Staying Fit During the Holidays

Posted by Guest - 12/04/08 at 09:12:06 am

Matt Johnson, a professional trainer, is the fitness expert at DietsInReview.com, where he shares insight and guidance for staying fit and living a healthy, active life. DietsInReview.com also provides healthy recipes, weight loss tools, health news and reviews of more than 575 diet plans.

Wow, the holidays are here again and so are the parties and the surplus of food. Staying fit and healthy during this time is a tough task, but this year it is time for a change. Many people often find themselves eating way too much and lounging around for way too long. First off, if you don’t buy it, you won’t eat it. When grocery shopping only buy the foods that you need and leave the unhealthy snacks on the shelf. This will cut your costs and your waist size. Second, try not to eat large meals; eating smaller meals more often allows your body to metabolize and digest the food rather than store it as fat.

Another tough subject is exercising over the holidays. Being lazy and relaxing sounds so good during the break, but do your best to fight the urge. Take the family to the gym, on a walk each day, or to the park. Any physical activity is better than none. Being active for even a few minutes will increase the metabolism and burn some of those extra calories ingested, and will allow the body to burn more calories throughout the day as well. Remember that it is alright to take a break from working out; the body honestly needs it from time to time, but not during a time of buffet breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

Top 10 Ways To Stay Fit During The Holidays

1. Eat smaller portion sizes
2. Be active for at least 30 minutes a day
3. Lay off the junk food
4. Spend more time outside away from the kitchen
5. Don’t leave food out on the counter (out of sight, out of mind)
6. Buy only the foods you absolutely need from the store
7. Take the stairs instead of the elevator while shopping
8. Drink more water (helps fight hunger)
9. Chew gym (helps fight hunger)
10. Refrain from being bored, do what ever it takes to stay active and away from the kitchen.

Essential Fatty Acids

Posted by Susan - 11/24/08 at 03:11:55 pm

I’ve stumbled upon alot of research recently regarding Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), including how long chain Omega-3 fatty acids modulate hunger signals.

More on that later. In the meantime, as a primer, an essential nutrient is

1. Required by the body for proper function and,
2. One that cannot be made in sufficient quantities by the body and thus must be obtained through ones diet

The Essential Fatty Acids include

1. alpha-linoleic acid
2. linolenic acid

Alpha-linoleic acid (ALA) as well as the fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) belongs to a group of fatty acids called Omega-3 acids. EPA and DHA are found primarily in fish while ALAis highly concentrated in certain plant oils such as flaxseed oil and, to a lesser extent, canola, soy and walnut oils.

Most Omega-6 fatty acids are consumed in the diet from vegetable oils as linolenic acid (LA).

While the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 should be close to 1:1, the typical North American diet has ratios now over 10:1 due to the addition of corn, sunflower, safflower, and sesame oils to our food supply.

Consequently, this shift is thought by many to be a factor in a number of chronic medical conditions including arthritis, cardiovascular disease, asthma, acne, depression and even obesity.

According to a recent study published in the November 2008 issue of Appetite, 232 overweight and obese volunteers were provided with a calorie restricted, balanced diet. Participants were randomly assigned to take a low dose of Omega-3 (260 mg/day) or a high dose of Omega-3 (1300 mg/day) supplement for a period of 2-weeks.

Those who received the high dose of Omega-3 maintained a better level of satiety immediately following meals as well as two hours post-meal. Blood tests showed not only a higher concentration of Omega-3 in these individuals, but an improved Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio as well.

If you’re one of those individuals who are hungry 20 minutes following a meal, consider adding more Omega-3 rich foods to your diet!

Foods with high levels of Omega-3 include:

• Salmon
• Scallops
• Sardines
• Shrimp
• Cod
• Flaxseeds
• Walnuts
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Romaine Lettuce
• Broccoli

Being that most folks on Gyminee are concerned with their body fat, It’s important to note that healthy fats do not make us fat. Quite the opposite. Healthy fats suppress appetite and Omega-3s help you lose body fat.  “Fat-Free” diets are partially responsible for the current obesity epidemic in America.  Eat fats, but choose wisely.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

www.catapultfitnessblog.com

Gyminee is a Finalist

Posted by Stephen - 11/20/08 at 11:11:12 am

We’re excited to announce that Gyminee is a finalist in Mashable’s Open Web Awards. The Open Web Awards are:

the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories.

If you think Gyminee is the best fitness site on the web, then please cast your vote right away. Simply enter your email address in the widget below to vote. Thanks!

Better Food Search!

Posted by Stephen - 11/13/08 at 09:11:24 am

So, I know many of you have been wondering what’s been going on behind-the-scenes at Gyminee. Well, the answer is a lot!

Most of what we have been working on recently has been totally behind-the-scenes (server upgrades, bug fixes, optimizations, etc.). We expect the Gyminee user-base to continue growing, and to do so at a much quicker pace in the near future. Soon, the Gyminee website will be able to scale at near 100% efficiency.

One of the updates that isn’t completely behind the scenes is a new and improved Food Search. I would expect that some of you keen-eyed users have noticed some improvements with their search results lately. This is because of a combination of things.

For one, we have completely revamped the search engine that helps drive the Food, GymBuddy, Exercise, and Forum searches. It will be faster, more stable, and also return more accurate results for all of the above.

On top of that, the (surprisingly complex) algorithm that helps return the best food results possible has been completely rewritten. Things such as how many times the food has been eaten and whether or not it has an image are now taken into account when you search for foods.

Enjoy and stay tuned for more updates in the near future!

Nutrient Timing

Posted by Susan - 11/10/08 at 02:11:22 pm

In an effort to start putting on muscle (and no, I’m not worried about bulking up!) I’ve started educating myself on the science of nutrient timing.

For edification purposes I read published articles and research papers by Dr. John Berardi, Alan Aragon and Dr. John Ivy.  I’ve become a fan of Dr. Ivy, who has spent his career researching healthy options for building strength, endurance and muscle mass.

Up until now my focus has been on what to eat and how much to eat.  With my goal being to build lean muscle mass I will now begin to incorporate nutrient timing, or when to eat, into my daily protocol.

In this posting I’ll briefly summarize Dr. Ivy’s position.  For a more detailed explanation check out Dr. Ivy’s book, Nutrient Timing, available on Amazon.com for around $10 US.

If anyone out there has utilized nutrient timing as part of your regime, I’d love to hear about your results!

Biology 101

Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) provides the energy currency (fuel) for the body to perform mechanical work such as muscle contraction.  It is created by the breakdown of food, which is why it’s imperative that if you’re exercising you keep your body well nourished.

ATP can be generated both anaerobically (without oxygen) and aerobically (with oxygen).

Anaerobically, ATP is formed through the phosphagen system and through glycolysis.  The phosphagen system provides enough energy to fuel 5 to 10 seconds of activity while glycolysis fuels activities that last around 30 to 120 seconds.

For longer duration activities such as a marathon, the body relies on the aerobic pathway where carbohydrates, protein and fat are utilized for ATP production.

So, while muscles can only store enough ATP for a few seconds of high intensity contraction (e.g, sprinting), our bodies are constantly generating more ATP.  The more intense the exercise, the greater the body’s demand for ATP, the more wear and tear on the body.

This is where nutrient timing comes in to play.

Recommendations

In his research findings, Dr. Ivy identified a time span during which nutrition will impact an athletes ability to improve endurance, reduce muscle damage and improve recovery.  Specifically:

• 30 minutes prior to exercise fully hydrate by consuming 14 - 20 ounces of water or electrolyte solution.
• During exercise fluids should be replenished every 15 - 20 minutes.  And, not just water.  A drink consisting of a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio can increase endurance and limit muscle damage.
• 30 minutes post-workout is the window of opportunity where a muscle’s potential to rebuild peaks.  Ivy suggests high quality protein and carbohydrates be consumed during this period.

Summary

For the average person who does not spend a considerable amount of time exercising, focusing on the what and how much to eat will ensure they are able to maintain a desired weight.

As for the athlete or person spending a considerable amount of time in the gym seeking to change their body composition, nutrient timing is well worth the exploration.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

www.catapultfitnessblog.com

Gyminee Featured on Lifehacker

Posted by JuryDuty - 11/09/08 at 01:11:05 pm

This week Gyminee was featured on Lifehacker, one of the Internet’s very popular destinations for “tips and downloads for getting things done.”

Here’s their synopsis about Gyminee:

“Weightloss webapp Gyminee takes your fitness goals to the cloud. Search for new workouts, nutritional information, join groups of like-minded exercisers, participate in challenges, and find “GymBuddies” to serve as accountability partners and morale boosters. The layout of the site is clean and the functions easy to access. The home base of your Gyminee experience is “My Locker Room” where you can track a variety of fitness goals from defaults like body weight, body fat, resting heart rate, and size measurements, to custom user-defined entries like mile times, lap speed, or any other fitness goal you want to track. The locker room also has charts to map out your progress, a journal for detailing your fitness transformation, and a section for progress pictures so everyone can see how you went from Cubicle Jockey to Jacked and Tan.”

We welcome any Lifehacker readers who want to give Gyminee a try! We believe you’ll find it to be the BEST place on the web for tracking your exercise and nutrition, bar none.

Meanwhile, we encourage Gyminee users to jump over to Lifehacker, check their site out and let their readers know what you like about Gyminee in the comments section of their article.

–JuryDuty

(Christopher Maselli at WritingMomentum.com)

Put Gyminee on your Windows Vista Sidebar

Posted by JuryDuty - 10/29/08 at 12:10:34 pm

Word on the street is that Gyminee has some cool gadget ideas in the works. But while we’re waiting for those ideas to manifest, here’s a cool do-it-yourself gadget that will put a quick access version of Gyminee on your Windows Vista Desktop.

What this gadget does is simple: it puts the mobile (or iPhone) version of Gyminee on your Windows Vista desktop using a Windows Sidebar gadget. This opens up instant access to entry pages for workouts, food and your BodyTracker. It also lets you track Gymbuddy News and access the Gyminee library of exercises.

So here’s how to set it up:

1. Download the Minibrowser gadget. Install it as you would any other Windows Sidebar gadget. Drag it off the sidebar and let it sit on your desktop.

2. Open Internet Explorer and log into Gyminee. This is especially important if you use another browser because Minibrowser needs your login to be set in Internet Explorer.

3. In the Minibrowser gadget, type http://www.gyminee.com/iphone in the address bar.

4. Now click on the little wrench to customize the gadget. On the General tab, uncheck all the boxes and leave the reload box at “0.” On the Sizes tab, make both sizes 340×320 (for ease of use). Leave the transform width at “0.”

Click “OK” and you should see a new window on your desktop similar to the screenshot here. Cool, huh? Have another great way to access some aspect of Gyminee? Post it below and we may feature it soon!

–JuryDuty

(Christopher Maselli at WritingMomentum.com)

More Research Supporting High Intensity Training

Posted by Susan - 10/28/08 at 03:10:52 pm

Rarely a day goes by where I don’t hear someone telling me about the hours on end they spend on the treadmill/elliptical/stair climber. These are the same people who have the same 10 - 20 lbs to lose that just never seem to come off.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I hate doing cardio. Yet, nothing takes the weight off like a good cardio session so when I first began reading about high intensity training (short workouts at maximum output) I was more than happy to give it a try.

The changes I realized over the past 9-months have exceeded my expectations. I now spend under half the time I used to working out, weigh 16 lbs less and lost 9% of my body fat.

High intensity training works. Period.

There is continuing research supporting the benefits of high intensity training, the most recent coming out of the University of Virginia where they have studied the impact of aerobic exercise on individuals with the metabolic syndrome.

According to the American Heart Association, metabolic syndrome is characterized by a group of metabolic risk factors in one person, including abdominal obesity (excessive fat tissue in and around the abdomen, also known as visceral fat).

People with the metabolic syndrome are at increased risk of coronary heart disease and other diseases related to plaque buildups in artery walls (e.g., stroke and peripheral vascular disease) and type 2 diabetes. The metabolic syndrome has become increasingly common in the United States. It’s estimated that over 50 million Americans have it.

While abdominal visceral fat (AVF) is a predictor of the metabolic syndrome, little is known regarding the effects of aerobic exercise training intensity on reductions in AVF.

Researchers out of the University of Virginia studied 28 abdominally obese individuals to determine if 16 weeks of aerobic exercise training at an intensity above the lactate threshold (high intensity training) is more effective than aerobic training below the lactate threshold (low intensity training) on reduction in abdominal visceral fat (AVF).

The 28 individuals were assigned to one of three groups:

1) No exercise training

2) Low intensity training – 5 supervised exercise sessions (days) per week, working below the lactate threshold.

3) High intensity training – 5 supervised exercise sessions (days) per week, with three days above the lactate threshold and two days at the lactate threshold.

Exercise time was adjusted to maintain identical caloric expenditure for the 28 individuals.

Results revealed significant reductions in abdominal and thigh fat only in the high intensity training group.

Once again, research supports that in order to lose fat the focus needs to be on high intensity training.

My high intensity program of choice is Turbulence Training combined with HIIT on a treadmill or bike, but you can find many options here on Gyminee. Find a program that works for you. If you’ve been struggling with losing those last 10 to 20 lbs, you may be very surprised by the results.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

www.catapultfitnessblog.com

“Everybody Wins” At Gyminee

Posted by Stephen - 10/24/08 at 11:10:31 am

For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with Gyminee Challenges, they are a very popular way for Gyminee users to compete with one another to see who can lose the most weight, run the furthest distance, lift the greatest amount of weight, and much more. Gyminee Challenges were released only a couple months ago, and we are pleased (to say the least) at how they have been helping people to exercise more and to stay motivated.

 In the 420+ challenges that have been created:

• Over 3,000 users have participated in a challenge.
• Over 4,580 lbs have been lost by users in Weight Loss Challenges.
  
• Over 25,375 miles have been traveled by users in Distance Challenges.
• Over 58,850,000 lbs have been lifted by users in Weight Lifting Challenges!

 

 

 

 

Is Your Aerobics Instructor Making the Cut?

Posted by GenaM - 10/23/08 at 12:10:33 pm

On your road to better health, you may decide to join a fitness class. Thankfully, today’s gyms offer lots of choices - aerobics, step, kick boxing, boxing, yoga and more. Mike Spezzano, Vice President of Membership and Program Development at New York City’s YMCA, recommends watching a class before joining. Here are a few pointers for choosing the class that’s right for you.

• Teacher vs. Performer - Make sure the instructor is a good teacher not just someone who can go through all kinds of complicated choreography.
• Taking Time - The instructor should take time with individuals to help them develop skills, to help them learn whatever it is they’re doing in the class.
• Levels of Intensity - Make sure the instructor gives options to modify the intensity, like easier options for people who are tired or want something less challenging. Then people can work at their own level.
• Variety - The instructor should incorporate new things to keep the class interesting-new motivating music from time to time or new choreography.
• Fun - There should be an element of fun to keep people motivated and coming back time after time. If the participants are smiling, that’s a good sign.

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