When Life Gives You Lemons

This is the first post from us in quite some time.  Sometimes, we all know, life looms large, and it can totally derail your journey.  So, fresh off our own ride on the roller coaster of life, I'd like to share a few tips about how to weather it and not lose your progress, or your mind, in the process.  

1. Ask the tough question.

When something comes up in your life, you have to determine whether the event facing you is important enough to take a priority position.  The simple fact is, we all have limited capacity to prioritize.  Everything can't be important; something inevitably has to take a back seat.  If this is one of those things - really - then you have to acknowledge that for what it is, and therefore acknowledge the necessity to re-arrange the other priorities in your life.

For us, this was one of those times, and we stopped going to the gym so we could devote our attention to the issues at hand.

2. Give yourself permission.

When an event in your life reaches that threshold and you've made a decision, you exercise a choice.  That's an important point.  Too often, we feel like we're painted into a corner, the victim of circumstances outside our control.  But if you take the time to recognize your priorities and your conscious choice to make a change, even a temporary one, that puts you back in control again.  So take advantage of that control and don't constantly beat yourself up if you have to set the gym aside for a while.  Believe me, it will be there when things get back to normal.  You're not doing yourself any favors by resenting or constantly re-living the decision.

3. Don't go "All or Nothing".

Okay - so here's where you have to draw a line.  Giving yourself permission isn't the same as a "Get out of Jail Free" card.  Cutting back the workouts is one thing, but that doesn't give us a pass to scrap the nutrition too.  For the last three months, we put our training on hold, but I'm pleased to say that our eating has stayed on track, and our sleep too.  It's actually been a source of strength from week to week to know that we are still doing what we can to stay healthy. 

4. Set a firm end date.

Nothing lasts forever.  Certainly anything that keeps you from taking care of your health should not be allowed to linger past its time.  From the moment you take on that new priority, have a specific date planned to wrap it up.  Or, at the very least, to revisit its impact on your life.  And STICK TO IT!  I know that, for us, it took a long time to reach a point where training was a staple of our routine; it's way too easy to let that slip away.  

These steps aren't just empty platitudes.  They're essential to managing the stress involved during a challenging time in your life.  The stress of things feeling like they're out of your control puts your body in the mode of naturally consuming more and retaining it too.  Take ownership, take control, and stick to your decision and you'll be fine.  

The Secret is: There is no Secret

In a year loaded with milestones, here we are sharing yet another with you.  As we approach the end of 2013, this is our 50th published post this year since we began 40SomethingFitness.  I truly hope that we've been able to reach and help you in your journey to health, connecting in some way that made a difference.  At the very least, hopefully it's been entertaining along the way.

I recently spoke with a colleague I've known for several years.  He was there when my career turned to web design.  He's a fellow veteran, a former American Forces Network journalist, and an outstanding resource when it comes to media and copywriting.  He's been following the blog pretty much from the start.  Needless to say, I respect his opinion. 

I asked him for feedback about the blog.  His response: our writing is "a little complicated".  

Hmmm...

I stewed on that for a while.  It took me a little by surprise.  Our whole mission has been to help people like us - people with no nutritional or medical background - to see that taking control of your health is really very simple.  That the pop fitness industry depends on the idea that it's too complicated for you to do on your own.  

But, ask a silly question....  I have seen more businesses go down simply because they didn't accept one fundamental truth:  "The customer is always right." So - I'm determined to roll up my sleeves and dig back in again, with the core message back to where we started.  The secret is: there is no secret.

Three things are all you need.

Our first trainer, Nick, gave us the best advice in our first week with him:  "Protein and vegetables, protein and vegetables, protein and vegetables."  Even after all we've learned about nutrition, metabolism, and training, this holds true.  Whether you follow Paleo, low carb, keto, gluten-free, or even low-cal, "protein and veg" fits your plan.  The fact is, most people would find it difficult to overeat on a menu that featured protein and vegetables as the "star" of the show.

Don't exercise; train.  When you hit the gym (or your basement, or wherever you get your sweat on), ditch the idea that putting in the time will get you the results you want.  Progress every day.  Whether that means faster, longer, or heavier, you need to push yourself to get better.  Having a goal helps, but progress is what really matters.  

Rest and recover.  We don't sleep enough.  Period.  This keeps your body playing "catch-up" day after day, week after week, year after year.  Sleeping and down time are every bit as important to your health as diet and exercise.

That's it:  Eat, Lift, Sleep, Repeat.  The last 49 posts and a host of resources out there will explain why and how it works.  But, at the end of the day, all that really matters is that it works. 

So, what's next?

As we wrap up our year together, it's normal to take a look at how far we've come and where we are going.  Fifty posts encompasses a lot of information.  Did we hit the mark?  Did you find what you need?  Or are there more questions - more specific individual needs - that we can shed light on to help you become the best you can be?

Only you can answer that.  After all, the customer is always right.  

Starting now and through 2014, 40SomethingFitness will become a "dia-blog", where you, our readers shape the conversation.  Whether you want individualized help or advice, or need a topic broken down into plain English, you set the tone.  Tell us what you need.  Start with the comments section on this post, or contact us directly on Google+, Facebook, or Fitocracy.  We'll do what we can to respond to every question.

We're also going to add more media this year.  Video blogs on YouTube will give us the chance to mix some "short and sweet" topics with the more technical stuff that might be better as a written article.  

So, as we sign off, please accept our thanks for your support this year; it has been humbling.  And also accept our very best wishes for your success in the coming year.  We look forward to an exciting 2014 right here with you. 

Overweight: The Stress Connection Unraveled

In the course of the last year, we've learned and shared a lot with you.  We've uncovered the basics of less than meets the eye.
metabolism and energy consumption.  We've looked at scams and myths and into the tendency of people to overstate the virtue of a food, nutrient, or ingredient simply to sell their product.  We even looked into the relationship between genetics and obesity.  Often, once we peeled back the layers, we found there was a whole lot

But today's topic is not one of those.  Stress is a big deal and is a very real player in the health of an individual.  And that makes it worth talking about. 

Cortisol

It's become conventional wisdom that cortisol is "bad".  (Ugh - I really hate these kinds of binary labels).  But how does cortisol work on the body?  Understanding this mechanism is the first step in grasping the impact of stress.

Cortisol is produced in the adrenal gland in response to stimulation messages from the hypothalamus. The adrenal gland's better-known function is to produce the hormone adrenaline which kicks off that critical-to-survival "fight or flight" response.  This is the ultimate stress response.  Think of cortisol as adrenaline's annoying little brother.  Not quite as cool, not quite as strong, but always around.  In fact, cortisol follows a natural circadian rhythym - naturally highest in the morning and gradually decreasing throughout the day, hitting a low point at bedtime.  This has some interesting implications for night-shift workers, but that's probably another post.

Just like adrenaline creates an all-out response of the body's key survival functions, cortisol signals the body to go into a form of "preservation mode".  Essentially it's a metabolic depressant.  The release of cortisol reduces your body's conumption of blood glucose, desensitizing insulin receptors, and signals the release of enzymes to release potential energy from alternate sources, like muscle tissue.  It signals your body, saying "we don't know what's happening here, or how long it's going to go on, but we're ready for the long haul."  If you've read some of our other posts about metabolic syndrome, improving your metabolism, or even carbohydrates in general, you start to see where cortisol levels can wreak havoc on a person's weight loss goals.  

And, like adrenaline, cortisol levels are spiked in response to external stimulus.  But instead of a survival threat, cortisol release is triggered by a broad and murky mix of stimuli we lump together under the title "stress".  And, like just about everything else in the human body, stress can be a positive motivator or a chronic debilitator.  So, how do you tell the difference?

Unravelling Stress

Stress is one of those wonderful words that everyone understands, but just about everyone defines differently.  This points to the fact that people perceive specific stressors quite differently.  And, if stress is in the eye of the beholder, how can we possibly hope to classify "good" stress as opposed to "bad" stress?  Science, it turns out, has been working hard on this very question.

According to a meta-analysis of 208 different studies on cortisol responses in humans and animals, there are two key factors that determine whether a situation is stressful or not: uncontrollability and social/evaluative threat.  Let's look at each separately. 

Clearly  nobody is in control here.

Uncontrollability:  This aspect of stress describes whether or not a behavioral change will have any impact on the outcome of an event.  In animal trials, mice who had control over a negative sound response (the buzzer rings when I decide to take the food) had much lower stress responses than those who had no control (the buzzer rings whether I take the food or not).  These same results were reflected in numerous human trials; if the subject perceived they could do something to change the outcome, their stress responses were much lower than those who didn't.

Social/evaluative threat:  As we said before, adrenaline is a survival response.  But a person's social survival (i.e. preservation of one's perception/status in a group) is no less important.  In the studies, tasks that presented a significant "threat" of being regarded or evaluated negatively by others, particularly in an aspect where the person held particular importance or the stakes were personal well-being, the stress response spiked significantly.  Interestingly, in studies of social primates, the submissive members of the clan consistently showed higher levels of cortisol than the dominant leaders.

What's more, stressors that exhibited both uncontrollability and a social/evaluative threat compounded the stress response and the stress response lasted longer than either stressor alone.  Now, I don't know about you, but I can't imagine anything that fits the bill better than a person who has tried and struggled with their weight each and every time they walk out their front door.

Some things that turn out to not significantly predict stressfulness in terms of cortisol response:

• Duration of stressor.  People were either "stressed" or "not stressed" and for how long didn't relate to the level of stress response.
• Type of task.  This is a tricky one.  Some tasks are inherently uncontrollable or present a social/evaluative threat (public speaking, for instance), so it can appear that a task, in and of itself, might produce a more significant response.  But when the studies controlled for these elements, the type of task was not predictive.  I'm one of those weird people who actually enjoys public speaking.  But hook up a camera or have my boss unexpectedly show up, and it's a whole different ball game.

The Stress Response

So, given the idea that uncontrollability and social/evaluative threats are the key elements of  negative stressors that elicit the strongest stress response, how do you tell when you're experiencing (or likely to experience) a negative stressor?  This is where I depart from the science and travel out on the limb of my own experience.  Thinking back on these kinds of events in my own life, the signs were clear: worry, over-thinking, heightened response (loud, over-expressive, quick to conclusions), and then there's the physical part.  My hands sweat.  Another thing that I seem to do is anticipate conflict and then start planning to argue.  Basically I start having emotional reactions to logical problems.  

Physiologically, if cortisol spiking signals the body to slow the processing of nutrients and be ready to borrow essential energy from muscle tissue, then "stress eating" (guilty, by the way) is about the worst thing you could do for your body.  This is a prime condition for fat storage.  Studies show that the effects of cortisol last less than an hour, so if you can hold off your urges for that long, your metabolic balance will be back to normal.

The point is, learn to recognize your own stress responses and realize where they are coming from.  Do you feel out of control?  Is your social (including professional) status threatened?  What are the warning signs and are there ways you can re-position the situation to put yourself back in your "happy place"?

Tackling Stress in Your Life

So far, we've established that elevated cortisol levels will suppress your natural metabolism.  Chronically elevated stress is definitely not healthy for your body and will ultimately derail weight loss goals.  Uncontrolled situations and the threat to a person's social status are the kinds of stressors that produce a strong cortisol response.  

I have long been a proponent of a simple life and believe in the principle that "less is more".  But it was only in the last couple of years that I took a determined look at my own life and did a "cost/benefit analysis" of each and every one of my commitments and obligations.  For me, the simple act of actively deciding what to keep and what to let go in my daily life was a tremendous relief.  We wrap ourselves up in so many things that many of us lose all perspective on what it is we actually "have" to do. 

There's really no way around it: if it doesn't involve feeding, sheltering, or clothing yourself or your family, you don't necessarily have to do it.

Once you've gone through the exercise of deliberately evaluating all the stuff you have in your life, you're on your way to seriously reducing the impact of uncontrollability.  Even if there are things that you choose to keep doing which are unpleasant, it's your choice and you're reminded of the reasons for your choice.  That puts you back in the driver's seat.  

I can hear you now through the interwebz, "Michael, that's all fine and good, but it's just not realistic.  There's no way you can eliminate all stressors."  And, gentle reader, you'd be right.  Some things are just plain unavoidable.  But, when those stressors come, I do believe there are a couple of important things you can do to deal with them.

Redefine "control".  This is serenity prayer stuff, right?  What factors can you control in a stressful situation?  If you can't control it, will that factor cause you physical or material harm?  Can you decide that factor is irrelevant to you in the bigger picture?  And, of course, "the wisdom to know the difference."

Be mindful about who's opinion/evaluation you value.  Often, we give others a great deal of power over our self-esteem without even knowing it.  Take that power back.  The circle of people whose assessments of me affect my self-worth is alarmingly small.  And, even then, the context is pretty specific.

"Let the air out."  What are the real stakes in your stressful situation?  Are you going to lose your livelihood?  Will you be harmed?  Will you be impeded in goals that are truly important to you?  Or is it simply unpleasant?  

Finally, when it comes to weight loss in particular, get informed.  The more you know about nutrition, the science behind different kinds of training, the more tools you have at your disposal to achieve your goals.  You'll be in control of your body again - to make it whatever you want it to be.  And realize that things take time.  We didn't get in the shape we are in overnight and our bodies are going to take time to remake.  You are in control - but you have to obey the laws of physics and the basics of human biology.