Clean Eating Weight Loss Meal Plan 81

Breakfast

Cracked Wheat with Homemade Berry Sauce

This hearty bowl of cracked wheat had just the right touch of sweetness with a spoonful of homemade berry sauce (with all-natural brown cane sugar). After this healthy breakfast idea, I felt fulfilled, energized and ready to take on the day.

Try Great River Organic Milling Cracked Wheat

Mid Morning Snack

Fresh Strawberries

Lunch

Garden Salad with Chicken Breast, in Greek Yogurt Honey Dijon Dressing

If you haven't tried Greek yogurt dressing, you're missing out. With nearly half the calories of regular dressing, they still taste good. I recommend Opa or Litehouse brands.

Afternoon Snack

Cucumber, Hummus and Red Pepper Stack

Super easy snack to make, yet super delicious.

Dinner

Lobster, Avocado and Cilantro Salad (recipe here)

You can substitute lobster with shrimp if you want, but this clean eating recipe was awesome, and you should absolutely give it a try.

Thanks for visiting!

Hope you liked today's Clean Eating Weight Loss Meal Plan.

See you soon.

New Year is here!

Weight at starting of the week on 26th morning was 77.5Kgs. That's almost a kilo gone {hopefully forever}in 5 days. The little bit of diet tweaking and walking seems to be working { crossing my fingers } yay!.
This whole week I was very very careful with what I ate, cuz I wanted to eat whatever I could on New year's eve. I am happy to report the weight is down to 76.8kgs!!! I didn't believe it

Intelligent Weight Loss Workouts: 45 Min of HIT'14 = "High Intensity Thinking" Help Resolve HIS New Year's Resolution

High intensity thinking - intelligent weight loss workouts

It's almost 2014! Actually it is already 2014; at least for my friends in the "Far East" (HAPPY NEW YEAR!) and thus almost too late for the annual "I want to lose weight" new year's resolution. Ok, you as a SuppVersity reader should actually know better, but just in case you are still planning to make the weight loss happen solely by increasing your workout volume, I would suggest that you replace some classic HIT training with the revolutionary HIT 2.0 - high intensity thinking regimen (warning: doing this too often may actually build more brain than muscle mass ;-). 

Well,... now that I take a closer look at the results of this recent study from the University of Quebec here,  I have to realize that this will only work if you are a man. But don't worry, I am pretty sure there is something to be learned for the ladies in the last SuppVersity article of 2014, as well ;-)

All jokes aside, your brain is a sucker for energy!

I guess you will be familiar with the over-cited fact that "the human brain is only 2% of the weight of the body, but it consumes about 20% of the total energy we need every day"... I know that's boring, but actually that's quite an important point, because it tells you that your brain is not just a sucker for energy, but also a sucker for new information, which will in turn increase the energy requirements of the insatiable heap of neurons in your skull. Why? Well, our brains need energy to process each and every of these information chunks - max. 30W per opeartion, if the currently heralded estimations are correct. I know that sounds tremendously much, but if we performed only one of these operations per minute, you would hardly burn the energy equivalent of 1/25 of a 70-85% chocolate bar during your high intensity thinking sessions.

Against that background it's all the more impressive that Emilie Pérusse-Lachance and her Canadian colleagues were able to measure a significant increase in energy expenditure, when they had their 35 subjects (22 men and 13 women; aged 24 ± 3 years) read a 10-page text and write a summary of approximately 350 words using a computer in the "mental work condition" of their study.

Figure 1: Energy expenditure in kcal/45min in the control and the mental work condition, left; energy intake during the buffet ca. 15min after the control and mental work condition, right (Pérusse-Lachance. 2013)

If you take a look at the data in Figure 1, you will also notice that the scientists original hypothesis, which was that they would observe a similar hyperphagic (=hunger ➲ increased energy intake) response to in the "mental work" condition as Chaput et al. who conducted two very similar studies in 2007 and 2008.  The actual study outcome does yet tell a different story: While the female study participant did in fact supercompensate for the extra-energy they had to spent, when they were not watching TV and lolling around like in the control condition, the men were probably so immersed in their thoughts that they simply forgot to eat... ok, I guess you already realized that this was an ad-hoc hypothesis to make sure you don't realize that neither I nor the scientists have any clue what the underlying reasons of this sex-difference were.

I would even guess that the women did not even notice that they were overcompensating. If you take a look at the subjective hunger scores that have been assessed by seven visual analogue scale questionnaires the participants had to fill...

1. at the beginning (T-60/60 minutes before the buffet), 
2. after the experimental session (T-15/15 minutes before the buffet), and 
3. after the buffet-type meal (T0, T60, T120, T180, and T240).

...those will tell you that the ladies either claimed to, or actually weren't more hungry than in the control condition. In view of the irrefutable evidence that they still ate more (see Figure 1) this may look awkward. When it's all said and done, these contradictory result does yet only confirm that you cannot trust people, when they tell you "I am never hungry and actually don't eat that much.... I have really NO clue where that belly comes from". This may even be their own perception, but that does not change that it is usually not in line what happens at the buffets, dinner tables and - most importantly - during the snack breaks people take during not after their high intensity thinking regimen all over the world.

Figure 2: Change in energy balance (kcal) in the "exercise" condition in the course of which the subjects walked on a treadmill for 45 min, waited for 15 minutes and were then allowed to avail themselves of as much food as they wanted at the buffet - further evidence that the "exercise just makes you hungry" hypothesis is bunk.

Bottom line: By now you should have realized that this article must not be taken too seriously. Though,... if this type of heavy brain lifting would have women eat 15.3% (=121kcal/day) more and men 16.1% (=267kcal/day) less every day it would probably have a non-negligible impact on your chances of living up to your new year's weight loss resolution in 2014.

But don't worry, ladies. Life is not so unfair as it may seem. All you have to do to achieve an almost level playing field is to convince him that a 45 min walk in the park with you is much more fun than 45 min of high intensity thinking. And if that's  not convincing enough, show him the data in Figure 3 and tell him that real exercise (in the study 45min of paced walking) will help both of you improve your energy balance - his by -31% (-516kcal) and yours by -23% (-184kcal).

References:

• Chaput, J. P., & Tremblay, A. (2007). Acute effects of knowledge-based work on feeding behavior and energy intake. Physiology & behavior, 90(1), 66-72.
• Chaput, J. P., Drapeau, V., Poirier, P., Teasdale, N., & Tremblay, A. (2008). Glycemic instability and spontaneous energy intake: association with knowledge-based work. Psychosomatic medicine, 70(7), 797-804.
• Pérusse-Lachance, E., Brassard, P., Chaput, J. P., Drapeau, V., Teasdale, N., Sénécal, C., & Tremblay, A. (2013). Sex Differences in the Effects of Mental Work and Moderate-Intensity Physical Activity on Energy Intake in Young Adults. ISRN Nutrition, 2013.

Exercise Round-Up: HIIT Prevents Angina; Stretching Reduces IGF-1 & Strength Gains; Cardio + Weights Lower TNF-Alpha; Protein Doesn't Works W/ Glucose Depletion; Polarization More Effective Than Threshold Training

That's (hopefully) not the way you want to "kick off" your year 2013, is it? So keep the booze at bay and party away, tonight ;-)

There are three things of which I would hope that they are on the top ranks in the things you are planning to do in 2013. And aside from proposing to your girlfriend, becoming a parent, graduating from whatever you are currently studying and keeping or, in the unfortunate case you don't have one, getting a job no other goals should be ranked in this must to in 2013 category: Work out, eat health and sleep deep and sufficiently. Against that background today's exercise round-up, which comprises all the few newsworthy papers that have been published during or shortly before the holiday season can actually be regarded as a means of orientation as far as practical realization of your best intentions for 2013 are concerned.

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• HIIT in the evening will keeps the heart attack away (Morikowa. 2012) -- Having a mild angina (coronary spasm was documented and no severe organic lesions were found) is not just no excuse for not working out, the 26 patients in a recent study that was conducted by a team of researchers from Kashiwara City, Japan, clearly shows that the number of spasms (=perceived heart attacks) was reduced from 2 to ZERO (average numbers) per 5 days in the men and women who performed an aerobic interval exercise training in the afternoon.
  
  

  

  Figure 1: Selected significantly improved health markers before and after the 3x workout short-term intervention involving 19 male and 7 suffering from angina (Morikawa. 2012)

  The protocol was performed on three consecutive days. After warming up thoroughly (10min), all subjects performed four sets of 3 min intervals at 75-85% of their heart rate reserve. The work to rest ratio was 1:1. In other words each of the intervals was followed by a phase of 3 minutes of active recovery. The whole session was concluded by a 5-10 minutes cool down.
  
  In conjunction with the initially mentioned benefits in terms of the recurrence of angina attacks the data in figure 1 should actually suffice to motivate you and lazy relatives to invest this small amount of time into the length and quality of your life- don't you think so?

• 

  Figure 2: The group of recreational trained young men (~29 years) that did no stretching at all had slightly, but significantly elevated IGF-1 levels (µg/L) after the workout (Borges. 2012).

  Stretching blunts acute IGF-1 response and 10 week strength gains (8RM test) (Borges. 2012) -- Now, hormonal responses to exercise are certainly not everything, the fact that the non-stretchers (OST) did yet also gain significantly more strength on the bench (19% vs. 7% and 5% in the static stretching during warm-up (SBST) and the stretching before each set (SDST) groups, respectively), the leg press, leg extensions and leg curls should yet call your attention, Mr. and Mrs. "I am so freaking professional that I stretch in between every set" maniacs - after 10 weeks of training the guy next to you who sticks to a handful of warm-up sets for injury prevention is going to outperform you.
  
  Remember this is not about not warming up and making sure that you don't hurt yourself, it's just even more more evidence that the die-hard belief that static stretches are beneficial (which was btw. also the research hypothesis of the Portuguese and Brazilian scientists) is dated text book knowledge.

• Again: Not strength or, but strength and aerobics is the way to go (Ho. 2012) -- While the medical establishment is still reluctant to accept the notion that strength and aerobic training must go hand in hand and many muscle heads still plead, they would lose muscle or hamper their gains, when they hopped onto a treadmill from time to time. The evidence is clear: The advantages are simply non-negligible - for the gymbro trying to look muscular (which requires a low body fat percentage if you don't want to look simply ludicrous), and the average Australian (pre-)obese in a recently published study by Ho, Dhaliwal, Hills, and Pal who found that ...
  

  "Twelve weeks of moderate-intensity aerobic, resistance, but mainly combination exercise training decreased TNF-α in overweight and obese individuals compared to no exercise. Therefore, combination exercise training may be physiologically relevant in decreasing the risk of developing chronic diseases." (Ho. 2012)

  The exercise interventions were either 30 min of aerobic exercise on a treadmill (60 % heart rate reserve; HRR estimated using the Karvonen equation: 220 - age - resting heart rate), 30 min of resistance exercise (four sets of 8–12 repetitions at 10-RMlevel of leg press, leg curl, leg extension, bench press, and rear deltoid row, with each set completed in approximately 30 s with 1-min rest) or a combination of 15 min of aerobic exercise and 15 min of resistance exercise (two sets of the above exercises).
  

  

  Figure 3: The combined training did not only result in a maximal suppression of TNF-alpha, the latter was also highly correlated with the reduction in body fat (esp. in the belly area; cf. Ho. 2012)

  "Starting workload levels for each piece of equipment were tested by participants and if more than 10 repetitions were achieved, the weight was increased and after a short rest participants tried again. Likewise, if less than eight repetitions were achieved, the weight was decreased and after a short rest participants tried again. Participants reported to the Curtin Fitness Centre 3 days a week to complete the required exercise and either exercised at home the other 2 days or at the fitness center.
  
  If exercises were completed at home, dumbbells (adjustable weight 1.5–10.5 kg) were provided for resistance exercises (three sets of 10 repetitions for biceps curls, lunges, dumbbell raise, calf lift, and triceps extension for resistance group while the combination group did two sets of biceps curls and lunges and one set for dumbbell raise, calf lift, and triceps extension; back extension, push ups, and sit ups exercises were also included). Treadmills were equipped with heart rate sensors and participants were instructed to increase weight loads by 2.5-kg increments when they could complete more than 12 repetitions." (Ho. 2012)

  Maybe not the perfect program for you, but I bet you know someone who "wants" to make room for 30 min of exercise in 2013, don't you? Ah,... don't tell them that 67-74% compliance was enough to elicit a 30%+ decrease in TNF-alpha and finally allow the participants to drop body fat, though ;-)

• You can have your peri-workout protein even if you want to exploit the AMPK & PGC-1 bonus of training glycogen depleted (Taylor. 2012) -- Actually I have discussed that in the Intermittent Thoughts more than a year ago, but since the debate just goes on forever, I thought it may be worth posting the results of a recent study pertaining to the issue of peri-workout protein ingestion and its purported (yet non-existent!) negative side effects on the beneficial AMPK response to glycogen depleting exercises (note: that's not the AMPK that's increased in your brain, when you starve yourself for longer time periods, the "bad" one that will make you ravenously hungry, induce overeating and shut down your metabolism).
  

  

  As long as you remain glycogen depleted protein has no effect on the beneficial part of the exercise induced AMPK expression (read more)

  "After performing a glycogen-depleting protocol the evening before, the subsequent morning ten active men performed 45 min steady-state cycling at 50 % of peak power output (PPO) followed by an exercise capacity test (1-min intervals at 80 % PPO interspersed with 1-min periods at 40 % PPO).
  
  In a repeated measures design, subjects consumed 20 g of a casein hydrolysate solution (PRO) 45 min before exercise, 10 g during and a further 20 g immediately post-exercise, or an equivalent volume of a non-calorie taste matched placebo (PLA)." (Taylor. 2012)

  In view of the fact that the post-exercise muscle glycogen was not different between the protein supplementation and the "on empty" trial, it is not exactly surprising that the p-AMPK levels increased threefold and the PGC-1mRNA increased sixfold in the 3h after the workout. And even the blunted increase in eEF2 activation is probably only a sign that the muscle started taking up protein right away and thus did not have ask for more after the workout - That said,Taylor et al. are right to point out that
  

  "athletes who deliberately incorporate training phases with reduced muscle glycogen into their training programmes may consume protein before, during and after exercise without negating signalling through the AMPK cascade." (Taylor. 2012)

  Ah, don't overlook the words "training phases" - remember what I wrote about training glycogen depleted in the context of the PGC-1 a-4 post and doing cardio before a workout? It's an intensity technique and not a necessity for everyone on every training day in 2013. Plus, glycogen depletion does require repletion! Running around 24/7/365 is not an option for 2013.

• 

  Aside "polarization" your cycling performance can also benefit from baking soda & beta alanine (read more)

  Polarize your training and optimize your gains (Neall. 2012) -- What makes HIIT so effective? The cyclicity of high and low intensity, right! It's the same cycle of ups and downs you find everywhere in nature. Against that background it should actually not surprise you that Neal et al. have now found male cyclist record greater training improvements on a polarised model exercise regimen (6.4/hrs per week; 80%, 0%, 20% of training time in low, moderate and high intensity zones) than on a threshold model (7.5hrs per week; 57%, 43%, 0% training intensity distribution).
  
  According to the researchers from the University of Stirling, both groups recorded performance improvements, yet those in the group that followed the polarized regimen saw 5% greater increases in peak power output, 7% greater increases in lactate threshold, and 48% greater increases in high-intensity exercise capacity.

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Thats it for today and in fact for the year 2012. The last one of 365 new posts here at the SuppVersity and probably twice or thrice as many on the SuppVersity Facebook Wall (it would be ~5-6x more on Facebook, if I had started posting short news on Facebook in January already)... Apropos, if you want some additional news before the turn of the year you should make sure to visit www.facebook.com/SuppVersity, today, to read and learn more about.

• A brief history of anti-hangover cures: The ancient Assyrians swore by Ground birds' beaks and myrrh. Raw eel and bitter almonds is a recipe from Europe that was popular during the Middle Ages. The Mongolians were more into  sheep's eyes, while the Chinese must have listened to Thursday's installment of On Short Notice and went with green tea. Us Germans like it traditional (not me though) and eat "Tom's breakfast" (Katerfrühstück), a postbinge breakfast with Bismark Herring, pickles, rollmops and/or sauerkraut (this stuff does work, by the way, 'cause it helps replenish the lost electrolytes).
  Harvard Health Letters headline: "The new medicine: muscle strength. It's not just for bodybuilders. Strength training is critical for all of us." (read more)
• Creatine reduces total antioxidant defenses? Scientists confirm for the 1012532x that creatine works and to make sure somebody even reads their study they overemphasis an increase in uric acid and decreases in TAS in the creatine supplementation group - a reason for concern? (read more)
• Case report: Type I diabetes remission without insulin therapy on gluten-free diet in a 6-year old boy with type 1 diabetes mellitus. (read more)
• Got Acne? Insulin resistance makes men break out. You better don't rely on fasted values, but get an OGGT ASAP(!) cause it turned out to be the most accurate independent predictor of acne at multivariate analysis. (read more)

I guess the one thing that remains to be said now is:  

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! 

Don't party too wild, and if you do, drink your green tea before the binge - this is (contrary to the historical advice in the box above) indicated by the latest science you should remember from Thursday's Science Round Up on Super Human Radio ;-)

References:

• Borges Bastos CL, Miranda H, Gomes de Souza Vale R, de Nazaré Dias Portal M, Gomes TM, da Silva Novaes J, Winchester JB. Chronic Effect Of Static Stretching On Strength Performance And Basal Serum Igf-1 Levels. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Dec 18.
• Ho SS, Dhaliwal SS, Hills AP, Pal S. Effects of Chronic Exercise Training on Inflammatory Markers in Australian Overweight and Obese Individuals in a Randomized Controlled Trial. Inflammation. 2012 Dec 19.
• Morikawa Y, Mizuno Y, Harada E, Katoh D, Kashiwagi Y, Morita S, Yoshimura M, Uemura S, Saito Y, Yasue H. Aerobic interval exercise training in the afternoon reduces attacks of coronary spastic angina in conjunction with improvement in endothelial function, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Coron Artery Dis. 2012 Dec 14.
• Neal CM, Hunter AM, Brennan L, O'Sullivan A, Hamilton DL, De Vito G, Galloway SD. Six Weeks Of A Polarised Training Intensity Distribution Leads To Greater Physiological And Performance Adaptations Than A Threshold Model In Trained Cyclists. J Appl Physiol. 2012 Dec 20.
• Taylor C, Bartlett JD, van de Graaf CS, Louhelainen J, Coyne V, Iqbal Z, Maclaren DP, Gregson W, Close GL, Morton JP. Protein ingestion does not impair exercise-induced AMPK signalling when in a glycogen-depleted state: implications for train-low compete-high. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012 Dec 23.

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

Happy New Year's Eve friends!

I'm not sure if I was retaining water or if it's just a result of my good choices lately but...I lost the 5lbs that I had gained on Sunday!!!

As you know my regular weigh in days are on Sundays (and I'll be weighing in again on Sunday) but I had to weigh in today because it is the final day of The Biggest Loser Challenge Round #1.

My Stats for this Challenge:

Start Date: November 8

End Date: December 31

Start Weight: 352

End Weight: 338

For a total loss of: 14lbs

You can see (on the right) that my goal was to lose 20lbs during this first round so I fell 6lbs short. I had decided that if I had lost 20lbs during the challenge that I would give myself one "free day" of eating whatever I want; but I didn't lose the 20lbs so- NO FREE DAY. Oh well- worst things could happen :)

To tell you the truth I really wasn't being all that serious for the first part of the challenge and combined with Christmas and only working out 3 times- I'll take the 14lb loss! I won't know if I won the challenge until Monday- keep your fingers crossed for me- the winner takes home $220 and a gold medal :) I guess I'd be satisfied with the silver or bronze medal too...this time!

Alright and now let's talk about some Janurary Goals (psst...I'll be sharing my 2010 goals tomorrow!)

Goal #1: Weigh no more than 325lbs on January 31st (A loss of at least 13lbs) I know that this might sound unrealistic but being that I weighw what I do I know that it is not difficult when I put forth the effort to be losing at least 3-5lbs per week.

Reward: Free Day!

Goal #2: Walk 5x's a week for 1 month. For this I will be using the indoor walking program "Walking Away the Pounds" which should have me walking approximately 10-18 miles per week. I know it's that much for some of you frequent 5K'ers but I'm literally coming from not excercising at all so I'm taking small steps. Committing to excercising 5 days a week is a huge commitment for me but I know that it is necessary.

Reward: Get a pedicure :)

Goal #3: Do 2 Strength Training Workouts a week for 1 month.

Reward: The Beck Diet Solution Book. I've heard some good things about this book and am definitely interested in learning more about the cognitive aspect of weight loss.

Goal #4: Track POINTS for a full week. I can't lie- I have a hard time tracking my PTS for a full day let alone a full week! I do really good with breakfast and lunch- but only because I pretty much eat the same thing every day for both meals, but dinner man- it kills me everytime! So I just need to buckle down and be a stickler about getting the POINTS value for everything that goes in my mouth.

Reward: I can buy a health magazine for every week that I successfully track. I luuurrvve reading magazines so this is definitely a big motivator for me!

Goal #5: Try 3 new healthy recipes this month.

1st- Brussel Sprouts- never had em before and you all rave about them so I'm gotta at least try em!

2nd- TBA

3rd- TBA

Reward: Yummy food :)

So there you have it folks! January is going to be a great month! Heck- this is going to be a fantastic year- full of hardwork yes,- but fantastic!

p.s. Tonight I am having a New Year's Eve part-ay at mi casa! Gotta tell you that I'm a little nervous about what kind of choices there will be as far as food goes- even though it's at my place we are doing it pot luck style- I guess I'll just be the one making sure there are lots of healthy options :)

Happy New Years Eve! Be safe and don't get too crazy!

Of the 1.8 New Year's Resolutions We Make Every Year, 23% Fail Within Two Weeks: A Humorous Scientific Outlook on the Fallacy of New Year's Resolutions.

Image 1: I don't know about this "smart ass" in particular, but I would assume you have had enough "smart asses" post their knowledgeable tips on their blogs to get along without another "12 useful tips for 2012" from me, right?

I guess at least those of you who have been following this "blog" (I hope that you would agree that the SuppVersity has become more than another "blog") have come to "know" me well enough not to expect me to provide you with the 1001 list of ten, or at it has become fashionable as of late, twelve super-duper congenial tips to achieve your goals in 2012. Change, and this is the one wisdom I want to give you to take along for the next year, change rarely is something that comes over night or is "triggered" by the adherence to any fixed plan. Change is the result of the accumulation of small steps, dx/dt, as we physicists would say, i.e. covering an infinitesimal distance (=dx) within an infinitesimal short timespan (=dt). If we now denote steps that take you further towards your goal as positive and steps by which you depart from your ultimate goal as negative than any year in which the integral over dx/dt would be positive, or in non-physicist terms, where the number of infinitesimal steps you have taken towards your goal was greater than the ones by which you have distanced yourself from what you want to achieve, a successful year! Consider that before you file 2011 as another "lost" year.

Enough smart ass new years advice for 2011!

But hey, didn't I say, I would not give you wise ass advice? I guess we should get back to science then... after all the "-versity" in the name of this site denotes that we are doing serious stuff here, doesn't it? So, take my hand and descend (for the last time in this year) with me into the archives of science. The first thing we hit on is an editorial from the most prestigious medical journal in the world, The Lancet, in which the contemporary editor of the journal has the following well-phrased advice for you (I did not say I would not provide you with wise ass advice from others ;-)

The opening of a new year leads all of us to take some stock of the past and to formulate a certain number of resolutions for the future, and the frame of mind which is thus indicated should be indulged in, but only with moderation. To spend too much time in thinking over what has gone by will interfere with the work that lies under our hand; to make resolutions that are too large and too numerous for our powers is to court disappointment. None the less every thoughtful man will use his past experience to guide him in the future both as to what he will do and as to how he will do it. (The Lancet. 05. January 1907)

Image 2: New Years Eve is for most of us the time, when we simply cannot ignore the necessity to make a change, any longer.

Somehow, this reminds me of some of the "best tips, tweaks, tricks" and, above all, "common pitfalls to avoid in 2012", I have been reading elsewhere around the web over the course of the last days. I mean we all know that the more good intentions we have, the more likely they are to never materialize into significant changes. Being aware of this circumstance, Judith Stoner Halpern who wrote the editorial to January issue of the not just as famous *rofl* International Journal of Trauma Nursing suggests that (Halpern. 2001) "perhaps the best New Year’s resolution that we can make would be to learn how to make a better resolution"

Interestingly, and this is probably the first thing that goes beyond "conventional new year's resolution wisdom", the first reason she invokes is the time of the year!

An easy answer is to blame January 1. For one half of the world, it falls in the middle of winter, and for the other half, the middle of summer. This is not the most opportune time to enact a dramatic change. The middle of a season often causes us to feel a lack of commitment; this may be part of the reason that ancient cultures chose spring or fall as the time to start anew. For some, January 1 may feel like an artificial time for change.

When you come to think about it, this is actually quite a reasonable argument. With the "winter blues" upon us January certainly is not the best time to "blossom". The neo-paleolithic folks many of us recently believe we are, we should better crawl up in our dugouts and set up our plan of attack in order to mimic the "ancient cultures" and start anew in spring.

Does understanding the psychology of change hold the key for success?

The question yet remains, how do we instigate a new-or restart? A possible answer may come from Freeman and Dolan's theoretical model of change that in turn is based on a previous model by DiClemente that has been extensively discussed in the scientific literature on psychotherapy. According to the model, the authors propose in their 2001 paper in Cognitive and Behavior Practice, there are 10 stages. Where the last one, maintenance marks the (temporary) achievement of preferably positive "change".

Figure 1: The psychology of change - an illustration based on the "revisited stages of change model by Freeman and Dolan (Freeman. 2001)

If you take a closer look at my graphical illustration, you will realize that you have (hopefully) already overcome the initial stages of

• noncontemplation, where, in your everyday oblivion, you do not even consider making a change
   
• anticontemplation, where you are trying to convince yourself that you are "just fine the way you are" or that it would be impossible to make a change, anyways
   
• precontemplation, where you are thinking and often dreaming about what would happen if you were able to make a change

Interestingly, for most of us the realization that another year is almost over usually makes us go through these stages (many of you may skip the 2nd one, some may get stuck there), automatically. So even if you are not one of Freeman and Dolan's persons, chances are that you are now, as they put it "directly and actively considering change" and have "reached a point of readiness to engage in the change process." 

Sitting in your neo-paleolithic dugout - or, for those who have not been infected by the paleo-virus in the course of 2011, simply in your cozy home - it is now about time to lay out your plan of attack!

Action planning is the stage of change when the therapist and patient have collaboratively developed a treatment focus and treatment plan. The therapetnic process has begun and the patient is beginning to make plans on how change will occur. The key phrase with this group is, "I plan to change."

Now, I don't know whether you have a therapist, or not (note: this is nothing to be ashamed of - I would even count the people I know that are in psychotherpeutical care among the few relatively sane human beings which populate this planet ;-), are working with a trainer, nutrionist or just a good friend who will help you on your way. In the end, it will always be about your commitment to your plan to change and eventually your success. That you have to determine the latter based on the integral over the steps in the right and steps in the wrong direction is something I have mentioned before. Freeman and Dolans model, however, provides a theoretical framework to understand this sometimes annoying, often frightening and in many cases discouraging back-and-forth even better.

Figure 2: Reported success rates at different timepoints in the new year and at 2 year follow up (data based on Norcross. 1989).

What are typical New Year's Resolutions? I must admit that I was quite disappointed about the lack of scientific data on the real-world outcome of New Year's Resolutions. Similar to the previously discussed issue of holiday weight gain which turned out to be at least less pronounced than everyone would have it (cf. "Santa is Coming to Town"), there is almost no realiable, non-specific, i.e. not related to only one goal (mostly smoking cessation), scientific data that would proof that the majority of new years resolutions fail.

In one of the two peer-reviewed studies I could come up with (both based on the same dataset), Norcross et al. report that their 213 study participants "made an average of 1.8 New Year’s resolutions" (Norcross. 1989). Among those, smoking cessation (30%) and weight loss (38%) together accounted for two-thirds of the resolutions. Other non-idiosyncratic New Year's Resolutions revolved around relationship improvement (5%), reduction in alcohol consumption (2%), and an increase in monetary savings (2%). A cursory glance at figure 2 does yet suffice to see that the difference between the real and the commonly assumed "success"-rates is much less pronounced than in the previously cited case of holiday weight gain. With a 23% chance of failure after no more than 2 weeks and a drop out rate of  57% after three months, chances that the average 16-75 year old citizen of northeastern Pennsylvania is able to realize his resolutions for the new year really isn't very high. A reported (do we believe those guys?) success rate of 19% after 2 years is nevertheless more than what my personal observations would suggest.

Lapses are integral parts of change - accept them work, through them, or fail

Image 3: If your New Year's resultion incorporates letting go of junk food, thinking of Mark Haub, the "Twinkie Diet Professor", probably would not be one of the "behavioral skills" to incorporate in your mental toolbox.

Let's assume you are a carbohydrate-addict and decided to cut back on carbs in the next year. Do I see you tremble in apprehension? Well, this is actually an apprehension of the prelapse phase, a phase that is "characterized by active and often overwhelming cognitions related to the reversal of the changed behavior" the carb-junkie you are, even the thought of having to put down your twinkies and dingdongs (whatever the latter may be) is getting you all psyched up. If it was already January the 1st, this would be the moment, when you are eating your eggs and bacon for breakfast, look at the cereals your brother is shuffling down his throat and think to yourself: "How can I possible endure that for the rest of my life?" Then you remember the words of the mighty paleo guru Robb Wolf to "give it a shot for thirty days" and gag down the last piece of bacon.

Psychotherapists refer to simple tricks like this as "behavioral skills", i.e. (mostly cognitive) techniques by which you can "short-circuit the prelapse before it leads to the old behaviors."

Figure 3: Successful and unsuccessful strategies to stay on track; * indicate statistically significance for success (data based on Norcross. 1989).

Which "behavioral skills" are most helpful? In the aforementioned study, Norcross and Vangarelli also analyzed which methods the participants successfully (figure 3, green) and unsuccessfully (figure 3, red) applied to achieve their aims. As you can see planning ahead (contingency management), managing "dangerous" stimuli, exercise (obviously not the way to distract yourself from the temptations if your new years resolution was to exercise more) and, above all, taking one step after the other, were the most effective strategies in the toolboxes of the 213 study participants, of whom only 18% said that "nothing hindered their resolution". Among the remaining 82%, most invoked their own lack of willpower (34%) as the fundamental obstacle. 16 subjects found that the realization of their resolution was not compatible with their lifestyle and 8 maintained that they had not been serious enough about their resolution.

(Un-?)fortunately, you are human and thusly destined to let reason go and fall back to old, oftentimes bad habits. So, there will come a day, when you will be sitting next to your meanwhile "no longer so loved ones" (after all, they are allowing themselves to eat all those jummy junk right next to you at your table ;-) and stare at the twinkies and dingdongs they are indulging. Suddenly a thought crosses your head: "Wasn't there this funky professor who lost a ton of weight on the twinkie diet?" You reach out and, probably much to the secret delight of your "formerly loved ones" who have been jealous of how fast you have been losing weight in the course of the last weeks, grab one of the twinkies that have been waiting for so long for you to take appropriate care of them... I guess I don't have to tell you the rest of the story, do I?

What is important, though, is that whenever lapses like this happen is that you always remember that no matter how many twinkies you may have eaten, how many training sessions you may have skipped, and/or how many cigarettes you have smoked, it is still your choice:

• You can either return to the anticontemplative phase by persuading yourself that you could shed off the extra points just as well on twinkies and dingdongs - and even if that would not work, why would you have to make a change, in the first place? After all, you feel "fine just the way you are"!
   
• Or you can analyze what triggered your temporary loss of memory and inability to apply one of the various behavioural skills that have prevented you from "lapsing" before.

I guess, it is not difficult to tell that option #2 would be the way to go. You have to go back to the drawing board. Not to start all over again, but to develop new skills and cognitions and to practice old to make sure that your next dt/dx's will be positive again. In that the ability to accept your own fallibility and the insight that a bunch of twinkies won't ruin the admirable success of the previous weeks, may be one of the key elements that will eventually enable you to achieve your contemporary goals, maintain your success and reach for the stars.

Along these lines, I wish all of you, my dear silent and not so silent readers, your families and loved ones, a successful, happy and, above all, healthy year 2012.

Modifying Set Numbers: 1, 3, or 5 Sets - How Many Shall We do per Exercise in 2015? First Study to Investigate Potential Benefits of 5 Sets in the Long (6 Months) Run

I have to admit. I am surprised that the total lean mass didn't but the sleeve size of the subjects did benefit from increasing the number of sets from 1 to 3 and from 3 to 5 sets. For legs this would have been something I would have expected. For arms, which are trained with almost every other exercise? No, not really.

With their latest study, scientists from the University of Rio Grande do Sul, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro and Maranhão tried to fill the gap that exists with respect to studies comparing the effects of multiple sets, greater than 3-sets, on strength and muscle hypertrophy over long training periods. Accordingly, the aim of the study was to compare the effects of 1, 3 and 5-sets on the changes in the muscle strength and endurance, muscle hypertrophy, vertical jump performance and body composition over the course of a six months standardized training regimen.

The hypotheses of the study was that multiple sets would result in greater changes in training outcomes than single sets and that there would be a dose response for training outcomes.

Are you looking for other muscle builders than volume increases?

Tri- or Multi-Set Training for Body Recomp.?

Alternating Squat & Blood Pressure - Productive?

Pre-Exhaustion Exhausts Your Growth Potential

Full ROM ➯ Full Gains - Form Counts!

Battle the Rope to Get Ripped & Strong

Study Indicates Cut the Volume Make the Gains!

In view of the fact that the subjects were 48 men from the Brazilian Navy School of Lieutenants (mean ± SD age = 24.4 ± 0.9 yrs; body mass = 79.3 ± 9.1 kg; height = 174.5 ± 5.5 cm) who were familiar with all sorts of body weight "strength training" drills, but had not trained on any of the Life Fitness machines that were used in the study, it's not unlikely, though, that even one set of bench presses, leg presses, lat pulldowns, leg extensions, leg curls, biceps curls, ab crunches and triceps extensions, which were performed thrice a week, would suffice to produce significant results (also compared to the regular military training the men in the control group performed).

Figure 1: Overview of the 6-week resistance training protocol used in the study at hand.

All exercises were performed with a weight of 8-12RM (meaning the subjects failed after 8-12 reps) and a rest interval of 90 to 120 seconds between sets and exercises. The training resistance was increased by 5-10% for the next session when subjects were able to perform more than 12 repetitions in all sets of an exercise.

Remember? A 2012 study by Robins et al. suggested that experienced strength trainees need 8, not 4 or 1 set for legs | more

What's different to previous studies? As previously mentioned this is the first study to compare three set-ranges (1, 3, 5 sets) over a long study period. Accordingly, it's not necessarily surprising that the results of the study at hand stand in conflict to studies by Bottaro et al. (2011) ot Hanssen et al. (2013),  which found no significant difference between one and three-set training protocols. On the other hand, the results are partly in line with those of a 2007 study by Rønnestad, et al. who found benefits of three sets, albeit only for the legs. Overall, the total training volume (number of exercise) and study length of the previous studies was yet lower than that of the study at hand. This suggests that it may be the 2x higher volume difference between 4x1 vs 4x3 as in Ronnestad et al. (2007) and 8x1 vs. 8x3 vs. 8x5 in the study at hand that may have made all the difference.

The scientists made sure that all subjects participated in at least 95% of the training sessions (missed no more than four sessions). All training sessions were monitored by an experienced investigator and the subjects were not allowed to perform aerobic or flexibility exercises during the six month training period. What the scientists found was:

• 

  Figure 2: Changes in body composition (top) and bench press & lat pulldown 5RM (Radelli. 2014).

  All training groups recorded significant strength gains for bench press (BP), front lat pull down (LPD), shoulder press (SP) and leg press (LP) (p≤0.05) exercises, but the 5RM (maximal weight the subjects could lift 5 times) increased significantly more for both bench presses and lat pulldowns in the 5- SETS compared to the other training groups (p ≤ 0.05). 
• In the 20RM (maximal weight with 20 reps) bench press tests both the 3- and 5-SETS groups saw significantly greater strength increases than the 1- SET group, with the 5-SETS protocol also producing significantly greater increases in strength, than the 3-SETS group (p≤0.05). 
• In the 20RM leg press tests only the 5-SETS protocol yielded significantly greater strength gains than the 1-SET protocol. 
• For the 3- and 5-SETS groups the scientists also observed significant increases in elbow flexor muscle (biceps) thickness (MT) with the 5-SETS increase being significantly greater than the other two training groups (p≤0.05). 

In spite of these differences, all training groups decreased percent body fat, increased fat free mass and vertical jump ability (p≤0.05), with no differences between groups. In spite of that, "the results demonstrate a dose response for the number of sets per exercise and a superiority of multiple sets compared to a single set per exercise for strength gains, muscle endurance and upper arm muscle hypertrophy" (Radelli. 2014).

Example Split-Routine for 2015: If you still need inspi- ration here is an example of how you could train using the 5 sets per exercise principle in a 2-day + cardio split in 2015:

(Mo) Push day: Squat, bench press, military press, nose breaker, calf raises

(We) HIIT day 10x45sec sprinting or cycling at maximal velocity, 2 min walking / slow cycling

(Fr) Pull day: Pull up, DB row, biceps curl, stiff legged deadlift, abs.

Same procedure as in the study at hand, 90-120s rests between sets, 8-12RM (to failure).

Bottom line: If we go solely by the results of the study at hand, it would appear prudent to add a set or two to your training regimen. In view of the fact that most of you will probably be training according to a body-part split, I doubt that you will be doing significantly less than 5 sets for any of your muscle groups, anyway. In view of the absence of beneficial effects on the body composition and considering the fact that the arms, of all muscle groups, were the only ones that grew significantly, it's still questionable how beneficial a volume increase in 2015 would be.

As a SuppVersity reader you will also be aware that previous studies showed that a higher volume training is beneficial for the legs ("8 sets of squats outperform 1 and 4 sets" | read more). This result was yet observed in highly trained individuals and stands in contrast to the recent revelation that you can "Cut the Volume, Still Make the Gains!" (read more). I would thus suggest you keep that in mind, when you plan your 2015 workout routine. 5 sets per body part!? Fine! 10 sets for legs? Fine! But four exercises à 5 reps for chest? Madness! Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Bottaro, M., et al. "Resistance training for strength and muscle thickness: effect of number of sets and muscle group trained." Science & Sports 26.5 (2011): 259-264.
• Hanssen, K. E., et al. "The effect of strength training volume on satellite cells, myogenic regulatory factors, and growth factors." Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports 23.6 (2013): 728-739.
• Radaelli, Regis; Fleck, Steven J.; Leite, Thalita; Leite, Richard Diego; Pinto, Ronei S.; Fernandes, Liliam; Simão, Roberto. "Dose Response of 1, 3 and 5 Sets of Resistance Exercise on Strength, Local Muscular Endurance and Hypertrophy." Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: Post Acceptance: December 24, 2014. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000758
• Rønnestad, Bent R., et al. "Dissimilar effects of one-and three-set strength training on strength and muscle mass gains in upper and lower body in untrained subjects." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 21.1 (2007): 157-163.

My 10 Things...

My rockstar gal pal JewliaGoulia tagged me in a fun activity that is going around the blogosphere where if you are "tagged" you are supposed to share ten things in your life that make you happy.

And of course I'm all about fun...and activities....and happiness- so here we go (in no particular order)....

-10 Things That Make Me Happy-

#1- Coffee

As I've talked about on this blog before I seriously LOVE coffee- I have crossed over from even just drinking it for pleasure to actually not being able to function all too well without it (I know, I know, that's not good) but I love everything about it: the way it smells, tastes, even looks- hence my friends and I taking a picture of our Starbucks drinks last summer- nerds! :) But seriously- I have anywhere from 5-10 meetings with people each week and if it is up to me they will happen over coffee! Indeed, coffee is one thing that makes me happy :)

# 2- The Office

I freaking love this show. I remember my bff tried to get me to watch it the first few times I thought it was so stupid and just didn't get why everyone loved it so much until one day after I got my wisdom teeth out and I decided to give it one more shot and watched an entire season, then another, then another and well, needless to say I've seen every episode! To me The Office is kind of like the show Friends, it doesn't matter what episode you happen to catch it is always funny, you always love the characters, and it is just great writing! The Office is a perfect representation of my humor and it makes me happy fo sho.

#3- Planning & Organizing This is a picture of this week in my planner- let me just tell you that an unorganized Tiffany is NOT a happy or functional Tiffany. I don't why this is or where it came from but I am crazy anal about being organized and planned. I mean, there are situations where I'm completely go with the flow but I really do love having my week, house, goals, blog, room, and just life in general in order. Obviously things rarely go as planned but at least I know how they were supposed to go, right? :)

#4- My Friends

My family has never been incredibly stable or healthy so my friends have always played a pretty major role in my life; I am undoubtebly closer to my friends than I am to most of my family members. They are pretty amazing human beings and I love them.

#5- My Job

I currently work bi-vocationally as an Accounting Assistant and an Outreach Pastor. My Accounting job pays the bills and my other job is definitely my calling. I recently moved to the Burgh to help start a church and very few things make me happier than feeding and clothing the homeless, community service projects, and just loving on people which is what I get to do as an outreach pastor. I love it! The picture above is a little girl who just got her face painted at a Fall Festival we put on @ a local coffee shop- isn't she cute?

#6- Blogging

Does this not happen to you all the time? I'll see something yummy or make a new discovery in this journey and I'll automatically think, "Oh! I need to blog about this!" LOL. Truthfully I had some serious doubts about starting this blog; in fact, I had been reading many of your blogs for months before I decided to finally start my own. The reason I was so hesitant wasn't because I didn't like blogging or didn't want to commit to it (I have been blogging now through my other blog for over a year now). It was just that I really didn't want to let anyone down and make all of this fuss about what I'm going to do and then just not do it- but boy am I glad I did. I have met some great people in the few weeks that I've been blogging and it makes me feel not so alone on this journey! Blogging my thoughts and reading yours as well have become a highlight of my day :)

#7- Deep Conversations

I know, I know, I sound like a cheesy personals add but it's true- there are very few things in life that I enjoy more than having deep conversations- or perhaps just any conversation that is meaningful. I am just as much a listener as I am a talker and I get so much satisfaction from talking with people about what's going on in their lives, my life, current events, politics, passions, relationships, faith, philosophy, you name it! People feel that they are close to people through different avenues- gifts, physical touch, etc. and how I feel close to people is by spending time talking about life together :)

#8- My Grandma

My grandma really is my hero. She is the person who raised me and truly loves me unconditionally- I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am in life without her. She definitely is one that makes me smile :)

#9- Games, Games, Games

I am a game fanatic! I love card games, board games, group games, if it's a game- chances are I'm gonna love it (and have to play it a million times!) I don't know what it is about playing games but I get very easily addictive...and competitive :) LOL For example, tomorrow night we are having a NYE party at our house and you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be plenty of catch phrase and mafia for an entire night of fun! LOL

#10- Jesus

My life would not be happy at all without Him. He is my best friend, Savior, and everything really. Before I met Him I was was living my life without any real purpose, I was selfish, and I had aboslutely no hope or joy- I have all of that now and I couldn't love my life more and I know that has everything to do with my relationship with Christ.

The End :)

A "Question of Faith": Do Multivitamins, Antioxidants and Mineralsupplements Improve Your Quality of Life?

Image 1: Do you believe that you could solve this profound imbalance by randomly adding more people to both sides of the seesaw? No? Well, why are you taking a high-dose multivitamin then?

As the name of this website already implies, I am an outspoken believer in the usefulness of "supplements" (as in "to supplement" = to add to something, where it makes sense). There is however a particular group of "supplements", which is a real thorn in my side... Yes, I am talking about those one-size-fits-it-all-multivitamin-multimineral-multi-whatever products with "high quality ingredients" the ratios of which are based on either the "recommended dietary allowances" of the omniscient USDA (actually a way better name would be "random dietary allowances") or the even more idiotic maxime that "if some is good, then more is probably even better". These days every major supplement company has at least one of these formulas in their line-up and obvoiusly they all will claim that only their product will provide you "with all the vital nutrients you need".

Wtf!? How do those guys know which nutrients I need? 

Even if those formulas were perfectly balanced - which they certainly are not, because we simply don't know what the "perfect balance" is, yet - the chances that anyone of you, my educated, well-nourished whole-food eating readers, has a full-blown, all across the board nutrient deficiency that would be fixed by any of those products are probably one in a million. What is much more likely, though is that you have a small or (oftentimes due to "healthy supplements") profound nutrient imbalance.

Let's say you are an aspiring male fitness athlete and have been taking your ZMA religiously for years. At the same time you have heard that copper is not only bad for you, but that "we all" would get way too much copper in our diet, anyways. So you have been avoiding copper like a plague and ingesting 30mg of zinc from your ZMA everyday... now chances are that you have already set off the natural (and optimal) ratio of copper to zinc in your body. Let's say the optimal ratio was 1:12 (copper to zinc, and again - we do not even know what the optimal ratio would be). With your high zinc and low copper intake you are now at 1:20, i.e. 60% off! Now the nice guy from your local GNC convinces you that it would be prudent to add the brand new "Male Super-Power Vitamin" to you supplement regimen if you wanted to live a long and healthy life. Chances are that the guy who designed that product will also have heard that zinc is good for men and that we all get way too much copper (and even if he knew better, he will be aware that his formula won't sell if it does not follow conventional stupidity... ah, I mean wisdom). So, the product will have 200mcg of copper and 30mg of highly bioavailable zinc - I mean it's a "high quality product"! What is going to happen now? What? Right! The well-formulated product will exasperate you existing imbalance... Your multi does not do that? How come you think so?

"Ever since I take my multi, I have not become sick and feel way better!"

Right, you feel better... and you are not alone! In fact many of the 8112 participants in a well-controlled randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, primary human intervention trial which was conducted by a group of scientists from Paris (Briancon. 2011), also felt that the capsule with 120 mg vitamin C, 30 mg vitamin E, 6 mg beta-carotene, 100 µg selenium and 20mg zinc, they had been taking for 76 months(!) improved their overall well-being.

Warning! I suggest you don't continue reading the following paragraphs if you do feel that your vitamin product works and do not want to take the risk that it will stop working as soon as you have finished reading this blogpost ;-)

What is pretty strange, though, is that this effect did not depend on whether the subjects actually received the anti-oxidant + mineral combination, or not. Rather, the main determinant of the the results of the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire in this sample of healthy French adults was whether the subjects, who, as it is right and proper for a "placebo-controlled" trial, obviously did not know whether they were ingesting a capsule with the active ingredients or the placebo (it had been established in a previous study that the two capsules were indistinguishable; cf. Hercberg. 1998), believed that they were in the active arm of the study (cf. figure 1, believers vs. non-believers):

Figure 1: Perceived effect on global health (VAS) in subjects who had "no idea" whether they received the active or the placebo treatment and subjects who thought they received the active ("believers") or placebo ("non-believers") treatment (data adapted from Briancon. 2011)

What is also interesting, is that women were slightly more susceptible to placebo effect than men (not to the nocebo effect though), although this difference did not reach statistical significance.

Multivitamins are like religion: Believe in it and it works!

A pros pos statistical significance, as far as the "real" markers of health and disease are concerned, the "key message" (I use the words of the scientists ;-) of the SU.VI.MAX was that "long-term supplementation with antioxidant vitamins and minerals has no effect on quality of life" - in other words, although there were not measurable improvements, the study did not provide further evidence for the hypothesis that long term supplementation with anti-oxidant supplements, selenium and vitamin E in particular, had any negative effect on objectively measurable health markers (if you want to read more about the flawed analysis of and biased media reports on the data from the SELECT trial, read my previous blogpost on this issue).

Image 2: Add a body made of animal products to this guy and you have all the nutrients you need ;-)

It should be mentioned here that in a previous analysis of other data from the same cohort, the scientists had found a small, but statistically significant decrease in cancer and all-cause mortality among the male study participants of the active arm of the SU.VI.MAX trial (Hercberg. 2004). So, while the quality of life did not improve, the miserable life of some of the male subjects was at least extended by a few years ;-) All sarcastic jokes aside, even the scientists realize that in the presence of conflicting evidence, the "major implication for public health of the present findings is that a lifelong diet rich enough in vitamins and min-erals may be preferable to supplementation that is likely not to be efficacious and has the potential to be harmful." - sound advice!

Those of you for whom this is not the first visit, here at the SuppVersity, will be aware, that, as a trained scientist, I don't content myself with the conclusions my "colleagues" (from another branch of science) draw. Therefore, I dug a little deeper into the actual data that comes with the study and - alas! - I was able to find a statistically significant (p<0.014) increase in the reported "vitality" among the women who actually received the vitamin + mineral supplement (cf. figure 2):

Figure 2: Real (difference between treatment and placebo) and perceived (difference between "believers" and "non-believers") of antioxidant + mineral supplement (data calculated based on  Briancon. 2011)

What is strange though, is that of all statistically significant differences between women who believed they received the supplement and those who did not, just this one is the least distinct. Moreover, in all the other variables, where there was a statistically significant difference between believers and non-believers, the "real" data (meaning the comparison of subjects who actually received the treatment vs. the placebo group) could not confirm the positive self-assessment of the believers. Among the male subjects, there was even a trend toward reduced quality of life measures in the real data, where the "believers" thought that it was the "supplement" they were taking that soothed their bodily pain, improved their general health or overall physical performance (physical summary scale).

So what? Am I wasting my money?

These additional observations do yet not falsify any of the three main conclusions, Serge Briacon and his five colleagues from Nancy University, the Metz University, the University Paris Descartes, the University hospital of Nancy and the French Department of Public Health draw based on their interpretation of the data:

1. [t]here is no proof that supplementation with these vitamins and minerals is beneficial in participants whose dietary intakes are already sufficient
    
2. [t]he perception that supplementation improves general well-being is not supported by this trial.
    
3. [a] reverse causal pathway may even be advocated (healthier participants may have been more likely to believe they were in the supplement group).

What this means for you is that if your multivitamin "works", chances are that you are doing something right as far as your general lifestyle, your diet and your exercise regimen are concerned. If despite taking your multi religiously, you still feel miserable, you better take a closer look at what your real problems are instead of switching from one band-aid-fits-it-all "solution" to the next one.