Running Playlist

I’m including my latest playlist that I have on my iPod for when I go for a run on the street or on the treadmill. Would love to hear what other people listen to!

Lose Yourself — Eminem
Seven Nation Army — The White Stripes
Hey Ya! — Outkast
PPr:Kut — Linkin Park  — (Cheapshot/Jubacca/Rasco/Planet Asia Remix)
Remember The Name — Fort Minor
Run Like Hell — Pink Floyd
Princes of the Universe – Queen
Gimme Shelter — Rolling Stones
Godless – The Dandy Warhols — (Massive Attack Remix)
Cowgirl — Underworld
Massive Attack — Teardrop

Cooldown:
Radiohead — Climbing Up The Walls (Zero 7 Mix)
Warsaw — Novelty

digg story

Please digg this if you enjoyed the playlists. Thanks!

Calories, Weight and What It All Means

Let’s begin with what a calorie is. A calorie is a unit of energy. The energy can be measured by many methods. The calories in foods depend on their composition and the calorie value of a food is not actually its measured values, but is the average energy of a large number of different samples of the food.

Now, a pound of fat equals 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound a week you would need to expend 3500 more calories than you eat that week, whether through increased activity or decreased eating or both.

One hour of these types of exercises burns this about this many calories:

Steady walking – 176

Power walking – 281

Jogging (slow) – 563

Swimming laps (light)- 563

Cycling (light) – 422

Running upstairs – 1056

Now, according to Liquid Candy, a report published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., teenage male soda drinkers averaged 32 ounces per day (roughly 380 calories) and females in the same age group (13 – 18) averaged 23 ounces. That means that the average male teen is almost packing on a 3/4 pound a week from soda and the average female is packing on a little over half a pound. Of course most people in this age group are more active and have faster metabolisms, which helps but these habits tend to go into adulthood and contribute to weight gain. Imagine as an adult drinking 32 ounces of soda per day. You would need to walk two hours to work off all that soda or appoximately 25 minutes of running up and down stairs.

People don’t seem to realize that by making small changes in the way they eat can make huge contributions to their health. Continuing with the example above, switching out the regular soda and replacing it with a few nice, cool glasses of water would go a long way. Get that deli sandwich without the cheese. Try eating wholegrains instead of white. You get the point.

Weight loss may seem like a daunting task but the important thing is to start out slow and make small changes and to progress as time moves on.

More about abs and training

I received a few emails asking for some more tips and information on abs, so I decided to make a second post.

The first thing to note is that muscular development won’t do any good without lowering your body fat percentage. Generally, men need to get below 10-11% body fat to really start to see the abs (they really pop out at 7-8%), and women need to get below 16-19% body fat.  You should note though that people do differ and based on individual body fat distribution, some people may vary from this basic rule. Genetics also play a role and will affect how your abs look in terms of how they stand/pop out.

One should note that men tend to accumulate more body fat in the abdominal area, whereas women tend to accumulate more body fat in the hips and thighs. There unfortunately is no way to target specific areas when trying to burn fat.

Proper body positioning is essential to maximal development of the abs while protecting your back from injury. One of the most important aspects to understand in order to best develop the abs, is to maintain a proper posterior pelvic tilt during ab training. To explain this concept, think of yourself lying on the floor while arching your back. In this position, the top of your pelvis is tilted forward, otherwise known as an anterior pelvic tilt. Now if you rotate the top of your pelvis down towards the floor such that you have removed the arch in your back, you are now in a posterior pelvic tilt. This is the optimal position in which to train your abs when doing floor exercises (although it may not be appropriate for an individual with lower back disc disease).
Now consider an ab exercise in a hanging position, such as the hanging leg raise or hanging knee up. Most people complete these exercises with a slightly arched back position utilizing mostly the hip flexors with minor assistance from the abs to complete this movement. In order to complete a hanging leg or knee raise in a safer and more effective way for developing both the abdominals and the hip flexors, you must have your back in a rounded position as you literally curl your pelvis up closer to your upper body. This aspect makes these exercises much more challenging and puts a much higher demand on your abs. Most people cannot complete a properly performed hanging leg raise until they have adequately strengthened their abdominals and are in very good physical condition.

In terms of how long one should spend – You can complete an intense ab training session in about 5-10 minutes during your workouts, either at the end or the beginning. I like to switch it up and sometimes do my abs in the beginning as I feel that I don’t have enough intensity towards the end of my work outs. If I do my abs at the end of a work out, I typically do it after a cardio session. Remember that you should be treating your abs like any other muscle group and should not overtrain them. Work your abs out 2 – 3 times per week and allow adequate rest.

In terms of cardio, I am a proponent of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT has been linked to increased anti-oxidant production in the body and an anti-inflammatory response, a more efficient nitric oxide response (which can encourage a healthy cardiovascular system), and an increased metabolic rate response (which can assist with weight loss).

HIIT sessions involve a warmup period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cooldown period. They typically last around 15 – 25 minutes.

Yoga in your office

1a) Releasing breath:

Stand with your feet about 6 inches apart and your arms hanging loosely by your sides.

Inhale raising your arms overhead, stretching your arms and back. As you exhale, bend forward from the hip with the knees slightly bent.  Grab your opposite elbows and allow the upper torso, arms and head to hang down.

With the next inbreath, roll up and again raise the arms above the head, stretching upward and slightly back. Release into the stretch as you exhale, letting go a little more with each outbreath.

Repeat for 3 – 5 breaths.

1b) Chair Stretches

Sit comfortably in a chair with both feet on the floor, arms resting lightly on your lap, and your eyes closed or gazing softly downward. Bring your spine as straight as possible with your chest lifted. Release your shoulders down; allow your face to relax, and your jaw to hang loosely.

Breathe: Take a few releasing breaths, inhaling and exhaling through your nose. Focus on the movement of
your belly as you breathe – notice the slight inflation of the belly on the inbreath and the flattening back on the outbreath. Remember, each outbreath brings an opportunity to let go of any unnecessary tension you may be holding.

Note: Try to breathe in and out through your nose while doing the following exercises. Focus on the breath and the body movements and passively disregard any intrusive thoughts.

Repeat 3 – 5 times.

2) Spinal Flex:

Move to the edge of your chair. Rest your hands comfortably on your upper legs near your knees. As you inhale, stretch your spine up and your chest forward, arching your back slightly.

As you exhale, round your back, rolling your shoulders forward and letting go of tension. Allow your head to move with your body, keeping your chin parallel to the floor.

Repeat 10 times.

3) Cat-cow:

Move to the edge of your chair, feet flat on the floor. Reach back and hold on to the back of your chair.

As you inhale, arch your lower back, lift your chest and look up to the ceiling. As you exhale, round your back as you bringyour chin to your chest and pull in your abdomen.

Repeat 5 times.

4) Shoulder shrugs:

Inhale lifting your shoulders toward your ears until you feel tension in your neck and shoulders. Exhale forcefully through your nose as you allow your shoulders to drop down.

Repeat for a total of 10 times, letting go of tension as you release the shoulders down.

You should feel much more relaxed and your body should feel looser.

Want Ripped Abs?

Training the abdominal muscles has recently been the subject of more misinformation and mythology than any other part of the human anatomy.  Hopefully this information will help you in your goal in getting those coveted ’six pack’ abs.

There is nothing unique about abdominal muscles as far as their training and response to training is
concerned. The principles that apply to your biceps and chests apply equally to abs.

So the four critical elements of your abs workouts are:
1- High-intensity of muscular overload
2- Progressive intensity from workout to workout
3- Proper spacing of workouts to avoid overtraining or undertraining
4- Proper nutrition

Here are a couple of my favorite abs exercises.

Cable Crunches:

Unlike most ab exercises, this one allows you to increase the amount of weight you use incrementally. But keep the weight moderate and go for the burn—if you use too much weight, you’ll be tempted to start using your body weight to pull the weight down instead of just your abs.

Starting Position:
Attach the rope handles to the high-cable pulley of a Universal machine. Grasp the rope in both hands and kneel about three feet away from the weight stack.The cable should be above and in front of you. Slowly bring your wrists down toward your head.Your back should be straight with your torso at a slightly forward angle.

The Exercise:
Slowly contract the abdominals, focusing on the area from the rib cage down to the pelvis.Hold the contraction at the bottom. Straighten back up very slowly, keeping constant tension on the abdominals.

Hanging Knee Raises:

This is a tough exercise that allows you to work both the lower abs and the serratus muscles on the sides of your torso. Lift your knees straight up, and you hit the lower abs; lift your knees to each side to target the serratus muscles.

Starting Position:
Grab a pull-bar with your palms facing forward, with a grip a little wider than shoulder-width apart. (Alternatively, you may use elbow straps that hang from the bar.)
You should be hanging with your feet off the ground to start this exercise.

The Exercise:
Slowly lift your knees and bring them toward your chest. Concentrate on flexing your abs as hard as you can. Hold, then slowly lower your legs back to the starting position. Perform the entire exercise slowly to avoid
“cheating”by swinging your legs up and using your momentum.

Alternatively you can do a lying hip raise.

Starting Position:
Place a light weight between your feet if you can. Lie flat on a bench with your legs off the end or lie flat on the mat with your legs stretched out. Place your hands under your butt with your palms down. Keep your legs as straight as possible and your knees locked.

The Exercise:
Raise your legs straight up as high as possible. Lower legs back down until they are about one inch from the floor. Again, make sure to slowly perform this exercise to avoid any cheating. You can also raise your legs up and move them in a circle – starting from left to right and vice versa.

Aside from exercising, it’s important to do some cardiovascular work. Muscular abs won’t do much if they are surrounded by a layer of fat. You should do cardio about three to four times a week. Doing the Stairmaster, the elliptical, punching bag, jumping rope, swimming, biking, etc. should all be great to get your body going to burn those calories!

Negative Calorie Diet

There are multiple versions of this diet (cabbage soup diet, wedding day diet, etc.) but they all, for the most part, tell the dieter to eat and drink food products that have a negative caloric effect.

A calorie is a unit of energy. The energy can be measured by many methods. The calories in foods depend on their composition and the calorie value of a food is not actually its measured values, but is the average energy of a large number of different samples of the food.

A negative calorie food,  is a food which uses more calories to digest than the calories the food actually contains! Calories from these foods are much harder for the body to use. In other words, the body has to work hard in order to extract calories from these foods. For example, an apple contains approximately 70 – 80 calories. The digestive process will require energy to decompose the apple. The digestive muscles and organs utilize heat and energy which burns off more calories so that by the time it’s done, you’ve probably used up around 85 – 90 calories while only taking in approximately 70 – 80 calories. You end up with a negative calorie effect but ’satisfy’ your hunger at the same time.

That, in essence, is the basic premise of the Negative Calorie food. Now for a list of foods that one may eat:

Vegetables

• Artichokes
• Asparagus
• Green beans
• String beans
• Beets
• Beet greens
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Chinese cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Celeriac
• Celery
• Chervil
• Chicory
• Chives
• Squash
• Tomato (fresh/canned)
• Corn (cob/canned)
• Cucumbers
• Dandelion greens
• Dill pickles
• Eggplant
• Endive
• Garlic
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Leeks
• Lettuce
• Mushrooms
• Mustard greens
• Okra
• Onions
• Parsley leaves
• Turnips
• Watercress
• Parsnips (raw/boiled)
• Peas
• Peppers (green/red)
• Pickles (sour/sweet)
• Pumpkin
• Radishes
• Rappini
• Red cabbage
• Rhubarb
• Rutabagas
• Sauerkraut
• Salsify
• Scallions
• Shallots
• Sorrel
• Spinach

Fruits

• Apples
• Apricots
• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Cantaloupe
• Cherries
• Cranberries
• Currants
• Damson plum
• Figs
• Fruit salad (fresh/canned)
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Honeydew melon
• Huckleberries
• Kiwi
• Kumquats
• Lemons
• Limes
• Loganberries
• Mangoes
• Muskmelons
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Papaya
• Peaches
• Pears
• Pineapple
• Pomegranates
• Prunes
• Quince
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Tangerines
• Watermelon

Seafood

• Abalone
• Bass (fresh water/sea)
• Buffalo fish
• Catfish
• Clams (cooked)
• Cod Steaks
• Crab
• Crayfish
• Flounder
• Frog legs
• Mussels
• Oysters (half shell)
• Shrimp
• Terrapin
• Trout
• Tuna

During the week that you’re on this diet, you’ll be eating the ‘ultimate negative calorie, fat-burning, metabolism increasing soup ever devised’ at least according to the people who created this diet.

Ingredients:

• 6 large green onions
• 1 cup fresh green beans
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 5 medium carrots
• 1 large can of cooked or stewed tomatoes
• 1 medium head of cabbage
• 1/2 bunch of celery
• 1 clove of garlic (you decide)
• 1 green or red bell pepper (red gives it more color)
• 1 stalk of broccoli
• 1 cup of brown rice (uncooked)
• 1 package of onion soup mix
• FREE: your choice of salt, pepper, herbs, spices for taste

Clean all ingredients. Don’t peel your carrots. Simply rub the outside of them with your hands thoroughly under water until the dirt is gone. Cut all vegetables into small and medium pieces. Run the clove of garlic through a garlic press or chop it very very fine. Throw everything into the pot except the brown rice and fill with clean
(preferably filtered) water. Fill it up to about two inches below the top. If the pot isn’t already on the stovetop, get it on there now. Turn the heat all the way up. Once the pot is boiling, throw in the brown rice. Now boil all the ingredients very fast for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to a simmer and continue cooking until the vegetables are tender. This usually takes 4 to 6 hours.

Beverages:

Water only. No to juices, diet drinks, sodas, coffee, tea, milk, etc.

Suggested Meal Planning:

Breakfast:

• Cantaloupe
• Grapefruit
• Honeydew Melon
• Orange
• Papaya
• Pineapple
• Strawberries
• Watermelon

Lunch:

You shold have the soup and a glass of water before and a glass aftewards.

Dinner:

You shold have the soup and a glass of water before and a glass aftewards.

Snacks:

You can have one between breakfast and lunch and another between lunch and dinner.

Apples or Celery. If you get hungry before lunch, gulp down an apple or some celery. Drink a glass of water
before each snack.

You should repeat this cycle for days 1 – 4. After day 5, you can introduce some seafood or a piece of skinless chicken. No more than 10 ounces of whatever you choose.

Day 6, is must of the same thing as the previous days. For dinner, you should have at least one bowl of soup, if not two, and then you can have some seafood that was put on the list above.

Day 7 should be a repeat of days 1 – 4. For dinner, instead of just having soup, you can add a salad.

After day 7, you should weigh yourself and then slowly reintroduce yourself to other foods. Approximately, 60 – 70% of what you are eating after day 7 should contain negative calorie foods.

The 5-20-10 Negative Calorie Workout

Part of the negative calorie work out is a breathing exercise which they state will help with burning off even more calories.

Stand up straight and tall. Place your feet apart about twelve inches. Relax. Loosen up a bit. Roll your shoulders and neck.

Breathe in deep through your nose for five seconds. In these five seconds, you want to get as much oxygen into your lungs as they can hold

Once you’ve accomplished getting as much oxygen as your lungs will hold (remember, inflate your belly) in five seconds, you hold that oxygen in place for twenty seconds.

Once you’ve reached the twenty (or less if you can’t reach twenty seconds) seconds, slowly exhale through  your mouth for ten seconds.

Well there you have it… if you haven’t starved yourself, perhaps you’ll asphyxiate… just kidding. If you want more information on the negative calorie diet aka wedding day diet, leave a comment or you can buy an amazing ebook – Click Here!. It’ll tell you everything you need to know and help you with your daily planning.

Atkins Diet Part 2 – Recipes

Here are some recipes compiled from various places (please check links below for more great recipes).

Salisbury Steak
Carbs Per Serving:13g carbs total
Effort: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/3 cup dry bread crumbs*
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sliced onion
• 10 1/2 ounces beef broth — condensed
• 4 ounces mushroom stems and pieces — drained
• 3/4 teaspoon Guar gum**

How to Prepare:
Mix ground beef, bread crumbs, salt & pepper and egg; shape into 4 oval patties, each about 3/4inch thick. Cook patties over medium heat, turning occasionally, until brown, about 10 minutes; drain. Add onion, broth
& mushrooms. Heat toboiling; reduce heat. Cover & simmer until beef is done,about 10 minutes.

Remove patties; keep warm. Heat onion mixture to a boil. Sprinkle guar gum over mixture; stir in. Heat
for a couple of minutes & gravy will start to thicken. If too thick add some water to desired consistency.

Best Tuna Casserole

Serves:4
Carbs Per Serving:14.5
Prep Time:40 minutes
Effort: Easy

Ingredients:

• 2 packets Proslim pasta
• 1 cup celery — chopped
• 1/3 cup onions — chopped 1
• one 10 3/4 ounce can cream of mushroom soup, condensed
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• one 9 1/4 ounce can tuna in water, canned
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

How to Prepare:
Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package but remove after 5 minutes instead of 6. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the butter in the sauce pan
and let melt. Add the celery and onions. Cook and stir over medium heat until tender. Stir in the condensed soup and cream. Then gently stir in the pasta, tuna and parmesan. Transfer the mixture to a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Bake for 25 minutes or until heated through.

Fajita Burger

Serves:1
Carbs Per Serving:5.2 per servin
Prep Time:less than 30 mins
Effort:Easy

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
• 2 tsp. fajita seasoning mix
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp. sour cream
• 2 tbsp. salsa

How to Prepare:
Mix ground beef with dry fajita seasoning mix. Form ground beef into a patty. Pan broil burger to desired doneness. Top with shredded cheese, sour cream and salsa.

Feel free to include any of your favorite recipes in the comments section.

Links to recipes:

www.meals.com
www.allrecipes.com

Atkins Diet Pt 1

The first diet I will dive into is the Atkins Diet.  The concept for the Atkins Diet has been around for over a century, the diet in its current form surfaced just over 30 years ago starting with Dr. Atkins’ Diet Revolution in 1972. Dr. Robert Atkins derived his popular plan fro ma diet he read in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Atkins Diet it is a diet that is composed of intakes of high protein and high fat while minimizing carbohydrates and calories. Similar high protein, low carbohydrate versions of it include, the Eades, Sears, Heller, Mayo and Suzanne Somer’s diets. The Atkins diet is comprised of the following:

Phase 1 : Induction Stage

You are pretty much allowed all the fat and protein that you would like much fat and protein as you would like during the first two weeks of the diet (including poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, bacon and red meat, as well as pure, natural fat in the form of butter, mayonnaise, olive oil, safflower, sunflower and other vegetable oils) but must limit yourself to 20 grams or less of carbohydrates a day. The reason you want such a low intake of carbohydrates is because this will induce your body to go into ketosis which is where the liver excessively converts fat into fatty accides and ketone bodies that can then be used by the body for energy – fat burn.

The carbohydrates that you eat during this stage cannot come from grains, rice, bread, fruit, milk, or starchy vegetables, but must come from specifically chosen vegetables (see below).

Vegetables You can have two to three cups per day of:

• alfalfa sprouts
• daikon
• mushrooms
• arugula
• endive
• parsley
• bok choy
• escarole
• peppers
• celery
• fennel
• radicchio
• chicory
• jicama
• radishes
• chives
• lettuce
• romaine
• lettuce
• cucumber
• mâche
• sorrel

You can have about one cup of the following vegetables which are a bit higher in carbohydrate content than the ones listed above:

• artichoke
• celery root
• pumpkin
• artichoke hearts
• rhubarb
• asparagus
• chard
• sauerkraut
• bamboo shoots
• collard greens
• scallions
• dandelion
• snow peas
• bean sprouts
• dandelion greens
• spaghetti squash
• beet greens
• eggplant
• spinach
• broccoli
• hearts of palm
• string beans
• broccoli
• kale
• summer squash
• brussel sprouts
• tomato
• bean sprouts
• leeks
• turnips
• cabbage
• okra
• water chestnuts
• cauliflower
• onion
• zucchini

Acceptable Beverages

Water is the vastly preferred beverage. Atkins advises drinking eight 8 oz glasses per day of

• Filtered water
• Mineral water
• Spring water
• Tap water

Soda water or carbonated water with sugar-free flavorings are OK. Teas and decaffinieted coffees are also okay, as well as soda with sucralose (Splenda). Of course you should still look at carb contents and count all towards your maximum intake.

Sugar Substitutes:

Atkins prefers sucralose (Splenda). Small amounts of saccharine (such as is in Sweet N Low®) are acceptable.

Cheese:

You can consume three to four ounces daily of the following types of cheese – full-fat, firm, soft and semisoft aged cheeses*, including:

• cheddar
• cow, sheep and goat cheese
• cream cheese
• Gouda
• mozzarella
• Roquefort and other blue cheeses
• Swiss

You should stay away from diet cheeses, cheese spread and whey cheese.

Phase 2: Maintainence Stage

This stage suggests an increase in carbohydrate intake that will total 25 grams and up a day. The number varies from person to person. To figure out how many carbs you may have day, you are toi ncrease your carb intake by 5 grams each week and are to continue doing so until you are no longer losing any more weight. The number that gets you to this point is called the Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing or CCLL. Any number above (for intake of carbs) would increase your weight, while any number below will help you continue to lose weight.

You should add foods in the following order:

1. Cooked vegetables
2. Nuts and seeds
3. Fruits (preferably berries)
4. Beans
5. Starchy vegetables, potatoes, yams
6. Whole grains – oats, barley, rice, millet, etc

This list increases in what is considered a more potent carbohydrate. You should be cautious as you proceed along the list. Only you are able to judge what is and isn’t permissable for your diet.

My thoughts:

The fact that I can eat a Bic Mac without the bun and still be on Atkins is not very sound. I believe people on this diet would be much better off if there were limitations on the kinds of saturated fats often consumed by those on the Atkins diet.

The other problem with the plan in my opinion is that it doesn’t allow for a high intake of fruits as recommended by most nutritionists.

I would give this diet a 6/10.

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