Monthly Archives: November 2009

Weight Control Must Become Second Nature

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If you think you can control your waistline without trying, I want you to take a look around and keep these two things in mind: 1) nobody gets fat on purpose and 2) everybody gets fat at some point in their life. Yes, even if you aren’t now, you have a greater than 90% chance that you will be overweight at some point in life– and that’s a fact.

So, can you control your waistline without trying?  No, not in today’s world.

“Only at the brink of disaster do we evolve” – and let’s hope that’s not necessary

As overweight and obesity continue to climb in the face of well known dire consequences, the message society is sending to researchers is very clear: due to 21st Century demands, the majority of people will not make lifestyle changes. In fact, the small population of successful weight losers had to reach a point of being near death or in search of a new mate, and I would argue that’s not a position in life you want to reach. Therefore we have to figure out how to make life itself keep us fit. How do we live in harmony with the “landmines” of everyday life, such as stationary jobs and entertainment, our need to quickly acquire tasty food (fast food), and exercise not being intuitive or fun, or just too time consuming?

In a nutshell, weight control for adults living in the modern world doesn’t happen by accident, but weight gain does. Adults don’t curb their eating automatically to get or stay in shape because humans simply are not designed to ignore good food or to move around unnecessarily.

Daily changes in body fat are easily overlooked
These daily changes are so tiny they’re not measurable, which means we can ignore it when weight goes up and then we’re frustrated as we attempt to lose it. We let weight gain continue even though we eventually see and feel it happening. We certainly don’t continue to let weight increase on purpose (most people don’t think it’s attractive or healthy). Our belated signals include moving up a notch on the belt, an increase in clothing size, seeing ourselves in the mirror, and stepping on the scale and finding that the number is significantly higher than it was when we looked and felt better.  Whether it’s visual or numerical, we are being semi-regularly warned. And THAT’S the whole problem. Controlling our waistline is not innate (in fact it’s innate to grow our waistlines) and warnings are too slow thus excusable. So we ride the train to being overweight another day – out of sight, out of mind – and the next day, and the next day . . . and the next stop?  Fat City.

We have the same problem when we try to reverse weight gain. Weight/fat loss or reaching our desired look happens too slowly for our liking, especially because the process is usually painful and unsustainable. Most, or all, of a dieter’s lost weight is gained back and as a society we continue to get fatter. This proves that current weight loss methods or treatments are virtually useless against our 21st century environment.

If you can see it, you can lose it –and do it your way

All of this proves that you need to be able to, at any time, see your gains and losses no matter how small. Because at the end of the day, we can’t or won’t manage what we don’t see! But give us instant visibility to our daily body fat fluctuations and we can fix it on the fly – without pain! Pain happens when you can’t see anything and have to fix it later.

Enter the exerspy:  allowing life itself to be your training partner

It’s the first and only program that “talks to you,” informing you when to stop eating or start moving so you can look the way you want. Every minute, every day, whenever you want, the exerspy will keep you on track to your goal by giving you the ability to see fat loss and gains before they happen. This way you always know when to take one less bite or move another few steps. When weight loss is the goal, there is nothing more motivating than to SEE it every hour, everyday or any time you want. Seeing it in real time also allows action any time – YOUR WAY.

Simply put, when you know how many calories you burn, you know how many calories you can eat. The more you move, the more you can eat. Our life becomes our fitness program: eating what we want, moving or exercising the way we like. The exerspy is your training partner because with exerspy, life is exercise and YOUR food is your diet.  Ready to get yours? Check with the dotFIT club near you or order online at www.dotFIT.com/exerspy.

Cool features in dotFIT Me, the online weight control program from dotFIT

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I spend a lot of time showing fitness professionals how to use all of the features on the dotFIT Me program; there are a lot of them. When we designed this program, we really did try to be everything to everyone. Now I know they say (whoever the heck they are) that that cannot be done, but I must admit, we did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself (and I apparently do….gotta love a blog). In doing so, there are so many cool things this program does that I thought I would share a few of the more convenient features, starting with the nutrition section.

Nutrition Tab: Clicking the Nutrition tab along the top brings you to the nutrition options. These include:

  • Overview: when you first hit the nutrition page, scrolling down will show you the calories and percentage of protein, carbohydrate and fat for that day. Clicking a different day on the calendar will let you see the overview for that day (as a trainer, I use this feature to get a quick snapshot of what my clients are doing…or not doing).
  • Preferences: clicking this link on the upper left will give you access to numerous special features, such as:
    • Meal types: click this to select the actual meals you will be eating and logging. There are seven possible meals, select or de-select as appropriate.
    • My saved meals: view the meals you have saved. For example, many people eat the same breakfast everyday during the work week. Saving a meal is done from the food logging screen by clicking on the plate and silverware above that meal.
    • My Menus: your saved menus from the reference menu selection.
    • My Food: you can add foods to YOUR database that cannot be found in the CalorieKing database. Also, this is where you can add/delete the foods you have previously added.
    • Detailed View: this allows you to track specific nutrients and aspects of your diet, such as fiber, calcium and sodium. Clicking the blue “detailed view” button in the upper right side of the logging screen will allow you to see the detail you selected for each food item, meal and day.
    • Reference Menus: also on the upper left side. Clicking this will give you access to eight unique eating styles with calories appropriate to your goal.
      • Click the menu that interests you. If you want to use it, click customize menu in the upper right. You can then edit the menu, adding new food items, changing serving sizes or deleting foods. When finished, click “Save My Menu“. It will now be found in your saved menus section and via the link to my meals from the food logging screen.

Next time, we will look at some of the helpful features of the supplements tab.

What core strength?

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iStock_000007691776SmallIf you’d asked me – before I took this class last week that totally kicked my butt – how much core strength I thought I had, I would have given you the so-so hand gesture while praying you weren’t going to ask me to prove it.

I really did think my core strength was so-so, not great, but not terrible.  Then I went to SculptWorks, a class at the local YogaWorks taught by an NASM-certified instructor. The NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) bit is important because their approach to exercise assures that you burn as many calories as humanly possible with every movement.

Turns out my core strength is zip.  Turns out sitting on a stability ball at work all day isn’t enough. And that instructor? She seemed like a really nice person but I was sore for literally 5 days after one 60-minute class. I was so depressed, but the experience was motivating so I started reading up on the significance of core training.

In an article by NASM staff, it says that core training works to increase movement efficiency by firing the small spinal and hip muscles, which helps control unwanted movement during activities and protect the spine. So that’s why I was so sore. I didn’t even know these muscles existed!

Strengthening your core can help you avoid injuries, and I don’t know about you but I need all the help I can get. Considering that about 80 percent of the population suffers from back pain or discomfort, and 60 percent of work-related injuries involve the core, you might do yourself a big favor by starting to pay more attention to your core.

So that’s what I’m doing, and now I have a plan: use the tools I have available to me, including the NASM OPT-based exercise programming inside the dotFIT Me Program, and get my butt back to that class!

Article link: http://www.dotfit.com/shop/article.aspx?atid=108

Wanna shed some pounds? Get rid of the “dieting mentality”

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iStock_000006918985SmallWhen you read or hear the word “diet,” what comes to mind? How about pain, suffering, deprivation and misery? Does failure come to mind? Maybe “weight rebound?” So why in the world would anyone want to go on a diet? Simple – to get the results of going on a diet. The problem is diets are typically a temporary thing – you do it for a while until you can’t do it anymore and what happens?

You know the answer . . .
Most of us can’t – and won’t – suffer and deprive ourselves for the rest of our lives to get and stay at our ideal weight. But, if you can find a way to enjoy food while maintaining a healthy weight, I’ll bet you can lose the weight for a lifetime.
Here’s what it boils down to – a numbers game. No different than your checkbook – you need to know how much is coming in and how much is going out. Your body needs a certain number of calories to stay balanced. That is, to maintain your current weight. If you’re depositing more than you’re spending, what happens to your balance? It increases, just like your waistline. If you spend more than you deposit, what happens? Your balance goes into the negative and now you have to use your savings. The body does the same thing – if you spend (burn) more than what’s coming in, it will tap into your savings (fat reserves) and your waistline shrinks.
So doesn’t it make sense to know your balance? Do you know how many calories you need every day? Do you know how much is being deposited? Most people don’t yet they wonder why they “can’t” lose weight. As our founder, Neal Spruce, wisely put it – you can’t manage what you don’t know and you won’t manage what you don’t see. We’ve made it easy for you connect with your numbers with the Me program.  The food logging system and eight different lifestyle menus show you how to incorporate the foods you enjoy so you can manage your daily calorie budget.

Join us for a free webinar on November 11 and we’ll not only give you the facts of weight loss, we’ll show you exactly how our program works. It’s time to stop dieting and enjoy the freedom of dotFIT Me.

Link to www.dotFIT.com/webinars

People Don’t Need Better Health Care, They Need Better Health!

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Lately not a day goes that you don’t hear a heated discussion about the state of health care in America. Health care costs have been rising for years. Expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2.2 trillion in 2007, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990, and over eight times the $253 billion spent in 1980. So what’s driving health care costs?

  • Chronic disease- It is estimated that health care costs for chronic disease treatment account for over 75% of national health expenditures.
  • Prescription drugs and technology- Spending on prescription drugs and new medical technologies has been cited as the primary contributor to the increase in overall health spending.
  • Aging of the population- Health expenses rise with age; however, experts agree that aging of the population contributes minimally to the high growth rate of health care spending.
  • Administrative costs- Estimated to be 7% of health care expenditures (marketing, billing) and much lower in the Medicare program (<2%).

Everyone wants to cut health care costs. This was done once, by reducing patient service and care (have you ever actually SEEN your doctor for more than 10 minutes?), now the simple answer may be to cut down on the biggest offender- chronic disease. This biggest cost drives the others (except aging, so there’s one in the plus column).

Cancer, diabetes, heart attack and stroke account for the majority of chronic illnesses that cost Americans billions of dollars and countless lives each year. Four lifestyle factors that are well within most individuals’ control may reduce diabetes by 93%, heart attack by 81%, stroke by 50% and cancer by 36%, according to a new study conducted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. These factors are:

  • Never smoking
  • Having a Body Mass Index (BMI) below 30 (thin, normal or slightly overweight but not obese)
  • Exercising at least three and a half hours a week
  • Following a healthy diet, which the researchers defined as high fruit and vegetable consumption combined with limited meat intake

The old saying- “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” -looks to be pretty spot on. Something needs to be done and the good news is that the solution lies within the control of most people. If, as a nation, we want to reduce health care costs, the greatest single impact is to take action and control of our own health. I see too many people going out of their way, day-to-day, to harm themselves physically. I know this is not what goes through their mind, but it is the reality. People take better care of their cars than their bodies. What person in their right mind would neglect their car (never change the oil, rotate the tires, perform basic maintenance) and then have the AUDACITY when it breaks down to exclaim, “This is ridiculous! The government needs to fix this car. I cannot afford to do it on my own…it is my right as an American to have car coverage!” What do most people do to keep themselves roadworthy?

Consider this: “The fundamental nature of medical risk in the United States has changed over the past 20 to 30 years—shifting away from random, infrequent, and catastrophic events driven by accidents, genetic predisposition or contagious disease and toward behavior- and lifestyle-induced chronic conditions. Treating them, and the serious medical events they commonly induce, now costs more than treating the more random, catastrophic events that health insurance was originally designed to cover. What’s more, the number of people afflicted by chronic conditions continues to grow at an alarming rate.” (This quote from the McKinsey Quarterly business journal.)

What to do? It is really pretty simple.

  • Don’t smoke. If you do, stop.
  • If you are overweight, lose weight. Anything is better than nothing. Losing 10% of your bodyweight if you are significantly overweight will dramatically improve your health and reduce or eliminate many lifestyle health issues, reduce or eliminate your need for prescription drugs (sorry big Pharma) and add years to your life and likely life to your years.
  • Become more physically active (doesn’t have to be the gym, just MOVE!).
  • Eat better, and eat less.

If you need guidance, we can help (www.dotFIT.com). Take care of your body and yourself . . . it is your responsibility. If all Americans who could do so would, health care costs would plummet. Let insurance cover the things that you cannot foresee or prevent; don’t use it as a means to heal self-inflicted wounds. Now, what do Americans do with all that extra money?