Category Archives: Uhm?
It’s my workout and I’ll cry if I want to
I’ll be the first to admit I’m an emotional person. When I decided to do something, I commit fully. Because I invest myself so fully into things, I can get super upset at the littlest set back.
In college, I would get super upset if I couldn’t lift a weight. When trainers would tell me “you almost have it,” I would almost get more frustrated than if I wasn’t even close.
To this day, I still get frustrated when I can’t hit a PR or at least match what I did the time before.
Most of the male trainers at my gym, don’t understand the emotional investment I make. Most don’t get why a failure can cause me to cry.
He's not crying now, but he will be when that weight doesn't budge from the floor!
I’m not ashamed to admit that I cry. I have been known to cry if I can’t hit a new PR after training hard for months. I don’t half ass things. It doesn’t matter what it is – I want to do my best at it. Shoot even pool, which I suck at, I still want to win and will get mad if Ryan beats me!
I’m not saying this is the best way to behave…trust me, there are definitely some times when I wish I wouldn’t get so upset about a bad lift…BUT the point is, I’ve also accepted that this is who I am.
That’s not to say that I’m not working on things. It is much more rare now that I cry after a bad lift. I, most of the time, don’t sweat the small stuff. I remind myself that there are going to be bad days. I remind myself that while Ryan may beat me in pool, I can kick his butt in everything else. (Just kidding Ryan….sort of…)
But even though I remind myself of these things, I’m still an emotional and competitive person who WILL get upset when she doesn’t “succeed.”
Anyway, my point is, don’t be ashamed if you are an emotional person. Don’t let people make you feel bad for showing emotion when you don’t succeed.
And the truth is, if you invest yourself fully into something, there is good reason to be upset when you don’t succeed! Obviously, you don’t want to let your emotions run out of control, but the occasional cry after missing a PR is good for you!
Is it just me or does anyone else out there ever cry after not achieving one of their fitness/diet/exercise goals?
P.S. No I didn’t cry today, but trust me I can name some really great examples of times when I did. Shoot I probably even have some pictures from tennis when I would slap my thigh if I missed a shot. Not the best way to express my emotions….
“The Tube Diet”
Have people gone insane!?!
Seriously, using a FEEDING TUBE to lose weight for your wedding?!
Why do people spend years planning their wedding, but only give themselves 10 days to get in great shape? If you want your wedding to be perfect, you spend time planning and working on it. If you want to look perfect for your wedding, why wouldn’t you spend the same amount of time planning and working on that!?!
And on top of that…why would you ever go to such drastic measures that you stick a FEEDING TUBE up your nose!
It uses a nasogastric tube (a tube that goes through the nose and down the esophagus into the stomach) to provide all nourishment, with nocarbohydrates, for 10 days. Dr. Di Pietro said body weight is lost quickly through ketosis, the state in which the body burns fat rather than sugar. Patients at his office are monitored during the 10-day period for things like constipation, bad breath and dizziness.
And there are other potential side effects of this extreme diet besides constipation, bad breath, dizziness and the fact that you look ill because you are walking around with a feeding tube up your nose!:
“Any extreme low-calorie diet is associated with side effects,kidney stones, dehydration, headaches,” Dr. Aronne said, “and if you lose muscle mass and water, what’s the point of that?”
There are a lot fewer side effects to healthy diets AND you will probably be able to MAINTAIN the weight you lost.
Even the doctors that do it admit that patients could get the same results with a healthy diet. Heck, I’d even argue people would get better results if they didn’t do something as stupid as stick a feeding tube up their nose:
“I don’t want to tell a bride she shouldn’t look good for the wedding,” Dr. Aronne said. “But we tell them, ‘You can get to the same place if you started earlier, instead of waiting until the last-minute and doing something drastic.’ ”
Seriously, why would anyone do this!?!
The Boston Marathon
I would say “To run a marathon” is on most people’s fitness bucket lists.
Can I just say, “I don’t get it?”
I just don’t have the running gene.
I love sprinting. I even enjoy jogging a couple of miles with Ryan when it is super warm outside.
But run more than five miles?!?
I think I would die of boredom before I hit 10….or stop and get ice cream.
Me.
But I’m definitely the minority.
So many people raise money just so they can run the Boston Marathon. While they are raising money for a great cause, most of them do it because they want to RUN. To them, running a marathon is a major feat of fitness.
But is it a major feat of fitness or just a major feat of stupidity when the average person runs one?
Don’t get me wrong, I can’t believe how freaking fast the top marathoners are. I honestly think they run faster than I even sprint. But they aren’t just recreational runners crossing something off their bucket lists.
Seriously, while it is “impressive,” is it stupid for the average person to run a marathon? I mean marathons are really stressful for your heart not to mention your body in general! Check out this post called ” Run for your lives.” (I think the title is super funny by the way!)
So can someone just explain to me why this would ever be on your bucket list? Why do so many people think that running a marathon is “badass” and a huge feat of fitness?
I just don’t get it.
Getting Back into the Groove
Rebeca…this post is for you!
So you’ve gotten into a great rhythm. You’re eating well and going to the gym numerous times a week. You are so in the groove that it isn’t a challenge to keep your healthy lifestyle going – it has become a habit.
But then, you go on vacation.
And when you come back, your rhythm is gone.
You can’t drag yourself into the gym and you’re not sure you even know what healthy foods look like anymore. You’ve undone the habit in a quarter of the time it took you to create it.
So how do you get back on track?
It is by no means easy, but you did it once before and you can do it again! Remember that!
Also, remember that the quicker you get right back into it after vacation, the easier it will be. The longer you wait, the more you will regress. Just think about how hard you worked to make all that progress in the first place! You don’t want to lose it all!
I know how hard it can be to get back into the groove. When I come back from vacation feeling like a slug from bad food and inactivity, I don’t want to workout or eat well. But I remind myself of how great I feel once I start…and how crappy I feel when I continue my sluggish ways.
It’s all about the mindset! Your mind is the strongest muscle in your body so use it to push yourself to get right back into healthy habits!
For more great tips, check out my post about how to change your lifestyle and stick with it!
If you need more motivation to get back into working out and eating well after a vacation, email me. I’ll keep harassing you until you do!
You’ve been warned Rebeca!
Suckers for a “Quick Fix”
DISCLAIMER: This post is kind of mean.
Seriously sometimes people are pathetic.
Dr. Oz calls Raspberry Ketones a fat-buster and “the number one miracle in a bottle” on his show and suddenly everyone goes out and buys them.
We are suckers for a quick fix. People go out and buy it because Dr. Oz says it works “miracles.”
Here's a quick fix for you...
They don’t even care that there are really no scientific studies substantiating this claim!
When I searched for studies this is basically what I came up with...
And here is a quote from the ABC News article linked above:
For now, the reputations of products like Raspberry Ketone Plus and Raspberry Ketone Ultra rest on anecdotes and two studies conducted on mice put on a high-fat diet. Japanese researchers reported in 2005 that raspberry ketone “prevents and improves obesity and fatty liver,” by boosting the breakup of fat cells. Korean researchers reported in 2010 that raspberry ketone increased fat cells’ secretion of a hormone called adiponectin that regulates the processing of sugars and fats in the blood.
Dr. Robert H. Lustig , a neuroendocrinologist and UC San Francisco pediatrics professor who is among top experts in the nation’s obesity epidemic, said that animal studies alone are insufficient for scientists to say how raspberry ketones work in people.
“Until there are human studies I won’t weigh in,” he said.
“People are willing to take chances. It’s amazing how many people look for a miracle instead of looking at what they’re eating and how much they’re moving and fixing whatever is broken,” said Mary Hartley, a registered dietitian and clinical nutritionist in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Who cares about studies though!?! I mean Dr. Oz says it works. And so does some trainer with a line of supplements, which includes raspberry ketones! I mean she wouldn’t just be promoting a product to make money, would she?
GEEZ! Seriously people!
You’d think by now people would be smart enough to resist the temptation of a “quick fix.”
But nope! Who wants to work hard!?!
10 Phrases I wish I’d NEVER Hear Again
Sometimes this is how I feel when I rant.
These are 10 phrases I hear all the time that I wish would never be uttered again in my presence. They aren’t in any order…I hate them all equally
- I use the adductor and abductor machine. I need to work on my inner thighs. That is the stupidest machine out there. Why waste your time on that machine working one muscle group when you can do slider side lunges or sumo squats and work numerous muscle groups at once while still targeting your add/abductors? Seriously, if you don’t want to waste your time in the gym and you actually want to burn some calories, you should do a compound movement. Plus why can’t people understand you CAN’T SPOT REDUCE!
- I had a bagel this morning, but it was whole wheat! When people tell me this, I have to resist the urge to slap them. (I promise I’m not a violent person!). I’m always surprised when clients say this to me since they know my stance on nutrition. I THINK WHOLE GRAINS ARE JUST AS BAD! Did you know that shredded wheat is higher on the glycemic index than table sugar? So don’t walk up to me and tell me your breakfast wasn’t bad because you only had a bagel…
- I didn’t have time to workout. HA! If you want to workout, you find the time…30 minutes is more than enough to get in a great workout!
- This weight is too heavy. If your form isn’t breaking down and you can do the exercise, the weight isn’t too much. Muscle burn is a good thing people! I always remind my clients, “Your mind will give up before your body has to!” We have to train our mind to push beyond that initial fatigue because, trust me, your body is stronger than you think!
- I can’t do this. CAN’T…Maybe the worst word on the planet. Ok maybe I hate this one the most. I love when people are doing the exercise and STOP to tell me they can’t do it. I’ve honestly wanted to shout at people, “You were just doing it easily! What do you mean you CAN’T do it!?!”
- I’ve tried everything and nothing works. Really? You’ve tried everything? Sounds to me like you were too lazy to fully commit to anything enough to actually find out if it works!
- Training is too expensive. Probably only trainers will sympathize with me here. Yes training can add up but it is for your HEALTH. You spend money on movies, dinners out and new clothes. You even spend money on medicine. Why wouldn’t you spend money on something that keeps you healthy so you can do all the things you enjoy!?!
- I don’t want to get too bulky. Yes, I hear this more often than I would like to. I’ve even been told by a woman that my workouts were in fact making her too bulky. Of course she wasn’t yet strong enough to lift over 5lbs, but the push ups were doing it to her…I almost rolled up my sleeve and flexed my bicep and asked, “So this is too bulky for you then?”
- I’m hungry all the time and only ate like 1,000 calories so I should be losing weight. I’m not hungry…like ever. Ok maybe at the end of a fast or after a really hard workout. But I never feel like I’m starving myself. If you feel hungry all the time and are barely eating any calories, do you really think that diet is natural? Is that really something you can maintain? No? Maybe you should try a diet full of whole, natural foods and lots of protein and fat. Then you don’t have to count calories because you are only eating healthy foods that make you feel full!
- My body composition hasn’t changed and I only cheated a little. Really? If you aren’t seeing any progress, it is your own fault. You are to blame. “I only cheated a little” isn’t an excuse. If you don’t follow the diet, than you can’t blame the diet for not working. Anytime you “cheat” on a diet program, YOU are changing the way the diet works. My clients who follow my diet, lose the weight that they want/need to. Most even lose about 10-15lbs in the first month. This is no ultimate loser weight loss, but it is a healthy amount to lose in that time period – it SUSTAINABLE. So don’t try to blame the diet by saying you only cheated a little!
Anyway, that is my tired rant for the day. Any phrases that you hear all too often about diet and exercise that you would like to add to this list?
Why blame the red meat?
See! It is all a conspiracy!
Seriously, why is everyone so determined to blame red meat for all our health problems? I swear I saw at least 3 stupid sensational news pieces about it today.
Why does everyone look to cut out red meat before processed foods and gluten?
Sorry people, but we ate red meat way before we had all of the diet related health problems that we have now.
It is interesting to note that most studies don’t take into account how many carbs or vegetable oils people consume along with the supposedly dangerous fatty red meat.
It is also interesting to note that most of the doctors that support these studies have vegetarian leanings…like Dr. Ornish…He has the “Ornish diet,” which, with its vegetarian leanings is supported by this study.
Everyone (myself included) will jump on board studies that benefit them! But come on people…take a look at the study. They didn’t look at gluten, processed foods OR vegetable oils. So who says it is the red meat that we’ve been eating since our hunter-gatherer days?
On to the next article I found…
The article starts out by blaming our bad omega-6 to omega-3 ratio on red meat.
Ok…but red meat isn’t the thing highest in omega-6s so why is it being blamed by this article for “diet induced obesity?!!”
Actually the protein highest in omega-6s with the worst ratio is, CHICKEN! And guess what else provides you with way more omega-6s than red meat?
VEGETABLE OIL!
So why is red meat being singled out?
Both of these studies also don’t consider the difference between grass-fed beef and grain-fed beef.
Can I just point out that there is a HUGE difference between the two!!!
Just to name two differences…Grass-fed beef has more omega-3s and is LEANER than grain-fed beef. Also, grass-fed beef has CLA, which has been proven to prevent cancer! Check out more health benefits of grass-fed beef here!
Now just some extra PROOF that we shouldn’t eat less meat and more carbs!!!!
Here is a study “A Low-Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet versus a Low-Fat Diet to treat Obesity and Hyperlipidemia – A randomized, controlled trial” that compared the effects of a low-fat diet to that of a low-carb diet. The conclusions drawn from this diet were:
Conclusions: Compared with a low-fat diet, a low-carbohydrate diet program had better participant retention and greater weight loss. During active weight loss, serum triglyceride levels decreased more and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level increased more with the low-carbohydrate diet than with the low-fat diet. (They also state that HDL went up and that with continued weight loss the LDL lowered down.)
I also just want to link out to a guy who has proof coming out of his ears that red meat isn’t the problem – Gary Taubes. Below is a quote from an interview
You have to consider that when I wrote the article I already knew the results of five clinical trials—short term, admittedly—that compared Atkins-like low-carb diets to low-fat, low-calorie diets of the kind recommended by the American Heart Association. Since my article came out, those five studies have been published and they all showed that cholesterol profiles—specifically triglycerides—improved on low-carb diets compared to the AHA diets. So I knew that your uncle’s bacon double cheeseburger for breakfast wouldn’t kill him as long as he remembered to skip the bun.
I also knew that some 30% of Americans—40% over 60, which probably includes your uncle—have Syndrome X/Metabolic Syndrome and, for those people, low-fat diets will do more harm than good. I also knew that long-term studies of low-fat, low-calorie diets showed they were worthless and didn’t lead to long-term weight loss. I also knew that if individuals could lose weight on Atkins or any diet, their cholesterol would drop with the weight, regardless of the diet. Knowing all that, I knew that anyone could try a low-carb diet and it wouldn’t kill them and might actually help them. I had faith that if they somehow gained weight eating all the fat that Atkins recommends, they’d stop the diet. (I’m still mystified by nutritionists and other “experts”, who feel they have to condemn a diet in advance because some individuals might allegedly gain weight. Don’t they think that anyone smart enough to read what they write is also smart enough to stop a diet that doesn’t work for them ?)
Ok now bring on the red meat haters!
WTF- Meat is the new tobacco!?! Continued…
So yesterday I just couldn’t stop thinking about that article claiming that meat is as bad, if not worse, than tobacco for you.
I came up with a bazillion more reasons why that article is just plain old wrong, but there was one reason in particular that I felt the need to post about today because her claim really pissed me off since it was inaccurate.
In the article, the author claims that the meat industry is powerful because there is as much money in it as in big tobacco.
EH WRONG!
Actually, a VEGETARIAN advocacy group is closer to having the same power as big tobacco. There are actually no meat-eaters advocacy groups with near the power that the vegetarian group CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) has.
Masquerading as a group that is supposed to be the “organized voice of the American public on nutrition, food safety, health and other issues,” CSPI is actually pushing their own agenda…And it’s a vegetarian one. They are actually even part of the reason why the American public fears saturated fat so much!
The Center for Science in the Public Interest(CSPI) ran with the lipid hypothesis and deemed the term “artery-clogging” fat. The CSPI has been advocating a plant-based diet since they were formed in 1971…One of the founders, Michael Jacobson who is also the executive director is a vegetarian and sits on the national board of the animal-rights oriented “Great American Meatout.” On the CSPI website they have a section called Eating Green, which advocates consuming more plant-based foods and less meat and dairy to extend you health. All though the CSPI considers themselves to provide useful, objective information on food, alcohol and health I feel their main goal is to spread their vegetarian agenda. (Healing through Nutrition)
And guess what one of the “healthy” changes CSPI has caused is….
In 1989, they got major hamburger chains to stop using animal fats for frying french fries. Guess what these restaurant chains then started using?
Trans-fats!!!
Uhm aren’t trans-fats bad for you? YEP!
CSPI later changes its stance and fights to eliminate trans-fats from restaurants and asks the FDA to label all foods that contain cholesterol-raising trans-fats.
Great job CSPI!
So next time you try to claim that the meat industry has SOOOO much influence, check your facts. CSPI has way more influence and it looks like it’s definitely using it to make us healthier.
NOT!
WTF – Meat is the new tobacco!?!
I swear I uttered just about every curse word I know while reading an article that Ryan sent me called, “Meat is the New Tobacco.”
I try not to rip on vegetarians too often as I do firmly believe that different diets work for different people. Also, eating WHOLE FOODS is what is really important…(Of course most of the vegetarians I know eat more processed crap than most meat eaters I know…but that is a rant for a different day…)
But seriously…comparing meat to tobacco!?! How did someone even allow such a RIDICULOUS article to be published?
This article is ridiculously biased AND the research Kathy Freston cites has been criticized and torn apart.
Her first ridiculous, unfounded statement:
Animal products kill a lot more Americans than tobacco does.
The West’s three biggest killers — heart disease, cancer, and stroke — are linked to excessive animal product (this was linked to the China Study) consumption, and vegetarians have much lower risks of all three. Vegetarians also have a fraction of the obesity and diabetes rates of the general population — of course, both diseases are at epidemic levels and are only getting worse.
Do you know when the obesity and diabetes rates started shooting up?
They started increasing in the 1980’s when the consumption of RED meat started to go down. And guess what we started consuming more of in the 1980’s?
Carbohydrates in the form of refined grains and starchy vegetables and processed vegetable oils. Yep when we REPLACED animal products (butter and lard) with vegetable and seed oils (such as canola oil), we started to see an obesity and diabetes epidemic.
As a post on Fatty Lane states:
1950- 33% of Americans overweight. 10% Obese
1970- 47% of Americans overweight. 15% Obese
Today– 65% of Americans overweight. 30% Obese
Those are some pretty big changes over 60 years. Health “experts” say we’re getting fatter because of too much fat in our diets and not enough heart healthy “whole grains.” Let’s break it down. (See every year here)
So our meat, egg and nut consumption has increased 4.1% since 1970
Our fruit consumption has increased 22%
Our dairy consumption has decreased 3.7%
Our vegetable consumption has decreased 2.4 percent
Our added sugar consumption has increased 14%
Our added fat consumption has increased 56.3%
Our grain consumption has increased 44.6%
So is it really meat? Or might it be the grains, sugars and processed oils?
Now onto Kathy’s obsession with Dr. T Colin Campbell and his China Study, which she claims proves the link between heart disease, cancer and stroke and consumption of animal products.
His China Study is full of holes. I found numerous articles and a WHOLE SITE dedicated to providing studies refuting the China Study.
First off, the first part of the China Study was an epidemiological study in which a questionnaire was mailed to the Chinese people asking what they ate. Off of this Dr. Campbell claims that the people who ate more meat were at higher risk for disease.
BUT he doesn’t take into consideration what else the meat eaters consumed. He also didn’t take into account what their lifestyle.
Oh and by the way….his data doesn’t actually prove what he claims it does!!
People that have analyzed the study have shown that:
Significant differences in the diet of rural Chinese populations studied suggest that wheat consumption may promote higher insulin, higher triacylglycerol, and lower SHBG values. Such a profile is consistent with that commonly associated with obesity, dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. On the other hand, the intake of rice, fish, and possibly green vegetables may elevate SHBG concentrations independent of weight or smoking habits. (From Raw Food SOS)
There are more quotes I could pull and studies I can cite, but I gave you a link to a ton so I’ll let them speak for themselves.
Only one more point about the China Study, which has to do with the second part of the study.
The other part of the China study was a rat study in which rats were either given powdered casein or gluten. The rats that consumed casein got cancer while the rats that ate gluten didn’t.
There are two problems with this. One, powdered casein isn’t a whole food and doesn’t accurately represent milk and meat! For example:milk contains vitamins A, D, E, and CLA & omega 3, which are anti-cancerous, which I’m sure the casein powder didn’t have! Secondly, the rats that ate casein, lived longer!! As with any population that lives longer, there is going to be a higher incident of disease! Any reasonable study considers mortality to be the most important factor…but not Dr. Campbell’s….
And now on to my last point…since I’m giving myself just three or I would literally write a ten page rant about this.
Going back to the initial comment that ticked me off: “Animal products kill a lot more Americans than tobacco does.”
Uhm seriously?
I would beg to differ:
According to pure vegetarian ideologists, people consuming vegetarian diet have better health and live longer than nonvegetarians, because persons consuming milk, dairy products, meat, eggs and fish are at health risk. In fact the most healthy people in Europe are inhabitants of Iceland, Switzerland and Scandinavia, consuming great amounts of food of animal origin.
So the healthiest people consume the most animal products…..Hmmm doesn’t sound like animal products are killing more people than tobacco…
Maybe we should be consuming more meat and not less…Maybe processed CRAP like grains and vegetable oils are really the reason we have such a high incidence of heart disease, cancer and stroke…
Ok…now I’m ready for all you vegetarians out there to try to refute me…bring it on!
What? Do women not have biceps?
I guess we know what society thinks about women’s upper body strength….We can’t do pull ups and we don’t do arm exercises.
Man Biceper Hilary shared this link and it amused me so I wanted to make sure I share it with everyone else.
Here's a nice little screen shot of the site...what do women not have arms?
Man Bicep 