Losing a friend but gaining childhood memories

Today a life-long friend lost her life in an ATV accident.  A normal everyday routine activity and then "poof" she's gone.  The details are not important.  All that matters is she's gone to a better place.

She and her husband met my family at the First Baptist Church in Aledo, Illinois when I must have been in kindergarten almost 40 years ago.  Her and her husband became very close friends with my parents.  Our families along with other families from church spent alot of evenings together in back yards surrounded by corn fields, lightning bugs, summer breezes and lots of laughter.

One memory that I always think about is a camping trip to Greenlake, Wisconsin for a church retreat. I was very young, about 8 years old.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  We had campers next to each other and us kids would go off with our bikes and explore the grounds and go swimming. One day it rained so hard we couldn't go anywhere and we were stuck in our pop-up camper all day.
In the winter I remember sledding parties and potlucks at church and christmas eve candle light services.  I don't even know if I saw them there but that's the kind of memories that float to the surface.

Her husband stored my car for me in their machine shed while I was at basic training.  A couple years back they threw my mom a 60th birthday party at their lake behind their farm.  My mom and dad were one of the first people called when the accident happened yesterday.  Mom and dad immediatley drove to our friend's house, grabbed some clothes and a wallet for her husband and drove to be by their side.

She and her husband were very devoted christians.  The were a positive influence and I never heard either one say a bad word about anyone.  She was hilarious as well.  She was very independent, took no shit from anyone and always took care of her husband and family.  Everyone in town knew them and she was well loved.

I only get back to Aledo once or twice a year.  I swear almost every time I return for a visit I run into her and her husband some where in town.  I alway get a hug and then asked how everything in my life is going.  I'm not looking forward to the next time when I see just her husband. I won't know what to say.

It's funny how we live life not remembering things from out past until we lose someone who was in so many of those memories.  Since I heard the news of her passing all of a sudden these obscure childhood memories start flickering in my mind and I start to re-live all those forgotten moments that meant so much.  It also reminds me that you don't know when you time is coming, even doing the most routine everyday chore can be your last.

Cleanse Yourself of Cleansing

Cleanse Yourself of Cleansing

I've been reading a lot lately about different fad diets because it's that time of the year when people go overboard and try to lose as much holiday weight as possible in the quickest amount of time. People ask me all the time which is the best diet to do. My answer is always "none of them."  If it's something that you can't stick to for every day for the rest of your life, it's not a good idea.  Really fit, healthy people eat "clean." That means fruits, vegetable, lean meat and NO SUGAR. That is something you can do everyday for the rest of your life.  You can not do a cleanse everyday and Atkins is not smart either.  Cut out sugar and you will lose 10 pounds quickly just from the shock your body is going through not storing sugar.

CLEANSES

Cleanses are one of the biggest rip-offs in the billion dollar weight-loss industry.  Cleanses do nothing but make you pee alot. Your liver and kidneys do a good enough job screening out impurities in your body. When you drink a cleans you are basically starving yourself. You're losing water weight not fat.  When you starve yourself you will lose weight but not body fat. If you're not feeding your body food, your body will hold onto it's fat stores for energy.  In the mean time your muscle mass is slowing melting away because you're not feeding the muscle what it needs. 

SKINNY FAT

"Skinny fat" is what I refer to people, mostly women, who look thin and beautiful on the outside.  They can wear anything they want and it seems they just have great genetics.  But if you squeeze an arm on one of those girls it will feel soft and squishy.  

I had a close friend who was 5'2", 98 lbs, very petit and looked like a Barbie Doll.  One of the most beautiful women I've ever seen.  She was a size zero.  She asked me one day to test her bodyfat percentage and it was 32%.  For women, anything over 32% is considered clinically obese.  From the outside she looks like she might be 13%. This goes to show you that the size of a person doesn't necessarily correspond to the bodyfat percentagte. Needless to say she started resistance training the next day.

The difference between losing weight and body fat is the key to losing unwanted pounds.  The first problem is that we should never refer to losing weight as "losing weight!"  We should be saying "bodyfat lose" or "losing bodyfat."  Saying the word "weight" is deceiving.  

You can change your physical body weight many times throught the day just as you can also gain it during the day.  You can eat a huge lunch and gain physical weight, a pound or two.  A few hours later you can use the toilet and poop out those same two pounds. Losing weight does not mean you're losing fat.  It just means you are losing muscle mass and not fat.

Losing bodyfat is what you want to do.  Sure you can weigh yourself if you want but if you are doing resistance training (weights) in your workouts then you will build muscle.  Muscle weighs more than fat.  You can lose inches and bodyfat but may not change your physcial weight.  The bodyfat coming off is negated by the muscle added to your body.  A professional football player may weigh 220 pounds but he has 10% bodyfat.  Building muscle burns fat.

So now that you're on that track to slim down, stop losing weight and start losing bodyfat instead.  Don't even weigh yourself. When someone asks you how much weight you've lost, you say, " I've lost 5% bodyfat." It will make your feel great and sound like you know what the hell you're doing!!

YOUR SCALE IS LYING: the truth about BMI.  Below the picture is a link to a great article on the BMI and your scale.

http://josefbrandenburg.com/the-scales-can-lie-–-how-you-can-be-normal-weight-yet-obese/

RECOGNIZING FAD DIETS

The except below is from an article in the "GIG HARBOR LIFE" publication.

Yes, losing weight can be a daunting task - which explains the appeal of programs that promise to make weight loss easy. But all too often, fad diets result not only in regaining lost pounds, but in putting on extra weight as well. That's because safe, effective and, most importantly, long-term weight loss requires two important things:

• permanent changes in the way you eat
• making exercise a habit, not just something you do on the rare occasion that the mood strikes

And these are two things that many quick fixes fail to incorporate.

Here are some tips for recognizing a fad diet or weight loss gimmick:

• It promises unrealistic results. Safe weight loss means no more than 2 pounds per week. If you lose weight any faster than that, your body could compensate by slowing down the rate at which it burns calories, thereby slowing weight loss and even making it easier to gain weight after you return to your normal eating habits.
• It requires you to purchase special products, supplements, or foods. The foods you need to lose weight sensibly - a balance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and lower-fat dairy products - are all available at the grocery store.
• It eliminates certain foods or even whole food groups entirely. By cutting out certain foods from your diet, you risk coming up short on all the vitamins and nutrients you need.
• It requires you to strictly follow a set plan. The less a diet plan takes into account your own personal likes and dislikes as well as your lifestyle, the less likely you are to stick to it. Any diet plan you follow should also account for your individual nutritional requirements, which can vary depending on age, activity level, and any medical conditions.

Here are some qualities of reliable diet plans:

• They incorporate exercise. Burning energy through exercise means you can achieve weight loss without having to cut the number of calories you consume as drastically. As well, studies have shown regular exercise is one of the biggest predictors of keeping the weight off.
• They make recommendations based on sound science. A safe weight-loss program makes its claims based on large-scale studies that have been reviewed by reputable health care professionals.
• They meet the USDA's daily recommended intakes. It's important to make sure you are getting all the protein, vitamins, and minerals you need. Because it can be difficult to meet your targets while restricting calories, your doctor or dietitian may recommend supplements.
• They include plans for maintenance. Your program should help you form the habits you need to make your weight-loss long term. Remember, healthy eating is a way of life - not just a two-week plan.

Read more: http://health.kitsapsun.com/healthfeature.aspx?id=1814#ixzz2ozjl2cwm 
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Resolve to Dissolve your Resoluions

You've been stuffing your face since Halloween.  Don't Deny it.  Now it's almost 2014 and you have decided to make a New Year's resolution...again...to lose weight....again.

Well there is a reason why people quit trying after a short period of time. 

Four out of five people who make New Year’s resolutions tonight will eventually break them. In fact, a third won’t even make it to the end of January.

Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed attribute breaking their resolutions to having too many other things to do, while 33 percent say they simply aren’t committed to the resolutions they set. But experts say the real problem is that people make the wrong resolutions. The typical resolution often reflects a general desire, rather than a specific goal. Read more on this at  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com

Here is a list of 5 mistakes people make when they try to lose weight from the website: 

http://www.mindbodygreen.com

Changing your diet and losing weight isn’t rocket science, but it’s not always as simple as people think. Here are the top mistakes that I see with my clients, and some simple fixes to get things back on track.

1. They pledge to eat "healthy." 

While this sounds great, it’s not enough. "Healthy" is vague, and it's different for everyone. Eating organic, for instance, seems healthy, but organic brownies and burritos can be easy ways to overeat and derail your progress.

Instead, have a plan! Some rules can seem arbitrary and strict, but without guidelines, it’s hard to succeed or make progress. Choose a plan that makes sense to you, and follow it.

2. They vow to eat less. 

"Eating less" is as arbitrary as "eating healthy," but even that’s not the problem. Our bodies are clever, and they’ll do what it takes to maintain weight. After all, body fat is survival fuel, and our bodies think we need it. When we go hungry, our bodies will subconsciously encourage us to eat more and move less, and we won’t even realize it.

Instead of guessing, use a food log! Writing down what you eat makes you aware of your choices, and much more likely to make good ones. It also gives you a record of what you’ve been eating, so you can make change course if you stop making progress.

3. They trust food labels. 

Terms like healthy, low-fat, whole grain, all-natural, Paleo, vegan, and organic are just some of the words that marketers put on their manufactured food products. They want to convince you that these foods will lead to weight loss, but it’s not true. Eat too much healthy food, and you’ll still gain weight.

Instead, eat 90% label free. Meat, eggs, poultry, fish, vegetables, and fruits are harder to over eat than most packaged foods, and don’t need ingredient labels and slogans. Label free foods should be the focus of every healthy diet.

4. They rely on cardio. 

We don’t know who first said “you can’t outrun a bad diet,” but it’s true! When you run, you get good at running, and your body adapts to it. Pretty soon, you're efficient enough to burn fewer calories. Eventually, your body will want you to eat more to support your exercise. Eventually, you’ll be hungry enough to eat just a little more without knowing it, and BAM, you’ve stopped losing weight!

Instead of chronic cardio, choose resistance training, which encourages your body to burn fat and support building muscle and bone. Weights, kettlebells, and bodyweight exercises are great for building the muscle and bone that we all know to be important.

Resistance training also burns calories now and later because of EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) – the fancy term for the calories burned recovering from a workout. EPOC can burn extra calories hours or days after you’ve showered, dressed, and left the gym. Cardio can’t do that!

5. They take cheat days. 

On paper, a cheat day sounds reasonable. You’ve eaten under your calorie target all week, so you deserve the break, right? Unfortunately, studies show that most people misjudge their calorie intake by quite a bit.

Knowing that you have to burn an extra 3,500 calories to lose one pound of fat, most dieters shoot for a calorie deficit of up to 700 calories per day, which should lead to a pound or so of weight loss per week. Did you know that the typical dieter underestimates his daily intake by an average of 429 calories?

A cheat day can easily add 1,000 calories to your day, and completely wipe out your week’s progress. After months of not losing weight, most people will give up instead of playing this hunger game.

Instead of a cheat day, have a free meal. A reasonably sized "normal" meal or dessert. Enjoy it, then get right back on plan.