Personal Trainer Newsletters
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HealthFX America
Vol. 34 Newsletter October 2005 - for [Column #2] [Column #3]
by Mandy Sosnowski
In this issue:
* Why is it so “bleeping” hard to lose weight?
* Featured HealthMax Pro Exercise - Chest Fly
* Exercise Quick Reminders
* Featured Recipe
***Why is it so “bleeping” hard to lose weight?***
A couple of years ago I did an article called the mathematics of losing weight. I think it was a good,
informative article, but maybe a little on the boring side. A little too scientific maybe? Blame it on my
engineer husband for making me so numbers oriented when all people really want to know is… why is it
SO hard to lose weight? That article would give you the answer, but I’m going to try to explain it in a little
less depth. I also thought it would be a good time to talk about this since the holidays are coming up and
temptation will be in ample supply. Arming yourself with good information as to why you should “just say
no” to some of those temptations could be of great benefit.
Unfortunately, it all comes back to calories, which are kind of complicated to count, but let’s just go over
some basics. A 150-pound woman needs 1650 calories a day to maintain that weight. One pound of body
fat contains 3500 calories. So, if she didn’t eat for two days straight, she would lose one pound of body
fat, almost.
This same woman would burn about 100 calories walking one mile on a flat surface. It would take her at
least 15 minutes to walk that mile. One cup of banana, which equates to about a 7.5 ounce banana which
we would probably consider a medium to large banana, is 200 calories. So, it would take her about 30
minutes or two miles to burn off one banana.
So what is the point? If you are somewhat successfully maintaining your weight, that means that between
what you are eating and what you are burning during the day, you are coming up even. If you start to go
nuts during the holidays, you will gain weight. Even if you only go nuts on the weekends. Anything you
eat above and beyond what you usually do will stay as fat. Think about it… IT TAKES 30 MINUTES TO
BURN OFF ONE BANANA! It will take about the same amount of time to burn off one of those Halloween-
size Snickers bars. It only takes about 10 seconds to eat one. So every time you put one in your mouth
be thinking to yourself… “That was just 30 minutes of exercise… okay… now an hour of exercise….”
So why is it so “bleeping: hard to lose weight? Because everything has WAY more calories than you think
and everything takes WAY longer to burn off than you think. Those are the tough facts, but you can
make it if you just stay aware! Good luck!
Caloric information found at http://www.nutritiondata.com
***Featured HealthMax Pro Exercise***
Chest Fly
The muscles being used in this exercise are the pectorals (chest). They attach just slightly down your
arm from your armpit and fan out across your chest, meeting in the center at your sternum. The anterior
deltoids (front shoulder muscles) are also being used a bit in this exercise.
To ready the machine, choose either position for the chest fly handles and adjust the chest fly cylinders to
the desired intensity level.
Begin the exercise seated on the bench facing away from the HEALTHMAX PRO pad loosely gripping the
handles on the chest fly arms. Line your arms up so your elbows are near the level of your shoulders.
The pads should be completely open.
To complete the exercise, push inward with your elbows and forearms bringing the pads in as far as
possible then return to the starting position. Try to keep your shoulders back and your chest lifted. This
adjustment will help to keep the pecs the primary mover as opposed to the deltoids. Really squeeze your
elbows and forearms together when you get to the middle of the exercise. You should feel a hot burning
sensation across the front of your chest if you are doing this exercise properly. It is a little bit different of
a burn compared to other exercises. Good luck!
***Exercise Quick-Reminders***
If a cardio machine doesn’t ask you how much you weigh, than the caloric burn it is giving you is probably
not very accurate. Try these websites to help give you a more accurate measurement:
http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist.htm
http://www.nutrio.com/servlet/nutrio?page=62&cat=0
***Featured Recipe***
Harvest Pumpkin Soup
(I just love yummy soup in the fall.)
2 small sugar pumpkin (you can also use an equivalent amount of canned)
3 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons sour cream
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Cut pumpkins in half and scoop out seeds. Spray a
cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Place pumpkins, flesh side down on the cookie sheet and roast
until soft to the touch, about 45 minutes. Remove pumpkins from oven and let cool. Once pumpkins are
cool, scrape flesh from skins into a food processor. Discard skins.
Add chicken stock to the pumpkin and puree. Pour soup into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer
over medium heat. Stir in cream, nutmeg, sage and salt. Mix well and remove from heat. Serve garnished
with a dollop of sour cream
Recipe found at http://thanksgiving.allrecipes.com/AZ/HarvestPumpkinSoup.asp
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