Family Matters

"Haters gon' hate."

Some of my sisters (I have FOUR! Yikes.) like to make comments about my body.  They're at least a decade younger than me so they do have different up-bringing than I, but even as a kid, making comments about someones body wasn't "wrong" or "bad" so when they say things about me, I try not to take it personally.  They are, after all, teenagers and, though I love them, their comments do not change my perception of myself.  I know who I am.  I know what I want.  I know who I want to be.  So what does it matter?  Right?

It depends.

If they were strangers, I really would not care but comments from family DO bother me, no matter how hard I try to not let it get to me.  No, they don't bother me to the point where I cry or have a bad day or even linger in it but, in the moment, for that second, it stings.  Why lie, right?

I'll give an example:  I went by last night and my 17 year old sister called me "she man" which was, okay, not bad.  Really, she's made comments about me having muscle before so it didn't surprise me.  But THEN she and my 15 year old sister started to actually stare at my body and criticize it.  "You're losing your butt.", and things of that sort.  I was taken aback by that simply because, for the first time since becoming an adult, I actually felt like I was under some microscope, being analyzed and critiqued for my body, and it kind of took me back to when I was a teenager myself, putting MYSELF under a microscope.  I wondered the usual, the most cliche thing that mom's always tell their kids: Are they jealous?

I really don't know the answer to that question and actually doubt they have any desire to have muscle, but I do know that they wish to lose weight so it crossed my mind.  Or are they just plain ol' meanies? Haha.  In any case, I don't think they wanted to hurt my feelings but I also don't think they know what impact their words can have, especially on another teenager who, unlike me, might be insecure with their body image.

The truth is this:  It stings, if even for a minute, when family makes comments like that but...BUT... I remember being a teenager, looking at myself in the mirror and wanting to FIX so many things about myself.  Not two years ago, I would undress to shower, look at myself in the mirror and shake my head in disappointment.  Outings would almost always start with me rummaging through size 13 clothes, feeling defeated and upset that I "didn't have any clothes" (i.e., nothing fit right).  Now...laugh if you want, but I sometimes pose in front of the mirror...haha...and I love...LOVE...who I see staring back at me.  I feel GREAT in my clothes...and I'm actually typing this with tears in my eyes because I've never been happier with my body and it took me SO long to learn to appreciate and love my body for what it is, for what it has (stretch marks, for instance), for what it can do day in and day out and for its possibilities.  The most amazing thing is that I have learned to love my body with EVERY SINGLE imperfection.  I don't have a flat stomach, I still have cellulite but through this journey, I have seen what my body can do if I take care of it and THAT is what made me learn to love it no matter WHAT size I am or what imperfection it carries.

I love how clothes fits me and I love what getting healthier did for my HEART.  Getting fit isn't just about what's on the outside.  Getting healthier made me a better person because it make me more compassionate towards those who struggle this struggle, it made me a better citizen because I reach out and volunteer to help those who wouldn't be able to get help without paying, it made me wiser, it made me stronger in every sense, it made me a better mother, and it made me a better wife and lover.

I can't control what others think of my body, much less what they say about it.  I can only control MY emotions, MY reactions, MY body and that's all I need, really.  That's all we ALL need.  In the end, it's YOUR body and you do with it what you want.  Only you control what goes in it and how you let it fuel you.  Do not...I repeat...do not ever let anyone make you feel like something or someone that you are not, whether they are "joking" or not.

Do you know what you want from your body?  If you do, then go get it.

Why you need a heart monitor.

I've been meaning to write this for a while.  I've been pretty busy but seeing as how the new year has begun & a drove of people are invading gyms everywhere, I thought I'd write about heart monitors.

Stay with me.  I know you're thinking you just want to lose a little weight, and you just don't need such gadgetry.  Or maybe you're taking baby steps & a heart monitor seems like an unnecessary leap into something that might not aid you in reaching your goal.

There are many benefits to using a heart rate monitor during exercise.  It allows you to see whether you are not working intensely enough or if you're working TOO intensely to where it's counter productive.  It also allows you to determine what "zone" you want to stay in.  More about that in a bit.

But let's move on for now....

The amount of calories you put into your body and the amount of energy you use up on your activities will determine your body weight. Therefore, balancing your calorie input with your energy output helps maintain your weight; adjusting your energy output with your calorie input will help you achieve your desired weight. Simply remember that when you take more calories than you need to perform your day's activities, your body stores the extra calories and you gain weight. On the other hand, you lose weight if your body uses your stored calories when you take less calories than you use. This concept is no secret!

 
So now we know that if you are gaining/storing fat, you are eating more calories than your body is able to burn, right?

& we know weight is lost when caloric intake (calories in ingest) is less than caloric output(burn via exercise).

A good weight loss strategy is to reduce daily caloric intake by 500 calories. Though you can lose weight by simply reducing calories, a combination of increased physical activity and calorie reduction will bring quicker results.

But how do you GET that information?

Well, you need to know, at least roughly, how many calories you're taking in.  Now don't go running off on me just yet.  The truth is that it's not time consuming to do this.  My favorite site to use is www.livestrong.com & there's even an app if you have an iPhone, iPad or iTouch.  Just punch in what you ate and walah! 

But now you need to know how many calories you've burned!  In comes the heart monitor.  Once you've established your Target Heart Rate, it's as simple as putting on a watch and that's it.  Punch that in into Livestrong.Com (free!!)  & it'll show you what you need to change, how you're doing, your progress and you can even input your own meals in there so you know how many calories a serving has.


There are a few key words I want you to understand before we begin:

Resting Heart Rate -  (RH) is how many beats per minute your heart beats while at complete rest, like in the morning while you're awake in bed, before getting up.

Maximum Heart Rate - is the level, or heart beats per minute, that must never be exceeded.  This is determined by your age with the following equation, 220 - Age = Maximum Heart Rate. 

I am 27 years old so 220-27=193.  When I do cardio, I am between 165-175, so knowing your heart rate when you're exercising is important for your health. You do NOT want to go over your MHR.

Target Heart Rate - is the heart rate range that you should try to maintain during exercise.


And before you ask, "but how do I know what my Target Heart Rate is?", I'm going to link you to a great step-by-step guide that will show you how here --->  http://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Your-Target-Heart-Rate

Recovery Heart Rate - is also important to know because you want to know your heart is recovering at a steady pace. Your heart rate should be below 120 after 2-5 minutes after exercise has stopped. If your heart rate is still high, you didn't cool down well enough or a low fitness level may be the cause.


Zones
ASSUMING you now know your THR, let's talk about those "zones" again.  Using the information you've calculated, you now want to pick a zone to work in and try to maintain your heart rate at that level.

Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability, which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

(The link I provided above will help with this.  Don't let is overwhelm you.  Take it one step at a time and you can't get lost.  If you do, feel free to message/comment on Alegria Fitness and I will try to help as much as I can.)



Look, I remember what it was like to read about all this when I first started.  I put it off for a long time, thinking it just wasn't necessary.  Then I spent time researching and really taking the time to just understand it.  I assure you, it's worth it.

It's ALIVE!!

I've been trying to think about a subject to write about for this weeks blog but I don't like to write just to write so I figured I'd play it by ear & see what came up. Something always does, after all!


Well this afternoon, I was sitting down adding some flaxseed to my organic yogurt (that sounds very uppety, I know) when my sister-in-law & I got to talking about live cultures/bacteria. She was somewhat surprised to hear what I had to say & went on to ask, "You mean, there's a bacterial war in my stomach?" Ha ha. Well, in a way, YES.


I'm going to keep this as simple as possible, not because I don't think y'all will understand (I've tried keeping "y'all" out of my blogs. Can't do it) but because it can get REALLY confusing for anyone & it's easy to get lost in the terminology.


We all have bacteria in our stomachs. Some is bad. Some is good.


You may have noticed a relatively new term flying around in the world of dairy; "probiotic". When a yogurt claims to be probiotic &/or to include live cultures/bacteria, what it's basically stating is that the yogurt you are about to eat is ALIVE. This, believe it or not, is a GOOD thing. You WANT live yogurt & I'll tell you why.


Sometimes, when we put into our bodies the not-so-great stuff, our good bacteria team gets overwhelmed by the BAD bacteria team. Bad bacteria in our stomachs can cause many health issues such as diarrhea or yeast infections. You could even become more susceptible to other bacterial infections or develop food allergies. It could even make you fat.


Washington University researchers conducted a study that showed that when people on low-fat/carb diets lost weight, the "proportion of two key microflora - Bacteriodetes and Firmicutes, which compromise 90% of the gut flora - change." The study, by the way, was done first on mice then on humans. In both cases, obese subjects had more Firmicutes than the good ol' Bacteriodetes. They believe that the Firmicutes were actually absorbing more calories and turning them into fat because as the subjects lost weight, the Firmicutes - the ones we don't want - started to diminish while the Bacteriodetes - the ones we DO want - started to "flourish".


We have over 500 types of bacteria (probiotics) in our gut. We need the good guys in there and less of the bad ones so a good way to get some of these GOOD live probiotics is to make sure that you eat yogurt that contains these live cultures. The ones I eat and feed to my children are organic & I'll say which they are but, FYI, I don't receive any type of compensation for doing so.


I buy Stonyfield Organic Yogurt and Oikos (also a SF brand). These contain 6 live cultures and the Oikos contains five, & they are:



-Lactobacillus bulgaricus
-Streptococcus thermophilus
-Lactobacillus acidophilus
-Bifidus
-Lactobacillus casei
-Lactobacillus rhamnosus


There are other yogurts that contain live cultures so do your taste-bud research & I'm sure you'll find one you'll love.


BUT WHY NOT REGULAR YOGURT?


To put it simply, they are heat treated to extend shelf life but it kills the live cultures in the process.


And what of that flaxseed?


The flaxseed is, as everything, completely up to you. I encourage you to do your research on both probiotics and flaxseed but I add it because I can't really taste the difference & it's good for me! It contains omega-3 fatty acid ALA & it's a good source of SDG's (secoisolariciresinol diglycoside).


One thing I want you to remember, though, is that we're not putting anything in our body that isn't supposed to be there. If anything, what some companies do to their product to extend shelf life or to make it look "pretty", can really damage your health little by little. Yogurt wasn't MEANT to be heat treated so if you really want to get back to the basics, I recommend going probiotic. (& organic - at least on dairy - but that's another blog.)


Trend words come & go, especially in the health & fitness business but this one is gaining momentum for a reason. Knowledge is power! ;)