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What is “too skinny”?

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. 23,524 comments

What is “too skinny”?

There’s been a lot of controversy lately about Rachel Fredrickson’s 105lbs weight loss on tv’s The Biggest Loser. People can’t stop talking about it. The general consensus seems to be that she is “too skinny”, and there’s lots of speculation as far as the health of her weight loss.
As endurance athletes, some of us are familiar with criticism of our weight. So I felt this was an important topic to address.
Last season, before my destination race, and training camp in California, I got down to 165lbs. That was roughly 50lbs from my peak weight, and I’m a 6 foot tall man. It was around 175lbs where I started getting some criticism. My mom, especially, was concerned for my health and I even had a friend ask me if I had cancer. There’s a popular saying in the world of triathlon about weight.
“Lose weight till people start telling you you’re too skinny, then lose 10 more LBS.”
I don’t know where that originated, but I’ve heard this a number of times from triathletes, and on numerous message boards on the topic. It seems to be a pretty good generalized measure, and a reference to the inflated view of acceptable weight in our society.
Let’s get back to Rachel Fredrickson though for a minute. I want to break this down for readers. What did people see when she stood there, weighed in, and we had a comparison photo of her previous self.
What the media and general public saw:
1.  She’s Too skinny.
2.  She must of developed some kind of eating disorder.
3.  That can’t be healthy.
4.  She must be obsessed!
Here’s what I see:
1.  She had a huge smile!  Her new body must have been an incredibly happy moment.
2.  What HUGE accomplishment!  It must have been a lot of work to get there.
3. All that hard work!  She must be so fit and healthy now.
4. Holy cow, the haters are going to be so jealous!
I’m not Rachel’s trainer. So I can’t possibly know if she’s obsessed, or she lost weight in some unhealthy way. What I do know is that smile on her face tells me how happy she is. So where do we draw the line?  Where does weight loss stop being productive and start being unhealthy?
As endurance athletes we have different standards. The rest of the world doesn’t see things the way we do. In our sports, extra body fat only inhibits our efforts.  Really, any visible body fat is worthless extra weight we carry through a race course and holds us back. However, we want the muscle!  So there is where the line is drawn. The point at which we are sacrificing muscle to lose weight is where weight loss starts to be inhibitive to our body. This can be challenging because when you are at optimal weight for endurance sports you are walking a fine line.
Most of us, especially me!, struggle with getting to this point. I started to get close was last season when I reached 165lbs.
If you take anything away from all this, let it be this.  The important question to keep asking yourself is “how do you feel?”  If your to the point where you’re miserable and your progress is going backwards, in the big picture of things, that’s when you’ve gone too far with weight loss.
I don’t think society understands this at all. The media is in attack mode on Rachel Fredrickson. I laughed the other night when they made a BIG deal about her admission to working out sometimes six hours a day, and limiting her calorie intake to 1600. I really don’t see anything wrong with this!  To be honest, I’ve had 6 hour days myself, and it’s extremely hard to net 1600 calories when you’ve burned so many in a six hour workout. That doesn’t mean there’s anything unhealthy about it.
Let’s not forget what body fat really is.  Fat is a bi-product of too much calorie intake. Our bodies are not designed to carry too much body fat. In fact, even if you have no visible body fat, your body has plenty of fat ready to burn for energy. Plenty of skinny people are healthy enough to complete Ironman, Leadville, marathons and ultras.
Imagine if you were in prehistoric times. You had to hunt and gather your food. You couldn’t drive to a grocery store down the street and come home to eat on the couch. Life was hard!  Getting nourishment was difficult. Only the strong survived. What people perceive as “average”, in today’s terms, would not get you your next meal in pre historic times. The fast, the lean, the strong were the best hunters!  Why are those people perceived as “too skinny” today?  It drives me crazy. We call Rachel Fredickson “too skinny” yet people who are supposed to be within “normal” weight standards today are riddled with health issues that are related to having too much body fat. Extra weight can take a toll on joints, and put extra strain on your heart. The Mayo Clinic has written pieces that say any belly fat on men puts them at extra risk for heart disease. Why then is it so unacceptable to be thin?
I think it really just comes down to jealousy, envy, and resentment. Our society has made it too easy to be overweight. Processed food, sugary drinks and fast food companies have replaced natural foods and eliminated the hunt.  So the bellies of society have expanded. When being overweight became the norm it alienated those fit, lean and strong people.  Society has made it easy to be overweight. Most animals in nature take the easiest path presented to them by instinct. It’s hard not to. So society takes the easy path, but they still desire to look like they are that pre-historic ultimate hunter. It’s obvious we idolize that body type. Hollywood has made a multi-billion dollar industry out of it. So what we are left is envy. That’s why people criticize when someone like Rachel Fredrickson comes along and puts in the work, effort and dedication to do what it takes to look  like she could be a track star, Ironman, or the ultimate pre-historic hunter. It really is a shame.
Shame on you society!

Scale obsession

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. 23,827 comments

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Scale obsession

Man, I’ve sure spent some time being obsessed with my bathroom scale!  I’ve noticed others, as well, seem to develop an obsession when they jump on the diet bandwagon too.
As with a lot of things pertaining to nutrition, I like to think the best policy with the scale is….it’s ok in moderation. Don’t run to the bathroom and jump on the scale every chance you get. I’ve seen a lot of people get disappointed that way. Maybe, they just did an epic workout and the number on the scale wasn’t what they expected. Maybe, you’ve spent a week eating perfectly according to plan and didn’t lose as much as you thought.
Relax!  There are a lot of factors to your body weight at any given point in time. Your body weight can fluctuate during the course of the day as you eat, drink, excersize, sweat, etc..  So after that epic workout your weight may not be comparable to when you weighed in earlier in the day due to hydration or food storage. At the end of a pefect week you may not have the weight loss you wanted for many different reasons, but you may have set up for a very good surprise the week after.
It’s a good idea to pick a consistent time to weigh yourself in. It’s not necessary to weigh in every day either. I like to think of the diet/weight correlation longer term.  So weighing in once a week or every two weeks is more than enough. You need to think of your mental health too!  Watching those daily fluctuations might drive you crazy, and might even lead to dissapointment and ultimate failure.
During my own weight loss journey. These are the things that I noticed that made me think staring at the scale too much was a bad idea.
1.  It takes a calorie deficit of 3500 to lose one pound of fat. So 500 deficit per day for a week equals a pound. A 1000 per day deficit will net you less a pound in 3 days. Any more than that is uncomfortable and normally not recommended for long term sustainable weight loss. So if it takes 3 days minimum to lose a pound, and with all the other fluctuations in body weight going on, it may be hard to see anything meaningful on the scale three times a day!  It may just be confusing!
2.  For me personally, and you may find this too, there seems to be a lag on weight loss. So, if I executed the perfect plan during week one, I usually don’t see the results till the following week. I’ve theorized this is due what I’ve found to be true that all calories are not created equal. I believe all the processing and preservatives don’t process through some if our bodies like clean foods do. So when I start a diet I think it takes a week to work through the contamination of bad foods I ate the week before and I won’t see results that first week.
3. Obsessing over the scale is a lot of work!  With diet and exercise we already log and obsess over a lot of numbers!  There’s enough opportunity for dissapointment!
4. I could lose a couple pounds on a long workout only to gain them back again as I re-hydrate. So why run to the scale?  Just to see that lower number for a minute and dissapointment yourself again  in the morning?
5. Even during the day my weight can fluctate around 5 pounds. After a night of sleep you can be a little dehydrated. As you hydrate during the day and consume food that sits in your stomach your weight can go up by the end of the day. There’s a lot of variables there.
So what did I learn?  Consistency is key. Find that time you can weigh in and take a peak once a week at most!  It will save you some frustration and the headache of trying to compute all the variables. Don’t be upset by small disappointments. Think more long term about diet success because it just takes time.

Successful Healthy Eating

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. 25,634 comments

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Successful Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is difficult for most of us.  A lot of us can relate right now, especially, just after the holidays. Looking back we always regret our choices. So I’m going to outline some of my best tips to stay in the healthy eating groove.
1.  You have to decide this is what you want to do. If you’re reading this, you’re doing this because you want to be a stronger athlete, lose the extra weight holding you back, and maybe even look good at the beach! ��  So, it helps to remember that. Get up every morning, look in the bathroom mirror, and tell yourself!  Tell yourself that today you are going make good food choices, and then tell yourself why.
2.  Hold yourself accountable. If your trying to lose weight, get on the scale once a week, log your meals, and set some goals for yourself.  When you’re faced with temptation, you can think of having to face that scale later. It also helps to realize the results that your choices are having whether you are trying to lose weight, or maintain.
3. Keep busy!  For some of us, boredom is our worst enemy. Stay on top of those workouts, keep up on your projects and hobbies, and/or add a walk or yoga class into your schedule. The point is, keep your time filled so your not sitting in front if the tv eating things you shouldn’t. If you don’t want to come to head with temptation, stay away from it by doing something else more constructive and keep your mind off of it!
4. Drink your fluids!  Stay away from the sugary and chemical drinks, but stay hydrated. There’s been lots of studies around about how staying hydrated and drinking fluids with meals will keep you feeling full. Some studies suggest that warm fluids help you from feeling hungry even more. So go get yourself some tea!
5. Go to sleep!  Sleep helps you in many ways. It’s in the sleep cycle that the body kicks off processes to burn fat. It also kicks off processes to recover from the days workouts so you can get back at it again tomorrow. If you don’t sleep enough these processes don’t kick off. I also find that if you stay up late your more likely to get those cravings for bad foods and take in extra calories. So go to bed before you reach for the cookies while sitting up watching tv!
6.  The last tip for you is PREPARATION! This, IMO, is the most important thing you can do. A lot of us don’t have time to prepare healthy meals like we should. So plan these things out!  Have lots of healthy options around so you don’t grab the bad things. If you look in my pantry right now you’ll see several bags of beef jerky, natural peanut butter, and protein powder. These things, for me, are good for a snack when I’m feeling like I got the munchies.  Peanut Butter can especially satisfy my sweet tooth, and it’s full of healthy fats and oils your body needs. All comply with the winter diet.  Having lots of veggies and meats to cook for dinners instead of that microwave meal also helps. Every Sunday night I also like to cook chicken breasts, and put them in the fridge so I have them for lunches all week. A little work now saves me a lot of trouble during the week. Have some hard boiled eggs around for meals and snacks as well.  Personally, I eat about 6 eggs a day!  They help keep me feeling full, and are packed with nutritional value. If you know your going out to eat get online and check the menu. Find something you can eat before you go. If your going to friends for a party call and ask what they are having. If they aren’t having anything you can eat, bring something!  It’s all about being prepared.
These are my 6 best tips for successful healthy eating.  These are especially helpful during the winter phase of the periodization plan.  Here’s an example of a meal plan outline that I use to keep me on track. Most if these things I cook a head if time, or have in hand ready to stay prepared for the week ahead.
Breakfast:  3 eggs, a piece if fruit and tea with a touch of honey.
Snack:  handful of nuts or almonds, maybe some tea with vanilla casin protein powder if I’m still feeling hungry.
Lunch:  pre-prepared chicken breast, veges, an egg and a spoonful of natural peanut butter.
Snack:  tea with vanilla casin protein and a handful if nuts or almonds
Pre-workout Snack(at least 2 hours before):  2 eggs and a piece of fruit
Dinner:  whey protein in fruit smoothie, and some beef jerky. (if I’m working out late)
             (If I have time to cook dinner I’ll steam some veges and grill some meat.)
Lots of these things can be changed up for variety. Sometimes, I still run out of time, and have to go somewhere to get food. Plan that out too. Know what’s around you so you can find something healthy. Again, it all comes down to being prepared.

Stuff You Should Eat!

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. 25,983 comments

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Stuff You Should Eat!

I have to admit I’m extremely simple when it comes to my diet. I’m perfectly fine with eating the same boring things day after day. But I realize some people need variety. So I recruited some help when it came to recipes. Quite frankly, mine are just too boring!  For the first great recipe I asked Tony from http://www.tzcoaching.com to help us out. I paid a visit to Tony, and his Lovely wife Michelle, this weekend and ate this for myself. It was just wonderful!  I want to thank Tony and Michelle so much for the wonderful dinner, and the great write up for the recipe. I even stole the title from Tony on this one!  Thanks again!

From our friend Tony Zamora at http://www.tzcoaching.com
Stuff you should eat – Stuffed Bell Peppers
 
This time of year, most of my athletes and I are going through our winter preparatory diet phase, in which we are training our bodies to become more metabolically efficient for our spring and summer racing seasons.  To learn more about diet periodization, be sure to read some of Brian’s previous posts.
During this season, the focus of the diet is to consume as little amount of carbs as possible (I shoot for about 150g a day, or about 1.7g per kilo body weight).
What I hear a lot form clients during this time is, “how can I make food more appetizing?!”. The standard grilled chicken breast or steak with steamed veggies can get a bit old (although those are still staples in my diet!), so this stuffed bell pepper recipe is basically the same – veggies and meat – just prepared a little differently.
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 30min
Ingredients (good for 2 people)
   1lb lean ground beef (we prefer grass fed)
   4 medium green bell peppers
   ½ medium yellow onion
   2 roma tomatoes
   ½ cup shredded cheese
   Garlic
   Salt & Pepper
Cooking
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
Heat a large frying pan, adding in the garlic to begin to brown
Chop up the onions, add to the garlic to begin to caramelize
Add in the ground beef, mixing well and adding salt and pepper as preferred (I like a lot of pepper)
Once the meat starts browning, add in the chopped tomatoes
Cut the tops of the green peppers and scoop out the insides
Once the tomatoes get soft, you can turn off the frying pan
Scoop the filling mixture into the bell peppers until they are full
Once all the peppers are full, put the tray into the oven for about 20 minutes, until the peppers get soft
Sprinkle cheese over each pepper, and leave in the oven another 5-10 minutes until the cheese melts
Serving
Once the cheese has melted, it’s ready to be served!  Just scoop a pepper onto the plate, and add in an optional side dish.  Here we had an easy dark salad with cucumber and avocado on top.

 

Eat Dis, Not Dat! Vol. 1

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. 30,250 comments

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Eat Dis, Not Dat! Vol. 1

So being, admittedly OCD, I get into a lot of habitual eating. In the past a lot of that eating wasn’t the best food/drinks for me. A lot of things, I even thought were “healthy”, really weren’t. So I’ve learned to swap out some these foods for more healthy choices. I’d like to share some of those with you.

Eat dis, not dat!

1-Cereal
I’m really busy at work, and work lots of hours. So something easy like cereal was great for me. But most cereals are full of bad things. A lot of them are just a bunch of processed carbs and sugar. Some cereals claim to be “healthy” and some even have whole grains in them, which isn’t terrible. But then we add milk from cows pumped full of steroids, and all sorts of un-natural things. Even with organic milk, cereal and milk together is probably more carbs than most people need in a day. We can, certainly, say the same for pancakes, doughnuts, or whatever else bad you’re eating in the mornings.
Swap that cereal out for some eggs and some fruit!  Eggs can be prepared numerous ways and have been referred to as a “superfood”. Fruits contain natural sugars and lots of vitamins and minerals you need. Together, they are very filling yet low in calories and full of things your body needs!  Don’t be afraid to add some meats in there. Morning is a perfect time to load up in protein.
2-Sandwiches
Don’t eat dat!  While an occasional sandwich with whole wheat bread, organic meat, and some greens are fine.  Most sandwiches are packed with empty calories and preservatives from processes lunch meats and breads.
Make yourself a salad, or cook up some chicken breasts for the week to take to work with you.  Trust me, most people get more than enough carbs  anyway. You don’t need that sandwich.
3-chips/salty snacks
These things contain almost nothing natural and a whole lot of calories, preservatives, and sodium you don’t need.
Cut yourself up some cucumbers, eat some sugar snap peas, some carrots, or some broccoli quickly steamed in a cup in the microwave with a little water in the bottom and a touch of garlic salt. If you still crave the salt try some dried pork rinds or some beef jerky.
4-Cookies/ sugary snacks
I don’t even have to mention how bad this stuff is.  No, oatmeal raisin is not good for you! Lol
Try a scoop of natural peanut butter or a small square of dark chocolate to get past them sugar cravings. Just don’t go overboard. Another good alternative is nuts. Personally, I like to keep a bag of raw almonds in my desk at work for snacks.
5-Soda/ sugary drinks
These are so tempting and in your face all the time. Diet soda may even be worse than regular, who knows!  They really don’t know a lot about the chemicals in those drinks. Sugary drinks can really add up for calories, and when trying to lose weight almost all processed sugar really is a set back. For me this includes coffee. Because, quite honestly, I am more addicted to the cream and sugar than I am the caffeine!
Tea, water, black coffee, are all good replacements for those sugary drinks. Add a touch of pure honey in your tea to get you past those bad cravings for sugary drinks, or add some low sugar vanilla casin protein powder to help keep you full longer too. Slice up some lemons or cucumbers to put into a pitcher of water for some flavor if you need it. I know other people have thrown in limes or even some fruits for taste.
Thise are my suggestions to get you out iof those bad habits, and on your way to a healthier way of eating choices.  Make yourself some positive changes!  I made this Vol 1 because as I think I more I’ll be sure to share them here.

Nutrition and Injury

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Nutrition and Injury

Typically, we don’t think of these things mutually. But, in my experience, there is some kind of relation between nutrition and injury.
If you knew me, and some of you do, you’d know that my triathlon and MTB racing career has been riddled with bumps, bruises, broken bones and over use injuries. So looking back at those injuries I can put some sort of pattern to them.
One of the most frustrating times for me was when I first started with fitness after years of battering my body with terrible comsumption habits and a sedentary lifestyle. I found myself buying new clothes, year after year, as my waste line expanded. At some point I decided to put a stop to that. I decided to try and start running. Admittedly, I had some knee problems in my youth, however, running, this time around, proved very challenging. My knees were always swollen and sore when I finished a run, and I could forget about putting 2 days running back to back. Eventually, I got fed up, and quit running. I had to move to the bike for a while and concentrate on losing some weight so my body could take the pounding if running. So there is the first time I related nutrition and injury….
1. Solid nutrition will keep you at a healthy weight and make the pounding of certain exercises in your joints a lot less impactful and reduce the chances of injury.
After a while I lost a considerable amount of weight. One of my MTB buddies was into triathlons, and he convinced me to give one a try. So I gave running a try once again. With the weight loss it was much less painful, and injury ridden. I was able to string back to back days. I stepped it up!  Running was more enjoyable for me, and eventually, I ran a marathon.
Through all that I still struggled with injuries. So, I looked back to see some commonality. While I can’t say for sure some bike crashes or missed steps were due to loose rocks, other riders, or just stupid moves.  I can see some commonality in the timing of injuries. The majority are deep into long days when the body is tired and the mind is struggling to stay focused. There was the second relation between nutrition and injury.
2. While fitness, and the general rules of working out within your endurance limits applies, solid nutrition around and during workouts and races keeps your energy levels higher, and your focus up.  Allowing for better decision making and less mistakes!
Another thing I’ve observed was getting injuries during the recovery process. After my first marathon I ended up with some foot issues. I had more than likely stress fractured a bone in my foot training for it, and ran through that during the race. So my recovery from it was crucial to continue my plan for other races. I’m pretty sure it was then when I developed a dreaded issue that continues to haunt me today, planter faciitis. I’m not positive proper nutrition would have helped me avoid that injury, but again, it comes back to focus energy and partially the nutrition to sustain that.  At that time I tended to reward myself with food after big races or accomplishments. I was more than likely eating garbage and had no regard for proper recovery nutrition. I remember it taking me much longer than it should have to feel like I was 100% right again after that race. So just maybe, proper nutrition could have helped me recover better from that race, and keep me injury free as I recovered and started training for my next race. There was my last link between nutrition injury.
3. Proper nutrition will help you in the process of recovery, stave off injury during your recoveries, and help get you ready for that next race safely.
Obviously, nutrition isn’t the only factor in keeping you injury free as you train. But, I can’t help observe some of these links. So in addition to my three points above I’ll leave you with some other things that I’ve found, and my coach has given me to help keep the injuries to a minimum.
   -Proper warmup and cool downs from workouts
   -incorporating adequate rest days
   -staying within your limits, and especially running, respect proper volume building
   -staying on top of old injuries with stretching and keeping up with therapy exercises
   -a good recovery day routine like the one found here  http://www.personaltrainerscincinnati.com/2012/01/recovery-day-workout.html
   -a good bike fit! I happen to know a good bike fitter that is also my coach, you can find info here  http://www.tzcoaching.com/service/bike-fit/
   -properly fitting running shoes with appropriate support and keeping them cycled out between 300-400 miles
   -listening to your body and knowing when and how to back off

Cyclical Ketogenic Diet

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

“THE DIET”

Truth be told….

I’ve lost faith in traditional diets. I can pretty much say I’ve tried most of them over the years. None of them do a very good job of teaching you how to maintain or keep the weight off so you always seem to snap back to being fat!
What I’ve learned over the years is pretty simple. Be active, minimize processed foods, eat more cleanly, and your weight will fall where it is supposed to be!   Diet is more a life long commitment.
What I do believe in is some sort of diet periodization. Just like how we, as endurance athletes, periodize our workouts to peak for our most important races, we can peak with our diets. If we do this in a “clean eating” manor, you will hit that race weight just in time for those Spring races, be well fueled for your races, and maintain a pretty healthy weight range all year round.
I usually only break the periods into three phases.
1- The in season phase Spring through Fall. In this phase you want to eat cleanly and have a moderate amount of healthy carbs. Preferably from whole grains, brown rice, fruits, and natural foods.
2- The winter phase. This is where you want to eliminate carbs, sugar and alcohol. Eat sugary fruits sparingly and mostly after workouts. No pasta, potatoes, or sugar. Workout with water only. Try a sweet potato for fuel in long rides 2 hours or more) or after them. Mix a fruit smoothie with whey protein that has very low sugar/carb content. Eat lots of lean meats and vege’s and nuts. For little treats occasionally indulge in a glass if red wine, and small amounts if dark chocolate.
3- The pre race, or peak phases.  About a week or two before races you’ll want to add in a bit more carbs like while wheat pastas and brown rice.
Besides being a good guide for endurance athletes, what does this diet accomplish?
Theoretically, the winter phase trains your body to burn fat more efficiently. There have been a number of studies that say fat is the bodies most efficient source if fuel. Late in those endurance races our bodies have run out of carbs/sugars to burn and can’t process what we feed it in time to burn it as fuel. So our bodies resort to burning fat for fuel.
The other phases maintain a healthy weight and keep you properly fueled for your races.
Now….in all honesty I have no proof that this actually works except my own experience. Last year was the first time I used this winter phase. All I can say is I saw a noticeable difference late in races and long workouts. I had far less issues with fatigue, cramping and my body seemed to get stronger as the days went on. I also didn’t seem to need as much fuel during long workouts. I got down to my lowest weight since high school by Spring last year, while still gaining power and speed across all 3 of my workout disciplines. So I’d have to say that I’m a believer in this type of periodization for diet for more reasons than one!
Next post I’m going to talk about a general meal plan for day to day eating and outline some ideas for prep and successful management of healthy eating.
Stay tuned!!!……

New Years Resolution = FAIL!

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. 26,303 comments

Thursday, December 26, 2013

New Years Resolution = FAIL!

Why do soooooo man New Years Resolutions end in failure?
 
The New Years Resolution actually came from a religious origin. The first resolutioners are thought to be Babylonians who made promises to their gods to do, or not do certain things in their gods pleasing. Some of us Christians can relate to this in modern days with lent. The point is, that resolutions are deeply rooted in tradition. As in religion, these resolutions tend to turn out to be things that we don’t “want” to do.
I mentioned in my first post that I’m not here for a pep talk. Healthy lifestyle is something that you have to want to do. Making a resolution about something you don’t want to do is just like giving up something for the Lental Season. What happens when Lent is over?  Most people go back to whatever it is they gave up!  Nutrition doesn’t work that way. You can’t be can’t turn it on for a couple months and expect it to last a lifetime. Even if you have a successful year you can feasibly unravel all progress in a very short time. I’m not by far the first person to say this, but health and fitness is a lifestyle.
So what about resolutions?  I vividly remember the time I first started on my fitness journey. I was overweight and kept gaining and gaining. I was tired of buying clothes every time I outgrew them, I was tired of sitting at my desk feeling my stomach roll over my belt, and I was tired of being sluggish. So, instead of buying new pants again I started running. That didn’t last long!  It turned out I didn’t enjoy running much. Mainly because I was heavy enough that the stress on my knees was pretty painful. So I bought a bike. That bike turned into a passion that I have years later. Plus, I came back to running and after losing weight and building a base that allowed me to run some decent distance, I really enjoy it!  Add swimming, and I went from couch potato to triathlete!
I’m not saying this is what you should do. This turned out to be my Active Path.  You may find a similar path or find your own. But, to me, this was the most important aspect of dedicating your time and effort to a healthy lifestyle. A resolution will fail! A passion for something that gives you a reason to live a healthy lifestyle will last!
Find what you are passionate about. Try some things out. It may be endurance racing, it may be group bike rides at the local gym, it may be mountain climbing, mountain biking, hiking, tough mudders, , running, motor cross or even cooking!  Just find something that gives you a reason to eat properly and excercise regularly. Don’t make a mindless resolution you KNOW you’re going to hate!!!

Denial, da!, not a River!

Posted by bvandermeulen on March 11, 2015
Posted in: Uncategorized. 28,854 comments

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Denial, da!, not a River!

Well….  It’s the day after Christmas. I hope it was a good one!  I hope you had fun spending time with family and friends.

I want to talk a little about that today. One thing I’ve learned over years of weight struggles was the effect of family and friends. One of the biggest traditions in society through history is sharing food and drink as way to pass time together. Who you eat and drink with is, many times, the people who are closest to you. So by all means eat, drink, and be merry!
When you do though, look around the table. You’ll see that sometimes your friends and family aren’t the same as you. One person at the table may be able to eat whatever they want and still stay skinny. Another may not be concerned about weight at all, and still others may even make attempts to get you to eat and drink things you shouldn’t!
Don’t DENY the fact that you are different!  Your body may react differently to different foods, or portions than others do. Plus, if you’re reading this, you probably have different goals than the others at the table do.  I am personally not one of those people who can put away gobs of food, and drink growlers of beer and not pay the price. I look at that stuff and it seems to stick right to my belly!  It’s hard work and lots of dedication for me to stay thin. It was extremely difficult for me to get thin!  So don’t let someone else tell you what’s best for you. Listen to you’re own body, and eat what you need to eat in order to meet your goals.
I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to caving in to the pressure of friends and family. So what do you do when you make a mistake?  Daaaaaa!  You brush it off.  Get back up the next morning and get back into your healthy routine!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done the wrong thing and fell into, what I call, the “might as well” mentality.  Meaning I got up the next day and head to the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts and ordered a large cream and sugar with a cinnamon roll. I figured I’d already blew it the night before, “might as well” do it again this morning. Don’t be that short sighted.
When it comes to your diet I find it best to think in terms of weeks instead of days or meals. That one mistake will cost you a whole week of weight loss, or give you a good pound or two in a maintenance phase. So don’t get caught up in meal to meal or compound a mistake meal into a mistake day or week. Dust yourself off and put it back on track!
Coach Brian