Can't Lose that Last Ten?! I Bet I Know Why

If I had a nickle for every time I heard someone tell me they just wanted to lose 10 more pounds, I could quit my job as a trainer and buy a private island!!!! I wouldn't of course cause I love my job too much. ;) 

There is an obsession among most dieters with the number on a scale and I get it....The scale gives you a number that is measurable. It's easy to read, and as long as the number is going down then it means you are weighing less. But is less weight synonymous with smaller size?

Let me give you a visual. 

Pick up a big round body ball.That weighs what? A pound?

 

Now pick up medicine ball. It's small. Its heavy. It's compact. It may weigh 10 lbs more, but it's only half the size at most.

Maybe that was a bad example, but my point is...a smaller frame can pack more weight. Especially one that is fit. I know you are tired of hearing the cliche that "muscle weighs more than fat" but it is BEYOND important that we embrace the beauty in this truth. Who wants to lose weight if you aren't losing fat? What's the point!?

For people who are VERY overweight, the scale is a good measure of success. The trouble is with the people who are fit, who have already lost a good bit of weight, and are stuck in what they believe is either a plateau or a road block to their final goal weight. Rather than loving how far they have come, they obsess over those "last 10 pounds." They are chasing an illusive goal that is robbing them of the truth and removing them from reality about themselves.

Here's the reality....If you are exercising and conditioning your muscles in any way, then you will never weigh what you did in high school. Here's the good news though! You'll probably look a WHOLE lot better than you did in high school! Don't worry about those last 10 pounds! You probably can't lose them because you don't need to! If you exercise regularly and don't consume more calories than you expend then your body will let go of unnecessary weight. Eventually you have to come to a place where you are comfortable with a healthy strong body. Exercise gives you shape and strength. It helps you build muscle and lose fat, which ultimately helps you sustain your HEALTH. You function well because you are strong and you have energy. Getting caught in the weight loss trap can zap you of the joy and the energy you need to live well within your flesh. 

If you are beginning a weight loss journey, I highly recommend that you assess more than just the number on the scale. You should assess your body fat and take your measurements. You can have a professional do this or you can even do it at home. The key however is consistency. Have the same person measure you every month. If you are unable to measure your body fat with a device, a good clue to whether or not the pounds you are losing are pounds of fat would be to compare your inches lost to your pounds lost. They should roughly equal the same number. Think that each inch equals one pound of fat. 

If you do choose to purchase something to measure body fat, I recommend the OMRON. It is not the most accurate tool, but it's far better than the scales that have body fat measurements built into them. Plus it gives you a consistent measurement over time. 

 

If you are able to measure your body fat percentage then I have a really cool equation for determining how many pounds of fat you are losing. 

You will take your total pounds on the scale and multiply them by your body fat percentage. That will tell you how many pounds of your total weight are fat pounds. If you subtract that number from your total pounds, you will also get your lean body mass. Your lean body mass includes everything else (bones, muscle, organs, water, etc).

When you weigh yourself again and reassess your body fat percentage, you'll be able to determine how much fat you've lost and how much lean mass you've gained simply by reassessing those numbers and finding the difference.

I will use myself as an example. 

4 years ago, after having babies right before I began my journey back to fitness, I weighed 143 and my body fat was 26%

143 total pounds x .26% = 37.18 lbs of body fat

143-37.18 = 105.82 lbs of lean body mass

Currently I weigh 137 and my body fat is 17%

137 total pounds x .17% = 23.29 lbs of body fat

137 - 23.29 = 113.71 lbs of lean body mass

So, since getting fit, I have only lost 6 total pounds. This would of course be discouraging to me if I were trying to be 130 like I was when I was in high school. 

BUT, because I know how much body fat I had at the start I am much more proud of my success because I've lost 14 pounds of fat. If those 14 lbs showed up on the scale then I HAVE reached my goal. Well, actually that's never been my goal, but you get my point. :) God forbid I ever be ANYTHING like I was in high school. haha.

PERSPECTIVE is EVERYTHING. 

If you are exercising to lose weight then make sure to assess your body fat as well. It will tell you the truth about all of your hard work. You may not be able to lose those last ten lbs of weight because you gained 10 pounds of health. Embrace it!

Wednesday Workout: Full Body Blast

If you are looking to get in a head to toe training that involves a little muscle building and a little fat burning but you don't have two hours, I've put together a nice little FULL BODY BLAST FOR YOU!

Equipment:

1. Barbell for heavy lifting. If you are at home then dumbbells will suffice.

 

2. 1 Medium to Heavy Dumbbell

3.  Either a sandbag, medicine ball, or Kettlebell for fat burning.

 

Here We Go!

Warm Up with about 3 mins of cardio and then do a few sets of body weight squats to warm up your legs and glutes.

1. Heavy Leg Superset

Load up a barbell with Enough weight that you feel like you are actually WEIGHTLIFTING. You should only be able to do about 10 reps maximun.If you are a beginner, I recommend an experienced friend to help you, a trainer, or use a Leg Press Machine and a Glute Machine back to back. 

4 sets of 8-10 reps (Rest between sets for up to a minute, but do not rest between the two exercises)

a. Barbell Squats

b. Barbell Dead Lifts

REST: up to 3 mins

2. Lower Body Fat Blaster

I use by sandbag for this but you can use kettlebells or a medicine ball or anything to you hold that adds lighter weight. The moves are the same as above except with different equipment, lighter weight, and faster tempo

4 sets: 30/30 sec of each exercise

a. Sandbag Pulse Squats (hold sandbag at chest. Squat 90 degrees and pulse)

b. Sandbag Hip Tips (this is pretty much like a deadlift except it's not as deep. The reps are faster to get your heart rate up, but you don't want to lose form. Just keep your legs straight with a slight bend in the knee. Hold the sandbag with arms straight. Tip at the hip and let your glutes and hamstrings do the work to pull you back up.)   

3. Total Toning Combo for the Arms
Holding a dumbbell, put one knee on chair or bench and bend over 90 degrees supporting yourself with one hand on the chair. 
3-4 Sets of 10 reps of each exercise with each arm
1. 10 Dumbbell Rows
2. 10 Triceps Kickbacks
stand upright
3. 10 Bicep Curls
4. 10 Overhead Shoulder Presses



Repeat on the other side 

4. Upper Body Fat Blaster
Tabatas
Perform each exercise for 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds rest 4 times each for a total of 4 minutes.
1. Pushups

2. Bicycle Abs
  

 

This Workout Should do the Trick!
ENJOY!

 

Elimination Re-challenge Diet: Diagnosing your Biggest Offenders

As if I needed another project of any kind...I decided to start my girls on an Elimination Re-challenge Diet. I thought to put myself on it as well, but mom doesn't need to be any kind of cranky while she is withholding certain foods from cranky children.That's an exercise in motherly wisdom. I am working on my "fitness level" in that area. ;)

So, WHY am I doing this?

Well, many of you know (as I have shared before) that my oldest daughter was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder at age 3. Don't know what that is? Follow the link below to find out more. Many children struggle with this disorder and it is often misdiagnosed and treated as ADHD or something else. This link will provide a questionnaire to see if your child may fall anywhere on this spectrum. 

 Sensory Processing Disorder Symptoms Check List

The good news about children who struggle with this, is that it can be improved tremendously through diet and exercise. 

The undeniable truth is, whether you are a child or an adult, that food doesn't just affect our waistline...it effects EVERYTHING. It effects or sensory system, our digestive system, and our endocrine sysetem. It effects our brains, our moods, our energy levels, etc. 

One size does not fit all when it comes to food. What may affect one person positively may affect another negatively. That is why it is important to really pay attention to how you feel after eating certain foods. There is always a direct link. We are all metabolically different and we should eat in a way that fuels our bodies and our brains in the best way. 

Anyway, back to the Elimination Re-Challenge Diet.....

My child's behavior changed dramatically within two weeks of changing her diet 3 years ago. I pretty much just removed EVERYTHING that was a big offender all at once.

Dairy

Gluten

Soy

Food Dyes

Sugar

Etc....

As she has gotten older and improved, I have become more lenient with her diet. I feed my children whole, organic, and natural foods, but sometimes that just doesn't matter. If dairy makes my child go nuts then she'll go nuts whether it's organic or not. She can take things in small amounts on select occasions and be fine, but after vacation and well....to much slacking on my part, she has begun posing symptoms that haunted me years ago. 

No sleeping. 

Falling everywhere.

Breaking everything.

Spinning. 

Melt Downs.

No impulse control.

Oh, and because she is very mature and self-aware, she will tell me that her body feels out of control.

So, I have put my foot down and decided to uncover the "SPECIFIC" offenders, so that we can avoid them always.

So here's the idea:

Week one: You remove EVERYTHING

no. Wheat. Dairy. Gluten. Corn. Sugar. Eggs. and a whole list of other things. 

Staring on Week 2/Day 8, I will begin reintroducing each suspect offender one day at a time to see how she reacts. 

Day 8: Dairy

Day 9: Wheat

Day 10: Corn

and the list will go on until I have reintroduced each suspect.

This will help me identify the biggest culprits one ingredient at a time. 

We started this diet on Monday. It has been challenging for sure, but so far...so good. And I am telling you that BOTH of my girls are totally back to normal right now on Day 3. I let them know what we would be doing this week and talked to them in detail about it before starting. They are actually
taking the challenge on with great pride and excitement. They understand the link between bad food and bad feelings. I am grateful for that. It has been fun to get in the kitchen with them and experiment with new foods. They are being troopers and I am so proud of them. 

I highly recommend doing this if you are an adult who struggles with certain ailments as well. For example:

Fatigue

Bloating

Mood Swings 

Headaches

This may help to single out specific offenders in your own diet. 

Here is a link to the plan I am following. 

Let me know if you've ever tried something like this out and what you found out!

Elimination Re-Challenge Diagnosis Diet

Allergy Free Superfood Pancakes!

I made the MOST amazing "allergy free" superfood pancakes this morning for my girls. Here's the recipe

DRY INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 C Brown Rice Flour

1 tsp aluminum baking soda

 

2 TBS Ground Flax

 

1 TBS Milled Chia Seed

 

Sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
(blend)

 

WET INGREDIENTS

5 tsp EnerG egg replacer with 5 TBS water (or 1/2 c egg whites)

3 TBS applesauce
1 Tsp almond or vanilla extract
1/2 mashed banana
Few drops of liquid stevia
1 C almond milk

(blend)

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together

Pour coconut oil onto pan or griddle. Pour 1/4 c batter onto pan. Make about 6 medium pancakes

Watch pancakes appear!

Top with pure maple syrup.

This was so delicious and thick. It was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.