Truth About Diets: Oatmeal and Eggs Kept Me Fat!

Trust yourself.
It was the best advice my best friend forever kept giving me. Whenever I had an issue, a weird feeling, an inclination towards one thing versus another or that sixth sense about something or someone, it was always that same quote my bff would keep telling me...Trust yourself...until I finally took it. With anything in life, trust and believe that you have the know-how, strength, intelligence and faith to do just that. And if all else fails, pray. :)

Again, Trust yourself.

Most times, all it takes is believing in your capacity.

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In all of my feats, experiments, plans, life changes that is the number one thing I've learned. If you don't feel you can trust any other advisor who is supposed to have your best interest at heart that they will help you do what you are paying them for, or seeking them out for, you better run! And then, figure it out for yourself if you feel you keep getting the wrong answers from those you pay.  The internet is a very valuable source in that you can find the answers to anything you think is the right answer for you, the way you live, what you regard as true for you, and the way you treat others and see the world.

On that note, I believe strongly in customization. To create and mold a plan that will most definitely work for the individual. The only way one would know what works for an individual is to study that person or better yet have them study themselves. Every good trainer can motivate and get a client to trust their trainer will get them results. But, every great trainer teaches and equips a client on how to motivate themselves with knowledge of correct training and dieting (for that person) so that client can graduate into doing their own diets and training on their own. This lesson I learned for myself!!

I had always felt there was something different about me. The way I ate, what I ate and how I had always had an inclination towards fewer carbs without being coached into it. From my teenage years, I had always created my own diets and followed them as lifestyles. It wasn't until my early 20s that I was coached into a formal fitness program that showed me how to do things wrong first, and now finally years later I know how to do myself right. For decades it seems that old fitness rules like; not eating carbs in the evening; eating less at night and not skipping breakfast are increasingly becoming rules to be broken. Everywhere you read its someone in a fitness magazine telling you to do the opposite of the last magazine or news article you just read. We are exploding with information and boy, can we all be any more confused?!!

First, the above examples of fitness rules to be broken, are of real studies that have been "shown" or "proven" to work. And I'm sure they do for someone who has held a specific diet before trying the diet advice, or has a specific body, genotype or blood type or lifestyle habits that would make any of the above work. Trust, I am not doubting that any of the above examples work. I know they do -- but what anyone and everyone should ask themselves when reading new information is, Is this person ME? Will this diet work for ME?

Myth#1 Oatmeal and eggs is NOT a miracle meal, especially if you've been eating it every day for the last two years. Over consumption of ANY food may lead to you being allergic to that food.

Time and time again, I have been told to eat oatmeal and eggs, oatmeal and eggs. I can't tell you how sick I am of oatmeal and eggs and how that seems to be the only breakfast option for people dieting down!! And better yet, cream of wheat and eggs, even worse!!! Neither have ever felt like a miracle meal to me! It has ALWAYS made me feel heavy. If you know you are sensitive to grains and dairy--and someone prescribes you a meal plan with many grains and lots of dairy, chances are they don't have you figured out and they probably didn't ask you a pre-requisite list of questions (about what you're allergic to or if you feel bloated eating any of the above options). For me, I got my leanest when I pulled ALL the grains and ate ALL foods from the ground ALL the time (not a container but straight from the farm or butcher's hands). If you want to feel full (and i mean FULL!), yes, go for the oatmeal. If you want to feel light all day, go for foods that you know came from the ground to the grocery store/butcher. Now, thats real clean eating.

Myth #2 Cheat meals: Something that I have always noticed to sabotage me are cheat meals. Its not the cheat meal themselves, its the recommended cheat meals like: pizza, ice cream, hamburgers on fluffy-ass buns. What ever happened to you are what you eat? If you couldn't eat it then, what makes you think you can eat it now and digest it? For some of us, yes, its good to "shock" the system. But if you know these foods make you feel awful afterwards like you swallowed a whole cow, its probably not good for your weight loss let alone your digestion and I promise, you will be sipping ginger tea or taking half the bottle of Tums for the massive indigestion you will incur from eating such junk!!  I would suggest that if you want the "metabolic effect" of a cheat that your meal be something in a larger portion you enjoy and CAN digest. So, you won't feel like you want to upchuck afterwards. This means it is fully digesting through your body, not burning through the lining of your esophagus. For example, steak and sweet potato fries with a green food to further aid digestion might be an ideal option besides a fish, turkey or chicken protein (that you cooked yourself, not deep fried).

 My third piece of advice for anyone looking for a lifestyle change and/or looking to drop pounds is NOT to get a trainer first.  I would advise them to do research on themselves first. That means this: writing down all of what you have done in the past that does NOT work (i.e. exercise routines, diets, etc.), write down the foods you eat for every meal, how much, when and how you FEEL after you eat these foods. This is how I discovered what foods worked for me. Then, I researched my body type, blood type and other genetics to further narrow down my studies on what foods worked best. From that point on, I came up with the best diet EVER. It was the first time in forever that I didn't feel like my meal was sitting on my stomach. I was starting to see my abs. It was a diet that I did NOT get from any one of the several trainers I hired or bought from a book.  They didn't know me, they were running their business. It is my job to know me and to know me best. I found lists and lists of specific foods that worked for my body type and immediately I saw results.

It was one trainer in particular who had showed me this first step that I will give much credit to. He said, for this week, just try to eat the macronutrient percentages I suggest but you fill the gaps by eating the foods that you want to. Boy did I learn fast what made me look like a pregnant cow and which food choices made me look like a long distance runner. This isn't hard. Its not rocket science but it is indeed a science. Everyone, in or outside of fitness should KNOW what foods harm them. If you feel like inflammation is setting in after a meal you need to revisit what you ate and make a note of that reaction. For example, I can't tell you the last time I had a serving of pasta. You know why?  Everytime I would eat pasta I would feel it in my pants the next day like I'd gained a third ass. Not fun. I NEVER forgot that feeling and to this day I won't touch it with a ten foot pole! Truly can't remember the last time I've had pasta, even in my past "cheats". On top of that, back in PT class (personal training school) a doctor came in and talked to us about how pasta makes the whole body inflamed. This is important because for quite sometime scientists have been studying the ongoing correlation and effect of "chronic inflammation in fat playing an important role in the development of obesity related insulin resistance." (The Journal of Clinical Investigation) In layman's terms, chronic inflammation CAN make you fat!

Common sense would tell someone when reading not just that article, but many others related to this condition that anything that gives you an inflammatory response that is not due to muscle building exercises but something you feel immediately after you eat or ALL the time should be a concern of yours and your health. In that case, do everything in your effort to reduce this by getting back to the basics and  following what Mama always recommended:  Fruits, veggies and protein that you know sits well with you. Then slowly add the foods you enjoy to see what happens. If you notice an immediate negative inflammatory response its time to eliminate that from your diet and perhaps for good.

They always said "Abs were made in the kitchen!" One thing that was neglected was HOW they are made in the kitchen.

If you would like to read more articles about inflammation that are reader friendly check this one out at: (I highly recommend it!)
http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/what-the-heck-is-inflammation-why-should-you-care/

Some anti-inflammatory foods to try to incorporate in your diet:

• papayas
• green-tea
• sweet potatoes
• tuna
• mackerel
• blueberries
• cranberries

References:

Here is link to further research them yourself: http://www.disaboom.com/nutrition/top-50-anti-inflammatory-foods


The Journal of Clinical Investigation
web link: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/19451


The truth about diets is, that the best one is the one you create for yourself, through clear and concise observation.

Keep Loving the You You're In...by studying it.

The Truth about Training

My very first coach (out of four) pounded the hell out of my body at the gym. There were days I couldn't walk up the stairs from my bedroom. He's been the only one (besides me) who really knew how to train my body with an endomorphic metabolism that cannot handle carbs/sugar well. If you have a slow metabolism, make sure you really kill your muscles at the gym or the excess weight will remain. It's not "hard work"(like everyone reiterates), it's knowledge applied of knowing your body and then discipline.

For years, of going in and out of the gym, especially in college I was banging out full body workouts up to 3 hours for 3 days a week and did cardio every day (with the exception of a rest day). I wasn't sure what I was doing then, but working my muscles and trying to stay tight. I became " a creature of habit" just trying to look right and work off the food from the dining halls. The oreo creme pie or pecan pie I just couldn't resist. Doing the same shit on a different day wasn't helping. Or so I thought. When spring break rolled around, I remember my father remarking "Look at your arms...geez I can see your triceps! You been working those out?" (I know I blushed as I'd hoped no one around me at the airport heard my father's remarks) Or the stares I couldn't help but notice walking through the airport aisles. At the end of the day it felt great to have outside reinforcement that I was doing someTHING right. But, even, with some kind of progress, I couldn't help but feel like I could do more and that this body I was in still wasn't where I wanted it to be. I was growing muscle but I wanted my legs to thin down and my hips to align themselves with my shoulders.  It never seemed to happen fast enough.

I'm completely aware that history has been repeating istelf. At least 4 years after college and an insurmountable wealth of knowledge in training, I still have relatively the same workout struggles. After a hiatus from writing about it, laying low and re-dialing in, re-focusing and cleansing the energies of doom that seem nigh, I learned more faithfully the art of patience. That it is necessary when traveling this long road of ups and downs, of doubts and high hopes that whatever destination, whatever goal, you'll actually achieve it at your desired date. Too many times this journey has been "de ja vous". The daily peeks at my legs in the mirror to see if they'd gotten any tighter.  The stressing about how many carbs I'd had. The worry that the scale just isn't coming down fast enough. Or praying that my back would look bangin' as I decided to really kill them along with other body parts I felt needed more work. There were many days I found myself losing hope that my body would get tighter or that the muscle would look outstanding in size, but would have no striation. Until one day a month into my building phase, a training buddy yelled out to me while doing hanging abs, "Kristen, your back is effin sick!!!" Its little moments like that that become defining. Later that week, I sent pictures in to my coach. He replied.

"P.S. your back is sick, please do bodybuilding too!"

*big smiles* (God knows I am not ready for bodybuilding!) I had worked my back hard...but, I ALWAYS work everything hard!!  What I had done differently was I broke my own rules of only working body parts once a week. I had broken out an old training program an old coach had written up and started doing it. And within doing it, I started enjoying it. And within enjoying it, I started feeling my muscles grip and tighten and squeezed them and the gym became less of an habitual thing. And throughout stressing, I relieved my stresses and continued to eat.... enough.I became more purposeful in doing more than just "hard work". I was enjoying the work with the intent to connect with my body. All thoughts of what was going on outside those gym doors, I left in the parking lot. And in growing an ass, and a back...and having days of feeling shitty cuz I still couldn't fit into my jeans or dress because I grew an ass and a back, I still struggled to make some kind of visual magic happen. If you're not feeling your muscles working and you're just working out, you ain't doing it right my brotha's and sista's!! Two weeks later, my body let go of some of that ass and leg size. Patience never seemed like a better virtue to possess.

My very first coach did pound the hell out of me, like i said earlier. I thought the only way I could get results was if I could barely walk up the stairs. Its not true. And that result may be a symptom of overtraining especially if it takes more than 4 days for the swelling to go down thereafter. Ha!! He got me results but I don't need to go through as much agony and pain as he and the other two coaches had put me through via eating too much, too little or doing tremendous amounts of cardio.
The truth about having had 4 coaches is that they have all relatively taught me the same thing in different ways. The million dollar advice about really training, is that you MUST feel your muscles working. If you're not sure or you only "kinda" feel it, then try the exercise at different weight (lower or higher). You don't have to annihilate them and you probably should do your reps slower to get different results. If exercises are getting too easy, slow your reps down. You can lower the weight if it makes you feel the muscle more. They also taught me, to be smart enough to know my body, but faithful enough for them to guide me, which was always the hard part for me. Being independent while dependent is a very careful line to walk. So stop doing the same thing every time you're there. Veer off the script. I repeat veer off the script!! Very little truth has been found with simply following a script. In order for anything to come alive, in your body, in your mind or in your work, is for you to dig deeper to feel all in which you are doing. Please change someTHING up. Try not to do the same workout more than once in a week or two or if you do, again, change something up-- the sets, the weight, the time. Its classic muscle confusion that will always make you get the results you are looking for. I think what works for me, works for everyone. Train the muscle and enjoy it. Raise the weight every week if you can. You won't know what you can handle unless you raise the weight. Then after you've done all this, give yourself weeks, months to see some quality results. Be PATIENT. My diet is changed almost weekly. Its tweeked, its examined just like my body is. What you put in IS what you WILL get out...eventually. Revisit your diet if you think you're doing mostly everything right at the gym.

My coach presently is NOT burning me out with cardio and is NOT starving me and has shown me individually what I can do to help me be the best that I want to be and NOT for a season or for a photo shoot or competition, but for a lifetime. To me, that's the gold. Being balanced from the inside out. With or without a trophy. I want to look and feel fabulous all day every day and not because someone told me so, but because I really really feel it within me. With my coach now, its not a social activity with him. There isn't a team he's in charge of. Its business, and NOT as usual. He really enjoys transforming people. Thats what i need someone who's as passionate as I am about a passion of mine to better lead me to where I'm trying to go. He's made me conquer some fears weekly and get down to the bottom of recurring physical and/or internal matters. He first focused on me, individually, so that I was able to fully focus on myself with no distractions to give my body and my mind what it was seeking. Answers, stability and a profound independence in training myself to the best of my ability with some seasoned guidance and the ongoing motivation that my doubts are lies and my fears, my imagination. After 3 months of working with him, experimenting with food, my metabolism and many many glorious cheat meals later, leaning out hasn't been the "hell" he's described. I have egged him on for more "hell" and am really starting to see true results after being fed. Being fed with time, devotion, attention to my details and dedication to me as one person he's working with that he truly wants to be happy with their results.

"Kristen, don't worry about anything. That's what you pay me for. So that I can do that for you."  It was the best words any coach I think had ever told me. It was what I needed to hear. He took the globe out of my hands and is carrying my world of body issues for me. Now, that's what I wished I paid for sooner. Since then, with the trials and tribulations that would follow, (i.e.metabolic burnout, metabolic rebound, smh.. ), he would always start with, "Not to worry". And slowly, I trusted those words and now the results are coming.

 In coming 180, this is about being focused, emotionally, physically, spiritually and mentally stable. I've just wanted to learn my body. From 15 y.o. to 26 y.o. so that I don't spend 11 more years of my life struggling with the same issues. And for me, that means truly focusing on myself, in the gym, at home by myself, on or off of facebook, with or without my family. So much of working out is mental. When you're in the gym, date yourself. Stay in your lane and please, if you can, enjoy the journey of trying to figure out this amazing puzzle God has blessed you with. You.

When You're In the Spotlight (Mental Health)

"Did you go to Cheesecake Factory by yourself? Oh my goodness. That's weird. I could never do that."

My mother always had an interesting way of telling me how she didn't understand my ways, mixed in with her own securities. Honestly, I felt more sorry for her that she felt she always needed someone to do things with. That's kinda sad, Mom. Is what I thought to myself. I feel so free and empowered when I do things on my own! Talk about Big Girl Panties, I could wear those all day every day. Those panties fit!!!

 Look Mom, I'm a big girl now. I ate lunch by myself at the biggest, most loudest, most crowded place in the world today!!!...And the big panties remain. :)

Truth was, sometimes it could be uncomfortable by myself and that was a fabulous reason to keep doing it. Who wants to be held back by themself? Fears are illusions. Fears are illusions. Fears are illusions. Did I say it enough?

When I first started to do competitions I was a nerve wreck onstage. There was a point in standing in the background I swore I was going to faint from the overwhelming reality of it all. I was never one to really like the spotlight unless I knew who was shining it on me. :) I had coached and coached myself. I practiced my routine to the point that I went down to the stage a day before the show and practiced my T-walk and quarter turns for two hours. The next day at the show I got up onstage and struggled to keep myself from shaking. Those heels were soo high. The lights needed to be brighter. I could see everyone! I almost had a panic attack. I coached myself again.

Keep it together, this is your moment. I've got to bring a trophy home! I've worked hard for this. I practiced on you yesterday, Stage!!

I was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. Jesus. I stopped thinking. I think that was the best thing I could do..just stop. And when I did, my legs stopped shaking too....almost. And only by the grace of God I didn't fall of the stage or faint like I was so sure I would. And someday...hopefully soon, I'll do it again...just to overcome the fear of being judged and seen by alot of people all at once. The hardest part about competing has never been the dieting or the exercise. I love being dedicated and having a plan to a tee. The hardest part for me has always been the stage.  The fears of what could happen like tripping, leaving a shoe behind, not doing my poses right or for long enough....or people just staring at me. Sorry, that's a pet peeve. I don't like too much attention all at once and I don't have an ego that likes it either. 

One thing I learned from the last time I did it, was when you have fun and focus more on that, than trying to be perfect, your best you comes out.

Ever noticed that? That the one thing thats the hardest to do is the one thing that will save you? Its like trying to swim. You must trust the water that it won't drown you first in order to learn. You must trust AND believe that it is possible for your body to float and once you do that (and see that you're not drowning) you get better at it.

People say practice makes perfect but in some cases this should be revised. Perhaps for some of us, ALOT of practice makes perfect.  And in other instances when something is impromptu and I don't have time to think I do better than if I'd taken the time to think about  it and practice.  The point is, we all have fears. Its getting  to the bottom of what they are and how to overcome them thats of absolute importance. Free yourself from your own mental bondage to roam the Earth less restrained AND not standing in your own way.  Again, true strength comes from within.  I think its a sad thing when I see people who are visibly muscular and physically strong on the outside be so weak, frail and fragile on the inside.  I don't want that person to be me. The two should match (the external and the internal). That's false advertising if they don't!!!

Perhaps the greatest exercise we should all do 2-3 times a day is meditate on who we really are and then not be so afraid to show the real us to others. 

You Are What You Don't Eat!

I want to start this post of with the following showcased pictures. The first photo was of me in October 2011 when I was running 35 miles a week. I was still about 145lbs in the first photo. I was NOT eating much. I would say I was averaging 1300 calories a day. The second photo was in February when I slowed down my cardio to 30 minutes a day to zero cardio a day and ate 1500-1600 calories per day. I was about 165lbs!!! I was not thrilled when I got on the scale, but I was pleased with what I saw after I showered!!! ;) All I did was strength training and circuit training for 5-6 days a week. But what photo looks better?? Which one is more visually pleasing?

Alright, I will add a third one, excuse the hair...it was before bed. In the last two photos I felt more fabulous. I look healthier don't I?? I felt energized AND I was eating to the point that my body was getting just enough food to rebuild muscle tissue. In the first photo, I was still doing my strength training while I was running at least an hour a day = 6 miles.  I was more skinny fat in my first photo. My skin was more loose and my muscles were NOT popping. Even then, I wasn't sure what I was doing. I had taken too much different advice and was overworking myself while enjoying running perhaps a little too much. Notice how much fuller I am?? The goal should NOT be to get uber skinny but to be lean.  BMI will throw you off the most as it oftentimes does NOT correctly take into account the make up of what's in your weight. Many articles, fitness experts and my former PT Instructor advise being the most concerned with your bodyfat!

Female Health Range for Bodyfat:
20-23% is normal
16% -19% is normal lean range
12-15% is very lean

Try not to go lower than 12% unless you are an athlete that is competing for a period of time. I would like to challenge the ladies to drop the fat to the lean range!!! Its not the pounds, its whats in your pounds!!
I've seen size 4 women be over 30% bodyfat. And I was seriously concerned at what her heart looked like and I told her!! :)

Men Healthy Range for Bodyfat:
10-13% is normal,
6-9% is lean
5% and below is very lean.

Men, I challenge you to get into the lean range!!


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You ARE What You Don't Eat! Skinny Fat!!

Lately, I have noticed my clients, my gym buddies/acquaintances and close friends being more frustrated than usual about their weight. They want to lose that last 10lbs!! They work out daily, they've asked other trainers at our gym what to do, and they log their food on online apps such as livestrong or myfitnesspal.com. But most noted of all, they swear they eat healthy and enough. They admit to me, they eat even less than they did before, thinking that it would reduce their weight. Its not as simple as output and input if you're body is already starving. Sorry.  Another thing they have in common is that they eat over 60% carbs daily. If you have a seated job for 7-9 hours a day, you need to add more protein to taper your carbs down as carbs are used mainly for energy and protein is always utilized in repairing your muscles. Protein will make you tighter. If I were any one of these people, I would focus on reducing my bodyfat, then lower my calories and reduce my weight if I'm still not satisfied.

What to Do?
 My advice is to log everything you are eating for a week and also log how many calories you are burning per workout session to figure out if you are starving.  If you are eating too much, you will gain weight, if you are eating too little you will gain weight.  You must log your food to figure out which one you are!! Better yet,  as a general range, try setting a goal to eat 5-6 small meals of anywhere from 200 - 350. If you work out like a beast like myself you know you want to veer closer to 300 cals per meal. (For exact customized meals, contact me for an affordable plan-- kristenjtucker@yahoo.com) Bottom line is, if you eat even less protein than you do fat or carbs you WILL remain skinny fat and those 10 - 30 lbs you are trying to lose will continue to jiggle!! Just sayin!!

Secondly, stay consistent!! Make sure you are getting your carbs, fat and protein per meal!! Do not starve completely off of one macronutrient! Look up the recommended daily intake for each of your nutrients; carbs, protein and fat. Protein is the building block of life! With that said, eating enough of it will prevent me from being "skinny fat" ever again!! And, as my new coach schooled me, it will prevent me from becoming more of an endomorphic type that attracts fat easily.

Third read your labels!!!! Know what you are eating. Know how many grams of fat, protein and carbs are in each item you eat so you can log it effectively. Bananas have a little bit of protein, so does oatmeal. Log it!

Count your fat!! I jot down my fat daily as it is the macronutrient that can make me gain weight the quickest! I want to be lean, but I also want to be healthy so that means I must have a balance of good fats in my diet to BURN the bad fat. You do need fat in your diet as it helps you burn fat off your abs :).

Invest in a food scale, THEN weigh your food in GRAMS not ounces. That means, you must follow the third point, read your labels.  It really is as different as eating like a king to eating more like a prince when you change that one thing. Every food does NOT weigh the same. I also learned this the hard way.

Don't eat carbs up to 3 hours before bed. If you do, stick with green veggies like spinach or green beans. Something light.

Take your vitamins! Vitamin D WITH calcium (to initiate the absorption of D) is recommended for all those who are weight-stagnant as Vitamin D is noted to promote fat loss/weight loss. So the opposite could possibly inhibit weight loss.

Drink water!! I've heard stories of people who bragged about not drinking more than a glass of water a day. The body is made up of 70% water. WTF!!! Try drinking a half gallon a day, then up it to a gallon and see what happens to your weight. Certainly, when those who were not accustomed to drinking this much started, they lost 15lbs in a month. To flush water out of your system, you MUST drink more water.


Weekly challenge: I think its time to challenge my faithful readers with a little exercise. Log your food for a week and calculate your calories per session if you can. Weigh yourself at the end of the week in the morning, naked. Be consistent with your meal portions and your meal timing. Eat 5 small meals with veggies and other varieties of food that keep you satiated. Keep protein in each of your meals and see what happens after a week. Drink half a gallon of water daily. I'd love to hear from some of you in the comments section as the week ends. Good luck!!

The Skin I'm In

"I find that people who choose to live in apathy of world events especially where race may be an issue do so because addressing such issues may force them to come to grips with decisions in their own life that they are still deeply troubled with."-Claude Wonderer

 
I couldn't go to sleep last night...and apparently everyone else couldn't either. And with all the craziness going on with political wars, talks of world wars, and the ongoing saga of racial wars coupled with those of us trying to trace our true heritage that isn't studied at ALL in textbooks-- all of the above were subjects for pillow talk. But the resounding questions that seem to plague or motivate all of us, across racial lines or divides is: Who am I? Who is the real me? Who is the me I want to be? Who is the me I want others to see me as? And when stories like Trayvon Martin come up, some of us ask ourselves, Could that have been me?

Black Beauty or not to be?
When I was young, I grew up in an all black school on a mostly black island. I didn't know what it was to feel like a minority. I saw myself everyday in the eyes of my classmate next to me, or on the skin of the hands of the teachers that taught me. I didn't know what racism was. It was 1991. I was 5. When you're that age, what you know is what you see...whether its on TV or in real life. But even then, even living on a black-majority island, I still felt like the "Other". In other words, not the ideal. I just knew that at that point in my life, I remember myself saying to my best friend Olivia that "I wish I was white". We were both looking in the mirror in the bathroom. Perhaps, staring back at ourselves trying to figure out if we both liked what we saw. I remembered wishing out loud that I was something I wasn't. There was this sadness in my mind somewhere that my black wasn't beautiful. I don't know how I arrived at that conclusion.

Culture Shock
In 1993, we moved to Kearney, Nebraska. Yes, you read right. I remember being excited but that quickly came to a halt as we were often overtly hated. The first summer there in Kearney, a rural city, in a 90% white state of Nebraska was a rude awakening. My sister, brother and I would go to the mall, to the park, on the playground, we couldn't help but notice we were ALWAYS the only black kids we saw in that town at least 95% of the time. I don't remember it really mattering until we were constantly reminded that we were different and different meant disliked. "Different" was being the "other" that wasn't represented in the town WAS a bad thing. It was the scary unknown thing.

Lessons on the Playground
When on the playground, on a Saturday in Harmon Park, I was playing on the swings with my younger brother while my sister went down the slide. There was another white girl and her mother around the jungle gym. She walked over to my sister, who was 10 at the time and said, "I can't go down the slide because I'm allergic to black people."  That was strike one. My sister told our parents and I don't remember any real strong reactions. We oftentimes shrugged alot of that bullshit off. But, I know, my sister (she has always been tough on the outside) was hurt by it. It was the first time someone had come up to her before her even speaking to tell her in so many words that she hated her. The worst part about it was, that someone had to teach that little girl that she was "allergic" not to just anybody, but "black" people.

Is this the 1950s?
I remember another time that first summer in Kearney, being so excited that my family and I were going down to get pizza from a local pizza restaurant. We came in and it always felt to me wherever I was (specifically in this particular state), that my skin was yelling out to everyone else: "Hey look at me, I'm BLACK!"  Without fail, wherever we would go or I would go, the stares became so commonplace that I couldn't help but be self-conscious. At this particular time, something else happened that I can never forget, even if I wanted to. The waitress approached us and seated us but not without her own uncertain glances at us, I felt awkward. We waited and waited and waited to be served until my father said something about the service. The waitress approached us and said "I'm sorry, we can't serve you." There were other people eating pizza, none of them were black. I was hungry and excited to get some! Why couldn't I just get some pizza! I know my dad fought to get us some, until we just got up and left. Even my father was most visibly upset by what just happened. And what could he do about it? It wasn't just the waitress or the manager at Godfather's Pizza, I would soon learn it was many others.

The "N" Word
As my days in elementary school would prove a little bit worse. After settling in, I started to grow into being more comfortable with the fact that my sister and brother were the only other black kids in an entire school of 300. That was, until a particular day at recess when I was minding my own business on the playground talking to my friends (who were all white kids and very nice! :). Unassuming and perhaps daydreaming about my elementary school crush playing tetherball, one of my friend's older brother, Casey walked up to me, looked me in eyes as I looked back at him and said "You're a nigger!"

 I just looked at him. Time stood still for the longest minute I can remember. I was so silently shocked by that moment and didn't expect it that I just looked back at him with quiet eyes. Even then, I empathized for him. That it wasn't me he hated. It was something and someone he didn't know but only had ideas about, was what he hated. And all i felt was HIS anger and my pain for being hated before I ever opened my mouth. He walked away, but we stared at each other for about 30 seconds. My friends, (who were all white) some of them I am still facebook friends with today, told me to "Tell on him! That was mean!" But I didn't. At my age, I knew that telling on him wouldn't change his mind or his feelings about black people. Someone had already done the damage of teaching him what he chose to believe. So, the day went on and during eating my lunch hours after recess, Casey came up to me and apologized...like he meant it. It was like he had a conscience. He'd just been taught wrong. I was 7 years old. I learned that silence can be golden. Reactions are everything! And I was starting to learn quickly that I was being defined by my color. Not by my reputation, but my color.  This would trail me into middle school where I was largely an outcast. And based on what some of the other white kids that would associate with me (when no one was watching) would say, "I think the reason why alot of people don't like you, is because you're black, Kristen." Or, "my parents said that if I ever dated a black guy, they would disown me." From 1993 to 2001, I lived in the mindset of expecting everyone to hate me, initially.

Never will Forget the Amadou's of this World
But the growth in myself is what I remember the most. I became the loudest voice for political change in the classroom (in middle school and high school) and for current events news stories like Amadou Diallo (in New York, 1999) where Diallo was an innocent man who was shot at 41 times, (while reaching into his pocket to show his ID) by officers in "plainclothes" while they were looking for a suspect in a rape case. A rape case where the suspect described "had similar features" to Mr.Diallo. To this day, I can't help but remember the majority of the other students who were 14 years old, disagreeing that the result of this act of violence didn't have anything to do with race. OR that Diallo "shouldn't have reached in his pocket!" I was outraged.

 Throughout my childhood, I couldn't help but feel this sense of niihilism or defeat. Like, things just wouldn't change and that I would always be a loser based on what the white majority thought of me. I was sentenced before I ever opened my mouth. And that feeling slowly started to numb me to the pain of it all. But out of that numbness and the loneliness of being me, "different", "that one black girl" and outcast I became strong. I started to lift weights to ease my feelings of inadequacy and became mentally AND physically strong at the same time. I started to really love me. I started not to care that I was an outcast and just expected it and accepted it. I wore hoodies and baggy clothes to make statements and prove points during high school and middle school; just like everyone is doing now for Trayvon. I learned how to be an activist without rallying...you can do it by being a living example by simply speaking up..consistently.

I AM.......
I am Trayvon Martin! I am Trayvon Martin because people have tried to murder me, with their words, with their actions, with their hate. The silence that is left behind him is a deafening one, that what "was" still "is" and it can't change by shrugging our shoulders and moving on. Regardless of what happens to Zimmerman, how do we prevent more Amadou Diallo's, Sean Bell's and Trayvon Martin's?  I think admitting is always the first step. Admitting means that everyone who is or isn't a minority must agree that there are one too many crimes that are STILL RACIALly motivated. Sweeping things under the rug or trying to brush off a national event like its nothing because you don't think it involves you  is cowardly and uninformed. It isn't until the same thing happens to a coward that they wake up. Why wait until then? History IS repeating.

Common Threads
In all of these stories of brutality of innocent black men, is the ignorance and hate that lies deep within people. And some of you might think, "Stop playing the race card." Or, "He shouldn't have been wearing a hoodie". And based on the accounts in this particular story and many others is the fact that it is utterly ridiculous and the plot line repetitive. The only way one can rid themselves of ignorance is to start hanging around all kinds of people they really have no idea about before letting the media be their guide to cultural and racial backgrounds. Another common thread is underexposure. People seem to be naturally afraid of what they dont' know. This is what I have to say, GET OVER IT and get out of that box you're living in.


The issue with ColorBLINDness; Ignorance 
As a person with a history of overt racism brought against me, I have a bone to pick with this new term "colorblind". First of all, how can you see period when you are blind?  When is blindness the answer to anything? Blind-- to not be able to see. The hard concept for so many is to simply grasp that people are different, that people are NOT colors in a crayon box, they are REAL human beings. And, I don't care what color the person is that is saying it, its an insult coming from anyone from any background. So stop comparing me to an inanimate object! Second, I would rather have some one see me as a black person, because its what I am-- than being blind to it! Because its almost like its too hard for them to accept me when they can see that I'm clearly different than them. My challenge is to accept that I'm different (most noticeably, first, on the outside) and it can't be changed. Do NOT be blind to it. Learn how to deal with it! In this order, notice, tolerate, accept. That is the process for actualizing that there is respect for people of different backgrounds you don't think you can relate to until you are exposed to them. I would rather know that someone couldn't accept me for who I actually am (a black person), than always pretending that I'm not what I clearly am (a black person). It does not define me, but dammit, that's part of who I am.

All in all, the brutality in this case and Lord, in the recent lynching of a black man, who was outside in a parking lot when southern white teenagers targeted him in a random act of violence to brutally attack, beat him and then run him over are just constant reminders that there is still work to do on minds and souls. You can work on your body all day long and have it look good on the outside, but where are your fat pockets or areas of question that need working on on the inside? What has ailed you? The skin I'm in has defined me, but I am not defined by it. And right now, I am the narrator. I am the person with the voice, a message, a story and many lessons about life, love, struggle, and possible solutions. I am the person with love and a smile who feels fabulous in loving the me I'm in because I'm finally becoming the me I dreamt of... in my beautiful brown skin. And I hope that if you aren't already there, you are getting much closer to a better, more happier you. And whatever background you are, or if you've had similar experiences to me growing up, that you are loved and will continue to be just the way you are. Real love starts and ends with acceptance.

Be blessed.

Is Dairy Poisonous to Your Health?

"The only thing that separates the strong from the weak, is their level of consciousness." -Dr. Jewell Pookrum

Today, after much tribulation throughout my life with the intake of milk and dairy products like ice cream, yogurt and pasteurized eggs, I must let my voice be heard on the very possible perils of this food choice. Most recently, after 3 weekends of having pizza and pork on that pizza (two things i NEVER eat) I noticed having significantly stiff and painful joints (specifically inflammation and swelling of middle fingers of each hand and both middle toes on each foot), fatigue after 8 hours or more of rest, cold hands and feet to the point of numbness and acne outbreaks. I couldn't help but notice this a day or two after eating these two products.  And, being the modern day progressive that I am, I can't help but believe that these signals in my body are NOT of a disease but more my body telling me that its rejecting these kinds of foods and I am possibly killing myself with each time I intake these things. As these symptoms are that of an auto-immune disease response. I believe that ANY if not ALL diseases can be reversed through natural foods, herbs, the right combining of the right foods and proper fluid intake.

After several days of removing these items (pork and cheese which I had for the first time in God knows how long) from my diet and staying on a 100% real food/raw food diet, my symptoms subside, slowly return and then subside again. I also believe emotional health and well-being are also toxic to the body so it is important that you maintain a level of consciousness where you are feeding your body healthy thoughts or "cleansing thoughts" that further eliminate toxins in the body and brain.

After reading and much researching on this issue I can't help but share the following ground-breaking pieces of evidence that are worth pondering the next time you have a glass of milk, cup of ice-cream or slice of pizza.

The following is provided by DetoxifyNow.com, (on the topic of Milk and Dairy) "Now we come to one of the most controversial and misunderstood items in the Western diet.

Orientals and Africans have traditionally avoided milk- except as a purgative. But in the Western world, people are told to drink milk everyday throughout their lives.

If we look at nature, we see that the young feed exclusively on milk until weaned away from it with other foods. The natural disappearance of the milk-digesting enzyme lactase from the human system upon reaching maturity proves that adult humans have no more nutritional need for milk than adult tigers or chimpanzees.

Though milk is a complete protein food when consumed raw, it also contains fat, which means that it combines poorly with any other food except itself. Yet adults today routinely 'wash down' other foods with cold milk. Milk curdles immediately upon entering the stomach, so if there is other food present the curds coagulate around other food particles and insulate them from exposure to gastric juices, delaying digestion long enough to permit the onset of putrefaction. Therefore, the first and foremost rule of milk consumption is, 'Drink it alone, or leave it alone.'

Today, milk is made even more indigestible by the universal practice of pasteurization, which destroys its natural enzymes and alters its delicate proteins.

Raw milk contains the active enzymes lactase and lipase, which permit raw milk to digest itself. Pasteurized milk, which is devitalized of lactase and other active enzymes, simply can not be properly digested by adult stomachs, and even infants have trouble with it, as evidenced by colic, rashes, respiratory ailments, gas and other common ailments of bottle-fed babies. The lack of enzymes and alteration of vital proteins also renders the calcium and other mineral elements in milk largely unassailable.

During the 1930's, Dr. Francis M. Pottenger conducted a 10-year study on the relative effects of pasteurized and raw milk diets on 900 cats. One group received nothing but raw whole milk, while the other was fed nothing but pasteurized whole milk from the same source.

The raw milk group thrived, remaining healthy, active and alert throughout their lives, but the group fed on pasteurized milk soon became listless, confused and highly vulnerable to a host of chronic degenerative ailments normally associated with humans, including heart disease, kidney failure, thyroid dysfunction, respiratory ailments, loss of teeth, brittle bones, liver inflammation, etc.

But what caught Dr. Pottenger's attention most was what happened to the second and third generations.

The first offspring of the pasteurized milk group were all born with poor teeth and small, weak bones- a clear cut sign of calcium deficiency, which indicated lack of calcium absorption from pasteurized milk.

The offspring of the raw milk group remained as healthy as their parents.

Many of the kittens in third generation of the pasteurized group were stillborn, while those that survived were all sterile and unable to reproduce.

The experiment had to end there because there was no fourth generation of cats fed on pasteurized milk, although the raw milk group continued to breed and thrive indefinitely.

If that is insufficient proof of the ill effects of pasteurized milk, take note of the fact even that newborn calves fed on pasteurized milk taken from their own mother cows usually die within six months, a fact which the commercial dairy industry is loathe to admit.

Despite such scientific evidence in favor of raw milk and against pasteurized milk, and despite the fact that until the early twentieth century the human species thrived on raw milk, it is actually illegal to sell raw milk to consumers in all but a few states in America today.

It is far more profitable to the dairy industry to pasteurize milk to extend its shelf-life, though such denatured milk does nothing whatsoever to extend human life.

Furthermore, pasteurization renders milk from sick cows in unsanitary dairies relatively 'harmless' by killing some, but not all, dangerous germs, and this too cuts costs for the dairy industry.

It required only three generations for Dr. Pottenger's pasteurized milk fed cats to become sterile and enfeebled. That's about how many generations of Americans and Europeans have fed on pasteurized milk. Today, infertility has become a major problem for your American couples, while calcium deficiency has become so rampant that over 90 percent of all American children suffer chronic tooth decay.

To make things worse, milk is now routinely 'homogenized' to prevent the cream from separating from the milk. This involves the fragmentation and pulverization of the fat molecules to the point that they will not separate from the rest of the milk. But it also permits there tiny fragments of milk fat to easily pass through the villa of the small intestine, greatly increasing the amount of denatured fat and cholesterol absorbed by the body. In fact, you absorb more milk-fat from homogenized milk than you do from pure cream!

Women worried about osteoporosis should take note of these facts about pasteurized milk products. That such denatured milk does not deliver sufficient calcium to prevent this condition is abundantly evident from the fact that American women, who consume great quantities of pasteurized milk products, suffer the world's highest incidence of osteoporosis.

Raw cabbage, for example, supplies far more available calcium than any quantity of pasteurized milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, or any other denatured dairy product.

Recent studies at the Human Research Centre in Grand Folks, North Dakota, indicates that the element boron is also an essential factor in absorbing calcium from food and utilizing it to build bones.

Even more noteworthy, the level of estrogen in the blood of women given sufficient quantities of boron more than doubled, eliminating the need for estrogen replacement therapy, which is a common stopgap measure against osteoporosis in the West. And where do we find boron? In fresh fruits and vegetables, especially apples, pears, grapes, nuts, cabbage, and other leafy vegetables, where we also find calcium. Nature has already provided abundant sources of all the vital nutrients we need in synergetic form, but man insists on cooking and processing them to death, and then wonders why his diet doesn't 'work'.

Adults should seriously reconsider milk as a constitute of their daily diets, unless they are able to obtain raw certified milk, which is an excellent food.

To stuff children with pasteurized milk in order to make them grow 'strong and healthy' is sheer folly, because they simply cannot assimilate the nutrients.

Indeed men, women, and children alike should eliminate all pasteurized dairy products from their diets, for these denatured dairy products only gum up the intestines with layer upon layer of slimy sludge that interferes with the absorption of organic nutrients."

The solution: Bananas and spinach are fabulous sources of calcium. Do NOT cook either of these items. The nutrients are most helpful to you when the food is not dead food. Protein is the building block of LIFE, yes life. So food that has life is the most important to get in your diet!! Most appropriately veggies!! Green ones!!! Then fruits and spices such as cinnamon, ginger, curry, Miso, mustard and Sea salt. Great protein choices are whey protein powder (minimally processed), almonds, chestnuts, millet, tofu, mushrooms, spirulina.

Milk/dairy-free alternatives: Almond milk, almond ice cream and probiotics that would typically be found in yogurt can be found in select teas. Soy milk I would NOT recommend just based on how our culture is oversaturated with soy and not all natural soy, genetically modified (GMO)-- which means just that--reproduced by scientists in large amounts. It is said that 90% of the world's soy is GMO. Soy has natural properties that are estrogenic. I stay away from soy as often as possible. Men, you don't need alot of soy as it would interfere with your testosterone. Ladies, you don't need to overdo it either as a condition known as estrogen-dominance is steadily climbing with each bite you take of anything processed. As numerous items contain this chemical: soy lecithin. READ YOUR LABELS!! Too much of anything is a bad thing!!!

I still eat chicken, but i spice it with lots of curry to further an alkalizing effect. I don't eat grains as I feel more easily digested without them. I do sweet potatoes and alot of acorn squash, spinach, asparagus and try to drink iced tea with every meal as well as water.

To read further information on this topic visit:
http://www.detoxifynow.com/Food_diet.html (discusses how to appropriately pair your food in each meal)

Youtube:: Dr. Jewel Pookrum Dis-Ease parts 1 - 7 (very enlightening on taking your body to the next level of health)

Kaizen Conscious

Introducing my Business Partner, Frank!

When I first met Frank, I thought he was off the friggin chain! I could always see him across the gym doing his unique workouts, in matching Nike outfits, where he was the only man that consistently incorporated plyometrics into every workout. He stood out. He wasn't always trying to lift heavy ass weights by the weight racks and still was impressively jacked. As he is predominantly an ectomorph, I was impressed by Frank's muscle size and technique and that he had pushed through his genetics to gain mass through much intensive training. He still had size while working multiple body parts through circuits, sets and plyometric intervals. I couldn't help but notice that the former college track runner was on that fitness elite level as I was.


One day, as destiny would have it in the fitness world, I bumped into Frank while doing similar workouts. In getting to know him, I fed off of his positive energy, focused demeanor and energetic attitude. He was the first person I'd met in a long time that had just as much energy as I have. It rejuvenated me and my workouts. Needless to say, we became gym besties and decided to join forces in fitness training and nutrition counseling after sharing our blunders, successes, epiphanies, competition and fitness modeling dreams. We lamented about simplistic training mentalities that would force our clients to eat more not less, to work out harder, not longer and to do less cardio than overcompensating when they hadn't eaten enough to do another cardio!  We even planned on working towards doing more competitions as cohorts. In the verbal exchanges and workouts where we competed and challenged each other, I began to see Frank's value. Through vision and much planning, I wanted to take my business sense to another level and realized that I no longer wanted to do it alone.  

After learning that Frank had started his own training business, Kaizen Fitness Training, starting with two heavy bags and a garage several years ago, he built up to attaining 12 clients while holding down a full time job. I couldn't help but be even more impressed. That, not only did he have the know how, he had more experience than me. He showed me how to box and continues to do so as he was an MMA fighter and has been fighting since he was 12. He was a powerlifter in his early 20s and now an aspiring fitness model and training entrepreneur in his latter 20s. Throughout these years, his passion for fitness has attracted several clients with the posting of one training video.  Frank can proudly say, that whenever a prospective client has been interested they have ALWAYS signed up. I thought, I want that person on my team!!

I knew that it wasn't just business sense I wanted in a partner, I wanted to join forces with someone who had heart, not just knowledge, but understanding and a noticeable passion to constantly be bettering themselves from the inside out. I had found my partner. Always live by example, you never know who is watching.

Our company, Kaizen Fitness Training, was appropriately named "Kaizen", a Japanese word meaning continuous improvement in all areas in a given industry. In this case, to be "Kaizen conscious" will be used to describe the infinite improvement of one from the mental to the physical realms of training. Frank and I both believe that physical fitness is just a part of being healthy. You must not neglect your spiritual, mental and emotional health in order to truly be balanced. Most exercises a person performs and how well they perform them are typically based on whether the individual thinks that they CAN do it to begin with.

In Kaizen Fitness Training, our clients will experience workouts that incorporate basic kickboxing and boxing techniques intertwined with strength training/plyometric techniques for optimal results. We are one of the few training companies in the DC, Maryland and Virginia areas that combines these three forms of fitness.



Be enlightened. Come take the Kaizen challenge and see how balanced and in harmony your mind, body and soul become!

"With Kaizen there is no final destination, growth is a never ending process that happens every day. Each day we all move forward or backward, there is no neutral or standing still. Which way do you want to go?" -Frank B. and Kristen T.

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Stay tuned for videos, virtual training sessions, in-person training sessions, updated pictures of our team, client stories/references, more blogs, etc. Contact us @ trainkaizen.com

Please check out our Facebook Kaizen Fitness Training (AND Like please!!):

Kaizen Fitness Training: http://www.facebook.com/pages/KAIZEN-FITNESS-TRAINING/108058192558332?ref=tn_tnmn

Official Kaizen Fitness Training Website: (for pricing, packages and more information to come and train with us!)

http://www.trainkaizen.com/

Kristened Nutrition Counseling: (most specifically for nutrition counseling)

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=241624892587772&id=100003497134767&notif_t=share_comment#!/profile.php?id=100003497134767

The More Active You Are, The More Free Your Mind Is

"You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can't have it."
--Robert Anthony

From my teenage years I battled with a healthy body image. Looking around at my classmates and family members, I always felt that I was heavier than my peers. It wasn't until I ran the mile as a fitness assessment in high school clocking in at 11:50 that I faced the reality that I was not physically fit. I was so tired, winded and out of breath when half of that mile was spent walking the track. At 15, I realized I needed a change. After complaining about my weight, my mother reminded me that all I needed to do was lace up my tennis shoes and hit the pavement--that being fit doesn't always require a gym membership. From that day forward I made a promise to myself to live a healthy lifestyle where daily activity became a necessity. I made running after school a daily habit. First starting at 1/2 a mile everyday. Within a year, I had progressed to running 3 miles without resting. Since then and throughout college I continued to run, bike, swim (i taught myself), lift weights, and completed a 3- week triathlon in two weeks on top of doing my own workout. I am proud to say my mile time is now 7:13! I didn't have a trainer, a team, a coach or fitness mentor. Just the love of runner's high, the passion for competing against my own personal best and the power of knowing that you CAN do anything you think you CAN do. After competing in my first and second figure shows consecutively in June and July (2010) it became clear to me in my personal struggles and setbacks that inner strength and mental health are just as essential if not more, than being physically fit.


Several years ago, I resigned from a position in Corporate America. I realized how stress in that position had been affecting my life, my goals, attitude, my body and was hindering my dreams. I had been enrolled in the National Personal Training Institute for a year of intensive lectures and on-the-floor gym training. Taking a leap of faith, I had finally realized how training and fitness were the only positive constants in my life and decided to pursue it as my "day job". I began independently training and offering nutrition advice in January 2010, then pursued another dream of competing in a figure competition. My first competition coach, R.H. Williams,  most recently reminded me, after placing 3rd in my first show: "You will always be your greatest competitor." That statement has become an honest reminder that being fit in all areas: mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually can positively or negatively affect your body as well as your life. With that said, I would like to encourage and motivate all of my clients that they can do anything they THINK they can do and then some. Workouts should be challenging to the body and therapeutic to the mind. With each client session it is my hope to bring that to the table; challenging workouts paired with therapy of the mind.
 You can do anything, you think you can, especially with someone else who thinks you can!



The more active you are, the more free your mind is. -Kristened Nutrition & Training




Contact Kristened @ kristenjtucker@yahoo.com OR add my facebook page: Kristened Nutritional Counseling for more info!

Steady State vs. HIIT Training; You Only Need One Cardio!!!

"For every hour that you sit, you lose 15 minutes off of your life."

Introduction
I will start by saying that any physical activity that raises your heart rate is good for you. Period. The more advanced one gets, the more one must intensify and switch up their workouts to continue to be challenged in order to see results. The less active you are, you have it a little bit easier when starting out doing any physical activity that your body is not used to because you may always see changes in your "beginner" stage, based simply on the fact that you are not conditioned. As of late, the Institute of Medicine, as a call to the general public, "increased its recommendations from 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most days of the week to 60 minutes of exercise EVERY day." I couldn't agree more.

The Buzz About HIIT Training
"It's like lighting a match to a fat-burning furnace...!!!"

In the last two months, there's been a noticeable buzz about HIIT training vs. steady-state cardio in popular magazines like Oxygen, Fitness Rx, Muscle and Fitness Hers and  GNC's, Muscle Body that interval training and/or HIIT training vs. steady state cardio, have been hot topics for debate. In my own experience, steady-state cardio had worked slowly over time, which makes sense. In doing steady-state cardio which is a low-intensity cardio activity such as walking, jogging, ellipticaling, cycling or swimming and more you are at one steady constant pace. You do not typically vary this pace, you do this activity at your moderately intense speed. Unlike our counterpart HIIT also known as High Intensity Interval Training, appropriately named for its bouts of "work periods" and "rest periods" or recovery periods. HIIT is said to have an "afterburn effect", (where you continue to burn calories after you've performed the exercise) and is more of a power exercise. This fact alone shows that HIGH intensity interval training is the opposite of LOW intensity steady-state cardio. Being that, it will require more energy to perform.

What is HIIT?
According to HIITtraining.net , "HIIT is the quickest way to burn fat and gain muscle simultaneously. How does HIIT work? HIIT optimizes your workout time by utilizing a series of short, high-intensity intervals, followed up by longer, low-intensity intervals. The reason HIIT is so successful is that HIIT’s repeated intervals constantly keeps your body confused. Your body is never given a chance to “plateau” or get used to one setting, something that is common with other forms of cardio. Due to the nature of HIIT, it is typical to have workouts that are only 20 minutes or less and still burn the same amount of calories as an hour of regular exercising. The best part of HIIT is that it boosts your metabolism and will continue to burn hundreds of calories hours after you are done exercising! HIIT is all about changing it up and fighting the ever looming “plateau effect”, and if used properly, HIIT is one of the best ways to reach your fitness goals."

I couldn't have explained that better myself. I would say its a rather optimistic summary on HIIT training as it only takes into account those of us trying to lose weight and not the group that is trying to keep or build more muscle than what they have.  The loophole is that if done too intensely or on not enough calories HIIT can have the effect of you burning off your lean mass and/or muscles. So, everything including cardio MUST be tailored to fit your body type and your specific fitness/nutrition goals.

On the other hand, Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" e-book that I can accurately say is a bodybuilding Bible, authorizes that "One beneficial aspect of HIIT that most trainers forget to mention is that HIIT may actually suppress your appetite, while steady state cardio might increase appetite. However, in the study performed (between an Endurance Training group and a HIIT training group in Tom Venuto's article), the lack of the monitoring of nutrition can both groups can skew the results where both forms of cardio in both studied groups, tie. If energy intake were not controlled, then some of the greater fat loss in the HIIT group could be due to lowered caloric intake.

"Last but not least, I’d like to highlight the words of the researchers themselves in the conclusion of the paper, which confirms the effectiveness of HIIT, but also helps put it in perspective a bit:

For a given level of energy expenditure, a high intensity training program induces a greater loss of subcutaneous fat compared with a training program of moderate intensity.”  

(For those of you that don't know, subcutaneous fat is the fat right underneath your skin tissue.)

“It is obvious that high intensity exercise cannot be prescribed for individuals at risk for health problems or for obese people who are not used to exercise. In these cases, the most prudent course remains a low intensity exercise program with a progressive increase in duration and frequency of sessions.” (Venuto)

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"If one cardio isn't enough in  a day, you didn't do the first one right!!"

My Experience
 

Many bodybuilders swear by low-intensity cardio training when getting ready for shows because of how low-intensity exercise primarily utilizes your fat stores as energy, hence, it's slow and long characteristic. The theory is, in order for bodybuilders to preserve their muscle while still shredding fat with minimal muscle loss, slow and steady cardio wins the race without burning off much muscle.  However, once again, being a guinea pig to both forms of cardio and being in the minority for the body type that I am; female mesomorph, both have worked but HIIT has worked better.

For these last two years, I swore by steady-state cardio twice a day. Sometimes jogging up to 9 miles in a day and seeing little difference. I felt great but I didn't see the kind of immediate results one would think they would get after running that distance. I persevered and eventually was burnt out by the amount of time spent doing countless hours of cardio. I was over it AND so was my body as I began to see minimal results unless I was strict with my nutrition.

However, after years of doing slow and steady cardio on a full or empty stomach I have only noticed significantly increased gains of weight loss or mass when I counted my calories. I've been doing this form of cardio since I was 15 and now, almost 26 I clearly needed a change. Perhaps, changing my cardio to almost anything else would have worked. However, being an advanced conditioned "elite athlete", I must do difficult workouts to get shredded. So far, HIIT has been the answer. Just after a few days of doing it, fat off my abs started to melt. I could feel them coming through as I sprinted through my work intervals. Some days I had to eat extra carbs to refuel for my training workout-- which I have NEVER had to do in my low-intensity cardio days.  I've never felt like I was burning fat so effectively until I tried HIIT training to the point that I couldn't do it everyday like I wanted because I was simply burning too much too fast! Almost to the point where I was burning off my leg muscles and trust, for me, that is HARD to do!

The Loophole
Today I jogged outside for 50 minutes. It was harder than expected, there were some hills and I had burnt out some of my carb stores the night before doing HIIT cardio. So it was no surprise that jogging felt like I was climbing Mt. Everest at every bump in the road! I jogged it at a steady rate on an empty stomach and after taking a month break of not jogging at a steady state for awhile, to then come back to it today, the results afterwards were also noticeable. However, doing too much anything is typically not a good thing. You could burn out or easily overtrain. Bottom line is, its always important to switch it up! Depending on your body type (it WILL be an ongoing theme) HIIT training will be fabulous for the thicker individual who has fat they want to get rid of and are pressed for time and are NOT looking to gain weight for any bodytype.   If you are in a bodybuilding mode and are an ectomorph or ecto-meso, that is trying to build muscle you must be careful with the amount of HIIT you do, or at all, if you are a hard-gainer because it is easy for you to lose weight and resist building muscle. If you do it, you better eat enough!!!


Gone are the days of two-a-day cardio sessions. I've seen more of my muscles shine through the fat on ONE hard cardio session than two low-intensity ones. Either way, diet, intensity and heart rate, ALWAYS play a significant role in losing or gaining weight.

HIIT Training example:

• 1 minute walk
• 1 minute jog
• 1 minute sprint (then repeat for 20-40 mins max)

Steady State Cardio example:

• 30 minutes on the elliptical at a steady speed of 90 strides a minute

On a Kristened note: Carbs are essential for energy on your HIIT cardio days so make sure you get enough!

More to come in my next blog on Why HIIT is so effective and further details regarding this training technique.


Sources:
Venuto, Tom. "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle."

Web link:
www.HIITtraining.net
http://www.hiittraining.net/

Website:
http://worldfitnessnetwork.com
http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/steady-state-cardio-5-x-more-effective-than-hiit/

Textbook:
Nix, Staci. "Williams' Basic Nutrition and Diet Therapy". St.Louis, Missouri. Mosby, Inc.2009.

The Big Picture: Your Body Blueprint

"If you don't have your diet down, don't waste time going to the gym."


Jay Cutler said it and guess what, he's right!!! I will make sure this is where you find the answers to the real tips no one is telling you! I will bullshit you not!


The most gains I have ever seen have been when I was on my balanced diet AND doing the damn thing at the gym.  Some studies argue that at least 70-90% of how you look is based on your diet and training is only 10-30% impacting on your body.  Yup! If you thought that going to the gym is the only thing you should do, think again!!! Your body WILL get used to the gym if you are one of those people who just try to "work it off" after cheating.


Your Body Blueprint
To piggyback off of last week's blog on your physique/somatotype (ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph), the answer to getting and maintaining your ideal physique is largely based on your breakdown of macronutrients; carbs, protein and fat, usually, in that order. For example, bodybuilders are recommended to be on a diet that is comprised of 50% carb, 30% protein and 20% fat. These are breakdowns I only wish someone had informed me on years ago. Which is exactly why I'm telling you. Tom Venuto, author of Feed the Muscle, Burn the Fat, has appropriately named this diet the "Baseline Diet". This is the normal recommended balanced diet for anyone of any body type that is moderately active.You can do as many push ups as you want in a day, but if you are an advanced athlete that does NOT have this knowledge I'm not sure how far, if anywhere at all, what you do in the gym will get you.  You see because the macronutrient breakdown is your blueprint to looking hard, soft, or in-between...whatever your goal is.  And because everyone's body is different and everyone has different specific goals the same exact macronutrient breakdown won't work for everyone. This is exactly why it is just that, a "baseline". So you can begin to customize/alter your macronutrients for yourself to see what works.


After struggling myself for a year or so, in limbo, I tried to figure out what to do next to take my body to the next level. I had hit a wall where I was seeing gains very slowly until I decided to take a friend's advice to change up my macronutrient breakdown--one that would be conducive for my body type; mesomorph. Within a week of doing my usual 5 meals a day, timed, with carbs, protein and fat in each meal and sometimes eating oatmeal at night two hours before bed but reaching my carb macronutrient count I saw fabulous gains within one week.  Areas tightened up that I had worked on vigorously in the gym morphed almost overnight it seemed. I had been starving myself on low carb diet that I had made my lifestyle. This put me in starvation mode.  Folks, you really can't do the same thing over and over again. Even your macronutrient count which I will, for now, call your body blueprint MUST be altered. It will stop working. Steady state cardio WILL stop working. Switch it up!!


Fiber: A Miracle Nutrient
I was so elated when I finally figured it out. I was eating more real food and more carbs and getting smaller. I was taking the advice that carbs are NOT bad, (after realizing I wasn't as 'carb-sensitive' as I had thought) if you eat them right and know which ones to eat AND expel them right (HIIT training :) for optimal results.


I have never felt soo good eating soo much fiber. It is said to boost metabolism, make you feel fuller which in turn makes you eat less. I actually don't feel hungry after eating my meals when I have damn near every meal with at least 5 grams of fiber! Women typically need around 25 and men 30 grams. Your body needs this nutrient or you may always be hungry! Ever heard of the term "Net carbs"? For example, if you are trying to reach a macronutrient count of 150 grams of carbs per day and 30 grams of those carbs are fiber you can take:


150-30 = 120 grams of carbs that will stay with you until burnt off. The 120 grams of carbs are your NET carbs. The other 30 that were fiber will run straight through you so its like you don't have to count them because they were disposable carbs just from digestion. Fabulous picture huh?? This is important to know if you are on a diet and you have specific grams you need to reach for your body blueprint where you can decide if you want some leeway in undercutting the grams if you know you have NOT expelled that extra energy.


How to figure out Your Macronutrient Breakdown
Alright, here's the real talk to figure out all this mumbo jumbo trainer jargon. In this month's issue of Muscle and Body Magazine (that GNC magazine) shared this important info with its readers on macronutrient breakdown.


For example, if you are a female on a 1500 calorie diet going by the "baseline diet" (50,30, 20) and you know that's the amount of calories it takes for you to lose weight (when trying to lose specific pounds per week, to lose one its suggested -500 calories from your regular intake) you then multiply:
 1500 x .5 = 750 calories of carbs for the day
750 / 4 = 187.5 grams of carbs - You divide by 4 because 4 is the "fuel factor" for carbs


Next we will figure out grams of protein:
1500 x .3 = 450 calories of protein for the day
450 / 4 = 112.5 grams of protein for the day  - 4 is also the fuel factor for protein. The amount of energy it takes to burn off carbs is the same amount of energy it takes to burn off protein. However, your body uses carbs as its first source. So if you are trying to maintain or build muscle it is important you have sufficient carbs to preserve the muscle and be able to build new muscle with sufficient carbs! I learned this the hard way....of course!!


Lastly, grams of fat:
1500 x .2 = 300
300 / 9 = 33 grams of fat - You will notice here that the fuel factor for fat is 9. This is because fat takes the longest to burn which is why steady state cardio is soo popular when trying to lower bodyfat while still preserving muscle. The problem with that is I know few people who like to be on the treadmill for hours in a day. (I will cover that more in-depth on Thursday.) This is why it is important to keep your fat low. Don't ever exclude it just keep it low.  Saturated fat is a big no-no as it tends to have the effect of being that gross sticky fat that clings to you. It is the hardest to burn off and is also said to be a fat that stays with you "permanently" after a certain point of eating so much of it. Your body can't catch up with burning it off as soon as you put more of it in your mouth. If you take nothing from this at all, check your saturated fat intake. I try to keep mine as close to 0 as possible with the exception of egg yolks. Egg yolks are the only good trans fat, yes i did say trans, that has the ability to burn bad fat. Its also known as CLA, (Conjugated linoleic acid- egg yolk fat) at your local vitamin or food stores in the supplement aisle. It is one of the few supplements I have actually seen a noticeable effect in decreasing the fat off of my abs. It is worth the buy!! I digress....


Recap: The Macronutrient Factors
Step 1: Calories for the day multiplied by  percentage of carbs/protein (in your macronutrient breakdown) = total carb and/or protein calories for the day


Step 2: Total carb/protein calories for the day divided by 4 (fuel factor) = total grams of protein or carbs to reach for the day


Step 3: Calories for the day X percentage of fat = total fat calories for the day /  9 (fuel factor for fat) = grams of fat for the day


Dare you to try out your macronutrient breakdown for a week on the 'baseline diet' and see what happens!


Kristened Results:
I recommend when doing your carbs start off with the first two meals with starchier carbs like oatmeal, oat bran or cream of wheat, the next two servings to be fibrous carbs; like beans and lentils and the last one or two servings closer to bedtime, green veggies.


Fat in your starchy carbs should be taken into account. Good fats like almonds, walnuts, olive oil, flaxseed should be used as main fatty items.


Protein should always be lean; extra lean turkey, extra lean beef, fish, chicken breasts and egg whites with the exception of a yolk or two.




"More than just a workout or diet...its a lifestyle." -Kristened


Don't take my word for it. READ!!!!!!!


Reading Sources/ E-Books:
Venuto, Tom. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. 
Geary, Michael. The Truth About Abs

The Major Detail Left Out in Most Diets; Your Somatotype

"Applied knowledge is power."

Everyone knows the statement, "Knowledge is Power," but if that were true, you would have power and never know Why? There is little power in knowing by itself. The true power lies in what you DO with your knowledge. You could know everything in the world and it not make a difference, if all you do with it, is know. Its called TRIVIA!!!

The Battle of Wanting but not Knowing
Throughout my lifelong fitness and dieting journey, (which spans at least 11 years) I knew that I wanted to be active, feel good, see some results and feel like I was doing something to impact my body and, at the very least, maintain my weight. In college, I got into a routine of doing a full-body strength workout 3 days a week after mastering steady state cardio sessions for 45 minutes to an hour a day. Back then, I was content and  comfortable with doing the same strength training workouts Monday, Wednesday and Friday to continue to fit into the same size jeans. That was reward enough after eating 3 times a day at buffet-style dining halls with cookies, pecan pie, frozen yogurt, cookies and cream pies calling my name daily.  I got away with eating dessert 4 nights a week and maintaining my jean size. It wasn't until my senior year that I had epiphany after epiphany of taking my health to a different level. I would take 2 workout classes a day on top of doing my own daily regimen.  I did get tighter but somewhere along the line thought that I was not getting enough results for the amount of work being put in. I'd always been one to keep my carbs moderately low.  There were days where I would have oatmeal, two slices of bread and a green salad and that was my total intake of carbs after doing 3 vigorous cardio and/or 1 strength training sessions in one day. I would protein it up! I liked feeling satisfied and protein hardly left me feeling hungry. Carbs however, would send me back to the kitchen within 45 minutes. So, I followed my gut...literally.

Without knowing much about foods and their effects besides carbs making me softer, hungrier or fatter, I chose protein as clear winner in making me harder and tighter. I didn't have limits.  So although, I was leaning out, I still maintained my size, weight and circumference of my muscles. I was simply changing my body composition with the mass that was not reducing.  People would tell me I'd dropped weight when I gained 10lbs!!! Do you know how frustrating that is?!! To eat low carbs, fighting the temptation to eat more and not lose weight on the scale from the tortured effort? I didn't realize that it all had to do with my body type or somatotype. I'm a mesomorphic type and when trying to lose weight, protein isn't always my bff if I'm NOT trying to gain size. Not knowing this one detail has derailed me from getting onstage, from further defining my physique to my ideal AND to slaving away pointlessly starving on super low-carbs trying to get there. Its taken me a year and a half to utilize this knowledge where I am finally gradually getting the results I want.

Needless to say, knowing your somatotype is important to know it if you are on a journey of dieting and fitness to achieve maximum results!

The Somatotypes:
(Courtesy of Muscleandstrength.com)
There are three different body types your physique falls under, this is also known as your Somatotype. They are the following:

Ectomorph
An ectomorph is a typical skinny guy. Ecto’s have a light build with small joints and lean muscle. Usually ectomorph’s have long thin limbs with stringy muscles. Shoulders tend to be thin with little width.

Typical traits of an ectomorph: Small “delicate” frame and bone structure Classic “hardgainer” Flat chest Small shoulders Thin Lean muscle mass Finds it hard to gain weight Fast metabolism

Ectomorphs find it very hard to gain weight. They have a fast metabolism which burns up calories very quickly. Ecto’s need a huge amount of calories in order to gain weight. Workouts should be short and intense focusing on big muscle groups. Supplements are definitely recommended. Ectomorphs should eat before bed to prevent muscle catabolism during the night. Generally, ectomorphs can lose fat very easily which makes cutting back to lean muscle easier for them. I would recommend more weight training and less cardio especially when trying to gain muscle.

Mesomorph

A mesomorph has a large bone structure, large muscles and a naturally athletic physique. Mesomorphs are the best body type for bodybuilding. They find it quite easy to gain and lose weight. They are naturally strong which is the perfect platform for building muscle.

Typical traits on a Mesomorph: Athletic Hard body with well defined muscles Rectangular shaped body Strong Gains muscle easily Gains fat more easily than ectomorphs

The mesomorph body type responds the best to weight training. Gains are usually seen very quickly, especially for beginners. The downside to mesomorphs is they gain fat more easily than ectomorphs. This means they must watch their calorie intake. Usually a combination of weight training and cardio works best for mesomorphs. I would caution that for this physique to be very cautious about your intake as if you are taking in alot of protein your muscle size will get bigger as you get leaner. If you are trying to get leaner and don't mind losing some size, limit your protein. I can't stress this enough, as I am a female mesomorph. Oftentimes we are trained like we are ectomorphs and this is simply not the case for those of us interested in decreasing our upper and lower body portions for further symmetry. If you know you are one to lose inches before pounds you may be a contestant to being a mesomorph (or endomorph) so watch your protein intake! Make sure as a baseline that your grams of protein match your ideal weight. If you are currently 145 and are trying to get to 125 only take in, at most, 125 grams of protein or less. Play around with that number as anyone can be a mixture of these body types (i.e. meso- ecto, meso-endo, ecto-meso). Use the knowledge gained from here to match which shape is most predominant for you.

Endomorph
The endomorph body type is solid and generally soft. Endomorphs gain fat very easily. Endo’s are usually of a shorter build with thick arms and legs. Muscles are strong, especially the upper legs. Endomorphs find they are naturally strong in leg exercises like the squat. I may be a slight mixture; meso-endo based on this description. As my densest area are my upper legs, but still have the physique and functions of a "true" mesomorph. However, most of my characteristics most fully match the Mesomorph. Make sure when trying to figure out your own type and possible combos so that your workouts and diet are tailored to your specific physique.

Typical traits of an Endomorph: Soft and round body Gains muscle and fat very easily Is generally short and “stocky” Round physique Finds it hard to lose fat Slow metabolism

When it comes to training endomorphs find it very easy to gain weight. Unfortunately, a large portion of this weight is fat not muscle. To keep fat gain to a minimum, endomorphs must always train cardio as well as weights. Usually supplements may not be needed as long as the person has a high protein intake in their diet. For this body type, cardio is of the utmost importance as it helps to significantly impact weight when the correct forms of cardio are done periodically and consistently.

I would strongly suggest HIIT cardio for this somatotype. For example, cardio sessions that are a one-minute sprint, one-minute jog and one-minute walk then repeat. This works wonders for blasting fat when done at a challenging level and prolonged duration; 30 - 45 minutes a session. HIIT training sessions don't work like steady state cardio where the calories you burn on the treadmill are ONLY burnt on the treadmill. HIIT on the other hand has an "after burn effect". Where your body is still reacting as if its still working on cardio. I don't know about you, but I want 2 for the price of 1!!!

A combination of Body Types
These body types aren’t set in stone. In fact, most people  have a combination of two body types. These combinations are either ectomorph/mesomorph or mesomorph/endomorph. It is not uncommon to find a pure mesomorph that gains weight like an endomorph for example. To know for sure, go through the list provided or do your own research and check off which characteristics your physique mostly matches.  Then, do further research on what kind of cardio and strength training you should do and for how long. There are also alot of legitimate diet portions recommended for each type that DO work if you track your macronutrients (intake of carbs, protein and fat). If calculated correctly, for your most dominant body type you will definitely see results within days if you are an active individual that works out consistently.

Why is this Important to Know AND Apply?
After many years of doing different diets and then making a low-carb diet more my lifestyle I realized along the way that I didn't need to starve myself of carbs AND then, knowing the right ones to eat! Save yourself the time and start customizing to learn what diets and workout plans are most effective for you. You don't need to ever starve to get weight loss results. Have you heard the term "starvation mode"? If you are ever lacking in one macronutrient (your carbs, protein and fat) your body has a tendency to hold onto weight as an emergency precaution to keep it functioning correctly. If you are constantly depriving yourself of adequate nutrients, your body holding onto weight or gaining it, may be the result. Why not customize your diet and fitness plan to be satisfied with the way your body was meant to look AND feel?



For up-to-date images and/or further information go to:
Link: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html

muscleandstrength.com
OR
Muscle & Strength Magazine
muscleandstrength.com


Follow up blog to come; "HIIT cardio vs. steady state, Which One Is the Best for You?"