The Power Of Protein

You have probably heard all you want to hear about the benefits of eating more protein, but I am going to talk about it even more.

Make note of the following: Eating more protein is essential to fat loss.

Why? The main reason is that protein repairs tissue, not just muscle tissue, but all tissue. That is it's job. You want to keep your muscle at all cost, because everyone knows that the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you can consume. I am a big proponent in not cutting your calories. Once you have reduced your calories to, say, 1200 per day, your body will adjust down to that level. Sure, on the Biggest Loser they are eating very few calories AND working out 4 hours a day. That show is completely unrealistic. Do you want to spend the rest of your life working out 4 hours a day and starving? I don't think so. And, have they checked in with all the participants? Nope. But the one's that they have checked on have gain all or some of the weight back. They keep that part on the down-low.

I'm going to use myself as an example. When I started bodybuilding I went on a low-fat, high carb diet of around 1500 calories a day. I lifted weights twice a day and taught my regular load of group exercise classes, which was around 5 per week, and added in about 45 minutes of cardio on top of it. You usually start a bodybuilding diet 15 weeks out from the show. In 15 weeks I lost a total of 5 POUNDS!!! I am serious. How disappointed was I? I was devastated when I got on stage and look soft next to my opponents.

But I didn't give up. The next couple of times I experimented with diets. The best I ever looked was when I ate 3,000(!) calories a day, low carb/high protein/med fat. All the fats were good fats, and that's where I got my energy. My metabolism has never slowed down.

The other thing about protein is that it does not hold water. Carbs hold 4 gms of water to every 1 gm of carbohydrate. That's why your body weight can fluctuate 5 pounds over night. Mine did, until I changed the way I ate.

Even vegetarians can eat a diet higher in protein. I will say that vegetarians will almost never have a lot of lean muscle mass. It just is what it is. And I am not saying that if you eat a lot of protein you will get huge muscles. I tried to get more muscular when I was competing. It just doesn't work for women because we don't have enough testosterone in our system to build that much muscle. When you see a woman with a lot of muscle mass, she has probably taken performance enhancing drugs. I have seen it, even at 'natural' bodybuilding' shows. You have to trust me on that.

Try it. Eat a higher protein, lower carb diet for 3-4 weeks and see what happens. Obviously, you will have to continue to exercise, but see how your body changes. Then let me know.

No Juice No Smoothies

The unfortunate truth is that juice affects the body very much in the same way as pop. Both of them contained refined sugar. I know your thinking 'but juice just has to be better'! Well, yes, juice doesn't (usually) contain chemicals, as does pop, but it is still sugar and your body recognizes both in almost the same way. Really juice IS processed sugar. They took all the fiber out of the fruit and/or vegetable and all you have left is (duh) the juice. Your body doesn't have to do much work to break it down. It enters your stomach already partially digested (yup, they did some of the work for you and that is never a good thing when it comes to nutrition) and if you aren't about ready to run 5 miles it is immediately stored as energy (fat). The worst juice? Apple. It kills me when I see mom's giving their kids apple juice in a sippy cup thinking it is nutritious. I have gotten in many an arguement with moms on that very subject. Sugar is sugar. White sugar comes form a plant right? Apples come from a tree, right? There you go.

That's why they talk about the glycemic index so flippin' much! The longer it takes for something to empty out of your stomach the better it is for you.

When I have analyzed food logs, for men especially, they usually take in a lot of calories in the form of liquid (your thinking alcohol, but that is for a later post). Men are pretty clear that sugared pop is not a good thing if they want to be lean, but I have seen food logs where men are drinking a half-gallon of juice every day! As soon as they stop, they quickly lose 5 pounds.

Smoothies are another story entirely. They are packed, packed, packed with sugar and calories. You have to be super diligent about checking the ingredients whenever you think about ordering one. When I order a smoothie, I always order a low-carb version. For no other reason then that low carb usually means low sugar. Again, smoothies have done some of the digestive work for you. If that's true, your whole system is putting out less energy, and, remember, that's not something you want. Period.

Think before you drink. And I'll say that again later. And probably again after that.

No 5 lb weights!!!

I think one of my most frustrating things in teaching a group fitness class is those people (usually women) that grab 5 lb weighs for the workout! I always tell the class that my gym bag weighs more then 5 lbs and as proof I weighed it. It weighed 7.3 lbs.

How can lifting 5 lb weights help you reach your fitness goals if you lift more then that on a regular basis? Again, I don't assume that everyone is in my class for fat loss, but I'm pretty darn sure they have some sort of goal they are trying to reach. IF THE BODY ISN'T CHALLENGED, IT WILL NOT CHANGE! Another way to look at it: It nothing changes, nothing changes.

I'm sure participants that aren't looking for fat loss want to get stronger, more defined and have an over all sense of well being, all of which are benefits of exercise....IF it makes your body react. I have written this before as well: even if you don't have fat loss goals, I'm pretty darn sure you don't want to burn muscle to fuel your work outs. I bet you would prefer to burn stored fat, which is really stored energy, instead. If you burn muscle, your metabolism will DEcrease, something I know no one wants to happen!

So remember, next time you take a group fitness class, or go into the gym to lift some weights:

NO FIVE POUND WEIGHTS!!!!!
(otherwise you'll like the shapeless, but thin, woman above from 1985).

Best Cardio For Fat Loss

If fat loss is your goal, steady state cardio is not your friend. Getting on the elliptical for 45 minutes 3-4 times per week or walking four+ miles is not going to do it for you. Why? Because your body gets used to those activities very quickly. As a matter of fact, research shows that a body probably adapts to an exercise within 2-3 weeks of performing that exercise regularly. We used to think it took 12 weeks! That's a big difference. Interval training burns 9X more fat then steady state cardio. Let me explain. When you get super uncomfortable, or near maximum output, followed by recovery of course, your body thinks 'if he/she is going to do this again, what can I do to make it easier?' The heart and lungs are muscles, so now it thinks 'if I were a little lighter (weight loss) then my heart and lungs wouldn't have to work so hard, so I'll use a little of my stored energy (fat) to fuel these workouts and repair muscle (increased metabolism AFTER the workout). I don't want to burn muscle as fuel because he/she is using that muscle, so I will sacrifice the fat, lightening the load, and thereby making the activity easier'.

When you perform steady state cardio, your body thinks 'no big deal, I want to survive, this is low intensity so I'll just put out less effort'. And there's the difference. The body doesn't want to put out much effort. It is always in survival mode. How can it make anything easier, so it will last longer.

I think people stick with the 3-4X per week cardio-machine workout because A. It's easy and B. They initially see results so they think it is still working, even though they see no change in body composition. Plus, I don't think people like to get uncomfortable. I see it with my clients all the time. They don't like the work but they absolutely LOVE the results. Leaner, tighter and more defined. Who doesn't want that?!

I'm shrinking!

I'm really surprised that no one has really written about this phenomena. I have pretty much always been the same weight - ever since high school. Yes, my body has changed because of my fitness level. I have much more muscle definition from my years of lifting weights, but my weight has stayed the same. The thing is, I have dropped two sizes in the past five years. This whole thing involving clothing manufactures making sizes bigger is so strange to me!

I realize that they do it to sell more clothes. Designers have always up-sized, but now everybody is doing it. I also understand that we now have an almost 50% obesity rate in the US. The CDC is predicting that, if we continue the way we are going, we will have 100% obesity by 2040. Of course, that is impossible, because some people just don't gain fat. That statistics just goes to show us how much the rate is increasing year to year. Therefore, if the general public is getting fatter, then why not make current sizes bigger? That way the over-fat people can still fit into ready-to-wear, and readily available, clothing.

Maybe I'll shrink even more? My prediction? Probably.

What's the best exercise?

I get asked that all the time. My answer? The one you'll do. Your first goal should be to get moving. Once you have a form of movement on your schedule regularly, then we can talk about what else you can do to get the results that you want. I never assume that fat loss is my client's goal. Maybe it's stress release or a sense of well being or better sleep or better sex. All of those are great benefits of exercise which can be achieved by low intensity movement. Do you like to dance? Try a ballet barre class...or hip hop....of NIA. There are many, many choices. Do you like nature? Simply walking or riding a bike, for fun, will bring you those benefits. Bowling, square dancing, golf, roller-blading, etc - all those activities have many benefits BUT fat loss is not one of them. Maybe initially, if you haven't moved your body for a long time, but after a couple of weeks of regular activity you will need more. Especially if fat loss is a goal.

Research now shows that a body will get 'used to' an activity in as little as two weeks. That means that if you take up a walking program say, three days a week, you will intially see results but after about two weeks those changes will level out. Why? Because your body recognizes the activity and adjusts down. I know. That sucks. But your body is always in survival mode. It thinks 'if he/she does this all the time, I need to put out LESS energy in order to last (live) longer'. So now you add an extra day per week of walking. Again, you'll probably see a little results in the next couple of weeks, but then your body will adapt again. Adaption is a very good thing. That is one of the reasons we have survived this world/environment of ours over the years. People used to live to be 40 years old, now we live to be 80 or 85 or even 100. Statistic show that almost 50% of women today will live to be 100. 100!! That's incredible! Don't you want to make it the best 100 years ever?

Fat Loss Not Weight Loss

July 13th, 2008

People confuse fat loss with weight loss. Really, weight loss isn't important. Fat loss is. The number on the scale does not reflect how lean you are....or how good you look. I am 5" 8' and I weigh 145lbs. Picture a person that you think looks like those stats. You probably pictured someone that was pretty over fat. I'm not. That's just a fact. It takes thought, planning and work, but not as much work as you think. It's all about choices. I will talk about those choices more later.