Want Better Speed, Endurance and Power? Pushing your Anaerobic Threshold for Optimal Training

Can people really be "fit and fat"?  Is it possible for someone to be able to exercise a lot, be in good shape, but just not look the part? I would definitely say that this is the case. At the risk of sounding judgmental, I find that more and more, I see people who are quite "thin" or "slim", but they really can't pull their own weight when it comes to fitness.

Case in point my commute to work: I bike a short distance of about 3 Km. On the way there are a few hills - nothing too excruciating but difficult enough to get my heart pumping a wee bit and give my legs a bit of a burn. A few students of mine also take this same route. In Korea, students are required to take PE class a few times a week: I often see them running laps, playing sports, or hiking the nearby mountain.

In my mind, I gathered my students were in decent shape. So I was surprised to see many of them have to walk their bike up the hill! And considering I lug around a lot more dead weight from my upper body's dead than they do, it made me realize that perhaps I'm in better shape than I thought. It begs the question: are these kids and teenagers at the fitness peak of their lives? If that's the case, what will they do after high school and PE class? (In the case of Korean men, compulsory military service.)

There are six generally accepted aspects to fitness; these are:

Aerobic Endurance / CRE (Cardiorespiratory Endurance): how good your heart and lungs are at working for a long period without tiring

Muscular Endurance: how able a muscle or group of muscles are able to work continuously

Strength: the maximum force a muscle or group of muscles can apply against resistance

Speed: how fast your body or a part of your body can move

Power: combination of strength and speed

Flexibility: the ability to move a joint through its full range of motion

Hand-eye coordination, Accuracy, Reaction time, Agility and Balance are five other components of fitness.

Of all the aspects of fitness, CRE is (arguably) the most important to develop as it enhances all the other fitness components.

To develop CRE you have to make sure that you are in your training zone.

Training zone you ask? This means that optimally, your heart should beat between 70% and 85% of your maximum heart rate to be able to stress your cardio-vascular system enough to train it.
 
If you exercise at an intensity of between 50% and 70% you are in the "aerobic zone".

We find our maximum heart rate by going 220 minus your age.

How do you find your pulse? You don't need no fancy-shmancy machine. All you need is a timer/stopwatch and two fingers for this...

From www.wikihow.com/Check-Your-Pulse

Use your fingers when finding a pulse. Don't use your thumb when finding it, as it has its own pulse. 

Find the radial pulse. This is also known as the pulse on the inside of the wrist. Use the pads of two fingers. Place these just below the wrist creases at the base of the thumb. Press lightly until you feel a pulse (blood pulsing under your fingers). If necessary, move fingers around until you feel the pulse. 

Find the carotid pulse. To feel a pulse on the side of the neck, place two fingers, preferably your index and middle finger, in the hollow between the windpipe and the large muscle in the neck. Press lightly until you feel a pulse. 

1. Check and record your heart rate. Use a watch or clock with a second hand. Make a note of the rate of the pulse, which is the number of beats per minute.
2. If you don't have a watch or a clock around, the Cleveland Clinic Health System recommends counting the beats you feel for 15 seconds and multiplying this by four to get your heart rate per minute:

Your pulse is: (beats in 15 seconds) x 4 = y (your heart rate) You can count beats for 30 seconds and multiply by 2.

Determine your normal heart rate. For adults, normal heart rate is 60-100 beats per minute. For children under age 18, normal heart rate is 70-100 beats per minute. This is your heart rate when you are at rest. Determine your beats per minute by following the steps listed above.     

Take a 40 year old person having a peak heart rate of 180. Seventy percent of 180 is 126 while 85 percent of 180 is 153, meaning this person's heart should beat between 126 and 153 beats per minute to be in the optimal training zone.

Age 20 years	HR Zone 70-85% 140-170 beats per minute	Maximum HR 200 beats per minute
30 years	137-162 beats per minute	190 beats per minute
35 years	133-157 beats per minute	185 beats per minute
40 years	126-153 beats per minute	180 beats per minute
45 years	123-149 beats per minute	175 beats per minute
50 years	119-145 beats per minute	170 beats per minute
55 years	116-140 beats per minute	165 beats per minute
60 years	112-136 beats per minute	160 beats per minute
65 years	109-132 beats per minute	155 beats per minute
70 years	105-128 beats per minute	150 beats per minute

CRE can be developed using interval training, continuous training or fartlek training. Both Fartlek and interval training put extra stress on your system, eventually leading to faster speeds and improving your anaerobic threshold. (It's also called lactic threshold). Remember my students who have to walk their bike up the hill? Part of what we witness here is a low anaerobic threshold (muscular endurance and power also definitely come into play, but we'll discuss this another time).

Your anaerobic threshold is a powerful predictor of performance in aerobic exercise.

To explore further, let's start with a brief, oversimplified, review of physiology. Your muscles can "burn" glucose for energy in two ways, aerobically ("with oxygen") and anaerobically ("without oxygen").

From rice.edu: (skip this part for the TL;DR)

An all out sprint, which requires a great deal of power output in a short period of time, uses the anaerobic system. The energy is quickly available, but the anaerobic pathways are not very efficient; short term energy stores are rapidly depleted, lactic acid builds up, and exercise soon comes to a halt. After a brief rest, the system is recharged and ready for the next sprint.  

Distance running, which requires a steady power output over a long period of time, uses the aerobic system. These pathways can't generate the speed of the anaerobic, but they do possess a great deal more efficiency and endurance. Depending upon the distance, and effort, the body can use different proportions of both of these systems. Those who have raced the 800 meter know it's too long to be a sprint, but too short to be distance. This is right at the cross-over between the aerobic and anaerobic systems. 

While running at a comfortable pace you use both systems, but the anaerobic:aerobic ratio is low enough that the lactate generated is easily removed, and doesn't build up. As the pace is increased, eventually a point is reached where the production of lactate, by the anaerobic system, is greater than its removal. The AT, also known as the lactate threshold, is the point where lactate (lactic acid) begins to accumulate in the bloodstream.

The AT varies from person to person, and, within a given individual, sport to sport. Untrained individuals have a low AT (approximately 55 % of VO2 max), and elite endurance athletes, a high AT (approx. 80 - 90% of VO2 max). You can train your body to remove lactate better and to juice up the aerobic mitochondrial enzymes, thus raising the AT. Don't worry you still get to experience the joy of lactate-laden legs that won't move, but it will happen at a faster running speed. Applying the right types of workouts is the key to properly shape your AT.

TL;DR: Improving your anaerobic threshold can increase high intensity endurance performance.

How do you push your anaerobic threshold? The anaerobic threshold, the point at which lactic acid starts to accumulate in the muscles, is considered to be somewhere between 80% and 90% of your maximum heart rate and is approximately 40 beats higher than the aerobic threshold. The anaerobic threshold is the point at which your body switches energy sources from oxygen to glycogen.

Let's compare the three types of training sessions: interval, continuous and Fartlek.

Interval training session

An interval training session is a short/medium bout of high-effort exercise over a set distance or time followed by a short rest period. This is then repeated a set number of times throughout the session.

For example, do 8 sprints of 100 meters at 90% effort, then allowed yourself a 60 second recovery between each sprint.

How interval training is progressively overloaded:

• Training an increasing amount of times each week.
• Increasing the length of your sprints, for example from 100 meters to 110 meters.
• Increasing the number of sprints, from 8 to 9.
• Increasing the intensity of each repetition, from 90% to 95% effort.
• Increasing the recovery time between repetitions, for example from 60 to 50 seconds.

Continuous training session

Continuous training involves training (running, swimming, cycling) over a long distance at a steady pace.

For example. running continuously for 20 minutes, at a steady pace in your training zone.

How continuous training is progressively overloaded:

• Training an increasing amount of times each week.
• Increasing the length of time in your training zone.
• Increasing the pace, from a 5 minute/km pace to 4.5 minute/km pace.
• Increasing the length of time ran during each session, for example from 20 to 25 minutes.

Fartlek training session

This either sounds foreign to you, or downright weight. Fartlek is a Swedish word meaning “speed play”. If you're familiar with Tabata or HIIT, Fartlek training is similar in that it's another form of varied pace training. It involves steady pace training over a long distance, during which short bouts of fast, intense training is included. This is not a new concept, it's been around for decades.

It differs from traditional interval training in that it is unstructured; intensity and/or speed varies however you wish.

For example, running at a varied pace for 20 minutes, alternating between recovery walking, jogging, mid-paced running and sprinting.

How Fartlek training progressively overloaded:

• Training an increasing amount of times each week.
• Lengthening the sprint sections of my Fartlek run
• Running the sprint section at an increased incline (steeper hill)
• Reducing the recovery walk section.
• Increasing the length of time ran during each session, for example from 20 to 25 minutes.

This is my preferred form of aerobic conditioning because it suits many sports having frequent changes in the predominant energy system, for example frequent short sprints throughout the game of soccer. This random approach is also good because it tricks your metabolism into working harder, and actually burns more fat than just running at a continuous pace.

It's very important that you warm up and cool down with any type of running, but because Fartleks are especially intense, you especially need to warm up before doing any Fartleks. Do a thorough stretch, focusing on your hamstrings, calves, ankles, and shins. This is somewhat of a high-intensity run, so it's not recommended for people who haven't ran before--you should get used to running by doing a few miles a day for a few of weeks before attempting to do Fartleks.

Although Fartleks are often used in running, but theycan be used just as effectively in bicycle or elliptical training too.

What’s your favorite way to do cardio?  Add your comments below, then GET OUT AND RUN! (or ride)

Protein: Nectar of the Tough

You might be asking yourself many questions about protein: 

• What is protein?

• What does it do and why is it so important?

• Where do we get the protein we need?

• How much do we need?

• Can you get too much protein?

Bear with me if some of this brings you back to high school bio or chem. I'll really try not to get too technical on y'all without needing to.

What is protein?

Proteins are a type of nutrient made up of amino acids, which are smaller molecules made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen atoms. These atoms combine into different patterns to make 20 different amino acids. The amino acids our body can't make on its own have to be taken in through diet. These are called essential amino acids, of which there are 9. The rest of them can be made by the liver if all the necessary chemical components are available.

Why is it so important?

The body depends on protein for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, proteins are responsible for growth and maintenance of structures such as muscle, blood cells, skin, hair and nails. Although the outer part of your bones are hardened with minerals like calcium, the basic rubbery inner structure is protein.

Enzymes are a type of protein which helps facilitate many of the chemical reactions within the body, including digestion. The production of hormones like insulin, thyroid hormones, estrogen and testosterone also depend on proteins. Even red blood cells contain hemoglobin which is a protein compound that carries oxygen throughout the body.

It's clear that protein is no joke; even the word itself is derived from the Greek word protos meaning first. 

Where do we get the protein we need?

Protein comes from two different sources: plant based (soy, nuts, beans and grains). With the exception of soy, only animal based proteins contain a sufficient amount of all the essential amino acids. Plant-based proteins also contain every amino acid but some of them may not provide sufficient amounts for our dietary needs. 

This website from Scooby, a fitness and bodybuiding guru, has an interesting and very helpful protein calculator. This allows you to calculate the protein-density of any food as well as its amino acid profile.

scoobysworkshop.com/protein-calculator/

Although it's more of a challenge for animal product abstainers to get all the essential amino acids they need to build muscle, it's actually not as hard as people think for a vegan to meet the recommendations for protein. Nearly all vegetables, beans, grains, nuts, and seeds contain some, and often much, protein. 

Protein Content of Selected Vegan Foods
FOOD	AMOUNT	PROTEIN	PROTEIN
		(g)	(g/100 Cal)
Tempeh	1 cup	31	9.6
Soybeans, cooked	1 cup	29	9.6
Seitan	3 ounces	21	17.5
Lentils, cooked	1 cup	18	7.8
Black beans, cooked	1 cup	15	6.7
Kidney beans, cooked	1 cup	15	6.8
Chickpeas, cooked	1 cup	15	5.4
Pinto beans, cooked	1 cup	15	6.3
Lima beans, cooked	1 cup	15	6.8
Black-eyed peas, cooked	1 cup	13	6.7
Veggie burger	1 patty	13	18.6
Veggie baked beans	1 cup	12	5.0
Tofu, firm	4 ounces	11	10.6
Tofu, regular	4 ounces	10	10.7
Bagel	1 med. (3.5 oz)	10	3.9
Quinoa, cooked	1 cup	8	3.7
Peas, cooked	1 cup	8	6.6
Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), cooked	1/2 cup	8	15.0
Peanut butter	2 Tbsp	8	4.1
Veggie dog	1 link	8	13.3
Spaghetti, cooked	1 cup	8	3.7
Almonds	1/4 cup	8	3.7
Soy milk, commercial, plain	1 cup	7	7.0
Whole wheat bread	2 slices	7	5.2
Almond butter	2 Tbsp	7	3.4
Soy yogurt, plain	8 ounces	6	4.0
Bulgur, cooked	1 cup	6	3.7
Sunflower seeds	1/4 cup	6	3.3
Cashews	1/4 cup	5	2.7
Spinach, cooked	1 cup	5	13.0
Broccoli, cooked	1 cup	4	6.7

What you -do- have to be careful with non-animal sources of protein is that you need to consume a lot of calories to get protein from some of these sources. For those concerned about calorie consumption look for high values in the 4th column (protein g/100Kcal).

Getting enough protein is one thing but we have to remember that many of these foods are not a complete protein source; the muscle building process stops if your body is lacking any essential amino acid. There are a few non-animal sources that offer complete proteins, so it's important to get your fill of soybeans, blue green algae, hempseed, buckwheat, and quinoa if your diet is meat-, milk-, or egg-free. 

You don't need to fret if you can't get complete proteins in your diet! Overall, the combinations available to vegetarians and vegans to get all your amino acids are:

• Dairy and grains (great)
• Dairy and seeds (good)
• Dairy and legumes (good)
• Grains and seeds (good)
• Grains and legumes (great)
• Legumes and seeds (great)

And don't forget about Scooby's protein calculator: it suggests foods that work well with any food without a complete amino acid profile. Research suggests that you don't necessarily need to eat complementary proteins at each meal; what's important is that you get enough throughout the day to meet your daily needs.

How much protein do we need?

The amount depends on your age, size, and activity level. Nutritionists estimate our minimum daily protein requirement by multiplying the body weight in kilograms by .8, or weight in pounds by .37. This is the number of grams of protein that should be the daily minimum. According to this method, a person weighing 150 lbs. should eat 55 grams of protein per day, a person weighing 90 Kg should get 82 grams, and a 250-pound person should eat 92 grams.

According to this, my daily protein need is 167 lbs * .37 = 61.8 grams of protein.

Some authors argue that the lean body mass (that is, the non-fat portion of the body) is the primary determinant of protein needs. 

Click here to go to the protein calculators.

According to the formula used by Sears, the pounds of lean body mass should be multiplied by the following, depending on activity level, to get the daily protein requirement in grams:

• Sedentary - multiply lbs of lean body mass by .5 (1.1 when using Kg)
• Light activity (e.g. walking) - multiply by .6 (1.32 when using Kg)
• Moderate (30 minutes of vigorous activity 3 days per week) - .7  (1.54 when using Kg)
• Active (1 hour per day 5 days per week) - .8  (1.76 when using Kg)
• Very Active (10 hours of vigorous activity per week - .9  (1.98 when using Kg)
• Athlete - multiply by 1.0  (2.2 when using Kg)

Using me as an example, I would be in the "active" category. 

While my weight is 76 Kg (167 lbs), I have a body fat reading of 17%, giving me a lean body mass of 63 Kg (138.7 lbs). I would multiply 138.7 lbs by .8 to give me 110.9 grams of protein a day.

Can you get too much protein?

Since many low-carb diets tend to be high in protein, this is an important question for low-carbers. A high-protein diet encourages eating more protein while avoiding carbohydrates. 

Avoiding carbohydrates such as fruits and grains, however, decreases the intake of important nutrients, including fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Any extra protein will be broken down into glucose in a process called gluconeogenesis. On low-carb diets, this happens continually. One benefit of obtaining glucose from protein is that it is absorbed into the bloodstream very slowly, so it doesn't cause a rapid blood sugar increase. 

However, some diabetics find that an excess of protein at once causes blood sugar spikes, and low-carbers sometimes find that as time goes on they do better with a moderate protein intake right than eating large amounts of protein.

Although not directly related to protein intake, here are some of the negative effects of high protein diets:

• Cancer:  Since people who consume more protein often also consume more fat, populations who eat meat regularly are at increased risk for colon cancer, and researchers believe that the fat, protein, natural carcinogens, and absence of fiber in meat all play roles. The 1997 report of the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research, Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer, noted that meaty, high-protein diets were linked with some types of cancer.
• Osteoporosis and Kidney Stones: Eating protein triggers the release of acids in the body. Too much protein causes acid levels to rise. To neutralize the acidity, the body releases buffering substances such as calcium phosphate. To produce enough calcium phosphate, the body pulls calcium from the bones. Decreasing the amount of calcium available in the bones increases the risk of osteoporosis. Since high-protein diets don't usually provice well-balanced nutrition, the lack of vitamins and minerals, along with the effects of high protein levels could contribute to chronic health problems. To prevent osteoporosis, it is important to follow a healthy diet that provides all the essential nutrients that promote bone health, including adequate amounts of protein, vitamins and minerals
  

The National Academy of Sciences, for instance, recommend that 10 percent to 35 percent of daily calories come from protein. 

What did you think about this post? What are some of your favorite (and most delicious) ways of getting enough protein in your diet?

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter or Facebook. Thank you!

Dietary Fat: Friend or Foe for Losing Weight?

Undoubtedly, one the most important things to our well-being is what we put in our mouths. It's something we do several times a day, often without even giving it any thought at all. Get your mind out of the gutter, of course I'm talking about food!

In the last post we looked at how much we should eat a day based on our body and activity levels. Now, I want to impart some of my wisdom on what we should and shouldn't eat. The topic for this post will be dietary fat: how important is it to our diet, how much is a good amount to eat, the good and bad types of fat as well as whether it's a good idea to cut it out from out diets.

Carb/fat/protein ratios of food

We'll start by looking at what the protein, fat and carb ratio is. Everything we eat is grouped into one of these macronutrients.  We all get a certain proportion of carbs, fats and protein in their diet. Let's look at an avocado as an example. This nutritional facts label is from a handy website nutritiondata.self.com

What I want to point out is the caloric ratio pyramid on the right. The avocado is 19% carbohydrates, 77% fats and 4% protein. Fiber of course passes through your system undigested. Riddle me this: would eating an avocado be a diet disaster for you?

What is the right protein/carb/fat ratio?

This might is an answer you will hate: it depends on your individual needs. In all honesty, I personally don't strive for a perfect ratio. If you have very specific goals you might want to aim for particular ratios. 

If your goal is weight loss this study showed that a high protein diet didn't make a measurable difference in terms of weight loss. What was most important for weight loss was always cutting the total energy intake. And an important aspect of this is your consumption of fat.

On the other hand, if you want to gain muscle you will need to consume enough protein to rebuild your muscles properly. Having said this, you need to eat enough fat and carbs to gain muscle! If you don't, your body could very well just convert whatever protein you consumed to glucose for energy. This is both a waste of a workout as well as a waste of protein.

I personally aim for a 30/50/20 ratio: out of the 2500 calories I consume a day, I get:

750 calories from protein (750 calories / 4 = 187.5 g of protein)
1250 calories from carbs (1250 calories / 4 = 312.5 g of carbs)
500 calories from fat (500 calories / 9 = 55.6 g of fat)

(There are 4 calories/gram for carbs or protein and 9 calories/gram for fat).

Of course I can't keep these ratios in perfect check every day, but what is most important for me is to get at least 25% (156g) of my caloric intake from protein.

 

Do we get fat by eating fat?

Is the fat we find in food public enemy number one? I have to tell you that the "fat is bad" message we heard so often has largely been debunked. For years the key was cutting the fat out of your diet. But is it really necessary? 

The simple answer is that saturated fats – found in a wide range of foods including fatty meats, full cream dairy products, pastries and cakes – raise our risk of heart attacks and strokes by increasing blood cholesterol levels. 

Trans fats are even more important to stay away from - these are found in many snack foods, processed foods, commercially prepared fried foods. They have an even worse effect on our cardiovascular system. On the other hand unsaturated fats are 'good' fats and have help unclog blood vessels blocked by cholesterol.  

Should we cut out fat from our diet?

Besides cutting out the 'bad' fats from our diet, another reason is because a gram of fat contains much more energy than carbs and protein (4 calories per gram of carbs or protein versus 9 per gram of fat). 

But don't be seduced by low-fat labels on food: make sure to keep the unsaturated fats which have good effects on your cardiovascular system. These include unsaturated oils used for frying foods and in salad dressings as well as in foods like avocados and nuts. 

Avoiding these heart-healthy foods can leave you lacking in substances your body actually needs. As well many of these foods are also important sources of other nutrients. You need at least a small amount every time you eat a meal rich in vitamins and minerals for your body to properly absorb them. 

The short answer: cut out only the 'bad' fats from your diet to reduce your calorie intake and keep the good fats to maintain cardiovascular health.

Do you ALWAYS have to eat healthy?

I think it's important to enjoy yourself every once in awhile. Have a cheat meal or snack from time to time. If you maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, you can still indulge yourself. It'll help to maintain your sanity, and it's also a good reward for a job well done!

If you are aiming for a crazy ripped physique like this guy, you might think that you have little room for error when it come to what you can and can't eat.

(Do you want a body like this? Are you willing to work that hard for it? Most of us aren't; admittedly I don't know if I am willing to either. And that's okay!)

You might wonder: Does he ever eat anything unhealthy? I bet he does: since he has so much muscle and probably has to do pretty intense workouts, he needs a lot of energy to "keep his furnace going".

But this doesn't mean he can make a pig of himself whenever he'd like although he does have to get enough protein to maintain (and build) whatever muscle he has as well as enough energy to help build and maintain his body.

But even for a ripped guy like this, the equation remains the same: energy in, energy out. If he wants to maintain his shredded physique, he has to balance how many calories he consumes with how much he burns. 

The energy in, energy out law applies to everything you eat whether it be protein, fat, or carbohydrates. This means that it's not only fat that can make you fat, anything that provides your body energy can make you fat.

Keep in mind that to pack on the muscle he has, he needs a LOT of energy. The easiest way to get enough dietary energy for your body to recover during rest periods is to consume more fat. Eating enough carbohydrates for readily absorbed energy is also very important.

Next time we'll talk about the importance of protein, the best and cheapest sources as well as the pitfalls of a high protein diet.

Goal setting: The Three Keys to Losing Weight

When you look in the mirror, what do you think about what you see?

Do you like what you see? You should. You should be happy with what you have, and where you are currently. There's no sense in feeling down about how certain things could be better. No matter who we are and regardless of what aspect of our life we are looking at, there is always room for improvement.

Being happy with yourself doesn't mean not improving yourself

If what you have works for you at making you happy, then so be it! But we shouldn't just "settle" with what we have if we would like some improvement. This includes more than just fitness and health, this could be about any aspect of your life, whether it be language skills, professional development, emotional stability, whatever.

Indicators of health and fitness

Which indicators of fitness do we use?

Numbers on a scale are a good indicator of where you are and maybe could help you in deciding on where you should be. However everyone carries weight differently so numbers on a scale can and do mislead. For example, two people at 5'8" (172 cm) weighing 70 Kg (154 lbs.) can look very different. Which brings me to the next point...

What you currently look like and what you imagine you would like to look like is another good indicator.

Above all, how you feel is most important. How easy is it for you to take a few flights of stairs instead of the escalator or elevator? Do you have any difficulty doing day-to-day tasks? What about things you plan on doing - do you think you are fit enough yet to do them?

How many times a week do you exercise? For how long? At what intensity?
Do you currently have difficulty finding the time or motivation to exercise regularly?

Losing weight fast

The main reason we exercise. Maybe we have a goal and a deadline, i.e. I want to lose 10 lbs. (5Kg) this month. This is pretty quick weight loss, and I hate to break it to you, but there isn't really any quick and easy way to lose weight fast.

You probably could lose 10 lbs. in a month, but it probably won't stay off. And accomplishing that goal will be as enjoyable as a root canal. Like all good things in life, it's better to put in time and patience into reaching your goals. It'll save you the stress of reaching an impossible goal and also will give you more time for the good habits that make lasting weight loss to stick!

The three keys to losing weight:

1. move more than you do now (exercise more)
2. eat less than you do now
3. hydration (for change to happen on the cellular level, you have to be well hydrated)

These three indispensable things are pretty simple when you look at it. Your body is an amazingly efficient machine. Put simply, whatever "unused" Calories (aka whatever goes in your mouth that your bodies will use as fuel) will be stored for later.

That might sound terrible to you, why would you want to store the fuel and get fat? But of course, this mechanism allows us to, you know, not starve to death. This explanation is clearly a simplified version of what really happens but it doesn't change the fact that you have to have a good, hard, honest look at your life and the eating and activities habits that you have.

Where to cut the calories? Some helpful tips

Here are some tips to managing your energy intake for the day.

Do you drink a lot of alcohol? Alcohol has a lot of calories and dehydrates you. Don't want to cut out the booze? Make better choices (spirits for instance have far fewer Calories) and watch what you eat while you drink!

Juices usually pack a lot of Calories and leave us feeling hungry. How so? Well, tet's compare drinking a tall glass of orange juice to eating 3 oranges. How do you feel after drinking the orange juice? Less thirsty, right? But full? Most likely not.

Those three oranges probably really filled you up though, maybe you weren't even able to finish them off. The point being that these 2 ways of getting your orange fix are similar in terms of caloric intake, but orange fruit gives you the fiber which fills you up that orange drink can't.

Do you graze on snacks all day long? Even too much of a good thing like healthy snacks such as nuts, fruit, or protein rich meat and cheese can be detrimental to your fitness goals.

So, let's get to how much less food we have to eat and how much more we have to move to get to our fitness goals.

Making your weight-loss goal

Check this site out for a good BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) calculator:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/?

Here you can calculate how many Calories your body needs in a day. All it needs is your gender (guys generally have more muscular bodies and  burn more energy than women), your weight, height, age and activity level.

Of course it's just an estimate: keep in mind that if you're muscular for your weight it might not tell you a high enough calorie amount. It could tell you too high of a number if you have little muscle for your weight.

In step 6 you can specify how fast you want to lose your weight. Word to the wise: there are 3500 Calories in a pound of fat (7716.17 per Kg). The more calories you cut, the more weight you can lose.

Using me as an example, I need to consume 2858 Calories a day to maintain my weight. A reduction of 10% from this is 286 Calories a day. It would take me about 12 days to lose a pound of fat at that rate. Reducing Calories can be done two ways: more exercise and less eating. 

It doesn't matter where these Calories are "cut", however cardio (running, walking, biking, sports and so on) do provide a cardiovascular and fitness benefit, so indulging in more of that is always a sure bet.

If I wanted to lose weight even faster, I could opt for a 20% reduction of 572 Calories a day. I'll warn against any more of a Caloric reduction since you could end up losing muscle as much as fat. This is bad since the less muscle your body has, the less Calories are burnt.

The bottom part (Your Results) is where this calculator truly shines. Based on your weight-loss goals and it will give you projections on how long it will take to lose (or gain, if your goal is to gain muscle) weight. You'll have to calculate your BMR for any body weight difference of 5 pounds (2.2Kg).

So, play around with the BMR calculator  - it's a very handy tool that can help you define your goals! Next time I'll talk about fat: is it ever a good idea to avoid it?