Every day new diets are blared at you through the radio, flashed on television and in bold print in the newspaper. Don't eat too late, don't eat too much, don't eat too little, don't eat bread, don't eat sugar, don't lift weights, lift weights, sleep more, work out more and sleep less. You name it, it has been advertised. 

I, of course, listened to many of the diet advice that was flashed in front of my eyes and put stock in random pieces of advice while waving away diets I thought were pointless. I was under the impression that my current diet, which consisted of what I deemed "healthy" foods, and my exercise regime would keep me healthy and toned. But I felt like maybe I was gaining weight on my "healthy" diet for no apparent reason.

There was a BIG reason, I found out Tuesday when I met with a personal trainer at the Edge Fitness in Milford. Apparently, I wasn't eating very healthily at all.

 So, this blog is not diet advice, it is thoughts from a trainer at the Edge via me about diet and exercise. Perhaps it will quell some misconceptions and encourage better living.

I sat at a small, round table at the Edge, too conscious that the trainer about to sit down would take my weight and BMI, and prepared to talk about everything I consume in a week.

"Well," I said. "I eat fabulously during the week and then I probably ruin it with beer and cheeseburgers on the weekend," I admitted. 

When asked to define fabulously, I recited my food intake: special k for breakfast with non fat milk.

For lunch I eat celery and peanut butter, a yogurt and special k bar.

For dinner, usually chicken and broccoli or pasta ... something like that. 

Oh and did I mention I don't snack, drink soda, eat dessert (well, occasionally) and I work out 4 or 5 days per week?

I was doing it all wrong, the trainer told me. She advised me to look to history for the best diet. By history I mean the stone age. So no processed foods - eat only what cavemen could beat over the head and drag back to their caves or anything found in nature. 

Meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and berries are a OK. But not much else. Note: cavemen didn't eat fast food, as shown in the photo above.

When I told her I do cardio and some 5 lb weight lifting for an hour and a half, she giggled and said that's no good either. I need 8, 10 and 12 pound weights to get anything sculpted and I should be doing just as much, if not more eight lifting than moving on the elliptical.

She asked me to do plank (not the kind on railings or the edges of buildings). That was easy. Now move up and down on each arm while keeping my body parallel to the ground? Impossible. 

I was also doing squats so wrong that I was damaging my knees and leg lifts don't count unless your legs are stick straight. 

Whoops.

After about 45 minutes of correcting my posture, I felt more worked out than an average three hours at the gym by myself. 

"Abs are made in the kitchen, not by doing sit ups," the trainer told me as I stood up wobbly, legs stiff and sore.

Next, she taught me how to stand. "Don't stick out your chest and your butt. A lot of girls do that." She showed me how to line my hips up with my body and voila, my muscles were tighter already. 

I pleaded with my trainer before I left. "If I learn to stand like this and work out like this every day and eat soooo well - just off of the land - can I please have a few beers and even a half of a cheeseburger on the weekend?"

Of course the answer is yes, but not if I want to have the body of superwoman.

So there you have it, straight from a trainer.

-Lift weights and lot and move fast while doing it. 

-Special K and other 'healthy' cereals aren't necessarily healthy because, well, it's cereal and it can't be found in nature.

-Live off of the land.

-Have the willpower to stay away from cheeseburgers

Personally, I probably couldn't live this way for the rest of my life. But I am going to try a lot harder to adjust my diet and completely rid it of processed foods. I will give up cheeseburgers for a month before I have to look amazing for something, like my own wedding. But I'm afraid I can't do more than that. 

Best of luck with the diet and exercise! Bathing suit season is coming up soon but no matter what season it is, I think strong > skinny.

When I first imagined Bikram Yoga, I pictured a solemn yogi posing in a warm room. Apparently I am bad at vividly imagining what 90 minutes of 26 different yoga positions in 105 degree heat with 40 percent humidity feels like. 

Well, it feels like your body is screaming at you to drink water and seek air conditioning quickly. But, as I eyed the door during my first Bikram class yesterday at a local Bikram Studio the instructor called me out and told me that even if I couldn't make it (survive) the different poses, I could just lie there because the heat still impacts you. Boy does it. I lied down on my yoga mat and towel for the last 15 or so minutes of the class, drenched in sweat and desperate for water (which, I was drinking but the more water you drink, the more nauseous you get), and my heart was beating as if I was running on a treadmill. 

When the class began, I was feeling warm, but enjoying the stretches and breathing exercises, although I have to admit I grew dizzy about 15 minutes into the class. It had been awhile since I had done regular yoga so the difficult balance poses seemed even more difficult that I remembered them to be. And because of the pressing heat, they all felt like I was balancing at a dead sprint. My heart was throbbing in my chest so I opened my mouth to get some air but the instructor again corrected me and said "Alex, close your mouth and breathe through your nose. It's part of the process and it's better for you." So I did.

I didn't have to lie down until we began doing floor poses, which are significantly easier than balance poses, but just sitting up from a lying down pose made me start to black out and prepare to faint. 

I remember staring at the clock - 10 minutes left of class - and making a mental note never to take Bikram yoga again. I finished up the last few poses in class and hobbled out into the comfortably chilly lobby sore, dehydrated and dizzy.

I still felt horribly nauseous and was beginning to get a bad headache, which the instructor said was normal. I waited an hour for the nausea to subside and was instantly starving. (I read that Bikram allows someone to burn between 500 and 1250 calories depending on the intensity)

Once I showered and ate, I contemplated giving it another shot. After all, isn't every new workout tricky the first time you try it? But I still can't shake that horrible feeling of the heat pressing down on me as I struggled to breathe through my nose and looked around for a place to politely throw up. I have to admit though, my muscles felt toned and my body felt relaxed (albeit beat) the morning after.

So anyone who is daring or has had some recent yoga experience, I would encourage them to try it. A lot of the men and women in the class love it. Some have even done two classes in a row in one day (God bless them and their stamina) but if you are faint of heart (literally) and can't handle temperatures above 100 degrees, you might want to stick with a different workout.

Namaste.

I remember the days when I would hula hoop in my Grandma's back yard until I got tired and then maybe partake in some Hop-Scotch. I never saw my mother grab a hula hoop and join me - or anyone over the age of eight for that matter. But times have changed.

Hula hooping is the latest exercise craze. I haven't tried it yet but I know many who have and they can't stop talking about it.

Recently, after yet another Facebook post I wrote about an exhausting 45 minutes running on the treadmill and pumping my legs up and down on an elliptical for a half hour, a friend said "try hooping! It makes working out fun."

This piqued my curiosity. People usually don't use the words "fun" and "working out" in the same sentence. I was on a Zumba kick for awhile, which was actually fun and it was a great workout, but on a budget, Zumba classes got to be too pricey and my Zumba DVD only held my attention for so long.

As many of my blog readers know, I also tried P90x, which made me feel great, but was very very (did I say very?) far from enjoyable.

It sounds like this hula hooping fad is worth a try.

Alvin and the Chipmunks requested a hula hoop in their Christmas song and I think they were onto something. Let's hope Santa brings me a hula hoop too so I can embark on this new fitness program.

For those of you who are tired of running on the treadmill, it may be time to tap into your inner four year old and find a hula hoop program that you enjoy.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Ready for this? I think that I have found the perfect exercise balance that cheats both training programs I am working on, but also combines them. Doesn't make sense? I'll explain...

The new schedule that I am following fell into place without any coaxing from me this week. It was really based on how much pain I could handle in a given time period.

Here's what happened:

I interrupted my 5-day running spree I had going to do the P90x arms, chest, back and abs workout Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning I discovered muscle pain in places I didn't know muscles existed. I have already done this workout sequence and those muscles have not hurt or even felt a slight burn. I took this to mean I am doing the workouts correctly. My form has gotten better, therefore I am feeling pain where I am supposed to feel pain, er, feel toned I mean.

It was too much pain to run, let alone move, yesterday, so I spent about 30 minutes stretching and was in fine shape for my run this morning. 

For beginners who are trying to increase their fitness level AND train for a race, I recommend the following schedule, from one amateur to another:

Mon: P90x - back, chest and arm workout (1 hour) + P90x ab workout (15 mins)

Tues: Stretch arms and legs for a lengthy period of time (30-45 mins) add some yoga moves so you are still strengthening your core.

Wed: Run - three miles (25 mins) + P90x ab workout (15 mins)

Thurs: P90x - arm and shoulder workout (1 hour) or Run - three miles (25 mins)

Fri: Run - three miles (25 mins) + P90x ab workout (15 mins) or P90x yoga and stretching (1.5 hours)

Sat: Run - three miles (25 mins) *Only do ab workout if you did not do it Friday. It isn't good to do it everyday

Sun: Rest (if you're weak!) Ok, ok, a rest day (in my amateur opinion, is fine.) Just don't munch on an entire bag of potato chips or a gallon of ice cream and you should be ok.

Now for my observations:.

Perks: This thrown-together schedule has given me four times the energy than I had starting out and it has helped me fall asleep at a reasonable hour and wake up at a reasonable hour after eight hours of peaceful sleep. 

Diet tips: I have been having one protein shake on the days that I run or do intense P90x workouts. I have also found that eating 4 small meals per day is keeping me full and satisfied. On nights that I come home from work at midnight, I'm not tempted to go straight to the fridge. I'm now tired (and full) enough to go right to sleep. 

Slacking: I have to make sure I stretch everyday. No matter what. Even for five or 10 minutes. And most importantly, I need to drink way more water. I mean, quadruple my water intake. I drink about 2 full water-bottles per day but should be drinking around eight during this workout plan.

This is a learning process, but I am finding it more enjoyable and less chore-like as I progress. As always, feel free to offer tips or share workout experiences. Happy working out!

I may have mentioned in a blog post from eons ago that I am running a 5k this summer and started some sort of doable training schedule a few months ago until P90x came into my life. My view was: This will be even better than running because I will be super fit, right? Wrong.

My former co-worker, who I am going to (attempt to) run this 5k with, sent me a friendly e-mail the other day about how she has been sticking to her running training schedule and she is, in fact, running a 5k this weekend.

What 5k? Oh yeah, that whole thing I agreed to a few months ago... 

I panicked slightly because although the race isn't until June 25, I haven't run in a few weeks thanks to the rigorous P90x workouts. I was at the point where I was running a comfortable three miles and trying to improve my speed. I never thought a two week slump would make much difference, until I ran yesterday.

It may have partially been the humidity, but I don't remember the last time I had such a miserable run. My legs, which I thought were turning into legs of steel thanks to P90x, felt like lead. I tried again this morning and it was slightly better, but I was still lumbering up hills instead of gliding.

What I've learned: I can't stop running unless I want to look like a fool in this race.

My new plan: Combine P90x with a running schedule. Days that call for plyometrics or leg workouts will be running days.

Caveat: I am not giving up, just switching it up so I don't die in this race. 

Slacking: I haven't been drinking my protein shakes, which seemed to keep my energy levels up. But I'm learning. My excuse is that I'm a rookie.