What Is The Most Effective Workout?

What do you think the most effective workout is for losing weight?

Weight lifting?
Cardio?
Yoga?
Pilates?
P90X?
Running?
Swimming?
Treadmill?
Elliptical?

The possibilities are endless when it comes to working out.  There are hundreds of things you could do and even more combinations.  But if you are trying to lose weight, which is the most effective?

The answer is quite simple.

I'm sure you've read plenty of books/articles/newsletters of people saying which exercises are the most effective.  Well, I've got news for you.  All those people just give their "thoughts" on it because they want you to buy something from them.  They guy selling you weight lifting tips is going to tell you that cardio workouts are ineffective.  The gal promoting her yoga studio is going to say that running on a treadmill is a waste of time.  The man promoting P90X is going to tell you that doing the same thing over and over again isn't getting you results.

Are these people right?  Or are they wrong?

Well, the answer is BOTH!

Confused?  Yeah, I thought so.

Here's why.  Most of the time, when people are measuring the effect of a workout, they measure things like the number of calories burned during that workout.  So, in that sense, something like P90X would be much more effective than, say, running on a treadmill.

But what if you LOVE running on a treadmill?  What if doing P90X is TORTURE on you simply because you don't like it?  Which one would be more effective then?  Do you see what I am getting at?

I don't care what anyone says, THE most effective workout is the one you like the best!  Plain and simple.  Yes, I believe that you should change up your physical activities every now and then, but the most effective exercise is the one that you like and will do long term.

Remember, weight loss should be slow and steady IF YOU WANT TO KEEP IT OFF!  Isn't that really what the goal is?  Dropping 10 pounds in one week sounds extremely enticing because, as humans, we don't have patience anymore.  But what's the point if you're going to gain back almost DOUBLE the weight in a month?  Doesn't make much sense, huh?

So, aside from what you may have been told previously, I recommend taking the kind of physical activity you like best, and then expanding on that to get some variety in there.  You want to lose weight once, right?  Not again and again and again for the rest of your life.

Do whatever you need to do to stay active at least 4 times a week.  If that means simply jogging a few times around a track because you LIKE it, so be it.  If it means 30 minutes on an elliptical machine because you LIKE it, so be it.  If it means working out alongside your favorite pilates DVD becaue you LIKE it, all the power to you.  And if it means an hour in the gym lifting weights because it makes you FEEL GOOD, go for it!

Have fun working out!

Why Crash Diets Don't Work!

One of my co-workers recently lost some weight, and I wanted to share the story only to prove a point.  I DO NOT recommend going about it the way she did, but it does get the point across.

Erika was about 70 lbs overweight when she decided to try an experiment.  For 1 month, Erika cut out sugar, fruit juices (which is basically fruit flavored sugar), bread and most other carbs.  She was diligent and stuck with this routine for 30 days.  During this time, she did not  exercise.

Erika informed me that over this 30 day period, she lost a good chunk of her weight, and that all of her clothes were loose on her.  However, after she went back to her "normal" eating habits, she gained the weight back.......and then some!

Why did this happen? 

It's simple.  What Erika basically did was go on a "crash" diet (without knowing it).  There are a lot of them out there and they usually include eliminating a certain food group from the diet whether it be carbs, fat, or sugar.  These diets will almost always cause people to lose weight, and rather quickly at that.  So, people get super excited and think they've finally found the answer to their fatness.

There's just one problem.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to stay on that kind of diet for an extended period of time.  And it's dangerous!  Depriving yourself of anything will almost always cause you develop cravings for that very thing you've eliminated from your diet.  Not to mention you end up permanently screwing up your metabolism.  The very instant you go back to your "normal" eating habits, you will undoubtedly overindulge because once your brain has developed a craving, you WILL SUCCUMB to it.  Once the primitive "old" brain kicks in, you are defenseless against it.  Then, you will gain all of your weight back, plus some extra pounds for added insurance in case you experience another "famine".

This is exactly why I DO NOT recommend crash diets ever nor do I recommend trying what Erika did. 

However, I did want to share Erika's story simply to prove that if you make changes to your diet, even small ones, you will see a change.  You just need to make the RIGHT changes.  Remember, if you're going to try to lose weight, you want to KEEP IT OFF, right?  Crash diets will definitely not do that for you.

Be smart.  Make life choices.  Think long term.

All Medicines Are Poisons

Dictionary.com defines "poison" as:

1. a substance with an inherent property that tends to destroy life or impair health
2. any variety of alcoholic liquor

Dictionary.com defines "drug" as:

1. a chemical substance used in treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being
2. any article, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals

You can see how these 2 can certainly be interchangeable when speaking of various substances.  It's important to know that ANYTHING that is not classified as a food, that you put into your body, is considered a drug and a poison.  This means that something as simple as caffeine is considered to be a drug/poison.  Now, most of us think of something that is going to kill us when we think of the word poison.  I think the film industry is responsible for that misconception, because you can clearly see from the definition that it is not necessarily something that causes death.  It is simply something that impairs health or destroys life.

So, let's stick with the caffeine example for a minute before I get to main reason for this post.  Caffeine is the most widely used "drug" in the United States.  It is not considered a food because it has no nutritional value.  It is considered a drug because it alters various biological and physiological processes in your body.  It falls under the category of "poison" for the same reasons, including the fact that you can have side-effects from caffeine.  Side-effects are the unwanted characteristics of a drug that come along with the wanted benefits of the same substance.  When you ingest caffeine, you want to be alert, energetic, and awake, and it does just that.  However, caffeine also can cause headaches, rapid heart beat, nervousness, insomnia, and much more.  Those would be the side-effects.  Do you understand the difference?  When you eat an apple, you get the full nutritional benefits, but it doesn't come with any side-effects.  Please note here that allergies are NOT considered side effects.  So if you're allergic to peanuts, and you eat one, the cascade of unwanted events you will experience are not side effects, it's just your immune system going haywire.

Why am I talking so much about this?  Well because, in some of my previous posts, I've mentioned various diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, etc.  All of these diseases are treated with some sort of medication.  All of the medication used to treat these diseases (or any disease) will help to alleviate the effects that the disease is having on you, but they also ALL come with their own side-effects.  It's absolutely true.  Every single medicine out there has some sort of potential side effect.  And the medicines that treat the diseases I've mentioned above are usually taken for the rest of one's life.  Most of the effects of these medications start with the liver.  In case you didn't know, one of the main functions of the liver is to detoxify the blood.  As you know, anything put into your body goes into the bloodstream and thus to the liver.  From a single dose of Tylenol for a headache to a regular regimen of Lipitor to a night of binge drinking in a bar, the liver goes right to work to remove that "poison" from your system.  Obviously, over the course of several years, your liver is going to be quite overworked, especially when it comes to alcohol.  Next to the liver, the kidneys are hit pretty hard too.  Whatever the liver removes from the blood is sent to the kidneys so that it can be dumped into the bladder in order to be excreted.  Those are the two main organs affected.  Of course, side effects can affect any part of the body, including the brain, heart, lungs, muscles, bones, etc.

My message to you is to start making the changes necessary NOW to improve your diet and increase your physical activity so that you will lose unnecessary weight.  Obesity is a major risk factor for many diseases, especially the ones mentioned above.  Simply losing 10 lbs of body fat can cut your risk for developing some of this disease IN HALF or even reverse the effects of some of them!  Isn't that an amazing thing to know?

I know that eating all of your favorite sugary, fatty, fried, greasy, oily foods tastes soooo good, but is it really worth it to have a free-for-all with that stuff and suffer the annoying and painful and sometimes deadly consequences later on in life?  I don't think so.  Besides, do you really want to have to be responsible for taking 20 pills or more a day just to keep a stupid disease (that you shouldn't have) at bay?

Get healthy.  Eat right.  Exercise.  Lose Weight.  And you WON'T need to depend on poisons to keep you alive!

You Are An Efficient Machine

Your body is an extremely efficient machine.  I was in med school, so I know this far beyond a doubt.  At any given second, your body is doing hundreds of different things at once.  Your heart is pumping, muscles are moving, cells are recycling, food is being digested, and your liver and brain can do 500 different tasks, each!  Your body is a far more efficient machine than anything humans could create.  Your brain is a thousand times more efficient than the most efficient computer made.  As a matter of fact, your body is so darn efficient, that it is unfortunately what is keeping you over weight.

Think about it.  The main purpose of food is to provide us with energy.  Energy that will keep us concsious, alert, alive and able to reproduce so that our species can thrive.  As humans, we have quantified that energy that is in food and labeled it "calories".  Yes, the word "calorie" is completely arbitrary and it refers to the amount of energy that is released when our bodies digest food.  So, many years ago, some scientist used some substance as a set point (probably water), and recorded the amount of energy it releases as 1.  Every other substance thereafter is compared to this set point and then given a number based on whether it releases more or less energy.  Still with me?  I hope so.  If you're confused, don't be.  I only described this hypothetical situation to illustrate that the word "calorie" is an arbitrary term.  We just have to give labels and quantify things because that makes it easier for us to comprehend stuff.

Anyway, your body sees energy as very valuable.  Again, it's what keeps you alert and reactive to stimuli.  If you consume more "energy" than you burn off on a regular basis, you begin to notice a weight gain.  Why?  Because your body can not bear the thought of wasting that valuable energy!  What if the energy stops or is taken away?  Your body needs to have a back-up plan in case there is some sort of catastrophe.  Remember, efficient machines waste very little of their resources.  Fat is stored energy!  It is stored calories!  Does that make sense?  Junk food and fatty foods have huge numbers of calories.  If you go to a restaurant, you could easily consume 2000 calories in that one sitting alone.  That is much more "energy" than your body can obviously use at that time, so it stores it and saves it for later.  It's that simple.

I'll let you in on a little secret (a sneak peek at what I talk about in my book).  One of the quickest ways to gain weight is to skip meals!  Especially breakfast.  Yes, it's true and I see it time and time again with the people I am surrounded with.  Whether they are too lazy to eat or are trying to lose weight, everyone seems to love to skip meals.  PURPOSELY SKIPPING MEALS IN AN EFFORT TO LOSE WEIGHT IS BACKWARDS THINKING!  I'll tell you why.  Our minds have evolved much faster than our brains.  When I say "mind", I'm referring to the parts of the brain that think and make decisions.  When I say "brain" I am referring specifically to the parts of the brain responsible for biological processes only.  So, yes, it is logical to think that if you skip meals, thus eating less food, that you will lose weight.  However, it is wrong to do so because when you skip a meal, and then become hungry, or even "starving", your brain sees this as a terrible thing.  Your primitive brain does not know that you are purposely doing this.  All it knows is that there is a "scarcity" of food or some kind of famine of sorts.  So, it induces in you a craving for a high energy meal.  It needs a high energy meal so that it can store that energy so that if you go starving again, you have energy reserves with which to pull from to stay alive and not die.  Your brain is only concerned with keeping you alive.  That is it's number one function.

Think about this for a second.  When you are starving, do you go and reach for some carrot sticks or a salad or an apple?  NO!  Those items do not contain enough "energy" to satisfy the needs of a starving person.  You most likely stop at a fast food restaurant because you're so hungry you don't have the patience to go home and prepare something on your own.  Therefore, you eat something like a burger and fries and a soft drink, and then some ice cream.  Then, your brain goes to work, signaling your body to hold on to every last one of the calories you just ate.  Now, you are on your way to a marvelous weight gain.  The next day, you may feel guilty about eating that mess of a meal the night before, so you refrain from eating all day again telling yourself, "Today, I'm really only going to eat one meal, and it's going to be a healthy one".  And the cycle repeats.

There's just one problem.  When your primitive brain takes over, you are NO LONGER IN CONTROL!  When that primitive brain of yours sends out the signal to get a lot of calories and fast, you cannot resist! You can't do it.  If you try, the brain just amplifies the pain receptors in your stomach (and you know how that feels) and your stomach even starts screaming at you!

why the eating 5-6 times a day really works, you may be more inspired to make some changes.

Just know that when you notice yourself gaining weight or staying overweight, it's a sign that you need to re-train your mind into a new way of thinking.  The concious mind is very flawed and makes mistakes quite often.  The primitive brain never

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If I Paid You $1 Million..........

......to eat the right foods and exercise 30 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week, for 6 months, would you do it?

This is a rhetorical question, obviously.  Who wouldn't do that?

So many people continue to eat crappy foods and put themselves at risk for life-long, incurable diseases.  So my next question to you is:

Isn't the healthy, slim and sexy body you've always wanted worth eating the right foods, exercising 30 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week?

Why not make some changes?  If you're smart, you can make some relatively small changes and see some BIG results!  It isn't as hard as you might think.  Continuing to follow this blog can certainly help.  When my book is done, that will be a huge help, I promise.

Isn't cutting back on the foods that are making you fat or unhealthy (although they may taste wonderful) worth looking like and feeling like A MILLION BUCKS?

Causes of Death Prove Poor Diets

According to the Center for Disease Control,

In 1909, the top six causes of death in the United States were:

1. Tuberculosis
2. Heart Disease
3. Pneumonia 
4. Diarrhea
5. Intracranial lesions
6. Nephritis

In 2009, the top six causes of death in the United States were:

1. Heart Disease 
2. Cancer
3. Stroke
4. Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases
5. Accidents
6. Diabetes

It seems that Americans have been having a tough battle with heart disease for quite some time.  It makes sense because, back then, we were cooking with lard and today our food is filled with trans fats and sugar.  If you'll notice, however, most of the causes of death in 1909 were caused by microbes and the majority of deaths in 2009 were diet related!

Obviously in 1909, the technology behind antibiotics and other medicines hadn't been perfected yet, so it makes sense that the major causes of death would be due to microbes.  But remember, exposure to microbes is not entirely in the control of humans.  I mean, at school and at work you are forced to be around people who may be sick.  If any of them are sick with an airborne virus, it's extremely likely you could contract it.  But, we don't need to worry about 1909.  I only included it for comparison reasons.

Let's look at 2009.  Four out of the six leading causes of death in America are related to poor dietary habits.  Five out of the six are directly related to what YOU put into your body (#4 is largely due to smoking).  Accidents have no relevance to this blog.

This is extremely sad if you think about it.  Heart disease, [some] cancers, strokes and diabetes are all directly caused by the items you choose to consume.  Diabetes is the biggest shocker for me because I believe it is the one we have the most control over.  Did you know that the NUMBER ONE risk factor for Type II Diabetes is abdominal fat?  Yes, it's true because abdominal fat causes insulin insensitivity.  Diabetes is a far more debilitating disease than most people think.  I go into detail about it in my book.  It's not simply a disease that prevents you from eating anymore sugar.  It's very serious and causes chaos all throughout your body including pain, poor circulation, renal disease, destruction of blood vessels, and in advanced stages, blindness and possible limb amputation.

Diabetes should be NOWHERE near the top of the list for the causes of death in America or any country.  This disease is almost 100% preventable!  PLEASE make some changes in your lifestyle NOW so you won't ever have to be plagued with the consequences of this horrible disease.  Don't you think it is much more wise to make some permanent changes now, while still being able to enjoy your guilty pleasure foods every once in a while as opposed to developing a disease like diabetes and having to adhere to a very strict diet and give up certain things forever??

The other causes of death on the list are serious too (of course they are!), but I think people largely underestimate the destructiveness of diabetes.  Trust me, having a free-for-all when it comes to your favorite junk food is NOT worth developing and having to live with diabetes.  I mean, I am not the only one who is completely appalled at the fact that most of the leading causes of death are things that are very much controllable, am I?  That list can be changed.......

Let this be your eye opener!