Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Case Against Calorie Counting

I've just come out of a team meeting where we were discussing the fallacies surrounding calorie counting and why it's so ingrained into people's mindsets that fewer is better.

For years the general consensus has been that put less in and you'll put less on but there's so many other factors surrounding weight gain that have been completely ignored.

Yes, it would make sense that if you expend more than you consume you will be in calorie deficit, thus losing weight, however consider the following factors:

Thermic environment

Cold environments tell us to slow down our metabolism in order to conserve energy to keep us warm. Even if you are eating fewer calories your body will think "winter" and go into hibernation mode to keep you insulated. Therefore if your working environment is too cold, you could be contributing to your fat storage!

By contrast, have you ever noticed that you eat less in the heat? This is your brain telling your body that you have enough heat to carry on normal internal functions, so you don't need so much fat to insulate yourself.

Muscle:Fat ratio

Did you know that muscle burns fat?

Yep, that's right. So makes sense that the more muscle you have the less fat you carry right?

So imagine two identical twins, the same in every way except one is 12 stone of mostly fat and the other works out regularly and is 12 stone of mostly muscle. They both eat the same meals on a calorie measured diet for a month. The twin who is mostly fat puts on more weight and the twin who is muscle stays the same.

Why?

Because it's not the calories that are contributing to the weight gain, it's the fact that the twin who is largely fat will burn less because he lacks muscle to burn it off!

Hormone balance

Are you stressed?

This could be a major factor in your inability to lose weight. Cortisol actually increases your hunger, slows down your metabolism and tells your body to store fat! Not only that but as a back-up it also destroys muscle tissue so you really have no choice in the matter!

So even if you are counting calories, your stress levels are sabotaging all your good efforts!

Water!

Now we all know we should be drinking more water and you try for a couple of days, then it goes out the window. But if I told you that by increasing this one factor alone you could:

increase your metabolism

improve your digestive system, (for all those with IBS or food intolerances)

improve the functions of your organs, brain, muscular and skeletal systems,

have glowing skin, shiny hair and bright eyes,

be all over healthier, feeling better, looking better and BURN MORE FAT

wouldn't you be heading for the tap right now? Go on then!

The source

Regardless if you're counting calories, the source matters. A LOT! My boyfriend works in construction and he asked me the other day, why is it that builders are fat when they do such hard manual labour all day? Surely they should burn it off?

Would make sense, yeah? More calories out than in?

Simple, they are sourcing all their calories from simple carbs like bread, pasta, potatoes, crisps, and sweet treats. Because these things break down very quickly it's not long before their stomach is empty and it's crying for more. So now they are overeating sugars and not balancing with fibre, protein and good fats. Which leads me on to.....

Malnourishment

No I'm not talking about war torn, 3rd world countries.

I mean you!

What do you mean you're not malnourished?

Are you a habitual eater? Do you go for the same vegetables, proteins and fat sources in your diet most of the time? If the answer is yes, you are likely to be malnourished. Lacking in certain food groups or vitamins and minerals.

Why is this relevant to losing weight? Well if your body is lacking in a certain nutrient and can't find it from the food you're eating it will tell you to eat.

Say you're lacking in saturated fat, (which by the way most of us are), firstly if your body doesn't have it, it ain't letting it go!

Secondly, if there's a whiff of fat in your food, be under no illusions that even though you're on a calorie restricted diet, your body will store it!

Lastly, if your body is lacking a certain nutrient it will tell you to eat and eat now! Never mind that you have already eaten enough to fill you up and provide you with the energy you need to go about your daily routine. Your body wants saturated fat and it wants it now. So now you're feeling hungry and you're overeating to compensate for the lack of nutrients in your diet.

So consider all the above. How do you measure up against your fat loss factors? If you're failing miserably and still counting calories, I advise you take a different tack. After all, who wouldn't want to eat more and weigh less?

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The 7 Rules For Gaining Fat... FAST

Fed up of all the exercise plans and diets that have left you tired, irritable and weak? Learn the 7 best ways to poke a thumb in the eye of every personal trainer and diet guru on the planet.

So, you’ve decided to give up.


You’re fed up of all the diets that have promised you great results yet left you hungry, tired, irritable and weak.


You’re fed up of all the ‘wonder workouts’ that have promised you amazing strength, fitness and flexibility ‘in just minutes a day’ but that have left you feeling tired, sore, stiff and, truth be told, no firmer or less flabby than you were before.


But most of all, you’re fed up of all those fitness ‘experts’ out there who tell you how easy it is, how little time it takes and how amazing you’re going to look if you follow THEIR program (ONLY theirs, mind you, no-one else’s will even come near to what they’re offering).


So you’re quitting.


You’re giving up the diet and exercise ‘thing’ and have decided that you’ll just go with the flow and see what happens to your body when the experts aren’t poking their noses into your business and ramming their idea of healthy down your throat.


What a great idea!


No more ‘eat this’ or ‘don’t eat that’, no more ‘don’t forget your cardio’ or ‘weights is better’.
In fact, no more interference of any kind from the countless do-gooders who seem to think that it’s ok for them to advise, nag and bully you into following all kinds of fat loss and fitness advice… as long as it’s theirs.


Good on you!


But before you take the quitters route that most people take, doesn’t it make sense to quit in the right way?


Sure it does!


There’s a science to quitting too y’know and I’m just the person to share it with you : )


So here’s the deal. If you want to quit and quit fast, if you want to pack on pound after pound of soft, warm, figure-blurring bodyfat then you’ve got to have a strategy.


You’ve got to have a plan.


MY plan is easy, straightforward and six-year-old-simple to follow and consists of just seven rules that, if you follow them, will guarantee you the maximum fat gain in the shortest time frame.


It consists of just 7 rules


Rule one: Only eat processed foods


If you’re truly serious about packing on some serious fat-pounds, you’ll follow this rule faithfully.
Without a doubt, processed foods are the No.1 friend to fat due to their denatured, sugar-loaded and mostly synthetic nature.

With most of the vitamins and minerals removed from processed foods, the highly calorific and mostly indigestible remain, creating a massive storehouse of both calories and toxins for you to bury deep within your already overloaded fatty tissues.

Better still, the toxic nature of most processed foods mean that you’ll gain not only fat but a whole lot of subcutaneous water too as your body tries to ‘dilute’ the impact of all the extra toxins you’re holding onto, meaning that you’ll put on extra scale weight and look soft and squidgy into the bargain.

Great stuff!

Rule two: Cram in as many starchy carbs as you can

Starchy carbs eaten in isolation or, better yet, with sugary carbs are an absolutely fantastic way to accelerate the battle of the bulge and gain both fat and body weight at a more rapid pace.

Eating carbohydrates in isolation allows your hormones to engage in a free-running form of guerrilla warfare where insulin levels raise through the roof and, in doing so, command your body to store fat.

A word of warning though; whatever you do, don’t mix your starches with fats or proteins. This reduces both the amount and the effect of all that lovely insulin and will definitely scupper your chances at serious fat gain.

Rule Three: Get to bed as late as you can

If rapid fat gain is your greatest desire, then make sure that you get to bed as late as you possibly can, with the ideal scenario being that you stay up so late every night that you fall asleep on the sofa.

Doing This will ensure a steady supply of the stress hormone cortisol into your bloodstream to help you break down all that energy-consuming lean muscle tissue that’s slowing down your fat gain.

Just don’t ruin the effect by getting to bed by 10:30 or you’ll find that the cortisol levels drop far too low to cannibalise your muscle and you may even find that you lose all your precious fat!

Rule four: Steer clear of water

Drink too much water and you’ll not only do away with your body’s false food cravings (meaning that you won’t eat unnecessarily), but you’ll also create a freer flowing route for the digestion of the foods you’ve eaten.

Obviously, this is a bad thing as it means you won’t keep undigested foods in your stomach long enough for them to go putrid and add to the overall toxic load on your system.

Remember, anything that speeds up your metabolism is bad!

Instead, use coffee, tea and soda to ‘mix up’ your metabolism and increase toxicity.

Rule five: Don’t forget the alcohol!

Alcohol is just about as pure a sugar source as you can get and is absolutely jam-packed with calories that contribute nothing to the function of your body.

Better still, alcohol adds to your toxic load meaning that you’ll hold a large amount of water too!

Rule Six Use the microwave for all of your cooking

Microwave’s are great!

During the heating process they vibrate the molecules of your food so fast that they actually change their structure, meaning that when you eat nuked food, your body has no idea about how to cope with them, let alone extract nutrition from them.

This is fantastic for your fat gain quest because you’ll be adding to your toxic load AND creating a surplus of non-nutritional calories, meaning that you’ll get hungry again very soon after eating and have another opportunity to stock up on calories.

Rule Seven: Avoid all unnecessary movement

There’s no getting away from it, movement of any kind costs you valuable calorie-energy and robs you of the vital fat building stores that’ll be necessary for your quest.

Stay as still as you can to conserve as much energy as possible and commit to using as many labour-saving devices as you can find. Things like remote controls, stair lifts, escalators etc all serve a valuable role in the creation of your fat stores, so use them.

If you are forced to move, then whatever you do, don’t engage in any form of activity that might lead to an increase in strength or muscle mass as this’ll speed up your metabolism and rob you of calories. Instead, engage in steady-state, slow aerobic activities as these are energy efficient and have the added benefit of increasing cortisol and, in doing so, breaking down that calorie-robbing muscle tissue.

So that’s it!

Your seven rules that, if followed, will absolutely guarantee that you pack on fat faster than you’d ever believe possible and allow you to thumb your nose and poke your tongue out at every personal trainer or diet guru who ever promised you a rapid result from following their plans.

Follow just one or two of them for even a short time and you’ll see a rapid softening of the waistline and an appreciable gain in scale-weight. Follow them all and you’ll gain so much weight that you’ll be stunned by the reflection staring back at you within a month.

Give it a go!

Note: If you’re one of those weirdo’s who feel that you’d like to take the extreme approach of actually losing bodyfat then just reverse the rules above to see equally rapid fat loss… I don’t know why you’d want to though!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Diet food makes you fat!

Stop! Put that low fat cereal bar / chocolate substitute / diet coke down right now!!!

Unless you want to increase your body fat you need to read this!

With the raft of information flooding the media about obesity, weight loss and how fat we are becoming it's only fair to think you're doing the right thing by replacing your full fat counterparts with diet and low fat options but before you opt for the low fat rice snacks take a minute to think about why obesity levels and the use of artificial sweeteners have risen simultaneously!

Resarchers, Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson from Purdue University, Indiana, conducted a study substituting a low-calorie yoghurt for a full fat version and found that the low-calorie study group gained more weight and body fat than the group using the sugary version.

It was found that sweet tasting foods stimulated the body to receive a high amount of calories. When this doesn't happen the body's system gets confused and compensates by stimulating people to eat more or by burning less as a result.

This doesn't mean you should bin the intentions to cut back on the sugar though! Just replace your sugar-free treats with clean wholesome foods, packed with nutrients the body needs to perform efficiently.

In our elimination diet we encourage eating only real, whole organic foods with nothing artificial added. It's worked for thousands of clients and there's zero calorie counting involved. I use this approach with all my clients and myself and I've yet to see it fail!

So, my advice,

Eat only fresh fruit, vegetables, and protein

Avoid processed food like the plague

Sugar is not your friend

Cook from scratch - anything in a packet or jar is not real food!

Over the next few weeks I'll be giving you more useful tips and advice to fast, effective fat loss, so if you want to find out more about my nutrition strategies for effective fat loss make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out!

If you really want to change for good watch out for the first release of the Look Great Naked Bootcamp! It's coming soon....

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The ultimate challenge

So, it's that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer, (slowly!), and January and February have flown past but you still haven't gotten around to really starting that health kick you were all geared up for.

Well, you had all good intentions right?


You bought all that fresh fruit and veg, green tea and turkey mince as well as signing up to the gym or promising yourself you'll definitely start jogging 3 times a week, (thing is it's been really cold and dark so that's kind of not really happened), but you still haven't lost anything or you're way off target.

Are you telling yourself it's fine because you'll just get really into it this week? Or have you realised that something else is holding you back?

More than likely it's YOU! You haven't set yourself clear enough goals and you're not even sure why they're important to you. It's all well and good saying that you want to lose half a stone but if you have no idea why you want it or how you're going to get there then you might as well kiss that idea goodbye right now!

95% of success or failure stems from the mind.


Having clear and defined goals and a definite pathway to the end result is a major factor in all successful weight loss programmes.

You need to plan to win. Atheletes don't go in to win gold by kind of thinking about it, they plan their nutrition, training calender, even their rest to make sure they get there and get there at the right time.

Ok, I hear you, you're not an athelete right? But are your goals any less important to you? If they are then maybe you need to rethink them and find out what it is that really will make a difference in your life. If you know what you want and why you want it then you need to start thinking about how you're going to get there.


One of the first things I do with my clients is work with them to set a clear ideal in mind of where they want to be in a certain time period. Then we'll look at exactly what it will take to get them there. If it's unrealistic then we'll have to play around with elements of the goal until we have something that fits. Once they know exactly what they need to do each day to get to their ideal it's easy enough to stick to their plan.

Enlist as much support as possible. Get your friends and family involved and do it together or look for a community to give you support, advice and the knowledge that someone else is doing it with you. There's lots of online forums, or you could look at joining, (or creating) a group who are working towards the same goals.

So if you haven't already got your goals planned out, go do it and know that this time you're going to get there!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Want to Look Great Naked in just 12 weeks?

Calling all Fat Losers!

Do you hit the cardio confessional three times a week?
(well actually, it'
s more like two, or one and a half if I can make excuses about work / kids / not feeling well)

Have you tried spin class / body pump / fit 'n' funky / weights machines, (delete as appropriate) have been doing it for years and seen your body lose a few pounds here and there but never really manage to get to your goal and stay there?

Fat loss and optimal health is our number one priority. If you've been looking for a way to burn off the stubborn fat that been clinging to you for years, strengthen loose, saggy muscles that make you look soft and shapeless and get back to a level of fitness that makes you feel like the master of the body you wear (rather than a slave to it) then keep on reading.

If however you've been thinking about losing weight, and you're kind of commited but actually can't really be bothered to do what it takes to get there, then I advise you head back to google and look for "big corporate gym".

For those of you who are still with me I'd say changing your body and lifestyle are pretty high on your agenda. With that in mind and following on from the amazing success we've seen here at Dax Moy personal training studios with our 1:1 clients, and the thousands of subscribers to the online 90 day challenge we've decided to go one further and create the next addition to the look great naked family!

Look Great Naked Bootcamps!

Launching in early spring of 2008 we will be bringing you 12 weeks of pure unaldulterated fat incinerating techniques and strategies to get you beach beautiful in time for sunny summer days!

We've packaged our unique combination of powerful motivation tools, zero calorie counting wholesome nutrition and fast effective training techniques into a 12 week bootcamp that'll give you personal attention at a fraction of the price.

You'll be part of a bootcamp community with access to online forums, group support, 24/7 email and telephone access to your coach plus your two sessions a week, individual nutrition plan and home activity planner.

It doesn't just stop there! What you learn on bootcamp will be effective health plans that you will use forever -

this is not a fad, this is real life

Sound like what you've been looking for?

email me:
nisha@kaizenkinetics.com / info@daxmoy.co.uk
call me at the studio: 0207 354 3550

bootcamp queen x