Good Snack Choices to Boost Metabolism

The key to losing weight is to raise your metabolism to a higher level and keep it up there all day. This is done by eating small meals throughout the day, not just breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Think of your metabolism as a fire. When you eat your fire burns, when the fire starts to burn down fuel is needed to keep the fire burning. The type of fuel is key to a long burning fire. Paper and cardboard will burn hot and fast but not for long. Oak logs burn slow, hot and for a long time. Think of carbohydrates and sugars as paper and cardboard and protein as the oak logs.

If you start the day with a bagel with cream cheese, your metabolism spikes and then starts to drop quickly. Lunch comes and its a fast food lunch and you spike up again, only to drop back down until dinner where it will spike again until bed time. If you start your fire with paper and cardboard it wont burn long enough to do anything and once it burns out, its that much harder to start the fire burning again. You want to eat small meals throughout the day, adding protein fuel to your metabolism fire and keep it burning high, hot and all day long.

Target, FAT!

I think we all want to believe there is a secret to weight loss. With so many different companies claiming that pill X or solution Y will solve all your problems with their simple solution, you start to believe that its true.

The ones that really get me is the ones that target specific areas. "Lose Belly Fat Now!" ""Removes Fat From Thighs!" " Eat This Food and Burn That Specific Body Fat!" Claims like these and many others that make the statement that their solution will remove fat from a specific area of the body, unless its a doctor performing liposuction, are a fabrication.

While its true that there are foods that will help boost and raise your metabolism, they don't target a specific area of the body. I mean, how does the food know where the fat is? It doesn't, the raised metabolism is what is burning the saved calories throughout the body as a whole. The same is true of all those metabolism boosting pills and capsules you can purchase to "Burn Off The Pounds!"

On the same line of thinking, there is no magic exercise that targets belly fat or thunder thighs or even man boobs. Regular cardiovascular exercise combined with a healthy balanced diet, with the correct sized portions, with your daily total intake of calories below 2000 for most guys, will burn the stored fat. Period.

Face it, It takes hard work, dedication, will power and real effort to lose weight consistently over time. Time is the other thing it takes. The weight didn't get there overnight so don't expect to lose it overnight either.

The bottom line it that there is no quick and simple solution to losing fat. Accept that you will have to put in some work and get started!

Gadgets! - Endomondo Pro tracker app

The Endomondo tracking app for your smart phone is one of the best apps I've tried to keep track of how many miles and calories I've burned on a walk or bike ride.

Its a GPS tracking app so you need to make sure the GPS is enabled on your smart phone to get all the data needed to track your workouts. You choose from a wide range of workouts from walking, running, biking to kite surfing, really too many to list here. You let the GPS locate you, then start your workout. There's even a count down to give you a few seconds before you start your workout. The app will chime in once you hit the 1 mile mark with the time it took to get there. It will update you if you are doing laps with your split time too.

Awesome Dry Rub

This is my "Go To" rub when ever I am grilling anything. Hamburgers, Pork Chops, Country Style Ribs, Chicken, you name it, I've used this rub on it.

After a few mixes and trial runs over the years I came up with this mixture. I suggest using fresh spices for the best flavor. If its been in your pantry for over a year, throw it out and go shopping.

• 1 tbl granulated sugar
• 1 tbl brown sugar
• 1 tbl garlic powder
• 1 tbl black pepper
• 1 tbl cumin
• 2 tbl chili powder
• 2 tbl cayenne pepper
• 2 tbl paprika
• 2 tbl curry powder
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Mix everything completely and pour into a shaker bottle. You can use one of those empty glass spice containers that you just emptied from your pantry. Just shake it liberally on your favorite grilling meat, rub it into the meat, let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and then grill it to perfection.

Shake a little more on as you cook for a little more flavor.

My Workout - Calisthenics Routine

I see all the advertisements and commercials for different types of equipment that will help you build the muscle tone you are looking for and have that "Greek God" body. The reality is that you don't need any of that at. Having lean muscle helps burn calories, so the goal is to tone up the muscles and simple calisthenics are easy to do.

I looked back to the Physical Training or PT we did while I was in the Army and decided to put together a routine that you can do with little or no equipment. The only thing specific I use is a small medicine ball, other than that its just your body weight that you are lifting.

I begin this workout with some aerobic warm up, jumping jacks work well for this. Below is the complete routine done in no specific order.

My Workout - Upper Body with weights

The one thing I didn't want to do when I started a fitness plan was to invest in a lot of workout or exercise "devices" to tone up and work the various muscle groups. There are too many of them on the market and some are just too specialized to give a whole body workout.

One of my favorite TV Chefs, Alton Brown, will say the same thing about kitchen utensils, "No Uni-taskers!" Free weights like dumbbells can be used in many exercises so they are the way to go.

So I purchased a basic set of 40 lb dumbbells that have interchangeable weights. I can set them to 8, 15 and 20 lbs each and they allow me to do most toning and upper body exercises. I searched many fitness websites looking for various types of dumbbell exercises that I felt would work the muscle groups I wanted to tone up. I found that there are multiple exercises that will work the same muscles, so I tried many to find the ones I liked.

I do the following exercises in no real order.

• Flat Chest Presses
• Flat Chest Flies
• Seated Shoulder Presses
• Front Arm Raises
• Single Arm Row
• Upright Row
• Hammer Curls
• Triceps Kickbacks

I do a different amount of repetitions depending on the exercise and only two sets total with a minute rest between sets. The amount of repetitions varies as the strength of each of the muscle groups are different. The goal is to work the muscles to near exhaustion, pause, then do the second set. Over time you will increase the number of repetitions per set or even add a third set.

After a thorough upper body workout you should wait a few days before repeating the workout to allow the muscles to rebuild. Perform a good cardio workout or work the lower body over the next day or so and repeat the upper body after two or three days.

The website www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/dumbbellexercises.html helped me by not only explaining the various exercises for the different muscle groups, but by providing an animated picture showing how to do each exercise.

Gadgets! - LG HBS-700

From time to time I'll bring you some gadget info that you may find useful and so far I like my LG-HBS-700 stereo Bluetooth headset. No wires bouncing or tangling me up during a power walk or bike ride. The music plays crystal clear and its easy to skip through songs in a playlist. It stays put around my neck so even bending to do some exercises or dumbbell workouts is easy as the phone can stay on the floor or shelf and not on my hip getting in the way.

Volume controls are simple and I have found no static interference yet. I walk across a pedestrian bridge that spans the commuter rails and the power lines there don't effect the sound quality at all. When a call comes in, answering is easy as it pauses the music for you and its a simple touch of a button.

I use a Blackberry Torch 9850 and it paired with no problems. Its designed to work with Apple iPhone and Android phones as well. It also works well playing games on my Blackberry Playbook. It works with the music feature of my fitness app on the phone by pausing the music to give feedback during a workout. Although I did have a dropped call while using it with the fitness app, and I don't get enough calls during a workout to know if it was a glitch or not, its not enough to dislike this headset.

The ear buds fit into the ends of the headset for storage and held there magnetically, but I find they pop out easily so don't grab them from your pocket or gym bag by the buds as you may pull the bud out of the body of the headset. Charging is done simply via micro USB.

Overall I give the LG HBS-700 Bluetooth stereo headset 4.5 out of 5 stars and its currently listed on Amazon for around $60.00.

Apple Wood Smoked Bison Burgers

Served on hearty onion rolls with onions and peppers, feta cheese and fresh spinach.

I start cooking the burgers raw on the foil until they are firm, then sear them over the coals. This keeps them from cooking too fast and burning as Bison has a very low fat content.

Keeping Track and Label Reading

Keeping a log of your weight loss and daily calorie counts is one of the many things you should be doing to monitor your progress as you change your nutrition and improve your health. Your mood, stress, sleep, exercise and water intake are other items that can be tracked as well as keeping a journal of how you are doing and commenting on your goals and failings as you go.

If I didn't have a way to keep track of my calorie, protein and fat intake daily I would never have lost the weight I did. Before you can keep track of these you need to know your way around the Nutrition Facts label found on most foods. This is where you start while shopping to see what foods are high in protein, low in carbohydrates and low in calories.

We start at the top of the label where it says "Serving Size". Just because that 20 oz soda fits in your hand doesn't mean its one serving. More after the jump.

Grilled Portabello Mushrooms

Here is my take on a popular alternative to a hamburger. Marinated Portabello mushrooms with Bison Burger grilled to perfection! There are two ways to serve this recipe, with or without the Bison burger, depending on your guests. I prefer it with the Bison so that's how we will proceed!

First things first, the grocery list after the jump.

Nutrition Plan

What you eat, when you eat and how much you eat are all very important for your health and general well being. Knowing what types of food you should eat and what types you should not eat is a subject for debate, but one we will try to tackle here.

The one thing you will not find here is any type of "diet". By "diet" I am referring to "Atkins", "South Beach", "Chicken Soup" and the never ending list of fad "diets" that seem to come and go. Some of these have good points, most, not so much.

Alcohol Consumption & Metabolism

Alcohol Consumption and knowing how your body reacts to it will help you lose weight and keep your weight in check once you hit your goal weight.  

In a nutshell, your body has a priority list of what it metabolizes first. Protein, carbohydrates and fat are what we are trying to get through our bodies and they all take a back seat to alcohol. The body will start to burn through any alcohol in the body before it tries to burn anything else. Only when all those beers or glasses of wine are completely out of your system can your body get back to using the protein it needs and burning the fat you are trying to get rid of.

In Summary, Alcohol = ZERO calorie burning of anything but alcohol until the alcohol is gone.

If you are going to have a drink, then just a few suggestions. First, know the calories that come in your favorite cocktail or beer. just like the rest of your nutrition plan, these calories need to be counted daily. Second, have your beverage in the evening after your daily routine and when your body is winding down anyway.

Third, alcohol should always be enjoyed in moderation. If you drink a case of bud light don't expect to lose weight anytime soon. One or two drinks in the evening two to three times a week is conservative estimate to maintain you weight and one drink one time per week if you are on a weight loss program.

For a more in-depth explanation read the article www.medicinenet.com/alcohol and nutrition and learn much more on the subject.

Body Measurements

There are a variety of factors that need to be measured to gauge your general health and determine your nutrition needs to either lose or maintain your weight. You may have heard some terms like BMI, BMR, bone mass, muscle mass and a few more. What do they mean and how do they fit into our health and wellness plan?

I'll try to summarize the important ones.

• BMI - Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person's weight and height. Basically your supposed to weigh a certain amount for your sex, age and height. Its a basic gauge of how overweight your are.
• BMR - The basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the base rate at which your body consumes calories for basic metabolic functions. In other words, it is the rate at which your body consumes calories when at rest.
• Metabolic Age is a number that comes from comparing your Basal Metabolic Rate with the Basal Metabolic Rate average of your chronological age group.

The Air Line Trail

A converted rail route is now a very accessible walking, biking and horseback trail. The below pictures were taken today from the Lyman Viaduct on the Air Line Trail in Colchester, CT. 137 feet above Dickinson's Creek, the original train bridge built in 1873 spanned the valley some 1108 feet. Due to the increasing weight of the freight trains, the bridge was filled in with gravel to support the weight of the trains and a culvert was installed to allow the creek to continue to flow.

The wife and I will usually pick a different section of the trail and take our dog for a walk. Today was a 2.5 mile walk. For more info on the trail check the link below.

http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/greenways/airlinetrailbrochure.pdf

Get some exercise

Exercise is an important part of getting into shape and staying healthy. Even walking your dog for 30 minutes helps burn a few calories. If you haven't been exercising for awhile I suggest taking it slow and perhaps even see your doctor first. 

There are three basic types of exercise you can do, flexibility, aerobic and anaerobic.

Water - Drink More!

8 ounces. not a lot of water, but your body needs it and much more than that. We need water to regulate our body functions and flush out waste and toxins from our system.

OK, How much water do you need? Its different for everyone but I have a simple formula. Take your weight and divide it by two and drink that number in ounces every day. Simple! If you weigh 175 pounds you need to drink 87 ounces of water, eleven 8 ounce cups.

I know what your thinking, Are you Nuts! No. I hit my water needs everyday with no issues. Yes, I make more trips to the restroom, but its part of my total wellness plan and i'm never dehydrated.

Get a 24 ounce water bottle, fill it and drink it 4 times a day, unsweetened iced or hot tea counts too. Squeeze a wedge of lemon or lime into the water for flavor. Your morning coffee counts as water so know the ounces in the sizes from your favorite coffee shop.

And by coffee I mean Coffee. Not a venti mocha latte with soy whip and a shot of caramel. That's not coffee, that's dessert. Soda and fruit drinks have too much sugar so I don't drink them often and when I do, I don't count them as water in my nutrition plan.

We need water to survive and staying fully hydrated throughout the day is one step to better health and general wellness.

Steak Marinade

The next time you go to grill some steak, cook a roast or even if you make your own beef jerky, give this marinade a try.

• 3 tbl brown sugar
• 3 tbl soy sauce
• 5 tbl white vinegar
• 5 tbl olive oil
• 1 medium onion chopped fine
• 2 cloves garlic chopped fine

Mix everything up and let it sit for an hour. Pour over your steaks or roast and let sit at least 4 hours. Grill to perfection.

1 tablespoon of this marinade equals approx.the following nutrition per serving: 35 calories, 3g fat, 3g carbohydrates, .5g protein

BBQ For Real

One of my favorite foods is BBQ. BBQ anything. Beef, pork ribs, chicken, turkey, whatever. The smoky slow cooked flavor of food cooked over an open flame just tastes good. I have a charcoal grill I use for everyday grilling, the picture to the left is my home built smoker. This is the "plan your weekend a week in advance" kind of dinner prep.

Depending what is being cooked depends on the time. A 13 pound rotisserie turkey takes 6 hours or more. A pork shoulder for pulled pork sandwiches gets started before the sun comes up so its ready for dinner. The time to brine or marinade your choice is done a full 24 hours before that.

Why do i do it? Well if you have ever had good BBQ then you know the answer to that. And believe me 4 ounces of smoked pulled pork goes a long way on a bulky roll with a slice of onion, 2 tablespoons of BBQ sauce and some homemade coleslaw on the side.

You can buy your own smoker almost anywhere and start small. A rack of ribs, a chicken or two, even smoked meatloaf! Whatever you want, just plan ahead and make sure you have a good thermometer to make sure your food is cooked all the way through. The only limitation I have found in smoking is turkey and chicken. Due to the long cooking time chose a bird under 14 pounds so food poisoning does not set in during the long cooking process.

Try this next Thanksgiving or Christmas. Smoke your turkey the weekend before, Separate the meat into foils pans and freeze it. Thaw, warm in the oven and serve.

Portion Control

The first thing that was challenging for me was portion control. It was clear that I was over eating. As a kid we were taught to clean our plate and go back for seconds. As adults we follow the same patterns.

Measuring a cup of pasta or weighing out 4 ounces of chicken breast always sounded like it would never be enough food for one meal. Until I did it.

I was surprised that when I measured out what I was eating for dinner, that I really was full with the recommended portion size. A cheap kitchen scale was necessary for most foods as are a good set of measuring cups and spoons. A quick way to gauge a 4 ounce portion of meat is compare it to a deck of cards.

Try to control your portion sizes for a few weeks and see if your weight drops. If you stick to it, I know you will drop the pounds.

Welcome to 40 Something Fitness

After the first of this year my Wife and I decided we needed to lose weight as our clothes were not fitting well at all and we were expanding. After 3 months of changing our eating habits and adding just a little exercise into our lives, I was able to lose 28 pounds.

This blog will fill you in on what worked for me, what foods I ate, what exercise I did and all that I have learned so far about improving my health and creating a healthy lifestyle for someone who is pushing into his late 40's.

This is not going to be some "namby, pamby" tofu eating, vegan kind of effort. I like to grill and BBQ, I drink Beer. I enjoy mountain biking and hiking, and by hiking I mean I have hiked Mt. Washington in New Hampshire on a few occasions as well as some easier trails.

This is not going to be some macho, vein bulging "Bro fest" celebrating all things manly either. No unrealistic fully ripped muscle building here. No inappropriate behavior nor any bias.

I hope you enjoy what I share here and will let me know if something I post has helped you improve your general wellness.