Is Stress Bringing Your Metabolism Down?

The Less You Stress the Easier it is to Lose Weight!

Most people have heard of the fight-or-flight response, and you probably know that it's the way your body reacts to danger or stress. But do you know what the fight-or-flight response is? If you guessed hormones you’d be right.

When you're faced with a danger, your adrenal glands release three hormones: norepinephrine, epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), and cortisol. Norepinephrine and epinephrine cause several changes to help you survive the danger. These include a pause in insulin release so you have lots of blood sugar available for energy, an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, and a suspension of your appetite. After the danger has passed, cortisol tells the body to stop producing norepinephrine and epinephrine and stimulates your appetite again.

This response evolved to help people deal with short-term survival situations, like an attack by a predator. The trouble is, it occurs in response to all stressors, including the deadlines pummeling you at work and the traffic that drives you crazy. When stress is always present, your body can't get rid of the excess cortisol built up in the blood. That cortisol just hangs around, causing lots of trouble: It turns young fat cells into mature fat cells that stick with you forever, and increases your cravings for high-fat, high-carb foods.

When you give in to those cravings, your body releases a cascade of rewarding brain chemicals that can set up an addictive relationship with food — you stress, you eat. If you don't consciously control the pattern, you can become physically and psychologically dependent on that release to manage stress. In fact, people who self-medicate with food tend have hair-trigger epinephrine reactions and chronic high levels of cortisol.

You can help yourself keep cortisol in check by limiting caffeine intake to 200 milligrams a day; avoiding simple carbs, processed foods, and refined grains; and getting plenty of high-quality protein. It's also crucial that you get adequate sleep, a daily dose of exercise and find stress-relief techniques that work for you. If you can tame your stress response and lower cortisol levels, you'll have a much easier time losing weight.

Stay tuned for my simple tips for lowering cortisol levels and keeping stress in check.

If You Want to Lose Weight, Be Careful of When You Eat

If You Want to Lose Weight, Be Careful of When You Eat

When you eat is just as important as what you eat if you are trying to lose weight. If you are over weight and have been following a healthy diet and exercising consistently for at least six weeks and you are not seeing a significant fat loss, it may be because of when you are eating.

Don’t eat right before bed or just before you work out. You want your body to be in “fat’burning mode during your work outs and while you are sleeping.

Your body has two main sources of energy: stored fat and stored carbohydrates. When you eat or drink substances like energy bars, cereals, pastas, bagels or sports drinks (all high in carbs/sugars) your body’s insulin levels rise to cope with the additional carbohydrates in your system. That means, during the time you process those carbs through your bloodstream, your body’s hormones are focused on burning that type of fuel for energy. Thus, if you consume those carbs before your workout, you will be in the mode to burn the carbs in your body more than the stored fat around your waist and thighs!
The most advantagous time to work out if you want to burn fat and lose weight is first thing in the morning, before you eat breakfast. If you feel faint not eating anything before your morning exercise, try having a low carb/sugar protein shake an hour before your workout. Then eat your breakfast when you are finished exercising. If you can’t work out in first thing in the morning, don’t eat for 3 hours before you exercise latter in the day.

Stop eating 3 hours before bedtime. By allowing your body to sleep in “fasting mode” – meaning you are not in the midst of digesting a meal – your body will access stored fat for energy. You might start getting hungry before you go to sleep but if you can control yourself you will enjoy 8 hours of solid fat burning!

If you follow these guidelines and limit your carbs before exercise and sleep, you will allow your body to access it’s fat stores for fuel and function as an effective fat-burning machine!

The Best Shape of My Life - Six Weeks to Slim Challenge!

Hi everyone! I'm Bonnie Skane and I am an AFAA certified Personal Trainer, Wellness Coach and EFT-ADV Personal Empowerment Coach. This year I am going to turn 50 and I decided that I wanted to celebrate this momentous occasion by challenging myself to get into the best shape I've ever been in and I though wouldn't it be fun to join together with a group of women who also have that desire! So with that in mind, along with all this crazy weather we've been experiencing, I've put together this amazing package to help you make:

Make 2011 the Year that You

"Get Into Shape - Look & Feel Great!"

Don't let this winter's extreme weather get you down and put you off track with your New Years' health and fitness goals. Workout in the comfort and convenience of your own home with lots of support and guidance!

Check out all the details of "Six Weeks to Slim Challenge!"
Make 2011 the Best Year of Your Life! - Bonnie

Nutritional Typing - Take Control of Your Health

Nutritional Typing - Take Control of Your Health

Six Tips to Six Pack Abs!

This is a really great article written by Darin Steen of Mercola Peak Fitness about how to get sleek six pack abs. Enjoy! – Bonnie

Most of you already have a six pack abdominal wall. The problem is that it is covered up with a few inches of fat that lies on top of your muscle, underneath your skin. The issue is not so much to build up your abs, but to bring your overall body fat level down. When you do this with a well rounded healthy lifestyle, you will be able to see the shape and form of your core muscles.

Lower Your Overall Body Fat Percentage

In order to start to see some definition in your abs, men need to get below 10 percent fat, and ladies typically need to get below 13 percent. These are general markers and individuals may vary slightly.

Exercise Your Abs Effectively

The main thing I have learned about training my abs is that less is more. Two sets of 2 or 3 different exercises is sufficient.

Most people over train their abs with quantity. Many believe 100 sit ups is better than 10 crunches, for example. Because more is better, right?

Wrong! Sit ups are actually one of the least effective exercises, and doing more of something that is ineffective will not provide you with better results.

Two keys to making "less" more effective are:

1. Make sure to go slow. A 3-second positive and a 3-second negative works great.
   
2. Make sure to use a smaller range of motion than you normally would. Why? For the same reason that a crunch is more effective than a sit up. It keeps the tension more focused on your ab muscles, so they never get to relax. This increases the effectiveness of the exercise.
   

Perform Interval Cardio

Interval cardio is five to nine 60-90 second challenges separated by walking recovery.

Twenty minutes of interval cardio, preferably done in the morning, actually burns more body fat than 60 minutes of jogging or low intensity long duration cardio.

When you do it first thing in the morning, you "get it done". Too many things tend to pop up during the day to postpone or cancel a cardio session planned for midday or evening, so try to get into the habit of exercising in the morning.

Fat Loss Nutrition

Most people do best when eating every 3-4 hours. Combine protein and non starchy carbs (veggies, green beans, salads, apples) together at every meal.

Cycle in a small amount of starchy carbs (such as oatmeal, brown and wild rice, yams, sweet and red potato, or whole wheat pasta) on resistance training days only.

You can rev up your metabolism by eating every 3 hours (higher hunger levels mean higher metabolism), doing resistance training for an hour 2-3 times per week, doing interval cardio in the morning 2-3 times per week, and by making other healthy lifestyle choices like not using alcohol, tobacco, or drugs, and by going to bed early and waking up early.

Goal Setting

For optimal success, you must have a precise fitness goal. Few people will accomplish anything without sufficient pressure. So draw the line in the sand and set out to do something by a precise date.

If you really want to jam, pick a very lofty (high) goal. If you shoot for the stars and fall slightly short, you are still high in the sky!

Write your goal down. Read it out loud with a positive tone in your voice every day. Once before bed, and immediately when you wake up.

Write the goal down as though you have already achieved it, because your subconscious does not know the difference between the truth or a fib. That's why you will wake up with your heart pounding and sweating during a nightmare. So use this to your advantage.

See it and feel it, like you have already accomplished the goal. Faith it till you make it!

Another big key is to attach "your emotional reasons" to accomplishing the goal.

Social Support

You will turn into those you spend the most time with. Try to be around are health conscious individuals. If you are forced to be around family or friends who do not support your healthy lifestyle, then make sure you announce to them your intentions and ask them for help.

If they continue to sabotage you, then you may simply have to spend much less time with them in order to reach your goals. 

The power of this information and the techniques that my clients and I have used to be in the best shape of our lives in our 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's lies in the simplicity. When you think something is simple you will act.

The key is the action, reassessing, and never giving up.

Remember, you do have the power to change!

Darin L. Steen