2014 Weight Loss Science Revealed
Good morning everyone, I hope 2014 has been good to you so far with all of your fitness goals being achieved. This morning has not started off very bright pour moi. It’s a rainy Friday morning here in Vancouver, 2 of my personal training clients have cancelled last minute, and today I woke up to a very upset, frustrated, and downright angry text message from a client of mine. She has a trip coming up and has a month and a half to lose 10lbs fast. Now I have trained with this client off and on for the past 2 years and I must say she has come a long way and I am very proud of her but some things still trip her up. So this post is in response to her comments, questions and concerns.
Now, as promised in the headline I will reveal my top weight loss tips that if used consistently will guarantee weight loss of 1-2 lbs a week. I’d like to start by stating that weight loss is not a mysterious, crazy abstract concept that eludes human kind. Although by judging North Americas obesity epidemic, yes I said EPIDEMIC you’d be right to think otherwise. No, instead weight loss is a very strict science that applies to every one of us. Please view this simple equation below:
Exercise + Nutritious Meals + Supplements = Healthy + Fit + Sexy
Let’s take the time now to break this equation down into meaningful chunks of info that you can take with you wherever you go.
Exercise
What counts as exercise you say?
1) As a general rule if you do not break a sweat during exercise guess what? You’re not exercising. Stay on the couch because your wasting your time, money and very little energy.
2) Following rule 1, if your break a sweat while walking, jogging, running, weight training, circuit training, bootcamp, sports, etc etc etc… that counts.
3) Time under tension rule: the minimum you should train is 3-4 times a week for 1 hour of intense, sweaty, leave it all on the gym floor exercise.
4) The best bang for your buck is doing timed circuit training whereby you pick 6-10 different exercise movements involving full body movements and time them for example 40 seconds work 20 seconds rest and repeat.
5) HIIT: high intensity interval training is by far and in my professional opinion the single best way to shed fat. Much like circuit training you train at your maximal heart rate (170-190bpm) for a set time and then rest for a set time. General rule here is 1:3 work:rest ratio. To get an idea think of a sprinter running at full tilt for 100-200m, walking back to the starting line, and doing it again 10-15 times is all that is needed. Don’t like running? Great jump on a spin bike !
Nutrition
Ok I get it, I need to sweat my ass off but what do I eat? This is where I think it gets even simpler. The rules here are just as strict. If you want to lose weight eat as follows:
1) PROTEIN. Center your meals around protein. Fish, chicken, eggs, meat, cheese, yogurt, etc… PROTEIN. To be exact 1 gram for your body weight, or Desired Body weight. More concretely I weigh 175lbs so I ensure I eat 175 grams of protein a day. Everyday. Not just when I workout or when I feel like it. Every fuckin day. If I eat 6 meals a day which I do 175/6=29 grams per meal.
2) Timed Carbohydrates? Why timed? Because it’s SCIENCE. Don’t get bogged down by what carbs are good and bad. I’ve made it simple for you: If you want to lose weight you shall not eat the following…ever…
Rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, starchy foods, fast food, donuts, chocolate bars, cakes , desert of any kind and many many more foods but you get the point.
So what carbs can I eat?
Fruits and Vegetables but not too much fruit because your goal is weight loss. And you must TIME your fruit intake to Breakfast and right before your workout. Other than that you are picking fruits and veggies that are LOW on the GLYCEMIC scale. This just means that they turn to sugar in your blood stream less quickly and less in general.
3) FATS Not all fat is bad for you. The fat you can eat that will actually help you burn more body fat are natural fats that occur in nuts, seeds, dairy, fish oil (liquid supplement), omega 3 6 9. My favorite is almonds or its counterpart almond butter.
4) WATER You hear this all the time but drink plenty of water 2-3L of water a day. Stay hydrated and you will have more energy and transport all your favorite nutrients more efficiently. YAY.
5) Eat every 3 hours for 6 meals per day. WHY its soooo much food. Again it’s Science. Your body will love you for this and in turn you will rev your metabolism, have more energy than a child, burn more fat and kill more workouts. Win win win.
6) Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I don’t care if you’re not used to eating breakfast– start today. Just eat something. In a few weeks eat more. Couple more weeks and you will be eating a full breakfast and will lose more weight than Oprah in the 90’s.
Supplements
Supplementation doesn’t mean take steroids and fat burners. Taking supplements combined with exercise and nutrition will supercharge your fat loss efforts. The word synergy comes to mind. They all work in harmony to help you burn calories and look sexy as F.
Top 5 supplements
1) A good multivitamin. None of that Centrum shit. The kind you have to go to a health store to buy.
2) Liquid fish oil. Again not the cheap shit, may as well burn your money on the spot.
3) 100% whey isolate. Choose a flavor you can stomach and get it down. This for you ladies out there it’s not a smoothie to be enjoyed. Your body needs this protein and asap. Guzzle it down.
4) BCAA drink. Branch Chain Amino Acids. Your muscles are made of BCAA’s and they are the building blocks of protein. Go figure? If you want a lean toned body you have to feed your muscles with what they are made of. 3 and 4 will help you repair faster between workouts so you can workout harder next session.
5) Any other vitamin and mineral deficiency you have you should supplement with it properly. For me it’s vitamin D.
Healthy + Fit + Sexy
No matter which way you slice the pie all of the above will ensure you are the healthiest, fittest, and sexiest person in 2014. It just so happens that all 3 coveted things as human beings come from the exact same scientific formula. You can’t have 1 without the other 2 and if you do I’d argue you’re not happy.
As Jerry Springer used to say:
“till next time, take care of yourselves annnd each other”
Adam
