Simple Nutrition and Healthy Weight Loss Advice.

Simple Nutrition and Healthy Weight Loss Advice.

Long time no blog I know, but I have been busy studying and doing work to prepare for my Nutrition and Weight Loss Specialist Certification exam. I thought I would take some time and share some things I have learned and tips that I will share with my clients.

This is 4 liters of water. Start drinking.

Water Is the Most Important Nutrient for Your Body.

Water will not only curb your appetite, but is required for every important task your body does. You will not be able to digest your food, get nutrients form your food or grow muscle without water. Depending on activity you could consume 3 to even 6 liters of water a day!  Also, I would suggest you don’t get on the bandwagon of using additives or sports drinks in water.  Ideally, you should replenish electrolytes and carbohydrates via food. Replenishing these is only critical after an hour of vigorous exercise and even then, will only benefit performance after 20 minutes. So save that for your half marathon or marathon. Drink water and have a balanced meal after your workout. One of the things I do is put elastic bands around my water bottle. Each time I empty the bottle I move an elastic band down. So my bottle holds 600 ml, 5 bands start at the top, at the end of the day I should have 5 elastic bands at the bottom for 3 liters.

Fat is not bad, in fact you need it.

Some of your nutrients are fat-soluble. So that means they can only be used in the presence of fat.  Omega 3, 6, and 9 are important. Saturated fats are not all evil, but look at lightly processed or unprocessed fats. Coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, and fats from avocado and fish should be included in your pans and plates. If you would like to find out more about healthy dietary fat, check in next week. I will be writing all about the good, bad and ugly of fat.

Lastly, Unprocessed, Whole, Raw.

My training and my personal style encourage clients to enjoy raw, unprocessed and whole foods. It is very important to avoid things in cellophane bags, vending machines, laden with heavy preservatives. This is not as boring as you may think, and not dreadfully difficult. I am not asking you to cut out your treats, just re-think them. My process involves working with my clients and finding the negotiations and small changes in diet that have the biggest impact. Replace preprocessed candies and bars with dates and nuts with little bits of dark chocolate.  If you enjoy meat, eat the least processed as possible. Cut out sausage, hotdogs, even hamburgers and go for cuts of meat. Watch this space for more suggestions and tips on this to come.  

Don't like cooking. Try eating raw veggies with a little hummus. No cooking!

3 Things you can do to start losing weight right NOW.

Weight loss is a huge issue for most people and as a personal trainer, one of the top requests I get from clients. It is such a complicated issue that I will be taking a Nutrition & Weight Loss (NWL) Specialist certification class from CanFitPro in February.  Here are some simple steps you can take to get on the right track. I hate to be a downer or come across as a tough guy with this but really, just do this and no messing around! For some this will be the hardest task, but well worth it!

1.     Food Journal. 

Start a food journal RIGHT NOW. I would love to hear you started this as you were reading this sentence. Write down EVERYTHING that passes your lips for a week. Then a month. Water, gum, one potato chip EVERYTHING.  Here is a very short article that can give you instructions and even print out a template to record your findings. http://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/healthy-eating/keep-food-journal-10000000965749/

I do this because when I ask about diet, most people say, “I eat pretty healthy.” Lets quantify that and evaluate!

What is a portion size? Use this to estimate it.

http://education.wichita.edu/caduceus/examples/servings/handy_reminders.htm

If your thumb is an ounce of cheese, just by looking at Canada’s food guide;

How many of you have sat down and eaten 8 servings of cheese in one sitting BEFORE a meal.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/basics-base/quantit-eng.php

A food journal makes you GET REAL AND HONEST about your relationship to food.

2.     10,000 Steps a day.

You may have seen this before. Easy way to start losing weight is to become physically active in your everyday activities. This web page has some great tips. http://www.thewalkingsite.com/10000steps.html

Can’t find a parking space close to the grocery store, good!  A pedometer is a great way to keep you honest and quantify your activity. Most people find that the fist time they wear a pedometer, they are less active than they think. Walking is a great way to become more active and can even lower stress.

3.     Stop drinking soda and reduce alcohol consumption.

Full stop. No diet soda, don’t think low carb beer is that much better.  Nothing can sabotage your weight loss like soda and alcohol. There is nothing of benefit for you in a can of soda. If you intend to get rid of weight and consume soda, your progress will be hampered. Sports drinks are mostly sugar. Real food and water are always better. Commercials telling you that you have to squirt things in water to make you be a professional athlete are just trying to sell you stuff. Need some more energy? Have some black coffee and a piece of fruit. Also look at evaluate that latté.  Liquid calories are mostly useless and do not fill you up. So you will ingest calories like a meal, but not get full. Liquid calories will sabotage you every time.

Hopefully, you have noticed that other than possibly buying a pedometer, all of these tips are free and might actually SAVE YOU MONEY!  You can use that money to hire a personal trainer… ok sorry, had to do that. I am not saying this is easy, but could possibly be the most important three steps to weight loss.

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How to avoid awkward Gym moments.

How to avoid awkward Gym moments.

As New Year’s is around the corner, I thought would share some tips to some gym newbie so you feel less apprehensive at the gym. Don’t feel out of place. They gym is a place for everyone so here are some tips if you walk into the gym and want turn around and go right back out and hit up some fast food.

1.     Ask questions. Take advantage of the free tour. If your gym offers free sessions with a trainer take advantage of that as well. Remember, we are here to help!

2.     Don’t expect a great workout your first day. On your first day at a gym get acquainted with the building. Find out where the washrooms are, how the equipment works, read all those little signs posted about. This time will make your second trip much more efficient. If you have a personal trainer, they can stream line this process for you and make your fist day a great orientation and a good workout.

3.     Start by taking a group fitness class. You will get to know people like you and get a feel for the ‘vibe’ of the gym. There will be a lot of new people starting up so don’t feel like you are the only one.

4.     Go with a buddy. Dong the gym alone can be intimidating. Sometimes a friend can make you feel like less of a wallflower. But don’t get all chatty. You are there to work. Make a game plan before hand so you don’t waste time.

5.     Read all those wee instructions on any piece of equipment before you use it. I have a lot of experience in gyms and when I am traveling and go to a new gym I always read all instructions. Those are the manufacture’s instructions on safe use of the equipment and should be taken seriously. Reading instructions is not cheating!

6.     Sharing is Caring :)  Don’t hog equipment. For example:  if I do 3 sets of 10 repetitions and rest for 60 seconds (I do use a stop watch to keep me honest) in-between the sets.  If someone wants to use the same piece of equipment during my ‘rest period’ that is called “working in.” They use the equipment during my rest period and I use it during their rest period. This makes it possible for two people efficiently use the same piece of equipment.

7.     Good girls and boys put away their toys. When you are done with something, put it in the proper place, (even if you did not find it there) and clean off equipment. Now everyone can enjoy the equipment!

8.     Don’t crowd the rack. Doing your exercise in front of the weight rack means no one else can access the weights. Be mindful of your space and others.

9.     If you need use your phone or sit down and talk, find a chair; don’t use the equipment as furniture.

10. Start with low weight to get your form down, then go up. When I am doing a new workout or an exercise I have never done before, I will do a set first at low weight and low speed just to make sure I have correct form and I am safe. After that, I will do the exercise at my working weight.

These are just some tips. A health club or gym will be plenty of fun once you get into it and you will even look forward to going there! Just remember everyone was new once and nothing is the end of the world. Even those big muscle gorilla guys can be nice folks once you get to know them.  Use the staff at the gym, they are paid to help you and you should never feel like you are bothering them. Most of the time, gym staff gets bored, so having someone ask questions is really appreciated!

Why your New Year’s resolution will FAIL! Or how to avoid failure.

Chances are, if you have made a resolution this year, you will fail. I’m sorry. But I have been there too! So lets talk about ways to prevent failure by adjusting our goals and behavior.

First off, I start now. Right now. Don’t wait for New Year’s or anything else.

Second. Start by eating slowly and chewing your food! The good taste of food only happens on your tongue, so filling your belly to busting does not let you taste more food. Eating SLOW lets you get all the taste of food.

Third, fill your plate with veg first, then go around the buffet.

OK, now lets talk about setting goals. For this section I am going to reference Foundations of Professional Personal Training. Let’s talk about setting SMART Goals. Some of you may have seen this system in various other evaluation formats because it is a popular goal setting and assessment too. SMART goals are as follows:

S – Specific

M- Measurable

A-Action Oriented

R-Realistic

T-Timed

S – Specific

Do not be wishy washy. Bad examples: get fit. Eat healthy, lose weight.  Good examples: Increase my cardio and muscle mass, reduce fatty foods and eat vegetables every meal, get rid of 10 lbs of fat, have a 34 inch waist.  Vague goals mean you don’t intend to follow through or it is so difficult to hold yourself accountable, you wont be able to make or measure your progress.

M- Measurable

This can be, but not exclusively, a scale or tape measure. This can also be how you feel, number of days on the calendar you went to the gym or went for a walk, or your energy level. The main idea though is you are using some method to track progress and change things that are not working.

A-Action Oriented

There is no goal that does not have an associated ACTION. You must have something to do, and do it specifically! Think back to other failed resolutions… they failed because you took no action or the goal you set did not require action. What actions will lead to you decreasing your body fat? Be specific. Instead of “going to the gym” your action would be go to 3 group fitness classes every week and eat a serving of fresh vegetables every meal. Now you have something to DO and a time to do it.

R-Realistic

This is the big one for me. As a personal trainer, I can tell which of my clients is most likely to fail at the first meeting. The client that wants to workout 5 days a week and take up a radical diet wont last a month. Doing too much in too short of time is a losing proposition. Don’t chase the look on models for fitness magazines either. Those people (I know a couple) get the best look they can as a job, and also only look like that for the week the photos are to be taken. This is not a sustainable body. Try to pick goals that are sustainable. You change your lifestyle in a manageable way and the benefits follow.

T-Timed

Ok, don’t do the old  “by this time next year I will be 120 lbs, non-smoker, vegetarian.” You need to set a goal by the end of the month, end of the quarter, end of the year. Tracked progress is key. So by the end of week 2 I will have gone to 6 group fitness classes and had some kind of fresh veg for every meal. That is a great start, Increase the amount of veg next two weeks and keep going to classes, by week 4 you will feel different. By the end of the quarter, you may even want to up your goal.

Keep up the good work. Remember failure is part of the journey, but with this system, you will be able to see where and why you failed and be able to get on track easier. The best chance for success is to hire a personal trainer to set up a schedule with you and track your goals. ;)

Pg 170             Anderson, Gregory. Bates, Mike. Macdonald, Rod 2006. Foundation of Professional Personal Training. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.

Inexpensive Gifts for the Fitness Freak on your list!

Got a fitness freak that on your list and don’t have a lot of cash? Here are some of my favorite stocking stuffers. It would be a great idea to give gifts (or ask for gifts) that promote your health and get that New Year’s resolution off on the right foot.

Small business and local folks!

Smoothie E-book. $10

http://natalieduhamel.com/sotd/

My friend Natalie Duhamel wrote this. She studied nutrition through Institute of Integrative Nutrition, so she is not just some lady with a blender. Her e-book recipes focus on raw vegetables. They taste great and are easy to make.  I have been using this book for a while now making smoothies. I set the blender to go and have a supply for the week. Sometimes I supplement meals with them, use them as meal replacements, or a quick snack before the gym when I cant eat anything heavier. You get the book in PDF form. Great gift for a friend, couple, or yourself to start getting some more veg in!

Downtown Nutrition: Sydney, Nova Scotia

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Downtown-Nutrition/127001297374939

390 Charlotte Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 1E2

You will find me at this place quite often. Some stuff I like (hint):

-Gift Cards, $30 $50 $75 or $100.

-PB2, it is a “new peanut butter”  with 85% less fat calories in regular and chocolate flavors.

-They also have Garcinia, Green Coffee Bean, and Raspberry Ketones for weight loss.

-Plenty of high quality fitness clothing. The only place I get my shirts for they gym.

-Maca. This stuff is supposed give you energy and can even replace your cup of coffee. They sell it right now for under $20 too!

-They have a great variety of pre workout, protein powder and post workout supplements that any fitness nut goes through frequently. The knowledgeable staff can let you know the best supplements for you gym rat.

As stocking stuffers these are great, way better than candy bars! Their facebook page touts.

- Quest Bars! With over 20g of protein per bars and an assortment of flavors: Strawberry Cheesecake, Peanut Butter, Cinnamon Roll, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, White Chocolate Raspberry, Vanilla Almond, Mixed Berry, Apple Pie, and Peanut Butter Supreme , Quest Bars will make anyone happy for the Holidays!

Charlene's Nutrition Centre

254 Kings Road, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1S 1A6

 

https://www.facebook.com/CharlenesNutritionCentre 

There is so much available here. Great place for special dietary needs, organic food and natural herbal remedies.

-Vitamin B natural factors for $12.99 great for energy and stress

-Vitamin D $10.99 sunshine vitamin.

-Vega snack packs $3.99 for energy.

-Macca chocolate bars $3.99 Again, great for energy!

-Vitamin C natural factors $13.99 for immune health.

-Cacao powder - great for smoothies under$20.00

-Emergency singles $1.00 I love these. Great for fighting off the cold season. 

Why would you go to a big box store for junk food when you can get healthy treats!

Stuff you have to wait for the mail for.

Acupressure Balls or Lacrosse balls. $3-$4

http://www.360conditioning.com/acupressure-balls.html

http://www.360conditioning.com/lacrosse-balls.html

You lay on these and give yourself a massage.  You can also use these to massage sore muscles so your hands don’t get tired. Use on the bottom of your feet quads, back or other problem spots. Nice little stocking stuffer.

Reaction Balls $7

http://www.360conditioning.com/reaction-ball-en.html

This helps with speed and agility. You toss the ball and chase it. It goes in different directions and you get a workout trying to keep up.  It is like playing catch with a jerk! Remember that scene in “Rocky” where Micky made rock chase the chicken…. You catch this ball you will be fast as grease lighting, but without all the feather mess!

Pedometer $8

http://www.360conditioning.com/pedometer.html

If someone is starting a new fitness regime in the New Year counting steps and walking more is a great start!

 

Resistance Bands $14

http://www.360conditioning.com/smart-muscle-toner-pack.html

These are fun, don’t take up much room and provide a great resistance. Nice introduction to weight training and versatility will keep your interest for a while.

Foam Roller $15

http://www.360conditioning.com/epe-foam-roller.html

 I use a foam roller before my workout and after. It is basally like getting a little massage. Read more about it in the description, it improves the overall health of your muscles and prevents injuries. I have a client that gets so much benefit from this I am concerned she has fallen in love with it...

Let’s talk about doing stuff with a $20 and another bill……

Stability Ball $23

 

http://www.360conditioning.com/360-anti-burst-stability-ball.html

I use these for everything. I do my dumbbell bench press on them, ab crunches, and stretching. In a pinch make a great chair. No house should be without one.

The Grid, a different type of roller $29

http://www.360conditioning.com/the-grid-mini.html

This is an upgrade from the other foam roller, this is hollow so it can fit in the strap of your gym bag.  Grate release and rugged.

 

Pilates kit. $43

 

http://www.360conditioning.com/pilates-total-body-sculpting-set.html

Pilates requires training and instruction, but this kit is nice and can be a thoughtful gift to someone thinking about hiring a personal trainer.

YFITT at the YMCA

 https://www.facebook.com/YMCAcapebreton

YFITT is a great opportunity to have a personal training session with highly qualified trainers in a small group setting. The best part about this is if you can not afford or are not ready for a personal trainer, this can give you a nice kick start! I do these sessions in between my regular workouts. It is the extra intensity I need for my fitness goals. 

THE BEST GIFT OF ALL

A session with me.  Hire me as your personal trainer to get on the right track this year! I promise fun effective workouts!

Now doesn't all that sound better than fruit cake?!

GREAT SCOTT: ANOTHER KILLER WORKOUT

Here is another great, client tested, interval workout. This is a tough one, not for the beginners. Featuring hex dumbbells, BOSU and KETTLE BELLS.

ROUND 1: do this 3 times

MAN MAKERS:                        70 SEC

Rest                                                30 SEC

BOSU ROCK AND ROLLER:             70 SEC

Rest                                                30 SEC

LUNGES ONTO BOSU

            WITH DUMBBELL

            OVERHEAD PRESS            70 SEC

Rest                                                30 SEC

ROUND 2:  do this 4 times

KETTLE BELL SWINGS            35 SEC

Rest                                                12 SEC

JUMP OVER BOSU                        35 SEC

Rest                                                12 SEC

BOSU TRIPLE STEP                        35 SEC

Rest                                                12 SEC

BOSU TRIPLE STEP                        35 SEC           

Rest                                                12 SEC

ROUND 3: do this 4 times

BOSU AND STABILITY

BALL TUCK-INS

OR PIKE                        40 SEC

Rest                                                13 SEC

RUSSIAN TWIST                        40 SEC

Rest                                                13 SEC

FULL SIT UP                                    40 SEC

Rest                                                13 SEC

DOUBLE SIT UP                        40 SEC

Rest                                                13 SEC

Periodization of Stresses: how rest days help you reach your fitness goals and prevent injury.

Periodization of Stresses: how rest days help you reach your fitness goals and prevent injury.

I was inspired this week by a string of injuries that my friends have had. Many of my gym rat friends forget the importance of a “rest day.” Ok, I am guilty of this too. So how do rest days work for those of us who almost refuse to take them?

How Important is Recovery?

Recovery is so important, that the textbook I used in my CanFitPro Certification highlights it.

“Recovery: This principal becomes increasingly important as workouts become more stressful. Recovery should not be seen as optional, but as a mandatory principle of training that must be considered for every program.” (Anderson, 2008, p 130).

Rest days or periods of recovery are when you body repairs. The goal is that your body repairs the damage done during exercise, improving your condition. So a rest and recovery is not nice, it is necessary. You will not build muscle, lose weight or gain a greater cardio output with out sufficient recovery. Jeff Roux, COO and Director of Sport Conditioning of Twist Whitby points out how difficult it is to promote recovery and rest in a culture of intensity, go hard or go home workouts. “Athletes want to give 100% effort, 100% of the time, at 100MPH always shooting for a new personal best time, resistance load or effort.” (Roux, 2013, p42). Sound like you?

How does this look practically?

The most important thing to realize is that recovery allows the adaptations of training to actually take place before working harder again. (Roux, 43). This does not have to be sitting on your bum doing nothing. Think about taking stress off your muscles and joints or lower intensity physical activity. Yoga, foam roller sessions, a massage, a nice walk, or even some house cleaning can take the load off, but still be beneficial activity.

Sleep, Perchance to Dream.

Hamlet Act 3 Scene 1  “and by sleep to say we end, The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks  That the flesh is heir to…”  Uh, ok, he was talking about death,  but sleep is when your body does repair the thousand shocks of step class and bench press that our bodies are heir to. The Melancholy Dane may have been in a better mood if he got adequate sleep.

When we sleep, our bodies release hormones that boost our metabolism, reduce stress from cortisol and builds cells.  “During deep sleep, our bodies release growth hormone, which stimulates the healing and growth of muscle and bone.” (Roux, 43).  So don’t compromise your sleep for your workout, you are only making slowing your progress.

Eat!

The worst thing you can do is starving yourself and workout. Your body needs fuel, choose high quality fuel and plenty of it. This is too big of a subject to get into here, but to summarize; I like this quote from Roux. “It’s like owning a Ferrari and putting regular fuel in it. You would not do that to your beautiful sports car so why do we choose to punish our body every day with bad food choices.” (Roux, 43). So search for high quality fuel. More on that in future blogs….

Periodize your stress.

The best thing is to get a personal trainer (hint, hint) that can come up with a schedule for you.  The general idea is that you do not want to over work muscle groups without sufficient recovery.  On strategy is periodization of stress in a program.  Here is an example:

Monday: Heavy workout day, Chest and Back

Tuesday: Legs resistance workout.

Wednesday: Arms and light cardio.

Thursday: Rest.

Friday: Heavy Cardio.

Saturday: Light Full Body Workout.

Sunday: Rest.

This is just an example; this is not intended to be a suggestion for anyone, but just to give you an idea.  One day, work one muscle group, the next day work a group that was not affected by the pervious day, add in some cardio and rest 2 days a week.  The next week, you may even rest 3 days depending on where you body is.  Also, look at the points where I have Heavy workout days and light workout days. So even some workout days are not HARD days.  Some days are easier than others.

Conclusion.

So I hope you get the idea. You should spend comparatively little time in the gym stressing your body in a smart way, and more time recovering. Do your body a favor. Schedule a massage this week, try a yoga class, spend some time with a foam roller and get a good rest!

References.

    Anderson, Gregory. Bates, Mike. Macdonald, Rod 2006. Foundation of Professional Personal Training. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.

    Roux, Jeff. September 2013. Rest, Recovery and Regeneration:  That is when the Magic Happens.  Canadian Fitness Professionals Official Magazine. www.canfitpro.com