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VMware ESXi 5.5 and NetApp SAN – VMFS Unmap

Posted by Patrick on 07/21/2014
Posted in: Blogs, Powershell, Technical, VMware. Tagged: powershell. Leave a comment

Phantom Space…

Anyone that has to work with LUNs and Datastores with VMware should know the term.

If not, here’s a quick refresher:

You have a 2TB datastore that has a single VM with two drives.  A C: drive that is 50GB and an F: drive that is 150GB.

You are using thick provisioning on the VM side, but thin on the SAN side.

The SAN says that you are currently using 200GB of space.  Easy.

Now, you create a snapshot before applying patches.  That snapshot is left alone for a few days, and grows to about 50GB in size.

Check the SAN – it says that you are currently using 250GB of space.

Delete that snapshot and presto!  What does the SAN say you are using now?

… 250GB!

Wait!  How is that possible?  We just deleted that snapshot data, so we should be back to 200GB in use.

This excess space is considered Phantom Space.  It’s no longer being used by VMware, but the SAN still sees it and holds on to that space.

The same thing happens if you create a new VMDK file and then later delete it.

How can you reclaim this Phantom Space?  Ask most SAN Engineers and they’ll tell you that you have to migrate anything remaining on the datastore to a new one and delete the old datastore.

Thats not so easy if you have to move lots of VMs.  Plus, the next time you create a new snapshot, your right back where you started with excessive phantom space.

What to do?  Powershell to rescue!

$vc = "vcenter"
$vmHost = "esxi01"
$nacon = "netapp3"
$vol = "T3V_0128"
$lun = "t3L_0128"
$path = "/vol/$vol/$lun"
$Size = 800

Connect-VIServer $vc | Out-Null
Connect-NaController $nacon | Out-Null

$DSData = Get-NaLun $Path
$BeforeUsed = "{0:N3}" -f ($DSData.SizeUsed / 1024 / 1024 / 1024)

$esxcli = Get-EsxCli -vmhost $vmHost
$esxcli.storage.vmfs.unmap($Size, $lun, $null)

$DSData = Get-NaLun $Path
$AfterUsed = "{0:N3}" -f ($DSData.SizeUsed / 1024 / 1024 / 1024)

The snippet of code above will perform a SCSI UNMAP (old name) or VMFS UNMAP (new name) on a particular datastore.  This is a task that should be scheduled and run multiple times per datastore to see any real benefit.

Some things to note:

$Size is how big of a block to work with – This is usually 200, 400, 800 or 1600.  The bigger the block size, the more IOPS will be committed to the process.  Be careful when using in a production environment and be sure to test!

$BeforeUsed is simply the amount of space the SAN says is in use before the VMFS UnMap command is run.

$AfterUsed is simply the amount of space the SAN says is in use after the command completes.

$lun and $vol are CASE Sensitive!

If there is any interest, I’ll add a new post with some samples of how to use this process in a scheduled task.

 

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Still Hungry..!

Posted by Patrick on 06/04/2014
Posted in: Blogs, Funny, Weight Loss. Leave a comment

Still Hungry..!

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New Tape Backup Device!

Posted by Patrick on 09/06/2013
Posted in: Funny, Technical. Leave a comment

A friend sent me a picture of his new tape backup device.
I thought I would share…

20130906-222856.jpg

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Powershell: Text To Speech – Part 2

Posted by Patrick on 08/26/2013
Posted in: Blogs, Powershell, Technical. Leave a comment

SAPI.SPVoice: Part 2

I wrote a previous entry about the ability to generate speech from text. This time, I provide a semi-practical use for doing so.

In this example, we are scanning our outlook 2010 inbox folder for new emails. If one is found, we use the SAPI.SPVoice object to playback the FROM and SUBJECT fields.

A simple but effect way to use text to speech from powershell. Here is the entire script:

######
###
###  Powershell Script to review Outlook 2010 Email and provide TTS 
###  alerts when a new message is delivered - just for fun!
###
###	 Version 1.2
###  Patrick McKibbins
###  8/21/13
###
######

Clear-Host
$ScriptVersion = "Version 1.2"
$ScriptFileName = $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition
Write-Host ("`n{0}`n" -f " [ Program: ] [ $ScriptFileName ]  [ $ScriptVersion ]") -ForegroundColor Yellow

#Function to process text to speech
function mySay {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        $Text,
 
        [switch]
        $Slow
    )
 
    $object = New-Object -ComObject SAPI.SpVoice
    if ($Slow) { $object.Rate = -10 }
    $object.Speak($text) | Out-Null
}

# Verify Volume is loud enough
mySay "Testing Volume."

# Setup MAPI connection to local Outlook client
$OutLookFolderInbox = 6
$outlook = new-object -com outlook.application;
$NameSpace = $outlook.GetNameSpace("MAPI");

# Create an Endless Loop that simply scans the inbox for new emails
# If a new email is found, it marks it as read and notifies you via TTS alert
$a=0	#Loop Count
$b=0	#Message Count

while($true)
{

	# Gather inbox details
	$inbox = $NameSpace.GetDefaultFolder($OutlookFolderInbox)
	
	#checks 10 newest messages / $found = $false unless new message is found
	$Found = $false
	$inbox.items | select -first 10 | foreach {
	if($_.unread -eq $True) {
		$Found = $true
		$b++

		# build strings of details for TTS
		# Also replacing RE: with 'Reply' for TTS clarity
		# Replace FW: with 'Forwarded Message'
		$s1 = "You have a new email message from: " + $_.SenderName + ("`n")
		$s2 = "Subject: " + $_.Subject + ("`n") -replace "RE: ", "Reply, "
		$s2 = $s2 -replace "FW: ", "Forwarded Message, "
				
		# Output details to screen for review
		$d0 = "       Date: " + (get-date).tostring()
		$d1 = "       From: " + $_.SenderName + ("`n")
		$d2 = "    Subject: " + $_.Subject + ("`n")
		$d3 = "       MSG : [" + $b +"] LC: (" +$a +")"
		
		Write-Host ("`n{0}`n" -f " ----- ") -ForegroundColor blue
		Write-Host ("{0}" -f $d3) -ForegroundColor cyan
		Write-Host ("{0}" -f $d0) -ForegroundColor green
		Write-Host ("{0}" -f $d1) -ForegroundColor green
		Write-Host ("{0}" -f $d2) -ForegroundColor green
		Write-Host ("{0}" -f " ----- ") -ForegroundColor blue
		
		# Mark current new message as read
		$_.UnRead = $false
		
		# TTS Output of details
		mySay $s1
		mySay $s2
	} 
}

# Sleep for 5 seconds then rinse and repeat
start-sleep 5

# $a is just being used to let us know how many times the loop has been processed - it serves no other purpose
$a++
# write-host $a " " -nonewline

}

######
###
###  The End...
###
######

I’ve included some minor remarks in the script to help understand the flow. If needed, I can provide a PART 3 that breaks it down further at a later date.

So there you have it! A practical use for Text to Speech via Powershell that is quick and easy!

— PFM

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ESXi Releases and Build Numbers

Posted by Patrick on 02/13/2013
Posted in: VMware. Leave a comment

vmware-logo

vSphere ESXi 5.1

Name Version Release Build
ESXi510-201212001 5.1.0 Patch 2 2012-12-20 914609
ESXi510-201210001 5.1.0 Patch 1 2012-10-24 838463
KB2034796 5.1.0 Hot-Patch 837262
VMware ESXi 5.1 5.1.0 2012-09-11 799733

vSphere ESXi 5.0

Name Version Release Build
VMware ESXi 5.0 Update 2 5.0.0 U2 2012-12-20 914586
ESXi500-201209001 5.0.0 Patch 8 2012-09-27 821926
ESXi500-201207001 5.0.0 Patch 7 2012-07-12 768111
ESXi500-201206001 5.0.0 Patch 6 2012-06-14 721882
ESXi500-201205001 5.0.0 Patch 5 2012-05-03 702118
ESXi500-201204001 5.0.0 Patch 4 2012-04-12 653509
VMware ESXi 5.0 Update 1 5.0.0 U1 2012-03-15 623860
ESXi500-201112001 5.0.0 Patch 3 2011-12-15 515841
ESXi500-201111001 5.0.0 Patch 2 2011-11-03 504890
ESXi500-201109001 5.0.0 Patch 1 2011-09-13 474610
VMware ESXi 5.0 5.0.0 2011-08-24 469512

vSphere ESXi 4.1

Name Version Release Build
ESXi410-201301001 4.1.0 Patch 10 2013-01-31 988178
ESXi410-201211001 4.1.0 Patch 9 2012-11-15 874690
VMware ESXi 4.1 Update 3 4.1.0 U3 2012-08-30 800380
ESXi410-201206001 4.1.0 Patch 8 2012-06-14 721871
ESXi410-201205001 4.1.0 Patch 7 2012-05-03 702113
ESXi410-201204001 4.1.0 Patch 6 2012-04-26 659051
ESXi410-201201001 4.1.0 Patch 5 2012-01-30 582267
VMware ESXi 4.1 Update 2 4.1.0 U2 2011-10-27 502767
ESXi410-201107001 4.1.0 Patch 4 2011-07-28 433742
ESXi410-201104001 4.1.0 Patch 3 2011-04-28 381591
VMware ESXi 4.1 Update 1 4.1.0 U1 2011-02-10 348481
ESXi410-201011001 4.1.0 Patch 2 2010-11-29 320137
ESXi410-201010001 4.1.0 Patch 1 2010-11-15 320092
VMware ESXi 4.1 4.1.0 2010-07-13 260247

vSphere ESXi 4.0

Name Version Release Build
ESXi400-201209001 4.0.0 Patch 16 2012-09-14 787047
ESXi400-201206001 4.0.0 Patch 15 2012-06-12 721907
ESXi400-201205001 4.0.0 Patch 14 2012-05-03 702116
ESXi400-201203001 4.0.0 Patch 13 2012-03-30 660575
VMware ESXi 4.0 Update 4 4.0.0 U4 2011-11-17 504850
ESXi400-201110001 4.0.0 Patch 12 2011-10-13 480973
VMware ESXi 4.0 Update 3 4.0.0 U3 2011-05-05 398348
ESXi400-201104001 4.0.0 Patch 11 2011-04-28 392990
ESXi400-201103001 4.0.0 Patch 10 2011-03-07 360236
ESXi400-201101001 4.0.0 Patch 9 2011-01-04 332073
ESXi400-201009001 4.0.0 Patch 8 2010-09-30 294855
VMware ESXi 4 Update 2 4.0.0 U2 2010-06-10 261974
ESXi400-201005001 4.0.0 Patch 7 2010-05-27 256968
ESXi400-201003001 4.0.0 Patch 6 2010-04-01 244038
ESXi400-201002001 4.0.0 Patch 5 2010-03-03 236512
ESXi400-200912001 4.0.0 Patch 4 2010-01-05 219382
VMware ESXi 4 Update 1 4.0.0 U1 2009-11-19 208167
ESXi400-200909001 4.0.0 Patch 3 2009-09-24 193498
ESXi400-200907001 4.0.0 Patch 2 2009-08-06 181792
ESXi400-200906001 4.0.0 Patch 1 2009-07-09 175625
VMware ESXi 4 4.0.0 2009-05-21 164009

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Powershell: Text to Speech

Posted by Patrick on 01/21/2013
Posted in: Powershell. Tagged: powershell. Leave a comment

I was playing around with some Powershell scripts over the weekend and came across a very interesting object:

SAPI.SPVoice

This object lets you generate speech from text and is very easy to use. I’ve included a few samples here to show just how easy!

In this example, we call our simple function with the text we want to hear. We also have an optional switch parameter called -SLOW that will change the speed of the speech, just for fun. This example is using a ComObject to generate the speech.

#
# This first section will generate speech from text using a ComObject
#
function Say-Text1 {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        $Text,

        [switch]
        $Slow
    )

    $object = New-Object -ComObject SAPI.SpVoice
    if ($Slow) { $object.Rate = -10 }
    $object.Speak($text) | Out-Null
}

Say-Text1 "Testing One, Two, Three!"
Say-Text1 "Testing Four and Five!" -Slow
#
#

In the next example, we will use .NET to create the speech. We again call our function with the text we want to hear. By default, we have the speech running as a synchronous command.

(This simpy means that the speech will have to finish before moving on to the next command.)

We added another optional switch parameter for this one, however, if you want the command to run asynchronously instead (-ASYNC).

NOTE: When using the -ASYNC parameter, if you have multiple speech statements right after each other, the speech will be ‘clobbered’, as if two or more people were trying to speak at exactly the same time.

#
# The next section will generate speech from text using .NET
function Say-Text2 {

   param (
           [Parameter(Mandatory=$true, ValueFromPipeline=$true)]
           [string] $Text,
           [switch] $Async=$false
         )

   [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Speech') | Out-Null
   $object = New-Object System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer
   if ($Async) {
       $object.SpeakAsync($Text)
   } else {
       $object.Speak($Text)
   }
}

Say-Text2 "Testing Six, Seven and eight!"
Say-Text2 "Testing Nine and Ten!  Then we wait 10 seconds." -Async
start-sleep 10
#
#

You can even read in a text file and have it converted to speech for you as well! Here is a quick example of how to do it:

#
# First we just create the ComObject
$voice = new-object -ComObject "SAPI.SPVoice"

# Then we use the new object to speak!  This command is spoken synchronously.
$voice.speak("Powershell rocks!")

# And this minor change reads in and speaks a text file asynchronously.
$voice.Speak( "h:\scripts\callme.bat", 5 )
start-sleep 20
#
#

So there you have it! Text to Speech via Powershell is quick and easy!

— PFM

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Powershell: What is Your Windows Product Key

Posted by Patrick on 11/15/2012
Posted in: Powershell. Tagged: powershell. 1 Comment

So..

One of the laptops that I regularly use is a MacBook Pro.  It runs the latest and greatest OS X version along with BootCamp and Windows 7.  For those of you unfamiliar with BootCamp, it basically just allows you to dual-boot your Mac laptop and switch between OS X or Windows.

Since Windows 8 has been officially released, I decided to rebuild my MacBook Pro from scratch and use BootCamp to install Windows 8.  If I liked it, I would keep it.  If not, I would redo BootCamp and put Windows 7 back in place.

However, since the previous install of Windows 7 was a digital download and I seem to have misplaced my email receipt that contained my Windows Product Key, if I decided to switch back to Windows 7, I would not be able to activate it without some difficulties.

I did some searching online for a tool to identify your current product key and found Magical Jelly Bean.  It’s an app that you install in Windows and it reveals your key.  Pretty simple.

But what if you don’t have access to the internet or you simply don’t want to install an unknown app just to get your key?

Powershell to the rescue!

Run the Powershell code below to generate your Windows Product Key.  Quick and Easy:

function get-windowsproductkey([string]$computer)
{
$Reg = [WMIClass] ("\\" + $computer + "\root\default:StdRegProv")
$values = [byte[]]($reg.getbinaryvalue(2147483650,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion","DigitalProductId").uvalue)
$lookup = [char[]]("B","C","D","F","G","H","J","K","M","P","Q","R","T","V","W","X","Y","2","3","4","6","7","8","9")
$keyStartIndex = [int]52;
$keyEndIndex = [int]($keyStartIndex + 15);
$decodeLength = [int]29
$decodeStringLength = [int]15
$decodedChars = new-object char[] $decodeLength
$hexPid = new-object System.Collections.ArrayList
for ($i = $keyStartIndex; $i -le $keyEndIndex; $i++){ [void]$hexPid.Add($values[$i]) }
for ( $i = $decodeLength - 1; $i -ge 0; $i--)
    {
     if (($i + 1) % 6 -eq 0){$decodedChars[$i] = '-'}
     else
       {
        $digitMapIndex = [int]0
        for ($j = $decodeStringLength - 1; $j -ge 0; $j--)
        {
            $byteValue = [int](($digitMapIndex * [int]256) -bor [byte]$hexPid[$j]);
            $hexPid[$j] = [byte] ([math]::Floor($byteValue / 24));
            $digitMapIndex = $byteValue % 24;
            $decodedChars[$i] = $lookup[$digitMapIndex];
         }
        }
     }
$STR = ''
$decodedChars | % { $str+=$_}
$STR
}
get-windowsproductkey .

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Powershell: Working with Excel

Posted by Patrick on 11/14/2012
Posted in: Powershell. Tagged: excel, powershell. Leave a comment

A few days ago at work I needed to create a quick report on some info from one of our VMware clusters.  I proceeded to dump some data to a CSV file and then converted it to an XLS file.

I then modified/cleaned up the data and my report was done.

I started to clean up the code for reuse and decided to skip the CSV file altogether and just save the data directly to an Excel file.

Listed here are some samples to do just that:

NOTE: This assumes that you have powershell and Excel installed on your local machine.

Create the Spreadsheet

For starters, we use the Excel COM object to create a workbook with a worksheet.


$excel = new-object -comobject Excel.Application
$workbooks = $excel.Workbooks.Add()
$worksheets = $workbooks.worksheets
$worksheet = $worksheets.Item(1)
$worksheet.Name = “Name of Worksheet”

If you have data in a spreadsheet that you just want to query, its usually best to just keep the Excel window hidden by setting the following value to $False.  However if you want to see the Excel window you just set the value to $True:


$excel.Visible = $True

If you were run the script at this point, and you enabled the $Excel.Visible value, you would have a blank Excel spreadsheet open and ready to receive data, but not very useful at this point.

Adding information

Now we can start doing some useful things. We can actually modify specific cells within the spreadsheet. The following examples will add some text to a few cells.


$worksheet.Cells.Item(1,1) = “This is CELL A1”
$worksheet.Cells.Item(3,4) = “This is CELL D3”

This puts “This is CELL A1” into A,1 and “This is CELL D3” into D,3. The first number is the row identifier and the second number is the column identifier.

Formatting data

You can even customize the cells by changing the fonts used, the font size and even BOLD the text if needed. The following sample shows how to accomplish this:


$worksheet.Cells.Item(1,1).Font.Bold = $True
$worksheet.Cells.Item(1,1).Font.Size = 22
$worksheet.Cells.Item(4,3).Font.Italic = $True
$worksheet.Cells.Item(4,3).Font.Size = 14

What if you have over 100 cells that need format changes? If would be very time consuming to add more than 200 lines of code needed to accomplish that by using the methods above. But there are alternatives available. We can format a range of cells by using the following:


$range = $excel.Range(“C3″,”C4″)
$range.ColumnWidth = 50
$range.Borders.Color = 0
$range.Borders.Weight = 2
$range.Interior.ColorIndex = 37
$range.Font.Bold = $True
$range.HorizontalAlignment = 3

If you are curious about all of the values that can be modified, type the following command:


$range | get-member

Saving the Spreadsheet

Once your done modifying the spreadsheet, you should be sure to save your data.
This can be done by using:


$workbooks.SaveAs(“c:\automate.xlsx”)
$excel.quit()

Conclusion

Once the spreadsheet is saved, you could even use Powershell to send it via email or copy it to a network share. You can even schedule the powershell script to run as a scheduled task and automate the whole process.

— PFM

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SQL Funny!

Posted by Patrick on 11/14/2012
Posted in: Funny, Technical. Leave a comment

SELECT *
FROM [Users]
WHERE [Clue] > 0
No records found.

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Fitbit Week 5 Stats

Posted by Patrick on 12/06/2011
Posted in: Fitbit. Leave a comment

Another light week on the Fitbit front.  I’ve been doing good on the nutrition side, but a flu is currently running through the household and everyone has been dragging a bit.

Also, the weather outside has been rainy, rainy, rainy!

— PFM

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FitBit Week 4 Stats

Posted by Patrick on 11/28/2011
Posted in: Fitbit. Leave a comment

Well, for some reason I never received my WEEK 3 Stats Report via email from FitBit.

So on to Week 4 instead.  This was a very active week thanks to Thanksgiving and all of the hiking that I did with my dogs!  Weight loss was minimal but my trend is still going down and I’m happy with the weeks results.  I didn’t log any sleep with the FitBit this week.

Thanksgiving with the family is all about food and eating, so making healthy choices and all of the extra hiking really helped out this year!

Hope every one had a happy Turkey-Day!

— PFM

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Understanding the FITT Principle

Posted by Patrick on 11/17/2011
Posted in: Fitness. 1 Comment

Since I have FITT on the brain, I thought I would talk about it a little as well.

It is commonly agreed that fitness students need to be empowered to construct and tailor workouts to meet their individual health-related fitness needs.

Each component of health-related fitness is important to teach even very young students. This approach will help combat today’s media, which emphasizes the need for outward appearance over health and wellness.

Overload and progression are two basic training principles.

Overload refers to the amount of load or resistance, providing a greater stress, or load, on the body than it is normally accustomed to in order to increase fitness. Progression is the way in which an individual should increase the load. It is a gradual increase either in frequency, intensity, or time or a combination of all three components.

The FITT Principle describes how to safely apply the principles of overload and progression:

Frequency
Intensity
Time
Type (specificity)

Frequency
Frequency is how often a person performs the targeted health-related physical activity. For each component of health-related fitness, a safe frequency is three to five times a week.

Intensity
Intensity is how hard a person exercises during a physical activity period. Intensity can be measured in different ways, depending on the related health-related component. For example, monitoring heart rate is one way to gauge intensity during aerobic endurance activities, but gives no indication of intensity during flexibility activities.

Time
Time is the length of the physical activity. As with the other aspects of the FITT principle, time varies depending on the health-related fitness component targeted. For example, flexibility or stretching may take 10-30 seconds for each stretch, while the minimum time for performing aerobic activity is 20 minutes of continuous activity.

Type
Type or specificity, refers to the specific physical activity chosen to improve a component of health-related fitness. For example, an individual wishing to increase arm strength must exercise the triceps and biceps, while an individual wishing to increase aerobic endurance needs to jog, run,
swim or perform some other aerobically challenging activity.

— PFM

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The FITT Principle of Training and the Heart Rate Reserve (HRR)

Posted by Patrick on 11/17/2011
Posted in: Fitness. Leave a comment

The FITT training principle has been around for some time.  This diagram is from the US Army Master Fitness Training Program that I attended sometime back in 1990-91.

I was reviewing some of my older materials that I have saved over the years and came across this diagram.

The information presented is still very accurate and I wanted to talk about one part in particular:  The Heart Rate Reserve

Heart rate reserve is simply the difference between your maximum heart rate and your resting heart rate.

There is a relationship between heart rate and oxygen consumption – particularly at intensities ranging from 50-90% VO2 max. So traditionally, exercise intensity has been prescribed as a percentage of maximum heart rate (calculated as 220 – age). For example, a 30-year old with a maximum heart rate of 190bpm might train at 75% maximum or 143bpm.

One of the problems with the 220-age equation is that it makes no allowances for individual differences in resting heart rate. By incorporating the heart rate reserve into the equation, in theory a more accurate training zone can be determined.

The Karvonen formula uses the heart rate reserve to calculate training zones based on both maximum AND resting heart rate. Here’s the actual formula:

Heart rate reserve Karvonen formula

Here’s an example for a 50 year old with a resting heart rate of 65bpm who wants to train at 70% maximum

  • 220 – 50 = 170bpm (maximum heart rate)
  • 170 – 65 = 105bpm (heart rate reserve)
  • (105 x 0.7) + 65 = 139bpm

Using the Karvonen formula this persons target heart rate works out as 139bpm. To create a zone you might want to subtract i.e. 129 to 139bpm

Using the traditional 220 – age formula this same person would have a target heart rate of 119bpm, which is considerably lower (220 – 50 x 0.7). Its worth noting that the Karvonen formula nearly always calculates a higher target heart rate than 220 – age.

Here is a rough guide to different heart rate zones and the adaptations they elicit:

Recovery Zone – 60% to 70%
Active recovery training should fall into this zone (ideally to the lower end). Its also useful for very early pre-season and closed season cross training when the body needs to recover and replenish.

Aerobic Zone – 70% to 80%
Exercising in this zone will help to develop your aerobic system and in particular your ability to transport and utilize oxygen. Continuous or long, slow distance endurance training should fall under in this heart rate zone.

Anaerobic Zone 80% to 90%
Training in this zone will help to improve your bodys ability to deal with lactic acid. It may also help to increase your lactate threshold.

It is important to remember that the heart rate reserve method of prescribing exercise intensity is by no means flawless.

Firstly, estimating a person's maximal heart has been shown to have inaccuracies compared to laboratory testing - where exercise intensity is increased until a plateau in heart rate is found.

Secondly, the heart rate reserve tells us nothing about a person's lactate or anaerobic threshold. By recording heart rate data along side the point at which lactate threshold is thought to occur, a far more effective training plan can be devised.

Hopefully, this info can help you pinpoint a better target heart rate!

Enjoy!

— PFM

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A Baked Potato: Good or Bad?

Posted by Patrick on 11/16/2011
Posted in: Weight Loss. Leave a comment
a baked potato with butter

I had a discussion today about baked potatoes.  I’ve always had them and love eating them.  But my friend had the following to say:

'I never eat them because they are fattening and bad for you.' 
This prompted me to do some research on the matter.  Here are some interesting potato facts:
Potatoes are one of the most popular vegetables because they are nutritious, easy to prepare, and very versatile. They’re rich in complex carbohydrates that can supply energy, but not all that high in calories because they’re low in fat and protein.

One medium-sized plain baked potato (about three inches in diameter) has about 150 calories. That same potato has about five grams of fiber, which is important for a healthy digestive tract. They’re also a healthy source of vitamins and minerals. A small baked potato, about two inches in diameter has about 130 calories. A large baked potato has about three and one-half to four inches in diameter can have about 275 calories.

Baked potatoes contain more potassium than any other fresh vegetable in the produce department – even more than bananas. One potato has almost 900 milligrams, which is about 20 percent of what you need every day. Potassium is important for body growth and cell maintenance. It’s also necessary for nervous function and for normal muscle contraction – including the heart muscle.

Potassium is also an electrolyte that helps to balance the fluids in your body, which is important for healthy blood pressure.

Baked potatoes also contain substantial amounts of vitamins C and B6, which are vital for blood clotting, wound healing, a strong immune system, normal nervous system function and for converting the food you eat to energy.  There’s also a substance called kukoamine found in potatoes that may help to lower blood pressure, although more research is necessary to know for sure.

Potatoes are nutritious and can be part of a healthy diet, but you still need to get adequate amounts of fats and proteins while staying within your personal calorie budget.

Toppings such as butter, sour cream and cheese will add considerably more calories.

This is probably where people get the impression that baked potatoes are bad for you, because most people don’t eat them plain.  Sure, if you load them up with butter, sour cream and cheeses, well of course they can be bad.  You load up anything with high fat toppings like butter, sour cream and cheeses and it can be bad for you.

The trick here is to minimize and/or use low-fat versions of the toppings.  I personally love to eat them with just A-1 Steak Sauce, which is of course low-calorie.

Enjoy!

— PFM

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Fitbit Week 2 Stats

Posted by Patrick on 11/15/2011
Posted in: Fitbit. Leave a comment

This is my second week using the Fitbit Ultra.  Here are this weeks stats.

Much less active this week! Wow!

— PFM

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10 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight

Posted by Patrick on 11/11/2011
Posted in: Weight Loss. Leave a comment

You’ve been cutting down on fat, controlling carbs and exercising five days a week. So why aren’t you losing weight? From physical factors (age and genetics) to self-sabotage (eating mindlessly), here are 10 things that will derail your weight loss goals.

You’re no slacker when it comes to your health: You exercise, watch what you eat, use portion control, and can resist Ben & Jerry’s without a problem.  Yet the scale needle still won’t budge.

Why are so many dieters destined to regain lost weight or never lose anything at all?

Here are 10 reasons your body isn’t behaving:

1. You don’t have enough muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Fat and muscle tissues consume calories all day long whether you’re running, reading or sleeping. No matter what you’re doing, muscle rips through more calories than fat.
That's why men typically burn calories a lot faster than women; they have more muscle.
 
What to do: Lift weights. You don’t have to get huge, but building and maintaining muscle week after week, year after year makes a difference in the long run.  Alternate between strength exercises and heart rate-raising cardio in each session.  This way, the strength training includes the calorie-burning effect of cardio.  Win-Win!

2. Genetics: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. If both parents are obese, you are much more likely to be obese, says Jill Comess, M.S., R.D., food science and nutrition program director at Norfolk State University in Virginia.
“Researchers estimate that your genes account for at least 50% - and as much as 90% - of your stored body fat,” she says.
 
What to do: You’re not doomed. Your weight-loss challenge is just 10%-50% greater.
“Losing even just a few pounds makes you healthier and less likely to develop diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer,” Comess says. “So you don’t have to be super-slim to improve your health.”
If an overweight woman loses even 5%-10% of her total body weight, she has a greater chance of reducing or getting off her high blood pressure or other meds, she adds.
3. You’re getting older. 
A sluggish metabolism is a common aging problem. And we encourage it by sitting in traffic, long hours at the office and in front of computers.
All this inactivity means we gradually lose muscle and increase body fat, resulting in a metabolic slump. But it’s not unbeatable.
 
What to do: First, lift weights. But don’t underestimate the power of just moving. You faithfully walk the treadmill for an hour each day or go to yoga class, but what are you doing the other 23 hours?
It’s a no-brainer: Cutting the grass, playing with the kids, walking the dogs and even just cooking dinner burn more calories than just sitting on your bum watching TV, emailing your co-worker or driving to the pizza joint.
Thin people fidget and move (called non-exercise activity) more than obese people, research shows. In fact, such antsy behavior might burn as much as 350 more calories per day – the equivalent of two doughnuts.
4. Your body can’t keep up. To survive in the days before supermarkets, your body evolved some complex starvation-coping strategies.
Now that food isn’t scarce, these processes can work against us, explains Jim Anderson, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Medicine and Clinical Nutrition at the University of Kentucky.
“The intestines make about two dozen hormones – some that stimulate eating and others that decrease the need to eat,” he says.
The sophisticated hormonal response can’t cope with our sedentary lifestyle and all those tempting Twinkies, potato chips and frozen dinners we gobble, he says. So it’s harder to maintain ideal body weight.
 
What to do: You can’t fight evolution, so you have to focus extra-hard on those things you can. Be active every day and fill up on low-calorie foods, such as broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, green beans and other non-starchy vegetables.
5. Your medicine cabinet is to blame. A host of drugs that treat diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, inflammatory disease and more affect weight regulation. Some will make you hungrier and others stimulate your body to store fat. And if a drug affects the brain, there’s a good chance it affects weight, Anderson says.
 
What to do: Ask your health care provider if an alternate drug or a lower dose could work, but don’t change your medications without discussing it first.
6. You underestimate portions and calories. Even dietitians underestimate calories – and by huge amounts! One study found that women and overweight people miscalculate more than others.  Other studies suggest that the greatest underestimating occurs when the meals are the largest, and that it doesn’t have anything to do with how fat someone is.
 
What to do: Follow the portion guidelines at mypyramid.gov for several days. Use measuring spoons, measuring cups and a food scale to guide you. Then plug-in your food choices on that site or another reputable one to calculate your calorie intake. And read every food label for serving size and calories.
7. You eat mindlessly or when distracted. Do you eat dinner in front of the TV? Do you stop eating when you’re full or when the show is over?
All too often, such distraction leads to more and more mouthfuls of pasta or potatoes.
If you’re munching from a bag of chips or a box of crackers, you can’t keep track of how much you’ve eaten.
And plenty of dieters report they didn’t even realize they had snacked from the candy bowl or nibbled from a child’s plate until it was too late.
 
What to do: Make it a house rule to eat from a dish. Always. No bags, cartons or fistfuls.
Put it in a dish, sit down and savor the taste as you eat – without distraction.
8. You deprive yourself. Your list of can’t-have foods is so long, it rivals the nation’s tally of foreclosed homes. In fact, you’ve been so strict with yourself, you can’t remember the last time you ate a doughnut, candy bar or slice of pizza.
Then - like so many times before - you give in, scarf down something taboo, and now you’re mad at yourself.
So what the heck, you think: You’ll just eat everything on your forbidden list to get it out of your system. You’ll start your diet over again tomorrow – or next week.
Problem is, you can’t get it out of your system. It just doesn’t work that way.
 
What to do: No more setting yourself up for feeling deprived. In fact, no more dieting.
Take the focus away from that list of bad foods and emphasize those that are good for you. If 90% of the time you eat a wholesome diet of ample fruits and vegetables, some whole grains, lean meats or other sources of protein, then the other 10% doesn’t really matter.
So enjoy that glazed doughnut – but just one. If you want another, it will still be there tomorrow. After all, doughnuts or candy bars or pizza or whatever won’t drop off the face of the earth.
9. You’re usually good, but… You always watch your portions. You start every morning with a healthful breakfast and eat only baked chicken, not fried.
Always that is, unless you’re on vacation or dining out. Or celebrating a birthday. Or sharing an anniversary. Or honoring your son’s first home run. Or watching the ball game with friends.
Consistency is key to dropping pounds. Researchers involved with the National Weight Control Registry found that those who eat similarly day after day are more likely to maintain weight loss than others.
One splurge meal in a restaurant can easily undo all the small calorie-saving tricks you employed the whole week before. Derail yourself every week and you’ll never get anywhere.
 
What to do: Again, stop dieting and start making small changes you can live with.
Find ways to celebrate that don’t involve high-calorie eating or take half of that restaurant meal home to celebrate again tomorrow.
10. You overestimate your calorie burn. Gym machines are notorious for overestimating the calories burned by exercisers, and dieters can easily out-eat their workouts. Your 30-minute power walk might burn 200 calories, but that won’t make up for your after-exercise power smoothie.
 
What to do: Exercise is an important tool in controlling your weight and maintaining good health, but stop rewarding your good work with food.
If you’re tempted to follow a sweat session with a smoothie or muffin, consider these numbers first:

Food and Calories / Activity and The Time to Burn Those Calories
(based on average 180-pound person)
 
Food: Medium nonfat latte and blueberry muffin
Calories: 605
Walking 3.0 mph (20-minute mile), 2 hours, 14 minutes
Walking 4.0 mph (15-minute mile), 1 hour, 29 minutes
 
Food: Large bagel with cream cheeseCalories: 430
Jogging 5.2 mph (11.5-minute mile), 35 minutes
Aerobic dancing, low impact, 63 minutes
 
Food: 22-ounce strawberry smoothie with artificial sweetener
Calories: 250
Weight training, light, 61 minutes
Circuit training (includes aerobic activity), 23 minutes
 
Food: Fast food sausage and egg biscuit
Calories: 500
Yard Work, 92 minutes
Cleaning Out Garage, heavy, 2 hours, 2 minutes

So be smart and don’t derail you weight-loss goals!

Enjoy!

— PFM

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Veterans Day 2011: Honoring All Who Served

Posted by Patrick on 11/11/2011
Posted in: Blogs. Leave a comment









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The Truth About Eggs?

Posted by Patrick on 11/11/2011
Posted in: Fitness, Weight Loss. Leave a comment
The Eggs Wont Cook Themselves You Know

This morning I had a discussion with a co-worker about eating eggs for breakfast.  He complained that he isn’t getting enough daily protein.

My first suggestion to him was to eat some eggs for breakfast instead of his usual health bar.  Not only is the bar he eats low in protein, but it’s really high in sugars and saturated fats.  I indicated that eating two large eggs for breakfast either scrambled with no butter or hard-boiled would give him a better boost in protein and would actually be better for him overall.

His response was: ‘No way!  Eggs are bad for you!  They give you really high cholesterol levels!’

Now I had to take exception to this statement, because I’ve actually done a little research on this particular topic.

Here’s a sampling of one report that I read:

Cracking the Cholesterol Myth

More than 40 Years of Research Supports the Role of Eggs in a Healthy Diet
Many Americans have shied away from eggs – despite their taste, value, convenience and nutrition – for fear of dietary cholesterol. However, more than 40 years of research have shown that healthy adults can eat eggs without significantly impacting their risk of heart disease. 
And now, according to new United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrition data (1) , eggs are lower in cholesterol than previously recorded. The USDA recently reviewed the nutrient composition of standard large eggs and results show the average amount of cholesterol in one large egg is 185 mg, a 14 percent decrease. The analysis also revealed that large eggs now contain 41 IU of Vitamin D, an increase of 64 percent.
Studies demonstrate that healthy adults can enjoy an egg a day without increasing their risk for heart disease, particularly if individuals opt for low cholesterol foods throughout the day. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Heart Association recommend that individuals consume, on average, less than 300 mg of cholesterol per day. A single large egg contains 185 mg cholesterol. 
Several international health promotion organizations – including Health Canada, the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, the Australian Heart Foundation and the Irish Heart Foundation – promote eggs as part of a heart-healthy diet, recognizing that they make important nutritional contributions. (2)

REFERENCES

(1) In 2010, a random sample of regular large shell eggs was collected from locations across the country to analyze the nutrient content of eggs. The testing procedure was last completed with eggs in 2002, and while most nutrients remained similar to those values, cholesterol decreased by 12% and vitamin D increased by 56% from 2002 values.
(2) Klein CJ. The scientific evidence and approach taken to establish guidelines for cholesterol intake in Australia, Canada, The United Kingdom, and The United States. LSRO. 2006 www.lsro.org. Accessed November 2006.

Here is another article that talks about specifically about cholesterol:

Cholesterol
 
First, one has to understand that cholesterol is not necessarily bad. Humans need it to maintain cell walls, insulate nerve fibers and produced vitamin D, among other things. Second, there are two types of cholesterol: dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol . Both are important.

Dietary cholesterol is found in certain foods, such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy products. The second type (blood cholesterol, also called serum cholesterol) is produced in the liver and floats around in our bloodstream. Blood cholesterol is divided into two sub-categories: High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL), and Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL). LDL cholesterol is considered bad because it sticks to artery walls.

What is bad, however, is the amount of LDL blood cholesterol in the body. Too much of it can cause heart problems, but scientists are now discovering that consuming food rich in dietary cholesterol does not increase blood cholesterol.

Evidence showing that eating a lot of dietary cholesterol doesn't increase blood cholesterol was discovered during a statistical analysis conducted over 25 years by Dr. Wanda Howell and colleagues at the University of Arizona. The study revealed that people who consume two eggs each day with low-fat diets do not show signs of increased blood cholesterol levels.

So what does raise blood cholesterol? One of the main theories is that saturated fat does. Of the three types of fat (saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated), saturated fat raises blood cholesterol and LDL levels. It so happens that eggs contain mostly polyunsaturated fat, which can actually lower blood cholesterol if one replaces food containing saturated fat with eggs.

Bottom line:  Eggs are a great source of protein and are much lower in dietary cholesterol that most people know.  If you happen to have high cholesterol levels, be sure to talk to your doctor about eating eggs before you decide to remove them from your diet completely.

Enjoy!

— PFM

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Fitbit Week 1 Stats

Posted by Patrick on 11/10/2011
Posted in: Fitbit. Leave a comment

I’ve been trying out a lot of nice gadgets lately and one of them is a Fitbit Ultra.  It’s a small unit about the size of a thumb drive and is used to monitor various activities.  This chart shows my first weeks statistics with the Fitbit.

It keeps tracks of how many stairs you climb, you many steps you take, how well you sleep at night and even has an estimate of how many calories you have burned.  It does just about everything, but it’s not a heart rate monitor.  If you want to track your heart rate, you’ll still need a separate unit for that.

I like how compact it is and that you don’t have to plug it in to transfer the data.  It comes with a USB stand that attaches to a computer and you just need to be within 15 feet or so of the stand and it will auto-transfer your stats.  It even syncs with a Withings scale!

The website that works with the unit also lets you log additional exercises or activities and even has a food tracker.

It’s a pretty solid product and I’m really liking it so far!

Enjoy!

— PFM

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UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System (Xbox 360 w/Kinect)

Posted by Patrick on 11/09/2011
Posted in: Fitness, Weight Loss. Leave a comment

I recently bought this and thought I’d give it a try.

I like the idea of this trainer but the execution isn’t the greatest.  Here’s a summary of what I’ve found over the last few weeks:

First, the menu system is real sensitive and makes jumping through the menus quickly a difficult task.  The only saving grace for the menus is the voice response.  You can say ‘Trainer’ and have a menu pop up to pick one of the options.  This takes a bit to navigate things, but it’s still quicker than the hand motion menu that’s used for everything else.

I’ve also had issues with saving my workouts.  Not sure what the issue is here, but sometimes its saves the data and sometimes it doesn’t.  Makes trying to follow a set schedule difficult, when it says that you missed a day but really did do it!  I’ve heard that I’m not the only one to encounter this bug.  Don’t know if there is a DLC patch for this yet or not, but I’ll check it out at some point.

The exercise selections are pretty good and the execution of them is relatively OK, but the trainers say darn near the same motivation expressions constantly.  I almost have to turn the volume off just to get through the workout!

Overall, once you get things working correctly and as long as you don’t care about saving the workouts, it’s a decent enough trainer.  I would recommend that anyone wanting to give it shot borrow or rent it before buying though.

— PFM

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