11 Best weight loss lessons

Throughout my own journey with health and fitness, I learned a number of weight loss lessons that I want to share in today’s podcast:

My best weight loss lessons

1. Exercise is important, but not for weight loss – You can’t exercise yourself out of a bad diet. The food you eat is key to your weight loss.
2. Insulin – To lose weight, reduce your total insulin load so the body can burn fat for energy. Do this by limiting your sugars and simple carbs.
3. Ghellin – This is a hunger hormone that tends to be cyclical, usually highest in the evening and lowest in the morning.
4. Leptin – This hormone signals to the brain that you’ve had enough food. Slow down on your eating so you allow time for this signaling to occur. This will prevent overeating.
5. Cortisol – When your body is in a stress mode, it produces the hormone cortisol, which leads to storing body fat in your mid-section. Manage your stress levels to avoid this.
6. Sleep – Get quality sleep and your hormones will balance out and work in harmony, promoting a good Circadian rhythm.
7. Out of sight out mind – Don’t buy unhealthy foods. If you must, keep them in a separate space from the healthy food you are consuming.
8. The decision isn't enough – Make a commitment to be healthier for the right reasons, perhaps an emotional one.
9. Love yourself – Have internal self-love and make a commitment to yourself to be healthier.
10. Scale movement doesn't equal health – Don’t let the scale define you. Focus on how you look and feel.
11. Don't go it alone – Find an accountability partner or support network.

Perhaps you have some of your own weight loss tips. Share them in the comments!

Functional fitness with Lamar Lowery

Lamar Lowery is the founder of the Lamar Functional Training Academy in Germany and the author of a new book called Functional Fitness. While intended for personal trainers, Functional Fitness offers information and sample exercises that everyone can use in building their own functional fitness.

What is functional fitness?

Lamar explains that fitness can be functional and not just traditional. Every moment involves a chain of muscles and nerves, which when repeated over time helps to restore the body’s natural capacity for movement.

Four pillars of human movement

In the book, Lamar discusses the four pillars of human movement, which provide a strong foundation to build upon when improving one’s functional fitness. They include:

1. Locomotion, which involves standing and moving.
2. Core area of the body, including the shoulder to the knee. This does not stop at the hips.
3. Pushing and pulling, such as opening and closing doors, moving a mouse. We do these motions constantly throughout the day.
4. Rotation and diagonal movement, which involves keeping your arms swinging when the body is moving. This keeps the muscles in the upper body activated. Another helpful exercise is doing squats by simply sitting in and getting up from a chair.

The functional path to better performance

To get started, Lamar recommends starting with the basics. This involves moving everything symmetrically and in pairs. Make sure your posture is aligned. Practice basic body positions including the push up position and a laying position. Learn to control these movements and then move on to more complex exercises. This is the functional path to better performance.

Functional Fitness is a great resource of various exercises, both basic and advanced, for both personal trainers and anyone interested in improving their health and fitness. To get a copy of Lamar's book, go to your local bookstore and request that they order it for you.

Why can’t I stop? | Dr. Bruce Odlaug

Brian Odlaug received a PhD from the University of Copenhagen in Public Health. He is knowledgeable about and conducts seminars on the topic of behavioral addiction. His new book, Why Can’t I Stop, takes a closer look at behavioral addiction.

When it comes to eating and nutrition, many people wonder if they’re actually addicted to sugar. If so, this addiction is more of an emotional and behavioral issue than simply a lack of will-power. In fact, behavioral addictions are remarkably common. They are under recognized when compared to substance addictions. Often times, there is shame and secrecy involved, and the addiction will go unnoticed and untreated. Many people will continue to function normally in their work and relationships. Over time however, their lack of presence and financial or health consequences may become evident.

So how is a food addiction diagnosed? It’s actually not a formal diagnostic set, but there are certain questions to ask and specific behaviors to look for. Typically, it’s not just the quantity of food consumed, but it involves food consumed over a longer period of time. The individual knows there are consequences to consuming the food and they have a desire to cut back, but they are unsuccessful in attempts to limit themselves. They may even give up other activities to prioritize eating. Cravings and urges are common. Those addicted to food can even become irritable or restless when they are unable to eat. Essentially, if you don’t have the ability to control your urges, you may have a problem.

So how can one overcome a food addiction? Key strategies include eating only at specific meal times, not eating alone, and removing unhealthy foods from the home. Understand your triggers and fill your time with other fun activities. Family members can also get involved by modeling healthy relationships with food, helping with cooking and controlling meals, and encouraging fun and healthy activities.

If you are struggling with a behavioral addiction, you are not alone. Though the solution may require seeing a physician and taking medication, the addiction can be addressed.

Warrior | Theresa Larsen

Movement for self-healing | Meir Schneider

Dr. Meir Schneider is the founder and head teacher of the School for Self-Healing in San Francisco. Born blind, Dr. Schneider taught himself to see and developed a program for healing and recovery for others. He is also the author of Movement for Self-Healing.

Dr. Schneider explains that everyone has to deal with aging and many will experience back problems. A back injury can be debilitating and prevent people from feeling like they can move. Though the body contains more than 600 muscles, the ones that are commonly used are overused with great intensity. This can cause the muscles to become more spastic and tense, and can lead to immobility, arthritis, and back problems. To age properly, we must become more flexible and start to use the muscles we have never used before. One reason why is because humans are connected organisms. If we are not using one part of our bodies appropriately, this will be reflected in every other part of body.

In our modern world, we sit on chairs and walk on cement. This can tighten the muscles in the hip and lower back. When the lower back can’t support the rest of the back, the neck begins to hurt and you will begin to slouch as a result. Often times, the best solution for back pain is to stand up and look in the distance. To become stronger and better as we age, we need to stretch and move frequently.

Surprisingly, emotions can play a large role in causing back problems. The connection between the body and mind is powerful. Stress and negativity can cause the muscles to be tense. A massage that incorporates movement can also be quite helpful.

The key to self-healing is finding the muscles you never knew you had, opening them up, connecting your body and mind, and relaxing your muscles. Following these steps will help you along your path to self-healing. To learn more about Dr. Meir Schneider, the School for Self-Healing, or his book Movement for Self-Healing, visit www.self-healing.org or call (415) 665-9574.

Vision for life | Dr. Meir Scheider

How to of strength and mass

Looking for a how to of mass and strength? It’s only natural that many people will be interested in building muscle mass and also gaining strength, but these two do not always go hand in hand.

Interestingly, the overall process for building muscle and strength is the same basic process. There is a level of work required to break down the muscle and build new muscle. To do the work, consider using your body weight, elastic bands, or other items around the house if you don’t have actual weights. However, the body also needs to be fed building blocks in the form of protein and water to build new muscle. Another critical component is rest, which refers not only to the time between exercises, but getting quality sleep each night. This cycle of work, feeding, and rest is what allows for muscle growth.

To build mass, you will do three to four sets of eight reps each. Between exercises, you will rest for about 60 seconds. To build strength, you have to add more weight to your reps, though you will be doing fewer reps than you would when building mass. Strength building can fatigue the muscles faster, so you will want to add extra rest time in between sets, allowing for a greater rebuild. In either case, when you can complete all sets with up to 10 reps, you know it’s time to add more weight. Keep stepping up the weight to advance your progression.

You can choose to work on building mass and strength at the same time by alternating your focus on different days. Though you will see gains over time, you may see greater gains by following a periodization approach. In this approach, you will focus on each individually for a period of three to six weeks, and then alternate back to the other—mass or strength.

Incorporate this how to of mass and strength to optimize your workouts. Doing so will ensure that you are maximizing your opportunity to add muscle mass, strength, or perhaps both.

4 fitness modalities that matter

The tao of running | Gary Dudney

Gary Duney is a columnist for Ultrarunning Magazine. He has been a runner for more than 40 years, having completed over 200 marathons and ultra-marathons. He is also the author of The Tao of Running and discusses running motivation in today’s episode.

Gary explains that older runners are able to adjust their workouts to their specific level of fitness. They tend to do well with long, slow distance runs or a combination of running and walking. Running is a simple exercise that provides a great calorie blast. However, many look at running as difficult or painful. In his book, Gary explains that the Taoist recognizes that life may be difficult and full of unpleasant experiences. Similarly, an individual who has never run before will experience both pain and excitement in this new challenge. In accepting all parts of the run, one will have rich and rewarding experience that is felt emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Some people are also afraid to run. In response to this, Gary speaks about the benefits of staying relentlessly positive. It is so very important to substitute the negative with the positive in order to avoid falling into a downward spiral. When things start to hurt during a run, the inclination is to think that something is wrong. Recognize that you are supposed to be feeling this pain when running a hard race. Other people around you are likely feeling the same way. Acknowledge the pain and see it as something positive. Be aware of the negative self-talk. Consider using mantras to help you stay focused.

To find your running motivation, challenge yourself to do a little bit more. Realize that you are only as old as you choose to be and that you can do anything that you set your mind to. Running is also a great option for improving your cardiovascular fitness and endurance. To learn more about Gary Dudney or The Tao of Running, visit www.thetaoofrunning.com or email Gdudney@comcast.net.

Mel goes from couch to infinity

Not a born runner but that can change with Pete Magill

How is your mobility

How is your mobility? Do you know what mobility is? Mobility is a restriction of the body that prevents you from moving through a whole range of motion. Mobility is mainly impacted by the flexibility of joints and muscles.

Injuries are a major cause of limited mobility. If you have injured a joint, be sure to see a doctor to resolve the issue. You can begin training once you have been to physical therapy. Some injuries may be so bad that they leave scar tissue, which can also cause restricted mobility. One approach to remedy this is called flossing, which involves using a rubber band to pull the bone into the scar tissue, possibly breaking it up over time.

When muscle injuries don’t quite heal the way they are supposed to, abrasions in the muscle can form and not allow the muscle to straighten to full length. This imbalance can be repaired, though it will take time and effort. One method of achieving this is through SMR, which involves rolling an object on the muscle’s pain point for 30 to 60 seconds. Over time, the muscle will lengthen and be looser, allowing for a wider range of movement.

Stretching is a big part of mobility and flexibility. Static stretching is the type of stretching that most people are familiar with. It involves holding a stretched position for a period of time, ideally 60 seconds. The second type of stretching is called dynamic stretching. This is where you’re doing stretching movements, but in a more dynamic way. This is typical among athletes because it does not give the same weakening of the muscle seen with static stretching. However, it causes a greater force on your body and could cause injury if you’re not properly warmed up. In either case, never stretch a cold muscle. Be sure to warm up the muscles first by moving around and getting a good blood flow.

So how is your mobility? Even if your mobility is good, it is something that we all need to continue to improve over time.

4 fitness modalities that matter