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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

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

Get fit at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

What does fit mean?

Occasionally we face a client who is pretty skinny and still wants to lose weight. Often they just talk about a couple of pounds, not more. So why is it, that I feel the need to write about it?

That is simple: These people, might have a skewed view of what it means to be healthy. Being 27extraordinarily skinny is definitely not healthy, or fit. But years and years of conditioning have created a paranoia and fear of the scale. They fear, that if they weigh a couple of pounds more that they are being overweight.

Instead of losing weight I propose to change body composition, since many are so called “skinny-fat”, meaning they have a relatively high body fat percentage and little lean muscle mass.

Nobody needs to become a heavy duty weight lifter, runners but they should be able to lift more than a 5 lbs dumbbell without breaking a sweat. Everyone should have good basic physical strength and decent cardiovascular abilities since both promote health.

My call to action

Screw skinny. Make healthy and fit your new goal. If you want a six pack that is fine, but it is not a requirement to be healthy. We should not strive to look like a starved, hungry person but like someone who is fit and healthy. If you are close to your ideal body weight and you start a fitness routine don’t freak out if you gain a couple of pounds. Most likely it will be muscle mass.

Use your clothes and body fat

Instead of being obsessed with the scale look how your clothes fit. Check your bodyfat percentage. If the numbers improve, you are doing well. But even here make sure that you don’t drop too low, because it can mess with your hormone household, see below

What is fit and healthy?

A healthy body fat percentage for men is between 6-20% and for women between 16-30% body fat. The closer you get to the lower number the more strict you will have to be with your eating, lifestyle, & training habits. The range below those numbers is usually reserved for elite bodybuilders and fitness models on contest day and during photo shoots. Those numbers are rarely maintained and staying there for a prolonged period of time can have a negative impact on a couple of things:

  • Loss of sexdrive
  • Low testosterone levels (men)
  • Disordered eating
  • Social isolation
  • An unbalanced life
  • Amenorrhea (women)

If you are interested in more detailed please read this article by Precision Nutrition.

I hope I made a case for being fit versus skinny.

Have an awesome day

 

 

Fitness Trackers and their efficiency at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting, leader in personal training in Charlotte

Do Fitness Apps/Gadgets Work for You?

  • Fitness Apps are often too simplistic by using calories in and out models
  • Fitness apps might lead to “permitting yourself to eat crappy”
  • “Have to” does not work in the long run
  • Accuracy of equipment is often shaky

Calories in versus Calories out

A lot of fitness applications, may they be regular apps, fitness bands, etc follow one fundamentally flawed principal: calories in versus calories out. Hormones & medications can have strong influences on weight gain or weight loss. Hormone levels, quality of foods, food combinations, all those things play a major role in how our body gains, maintains or loses weight. The old adage of simply reducing calories does not work for everyone.

Sir, permission to eat crappy, sir!

Fitness apps not only oversimplify weight loss but they often overestimate the energy being used to do a certain activity by neglecting to subtract the regular daily burn from your “exercise calories” . What does this mean? Well, apps often calculate your average burn and then “award you” additional calories for working out. What this does not take into account is that the average burn calculated included the time that you were exercising. Ergo, you would have to subtract this from the additional amount. You see where this is getting complicated. In addition calories from your food intake can vary by up to 25 depending on accuracy of measurement, food combinations, etc.

There is an additional psychological effect. Just the thought of exercising, training, etc, gives our brain the permission to eat more, reward ourselves for efforts, even if they have not been done yet.

You have to! (I think not!!!)

How do you feel when someone or something tells you that you have to do something? We often rebel unconsciously against any form of musts and quit after a certain amount of time. Slower changes over the course of time leading to wholesome, nutrient rich, and sustainable food intake are more effective in the long run.

Accurate? Not so much!

The accuracy of the equipment is often questionable like some reviews have shown. Enough said.

Conclusion

We use one fitness app in our studio. Myfitnesspal. But we use in a different way. We mostly disregard caloric intake. We focus instead on food quality, portions, etc. based on their goals and body type. The key is to keep things easy and doable. This will change the more sophisticated your goals become.

Clients who have more experience in nutrition and are looking to work on high end performance, really low body fat goals (below 10% BF) etc will have to structure their food intake a little bit more accurately and calories, grams of carbohydrates, proteins and fats will come into play. Still at this point calorie in vs calorie out does not represent everyone the same way. It needs to be customized, adjusted over time and constantly monitored.

Our clients are successful. You don’t have to become a food-nazi to be healthy, you don’t have to have a fitbit, etc.  but you need to follow the 80/20 rule. 80 % of the time you need to follow your plan. If you deviate off of it 20% of the time, then you will have good results and be healthy. You won’t be a fitness model which does not necessarily represent healthy lifestyle and eating habits either since it is on the other extreme of the spectrum.

To create permanent change you need to go from ‘have to’ to ‘want to’. This will not happen with an extreme competitor’s diet, calorie counting, etc. It will only work with guiding someone’s mindset to a healthy lifestyle that does not obsess over food and exercise.

Sometimes using less gadgets, less rules lead to more compliance because we don’t use apps and gadgets to give us permission to eat badly. Many people have (ab-)used fitness to purge after a bad meal. Whereas doing this once or twice is not a problem it can become a habit and lead to disordered eating.

Check out our 21-Day Fat Furnace to get help accomplish your goals!

Have an awesome day,

Michael

 

 

Sleep deprivation can lead to loss of fitness - Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting

Fitness & Weight Loss Through Sleep

Things You need to Know

  • Sleep deprivation can affect your body’s insulin sensitivity
  • You will feel an increase in appetite
  • You will feel a decrease in satiation after taking in food
  • Cortisol levels don’t change in total numbers but you have more exposure throughout the day.
  • Testosterone production can be reduced by 10-30% after just a couple of days with sleep deprivation.
  • Sleep cannot be ignored if you want to be successful

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Insulin

Even one night of partial sleep deprivation can have a negative impact on your body’s insulin sensitivity. What does that mean for you? If your body does not respond well to insulin it is more likely to store energy in form of fat. Secondly your body will increase the insulin output which could lead to an early exhaustion of the pancreatic beta cells, the ones producing insulin and bring you one step closer to being a diabetic.

Increased Appetite, Increased Hunger

Sleep deprivation can lead to a decrease in leptin. Leptin is a master hormone in charge of hunger feelings and satiety. It being reduced can lead to an increased appetite while at the same time just not being able to get satisfied. The next time you are burning the midnight oil and are ravenous the following day, remember that the lack of sleep is what did it to you.

In comes another player, Ghrelin. Ghrelin is responsible for hunger. If you have foregone sleep for a while your ghrelin levels are elevated. Higher levels of ghrelin are associated with higher levels of hunger. In combination with lower levels of Leptin you are in for a day of uncontrolled feasting.

Cortisol

A hormone that is connected to increased visceral body fat distribution (belly fat and organs) is an important stress hormone. We are usually exposed to higher levels in the morning and it tapers off throughout the day. Sleep deprivation will not increase the cortisol levels necessarily but reduces the peak in the morning and increases the exposure during the day, changing the normal hormone rhythm. This could lead to

  • decreased cognitive functions
  • decreased muscle tissues
  • decreased bone density
  • blood sugar disbalance
  • compromised immune system.

 Testosterone

If you are trying to get stronger or gain some lean muscle mass, you need all the testosterone levels you can get [naturally]. Losing sleep can really reduce testosterone levels. There is no conclusive data on how much exactly but at the moment it is about 10-30%. This reduction happened within 24 hours of sleep reduction.

Conclusion

If you really want to be successful you cannot ignore sleep like it is something for pantsies. Quite the opposite, sleep is something for people who want to be successful. The effects described here are just a few. There are many more. If you want to kick some butt in any aspects of life, you cannot disregard sleep as an important factor.

Check us out at www.charlottepersonaltrainer.org if you want us to help you accomplish your goals!

 

Michael

Karen at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting training with personal trainer Troy Groce

Fitness Is Like Building a House – 4 Essentials to a Fitter You

We live in a society that craves the instant fix. Fitness on the other hand

has nothing to do with an instant fix and everything to do with building a house.

Just like in constructions there are short cuts that can be taken. The problem is though that the house of cards can fall apart pretty easily.

The essential building stones for success in fitness are pretty straight forward:

  1. Stress Reduction: I cannot emphasize it enough. Negative stressors are big when it comes to influencing our success negatively. If you are a procrastinator, you are setting yourself up for failure. If you struggles in your relationship, in your job or other personally important areas, don’t wait until tomorrow until you address it. Make a positive change today and see yourself take off in your journey to a slimmer, fitter, or stronger you!
  2. Sleep Deprivation: I feel like this one is in every blog post of mine. Well, there is a reason for it. Sleep is important for brain function, hormone levels, healing processes, etc. It also messes with our appetite and feeling of satiation. Most people need at least 6.5 hours of sleep.
  3. Food Preparation: Most people eating 200-400 kcal more a day if they eat out at some point during the day. Over the course of the week that is up to 2800 kcal of additional food intake. If you are unable to prepare your own food, or you simply don’t like it, you can always use food preparation services like “Custom Fit Meals” or “ModPaleo”.
  4. Training: Someone trying to lose weight / BF will have optimum results by working out 5-7 hours per week.

If you are looking to gain muscle mass and usually struggle with it, then cardio training should be at a minimum. If you are looking to lose weight then you need to focus on a good mix of strength training, combined with high intensity interval training can melt the fat right off.

The more effort you put in, the more success you will have in the long run. Time to get started today. Let us help you get on the right track!

Have a great day,

Michael

 

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

5 Myths about your Weight Loss Goals in 2015

News Resolutions are on their way, hopefully, successful. Sadly the statistics tell us otherwise.

Fat Loss at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting
Planning to have flat abs?

60% of people give up by March. More than 80% of people are not successful.

I want you to succeed. I want you to make this year the year that you are going all the way in your fitness goals. Today’s blog is about fat loss.

Myths that can cost you your weight/fat loss success:

  • Myth 1: Unprocessed food will lead to fat loss, guaranteed: While I am a big proponent of eating minimally processed food, it does not mean you have an “All You Can Eat Permission”. It is simply not true. In order to be healthy, lose fat and look the way you want, you need to make changes. Eating a clean diet consisting of minimally or unprocessed foods is a big step towards it. It is rich in vitamins, minerals, fibers, protein, phytonutrients, etc. That does not mean you can eat as much as you want though. Check out my “Fall Fat Flush” for more information on how your food intake can look like. The amounts of food are just as important. Eating too little or too much can sabotage your goals.
  • Myth 2: Steady State Cardio is Bad, High Intensity Training (HIIT) is good: You need to get away from absolutes. If you decide to go on a long walk or a 3 mile run without throwing intervals into it, you still rev up your metabolism for that time period. Given, HIIT has shown to be highly effective in increasing your metabolism for up to hours after you are done, and it is shorter, but, it is also a higher stress on your system and should not be done more than 2-3 times a week. You might have to build a good base before doing it, or your health situation might not  permit you to do HIIT training currently. Different cardiovascular training methods fulfill different needs.
  • Myth 3: Strength Training is all you need to lose weight: While it is true that strength training is an integral part of a well designed weight/fat loss program because it increases lean fat burning muscle, it won’t be successful without a sound approach to nutrition. In addition our sedentary lifestyles have lead to an increased need for cardiovascular activity in order to maintain health and a relatively high metabolic output. Simply put: We don’t physically work anymore to do our jobs therefore our energy needs are low. I consider even my job as a trainer fairly sedentary. Any physical activity will help.
  • Myth 4: Supplements are necessary to lose weight: That is total nonsense. Most supplements are a complete waste of time and money. Just because something has a 5 star rating on a seller’s page does not mean it works. There are a few supplements that can assist in your fat loss program, but almost all can have interactions with medications that you might be taking.
  • Myth 5: I need to do a complete kitchen makeover in order to be successful: It all depends on what you want to accomplish.  If you are overweight and you want to lose a couple of pounds, the changes necessary are not nearly as big as someone who wants to go from 10% body fat to 5%. It is true, the bigger the effort the bigger the results. That does not mean that by implementing a couple of small changes every 1-2 weeks you won’t have reached your goals by the end of the year.

I hope this was helpful to you. If you are looking for help with your success this coming year then give us a call at 704 777 3743 or email us at michael@charlottepersonaltrainer.org, or check our New Client Special out by clicking here. Mention 5 Myths about your weight loss goal to get an additional 5% off!

Have an awesome day,

 

Michael

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