The Fitness Guru

Hey Gang!

The iTunes link, long dormant to the point where I thought it had disappeared, is now up and running again thanks to the good folks at Apple. Check out the NPR-like, quick spots on all health and fitness related topics.

Got a question about your health and fitness? Send it to me HERE and it could be the very next podcast. Hit “subscribe” and have the quick link every time a new podcast is launched.

……and tell your friends…….

Rock on!

Bridgette asks: You always hear people say that the “trouble areas” of your body are the last to start losing inches. For example, I tend to put on weight first in my thigh area (definitely my trouble spot) and last in my mid-section. Over the past two weeks, I’ve had significant loss in my waist, yet haven’t lost even a centimeter in my thighs. So, tell me, is it truth or a myth that what someone would refer to as their “trouble areas” are always the last to show any sign of weight loss? Thanks!

Bridgette, good question. It reminds me of the old saying, “Look for something lost and you’ll always find it in the last place you look.” You are probably exercising and eating right in an effort to lose some pounds and inches and that is terrific. It may be that there is a particular are that, when you look in the mirror, your critical eye is immediately drawn to. That’s the case for many, many, many people. Your focus may be on that area for numerous reasons dating all the way back to childhood insecurities, and over time, you develop a hyper-critical view. Consequently, as you lose weight, you will always be slightly more critical of that area than others.

Now you may really have some extra inches in those areas. That may be the cause of your initial feelings. Through puberty, your body will build fat cells throughout the body. No matter how hard you work, you can shrink those cells, but you can never get rid of those cells. As you exercise, your body will burn fat from throughout your body without any sort of of strategy. So as you burn fat, stores will shrink from all the fat deposits. You can’t focus your burn in one particular area, or what people call “spot reducing”. It simply isn’t possible. What you can do is continue to burn your fat stores knowing that, at some point, you will get to the area you want to reduce. And the size of the fat cells will shrink, but they will not disappear.

A good friend of mine, a professional dancer, used to work out like a madman. He would dance several hours every day, work out, eat right, everything that you should be doing. But he had a little fat on his thighs that drove him nuts. As he had to stare in the mirror hour after hour for his profession, and as his thighs drove him crazy as the one imperfect area on his body, he finally had liposuction on that area. That is the only way to rid an area of the fat cells.

So keep up the work and know that you will hit those spots soon enough. You just need to be patient and keep fighting the good fight.

Rock on!

This is Sal. Sal Monella.

The FDA has ordered a widespread recall of some processed foods. The reason? An additive called hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) that has been linked to salmonella bacteria. HVP is a “flavor enhancer” (for those of you loving McNuggets, its stuff like this that makes you luv ‘em). HVP is added to…..well……thousands of foods, from chili to dressings to snack foods.

The recall is specific to HVP from one plant, Basic Food Flavors Inc. in Las Vegas, and the scale of the recall is unknown as of now. The FDA investigated the plant after one complaint of salmonella contamination from one of the plant’s clients.

Though many products containing HVP contain a “kill step” in manufacturing that is designed to eliminate salmonella, the FDA still wants to remove products from the market that might be eaten without the processing or cooking that would kill the bacteria.

Ummmmm……..have a nice weekend.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

……that was the first thing out of my mouth when I heard the news. Weight Watchers has put their seal of approval on three McDonald’s meals in New Zealand in preparation for an introduction to the Australian market: the Fillet-O-Fish, with 18g of fat and 380 calories; Chicken McNuggets, with 29g of fat and 485 calories; and Sweet Chilli Seared Chicken Wrap, with 18.8g of fat and 404 calories.

What part of the chicken is the nugget? Any idea how the chickens are raised, fed, and killed? How are they stored? What’s added to them? How are they cooked? 485 calories? What if you are trying to stick to a 1500 calorie meal plan to lose weight? That’s close to a third of all your calories!

And not to mention the studies that state when people go into McDonald’s, they usually end up buying less healthy items, like the fun fries to go with the Nuggets, and the tasty beverage to wash it down. And then the Weight Watchers client– who has entrusted this company with their desire to shed unhealthy pounds– is right back where they were before: headed off to the fast food restaurant to fill themselves.

“This is a noble cause,” the chief executive of McDonald’s New Zealand, Mark Hawthorne, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Noble? Hey, I can’t blame McDonald’s for trying to get out from under the cloud of being unhealthy. They deserve the cloud, but, by all means, try and scamper out from under it.

But this is the final nail in my Weight Watchers coffin. I’ve been stewing over their “techniques” for years and this one takes the Snickers cake. My problem with WW is that, by assigning points to different foods and meals, they remove a needed step: education. One of my clients used to save up all her days points so that she could have a huge dessert at the end of the day. That’s how she used her WW experience.

No doubt WW spokespeople will come forth and say “that is not the intention. We try very hard to educate the masses on eating healthy. Some people will disregard the process and move toward bad habits. Is that our fault?”

When you set out and whore your brand name so that you can get in tight with McDonald’s and the 4 million people they serve in New Zealand every week? You’re damn right it’s your fault.

Shame on you. You’re ridiculous.

(caution: the following video has lots and lots of naughty words and violence. But for some unknown reason, all my anger and fast food, it popped into my head)

Welcome to our new section, Weighing In… where we will take a look at gadgets and trends and let you know why you may or may not be interested. Though not intended as ironic, our inaugural gadget happens to be a scale…..

WiThings WiFi Body Scale

Cost: $159

Concept: This small “scale” will not only read your weight, but it will also calculate your BMI, body fat percentage and lean muscle mass percentage. Then it will connect with Twitter and publish your weight.

Pros:

• Allows you to track your progress on a private web site and connect with others, in the event you are working with a support group to lose weight.
• There is also “personalized multi-user monitoring” in the event more than one person is using the scale.

Cons:

• Fat percentage is gauged by a method called bioelectrical impedance, which has many variables that effect accuracy. The very best method of establishing body fat percentage is a submersion tank.
• Though the scale will establish your BMI (Body Mass Index), that is a less-than-perfect gauge of weight-related health as it doesn’t distinguish between “fat weight” and “muscle weight”.
• Publish my weight on Twitter? Not an attractive option.

Verdict: A lot of bells and whistles for a scale. If it motivates people to team up to lose weight and track it over the internet, then I think it is a worthwhile investment. I would stick with a traditional scale and simply send my buddies an email.

How do you know when it’s time to make a decision?

“How can I lose this weight? I don’t get it.”

“Are you eating healthy? Exercising regularly?”

“Well……kinda…….but, I mean, come on…….”

Riddle me this:

Let’s say your driving off for a weekend’s retreat. For New Yorkers, I will use the Hamptons as the example. So it’s Friday afternoon and you set off and drive for a while. You get to about exit 38 on the Long Island Expressway and all of the sudden you get the urge to sit in this really wonderful chair in your living room back in the city. It’s a nice chair, so soft and comfortable, and, damn it, you should sit in it. So you turn around, wrestle traffic and drive back to the city so that you can sit in the chair for a couple of minutes.

Pretty stupid, right?

So why the HELL, if you are trying to lose pounds and inches and get “healthy”, do you keep reaching for sugar-free muffin tops and low fat pudding and frozen pizza with half the calories? Why would you go to the trouble of getting in the car and driving, dealing with idiot drivers and traffic congestion, only to turn around and go home– all to sit in a chair?

Honestly, I have no interest in the Hamptons, but if you’re going to go, go! Enough with the chair and enough with the indecisiveness. There will be lots of chairs for you in Montauk but you have to get there first!

And if you do decide to sit the chair, great! Enjoy the chair! But don’t complain about how long it took you to get to the beach.

Rock on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah…..it’s cold and wet and snowy…..whatever……We have five more days of February then comes the official countdown to SPRING!! WHOOPEE!!!!!

And, before you know it, the panic of having to shed layers is going to hit! Start getting ready now! We have new BOOT CAMPS forming: 6am, 7am and 9:30 am! PLUS we may just add a YOGA BOOT CAMP on the weekends if you folks seem interested!

Want to know more? Email Michael at michael@fitnessgurunyc.com.

And for those of you who don’t have easy access to our BEEEAAAUUUTIFUL DUMBO studio? Check out the training podcasts online! All the joys of the Guru right in your own head (well…….iPod…..)!!

Rock on!!

How many calories should you consume in one day in order to lose weight? The Fitness Guru tackles this question in his latest podcast.

The Fitness Guru

www.fitnessgurunyc.com

The Fitness Guru

www.fitnessgurunyc.com

In the event you are looking for a………different……..way to jog to the supermarket, well, HAVE WE GOT THE GIZMO FOR YOU!! Check out the SpeedMobile– a new creation that brings all the joy of indoor running outside! Add the Shake Weight for an upper body workout. It reminds me of when I came up with the revolutionary idea of putting Spinning bikes on the back of a flat bed truck and teaching a spinning class while driving around the countryside. Yes, that idea never took off. But this one has! And all for the low price tag of $5999.00! Please feel free to comment at will.

Check out today’s task! And, again, bookmark the Games Page so you can check in for the next three weeks!!