Health Fair Tomorrow!

Health Fair!

Thursday February 25

10:00 am - 3:00 pm

at FormWell Personal Training

Building 400 Suite 475 in the Morgan Falls Office Park

Health Fair will have:

Free body composition screening
Free food from Good Measure Meals
Free flexibility assessments
Free fitness tips
Free door prizes

For More information call Todd Ortowski

at 770-722-9315

Week 7 Cleanse

Wt loss: +1lbs :-(
Wt loss to date: 7lbs

This has been an interesting week to say the least. Diet has been very good, training solid and I gained a pound! It has been a good week in terms of understanding how frustrating it is to use the scale as an indicator of progress. I coach clients on this all the time and, quite frankly, I have NEVER used the scale to see if I was achieving my goals, I typically use body fat and how my clothes fit (circumference measurements) and these are a much better indicator as muscle weighs more than fat and you can be getting smaller and not losing a lot of body weight! I now know the acute frustration of feeling great, knowing you are leaner and seeing that number pop up and it deflating your attitude for the whole day! I have more empathy for those who are doing this and I also have a personal experience with how tough overall weight loss is. This will not deter me at all as I have a very long term goal and the 1st and most important goal of getting sugar and processed carbs out of my diet is doing very, very well!

Until next week......

Blessings,

Rami.

Practicing peace with your body!

Here are a few simple strategies for cultivating real happiness by practicing peace with your body:

1) Be kind to your body (instead of engaging in cruel self-talk and/or physical torture).

2) Show your body love by nurturing it with enough good food (i.e. real, whole food) and physical movement that you feel relaxed and energized rather than stuffed and depleted.

3) Practice compassion for your body by slowing down enough to listen for signs of suffering -- i.e. a sore back, upset stomach, head ache, tight shoulders, etc. -- and give yourself/your body the care it is asking for.

4) Forgive yourself for not being physically or spiritually flawless; instead, embrace yourself as a whole human being who is a work in process and whose destination is the journey.

5) Exercise courage when you feel the urge to escape uncomfortable feelings or situations by depriving or indulging your appetite. Seek instead a middle path of staying present to what is.

6) Act responsibly towards your body by caring for it in a way that promotes overall health and well being -- mentally, physically, spiritually.

These are just a few ways that you can learn to feel at home in the body you have, while cultivating the deeper kind of happiness, peace, and well being that no diet or promise to lose weight can give.

Week 6. . .

Weight loss: 0lbs, wt loss to date: 8lbs

This was an interesting week, a few things to share:

1. My "cheat" day last Sunday involved anything I wanted to eat and I realize at this point in my "Sugar Recovery phase" that was a mistake. I struggled all week with will power when it came to sugary foods (did not help that the kids were putting together Valentines packages) and this has not been the case for the past 5 weeks. This is completely due to the fact that I had sugary foods last Sunday. From now on, when I hit a plateau, I will still have cheat meals but no sugar - Pizza seems to be my biggest craving right now and 2-3 slices will do the trick!

2. I am feeling a lot leaner so I am not concerned about my lack of wt. loss this week, I am assuming I am gaining muscle along the way so this process will be slow, which is fine. My goal of being about 185-190lbs when I compete in my next race is very attainable as I probably won't be competing again till fall and my next really long one will be in 2011 or 2012!

3. Going to start counting carbs again, I think I am eating a bit too much fruit at this point for my goals. I will log my carbs this week and keep them under 150grams per day and see if that helps spark the process along.....

Thanks for all the great comments, it is much easier doing this journey with others!

Blessings,

Rami.

Week 5.....A very different week!

At the end of last week, I weighed in and had only lost .2lbs (8.2lbs total for 5 weeks). You would think that my response would be frustration, anger, etc. but it was not, in fact it was my expecation that things would slow down around now. My diet and exercise were very good last week so, contrary to what you might think, instead of getting more strict to keep the weight loss up, I decided it was time for a break! Most weight loss programs that are successful have a "cheat" or break time in them, for both pyschological and physiological purposes. If you go below your calorie needs for an extended period of time, eventually the fat loss will slow down because the body will go into "starvation" or protection mode, usually sacrificing hard earned muscle tissue and keeping the fat we do not want. So.......I competed in a 11.5 mile trail race on Sunday AM (very fun, muddy, cold and tough, just the way I like it) and afterwards ate just about anything I wanted! It was a fun day (especially because they have lots and lots of fun, free "cheat" foods at these trail races), felt good to relax a bit on what I ate. Today I am definitely feeling it (another advantage of going "off" your diet plan, you remember how terrible you feel and it motivates you to get back on) and am excited about the weeks to come!

Talk to you all next week.

Blessings,

Rami.

Eating the Paleo Way

Many people new to the Paleo Diet have a hard time figuring out what to eat. They often tend to eat the same thing they've always eaten, but just remove the grain. So instead of hamburger and fries, they may just have a hamburger patty. Instead of cereal and a banana, they'll have just the banana. The result – hunger!

Here are a few tips to make eating Paleo a routine part of your lifestyle:

For breakfast, make an easy omelet. Quickly sauté onion, peppers, mushroom, broccoli, add eggs (keeping only one or two yolks), and leftover turkey or chicken breast for extra protein.

Paleo lunches are easy: Make a large salad at the beginning of the week big enough to cover lunch each day. Include mixed greens, spinach, radishes, peppers, cucumber, carrots, avocado, walnuts/almonds, sliced apple/pear, etc and place in a large Tupperware container. Pack single servings each morning from the large batch; bring a can of tuna (or salmon, chicken/turkey breast, ground buffalo) to top.

For dinner, try spaghetti squash as a substitute for any pasta recipe. Top with pesto, marinara and meatballs, or simply salt, pepper, and garlic. Roasted beets, and their greens, make a great side dish for pork. Asparagus, broccoli, and spinach can be steamed quickly. Salmon, halibut, or tilapia filets grill well with accompanying foil packs full of cut veggies with olive oil and garlic.

Berries and other succulent fruits make a great dessert, and pre-cut carrot and celery sticks, sliced fruit, and pre-portioned raw nut/dried fruit mixes are easy to grab and pack for snacks.

www.ThePaleoDiet.com
Loren Cordain, Ph.D.

The Purest Packaged Foods in America | Eat This, Not That

The Purest Packaged Foods in America | Eat This, Not That