In simple terms how to lose 1lb of fat..

Still, this is hard...I totally get that! BUT!! I can tell you if you log your food daily this gets much easier!!!

This says it all..

This is a quick synopses about Carbohydrates and how they are used in the body and how to BURN that FAT!

Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose and glycogen, which are also known as sugars.  Glucose maintains blood sugar levels and is used by the brain as well as the heart for energy.  Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles.  Any extra glycogen is transformed into fat.  Glucose and glycogen can be broken down into energy without the need of oxygen.  This is known as anaerobic metabolism which is utilized during anaerobic activities.  The anaerobic system allows us to perform high-intensity, short duration activities like jumping, sprints or the dreaded burpie. This means that mostly sugars are used during short intense periods of exercise.

Fat cells are basically energy storage areas for the body.  Believe it or not, your body needs fat to survive.  However, too much fat (or obesity) is dangerous because it can inhibit normal functions of the body or it causes the body a great deal of stress.  The problem with this stored energy is that it cannot be broken down very quickly.  Therefore, fat stores can only be broken down through aerobic activity (e.g., running, swimming or biking) for long periods of time.

In order to see the most body at reduction from your exercise program it is essential that you exercise in the “fat burning zone.”  This means you must exercise between 60% and 70% of your predicted heart rate based on your age, and resting heart rate.  Any intensity greater than 70% will cause your body to burn a greater percentage of sugars and fewer carbohydrates (which isn’t a bad thing but more on that another time).  When one is between 60-70% of his/her target heart rate, he/she is burning the maximum amount of fat that the body is capable of burning.  Therefore he/she is in the “fat burning zone.”

However, in order to get to the fat burning zone, the body must use a great deal of the sugars stored in the muscles before it can start breaking down the fat for energy.  This is a process that generally takes about 20-30 minutes.  This means a 30 minute activity, even an aerobic activity like running or walking, doesn’t start tapping into the fat stores until the end of the workout!  While 30 minute workouts have their function and can help achieve better levels of fitness, it isn’t something that is going to help reduce levels of body fat.  Only those aerobic activities that last longer than 30 minutes, approaching closer to an hour or more, are going to help reduce the amount of fat stored in the body. 

Getting the shape you want starts in the kitchen! Here are 5 quick tips to kick start your plan.

5 Nutrition Tips

1.      Improve your food environment.  This one is a challenge for even the most motivated athletes but the bottom line is if the food is in the house, you’re probably going to eat it.  Start being healthy by shopping healthy.   When you store food in the house, keep sweets, desserts and “foods of questionable nutrition” to a shelf in the pantry or a single cabinet.  Don’t be afraid to put some foods “out of sight” by using cabinets you don’t commonly look in.  I’m not saying to never purchase these foods—just to be smarter about what you bring into your household food supply and to what extent you expose yourself to it.  Your food environment is not only in the home, and you must consider where you eat out as well.  Consider eating at “healthier” establishments using some of the tips below as a guide but don’t forget to allow yourselves some leeway in what you eat and where.
2.      Color—eat more foods that are naturally Green, Red, Yellow, Orange, Blue, and Purple.  The chemicals that make these foods so colorful are also being shown to have many significant health benefits in our bodies (especially for athletes).  In addition, many of the foods that meet the “colorful” rule are also high in vitamins, minerals, fiber and carbohydrates.  Here’s a short list of foods to consider keeping in the house: broccoli, spinach, romaine lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, cherries, apples, grapefruit, cantaloupe, squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, eggplant, and plums.
3.      Better Breakfasts—breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  When you wake up in the morning your liver glycogen is lower, your metabolism is slower, your body is craving energy.  Stop thinking of breakfast as being a huge multi-food kitchen disaster.  Instead, go simple, a breakfast bar, a banana, a yogurt, all quick simple and easy could constitute a first “early meal”.  Just remember that you need to eat frequently throughout the day (every 2-3 hours is ideal).  When you are designing a healthy breakfast, especially for longer training days, think complex carbohydrate (oatmeals, pancakes, waffles, granola), fruit, dairy (milk, yogurt, cottage cheese), and healthy additives like wheat germ, flax seed, berries, and nuts.  All of these foods can be used to make a powerful healthy breakfast.
4.      Keep a Food Diary—Want to be healthier?  Want to lose a little weight?  Simply keep track of what you eat!  Most people seem to know “what” to eat; it’s more a matter of getting them to eat it that is the challenge.  Keeping a food diary helps you stay honest; it holds you accountable to yourself.   The frequency with which you keep a food diary (i.e. daily, weekly, or periodically) depends on you (or your coach/dietitian). Researchers from Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research kept tabs on 1,685 overweight and obese adults (men and women), whose average weight was 212 pounds. The researchers encouraged participants to adhere to a reduced-calorie, DASH eating plan and asked them record their daily food intake and exercise minutes.  After 20 weeks, the average weight loss was 13 pounds per person. But researchers discovered something else; the more participants recorded what they ate, the more weight they lost in the end. Participants who did not keep a food diary lost about 9 pounds over the course of the study, while those who recorded their food intake six or more days per week lost 18 pounds—twice as much as those who didn't track any food!

5.      Stick to a simple healthy message—eat less saturated fat (solid at room temperature), eat smaller meals every 2-3 hours, eat more fiber (25-25 grams per day), eat lean protein, eat more fish, eat more fruits and vegetables, consume less simple sugar—these are “healthy” themed messages that should form the foundation of your efforts going into 2010.  Try and stay away from getting into the technical and “cutting edge” nutrition topics if you haven’t given significant efforts to improving your foundation of nutritional fitness.  For example, it’s silly to worry about the ergogenic effects of caffeine if you skip breakfast.  It’s useless to try and gain any benefit from eating a gluten-free diet if you aren’t eating enough carbohydrate to perform at a high level.  If you feel you are ready to dive in deep with the latest nutritional science topic, do it with an expert by your side—it’ll make sifting through the science more enjoyable, and hopefully more practical.

Cheers!!!

Trying to lose weight or improve your health??Emotional Nourishment.. Journaling is a great way to keep you in check and see your eating triggers...

I am big on Journaling!! Journaling is a safe place to go when you feel like venting about work, family, your weight loss, addictions or successes in your life! Many times problems are solved by putting them on paper! Your emotional reasons for eating are solved when you journal why you are eating and how you feel physically and emotionally afterwards. No one is going to criticize you here and you will not be complaining to others. Look back on what you wrote a few days later to discover who you are and what makes you tick-- and what ticks you off!!
Eating a gallon of ice cream might temporarily feel great going down, but you will feel sick and ashamed when you take your last bite! Its fun for a short- time until you have to deal with the consequences (diabetes, overweight, shortness of breath etc.)
You can do it!

Chocolate cravings..Here is what I do when my dark choc supply is GONE!

This low calorie dessert is my fav!! Choc Indulgence Mousse (sugar free ) only 60 calories with a tiny bit of Reddi whip 5 calories per serving and then the topping a beautiful strawberry for a total of only 65-70 calories and you have aYUMMY quick chocolate dessert!