Women's Health Magazine talks abouts the importance of Metabolic Testing

Numbers You Can Trust
For a foxy figure faster, count on these weight-loss formulas
Blake Miller


We don't know who coined the phrase "Numbers don't lie," but we'll bet they never counted a calorie. And if you've ever tried using math to manage the digits on your bathroom scale, you know that most diet equations don't add up. We wondered whether any of the roughly 338,000 Google hits for "weight loss formula" can actually help you look good in that black latex cat suit this Halloween. Here's the lowdown on three basics:

Daily Caloric Requirement (DCR)

Translation The math is pretty simple: Eat 500 fewer calories a day than your body requires and you'll drop a pound a week. But most online calculators (and even the pen-and-paper variety) are only 82 percent accurate (even less so if you're obese, sick, or an ethnic minority), according to the American Dietetic Association. And, says Mary Hartley, a registered nutritionist for about.com, the results can be flawed because the equation isn't tailored to the individual and because many people misjudge their fitness level. Plus, if you lose 10 pounds or more, you'll have to do the math again.

Salvation Let sites like caloriecount.about.com, mayoclinic.com, or mypyramid.gov do the work for you. All factor in activity level and are backed by health pros.

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)

Translation While DCR calculates calorie input (how much you need to eat), the Resting Metabolic Rate tabulates calorie output (how much you burn doing absolutely nothing). Unfortunately, the ADA says the accuracy of these formulas is 45 to 80 percent (and again, they're less accurate if you're obese).

Salvation Skip the formula and get tested by a pro; you can do this at many gyms (members pay about $50). You'll have to sit and breathe into a scubalike plastic tube while a computer records how much oxygen you inhale and how much carbon dioxide you exhale. After 12 minutes of fun, you get a printout showing you (with 95 percent accuracy) how much you burn at rest and how many cals you can consume and still ditch your saddlebags.

VO2 Max

Translation This test, often used by athletes who train for grueling events, can also be useful for noncompetitors looking to lose weight, because the result helps pinpoint a target heart rate for fat burn. The formula is nearly 100 percent accurate, as long as you don't flub the test, which requires you to run or bike at top speed, typically for 12 to 14 minutes, while wearing a gas-mask-like apparatus that measures your oxygen intake. An ill-fitting mask (it should seal around your mouth) or not reaching your peak speed on the treadmill can skew the results.

Salvation Search at vo2max testing.net for places that provide the test, which costs about $120. The test will tell you the amount of calories you burn in different heart-rate zones. Once you get your results, invest in a heart rate monitor--either one that straps around your chest (the most effective) or a watch (like the MioMotiva)--to keep tabs on your ticker as you work out within your ideal fat-blasting range.

For more information about Metabolic Testing or to schedule a test please feel free to contact me.

Deep Ujiyah (Yoga) Breaths

During this time of stress and uncertainty in our lives with the hurricanes (and everyday life if you are not affected by the storms), take a step back and take at least 5-10 deep belly breaths as many times per day as you can. If you ever look at a newborn baby while they are sleeping or lying on their backs, you will see that as they inhale their belly rises away form their spine and the floor, and as they exhale, their belly button moves toward the spine and floor. As we grow and develop and get enveloped into everyday human life, we lose this natural belly breathing. Notice when you get in a stressful situation what happens: your breathing will start to shallow and hyperventilation occurs. This is not optimal for performance. Performance in life or in anything that you do. Why? By filling the lungs to capacity on a inhale, several things happen: 1.) Our lungs are lengthened (if we inhale until we can fit no more air in the lungs) which helps to improve the amount of oxygen you can consume in a minute, which, if improved will improve your VO2max and how efficient of an athlete/active person you can be because you fitness levels and thresholds will improve as well. 2.) By filling the lungs and fitting this excess oxygen into the lungs and body, this excess oxygen will help us to be more efficient and recover quicker because that oxygen works to nourish every cell, tissue, and organ of the body. This happens because the fuels that we put in our bodies are transported by the amount of oxygen that we can consume, so, if we can consume more oxygen, our fuels will be delivered more efficiently and more often to the places in the body that need them, both during exercise and at rest. 3.) Finally, when stretching and doing yoga, our breath can help us to lengthen our tendons, ligaments, and musculature more and allow us into positions that would not otherwise be possible for us unless we were inhaling to the capacity of the lungs which will help us create a greater capacity for our lungs. By emptying the lungs completely on a exhale, several things happen: 1.) We release toxins from the body through our expiration, in the form of CO2 and other metabolic waste. 2.) We allow the body to internally decrease space so that we can move through different ranges of motion when doing yoga, stretching and even doing core exercises and other activities. 3.) by detoxifying the body we allow the body to be more efficient in everything from cognitive function, to neuromuscular impulses, to muscular contraction, and a decrease of free radicals in the body which are the agents that cause disease, sickness, and cancer. This detoxification can also help in many other areas as well.

Theses full, deep breaths, when combined with a full inhale and exhale help to relax the mind and body, no matter where or what situation you are in. Even in stressful situations be mindful of your breath and what it's doing and always come back to those deep ujiyah breaths. The physiology behind the full, complete, deep breath is this in addition to all of the aforementioned: when we inhale, our diaphragm drops to facilitate the oxygen moving into the body. It does this to allow your body to take in as much oxygen as possible. When this happens, all of our organs drops to the lowest possible place in our bodies allowing our body to be nourished by that oxygen. When we exhale, our diaphragm is pulled in and up as high into the ribcage as possible (keep in mind the diaphragm is a muscle). When this happens our pelvic floor, or perineum, is lifted and all of our organs lift. If we exhale to the point where we have to almost gasp for our next inhale, our organs are squeezed, and rung out like a wet rag, releasing those unwanted toxins from where they are being held. So, with a full complete breath, our breath will work as a pumping mechanism used to nourish all the tissues of the body (inhale) and rid the body of all of the toxins (exhale). Try to get in at least 5-10 long, deep, ujiyah breaths everyday!

Supplemental Recommendations to Lose Body Fat

Supplemental Recommendations that were done for a client looking to increase energy on a daily basis and to get rid of a last little bit of adipose tissue (BODY FAT):

GABA, DMAE----these things work on cognitive function and promote a great mood and well-being, they also work to improve neurotransmission. I, and others, use these as a remedy for ADD or ADHD, instead of Adderrall, Ritalin, etc.---these are great and are definitely are worth a shot, I take them every day of my life and love them and what they do for me on a daily basis.

Fish Oils--work in conjunction with GABA and DMAE. Full of rich Omega 3's and 6's. These have incredible benefits for the body in a lot of different capacities. If you eat a lot of fish you do not need to take this in supplement form.

Multivitamin would also be great to keep you balanced and fueled properly if you do not already take one.

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA)--incredible antioxidant, one of the best, along with the next few that I list. ALA helps our livers to assimilate and breakdown proteins, carbohydrates, and fats more efficiently.

Pycnogenol---a French Maritime Pine Tree Bark with antioxidant capacities outdoing green tea by 50%

Melatonin--a hormone secreted by the pineal gland that regulates our light/dark cycles and circadian rhythm. For more restful sleep if you have broken sleep right now, this is an incredible antioxidant. You can also just take it when you know you have some time to rest on the weekends and know you need more recovery.

CLA--good fats that take the place of your bad fats in the body. Incredible non-stimulant fat burner that is great for you heart and cardiovascular system. CLA decreases existing adipose tissue and inhibits any new fat storage.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine--an amino acid that acts as a powerful fat-burning catalyst

Opti-Pro M--if you do not take this already, this will help you to rebuild, repair, and regenerate your muscle tissue and prevent breakdown of muscle tissue and storing of fat. Has several great things in it: soy/whey protein, electrolytes, fiber, digestive enzymes, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, good fats, flaxseed meal, and good carbs from maltodextrin and the soy content.

Metabolic Testing--we can test your resting metabolic rate to determine exactly how many calories you burn per day at rest, and adjust your diet and exercise according to you specific weight loss goals and aspirations. We can also do an EMR (exercise metabolic rate) on you to determine aerobic base, lactate threshold, and VO2max. Then, we can design certain workouts and zones for you to stay in while you are doing your cardio workouts without us to be more specific for your goals. We can also get you a polar watch to allow you to track your calories and your heart rate and zones while training.

Rest--make sure you are getting at least one full day of complete physical rest per week. On this day, you can stretch and breathe, but nothing too much. Your body needs this time to regenerate and if you do not give it that rest time, your body will store more adipose tissue because you are at a caloric deficit.

Alcohol--one glass of wine or a beer per day is ok, but realize that anything over this will cause adipose tissue storage and will not allow you to recover and feel energized the way that you would like to.

Tea--has great antioxidant capacities from the phenols and polyphenols in them. White tea has the most with less caffeine, green is the 2nd best with a little more caffeine, and black is in the same family but has more caffeine. There are also herbal teas with no caffeine and antioxidant capacities as well: Rooibos (Red Tea), Peppermint, Lavender, Blue Eyes, etc.

Just let me know if you need any of these things and I will be glad to get them for you!

Why get tested for VO2max

Why get tested for VO2max/EMR (aerobic base and anaerobic threshold, Exercise Metabolic Rate) and RMR (resting metabolic rate)? By testing these two things, we can see where our bodies are from a scientific perspective, in respect to how many calories we burn at rest (RMR), and also where we are most efficient at using our fuels (fats and carbohydrates) during exercise (VO2max/EMR). By using these two things, we can adjust our diet to gain/lose/manage our weight, and we can use our heart rate as a parameter in training, to train the appropriate system(s) of the body to achieve any and all goals and aspirations that we may have regarding performance and or weight gain/loss/management.

By determining RMR, we can see how many calories our bodies burn at rest. This will be our basal metabolic rate, or, how many calories our bodies burn per day, to carry out the jobs and responsibilities of the autonomic (parasympathetic) nervous system (i.e. heartbeat, lung/respiratory function, vital organ function-kidneys, liver, brain to name a couple). Once we find this out, we can adjust the amount of calories that we take in on a daily basis to gain, lose or manage weight. We can also adjust our diet, as well as take in to account the calories we lose through exercise (if you do). This test is not just for people who are active and exercise, but also for those who do not exercise who would like to see where their metabolism is, and then from there can just adjust diet, or incorporate exercise into their lives, or both. We have a consultation after the test to discuss these possible options.

By determining VO2max/EMR, we can see at what heart rate we reach our Aerobic Base, and at what heart rate we reach our Anaerobic Threshold. We can either do a max test (this is where we completely exhaust both the aerobic and anaerobic systems of the body), or a sub max test (this would be for the de-conditioned person looking to start an exercise program). Both tests will give us great indicators of what heart rates we need to train at to produce specific adaptations in the three inherent systems of the body: the aerobic system (Slow Twitch Type I muscle fibers), anaerobic glycolitic (Fast Twitch Type IIa muscle fibers), and anaerobic CP (Fast Twitch Type IIx muscle fibers). All of these muscular systems, and their limits, are determined by the heart. Every person is different, and therefore, will have different limiting factors. Different people will have different aerobic bases and anaerobic thresholds, and their different training programs should reflect these differences appropriately.

Please contact me to get your test(s) done today!!!

VO2 max

VO2 max : "VO2 max is the maximum capacity to transport and utilize oxygen during incremental exercise. (The derivation is V̇ - volume per time, O2 - oxygen, max - maximum). It is also called maximal oxygen consumption or maximal oxygen uptake. It is also known as aerobic capacity, which reflects the physical fitness of a person. Expressed either as an absolute rate in litres of oxygen per minute (l/min) or as a relative rate in millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of bodyweight per minute (ml/kg/min), the latter expression is often used to compare the performance of endurance sports athletes. A less size-biased measure is to divide by \sqrt[3]{mass^2} rather than mass."

Measuring VO₂ max

Accurately measuring VO₂ max involves a physical effort sufficient in duration and intensity to fully tax the aerobic energy system. In general clinical and athletic testing, this usually involves a graded exercise test (either on a treadmill or on a cycle ergometer) in which exercise intensity is progressively increased while measuring ventilation and oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration of the inhaled and exhaled air. V̇O₂ max is reached when oxygen consumption remains at steady state despite an increase in workload.

[edit] Fick Equation

VO₂ max is properly defined by the Fick Equation:

VO₂max = Q(CaO₂ − CvO₂)

where Q is the cardiac output of the heart, CaO₂ is the arterial oxygen content, and CvO₂ is the venous oxygen content.

[edit] Cooper test

Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper conducted a study for the United States Air Force in the late 1960s. One of the results of this was the Cooper test in which the distance covered running in 12 minutes is measured. An approximate estimate for VO₂ max (in ml/min/kg) is:

where d₁₂ is distance (in metres) covered in 12 minutes. There also exist several other reliable tests and VO₂ max calculators to estimate VO₂ max.

[edit] VO₂ max Levels

VO₂ max varies considerably in the population. The average young untrained male will have a VO₂ max of approximately 3.5 litres/minute and 45 ml/min/kg.^[1] The average young untrained female will score a VO₂ max of approximately 2.0 litres/minute and 38 ml/min/kg.^{[citation needed]} These scores can improve with training and decrease with age, though the degree of trainability also varies very widely.^[2][3]

In sports where endurance is an important component in performance, such as cycling, rowing, cross-country skiing and running, world class athletes typically have high VO₂ maximums. World class male athletes, cyclists and cross-country skiers typically exceed 80 ml/kg/min and a rare few may exceed 90 ml/kg/min for men and 70 ml/kg/min for women. Three time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond is reported to have had a VO₂ max of 92.5 at his peak - one of the highest ever recorded, while cross-country skier Bjørn Dæhlie measured at an astounding 96 ml/kg/min.^[4] It should also be noted that Dæhlie's result was achieved out of season and that physiologist Erlend Hem who was responsible for the testing stated that he would not discount the possibility of the skier passing 100 ml/kg/min at his absolute peak. By comparison a competitive club athlete might achieve a VO₂ max of around 70 ml/kg/min.^[1] World class rowers are physically very large endurance athletes and typically do not score as high on a per weight basis, but often score exceptionally high in absolute terms. Male rowers typically score VO₂ maximums over 6 litres/minute, and some exceptional individuals have exceeded 8 l/min.

To put this into perspective, thoroughbred horses have a VO₂ max of around 180 ml/min/kg. Siberian dogs running in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race sled race have VO₂ values as high as 240 ml/min/kg.^[5]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia