I believe I may have found something that I want to try.  I have 30 days…and I need to do something.  I feel sluggish and bloated.  Last night my feet became swollen and I was sitting on the couch crying like a baby. Yes…It is LIKE THAT!

This quote is what changed my mind…

This will change your life.

We cannot possibly put enough emphasis on this simple fact – the next 30 days will change your life. It will change the way you think about food, it will change your tastes, it will change your habits and your cravings. It could, quite possibly, change the emotional relationship you have with food, and with your body. It has the potential to change the way you eat for the rest of your life.

Cool! I would like to feel better…lighter…and happier. I have nothing to lose but weight and bloat.

Here is the aforementioned Nutritional Guideline:

whole9_nutrition_guidelines

And as an extra the produce list:

whole9-produce-guide

Sometimes…it takes a girl weeping on the sofa to put a fire under her behind.

I am starting…NOW.  Right at this moment.  there is no “I’m starting tomorrow/this weekend/Monday” foolishness.  That never happens…so I have already started. NOW/THIS SECOND/TODAY

Dinner tonight will be the Jambalaya Soup. I will also make some hot sausage.  I know that it is clean with no nitrates because I’m making it fresh.  Thank goodness for Culinary Arts school.  I got an A+ in sausage making.

My workouts will still be Body Pump with walking or Taebo in between.

Oh…I almost forgot!  The biggest rule of them all (that I will find hard to follow):

One last and final rule. You are not allowed to step on the scale or take any body measurements for the duration of the program. This is about so much more than just weight loss, and to focus on your body composition means you’ll miss out on the most dramatic and lifelong benefits this plan has to offer. So, no weighing yourself, analyzing body fat or taking comparative measurements during your Whole30. (We do encourage you to weigh yourself before and after, however, so you can see one of the more tangible results of your efforts when your program is over.)

THAT WILL KILL ME! I am a scale ho…I am the scale’s biotch. My days are ruled “good” or ‘bad” depending on the number. So…gonna weigh myself before, probably pass out from shock. Come to and start the program.  I just hope I see the results I am looking for. Hell…IF I just feel better and stop retaining water that will be a good thing.

After a couple weeks of strength training, you may see the number on the scale going up. Not to fear my friend.

Weight

Since it is denser, muscle does weigh more than fat if you compare same-size portions. So, the number on that scale may be going up because you’re gaining more muscle mass. But more muscle doesn’t mean you’re going to LOOK like the number on that scale because…

Space

Muscle is denser than fat, which means it takes up less space than fat.Two people may be the same height and weight, but the person with a higher body fat percentage will wear a larger clothing size.

Metabolism

Muscle tissue will burn seven to 10 calories daily per pound. Fat burns two to three calories daily per pound. Replacing a pound of fat with a muscle, therefore, helps you burn an additional four to six more calories each day, says Cedric X. Bryant, chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise.

If you’re strength training, you can expect to gain 3 to 5 lbs. of muscle mass in three to four months, bringing your net caloric effect to 15 to 30 calories per day. That may not seem like a lot, but your basal metabolic rate (BMR), or the number of calories your body uses when you are at rest, typically accounts for 60 to 75 percent of the calories you burn in a day. It adds up.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/438693-a-pound-of-fat-vs-a-pound-of-muscle/#ixzz2PW4jzEHx
**For optimal health, the best body fat range for women is 18 to 30 percent.

1. You need to approach this with the right mindset. Don’t hate your body or compare yourself to other people and DON’T approach it with the panicky attitude of “I HAVE to lose this as fast as possible”. You’re putting too much pressure on yourself. Go at it with the mindset I did- “It doesn’t feel like it now, but if I keep doing little by little everyday, one day other people will notice my progress even before I will” . Make it an enjoyable experience.

2. Set realistic goals. You shouldn’t be losing more than 2 lbs a week, and even that is extremely difficult to do. If you kill yourself at the gym everyday you’re most likely going to give up. If you are going to set a goal, make sure its in small increments so that its in the foreseeable future. For example, don’t set a goal that you’re going to get fit by the end of this year. Set a goal such as “I’m going to lose at least 5lbs this month” or “This week I’m going to work out every other day”

3. The little things DO add up. By little things I mean even if you can only make it to the gym 3 times a week, GO. Man, that work out was a waste of time, I really regret that- SAID NO ONE EVER.

4. Lift weights, do a little cardio, and eat healthy. If you are missing one of the three its either going to take a lot longer to reach your goals or you might never reach them. There are no shortcuts.

5. Drink whey protein within 30 minutes post weight lifting session. Don’t wait any longer. It helps with muscle recovery.

6. Although research has shown you don’t have to be sore the next day for a workout to be considered effective, I try to aim for at least a 2 on a scale of soreness from 1-5 then next day. Personally, it makes me feel like I didn’t waste my time the day before at the gym. Its a concrete sign that you’re making progress.

7. Stop being self conscious at the gym. Everyone else there is focused on themselves and what they’re doing. Plus, no matter what you look like or what your fitness level is, NO ONE is going to be thinking “Wow, why are THEY here?”. Also, as far as lifting weights alongside men goes, they DON’T CARE how much you’re lifting. They’re most likely

A. Focusing on their own workout

B. Feeling self conscious about the way they look now that a female is in the room

C. Thinking how cool it is that that girl is into weight lifting

Finally, I am going to leave you with this:

NEVER in my experience since I starting lifting weights has a guy nor girl said anything negative about it. The usual response is “Oh thats cool that you’re into that” or “Wow you’re brave for going into the weight room”.

Why? Because I don’t look like

However, I cannot emphasize enough how important protein is in your daily diet to meet your health and fitness needs.

Protein. Protein. Protein. Its all about da protein.

What kind of protein? Whey.

What is Whey Protein and Where does it Come From?

Whey protein is the highest quality of protein available.

It is one of 2 types of protein that comes from milk (the other being casein protein). It’s made during the process of cow’s milk being turned into cheese. When the milk is being turned into cheese, the whey protein is a by-product.

Do any Foods Contain Whey Protein?

No foods contain actual whey protein.

Biological Value of Whey vs Other Protein Sources

Biological value, or BV, is the measure of the efficiency of a protein and how it can be absorbed and used by the body for growth — higher the number, the higher the efficiency. With BV, egg protein sets the standard with 100. Beef can be found at around 75, for example. With whey protein, however, BV can be as high as 170.

Effects Whey Protein Has on Performance

1. Increased lean muscle mass
2. Decreased recovery times and faster muscle repair
3. Reduced post-workout muscle breakdown
4. Increase metabolic rate

Some other facts about Whey: 

1. Don’t Lift Without it: Whey protein combined with resistance training can help you build muscle more than resistance training alone. After a strength-training workout your muscles begin to repair and need protein for this process. According to Energy First, whey protein builds more muscle by promoting protein synthesis.

2. Keep the Muscle Lose the Fat: Consuming whey protein can also help reduce the amount of muscle lost during dieting because whey protein contains leucine, a nutrient that helps to preserve lean muscle tissue while it promotes the loss of fat.

3. Stay Healthy: It boosts the activity of the immune system. Consuming whey protein can make your body more resistant to bacteria and viruses by making your body’s white blood cells more effective.

4. Burn More Calories: According to the Whey Protein Institute, your body uses more energy to digest protein than other foods, which creates a thermic effect and enables you to burn a higher rate of calories after a protein meal.

5. Feel Full: Whey protein helps to reduce glucose absorption time into the bloodstream to prevent hunger, according to the Whey Protein Institute.

6. Reduce Stress: Stress is one of the ultimate enemies of weight loss. Feeling stressed can often lead to feeling emotionally drained and overeating. Whey protein helps to reduce stress levels to combat this effect. According to Energy First, whey protein slows production of cortisol, a stress hormone, to reduce stress and depression while helping releasing the calming hormone serotonin.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/249623-health-benefits-of-whey-protein-powder/#ixzz2PQWhZvNN

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/383311-100-whey-protein-benefits/#ixzz2PQVebXiz

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/304197-effects-of-whey-protein-on-the-body/#ixzz2PQUxpsaD

Read more: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/whey-protein

Hey guys! So I know many of you are at a loss as to where to begin. I found this great article that really lays out the basic principles of a weight training regiment.

Here are some highlights:

Understanding Muscle Movements

The easiest way to understand muscle movements is by the motion you must make to target and work that particular muscle or muscle group.

“Push” describes any movement to push the weight away from your body “Pull” describes any movement that pulls the weight into your body.

Certain muscle groups complement one another in that they require the same “push” or “pull” movement type:

• “Push” movement body parts include: chest, shoulders, triceps, quadriceps, calves
• “Pull” movement body parts include: back, biceps, hamstrings, abdominals

Understanding How to Pair Muscle Movements

For the sake of time and efficiency, it makes the most sense to work complementary muscles within the same muscle movement group each day.

For example, it is smart to work chest on the same day as shoulders and/or triceps because these are all “push” movements. Often when you are working chest you are using your shoulders and triceps as well. Thats why it makes sense to work chest on the same day as shoulders and/or triceps.

The same goes for back muscles. It is smart to work back on the same day as biceps because you are using “pull” movements that often activate the biceps.

Splitting Up Your Body Parts during the Week by Movement

The reason why it is important to split up your body parts when weight training is because its not a good idea to work the same muscle groups everyday or do an all-over body workout every day.

Your muscles need to recover! (Not to mention I don’t think anyone has the energy or stamina to keep that up very long) It is important to understand that when you are in the gym training you are breaking down the muscle, and the recovery time out of the gym is when your muscles repair themselves and grow.

But, you still want to make progress and try to go to the gym everyday right? Thats why muscle movements and muscle pairing is a great solution.

You must set yourself up for success by adequately splitting up training every muscle group across the week and making sure there is rest time for each body part.

**Rest is good, and it important to progress. If you don’t allow your muscles to recover you increase your risk of hurting yourself or burning yourself out.

**So don’t train “pull” movement muscle groups on consecutive days or  ”push” movement muscle groups on consecutive days.

** Its a good idea to do lower-body muscle days in between the days you are working upper-body

If you’re looking for a GREAT weight training plan, try this one

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-easons-livefit-introduction.html

I’ve been doing it for a while now and its easy and awesome.

The plan tells you what day to work what muscles, and gives you step-by-step instructions on each exercise for that day. NO THINKING involved!

Just get to the gym and do it!

I am what some might call a skinny-fat person, not overweight, but my body composition has about 30% fat. Yeah, that’s right, serious lack of muscles, I usually live on less than 1000 calories a day, & I rarely go a day without a Coke

Today’s the day I want to start changing that though.

I turn 25 this spring, & frankly, ever since learning about fatty liver disease, & that sugar is as bad for you as alcohol, that stuff scares the shit out me.

Plus it’d be nice to be able to carry a heavy box up the stairs without taking a break – ha.

This issue I want to tackle today is one that I’ve touched on before during my soapbox rants on movement, and that’s training for function before form. This is a shout out to all you athletes-in-the-making who still deny your true purpose in fitness and still think it’s all about losing those inches.

Listen, I know your goals are important. They are the whole reason you decided to pluck your butt off the couch and get your hustle on in the first place, and that makes them invaluable; but that doesn’t mean your goals should always dictate the way you train (excepting specific athletic contests). Suppose I take up the guitar in the hopes of wooing the ladies; I still have to learn how to play guitar properly, or I will no doubt fail to impress in the end. The same goes for fitness; we have so many people training in a way that puts aesthetics in the spotlight because that is what they really want out of it, when that rockin’ beach bod is ultimately the result of improving your capacity for movement. What you really mean when you say you want to lose fat and tone-up is that you want a body that looks more athletic.

So BE more athletic!

It’s a pretty simple solution. Doing anything else to get that result would be like me toting my virgin guitar down to a coffee shop and using it as a prop to attract the interest of the aforementioned ladies. Even though I look like a sensitive musician, the truth is going to eventually come out and my result will not be sustainable. The same goes for if you train without cultivating true movement skills and real-world fitness; eventually the time for action will come, and you will find yourself falling painfully short.

Like I’ve said before, I don’t mean that you should just start running wind sprints and throwing kettlebells around; I just mean that you should train to become a better mover. If I had my way, I would melt every machine circuit in the world down into new squat racks. (Ask anyone who knows me; this is my mantra.) I don’t care if you’re nine or ninety, training on weight machines is a waste of time that builds false confidence in your physical ability. (There are exceptions, of course, such as rehabilitation and training with a physical disability, but you get the idea.) There is always something better to do that will have a far greater bearing on both your physical capacity and appearance. But I digress.

So many people just want that quick solution to their body composition woes. They want to spend a brief window losing some weight or getting “toned up” and then assume they will just be able to go back to how they lived before that. What people need to recognize is that accomplishing any health and fitness goal in the long term requires a change in lifestyle, not a just brief departure from a dysfunctional lifestyle. You have to make a slow shift from whatever factors have resulted in your current unsatisfactory condition to one that cultivates your ideal condition. Want to lose 50 pounds? Great! Just don’t think that once it’s off you’re going to be able to go back to eating cake every night. That was a bad thing, and made you overweight in the first place, so it has to go if you want that accomplishment to be sustainable.

I find it extremely unfortunate that the attitude in our culture is that an active lifestyle is for the few (athletes), and the average person must simply dabble to keep from getting fat and dying young. No, being an athlete is not for everyone, and not everyone is going to be as passionate (read: annoyingly obsessive) about movement culture as I am, but everyone can learn to enjoy it. We are hardwired to crave physical activity. You remember all that preaching I did in the “Mind-Body Connection” article about how your physical health ties into the rest of your well-being.

It is also equally unfortunate that those individuals who decide to make a change in their physical activity are often uninformed or under-informed about what they are doing and how to progress it, and end up hurting themselves. (Again, don’t just go from the couch to sprinting or anything like that.) Knowing where to start, how to progress your training, and what issues you need to correct in your body along the way are essential. In upcoming articles I’m going to be talking a lot about progression, and I’ll lay out some clear schemes for progressing functional exercise in a way that teaches you all the components from the ground up. (You have to learn to crawl before you walk, so to speak.)

So for everyone training with an aesthetic goal like weight-loss at the forefront (Mom, I’m calling you out), don’t let your desire for form deter you from training for function. Keep your goal strong in your mind, because that is where your motivation and drive are going to come from, but train the way you should: like a human who needs to move better in order to look and feel better.

In the next few articles, we’re going to be getting a little more specific. I want to share with you guys the movement-based programming scheme I’ve been experimenting with, and talk a bit about how to structure programs over the short and long term. We’ll also be delving into some of my progression schemes for specific movements.

As an aside, I know my perspective from the “inside” is quite far removed from someone who is stepping into the gym for the first time, and I often take a lot of the basics for granted. I realize that I often sound like some liquor-maddened whacko standing on a street-corner expounding the virtues of the “true path”, so PLEASE comment or message me if you are skeptical of what you’ve read or you simply need some clarification on anything. This blog is not meant to be an exercise in ego-stroking or a validation of my opinions, but rather to get the information out there to all of you. Therefore, it’s pretty important to me that I get through to you guys. It has to make sense to YOU, so let’s get the discussion going. Post comments like crazy.

http://www.facebook.com/events/580591575292130/

*I apologize in advance to my Facebook friends because I’m about to blow up your wall with this event/blog.

Just to be clear, this is not an anti-male event. Its about getting women to feel comfortable going into the weight room. Ladies if you’re not sure what your’e doing, thats okay. Check out my blog for basic instructions. If you’re still unsure, bring a girlfriend who DOES know what she’s doing. Whatever your fitness level is, just get in the and bring friends! This is supposed to be fun and interesting!

Give it a shot, try something new, and make a difference at JMU!

Peace-

Alina

Seriously, you have to try these! They’re delicious.
The sauce itself is amazing.

In my defense, I had no idea that the party I was joining for lunch was ordering dim sum. It was spread all over the table when I arrived, and I was in no mood to be tortured, so I enjoyed it heartily.

Later, I wondered if this indulgence would set me back, but I was fine. I guess that consistency during the week is enough to carry me, and this is good news as I reach the last stretch of the weight loss competition and contemplate my lifestyle changes after “Lose Big, Win Big.”

Turnip cake

So now, here are the results:  I lost two more pounds and I’m now at 132 pounds.

sticky rice

And the best thing of all is that I was able to fit comfortably into a pair of jeans that I had been keeping in case I ever lost enough weight to wear them again.

Just like new!

It’s like having a new pair of jeans!

It’s also like having a new body–or at least the one I had over six years ago.  I’m so grateful to finally have a grasp on what it takes to slim down successfully.  Now I’m making plans for the lifestyle I will continue after I’ve reached my goal.

And to all of you who follow my blog, “like” it, and send me words of encouragement, thank you so much–it means the world to me.

How are things going?!

What has been the biggest challenge for you to date?  Have you figured out any good ways to get past this challenge?

What has been your biggest insight so far?

For myself, my first time through the Whole30 it was that I wasn’t as “tolerant” of dairy as I thought I was.  I generally stay away from the stuff, but sometimes like a little feta mixed into salads for saltiness and texture.  

Any new favorite foods?

After trying the Whole30, I discovered that I actually really liked zucchini and beets.

Any big Whole30-approved attempts for Passover or Easter?

If only there was an easy way to make gluten-free Matzo right?

What have you been cooking?

Here are my latest attempts in the kitchen:

Spaghettin Squash Bolognese

New York Strip and Carmelized Mushrooms with Braised Greens and Pureed Yams

We’d love to hear from all of you as we wind down to the end of the challenge.  And stay tuned for a post this weekend on how to navigate the post-Whole30 landscape and get back to the “real world”.

Hint: it doesn’t involve adding back in MOST of those foods

Your health is more than just your weight on a scale. After all, your weight can be a deceptive number. Maybe you consist of more muscle than fat. Maybe it’s the opposite. Sneakers? Did you just drink a gallon of water? A range of factors can skew your weight on a scale. To avoid any confusion, try learning your body composition.

Body composition describes the percentages of fat, bone, and muscle in the human body. In essence, your body composition in conjunction with your weight reveals how lean you are. Think of it like this, you have two skinny people on a beach of equal height and weight. One obviously works out and has nice definition, while the other sports some jiggly all around. Although the two beach bums are equal on a scale, beach bum number 2 may have a higher body composition. Two people of equal height and weight can look different from each other because of body composition.

So what is the golden body composition number? It’s all relative, but there are certain ranges you should be in according to the American Council on Exercise:

Currently, my body composition is 21.3%. Through my challenge, I would like to end up in the “Athlete” category of 14-20%. I got my number through a machine at my gym, but click here for ways to determine your own body composition (note that accuracy varies).

Sources: 1, 2, 3

So the story goes… I rocked up to Fitness First today, slightly apprehensive about receiving the first of my two weekly body composition measurements. I lie down on the floor and take off my right sock as instructed. The nice man then hooks me up to their £1800 machine via some wires, attaching them to my right hand and foot.

After a few seconds of awkward silence… BOOM! “7.9% body fat” he bellows, slapping my thigh good and hard, throwing in a compliment of “hey…great job buddy!” for good measure.

Ok you got me…I’m lying. That is totally not how it went. 7.9% was in fact the first reading we got but that is unfortunately where the similarities between the stories end.

After hearing the initial reading I sat up feeling slightly elated and what the guy genuinely said was “wow, that’s quite surprising result”. Followed by “I’m not saying you don’t look 7.9% buddy” (which we all know is exactly what he meant).

Either way I sit up, deliberate for a few seconds and then decide that as great as I feel about that reading it simply cannot be right. I sigh and mutter the words; “lets do the bloody test again” but without the bloody.

Here is where the ‘note to self’ comes in as the second reading came up with a much more realistic but slightly deflating body fat reading of 14.1%. So I have actually lost weight but after having the 7.9% handed to me and then instantly snatched away the 14.1% doesn’t seem like quite the victory.

In all fairness though I am glad I asked to re do the test again, if to save the credibility of this whole process if nothing else. So here are my actual readings I received from the machine and tape measurements coupled with a vanity picture of me two weeks on from the last one.

Weight = 86.5Kg (previously 87.5Kg)
Body Fat Percentage = 14.1% (previously 14.5%)
Fat Weight = 12.2Kg (previously 12.7Kg)
Lean Mass = 74.3Kg (previously 74.7Kg)
Left Arm Circumference = 13 Inches (previously 13.5 Inches)
Right Arm Circumference = 13. 5 Inches (previously 13 Inches) Must have been those extra wan….I mean right handed fist pumps?! yeeeeahhh who doesn’t fist pump?
Chest = 40 Inches (previously 41 Inches)
Waist (torso) = 34 Inches (previously 34.5 Inches)
Left Leg = 21.5 (previously 23.5 Inches)
Right Leg = 22 (previously 22.5 Inches)
Neck = 15.5 (previously 16 Inches)

So in concluding, breasts are great! Sorry, but if you haven’t seen that video yet then you will not get that reference but I strongly suggest typing in ‘Why breasts are great’ into youtube, click on the link of the guy holding his nipples and thank me later.

Back to the genuine conclusion…

What can be noted from the first two weeks is that I have indeed lost weight. A kilogram in total which equates to 2.2lbs. Not a lot really but it’s a start.

Changing my training from heavy weights and low reps to lighter weights and more reps has genuinely started to make a difference to my muscle definition. So the ‘size’ that was there before is starting to gain shape. I pretty much lost half an inch on every muscle area apart from right arm and left leg, which actually gained size strangely. It must be noted that these measurements are taken at home and so to increase accuracy I will now request to take these at Fitness First alongside the body composition readings in 2 weeks time.

With regards to the programme itself, I have been finding it really enjoyable. Punishing, but enjoyable! The swelling you get during the session looks great and I’m seeing a lot more veins coming through than before, something I have quite a fetish for after Hugh Jackman’s inspired exit from the water in ‘Wolverine’.

The only thing I have been struggling with is keeping up with the cardio. I have been doing 15 minutes of the HIIT on the treadmill only twice a week, mainly because my legs are in such a state from Monday that I only have the belief that I can actually manage to do it by the earliest on Thursday. So I need to need to hit this a bit harder and maybe starting adding 10 minutes HIIT cardio to the end of weights sessions alongside the two dedicated cardio sessions I do anyway.

Diet wise I should probably try lowering the fat count by a smidge. Due to the way the Paleo diet works you sacrifice a lot of the carbs that we genuinely shouldn’t be eating anyway so that your body runs on the fat stores as a source of energy. I’m currently averaging around 100g of carbs a day from either fresh fruit, honey, dairy or sugars in coffee and around 90-100g of fat a day from a mixture of animal fats, coconut oil, nuts, eggs and dairy. So being a bit stingier on some of these may help reduce the weight even further.

Next post will involve all the starting info you need to be a successful Paleo dieter.

Stay safe and off the streets,

Adam
ACT Personal Trainer
www.arronpersonaltrainer.com

That’s right fellow doctor colleagues laughed about a breakthrough concept that has already taken a more critical look at why people lack energy, sexual vitality, and weight control.

For the first time ever, I am spilling the beans on some of the most closely guarded secrets that have already been transforming the lives of Ark-La-Tex residents over the past ten years.

What you will find in Body Hormone Balance Revolution:

• How ignoring these ‘two’ key facts prevents you from unlocking the door to your youthful recovery.
• Why most weight loss programs NEVER have and NEVER will work for you.
• How disruption in this vital part of the day is causing hormonal imbalance that is silently killing Americans.
• What the secret formula ‘really is’ behind the life changing transformations of Body Hormone Balance clients’ beauty, body composition, and youthful sexuality.
• The reason why you and over half of the people I evaluate on a daily basis have effective medical treatment withheld from them because of supposedly ‘normal lab tests’.

And here is the best part – all you have to do is devour every word of Body Hormone Balance Revolution offered by me, Founder of the Hormonal Blueprint System by calling (903) 306-2215 or www.antiagingtexarkana.com/contact

P.S. Not only do I get referrals from doctors that once laughed at me, but they have sent family and friends and have become patients themselves.

Is bathroom scale and weight chart a friend or foe? Even for those who lose weight successfully, or who are at a healthy weight, there are often feelings of fear and anxiety, and rises to the bathroom scale, and maintain a weight chart is the farthest thing from his mind.

It is important to calm our relationship with the bathroom scale and weigh our welcome letter tells the body weight specific dates in our way of life. Meaning calming our feelings about our weight and then reprogram the messages we want to judge ourselves by how much weigh on any given day.

The normalization of our relations with the bathroom scale and maintain a weight chart is important because, if used properly, the bathroom scale and weight chart can be a good indicator of whether (or how) should modify our behavior .

The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) is monitoring more than 5,000 individuals who have lost significant amounts of weight and kept it off for long periods. We analyze the psychological and behavioral characteristics of weight maintainers, and strategies they use to maintain their weight loss.

One of the common denominators of habits is that you can step on the bathroom scale. In fact, 75% of participants were weighed at least once a week, and much to enhance your bathroom scale every day.

To maintain a healthy weight, use the same strategy I suspect that many people in NWCR use. See well suited for get from the view of “indulgence calories,” so whenever the bathroom scale starts tipping to the right, hold and remove a few pounds.

But to befriend the best digital bathroom scale is not enough, as I said before, keeping a weekly chart weight is also vital. People who lose weight very often convince themselves that they are in a plateau, that diet does not work, you will need to do more, etc.

Judy is an example. He has lost 19 pounds in six months and is now at a healthy weight range. However, he always says (and his team) are not getting enough exercise (three times a week), eating too much cake, and so on. I would actually say the words “I can not lose weight” when it just came out of the bathroom scale was reduced to one quarter of a kilo. Nice to have solid, black and white elements in the form of readings bathroom scale and weight chart.’s Also good to have a coach or a nutrition support team to give some perspective.

The same goes for people who are gaining weight and convince themselves that they are “only a few pounds” and worry later. Seeing him in a bathroom scale or weight chart, black and white on a range of time can be valuable. It might be just a few pounds. . . but when you see it for months or even years can give you a reality check that can lead to the decision to reverse the trend.

How often do you weigh?

When it comes to the frequency with which rises to the bathroom scale diagram and document your weight, the best advice I can give workout nutrition, curiously, is telling people to do the opposite of what they measure. If you ever bathroom scale or maintain a weight chart, then you need to weigh once a day for a few months and keep a daily chart weight with him. This will help you out of denial, if he wins, but also give you a realistic picture of your weight fluctuations due to salt consumption, hormones, air travel, period, etc.

If you get the bathroom scale daily or even more than once a day, and keep a chart weight equally frequent, then it’s probably time to cut to once per week. Monitor and record your weight at the same time each week, but also make a detailed inventory of your behavior last week. You should consider their sorrows and their achievements in their diet and exercise routine. With this background, the bathroom scale and weight chart is only one piece of feedback.

If you take inventory of your behavior, and do well, but the number on the bathroom scale or weight trend in the chart is disappointing, then try to use the wise words of my client Shirley: “The number on the bathroom scale is not a reflection of who I am, is a reflection of what it used to be.’m a person who exercises regularly and eats well.’m at my ideal weight. The number on bathroom scale measures the progress of my body catching up with what I am today. “

Body mass index (BMI) has been in the news lately.

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

Many strong opinions about this surprising finding were expressed. A number of Flegal’s fellow obesity experts dismissed it as an erroneous result of faulty methodology. So-called fat advocates hailed it as final proof of what they had known all along. As for me, when I read about the paper I merely felt glad that I had stopped giving credence to the BMI scale long before.

BMI, in case you don’t know, is a number that represents the relationship between a person’s height and weight. Since taller people tend to weigh more, BMI was created as a tool that people could use to determine whether they were too heavy for their height. The problem with BMI is that while it effectively neutralizes the influence of height on body weight, Body mass index makes no distinction between body fat and lean body mass. For example, a lean football player with a BMI of 25.5 and a couch potato with a huge beer belly and a BMI of 25.5 are both classified as overweight by the BMI scale, which defies common sense.

BMI vs. Body Composition

By ignoring body composition, BMI sacrifices a lot of predictive power in relation to health outcomes. In recent years, medical researchers have performed a number of studies comparing the effect of BMI versus that of body composition (or body fat percentage) on the risk for various diseases. The conclusion is always the same. While the effect of higher BMI on the risk for lifestyle diseases such as heart disease than normal-weight men and women is muddled, the connection between body fat percentage and disease risk is much stronger. In fact, heavier individuals with a low body fat percentage tend to be healthier and to live longer than skinnier individuals with a higher body fat percentage. In other words, body composition is a far better predictor of health and longevity than BMI. Doctors recently coined the term “normal weight obese” to categorize men and women who fall within the normal body weight range but have more than 30 percent body fat. Studies have found that normal weight obese individuals have the same levels of circulating inflammation markers—a major heart disease risk factor—as those who are technically obese.

Muscle vs. Fat

A second reason why lean men and women are healthier than skinny people with more fat hidden inside them has to do with muscle. Recent medical research has shown that muscle mass is as beneficial to health as excess body fat is damaging to health. Having a little extra muscle has been shown to increase metabolism, reduce insulin resistance and diabetes risk, increase bone density and lower the risk of osteoporosis, and more. Having a little extra muscle even increases longevity. A number of studies have found that, among elderly populations, those with the most muscle strength live the longest.

In addition to telling members of the general population more about their health than BMI does, body fat percentage tells endurance athletes more about their fitness than BMI does. Research has demonstrated that endurance athletes perform best at a body fat percentage that is close to the minimum they can attain through focused training and healthy eating. Regularly monitoring body fat percentage makes a lot of sense for endurance athletes. A 2 percent drop in body fat could easily correlate to a big leap forward in performance, even if your body weight—hence BMI—stays the same.

So if you aren’t yet tracking your body fat percentage, start. And if you are paying attention to headlines about BMI, stop!

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Today I can really feel how much lighter I am, and I felt it on my jog yesterday morning, too.  My body has changed, and every week I feel better and more energetic.  Progress like the tortoise, feeling like the hare.  Maybe I can rev it up a bit this coming week.

Feeling more spry, little by little!

I found some articles on this and highlighted the facts:

Cardio or Weight Training? | Get Ripped At Home.

Huffington Post: The Truth About Weight Training

Here’s what I got:

Which Burns More Calories?

If you did a cardio session and burned 300 calories, you would burn more than if you had done a strength training session that burned 300 calories. Why?

Elevated post-exercise oxygen consumption: the phenomenon whereby your body burns more oxygen, and therefore also more calories, after a training session.

So basically the moment you stop running, you stop burning calories. Not the case with strength training where you CONTINUE to burn calorie after you’re out of the gym.

This is also called The After Burn effect: Your body continues to burn calories AFTER your workout because it is breaking down the muscle your body needs to repair. In order to do that, your body goes through and entire process that requires it to take calories and use them to repair muscle.

“Strength training is a critical component of any program than emphasizes long-term fat loss,” said Alwyn Cosgrove, co-author of the book “The New Rules of Lifting.” Think of it like this: Muscles are “thirsty” from a metabolic perspective. The more muscle you have, the more fuel you are constantly burning. This is the advantage strength training offers if your goal is to lean out. 

Cardio’s edge Calorie for calorie, cardio has a slight advantage. You’ll burn 8 to 10 calories a minute hoisting weights, compared with 10 to 12 calories a minute running or cycling, says Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., director of research at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Strength’s edge Lifting weights gives you a metabolic spike for an hour after a workout because your body is trying hard to help your muscles recover. That means you’ll fry an additional 25 percent of the calories you just scorched during your strength session, Westcott says. “So if you burned 200 calories lifting weights, it’s really closer to 250 overall.” And if you lift heavier weights or rest no more than 30 seconds between sets, you can annihilate even more.

 ”For every 3 pounds of muscle you build, you’ll burn an extra 120 calories a day — just vegging — because muscle takes more energy to sustain,” Westcott says. Over the course of a year, that’s about 10 pounds of fat — without even changing your diet. Yes, please.

2 participants each (Lauren Wanna and Margaret Hilger) reduced their body composition by 2.5%, each lost around 10 lbs, and each lost 3 inches around waist, hips, and chest. Overall, the group lost 68 pounds in a month!!

Our big winner who also lost lots of body fat, inches, and pounds, was Frances Anderson*.  She really put her mind to this and made many lifestyle changes that have seriously been paying off!  Here’s some of her comments regarding some of the dietary adjustments: “It was not as hard as I thought to go a month without sugar, chocolate, and alcohol.  When I made the decision at the start of the month to do this, it was not so hard, because I had already decided. I did not mindlessly eat chips or other junk. I had already decided not to eat it.”  Fran is using her prize money to buy new clothes, since her old clothes are too big and falling off of her!  ”When I went shopping for new workout pants and jeans, I was amazed to find the sizes I was trying on.” See what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it? 

Way to go to all Lose Your Love Handles participants!  Your determination and success is inspiring!! If you missed the chance to participate in this one, we’ll have another opportunity in October 2013.

*Name changed for anonymity.

Morning

• Drink my multi vitamin tablet before anything else
• A bowl of cereal, which varied from Fruit and Fibre to Special K. Nothing too sweet or loaded with sugar.
• Coffee, black, no sugar.

Before Gym

• Black Coffee, no sugar.
• Pre work out shake which contains 2 x scoops of protein powder (50g), 1 and a half scoops of Creatine (5g) and 250ml of water. Shake and drink.

After Gym

• Post workout shake which is the same as the pre work out shake. 2 x scoops of protein powder (50g), 1 and a half scoops of Creatine (5g) and 250ml of water. Shake and drink.

Lunch Lunch would vary day by day. But here’s what I ate.

• Tuna sandwich (4 x brown bread, tuna straight out the tin, lemon juice olives and onions chopped up and mixed in).
• Tuna and hummus.
• Fried egg x 4 with 4 x toasted brown bread.
• Roast chicken sandwich (roast chicken breast cut into strips, 4 x brown bread toasted).
• Salad (roasted chicken breast, hummus, carrot, lettuce, cucumber, olives, tomato, red cabbage, onions, hot sauce and 3 x broken up krackerwheat biscuits mixed together).
• Sardine sandwich (Sardine straight from the tin, 4 x brown bread).
• Green tea to drink every day.

Snack

• Fruit 

Dinner Again dinner varied day by day because I was still eating my home cooked foods. But here’s what I ate.

• Chicken curry and brown rice
• Chow mien
• Fry rice (white rice)
• Stew chicken with brown rice
• Roti and curry (white flour)
• Roti and potato (white flour)
• Dhal and brown rice with liver
• Biryani (brown rice)
• Roast dinner (roast chicken with roast potatoes or mash)

Junk food Here Ill include the junk food which I ate on some days. Mostly for dinner.

• Fish and chips
• Chicken and chips
• Kebab

So as you can see, I changed some things such as having brown bread and brown rice with the occasional white rice in meals such as the fry rice. My eating was pretty balanced and yes, I was still eating junk food as you can see. But that varied and I didn’t feel the need to eat junk food every single week. There were some weeks where I didn’t eat any junk, however there were some weeks where I ate junk 3 times but I still tried to balance it out. That’s the food.

Regarding drinks, I cut out most soft drinks and wasn’t drinking them on a day to day basis however whenever I ate junk, I did have a glass or 2 of some sort of soft drink. I replaced the it with water instead. A lot of water! I was drinking about 3 litres a day and even more now!

You’re probably looking at the break down of what I ate and wondering “where are all the sweets?” Well honestly, I’m not a big fan of chocolate or sweets. Not to the point where I eat it regularly or crave it anyway. I would occasionally eat sweets and yes, during my bulking phase I did have sweets on a few occasions.

So that’s honestly what I was eating on my “bulking phase”. Combine this diet with a progressive resistance and cardio workout and you can get results like I did. After 4 months training and eating like this I was half my size! Give it a try.

By Fiaz Ali

Repetitions (Reps): Doing a movement 1 time. For example, with sit ups, 15 reps is just 15 sit-ups.

Sets: The completion of a series of repetitions. For example 4 reps of the sit-up repetitions from above would be doing 15 sit-ups, 4 times, with a small breath in between.

Super sets:  A superset is performed when two exercises are performed in a row without stopping. When you start doing these for the first time, you will find that your endurance may be a problem, but before long you will learn to love them.

Barbell: A steel bar measuring 4 –6 feet in length. The bar is used for weight training and body building exercises. Some barbells have a fixed amount of weight on the sides, while other barbells allow you to add and remove weight as you desire.

Dumbbell: Dumbbells are one of the most widely used weight-training equipment pieces. One dumbbell consists of two equal weights that are attached to a handle, and the weights can be fixed or removable.

Kettlebell:  A cast iron ball with a handle attached to the top of it (picture a cannonball with a handle on the top). This design makes kettlebells different from training with dumbbells because the weight of a kettlebell is not distributed evenly, thus creating the need to counter balance and stabilize during your workout (Aha … core strength!).

Body Fat Percentage: The percentage of fat your body has in comparison to muscle.

Body Mass Index (BMI): This is an assessment of your weight relative to your height. The formula is: weight in kg / (height in meters x height in meters).
The results of the BMI calculation are categorized as follows:
• Underweight: below 18.5
• Normal weight: 18.5-24.9
• Overweight: 25-29.9
• Obese: 30-39.9
• Morbidly obese: 40 and above

Circuit Training: Utilizing a group of 5 to 10 exercises one after the other. Each exercise has a designated amount of reps and time before moving on to the next. There is only a few seconds between the completes of your reps on each exercise, but a longer break in between circuits.

Free Weights: These are any barbells or dumbbells that are not attached to a machine.

Lean Body Mass: Everything left in the body when all of the body fat has been eliminated. This includes bones, organs, skin, nails, and all body tissues including muscle. About 50-60% of your lean body mass is water.

Max: Maximum weight you can do for one repetition of an exercise.

Overload: The amount of weight that you force a muscle to use that is over its normal strength capacity. Overloading a muscle causes the muscle to grow.

Volume Training: Doing a very high number of sets for each body part when weight training with lighter weights. This is to enhance shaping.