Posts Tagged ‘life’

10 Ways to Burn 1 Pound of Body-Fat – Vol. 1

July 22nd, 2008

So you want to lose some weight.

You have come to the right place.

In today’s post, I am going to give you some activities that you can add to your daily routine that will help you lose 1 pound per week.

Science Stuff

A pound of body fat is equal to 3500 calories (give or take a few).

And for all of you remedial math students, if you burn an extra 500 calories every day of the week, you should lose 1 pound of fat per week.

Unfortunately, obesity can be a very complex subject for some people, but for most of us, eating less food and/or burning more calories does result in looser fitting pants.

10 Ways to Burn 1 Pound of Body-Fat – Vol. 1

The following list highlights activities that will burn 500 calories.

Perform one of these activities each and every day and you will burn off 3500 calories, or 1 pound of squishy body-fat each week.

Bicycling, leisure, Slower than 10 mph, to work or for pleasure

Bicycling, leisure, Slower than 10 mph, to work or for pleasure

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 115 minutes, or almost 2 hours

Average American Female: 135 minutes, or 2 and 1/4 hours

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 115 min / 220 lbs = 100 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 135 min / 122 lbs = 181 minutes

My calculations are based upon the CDC’s conclusion that the average American man weighs 191 lbs. and the average American woman weighs 164 lbs.
foolin' around

foolin' around

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 11 1/2 hours

Average American Female: 13 1/2 hours

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x  690 min / 220 lbs = 599 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 810 min / 122 lbs = 1089 minutes

Calisthenics, heavy, vigorous effort, Including pushups, situps, pullups, jumping jacks

Calisthenics, heavy, vigorous effort, Including pushups, situps, pullups, jumping jacks

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 50 minutes

Average American Female: 58 minutes

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 50 min / 220 lbs = 43 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 58 min / 122 lbs = 78 minutes

Multiple household tasks all at once, moderate effort

Multiple household tasks all at once, moderate effort

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 139 minutes or 2 and 1/3 hours

Average American Female: 161 minutes or 2 and 2/3 hours

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 139 min / 220 lbs = 121 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 161 min / 122 lbs = 216 minutes

Ballroom, slow, Waltz, foxtrot, slow dancing, samba, tango, 19th century, mambo, chacha

Ballroom, slow, Waltz, foxtrot, slow dancing, samba, tango, 19th century, mambo, chacha

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 173 minutes or 2 and 53 minutes

Average American Female: 202 minutes or 3 and 1/3 hours

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 173 min / 220 lbs = 150 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 202 min / 122 lbs = 272 minutes

Carrying infant or 15 pound load (e.g. suitcase), level ground or downstairs

Carrying infant or 15 pound load (e.g. suitcase), level ground or downstairs

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 139 minutes or 2 and 1/3 hours

Average American Female: 161 minutes or 2 and 2/3 hours

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 139 min / 220 lbs = 121 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 161 min / 122 lbs = 216 minutes

Sitting while talking, Including talking on the phone

Sitting while talking, Including talking on the phone

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 693 minutes or 11 and 1/2 hours

Average American Female: 807 minutes or 13 and 1/2 hours

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 693 min / 220 lbs = 602 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 807 min / 122 lbs = 1085 minutes

Gardening, general

Gardening, general

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 115 minutes or 1 hour and 55 minutes

Average American Female: 135 minutes or 2 and 1/4 hours

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 115 min / 220 lbs = 100 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 135 min / 122 lbs = 181 minutes

Swimming laps, freestyle, slow, moderate or light effort

Swimming laps, freestyle, slow, moderate or light effort

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 58 minutes

Average American Female: 67 minutes

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 58 min / 220 lbs = 50 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 67 min / 122 lbs = 90 minutes

Mowing lawn, walk, power mower

Mowing lawn, walk, power mower

Daily activity for 500 calories:

Average American Male: 77 minutes or 1 and 1/4 hours

Average American Female: 90 minutes or 1 and 1/2 hours

To accurately calculate your individual time:

Multiply (Avg. male or female wt.) x (Avg. male or female time) and divide that by your weight.

Ex. 220 lb. male: 191 lbs x 77 min / 220 lbs = 67 minutes

Ex. 122 lb. female: 164 lbs x 90 min / 122 lbs = 121 minutes

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Stay tuned for more updates & feel free to suggest activities.

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HIIT Workouts – Vertical Jump Training

July 21st, 2008

Recently, I introduced you to “The 4 Steps to a Great H.I.I.T Workout“.

I told you how to select exercises that worked well within a HIIT program. I showed you how to correctly increase the volume and intensity of your HIIT workouts for maximum efficiency. I also explained how modifying an external load can be an effective HIIT tool.

In today’s post I will show you some sample HIIT workouts that I have used on some of my clients.

Different Types of HIIT Workouts

In my business, I work with athletes who are interested in improving their athletic performance as well as the “rest of us” who are mainly interested in improving our overall health and perhaps losing a pound or two.

Lucky for me, HIIT is an effective tool for both groups.

The only differences in designing HIIT programs for these groups is that the level of intensity and resistance is usually higher for the ‘athletes” and that the exercises I choose for them are specifically suited to the needs of their sport.

For example, basketball players need to maximize their vertical jump whereas the rest of us probably have all of the “hops” we need to perform well at our job.

So for all of you aspiring Dwight Howards, or if you are simply interested in improving your vertical jump, while burning off body-fat and lowering your blood pressure, read on:

Vertical Jump HIIT Workout # 1

Exercise Combo # 1

Primary Exercise

Vertical Jumps onto Platform/Bench/Step/Etc.

Active Rest Exercise

Rotation Lunges – walking or static

Exercise Combo # 2

Primary Exercise

Bulgarian Jumping Squats – with added resistance (dumbbells, XVest, etc)

Active Rest Exercise

Bulgarian Squat – bodyweight only – focus on the stretch

Exercise Combo # 3

Dick Hartzell’s Jump Stretch Hips & Groin Combo

This is a great exercise video. With this exercise combo, you strengthen the lower posterior chain and stretch the hip flexors; all from various angles. Hip mobility is improved, along with hamstring strength and adductor/abductor strength and flexibility.

Great stuff!

Putting it all together

These are three very specific HIIT workout combinations. They are designed to improve the trainee’s vertical jump while at the same time reaping all of the other HIIT benefits.

Due to their intensity, I usually do not perform all 3 combos back to back. I insert them into the body of a more generic resistance training workout.

As their athletic and jumping abilities improve, I:

  • Increase the Volume of HIIT
  • Increase the Intensity
  • Increase the Load

I also have a few more jumping exercises that I use now and then, but these are my favorites.

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Scientists Discover New Obesity Gene – Obesity Research Update #4

July 18th, 2008

Obesity researcher, Professor Philippe Froguel and his team have discovered a new obesity gene.

Apparently, this gene ( PCSK1 ) plays a part in the maturation of various hormones that control food intake.

This means that if you have a mutated version of this gene, you are predisposed to severe obesity. Severe obesity, not just regular, run of the mill obesity.

The Details

PCSK1 produces an enzyme called proconvertase 1.

Proconvertase 1 activates several hormones and circulating peptides that are involved in controlling appetite – insulin, glucagon, GLP1, and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC).

The conclusion of this study is that even apparently minor abnormalities in a proconvertase 1 are enough to significantly increase the risk of severe obesity and to lead to excessive weight in the general population.

So what does this mean?

This means that if your PCSK1 gene is mutated, you are probably obese. Just like if your were born with a congenital leptin deficiency.

So, what percentage of the population is walking around with a deformed PCSK1 gene.

We don’t know, and neither do the scientists.

What causes this gene mutation?

We don’t know, and neither do the scientists.

Can this mutation be corrected?

We don’t know, and neither do the scientists.

Should obese individuals rely on science to provide them with a treatment for a potentially rare genetic mutation that most likely did not cause their obesity in the first place?

NO.

oops, sorry, my objectiveness slipped a little..

We don’t know, and neither do the scientists.

The study is published in the journal, Nature Genetics.

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Scientists discover the Couch Potato gene

July 17th, 2008

A group of researchers, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, have mapped out 23 specific chromosomal locations that account for 84% of the behavioral differences between low activity (see lazy) mice and high activity mice (see type A super achievers) – sorry, no human tests yet.

Link to Study # 1

Link to Study # 2

Initially, the researchers thought that the difference between the lazy and active mice was due to a genetic effect on the way energy is used by the muscle tissue.

This was proven false. Okay then, moving on.

This led the researchers to look at how genetic differences in brain chemistry might be causing this propensity towards laziness.

Success!

The Studies

The first thing the researchers did was to interbreed the active mice with the lazy mice. Then, they tested the offspring of this ‘unholy union’ for activity using three measurements – speed, endurance and distance.

Genetic tests were performed on the mice and strong correlations were found between the differences in the their genomes and their test results. In fact, the scientists identified 23 genes that were shown to affect activity levels.

While, the scientists have no idea what these genes are doing to cause these differences in activity level, they know that there is a link.

So what does this mean?

This may mean that while some people may be genetically predisposed to enjoy exercise, others may be genetically predisposed to glue their butts to the couch and watch re-runs of Murder She Wrote until they fall asleep in a Doritos induced slumber.

How depressing.

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Epigenetics & Obesity – Obesity Research Update #3

July 16th, 2008

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have made a groundbreaking discovery – Overweight moms give birth to children who become even more overweight and who in turn have children who become even more overweight and so on and so on.

Damn!

Maybe I have been wrong all these years. Maybe our body composition is determined by our DNA.

Nope.

According to this study, researchers found that by supplementing an obese mother’s diet with folic acid and other methyl supplements, they were able to reverse this form of inherited obesity.”

The Hypothesis

Lead researcher, Dr. Robert Waterland, designed this study to test the hypothesis that maternal obesity before and during pregnancy affects the body weight regulatory mechanisms in her offspring.

In layman’s terms, does a fat mom produce fat babies?

In regards to reversing this cycle of inherited obesity, Dr. Waterland believes that “DNA methylation may play an important role in the development of the hypothalamus (the region of the brain that regulates appetite).”

The Method

Waterland et al tested this hypothesis on three generations of genetically identical mice, all with the same genetic tendency to overeat. (agouti viable yellow [Avy] mice)

The mice were divided into two groups:

  1. Standard diet group
  2. Standard diet supplemented with folic acid, vitamin B12, betaine and choline. This special ‘methyl supplemented’ diet enhances DNA methylation.

Sorry about that. You don’t have to worry about nerd terms like DNA methylation, there won’t be a test at the end of this post.

What they were attempting to do was to reduce or silence the effect that the inherited gene had over the development of the baby mice.

Can mice that are genetically predisposed to obesity be spared from a life of stretchy pants and motorized scooters?

The Results

The mice on the standard diet piled on the body-fat, as expected, and subsequent generations were progressively more obese.

Those on the methyl supplemented diet did not gain weight through successive generations.

So what does this mean to me?

Well, according to Dr. Waterland, “the effect of methyl supplementation on body weight was independent of epigenetic changes at the Avy locus, indicating this model may have direct relevance to human transgenerational obesity”.

OR

This treatment could be safely adapted for human trials and could potentially provide a cure for inherited pediatric obesity.

Please note that this is one study, performed on mice. This doesn’t mean that moms-to-be should start mega-dosing supplements in order to produce babies with six packs.

Let the geeks do their work.

First come the scientific human trials. Then come the drug company trials. Then come the drugs and/or supplements.

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The Future of Food

June 16th, 2008

Combining the best and/or worst aspects of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth and Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food / Omnivore’s Dilemma, U.K. author, Felicity Lawrence has written a new book (Eat Your Heart Out: Why the Food Business is Bad for the Planet and Your Health) detailing her investigation into the impact that multinational food chain companies have upon our food supply. During her investigation, Lawrence arrives at some startling conclusions:

  • A “half dozen heavily subsidized commodities – soya, rapeseed/flax, palm oil,corn, sugar and rice – are broken down into their individual parts and endlessly reconstituted and sold back to us as processed foods or turned into animal feed to produce the factory meats that have conquered our diets in the past half-century.”
  • Lawrence coins this shift towards assembly line food production as “food Fordism”.
  • The Brazilian rain forest is being cleared for farmland on an unprecedented scale. Companies like Cargill and ADM have worked with the Brazilian government and farmers to create a rapidly growing soya bean industry within the Brazilian rain forest.
  • Her description of how foods like soya have to be chemically manipulated to make them suitable for human or livestock consumption might just put you off your next soy milk Starbucks latte.
  • The U.S. – European tariff agreements that were part of America’s post WW2 Marshall Plan allowed heavily subsidized US food, animal feed and fertilizer exports to enter the European markets and take over market share. “In other words, the raw ingredients for today’s global food system have been kept cheap for transnational corporations by government policy.” “And where U.S. subsidies go, western diets have a habit of following. American imports have created whole new patterns of consumption.” “Demand has been a function of price, availability and production.”
  • The U.S. government subsidized it’s agricultural commodities to the tune of $165 billion. Soya, corn, rice, wheat and cotton account for 90% of that money.
  • The real beneficiaries of these subsidies have not been the American farmer, but the agricultural commodity trading companies – her pals – Cargill, ADM, Bunge and the Louis Dreyfus Group.

Lawrence casts an especially jaundiced eye at Cargill.

She quotes Brewster Kneen, the company’s unauthorized biographer, as saying “Cargill is the undisputed ruler in the global grain trade and extends its tentacles into every aspect of the global food system.”

A description of Cargill’s history describes how it “initially built up its power in the 1870s, in the speculative era of the American agricultural frontier when U.S. grain, along with sugar, began providing the fuel for workers in an industrialising, urbanising Britain.” She goes on to compare it to Britain’s fabled East India Company. Cargill’s own description of it’s own operations proudly boasts of the activities that Lawrence warns us of.

According to Cargill’s company brochures: “We buy, trade, transport, mill, crush, process, refine, season, distribute around the clock and around the globe.

And: “We are the flour in your bread, the wheat in your noodles, the salt on your fries. We are the corn in your tortillas, the chocolate in your dessert, the sweetener in your soft drink. We are the oil in your salad dressing and the beef, pork or chicken you eat for dinner. We are the cotton in your clothing, the backing on your carpet and the fertilizer in your field.”

Yikes.

But don’t worry, apparently things turn out all right in the end.

While Lawrence may have presented a bleak look at the current global food supply, she boosts our spirits with the following:

“History shows that empires rise and fall, however, and that the fall when it comes tends to be fast. Food empires are likely to be no different. We are now entering a period of rapid transition. The postwar food system, dependent on prodigious quantities of crude oil for its production, has not only pushed us to our biological limits but is hitting the environmental buffers”.

“After half a century in which they shaped the nature of global diets with the disposal of their agricultural surplus, the Americans have done a sudden about-turn. With the price of oil constantly breaking new records, they want their surplus back to keep their cars on the road. The U.S. government has started pouring subsidies into the production of ethanol from corn. Grain prices have been soaring. the standard commodity parts are no longer cheap, but we are left with the legacy of the old economic order, with diets that were created out of excess.”

Double yikes.

Global warming and high oil prices are supposed to save us from the evil food conglomerates.

That doesn’t sound good at all.

What the #%@$&!!!

Oh well, maybe history will repeat itself and Homer Simpson will return to defeat our evil Cargill just like he defeated the evil Russ Cargill in the Simpsons Movie.

Pop Culture Reference #628:
Cargill was indirectly criticized in the 2007 Simpsons Movie, by having an irresponsible, manipulative EPA boss named “Russ Cargill“, as the main villain in this film.

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New Diet Drug offers an Alternative to Obesity Surgery

May 27th, 2008

Tesofensine, a new diet drug being developed by the Danish drug company, NeuroSearch, had it’s coming out party at this years European Congress on Obesity.

Recent tests claimed that, with no changes to diet or lifestyle, the average test subject experienced an 11.2% average reduction in weight. In absolute terms, the average test subject lost 11.3 kg / 24.9 lbs. This weight loss took place over the course of a 24 week treatment with 0.5 mg Tesofensine tablets.

More data here.

TIPO-1 results
Placebo
Tesofensine
0.25 mg
Tesofensine
0.5 mg
Tesofensine
1.0 mg
ITT* population
52
52
50
49
Mean weight
at base line (kg)
103.2
101.7
100.1
101.3
Average relative
weight loss
2.0%
6.5%**
11.2%**
12.6%**
Average absolute
weight loss (kg)
2.2
6.7**
11.3**
12.8**

25 lbs over 6 months with no additional exercise or dietary restriction.

Sounds pretty great.

In another test, Tesofensine produced 2.2 kg/4.85 lbs of weight loss in just 2 weeks. Once again, this test required that no dietary or lifestyle changes be made by the participants.
Tesofensine
Placebo
Population (ITT)
n = 16
n = 16
Baseline average BMI
30.7
31.1
Baseline average weight (kg)
102.6
102.6
Total body weight loss (kg)
2.2
0.4
Maximum weight loss (kg)
4.7
1.5

Professor Arne Astrup, president of the International Association for the Study of Obesity said that “if doctors were to encourage users to lose weight before taking the tablets and to eat sensibly and exercise while taking them they could double their weight loss”.

“You could easily come up to 20 per cent weight loss which could offer an alternative to the surgical treatment of obesity which has become the only real cure or effective treatment that can provide a weight loss of that size”.

While I don’t agree with Dr. Astrup’s assertion that bariatric surgery is the only real cure or effective treatment for obesity, I am encouraged by the efficacy of this drug.

The Down Side

Not to be pessimistic, but how many times in the past have drug manufacturers claimed to have formulated the ultimate fat burning pill? Does anyone remember fen-Phen?

Right now, we know that there have been some promising tests. We also know that the drug has the following side effects: mild nausea, diarrhea, constipation, insomnia, mood changes, and, perhaps most importantly, increased heart rate.

My Conclusion

Unless you have a very serious medical condition that requires you to lose weight as soon as possible, I would not recommend being an ‘early adopter’ of any diet drug. NeuroSearch will be running further tests to look at increasing the efficacy and minimizing the side effects.

In the mean time, improving your physical fitness and your food intake is still the best way to go.

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Disease Prevention with an Exercise Prescription

May 1st, 2008

In the U.K., doctors are writing exercise prescriptions for their patients.

While it is not an entirely new practice over there, it would be revolutionary on this side of the pond.

Imagine this; instead of billions upon billions of dollars being spent on treating disease, we spent a fraction of that money on preventing disease.

In 2000, the total cost of obesity in the United States was estimated to be $117 billion. About $61 billion was for direct medical costs, and $56 billion was for indirect costs.

That number is likely to increase as the Percentage of Adults Who Report Being Obese, increases year after year.

A study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US has recently estimated that each physically-active person saves the health care system over $300 annually relative to an inactive person.

With the current U.S. population at 303,980,933, that would work out to a potential savings of $91,194,279,900

In Canada:

  • A study done in 1995 for the Ontario Government called The Relationship between Physical Fitness and the Cost of Health Care, estimated that OHIP medical claim costs could be reduced by $31 million a year if all Ontario adults (aged 20-69) had at least an average level of fitness.
  • Based on CDC study mentioned above, the 63% of Canadians who are still inactive cost the health system $5.7B more than if they were active.
  • In the Economic Burden of Illness in Canada, Health Canada reports that the total direct cost (drugs, physicians, hospitals, research) of illness in 1993 was $44 billion out of an overall cost for health care in Canada of $70 billion.Moreover, the indirect costs such as time lost due to long-term and short-term disabilities, and the present value of future productivity lost due to premature mortality and illness in Canada represents an estimated economic value of $129 billion — nearly 21% of the GDP. Reducing the number of inactive Canadians by a further 10% would result in an additional saving of $5 billion.

So what do we do?

In a Cost-Benefit Analysis of Physical Activity Using Bike/Pedestrian Trails, it was found that every $1 investment (construction, maintenance, equipment and travel) in exercise trails led to $2.94 in direct medical benefit.

A 2004 paper, published the in American Journal of Preventive Medicine has a variety of intervention strategies.

But at the end of the day, all government can do is try to coax us, bribe us or threaten us into adopting a healthier lifestyle.

Ultimately, it is up to the individual to make the conscious decision. Is the benefit of living an active and healthy life worth the cost?

Is it?

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