Portion control in an increasing world

This week, Susie, our Registered Dietitian, talked about dining out. When restaurants are continually increasing their portion size, it certainly makes it challenging for us to lose or maintain weight!

A great example Susie shared was the size of a sandwich 20 years ago compared to restaurant sandwiches today. Today’s version? Now more than 500 calories! Two easy ways to skirt the extra calories (and avoid overeating) – share with a friend or eat half now and take the rest home! You’ll find that you really won’t miss the extra food. And if you’re still hungry, munch on some fruit or veggies. You will feel better and look better for it!

I can’t believe this is the last week of class! This has been such a great group of Get Fit participants! I believe each person has improved their overall health and well-being as a result of the program. Most everyone has lost weight, inches or body fat since the start of class in June. And I know everyone is feeling better physically and emotionally; which is what regular exercise and healthy eating is all about! All of the participants should be proud of what they’ve accomplished and continue to include exercise in their daily routine.

Interested in joining our next Get Fit! session? Classes begin September 13 and 14. Spaces are filling so register today!

~Kim

Emotional Eating and Overeating

This week, our Wellness Counselor offered a great discussion about emotional eating patterns and how mind-body techniques can help curb overeating. She provided many examples and tips on how to redirect your thinking when you have the urge to eat – like drinking a big glass of water before eating or slowing down when enjoying your meal. She suggests taking a bite of food, putting your fork down and enjoying every flavor and texture. One fact I found most interesting was that it takes about 20 minutes for our bodies to realize it’s full. Wow, I will definitely slow down my eating!

I have been talking to a few Get Fit! participants lately who feel guilty about eating too much or the wrong kind of food. I want them to realize that it’s okay if they eat a piece of dessert or enjoy going out for dinner. The feeling of failure or guilt can lead to giving up. My advice to everyone is, instead of feeling guilty, eat better the next day or exercise an extra 15 minutes.

I know some participants have been battling emotional eating their entire life. Food should be thought of as a source for fuel and nutrition rather than a coping mechanism. This is a work in progress but I think everyone is getting much better at distinguishing true hunger from a bad-day-at-work-I-want-to-eat-everything-in-sight craving. And for this, they are well on their way to achieving a healthier life.

For more on this topic, read Curb Emotional Eating.

~Kim

Judge weight loss by your clothes, not your scale

Our education this week for Get Fit! focuses on body composition and what our bodies do when we are on an exercise/eating plan. The #1 goal for most of our participants is to lose weight. However, the scale can play mind games – especially when deciphering muscle weight from fat. So it's best to concentrate on how you’re feeling and what kind of gains you are experiencing in your life. And another good measure is how your clothes fit.

The most effective way to build lean muscle and reduce the size of your fat cells is to establish a healthy eating and exercise plan. And our Get Fit! participants have really embraced this lifestyle change. It’s exciting to see how exercise is making them feel good about themselves regardless of what the scale says.

I’m curious, how does exercise make you feel?

~Kim

Catching up and still making progress

Took a vacation - but not from exercising and mindful eating. As I shared my goal was not to gain weight on my vacation. I enjoyed fresh white fish and trout - one supplied an hour after catch from our neighbors! Got my once a year fix of wine bread - not to be missed from the Candy Shoppe in Bayfield. Also enjoyed wine in a glass! But this year I really increased my activity level at the same time. Several long bike rides and quite a few power walks.

So did I reach my goal of not gaining weight. I think so. What I learned is that one should not eat popcorn the night before a weigh in. So while the scale did not reflect the good news - how my clothes fit did. Thanks Kim for that reminder.

The Get Fit instructors and fellow classmates share so much information and good cheer. It reinforces my need for a healthy social atmosphere - that provides fun, a bit of competition and another level of accountability. Good to know what you need when designing a successful workout program.

I meet with Kim tonight to go over my goals and check in to see how I'm doing.

Is It Hunger or Appetite?

Now that we’ve passed the halfway mark of our 10-week program, I checked in with our Get Fit! participants about how they are doing. Overall, I feel they have welcomed exercise into their lives – congratulations! Still, a lot of them are struggling with the eating part of the program. This is often a difficult change in one’s lifestyle, especially when there are summer holidays to celebrate and cookouts to attend.

Therefore, this week we talked about what triggers us to eat. Are we hungry or just bored and need something to do? Do we have the urge to eat while watching TV? Or, are we stressed and turn to food as comfort? Tips were shared about how to handle these urges especially when we truly are not hungry.

Take a look at this article, Is it Hunger or Appetite? and tell us what has helped you overcome these feelings. Please share, we’d like to know!

~Kim

Eating Healthy....Everyday

Like anyone, I enjoyed the festivities of the Fourth of July - going to parties and overindulging in food. I am curious how the Get Fit! group did over the holiday. Most of the participants are losing weight and enjoy their increased energy. Eating a little more is certainly okay, just as long as you stay active. Going for a brisk walk before a party or filling your plate with fruit and vegetables first, are good ways to maintain weight.

An important component of the Get Fit! program is healthy eating. Our dietitian will work with the group, focusing on Meal Planning. I’m a busy mom and know how hard it is to prepare meals that are fast and healthy. I found you need to be organized and prepare meals or part of the meal when you have time and not wait until 6:00pm to make the meal! Discussion will include how to simplify meals. Here are a few simple recipes that are heart healthy.

Do you have any favorite recipes to share?

~Kim

The challenges of goal setting

Coming up with Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) goals is harder than you think. I'm trying to tie them to behavior changes that I want to achieve.

So here goes -

Drinking at least 6 glasses of water/day

Exercising 3 x week through Aug. 13

Averaging 8,000 steps a day by Aug. 13

Filling out an emotional eating sheet everytime I feel like going on a snack binge

Fitting in one bike ride per week

I have one more goal for this week - not gaining weight over vacation!

I am prepared. I stopped this morning at the Wellness Center to weigh in. My bike is going too - and I picked up extra audio books to make walks more entertaining. Susie Brueggeman, the Meriter dietitian and I talked about eating out strategies.

Off to Madeline Island!

Smartly Setting Your Goals

This week in class we will be focusing on how to set SMART goals. It’s easy to say in conversation “I want to lose weight” but to actually do it can be a challenge. By casually stating our goals, it is usually just a thought; but if we write down our goal and ways to achieve it, it will be more of a plan. And a plan with small achievable goals will be more attainable and not as overwhelming.

Each participant in class has goals they want to achieve and I will be working with them to develop a plan for success. This plan will not only help them to establish healthy habits for today, but maintain them for a lifetime.

~Kim

I finally got all 10,000 steps in a day - and it was the Jimmy Buffett concert at Alpine Valley that did it. We parked in the Green Lot and had quite an aerobic work out to and from the theatre. I seriously wondered how some of the other fans made it! Just shows fitness doesn't have to be all drudgery.

Weight loss continues - slow and steady. This is confirming that my eating wasn't so out of wack - but lack of activity was catching up with me. I'm now wearing a pair of pants that didn't fit a month ago. Also bested my 1,000 meter rowing time earlier in the day. Shaved 14 seconds off my first try!

Tonight we're going to talk about goals. Scheduling regular exercise into my weekly routine has to be one of mine.

Rude Awakening

This past Saturday 'Get Fit' gifted us a pedometer - and a challenge. Research says that people who walk at least 10,000 steps a day are more healthy. How far is 10,000 steps? About 5 miles.


Our instructions are to record the first week's steps. Our challenge is then to increase our next week's step by 10%. And 10% after that. And 10% after that - until we reach 10,000.


The pedometer can be a real eye opener. One report I read says that a sedentary person walks 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. Sadly - I fall into this category. In one day at the office - with one meeting outside in which I parked at the back of the parking lots - I only clocked 1,600 steps.


So Tuesday night, I walked to the library. It was a trip on my list - I got my book tapes and steps in one errand. Finished that evening at 5,900.


Besides parking at the end of the lot for distance and taking stairs - do you have any other ideas for adding steps throughout the day?

1 lb. = 3500 calories

Does this sound familiar? “I gained weight over the weekend because I ate a brat and a piece of cake.” We do not gain weight by eating a brat or dessert one time. But we do gain weight when we accumulate an extra 3500 calories (1 lb. = 3500 calories). A safe and effective way of losing weight is to cut back on 250 calories and burn an extra 250 calories per day. If you do this each day, you should lose 1 lb. per week.

Do you have to count calories and measure food? While counting calories can be effective it’s often not realistic. Simply reduce the amount of food you are eating and make sure you are exercising 30 minutes each day. One easy way to reduce the amount of food you are eating is to reduce the size of your dinner plate to a salad plate. This will help to keep the portions smaller and help you feel full when eating less. Studies have shown that people feel more satisfied with less food when they are served on 8-inch salad plates in place of 12-inch dinner plates. Another tip: place the vegetables on your plate first and enjoy a piece of fruit for dessert.

Previewing the week ahead: On Saturday our Get Fit! participants will discuss how to effectively set personal goals. It’s easy to state our goals but following through is another story. The program will teach each participant how to follow through and maintain their goals. They are already doing a great job attending class and most of the 15 participants are losing 1-2 lbs. per week. I am so proud of their motivation and enthusiasm.

~ Kim

Magic Formula? - Kim Weighs In

Is there a magic formula for weight loss? The media seems to think so. Usually if a product or plan sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We are so focused on losing weight and looking better we often forget about making lifelong healthy habits and give in to the easy fix. Most of us know we should exercise and eat right but for some reason we find ourselves eating a pint of ice cream or watching TV instead of going for a walk. What is the solution?

The magical formula is really finding what works for you and your lifestyle. If you have tried to form these healthy habits on your own and it’s not working, you may want to join a class or program that offers support or ask a friend or co-worker to be your exercise buddy.

We started our second week of Get Fit! and I heard a lot of laughter among the participants. They exercised for 80 minutes and everyone survived! The class was upbeat, fun and everyone worked hard. Just hearing laughter makes the environment comfortable for the participants.

Weighing In

One of the highlights (?!?) of the Saturday classes is weighing in.

I confess - I missed last Saturday's class. I somehow thought I could wedge this class into the day's agenda that included my daughter's high school graduation. Not! I do think I made up the exercise portion of the class with the sheer physical labor of setting up for the Sunday party.

So I faced the scale prior to Monday's class. The good news - I lost 1.6 pounds. It's this kind of feedback that movivates me for more.

It also led to an interesting discussion of how often to weigh in. One of the women who successfully lost weight with the last session weighs in every day. For her it's the best way to stay on track. She even confessed to taking a scale with her on vacation!

I'm curious - what works for you?

Inspiration

Remember those awful commercials - "I've fallen and I can't get up." This has long been one of my inspirations for trying to stay in shape. I don't want to be that lady.

At yesterday's exercise session John Leech, Wellness Center Supervisor, showed us a video of a rowing competition CRASH-B Sprints World Indoor Championships from 2000.

The C.R.A.S.H-B Sprints is the world championship for indoor rowing raced over a distance of 2,000 m on Concept2 indoor rowers - just like the one at the Meriter Wellness Center. For those of you metrically challenged like me, 2000 meters is about 1 and a quarter mile. At the age of 91 years young, Ernestine Bayer set the world record on the Concept II rowing ergometer for women over the age of 90. I think I just found my new inspiration.

Abs are way sore. 50 sit-ups with a seven-pound medicine ball held over my head might have been overdoing it day one!

Get Fit! Kicks Off - Kim's Perspective

The acceptance to fully commit to something, especially a healthy lifestyle, can be extremely challenging. This is true especially for women who are the caretaker at work, home, or even both. Most women devote their energy to others and put themselves toward the bottom of the priority list and forgetting about their well being. The Get Fit! program focuses on the elements - exercise, diet, and behavior - one needs to accomplish a healthier lifestyle.

Monday night we had 13 committed participants start our Get Fit! exercise class. Each participant completed 45 minutes of exercise. (Most classes will range from 60-90 minutes of exercise). Sixty minutes of exercise is achievable even for a beginner. Each Get Fit! participant met with myself or another trainer before the first class and set-up an appropriate starting point. The class environment is fun, upbeat and is designed for all ability levels, ages, shape/sizes, and personal goals.

I know each person is committed because they took the first step and joined the program. I really enjoyed the first class and look forward to seeing the progress each person is making.

The truth is in the numbers

I had a bit of a wake up call at my recent physical. You know the "Know Your Numbers" health messages that say it's important to know your blood pressure, cholesterol level and glucose level? Well I took a look at mine and they weren't going in the right direction.

My goal in life is to take the least amount of medicine possible. I'm a terrible medicine taker. My life is complicated enough without having to factor a med schedule. Not to mention the expense.

And I've written enough of those articles that say the best way to control your health is to control your weight. The most recent was in April's Dane Country Lifestyles (p. 16). We all know that the best way to do that is up your exercise and watch what you eat. The hard part is just doing it.

So I've committed to the Get Fit class here at Meriter. Over the next 11 weeks (we have a holiday week to contend with) I'll share my successes, my shortcomings, tips from the instructors and celebrations of the other class participants.

The first session was Monday night. I'm psyched already. Two of the women are back after having completed the last session. They report losing over 20 pounds each! And I found a new great machine - the rowing machine. What a great overall workout.