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Author: Meredith Mitchell

Tough it out with “300”

Tough it out with “300”

Hey Guys!

This is a workout you can do at home or at the gym.  If you are one who goes to the gym 5 days/weekly you may already split up the body parts.  If you don’t and you want to increase your muscle mass I want to challenge you to try the following program.  The purpose of this program is to build muscular endurance and once you finish a 4-6 week cycle you will notice a strength increase.  To track how successful this program will prove to be for you, write down your 12 rep max for every exercise you choose to do for you 300 workout.  At then end of your 300 workout cycle, go back and record your 12 rep max for the same exercises.  This is not an overly exciting workout but it is challenging and I LOVED IT! The last time I did this workout was a year ago so I will probably start my next 4 week cycle in February. For those interested, I will keep you posted on when I start and finish and the results I had.  Here’s the idea, you do 100 reps of one exercise in no more than 5 sets but you really want to try to get it done in 4.  There’s only 1 rule you have to follow, you can’t reduce your weight you can only increase.  So choose you weight for a 20-25 rep max for the first set.  If your first set was too easy you can increase your weight, but remember your goal is to get 100 reps in 4 sets. You will be working a different body part daily so you will choose 3 exercises for each day; that’s where the “300” comes into play.  The only day you will be doing more than 300 will be on Friday’s because you will do biceps and triceps together so you will have 600reps that day.  The following program will be for those going to the.  This is just an example so feel free to choose different exercises if you’d like. 🙂

Monday: Chest

1. Flat bench press with bar

2. Incline bench press using smith machine or bar

3. Decline cable flye

Tuesday: Back

1. Lat pull down

2. Wide grip seated row

3. Incline back flye

Wednesday: Legs

1. Leg extensions

2. Leg curls or hamstring curls

3. Lunges with bar on shoulder or dumbells in hands

Thursday: Shoulders

1. Seated shoulder press

2. Front raises

3. Rear delt flye

Friday: Biceps and Triceps

Alternate between bi’s and tri’s so you can get through the workout quicker; do 1 set of bi’s and then right away 1 set of tri’s

1. Standing dumbell bicep curls

2. Cable tricep extensions with straight bar

3. Hanging bicep curls (lean body over an incline bench with arms hanging over top of bench)

4. Bent over tricep kickbacks

5. Cable curls with rope

6.  Skull crushers (but don’t crush your skull 😉

 

If you have any questions about any of the exercises please feel free to email me 🙂

Now, for those of you working out at home choose any three of the following exercises and complete 100 reps of each exercise in 4-5 sets.  If you don’t have weights use canned soup, bottled water or a 1 liter bottle with a handle 🙂

1. Push ups

2. Lunges

3. Squats

4. Standing Bicep Curls

5. Tricep Dips

6. Standing Shoulder Press

7. Burpees

8. Jumping Jacks

Going through the workout might not feel AWESOME, HOWEVER, you will feel an amazing sense of accomplishment when you’re done 🙂

 

 

 

Balsamic Green Bean Salad

Balsamic Green Bean Salad

Balsamic Green Bean Salad
– Taste of Home Magazine

2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/8 tsp pepper
1 large red onion, chopped
4 cups cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

– Place beans in a Dutch oven and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 8-10 min or until crisp-tender. Drain and immediately place beans in ice water. Drain and pat dry.
– In a small bowl, whisk oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, garlic powder, mustard and pepper. Drizzle over beans. Add the onion; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Just before serving stir in tomatoes and cheese.

Nutrition Facts: 3/4 cup = 77 calories, 5g fat (1g saturated), 4mg cholesterol, 112mg sodium, 7g carbohydrates, 3g fiber, 3g protein.

Inside-Out Cabbage Rolls

Inside-Out Cabbage Rolls

Inside-Out Cabbage Rolls
-Taste of Home Magazine

1 pound lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 small head cabbage, chopped
1 can (10 ounces) diced tomatoes and green chiles
1 cup reduced sodium beef broth
1 can (8 ounces) pizza sauce
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

– In a Dutch oven, cook the beef, onion and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
– Stir in the cabbage, tomatoes, broth and pizza sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-25 min or until cabbage is tender, stirring occasionaly.
– Stir in rice, heat through. Remove from the heat. Sprinkle with cheese; cover and let stand until cheese is melted.

Nutrition Facts: 1-1/3 cups equals 244 calories, 8g fat (4g saturated fat), 45mg cholesterol, 502mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber, 21 g protein.

How to Cut and Burn 500 Calories!

How to Cut and Burn 500 Calories!

Everyone is going to have a different result when it comes to burning calories because it is based on what you weigh.  Take a 200lb person and a 165lb person.  Put them both on treadmills for the same amount of time, at the same speed and the 200lb person will burn more calories just because they are carrying around more weight.  Go to the following website to get accurate calorie counts for the activities you do.  Simply fill in your current weight, the activity you did and duration and it will calculate how many calories you burned!

http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/lighten-up-and-get-moving

To give you some examples here is a list of workouts that will burn 500 calories:

At the Gym:

Step Aerobics – 45 minutes
Elliptical Machine – 50 minutes
Circuit Training – 55 minutes
Calisthenics (jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups) – 55 minutes

Get Outside:

Jump Roping (moderate pace) – 45 minutes
Bicycling – 55 minutes
Jogging – 1 hour
Brisk Walk (5 miles/hour) – 55 minutes
Moderate Walking (3.5 miles/hour) – 2 hours

Around the House:

Gardening – 1 1/2 hours
Mowing Lawn – 1 1/2 hours

 

If you’re getting serious about losing weight, you may want to take it one step further and start cutting 500 calories from your diet on top of the 500 calorie burn.  This way you can work your way up to losing 2/lbs weekly…cool eh!?!?  The following is a list of 15 ways you can cut 500 Calories from your diet.  The list came from www.fitbottomedgirls.com…Gentlemen, do not be fooled by the name of the website.  The list has some great ideas so please read on 🙂  I will post the link to the website just in case you would like to check it out.

15 Easy Ways to Cut 500 Calories

15 Simple Ways to Cut 500 Calories

1. Make a trade. Cutting calories is as easy as swapping one food for another!

  • Bagel for an English muffin to slash 220 calories.
  • A glass of whole milk for skim to save 70 calories.
  • Three-egg omelet for one egg and two egg whites.
  • Pork sausage for turkey sausage to cut about 125 calories each.

2. Measure portions. So many of us have serious portion-distortion. Measuring out one serving can save you hundreds of calories and help you to realize what foods give you more bulk for the bite. For example, a cup of granola can have up to 600 calories, while a cup of high-fiber cereal has only about 120.

3. Move on your lunch hour. Walk during your lunch for five days and burn 500 extra calories. Also, try wearing a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps a day, or about 5 miles—you’ll automatically burn 500 calories without even hitting the gym.

4. Order wisely. Use hummus or mustard instead of mayo, and a roll for sliced bread on your sandwich, and cut about 200 calories. Opt for a salad instead of fries to save another 300 calories for a total of 500 saved.

5. Chew your food. Slow down when you eat! Women who chewed at least 20 times before swallowing ate up to 70 calories less at mealtime. Because it takes 20 to 30 minutes for your body to register that you are full, eating more slowly allows you to get to the point where you feel satiated on fewer calories.

6. Downsize your plate. Simply going from a 12-inch plate to a 9-inch plate will allow you to cut 500 calories without feeling deprived.

7. Wait to have seconds. Wait 20 to 30 minutes to have a second helping. Then if you do opt for seconds, you’re likely to get a smaller helping because hunger hormones won’t be driving your appetite.

8. Make over your sweets. Save up to 400 calories by making grilled fruit kebabs: Slice one peach and one small banana into quarters, thread four pieces fruit each onto two skewers and brush with one tablespoon honey each. Grill each side for about 4 minutes, or until flesh is tender but still firm. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Or, if you want to have your cake and eat it too, cut a thin slice of pound cake, layer on berries and top with light whipped cream for a decadent-tasting dessert for less than 150 calories.

9. Leave something on your plate. Leaving a quarter of the meal on your plate can save up to 500 calories. Leaving a few bites of any potato or noodle dish cuts up to 100 calories alone.

10. Take a stand. Did you know that you can burn up to an extra 500 calories a day by standing rather than sitting? Try standing to make a phone call or read a report or even shut your office door to squeeze in 5 minutes of push-ups or jumping jacks to burn another 50 calories.

11. Drink up. Swapping water for soda can save you about 300 hundred calories a day if you drink two cans. Also, drinking 20 to 60 ounces of water daily might also help boost your metabolism so you burn even more calories. To make water more appealing, try adding sliced cucumbers, or low-calorie flavor packets that offer fizz and a shot of vitamins.

12. Try commercial cardio. Doing some kind of cardio, such as jumping rope or jogging in place, burns about 10 calories a minute. If you watch an hour of TV a night and add cardio moves during the 10 commercial breaks that typically air, you could blast up to 300 extra calories without missing your favorite shows.

13. Sleep in. People who get less than 6 hours of sleep eat up to 300 calories more during the day because a lack of sleep triggers the production of the hunger hormone, grehlin. Each extra hour of sleep could save you 100 calories!

14. Run some errands. Spend an afternoon food shopping and unloading groceries to burn close to 500 calories. Cook dinner to burn 136 more.

15. Switch it up. You can burn up to an additional 250 calories in a half-hour, or 500 in an hour, by incorporating intervals instead of just exercising at the same pace. Increase the calorie burn by picking up your pace to the point where you are so out of breath that you can’t even talk for 30 seconds, then slow down for one and half minutes to recover. Repeat for as long as you can!

Do you really understand how to lose 1 lb?

Do you really understand how to lose 1 lb?

Alright people, I will make this simple, short and sweet!  1 pound of body weight = 3500 calories.  If you want to lose 1 lb/weekly you will need to burn 500 extra calories daily or subtract 500 calories from your current diet daily (keyword being “daily”).  If you want to lose 2 lbs/weekly you will just double up on calorie burn or subtraction.

Now, in order for you to know what to subtract from you need to know how many calories you consume on a daily basis.  Without changing your diet, start taking a food journal everyday for 5 days.  Write down the food and the amount you consumed throughout the day and at the end of the day go to one of the following websites to find the caloric value.  Create a separate category for carbs, protein, fat and total calories.  If you exercised that day, be sure to subtract the number of calories you burned from your total calorie intake.  In the next couple of posts I will get more specific about how to cut down on calories and 500-1000 calorie burn workouts.  Feel free to contact me with any questions 🙂

Websites to help calorie count:

-Everyday Health Calorie Counter

http://www.everydayhealth.com/my-calorie-counter.aspx?xid=MCC_GSEK&s_kwcid=TC|22006|calorie%20counter||S|e|5467553903&gclid=CMe7_4uUka0CFeQCQAodjmK5lQ

-My Food Diary

http://www.myfooddiary.com/?source=g_cs_counter&OVKEY=calorie%20counter&gclid=CNiu7O-Uka0CFYTsKgodNSHAnA

-Spark People

http://www.sparkpeople.com/landing_free_plus18.asp?gclid=COLigqiVka0CFQQCQAod2AJynw

An apple (or 2) a day will keep the WEIGHT away!

An apple (or 2) a day will keep the WEIGHT away!

Hey People!
It’s true!  Eating 2 apples a day can help you lose and/or control your weight.  This does not mean you should start eating apple pie in order to consume 2 apples 😉  Eat an apple either in the morning with breakfast, BEFORE your lunch or dinner (this will help you to consume less calories at your meal time because you will feel fuller) or in the evening when you might be craving something sweet.
Here are 3 reasons why apples are such a great weight loss food:
1. Apples are a good sources of fiber.  Fiber makes us feel fuller for longer periods of time.  More importantly the fiber in apples is primarily apple pectin, which slows the absorption of carbohydrates. This helps maintain a balanced blood glucose level that discourages weight gain and development of type 2 diabetes.
2. Apples are a low-glycemic food.  Low glycemic foods won’t greatly impact your blood sugar levels and can help sustain energy levels for longer periods of time.  They can also reduce your hunger overall!
3. Apples are a low calorie food containing only 116 calories for an 8oz apple.

Give it a try…my favorite apples are Honeycrisp but there are so many to choose from!  Enjoy:)

Meredith Mitchell
Wellness Director
meredith.mitchell@mckinley.com