FITNESS FRIDAY – CONTINUED
Stop BS’ing Yourself – Part 2

As I stated yesterday, eating clean is about improved quality of life and there are a ton of benefits to be gained from this lifestyle!

Here are a few tips to get you started on your clean-eating journey:

Clean out your kitchen—get rid of all the obvious junk foods as well as the “fake healthy” foods;
Re-stock it with fresh and frozen veggies and fruits, lean proteins such as chicken breast, fish, lean red meat, low-fat cottage cheese, nonfat plain yogurt or Greek-style yogurt, healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, and avocado, whole grains like brown rice and quinoa, and herbs and spices for bold flavor;
Plan ahead—make a dinner menu for the following week, this way you will be less tempted to indulge in something less than good for your body;
Pack healthy meals—another way you’ll be less tempted to eat a nutrient-void meal on the run;
Eat breakfast—every day! As cliché as it sounds, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day;
Eat every 2.5-3 hours—this helps keep your blood sugar stable as well as your metabolism up;
Drink water—all day! Experts recommend a minimum of 64 ounces each day. Drink a glass upon waking, before and after each meal, and even more when you exercise. If you don’t like plain water, add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime or a sprig of fresh mint.
Make healthy choices when eating out—order your food baked, broiled, or steamed, prepared with little or no added fat, and ask for a fresh salad or steamed veggies on the side.

Clean eating is a lifestyle that requires time, planning, and commitment. Take a few minutes to assess how “well” you are eating and see how it measures up to what you could be doing. You don’t have to make all these changes at once, nor should anyone be expected to.

Set small achievable goals and evaluate your progress regularly. If you are headed in the right direction, great! Increase your goals slowly to ensure continued progress. If you are not making progress, you may need to change your goals. Don’t give up either way—even if you don’t meet your goal you are still learning what works for you and what doesn’t.

ABOUT RACHEL: Rachel Swartz-Hartje is an NASM certified personal trainer and is currently completing her degree in community health promotion.  She enjoys running, bodybuilding and torturing her clients (and friends) into submission.  She is definitely a bad-ass.  Don’t let her nice profile picture fool you. Her mantra? “Discipline is the Bridge Between Goals and Accomplishments.” Oh yeah, she also used to be in the Navy.  Don’t. Mess. With. Her.

POST #2 IN THE FITNESS FRIDAYS SERIES

Read the first post here.

Evil Jillian is back for Fitness Fridays!  Err…. I mean Rachel. Nice, kind, sweet personal trainer Rachel who can hurt me if I don’t behave.  Yeah!  Anyway….

This past week I reached out to folks via Twitter to discover what they would like Rachel to address in this week’s Fitness Friday post.  I got some good suggestions and a wide range of topics.  Many thanks to you all!

Let’s get down to business, shall we?

Q. What’s the most reliable way to measure body fat? Any recommended devices to do so? (Submitted by @cgcumber)

A. The most reliable way to measure body fat is hydrostatic, or underwater, weighing. However, it is not the most practical.The most reliable AND practical way of estimating body fat is by using skin-fold calipers (aka, “the Pinch Test”) which have a standard margin of error of about 3-4%.Calipers measure skin-fold thickness in millimeters at several areas of your body (anywhere from 3-10 sites).

I recommend having a skilled professional test your body fat with calibrated calipers as results are likely to be more accurate. Also make sure the same person tests your body fat each time since results can vary from tester to tester.

A number of Twitter folks asked for a recipe or two. Love this one! Rachel got me addicted to this last year.  At first I thought she was crazy because of the weird mixture of ingredients but it is truly one of my favorite things to eat now.  (I make one small adjustment – I add jalapenos to the recipe. Spicy!)

Fiber Bomb

• One small baked sweet potato or yam, about 6 oz

• ½ cup cannellini (white kidney) beans

• 2 tablespoons salsa

• 1 tablespoon 2% shredded cheddar cheese

Add beans to baked sweet potato and microwave for about 1 minute on high. Top with salsa and cheese. Enjoy!

Nutrition info: Calories 282 / Fat 2 g / Saturated Fat 1 g / Carbohydrates 55 g / Fiber 10.5 g / Protein 12 g / Vitamin A 236% RDA

And finally, I got a couple of more questions about water consumption.  Most people want to know HOW MUCH.  We are all pretty much clueless on this one.

ONE LAST NOTE ON HYDRATION: We all know how important water is to sustain life. But do we know just how much we should have on a daily basis? Experts recommend consuming a minimum of 64 ounces of water each day. You can meet this up to half of this requirement through a variety of healthy fluids and foods such as fruits, vegetables, low-sodium soups, smoothies, coffee, and tea.

If you are physically active, staying properly hydrated during your workout is essential to performing your best.

Before exercise:
Drink 16-20 ounces of water two hours prior to exercise.
Drink 8-10 ounces of water about 10-15 minutes prior to exercise.

During exercise:
Drink 8-10 ounces of water every 10-20 minutes during exercise.
If exercising longer than 90 minutes it is okay to drink a sports drink (but not juice or soda)
8-10 ounces every 15-30 minutes to replenish electrolytes and carbohydrates.

After exercise:
Drink 16-24 ounces of water for every pound of body weight lost after exercise.

If you are exercising in hot or humid weather, you should drink more water to replace the fluid lost through increased perspiration.

Remember, don’t wait until you feel thirsty to drink!

ABOUT RACHEL: Rachel Swartz-Hartje is an NASM certified personal trainer and is currently completing her degree in community health promotion.  She enjoys running, bodybuilding and torturing her clients (and friends) into submission.  She is definitely a bad-ass.  Don’t let her nice profile picture fool you. Her mantra? “Discipline is the Bridge Between Goals and Accomplishments.” Oh yeah, she also used to be in the Navy.  Don’t. Mess. With. Her.

Woo hoo! It is Friday!  And you know what that means, don’t you?  We are back to finding our missing mojo…

Although I realize that “looking for your mojo” can be a complex thing and it probably means something different to everyone,  I think there IS one thing that we can all agree we need some help on… FITNESS.

And that would be why I’m resurrecting FITNESS FRIDAYS again.  This time I will have some professional help.

You didn’t think I would put myself in charge did you?

Oh no!  I am bringing in my very own Evil Jillian. Except she is not evil. And, um, her name is Rachel. Well, sometimes she can be evil now that I am thinking about it.  Especially when she is running up a three mile hill, wearing a headlamp, through a strange town in the middle of the night.  But I digress….

I put the word out on Twitter the other day asking for fitness questions to kick this sucker off and I got some great feedback!  My pal @ADLawrence had a terrific question that caught my eye immediately(because I can totally relate):  “What is the best exercise to start with after a break from the gym?”

RACHEL SAYS: The best exercise to start with after a break from the gym is WALKING. Start with 20-30 minutes three days a week at an easy to moderate pace. Gradually increase your time each week by about five minutes. After a few weeks of consistent walking, add one or two more days a week. Once you feel comfortable walking, replace one or two days a week with a new form of cardiovascular exercise such as running, biking, swimming, jump rope, dancing, or the elliptical. Just be sure it’s an activity you enjoy, as you’ll be more likely to stick with it. Continually challenge yourself so as not to become bored or hit a plateau.

Eventually, you’ll also need to begin strength training. Performing 2-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions for each major muscle group is a good start.  This should be done a MINIMUM of two days per week.

I also recommend visiting your physician prior to beginning any exercise program.

ABOUT RACHEL: Rachel Swartz-Hartje is an NASM certified personal trainer and is currently completing her degree in community health promotion.  She enjoys running, bodybuilding and torturing her clients (and friends) into submission.  She is definitely a bad-ass.  Don’t let her nice profile picture fool you. Her mantra? “Discipline is the Bridge Between Goals and Accomplishments.” Oh yeah, she also used to be in the Navy.  Don’t. Mess. With. Her.

This is the fourth post in a series to focus on

Fitness Fridays! (More here…)

I’ve found some new fitness inspiration this week. I’m giving myself permission to take BABY STEPS. You see, I can’t run right now. I have some sort of injury which has caused me to lay off the running for awhile.

Instead I am focusing on three things:

• relaxation
• water consumption
• high concentration of vegetables & fruits

I’m shooting for 9 glasses of water per day, 60% of my diet from veggies & fruits and heavy doses of sleeping in and walking/meditating. I’m even taking an afternoon break from the office to go outside and walk around the block. It definitely clears my head. And I’ve been working on spending more time with God.

You know, it is amazing the progress that you can make when you give yourself permission to take it slow. My body is responding well, too. The bags are gone from under my eyes, I have a spring in my step and I even feel lighter.  As a matter of fact, I’ve lost 2.8 pounds!  Yippie!

Next week I will add weight training back into the mix along with more walking/cardio, water and veggies. I am hoping to report some good weight loss next week as well!