How the Amount of Sleep You Get Affects Your Hormones and Your Pant Size

THE SLEEP-WEIGHT CONNECTION

SLEEP LESS – GAIN WEIGHT: HOW THE AMOUNT OF SLEEP AFFECTS YOUR HORMONES AND YOUR PANT SIZE

By Monika Tarkowska-Carter, CPT, LWMC, HLC 2

Every day we are faced with troubling statistics about the health of Americans. We are the fattest nation on Earth, with 65% of us being either obese or overweight. We all know that this very fact increases our susceptibility to so many diseases: heart attacks, strokes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and insulin resistance, asthma, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, cancer, etc., etc. The list goes on and on.

We take more medications than ever in our history, yet we struggle more, not less, not only with diseases, but also depression and, as recent statistics show us, insomnia, or just plain lack of sleep.

Could this fact somehow contribute to our ever-expending waistlines? Could we become slimmer just by sleeping more?  

Learn all about the details of the sleep connection to weight loss here.

WEIGHT LOSS - SMOOTH SAILING OR AN OBSTACLE COURSE - Part 1

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT WHY YOU ARE NOT LOSING WEIGHT AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.

By Monika Tarkowska-Carter, CPT, LWMC, HLC 2

You have the best intentions. You have a strong will. You are really committed. You exercise a lot. You think you eat right. You try to maintain a healthy lifestyle. All of this just to lose a little weight; or maybe a lot. You have tried everything. And……nothing is working.

Frustrated? I bet. Angry? For sure. Feel like giving up and having a giant portion of your favorite ice cream or a basket full of fries? I don’t blame you. But I have a better suggestion. Before you decide to quit for good and lose your self-esteem in the process, let’s try to look at some possibilities of why you may have such a tough time losing weight.

There are many valid reasons why people have real difficulties losing weight. And it makes me really angry when others are so quick to put down those who struggle with weight loss unsuccessfully. In some cases, they are right: it DOES come down to eating less and moving more, but many times the solution is not so simple.

There are many obvious reasons, but there are many more that are not so obvious at all. Let’s explore all of them, especially since certain obvious ones may not seem so obvious to some people, and vice versa.

To make things a bit clearer I am going to divide the reasons why you might be unsuccessful into 7 different categories. For those of you who think it’s all about calories in versus calories out (or for the “eat less, move more” camp), I strongly encourage you to read this article to the very end before you voice your opinion. This comes not only from 20 years of my work as a trainer and holistic lifestyle coach/nutrition counselor but also from someone who has experienced, in my own journey to fitness, MANY of the reasons listed below first hand (unfortunately), and knows they are all real.

So here are the general categories for your weight loss failures:

• Physical,
• Nutritional,
• Physiological,
• Hormonal
• Environmental
• Emotional
• General

I know that some of these categories could, in some circumstances, overlap, or make together an entirely different category, for example, medical, but I divided them the way I did for a simple reason. I wanted them to be easily understood to an average reader while at the same time providing a considerable amount of detail.

In Part 1 of this article I will simply list the obvious reasons for weight loss frustrations and the not-so-obvious reasons  that some of you have probably never even given much thought to, or at least haven’t suspected them as the culprit in your own arduous battle of the bulge.

In the follow-up posts (future articles coming soon) I will talk about how to smartly address them without losing your mind and giving up for good.

So here they are:

 PHYSICAL

1. You exercise too little

2. You exercise too much

3. Your exercise is inappropriate for your age, fitness level and goals

4. Your exercise intensity is too low or too high

5. Your exercise program lacks the proper balance of cardiovascular exercise and strength training

6. You are overdoing cardio

7. Your exercise program is poorly designed or lacks any specific design to begin with

8. Your form is incorrect on pretty much everything because you never learned how to perform the exercises appropriately. You think it’s OK because you’ve watched others do it

9. You have no idea about proper intensity, load, sets, reps, tempo, rest periods between sets, etc. and how they affect your workout outcome

10. You simply don’t have the knowledge when it comes to exercise and workouts

11. You lift weights that are way too light to make any significant difference in gaining lean body mass and losing fat

12. You don’t get enough recovery

 NUTRITIONAL

1. You eat too much

2. You eat too little – YES, you are reading this right: TOO LITTLE

3. You don’t eat enough protein

4. You are skipping meals

5. You don’t eat often enough

6. You don’t have any idea what a balanced meal or snack is

7. You have no clue about the amount of calories in major macronutrients

8. You can’t tell what a vegetable or fruit is: is it a carbohydrate, a vegetable, a fruit or something else altogether? (Trust me; I do hear it a lot!)

9. You don’t know how to read food labels

10. You have no clue how many calories your body needs per day to maintain weight or lose weight

11. You have no idea how many calories are in the foods you are eating and how much you have consumed at the end of the day

12. You starve yourself thinking you are going to lose more weight faster

13. You cut out entire food groups from your diet, often without deeper understanding why

14. You don’t drink enough water

15. You have food allergies or sensitivities (known or unknown)

16. The quality of the foods you eat is very poor – yes, it DOES matter!

17. You think you know about nutrition but do you really? – This is a very broad point that will need a broad explanation

PHYSIOLOGICAL

1. Poor sleep

2. Lack of R&R (rest and relaxation)

3. Disrupted circadian cycle (the natural rhythm of when your body is supposed to wake up, eat, work, exercise, rest and sleep)

4. “Leaky gut” syndrome (increased intestinal permeability) – this can cause a whole slew of health problems and, consequently, major difficulties in losing weight

5. Dehydration

6. Disconnect from your body – you don’t hear what your body is telling you about how it feels after eating, exercising or not getting enough rest

 HORMONAL

1. Your levels of stress are high and therefore so is your cortisol

2. Due to high levels of chronic stress (of ANY kind!) you are constantly in a state of sympathetic dominance (The “fight-or-flight” response)

3. Your evening meal is unbalanced and inappropriate for your metabolic type and you wake up in the middle of the night wide awake (usually around 4- 5am), sometimes sweating, and can’t go back to sleep – the cause: high levels of cortisol

4. Due to bad timing of foods or not eating for prolonged periods of time, your blood sugar is constantly low which causes your cortisol to sky rocket

5. Your insulin levels are always high because of too high an intake of sugars and too many carbohydrates in your diet, causing insulin resistance (difficulty handling blood sugar caused by the inability of the cells to respond to insulin and therefore the need for pancreas to constantly produce more of this hormone) – a precursor to diabetes

6. You have adrenal fatigue from under sleeping, overworking and/or high stress or (surprise!) improper breathing pattern

7. Your adrenal glands are exhausted and so are the hormones they are supposed to produce – you are constantly running low

8. The production of your sex hormones or their precursors (DHEA, testosterone, pregnenolone, progesterone, etc.) is suppressed due to adrenal fatigue

9. You are estrogen dominant (mostly women, but could happen to men as well) and your estrogen levels are too high in relation to progesterone

10. Your body cannot produce enough of the hormones needed to deal with stress because you have been brainwashed to believe you should avoid saturated fat in any form or amount

11. You’re a woman going through menopause or are postmenopausal and since your estrogen has decreased considerably, the ratio of testosterone to estrogen has increased and is out of balance – you now have a lot more abdominal fat and more of a man’s body

12. You have a thyroid dysfunction

13. Any hormonal imbalance in general

ENVIRONMENTAL

1. You live in a heavily polluted area

2. You have been exposed to too many toxins of various kinds: heavy metals, organic compounds, etc. which are stored in the adipose (fat) tissue in your body

3. You have poor detoxification capability

4. The toxins stored in your body have been playing havoc with your hormones

5. Your digestive system has been adversely affected by toxins

6. You have parasites you don’t know about

7. You have yeast or fungus overgrowth

8. You have food sensitivities or allergies (I am repeating it here on purpose as it could be considered a nutritional or an environmental reason)

9. “Leaky gut” syndrome – this is repeated here as well since it could be either a physiological or an environmental reason, or both

EMOTIONAL

1. Lack of self-esteem: you don’t value or respect yourself enough

2. You have a bad relationship with food

3. You have a bad attitude towards the whole process of losing weight

4. You don’t get enough quiet time (and I don’t mean “rest” here) – time by yourself, time to think and reflect, time for introspection

5. You are in denial about things in your life that might affect your weight: your love relationship, or lack thereof, your sexual frustration, strained family relationships, financial stress, etc.

6. Your constant desire to control everything (and your realization that you don’t/can’t control anything) and inability to just “roll with it” sometimes

7. Your past traumas that haven’t been dealt with (from childhood, teenage years or more recent), even if you don’t think they could possibly be related to your weight

8. Constant harsh judgment of yourself AND others

9. Inability to be compassionate towards SELF

10. Expectations that are way too high and unrealistic

11. Lack of purpose in life – this is a really BIG one!

GENERAL

1. Lack of knowledge about nutrition, exercise and health

2. Resultant poor choices about health related issues

3. Prioritizing – not realizing that health should be one of the top priorities

4. Goals that are not S.M.A.R.T: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely

5. Having no plan at all

6.  Making the same mistakes over and over again

In the next few blog posts I will explore all the different reasons mentioned above, show you how to recognize them and give you ideas for solving them. 

In Part 2, (coming next) I will talk about the PHYSICAL reasons for not losing weight in more detail.

There are many real and valid reasons for weight loss failures, all of them worth exploring. Keep one thing in mind, however: the biggest mistake people make when trying to lose weight is constantly repeating the same things that made them fail in the first place.                                    

 “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”.                                                                                         

                                                                                               Albert Einstein

TOP 10 WAYS TO GET FIT, SLIM, LEAN AND HEALTHY IN 2011

THE FOOLPROOF THINGS YOU CAN DO TO ACHIEVE YOUR BEST AND GET IN TOP FORM: PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY

By Monika Tarkowska-Carter, CPT, LWMC, HLC 2

Let’s face it: working out is hard. Not all of us love it. Some of us plain hate it. Some are vain enough we’ll do it. Some are smart enough to know we’d better do it. Some, as in the Nike commercial, just do it. BUT, most of us would rather do something else if we had a choice. I have always loved the way exercise makes me feel afterwards. I have loved the fact that I can eat a little more or have a treat occasionally. I have loved the results. I have loved the compliments. The process itself though, not so much. At least, not all the time.

So what can you do to make sure that for all the effort you are putting into looking and feeling your best you will actually see results? And how can you make sure that looking better is not just about pure esthetics, but also comes with feeling better and being healthier?

Here are a few things I consider the most important. Some may actually surprise you.

1. Stop aimless fitness. Have a plan. Be consistent and disciplined. Be clear about your motivation.

Know why you are engaging in a particular exercise. Learn about proper form, technique and intensity. Ask a qualified trainer or instructor what the appropriate exercise options for your age and physical condition are and then follow the plan. Don’t just do “whatever” because you’ve heard that a little exercise is good for you. Yes, you CAN get a little healthier just by adding extra physical activity into your life, but don’t expect major results from “cruising” on the treadmill for 20 minutes 3 times/week. Getting fitter and leaner is work.... hard work. And you’d better not have any illusions about that.

2. Strength train. It has been said again and again but a lot of people still don’t get it: cardio is NOT enough.

 You have to include proper strength training exercises, and challenge your muscles on a regular basis, to prevent muscle atrophy (after age 25 we lose between 0.5 and 1% of our muscle mass per year – that’s 10% in a decade - and double that after age 60!) and a resultant slowing of the metabolic rate. Only the combination of strength training AND aerobic exercise can give you lasting weight loss and a toned body.  

3. Stop overdoing cardio.

Many people think that more is better. Hours and hours of cardiovascular exercise are NOT helpful when you’re trying to lose weight. Not only do you increase your chances of overtraining, but you are actually burning precious muscle. Long hours of aerobic training put your body in a catabolic state eating away your muscle tissue instead of building it, which occurs only in an anabolic state. (Endurance athletes are NOT the healthiest examples – they are all catabolic.) The result: less muscle and slower metabolism. The solution: short high intensity interval training (HHIT). One of the biggest benefits of this mode of training is the fact that your body will release Human Growth Hormone as a response to this kind of training, which stimulates muscle growth and increases fat loss. In addition, you won’t have to spend as much time in the gym. HHIT should not be done for much longer than 30 minutes, and usually 20-25 is more than enough. Make sure that you work up to this kind of training if you are sedentary and always get your doctor’s clearance prior to engaging in any high intensity exercise if you are older, on medications, or have any medical conditions. Even older people can do it, but it has to be done gradually. (Interval training is now being used even for cardiac patients in cardiac rehabilitation programs under physician supervision and has been found to be very effective in training the heart muscle). The so called post-exercise oxygen consumption (PEOC) is also higher afterwards than after moderate intensity exercise. This basically means your metabolism is elevated for a few hours after the workout, and you’re burning more calories. There are different ways to do interval training but in a 25 minute session a good plan would be: a 5 minute warm-up, a 30 sec. high intensity interval followed by a 90 sec. rest period (lower intensity), repeated 8 times, and then a 4 minute cool-down. For those who are afraid of not challenging their cardiovascular system enough (because of a shorter length of the workout), I assure you that your heart and muscles will get a much better workout and bigger challenge than if you pedaled on a bike aimlessly for 60 minutes watching TV and trying to read at the same time, as many people do.

4. Take time to plan your post workout meal and try to eat it within 30 (and maximum 60) minutes afterwards.

What you eat after your exercise session will affect what results you get. Your muscles are the most receptive to nutrients within that time window, and they need both carbohydrates and protein to replenish glycogen and stimulate muscle tissue synthesis and recovery respectively. I advocate natural foods whenever possible, but if the time elapsed between the end of your workout and your next meal is more than an hour, have a well balanced protein shake with some high-glycemic carbohydrate in it and a little healthy fat. This is one time during the day when you want the food to reach the muscles as fast as possible so having a liquid option is not a bad idea. (The subject of post-workout protein shakes versus regular meals is beyond the scope of this article. It is a somewhat controversial issue and many aspects need to be considered to weigh the pluses and minuses of both approaches.)

5. Eat small but regular meals and snacks consisting of REAL foods: whole, unprocessed, and without additives in it.

Eat GOOD food. Enjoy it. Relish it.

It should nourish you and make you happy. The quality of food you put in your body is an often neglected aspect of diet. Food is not just calories; it contains specific nutrients that are destroyed to a big degree when foods are processed and their form changed. Synthetic vitamins, additives, preservatives and other chemicals are often not only treated by the body as foreign substances, but also put a tremendous burden on our organs and cells. The more natural and nutritious the food, the more your body will be able to extract from it much needed nutrients, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other beneficial substances.

6. Get AT LEAST 8 hours of good quality sleep at night.

Sleep deprivation causes not only fatigue and suppresses the immune system, but has been shown to be a huge contributor to weight gain. Changes in sleep patterns affect two important hormones in your body: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin is responsible for sending signals to the brain that you’re full while ghrelin is supposed to inform your brain that you’re hungry. With lack of sufficient sleep the levels of leptin decrease while the levels of ghrelin increase. You brain will be telling you that you’re hungry even though your body may not be and it will fail to tell you that you’re full so you’ll keep on eating. The final result: more calories than your body needs. Another important aspect of sufficient sleep is muscle recovery. If your muscles have no chance to recover properly, your muscle tissue will break down, putting you in a catabolic state. You will also not have the necessary energy to push yourself enough in your workouts to induce any significant training effect.  Lack of sleep can also increase insulin and cortisol levels in your body. High levels of these hormones promote fat storage, especially in the abdominal area.

7. WATER, WATER, WATER.

I can’t say it enough. It is one of the simplest yet most important things you can do for your health AND your weight at the same time. Drink at least half of your body weight in ounces and more if you exercise, live in a hot climate or at higher elevations. Choose the purest, highest quality water you can find with a ph of at least 7.0. Hydration (except for breathing) is your body’s highest priority. It will give you energy. It will speed up your metabolism. It will help you flush metabolic waste products from your body. It will help you detoxify. It will deliver nutrients to your muscles and cells. It will keep your joints and discs hydrated and make your body function optimally. Translation: weight loss.

8. MOVE, MOVE, MOVE as much as you can: anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

Human beings were designed to move. It is only the last few hundred years and the development of technology that have made movement almost obsolete. In Paleolithic times we used to move all day as a way of living, just going about our daily activities and attending to various chores. Then, for short periods, we hunted and ran from danger (short high intensity intervals). Life, as it is now, requires very little exercise and our bodies are paying the price. Being active in some manner and moving all day burns a lot more calories than doing a “long” 1 ½ hour workout in the gym and then sitting at the desk, in the car, in the movies and at the table for the rest of the day.

9. Control stress. Have some QUIET time every day. Make time for relaxation. Rest.

Quiet time is almost a foreign idea nowadays. We cannot “survive” for 5 minutes without being connected to the rest of the world in some way. The truth is: the world will survive, move on and do just fine without us. And WE won’t miss that much either. Most people don’t know how to be by themselves and without external stimulants for more than a few minutes, if that. You need time to be quiet, time to be alone, and time to give yourself, and your mind, a chance to rest. Rest recharges your body AND your mind. Quiet time brings you peace, decreases stress and calms down your soul. Your stress hormone cortisol has a “wonderful” ability to make you pack on access pounds if you keep it elevated from high levels of stress and a clattered mind. You will also find that when your stress is under control, your life AND your weight will be under control as well. Make quiet your weight loss friend. Face it. Don’t run away from it.

10. Decide to be happy. Happiness is one of the biggest clues to being healthy and slim. 

It doesn’t just happen by itself. It requires constant work and a certain state of mind. Emotional issues are one of the biggest contributors to weight gain. Find out what your goals and needs in life are and work to fulfill them. Without them you’re walking through life aimlessly. Most importantly, know what your purpose is. If you don’t have a purpose you will never be happy. Purpose makes it clear for you why you’re here. Knowing this will bring you peace of mind and happiness. Only then can you achieve anything you set yourself to do, including getting AND STAYING fit, slim, lean and healthy.

WORK HARD. PLAY HARD. ENJOY LIFE. HAVE FUN. EAT WELL. REST. VALUE YOURSELF. KNOW WHO YOU REALLY ARE AND WHY YOU’RE HERE. LEARN TO BE HAPPY.  HAVE A PURPOSE.

                 

Welcome to Fitness Science Inc's blog!

My professional philosophy stresses an integrated approach to well-being. My role in improving my clients’ quality of life is that of an educator, motivator and designer of personalized fitness programs. I stress the long-term health benefits of improving one’s strength, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness which invariably lead to better appearance, positive outlook on life and enhanced self-esteem.

I believe good health and well-being would not be possible to achieve without attention to proper nutrition, good sleep habits, stress management and healthy environment – both emotional and physical. The challenge is finding the right balance between all of the above components. I hope to be your guide on the path to finding it. TRUE HEALTH IS A LOT MORE THAN THE ABSENCE OF DISEASE.