-LB = Pounds Lost

As the holiday season is rapidly approching the thought of weight loss isn't far behind. A lot people eat their little hearts out during the holidays with a New Year's revolution closely following to lose weight. I'm not a dietitian, but with countless physiology classes under my belt I know enough for proper weight loss. Here are a few tips for shedding those unwanted lbs:

1. Count your calories: USDA guidelines for caloric intake per day is a 2,000 calorie diet. Those calories can add up quick if you do not pay close attention to what you're consuming. You can track your calories the old fashion way with pen and paper. Write down the items and calories located on the back or side of purchased items. If you are eating out you can use a calorie tracker book, application (for iPhone or iPod Touch), or go to the USDA (mypyramid.gov) website under myfoodapedia and type in the item for information.
2. 3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat: Important fact when maintain weight! It takes 1,500 extra calories than what is recommended to gain 1 pound of fat. With that said, think about how much it takes to burn 1 pound of fat.
3. Portions: Eat in portions. Don't overeat, or inhale your food. Taking your time allows your stomach to adjust properly and signals when it is "full" eliminating overeating. Eating smaller portions doesn't mean only eat mash potatoes, or whatever it may be, as your meal and call it quits there. Make your balanced meal of meat, veggies, bread, and/or fruit and eat smaller portions of each category as your meal. That way you have variety within the food groups, and you are eating an appropriate amount of calories.
4. Avoid Diets: Diets don't work; otherwise, weight wouldn't be such an issue. "Yo-yo diets" set you up for failure. You diet, lose some weight (mostly water), your body goes into starvation mode because of the lack of nutrients and dehydration, you stop your diet, you start eating "normal" again, and bam weight gained back. Dieting isn't good for your metabolism.
5. Exercise: Exercise is necessary. The thought of exercise seems to be a hard concept for some people to grasp. People want a magic pill that doesn't and will never exist. Your body is designed to move so move it! :) Eating healthy and exercise are your 2 key factors to lose weight. ACSM guidelines state a minimum of exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle is 3 days per week for 30 mins of physical activity that can be broken down into 3 ten minute bouts of exercise. Results of weight loss will reflect the amount of work you put into it.

*It seems simple, but it can be a hard routine to follow. Get yourself into a routine of eliminating unhealthy food and start exercising. Once you get into that routine and start maintaining it you will lose weight properly, and a healthy lifestyle will seem "normal" to you. You will achieve not only weight loss, but a good fitness level as well as self discipline. :)

*If you are already exercising and feel like you can't lose weight no matter what you are doing you should examine your diet. If your diet isn't the problem and you are at a health weight for your age and height weight loss will become harder and unnecessary. At this point your muscles just need some toning to look slimmer and fit. Add in some core exercises (exercises working your abs and back), arm , shoulder, chest, and leg exercises to help tone your body. Over time you will begin to look "slimmer" while gaining muscle.

Training Exercise of the Week: Reverse Lunges. Reverse Lunges (also known as step back lunges) help work your hamstrings which are normally ignored when strength training. Balanced strength between the hamstrings and quadriceps are important to avoid pulling upper leg muscles. Hamstrings are commonly pulled when running, or forward progression activities, due to an imbalance between the two muscle groups. It will not only strengthen your hamstrings, but will also increase flexibility and range of motion in your quadriceps.

• To preform this exercise just stand tall like you would preform a forward lunge. Next just step back while maintaining good form (keeping your back straight, stepping back in a straight line, and keeping your knee from hitting the ground. )
• You can then progress into walking backward lunges. If you lose proper form you should stop and revert back to stationary reverse lunges until you feel comfortable to walk backwards again. This will help eliminate the chance of injury. If you're feelin' crazy you can add some weight while keeping proper form.

Training Tip of the Week: A weight loss of more than 2 pounds a week is unhealthy. That is for athletes and non-athletes. If you are exercising with proper nutrition this will not be a problem because you will/should consume an adequate amount of calories after your workout. Recovery is important for your muscles and bones after a good workout.

Training Song of the Week: I Don't Feel Like Dancing - Scissor Sisters. Oldie but a goodie. This song has been a popular choice for my iPod this week. It's a good alternative change of pace from jam bands and booty dancin' music!

Happy Running,
Jayme

Going Downhill

Running hills, especially Georgia hills, can be dreadful for most people. It's the thought of running uphill that people cringe at; however, downhill running can be more strenuous than actual uphill. Rather than going into the physiological reasons just take my word, I promise. Newton's first law (law of inertia) in layman's terms explains that when an object accelerates gravity wants to keep all components of the object together and accelerate as a unit (boring, I know). Basically, gravity pulls your body down the hill at faster acceleration than you were acclimated prior to. Your body can either accelerate with gravity, or you can fight gravity to control your run. If you allow gravity to accelerate your body at an unwanted speed you are more likely to expend your stamina at a quicker rate. On the other hand, if you repel the forces of gravity you can extend your stamina in able to continue your exercise for a longer duration. Here are a few tips to help running downhill:

1. Proper running mechanics. What I mean by proper running mechanics is basically good posture. Keep your back and abs straight. Running downhill people have a tendency to lean forward with the downhill slope. Leaning forward can complicate your breathing as well as forcing your legs to speed up. So correct your posture and notice how your breathing will remain "normal". Fight the temptation to stomp down the hill. Stomping can lead to numerous acute/major leg/foot injuries. Just keep your "normal" stride length and normal force you use to place your foot on the ground while running downhill.
2. Minimize stutter-stepping. You may feel the momentum of your body increasing as you run downhill resulting in you trying to slow down by stutter stepping. These short steps are forcing your knees to do majority of the work instead of the your whole leg inserting at the hip. Now you may think your lever is too long to control if you use your entire leg instead of just stutter-stepping. Yea, you increased the length of your lever now it's mind over matter to control your steps by thinking left foot down right foot down. This strategy will also minimize injury.
3. A strong core. Core meaning abs, glutes, and back. Now that you have your posture down this will help strengthen your core. When running downhill activate your core muscles to help produce more power and control to your legs. It all makes sense. If you have a strong body overall you will be able to control the movements of your body properly. Activating your abs during downhill running will aid in proper breathing. Strong glutes will provide control to your legs, and a strong back will aid in posture. Overall, your running mechanism will increase resulting in good form and posture.
4. Pace maintenance. Minimize speed bouts down hills to keep your pace comfortable. It's natural to want to increase your speed while running downhill per the boring, or somewhat interesting, law of inertia. If you keep your pace the same prior to running up/downhill you will be able to recover from the hill more efficiently. You didn't expend any necessary energy you may need to utilize to finish at the end of your run.

Song of the week: Jai Ho!/ A.R. Rahman ft. Nicole Scherzinger. Thank you Slumdog Millionaire. I downloaded this song shortly after I saw the movie months ago, and this week my iPod has decided to play it a lot. It's a good upbeat song to help get me through the North Georgia hills :).

Training Tip of the Week: Endurance strength training is just as importance as banking the miles when training for a half or full marathon. Strength training usually doesn't get much publicity from endurance runners because we all want to minimize any unneeded baggage when going for speed. However, endurance strength training will build a better base to your muscle in able to utilize energy more efficiently and produce a little more power. ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) guidelines for endurance strength training for an average healthy adult are as follow:

2-3 days per week
2-4 sets
8-12 repetitions per set
2-3 minutes of rest between each set

Check back in future blogs for more information on this topic as well as cross-training! As for now, go out and conquer those hills! Soon you won't think twice about running hills.

Happy Running,
Jayme