Diet Teas - Helpful, or Givesyouconstantdiarrhea?

There are always new fads that come in and out of fashion when it comes to losing weight. Many of these come in tea form!

                                              

                                                                       Am I skinny yet?

Previously, the big one was Oolong tea, lately it's been a lovely fad called SkinnyMe tea. Just a quick google search will tell you that it was ripped of it's Instagram profile for being accused of being "pro-anorexia" saying that it was for "extreme dieting" and had a lot of unrealistic before and after photos. However, it has also had some people posting on various forums claiming that it has some good results. This could also be due to the fact that the site recommends a clean diet and exercise in addition to the tea.

Now before I get slammed for being "anti-detox" that is definitely not the message I'm sending home here. I am all for detoxes, sometimes your body needs them. In saying that, there are certain ways to do them healthily, which I will get to shortly. And if you want to use teas, that's fine. Just be careful what tea it is you are going to use for a detox.

You see the thing about SkinnyMe tea is that it's kinda shitty. Literally. The thing comes with a colon cleanse to be done as frequently as every two days and also contains Senna root which can be harmful in large doses. It will actually make you run the to toilet when you might not need to go and give you horrid cramps. It does recommend you take electrolytes such as hydrolyte or coconut water as you will get dehydrated, mostly from constantly evacuating your bowels.

It is also marketed as a mix of "natural health and weight loss nutrients". This is somewhat true in that it does contain all natural ingredients. This is not always a good thing. Lead is also all natural, but I don't really want to drink that either.

It also blatantly says that it will "naturally cleanse & detoxify system by removing built up toxins in the stomach and digestive tract".

Great! That's what you want right? Hmm, not quite. They go on to say that "elimination" (or as I like to call it, "project poopsville") is a key component of their detox as it helps to rid toxin build up which causes water retention. This is partially true, however what it is also doing is dragging out all your food with it, not giving your body the change to absorb the necessary nutrients, turning it all into waste.

The product is poorly marketed, as it definitely gets rid of a lot of water weight, leaving you very parched and dehydrated from all the shaking hands with your toilet. It doesn't actually get rid of any fat. Weight loss, sure. But not fat loss - which is ultimately what you want. This then means that as soon as you come off that tea, that weight will pile straight back on.

That's not to say all detox teas out there are bad. The purpose of a detox of course has it's benefits if it is only used as a detox - not as a permanent diet. Generally speaking, I wouldn't be using a detox for more than two weeks.

One tea I do recommend (that I am about to try myself) is a detox tea called "yourtea" which have a tiny teatox (props for the pun, guys). Yourtea does the complete opposite of SkinnyMe tea. Where SkinnyMe tea turns everything into waste and doesn't let your body absorb, well, anything, Yourtea removes the gunk and allows for your body to perform as it should by nourishing your digestive system, happily nomming up nutrients without clunky toxins getting in the way. There is zero laxative effect of the tea, especially as they seem to know what they're talking about in terms of how laxatives do nothing for you long term. It does help you go to the bathroom a little more, but more as a regulator than a laxative, similar to how fibre works.

It also has very little caffeine which gives you the option to add caffeine supplements as other aspects of your training. SkinnyMe tea is packed full of a variety of caffinated extracts such as green tea, which is a perfectly good detox and stimulant on it's own. Only thing is that you then lose the option to add other stimulants to your fitness/nutrition regime, unless heart attacks are your thing.

Yourtea also do other teas to help bulk and every day teas to help if you're feeling gluggy and sluggish.


Of course, other good detoxes include just drinking a lot of water and two days on a vegan, gluten-free, minimal acid (as in, little tomatoes) diet will also leave you feeling fresh and great.

Have you had any experiences with "diet" teas? Tell us in the comments!


-MM

Warrior Dash: Achievements and the overenthusiastic supporters

Given my outrageously neglectful attitude towards writing my blog (something I am working on rectifying) and being bogged down with a magnitude or research writing, I'm a little behind in my news.

I DID IT!

 I managed to successfully complete Warrior Dash, a 5km mud and obstacle event that only a year prior, I had said I would never, ever do.

Okay, so I might have walked the entire thing, bar about 200 metres at the start, but I still finished. I actually found it quite leisurely, walking with my partner while everyone else ran, then crawling, swimming, beating my way through obstacles. In saying that, I was outrageously sore the following week or so. I did it with a big group of friends which was great fun, although they are all far better at running, so I made sure I didn't hold them back and just kept at my own leisurely pace as they scooted off and kindly waited for me at obstacles. This was not aided by the death cold I had for a month which inhibited all training and carb loaded my already pudgy self.

Unlike my cohort, I was happy to just sit on my victory alone while they all eagerly signed up for Tough Mudder, a course that is four times as long with much tougher obstacles. Don't get me wrong, I greatly admire their enthusiasm, and striving for that next challenge is a fantastic way to keep someone motivated to adhere to their fitness goals. I also think it's very important to just sit back and admire the feat you have accomplished, take a moment to be really proud of what you have achieved. Sit on that glory for a while to really tell yourself "I did it". If you don't, you might find yourself chasing endless goals that don't actually give you any satisfaction or sense of accomplishment.

Here are a couple of images from the fun day (I'm in the pink shirt and tail/ears).

Turns out, not the right way to get across the car.

                                      

Actually the hardest obstacle for me - this gave me terrible vertigo and I nearly walked into a pole. True story.

 

Was quite good at these two, I thank my pole dancing arms for that. Although that second one was outrageously slippery.

 

Wringing out my tail, on the go.

 

The taste of sweet, sweet victory (which apparently, tastes like cheap beer).

 

 

So that was just some of the fun I got to have at Warrior Dash.

 

 

Here is what wasn't so fun.

The borderline patronising support from onlookers. Now wait, I can already hear you saying "But isn't it nice to get so much encouragement from people on the field who don't even know you but want you to succeed?" to which the normal answer is yes, yes I do. However, I'm a girl who carries a little extra weight and therefore, look like the little engine that could, trying extra hard to make it through the obstacle course. Inside people's heads, they think "oh wow, look at that bigger girl who's giving it a go, good for her!" which is great, fair, and accurate. I am great. Despite this being true, it also creates a lot of presumptions I didn't care for. Such as that I'm not fit, working harder or not as hard as aesthetically sculpted, fit human beings or that I need help getting through some obstacles. 

 

This is a great example of what's called positive discrimination. It falls under the same category as trying to help a disabled person or being extra nice to a black guy in your shop so you that you hope that he thinks, that you know, that he won't steal anything.

Don't get me wrong, to a degree, I really appreciated the encouragement and support from fellow racers and spectators. Although, when it gets to a point where they are actively targeting you and trying to make things easier for just you, it makes you feel much more like the special kid in the class rather than a racer, just trying to get through the course like everyone else.


All in all, I did definitely enjoy Warrior Dash and look forward to now focusing on my next target of the 7km Spartan Race - much harder obstacles, 2 more kilometres, 100 burpees if you can't do an obstacle.

Bring it.

2 weeks on - So far so good!

Afternoon!

2 weeks after Easter and my progression isn't too bad!

My exercise habits are yet to be picked up, but I'm trying my hand and just eating away the fat I stored. It took 2-3 weeks, but I finally shifted 1kg.

I ate cleanly for most of the week, having either half a banana or a small bowl of my gluten free quinoa muesli for breakfast, a protein shake at some point in the day, and a lot of cuppa-soups to keep up my blood pressure. I haven't been drinking nearly enough water to compensate for that yet, so that's part II of my challenge - raising up the water in-take.

I've tried my hand at some more vegetarian options in an attempt to cleanse myself a little and had some alright success!

I made a tofu and greens stirfry:

I made a portion size that was waaay too big - I really need to make sure I start using the medium sized plates (a great tip to watch portion size, for those of you playing at home!)

I also bought a huge pot to make a week's worth of veggie soup! I tried to make it fun by using purple carrots instead of your garden variety orange ones. (See what I did there?)
 

So not only was it fun to look at, it was packed full of nutrients like carrots, celery, onion, capsicum and parnsip! With a shit tonne of garlic of course.

For two weeks, I'm going to try doing a series of body weight exercises to get things moving a little, and try to do a bit more cardio on top of that at least 3 times a week.


Here's to good eating!

-MM

Easter tricks

I don't know about you guys, but I made a special request this Easter to receive no chocolate because I simply did not need it.

What I came home to, was this...

   Don't look in it's eyes!


So now I have to try to not eat any of this (am pretty determined to avoid that rollercoaster of binge eating). Fortunately, my new "break in case of emergency" saved the day today!

After reading that approximately once a week, a spoonful of Nutella can be consumed as a source of good fats, I developed an ingenious plan!

Whenever I get an insane craving for chocolate, I just have a small small of Nutella. Not only is it giving me a dose of good fats for the day, it seems to really ease my chocolate cravings and stops me flipping out and buying a block of chocolate in haste.

The only problem with this is holding the discipline to only have that one spoonful. I find if I just remind myself that it is a decadent blob of good fats, like avocado or nuts, then that helps keep me in the disciplined mode to consume just a small bit.


See if it works for you!


-MM

Easter strikes again

So Easter is done.

Who else has put on weight? I thought so.


 Before Easter, I made a deal with myself. I'll avoid chocolate, if I can knowingly eat as many hot cross buns as I can cram into my mouth until Easter Monday, then it's back to business. So cram my face I did. I have eaten probably a total of 25 hot cross buns in about 2.5 weeks.

Spread out of course, that's not so much. 1-2 a day? That, of course, is not how I consumed them. In fact, I'm quite sure there was one or two days where I would eat two mini hot cross buns for every meal throughout the day.

It was not my proudest moment. But who am I to resist the Easter bun?


Long story short, as expected, I've stacked on 2kg and approximately 2% body fat.


I have a rough plan of a bit of a vegetarian detox. However, I don't get paid until Friday, and the usual food in this house rarely comes in fresh and organic.

Dad's actual groceries.


Still, my metabolism has been sky high the last four days or so which is both a good and bad sign (great for metabolising fat etc, not so great given our bare cupboards void of actual food).

Today's diet thus far has been the last hot cross bun and a few mouthful's of yoghurt - my final goodbye to hot cross buns for another year. I was alright until about lunchtime when I decided I needed to eat everything. So I poured half a bag of frozen broccoli into the pan to fry up with some garlic and threw in a tomato for good measure.

The result was a delicious vegetarian mess.

For some reason, despite the protein high veggies I became absolutely ravenous afterwards. After half an hour I had another few spoonfuls of yoghurt.


I briefly did some weights too, but don't really feel like my heart was in it. I'll dig out my old exercise physiology notes tomorrow and go for a 15 minute run - if I can - based on very specific interval training to help burn off all this fat.

With my body, it's a miracle to hope for that I can shed 2kg/2% body fat in 2 weeks, but hey, let's give it a try.


-MM

Overhyped resolutions and nifty tips about the ole' "weights or cardio first" argument

So it's been a month since my last post, admittedly, like everyone, things get a little lost around the Christmas/holiday season but generally speaking, I've (from what I can gather) not put on any weight. Huzzah!

However, given it is of course, the new year, I have made some rather bland resolutions.

Get fit, stay fit. Feel fit.


Duh.


So far so good, no cravings of any type. Have been eating my eggs for breakfast, although I have cut down from two to one, one is all I really need that early in the morning, might start adding some baby spinach for that extra hit of sweet, sweet nutrients.

Today I had my one egg for breakfast and a turkey wrap for lunch complete with lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Have just indulged in a delicious snack of a corn thin (unflavoured of course!) with turkey, spicy avocado and tomato with black pepper.

Pictured: Delicious snack
Not pictured: Copious drool.

It's also a crisp, fresh tasting snack that I always find great for Summer.


In terms of training, that part isn't going as well. I did manage to get to the pools and do three whole laps, 2.5 more than I've ever done before. There was a huge gap between the first and second, I won't lie. I also did a lot of intermittent aqua-aerobics that I had half composed myself (thanks uni!). Good way to mix it up.

I really don't have long now until Warrior Dash and have admittedly left it quite late to really kick myself into gear, but nothing like time pressure to motivate you into getting on track. The current plan is to get up hells early for cardio - endurance training, so as long as I can go for, followed by either weights or returning later in the afternoon for weights training.


What came first, the cardio or the weights?

I get asked this one all the time, so here's a little simple rule to go by.
 If your goal is to lose weight, then cardio before weights/strength training is the way to go. Studies (Drummond, Vehrs, Schaalje & Parcell, 2005) say that the reason for this is because your Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption - or EPOC (the science way of saying how much you've burned during exercse) burns approximately 20% more than if you were to do weights and then cardio.

However, if you're not such a fatty and building up strength and muscle is your priority, weights training should be your first (or only) workout. The reason for this is that your body has zero exhaustion (as in, more energy) and you can utilize the calories you currently have to fuel  your weight...pushing..ness. There's also a whole bunch of energy systems stuff for this I won't get too much into, but basically you haven't burned through them all yet, whereas you go through all three with doing cardio first (ATP-PC, anaerobic and aerobic).


Here's hoping I have a bit more training to write about tomorrow (and lets face it, more delicious snack pictures).


- MM


Reference:
Drummond, Vehrs, Schaalje & Parcell, (2005). Aerobic and Resistance Exercise Sequence Affects Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, Vol 19, (2). Accessed: http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2005/05000/Aerobic_and_Resistance_Exercise_Sequence_Affects.16.aspx

On a roll!

The last few days have been pretty good! Thanks blog followers!!

Yesterday my diet was pretty good, admittedly pretty fruity. I had half a banana for breakfast, a few nuts for a snack, chicken wrap (lettuce, tomato, chicken - admitedly a touch of sauce) and an amazing dinner!! Dinner was a salad with a lemony cajun, baby spinach, crushed walnuts, sliced mango and shredded coconut.

Delicious!

 It was the perfect thing to satisfy a sweet craving too! There was nothing this meal didn't have - flavour explosion, slightly sweet, good fats, proteins, greens, it was amazing. I was a little naughty and had a huge bowl of watermelon, which is where a bit too much fruit came into the equation.

I also drank a good two litres of water, finally!

Sadly, I didn't get around to exericse as I had expectations of doing more room rennovations which did not quite happen.


As for today, also so far so good! Had the other half of that banana for breakfast and was a tad naughty and bought an iced moccha whilst out this morning.

I was early to my friend's house and had to wait for her to have a shower. Her exercise gear is easily accessible so to entertain myself, I squished in a quick workout!

I managed to do three sets of sit ups (10 regular, 10 side, 10 leg lowers/raises), attempted 8 pull ups and did two sets of weighted squats which really got me sweating!


It's a fine example of how to utilise spare minutes to get a bit of a sweat going. It's also applicable for incidental exercises. See a set of stairs? Run up them and enjoy that burn!

Had a turkey, ham and (naughty) salami wrap with avacado for lunch and am antipating more mango salad for dinner.