It’s very easy to get fat when you fly. Traveling, especially via airplane, may be one of the best possible methods for you to pack a few extra pounds on your waistline.
Think about it. Not only are you sedentary for long periods of time in the car, shuttle van, airport terminal, airplane and taxi, but you’re also dehydrated (water is completely necessary for the fat burning process), living off packaged food products (the body takes any unmetabolized preservatives in those packages and stores them as fat cells), and slightly stressed (cortisol, the body’s stress release hormone, triggers fat storage).
Wow, what a great 1-2-3 combo for individuals with lofty fat gain goals!
As a case study on the success of a person trying to get fat while flying, let’s follow Laura (a real client of mine) from her home to her final destination. Laura’s name has been changed to protect her identity, but these travel tidbits were gleaned from Laura’s online nutrition log and our e-mail discussion afterwards.
Laura’s flight leaves at 10am. She is very careful from the time she wakes to the time she drives to the airport to avoid any purposeful physical activity, as this will enhance her body’s natural metabolic rate for up to 24 hours and cause her to burn more calories every hour she sits on the airplane. Although she could go for a brief 20 minute walk or jog, perform 5 sets of 20 jumping jacks while she listens to the morning news, or do a brief 15 minute body weight exercise circuit, she insteads checks her e-mail, check in online for her flight, and makes two phone calls. These are activities she could have done at the airport, but she was able to avoid exercise by performing them at home.
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Fitness class update!
The new group fitness classes designed by Ben Greenfield in Spokane, WA and beginning in the first week of April are quickly filling…but there’s still room in a few (see below)! Here’s an audio update…
You can instantly sign-up and reserve your spot by simply securing a “ticket” below.Feel free to get tickets for any class or classes you desire, but remember, SPACE IS LIMITED TO 6 PEOPLE PER CLASS AND REGISTRATION OFFICIALLY CLOSES ON MARCH 31! After you sign up, you’ll be directed to a detailed questionnaire where you can provide us with all necessary information to enhance your experience. Classes are $25.
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4 SPOTS LEFT!
8 Week Spokane Group Training: “Metabolic Fat Loss” – Wednesdays 12pm
When: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 at 12:00 PM – Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 12:00 PM (PT)
Where: Champions Sports Medicine, 730 N Hamilton St, Spokane, WA 99202
Event Details: This class is designed to induce rapid and safe fat loss by utilizing cardiovascular interval and weightlifting/toning techniques designed by Ben Greenfield and a team of nutritionists and personal trainers. In addition to supervised exercise, this class also includes full nutrition and lifestyle support!
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In this March 24, 2009 free audio episode, I address several listener questions, including the following:
-Listener Steven asks: “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night; I usually go to the bathroom drink a half glass of water and go back to bed. But sometimes I have a little craving and sometimes have a handful of one of your trail mix recipes that I have stored in the frig, or a 1/4 or 1/2 of a Bumblebar with the water. Is this OK to do? Are these items OK or would you recommend something else? Is waking up in the middle of the night with a craving an indication of not getting enough of a particular nutrient (i.e. carbs)?”
-Listener Karen asks: “I’m afraid my kids are addicted to junk food, but unfortunately Ben, I can’t just start feeding them goat’s milk and quinoa like your kids or they will run away forever. What’s your advice on changing my childrens’ diet?”
-Listener Jason has a “call-in” Q&A on hydration, and I respond with discussion about a certain type of supplement that could allow you to “hyperhydrate”.
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Several past podcast episodes on this website have talked about various types of protein supplementation for everything from sports performance to fat loss. In a interesting article about whole protein vs. whey protein isolate, my friend and respected nutrition colleague Joe Stout just wrote a very interesting article over on his blog. Check it out here. It’s worth a read.
When the U.S. armed forces set out to develop a fitness program that would hone a lean, “fit-to-fight” physique, they didn’t have the option of waiting around for the next “fad diet”…
…they don’t Google “fat loss” on the internet and sign up for the first advertised “guru” program they can find…
…and they DON’T buy “fat burner” supplements by the truckload and issue them at morning roll call.
The program they use MUST be effective enough to work on ALL body types, both men and women, and for anyone from the 18 year old knucklehead fresh off the turnip truck to the 50-something career soldier nearing retirement.
So here are some tips that I learned from this book on how YOU can become a “lean, mean, fat-burning machine”…
Military Fat Loss Principle #1: Train Early – Burn Early
In the military, they don’t wait for the sun to rise to begin their day. PT (“physical training” or exercise) starts at anywhere from 5am to 6am each day. Training early in the morning jumpstarts your metabolism and shifts it into high gear to burn fat all day long…and you don’t need to be a soldier to take advantage of that! Try to get your workout in as early as possible in the day to ratchet up your body’s natural fat-burning abilities before your metabolism slows down in the evening.
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You can now access complete group fitness programs designed by Ben Greenfield at a special discounted group training rate! Here are the details:
-Where? Classes are in Spokane, WA, but will soon come to Coeur D’ Alene, ID also!
-When? See class times below…you can come to any or all of the classes. In other words, if you want one fat loss class on Mondays, then simply register for that class. But if you want, for example, a fat loss class on Mondays, and also a fat loss class and sports performance class on Wednesday, then register for all three!
-How Long? Classes last for 8 weeks. But don’t worry…if you miss a class for which you’ve already signed up, you’ll have credit for future classes!
-How Much? Classes are $25, and include all features listed below.
You can instantly sign-up and reserve your spot by simply securing a “ticket” below. Feel free to get tickets for any class or classes you desire, but remember, SPACE IS LIMITED TO 6 PEOPLE PER CLASS AND REGISTRATION OFFICIALLY CLOSES ON MARCH 31. After you sign up, you’ll be directed to a detailed questionnaire where you can provide us with all necessary information to enhance your experience.
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This week’s March 15, 2009 audio podcast episode is jam-packed with latest research for fitness and sports performance, including:
-Do Muscles Respond Differently to Resistance Training vs. Bicycling?
-Caloric Restriction & Sports Performance – Does Rapid Fat Loss Affect Cycling Endurance?
-Monitoring High-Intensity Training by Heart Rate vs. Power
-Alternatives to Lactate Threshold Testing
-Does Aquatic Resistance Training Actually Work?
-Massage & Recovery
Listen in as I talk about the latest research on these topics, then turn to the Listener Q&A, in which listener Jen asks:
Ben, further to your Fat Burning Secrets episode with John Gilbert re: taking in food/carbs during a 60 minute plus workout … how much food/carbs would you suggest? And would that amount change based on the overall length of workout?
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Check these out. I ran across them at a gym yesterday. They’re from a company called “US Wellness Meats” and they run about $3.50 (half as much as you’d pay for a sandwich).
They are a combination of grass-fed beef jerky, grass-fed tallow, touch of honey, dried cherries and sea salt, which is advertised as a “tried and true historic Native American recipe”. Each bar contains 20 grams of protein and 380 calories. And zero preservatives.
I approve. So for those you looking for a low-carb afternoon meal, there you have it.
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In this March 10, 2009 podcast, I interview Jeff Spencer, MA, DC. Dr. Spencer has worked with some of the world’s most successful individuals, including Olympic, World, PGA, WTA, Tour de France, triathlon, motocross, and NASCAR champions, a World Series MVP, ultra-successful business executives, rock band legend and MLB and NFL athletes. His clients have won eight consecutive Tours de France, 22 national championships, Olympic medals and multiple world championships.
In his book, Every Second Counts, pro cyclist Lance Armstrong said:
“Jeff is part doctor, part guru, part medicine man…we believed Jeff could fix and any and all of our problems…While he fixed us physically, he also fixed us mentally…If you judged the most important man on the Postal team by the foot traffic in and out his door, then it was Jeff. Without him, we knew we’d never make it to Paris.”
During the interview, Jeff talks about the exact techniques that he implemented to garner such praise from Lance as well as the myriad of other pro athletes and teams who he helped achieve enormous success through proper muscle and biological system recovery from exercise.
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