Showing posts with label fat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fat. Show all posts

Friday 2 January 2015

Happy Fit Year: how to get fit once you got fat

20:43:00 cardio , fat 0 Comments
Believe it or not, Christmas is over. And with Christmas also candies, chocolate (a bit less for those who already abuse sugar on a daily basis), cakes, sugar, fat, pasta, fish, meat, panettone, bread, cakes and cakes and cakes.
Every year I prepare myself for the toughest period of the year, that they refer to as Xmas. I even strategically try to lose weight around November to get below my regular threshold by December and be "normal" by January. It never works.
How can it work with a mother like mine, Italian from the South, who already thinks that I am sick just because I am fit.
Holidays are nice, cakes are awesome. But we are runners, aren't we? We need to crash our legs on the road and how could that be with a belly always full and hours and hours spent to digest?
The best way to stay fit in such conditions is of course to control yourself at the table, which, I know, can be extremely hard to accomplish. In the common case of failing in such an attempt, I found that some more cardio is always the best solution to save what can be saved. Slow-pace long-distance running allows one to burn fat slowly and steadily and should be done every day for the whole period of our dangerously unhealthy holidays. That is the price to pay for some slices of that cake we really cannot say no to.
I survived my holiday with 1 kg more on my weight. Not bad, considering how much fun I had at the table. My trick was in one word, cardio.
Do not draw any conclusion right after your holiday. Everybody is different and metabolism varies as well, as side effects of eating and the number of days after which you actually realise of your, well, new condition.  In order to assess the damage that you inflicted to your own body after so much food, you should wait one full week and keep your fingers crossed. Easy gainers are usually those who fall into depression when they end up on the scale. Caroline is one of them. Do not panic though. Easy gaining usually means easy losing. Moreover that extra weight that really annoys you could be water kept by your body due to salts and sugars, not just fat. Again: cardio is the answer.

What does cardio mean?

Here is an easy running schedule you could start with, right after landing to the airport near your hometown.
Monday: 1h slow pace run + stretching
Tuesday: 45' slow pace run + stretching + 5 times sprints at 90% max on 100 mt + stretching
Wednesday: rest
Thursday:  1h slow pace run + 5 series of 20 crunches for abs. + stretching
Friday: 45' slow pace run + 15' faster
Saturday: 45' slow pace run + stretching + 5 times sprints at 90% max on 100 mt + stretching
Sunday: 1h slow pace run
After this week of recovery, you not only should get back to your usual weight but also get ready to start your regular running schedule (with interval trainings and the like) or to your daily physical activity.

Happy 2015!

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Thursday 13 March 2014

Dieting is not a piece of cake

13:16:00 diet , fat 0 Comments
Hello girls and boys!

I am sure that what I am writing here has happened to you at least once in your life. I mean, have you ever had the feeling of being fat and just not comfortable with yourself? 

Exactly! Awkward silence is what I was expecting. So, keep reading.

 Let me go even more in depth. Imagine this scenario: your main ambition of the day is staying at home, maybe sipping a cup of tea right before eating. And that's not even dinner time. Then eating again. You feel like being doomed to eat and prisoner of your blanket, in a virtuous circle that keeps you stuck there until, my friend, it's too late for you to react.
Alright, I might sound quite fatalistic here, but you know what I mean. Moreover, winter is almost gone and there might be the need for your body to realise that. 

 We all know that staying at home will not solve the problem. Diets always look like mountains that are impossible to climb. But keep in mind that your body is usually not capable of doing anything. It’s the brain that can do things, and if that box is working well enough it can do great things. If not, alas, your brain will be the worst enemy you could get. And we don't want enemies. Do we? 
So, keep yourself mentally sharp and follow these not-so-easy (I know) pieces of advice to put yourself one step forward.

The question that I have been asked a number of times goes a bit like this: "what should I do to lose weight?"
My answer, can be as articulated as an exam of nutrition at university or like the guidelines below, depending of who I am answering.

First of all, you have to set some realistic goals. Don’t try to lose 10 kg per week, nor believe those charlatans who claim that is possible. Losing a lot of weight in a short amount of time will have a side effect that we usually call the jo jo effect. What's that? The perfect machine of our body will react to the new condition and will go into a conservation state. Sooner or later, when you or your brain will relax on this drastic diet, it'll gain weight again. Therefore, take it easy and, more importantly, slow. A range from 2 to 4 kg per month is already a good achievement. Diet is like a ultra marathon with an elevation gain that you only experienced on Google maps. Slow and steady wins the race.

Start counting the calories you eat. Losing weight means eating less calories than you really burn and create that awesome deficit that will also burn your fat. Write down whatever you eat and always look at it during your day. Your brain can fool you by forgetting or underestimating the amount of calories that you are taking. 
Split the day in 4 periods: breakfast, lunch, dinner and eventually time for snacks. Because you need it.
I personally use this website to get nutritional facts of whatever I eat. 

How much should you eat? 
Well, math is nice because it's clear. The amount of calories you consume in a day depends on factors like age, physical activity intensity and height, just to name a few.
This website can help you to have an idea about your daily intake.


Another secret you should share with everyone is about what to eat. Eat a variety of foods! It is important to have balanced diet with foods that belong to the five major groups in the picture. Choosing a variety of foods within and across food groups improves dietary patterns because foods within the same group have different combinations of nutrients and other beneficial substances.
Distrust the lemon diet, the potato diet or the rice diet. Distrust all mono food diets and, again, the charlatans that sponsor their effectiveness. 

Drink plenty of water, and avoid all the chemical fuzzy drinks. Water will help you to increase energy and relieve fatigue. Water flushes out toxins, improves skin complexion, boosts your immune system and it does all of this for free. Even if you buy water, that will still be cheaper than those sweetened beverages that will just make you fat. A total of 1,5-2 litres per day should do the trick.

My last recommendation: don’t be passive and move!  Try to move as much as you can. Cycling, swimming, running, fitness, dancing are all good for your body. Physical activity, as the word says, will activate your metabolism, forcing your body to burn more calories that, in turn, will make you smaller (providing you are not eating more too). 

 If one day you end up at the gym and you realise that your weight is higher than the time you were flaked out on the sofa, don't panic. Muscle is heavier than fat. But more muscles usually mean more calories to burn. 

 What now? Get started and sweat all the fat out of that body!
Diet is the only game where you win when you lose.

Love,
Caroline

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