Kids lifting weights: Is it safe?

by on October 15, 2008

Since I work with moms a lot, one of the questions I get asked it how young is too young to lift weights.  I have attended national workshops in youth fitness and the growing consensus is that kids can weight train at any age (as long as they have the attention span) But weights should be kept light (lots of bodyweight exercises) and good form emphasized.

Here is a little boy who has incredible form and has been taught well.  This boy is 2 years old.  I generally wouldn’t recommend kids this young starting out in intense weights, but it works for him!

[youtube UyTKYYt1GIA]

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Female Fat Loss: Day 9′s food journal

by on October 15, 2008

Yesterday I finished the 9th day of my diet leading up to the competition.  I have 36 more days to go.  I am now down about 7 ish lbs so far and happy with the progress.  I will take bodyfat again on sunday.  Here is what I ate yesterday.

5:00 AM

Handful of almonds 200 cals

6:30 AM

protein bar  160 cals

9:45 AM

protein bar  160

11:15

Protein Drink 300 cals

12:45

Big salad with tuna and kidney beans:  400 cals

3:30

Apple with lots of all natural peanut butter (went a little overboard)  350 cals

8:45 pm (hungry)

3 slices of deli roast beef 150 Cals

Homemade vegetable soup (had 10 different veggies in it with some kidney beans) 100 cals

Low fat popcorn 200 cals

Total 2020

Today was a good day, still a little low on cals, but not too bad.  Energy was good for most of the day.  I should have had another snack at 6 or 7 pm, but I had clients and was teaching for many straight hours.

I hope that helps you, feel free to comment!

Keep moving,

Dustin

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Female Fat Loss: Week 1 of my diet is over!

by on October 13, 2008

I have finished the first 7 days of my diet and I am down about 5.5 lbs.  I have been quite disciplined the last week (with the exception of Saturday), turning down going out to eat with friends, and avoiding Camp Randall Food.  My body is coming along well and am happy with the progress.

On Saturday I let myself have a cheat day.  I am still 6 weeks out of the show so I still have some leeway, but I let my flesh and my desires get the best of me.  I planned on eating one caramel apple and one brat as my cheat foods for the day.  Because I didn’t plan ahead and had no food with me during the day, I caved in a had two of each.

Sunday I worked VERY hard at going low carb from my big carb day.  It took 36 hours to lose the 3.5 lbs (mostly water) that I had gained on Saturday, but I am back to my pre saturday weight.

Lesson for you:  When you have a cheat day or a period of time where you are not making the most responsible food choices, acknowledge what you did and get right back on to eating healthy again.  So often I see or hear people who eat bad for a few days and then continue to and justify it by saying they already ate some bad foods and might as well continue.

This mentality will sabotage you so quickly and will guarantee you poor results.  The same thing goes with exercise… just because you miss a couple days, doesn’t mean you should stop altogher.  Evaluate why you stopped, make some changes and start up again.

From this weekend, I was once again reminded that I need to be prepared ahead of time and not get myself into tough situations.  I packed a few protein bars in my car now, so if I feel like caving in, I can grab one of them.

Talk to you soon!

Dustin

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Female Fat Loss: Day 2 of diet

by on October 8, 2008

Yesterday I finished day two.  It was a busy day.  Started work at 5 AM and was finished at 8:30 PM.  I find on days where I am on the go, I keep my energy up by eating frequently… keeping busy also decreases the amount of time I spend thinking about food. 

Here ya go:

5 AM

 

Banana 100 cals

 

7:30 AM

 

Hot Chocolate mix 150 cals

1 cups skim milk 90

¾ Cup oatmeal 1 scoop of Protein powder 110

 

11 AM

Handful of Raw Almonds 200 Cals

 

1:15 PM

 

Salad: organic mixed greens, tomato, 1.5 chicken breasts, vinegarette dressing  300 Cals

 

4:15 PM 

 

Protein Drink: ½ banana, 1 scoop of whey protein, frozen berries, ½ cup skim milk  300 cals

 

6:15 PM 

 

Protein Drink: Same thing as above 300 cals

 

8:45 PM

 

6 inch black forest ham sub (it pained me to only get a 6 inch!)  Guessing 500 cals

 

9 PM 

 

Small cup of Wendys Chili  Not Sure maybe 300 Cals

 

Total Cals 2250

 

This is right where I want to be for the first of 7 weeks.  I will see how my body responds in the next 10 days and adjust accordingly… the low carbs haven’t been too bad yet, but I do get a few tired spells.  As of this morning I am down 4.5 lbs.

 

I have been asked what to do if you are a women and you should only consume maybe 1500 cals.  This is by no means perfect eating, but most of it is good, just make the serving sizes 30% smaller and you will achieve your calorie goals.

 

Feel free to leave a message!

 

Dustin

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Weight Loss: Day 1 of my Diet

by on October 7, 2008

Yesterday was day 1 of my 7 week diet to prepare me for the Fitness Modeling World Championships in Vegas.  In the next 7 weeks I will be going from 9 % body Fat down to 4 ish %.  I started the diet weighing 194 lb at 6’5.  I will probably drop to 175-178 for the show.  The weight lost will come from fat, water, muscle (hopefully not too much!), and less intestinal crap.

I have had a lot of people asking how I do it and what I eat.  So, every few days I will update you will some sample days of my eating… Here was yesterday.

7 AM

¾ cup oatmeal 100 Cals

1 scoop of pp. 110 Cals

1 low fat string cheese 50 Cals

 

12:30 PM

Salad: organic mixed greens, tomato, 1.5 chicken breasts, vinegarette dressing  300 Cals

Medium apple 100 Cals

2 tbs of all natural peanut butter 200 Cals

 

3:30 PM

 

Medium Apple 100

 

5:30

 

Protein Shake: 1/2 skim milk, frozen berries, 1/2 banana, 1 Scoop of Advocare Whey Protein   300 Cals

https://www.advocare.com/08063358/Store/ItemDetail.aspx?itemCode=P4602&id=B&flavor=B&size=P

 

7:30

 

Low carb tortilla 80 Cal

Oven roasted delie Turkey 150 Cals

Spinach leafs 5 Cal

Mustard 20Cals

Beef Jerky 60 Cals

 

9 PM

 

Low Fat Popcorn  300 Cals

Handful of Almonds 200 Cals

 

 

Total Cal 2075.  For the first day and first week of dieting this is a little too low.  I would like to see between 2300 and 2600.  In order for my to maintain bodyweight I need to consume between 3200 and 4000 cals a day.  If I start out too drastic I will lose weight too fast and lose muscle in the process which is the last thing I want to do.

 

Hopefully you enjoyed this!  Feel free to follow along and modify things accordingly.  In an ideal world this is how I would always eat except that the portions would be much bigger and there would be a few more carbs added.

 

Please feel free to post comments.  Love to hear your feedback.

 

Check in soon for my next post!

 

Dustin

 

 

 

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In Tough Economic times DON’T turn to Comfort Food

by on October 5, 2008

Today on CNN they had a story about how there has been an increase in sales of comfort foods.  The reason they stated was that people who normally would go shopping to make themselves feel better, are now turning to food because a quart of ice cream is far cheaper than a new purse, watch or shoes.  If people do continue to eat these comfort foods they will experience even more discomfort as their waist lines bulge. 

So if you are a mom out there that has started to gravitate towards comfort foods, I challenge you to turn to exercise instead.  Exercise has scientifically been proven to help less sadness, depression, anxiety, amongst other things.  So lace up those shoes, get off the couch and start moving!  I am off to the gym right now!

Later,

Dustin

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Wii Fit: What I think about it

by on October 4, 2008

I have gotten asked by some what I think about the Wii Fit and the effectiveness of the workouts.  I do think they are better than other video games in which a person sits and uses their fingers, but I don’t consider it much of a workout at all!  I have seen this video I am about to show you a few times.  Not only is it super funny, but pretty much what I believe in!

[youtube _iYBmAVuBns]

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Join me for a Fitness Cruise in the Caribbean on Feb 28th!

by on October 4, 2008

Some of you may know I am going to be hosting a fitness cruise Feb 28th- March 5th in the Caribbean.  We are leaving from Tampa and going to Grand Cayman and Cozumel.  On board the ship, I will lead optional fitness workouts before we head to breakfast!  This is open to anyone you want to come!

Space is limited and if you are interested you should put the deposit down soon. 

I have good relations with Carnival Cruise Line and they have given me amazing deals!  The cost of the trip is $573 plus airfare.  That includes $50 of ship credits, all tips for the week, and a coupon book for free extra things on the ship and nice discounts to the spa and other locations.

For questions visit www.fitfuncruise.com  This is a great opportunity for a bunch of women to get away from their husbands and kids and spend 6 days away enjoying each others company and warm weather!

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Female Fat Loss: Assessing Body with Measurements

by on October 1, 2008

In 8 weeks I will be competing in my next fitness modeling show.  Here is an up close and personal video clip from my first show in Chicago one year ago.  5 weeks later I competed in the World Championships in Hollywood and placed 33 out of 54.  I hope to place a little higher at the worlds this year in Vegas.

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Taking measurements both with a tape measure and calipers helps me greatly know where I am at and where I want to go.  From there I can set 2 week and 4 week goals.  In this video clip Jill and I show you where all the best spots to measure are and how to be accurate with the measurements.  I would highly recommend you taking a few minutes to get your measurements into an excel spreadsheet and every 4-6 weeks recheck them!

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It is very important to track progress to find out what is working and what isn’t and where you are losing inches and where it isn’t coming off so fast.

Please feel free to leave comments!

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Michael Phelps helping kids get Active: It’s all a Conspiracy

by on September 30, 2008

You may have seen that Phelps has teamed up with Kellogs to encourage kids to increase their activity levels.  I applaud their efforts, since the kids of this generation spend so much more time in front of the TV, playing video games, and eating highly processed junk food.  It is no wonder why kids are getting so fat. 

The problem that I have with Phelps endorsements is that his pictures are on the cereal boxes of Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, and other Kellogs products.  Kellogs has no interest in helping kids, if they did they would immediately stop selling parents and kids sugar ladened crap that has very little nutritional value, and focus on providing healthier, less processed and more natural ingredients.  It is amazing how much of this world is dictated by money at the expense of healthy and wellness.

Don’t even get me started with Phelp’s endorsement of McDonalds!

Please comment on this post with your thoughts and feelings and sign up for the RSS Feed at the top of the blog to get notified of future blog entries.

Keep moving,

Dustin

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