Are your habits making you gain weight?

This week:

Nutrition: Are your habits making you gain weight?

Do you make Starbucks your first to do of every morning? Do you have a soda with your lunch? How many glasses of wine do you drink an evening? Would you rather have a beer than a glass of water? When you go to a mexican restaurant, are chips and queso the first thing you order?

This week determine what your daily/weekly nutrition habits are. Go to The Daily Plate or a similar nutrition tracking website and research the calorie content of your daily/weekly habit. This will enable you to see how many calories your daily/weekly habit adds up to.

My habitual comfort food, cereal, contributes to approximately 320 calories a day. And that is just a snack, and sometimes I have 2 bowls! That's 640 calories a day, and not to mention that that is also 24 grams of sugar. What if I had 2 bowls of cereal a day 5xs a week? (And sometimes I do.) That's 3200 calories a week. 3500 calories equals a pound. Oh my gosh! That's almost a pound a week that I am consuming late in the evening, and it's just cereal. Though some brands are nutritious, most cereals are loaded with sugar and simple carbohydrates, which if not utilized will be stored as fat.

Examples of daily/weekly habits: (Source: The Daily Plate)
Grande skim latte: 131 calories
Glass of red wine: 60z, 125 calories
Chips and queso: (approximate) 1 serving, 4-6 oz cup, 550-800+ calories
Glass of beer: (approximate) 12oz 155 calories
1 slice of cheese pizza: (approximate) 483 calories
1 can of soda: 140 calories

Do you see what I mean? It may be those habits that we don't consider to be too harmfull that are actually making us gain weight.

Exercise:
Body Change - 5 workouts, 45-70 minutes, combining both cardiovascular and resistance training. Challenge yourself this week and increase your intensity. Step it up a notch in order to burn more calories.

Body Maintance - 3 workouts, 20-60 combining both cardiovascular and resistance training. Remember when life is a bit hectic and you are struggeling to get to the gym, all you need is a quick workout 3xs a week in order to maintain health, energy, and your weight, coupled of course with a solid nutrition program.

Rest and recovery - Sleep, sleep, and sleep! Make sure you are getting 7-9 hours of sleep an evening in order for your body to recover properly from the stresses of daily life and exercise.

Exercise challenge:
1. Stair master for 10-15 minutes
2. 15-30 pushups, on knees or toes, every other day
3. Take a spin class
4. Jump into the kick boxing class on Tuesdays at QL at 6pm or Wednesdays at TL at 6:00.
5. Walk the 4 mile loop at the lake under 55 minutes.


See you in the gym.