack of) your compliance and found the cards really helpful to keep you on point, while others expressed frustration.

Either way that’s ok, because now we have an opportunity to address some of those challenges.

Here’s just a rundown of some common challenges and some tips to help.

“I can’t eat 5 times a day” (review habit 1 here)

There is a pretty simple answer to that one. Just don’t. If 5 times doesn’t work back it down to 4 and work off that. Because the magic isn’t necessarily in the number of times you eat. The point is to make sure you are eating, and that you are controlling your cravings and blood sugar so that when you do eat you are in control and making good choices. If 3 meals plus a recovery drink after training works for you, then experiment for 2 weeks and measure the results.

“It’s too hard to eat vegetable with every meal, especially breakfast”. (review habit 3 here)

My advice here is to keep it simple. I eat baby carrots almost every day for breakfast because they are easy, I like the crunch and slightly sweet taste, and they complement all sorts of protein sources. I start off the day with some good fiber and carbohydrate, and they don’t spike my blood sugar like cereal or a bagel. Just do it for a couple weeks and it becomes habit.

“I can’t have cream in my coffee?” (review habit 6 here)

Coach Nancy has been working diligently to cut down her coffee and caffeine consumption. Since I (coach Dean) drink my coffee black, Nancy did some calculating just on the calories she was consuming in her coffee, and discovered she was going through a quart of 1/2 and 1/2 by herself every two weeks.

For some of you out in coffee land that is probably actually on the low side, but here’s the rub:

That’s 1200 calories every 2 weeks just from cream in coffee, which adds up to 31,200 calories a year! Drinking an extra 31,200 calories over your body’s energy requirements would result in a 9 pound weight gain over the course of a year – OUCH!

Before you tell me “I don’t use that much”, keep track over a week or two and check it out. And think about this – how much weight do you want to gain this year from drinking your calories? Is 4 or 5 pounds ok? Multiply that over the next (or last) 10 years and tell me how that works for you.

The cards are a tool.

Don’t let them frustrate you, but don’t dismiss them or give up either.

Make no mistake, you have dietary habits already. It’s a habit to grab a bagel and coffee, or cereal and toast,  for breakfast. It’s just something you do, and have probably done for years. It’s a habit to have a sandwich for lunch, and a potato or rice with dinner.

Habits are created, which means they can also be replaced.

Pick just one PPW habit this week and work on it. Not all seven, just one. Make it the one that you think will be easiest, and build on that success.

As always, questions and feedback below.

Make It Happen!

Dean

PPW3 Habit 7: Eat Whole Foods

This is the habit that ties the other 6 habits together.

Basically it can be summed up this way:

The Less Ingredients The Better.

We humans are such an arrogant lot.

We take what was created and try to make it better by taking things out, putting different ones back in, mish-mashing it all up until it becomes Frankenfood.

Have you looked at the ingredient list on your average food item lately?

It’s crazy!

Here’s a good rule of thumb. If it has more than 5 ingredients on the label, don’t eat it.

One ingredient foods are even better.

Apple

Orange

Spinach

Almond

Egg

Black Beans

Fish

You really don’t need labels for these, now do you?

When you eat whole foods, you are getting all the vitamins, minerals, fiber, even water content that is in there and is designed for your optimal health.

Your body doesn’t want to deal with all the chemicals, preservatives and other nastiness that is prevalent in so much of our food supply.

There are also studies that show that whole foods are better utilized than their individual components. This could apply to grains, vegetables and even fruit. Eating an apple is way easier on the system than drinking apple juice, because the fiber of the apple slows down the glycemic response, as just one example.

So put down the boxes, bags and wrappers, and pick up those healthy, tasty and just plain better whole foods.

Make It Happen!

What A Difference A Year Makes!

Lori passed me this note yesterday, and I just had to share it with you.

It demonstrates the power of consistency, determination, and of course training at Get Fit NH!

You see Lori just went to her doctor for her latest check up, and the numbers from last year to this are nothing short of phenomenal.

In the last year Lori has:

Lost 59 Pounds

Reduced her LDL (bad cholesterol) by 29 points

Increased her HDL (good cholesterol) by 26 points

On top of all that she reported her triglycerides and other numbers are excellent, and her doc is pretty happy about it.

Lori didn’t make all these improvements because she is “lucky”, or has “great genetics”.

She did it one day at a time, one meal at a time, one training session at a time.

And all those “at a time’s” really add up over the course of a year, don’t they?

Great job Lori, we are proud of you.

Keep Making It Happen!

PPW3 Habit 6: Don’t Drink Your Calories

This is the easy one – right?

Not so fast! In fact more than anything else this one gets the most questions, feedback and frankly, grief! 🙂

And while I understand (no cream in my coffee?) the truth remains that the easiest way to get calories into our system and processed fast is to drink them.

That’s why a liquid protein shake is my recovery drink of choice. It goes down quick, it starts to metabolize quick, and it gets the glycogen and protein into the muscle where it is needed – AFTER training.

This is actually the exception that proves the rule.

Because the very same reason we want “fast” nutrition after training is why we don’t want it the rest of the time.

The calories and sugar just adds up way too fast.

Here’s just a couple examples:

12 oz can of Coke:  140 calories, 39 grams sugar.

DD Small Coffee, cream and sugar: 120 calories, 17 grams sugar (and who drinks a small?)

Starbucks Grande Cafe Mocha: 260 calories, 42 grams carbohydrate (sugar not specified)

1 Cup Apple Juice: 114 calories, 24 grams sugar

1 Cup Skim Milk: 80 calories, 12 grams sugar

12 oz. Budweiser: 145 calories, 11 grams carbohydrate, 12.8 grams alcohol

5 oz. Red Wine: 106 calories, 2.5 grams carbohydrate, 13.7 grams alcohol

A couple of beers or glasses of wine a night really adds up.

Even “healthy” choices like milk and juice add to the glycemic load and the calories add up.

More importantly you are replacing the stuff that is better for you to drink, water and tea for example, with things that are not as good for you.

So if your nutrition is spot on and you want cream in your coffee, that’s your choice.

Just think about if there might be a better one.

Questions? Let’s here them below.

Don’t “Work Out” – Train!

It’s kind of a running gag around Get Fit NH, but it’s something we take very seriously.

We don’t “work out”, we TRAIN.

And while that may seem to be semantics, it is anything but.

Because in our way of thinking “working out” is random, while TRAINING is purposeful.

Training is by design. A long term strategy with an end goal in mind, the ultimate aim being to get BETTER.

It’s an important shift in mindset.

Miss a workout? I can “make it up” later in the week.

But missing a TRAINING session means you have missed the opportunity to continue following the blueprint that has been drawn up.

When you build a house you do it with purpose. Different rooms have different functions. You wouldn’t build a house with 4 kitchens and no dining room, or 10 bedrooms and no bathroom. Each room has a specific function.

In the same way you can’t build a solid body without following the plan. Missing a TRAINING day means you missed an opportunity to follow the plan, to build the balanced, functional, high performance machine that is your body.

Our training has evolved greatly in the years we have been in business.

As the science of human movement has grown and expanded, so has Get Fit NH.

Training with us now is a lot different than it was 2 years ago, or even 1 year ago. Training with us today is nothing like it was when we started.

Why?

Instead of being fad driven, we are driven by study, by science, and by the empirical evidence – when it works, we do it, when it doesn’t, it gets shelved.

We spend a tremendous amount of time on program design on a weekly basis. There is nothing that is done randomly – even “Fun Friday” training is designed with the training cycle in mind.

I wrote this article awhile ago, and it still applies. There is much more to effective and safe program design than is evident on the surface.

It’s kind of like going to your doctor and telling her how you want your illness to be treated.

When she can accommodate your request she will, but she is not going to let you be treated in a way that is not effective, or worse, harmful.

Same thing when you train with us. There are certain things we all like to do better than other things. But just because you love deadlifting, or swinging a kettlebell, or doing cleans doesn’t mean you should do them every day, and that’s where the design is crucial.

You can overhead press every day – for awhile.

But eventually it’s going to catch up with you.

Which is why you need to have balance in your training, and why we design programming like we do.

And it’s why when you are scheduled to TRAIN, you do.

To keep you safe.

To keep your joints healthy.

To mitigate injury as much as humanly possible.

To make sure you are getting better – every day.

If you are reading this and want to stop “working out” and start TRAINING, it’s time to get in here and find out what Group Personal Training with Get Fit NH is all about.

If you already train with us, Thank-you for making that choice, and keep on…

Making It Happen!

PPW3 Habit 5: Eat Healthy Fats Daily

Fat.

The very word makes most of us shudder.

I mean maintaining a healthy bodyfat level is critical for optimal health.

It’s what most of us are trying to get rid of.

And that is exactly why you need fat in your diet.

Huh?

You see while most of us are concerned we get too much fat in our diet, the fact is that most of us probably aren’t getting enough, especially of the “healthy” fats.

Here’s what Ryan Andrews over at Precision Nutrition has to say about healthy fats

Why are healthy fats so important?

Fats exert powerful effects within the body and healthy fats have been shown to offer the following benefits.

Strong evidence

Cardiovascular protection (though there is less evidence for protecting against heart failure)
Improve body composition
Alleviate depression

Average evidence
Prevent cancers
Preserve memory
Preserve eye health
Reduce incidence of aggressive behaviour
Reduce ADHD and ADD symptoms

When it comes to healthy fat, intake amount is important. People are often concerned about excess dietary fat, but not getting enough fat may also cause health problems.

We need adequate fat to support metabolism, cell signaling, the health of various body tissues, immunity, hormone production, and the absorption of many nutrients (such as vitamins A and D). Having enough fat will also help keep you feeling full between meals.

(Read Ryan’s Complete Article – “All About Healthy Fats”)

If you are a meat eater it is more than likely you are getting enough saturated fat, but are probably lacking in mono and polyunsaturated fats, and most of us are just not getting enough Omega-3 fat.

On your PPW Kitchen shopping list there is a list of healthy fats and oils that you want to make sure you are adding into your plan.

Don’t be afraid of your fats -you can’t live without them!

PPW3 Habit 4: Other Carbs

Yesterday we talked about the importance of getting your veggies with every meal.

Today we are going to talk about Fruit and what we call “Other Carbs”.

When it comes down to it, fruit is nature’s candy, or nature’s dessert if you will. Fruit is loaded with many of the same great things as vegetables – vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber.

The biggest difference?

Fruit also contains high amounts of sugar. So while it is fantastic to add fruit to your diet, the calories and carbs add up fast if you are eating 5 or 6 pieces a day, and doing so can make it hard to drop bodyfat.

A good rule of thumb is 1 serving of fruit for every 5 servings of vegetables. Fruit makes a great dessert, enjoy it!

“Other Carbs” are in general your grain products – whole grain only please. We want to reserve our other carbs for after our training.

Why?

A couple reasons:

The first reason to save our other carbs for after we train is because this is when the body processes them more readily, keeping them from being stored as fat. Winner!

The second reason relates to the first, in that after hard training the body has used much of it’s muscle glycogen, or stored sugars, and is looking to replace them. This is crucial to the recovery process, and is one of the reasons we emphasize getting that post-training recovery carb/protein in as soon after training as possible. (like right now already!)

When we eat a high carb/starch load outside of the recovery window, it’s like pumping gas into your car when the tank is already full, only worse. Instead of pumping $4 a gallon gas onto the ground, you are spilling the excess sugars into fat cells, or worst case scenario creating new fat cells to store the excess – not cool!

You don’t have to feel (or actually be) deprived of your rice, oatmeal, sweet potato or other grains and starches, just plan to have them after you train – it’s all good!

Fire those questions below.

PPW3 Habit 3: Eat Your Vegetables

Why are vegetables so important?

Here’s what Dr. John Berardi has to say:

“Eating higher levels of veggies and fruits are associated with a lower incidence of:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Colon, prostate, cervical, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, thyroid, and breast cancer
• High blood cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Type 2 diabetes
• Obesity
• Stroke
• Osteoporosis
• and a lot more that aren’t on this list…”

That’s a pretty good reason to include veggies in your nutrition plan.

But every meal?

The sad truth is that not too many of us eat nearly enough vegetables considering all they do for us. One often overlooked benefit of getting enough vegetables is they help us get enough fiber (Dr. Laura Jones recommends 25 grams per day). Getting in the routine of eating them with every meal goes a long way to making sure we are getting the greatest amount and greatest benefit.

Check out this link for some great ideas to incorporate more veggies in your plan.

Fire away your questions below!

“Eat Your Way Right” Success Checklist

A couple of you have asked us to post the checklist so you can download and have an extra copy, so here you go!

Click here for your copy

A Challenge from S3 Winner Sue Perry

Hello Fellow Get Fit NH Boot Campers,

I was thrilled to win the S3 challenge last spring. The competition was great and gave me incentive to make changes in my diet, but the real thrill for me was what the challenge did for my health and life. The real thrill was fitting into clothes that I was ready to get rid of, finding it easier to do chin-ups with less weight, having more energy and fewer sinking spells….feeling better in general! I had been training at Get Fit NH for over a year. I was so much stronger, but I was the same weight and I wanted to lose LBs and needed to make a shift in my eating habits to make that change happen. So when S3 came along, I jumped in with both feet and realized results that were beyond what I expected.

I ate so much food! Loading with veggies and healthy portions of lean proteins primarily, I ate at least 5 times a day. I cooked extra for dinner so I could have good meals during the day. The larger amount of veggies and cutting out the starches and simple carbs were the biggest changes for me. I allowed myself a “splurge” here and there and still the LBs dropped off. 23 in all. Adhering to the S3 principles changed not only my weight, but how I approached food……PPW3-style (protein, produce and water every 3 hours)……and the size I shop for now!

I kept this going over the summer, and even with a few extra splurges, I was happy to see that I maintained my weight. S3 really did stick; the habits, the results and my attitude toward food. Breakfast has changed. 3 eggs and half a plate of asparagus did not appeal to me much before. I’ve grown to really enjoy it. A hamburger without the bun? Open-faced on a grilled portabella mushroom is an upgrade! And now, if I have something that’s high in simple carbs/starch, I’m satisfied with a much smaller portion than I used to be. I honestly don’t miss them on a regular basis. If it’s not going to be incredible, I’m happy to stay away and I never thought I’d be able to say that.

A wake up call hit this fall though. At the end of August my work kick into full gear again and I slacked off on packing my meals for the road. I was missing “eating opportunities” going way too long without eating and occasionally substituting with not so good substitutions. 7 weeks into that and I’m up 5 pounds from not sticking to the PPW3 principles. Wake up call! I’m back to packing the veggies and protein and getting on top of my nutrition, confident that PPW3 will get me where I want to be and help me to remain there.

So we’ve begun another challenge at boot camp based on the same principles as the S3. I know I’m ready to rev things up again and get back on track and “Eat My Way Right Through the Holidays.” If you doubt whether or not to get into the game, go for it, “Make It Happen” and it will! The principles work.

Sweetly but sugar-free,

Sue Perry