It's summertime, and in the heat I've found myself eating a bit more frozen stuff to cool me down and drinking lemonade and such instead of as much water as I should. Unfortunately I also have an injury which is keeping me from working out right now (I've got to get to the doctor ONE of these days).

What I've found is that the more of this stuff I eat, the more I crave. I've written about this before and now I have a reminder that it's true. The point is that you need to be very self-aware when it comes to what you eat. A few days in a row of indulging yourself can lead to a pattern of unhealthy eating VERY easily.

Just something to keep in mind to help you stay on the straight and narrow. :-)

Well, until midnight Pacific Daylight Time on April 26th you can purchase kettlebells for 25% of the regular price.

This is the FIRST time I have ever seen kettlebells on sale at Dragondoor.com. Ever.

Click on the banner below to order your kettlebells before this sale is over. The discount will be shown in your shopping cart.

Sorry for the late notice, but I didn't know about it myself until a little while ago.

Diet + Exercise

Doing just one or the other is a surefire way to get discouraged and go back to your old ways.

I've been working out consistently for a number of weeks with a friend of mine. I've made great progress, knocking 2 inches off my waistline and seeing a huge difference in the mirror as far as abs, arms and shoulders. Meanwhile my friend, although he HAS gotten stronger, doesn't really look all that much different in the area he wants to affect the most: His gut.

Why is that? Because (by his own admission) he's not getting a handle on what he eats. Although he's made some improvements to his diet, he still has brownies, cookies and the like on a regular basis and eats fast food more often than he should ("should" being "never").

Keep in mind, he's working out 5 days a week, 3 days weights and 2 days aerobics.

Fortunately, my pounding things into his skull is finally starting to get through and he's now making a concerted effort to get a grip on his diet. I told him that he could conceivably get rid of that gut in time for summer if he started getting serious NOW and stayed consistent.

So you see, you can work out like crazy and still be fat. You wanna look great? Pay attention to what you're sticking in your mouth. :-)

Here's a direct link to the post: Kettlebell Quick-Start Kit

There is also a ton of great info on kettlebells there, ranging from beginner to advanced.

Recently I saw an ad in a magazine, paid for by the Coca Cola Bottling Company, that was so similar to a Philip Morris ad that it was eerie. The ad stated that recent studies indicate that in regards to hydration, liquid is liquid, so coffee, tea and soft drinks can be substituted for water.

Now I have to admit that I have read this in the past, but I would say you're probably not doing too bad if you're drinking (real) fruit juice in moderate quantities along with either coffee or tea. But lumping soft drinks into the mix is an incredibly BAD idea.

They went on to state that of course water is better for you, but hey, it's OK if you drink something else (preferably one of their products, of course). In my mind this is so close to the Philip Morris "Cigarettes are really bad for you and we don't want you to smoke... but we won't stop selling them." hypocritical ad campaign that it gave me pause.

Following on the heels of that, I saw an article in the paper discussing that some studies have linked the massive (no pun) rise in obesity in the U.S. primarily to the increased consumption of soft drinks in general and soda in particular. Of course an industry spokesman quickly came out rebutting the results, saying that the cause and effect of obesity is being confused. In other words more people who are obese drink soda, but they drink soda because they're obese and it's not the soda that contributed to their obesity.

That's such a stupid statement that it would laughable if it was coming from some shmoe on the street. Coming from a representative of the soft drink industry it's as scary to me as the tobacco industry executives' denials that cigarettes cause lung cancer back in the 70s.

I couldn't help myself... I had to say something.

Me: "Wow, I wonder how much sugar is in one of those things?"

Mom: "Yeah, I have no idea."

Clerk: (Picking up and reading label) "32 grams."

Me: "Uh, yeah. How many servings are in that bottle?"

Clerk: (Eyes widening) "Two and a half servings."

Mom: "Well, my kids like 'em so I buy them."

Sigh.

Hey, give me some credit at least for not saying the next logical thing: "So, are your kids overweight? How about hyperactive?"

So not only was this a prime example of people's ignorance of what they're feeding themselves and their kids, but also an example of the #%#$$%% misleading nutritional information on junk food like this. Even if someone gives a cursory look at the nutrition label, they most likely assume that they're looking at the numbers for what a normal person considers ONE serving: ONE bottle.

I've seen this before and it drives me absolutely insane! So here the clerk (if she had been buying it) might have thought that there were 32 grams of sugar in that drink, when in fact it contained 80 grams of sugar.

And what else stinks about nutritional labeling? How about the fact that although the U.S. does not use the metric system in any way, it's used in giving quantities on these labels. How much is 32 grams of sugar? 80? Grams are small right?

Why instead of 32 grams per serving doesn't the label say 19 teaspoons, or 6.5 tablespoons of sugar?

Because if people actually took the time to read labels they might think twice about buying it, that's why.

See the problem is that people assume that no one would actually sell stuff as food that is bad for you. The problem is that in general people seem to be too bloody dense to make what would seem to be the obvious connection between what you stick in your mouth and what ends up appearing around their beltline or on their hips.

I was channel surfing and stopped briefly to listen to a show that is not on my daily listening list. I live in Utah and the host is a Mormon, and he was discussing the fact recent report stating that members of the LDS church are on average five pounds heavier than members of other religions. Having lived in Utah for close to two years, I would venture to say that it's more than five pounds, but I digress.

Anyway, he had some women callers on the show, one mentioning that the fact that Mormons tend to have so many children means they have to economize and that they end up eating foods that are less expensive, but more filling (and fattening). As an example she mentioned casseroles. Another woman called in saying that she was not raised LDS and that when she grew up there were lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in the house and not much meat, but that when she first visited her husband's (at the time, boyfriend) Mormon family, there were tons of mashed potatoes, gravy, casseroles and other not-slimming foods.

The talk show host came back saying that although he was not a nutritionist (no kidding) as far as he was concerned casseroles were good, healthy, stick-to-your-ribs food.

AAAaaarggGHH! I absolutely HATE to hear misinformation like this being spread.

I've been to get-togethers where folks are mainly from the midwest. They are not what I would call "fit". Actually to not put too fine a point on it, they are obese to morbidly obese. Now what sorts of foods do you think appear on the dinner table at these gatherings?

Mashed potatoes, tons of gravy and casseroles.

If you don't happen to be feeling quite up to working out the other person can give you a kick in the pants and motivate you to show up. It can be a friend or a spouse, doesn't matter. If it's someone who is not doing the same exact workout as you (a class vs. free weights on your own) at the very least it will get your butt to the gym!

If it's a partner who IS doing the same workout, it just makes the whole thing more fun and enjoyable. The only downside is that it might take a little longer if you spend too much time chit-chatting. :-)

So find someone to team up with, and get to it!

My wife has gone there with a friend on a guest pass a few times and really likes their "Body Pump" classes, so for our anniversary I thought I'd go ahead and get us a couple of memberships. Yeah, yeah I know... I'm a romantic.

She doesn't ask for a lot of stuff (as opposed to me, always sniffing around for the latest DVD or electronic gear), so I thought it was the least I could do.

I absolutely DESPISE their misleading marketing tactics, but they don't have a 24 Hour Fitness any closer than about 30 miles away, and I really need to get out of the house more, so I went ahead and signed up.

Or you could look at the fact that 20 years ago 46% of the population was considered obese and today 65% are obese. For the sake of argument, let's say that it's those nasty, mean old non-obese people that for the most part answered the survey who found overweight people less attractive, so let's do a little math.

If you follow my very non-scientific numbers, you'll note that while 20 years ago there was a virtual one to one correlation between the numbers, today it seems like 11% of non-obese people do not find overweight folks unattractive. Personally I ascribe that to the current "I'm ok, you're ok" school of thought (brainwashing) that's running rampant in the U.S.

Source: Yahoo! News

Instead of deciding to go from completely out of shape to "The Incredible Hulk" or "Tiffany the Supermodel" within 30 days, decide on a slow and steady approach. Pardon the pun, but the way to start getting in shape is with small bites.

If you don't do ANY exercise, commit to going for a 10 minute walk once a day. If you already do a bit of walking, increase it to 20 minutes a day at a faster pace.

This will get you (and your body) used to regular physical activity and it won't burn you out on the whole idea. Of course don't expect to see your abs in 2 weeks if you're starting out this way, either.

After a few weeks graduate from just walking to some higher intensity work like a light jog on the treadmill or elliptical trainer. Eventually throw in some weight bearing exercises as well.

Although I think the TV show The Biggest Loser is awesome and inspiring, if you throw yourself into a hard core routine without the benefit of a personal trainer that can be there 5-6 times a week for you, you're just going to burn out and give up.

So start slooooow.

The interesting thing, is that I haven't put on much weight (if any) overall. I think that what I do instinctively, is when I'm going through a phase where I'm macking out on high calorie, sugary foods that I adjust how much I eat overall to accomodate it. For example recently I've noticed that I've hardly eaten anything during the day, and have saved my calories for the evening.

Of course this overindulgence in stuff I shouldn't be eating so much is unhealthy. You want evidence? I've recently acquired some acne on my face for the first time in many, many years which I attribute directly to all the sugar I've been consuming.

Anyway, here's how I plan on getting back on track...

I'm going to insert a bit of a buffer day (today) where I am going to de-toxify by eating as healthy as possible. Mainly lots of water (which I've been neglecting) along with fresh fruits and vegetables. I'll probably have some turkey breast for dinner.

Pick a day when the goodies are pretty much depleted from your pantry and just don't go buy (or bake) any more. It's highly unusual for us to keep this type of food around, and we'll be going back to our usual pantry-stocking habits.

I also went for a long hike first thing this morning instead of just taking my dog for a short walk up the hill in order to get back into the physical exercise groove.

I have no doubt that within a couple of weeks I'll be feeling and looking better.

I was interested mainly in trying some different ways to help my lower back pain and scoliosis and I decided that maybe if I just clean and pressed a kettlebell and held it overhead for a while, one side at a time, that might do me some good.

Well I started out the first day with the 36lb kettlebell, and that went just fine, holding it overhead for about a full minute on each side. The second day I did it again, but then I decided that I should try it with the 54lb KB as well. It wasn't too much trouble, until I decided I should lower it to shoulder position doing a slow negative.

Bad idea.

It didn't feel like I really hurt myself, but a couple of days later... wow. I could barely move my left (weaker) arm. It feels better today, although it's still bothering me, but now I have to lay off for a while to make sure my arm/shoulder heals and I don't aggravate it.

So, just a little reminder that even if you could lift at a certain level once, doesn't mean you can lay off for a month and then go right back to the same level. The funny thing is that if I had just waited a week before tackling the bigger kettlebell, I probably would have been fine.

Now that's the trick, ain't it?

According to the interview with CNN, Hawks surrounds himself with the unhealthy foods that he craves and macks out on stuff like chocolate chip ice cream for dinner sometimes. He says that as long as you follow the two rules above (eat only when hungry and stop when full), you should do fine. His logic is that if you don't deprive yourself, you won't gorge yourself on the stuff when you do get your paws on it.

He calls it "intuitive eating".

Now I don't know if this guy is blessed with some sort of magical willpower, but I honestly do not believe that his recommendation is going to help the average person lose weight. The average (already overweight) person will look at this as carte blanche to eat whatever they want in whatever quantities they like.

Of course then there are the nutritional aspects of eating junk food vs healthy food. I know that when I go through periods (like the Thanksgiving - Christmas time of year) where I tend to eat more cookies, cakes, chips, etc. than usual that after a while I just feel kind of cruddy. When I eat healthy I feel better.

And this guy is a professor of Health Sciences... yeesh.

Thanks to my pal Brian for alerting me to the original article.

Was it easy? Of course not. Where there times when he (and the others) considered chucking the whole thing and going back to their old ways? Of course.

Lest you think Matt's success was "results not typical", out of the 14 contestants this season, only two did not lose a significant amount of weight. One of them was Nick, who had a bad attitude throughout the time spent on "The Ranch" (the desert mansion where the contestants spent 12 weeks) as well as afterwards when he referred to his time there as "the worst experience of my life". In his post-show interview he spoke about "eating healthy and walking being the correct way to lose weight." The fact that he didn't show up for the finale spoke volumes.

Everyone else made a phenomenal change in their health and physical appearance, and the majority of them looked so different from their weight loss that they were almost unrecognizable compared to their "before" images.

Although The Biggest Loser does suffer from some cheesy-ness in the production of the show (with "beat you over the head" attempts at portraying drama) overall it's well worth watching and I hope the it does not deteriorate in quality as they start to do specialized versions of the show (families, couples, etc.).

If you're struggling with weight loss and workout motivation, The Biggest Loser is well worth watching.