Movie + Popcorn + Cola = Calorie Bomb

If you think having a medium popcorn and soft drink while watching a movie won’t add much to your weight, then it’s time to get a reality check, suggests a new study.

The study by the Center for Science and Public Interest (CSPI) found that consuming popcorn and a drink means taking in three days worth of an adult’s recommended allowance of fat.

The researchers said that a medium popcorn and drink had 1,160 calories.

Even sharing a small portion of cinema popcorn between two would mean each person consumes a day’s worth of saturated fat.

“It’s hard enough for Americans to maintain a healthy weight even when limiting their eating to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Who realises that they might be taking in a meal’s worth of calories during a movie? The healthiest snack to buy at the movies is no snack at all,” the Telegraph quoted Jayne Hurley, a CSPI senior nutritionist, as saying.

The study also found that a bag of Reese’s Pieces sold at US cinemas contained 1,160 calories and 35 grams of saturated fat, the equivalent of eating a 16-ounce T-bone steak and a buttered baked potato.

The study has been published in Nutrition Action Healthletter.

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How do I fail so often?

I am an absolute failure when it comes to following a fitness regime.

Well, my first attempt at following an exercise regime was when I was doing my PG.  I started going for morning walks….. it lasted a sum total of 2 days… From the third day on, I could be found on my bed, fast asleep….

When I started working, I was fascinated by the aerobics class. I joined the class, bought the required outfit and shoes, and then went to the class for 2 weeks……

Here is my third attempt at fitness….. Yoga classes. My teacher takes individual classes, hence I cannot cheat. She stands over me and makes me bend and jump and stretch. Only time I can cheat is during meditation….. but apparently, I need a lot of meditation to relieve all the stress in my life now.

So far the yoga classes have lasted for a week….. hhmm…. there’s hope for me still.

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Nautilus 2ST Circuit 14 Pieces

Nautilus 2ST  14 Piece Circuit White with Teal Pads in Great Shape. $11,925 Plus Shipping Shipping will Run about $3000 if shipped by common carrier within the United States. Call Chris @ BigFitness 401-885-5200 ext 210 or email chris@bigfitness.com **Will ship to Canada or North and South America Overhead Press Preacher Curl Tricep Press Lateral Raise Compound Row Lat Pull Down Super Pull Over Brench Press Pec Fly Leg Press Leg Extension Seated Leg Curl Hip Adduction Hip Abduction Please call Chris Soucie with any questions. 401-885-5200 ext 210 Delivered in working condition with no rips in the pads Detailed and looking as new as possible Delivery to New England/Tri State Area only. Delivery and Intsall are extra depending on location. Please call Chris Soucie for more information. 401-885-5200 ext 210,  Chris@bigfitness.com

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Do you want to make cycling up hills easier? continued

Are you the type of cyclist that dreads the site of a hill loaming in the distance? I was, sometimes I still find myself dreading the upcoming hill, but as I read and learn about the art and skill of climbing hills this dread has become less and less.

I now become curious about what they might hold, how long will they be? How steep will they get? How long can I stay in the saddle?

Asking these types of questions for me builds an excitement, they challenge me to push myself a little further, to experiment with my riding style and find out if what I have been reading or watching will work for me.

Here are a few more ideas about how climb hills, some might work some might not, but anyway here they are. These ideas are from a book I have been reading a book Elite Performance Cycling, Successful Sportives by Garry Palmer and Richard Allen.

They start by mentioning that getting out of the saddle and powering up can deplete your energy and cause you to suffer from fatigue much earlier in the ride. They continue to say however, that if powering up means staying with a fast group of riders this could benefit you in the long run because riding in a group can result in major energy savings in the long run.

Longer climbs they say can be best dealt with by spinning at a cadence of 85-95 rpm in a gear that feels relatively easy, sustain this cadence and adjust your gears according to the gradient.

Becoming a skilful climber isn’t about fitness it’s more about teaching yourself how to pace your climbs, find a gear and pace you can maintain, don’t go at someone else’s pace as you may stick with them for the first few kilometres but if you blow up you can slip down the field very fast.

Finally do your homework on the climbs you will be up against, this will give you an idea of how to prepare in training and how to ride the event as a whole.

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Two Months In

Today marks exactly two months since I began this weight-loss venture. Two months of sticking to a plan and gradually increasing my exercise to 5 days per week. Two months = 18 lbs lost. I’m so close to my next milestone I can almost taste it.

In terms of my plan, I don’t see myself making any big adjustments until perhaps after the holidays, unless my weight plateaus. At the same time, I am reading and information-gathering about weight lifting and about eating in such a way that would optimize muscle growth, because long-term, I do believe my eating habits will need some changes for me to be a successful loser and maintainer. As I lose weight, I do not want to eventually be required to live on 1200 calories per day forever, or even 1400 calories. Nor do I want be constantly required to up my cardio time to burn the same amount of calories as my body becomes more efficient with those movements. And if I play this game strictly by the lady-mag cut-calories rule, I could see things coming down to that. I could also see myself being a thin person who is still kind of flabby, despite being at a “healthy weight.”

I’m reading The New Rules of Lifting for Women, and although I don’t know if I will have the confidence to do its strength workouts by myself off the bat, I do see myself heading in that general direction in 2010. Perhaps I’ll shell out the bucks for a personal trainer to get me started; in this case it would probably be worth it.

In terms of eating more healthfully with an eye toward muscle-building, I think I will need to eat more protein than I have been. SparkPeople breaks down my macronutrient ratios (fat/carbs/protein) for me in its reports, and I consistently come in on the very low end of the advised protein range—whereas my carbs are often a little higher than the high end of the recommended range. So yes, my eating is somewhat out of balance.

I have been making small changes to begin remedying this issue. For one thing, I am having omelets for breakfast several days per week now. This is something that came about what I got a bit bored with my food about a month into my program and my boyfriend and I figured out that, actually, making omelets isn’t too hard! I notice that on the days I have omelets for breakfast, I tend to be less hungry/have less cravings mid-morning. And obviously, my macronutrient ratio is a little more balanced, because I’m getting extra protein from the eggs.

I think I will use the next month and a half or so as time to experiment gently with adding more protein and some veggies into my regular meal plans. I don’t want to shock my system (psychologically if not physically), but I do want to keep improving what I’m doing at a rate I can handle.