When you get your nutrition program really dialed in, your training program will work like magic.
One of the habits you need to get into is eating every 2-3 hours.
Meals are pretty easy to visualize:
Breakfast: Eggs, bacon, melon, sausage
Lunch: Chicken, Roast beef, spinach salad, carrots, bell pepper
Dinner: steak, salmon, broccoli, asparagus
But it’s harder to come up with good snack ideas. I mean, the time it takes to chew steak, spinach, and a bell pepper will use up a whole 15 minute break (and then you won’t even have a chance to pee!)
I was re-reading Primal Body-Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas and found a great list of primal snacks. Check them out, try a few, and leave a comment with your favorite healthy snacks!
Raw nuts (that have preferably first been soaked overnight in salt water, drained, rinsed, and dried in a 150 degree oven to eliminate phytates and trypsin inhibitors) including: macadamia, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts
Hard boiled or deviled eggs (organic, free-range)
Sardines packed in olive oil (very rich in zinc and omega-3)
Tuna packed in olive oil
Tuna or chicken salad (w/o any macaroni)
Sliced seasoned avocado
Pate (no crackers or bread!)
Grass-fed liverwurst or braunschweiger sausage
Olives [note from Luke: Whole Foods in Reno has a great selection of olives!]
Cream cheese balls, herbed or plain, with an olive center
Coconut flakes
Green drinks (no sugar!)
Almond or other nut butter – NOT peanut or cashew (use celery sticks or a spoon)
Organic, full-fat cheese slices (preferably raw milk based) or a slice of brie (goat and/or sheep milk)
Homemade salmon jerky, beef jerky, or pemmican (see recipes in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon) or a good homemade-style beef jerky sold at a natural foods-type meat counter
Raw veggies and homemade avocado dip or guacamole
Sliced turkey or roast beef rolled up with cheese or cream cheese
Lox or smoked salmon – with or without cream cheese
Shrimp cocktail with lemon
The secret: Fuel your body more often, not less. You don’t want to feel starved or deprived.
By fueling your body throughout the day you’ll keep your metabolism revving!
Everyone complains about their metabolism “slowing down.”
I get messages every day from people who have a “slow metabolism” as their excuse for not losing weight.
So today I thought I’d shed light on what your metabolism really is, and how to get it more revved up than a Jack Russell on Amphetamines.
What does metabolism mean, anyway?
Here’s wikipedia’s definition: “Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in living organisms to maintain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. Catabolism breaks down organic matter, for example to harvest energy in cellular respiration. Anabolism uses energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids.”
Basically, the sum of all buildups and breakdowns happening in your body.
Now, if you’re reading a blog about fat loss and fitness, we can probably skip all the boring stuff about nucleic acids.
Here we are interested in one thing: CALORIE BURNING.
Your body burns calories through the 4 components of metabolism: the calories it takes to keep you alive, the calories you burn by exercising, the calories you burn through eating, and a tiny bit of calories burned according to your genetic makeup.
1) Wold Fitness Metabolism Component Number One: Keeping Your Butt Alive
When I was studying exercise science in college, we spent a lot of time studying your Resting Metabolic Rate (or RMR).
I always explain RMR as the calories you would burn if you spent all day in bed. The energy would be used for pumping blood, repairing muscles and organs, thinking, etc.
Your RMR is the bulk of the calories you burn every day, about 50-75%.
Because this is such a large chunk of the calories you burn every day, it makes sense to spend the most time focused on this, right?
And the way you can rev up your resting metabolic rate the fastest is to do two things:
Build up more lean, toned muscle
Activate your muscles to spend more energy in repair while you’re resting
During one study in college I slept in the exercise science lab hooked up to an open circuit spirometer to measure how many calories I burned while sleeping. It turned out that I had so much lean muscle at the time that I would have burned just over 4,300 Calories if I had spent the entire day in bed!
Now, I was a big muscular dude, so this number was off the charts. Mostly we were trying to see how many Calories lean muscle would add to your daily metabolic burn. It’s a lot. Most exercise physiology textbooks have settled on a simple formula:
One Pound Of Muscle = 50 Calories Burned Daily
So if you switch out one pound of muscle for one pound of fat, you would weigh exactly the same, but burn an extra 50 calories a day!
And the second way to raise your resting metabolic burn is to activate what muscle you have to burn a bit more calories every day.
I call this Firestorm Training (You can see a sample training Firestorm program here: 6 Week Workout For Fat Loss).
Studies have found that training to activate your lean muscle will keep you burning calories for a day and a half after your workout!
Why? Well, if you remember above, a big part of your resting metabolic rate is repairing your muscles. If you train really hard ON THE RIGHT PROGRAM, you’ll get just the right amount of breakdown for you metabolism to fix.
And then you’ll keep burning calories long after you’ve left the gym.
Wold Fitness Metabolism Component Number Two: Keeping Your Butt Moving
Every time you move, you fuel your muscles with calories. Otherwise they wouldn’t have the energy to contract.
The scientastic name for this part of your metabolism is Physical Activity Level (or PAL).
Your PAL is about 10-30% of your daily metabolic burn. If you exercise you’re obviously going to burn more calories than if you don’t.
Of course, this isn’t just exercise at the gym. This is any physical activity. Walking the dog, climbing the stairs, running from the cops, all count as part of your PAL metabolic burn.
When you get right down to it, the more you move, the better your body is going to be.
Wold Fitness Metabolism Component Number Three: Keeping Your Butt Fed
One of the coolest ways your metabolism burns calories is with the Thermic Effect of Feeding (TEF).
This is the energy you use chewing, digesting, transporting, and eliminating food in your body.
TEF is about 5-15% of your daily metabolism, depending on if you know how to maximize the benefits of your eating plan.
The two best ways to boost your thermic effect of feeding metabolic burn are to:
Eat better foods (ex: broccoli “costs” more than wheat)
Eat more often (this alone will change your body shape)
A great study of Japanese boxers showed the power of the Thermic Effect Of Feeding:
The boxers were divided into two groups. Both were fed 800 Calories a day. They trained like maniacs (boxers are crazy!). One group ate twice a day, the other ate 5 times a day.
So the only difference was in meal frequency. After 14 days, both groups had lost the same amount of weight – 15 pounds.
The group that ate twice a day lost 13 pounds of muscle, 2 pounds of fat. The group that ate 5 times a day lost 13 pounds of fat, 2 pounds of muscle.
Which group is going to keep their strength, health, and metabolism? The ones that lost fat instead of muscle, of course!
Eating healthy foods more often is the key to maximizing your Thermic Effect of Feeding.
Wold Fitness Metabolism Component Number Four: Your Genes
Something called Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) is up to 5% of your daily calorie burn.
Unless they make a big breakthrough in stem cells, there isn’t anything you can do to change this, so we don’t focus much on NEAT.
I just wanted you to know it’s there
The Wold Fitness Metabolism Big Idea Of The Day
A “slow metabolism” just means you aren’t taking care of the three main components of your metabolism we looked at today.
Why does your metabolism “slow down”? Usually it means you’re moving less, not keeping your lean, toned muscle, and eating the wrong foods at the wrong time.
You can totally kick your metabolism in the butt and get it in gear.
“I lost 20 pounds…How? I drank bear piss and took up fencing. How the f*ck you think, son? I exercised.“ – http://twitter.com/shitmydadsays
The following list is an email that seven people have sent me and asked me to post here on Wold Fitness. Check it out!
Twenty Reasons To Lose Twenty Pounds
Reason #1
Because you whine that you need to. Have you ever been wrong about anything?
Reason #2
Twenty pounds of warm human fat can refill every bottle in an empty case of beer, with enough left over to fill your blender.
Reason #3
The statement “There’s more of me to love” has an actual bedroom translation of “There’s more of me to endure.”
Reason #4
It’s not scaling Everest or writing the great American novel. You can do it in your spare time.
Reason #5
You’ll speak of toaster pastries the way you talk about that dirty blonde from the blues bar in Berkeley, another whiskey-soaked lament over a love too great to last.
Reason #6
It’s the difference between being thought of as jolly or witty.
Reason #7
You’ll lose weight everywhere, including the suprapubic fat pad at the base of your penis. So as your belly shrinks, something else appears to grow.
Reason #8
Decreased: your chances of developing heart disease, prostate cancer, diabetes, sleep apnea, depression, back pain, impotence, gallstones, joint problems, high blood pressure, low sperm counts, and an impressive collection of prescription-drug bottles.
Reason #9
Increased: your chances of putting four fingers on a basketball rim.
Reason #10
You’ll literally get closer to women.
Reason #11
Holy sh– . . . abs!
Reason #12
Men who lose weight never have less sex. They may not have more, mind you, but they never have less.
Reason #13
You’ll shock the world at your local pool by being the only “big splash” champ to win the “little splash” crown.
Reason #14
Research shows that since you’ll have less weight propelling you into the windshield, you’ll also have less risk of dying when your car hits a semi.
Reason #15
Every time you pick up a 20-pound dumbbell, you’ll remember.
Reason #16
You’ll be able to reach even more places to scratch.
Reason #17
The clothing cliche: It’s liberating the first time your pants fall down by themselves.
Reason #18
More pullups, because there’s less to pull up.
Reason #19
Wait till you ride a WaveRunner, quad, or snowmobile when you’re 20 pounds lighter. Vroom, baby.
Reason #20
In our society, people respect weight loss. Even if you do nothing cool or interesting or memorable for the rest of your life, you’ll have done that.
Following the cardio mentality and depending on the cardio
confessional is the biggest mistake that all women make when it
comes to fat loss. Let me explain…
On Saturday morning I was walking home from the gym when I passed
by a young women – about 28 years old – who was talking on her
iPhone.
And I heard her say, “I’m going for a walk now to get some exercise
because I’m going out for a bad dinner tonight.”
And I just wanted to yell, “No – no – no – no – no! That doesn’t
work. It never has, it never will!”
You can’t out-cardio a bad diet.
Every woman I’ve ever met has made this mistake and had that
“cardio confessional mindset” at one time or another – and it goes
for most of the guys I know, too.
Unfortunately, at best, this poor girl will probably burn an extra
300-500 calories during her walk – if it’s a really, really long
walk. But at dinner, she’s likely to eat 400-700 calories during
the appetizer or consume that in liquid calories alone!
(NOTE: By “bad dinner”, I’m guessing she meant a high-calorie meal,
and not a pity date with a deadbeat ex-boyfriend.)
The bottom line is that a single cardio session will not beat a bad
diet.
Now you might be thinking, “At least it’s better than nothing.”
But is it?
Remember, as I’ve mentioned in the past, one British study found
that some people OVEREAT in response to cardio exercise.
So when dinner comes around, this poor girl might think, “Oh, I did
that long walk today, so I can treat myself to a bigger dinner or
dessert.”
The only thing that comes close to beating a bad diet is interval
training and resistance training.
Back in 2007, an Australian research study on interval training was
getting a LOT of press for the surprising results. In the study,
women who did interval training were able to lose belly fat without
changing their diet.
In fact, one subject, named Louise, said this:
“My diet was pretty bad back then, with lots of sweets, lots of
junk food…doughnuts and sugar — it was awful.”
And yet by the end of this study, interval training helped Louise
burn 8kg of fat in just 15 weeks – WITHOUT changing her diet.
Perhaps it IS POSSIBLE for you to out-train a bad diet – but only
if you use interval training.
And that’s just another reason the best short, burst fat burning
workouts are based on this specific type of fat burning exercise.
So here’s what you need to do:
1) Give up the “Cardio Confessional Mentality” and understand that
you can’t “out-cardio a bad diet”.
2) Stick to your simple lifestyle nutrition plan 90% of the time
and then enjoy your 10% reward meals GUILT-FREE.
3) Use interval training to burn the fat and resistance training to
sculpt your body.
It’s that simple – a 3-step system for fat loss success that is
guaranteed to work every time.
Here’s the program that shows you EXACTLY what to do:
Print out this page and keep the quiz for your records.
Are you an emotional eater? (I’ve written about this before: Emotional Eating)
If you think your emotions are making you overeat, this quiz will help determine why. Choose A or B, or both if they are equally true. If neither A nor B applies to you, don’t circle either one. (Excerpted from Life is Hard, Food Is Easy by Linda Spangle, R.N., M.A.)
1. When I crave something to eat even if I’m not really hungry…
(a) a specific food immediately comes to mind, such as cookies or potato chips, and nothing else will do. I may even drive to the store to get it.
(b) I wander around thinking, “I want something to eat, but I don’t know what.” I usually end up choosing ice cream or bread.
2. I often experience cravings…
(a) when I’m at work, feeling stressed and pressured.
(b) when I’m home alone or bored.
3. When I crave something sweet, I usually choose…
(a) a candy bar, trail mix or chewy cookies.
(b) a milkshake, a bowl of ice cream or a slice of cake.
4. Even when I’m not really hungry, I could go for…
(a) hot dogs, pizza and French fries.
(b) Mom’s cooking, especially a meal or one of her homemade desserts.
5. The time of day that I’m most likely to experience cravings is…
(a) in the middle of the afternoon, when I’m at work feeling pressured by a million deadlines or I’m watching the clock.
(b) late at night, when I’m exhausted and have nothing to do and no one to talk to.
6. I’m a sucker for…
(a) potato chips, nuts or other snack foods.
(b) macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, fresh-baked bread or other comfort foods.
7. On a given day, I’m likely to feel…
(a) angry, frustrated, resentful, irritated, stressed or tense.
(b) discouraged, lonely, bored, restless or fatigued.
8. Sometimes I snack to avoid…
(a) doing something—eating is a great way to procrastinate.
(b) thinking about my feelings—food helps me bury my emotions.
9. I eat mainly because…
(a) it’s fun. I often seek out snack-type “party foods.”
(b) it feels good. I go for my childhood favorites.
10. If I find myself craving breakfast-type meals, regardless of the time of day, I’m more likely to choose…
(a) cereal or granola.
(b) eggs or biscuits with gravy.
SCORING for Emotional Eating Quiz
If you chose more A’s:
It means your feelings of anger, stress, frustration, resentment, burnout, bitterness, self-disgust or being overwhelmed and/or your desire for excitement are causing you to seek chewy, crunchy foods. You may be munching on a cookie or candy bar, but what you really want to chew on is something in your life: deadlines, your spouse or your boss. Spangle calls this sort of craving “head hunger” because it’s generated by thoughts, attitudes and pressures.
If you chose more B’s:
It means you are probably struggling with feelings such as boredom, loneliness, sadness, grief, depression, restlessness, hurt or disappointment, hopelessness, an overwhelming need for love or attention and/or a lack of meaning in your life. You also may be feeling fatigued or ill. Spangle calls such emotions “heart hunger” because people who are feeling them often crave soft, creamy comfort foods to fill a void in their lives.
If you circled three or fewer responses:
It means emotional eating is not likely to be a problem for you. You may occasionally use food to cope, but for the most part, it doesn’t hamper your weight-management efforts. If you’re having trouble losing weight, it’s probably your eating patterns and/or exercise program (or lack of one) rather than your emotions that are to blame.
It’s when you eat large amounts of food when you’re upset, tired, stressed, angry, bored, anxious, lonely, sad, or have low self-esteem 0r relationship problems. If you’re like me, you usually binge on junk or “comfort” foods.
One study in my files says that 80% of excessive eating is caused by emotions – NOT hunger!
I figure it’s ok to eat for emotional reasons once in a while. The problem is that we eat emotionally so often that it becomes impossible to distinguish betweeen true, physical hunger and endless emotional hunger.
When I surveyed my facebook friends on their biggest fitness problem, the number one thing people told me they do wrong is binge eat. At office parties, at home in front of the TV, at the bar on weekends.
If you binge eat, you need to find out what TRIGGERS the emotion that leads you to overconsume.
To do this, try keeping a 2-column food/stress journal. (My younger clients also keep a “zit journal”, which is kind of gross, but necessary)
Write down what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat in one column. In the other list the stresses, thoughts, and emotions you’re feeling right before and while you’re eating.
You’ll see the link between the two columns very very quickly.
Here are the most typical emotional triggers that lead to binge eating:
Location/Situation:
This is the number one problem for me, I eat when food is there. At office birthdays, everyone presses you to try their cake. At a friend’s house, you don’t want to be rude and turn down anything, so you eat it all.
Negative Thinking:
A LOT of people eat when they feel unworthy. When their self-esteem is down, they eat for comfort. Or they actually scold themselves WHILE they’re binge eating, berating their lack of will-power.
Physical:
This is when you eat for physical reasons that aren’t really hunger. Eating to cure headaches or because you didn’t sleep well are two common causes.
(Or maybe you’re using the phenylethylamine in chocolate to fill other desires, like in the movie Down With Love)
Nervous Energy:
When I’m stressed out or anxious, I become “orally fidgety” and chew gum. Other people bite their nails or grind their teeth or smoke. But many many people much on chips or soda to give their mouth something to do.
Boredom:
This is a biggie. Standing in the kitchen, staring off into space, and finishing off a box of Chips Ahoy.
Habits:
My mom is a GREAT cook. So lots of my comforting memories revolve around food. If your parents used to reward you with treats, or take you out to celebrate, or built the habit of dessert after every meal – it has probably become a habit. And breaking a comforting habit is very emotional.
Misc Emotions:
Have you ever eaten to “fill the hole”? Stress, fatigue, andger, anxiety, and loneliness usually make the “void”, not true hunger.
Someone who doesn’t like confrontations might go eat 2 snickers bars instead of telling a co-worker that they need to step up.
Food takes the edge off of anger, resentment, fear, and anxiety – and almost everyone uses food for this reason.
Emotion-based hunger usually focuses on a particular food. One of my friends just texted me that she wants pizza because she’s “craving cheezy greasy stuff.” This is a comfort food.
To help you identify comfort foods in your food journal, here’s a list of the most common comfort foods.
Number One for both men and women: ICE CREAM.
Men: Pizza, Casserole, Beer, Steak
Women: Chocolate, Cookies
The first step in ending emotional eating is to identify what triggers you to start bingeing.
Your homework: Keep a journal for the next week and find out what sets your eater off. Next week I’ll give you my best strategies to bust each type of binge eating.
You know, those jaw-dropping body transformations.
Like the guy who changed his beer belly into a six pack.
Or the girl who traded her muffin top for a boy short ready booty.
Big time body transformations are awesome. Unfortunately, they are also few and far between. Sure, anyone who walks into a gym and does even a little work will lose some fat, tone some muscles, get stronger, and feel better.
But very few make those head-turning, “holy smokes!” changes in their bodies.
Today I’m going to share the secrets of those people who succeed in big-time transformations.
My main man Tony Robbins has a saying: “Success Leaves Clues.” If you ask 100 people with an amazing set of before-and-afters, I’d bet big money 95% of them took the same route to get there.
So… Here are the 7 things all successful body transformations have in common:
Body Transformation Secret Number One: The Right People
You MUST start surrounding yourself with the right people if you want a mega-change in your body.
A personal trainer I know says that your weight is an average of the five people you spend the most time with.
A study from Harvard found that hanging out with fat people is enough to make you fat. The wrong people in your life are almost certain to drag you down. (Maybe not right away, but they can wear anyone out)
This happens because of something called “cultural para stimuli.” Victor Starling came up with this theory after experimenting on cats.
Starling took half of the cats in the study and performed brain surgery on them. This surgery made them act in bizarre and self-destructive manners. Then he put them in with the rest of the cats.
What happened? Did the crazy cats try to act like the normal cats? Did the normal cats ignore the crazy cats and get on with their lives? Nope. ALL of the cats started acting crazy!
Look at the self-destructive behavior of your friends and family. They eat too much. They’re lazy. Their lifestyle sucks. Do you pull them up or do they drag you down? Most of the time, it’s the latter.
Your mission: Ditch the lazy crazies and find some like-minded companions for your transformation.
Body Transformation Secret Number Two: Set A SPECIFIC Goal, With A Deadline
Deirdre Reid set a goal of losing half a percent of body fat per week for 8 weeks. Here’s her picture:
Deirdre went from a size four to a size zero in less than 8 weeks by following the Wold Fitness Ripped Plan.
See, “losing weight” isn’t a goal. (And it’s better to focus on inches instead of weight anyway.)
A goal has to be measurable, have a time frame, and there has to be a REASON.
The power of a goal with a deadline is most obvious in bodybuilding and figure competitors. They KNOW they are going to be on stage in a teeny swimsuit in just 16 weeks, so they don’t cheat on their diet, they don’t miss or half-ass their training, and they stay focused.
Your Mission: TODAY sit down with a pad and pen and set a specific goal with a deadline.
Body Transformation Secret Number Three: MEASURE!!
Everyone who has made an amazing body transformation has gone through a period of measuring their food and calculating calorie and macronutrient breakdowns.
This is because measuring raises your awareness of what you’re REALLY putting in your body.
You don’t have to do this forever. Just two weeks of keeping a detailed log will provide you invaluable knowledge to carry you through any body transformation.
And this is really cool – as a fitness coach, I can tell you that absent anything else, measurement improves results.
Wrapping a tape measure around your waist every Friday afternoon will keep you on track better than hopping on a scale every morning. I promise.
Your Mission: Start keeping a food log. Write down everything you eat for just 3 days.
That’s it for today…
Stay tuned to get the rest of my secrets to an amazing body transformation.
WARNING: Two of them are DEFINITELY not politically correct.
So many people wrote in about my post on how grains will mess up your physique and your health (check it out here: Grains Suck!), that I decided it’s time to shed some light on aerobic training…
The fallacy of using aerobics as a fat loss tool is probably the biggest single lie ever foisted on America by the health and fitness industry.
So… if you’re already on a diet, will adding in aerobic training increase fat loss?
To be blunt: No, it won’t.
But you might not believe me. That’s fine. After all, it goes against what everyone will tell you about fat loss.
Just do me one favor – check out these studies before you decide I’m crazy:
Van Dale D, Saris WH, Schoffelen PF, Ten Hoor F. Does exercise give an additional effect in weight reduction regimens? Int J Obes. 1987;11(4):367-75
This group compared two groups over 8 weeks: A diet-only group, and a diet plus 4 hours of aerobic exercise per week group.
Unfortunately, the aerobics didn’t help the second group lose any more weight than the first.
8 weeks x 4 hours = 32 hours. In 32 hours you could have read ten books, learned how to dance, or spent more time with your kids.
But 8 weeks isn’t that long. Here’s a 12 week study:
Utter AC, Nieman DC, Shannonhouse EM, Butterworth DE, Nieman CN Influence of diet and/or exercise on body composition and cardio respiratory fitness in obese women. Int J Sport Nut. 1998 Sep; 8(3):213-22
Turns out that 45 minutes of aerobics at 78% max heart rate 5 days a week for 12 weeks had ZERO EFFECT over just dieting.
Ouch. 45 hours at 78% max heart rate for no fat loss. That sucks. What could you do with that 45 hours? Build a room addition? Even better – you could fly to Paris from Reno, have lunch and dinner, then fly back in 45 hours. Or you could spend that same time on a treadmill. Up to you.
How about a study longer than 12 weeks. Will aerobics start working for you then?
Redman et al Effect of calorie restriction with or without exercise on body composition and fat distribution J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Jan 2
This crew looked at 6 months of aerobics and dieting. The aerobics group did 50 minutes of aerobics 5 days a week for the whole six months.
Sadly, the aerobics group didn’t lose any more weight or body fat than the diet-only group.
Let’s see… That’s just over 108 hours of aerobics for no more weight loss. MAJOR bummer. What would you do with 108 hours? You could build a real, working plane. Maybe write a short novel. Or drive from Carson City to New York and back, with time there to catch a Broadway play.
Of course, this study was only for 6 months. How about over the course of a YEAR?
This time there was actually an effect from aerobic training! Woo-hoo!
The aerobics group did 6 hours of aerobics every week for a year.
Average weight loss was .3 pounds (4.8 ounces) per month.
312 hours of hard aerobic exercise just to lose three and a half pounds.
I don’t know about you, but I’d be pissed. 3.5 pounds in a year? There’s a heck of a lot of things I’d like to do with those 312 hours – maybe learn how to speak Italian.
Now, this is just the studies going over weight loss. Since most people who go into an aerobics program are overweight, they get injured very quickly. Or they just get bored at the repetitiveness.
The KEY to fast and dramatic weight loss lies in RAISING YOUR METABOLISM.
Why does everyone think of aerobics first when their pants don’t fit? Simple, it makes sense. Burn more calories, lose more fat.
Too bad that doesn’t translate over into the real world. (And the real world is where your skinny jeans are hiding)
This year has really gone quickly. I mean, I could hardly believe it was 2009 and now it’s almost 2010!
And in January of 2010 everyone will set the same old resolutions. Just 3 months away.
But don’t get depressed! 3 months is a long time – you can get a LOT done in 3 months.
I used to train a group of lawyers and I asked those guys if there was any law stating that the only time you can set goals is on December 31st. Luckily, there isn’t any law. You can start making progress towards your goal ANYTIME!
Do you want to lose fat? Is that your goal? You could easily lose 2-3 pounds per week by starting now, working hard on your training, and tightening up your nutrition.
Since there are still 12 whole weeks left until New Years, you could lose 20-30 lbs before New Year’s Eve.
12 weeks left in the year. Imagine how you’d FEEL if you started out 2010 already 20 pounds lighter than you are now? You’d feel great!
Now, there are TWO main things you need if you want to lose weight and feel great:
1. The right mindset so that you’ll TAKE ACTION
2. A set of skills that guides you through the various stages of weight loss
Now here’s the cool thing: When someone comes into my gym for the first time they fill out a quick form and one of the questions I ask is, “What are your biggest frustrations when it comes to health, fitness, and weight loss?”
More than 63% of people write: MOTIVATION.
And when I ask why, it turns out that most people aren’t motivated is because they don’t believe in themselves.
They KNOW that my Unstoppable Fitness Formula works, they’re just unsure that they’ll be able to stick to the plan.
I used to think that the way to do anything was to get motivated, then do the thing.
But after having worked with hundreds of people, I found out the TRUTH…
FIRST you do the thing, THEN you get the motivation!
So you start off following a proven plan designed to take you through the various stages of weight loss.
Here’s what is going to happen:
You lose a couple pounds….
…………….Then you get some motivation.
The workouts feel easier…
…………….You get some more motivation.
All of your clothes are too big….
…………….You’ve got some much motivation that you’ve developed an UNSTOPPABLE mindset!
One of my newest bootcampers sent me an email this morning. She said: “thanks for the meal plans. FYI down 10pds! Unbelievable!!!!!!!!”
Do you think that losing ten pounds in 2 weeks would motivate you?
Find a proven plan and follow it for a few weeks. My favorite is my 21 Day Rapid Fat Loss Plan (it’s what helped my bootcamper above lose 10 pounds in only 2 weeks).
And THEN you’ll be motivated to finish out 2009 with a bang!
If you haven’t started anything it’s not too late. Make some goals NOW and get a huge jump start on 2010.
Don’t let these next 3 months slide by without doing something!
A lot of people ask me why I say aerobic exercise sucks when it comes to losing fat.
Simple – I say it because I’ve seen it time and time again in my clients.
One lady came to me after she had faithfully jogged 6 days a week for a year. When she started, she did a half an hour a day and quickly lost five pounds. Then the weight came back.
She upped it to an hour a day. This time she went down 8 pounds in 2 weeks, but had gained 7 of them back by the end of the month.
By the end of the year she was doing an hour on the treadmill and an hour on the elliptical every day PLUS pilates classes 3 times a week. Fifteen hours of exercise a week. For most of a year. And she only lost a total of 7 pounds.
Now, I’m not faulting her effort. Far from it! That’s a heck of a lot of really hard work!
The thing is, she wasn’t that big to start with. So she plateaued quickly. Someone a little larger at the beginning might have lost 15 pounds but then reached a point where she wasn’t seeing any results from her efforts.
And THAT is one of the big problems with aerobic training for fat loss. It doesn’t get you to the body you want! (Other problems are orthopedic damage, monotony of sessions, body shape stays the same as weight goes down, and more)
Here are the simple basics of how incorrect exercise programming – focusing on aerobics – can actually REDUCE your metabolism and make it HARDER to lose fat.
Here are 5 Reasons Aerobics Suck For Fat Loss:
Loss of Lean, Toned Muscle
Your lean muscles burn a LOT of fat. Losing muscle as a result of too much aerobic work means you’ll burn fewer calories.
Total Weight Loss
The less you weigh, the fewer calories it takes to move your body. Simple physics.
Exercise Economy
As you become more skilled at performing repetitive exercises, like pedaling a bicycle, you become more efficient and burn fewer calories.
Stimulus Adaptation
Your body changes and becomes used to the workload (remember the woman who jogged an hour then jumped on the elliptical?). As it adapts you will burn fewer calories.
Improved Fitness
Because of everything above, you won’t burn nearly as many calories going about your daily routine. You’ll actually burn fewer calories when you’re resting.
The good news is that all of this can EASILY be avoided by following a sound training program.
You can maintain and even toned up your muscles with resistance training. (At Fit Body Bootcamp we use your own body as resistance, so you won’t bulk up, but will tone instead)
You can prevent an adaptation to the stimulus by changing exercises, sets, reps, rest, and loading. Planned variation and progressions are the keys to prevent going stale. Plus, it makes it a lot more fun!
See, my Unstoppable Fitness Formula focuses on raising your METABOLISM so that you burn calories all freakin’ day!
No matter whether you train with me or on your own, you need to train in ways that maximize your metabolism, to turn your body into a fat-incinerating furnace. Now get after it!
by Sally Fallon) or a good homemade-style beef jerky sold at a natural foods-type meat counter
Recent Comments