Boost Our Own Metabolism---BOOM!

We are gearing up to start on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. The first few sessions will be at the Columbia Gym and we will move to the Athletic Club once it has re-opened!  Space is limited.  Registration information is at the bottom (see below).

Commit and join Stacey and me for BOOM!

What does over-fat mean? How can we tell if we are over-fat?

Changes in lifestyle have led to 70 to 90% of us having too much fat; we are "over-fat."  Even if we may have a normal body mass index or our hip to waist ratio is within "normal limits" or the scale tells us we are at our high school weight, we may still be over-fat. The journal article available at this link discusses a large segment of the developed world:

So, what happens if we are over-fat?

Essentially, this condition sets us up for increased risk of a whole host of problems as shown below by this diagram from the article.

How can we tell if we are over-fat?

If two times your waist measurement is greater than your height, you are over-fat.

Citation for both diagrams: Front. Public Health, 24 July 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00190

Wow! Here he goes again!  It just seems impossible to lose weight and now he is telling almost all of us need to do something.

That's right; it's an ongoing maintenance project for all of us. It never stops. Being healthy is all about moderation and lifestyle, and focusing on The Big Four. 

The Big Four, listed below, strengthen your immune system. And if your immune system is healthy, you are tipping the scale, so to speak, towards aging gracefully rather than decaying as you age.  You will be more resistant to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and inflammatory illness.

·  Nutrition

·  Exercise

·  Healthy sleep

·  Controlling emotional stress

Getting healthy is more than 80% of what you eat.  The core therapy for cholesterol management and many other issues such as blood sugar, blood pressure, gout, sleep apnea and pain associated with osteoarthritis, is attaining a weight that is healthy for you.  Often, a small reduction in weight (just 10-15 pounds) will translate into a remarkable improvement in health.  A reduction in weight of only 1-pound unloads 4 pounds/square inch on your weight-bearing joints, including the lower back.

Attaining and maintaining a healthy weight is a constant process of making adjustments.  It is a challenging process. Perhaps the most significant obstacle is that your brain's pleasure center is continuously demanding you to seek and eat calorie-dense foods. This mechanism evolved for prehistoric humans to avoid famine.  Today, food is abundant, and food technology has created unhealthy but alluring foods full of white flour, sugar, salt and bad fat - everything the pleasure center craves. And the more we eat these easily stored dense caloric foods, the more we strengthen the pleasure center's hold on us. However, we can reset the pleasure center. It takes hard work and discipline, but in days to weeks, we can tame the beast. Lifestyle changes can modify the neurological networks and inhibit our cravings for unhealthy foods.  

Here are a few tips for healthy eating:

• Eat in a low glycemic fashion, keeping daily carbohydrate intake to less than 50-60 grams/day.  This can be liberalized once the craving center of the brain calms down.

• Minimize gluten-based white flour foods such as pasta, cereal and bread, as well as other complex starches such as rice, and corn- and potato-based foods.

• Eat a predominately plant-based diet.  Try to get at least five servings of vegetables and appropriate serving sizes of fruit.  

• Avoid excessive amounts dried fruit (although nutritious, we tend to eat more than we should). A small box of raisins is the equivalent of a whole bunch of grapes! I could eat four prunes, but I would never have four plums.

• Avoid concentrated carbohydrates such as candy, cookies, cake, pudding, ice cream, juices, etc.  

• · Avoid soda which is liquid candy.

•  Eat good fat; it is filling and will not elevate your insulin levels.  Examples of good fats include avocados, nuts, nut butter, olives, and healthy oils such as olive and coconut.

• Ingest the correct amount of protein for your ideal body lean weight -- 0.5 grams of protein per pound per day of your ideal body lean weight.

• Keep a food diary, or use a cell phone app such as "Lose It! - Calorie Counter " or "Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal" to track your daily intake.  We all eat more than we think.

Exercise and restorative sleep also help to maintain and restore your immune system and control stress.  During the day, try to minimize your sitting. Get up every hour and walk around, or do some stretching, lunges or squats.  Work standing up if you can. Try to walk 10,000 steps every day.  In addition to cardiovascular exercise 2-3 times per week, consider adding stretching and weight training 2 times per week.

Want to learn more?  Want to do something about being over-fat, or if you're not over-fat, just want to get yourself in better shape? 

Consider joining BOOM -- which stands for Boost Our Own Metabolism -- a program that I developed, and for six years running, teaches critical nutritional points and provides tips for improving sleep and stress levels.  The next session of BOOM begins on Wednesday, October 24 and runs until May 22, 2019 from 7:15 - 8:00 am in the cycling studio (starting at the Columbia Gym and moving to the Athletic Club when it re-opens). We spin on the studio bikes to music using a High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) format.  My assistant, Stacey, will once again be leading the spin portion and this is preceded by my brief talk on the topic of the week. An email is sent prior to each BOOM session on the instructive topic of the week. If you're unsure whether or not you are healthy enough to participate, please send me an email and I can let you know if BOOM is right for you. There will be an opportunity to obtain an accurate body analysis early in the course and at the end of the course.

Here is a video about BOOM  if you have any questions (please note that the details regarding days and dates in the video do not pertain to this upcoming session).  

Here are registration instructions:

Columbia Association members (no charge):

CA Fit & Play members can sign up beginning at 2:00 pm on Mondays either through the CA website or app.  Or call the Columbia Gym (410-531-0800) beginning 2:00 pm on Tuesdays when the class is being held there, or call the Athletic Club (410-730-6744) once we move back.

PP CA Fit & Play and 1Fit members can sign up for the class on a space available basis 5 minutes before the start of class.

Non-members:

Registration and payment can be made in person at the front desk of the Columbia Gym or by calling there (410-531-0800) or at the Athletic Club (410-730-6744) when we move.  Please note that payment must be made for an entire month; there is no -pro-rating or refunds for partial months.

• October - 2 classes/$20 total
• November - 4 classes/$40 total
• December - 4 classes/$40 total
• January - 5 classes/$50 total

Wishing you good health,