Archive for August, 2008

How to Become a Fat Loss Before and After Picture


29 Aug

This was only 6 weeks, I wasn’t messing around.

They say that “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” This statement couldn’t be truer in this instance. It is safe to say that I have had some bad judgment. It was not on a grand level of bank robbery or grand theft auto, unless you count the video games. My mistakes were in diet and training. My mistakes were in the approach and understanding of my fat loss. I have since learned a thing or two and I wanted to share my mistakes and lessons learned with the world, in hopes to help others make their own mistakes, but end up victorious.

A few years ago I was average; average body, average hair, average defeats, and average achievements. I didn’t envision much for my future that was special or spectacular. I had hopes for certain dreams, but in the end I knew in my heart they were just that, hopes. This is usually where a person will dive into their “change moment” and to be truthful I didn’t have one of those. No, what I had was an “inspirational moment.”

I was friends with Leigh Peele. If not aware, Leigh Peele is the author and a trainer of this site who specializes in fat loss and metabolism problems. I had seen the changes she had made in her life and I had seen the changes she had made in others lives, and I was jealous. I was jealous of their passion and their drive and I wanted a piece of that for myself. I wanted to be somebody like that to people, I wanted to do something with my life that was more than just “getting by” so I asked her for help and started getting educated about things. Okay and maybe I lost some fat along the way.

Beyond just fat loss, beyond desire of a better personal appearance, I became a personal trainer and started helping others. Helping others achieve their dreams is downright addictive because it helps you as well. I have my days where I struggle too and it is their stories that help me stay inspired to keep going. People always forget that the answer is in the story; you just have to know how to see it. It is not like I knew then when I started I was going to be another before and after, but now that I am I want to help you become one.

Tip #1: Write Your “Before”
Write down everything that you have done, everything that has worked, hasn’t worked, and you hope will work. Write down your dreams, your fears, your victories, and most importantly your plan.

Tip# 2: Log Your “During”
You can’t know how to fix something if you don’t know what you are doing could be wrong. This journey is a big deal so treat it as such by logging your calories, sleep, emotions, and training sessions. This will help you to see patterns where you could be having problems that are hindering your success, and when you are getting it right you can see yourself shine! It is best to always try to learn why.

Tip# 3: Prepare for After
Since you will be done with this journey and are going to be an “after” you are going to have to get ready for this. Buy goal outfits, set up trips and vacations to places you didn’t used to feel at ease going because of your body or health. Prepare for the life you always wanted because now it is your time to grab it!

If you want to really set in stone a before and after picture then I have a bonus tip for you. Go here, and get the best education you can find. http://www.FatLossTroubleShoot.com

Kathleen nemargut is a certified personal trainer that now works for Avidity Fitness. You can find out more information or contact Katie through trainerkatie at avidityfitness.net

We Aren’t All Fat Loss Bastards


26 Aug

I received this email the other day and it made me think about how important all aspects of my teaching is.

“Hi Leigh, I just wanted to say that you are so funny! I know you can piss people off but I love it, never change!”

This gave me a mixed feeling deep down inside. On the one hand it is true, I do piss people off sometimes. It is hard when you have to tell it “how it is, as you see it.” If I “bend the rules” at all, even the slightest bit, then YOU, the reader, will lose out. However, I don’t want you to think that I would ever enjoy hurting anyone’s feelings or that my intent is to jab. I may call it how I see it but, it is never with a ill intent. On the contrary, it is with the best of intents. Usually if people have a problem with what I say it is because, sorry, they are wrong or neither of us have shared all the information. The less I know, the less anyone knows, the more likely we, together, are going to get things wrong.

Having said all of this, I want to make it clear, that I love positivity. I love happy and fun people. I am a happy and fun person and seriously have the best time in my life. I laugh everyday, all day. I just do my job and SOMETIMES that job makes me have to be the “bad guy” to some people. I know that some folks…who will remain nameless…out there have some anger built up and can be a bit mean. Lump us all together, fine! Call us all the Fat Loss Bastards! In the end, I hope you will thank us for our honesty the best we can give it.

Guess what though? This isn’t about that!

What this is about is a guy who really is downright one of the most sweet guys I have talked to in a long time.  Scott Tousignant is his name and he is just fantastic. You talk to the guy and you can’t help but light up. I had a really rough day today, and I mean rough. I had a call with him at 3:30 to discuss a trip that we are going on.  Let’s just say it was hard to feel bad while I was on the phone with him. He has a wife, beautiful kids, and he wants to inspire and help. He doesn’t try to pretend he is something he isn’t, he has good goals, and does a great job at motivating people to achieve their goals. I think it is really funny he goes by the Fit Bastard, because he is anything but.

He recently put out some MP3 downloads. Now, I haven’t got a chance to listen to all of them yet, I am going to do a proper review (by the way the review section should be a blast, keep watching it), but for the most part, they are good stuff. Inspiring stuff. Sure, there is information and some lessons on things but, it isn’t about that. It is about that kick you need sometimes, that “push.” Here is a great snip with Tom Venuto.

Tom Venuto-Unstoppable Fat Loss Clip

I love Tom. By the way, we are all going on that trip together. I don’t even want to THINK about the trouble to come. I also know that I will likely smile the whole time.

If interested in some good motivation clips and not getting everything so stern all the time, go check it out.

(*Note* I did one myself and I am in the big package because I am special…so niener)

UnStoppable Fat Loss, Here You Come

Sleep, eat, and screw…yourself over?


25 Aug

In 2004 a study was done (1)  that showed that lack of sleep for a short period of time saw an 18 percent decrease in leptin, a hormone that helps regulate the brains signaling for need of food, and a 28 percent increase in ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger. What this means is that in a very brief amount of time lack of sleep can do a big damage on fat loss efforts. Sleep loss seems to alter the ability of leptin and ghrelin to accurately signal caloric need and could lead to excessive calorie intake when food is all around. Add the chance of being hungry already due to a deficit and we get a final result that is not exactly optimal.

For the record, if you think just one night of no sleep is okay, think again. This recent 2008 study shows just one night of sleep affects hunger levels. (2)

To throw a different kind of log on the fire you have to look at the average decline of sleep in general over the past century. On average now adults are getting roughly 6 hours of sleep a night. We are seeing a decline in sleep and an increase in belt lines. While it is important to put so much of a focus on food this isn’t always the main issue at hand. Yes, overall calories do matter when it comes to fat loss. Sleep or no sleep, if you are eating in an excess little will matter. That being said, if you are set up to fail from get go, it is going to make this process that much harder.

One might want to argue that, again, the reason that the obesity problems are so out of control is due to the increase of carbohydrate intake over that same period of time.  To this I want to point back to the original study (2004) in which that the 4 hr sleep folks wanted more candy and cookies and less dairy and meats. Why? When we lose sleep we increase hunger and decrease feeling of fullness and feed. However, we also increase cortisol and stress stimulation in the body. The main thing that blunts this in the body is carbohydrates. Since your body is pretty good, on average, of craving what it wants then it is going to lead you more to doughnuts and less towards the egg whites.  The worst part is that lack of sleep decreases carbohydrate metabolism so you, again, are set up to fail. To point to a interesting side note it makes you wonder and think why Asia is starting to hop on board so fast with the obesity issues, being that a recent study showed there sleep has decreased by 2 hours a night on average. A country with already a very high carbohydrate diet is now suffering a worse fate. Could it be all that stress and lack of sleep isn’t helping?

I still blame Starbucks and McDonald’s myself.

My assignment to you:

1 week of sleep charting and accounting of your sleep habits.

I see so often people worrying about how many grams of starch carbs they are getting in a day, but neglect sleep. The goal is to try and get at least 7 hours of sleep at night (more is better) for 1 week. By the end of this I want you to share how you did putting an extra focus on how it affected your fat loss.  Next Monday I am going to re-visit with you to see how it unfolds.

I am providing you with a PDF download I totally stole from some site off of goggle. I have no idea what they are selling or if they are. This is not a promotion for their product. I googled “sleep journal”, looked at a few, and thought this one was simple enough. I urge you to log even more than what this asks but I figured worst case you can print this off right now, and get going this evening.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pdf/sleepjj.pdf

Nite, nite.

1-http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/141/11/846.pdf
2-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18564298

Chocolate & PB2 High Protein Dessert Souffle’


22 Aug

Recently I mentioned this recipe on Fitcast. The response has been overwhelming to say the least. You, the reader, have literally bullied me for more information on this rich and intoxicating treat. My response to you is…fine, here it is.  ;) This is going to be one of the recipes in the upcoming Body By Eats book.

Items Needed:

Mixing Bowl-Medium
Whisk
Souffle Dish (Can use smaller bowls and coffee mugs but may need to adjust the times depending on how shallow/deep the container.)

Ingredients:

30 Grams of protein Powder
20 Grams of PB2
10 Grams of Regular Peanut Butter
10 Grams of Cocoa Powder
2 Grams of Splenda or 1 Packet of Stevia
3 to ounces of Skim milk

1. Put all dry items in mixing bowl and mix together.
2. Add the Peanut Butter and Skim Milk.
3. Whisk together all items until completely mixed. No lumps of powder or peanut butter. If need you can add small drops of extra milk for some thicker peanut butters.
4. Pour Mixture in Souffle Dish.
5. Place dish in Microwave and heat for 30 secs.  Take out the dish and move (small amount) of cooked outside towards the middle allowing the mass of liquid to hit the outside again.
6. Heat for 15-20 secs more, repeat same step of moving outer cooked layer inside. If it was really liquidy the first time still then do 20 secs. If it had some firm spots stick to 15.
7. Heat for 15-20 more secs (time again depending on how liquid.
8. Allow it to sit for 1 min. Then take a butter knife and run around the edges of the dish, turn the dish over onto a plate and like that, you have a beautiful, soft, melting in mouth, protein souffle.

Stats:

Calories: 322
Protein: 39 g
Fat: 10g
Carbs: 24 g

*Note this is assuming the highest possible with splenda, peanut butter, and protein powders. Can be less than this in calories and carbs*

Please let me know how it turns out or if you need any tips or advice.

Body Fat Percentage – How Correctly Do You Calculate it?


21 Aug

For the past few weeks I have been promising a detailed look at body fat percentage and calculation. In particular there has been a wide interest in seeing comparison of body fat numbers through the visual realm. Do to this, and my ability to take things to the extreme, I ended up compiling the ultimate body fat percentage video. This video is 38 minutes (I assure you it flies by) of solid information that takes you from “intro” to “advanced” understanding pretty quickly in a visual sense.

I should explain that this video originally was 61 minutes long. I cut out a lot of information that I didn’t feel was too relevant. I may do another one that explains more of the technical aspects if the need arises or is requested. However, for the time being, this is by far the best I have personally yet to see for visual explanation.

In this video you will see Male and Female body fat percentage estimations by picture and understand why I have given the estimations I have. It is for entertainment purposes only, but it is pretty educated and I feel those in the “know” will have little to argue to my estimations.

I hope you enjoy my hard work and obsession of the week. If you enjoy it leave me a comment and/or pass it around. Perhaps the New York Times would like to see it in order to have a better understanding of body fat percentage amongst our populations.

Enjoy the video! *Note you have to turn the speakers up, this is an audio/video*

PS-If you want to learn how to decrease that body fat percentage best, go here.

PB2 News-PB2 is now 85% less fat


19 Aug

I know it is an old picture, but the news is true!

Some of you may be thinking that my statement of “less fat” is a time warp back into the 1980’s. Let me get this out of the way now, so that I can get to the good stuff.

Fat is good. We love fat. We need fat.

The only reason I care is because less fat will mean less calories, more peanut butter flavor, and it helps for those dieting down on smaller calories. Good? Got it?

It seems like that not only did you, my readers, like my Fitcast appearance (my email has been blowing up) but PB2 themselves liked my Fitcast appearance. I want to give a “thank you” to Bell Plantation for kind words and I hope that they and you enjoy the recipe I shared on the show.

Peanut butter, in all forms, will one day rule the world!

If you want a jar of PB2 check out their site at http://www.bellplantation.com/

The Fat Loss Troubleshooter – Leigh Peele

Common Sense Meets Advanced Knowledge