Take Your Beginner Cardio Workout to the Next Level

In response to my last post on the beginner’s endurance cardio workout I’m going to show you today how to take your workout to the next level!

You can do this in 1 of 2 ways.

The 1st way is by increasing the total time you complete your 2 minute jogging and 4 minute walking intervals. For example, instead of doing 30 minutes you may end up going out for a 40 minute workout.

The 2nd way is to increase your jogging times while decreasing your rest times. For instance, you could move to a 3 minute jog and 3 minute walk. Eventually, you may be running for 5 minutes straight with only 1 minute of walking to recover. Of course for your endurance based goals you can ultimately transition from a jog/walk program to a 100% jogging/running workout. All that means is that you no longer need to take a break to walk while jogging.

And if you follow the instructions above you can easily achieve that by just steadily decreasing your walk periods and increasing your jogging times over the course of a month or two.

Good luck and let me know how it goes!

"The Best and the Worst Choices in Foods"

Recently Nutrition Action named their best selections for what they consider the healthiest and worst options in food choices. I honestly think they could have done a little better with some of their healthier choices (where are all the berries?) but they named some pretty wicked bad choices like "Starbucks on Steroids," "Artery Crust" and "Angioplasta."  It never ceases to amaze me how food manufacturers can make such ordinary food so bad for you. The calories, fats, carbs and sodium are real killers to any diet plan. Check them all out here.

Readers what are your thoughts on some of these choices? What do you consider the best and worst choices in food?

Nutrition Books To Check Out

Steve recently posted a blog titled Never Stop Learning About Weight Loss and I have to agree. You always have to keep yourself updated on the latest information available so you can find the best way for you to lose weight.

There are so many different books out there that claim to have the best way to lose weight, but since everyone is different you can take bits and pieces from each one to help you on your weight loss journey. Here are some books to check out...

Beginner Endurance Cardio Workout

Reader Question: “I don’t have access to a gym, but I’d like to go outside and start a running program. How do you suggest I get started?”

Answer: One popular way to get started is by incorporating a jog/walk workout into your program. Here’s an example of how you can complete a beginner endurance cardio workout:

1. Warm-up by going for a 5 minute walk
2. Begin some light jogging at a pace you can sustain for 2 minutes
3. Slow down and walk for 4 minutes
4. Start back up jogging again for another 2 minutes
5. Don’t stop, but slow down and walk for another 4 minutes
6. Complete one more round of 2 minutes of jogging
7. Finish your cool down with 4 – 10 minutes of walking

This is a fairly straight forward 30 minute workout on how you can ease into a beginner running program without feeling overwhelmed. Tomorrow I will show you how to take this beginner endurance cardio workout to the next level!

A Solution to Weight Loss

When you want to lose weight what do you put your energy into? Do you put your emphasis into the problem you have with it, or do you seek the real solution to your weight problems? When you are just focused on the negative mindset of the problem  (the excess weight) you’ll probably just stay stuck! But, when you become willing to find a real solution around the weight gain your can move into a more positive direction. You become creative and rise to the challenge of it.

Weight loss is multifaceted and you may have to overcome numerous challenges. Find out what they are and then find your solutions.  Seek a qualified nutritionist  or  RD if you need to for professional help. Picking another fad diet won't solve any real challenges that may have led to weight gain.

“Every choice moves us closer to, or farther away from something. Where are your choices taking your life? What do your behaviors demonstrate that you are saying yes or no to in life?” – Eric Allenbaugh

Try this Workout Today

It seems that there has been a lot of debate lately between steady state cardio versus interval based cardio.

Typically with steady state cardio work, you stay within your fat burning zone for 30 – 60 minutes. Contrasting this is interval cardio which involves short, intense sprints lasting usually 10 – 60 seconds per sprint.

Although I have talked a lot about the benefits of each one in the past and how each one can be used in your weight loss program, today I want to give you a different piece of advice.

Since we know that your body adapts quickly no matter what type of exercise you are doing, I want to suggest that you try something this week to shock your body. That means if you’re typically staying in the fat burning zone when you do cardio I want you to try doing intervals for 20 minutes. Likewise, if you are into interval based workouts I want you to try to maintain 60 – 70% of your max heart rate for 40 minutes or more depending on your fitness level.

This one act alone will give you a different perspective on your workouts, spice up your routine, and help you appreciate both sides of the spectrum.

Pizza Can Be Healthy

Pizza does not have to be a food that is avoided when working on weight loss. What you do need to do is avoid store made pizza that is loaded with cheese and meat and make your own instead.

Here is a recipe for a homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough that has only 84 calories per serving. Now of course you need to add your toppings, but if you stick to vegetables and just a little bit of flavorful cheese such as fresh mozzarella, Parmesan, or even goat cheese you will have a delicious and healthy pizza for you and your family to enjoy.

If you can try the Pizza with Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, Arugula and Walnuts. It is delicious and adds only 53 calories per serving to your pizza - so each slice is 137 calories!

What are some of your favorite healthy pizza toppings?

Workday Workouts Lead to Increased Productivity

According to a British study, 70% of office employees that exercise before work or during lunch breaks saw an improvement in these areas:

• Time management
• Workload management
• Ability to deal with stress
• Better interoffice communication and relationships

I think you'll also find that going for a 20 - 30 minute lunch time walk is a great way to reduce stress, burn additional calories, and “unplug” from your work environment even if it is only for a short time.

Source: University of Bristol, UK as reported in International Journal of Workplace Health Management

Carbohydrate Confusion on Labels

Last week I started examining food labels. This week I will review a few more important factors on label reading. Today I'll decipher the carbohydrate listing as it can be misleading.

Carbohydrates can be listed in several forms on a food label. They may be all lumped together or separated as starch, fiber, or sugar, depending on the food item. Some carbohydrates are naturally occurring in a food source and some are not.

For example a container of yogurt may have sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and  some natural occurring simple sugars from the milk source which the yogurt was made from. Some yogurts may have no sugar directly added  to them but still contain the natural occurring sugar. In cereals, there can be sugars from an added source or they may be natural occurring from the grain itself.  Check the ingredient list to know if there is added sugar or not. Do note that each four grams of sugar is equal to one teaspoon of  sugar.

Health authorities suggest that we consume no more than 10% of our total daily calorie allowance from refined sugar sources. That’s generally equal to about a small dessert or one small soda. 
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Fiber is also a carbohydrate but it is not digested, therefore not processed like regular calories.  For each gram of fiber you can subtract both a calorie and a carbohydrate.  On a label you may find a term called “net carbs” meaning that these are the only carbs that are actually digested, the others just “pass through” the body.

When you purchase cereals and grains look for three to five grams of fiber for about every 80 calories. Do not consume fiber supplements with medication or vitamins as the fiber will bind to them and negate the efficacy.

And for those of you who think of carbs as just starch sources, remember that fruits and vegetables are your best nutrient dense source of carbs you can consume.

Why You Must Take the Stairs to Lose Weight

When most people hear about the little tips to increase their health like taking the stairs more often they just brush it off thinking that a little bit extra doesn’t have any real effect on their health and weight loss…

If that sounds like you, I’ve got news for you.

I just read a recent study showing that people who took the stairs instead of elevators for 12 weeks lost up to 2% of their body weight, increased their aerobic capacity by 8%, decreased their blood pressure, and also lowered their body fat percentage and waist size.

The study also cited that the participants got these results from only walking up and down about 12 flights of stairs per day. I don’t know about you, but this research definitely motivated me to make sure that my clients and I never pass up the opportunity to take the stairs when possible!

Source: Philippe Meyer, MD, University Hospital of Geneva (study in Mayo Clinic Health Letter)