Me kinda likey Twitter

You might have noticed awhile back I added a Twitter feed to The Magic Pill over here --------------------------------------------------------> on the right-hand side of the page. I've had a Twitter account for awhile, but never really used it. By the suggestion of my friend in fitness (FIF), James Cooper, I decided to give it a try and use it to post thoughts (mostly about fitness) whenever they come to me. I'm also "following" or reading the "tweets" of numerous other fitness/diet gurus as well as some sports and entertainment figures. Overall it has been an enlightening experience. What I like most about Twitter is how quickly news and information comes to you. It's also an honor to have (at this time) 48 people following my tweets. Granted, I'm not sure how many of those people actually read what I write, but it still makes me feel semi-important.

You can follow me and my tweets on Twitter @CheezStandAlone.

You can also read my "FIF", James, @JCHealthfitness

Side note: The "#" you see in many of my tweets are called "hash tags". They are used to highlight key words, enabling others to find me based on the subject matter of my tweets.

Peanut Butter Problems (PBP)

Much to my dismay, my Peanut Delight Natural Peanut Butter has been missing from the shelves at Aldi for the past several weeks. I've had to resort to alternatives. I've survived just fine with these other versions, but there's something about not having my "baby". I'm told it's not unusual for things to disappear from Aldi's shelves for extended periods of time. All I can do is hope it returns.

What's really perplexing is I thought for sure I was helping keep Peanut Delight in business all by myself.

Rip It Energy Fuel

I'm a fan of energy drinks, primarily the ones that don't have any calories. I also like pre-workout drinks. I don't usually buy either of them, though, because they're generally too expensive. But if they're free...I'm in.

My mother was in town last weekend and we found ourselves at the Dollar Tree to get a smiley face balloon for my daughter. While roaming the store I happened to come across a diet energy drink for - shocker - a dollar.

Now if you know anything about energy drinks you know this is a damn good price for a 16 oz. can. Under normal circumstances you're lucky to find a good one for $2.00. Well, I decided to take a chance - since Mom was buying. We bought a can of each flavor, Power and Citrus X.

I drank the Power during my chest/back workout last Sunday. I really liked the taste and felt it gave me plenty of additional energy. The only downside of drinking it during the workout is the carbonation it has caused me to burp quite a bit. But still...I liked it.

I consumed the Citrus X during my leg workout on Wednesday. It tasted better than I expected, but I didn't like it as much as Power. The taste reminded me of Sunkist soda. The carbonation actually seemed heavier than in Power, causing me to burp even more during my visit to the gym. Still not a bad energy drink, in my opinion.

If I get around to it, I'll probably stop by Dollar Tree again sometime soon and purchase a few cans to have on reserve in the fridge for those tough-to-get-going morning workouts.

http://ripitenergy.com/site/

Diet failures

I found this article a short while back. It perfectly sums up my thoughts on why so many people fail on their diets. I've already mentioned all of them before: Commitment, realistic expectations, knowledge, and forgiving yourself for cheating. I highly recommend this short read. It's spot-on:

4 Reasons Diets Fail

The importance of neck size

According to my ridiculously inaccurate Omron HBF-400 scale, I gained about 4.5 pounds of fat and 1 pound of muscle during my 6 weeks of German Volume Training. It also says I'm at 25% body fat and while I do think I'm fatter than most people think I look with my clothes on, it can't be that bad.

Because of my scale's inconsistencies in measuring body fat, nowadays I'm trying to concentrate more on my actual body weight, my waist and a few other measurements, and my accomplishments with lifting weights. If my lifts begin to improve steadily as I eat more, my body weight goes up, and my 34's still fit comfortably around my waist, I can't possibly be getting fatter. At least not at a ratio of 4 to 1 in favor of fat.

Scales can be frustrating. They can even cause one to fall off the diet wagon. It's why I highly recommend not weighing yourself more than once a week. And even then do not panic if something looks out of whack. You've got to give yourself at least a 3 week evaluation before making changes. How you look, your measurements, and how your clothes fit are a far more accurate way to determine progress. If the scale says you've gained 5 pounds but your pants actually fit better, ahem. Let's use our brains, shall we?

In addition, I found this article regarding children and neck sizes interesting enough to pass along to the loyal readers of The Magic Pill:

Neck size and childhood obesity

The reason this caught my eye is because of an alternative method I have used recently to calculate my alleged body fat, compliments of the U.S. Navy:

Body fat method of the U.S. Navy

It's a very basic and stripped down way to calculate what is realistically only an estimation of body fat percentage based on measurements, body weight, and gender. Note that the neck measurement is used for both male and female. Using this method about 6 weeks ago, my body fat was measured at 13.4%. Maybe that's too low, but you can see now why I joked in a previous entry that my body fat was somewhere between 13% and 23%. Who knows? But this Navy method of calculating body fat is right in line with what I mentioned earlier: use measurements as your main source of judging progress rather than just a scale. If my body weight goes up with this Navy method but my waist (abdomen) measurement stays virtually the same, my body fat percentage will not be going up much, if at all.

Fitness coffee

We live a fast paced life full of constant change, stress and uncertainty. This leads to sleep deprivation, poor nutrition and a body that is begging for help. Fitness Coffee is an all natural product designed to replenish the body without changing your passion for coffee. With over 16 of the healthiest and most beneficial ingredients, Fitness Coffee is designed to replenish your body with powerful antioxidants and nutrients. With 3.5 times the amount of antioxidants found in green tea, you do not have to give up your daily cup of delicious coffee to give your body what it needs.
Healthy Coffee | Fitness Coffee | Weight Loss Coffee | Gourmet Coffee | Diet Coffee | Antioxidant Drink | Antioxidant Supplement

www.fitnesscoffeeusa.com

Being the caffeine junkie that I am (even though Fitness Coffee is 100% natural and has no added stimulants), I'm willing to give something like this a try.

How to dine out and still eat healthy

Well, it finally happened. I was paid upfront for an article I submitted to Associated Content. It's in my nature to be a smarty pants about the pay, but since they are now one of my employers, I should probably refrain from publicly ridiculing them. I'll simply say this: The pay was between $2.02 and $20.03. Use your imagination.

Regardless, here's a piece that was originally written with the intent of being published here, but was instead sold for some cold, hard PayPal cash.

How to dine out and still eat healthy - Associated Content