March 4 2016

  Class at 4pm and 5pm Today

 Conditioning:

For Time:

50 Box Jumps

50 Jumping Pullups

50 KB Swings 35/25

50 Walking Lunges

50 Knees to Elbows

50 Push Press 45/35

50 Supermans

50 Wallballs

50 Burpees

50 Double Unders

Strength:

Barbell Row

5-5-5-5-5

 A Word on Portion sizes…

“But I’m eating healthy why am I not losing weight?”

My suspicion is that you are not weighing or measuring your foods and have no idea what a true portion size is because everywhere we go nowadays portions are huge, so instead of going in to a long essay about not filling every square inch of your plate with empty calories I thought I’d point out a few places you might be ignoring calories thinking, “It’s no big deal” or, "This is good food so it doesn't matter."

 Lets start with Cereal,

I only chose this cereal because it's the only breakfast cereal I had in the house but really no matter which cereal it is the point is the same.  This particular cereal is 200 Calories per serving which is probably pretty low compared to a lot of the popular, sugar filled cereal brands.  The thing to pay attention to is that 1 serving (200 Calories) is only 1 cup.  


Are you using twice that? Maybe 3 times that, it's not that difficult to get there if you fill a regular cereal bowl. 

Are you adding milk? If so, How Much? 

This should be thought about both in your cereal and in your glass, I know when I drink a glass of milk, it's a lot more than the 8 ounces that makes up 1 serving and shown in the glass below.  When you're calculating your calories for the day are you counting everything you drink with your meals as well?  Have a couple servings of milk and you've already added 300 calories to your cereal bowl do it again with a couple servings in a glass at dinner and you're talking 600 Calories in milk alone.  Things like this add up fast.  
 

 

How about your snacks? 

A lot of people are telling me they are eating some kind of nuts for their snack, while the good fats in nuts are great they are also very calorie dense. Yes you should be eating them but make sure you're paying attention to how many nuts or how many servings you're taking in.  In this package of mixed nuts a serving is 28 grams, (Pictured above/Not very much) much less than a handful but still, 170 calories.  Do you take the amount shown on the scale here or do you take a few handfuls and turn that snacks calorie count into a full meal?


And salads, I'm hearing a lot of people really proud to tell me that they are eating salads everyday.  My question is always the same; Are you using salad dressing?  I see what restaurants put on salads to straight up ruin them, sometimes (most times) giving them a higher calorie content than if you had just ordered a cheeseburger but let's just say you're making your own salad.  The Organic Creamy Italian salad dressing that I had in my fridge is 150 Calories per 2 Tablespoons. 

So ask yourself 2 questions: 

1. When you are adding up your calories are you even taking in to account the minimum 150 calories in condiments that you throw on top of your food? 

2. Are you only throwing on 2 tablespoons or are you pouring calories on top of that salad that's making you feel so healthy eating?  

As you can see 2 Tablespoons is not a lot and you know the restaurant is overdoing it, ask for it on the side or don't use it at all.  

Lastly, and I really shouldn't even have to put this on here because you are in a weight loss contest!! But I know you're all out there reading nonsense telling you dark chocolate and wine is good for you so your taking that excuse and running with it. ALL CHOCOLATE IS CRAZY HIGH IN CALORIES even if your dumb magazine said you should eat it, you shouldn't, but if you're going to, pay attention to how much you eat.  This bar that is about the size of a regular Hershey's bar is 240 Calories per SERVING and there is 2 and a half servings in total in the package.  YES, I know you eat the whole thing so, congratulations you were good all day and that little snack you wanted after dinner just gained you 600 calories and erased your calorie deficit and hope of losing any weight.  Forget the chocolate, ditch the salad dressing, eat and drink regular (not supersized) portions of your meals and healthy snacks and you will see results. This was just a couple of commonly overlooked examples but this approach needs to be paid attention to in everything you eat, read labels yes, but also take note of what the label is saying and use a scale or measuring device at least until you can relearn what normal portions look like...