The Fitness Guru

As many of you may have heard by now, Paula Deen, the celebrity chef known for her Southern menu of high-fat cooking, has come forward to announce that, not only does she have Type 2 Diabetes, also known as “adult onset” diabetes, but that she is also partnering up with Novo Nordisk in a campaign to promote their diabetes drug, Victoza.

Hmmm…..where to begin?……

We could begin with the fact that Ms. Deen has kept her condition quiet for a few years. Certainly, it is a personal issue and need not be discussed publicly. That is, until it is time to collect a check from a major pharmaceutical company.

We could begin with the fact that she continued pitching her brand of cooking– high-fat and high-sugar– when her condition could have prompted her to come forward and help create a change in the way many people view their plates and indulge their palates.

We could start by saying that she is the victim here and that the diet does not necessarily cause diabetes, that there is a genetic factor that must be taken into account.

Here’s where I’ll start: yes, there is a genetic factor and it is unfortunate when people develop this illness later in life. But serving up a menu of buttermilk fried chicken is beyond irresponsible. If there are individuals, Ms. Deen included, who are genetically predisposed to type 2 diabetes, then her manner of culinary expertise is the equivalent of a loaded cross bow– may not kill ya, could kill ya but maybe not. And her response to the accusations of irresponsibility? “I always preach moderation, y’all!” As if adding her li’l southern “y’all” is just going to make it so damn cute, well, hell, let’s just drop the whole thing. We’re talking about high fat and sugar contents. Moderation is pretty tough with these substances that our brains crave. And once our taste buds become trained to seek these foods, it becomes even harder. So the idea of a great frisee salad with a side of buttermilk fried chicken is pretty amusing.

No, this irresponsible individual decided to keep right on serving up her Southern cuisine, avoiding the high road and the ability to initiate change. That is until she is given the opportunity to make some money pitching Victoza. Hey, anybody mention that FDA has warned about possible thyroid cancer in animal studies? I know, I know– the animals were probably going to get thyroid cancer anyway so a little bit of the old drug, in moderation y’all, ain’t going to do all that bad, will it?

Anthony Bourdain, another celebrity chef with no shortage of opinions, went off the deep end about Deen. “I would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it’s okay to eat food that is killing us,” he told TV Guide in an interview, calling her “the worst, most dangerous person to America.” I love Anthony Bourdain. But it’s a bit much. I don’t think she is the worst. In an age of ponzi schemes, it seems like she has stumbled onto a culinary cash cow– selling the poison and the cure.

But what do you think? Time for a poll…..

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Okay. Here we are. 2012.

What’s your Resolution?

I’m not going to bore you with the statistics on Resolutions and how many people drop their health and fitness Resolutions before the end of January. There really is no need: you all have friends who you have watched make and break those promises. You may have made the promises to yourself, only to decide in the first few weeks of the year that life was better without being burdened with all those chains.

But the start of the New Year is a brilliant time to turn over a new leaf. Here’s the catch: the leaf is delicate and if you turn it over with a big iron fist, it’s going to tear (oooooh imagery!). Most of us will come out of the gate way too fast and burn up just as quickly. We try to change everything we are eating, we try to workout far beyond our personal capacity, and the reward at the end of the day is exhaustion and a sense of defeat.

So enter Zen. We all know Zen. It’s that thing where you sit and stare at a stream.

Well, yes, but a little bit more. Zen is a school of Buddhism and the word itself is a derivation of the Sanskrit word for “meditation”. Part of the Zen practice is a voyage of introspection, discovering the nature of oneself. It is a slow and patient journey, one that leads the practitioner to enlightenment. Here’s the catch: there is no time line for enlightenment. If you wanted to enroll in a 12-week course in Zen meditation because the teacher promised enlightenment at the end of 12 weeks, I’d say stay away. That’s not the nature of the beast.

So how does that relate to your Resolution? We tend to attack our Resolutions like a hungry animal. We are driven by some sense that we are lacking something, some quality (think “thin”) and assume that if we take all our energy and throw it in some direction, we will attain that missing element. It’s firing a shot gun at a target while blindfolded. Some people who are patient enough will keep firing the shotgun and eventually hit something. But most of us lose our patience.

I had an interesting talk with a young woman the other night. She had just had a baby eight weeks ago and she and her husband decided to sign up for personal training sessions at their local gym in order to get in top shape for parenthood. Her husband wanted to take off a few pounds around his middle (let’s call it his sympathy belly) and put on some upper body muscle. She wanted to 1) recover from the physical exhaustion of pregnancy and childbirth and 2)prepare for her first half marathon she is going to run in May. Excellent goals for both of them. The trainer had them doing exactly the same workouts, which consisted of heaving around lots of weight.

What?

Yup. So she is tired and sore and ready to throw in the towel, while her husband, somewhat less frustrated, is hoping that he will get the results that he is paying a great deal of money to have.

This is a situation where the trainer is blindfolded and firing a shotgun at the clients, hoping that his particular pattern of training will help them achieve their goals.

Ain’t going to happen.

Back to Zen. The first step is patience. It doesn’t take any sort of thought or plan to get out of shape. We can do that very easily. But to get yourself in shape takes a great deal of thought and knowledge, both of the science itself and of your own body. You don’t have to enroll in any sort of graduate program, but you do have to become more introspective. Most people will say that they eat healthy, but when pressed, have no idea how many calories they consume daily; rarely get their recommended intake of fruits and vegetables; miss out on all the joys of fiber; and tend to snack as though the snacks don’t count. Workouts are an all-or-nothing affair that leave them depleted and drawn to all the wrong foods when they sit at the table.

So the three steps to the successful Resolution:

1. Journals. Keep track of what you eat by writing it down. Yes, there are apps you can use to track your food, but most of us will never open the app as often as we open our mouths. Go the old fashioned way and write it down in a notebook with a pen. Then seek the advice of a nutritionist who can help you sort out the patterns you have created and give you a little guidance as to how to change course. Don’t get involved in someone who wants you to visit every week for the next 400 weeks. That isn’t necessary. What you need are some simple steps to get you on the right track. It’s all about a little education.

2. Spend some money on a skilled trainer. And buyer beware. You know that uneasy feeling you get when someone is trying to sell you a car and it just doesn’t seem right? Do you buy the car? Well, just because someone has pumped up biceps and a wash board stomach doesn’t mean that they are a quality trainer who can help you with your personal situation. Ask question, take a trial session. And if it doesn’t feel right, speak up or move on. Otherwise, you’ll end up deflated and depressed like my new mom friend.

3. Patience. I can’t stress this enough. It took you a while to get out of shape. It’s going to take a while to get into shape. Don’t expect huge changes in a few short weeks. In fact, if you have huge changes in a short period of time, you are far more likely to snap back like a rubber band and find yourself in exactly the same position next January. Create a three month fitness schedule for yourself. Try to vary the workouts across the board: take a class, throw a frisbee…..it’s not just logging mindless hours on a treadmill. Place the workouts at times when you know there is little chance you will have to reschedule. But set it up for yourself in advance, so you see the path that you are going to follow. This is going to make it far less likely you will consider each workout an all or nothing event.

And if you have questions, hit me with them, sooner rather than later. Nothing worse than fitness frustration. michael@fitnessgurunyc.com

Rock on!!

On Monday,The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) announced that they are entering into a partnership with the Girl Scouts of the USA “to provide a turnkey customization of three Journey books (the national Girl Scout leadership curriculum) that will offer a focus on health and wellness. This will enable Daisies, Brownies and Juniors to learn how to be leaders who take care of themselves and inspire others to do the same.” Awesome!! Our children are in need of pro-active strategies to help fight very unhealthy trends that have just been gaining momentum over the past few decades. One British study I read recently talked of the growing waist circumference in children under 14. And all these facts are extremely disturbing, as they lead to life altering health issues down the road. Steps must be taken to help our kids, and partnerships such as this one are fantastic steps in the right direction.

But…….

(you know, at times I hate being the “half empty, half full” guy)

…..are these the same Girl Scouts who are wandering hill and dale selling their cookies by the pallat-full. Yes. And some of those cookies are wonderful little snacks that are, by and large, not all that bad when eaten in moderation. But many of those cookies are still baked with high fructose corn syrup. Now, there is the ever present debate that maybe, just maybe, high fructose corn syrup isn’t the evil entity that some people fear it to be. That scary old house on the corner is just in need of a new coat of paint. I don’t want to enter that debate– though, I will note that obesity trends increased at a RIDICULOUS rate moving forward from the early 1980′s when high fructose corn syrup was introduced as a sweetener in processed foods. The Girl Scout web site says that they leave it to their bakers to decide on ingredients for the cookies, and that the corn syrup is necessary to give the cookies that wonderful crispy brown coloring.

Okay…….

But I’m not buying. Girl Scouts: I salute you for getting the ball rolling. You are responsible for the development of many of our children and helping them grow into the strong women of this nation. But don’t pass the buck and say you leave it up to your bakers to make these decisions. If you are committed– and I mean TRULY committed to the well being of our kids (and, let’s face it, some of the adults end up eating the cookies too)– then take the bull by the horns and start making serious changes. Create healthier cookie options; educate the consumers as to the fact that cookies are a treat and should be consumed according to the serving size (anyone every read the serving size on the side of a cookie box?). Or how about finding a new means for the Girl Scouts to raise funds that drive the healthy message home? Yes, cookies have a low production cost and high sales appeal and you can sell millions and millions of boxes. But dammit, if you are going to try and build this message, build it from a firm foundation and drive it home. Anything less is hypocritical.

Rock on!!

In a new study authored by two researchers at American University, there is a link drawn between the growing obesity epidemic and increased stress and a sense of powerlessness and insecurity. The authors, Jon D. Wisman and Kevin W. Capehart, point out that on the calorie intake side, economic progress and technological dynamism have increased incomes and lowered the price of food, prompting greater consumption. And on the calorie expenditure side, economic progress and technological dynamism have reduced energy expenditure doing physical labor, while also decreasing the need to expend calories to move about (automobiles, remote controls, etc.).

But, simultaneous with this growth, is the growth of greater societal stress. Many of the economic safety nets developed in the 1960′s have started to erode in the past 30 years, leading to a greater feeling of instability and economic unease.

And all this stress leads us to our foe, cortisol. I have written about this hormone many times. Often, I feel like cortisol is the Professor Moriarty to my Holmes. Cortisol is one of those great Darwinian developments. Thousands of years ago, when we were hunting antelope on the open plains, cortisol was a fantastic gift. In the event we were unable to find food, our bodies would release cortisol, which in turn, would trigger our bodies to hold onto fat. This fantastic chain would help prevent starvation during those times when the antelope proved just a little smarter than the hunters.

Over the centuries, we have outsmarted the antelope: first we developed bows, then guns, then Quickie Marts on every corner where we could buy blueberry muffins and Super Large Slushies 24 hours a day. Success! Hunger slowly becomes a thing of the past. Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell cortisol. So in periods of high stress, our bodies STILL release the hormone, taking those muffins and converting them to fat which the body then fights to hold onto. High stress + high fat/sugar foods= obesity epidemic. And epidemic it is, with 7 out of 10 adults in the United States now overweight or obese.

So whacha gonna do? In the midst of creating that super fitness routine and rigorous eating plan that are going to help you shed the pounds, you must also develop that third part of the magic triangle: some form of stress reduction. Some people find that going for a run helps combat their stress. Others find that sitting and meditating is the best form of stress reduction. It may take some experimentation, but finding that means of stress reduction is going to be key to your successful weight loss.

Here’s a great place to start. Check out the Fitness Guru Relaxation podcast. Yes, it may drive you nuts. You will actually have to sit and breathe and relax. But, hey, it’s a starting point. And from that starting point you can start to experiment with what works for you.

Relax and rock on!!

The Fitness Guru

www.fitnessgurunyc.com

Maybe you’re just starting an exercise program or maybe you have been at it a very long time, but in either case, the idea of hiring a personal trainer may have crossed you mind. It is always great to have a personal trainer, for two main reasons: technique and motivation. A well-educated instructor can help you develop an exercise program that is geared toward helping you attain and maintain your goals, teach the program in a way that is efficient and specific with regard to safe technique and motivate you to help inspire you past obstacles that might otherwise stop you dead in your tracks.

Though opinions may run from “uncertain results” to “unnecessary luxury”, both of which I understand, there are many instances when hiring a personal trainer may be in best interest.

• Starting a fitness program.

If you have decided that now is the time and you want to get going, but you are not too certain as to how to begin, a trainer can help you create a program that best suits your needs.

• Plateauing

If you’ve been working out for a while, and at the outset you saw fantastic results but now you are sort of coasting, a trainer can help you with new ideas and insights that can help lift you off that plateau.

• Training for something sports-specific

If you’ve decided that it’s time to run that half-marathon or marathon, or maybe a triathlon is in your future, a trainer who specializes in these sports can help you train safely and efficiently for best results.

But buyer beware! There is a very low barrier of entry into the world of professional personal training: there is no set state or federal criteria that dictates who may call him or herself a trainer. Therefore be very thorough when starting out looking for that special someone.

• Education

There are many different forms of trainer education, from weekend internet certifications through PhDs in exercise science, and everything in between. Find out as much as you can about your potential trainers background and then go home and do a little research: what criteria did they have to fulfill to become certified? How much time was spent in the education process? Do they seek out forms of continuing education and further certification to learn more about how to help you? Remember: you’re trusting your physical well-being to this person. Make sure they have understanding of how the body works.

• Discussion

Have a talk with this person before the session. Tell them what it is you want to accomplish and find out how they work. Remember: you are interviewing, not just being interviewed. It’s important that they ask questions to learn about you, but it is just as important that you also ask questions about their background.

• Game Plan

Once you have had the conversation, discuss what the course of action will be. And listen to what they have to say. Do you feel that they are proposing a game plan that takes into account both your present condition and your goals? The key to a personal trainer is the word “personal”. If you feel you are simply being sold a bill of goods, this person may not be right for you.

Keep in mind that when you sign up for training, you don’t have to sign up for an indefinite period — such a thing can be costly in terms of time and money. But even two or three sessions with a really good trainer can help you get started, get out of your rut, or start out on a whole new experience that you had never even considered.

And lastly, remember: when you do hire the trainer, you are hiring them to educate and motivate you, not to do the exercises for you. Learn all that you can and put that knowledge to work for you. No brain, No gain! And that will take you where you want to go.

If you have any questions about trainers, or anything fitness or nutrition-oriented, shoot me an email at michael@fitnessgurunyc.com.

Rock on!!

If your goal is to lose weight and improve your health, what’s going to be better for you, walking or running? Like most fitness-related questions, this one takes me back to a joke I heard in third grade:

What weighs more: a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks.

Just as you may be tempted to shout “bricks” (as I would often do right up through eighth grade, when the subtleties of this riddle and “no soap radio” were finally explained to me), you may be tempted to assume that running is the greater “burn” of the two exercises. And, like all questions in fitness, I remind you that nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Let’s break it down.

Calorie burn is based on energy consumption over a period of time, and the best way to gauge that energy consumption is by monitoring your heart rate as you exercise. But heart rate itself is based on oxygen consumption. In other words, as your body increases its need for oxygen due to exertion, the heart has to pump more oxygen rich blood to the extremities and the heart rate goes up. One of the main reasons that the heart rate is elevated in running is that, ever time your foot hits the ground, that little bit of impact puts pressure on the diaphram, the main muscle that controls respiration, making it slightly harder to take a full breath. So as your foot strike knocks a little bit of wind out of you, the heart is trying to play catch-up and pumps harder to get the oxygen to the muscles that need it. Plus, depending on your running style, that repeated impact can lead to injuries down the road. (article continued below)

Walking is, by nature, low impact: there is significantly less impact as the foot hits the ground and, consequently, the lungs have a greater opportunity to provide the much-needed oxygen. Therefore, the heart rate does not get as high with walking.

But that’s the linear thinking I hate.

I love watching runners, real runners, because they make it look so effortless. Even sprinters try to relax their bodies as much as possible so that they may put the effort where it will best suit them and not energy is wasted through worthless tension. Running mid- to long-distance is, ideally, an opportunity to use gravity and and momentum to your advantage. It takes time and practice to get used to, but once you understand the effortless form, running becomes relaxingly meditative.

Walking can be a wonderfully leisurely pass time. Go for a stroll in the park, pause, watch the birds, pause, stroll some more. Certainly the calories burn is there, and, if you have been inactive it is a GREAT way to get started in an active lifestyle. But the burn is not as significant as running for the same period of time.

But let’s take a look at race walking. There is nothing low key about race walking and trying to maintain a rapid pace over a period of time and/or distance. Quite the opposite: the body has to work extra hard because, instinctively, we tell ourselves to break into a jog or a run when moving that quickly. The muscles of the legs, the glutes, the (gulp– help me) core, as well as the chest, arms, shoulders and back all have to work to create the momentum to move at such a speed. Increase the incline that you’re walking on and you will increase the exertion level. Increase the amount your work your arms, and again, the level of exertion, and consequently your heart rate and calorie burn go up as well.

A few of important things to keep in mind:

• Always warm up before you start race walking for exercise. You might think “walking….what’s the big deal?”. But it is a big deal and you should warm up to get the blood flowing.
• When you walk, think about standing as tall as possible, lifting the base of the skull to the sky and not the chin. Your chest should be lifted and your jaw should be nice and relaxed.
• As you walk, take small quick steps. Let the heel of each step fall just in front of the toe of the previous step. This will give you a much smaller, faster stride.
• Use a heart monitor to gauge your exertion level. If you want to increase your heart rate, try an incline, faster steps, or greater arm movement, even working to take the arms over head as you walk.
• If you are just starting out, be conservative. Try the small step, quick pace idea but move a little slower than you might like. You’re going to feel a whole bunch of muscles you never knew you had and you don’t want to shoot yourself out of a cannon.

Questions about all of this? Shoot me an email: michael@fitnessgurunyc.com

Rock on!!

It seems that every couple of months I keep coming back to the idea of walking. Would it be too much to say that we all probably take walking for granted?

But, amusingly, walking can be the fast track to better health and weight loss– or, at the very least, weight management.

How many steps do you think you take in a day? I mean regular steps, from the moment you stumble out of bed in the morning until the moment you fall back into the same bed at night. My bet is not as many as you think.

Our days are filled with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos that make day-to-day survival much easier. I’m always amused by the looks on my kids’ faces when I regale them with stories about how we used to get up off the sofa and walk across the room to turn the channel on the TV ( the looks get even more amusing when I tell them about the three channels we had to choose from– ah, the good ol’ days….). Nowadays, you don’t have to get up to change the channel, check the weather or even have a cheeseburger delivered right to you– it can all be done from one frozen, sloth-like position on the sofa.

But all those steps that we’ve given up have all added up to those extra pounds that we’ve put on. So whereas decades ago you have to walk to do or get just about anything, such is not the case today.

So what’s the answer? 12,000 steps. 12k is the magic number that will help you turn your life all kinds of healthy. If you are already fit, 12k is that magic number that will keep you on the straight and narrow. And if you’re looking to get healthier, perhaps lose some weight and gain some strength, 12k is an awesome number to shoot for.

Does that mean you have to stop when you reach 12k? Heck no, I say. You can keep going. But I think if you were to gauge how much you are walking now, you would find that the number is far short of 12k. How do you gauge? Pedometer. Relatively inexpensive and fantastic at giving you a very good sense of how much you’re walking in any given day. (Click HERE to find a Pedometer)

So give yourself the Walk Test: strap on a pedometer for a week and see how far you’re walking. And then start to strategize fantastic ways of increasing the steps you take– like getting up to change the channel.

Change is as simple as taking the next step.

Rock on!!

Four years ago, only one state had an obesity rate over 30%. Now, in a new study just published, twelve states top 30%.

The obesity epidemic continues to be most dramatic in the South, which includes nine of the 10 states with the highest adult obesity rates. States in the Northeast and West tend to have lower rates. Mississippi maintained the highest adult obesity rate for the seventh year in a row, and Colorado has the lowest obesity rate and is the only state with a rate under 20 percent.

Here is the state-by-state ranking:

STATE-BY-STATE ADULT OBESITY RANKINGS
Note: 1 = Highest rate of adult obesity, 51 = lowest rate of adult obesity. Rankings are based on combining three years of data (2007-2009) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to “stabilize” data for comparison purposes. This methodology, recommended by the CDC, compensates for any potential anomalies or usual changes due to the specific sample in any given year in any given state. States with statistically significant (p<0.05) increases for one year are noted with an asterisk (*), states with statistically significant increases for two years in a row are noted with two asterisks (**), states with statistically significant increases for three years in a row are noted with three asterisks (***). Additional information about methodologies and confidence intervals is available in the report. Individuals with a body mass index (BMI) (a calculation based on weight and height ratios) of 30 or higher are considered obese.
1. Mississippi (34.4%); 2. Alabama (32.3%); 3. West Virginia* (32.2%); 4. Tennessee (31.9%); 5. Louisiana (31.6%); 6. Kentucky** (31.5%); 7. Oklahoma** (31.4%); 8. South Carolina* (30.9%); 9. Arkansas (30.6%); 10. Michigan* (30.5%); 11. Missouri* (30.3%); 12. Texas** (30.1%); 13. Ohio (29.6%); 14. North Carolina (29.4%); 15. Indiana* (29.1%); 16. Kansas** (29.0%); 17. (tie) Georgia (28.7%); and South Dakota (28.7%); 19. Pennsylvania (28.5%); 20. Iowa (28.1%); 21. (tie) Delaware (28.0%); and North Dakota (28.0%); 23. Illinois** (27.7%); 24. Nebraska (27.6%); 25. Wisconsin (27.4%); 26. Maryland (27.1%); 27. Maine** (26.5%); 28. Washington (26.4%); 29. Florida** (26.1%); 30. (tie) Alaska (25.9%); and Virginia (25.9%); 32. Idaho (25.7%); 33. (tie) New Hampshire (25.6%); and New Mexico (25.6%); 35. (tie) Arizona (25.4%); Oregon (25.4%); and Wyoming (25.4%); 38. Minnesota (25.3%); 39. Nevada (25.0%); 40. California (24.8%); 41. New York (24.7%); 42. Rhode Island** (24.3%); 43. New Jersey (24.1%); 44. Montana (23.8%); 45. Vermont** (23.5%); 46. Utah (23.4%); 47. Hawaii (23.1%); 48. Massachusetts** (22.3%); 49. Connecticut (21.8%); 50. District of Columbia (21.7%); 51. Colorado* (19.8%).

To read more about the study, click HERE

I’m addicted.

OK, not addicted, but I am enjoying my newest app addition. The Tabata Timer.

For those of you not familiar with Tabata training, it is a method of high intensity interval training where you perform 20 seconds of incredibly intense cardio-vascular exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest, based on a 1996 study by Dr. Izumi Tabata. This interval is repeated eight times, making your total Tabata-thon 4 minutes long. The benefits include increased anaerobic capacity (the ability to sprint for longer and more intense periods) as well as possible long term fat burning benefits. Can I get an “Amen!”?

Though not for everyone (and certainly if you are just starting a fitness program), Tabata interval training can be a wonderful addition to your fitness regimen.

So then I find the app. Very simple to use, it gives you a timer that splits each interval into 20 and 10 second periods and keeps track of how many cycles you have completed. When you arrive at the eighth and last cycle, you are rewarded with a medal-clad figure throwing its arms up in victory. Angry Birds doesn’t give you that!!

So check out the app HERE and send me your feedback, both on the app and the workout!

Videos to come!!

Rock on!!

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that sleep deprivation led to increased calorie consumption. What does that mean exactly? It means that as you deprive yourself of a full night’s sleep, the result can be that you will eat more the following day.

The reason is not as simple as “well, I have a little more time on my hands, maybe I’ll grab a bite.” Sleep deprivation plays with two key hormone levels: leptin and ghrelin. Grehlin is a clever little hormone that increases your hunger. Skip those extra couple hours of shut eye and your grehlin levels increase, convincing your body that you are hungrier that necessary. And leptin, a powerful little hormone that tells your body its full and shuts your mouth, drops dramatically. In other words, your appetite will increase and there won’t be the usual shut off valve.

Interestingly, among the test subjects, the activity level of the people who slept fewer hours was much higher than the activity level of those that had a full night’s sleep.

But most of the activity was going to and from the refrigerator. And they were very grouchy and humorless.

So? What to do?

Get your 8 hours of sleep. If it is an issue for you, try a White Noise Machine (it will drown out all the annoying sounds that can wake you up before your time) or even the Olde School Sleep Mask.

The key is to remember we are talking about biochemistry here. You may think that you can get away with fewer hours and just try calorie restriction, but in the end, the hormones will get the better of you. That’s what they are there for.

So sleep up!……and rock on!!