How much weight can i expect to lose?

This is a question i get asked all the time and the answer i give is 'you get out what you put in'

In my opinion, there are 2 main reasons why people don't lose as much weight as they'd like to and they are as follows:

    1 - They don't want it enough

I am going to be a little in your face here and say that one of the main reasons people don't achieve what they want is because they are lazy.  People don't like change but one of my favourite quotes of all time is,

           ''If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got''
                           
Therefore if you are not prepared to change your lifestyle, diet or exercise habbits then you can't expect your body to change.

I have seen how much weight people can lose if they put effort into all 3 areas mentioned above and my clients as a result have seen drops in weight by as much as 4lbs/week.  (See Gemma's success story for more http://boompt.blogspot.com/2011/06/gemmas-success-story.html)

   2 - They are confused and do the wrong thing

Another reason people don't lose weight is because i feel they don't know exactly how to go about it and therefore feel confused and end up going round in circles never really committing to one plan and seeing the results.. again, this is my opinion.

When i train my clients we sit and chat for a good while about diet, exercise, lifestyle and find the best solution to meet thier demands.  No one person is the same as the next so this isn't something i could print out and give to people on the street after a 2 minute chat.

The general things i find are:

   - People eat too many carbs (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes)
   - People don't eat enough protein
   - People don't consume enough fish oils
   - People consume too many dairy products
   - People eat the wrong food at the wrong times of day.

So, to sum up... if you want to lose weight and change your body, turn the TV off, get off the couch and get moving!
Eat lots of protein, fruit and veg, cut out bread, rice, pasta, and dairy and get that omega-3 down your neck!

Thanks for reading.

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Skipping breakfast makes you GAIN weight

It may seem illogical that skipping breakfast can cause you to gain weight but according to Dr. Wayne Callaway, obesity specialist at George Washington University, skipping breakfast can not only trigger overeating later in the day but can also cause a drop in metabolism. It was found in research that people who do skip breakfast, like sumo wrestlers have a five-percent lower metabolism than those who don't skip breakfast.

The goal of many breakfast skippers is to save on calories. However, calories consumed early in the day are least likely to put on pounds, and skipping any meal simply increases the temptation to eat a high calorie snack or overeat at the next meal.

Studies have also shown that people who skipped breakfast performed the worst in memory tests and had the highest levels of fatigue at noon compared to those who did eat breakfast.

THE BOTTOM LINE is skipping breakfast can lead to a drop in your metabolic rate which will lead to weight gain and it can also lead to drops in mental performance.

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Reasons why females SHOULD lift weights

In my experience, most females tend to shy away from lifting weights as they fear it will make them 'bulk up'. This is simply not true. One of the main ingredients necessary for muscle gain is Testosterone (growth hormone which is higher in males).


On average most adult males produce 10times more testosterone than females do and most males struggle to gain muscle even with this clear advantage! So this is proof then that it takes more than lifting heavy weights to put on muscle.


Gaining huge muscle bulk actually requires a real life time commitment as your training, diet and lifestyle need to be structured to allow for muscle hypertrophy (growth). Lifting heavy weight alone will not cause you to gain huge amounts of muscle.


So if lifting heavy weights won't make me bulk up... what will it do?

• Burn Fat: Muscle is a living tissue that needs energy to stay alive, therefore the more muscle you gain (and again I'm not talking huge bulk) the more energy your body will burn at rest. This is shown in an increase in your BMR (basal metabolic rate).
• Your body will look better: A toned body is more attractive than one with a high fat %. If you desire to decrease your body fat % and develop a more toned appearance then lifting heavy weights is really the only way to achieve this.
• Strengthens bone: If you put the bone under a load (weight/strength training) the bone begins a process of bone modeling which involves the manufacture of protein molecules that are deposited in the spaces between bone cells. This will lead to greater bone density which will help to delay the onset of osteoporosis.

The reasons as to why females SHOULD be strength training goes on and on... the bottom line is, if you aren't strength training, you should be!

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Gemma's Success Story..

“Back in September 2010 I weighed 15st 9lbs. I was very unhappy with the way that I looked and felt. I had tried diets and losing weight in the past but had always struggled to keep it off....always returning to my previous weight (which I wasn't not happy with). 

I had known about Scott for a while but never actually asked him for help. I used to just continue doing what I was doing hoping for one day just to wake up and my weight be down to where I wanted it to be. I knew this was unlikely to happen but I always wished it would. 

So, enough was enough! I knew Scott had a reputation for getting his clients to achieve results so I thought I would contact him to see if he could offer me any advice. I was very surprised with how helpful he was. We arranged a time to meet for coffee and discuss what I wanted to achieve and how I was going to get there.

Once we had talked about me getting to goal I felt great! I trusted Scott to help me get to where I wanted to be so we arranged my first training session.

I was so nervous!..

I turned up at Phoenix Performance Centre with my water and my towel not really sure what to expect and Scott greeted me at the door.  He assured me that I would be fine and we got started. 

I have to admit that I did struggle at first but after a few sessions I really started to enjoy it. 

We took measurements every 3 weeks and Scott said this was so that we could ensure I was moving in the right direction with regards to my weight loss.   

I was surprised when we took my measurements after 2weeks and I had lost 4lbs! I had lost a few centimetres around my tummy and my upper arms! 

I wasn’t expecting to achieve the same results every time we measured but to my surprise I did! The pounds started to drop off and before I knew it, within one month I had lost a stone! I was over the moon!

Every week I was losing upto 3lbs and slowly I could see myself becoming the person I had always wished to be. 

I now weigh 11stone 8lbs and I could not be happier! 

The best thing is… not only have I lost 4 stones but I am stronger than I ever have been, I am fitter than I have ever been and I feel better than I have ever felt! 

My confidence at the moment is sky high and I thank Scott at Phoenix Performance Centre for it. 

I am now looking forward to my holiday in September… the only bad thing is I now need to buy new bikinis!!”
                  - Gema Fuller

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Foods to avoid when losing weight

Ok, so you have read about how to go about losing weight and you also know the top 5 mistakes people make when trying to lose weight. 

So... what now?

Well i am going to talk about some specific foods that you should try to avoid.

These foods are known as 'inflammatory foods'.

Firstly, let me explain what i mean by the term 'inflamatory'

Inflammation is your immune system’s response to infection or irritation in the body. We have all experienced the inflammation that occurs on our skin in response to a cut, infection or injury. This kind of inflammation is visible. Likewise, your internal body systems will respond to infectious and irritating foods with inflammation. This kind of inflammation is not as visible, but it makes itself apparent through diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and obesity.

So, what foods are you eating that cause this?

Food 1:  Wheat, Gluten and Grains

The human body is not design to
consume the amounts of grains
 we do today

This is where clients will say to me, “But I eat whole wheat bread instead of white.” Regardless, the human body was not designed to eat the breads we have in this country today.

Just a quick glance at the health condition of our population and the amount of breads, cereals and grains we all consume, and it's quite obvious that it is a poor choice for most of us. Whereas five years ago, it may have been more difficult to explain to clients to stay away from wheat and grains (bread, pastas, cereal, crackers), most of them now know how harmful it is to their health.

Food 2:  Dairy

This is where clients will say to me, “But I drink skim milk instead of whole.” or “Where will I get my calcium from?” Regardless of the variety of milk they consume, dairy in this country is not in the form nature intended.

 Because of pasteurization, the high heat kills off all the necessary enzymes in the milk that we need to digest (thus the high prevalence of lactose intolerance and irritable bowl syndrome in this country).

You can argue pasteurization is necessary to kill off bacteria, but in reality, the high heat temperatures of pasteurization are actually not high enough to kill off the pathogens most people are worried about. So this practice kills off the good and leaves the bad. If you're wondering where to get your calcium from, you will  absorb more calcium from green leafy vegetables than any amount of milk you can consume.

When I take clients off of dairy, the results are phenomenal!

Food 3:  Sugar and foods containing sugar

Sugar is by far one of the most abused stimulants in this country.  It causes everything from rotting teeth to diabetes to most cancers. Even if your'e not a candy or dessert eater, you should be aware of the sugar content in most of your foods.

If you were to total up the amount of sugar from your daily juices, sodas, processed foods and dressings, it could add up to 20 teaspoons of sugar a day!

Be aware that any word ending in "-ose" on a package usually means sugar (i.e., sucrose, maltose, glucose).

If you avoid consuming these foods for the next 2 weeks.... I am sure you will notice some changes to your body fat levels. 

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How do I lose weight?

How do I lose weight?

If you read my first blog 'Top 5 weight loss mistakes' you will know that most people’s training objective is to lose weight.  I listed what I thought were the top 5 mistakes people are making when it comes to this. 

I am now going to explain one approach you could look at when attacking your fat loss goal.  I prefer the term fat loss as this suggests a change to your body’s composition (ratio’s between body fat and lean mass) instead of the overall weight loss.  You should always look at this as a fat loss goal too.  So, I hope this helps!

The first thing you should always look at when tackling any fat loss goal is nutrition.  If fat loss is your goal, you simply must sort out your diet.  There’s almost nothing you can do to ‘out-train’ a bad diet so this has to be the first thing you address.  You simply have to create a calorific deficit to lose weight whilst ensuring you eat enough protein and essential fat. 

To do this you must work out your Basal Metabolic Rate.  Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate at which your body consumes/burns calories for basic metabolic functions like maintaining internal temperature, repairing cells, pumping blood, powering muscles at rest, etc. In other words, it is the rate at which your body consumes calories at rest. 

Now, you’re probably wondering how you can find this out.  This is something that varies from person to person as it is determined by multiple factors such as age, weight, life style etc and is something that I don’t think should be generalised.  I calculate my clients BMR by doing a body stat analysis every 2-3 weeks (I re-test to ensure it is increasing) and I recommend you do the same.  This leads me on to my next point.

The next thing you should do when trying to lose weight is increase your BMR.  As discussed, your BMR is the rate at which your body burns calories at rest.  The more calories your body burns at rest, the easier you will find it to maintain/increase fat loss.  One of the best ways to increase your BMR is to build muscle, the more muscle your body has the more calories it will require.  Try to add activities to your exercise programme that promote muscle gain. In fact don’t try it, do it!

So, activities that promote muscle gain are activities that include weights (full body movements are better). When I train my clients we generally stick to compound movements (multi-joint) which include exercises such as squats, bench press, chin ups, pull downs etc, and we tend to stay away from single-joint exercises such as bicep curls, tricep press etc because the benefit you get from single-joint exercise isn’t generally worth the time spent doing it.  You see much greater gains doing bigger movements.

How heavy do you go?

I generally try to get my clients to go as heavy as possible (through a specifically targeted rep range).  Going heavy creates a much bigger stimulus making the muscle work harder which leads to quicker gains.  I tend to aim for 10-15 reps per set, the muscles involved then spend approx 50-75 seconds under tension which is how long roughly it takes to fatigue motor units and force the body to recruit more. 
It is also very important to consider rest times between sets.  Not enough rest can lead to exhaustion of motor units, where too much rest can allow the motor unit to completely recover therefore making the second set not as beneficial.
 It actually begins to get quite complicated when you start factoring in rep ranges, rest periods, movement patterns, muscular imbalances, ranges of movement etc. This is where seeing a personal trainer becomes very beneficial as they can ensure you’re training is designed well so that you avoid injury and also ensure you get to goal quickly!

I hope this has helped to clear up some misunderstandings associated with fat loss.  Any questions don’t hesitate to comment below or email me directly at scott@boompt.co.uk

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Top 5 weight loss mistakes

I have worked as a Personal Trainer for 4 years now and the majority of my clients have had weight loss goals. 

Before i sign any client up i go through their goal related history.  This includes what exercise they have done in the past, their injury/medical history, if they have followed 'diets' in the past etc etc.  And you wouldn't believe how many people are making the same mistakes time and time again leading to nothing but disappointment, discouragement and lower self esteem.

So, I thought i would try to shed some light on this topic which i hope will help you.

1.  Slower is Better

The problem most people have in this day and age is they want results, but they want them NOW! This then leads people to follow very strict ‘lose 10lbs a day’ diets (now obviously that diet doesn’t exist but I think you get what I mean) With these diets, the idea is to create a HUGE calorific deficit which will force the body to lose weight. 

The problem is, this causes people to deprive their bodies of some essential nutrients which can lead to major health problems but also just creates huge cravings! People then tend to give up as the diet is too strict and not maintainable.  This is when the ‘Yo-Yo’ diet starts to happen. You do it for one week but give up for the rest of the month therefore not achieving anything but feeling dissatisfied.

2.  Exercise beliefs

Resistance training is more
beneficial

Most people believe that cardio-vascular training is the best way to  lose weight.  Now, what I mean here is activities such as running, walking, cycling etc.  Research is now proving that this is one of the worst methods to use when it comes to fat loss.

3.  Not eating enough

A lot of people assume that the less you eat, the faster you will lose weight. One of the biggest mistakes people make is not eating enough. Your calorie range is based on your current weight, goal weight, how aggressive your goal is etc.  The problem with not eating enough is that your body will take everything that you do eat and store it, then when you come off the diet whether you’ve achieved your goal or not, you’re metabolism is still slow so you will pile the weight straight back on and potentially more!

4.  Not enough fat

Mono-unsaturated fats are found in foods
such as Avocados

If your main goal is to lose weight the chances are you avoid the word ‘fat’ like the plague.  The problem with this is that fat is actually very essential! Deciding what fats are the good fats is what is key here.  Also make sure you are eating the correct quantities!

5.  Giving up too soon

I find that people don’t have enough long term will power, as mentioned in point 1, people want results to happen too soon! And if what they're doing doesn’t appear to be working they tend to give up.  The way I look at this is if you keep doing the same thing, you will always get the same result.  So if what you are doing doesn’t seem to be working….try something else!! Giving up is only going to take you right back where you don’t want to be.

Working alongside a personal trainer I believe is the only way to achieve real results, when you hit plateaus they will help you to progress, allowing you to get closer to that slimmer you!

Please feel free to comment on this

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