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If I'm trying to lose weight, can I drink coffee?

I can't tell you how many times I've gotten this question.  It's no wonder it's asked so much with all the conflicting reports that are out there.  One minute, coffee is good for you, the next minute it's bad.  With weight loss, though, there's one answer that can always be given to the question of whether or not coffee is OK to drink. 

The answer is no ... at least for the most part.  I was going to say it depends, but I know people get tired of those responses, so I'll just come out and say it.  If you're trying to lose weight, lose the coffee.

First off, there is a big difference between black coffee and Starbuck's coffee.  For example, a Grande Carmel Macchiato, with 2% milk, gives you 240 calories and 4.5g of saturated fat.  Even the nonfat milk version still gives you 190 calories, even though the saturated fat is down to 0.5g.¹  The point is, I've seen so many people, who claim to be trying to lose weight, make Starbuck's a daily habit, sometimes more than once per day!  When I used to work for a gym, I even saw some people carry Starbuck's with them as they worked out!  So, if you're trying to lose weight, you know that calories mean everything.  Drinking your calories is a big no-no.  Even coffee creamers can add up.  The average coffee creamer serving is around 15-20 calories.  Most people I know add two creamers with each cup of coffee, so that's about 40 extra calories.  Say you have 2-3 cups of coffee, or more, per day; those little creamers start to add up. 

Second, the caffeine in coffee isn't conducive to weight loss.  If you remember me talking about how important water is for weight loss, you remember that caffeine is a diuretic, and although research is starting to show that it's not as big of a diuretic as once thought, it's still a diuretic.  This means that when the body starts to dehydrate, the kidneys start to decrease their function.  When this happens, your liver has to pick up the slack.  The liver is already your big fat metabolizer, so if it has to worry about doing the kidneys' job too, it obviously won't be able burn off fat as fast.  This means that more calories will be stored as fat and less excess body fat will be burned off ... another bad thing when trying to lose weight.

Finally, some of you are probably saying, "But Dan, I drink black, decaffeinated coffee."  Well, that's definitely a lot better than other options, and to be honest, maybe the antioxidant benefits found in coffee make drinking black, decaf coffee OK.  My feeling is, you can get the benefits of antioxidants from other sources, such as fruits and vegetables, and because water is so vital to the body and fat loss, any drink that isn't water is just preventing your body from getting the proper amount of fluid ounces of water it needs.  If you're getting the proper amount of pure water you need in a day, that's another story, but for the majority of people, we don't get the proper amount of water our body needs everyday.

I know it can be extremely hard to give up coffee, so if you need to, start small.  Maybe just try giving it up for one day a week.  Once you do that, shoot for two days, etc.  The sooner you can give it up completely, and I know it won't be easy, but the sooner you can, the sooner you can make another step in the right direction with your weight loss efforts.

Resources:

¹“Nutrition Information from Starbuck's Menu”, provided by the company website, http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_info.asp, accessed July 31, 2008.  

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Is your child's school serving healthy choices?

School nutrition is such a hot topic right now because of its contribution to childhood obesity.  No longer will you find some schools with easily accessible pop machines or vending machines filled with cookies and candy.  Some schools are now offering nothing but healthy choices in their vending machines.

It's not just the vending machines that aren't providing healthy options for kids, some school lunches aren't that much better.  With choices like corn dogs, pizza, hamburgers, nachos and cheese, tacos, and chili dogs, it's no wonder childhood obesity is on the rise.  And maybe these types of foods weren't an issue years ago, but in today's "super-sized" society, a hamburger these days has way more calories than a hamburger of years past. 

In the June 23, 2008 issue of Time, there were some very interesting articles on how times have changed with today's kids.  Active lifestyles are down and portion sizes are up, and this trend is leading to the explosion of childhood obesity at an alarming rate.  No longer are diabetes and heart disease an adult problem.  Now kids are developing diabetes, and some are even in the early stages of heart disease.   

It seems that childhood obesity is on everybody's mind these days, and while the government has stepped in to help schools get a handle on what they're serving their students, the problem is many schools are still failing.  In fact, according to TIME, the USDA says that less than one-third of public schools are meeting the recommended standard for how much fat and saturated fat should be in their meals served.

While some schools are doing a better job to make their lunches healthier, another problem that's being noticed is that kids choose to neither pack a lunch or buy a lunch from the cafeteria line.  Instead, they get through the day on Mountain Dew and a bag of cookies from the vending machine.  That's why schools are starting to crack down on vending machine use.  Some schools have gone so far as to "lock" the pop machines and vending machines during lunch time, and they don't open them back up until after school is finished for the day.

The good news is that efforts are being made to make school meal choices healthier.  Independent School District in Spring, Texas was just awarded the honor of being the District of the Year in School Nutrition. 

Independent School District was recognized for its efforts in areas such as providing many low-fat meal options for breakfast and lunch, providing fresh fruits and vegetables in the classroom, low-fat, flavored milk options, whole grain choices, and very inexpensive meals with elementary breakfasts costing $0.90 and secondary lunches costing $1.75.

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Spot reduction and the best fat burning exercises

Through my years of personal training, I have found there is one huge misconception among the people I sit down in front of. Many individuals I come in contact with believe they can decrease the fat in their problem areas by simply working those areas during their workouts. For example, if I had a quarter for every time I heard someone say they planned on doing crunches in order to shrink their stomach area, I would be sipping strawberry smoothies on the beaches of the world!

The term I am referring to is called spot reduction. It has been proven that an individual cannot spot reduce the fat in certain areas of their body. If you have started a fat loss program, expect the fat to come off throughout the entire body, not in just one area. For a lot of people, the stomach area is a big problem (no pun intended). A lot of an individual’s excess fat goes straight to the stomach area, which you can see by getting out and about and observing those around you. Since it is so easy to put fat on in the stomach area, that means it will be very hard to take off because while you may be burning fat off in that area, your body will still be trying to put fat on in that area at the same time.

Think of it this way. Picture a glove filled with water, one of those latex gloves you see in a doctor’s office. The entire glove is filled with water (all 4 fingers, the thumb, as well as the rest of the glove). The water filling this glove can be considered the excess fat we store in our bodies; you know, that ugly fat we are always trying to get rid of. For this analogy to make sense, pretend the glove is positioned with the thumb facing up. Let’s say you want to spot reduce the water in the pinky of the glove. To do this, you take a pin and pop the pinky, but what happens? The water may drain out of the pinky, but the pinky still stays full of water until the entire glove empties. On top of that, popping the pinky actually leads to the water in the thumb being reduced. The same can be said of the fat in your body. You may do plenty of crunches (popping the pinky in this example), but until the fat burns off throughout the entire body, your problem areas, such as the stomach, will not get much smaller. Doing crunches can actually lead to fat coming off in other areas of the body, just like popping the pinky can lead to the water in the thumb being reduced.

The goal of your workouts shouldn’t be to work just your problem areas. You may be burning off a tiny amount of fat in your stomach by doing crunches, but the reality is, those crunches are really just a pinprick attempt to decrease your stomach fat. The fat burnt off in the stomach isn’t because you are simply working the muscles in the stomach area, it is because your abs are burning calories off by doing work, and when it comes to fat loss, it is all about calorie burn. This is why you can’t spot reduce because fat loss isn’t based on what areas of your body are worked. It is based on burning calories and hoping the fat calories that are being burnt off are coming from the problems areas you want them to come from.

Remember, fat will come off from the easiest areas first. Going back to our glove example, problem areas like the stomach, butt, and thighs (the fingers of the glove) will be the last places the fat comes off because they are the easiest places for the fat to be stored, just as the fingers are the first to fill up with water. With this being true, instead of using a pin to pop the pinky of the glove, why not cut a hole in the glove and let the water rush out of the palm? When exercising, instead of doing small calorie-burning exercises like crunches, why not perform exercises that will burn the most calories, or drain the water out of the glove as fast as possible? “What are these exercises?” you may ask. Next week we will find out.

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How YOUR BIRTHDAY can be a great weight loss tool

It's my wife's birthday today!  She would kill me if I told you how old she was, so I guess I better not.  Either way, it's going to be a great day filled with fun and some good food ...

Here's the trick, though.  I can't let myself eat to many sweets today.  One thing that works out for me is I don't like cake too much, so that's good, but I still like ice cream now and then. 

Alright, so here's a question.  How should you eat on a big day like your birthday? 

This is where I think people get into trouble.  If your trying to lose weight, or maintain a healthy weight, eating some birthday cake isn't going to cause you to blow up like a birthday balloon.  It's when you eat cake and ice cream on your birthday, and the day after, and the day after that, and ....  You get the point.  Realize, if you're in the middle of losing weight, it's essential that you're even more conscious of what you eat, but treating yourself to something that has no nutritional value whatsoever is OK from time to time.  Even though I'm a trainer, I still am consciously aware of what I eat, so today, I'll probably have a little ice cream, but I won't have it everyday after that.

I'm all about rewards.  If you've been working hard and eating right consistently for sometime now, rewarding yourself now and then with something sweet can be used as a motivator even more. 

Try this.  Before each week, write out your goals for how many days you want to exercise and how many days you're planning on eating right for the week ... don't just say 1 and 1.  Really push yourself.  I typically have my clients exercise AT LEAST 3 times per week and eat right AT LEAST 5 days per week.  After that week, if you have hit your goals, then treat yourself with a food that you love but know that you shouldn't eat much of.  Or maybe, treat yourself with some other type of reward like a new book or movie or whatever you think is a good reward.  But guess what.  If you don't reach your goals for the week, then you shouldn't reward yourself!

I've found that setting up a rewards system like this is a great way to help with staying consistently motivated, and it helps you stick it out until your reach your ultimate goal.

Food is such a huge contributor to weight gain; my feeling is, you can work out till you're red in the face, but if you're eating like there's no tomorrow, you'll never see the scale drop a single pound.  Make sure you get your nutrition in check, but don't be afraid to reward yourself from time to time. 

On a side note, if you feel that by eating a cookie it's going to ignite this hidden craving for cookies that you've always had, then without a doubt, stay away from them.  If you can eat a cookie and control yourself enough to only eat 1 or 2 for that day and no other days in the week, then by all means, don't be afraid to let yourself live a little through your weight loss efforts.

Speaking of weight loss.  I saw today that Oklahoma City is tearing it up with their weight loss goal.  Oklahoma City has consistently been showing up on different lists as one of the most obese cities in the country, so the mayor decided to do something about it.  On December 31, 2007, he created a weight loss initiative called "This City is Going On A Diet".  The goal is to lose ONE MILLION pounds as a city, and as of today, Oklahoma City has lost 110,560 pounds!  Over 20,000 residents of Oklahoma City have signed up to be part of this program, and the average weight loss per person is up to 5.47 pounds. 

The program contains resources to keep its participants eat right and exercise consistently.  It also has tools to help individuals track their progress so that they stay accountable to their goals.  

Congratulations Oklahoma City; keep up the great work, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY Amber!  I love you very much! 

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How obese is your state?

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a new study that showed obesity is climbing at an alarming rate in this country.  In fact, from 2005 to 2007, the number of obese adults in the U.S. has grown by nearly 2%.  

The study showed that unfortunately, there's only one state that has under 20% of its population being obese; Colorado was found to be 18.7% obese.  The most shocking finding has to be how much the obesity levels of states have changed from 1985 until 2007.  To sum up how much obesity is on the rise, in 1985, Mississippi had such a low percentage of obesity that it wasn't even reported.  Now, as of 2007, Mississippi is now considered to be the most obese state in the country with 32.0% of its population being obese residents.  Two other states, Tennessee and Alabama, both less than 10% obese in 1985, are now over 30.0% obese, as well.  Over 30 states had an obesity percentage equal to or greater than 25%. 

The CDC has made available the results for each state, and something that's astonishing is an animated map that shows how obesity has grown throughout this country from 1985 to 2007.  If you've never seen this map before, I strongly encourage you to look at it right now.  You'll be amazed at the transformation we've gone through over the past 20+ years!

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21 tips to make your restaurant eating experience a healthier one

Eating out, it's something that a lot, if not all, of us do.  The last I read, the typical meal at a restaurant (fast-food or sit-down) was at least 1,000 calories!  And those hidden, added dangers (salt, fat, and sugar) can sometimes contribute up to a whopping 50-100% more to the calorie content of your meal!  If you’re not careful, eating out can be one of the worst wellness decisions that you make.

So what are some positive steps you can take to reduce the consequences of eating out? Well, the obvious answer has to do with calories.  It’s clear that the portion sizes of today aren’t what they used to be.

Bummer!

According to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study released in 2003, between 1977 and 1996, salty food portion sizes have increased by 93 calories, soft drinks by 49 calories, hamburgers by 97 calories, French fries by 68 calories, and Mexican food by an unbelievable 133 calories!¹  I can only imagine how much bigger they are today. 

Taking portions sizes into consideration, here are some useful steps to ward off that unwanted belly fat from slowly sneaking up on you:

1.    Avoid “samplers” and “super-sizing” items.
It goes without saying, the number of calories you consume by wolfing down one of these meals can be astronomical.
2.    Avoid “buffet-style” restaurants.
These all-you-can-eat restaurants play tricks on your senses and end up feeding you much more than you actually need to eat.
3.    Choose water over other beverages.
It’s a great appetite suppressant, so you’ll feel fuller faster, and it’s 0 calories!
4.    Choose soup, salad, or chili instead of fries.
This is a great way to reduce the calories and fat content of your meal.
5.    Split your meal with someone else at the table, or before you even get your meal, have the waiter or waitress give you a take-home box.  When you get your meal, put half of it in the box, even before you start to eat it.
When my wife and I treat ourselves to a place like The Cheesecake Factory, we end up splitting a pasta dish, and sometimes we even have some left over!  Not only is this a great way to reduce your calories, but it’s also extremely inexpensive!
6.    Order your salad dressing on the side, and use the “dip and eat” method.
Salad dressings contribute the majority of calories to most salads, and by either dipping your fork or fork and salad in the dressing for each bite, you’ll have just enough taste without the large number of calories.
7.    Avoid creamy options of foods such as soups, salad dressings, pasta sauces, chowders, sour cream, etc.
Cream equals fat.
8.    Cut off the visible fat around meats.
9.    Order a sweet potato over a baked potato.
Sweet potatoes are lower on the glycemic index, and they have more fiber, which means they’ll fill you up faster.  Plus the sweet taste means you’re less likely to load on the sour cream and butter as you might with a baked potato.
10.  Choose grilled chicken sandwiches or salads at fast-food restaurants.
These are some good lower-calorie, lower-fat choices.  
11.  Taco salads are not true salads.
These “salads” are loaded with calories and fat.
12.  Choose steamed rice over fried rice.
Fried means fried in fat.
13.  Avoid eating too many tortilla chips.
According to Don Pablo’s, a serving of their chips and salsa (12 chips and 2 oz. of salsa) is 338 calories!²  How many of you know someone who has more than one basket of chips and salsa during a meal?
14. Choose lean steaks, grilled chicken, or fish.
A lower-calorie, lower-fat choice.  Plus, they’re great sources of protein, and protein is great for fat loss.
15.  Choose cooked/steamed vegetables as the side.
16.  Limit the amount of complimentary bread or salad before your meal.
According to Fazoli’s, one of their garlic breadsticks has 150 calories and 7g of fat.³  Times that by 3, and you’re up to 450 calories and 21g of fat just from the breadsticks.  That’s almost a meal’s worth of calories in itself!
17.  Eat slowly and continually drink your water before and during your meal.
Your food will be allowed to digest, and you’re hunger will be suppressed faster.
18.  It’s OK to say no to desserts.
19.  If possible, avoid the “whites”.
White bread, white rice, white sugar, white flour, white potatoes, all are high on the glycemic index.
20. Choose menu items that are steamed, broiled, baked, roasted, stewed, grilled, blackened, or poached.
21.  Don’t be afraid to be difficult.
Remember, it’s your body, and you’re paying for it.  You have the right to request changes to your food that will make it healthier.

Now it’s time to take action on these suggestions.  Don’t just read through them, actually do them.  Your body will thank you for it, and I’m sure that you’ll thank yourself because you won’t leave the restaurant with your pants unbuttoned and barely able to walk to your car.  It’s the little choices of today that can add up to the big changes of tomorrow.

References:

¹ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2003, January 22). UNC Study Confirms That Food Portion Sizes Increased In U.S. Over Two Decades. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 17, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2003/01/030122072329.htm
² “Nutrition Information from Don Pablo’s Menu”, provided by the company website, http://www.donpablos.com/pdfs/NutritionalGuide707.pdf, accessed July 17, 2008. The information provided was last updated July 12, 2007.  
³ “Nutrition Information from Fazoli’s Menu”, provided by the company website, http://fazolis.com/menu/nutrition/c/drinks_desserts_extras/, accessed July 17, 2008. The information provided was last updated June 13, 2008.  

I need your help!  I'm in the process of publishing my first book, and I want to hear from you.  If you were to buy a health and fitness book, what would you want in it?  What areas of health and fitness would you want it to talk about?  How many pages would you want the book to be?  Any feedback you could give in the comments section would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks, and have a great day!

Alzheimer’s and Exercise

This is something that is very near and dear to my heart.  I have had in the past and currently have a family member who suffers from Alzheimer’s.  For any of you who have a family member that’s suffering from Alzheimer’s, you know how hard it is to watch your loved one have to go through this terrible disease.  To see them forget where they’re going, not recognize family members, and forget how to do the tasks of the daily routine they’ve done for decades can be very hard to handle.

I lost my great aunt to Alzheimer’s, and to see her for the last time was pretty tough to experience.  My grandma is currently battling Alzheimer’s, and it’s so sad to see how it has affected her.  To know how sharp a person’s mind used to be and to see how Alzheimer’s can totally transform that person is something that is very hard to take.  My wife Amber and I hope to be able to get down to Fort Myers to be able to see her soon, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

So you probably are asking yourself, “What does this have to do with exercise?”  The great news is that scientists have just found that regular exercise can decrease the amount of brain damage in Alzheimer’s sufferers!  It has been known that exercise increases blood flow and growth hormone release in the brain, thus improving thinking and memory, but it has never been found to benefit patients with Alzheimer’s.  The study showed that compared to sufferers who didn’t participate in regular exercise, those that did experienced less brain deterioration.  Scientists hope that the results of this study will be another important step to one day finding a permanent treatment for this horrible disease.

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Would you type and walk at work?

Details, a Michigan-based company, has released a new contraption that they hope will be appealing to company heads.  It's called the "Walkstation", and the idea behind it is if companies can allow their employees to get out from behind the desk and work while walking at 2 mph, employees will start to become much healthier, which, in turn, will lower company health care costs.   

The idea was formed after research done by the Mayo Clinic showed that by just getting out from behind the desk and making small improvements in the amount of activity that a "desk jockey" gets, they can start to make some great improvements to their health.

Details' company president says that he has been using it for 68 days and has lost 11 pounds by doing nothing more than working on his Walkstation.

Now the question is whether the Walkstation, which costs $4,500 for a base model, will be cost-effective enough for corporations to start making the jump toward introducing this new idea to their employees. 

What do you think?  Is this something you could see yourself using or your company buying?

Here's the press release for further reading.

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Water: the official drink of champions … and fat loss achievers

Just about everyone of us has heard that we must drink lots of water if we want to lose weight, and not just to lose weight, but to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  Do you really know why water is so important, or do you just drink it because you’re told you’re supposed to? 

To start out, in order to be at your peak potential, you need to be getting all your vitamins and minerals.  There are two types of vitamins, water-soluble and fat soluble.  Water-soluble vitamins are your B-vitamins (i.e. riboflavin, folate, etc.) and vitamin C.  Obviously, without water, these vitamins won’t break down properly.  Besides these vitamins, water also helps break down minerals, amino acids, glucose, etc.¹

Another benefit of water is that it transports nutrients throughout our body by bringing nutrients to the cells and taking away the by-products of the cell reactions.  (It keeps our cells alive.)  It also gets rid of the wastes that clog our system (for example, the nitrogen wastes that result from breaking down proteins into amino acids), it lubricates the joints, it acts as a shock absorber for the body, it helps maintain the correct body temperature, it helps complete the different chemical processes that go on inside the body, such as the ones used to make energy for us, and it helps keep us cool by allowing the body to sweat.¹

Though having to do more with weight loss than fat loss, drinking plenty of water allows your body to release the stored water it has in it.  Basically, if you don’t drink much water during the day, it’s just like eating; your body will hold onto the water that it gets, and as a result, you may see a few extra pounds on the scale.  When you start to drink the amount of water you’re supposed to, your body realizes that it’s finally getting the amount of water it needs, and it’s willing to let go of the stored water it has.  That’s why you’ll be running to the bathroom so much when you first start increasing your water intake; your body is releasing all that stored water.  After a while, though, you’ll notice that you won’t have the urge to relieve yourself as much because your body is getting all the water it needs and doesn’t have to store excess amounts of it.

Another cause of seeing a few extra pounds on the scale is due to things such as eating salty foods and drinking alcohol or caffeinated beverages.  These types of decisions cause the body to pull water from different areas, such as the mouth, causing dehydration, increases in water weight on the scale, and more trips to the bathroom.

Probably the most important reason to drink water, when you’re trying to lose fat, has to do with the way your liver functions.  Your liver is the organ that’s responsible for breaking down fat and using it for energy.  So when talking about fat loss, a properly functioning liver is essential.  (This is why you may have heard of different liver-cleansing techniques; they’re basically “oil changes” for your liver.)  The problem with not drinking enough water is that if the kidneys don’t get enough water, their performance starts to decrease.  When this happens, the liver has to pick up the slack.

Imagine your sprinting as fast as you can down a gym floor.  Now, let’s say you have to add in dribbling a basketball while sprinting.  What happens?  Well, obviously the efficiency of your sprinting isn’t nearly as good as it was.  The same happens with the liver.  When the liver has to take on the responsibilities of the kidneys, as well as its own, you can imagine that the liver can’t break down fat as fast.  If this happens, more body fat is stored up, and your weight loss efforts will start to produce slower results.²  The good news is by drinking the proper amount of water, you can avoid this problem from happening.

OK, so you may be saying, “Alright Dan, I get it, but how much water should I drink?” 

A goal to shoot for with water consumption is half of your body weight in fluid ounces.  For example, if someone weighs 200 pounds, they should shoot for drinking 100 fl. oz. of water per day. 

“Wow, that’s a lot!” 

It definitely is, but one thing I suggest to people is to play a little game with your water consumption.  One thing you can do is get a drink at every drinking fountain you see.  Keep track of how many drinking fountains you stopped at in a day, and then try to either maintain that number or stop at one more the next day.  Another technique is to buy a Nalgene-type water bottle that has the number of fluid ounces printed on the side.  This can give you a visual picture of how much you need to drink in a day’s time.  If you can only drink one bottle-full the first day, try and drink that plus a little extra the next day, and so on.  Another technique is to do something like 1-10 pushups for every fluid ounce that you didn’t drink in order to get to your goal.  (That will motivate you real quick to get enough water.)  If none of these work, adding an artificial flavor, such as Crystal Light, can make the task of drinking enough water more flavorful and not as monotonous.  

I know there’s the argument of whether diet drinks are okay or not.  (Some research has shown weight gain attributed to the consumption of artificial sweeteners.)  Plus, many diet drinks have ingredients that you can’t even pronounce … those definitely can’t be ideal for the body.  On top of that, many diet drinks, as well as coffee and tea, have caffeine, and we all know the importance of avoiding caffeine when talking about water intake.  (Even though caffeine is said to aid in fat loss efforts, I would never recommend this technique for anyone.)  My point is nothing can replace the benefits of water.  Diet pop, coffee, tea; none of them are true sources of water. 

I realize it’s hard for some to break the habit of drinking those drinks you like, but my feeling is when trying to lose the most amount of fat, the benefits of drinking pure water far outweigh any benefit or taste that you get from having something else to drink.  It definitely isn’t counterproductive to fat loss, so it only makes sense to drink water.  By making the simple switch of replacing whatever you drink now with nothing but water, you’ll take another smart step toward reaching your fat loss goal even faster.

References:

¹ Sizer, F., & Whitney, E. (2003). Nutrition concepts and controversies, (9^th ed). Belmont, Ca.: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
² The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), 2001.

I need your help!  I'm in the process of publishing my first book, and I want to hear from you.  If you were to buy a health and fitness book, what would you want in it?  What areas of health and fitness would you want it to talk about?  How many pages would you want the book to be?  Any feedback you could give in the comments section would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks, and have a great day!

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Try hula hooping or jumping rope to stay fit

I was reading this article today about using hula hoops and jump ropes as another way to stay fit this summer.  What's so cool about them is that both are inexpensive, and if done right, you can really give yourself some challenging exercises.  Plus, it's a great way to give your body something different to keep yourself from falling into a rut of boredom while working out. 

Take a look at the article here, and have fun! 

Off to some sand volleyball with the friends I go.

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