Think exercise is the answer?

It is the old saying 'diet and exercise', is all you need to create change in your body and cut body fat. It is true.......to an extent. Exercising does consume energy and restricting your diet or being more careful about what you eat gives you greater control as to whether your body creates or 'burns' net adipose tissue. The problem I have with exercise is this: It doesn't burn that much energy!!!! Ok let me explain:

As an adult your Metabolic Rate may be anywhere between 1800-2200 calories (on average). ie. The amount of energy you will utilise in a day without exercising. 

Now if you run a MARATHON: You will use 2600 calories (once again just an average) but you get the idea. But wait.....a marathon may take the average runner 3 or 4 hours to complete, so if you subtract what  energy you would have used ANYWAY, about (360), you are left with a 'profit' of 2240 calories burned from your run. So in other words, according to the calorie in - calorie out model, your best case scenario is to get a 2200 calorie buffer for your day from a massive investment of both time and effort.

But wait, there is more.....You will probably be advised to 'carb load' for your marathon to give you the energy to get through it. So that is already starting to eat into that caloric buffer you have achieved.

Now let's look at a more realistic scenario, say you go for a 30 min jog. You will burn an extra 400 calories at best. Now let's not forget to minus this from what we would have burned anyway and our best case scenario (factors such as weight and fitness will determine how much energy you use) is around about a 350 calorie buffer, which if you analyse the caloric content of many foods works out to be not a whole lot. 

Now this works if you don't eat more as a result of exercising. But don't forget 'Reward eating' is very common as your energy requirements increase. If all dietary components are kept constant I am all for exercise. But quite often as a result of exercising many people believe that they have 'earned' a chocolate bar, which obviously completely counteracts the original idea and often has the opposite effect.

Long story short, Exercise IS NOT the answer. It is a tool that if you used correctly, may improve fat loss, but it is not a crutch and should not be used as an excuse not to eat well. Diet is still far more important than exercise, despite what your personal trainer will tell you. My personal trainer has admitted to me on several occasions 'I would never exercise to cut body fat, I would just eat better, but I can't tell my clients that.' The fitness industry have a VESTED INTEREST in telling you to come to the gym (buy memberships etc).

Till next time, Jack.

Take Responsibility!!

It is an interesting trend in modern society and it seems everywhere we look, people are avoiding taking responsibility for their own actions (and sadly getting away with it). From court cases of people breaking and entering, then deciding to sue if they get injured http://tinyurl.com/7t45flh , or blaming their actions on 'being drunk' (remember that you CHOSE to drink alcohol), to blaming their parents or their friends or their environment for their own shortcomings, to saying that they are too busy or too tired or too stressed to cut body fat.

These are all EXCUSES! You ARE in control of what you do and you live with the consequences whether you like it or not. ie. You still have the same shortcomings that you blame on someone else or you still are overweight even if you blame your job.

Let me be very clear, shifting the blame DOES NOT fix your problem, it is just an attempt to blame an extrinsic circumstance (ie something out of your control) for what you are unhappy about.

Let's go through some common excuses.

Excuse: Well if I wasn't so busy I would have plenty of time to lose weight.
My response: If you really are that busy then that is perfect, it means you are too busy to go and get take away, or you are too busy to go to the vending machine to get a coke.
Solution: Set aside one or two SMALL time slots a week to prepare or organise food for the week, or invest in a weight loss program that does all the cooking for you. If you really are that busy, USE it to your advantage, not as an excuse to be unhealthy. Remember, to cut body fat, you actually have to do LESS (ie Eat LESS). I have mentioned in my first post how unnecessary and overhyped cardiovascular exercise is, so if you think that strenuous exercise is imperative to reducing body fat, you are wrong! Time to take RESPONSIBILITY and admit this is just another EXCUSE!

Excuse: It is too expensive to eat healthy!
My response: Wow, maybe you are just too uneducated about the costs of eating, and what is healthy. I, myself can get away quite easily with eating $30-40 worth of food a week. I have seen numerous other people do it as well (I lived on a university campus for 4 years, so I have seen people make it work on a low budget, time and time again). The problem is not the cost, it is your perception of the cost. I challenge you to write down all of what you eat in any given week. And compare it to what you eat in your perceived 'healthy' week, then come back and let me know. Eating healthy DOES NOT have to be expensive. Time to take RESPONSIBILITY and admit this is just another EXCUSE!

Excuse: I just don't have the motivation/I am too lazy to lose weight.
My response: Ok, so you are not motivated enough to lose weight yet you have the motivation to drive to the shop, buy take away and drive home? Investing both time and money into the process. You are too lazy to lose weight yet you are not too lazy to get up off the couch, go to the fridge and grab a beer/chocolate bar. Maybe your problem is you are not unmotivated/lazy enough. So get LAZIER, make the effort to get to the fridge too much effort. Be too unmotivated to go to the shop for a Burger and Chips. The point I am making here is that people claim to be lazy/unmotivated yet eating/getting take away TAKE EFFORT. If you really are that lazy, be even lazier. If you really are that unmotivated and unwilling to change it, get more unmotivated. Some of these techniques may seem counter intuitive, but the reality is that you can leverage such variables to make progress. EVERYTHING is just a mindset. Not to mention you were not born LAZY or unmotivated, you are CHOOSING TO BE. This is within your control. Time to take RESPONSIBILITY and admit this is just another excuse.

When all is said and done, you are always in control of your actions. Take responsibility for them.

Until next time, Jack.

Which diet is the best?

This is a question I get asked quite often. "Which diet is the best?"
Answer: Most of them.
At this stage you are thinking 'what the?' So let me explain.

A diet is simply a strict plan of what you are going to eat in any given day/week/month. And after having reviewed numerous diets and approaches and seen the results I have observed that many diets 'work.' I put 'work' in quotation marks because the definition of a diet 'working' is often very slippery. On many diets, people seem to be able to lose fat (often quickly) then put it back on (sometimes even more rapidly) when they are 'finished' with that particular approach. While I commend people for reducing their body fat in the initial stage, I don't believe such a diet to have 'worked' which is why I encourage people to take a different approach. (More on that in another post).

The truth is that your long term wellbeing plan must be practical and sustainable for you to keep the weight off long term. Many diets 'work' while you stay on them but that is only half the battle. You must be able to see yourself doing a diet long term and you must be HAPPY to live that lifestyle long term for optimal results. Most diets have the potential to work but only if followed strictly and long term.

Here is my take on two common diets used in todays society;

Low Carb, High Protein:
Pros:

• You can generally eat a large volume of food and still reduce body fat.
• The high protein content contributes to satiety (So you feel full and more satisfied)
• Most of these low carb diets have a 'cheat day' or 'freedom afternoon/evening' which means you can consume whatever you want for a certain time period which often has a profound psychological benefit. 

Cons:

• When you blow this diet you really blow this diet. Remember the story in my last blog about how I put on 9kg. Well that was going from a low carb diet to a higher carb diet while I was on holidays. Many other people have reported the same problem, due to the fact that if the body is starved of a macro nutrient for too long then fat gain will increase if high amounts of this nutrient are reintroduced.
• Going on from the last point, if you are on a low carb diet, you must slowly wean yourself off it when you want to introduce more carbohydrates to avoid excessive weight gain.
• Low carb is inconvenient; It is very difficult to find foods when you are on the move that stay within the guidelines of low carb diets. Most convenient food is high carb.
• Low carb diets tend to be extremely strict with their guidelines which interferes with your ability to problem solve and can have social ramifications.     

Calorie Counting:
Pros:

• Theoretically means that you are guaranteed to lose weight (though not necessarily fat). According to the law of conservation of energy; "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only change forms." So this means that if you ingest less energy than what your body needs for metabolic processes then energy stores will be utilised (eg. Adipose tissue, Glycogen).
• Raises awareness in the individual about high caloric food and often changes perspectives on foods that they once believed to be 'healthy.' 

Cons:

• Psychologically challenging; People can become obsessed about everything they consume and often feel constraints as they are try to prevent ingesting more energy than they are 'burning.'
• It sets up a reward eating mentality; if someone goes for a run, they think that they have 'earned' the right to eat high calorie foods.
• It is human nature to want what we can't have; The more you deprive yourself of certain foods the more you may desire them, meaning you are setting yourself up for a constant mental battle in which even the strongest willed will probably binge at some point.        

Personally, I believe a diet should be defined as 'An educated approach to deciding what you are going to consume to obtain YOUR specific health outcomes.' This means that a diet that someone else has created may not be appropriate for your lifestyle.
So instead of spending your time looking for the perfect diet, look for a diet that is OK but sustainable for you long term. Analyse your current lifestyle and be realistic. Construct your diet around your lifestyle, NOT the other way around.

Until next time, Jack.
 

About Me And My Vision For This Blog: "Cut Body Fat"

First of all; welcome to my blog. If you have found your way here then it is safe to say that you are looking for strategies and advice to cut body fat.

My vision is to give simple advice about fat loss and cut through the propaganda surrounding this issue.

I find that Western Society in particular has lost its way when it comes to health and reducing body fat.

Ironically; we have more science than ever available to educate us about the strategies to optimise body function and change body composition, yet obesity rates continues to rise.

We have more choice and variety for choosing foods and exercise than any other time in history, yet obesity rates continue to rise.  

There is even a larger FOCUS on weight loss than any other time in history, yet obesity rates continue to rise.

So the problem, as I see it, IS NOT availability of information, or access to resources, or even media focus, the problem is that people are not educated about how to lose weight and don't focus on VITAL principles rarely mentioned such as problem solving, sustainability and enjoyment. Not to mention, the time you put into preparing yourself mentally for fat loss will play a much larger role in your success than someone's else's 'diet' that they create for you with no thought about your lifestyle, commitments or past experiences.

So who am I and why should you listen?

My name is Jack and I currently live just out of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. I now have a body fat percentage of around 15% (Will post exact % when I have it measured next) and I couldn't be happier.

BUT....it wasn't always like this; I was OVERWEIGHT FOR YEARS. The heaviest I have ever been is 101kg (223 lbs) with a body fat % well over 30, which put me well into the 'obese' category. Some days I could forget about my how miserable it made me, but most of the time I was so unhappy I would just dwell in my misery yet take no action to improve. I had constant reminders of my weight problem as most of my friends were healthy and I would struggle to fit into my clothes, not to mention I was studying a Bachelor Of Pharmacy at the time which naturally contains content that mainly deals with health issues.

But then one day I decided enough was enough. I spent the next year of my life learning all I could possibly learn about this issue and made it my mission to consult as many experts as possible and read as much material as I could to learn the strategies to cut body fat.  All of a sudden I was the go to guy for anyone who wanted tips on how to lose weight. I shared my thoughts with friends and then friends of friends and before I knew it I was getting bombarded with every question under the sun imaginable:

Can I eat white food after 6pm? Can I eat pumpkin? How much exercise should I do? Is losing weight easy? Does it really work? What alcohol should I drink?

I thought I was doing a great job, my students were achieving great results, I was feeling great, enjoying my lifestyle having achieved my goal weight; AND THEN I went on holiday!!!!

I proceeded to put on 9 kg (20lbs) in 9 days and was miserable again......ALL that hard work thrown out the door in such a short period of time. Nevertheless, I picked myself back up and proceeded to achieve my goal weight again and have maintained it easily ever since.

The great lesson in this was that you have to have a plan that takes into account all current and potential lifestyle changes.

ie. If you go on holiday, you must plan (ideally a month beforehand) more on that in another post.

ie. If you are a shift worker you must take this into account when embarking on a new lifestyle plan. (You should work your diet around your lifestyle, not the other way around).

ie. If you have regular cravings for sugary foods, you must put policies in place to either kill these cravings or control them.

ie. If you hate exercise you might need to open your mind to other strategies for fat loss (which essentially is just leveraging energy exchange) outside of the generic 'eat less, run more'. Ever heard of cold exposure or hormone control?

I will be talking about all these issues in upcoming posts and providing strategies to achieve awesome results.

I do invite open discussion and look forward to all your thoughts.

This blog is designed to share the lessons I have learned myself, from others and from students.

This is my story......

Warmly, Jack.