Soda - Bad

Are you a soda junkie? Can’t get through the morning without at least one 20-ounce bottle of your favorite soda?

Well, I’m here to tell ya, that soda can really pack on the pounds.

First, some background on calories.

In order to lose a pound of body fat, you need to burn 3500 calories under your maintenance calorie level. The same goes for gaining a pound of fat too. Take in 3500 calories more than what your body needs to maintain your weight, and you’ll put on a pound of fat.

So let’s look at how soda affects this.

Take regular Coca-Cola Classic. There are 242.5 calories in one 20-ounce bottle.

Let’s say that you only drink one bottle a day. What that means is that if you were to stop drinking it, and didn’t make any other changes to your lifestyle, in the course of 26 weeks (6 months), you would be taking in 44135 less calories than if you kept drinking that one coca-cola a day. That means you would lose roughly 12 ½ pounds during that time period. And that’s only if you’re drinking one a day!

Addicted to Mountain Dew? Mountain Dew has 275 calories in one 20-ounce bottle. If you were just drinking one a day and decided to stop drinking it cold turkey and no other changes to your lifestyle, within 6 months you would lose over 14 pounds.

So if you’re addicted to regular soda, start pulling yourself off of it and the weight WILL start to come off.

But what do you drink in place of soda? Simple. Water. No calories, no added sodium, no man-made ingredients. And your body will love you for it.

Test Time

Take a look at this article with a calorie test. I'm not sure if getting them right or wrong is good or bad.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

Fat Loss Challenge

Take a look at this website.

It's a great idea and I tip my hat to the governor of Indiana for coming out and recognizing the seriousness of the obesity epidemic and coming up with a program to slowly get people active as well as eating healthy.

Sign up for the newsletter. You can never receive to much information.

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A Lot of Food Part II

I mentioned in this post the difference that needs to be made between eating a lot and eating often and how sometimes when you see someone eating something and don't think they are eating "a lot," what that person might be eating is loaded with calories to truly make it eating "a lot."

Well, take a look at this article. You'll be shocked at the calorie counts in those foods. Just another example of how people completely underestimate their daily caloric intake.

You've been warned. Again.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

As I Was Saying

I mention in this post that the cost of health care is growing at super speed rates and that if this continues, people are going to be forced to start paying a lot more for it out of their pockets than a free (or close to free) ride that we've been getting thus far.

This article talks about changes that employers are making to their health insurance options.

The article states that according to a recent poll of employers:

The poll found that 5 percent of companies offered only a high-deductible plan in 2007, and that figure will rise to 9 percent in 2008.

A high-deductible plan works pretty much like this:

Depending on whether you have a single person plan or a family plan, the participant involved in the plan has a high annual deductible (over $1000). Whenever you go to the doctor, you've have to pay for the services out of pocket. Once you reach that deductible amount, then your insurance covers it from that point on.

But, there are tax advantages to this. What you are allowed to do is take money and put it in a health savings account (HSA) pre-tax (works similar to your 401k) and after you go to the doctor and pay the bill, you send a copy of the bill to the HSA provider and they then take money out of your account and cut you a reimbursement check. So you essentially paid for the medical services pre-tax.

One last thing about those accounts. You can also take a portion of the money in that account and place it into a separate account that is moved in and out of markets like what you have with your 401k.

There's a limit a the amount you can put in an HSA every year. And until you reach a certain age, you can only take money out of that account for "qualified medical expenses." But, after you reach a certain age, you can start taking that money out for any reason you want.

The good news is that it gives you another pre-tax shelter for your earnings. The bad news is, it's a pretty high deductible to meet before your insurance kicks in.

But, the reality from what the article says is that it's starting to gain traction among employers because it can substantially decrease their monthly health insurance premium that they pay for their employees. I don't think it's going to take long for more and more employers to change to only making this type of policy available to employees.

If this trend continues, I think you know what it means. Those that are healthy and just don't have the need to go to the doctor much are going to be able to take advantage of the tax shelter to save for retirement. For those that are not healthy, well, it's going to end up costing you.

So again, here's your choice. Start exercising and eating healthy, and in the long run, it's going to save you money. Don't start exercising and continue to eat unhealthy and take on other unhealthy activities in your life, and well, I think you can figure out what happens.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

Eating A Lot vs. Eating Often

A lot of time when people see me throughout the day, I get asked "why are you not the size of whale?" I give them a puzzled look and ask "why do you ask that?" The response is "Because you eat soooooo much!!!"

Well, that's not necessarily true. I eat OFTEN, not a lot.

When you eat 6-7 meals a day, yes, it may seem to the outsider that you're eating "a lot" because you've got something in your mouth every 3-4 hours. But look at the amount you're consuming during that "meal." It's really not that much.

But, take a look at someone who eats unhealthy. The may not eat breakfast. And then at lunch, they go out and get some kind of fast food. Just looking at the fast food though still might not look like the person is eating "a lot." But, take a look at the number of calories in that fast food, the person's first meal of the day. Now take a look at what I would have eaten up to that point of the day (3 meals) and i guarantee that the number of calories that i consumed in those 3 meals, is STILL less than what that unhealthy eater had in one meal.

So don't always think that eating often is eating "a lot." As long as you pick the correct foods to eat (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy, lean meats, etc) and stay away from the crap (fast food, and 75% of the stuff you find in a grocery store), then you just can't go wrong on your path to better health and fitness.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

I Hate to Keep Beating This

Again, no, not that.

Here's an article by Gabrielle Reece stating what I've been trying to pound into your heads...start eating....

Here's the way she puts it:

People, especially you girls, you need to eat if you want to lose. If you don't eat enough, you are starving yourself. So guess what? The body says to itself, "Oh, OK, since I'm not sure about this food flow, I'm going to hold onto every last calorie that enters my mouth." Isn't that great? So instead of working with yourself by blowing off breakfast and having "salad" for lunch and a glass of wine for dinner to stay or get thin, you're actually shutting down the show and making that eating hill even steeper.

Bottom line, stop looking at food as something to be avoided if trying to lose weight. You need to change your attitude and not feel guilty when you put food in your mouth. Food is fuel, it's not Satan's way of selling your soul to him.

www.leanbodyfitness.com