Fitness & Alcohol…SO Not BFFs!

So anyone who knows me knows I’m not much of a drinker, but I do enjoy a nice glass of wine now and again. When I’m working towards a serious goal, I choose to remove alcohol from diet completely. Now I know there are studies and research out there that say alcohol has its own set of health benefits, but let me tell you why the negative or long-term side effects outweigh any positive benefits when it comes to losing weight, gaining muscle, and achieving your fitness potential.

Alcohol is a toxin. When you introduce toxins, or poisons, into your diet your body will begin to experience several abnormal behaviors and side effects. Among these side effects are a significant reduction in your strength, aerobic capabilities, recovery, endurance, muscle growth, and the ability to metabolize fat.

1) Poor Muscle Function

Let’s start with alcohol’s effects on the muscles. The cells that make up muscle in your body can actually die from lengthy exposure to alcohol, causing them to function less efficiently. Your muscles will actually be less able to contract appropriately and will also be exposed to an increase in soreness that takes more than the average amount of time to recover. Recovery is important. It is where your muscle makes gains. Without gains and proper protein synthesis your hard work goes to waste.

2) Dehydration

Dehydration is a serious side effect to consuming alcohol. You know it’s important to stay hydrated. Water is everywhere in the body and is the most abundant substance making up 55-75% of your total body weight. It has an important function for every nook, crevice, organ, and process in the body. When you consume alcohol, your kidneys and liver must work overtime to flush and detoxify the alcohol you are consuming. The more alcohol you drink, the harder your body has to work. When you are dehydrated your mental clarity, energy, blood flow, and focus are compromised.

3) Difficult Fat Loss

When alcohol is in your system several things can begin to happen to your digestive, gastric, and nutritional absorption processes. Your body will spare your fat and metabolize glycogen instead due to a high increase of insulin in your body. This means your body becomes less able to lose fat. Your body will also not be able to absorb some nutrients causing the depletion of essential vitamins and minerals that aid in fat loss and other bodily functions.

4) Raging Appetite

What happens when you go out for a night on the town drinking loads of empty alcoholic calories? You get extremely hungry and wash it all down with fried foods and burgers slapped with fatty oils, cheeses, and sauces. Am I right? Alcohol impairs your judgement to make healthy food decisions, but alcohol also contains a ton of sugar. And when you consume high levels of sugar your body becomes very unsatisfied and starts developing cravings. Have you ever seen someone order a healthy, well-balance meal of lean protein and veggies after a night of drinking?

Bottom line, with alcohol causing so many effects on strength, speed, reaction time, recovery, skill, mental clarity, focus, energy, organ function, nutrient absorption, nutrient depletion, water retention, dehydration, sexual irregularities, psychology, fat storage, cell damage, balance, coordination, endurance, muscle growth, the nervous system, and appetite…whew…I’d rather just skip it!

If you enjoy your wine or like having a drink every once in a while, that’s totally fine. You can have a social life and be healthy at the same time. Moderation with alcohol is key, though. Just make sure you rehydrate (SO important) and restore nutrients to your body. But if you’re looking to live up to your ultimate fitness potential, try steering clear and you’ll see the gains you make without alcohol totally worth it.

8 Signs You Could Be Over training

 More doesn't mean better results. It’s important to balance work and rest in order to lose weight and repair precious muscle tissue for optimal results physically and mentally. When you’re in danger of over training, you are in danger of several factors that affect your health. Here are 8 important signs and symptoms of over training you should be looking out for.

SIGN 1: Illness/Sickness

Illness is a normal part of life, but what if you’re becoming ill more often or have symptoms of illness returning on a more frequent or daily basis? When we over train, our bodies are under an increased level of stress. With higher levels of bodily stress comes weakness in the immune system.

SIGN 2: Fatigue/Tiredness

One of the greatest benefits of living a healthy lifestyle is that it helps to increase and balance your energy levels so you have more stamina and mental clarity/focus throughout the day, but when you begin feeling chronically fatigued, that’s definitely a red flag for over training.

SIGN 3: Aches/Pains/Injury

As you’re probably aware, aches and pains come with the territory of working out. It’s called DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and it starts to make itself known about 24-48 hours after a workout. This type of ache and pain in the muscle is normal and it’s a good thing. It means change and growth and shape of the muscle fibers. However, if you’re feeling a massive pain in your knee with every step of your run or incessant popping and crackling of a joint during an exercise, then it’s time to pull back on the reigns, modify your training, or have it checked out. Another concern with over training is that you could be slowly shifting into improper form during your workouts, which could also be causing skeletal problems and alignment issues that lead to imbalances, pain, discomfort, and injury.

SIGN 4: Loss of Motivation

Although it can sometimes be tough to initially start a fitness and health routine and there are definitely days you’ll encounter where you “just don’t feel like it,” this lifestyle should, in general, be motivating and enjoyable once you get the habits down and find the workouts you really look forward to. So if, all of a sudden, you’re struggling on a daily basis to workout when it’s normally not such a struggle to get up and get moving, then take a look at how much you've been training lately.

SIGN 5: Extreme Change in Appetite

In relationship to over training you can notice either a loss or increase in appetite. If you’re experiencing a loss in appetite it is due to physical exhaustion as well as an increase in the release of appetite-suppressing hormones. If you’re experiencing an increase in appetite it is due to your body searching for extra calories for recovery and replenishment of your glycogen stores.

SIGN 6: Plateau/Lack of Progress

You've probably heard the phrase related to weight loss that says it’s all about “calories in versus calories out.” So since 3500 calories = 1 pound, then MORE calories out during your workouts daily means more weight lost in a week, right? WRONG! There really is more to losing weight than calories in versus calories out. There’s a fine line you don’t want to cross. Your body needs calories for energy. In fact, the word calorie literally means energy. If you over train, you’re sending your body a signal and it progressively doesn't have the resources to properly take care of itself. Its first priority is survival mode, so your goals of weight loss or muscle gain (or insert goal) get put on the back burner as far as your body’s priorities are concerned.

SIGN 7: Changes in Sleep

In addition to feeling chronically fatigued, you can actually suffer from the opposite, as well. You can feel over-excited, restless, and have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep at night. This happens especially if you’re over training at really high intensity levels (cardio or weightlifting like HIT or Power Lifting). What happens is your Sympathetic Nervous System (responsible for “fight or flight”) gets excitable and your heart rate has a hard time coming down. This is also known as Sympathetic Over training. The ability of your body to enter into quality sleep and recovery mode is critical for health and physical progress.

SIGN 8: Difficulty Completing Workouts

As a general rule, you should be lifting to failure on your exercises in order to build and grow your muscles, add strength, get lean, rev your metabolism, etc., but when you try to progressively move through your workout routine from week to week and notice you’re not able to lift as much or perform as many reps as you did the previous week, then that could mean you’re working out too much.

In general, all of these signs and symptoms stem from high stress levels in the body. What happens when you over train is that your body deals with an increased level of stress. When your body is stressed the CNS (Central Nervous System) kicks in and the brain sends help to the receptors of the body where it is needed. Additionally, during stress high levels of cortisol are released from the adrenal glands. This can then lead to adrenal fatigue. Your body is such a dynamic, smart, and interconnected system that responds appropriately based on the signals we repeatedly send it. So if you’re noticing any of the signs above, it may be time to look at your current workout routine and make some adjustments. More time in the gym absolutely does not equal better results. You need to strike a livable and realistic balance between life and workouts that allows for optimal results AND the ability to be a rock star in all the other areas of your life.

Find Motivation in 10 Ways

Sometimes we lose the drive to keep on a straight path towards reaching our fitness and health goals. Workouts get monotonous, food gets boring, we feel like we don’t have time, we cheat, we decide that skipping one day of eating healthy or working out won’t make a difference, but sometimes it can lead to a snowball of poor decisions that sends us off-roading way off course. Staying passionate about and motivated towards your purpose is an important part of your journey. So, I’m going to give you a list of things you can do to keep you on the right track!

1) Create variety in your workouts!Working out the same way every week or month can get really boring. Switch up your workouts every month at least. Try new things and get outside (these Minnesota winters don’t always help)! You will have something to look forward to and your body will thank you for giving it something else new to do. You’ll see different (GREAT!) changes in your body because you’ll be working it an alternative way.

2) Find new foods and new recipes!
Get online, find a new cookbook, or browse the grocery store. Open up your mind to new foods and flavors! Food doesn’t have to be boring if you don’t want it to be. In fact, you should be excited about eating and fueling your body in a healthy way! You’ll notice some fun things happen to your body when you fuel it well.

3) Get a workout buddy!Having someone you can count on to relate to and have fun with will give you a push. You can talk about your results, make goals together, and help each other reach them. You can bounce ideas off of each other as well and open each other up to new workouts, recipes, etc.

4) Subscribe to a magazine!I LOVE magazines that provide health and fitness tips and advice! They often also have transformation stories that inspire and motivate. They help give me ideas every single month on workouts, lifting moves, targeting certain parts of my body, recipes, EVERYTHING! So you get a push every time your new magazine comes in the mail.

5) Use an event to motivate you!Do you have a wedding, reunion, or vacation coming up? Do you just want to look swimsuit ready for summer? Use that as motivation! Mark your calendar with a big red circle or put a note up on your refrigerator, bathroom mirror, on your tv where you workout, or on your bedroom door (so it’s the first thing you see every day)! Keep in mind how you want to knock everyone’s socks off because of how great you look!

6) Weigh your options and evaluate the effects!Is there a brownie staring you up and tempting your tastebuds? Are you having a bad day and want to binge on a giant bag of Doritos? Stop yourself and think before you act! Think about all the work you’ve done to get as far as you have. Then think about how you KNOW you are going to feel when you get done eating that brownie or downing those chips. Tell yourself you’re stronger than your urge and step away from the foods that are tempting you! You’ll be SO glad you did!

7) Just push play!Even if you don’t feel like working out just do it anyway! Chances are, after you start you’ll end up finishing your entire workout! And if you weren’t in the mood to workout BEFORE your workout, you will be in the mood after 5 minutes of warming up! And afterwards you’ll be so proud you stuck it out! Keep in mind you’ll never regret the workouts you do.

8) Use your imagination!Start thinking about the results you want and the way you want to look. Find pictures of people that inspire you with results similar to what you’re looking to achieve….imagine how you’d look and how great you’d feel being that fit and energetic. Imagine what you’d do with that energy and what losing those few extra pounds will allow you to do in the future that you can’t do right now.

9) Buy a new pair of kicks!
Remember back in elementary school when you were excited for the new year because you got to use your new lunch box and wear your new clothes? This is kinda the same deal, but fitness style. Get yourself a new pair of kicks and a new outfit to create a little excitement for your workouts! Looking cute and testing out new gear is fun!

10) Hire a Personal Trainer!

Having a personal trainer takes some of the guesswork out of a fitness program for yourself. Additionally, personal trainers are a great way to get ideas for exercises/routine, add extra accountability, or help you push yourself further than if you worked out on your own. Another great reason is safety. If you’re not working out safely, then you risk not being able to workout at all. It’s nice to have someone spotting you and correcting form. 

Spring Clean Your Body and Mind

Spring has sprung! One of the first things I associate with Spring (and I’m sure many other people do, too) is Spring cleaning. The list is a long one! We all clean out our garages, donate the clothes we don’t wear anymore, move the couches and clean under the furniture, wash and clean out the cars, have garage sales to lighten our household loads, wash the windows, spray down the siding on the house, clean out or rearrange the cupboards and closets, and start planting or prepping the garden, etc. We focus so much on cleaning and organizing everything else around us, but you know what other thing we should really put on our list that could also use some serious Spring cleaning? Our bodies!!

Think about it for a second. We’ve been hibernating for several months. During those hibernation months we encounter some of the most indulgent, food-focused holidays and celebrating of the year. This is followed by the much anticipated New Year. Yeah, we claim our weightloss resolutions for the 1st of the year, but by Spring we’ve all but forgotten or lost motivation for our health and fitness goals. It’s really not surprising, if you think about it. A fresh, new year is exciting, but there’s not a whole lot to propel most of us forward after the initial excitement has passed. The Winter months (at least in Minnesota) are gloomy and snowy and the days are shorter with darkness settling in around 5PM. Not to mention, seasonal depression takes over bigtime the longer winter lingers. Let’s face it, with all of this going on we’re more likely to snuggle on the couch with a warm blanket, mindlessly snack on potato chips and comfort food, and watch hours of TV rather than head to the gym and prepare healthy meals after a long day at work.

Spring is a time of  birth/rebirth, growth, renewal, and a fresh new start! Everything around us is going through some kind of transformation, so why not take this time to transform yourself!?

Here are some Spring cleaning items you may want to add to the checklist for your body:

• Find a workout routine you love that incorporates all the elements: cardio, weights, and flexibility.
• Get yourself some fun new fitness toys to play with like training equipment (weights, resistance bands, a jump rope, etc.), a fitness tracker, or other fitness goodies.
• Clean out the refrigerator and cupboards, toss everything that’s not clean, and replace it with lean protein, complex carbs, fruits, veggies, and whole foods.
• Drink more water…at least a gallon daily.
• Go on a shopping spree and find a super-cute new pair of sneakers and a hot new workout outfit to get you excited about being active.
• Rearrange the furniture and create an environment conducive to making good healthy choices for transformation.
• Find a buddy and work on your bodily Spring cleaning together – it’s always more fun with someone else!
• Load up on some new music! Music is motivational and can really help you jam through a good workout!
• Create a dream board and fill it with photos of physiques you admire and quotes that inspire you!
• Subscribe to a fitness magazine or buy a new book to read. The more you educate yourself about health and fitness the more likely you are to live a healthy lifestyle.
• Buy yourself a cute new summer dress or swim suit in your goal size to help motivate you during your transformation.

I hope you decide to do some bodily Spring cleaning and add as many of these items to your personal list as possible! These are just some of the ideas I came up with, but if you think of anything else you’d like to add to this list, please share and comment below! The more ideas, the better! Happy Spring cleaning!

Deal with these Cravings !

Cravings are specific. They are not just general hunger for food. Some of us crave savory while others of us crave sweet. It’s natural to have a craving from time to time, but when you’re noticing a general consistent pattern with cravings there might be an imbalance somewhere.

More often than not, if you’re having a fluctuation in your cravings, there is likely a fluctuation in your consumption (timing, quality of nutrition, number of calories, and/or balance of macros). The likely result is an imbalance in your blood sugar levels. But there are a few other factors that can play a role in cravings like emotional factors, hormones, and hypoglycemia.

Here are a few tips to help:

1. Eat Regularly – Make sure you’re not skipping meals or leaving too much time pass between meals (every 2-3 hours is your goal).
2. Eat Low Glycemic Foods – High GI foods are quickly absorbed by your body spiking blood sugar levels (followed by a crash), while low GI foods process slowly and consistently.
3. Restrict Sugar and Salt Intake – Moderation is acceptable, of course, but too much of either can lead to cravings.
4. Watch for Artificial Sweeteners – Artificial sweeteners (aside from being unhealthy) are often much sweeter than natural sugars and can trigger cravings.
5. Eliminate Processed Foods – These foods are pumped full of extra salt, fat, sugar and chemicals which do not naturally occur.
6. Exercise – Exercising reduces stress hormones (cortisol) and increases the mood boosting ones (endorphins) along with other happy hormones like adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine, which all help keep away cravings.