Fit Future

an hour and forty minutes on an elliptical

2011-08-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

While standing in line at my local Farmer’s Market this morning I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation behind me. Two young professionals were catching up with each other and the topic turned to exercise. Local road construction had made the commute to their gym 15 minutes longer and neither one was willing to spend their time that way. The man had begun to exercise at home and the woman had been going to another gym. (No big surprises there. People won’t usually go to a gym that is not convenient. These two had at least found alternative ways to meet their exercise goals. )The young woman went on to say that she loved the elliptical machine at her new gym and she had been able to increase her exercise time to one hour and forty minutes per session. Now, I was shocked. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of exercise and of increased activity in general – especially if you have a job where you sit most of the day, but an hour and forty minutes on an elliptical! She went on to say that if she does any less, she gains weight right away. I’m assuming that this women, who is slim and fit looking, tries to eat well. After all, she is spending her Saturday morning at the Farmer’s Market buying fresh local produce. As a personal trainer I can tell you that an hour and forty minute workout just to maintain weight doesn’t add up. Something is wrong in her nutrition program, her exercise strategy, or both. I aim to have all my clients in and out of the gym within an hour and many of them lose weight and maintain their losses. I know time is valuable to this woman – she said as much by changing gyms to avoid wasted time in traffic. It is tragic to me that so much of her valuable time is being spent on exercise that is inefficient at meeting her needs. Hours on elliptical machines and treadmills are not the best use of most people’s limited time for exercise. There are better strategies that produce better results and I guarantee they are more fun as well. If you are stuck doing endless hours of “cardio” please do yourself a favor and hire a personal trainer to update your workout. You owe it to yourself to use your valuable time as efficiently as possible. And please, continue to support your local Farmer’s Market.

late afternoon light

2009-09-07T05:54:00.001-07:00

It has been several months since I have posted at this blog. I have had a whirlwind summer, kids home from college, new work responsibilities, family reunions, and trips to get kids moved in to new apartments for the next phases of their educations. It has been a good and productive time, but has required me to set priorities and stick to them.

Now it is Labor Day weekend and I am catching my breath. I managed to get a copy of my newsletter out last weekend and am looking forward to doing more blogging as the weather changes and summer fades away. This changing of the seasons, the onward march of time is the impetus for this post.

My husband and I have been talking about how exciting it is to watch our children, one at the Rhode Island School of Design in his junior year and one at Brown University just beginning his doctoral fellowship, as they embark on their entry into their chosen fields. They have so many bright possibilities before them. As I watch them getting started in their chosen careers and as they navigate important relationships that could last a lifetime, I feel somewhat envious of that stretch of time that lies before them, to establish work, marriage, family and all the rest that a full and productive life beckons us to do. So many choices and possible roads to travel.

As my husband and I were discussing this, he pointed out that they are in the morning of their adulthood and we are in the late afternoon. When I shared this metaphor with my 24 year old son he laughed and asked me to tell his dad that we should be happy it isn't midnight yet! On hearing this my husband quipped that he just hoped to make it to 9:45PM, (which is the hour that I frequently fall asleep on the couch these days!). At any rate, I started thinking about how much I like the late afternoon light, how much more interesting the world looks when the light is getting lower in the sky and the shadows are adding new contrast in color to the landscape. And I started thinking about the evenings, when the business of the day is past and I have time to sit quietly and reflect on my activities. Life is interesting that way, each stage has it's pleasures and challenges. Our task is to stay focused on the present hour and make use of what it has to offer us.

If you are wondering what this has to do with fitness, allow me to try to draw some connecting lines. Fitness when I was younger was about trying to create a future version of myself that would be closer to an ideal I had in my minds eye - a me that I never quite realized because of course it wasn't me at all, but an idealized image shaped by the mass media. Now, I want to be able to enjoy my body and to provide it with what it needs to carry me through the rest of my life, able to engage fully with those people and activities that I value. I'm trying to work with my body, not to force it to be something else. I give myself credit for everything I do and don't beat myself up for those things I don't do. I like this time. I like the light as the shadows start to appear.

More on Coffee and Exercise

2009-05-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

There is new research on the effects of caffeine on exercise induced muscle soreness. I wrote about this topic before here. The recent research as reported in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 2009, was done at the University of Illinois and looked at college aged males performing high intensity 30-minute cycling workouts. They were given a pill containing either a dose of caffeine equivalent to 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (about 2-3 cups of coffee) or a placebo. The cyclists reported a reduction in quadriceps muscle pain after consuming the caffeine. The researchers believe the reduction in pain is due to caffeine blocking adenosine, a biochemical in the brain that is involved in pain processing. If this reduction in pain leads in a greater likelihood that you will continue to exercise on a regular basis, it could be a helpful addition to your daily routine. I wouldn't suggest that you get your caffeine through one of those $5 calorie laden drive-through drinks, but maybe a couple cups of regular coffee have their place in a healthy lifestyle.

Two Great Events

2009-05-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

I had the good fortune to be invited to participate in two great events on Wednesday. The first was a retreat at Jackson's Mill that was an opportunity for women who are affiliated with West Virginia University Extension Service to participate in a program offered by WVU's National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. The retreat is better known as WOW - Women on Wellness. These two great organizations, Extension Service and NCEWH know that 85% of all health care decisions are made by women in the home and that changing the health and wellness of the State of West Virginia will begin with women. Most, though not all of the women attending the event were in the 60+ age range. I played a small part by teaching a brief balance training workshop. Good balance and fall prevention are crucial elements to keeping older West Virginians active and living independently. The first skill I taught was how to get up out of a chair. I have written about my passion for sharing this strategy before and have a video of the method posted on YouTube for anyone who is interested . Participants in the retreat had a number of workshops to choose from, so not all women attended every workshop. I was pleased to see that when we got together for lunch after the break out sessions, 3 of the participants from my workshop were already at work teaching women who had not attended how to get up from a chair safely and effectively. One woman told me she intends to take the information to her council meeting later this week. That's the power of West Virginia's women in action!

I have to mention how much fun it was to work and play with these women. The spirit at the retreat was infectious and I hated to leave to get on to my second commitment. Kudos to the Extension Service and the National Center of Excellence on Women's Health for their efforts to improve, not just the lives of women, but the lives of all West Virginians.

The second event I participated in was the Get Moving Night at Ridgedale Elementary School. Tama Waugaman, a friend who teaches buggies and babes fitness classes for young mothers and runs Total Transformations LLC, helped organize this event and asked if I would like to come and give people the opportunity to try Nordic Walking. The event ran from 4-7 PM and included many indoor and outdoor activities including a climbing wall, biking, soccer, yoga, Red Cross CPR demo, and dental hygiene interactive displays. Since the event happened during dinner time there was food available and the organizers decided that if the kids walked twice around the track they would get a stamp on their hand that allowed them to collect on a free dish of ice cream. Not a bad start on bringing home the message that activity and food are tied together. The climbing wall was incredibly popular with the kids, as was the booth where they could throw a ball to dunk the principal and coach in a big water tank! Many of the kids walked the track as well and there was much interest from the kids in trying out the Nordic Walking poles. As kids often do they were making up all kinds of games on their own using everything in the environment. There wasn't a lot of sitting around - at least not by the kids. I did notice that the parents were not as actively involved in the physical pursuits as their children were. It was in contrast to my morning at Jackson's Mill where all the women were trying Zumba, yoga, balance training, etc. Maybe people were tired after working all day, or maybe we loose some of our spirit of adventure during those years when we are busy with work and child rearing. If that is the case, I'm glad to know that we can get that spirit back in the second half of our lives. If you are a parent, I encourage you to play actively with your kids. Try new activities with them and don't be afraid to look silly while you are learning. Laughter and humility are good for the soul.

Thanks again to the people who put together these two great events. I was honored by the opportunity to participate in both and heartened to see people out, active, and enjoying life.

Weekend Recreation

2009-05-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, I headed out my front door on foot, down the hill, across the bridge and onward to the local farmer's market. In Morgantown, you have to get out early to take advantage of the market which only lasts from 8:30 - 12:00 on Saturday morning. I arrived at 9:30 and missed the opportunity to buy fresh filleted trout which I am told sold out in the first 20 minutes of the market! Next week, no second cup of coffee before heading out! Never mind, I bought plenty of other fresh locally produced foods, including salad greens, salsa, goat cheeses, goat meat(yes, you read that right!), pastured beef from highland cows (if you have never seen this breed you can find pictures on google), and chicken from free ranging chickens. I had hoped to get some turkey, but the farmer explained that it will be August before the turkeys are ready. It's also too early in the season for berries and there are only hydroponic tomatoes. I talked with each vendor about how the animals are raised and the produce grown and how their businesses are faring this year. I thanked them for their efforts to provide quality food. I mingled some with the other shoppers who were at their leisure as they perused the stalls and had some informal conversations and cooking lessons from people I had not had the pleasure to meet before this particular Saturday morning. I spent the entire contents of my wallet except for 56 cents. It was a lovely experience. Enough so that I didn't really mind the trudge back up the hill to my house with the bulging bags thrown over my shoulder.

After storing the purchases from the market I got in my car to take some toxic household waste (in my case an empty can from a sealant for our deck) to the once yearly collection of these "hard to know what to do with" materials. The site was busy with a steady stream of cars. As I drove along in the line I had the opportunity to talk with 5 different workers who were part of the process of collecting information, a small fee, and eventually the waste products. Everyone was unfailingly polite and good natured as they attended to their tasks. A sheriff's patrol car was posted at the entrance to the site to be sure that everyone was paying attention to the unusual amount of traffic on the somewhat quiet road. The deputy smiled at the drivers as he leaned up against his car in the spring sunshine.

As I drove away from the site towards home I passed by a car wash sponsored by a local Young Life group. These young people were spending their Saturday washing cars on a busy thoroughfare for free. Some of the kids were lining the street with posters, waving cars into the parking lot where they were set up. A lot of cars were taking advantage of the offer and the kids looked like they were having a good time engaged in their service work. There were lots of smiles and laughter and splashes. I smiled at the sight of teenagers having fun doing a task that I can only imagine would be classified as a chore at home. It reminded me of what I know to be the helpful spirit of Americans that is so often downplayed in our news coverage of National deficits and crises.

I was having a very good day. I had engaged in activities that took care of my health and well being,and the health and well being of my community. It was pleasant and restorative after a busy week of work to engage in these somewhat mundane acts in my community. It reminded me that health and well being are not all about exercise and discipline. They are about finding ways to be of service to others through your work and leisure activities and about doing it with an attitude that what you do and how you do it matters. It reminded me of a lesson in my first year of college when I was getting a degree in Physical Education and Recreation. The lecture was on the purpose of recreation, that it is literally supposed to recreate our spirit and strength to ready us for another week of work. I had that kind of day on Saturday and felt better for it.

Walk On!

2009-04-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

It was sunny, if a bit chilly today, and my husband and I headed out for a long walk by the river. There is a well maintained rail trail that passes through our area and we headed for a section that is several miles outside of town. We spent a peaceful hour and a half walking, talking, and pointing out the wonders of nature to each other. It was good for the body, mind, heart and soul. Such a delightful and simple thing. This was the perfect walk for today!

Now on other days, I have other kinds of walks. Sometimes I want to challenge my heart and lungs and I walk where there are hills or staircases to climb. I tie a bandanna around my forehead to catch the sweat as I push myself forward, straining my legs as well as my heart and lungs. Those days I sometimes have to give myself a pep talk to get out the door for the walk, but ten minutes in I am committed and know I will see it through.

On yet other days, I grab my Nordic walking poles, my ipod loaded with a continuing education lecture, and I head for the rail trail for a steady, moderate intensity walk. Study and exercise all in one, multitasking at it's best!

And then there are the days when I am worried about family or business matters and I walk while I ruminate and problem solve, looking for a path of wisdom to emerge if I keep plodding forward. On those days the walk is a moving metaphor.

There was a walk last week, where I came to a spot on the trail that I remembered as the spot where I had to turn around when I first started walking in Morgantown in 2004. I was new in town and 70 pounds heavier than I am now. I was trying to get my health and fitness back and I had to start slowly. When I walked past that spot on the trail last week, I reviewed all the many times I have walked ( and yes, sometimes even run) that trail since that day and felt proud of the accomplishments that have come as I have continued to walk towards my future.

I don't ever recall going out for a walk and coming back wishing I hadn't gone. Such a simple and healthful pleasure. Have you been for a walk today?

Health Fair?

2009-03-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

Warning! This is a bit of a rant.

Last Friday I dropped into the local mall to see a movie with a friend. When we arrived it was particularly crowded. There were many booths set up for a Health Fair that was scheduled to run through the weekend. Students and senior citizens had been bussed in to attend the event. Multiphasic blood testing, blood pressure checks, and balance screening were being offered. A couple of local chiropractic practices were offering free chair massages. These are all great services to the community and one could argue that they are important to health and wellness. However, there were many other booths that were more centered on disease, than health. Gruesome pictures of wounds that would not heal, diseased lungs, etc were on display. A number of surgical associates were promoting their services. One particularly ironic display was promoting laproscopic surgeries and had a display where you could play a game to try to find the piece of candy in the abdomen of the dummy - sort of like Operation, for those of you who remember that game. The technology on display was impressive. I was struck, however, by the fact that one would have to be decidedly unhealthy to be in the market for these services. I suppose many Americans find themselves needing to make decisions about these sorts of services everyday, but to see them marketed in a festive atmosphere seemed a bit bizarre to me. Maybe I am old enough to remember when health care was not a business and I just can't seem to make the adjustment to medicine as a consumer pastime. It seems to me that promoting health is a different venture than promoting critical care procedures. If that is my age showing, then so be it. In the meantime, I'll try eating and sleeping well, exercising intelligently, and staying engaged emotionally and intellectually, in the hope that it can stave off the need for most of the "health care" services I saw on display last week.

Balance

2009-02-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

My new class is being taught at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and is targeting balance training for people in the second half of life. (For those of you new to the blog, I assume we will all live to 100 if that helps you to figure out who is in the second half!) This class is a new venture for me so I am learning even as I teach. What I am learning from this class is not all about physical skill. Certified trainers always do some form of assessment before working with clients. For this class I used a Medical and Health Behavior Questionnaire, a Balance Efficacy Scale, and 11 basic tests of balance and strength to gather information that would help me plan the class to best meet the needs of the people who attend. What most impressed me about the information I gathered was the confidence and positivity of my class members. Although a number of the class members are facing health challenges as they age, they rate their quality of life as good and remain confident in their abilities to meet the challenges that are before them. They don't let the changes in their physical condition overwhelm them. They remain active in the community and a number of them volunteer their time to charitable causes. They engage in intellectual pursuits. As a result, they are interesting and stimulating people to be around. We have lots of fun in the class and we laugh every day. The members of my class are models for how to stay strong in the second half of life, physically, emotionally, intellectually, and socially. That is a balance that I hope to achieve in my own life. There is magic in the teaching/learning equation. When you learn something you have the opportunity to go out and teach it, and when you teach something you almost always learn something more from the experience.

Preparation Meets Opportunity

2009-02-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

The landscape of my life is illumined by optimism. I have had a great week! The bitter cold we have been experiencing in West Virginia has temporarily dispersed, the sun is out. I began teaching a new class this week and my ongoing class quadrupled it's attendance! I've signed with two new clients and was able to up the ante on my resistance training workouts after a period of lighter workouts while working on a back pain problem. The news broke on a national level this week that my town, Morgantown, WV is considered to be recession-proof and has the nation's lowest jobless rate - just 2.7 percent. Truly, it has been a great week.

Why is it that I am having such a good week, when the country seems to be in such dire straights? In part, I am lucky to be living in Morgantown, where we are buffered from the worst economic disasters, at least in the short run. But I think there is a bit more going on as well. I have been concentrating for the last 3 years on learning everything I can about my work and my passion for health and fitness. I have followed any lead that seemed interesting to me, even when I couldn't see a direct correlation to my current work. I've been reading blogs written by some of the best trainers in the business, and I have been learning the way the fitness industry works at the local level. I have been preparing myself for change in my life. And this week, preparation met up with opportunity. If you had asked me two years ago when that might happen I would have had no idea, but I prepared anyway. Had I not prepared, the opportunities might have been lost.

What are you preparing for? What are you doing today to get your body, mind, and soul ready for the day when your preparation meets up with opportunity? Invest in your own growth and development. The opportunities will come. Be prepared for success.

Timing is Everything

2009-02-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

I just completed my workout for today and I feel great! The weather was sunny and above freezing for the first time in days so I went outside for a long Nordic walk. When I came home I did a 10 minute stretching routine and now I'm full of energy to tackle the long list of paperwork tasks that await me. That burst of energy and enthusiasm got me thinking about how exercise enhances my life and how I have learned to integrate exercise into my daily responsibilities.

Whenever possible I try to schedule my workout first thing in the morning (after being sure I have eaten a good breakfast - see previous post). If I leave it for later in the day I am much more likely to decide not to workout. Other tasks compete for time. But the real cost will come later when I am getting ready for bed and taking account of my day and realize that I did not take care of my health. By exercising early, I get a psychological boost along with the physiological one. I cruise through the day confident that I have met my obligation to myself to take good care of me. When the evening has set in I am relaxed and calm and am able to count up all the things I accomplished in my day beginning with honoring my committment to my health. It works for me.

This pattern doesn't work for everyone. I have a son in college who has ADHD. He doesn't wake up easily in the morning. When he sits in a classroom all day the stress builds for him. It is not only psychological, but physiological as well. At the end of a day of school work he needs to work his body to release that toxic buildup of chemicals that stress brings with it. We learned this together when he was still in grade school and it has stood the test of time for him. Exercising first thing in the morning just wouldn't give him the same benefits (although there is emerging evidence that getting your heart rate up in aerobic activity can improve the brain's capacity for learning tasks in the hours that immediately follow - maybe I'll blog more about that soon).

I'm sure many businesspeople find it advantageous to exercise on their lunch hour or after work as well. In fact, yesterday I read an interesting article from a businessman who works at his desk with his computer most of the day. He said he sets a timer for either 30 minutes or 60 minutes - never longer - and when it rings he pauses in whatever task he is working on and gets up and walks around the office or does a set of pushups against his desk. Sometimes he does 20 squats or lunges and then gets a drink and stretches a bit before he sits back down to his task. He insists it helps his productivity as well as ensuring that he gets some exercise. He'd rather spend his evenings with his children and wife than in the gym. His workout plan fits his situation.

Exercise can work wonders in your life, but you have to actually do it. When you are planning your health and fitness goals it helps to reflect a bit on what timing will work for you. Also think about what environment is best for you. If you know that at home you will be constantly distracted by family responsibilities, consider the gym or outdoor activities. If you feel self-conscious in the gym or it is too far away from home, hire a personal trainer to come to your home and design a workout for you in your own environment. There is a way around every obstacle to exercise. Be creative and keep yourself moving.

Stand Up for Yourself!

2009-01-20T13:47:00.000-08:00

In October of this year I had the opportunity to travel to Oregon to visit my sister and her family. My parents, who are in their seventies and both facing some health challenges, were also visiting from their home in Montana. The first day we were together I could see my mom and dad were having difficulties getting up from the couch in my sister's living room.

This is an all too common problem for many aging adults. We all begin to lose muscle mass in our 30's. In fact by the time we are in our late 70's most of us will have lost about a third of our muscle mass. If we are active and exercise regularly we can counteract this process. It's when we become less active that the muscle loss catches up with us and begins to cause problems. But, not to worry, it is never too late to begin the process of challenging your body with some strength training to gain new muscle mass. Studies on older adults confirm time and again that a well designed strength training program can cause muscle gain in adults even in their 80's and 90's.

So, let's get back to the story about my parents. I offered to show them a strategy for getting up from a seated position that, if practiced regularly, should lead to stronger muscles in their legs as well as allowing them to have a better immediate result when they need to rise from a seated position. They were quick learners. The next morning they told me they had been practicing in different chairs and found the technique I taught them made a big difference. I was happy for them. I also found myself getting a little angry that none of their health care providers had advised them on this earlier.

Now that I have returned home from my trip I have channeled that anger into teaching everyone I come into contact with how to put this technique into practice. People I have shared the information with tell me that they have taught their parents and friends. Some have even visited friends at residential care facilities and taught them how to do this. I recently spoke with my brother in Montana and he told me that my parents had returned from their trip and shared the technique with my siblings. I was delighted! Hats off to my parents, who are still the spark that can set off a mini-revolution and touch the lives of people they have never even met.

And so in the spirit of that wave of learning that began in October, I posted a YouTube video under the title "Staying Strong in the Second Half of Life, Standing Up from a Chair". To view the video just click on the arrow below. Then go out and teach someone what you have learned!

What comes first, diet or exercise?

2009-01-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

It is a new year and everyone is making their recommendations for how to be healthy in 2009. Some of the recommendations make my head spin. I'd like to simplify things a bit by suggesting one overarching recommendation that has the potential to produce great and lasting benefits to your health and well being. Cook. And I don't mean microwaving processed meals. In the last 40 years, access to quick ready cooked (in fact, this almost always means processed) foods has become the norm for most Americans. We cook a lot less than our mothers did. Interestingly, in this same time frame, obesity has become a major problem in this country. I think the two things are deeply connected.

When I decided to take responsibility for my health in 2004, my first committment was to make changes in my diet. It came before a serious committment to exercise. It turns out that I am not alone in this pattern. Weight loss is strongly correlated with a change in diet. It is not necessarily true that exercise leads to weight loss. It can, but sometimes exercise makes people hungrier and they take in more calories offsetting the potential weight loss from the increased activity. It's not that exercise isn't important - someday I'll commit to writing a list of the first 100 reasons I think exercise is a good idea - but if you want to change your health and or weight I think you have to start with the fuel you put into your body. If you are not giving your body quality food it will not be able to take you through the process you are embarking on. One hundred calories of potato chips and one hundred calories of broccoli are not equivalent. If you train with me, you know that I often ask what you had to eat for breakfast or what you plan to cook for dinner. In fact, if you told me that you had time to cook something or to work out, but couldn't do both, I would probably tell you to invest your time in a quality meal. It's that important.

So what constitutes a quality meal? First of all, it has to be real food. As my favorite nutrition writer says, "If you can hunt it, pluck it from a tree, pull it from the ground, or gather it from a bush it is probably real food" The list includes, meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds. It is best if they are sold in their natural state - not processed into other products that are sold in boxes, blister backs, heavy sealed plastic bags, and cans (I make some exceptions for the cans). By the way - that roasted chicken you pick up at the supermarket has a staggering list of chemicals that are injected into the bird as part of a "solution" that makes it so tasty. Sugar is often among these ingredients - just read the label the next time you buy one. (I do fall back on these conveniences from time to time myself - if the option is to buy a pizza or one of those roasted chickens I am definitely going to choose the chicken, but over time all those chemicals than enhance taste can cause problems for those who are trying to lose weight.) Those added ingredients are designed to stimulate your taste buds and increase your appetite so you will eat more. If you roast your own chicken you can avoid that

My second tip is that every meal or snack you eat should have a quality protein source. Protein helps to trigger the chemical signals in your body that lead to a feeling of fullness and because protein takes more time to be broken down by the body than simple sugars it helps control appetite swings.

The third recommendation I would make for a healthy meal is eat more vegetables - the non starchy kind - leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and of course try to get as much color as possible. If preparing vegetables is the thing that keeps you from eating them, then investigate the possibility of ready prepped veggies at the supermarket. These will cost more, but I'm betting you would rather spend your money on good food than on drugs to control chronic diseases.

When I put my health as my first priority, I subscribed to an internet menu service called Saving Dinner. You can google it if you are interested. The service sent me via email a menu, cooking instructions, and a shopping list once a week. I shopped with that list once a week and had no excuses not to prepare my own dinner. The recipes were simple and took no more than 20 minutes to cook on most nights. It saved me a lot of mental anguish and kept me on track. More than 4 years later, I still cook nearly every night. I might eat out twice a month and the last time I ate in a fast food joint was in July on a road trip with my kids. I know it is hard to believe, but I don't miss it. I feel good about preparing my own food, it is a way or nurturing and caring for myself and my husband and it is a cornerstone of my day.

Please give it a try. It makes a world of difference.

A Cup of Joe

2008-12-31T11:36:00.000-08:00

It's New Year's Eve and I sat down at my laptop with a big cup of coffee to read my daily ration of blogs. Then I checked my email and found an alert from Medscape Today that got me thinking about that cup of coffee.

Those of you who know me as a friend or have trained with me know that I am a coffee fan. I don't drink alcohol, don't smoke, don't eat sugar or processed foods, but I do drink coffee everyday and with great pleasure. I start the day with a cup or two and I often have another in the early afternoon. When I eat out in restaurants, since I don't eat sugar for dessert I will order a cup of decaf with cream and add my own splenda for a rich and comforting finish to the meal while others indulge in the sweet treats. Today's article from Medscape supports my coffee drinking, but of course there are a few caveats.

According to the Medscape article which reports on a study from the Annals of Internal Medicine, after looking at questionnaires filled out by 85,000 women and 40,000 men the data shows that regular coffee drinkers (2 cups a day) have a lowered risk of heart disease and the data holds true even for those who drink decaf. The assumption about why has to do with chemicals called phenols and minerals like magnesium that are present in coffee that may help to reduce inflammation and help regulate blood sugar. For women, those 2 cups a day came out to a 25% lower risk of heart disease. That is worth thinking about. One small caution - moderation is still a good thing. Another study showed that if men drink 6 or more cups of coffee a day it can double their risk of heart disease.

If you have worked out with me I have probably mentioned another study, this one is a couple years old now. Older exercisers were studied to compare the pain reducing effects of coffee to over the counter drugs like Advil and Tylenol. The results showed that people reported a 45% reduction in post exercise soreness if they had the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee post workout - for those of you who get the Starbuck's venti you are getting plenty in one cup! In that study it did matter if the coffee was caffienated, but the assumption still had to do with the anti-inflammatory properties of phenols and caffeine in combination.

Body builders have long used caffeine before their workouts to give them an edge and swear by it's effectiveness in getting them through a workout at their best. And why shouldn't they? We know that coffee pumps you up, stimulates your nervous system and boost mental alertness - all things that help get you going and keep you safe in the gym.

Since drinking coffee doesn't make me jittery, or keep me awake at night (as long as I stop by 3-4 o'clock) I think I will stick with my coffee habit for a bit longer!

2008-12-24T07:57:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make........I'm nervous about exposing myself with this blog. When people hear that I have lost 70 lbs and kept most of it off for 4 years they ask me how I did it. It makes me feel like a deer in the headlights. Will my answer be helpful to them, will it encourage or discourage them? And about that answer.......there is a lot that goes into it. The simple answer (you know the one - eat less, move more!) doesn't even begin to tell the story, though I suppose it is true that I eat less and move more than I used to, but the real story is in how I came to eat less and move more and that wasn't easy - it took years of attempts and failures to put together a strategy that worked for me. Maybe I am just a slow learner, but as I look around I think I am pretty average in this department - it's a lot harder to figure this out than those four words -- eat less, move more---convey.

Let me provide a little background. In 2004, I moved back to the United States with my husband and sons after living for 13 years in the Middle East. I was 60 lbs heavier than I am now, had metabolic syndrome, and was in pretty bad shape. I also had 46 years of dieting and exercise experience behind me that had obviously not led me to the promised land of health and wellness. I was then and am now pretty intelligent, so why couldn't I make this work. ( I remember saying to my husband once that I just didn't get why this was so diifficult for me - I had to work so hard at exercise and diet and was still fighting a loosing battle. Wonderful man that he is he replied that no one could expect to have it all, brains, compassion, kindness, talent, and a perfect physical body. My struggle with my body was just my particular challenge in life. You just have to love a man who can address your biggest flaw while saying so many nice things about you!)

When we moved back to the States so much change was happening in my life. We were living in a new town, buying a home for the first time, our oldest son was in college, and I was looking at going back to work after years of at home parenting and volunteering. My husband was hoping to retire in 10 years time and I would need to be providing a sufficient income by then. I decided that since I was enveloped in change I would make another attempt to recreate my body as well. I could not have predicted how well that would work out for me. I don't think I really believed it would work when I began and even after I had lost 55 lbs in about 7 months I didn't really think it would last, but it has.

I've learned many things about myself and my body. I have had to meet a number of challenges, both psychological and physical, but I can honestly tell you that today I feel better than I can ever remember feeling. I have more energy than when I was a teenager. I am passionate about nutrition, weight-loss, exercise, and the power of small changes to produce big results. Along the way I pursued some educational goals and became a certified personal trainer. I like working with people who are entering the second half of life (50+ years old) and I especially like working with those people who don't feel a part of the gym culture. (Not that there is anything wrong with working out in a gym - I do it myself from time to time.) I have a special affinity for those people who are a little afraid to try and are discouraged by their past experiences. I have walked in their shoes and I know what that is like.

On the cusp of a new year I've been counting my blessings and realizing how grateful I am to have had the help of those courageous bloggers who have sharpened my focus and caused me to be more reflective in the last several years. Their posts have taken me all kind of places in my quest for improved health and fitness. Now I am taking a step forward to give back by beginning my own blog in the hope that it will help someone else who is traveling the road to a better quality of life. I know that what works for me might not work for someone else, but it just might spark an idea for what will work or what might work and sometimes that makes all the difference.

One last thought for those of you who noticed that I used 3 different numbers for my weight loss. First, you get points for being attentive. Second, there is in fact an explanation. I did in fact lose a total of 70 lbs. After the first 55 I got a little scared and decided to see if I could hold my weight at that number for a year to be sure this wasn't a fluke. During that year while I was trying to maintain, I actually lost another 10 lbs. Then I started trying to lose a little more and it took lots of effort and I felt hungry and unhappy though I lost another 5 lbs. Sometime, I will blog about that - much was learned from that experience. As of today I am 60 lbs lighter than my heaviest weight and my body seems happy here - most days - I'm sure I will blog about that
slight ambiguity somewhere along the line too.