Music to Burn Fat By

I am a recent convert to using an MP3 player during my workout sessions. Until about 3 weeks ago, I relied on the music that was projected thru the sound systems at the gyms. But I have found that using your own music has its advantages.

When you rely on the broadcast music at the gym, you might be interrupted with radio babble; especially early in the morning. That tends to throw off my stride while I'm pushing my way up the hill on the treadmill. Honestly, I really have no interest in what so and so did last night in Hollywood at the trendiest club of the night.

So, I invested in a nice pair of wireless headphones and fed my blackberry some of the music I have on my DVD collection. Now, technically my tastes are more along the classic alternative rock styles; but I don't find that musically style especially motivational during my workouts. A sudden burst of Dream On lacks the urgency I need to keep moving. So instead, Ive loaded my BB Bold with selections of Lady Gaga, Madonna and Annie Lennox. Three power pumped divas who seem to have a penchant for amazing vocals and hard hitting beats. Perfect!

BTW; I truly love my wireless headphones. They are bluetooth and I could even receive calls if I wanted to .................. The freedom of wireless cannot be understated when in the gym. Now all I need is an armband to strap my BB to and I'm all set.

What's your favourite music to workout to???

don't sweat the small stuff  

The Belly Fat Challenge - Day One

Well, as you can see from the title of this post, I've decided to really make an effort to bust my belly fat before summer starts. This is not going to be an easy challenge. I'm a 45yr old woman who has had two pregnancies. The odds are stacked against me, my age, my gender and the fact that I still have extra skin on my middle from when I was pregnant. I suppose that's why its called a "challenge", if it was easy it wouldn't be a challenge. It would be a walk in the park, a ray of sunshine, a day at the beach.....you know what I mean!!  Wonder who coined these phrases anyway, not everyday I've spent at the beach has been.....well, a "day at the beach".

Anyway, I've digressed.

Day one workout of the BFC (belly fat challenge) I decided to flip my usual workout upsidedown. This decision was due to what I discovered yesterday about the best workouts to beat belly fat. (check out yesterdays post if you missed it)

I started off with 10 mins on the elliptical. I still think this machine is bizarre. I feel like someone/thing is pulling my arms and legs.  I managed to maintain an average 58rpm during the 10 mins. Then I went over to the treadmill. Normally I would do a gradual increase on this but after my research yesterday, I decided to start off more quickly and intensely. Most of what I found in my research suggested that a more intense cardio component was more effective to burn fat. So I started at 6.5 elevation and 3.5 speed. After 5mins I increased the speed to 3.8. At 10 mins I increased the elevation to 9. Then at 20 mins I increased the elevation to 11. At 30mins I hit the "cool down" button. I have no idea just how accurate the readings are on these machines, but I will tell you at the 25min mark my heart rate was 159. According to the readout, I completed 2.1 miles and burned 326 calories.

Up next in my workout, I wandered over to the weight machines. I did 10 reps on various arm machines, working my pecs, biceps and that wobbly bit that we women have under our upper arms. Charming.  Then I went to find the machines that work my legs. I did about 10-15 reps each of the inner and outer adduction machines. Then about 20 reps on the leg press machine. I was trying to find something where I could do ab exercises, where you raise your legs, rather than crunch in, but I didn't find anything. I will check again tomorrow.

Lastly, I wandered into the aerobics studio and finished my workout with 40 crunches (I place my feet on the wall with my knees bent at 90 degrees) I did 20 side rockers, on each side, left and right and then on my back also.

My final 10 mins was stretching, legs, arms, back and neck.

My plan is to do this workout, and alternate with my boxing working, 4 to 5 days per week until the start of summer, which is Wednesday, June 20, 2012. This gives me 15 weeks to try to decrease my belly fat.   

Diet: Yuck; my least favourite thing to keep track of. Like most people, I like to eat. Its one of the few pleasures in life that anyone from any lifestyle, background or social status can enjoy. Even if you cannot afford lobster and steak (personally I don't care much for lobster) anyone can prepare tasty meals from any combination of fresh, simple ingredients.

I am not going to post every single thing I eat in a day, each and every day over the next 15 weeks. That would simply make me crazy!!!! And likely bore you  to tears!!! Instead, I will post a summary of the highlights and the epic fails (like indulging in 2 sour cream dipped donuts).

This morning; I made myself a breakfast burrito. Using the food information on the packaging of the ingredients I used and information I found on the internet, my estimate of the total food value of my breakfast, including one cup of frozen prepared juice beverage is as follows:

Calories: 668

Fat: 26.5 grams

Protein: 23.3 grams

Sugars: 31.7 grams

I used this website to determined an estimate of the food value for my breakfast (and I also used the label information for foods that were labeled; like the tortilla)

Here are the ingredients for my burrito:

1 large white tortilla

2 large eggs

2 tsp canola oil

1 brown mushroom

1tbsp chopped leek

1tbsp canned tomato, diced, no salt added

3tbsp grated marble cheese

1 /3 cup chopped iceberg lettuce

So now on to the days to do list.

Until tomorrow, don't sweat the small stuff

The Skinny on Belly Fat: Part Two - Diet

What? Did you think I was just gonna discuss exercise and NOT diet? Gosh no! Everyone knows that a healthy lifestyle comprises of regular exercise and healthy eating. The tough part for everyone is to maintain that attitude and practice, FOREVER! Yep, you can't just "diet" or decide to exercise every so often. It needs to be a part of your lifestyle, just like waking up and going to work everyday; exercise and diet are an integral part of your daily life. "Diets" don't work. And exercising in the spring so you can fit into your two piece bathing suit this summer is fine and dandy, but if you make it a part of your everyday life, then you don't have to stress every spring. Make sense?

Again, I did some research and came up with some common sense dietary approaches to fighting belly fat:

I liked this site because it offered some very common food suggestions for diet.

Quick and Simple   

Oatmeal – not instant

Almonds and other nuts - Small quantities per day

Protein Powder – Contains amino acids that burn fat and build muscle, add to all natural fruit only smoothies

Olive and Canola Oil

Berries – fresh is best, canned fruit tends to be over processed and contain way too much sugar

Eggs – Contain vitamin B12 which your body needs to metabolize fat.

Beans and Legumes – Packed with protein and fibre.

Lean Meats and Fish – fish is best,  or lean cuts of meat

Whole Grains -  100% whole grain, keep away from instant rice which has little food value

Low Fat All Natural Peanut Butter - PB is packed with niacin, which keeps the digestive system on track and prevents belly bloat.

Green vegetables -  Did you know that iceberg lettuce contains almost no fibre?? Choose leafy vegetable like spinach, arugula or romaine instead.

Dairy – choose low fat or fat-free  dairy products

Avocados

Tea – Especially green tea which is loaded with antioxidants which speed up metabolism

Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese – High in protein

Cannellini beans – Contain resistant starch that resists digestion, thereby digesting slower and burning more calories during the process. Who knew?  

The interesting thing I discovered here, is that most of this I already include in my diet. For breakfast, I usually have a couple soft-boiled eggs with whole grain toast. Oatmeal is great for a before bed snack, at least I think so. I love berries and try to have them in my fridge whenever they are affordable. I like beans in chili and I love lentil salad. Fish is awesome, I tend to only buy when its on sale though because its darned expensive otherwise. Drinking tea has become my new beverage of choice. Green tea is nice, but I've discovered so many other variety's out there, like berry flavoured teas. I've started experimenting more with these and can't wait for summer to brew up some strawberry tea for sipping with ice.  I think my weakest link here is dairy. Like alot of adults I know, milk is not my stomachs favourite food, so I tend to choose yogurt or cheese instead.

When searching for more general information on diet, I found most sites recommend diets that emphasis lean protein and low GI carbs (such as fruits, vegetables and high fibre/whole grains). The true revelation here? None really, this is the type of diet that is recommended for optimal health regardless of what your goal(s) are. The hard truth is food alone cannot and will not affect your overall health. A common sense balance of diet and exercise is what is most recommended.

Does that mean never eating cake, cookies, chips or chocolate ever again? Gosh no, but when you do, limit your intake to a very small portion. You will satisfy your craving and not add on needless fat and sugar to your body. Everything in moderation, right?

The key here is to be aware that your daily caloric intake should not exceed your daily caloric usage. So, if you just burned 400 calories on the treadmill, you probably don't want to go out and kill that effort by wolfing down a fast food burger.

But that's just common sense right?

As part of my belly fat fight, I am going to continue with my usual diet and I will let you know how that goes.

In the meantime; don't sweat the small stuff  

The Skinny on Belly Fat Burn

As promised, I have gathered some info regarding the best and most recommended ways to burn belly fat. In this article, you will find links to the sites where I've found the information/advice. As with anything you read, always consider the source. I am in no way an expert or professional. I am just like you. A common average person with common average belly fat.

Now on to the skinny:

It seems that the 160 crunches I do at the start of my work out are all for naught; "...the amount of calories you spend doing exercises like crunches and sit-ups just isn’t enough to make much of a difference to the appearance of your waist and stomach.

Developing your abdominal muscles is relatively easy. The hard part is getting your body fat low enough so that you can see them." from Beat my Belly fat

The concensus seems to be that a workout that combines high intensity cardio with resistance training is your best bet to burn fat.

Here's an interesting snippet; "...  don't think that you only need to work on your abs. This is another grave misconception. The truth is that when you work all the larger muscle groups, adding more mass to your muscles, you rev up your metabolism to heights it has never before reached. Your muscles need extra calories to maintain themselves, so more of the food you eat will be feeding your muscles instead of your trouble spots. Your conditioned heart (from the cardiovascular stuff) is more effective at burning calories as well, so you have the golden combination there. As the fat comes off your body, it will come off your belly. Your body fat is like one organ, located throughout your body, and you can't take it off of just one spot unless you have liposuction done. The large muscles that you should concentrate on are (in this order):

1. Front and back of thighs
2. Buttocks
3. Back
4. Chest
5. Triceps and biceps
6. Calves
7. Hips
8. Forearms
9. Shoulders

Always work your abs at the end of your workout. There's a good reason for this. You are indirectly using them for all the other exercises you do.
The abs are important stabilizer muscles that keep your form in check. If you do abs first, you will tire them out, and your whole workout will be less than optimal. Work down from the largest to the smallest muscles."
from Body Building.com

So it seems I've been totally doing this wrong!! No problem, I am going to adjust my mis-informed routine and follow the advice I found. This same site also mentioned that the abdominal muscle called the transversus abdominis, "... located at your sides, below the obliques. Often called "lower abs", this is the muscle that women who are trying to lose the belly after pregnancy should concentrate on. Exercises that call for raising the legs instead of the upper body are very effective at strengthening the transversus."

This site also recommends walking, weight training and yoga to reduce belly fat and tone your abs.

I found loads of other sites and recommendations. What I chose to include here were ideas and suggestions that were most commonly found on all the sites I visited. What I chose to not include were recommendations from sites that were directly sponsored by a particular product or company.

Well, I'm gonna try these new ideas, and track my progress here. Hopefully by summer I will have some improvement to show you.

don't sweat the small stuff

Todays Work-Out update

So as mentioned, I've been a gym guru now for about 2 years. I started with 30mins of boxing activities and exercises, and this winter I've added 20mins of weight machines and 30-40mins of cardio on the treadmill.

I've been doing the cardio for about 5 weeks now and I really expected to see more results than what I see. My belly is still jelly. Not happy about that. Maybe it takes longer?? I dunno really. I'm going to do some internet research later today and post my findings. Maybe theres something I'm missing.

I'm also considering booking more personal training sessions to kick-start my new work-out routine. The idea being that a professional will probably know what I need to do to get the results I want. I will let you know how that works out, when I decided to take this step.

So today I went to the Upper Wentworth Premier gym. I wanted to try out their boxing studio as I have not done this previously. I got the key at the front desk. It was attached to a 3 foot wooden plank, a 1X6 I think would be the term. LOL!!

I dragged it upstairs and got access to the studio. The studio is packed with lots of bags, all various sizes. They had a generous supply of gloves, I have my own so I didn't need to use theirs. In the center back of the studio is a small boxing ring, kinda cool, but not something I would use. I could never actually hit anyone, I just like the feeling of tension release when hitting the bag during a workout. One thing missing was a speed bag.

After about 20mins in the boxing studio, I locked up and brought the planked key back to the desk. I decided to try an eliptical. I'd never tried these before. I spent 5 mins on this. I found it felt odd to have my arms moving strangely while my feet were seeming to climb upwards. I could really feel my upper thighs start to burn so I kept it to a modest 5 min trial.

After the eliptical, I went over to the treadmills and did my usual 30mins.

One thing I've noticed since going to the gym, is that only a small percentage of members warm down or stretch after their workout. As I was a competitive figure skater in my youth, I was taught early on the importance of a proper warm down and stretch after each training session. Stretching after a workout is especially good, because the muscles are warm and will respond to a nice slow stretch. This lengthens the muscle and when you cool down, you don't feel knotted and sore. I usually spend a good 10 mins stretching my arms, legs and back after my workout.

Tomorrow,  I may check out another gym and post my findings here for you.

Until then, don't sweat the small stuff!