I Do The Details

HELLO HELLO all..it’s Tuesday! As I told you last week, Trainer Tuesday is NOT going to be written ALL by me..Today’s post is brought to you by my friend and fitness guru: Mike “the hard ass” Peritore. He isn’t writing these to make you feel good, but to get you MOVING. And we all need a little push in the right direction sometimes..so without further adieu, Mike….

Diet vs. Exercise

As your special day approaches, whether it’s your wedding, honeymoon - or a friend’s wedding you OBVIOUSLY want to look your best. Not to mention, your date/fiance and everyone who has to sit through that ceremony wouldn’t mind something worth staring at.  C’mon - you know it, I know it - everyone likes a fit bride, bridesmaid, whatever.

That being said - I’m here to cut the bull and give it to you straight.  I’m not going to give you happy fluffy workouts or tell you that cheat meals are ok - because for the 99% of you reading this - they’re not.  The time we spend together is going to be blunt, in your face tough love.  Time is of the essence - so let’s rock this bad boy out!

Today’s topic is going to be really simple: diet vs. exercise.  I’m not going to tell you that you only really need one or the other - because YOU NEED BOTH!  But hold up there, Vera Wang wannabe… if you walk away today learning but just ONE thing: YOU CANNOT OUT TRAIN A CRAPPY DIET.  Stop and re-read that one again.

I don’t care how many late night pizzas sprinkled with skittles you were able to choke down after hitting up the bar in college while you were able to maintain a head turning shape.  Those days are running away from you, Lucy - you better believe that. And no, those are not “soccer thighs” or “track & field legs” that you are calling those tree stumps… you are getting older everyday and still eating like you are 19 years old.

Every little morsel you shove down your cake hole is either fueling your body or plowing more junk in your trunk.  Take your pick. The simple truth is this: your diet means far more to your overall health and appearance than does exercise.  Please don’t mistaken me for saying exercise isn’t important - because it is.  But one thing at a time.

So let’s take the example of Marcy.  She weighs in at an average 130lb. for a chick that is 5’3” tall.  An estimate of 2,000 calories are needed to just MAINTAIN (not lose) Marcy’s weight.  Let’s say that Marcy starts her day with a Medium Dunkin Donuts coffee (milk and sugar), and a Bagel with cream cheese (don’t forget…you’re trying to squeeze into that dress).  BAM!  810 calories … there’s 40% of your daily maintenance.

Tick tock… ohhh look!  It’s lunch time.  We’re eating healthy here - so like Jared from Subway says…eat fresh, right?!  So you waddle yourself over to the local Subway feed trough and order up a 6” turkey with wheat, veggies, cheese and a little bit of mayo.  Oh, don’t forget that you probably sported those meal deal chips and a diet coke.  Yeah, forget it pal - that “lite” lunch is pushing around another 600 calories… now we’re up to 70%.

Ring Ring… oh look, one of the girls is texting me to meet her and the group our for a couple of drinks and dinner tonight.  Needless to say, at this point you are going to kick the snot out of your daily allowance of calories to MAINTAIN your current figure that is slowly morphing into the “stay puff marshmallow man”.

Now you’re probably thinking you could run that off tomorrow or whenever you’re kidding yourself that you’re going to make it to the gym (remember all that planning you have to do for the big day).  Even if you are able to drag your carcass to the gym - you’re probably going to need to run an average of 45-60 minutes HARD to burn off enough calories to bring you back to your 2,000 calorie limit.

Let’s face it - that’s not easy… and really, who has the time to do that day in and day out?  How could you avoid such a catastrophe?  I’ll let you in on 2 super secrets:

1) Plan
2) Log your food with a PHD (pie hole diary)

When you get home tonight, and you’re getting ready to watch American Idol or re-runs of last night’s Bachelor: plan out your meals for tomorrow. If you know ahead of time what you’re going to eat, the better the chance you will select a healthier fare vs. going out to eat or doing the noontime smash and grab.

As for the PHD (pie hole diary), I don’t care if you use excel, paper, loseit.com, a really bad ass iPhone app, by the way… it doesn’t matter… just write down EVERYTHING.  This is for you to see what you eat day to day and where to make improvements.  Yes, it’s a bit of a pain in the ass at first - but after a while, you will begin to have a really good handle on what kind of nutritional profile different meals have.

After dumping off my last 30lbs. - I will tell you hands down, keeping a food log (PHD) was the single most contributing factor to my success.  Don’t kid yourself - this will not only help you make your fiance/husband/date/dog/cat drool at your bad self… but will keep you from being the poster child for American Obesity. This is the first, and in my opinion, part of the best “health care plan” you can come up with: educating yourself about the foods you consume.

So your homework for this week is to begin tracking your food.  Go spend $1 at the local drugstore for a notepad (or I’m sure that you can probably scarf one up in the supply closet at work for ‘free’) and begin with: WHEN, WHAT & CALORIES.  If you’re an overachiever, you can add fat, carbs & protein to the list.  If anyone has something that they absolutely love, please share it with us in the comments below. I’ll throw in, I looooove using “loseit” - a super easy iPhone app.

Until next time - GET AT IT!