Fabulous Friday

I went to my work cafeteria for breakfast and had an egg and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread with a glass of orange juice. Yummy! For lunch I went to Earth Fare and had a chicken caesar wrap with some chips and some black forest tea. And for my afternoon snack I had some wasa crisp and light with cottage cheese and laughing cow cheese. It is definitely time to go grocery shopping. Our fridge doesn't have a lot of options right now neither healthy nor bad.

I'm kind of hoping my husband will take me out to dinner tonight. When he wakes up from his nap I'll ask:) No exercise today, but I plan to do a bike ride in the morning. I'm starting to notice a little bit of weight difference in the mirror!

*UPDATE*

I had half of a wrap at Red Robin for dinner. The Whiskey River BBQ Chicken wrap. And it was mmm mmm good:)

Below is a story my former "Huntsville Adventure Boot Camp" instructor wrote that was inspirational when it came to exercising.

HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA - The results are in from the Scale Back contest, and honestly they were a little underwhelming.

The majority of people did not weigh out at the end of the contest. The same was true for the Scale Back contest held on Redstone Arsenal as well. This could be due to several reasons - spring break, tied up doing other things, etc. - but a common cause is the dreaded plateau.

The plateau? It's where a person is losing weight, hits the wall, can't lose any more weight and then does not weigh out because they know they did not reach their goal. Plateaus can be caused by any number of reasons, but we will focus on two that you might not have considered. Those two factors are hormones and adaptation.

Estrogen (pear shape), insulin resistance (muffin top) and cortisol (beer belly) all cause body fat to be stored in different trouble areas that make it hard to lose. To overcome high estrogen and cortisol levels, try doing short, intense workouts. Cortisol levels can increase when you do long exercise sessions (one hour plus of weightlifting or cardiovascular exercise). A way to fight insulin resistance is to cut down on the junk carbohydrates (cookies, sodas, alcohol, breads) you are consuming.

Another reason you stop losing weight, particularly when you are performing long cardiovascular training sessions, is that your body adapts. You become more efficient at running, biking, swimming, etc. which is great for distance, but it means you are burning fewer calories. That is why you need to vary your workouts, as well as your intensities. Learn to be well rounded and try different workouts.

If all you have been doing is jogging at the same pace and same duration, you have to switch it up to change your body. Mix in sprints or intervals, and then look to add a strength training component to your workouts. Just like you change up your workouts, you need to change up your caloric intake. Don't eat exactly the same thing in the same amounts every day. Something you can try to do is zig zag your calories, where you simply eat different calorie amounts every day. For instance, if a person is supposed to eat 2,000 calories a day they would eat 1,900 one day, 2,200 the next, and so on. If you really want to nail down the eating part, make an appointment with a dietitian. The bottom line is that you must "trick" your body into making changes by changing your training and eating methods. Doing the same old thing will get you the same old results.

Joe Martin is a personal trainer and can be reached at Huntsville Boot Camp for Women (huntsvillebootcampforwomen) or brawny7878@aol.com.