Posts Tagged ‘fitness challenge’

Most Recent Martha Stewart Whole Living Post, iPad Sneak Peak, Fitness Challenge Update….

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Martha Stewart Whole Living Post….

Here is a link to my most recent post to Whole Living Daily- please check it out. This is an abridged version of the post I did on helping to avoid medical insurance claims nightmares. I had such a nice response to the original post, and the information was so important, I thought it was useful to repost a version of it.

iPad sneak peak…

I continue to work feverishly to get the Back Together iPad application out the door. In my effort to provide you as much of the Back Together experience as possible, the program has expanded in ways I had not even considered when I started to develop it. Here are two screen shots from the program just to give you a small taste of what’s coming:

Needless to say, I am getting really excited about this!

Fitness Challenge update…

A few weeks ago, I promised you a fitness challenge update- and I totally lunched on it. Sorry for the delay! SInce beginning, I have lost a total of 19 pounds. Unfortunately, I have been plateaued for a few weeks, which has been pretty frustrating. MORE frustrating is the fact that I made the decision to integrate bike riding into my regular fitness routine (appropriate as I will now be contributing to the Lance Armstrong Livestrong website.) The frustrating part is that I made this decision just as Philadelphia was entering into nearly a week of 100 degree weather. I was a regular mountain biker up until my residency, and it took just a few rides to remind me of just how much I love riding. I will keep you updated on how this changes things. In the mean time, please continue to send me your updates.

All my best, and thanks for stopping by!

-Andy

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Fitness Challenge: Top 10 Dieting Tips from Dietician/Nutritionist Sarah Barts

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

I am so pleased to hear everyone’s stories as we are going through the fitness challenge. This past week, I did not lose or gain anything, but I am not discouraged- this isn’t about week to week. It’s about the rest of our lives!

I have been working with an outstanding nutritionist, Sarah Barts for some time now. Her approach to weight control is based on simple, common sense principles which help you not to just lose weight, but to maintain a nutritionally healthy lifestyle which will help you for the rest of your life. Recently, she has been doing some additional work as a personal chef. You should definitely check out her website here.

I asked her to contribute her top ten list of tips for helping to lose weight and maintain it. Check it out…..

Top 10 ways to eat healthier and lose weight.

As a registered dietitian certified in weight management and a personal chef, I’ve worked with multiple individuals wanting to eat healthier, enjoy food, and lose or maintain a healthy comfortable weight.  Through the years of working with multiple weight loss programs and countless hours of research, I have been able to see what works best for people.  Below is what I would consider the top 10 ways to eat healthier for prevention of chronic disease, help with weight loss, and overall improve relationships with food.

  1. Eat more vegetables, the more colors the better.  Dietary guidelines suggest 2 ½ cups of vegetables per day.  Fill half of your plate at lunch and dinner with vegetables of multiple colors, and you will fulfill these recommendations.  Not only are they high in antioxidants and phytochemicals to help prevent cancer, they are also a good source of fiber
  2. Limit drinks with calories, water is the best option.  4 ounces of 100% juice can have approximately 60 calories; 20 ounces of soda can have up to 17 teaspoons of sugar and close to 240 calories per bottle.
  3. Eat healthy 90% of the time, leaving 10% of the time to choose what you want.  There is no reason to feel guilty if you have always adored a food that may not be as healthy.  Portion control and frequency is key.  Realistic healthy eating includes small amounts of the not so healthy, but delicious foods.
  4. Eat slowly and enjoy.  Who doesn’t like to eat?  Why not enjoy it?  Slow down and distinguish what tastes good about your food.  This will give you time to evaluate what your likes and dislikes are, and check-in to your hunger or fullness levels.  (no need to clean your plate)
  5. Stop eating when you are satisfied.  Yes – the food tastes are great!  It will not be the last time you eat it and you can always save the leftovers for later.  No negative feelings needed for not cleaning your plate – - “it’s either a waste or a waist”
  6. Eat more whole grains and fiber.  Not only is fiber filling, which keeps you feeling satisfied longer, but it also keeps blood sugar in control, helps prevent colon cancer, and can reduce cholesterol.
  7. Move more.  You might have a sedentary job, and work out at the gym for an hour a day, which is ok.  But, you will burn more calories if you are physically active throughout the day in addition to your gym visit.  Walk whenever possible, e.g. pace whenever talking on the phone, use a pedometer and shoot for 10,000 steps per day, park further from the store or your work, walk for 10 minutes at lunchtime.  Include an activity that you enjoy 1-2x/week.
  8. Eat less processed foods.  If you can’t pronounce many ingredients on the label, your body is going to have a hard time with it too.  Eating foods with natural ingredients and less processing makes your body work the way it’s meant to, giving you more energy.
  9. Eat small frequent meals.  This will take some planning on your part, but eating smaller meals and nutritious snacks between them not only keeps your metabolism working throughout the day, but it helps to prevent over-eating.  When meals are skipped and you get extremely hungry, there is more tendency to eat whatever kind of food is available and eat fast, thus increasing calories consumed.
  10. Get rid of your diet rules.  If you have dieted multiple times, more than likely you have acquired the “good food/bad food” mentality and recite the multiple rules that you have learned over time.  The problem with diet rules, is they are most often accompanied by negative and guilty feelings when they can’t be followed perfectly.  Negative and guilty feelings are sometimes associated with an all or nothing way of thinking and sometimes the nothing can lead to over indulging.

Focus on eating foods that are nutritious, enjoy meals, eat slowly and moving more.

Brought to you by: Sarah Barts, RD, LDN

Certified in Weight Management

Personal Chef for Mindful Gourmet

sarah@mindfulgourmet.com

www.mindfulgourmet.com

484-744-1429

Old growth banyan tree, Key Largo.

Old growth banyan tree, Key Largo.


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Fitness Challenge update, viewer letters….

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Fitness Challenge Update:

It looks like there are quite a few of us who are living up to our New Years resolutions!

When I was on my trip last week, I didn’t follow my diet as well as I could have, but there was tons & tons of additional walking involved, and the net effect was that I lost another 2 pounds- this brings my total loss to 9 pounds since starting. Not bad!!!

Now, this week I have all kinds of stress, my timing is all messed up, and I am jetlagged- so I am pretty sure my exercise will be a little off this week. Need to find some way to either compensate with added activity near the end of the week, or limiting my calories this week. I think I will go with plan A.

I have been getting regular updates from folks, and you should all be proud!!! Those of you watching from the sidelines who have a few pounds to shed- it’s not too late to join us.

Viewer Letters:

Last week I got a bunch of letters from folks. A couple of them caught my eye:

“Andy- My husband and I have been working on our weight together since you started your challenge. We’ve both been losing weight, and feeling the difference. It makes such a difference to be doing it along with you and your other readers- that we aren’t doing it alone…Sandra”

Sandra- thanks for the letter. You touched upon exactly the reason I embarked upon this quest in public in the first place- it is always easier when you aren’t going it alone. That is also the reason I have been pushing my partner-based approach to back and neck pain: having someone there to motivate you can make such a difference.

“We got your book as part of an engagement present, and we’ve been using it for about 3 months. All I can say is THANK YOU! This is the first book I have read which makes me feel like I am in control of my body. Mark and I do the techniques together a few times a week, and we really feel the results. The (psychological strategies) really help too. We just ordered your DVD program…Jen”

I am so glad to be able to help you both. I wasn’t clear from your letter if it is you, Mark, or both of you feeling pain- but I hope you continue to get the benefits. You will LOVE the DVD program.

Thanks for visiting,

-Andy

A Baptism at the Holy site at Yardenite, on the Jordan River.

A Baptism at the Holy site at Yardenite, on the Jordan River.

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Back pain odds & ends- the Olympics, Chiropractors & Osteopaths wasting your money treating your back pain, viewer fitness updates…

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Following the Olympics:

I subscribe to google alerts for different stories relating to back and neck pain. This week, I have read about a hundred stories about olympic athletes and their back and neck injuries. If I hear one more interviewer ask the question ‘why do you think so many olympic athletes are having injuries?’ I will blow a cork! Aren’t there better questions they could ask? How about questions about their love lives? What kind of car are they drivin’?

Olympic and professional athletes are training at a much higher level than most of us ever will. Now, I know you are saying to yourself  ”Aren’t they in peak condition? Shouldn’t they have less injuries?” Well, sure they are in peak condition- but if you look,  pretty much all competitive sports (save for maybe curling?) have become ‘extreme sports.’ The overall stats for lifting, jumping, running, endurance- most metrics used to rank athletic performance- have all jumped by leaps and bounds. There are records from Olympic games earlier in the 20th century, where commentators essentially declared that we were approaching the limits of human performance. WOW- how wrong they were! Virtually every major record has been beaten in the past 2 sets of Olympic games. The technology to make us all faster, stronger, better nourished for endurance, and with better performance psychology has advanced so far- but in the end we are all limited by the laws of physiology, and ultimately gravity. As you reach the higher echelons of performance, you are more likely to be injured, regardless of conditioning. Now that being said- the Olympic athletes have access to training and knowledge to help minimize their likelihood of injury- but there is only so much you can do.

Sports Illustrated photo from the Olympics- One of the few photos you will find here I didn't take myself. Please don't rat me out...

Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Physical Therapists, and all the rest- are all a waste of your money!

You may have read my ‘coming Monday’ post earlier in the week. I suppose the search engines latched onto the tag line- because I have gotten a ream of hate mail, primarily from Chiropractors and Physical Therapist. ‘How dare you call my work a waste of money- I help a hundred people a week with their back pain!’

Have you ever been on this blog before? If you read back a few posts and see what I am about you will know that I am not here to bash anybody. How about reading the post first? I am not calling any body a quack- and I am certainly not about to tout my work as any better than yours- wait and give it a read.

Fitness  Challenge Update

People must have thought I dropped the ball on the fitness challenge until they read the post yesterday. Thanks for the updates some of you sent in. I am so glad you are choosing to do this along with me, and hope we can all talk at the beginning of 2011 about how we met the challenge, and lived up to our New Years Resolutions!

Have a great remainder of your weekend.

Andy

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Avatar, Post from Ella Kirschner, Update on Fitness Challenge…

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Go see Avatar:

This is not a movie review site, but….

I was reasonably convinced that I was the last person on earth to see Avatar, but apparently I am not. I finally got to see it last night, and all I can say is WOW! If the movie had no plot at all it would be worth seeing if only for the visuals. As it is, it has a pretty good plot, and is just a joy to watch. Go see Avatar. Go see it on a big screen. Go today.

My daughter’s first blog post:

My daughter really wanted to post on my blog. Ella is a 9 year old student and gymnast. She is very fitness oriented, and an enthusiastic supporter of Back Together (being my daughter and all…)  I have only edited these a little, so from out of the mouth of babes:

Hey! Ella (Dr. Andy’s daughter) here. First, thanks for coming to my dad’s website! He really appreciates all the support that you folks offer!

Here are a few suggestions that will help improve your daily life:

Every day when I wake up, i like to stretch. It really helps. Also, I like to do some conditioning work each day. Simply doing a few sit ups or push ups can tremendously improve your strength. Next, I really think that it is vital to take daily walks.

Also WATH YOUR DIET!!!!!!!!!!!!!- I have made rules that you really should follow:

Rule number one: Avoid trans fats. This can improve your eating habits.

Rule number two: Read the label!!!!!!!! As an example why, yesterday I went to the store and I got some tuna salad. What I did not notice was that it had 40 grams of fat!!!!!!!!!!(how did they get all that fat in there??????)

Rule number three: Watch the sweets they really add up.

Most important of all is to simply enjoy life.

Not bad for a first post, if I may pat my kid on the back for a moment!!

Update on the Fitness Challenge:

Well, I am just ending week 2 of the fitness challenge. I have done a pretty good job of sticking to my own rules here- a couple of minor slip ups here & there, but overall doing well. I had my first weigh in on Friday, and found that in two weeks I managed to lose 2 pounds. Not much, but this is a healthy pace, and slow & steady wins the race!

I have gotten a bunch of ‘before’ stories from people who feel that  weight has caused or exacerbated their back pain. I am amazed by some of the stories some of you have- it is remarkable to hear some of the different ways back pain has affected many of your lives. As I said before, my editorial staff will chose one that they think is the best, and it’s author will win a whole bunch of goodies from Back Together as well as some other folks who have kindly contributed.

Hope your weekend has gone well so far…

-Andy

One of Ella's first photographs.

One of Ella's first photographs.



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Fitness Challenge Update, Coming This Week: Sex toys for folks with back pain

Monday, January 25th, 2010

The Fitness Challenge

As I related last week, the fitness challenge got off to a nice start- both for my viewers, and for myself. I am into week two. Several folks have asked what I am doing, so here is a brief synapsis of what I project the first 4-5 weeks to look like:

-Cardio 4-5 times weekly. It’s wintertime, so I am basically confined to my Nordic Track until the weather gets a little better. I am trying to do between 45 and 75 minutes.

-I am calorie counting, and trying to keep my caloric intake at around 2200 calories/day. I have tried to shift the bulk of those calories away from simple carbs, but I am trying not to be unrealistic about what I can & cannot do.

-I am lifting weights 3 times/week at the moment, alternating between push (triceps,chest,quads, etc…) and pull (biceps, back, lats, glutes, etc…) muscle groups, leaving about 24 hours to recover. I will ramp this up, but I have not been lifting regularly for several years, and I don’t want to push myself backwards by not leaving adequate recovery time.

-I have been trying to walk whenever I can avoid driving. We all get used to driving everywhere- I actually think this is one of the best lifestyle modifications one can make.

-I am trying to pay more attention to my sleep, so I have better energy levels available to do the workouts and activities I have planned.

So that’s where I am with things. I have been getting a lot of folks back stories over the past week. Here is a sample:

My name is Michael, I am 39 years old and have been suffering with back pain since 2000. I injured my back at work when I fell off a shelf eight feet in the air and landed on my back hitting a metal floor. My injury consists of 2 discs (L3L4 and L5S1) and a partially crushed vertebrae at L4.

Since my injury, I have been unable to really do any strenuous physical activity. Daily activities cause varying levels of pain. Sometimes I can’t even put on my own shoes. As a result of my injury and inability to sustain physical activity, I have put on about 70 pounds, and now weigh a massive 305 pounds. This weight gain has increased my pain symptoms and further reduced my ability to function in day to day life activities.

I am going to be 40 in August, and I can no longer ignore my weight issues. Since the beginning of the year, I have started talking to a nutritionist and have begun to painfully do small things- like just walk my dog around the block. I have increased my water intake and I am trying to cut down on junk food. In just a couple of weeks I have begun (a little bit) to feel like I have more energy. I hope this energy will allow me o gain some momentum in changing my life.

I would like to be part of your fitness challenge and gain from your professional knowledge in combining fitness with back pain management.

Sincerely,

Michael M.

This is an example of exactly the kind of people I am hoping will benefit from this challenge. Work with me over the next few months, and send us your ‘after’ stories. My editorial staff will pick one from the lot who will win a Back Together package, including books and DVDs as well as other prizes from some outside sources. Mike- thank you for sharing your story with us. I hope you continue to improve, and look forward to hearing about your progress.

Sex toys and back pain:

A couple of months ago, I posted about finding a comfortable position for intercourse when dealing with back pain, and there was a lot of feedback from viewers about their experiences- successes and failures.

Shortly thereafter, I was contacted by ‘couples-friendly’ website designed to sell sex toys, products, and aids in a comfortable non-threatening environment. Tomorrow, I will be posting a review of some of these products (simply from an anatomic/ergonomic point of view) as well as some information about this interesting and fun website.

Best, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Be well,

Andy

Holiday in the Tropics...

Holiday in the Tropics…

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