I don’t know if this is a Western Pennsylvania thing, but for the sake of efficiency, we drop the “what” when asking a question:

"Hell you going?"

"Hell you doing?"

You can find this screen on MyFitnessPal by clicking on your calories. From there you have the option of viewing calories, nutrients or macros. A good place to start is setting the goals you see to the right of the macros: 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat. 

"Hell you eating?"

It’s the eating part I want to focus on today. Specifically, macronutrieints.

"Hell is a macronutrient?" 

Glad you asked :) 

When clients begin to overhaul their diet, they download MyFitnessPal, set a calorie a limit and begin the laborious task of tracking nutrition. First of all, if you are tracking your food, you’re off to an excellent start. But as most of you know, it’s not just the number of calories but the type of calories that can make an impact on your health and nutrition. (I’m not talking only about fat loss here, even though that’s the focus for many. )

What I want you to do is click over to the screen in your MyFitnessPal that shows you a macronutrient breakdown. Click on your calories and you'll see a screen like the one to the right. See it? Ok, good. That’s where we start. 

What is a macronutrient?

“An essential nutrient that has a large minimal daily requirement.” 

There are three macros: protein, fat and carbohydrates. 

You’re familiar with all of them, and perhaps you’ve tried to go one route over the other. 

High protein! Paleo, yes! I'm in. Why do I have the meat sweats?? 

Low carb! I’m in! Yes, no carbs. Why am I so punchy? 

Low fat! That tastes awful! Forget it, I’m out. 

If you’re curious and like math, both protein and carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, while fat provides 9 calories per gram. 

A brief explanation of each:

Protein

Protein is the single most important macronutrient as it helps to build muscle, burn fat, boost recovery and immune health and improve digestion. The Precision Nutrition recommendation* for protein consumption for muscle gain is 135grams for a 180 pound man and 110 grams for a 150 pound woman. 

As I’ve written in the past, higher protein consumption promotes fat loss in part because it’s the most satiating macro - eat a serving of cottage cheese and then eat a serving of crackers and see which one fills you up more. When you’re satiated, you consume less calories over all. 

Protein also ensures that most of the weight you lose is actually fat, and when consumed after a workout, can help to build lean muscle.

Carbohydrates

We know carbs. We have friends who do low carb diets, we’ve done low carb diets (I’ve done low carb diets), we’ve seen the Atkins diet and watched people wrestle over a doughnut hole. 

Ok, that was me, wrestling Sheila for a doughnut hole when I was trying to go low carb. It wasn’t pretty. Also she won. 

As a result of many of these popular diets, carbs have become vilified.

They’re not. 

Carbs help ensure that our stress hormones stay low, that our thyroid functions well, that our sex hormones stay healthy and that we sleep and recover well. 

Have you ever tried to go super low carb? Like less than 10 grams per meal? I have. And I was an a***hole. And I wrestled Sheila, not just for a doughnut hole but a piece of baking chocolate. 

There’s science behind that. Low carb can elevate your cortisol (the stress hormone) levels which can affect your over all stress response, mood digestion and energy levels. 

One reason that low carb is appealing is the rapid weight loss that can happen. In the beginning you're primarily losing water and glycogen - but if you are going low carb, you’re probably increasing your protein - because those calories have to come from somewhere - so is it the decreased carbs or the increase in protein that’s helping your weight loss?

Fat

We know low fat. I’ve never been grocery shopping that low fat wasn’t an option; cottage cheese, milk, ice cream (that’s just wrong) - but the thinking was that consuming a lot of fat made you fat. 

Also that too much fat caused heart disease. 

Then you wondered how your great-grandfather lived to be 95 and ate bacon and eggs every day. 

Well, because nutrition isn't black and white. 

Without going too far down the rabbit hole on fats, it's important to understand that you need an appropriate amount of healthy fats. (We'll get to the healthy part in a second). The appropriate amount can help your cells to work properly, build a strong immune system, and even help provide some satiation between meals. 

Because we are only scratching the surface on macros in this post, I think what's most important to understand about fats, and all of the macros, is which sources are healthy fats. Nuts and seeds, whole foods like avocados, all natural peanut butter (yes, the kind with oil in it), and olive oil are just a few sources of healthy fats that you can incorporate into your diet.

In terms of a recommendation of how you much of any one macro you should consume in a day, it depends on your goals. As mentioned above regarding protein consumption, if you're looking to build more muscle, (or tone, which is a post for another day), then higher protein is a good place to start. But if you're just trying to get a handle on the types of calories to consume, the breakdown of the screen shot above is a place to start. 40 percent protein, 30 percent carbs, and 30 percent fats.

Whew. 

Now, next time you're in Western PA and someone asks you 

"Hell is a macro?"

You'll at least understand that they're asking you a question. :)

*I'm currently pursuing my Level One Coaching Certification from Precision Nutrition and much of this information comes from that program. Click on the PN link for infographics regarding meal prep, stress management, and sleep. 

I'm not always into alliteration. So rather than have Technique Tuesday, I thought I'd throw in Technique Wednsday. 

Also because I procrastinate....

Today I want to talk about the plank, and specifically, a strategy to get a little big, or hopefully a lot more out of this sneaky Pete core exercise.

Sneaky, but effective. 

Click the video below for more.

Earlier this week I wrote a post on what stress really looks like, and specifically, how chronic stress can play a major role in your fat loss progress.  

You can check out part one here.

You know what chronic stress looks like. You wake up worried and struggle to fall asleep because you’re still worried. You’re distracted and scattered when trying to get things done. You constantly walk into a room and wonder why you're there.

Snuggling with Rooney is scientifically proven to reduce stress. Science people. 

But what do you do about it?

1. Put the emphasis on sleep

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, about 40 million people in the United States suffer from chronic long-term sleep disorders each year and an additional 20 million people experience occasional sleep problems. So I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that at least a few of you reading this struggle with falling asleep, staying asleep, or feeling rested when you wake up.

So what can you do about it?

Start by tracking your sleep. For those of you wearing a Fitbit, the device is already doing that for you, and chances are it's telling you what you already know. But figure out how much sleep you average in a week. Seven to nine hours is ideal. I know, I know. That's fantasy land for a lot of folks. But it's true. 

Reduce your screen time two hours before bed. By now you've heard that staring at a screen reduces your melatonin levels which will impact your ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. If you have the kindle app on your iPad and that's where your book is, at least turn on the night shift feature, which reduces the blue light that can affect your brain. Or consider using Audible and have someone with a sultry voice read your book to you :)

Make the room completely dark. The biggest improvement I've made to my sleep routine was the simplest. I cover my eyes with a mask. I never appreciated how much light I was sleeping with, even when the lights were off. 

2. Find ways to kick in your parasympathetic nerve system

Have you ever been laying in bed, trying to tell yourself to stop thinking? It’s a practice in futility. 

You have a thought.

Then a reaction.

“Kim, stop thinking about that."

Another thought.

“Ok I’m going to just stop thinking about that.”

I think about pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training in less than a week, but it's only seconds before I'm back to the original thought.

And on it goes until you’re in a full-fledged fight with yourself. That your losing.

The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is the part of our nervous system that is responsible for slowing down, relaxing and recuperating - which in turn reduces the stress response and increases positive emotional feelings. But we can’t talk ourselves into switching on the PNS. We have to be in our bodies and practice it.

Snuggle with your pet

My favorite way to relax is snuggling with Rooney. It was only recently that I realized that getting a good snuggle with him on the couch is relaxing because it does kick on my PNS.

Deep breathing

The first time I tried this practice in my 20’s I almost hyperventilated. As an already anxious person, thinking about breathing was for me, ironically, stressful. But if you can teach yourself to take long, full, slow deep breaths through your nose - hold those for 1-2 seconds, and then release the breath through your mouth, you can breathe your way into a relaxing state. 

Deep breathing works best for me when I snuggle with Rooney, because he naturally isn't phased by anything, and therefore breathes very deeply.  

Massage

Yes we’re still under ways to kick on the PNS. Have you ever had a massage, then walked out to your car feeling like you shouldn’t drive? You’re massage drunk. It means it was a good massage and your PNS has kicked on. Do more of that.

Meditation

Meditation is the most difficult on this list. Who would think that sitting still and breathing could be such a challenge? We live in a high-stress, noisy world. But research has shown that meditating, even if it's only five minutes a day, can help boost your immune system, lower blood pressure, your heart rate, and stress hormones (back to cortisol and adrenaline) and keep you from losing your mind on a co-worker later that day. 

Rather than just tell you to go sit on the floor and be quiet though, I encourage folks to start with a short guided meditation. I often use talks from Tara Brach, which you can find for free here. If it's your first time meditating, look for one that is less than 10 minutes. 

3. Build your support network

Last week I wrote a post about finding the strength to be vulnerable. About needing other people to help me out while I spend a month in a sling after major shoulder surgery. 

I'm grateful for the partner, friends, and co-workers that I can lean on to help out while I recover. Learning how to allow yourself to need others in times of high stress is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself, and to other people who want to help out. Maybe it's taking your kids to a movie so you can have two hours to yourself or with your spouse. Maybe it's meeting a friend for lunch so you can vent. Whatever it is, learning to build and need your support network can be a very useful way to manage stress.

4. Practice self-compassion

Yes, I saved the hardest one for last. Be nice to yourself. My tag line of be strong and be kind applies not only to others, but to yourself as well. I know this is a struggle for many of us. It's second-nature to self-flagellate and bury ourselves under the mountain of shoulds. 

Stop. 

Be kind to yourself. You are a good person doing good things.

Trust that.