BP Wellness Center

creating a culture of wellness...

Time to get rolling! Below is the program week to week. There are many links to information and tools. The intent of the information below is to provide you with solid, free information available through the internet, the BP Wellness Center and other resources. It will hopefully, inform, inspire and give you different perspectives on accomplishing your health, fitness and body composition goals. Some info may seem repetitious, some may seem contradictory--use it all to come up with your own plan and philosophy. We intentionally give you web linked articles so you can explore other sources of information to create your own plan! The BP Wellness Center staff is available to answer questions and help you weed through some of the murkier parts. It is you who will decide how to make the information work for you. It is about using your brain and creating your own system. No one can do that for you.

We will have weekly Dear Diary discussion groups in the Wellness Center for anyone to come in and ask questions to The BP Wellness Staff about making particular aspects of the program work. We will also have a link for you to ask questions or provide tips you think would be helpful to others in the program. We will address frequently asked questions and tips on a special page (we will keep questions anonymous).

Only you can make changes to your behavior and lifestyle--this program gives you structure, information and support to do it!

Week 1

• Goal setting: A little food for thought (pun intended) before we get started.
• Begin tracking and keeping your diary
• Keeping a food diary doubles weight loss - a little research support for all the tracking you'll be doing.
• Using Nutrition Data and Calories Per Hour Webtools - the scoop and the lecture
• Food diary tracking tips
• BMR calculations
  • Calories Per Hour does a good job of explaining your Basal Metabolic Rate and why you want to know it.
  • Daily Weighing - BMR or not, to lose weight, you have got to eat less than you need. So if the scale isn't budging--exercise more and eat less.
• Nutrition label reading - learn it and use it to help you track your intake
  • Label Reading
  • Menshealth Label Decoder
• Grocery shopping and kitchen/food prep tips --that healthy food isn't going to just magically appear.
  • The Eatingwell website has some excellent, easy to follow information on this.
  • Good foods to have in your pantry -get rid of the junk and restock with the good stuff
  • Shopping tips - how to find it
  • Kitchen tools to keep handy
  • Healthy Grocery Shopping on a Budget - hey, there's a recession on
    • More on Healthy Budget Shopping
• The importance of consistent exercise - you knew this one was coming. While we want to focus on more on the diet part of the program the first couple of weeks. Exercise and activity are very important and will be discussed in more detail in the coming weeks. Check out some of the info below. Start moving.
  • Exercise Trumps Diet for Weight Loss - interesting WebMD article
  • How Much Exercise Sparks Weight Loss- makes a very good point

Bonus: The Paleolithic Diet - one of our favorite systems for healthy eating and weight loss. It's all about food choices.

Week 2

• Meal schedule/frequency - when and how often you eat is as important as what and how much you eat.
  • Eat More Food, Lose More Fat - short article from Men'shealth
• Portion sizes - be sure you not eating more than you think
  • Using your hand for portion size reference --it don't get any simpler than that (unless you have big hands)
  • 12 ways to resize your portions --strategies to help you cut back
• Food Additives to avoid - make healthy choices
  • 12 Food Additives To Avoid --mmmm chemicals, we warned you! You're better off without these.
• Popular weight loss supplements - there are no short-cuts. Real longterm success is about behavior change.
  • Over the counter weight-loss pills: do they work? -- from Mayo Clinic's website. What do you think?
• Healthy Snacking Ideas --read before you munch. You're going to need to have the right stuff around.
  • Judging whether a snack is healthy
  • Snack Makeovers
  • Don't forget the protein - it helps control hunger, maintain your muscle and stay lean. Most women don't get enough.
  • Can A high protein diet help you lose weight?
  • High Protein Snack Ideas
• Water Intake - water is very important to your health, weight, energy levels and more!
  • How much water should you drink every day?
  • Superhydration: health, performance and weight loss benefits straight out of the tap
• Tracking Calorie Burn for Different Activities - a little more about exercise and chosing your activities. Explore some of the calorie burn counters. It can be very eye opening. Start exercising if you haven't already!
  • Calories Per Hour Specializes in this, check it out!
  • Why Is Exercise Important for Weight Loss --another cute article from Calories Per Hour

Week 3

• Cardiovascular Exercise
  • Why Is Exercise Important for Weight Loss -- already listed above, this is a good place to start if you are new to cardiovascular exercise.
    • Activity Burn Calculator -- also linked to the Calories Per Hour site. Look over hundreds of activities and calorie burn of each. You don't just burn calories in the gym either--be creative with your activity!
  • Getting Started on Cardiovascular Exercise --from your very own BP Wellness Program. Good info about cardio exercise in our facility and tips for getting started and making your own exercise more effective!
  • Activity Selection part 1 and part 2 gives you more ideas on how to get more calorie burning activity into your life!
  • Cardio Program Design--using a heart rate monitor, designing interval workouts, tracking your progress--it's all here!
    • Which Exercise is Best --clears up misconceptions about the "fat burning zone"
    • Cardio Interval Training --great article from Men'shealth on how to implement this great fat, burning strategy!
    • Walking to Running in 10 Weeks --hey walkers, here's a geat way to get yourself running!
    • Man Vs. Machine --all about cardio training in a gym!
    • Burn Fat Faster - tips on how to make your cardio workouts more effective!
    • The Tabata Method --High Intensity Interval Cardio!
      • Tabata Ideas
• Nutrition Tips
  • Nutrient timing
    • Eating and Exercise-- guidelines of what to eat, when to eat it and where to get it from are covered in this Mayo Clinic article.
    • Timing Your Protein Intake -- guidelines for protein and hard training
    • A Full Morning -- Breakfast is important, especially for exercise. This is an article from Runner'sWorld but can apply to any exercise.
    • The Glycemic Index-- not all carbohydrates are created equal, learn the difference between high and low glycemic foods and why it matters to you.
    • Fire Up Your Metabolism
    • Stop Blaming Saturated Fat --and watch your carb intake. Food for thought.

Week 4

We've looked at cardio vascular training above for health and weightloss, now it is time to take a closer look at strength training and how to implement it into your exercise routine.

• Strength Training
  • Importance
    • Why should I strength train? Let's start with the basics
    • Strength Training: Getting stronger, leaner and healthier : from Mayo Clinic
  • Ladies, listen up:
    • Pump Up, Slim Down : from Women'sHealth magazine. Check out the attached strength program as well. You won't bulk up.
    • Cardio VS. Strength Training : another good one from Women'sHealth
  • Program design options
    • Strength Training link from the BP Wellness Center's Getting Started Collection. Find out :
      • why you want strength training
      • how to fit it into your schedule
      • how to make your workouts as productive as possible
      • many animated sample workouts using a variety of equipment for a variety of experience levels
    • Jane's Jungle Workout: Another excellent article for the ladies
    • Time Efficient Hypertrophy

Let's take a closer look at the QUALITY of what you choose to eat.

• Nutrient Quality
  • The Organic Question: Should you buy organic food?
  • Organic Food Is More Nutritious: From the Brits and MSN
  • Be a Smarted Eater : Smart food swaps
  • 15 Best Foods to Add to Your Grocery List
  • 30 Foods That Fight Fat
  • Super Foods Guide from healthcastle.com, a site run by RDA's
  • Fiber 101
  • Mighty Omegas - a fat guide
  • Eating Well shopping and cooking guides page. Excellent help for making proper food choices
  • Better Choices Diet from Nutrition Data. Use Nutrition data to guide you to making better food choices every day!

Bonus Article: 8 Secrets of the Naturally Slim

Week 5

We're half-way through our 8-week program! Now you should have the big pieces in place as you assemble your tools and create your system. This week we are going to look at a few more key items for you to consider.

Additional Calorie Burn

• Two a day workouts. Should you try them? Read more about it here. It is from a men's health magazine but provides some good food for thought for gals too.
• Want to skip the second workout they were talking about above? Read about NEAT. Get yourself moving more during the day.
  • The NEAT Way To Lose Weight
  • Enter the pedometer--fits in great with what we are currently talking about. Read this Stanford study.
  • Take Your Stride to the Next Level
  • You could just fidget instead--hey it burns calories too!

Healthy Dining Out

Hey, it is Houston after all. We need a strategy to avoid all the awesome restaurants in this town! The good news is that the internet is loaded with resources on this topic. Here are some good ones:

• Healthy Fast Food Guide from Helpguide.org . This is a great link with an easy to use layout and links to other great sites!
• Eatingwell.com has some great travel eating and snacking info.
• Men'shealth has a great page with links to the nutrition info for many, many restaurants.
• Best and Worst Meals at Your Restaurant guide. A cute guide from Women'shealth.

As a bonus, I threw in a great article on something we all need to keep an eye on. What goes in must come out--hopefully the right way.

• Before You Flush
• Mayo Clinic Guide to poop

Week 6

This week we discuss a favorite of us all: sleep. Most of us take it for granted, but do not underestimate its power or importance in your life!

• The Risks of Short Sleeping: a great intro to the dangers of sleep deprivation( not getting enough sleep each night).
• Sleep and Weightloss: Great article from WebMD on the impact sleep debt has on your weight.
• Sleep Like and Olympic Athlete and The Ultimate Sleep Guide: The How To's of better sleep!
• The Ultimate Sleep Primer: writtne for the students at Stanford by the True and Original Master of Sleep Research, William Dement, this page has many key sleep concepts laid out briefly and succinctly. Definitely worth your time!

Time for a little reinforcement of some previously covered material:

• Keep that metabolism burning HOT!
• Basics to Boosting Metabolism and a corresponding video!
• Avoiding Refined Sugars and Avoiding Refine Foods

Week 7

Week 7 is about keeping your exercise and activity going while travelling or out of the office for extended periods--when you can't make it to your wonderful Wellness Center.

• No Equipment Travel Workout - perfect for the hotel, have your chair and phonebook handy
• Bodyweight Workout - you could also try some of this stuff in front of the TV at night.
• Working Out On the Road - some more options for staying active.

Thanks to Jesse Gavin from the bphit program for rounding up the above articles.

When it comes to nutrition and food, we wanted to help you with questions about fad diets and weightloss gimmicks. This topic can get very weird and very funny:

• Fad Diets - Here's the lowdown. A good intro to this topic
• Why Fad Diets Don't Work: It's all about lifestyle change!
• Top 10 Weirdest Diets: Prepare to laugh

Thanks L'oreal for finding the above info.

Bonus: Many of you ask about supplements. Do you need them, should you try them, etc.? Here are some great, research based supplement site which will give you about the most reliable info about supplements. If you are wondering about a particular product or supplement--check here first:

WebMD supplement page: some solid artlcles on what and why

• Nutros:Supplement site from one of the guys that created Nutrient Data. It's pretty cool.
• Supplementwatch: They had a nasty virus hit this site last year but they have got much of the content back up, though the site is not as "slick" looking as it was in the past.
• NutritionalReviews.org: another great, free resource.

 

Week 8

 

Our 8 week program is coming to a close. We've covered a lot of info over the past few weeks and hopefully you have been able to put it to good use. In case you have run into a little trouble making the program work, time to get back on the horse. Look over a couple of articles on dealing with and recovering from set-backs:

• Dealing With Failure: It happens, find out how to move on.
• Overcoming a Fitness Setback

Hopefully you have had success and have learned much about yourself over the last 7 weeks. Think about taking things to the next level and sharing your success with someone else. Be a role model or mentor for someone in your life. It helps someone else and helps you continue to be a great example of health and fitness!

• 10 Great Ways To Be A Fitness Role Model: For the kids.
• How to Be A Good Role Model and A Positive Influence
• Inspire Others With Random Acts Of Fitness: Jump start someone's health.

What do you think so far? Give us your questions, comments or tips to share. Take a look at our FAQ page (The Dear Diary Den) for info about what your fellow Dear Diary Denizens are thinking.