Understandably, you may not want to become a health nut like Jack Lalanne (I say that affectionately), but you can definitely improve your quality of life. Let’s look at a few things that happen as you age that are impacted by resistance (weight) training:

Sarcopenia (loss of muscle): Starting at age 25 (somewhere around the end of puberty), you begin to lose muscle at the rate of .5% per year up to age 60. After 60, you can lose muscle at the rate of 1% per year. This is relevant not only from the standpoint of losing muscle tone, but a loss of strength, flexibility, and a lower metabolism.

Rest of Article

First of all, let me begin by saying that you need carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are your primary source of energy. Without carbohydrates, your body will begin to do some crazy things in order for you to get your energy requirements. Here’s a closer look at carbs:

Carbs are fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts. Would you argue that fruits and vegetables are bad for you? How about whole grains like oatmeal, and nuts like almonds? These are whole foods that have fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants. They are good for you! You should at least eat fruit 2 times per day and vegetables 3 times per a day (the more the better). You should eat whole grains at least 3 times per day.

Avoid Processed Carbohydrates. The problem with carbohydrates is what we do to them. They are stripped of their fiber, stripped of their nutrients, we add food color, sugar, sometimes fat, sodium, and all kinds of crazy stuff and put them in a box, bottle, plastic wrapper, etc. In other words, we turn them in to junk food. As a result of processing, the glycemic index also goes up.

What is the Glycemic Index? The glycemic index is basically a value system based on a scale of 0-100. Carbs that are high GI break down much faster than those that are low GI. Thus, eating high GI carbs (close to 100) like a bag of pretzels (and most junk food) can raise blood sugar faster (aka “the sugar spike”), which in turn can cause a sudden rush of insulin overcompensation (an “insulin rush”). As a result, your blood sugar then dips. This is when you begin to feel groggy and crappy, thus leading you to pick up your favorite high GI snack to make you feel normal.

Carbohydrates power your brain and your muscle. You need carbs to fuel the brain. It’s the only source of fuel the brain uses. The only exception is a byproduct of fat called ketone bodies (this is the premise behind Atkins through a process called ketosis). Your body only uses ketone bodies as a last resort and is inefficient. It’s kind of like trying to use alcohol to fuel your car instead of gasoline. It works, but it’s really hard on the engine. Ketone bodies are hard on the brain.

Carbohydrates are Protein Sparing. Without ingesting carbs, your body will breakdown muscle protein if you do not get enough carbs. Why? You need glucose to fuel the muscle and other tissues. With exception to the brain, muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in the body. When you lose muscle, you decrease your metabolism. In other words, you hold on to body fat better. (Other things begin to transpire, such as hormonal shifts also occur. These shifts also decrease your metabolism.)

The Thermic Effect of Food. You actually utilize a certain amount of calories in digestion alone. Foods that require more energy require more caloric expenditure. Carbs that are high in fiber are the ones that have the greatest thermic effect. Usually, carbs that are low GI have the greatest thermic effect. Once again, these are real foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts.

So, there you have it. Carbohydrates are good for you. One of the errors of the low carb myth coincides with just about every diet. That is, they do not include exercise as a part of the equation and they are quick weight loss gimmicks. This is flawed and misleading. Instead of going on a diet, get active and change your lifestyle. Quick fixes never work for the long term and usually make your situation worse.

Written by Kelly Huggins
Exercise Science, B.S.
FTNorthBuckhead.com

Now we know that it is best to do your cardiovascular exercise after your weight training. Even right now you may be saying, “that’s not what I was told”. To understand why it’s the other way around is to understand how the body utilizes different sources of fuel (energy in the form of carbohydrates, fat, and protein) as energy. Lets look at why:

Glucose (carbohydrates) is your body’s primary source of fuel- While doing cardiovascular exercise, you are in an aerobic state. You are not only using fat as energy, but glucose, which is stored as glycogen in the muscle (think of it as stored carbohydrates). During cardiovascular exercise, you are increasing the intensity and need quick energy. Though fat will be utilized, it will be utilized very slowly and steadily. Think of it this way, a candle burns slowly (like fat), but a stick of wood burns quickly (this is like carbohydrates).

Glycogen is needed in Anaerobic (weight/resistance training)- Now, in weight training, you will only utilize glycogen as a source of fuel because it is anaerobic. So, if you use all of your glycogen stores during cardiovascular exercise, you not only run the risk of losing glycogen as energy, but also something else more detrimental. You can lose muscle. Glucose can only quickly become available from stored carbohydrates (which is glycogen) and guess what else- protein. So, what is the most ready available source of protein in your body? Answer- muscle. You do not want to lose muscle!

Muscle protein breaks down to create glucose- Your body will use muscle protein as a source of energy (as a last resort), as it will break it down into amino acids to create glucose (this is known as gluconeogensis – say that real fast 5 times). Because weight lifting is anaerobic (without the use of oxygen), it can’t use fat as energy. As a result of losing muscle protein, you are effectively decreasing your metabolism. To put it simply, if you want to burn more calories and fat, then you want to preserve muscle.

It can be argued that this position is not always true. However, the over-riding evidence demonstrates that doing cardiovascular exercise after weight training makes most sense. It’s basically erring on the side of caution.

Do not confuse cardiovascular exercise with a warm-up before weight training. At a moderate intensity between 5-10 minutes it is advised to use a treadmill, bike, or elliptical. For such a short period of time and moderate intensity, it will not deplete your glycogen stores.

written by Kelly Huggins
Exercise Science, B.S.
Fitness and Nutrition Expert
FTNorthBuckhead.com

Fitness Together encourages that you do cardiovascular exercise after your weight training sessions. We are methodical to our approach to fitness, using only proven concepts that work. Go to your local Fitness Together Georgia studio to learn more.

“Now that I am exercising, I can eat anything I want” – This hits the top of my list, as it is the one that I most often I encounter with most clients. If your goal is to lose weight, you can’t just eat anyway or anything you want. At first I believe most people realize this, however, once they have lost a little weight they go back to their old habits and the fat becomes stagnant. This leads to frustration. (Some people flat out refuse to make a change and still get frustrated). You have to remember that there are a whole lot of calories in a pound of fat (3,500 calories to be exact). So, even when you are exercising and you burn 2,500 calories in a day (combined with exercise), and you eat 3,000 calories, that fat weight is not going to go. The worse part though, is that most of those calories are coming from empty calories like alcoholic beverages, late night snacks, and ice cream. To have any long-term success, you are going to have to learn how to eat supportively. Sure, every now and again, you should be able to eat a piece of pie or have a hamburger. You just can’t do it everyday, but very sparingly.

“I haven’t lost any weight, so I guess it isn’t working. I might as well give up!” – Ask anyone who has been working out (using synergy) for more than a year, they will tell you that weight doesn’t magically disappear. They will also tell you that it will go in spurts. The good news is, when you lose weight the right way it stays off. When it comes to losing weight through diets, you will gain the weight back (with interest). There are a couple of things you have to remember. One is you have to remember how long it took you to gain the weight. It took longer than a couple of weeks to gain; it will take more than two weeks to lose it. Besides, the weight loss on these diets is primarily water loss and muscle loss, not fat. Second is weight is nothing more than gravity pulling an object toward Earth. It is not a true measurement of your body composition. You can have positive changes in you body composition, your flexibility, your health, energy, etc. So, don’t just throw it all away because of what the scale says.

Here’s a thought for you. Investing into a mutual fund is not something that you can get rich quick off of. Over time, it builds and grows. It may even lose some money. But in the end, you have got that $250K+ you were waiting for. Weight loss is not much different. True, safe, effective FAT loss and maintenance occurs not in the course of one week, or one month. In a year’s time you will see a dramatic difference. Yet, it never stops. You must always continue to invest in yourself, just like a mutual fund. The good new is, it doesn’t take 20 years to lose weight like most interest bearing accounts or properties. The point is, it takes time.

Written by Kelly Huggins
Exer. Sci., B.S.

“Though I stayed active, after I left FT I started gaining weight and my strength training program became stale.  Because I am getting ready to climb Mount Teton in Wyoming, I knew that it was time to get started again.  What I like about FT is that they take account for my goals.  Since I have started in the latter part of May, I have lost 10 pounds of fat.  This actually exceeds how I did the first time.  In part this is because of the new Nutrition Together program that has held me accountable to my eating habits.  I have a great experience with each visit and the entire staff is great!”

Jack Sibley

Hawkins & Parnell, LLP

It’s true, avocados have plenty of fat, which is why you should eat them sparingly.  However, they are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids (in alpha linoleic form) which is an essential nutrient (a nutrient your body requires).  These Omega-3’s help fight against cardiovascular disease and are usually most abundant in fish.  This makes avacodos great for vegans, sense it’s one of the view plant based foods full of Omega-3’s.

Another abundant nutrient in avocado is vitamin K.  It is a fat soluable vitamin that your body needs for blood clotting.  Considering the flesh of the avocado is quite soft, you may be surprised that there is 10 grams of fibers in a cup.  Seventy-five percent of the fiber is soluable fiber which is great for cardiovascular health.

Other nutrients in avocados is potassium (more so than bananas), vitamin C, vitamin E, and folate. 

If you eat a lot of avocados, then you may be get too much fat. However, if you eat them sparingly, the health benefits will outweight the risks.  Avocados are great to eat in slices as a side dish with just about any meal.  Of course, you can’t forget about guacomole (guacamole recipe).

Improve your Nutrition – Learn about Nutrition Together!

written by
Kelly Huggins
Exercise Science, B.S.
Fitness and Nutrition Coach
Fitness Together North Buckhead
Men’s Health Examiner writer

Two women are at a party. One of them is pouring what looks to be some sort of fruit punch into a glass. The other one calls out to her in a non-approving tone (paraphrasing), “that’s got high fructose corn syrup in it!” The woman pouring says, “so, like with everything it’s okay in moderation and it’s no worse than table sugar.” Then the ad proceeds to lead you to a website called Sweetsurprise.com.

On the website, it continues to explain that the dangers of HFCS is no worse than table sugar. It explains that the physiological breakdown between the two are not any different. Similar to the lady pouring the juice in the ad, my response is… “so…”

I couldn’t agree more that just about anything is okay in moderation. Question is, what is moderation? I also agree that table sugar is no better than HFCS. However, this diverts from the real issue that Americans are over-consumers of HFCS. As a whole, we do not consume it in moderation. It’s no wonder, because it’s in everything from juice, to snack cakes, and protein bars. Just because HFCS no worse than table sugar doesn’t mean it’s okay. However, let’s be real about it, the aim of the ad is to make you feel that it’s okay to continue to buy HFCS laden foods.

Now one may ask, “why is HFCS in so many products?” The answer is simple. It’s cheap and easy to mass produce in a timely manner. Table sugar, which comes from sugar cane, requires more time, has less yield, and requires warmer environmental conditions. Corn is easy. We can grow at an even faster rate than before through genetic engineering. The real reason though, the market likes sweet stuff. The sweeter something is, the more likely you are to buy it again (the greater the addiction).

When you dig a little deeper, you will notice that the ad and website is funded by no other than the corn lobby itself, The Corn Refiners Association. I can’t blame them for running the ad. HFCS has been getting a lot of bad publicity. With the recent report of obesity rates going up in 28 states, there is no question that you have to take a deeper look at what you eat. HFCS is not the only thing you have to watch.

Any product that comes in a cardboard box or plastic wrapper is bound to have too much sugar (in any form), fat, sodium, and/or preservatives. At the end of the day, no matter how sweet the ads from the corn lobby may be, the statistics aren’t so sweet.

written by
Kelly Huggins
Exercise Science, B.S.
Fitness and Nutrition Coach
Fitness Together North Buckhead
Men’s Health Examiner writer

written by
Kelly Huggins
Exercise Science, B.S.
Fitness and Nutrition Coach
Fitness Together North Buckhead
Men’s Health Examiner writer