Back on track attack: 'Twas the season to get out of shape. 'Tis the month to undo the damage

Muscle & Fitness/Hers, Feb-March, 2002 by Jeff O'Connell

between Labor Day and Christmas, calories can pile up as inexorably as a snowdrift at the North Pole. Maybe the body's hibernation mechanism kicks in, or perhaps it has something to do with unclaimed Halloween candy, turkey sandwiches left over from Thanksgiving, and a rogue cup or five of Aunt Esther's eggnog-to-die-for. Not having trained regularly since before the leaves changed hasn't helped matters, either.

Regardless of the reasons -- and there are usually more than one -- by the time you sit down on New Year's Day to watch parade floats, your body just might feel like one. If so, not to worry: By following this simple yet comprehensive program over the next month, you can undo much of the damage done over the preceding three. "That's if you train consistently although it obviously depends on just how out of shape you got in the first place," says thc designer of the training portion, Gay Gasper, an AVIA Master Elite Trainer and group exercise director at Planet Fitness in Middlesex, New Jersey. "The six-days-a-week program presented here, consisting of three days apiece of weight training and cardio, can produce noticeable gains very quickly."

"Undoing the damage from careless eating requires finding a nutrition plan that works for you, and then implementing it in a way that's manageable and sustainable," adds Susan Kundrat, MS, RD, a sport nutritionist and owner of Nutrition on the Move in Champaign, Illinois. "If you combine that with an improved exercise program, major changes and improvements can be seen in a month."

Here's the deal: When you consume fewer calories than you expend, your body starts burning its own fat and you shed pounds. As the presence of experts from both sides of the aisle suggests, the only way to reverse the damage with any degree of expediency, then, is by paying attention to both training and nutrition.

TRAINING Even though you're trying to shed unwanted pounds, resistance training is just as important as cardio and nutrition. Lifting weights builds lean mass, or muscle, which in turn drives your metabolism so that you bum more calories than before, even at rest. For that reason, you'll be spending three days a week in the gym pumping iron. None of the sessions should exceed an hour.

Same goes for the three weekly sessions of cardio, obviously integral to any fat-loss program worth its salt -- which you'll want to cut down on, by the way. "Not every woman can get to an exercise class, but no matter what form the cardio takes, the key is to concentrate on getting your heart rate up into the target range for the given amount of time," says Gasper, featured in the recently released video "Fat Burning for Dummies" (Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2001). "Try to mix it up, though, because once your body gets used to one type of equipment, it's not as easy to get your heart rate up into the target range."

NUTRITION The training side is designed to take care of calorie expenditure; the nutrition side takes care of calorie consumption. "During this month-long 'repair' program, eat to fuel your muscles," Kundrat explains. "That means consuming high-quality protein at every meal and snack, emphasizing nutrient-dense foods, going easy on extra sugar and carbs, and watching your total fat intake."

The accompanying meal plans, designed by Kundrat, meet all of those criteria and then some, providing large amounts of vitamins A and C, fiber, iron and calcium for good measure. What's more, you get to eat periodically throughout the day which helps sustain energy levels, discourages overeating at individual meals, and makes it easier to satisfy your body's nutrient needs.

Lose bodyfat and gain muscle while eating four or five times a day? With an approach like that, you can get back on track and stay there.

RELATED ARTICLE: Cardio.

DURATION, IN MINUTES

Week 1: 30, Week 2: 35, Week 3: 40, Week 4: 45.

INTENSITY

Remain in your target heart-rate range for the prescribed amount of time. To estimate this range, first calculate your maximal heart rate, as measured in Deats per minute, by subtracting your age from 220. Then multiply the resulting. figure by 0.90 to get the upper end of your target heart-rate range, and by 0.70 to get the lower end. While you're doing cardio, keep your heart rate between these two figures.

MODES

Choose from exercise classes, running, treadmills, stair-steppers, srationary bikes, elliptical trainers -- anything that allows you to elevate your heart rate to a measurable level for the time listed.

resistance

VOLUME

During Week 1, perform two sets apiece of the exercises listed for each training day, resting 1-2 minutes between sets and exercises. Increase your volume to three sets per exercise for Weeks 2-4.

Do 12 reps per set during Weeks 1-3. During Week 4, do your first set with a weight that causes you to fail at 12 reps, then increase your weight incrementally for your second set, and then again for your third. This process is called pyramiding, and it's likely to produce a corresponding reduction in the number of reps you can complete over the course of the three sets.