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The Truth About Weight Loss

The truth about weight loss by one of the most successful personal trainers in Charlotte

I recently read an article on NPR that said that the average American male is 5’9″ tall weighs 195.5 lbs, and has a waist circumference of 39.7″.
Women don’t do much better; the average woman is 5’4″, weighs 166.2 lbs and has a waist of 37.5″.
Being overweight is the new normal. The average woman’s BMI is 28.5; the average man sits comfortably at 28.9, to put that into perspective, the healthy BMI range is considered 18.5-24.9. We are considered overweight between 25 and 29.9 and obese above that. I am mentioning these facts, not to shame anyone, quite the opposite, we need to be aware of this situation to act.
Going back to our statistic, we quickly realize that we are not far away from being obese on average, as a country. The increased risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, mental illness, arthritis, etc. grows exponentially.Family watching TV and eating pizza
Now, if you are savvy, you will tell me that BMI does not distinguish between body fat and lean muscle mass. You are correct about that. It does not matter, though. The reason for that is simple. Only 20% of Americans get the minimal dose of exercise needed, and those who do are between the age of 18 and 24. While the other 80% are busy busting their butt at work, their family, sitting on the couch or stuffing their face.

How can I be so flippant and insulting? I do not intend to be; it shows a simple reality in life. Once life hits, meaning family, work, grad school, etc. all of the energy available goes towards making a living, raising a family and making ends meet. By the end of the day, the long hours without break take their toll. We break down. We sit on the couch, watching Netflix or Sports, living vicariously through some drama blaring out of the Zombie Box (TV), our phone, tablet, etc. All the while we eat sugary, fatty delights created by the food industry to light up our brain like a Christmas tree and give us the well-deserved Dopamine release we craved for all day and did not get. We are trying to drown our stress, emotional discomfort, and sorrows with food-porn and TV.

Weight Loss is not easy

Against all the propaganda that Fitness Magazines or the whole Fitness Industry spout, losing weight is not easy and not for the reasons that you think.

sport, fitness, healthy lifestyle and people concept - close up of man in fitness bracelet with jar and bottle preparing protein shake

The Job

Very few of my clients work only eight hours a day; they work more like 10-12 hours a day, take work home with them and might even put work in on the weekends. Due to the fear of not being good enough, we are often incapable of saying no to colleagues, projects, and requests. We load ourselves up with more and more tasks or let other people do it for us. Research shows that slaving away is not adding to productivity, but rather takes away from it.
After a particular time, we are just less productive, for some that happens after 40 hours, for others after 50.
– find out what your peak hours of productivity are and do your most important tasks then
– schedule your time in 45-90 min increments
– Cut down on interruptions. Tell co-workers not to bother you at certain times.

The Family

A family is one of the most beautiful things in the world. I love my kids, my wife. I love spending time with them, playing, or simply having a conversation with Jessie, the wife mentioned above. Nevertheless, they can be exhausting, not just physically but emotionally as well. My wife might have a bad day at work, my child trouble at pre-school and I, well, I have a whole host of issues…. On top of it, I am an introvert working in a field suited best for extroverts. I need to re-charge my energy at some point, preferably alone.
You might have a similar experience in your life, or it might be slightly different. The point is, as much as a family can add value, joy, fulfillment and happiness to our life, it can also be hard, draining, and exhausting at times.
It is important to admit to yourself your needs and feelings and find a good way to communicate with the rest of the family those needs. I am a food addict. I don’t look like it but trust me, when I say that my relationship with food is not the healthiest at times.
In my work as a personal trainer and coach, working online and in person with clients, I have noticed that many of my clients never talk to their partner, family, or friends about their goals, needs, and wishes.
Ergo, they do not have the support at home that they could have, if they were to open up.

The Distractions

Google defines distractions as “a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.”
I think that pretty much defines us as a society by now. While driving home, I see people reading books, eating, drinking, being on Facebook, on the phone…and they all sit in the car and drive while doing that. Clearly, I have never pursued any of those activities, yeah, right! We are always distracted nowadays. The inability to concentrate on one thing lets us be less productive at work. The estimate in 2014 was that workers spend about 25% of their work-time on social media.
It might come as a surprise to you, but you could work less with a dedicated time each day to check social media, email, etc. Focus on what is crucial and then dial in on goals like weight loss.

Emotional Issues, Stress, Etc.

Yes, I am touching a “touchy” subject. See a therapist, yes, you, me and the rest of the world. As an alternative, you might find a group that has similar interests, a friend, a church group, or group therapy. We all have our struggles in life, and it seems that the “Lone Wolf” attitude is quite pervasive in our society. We have the need to make it alone, not to talk about issues, voicing them. I am not sure, how often I have heard that therapy did not work, that they could not find a good therapist. I agree, it is not easy, just like with any other profession, just going to school does not make someone inherently good at something. Book knowledge is not everything and especially in regards to all things of the mind; we cannot connect to everyone. It takes work.
Many people coming to personal trainers struggle with identity issues, happiness, feeling fulfilled. They often feel like they don’t contribute to society and their symptom is food. To make a difference in your life, consider talking to someone.

Grocery Stores

Grocery stores are created by evil little minions employed by the food industry to sell you junk. As much as I have to giggle (yes, I can giggle) at that thought, there is some truth to that. Have you every noticed the layout of a grocery store? All the junk is on the inside, well, most of it, while produce, meats, etc. are on the outside. That has changed over the past couple of years, and you can find all sorts of “specials” on the outside just waiting to catch your eye and, more importantly, the memory of your taste buds indulging in hyper-palatable foods created by the food industry. Should you have been able to navigate the grocery, you will have to approach the cash register. You dread it because you see more offers of terrible crap food on the end of the aisles, as well as the little “goodies,” left and right while you are waiting patiently for your turn to pay up, in health and money.
Grocery stores are designed to sell, to make a maximum amount of profit. There is nothing wrong with that. We just need to be aware of the strategies behind food placement in stores.

Conclusion

Without having written much about food, we can see already that there are numerous reasons for us to fail in our endeavor for a healthier life, a life without surplus amounts of body fat. When clients of mine fail to accomplish their goals, it is usually because of these issues.
Our nutrition coaching program is set up for a year. You might think it too long. You might believe that success can be accomplished in a short period. You are correct, it can, for a short while. In 2010 a study showed that 35% of people were able to maintain a weight loss of 5% body weight for about one year, 17.5% were able to sustain a weight loss of 10%, 8.3% lost 15% and 4.4% maintained a weight loss of 20%.
What does that mean in reality:
Let’s pick a male 195 lbs:
A 5% weight loss = down to 185.25 lbs
10% weight loss= 175.5 lbs
15% weight loss 165.75lbs

If we look at our average female 166.2 lbs, the numbers would be:
5% weight loss = 157.89 lbs
10% weight loss = 149.58 lbs
15% weight loss = 141.27 lbs

Those numbers don’t look that terrible and would be a real improvement if the problem was not that they are talking about maintenance of weight loss for one year.
The goal is to keep the weight off for the rest of your life. That is only possible by establishing healthy habits, looking at your motivations, the obstacles, and challenges that you have every life and dealing with them.

Action Steps

I want to give you three action steps that are underrated but necessary to be successful.
For satiation to set in, we have to take time eating. Anything you eat within 20 min, almost regardless the amount won’t let you feel full and satisfied. That process needs about 20-25 min. So, going forward put the fork down in between bites, chew your food longer, take your time. You will find that you eat less, by eating more slowly.
The next step is awareness, make a point of actually enjoying your food. Sit down and turn off the Zombie box and enjoy your food, instead of shoving food mindlessly into your mouth.
The third step asks you to eat when you are hungry. Try to rate your hunger on a scale of 1-10. Eat when you are around 7, just don’t go grocery shopping at that point. You would be surprised what finds its way into your basket.
The fourth step is eating until you are 80% full. Eat when you are hungry, not at a given time. Eat until your 80% limit then stop, regardless what is left on the plate.

If you want to learn more about our nutrition coaching, please contact us at michael@charlottepersonaltrainer.org

Have an awesome day,

Michael

Personal Trainers at Shape Up Helping With Your Fitness While Traveling

6 Hacks on How to Stay on Track When Traveling

A lot of people have to travel regularly. They often come to my facility and tell me that they are doing great while in town, but every time they travel, they have business dinners, luncheons, and no place to cook.

Bloated Food Intake

The USDA posted in 2010 that a person eating out one meal a day eats about 150-180 kcal/meal more than they would when staying in. This can mean that during the days you are gone you can eat anywhere from 450 kcal to 600 kcal more than you would on any given day at home. No wonder you struggled to reach your goals.

Hack Your Trip

It is definitely not easy to eat healthily while being gone but there are some ways you can stay on top of your nutrition, and not sabotage yourself:

  • You might not be able to pick the hotel you go to, but you can pick the restaurant you are going to eat at. Before your trip browse menus of local restaurants and look at their healthy options. Choose veggies, protein, some fat and follow the 80% rule. Stop eating when you are about 80% full (you should not be hungry for 3 hours). You know you had too much if you have to open your belt or loosen your waist band :). As always fried foods etc are off limits [insert common sense].
  • If there are not any local restaurants with healthy options use postmate to have food delivered to you.
  • Choose a room with a kitchenette and prep your food on site. Ask the hotel staff for a local grocery store or do some research online prior to your visit!
  • Something that works for some people is shipping your food prior to your trip. Not necessarily my preferred method, but whatever works for you!
  • If you are driving you can always bring a big cooler with food in it. This way you have food for the trip itself and after your arrival, giving you some time to scope the area!
  • Bring powdered veggies, protein or homemade bars

Those are just a couple of hacks you can use to stay on track while you are gone.

Now, I need a drink!

The one issue I have not addressed yet is drinking. As much as you might like your [insert preferred alcoholic beverage], it contains mostly empty calories. Yeah, yeah, wine is good for you, blah, blah. Let’s be honest: You, living an overall healthy life will do more for you, then a glass of wine a day.

Having said that 🙂 I understand that you actually might enjoy a glass of x here and there, and that some perceive it being a social a must…. If you want to drink alcoholic beverages, then have one drink followed by 20 oz of water. It will let you be part of the group but cut down tremendously on your consumption of empty calories and as a nice side benefit: the headache the next day. Your body, as well as your self perception will thank you!

Conclusion

Traveling is not easy on your body and eating habits but it can be managed. Make the right choices and see the body fat melt off. If you are looking for more help with your goals contact me at michael at charlottepersonaltrainer.org.

Have an amazing day,

 

Michael

 

 

Solid nutrition advice at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

Supplementation – What do you really need?

This question arises quite frequently with our online or offline personal training clients. The concern is real and there are definitely sometimes advantages to supplementing. The problem is that the fitness & supplement industry has muddied the waters when it comes to what you really need.

What supplementation do you really need?

This brings me to the first question. What do you really need. Most of us listen to some fellow lifters, weight loss colleagues, etc. What works for them will work for you and me. Well, that can be dangerous, inefficient, or expensive and at its worst all three.

How to identify your need?

Urine & blood testing might be the best option to really identify what you need. The problem is the expense.

There are a couple of other options.

  1. Identify your goals: weight loss, recovery, performance, muscle gain, etc.
  2. Write down your basic diet for one week, don’t change anything
  3. Analyze the diet for the following factors
    1. Macro-Nutrient Intake: carbs, protein, fats.
    2. Vegetable intake
    3. Fruit intake
    4. Nutrition during exercise
  4. Sleep patterns

Goal based supplementation

  1. Weight Loss: weight loss supplementation is sketchy at best. Some of the supplements that work can have interactions with medications. You should consult your physician before randomly using supplements.
    1. 2 Cups of coffee per day spaced throughout the day then add
    2. 2x10mg of synephrine, get used to it, then add
    3. 2x 90 mg of salicin (white willow extract)
  2. Muscle Gain
    1. Carb+Protein drink during workout (30g of carbs+10-15g of protein)
    2. Creatine 5g/day, no loading phase necessary, basic creatine monohydrate the best
    3. Nitrate through 500g of your chosen veggie like beets
  3. Injury Recovery
    1. 1.5-2.0 g of protein / kg of weight; in g/lbs = a little bit under 1g/lb
    2. Supplementation of 3-9g of fish oil/day (too high of anti-inflammatory response can reduce healing)
    3. Avoid oral Vitamin E supplementation, since it may slow healing
    4. Vitamin A may be taken by up to 10,000 UI daily for week 1-2 of an acute injury but will build up toxicity.
    5. 1-2g of Vitamin C can help recovery from surgery, injury and ulcers
    6. Turmeric can be taken to up to 8g without contraindications. It has a poor oral bioavailability and should be taken with black pepper extract (piperine).

Nutrition based supplementation

We are talking about good basic nutrition. I know you have a busy life. That is why I had you write down your nutrition for 5 days. It will give us some ideas on where we can help with nutrition.

  1. If you are low in carbs, don’t worry about it, you usually do not need to supplement it  unless you are an endurance athlete and need a higher carb intake.
  2. If you are low in omega-3 fatty acid, because of your fat sources you can supplement 3-5g/day with some high quality fish oil
  3. If you are low in protein, we recommend supplementing with a high quality whey/vegetable protein. A minimum of 0.8g / kg if you are completely sedentary, up to 2g/kg as an athlete
  4. If you are low on veggies & fruit on some days you can supplement with a freeze-dried greens & fruit product on those days, as well as some fiber, if your diet is low fiber.
  5. If you have weight gain goals, or performance goals you want to make sure to eat during workouts longer than 60 min and or workouts in the early morning. A mix of carbs+protein comes in handy (mentioned above).

Sleep & Recovery

If you are not sleeping enough  (<7 hours). You should definitely see what the cause is:

  1. Do you allow enough sleep? allow 7.5 hours of sleep at least
  2. Do you have the television on, or watch movies or read on your tablet? It will interrupt your melatonin production. You can get a blue light filter app for your device or nerdy glasses 🙂
  3. Are you a worrier? Write down the things that go on in your mind and take a 10 min warm to hot foot bath. It helps you to relax
  4. If all of these fail to improve your sleep:
    1. 200 mg of magnesium citrate or malate can help as a base
    2. 600 mg of lemon balm and 80 mg of lavender oil can work for people who have intrusive thoughts or anxiety. Take it 30 min prior to your bed time
    3. If you have trouble falling asleep take the magnesium and 500 mcg of melatonin 30 min before going to bed.

Conclusion

Supplements should always be exactly that: they should supplement your nutrition and your lifestyle. They are not a replacement and should not be abused. Make a serious effort in order to get your ducks lined up in a  row.

 

Have an awesome day,

Michael

References:

Examine.com
Berardi, J. & Andrews, R. (2013). The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition. Precision Nutrition

 

Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting Nutrition Fat Loss

Are Low Carbs Diet Dead?

Recently a new posted study gained a lot of attention from the media proclaiming that the Low-Carb Diets are not as effective as Low-Fat diets. I am grateful to the people at Examine.com who looked more closely at the study design to try to figure out what this study really means. This post will just summarize shortly what the article has to say. If you are interested you are welcome to read the article here: Really Low Fat vs. Somewhat Low Carb

Study Make-Up

  • It was a six day study
  • 19 volunteers resided in a metabolic unit
  • Calories were reduced by 30% in both group (352g of carbs w/ 17g of fat vs 140g of carbs w/ 108g fat)
  • steady protein intake
  • exercised 1 hour/day on a treadmill
  • both groups went through both protocols after a 2-4 week break
  • Body fat analysis via indirect calorimetry

Results:

This is where it gets interesting. The “low carb group” had a decreased metabolism of about 98 kcal, while the “low fat group” had a drop of 50 kcal. This difference is not high enough to explain the variation in fat loss.

We need to understand that this study did not compare apples with apples. They used a really low fat diet and a moderately low carb diet, if they wanted to go to an extreme on the low carb diet like they had on the low fat diet and keep it equal their fat intake would have had to be in the negative, which is hardly possible.

The fat metabolism at least in the short run is dependent on glycogen as well. This could be one of the reasons for the difference in outcome compared to a steady state glycogen in the long run.

Really low carb studies have shown to lead to a slightly higher fat loss over a 6 month period but after that seem to even out with a low fat diet. In addition most low carb diets usually make up for a higher protein intake which helps fat loss.

Like the authors of Examine.com mentioned, this study was designed to see the results over a short term period. The research shows that you lose body fat on a low carb diet or a low fat diet. In the end, what matters most is the ability to adhere to it.

Nowhere was the actual food mentioned in the article. A whole foods, minimally processed, diet has many advantageous independently of the macro-nutrient intake. Fat loss is not the only factor to measure success by, like a recent study showed comparing diets heavy in meat or cheese to a high carb diet. The meat and cheese diet improved cardiovascular risk markers significantly compared to the high carb diet.

Conclusion: Don’t buy the media hype

The study was designed to fill in some of the gaps in nutrition it does not prove or disprove the effectiveness of any diet.

If you are in the process of cleaning up your diet, reducing junk food, eating more whole foods you are probably one step ahead. You can lose weight on a low fat diet or on a lower carb diet but you cannot out-train your food intake!

Nutrition Consultation at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

Food Sensitive? An Elimination Diet Might Help

According to Berardi & Andrews (2013) 3 out of 4 people have some form of food intolerance. These food intolerances are uniquely individual, some of which are benign, while others can lead to serious gastro-intestinal distress, hives, headaches, ulcers, stuffy nose, mucus build up in the lungs, etc.

If you suspect that you have some of these issues and want to address them, you can have yourself tested in a lab for a lot of money. I am not judging it. It is a legit path but the food elimination diet is still the gold standard.

If you want to figure out if you have issues with some of the most common food allergies and intolerances you need to be aware of them:

Common food allergies

  • in adults:
    • eggs
    • milk
    • fish
    • nuts
    • corn
  • in children:
    • eggs
    • milk
    • wheat
    • nuts
    • soy

Common food intolerances

  • gluten
  • dairy
  • fructose
  • yeast

Food allergies are the worse of the two. Some of you might have been hospitalized because allergies to certain foods but that does not mean that food sensitivites or gastric reactions do not have severe impacts on someone’s life.  Here are just some of the disorders and diseases caused or impacted by food sensitivities are:

  • asthma
  • autoimmune disorder
  • skin conditions
  • arthritis
  • ADD / ADHD
  • etc.

After you have removed the most common causes for food sensitivities, allergies for six to eight weeks you reintroduce them one by one. You might find out that you actually got rid of the issues. If your problem reappears you can simply remove the food from your diet and you should no longer have any issues.

Going in depth

I do not need to reinvent the wheel. Berardi wrote an excellent article with explanation on how to proceed best with food sensitivites. Here is the link to his article. Precision Nutrition: Elimination Diet.

Make sure to talk to your healthcare professional before embarking on this endeavor.

Yours in health & fitness,

Michael

Nutritional Advice at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

When should I eat? How much should I eat? When should I stop eating?

Many of our personal training clients seeking weight loss ask us questions like these:

  • Should I eat breakfast
  • What should I eat for breakfast
  • Can I skip lunch?
  • Should I not eat after 6 or 7 pm?

Should I eat breakfast if I want to lose body fat, or can I just skip it?

That is actually an excellent question. As you can see with Intermittent Fasting skipping breakfast can be actually beneficial for some people in order to lose body fat and improve their body composition.

On the other hand, some people skip breakfast and then just wolf down so much food in the following meals that it not only offsets their skipped breakfast but they super-compensate.

Conclusion: If you want to follow an intermittent fasting diet, make sure that you plan it out properly.  At the same time skipping a meal here and there will not do you any harm as long as you don’t go off the rails because of it.

I have decided I want to eat breakfast but don’t know what to eat

Breakfast seems to be difficult for many people and one approach hardly fits everyone. We like to tell people that your dinner and your breakfast could look pretty much identical. Veggies, protein and some starchy carbs if you have worked out prior to breakfast.

The problem with that suggestion is simple. Some people cannot do it. We need to adjust for that. Some breakfast options that are healthy are the following:

  • plain Greek yogurt or regular yogurt, some frozen fruit w/ raw honey (1 1tsp)
  • whey protein mixed with almond milk, one serving of fruit and possibly one Tbsp of almond butter or peanut butter
  • omelet or egg muffins with spinach, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, maybe some meat
  • sauteed veggies with some stir fry meat
  • veggie pan cakes with some scrambled eggs.

Can I skip lunch?

I prefer for you not to skip lunch. Here is the reason why: Most people seem to completely derail in the afternoon or evening and start binging on crap food. Now I also understand that it is not always easy to get lunch in. Meetings, work, etc can get in the way. Have alternatives ready if you cannot tear yourself away for 10-15 min to eat your lunch:

  • Protein Bars: Even though I am not a big fan of them, they can be used for the occasional meal replacement. Look at the KIND bars or Quest bars. I personally don’t like them but as a quick fix on a stressful day they will do.
  • Green smoothie: if you have a thermos you can mix some whey protein with frozen fruit and some kale or other dark greens, almond milk or water and if you like the taste add some nut butter. You just covered protein, veggie and fruit intake for lunch and it is super healthy.
  • Nuts; All you have are some nuts? Well, that is better than nothing. Have some almonds or walnuts to get you safely across the food gap and have a later lunch.

Should I eat after 6 or 7 pm?

That is a pretty general question. If you are heading to bed 5 min later it is probably not a good idea to have a heavy meal just before then. I usually recommend clients to stop eating one to two hours prior to bed time. This way the body has time to digest and sleep quality is not necessarily impaired. Ingesting a heavy meal just before bed time can definitely mess with your sleep, especially if you have trouble sleeping to begin with.

 

 

Get ready for the summer w/ Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

Beginner’s Summer Fitness Challenge 2015

Summer is approaching quickly and with it the sought after goal to look great in a bathing suit or bikini. Maybe you just want to be healthier than you are now. This Summer’s Fitness Challenge is designed to gradually increase your workout regimen and improve on your eating habits. It is a gradual approach and not a quick fix. By the end of summer you should see huge improvements in your overall fitness levels.

Beginner to Fitness

Each week we will add a a little bit to your routine. Keep doing what you have been doing and substitute or replace as required by the weekly suggestion. The video demonstrates all the exercises of this Summer Fitness Challenge:

Week 1

  • Every day: Walk 10 min a day at a brisk pace
  • Every day: Include veggies with lunch & dinner
  • Every two days: 2×10 bodyweight squats, 2×10 (modified) push ups, 2×15 band rows (attach to stair rail, etc. )

Week 2 

  • Increase your daily walk to 15 min a day
  • Start including proteins into your three major meals: pork, fish, beef, poultry, eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, etc.
  • Add 2×20 jumping jacks (or modified jumping jacks) +2x30s plank on knees or balls of feet

Week 3

  • Download a HIIT timer (high intensity intervals) to your phone. Set it to 30s on and 60s rest. Increase your speed for the 30s and walk as before during the rest phase. Stay with 15 min total. Do this every 2nd day while walking your regular 15 min every other day.
  • Decrease one of your vices (soda, diet soda, alcoholic beverages) by adding 16-20 oz of water in between drinks
  • Increase all of your sets by one (doing 3 instead of 2) for two of your strength training routines during the week

Week 4

  • Increase your pace during the intervals. If you cannot do that because of joint issues, take some hand weights with your or use nordic walking sticks.
  • Eat only until you are 80% full. Good gauge: after 1 hour of eating = not hungry, after 2 hours of eating = could eat some, after 3 hours of eating = hungry, after 4 hours of eating = starving.
  • Add 3x30s of dead bug (ab exercise) to your strength regimen

Week 5 

  • Increase your walking duration on non interval days by 5 min
  • If you sleep less than 6.5 hours, schedule a nap or go to bed 15-30 min earlier
  • Add one more set to all of your strength exercises.

This is a 5 week program. within 5 weeks you will make huge changes in your lifestyle without thinking that it is not accomplishable. You will notice an increased energy level, decreased body fat and you will definitely be overall fitter.

If you prefer a customized fitness transformation please contact us at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

Have a fit & healthy day,

Michael

Changing Nutrition Is Not Easy For Everyone! – A RANT

This blog is kind of a rant. It is a rant against being self-righteous. We need to pull back because here are some of the things we say to others and most

Habit Changes take time and will include setbacks
Habit Changes take time and will include setbacks

importantly to ourselves:

“You just need to cut down on the portions!”

“You are so lazy, just get up and work out!”

“Just quit drinking soda!”

“Why is that person so overweight?”

To a person with anxiety: “Just relax!”

These are just some of the things we say to ourselves, about others, or to others. Here is a newsflash. Do you really think that they/we don’t know that already? If it was that easy for us to do just that, I am pretty sure we/you/they would have done it already.

Life is more complicated

What comes easy to one of us, might be much more difficult to someone else. Our own personal experiences, fears, addictions, passions, believes enable us in different ways to cope with life. Sometimes food is one of those coping mechanisms. Whenever that is the case [which quite honestly, is quite common] we need to understand that millions of people in the USA have the same problems.

Compensating with food

Sometimes we need time to be alone with ourselves. We are so used to headsets, music, videos, books, anything that drowns out our little inner voice. Sometimes it is important to feel the pain, feelings, etc, that we associate with with wanting to compensate with food.  We need to experience it with compassion knowing that we are not alone with it.

Life does not go in a linear way. It never has and never will.

We need to understand that our coping mechanisms have evolved over decades. If we want to change them it will take love, compassion, hard work and the willingness to fail, just to try it again. We will have road blocks, there will be tough times when we lose a job, a partner or simply when we have a fight, or a bad day at work. We don’t succeed every day all day long, nobody does! It has nothing to do with willpower but with forming a habit. Nobody has enough willpower. We simply form habits which takes time. Time during which we may fail, again and again. Just don’t quit.

My Call To Action

This is my call to action: Whenever you see someone who obviously, or not so openly struggles bring them the benefit of the doubt. You don’t know what that person has going on in their life. If it is you, then call to mind the things that you have had to deal with in your life. Meet yourself with compassion and give yourself a “reset button” after you fail.

Just hit the reset button and restart the computer called “LIFE”. Start again and move on.

We cannot change anything in our past. But we can reshape the future, slowly. It takes time for new habits to form, new ways of life.

Judging is normal

You might think now: “What the heck?” He jus told me to be less judgemental. Well, good luck with it. Just like anything else it is a habit. We have learnt it over decades. You cannot just “not be judgemental” anymore. Just acknowledge when you are doing it, smile and move on, knowing what you are doing and work towards acceptance.

“Japanese: DO”

“Do” in japanese means way, ergo Karate-Do, means the way of Karate. It basically tells you that this is a journey. You won’t just get to the finish line and be able to yell: “Heck, I made it!” It is always work in progress.

Yours in health & fitness,

Michael Anders

Head Trainer Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

5 Foods That Might Add to Your Waist Line

We strongly encourage our clients to eat a diet consisting of whole foods, as unprocessed as

Nutrition at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting
Natural can still add to your waistline!

possible. Almost always clients are really successful in transforming their bodies, losing body fat, gaining lean muscle, looking healthy and fit.

When eating healthy foods goes wrong

Sometimes though it does not work. Even though they are eating as we suggested (or so I think) our clients transformation seems to stagnate or slow down. When this happens we recommend our clients to write down what they eat by using a site/app like MyFoodDiary. It is an easy way to find out what our clients exactly eat and it is simple to use.
The results are astonishing: Here are some of the foods that turned out to be Waist Busters:

  1. Honey: Even though honey is a natural product and in its raw form can have healthy qualities, it still is primarily sugar. Excessive amounts of honey definitely can add to your waistline and mess with your blood sugar if you are pre-diabetic or diabetic. Keep the total amount of honey to 1-2 Tbsp per day at the most when trying to lose weight or body fat.
  2. Dried Fruit: Fruit is fruit, right? Nope, dried fruit has a higher density of carbohydrates, lower number of phytonutrients and can have lead to the same problems as honey. When losing weight we recommend to stay away from dried fruit. We had a client who ate 3 lbs of dates in a week and he was wondering why he was not losing any weight. After getting him off his dried fruit diet, the weight came off as well.
  3. Protein Bars, Lara Bars, etc: Even though some of the bars are not a bad, they all have one thing in common, they are fairly nutrient dense but often don’t satisfy for as long as real foods. If you do not have a choice but to eat a bar because you are stuck in meetings, then go for a bars like the quest bar, who have a relatively small amount of carbohydrates but high protein content
  4. Organic Agave Syrup. It is 2-3 times as sweet as regular table sugar. Therefore a smaller amount would be needed. In the end WebMD recommends the use of honey if sweetener is necessary because it has marginally more health benefits.
  5. Fatty Meats: I don’t particularly have a problem with you eating fatty meats, since cholesterol in your food does rarely impact serum cholesterol in your blood. In addition the whole cholesterol debate is rather controversial by now anyway. The problem you are going to run in though is, extremely fatty meats will contribute to your overall caloric intake. Even though some representatives of the overall pretty healthy paleo diet claim that you can eat as much as you want, it is simply not true. If you are an chair-warrior who moves very little you can overeat.

Just because you eat a healthy, whole foods diet, does not mean that you can go out and eat as much as you want…I mean, you can but your waist will have a tendency to expand.

Having decent portion sizes are crucial for success. Here are some rough guidelines:

  1. Eat Until you are 80% full
  2. Eat 1 fistful of veggies with each meal, 2 if you are a man
  3. Eat 1 palm sized piece of protein with each meal, 2 if you are a man
  4. Eat 1/2 thumb size of fat with each meal, 1 if you are a man
  5. Eat 1 cupped handful of carbohydrates (2 if a man) directly after working out.

If you are interested in breaking through your barriers then find out more about us and get started by clicking here

Michael

Low Carb, Low Fat – Weight Loss Myths

People either ask me if they need to eat a low carb diet or if they need to avoid fats in order to lose weight and be healthy.

Low Carb or Low Fat? What works?
Low Carb or Low Fat? What works?

A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association states that there is no significant difference in weight loss after 6 to 12 months. Both methods worked well to lose weight. It did not take into account body composition. One year is not really a long time though. It would be interesting to know how it looks like after 5 years.

Low Fat Diets

They have been around for a couple of decades in order to fight heart disease. Despite those efforts the numbers have gotten worse. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the USA and we have more people struggling with overweight and obesity.

You can lose weight with this kind of diet. What we don’t know is the quality of food. What  are we eating “food-like” products or real foods? It all depends on choices made.

Low Carb Diets

Even though there are representative diets in this category like the paleo diet that focus on whole foods, that does not mean that most people do that. This diet is often criticized for not being sustainable for everyone. We face the same problem that we have with the low carb diet. I can stuff my face with foods that are not real foods anymore. There are thousands of products in every store.

The Alternative

We need to get away from Low fat this, this low carb that. Different people have different needs but there are some things we can agree on that work for most everyone.

  • Eat as unprocessed or minimally processed as possible. Be reasonable, you don’t have to eat your steak raw. It conserves nutrients that you won’t have otherwise or will have to be added artificially. Research seems to indicate that artificially added nutrients are not as efficient as naturally occurring ones.
  • You are fine to eat meat, poultry, fish. Focus on wild caught fish, pork or beef from grass-fed animals, etc.
  • Veggies are rich in vitamins, phytonutrients, fiber and have small amounts of complex carbohydrates. Go all out.
  • Fruits: Stay away from juices, they are high in sugar. I don’t care if it comes from fruits, it still can be hard on your system. Instead of that eat a banana, apple, mango, etc. Eat the fruit. Again they are rich in phytonutrients, vitamins and fiber (depending on the fruit)
  • Organic: This is a big topic. I prefer to have most of my foods from organic sources. Research is controversial but I am not sure I want to put GMO’s into my body.
  • Grains: They have become increasingly controversial. I have my greek yogurt in the morning and add 1/2 cup of oats. That is it. I usually don’t have more of it (unless I have fallen off the deep end, which does happen once in a while)

Have a great start into the week,

Michael

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