Nutrition

Ellen was one of my 1^st clients when we started our fit camp here in Manchester.  She was a size 16 and was desperate to get to a size 12 dress before her 40^th birthday.

She had also spent a lot of time on diets and counting points as well as calories and couldn’t work out why she was struggling to lose any weight.

Apart from the fact that she was not eating enough and getting enough nutrients in her body there was one glaringly obvious thing that was jumping out from her food diary.

Changing this one thing was the main catalyst for getting her down to a size 12 and not feeling like a frumpy extra at her 40^th birthday party.

She was drinking 6 cans of diet coke a day. Now six cans, that is the best part of 2 litres a day, which is enough to stop most peoples weight loss efforts dead in their tracks as well as overload the central nervous system due to the caffeine and the resulting cortisol.

“But Liam there is no sugar in diet coke and no calories” I can hear you saying. “So why is it that this can hinder our weight loss efforts?”

Well for starters the research says that people who drink diet drinks are more likely to be over weight than those who drink the full fat versions. Not only order xenical online australia that they can also put you at a greater risk of type 2 diabetes.

How can that be?

Well here is what a recent study discovered.

• Diet drinks increase your risk of diabetes more than sugary drinks. This increased risk is a huge 33% if you drink 1 can a day and an even more staggering 66% if you drink 2 cans a day.
• Most people who drink diet drinks also consume twice as much as those who drink the full fat versions because they are more addictive. This is because they contain sweeteners like aspartame that are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. This makes us want to drink more because we are programmed to like sweet stuff.
• They make your body think that sugar is on the way which makes you pump out insulin which is a fat storage hormone and this means more belly fat.
• They also make you hungrier due to low blood sugar levels and make you crave starch carbs like bread and pasta.
• People who drink diet drinks are 3 times more likely to be over weight than those of us who don’t.

Might be worth having a think the next time you take your diet coke break and switch the soda for some water or even a fat burning green tea.

Have you ever done something so wrong that it has potentially harmed other people and then found it very hard to back track on.

It would appear that a lot of the top nutritionists and doctors in this country and in the United States are currently doing  just that when it comes to telling us what we should eat to be healthy and lose weight.

When people see our fit camp nutrition plan for the 1st time they are sometimes shocked that it is so high in fat and don’t really get it. I’m not surprised by this because we have been told that ft is bad.

They say things like

“I thought too much fat was bad for you” or

“My doctor told me to substitute low fat spread instead of butter”

This is because for the last 40 or so years we have been told by the medical establishment and government bodies that eating a low fat diet is good for us.

As a well purchase xenical read fitness professional I always told my clients and fit cam members that this was bad advice and it would appear that the mainstream media is now starting to get behind us as well as doctors and heart specialists who it seem have done a massive U turn.

They are admitting that they may have actually got it wrong and in fact eating a diet that is high in unprocessed fat may be good for us and might actually help us to lose weight.

If you read my regular emails you will understand cause of weight gain is in fact sugar and not fat but its great to finally have some more proof so here it is.

Check out this story from the front page of The Independent today.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/forget-lowfat-diets–unprocessed-fatty-foods-may-actually-be-good-for-you-8897707.html

I would love to hear what you think about this.

Liam Thompson

Northwest Fit Camp

“Drop A Size in 28 Days Guaranteed”

If you are unhappy with you weight and the way you look or even if you just want to shed a few pounds to get into your bikini this summer you don’t have to go on a drastic diet or exercise regime in order to start getting some serious results.

Have a look at Frank below, who is one of our Fit Camp members, he got these amazing life changing results in only a few months so it really doesn’t take that long.

Don’t believe me, well give it a go and if it doesn’t work for you I’ll personally give you a week of free personal training here in Manchester. No Kidding!

Pick one of these tips of over the next 7 day (each day) to focus on and you should be able to drop 4-5 lbs. in only a week.

7 Top Tips for Losing Weight Effectively and permanently without resorting to extreme dieting or fad meal replacements

1. Cut down on the cardio

Yes that’s right stop doing too much cardio and wasting your time on the treadmill or cross trainer because in the long run it will make you fatter and will at the very least stop you from getting results.

In order to lose weight you must be doing metabolic resistance work. This basically means you have to train either with weights or using body weight exercises such as squats and lunges.

2. Switch sit ups for planks and sleeping crabs.

These exercises will target your core in a more efficient way protecting you from lower back pain.

If you don’t know what a sleeping crab is you can check it out below from our YouTube Channel.

3. Drink more water

Just increasing the amount of water you can drink can have a massive effect on weight loss results. If you are more hydrated your body will find it easier to burn fat. You should be aiming for at least 2 litres of water a day and preferably bottled water over tap water.

4 Take fish oil capsules every day

Most people don’t consume enough healthy fat in their dietsThese will help balance your blood sugar levels meaning you can eat more buy generic orlistat uk carbs and still lose weight as well as help protect your heart. I would recommend at least 4-6 grams per day with meals.

5. Don’t let yourself get hungry

Letting yourself get hungry usually means that you will grab the food that is easiest to get to and 9 times out of 10 this tends to be something really unhealthy. Make sure you eat every 4 hours to avoid this.

6 Avoid sugar (and sweeteners)

Sugar creates an insulin response that forces your body to store fat, but believe it or not the same thing happens when you have sweeteners  such as in diet cola’s or sugar free drinks. You taste something sweet and your brain expects sugar so it initiates an insulin release from the pancreas to deal with it and the result is fat gain followed by hunger.

Be especially wary of sugars in drinks because this makes it really easy to consume lots of calories in a short space of tie without you noticing too much

7 Eat better quality food.

Rather than eating less food and starving yourself eat better quality food that is higher in nutrients. Basically where possible chose fresh produce (fruit and veg)and organic meats over processed and packaged foods. Simples!

(Side note, there are lots of companies selling meal replacement shakes out there promising healthy weight loss results. You might lose weight initially using these but they certainly are not healthy and will screw up your digestion system long term)

Bonus Tip

The easiest way for most people to lose weight is:

BONUS TIP

Remove wheat from your diet. Just by cutting wheat out of your diet alone you can help to stabilise your blood sugar levels and stay burning fat for longer rather than storing it. Wheat (including all breads and pasta) is one of the single biggest causes of weight gain in the western world and has been shown to raise blood sugar levels faster than actual sugar.

Check out our Manchester Boot Camp for more info as we can help you lose 7lbs in 7 days 100% free of charge on one of our experience weeks.

“Eat more fat, are you crazy?” is probably what you are saying. After all doctors, dietitians and nutrition experts have been telling us for years to go on low fat diets and eat less fat. Well I have a bit of news for you. It doesn’t work. In fact you need to eat more Fat, but you cant just eat any old fat, it has to be the right kind of fat

What If I told you that eating more ‘FAT’ WILL actually make you healthier actually help you lose weight.

Yes really Eating more fat will help you burn more fat as well.

As a matter of fact if you come and work with me as a 1-1 personal training client or come to our boot camp we ask you to up your fat intake 15 grams per day and I recommend a fish oil supplement to help speed up the fat loss process.

Thing that many people get a bit scared when it comes to fat though is that there are different types of fat and although some are good, there are also bad fats that should be avoided at all costs.

Different Types Of Fats

So as I have just mentioned there are different sources of GOOD  BAD fats and what is really important is that we can learn tell the difference between the two..

BAD fats are generally found in foods like pastry, biscuits, doughnuts, cakes, fried foods, pizza, processed meats and junk foods like crisps and chocolate. These are very often called to as ‘trans-fats’ or sometimes ‘hydrogenated fat’.

These are BAD fats and should be avoided where possible as the body cannot metabolise them. This is the stuff that gets stuck to your artery walls and can cause heart disease.

Next time you go and buy a tub of margarine check out the ingredients. Most are made from olive oil or sunflower oil which are healtyish fats in their own right, however they are chemically altered by passing hydrogen through them in order to make them solid at room temperature rather than a liquid which is their natural state. This in turn makes them onto trans or hydrogenated fat. After this process they have to be bleached and then yellow colouring is added to make them look more like butter. Not good at all.

Always, always choose butter where possible

GOOD fats come from foods like avocado, coconut, nuts (not packaged peanuts), seeds, olives, extra virgin flaxseed oil, whole eggs and oily fish (from Salmon, mackeral, sardines etc)

Quick note on eggs, lots of people ask me about eggs white and if it’s better to just have egg white omelettes. I would always say no because you get all the nutrition, vitamins and fat in the yolk so have your eggs as a whole. They come as a natural package so no need to split them up.

Bad Fats

Bad fats are one of the reasons why you get blocks in your arteries. (inflammation caused by sugar and insulin is the other cause but that’s to detailed for today’s article)

Due to years years of over consumption they cause little deposits in your artery walls which restrict the blood flow which relates to many common heart problems.  Not only that, they also cause you to put on weight fast as the body has no real use for these fats.  They are waste, So either go out as waste, clog the arteries or get stored as body fat.

Good Fats

GOOD fats on the other hand are VERY different and have a whole host of GREAT benefits!

GOOD fats are NATURALLY OCCOURING fats (IE NOT processed) and they are a GREAT source of energy!  Your body NEEDS fat to BURN fat!

When i refer to GOOD fats I’m generally talking about Omega 3 and Omega 6.  There are 3 kinds of fat containing these:

• mono-unsaturated: Almonds, avacado, olive oils etc
• Poly-unsaturated: Walnuts, oily fish, seeds etc
• (good) saturated fat: Coconut oil, egg yolks

But you don’t really need to understand all the above, what’s important is you understand your body needs a good balance of all 3 different types of fats.

Benefits of Healthy Fats

• Great Energy Source
• Fats are needed to regulate your blood pressure
• Fats insulate your nerves, think of them like the rubber around an electric wire
• Many are naturally protect against inflammations
• They provide insulation (which includes keeping your internal body temperature warm)
• Healthy Fats help can help to improve skin, hair and nails. Fats in our skin can make us appear more radiant
• Fats protect our internal organs
• (in the ladies) They help keep reproductive organs healthy
• (in the guys) They improve testosterone production which means more muscle and increase in sex drive.

Fats also taste great and satisfies our tastes buds and hubger, and the benefits above are not the only ones

Basically you should be eating MORE fat in your diet each and every day.  Lifestyles that are low in fat have many problems, your hair and skin tone will eventually deteriorate, you’re likely to get hormone imbalances, increased weight gain, possible bad moods and a ton of other unpleasant things

How Much Fat Should I Be Eating?

Good question!  As ‘guidelines’ go, they say your total calorie intake for (good) FAT should be 30-35%.  So you could start by adding a few handfuls of nuts and seeds to your meal times each day, and fry in coconut oil rather than the oil your using.  Try eating half an avocado with breakfast 🙂

Personally, I think that it depends on the individual in terms of how much ‘FAT’ they can tolerate.  My fat intake may seem a lot to most people but I play a lot of sport so am pretty active.  But NEVER skip on adding FAT to your diet, you’ll be surprised at the results.

If you are trying to lose weight one of the foods you need to be careful around is fruit and especially due to the high levels of  fructose. Fructose is the sugar that is found in fruit and if you are trying to lose weight then this could be bad news for you. 

Basically sugar is sugar and if you eat too much of any kind of sugar including in fruit then the chances are that this is going to make you store more fat especially around your belly.

The other thing is that fruit is not as nutritious as we would be led to believe. Of the 13 vitamins, only fruits that contain fat can even start to provide fat soluble vitamins,  therefore only olives and avocado can help with vitamins A, D, E
and K.

There are far better ways to get the fat soluble vitamins  in our diet by eating more meat, fish, eggs and poultry.

Fruit is also not a great source of the eight B vitamins although it is a good source of vitamin C but you can get as much vitamin C from vegetables if not more especially green leafy ones.

So basically if we take into account that fruits are indeed not that nutritious, then we have to look at how they affect our waistlines and make us put on bodyfat.

Fructose, which you may know as fruit sugar,is quite uniquely metabolised by your liver, so it doesn’t get the chance to be burned up as fuel in the blood. In this case it goes straight to the liver buy xenical online cheap where it is processed to be turned into fat. You might want to bear this in mind the next time you drink a large glass of “healthy fruit juice” with your breakfast.

Table sugar or processed white cane sugar that we put in our coffee or sweet foods is made up of a single molecule of glucose and a single molecule of fructose.  The key change in our diet especially in the western world during the period in which obesity levels have risen pretty dramatically is not just down to the increases in our consumption of sugar but quite specifically down to the combination of fructose and glucose. Add these two sugars together and the potency of fructose and glucose is as follows – as the fructose part of the table sugar gets sent to the liver pretty much straight away for it to be metabolised it has little or no impact on blood glucose levels.

The glucose part of the table sugar performs this role and stimulates the pancreas to increase the output of insulin which is a storage hormone. The result of this is that we have triglycerides being formed, thanks to the actions of the fructose, and they are able to be stored, thanks to the glucose causing insulin to be released.

Food companies might like to tell you that all sugars are created equal but, when it comes to fat storage, the glucose fructose combinations are frightenly fattening especiall High Fructose Corn Syrup which is present in sweet drinks such as fizzy cola’s

Welcome to 2013, if you are anything like me then you will have maybe eaten too much or drank a little more than you should have done over the Christmas period. Personally I did and I didn’t even get a chance to get to the gym especially with travelling back to Ireland and then back over to England to stay with the in-laws after Christmas and then there was the new years celebrations and not to mention the Christmas parties before that.buy genuine xenical online weight in january” src=”http://www.northwestpt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/weight-loss-jeans.jpg” width=”480″ height=”320″ />

SO here we are into January already and looking to get back in shape. My jeans always get a bit tighter in January and this month I have set myself a target of losing 16lbs by the end of the month.

Why do I want to do that?

Well to be honest 200lbs is my ideal weight and where I feel the healthiest, I’ve let things go for the last 6 weeks so its time to get back into it by taking responsibility form my own health. Plus I’m getting married this year and I want to be in pretty good shape for that 🙂

How am I going to do this?

Exercise

Well I already have my workouts planned for the entire month and have made a commitment of getting to the gym at least 3 times a week before the end of January.

For some workouts and exercises we do you can check out our Youtube Channel

Nutrition

In addition to this I will be changing my diet pretty significantly. Weeks of chocolate , alcohol and turkey dinners have taken their toll on my waistline. So for the next 30 days I will be cutting the following foods from my diet

•  Wheat (crucial if you want to lose weight and prevent diabetes)
• Alcohol (This will be hard for me as I have a wedding, 40^th Birthday and a house warming party in january)
• Sugar
• Sweeteners (just as bad as sugar, maybe even worse)
• Dairy (except for natural yoghurt)
• Process foods
• Tap Water (to be replaced by bottled water)

This is pretty much what I get my clients and fit campers to do (although I also give them recipes and meal planners). Here is a link to my 30 day fat loss recipe book

In addition to this I will be skipping breakfast every day and only having two meals per day spaced around 6 or 7 hours apart. Now I know you probably think that that is crazy and this will make you fat but believe it or not breakfast eating actually makes you eat more calories later in the day. Check out the study below for more info on this if you are interested in the science

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15699226

Sleep

I will try and get to bed at 10:30 every night and get 8 hours sleep, this will help keep my cortisol (stress hormone) levels lower and help me burn more bod fat as a result.

SO there you have it, if you follow the plan above you should easily be able to drop a size over the next month and get back into your jeans.

Our Next Fit Camp Starts on 7th^th January 2013 www.nortwestfitcamp.co.uk

Our online Weight Loss Program Starts on Monday 7^th January www.fasterfatlossclub.com

I currently have space for 2 personal training clients for anyone who is interested in 1-1 personal training at our private studio in Manchester CityCentre

Contact me for more info

Liam

Northwest Personal Training Manchester