She's 56, What's Your Excuse?

A few months a go there was a huge controversy over the text on a fitness photo of a mother, Maria Kang, and her three children, as shown below. Frankly, she inspired me. After three kids and still having that banging physique – you go girl! Not to mention the work of the photographer, Mike Byerly, it was a great shot.

Maria Kang and her children.

Flash forward to yesterday, when I was teaching my 9am Metabolic Effect class at The George Washington University. As I surveyed the room to take attendance (it’s a for credit course), I took note of the one participant in the front row. She comes to class religiously, and she is not a student. She is Dr. Loretta DiPietro, a 56-year-old mother of two, professor, department chair, who is involved in just about every campus initiative, the GW club field hockey coach (who plays as well), works at the USDA, and still makes it a priority to come to my class every week.

Loretta DePietro at her Metabolic Effect workout.

As we approached our one-minute sprint, I pointed to Loretta and barked to my class (in good fun), “Do Not Let This Woman Beat You In Burpees!” They all knew I was kidding (partially J ) but they love working out with her. She brings an aura and an inspiration to the classroom. These students are in their late teens and early twenties; they look up to their elder with respect and conviction. Conviction that they too can live a healthy and active lifestyle, no matter how old they are.

Loretta could easily be a member of the “VC”, as JillColeman has taught me (Victim Club) stating a myriad of reasons (or excuses) why she doesn’t have the time to workout. Trust me, if anyone has a million reasons to say how busy they are, this woman does. But she doesn’t have a single one, not even her age: 56. She is not a personal trainer for her career and she doesn’t spend hours at the gym. She gets in her 30-minute high intensity Metabolic Effect workout and then heads to the office.

Why do I bring this up?

One, for inspiration.  I look at Loretta and have a role model for my life at that age. I am turning 29 tomorrow, this woman has 27-years on me!

Two, our actions speak louder than words. As much as we say want something, if we don’t make it a priority it will not get done. (Even for me, keeping up with my blog – I say I want one, but I struggle with writing consistently). This holds true for anything, not just getting to the gym. It could be a career you’ve dreamed about, a vacation you’ve wanted, that blog you’ve wanted to create.

Three, age is a number. Yes the body ages, but that doesn’t mean it has to stop you from moving. Find your niche for exercise and get it done. Use age as a privilege, your experiences in life give you greater insight and knowledge.

Let’s channel the Loretta in us, and make living healthy a life long process.

As always, I love hearing from you! Tweet me @KelleyVargo.

Xo,

Kel

Cardio with Jill Coleman

One of my best friends in the world jut happens to be one of the best fitness experts in the world J I may be biased, but Jill Coleman has opened up my eyes and heart to following my passion for fitness. We met back in 2004 at Wake Forest University where we would meet religiously at 6:30am to train. She still teases me for being the only college student to get up that early for “fun.” We would talk about our goals of competing and gracing fitness magazines. Jill has done that and so much more already and she’s barely in her thirties!

Jill is the owner of JillFit Physiques, a business partner with her husband of Metabolic Effect, a National Xfinitiy Fitness Personality, a professional figure athlete, and a great author. Today Jill spoke with me about cardio, something I think we all have a love/hate relationship with. Here’s what she had to say.

KV: A few days ago I wrote about high intensity training and an effective cardio workout in 20 minutes. Can you tell us your philosophy on interval training and its benefits for health and physique?

JC: The bottom line when you’re talking fat loss is intensity, not duration. And though it sounds counterintuitive, the only want to boost intensity is to build in rest to your workouts—hence interval training.

The more you rest, the harder you can push. This is the basis for Metabolic Effect’s Rest-based Training (RBT) concept and for fat loss, it works great. Push until you can’t; rest until you can. Because intensity is most important for results, I usually keep pushing segments to 60 seconds or less, and rests vary from 30-90 seconds. In general, shorter and harder is best!

KV: I know from our good old days at Wake Forest, we used to be Cardio Queens, you would have the Stairmill, I'd take the treadmill, we'd switch. I think we've both experienced the down side to hours upon hours of daily cardio. Can you elaborate on why endless cardio is not beneficial to overall health and optimal metabolism?

JC: Adding more and more minutes to your cardio routine is unsustainable and can definitely damage your metabolism in the long run (especially when paired with chronically low-cal or low-carb dieting).

When you use cardio as your primary tool for fat loss, the more you do, the more you have to continue to do to stay the same size. A study came out a couple years ago that showed that for distance runners, they had to increase their mileage by a certain percent each successive year just to maintain their weight. Ugh.

In short, that kind of volume is simply unsustainable, but at that point, you are caught up in a cycle where your body expects a certain amount (is operating at a certain volume) or else you gain. Not fun. Breaking the cycle takes time and strategy. Not to mention, your metabolism becomes less and less responsive the more up and down your weight fluctuates.

One other thing to remember, is that the more cardio you do, the more your hunger and cravings increase. So the cycle becomes: do more cardio, get hungrier, eat more and then need to do more cardio to “exercise off the extra cals”—not a great place to be.

KV: Ok, so people are probably asking, how do you lose weight if you are only doing 45-60 minutes of cardio. Can you share your secret with us?

JC: I actually do a lot less than that J I focus on weight training first and foremost. I train heavy with weights 5 days a week for 30-40 minutes each. I will usually do track sprints 1-2x/week and maybe 10-20 minutes of interval training 1-2x/day, plus lots of slow, restorative leisure walking.

I’m personally at the point now that I don’t need or want to lose weight, I simply want to enjoy my workouts, do the least amount of cardio possible in order to maintain my weight and muscle mass.

But for those who are trying to lose weight, focus your energy in the kitchen. You only have so much willpower and using it up by doing hours of cardio each day leaves you with very little to resist food temptations. For fat loss, nutrition is the gross control, while exercise is the fine control.

KV: What does a week of cardio in the world of Jill Coleman look like?

JC: Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday, I do the following:

10-15 minutes of interval training on either the stepmill or treadmill, followed by 30-40 minutes of heavy weight training, followed by 30-60 minutes of leisure walking (the last piece I don’t consider exercise because it’s restorative)

Wednesday: I train heavy legs by itself, plus leisure walking

Saturday: I do track sprints. Either 8 x 80m or 6 x 200m.

KV: Any advice for the annoying voice in our heads that says, you didn't do enough?

JC: The thing that always helps me maintain perspective is the fact that ultimately, I want a cardio routine that I could do forever. Two hours of cardio a day is simply unsustainable.

And if you find yourself having to clock more and more minutes to simply maintain your weight, you’re in a cardio cycle and can potentially be damaging your metabolism long term (not to mention be miserable!).

So instead, ask yourself, “Could I do this regimen forever?” and if the answer is no, then head back to the drawing board. Sustainable exercise will be a) time-conscious (not take hours), b) fun or enjoyable (you don’t dread it) and c) it will get results (remember those??). If you’re logging time on the tread, don’t forget to measure!

The right amount of cardio, in my opinion, will be the least amount you can get away with and still maintain your physique.

If you’re interested in trying my favorite INTENSE cardio interval and sprint workouts, I recently put out a workout workbook containing my tried-and-true routines: The Cardio Acceleration Workout Workbook. [link: http://jillfit.com/cardio]

Thank you Jill! Tweet at us and let us know your cardio regimen @kelleyvargo @jillfit #cardio

Have a great weekend everyone! I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Xo,

Kel

My Interview with Dr. Jade Teta CoFounder of Metabolic Effect

This week we have been talking about choosing our mind-set and choosing our time! I have learned how to do this from one of the best health and fitness experts in the world, Dr. Jade Teta.  Jade is co-author of the book, The Metabolic Effect Diet, as well as the co founder of the international health and fitness company The Metabolic Effect (ME). When his is not reading up on the latest research, writing articles, developing results based fat-loss programs, working with patients in his clinic, you can find him hanging out with his wife, Jill Coleman, family and getting in his workouts.

Jade & I finishing up a Metabolic Effect training - drinking coffee of course!

Although I have been around ME since 2005, it is always good to have a reminder of it’s core principles and values. Not to mention, it’s about adopting a healthy lifestyle, not sticking to a meal plan.  Jade was kind enough to spend some time with me to highlight Metabolic Effect and how you can choose your mindset and how to use your time  both effectively and efficiently!

KV: Jade, can you give me your elevator speech on ME ( I really wish you could hear his voice, Jade’s energy is electrifying!)

JT: Metabolic Effect is a health, fitness and weight loss company created out of the need to provide individualized solutions to people’s health and fitness needs. Each person has a unique metabolic expression, psychology and personal preferences yet the health and weight loss industry continues to hand down one-size fits all advice that fails for the vast majority of people.  This is the reason I believe diets have a 95% failure rate and why 2/3 of dieters actually end up fatter as a result of the diet.  It is our belief that the only diet or exercise program that works is the one the person creates themselves.  It is not about following a diet; it is about building a lifestyle. Metabolic Effect takes this issue on by helping people understand 5 key aspects of individualized health and fitness.

KV: Can you tell me more about what the ME lifestyle means?

JT: It is all about ME, meaning you.  Each person needs to discover, practice and master the diet, exercise and lifestyles habits that are uniquely suited to their individual nature. This is absolutely critical and involves individuals giving up the dieting mentality and adapting the mindset of a detective instead.

KV: This week we have been talking mindset, what is the mind-set like of someone who follows the ME lifestyle?

JT: Fat loss foods. The diet industry wrongly teaches that if you lower calories you will lose weight and then have a balanced metabolism.  That is backwards. To lose weight and keep it off, you first need to have a balanced metabolism, which will naturally lead to less food intake and then result in weight loss.  Fat loss foods are foods that balance the metabolism and help control hunger, energy and cravings or HEC (WHATS HEC STAND FOR?). As we like to say here at Metabolic Effect, if your HEC is in check then you know that is a program that can last.  Foods that balance HEC are going to be somewhat different for everyone, but in general include foods that are rich in fiber, protein and water and less dense in sweet and starchy carbs and fat.

KV: What about workouts? What is an ME workout? How does it help someone physiologically?

JT: Efficient exercise. Most people believe more is better, but it is not.  Better is better.  Efficient exercise means doing the least amount of exercise possible to get the desired result.  Short intense exercise burns lots of calories in a minimum amount of time but also have a hormonal effect that increases fat burn long after the workout.  Long and dry relaxing exercise, like leisure walking works synergistically to aid recovery and help combat stress.

KV: In your experience as a physician and fitness expert, what would you say is the main reason people do not choose to put their health first?

JT: Lifestyle matters.  Sleep and stress don't have calories and you can't eat them but they dramatically impact what you crave to eat and how much you eat as well as if you are motivated to exercise or not.  Rest-based living is a concept that makes rest and recovery at the center of the lifestyle.

KV: If you were to give a person one piece of advice regarding their health, what would that be?

JT: Fat loss happens anywhere.  Let’s face it, high calories addictive foods are all over the place.  This makes it very difficult to rely on willpower. Instead it is more useful to help people make the best choice possible no matter where they are.

I would like to thank Jade for his time and energy! He has truly been an inspiration for me and has instilled the belief in me, that with the right mind-set, you can do just about anything. For more information on Jade and the Metabolic Effect, check out his website, better yet, pick up a copy of the book: The Metabolic Effect Diet :)! 

Have a great day and while you’re at it, try a Metabolic Effect workout!

See you tomorrow, 

Kelley

3 Tips for Choosing A Protein Bar

Zone, ThinkThin, Cliff, Larabar, Quest, ProMax, MetRx, oh my! Where do you start when choosing a  protein bar? What is the difference? How do you know what to eat? Have you ever caught yourself standing in the protein bar section of a grocery store or GNC wondering where do I start? This article is for you! I wanted to break down eating a protein bar to the simplest three toos to helping you choose one that is right for you! With the following three tools: the Metabolic Effect number, the ingredient list, and the serving size, choosing a bar is easy. 

1.     Metabolic Effect Number:

This is one of the most valuable tools I have learned since working with the Metabolic Effect Team. From the world of fitness, one knows there are a million protein bars, energy bars, and whatever-else-kind-of bars out there! It’s pretty overwhelming. And whether you’re an elite athlete or a mom trying to select a convenient option for herself or family, it can be pretty confusing! This quick formula helps to simplify your decision by deciphering the net carbohydrates in the product.  To do this you can:

●      Subtract the total grams of fiber and protein from the total grams of carbohydrates

●      The remaining number should be: 10 or less

●      The fat content should be less than 15 grams

Do not worry if the remaining number is 11 or higher. The idea behind this tool is that if the total number of net carbohydrates is low, it will have less of an impact on your blood sugar, and in turn your insulin response. All of these reactions play a role in how your body regulates sugar, and in turn fat. So if you do select a food with a higher net carbohydrate just know that essentially you are eating more sugar, which increases the insulin response. I usually suggest these foods for athletes before a workout or someone about to engage in an endurance event.

2.     Ingredient List:

Have you ever tried to read one of these? Or pronounce some of the names? Kinda scary! In my past life I was a protein bar junkie and would have any of them as long as they said protein and were “low carb”. I was pretty clueless about reading the rest of the label. It wasn’t until I started doing contract work with Larabar that I became more aware of “bar” food labels.  I learned that some Larabars only have 2 ingredients. But I was still caught up on the grams of protein there wasn’t enough for me. Well, good things come in time, and this past year Larabar launched their new line of bars, ALT, which contain pea protein!  Finally, a bar that is real food, has a decent amount of protein, and fits the Metabolic Effect Number = WIN!

I completely understand how it is sometimes difficult to have real food. My time spent traveling with Jim makes it challenging to have chicken and broccoli on hand, so I do carry bars.  However, these days I am much more selective on which ones I will eat. Besides who wants to have the gas and bloating that goes along with most of them? I know you know what I am talking about. Believe me, I work the Arnold Classic, and if you want to truly experience the aftermath of some of these bars, walk the expo floor for a few minutes and you’ll catch my drift – pun intended.  What’s the culprit for this bloat and gas? Most of it is due to the sugar alcohols (artificial sweeteners) used to sweeten the bars. So yea, next time you pick a protein bar, after calculating the ME number, read the ingredient list.

3.     Serving Size

I am not a huge person to get caught up in calories. If I want more lean chicken I am going to eat more chicken. But when it comes to convenient foods, I do have my guard up. Many of these bars can be pretty energy dense.  My 5’2 figure does not need a 400-calorie protein bar for a snack (even if I were to eat a 400 calorie snack I wouldn’t choose a protein bar!) Typically most bars are 1 serving size, so you don’t have to be too concerned with rationing your protein bars. However, there are those tasty synthetic treats that are packaged as 2 protein cookies or a protein brownie – yeah check those labels- most of these are multiple servings.

In closing, educate before you eat! Everything we put into our mouth has an impact on our body and it can either bring us closer to or further away from optimal health!

Until tomorrow, read your labels! Tweet me your favorite protein bar @kelleyvargo #proteinbar

XO,

Kel

Rest-Based Training: Metabolic Effect

Do you have 5, 10 or 30 minutes to get in a great workout? Yes, of course you do!

Rest-based training is where it's at! I have been blessed to work with some of the best leaders in the fitness and health industry, and my dear friends, Drs. Jade & Keoni Teta are two of them. About 8 years ago Jade & Keoni introduced me to Metabolic Effect and the concept of rest-based training. From then on, my perspective and way of training has been effective and efficient in regards to time and progress. This past weekend I attended the IDEA Personal Training Institute in Alexandria, Virgina and had the chance to catch up with Jade. Check out Jade below for a quick introduction to Metabolic Effect and rest-based training.

            The Journal of the American College of Nutrition published a study comparing the same caloric expenditure but done at two different intensities: one group at 75% VO2 max vs. 50% Vo2 max.  The same amount of calories were burned, but they high intensity group was done in less time and had an elevated metabolic rate three hours after the workout. Regardless of your stance on EPOC, my take home point is a quality workout can be done in a short period of time (1).
             To get a feel for rest-based training jump in on a Metabolic Effect class near you.  Not sure if you have one near by? Get on the website and find out. No luck there? No worries! Grab a copy of The New Metabolic Effect Diet, an easy to read book for practical workouts.  Their book is founded on research assessing the body's hormonal response to food and exercise.  Studies have indicated that moderate intensity workouts, like swimming or continuous running,  can stimulate hunger hormones (2,3). My father, Dr. Ronald Vargo, a family physician in a rural town outside of Columbus, Ohio refers his patients to the book for advice on food and fitness. If I can get my dad to believe in something, it holds value ;)! He's a stickler for the valid and practical information!
            I am currently teaching Metabolic Effect classes at The George Washington University and the following has been amazing! From students to faculty, they are all maximizing their time and energy in this 30-minute high intensity workout. One of my most dedicated followers is world-renowned obesity and physical activity researcher and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Dr. Loretta DiPietro. “It [Metabolic Effect] compliments my style of training.  My type two (glycolytic) fibers are very responsive to it. I have never felt better in my life” Dr. DiPietro. 

             And for the nerd in me, this type of workout makes sense. Metabolic Effect and rest-based training is backed by exercise science, sports psychology, and endocrinology. For more information on the science of Metabolic Effect and the body’s hormonal response to this type of exercise, click here. In closing, check out the video of class. (Let me know if you can find me!)

 

Until next week, push until you can’t, rest until you can!

1. Helain, et. al. Postexercise energy expenditure and substrate oxidation in young women resulting from exercise bouts of different intensity. Jrnl Am Coll Nutr 1997;16(2)140-146
2. Karamouzis, et. al. The effects of marathon swimming on serum leptin and plasma neuropeptide Y levels. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2002;40(2):132-6.
3. Broom et. al, Influence of resistance and aerobic exercise on hunger, circulating levels of acylated ghrelin, and peptide YY in healthy males. 2009;296(1):R29-35.