Healthiest You Ever

“When in doubt, check your diet. Your diet is absolutely key when you’re having issues losing fat. Try to really watch your carbs at night (after 6 P.M.). Try to stick with lean protein and veggies later in the day and you should see a great improvement in your physique.”

Ever wonder why heavier people seem to lose weight faster? Surprisingly, the more weight you carry, the faster your metabolism. Having to carry around the extra weight forces your metabolism to fire up. Sounds good, but this creates unwelcome weight-loss plateaus. As you lose weight, your body doesn’t need to work as hard to metabolize food into energy, so it slows down the process. Unfortunately, the only way to combat this plateau is to stick with the diet (and gradually lower caloric intake) and increase the amount and/or intensity of your workouts. The slimmer you become, the fewer calories you’ll need to maintain good health—deal with it.

Increasing the intensity of workouts is a great way to push past the plateaus, but there are also two very doable (no excuses!) tactics for pushing past a weight-loss plateau that anyone can adopt:

• Add a Brisk Morning Walk. The one time when simple aerobic exercise can really boost your metabolism is in the morning. When you first wake up, your liver has burned through your carbohydrate stores, and light aerobic exercise can jump-start the fat-burning enzymes in your liver.

• Eat More Vegetables. Fiber is a non-digestible carbohydrate, but the body tries hard to break it down anyway, using up energy—and boosting metabolism in the process. Plus, vegetables are low in calories, yet high in nutrients, which provides a huge boon for your weight loss efforts.

“I was pushed by myself because I have my own rule, and that is that every day I run faster and try harder.”

First, let go of preconceived ideas about fitness and running. Acknowledge and release old negative attitudes. Maybe you think you will never enjoy running. Think instead about the benefits it provides: new friends, improved energy, a better mood, and healthier lifestyle. Keep in mind that you don’t start running by doing a marathon. Set short workouts as a goal, and be proud of what you accomplish. Learn by taking small steps, and your relationship with running (or walking/running) will become a lifelong love affair.

Think of your running time as an investment in your health that yields invaluable returns. By committing only one half-hour a day (that’s less than 2 percent of your whole day!), you can reap the rewards. You—not other market conditions—control this investment. Regular running is vital to achieving optimal health while also helping to protect you from many preventable diseases. Running costs can be less expensive than what you pay for most life insurance policies, and you realize the benefits while you are still alive.

And if running is too stressful, or something you’re not quite ready to tackle on a regular basis, go powerwalking instead. The point is to move your behind at a rapid clip. Start at whatever level you feel confident about, but start.

GET YOUR MINDSET ON

Take a minute to write down five reasons why you want to get fit through incorporating running in your life. You may be surprised by your reasons, which in turn might change over time. Review your answers in one month, then two, to see your progress.

“Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.”

Chronic stress kills . . . literally. It’s been widely shown to have disastrous physical effects, but did you know that chronic stress also diverts energy from your brain (fogs up your mind), shrinks your hippocampus (slows memory and learning), compromises neurotransmitters (limiting joy and plasticity), and even emits toxins that attack your brain? Forget zombies, stress eats your brain. Make it a priority to relax. Doing things that are physically and mentally stimulating and energizing is fine, but they also have to be relaxing—with an emphasis on fun.

Here’s a list of suggestions for activities that will immediately stimulate your pleasure centers:

If you’re ready for endurance training, it’s likely that you’ve been conditioning through exercise for a while. If so, you may be one of the lucky ones—your physiological age may be younger than your biological age. If you think you fall into that category, rather than using the usual age formula for calculating your target heart rate zone, you may want to use the Karvonen Formula. The Karvonen Formula, also known as the heart rate reserve method, provides a more personalized estimate of your target heart rate zone. Here’s how:

2. Subtract your resting heart rate (which you’ve determined by taking your resting pulse in Week Two) from your maximum heart rate. This number is referred to as your heart rate reserve.

4. Take this number and add your resting heart rate. This number is the lower end of your target training zone.

6. Take this number and add your resting heart rate. This number is the upper end of your target training zone.

Again, if you are just beginning endurance training, don’t aim for the upper end out of the gate. Instead, start low and work your way to the upper end of your target training zone.

“Experts agree that stretching should be part of an overall exercise program to improve health.”

Safe technique is essential when stretching. For starters, pay attention to your alignment. Avoid excessive arching of the back. Keep your abdominal muscles active with a feeling of tone to provide support for your lower back.

Your stretching movements should be slow and controlled. Do not use force. When you execute the movement, proceed gently to the extent of your active range of motion. This is the largest possible movement you can achieve without feelings of strain. As you hold the stretch and breathe, your muscles will relax and lengthen. Allow the muscle to release into the stretch and increase the size of your stretch as your muscles permit. Always let your muscles lead the stretch. Never force your muscles into a longer position.

Avoid forced or rapid movements as they can trigger a stretch reflex. A stretch reflex is your body’s natural way of protecting you from overly lengthening a muscle and harming the integrity of a joint. If you suddenly force a muscle to lengthen, the stretch reflex will trigger a contraction.

Hold your stretches for fifteen to thirty seconds. According to some research studies, it’s more beneficial to stretch multiple times rather than to hold one long stretch for an excessive period of time. For example, in one study, three twenty-second stretches and two thirty-second stretches achieved greater changes in hamstring flexibility than one sixty-second stretch. Across studies, stretches of longer than thirty seconds in duration have not been shown to be more effective in increasing flexibility. What we do know is that experts agree that flexibility is complex and affected by joint mechanics, muscle and connective tissue, and neuromuscular factors—and that static stretching is effective with the least amount of risk.

“It is not the handling of difficult hands that makes the winning player. There aren’t enough of them. It is the ability to avoid messing up the easy ones.”

There’s a reason little old ladies love to play bridge, and it’s a good reason—it keeps their memories sharp, and it allows plenty of time for hanging out with people whose company they enjoy. Even gossiping requires and stimulates memory retention. Plus, happiness experts have established that a strong support network is vital to higher life satisfaction levels. Humans were made for loving others. It is from our relationships with spouses, lovers, and friends that we derive meaning and happiness. Having a group of friends to do things with on a regular basis is a path to happiness. So get the cards, call up three friends, and start having some fun playing bridge or another card game.

PEOPLE DO NEED PEOPLE

Your brain “knows” it needs other people and responds by releasing internal opiates—endorphins—that create that lovely feeling we feel when near someone we love and trust. Studies have consistently shown that feeling close, connected, loved, and supported improves your health and overall sense of well-being. Some studies have reported a lowered incidence of anxiety, depression, suicide, illnesses, high blood pressure, heart disease, and even cancer.

“Massage therapists are trained to knead and manipulate the muscles and connective tissue in the body to help the body find its equilibrium after exercise.”

This common form of massage involves a massage therapist applying oil to the body and certain types of massage strokes—namely, effleurage (gliding), petrissage (kneading), friction (rubbing), and tapotement (tapping)—to increase circulation in muscles and connective tissue, help the body to flush out waste products, and heal injuries. Swedish massage induces a feeling of deep relaxation and increases range of motion. Some Swedish massage therapists also use hydrotherapy, or massage through soaking, steaming, or applying jets of water to the body.

NEED SOMETHING STRONGER: TRY ROLFING

Rolfing is a deep massage designed to restructure the body’s muscles and connective tissue to promote better alignment. If you like your massages hard, this one’s for you. Some people claim that the deep tissue massage actually releases deeply buried emotions and that emotional outbursts are common during the course of the ten-session program. So if you’ve got some releasing to do—and who doesn’t?—find yourself a rolfing therapist and let it all out.