Mondays Are For Goal Setting - Check Yourself

Just Eat This: 5 Rules for a Healthy Diet

"Can't you just tell me exactly what I'm supposed to eat?" is a question I'm often asked. Today, we'll look at the answer that, incidentally, is "no." It's a good thing that there isn't one perfect diet because we don't all like the same foods. The world would be a pretty boring place if we did. It also means that you have many choices when it comes to eating healthy, so why is it so hard?

Eating well, for most of us, requires eliminating junk from our diets. Therefore, it's easier to tell you what not to eat. But based on the questions I receive, that's leaving you too much leeway. Since I can't tell each of you exactly what you individually should eat, let's have a look at what I eat, why I eat this way, and how you can alter my diet to suit your personality and lifestyle.

There are a few rules to achieving a healthy diet. These will give you a far greater understanding of why I do what I do. So let's look at them first.

RULE1: WE SHOULD NOT ALL EAT THE SAME DIET.
Humans are all different, even if it's only slightly. So when it comes to diet we cannot expect that foods will all work exactly the same for us. This is in contrast to what the myriad of diet books you can choose from will tell you. Most of those want us to think that there's only one way—theirs, incidentally—to transform and keep your body healthy. Of course, if this were true there'd only be one book to buy. So, just the fact that there have been hundreds of best-selling diet books is the best argument that there are many different healthy ways to eat.

There are many other scientific reasons for this as well. Some are proven, like allergies. Some are more speculative, like eating for your blood type, but all have some anecdotal evidence that they work, which is all the validation we need.

Dairy products are the best example to illuminate this point. There is plenty of science showing both pros and cons to consuming them. But regardless of what science tells us, some people do well eating dairy and others do not. When a food allergy is suspected, eliminating dairy is the first step most nutritionists recommend trying. It often yields great results, but not always. This makes dairy a food group that some of us can eat and others cannot.

Similar examples can be found within any food group. What it comes down to is that, no matter how you want to eat, you're going to need to evaluate your diet and see how it's working for you. This requires some trial and error. While that probably sounds daunting, read on and you'll see that it's not. By cleaning up your diet and eating for what you are doing, it becomes fairly easy to identify foods that agree with you and those that don't.

RULE 2: EAT FOR WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOING.
You've probably heard this before, especially if you're a longtime Beachbody member. Similar to not putting gas in your car when it isn't going anywhere, your body doesn't have the same nutrient requirements when you're sitting as when you're moving. Since it's simple to understand that you burn more calories attempting an Ironman than watching Oprah, it shouldn't be a stretch to understand that you have different nutrient requirements on different days.

Furthermore, most of us have different periods in our life where we not only do things differently on a daily basis, but have different goals. Some common goals, where diet and lifestyle are concerned, are:

• to lose weight
• to gain fitness (regardless of weight)
• to maintain weight
• to train for an upcoming event

For each of those objectives you will want to eat differently. We will discuss all of them.

RULE 3: THERE ARE THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T EAT.
Or, at a minimum, that should never be in your kitchen. These are items that, somehow, have made it onto our daily menus that we could easily live without and, at least, should be treated as desserts, anomalies, rewards, or emergency rations. For a more complete list, visit your local 7-Eleven. Let's look at the major offenders.

• Soda. How soda has made it into our daily lives is a testament to marketing. It's a dessert, at best, and when consumed daily makes it nearly impossible to have a balanced diet.
  
• High fructose corn syrup. It's not just for dessert anymore. HFCS is now found in bread, salad dressing, and probably 80% of the stuff at most convenience stores. It's not just that it's bad for you; it's also an indication that a food item is made using the lowest-quality ingredients possible. A 15-second label check can protect you.
  
• Trans fats. These man-made fats help foods sit on shelves longer but serve no nutritional purpose for you. They do, however, have a terrible downside. Fortunately, they're on the dangerous food radar and now much easier to detect.
  
  
• Alcohol. Again, it's not so bad in moderation but as a daily accoutrement to your diet you're adding a lot of calories and very little food value. While I'll be the first to extol its merits as a reward, it has no true place in your daily diet. This will also help to understand which alcoholic beverages are better than others.
  
• Splenda, aspartame, and Sweet n' Low. Calories aren't the only thing to worry about. These sweeteners have been proven safe enough to not kill you but have no place as a regular part of your diet. They also can lead to an enhanced sweet tooth, something that won't make your fitness goals easier to achieve.
  

RULE 4: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT.
Or even close to it. In fact, there are times when you should relax and let yourself eat whatever you want. I can even come up with a scenario where junk food is what you want to be eating. But we'll get to that later.

Your body is very resilient. Your mind, however, can be the opposite. A constant client excuse is to quit a program due to some type of misstep that they've stigmatized as "I've blown it." That's not how it works. As long as the big picture is better than what it was before, you'll be making progress. One bad meal, day, week, even month doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're moving in the right direction. As long as you're doing better than you were before, you'll feel and look better than you did before. And the fitter you become, the more your body programs itself to toss out those bad days.

Translation: the more fit you are the more you can cheat. It's one of the best examples of being rewarded for your work in the natural world.

RULE 5: IF IT'S PROCESSED, DON'T EAT IT (well, sort of).
Your diet should consist of as much whole food as you can fit into it. This means vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and meats that have been processed as little as possible. If your diet consists mainly of these foods then you're on the right track. Whole foods are also more regulating than processed foods. Eating them causes your body to respond in a natural way. It's pretty much exactly the opposite of what happens with soda and candy.

But you don't have to avoid all processed foods. As we learn to read ingredients and understand what types of nutrients our body needs we'll see that not all processed foods are evil. Look for processed foods with whole food ingredients. An easy guide to processing is the fiber content on the label. The more processed something is, the less fiber it usually contains. And fiber is your friend.

by Steve Edwards, Beachbody

How to Choose a Challenge Group

So you've already heard about Beachbody Challenge Groups, either from a Team Beachbody Coach, another Beachbody customer, or perhaps you orginally heard about them on Facebook, YouTube.com, or other social media. Perhaps you saw the cool little video that sums them up:

Ever Feel Like This?



The idea of Challenge Groups is appealing to you and it makes sense. Combining nutrition, exercise, support, and incentives is a killer combination to reach health and fitness goals.

There's a still a question in many minds, however, (and perhaps yours), and that is, "Which Challenge Group should I join?"

The quick answer, and the longer one, too, is it's all about the fitness program. Now, the success of any group is based on the strength of the members - the more people participate in a group's private Facebook page, the more powerful the support component of the group will be, and that's key, but otherwise, all things being equal with nutrition, support, and incentives, the choice comes down to which exercise program do you want to do now?

Your Team Beachbody Coach is the best person to help you make the decision about which fitness program to select, assuming of course that there is a Challenge Group available for the program you eventually pick. If you want to a program and there's none going on when you want to get started, consider asking your Coach if s/he will host the group if you recruit a half dozen or so of your friends to join with you. Chances are pretty good your Coach will be delighted to host a group you build - it's not essential that the host does the program along with the group, or even has ever done it, since Beachbody provides Coaches with a wide array of support materials for running Challenge Groups with more than 20 of the most popular programs.

So what factors do you consider in making your exercise program choice? There are three primary factors:

1. Overall fitness level
2. Past experience, skill levels, and ability
3. Personal Preference

Fitness Level: If you're currently in great shape or in pretty poor shape, your choices are easier. If your already very fit you'll likely want to do a Challenge Group based on one of the more extreme programs like P90X, Insanity, TurboFire, Les Mills Combat, Less Mills Pump, or maybe even Body Beast. If you haven't worked out in a long time and especially if you have lots of weight to lose, Slimin6 or Power 90 would be better choices.

If you're somewhere between being in very poor shape or awesome condition, let your Coach be your guide. She or he can ask some questions to help you choose.

Past experience, skill levels, and ability - If you were a college jock or used to run until just a few years ago, those both can give your Coach clues to which programs would fit. While you should always check with your doctor or other medical professional about any new fitness program, some of our workout programs were designed specifically for people with limited abilities due to various conditions - for example Tai Cheng is an awesome program that stresses balance, flexibility and strength building that, while it's great for golfers and surfers and anyone for whom body alignment and control is important, it's also often a great choice for people in rehab from surgery or implants (knees or hips, for example).

Personal Preference - What do you like to do? It's important that you enjoy your workout program. If you like going full-tilt cardio, that gives your Coach some suggestion, like possibly Insanity, Turbofire, or Les Mills Combat. If you like to dance, give Brazil Butt Lift or Hip Hop Abs some consideration.

What's Next? - There is one other consideration when choosing a Challenge Group fitness program, and that's when you're about to finish one Challenge Group and then want to try something different the next time around. Some people will go from P90X to Insanity then back to P90X, then Body Beast, and then back to P90X again. People who like Power 90 and want to stick with Tony Horton can choose to 'graduate' to Ten Minute Trainer or P90X and then after that jump up to P90X2.

So there are several factors in choosing the best exercise program for you next Challenge Group. The important thing is to decide, commit, and then succeed! That's the path to health and fitness with Beachbody Challenge Groups!

Silver Fox P90X 90 Day Challenge Group

Boomers and beyond, let's get fit and healthy!

Are you a male?

Are you 50 or older?

Are you somewhat in shape but need to get back in gear to regain your strength, energy, and endurance? 

Have you packed on some extra pounds that maybe you thought you could get rid of with diet alone but it's just not working?

Do you know your way around a computer enough to access websites and send emails (clearly if you're reading this that answer is "yes).

If you know it's time for you to take charge of your fitness and health and are looking for a surefire way to get it going, here's a group specifically focused on men 50 years of age and older.

So are you wondering what a Beachbody Challenge Group is? Watch this video:



So I'm starting a Challenge Group for a very specific group.

On the 15 of each month, I'm starting a new group, limited to no more than five men, who will commit to a 90 day challenge that incorporates the three vital, essential elements of any successful health and fitness program:

• World Class exercise - we're going to be using P90X - so enough said about that - it's only the most successful and most popular extreme home fitness program ever.
   
• World Class nutrition - Shakeology - Beachbody's world class meal replacement protein shake that includes ample vitamins and minerals, prebiotics and probiotics for digestion. It's not just for weight loss, it fuels and supports your metabolism correctly.
  
•  World Class support -  including online workout logging, message boards and forums, personalized meal plans and shopping lists, and, just for our group, a private Facebook group where we can check in daily to report progress, stay accountable, and give each other support.

The Silver Fox P90X 90 Day Challenge Group is forming  fast and it's limited to 5 guys. There is still space available.

If you'd like to know more about the group details and commitments contact me right off. We'll actually open the private Facebook group page early so people getting ready to start the Challenge can get to know each other, trade notes and info about preparation, and get a jumpstart on group support. 

Looking forward to hearing from you with your questions and interest. 

Bruce
910-297-8753
Bruce@BrucetheCoach.com

.p.s. Not sure if P90X is right for you? Let's talk. I started with P90X a year ago on May 1st, 2011 and have been loving it and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about P90X or any of the other 200+ Beachbody exercise programs. 

65 Challenge Day! 12-15-11

Today is the day!

So, how about you? Will you challenge yourself to do [insert your age] pushups, situps, pullups, chinups, and then walk/run for 65 minutes? You can if you put your mind to it, decide, commit, take the appropriate action (which means eat right and exercise) and train for it.

I encourage you to do your own age challenge and I'd love to hear how it goes for you.

If you have health and fitness goals but haven't had success reaching them before, let's talk. My passion is working with people helping them reach their goals and I'd love to talk with you.

65 Challenge Day 21 12-14-11

Is this the calm before the storm? Tomorrow's my 65 Challenge. I've been preparing since Thanksgiving Day and I am pumped!

65 Challenge Day 20 12-13-11

This is Christmas party season! Three this week plus networking events 3 days as well. Having fun AND taking it very easy with desserts. I want to stay on track but allow myself to enjoy the parties - so making choices - like, OK, I'll hold off on the cookies but will try the meatballs! Yeah, life is tough.

Getting ready for Thursday's big challenge day. Today (Tuesday) I did the P90X X Stretch, then a 5K Walk/Run (third best time so far), and then Zumba class. I'm glad I'm doing  all three as each adds something special to my workout routine. (And I'm grateful my business allows me to do all this!)

65 Challenge Day 15 12-8-11

Another running day, another good time. Today was a walk/run day in my 5K series. My time wasn't outstanding, at 35:03, but it was my second best overall time. I have reasons (excuses) for the slower time - it was about 10 degrees colder, plus the delay between my 50 minute P90X stretch was more than a half hour, rather than getting right to it as I did on Tuesday, when I had my best ever (so far) time, but the greatest win for me is that I am consistently getting the 5Ks in my routine and I'm totally enjoying them. After the 5K I also went to a Zumba class and was into it so much someone asked me if I was going to fly out of the room! LOL.

I have a week to go on this Challenge, till the 15th, and I'm really looking forward to hitting ALL the numbers that day.

65 Challenge Day 14 12-7-11

The 14th day (of 22) of my 65 Challenge was a good one for many reasons. One reason was that my early-ordered copy of P90X2 arrived (I'm starting that program January 1st!). Another pretty cool thing was I had my annual physical yesterday afternoon and my cholesterol, after being off cholesterol meds since May, are better than they were even when I was ON the prescription drugs! My LDL (the good cholesterol is waay up), my ratios are great, and my overall cholesterol is only 128! Right on Shakeology and P90X!

So now to today's walk/run 5K. I had a walking day, and the time was 47:58 - loads more than yesterday's 32:36 when I ran a little more than half the way. That's okay, though, because Thursday I'll run again, unless it's raining, and my time should be under 40 minutes again (if not a new personal best ... of course I'm hoping for that!).

65 Challenge Day 13 12-6-11

Had another personal best in my walk/run 5K, 32:36.

See the video for deets:

65 Challenge Day 12 12-5-11

I realized over the past few days that I've been adjusting my P90X workouts in favor of my daily 5K walk/run.

That's not good, not the plan. P90X has been, is, and remains my primary workout regimen and it certainly has cardio, so I'm not lacking that. The walk/run thing is fun and a little variety, but it's not my primary deal.

What I found was I was not pushing quite so hard during P90X workouts, not really "bringing it" because I wanted to save energy for the upcoming walk/run.

So here's how I'm going to change that from now till December 15th (when this Challenge ends). Monday, Wednesday and Friday are my heavy workout strength and muscle building days with P90X, so on those days I'm going to do a fast walk. That's what I did today and my time wasn't all that hot, 45:44, just under a 15 minute mile.

On Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday I'm going to do the P90X Stretch (which is one hour of very active stretching) and then do the Walk/Run working for time by running as much as I can.

On Saturday, which is when I do P90X Kenpo X (a martial arts/boxing cardio workout), I'm also going to walk fast.

Of course on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll also go to a Zumba class, so that will be a load of fun (I LOVE THAT MY JOB ENABLES ME TO WORK OUT SO MUCH!).

After the 15th I think I'll pretty much stick to the same routine, walking fast on MWFS and walk/running TThSu. Sounds like a great plan to me.

Oh yeah, one more public statement - I am not going to walk/run or even walk/fast in the rain - I just don't enjoy it. At this point I'm also planning that I'll only walk fast, not walk/run, when the outside temp is 35 degrees or lower.

65 Challenge Day 11 - 12-4-11

Well today was a beautiful day, and I had my best-yet 5K walk-run. It was 46 degrees (F.) when set out and about 50 when I finished. I didn't actually warm up or stretch much before the 5K, which isn't wise, but I started gradually and walked the first 2/10ths of a mile as sort of a moving warmup. My finish time was 36 minutes and 47 seconds, 2:08 better than my previous best time.

I'm a grateful, happy guy.

65 Challenge - Day 10 12-3-11

Had a great 5K walk today, but it was mostly a walk because when I started running, I felt a couple things I didn't like. May be overtraining a bit, or maybe a little too much too soon. So except for maybe 100 yards I walked. I moved along pretty fast, though, completing the 5K in 43:06.

65 Challenge - Day 9 12-2-11

So today I didn't wait till the end of the day to take the shot above (or the video below). I captured both immediately after I finished my 5K walk/run.

Mostly walking today, largely because I was on two pretty long phone calls during more than half the distance.

My time suffered, of course, finishing in 43 minutes and 45 seconds, but that's OK, I actually needed to recover a bit from yesterday's run.

Tomorrow I suspect I'll get a better time with more running than walking. I'm looking forward to it.

65 Challenge - Day 8 12-1-11

Another personal best on my 5K Walk/Run today. Maybe it helped that I started with an hour of stretching with Beachbody's P90X X Stretch. Whatever, it was a little chilly, but I just kept my head down and kept going.

Today I didn't stop to take photos with my iPhone or post Facebook Check-ins or read email. I just kept trucking. I finished in 38 minutes and 55 seconds. Since my previous personal best (just yesterday) was 41:18, I'm pretty happy. I shaved 2:23 off my time, which means of course that now I'm going to have to work even harder.

After the 5K I went to a Zumba class and had a blast! I had to hurry because I was running a bit late and didn't stretch right after running, so I stretched just before the class. Not really enough, I suppose, but it was OK. I sure was warmed up for the class!

Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow! My focus right now, of course, is less on weight or body fat, but on speed, performance, and endurance. Nice to switch it up.

65 Challenge - Day 7 11-30-11

OK, so no cart-pushing today, just me walking and running. Even though I had to stop to tighten the laces on a shoe, plus take some photos and upload them in a Facebook Check-in (lol), I still cut 2 seconds off my best time. So I'm pleased.

During the day I noticed that my quads and hamstrings were feeling it a bit, but in a good way, not tight, but just feeling exercised! Cool.



I love that I'm able to incorporate exercise and healthy eating and living in my job. Being a Team Beachbody Coach starts with taking care of yourself and sharing what works with people who care or notice. If you'd like to see how some other TBB Coaches feel about it, check this site www.BeACoachWithUs.com.

65 Challenge - Day 6 11-29-11

Oh-oh, it rained this morning.

I'm a big fan of rain, and I love to walk in the rain in cities and don't mind it when I'm hiking. However, I don't choose to run/walk in the rain, so today I bagged the 5K run/walk.

Instead, I did a P90X stretch workout and then went to a class.

Watch the video to see what kind of class I went to.




I'm really grateful to Marty and John Kosmeh who introduced Marge and I to Team Beachbody. As Team Beachbody Coaches our health and fitness is our business and we get to help lots of other people, too! Love it!

If you'd like info about Coaching with us, go to www.BeACoachWithUs.com to see what some other people like us (and like you?) say about being a Team BeachBody Coach. And then call me!

65 Challenge - Day 5 11-28-11

Well today was pretty funny, actually. After yesterday's successful 5K run/walk, I decided today it would be fun(?) to rig a video camera up to a golf cart (minus golf bag) and push it along in front of me while I ran/walked.

Well, the good news is I did it and now have a video of my run/walk.

The first not-so-good news is that running jarred the camera mount so it wouldn't stay steady. So I walked. Which played havoc with my time. Plus I just had to take some photos of the rig and then of course I had to post them to Facebook, like right off, so that all took more time as well.

The second issue then was my time. I went from  41 minutes 20 seconds yesterday to 50 minutes and 43 seconds today. (ooops).

The third sorta glitch is that the resultant video file is too large to upload to YouTube (it's almost 4GB in size). So I've got to figure out a way to convert it or something - and that of course even assumes anyone would care to watch it.

65 Challenge - Day 4 - 11-27-11

Hey, it was better! Today I was actually able to run again! And I had my best time yet!

I was concerned a little when I was getting ready to do my 5K this morning because yesterday my shins burned so much and my hamstrings were so tight I literally couldn't run more than a step. 

But today I maybe even half the distance. My time was 41:20, my best time yet by 30 seconds, so the pace was 13 minutes 30 seconds average per mile. (And yes, I know that's not to great, but remember, I'm not a runner and doing this as an extra challenge on top of my usual P90X workout. 

So I'm a happy camper. Looking forward tomorrow when I'll try to meet or beat  today's time. 

Here's a video summary:

65 Challenge - Day 3 - 11-26-11

Today was the 3rd day of my preparation for the 65 Challenge. I'll come right out and fess up that my time was dismal. I took 56 minutes and 20 seconds to do today's 5K. That's just over an average 18 minutes per mile (ouch).

And "ouch" was what I said when I tried to start running today. Clearly I started this little Challenge without enough  preparation, I guess. Too much, too soon, too fast for a non-runner. This morning I had painful shins and extremely tight hamstrings from the past two days.

So I just walked the whole thing. I also paused along the way to take some photos with my iPhone and upload them, plus I confess I read a couple of email, too. So it wasn't that I was totally trying for time. I just wanted the movement over distance.

So I got that goal in, finished the 3rd day in a row and had a good time (if you don't count the shins).  My hamstrings were so tight (even after a decent warm up and lots of stretching) that the time was pretty bad, but I'll deal with that in the days to come.

Here's a short video (notice I've been working on improving the lighting) recapping  the day.