Posted by Jeanne Schmit on Fri, Jul 24, 2009 @ 04:55 PM
Not the best idea. Combining exercise and diet is the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off. Exercise helps you look your best by improving muscle tone, posture and overall vitality. It also gets you into a fat burning mode to increase your weight loss. However, weight loss from exercise only (without regards to diet) is rare.
Most experts agree that 80% of weight loss comes from diet. Here's a new way of thinking about meal sizes, hunger and your state of fullness.
Are you a person who eats only when you're hungry and stops when the feeling of hunger is gone? If yes, this article is not for you. Instead of reading this blog, go get some exercise.
For everyone else, are you routinely allowing yourself to:
- Get overly hungry before you eat? or
- Do you eat so much you get overly full after your meal?
Even done once a week, this eating behavior is likely to sabotage your efforts at weight loss.
Try using the Hunger/Satiety Scale for one week and see what insights you gain into your eating patterns. The scale helps you choose the right amount of food to eat at the right time.
Hunger Scale in 4 Steps:
- Before you eat, look at the Scale and determine which number corresponds to how hungry you are.
- Write it down.
- After you finish your meal, determine which number corresponds to how full you are.
- Record these numbers for all your meals for one week. Write down the time of your meals/snacks.
Hunger/Satiety Scale
0: Starving and beyond.
1: So hungry you want to eat everything on the menu.
2: Hungry, ready to eat. The urge to eat is strong.
3: Beginning signals of hunger.
4-5: Comfortable. Neither hungry nor full.
6: Satisfied. If you stop eating now, your brain will register a "7" in 20 minutes.
7: Hunger is gone. No stomach pressure. Stop here and you should not feel hungry again for 3-4 hours.
8: Not uncomfortable, but feel stomach pressure. Not hungry for over 4 hours.
9: Uncomfortable and very full. A lot of stomach pressure.
10: Very uncomfortable, even painful. "Thanksgiving full."
What did you find out? Were you never hungry before sitting down to a meal? It usually means you ate too much the last meal and need more time to get hungry again. Others find they go from ravenous to overfull.
Hunger Scale Guidelines:
- Start every meal at a 2 or 3
- Finish each meal at a 6 or 7
- Eat every 3-4 hours
- Avoid ever getting to a 0 and a 10
- Minimize or never get to a 1, 8, or 9.
Eating above an 8 on a routine basis promotes fat gain. If you're eating to an 8 or higher it could be you're allowing yourself to get too hungry, you're eating too fast or you're starting out with too much food in front of you. Start to see how much food you'll need to get to a 7 and remove the extra before you start eating. Use that portion for your next meal of snack.
If you truly are at a 6 or 7, you would be ready to eat and hungry after about 4 hours.
Give yourself time to experiment to find the right portion size and meal spacing.
Let me know what you find out!
photo from Bakko Brats-Back
Posted by Jeanne Schmit on Mon, Jul 13, 2009 @ 04:45 PM
You've heard that Pilates is good for backs. Maybe you've done some Pilates exercises in a group class at a gym or with a video at home and found the exercise too hard, too complicated, or maybe it even hurt. You may have wondered if you were doing it correctly.
Pilates is best learned from a well-trained and experienced instructor in a class devoted only to Pilates.
Ideally the class should be small enough and introductory level so the instructor can give personal attention to everyone in the class. You'll need feedback from your instructor to tell you if you're doing it correctly or not. Your instructor should also give different options to accomodate physical limitations. If this isn't happening in your Pilates class, find a new one.
Did you know that Pilates mat is the most difficult way to do Pilates? Ideally, everyone would start on the Pilates equipment, then progress to the mat once strong enough. The equipment supports your back, neck, arms and legs. You have a reference point to where your body is in space. On the mat, your arms and legs are held out in space, requiring a fair amount of strength, body awareness and coordination.
If you have back pain, spondylolisthesis, bulging discs, fused vertabrae, osteoporosis, knee, hip or neck pain, seriously consider starting on the reformer with a private trainer. These conditions can be aggravated when beginners start with Pilates mat exercises done in a group setting.
The reformer is a piece of Pilates equipment specifically well suited for people who have trouble bending and flexing their spines and people with generalized muscle weakness.
The beginning reformer exercises allow you to strengthen your core muscles while on your back and with your head down. Your spine stays in a neutral position, thus avoiding aggravation of the above conditions. First time reformer students are often surprised at how good the exercise feels and how gentle the reformer is on their bodies.
The reformer and other Pilates equipment allows you to do the exercises correctly and progress faster. Your trainer will target your specific problem and assure you don't get hurt.
Once you get stronger and understand which exercises and movements are good for you (and which ones to avoid), and you understand how to use your core, you may be able to add in Pilates mat classes or reformer classes.