In my work with people over the last 20+ years, this is what I’ll often see clients do in an attempt to lose weight:  Scenario 1:  Skip breakfast (thinking it’s a great way to create a calorie deficit right off the bat) and just drink caffeine, eat a moderate size lunch, go all afternoon without eating anything, then eat a huge dinner without going over their calorie count for the day.  Scenario 2:  Skip both breakfast and lunch to really create a calorie deficit, get through the day with caffeine, and eat a huge dinner.

You might not find anything wrong with these strategies, but there are a multitude of negative things happening:

1) Starting the day with no fuel puts you into fat storage mode.   The stress of having to function with no fuel puts the body into survival mode and releases stress hormones. These stress hormones make you crave sugar and fat in addition to storing as much fat on the body as possible.

2) Large amounts of caffeine trigger the release of adrenaline, a stress hormone.  Again, a major goal of stress hormones are to make you hungry for fat and sugar and to store as much energy (fat) as possible.  A double whammy at this point.

3) If lunch is eaten, much of it is stored as fat.  Even if willpower is still strong at lunch and only a moderate amount is eaten, the body is in fat storage mode (see #1 and #2) and a good amount of what is eaten is stored away around your waistline. The stress hormone cortisol is very particular about storing fat around the midsection. Fat around your waist raises the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, certain forms of cancer and even stroke.

4) Going all afternoon without eating puts your body into fat storage mode again.  Once all the energy of lunch has been used and nothing more is added, glucose (energy) levels drop and the stress hormones are released.  Putting the body into fat storage mode. Again.

5) Dinner is trouble.  Hunger is at an all time high and the thinking is that not much food has been eaten throughout the day, so this meal can be a big one.  A large meal is eaten while the body is in fat storage mode, depositing more fat around the midsection.

6) Overeating at meals places stress on the body.  Large amounts of glucose (energy from food) requires large amounts of insulin to be released in order to process it. Regularly requiring the pancreas to secrete large amounts of insulin places it under stress.  In addition, excess fat is a stress on the body, and as body fat increases insulin sensitivity decreases.  As a result, the pancreas has to try even harder to produce enough insulin, and decreased insulin sensitivity leads to diabetes.

7) Each time the body has gone into fat storage mode it has needed to find an alternative source of energy.  This alternative source is stored protein from your muscles.  Losing muscle mass shows up as “weight lost” on the scale, but it’s the last thing you want to lose as muscle mass is what keeps your metabolism running strong.  Lose muscle mass, your metabolism slows and you gain more fat.

8) You are physiologically stressed for most of the day.  Not only is the body releasing stress hormones to make you physically stressed, you are HANGRY many times throughout the day: snapping at co-workers or loved ones, zero patience, and are just plain crabby.  Intense levels of hunger are also interfering with your productivity and focus.

Only paying attention to calorie intake is not enough.  Timing matters.  Of your total calorie intake, spread it out throughout the entire day by eating small meals and snacks.  You’ll stop the release of stress hormones related to drops in glucose, stay out of fat storage mode, preserve muscle mass and have better levels of focus and productivity throughout the day.

Here’s a way to do full body resistance training using a sand bag – it’s like an entire rack of dumbbells in a bag!

You have your scheduled work time consisting of meetings, servicing clients and customers, managing communications, and connecting with colleagues scattered around the globe.  Your second workday consists of the one before, after and in-between.  You get up early to get a jump on emails, you stay late to get work done you didn’t have time do to between all your meetings, and you multitask during the day in an attempt to be as productive as possible.  Your third workday begins when you leave the office.  You have to pick up food for dinner on the way home, get the kids to practice, run a load of laundry and make sure the house hasn’t fallen apart.  After everyone goes to bed you see the opportunity to get on your computer to get more work done.  No wonder you’re completely stressed and exhausted by the end of the day.

The economy is still uncertain and you may be doing the jobs of 2-3 people who were let go and never replaced. You may be leading a large team or organization.  Your colleagues may be located around the world and you still need to be on conference calls. Shareholder expectations are high.  Your retirement accounts are growing smaller instead of larger.

Stress doesn’t just affect you mentally and emotionally.  It is a physiological, chemical, hormonal event that kicks off a cascade of physical events that can lead to diminished performance, poor energy, weight gain, insomnia, and higher incidences of becoming sick.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  There is a way to make yourself more resilient to stress.  You can train to recover from stress more quickly and more efficiently, as well as increase your threshold for stress.

MAKE ALL 3 OF YOUR WORKDAYS WORK FOR YOU

WITH RESILIENCY³ TRAINING

The pressure to perform in the workplace will never let up. You have got to remain focused, productive and sane despite the many demands you have in your work life and home life.  Instead of getting burned-out, beat down and exhausted, train to bounce back as quickly as you can.

A simple way of understanding how you need to train is to focus on the three M’s of RESILIENCY³:

1. Mouth
2. Muscle
3. Mind

Mouth: Are you inadvertently eating foods that place additional stress on the body?  Are you going long periods of time without eating?  Do you ever over eat?  Do you rely on caffeine, alcohol or nicotine to manage stress?  THERE IS A WAY OF EATING THAT MINIMIZES STRESS ON THE BODY.

Muscle: Does your job require you to sit for extended periods of time?  Do you find the time to exercise on a regular basis?  Are you exercising in the most efficient and effective means possible? THERE IS A WAY OF EXERCISING THAT TRANSLATES INTO BOUNCING BACK FROM STRESS MORE QUICKLY AND RAISING YOUR THRESHOLD FOR STRESS.

Mind: Do you ever get hijacked by the stress response?  Do you multitask?  Can you remain positive in the midst of high levels of stress?  Are you able to remain focused on your goals?  THERE ARE MENTAL TECHNIQUES FOR SUCCESSFULLY DEALING WITH THE STRESS RESPONSE.

Your three overlapping work days.  Everything you do in those three days’ worth of work is critical.  Are you training to become more resilient each day?

Many executives make poor quality food choices, go for long periods of time without eating anything, overeat, drink too much, or try to survive on caffeine or nicotine. Yet they expect to have the energy needed to put in productive 10-12 hour days, 5 or more days each week.

In addition, a large percentage of executives are mostly sedentary. They sit for extended periods of time each day, don’t exercise, their muscles turn to mush and have much higher levels of body fat than is considered healthy. Yet they expect to have the strength necessary to put in a full workday, then come home and meet all family and personal obligations.

About 75% of my audiences admit to having issues with quality or quantity of sleep. Yet the expectation is to hop out of bed each day fully energized, focused on their top priorities, and to be at the top of their game all morning, all afternoon, and well into the evening.

When asked how they’re managing their stress, they report turning to high fat/high sugar foods, alcohol, smoking or other unhealthy behaviors, inadvertently adding more stress to an already overloaded system. Yet the expectation is to keep moving forward in the face of stress without sufficient recovery or training.

Do any of these resonate with you?

Stress causes companies to lose $200-$300 billion a year, is behind more than half of the 550 million working days lost each year because of absenteeism, and eighty percent of medical expenditures are stress-related. High performing organizations have realized the need to provide resiliency training required to perform at high levels for extended periods of time in the face of stress, to minimize burnout, drive down health related costs and to maximize human capital.

Our unique yet intelligent approach is based on sound, scientific principles of exercise physiology and neurobiology that focus on how to train the body to be more resilient to stress – it is possible to increase your threshold for stress as well as to recover from it more quickly and efficiently. These techniques not only improve resiliency, productivity and performance, but also health, energy and the organization’s bottom line.

Our dynamic speaking engagements combine interactive exercises and enlightening information that provide simple, effective resiliency strategies employees can incorporate into their lives right away. In addition to understanding how to become more physiologically resilient, they will learn nutrition strategies that minimize stress on their bodies and improve energy, performance and health. These strategies utilize foods that can be found anywhere and encompass a wide variety of options so that executing the strategies on a daily basis is attainable for anyone. Participants will also learn how cardiovascular interval training helps expand resiliency to stress and be given a unique tool to be successful with exercise. PowerHouse Hit the Deck™ exercise cards provide a cardiovascular and resistance training program that can be done anytime, anywhere with no fitness equipment – perfect for anyone who travels or can’t make it to the gym.

If you want to be productive you need to put quality nutrients into the body at regular intervals. If you want to have energy you need to get off your butt – not only spending less time sitting on it, but also getting it moving. Cardiovascular exercise improves the oxygen carrying capacity of your body (oxygen = energy), boosts energy levels, and makes you more resilient to stress. Resistance training creates muscle mass that in turn generates more energy. Regular exercise also increases the quality of your sleep and recovery. IT’S ALL CONNECTED.

I work with business organizations every week to help them improve their performance and resiliency. It’s not rocket science or brain surgery – it’s simple, proven strategies anyone can do regardless of travel schedule, geography, time or status.

Here are the nerdy and delicious bean chips I mentioned: Beanitos
And here is the hummus — thought it’s not the best I’ve ever had it’s great for traveling: Wild Garden Hummus To Go

1.  GET OFF THE TREADMILL. Dying people wished they didn’t work so hard or so much — they missed much of their children’s childhood or their significant other’s companionship.

• Get off the work treadmill of life by realizing ways to work smarter instead of longer.
• Become clear and stay focused on what’s really important in life.  Is it really money that makes you happy?  Or is it the relationships and experiences you have?
• Think about simplifying your lifestyle.  Expensive tastes and toys require you to work more.

2.  GET OFF THE SIDELINES. When people realized their life was almost over it was apparent how many dreams had gone unrealized.  Many had not even honored half, and they had to die knowing it was due to the choices they had made, or not made.

• Make your 100 Things To Do List and work toward doing at least 1 of them every year.
• Take one step toward realizing a goal.  When that step is over, determine what the next step will be.
• You’ll need your health to accomplish these things, so commit to taking care of yourself for the long-term to ensure you’ve got enough time on the planet to realize your dreams.

3.  GET OFF YOUR DIGITAL DEVICES. It’s common for a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip but when faced with death, the physical details of life fall away.  It all comes down to love and relationships in the end.  Research shows how critical our social relationships are to our health and well-being.

• Social connections are key to happiness.  Connect with existing friends regularly or go to events where you can meet new people to expand your social network.
• True, social media allows us to “talk”, but how deep are our connections?  Make time to nurture and foster relationships face to face and have deep, meaningful interactions.
• Stop multitasking in the presence of people that are important to you.  It sends the message they are not important enough to get your full and best energy, and you’re not connecting.

4.  CHOOSE HAPPINESS. Many people did not realize until the end of their lives that happiness is a choice. They were stuck in negative patterns and habits, and let the fear of change stop them from making different choices.  They longed to laugh properly and have silliness is their life again.

• 2012 has been designated “The Year of Hilarity” with my partner.  We realized we had gotten into a pattern of dullness in everyday life and have made a point to bring back more fun.
• Begin or end each day with 5 things you are grateful for instead of being focused on the negative.
• Regular exercise has been shown to improve mood and self-esteem.  Be sure to move your body in some capacity every day.
• Be kind to others.  Altruistic acts light up the same pleasure centers of the brain as food and sex.

I’ve posted on the importance of gratefulness to your resiliency and mood, and continue to collect recently released research on gratitude and it’s positive impact on your overall health.  It’s extremely important, and easy to do.

What made me decide to sit down and physically write the list was a yoga class last week taught by one of my favorite teachers, Nielle.  She was talking about how often we come to our yoga mats looking for a reprieve from all that’s wrong with our lives….how we come to try to “fix” things, how yoga is a shoulder to lean on during challenging times, how it’s a great way to deal with the stress of everyday life.  These things are one of the main reasons I go….to get a mental reset.

Last week’s class was different.  She informed us that day’s session was going to be a celebration of everything that was working for us in our lives.  Instead of focusing on the negative, the lack of, the struggle, the desire for, we were instructed to think of 5 things that were working for us.  Things we were grateful for.

As someone who is insanely goal oriented, I have a tendency to put blinders on and fixate on what’s next.  On what’s not working yet.  On where I’m trying to go.  I celebrate success for a few seconds, put it behind me, turn my head forward again, and refocus on the next “thing” with intensity.  I’ve noticed lately it’s made me feel frustrated when things don’t happen as quickly as I want them to.  I begin to obsess about all the things that aren’t working.

One of my commitments for this year is to acknowledge the things that are working more often.  Instead of celebrating success for seconds, I’m going to make an entire day or week of it.  Why not?  Bust out the bubbly!

Here’s what I wrote:

1. My rheumatoid arthritis is in remission and I’m off my medications.  I love my health and am so grateful for a body that works.
2. Our daughter is LOVING her new middle school and is extremely engaged in her education.  She loves learning and I can’t begin to tell you how happy this makes me.
3. I feel like I’ve got a better relationship with my parents than I ever have.  I’m fiercely independent which I’ve always interpreted as distance from my parents.  I’m learning that independence doesn’t have to mean distance.
4. My partner and I have jobs and financial security.  There are a lot of people in the world right now who don’t have either.  To make things even better, my job is my passion and an expression of who I am.  I’ve pinched myself so many times this year while working that this is how I get to make a living.
5. I have a loving and supportive partner who shares my values.  She never gives up and I would be stranded on a desert island with her any day.  (That’s my litmus test: would I end up killing you within 5 minutes if we were stranded?  Besides her, there’s only 1 other person I’ve ever met that I would vote to have on my island.)
6. All the incredible people I’ve met this year through work and networking – many of whom have become friends.  I love meeting new people.
7. All the good food I’ve eaten this year.  Delicious, healthy food that has nourished my body, family and relationships.

These are the big things on my list…..what’s on yours?  It’s your challenge for this week.