I am sure that there is some scientific explanation or that I ate too many carbs at my last meal or that my level of exercise has increased however none of that means anything to me while I am scavenging my pantry to find something that will satisfy this little man inside my belly that is screaming to be fed – well at least that’s what I thought as an imaginative child! LOL!

So how do I beat the screaming beast?  I eat but I stay on track and allow myself a little something extra such as chocolate and peanut butter combined. Don’t get all excited because this is not a free pass to eat candy however I do indulge in a protein shake filled with chocolate protein, water and ice, a tablespoon of Smart Balance Peanut Butter and a splash of unsweetened coconut milk…..don’t worry no coconut taste just a rich creamy shake that kinda makes me feel like I’m having a Cold Stone Double Chocolate Birthday Cake Milk Shake!  Ok maybe not quite but pretty darn close and there goes my cravings, the bottomless pit has been filled to the brim and the little screaming man in my belly has quieted down.  The best part, I didn’t “fall off the wagon” and my guilty conscience is reserved the fact that I snapped at Paul for trying to help me cook dinner! LOL 

So hopefully this helps you out and you can stay on track without blowing it and having to start all over on your journey!  You can check out other tasty recipes in my EatFit LiveFit Cookbook at http://www.shapingconcepts.com/eatfit-cookbook.php

Till next time…………….

Tina Whetzel is a certified Charleston personal trainer, nutrition and fitness consultant, and speaker with Shaping Concepts fitness training studios.

Click to learn more informtion about Tina’s EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cooking Class and her recently released EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cookbook.

We had a good turnout for the first one, thank you to those of you that were able to make it!!!  I shared my vision for what I want this Supper Club to be about and the up coming events and additions to EatFit LiveFit.  My goal for this Supper Club is that we become a voice and helping hand to those in Charleston who are in need.  We will be arranging quarterly events to give back to the communities that we are so fortunate to be a part of. 

A great suggestion was given for a Clothing Exchange and donating the remaining clothes to My Sister’s Closet.  I would also love to arrange events with Habitat for Humanity, groups that assist women who are victims of domestic abuse, Louie’s Kids, and the SPCA to name a few.  My ultimate goal is to form a non-profit organization that would allow us to donate a small amount monthly and form a fund that would help support charities and events that we all decide on collectively as a group. 

I will also be sending out email monthly for participant feedback and volunteers to help with the events.  Participation would be entirely up to each individual and is not expected.  Anyone is more than welcome to attend the monthly suppers to enjoy the company of kindred spirits and meet incredible, hard working women like you. 

I am currently working on the details for the non profit as well as will be emailing further information about the Supper Club.  I would love to see each and every one of you plus a friend at this month’s dinner.  I also welcome any suggestions and feedback!!!!!! We are in this journey of life together and each of us was given special talents and have walked different paths to get to where we are today!!! Everyone has something to offer to make us stronger and better so please do not hesitate to email me or call me or grab me at the gym and let me know your thoughts!!!!!

We need to stand together and be a voice for those that aren’t able to and give back to a community that we are so fortunate to be a part of.  We also need to join together monthly to remind each other how special we all are and fellowship with strong and powerful women that accomplish amazing things every day.  Every task that we take on is an accomplishment – from raising children, our relationships with family and friends to eating healthy and exercising and we should all get together to encourage and lift each other up at least once a month!

My first goal is to reach 100 participants!!!! So let’s get going on this month’s dinner.  Invite a friend and Save The Date!!!!  August 26th, 7:30pm – 9:30pm.  More details to follow soon!!!!!!!!!!!! For more information please email tinaw@shapingconcepts.com

IF you do not live close enough to come to the Supper Club and would like to make a tax deductable donation and would like to be kept aware of our events, please email me at tinaw@shapingconcepts.com

COMING SOON – EATFIT LIVEFIT SUPPER CLUB WEBPAGE!

 What does “Enriched” and “Fortified” mean when reading the ingredients of our favorite rice, crackers, pastas, cookies and snacks?? Here’s a simple way to look at it. The most common foods where you’ll see “enriched” on the label will be breads, cereals, pasta, noodles and other wheat or grain based products. In a nutshell, during the manufacturing process the wheat germ is broken down and striped of all of the fiber and nutrition. In order to provide a product that appears to be so called “nutritious” the vitamins are replaced by, you guessed it, “enriching” them into the food. Mother Nature’s goodness and vitamins are removed and replaced with Man Made synthetic vitamins and sold as being “fortified” and nutritious. This process is not reserved only for white bread, which is about as nutritious as cardboard.

 There are tons of WHEAT breads, snack products, cookies; etc that will show enriched ingredients. These products are not as harmful as hydrogenated foods but they provide little nutritional value and can wreck your hormonal balances. 

Quick example would be when you eat fibrous foods (apples or whole grains) your body releases chemical signals to your brain to indicate that you’re full, a win for fiber and whole grains. If you’re eating a processed, refined food the same chemical signals are not sent, a loss for processed, “enriched” foods. The end result – you eat and eat and eat and NEVER feel full. Processed foods are so harmful to fat loss because they don’t produce the natural hormonal responses in your body telling you that you’re full. Oh and P.S. – Enriched products signal your body to store fat – not a good thing.

So…. eating whole grains and fruits, not “enriched” or “fortified” food will provide long-term energy and signal your body that fuel is available so excess reserves (body fat) can begin to be released.

The Survey Says……………………

Sorry crazy carb fans but BROWN is definitely better.  It’s better for a lot of reasons however it is not a Free For All Pass to eat as much as you want and lose weight. 

Nutritionally, brown rice stomps on white rice when it comes to the nutrients and vitamins due to the milling process of white rice.  There’s that word “process” and soon to follow “enriched” and/or “fortified.” 

Rice goes through a process before it’s ready to be cooked.  After harvesting, the seeds are run thru a rice huller/husker for milling to remove outer grain husks and, Viola, you have brown rice. 

To create white rice there’s more to it!  The germ and inner husk (bran) is removed, the grain is polished, usually adding glucose or talc.  Because of these added steps to create white rice the nutrients are striped and sometimes added back via synthetic sources. Let me introduce “fortified” white rice.  This process also happens with white bread verses wheat bread.

Calorically however brown and white rice are about the same, actually BROWN rice is about 10 more calories per cup.   That doesn’t mean to eat white instead of brown however I see more and more, and I too fell victim, a mentality that it’s alright to eat BROWN rice and WHOLE WHEAT bread; it’s alright to eat crackers as long as they are WHOLE WHEAT.  That is a much better option however you CANNOT eat those carbs at every meal.  Brown rice takes longer for the body to digest, so if you eat toast for breakfast and a whole wheat pita for a snack, brown rice and chicken for lunch, a whole wheat wrap for an afternoon snack and brown rice or whole grain cous cous and fish for dinner you are not doing any better than eating white bread, white rice and baked potatoes for every meal.  Because of the slower digestion, you will not get hungry as fast as if you ate white bread or rice however your body will get used to eating every 3-4 hours and want more food.  If you keep feeding it those “healthy” carbs the weight won’t come off as fast or at all, you will become more and more frustrated, throw in the towel AGAIN and start all over on MONDAY! That’s what we tend to do.  Ditch the “diet” mid week cause it’s not working and start fresh on MONDAY! 

In short, eating brown rice will provide you with many nutrients however should be eaten in moderation.  I suggest once a day.  Try veggies instead of rice, fruit with peanut butter instead of wraps and veggies dipped in humus instead of pitas.  These small changes can make BIG differences.

Tomorrow’s Topic – Is “enriched” wheat flour just a good as whole wheat for WEIGHT LOSS???  Thanks for hanging out with me today and please leave your comments -  they help all of us get better!!!!

Tina Whetzel is a certified Charleston personal trainer, nutrition and fitness consultant, and speaker with Shaping Concepts fitness training studios.

Click to learn more informtion about Tina’s EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cooking Class and her recently released EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cookbook.

I am researching some interesting facts and differences with brown rice and white rice; whole wheat bread and white bread; whole grain organic cereal and regular cereal. I will be dishing the down and dirty facts on these “healthier” options and show you ways to eat them, still lose weight, feel great and keep the weight off for good. 

Here’s a sneak peek – both white and brown rice have almost the exact same amount of calories, carbs and protein!!!!!!!!!!!! Is BROWN really BETTER?????

 Stay tuned for the low down and how to succeed even with all those choices!!!!!!! Talk to you soon!!!!!!!!!

I am very happy to report that I am down 5 pounds total!  I am pretty excited about it and feel awesome!  I have seen changes in body over the last week that has been very exciting.  I have seen my body look and feel leaner and like it’s “running” very well!  I haven’t had one stomach issue – which for me is a huge success. I have been dealing with ulcers, endometriosis, fibroid tumors, ovary issues, heavy periods, and just the feeling of being so bloated that I appear to be 9 months pregnant since I have been 7 years old.  The bloating is in part to my food intolerances and the fact that body thinks it’s under constant attack from infection when I eat foods that I am intolerant too!  The list of foods that I CAN eat is shorter than the ones that I CAN’T – that’s for another day though! In a nutshell, my temperature spikes, white blood cells rush to the surface of my entire body in an attempt to fight off an infection which is induced by eating foods my body reacts to like the flu!  Tons of fun!!! Totally joking and definitely misery!

I told you that I would give you the science in a nutshell so here goes.  I cut all grains out due grains are mostly starchy carbohydrate, and starchy carbohydrate, when consumed in any amount, causes the release of a significant dose of insulin. So grains can have a fairly wide-ranging glycemic index and insulin response and various forms of processing can greatly increase both those numbers and consequently impact on our health. We think of whole wheat and brown rice as “healtier” carbs and they are because they break down slower in the body. This is true only if one is consuming grains as condiments, as in a tablespoon here and there. Eat them a cup at a time, and not only does blood glucose level rise dramatically, but it stays elevated for a long time. Grains, both processed and unprocessed, are a major player in metabolic derangement in that they are almost entirely carbohydrate and they are typically consumed in large quantities.

So, pretty much, eating large quantities of grains, such as whole wheat bread, brown rice, 100 calorie sandwich thins, whole wheat muffins, bagel, etc. can have a negative impact on your over all goal of weigh loss.  Not earth shattering however I think that sometimes we think because we are eating “wheat” instead of “white” that the weight is just going to fall off quicker and we can consumer these carbs at every meal and still lose weight – this is incorrect!!!!!

 The science behind the fasting part of my journey is as follows.  Intermittent Fasting (IF), applied the way I did it, is a starting point. It is not meant to be an exhaustive final word, but rather an introduction that will enable you to tailor it to YOUR goals. I read this next statement and felt it really applied to my life – “I love remaining grounded, and using my own experiences to evaluate the efficacy of this or that approach…but always with an eye on self improvement within the framework of my OWN goals.”

 The following is just a small piece of information from Robb Wolf in reference to Intermittent Fasting and Fasting, and for more information you can contact me at tinaw@shaingconcepts.com  

“For some time there appeared to be only one way to extend the average and total lifespan of organisms (anything from yeast to fruit flies to mice to monkeys): caloric restriction with adequate nutrition (CRAN). This involved feeding organisms about 60% of what they would normally eat. The results included: increased lifespan and ability to learn throughout life, significantly reduced body weight, reduced body temperature, modulated immune function, decreased blood glucose and insulin levels and an acute adrenal cortical response (short duration of elevated cortisol levels). It appears that the caloric restriction reduces non-enzymatic glycosolation of proteins (sugar sticking to proteins) and increases the organism’s ability to withstand stress via an increase in heat shock proteins and other cellular stress mechanisms. This is great stuff, but Intermittency represents life and natural processes far better than any type of steady state model….”

AHHHH – all that being said or read – I feel better than ever and haven’t felt this lean or had this types of results in a while.  I did however “cheat” over the weekend!  I had brown rice sushi and some whole wheat pizza!! So with my lack of grains thru the week, my already known food intolerance to yeast, gluten and wheat, my hormones acting nuts with PMS and the information above about grains, I would say that I had a negative reaction as far as inflammation and bloating. 

I will also say that eating those foods made my feel very lazy! My stomach hurt a bit after and I just didn’t feel as good as if I would have stayed the course.  So there you have it, I screwed up on my eating however I learned from it, jumped back on the wagon and I am at it again this week.  I have stayed very close to the ground in my eating and fasted for 15 hours so far today!  I am going to eat fruits and veggies with protein and seeds and nuts today and then same thing tomorrow as I did on Monday and Thursday the same as today!!! 

I whole heartedly believe that eating 5-6 small meals per day is the way to go! Good fats, carbs from fruits and veggies and lean proteins are the best combos for each snack/meal.  Fasting 24 hours or 15 hours is a huge help and staying away from all processed foods is a must! 

 I would be happy to provide more information either thru a nutritional consultation, nutrition workshop or personal training.  Please contact me at tinaw@shapingconcepts.com or call the studio to set up an appointment at 843 971 8665.  Thank you again for you support and encouragement and staying with me on this journey!  TO BE A PART OF MY EMAIL LIST – PLEASE EMAIL ME AT tinaw@shapingconcepts.com

Tina Whetzel is a certified Charleston personal trainer, nutrition and fitness consultant, and speaker with Shaping Concepts fitness training studios.

Click to learn more informtion about Tina’s EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cooking Class and her recently released EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cookbook.

Wake up & Face the Day – 5:45am
Last time I ate – 8:30pm Thursday night
Tina is feeling…..a little tired and so glad that it is Friday 
First Meal – 6:15am – Homemade trail mix & a banana
Second Meal – 8:00am – pineapple and almonds
Third Meal – 11:00am – 3 eggs – 2 whites and 1 yolk, some turkey slices, acavado

Thanks for following me this week – I have been extremely uplifted and very encouraged by all of your comments!!!!!!!!  THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woke up feeling a little tired however I must confess it is that “time of the month.”  So I cannot totally attribute my lack of energy to the entire week, however I feel they worked hand in hand to make feel a tad sluggish.  However, I usually don’t stay sluggish very long and thrive on the company of others and my clients working really hard.  My morning clients worked very hard and had a great day!!! So I leached off of their enthusiasm for just a bit and felt much better by the time I started my WOD – FRAN – at 8:30am.  KS, WG and JH were super encouraging thru the WOD as I was definitely out of gas.  That is typical for me on a Friday especially if I workout 4 days in a week plus the weekend prior!! And apparently and most definitely FRAN is the MOTHER of all XFIT workouts.  I was told this and now am a believer after this morning.  It was definitely fun, tore open my calluses and I am super happy about it!!

Snacked all day long on the usual and then crashed this afternoon.  It’s 2:18pm and I am pretty beat!  We are going to visit with our best friends for the evening and I know that will get me going again!!!  So off to shower, off the pack for the night and hitting the road for a great dinner and some board games before a slightly late night, however in bed by midnight, early wake up and back to the weekend by 2pm tomorrow afternoon!! Big plans with the family and church tomorrow night and then brunch and lots of fun on Sunday.  Since I am staying “close to the ground” with my eating with this little weekend excursion as well as brunch and all the fun stuff in between, I cannot wait to report to you on Monday about how I managed and IF I stayed on track!!! Of course I was be dishing on the science behind my fasting week and ways to get you on track. 

OH! One more thing, I will be giving the dirt on my measurements, weight loss and body fat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The numbers don’t lie!!!!!!!

Till Monday………………have a great weekend……………..TO BE CONTINUED!!!! 
Stay with me on this journey and please leave your comments and suggestions at the bottom of this blog.  Having a group of people supporting and challenging you makes every step a little easier and a lot more fun!!!

 Wake up & Face the Day – 7:00am

Last time I ate – 8:30pm Wednesday night Tina is feeling…..a little tired & a little hungry, just a little though

Well, what a day, what a day!! I wasn’t as mentally prepared for this fasting day as I was on Tuesday. My husband however was extremely ready for this fast day since he knew that he was going to be able to each tonight. I actually was going to pack him a granola bar, lower sugar of course, and he actually put in back into the pantry and said that he made it this far and he was actually impressed that he was feeling good and his body was changing. I however wasn’t feeling so chipper and needed that little pep talk.

I had a great day and a busy day working and taking care of daily tasks. I went and started training clients around 3pm after running around and taking care of family stuff for about an hour. I was feeling very energized at this point and was moving right along. If you remember, I didn’t work out on Wednesday so I needed to do it today.

I guess I could have skipped however that is not something that I usually do. Besides that, I was having a great week at CrossFit and I managed to do real deal pull-ups, well more than one in a row, and that has been something that I have been working on for a couple of months. So CG and I teamed up and started the WOD. It was killer and I have to say I was seriously depleted – DUH – right!!!???

Life lesson learned – next time I fast or intermittent fast, I will add fruit juice or veggie juice. On the other hand, my body is going thru major changing this week and is learning to pull from fat stored instead of burning what I am feeding it like whole wheat this and that’s. So I fully intend on taking this little journey for the next month.  I however think that I will keep the fasting to 15-24 hours at the most to keep the body guessing.

After the WOD, I finished strong and sat down, exhausted and then had that adrenaline rush that comes when you just gave every single ounce that you have in you and then all of the sudden I stood up, everything went quiet and I saw spots. I quickly searched for a banana and chopped that down as well as I snatched AD cherries and ate them as fast as I could!!! Felt better but still a little shaky! Went on to train another client and headed home. Couldn’t wait to eat!!!

I was so hungry! So I went home, visited with the family that was in town and then Paul threw a chicken breast marinated in olive oil and salt and pepper on the grill next to his marbled steak, I actually preferred chicken or I would have gladly consumed some yummy cow!  Paired my bird with some peas and corn and devoured my dinner like it was my last one!! Satisfied and very full, I cleaned up the kitchen, chatted about the day to Paulie and off to bed we went.

Slept like a dream and didn’t wake until the vibrating, beeping phone of mine woke me at 5:20am and then again at 5:30am and finally I arose from the cozy covers at 5:45am.

Tina Whetzel is a certified Charleston personal trainer, nutrition and fitness consultant, and speaker with Shaping Concepts fitness training studios.

Click to learn more informtion about Tina’s EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cooking Class and her recently released EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cookbook.

Hey Y’all!   THANK YOU for being with me on this journey this week!!!! 

Wake up & Face the Day – 7:00am

Last time I ate – 8:30pm Monday night

Tina is feeling…..a little tired & a little hungry, just a little though

I have decided to make Thursday my fasting day until 8:30 dinner tonight.  That will be 24 hours and very achievable.  I feel this will be a good cleanse for me as I have eaten incredibly clean yesterday.  I ate nothing processed, no protein shakes, protein drinks, no processed cheese – nothing!  If God didn’t make it, I didn’t eat it!  

Let me take a second to update you on my husband Paul’s journey.  He is a very fit, active, big (muscles) guy!  He hated Tuesday and felt miserable.  He was fine during the day and felt very good with the exception of the afternoon blues.  He was starving at 8:00pm when we normally eat dinner and had a headache, was extremely tired and crabby! 

 The total opposite of me! I was bouncing off the walls and feeling great!!!  Perfect example of 1 Size Not Fitting All.  He ate close to the ground yesterday with the exception of some grains for dinner last night.  He actually wasn’t feeling like he needed to eat them but knew for the sake of having complex carbs he just WANTED THEM!!!!!!  Big difference in NEED and WANT.  It was totally fine with me and again this is HIS journey.  He has decided to fast today until 8:30 dinner tonight, which is 24 hours. 

He felt great fasting as far as the results he saw with his body.  He felt cleansed and very lean.  Continuing to eat very clean and natural also gave him energy.  He did say that during his workout that he felt tired and weaker than normal after the 2^nd round.  He did attribute that to his body going thru changes and was perfectly fine with it.  His joints did ache a bit and that was the toxins releasing, I will go into that more as well next Monday. 

 So there you have it!!  Two totally different responses both with good and bad spots.  Stay on track with what you are doing! Don’t make excuses for not eating healthy or not exercising.  They really aren’t usually even necessary excuses; most of the time it’s just lazy on our part or putting other things before our health.  It only takes 30 minutes to work out!  Not doing it is us putting our health on the back burner and guess what, all of those “things” that we “had” to do won’t mean anything when you are not around to do them or too sick to do them, or don’t have the energy because you are carrying around 20, 30, 40 or more extra pounds(REMEMBER I was 65 pounds overweight, struggled my entire life – I am not preaching, I just want to help and show you that it doesn’t have to always be that way)!!!!!  Just start with 3 days of exercise per week!!  It will make a HUGE difference in your entire life!!!!!!  Come see me – www.shapingconcepts.com -, email me – tinaw@shapingconcepts.com – or call me 843 475 2459!! 

 I had a very interesting day today so watch for tomorrow’s post……

Till Friday morning – Thanks for following………………….TO BE CONTINUED

 Stay with me on this journey and please leave your comments and suggestions at the bottom of this blog.  Having a group of people supporting and challenging you makes every step a little easier and a lot more fun!!!

Good morning and THANK YOU for being with me on this journey this week!!!!

 Wake up & Face the Day – 5:50am

Last time I ate – 8:30pm Monday night

Tina is feeling…..very good and high energy

 First Meal – 6:15am – Homemade trail mix & a banana

Second Meal – 7:30am – 3 eggs & a peach – 1 yolk and 2 whites

 I ate every 3 to 4 hours after that. I “grazed” on cherries, peaches, berries, pineapple, avocados, nuts deli turkey, peanut butter, apple, homemade chicken soup (sans the noodles), homemade trail mix and veggies the rest of the day until 8:30pm. I felt great all day! I was surprised at 6:30am that I felt so energized and awake – LOL! I had my first client tell me she was nervous that I was going to be a BIG CRAB since I hadn’t eaten however I felt so energized, lean, cleansed and normal (only better – if that makes sense).

 My skin was a little drier than normal and I believe that is from only having water the prior day. I accomplished a million things today without any dip in my energy level – no afternoon blues – which is very unusual for me. I am an advocate of bringing your mat to work and taking a nap at 3:00 – LOL.  I used today as my rest day, no exercise, which I probably shouldn’t have however life is unpredictable and things come up like working, working and well more work.

I feel that is a benefit for me while on this journey because that’s life and all of us face it every day! We have to make changes on the fly and constantly move things around!  Especially us women, we juggle so many things daily that most of the time we end of sacrificing what we are trying to accomplish for our friends and families. I did have lunch plans with a friend that I had to cancel due to a change in my schedule as well as I had a ladies night with a friend planned that I was able to attend. That was a challenge – there were veggies and dip, wine and fudge – OH did I mention there was a wine?

I had eaten just before I left due to the unlikely event that food that I would eat would be offered and I was fine – not one temptation and I think that was a huge mental accomplishment – why on earth would I eat fudge or drink wine after I managed to not eat anything from 8:30pm on Monday night till 6:15am on Wednesday morning???? I wasn’t about to do that and it made it so much easier! It was my mindset and my brain never once tempted me to partake in the festivities and I didn’t feel like I was missing out. Mindset – Preparation – Follow Through!!!

At 8:30pm, I had the last of my chicken soup with some nuts and a handful of mixed fruit. I will admit, I was tired at 9pm. I had crammed so much into yesterday and I feel that “my time of the month” is playing a little bit into that as well. I slept great until Pebbles, my French Bulldog, woke up at 2am wanting a drink of water and felt the need to bark at the door. Back to sleep at 2:15am and awake and ready for the day at 7:00am Thursday morning.

 I am planning on giving you the science behind this fasting and such in a nutshell at the end of this journey – next Monday!

 I would like to say today that fitness and nutrition are not 1 Size Fits All! We are all different and all have different challenges. It’s been amazing to me the support that I have received – thank you all very much, especially if you left something on the blog, that’s where we all benefit – as well as the challenging comments and the people questioning it.

I am thankful for all of it because it makes me realize that there are a lot of people out there looking for answers and ways to live long, healthy lives. If everyone doing the same things every day meant that we would all be successful, well, look around we know that’s not the case!!!

Stay with me on this journey and please leave your comments and suggestions at the bottom of this blog. Having a group of people supporting and challenging you makes every step a little easier and a lot more fun!!!

Tina Whetzel is a certified Charleston personal trainer, nutrition and fitness consultant, and speaker with Shaping Concepts fitness training studios.

Click to learn more informtion about Tina’s EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cooking Class and her recently released EatFit LiveFit Healthy Cookbook.