Are you not eating enough to lose weight??

Are You Eating Enough To Lose Weight?

Posted By Lu Herbeck, Puravida Fitness Nutrition Coach

In my experience, as a weight management consultant, working with predominantly female clients, I find that weight loss is an elusive goal for many. I hear the same issues raised time and again; “I watch my calories or my fats or my carbohydrates and I still can’t lose weight.” Does this sound familiar?



You may not have considered that some of these clients, and maybe even you, are not eating enough! Your body needs a consistent level of healthy, adequate nutrition. Cutting calories to less than about 1500 for women and about 1800 calories for men per day may actually discourage weight loss in favor of retaining body fat. Prisoners in concentration camps were emaciated due to chronic lack of calories and nutrients, but actually maintained a relatively high body fat. It’s a survival of the fittest principle that encourages our bodies to consume its own muscle mass in order to maintain enough body fat for emergencies. That is not a healthy lifestyle.

Just like a camp fire needs to be stoked periodically, your body needs fuel (food) about every 2-3 hours. Going too long without eating encourages your metabolism to slow down to conserve energy. Eating large amounts of food at one sitting encourages some of the excess calories to be stored as fat. Both of these scenarios are your body’s normal physiological response to food intake or lack thereof.

To break the chain you need to be conscious of eating every 2-3 hours and eat protein with each meal or snack. The protein slows down the breakdown and absorption of carbohydrates, which keeps your blood sugar on a more even keel. Following this one principle will help you reduce (carbohydrate) cravings, increase your satiety and encourage muscle tissue growth and maintenance. Making sure you are consuming enough calories throughout the day will encourage your body to run like a well oiled machine and provide you with increased energy and vitality. Consider the fact that it takes at least 800 calories to support life functions in a 50 year-old woman to just lie in bed. Once you add the energy it takes to carry out daily activities, exercise, digesting etc., it takes an absolute minimum of 1200 calories just to keep your body functioning. If you chronically consume too few calories your body will have to adjust to fewer calories just like we have to adjust our budgets to cover a decrease in income.

I know it’s counterintuitive to consume more calories (within reason) to lose weight but it’s been demonstrated time and again to be true. Plus, eating an adequate amount of calories is a healthier and longer term lifestyle change that will ultimately result in slow, permanent weight loss/management.

Those voices in my head

Many times the alarm goes off in the morning and it's hard to climb out form under the covers and get going.

I get these voices in my head.

I promise I'm not crazy so keep reading.

You probably know them they say "skip your workout today sleep in" or the infamous  procrastinator voice that tries to bargain with me and says "you can always do it tomorrow."

Once I get to the gym there is another one that chimes in " go light today or skip weights and do cardio." There always seems to be some voices that tell me things that are contrary to my goals.

Then when it comes to eating the one that always tries to sucker me in with "just one won't hurt." Many times when I listen to that voice one ends up being 6, 8 or 10.

As crazy as it sounds I believe we all have these voices inside telling us to take the easy route and justifying. The problem is that these voices don't have our best interest in mind when it comes to being successful in whatever endeavor we are pursuing.

Sometimes it pays to listen to them. Like when you are sick or overtrained but the majority of the time they are saboteurs. 

Almost every time I ignore those voices and push through I feel better and have a great sense of accomplishment.

Why do I push through these things.  Why is why. No I'm not trying to confuse you.  I'm talking about my WHY.  My WHY is what gets me up it is more powerful than all those voices.



So if  you are struggling to get up and stay committed to your fitness goals you are not alone. Most people are starting to abandon their New Years resolutions goals. 

Here is your first step to sticking to those resolutions and being successful.

Find your ‘why.’




When you find your ‘why’ – which is your personal, underlying motivation for getting healthy and fit – then you tap into real commitment – and your fitness success becomes a foregone conclusion.



Because when your ‘why’ is strong enough, you’ll show up for your training sessions, every time – without fail. And, as Woody Allen says, “80% of success is just showing up!”



But one thing we know for sure…it’s easier to remember WHEN to show up if you’ve got it scheduled on your calendar, smartphone or whatever!



And here’s something that’s profound…



The irony of commitment is… it sets you free!



Nothing has the power to eliminate stress, anxiety and worry like commitment. Commitment sets you free – it liberates you. Because we all recognize, at some level, commitment is inevitable if we really want what we say we want. And it’s commitment that empowers us to get what we want. Intention is where you start, the goal is where you finish – but it’s your commitment that carries you through the race.



I hope that doesn’t sound ‘hokey’ to you…because it’s not. Commitment is the cure. Because commitment produces action, and action produces results.

More meathead urban myths from the weight room...

This past week I thought of some more dumb urban myths you frequently hear in gym.  Most of them are from meatheads who liken themselves to be philosophers. Just ask them the next time they spew one of these stupid laws of the gym what is the scientific rational behind their "law."  Chances are you'll get the deer in the headlights look or  the "I read it in Muscle and Fiction." 

Here are some more that make me cringe...:

1. During bench press touch the bar to your chest.  This is great if you are short an stocky and have a barrel chest. Most people that try to do this bring their shoulders into a dangerous position that puts a lot of stress on the glenohumeral joint and connective tissue versus the muscles. A good good general rule of thumb is go slightly past 90 degrees at the elbow. Always retract and pinch your shoulder blades when lowering to keep good rhythm between your shoulder blades and glenohumeral joint thus preventing injuries.

2. Squat to parallel. I used to go beyond parallel which looked cool but gave me some sweet tendinitis.  We do tons of movement screens. Many people don't have the flexibility, mobility or stability to get to parallel especially with a load on their back.  Our rule of thumb is squat to the depth where you have good form and can maintain a neutral spine. A good place to start when trying to get lower on your squats is improving calf flexibility and foot mobility which will instantly add depth to your squat. 

3.)Machines are king because you can do more weight.  Get out of the stone ages!  I hear guys brag about their leg press all the time. Big F***in deal ! Get under the rack and squat than I'll be impressed anyone who has done a free weight squat will attest that it is way more difficult than a leg press. Free weights challenge stabilizers and core musculature. Machines don't do any of this! If you are trying to build muscle they have their place but as finishing movements. Like icing on the cake. Start with basic compound movements like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, pull ups, rows and overhead presses. Add in things like leg curls, leg extensions and tricep pushdowns when you have done the big movements. 

4.)High reps tone,  heavy weights bulk you up!    This is another piece of BS I hear all the time. Higher weights build endurance.  Moderate to heavier weights add hypertrophy i.e. muscle bulk.  Using reps of 6-12 is generally what has been shown to build muscle.  Also look at tempo which has to with time under tension for the muscle.  Keeping the muscle under tension between 40-70 seconds is a good guideline to use. We recommend using a tempo of 3 sec lowering 2 sec pause and 2 sec hold this would be about 7 seconds per rep.  Doing heavy weights will add alot of intensity to your muscles but won't necessarily add much size. 

Women fear bulking up but let me reiterate they don't have the hormone levels to bulk up like men and it also depends heavily on caloric intake.

In Prescription Alternatives, Professor Earl Mindell and Virginia Hopkins detail these findings: "In a recent study on bone density and exercise, older women who did high-intensity weight training two days per week for a year were able to increase their bone density by one percent, while a control group of women who did not exercise had a bone density decrease of 1.8 to 2.5 percent. The women who exercised also had improved muscle strength and better balance, while both decreased in the non-exercising group."

Notice it said high intensity weight training not light weights for toning. Being strong doesn't mean being big.

I have soccer moms who are lean, athletic, and feminine who can flip tractor tires in back of my studio.  That's strong!

Here is a breakdown of good rep ranges we use for different adaptations:

12-25 Endurance

6-12   Hypertrophy (building muscles a.k,a "toning)

1-5     Strength

So there you go. The next time the local gym "expert" starts ranting all his knowledge you'll now have a different perspective. 

Urban fitness an weight loss myths

Here we are in the New Year and people are going crazy trying to undo months of bad habits in a few weeks.  The infomercials are in high gear promising to fix all your problems with one little gadget.  There all kinds of celebrity diets surfacing out there my personal favorite is the HCG Diet where you literally starve yourself and take HCG in a oral compound this is the same thing steroid users take when coming off their cycles.  You go on their site and they have a doctor (which is probably an actor who is a doctor on a soap opera) to make it look all official and they have a testimonial with a woman but let;s see how she looks this time next year.  It's crap like all other diets. People get it through your heads the word DIET is a short term solution to a long term problem.


Anyway while at parties or social gatherings people approach me with "urban myths" about working out and weight loss. So  I decided to list my top four and what I think about these.


1.) There is no magic do hickey or device that is the magic bullet.  Your body needs frequent change and variation to keep changing and improving.  I have found that using a variety of training equipment works when applied correctly. People get into these camps thinking one things is the answer when really it all is. I know there is a kettlebell infomercial out there and people think that they are the best  but the problem is there are many people who aren't' ready to do kettlebells. My wife's cousin got this system hurt herself and ended up trying to sell them Ebay.   You need to vary your resistance training and make sure you know what you are doing when using equipment especially kettlebells. Here are all the types resistance we use free weight, cables, kettlebells, water filled pvc pipe, ropes, TRX, sleds, bodyweight, rubber tubing, stability balls, body blades, throwing bags, bosus and of course our tractor tires out back. That's quite a list! My point is keep varying it up and your body will never get too comfortable and plateau.

2.)By doing  X diet  I can lose so much more fat.I'm sick of hearing  how this diet proves to increase fat burning 5 time more than typical diets or how Paris Hilton did this diet and lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks. The supermarket line is loaded with BS.  Here's a reality check dieting doesn't  work.  We are pushing 70% for the amount of adults who are considered to be overweight and the diet industry is worth 100 billion dollars. So we keep getting fatter as they get richer. Sounds a little fishy to me.   Quit fooling yourself.  Get with a nutritionist or dietitian that knows there stuff and learn how to eat for the long haul. Quit going on and off diets.  If diets worked why are you on another one?   Think long term not short term. Learn about low glycemic eating, learn how to read labels, educate and empower yourself instead of listening to some sell out quack doctor who is peddling his medically approved system  or following the routine that some celebrity who resembles  the skeleton we had anatomy class recommends. What the hell are her credentials anyway?

3.)Running is the only way to lose weight. I hear this one alot. People are obsessed with running. What they don't realize is 70-80% of weight loss is nutrition.  They can go out and run burning 500 calories or so but come right back to the house and erase that calorie burn with a few pieces of pizza or that White Mocha Sugar Supreme Whatchamacallit from Starbucks.  Besides many people should not run because their structure is messed up and the impact will only damage them more. Try biking, elliptical, swimming, circuit training or boxing. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

4.)If I train with weights I bulk up to much. Women say this one all the time. The truth is they don't have the testosterone levels to add muscle like men do.  There levels are usually one fourth of men's. Plus if you aren't eating too many calories you can't add bulk. So once again it comes back to nutrition. Also if you do not want to look like a bodybuilder don't train like one. I like to use circuits with my women and mix it up with high intensity exercises that get the heart rate up and crank up the metabolism as well as shape the body. Check us out on face book where you can find some of out circuit videos. To see what I mean.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Puravida-Fitness-LLC/94822718190

Don't Play The Prevent Defense

Don’t Play The Prevent Defense”

I’ve been a Vikings fan since I was a little kid. One of things they seem to do no matter who is the coach is play the prevent(a win) defense. Whoever designed this defense is a moron. Because it never works. For those of you that aren’t football scholars here is the premise of the prevent defense. When you are ahead let the offense keep gaining on you but do it so that they run out of time before they can score enough points to tie or beat you. So basically instead of playing to win it’s playing not to lose. Well guess what happens when teams go in the prevent.. THEY LOSE.



Why am I babbling about football theory.



Well, I think many people go through life playing the prevent defense that is not to lose. They complain about being overweight or not having enough money but when called out to do something about it they make excuses why they can’t succeed. I’ve been in this field for a long time and have seen and heard it all. I see who makes progress towards their fitness goals and who constantly struggles and never makes progress.



The ones who achieve do whatever it takes to get it done. If that means they have to get up earlier to work out they do it if that means they can’t eat sweets every day they say "no.” most of the time. They are consistently showing up and making good lifestyle choices.



Then there are the ones who consistently struggle and never make any real progress. They use any excuse not to work out like “it’s snowing”(we live in Minnesota deal with it) or I’m too busy(everyone is busy) winners focus on how they can get it done and losers like to fixate on all the reasons they can’t do it.

There is always excuses not to and there will never be a time in life when the stoplights are all green. So quit sitting back playing the prevent in life and play to win. Pick a goal that you want to accomplish this year and pursue it with relentless passion.

Mind Games

Your mind is a powerful tool. It can help you reach your goals, but it can also prevent

you from it. When you think negatively, “you boost production of the stress hormone which

affects your health, your weight and your mind.”, according to Dr. Daniel Amen, award winning

physician, psychiatrist and best-selling author. So for the New Year I challenge you to change

your thinking into good, valuable, constructive and positive thoughts.

“In his new book Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, Dr Daniel Amen identifies

the infuriatingly common scourge: the ANT (Automatic Negative Thought), which he describes

as ‘the -little voices that pop into your head and tell you you’re not good enough, not thin

enough, a rubbish daughter, mother, worker’.”

Everybody has these self-destructive thoughts once in a while, but it’s a matter of

how many, how often and what you do about it. Do you beat yourself up for eating too many

cookies? Are you dwelling over how much you should have gone to the gym this past month,

but you haven’t?

Push them away, out of your head and see what you can accomplish. Focus on a game

plan. What CAN you do, to better the situation? Forget about things you can’t control and take

action where you HAVE the power to change something.

- “I ate way too much over the holidays, my love handles are hanging over my belt”

-> “I will bring a healthy snack and lunch to work on Monday to cut down on calories”

- “I haven’t worked out in ages. I feel flabby”

-> “I will write down the times I’ll be at the gym this week, and follow through with it”

- “My skin feels wrinkly, I’m getting old”

-> “I will make sure to drink plenty of water and get enough sleep”

There are many ways to accomplish more positive thinking. Put positive goals on a sheet next

to your bathroom mirror. Think self-boosting, not self-destructive, just like the little engine going

over the hill “I think I can, I think I can!” What you think is what you are.

Get used to the positive and get rid of the negative. Your body will thank you.
 
Have a great New Year!
 
Yvonne
 

Abs At Gun Point!!

 Abs At Gunpoint

Recently I was on T-nation a great website with loads of articles on strength training and nutrition.

The abs at gunpoint artcile really resonated with me. I 've had clients try to eat supposedly healthy carbs but many times end of eating too many carbs and not getting the weight loss results they want. Carb cycling can be a very efffective way to force your body to dump fat.  I've known this from my bodybuilding days.

I'm sick and tired of people spewing generci nutrition information that doesn't get results. Most food journals I look at contain too many carbs. This is like the saying "give a person enough rope and he'll hang himself."  This seems to be true with carbs.  People eat them too late at night and usually in too large of quantities.

The problem is that many people give themselves so many carbs that they don't force their bodies to have to dip into fat stores for energy.  I don't care if this isn't mainstream thinking.  It just works.  I have personally used it on myself in clients to ge fat loss going.

So if you are stuck in a fat loss plateau. This could be the answr for you. Just like workouts nutrition plans need to be shaken up time to time to continue progress.

Here it is via T-Nation website:  http://www.t-nation.com/

Abs At Gunpoint By. Dr. Mike Rousell

Dr. Mike Roussell and Chris Shugart are blindfolded and tied to chairs in a room with no windows. A fully-automatic assault rifle is pointed in their direction.


A gruff voice says, "When I count to three, you will both tell me one thing that will solve the obesity epidemic for the general population and help the advanced athlete and bodybuilder shed fat rapidly."

Mike and Chris hear a metallic click. The safety has been removed.

"One, two, three!"

"Eat about 100 grams of carbs per day!" they shout simultaneously.

Silence. Then the rifle is lowered. The kidnapper smiles.

Why? Because even a homicidal nutrition nut knows that this simple solution makes more sense than just about any diet strategy you'll ever try.



The Power of 100 Grams

We've both been recommending this ridiculously simple yet powerfully effective dietary approach for years. We've seen it work with everyone from hardcore male bodybuilders to hardcore female kindergarten teachers.

It not only strips off the excess body fat, it accelerates the process of health improvement by exponentially improving the quality of your diet... all with one little guideline:

Eat about 100 grams of carbohydrates per day.

Why 100 Grams is Magical

Eating 100 grams of carb a day is as close to nutritional magic as you can get:

It's Low-Enough Carb

At 100 grams of carbs per day, you won't be in ketosis, but your carbs will be low enough that you'll be preferentially stoking your metabolic furnace with stored and dietary fats and not carbs. Also, most people won't experience any mental fogginess, crabbiness, or lack of energy that often accompany really low-carb diets.

It's High-Enough Carb

At 100 grams, you still have room to get in fast-acting carbs as part of your peri-workout nutrition strategy.

There's never a reason to skip tactical carbs consumed around your weight-training workout. Carbs taken in at this time won't contribute to fat gain and may even speed up the fat loss process. With a 100 gram daily allowance, you can scorch off the belly fat and maximize the anabolic potential of the peri-workout timeframe.

In addition, with 100 grams of carbohydrates allowed every day, there's no reason to avoid nutritionally ass-kicking fruits, berries, and vegetables as you have to do with 20 and 30 gram diets. This not only allows you to eat good-for-ya foods, it opens up your diet to a wider variety of meal choices. No need to live on bacon and string cheese for twelve weeks.

Key point: If you eat five meals per day plus your workout drink, 100 grams of carbs is the perfect amount. At each of your five meals you'll eat around 10 grams of vegetables (preferably green and fibrous) or berries, then during your workout you can slug down a serving of Surge Recovery and boom... 100 grams of carbs.









The Autoregulation Effect

With 100 grams of carbs to "spend" every day, the average person is going to experience powerful autoregulatory effects, even if they pay little attention to the other macronutrients. Follow the 100-Gram Carb Cure and, well, everything else just falls into place:

• With a limit of 100 grams of carbs, you'll naturally become selective about the types of carbs you eat, especially on training days when you only have around 50 grams to eat depending on your peri-workout strategy.



You'll have to remove refined carbs and the obvious junk food. You'll need to stick to mainly green fibrous vegetables, small portions of berries, and nuts. On non-lifting days you'll have room to eat some beans or a protein bar.



• Calories will be largely controlled since you'll be choosing more filling foods. These satiating food choices, being on the lower end of the carb count, aren't going to cause your blood sugar levels to go bonkers, which can lead to cravings and mood/energy fluctuations that we often try to "fix" with more food (and usually not the physique-supportive stuff.)



In short, it's just difficult to overeat when your food choices are controlled and carbs don't exceed 100 grams daily.



• Some people are label-reading, food-weighing, ingredient-list scanning, waitress-interrogating nutrition freaks. You know, like the humble authors of this article and many TNation readers. But not everyone is. They probably have lives and stuff.



For those folks, the 100-gram rule becomes an educational tool that teaches them to adopt eating strategies than can last a lifetime. The 100-grammer will be forced to read labels and check out serving sizes. He'll probably learn to cook his favorite foods since store-bought versions have all kinds of carby crap added to them.



The 100-grammer won't fall for bullshit "Low-Fat!" and "Made with Whole Grains!" health claims you see all over the cereal, bread, and Pop-Tart aisle. He'll ditch the fruit juice, most sugary dairy products, pasta, and HFCS-infused condiments. He'll become wary of those "guiltless" menu options at chain restaurants, which border on fraudulent.

In other words, by paying close attention to this one macronutrient, the 100 gram dieter will self-regulate, self-educate, and become more self-reliant. He also won't look like a land whale come summertime. Bonus.



100-Gram Carb Cycling



You can tweak this plan even further by adding the element of carb cycling.

As mentioned above, on training days you can eat around 10 grams of fibrous carbs at five different meals and then have a Surge Recovery for your workout nutrition. (Or FINiBAR pre-workout with Anaconda and/or MAG-10 during and after. Choose your weapon.)

On non-weight training days, don't add more vegetables and beans in place of the Surge Recovery to get to 100 grams of carbs. Instead, just remove the Surge Recovery and don't replace the carbs. This way you'll only be eating 50 grams of carbs that day.

So, about 100 grams of carbs on training day and 50 grams on non-training day. This simplified carb-cycling plan would easily get you over a weight-loss plateau or accelerate your current rate of fat loss.



The Rest of Your Diet



For the rest of your diet (i.e. protein and fats) there are a couple of other guidelines.

Eat protein at every meal: a bunch of eggs, protein powder, or a hunk of meat. It's hard to screw this part up.

Add fats to each meal as well. Don't go overboard with nuts and seeds because they come with their fair share of carbs and you'll quickly be on the 250 Gram Carb Plan. Walnuts are great because they have a lower carb count than any other nut, and they contain the most diverse fatty acid profile (including omega-3s).

Use oils and some butter on your vegetables. Sprinkle salads with different oils or cheeses. Don't skimp on fatty fish like salmon and take your daily Flameout.



Wait! Why Not Just Count Calories?

Good question. Sure, eat just 1200 calories of anything in a day and you'll lose weight. Thank you, Law of Thermodynamics.

But you could also lose muscle, wreck your metabolism in the long term, perform poorly in the gym, squander your long-term health, send your hormone levels into tailspins, raid a Chinese buffet, and risk programming in bad dietary habits ("Twinkie Diet," anyone?). It's also unsustainable and usually leads to fat regain and rebound.

Oh, and one more little-bitty thing: the higher-carb, "just eat smaller amounts of junk food" diet plan has the highest failure rate of any fat-loss strategy ever developed in history.

Yeah, there's that.



Mike's Sample Menus



Training Day

Meal 1: Eggs, spinach, cheddar-cheese scramble

Meal 2: Metabolic Drive Low-Carb, walnuts, 1 serving blueberries, Superfood

Meal 3: Salad (romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers) with chicken and extra virgin olive oil

Meal 4: Flank steak with asparagus and butter

Workout: Surge Recovery

Meal 5: Chicken breast with broccoli and extra virgin olive oil

Non-Training Day

Meal 1: 4-egg omelet with salsa and cheese, 1/2 a grapefruit (sprinkled with Splenda) on the side

Meal 2: Metabolic Drive Low-Carb, flaxseed oil, 2 serving strawberries, Superfood

Meal 3: Roasted chicken breast with spinach (wilt in a pan with minced garlic and extra virgin olive oil) and a small apple

Meal 4: Extra-lean ground beef sautŽed with peppers and onions

Meal 5: Roasted salmon (spread Dijon mustard on top before roasting) with asparagus and 1 serving great northern beans



Wrap-Up

Eat about 100 grams of carbs per day.

One rule. Damn-near universally effective for fast, painless fat loss. No gun-toting kidnapper required.