Enjoy helpful articles on hot topics by Bonnie Pfiester in the press journal and on LongevityClubs.com.

Topics Include:
Protein Foods

Motivation

Eating after 7

Reading Labels

Protein Foods Exposed

Darryl Good, from Live Exercise, asked this question and I thought it was a great question so i wanted to share my answer in my blog so I could pass it along to my facebook & twitter friends.

QUESTION: "Bonnie, I would like to know if you know what foods to eat that will give lots of protein?? I know eggs, peannut butter, chicken, lima beans, I know there is more but not sure what. I do not want to take pills or buy protein drinks if I don't have to. I want to gain muscle by eating the right foods and doing exercieses. Thanks."

MY ANSWER: Well, believe it or not, peanut butter and beans are not on the list really. In my opinion, what makes a food considered HIGH in protein, is when the MAJORITY of the calories come from protein. For instance, we'll look at those food items in Fit Day....

Lima Beans have 110 calories for 1/2 of a cup - 17.4gms of carbs & only 5.7gms of protein. I would consider this a carb more than a protein. Here's the graph for Lima Beans on www.fitday.com

2 Tablespoons of Peanut Butter has 188 calories, 16gms of fat and only 8gms of protein. I would consider this a fat source more than a protein source. Check out the www.fitday.com graph profile of peanut butter:

2 Boiled Eggs are 154 calories, 10.6gms fat, 1.1gms carbs, 12.5gms protein. You may think, at first, this HAS to be a protein source, BUT 10.6gms of fat (9 calorie per gram) means 95.4 calories come from fat where only 50 calories are coming from protein. This means, with the yoke, this has a LOT more fat than protein. BUUUUT, if you take out the yoke, then eggs are a GREAT source of protein!! Here's the profile WITH the yoke:


Eggs WITHOUT the Yoke:


Cottage Cheese is a great protein source - with 163 calories in a cup. 2gm fat, 6gms carbs, 28gms protein. This can be added on a potato instead of sour cream, it can be used to recipes, it can be added to salads...it can even been blending in salad dressings. Personally, i HATE cottage cheese, but i totally can eat it on foods - just not by itself. Here's it's profile:


You could replace lima beans with one of my favorite foods that is almost a perfect 33/33/33% balance, Edamame (soy beans). 189 calories for a cup, 8gms fat, 15.4 carbs, 16.9 protein.


My suggestion is to enter your foods into Fit Day (just by itself so you can visualize the profile)
Truthfully, the best sources of protein are meats - white fish, salmon, chicken, turkey (are the top), ...then pork and beef. You can eat other foods that have protein in them, but there are few sources of food that are primarily protein. That is also why so many people have to supplement in order to get their protein where they need it for muscle development. :))

GREAT QUESTION!! I'll see if we can hit this topic in video too!

Motivation is Overrated

If I had a dime for every person that says they want to lose weight but are just not motivated - I’d be worth millions. Over half the conversations I have with people are on the subject of motivation, but motivation shouldn’t determine success.

Interestingly enough, we all have things that should give us plenty of motivation to lose weight and get in shape. Our health and appearance mean a lot to us, but what people are really talking about is a feeling. People naturally would prefer to “feel” like working out. Some people only exercise on the days they “feel” like exercising. Well gosh, I would hardly ever work out if I did that!

You cannot rely on feeling motivated to help you reach your goals. It is a plan and total commitment that gets you to your goal - period. Relying solely on motivation puts your success on something that is variable. This applies to other areas of our life like putting money away or paying off debt. You only get success when you commit and follow through - whether you feel like it or not. Similar to going to work or church those days you really don’t feel like it, it has to become a priority. Like work, the discipline pays off.

Read this quote from Steve when he was on ABC's Fat March. "At some point we have to take control over our emotions and our discomforts. Our pain and emotions should never dictate our actions. Emotion is important to be aware of, but not to be slave to. We need to act out of purpose in a positive mannor regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in."

So in essence, we need to quit letting how we feel affect what we do. The good news is we can cling to the fact that weight loss is pure science and it works. What you put in is what you get out. Even if you are down, depressed or feeling ehh. If you follow through, you'll still get the same great results whether you were motivated or not.
A simple fix for knee pain

There’s nothing like a little knee pain to make you feel old and out of shape. Ironically, it is normally when you are trying to get in shape that you discover these little annoyances.

A few years ago I started jogging again. At least, that was the goal. I quickly discovered my body wasn’t ready for a jogging routine and much preferred a brisk walk. I had never felt that out of shape before.

Although I was lifting weights and occasionally doing the stepper or elliptical, my body wasn’t used to jogging and it let me know it quick! My hip ached, my knees throbbed, and my muscles were incredibly sore.

Even though most of my body adapted to the new routine eventually, my knees took a little longer to improve. Believe it or not, it was a simple fix – all I needed to do was stretch.

I am sure this may sound odd to some people. I mean, what in the world could stretching a muscle do for a joint? Well, plenty! You see, my leg muscles were really tight, especially my quadriceps (thigh muscles). Since these tight muscles attach to the patella (the kneecap) tight muscles were most likely the cause of my discomfort.

If you gently stretch the leg muscles, you relieve the tension on the kneecap allowing for proper tracking. The only drawback is you have to be patient and consistent with your stretching routine. You can’t expect your muscles to loosen up after just a few stretches. With increased activity comes increase tightness so it’s something you have to do often.

I had to stretch several times a day. I even would stop and stretch in the middle of my jog to help get me through my routine. Eventually, my knee pain completely went away. My two miles of limping turned into a four and half mile pain-free jog thanks to a few simple stretches.

While there are many reasons for knee pain, tight leg muscles are often the culprit, especially if you just started noticing it after increasing activity. Unfortunately, many people quit an exercise program due to aches and pains discovered after beginning their new routine. Just keep in mind the solution maybe easier than you think.



High Reps or Low Reps - That's the Question!

Is it better to do low reps and high resistance or high reps and lower resistance? This is one of the most popular questions floating around fitness industry today. Although an athlete’s exercise program might be very different from a body-sculpting program, there is one thing they should both have in common: their workouts should be challenging.

A challenging exercise program means fatiguing the muscles. How you do that is up to you and your goals. Different resistance and repetition combinations both can result in improvements as long as the muscle is completely fatigued, which means the last few repetitions should be difficult to complete. You can do this by doing 10 sets of 8 or 4 sets of 20 – either way you’re doing 80 reps. As long as you are completely fatigued when you are done, you’re going to get a great workout and arguing over who got the best workout is just splitting hairs.

Before I go further, I have two common thought processes that I should address. Women are often so concerned about bulking up they typically don't exercise aggressively enough to get the results they desire. They stay away from heavy resistance and low reps in fear of getting big. Unless they are taking performance enhancing supplements and eating in a way to encourage rapid muscle growth, they shouldn't worry about getting too muscular.

Then the guys tend to do the opposite. They often do too few reps in order to lift as heavy as they can. Some of this may be pride, since they’d have to go down in resistance to do more reps. Either way, men often lift too heavy for too few of reps with too long of rest between sets to really get the most out of their workout. Just for kicks, I’d love these guys to cut their resistance in half and triple their reps – I bet they’d be crying!

If you want your muscle to change, it simply has to be challenged. Think of a callous. You don't get calluses immediately. A matter of fact, the opposite happens. The skin thins, tears and even bleeds. It's only in time your body builds the layers of protective hard skin, but that won't happen unless you continue to stress that area.

Bigger, stronger muscles only come when your body realizes it has no other choice but to get stronger so it can endure what you put it through - and perform well. It responds to the demands you put on your body. If you don't challenge it, there is no reason for it to get stronger or bigger. You must give it a bigger task than it can currently handle. Then, it's the repetitive literal wear and tear that you put your body through to get your body to respond.

Low reps and big breaks would be like raking the yard once a month. It doesn’t matter how hard you work on that one day, it is very unlikely you will build calluses because there was too big of a rest between the actual work, allowing your body to fully recover. However, if you start raking repeatedly everyday, I guarantee your body will get the message and give you some nice calluses to work with.

This is how your muscles work too. It doesn’t matter how heavy you lift, if you let your body fully recover with a long rest between sets or you aren’t working out consistently enough. If your muscles aren’t being fully fatigued, your body won’t respond the way you want it too. It is the repetitive breaking down of the muscle that forces your body to heal and grow stronger.

Now, what that said, there are totally different training techniques for specific athletes, like power-lifters. They may lift extremely heavy for one rep with extended rest, but honestly – have you seen a power lifter that had a physique you wanted? Most people are not training to lift a car or bend a frying pan. They are training to sculpt their physiques and this is the type of training I’m talking about.

Are you skeptical? Let me share with you over a 1,000 success stories who all prove that you don’t have to lift one heavy weight or do low reps to gain muscle and sculpt a body. In our boot camp program, our clients gain and an average of 6-9lbs of muscle and lose between 10-15lbs of fat in one 4-6 week boot camp program – all without using one heavy weight. Their training consists of body weight movements, like push-ups and plyometrics, with high-rep resistance exercises using Bodylastics bands with very little rest.

One of the reasons our boot campers get great results has a lot to do with their eating. The people who don’t gain muscle don’t eat the protein they need to gain lean mass, which brings me to my final point - your body reflects how you eat more than how you train.

If you exercise like a ballerina but you eat like a football player, you are more likely to look like a football player than a ballerina. If you are prone to bulking up, it’s important that you eat accordingly. If you have a hard time gaining weight, then you have learn to eat how you want to look. It’s easy to fixate on your training and forget all about the diet portion of your program.

So, unless you are one of those rare people who are totally satisfied with the way you look, you'll need to watch what you eat and maintain a challenging workout routine no matter how many repetitions you choose to do.

(Photo: Steve Pfiester's legs the day of a body building show. Steve's leg routine primarily consists of high-rep, low resistance training where he does 18-25 reps and 4-5 sets.)
 

Snacking after 7pm is a bad habit

Have you ever heard the diet tip, “don’t eat after 7:00pm”? If you think of food as fuel for your body, eating before bed makes little sense. It’s not like you need that much fuel to sleep.

However, the calories you eat before bed are not any different than the calories you consume all day. If you are in a caloric deficit, it really doesn’t matter if you eat right before bed or not. At the end of the day, you’ve burned more calories than you’ve eaten and you won’t be storing any calories - no matter when you eat. With that said, most people are not in a calorie deficit so the extra calories can sabotage a diet in a jiffy.

The reason this rule works is because most of us have an incredible magnetic force that draws us to the kitchen after dinner. Although our stomachs are full, we find ourselves standing in front of the pantry looking for something magical to eat. Why do we feel the need to snack? It’s simple - it’s just a bad habit. Whether it’s due to boredom or indulgence, the lack of discipline has taught our bodies to snack.

Back in the “olden days”, before television or radio, most people probably didn’t sit on the couch for 2 or 3 hours doing nothing every night. That is the first diet mistake – doing nothing. The second mistake is how we define a “treat”. Having a treat or snack used to be special, not a nightly ritual.

Ironically, we set ourselves up for failure, which is our next mistake. We buy the very junk we’re supposed to avoid. If you don’t buy the chips and dip, you won’t eat them - it’s that simple. You can blame it on your kids or spouses, but they don’t need it either.

Another temptation is drinking. Whether it’s soda, juice, beer or wine – our next mistake is drinking your calories, which is just as bad as eating them. Depending on the snacks and beverages, someone could save 500 to 1,000 calories a night if they called it quits after dinner.

Although this rule can help a lot of people, it doesn’t work for everyone. If you’re like me, you may not even get home to eat dinner before 7. In this case, don’t set rules based on time, but just don’t eat after dinner. For others, the temptation to snack is at a different time of day or for a different circumstance. Then there are some people who just don’t have a temptation to snack at all, but they are getting their extra calories in other ways.

Dieters need to practice limits and self-control. We need rules to live by - and sometimes we just need to say no. Take control of your habits and take control of your waistline.

How snacks add up:
648 calories = 14 Triskets (2 servings), 2oz cheese and 20oz soda
490 calories = One grab bag of nacho tortilla chips & a 20oz soda
794 calories = 2oz mixed nuts and 3 Corona Exta Light beers
500 calories = 1 cup light ice cream and one 20oz soda
740 calories = 1 margarita

 

The Fat Burning Zone is Misleading

When people refer to cardio, most of the time they’re talking about burning calories - not working their cardiovascular system. Although cardio does work the heart and lungs, most people’s motivation for sweating it out on a treadmill is to burn calories and fat.

Commercial cardio equipment now comes with programs and graphs to help you find your training zone. The ‘Fat Burning Zone’ refers to working at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. In this zone, a higher percentage of calories burned come from fat. Another zone is the ‘Cardio Zone’, which refers to working at 70-80% of your maximum heart rate. Although someone can burn more calories per hour in this high-intensity zone, a lower percentage of calories come from fat.

At first glance this sounds fantastic. It appears one could workout at a lower intensity and burn more fat, but that’s not exactly the case. Though it is somewhat true, this principle has been improperly used to make exercise more attractive to the average consumer.

Let’s look at it this way. We actually burn the highest percentage of fat while sleeping, but we may only burn 60 calories an hour. So even if 80% of those calories are from fat, it’s still not that many calories overall. Since it takes 3,500 calories to burn one pound of fat, we really need to burn as many calories as we can to speed up the weight loss process.

If I workout at a higher intensity I can burn more calories. Since I burn more calories per hour at a higher intensity, even though a lower percentage of calories come from fat, the total calories from fat can still be higher than a low-intensity workout.

For example, let’s say I walk for 30 minutes at a low intensity, where 60% of my calories come from fat. I would burn 180 calories, with 108 calories from fat. Someone else sprints for thirty minutes at a high intensity, with only 30% of his or her calories coming from fat. Even though a lower percentage of calories came from fat, this person would burn 400 calories with 120 calories coming from fat – which ends up being more calories, and more calories from fat, burned than what I burned in my low-intensity workout.

Since most people don’t burn 800 calories in an hour workout, the ideal solution is to meet in the middle somewhere – likely at the top of the fat burning zone and the bottom range of the cardio zone. This way we burn as many calories as we can and try to burn as many of those calories from fat.

So, say goodbye to low-intensity workouts and hello to stepping it up. In this busy world, we need to use our time wisely. If you’re going to spend an hour a day doing cardio for weight loss, make it count.

Find Your Zone
Maximum Heart Rate = 220 – age
Fat Burning Zone = Maximum Heart Rate X .60-.70
Cardio Zone = Maximum Heart Rate X .70-.80
Meet in the Middle = Maximum Heart Rate X .70-.75

 

THINK ABOUT IT...

Dieting is all about checks and balances

Have you ever looked at your checking account and been surprised to see the balance was lower than you expected it to be. I think we’ve all been there before. At first you think “there’s no way I spent that much money”. Then as you look further you begin to uncover all the small stuff that created the big problem.  

It’s funny how the little stuff adds up quick and the same applies to our diet. It’s all the extras that can get us in trouble. Condiments, salad dressings, snacks, cream and sugar – they add a lot of extra calories to our diet. Unfortunately most people have no idea how many calories they are taking in.

Dieting is all about checks and balances. The only difference is, most of us don’t ‘balance’ our diet account to see where we stand. That habit would never fly when it comes to our money. Most of us can’t afford to just keep writing checks without reconciling our account. The truth is we really can’t afford to ignore how much we eat either. Eventually it will catch up with you.

We can fool our self into thinking we don’t have to count calories, but just because we don’t count them doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. The only difference is no one is there to cut you off once you’ve gone ‘over the limit’ like the bank does when you are in the red.  

Managing calories is like writing a budget. It takes a little time in the beginning, but as you begin to journal your food you quickly learn what you can and cannot afford to eat. The good news is, unlike managing your bank account, you don’t have to do it forever. Part of the initial discipline is just a learning process.

You may be a good steward of you money, but are you a good steward over your body? Your body is the most valuable asset you have. Maybe it’s time to do some checks and balances with your health this year.

America is on the Sumo wrestler’s diet

Although this is normally where I would insert a powerful closing statement, I think the Sumo wrestler said it all.

You Can’t Always Trust Labels, Bonnie Pfiester

You can tell America has a weight problem by the number of fat-free, sugar-free, diet and light products available. The problem is we can’t always trust the labels.

Companies want you to feel good about buying their product. Unfortunately, many companies will do or say anything to get you to be their customer. This means making their product look like it’s the best choice.

For example, a company may tag their product with a low-fat label just because they reduced the fat by a couple of grams. The product may still be packed with fat but since it’s a little lower than the original one, they can exploit the low-fat label.

In addition, low-fat and fat-free items are often higher in calories. Many times sugar or other ingredients are added in order to make up for any lost flavor from the removed portion of fat.

Another common tactic is for products to change the serving size in order for the calories to fit our caloric guidelines. Soft drinks may say they are two servings when the company knows both servings will be consumed by one person at one time. The same goes for snacks and other prepackaged items. 

A different sales pitch is to claim it is high in protein. Does the average person really know what it means to be high in protein anyway? I bet not. I’ve read a lot of labels on products claiming to be high in protein when in fact they were not at all.

So what should you be looking for? If you are trying to lose weight, you need to be looking at calories and portion size. Begin really studying labels and comparing the new “lighter” product with its predecessor.

Learn how calories add up by keeping a diet diary. This process can help you make better choices when shopping as you begin to budget more than just money, but calories too.

What you don’t know can hurt you, Bonnie Pfiester

Wouldn’t it be nice if every food item came with a label on it? If only we knew how many calories were each home-cooked meal, baked good and menu item, many of us would make much better decisions. The hardest part about dieting is trying to guess how many calories are in these types of foods. We tend to underestimate calories when we leave it up to our own guess work. We want to believe certain foods are OK to eat. Then after we talk our self in to believing we’ve made the right choice we expect to lose weight as if our guess was always accurate.

I did something the other day that enlightened me on this very subject. I picked up a low-calorie snack on a recent road trip. I noticed the snack was a little over 200 calories. I wasn’t too thrilled about this since I try to keep my snacks to 150 calories or less but I thought I should bring it in case I got hungry. I found myself picking up the snack while I was driving along, re-reading the package over and over - contemplating whether it was worth it or not. I ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it and would prefer to eat something better later.

I decided to stop at a coffee shop to stretch my legs and refuel my body with a fat-free sugar-free latte. I found myself staring at the pastry case looking for anything that could be the least bit healthy. The store had one item – a no-sugar added banana nut muffin. I thought that would be the best choice. Besides, it had real bananas and whole nuts in it which sure beat my processed 200 calorie snack. The muffin was larger than my wimpy snack so even if it had a few more calories I thought it would be worth it. The decision making process can be funny at times, but that was my thought process. 

After I ate the snack I began to feel a little guilty, second guessing my choice. A few days later I looked up the calories for that muffin and found that my little ‘no sugar added treat’ had over 475 calories and 30 grams of fat!! That is more calories than an entire lean cuisine meal. I couldn’t believe it. I knew it was probably a little higher than my 200 calorie snack, but I had no idea it was going to be twice the calories. In addition I had my fat-free sugar-free latte which was 180 calories so in one quick trip to the coffee shop I had over 655 calories! This little boo-boo would probably take me about 6 miles to erase! Ugh!

What’s the moral of this story? Know what you are eating or don’t eat what you don’t know – because what you don’t know can hurt you, sabotaging all your hard work.

Are you hiding your physique?

People who spend hours in the gym to gain muscle mass are often scared to death of losing weight in fear of losing muscle. I, for one, understand since I have a real difficult time gaining mass. I train so hard for the smallest bump and yet I need to keep my body fat low enough so you actually see each little bump of muscle I build.

Body building, or body sculpting, is a combination of science and illusions. Science dictates our development and then the illusion comes in when we tweak our diet. Ironically, we can actually appear more muscular the leaner we are – even if we lose a little muscle in the process.

My husband, Steve, has been competing in amateur bodybuilding for about fifteen years. It always amazes me how people react to him the closer he gets to a show. The leaner he gets the more people comment on how big he’s getting. Sometimes he even gets accused of taking steroids. I have to laugh because all the while I know he feels like he is wasting away.

Ironically, Steve is normally anywhere from 10-20 pounds lighter when people are swearing he is bigger. This is the illusion part of the art. Although you often lose some muscle mass when dieting, you can actually look more muscular.

This works for women as well. While all women don’t necessarily want to look like a bodybuilder, dieting can help uncover a fit physique too. As the waist and joint spaces get smaller, the desirable hour glass figure becomes more pronounced.

Cleaning up your diet is probably the hardest part of looking fit. However, weight training without dieting is like buying an exotic car you leave parked in your driveway with a cover over it. Maybe it’s time to uncover your physique and work as hard on your diet as you do on in the gym.

Kick the Never-Ending Diet Plan, by Bonnie Pfiester

1. Avoid diet hopping. Some people never stick to a diet long enough to get results before they hop on the next diet that comes their way.  If you chose a diet plan, stick to it.
2. Never attempt an unrealistic diet. I can’t help but think of the Cabbage Soup Diet which I was on for all of four very long days. A successful diet is one you can stick with for the long haul.
3. Don’t rely on the quick fix. We all know better but our patience often gets the best of us. Don’t give in to weight loss gimmicks. A quick fix is just a temporary fix and only postpones the inevitable.
4. Be realistic. If you are on a mild diet and exercise plan, expect mild results. The more intense the program, the faster the results. Be realistic when setting and working toward your goal.
5. Be honest with yourself. People seem quick to recall all the healthy low-calorie foods they eat but get amnesia when it comes to unhealthy choices. The scale will tell on you so in all actuality you aren’t fooling anyone but your self.
6. What you don’t know can hurt you. I find most people who have failed on their diet have been guessing their way through it all. Other people just don’t want to know the truth. I can’t tell you how many times my husband has taken a bite of something and as soon as I begin to read off the calories he plugs his ears saying “lalalalalalalala, I don’t want to know, lalalalalala”!  The fact is the calories are there whether we know it or not.
7. If you aren’t dieting, you should be maintaining. Even if you lose the weight, you still have to be accountable for what you eat in order to maintain your new size. Many people who hit their goal end up back where they started because they went right back to eating poorly.
8. The “Weekday Diet” doesn’t always work. Many people diet all week only to erase their hard work each weekend. Although this may work while in maintenance, this diet faux pas is what makes people feel like they are dieting all the time and never reaping the reward.
9. Never underestimate the power of the calorie. Weight loss boils down to calories in vs. calories out. You can’t expect results if you are not sure how many calories you are eating.
10. Commit to dieting the right way. A lack of commitment just prolongs the amount of time it will take to get results. You can live on a yo-yo diet for the rest of your life and get mediocre results, or you can commit to working hard for a while and live the rest of your life enjoying your results.  

Exercise Give Dieters a Different Mindset, by Bonnie Pfiester

We have all heard that dieting and exercise together can bring the best results, but there is more to it than just burning extra calories. Diet and exercise together has a psychological impact on weight watchers that is often not discussed. Exercise has a mental effect on the entire dieting process and its value is underestimated.

If you have tried dieting before but you either know you didn’t put 100 percent effort into your exercise and diet program, or you any doubt at all you may have not done it correctly, I highly suggest you give it another try.

READ MORE HOT TOPICS: 

Links to stories previously printed in the YourHub, Press Journal.

Food is Like a Bad 'Ex-Lover'

Motivation is Overrated

ABC sends people camping

Commitment, a 'March' toward success

Fat March, the Ripple Effect

Weight loss reality TV reject fights back

Fat March, the ripple effect

Say goodbye to cellulite

Healthy changes you can make at home

Big changes, beyond diet & exercise

Getting psyched for fitness success