Burn calories doing nothing! Lose weight while you sleep! No, you haven’t tuned in to a late-night infomercial. This dream is a reality. Here’s the trick: Exercise vigorously in the morning, and you’ll burn more calories than usual for the rest of the day and then some. That’s what happened to a group of average Joes (not trained athletes) in a new study. They alternated resting one day with cycling vigorously for 45 minutes the next. The intense exercise boosted their resting metabolism so much that they burned almost 200 more calories than normal during the next 14 hours — even while they slept. That’s a 37 percent bonus on top of the calories they’d pedaled off.
It’s as if you get the calorie blast of working out one-third longer when all you’re actually doing is watching “American Idol.” Sweet.
How vigorous does your workout have to be? The cyclers hit 85 percent of their maximum heart rate, which is the high end of target heart rate for exercise and will work up a serious sweat. To calculate your rate, men subtract your age from 220 (women deduct 82 percent of your calendar age from 208). This number is your maximum rate; 85 percent of that number is your target heart rate.
Too intense? Try this. Slip several short bursts of speed into your morning walk, swim or bike ride. It’ll give you a nice calorie-burning boost during your workout and for a while afterward. To make it easier, join a class or work out with a supportive pal. Kick it up a notch together, and watch the pounds melt away. Yep, even while you sleep.
The surprising key to keeping your face young
Botox and healthy bones … what do they have in common? Both make your face look younger. But which will make the rest of you look and feel younger, too? Hint: the one that’s free.
Yep, maintaining healthy facial bones may be even more essential than warding off wrinkles for making you look young. That’s because the bones in your face, like the bones in your body, lose volume as you age. When the bones that define your eye sockets, brows, nose and upper jaw recede, your skin droops and sags.
By the way, Mother Nature is not an equal opportunity bone-shrinker. Facial bone loss in women starts around 41, while men don’t sacrifice their strong jaw line and youthful features until 65. Not fair!
More reason than ever to keep your bones, and that beautiful face, young and strong. Here’s how.
» Calcium is critical. It’s a must for strong, dense bones. Aim for 1,200 mg a day. Try to get as much as you can from food, but you’ll almost certainly need a 600 mg supplement. We do.
» So is vitamin D-3. Your bones need it to absorb calcium. Get 1,000 IU a day (1,200 after 60). Why D-3? It’s the form your body uses best.
» Mix in magnesium. For optimum bone health, get 400 to 500 mg per day. It also keeps calcium from making you constipated.
» Step up your exercise. Weight-bearing exercises like hiking and pushups strengthen bones as well as muscles — and remember, your heart’s a muscle, too.
Think your way thin
Imagine this: You’ve been losing some extra pounds (way to go!), but then you get a killer craving for, say, a chocolate coconut cake doughnut, 550 calories of sugar and fat at your favorite DDs. You can’t stop thinking about that doughnut, right? What to do?
Lucky you: You’ve already got the solution. Keep thinking hard and long about that doughnut (or pizza, or double-dip cone). Presto, you’re back in control.
That’s right. People in a new study who imagined themselves eating craved treats (like M&Ms) 30 times over ate less of that food later than people who visualized eating it only three times, or who mentally focused on eating something else entirely.
Why does this work?
You know how that tenth bite of chocolate mousse just isn’t as sensuous as the first? Still good, but it’s starting to feel like you’ve had enough. Well, the same thing seems to happen when you simply imagine you’re eating the food, only without racking up all those calories and fat.
Imagination is a powerful tool. It can actually change your body. Top pro athletes have successfully used visualization techniques for years. In one study, people who simply imagined working out a muscle were able to bulk it up as effectively as those who actually lifted weights!
The next time a craving hits, try it. Sit down, relax and see yourself eating every mouthful of that hot fudge sundae, over and over. By the 30th rewind, we bet you’re over it. Imagine that.
Protect Your Peepers from Computer Eyestrain
Now that you’re a whiz at online shopping, banking and Tweeting, you probably spend even more hours staring at flickering computer screens. So many people do that there’s an official name for the eyestrain that can result: Computer Vision Syndrome.
Do any of these sound familiar? Dry, burning eyes? Aching back, neck, shoulders, head? Blurry vision? Fend off CVS.
1. Look down, not up. Tilt your screen slightly downward, so its center is about 4 to 8 inches below eye level. Otherwise, you’ll have to put a masseuse on full-time retainer. (Hmmm, not a bad idea.)
2. Get shifty. Every 15 minutes, look from side to side, then gaze into the distance. Do some shoulder rolls as you look around, so you get a nice neck stretch, too.
3. Stand up. Take a 10-minute bathroom break at least every two hours, even if you don’t have to go. Walk there, back or anywhere, letting your eyes idle. Make phone calls on your cell (with an ear cord) and walk as you talk, letting your eyes wander. Do anything that doesn’t involve intense focusing.
4. Drop in drops. You blink less when you’re staring at a screen. Result: dry eyes. Squeeze in preservative-free artificial tears as needed.
5. Check your glasses. Driving glasses may keep you from plowing into the car ahead of you, and magnifiers let you read menus. But neither may help you see computer type that’s (correctly) 20 to 26 inches away. Ask an optometrist about computer glasses.
6. Shut down. Your retinal membranes are just like the rest of your body: They need sleep to revive. Hit the hay!
Tricks to eat healthy and live longer
If hunkering down with a big fat bowl of ice cream and a side of Oreos sounds like the perfect way to end every day, you’re half right. It could be the end.
Routinely eating lots of high-fat dairy foods (from Chunky Monkey to triple-cream cheese) puts your risk of dying young 40 percent higher than eating lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, poultry and low-fat dairy does.
Those stats come from a new study that concludes a healthy diet makes you feel better and live longer. What? You’re not surprised? Good! You’ve been paying attention to our column. You know that what you eat has a massive effect on whether you grow old too fast or stay younger longer.
Ah, but if knowing meant doing, we’d all drop from a size 16 to a 6, like Jennifer Hudson has (whose stunning voice has a new body to match). So we’ve got three easy ways to help you with the doing part:
1. Don’t skip breakfast: Whole-grain cereals and low-fat proteins (yep, eggs) fill you up and keep blood sugar levels stable so you won’t crave a doughnut at 10:30 a.m.
2. Make smart swaps: Choose fish instead of meat (salmon burgers over beef), sliced fresh turkey over processed meats, olive oil instead of butter, juicy berries over cookies, baked/steamed/grilled over fried.
3. Eat healthy fats first: About 20 minutes before a meal, have six walnuts, 12 almonds or 20 peanuts (only 60-75 calories). These crunchy bundles of heart-healthy fats, protein and fiber take the edge off so you eat less.
Now make like Jennifer Hudson: Eat smart. Stunning!
The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of “YOU: On a Diet.” Want more? See “The Dr. Oz Show” on TV (check local listings). To submit questions, visit RealAge.com.
