Start Weight: 171.5
Weight: 146.2
4% goal: 145.3
Lbs to go: .9
No of course, I’m not breaking any game rules! So if that’s what led you to read this, well you can just turn around, Mr. (or Ms.)!
However, with only a few days left in this month’s dietbet, I thought I would share a couple of my little cheats to trick my body into burning more calories while keeping my daily work outs pretty damn short.
The 7 Minute Work Out
So when I started this version of my weight loss journey, I knew that diets are most effective when your work outs involve both strength and cardio. So, from the very beginning I would start every other day with the 7 minute workout, which incidentally, is free. You can download the 7 minute workout (with plenty of instructions) from the iPhone app store from Johnson & Johnson. Way to give back J&J!
https://7minuteworkout.jnj.com/
The reason I’m doing it every other day is because I actually read the study on NCBI and linked it here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8897392
Basically the results showed that the work out is most effective when participants did two cycles of the work out every other day.
I started with Just one cycle every other day. When that got too easy, I extended the each move in the work out from 30 seconds to 45 seconds, and adjusted the rest periods in between from 10 seconds to 15 seconds. So now, technically, I’m doing a 10 minute workout, but that’s better than no work out at all.
Disclaimer: I am not working for the producers of the 7 minute workout, am not being paid to endorse them, nor am I actually endorsing the work out itself. It works for me, but every person is unique. Before attempting any exercise regime, please consult with a physician.
Incidentally, I do follow this with 30-40 minutes (depending on how late I’m running in the morning) of cardio on my crappy manual elliptical machine. The elliptical I bought was about 135 dollars – which is a little expensive, but it’s still cheaper than a Gym membership.
For me, working out at home is essential, as I do not like going out again once I get home from work, nor do I enjoy showering at a gym – but I have met many, many others who feel that going to a gym is “me” time and is essential for their success. As far as I’m concerned, do whatever work out plan you are able to stick to.
Incidentally, in case you are wondering, I use an off market ab-roller to work my core on the off days. This is just because I want a sexy stomach and hate crunches—according to a study (linked below), it is basically just as effective as crunches
https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/press-room/4828/new-study-proves-traditional-crunch-still/
Drink Ice Water
So I’m sure you’ve heard that you should drink 6-8 glasses of water in order replace water lost during normal activity and keep your organs functioning well. While this isn’t strictly necessary (most of the food you eat contains water that can replace a large part of what you lose from daily activities), drinking Ice water can have a minimal positive effect on your waistline. Now, drinking a 16 ounce glass of water will burn approximately 17 extra calories, but if you adhere to the 8 glasses a day recommendation, that’s an extra 68 calories per day that I really didn’t have to work to burn off. Of course, if we extend the math out, it would take about 51 days to burn off even 1lb if I didn’t do anything else to my routine except drink 8 glasses per day of Ice water, but frankly, it can’t hurt and that’s 68 less calories I need to burn per day through diet or exercise!
If you’re interested in the science behind drinking ice water to burn calories please see the link below:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/weight-loss/question447.htm
Waking up Early and Exercising before Breakfast
For years I preferred to work out in the evenings either right after work or right after dinner. If I was going right from work, I would grab some kind of energy bar. If I was working out at home, I would have dinner first. This was when I was single and had no one to spend time with.
My biggest problem then was after dinner or after work, I often couldn’t find the motivation to work out. I was usually just too tired.
When I started my weight loss journey this time, I was newly engaged and my new fiancé and I moved in together. While he thought I was beautiful as I was, he was very supportive of anything that I would make me feel better about myself. Awwww. Anyway, because I couldn’t imagine waking up early to work out, I said I would work out after dinner. This proved to be impossible. I just couldn’t make myself work out after dinner because I was too sleepy. However, if I didn’t eat before I worked out, I could manage it. To help me, my fiancé said that he would handle the cooking on the weekdays while I worked out. Did this help? Yes. Did I lose weight? Absolutely! Was this a practical solution? Hell no.
For one thing supportive as he was, the relationship felt terribly unequal. Yes I cooked on Fridays and the weekends, but he cooked every other day. Also, I would come home and run right up stairs to work out. So even though he didn’t want to, he felt a little neglected. That’s not the way to start off a marriage. Also, because I was working out right after work, already exhausted from the day, I was even more exhausted after my work out and had no energy left to spend doing anything except sitting around.
Well, after I got home from my honeymoon, I just couldn’t make myself go upstairs and work out any more. I wanted to enjoy those first months of my marriage and frankly, working out after spending a long day at the office –well it just sucked. It was fine when I was single and the long night stretched out in front of me, but now there was another person in my life and times change.
The good thing was, at the end of March, that I started a new job about 20 minutes closer to home than my previous job was. I had gained about 5lbs since my honeymoon in January, which, if you think about it, really isn’t that bad, and I wanted to lose that weight, plus the last 10 lbs to get to my goal weight.
I had been doing some research and discovered that if you work out first thing in the morning, you are more likely to burn those calories from your fat, because your body is already in fat burning mode from the night before. So, reluctantly, I set my alarm clock the next day for 6:40 in the morning – and somehow, I managed to wake up and actually shuffle my way through a work out that I had pre-determined the night before (see above --7 minute workout followed by cardio)
Amazingly, instead of being tired and famished, I was exhilarated. The rest of the day my head felt clear and I felt able to take on the day. I went to work with a sense of accomplishment, knowing that later, I would have the night free to spend however I wanted. Amazed by the feeling, I was able to wake up the next day and continue the trend. Now, working out in the morning is a part of my daily routine. To tell you the truth, there is a little “me” time factor, now. Because my husband does not get up with me at 6:40 every morning (I don’t blame him), I get to spend this time in my own head, and when I’m doing my cardio, I get to watch my guilty pleasure (mostly crap reality) shows. It’s a nice way to spend the morning.
For more information on why it’s a good thing to exercise before breakfast, check out this article below:
http://greatist.com/fitness/why-you-should-exercise-on-an-empty-stomach
Sit Up Straight
Unlike drinking cold water(which as described above can burn 17 calories per 16 oz of water), sitting up straight could have a significant immediate impact on your weight loss.
Like many Americans, I spend most of my day sitting down. I work in an office cubicle so even though I do aim to get up every half hour or so to stretch my legs, most of the time I spend during the day is spent sitting down.
Well, it turns out that all of these years, I have been missing a huge opportunity to burn a quite a few extra calories.
According to a study at the University of Sydney, you can burn 20% more calories while sitting if you sit up straight. A woman of my size can burn about 96 calories while sitting down, so theoretically, that means I’m burning 108 calories for every hour sit up straight instead of slouching. That’s an extra 12 calories per hour, but I sit for at least 8 hours per day—so that’s an extra 100 calories every day, simply from adjusting my posture!
http://www.tesh.com/story/cc/6/id/7135
http://www.families.com/blog/want-to-lose-weight-while-sitting-at-your-desk
Cold Showers
To be totally honest and transparent, I was reluctant to try this one. I am not a fan of the cold. I totally hope my husband picks a grad school in California so I can get away from the awful north eastern winters, despite now knowing the benefits of the cold shower. I recently started listening to the Get-fit-Guy pod cast on quickanddirtytips.com. He did a show where he discussed the 4 things he does every day to stay fit and cold showers were right there with something heavy and never sitting (unless eating).
While I acknowledge the benefits of standing while working etc, it’s not really practical when you’re in a cubical or open office setting, but I was curious about why he said a cold shower would help him stay fit. So, I dug a little bit into the research. There have actually been several studies in the last few years that discuss how cooling the body can result in quite a bit of extra calorie burn. The theory is that exposure to cold will stimulate your body to create what is called Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT for short) Adipose, incidentally is fat. But apparently, this is a very good fat. BAT is metabolically very active and is packed full of mitochondria that burn off calories whenever you get cold. While most of the studies’ methodologies involved keeping subjects cool for several hours (without getting them to the point of shivering, which has calorie burning properties of its own), several medical sources suggest that a 30 second cold shower twice a day can show some benefit over time – about 10 days. Even without the stimulation of brown fat, however, your body is still going to expend energy to warm you back up to 98.6.
The therapeutic effects of cold water is pretty well documented and the practice is centuries old. Apparently, Catherine Hepburn had a sadistic father who forced her to take cold showers every day. Later in life, she boasted about the benefits and had the energy to back it up. Spartan soldiers apparently also used cold water to toughen themselves up for battle. At the very least, I know that my facialist told me that washing my face with cold water would be great for my pores. And hey, if it’s good enough for Catherine…
I have only been doing this one for about 2 days and so far and well, it sucks, sort of. The feeling is a shock to the system and forcing myself to stand under cold water for 30 seconds (I do the normal shower activities in hot water, of course) is as far as I am concerned, one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. That being said, showering is now looked at with a sense of accomplishment, which is a pretty good way to start your work day. This morning, after I got out of the shower, at the very least, I noticed that I didn’t have that same sleepy feeling that accompanies a hot shower. I didn’t want to just go back and lay in bed. Frankly, it was like a cup of coffee. I don’t know if there will be any actual weight lost due to a 30 second cold shower in the morning, but at the very least I know it is safe and will continue to work my way up to at least not HATING it. Only time will tell. I’ll keep you posted.
For more information on the benefits of cold showers:
To try a cold shower experiment yourself:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/154168-how-to-lose-weight-with-cold-showers
Food Tracking
If you ask any epidemiologist what the number one habit of successful dieters is you’ll likely get the same answer from all of them: Food Tracking. I wouldn’t call this a cheat, I would call this general good practice, and its one I am sure many of you are already doing. The reason food tracking is such a good idea: It gives you a swift reality check.
Sometimes, when we eat, we tend to either under estimate how many calories we are eating, or simply forget the food we put in our mouths.
Over the years, one thing I have noticed is that I do tend to be slightly more successful when I log my food. A good sign that I am about to gain weight is the sudden fall off this wagon.
Now, with myfitnesspal and other crowd sourced online databases, it’s almost effortless to track my food. There are times when I can’t possibly know the calories in the food I’m eating, usually when eating out. In this case, I do my best to track by what the food is and hope that the database has the count right.
For more information on the benefits of Food tracking:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/20080708/keeping-food-diary-helps-lose-weight
Activity Monitoring
This is something that I have been doing for so long, but I think it is worth a mention. Wearing an activity monitor is another one of those well accepted good habits of successful dieters.
A new industry entirely dedicated to watching you shake your butt has emerged to help you on your quest and with each iteration , the competition is getting increasingly fierce.
Still, the benefits of activity tracking are pretty basic. If you combine the habits of tracking your food with tracking your activity, you’re going to have a good idea of how many calories you are eating vs. how many calories you are burning. Now, these trackers may vary in accuracy, but can give you a general idea of your energy expenditure based on your age, weight and height. So, let’s say you ate something that you shouldn’t have—well, having tracked your calories, you know that moving more should help you re-balance.
My new activity tracker has a built in optional “Idle Alert,” Which you can set for a set interval of time to gently buzz your wrist whenever you have been idle for more than a set amount of time. I set mine for every 30 minutes on weekdays. So every 30 minutes that I have been sitting at my desk, my alarm buzzes and I take a short walk around my office before returning to my desk. It’s not a long walk, a little under 400 steps, but by the end of the day, I am usually pretty close to (or sometimes even over) my 10,000 step goal.
Most interesting thing I’ve learned since wearing an activity tracker: When I play a round of 18 hole golf (with a cart), I burn twice what I normally burn, even compared to days when I get 90 minutes of vigorous exercise. It makes sense, you’re on a golf course for close to 6 hours and most of that time is spent walking, even when you have a golf cart.
For more on the benefits of Activity Tracking and self monitoring:
http://evidencemag.com/self-monitoring-weight-loss/