We had an absolute BLAST this morning at our Warrior Dash Training!
The highlight of my day was seeing the incredible teamwork as everyone got over “The Wall”, followed by the Slip.N.Slide down the hill!
You Guys Absolutely ROCK!
Have you seen the new USDA “Food Plate” that has replaced the “Food Pyramid” that has been around for what seems like forever? (Hint – look over to your right 🙂
Earlier this month (June 2nd) the government finally showed us what it’s version of healthy eating looks like, and at first glance the new look makes sense.
Take a look at the plate. It shows clearly that fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet, and it shows that protein should be eaten at every meal. Another thing I appreciate is that it shows that starches don’t need to (and usually shouldn’t) dominate your plate.
All in all, not too bad.
An improvement?
In my estimation – Yes.
However if I were to stop there this would be one of two things:
Because while there are some things to recommend with these new guidelines, if you take a closer look at things there are some further things I would (and do) modify in my nutrition plan.
Here’s a question:
What if you are lactose intolerant or sensitive to grains (gluten intolerant for instance)? Does this mean you are not getting a “balanced” diet because you are not getting dairy and/or some grains in your diet?
Nonsense!
We could rehash all the reasons why here, but the bottom line is that you don’t NEED either of those things in your diet to be perfectly healthy. That doesn’t mean I am saying never eat them, what I am saying is that often times a lot of very unhealthy things happen when you get too much dairy or grains in your diet. I don’t want to sound like a “tin-hat” conspiracy theorists, but it is safe to say that the dairy, grain, or for that matter meat industry has no little input into these recommendations – take it for what it’s worth.
My personal experience and experience with scores of clients tells me that limiting dairy and grains has a much more positive effect on body composition and just plain feeling better than the alternative.
As Dr. Jonny Bowden points out, the devil is in the details of the guidelines, with a lot of information that is just plain outdated in light of new research into low-fat diets and the like.
And while fruit is super healthy, for weight management clients in particular the ratio of fruits to vegetables is probably too high (Eat Your Veggies!)
The bottom line is that if more people take the advice and eat what’s on “MyPlate” that is certainly a step in the right direction.
More vegetables and protein, less grains?
Work for me!
Make It Happen,
Coach Dean
Dean Carlson is a Certified Professional Fitness Trainer with the National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association, a Level 2 Youth Conditioning Specialist with the International Youth Conditioning Association and is a Level 1 Certified Precision Nutrition Coach.
“Lord Almighty, I feel my temperature rising”…(must be Marvelous Monday at Bootcamp)
Monday night, 6pm Bootcamp had the whole Big Family in attendance. That would be Big Daddy (40KB), Big Mama (36KB), and Big Boy (32KB) rockin’ and rollin’ on the gym floor. If they weren’t doing the KettleBell Swing they were Deadlifted. Our Motto: GO BIG or GO HOME! Since no one left, we went BIG!
“Higher and Higher, Its burning through to my soul”…(and my core right down to my gluteus maximus)
Our Mantra: “You can do anything for 40 seconds” (or 2 minutes, or whatever is required for time). This is the class if you need motivation, they’ve got it in spades! When you are pushed to your limit… they’ll push you a little more.
Add in: the HOTTEST Trainer this side of Memphis who whispers the Challenge, “the other classes did 21 partner band rows”. With a twinkle in her eye and a slight grin, “I’m just saying…” – oh it’s ON! Green Band!
“Girl girl girl, you gonna set me on fire… it’s hard to breathe, and my chest is a heavin…”
When we are all done with our Tabata Tuesday workout someone says (& it doesn’t matter what day it is, someone always says…) “Lets go do some Hills”. Today I replied all proud of myself, ‘I already did Hills’ (yeh me!). I was then informed that I had done “PRE-Hills”, it was time for “POST-Hills” (really?!)… and out the door we went. Lynn is doing 10 hills now (U go Girl!), making our Fran proud (we miss you Fran!).
I gotta say 6pm is definitely not made up of slackers…
“My hands are shaking, and my knees are weak. I can’t seem to stand on my own two feet.”
“Who do you THANK when you have such luck, I’m in LOVE… I’m ALL SHOOK UP” (side note: I ran out of lyrics and had to switch songs, gotta love THE KING… who knew he was singing about Bootcamp?? Sven needs an Elvis soundbite- can I put in a request?)
Blog you later.
gretchen
Last week we talked about a question that is on most of the people’s minds we coach or even talk to about nutrition:
How much AM I supposed to eat? (click to read)
If you haven’t read it (why not?!) go back and read it now. In fact everybody go back and read it again – it’s that good! 🙂
Here are the steps we outlined:
Sound familiar?
Well I have great news for you! You can put away your calculator, because we have a present for you…
The “PN Calorie Calculator”!
This super easy to use Excel spreadsheet will take care of Steps 1 through 3 above – lickety split – There is no reason why you can’t get started on a customized plan for you and your goals!
All we ask you to do to get your crankin’ copy of calorie calculating goodness is for you to answer one question! Once you have answered that question you will be sent an email with the download link and password needed to access the calculator.
That is NOT too much to ask!
So take action today. Don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for things to happen – Make Them Happen!
So, you say, I know I am supposed to eat PPW (Protein, Produce and Water) every 3 hours, but how much am I supposed to eat?
A fair question, to be sure.
Here’s my answer:
I Don’t Know.
I am sure you are saying to yourself – Well that’s helpful!
The reason I say that is because while there are certainly general principles of nutrition, there is no one size fits all.
But don’t be discouraged, because there is a way for you to find out.
As a certified Precision Nutrition coach (and client) I get very specific with individual clients who hire me to coach nutrition, but there are general principles we can apply, depending on the goal. You are going to eat very differently when your goal is to lose bodyfat than if it is to gain muscle. A naturally thin person with skinny limbs (ectomorph) is not going to eat the same amounts or type of food as a naturally broad or thick person (endomorph).
It also may be true that two people of identical size may not be able to eat the same amount of calories and lose weight at the same rate.
So what to do?
We Test and Find Out!
While the following is a hypothetical, it applies to many of our clients who struggle with fat loss, so pay attention.
Step 1: Estimate Calories
For a client who is moderately active (exercises 3-4 times a week) and wants to lose weight, we will start by multiplying their current bodyweight by 12-14.
Example: A 160 pound person would start by eating between 1920 (160 x 12) and 2240 (160 x 14) calories per day. A 200 pound person would start by eating 2400 (200 x 12) and 2800 (200 x 14) calories per day.
Step 2: Macronutrient Split
According to Dr. John Berardi, author of Precision Nutrition, the endomorph (naturally broad/thick) described above would consume the average starting percentages:
Step 3: Calculate calories for each Macronutrient
The 160 pound person would consume:
and the 200 pound person would consume:
Step 4: Approximate calories per meal
160 pound person:
200 pound person:
Step 5: Achieve 90% compliance and adjust
Here’s the key – as with any experiment there must be controls. In order to discover what calorie level you can eat and reach your goals, you must be consistent. In this case that means achieving 90% compliance with your plan. That means out of 35 meals a week, 31 or 32 must conform to the guidelines, which allows 3 or 4 non-compliant or “splurge” meals a week. You don’t have to be and shouldn’t try to be “perfect”. Most of the time shooting for perfection is setting yourself up for failure – do yourself a favor, plan (another key) your “splurges” and give yourself a break.
With our coaching clients we measure and adjust every two weeks, if compliance has been achieved. Two weeks is long enough to see how your body is responding. If you are losing weight at the desired rate, we stay right where we are. If we are losing at a different rate (high or low) we will adjust something (calories, exercise amount, etc.) until we are where we want to be.
More Tips:
Notice the majority of carbohydrates are ingested after training. Read why here…
Eat Vegetables and Fruit in an approximately 5:1 ratio – 5 servings of veggies for every serving of fruit. Here’s the scoop on slow carbs…
So there you go – the very basics we use to help clients dial in their nutrition and get the results they want. Hop on the scale, get out the calculator, and figure out where your starting point is.
For more detailed information and coaching I recommend one of two paths:
1) Get your own copy of Precision Nutrition, the A-Z resource for your nutrition and body composition goals. This is the resource I used (and still use) to achieve over 80 pounds of weight loss.
2) Get your own copy of Precision Nutrition and personal nutrition coaching from the only certified Precision Nutrition coach in the state of NH (yours truly 🙂 You can give me a call at the office or drop me a line to discuss your options.
Make It Happen!
Coach Dean
On June 25th Dean & I are heading down along with quite a few Get Fit NH Bootcamp clients to participate in the Warrior Dash New England in Amesbury MA. You absolutely must head the Warrior Dash Website and check it out!
It’s not too late to sign up to join us on this wild adventure – Registration closes on June 13 at 3PM. We are headed down on the 25th, but you can race the 26th as well.
Over the next couple of weeks you are going to see some activity going on at Get Fit NH Bootcamp Epsom, as we build our own obstacle course to not only help train for the event, but just have a blast any old time!
On Saturday June 11th we are going to do a “Warriors in Training” workout! You don’t have to be a participant to come as we climb, crawl, leap, duck and jump over and around the obstacle course being built – Don’t Miss It!
More details on the way, but put Saturday June 11th on your calendar now!
S3 2011 is a great success! We’ve seen fantastic results and awarded fabulous prizes to our winners. Jeff will continue to benefit from all his hard work using his new Precision Nutrition System, and I know he’ll love the massage from Chichester Massage and Body Works. Who knows what he did with all that cash!
Carol and Abby enjoyed their bonus cash prizes too. The 6:15 training time has designed their winning t-shirt and are anxiously waiting for the shirt to make its debut. But we have so many who created healthy habits over the course of S3 that we wanted to surprise them with an added prize.
For all those Perfect People Scores throughout all 8 weeks of our contest, Dean and I will cook dinner for you! Yes, you heard it right. We are inviting you and a guest to our house for a PPW Cookout! (Perfect People Win Cookout)
Here’s the details.
Date: Wednesday June 8th
Time: 6:00 – 7:30pm
Place: Get Fit NH Bootcamp Epsom
The eight weeks of Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown may be officially over, but don’t to stop your progress. S3 was and is designed for you to practice good habits over the course of a length of time where results could be seen and felt. Keep the spirit of S3 alive and well by moving forward towards your individuals goals.
Now is not the time to rest on your laurels – Enjoy your success and take one more step today to getting better!
Please drop us a line on the contact form to let us know you are coming!
Coaches Dean and Nancy
Thank-you very much for your part in helping us move up a spot this year, from the top three into the top two! Congratulations to all the winners who make the Capital Region of NH as great as it is!
You can check out all the winners by clicking here…
This morning S3 contest winner Jeff H. received his copy of Dr. John Berardi’s “Precision Nutrition” as part of his prize package. This comprehensive nutrition coaching package is what I used when I dropped 80 plus pounds a few years ago, and in my opinion is the best resource out there to teach you how to change your body composition from “Flab to Fab”. It also led me to earning my Precision Nutrition coaching credentials, the first to do so in the state of New Hampshire.
Now is a great time to pick up your own copy of Precision Nutrition, as the entire system is being offered at a much reduced price! You owe it to yourself to find out more about Precision Nutrition here!
Congrats Jeff!
Another member of the Get Fit NH Bootcamp family has arrived – Welcome Tessa!
“I had the privilege of going to Get Fit NH for most of my second pregnancy. Staying active and being healthy was VERY important to me because I wanted to be able to be able to keep up with my two year old and all my other responsibilities without being in pain at the end of the day.
Nancy was awesome about keeping tabs on me throughout the workouts and making sure that I didn’t do anything that would compromise my health or the baby. My labor and delivery was an hour from start to finish. My body was in great shape for delivering a baby!
It’s important to have someone who can make sure you are doing a workout that is safe for you and your baby and Get Fit NH is suited perfectly to the needs of a pregnant mom!” – Katie Uy
Thanks Katie, and congratulations to you and Andre!
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