New Year New Goals

By Bobby Brown, Fitness Coach DeVetter Fitness

Okay, so most everyone has that one wonderful New Year’s resolution.  Well for most of us they are a shot in the dark, a good thought of how to improve ourselves and make this new year better than the last.

If you have had problems achieving these resolutions in the past it is not necessarily because you are not committed or a bad person. It is most likely because you need help with setting a proper goal.

“I am going to lose weight this year” or “I am going to go to the gym this year” are good ideas but very bad goals.

For a goal to be a good goal that will set you up for success, it must be a S.M.A.R.T. goal.  With the new year starting we are taking all of our clients through this process and so we thought that you too could benefit from learning to set smart goals.

SM.A.R.T. stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time based

So, using the example from before let’s change it into a S.M.A.R.T. goal.

Specific -20 lbs is already a specific goal as opposed to saying I want to lose weight.

Measurable -  Our goal from above is also measurable as opposed to I want to get into shape.

Attainable -  Depends on the situation.  You may have 20lbs to lose, but to say that you want to lose 20lbs in a week your goal is simply unattainable

Realistic -  If you are 110 pound woman in your 40′s for example, you most likely don’t have 20lbs to lose safely.

Time Based – Here is where most people fail. Set a time frame to have the weight lost by. So lets say 5 months on this one to allow for a pound per week along with a plateau week here or there.

Now to help you achieve this we are going to set a small goal that is a step towards this long term goal. We will start with 3-5lbs within our first month. This smaller goal, also known as a process goal, is S.M.A.R.T. and helps with the long term goal.

Each week you can and should grade yourself and evaluate whether or not you are sticking with your goals that will all help you achieve that long term goal.

You can achieve your goals in life as long as you set your goals S.M.A.R.T.

If you need help with your goal setting never fear, because we can help. We actually spend a lot of time working on goal setting with our new clients and we have a new program starting that would be perfect for many of you to get a great start on your health and fitness goals.  It is called the New Year’s Body Transformation Challenge.

The challenge starts on January 21st.  It is 8 weeks of one-on-one help with goal setting, healthy eating and workouts.  We have had many clients see great results with competitions that we have done in the past.  In our last challenge Debbie Geothmann lost 22lbs, the runner up Brian Raddermacher lost 25lbs, Shawn Macken lost almost 15lbs and his wife Joey (social support is always helpful) lost almost 18lbs.  You could be next.

You can even try the program fro $5 for the first two weeks to see if it is a good fit for you.  Click on the New Year’s Body Transformation Challenge link to check it out.  There is also a link on our website DeVetter Fitness and our Facebook Page (we are giving away a free entry on our Facebook page in case you would like to win an entry).

Otherwise make sure to not only come up with SMART goals, but write them down!

Tips to Not Feel Like a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving is upon us!  A day to give thanks for the many blessings that we have, to enjoy time spent with friends and family and to stuff our pie holes with lots of… well, pie.  And turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, jello and many more of our traditional foods.

Before I decided to write this post on how you can walk away from this food battle unscathed, I thought about why this holiday has become synonymous with stuffing yourself silly?!?

We are very fortunate in America.  Just By being born in America, we are automatically richer than, I believe it is 96% of the world ( I could be slightly off on the percentage).

Whatever the exact percentage is, we are blessed to not have as many worries about shelter, lack of medical attention or starvation.

So, my guess would be that we pig out to celebrate that we do not have to worry about these things. Even years ago some one stuffing their face on Thanksgiving could be lead to many calories consumed.

In our modern culture, as the foods that we eat become more and more processed and filled with fat and sugar, all of our eating on Turkey Day has become even worse.   I have read that the average American eats somewhere in the neighborhood of 4000 calories on Thanksgiving Day.  That is a lot of food!

So, I still want you to eat drink and thank God for all of  blessings in your life.  Here are some tips to do that and minimize the damage.

1. Eat normally through out the day.  Do not starve yourself to make up for the feast.
2. Drink lots of water through out the day.  When your body is thirsty it makes you feel hungry, so you end up eating when you just needed some liquids.
3. Drink a pre-meal protein shake 30 minutes before dinner.  Research shows that you eat less calories over all if you do this.
4. Make the turkey and healthy salads the main part of the meal.  Add on small amounts of the other things that you want to try.  This will let you sample the different offerings.  You can always go back for more of what you really want to spend your calories on.  Which reminds me that in our house we have a saying if we eat junk food that was not extremely good.  That saying is “What a waste of a cheat meal!”
5. Avoid or only have small samples of anything with lots of sugar (sugar is very bad for you!) and any mashed potatoes that are loaded with butter or sour cream.  Many people put 1000 calories or more of just mashed potatoes down in one sitting!
6. Set Boundaries.  If you want alcohol, or pie or something in particular, go ahead.  Just make sure to give yourself boundaries ahead of time.  1-2 drinks, 1/2 a slice or 1 slice of pie.  Otherwise a few drinks turns into 10-12 or a little bit of pie turns into 14 trips for a sliver and you wind up eating 6 pieces!
7. No matter how good or bad you do, make sure to enjoy the delicious foods and don’t feel guilty about  this once a year meal.  The worst thing you can do is feel guilty and say “since I already messed up I might as well eat what I want, it’s too late any way (sound familiar to anyone).”

I am just trying to save you from hours of misery after the meal and from gaining some extra lbs.  I hope this helps.

I would love to hear any suggestions that you have used in the past!  Please make sure to post them below.

And the DeVetter Fitness Client of the Year is….

Before I tell you who the winner is, I want to tell you about our awards ceremony that took place 2 weeks ago (been too busy to write about it until now, sorry).  It was an awesome event.  We had bootcamp, small group training and one on one training clients as well as friends and family.  The awards ceremony was to celebrate the past year and our first year at our new location as well as to celebrate the winners of our 8 week Body Balance Challenge. We celebrated with a healthy chili cook off competition and awards ceremony.

The awards ceremony for the Body Balance Challenge was not only fun but the suspense was killing all involved, so we had to get to it as everyone in the crowd was losing fingernails in anticipation.  For those of you who have not heard of our Body Balance Challenge it is amazing!  There are prizes awarded at the end for the participants with the most dramatic body transformation and life changes.  Every time we have this competition we are amazed at the results our clients see in just 8 weeks.  This time was no different.

The 4^th place prize which was a  gift basket including coffee and other goodies from A Hill of Beans went to Shawn Macken who lost 14.2 total pounds and 13 ¼” and 6% of his body weight!

Next up, the 3^rd place winner who won a $100 gift certificate to Statement Boutique (which she will need after all of the weight and inches lost!) was Joey Macken. She lost 17.5 total pounds and 14 ¾” and 11% of her total body weight!

The runner up received a massage a month for six months. This gentleman worked very hard, was dedicated to bootcamp, and was meticulous with his food journal. He was always fine tuning and making small improvements. Brian Radermacher earned every one of those massages which he will need after how hard he worked.  Brian lost 25lbs, 17.25 total inches and a total of 13% of his body weight!

And of course THE BIG WINNER! Drum roll please………. With a total weight loss of 22 pounds and an amazing 18 ¾” lost, Debbie absolutely worked her butt off. She became the self proclaimed “Debbie no fun”. She did everything that we ask everyone to do in route to losing 14% of her total body weight in just 8 weeks. She kept a meticulous food journal, avoided the wine, and kept her cheats under control. All of us here at DeVetter Fitness are very proud of her. For all of this hard work and dedication Debbie earned herself a cool $700 cash!!!!

Other prizes were given away, because after all, this was client appreciation day. Best dressed went to Kristen Geissenger. Best jokes went to Phyllis Bishoff. Hardest worker went to Dave Welte. Most entertaining client went to Karen Gensler. Old Faithful went to Tom Berg (have to admit this could have been a better name).  Kate Bertholf won most excited about bootcamp. And Tonya Lewis won softest hands.

Finally we have a new tradition at DeVetter Fitness in honor of our one year anniversary at our location. We gave an award to our client of the year. This is on top of our client of the month awards. This award was given to someone who was very dedicated, who worked so hard every time that she was here. Not only did she push herself, she also pushed everyone in class just by being herself. She was so much fun to have in class because of the standards she held. The winner of this is Shelley Lessig.  Shelley has lost over 41 pounds while at DeVetter Fitness.  We have had people lose more weight, but her consistency over time coming to class and eating healthy embodies our philosophy at DeVetter Fitness.  She received three months of free bootcamp!  Congratulations to Shelley and all of our clients.

Don’t forget to leave a comment below to congratulate our winners.

The Physiology of Exercise: Where Do We Get Our Energy During a Workout?

 

By Matt Watt

Today I’d like to give you a little information on how your body gets energy when you are exercising. As a trainer, I think people benefit from knowing the basics of exercise physiology.

If you are one of our boot campers, you know that the DeVetter Fitness boot camps consist of cardiovascular, strength, agility, balance, power and flexibility exercises and workouts, all of which require different types of energy from the body at different times, depending on what activity you are doing.

Energy is what makes the body go, to put it simply. However, what kind of energy you are using depends on the intensity and duration of the workout you are doing. So let’s jump right into it and explore where your energy comes from.

For the body’s cells to use energy, they must break down the foods we eat in a way that conserves most of the energy contained in carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

The radiant energy from the sun is captured by plants and used to turn simple atoms and molecules into carbohydrate, fat and protein.

In addition to conserving energy from carbs, fat and protein, the final product of the breakdown must be a molecule the cell can use. This molecule is ATP, or adenosine triphosphate. Cells in the body use ATP as the primary energy source for you to do work. Think of it as the body’s energy currency.

Let’s start with the immediate sources of energy.

Creatine phosphate, or CP, is another energy phosphate molecule that is stored in the muscle and is the most important immediate source of energy. CP can donate its phosphate molecule to ADP (adenosine diphosphate) to make our energy currency, ATP. Unfortunately, the CP store in muscle only lasts about 3 to 5 seconds when the muscle is working at a maximal effort. This process does not require oxygen which means that it is an anaerobic energy mechanism to produce ATP. This is used during activities like jumping, or the first seconds of a sprint.

Next is the short term source we use to get energy.

As the muscle’s store of creatine phosphate decreases, the muscle fibers break down glucose, which is a simple sugar, to make ATP at a high rate. The glucose is obtained from blood or the muscle’s glycogen store. Glucose metabolism is called glycolysis and it does not require oxygen to function, just like the breakdown of creatine phosphate. To sum things up, glycolysis produces 2 ATP for our body to use as energy.

However, glycolysis only lasts for a limited time. When you are working at a high rate, the product of glycolysis is no longer 2 ATP, but rather, lactic acid. The accumulation of lactic acid slows glycogen metabolism and can interfere with the mechanism involved in muscle contraction. We have all felt this before. It’s otherwise known as “the burn!” This short-term source of energy is used in activities lasting about 2 min. One example would be a 400 meter dash.

Last but not least, we have our long term sources of energy and this is usually the first to be used.

This process produces ATP from a variety of fuels and requires oxygen, meaning that it is aerobic. The main fuels include, muscle glycogen, blood glucose, plasma free fatty acids, and intramuscular fats. Glucose and fats are broken down in glycolysis and to put it simply, we make ATP with the energy extracted from the glucose and fat.

This process requires oxygen which is what makes it “aerobic.” ATP production via aerobic mechanisms is slower than production from the immediate sources I talked about earlier. One reason for this delay is the time it takes for the heart to increase the delivery of oxygen enriched blood to the muscles at the rate needed to meet the ATP demands of the muscle. This type of energy source is used for longer durations like jogging.

So hopefully you learned a little bit more about your body and why you feel the way you do during certain exercises and workouts. Not too complicated right? There is a lot more to know and like I said before, as a trainer I feel that it is good to know the basics about what happens in your body during exercise. I hope this was beneficial to you and thanks for reading!

Howley, Edward T, and B Don Franks. Fitness Professional’s Handbook. Champaign IL: Human Kinetics, 2007. Print.

Two Dan’s and Two Great Philosophies

At DeVetter Fitness we are all about consistent improvement over time for great results.

We do not promote fad diets. We do not ask people to work out 3 hours a day to lose lots of weight in a very short amount of time. We know that those things leads to quick results and usually a client ending up right back where they started.

What is that worth? We want to see people change their lifestyle. To lose weight and keep it off. To get into a regular routine that covers correct nutrition, strength training, supplementation, flexibility and mobility as well as having the social support to keep them on track.

There are two Dan’s that have similar philosophies so I thought that I would share those with you. You may even recognize one or both of them.

The first Dan is the legendary wrestler and Iowa Hawkey Wrestling Coach Dan Gable. One saying (one of many that I have borrowed from him over the years) of Coach Gable’s that I love to share is this: “If something is worth doing do it every day, if not, don’t do it.” Think about that. Dan is talking about making your priorities a priority. In fact, (I am getting off track a bit) I had the privilege of wrestling at the University of Iowa. Although, Dan was not the head coach while I was there, he was always around. It was important to him so he did it everyday that he was not traveling around the country promoting the sport of wrestling.

I heard a funny story about Coach Gable while I was in Iowa City ( I believe it was from his daughter Molly-can’t remember for sure). As the story goes Dan was in his 5th year of coaching in Iowa City and was asked to meet his family down town for a birthday dinner. If any of you have ever been to Iowa City, you will know that down town is the heart of the city. There are many restaurants and facilitates that serve adult beverages. It is THE place you go in Iowa City and it is very small and easy to navigate. Well, after 5 years of coaching in this little college town Dan had to get a ride to the restaurant to meet his family because he did not know where it was at!  Each day he drove from his house to Carver Hawkeye Arena, worked hard and went home. To him, the goal of having the most dominant team in the country was an important goal, so that is what he worked on every day.

Dan number two is also a legend in his own right. Dan Jon is a former champion power lifter and discuss thrower. He is also amazing at taking the complex ideas involved in strength training and body modification and making them simple for all. Dan also has several sayings that I really like. The one that fits todays discussion is “Little and often over the long haul.” How profound is that? And he is dead on when it comes to our area of expertise which is weight loss and body fat loss for regular people.

Two great Dan’s and one great thought pattern. Decide what is important and make sure you are doing it on a consistent basis. I challenge you to set (or reset) a goal based on this idea and post it below. The first 5 clients that do will get a free post work out protein shake (for clients) or two free weeks of bootcamp (non members).

Also, if you need help making your health and fitness a priority please click here.

Long Awaited Recipes

I know you all have been checking the blog constantly to see if my recipes are up because they were so amazing (and because you have been asking:)) so I won’t keep you waiting any longer.  We have below the two recipes from our awesome event last week at Statement Botique! – Jeannine DeVetter

This Guy is a Fitness Rock Star, But This Was Not Always The Case!

Dave Welte, Before

DeVetter Fitness Rock Star

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Welte is a health and fitness rock star!  Many of you who know him know how dedicated he is to his health and fitness and as he says “making it a life style.”  This was not always the case however.  Come with me and I will tell you the story of how Dave Welte turned it all around…

When Dave first joined DeVetter Fitness he was bored with his routine and not seeing any results.  Dave, while participating in personal training some where else in town, joined our bootcamp.  I could tell by his great work ethic that he was once an athlete and loves to compete.

The problem was that his attendance was not very good.  He loved bootcamp, but did not always make it to the work outs.  Dave was “busy.”  “Not enough time in the day” he would say.  He happens to be one of the busiest people that I know.  Dave is head of a successful  Title Insurance Company called Midwest Title.  These guys are successful because they bend over backwards for their customers including regular closings at night and on Holidays.  I would be surprised to learn of any one who has a busier schedule. Not only that but our boy Dave was recently engaged and is soon be married.

Unfortunately/fortunately  for him, at DeVetter Fitness we like to do every thing that we can to help our clients as well.  That means we stayed on him (in a nice way) and helped coax him into making his weight loss goal the priority that he told us it was.

Dave moved his schedule around, committed to meeting with us for his fitness as well as to change his eating habits.  Not only that but he did every thing we told him to.  He COMMITTED to himself and the process.

40lbs later Dave looks years younger (according to mutual friends), won a new I-PAD in a DeVetter Fitness Competition, feels better and has developed into a DeVetter Fitness Rock Star.  This guy is like a walking billboard.  Not only that but this morning he set a personal record for a little event that we like to call the 40/40 challenge.

The coolest part of this story is that Dave was once like many of you, just wishing for weight loss and body fat loss.  Being in shape is not the answer to all of life’s problems (as many fitness companies will try to lead you to believe), however if those things are important to you then why not make it happen!

I believe in you just like I believed in Dave.  You need to be willing to commit to it.  You also need to know that you can do it, instead of doubting yourself.  Finally, you need  knowledge and accountability  from an expert.  At DeVetter Fitness we love helping people just like you, and just like Dave gain traction and reach there health and fitness goals.

If you need help, we have a Body Balance Challenge that is a great spark for those of you needing a spark.  In fact a challenge very similar to this one kept Dave motivated to reach his goals.  Just CLICK HERE, but don’t wait because we are only opening 9 spots in this program.

AND for a little extra motivation, the grand prize winner will receive $700 cash with all other participants winning prizes like massages, gift cards, a car wash at your own home or work and more.

Click on the Body Balance Challenge for those of you who are ready to finally reach your weight loss or fitness goals.  Oh, and it is only $5 to try it out to see if you like it.

Sorry, I digressed a bit… Back to Dave.  Dave’s final goal is to lose 10 more pounds at which point he will have lost 50lbs!  I believe that Dave is going to accomplish the goal that he set.  Please post your comments below, even if you want to wish Dave good luck in the final home stretch!

11 Easy Healthy Breakfasts

DeVetter Fitness recently held a 6 week healthy eating course that we call Metabolism Make Over.  In this class we go through healthy eating principles that will help the participants literally make over their metabolisms to be fat burning machines.  The only catch is that they must actually apply the principles over time – it is not a quick fix.   The three things that I like best about the group are: every one reads their food journal for the week to every one else in the group (makes you think hard about eating the whole pizza); we teach nutrition basics that most people do not know and my favorite thing about the class is that we get lots of feed back from our clients on what their struggles are. In this last class we were given some great ideas of areas that we can better help our clients with their goals.  Therefore, I will be posting a series of posts to address many of theses issues and make consistent healthy eating easier to do long term.  Today’s post deals with the biggest issue that came up, which is finding quick healthy breakfast ideas.  If you have any other quick healthy breakfast ideas please post them below as well as any questions that you have.  Do not miss my wife Jeannine’s Crepe recipe.  it takes the longest to make but I had to include it because it is so good!

1. Protein Smoothie:  Throw these ingredients in a magic bullet and you will get your protein and lots of vitamins from the fruit in a quick to go breakfast.  I often drink it in the car.

1 c. frozen berries, 1/3 c. Greek Yogurt, 1/2 tbsp Stevia, 1 scoop Pro Grade Vanilla Protein, water to desired thickness or if you have almond milk it can add some great flavor.

2. Protein Mousse:

1 c. Greek Yogurt, 1 scoop Chocolate Pro Grade Protein or Pro Grade Lean Meal Replacement, 1/2 scoop of either protein mixed with water to a runny consistency (just like if you were making a protein shake).

Drizzle the runnier protein over the Greek Yogurt and enjoy.  It is even better when you have time to chill it in the fridge.

3.  Healthy Egg Sandwich:

Toast 2 slices of Ezekiel English Muffin or English Muffin of your choice.  Throw on 2 cooked eggs over easy, a slice of your favorite cheese and you are done.

I like to add a few extras like yellow mustard, agave nectar and shaved turkey, but I am guessing that most of you will stick with the basic sandwich.  I call this one the Chaswich- I dare you to try it!

4. No Bake Protein Cookies:

1/2-1 c. oatmeal, 1-2 tbsp natural peanut butter, 1 scoop Pro Grade Lean or Protein powder, milk.

Mix dry ingredients.  Add milk to make the consistency that you prefer.  You are done!  This too is very good if you have time to put it in the fridge over night, but either way it is delicious.

5.  Oatmeal and a Protein Base Food:

1 cup oatmeal old fashion oatmeal throw it in the microwave with water for a minute or two (do not buy the packets they are full of sugar!),  add fresh berries or natural peanut butter for more flavor.

For some protein have 1 c. Greek Yogurt or cottage cheese or 2 eggs.

6.  Left Over Chicken, Steak or Turkey From the Night Before: I know, I know many of you think that this is gross, but you wanted quick!

7. Jeannine’s Home Made Crepes Ala Berry Compote: don’t ask me how to say it but I will eat it all day long.

1 c. almond milk, 1 c. whole wheat or brown rice pastry flour, 8 egg whites, a squirt of vanilla, add water to make them thin. Jeannine’s grandma Fran (Franma) recommends using a cast iron skillet if you have one.

Berry Compote: 1-2 c. frozen berries- melt the berries on medium high and finish on low heat.

I recommend rolling the crepes with Greek yogurt in the middle and drizzling the berry compote over top.

8. Southwest Scrambled Egg Meal:   My mouth waters just thinking about this one!

3-6 egg/egg white combination, 1 can of black beans, 2-4 oz of chopped up chicken breast (pre-cooked). 1-2 tbsp feta cheese.  Cook everything together.  If you have a little more time you can saute onions and peppers in a pan before hand to add in.  Either way, toss your favorite Salsa on top and even add Greek Yogurt as a sour creme substitute.  Throw this full meal in a bowl and eat it or take it with you.

9.  Peanut Butter and Jelly Omelet:

2 egg whites mixed with 1/2 tbsp stevia and 1/2 tbsp cinnamon. Cook like an omelet.  While cooking the first side spoon in 1 tbsp peanut butter mixing so that it is evenly distributed.  When it is partially cooked flip over 1/2 onto the other half as you do when cooking an omelet.  Flip the omelet one more time to make sure it is fully cooked.  Add sugar free jelly on top at the end.  Enjoy!

10. Meal Movement Breakfasts:

We have just partnered with a healthy food company that ships prepackaged food directly to your house called Meal Movement.  This food has no artificial preservatives, is based around lean protein dishes and the taste is out of this world.  There is no more convenient option than throwing your omelet in the microwave and having it ready 3 minutes later.  There are several food plans to choose from that range in price from $3-$6 per meal.  If you are interested e-mail us at info@devetterfitness.com for a first time buyer discount.  We can even walk you through the whole process.  Go to http://www.mealmovement.com/ to check it out.

11. Pro Grade Lean Meal Replacement:

2 Scoops, add water and shake.  Gives you healthy whey protein as well as 8 grams of fiber to keep you satisfied.  This is the quickest of all.

That’s my top 11, I hope it gives you some ideas to go out and try.  If you have other recipes or questions make sure to post them below!

How Many Calories in… Part II

In my last blog post I talked about how important it is to know how many calories are going in your body from eating as well as how many calories you are expending through exercise.  I also mentioned that you have to get rid of 3500 calories to lose a pound of body weight.  That could be taking in 3500 less calories, expending 3500 calories more, or more typically a combination of the two.  There is much more to it, however you must understand that principle if you have a weight loss goal.

I also posted a chart that gave an estimate of calories burned in certain activities.  There there are two main reasons for posting this activity chart.  The first reason is to show how great our bootcamp and training programs are at burning calories.  One of our clients, Dave Welte regularly wears his polar heart rate monitor and has been known to burn 1000 calories or more in one hour at DeVetter Fitness and has even been above 1300 calories.  Granted, Dave is a man and weighs more than 170lbs, however burning over 1000 calories in one session is very significant no matter how you slice it.  The second reason that I posted the chart was to show how few calories are actually burned in many common activities.  For example, if you do water aerobics for an hour and weigh over 170 pounds you will burn over 300 calories.  That is pretty good, however if you ate an Snickers Bar (270 Calories) or  something else that bumped your caloric intake up higher than your maintenance number those 300 calories do not go very far.  In fact your work out was only able to keep you from gaining the weight that you may have otherwise gained in a couple of weeks with out working out.  Oh, and I hate to remind you that the goal is to take in 500 calories less per day than what your body needs to maintain if you actually want lose weight!

Some thing to think about.

So to wrap things up, there is a lot that goes into weight loss, body fat loss (which is probably an even better goal for most people) and getting a more lean, toned body.  The starting point to making it happen is understanding the key principal of calories in calories out, or following a healthy eating program that makes you do so with out you even knowing it!  The rest of this fascinating topic we will save for another day.

Please let me know if you have thoughts or questions on weight loss or body fat loss and post them as a comment below.

Oh, and I almost forgot.  On the last blog we had a competition to see who could guess the amount of calories that I burned while playing tennis with my wife Jeannine in an hour and a half.  And the winner is…

Kate Bertholf who guessed closest to the correct answer which was 650 calories!  Congratulations to Kate who has won a free Polar Heart Rate Monitor.

How Many Calories Burned in…

Sometimes when I look at the food journals of our clients and I see what they are putting into their bodies, I wonder if they realize the implications.  Don’t get me wrong, we all need some sweets or treats at some point.  When most people use that justification (every one has some bad food…) they don’t think about the fact that often they have more sweets and treats than they do good nutrient rich lower calorie foods!

The other day I was looking at a food journal that had a 1500 calorie meal on it.  Lets do the math.  If you are working your buns off at our bootcamp, personal training or even some other activity and you go eat a days worth of calories in one meal you are wasting your efforts.  You would be better off eating well and not even working out.  There is a famous saying that you cannot out train a bad diet.  The only exception that I know of is if you have the time to work out for multiple hours a day.  If you trained as hard as Olympic Athletes do, for 3-8 hours a day you could probably out train poor nutrition habits.  So, if you have the time and would like to go that route just get ahold of me and we will get you on a program- and I will start calling you Michael Phelps!  For the rest of us,  a 1/2 hour to an hour a day 4-6 days a week is hard enough to squeeze in.

To help put things into perspective I have added a list that guesstimates how many calories one burns when performing certain activities.  Remember, a rough equation is that you have to burn 3500 calories per week to lose a pound.  That works out to taking in 500 less calories per day or burning 500 more calories per day than what your body needs to maintain it’s current weight.  Please look at the list to see how you are doing in the activity department.  Don’t forget that there are other factors including what you eat, the fact that strength training boosts your metabolism and others, however this is a fun little list to see.

Also, who ever can guess closest to the number of calories that I burned playing my wife Jeannine in tennis for 1 hour and a 1/2 today in beautiful Orlando, Florida will win a sweet prize ( I used my FT 7 heart rate monitor-which we do sell;) ).  Just post your answers below.  It will be well worth the 2 seconds that it takes to post!

We are here at a conference to make sure DeVetter Fitness is always getting better and always the best in town!  I can’t wait to bring back some new ideas and methods of getting better results for our clients.  Don’t forget to look at the chart below to see which activities burn more calories and don’t forget to guess how many calories I burned playing tennis.

ACTIVITY	120 LBS	154 LBS	170 LBS
Aerobic dance	330	480	460
Archery	190	244	270
Basketball	330	440	460
Outdoor bicycling (under 10 mph)	220	590	310
Indoor cycling (Spinning, hard effort)	572	733	810
Bowling	165	210	230
Calisthenics	250	244	345
Cleaning	270	244	270
Eating (sitting)	80	105	115
Eldercare	218	279	308
Food preparation	135	175	190
Gardening	275	330	385
Golf (walking)	250	330	345
Hiking	330	370	460
Horseback riding	220	279	310
Mowing lawn	300	384	425
Racquetball	385	489	540
Reading	70	91	100
Rowing, stationary	385	489	540
Running, 10 mph	880	1,118	1230
Sitting (watching TV)	55	70	75
Sitting (writing, typing)	100	105	140
Skating, roller	385	489	540
Skiing, cross-country	440	559	615
Skiing, downhill	385	419	540
Soccer	385	489	540
Swimming, leisure	330	419	460
Tennis	375	489	540
Walking, brisk	220	265	310
Water aerobics	218	279	308
Weight training (light)	165	220	230
Yoga (Hatha)	136	175	193