I read something interesting this morning on the net: ‘muscle weighs more than fat’. Um, I’m afraid not. Five kilos of muscle weighs the same as five kilos of fat, which also happens to weigh the same as five kilos of apples.

What is true, however, is that a kilo of fat occupies more space than a kilo of muscle. Also a kilo of muscle has greater density than a kilo of fat. Fat also has a lower metabolic rate than muscle, which means when your body is at rest a kilo of muscle will burn more calories than a kilo of fat. Your basal metabolic rate (the number of calories your body uses at rest) accounts for between 60 and 75% of the calories you burn in a day, so it makes sense to build lean muscle if you want to lose weight, right?

Same weight of fat and muscle

Below are some key points to remember about fat and muscle:

Fat

• The amount of body fat you have is directly related to the amount of calories you consume and burn.
• Consume any type of food in excess and it will be converted to body fat (carbs, proteins or fats).
• Fat cannot turn into muscle.
• Fat cells act as one unit, e.g. you can’t spot reduce.

Muscle

• Unlike fat, strength gains are not related to calories – changes in muscle physiology are influenced by the stress placed on them.
• To change muscle shape you must place greater stress on the muscle than it is already accustomed to.
• Weight training is the easiest way to control changes in muscle physiology.
• Unlike fat, each muscle can be specifically targeted, e.g. you can choose areas of your body you want to improve—but remember: you won’t see the definition if you have a layer of fat covering it!

This is an interesting website to check out: http://www.mybodygallery.com/. On this site you can see how the same weight can look very different on various body types.

Many people, myself included, struggle to stick to an exercise program that they find repetitive or boring. I stopped strength training about four months ago for that very reason.

I’m kind of mad at myself. I know how important strength training is, and how it helps my running. I go around telling everyone how important it is! My mistake was that I didn’t make the time to play with my routines, change them up and make them more interesting. It got boring and I’d think ‘hey, I could be out running in the park right now’ and so that’s what I would do instead.

Over the past 16 weeks or so I’ve just been running and here’s what has happened to my training and fitness:

• My tricky lower back began acting up–a lot.
• Calf and lower leg injuries flared up after months and months of no injuries.
• Loss of muscle definition/tone (although I weigh less—more on that later).
• Less running overall because all of the above.

I remember how fabulous and strong I felt when I had a balanced fitness schedule. My running was better and I think I looked better too- I like a little definition.

I’m now back on track and treating myself like a client- making strength training interesting, challenging and fresh and making it part of my overall fitness program again.

Whether it’s strength training or cardio, boredom and repetition can set in and make you not want to continue. That’s definitely not what we want! You need to have balance in your workouts and you need to have fun and be challenged. I’ve listed some tips below that you can use yourself to make things more interesting:

• Turn a regular weight training session into a circuit session and incorporate some cardio. If you go to the gym you could do cycle or running intervals in between sets.
• Try changing your routine by super-setting or doing pyramid sets, etc.
• Use different equipment. This goes for cardio too. Try rowing, or cycling if you usually run and vice versa.
• Do some of your exercises on a stability ball or bosu to add extra challenge.
• Change your cardio workouts around so you do some intervals, low heart rate training, sprinting, etc.
• Try a class.
• Get a personal trainer to boss you around occasionally!

One thing I have done differently with my own program is that I’ve put a wide variety of routines in rotation. It will work well for me because there are so many variables that I can change it will take a while for any boredom to surface!

I change my running routines primarily by training different heart rate ‘zones’ for a set amount of time each week; plus I just love running outdoors. I don’t think there will ever be a time when I’m bored of it. It’s good for body and soul.

Happy training!!

I am susceptible to heat illness and (unfortunately) I am still learning that it isn’t as straight-forward to manage as going out early/late in the day and drinking enough water.

A couple of weeks ago I went out intending to do a long, slow distance run early in the morning (about 7am). It was about 19C when I started out and the final temp, almost 2 hours later, was in the low 20s. Although I thought the temperature was perfect, I became mildly dehydrated after about 90 minutes from the strong wind and direct sun. I was also feeling a false sense of security because of the relatively low temperatures—I wasn’t drinking as much water during the run as I normally would have in higher temperatures.

So learn from my mistakes and consider these other points before you go out and do any kind of exercise this summer:

Intensity- the greater the intensity of exercise the more heat you generate. So the warmer and more humid the weather is the more you need to slow down or decrease intensity.

Body mass- the bigger you are the more heat your body generates and the more ‘insulation’ you have. You really don’t want a lot of insulation in hot weather.

Medication- antihistamines, anti-depressants, anti-inflammatories, blood pressure medications and many other meds can interfere with your body’s heat balance system.

Caffeine- drinking coffee, tea, or other caffeinated drinks before warm weather exercise can cause you to generate more heat and experience an increased heart rate.

Sweat evaporation- sweating doesn’t cause heat loss–it is the evaporation of sweat that causes it. The higher the humidity the less sweat evaporates.

Air temperature- your body generates a lot of heat during exercise so it makes sense that if the surrounding air and objects are cooler, it’s going to be easier to dissipate the heat.

Clothing- lighter colours reflect the sun’s rays so during warmer weather avoid dark clothing. Clothing also traps air next to your skin, which will then heat to body temperature and act as an insulator. This is especially true of non-porous or tight fitting clothing. The best thing to do is wear light, breathable gear. Cotton t-shirts are the absolute worst thing to wear for exercising in warm weather… they just absorb sweat and hold onto it.

Hats- we dissipate a substantial amount of heat through our heads. Stick to mesh running caps that allow the heat to escape.

Below are some common heat-related illnesses, their causes and symptoms.

Heat cramps

Cause: electrolyte deficiency or imbalance due to exercising in hot weather.

Symptoms: sharp, stabbing pain in muscles, especially leg muscles; although they can occur in the diaphragm, resulting in very painful side stitches.

What to do: stop running/exercising, try to drink fluids containing electrolytes, cool the body with wet towels or whatever is at hand and get to a cool area immediately. Get medical attention if necessary.

Heat exhaustion

Cause: body is unable to dissipate enough heat generated during exercise in warm, humid conditions and also loss of electrolytes.

Symptoms: moderate rise in body temperature, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headache, weakness, lack of coordination, heat cramps, heavy sweating accompanied by moist and cold skin, ‘goose bumps’, rise in heart rate, fatigue that causes you to slow down.

What to do: stop exercising, drink fluids containing electrolytes, cool the body/get to a cool area immediately, lie down with feet elevated a few inches above the heart. Getting prompt medical attention is also highly recommended. Untreated heat exhaustion can rapidly progress to heatstroke.

Heatstroke

Cause: body’s thermoregulation fails. It cannot dissipate the heat generated during exercise and core body temperature rises to a dangerous level. Untreated heat exhaustion can rapidly progress to heatstroke.

Symptoms: may or may not include symptoms of heat exhaustion. Symptoms include lethargy, extreme weakness, confusion, odd behaviour, disorientation, unconsciousness, cessation of sweating, hot, dry skin. Can lead to convulsions, seizures, coma, and death.

Treatment: This is a medical emergency that requires immediate medical attention. Move person to a cool area, and try to cool their body with ice or cold water.

Please be careful out there!

Will you be eating fast food over the holidays? My guess is probably yes. So if you are travelling or in a situation where you absolutely have to choose less healthy food, here are some tips that may help make your bad food choices a little less nasty.

Do not upsize.  No matter how much money you will save. Don’t do it. An upsize will have anywhere from 14-50% more fat and 30-80% more sugar.  You might save cents but your arteries and backside won’t be saved. Just think of up-sizing as up-sizing yourself. The following chart is from an article published in 2002 (cited below) in the Medical Journal of Australia. It’s a few years old now, but I suspect it is still relevant in 2013:

Cameron-Smith, David, Shane A. Bilsborough, and T. C. Crowe. “Upsizing Australia’s waistline: the dangers of” meal deals”. Medical journal of Australia177.11/12 (2002): 686-68

I went looking for the highest fat content in a takeaway and actually found a burger with 65 grams of fat!! That exceeded even my cynical expectations. To give you an idea of how disgusting this is, the average person’s daily fat intake is anywhere from 20 to 30 grams per day. I found it on an amazingly scary chart on the Choice website. Have a look and be scared too.

It can take as little as one fast food or takeaway to meet 50% of your total fat allowance for the day and exceed your saturated fat allowance. So, if you absolutely have to eat unhealthily try substituting the dot-pointed food choice with the one next to it:

• Fried chicken- Chicken or falafel kebab
• Fast food burgers- Gourmet burgers or fish burgers
• Pizza- Gourmet pizzas
• Cakes/biscuits- Sports bar
• Pastries- Toasted sandwiches
• Potato chips- Seed and healthy nut mixes
• Chocolate bars- Popcorn or pretzels
• Fried or frozen meals- Baked or steamed meals
• Bacon and egg rolls- Egg roll no bacon
• Fatty meat- Trimmed meats or better still, fish
• Buttered foods- just don’t
• Cream cheese- same as with butter

So be careful out there and give me a call or email if you have any questions or would like to know more about nutrition and exercise.

Here’s to a happy, healthy and safe 2013.

It had to happen this close to Christmas/your birthday/that wedding/ (insert your own motivation for over-eating/drinking here).

No one is perfect and if they seem to be, they’re just good at pretending. We all over-indulge once in a while and what you do the next day can either put you back on track or set you up for another binge.  So here are a few tricks/tips I’ve found that make me feel better the day after.

1. Do not miss meals or fast. This is very important.  Don’t stress out your metabolism even more.  I know it’s tempting when you feel like you have eaten enough to feed a small village.  Get up and have breakfast. The trick here is not to have a croissant with butter and jam and a coffee with 3 sugars. Have something with lots of fibre and low calorie (a bowl of sultana bran with skim milk for example); and lay off adding sugar and butter to anything.
2. Over breakfast plan the rest of your meals for the day. Plan to eat plenty of fibre rich vegetables and fruit and stay away from anything high in salt and saturated/trans fat.  Be nice to your body and fuel it with healthy, vitamin rich food.
3. Drink water… lots of it throughout the day. No salty mineral water though!
4. Go for a walk or run or do any cardio you enjoy for at least 30 minutes.  Go for a bike ride. Get sweaty.
5. Do not weigh yourself for a couple of days. Your weight will probably show a bit of a gain but that number will only make you feel worse. Remember the number is not showing an increase in body fat, it’s more than likely water retention from all the sugar/salt/fat you’ve eaten. So save yourself the heartache and step away from the scales.

One or two days of over indulgence will not ruin your weight loss goals. It takes around 3500 extra calories to gain half a kilo. That is a lot of calories over and above the calories your body needs to function! It is extremely unlikely that you would even be able to eat enough extra food over a day or even a weekend to have any major effect on your weight loss goals.  Just regard it as a little bump in the road and move on.

Remember, I take requests so if there’s something diet or exercise related you would like me to blog about just let me know.

Have a happy and safe Christmas and I’ll see you in 2013!

Ok, in a couple of short weeks it’s going to be Christmas. A time to get together with friends and family and eat and drink like there’s no tomorrow, right?

That’s ok, I guess. It depends on what you do for the rest of the year, really. Are you going to pig out until the end of December because you’ve already decided that eating right and exercising is your ‘new year resolution’?

I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but resolutions don’t usually amount to much. I think a new year resolution is setting yourself up for failure. What happens when January, February or even March (I’m being generous here) rolls around and there’s a party or event and you go over the top again? You’ll feel like a failure. But that wouldn’t be true, of course.

Wouldn’t a more measured and realistic plan of attack be to do your best to eat healthily and get your 150 minutes of weekly exercise consistently, regardless of the time of year? Sure, there will be days when you fall off the wagon, but then there’s the next day to improve on the day before. Try not to fall into the trap of ‘this week is wrecked so I’ll just go crazy and eat everything in sight until next Monday’. Take it day by day and trust me, it will become second nature to treat yourself properly. You will still have days where you drink too much, or eat too much but they will become the exception, not the rule.

Consistency is the key to healthy weight loss and fitness.

So this Christmas season try being nice to your body and soul and balance over-indulgences with exercise and common sense eating.

You will feel better for it. I promise.

By the way, my discounted programs and in person consults are still on for the rest of the month- all you have to do is subscribe to my blog or ‘like’ my page on Facebook.

x

If you’re drinking more than one drink a day you could be sabotaging your weight loss goals.

What’s different about calories from alcohol-

Your body relies on protein, carbohydrate and fat for fuel. The calories from these nutrients are slowly digested in the stomach; however, when you add alcohol to the mix your body gives it its undivided attention. Alcohol is metabolised differently than everything else. It needs no digestion and gets absorbed into your system almost as soon as it’s consumed. The process takes slightly longer when there is food in your system, but as soon as alcohol enters the small intestine it takes precedence over everything else. The liver places all its attention on processing the alcohol which leaves the carbs and fats just hanging out to be permanently stored as fat in your body.

Alcohol is also a duretic, which means your body loses water as well as important minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium and zinc. These minerals are important to the maintenance of fluid balance, and muscle contraction and relaxation.

Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram and offers absolutely zero nutritional value. If you are trying to lose weight, why not spend your calorie budget on something healthier?

Other negative ways alcohol can affect your body and sabotage your diet:

• Poor quality sleep. If you don’t get adquate rest you are less likely to exercise.
• Alcohol stimulates your appetite and lowers your inhibitions. This is when you are most likely to overeat.

Skipping a meal to save your calories for drinking later is a bad idea. If you go out and you are already hungry, you are even more likely to eat unhealthy snacks; and drinking on an empty stomach only enhances the negative effects of alcohol.

Someone once told me that they only drink liquor because it has no carbs. We need to get back to basics here. Weight loss = more calories spent than consumed. Liquor has only a few less calories than wine or beer, plus it is almost always mixed with juice or soft drinks which add even more empty calories.

I think it’s important to have a drink or two if that’s what you enjoy. We have to have some fun, after all; but it is also equally important to be aware of how these choices affect our bodies and goals.

My 17 year old microwaved this junk last night. She loves it and much to my dismay there seems to be a lot of people who regularly eat this ‘food’, so I had a closer look at the ingredient panel. Here it is:

Pasta: 66%- wheatflour, water, colour (b-carotene)

Cheese sauce powder 26%- vegetable shortening powder (palm oil, glucose syrup solids, milk protein, mineral salt (340), emulsifier (471), anti-caking agent (554)), cheese powder (milk solids, cheese (milk, salt, starter culture, enzymes), salt, maltodexterin (wheat), mineral salt (339), food acids (270, 330, 331), colour, yeast extract (barley), hydrolysed vegetable protein (wheat)), milk solids, non-fat, thickener (1442), buttermilk powder, salt, mineral salt (341) provides 10% cheese.

Cooking aid – thickener (1442), maltodextrin, mineral salt (508), emulsifier (472a), vegetable oil, colour (annatto).

First of all let me say that if you have never heard of most of the ingredients in your food, you probably shouldn’t be eating it. I realise we all need a ‘treat’ now and then, but you’d be better off boiling up some pasta yourself and melting some real cheese on top if you want macaroni and cheese. I can think of better treats for 200-300 calories.

I’ve included additional information below about some of the additives in this particular junk that you may (or may not) find interesting. The short version is (in order) simple carbs/sugars, colour, fat, sugar, salt, more salt, more fat, more sugar, salt, more simple sugars (I’m up to maltodexterin now), another kind of salt, colour (so it seemingly doesn’t look as gross as it is), simple carbs, sugar, salt, another kind of salt. Simple carb, salt, fat.

Long version:

Palm oil - the main ingredient in the vegetable shortening powder. One tablespoon (or 14g) contains 120 calories, made up of:  14g of fat: 6.7g saturated fat, 1.3g polyunsaturated fat and 5g monounsaturated fat. Saturated fat is bad, but the end shortening result contains 4.2g of trans fat in 1 tablespoon, which makes it even worse.

Mineral salt 340 or potassium phosphate - the potassium salt of phosphoric acid. Pure extracted phosphoric acid is a white crystalline solid, and is melted to form a colourless, viscous liquid used in foods as an acidity regulator, emulsifier and buffer.

Emulsifier 471, – produced from glyceryl and natural fatty acids, primarily from hydrogenated soya bean oil. This additive produces a white or cream coloured waxy solid.

Anti-caking agent 554, or sodium aluminosilicate - a natural compound that contains silicon, sodium, aluminium, and oxygen. It may also contain water. It is usually white or colourless, or can be shades of blue, yellow, orange, and brown crystals that are slightly opaque.

Maltodexterin is a sugar and in this case derived from wheat. It is a creamy white powder, moderately sweet in taste. It is a mixture of glucose, maltose, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides.

Mineral salt 339, or sodium phosphate, is the sodium salt of phosphoric acid and has similar properties to mineral salt 340 above.

Food acid 270, or lactic acid - produced from bacterial fermentation of lactose (milk sugar) and is effective against bacteria, fungi and yeast.

Food acid 330, or citric acid - produced by the fermentation of carbohydrate solutions, usually molasses or hydrolysed corn starch with Aspergillus niger, is an acidity regulator and preservative.

Food acid 331, or sodium citrate, is the sodium salt of citric acid is produced and used in a similar way to citric acid above.

Colour – could be anything, really

Hydrolysed vegetable protein (or HVP) is a commonly used soy-based food ‘filler’ in thousands of processed food products. HVP can also be a potential source of hidden msg.

Thickener 1442, or hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate is prepared by treating starch with propylene oxide and phosphoric acid or phosphorus oxychloride. It is used as a thickener, stabiliser, and emulsifier in foods where better colour and shine are required.

Mineral salt 341, or calcium phosphate is the calcium salt of phosphoric acid, and has similar properties to mineral salt 339 and 340 above. It is used as an anti-caking and flour treatment agent.

Mineral salt 508, or potassium chloride is a natural mineral salt composed of chlorine and potassium. Commercially it is usually extracted from salt water. It is usually used as a salt replacer in foods, and also as a gelling agent, acidity regulator, thickener, and stabiliser in foods.

Emulsifier 472a, or acetic acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids are produced from glycerol, natural fatty acids, and acetic acid. The origin of the fatty acids is mainly plant but may also come from animals. This produces a product with varying consistencies from liquids to solids, white to pale yellow in colour, with an acetic acid odour. It is primarily used as an emulsifier, and stabiliser in food.

Colour – annatto, or 160b, is an orange-yellow vegetable dye made from the seed of the annatto tree. It is also called ‘bixin’ and ‘norbixin’. It has been reported to be the only natural colour that has been found to cause as many adverse intolerance reactions as artificial colours. Adverse reactions to annatto can include skin, gastrointestinal, airways and central nervous system reactions. A safe alternative is beta-carotene (160a).

Personal conclusion: yuck.

Are you exercising, eating right and still not losing weight?

Seeing no shift in the numbers on the scale can be, to say the least, disheartening. In fact, it’s probably the main reason people give up on a new exercise/diet regime. Don’t give up!! I’ve listed below the most likely reasons you aren’t seeing the changes you want:

Too much of a good thing

You’re eating healthy food, right? You wouldn’t start an exercise program and eat garbage food—that would undermine everything. A lot of people I talk to simply eat too much ‘good’ food. Even nutritious food will cause weight gain if you’re eating too much of it.

This is not helped along by the mindset that if you are exercising you can eat more. Forget about that. It doesn’t work.

Counting calories sucks but I know it works. You need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight. That is best achieved with a combination of diet and exercise.

You aren’t exercising hard enough

One thing that drove me nuts when I worked a short stint in a gym, was watching people get on the treadmill with a copy of People magazine, hold onto the rails and stroll for 30 minutes. What’s that all about? What a waste of 30 minutes! If you can only spare 30 minutes to exercise then you should feel maxed out at the end of it. If you could have kept going for another 30 minutes, you’re not doing it right.

One of the principles of exercise is ‘overload’. Your body needs to be overloaded to stimulate change. Your body doesn’t like change and will use everything in its power to keep you at homeostasis.

Keep in mind that ‘overload’ is specific to each individual situation. Also, I am a big believer in ‘visualisation’. If you’re working out, work out! Don’t multi-task. Concentrate on what you’re doing and the muscles you are working and the fat your are burning. You don’t really need to read what the Kardashians are up to.

Be patient!

Weight loss takes time. Don’t keep weighing yourself. Do it once a week at the same time of day so you can accurately gauge your progress. If you keep jumping on the scales you’ll go bananas—weight fluctuates like crazy.

What are you drinking?

Liquid has calories too. Don’t drink your calories. Ditch the fruit juice, sugary drinks and alcohol. Drink water. Not enough water will make your workouts more difficult, give you under eye dark circles, a clogged system and general lethargy. Make drinking water a habit. Try to drink 30ml of water for every kg you weigh and add 1 litre for every hour of exercise. This is not optional!

Hormone levels

A few hormones that increase appetite include cortisol, estrogen and leptin; and thyroxine reduces metabolism. Shifts in these and other hormones can have huge effects on weight loss. Also, make sure you get enough sleep because that also affects hormone production. If you have had a big change in weight for no apparent reason, it may be worth speaking to your doctor to make sure your hormone function is normal. Our hormone levels change as we age and it is important to make lifestyle adjustments to take this into consideration.

So if you are struggling to lose weight consider the points above and please don’t give up!! If you are having problems and would like to have a chat you can always email me: sandi@comotionfitness.com.au

An article on Monash University’s modi site states that Australia is now ranked as one of the fattest nations in the developed world. Obesity has more than doubled in the past 20 years; and here are a few scary facts from the report:

• 14 million Australians are overweight or obese
• more than 5 million are obese (with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m² )
• obesity has overtaken smoking as the leading cause of premature death and illness

scarier:

• if weight gain continues at current levels, by 2025 close to 80% of adults and one-third of all children will be overweight or obese.
• on the basis of present trends it is predicted that by the time they reach the age of 20 our children will have a shorter life expectancy than earlier generations simply because of obesity.

The last two points are so alarming. We need to start setting better examples for our children with respect to food and exercise. Things I notice:

• no time between after work and taking kids to lessons so it’s easier to get  fast food for dinner
• parents saying they have ‘no time’ to exercise and yet find time to sit in front of the television
• driving everywhere, even to the shops which are in walking distance

I realise for some families it’s not that simple, but fast food really isn’t less expensive than healthy, unprocessed ingredients for a decent meal; and in the long run you’ll be saving money on doctor visits and medicine. For the most of us though, it’s just a matter of planning and organisation.

Things to consider:

• make dinner preparation ‘family time’ – everyone can help by setting the table, cutting up food, etc.
• if you know you’ll be having dinner on the run a couple of nights a week, think ahead by preparing something nutritious to have in the car- cut up some veggie sticks, healthy sandwiches, or wraps
• if you need something from the shop, go for a walk or ride the bike with the family or go by yourself and set an example

So let’s think about our kids and change some bad habits. You’ll probably even enjoy yourself! By the way, the photo is of a gorgeous young lady named Olive. Her parents are fabulous role models and she enjoys a fun, active lifestyle. Her favourite food? Shooshi!