Portion control (not my idea of fun)

I am basically always trying to lose weight. I don't have any problem with the working out part. Sure, I skip workouts here and there and I'm not perfect, but I have a consistent workout routine. I may take a week off here and there, but physical activity is definitely a priority in my life and will always be. I know I will never be inactive by choice. Joining a gym with a 2 year commitment doesn't bother me because I know I will always use it.

There are two parts of the equation of weight loss, one being exercise and one being eating. I eat pretty healthy most of the time. Same with exercise, I enjoy unhealthy foods (I kinda have a thing for McDonalds) just like anyone, but I try to limit those things. And I love sweets!! In the past, exercise helped burn off those unhealthy things, but as I get older, the weight wants to stick around and not burn off as easily.

Last year I did a high protein eating plan and it worked pretty well, but it was tough. The one benefit of that was it forced me to eat lots of vegetables, which still sticks to me now. Gone are my standby Subway sandwiches, but replaced by a salad with lots of veggies (bonus: spinach). Bread isn't bad, but we definitely eat too much of it, especially bread that has little or no fiber.

I think any diet or change in eating can be beneficial if you learn something from it or pick up something you can incorporate in the long-term.

Despite my healthy eating habits, I've always known that I eat too much. My portions are too big. I decided that this is something I really need to work on and really need to incorporate. Time for portion control!

I thought by cutting my portions, I would be hungry all the time. I get hungry more often, but with good planning, I can eat a snack when I'm hungry. No need to starve.

I've been doing pretty good with this so far (some days better than others), but that's part of making it my lifestyle (not a fad).

I mentioned earlier that I have a thing for McDonalds. Yes, I know some people hate that place and it's so unhealthy, but put that aside for a minute. My typical meal used to be 2 cheeseburgers, fries, and a diet soda or unsweet tea. Now, if I eat there, my meal is 1 cheeseburger (no mayo on their cheeseburgers, which is good) and a yogurt parfait. I realize it isn't the healthiest meal, but it's a lot less and decent for the fast food world. From Wendy's I would get a small chili and jr. cheeseburger (hold the mayo). Once again, not the best, but in the fast food world, not bad.

I know it's definitely healthier to eat at home and bring my lunch, so I do that sometimes as well. With all my driving around, that's hard to do everyday. Having snacks with me is key.

If you are trying to do portion control, keep at it! A lot of it is mind over matter. It's tough but getting used to it takes time and work.

Stress definitely causing me to have bad eating habits. This has been my toughest semester (despite what everyone said) and most stressful, so my eating hasn't been the best, but I'm working through it!

Melissa's rules (or suggestions) for the gym

I love rules. I am a rule-follower (mostly) and breaking the rules makes me feel uncomfortable. I think gyms could benefit from a few more rules. Or suggestions, if you prefer to call them that. Rules sounds more harsh than suggestions.

I used to want to manage or own a gym. My dreams and goals changed and I have a career that I really enjoy, but sometimes I still think my old dream might be kinda fun. Maybe in the future. Anyway, if I owned a gym, here are some of my rules (or suggestions).

1. Wipe off the machines after you use them, this is NOT optional.

2. Don't wear cologne, perfume, heavy body spray, heavy lotion, or anything that doesn't smell like plain air. But please, wear deodorant.

3. Don't spit in the drinking fountain.

4. Keep the loud grunts and yells away from the gym. I don't care if you are bench pressing 1 million pounds, it's not necessary to be that loud.

5. Social hour burns a lot less calories than working out for an hour.

6.  Unless you need to, don't hold on to the treadmill. It burns a whole lot more calories if you swing your arms instead.

7. Put your phone away. Check it in between sets if you absolutely have to, but would it be so bad to leave it alone for an hour?

8. The locker room is not your home. Walking around naked or half naked is not appropriate.

9. Kids should not be allowed to run around or be left alone.

10. Appropriate attire is required. No jeans, boots, etc.

11. (only for gyms with tanning beds) If you just came in to use the tanning bed, how about spending that 10-20 minutes on the treadmill instead? It will benefit you much more.

12. Sharing the machines is ok, you don't have to hog them.

13. Guys if your legs look like a stick person and your arms are super muscular, it's ok to lift legs sometimes too.

Any others you can add? I may add more as I think of them!

A random one

Most of my blogs are pretty random, which is exactly like my thoughts and exactly why I love blogging.

People who work out regularly (as in, not a fad exerciser) have great butts. Some people have great butts thanks to their genetics, but some others aren't that lucky. Exercise is a great way to get a good butt. Most all cardio exercises work the butt and many strength training exercises help the butt, even ones that don't target the butt specifically. Squats and lunges are great ones.

Exercise helps you form a rounder tush. Who doesn't want that? Well, I guess some people don't, but I surely do. That's why I have a love/hate relationship with the Stepmill. I hate it because it's hard, really hard. I love it because it's a really intense exercise (my heart rate gets way up there) and it's something I can do if I have an extra 7-8 minutes at the end of a workout and really want to burn some more calories fast. 

I never want to have a saggy butt. Seriously, I know everyone out there has seen a saggy butt and it does not look good. I will be doing squats and lunges as long as I can to avoid saggy butt syndrome.

After an intense exercise session, a recovery meal is necessary to replenish the body and keep your calorie burn high. The proper mix of carbs to protein is essential. Some people will have a meal or a snack with a mix, drink a protein shake (that has some carbs in it too), or whatever else. Gatorade is ok for fluid replacement (but really only necessary if you've worked out intensely for over an hour, otherwise water is fine) by doesn't have any protein so it's not a good recovery meal/drink. Most protein shakes are ok, but can get expensive. Muscle milk, ok but expensive. Want to know my secret recovery drink?? Most of you could probably make it at your house with what you already have and it's fairly inexpensive (and yummy).

A glass of 1% chocolate milk contains the right mix of protein and carbs. I am not a huge proponent of milk and don't drink a lot myself, but this is my after workout indulgence. It tastes yummy and contains the right mix of protein and carbs for optimal recovery. I don't drink it otherwise and it's kind of like a treat after a hard workout. Protein shakes and Muscle milk can be expensive, whereas chocolate milk is not. Give it a try!

Uneventful

I was fully preparing myself for a busy night at the gym. I even decided to just do cardio tonight and save the weights for tomorrow night. But, I was surprised, it was not crowded and fairly uneventful.

I usually try to go for one of the machines that faces away from the people using the machines and that has a tv on it. But tonight, I decided to use one that doesn't have a tv and faces some of the exercisers. For two reasons:
1. I wanted to watch some people work out to come up with a good blog. That failed because there were only a few people working out and it was boring. I was glad to see a few people sweating as much (or more) than I usually do.
2. I am tired of watching ESPN. Yes, there are a lot of channels but I can follow ESPN and still work out pretty hard because it doesn't require full attention. I can also follow along with ESPN without my headphones plugged in for volume because I'd rather listen to my music. But, I am so tired of Tim Tebow on ESPN. In fact, I am renaming ESPN, ETTN (Everything Tim Tebow Network). I am really tired of ESPN for that reason alone. BUT, I looked over at a tv that was on a treadmill that I wasn't even on and saw his name on Fox News. I can't win.

But, nothing exciting happened and nothing for me to blog about either. I am probably going to regret not going weights because now I have to do them tomorrow and it will probably be super busy, knowing my luck.

Maybe I'll have something more exciting tomorrow...

It was a sweaty day

So far in 2012, I have worked out 5 times. My goal is 3-5 times a week but it always depends on my schedule between working late and school. So I would say 5 times a week is awesome so far.

I did 40 minutes of cardio, not super tough but higher than moderate. For some reason, I was incredibly sweaty. Maybe the most sweaty I've ever been. I wonder what other people think when my shirt is soaked in the back and sorta sweaty in the front. Also, my hair (especially my bangs) looked as wet as when I wash my hair. It was super gross. I think it was a little bit warm in the room where I was doing cardio, maybe because of the sun shining in? But, despite all that sweat, I feel great! 

I noticed that no one else was as sweaty as me, so I wondered if they noticed me. Maybe they are writing a blog about "that nasty sweaty girl at the gym."


Sometimes I wish I could give people advice at the gym, without making them think I am trying to be a know-it-all. The first thing I would tell people is to not hold on when they are on the treadmill. If they incline it so much that they have to hold on to stay on the machine, bump the incline down to where you don't have to. Holding on makes it way too easy and you don't burn as many calories. Other machines (elliptical, Stepmill) you may have to hold on just to keep your balance, but not usually on the treadmill. I think if people want to get the most out of their workout (which I think most people like to use their time efficiently) then they should not hold on. The calorie burn on the machine will be way off if you are holding on. Also, pumping your arms burns more calories anyway.

My other advice would be telling people to slow down when lifting their weights. Some people lift and lower super fast. That's how you get hurt. You get wayyy more benefit doing things slowly. Now, I get that some exercises are for power and they need to be done fast. That's fine. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the normal person lifting normal weights = slow down. Too fast doesn't work as good as slow and increases risk for injury.

One week down for 2012, keep up with your workout goals!! Only 51 more weeks in 2012 to meet your resolutions!

Muscle weighs more than fat, etc

All the time, I hear people say that muscle weighs more than fat. People especially say that when others first start working out and they aren't losing weight yet, that's the common reason - "muscle weighs more than fat." I don't think people are totally wrong when they say this, they just need to rephrase.

Muscle does not weigh more than fat. One pound of fat weighs the same as one pound of muscle. However, they look drastically different. A pound of fat takes up more room and looks worse than one pound of muscle. One pound of muscle take up a lot less room in your body than one pound of fat. Sizewise, I would say that 2.5 lbs to 3 lbs of muscle take up the same amount of room as one pound of muscle. So, in that aspect, I guess you could look at it like muscle weighs more than fat (but it really doesn't).

I would definitely rather have 10 pounds of muscle than 10 pounds of fat. Muscle looks nice and burns more calories at rest than fat does. They are two totally different things, so you lose fat and gain muscle. Or lose muscle and gain fat. They don't just magically switch over.

When you exercise, you burn a combination of different fuels. You burn off the fuels that you've eaten, ones that have been recently stored (in liver or muscles) and also stored fat. You can't really control what fuel is being burned when, it's a complex set of chemical reactions. The point is to work out hard and consistently and you will burn fat and gain muscle.

If you have been working out, sometimes it takes awhile for the scale to move. You may feel better, look better, maybe even feel a little tighter in your tummy. You are probably definitely losing fat. But, you are also gaining muscle. If you stick with it and keep working out habitually, the scale will move. Sometimes it takes awhile (I know it does with me!) Most people get too frustrated and give up before the scale moves too much.

Weight loss is a balance between eating better and exercise. You can lose weight by doing only one of those things, but it won't be as effective, especially over the long-term. 

Cologne at the gym, resolutions, etc

Today is January 3 and the first day back to work for many because yesterday was a holiday. Which also means possibly the busiest day of the year at the gym. Nothing super exciting happened and I still got my workout completed at a decent time, so no complaints here. Ok, well except one.

I cannot stand when guys wear cologne at the gym. I would also include female perfume in here, but I rarely smell that. Or maybe I just don't notice the perfume, who knows. Anyway, some guy got on the stepmill next to me for about 7 minutes and smelled like really strong cologne. I love cologne normally, but not at the gym. I know it was him because I only noticed it when he was next to me. The guys on the other side of me had been there for awhile and he didn't smell like cologne. So why do I hate it so much? I'm not really sure so I honestly can't tell you, but it really bugs me. I think maybe I just like the smell of fresh air when I'm working out. I think I would even rather smell sweat (not sure about BO) than cologne.

I also don't understand what some people wear to the gym. I usually wear whatever t-shirt and shorts I pick up first that somewhat match. My gym clothes get nasty and sweaty so nothing nice for me. Yesterday some guy was working out in jeans, boots (like Caterpillar ones), and a sweatshirt. Worst workout attire ever. I've seen a lot of people in jeans at the gym and I don't know how that could be comfortable.

It felt great to get a good workout in to start the New Year. Working out, getting in shape, etc are never my NY resolutions because I know I have to work out for the rest of my life, as long as I am able. It's just part of my life, like showering, brushing my teeth, eating, etc. I may not work out everyday and I may take a week (or a few weeks) off here and there, but I will always be active. As much as I hate the gym when it's crowded, it would be great if more people realized that working out needs to be a part of their life, not just a temporary thing to look better.