Fat Burning PART ONE

Fat Loss Edition PART ONE

Hi TeamYo I have dedicated this fat burning edition to the nutrition side of things because that is the factor that will have the greatest impact. I hope you find it helpful I have a lot of experience on this topic so if you have things youd like to ask me please go ahead and send me an email. Before you get stuck in Id like to say this is a huge subject and Im not a nutritionist however, I have tried and tested all of these methods and I know they work. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that the information Im offering up works when used correctly and has taken me years to understand and implement. Remember do not overwhelm yourself just take one change at a time, adjust, make it part of your routine and then move onto the next one. Be nice to yourself and then when you see positive changes the motivation just rolls on with ease.

Fat Burning

A subject particularly close to my heart at the moment. Most of us are perplexed by the thought of 'fat burning' with most people not really having enough information on the subject to even understand the concept let alone have a go at it in a practical sense.

Im here to help you understand what its all about

Ive been weight training for the last 4 years, many of you have been attending my classes for that period of time (love you!) and have seen me go from what is called 'skinny fat' to muscular and lean. Each one of you will have an opinion about wether or not you like it and for most of you your thoughts on the matter end there. However there is a lot more to changing the composition of your body and Im attempting to explain this to you now. What does fat burning mean? Fat burning is when you trigger your body to burn just fat whilst retaining as much muscle mass as you possibly can. Why do you want to keep your muscle?

Muscle keeps your body strong and supports your joints which are fragile and dont repair easily.
Muscle shapes your body and creates curves and firmness!
Muscle uses calories to sustain itself so the more muscle thats on your body the more calories you burn which in turn speeds up the metabolism.
Strong body, strong mind.

Body Composition Whats the difference between fat loss and weight loss? The healthiest way to 'lose weight' is to reduce body fat and retain muscle mass. Most people 'lose weight' by reducing calories / increasing exercise. They eat predominantly carbs and their muscles break down and get smaller and smaller. Muscle weighs a lot because it is dense, you get on the scales and voila! Well done youve lost mostly muscle a bit of fat and some water... The body feels flabby, soft and lumpy but who cares because youve lost 2lbs right?! Dont get me wrong here anyone who loses 2lbs should be praised however, there are ways of going at this which is healthier and much much more sustainable. Thats what Im interested in healthy, sustainable fat loss that leaves you feeling strong and firm. When we are young we can lose fat and muscle and still look firm because the skin is tighter and the muscle still has a firmness that deteriorates over time. Just because you can do your every day tasks like walking doesnt mean your muscles are maintained.

Muscle needs to be maintained

Lets get onto some practical ideas that you can start to intergrate into your lives.

Stage 1 Calories

You have to know how many calories your body burns in a day if you sat down doing nothing. This is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Follow the link to calculate: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm The calculator is pretty accurate. Ok, so no we have a number to work with. So lets say my BMR is 1,400 calories a day and I want to lose 1lb a week because if I lose fat too quickly my muscle will disapear as well. 1 pound of body fat has roughly 3,500 calories in it so I want to get rid of 3,500 calories a week to shift 1lb of fat. I can do this by teaching my classes every day so I will shift about 500 calories per class per day. Its easy for me because I do lots of exercise. So what if you do 2 classes a week? Well, you will burn about 1000 in the 2 classes and then just divide the other 2,500 over the 7 days of the week and bring the calories in what you eat down by 350 calories a day. If you dont exercise then you would need to bring your calories down by 500 a day which I think is too much and you should consider taking up some extra activity. Ok so thats it for calories just remember the numbers and try to get rid of calories by exercising as apose to reducing food intake.

Stage 2 Macronutrients

Stay with me!

PROTEIN - CARBOHYDRATES - FAT

The average person seems to be unknowingly obsessed with eating carbs. The reason they do this is the brain tells you that its the quickest source of energy and it makes you chose foods unconciously based on this fact.

All brains are lazy GITS!

The brain doesnt care if you are unhealthy it just wants energy and energy preservation and that is its main priority. You must use your knowledge and concious mind to get your body into fat burning mode. If I had to guess Id say people have about 5% protein in their diet, the rest being made up of fat and carbs and THIS is why they are skinny fat (fat and bone) Muscles need a certain amount of calories and a certain amount of protein to maintain themselves. We need to feed ourselves with at least 30% - 40% protein in our diets every day to maintain muscle and BURN FAT! The split should look something like this 40% protein 40% carbs and 20% fat How do you know what you are eating? Its up to you, you can record it on Apps like MyNetDiary and FitnessPal I use these and find it extremely helpful but if you think that a bit obsessive or you cant be bothered just make sure you have some protein at most meals of the day (perhaps not at breakfast). Nuts are a good way of getting more protein into the diet but be careful because they are full of good fat which is very calorific.

Theres nothing more to say about that just try and re balance your food intake.

Nutrition For Fat Loss

Ive lost count of how many times Ive said it but nutrition contributes to 80% of your results. Food is tremendously emotional which gives it a lot of power over you. I strongly believe that fat loss starts with your emotional state and should be tackled from that angle before anything else. That said, very few people take this on board and instead drag their hooves through the dirt like a bull ready to charge at a red rag with starvation written all over it.

If you jump straight into starving yourself you will absolutely FAIL EVERY TIME

This is called self sabotage and most of time we go through this cycle of failure for years before we get bloody fed up with it and either give up for good or find a better way!

Im now going to give you methods that if you actually try them for more than 2 weeks you will find they ABSOLUTELY do work 100% do work!

Always prepare your food, especially week days.
Have your food with you always
Eat a small amount every 3 hours (hungry or not)
Eat fast absorbing carbs around the times you work out (sweet pot, rice, fruit)
Eat slow digesting carbs the rest of the time (veg)
Eat peppery / chilli foods to fire metabolism
Have caffeine to fire metabolism (if it agrees with you)
Try not to drink too much milk (try almond)
Avoid soy products as they contain oestrogen which encourages the body to hold fat
Make one change in you diet at a time (no more)
Eat fibre, the body cant digest it but it fills you up!
Eat more lean protein at each meal time (at least 30% of you food)
Eat foods that are not or hardly processed (nuts, veg, meat, fish, oats, eggs)
See food list from last newsletter
Have one cheat day a week
Fill up on vegetables so you dont feel deprived
Try sugar alternatives that are natural such as truvia and sweet freedom
Do NOT think its ok to have sugar free stuff because its absolutely terrible for you!
Sugar free products mess with you digestive system and gives the stomach a massive bloat
Eat foods that keep blood sugar stable such as oats, cinamon, cherries and veg.
Fruit IS healthy but it is also FULL OF SUGAR eat a maximum of one piece a day near the time you workout.
Eat veg instead of fruit
Did I say eat veg?
Learn how to cook with spices to flavour your food
use spray oils and a good non stick pan to cook with
Drink more water
Take omega 3 supplement every day (your body needs good fats)

Nutrigrain bars are EVIIIIIIIILLLLLLLL they are NOT healthy ok! just buy plain oats and make yourself a bar with some sweet freedom and some nuts FFS!

Hormones and fat loss

Keeping Your Blood Sugar Steady

Insulin is a hormone that when released into your blood stream in large quantities sends a message for your body to hold onto fat and worse than that fat gets held around your middle!! The pancreas releases insulin when you eat simple carbohydrates such as sugar, cake, biscuits, sweets, potato, alcohol and bread.

Rather than focus on things you shouldn't have, try incorporating the following foods and healthy habits into your daily routine:

Nuts. Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, and pistachios contain healthy fat that slows the body's absorption of sugar. But be sure to limit how many nuts you eat in one sitting because even healthy fats contain calories.

Eat whole grains. Oat bran, barley, and rye are fibre-rich foods. Soluble fibre increases the amount of time it takes for your stomach to empty after eating and prevents spikes in blood sugar. Remember, though, that these foods are still carbohydrates. Whole grains will still raise your blood sugar, just not as quickly and as high as processed foods.

Veg. Packed with fibre, non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cucumber, cauliflower can also help prevent surges in blood sugar levels while providing essential nutrients.

Cinnamon. cinnamon is linked to a significant drop in fasting blood sugar levels.

Vinegar. Vinager slows the absorption of sugar by the body. The research revealed that 2 ounces of apple cider vinegar improved fasting blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity.

Don't skip meals. It's important to spread out your daily food intake, starting with breakfast. Consuming more food in just one or two meals a day causes greater fluctuations in blood sugar levels.

Don't drink on an empty stomach. If you haven't eaten, drinking alcohol can cause your blood sugar to drop up to 24 hours later. This happens because the body is working to get rid of it. If you want to drink alcohol, check your blood sugar first. It's also important to eat before or while you drink.

Plan ahead. Anticipate the unexpected and carry healthy snacks that can prevent your blood sugar level from dropping too low.

Liver function and fat loss

I suffer with insomnia, I get bouts of it and Ive had it very badly recently because of the pressure I put myself under by registering to compete in November. When you go into deep sleep everything in your body repairs itself, a bit like a reset button. Failure to sleep affects everything in your body and one of the most noticable things for me was that when I had my body fat measured every week the measurement in my calf was going up and up. This was indicative of the fact my liver was not functioning well. I dont drink alcohol and dont take many pain killers and I drink loads of water yet the lack of sleep was impacting on my liver so badly that my fat loss came to a grinding halt. Now this really worried me which made me even more stressed and so the cycle continued for weeks. I dropped calories, I did more cardio and I started to actually gain weight and it wasnt weight in muscle. The situation got so bad that I cant compete this year because I couldnt drop my body fat in time.

My point that stress and lack of sleep affect your body in a very real way that could be preventing your progress

Alcohol

If you like to drink alcohol I suggest you try and make up for it by taking a liver support supplement and drink a lot of extra water to try and get it working at its best.