Stress and Weight Gain
Sun at 20:08pm on Mar 14th, 2010
There is a definite correlation between stress and weight gain. I'm currently thinking of an old episode of The Biggest Loser (I'm a sucker for reality TV, it's trashy, I know, deal with it) where Nicole from the red team lost a lot of weight at home on her own, and then was given the opportunity to come back to the ranch, where she gained 5 pounds in a week. Everyone had expected Nicole to lose even more weight since she now had all the great resources at the Biggest Loser ranch. However, Nicole was also introduced to the stress of "the game," which Bob Harper concluded made her gain the weight.
I never thought about this much until spring break this year. I went home to see my family, had no gym, and ate nice, big homecooked meals at my grannys. Nonetheless, I came back to school two pounds lighter. What gives? I have to conclude that perhaps the stress that I felt the week beforehand (you know how professors love to lay it on thick the week before spring break) was preventing me from losing weight.
So why does stress prevent you from losing weight? Whenever you're stressed, your body releases a hormone called cortisol. If you have too much cortisol in your body, your metabolism will slow. This can explain why you can gain weight without even eating more than you usually do.
How can we fight stress? Well we're in college, that's probably not going to happen. Nonetheless, we can keep it at bay by doing two things. One is getting a decent amount of sleep. The second is exercise. An article on stress in Fitness Magazine says that exercise can "can help stabilize our bodies' stress-related hormonal imbalance by increasing anabolic hormones, such as growth hormone, and possbily reduce the effects of cortisol."
Also, do whatever it takes to help you destress. Yoga, videogames, even (cough) really bad reality TV. Fight stress, fight fat.
Serving Size Surprise
Mon at 14:49pm on Mar 8th, 2010
I am excellent at calorie estimation. It's quite ridiculous actually. If you ask me how many calories are in a meal, or single food, or anything, I'm generally only off by about 10 calories. And what is 10 calories? A french fry. I'm usually only off by a single french fry.
This "talent" of mine is actually just likely from years and years of pouring over nutrition labels. Unfortunately, most people don't study labels so closely. They may glance at the calories and fat content, but what they most likely fail to notice is the serving size.
For instance, the other day my sister texted me what she had for breakfast and asked me to analyze it. One of the things she had for breakfast was a bottle of chocolate milk. That bottle of chocolate milk alone probably has about 400 calories, sissy dearest, I told her. No, only 200, she said. 200? How could I be 200 calories off?! My guess was, I wasn't. It's probably 200 calories per serving, sissy dearest, I told her, and there's probably 2 servings in the bottle. Her response? Oh, yeah.
Many Americans make the same error. In attempt to tame obesity rates, an article in the NY Times says that "the F.D.A. is now looking at bringing serving sizes for foods like chips, cookies, breakfast cereals and ice cream into line with how Americans really eat."
Along with altering the serving sizes to match what Americans are actually eating, the FDA also plans to encourage manufacturers to list nutrition information on the front of the package. Well, I guess some people need the contents of what they are eating to stare them in the face. We can't all be as talented in estimating as me, I suppose. Joke. Nonetheless, when you see the numbers on nutrition labels double or triple in the near future, know that it's probably close to what you were eating before anyway. After all, how many of us can say that we measure out a cup of cereal or weigh out 3 ounces of chicken? Until then, I suggest you check your serving sizes. It could save you from eating double what you mean to.
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Forming an Exercise Habit
Sun at 6:53am on Feb 28th, 2010
I had a professor in high school who used to always say "It takes 19 days to make or break a habit." When it comes to exercise, I think it takes a lot less time. In fact, a spinning class instructor once told me that if you force yourself to the gym for three days in a row, you'll WANT to come back the fourth day, and the fifth day, and so on.
But still, I will admit to falling off the exercise bandwagon many times. You may know what I'm talking about. I go to the gym, religiously, for a week or two and then other things get in the way.
My solution to this "committment" problem came to me only very recently. As an avid fitness book, magazine, and blog reader, I'd heard this bit of advice before, but never thought it was for me: exercise in the morning, get it out of the way. Numerous polls will show that those that exercise in the morning are less likely to skip their workouts than those that exercise in the evening. And it makes perfect sense of course. If you wait to exercise til the end of the day, you're already drained, or something may have come up that you have to do instead, or maybe you feel that you have so many other things to do that night, you just don't have time. This happened to me ALL the time.
It's not that I hadn't tried to be a morning workout person before. I set my alarm early many times only to shut it off: yeah, I could get up right now, but why should I when I could sleep for two more hours?
So what made my habit stick this time? I coupled the "AM workout" advice with another bit of advice I'd always read in magazines: work out with a buddy. SImple enough. I can't just shut off my alarm anymore, I have to now shut off my alarm, AND text my work out buddy to tell her I'm ditching her. My committment to exercise is now also a committment to my friend, and I'm less likely to break a committment to a friend. Now I'm not saying it never happens. If I've already ditched my buddy once that week, I'm less likely to do it again that same week. Leaving me only to skip one workout a week, where maybe before I skipped, well, all of them.
One of my favorite bloggers, Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, recently wrote a post called "The One Deadly Sin of Changing Habits." Here, he gives advice on how to form a habit:
Just start. Not feeling like doing the habit today? Tell yourself all you have to do is take the 1st step. Usually the 2nd step will follow, but if not, at the very least you got started. And that’s what matters most.
Now please don't all go running off to the campus gyms in the mornings with your workout buddies. Afterall, one of the things I like about working out in the mornings is that the gyms are less crowded. No I'm just kidding. Kind of. Do what works best for you for creating your exercise habit.
Strength training vs. Cardio
Sun at 6:16am on Feb 21st, 2010
When it comes to working out, there's a sort of "chicken or the egg" question that always seems to surface: "What should I do first at the gym, strength training or cardio?"
The answer of course is, they shouldn't really be done in the same workout. Afterall, whichever one you choose to do first, the second will suffer because you're already tired.
And then, when you say that you have no choice but to do both workouts in the same session, then what do you do? And the answer you'll get is that you simply choose what is more important to you, strength training or cardio, and do it first.
But that's not what I want to hear either. I want to know which one is research proven to be better.
From a "how your body works" standpoint, strength training first could allow you to burn through your glycogen stores so that when you do you're cardio, you'll be burning all fat. However, even more important than that, most sources agree that doing cardio first greatly decreases the amount of weight and number of reps you're able to perform. And although cardio burns more calories than strength training per minute, with added muscle your body burns more calories during the day, even at rest.
So what's my conclusion? If I have to do both during the same session, I'm going to strength train first. Ideally though, and time permitting, I would suggest doing a strength training workout in the morning and perhaps a cardio workout later during the day or evening. And remember not to strength train the same muscles on consecutive days.
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The Fat Phobia
Sun at 10:55am on Feb 7th, 2010
I read a tweet the other day that said something along the lines of "If you're buying light soy milk, you may have a problem." Guess who buys light soy milk? That's right. This girl.
So I began to think about the other things that I buy. 0% fat greek yogurt. Fat free cottage cheese. I mean, these are foods that are already healthy to begin with, and yet I'm buying low fat and fat free versions of them?
After reading Ann Louise Gittleman's Fat Flush Plan (I decided not to do the plan because you can't do intense exercise while on it and I'm training for a half marathon), I realized that I have a fat phobia. And my guess is, you might have one too.
In her book, Gittleman writes about hidden factors of why people can't lose weight. One of them is the fear of eating fat. "Eating fat to get thin flies in the face of reason, of everything you've heard about the dangers of fat," she writes,"You're not alone in your fear of eating fat. An estimated 80 percent of Americans eat a diet deficient in essential fatty acids."
The problem with us fatophobes is that we need fat to regulate our body functions. Water retention, sodium balance, and fat metabolism are all regulated by fat, Gittleman writes. By eating the right fats, she says, "you'll end fat cravings, feel full, have more energy, and lose weight."
But don't take this as me saying I'm off to McDonald's to get some fatty food. For one thing, it's No Fast Food February. For another thing, I'd rather sit in my house and starve then go out in the knee deep and blinding snow. Most importantly, fat needs to be in moderation. Fat has more calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein, that's why most diets are low in fat. Nonetheless, some fat is necessary. Steer clear of trans fat, though, watch saturated fat, and make sure to incorporate omega-3 fat (found in fish, almonds, etc.).
Eat fat. Get skinny. Okay I hate the word skinny. Get healthy instead.
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Comments
Sorry for me, but i can't
Sorry for me, but i can't imagine how i'm gonna lose weight when eat some food with fat..I'm vegetarian but still have long way to go with light figure, and all those fat-free stuff is not mentioned to be a healthy food, I can assure you. Just eat clean and natural products, that's all,'cause your inner constitution has already know what to do with it.Believe me, I've wrote a lot of custom essays about this theme.
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Comments
Is there really a point to
Is there really a point to this article, other than to gloat about your ineffectual "talent"? Literally, that's all I'm getting from this other than the portion dilemma that virtually the ENTIRE United States is already aware of. People don't care. If they haven't cared yet, they still won't, even after your utterly rousing (Joke) and arrogant article. None of this is original nor thought provoking.
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