HOW SLEEP IMPROVES YOUR RESULTS, HEALTH & PERFORMANCE!
You get into bed shattered after a long day. You know you need to sleep but still have a million and one things racing through your mind. You're just about to fall asleep and then you remember that one thing you forgot to do. So how do you ever get a good night’s rest?
This blog will give you 5 practical tips to start improving your sleep that you can start from today.
Sleep deprivation and overall poor sleep quality can set you up for a real groggy start to the following day, leaving you searching for that quick caffeine or ‘mental boost’ to kick start your morning. But as I’m sure you know, that only lasts so long before you're looking for the next kick start, and then you're into a vicious cycle of ups and downs throughout the day.
I remember a time whereby sleep just became one of those hard to come by things for me, and I thought is this the new norm that I just have to get used to? But what I failed to realise is that there are so many beneficial things that happen whilst we are sleeping, that contribute to our health, performance, and ability to focus.
I’ll spare boring you with all the scientific details but here are 3 things to note
Sleep helps to rest and replenish the mind, so that you're able to focus on the tasks at hand and push through a tough workout.
Whilst you're sleeping many hormonal changes are happening, that contribute to muscle repair and recovery, if you're exercising regardless of the goal this is vital.
These hormonal changes directly influence your appetite, hunger, how efficiently your body burns and stores fat
The daily kickstarts may feel great in the immediate, but stands nowhere near what improving your sleep can do for you! Not just today, but for the rest of your life. So here are the 5 tips you can use to start improving your sleep.
Find ways to cool down your body temperature before bed. Research shows that when your body is cool it releases a sleep hormone called melatonin.
Avoid exposure to blue lights 2 hours before sleep, simply put stop scrolling on social media, get off computers/phones, and binging on Netflix before bed. Blue lights delay the release of melatonin and disrupt your sleeping pattern.
Find a good night time routine that will help to de-stress your mind. Reading, yoga, meditation, or a good bath could be a good place to start
No caffeine 5-6 hours before bed. Caffeine can last up to 6 hours in your system, delaying the amount of time it takes you to fall asleep
Green, black or matcha tea are really good choices before bed as they include a hormone that helps to create a state of calm and relaxation.
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HERE’S SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PERSONAL TRAINING!
There are often so many misconceptions about what personal training is, but here are some more commonly known ones.
Personal training is just a workout plan to follow, accompanied by some basic nutritional advice.
Or that militant trainer who feels it’s their job to literally try and break you every session, in the hopes that they can add one more tally to the ego-board.
Whilst some people’s experience of personal training will attest to this, there’s a lot more that actually goes into helping you achieve your goal.
So for those of you whose view of personal training may have been affected by such approaches, I hope this article helps to restore your faith in the personal training industry.
If there’s one thing that my experience in the industry has taught me, it’s that the strategies behind achieving a client’s goal are often simple, but it’s us as humans that are complicated.
I want to be very clear here, just because something is simple, doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. It might be simple to understand that you have to be in a calorie deficit to lose body fat, but the actual application of it is the difficult part.
Understanding this was one of the foundations that changed the game for me.
As great as it would be to have people programmed like robots that only needed a 3 step manual on how to lose body fat, it’s not the reality of the world that we live in. Nor does it reflect the reality of how you operate.
In order to truly help you overcome the barriers that stand in the way of achieving a result, it’s always important to appreciate you as an individual.
Based on a number of different reasons you will all have very different relationships with food, that may cause you to view it in a completely different light.
For one person food may be seen as a very cultural experience, something that brings people together and connects families.
Trying to get such a person to cut out all family & social dinners, is more than likely only going to end up in a dissatisfied client and a rather frustrated PT.
In this case, opting for a nutritional strategy that prioritises their goal, but still allows them to enjoy such experiences would prove to be much more beneficial in the long run.
Just so you know there are many ways you can still enjoy the foods you love, whilst still being able to achieve a level of results.
For the next person, food could simply just be a means of getting fuel & might be something they choose solely based on convenience.
Such a person may not have all the time in the world to prepare all their meals for the week, and the likelihood of them committing to such a plan would be 0 to none.
In this case, opting for a nutritional strategy that gives them a framework that fits into their busy lifestyle, or routine would prove to be more beneficial.
Alternatively, due to the perceived cost of meal planning themselves, such a person may find massive value in delegating their meals out to a meal prep company.
The point I’m making here is that as personal trainers, it’s our duty to make sure that we have a better understanding of everything that makes you, you.
That could be, but not limited to;
Your values
Your hobbies
What makes you happy
What is important to you
Your current relationship with food
All of these and more could be the difference in someone achieving a level of result they are happy with, vs someone who feels like they’ve been given the short straw.
Without a better understanding of you as a person, the service provided will always be very subpar and impersonal. It’s almost like trying to throw something at a wall and hope it sticks.
So when looking for a trainer that can help you work towards your goals, here are 3 things I’d suggest you look out for.
Is this trainer best suited to help you achieve your individual goal?
By this I mean, does this person specialise in the area or direction that you are heading in. For someone working towards weight loss, working with a bodybuilding coach might not be the best fit for both parties.
Is this trainer someone who can explain to you why they prescribe a certain approach/exercise for you?
As much as it’s important to trust the process, it’s always important to know why you do what you do. Personally, a big part of what helps people build their confidence is educating them along the way.
You’ll always feel more confident walking into a gym knowing what to do vs just going into the gym and training whatever you feel like on that given day.
Is this trainer who makes you feel like you can be honest & open?
The last thing you want each time you confess the weekend mishaps to your trainer is a constant bollocking. Remember it’s not a classroom, it’s a relationship that should help you better understand why you do what you do.
In doing so, you will always be more likely to be honest & accountable further down the line with your trainer. Do bear in mind that at times your trainer will be the person to tell you the things you need to hear, even when you don’t want to.
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HOW STRENGTH TRAINING CAN IMPROVE YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE?
Our bodies were created to be able to move freely without limitations. When you think back to the early years of life, you were able to crawl, roll, twist, and more without even having to worry about what muscle you might pull. So where did we lose this gift of movement?
As you progress through life it almost becomes the norm to spend a large portion of the day in sedentary positions. Many working environments leave you seated in front of a desk for anywhere between 6-8 hours a day. Not to mention the long work commutes, time spent in front of the tv and on your devices.
For a vast majority of people, this leaves only a small portion of the day spent in any intentional or unintentional movement activity. As you stop spending time using these movement patterns they begin to cause muscular imbalances within the body.
If your someone who spends a lot of time in sedentary positions, you may have noticed that your shoulders tend to be rounded forward and the movement of your hips becomes very limited. This isn’t just old-age at play as we most commonly like to diagnose it, it’s a lack of time spent counteracting the imbalances caused by those positions.
These imbalances can go on to cause aches and pains that you experience in everyday life, leading to movements becoming very uncomfortable and challenging to get into. So the questions becomes, can you get back to a point where you have freedom of movement?
In most cases, Yes - movement should be seen as your bodies medicine to leading a healthier and better quality of life. The more time you spend applying the practice of it, the more rewarding your quality of life will be.
In the context of your training, this is where it becomes more valuable to build your programme around movement patterns, rather than just individual muscle groups.
THE 7 MOVEMENT PATTERNS
1. PUSH
This movement generally consists of pushing a weight away from your body or a fixed surface. To aim for optimal movement with this pattern aim to use both vertical and horizontal push exercises, such as:
Chest Press
Shoulder Press
Incline Press
Press Up
Dips
2. PULL
This movement generally consists of pulling a weight towards you or pulling yourself towards a fixed object. To aim for optimal movement with this pattern aim to use both vertical and horizontal pull exercises, such as:
Bent Over Row
Lat Pulldown
Seated Row
Upright Row
Pull Ups
3. SQUAT
The squat movement is very similar to the motion used when sitting down on a chair and getting back up. For all squat variations the hip and knee joints will be mainly responsible, to aim for optimal movement ensure both joints are being used to some extent during the movement. Variations of the squat you could incorporate in your training programme include;
Box Squat
Front Squat
Back Squat
Bulgarian Split Squat
TRX Squat
4. HINGE
The hip hinge movement is controlled using the hip joint, whereby the spine stays neutral and the hips hinge backward into a flexed position. There will be a small element of flexion at the knee joint, but always keep the movement situated around the hip joint. This is most commonly performed during exercises such as;
Deadlift
TRX Hip Hinge
Roman Deadlift
Single Leg Deadlift
Kettlebell Swing
5. LUNGE
The lunge is a movement whereby one foot steps either forward or backwards, bending both knees to lower the body towards the floor. In this movement the knee and hip joints are mainly responsible, either can be made to work more dominantly through the use of different variations such as;
Dumbbell Lunges
Reverse Lunges
Lateral Lunges
TRX Split Squat
Walking Lunges
6. ROTATION
The rotation movement pattern is commonly seen when your torso has to rotate during an exercise. To increase the intensity of such exercises you can use cable machines or resistance bands, that force you to exert more effort as you rotate the torso. This includes exercises such as;
Cable Woodchops
Russian Twist
Medball Rotational Throw
Rotational Swings
Rotational Lunges
7. WALKING
The most underrated of the 7 is any movement that requires you to walk. It sounds pretty simple but you’ll be surprised to find out how little people walk in a day. Statista.com provided research to suggest that even in the most active of age groups, on average people walk less than 1 mile per day. (Roughly about 20 - 25 mins of walking). Getting out for a walk is the most inexpensive type of exercise available but also can be incorporated into exercises such as;
Overhead Walk
Power Walk
Weighted Vest Walk
Farmers Carry
Stair Master
HOW TO BUILD THIS INTO YOUR TRAINING PROGRAMME
Yes, I know you may be thinking this is a lot to take in, but by no means was this created to make you feel overwhelmed. The purpose was to give you the means to be able to work towards a healthy body that serves you and moves freely.
The exercises listed help to set out a good starting point that will allow you to start taking back the control of the 7 movement patterns, if programmed progressively and safely.
If your still unsure about where to start, you can download my free workout plan attached below. The plan is designed around all of the movement patterns mentioned above, and will help start your journey to a redefined body.
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HOW MANY CALORIES SHOULD YOU BE EATING FOR FAT LOSS?
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the word ‘calories’ thrown around many a time when it comes to the health & fitness industry. We’re always told you need to be in a caloric deficit or surplus to hit your goal, and it’s all good hearing this, but do you really understand it?
Our understanding of any topic in life, allows us to be better informed about the decisions we will make. In this case, better decisions around our food choices and how to make them work for your personal goal.
So by the end of this I hope to leave you with confidence in your understanding of calories, and the tools to be able to make better decisions when it comes to your food choices.
No matter what time of the day you eat your meals, a calorie is still a calorie. In the simplest of terms a ‘calorie’ is a unit of energy. Your body requires these units of energy in order to be able to perform everyday tasks, functions of the body and exercise.
When you consume food, your bodies begin to break it down to absorb the nutrients it contains. During this process is where your body begins to use up the calories within the food as a source of fuel, how much it uses will be dependent on your level of activity.
Any calories that your body does not use as a source of fuel, will then be stored within your body’s fat cells for later use, if needed. This is what we call an excess of calories, where you are consuming more than your body needs in a given day.
Doing this repeatedly over time, will cause your body's fat cells to expand in order to make room for the constant excess of calories that you are eating on a daily basis. Leading to an increase in some cases weight, but mostly body fat.
The key point to remember here is that this doesn’t happen based on an excess of calories eaten over one day. This is something that you will have been doing on a consistent basis, that equates to your weekly calories being in a caloric surplus.
(Caloric Surplus = the amount of calories you consume is more than the amount you burn)
However, like all areas of life, there's a silver lining to be found here. If you feel like this is you or you’ve been in this calorie excess for too long, you can start working to reverse this and get back on track.
How you do this is by creating a consistent caloric deficit, allowing your body to use these fat stores for energy. As your body won’t be getting enough energy from the calories you consume it will look to the stored fat cells as a source of energy, in turn leading to a reduction in body fat.
(Caloric Deficit - the amount of calories you consume is less than the amount you burn)
Sounds easy right? The frustration only begins to settle in when we don’t see the results as quickly as we would like. But always keep in mind, the excess fat stores didn’t happen overnight, so neither will the reduction of them.
I know maybe I shouldn’t say this but facing the reality, allows us to make an honest change, where needed. You consistently stuck to the ‘no-limit’ plan which led to an excess of body fat. So try sticking to the caloric deficit plan for the same amount of time, if not longer and the rewards will eventually begin to take shape.
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FOLLOW MY SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS BLUEPRINT - A 5 STEP EASY TO FOLLOW PROCESS THAT WILL HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY TO ACHIEVING YOUR FAT LOSS GOALS & BUILDING LASTING HABITS!
WHY YOU’RE NOT SEEING RESULTS, EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE EATING HEALTHY?
Are you eating healthier, but still seeing no progress in the direction that you expect?
You’re not the first to experience this problem, and most certainly won’t be the last.
There are several factors that will dictate the level of progress you do or don’t see.
For the purpose of this article, I’ll be focusing on your digestion and the role it plays in helping you make progress.
What Is Digestion?
To understand digestion, you must appreciate the fact that all foods contain a different make-up of nutrients.
The macronutrients you will have heard more frequently include protein, carbohydrates, and fats. These all have different roles that support your health, performance, and your body’s internal functions.
Similarly, you also have micronutrients, which are needed by the body in relatively smaller amounts. These include your minerals and vitamins, see these as the keys that help to unlock the benefits from the macronutrients listed above.
Take for example Vitamin A, commonly found in seafood & cod-liver oil. This helps to stimulate gastric juices that support the digestion of proteins.
Once the protein has been digested it can then go on to, build and repair tissue that may have been damaged as a result of training or injury. It also goes on to support healthy hair, nails and bones.
In essence, digestion is the process in which our body breaks down food into smaller components, that can be absorbed and transported throughout the body.
The process of digestion starts in the mouth when you chew food, carrying on through the stomach, pancreas, liver, intestine and eventually eliminating any waste products through excretion.
Given that the process requires so many different parts of your body, it is, therefore necessary to look at how you can put your body in a more optimal position to aid digestion.
How To Optimise Digestion?
Optimal digestion simply means your body is in a position to make the best use of the nutrients consumed in the food you eat.
To help you make more sense of this concept, think about when you’re learning a new subject.
If you tried to learn a new piece of information, whilst watching an episode of your favourite show on Netflix and texting back a friend, the chances of you retaining that new information would be very slim.
The reason being, because the mind can only focus on one or two things at any given time. So to give your full attention to learning, you would look to switch off any distractions that could steal your attention.
Similarly, as complex as your body is, it wasn’t designed to focus on multiple different tasks all the time. Hence, it can switch between two states, called the parasympathetic state and sympathetic state.
The sympathetic state was designed to help your body detect danger and choose the appropriate response, fight or flight.
If you’ve walked down a quiet road at night and suddenly hear some footsteps approaching from behind, you’ll have probably noticed the following;
Your senses become heightened.
Your heart rate begins to rise.
There is a sudden rush of adrenaline.
If you were hungry before, that’s most likely a thought that can wait until later.
This happens so that you can focus on your survival, and choose a response that will ultimately lead to your safety. But outside of the noticeable changes that happen in this state, your body also inhibits salivation and digestive activity in the stomach.
The sympathetic state is only a state that you should be spending about 10% of your time in. Staying in this state for periods of time can lead to chronic stress, promote retention of body fat due to the rise in cortisol levels, excess fatigue and sleep disturbances.
On the flip side of this we have the parasympathetic state, often referred to as the rest & digest state. Whilst in this state your body will be more optimal at learning, recovering, and digesting.
Whilst in the parasympathetic state, these are the processes that happen of which some help to optimise digestion;
The process of salivation is stimulated, which provides more saliva to help break down your food as you chew.
Your heart rate begins to slow back down.
Digestive activity in the stomach is stimulated, which supports the bread down of protein.
Digestive activity in your gallbladder is also stimulated, supporting the digestion and absorption further down in the small intestine.
The Importance Of Digestion!
So as you can now see, there is a clear difference between how well your body can digest food, depending on which state you are in at the time of consumption.
In doing so, you increase your body’s ability to repair, grow, and progress in the direction of your expected goal.
To make sure that you can reap the associated benefits of the nutrients in the food consumed, it is therefore advised that you look to stimulate your parasympathetic system before & during eating.
Here are a few simple methods you can use to do so;
Box breathing. Before eating take a few minutes to get control of your breathing. Count 4 seconds as you inhale, in through your nose. At the top of your breath, count 4 seconds and hold your breath. Then slowly exhale through your nose, as you count 4 seconds. Repeat as many times as needed.
Avoid eating at your desk or workstation. Find a space that is calming and won’t have your mind stressing about the unfinished projects you have left to do at work.
Chew and break down your food thoroughly before swallowing, the closer it is to a liquid state the easier it is digested. Aim to chew each bite 20 times before swallowing.
Where time permits, go for a short walk after you have eaten to support your digestion.
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HOW TO LOSE FAT & STAY ON TRACK, WITHOUT THE SCALES!
When you’re working towards fat loss, you want to be able to look at the scales and be pleased with what you see each time.
You go in with an expectation of, even though you had the odd snack it surely can’t change that much.
But in that moment when the scales show a number that takes you a few seconds to digest, has it accurately managed to tell you whether you’ve lost body fat or not?
The amount of body fat you carry at any given moment in time only equates to a certain percent of your overall body weight. Factors such as muscle mass and water retention can massively impact the number you see on the scale.
By the end of this article, I hope to be able to leave you with a good knowledge of how the scales should be used, when it comes to tracking your fat loss journey.
1. What is fat loss?
The vital thing to note is that there is no ‘if I do this one thing perfectly, then fat loss will happen’. There are many factors that will affect both the ability for fat loss to occur and the rate at which it happens. Such factors include nutrition, sleep, recovery, water intake, activity, and stress levels.
A certain level of body fat is needed as humans, for the role it plays in regulating body temperature and protecting the internal organs & joints. Too little or too much body fat can lead to longer-term health issues, if not managed effectively.
For every bit of food and drink you consume, they will all contain a certain amount of calories (the unit used to calculate the amount of energy a food has). By totalling the amount of energy in the food and drink consumed over a day, you will get your total energy intake for that day.
This intake of energy is then burnt as fuel for exercise, daily activity, and other bodily functions. This process of burning calories can be measured and is often referred to as energy output. If your energy output is consistently greater than your energy intake, (meaning you are burning more calories than you’re consuming) it is likely that fat loss will occur.
The common mistake at this point of the journey is depending solely on the scale to tell you how much body fat you have lost. To know the best methods of tracking your goal, it must be very clear what your goal is. Often people place weight loss and fat loss under the same hat, which tends to cause more confusion when it comes to measuring progress.
Weight loss is mainly driven by a focus on dropping the overall amount of total body weight a person carries. Whereas fat loss focuses on decreasing the amount of body fat, with the goal of building a leaner physique.
In most cases of fat loss, there will be a reduction in overall body weight as a by-product of the fat loss, however this is not the primary focus. There is no right or wrong out of the two just a choice of which will be more beneficial for you.
2. Why scales can’t be used solely for fat loss
There are a number of reasons as to why the scale weight will fluctuate from day-to-day. Rather than bore you with all the different reasons, I will stick to 2 of the more common ones; muscle mass and water retention.
Muscle mass is the amount of muscle tissue found within the body. If your following a progressive weight training programme, over time this could lead to an increase in the amount of muscle mass within your body.
For fat loss this is great, as an increase in muscle mass has been shown to improve the rate at which your body can burn energy (calories), providing a better foundation for fat loss to occur. However, despite no changes in body fat, this growth in muscle mass will show as an increase in total body weight on the scales.
Does that mean you’ve put on weight and need to sabotage your efforts so far?
Water retention occurs when there is a build-up of excess fluids within the body. This could be caused by a number of reasons such as; inactivity, changes to your diet, underlying health issues or hormonal changes that occur during a menstrual cycle.
Because of this, on any given day the scale could be either slightly higher or lower than normal. In most cases, if managed properly the water retention will subside and your weight will return, but this goes to further explain why the scales will not always be reliable for tracking fat loss.
3. How to track fat loss?
In order to get the truest picture of your fat loss journey, you must keep track of other factors alongside scale weight. Think of it in terms of calculating your profit margins. You must first be able to track all of your sales and expenses, to get the true picture of your net profit.
There are a few different ways to track this, with some methods being slightly more accurate than others. However, for anyone starting out here are the 3 basics I would suggest using, to get a truer picture of what your journey looks like.
Body measurements (I’d suggest taking weekly measurements of your neck, chest, upper arm, belly button/stomach, hips, thighs, and calf.
Progress pictures
Daily/weekly calorie intake & output
Ensure that you take the measurements and progress pictures as close as possible to the same time and day of each week. The more accurate you are with reporting your metrics, the more confident you can be with the results.
The last point to mention that often leaves people feeling deflated is their expectations. So to help you set the card straight, fat loss is not linear. This means after a period of time you will not see direct progress every week.
This doesn’t mean you are doing anything wrong and need to jump ship. In order to get rid of the stubborn layers of fat, you must stick with the calorie deficit over a prolonged period of time. What that might be for each individual will be different. However, it would be worth investing in a coach at this point, to help keep you accountable and focused.
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FOLLOW MY SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS BLUEPRINT - A 5 STEP EASY TO FOLLOW PROCESS THAT WILL HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY TO ACHIEVING YOUR FAT LOSS GOALS & BUILDING LASTING HABITS!
DO YOU NEED TO TRACK CALORIES TO LOSE BODY FAT?
You’ll be surprised to hear this, but you don’t actually have to.
Why?
This might go against everything you’ve heard before, but hear me out.
After tracking calories for some time, you will eventually have enough knowledge to know roughly how much a typical portion of rice equates to.
You would have a rough idea of which foods tend to be more calorific, and which ones provide fewer calories.
Alongside this, you would have built up a good idea of how active you’d need to be a week, in order to create a sustainable calorie deficit.
Now let’s say you have planned to go out this weekend for a meal and drink with friends.
You’ll know based on previous experience, that this is where calories can go through the roof.
So, in response to this, you decide to choose to have breakfast with foods that you have identified as having fewer calories.
Leaving room for you to enjoy your evening meal without guilt.
Because you have the knowledge, you can now make educated choices around your nutrition rather than guestimating.
However, this level of freedom doesn’t come without doing your homework first.
Almost think of it like learning to ride a bike.
Upon the first few attempts, you probably weren’t as confident as you are today.
So to help you overcome that feeling of nervousness, you’d often start off with some stabilisers.
The stabilisers give you the ability to focus on your technique, without having to worry about your balance or falling off the bike.
As you begin to practice more and more, your confidence in your own ability also grows.
After some time you will feel confident enough to remove the stabilisers, and maybe if you’re daring enough even ride free hand.
It’s the exact same process when it comes to eating for fat loss.
Often people will try to skip the stabiliser stage, and move straight on to trying to eat whatever they want, and hope that fat loss will occur as long as they work out enough.
I’d love to be able to tell you that would work, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.
It takes time to feel confident in your decision around nutrition.
Although the thought of counting calories, can at first seem overwhelming, the life it helps you create is so much more rewarding.
Being able to enjoy more of the food you love, in moderation because the majority of your choices are in line with your individual goal.
This sounds like a great theory in context, but where do you go from here?
Almost all packaged products contain their calorie information on the back of the product.
You could keep a physical diary jotting down your calories across the day for each of your meals.
This again can be time-consuming, but helps you to have somewhere to refer back to at any point in time.
Alternatively, you can download my free guide, which teaches how to do this from your phone, save over half the time you would spend writing everything down, and guarantee fat loss in the next 4 weeks.
All you need to do, to get your hands on a free copy, is click THIS LINK below and you’ll be on your way to becoming a nutritional guru, and cracking away at your goals.
GET YOUR FREE FAT LOSS GUIDE TODAY
FOLLOW MY SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS BLUEPRINT - A 5 STEP EASY TO FOLLOW PROCESS THAT WILL HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY TO ACHIEVING YOUR FAT LOSS GOALS & BUILDING LASTING HABITS!
THE BEST CARDIO FOR FAT LOSS
When it comes to cardio for fat loss, running tends to be the first point of call for most people. If programmed at the right time, for the right individual this can yield amazing benefits. However, there are some considerations to make when deciding if running is the best form of cardio, for you right now.
The purpose of this article isn’t to put you off running, but to help you start asking the questions that will give you the answers you’re looking for. This approach can also help you move away from the need to feel one exercise is ‘best’, but more so which is better suited for your individual goal.
Although running is not considered to be a form of weight training, your legs will be responsible for carrying your body weight throughout the exercise. This means that with each stride (gait) there will be a considerable amount of stress placed upon the knee and surrounding joints.
This is to be expected, but the level of stress placed on the knee can be the difference between strengthening the knee joints or causing unnecessary damage. Things such as the type of running shoes you wear and your running technique can both help to minimise this impact.
But, what happens if you have both of these and you still finding that running is causing pain in your knees?
It’s common to see people just grind through it, with the mentality of ‘no pain, no gain’. I’ll be the first to tell you that this is a one-way ticket to injury, that in some cases may even cause you to regress. If you find yourself experiencing knee-pain when running, in the first instance you should always check in with your health professional to eliminate any serious underlying issues.
Outside of those who may be affected by other conditions, the main contributor of knee-pain has been identified as obesity. At a walking pace, your knee takes about 1.5 times your body weight with each step. For a person who weighs 200 pounds, each step would equate to 300 pounds of pressure placed on their knee with each step.
In running the force taken on each knee can be anywhere between 4 - 8 times your bodyweight. This means for the same person weighing 200 pounds, each step could equate anywhere between 800 to 1,600 pounds per step. Over time, this amount of strain will cause excessive wear and tear on the knees and surrounding joints.
Does this make running a bad exercise?
Definitely not, but in order to create a sustainable plan, there will be better alternatives for you to start off with. Walking as mentioned, places a lot less strain on the knee than running, making this a better option to start with. It is also a great way to build strength in the muscles and ligaments that would be used during running.
Aside from walking, some of the most important factors that will support your progress are;
Following a full-body, progressive weight training programme.
Keeping a closer eye on your energy balance, in order to create a calorie deficit.
Managing your stress.
Improving your sleep.
Increasing your daily water intake.
Additionally, there are other cardio machines that will minimise the amount of strain placed upon the knees. These include cross trainers, rowing machines, stationary bikes or the stair master.
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WHY MANAGING STRESS IS IMPORTANT FOR FAT LOSS
When people think of fat loss the two main focus points tend to be training and nutrition.
And rightly so, as without a consistent strength training programme and a calorie deficit, the chances of fat loss occurring will be very minimal.
Whilst these two play a key part in your ability to lose fat, they can not be singled out as the only two things that your efforts should go towards.
Over the years, I’ve seen many cases of people training consistently and eating ‘healthy’ majority of the time but still struggling to lose body fat.
Why?
Because as soon as stress hits, an overindulgence of food & other poor habits tends to be the answer.
Here’s a few examples that you might even have noticed across your journey.
Because it’s been a high-stress day at work, people may often feel like they deserve a treat/day off. Which usually results in an evening binge of eating whatever they want, without being mindful of their choices.
A stressful situation has happened within their personal life, and the easiest way to ‘deal’ with it is by delving into distractions. So instead of still making time to exercise, they may spend the evening in the rabbit hole of social media.
As much as you may be committed to losing body fat, if you’re overlooking the way you react to stress, I can almost guarantee that your efforts will eventually feel wasted.
Learning to manage stress, doesn’t mean choosing to ignore the fact that stressful situations will occur in life. Rather being able to look at those situations objectively and choose how you want to respond and whether that response is actually helping or hindering you.
In doing so, you can quickly begin to identify the root cause of your lack of progress and start working on it, rather than beating yourself up for the results you’re not seeing.
It may seem like such a small factor, and I’m sure you might even be reading this, thinking surely it can’t make that much of a difference. But I can guarantee that in my experience of working with people, managing stress has been a game-changer not only in people’s results but also their level of happiness.
Outside of the external reactions to stress, it can also cause issues with your internal system. This makes fat loss seem 10x more difficult than it needs to be because rather than your body working with you, it’s working against you.
Experiencing long periods of stress can eventually cause disruptions in your sleep, meaning that getting a full night of quality sleep becomes a problem. Where before you may have been able to sleep for 7 - 9 hours undistracted, you might struggle to get 3 hours of unbroken sleep.
During the time in which you sleep, there are a lot of hormonal changes taking place that allow you to perform at your best both physically and mentally for the day ahead.
Two hormones especially that affect fat loss are Ghrelin and Leptin. Ghrelin is often referred to as the hunger hormone, as it helps to control your hunger. Whilst Leptin is related to feeling full.
Assuming you get a full night of quality sleep your body is able to stabilise these hormones, in a way that will allow you to make better choices for fat loss. Studies have shown that a lack of sleep increases the levels of Ghrelin in your body and decreases the level of Leptin.
No matter how much willpower you may have, trying to fight against the urges triggered by your hormones is a losing battle. Eventually, you can end up eating more than needed because of increased levels of Ghrelin and not feeling as full due to decreases in Leptin. Both of which are not conducive for someone with the goal of fat loss.
Hence, the importance of coming back to the root cause, stress. If every time a stressful situation occurs it limits your ability to get a good night’s sleep over a period of days, you will feel like you’re constantly hitting a brick wall.
The second point I want to bring your attention to is the internal stress on your body caused by dieting or long periods at a go. Whilst fat loss occurs when you are in a calorie deficit, the aim should not be to spend the rest of your life there.
Consuming less energy than your body needs for basic functioning over long periods of time, can actually do more harm than good when it comes to fat loss. Outside of losing fat, your body requires food for a number of different reasons from supporting your health, immune system and basic everyday functions.
Staying within the extreme end of a calorie deficit over a prolonged period can cause spikes in the hormone Cortisol. Increases in Cortisol have been shown to increase your appetite for sweet, high-fat foods and retain more body fat than necessary.
People often stay in a deficit too long for a number of reasons. It could be not understanding the effects of it, wanting results to happen straight away or even not being happy with the progress so far.
All of which are perfectly understandable reasons for wanting to continue dieting. However this is where it pays to be long game minded. Switching between phases of being in a deficit and then reverse dieting up to maintenance calories will actually help you continually make progress, rather than getting the results you want only to end up back at square one in 6 months time.
Whilst these two give context to how increased stress makes it harder for you to lose fat, the list of why poorly managed stress hinders fat loss goes on further than this.
Learning to better manage your stress both internal & external may just be the ‘magic-pill’ you’ve been looking for that will help you see sustainable results. If this is something fairly new to you it may be difficult and in some cases may require the help of a professional.
In the meantime, I have put together a set of questions to reflect on the next time you feel stressed.
Identify 5 positive things that will come as a result of this situation?
Are you reacting to your stress or choosing how to respond?
By choosing this response, how will you feel about yourself and your goals tomorrow?
Looking further down the line, if you continue to respond to stress in this way will it be helping or hindering your goals?
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ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP?
Last week I conducted a small survey, to find out how many people actually get a good night’s sleep.
And here’s what the findings reported...
You might be thinking that 7 - 9 hours is almost impossible to achieve, given the number of things that you have to do every day.
However, it doesn’t change the fact that without a good night’s sleep, you will always be operating at a sub-optimal version of yourself.
For a very long period of time, I too fell into the trap of pushing sleep right down to the bottom of my list of priorities, getting by on 4-5 hours of sleep on a good day.
In all honesty, a lot of this came from the mindset of “hustle now, sleep later”. I didn’t recognize the importance of sleep and therefore neglected it as something that I should prioritise.
Because of this, I want to share a small insight into why sleep is probably one of the most important things for your health and mindset.
Ps, let me not forget to mention the role sleep plays in helping you progress with your gym & body goals.
So, where do you start?
The first point I want to draw your attention to is something called the Circadian rhythm. If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry too much. Most people haven’t so here’s a little bit of context.
Simply put, it’s your body’s internal 24-hour clock. This clock is responsible for controlling the hormones that make you feel sleepy as it gets later in the day, and more awake as the sun begins to rise.
As the day gets darker, your body clock responds by signalling your brain to produce a hormone called melatonin. Its purpose is to help put your mind and body into a more relaxed state, thus creating a better environment for you to fall asleep in.
You’ll be surprised at just how much goes on within your body, during the time in which you sleep.
Your brain begins to consolidate any new information learned throughout the day, which is useful when learning or studying a new topic and also creating memories.
Your pituitary gland (a small gland that helps to regulate your metabolism, general wellbeing, and many other bodily functions) releases the growth hormone, which helps your body grow and repair itself. This is key when weight training, as it helps to maximise muscle growth, and favour fat loss over weight loss.
The hunger hormone (Grehlin) also decreases, which is useful in helping you manage your cravings. A consistent lack of sleep can cause a rise in Grehlin, which increases your hunger and appetite over the following days.
On the opposing side, as the sun begins to rise and the day gets lighter, your body stops producing melatonin. This is a way of letting your body know that it’s time to wake up.
In an ideal world, this rhythm would allow your body to go through enough cycles of deep sleep to reap the associated benefits. However, this isn’t the case for most people today.
Due to many different lifestyle factors, the body’s 24-hour clock gets disrupted, and the ability for you to be able to get a good night’s sleep is diminished.
In some instances, people have become so used to functioning on less than 7-9 hours of sleep. However, this doesn’t change the evidence that points to all the long-term health issues that can be developed through a lack of sleep.
Here are some of the more common issues and some suggestions to help you get into a better sleeping pattern.
The most common thing for people to do before bed is to spend time in front of screens (TVs, laptops, mobile phones etc…). As relaxing as this may feel in the moment, these screens emit a blue light which actually stops the production of melatonin. In turn, pushing your body’s clock back and despite you falling asleep shortly after, your mind and body are still not in a state of actual rest. 1 - 2 hours before bed, aim to avoid screens and get the room to be as dark as possible.
If you don’t have a set time that you go to sleep, it’s more than likely that the amount of time you sleep will also vary. Like most things in life, unless you plan for it to happen, it generally won’t. Create a set time for sleep and stick to it.
Any stressful activities/work that you do closer to the time in which you go to sleep will cause an increase in the hormone, adrenaline. Adrenaline is necessary for when we need to be alert or in the ‘fight or flight’ mode. But as I’m sure you can imagine, you’ll find it very hard to sleep in this state of alertness. Where possible
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3 THINGS YOU CAN DO EVERY DAY TO MAKE PROGRESS
Do you ever finish the day feeling like there is still so much left to do?
That important email that you were meant to have responded to, but you got caught up in other distractions.
That workout that you had planned to do, but you left it till the last minute and couldn’t find the energy to see it through.
That deadline you were meant to meet, but now you’re racking your brain trying to find a viable excuse.
And despite your efforts to organise your time, there just doesn’t seem like there are enough hours in the day.
So how do you get to the point where you can finish each day, feeling like you’ve taken care of everything that needs to be done?
Well, it first starts with you being able to identify what are the most important things that must be done today, that are in line with your values.
Notice that I chose to use the word important, but not urgent.
At times you’ll have things that may pop up unexpectedly, that require your urgent attention or action.
It may be an unexpected fine or bill that lands through your postbox, that requires you to get on the phone ASAP and hopefully find a way out.
These are the things that cannot be planned for. So there will be times in your day, where you will have to allow a level of flexibility when such things do arise.
However, when it comes to the most important things, these can be anticipated and planned for.
Where you spend most of your time doing things that are not important and much lower down on your list of values, you will always finish the day with a sense of dissatisfaction.
A rule I often use to identify what is the most important tasks for me to get done is asking myself the following question;
Which 3 things if not done today will have a negative impact on me, my health, my relationships and my business.
Here’s what that looks like for me currently:
Starting the day with some quiet time & prayer.
1 hour of exercise or movement.
Learning 1 new thing today, that will help me serve people better tomorrow.
For each of you, these may look a little different depending on your current set of values.
If you haven’t yet taken the time to identify what you truly value, here’s a link to a short exercise to help you in doing so.
I’d highly recommend you setting some time aside to do this exercise. The level of clarity it provides around what you truly value, gives you a head start in knowing what to prioritise.
The reason it’s so important to identify these things is because it’s human nature to want to do what’s easiest first. But often, there is little value or fulfillment provided by doing those things.
Whereas the tasks that are in line with your values require more discipline, focus and intentional effort.
When you have a clear plan and have identified the 3 most important things that you have chosen to do each day, you can plan and factor time in for each one accordingly.
This way you won’t fall into the trap of debating whether you’ll have time to do those things. Also allowing you to finish the day with a sense of fulfillment, knowing you have taken care of the things highest on your list of values.
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IS YOUR ENVIRONMENT HELPING OR HINDERING YOUR GOALS?
Starting off the journey with a vision of where you want to be, helps to keep you inspired, but what happens along the way when you face friction? As the saying goes, at that moment do you ‘fight or flight’.
Although the latter may ‘feel’ easier in the moment, there is only so far you can go by continually choosing that path. So my hope is that by the end of this, you will feel inspired and willing to rise to the challenges you face along your journey.
When you look at the potential for a flower to grow, there are four factors that will contribute to its development. The nutrients in the soil, the temperature of the climate, the amount of light exposure, and the level of water it receives.
Essentially these four things, all equate to the plant’s environment. Changing any of those factors causes stress in the plant, which has the power to either stunt or improve its growth.
It would be pretty amazing if the only four factors we had to think about were that of a plant, but the beauty of life comes with a few more contributing factors. Some are more complicated than others, but nonetheless still require us to make adjustments where necessary.
As you now begin to think about your journey, there may be key factors that have either been stunting your growth or contributing to it. Taking out time to regularly reflect on these gives you the opportunity to get a better picture of your environment and the areas that need change.
However, failing to analyse your environment, will leave you in constant cycles of frustration, leading you down the flight response path. As I began to have a serious think about the factors in my environment, here are a few that came to mind
What you feed your mind daily
The sources that your feed from
The nutritional content of the majority of your foods
The places you spend most of your ‘free’ time at
The mindset of the friends & people around you
Sharing from my own experience, one of the factors that I knew I had to make a change in was the people around me. Not to question their love for you as a person, but you can’t always expect everyone to be able to initially understand the vision of where you want to be.
When you begin to start making the changes you know you need, people notice that. Some will support you, but all too often you’ll be met with a few along the way that will be the first to tell you - Don’t you think you’re being a bit extreme?
Naturally, because these may be people that hold some value in your life, what they say does play a big influence in your life. (Hence, why having a vision that you never lose focus of is so important)
The reality check came for me when I asked myself a question about those same people. When I felt I wasn’t doing enough, would they still be there to tell me - Don’t you think you could be doing more?
The only person that will know your vision best is you, so sometimes you have to be the one to choose the hard but rewarding fight response. Continue to evaluate your environment regularly and surround yourself with things that will take you closer to your vision.
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DO YOU NEED TO TRACK CALORIES TO LOSE BODY FAT?
How is your relationship with food?
Not just with the foods that you love to eat, but more importantly food and nutrition as a whole.
Why I ask this question, is because all too often people are left bouncing between vicious cycles of binge-eating and the next most popular FAD diet.
Which in turn often leads people into the belief that they will never be able to get a grip on their nutrition.
Well, I’m here to tell you, that no longer needs to be the case. You can grow to live a life where you feel in control of your decisions and feel empowered in making the choices that serve you best.
If you’ve seen some of my other content, I’m sure you would have heard me bang on about ‘purpose’. Everything in life has a purpose. But when we lack an understanding of its purpose we tend to abuse it.
This is a little off-topic but stay with me for a second.
If I asked you to describe the purpose of an intimate relationship, what would you tell me? I can imagine your answers may include;
To commit to one another in love
To support and encourage each other
To recognise and cater to each other’s needs
To sacrifice and compromise
I’m sure you could name loads more, but this gives the context that we all have a fair understanding of what the purpose of relationships is.
Where you tend to see an abuse of the relationship, is where one individual lacks this understanding. Because of this, their actions may be continually self-serving, dismissive and demeaning.
Now, when you begin to look at food, its purpose falls under two categories. The first being that food is for performance. The performance of your mind, body and health will all be directly linked to the foods that you choose to consume.
The second purpose for food is the one that we all know so well, what I like to refer to as pleasure. There’s nothing like a good portion of your favourite soul food (for me it’s buffalo wings, deep-fried mac’n’cheese, and a loaded burger).
If more of your food choices were based around the purpose of performance, the likelihood of you having to yo-yo between diets would be a lot less than it is today.
However in most cases, what you’re going to eat is often left until the last minute. Which 9/10 is going to be driven by what will bring you pleasure in that moment, rather than how you want to feel in the next few hours or over the next couple of days.
Of course in the moment you may feel satisfied, but all good things come at a cost. As Elisabeth Kubler-Ross put it “There is no pleasure without pain”.
Constantly abusing food as a tool for pleasure over performance is often at the root of people’s poor relationship with food.
If you think back to being a child, most of your decisions would have been led by pleasure. It’s an innate desire for kids to want to play and seek pleasure all the time.
As you grow to be an adult, we learn very quickly that living in such a way comes across as irresponsible and childish.
Therefore even though we may still seek pleasure, we learn to allocate a set amount of time for those things. Leaving you to focus on the more important things and your responsibilities first.
I know what I’m going to say next probably goes against everything you’ve known about nutrition so far, but hear me out. Stop referring to food as ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’.
Why?
Well if you’re working towards a goal of fat loss, one of the most important factors will be your ability to stick within a calorie deficit. Despite certain foods being labelled as ‘healthy’ they still contain a certain amount of calories.
This is generally where people tend to go wrong. Because it’s healthy, doesn’t mean you should pile it on your plate without consideration for how many calories it may contain.
No matter if you’re getting your foods from ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy sources if you’re not being mindful of factors such as the total calories you will struggle to hit your personal goal.
So where do you go from here?
To help you start building a better relationship with your food, here are a few points to consider when choosing your meals.
Are you choosing performance or pleasure?
How many calories does it contain?
How well does your body digest this type of food?
What will your mental energy be like, 1-2 hours after consumption?
What will your physical energy be like, 1-2 hours after consumption?
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FIXING POOR NUTRITIONAL HABITS
How is your relationship with food?
Not just with the foods that you love to eat, but more importantly food and nutrition as a whole.
Why I ask this question, is because all too often people are left bouncing between vicious cycles of binge-eating and the next most popular FAD diet.
Which in turn often leads people into the belief that they will never be able to get a grip on their nutrition.
Well, I’m here to tell you, that no longer needs to be the case. You can grow to live a life where you feel in control of your decisions and feel empowered in making the choices that serve you best.
If you’ve seen some of my other content, I’m sure you would have heard me bang on about ‘purpose’. Everything in life has a purpose. But when we lack an understanding of its purpose we tend to abuse it.
This is a little off-topic but stay with me for a second.
If I asked you to describe the purpose of an intimate relationship, what would you tell me? I can imagine your answers may include;
To commit to one another in love
To support and encourage each other
To recognise and cater to each other’s needs
To sacrifice and compromise
I’m sure you could name loads more, but this gives the context that we all have a fair understanding of what the purpose of relationships is.
Where you tend to see an abuse of the relationship, is where one individual lacks this understanding. Because of this, their actions may be continually self-serving, dismissive and demeaning.
Now, when you begin to look at food, its purpose falls under two categories. The first being that food is for performance. The performance of your mind, body and health will all be directly linked to the foods that you choose to consume.
The second purpose for food is the one that we all know so well, what I like to refer to as pleasure. There’s nothing like a good portion of your favourite soul food (for me it’s buffalo wings, deep-fried mac’n’cheese, and a loaded burger).
If more of your food choices were based around the purpose of performance, the likelihood of you having to yo-yo between diets would be a lot less than it is today.
However in most cases, what you’re going to eat is often left until the last minute. Which 9/10 is going to be driven by what will bring you pleasure in that moment, rather than how you want to feel in the next few hours or over the next couple of days.
Of course in the moment you may feel satisfied, but all good things come at a cost. As Elisabeth Kubler-Ross put it “There is no pleasure without pain”.
Constantly abusing food as a tool for pleasure over performance is often at the root of people’s poor relationship with food.
If you think back to being a child, most of your decisions would have been led by pleasure. It’s an innate desire for kids to want to play and seek pleasure all the time.
As you grow to be an adult, we learn very quickly that living in such a way comes across as irresponsible and childish.
Therefore even though we may still seek pleasure, we learn to allocate a set amount of time for those things. Leaving you to focus on the more important things and your responsibilities first.
I know what I’m going to say next probably goes against everything you’ve known about nutrition so far, but hear me out. Stop referring to food as ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’.
Why?
Well if you’re working towards a goal of fat loss, one of the most important factors will be your ability to stick within a calorie deficit. Despite certain foods being labelled as ‘healthy’ they still contain a certain amount of calories.
This is generally where people tend to go wrong. Because it’s healthy, doesn’t mean you should pile it on your plate without consideration for how many calories it may contain.
No matter if you’re getting your foods from ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy sources if you’re not being mindful of factors such as the total calories you will struggle to hit your personal goal.
So where do you go from here?
To help you start building a better relationship with your food, here are a few points to consider when choosing your meals.
Are you choosing performance or pleasure?
How many calories does it contain?
How well does your body digest this type of food?
What will your mental energy be like, 1-2 hours after consumption?
What will your physical energy be like, 1-2 hours after consumption?
GET YOUR FREE FAT LOSS GUIDE TODAY
FOLLOW MY SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS BLUEPRINT - A 5 STEP EASY TO FOLLOW PROCESS THAT WILL HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY TO ACHIEVING YOUR FAT LOSS GOALS & BUILDING LASTING HABITS!
HOW TO BOOST YOUR METABOLISM FOR FAT LOSS
With fat loss, there are a few key things that you must be working on consistently to ensure you can achieve your goal. Such as strength training, calorie intake, walking more, and improving your sleep quality, these are called the ‘what’ factors. Your metabolism on the other hand determines how effectively your body will burn fat.
The ‘what’ gives you the tools needed to achieve your goals, the ‘how’ equips you with the knowledge to sharpen those tools. So by the end of this, I hope to leave you with 3 tips you can begin to action straight away that will improve the rate at which your body burns fat.
The amount of exercise you undertake per week, along with your height and weight is used to calculate what we call your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). This provides a guide into the amount of calories your body burns at rest for basic daily functions.
Age and height are factors you won’t have much control over, but the amount of exercise you undertake on a weekly basis will directly impact your bodies BMR. The link here is that as you begin to increase the amount of weekly physical activity, there will be a direct positive impact on your BMR making it more effective at burning calories even when at rest.
Strength training should always be your main focus where possible. Where this may not always be always accessible, home workouts couples with long periods of low-intensity cardio will still work towards fat loss. Remember even light activity is still better than none at all.
TEF (Thermic effect of food) is known as the amount of energy used by the body through the process of digestion. Even though you may not feel like your expending energy, this process includes ingestion, digestion, absorption, utilisation, and the storage of food consumed.
This is why you should be eating smaller but more frequent portions throughout the day, as the more times your digestive system has to work in a day the more energy it will be using up. As long as you are staying within your caloric goal this can account for anywhere between 6 - 10% of your daily energy expenditure.
For you right now the thought of eating anything more than 2-3 meals a day might seem daunting and even unrealistic, however, this doesn’t have to be full meals. In between meals you can have smaller snacks to help break up your day, whilst still boosting your metabolism.
Last but by no means any less important is TEA (Thermic effect of activity), which is the amount of energy used up for any planned and unplanned activity. Even if you’re completing all your planned workouts, but spend the rest of your non-active you will still find it difficult to burn that extra body fat.
Whether that be sitting down in front of the TV, Netflix, or spending hours on your phone in bed, these all lead to a very non-active lifestyle. If you are still far away from leading an active lifestyle, start small and gradually build up. Set an alarm every 2 hours to remind yourself to get up and move for 10 - 15 mins.
This could start with things as simple as hanging up the washing, cleaning the house, going for a lap around the park, or even some mobility & yoga movements. Depending on the amount of unplanned & planned activity you partake in any day, this can account for 20 - 40% of your total daily expenditure.
By now I hope you have a better understanding of how each point helps to boost your metabolism, and makes your body more efficient at burning fat. All that’s left now is for you to make it happen!
If you take a moment to think back about the past few evenings, I’m sure you can begin to make the connection as to why less thought was given to certain decisions, if any at all.
So how does this relate to your ability to lose fat & optimise your health?
Roy F.Baumeister, went on to suggest that low levels of self-control and willpower are often a result of spending long periods of time decision making.
Now when it comes to being able to lose fat effectively and manage health, most people’s struggle isn’t necessarily with training or nutrition. But rather, their inability to continually make the choices that best serve them and their goals.
After spending most of the day exhausting the mind, these are some of the decisions that are left to be made in this state of decision fatigue;
Should you work out or not?
Should you cook or just order a takeaway?
Should plan your meals for the next few days or just wing it?
Should you get into bed early or watch the next episode of that show?
If you’re completely honest with yourself, you can begin to see how decision fatigue could be affecting your choices and thus limiting the amount of progress you’re making.
At the beginning of your journey, you might feel motivated about where you want to get to. This can often be the driving force that allows you to exercise the willpower that is necessary, in order to keep making those tough decisions.
However, as you get further along your journey, there is one thing that is guaranteed to happen. Motivation will slowly die out and becomes a less than frequent visitor.
This is where it becomes even more important to look at how you can create the best possible environment for your mind, body, and health to thrive in.
To help you do just that I have put together my 5 top tips to limit the number of decisions you have to make, build your ability to continue making better decisions, and get you the results you deserve.
1. Create a morning routine.
Having a routine allows you to create a set of habitual behaviours that you don’t have to think about. This alleviates some of the fatigue caused by all the decisions that you often have to make first thing in the morning. Your routine could include a set time you wake up, what you do in the first hour(s) of your day, your first meal of the day, and the route you take to work.
2. Unload the information overload.
With the increase in the amount of technology the average person uses, our brains are constantly working to try and keep up with the amount of information it has to sort through. Something as simple as opening your email inbox multiple times a day comes with a decision of whether to open, read, ignore, delete or mark as spam per email.
The same categorising decisions are made for every social platform you might check on before you start your day. Whether to like this post, read the caption, ignore it, click on this link or watch the full video. Limit the amount of time you spend on such menial things or perhaps set a time later in the day to do this, after you’ve dealt with the most important decision for your day.
3. Schedule some quiet time across your day
Have you ever wondered why you tend to stumble over great ideas when you’re in the shower? This isn’t a coincidence. At that moment in time, your mind is not having to deal with any demands of everyday life, which gives room to your pre-frontal cortex (the part of your brain responsible for thinking). Giving yourself time to tap into this part of your brain, allows you to make stronger neural connections leading to better decisions.
4. Plan ahead
It probably sounds cliche, but with this new insight into decision fatigue, it should hit home a lot harder. If you took an hour or two each weekend to plan, what days and times you were going to work out, plan some meals for the week you’d have fewer decisions to make in the week. It no longer becomes a question if you have time or feel like working out, but you’ll know when it hits quarter to, it’s time to get your gym gear on.
5. Create a not urgent & not important list.
Across the week, so many things will pop up that demand your attention. Often many of these things can be delegated to someone else, a later time or just whenever you have downtime.
Create somewhere that you can access easily (notes on your phone) to jot down these things as they come in. You’ll create more mental fatigue trying to hold it in your head throughout the day, whilst keeping tabs on everything else you have to remember. You can then come back to this list at a later time in the day or week, to give them your undivided attention.
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THE BEST KEPT SECRET FOR LOSING FAT EFFORTLESSLY!
Did you know that by the time you’re winding down for the day, you’ve made an average of 35,000 decisions across the day?
From what to wear, what to eat, whether to snooze the alarm or not. All these decisions are important and play a role in helping you set the tone for the day.
But the decisions don’t stop there. As your traveling to work, at work, on your lunch break, there are still 100’s of decisions that you’re making. Each of which demands a level of mental & emotional energy, in order to make the best decision possible.
So by the time it gets to the evening and you’re making decisions, such as whether to work out or not, you’re most likely mentally & emotionally exhausted. In this state, the chances of you making decisions in line with your goals are much less likely.
Not because you’re lazy, not because you need another coffee, but simply because you have become a victim of decision fatigue.
Over the course of my career helping people reach their health & fitness goals, there is one thing I have noticed with every client, especially in the early days of their journey.
As they begin working out, their ability to focus on their form and technique is optimal. Most of the reps are performed in a controlled manner, allowing the exercise to work the target muscle more effectively.
Over the course of the session, muscular fatigue eventually sets in due to an increase of lactic acid. At this point, most people tend to become a little less focused on their technique, and more on just getting through the exercise.
The effect, that decision-making has on your mind, can almost be viewed in the same light. As you become more exhausted across the day, there is a lesser focus on making the best decision and more on just making a decision.
As complex as your brain is, it also has its own ways of managing the amount of energy it uses over a given period of time. Social psychologist Roy F.Baumesiter stated that “When your brain is tired, it conserves energy by making impulse decisions-or by making no decisions at all”.
If you take a moment to think back about the past few evenings, I’m sure you can begin to make the connection as to why less thought was given to certain decisions, if any at all.
So how does this relate to your ability to lose fat & optimise your health?
Roy F.Baumeister, went on to suggest that low levels of self-control and willpower are often a result of spending long periods of time decision making.
Now when it comes to being able to lose fat effectively and manage health, most people’s struggle isn’t necessarily with training or nutrition. But rather, their inability to continually make the choices that best serve them and their goals.
After spending most of the day exhausting the mind, these are some of the decisions that are left to be made in this state of decision fatigue;
Should you work out or not?
Should you cook or just order a takeaway?
Should plan your meals for the next few days or just wing it?
Should you get into bed early or watch the next episode of that show?
If you’re completely honest with yourself, you can begin to see how decision fatigue could be affecting your choices and thus limiting the amount of progress you’re making.
At the beginning of your journey, you might feel motivated about where you want to get to. This can often be the driving force that allows you to exercise the willpower that is necessary, in order to keep making those tough decisions.
However, as you get further along your journey, there is one thing that is guaranteed to happen. Motivation will slowly die out and becomes a less than frequent visitor.
This is where it becomes even more important to look at how you can create the best possible environment for your mind, body, and health to thrive in.
To help you do just that I have put together my 5 top tips to limit the number of decisions you have to make, build your ability to continue making better decisions, and get you the results you deserve.
1. Create a morning routine.
Having a routine allows you to create a set of habitual behaviours that you don’t have to think about. This alleviates some of the fatigue caused by all the decisions that you often have to make first thing in the morning. Your routine could include a set time you wake up, what you do in the first hour(s) of your day, your first meal of the day, and the route you take to work.
2. Unload the information overload.
With the increase in the amount of technology the average person uses, our brains are constantly working to try and keep up with the amount of information it has to sort through. Something as simple as opening your email inbox multiple times a day comes with a decision of whether to open, read, ignore, delete or mark as spam per email.
The same categorising decisions are made for every social platform you might check on before you start your day. Whether to like this post, read the caption, ignore it, click on this link or watch the full video. Limit the amount of time you spend on such menial things or perhaps set a time later in the day to do this, after you’ve dealt with the most important decision for your day.
3. Schedule some quiet time across your day
Have you ever wondered why you tend to stumble over great ideas when you’re in the shower? This isn’t a coincidence. At that moment in time, your mind is not having to deal with any demands of everyday life, which gives room to your pre-frontal cortex (the part of your brain responsible for thinking). Giving yourself time to tap into this part of your brain, allows you to make stronger neural connections leading to better decisions.
4. Plan ahead
It probably sounds cliche, but with this new insight into decision fatigue, it should hit home a lot harder. If you took an hour or two each weekend to plan, what days and times you were going to work out, plan some meals for the week you’d have fewer decisions to make in the week. It no longer becomes a question if you have time or feel like working out, but you’ll know when it hits quarter to, it’s time to get your gym gear on.
5. Create a not urgent & not important list.
Across the week, so many things will pop up that demand your attention. Often many of these things can be delegated to someone else, a later time or just whenever you have downtime.
Create somewhere that you can access easily (notes on your phone) to jot down these things as they come in. You’ll create more mental fatigue trying to hold it in your head throughout the day, whilst keeping tabs on everything else you have to remember. You can then come back to this list at a later time in the day or week, to give them your undivided attention.
GET YOUR FREE FAT LOSS GUIDE TODAY
FOLLOW MY SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS BLUEPRINT - A 5 STEP EASY TO FOLLOW PROCESS THAT WILL HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY TO ACHIEVING YOUR FAT LOSS GOALS & BUILDING LASTING HABITS!
WHAT'S THE BEST EXERCISE TO LOSE MY BELLY?
If you’ve ever asked or searched this question, trust me you’re not alone.
Many people like you are looking for that one exercise, that will help them shift that gut.
Only to find that countless reps of sit-ups aren’t providing them with the results they expected.
So the question that stems from this approach is, is there more to losing belly fat than just doing a particular exercise?
As you read through this article, I hope to lead you towards an answer that will work best for you as an individual, and provide you with a better insight into the link between training and fat loss.
WHAT CAUSES AN INCREASE IN BODY FAT?
In order to fully appreciate fat loss, it’s important to understand how an increase in body fat occurs.
When you consume more energy (calories) than you burn over a period of time, your body begins to store this as excess energy.
That might be great if you have a marathon coming up in the next coming weeks. However, if you continually consume more energy than you burn, your body has to find ways to store this excess energy.
To do so it either does one of two things;
Enlarges your existing fat cells within the body to make more room.
Create’s more fat cells for extra storage.
Depending on a few variables, where your body predominantly stores most of this fat will differ from person to person.
Some will find that they tend to store more fat around their gut, and be led to believe that performing ab exercises repeatedly will help.
Others may find that they store more fat around the upper body and arms, and also be led to believe countless reps of pushups and pullups will rid them of this excess body fat.
Whilst exercising in general plays a part in helping to increase the amount of energy you burn, thus moving towards a calorie deficit.
This approach alone will not have a direct effect on losing belly fat, due to there still being an excess amount of energy being consumed through food.
WHY EXERCISE ALONE WON’T SHIFT BELLY FAT?
The first thing to note is that whether you can visibly see them or not, you all have abdominal muscles.
Muscles in the abs are a part of everybody's makeup. They provide the ability to move, function, support the core and hold your organs in place.
Here’s a quick way to test this.
Place your fingers at either side of your rib cage, but closer towards the front of your stomach. Whilst your hands are firmly pressed, bend your upper body from one side to the other.
What you will feel is a shortening & lengthening of the oblique muscles, which also make up the outer layer of the abdominal muscles.
WHAT IS ACTUALLY NEEDED TO LOSE BELLY FAT?
This is the bit that you’ve most likely been eager to get into.
So let’s look at all the varying factors that will work towards you being able to decrease the amount of body fat you carry.
As mentioned above, if you're continually consuming more energy than your burning, this will lead to an increase in body fat.
To combat this you will need to be in a calorie deficit (a state whereby you are consuming less energy than you are burning).
Often people tend to go a bit too extreme with this approach leaving them feeling burnt out and exhausted.
To ensure that you can decrease body fat, but still enjoy all the health benefits associated, I’d suggest working at a calorie deficit of about 10 - 15%. If you’re not sure how to calculate this, click this link to use my calorie calculator.
The 2nd thing to point out is that fat loss is different from weight loss. With weight loss you may be solely focused on your scale weight alone, but this won’t tell you whether you are losing body fat mass or muscle mass.
As you start working towards your goal, you want to ensure that the majority of what is being lost is actually body fat.
To maximise fat loss, you want to retain as much muscle as possible throughout the process. In doing so the end result will be a much leaner composition, as opposed to a ‘skinny-fat’ composition (slimmer limbs, prominent stomach).
A better approach to accommodate these changes in your composition, will be a full body strength training programme accompanied with adequate protein intake.
With an increased amount of muscle mass the body becomes more efficient at burning fat, whilst at rest. This is where most people tend to go wrong with focusing solely on ab exercises.
It’s not just about the amount of fat your body burns during a workout, but throughout the entire day. A good way of looking at it is, building your body to be more optimal at using your body fat for fuel, rather than trying to burn as many calories in one given training session.
As you build more muscle mass, the muscles require more energy to maintain them. At this point they begin to use fat as an energy source, hence making fat loss more likely to occur.
If you’re struggling to put together a full body strength training programme, then my 3-day gym programme would be a great starting point for you. Click this link, to find out a bit more about which exercises to include and get your free copy.
HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO YOU NEED FOR FAT LOSS?
As I’m sure you may have heard many a time, exercise is only one part, but nutrition is an even bigger contributor. For many this tends to be the biggest struggle.
So let’s break this down into easily digestible information for you to be able to apply, no matter what level you’re at on your understanding of nutrition.
In order to maximise muscle growth, your body needs a certain amount of protein which will be dependent on you as an individual.
A typical western diet for most people only provides somewhere in the region of 60 - 80g of protein, which is sub-optimal for muscle growth.
Aside from the added benefits for muscle growth and fat loss, protein is also needed to support health and many of the body's functions.
As a starting point for muscle growth, I’d advise having somewhere between 1.6 - 2.2g of protein per kg of bodyweight.
Let’s say Jimmy weighs 85kg and is looking to lose body fat. Here’s how we would calculate how much protein he would need.
Body weight is 85kg x 1.6 (minimum) = 136g of protein per day
Following this amount of protein, coupled with a strength training programme would set Jimmy on the right path to losing body fat.
Keep in mind 1.6 as a multiplier of his body weight is a minimum. So you can see how far off this is, from the average most people are currently getting.
By now I hope that you have a better understanding of why there is no specific exercise alone that will help you to lose body fat, and a better picture of the role it plays in fat loss.
With the tools provided in this article you should now be able to start taking the first steps towards losing belly fat, and creating habits that serve you in becoming your best self.
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OVERCOMING YOUR FEAR OF THE SCALES
Having to face your fears always brings up a feeling of anxiety especially when it comes to stepping on the scales. This fear can stem from many different reasons, but they all have the same outcome in teaching you to avoid the truth.
One of the biggest reasons you tend to create this fear is that you have most likely been overly strict in your diet, which tends to lead to periods of over-indulging because you feel like you just need a release from the restriction.
The fact is there is no real way to truly work towards your goals (if weight is one of them) and avoid the scales. So in order to keep on track, you must learn to overcome those fears that stop you from taking action where necessary.
The process of facing your fears can be defined as exposure, which involves gradually and repeatedly going into feared situations until you feel less anxious about them, allowing you to shift your perspective of how you previously viewed those fears.
In context to you weighing yourself by slowly beginning to do this more often, you become more comfortable with the idea and learn to take action accordingly. Of course, there will be weeks that the scales don’t tell you what you want to see, but this empowers you to analyse and take action in the areas that can change the outcome.
I remember when I first started training to increase muscle mass and size, and the morning after I would jump on the scales in eager anticipation of hoping that the numbers would fly up, only to be humbled very quickly when it didn’t show what I wanted it to, despite me not actually taking all the necessary actions.
I’d spend the rest of the day allowing it to bug me thinking but I went so hard in the gym yesterday, so why isn’t it reflecting on the scales. However, I came to realise that the only thing that needed to change was my expectations of maximum results whilst only putting in minimal effort.
The scales are one way of tracking your progress, but always keep in mind you as a person are not defined by a number on the scale, other factors such as your measurements, nutrition, daily activity, water intake, and sleep will determine how and if you are progressing.
If the numbers aren't moving in the direction you want, don’t spend the rest of the week beating yourself up for it. Address the areas in your life that you are not being as committed to and take action in adjusting those to produce a better outcome.
There’s an old saying of ‘what you don’t know won't hurt you’ - in this case it’s doing a lot more damage by avoiding the need to address those habits that aren’t productive to your goal.
GET YOUR FREE FAT LOSS GUIDE TODAY
FOLLOW MY SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS BLUEPRINT - A 5 STEP EASY TO FOLLOW PROCESS THAT WILL HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY TO ACHIEVING YOUR FAT LOSS GOALS & BUILDING LASTING HABITS!
STRUGGLING WITH MOTIVATION TO WORK OUT?
Motivation is a great tool to help us push through a tough workout, or stay committed to a training plan. But what happens when that initial ‘feeling’ of motivation that we had, begins to die out….
As much as you know you need to get up and get it done, you just can’t find the motivation to. So where do you go from here? The first thing you must begin to understand is that motivation is a feeling, and just like any other, it comes and goes.
How often we ‘feel’ motivated will vary from person to person, for a load of different reasons. But we can’t always wait for this feeling of motivation to come by, in order for us to be able to do the things we know we have to.
Some mornings you wake up and life is just great! You head out to work for the day, and in return, this provides you with a monetary wage that allows you to provide for yourself and in some cases for the rest of your family. But other days you wake up and going to work is the last thing you could possibly think of doing, but you still do it … Why?
Because you have a responsibility that depends on you being able to financially provide for yourself, your family, and for stability. Yet, despite the lack of motivation, the purpose behind why you go to work becomes the driving factor that makes you resilient enough to persist.
Here is where you begin to look at the reasons ‘Why’ you want to work out. For some of you it may be so that in years to come, you are healthy enough to do all the things you want to with your children and be a positive role model for them. For others, it may be that you have always wanted to prove to yourself that you can truly achieve something.
Once the reason(s) behind your ‘WHY’ becomes full of purpose, you no longer depend on that initial feeling of motivation. As a matter of fact, you know understand the importance of this workout, and how it will help to achieve the long term goal. It may not necessarily feel like one of your ‘best’ workouts, but remember the only ‘bad’ workout is the one that you didn’t do.
Acknowledge your feelings, but always understand you are more than just your feelings!
If you're looking for a plan, that can help to work towards the bigger purpose, you still have time. When you join you’ll be giving a fully detailed workout plan, nutrition guide, online support as well as joining a community of like-minded individuals coached by me.
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FOLLOW MY SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS BLUEPRINT - A 5 STEP EASY TO FOLLOW PROCESS THAT WILL HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY TO ACHIEVING YOUR FAT LOSS GOALS & BUILDING LASTING HABITS!
ARE 'FATS' NEEDED FOR FAT LOSS?
Anyone with the goal of fat loss will be working towards being a caloric deficit. Simply put they would need to ensure they are burning more calories than they consume over a period of time to lose fat efficiently.
Often this can tend to lead people to believe that they have to cut out fats. The thinking behind this tends to generally be that each gram of fat equates to 9 calories vs protein/carbs where each gram only equates to 4 calories.
So, Yes - granted calories wise you can get more food in by restricting fats, but certain types of fats prove to be beneficial for the body and its performance. When we refer to fats these can be grouped by saturated fats and unsaturated fats.
Saturated fats in high quantities, can be known to increase cholesterol levels and are often found in foods such as meats with high-fat content and butter. Due to the negative long-term impact, it can have on our health these should be limited and replaced more frequently with unsaturated fats.
Incorporating unsaturated fats into your nutrition will still allow you to lose fat as long as you are in a caloric deficit, but also provide the following benefits:
Alongside the other 2 macronutrients (carbs & protein) it also serves as an energy source for the body.
It acts as an insulator and helps to keep the body warm.
Fat will also make you feel fuller for longer, which can with avoiding snacking unnecessarily.
Provide important nutrients to support the body's cells.
Remember as much as you may want to lose weight or any other goal, your long-term health should not be jeopardised by this. My personal vision is to support as many people to achieve their goals and more, built around sustainable lifestyle patterns.
So when you're looking to make any change to your nutrition, these questions may help to dictate whether that change will support the above.
Why am I making these changes?
Are these changes sustainable?
Are they necessary for my specific goal?
What is the long-term impact on my health?