There has been much controversy recently about the article that was published in the time magazine about wether exercise makes you thin or not.

Personally I do not think that exercise alone makes you thin. what else has to happen?

We are always talking about food in Jazzercise and I always ask my class if they have had breakfast if it is the morning class and if they have had a snack for the afternoon class….why?

First to see if they have fuel for the class which the most important and primary thing as it is surely not a good idea to be passing out or feeling sick or faint when exercising.

Second, you need to be making sure that your metabolism is is working order, nothing good will come from starving yourself or missing out on a meal, this shuts your body down quicker than you will know.

Third, All of your body will know if you are not eating, all of your senses count when you are exercising and they will soon let you know if you are hungry!!

The Biggest Loser club then posted their reply to the article from Time and today Runner’s World posted theirs, basically the message from them both is the same.  The answer is absolutely NO!, most people think that because they have worked out, they can have that extra chocolate or extra slice of pie and icecream and so they end up consuming more calories than they have put out while exercising.

Think about it, healthy vegetables, sensible portions of meat and carbohydrates, cut back on the sweets and cookies, exercise well and as much as you can and bingo, calories in and calories out, makes the world go round and the metabolism working just fine……

Ok, don’t run away screaming just yet.  Stay with me here…

One pound of weight roughly equals 3500 calories.  That means, in order to lose one pound of weight, you must net a negative 3500 calories.  WOW.  That’s a lot.  Using myself as an example – I teach 5 classes a week at about 500 calories burned (most students burn about 300 calories).  That’s 2500 calories for a week.  To lose one pound I would need to cut back 1000 calories in that week, so 142.8 a day.  Broken down that way, it’s not so bad.

So let’s say you exercise 4 times a week and burn 300 calories each time (300*4) – 1200 calories.  3500-1200 = 2300 additional calories cut from your week to lose a lb.  That breaks down to 328.6 calories a day to eliminate.  What small changes can you make to your daily eating pattern to find those extra calories?  Here are a few examples:

Substitute mustard for mayo on your sandwiches – 90 calories saved per sandwich.

Use half the amount of salad dressing on your salads – 70 calories saved per salad.

Use vinegar and a little bit of olive oil for your salads instead of full fat dressing – 100+ calories saved per salad.

Stop drinking regular sodas – 150 calories per can.

Eliminate 1 teaspoon of sugar from your coffee or tea each morning –   15 calories a teaspoon.

Eliminate 1 Tablespoon of half and half from your coffee or tea each morning – 20 calories a Tablespoon.

Use Light bread instead of regular white bread – 80 calories saved per sandwich.

See – here we have some small changes and already we saved 455 calories!  We are always told to think big, dream big, go big – but in this case I need you to think small.  You don’t have to go on crazy diets to achieve your weight loss goals.  Think in terms of making lifestyle changes that you can live with.  Get the diet mentality out of your being – this is a “live – it” not a “die-it”.  If you want to lose faster, work out a little more and eat a little less.  Be careful, though, you never want to lose more than 1-2 lbs. a week after your first week.  Never give up and throw in the towel either.  It may take a long time, but you will get there.

(All of the calorie calculations in this post are basic approximations.  Individual bodies will work slightly different)

How often do you hear that phrase?  Never?  Well, no more.  Start acting like a kid again.  This simple rule can apply to both your workouts and your eating habits.

Workout Like A Kid

Remember when you were little and would just run and run and run?  No concern about what other people thought about you or if you were doing it “right”?  That is precisely what I am talking about here.  So many times as adults we are afraid to try something new or to let loose and enjoy ourselves.  Who says working out has to be boring and lifeless?  It doesn’t and chances are if you like what you are doing, it will like you back.  I love to see my Jazzercise students cutting loose on the dance floor and truly enjoying the moves.  I tell them that no one is watching, so shake it like you mean it!  I can guarantee that you burn way more calories when you get into your workout and have fun.

Eat Like a Kid

I am not talking reverting back to no veggies and a diet laden with chicken nuggets.  That’s boring and there is no need for boring and food to go together.  No, I am talking about re-visiting children’s sized portions.  I was out with some lovely ladies last night at a mexican restaurant and we talked about what we ordered.  I mentioned that I usually either order off the a la carte menu or a child’s plate (one enchilada or one taco with a teeny bit of beans and rice).  Its a great way to get a taste of favorite foods without the pressure of scarfing down a huge calorie-rich entree.  The child’s size is usually what an adult should eat anyway .  The other diner hadn’t thought of doing that and said she’ll try it sometime.

As a side note, did you know that the McDonalds kids meal hamburger is the original size they served back in the day?  No wonder our waists have been growing over the years.  Restaurant sizes are Out Of Control!  If you go into a dining out situation with that in mind, it might save you a bit in the long run.

So today are you going to dance like you mean it and eat like a kid?  I double dog dare you.

Many exercisers make a gigantic mistake. They exercise five times a week without results. Why, did you ask? Most likely they are eating their calories back.

A typical Jazzercise class (and I mean the full hour) will burn off somewhere between 250-400 calories. If you hop in the car, stop at the convenience store and grab a grab-bag of chips or cookies you have just eaten your workout. WHAT? You have to burn more calories than you eat to shed the pounds.

Two questions for you today. Okay, maybe three. Do you know what your calorie requirement is per day? Do you real labels and measure or count your food? Do you have any idea how many calories you burn while in class?

Your particular calorie requirement can be found on various websites. I like mypyramid.gov and many others. You can easily type in “calorie requirements” into your search engine and find hundreds of sites that will calculate an estimate for you. Second, by now, if you are serious about dropping the lbs, you should be looking at labels, becoming aware of serving size and fiber content. And finally, if you have no idea what you burn in a typical Jazzercise class you can always purchase a heart monitor. I wear one every time I teach! If you don’t want to fork out the extra dough for a HR monitor then I can give you an estimate.

In most classes I teach, I burn an average of 600 calories. I have burned as much as 800 in some classes. If you think you are matching my intensity, you may be getting close to that calorie burn. If you think you may be hitting it at about 50% of my intensity then chalk up your workout to about 300 calories and so on. If you want me to tell you, honestly, how I think your intensity looks, just ask. Just know, however, that I am a very honest person!

Make this week count!