Calories, Jam and Six

Happy Thursday!

Today’s entry opens with the easiest thing you can do to burn a few extra calories. It’s not enough to be a miracle worker, but if you’d like to shave off a few extra calories a day without too much effort, check this out:

Somewhere in one of your science classes, you probably learned that calories and Calories (big C/little c does make a difference!) are not unique to dietary functions – the terms basically represent units of energy. Little “c” is 1/1000 of Big “C” – Big “C” being the Calories you see listed on the nutrition panel of your food products. Calorie with a little “c” is defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a gram of water by one degree celsius. Your body temperature is about 37°C, and if your ice water is like mine, it averages about 3°C (I used a thermometer, I promise); thus your body must raise the water’s temperature by approximately 34 degrees Celcius. Your standard 8-ounce glass of water is equal to about 236.59 grams, and you’re supposed to be drinking at least 8 of these per day. Each of these glasses will require about 8044 calories, or 8 Calories, for raising the water to your body’s temperature. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? If you drink your minimum of 8 glasses per day, that’s 64 calories; increase your ice water intake (more on water’s function in weight loss tomorrow) to 10-12 glasses per day (which you should be if you’re exercising, dieting or taking any supplements) and you’ll effortlessly burn 80-96 extra Calories - if you feel like being bad, that’s enough to nullify a Fun Size Snickers bar.

Science not your thing? No problem. Let’s move on…

If you’re like most people, you’ve had a late night or two – undoubtedly, you’ve flipped on the TV during one of these all-nighters and found yourself mesmerized by informercials for products that promise to help you fight fat, lose weight and feel great. Some will boast the “science” behind them, while others loosely claim the “experience” of the creator to bolster the product’s credibility. Generally it’s bad practice to get taken in by these things, but every so often I’ve been interested and followed my interests with purchases, some of them regrettable.

Hands down, the single best infomercial weight loss purchase I have ever made is Beach Body’s Turbo Jam DVD collection. Chalene Johnson is a very motivating fitness instructor, and the representation of various brands of body types as your DVD workout “buddies” behind her is at least mildly comforting. The workouts are challenging enough to make your muscles sore the following day, especially if you wear the weighted goves they send you. I have never felt the workouts to be too intense during, but I definitely feel it the next day – especially in the abs (on all of the workouts, not just the ab series). While a few payments of 29.95 seems a little lofty, if you can swing it – it’s worth it. I actually like doing these workouts and have seen awesome results in the past. Before I got pregnant, I used this series for about 4 weeks and noticed a change of about 6 pounds and a total of 4 inches (one out of each thigh, one off the waist and one off the hips). That was WITH my sluggish thyroid WITHOUT the Synthroid, and that shows the series to be fairly effective. I’m glad to be back on these workouts.

Now for the worst…and oh, is it bad; The 6 Week Body Makeover. Yeah, the touching personal accounts of rapid, extreme weight loss piqued my interest, but it was the recommendation of a coworker that really drew me in. I will start off by saying that in cases where people are extremely overweight (and I do mean EXTREMELY), this product may potentially be a lifesaver. Most people do not fall into this category, however; if you’ve got less than 100 pounds to lose, you probably shouldn’t go near this thing. You consume starvation-level calories, and those calories come from the blandest, most uninteresting foods you will ever have to eat – undereating on bland foods is just begging for diet failure. You are not allowed to do any real exercise while on the program – they “prescribe” you a simple, short, very low impact fitness plan, and for good reason; you’re not consuming enough energy and physical activity under these circumstances can be harmful. I had to do Navy PT while on this diet, and I almost passed out several times, and even got sick a few times (vomiting is not recommended for weight loss). Everything in my body hurt, I couldn’t concentrate and I missed the real flavor of food (boiled egg whites for breakfast everyday – ugh!). You lose a lot of water weight initially, because you are not allowed to consume salt but have to drink a lot of water. This is why most people see their promised “quick” results in those first two weeks. You can do that on your own for the happy price of Free, instead of shelling out $150 for this program.

Tonight I will be working out with Chalene and gang for about 45 minutes (Turbo Jam Cardio Party), which I have used often and absolutely love. I will use Gaiam’s Pilates Ring workout after that, which I have never used before and will review for you after I get a few good sessions in.

I’ll top off my fitness routine for the evening with a cup of protein supplement, in the form of GNC’s Wellbeing Be Buff – it’s got 15 grams of protein, plus fiber, so it’s filling and good for your belly parts (besides its use in rebuilding your broken down muscles). Ooh, and it’s delicious. It’s a little pricey but good protein that I’ll drink is better than gross protein that will just sit on a shelf.

Hopefully something listed here will turn out useful for you. If not, hold tight – I’ll be back with more in a couple of days…

They say it begins with a single step...

What nobody tells you about fitness is that it takes a lot more than just deciding that it's time to make a change - on top of finding the knowledge to make the plan and the motivation to make the plan work, you have to come up with time and energy (and money and equipment...) to be able to put enough into it to get something out of it.

Here's the deal; I joined the Navy and arrived at my "A" School facility at a cool 170. At that time, despite being 170, I was of decent body composition - around 27.5%. Hey, I said decent, not diesel. While that didn't make me Ms. Universe, it made me pretty average. That was two weeks shy of two years ago.

Within a few months it became clear that my sleeping patterns were quickly becoming more erratic, my energy level plummeting and my overall feeling of health was shot. Oh, and the pounds were creeping on. I put on about 12 pounds between May and August of that year, without changing my diet or fitness habits.

Military Treatment Facilities, being what they are, refused to help me out - I asked for blood tests to check my thyroid levels, they said absolutely not, and to just eat 1100 calories a day. My base metabolic rate being 2200, I recognized this as a stupid approach, but decided to give it a shot anyway. What happened? I gained weight anyway. Turns out if you consume too few calories, your body wants to store everything it gets. So I got more sluggish, more puffy and a lot heavier.

Months of protesting finally found me in the office with a doctor who seemed willing to help. After my bloodwork came back he called me in so he could say "Your TSA is abnormal, Ms. So-and-So." No-freaking-kidding says I. I get a prescription for Synthroid and scurry on out of the office feeling accomplished. But did that do it for me?

No. Just a couple of weeks after I started the Synthroid, I found out I was pregnant. Not even a chance to lose a pound before I started gaining weight uncontrollably. Turns out it can be hard to manage the thryoid levels in a pregnant patient, and as many times as they switched my dosage, my body would throw it right back in their faces.

Ever try to diet while pregnant? Yeah, don't - dieting while pregnant is a big no-no. So I watched as my weight soared and my blood pressure followed suit, just praying for a healthy baby out of it.

Well, good news - the baby is 7 weeks old and as beautiful and healthy as a baby could be. Me? Well, by the end of the pregnancy I had gained over 80 pounds. I lost about 12 after giving birth and all that comes with it. Within a few weeks, normal post-pregnancy processes took me down about another 15.

In your head you would assume that would leave me with about 53 pounds to lose, but I should be so lucky - prior to the pregnancy I had gained a square 20, bringing me to a grand total of 73.

And now the point of all of this - in the past 7 or so weeks, I have experimented with various fitness videos and books, diet strategies, supplements, etc...some work well, others fell flat. I did manage to lose another 15 pounds in the process of trying all of these things out, but there is some work to be done and it's going to take the right tools.

Every day, I will be back to detail something new from this fitness mission of mine - from workouts, to experimentation with diet tips, to reviews of the supplements I am working with and the inevitable trip-ups I will face as I work towards the following:

• Lose 80 pounds, and/or
• Achieve 21% body fat

Just for fun, I will go ahead and throw in a time frame for all of this. Today is 10 March. Goal day is 10 December. Seems so far away, but 80 is a lot of pounds, and safety is key. I'd like to live a little longer, you know?