From MS Patient to Fitness Junky

August 14, 2010 | No Comments

All right, here comes the heat

Could it be any hotter? Hell comes to mind literally – in many aspects.

To go with this insane heat I am insane enough to have started Insanity a week ago (oh the puns). I must say I find it easier to workout in this warmth then during my short vacation in Switzerland (except the beautiful runs in fresh, clean, nicely luke warm Swiss air). Must be something about the muscles feeling warm and ready faster. I actually don’t even notice the warmth if it wasn’t for the dripping during the exercise..

Anyway, I am currently in my first week of Insanity. I am seriously wondering where it will lead me (if I don’t drop dead during one of the exercises). I am just thriving on the fact that every time I need to do some push-up cycle, I see improvements. It’s the greatest feeling ever.

You know those old school wrist bands tennis player used to wear in the 80s? I think they’ll have a comeback with me soon. I just realized they are not really for keeping your wrist warm or looking funky..duh..

Little fact for the day: I am seriously wondering if 35 is too old to become a part time fitness instructor. It would be fun to do next to the normal job and I need an outlet for all this energy!

August 13, 2010 | 2 Comments

Why you should change your eating habits

When it comes to eating habits – mine were worse than worse. Not only did I only eat once or twice a day I also automatically was under-eating badly. Which put me in so called starvation mode.

You see, like bears our system can go into hybernation. That means if we starve it long enough it will slow down to adjust those changes. Everything will be slower to be able to keep up with the lower food intake and as an additional annoying side-effect, they body will start to keep on to those fat storages like there is no tomorrow. After all it might think there is no tomorrow..

Even though I never ate breakfast despite several desperate attempts of my mom to convince me otherwise, after I decided to leave home, and I really didn’t feel like it either (as a matter of fact my stomach felt almost nauseous at times) I decided to give the P90X nutrition plan a chance (note, I don’t ever say the word diet because diets are all about extremes for me. Whereas nutrition is a proper and healthy way of eating).

It was super tough at first – specially since I had to start eating much more then I wanted to. Throw in the fact that with P90X it is a lot of egg white omelets in the first phase and I mean A LOT. I had a lot of trouble eating that much and I had to get used to the habit of not eating when I am hungry but eating at certain times no matter if I was hungry or not.

However, eventually my whole routine changed. I started to be really hungry in the morning and looking forward to get up and prepare my yummie breakfast. I couldn’t imagine living without it now. I would start to get hungry if I didn’t ate my mid morning and mid afternoon snack in time. I feel much more “awake” and have no drop in energy during the day at all anymore. I went from being constantly tired to a real heap of energy.

Before the changes to my eating habits I went number 2 maybe once every few days sometimes even once per week. Now that changed to daily and nicely in time too (sorry for the info but I thought it was quite important).

Anyway, something that’s really important is the whole 5 times a day approach. It’s like second nature now that I am away from the idea that you only have to eat when you are hungry. As a matter of fact, it’s the same with drinking (water that is!) if you are already thirsty you are already under-hydrated. I look at hunger the same way.

The problem with eating only one or two meals per day, specially while trying to still get the amount of calories you need, has several negative aspects:

a) your body can only absorb a certain amount of nutrients in a given time. That is the reason you should eat several times per day to make sure your body can absorb all of them as needed.

b) In very simple terms, eating with long hours in between will make your sugar level go up and down which will make you crash in Energy. Eating several times a day will help you maintain a normal energy level for the whole duration. Since your metabolism is forced to work steadily and not go into break mode and then all of a sudden change into full speed mode again.

It’s not that hard to get used to the snacks in between either. I started with having an apple or any other fruit I liked with me and a few almonds and walnut bags in my drawer at work. It’s a good start, not expensive and easy to take wherever you go. Additionally, Greek non-fat yoghurt and honey or a whole-wheat toast/bread slice with a bit of peanutbutter works as well and can be kept in the fridge at work. Of course it depends on what you like eating. My point is that with a tiiiiiny bit of planning it’s not hard to change the habits. There is really no excuse

You will really feel a difference while going with the 5 meals a day approach. I can literally “feel” how my body is working and keeping awake and alert (sounds weird but it’s a fact emoticon ).

August 13, 2010 | No Comments

Are you a girl freaking out that you might bulk up?

About a year ago I bought some DvDs by Jillian Michaels and started to work out sporadically hoping I would be able to tone my body a bit and to fit into my old denims again which became too stubborn to fit over my hips.

After a few weeks, instead of toning down however, like they promised, my thighs didn’t fit into my current denims anymore and it freaked me the hell out! I stopped immediately, convinced I was bulking up and adding muscles.

Let me tell you right now that this is complete bullshit.

The female physiology doesn’t allow muscle gain as easy as for males. In order to really increase your muscle size you need to not only eat much more then you are used to you also will have to work much harder then your male counterparts. But the most important factor is that testosterone is the main hormone being used by our bodies to build muscles and you are probably well aware that testosterone is a male hormone. Even though ovaries produce testosterone as well the amount is significantly lower then that of our male counterparts and this logically also limits not only the speed but also the actual max growth of a woman’s muscle.
The fact that your thighs are bigger comes from the fact that during strength/resistance training you are damaging the muscle fibers slightly so they increase in strength once they’ve been repaired from those little injuries. Now during this process the body retains water in the muscle to speed up recovery. This is specially true during the first few days or week of a program you might not be used to and it’s the main reason for the muscles to “swell”. This is completely normal and will go away after a few days. Now add the fact that this happens within a few days while you won’t have worked off any kind of fat layer in this time since to add injury to insult, those areas tend to be the most stubborn ones for us girls, and you end up with the size gain that freaks most of us out at the start.

That’s all there is to it. No need to be alarmed or even worse, throw the towel! I went through the same again during the first month of P90X but eventually everything was back to normal and not only did I tone down I also am fitting in my skinny denims again!

So, don’t freak out about a bit of size gain at the start of any kind of fitness program incorporating resistance training. Even if you have been doing workouts for a long time your muscles might still swell slightly for a few hours. That means you might want to be careful about doing any kind of specific leg training before a date night out in town if you still fancy those skinny denims

August 13, 2010 | No Comments

Cammies amazingly inspiring P90X Story

Just over a decade ago, Cammie L. was very active—playing sports and enjoying life. But it changed almost overnight, when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis. M.S., according to the Mayo Clinic, is an autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system, and for Cammie, only 28 at the time, it was absolutely devastating.

“Within a week, I couldn’t lift my leg. I couldn’t walk. They told me I would get to a point where my husband wouldn’t be able to take care of me anymore—that I wouldn’t be able to be around my kids.”

As her condition worsened, Cammie couldn’t take care of herself or her kids. Chemotherapy slowed her digestion to a halt, and she virtually stopped eating. She felt like a burden on her family, and slipped into depression.

“It got so bad that I thought they would be better off without me, because I was such a burden to them.”

But a slow change took place when Cammie’s husband Dan got involved with Beachbody^®. He started P90X^® and so did their three boys. Cammie wanted in.

“I wanted to start working out so that I could be the wife and the mom that my kids and my husband deserved. . . . I wanted to prove to myself that my disease does not define who I am or what I can do.”

Check out her whole story and transformation here.

August 05, 2010 | No Comments

Priority Review Status for Oral Cladribine

FDA Gives Priority Review Status to Application for Oral Cladribine to Treat Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis
EMD Serono has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted and given Priority Review to its application seeking approval to market cladribine as an oral disease-modifying therapy for relapsing forms of MS. A Priority Review means that the FDA will review the drug in less than the usual amount of time. This designation is given to drugs that offer major advances in treatment, or provide a treatment where no adequate therapy exists. The goal for completing a Priority Review is six months from when the application is submitted, meaning that the agency’s approval decision could happen in December 2010, but it might take longer.

In a large-scale phase 3 clinical trial, cladribine tablets significantly reduced relapse rates and other disease activity in people with relapsing-remitting MS. Read more about this study.

In November 2009, EMD Serono announced that it had received a “refuse to file” letter from the FDA for its original cladribine application submitted in late September, which usually means that the agency deems the application incomplete. On June 8, 2010, EMD Serono announced that it resubmitted its application to the FDA for approval of cladribine.

Another oral therapy for MS, fingolimod (Novartis International AG), is currently undergoing final review by the FDA after an FDA advisory committee recommended that it be approved. The agency’s approval decision for fingolimod is expected in September 2010.