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50% Diet? 50% Exercise? Dallas Personal Trainer Examines the Contributions to Weight Loss

50% Diet? 50% Exercise? Dallas Personal Trainer Examines the Contributions to Weight Loss

You see all kinds of estimates on weight loss. It’s 50% diet, 50% exercise, or maybe it’s 25% diet, 75% exercise, and so on and so forth. Let’s examine the implications of those statements and come to a deeper understanding of what all affects our weight on a week to week basis. We are about to get technical, but stay with me through this detailed explanation and you at least won’t ever forget the point I’m making. Neither will you doubt it’s validity, and hopefully you’ll act on its truth.

Here’s the WEEKLY WEIGHT BALANCE EQUATION below (apart from the effects of water retention and the thermogenic effects of particular nutrients). Look at the formula below and think about it for a moment (I hope you haven’t forgotten algebraic terms).

weekly weight balance equation

Looking at the left side of the formula:

There are 4 calories in a gram of carbs, 4 in a gram of carbohydrate, 9 in a gram of fat, and 7 in a gram of alcohol. There are also 7 days in a week. Now look at the equation again and you should understand the 1st number of every term on the left side of the equation. The left side is your total “energy in.”

Considering the right side of the formula, now (energy out):

We all have an RMR, or resting metabolic rate, which is the number of calories your body would burn if you were seated in that chair all day long. This RMR is mostly due to your frame, muscle (just 1 of the reasons resistance training is important), and cardio conditioning, while only fractionally due to the amount of fat you are carrying.

Your Lifestyle Activity Factor is the % of calories above your RMR that you burn in your daily activities, outside of purposeful exercise. A construction worker’s LAF might be 80%, or RMR x 1.8, while a software engineer’s LAF might be 20%, or RMR x 1.2.

Your exercise intensity could be expressed by your average caloric burn per workout. For example, you estimate your burn with something like a heart rate monitor and total an average of 600 calories per 45 minute training session. Your exercise frequency, obviously, is the number of times in a week you do that exercise and burn those 600 calories.

Let’s bring this formula to life for a moment. Consider a typical 250 lb male eating 2500 calories a day. (if that sounds high, record your diet for a while and you might be surprised to see where you are at). If that person is eating the usual 15% protein, 35% fat, 45% carbs, 5% alcohol, and only 10g of fiber (like many of our clients when they start with us), here’s what their left side number equates to:

17,220 calories of “energy in”

Now if that same person has an RMR of 1700 and works in front of a computer all day long, while only exercising 2 days a week and burning 300 calories per session, their right side number equates to:

14,888 calories of “energy out”

That, my friends, yields:

2,332 calories to be stored WEEKLY

There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat, which means that this person would gain:

.67 pounds of fat gained per week, or 35 lbs in a year!

Let’s increase their exercise intensity to 500 per workout, and double their frequency to 4x / week. What do we get? An energy expenditure of 16,280, and a weekly extra 1392 calories to be stored:

.40 pounds of fat gained per week, or 21 lbs still gained in a year!

So what shall we do? Change our eating habits? Hek no! (an all too common answer – or, “I don’t eat that bad.”) Ok, let’s just workout 6 days a week, same new intensity. What do we get? An energy expenditure of 17,280, and a weekly BURN of 60 calories. Yeah! (read: sarcasm)

That’s a weekly weight loss of .01 lbs a week, or 1/2 a pound per year!! Excited yet?

I think you see my point. Why do you suppose so many are frustrated by the weight loss they see, or should I say don’t see, on exercise only programs?

The percentage of your weight loss that is due to eating right, and the % that is due to exercise, all depends on the depth of the changes you make in either arena. But I can tell you this, and you can SEE this now:

It is VERY DIFFICULT to change the scale on exercise alone!

So LET’S JUST SAY (read in Ron White’s voice) this person followed a more comprehensive approach and reduced their calories to 1800, making it easy by saying goodbye to alcohol most days of the week, tripling their daily fiber with quality carbs to stay full, and reducing their fat intake to 20% to make room for 35% protein. Let’s have them exercising just the minimum recommended MOST days of the week (that = 4). What does our math look like then?

11,760 energy calories in and 16,280 energy calories out, and

a weekly weight loss of 1.29 lbs per week, or 67 lbs lost in a year!

Now that’s something to get excited about :)

Burn More Bridges

Burn More Bridges

Success or failure sign

The usual words of “wisdom” you hear are “DON’T burn any bridges.” Well, I’m calling that out as terrible advice.

Although there are some situations where keeping a “bridge” intact is a smart move, it’s also a crutch many lean on when they lack the strength to leave something behind and give an all-out commitment to the new and better thing.

It could be a bad relationship you won’t let go that hinders your ability to find a good one. It could be a part-time job you keep as ” backup ” that distracts you from the full potential of the new one. It could be an old friend that’s worth dropping because they just bring you down or stress you out. It could even be a piece of furniture you want to keep even though it clutters your house and takes away from the nicer piece you already bought. You get the point.

Well, when it comes to health and fitness, this failure to burn bridges allows people to cross back over the canyons they conquered, right back to the same poor habits and choices they had previously left. It’s unfortunate, and it tells me that they really didn’t get it or understand it at the deepest level. There was no solid conviction that said: “never again.” In effect, they didn’t burn the bridge.

Just like the aforementioned examples, there are some foods, some drinks, some behaviors that are worth leaving … for good. Burn the bridge. Don’t allow yourself a way back.

What’s that look like? First of all, get that particular food you supposedly gave up out of the house. Secondly, tell your family you are never eating it again. Furthermore, tell your friends it’s something you are permanently dropping from your diet because it simply holds you back from what you really want. Guess who will remind you of that commitment in case you forget? You better believe it – your friends and family. And is that a bad thing? Nope, not at all. Because you have left it behind, and in a moment of potential weakness, you’d rather not hear it from your friends and family than partake. That does nothing but help you, right?

Here’s another bridge to burn: those clothes that are now too big that you still have sitting in your closet. Why? In case you go back? Why even think that way? Get rid of them! You aren’t going back, right? And if for some crazy reason you do, you should incur the expense of the poor decision. You see, the more penalties you put in place for yourself going the wrong direction, the less likely you will go that way! Stop making it comfortable and easy to fail. It’s the first step of success.

What about those friends you have who, truth be told, are only your friends because you share the same desire for gluttony and sloth? Sounds intense, doesn’t it, lol? Hey, sometimes you’ve got a step back and call stuff like it is :) Would they still hang out with you if you wanted to go do something active? If not, ask yourself if their presence in your life is making you healthier or bringing you down? Harsh, huh? Seriously though, if getting in shape is important to you and every interaction with a particular someone gets you further from that goal, maybe you should 1) share your concern and make a change in your activities together or 2) burn that bridge. If they are a good friend (the kind you should have), they’ll respond to option #1 with no problem. They may even follow and appreciate your lead.

It’s much like credit card debt, right? If someone had struggled with debt for years, and FINALLY made a big leap in the right direction by paying off a certain credit card, the best idea may be to literally do some “plastic surgery” – cut that thing up! It’s a way of burning a bridge to bad behavior. If that person leaves that card open and sitting in their wallet, won’t they be more likely to fall right back into the trap they just climbed out of? The same applies to your health and fitness.

Go BURN SOME BRIDGES, so you’ll stay on the right path and keep moving forward.

Does your age REALLY affect metabolism?

Does your age REALLY affect metabolism?

Human figure with magnifying glass

Everyone and their mother will tell you that age negatively affects their metabolism.

Sure, it’s a quick and easy way to explain why you “just aren’t as thin as you once were,” but is your chronological age truly to blame for all the weight gain?

Do we see a general increase in weight as people in our society get older? Certainly we do. There seems to be a “correlation,” but is it “cause and effect?”

It’s not exactly the turning of the clock that does it.

It’s the loss of lean body mass, and that’s exactly what researchers cite when explaining our “situation.”

In a rather oxymoronic statement, we say “metabolism declines naturally 2-3% per decade, with the loss of lean body mass.”

The next question one should be asking is “do we naturally lose lean body mass?”

The biggest reason we lose lean body mass is NOT due to our chronological age, but rather the loss of physical activity AS we age – and it’s largely our fault.

Think about it. In high school, where you may have been your lightest at your current height, were you perhaps more active than you are now? Were you involved in sports? Cheerleading? Physical education? Active recreation? Did you play outside? Did you jump rope? Ride a bike? Run? Do jumping jacks? March in a band? Three-legged races? Tug of war? Dodgeball?

When you played your sport, did you play hard? Were you perhaps more intense compared to these days, if you are still enjoying your sport here or there. What about practice? Are you practicing for 2 hours a day, 4 days a week like in high school, before that big Friday night game? Or do you just show up to play recreationally on Saturday, having not put too much previous effort into your performance.

What does fun look like these days? Is it a big dinner, or is it a night of dancing? Is it a movie, or a slam-dunk competition in your backyard on that 8 foot goal?

By now you get my point. We lose muscle because we lose the NEED for it. It’s supply and demand. Create a little demand for muscle, and your body will supply it (with the right materials coming in). Then use that supply to create a little more demand, and so on …  Instead, we let things snowball in the wrong direction, then feel better about ourselves by using age as a scapegoat.

You CAN be stronger with MORE lean body mass and a FASTER metabolism NEXT year compared to last, even 5-10 years from now!

Now, if your currently at MAXIMUM ( or near maximum) physical potential (how would you know?), you obviously won’t be able to make huge improvements over the next 5-10 years. (congrats, you probably don’t really need to)

But …. did you know that there are people who at 50 years of age have 20 pounds more muscle than they did at 25 years of age?   Do you think their metabolism has “naturally declined?”

See the good news yet?  You can “naturally increase” your metabolism with age!  It all depends on what you DO with the time that is passing!

If you spent the next 10 years challenging your body and pushing your limits, do you think you would be stronger and have a faster metabolic rate, or do you think you would be “naturally weaker and fatter” simply because you would be 10 years older?

If you answered with the latter, then I feel sorry for you. You have accepted a hopeless outlook – one that robs you of responsibility and therefore any power over the future of your physical quality of life.

I hope you chose the former. If you did, you can do something about your health, your weight, and your performance. You are “of the right mind” and that means your on right path. Just keep moving, and don’t be afraid to get in the fast lane!

If you’re ready to defy the myths about aging and build the strength and lean muscle your body needs, personal training can help you stay on track. Our expert trainers design customized programs that challenge your body in the right ways, helping you build lean mass, boost your metabolism, and improve your overall health — no matter your age.

Gatorade and Powerade: Are They Good or Bad?

Gatorade and Powerade: Are They Good or Bad?

Seems these days that everyone who takes a walk around the block “needs” fluid, sugar, and electrolytes…and they need it now! Maybe even before the walk, maybe a bit after the walk, and of course during the walk. Really? Gatorade, Powerade, and all the other “ades” out there are over-marketed, and WAY over-consumed. They benefit certain hard-charging, long-enduring athletes, but slow down the efforts of many users that don’t fit the originally-intended user profile. Granted, especially in this heat, a walk around the block probably warrants extra fluid intake – but do you need a “sports drink?” What if you ran around three blocks? Congrats, but your body can give you a lot more effort than that before it needs help from high-fructose corn syrup, red #40, and a multi-billion dollar corporation. Let’s look at why these are overrated for most people:

Reason #1 : Sports drinks like Gatorade are useful when they aid the liver in increasing blood glucose supplied to the muscle. Your muscles rely on glucose from the liver, through the blood, after they run out of stored glycogen. Endurance athletes call this point “hitting the wall,” as it slows one down every time. However, your muscles store over 2 hours worth of glucose in the form of glycogen, more ready to use than anything in your blood. The only people who deplete these stores are those exercising intensely for more than 2 hours. Even then, depending on the person and how “loaded” those muscles are, they may not run out for about 3 hours. Most people do not exercise intensely (burning 600-900 calories/ hour for example) for more than 2 hours at a time, and never come close to “hitting the wall” or relying on glucose making it’s way through the blood from the liver. Furthermore, endurance athletes can use a technique called “carb loading” to almost double the amount of glycogen that the muscles can hold – very beneficial for delaying the “wall hit” and improving times.

woman drinking sports drink

Reason #2 : Sports drinks are liquid sugar (granted, with a few electrolytes). Most people are exercising for weight loss rather than performance. If you are trying to burn fat stores and extra calories, why drink more calories at the same time? That’s like trying to put out a fire while you throw lit matches at it. It “don’t make sense.” What about the low calorie versions? This cracks me up. Remember the purpose of such a sports drink? To replenish blood glucose when the muscles run out. If you start removing the glucose, you remove the original purpose. So why remove the glucose? To sell more to people trying to lose weight. Save your money. Drink water. Take your multivitamin twice a day, every day (the good ones will require multiple pills), and get your 5 handfuls of fruits and veggies. You’ll have plenty of electrolytes to fuel those workouts. And since you are eating every 3 hours, you’ll have a nice recovery meal inevitably planned post-workout.

Reason #3 : Most sports drinks are made to look pretty on the shelf, taste really good, and sell really well. Enter artificial colors and flavors, food dyes, and sweeteners like aspartame and splenda (sucralose) – often combined with acelsulfame K and others. These have no place in the human body anyway, and certainly provide zero performance benefit. In fact, take in aspartame consistently and risk building up formaldehyde (yes, embalming fluid) in your tissues. (aspartame breaks down to aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. This wood alcohol, or better known as paint thinner, is eventually converted to formaldehyde, which can accumulate in tissue). Does THAT make you go faster? (maybe: with an emphasis on “go”) Note: I cannot say enough bad about aspartame and the history of it’s creators, the dark cloud that hovers over it’s FDA approval, and the money/politics that drive this poison into mainstream consumption. By the way, the story gets worse when aspartame is exposed to high heat (when many people use the stuff!). If you disagree with my position, I understand. [you probably love drinking the stuff.] I get it – I used to as well, and stayed in denial for years. Then I dug deeper, read more, and uncovered more facts and research. Hence my current stance on the substance.

So what if you are exercising intensely long enough to drain your muscles of glycogen, and sweating enough in these high-heat conditions to dangerously lower electrolytes? Is there any way to maintain peak exercise performance while staying hydrated, and avoid harmful synthetic ingredients? You bet.

So now you realize that for most, sports drinks are unnecessary. But if you fit the category of hard-charging, long-enduring athlete, congrats! You can and should enjoy the benefits of a beverage filled with water, electrolytes, carbs, and even a bit of protein during your exercise.

This is especially true in the high heat of Texas summers that drains electrolytes and water even quicker. If, I say if, you are an endurance athlete, or participating in endurance athletics.

The question is: Is Gatorade the best? Powerade? What exactly SHOULD I be drinking to:

1. Avoid the dangers of dehydration, or the coma at the end of hyponatremia (a condition of being too-low on extracellular sodium due to excessive sodium loss through sweat combined with additional water intake)

and

2. Optimize performance through proper mid-exercise nutrition and hydration

Here are some good options and why:

1) Amino-Vital

Research has shown that adding amino-acids to carb/water sports drinks helps to retain water in the blood longer, delaying the emptying by the kidneys. Furthermore, in some studies drinks with a small amount of protein have helped athletes out-perform those using carb-only type solutions. This particular one uses the herb stevia to help sweeten the flavor, instead of any artificial flavors.

Nutrition Facts per 8oz:Amino%Vital

75 calories
42 potassium
135 sodium
16 carb
9 sugar
1,200mg branched chain amino acids
 

2) Gatorade Natural

This natural version of Gatorade omits the artificial flavors and colors found in standard Gatorade drinks. This is a much cleaner option than other Gatorades, but still lacks substantial potassium.

Nutrition per 8oz:Gatorade%Natural

50 Calories
110 mg sodium
30mg potassium
14 carbs
14 sugar
 

3) Coconut Water

Termed “nature’s sports drink,” this powerful fluid packs 324 potassium in every 8oz serving, in addition to the sodium needed to avoid low hyponatremia during prolonged intense exercise. With less sugar than most sports drinks, this may be a good option for those who feel other drinks are too sugary/sticky to enjoy in the heat.

Nutrition per 8oz:Zico

34 calories
91 sodium
324 potassium
7 carb
7 sugar
 

4) Home-Made Grape or Apple Sports Drink

Simply mix grape or apple juice with water (50/50) and add a level 1/8 teaspoon of salt to every 20oz of liquid. With this combo, you get all the benefits of Gatorade plus a substantial increase in potassium (which pulls water into the muscles and aids in reducing cramps). It’s both better and cheaper than Gatorade or Powerade, and void of artificial colors, flavors, and dyes. Plus, you can add your own teaspoon of liquid branched-chain amino acids – make sure they are either naturally or non-sweetened.

Your own Apple Sports Drink

50% apple juice
50% water
1/8 teaspoon sea salt per 20oz liquid

Nutrition per 8oz:Motts%Apple

55 calories
120 potassium
145 sodium
13 carb
13 sugar
(1500 mg branched-chain amino acids if added)
tiny amount of trace minerals from sea salt
 

Your own Grape Sports Drink

50% grape juice
50% water
1/8 teaspoon sea salt per 20oz liquid

Nutrition per 8oz:Welch's%Grape

70 calories
148 sodium
105 potassium
19 carbs
18 sugar
(1500 mg branched-chain amino acids if added)
tiny amount of trace minerals from sea salt
HCG … Again? Dallas Fitness Trainer Asks You to Remember This

HCG … Again? Dallas Fitness Trainer Asks You to Remember This

injection patient

Every now and then HCG comes back around as a “new” weight loss drug. However it is nothing new. HCG was introduced in the 1950s and became popular in the 1970s. Before we get into why I believe this drug is absolute nonsense, let’s take a closer look into HCG.

Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) is a hormone that is found in the urine of females during the early stages of pregnancy. When a woman takes a home pregnancy test, the prevalence of HCG is what indicates the positive response. It has many functions during pregnancy, but is thought to be especially important in repelling immune cells of the mother to protect the fetus in the first trimester. HCG is also believed to convert fat to calories for use by the baby (when the mother is not consuming enough), which in turn may speed up the mother’s metabolism. Make a note here, this hormone is found in high concentrations in PREGNANT women. If you are not a pregnant woman, your body does not produce HCG – which means your body does not need it! It certainly doesn’t need the potential side effects either: increased anger and mood swings, feeling sluggish, stomach ache, pelvic pain, muscle cramps, lumps, swollen feet and hands, as well as hunger (interesting). Wait, much like drug commercials, I’m not done yet: increased risk of blood clots, headaches, restlessness and depression. Last but not least, considering HCG has been approved by the FDA as a fertility drug, you may feel a bit like you are pregnant, complete with breast tenderness and water retention. (maybe you wives could use it to get back at your husbands!) HCG can also cause a potentially life-threatening condition called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (umm…no thank you.)

HCG actually became popular more than 50 years ago because of a doctor (and I use that term loosely) named Albert T. Simeons. This guy believed that injecting HCG into dieters would enable them to sustain a very low calorie diet (VLCD) of 500 calories without feeling hungry. Simeons also claimed that HCG would mobilize stored fat, suppress appetite, and redistribute fat from the waist, hips, and thighs.

Now let’s think about this. If you were to consume 500 calories a day, of COURSE you are going to lose weight. You are starving your body! If I put you on a 500-calorie diet and told you to do handstands all day long, would you believe it was the handstands that caused the weight loss or the caloric restriction? (If you said handstands then we need to talk). Not only is this diet completely insane, it is dangerous. Your body is not getting the nutrients that it needs and it will affect you in a negative manner. The concept of a VLCD has been around for years and it is frowned upon. Simeons simply found a way to make it more enticing by adding a “miracle” drug to the mix.

The thought that a drug can redistribute fat from certain parts of your body is absurd. It is scientifically impossible; no study exists that says otherwise. The FDA actually requires labeling and advertising of HCG to state, “[T]here is no substantial evidence that [HCG] causes a more attractive or “normal” distribution of fat.” The FDA also requires the labeling and advertising to include that HCG is not effective whatsoever in the treatment of obesity. Sure, you can find several “success” stories from people who have lost weight while using HCG, but you will not find a single scientific study supporting that claim.

Actually, HCG originally lost its flair back in 1976 due to studies that disproved its claims. G overnment action also played a role when the FTC ordered Simeon’s companies and its affiliates to stop claiming that their HCG-based programs were safe, effective and FDA approved. Years later, a man named Kevin Trudea (not a doctor) started promoting HCG once again through infomercials and his 2007 book, The Weight Loss Cure They Don’t Want You to Know About. Needless to say, Trudea was found guilty in federal courts for misrepresenting HCG in his book and was ordered to pay more than $37 million in damages.

Now let’s review. If you are not a pregnant woman, then HCG should not be in your body. HCG has nothing to do with losing weight; in fact, the only reason people lose weight while taking HCG is because of a VLCD. HCG is being promoted again because Americans are looking for a “quick fix” to their diet woes. Sure you will lose weight, but I can guarantee that you won’t keep it off unless you continue a VLCD forever (which is impossible to do). This hormone does not teach you how to properly eat, it doesn’t force you to exercise, and it certainly doesn’t make you healthy. If you are looking to lose weight, go with the method that is 100% proven to work every time: a healthy diet with plenty of exercise.

Funny Vintage Weight loss Ads from Your Dallas Personal Trainer

Funny Vintage Weight loss Ads from Your Dallas Personal Trainer

I thought you would enjoy this list of my Favorite Funny Vintage WeightLoss Ads!

Icecream

Weight Loss Sugar – Pre-lunch ice cream cone for weight loss? This I could do … and I know which of our clients are smiling at the thought too (don’t even think about it!)

Vintage Tape Worm Ads

Weight Loss Tape Worms – This I could not do. By the way, this isn’t just a thing of the past. Thankfully, America has banned it. Now if we could just ban gastric bypass … oh wait … it was banned before… but it was called something else … now it has a new name … so it’s safe and healthy now … that’s right … I forgot.

Vintage Weight Loss Braces

Weight Loss Braces – This is how spot-reducing used to work. We are no longer this foolish, right? Now we “know” we have to exercise certain areas to burn fat in those areas. We’ve really come far, haven’t we? (please sense sarcasm)

Vintage ad for overweight men

Weight Loss Belts (for men) – “Endorsed by physicians” to help “reduce” you and replace fat with “normal tissue” …. and cheaper than professional weight loss massage! Good thing massage doesn’t burn fat. We’d never get paid for the work that we are selling!)

Vintage Weight Loss Belts

Weight Loss Belts (for women) – Of course, women love doing things together. So, instead of an under-the-shirt secret solution, they made a day of it! Just doesn’t give off the same vibe as a modern-day yoga class, huh?

weight loss cigarettes vintage advertisement

Weight Loss Cigarettes – So you thought the tapeworms were nasty? Hey, I’d rather get seated next to the tapeworm section in a restaurant than the smoking section. At least when the tapeworm exited my neighbor’s mouth and headed my direction, I’d get a warning scream.

Weight Loss Soap

Weight Loss Soap – “One to three cakes usually accomplishes the purpose.” That’s in case you were wondering how fast it works or how many to order. I suppose the seller had to balance how many he wanted to sell per person vs the danger of selling none by implying that it was a slow process. Fun fact: a competitors brand was creatively named “FatOff.”