I was thinking about some of the old habits I used to have years ago prior to me qualifying as a fitness professional.
At the time I was slightly fatter and definitely unheathier, and I remember one of those habits was downing several cans of fizzy drinks each day.
Of course this is a terrible habit for someone trying to stay lean and healthy, and I eventually cut it out of my diet completely. But you know what, I quickly switched to another dietary evil, diet coke.
I thought since I cut out all of the sugar and extra calories in regular fizzy drinks,by drinking diet coke, I could have a couple of cans each day and be much better off.
Well, I did start to lose fat after making the switch, due to the drop in calories and sugar each day. But I the downside was that I unwarily became addicted to the artificial sweeteners in the diet pop.
After a few months, I was drinking 2 or 3 cans of diet pop every day, and guess what?
I started gaining fat again.
I then began investigating the artificial sweeteners and some of the longer term studies that had been done. Well, some of the results I read about regarding what happens to these things after they enter your body are pretty scary, so much so that I have slashed my consumption down to zero.
On top of that a recent 8 year study showed that those who drink even 2 cans each day of this stuff are 57% more likely to become overweight.
Why the weight gain from something with 0 calories?
The exact reasons aren't conclusive at this point, though one of the primary concerns is the false sense of security that the habit of diet pop drinking can give.
In other words, you'll tend to get release the shackles with your diet because you feel you can consume extra calories because you're making up for it with the diet pop.
Another problem is that when anything other than water hits your stomach, you get an uptick in the hunger response...so if you grab a diet pop instead of water, there's a good chance you're going to want to eat something with it.
Bottom line, diet fizzy drinks are another one of these 'diet products' that are loaded with bad chemicals your body doesn't want or need. In most cases, these just foster a yo yo method of dieting...trying to lose fat through short term solutions that usually just magnify the problem.
Better alternatives are plain water, green tea and herbal teas.
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Tuesday 29 September 2009
The 7 Essential Rules To Optimum Health & Weight Loss
Finding the right explanation on how to lose weight sounds tricky since the web is overloaded with information. One click away, right at your fingertips you can view thousand of searches and with large quantity of information at hand, you’ll be assured that every query has an answer. Perhaps, the only problem that you’ll encounter is how to filter this information so you can get the best solution for your dilemma.
Having said so, here are the 7 Essential Rules To Optimum Health & Weight Loss (based on Ockham’s Razor) that will surely help you aim your ideal weight in no time.
1. Eating the REAL Food
Do you ever seize how many grams of protein, sodium or saturated fat you take daily? Our schedules may seem unpredictable but it is not an apology to stop counting our calorie consumption.
In this day and age, we always rely on processed foodstuff. However, it is still best and safe to buy real food such as unpreserved fruits and vegetables, naturally raised meat and fish, water instead of soda, among others. If possible as well, avoid eating at fast foods habitually and start preparing a home-cooked meal as an alternative since package and convenient foods are often higher in sodium and fat content.
Studies shows that splurging on nutritious real food, your body feels nourished as regards to eating those common processed food products available. Also, when eating healthy food, there is no need to binge more often because you feel full.
2. Live Life Actively
Our authorities always recommend in treating ourselves with a 30-60 minutes physical activity daily in order to stay in good physical shape.
Hitting the gym is for all time considered a good support as long as you are serious with your work-out program. Aside from this, you can also enjoy trying new things like playing a new sport with family members, hiking with friends, playing Frisbee or volleyball in the beach, or even walking your dog in the park.
3. Get some sunshine
This actually goes hand in hand with No. 2 suggestion. Unless you are experiencing a bad weather, you don’t need to force yourself to go out and sweat.
Before you get yourself busy, jumpstart your day with a just-out-of-the-bed workout. Go out to your veranda or to a nearby park and literally workout before your day distracts you. The morning sweating can make you sharper all day given that exercise enhances the secretion of neurotransmitters.
4. Constantly strive to improve in order to see change
If you are stuck with the same routine day in and day out (e.g. lifting same weights, running the same course, etc) you would see that no matter how you push yourself, there is still no improvement in your body.
The best trick that you can do is to venture out of your comfort zone. Start setting on goals and break that last record you’ve had. As the saying goes, forever strive for the better and don’t fail to seek improvement. Hence, if you are comfortable on running a 5Km in 30 minutes, why not aspire or plan for 25 minutes next time and see for yourself the changes in both in mind and body.
5. Get enough sleep
Depriving yourself of 7 to 9 hours of good, quality sleep on a daily basis will result on eating too much since your body needs energy in order to focus on the present day’s responsibilities.
Sleep also regulates our hormones, thus it facilitates in killing off the bad bacteria that accumulated in your gut all through the day. Also, when we are sleeping, it is the best occasion for our body to repair its tissues – most especially our muscles.
6. Practice Active Recovery
Often times, when we pander to strenuous physical activities, our bodies therefore experience stress. It is always advisable to have a balance intense activity by means of a calming, stress management exercise (such as yoga) so that even after a good work-out, you would feel relaxed and contented.
7. Use Natural Movements
There are five natural movements that you can integrate on your physical activity– Squatting, Lunging (which includes walking & running), Pushing, Pulling and Rotation. Experts say that if you want to increase results and live healthy, you should exercise and move naturally, and your physical activity should at least consists one of these movements.
You don’t need to follow all these rules at once. Remember that pressuring yourself is a “shotgun” approach and might lead into inconsistency. Just adhere to these 7 rules day after day and you’ll be happy to see the results while living a more fulfilling life.
Having said so, here are the 7 Essential Rules To Optimum Health & Weight Loss (based on Ockham’s Razor) that will surely help you aim your ideal weight in no time.
1. Eating the REAL Food
Do you ever seize how many grams of protein, sodium or saturated fat you take daily? Our schedules may seem unpredictable but it is not an apology to stop counting our calorie consumption.
In this day and age, we always rely on processed foodstuff. However, it is still best and safe to buy real food such as unpreserved fruits and vegetables, naturally raised meat and fish, water instead of soda, among others. If possible as well, avoid eating at fast foods habitually and start preparing a home-cooked meal as an alternative since package and convenient foods are often higher in sodium and fat content.
Studies shows that splurging on nutritious real food, your body feels nourished as regards to eating those common processed food products available. Also, when eating healthy food, there is no need to binge more often because you feel full.
2. Live Life Actively
Our authorities always recommend in treating ourselves with a 30-60 minutes physical activity daily in order to stay in good physical shape.
Hitting the gym is for all time considered a good support as long as you are serious with your work-out program. Aside from this, you can also enjoy trying new things like playing a new sport with family members, hiking with friends, playing Frisbee or volleyball in the beach, or even walking your dog in the park.
3. Get some sunshine
This actually goes hand in hand with No. 2 suggestion. Unless you are experiencing a bad weather, you don’t need to force yourself to go out and sweat.
Before you get yourself busy, jumpstart your day with a just-out-of-the-bed workout. Go out to your veranda or to a nearby park and literally workout before your day distracts you. The morning sweating can make you sharper all day given that exercise enhances the secretion of neurotransmitters.
4. Constantly strive to improve in order to see change
If you are stuck with the same routine day in and day out (e.g. lifting same weights, running the same course, etc) you would see that no matter how you push yourself, there is still no improvement in your body.
The best trick that you can do is to venture out of your comfort zone. Start setting on goals and break that last record you’ve had. As the saying goes, forever strive for the better and don’t fail to seek improvement. Hence, if you are comfortable on running a 5Km in 30 minutes, why not aspire or plan for 25 minutes next time and see for yourself the changes in both in mind and body.
5. Get enough sleep
Depriving yourself of 7 to 9 hours of good, quality sleep on a daily basis will result on eating too much since your body needs energy in order to focus on the present day’s responsibilities.
Sleep also regulates our hormones, thus it facilitates in killing off the bad bacteria that accumulated in your gut all through the day. Also, when we are sleeping, it is the best occasion for our body to repair its tissues – most especially our muscles.
6. Practice Active Recovery
Often times, when we pander to strenuous physical activities, our bodies therefore experience stress. It is always advisable to have a balance intense activity by means of a calming, stress management exercise (such as yoga) so that even after a good work-out, you would feel relaxed and contented.
7. Use Natural Movements
There are five natural movements that you can integrate on your physical activity– Squatting, Lunging (which includes walking & running), Pushing, Pulling and Rotation. Experts say that if you want to increase results and live healthy, you should exercise and move naturally, and your physical activity should at least consists one of these movements.
You don’t need to follow all these rules at once. Remember that pressuring yourself is a “shotgun” approach and might lead into inconsistency. Just adhere to these 7 rules day after day and you’ll be happy to see the results while living a more fulfilling life.
Friday 25 September 2009
How To Quickly Decide Whether A Diet Program Is Right For You?
Choosing the right weight loss program can be difficult.
New programs continue to attract you with claims to promote "quick" weight loss with little effort.
Unfortunately, many diet programs lack the necessary data to support their claims of lasting weight loss. Most commercial weight loss programs only provide a short term answer to the problem of being overweight.
Many people become quickly dissatisfied with the restrictive diets that most commercial diet programs offer. Some of these programs provide very low calorie diets (1000 calories per day) and require weigh-ins.
Others require you to purchase their pre-packaged low-fat meals which can be very expensive. Pre-packaged meals are appealing because the difficult choice about what to eat is avoided.
However, in the long-run, maintaining weight loss may be difficult because meal planning skills for a long-lasting change are not taught.
Other diets such as liquid meal replacement plans may be harmful because over time they can cause nutritional deficiencies. Also, due to the unrealistic expectations associated with these products, you are often left with only a sense of guilt and failure. It is difficult to stick with these programs and lose weight.
Studies show that fad diets usually result in the regaining of weight lost and, in many cases, more weight was regained than was originally lost.
Studies have also shown that exercise should be a necessary part of any weight loss program and is crucial in keeping weight off.
To evaluate whether a commercial diet program offers a safe and healthy way to lose weight, ask the following questions:
• Does the diet exclude any of the major food groups?
• Does the diet exclude any certain foods that may be "bad?"
• Is a "quick fix" promised versus a gradual weight loss?
• Is a diet of less than 1200 calories per day recommended?
• Does the program exclude behavior modification and exercise components?
If the answer is yes to any of the above questions, then the diet program probably is NOT a healthy choice.
Remember, gradual changes in eating behaviors include:
• the intake of a variety of foods and
• daily exercise
These steps will result in a slow weight loss of one to two pounds per week.
Ask me for advice before choosing a commercial weight loss program. I will then be able to give you some impartial advice.
New programs continue to attract you with claims to promote "quick" weight loss with little effort.
Unfortunately, many diet programs lack the necessary data to support their claims of lasting weight loss. Most commercial weight loss programs only provide a short term answer to the problem of being overweight.
Many people become quickly dissatisfied with the restrictive diets that most commercial diet programs offer. Some of these programs provide very low calorie diets (1000 calories per day) and require weigh-ins.
Others require you to purchase their pre-packaged low-fat meals which can be very expensive. Pre-packaged meals are appealing because the difficult choice about what to eat is avoided.
However, in the long-run, maintaining weight loss may be difficult because meal planning skills for a long-lasting change are not taught.
Other diets such as liquid meal replacement plans may be harmful because over time they can cause nutritional deficiencies. Also, due to the unrealistic expectations associated with these products, you are often left with only a sense of guilt and failure. It is difficult to stick with these programs and lose weight.
Studies show that fad diets usually result in the regaining of weight lost and, in many cases, more weight was regained than was originally lost.
Studies have also shown that exercise should be a necessary part of any weight loss program and is crucial in keeping weight off.
To evaluate whether a commercial diet program offers a safe and healthy way to lose weight, ask the following questions:
• Does the diet exclude any of the major food groups?
• Does the diet exclude any certain foods that may be "bad?"
• Is a "quick fix" promised versus a gradual weight loss?
• Is a diet of less than 1200 calories per day recommended?
• Does the program exclude behavior modification and exercise components?
If the answer is yes to any of the above questions, then the diet program probably is NOT a healthy choice.
Remember, gradual changes in eating behaviors include:
• the intake of a variety of foods and
• daily exercise
These steps will result in a slow weight loss of one to two pounds per week.
Ask me for advice before choosing a commercial weight loss program. I will then be able to give you some impartial advice.
Wednesday 23 September 2009
How Much Weight Can You Realistically Lose?
Losing weight is tricky because your goal is to lose fat and hang on to every ounce of muscle. I want to emphasize that your focus should be on losing fat and not necessarily weight.
The only way to lose fat is to burn more calories than you consume. If you are maintaining your weight now, then you are eating an equal amount of calories to what you are burning. To start losing weight you have to either cut calories from your diet or increase the calories you are burning from activity (or preferably, both.)
You have to be careful that you don't cut calories too much because you still want to maintain your energy level and your body's ability to recover. If you do cut your calories too much, your body will go into panic mode because it thinks you are starving it. Your metabolism will slow down to conserve precious body tissue and you will stop losing weight.
It is best to lose weight slowly, shooting for two pounds of fat per week. When calories are restricted, the body will prioritize energy provision over growth and repair. Protein needs increase during periods of caloric restriction.
You will need to "feed" your muscles with protein to keep your body from breaking down muscle tissue. While losing body fat, you should try to at least maintain if not gain muscle mass. Muscle burns calories that will make it easier to lose fat.
The more muscle you have, the better you will look and it will be easier to maintain your goal weight because your metabolism will be high. Losing a pound of fat per week may seem agonizingly slow, but it will be so much easier to keep off in the long run. At the same time, the scale may or may not change depending on how much muscle you gain.
Be sure to include resistance training as part of your weight-loss plan along with a balanced diet and proper cardiovascular exercise.
The only way to lose fat is to burn more calories than you consume. If you are maintaining your weight now, then you are eating an equal amount of calories to what you are burning. To start losing weight you have to either cut calories from your diet or increase the calories you are burning from activity (or preferably, both.)
You have to be careful that you don't cut calories too much because you still want to maintain your energy level and your body's ability to recover. If you do cut your calories too much, your body will go into panic mode because it thinks you are starving it. Your metabolism will slow down to conserve precious body tissue and you will stop losing weight.
It is best to lose weight slowly, shooting for two pounds of fat per week. When calories are restricted, the body will prioritize energy provision over growth and repair. Protein needs increase during periods of caloric restriction.
You will need to "feed" your muscles with protein to keep your body from breaking down muscle tissue. While losing body fat, you should try to at least maintain if not gain muscle mass. Muscle burns calories that will make it easier to lose fat.
The more muscle you have, the better you will look and it will be easier to maintain your goal weight because your metabolism will be high. Losing a pound of fat per week may seem agonizingly slow, but it will be so much easier to keep off in the long run. At the same time, the scale may or may not change depending on how much muscle you gain.
Be sure to include resistance training as part of your weight-loss plan along with a balanced diet and proper cardiovascular exercise.
Tuesday 22 September 2009
Can Fish Oil Make You Thin?
Here is a report I read online at http://www.grrlathlete.com/ that I thought you might find interesting.
If you've read the news in the last couple of days then you've probably read all the headlines about a new study that shows that the combination fish oils and exercise can help you lose fat.
To summarize the study, researchers randomly assigned 75 overweight men and women to one of four groups:
Group One took 6 grams of fish oil per day,
Group Two took 6 grams of fish oil per day and exercised 3 days per week;
Group Three took 6 grams of sunflower oil (the placebo), and
Group Four took 6 grams of sunflower oil and exercised 3 days per week.
After 12 weeks, the results showed the subjects in Group Two (The people taking fish oil and exercising) lost body fat.
The subjects in this group lost a little over 3 pounds of fat in 12 weeks.
Definitely not extraordinary, but significant nonetheless.
So people who exercised lost some fat. In my opinion this was expected. What was not expected was that the sunflower plus exercise group did not lose any fat.
Now, these people also added exercise to their lifestyle, so you would expect them to also lose fat. So either the combination of fish oil and exercise somehow 'created' this extra fat loss, or, pardon the pun, something is fishy with this study.
On closer inspection of the data I noticed something that may account for these results.
While the fish oil plus exercise group reported that their daily calorie intake pretty much remained the same for the 12 weeks of the study, the sunflower plus exercise group saw their daily caloric intake increase by 327 Kcals per day by week 6of the trial, and stay elevated by 230 Kcals at week 12.
While the researchers make no mention of this as being significant, it may help explain the lack of fat loss in the sunflower plus exercise group.
At the end of the day, caloric restriction and exercise are the only way to lose fat. The better your exercise program and the better your diet, the more fat you will lose. Plain and simple. That is why all of my fitness programs concentrate the following modules:
1. Nutrition
2. Resistance Training
3. Smart Cardio
At the end of the day I believe that fish oils are extremely beneficial to our diet so don't rule out them out. In fact I take between 3 and 6 EPA Fish Oil capsules a day. Most fish oil research finds that they can benefit blood lipids and your cholesterol profile.
Bottom line, Fish oils are good for you, just don't get your hopes up about them making you lose weight.
If you've read the news in the last couple of days then you've probably read all the headlines about a new study that shows that the combination fish oils and exercise can help you lose fat.
To summarize the study, researchers randomly assigned 75 overweight men and women to one of four groups:
Group One took 6 grams of fish oil per day,
Group Two took 6 grams of fish oil per day and exercised 3 days per week;
Group Three took 6 grams of sunflower oil (the placebo), and
Group Four took 6 grams of sunflower oil and exercised 3 days per week.
After 12 weeks, the results showed the subjects in Group Two (The people taking fish oil and exercising) lost body fat.
The subjects in this group lost a little over 3 pounds of fat in 12 weeks.
Definitely not extraordinary, but significant nonetheless.
So people who exercised lost some fat. In my opinion this was expected. What was not expected was that the sunflower plus exercise group did not lose any fat.
Now, these people also added exercise to their lifestyle, so you would expect them to also lose fat. So either the combination of fish oil and exercise somehow 'created' this extra fat loss, or, pardon the pun, something is fishy with this study.
On closer inspection of the data I noticed something that may account for these results.
While the fish oil plus exercise group reported that their daily calorie intake pretty much remained the same for the 12 weeks of the study, the sunflower plus exercise group saw their daily caloric intake increase by 327 Kcals per day by week 6of the trial, and stay elevated by 230 Kcals at week 12.
While the researchers make no mention of this as being significant, it may help explain the lack of fat loss in the sunflower plus exercise group.
At the end of the day, caloric restriction and exercise are the only way to lose fat. The better your exercise program and the better your diet, the more fat you will lose. Plain and simple. That is why all of my fitness programs concentrate the following modules:
1. Nutrition
2. Resistance Training
3. Smart Cardio
At the end of the day I believe that fish oils are extremely beneficial to our diet so don't rule out them out. In fact I take between 3 and 6 EPA Fish Oil capsules a day. Most fish oil research finds that they can benefit blood lipids and your cholesterol profile.
Bottom line, Fish oils are good for you, just don't get your hopes up about them making you lose weight.
Monday 21 September 2009
Is This Secret To Successful Fat Loss?
I guess you could say it is my mission to show people the value of intense strength training for fat loss.
Every month more research comes out to support intense training over slow cardio, and light weights. And each week, in real-life, more and more women see the benefits of pushing themselves with strength training.
The evidence from research and real-life continues to pile up that you need to put down those light weights and cut out those high reps.
Take really light weights, add in isolation exercises such as bicep curls or machine leg curls, and repeat for a large number of reps. Do this for 3, 6, or 12 months, and you're guaranteed to have the same physique you have today. This approach just does not work.
You need to step out of your comfort zone with strength training.
Research has shown using a weight that enables only 8 reps per set results in a greater post-exercise metabolism than using a weight that allows 12 reps per set. And this was in women!
So lifting challenging weights is not just for men, but also for the ladies.
Another research study showed that a 30-minute, hard total-body strength training session such as the type of training we do in our BootCamp at Nobles Park can boost your metabolism about 36 hours!
You just don't get that from slow cardio or light, "toning" isolation exercises, I'm sorry to say.
But what if you are worried about "bulking up"? Just use more bodyweight exercises.
As for exercise choice, say goodbye to biceps curls, hamstring curls, and triceps kickbacks.
Stick to full body movements. Use squats, lunges, split squats, pushups, chinups, rows, etc (all the mainstay BootCamp exercises :-)
Remember, you don't have a lot of time to workout. So you can't be doing bodybuilding splits from the 80's that call for three exercises for the long head of the triceps, and two exercises for each of the anterior, medial, and posterior deltoid (that's your shoulder muscles in layman's terms).
That's just not possible in the real-world. A pushup trains almost all those muscles, and more. It works your abs, chest, triceps, and shoulders. That's the type of exercise that is going to help you get more fat loss results in less workout time.
I train in the concept of a short time frame. That is, anyone that wants to use my programs has less than 3 hours per week to devote to structured exercise. So there just isn't much room for isolation training in that time frame.
But training should be fun too, and adding some curls as a reward for completing a hard workout is fine, but only if you want to. You don't need those types of exercises to get results.
But remember, isolation exercises are not actually going to burn fat, but they can build muscle and help you sculpt your body.
Here's the list of methods that lead to fat loss, in order of importance:
i) Nutrition
ii) Burning calories with interval training
iii) Burning calories due to an increased metabolism from interval training and strength training (with multi-muscle movements)
As long as you understand that nutrition is the most important factor in fat loss, and that strength training is essential for sculpting your body, than you will have realistic expectations of success - based on how well you commit to each process.
Every month more research comes out to support intense training over slow cardio, and light weights. And each week, in real-life, more and more women see the benefits of pushing themselves with strength training.
The evidence from research and real-life continues to pile up that you need to put down those light weights and cut out those high reps.
Take really light weights, add in isolation exercises such as bicep curls or machine leg curls, and repeat for a large number of reps. Do this for 3, 6, or 12 months, and you're guaranteed to have the same physique you have today. This approach just does not work.
You need to step out of your comfort zone with strength training.
Research has shown using a weight that enables only 8 reps per set results in a greater post-exercise metabolism than using a weight that allows 12 reps per set. And this was in women!
So lifting challenging weights is not just for men, but also for the ladies.
Another research study showed that a 30-minute, hard total-body strength training session such as the type of training we do in our BootCamp at Nobles Park can boost your metabolism about 36 hours!
You just don't get that from slow cardio or light, "toning" isolation exercises, I'm sorry to say.
But what if you are worried about "bulking up"? Just use more bodyweight exercises.
As for exercise choice, say goodbye to biceps curls, hamstring curls, and triceps kickbacks.
Stick to full body movements. Use squats, lunges, split squats, pushups, chinups, rows, etc (all the mainstay BootCamp exercises :-)
Remember, you don't have a lot of time to workout. So you can't be doing bodybuilding splits from the 80's that call for three exercises for the long head of the triceps, and two exercises for each of the anterior, medial, and posterior deltoid (that's your shoulder muscles in layman's terms).
That's just not possible in the real-world. A pushup trains almost all those muscles, and more. It works your abs, chest, triceps, and shoulders. That's the type of exercise that is going to help you get more fat loss results in less workout time.
I train in the concept of a short time frame. That is, anyone that wants to use my programs has less than 3 hours per week to devote to structured exercise. So there just isn't much room for isolation training in that time frame.
But training should be fun too, and adding some curls as a reward for completing a hard workout is fine, but only if you want to. You don't need those types of exercises to get results.
But remember, isolation exercises are not actually going to burn fat, but they can build muscle and help you sculpt your body.
Here's the list of methods that lead to fat loss, in order of importance:
i) Nutrition
ii) Burning calories with interval training
iii) Burning calories due to an increased metabolism from interval training and strength training (with multi-muscle movements)
As long as you understand that nutrition is the most important factor in fat loss, and that strength training is essential for sculpting your body, than you will have realistic expectations of success - based on how well you commit to each process.
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