Fat Loss and Dieting

After much in depth study, confusion, fads, diets, tonnes of information and Minimal time practical application with results on myself and clients, I have finally concluded that dieting for fat loss is really simple.

( just so I make myself clear simple is not always equal to easy!).

My personal example is along with a good weight training program and lifestyle change I lost 7 kgs in 2.5 months! I will be getting into the details of my story at a later post but for right now please get this:

GIGO = GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT

Your Fat Loss starts with changing your diet.

I can't tell you exactly which foods you should be eating and which you can't be since each are different individuals and different cultures. However, here are the diet guidelines I followed.

1) Start eating REAL food, stay away from processed foods: Eat real meat, vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy products. The more closer to the original source you get your food from, the better it is. 

2) Eat your vegetables: The best foods for a detox are vegetables. Even for a few meals in a day if you just live on vegetables, it will boost gut health. Salads are a great and tasty way of adding to the vegetable list.

3) Fatten up: Yes, I said it! Eat fats, the healthy kind. Stay away from marketing gimmick labels that say low fat. To get the fat balance right just stick with real meats, eggs, dairy products, nuts. The best oils you can cook in are olive oil and coconut oil.

4) Get rid of the sugar. Sugar is a white devil and the BIGGEST anti-nutrient in your diet. In my case I stopped nearly immediately and started looking for other sources. I do understand some people find it difficult to cut out sugar so make a start somewhere and start working towards healthy replacements of sugar. Raw honey, cinnamon, fruits are excellent sweeteners. I started with changing everything that needed sugar with raw honey. Or you can have fruits that are known for being sweet and just have your beverage without sugar or use that as dessert.Once your taste buds are activated with the sweet taste you really don't care about putting sugar in your beverage.

5) Stop snacking: If your main meals are already good, just stop snacking in between. You do not need excess calories. Usually most snacks are filled with a lot of sugar, unhealthy oils etc.

6) Supplementation: In most cases you are going to need the correct supplementation to jump start the body to correct itself and get it on track..........FAST! .To lose fat, I supplemented with a multivitamin- mineral, fish oil and fiber.Also I had to use vitamin C as it primarily helps with detox and for a short period vitamin E. I highly recommend the Nutrilite brand when it comes to supplements. Please remember supplements are just that- supplements. These can't replace your daily natural food.   

                     

These 5 pointers are things I have personally applied to my diet and watched my body fat drop and energy levels shoot up. I understand that some steps might be too drastic so I suggest make the changes slowly but start somewhere. 

Here are some tips that you could use to get you started with your diet change process.

1) Keep a food journal: To get you on your way, track what you eat whenever you eat. I know this sounds tedious but it will at least tell you where you and the changes you can continue to make.

2) Get guidance: Go to a good fitness trainer or nutritionist. They could point out exactly what your meal schedule should be and what should be added, subtracted or replaced.

3)  Stay accountable: Find someone who you can trust to keep you on track and who will also challenge you and motivate you to reach your goal.

Keep your meals clean and real most of the time. I do know that there are times where its really difficult to follow these rules - there are lunches and dinners to attend, sometimes you just have to eat out while you are on the go, etc. What I am saying is most of the time the choice is yours with what to feed yourself. Think about it in this way - Say you eat three meals a day, 7 days a week i.e. 7 x 3 =  21 times to eat. If you are not eating healthy most of those 21 times don't expect to lose fat and stay healthy. The more number of times you have an opportunity to eat you can either choose to eat healthy or not which will definitely affect your health and fat loss goal.

Defusing a ticking time bomb? (The Importance of Losing fat)

Which one of these scenarios seem really happy?

1) Collapsing at work or home.

2) Doctor giving you a report that you have only a short time to live.

3) Hospital bills eating into your finances.

4) Lying cut open on an operating table.

5) Living day in and day out with a life threatening disease.

Are you happy and smiling at these scenarios?

In each of these lets also add the faces of your beautiful family and children. Can you see their faces at each of these scenarios? Are they really happy and smiling?

Think about it before you answer..................... I'll wait. You are probably saying, 'Gideon, whats the matter with you? Those scenarios are disgusting and no one would be smiling at any of those' To which my reply is, 'EXACTLY! So why are you living like that?'

Many people are ticking bombs and the sad part is they don't even know it. Some are worse - they know it but are too lazy or at least that is their excuse. It really is sad because these people have a lot of unfinished responsibility, got beautiful families, got a whole life ahead of them and are heading towards disaster.

Issues of Unhealthy Body Fat.

1) Lifestyle related diseases are killers. Unhealthy fat stored in the body is a major cause of these diseases. Do you realize that the more unhealthy fat content you have shoots up the work load on your heart? It also stays in your body and causes hypertension, diabetes, obesity, cancers, etc.... This is why its so important to lose unhealthy body fat.

2) The more amount of fat around your waist the greater is the risk of lifestyle related disease. Remember however this is only one indicator.

3) The more fat you have on your upper body as well adds to the issue of problems with the knees, ankles and feet.

4) Excess fat also causes more estrogen to be produced in the body and more estrogen in turn signals your body to produce more fat and this enters a fatal cycle.

If you do not do something about your fat content the facts are straight forward.............You are a time bomb waiting to go off in any disastrous direction and you do not even know when!

The Good News:

I really am not a doomsday prophet. That is why I offer up the solutions I have seen work and has been proven over the years. Lifestyle related diseases can be avoided if corrective measures start early. They can also be controlled and now some studies are finding out they can also be reversed.

All it takes is prioritizing and a long hard look at your life to decide what you want. Fitness should be a part of your life because your body is designed for it. The first thing you should be aiming for is getting rid of the fat. Get your body fat checked. Its hard to know where you are headed until you

1) Locate yourself
2) Know where you are going.

Do a body composition check. There are a variety of ways the reliable and common ways being skin fold thickness measurements by body calipers and bio-electrical impedence devices. I use the Omron HBF 306 Body Fat analyser. Once you know that you can get a plan to burn fat. Ideally, body fat should be between  12%-18% for men and women should be between 21% to 24%. Fat loss is a simple procedure. It might not be easy getting there but it is simple. I have covered this is my post 'Fat Loss made simple'.

I really hope I this post motivates those who needs it to immediate action............burn off the fat, stay alive!

Time is ticking...............tick-tock......tick-tock........

How to set a goal and achieve it

In my previous post on goal setting, we looked at what is a goal, its characteristics and benefits.

In this post, I am going to bring out pointers to actually setting a goal and achieving it.

Setting the goal

1) Vision- Take some time out and find out what it is you really want to get done.

2) Decision - Make a quality decision to do it.

3) Deadline - Decide by when you want to achieve it.

4) Write it down - Once you make a quality decision write it down and sign it. There is a lot of power in writing down a goal.

5) Stay positive - The goal should be stated in the positive. 'I will eat healthy foods' is much more stronger and received by the mind better than 'I will not eat junk food any more.'

6) Challenging yet realistic - The goal should challenge you, yet be realistic. If you can only do 3 push ups, there is no way in being able to do 100 push-ups by the end of the week. However reaching 10 push-ups is definitely realistic in that time frame.

Achieving the Goal

1) Pictures - Add pictures. The mind 'sees' in pictures. Try to add pictures that best describe your goal to the  words you wrote earlier on or the end picture you had in your mind.

2)Focus - Once you have written the goal, put it up in places you can see it. It will be a constant reminder and keep your priority and focus sharp. No distractions.

3) Get a mentor or trainer- A mentor or trainer has walked the way before and a lot more experience. It will be real time knowledge and wisdom coming to you and also keep the path simple. Also if it gets difficult the mentor or trainer can motivate you and help you push on instead of quitting.

4) Accountable: Stay accountable. If you have to get your spouse or mentor to sign the written decision with you do it and keep in touch with them letting them know how you are doing. Chances are they will be prodding you along before you talk with them about your progress!

5) Teachable: Somewhere along the line you are going to have to learn things or change your way of thinking.   As long as this does not conflict with your character and morality be open and teachable to new ideas. This will also add to your problem solving ability and knowledge base.

6) Consistent: Be consistent. My father always used to tell me 'What normal people do once in a while, champions do everyday.'

7) Do not procrastinate: Procrastination is a thief of time. Most of the time it is just laziness that causes procrastination. If you can finish something do it right away. Do a little bit each day.

Start following these points and move ahead to a better life.

Goal Setting and the Benefits

If there is one topic that is talked a lot about but least followed this is one of them. However if you need to get things done this is where it starts.

What is a goal?

A goal is a strong desire or dream with a deadline to it.

Characteristics:

1) Well Defined: A goal should be well defined, not vague. 'I want to lose 5kgs' is much more specific then 'I want to lose weight'. There is no point starting on a journey if you don't know where you are headed.

2) Deadline: A goal should have a deadline. This is what sets the urgency and excitement to it. Also this is what helps in prioritizing and staying focused. Going back to our previous example - 'I want to lose 5 kgs in 1 and a half months.' This will reinforce the priority.

3) Sincere Emotional appeal: If its not connected to a desire on the inside of you, then all you are doing is wishful thinking. You can change that desire to an important objective and get it done.

4) Challenging: A goal should be challenging, yet realistic. If its too difficult you are going to give up halfway. If its too easy chances are high you will not prioritize it.

Benefits:

1) Confidence: As you achieve goals it builds your confidence. You finish one thing and then another and another. You develop a winning attitude

2) Mentally Tough: With each challenge you overcome, you become more and more mentally tough.

3) Problem Solving: With each challenge you learn how to solve the problems that go with it. Your learning curve increases and you learn more things along to way.

4) Experience: In learning new things and applying them you realize what works best and what doesn't. That adds up to experience.

5) Motivation: If you started something that you really wanted to achieve or get, would you really come so far or put in so much effort only to quit in the middle? I did not think so either. Motivation comes from knowing there is a way to get what you really want and that you can get it.

This is what I did to start me on my fat loss routine. You can see my results here when I actually reached the target I had been aiming for. Set your goals and achieve something on a daily, weekly and monthly basis for a start. Once you are used to that you can handle longer time lines. 

6 Points to Staying fit in the Work Place

            1) Keep your spine neutral. Do not slouch at your desk.

2) Give a break to your eyes. Look away from your screen every 20-30 minutes.

3) Get a half liter bottle and fill it with water. You can easily reach the daily requirement of 3-4 liters by using a half liter bottle as compared to a one liter bottle. Drink a half liter every hour.

4)  Get up and walk around. Sitting too long cuts off circulation, wrecks posture and increases back pain.

5) When you are working on a computer make sure your arms are close by your sides and at 90 degrees. This will prevent strain on your shoulder, neck and upper back.

6) Stretch your arms, back and legs and neck often.

You can use the reminder on your calender to display these every 20-30 minutes. 

5 Lessons for Strength Training

1) Leave your ego at home - better yet get rid of it

2) Find a real gym - not a latest fad 'fitness' center. There is nothing very fit about most of them except that it's all about the money and the latest fashion fads.

3) If you are going to train - train hard, wise and smart. Do not waste time.

4) Go with a plan. Set a goal, focus, finish it.

5) Train progressively - Start light and add weight or intensity regularly. 

The Most Important Quality for Fitness, Strength and Wellness Trainers

Fitness trainers, Nutritionists, Dietitians, personal trainers, coaches, strength coaches, wellness consultants.......it seems there is an ever growing list of titles in today's fitness world. All is well and each one has their own place for which I am really thankful for and respect them.

Personally I network with some of the best in each category. I have realized what sets these people apart from others I choose to network with is this:

 'They do what they love and have a passion helping others reach their goals.'

 After all isn't this what should drive the wellness industry? Think about it.

When a client comes to anyone one of us, that client is actually saying, 'I trust you with my life. You have to get my health back on track or tell me what to do to prevent a health disaster.'

I have seen some so called trainers just spout off the general rules and 'try' to influence clients to push harder. What really is strange, is these 'trainers' have absolutely nothing to their credibility except to get picked off the  roadside and put under a glamour name of some fitness center. They had not even sat down with the client to find out what exactly is the clients goal.

I also heard about a nutritionist who took the clients list of what she was eating, put it in an excel sheet and then charged her for doing just that!! Also sometimes nutritionists just push supplements across to the client to get commissions from both sides. Just an honest observation for 'nutritionists' and 'trainers' who do that - They are people like you, not trash cans or druggies.

Now I am not saying all are that way. There are also plenty of trainers, nutritionists and strength coaches from across the globe that I admire and really like their commitment and beliefs of why they do what they do and have learnt and incorporated that into my own practice for me and then my clients. I have learnt how to advise my clients, approach them and give my clients 100% commitment and also change myself for the better.

To all trainers, nutritionists, strength coaches and anyone in the health and fitness industry reading this blog I would like all of us to remember that the people who come to us look up to us as role models and experts in our own right. Yes there is money to be made and good money but not at the cost of quality of a persons life. The wellness industry will grow in the next few years. Let's just make sure the motive behind it is right.