Just about every week, we get someone asking, “how long will it take to ______?” You fill in the blank. It could be “get fit, toned, feel better, lose weight, get thinner thighs.” We live in a world where people want instant gratification and instant results. Like anything worthwhile, getting fit and healthier takes commitment, consistent practice, and patience.

Improvement Counts

Sometimes it can be discouraging when we look at the road ahead on a long journey, so it’s important to focus on improvement. Instead of looking at how far you need to go to your health goals, think about the improvements you make over time. For example, if you have a weight loss goal of 50 pounds, look at how much closer you get at set timeframes. Losing 1-2 pounds per week and maintaining that loss is encouraging and will keep you motivated. Celebrate the progression towards the end goal.

Other Things Matter

Although weight is a common goal many women set out for their health journey, we encourage you to look more broadly to other measures and benchmarks. There are many things that may provide a sense of accomplishment and improvement while working towards a specific goal. Some of these other benchmarks may also be a better gauge on how you are doing, such as body measurements, fitness level, nutrition habits, and personal moods.

Body measurements

Reducing fat while building muscle should be a primary goal over reducing weight. When body fat is melting away, your body will also reshape. Waistlines get smaller, biceps get bigger, hips get slimmer.

https://fit2bequeen.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/bodymeasurmentchart.pdf

Take body measurements before you begin the journey and continue to record them at regular intervals though the journey, i.e. every 4 weeks. Take a good look at your body in the mirror, photograph yourself, and decide what you want to have happen. Avoid dwelling on the absolute numbers and notice the changes over regular intervals. Celebrate the small changes because big differences accumulate one change at a time. A leaner look, a more shapely calf or whatever you choose as your benchmark develops with time, and although you may not notice the minor changes, others will. Go to Fit2BeQueen for a printable chart to record your body measurements.

Fitness level

Improving fitness level is another important way to mark your success towards better health. There are many ways to measure how fit you are and how much fitter you are getting, and three different aspects of fitness are aerobic capacity, muscular strength & endurance, and flexibility.

http://www.netfit.co.uk/fitness/test/fitness-tests.htm#

To set your baseline and see improvements, there are standard fitness tests you can do on your own or have a fitness trainer take you through. An excellent source for a DIY fitness test is the President’s Challenge Adult Fitness Test. It is an initiative developed by the U.S. President’s office to encourage Americans to be fit. The website provides useful information on fitness, and walks you through various methods to test for aerobic fitness, muscular strength & endurance, flexibility and body composition. Standard scores help you compare your fitness level to specific population groups. However, remember to focus on your own profile and on improving your fitness level over time, instead of absolute numbers that compare yourself to the general population. Focus on improvement.

Another good website to use as a resource is SparkPeople’s DIY Fitness Assessment guide. This site makes testing simple, quick, and easy to do at home.

Fitness Journal

Besides fitness testing, you can track your improvement in fitness by recording your activities and seeing the changes. For example, when strength training, record the amount of weight you are lifting when starting a program versus what you can lift after 4 to 6 weeks. See the improvement in strength or just your form! You can also record the number of sets or repetitions you can do after a set period of time.

For cardio type activities, track the number of minutes you can run, walk or bike. Have you been able to increase those minutes after 4 to 6 weeks? Does the activity seem easier? Those are great indicators of improved fitness levels.

Nutrition habits

We all know that a large part of healthy living is eating well. What does that mean? To us, it’s eating as much whole, fresh food cooked at home in simple ways. It also means eating a good combination of carbohydrates, fats and protein at every meal, and eating enough to nourish rather than stuff ourselves.

We find that going on restrictive diets make us feel irritable and deprived. To measure success on the nutrition side of the healthy-living equation, an alternative to counting calories is ‘counting’ nutrition habits. Pay attention to the choices you make and how frequently you are making the good choices. For example:

In the past week, how many days out of 7 did you eat relatively clean?
How often in the last month have you brought a healthy lunch to work instead of picking up something at the fast food place around the corner?
Take stock of the ratio of good, healthy foods in your fridge or pantry vs. processed, unhealthy foods.
Are you drinking more
Have you reduced the amount of added sugar in your diet? Drinking coffee without sugar?
Have you helped your family or friends to eat in more healthy ways?

All of these habits lead to better nutrition decisions, which lead to healthier eating and success in other measures like weight loss, and reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes and other ailments.

Mood Changes

Another important indicator of healthy living relates to how you feel. When taking care of yourself, your physical wellbeing is linked to psychological and emotional wellbeing. After a great workout, most people feel energized. After a good meal, most feel satisfied and refueled.

😀 —-> 😣 —> 😀

Track your moods and notice the changes. When are you feeling happier, more relaxed, less hungry and more satisfied? How many times this week did you feel great? How can you increase those moods through your fitness and nutrition habits?

Noticing improvements in your activities, fitness, and nutrition choices make you aware that you are in control of your life. So, make your life a healthy one!

Recipe of the Week: Homemade Muesli Cereal

Kick Your High-Sugar Habit

http://www.ibpf.org/blog/bittersweet-holiday-treats-how-sugar-affects-your-mood

Confused from all the reports on how bad sugar is for you? Well, you are not alone. It is a complex subject that has many points of view. There are good naturally-occurring sugars that our body needs for energy and brain function, such as glucose, and there are naturally-occurring and added sugars, such as fructose, that are not good for us.

To do this subject justice, the effect of sugar must be looked at from a physiological and chemical perspective, and in particular how sugars are metabolized in our system – all sugars, whether naturally occurring, added or artificial. There are lots of resources for further information. We highly recommend you view the following video as a start (1.5 hours):

There is also a new documentary-style movie that shows the effects of overconsumption of sugar by one individual who was out to personally see the consequences of sugar consumption. You can watch the trailer for the show at the following link:

Practically speaking

We often get questions from followers, clients, friends and family about what sugars they should use in baking or for everyday consumption. To answer these simply:

Choose naturally sweetened foods over foods that contain added sugars. Naturally sweetened foods like fruit contain beneficial nutrients such as fiber, vitamins and minerals that simple added sugar does not.

When adding sugar to your recipes or drinks, do so in moderation since there are no good additive sugars available. Even naturally sweetened foods should be eaten in moderation because sugar is sugar. When our bodies have all the ‘good’ sugar (glucose) it needs for immediate energy, it will store some for later as glycogen in the liver and muscles. However, any excess sugar beyond that will be stored as fat in the liver, which may have similar effects as alcoholism.

Distinguishing Sugars

For purposes of managing your daily sugar intake, distinguish between two types of sugar: naturally-occurring and added.

Naturally-Occurring Sugars

http://www.nutrientsreview.com/carbs/monosaccharides-glucose.html

If you took any biochemistry classes, you may recognize some of these terms. Examples of naturally-occurring sugars are sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, lactose, galactose (definitions). These sugars are present as carbohydrates in many of our foods such as fruits, milk, grains, yogurt, etc. As we mentioned earlier, humans all need glucose for effective brain functioning and energy for everyday living. The other sugars listed get broken down into glucose and used for energy or processed and stored in our system as different chemicals and byproducts.

Added Sugars

Although added sugars are also processed the same way in our bodies, there is limited benefit from eating added sugar in an already balanced diet. The key word here is “added”. The whole foods we are already consuming contain naturally-occurring sugars that are sufficient for the average person, and many of us are consuming more than our share of naturally-occurring sugars every day.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/09/23/dramatic-example-of-how-the-food-industry-lies-to-you-about-corn.aspx

With regard to added sugars, keep in mind that there are different types, some of which are more destructive to our bodies than others.

As a responsible consumer, you need to carefully read labels when buying food or drinks. Manufacturers use different names for added sugar, and labels typically do not distinguish between added sugar and naturally-occurring ones. In addition, many products you may think DO NOT contain added sugar DO; for example, tomato sauce, breads, salad dressings, milk, etc.

Some names of added sugar include: agave nectar, brown sugar, cane crystals, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, crystalline fructose, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, maltose, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, raw sugar, honey, white sugar, raw sugar, lactose, galactose and many more.

Do the math when you look at labels. The following is a guide to give you a better idea of how much sugar you are really eating:

4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon
1 gram of sugar = 4 calories

Artificial Sweeteners

Although we have not discussed artificial sweeteners in this blog, we wanted to mention that these may not be any better than real sugar. Research on many of these artificial sweeteners has been mixed. Some studies show harmful side effects, while others don’t. Our take is that it’s best to be safe than sorry!

Be Aware, Be Firm

Eating too much sugar is very easy to do given the highly-processed diets many of us eat. Be aware of how much naturally-occurring and added sugars your food contains. If you are curious about how much sugar is contained in the foods you regularly consume, then consult the following USDA site. It is a searchable database listing the nutrients in many foods. It breaks down the content of various sugars in the food when viewing the full report option.

Finally, be firm with yourself about limiting added sugar in your diet, and see how good you’ll feel after you kick the high-sugar habit.

References: