Here is the route for the 2012 Tour De France. I have watched this event for the last 25 years. I just love watching endurance events. Watching people push themselves to the limit.
9 Things to Stop Doing if You Want to Walk Off Weight
May 5, 2012 – 11:48 am
***Adapted***
By Wendy Bumgardner, About.com Guide Updated April 03, 2012
1. Stop Finding Excuses to Not Walk or Exercise
You don’t burn calories during the exercise you don’t do. There are a million excuses for why you can skip your walking or exercise on any given day. If you plan to walk off weight, you must conquer those reasons why you didn’t get in your walking steps. Every. Single. Day. Here are the most common excuses to skip exercise. You may want to bookmark them or print them out to keep these excuse busters handy. Keep an exercise log so you can be honest with yourself about how much exercise you actually got during the past week.
2. Stop Thinking You Burn More Calories Than You Really Do
Brisk walking is an excellent fat-burning activity. But you need a reality check about how many additional calories you are burning. An hour of brisk walking will make your body dip into its fat reserves for energy. But it is very easy to over-replenish those calories with a post-workout snack. A typical full-size energy bar is 300 calories, or about your expected calorie burn for a one hour walk. Don’t use your walking workouts to justify eating more calories.
3. Stop Thinking Breathing Harder and Sweating is Bad
A good brisk walking workout will result in you breathing harder than usual. That is a good sign that you are getting into the fat-burning heart rate zone. Warm up at an easy pace, and then walk at a brisk pace for 30 to 60 minutes to get your body to burn some of the fat you want to lose.
4. Stop Doing the Same Walking Workout Every Day
If your walking workouts are always on the same route, at the same pace, or with the same treadmill workout — switch it up. Fast days, easy days, interval days, long slow days — each has its own benefits. Change up your walking workouts to get your body to build muscle and burn calories.
5. Stop Assuming You Know How Much You Really Eat
To lose weight, you need to be honest with yourself about how much you really eat. The best way to do that is by recording everything you eat for several days, and looking for ways to change your eating habits. You can simply log it on paper or with a phone app, or take photos of everything you eat with your cell phone. You can use our sister site, Calorie Count as a free online/phone app food diary, calorie and nutrient list, and for diet analysis.
6. Stop Eating Like You Just Walked a Marathon
Walking expert Rob Sweetgall often joked that too many walkers walk for 10K and eat for a marathon. You may fall into this trap with justifying adding french fries to your lunch or having a full-fat sweetened latte after your walk. If you walk with a partner or walking group, you might fall into social eating habits that encourage eating too much before, during, or after your walk. Know your basic calories-per-day metabolic rate and how many calories you burn while walking. To lose weight, even on an active day it’s best not to exceed a 1,600-calorie diet. Save the blow-out for after you actually walk a full marathon!
7. Stop Drinking Calories
How many calories are in the sodas, fruit juices, coffee drinks and sports drinks that you drink each day? Can you get used to drinking water and black coffee instead? You need water during walking workouts of 30 minutes or more, and you probably need electrolyte (salt) replacement if you are sweating and walking for over 60 minutes. But you don’t need to drink extra calories.
8. Stop Avoiding Hills and Stairs
Adding bursts of intensity to your walking workout can help build your fitness and get your heart rate up. Hills and stairs are the easiest way to add these into your workout. You might even want to add a detour that specifically includes a hill climb or climbing stairs. On the treadmill, switch it up with hill intervals.
9. Stop Sitting Still
If you get in your walking workouts most days of the week, but you sit for most of the day at work or school, you may still have a slower metabolism and increased health risks. Find ways to break up sitting time with bouts of standing, pacing, or walking. This is one way to get to 10,000 steps per day. Every bit of movement and standing burns more calories than sitting still. This can add up to burning hundreds more calories per day.
NPTI – The Good Old Days
May 4, 2012 – 12:18 pm
Found this picture from my days at NPTI. NPTI is where I received my fitness and nutrition degrees. Time sure does fly by!
5 Things That Make You Tired
May 3, 2012 – 10:34 am
1. Dehydration
It turns out that even moderate dehydration (which results in the loss of 3 percent of your body weight) can make you feel mentally sluggish and mess with your concentration. The next time you’re feeling foggy or lightheaded, don’t just assume you’re in serious need of some food. Try downing a glass or two of water.
2. Cell Phones
Checking your cell before bed amps up brain activity, making it harder to doze off. Plus, any electronic gadget’s artificial blue light can suppress the sleep hormone melatonin. A 2011 poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 20 percent of people ages 19 to 29 are awakened by a call, text, or e-mail at least a few nights a week. Power it down well before bedtime.
3. Medication
Many drugs have veiled energy-sapping side effects. Chief among them are some classes of antidepressants and certain beta-blockers used to prevent migraines or treat high blood pressure. If you start a new med and feel more lethargic than usual, see your doctor for an alternative. (If there isn’t one, take your dose right before bed.)
4. Overtraining
While working out zaps the stress hormone cortisol, prolonged sweat sessions—like, for example, regularly running for more than 30 minutes at a steady rate—can actually rev cortisol production. Interval training (bursts of intense activity) combined with strength training (free-weight and body-weight moves) helps keep cortisol in check.
5. Low Iron
The mineral shuttles oxygen around your body and removes waste from your cells. If you’re not getting around 18 milligrams a day, your body struggles to function properly and you can feel worn out; low iron levels in your diet can cause iron deficiency anemia. If you feel sluggish, ask your doctor for a simple blood test to see if you should be taking a supplement.
Source: Women’s Health
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