Posts Tagged ‘amount’

Dieting and Training: Did you Yes or Do you No?


18 Nov

It is so frustrating for you as a trainee to not even realize if you are screwing things up. Truth is that you can give your heart to a training program but still fail if you didn’t involve your mind. The key to staying ahead of the game is through a system of tracking your diet and training compliance.

With a lot of my clients I do the Yes/No program.

The truth is with any dieting down program you should be as compliant as possible, period. Follow the program, and do what you are supposed to do best possible. In my opinion, the more of a “cheat” policy that is allowed in the program, the less you are going to be happy with the results.

That being said, who does that right?

So, the next best thing is to be realistic about what you have and have not done, don’t “sugar” coat your failures or try and rationalize, that just means living in denial. Best method to do this is to list out the following:

Nutrition
Training
Rest/Sleep
Recovery/Flex

Everyday you should have a goal or plan set for what it is you are going to do. For example:

Nutrition-1400 calories and 120g of Protein
Training-Upper Day
Rest/Sleep-8 hours
Recovery/Flex-2×10 mins program

Now, list out if you did what you were supposed to do and keep it to a simple yes or no. Not an almost yes, maybe no, almost perfect, 80%, etc. That is bull, don’t do that. Write a “Yes” or “No.”

Did you eat roughly 1300 calories and hit your protein amount? Did you? If you did, then nutrition gets a “Yes.”

Did you eat 1500 calories and only 90 grams of protein? Did you? Then your nutrition section gets a “No.” This way when 2 months roll around and progress isn’t what you want it to be, you can turn to YOURSELF and say one of the following:

“Everything was yes, I really did what I need to do so that lets me know that X amount of calories isn’t right for me and I need to change something.”

or

“There are a lot of “No’s” so obviously I need to be more compliant to the dieting program”

It can also help you highlight what might be causing a nutritional “No.” Was sleep bad? Was training too aggressive? Are you focusing on recovery? At the end of the day your lists should look like this:

Day 1-
Nutrition-Yes
Training-Yes
Rest/Sleep-No
Recovery/Flex
-Yes

Day 2-
Nutrition-No
Training-Yes

Rest/Sleep-No

Recovery/Flex-No

Day 3-
Nutrition-Yes
Training-Yes
Rest/Sleep-Yes
Recovery/Flex
-Yes

No graphs, no overly complicated system of measuring, and no 90% rule. Just a one simple question:

Did you do what you need to do, Yes or No?

Are You a Fat Writer?


09 Oct

When I was writing my books one of the biggest problems I faced when trying to control my weight and maintain the body I wanted was dealing with the harsh change of my activity level. I went from training people in person all day long to spending a large chunk of time stuck at a computer. Sure I was producing a masterpiece, but I was also producing an ass.

In a day we burn X amount of calories. Everyday it changes. If you have a day you lay in bed and do nothing, you burn very few calories. If you have a day where you shovel snow so that you can go to the store and shop for two hours and then return home to make food for another hour and then you try to get in that HIIT workout before bed, then you burn a lot of calories.

To put it simply, you move more, you burn more.

The drag is that if you move less, you burn less.

During that period of time as I was finishing up my books I went from a daily caloric burn of 2500-2800 calories on average to 1600-1900 on average (the days I was really caught up in writing).

That is a decrease of roughly 1000 calories. That is a huge difference, HUGE.

What if I would have been trying to lose fat?

Some days, even eating 1200 calories, I wouldn’t even land in a 500 deficit. That is a harsh truth to face. Recently I have had a lot of arguments come my way about the fact that the calories you take in don’t matter. Just don’t eat “x” amount of “these kinds” of foods and you will be fine. However, the majority of my clients that come to me come because even with doing those “things” right, even with restricting carbs, even with avoiding those “bad” foods like a plague, they still couldn’t budge the fat. They still could not obtain the bodies they wanted.

You can blame carbs or fats all you want but at the end of the day, a fat free salad can still cause you to be stuck in your fat loss efforts.

Quick Fact: If you weigh roughly 130-160 pounds, are a generally healthy person, then every hour you sit and write you burn the amount of 1 egg or less.

Try and wrap your head around that. The average large egg is roughly 70 calories. At that weight, you hardly burn an egg. The average writer/blogger/forum poster can spend hours at a time writing, ranting, and working up one heck of a cortisol filled appetite.

Have you ever noticed how when in the middle of a back and forth conflict you turn to food? Have you ever noticed that while in the midst of what should be your Pulitzer Prize winning smack down, that all you want to do is grab a ciggy or glazed doughnut? That is writers stress at its peak! The intensity and passion of your emotions in that given situation need to be fueled! But guess what, on average you barely deserve a hard boiled egg. Is what your grabbing even close to what you are burning?

Why do you lunge for the carbs?

The only thing that suppress that stress and feeds the angry rage or blissful muse is insulin spiking, sugar bearing, sweet carbohydrates. Your body is smart, it will grave what it needs, and if it is around, you are going to go for it. You either fix or you feed the stress, which will it be?

How do you fix the stress?

Getting up and moving in interval sets of time is a big help towards…

  • Keep caloric burn up so that you can eat more
  • Lower stress levels by reducing cortisol
  • Upping serotonin levels so that you aren’t in such a bad mood and wont fight on the interwbz

Beyond that knowing that your nutrient intake is on point and that your calories are under control is the next. If you don’t know how to do those things then I suggest reading those books I gained an ass for.

>>Click Here<<

If you can’t do that I am not going to leave you hanging. Here is the best tips to up your calories while still writing your master pieces and being able to stuff your face with hot pockets.

Tip #1-Timer Training

I did a study on 3 people just this past month who sit all day. The difference in caloric burn in timing training was an average of 340 calories a day per person. That is huge and with little effort. Timer training is very simple, all you do is set out specific intervals of time where you can fit in as much aggressive movement as possible in the shortest amount of time. I recommend every hour doing 5 min rounds of the following…

1 Min Jumping Jacks
1 Min Speed Crunches
1 Min Burpees
1 Min Fast Body Weight  Squats (Advance to Pistols if need)
1 Min Planks

If you hit at that every hour for 8 hours that is a 30 mins workout that will lead you to getting ripped in no time.

EDIT: For the Skirt Ladies (or men cause you know, equal fat loss rights here). Kick off heels though okay ladies/gents.

1 min Jog in Place
1 min Push Ups (if bent knee throw a proposal under there;) )
2 Min Plank Variations (Standard, One Arm Switch, One Leg Switch, Side)
1 Static Lunges

Enjoy!

Tip #2- Pace Yourself

Every time you take a call you stand up and start pacing. Pacing during a phone call can increase your caloric burn 200% over sitting. Meaning in 20 mins instead of burning 20 calories you can burn 60.

Tip #3- The Unstable Air Chair

I did another study around 5-6 months ago know with 4 people and monitored their burn while sitting on a Swiss exercise ball while working. Posture and caloric burn improved on average of a little over 100 calories. Please note that some did experience hemorrhoid increase, so get the H if need.

Overall if you combine just these three things you can increase your daily burn, without going to the gym, and without losing writing time on large levels, by upwards to 500-600 calories a day. You can still write your award winning piece, and looking hot doing it.

How many hours a day do you normally sit? Should you just be eating eggs every hour on the hour?

Are Bodygem and Gym RMR Readings Accurate?


08 Jul

I recently received a question from one of my readers that was a bit more personal. I don’t want to just toss it out without context but the main focus of the question is, “how accurate are RMR tests, specifically at gyms?”

First what is RMR?

RMR is an acronym for Resting Metabolic Rate. The beauty of the term is that it should be self-instructional in how it should be interpreted but alas it’s not. The hint is all right there for the telling; and there is one big clue on the most important aspect of those three words.

REST.

Your resting metabolic rate is the rate of energy usage your body expels at rest. This is what I like to call BRR (Bed Rest Rate) because it’s the rate that you burn basically on bed rest.

Anything beyond that and you have to add activity into the equation. This is how someone can go from burning 1400 calories a day to 2500 calories a day. The more you move the more you burn. But if we continue on calorie-burning then I digress.

The point to take home is that an RMR should be a test to show an estimate of your burn in a BRR state.

How do they work?

The idea behind this test is to calculate your rate of burn while breathing into a tube/air measuring device. The tests usually take anywhere from 5-20 mins in your standard gym setting. Once completed, a trainer gives an estimate on what your daily caloric burn is based on the results of those few minutes of work.

The more or less you breathe is the determining factor of what your RMR, simple as that.

In short, the RMR breathing test assumes by your rate of oxygen that your energy production in your body is using/requires X amount of calories.

Why get a RMR test?

A lot of people get RMR tests because their fat loss efforts aren’t working and they want to see if they have a slowed or broken metabolism.

They also try the test so that they aren’t playing the “guessing games” of what their caloric burn is.

Does it work? Should you spend more money on it? Will it solve your metabolism problem?

We’ll cover part two in the next post.

I know, I’m a stinker.

3 Ways To Get Peanut Butter (without all the calories)!


16 Jun

Any one that knows me, heck, even some of my clients know that I have a serious problem with peanut butter. Complete addict. I have even blogged about it before.

A recent question from one of my readers left me wanting to bring this issue back to light, but with new info.

Question:

Leigh,

I absolutely LOVE peanut butter but tend to over-consume it when I
eat it. I always intend to eat only a serving and end up 2-3+. No,
it’s not the end of the world but it can make the difference in how
much of a deficit I create that day.

I often read that it’s best to just enjoy the food and if you allow
it more frequently it will become less tempting. Likewise, many say
simply remove the temptation from your pantry.

I know it’s not like I’m binging on chocolate bars everyday but it
can affect my progress. What do you tell your clients who battle this
type of problem?

Thanks,
Rachel

Answer:

Rachel, and readers…

The solution to you problems are here with me.

Now obviously if you have a PB addiction you at some point might have to weigh getting it out of the house, but first I suggest trying these alternatives.

1-Peanut Butter and Fat Free Cream Cheese

Mix your Peanut Butter with some Fat Free Cream Cheese (maybe add a little Splenda for sweetness) and you just doubled the amount of peanut butter goodness. FF Cream Cheese only has 30 calories per serving. This one is the big winner for low calories and high in protein/fat combo. Great for pre-bed.

2-PB2 and Better Butter Combo

PB2 is a de-fated dehydrated Peanut Butter. Better n Peanut Butter is a de-fated jarred peanut butter. Mixed together with some milk and you have LOADS of peanut butter yummy. The only draw back is low in the good fats but if looking for the taste this is a big winner.

3-Peanut Butter “Ice Cream” Recipe

INGREDIENTS

� 1 cup of cottage cheese (non-fat)
� 2 tbsp natty peanut butter of choice
� 1/4 cup of splenda
� 1 1/2 tbsp of cocoa powder
� sprinkle of salt (or salt substitute)

DIRECTIONS

Mix all together, put in a Tupperware container/bowl. Leave in freezer for 1 hour, after that leave in the back of the fridge.

For Whole Container
Calories: 355
Protein: 40
Fat: 17
Carbs: 7

Yum!

The Fat Loss Troubleshooter – Leigh Peele

Common Sense Meets Advanced Knowledge