Posted by on 28 February 2010 | 5 Comments
Saara lives around the corner from the park at West Pennant Hills and was doing some training in the park when she discovered my classes. I remember her distinctly. A small, bubbly, little lively person with such an outgoing personality! She asked me for all the details, as people do, and as she was working at some of the session times and it was going to prove difficult to come to class, I thought well maybe that was the last time I would see her.
I received a call from her not too much later and she said she could come to Monday mornings and Saturdays and could she bring her son Sam, under 2 years at the time, to classes on a Monday? So she turned up that first day with Sam in tow, huffing and puffing and running after him apologising to everyone about the interruptions. Really no-one was worried except Saara. That was almost a year ago.
Being an English girl of Arabic decent (go figure!) she is a lively character. More often then not she will trundle down the hill cussing and swearing, Sam following behind on a Monday. And when she hits the spot where we train, a vast array of expletives will usually escape indicating what she is currently annoyed with or has done on the weekend and so on. Everyone will break out into laughter and she sets the tone for the session.
Saara is completely obsessed with her training. Even when she had issues with her feet she pushed through it, refusing to heed the specialist’s advice to give up training for a while, all the while grimacing and cussing in classes. She is the noisiest, the one who pulls the most faces, the one who grunts the most, and is quite simply the most delightful person I have ever come across! Even when she is in a bad mood she is fabulous to be around. She makes you laugh and her accent brings a smile to your face ever time she utters a word.
Her two key goals in life are to lose weight and to fall pregnant again, and not necessarily in that order! She is determined, wears her pedometer and is constantly giving us an update on the number of steps taken in class, and attends Weight Watchers with some dismay on a Saturday morning when she has consumed a pint or two of ale down the pub on a Friday night!!
Recently she had to attend a conference in the city and to make up for not being able to attend classes, she ran the steps up to the Sydney Opera House every day.
When I asked her to be my Star Client she said “But I haven’t lost any weight!” I said to her “Are you fitter that you were?” “Hell yeah” was the reply. “Are you consistent and never give up on training?” “Yes” was the retort. “Do you absolutely give your best in class each and every time, and never miss a session?” “Yes I guess so” she said. Well I know so. I call her my little Pocket Rocket. She is gutsy, determined and so dedicated. And that is what being a Star Client is all about.
Congratulations Saara. You are a winner in my book!
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Posted by on 15 February 2010 | 0 Comments
Burning Fat
When your body moves (or any cell in your body does any type of ”work”) it needs energy. The amount of energy needed is measured as a unit of heat—or a calorie. The fuel to produce this energy comes from several sources, mostly fat and carbs (glucose), and occasionally amino acids (protein). How and when fat is ‘”burned” (or metabolized to provide energy for the body) and how that affects body fat levels and weight is a very complex area of physiology research. There have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of studies exploring the utilisation of fat for energy under a variety of different conditions. There is still much to be understood, but this is how we know it works so far:
Whether you are watching TV or running around a track, the fuel your body uses to give you the calories your cells need for energy comes from burning mostly fat and carbs. Your body nearly always burns a mix of both fat calories and carb calories. So normally, for every calorie burned, the fuels are around a 50/50 split of both fat and carbs.
How hard you are moving during exercise is one major determinant of which fuel your body will use. Carbs provide a faster energy source. So whenever you need to do something fast or produce force, carbs are the better fuel. Fats are favored during long, low-intensity activities. It’s not that you stop using one or the other fuel, it’s that the ratio of both shifts depending on your activity. In more scientific terms, you alternate between aerobic (more fat-burning) and anaerobic (more carb-burning) metabolism.
Losing Weight by Burning Calories
When it comes to weight loss, it really doesn’t matter whether you are more or less fat burning. It doesn’t matter what your calories are made of, but it does matter how many calories you burn—and the more the better. So when you are sitting—and burning more fat--you are burning only about one calorie per minute. Clearly, even though you’re in a greater fat-burning state, no one ever lost weight by sitting! (How many calories you burn depends on many factors, including how heavy you are—the more you weigh, the more you burn.)
You do burn less fat when you work anaerobically, but it doesn’t matter because you are burning more total calories. You will always burn more calories the longer or harder you exercise, no matter what your intensity is. So doing cardio for only 15 minutes makes no sense unless you are short on time. Burning BOTH fat calories and carb calories can result in fat loss or pounds off the scale.
The Ideal Amount of Cardio
How much exercise you need to do depends on your goal. Even small amounts of exercise are great for your health. Just moving a little every day can improve metabolic functions, such as how sensitive your body is to insulin and how it reacts to excess blood sugar. Exercise can also reduce your risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions. That’s why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend that all healthy adults accumulate 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity on most, if not all, days of the week. Although all types of exercise count, generally the recommendations reflect more cardio activity than lower-calorie-burning moves like strength work or stretching.
The big question is whether you’ll drop weight from this amount of exercise. The answer is that some people can. If you work a little harder in that 30 minutes, you will burn more calories and that will have a bigger effect on weight loss. If you have not been active before, then doing 30 minutes of low-intensity activity would still probably help you lose weight.
The less cardio activity you do (or the fewer calories you burn per workout), the slower the weight loss, and that’s because it’s a numbers game. In 30 minutes of moving around, you might burn 150 to 300 calories. But, theoretically, it takes burning around 3,500 calories to lose one pound of fat. So, you’re going to have to do enough workouts, at say 150 calories burned per session, to add up to 3,500 calories, or 17,500 calories for five pounds of fat, and so on.
The problem is that most people give up if they don’t get concrete results fast. Also, different people have different physiological makeups. So this theoretical caloric equation may not work perfectly in every body. That’s why more realistic fitness guidelines for losing weight or maintaining weight loss have been established. The Institute of Medicine and the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines recommend that a person do 60 to 90 minutes a day of accumulated moderate-intensity physical activity at least five days per week.
Source: Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & Fitness
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Posted by on 11 February 2010 | 0 Comments
Exercise is a great way to increase your energy level and fight off feelings of fatigue. Exercising every day can really transform how you feel and how much energy you have to get through your day.
A review of 12 large-scale studies on the connection between exercise and fatigue was made. The studies took place from 1945 to 2005, and each study measured the amount of physical activity that participants were doing and how much energy or fatigue the participants experienced. All of the studies found a direct link between a reduced risk of fatigue for people who were physically active compared to those who were inactive. Other research shows that even among people with chronic illness like cancer or heart disease, exercise can ward off feelings of fatigue and help people feel more energised.
What's the hardest part? Exercising when you are feeling fatigued. Generally when we are not in the mood for exercise or we are feeling lethargic, the last thing you want to do is go for a run or join a class. Even a little bit of exercise is deemed to be helpful. Think about even doing a 15-20 min walk if you really don't feel that you can tackle anything more serious.
Make sure that you plan your exercise regime for the week, allowing for all of the obstacles that can get in your way....or excuses! Choose a consistent time that you can exercise daily, like first thing in the morning, at lunch time or as soon as you get home from work. Make your goal is to exercise at least 3 times per week for one hour, and then the rest of the week in smaller amounts, even a 30 min walk. If you do it regularly and plan it out, you'll never get out of the habit of exercising. Or find an excuse for time!
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Posted by on 7 February 2010 | 0 Comments
Is any other food or drink reported to have as many health benefits as green tea? The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression.
Today, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research indicating that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.
What makes green tea so special?
The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.
Why don't other Chinese teas have similar health-giving properties? Green, oolong, and black teas all come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. What sets green tea apart is the way it is processed. Green tea leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized. By contrast, black and oolong tea leaves are made from fermented leaves, which results in the EGCG being converted into other compounds that are not nearly as effective in preventing and fighting various diseases.
Other Benefits
New evidence is emerging that green tea can even help dieters. In November, 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.
Green tea can even help prevent tooth decay! Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also kill the bacteria that causes dental plaque. Meanwhile, skin preparations containing green tea - from deodorants to creams - are starting to appear on the market.
Harmful Effects?
To date, the only negative side effect reported from drinking green tea is insomnia due to the fact that it contains caffeine. However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee: there are approximately thirty to sixty mg. of caffeine in six - eight ounces of tea, compared to over one-hundred mg. in eight ounces of coffee.
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