Inspiration

Losing or gaining weight takes determination and support, but what happens when you reach your goal weight? It is very easy to get back to where you started. Here is this week’s Quick Nutrition Video: How to Maintain Weight.

How to Maintain Weight

What are your tips for weight maintenance? What is your biggest struggle when trying to maintain weight?

As nutrition professionals, we believe in combining the right food choices and exercise to create an overall healthy lifestyle. For a unique approach to activity and personal fitness take a look at our interview with Christy Edwards of Aurora Fitness.

What lead you to your career as a personal trainer?

I started running in my first year of college.  I’d always cared about nutrition.  But it wasn’t until I discovered the incredible power of strength training that I knew I wanted to share the joys of being strong and healthy with others.  My friends were tired of my constant talk of fitness and exercise, and told me to take my message on the road!  I was certified in 1994 by the American Council on Exercise, and have been training people of all fitness levels ever since.

Where did the name “Aurora Fitness” come from?

For years, I’d heard people say things like “I blew it last night by having pizza and beer for dinner, so I might as well have a stack of pancakes and double bacon for breakfast.”  But I believe every day, every meal, every minute is a new opportunity to make healthy choices.  I named my business for Aurora, Roman Goddess of the Dawn.  Aurora renews herself and flies through the sky every morning!  I love the image.

What type of clients can your help?

I work with people of all fitness levels and ages.  Currently my clients range in age from 26 to 74.  I provide a safe and effective workout for beginners, a challenging change of pace for experienced exercisers, and occasionally a kick in the pants for those who need it!  Safety and proper form are paramount for all.

What type of workouts do you provide?

This depends entirely on the individual.  Some people are just getting started with exercise and healthy living and don’t know how to begin with cardio, strength, flexibility, and stress management.  Others need to work on balance and improved mobility for daily life.  Some have been working out for years and are simply not getting the results they want, and have no idea why. I have a fully equipped private studio, and can design personalized programs to suit individual needs and goals.

What are your tips for leading a healthy lifestyle?

Of course I have many!  But the number one trick is planning.  Plan your meals and snacks, schedule your workouts, and plan for your rest and down time.  When we live life by the seat of our pants, going 90 miles an hour, everything falls apart.  When we plan ahead, and know what and when we’re going to eat, and when we’re going to exercise, everything in life improves.  Health, work, relationships, stress levels, everything.

What is your personal fitness story?

As a college freshman, many of my new friends had been runners in high school, and they basically dragged me along on a run one day.  I was hooked immediately.  Eight years later, after my fist son was born, I started working out with a strength training video (yes, a VHS tape) in my basement. I very quickly experienced an amazing change in muscular strength and endurance.  My running improved and I lost my pregnancy weight in no time.  Perhaps more surprising was the change in my confidence.  I felt powerful and like I could face any challenge.  And boy, did that come in handy with a newborn in the house!

My love of fitness and healthy living has grown from there.

Christy is offering a special deal for RBA clients, 3 sessions for $165 (normal rate is $195)

Contact Christy for more information!

Christy Edwards

Aurora Fitness

christy@aurorafitness.net

www.aurorafitness.net

www.facebook.com/aurorafitness

By Elizabeth Haaser

Recovery from an eating disorder is possible. Just ask Gwen Schubert Grabb. Gwen overcame her eating disorder with the help of therapist Carolyn Costin, and together, they co-wrote the book “8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder.” What I really got from this book was that an important part of recovery is paying it forward. Carolyn helped Gwen, who in turn helped numerous men and women (like actress Portia Rossi, who praised this book, calling it “straightforward” and “well-written”). If you or a loved one is currently struggling with an eating disorder, let Carolyn and Gwen help you next.

The book is divided into chapters by the 8 keys to recovery, which include concepts like Feel Your Feelings, Challenge Your Thoughts, and Finding Meaning and Purpose. Within each chapter are several sub-headings, so the ideas are clearly broken up, and the book is incredible easy to read. I especially enjoyed the Writing Assignment sections. I am definitely someone who benefits from writing down my thoughts in order to better grasp what I’m feeling. There are also plenty of personal reflections from Gwen about her own journey with her eating disorder, which makes the book really special and inspiring. I have always thought that the best self-help books were the ones that were written by people who know firsthand what their readers are going through. Other patients she and Gwen have helped also contribute to the book with their own words- the amount of support for these 8 keys is overwhelming.

At RBA, we want you to believe in your recovery, and hope that this book may help you to reach this goal. We also have RDs in the office who specialize in treating eating disorders who would love to guide you along the way. Please call our office to make an appointment to see someone and begin this healing process. For inspirational blogs and further information about Eating Disorders, visit www.empoweredeatingblog.com

By: Amy Bortnick

I just took a trip down to Raleigh and stayed with one of my old college friends!  When I was in school with him a couple years back he was the number one fan of some of the South’s least healthy comfort foods such as sweet tea, fried chicken and Cook Out (a southern fast food chain). Recently however, he has taken a vested interest in his health and now aims to gain weight without having to bring back Cook out, fried chicken, and sweet tea to his daily diet. Often times weight gain is assumed to only occur through empty calories and junk food detrimental to your health…but that doesn’t have to be the case.  Since my friend was nice to let me stay with him I figured I’d help him out!

I did some research and found a lot of the same sports nutrition concepts I learned as a runner:

1.     Glycogen from carbohydrates is the main source of fuel for the muscles If you live an active lifestyle you must consume an adequate amount of carbs. To gain weight you must saturate your muscle with glycogen (3-5 grams per pound of body weight)

2.     Protein is needed to restore muscle fibers and the amino acids from proteins are needed for muscle growth and repair. HOWEVER, the body does not store excess protein as BULGING muscles! You need about .7-.9 g per lbs body weight and the rest will be lost in urine.

3.     Timing is key! If you are trying to gain weight healthfully it is important to fuel properly before and after workouts. Consume small meals throughout the day instead of large ones. It is ideal to eat at least every four hours consuming a combination of carbohydrates and protein! This will ensure that your muscles have a decent supply of fuel consistently throughout the day and are not being broken down for fueling during fasting periods.

Ok… the nutrition concepts don’t change you get it! But how does that apply to gaining muscle weight and bulking up without adding fat? The most important and only way to gain muscle is an effective weight lifting or resistance training routine! Your muscle fibers get bigger when you overload them with strength training period.

Where does eating come in? If you want to gain weight you need to eat more calories!! The trick to gaining muscle and not fat is ensuring that when you increase calories you maintain BALANCE in your diet. The best way to add muscle mass is to stick to a healthy diet containing 55-65% of calories from carbohydrates, 10-15% of calories from protein and less than 30% of calories from fats.

Here are some tips and tricks for adding calories in healthy way to build muscle and avoid unwanted fat:

1.     Choose more calorie dense foods to increase calorie content without increasing volume in your stomach making you uncomfortable.–For example, choose more calorie dense fruits and vegetables. Bananas, pineapples and mangos have more calories than water loaded fruits like oranges and grapefruits. Peas, carrots and corn have more calories than dark green vegetables.

2.     Limit your intake of bad fats because they are harmful to your heart health and may hinder your workout.–Focus on healthy fats such as peanuts, walnuts, almonds, avocados, olive oil, and oily fishes such as tuna and salmonIn order to gain 1 pound per week theoretically it takes 500 added calories per day! This is a good place to start! It maybe helpful to keep a daily log for a couple days to see how you normally eat and figure out where you can add in that extra 500 or so calories in a balanced way!!

Good Luck and be patient! The best-trained athletes gain weight slowly!

Resource: Nancy Clark’s Nutrition Guide Book

Note from Rebecca Bitzer: I could not put this book down, I was completely absorbed in Jena’s struggle. Jena has made a significant impact on me. I am very glad that I read this book.  She writes very vividly, “The mental slowness both malnutrition and dehydration induce is truly debilitating.  Your responses are slowed, you search for words and names and to no avail, you slip in and out of the present, losing ground and losing time.” It is well-written, honest, and dark, yet at the same time, it would be helpful to anyone who needs hope for recovery.

“If you are me, or one of the millions like me, your day looks a bit different. The food is not eaten casually or carelessly or even comfortably. Rather it is weighed, measured, agonized over, feared, loved, hated, resented, desired. But this is life as you know it, if you have an eating disorder.”

Hollow is the tale of Jena Morrow who has faced the ongoing challenge of an eating disorder. This book is moving on so many levels and helps one understand how this disease can affect every day life. If you suffer from this unfortunate condition it will help to relate to Jena’s thoughts and struggles, but more importantly if you know someone with an Eating Disorder this book will finally help you understand what is going through their mind. This is an honest story filled with hope and healing and it recognizes that eating disorders are ongoing and hard to manage.

Jena craftily fills each page with her thoughts and progression of her anorexia beginning as a young child up to her adult years. The battle she has with her disorder is voiced so clearly so that others can relate. She talks about how friends, family, and the outside world can have such an impact on this disorder. It helps bring forward every day events that are so much more troublesome with an eating disorder, things we may not realize have such an impact.

What is most motivating and sincere is the treatment Jena receives during her eating disorder. She honestly voices what helps and what doesn’t and how she learned through art, religion, therapy, and support systems to work towards battling this disease. The book had me in tears, made me laugh, and most importantly left me with hope that people can fight this battle, and that there are people who can help. Thank you Jena for sharing your story with us, you will help so many people.

This memoir is a must read if you or a loved one has an Eating Disorder. I cannot put into words what Jena Morrow does to make an eating disorder transparent for those of us who didn’t clearly understand.

We have recently restructured our Eating Disorder Treatment Plans for our clients. We have done comprehensive and extensive research to provide you with the best care possible. Check out this list to determine if you may be struggling with disordered eating. Today can be the start of a healthy relationship with food. Our Eating Disorders Page also lists other resources and how we can help.

For more information give us a call to see how we can help you.

By: Kait Fortunato

Ever find yourself lost in dreams and goals? Wishing for something but unable to realistically attain in? Sometimes we all just need a little motivation, not a long winded speech or paragraphs about creating your goals, rather a special reminder that is important to you and your specific dreams. Mental Blox is a community of people just like you, striving to stay motivated and dream big.  Mentalblox.com is a great resource for inspirational blogs, motivational tools, and people just like you. Whether you want to “Get Hired”, “Get Fit”, “Get out of Debt”, “Get Clean”,  Get Thinner”,  “Get Rich”, “Get Well”, “Get God”, “Get Cool”, “Get Bully Free”, there is a place for you at MentalBlox. The best part is the actual “Blox” that you can order with inspirational words associated with your goal. Just looking at it each day makes me feel empowered to achieve both smaller tasks and reach for bigger dreams. Words like empowered, inspired, gratified, clean, confident, reach out to me and make me realize all the great success and all the things I hope to accomplish.

By Elizabeth Haaser

I had a friend in high school who described her relationship with a boyfriend of three years as “the worst and best thing” in her life. She would tell me story after story of how he was rude to her or of how he made her cry, yet what was obvious to me was not obvious to her: she should ditch him. “He may be a jerk, but he’s my everything. I’m not sure who I’d be without him.”

Cheryl Kerrigan relates this same dependent/abusive relationship structure of a boyfriend and girlfriend to that of a person with an eating disorder, and (for the sake of furthering the comparison) even refers to the condition as “Ed,” who takes on human-like qualities in his determination to control his victim. Kerrigan’s book, Telling Ed No!, is not a typical self-help guide in that it reads like a memoir of her own detrimental relationship with Ed, who entered her life at a very young age. Each chapter presents a reflection for the reader to consider, and while her book is filled with over 100 strategies for recovery, Kerrigan permits a personal look into how these tools worked for her, rather than simply listing them in manual-style. The novel-like writing and short, topic-focused sections make this an easy and enjoyable read.

One of my personal favorite chapters is one that describes Kerrigan’s Gratitude Journal, which is just one of the many ideas she presents throughout the book. In an effort to become less “Ed focused” and to think more about the positive aspects of her life, she writes five things that she is grateful for at the end of each day. Even for someone without an eating disorder, this is a wonderful idea. (I have been doing my own version of this for a few months; when in bed at the end of each day, I say out-loud three things I am grateful for, and three things I am proud of myself for).

This is one of the most personal and honest books about eating disorders that I have come across in a while, and I strongly suggest this to anyone who struggles with food, or who even has seen just a glimmer of Ed.

Starting January 3rd, this exercise and nutrition program is led by certified personal trainers from Fitness Matters Gym and registered dietitians from Rebecca Bitzer and Associates.  We can help you safely train for a 5 K race in March**.

FREE Introductory Meeting, Tuesday, January 3, 2012 6:00 PM at Rebecca Bitzer, MS, RD and Associates (www.rbitzer.com)

Program includes:

¨    2 exercise sessions/week with a Certified Personal Trainer, Tuesdays & Thursdays, outside

(www.fitnessmattersgym.us)

¨    3 Nutrition sessions with a Registered Dietitian on Saturday mornings

¨    $135 per month for January – March, 2012

5K Race:  Saturday March 24^th, 2012, at Bowie Town Center

Call Cornelia Randolph 301-655-3196 for details

No previous running experience required!

301-655-3196

ctrandolph@idsdc.com

** Last year, ALL of our participants

completed the training and

participated in a 5K. Call us today!!

By Elizabeth Haaser

Sarah Costello happily shared with me that her latest BMI calculation showed she is no longer morbidly obese, and this is a huge milestone, considering she says she has been overweight, obese, and then morbidly obese for her whole life. Specifically, Sarah says she began struggling with weight as early as elementary school, and did not begin to change her lifestyle until her 30^th birthday.

A few weeks before turning 30, Sarah started meeting with Bobbi, one of our wonderful RDs at Rebecca Bitzer & Associates. With her encouragement, Sarah began training for and later completed the Baltimore Half Marathon, but it was only after running this race a second time that Sarah had her “ah-hah” moment. She had previously made a goal of cutting her time by 30 minutes, but after an injury, she was unsure if she would be able to do this. However, she not only met her goal, but surpassed it, and beat her previous time by 37 minutes! “I was excited! I think that success gave me a boost of confidence that I could set goals and reach them!”

Since her “ah-hah” moment, Sarah has not slowed down. In fact, she is now training to complete a triathlon, which will be her second after finishing the Iron Girl this past August, and will also do a Half-Full Olympic next year. She has the support of a team, the members of which often believe in her capabilities more than she does; their insistence that she can go out and complete these unbelievable races push her and build her confidence.

So how did Sarah go from a morbidly obese woman to the fitness machine she is today? Sarah credits a dedicated exercise regiment and something unique: taking a picture of her fridge every Sunday. Sarah began doing this in order to show Bobbi what she had prepared for that week. This now continues to encourage her to stay accountable for cooking healthy meals in order to take the best care of her body. Even though Sarah is currently on her “off-season” in terms of races, she still swims every Thursday with her team, and continues to go for walks despite her hurt knee. “Just because you’re injured, that doesn’t mean you can’t move and exercise. There are lots of different types of exercise options and so many modifications if needed. Before, I used injury as another excuse. Now, it may limit what I can do, but it doesn’t stop me.”

I also asked Sarah if she had any advice to give our RBA family for staying healthy over the holiday season. She suggests writing down your goals and posting them somewhere visible. Be realistic in that you might want some treats at a party, but go into every event with a game plan. Don’t let the winter weather be an excuse for not moving! Get to the gym or watch a workout DVD at home. Finally, Sarah shared that she created a poster for her 2012 goals; the pictures included some of her niece and nephews, races she is signed up for, and inspirational quotes. Sarah reminds herself often of all the people who are on Team Sarah- those people that will continue to support and push her throughout her journey. Take it from a true champion; “There are a lot on your team, too! You. Your RD. Me.”

Check out one of Sarah’s favorite recipes!

“I didn’t have parsley and I don’t do garlic. I didn’t have bread crumbs so I crumbled up my own piece of bread. I made the meatballs, baked them for 15 minutes and then put them in the Crockpot for 2 hours with the tomato sauce! They were delicious!

I think the key is to just go for it! Give it a try. If it turns out: awesome. If it doesn’t, think about how you could make it differently.  Explore the website above. Look up other recipes.  Try new things.”