Fitness Safari

This post is a continuation of Fasting and Food, Part 1 which you can read here . CALCULATING CALORIES AND MACROS You use energy no matter what you're doing, even when sleeping. The BMR Calculator will calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day. You may have noticed that every year of your life it becomes harder to eat whatever you want and stay slim. You've also learned that your BMR decreases as you age. Likewise, depriving yourself of food in hopes of losing weight may also decrease your BMR, a foil to your intentions. However, a regular routine of cardiovascular and strength exercises can increase your BMR, improving your health and fitness when your body's ability to burn energy gradually slows down. Find your BMR here: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ Unless you are sick or just get too busy on occasion, NEVER eat below your BMR. Now, once you know your BMR, you can calculate y...

"Hi, thanks for adding me to the group. I started 16:8 fasting. Does this look like a good eating plan? This is what I'm eating: 1200 pm - protein shake 12:30 pm - gigantic salad with chicken or fish 3:00 pm - light snack of Greek yogurt 6:00 pm - dinner, another gigantic salad with chicken or fish I see some form of this post in the Facebook group (Fierce Fit Fearless 2.0) just about once a week. There is no cut-and-dry answer to this. Without knowing some key pieces of information, there is no way to answer this question. How old are you? How tall are you? How much do you currently weigh? What do you think is a realistic goal weight for you? What are your goals - Fat loss? Muscle gain? body re-composition? Other? What is your BMR? TDEE ? Tell me about your fitness program - do you lift? What do you do, how much of it do you do and how often do you do it? Answer these questions and then, and only then, can we can get started with your meal plan. The fir...

How long should I fast? This is probably the most common question I see among women new to Intermittent Fasting. Unfortunately there is no hard-and-fast definitive answer to this question. We all react to stress differently. Yes, I said stress. Fasting is a stressor to the body - especially the female body. Like money worries, relationship drama, and exercise, fasting will cause the body various levels of stress which can, and often will, result in negative consequences regarding our health. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing most of you have jobs and financial responsibilities, relationships, some of you have children or are care takers of family members. You probably rarely get eight hours of sleep and, let's face it, who has time to meditate daily when living in the real world? All of these things are life's stressors. Now, add lack of sleep, job and family/relationship stress to a boiling pot of intense daily e...

The 950' vertical climb at Jamaica's Dunns River Falls was  a piece of cake for this 40-something. I have always considered myself an athlete. I was a three-sport child excelling in basketball, softball and soccer. I dabbled in track & field and spent many afternoons scrambling up trees or playing football with my big brother or my bff. As an adult, distracted by marriage and motherhood, I floundered sport-less for nearly a decade until I discovered surfing at age 30. Still, despite traveling often in pursuit of perfect waves, I wasn't particularly strong or healthy. I was skinny fat, unable to complete a single unassisted pull-up or chin-up and had no idea what a deadlift even was. Almost exactly two years ago, I made a discovery that would change my life forever and start me on a new path of self-discovery that continues to teach me new lessons almost daily. It was Martin Berkhan's  Leangains  website. I couldn't tell if it was a diet or a tr...

Here is just a sampling of what I am sure will be a towering pile of fat clothes I will never again need in my life. Pictured here: 2 pair of jeans 1 pair cropped khakis 2 pair khaki sorts 1 pair camo cargo shorts 1 T-shirt 1 Columbia undershirt 1 pair gray slacks If you want to know why they're in the donation pile, check out the photos below. I've never been so happy to do spring cleaning. Only problem is I'm pretty thin on clothes that fit and I don't want to buy much yet as I'm nowhere near as lean as I'm hoping to get...ah, the trials and tribulations of Leangains . Damn you, Martin! :) ...

Some of you following my blog may be wondering what I'm eating - when I am eating, that is. Going 16 hours a day without food is not that difficult most days. I only have trouble when I'm bored. Luckily I have a job that keeps me on my toes and a life that is quite full when I'm not at the office. What I eat varies a bit depending on whether it's a rest day or a workout day. On workout days, I eat higher complex carbs/starchy veggies because my muscles have been greatly depleted of their glycogen stores through my short, yet intense workout. If your muscles are empty, there's plenty of room for glucose! Add to this the increased insulin sensitivity I'm creating within my system through a low sugar, low carb diet the rest of the time and when I do eat anything that is turned to sugar, my body cleans it up in no time, using the glucose for energy and refilling the stores in my muscles - leaving nothing to store as fat. Yes, it is that simple. <script async...

If I told you that, in the last two weeks, I've worked out for a total of maybe 3 hours, you may ask why I'm slacking off. Perhaps you'd think I am nursing and injury or just haven't had time to hit the gym the way I used to. Or, maybe you'd just think I've gotten lazy...again. But, what would you say if I told you that, in the last two weeks, I've hit PRs (personal records) on chin-ups (9), pull-ups (4), dips (12), deadlifts (115x5), bench press (95 x 4) ...lost 8 pounds AND ~2% body fat? Would you still think I'm being a bum? OR, is it possible that you just may come to the conclusion that I am a wily fitness genius. :) I wish I could take credit for it all but, alas, I cannot. I have Martin Berkhan's Leangains to thank for each deliciously heavy rep and every bit of body fat that is melting from my body. I can, however, take all of the credit for having the discipline to stay at a daily calorie deficit and fast for my total 16 hours each day - 9 ...

Ok. I'm just going to put it out there. What in the hell is going on with the food pyramid? Apparently the powers-at-be at the FDA decided that what we needed was greater flexibility in the recommended foods that we eat and decided to revise the pyramid to make the recommended guidelines easier to understand... Pictured on the left here is the revised Food Pyramid, which is really just a vertical version of the old food pyramid, but much more confusing. I guess the narrowing of each segment is supposed to offer more flexibility on servings of each food group. Let's just start with the fact that they both the old and new food pyramids are way off in their recommendations of what we should be eating. When will the FDA and the rest of the world catch up with the FACT that carbohydrates - of ANY and ALL kind - are primarily responsible for heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, etc... Don't believe me? Ok, but before you move on to another w...