Intermittent Fasting

There are so many diets out on the market these days. With the vast majority of the population overweight, it is easily marketable to pitch just about any diet idea, throw in some diet pills, advertise some crazy spinning chair gimick that will zap your fat as you sit at your chair. Well, they are all setups for FAILURE!!!

The biggest culprit of the rising obesity problem in America is FOOD! That's right, too much food. The portion sizes are out of control! Do you really believe that a person needs 2-5 rolls with butter BEFORE dinner. Not to mention the MOUNDS of food on the plate you get for your entre. Oh, and let's not forget a dinner salad along with it loaded with cheese and all the creamy dressing you add to it. By the way, most people also either have some sort of sugary drink or alcolholic beverage to go along with their meals. That in itself is at least 150 calories. Most of the time more. Don't even get me started on a dessert after all 1500 calories you've consumed of creamy, cheesy, greasy, starchy food and drinks. But people...THIS IS A TYPICAL DINNER for people on a regular basis.

Well, there is a solution for those who don't want to give up these popular meals. And for those who simply don't believe in any of those crazy pitches that everyone and their dogs have. And that is simply having 1-2 24hr periods during the week that you don't eat. Just imagine, you've eaten more than what you should for your caloric maintenance one day. And then the next few days you stay pretty close in range. Then you go from dinner to dinner or breakfast to breakfast without eating anything. That is 24 hours that you don't take in any calories, yet your body still burns its normal basal metabolic rate throughout the day. Not to mention the calories you burn on top of that just by doing daily activity. So, in reality, that one day without eating not only saves you from going over your caloric needs, but it most likely will keep you under. And we all know that calories are just energy. So less energy in and more energy out gives us the caloric deficit needed for that long wanted fat loss.

So, if you're tired of trying to stick to some crazy diet that is going to lead to failure in the end anyway, try a 24 hour fast once a week. And for the rest of the time you can eat healthy whole foods without ever having to think about overeating. And if you occasionally have those obscene amounts of food, it will be ok.

By the way, intermittent fasting does not slow metabolism down either. Don't get freaked out! 'Starvation mode' DOES occur. But it only happens after the PROLONGED
absence of food. At this point essentially you've used up your body fat stores and have no choice but to start consuming essential structures like your internal organs to just to stay alive.

Think Concentration camp, war torn countries or large scale
famines. NOT being stuck in a 4 hour business meeting where they
forgot to serve lunch.

Not to mention the focus you have when you don't have to think about eating for a whole day. You know how much time we put into that? A lot!

So essentially the message is Eat Less and Move More!

Brad Pilon has a book called Eat Stop Eat that explains the intermittent fasting with tons of scientific backing if you want to check it out at www.EatStopEat.com. But, it's pretty simple. Just pick a time and stick with it. It's easiest for me from about Sunday afternoon after lunch to Monday lunch.

I finished a 24 hr fast this morning. Had a breakfast yesterday at about 9 with 2 eggs and lots of sauted veggies in coconut oil with a slice of avocado. Then just had water the rest of the day, and even did a hill sprint workout! Felt great. Then woke up this morning and traded. Before I knew it, it was time to eat breakfast! Had 1 egg with veggies and some quinoa. So, it's not impossible. Try it out.

Workout today was a lactic acid workout: 3 circuits of this: alternating elevated pushups; tempo 3 sec up 1 sec down, stationary lunge; 3 up 1 dwn, DB squats; 3 up 1 down, alternating DB front raises; 3 up 1 down. The tempo is a change from the normal up fast down slow, that really builds up the lactic acid and gets your fat rolling off! Then a dynamic interrupt of mountain climbers and expoding pushups. 2 circuits of this: Single arm DB row; 3 sec up 1 sec down, Dips on chair; 4 up 1 down, bentover flys; 3 up 1 down, DB curls; 4 sec up 1 down. Then ended with 100 fast jump ropes. Good workout! Really BURNED! Was supposed to have a third circuit of ball crunches and bulgarian split squats, but ran out of time. So I may finish tonight.

Made something really cool today for lunch. I mixed some melted coconut oil, 3 eggs, and a bunch of nuts and seeds together in the blender. Then I chopped up an apple, pear, sweet potatoe and added it to the mix. Then for some greens I threw in some broccoli, kale, and spinach. Splashed in some cinnamon and salt and poured it all into a baking pan and baked it at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Pretty yummy! And very filling! I ate way more than I should have. It probably made about 6-8 servings, and I probably had about 4! WOOPS. Then I had a shake with banana, blueberries, and strawberries with some rice protein after my workout.

Let me know what you think and please feel free to ask any questions you may have about any of the workouts or nutrition.

I'm here to help!

New Week- New Stuff

Well, we finally just broke down and did it. Posted our before picture for all the world to see. I don't know what's worse, for everyone else to see it, or for us to have to see it and realize how serious this is now! NO WAY WE CAN STOP NOW! It is very humbling to see and acknowledge all of your flaws that you get to keep to yourself and just pretend that they aren't there. Then to all of sudden show it all is well, let's just say, you lose any self righteousness that was there! But what a motivator! We will be taking weekly progress pics to keep us accountable, as well as to keep you informed.

Kimberly did her first full workout on the program with me today. Let me just say she was EXCELLENT! That girl did not go in there to play around, thank goodness! I put her to work without any relenting. And you know what? It payed off for both of us. Because as soon as I realized she wasn't going to pansy around it made me feel like I needed to work harder so that she wouldn't outwork me! She felt the exact same way. She felt like she needed to work harder in order to stay up with me. I am not boasting by any means, but I have had a lot more experience and time in the gym than she has had in the recent months. So for her to go in and even stay close to me was beyond expectation! She surpassed it by a long shot. And we are both so competitive that neither of us wants the other to be better the the other. We both want to be the best. Therefore, this is the absolute perfect scenario. She will continue pushing me just as I will her. But on the flip side, we both want each other to succeed 110%! So we will continue holding each other up and encouraging till the end. Which there never is an end to health, but until we reach our goals. And there isn't any one thing more important than to have social support when trying to achieve ANY goal! That is why it is so important for you let as many people as possible know what it is you're trying to achieve. You will have to weed out those discouragin ones who just never want any success for others and just talk negatively all the time. But you'll want the ones who are positive and encouraging around to help you when you might be down.

Our workout was a density workout. Trying to accomplish as many reps as possible in a given time. Single let squats, barbell upright row, pike pushup, and hand walkouts were in the first set. We did 2 rounds of each group. The second group was stepups, dumbbell row, y-press, and bent over lateral raise. The 3rd included jump lunges, incline dumbbell press, barbell stiff legg deadlifts, and dumbbell curls. On each of the second rounds we increased the weight by 10-20% of the 1st and tried to at least match the first round's reps. It didn't happen! But we gave everything we had for every second that we were supposed be working. And that's really what matters. As long as you're stimulating the muscle fibers enough, they are reacting. Not to mention the amount of cardio added in. Our heart rates were sky high after those step ups for 45 sec each time and jump lunges. Plus the rest time between exercises did not give hardly any time to get a good breather in. It was great. Finished off with a cool down walk.

Oh ya, I made a smoothie to take for our post workout meal. It was 2 bananas, strawberries, blueberries, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 12 almonds, and a good handful of spinach. I had the bright idea of just taking the whole blender with the smoothie mix in it and pour it once we were done. Didn't happen. The first stop I made the blender went flying forward into my floorboard and dumped out. I grabbed it in time to save a little bit for Kimberly to try. I finally proved to her that you CANNOT taste the spinach in it. All of the other ingredients completely take over the flavor. So, my attempt didn't completly fail.

I counted and I figure I had 12-13 servings of fruits and vegetables today starting from about 2:30 to 8:00. That is more than most people get in a week! It's sad but true. I had part of the smoothie, an apple and almonds, a pear and almonds, an orange and almonds, and dinner was grass fed ground beef with quinoa and a serving of sauted asparagus, 2 servings of broccoli, red onions, red bell pepper and spinach in coconut oil, and 1/4 avocado on top. All of that didn't even add up to 1400 calories. I really don't count calories, but I wanted to see what it was just to show you that quantity isn't was matters. Quality is key however. I fueled my body with propery nutrients to last through the day.

By the way my fast ended well. This morning I got a bit hungry while sitting at the computer trying to decide on faucets. But not overwhelming. And working out at the end of it was absolutely the prime fat burning time for it!

Then to top it all off, I went swimming with my mom for close to an hour this evening. Whew! What a full day. But I really enjoyed every single minute of it. I am off to bed now. Later than I had hoped. It's 10:30 now. But still within my target.

Please post any questions you may have. I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of this.

To health and hard training,

Bethany Field

WEATHER IN NM---CRAZY!

Snicker kept me up half the night! She needed out at around 1:00am, then again around 2:30am, and I never fell asleep again after that. And you know what was the worst of it? I was STARVING the whole time! I couldn't wait to get up and fix a wonderful breakfast. So around 6:20 I finally got up and made some oatmeal with peanut butter, blueberries, strawberries, banana, and some chopped pecans. I planned for a higher carb day because I knew I was going to do a 24hr intermintent fast starting after lunch today until lunch tomorrow. It was delicious.

Church was good this morning. However, I found myself in a bit of a pickle because for the past few weeks the teams have been wearing jeans, but I never did. So I decided to wear jeans this morning only to find out that we were NOT allowed to wear jeans anymore! Ha~ of course, the one time I decide to! It was still fine regardless. I love playing the piano and singing! And that's what I enjoy most about it.

There are two church services, so I grabbed an apple a some almonds for a quick boost. Then when I got home I had a baked sweet potatoe with coconut oil melted on it and dashed a bunch of cinnamon on with a grass-fed ground beef patty and some raw spinach, broccoli, cauliflour, red onions, and red bell pepper.

I thought I would take a knap after that, but ended up watching the movie Turn the Beat Around. It was just a cheesy dance movie that MTV did.

Then I went in for my HIIT (high intensity inteval training) workout on the bike. It was short, but very effective. The hard is going as hard as can for the aloted seconds, and the rest is obviously the rest time. Then go as hard until failure as I can at the end of it, which wasn't that much, because I was DONE!
Hard Rest
60 20
60 20
60 20
90 30
30 30
30 30
120 45
90 15
60 60
30 10
FAILURE

Then I had to take a quiz and ch. test for my finance class. Aced em! I am really tired now. 8 1/2 hrs into my fast and about to sleep through the next 8 of them. It should be a WONDERFUL SLEEP.

Oh ya...it helled tonight, and wasn't a pretty day even after yesterday's spectular weather!

Beautiful Weekend!

What better way to spend the last day before day light savings takes effect than to watch the sun set just wishing for one more hour of day light to enjoy the warmth of the sun on your skin; then find out 3 hours later that we need to set our clocks forward an hour at midnight? Yes! I will get that one last hour to enjoy the sunlight's trickling rays. I spent as much time outside as I could. I went outside at around 9:30 after receiving an unexpected call. It was then that I knew my day would involve outdoor activity. I ended up going for a walk and my Uncle Kyle just randomly drove up from behind me. He drove in from Las Cruces to get a hair cut, A HAIR CUT!!! Yes, for more reasons than one, he got in his pickup at 5 this morning to come have a special someone cut his hair. After the hair cut he thought he'd use some of the time he would have to wait on her for their date at 7:30 tonight on shooting some prairie dogs! And he just happened to be driving by about the time I walked out the door. So my walk just turned into a long conversation standing outside his pickup door letting my left shoulder only soak up all the ray. I enjoyed it. After he left I continued on a long walk, then decided I should at least let my 14 year old doggie, Snuggles, go for a short walk with me too. And that it was, very short. But she LOVED it! Then I started jogging, just a nice pace for about 15 minutes. Once I got home, I cleaned my car out. I realized my purse also needed cleaning, so I chose to do that on a lawn chair in the back yard. Whatever it was I was doing, I was happy. The weather has such an effect on how you approach the day, and my day was glorious!

My strolls outside were my activity for the day. After 3 days of heavy lifting in a row I needed the break.

I had a smoothie this morning for breakfast. Added some cashews to it for a change. Then my big girl salad with black beans for lunch. And apple with almonds and walnuts for a snack, then some raw veggies with some cashews later on. My dinner was a small venison steak with some sauted asparagus in coconut oil. Great day!

Everyone be sure to set their clocks forward 1 hour, so you're not late to church like I would have been had I not turned the radio on at the EXACT moment they were reminding you.

I am watching Up in the Air with George Clooney right now. He was nominated for Best Actor award for his role in the movie. So far it's alright. Don't go running out to get it or anything.

TGIF!

Whew...made it through the week. Well not quite a whole week, but close enough. I still like the feeling of Fridays! It was an interesting day. I had to put to use my mechanical engineering skills. My mom, for the first time EVER, back into a pole and busted her taillight. I won't ever let her live it down. Because now that she has finally wrecked, all the spotlights can be taken off of me and my some 100 wrecks. Well maybe not that many, but too many too count. So I ordered a replacement bulb on ebay, then installed it today. I felt quite proud to be more seasoned in the car department than just fixing a flat.

I also watched a movie call Hachi the Dog. It was very touching. A dog was so loyal to his owner that he went to the same spot everyday for 9 years waiting for his return even after his death. Now that is what I call a man's best friend.

I had yet another funny experience at the gym today. I guess it isn't that uncommon, but this guy, not so good looking, was in there doing his workout. It was hillarious because he did about 72 sets of curls with I think 10 lb weights. And then he would go and flex in the mirror to see if they had gotten any bigger after his relentless repetitions. I wanted to say STOP already! You know taht is never going to help. Instead, he should try doing compound lifting where he is getting all of his muslces involved, and the biceps will develop out of compensating for the other muslces doing the work. Pullups, shoulder presses, inverted rows, and rows are great full body, compound lifts that will save the needless reps of bicep curls.

My workout was a strength workout today. I had a certain amount of reps to achieve while lifting only up to around 5-7 reps per set. So, the weight was pretty heavy in order for me to almost max out at the limited number each time. The first 3 exercises in the set were stiff leg deadlifts, db incline bench press, and chinups. I had to get around 35, 30, & 25 reps total in the above order. After completing that I did 65 sec. of squat thrusts then 55 sec of plank. The second round of exercises included bulgarian split squats, bent over rows, and exploding lateral raises. I had to get 30 on each leg, then 25 rows, and 20 raises. Very tuff. After that I did 20 kettle bell swings finishing off with max pushups. Good day today.

My meals were good too. Smothie this morning for breakfast with banana, strawberry, blueberry, almond butter, cashews, tahini, flax oil, and barley grass. I made enough for my post workout drink too. Then I had an apple and almond butter for a snack. My lunch was a huge salad full of fresh veggies with venison steak and salsa. My supper was quinoa, a wonderful iron and protein rich grain, mixed with sauted veggies in coconut oil.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Catch up!

So,I completely slacked yesterday by not updating, but something rare happened to me! I fell asleep on the couch before nine o'clock! So, I will update you on both yesterday and today.

It was a pretty laxidazical kinda day yesterday. Woke up and had a big glass of water and went straight to the battle station (that is what I call my trading platform). I made a good trade and was done just after 8. So I went in and made a wonderful breakfast. I heated some coconut oil in a frying pan and then sauted a bunch of veggies: asparagus, red and green bell peppers, red onion, broccoli, and fresh spinach. Then I added a teaspoon of flax seeds to it for the added omega 3 and a couple garlic cloves. Then I made 2 overeasy eggs and tada...a wondeful, filling breakfast.

My workout was TOUGH! It was really windy and chili outside, but I did not want to have to go to the gym. So I decided to toughen up and use my weights for the workout. I did a lactic acid workout. The first round was push press: explode up 4 sec down, then dumbell squat: 3 sec up 1 sec down, then bentover barbell rows: 3 sec up 1 sec down. This kind of lifting creates an enormous amount of growth hormone which is essential in targeting the tummy fattening hormone called cortisol. Some of you may know it as the high stress hormone. After 2 rounds of that set I did a dynamic interrupt (a high pace break inbetween sets) of 100 jumping jacks then a plank for 30 seconds. Then moved on to second set. Romanian deadlift: 3 sec up 1 down, Negative pullup: Jump up then 6 sec down, latteral raise: 3 sec up 1 down. Repeated 2 more times for a total of 3 superset. Then another dynamic interrupt of as many pushups as possible then 25 squat thrusts. The 3rd set was twisting crunch on ball then bodyweight squats back to back through 2 times. After that I took my doggie, Snicker, for a 20 jog/walk.

My mid morning snack was an apple with almond butter and flax oil. My post workout meal was a half a banana, some oat groats, and half a scoop of Prograde Protein all mixed up in a blender with water. Then I had a pear with almonds and walnuts for a snack later. My dinner was a venison steak on top of a mixed greens salad with cauliflour, broccoli, tomatoes, and poured some pumkin seed oil and balsalmic vinegar on top.

Today was another hard workout. But it was quite annoying to say the least. I decided to got the gym at CCC thinking I was going to be avoiding all the stupid distractions I always encounter. But nope! There was a guy and a girl there, who seemed to be on their FIRST DATE! It was ridiculous! The girl was giggling and acting like a wimp, asking if she was doing everything right. Then the guy would laugh and tell her she was fine. Then she'd try to act smart and tell him to lift more! And all the while...getting in my WAY! Let me just give everyone some advice right now! Working out is not a socializing event!!!! Don't expect to get any results if you still have enough breath to laugh at the boy over there!!! This is yet another reason why I can't stand gyms. But regardless, I still focused and had a great workout! It focused on doing as many reps in a certain time period. I did single dumbbell squats, lumber jack press, dumbbell pullover, and plank in the first round. Each one having about 30 sec to complete as many reps as possible. The second round I increased the weight for each excersise and tried to match the reps I had done in the first round. The second set was reverse overhead lunges, lying garhammer raise, single arm dumbbell row, and side to side pushups. Same tecnique as in the first round. Then the third set was alternating jump lunges, dumbbell push press, dumbbell squat with toe raise, and db bicep curl. Same as above. Then finished off with a sprint interval set on the treadmill. 30 sec at 8 mph then 60 at 3.5, 30s at 8.5, 60s at 3.5, 30s at 9 then 3.5 for 60s. Repeated this cycle 1 more time. Then finished off with a few minutes of incline walking.

I had another veggie and egg stir fry this morning for breakfast. Then lunch was a big girl salad with lots of raw veggies, with some black beans, sunflower seeds, and topped it off with some salsa. Then I had an apple with almond butter and flax oil for a snack. My dinner was brown rice with steam carrots, broccoli, and cabbage. Then my post workout meal was oat groats, a banana, and cinnamon a blended together.

This morning was crazy outside! It was a blizzard for a few hours, then it got sunny and melted all the snow away. SUMMER PLEASE COME FAST!!! Other than that, nothing too eventful. I didn't make any trades today. Got up too late, even after my early night. I think my body is screaming from these workouts. Oh well, it better get used to em quick. There are more to come!

I will be discussing nutrition more tomorrow. So stay tuned.

What is up with American Idol this season? Please somebody who can actually sing get up there!!!

Let me start by saying that I couldn't be more disappointed in the singers on American Idol. And unfortunately, I can't even say it's Ellen Degeneres's fault. They are just horrible! Or better put by Kimberly; with no offense intended; "dude, the black chick sucks the bag." With that said, let's move on to BIGGER and better things.... Literally. The Biggest Loser is a must see show every week! I love watching the sweet people changing their lives for the better. I really feel like I get to know them more every time I see them . They become family and show the whole world the truth. And that is that the impossible is possible!!! And that is what I am here to show everyone too. That true heart, dedication, consistency, and little bit of competitive edge will put you right where you want be. Living life full of happiness and prospering in everything you put your hands to!

One of the most important lessons I have learned in my studying fitness and nutrition is that as soon as you realize how hard it is, it becomes easy. Once you embrace the fact that you are going to have to set yourself apart from everyone in order to achieve what everyone else isn't then the task doesn't seem so impossible to achieve. Be ok with being you and with what you believe in, and you will live a mich more peaceful and victorious life.

Today was spent with my little brother (6'3") helping him apply for acceptance into Texas A&M. He is such a great kid! I should actually say young man. I really can't say enough how proud I am of him for being the wonderful person and broher he is. I keep hoping the weather gets nicer so I can finish painting the roping arena. I still have paint in my hair! And all over my legs... I just want to get it done! Maybe tomorrow?

In the meantime, my workout today was quick. A sprint interval on the air dyne bicycle...(taking it way back..oldschool). 2 min warmup, then 30 seconds sprints, 30 second recovery. Repeated for 8 sprints total, then a 2 min cool down for a total of 14 min. I know it sounds short, but man did it get my heart pumping and legs burning. Guarntee it will produce far greater fat loss response than a long slow pace jog will ever accomplish! And it will also create a longer calorie burn post workout. Then I busted out 25 pushups and ws out the door.

Had a really yummy smoothie for breakfast again. Raspberries, blueberries, banana, almond butter, tahini(sesame seed butter), flaz oil, and spinach.