HRV and Me. My Individual Results

Oct 03 2014

Sorry it took so long but I had to clear my monitor and give it to a client. But I now have my results and they are quite interesting.

So on protein day I ate only protein and fat, I exercised on my treadmill on an incline of 12 an a speed of 2.5

I also did a quick My Dance Body leg workout (like two exercises).

I didn’t do much for the rest of the day except watch TV, talked on the phone, tended to my 17 month old and my husband, made dinner etc. Pretty lazy day.

The next day consisted of a full carb day. My carbs consisted of brown rice, veggies, oatmeal etc. I did the same treadmill workout as I did before (without the leg workout) and the rest of my day was baby, tv, phone, etc.

OK. I saw that when I ate my protein meals the test showed that I was in full recovery but when I ate my carb meals the test showed that I was stressed out and I stayed in a stressed out state for about an hour.

I also saw that when I worked out on the treadmill during my protein day my training effect was maintaining fitness and I burned 281 calories. But when I did the exact same exercise during my carb day my training effect was light exercise only burning 197 calories.

However on that protein day

My stress reaction totaled 29% for that day (I was stressed for 7 hrs and 1 min) My recovery was 55% (recovered for 13 hrs and 13 min) I burned 303 calories in total fitness for the day. (it factored my leg workout into it too) I burned 2 8 calories in leisure activity. (not much calories burnt while watching tv and gabbing on the phone) and I burned 1261 calories just breathing

My total calories burned for that day was 1592 calories

————————————————————————————–

On my carb day we know I was in stress mode while eating my carb meals, the exact same exercise was considered light training with only 197 calories burned, Oh and my heart rate during the protein exercise was 143 where during the carb was 125. I have to say I struggled a little bit doing the treadmill during carb day.

My totals for carb day

Stress reactions (16 hrs and 11 mins) 48% of my day Recovery time (12 hrs 14 mins) 36% of my day (I know it doesn’t = 100 % b/c I’m leaving out some other %’s) Physical activities calories burned = 197 calories Daily cals burned = 22 calories (again not much burned for tv and phone) Calories burned for just breathing = 1855 calories

Brings my total for the carb day to 2074 calories burned.

During protein day I was only stressed for (7 hrs and 1 min) but carb day I was stressed for (16 hrs and 11 mins ). And my recovery time for protein was (13 hrs and 13 mins) and for carb day it was (12 hrs and 14 mins)

I had better recovery during my protein day, I was way less stressed during my protein day and I had a much better training effect on my protein day. I also wasn’t stressed out while eating my protein meals.

However, during my carb days I burned way more calories then my protein days. I burned a total of 1592 calories during my protein days but I burned a total of 2074 calories during my carb days.

I would say for myself I’m at my best when I eat protein and carbs so that I can get the best benefits of each of them in combination. Of course I’d want to experiment and do the test again eating both protein and carbs to test my theory.

The test also showed me that my sleep period was long enough and my recovery was good on both days. It also said that I had relaxing activities before bedtime which promotes good recovery during sleep. Also through out both of my days there were 2 -15 min periods with the best daytime recovery and that recovery during leisure time enhances your overall coping. (So naturally I’m going to want to continue these things that I did for 15 mins throughout my day everyday to help my general overall being)

My husband wants me to note and stress that I was in a stressed out state while I was watching TV. (He’s on a campaign for me to stop watching reality shows but it’s sort of a guilty pleasure). Who would of thought that I would be in a stressed out state while watching?

But anyway I do need to up my daily physical activities clearly because I burned like 23 calories which is ridiculous I know. But that was just those 2 days. I do get more leisure activity then that. Lol.

HRV and Me. My Individual Test Results

Sep 11 2014

Ok. Day 1:

So I was finally able to get my hands on one of the HRV monitors and I am currently suited up. It’s really light. The only thing I feel is the medical grade sticker that it attaches to.

So today and tomorrow I will be eating a high protein diet. I want to see how my body reacts to me eating an Atkins style diet plan. (I’m thinking that I’ll be stressed out because eating high protein and very little carbs for me is boring and therefore, stressful. But who knows maybe I’ll be wrong. We shall see what science says).

As for hunger I’m ok right now but I’m pretty sure I’ll want a grill cheese sandwich before the day is through but for the sake of the experiment I will do my absolute best.

By the way, I’m only eating meats, eggs, very little cheese, etc. No red wine no nuts, fruit, bread, no tasting my 16 month old food to make sure it tastes good, and only if I feel like I want to scream and slap my hubby for no apparent reason I’ll have a little bit of green leafy veggies otherwise no veggies either.

Anyway, I want to see how well I sleep, go throughout my day and exercise on a high protein diet plan.

After this experiment I’ll do a high carb diet next.

mydancebody.com

HRV and Me. My Individual Tests and Results

Aug 19 2014

So I have written on the heart rate variability testing before and how it’s based on the science of your own body and how it can help you with weight loss, workouts and stress and recovery:

Manage Your Stress – The Key to your Weight Loss Success

Train Like an Athlete Without Working Harder – Just Smarter

My clients have been seeing so much more improvement in there weight loss efforts as well as there performance at the gym, at work and in different marathons that some love to do for pleasure. And in applying what they have learned they have also notice better sleeping patterns.

Well since I can’t share specific client results with you I can share my own results. I want to do a series of experiments with myself using the HRV monitor.

I want to see how my body reacts to:

1) me only eating high protein and fat

2) me eating high carbs

3) me eating normally (all food groups)

4) me eating normally (all food groups) with alcohol

5) me eating like crap with alcohol

I will see:

1) how many calories I burn all day

2) plus during my workout

3) how well I exercise doing the same exercise at the same intensity for each experiment (the monitor will tell me)

4) along with how well I handle stress and recovery during the day and during sleep.

There are a host of other things the test can tell me but I will only focus on those things.

Stay tuned…..

Diet and Exercise are for Poor People

Aug 08 2014

Why diet and exercise when you can either A) suck out the fat, contour or reshape it, remove excess cellulite / stretch marks or B) photo shop it.

Unlike regular shmo’s like you and me who have to work for it, people with cash to burn can do either A or B, what ever tickles their fancy.

I guess the moral of my story today (and I am very much a culprit) is that we can’t rent stock on gorgeous celebrities in magazines. 99.9% of the time they are nipped and tucked either by exhibit A or exhibit B. We still love them though and it should be as much as we love our current body today.

Train Like an Athlete Without Working Harder – Just Smarter

Jun 27 2014

Why do athletes and celebrities stay so fit?

Are they just better than us? I doubt it.

It’s because they have access to pricey cutting edge technology that electronically tells them where their personal ‘sweet spot’ is and then they just simply apply it.

But what if you could have access too without the hefty price tag of course?

Well roll out the red carpet for Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

What is HRV?

HRV refers to the beat-by-beat changes in the heart rate. It measures the time gap between your heart beats. By accurately measuring the time interval between heartbeats, the detected variation can be used to measure the psychological and physiological stress and fatigue on the body during times of rest, work and leisure. Stress and fatigue on the body are one of the key factors to why people cannot lose weight regardless of how sound their diet and exercise plan is. See here

Manage Your Stress – The Key to your Weight Loss Success

How can HRV help you with your weight loss goals?

It helps you to understand how you can take control and positively affect your health and well-being by giving you accurate information about your body’s stress reactions and recovery response as well as the intensity of exercise. You will also know how well you are aerobically exercising. The results will indicate if you are overreaching, highly improving, improving, maintaining or just easy recovering. This is called the Training Effect (TE).

You can see how this information is essential to an athlete to reach superior levels.

But you don’t have to be an athlete for HRV to effectively help you. You just have to want to find the balance between work and leisure and between activity and rest and since it takes more then just diet and exercise to effectively lose weight and keep it off for good you can easily reach your weight loss goals, less stressed.

If you want more information on HRV and how it can help you get started on your personal plan to lose weight email me at:

marsha@mydancebody.com

Manage Your Stress – The Key to your Weight Loss Success

Jun 26 2014

Setting goals is an important step in getting what you want with your weight loss needs but it is only one small piece of the apple crumble pie.

Ever notice that sometimes someone can eat clean, exercise 3 -5 times a week and be completely disappointed at the end of each month. Then the person starts to wonder is it “my time of the month” (ladies) is it because I’m gaining muscle and it’s heavier than fat, maybe my muscles are retaining water from being torn down so I’m not losing any weight?

Managing your stress level is the key to your weight loss success.

Let’s say that you want to lose 20 lbs. Where do you start? You know what you want to accomplish but how do you go about accomplishing it and where does the motivation come from?

Many times people want you to start with a cleanse. I don’t have a problem with a cleanse but here’s my problem with a cleanse.

You’ve been living your life, perhaps with a lot of caffeine, sugar, white flour, saturated fats, enter “the cleanse” that you heard about. It cuts you off of all of the above as well as half of the food groups, (no dairy, no starches etc.). Your stress level heightens. You are advised not to workout while on “the cleanse” because your food intake has been severely limited therefore draining any and all energy. If you do manage to finish “the cleanse” by the skin of your teeth, you would have dropped some water weight. That can be a motivator but one can’t live off of “the cleanse” so now what do you do? And in the mean time you are eating whatever because you’ve been starving from eating so little that you’re gaining back every pound of water weight that you just previously lost.

Now you’re even more stressed out, you feel like you’ve failed, you’re exhausted, bloated and you’re heavier than when you first started.

Let’s get off of that vicious yo-yo dieting cycle.

When you mange your stress levels you are on the high road to success.

So how do you manage your stress levels?

Step 1: Assessment

You need to know what is currently happening in your body right now. Besides knowing where your heart rate rests, your body mass index, (BMI), your body fat percentage, how many calories you are taking in and how many you expend on a daily basis, you must measure your work / rest cycles, meaning how much and how hard you work / workout and how well you sufficiently recover, also how many hours do you sleep and how well your recovery is during sleep.

Sleep and rest are 2 entirely different things; sleep is physical recovery, rest is spiritual recovery both very necessary in the weight management / stress utilization category.

As per stress coach Dr. Terry Lyles, how many times have you slept all night and woke up tired or how many times have you taken a cat nap and felt like you slept all night? That’s the difference between sleep and rest recovery.

Step 2: Diagnosis

All the questions in Step 1 must be answered. It’s not enough to write in a fabricated answer to get a fabricated result or worse yet no result at all. Your answer to how much stress you have doesn’t get the proper attention that it needs when someone gives you a survey, you check a box and then it all just gets filed away in file heaven in the sky. You need to physically see how stressed you are, if in fact you are crashing when you sleep opposed to actually recovering when you sleep etc.

Step 3: Prescription

Now that you have all of the questions in Step 1 answered, now you can implement a plan of action.

Now you are on the path to achieving your weight loss goals.

How do you measure your stress and recovery activity levels?

The only way to prove stress and recovery is to look inside your body to measure your activity blood pressure rate, otherwise known as your heart rate variability (HRV).

HRV refers to the beat-by-beat changes in the heart. When it’s measured with daily activity whether at work or at home this is the accurate way to define good and bad stress and when you combine your stress information with a nutrition and exercise program that is the answer to true weight loss success.

If you want more information on how to measure your stress levels email me at:

marsha@mydancebody.com

Damn. I Threw Away More Fruits and Veggies. Learn How to Keep Them Longer

Jun 22 2014

According to the US Dept of Agriculture Americans throw away about 14% of fruits and veggies that they buy and that’s before it goes on your plate.

Knowledge of how long fruits and veggies last and how to store them properly will help you save those hard earned dollars so that I (I mean you) can buy many pairs of skinny jeans that I desperately ( I mean that you ) desperately want.

Fruits and veggies give off an odorless gas called ethylene which will trigger the production of more ethylene. It’s like when one person starts yawning it causes someone else to yawn and before you know it everyone feels exhausted.

All fruits and some veggies have receptors that sense the ethylene gas which then activate production of more ethylene.

www.mint.com shows us a very handy solution on how to store our produce to keep it much longer and potentially saving our hard earned dollars.

According to http//www.mint.com the solution: Our handy storage guide below, compiled from chefs’ experience, as well as research by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, MealsMatter.org, Self magazine and the Food Marketing Institute. (Got your own tips to extend the shelf life of fruits and veggies? Post them in the comments.)

Apples

Store on the counter. Move any uneaten apples to the refrigerator after seven days. In the fridge or out, don’t store near most other uncovered fruits or vegetables — the ethylene gases produced by apples can ruin them (making carrots bitter, for example). The exception: if you want to ripen plums, pears and other fruits quickly, put an apple nearby for a day or so.

Artichoke

Refrigerate whole for up to two weeks.

Asparagus

Store upright in the refrigerator in a plastic bag with either an inch of water or with a damp towel wrapped around the base, just like you would have flowers in a vase. They’ll last three to four days that way.

Avocados

Ripen on the counter. Can be stored in the refrigerator for three to four days once ripe.

Bananas

Store on the counter. Refrigerate only when ripe — they’ll last for another two days or so.

Beets

Remove green tops an inch or two above the crown. Refrigerate beets in a plastic bag to prevent moisture loss, which leads to wilting. (They’ll last seven to 10 days.) Refrigerate greens separately, also in a plastic bag.

Berries

Grower Driscoll’s recommends refrigerating berries, unwashed and in their original container. Blueberries and strawberries should keep for five to seven days; more fragile raspberries and blackberries up to two days.

Broccoli

Refrigerate in a sealed plastic bag. It’ll keep for three to five days.

Carrots

Refrigerate in a sealed plastic bag for up to three weeks.

Cauliflower

Refrigerate, stem side down, in a sealed plastic bag. It’ll last three to five days.

Celery

Refrigerate one to two weeks in a sealed bag. Keep in the front of the refrigerator, where it’s less apt to freeze.

Citrus fruits

Store oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit on the counter. They can last up to two weeks.

Corn

Refrigerate ears still in the husk. They’ll last up to two days.

Cucumbers

Refrigerate, either in the crisper or in a plastic bag elsewhere in the fridge. They’ll last four to five days.

Garlic

Store in the pantry, or any similar location away from heat and light. It’ll last up to four months.

Green beans

Refrigerate in a plastic bag for three to four days.

Green onions

Refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Herbs

Fresh herbs can last seven to 10 days in the refrigerator. “When I use fresh herbs and store them in my refrigerator at home, I keep them in air-tight containers with a damp paper towel on the top and bottom,” says Raymond Southern, the executive chef at The Back Bay Hotel in Boston. “This keeps them fresh.”

Leafy greens

Refrigerate unwashed. Full heads will last five to seven days that way, instead of three to four days for a thoroughly drained one. Avoid storing in the same drawer as apples, pears or bananas, which release ethylene gases that act as a natural ripening agent.

Mushrooms

Take out of the package and store in a paper bag in the refrigerator, or place on a tray and cover with a wet paper towel. They’ll last two to three days.

Onions

Stored in the pantry, away from light and heat, they’ll last three to four weeks.

Peaches

Ripen on the counter in a paper bag punched with holes, away from sunlight. Keep peaches (as well as plums and nectarines) on the counter until ripe, and then refrigerate. They’ll last another three to four days.

Pears

Store on the counter, ideally, in a bowl with bananas and apples, and then refrigerate after ripening. They’ll last another three to four days.

Peas

Refrigerated in a plastic bag perforated with holes, they’ll last three to five days.

Peppers

Refrigerated, they’ll last four to five days.

Potatoes

Store them in the pantry away from sunlight and heat, and they’ll last two to three months.

Radishes

Refrigerate. They’ll last 10 to 14 days.

Summer squash

Refrigerate in a perforated plastic bag. They’ll last four to five days.

Tomatoes

Spread them out on the counter out of direct sunlight for even ripening. After ripening, store stem side down in the refrigerator and they’ll last two to three days.

Tropical fruit

Mangoes, papayas, pineapples and kiwifruit should be ripened on the counter. Kat Bretcher of Cottonwood, Ariz., ripens mangos in a paper bag in a cool place, and then refrigerates them for another two to five days.

Watermelon

Kept at room temperature on the counter, it’ll last up to two weeks, Bretcher says.

Winter squashes

Store on the counter for up to two weeks.

www.mydancebody.com likes to wash and then freeze any fruit or veggie that you don’t think that you’ll eat any time soon. Just cut off any stems or seeds etc put them in plastic baggies and then freeze. For bananas I’ll wait for them to get really ripe (which makes them much sweeter for smoothies) I’ll peel them, cut them in half, put them in baggies and freeze. These fruits and veggies can then be thrown into a green smoothie which makes the smoothie thicker and richer tasting or made into purees that you can put into anything and lie to your kids about.

Rob Kardashian – You Can Do It

Jun 12 2014

Rob Kardashian has been greatly struggling. Being the only male in the Kardashian family who will carry on the Kardashian name, he has been met with defeat from his failed business, heartbreak from failed relationships and shame from his famous sisters. He was in despair so he turned to food, drugs and alcohol for help.
But there is hope Rob Kardashian. You can do this, put your life back together.

Rob Kardashian needs to change his focus.

He needs to stop listening to the negative and even the positive. He needs to disappear but to take time to reflect and really be truthful to himself and stop being in competition with his sisters and be in competition with himself.

Where everybody would advise him to lose 50 lbs in a month, instead take time to nurse yourself back to health.

Being healthy is the most important take away here rather than being on some crazy roller coaster, yo-yo unhealthy starvation diet plan, and kill me now (slash) go for broke gym regime when you’ve been dormant for so long.

Before starting a diet and exercise plan start with getting off the drugs and alcohol and adding a green smoothie with lot’s of fresh fruit so that it tastes good. After you’ve mastered that then at every lunch and dinner add in a green salad with a variety of vegetables.

With all the sudden nutrition the body will respond positively with natural added energy, brighter eyes, clearer skin and better sleep.

Now you’re on the road to success. Everything is possible now.

Go Rob Kardashian. You can do it.

mydancebody.com

Improved Posture Helps to Relieve Pain and Look Slimmer and More Confident

Jun 11 2014

Great posture will make you look sexy and confident.

But along with confidence it can also help with back pain, body alignment problems, breathing problems and make you appear slimmer. Correcting bad posture can also reduce stress (and who doesn’t have stress right). According to

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/look-skinnier-and-more-4-benefits-of-good-posture.html#b

good posture is essential to a healthy lifestyle but it is something that we overlook.

To feel correct posture stand with your back against the wall keeping your shoulder blades, butt and your heels on the wall. And when you slide your hand between the wall and your lower back you should only have enough space for your hand.

And the fact that improving your posture can relieve a lot of stress on your body and make you appear slimmer to me is a win win situation.

Whether you’re a man in a suit or a woman in a dress great posture is physical confidence.

mydancebody.com

The 20 Worst Drinks in America. This Will Make You Cringe.

Apr 07 2014

First I have to confess something right here right now. I needed to figure out a math problem before I could write this post. And me figuring out a math problem is exactly what those ecards online say:

Every time I see a math word problem it looks like this.

Question: If I have 10 ice cubes and you have 11 apples. How many pancakes will fit on the roof?

Answer: Purple because aliens don’t wear hats.

Therefore I needed to ask hubby if there are 5 grams in 1 tsp how do I figure out how many teaspoons are in 5 grams. He set up the math problem. www.wonderhowto.com reported how many grams of sugar were in the product and I’m going to convert that for you into tsp.

So What I do know is that the American Heart Association recommends that women get no more than 100 calories per day of sugar or 6 tsp and men get no more than 150 calories per day of sugar or 9 tsp. That’s per day, all day as in after you eat your recommended fruits, veggies and starchy carbs, you only get 6 and 9, women and men respectively, tsp of fun sugar.

So I looked up the 20 worst Drinks in America through www.wonderhowto.com to make sure that my favorite drink was not on the list. Let’s see….

#20 – Worst Water – Snapple Agave Melon Antioxidant Water –

1 bottle = 33 gr of sugar (math problem) = 6.6 tsp

#19 – Worst Bottled Tea – Sobe Green Tea

1 bottle = 61 gr of sugar = 12.2 tsp

#18 – Worst Energy Drink

1 bottle = 61 gr of sugar = 12.2 tsp

#17 – Worst Bottled Coffee – Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino

1 bottle = 45 gr of sugar = 9 tsp

#16 – Worst Soda – Sunkist

1 bottle = 84 gr of sugar = 16.8 tsp

#15 – Worst Beer – Sierra Nevada Bigfoot

1 bottle = 32.1 gr carbohydrates

#14 – Worst Kids Drink – Tropicana Tropical Fruit Fury Twist

1 bottle = 60 gr of sugar = 12 tsp

#13 – Worst Functional Beverage – Arizona RX Energy

1 can = 83 gr of sugar = 16.6 tsp

#12 – Worst Juice Imposter – Arizona Kiwi Strawberry

1 can = 81 gr of sugar = 16.2 tsp

#11 – Worst Espresso Drink – Starbucks Peppermint White Choco Mocha

20 oz = 95 gr sugar = 19 tsp

#10 – Worst Lemonade – Auntie Anne’s Wild Cherry Lemonade Mixer

32 oz = 110 gr of sugar = 22 tsp

#9 – Worst Hot Chocolate – Starbucks White Hot Chocolate

20 oz = 75 gr of sugar = 15 tsp

#8 – Worst Frozen Coffee Bank – Dairy Queen Caramel MoooLatte

24 oz = 112 gr of sugar = 22.4 tsp

#7 – Worst Margarita – Traditional Red Lobster Lobsterita

24 oz = 183 gr of carbs (equivalent to 7 almond joy candy bars

#6 – Worst Float – Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Soda (vanilla ice-cream and cola) 28.6 oz = 136 gr sugar = 27.2 tsp

#5 – Worst Frozen Fruit Drink – Krispy Kreme Lemon Sherbet Chiller

20 oz = 115 gr sugar = 23 tsp

#4 – Worst Frozen Mocha – Cosi Double Oh! Arctic Mocha

23 oz = 240 gr sugar = 48 tsp

#3 – Worst Drive Thru Shake – McDonald’s Triple Thick Chocolate Shake

32 oz = 168 gr sugar = 33.6 tsp

#2 – Worst Smoothie – Smoothie King Peanut Power Plus Grape

40 oz = 214 gr sugar = 42.8 tsp

#1 – Worst Drink in America – Cold Stone PB&C

24 oz = 30.6 tsp

So there you have it. Yikes. Wake up call. Some of these drinks sound delish but the best deterrent for me is knowing the amount of sugar in there.

Excuse me waiter, may I have some water with lemon and the cheque please.

Author - marshapitt