Happy Fat Tuesday everyone! Although given the obesity epidemic in this country, isn’t every day Fat Tuesday?  No, I’m just having some fun … kind of.

As a special treat, Lisa Johnson Fitness decided to send me down to New Orleans to write this post LIVE from the middle of Mardi Gras, and let me tell you, something smells a bit off.

But seriously, there is a mass of humanity everywhere I look, and I do mean mass. There are a lot of loose fitting shirts traveling through New Orleans today, and — oh, oh!!

No, please pull your shirt back down, miss. I will give you beads if you promise not to show that to me again. I see you’ve been enjoying a few of New Orleans’ famous Hurricanes while celebrating. 350 calories each, you know. You’ve had three so far? You sure it’s only three?  Three-ish you say?  Well, here are some beads. Please don’t drink anymore and think they’re M&Ms later.  Okay, thank you. Have fun. Buh-bye.

Trust me, readers, you should be happy I’m not live streaming today’s post. Anyway, here comes the first float of the parade and … it has … stalled out. Appears there are too many celebrants riding this tribute to Bacchanalia and the poor golf cart engine putt-putt pulling it has given out.  Should have chosen to staff the float with beauty queens instead of the LSU football team offensive line. Or at the least their lookalikes.  What’s that? They’re just regular citizens? Well, I guess if Louisiana wasn’t the 5th fattest state in the country this might not be a problem.  And thankfully a truck has just pulled up and Lent it a hand.  Get it?  Man, there’s nothing funnier than Ash Wednesday jokes.

Hang on a sec. I’m hearing music; sounds like a brass band, and … yes! A New Orleans style funeral has just come ’round the corner. Either that or I’ll be starring in season three of “Treme” on HBO. I’ve always enjoyed this combination of spiritual, respectful, and celebrational. And I’m guessing this band is getting plenty of work, given how seven of the top ten causes for death are directly linked to obesity.

I’m gonna take this opportunity to join the procession, so it’s time to sign off from the Big Easy. Enjoy your Fat Tuesday, everyone, but hopefully in name only. And remember, you don’t have to be religious to try giving up something for 40 days. It can be a great kickstart to dropping some weight or getting off the couch and starting an exercise routine.

Until next time … C’mon, sing along with me everyone! “Oh when the saints … come marching in … “

Next on The Reluctant Hubby's transformation agenda: dumbbells

Today is the final day of my family’s January journey through our 30-Day Whole Foods Thrifty Challenge. We ate nothing but food that we purchased at Whole Foods on a budget of $491.10 (for three of us). We wanted to show that one could eat healthfully even on a near-poverty level budget. And we succeeded; in the process, Lisa lost five pounds and I lost nine.

We attribute the weight loss to four things: no processed foods, no eating out, minimal snacking, and smaller portions for our meals. Interestingly enough, I weighed the same this morning as I did seven days ago, so perhaps my body has adjusted to the way I’ve been feeding it.  Which means the real hard work is just about to begin.

In February (and the rest of my life), I won’t have an artificial constraint preventing me from eating what I want and how much of it. In fact, tomorrow I have already promised my son that we will get McDonald’s hash browns for breakfast (it’s what he’s been talking about for a couple weeks now).  I fully expect to enjoy the hash browns and then feel kind of crappy soon after, having purged fast food out of my system.  And I’m actually looking forward to that crappy feeling because I want that to be my reminder to continue the healthy habits I’ve adopted this past month.

Do I plan to never eat poorly again? Absolutely not; I’ve got 45+ years of ingrained habits and favorite flavors to overcome. There will certainly be pizza and ice cream in my future and that’s okay.  But they will be less frequent, and balanced with significantly higher amounts of fruits and vegetables, especially for snacks. The mantra of “you can’t eat it if it’s not in the house” will be front and center in my mind when I’m shopping for groceries.

The other change, and what will be the next focus of these weekly posts moving forward, is weight training. The pounds I’ve lost haven been mostly visceral fat around my abdomen (although I’ve noticed a few other places, including my face seeming a touch thinner).  My next goal is to take what I have and move it around a little bit; further shrink and tighten my abdomen and build my chest and arms.  This will be no “Pumping Iron” transformation; I’m aiming for a torso that I won’t mind taking my shirt off at the beach this summer. I plan to resume trips to the gym, but Lisa is also planning to show me a 20-minute workout I can do at home with the dumbbells and other fitness gadgets we have tucked in a corner.

The ultimate lesson I can pass on to you, I guess, is that it’s easier than you think to change how you eat. Just stop buying the unhealthy crap and focus on natural foods. You don’t have to break the bank doing it and you’ll feel better once you get past the sugar withdrawal (day three or four).  Good luck to you. And, more important, good luck to me too.

Previously on The Reluctant Hubby: February = January 2.0

Author Jonathan Bailor of the Smarter Science of Slim

I recently read the great book, The Smarter Science of Slim by Jonathan Bailor.  I gave the book my strongest endorsement and considering I’m rather stingy with my endorsements that’s saying something.  The book covers over 1,000 studies to break down the real facts to living well through proper nutrition but also through exercise.

The book (affiliate link) makes a bold statement.  That you only need 20 minutes of exercise per week to boost metabolism and burn fat.  Yep, just 20 minutes, nothing more … and guess what?  The science supports this, it appears to be true.

The Program

Bailor suggests that you do an intense HIIT style training on a Spin bike or by doing eccentric muscle stimulation to get to the deepest muscle fibers in your joints.  What this means is … pedal intensely standing up on a Spin bike for 30 second intervals, do four or five total with recovery in between.  The bike should be so hard to pedal that you’re out of breath and can’t do anymore by the end of 30 seconds.

For eccentric muscle stimulation think of it as the down … when you do a bicep curl you contract the muscle by lifting a weight in your hand to your shoulder.  For eccentric if would be the return of that weight.  Bailor actually only stipulates four moves as being necessary, a leg press, a seated row, a chest press and an overhead shoulder press (he has 4 complimentary at home moves too).

Doing this training will kick the body’s metabolism up a notch because you’re placing such a high demand on it.  The result is increased muscle, fat loss, and more energy.  The science backs this all up.

BUT … I know what you’re thinking, what about cardio, regular weight training, all the other stuff we’re supposed to be doing.

According to Bailor an active lifestyle will keep you fit, healthy and limber, but over-training can actually backfire so that you gain more weight.  For instance, if you do a lot of cardio you body will “eat” calorie hogging muscle first and preserve it’s fat stores because it thinks it’s in starvation mode.  You will actually slow your metabolism down as your body tries to conserve energy because you’re placing greater demands on it.

Let me say that again, over exercising forces your body to conserve fat and breakdown muscle.  The exact opposite of what you want.

An Active Lifestyle

Bailor does say (in one paragraph) that this should not be all the activity you do per week.  He is actually an advocate of 10,000 steps a day and he strongly wants you to keep moving and doing activities that you enjoy.  So if you like to run, keep running but don’t think that training for a marathon will help you lose weight (it won’t).  If you like to do a Zumba class for the energy then by all means keep attending, but going 6 times per week is overkill and will leave you up a dress size, not down one.

His mantra is “smarter science,” using what we know (what over 1,000 studies say) to maximize our bodies metabolism.  A healthy metabolism means you’ll be lean, energetic and strong.  I think it’s safe to say that we all want that.

So what do you think?  Are you skeptical of the 20 minutes per week?  Would you try it?  Do you think heavy bouts of cardio and/or weight training has helped you in the past?

Here’s a link to the first Science of Slim post I did recently.

Cheers,

Lisa