Simple Systems: Measuring Success

Say what you will about scales, love them, hate them, cannot live without them... Everyone has a view on them. For me, a scale is a great way to see if what I am doing is successful or leading me down the wrong path. Thank goodness the olden days of scales only showing a weight have long since passed. Now, the weight a scale shows is one of the least important components and, for me, is commonly overlooked for the more important.

For a bit over a year now we have had the  Withings Wifi scale. It is great. It connects to your computer through wifi so you always have up-to-date info in a few different graph models. The scale measure weight, BMI, and fat mass. It is easy to use and can be programmed for up to 8 users with programmable passwords. And, if you are "that guy" you can update your stats to twitter. Yea, a perk I will not be using... This scale is an investment at $150 but well worth the price if your are serious about fitness. Even better, it is on Prime. Whoohoo, free shipping!

Simple Systems: Post Workout

Believe it or not, but one of the most important parts to a successful workout is after the workout is finished. What we eat and drink 45 minutes after a workout can help determine how productive our workout was and the effects it will have on out body. The recovery and replenishing of our bodies it vital for a complete workout.

Recovery

Remember to eat within 45 minutes of your workout. This is vital for a well rounded workout because your body needs the recovery. Sometimes, it is hard for me to believe, but the body is able to burn fat better when we eat post work out and it will continue burning more fat throughout the day, bonus-onus!
Great post workout snacks are things that have a high protein content and carb content. Our bodies need the protein and carbs for recovery after a workout. Plus, the calories are more likely to be used as muscle energy rather than fat storage. Things like whey protein with healthy carbs (spinach) or eggs will keep your calorie burn going long after you have left the gym. The carbohydrates will increase insulin production and the insulin will help the amino acids (from the protein) in muscle tissue repair. This means that your muscles will recover quicker and your anabolic metabolism (what builds your body) will get a nice jump start on your day.

Replenish

Replenishing your body is important after a workout.  Most sports drinks have high amounts of sugars and can actually work against our weight loss routines. If you are going to drink sports drinks, make sure to read the ingredients and pick one with a low sugar content. Unless you are doing some intense, hour plus workout, water is enough and can be held off until after the workout. Too much water during a workout can make you water-logged and cramped.
It is recommended that people drink their sweat rate in water post workout. The sweat rate is the amount you weighed (in your birthday suite) before your workout minus what you weighed (same style) post workout. If you did drink anything during your workout, this should be added back in. A good thing to note with these calculations is that 16 oz. of water is equal to one pound...

Simple Systems: Workout Timing

Timing a work out to get optimal results is uber important. Unfortunately, there are about a billion different opinions on workout optimization. Here is what I have learned, dumbed down and put into a teeny tiny nutshell.

Exercising in the morning will boost your metabolism for the rest of the day. This is why you feel a little more chipper on the days you work out in the morning. If you are feeling run down in your day, it may be because you are overworking your body. This is something I was doing a lot until I got a heart-rate monitor. Your heart rate should stay between 65%-85% for about 30-45 minutes for a solid workout. Anything higher and you could be damaging your body more than helping it. This is partially due to an increase tissue recovery time and partially due to burning muscle and fat when you go above 85%.

Although you should stay in your aerobic heart rate zone for long durations. There are times when your heart rate can go higher than 85% to build power and muscle. This should not be done for more than two minutes at a time. More than 2 minutes and you will feel fatigued, plus your muscles will feel sore from an overproduction of lactic acid.

Simple Systems: Healthy Eats For Unhealthy Food

There are times when everyone would prefer to eat a big mac, fries, mac and cheese, pizza or anything else on the “no go” list rather than the salad their diets recommend. For cheat days like this along with all those other days that we would just prefer eating something absolutely delicious, I have created a list of cheats and alternatives. This is definitely not a diet list and I would not recommend using this system if you are trying to loose weight, but it will at least help curb some of those cravings without sending all of our hard earned fitness success down the drain.

Tip One, A Pizza Secret:
I am a pizza fiend. Literally. There is absolutely no difficulty for me in finishing an entire large Pizza Hut pizza in one sitting, on my own. Pizza is my kryptonite. For that reason, I was very happy to learn this little tip. If you are going through a pizza binge and have decided to eat all pizza in the world, go for the veggie. Veggie pizzas have a slightly higher nutritional content and average 1-3 grams less fat and up to 50 calories less per slice. This is because there is less cheese and none of the high fat meats.

Tip Two, Sweets:
Here is another thing I L-O-V-E, cookies. They are warm and yummy and I am drooling. There are times in my day where I could battle a fleet of ninjas for that one cookie. For me, this is usually late at night or early in the morning. Oddly though, the time that a cookie is best for me is the same time that one is more than enough to appease my craving. Afternoon, between dinner and lunch is the best time for that extra burst of sugary noms. This is the time of day when we can start getting a little sluggish and our bodies are able to digest that sweet, sweet goodness more easily.

Tip Three, Carbs:
Bread is something that oh so many people love. Starchy things are seen all over fast food menu’s and are a staple of almost every American comfort food. Too bad every health conscience person out there curses that corner of the food groupings. Oh how we love carbs and how we love to hate them even more.
Fortunately, there is a good time of day to eat them with less impact on your body. Morning is the time that our bodies are best able to process and regroup after a carb load. This energy can be used for the rest of the day and has less of a chance of being stored than that plate of spaghetti you (by you I mean me) are thinking of eating for dinner. If a starch-tastic meal is something that is happening, better to make it breakfast rather than dinner or a late-night snack. Just remember to reduce your carb intake for that day since you hit it out of the park at breakfast.