Burning calories or boosting spirits?

Photo by: Sergio Silva

This guest post is written by Drew Harvey, who blogs over at Diet Tired. Drew is an exercise and nutrition physiologist, entrepreneur, and advocate of diet free weight loss.


Few would disagree that regular physical activity is important for weight loss. But how it leads to weight loss and more importantly, keeping weight off is commonly misunderstood.

Let’s start with what constitutes the best form of exercise for weight loss? Here is a shocker: anything that gets you moving on a regular, preferably daily, basis.

Many have a hard time understanding this concept, including sleeveless personal trainers.

I suspect this is because weight loss ultimately comes down to calories in versus calories out. Therefore, maximizing calories burned and feeling the ‘burn’ should be your number one goal right? Or another common fallacy is spending hours in the mythical ‘fat burning zone’.

Thus common exercise recommendations are: as high of intensity as possible, as long as possible and of course, as miserable as possible.

Thanks to weight loss television shows, visions of overweight people panting up hills and performing embarrassing obstacle courses while being ridiculed by obnoxious hard bodies come to mind. Ultimately suggesting that doing ‘miserable’ forms of exercise is the answer and if you stop being so lazy you too could drop magical amounts of weight.

Worse, while performing these exercises you scold yourself with “I wouldn’t have to do this if I hadn’t gained all this weight.”

Is taking the ‘any activity is good activity’ approach a cop out? Is it something that I suggest simply to make my clients and readers feel better? No, this strategy works and here is why.

Being physically active is the best predictor of sustained weight loss and it still would be even if it didn't burn any extra calories! You might need to read the previous sentence again.

Here is an example. Many feel discouraged when the machine they have just sweated on for 30 minutes tells them that they have burned a measly 200 calories, the equivalent of a large double-double or a large cookie. However, they are not counting the health benefits of the exercise or the boost in confidence and willpower that ensues, making them far more likely to make healthy food choices.

It is a well known fact that people eat healthier on days that they are active. By simply being active and consequently feeling good about yourself, you decrease your daily calorie intake through better food choices.

I’ll leave you with a proud client example. After some convincing, Randy decided to take a 20 minute walk each evening around his neighborhood. Previously he felt that walking wasn’t vigorous enough to promote weight loss. After just two weeks he told me that he had taken a liking to the evening walks because they burned an extra 400 - 500 calories.

I didn't want to burst his bubble but I did indicate that a 20 minute walk burns approximately 100 calories; not 500.

To which he replied, "I know, but if I had stayed home I would have eaten 400 calories worth of cookies!"

Diets & Cults: is there a difference?

I'm a bum.

I was going to post a long, incredibly well-written and irrefutably researched review of Barry Sears' book, Toxic Fat. But I'm going to put that off until next week so I can put this up today.

(Okay, also because I still want to tweak it a bit more. It's not quite right yet.)

I absolutely loved one thing I read in Sears's book. To quote:

"Three things in life are visceral because they are based on belief systems: Religion, politics, and nutrition."

Yep.

Emotions are closely tied in with food

You know how some people get a 'gut feeling'? The gut has such a high concentration of nerve cells that it has been called a second brain. The highest concentration is of course the brain.

No, I don't care what you've heard about some men, it really is in the head brain.

If there's a second brain in the gut, would that explain why people get so emotional about the favorite diet?

Whatever you do, don't disparage the diet

It looks like people develop an emotional attachment to a certain diet, or the philosophy behind it. As an example, take this review that Diet Blog did about Dr. Joel Fuhrman's diet book, Toxic Hunger. It's a pretty straightforward review, but what caught my attention were the comments. People got emotional over whether this diet was, or was not, a good idea.

Putting down a diet plan is a sure fire way to get a ton of comments on your blog. (Ah... the real reason for this post comes out.) The blog Starling Fitness averages a couple of comments on a post; when she wrote a mildly disapproving post about Weight Watchers and the points system, she got 95 comments. People are really into their particular diet.

If this blog were being written by Ms. Crabby, at this point there would be an insightful paragraph or two about why people defend their diet plans like a lioness defending her last cub. Since she ain't here, just imagine that something insightful was said at this point.

Deep, thoughtful moment

Okay, enough already.

Being me, I have to confess that I don't get why this is such an emotional issue. Being healthy is a good thing. Yeah, I got that part. But we're all different, right? So if diet A works for me, and diet B works for Crabby, why should the two of us have a huge argument about which is better?

I think diets are like cults in that people can get really obsessive about them both.

Weight watchers is evil!

It's tempting to disparage a whole lot of diet plans so that the post would get lots and lots of comments. (Weight Watchers is evil! The Zone Diet is followed by Terrorists! Hitler was a vegetarian!) But in all honesty, I don't get it. Why can't we all get along? Or agree to disagree, or something civilized like that?

Danger, Holidays Fast Approaching!

This guest post is by Terrie Farley Moran, who blogs over at Women of Mystery. She is also a contributor to the new anthology Dying in a Winter Wonderland, which she'll tell you more about soon!




Take a look around. The Halloween decorations are gone. A cardboard turkey with a pop out tummy is overwhelmed by the Christmas decorations in shop windows. Red and green mini lights and white icicle lights are beginning to show up on front porches, ready to be plugged in as soon as the last piece of pumpkin pie is gobbled on Thanksgiving night.

Last year around this time, Merry, who has her own entertaining blog, Sheesh, posted a holiday survival quiz here at Cranky Fitness.

I warn you, the test is not for the faint of will power. The accompanying picture of a plate of brownies was enough to get me drooling.

If it wasn’t for the fruitcake question, I would have scored a perfect twelve, which far exceeds the perfect four that would indicate I have my holiday eating under control. So, thanks to Merry (and my personal history) I already know that I will taste, and perhaps eat too much of the brownies, the homemade fudge, the pies and every home made cookie in sight. I will avoid only the fruitcake.

Since I am sure I’m going to overeat, I can accept, enjoy, and risk rolling back all the progress I have made this year or I can devise a plan, a strategy to minimize the damage. I see you shaking your head. A plan? A strategy? Come on, Ter, we know all that stuff. Avoid alcohol. Eat the raw veggies instead of the chips.

Yep, we do know all those ideas and I have followed them faithfully and still come up on the wrong side of the scale on New Year’s Day. So my strategy this year involves two basics.

First, I will plan and execute Perfect Days. I have already printed out blank calendar pages for the weeks beginning with Sunday, November 23rd and ending on Saturday, January 3rd. I filled in the dates I know will be a problem for me: Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, New Years Day. I called two friends who throw holiday parties I usually attend and, hooray, they already know the dates of their parties. On the calendar they go. Then I looked at my paydays and plugged in my shopping days accordingly. There are still plenty of empty boxes. I picked two each week and labeled them Perfect Days. On those days I will do my maximum exercise and my food will be high quality protein with lots of vegetables and a small portion of fruit. I do this not to give myself permission to pig out on party days, but to ward off any damage I might do while trying to be on my best behavior during social occasions.

Second, I will increase my exercise every day. Yes, every single day of the holiday season. I will keep moving. My efforts will be as simple as playing assistant hostess at every gathering. “Can I get you a refill?” “May I clear away your plate?” and as joyful as touring a different neighborhood (on foot) to take pleasure in the holiday lights. On shopping days I will have a large mug of veggie soup right before I leave the house. Then I will take a brisk half hour walk around the outside of the mall before I set one foot inside. I am counting on that combo to energize me to get in, get what I need and get out without needing a rest stop at the food court.

As part of my keep moving line of attack, I am enlisting your help. Those of you who visit us over at Women of Mystery know that I am proud as can be to have a story in this year’s Toys For Tots anthology, Dying In A Winter Wonderland published by Wolfmont Press. The anthology is written for adults and every story is light, festive and touches on one or more of the winter holidays: Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and the Winter Solstice.

Each of the stories, the editing service and the publishing service have been donated, so all of the proceeds garnered from sales of Dying In A Winter Wonderland will go directly to the Toys For Tots Foundation sponsored by the US Marine Corps Reserve.


Dying in A Winter Wonderland makes a perfect holiday gift for everyone on your list, friends and family alike. With all the proceeds going to provide holiday gifts for children in need, every purchase is a win-win. You can order from the publisher, (see above link) your local bookstore, or from Amazon.

For every copy of Dying In A Winter Wonderland you purchase, I will walk one mile between now and the New Year. Just contact me over at Women of Mystery and I will give you the date and time of your walk, so you can cheer me on, or better yet, join me.

So, please help me keep on my holiday exercise track, help Toys For Tots provide the gifts that will make the holiday season special for so many girls and boys, and help yourself by stocking up on a present that will be sure to delight.

Many thanks to Crabby and Merry for sharing their space with me and the Toys For Tots kids.

Terrie

Update on the Raw Food Diet

Do you have it in a different color? Transparent is so last year...

Did you ever wonder about Cinderella? I mean, did she really think she could live happily ever after with a guy who's got some weird frangible shoe fetish?

Health is not a fairy tale

It's like those shows that celebrate someone losing 200 pounds... but there's never any follow up on these shows to find out what happens next.

Here at Cranky Fitness, we are determined to shun such prevarications. So it seemed like a good time to provide an update on how my body felt after the 30 days of 90% all raw vegetables.

- Because I was on such an extremely low-fat diet, my skin broke out. (I know -- it's supposed to break out when it's greasy. I'm weird. The only time my skin has problems is when I'm behaving like as a teenager, i.e. going on extremely rigid and unrealistic diets.)

- Because I became so used to eating vegetables 90% of the time, it was no hardship to transition after the 30 days into eating lots of cooked veggies. Roasted vegetables, lightly sprayed with olive oil, are much more filling than their raw relatives.

- Because I've gotten so used to eating vegetables, it's -- wait for it -- gotten to the point where I, the most confirmed carnivore on the face of the planet, don't crave 'substantial' food like meat, chicken, or fish. Used to think those were the essential cornerstones of a meal, without which you would have cranky, resentful stomachs. Turns out that's not a basic law of nature. Gravity is a law of nature. Meat with every meal? Not.

- Look, if you're a guy please skip this point and go on to the next. (Are you gone? Good.) Okay, I have to mention that going cold carrot was an incredible help in that it made the cramps much, much, much, much less painful. (I would like to throw in a few more 'much'es into that last sentence, just to emphasize the point, but I think you got the idea already.)

- I put on a pair of jeans and walked around for 20 minutes before realizing that these were my 'skinny' jeans that I'd not been able to fit into two months ago. Still haven't unpacked my scale, but I take the jeans as proof that the raw food helped me shape wise.

A love affair with lettuce? Maybe just a fling

A coach that smells of pumpkin? Actually, I'd prefer a crock pot.

A raw food diet might make a useful transition for someone who wants to eat more healthy food and less saturated fat. I wouldn't recommend having a long-term relationship with an all-raw diet, but as an intermediate step to a more healthy diet? Might be worth a try.

I think I might suggest adding this idea to the Cranky Fitness Diet Book. Every diet book I've read starts out with an intro diet, a two-week section that is supposed to help the dieter lose weight quickly and get motivated to go on to the long-term maintenance diet.

Judging by the comments, everybody here is already into healthy diets. I feel like I'm trying to catch up to the point where you're already at. So maybe you can tell me -- did you all jump straight into eating healthily? Or was there a transitional period, where you went to an extreme version of a diet before settling into more moderate and healthy habits? (Or did you always eat 'good food' and if so were you never tempted into evil ways?)

Hello from The Crab!

Nov. 10, 2008, Charlotte, North Carolina (or thereabouts).



Hello, and... Whooops!
So I must apologize to anyone who has sent email, or commented recently, or written brilliant posts at their own blogs which I haven't stopped by yet to read. I may have mentioned that I was setting out on a cross-country trip, but I didn't anticipate that the first four nights we'd end up with no internet coverage at all in any of the campgrounds we stayed in . That's almost five whole days without going online!

As you might imagine, five days offline is an eternity to a web-addicted, neurotic, nutcase blogger.

One the positive side: the obsessive voice in my head that evaluates every daily experience or observation, no matter how trivial, for potential blogworthiness? It's a bit quieter! That's probably a good thing.

But dang, I miss everyone. This is sort of a "wish you were here" postcard.


OK, so maybe I don't wish all of you were physically here inside Fran the Van. That might get a bit crowded. Let's just say "here" in a broader, more metaphorical sense.

So regulars might notice this is another weird post--just a bunch of random thoughts--but fear not. The "normal" crab will be back sometime Thanksgiving-ish, and might even have written a coherent post health and fitness post by then.

Weddings and Elections
So my last post was written just after getting gay-married and right before election day. Many thanks to all the wonderful folks who commented and had such supportive, kind, encouraging things to say! It really meant a lot to us. It was hard, however, amid the general post election euphoria (hooray for Obama!), to see Prop 8 and all the other anti-gay ballot initiatives win. Damn it. That hurt.

Road Trip Wonderfulness
Sad as we were to leave P-town for the winter, we're having a great time on our journey west to California. Not every mile has been stunning but a LOT of it has been gorgeous as we've been getting off the interstates a bit and traveling some two lane highways. Beautiful fall colors (Merritt Parkway, OMG!); rustic farms and spunky small towns and, of course, hideous strip malls and coastal high rises. We've been enjoying breathless NPR reports on the new Obama administration and the world's excitement; and sampling regional cuisine. (Note: vinegary barbecue, not our fave! Who knew there were so many variations?). We've been enjoying nearly empty campgrounds and long hikes and gas stations with prices like $1.99 a gallon. And we get to have the cat with us, who entertains us and cuddles with us and is an excellent traveling companion--even if she does still scoot every now and then. (Tip: "Unbelievable" really is an unbelievable stain remover).

The Long and Whiny Road
Of course I can always find a few things to grouse about. I'll limit myself to jut two:

Faked Out at The Food Court
FYI: If you are ever looking for a quick fast-food lunch and have rationalized to yourself that a piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken with the skin pulled off, and maybe some baked beans and coleslaw wouldn't be too unhealthy a choice...

Do NOT be fooled into stopping at service area advertising a "KFC Express."

What's a KFC Express? Well, the one we stopped at was basically a burger place that had two or three items from the KFC menu: Fried chicken "strips" and potato wedges and macaroni and cheese.

You couldn't even get a piece of actual chicken at a Kentucky Fried Chicken! As far as I can tell, a "chicken strip" is just another word for a "greasy fried batter delivery system."

We were so annoyed we decided to take the high road and so we avoided the burger joint/fake KFC entirely. Instead we opted for a lame chicken Caesar salad from another food court vendor. Then we were forced to eat 5,000 calories worth of trail mix and whole wheat cookies to compensate. Curse you, fake KFC!

Time Warp Gyms
When we're on the road, we tend to visit local gyms along the way and go in on a day pass. It's often an adventure, as no two places are ever exactly the same, and I am incredibly fussy and opinionated about gym equipment.

Our first stop was a gym that was the Cutting Edge of fitness... about 30 years ago. The building was bright and clean and the people were very friendly and helpful. Overall, it was great as they had my favorite eliptical, the armless PreCor. But when it came time for weights... the place was stuffed full of the old first generation Nautilus machines. Remember those?

The old Nautilus machines (which by now are beat to shit and jerky and sticky) were annoying even when they came out. You can't reach the pins to adjust the weights without getting up and walking around to the back of the machine. So if you ever wondered where all those Nautilus machines ended up? They're still out there--at a gym in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Back on the road...
The adventure continues! Hope there's more internet along the way, but if it remains scarce, I'll look forward to catching up with everyone when I get to California.

And a big thanks to Merry and the Great Guest Posters for keeping the blog going while the Lobster and I meander our way back west!