Battle for the Best Water

Appetizer
Don't waste your precious daily calories on high-calorie drinks.

Main Course
Your personalized recommended daily calorie intake is based on your sex, height, weight and activity level. It may also take your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) into consideration if you have access to that information.

Despite all of the mixed messages we hear in the media every day, the secret to success is actually quite simple. If your body gets more calories than it needs to function day-to-day (by eating too many calories or not burning off enough calories), you will gain weight. If your body gets exactly the number of calories it needs, you will maintain your current weight. And of course, if you take in less calories that your body needs or if you burn extra calories through physical activity, you will lose weight.

When dealing with this type of somewhat delicate balance, it's best to consider every calorie carefully. With only a limited number of calories with which to work each day, try not to waste them on drinks. Use them for nourishing and fulfilling meals instead.

Dessert
Nearly two years ago, I wrote a Cafe Physique post about utilizing too many calories on drinks rather than food which typically provides more nutrients and keeps you feeling full longer. Back then, there were relatively few low-calorie drinks on the market that actually tasted good, but some companies have listened.

I still favor water over any other drinks, especially before/during/after workouts, but when you're really committed to increasing your daily water intake, it can get repetitive and boring... In comes the new craze of flavored water. HOWEVER, most of these "waters" are nothing short of watered down sugary Kool-Aid with tons of empty calories. Make sure to read the label rather than fall into the trap of thinking that anything that says "water" is good for you. I haven't tried them all yet, but right now my personal favorite is Propel because it has only one-fifth of the calories normally found in other vitamin waters.

I'm usually skeptical of changing anything in my routine, but I replaced my normal water with Propel last week after seeing this video http://youtube.com/PropelFitWater, and I must admit that I was impressed. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Weight-Bearing Exercises Rule

Appetizer
Add MORE weight-bearing exercises to your weekly routine. This will allow you to work smarter AND harder. All types of exercise are great, but they're not all created equal because some provide more benefit than others.

Main Course
Weight-bearing activities are those that make your body work against the force of gravity. Examples include cardiovascular activities like running, walking, stair-climbing, and kick-boxing. These types of activities use proportionately more calories at a given level of effort than non-weight bearing choices like swimming, the elliptical, or cycling.

This doesn't mean that you should throw swimming or cycling out of your routine. Since these activities put less stress on our weight-bearing joints, most people are able to do them for longer periods of time. That makes up for the lower calorie expenditure, so you end up breaking even in the end (IF you do the activity long enough).

Dessert
Most of my cardio activities tend to be weight-bearing simply by default. I don't swim regularly because I'm not trying to get my hair wet (Is there anyone else that can back me up on this? Amen.). I think the elliptical is a great machine, but it is so boring to me that I usually can't stand it for more than 10 minutes at a time. I do, however, absolutely LOVE indoor cycling, so I usually do a full 60 minutes of that activity vs. only 30-45 minutes of my other "loves" like kickboxing and fitness walking.

About Cafe Physique:
The mission of Café Physique is to help clients reach and exceed their personal fitness and nutrition goals. If you’re in need of an a nutritionist in Atlanta or an Atlanta personal trainer – Café Physique is the perfect solution. We offer Atlanta yoga instruction, Atlanta prenatal workouts, and Atlanta personal training. We also have private sessions of pilates that Atlanta residents are raving about. We invite you to let a member of our Atlanta registered dietitian staff or personal training team develop and implement a realistic and healthy lifestyle plan to meet your personal goals.

Take Charge of Your Metabolism

APPETIZER

Lift MORE weights. While cardio is a very important part of a healthy lifestyle, you should never under estimate the value of strength training. You can't have a well-rounded fitness routine if you're not including some type of resistance training to strengthen your muscles and speed up your metabolism.


MAIN COURSE

Metabolism is basically the energy that your body expends simply to keep you alive - the energy to think, breath and move.

As many of you have already experienced, our metabolism starts to slow down once we get in 0ur 30s, and it typically continues to decrease by about 5% every decade thereafter. So if you eat 2,000 calories a day and wear a size 12 at age 34, you will more than likely wear a size 14 at age 44 if you continue to eat 2,000 calories a day because you will be burning less calories.


Burning less calories as we age is attributed to the decrease in muscle. For every pound of muscle we lose, our bodies will burn as many as 30 calories less each day. Prior to menopause, women start losing about 1/2 pound of muscle per year, and this loss can sometimes increase to a full pound after menopause.

Lifting weights can actually reverse muscle loss, so it's not too late for you to get started!


DESSERT

I was introduced to weight training in 2001 by a girlfriend of mine. Before meeting her, I wouldn't have been caught dead by the machines at the gym, let alone the free weights. She turned me on to the benefits of lifting, and I've never looked back.

Once I started lifting weights, my body began to change in ways that I'd never been able to achieve with just cardio. Not only did my arms and legs start to tone up, but my abs benefited from the core strengthening moves that she taught me.

I had always thought that lifting weights would make me big and bulky, but I've sinced learned that this just isn't true at all. Most of those huge mega muscle chicks that you see in magazines or on TV, are taking extreme measures to look like that. For the average woman, like you and me, we wouldn't be able to get that way if we tried - not that we're going to be trying.

If you want to get started with lifting but don't know where to start, continue to dine with me here at Café Physique because I'll be posting more on weights soon.

About Cafe Physique:
The mission of Café Physique is to help clients reach and exceed their personal fitness and nutrition goals. If you’re in need of an a nutritionist in Atlanta or an Atlanta personal trainer – Café Physique is the perfect solution. We offer Atlanta yoga instruction, Atlanta prenatal workouts, and Atlanta personal training. We also have private sessions of pilates that Atlanta residents are raving about. We invite you to let a member of our Atlanta registered dietitian staff or personal training team develop and implement a realistic and healthy lifestyle plan to meet your personal goals.