Robert Stinnett

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Archive for category Get Fit

Post-Thanksgiving Calorie Burner

Nov 25

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit, Home Life | No Comments

So you’ve eaten the turkey, had a slice (or two) of pie and managed to even stuff down some of Aunt Gertrude’s infamous green bean surprise.  If you are like the typical American, you have consumed a gut-busting 4,500 calories by the time Thanksgiving is over and done with.  Instead of throwing in the towel and resigning yourself to putting on an extra pound, here are some ideas on how to burn some of those calories off after the big meal:

  • Window shop with friends.  Wal-Mart and others are starting their black friday sales at crazy hours tonight.  Call up a few friends and invite them to go window shopping with you.  Walk around the stores, watch others go nuts, but go there with a purpose – to burn off those calories, not empty your wallet!  It’s fun to people watch and a good way to catch up with friends after the big meal.
  • Put on your jacket and hit the trail.  If you live in an area with walking trails, parks or hiking paths go on a leisurely walk and see what nature has to offer.  It’s that perfect time of year to enjoy a nice hike with friends and family and watch nature prepare for winter.
  • Good news:  your gym is probably open!  If you believe to a 24-hour fitness club, chances are they never close.  So don’t skip that workout!
  • Play games with your family.  Break out the Wii, pick up a baseball glove and mitt, or just go in the backyard and go nuts! 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

How to Survive (and Beat) the 4,500 Calorie Thanksgiving Meal

Nov 21

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit, Home Life | 1 Comment

If you ever needed motivation to hit the gym, this one should do it.  According to the folks at the Calorie Control Council, the average American will consume 4,500 calories this Thanksgiving.  But wait, it gets even worse!  That figure doesn’t include breakfast or or the late night snacking that will inevitably take place after the big meal. Waistlines all over America are working overtime preparing to expand at least one full size!

When I first read that I was sure there was a mistake.  So I took to web to look for more information – unfortunately, I found it and all of it confirmed what I read.  In fact, that 4,500 calorie estimate may be on the conservative side considering that it doesn’t take into account the belly-busting desserts that normally accompany the meal.  Come on now, when is the last time anyone ate just one little piece of pie?

The good news is that you can take a few simple steps when preparing the feast this year to significantly reduce the calories and fat that will end up on the table.  No worries, we aren’t talking about radically changing recipes or serving some “Experimental” food to your guests.  All of these ideas have been tried and tested for generations and no doubt even your mom and grandmother used a few of them when they were preparing dinner “back in the good ol’ days”.

 

While your cooking…

  • Substitute chicken broth (use the reduced sodium variety) for milk in mashed potatoes and save not only calories but a good deal of fat as well.
  • When baking the sweets substitute applesauce for butter in cakes and muffins.  You can cut the fat content by more than 2/3rds while reducing calories at the same time.
  • Ditch the store bought rolls and breads and make some whole wheat rolls to compliment the meal.  Your body will appreciate the whole grains and your guests will love the fresh taste of homemade bread!
  • Offer an alternative to the gravy boat – fat-free sour cream for the potatoes; olive oil and Italian spices to dip the rolls in.
  • Don’t drown vegetables in butter, in fact skip the butter altogether.  Steam vegetables such as corn, broccoli and green beans.  Then spice them up a bit with a little bit of garlic (fresh is best) and other seasonings. 
  • Don’t put butter on the table at dinner.  Out of sight – out of mind!

For cooks and non-cooks…

  • Start Thanksgiving day off with a family walk.  Find a park, trail or other area nearby and head out for a nice 2-3 mile hike. 
  • If you know that Thanksgiving is going to pack on the calories, commit to adding 20 minutes to your workout each day this week to help work off the extra calories.
  • Eat breakfast on Thanksgiving!  Don’t “save your appetite” for dinner by starving yourself.  You will end up overeating and your body’s metabolism will be slowed down since you didn’t eat that morning.
  • Skip the holiday nog and other calorie-loaded drinks.  Stick with tea and skim milk.

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Want to Eat Healthier? Pick Up a Shopping Basket!

Nov 19

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit, Home Life | No Comments

Wow.  Look at all that food.  Aisles and aisles of everything you could desire – fruits, breads, meats, soups, cookies, ice cream.  It’s all there for you to choose from – take as much as you wish.  How about a free sample?  If you buy one, we’ll throw another one in for “free”.  Go ahead!  Indulge!

Can you guess what place I’m talking about?  It’s the grocery store – a mecca of temptation and a cathedral to all that is filled with fat.  We walk into the grocery store and, like clockwork, we emerge an hour later our shopping cart overflowing with deli meats, processed foods and that chocolate cake we just couldn’t say no to in the bakery.  Not to mention the chips, candy bars and Ho-Ho’s we managed to slide into the cart as well – after all, they were on sale!

Good grief – is it no wonder we as a nation are fat?  It’s not like fattening, unhealthy food is all the grocery store sells.  It’s just that we have this big shopping cart, and the displays are so tempting.  I’ve always said its too bad the produce department can’t get some of the folks who market the Ding Dong’s to help them come up with an ad campaign sometime.  The sale of asparagus would go through the roof!

If I’ve learned anything over the years is that when it comes to the grocery store you have to know how to play the game.  We all know by now that the healthiest foods are normally found on the perimeter of the store – and that the processed, bad stuff is usually found in the middle.  Of course, the grocery stores know that we know, so they have started to rearrange a few things.  Notice how the bakery is now to the right of the front door?  And those frozen food displays, they someone managed to go from the middle of the store to along the wall.  How convenient.

The good news is you can win at this battle in the grocery store.  You can not only eat right, but you can also get in a mini-workout at the same time.  It’s simple – just say “no thanks” to the shopping cart and pick up a shopping basket!  With this one move you’ve made it a lot harder to pile up on the bad stuff, and a lot easier to burn a few calories while shopping. 

Think about it for a moment.  When you go to the grocery store you usually go because you need something.  Maybe you need some tomatoes, flour, some bread.  The problem is when you leave you have piled your cart full of other stuff, and in the process you forgot all about the tomatoes, flour and bread!  I was terrible at this – the local grocery stores used to love to see me coming because they knew their profits were going to be up the day!  So that’s when I decided to ditch the cart, pick up a basket and take matters into my own hands – literally!

With a basket I tend to focus on what I came into the store for.  There simply isn’t enough room in that basket to load it down with junk food or impulse purchases.  Of course this means I make more shopping trips per month than most, but that is OK.  I look at them as a time to get in a little mini-workout carrying my basket around, walking through the store.  Who would have thought it – eating right and getting some exercise all at the same time!

My friend Randy Pickard, who has been involved in retail for many years and is what one might call an expert in shopping baskets, told me that on average shopping baskets have went from something that was an afterthought in many stores to now being scattered around the store, ready for you to grab at a moment’s notice, and they are getting bigger!  I guess the stores figured if they couldn’t force us to take a cart, they might as well make the basket a bit bigger to encourage us to shop!

Give it a shot next time; skip the cart and pick up the basket.  Then when you get home take a look at what you bought.  I’ll guarantee your shopping mix is going to be healthier than what you would have brought home before.  Instead of chips, boxed foods and the sort you’ll probably find you stuck more to the fresh foods, cooking staples and healthy meats. 

So what are you waiting for?  Let’s go Krogering!

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Watching the Fat this Holiday Season

Nov 18

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit, Home Life | 2 Comments

Last night on the weekly #sfcfit chat held by @SearsFitness on Twitter one of the topics that came up was how can we watch what we eat during the holiday season without denying ourselves.  Let’s face it, we all know that denial is a sure fire way to fall off the wagon.  I have never believed in fad diets that say “don’t eat carbs” or “don’t eat red meat”.  When you deny yourself stuff that you enjoy eating you are setting yourself up for failure because you will cave sooner or later.  I mean, come on, let’s think about it for a minute – no carbs.  So you aren’t going to ever eat a wonderful, loaded baked potato again in your life?  I don’t think so!

You can – and should – continue to enjoy what you like in moderation.  Of course, recipes were always meant to be tweaked, and one of my favorite tweaks when I’m baking is to replace the fat in baked goods with something that still allows the recipe to set-up correctly, but takes away all the calories and fat of oils – or at least helps to reduce it.  Many of you probably already have heard of this before, but applesauce is a baker’s dream ingredient when it comes to trimming fat and calories.

For many baked goods such as cakes, breads, cookies (read below!) and muffins oil can be replaced 1:1 with unsweetened applesauce. For example, if the cake recipe calls for 1/2 a cup of oil, simple replace it with 1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce. 

The caveat here is that applesauce works wonders for cake-like baked goods.  Applesauce will make whatever you are baking more cake-like in texture.  Also, applesauce is not a substitute for butter.  If the recipe calls for butter, applesauce generally is not a good substitute, or should be used in limited quantities.  Many times when I bake cookies I will only use 1/2 the amount of butter and then replace the other half with applesauce.  The cookies come out with a cake-like texture, but still have some butter in them necessary to retain their taste and bake properly.

Of course the best thing about cooking is you are free to experiment.  Many times I will try a wide array of tricks to cut down on the fat in a recipe without affecting its taste.  Although unsweetened applesauce is usually used for this oil substitution, sometimes I like that extra “kick” and will use 3/4ths unsweetened and 1/4th sweetened.  This works really well in cakes I have found. 

This holiday season I encourage you to get in the festive season by enjoying the many treats of the holiday season.  Just remember to do it in moderation and try a few tricks like this one to make things a bit healthier.  Some advice that I always follow if I know I’m going to a holiday party is in the morning I will have a very lite breakfast (but I do have breakfast!), a lite lunch and then spend 20 minutes extra in the gym that day.  That way I am preparing my body for a little “extra” that night – such as a nice piece of pecan pie!

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Holiday Madness–No, I’m Not Going Mad (Yet)

Nov 17

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit, Home Life | 1 Comment

100_0988It’s that time of year again, can you believe it?  No, it’s not that time again when I write a new blog entry (yes, I know I’ve been a bit quiet since early fall!), but rather it’s that time of year to get ready for the holidays.  So much has happened since I last sent out an update it’s hard to know where to start.

For most of you, my loyal readers (all 2 of you), you are probably wanting to know how the weight loss is going.  I am happy to say that I am still keeping active and slowly shedding the pounds.  In September and part of October I “fell off the wagon” so to speak when I was doing a lot of traveling.  It’s so easy when you travel to overeat and to stop being active.  Hotel gyms are usually sparsely equipped, and after a long day of taking care of business it’s all I could do to just fall into bed and fall asleep watching Letterman.

However, I’ve fallen off the horse many times and each time I pick myself right back up.  That’s the most important part of any fitness program.  When you take a step back, that is OK.  You don’t need to beat yourself up every time you put on a pound or two.  Overall fitness means that you will fluctuate, and you may put on some pounds now and then, but in the long run you are still maintaining your workout and healthy eating goals.

Of course, with the holidays upon us it’s a real challenge for many of us to stay healthy.  What with all the pies, cookies, cakes, holiday candy and fudge that seem to be teasing us everywhere we go.  My advice?  Enjoy it in moderation.  The absolute worst thing you can do is deny yourself these treats.  Because if you do then you are setting yourself up for failure.  It’s just like any fad diet – if you deny yourself something that you like, you are going to fail.  Plain and simple.  The problem is when you fail, you fail harder (and usually eat way more) than you would have if you just ate the foods in the first place.

Again, I’m not saying to run out and eat every piece of pecan pie or homemade fudge that you find.  What I am saying is to enjoy them as a treat this holiday season on occasion and know that when you do then you need to cut back in other areas.  When I know I’m going to a holiday party I cut back on other meals during the day.  I may just have a bananna and a piece of toast in the morning, for example instead of an egg-white muffin and a bowl of cereal.  Just remember – what you do, don’t skip meals!  That is the worst thing you can do for your metabolism.

And now for the rest of the story…

With the holidays approaching many of you know that the economy is still very fragile.  Unfortunately, I know many people who are still trying to find work.  Things are looking a little better, but we have a long way to go.  With that in mind I’ve decided to setup a holiday challenge to not only get me more active in keeping the blog up to date, but also to share some tips that can help you have a great holiday season without spending a fortune. 

There are so many things you can do for the holidays that don’t cost a lot – or are just plain out free.  Christmas has become, unfortunately, a time where we forget about spending time with family and friends and focus way too often on gifts.  So from now until Christmas I am going to post an article each day about how to spruce up your home, make homemade holiday treats, and decorate on a budget.  Check back here bright and early on November 18th for the first post.  I look forward to your feedback on each of them.  I think it’s going to be a great project and I’m excited!

So welcome back readers – let’s get ready for a great holiday season!  Together, there is nothing we all can’t do together!

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Good Morning! Now Start Eating!

Aug 10

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit | No Comments

If I had known that I get to eat more meals in a day when losing weight, I would have started a lot sooner!  The last thing you probably think about when trying to lose weight is eating more often, but it’s true – the tired, old philosophy of eating “3 big meals a day” is horribly out of date and just plain wrong.  To really boost your metabolism and help you achieve your fitness and weight loss goals you should be eating smaller meals every 3-5 hours.  The key here is smaller meals (you cannot have a 5-course meal every time you sit down!) and making sure what you put into your body is stuff that it can use.

Our bodies are strange creatures, and they very easily start to think that food is scarce when they don’t get nutrition every few hours.  By eating smaller meals more frequently you are telling your body “Hey, it’s ok, there is plenty of food – here, try this and enjoy!”  It helps your metabolism to keep going throughout the day and helps to provide regular doses of energy that your body can use to keep you feeling better and helps give you the motivation to be more active. 

Without a doubt the most important meal of the day is breakfast.  I can’t tell you how many years went by when I was skipping breakfast and just grabbing a donut or some other junk food from the convenience store or the break room at work.  Is it any wonder I was 342lbs and growing?  Make sure that you start your day off right – you want to fill your plate with proteins, healthy fats and a few carbohydrates.  Think of this combination as the perfect “Good Morning Body” breakfast!

Here is a sample of what I had for breakfast this morning:

Scrambled eggs (yes, eggs are good for you!), slice of whole wheat toast with a teaspoon of peanut butter, a tablespoon or so (I don’t measure things exactly) of pecans and a glass of skim milk.

Now feel free to get creative with those eggs – why don’t you chop up some of those garden fresh tomatoes and put into them?  How about a dash of cinnamon?  Can I interest you in some chopped onion? Just avoid the salt and the cheeses and you will be fine!

Mmmm, let me tell you it was good!  I’m not a morning person, but this boost of energy really got me up and going.

Losing weight isn’t easy, but we can do things to make it a little more enjoyable.  Eating a good, healthy breakfast and making sure that we are eating multiple small meals during the day can go a long way to making this journey a lot more enjoyable – and helping you to stick to it.

So if you haven’t done so already, get off the computer and go make you some breakfast!

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Finding Motivation

Aug 9

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit | No Comments

Working towards a goal, in my case weight loss, can be taxing at times.  There are days (weeks even) when the end goal seems so far away that you wonder why you keep chasing it.  I’ve fallen off the proverbial horse so many times, but each and every time I’ve managed to dust myself off and get right back on it.  After 8 months I’m 65lbs healthier for it, with another 85lbs to go to reach my “goal” weight of 200lbs.  Sometimes it’s the number on the scale that motivates me, and sometimes motivation can come from the unlikeliest of places.

Another hot summer weekend here in Missouri – the type of heat and humidity that makes you want to stay inside with the blinds shut and the AC cranked down real low.  It’s 3pm on a Saturday, and the YMCA closes at 5pm and I’m having a hard time motivating myself to get up, get out and get over there.  I feel good about how much I’ve achieved, yet at the same time on this particular day I just want to dive into a huge bowl of rocky road ice cream.

A lot of us nowadays struggle with motivation.  The average American works more hours than their parents or grandparents did.  We face so much uncertainty about our future and our children’s future that just picking up the paper or turning on the evening news can be a challenge.  After all, the news has turned into nothing more than a mixed bag of celebrity gossip, political mudslinging and the latest tale of how the rich are getting richer while the rest of us wonder how in the world we are ever going to be able to afford to retire.  Walter Cronkite, we could really use you nowadays!

Yet in the middle of all this gloom and doom, gossip and mudslinging, constantly beeping cell phones and days that seem shorter and shorter I have found that the best way to find motivation is by simple tuning out.

Technology is great – it’s also a great way to be lazy and lose track of time.  I have stopped carrying my cell phone with me every time I go from room to room, or outside for a bit, because I really don’t want to be bothered by it.  Nothing is that important it can’t wait 15 or 30 minutes.  Instead of sitting in front of the TV watching non-stop crime shows and the latest incarnation of CSI I have instead turned off the TV, or when I do watch it a bit watch shows that expand my horizon – such as the Science Channel or the History Channel. 

I’ve also made a concentrated effort to form more local friendships.  Sure, it’s great to have thousands of Facebook friends – but it’s also good to have local friends.  The kind you can go out and do something with on the weekend, or maybe just go over and help them work on their car or shoot the breeze with.

I’m guilty, like so many others, of getting caught up in the 24×7, technology driven, non-stop news cycle of a world we live in nowadays that I tended to isolate myself and forget that there really is more to life than surfing the web or watching Youtube videos. 

So what happened yesterday when I was searching for my motivation?  I actually found it by remembering that one of the staff members who work at the YMCA was working that Saturday and I knew she’d know if I was playing hooky – and I enjoy shooting the breeze with her.  So I got up, got dressed and got my ass over there.

When it was all said and done – I left the Y feeling better than I had all day long.  In the end, my personal motivator was people – and the joy that comes from turning off the computer, getting up from the desk and realizing that not all conversations have to take place over txt messaging or Facebook.

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Lights, Camera, Action! Weight Loss Video Update

Aug 4

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit | No Comments

I figured it was time to come from behind the keyboard and show myself on video.  I put together this short video to update everyone on my weight loss progress and give some tips and advice about what I found has been working well for me.

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Looking Good and Feeling Great

Aug 1

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit | No Comments

I thought it was about time I gave everyone an update on my weight loss and fitness journey.  It’s been a while, and a few folks have been asking.  So here goes – I’m doing TERRIFIC!  I have to tell you, I’ve never felt better in my life and knowing that it’s going to get even better down the road – man, it’s a total rush.

So here we are in July of 2010 (well technically as I write this the clock just ticked over to August, but we’ll call it July) and I’m down to…drum roll please… 287lbs!  To put it into perspective, I started 2010 clocking in at a gut busting 342lbs.  Wow!

How did I do it?  No magic diets, no magic pills, no self-help nonsense.  I did it by doing a lot of cardio exercise, lifting some weights and watching what I eat.  It was that simple.  I didn’t starve myself and I didn’t do some fad diet where I got rid of all the stuff I love to eat – I just watched the portions and tried to substitute healthy snacks and healthier alternatives in where I could.  So, for example, instead of eating french fries I switched to a nice baked sweet potato.  Instead of ice cream, frozen yogurt.  Simple things like that.  I also started reading the boxes of what I buy in the store and started steering clear of the high fructose corn syrup crap and started going for the whole grains and whole wheat.

So how about a picture?  They say a picture is worth a thousand words!

Look at that handsome guy!

I couldn’t even fit into those jeans and shirt back in January!

Now don’t get me wrong – I still got a ways to go.  My goal is 205lbs.  So I got another 82lbs to go and I know it’s going to take time.  However, I’m more motivated now than ever!

Getting fit and feeling great – it’s worth it folks, believe me.  If you need some motivation please, please contact me and let me be your motivator.  I’ll help you and along the way we can encourage each other!

Now if only I could find a sponsor to supply me with gym shoes – Finish Line or Reebok, you listening?  I’m going through gym shoes like crazy because of all the workouts I do.  You should change your shoes every 500 miles because they lose their support and comfort – and I’ve been through probably 3 pair so far!

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Breaking 300: A Reason to Celebrate

Apr 18

Posted by Robert Stinnett in Get Fit | No Comments

About two weeks ago I celebrated a major milestone in my quest to get fit – I finally fell below 300!  As of today (April 18, 2010) I’m sitting at 294.5 – or roughly 50lbs lighter than when I started my journey in late December 2009.  Talk about a motivator – seeing those magical numbers on the scale really gave me a confidence boost!

Looking back so far, I’ve learned a few things – first, you really can enjoy what you eat, just as long as you enjoy it in moderation.  Starting out I told myself I wasn’t getting involved in any fad diet.  I’m always amazed at the amount of money people throw away on the “diet of the moment” thinking that by denying themselves something they are going to be able to take weight off and keep it off.  By watching what I eat I’ve managed to cut the calories and fat without really changing what I eat.  I still enjoy frozen yogurt, the occasional order of french fries (maybe once or twice a month!) and my favorite – baked potatoes.  The big difference between now and then is that I make better decisions instead of eliminating foods altogether.  For example, I love a good baked potato – but I will skip the sour cream and butter and instead sprinkle some olive oil on it and pile on the garlic and chives.  Mmmmm!

Secondly, no matter what you do, you have to get up and get moving.  There is no doubt in my mind at this stage of the game that without regular physical exercise any of this would have been possible.  Sure, there have been plenty of times when I was just wore out or just plain lazy and didn’t want to go to the gym – but I went anyway.  What I found out is that after my 40 minutes or so at the gym I had more energy than ever.  You just have to get motivated to do something – anything!  Sitting Pecan Saladaround watching TV doesn’t count!

It’s not an easy journey – nobody said it would be – but if you have the motivation and desire you can make it an exciting one.  If I could offer anyone advice to get them started it would be this:

  • Put down the processed foods (ready-to-eat meals in a box from the store, fast food burgers and sandwiches, etc.)
  • Get up and get active – even if it means just walking for 30 minutes a day
  • Add strength training to your exercise – lift some weights, you will be surprised how much it boosts your cardio routines!
  • Don’t sweat it when you fall off the wagon or indulge for a day; it’s OK to be bad once in a while as long as you keep moving towards your goal
  • Get creative in the kitchen – you’d be surprised what you can create at home that is far, far better than the fat-laden, calorie-laden meals you will get when you eat out.  Pecan salad anyone?

If I can do it – YOU can do it!

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