The day after Christmas most of us are already feeling guilty about all that food and drink we have put away since the festive period began. But before you call up a personal trainer or start reaching for the diet books, think carefully about what the best, most effective method is for shedding the extra pounds, and more importantly keeping them off permanently.
Is it an attitude makeover, a change of lifestyle or learning more healthful ways of treating and rewarding yourself?
Sorry to maybe burst your bubble but diets don’t work, and all the claims that advertise this and that wonder solution to your problems are nothing more than a myth!
What does work is making healthier eating choices (yes it is a choice) and doing some activity every day – using legs instead of your car. Although you may think that you can only make a small change, it can make a significant difference to your life, as all things are small before they can become big… the Pyramids started with first a thought and then a piece of limestone, the Glaciers started with a small piece of ice that became larger with each year that went by… Are you with me? Every thought, action and word we say has an impact on the quality of our life’s. So creating an attitude that nothing is too small not to make a difference will empower your life and all the things that you do within it! Empower to grow! Empower to lose!
The key is to change the way you look at staying in shape, and then it will become a condition to stay in shape, just like having a haircut, brushing your teeth, or for that matter chewing your food before you swallow it! The “i don’t have the time” excuse is just a cope out and not a reality! If You had a potentially life threatening health condition and the doctor said that you needed to start losing weight, you would find the time, so please don’t wait for that to be a reason to find the time to exercise. Make it a condition to start today as there is no better time to start than today, as when tomorrow comes it will be just another version of today!
Exercise
The current increase in overweight people is mainly due to lack of exercise and unhealthy food choices, rather than the amount of food we are eating. The saying “You are what you eat”, and it frankly is nowhere more appropriate than in this context. These poor eating habits coupled with a sedentary lifestyle of automobiles, fast food convenience, and couch potato attitude has turned us into a nation of “fatties”! This can easily be changed with a focus on what you put in has to be burned or it will store as body-fat. Try walking at times that you would normally drive, walk up and down the stairs as often as you can, and when possible take the stairs instead of the elevator.
It doesn’t sound like much of a change but you will be surprised how it adds up at the end of a day, week or month. I find that when people get conscious of their effort to increase their activity level, the next thing is that they start without maybe even realizing it, making better choices with what they put in their mouths. The next thing you know is your in shape! Give your body a reason to regulate it’s weight and it will!
FAD diets
FAD diets, such as eating only proteins, fibre or cabbage soup, are unhealthful and, in some cases, dangerous.
I recommend that people should not follow fad diets, but instead consult with a fitness/nutrition expert.
Each individual has a specific reason why they are putting on weight and any changes to their diet and lifestyle must reflect these factors.
They could range from depression and low self-esteem to unhealthy patterns of eating learnt from an early age and lack of exercise.It is important to realize that you cannot rush nature, and that lasting changes will not happen miraculously overnight, but will take consistent work and application. It will be the changes that you make one day at a time that will bring lasting results. Remember that it takes (30) days to create a new habit.
The only way you will achieve what you want is to move towards it one step at a time. I authored a book Mind Set To Fitness available on Amazon.com, which is designed to help you with your fitness journey… give it a try as you have nothing to lose apart from the weight.
RECOMMENDED WEIGHT LOSS
To avoid losing weight too fast, it is best to increase physical activity gradually and at the same time reduce calories slowly. To lose weight 500 calories are subtracted per day. Decrease caloric intake by 250 calories per day and exercise to utilize the other 250 calories. This method will prevent your metabolic rate from slowing down and at the same time promote lean mass. The benefit is that the more lean mass you have the more efficient your body will become at burning calories, hence maintaining weight loss.By eating 250 fewer calories per day and engaging in exercise that results in 250 extra calories being burned there is a net loss of 500 calories per day, or 3,500 per week. This will result in a weight loss of around 1 pound per week. This slow and gradual weight loss will be sustainable, will not trigger the starvation response and will have no negative impacts on your health.
Tips To Turbocharge Your Weight Loss:
1. TAKE AN INVENTORY OF THE FOOD YOU HAVE AROUND YOU BOTH AT HOME AND AT WORK.
It is important to recognize that the foods that we keep around us, both at home and at work are a learned behavior. In other words the things we eat on a regular basis are an eating lifestyle that we have grown accustomed to eating. It will be easy this way to evaluate some of the choices we make, and replace them with better ones, that will add up to significant daily calorie savings.
2. PLAN YOUR MEALS AND SNACKS AROUND YOUR DAILY SCHEDULE.
As the saying goes ‘Fail To Plan – Plan To Fail’. Planning is the foundation to facilitate all action steps, that are done consistently enough to get results. Without a plan things are done sporadically, and reflect in poor results. Inconsistent effort equals inconsistent results.
Think about your schedule for each day the previous evening, and plan your meals and snacks, taking into account your work load, and where you will be at a given time of the day. Each day can be different, but if your planning strategy is consistent we can stay on track by surrounding ourselves with good, healthful choices.
3. EAT REGULARLY
Eat frequently and plan to eat at certain times throughout the day, and stick to them. Regular meals keep your insulin (blood sugar) balanced and prevent binge eating.
A good plan would be to get up a little early in order to have time for breakfast, your most important meal of the day, as it triggers your metabolism for the rest of the day. The next step would be a mid- morning snack to prevent your metabolism going into ‘starvation’ mode. The same principle can be applied to a mid- afternoon snack. Add to these a good nutritious lunch and a lighter evening meal.
It is essential to weight loss to eat more- sounds strange? But very true the more you eat, the more you burn. Don’t get too excited … it means EAT LESS BUT MORE OFTEN. Each time we eat we stimulate our metabolism, and let our body burn more calories, through neurons (messages delivered through the brain) , that we are being fed regularly and do not need to store calories – ie, body-fat, which is stores to nourish us at times that we are not being fed.
Most of us reduce food intake when we want to lose weight, not by reducing portion size, but by the regularity of meals- thinking that if we only eat once or twice a day, we will lose weight quicker- TRUE! But only for about (2) weeks, until such time when our BMR (basal metabolic rate) figures out we are not eating, and here comes the ‘crunch’, your body starts to store ANY of the calories that you eat, as it is not sure when you will eat again ‘starvation’ mode. This is the way most people chase their tale with weight lose, and don’t reach their target weight, but more importantly reach it and stay there. Solution= eat less more often to lose weight and keep it off, for the rest of your life!
4. PORTION FOOD
Serving food family style on the table is putting the temptation to eat more than we need, and makes it a test not to reach for second helpings. Fun but will add to a great deal of unwanted calories.
I recommend serving food on smaller plates, this way we can still enjoy the ‘full plate’ look most of us are accustomed to, while taking in less overall calories than if filling a regular size meal plate, the norm in most of today’s households.
Apply the same portion control to your mid- am and mid- pm snacks, by putting them into smaller ‘ziploc’ bags, Tubberware. As humans are visual it will give us the effect that we are eating more than we are, hence feeling well fed, with an overall less caloric intake. This may sound like a small change, however, during the course of a day, a week or a month the calorie savings would be significant indeed.
5. EAT SLOWLY AND TAKE MORE TIME OVER A MEAL
It takes twenty (20) minutes for transmitters from your brain to get the message to your stomach that you are full, until that time our mind is in ‘free fall’ and has no gauge as to how much we are eating. This can be very significant when we are eating the ‘Modern American Diet’, high calorie food like a muffin (450/550kcal), which can be eaten in 2 or 3 bites. That is actually low in calories compared to some of the foods we eat , for example a Big Mac and French fries meal is close to (1000kcal).
Eat your food slowly, chewing it and savor the taste of it, as opposed to racing against the clock as most of us have a habit of doing, myself included! By eating slowly we will enable our brain transmitter to do it’s job, and we will feel full before we consume too much = less calories – less weight gain- cool!
6. NO LATE NIGHT SNACKING
With our modern life being lap top, big screen orientated in the evening, this is where most of us pack on the extra pounds. Try and make your evening meal as early as possible, and at a minimum 2 hours before going to bed. This will help your body begin to digest your food and better utilize it. If you are still hungry drink water, as we often mistake thirst for hunger. If this doesn’t do the ‘trick’, then cut up an apple, or similar ‘low glycemic fruit,’ this will satiate you without too many additional unwanted calories. Most folk have cookies, ice cream etc, with an average portion being 500Kcal +, over a week that adds up to 3500Kcal, and a month a whopping 15000Kcal. Remember that to burn a 1lb of stored body-fat we need to burn 3000Kcal. So In effect with 15000Kcal extra per month, we could be packing on 5lbs of body – fat per month.
7. DRINK PLENTY OF WATER
We are comprised of 60% water, and most of us are nearly always dehydrated, well in actual fact very dehydrated. Your body needs water for the following;
- HYDRATION.
Exercise causes water loss due to sweating. To prevent dehydration you need to make sure that you drink ample water, by that I don’t mean fluids, I mean water! - REGULATE NORMAL BODY TEMPERATURE
Water regulates your body’s thermostat, rather like an air- conditioning system in your home or car. In addition it improves skin quality, lubricates joints, and helps mobilize fat. - DIGESTION
You need 25g fiber per day for optimal digestive function. But since fiber binds to water, it becomes difficult if you do not drink sufficient water. - SATIATION
We often misinterpret thirst for hunger. Drinking enough water will make you feel less hungry, plus keep your system hydrated. It is great for keeping your appetite in check, and it is good to drink about 8 – 12oz about 30 minutes before and after each of your meals and snacks. Try not to drink too much at mealtimes, as this may dilute important enzymes needed for optimum digestive function.
CARDIO
Cardiovascular training such as running/cycling burns approx 10-12 calories per minute, as compared to weight training 8-10 calories per minute.
9. WEIGHT TRAINING
Weight training increases your metabolic rate for an hour or two after you get done. The benefit can be even greater if you train intensely, or on a circuit training basis with 20-30 seconds rest between exercises.
So if you burn 300 calories during your workout it can be as much as 25% more, or 375 calories in total. The important factor to take into account here is, that for every 3lbs of lean muscle tissue you build, you will burn an additional 120 calories per day. Without even changing your diet it will result in about 6=8 lbs of fat lose in a 6 month
Conclusion:
Be sensible with your approach and do not rush the process. Instead of focusing on the weight you have to lose, focus on what you can do to get better and how you will look when you get there. This is a very significant change in the way you think, but makes all the difference to empowering yourself to move forward, as instead of focusing on the negative aspect, in this case fat, you focus on proaction and how you will look/feel when the weight comes off!
-NicholasIf you are in the Los Angeles area and you would like a complimentary one-on-one assessment with Personal Trainer in L.A. Nicholas Barrett, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Personal trainer Los Angeles. Los Angeles personal trainer. Personal trainer marina del rey.
