The Fitness Guru

Finally, a great piece in the New York Times last week to only add to the confusion.

First, the linear thinking: if one pound of fat is 3500 calories, then wouldn’t it make sense to simple cut our intake by a small amount, say 100 calories, daily? That way, in a little over month, we would be down one pound, right?

Wrong. It’s an argument that I am sure many of you are tired of hearing from me. Nothing about the health and well-being of the complex systme known as your body is ever that linear. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) notes that this line of thinking fails to take into account the body’s adaptive qualities. As you take in slighty fewer calories, you will lose a few pounds but then your body will adapt to function with a lower intake. As you take in a few more, it will adapt to function with the higher intake. The extra calories go to supporting the new extra weight.

But I still want you to think about the small steps.

Combine this with an increase in physical activity and the benefits increase. Now, start working out at a very high level, the “zero to 60″ theory of January 1st, and your body is going to crave the extra calories to support the new stress and strain of all the work. Fail to give the body the right materials and you are setting yourself up for breakdown. However, cut back slightly on the calorie intake, you can then increase your activity level slightly and start to roll back the dial on the scale. Then increase the activity level, then decrease the calorie intake…… you starting to get the picture?

The key is working intelligently and strategic and listening to your body. Cutting out 100 calories a day? You should be able to do that without blinking and without that horrible feeling of deprivation. Increasing the number of steps you take daily by 2000? Again, very easy to incorporate into your agenda if you know what to do.

But strict focus on calories in/calories out? Eventually your body is going to catch on and balance itself out……and then you are going to be frustrated……

…….and, of course, that’s not even taking into account what those calories are comprised of……..

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!

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.

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

Monday morning quarterbacking…….

….so what pissed me off most about last night’s Superbowl? Was is the obvious absence of any New York-based team? No. That bothered me but it doesn’t take top honors. Was it the fact that the Indy offensive line held so tough that the New Orleans defense was unable to crush the Other Manning? Sure, I screamed a few times at the TV, but that wasn’t it either. The game, I thought, was exceptionally good entertainment and very well played by both teams.

No, the part that pissed me off most was a TV commercial for Sketcher’s Shape-Ups. In case you missed the commercial, or the onslaught of various articles and TV news segments regarding this “miracle”, the Shape-Up is a shoe that is designed to “promote weight loss, tone muscles, improve posture and relieve stress on the knees and ankles.” It has a special curved sole and special insoles that make it feel like your walking in sand……yadda yadda yadda….I am so oblivious to these ads at this point that it was merely a distant hum, when a good friend turned to me and said “what do you think of those?”

What do I think? The fact that anyone would ask me what I thought suggests to me that there are people taking it seriously, something I completely have not anticipated (though, I am sure people are also stocking up on the Shake Weight). What do I think? Joe Montana suggests that they are wonderful shoes that do great things to develop my core. Why would Joe say that if it wasn’t true? Denise Austen has never found an athletic shoe that helps tone the muscles like the Shape Up in her 25 years of health and fitness. Again, what would motivate her to say that if it wasn’t true?

Let’s assume that it is all true. Let’s assume that the researchers who are finding that the more developed the sports shoe, the more likely there is to be injury associated with activity. That’s right— even Nike is starting to go back to basics because of the increase in knee and hip injury associated with over-developed running shoes. But Shape Ups are not a running show; they are over developed walking shoes. So let’s say they do help tone muscles and promote weight loss (what does that mean– promote weight loss? Clever, right? Not “leads to weight loss” but rather “suggests the possibility that weight loss could eventually happen”)– so people see the ad and think, “Wow! I can buy the shoes and that will get me out of exercise! I will simply be exercising when I walk around!”

BUT YOU ARE EXERCISING WHEN YOU WALK AROUND ANYWAY! The problem with our culture is that we simply DON’T walk around anymore.

Before you buy the shoes, buy yourself a pedometer. It doesn’t have to be expensive, it simply has to be able to keep track of the number of steps you take throughout the day. It takes 12,000 steps daily to maintain one’s weight. I guarantee that, if you are considering buying the Shape-Ups, you are not walking anywhere near 12,000 steps a day. Why? Because if you are that active, you are not attracted to a shoe that is going to help you do what you already do for yourself. And if you are not that active, you would simply like the Silver Bullet that will make all the work as easy as sliding on a pair of shoes.

It reminds me of my diabetic friend who would simply inject himself with more insulin when he wanted to have a piece of chocolate cake or a drink. Suddenly, you have the tools that would seem to allow you to avoid the problem with which you are faced.

You want to “promote weight loss”? Get up out of the chair. Stop watching the commercials and get moving. Don’t go to the gym, walk around the block a couple of times. I remember my dad losing about 40 pounds in his 40’s simply by going for a long walk after work. He wasn’t wearing Shape Ups, but he was losing weight, feeling better and stronger, and I think it firmed his thighs, calves and buns. Oh, and his core.

At a time when most people are watching their purse strings very intently, it strikes me as odd that folks would spend money on something like this. But, then, stranger things have happened.

Nice win, Saints! Congrats, New Orleans! You deserve it!

It’s enough to make Gidget, the Taco Bell Chihuahua, roll over in her grave (RIP July 21, 2009). Desperate to both cash in on the Resolution Weight Loss Fervor, and fearful that the Fervor may cut into their market share for the first six weeks of the year, Taco Bell has inflicted Christine, the TB Weight Loss Heroine, on an otherwise unsuspecting public. According to the company, Christine, 27 years old, lost 54 pounds by eating at Taco Bell 5-8 times per week, selecting items off their Fresca menu which replaces certain high calorie ingredients with lower calorie ones. But fear not– it’s still the same burrito.

Taco Bell is quick to say that this is not intended as a weight loss program, though they use the word “diet” repeatedly.

My opinion: it reminds me of my friend Cathy who went on the frozen yogurt diet our sophomore year of college. SHe lost a lot of weight by only eating frozen yogurt. Weight loss? Yes. Because she is altering her caloric intake. Healthy? No.If you cut your caloric intake you will lose weight– in the short run. But the only healthy means of weight loss is creating a life style that can carry you for…..well, a lifetime. The people who repeatedly go to Taco Bell will start to move away from the Fresca menu because the other options are so readily available, though I am sure that hasn’t occurred to the marketing department at Taco Bell. They are only interested in a healthy America.

It also reminds me of the old “parrot” skit from Monty Python. Guy walks in with a dead parrot, store owner denies it’s dead. You can say the fast food is healthier but that still don’t make it healthy.

Chandra writes:

“Dear Fitness Guru- Is this new hot gift item the “FitBit” actually worthwhile or just another gimmick?”

Chandra, that is very good question. I looked into the FitBit. Here’s the scoop from the web site: “The Fitbit accurately tracks your calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled and sleep quality. The Fitbit contains a 3D motion sensor like the one found in the Nintendo Wii. The Fitbit tracks your motion in three dimensions and converts this into useful information about your daily activities.” And all for the low, low price of $99. Does it do all those things? Dunno. I haven’t tried it.

But, Chandra, it reminds me of a story.

Years and years ago, when I was but a youngster, I was in an acting class taught by a wise and Yoda-like figure, Fred. My friend Robert, a successful actor, was turning his sights on writing. He came in one day very excited and announced that he had just bought the most fantastic screenwriting software ever. It kept track of the characters and created the format of the screenplay all with just a few clicks of the mouse. Extraordinary and it only cost him $150. Fred asked “does it come with the story for you?” Robert replied, “well, no.” “Then it does me no good” said Fred.

Everybody wants a FitBit. I want a FitBit. I want something that is going to help me get healthy and stay fit and reach my goals. But, in the end, for most people, that FitBit is $99 that is going straight into the back corner of the sock drawer.

January is the Crazy Month. It’s the month when we suddenly turn our attention to ourselves, create our Resolution and re-invent ourselves. Health clubs go nuts because thousands and thousands of people come pouring through the doors; sign a contract to deduct a sum of money from their checking accounts for the next two years; exercise like fiends for four to six weeks; and then go right back to the same old, same old that they were doing before the big Resolution hit.

We live in a time and a society where everyone wants to believe there is a FitBit for everything: the invesment banker who can bring results that are mathematically impossible; the million dollar mortgage when there is little to income; the four week weight loss plan where you don’t really have to do anything but drink a couple of shakes and watch the fat drip off. And all of it is hype. The FitBit might do those things, but it is not going to inspire you to get more sleep, drink more water, eat less processed foods and exercise more often. You have to make those decisions for yourself. There are no easy answers or effortless results. None.

Sorry to be such a bummer. But if you think that I am somewhat cynical, understand that the attitude comes from two and half decades watching people throw their money at this problem only to become discouraged at the lack of results. They blame themselves rather then blame the strategy and decide that they are not worthy of the results that they crave. And they go right back to the habits that got them into trouble to begin with.

But you still want to invest in your well being and that is noble. So where should you put your money so that it will be well spent? Here is my list of Top 5 Must-Haves:

1. A heart monitor. I have discussed the merits of this brilliant tool over and over again. Suffice it to say, if you want results, it is first on the list.

2. A jump rope. That’s pretty simple. It’s a piece of rope. Take it with you anywhere and you have all the cardio you need.

3. Sneakers. Something nice that supports your foot and ankle (though, with all this barefoot running talk that’s circulating these days, I have to admit I’m rethinking this one).

4. Pedometer. Try to achieve 12,000 steps per day in order to maintain a healthy weight. You’ll be surprised by how little you walk.

5. A Journal. If it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist. You can keep track of what you are eating; when you are eating; when you are excising and for how long; how you feel before and after exercise; and what results you feel you are seeing from the work.

There are other things that I would add to the list. But that is your essential package.

So as you venture forth into the next decade, beware the person or company that is selling you results in a bottle. You probably end up with a rash and an empty wallet.

Remember: the most important thing is the Resolve to actually begin to change your life and then taking the appropriate steps to do so.

Happy 2010!! Here is the news from the week that was……..

And look for the First 2010 Newsletter going out today with lots and lots of Guru information. Not on the mailing list? Send us your email address in the little box over to the right! That’s it. Right over there.

The Stoner Teddy Bear: pot-stuffed toy ends up in California toy store.

Taco Bell and the new weight loss diet. I kid you not.

Need a vacation? Just act as lab rat for this new drug and you’re going to MEXICO!!

Running might NOT be bad for your knees

The Top 10 Overrated Health Foods of 2009.