Rule number 76: No excuses. Play like a champ

what does this picture have to do with anything? Refer to the title of today's post...hahahahahaha!!!!

I know I know it's pretty late! But I ended up hosting an impromtu Super Bowl party. My dear friend Kat text me and asked what my plans for the Super Bowl were today and I told her that I didn't have any and asked her what hers were. She does not have cable, but said that her boyfriend thought that they could probably stream it. I told her that was silly and that they were more than welcome to come over to my house and watch the game. So maybe I shouldn't call it a party, but instead maybe a small gathering of friends, as it was just Kat, her boyfriend Jason, my friend Chrystle and myself.

Anyway, I can't begin to tell you how much I did not care about who won this game, but as I said before the thing that kept me going was the comercials. The halftime show this year was quite a dissapointment though. So it was the comercials that I loved. My favorite I must say was the couple on a date and she is thinking in her head about how she wonders if he likes her, wants kids, wants to get married, basically planning their potential future. The guy on the other hand is thinking "I want to sleep with her, I want to sleep with her..." then the waiter comes down and sits down a Pepsi or Coke Zero, I don't even know what soda and then he starts thinking that he wants that drink. The woman says in her mind, don't you even think about it and then the guy with a sad and stunned look on his face reply's in thought, "no to which one". I laughed and laughed and laughed. What was your favorite commercial?

Well enough about the commercials and entertainment aspects of today, let's get down to something a little bit more serious. At the beginning of this blog project I told myself that I would blog about this particular journey for 100 days and it looks like we are just about there. February 8 to be exact will be the last of my daily blogs. Now that is not to say that I will not continue to blog, but it will probably be less frequent. As most of you know I am currently in my last semester of my masters program and I am having to put together my resume', try to find a job, take class, work and get my project together so that I am able to defend and hopefully pass that defense. This will be my life's biggest project at this current chapter in my life. It's crazy to think that in like three in a half months I will be done with this part of my life. Any of you feel that way.

Basically I am opening the floor to all of you. If there is something you want me to look into in particular or disucss in the next couple of days. Let me know and I will do so. What do you want to know? I'll tell you anything, or at least try to find the correct answers. My life is pretty much an open book at this time so I'd be more than happy to share it with you.

In reality 100 days is not that long of a time to make a full body transformation, but I was intrigued when I came across an article on CNN about people not seeing results. I decided to read "Why you're not seeing results" written by Madison Park, and this is what I found from the article. After talking to fitness experts these are the top four reasons the results aren't being seen and suggestions for the fix.

1) You're not changing what you eat.

"A lot of people hit the gym, but don't watch what they eat, said Jordan Yuam, who trains "Twilight" actor Taylor Lautner. They get impatient because they don't see dramatic changes in the first few weeks of working out."

"'When starting out an exercise program, if you want to see a successful outcome, you work on food first,' Yuam said."

"This means fewer calories, or at least better-quality nutrition. Eat foods like an apple or cottage cheese that take more energy for your body to digest, he suggested. There are too many junk foods packaged and marketed as health foods, Yuam said, so he recommends cutting back on processed foods."

"Fad diets don't work, especially the ones that require cutting out an entire food group like carbs or fats, Yuam said. Those don't work in the long run, because they're unsustainable."

"'You want long term,' he said, stressing a well-balanced diet."

"It doesn't have to be deprivation. If you really need that pizza slice or Chinese food, pick one meal in a week where you can have that guilty pleasure, and put it down on your calendar."

2) You're not having fun during your workout.

"'It has to be fun,' said Tracie Rogers, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. "If you're absolutely miserable and you dread going, you can find another option. There are too many options where you can find one to be fun and happy with."

"Rogers suggests asking friends and trying fitness options like Zumba, spin, kickboxing and sports leagues until you find what you like."

"'A lot of people think their only option is going to a giant gym,' Rogers said. "Some people are extremely overwhelmed and intimidated, so they never go. That's not the only option. There are boutiques doing all sorts of things. Shop around and see what feels right."

"Watching the clock during a fitness routine is a bad sign. It means your motivation isn't there."

"'It's about doing something for yourself,' said Rogers, a sports and exercise psychologist in Phoenix, Arizona. "A lot of us are busy with family, work and so many commitments. The workout time can be viewed as the one hour of the day you dedicate to yourself."

"Make exercise a social outing by participating in fitness classes and meeting with friends and trainers."

"If you take manageable steps and put the right people around you, you set yourself to be successful," Littrel said. "You have a better chance rather than going about it alone without guidance and support. There's much psychological support."

3) You're only doing cardio.

"Yuam said he hears complaints from people who say they don't see any changes after spending hours on the treadmill or elliptical machine."

"'For people who are sitting on exercise machines, they're not getting their heart rate up. They just are doing the motions. They're going to fail or leave the gym because why do something when you don't see results? They're not motivated anymore,' said Yuam, a fitness trainer and owner of Jordan's Virtual Fit Club in Valencia, California."

"'In the years of doing this, the most common error is, 'I have to do cardio. I have to do an hour of cardio,' " he said."

"Women tend to focus on cardio and neglect strength training, Yuam said."

"He suggests resistance training at least three times a week to his clients."

"The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommended muscle-strengthening physical activity on at least three days of the week for kids and two or more for adults."

"Strength training helps decrease body fat, increase lean muscle mass and more efficiently burn calories."

4) Your goal is unrealistic.

"Changing your fitness doesn't mean you have to vigorously work out seven days a week."

"'People don't have to conquer crazy goals all at one time,' Littrel said."

"Trying to go from a couch potato to an exercise warrior on a Spartan diet is unsustainable for most people. Once life gets busy or stressful, people drop all of these efforts and go back to unhealthy habits.Take the first step of working out even two days a week, and scale upward from there, Littrel said. Doing some physical exercise is better than nothing, with so many people battling obesity, he said."

"Set realistic goals and monitor your progress."

"Take a picture of yourself the first week, and then take another in the following weeks to track how you're doing, Yuam said."

This is the best advice I have been able to find for those known as "newbies". But also just remind yourself that this is something that you want and most importantly have faith in yourself. I'm off to bed, but I'll try to give you something good tomorrow. That is I am open to suggestion. Have a great night!!!

Most important meal of the day...or is it?

This morning I just could not drag my booty out of bed. I was so tired. So I didn't get to have any kind of breakfast, which really isn't that rare of an occurrence for me, but I am going to be in my office until around 1:30 today with a little break before I have to go TA for my intro to mass communication class. I will be starving by then. Trying to plan a little bit I grabbed a cereal bar and ran out the door to catch the bus so that I wouldn't be late to work this morning.

One of the things we always hear is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that if we eat a big ol' breakfast we will be less hungry throughout the day. I personally have not found this to be true. I know that for health reasons we should eat breakfast, but a healthy one, not a hearty one. We do this to jumpstart our metabolism in a good way. However many people think that breakfast is kind of a free for all because you have all day to burn off those calories. Myth? Well let me tell you about what I found.

Once I got to work I started scanning the Web for some health news and on CNN I found an article about breakfast and after my morning fiasco I decided to go ahead and read that article that I am now going to share with you.

A new study has found that a big breakfast will not help you lose weight. The research in this study found that no  matter what someone had for breakfast they still seemed to eat the same amount and lunch and dinner. The study followed 280 obese and 100 normal-weight German's and they recorded everything they ate and drank for two weeks. Most of those in the study ate cereal or sausage and bread for breakfast.

"It's common belief when you have a big breakfast, you reduce energy intake during the day," said Dr. Volker Schusdziarra, a researcher from the Else-Kröner-Fresenius Center of Nutritional Medicine in Munich, Germany. "This is not true. Whatever you eat for breakfast doesn't influence lunch and dinner. The breakfast calories are added on top. You end up with more calories at the end of the day."

So the study found that no a big breakfast is not going to keep you from having the munchies later in the day in fact it will just help you pack on a higher caloric intake during the day. In fact Schusdziarra even disputes the wise tale that you need to have breakfast.

"If someone doesn't need breakfast, why should they eat breakfast? If I don't feel hungry, I don't miss anything," said Schusdziarra. "They've already saved some breakfast calories. If you want to have breakfast, eat it. But you can save calories at breakfast. Big breakfast doesn't save calories. This is what people should know."

The one thing that was found in the study was that people who skipped breakfast did tend to snack more in the morning. I just consider that a breakfast substitute. So what have we learned from this. If you are wanting to lose weight, have breakfast or don't. It doesn't really matter, but the important thing to do is to keep track of what you are eating throughout the day. I hope you all have a great morning!

Fast food you can eat

You can eat fast food still. No you heard me right, you can still eat fast food, you just need to be aware of what kind of calories you are taking in. I've said it a million times, but it's true and one of the big reasons why America is so overweight. It is due to the hustle and bustle of our daily lives. Even last night in an interview with Barbara Walters, Oprah said that she simply doesn't have the time to commit to being as thin as she'd like to be. So see it's not just you or me, everyone suffers from time contstraints. There are days that it will be neccessary to stop and pick up some fast food on the way home, because it will either be that or no food at all (which is horrible for your metabolism and will make you gain weight too).

So after doing some research I stumbled across an article on the CNN Web site that talks about just this thing. The article is entitled, Your Healthiest Fast Food Choices and is written by CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen on November 11. The beginning of the article discusses fast food and how to get your kids (I don't have any) to eat the right things when at a fast food restaurant. Then it talks about how to eat the right things for you. I will share the new found wisdom with you.

These are the healthiest options according to the Consumer Report on Health . Most people should be on a diet based on approximately a 2,200 calorie intake (this of course varies person to person). To know what your suggested caloric intake is based on your age, gender and activity you will want to check out the USDA's complete list based on these factors. Another thing you may want to know is your body mass index this may help you decide how many calories you want to consume so I have provided a link to a BMI calculator as well. As promised I will give you the list of food that is OK to eat including how many calories if you have to go the fast food route. They are as follows in Cohen's article:

1. Arby's Melt
Add on a chopped side salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and you've got a 570-calorie meal.

2. Chick-Fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich
With barbecue sauce and a large fruit cup, this meal is 425 calories.

3. McDonalds Asian Salad
Get the low-fat balsamic vinaigrette and it's 340 calories.

4. Taco Bell Fresco Bean Burrito
Along with a side of Mexican Rice Fresco, it's 460 calories.

5. Wendy's Jr. Hamburger

It's 320 calories if you add on a side of mandarin oranges.

I personally love the Cick-Fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich. Sometimes I also get a classic McDonalds Happy Meal, but did you know that a Happy Meal, with a cheeseburger, fries and a soda equals 650 calories. It is also pretty small on portions so these options above may be more satisfying for you, but if you happen to get a Micky D's craving maybe a classic Happy Meal may be the way to go. According to the USDA I should probably take in about 2,000 calories per day and with my height and weight, according to my BMI using the calculator that I have linked I am in fact obese. These stats make me sad and I would like to very soon type my height and weight into that calculator and see that it does not say obese. I hope some of these tips help you all make some healthier desicions when you go out to eat. If you have any other fast food suggestions please let me know what you do. More to come tomorrow!