Fit Friday: Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

Thank you, Smart Phone. I am finally able to get back to my health-reading habit since my smart phone allows me to squeeze that activity into the nooks and crannies of time available in my 3-Ballplayer-Mom lifestyle! Which leads to our Friday Tips, Tricks and Inspiration.

Tips: Choose a Plan You Can Stick With and GET SUPPORT

I'm not one to get into flame wars so in complete honesty, the part of this editorial  ("Why Protein Isn't Bad for You") that goes after Dr. Ornish wasn't personally interesting to me. However, this thought provoking op-ed piece reminded me once again of the importance of a balanced, moderate approach to eating and the importance of in-the-flesh, ongoing support in your weight loss efforts. It never hurts to be reminded!

The salient points are these:

• Choose a moderate and healthy eating plan that you can continue over a long period or -- ideally -- forever. 
• Protein is a necessary part of our diet. Avoid processed meats; really folks, these should be for occasional treats or actual emergencies
• Any eating plan is more successful with regular -- think weekly -- ongoing support
• Online support has simply not been proven successful as a sole means of support; in the high tech age, it turns out we all still need people "in the flesh."

Tricks: Gastric Bypass Surgery is Not a Panacea for Instant Happiness

In fact, it's a proven successful method of weight loss that comes at a high price. For many people, it's life saving. Yet it's not easy nor instant, and the changes that come with it are hard for some people to handle. I hope you will take a minute to read this first-person account of weight-bias with a few words on the side effects of gastric bypass.

Who Knew? Getting Off Our Butts is Saving our Lives! Friday Inspiration.

I do write about this frequently but that's because there is an explosion of research on the topic. This recent study looks at the effects of sedentary behavior as related to our mortality. Straight from the researcher's pens' is this conclusion: 

" . . . long periods of sedentary time was positively associated with an increased risk for dying (from all-causes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases) and increasing the risk for certain forms of cancer . . ., cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Our meta-analysis found that the largest association was with type 2 diabetes (91% increased risk)."

That's pretty hard to ignore. One of my loved ones died of complications of diabetes after a tough battle of many years that saw her losing both her legs, Death by diabetes is slow and painful.

The study authors go on to suggest that 30 minutes/day of physical activity is critical to longevity and health. They also mention other recent studies that suggest even that amount of activity will not necessarily counteract the negative effects of long periods of sitting. This has been much in the news lately, resulting in recommendations that we never sit longer than 20 minutes at a stretch. This is a very challenging goal to meet; I know because I try to keep it. 

It would be instructive to just notice how long your stretches of sitting are currently. If you have a Fitbit or Jawbone or similar device, it's easy to do: Just look at your data. If you do not have an activity monitor, it would be easy enough to keep a notepad on your desk or near your sofa. Try wearing at least a basic pedometer and increase your steps every day, paying particular attention to long periods of sitting.

It's easy enough to do:  I am going to focus on getting up during commercials when I watch TV in the evening which is when almost all my sitting takes place.  I am also going to make sure I get a minimum of 10,000/steps every day (even when ill!) which will help me accomplish the previous goal.

What will inspire you this week?

Fun Friday: Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

Happy Friday! Here are your Tips, Tricks and Inspiration!

Get Off Your Bottom and Save Your Life!

There was a very thorough and helpful article in the March/April 2015 issue of Weight Watchers Magazine on how sitting is the new "smoking." Your life can be seriously shortened by a sedentary lifestyle, even if you are regular exerciser. I cannot find a link to the Weight Watchers article -- which is excellent and worth your time to track down and purchase -- but here is a link to a shorter article on the same theme.

The crux of it is this: your desk job may be killing you! If you have a desk job, see if a standing desk can be made available for you. Get up at least once an hour for 5 minutes; this can have a huge positive impact on your health. Even better is getting up every 20 minutes.  The Weight Watchers article has a whole page of ways to implement this lifestyle change.

Tricks

We all know movement and exercise are crucial to weight loss and maintenance. But the trick is to keep ourselves motivated. 5 or 6 years ago, I started wearing a fitbit, intrigued by the accelerometer and more accurate (than a pedometer) step-tracking. There are several competing products out there now, too. It doesn't matter which product you use, these activity trackers are amazing. They make you aware of how active or sedentary you are and they are practically work-free. You just put them on with your clothes each day and charge them every few days. They sync by blue tooth so all you have to do is walk near your computer. All the products have mobile apps, of course. Most sync with the Weight Watchers app and other popular weight loss apps.

These products are a perfect example of something you don't technically need but once you start using them, you won't know why you waited so long! In the interest of full disclosure, I read a study that said half the users lose interest in the product over time. Fair enough. For the other half, though, these simple devices can lead to long-term lifestyle changes.

Start small. Simple devices like the fitbit zip are under $50. (Full disclosure: I am just a fitbit fan. I am not getting anything out of this free and unsolicited endorsement for their products!)

Inspiration

As I said recently, friends help with the challenges of ongoing weight loss. Sometimes they help without even knowing it! The fitbit app allows you to "friend" other fitbit users. One of my friends, Anne, gets tons of steps every week. Last night she had over 84,000 for the week! I asked her, "How do you always get so many steps?" Her answer: "I told myself there will be NO MORE days under 10,000 steps." So simple, right?  She totally inspired me! I took up the gauntlet for myself and I went from being in the middle of the pack of my friends to consisently in 2nd place, right behind Anne, of course! 

What this means in real terms is that I am now moving through my weekends instead of sitting through them. Last Saturday, I knew I'd be scorekeeping at 3 games and watching 1 or 2 more ballgames. I decided to leave my chair in the car. I stood up and did some jogging in place in between batters. I ran all over that ballpark. I never sat down! I'd have never done that without my 10K/day commitment. Sunday, I cleaned my house from top to bottom. Okay well I didn't get it all done but it was my most productive weekend in ages. 

Connecting with other fit-minded individuals is such a boost. Yes, it's exposing too, but transparency is a great thing. It's so freeing to be an open book and in so doing, you may inspire someone else. Allow yourself to be inspired --or be an inspiration -- this week!