Fitness Fashion Fads

Check out this hilarious glimpse through the last 25 years of fitness fashion from ACE.

http://www.acefitness.org/article/2828/

I think it's important to note these two fitness fashion trends that happened and have come back:

1. Neon colors - ummm, have you seen a sorority t-shirt in the last year?! How 'bout this one below inspired by Mike the Situation?

2. Track suits - while they aren't extremely stylish right now unless you're Sue Sylvester, there was a period in time when you saw women every where working there velour track suit from Express. (Mine is navy. And I wear it just like the girl below. Don't judge me.)

Calorie Counting Woes

Okay, so I shared my newfound love of the My Fitness Pal app but I failed to mention the challenges that come from counting calories.

1. At a party -impossible. Unless you just drink water or are writing down exactly what you're eating whichyour friends and other party-goers might perceived as rude/weird.
2. At a bridal show. I was helping my BFF plan her wedding this weekend. There is really no way you can deny each cater the opportunity to share their delicious delicacies such as shrimp and grits, mashed potato cocktails or proscioutto wrapped melon. I really am extremely altruistic.
3. At wine club. - MFP just does not know all the different types of delicious wine we sample and frankly, sometimes I don't either. :)

When do YOU find it hard to keep track of calories?

My advice is to do your best as much as you can - especially Monday through Friday when you are on a work week routine. Give yourself flexibility on the weekends but be sure to bust your butt when you workout.

Wish me luck at Wine Club this week!

There's an app for that!

Hi blogging world! It's been a while since my last entry butI am so excited to be back in the game. My hiatus has given me many great post topics that I hope you will love and maybe learn a bit from too.

For my birthday, my sweet husband surprised me with the iPhone 4. Loyal Verizon customers we waited until Verizon added iPhone before making the plunge.

Totally. Worth. The. Wait.

I have never considered myself a very techy person (most fitness people aren't). But I was totally wrong. Not only have I discovered a love for angry birds, hanging with friends (username: sconnell83 - if you want to hang) and pinterest as a result but I have discovered the world of health and fitness apps. Now there's a ton of them and I am dying to know which ones you use. I have one app that I truly love.

My Fitness Pal - Two words to sum it up: calorie counter. I love this app! I have never really counted calories because I have always focused on eating a balanced diet - fresh fruits and veggies, lean proteins and whole grains. And while I do think my diet has been fairly balanced there is definite room for improvement. My Fitness Pal has made me keenly aware of that.

How it works: you enter biometric data about yourself (height, weight, age, male/female, activity level, etc.) My Fitness Pal then gives you a calorie goal per day based on this information as well as your weight management goal.

Then you just begin tracking everything you eat. That's the hard part. But almost every single food is listed. You just have to be conscientious of your portion sizes and remembering everything you eat. I really like it because it holds me accountable and I'm beginning to see that I had such a a flippant attitude towards calories. Now I am much more selective about where my calories are coming from.

But remember it is not just about calories we consume but calories we burn too. My Fitness Pal lets you input your activities including gardening and household activities that we sometimes forget are calorie burners as well. Not every single activity is included so if you do Zumba, for example, you may need to wear a heart rate monitor (okay, maybe I am techy :)) to find out how many calories you're burning or search online to find the average calories burned per 60 minute class and then add it to your cardiovascular exercises that way. Once you've added a new modality once it's saved.

One thing I really like is that through the My Fitness Pal website, you can also analyze your macronutrient intake as well. I choose to look at my calories, carbs, fats, proteins, fiber and cholesterol intake because it is never just about calories. It's about giving my body everything it needs too.

The other app I downloaded is iMapMyRun. Before my injury, I used this website whenever I was running in a place I was unfamiliar like on a conference or visiting family/friends. But the app seems awesome! Since I still can't run, I haven't been able to use the MMR app to its full potential but I'm excited to use it once I'm able to run again. For now, it'll be MMWalk (MMW) for me.

So blogging friends, any recommendations for health and fitness apps I should download?

Fitness and Injury: My Silver Lining

So it's been a LONG time since I have posted on here. Maybe I'm not a very good blogger after all.

So a month ago, I canon-balled into a river and in the process herniated a disc and bruised my spinal cord which led to a condition called neurapraxia. Neurapraxia is a condition in which a nerve remains in place after a severe injury although it no longer transmits impulsea. Thank you Wikipedia! The nerve trauma has caused me to be unable to stand or walk so my legs were TEMPORARILY(thank you Jesus!) paralyzed.

It was all so scary and such a freak accident and I have been told this over and over by all the medical professionals that I have interacted with in the last month. My neurosurgeon told me the coolest thing and it has stuck with me on the days when my pain is intolerable and it is the silver lining.

Here's my silver lining:

Upon being discharged from the hospital after three days,lots of testing and an IV full of morphine, my doctor told me that the muscle tone of my erector spinae muscles (see pic below)

protected my spinal cord from a more severe injury or permanent damage like permanent paralysis, spinal bleeding (very bad) or spinal hematomas (extremely bad). Moreover, the doc elaborated and said that if another woman the same height and weight as me but was less fit/toned, the odds of paralysis would be much higher.

Afterwards, the siver lining quickly faded as the doctor began to share with me my long road to recovery and how it would be full of baby steps of walkers, being home bound, needing home care, needing help with EVERYTHING and more.

While my recovery will be long (it already has been), I am beyond thankful for having strong muscles that protected my precious spinal cord from further injury. My intention is that this post will inspire you to go do some Pilates, lift weights, run in this beautiful weather, shake your booty in your living room but go and do something because you can!! Your body will thank you for making it stronger and fitter. Physical fitness is not just about looks. It may just come back to save your life...or the very least your livelihood!

Fit Flops/Shoes: Are they really worth it?

Check out this great article from the American Council on Exercise about the trendy fit shoes.

Portion Distortion

In 1970 15% of Americans were obese, whereas today 30% of considered obese.

After vacationing since Memorial Day (well, not exactly, but in and out of town), I am definitely off my regular fitness routine and healthy eating schedule.Fortunately, I've still been physically active even though it hasn't been the same caliber of exercise. All of our travels has led to lots of dining out which is one of my favorite things to do! But as I've dined with family and friends (as well as eating as much as I wanted at an all-inclusive resort), portion sizes have been resounding like bells! Moderation is such a weakness for me personally because I want it all now...or at least until I have to undo the top button of my jeans (ladies, a little tip: dresses are the most flattering and comfortable thing to wear should you choose to overeat. I don't condone it, but I'm just saying!)

Sometimes we know what we should eat, but we are just not sure HOW MUCH we should eat. Portion sizes in America have grown out of control in the past 40 years. In 1970, 47% of Americans were overweight or obese, compared to today where 66% of the population is overweight or obese. As the rate of obesity and overweightness grows, so does the American portion size. A bagel in 1970 was 3 inches and 140 calories, but today a normal bagel is 5-6 inches and 350 calories. Even our dinner plates have grown from 10 inches in 1990 to 12 inches today! Click here to compare portion sizes from then compared to now.

So how do you know what a proper serving is?? Below you will find tables for each nutritional group (click on one to make it bigger) that outlines the correct serving sizes of most basic foods. Next time you sit down to eat a steak, remember the picture of the deck of cards and decide how many servings your steak really is!

Dining out on vacation makes it feel impossible to eat well. While most menus do not give nutritional information, trust your eyeballs (and not your stomach!) to choose the appropriate amount of food. Hey, it's always economical to turn one meal into two!

When eating packaged foods, it is very important to look at the nutrition label to check the serving size. Many seemingly single serving packages, like bags of chips, pretzels, and muffins are really multiple servings. For example, Uncle Wally's fat free gourmet corn muffins have 130 calories per muffin, but there are 2 servings per muffin (which will cost you 260 calories). Who walks around cutting their muffins in half? Not me! Another sneaky food is cereal. Especially the very dense cereal like granola and grape-nuts. Pay special attention to the serving sizes here, because what many American's consider a bowl of cereal, is really 2-4 servings! Talk about starting your day off with a bang (more like a calorie bomb)! Moral of the story is, until you can properly eye ball serving sizes bust out the measuring cup just to be sure!

Finally, just to be sure you can eyeball your food, take this quiz from Women's Health to see how well you recognize 100 calories!

Mayo...Good or Bad?

Check out this physician's blog post on mayonnaise. It's pretty interesting although, I don't think I'll be drenching my food in mayo anytime soon.

http://naturalsportsmedicine.blogspot.com/2007/04/mayonnaisepart-iilet-truth-be-told.html