“You Are What You Eat”…And How You Live Your Lifestyle

Your body is unforgiving. The saying “You are what you eat” is so very true. Yet it is also important to consider that the way in which you live your overall lifestyle is also extremely important in determining your body weight and body shape.

This is common knowledge. What you eat and how you move around will determine how your body looks. But have you ever really considered this before? That your body shape is a function of every single “input” into your body?

Inputs include what you eat, when you eat it and your portion sizes. These inputs also include your exercise – the type of exercise you do, the intensity of your exercise, how often you exercise. Furthermore, inputs also include how often you sleep, how physical your job is, whether you play sport, how far you walk each day, your stress levels and so on. All of these inputs come together to form a particular body shape – the body shape that you currently are living with.

Let’s say that your goal is to lose weight. Therefore in order to accomplish this, you need to change your inputs to result in the weight loss “output”. So, you may reduce the amount of food you consume, get 8 hours of sleep a night, perform some intense exercise and walk to and from work each day. This shift in inputs is going to result in a change in output. The rate at which your body shape changes will be highly variable between individuals, but your body shape will most certainly change.

Alternatively consider muscle and weight gain. If your current inputs are walking to and from work each day and eating a limited number of calories, you would therefore have to modify these to eating more calories each day and performing specific exercises to induce muscle development.

Dieting is a change in inputs, be it often a temporary change. You change the food that you take in to induce rapid weight loss. If you revert back to your pre-dieting inputs, your output will eventually be similar to your original body shape.

So the key is to change your inputs in a manner that necessarily result in the desired output. But the key is to change these inputs permanently. As I said, the body is unforgiving – it will adapt to the environment to which it is subjected to.

Whilst the body is unforgiving, it is also honest. It will tell you how you’re doing. In fact, it is the one and only accurate indicator to your progress (obviously because it is the thing you are trying to change)! So, if you are progressing toward your goal, such as losing weight, your inputs are correctly aligned. If not, you need to revise your inputs.

Because the body is so honest, this means that you need to be honest with yourself. If you have a slip up with your nutrition, or skip a few workouts – identify it, learn from the mistake and move on. The body will not say to you “Oh, don’t worry about it, I’ll just continue to lose weight anyway – I understand you were feeling tired that day” – even though you may feel the urge to rationalise in this manner (hey, it’s normal human behaviour, I’m sure we’ve all done it at some point). Be honest with yourself and you will reap the benefits.

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Getting Motivation for Weight Loss

There are so many people out there that know “how” to lose weight. Sure, you can dissect weight loss until it becomes a complex science – but on the surface it doesn’t take a genius to work it out! Put simply:

• Perform some appropriate exercise
• Watch the types and servings of foods that you eat
• Do this consistently and monitor your results, to ensure you are losing weight

Easy, right? Well…it’s actually very deceivingly easy. What I have found from my professional experience is that most people know this.  Nearly everyone knows what they have to do in order to lose weight. But what most people lack is getting the motivation for weight loss.

Motivation is not about “wanting” to achieve a desired body weight. Far from it. Motivation is about getting pro-active about your goals and once and for all “pulling your finger out”, so to speak. Furthermore, motivation is about continuing to work toward your goals in a consistent manner day after day, rather than pursuing your goals on a temporary basis only to fall back into old lifestyle habits.

So, how do you get this necessary motivation for weight loss? Great question! Honestly, if I had the one single answer to this question, I would either be extremely rich or be out of a job!! But there are some things that you can do in order to find this motivation.

Firstly, you have to identify that no one else can motivate you, but yourself. Motivation must be intrinsic, or internal. If the internal motivation is not present, absolutely no amount of external motivation will do you any good. You have to want your goal bad enough to make some serious changes in your life.

So, step one would be to find that intrinsic motivation, or that “inner fire”. YOU (and only you) have to get deadly serious about achieving your weight loss goal. You have to believe that you are capable of success – no matter what anyone else thinks or feels. You have to tell yourself that you are sick and tired of being overweight and unhappy with your body and you are going to do this for yourself!

For if these beliefs are not present, you will not be successful. That may sound quite frank, but it is the honest truth.

Now, if that motivation is present, that’s when an extrinsic, or external form of motivation is going to be of benefit. You know you are going to achieve these goals, so why not have someone else help you to get from A to B? This could be for example:

• Your partner
• A family member
• A friend
• A group of friends
• A group of other people seeking to lose weight also
• A personal trainer

Other people will be a key factor to your success. They will make your journey more enjoyable and you won’t feel isolated in your attempts in improving yourself. A sense of community or belonging is very important, because we are highly social creatures.

There will be days where you will feel discouraged and this is where the external motivation is of great value to you in your weight loss endeavours. So long as you still carry the intrinsic belief of success, other people can help to pick you up and remedy the more superficial setbacks that you will incur. This could be something along the lines of a slip-up with your nutrition, illness, a missed workout or just feeling down.

I am a very passionate person about personal training because having your own personal trainer not only ensures that you remain motivated, but a fitness professional will make sure that you progress toward your weight loss goal in the safest, most appropriate and most efficient manner possible. So please do seriously consider hiring professional help if you are deadly serious about losing weight.

I wish you all the best in your endeavours toward your ideal physique! Please get started now. The sooner you get on top of things, the sooner you will see results and feel great about yourself!

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Cardio and Weight Loss. A Match Made in Heaven…Or Not?

Cardiovascular exercise, or commonly termed “cardio” is an excellent way to increase your daily calorie expenditure. If you’re after weight loss, then cardio will be an integral part to your exercise regime. The more intense the cardio, the more calories you will expend and thus the greater degree of weight loss that will be incurred. I have written about this extensively in previous posts.

BUT READ ON!

Cardio is not the “be all and end all” of weight loss! Actually, cardio is just one tiny bit to the fat metabolism puzzle! If you rely solely on cardio, without taking note of any other aspect to your lifestyle, then you will only obtain minimal results.

Resistance training, or weight bearing exercise has a significant effect on weight loss! This is contrary to popular belief, considering that it is generally accepted that weight lifting necessarily only results in muscle gain and cardio necessarily only results in weight loss. Not so! The combination of weight based exercise in conjunction with cardio exercise is far more effective than performing cardio in isolation.

Why is this? Well, there are three primary reasons in relation to weight loss specifically:

1. Following a weight training workout, your muscles are in an intense state of repair due to the microscopic damage caused during your workout. Thus, when you have completed your workout, your body is working away intensively to repair these muscles. During this period of time, your body breaks down fat tissue in order to source the energy necessary to accomplish this “restoration” task.
2. Once your muscles have repaired themselves, if you have exercised in an effective manner, you would have developed a little more muscle mass (we are not talking about getting bulky, but rather more minor muscle development). Muscle is very calorie dependent – the more muscle you carry, the more calories you naturally expend when resting. More calorie expenditure can mean a greater rate of weight loss!
3. Weight training expends calories while you are working out – it’s another form of exercise!

The latest research confirms the notion that cardio and weight training is far more effective for weight loss than cardio alone.

BUT (yes, another but), there is another big piece to the puzzle. You guessed it – nutrition!

What goes in your mouth constitutes your “calories in”. So, your diet is a vital component to your weight loss endeavours. The less calories you consume, the greater the calorie deficit you can generally create. Of course, you need to eat sufficient calories from a variety of whole-foods to ensure that your diet is well-balanced and healthy for you. After all, it’s no use losing weight and being awfully sick!

The latest research suggests that the most effective means of losing weight is by combining an effective cardio, weights and nutritional approach specifically geared toward weight loss. These three major pieces of the weight loss puzzle work extremely well together, so be sure to use all of them to your advantage!

If you would like to read more on the topic of weight loss, I would strongly recommend you have a read of my comprehensive article How to Lose Weight. I wrote this article to discuss exercise and diet in far more detail, and to show you how to develop a sustainable and enjoyable approach to achieving your fitness goals.

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What is the Best Weight Loss Machine?

A really common question that I have been asked by clientele is something along the lines of “What is the best weight loss machine?” As simple as this question may seem at first, it can be quite involved in ascertaining precisely what the best weight loss machine would be for you as an individual.

Let’s begin with a bit of background information. Going right back to the fundamentals of weight loss, losing weight is a function of a calorie deficit. In other words, you must consume less calories than what you expend.

Your calorie intake is primarily a function of the foods that you consume. If you eat more calorie rich food, your daily calorie intake will increase.

Your calorie expenditure is a function of many things including your basal metabolic rate (BMR), various metabolic processes and exercise. Disregarding everything else, let’s focus purely on exercise for the time being (even though exercise in isolation is a very small piece to the weight loss puzzle).

Considering that this article has been written with the focus on what the best weight loss machine is, we are therefore interested in what weight loss machine will provide the greatest calorie expenditure to create a greater calorie deficit. In other words, if you can perform exercise whereby you expend more calories in the same period of time, this will increase the likelihood of creating a calorie deficit which results in weight loss.

The trick to selecting which weight loss machine to use is to ensure that you can exercise at an intensity that is outside your comfort zone. By exercising vigorously, you will therefore be expending more calories and thus create a greater calorie deficit. This of course assumes that you have established a deficit by accommodating for all other factors also.

What I am getting at is that there is no single “best” weight loss machine. The treadmill may be very effective, but so too can an upright bike, elliptical trainer or rowing machine.

In order for you to select the best weight loss machine for you, use a machine that:

• You enjoy using (you’ll want to use it more!)
• Is comfortable for you
• Does not impact any injuries
• Is low risk
• Is of good quality and make
• Is not a fad product that claims to transform your body practically overnight

In saying all of the above, there is a bit of a disclaimer on the intensity front. If you haven’t exercised regularly before, it is not a wise idea to go “gung-ho” into a super-intense workout. I have blogged about this before and you may wish to read up on this topic in greater detail and discover the the Dangers of Exercising Too Vigorously.

Further to this, you may be interested in learning that different formats of exercise, such as the combination of weight training and cardio training can have a far more profound impact on weight loss than just using a single weight loss machine. Nutrition also plays a vital part in weight loss, so it is important to develop an appropriate approach to nutrition that will result in the desired degree of weight loss.

And I would like to leave you with a final thought. Never go out and buy a particular weight loss machine and expect it, in isolation, to result in weight loss. Weight loss requires a holistic lifestyle approach – buying a particular piece of cardio apparatus is practically setting yourself up for failure. If this is what you are considering doing, I very strongly recommend you have a read of my popular article, How to Lose Weight.

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What’s in Food? Just Calories, Carbs, Fat and Protein?

When it comes to achieving a particular health and fitness goal, a very common mistake is to focus purely on carbohydrate, fat, protein and calories. These are macronutrients that are very important for your survival in large quantities (hence the name “macro”-nutrient).

It is true that these specific macronutrients are very important when attempting to lose weight or build muscle. Fundamentally, you require a calorie deficit to lose weight. Conversely, you require a calorie overload to gain weight. Through careful analysis of these macronutrients, you can effectively create a calorie overload of deficit.

We delve deep into the world of macronutrients in our free seven week course, Conquering Your Body.

But what about micronutrients? “Micro”-nutrients, as the name suggests, are molecules that our body requires in small quantities. It should come as no surprise that these nutrients are vital for good health and normal functioning of the human body. Yet they can also play a vital role in fat oxidation (fat breakdown) and hypertrophy (muscle gain).

What are micronutrients? This broad term does encompass vitamins and minerals and I am sure that you have heard the many benefits of consuming a vitamin and mineral rich diet (without going overboard of course).

But that’s not it! There are litterally hundreds of other micronutrients classified as “phytonutrients”. They are not necessarily vitamins or minerals per se, but they do carry a range of vital functions within the human body. Phytonutrients have been shown to:

• Prevent the onset of disease
• Boost the immune system
• Kill cancer cells
• Serve as anti-oxidants
• Repair DNA damage as a result of being exposed to toxins

This week, we had an article published which does provide a really good overview of phytonutrients and I do recommend you have a read. The article is entitled “Phytonutrients: The Power of Plants“. After reading this article, you’ll know why fruits and vegetables are so important, no matter what your goal is!

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Is Vitamin Water Healthy for Weight Loss? Vitamin Water Review

I have seen plenty of new “healthy” product appear within the last few years as a result of the growing awareness of health and fitness in Australia. But often, new products do not live up to implied marketing claims of being as healthy as they may be perceived to be. So, I thought I’d take a quick look at Vitamin Water and post up my opinion of this product. It’s only a brief look, but an important one.

Naturally, I’m very sceptical about such a product. This is because there is so much misleading and bogus marketing in this industry that you really can never judge a book by it’s cover. Sorry to be frank, but this is a sad truth about the health and fitness industry.

Probably the first thing that jumps out at me when considering such a product is that it isn’t natural. It is a highly refined water source with a fair amount of sugar added in. It’s full of fructose that is not in it’s natural state, as would be found in many fruits. So, it’s certainly in my opinion not a desirable drink to consume, especially for weight loss.

For a typical bottle, there seems to be approximately 33g of carbohydrate, all of which is sugar. In other words, this is effectively what I would classify as “lolly water”. For comparison, a typical soft drink would contain 40-60g of sugar per bottle.

Such a high intake of sugar is certainly not healthy, nor is it appropriate for weight loss. Vitamin Water is therefore something that I would not recommend for anyone who is watching their weight. Whilst they are fortified with various nutrients, these can all be obtained by eating whole foods, such as fruits and vegetables where you will not obtain the highly processed carbohydrates.

To remain hydrated, opt for water. Sometimes sports drinks can be of benefit, but really only if you have specific goals and requirements with your training. Don’t be fooled by thinking that sweet products are necessarily good for you just because the company’s marketing says so. In my opinion, Vitamin Water falls far short of their projected “healthy” image.

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New 12 Week Body Transformation Book Released!

I’m so happy to announce that my book has finally been printed and is now available for sale!

How to Transform the Average Joe in 12 Weeks is a book that took me over four years to complete. I began writing it during my 12 week BodyBlitz challenge that I subsequently won back in 2005. During the transformation competition, I kept a very detailed log of all my training results, thoughts, triumphs and failures. Upon completing the challenge and winning the grand title, I decided to write a book on my experience.

The book begins long before the 12 week transformation competition. In fact, it begins with my struggles when I was much younger and struggled through a long bout of chronic fatigue. This did have a tremendous impact on my life, as you will read.

After setting the scene, we delve into the details of the 12 week challenge. Exactly what I did to go from “Average Joe” to the guy on the front of Australian Ironman Magazine!

Once you have been taken on my 12 week journey, I have then compiled a comprehensive “how-to” guide for yourself. Don’t expect a meal and exercise plan – it is far more complex than that. We delve into all aspects of body transformation – all of which Amino Z was established on. We will discuss such things as:

• Goal setting
• Planning
• Researching
• How to develop an approach specifically for YOU (and not just replicating what I did)
• Supplementing
• Training
• Nutrition
• Entering into a 12 week competition to win by taking amazing before/after photo’s and writing a masterpiece essay

I also provide the exact essay that I submitted during my challenge which was ultimately a vital component to my entry, as advised by the Ironman magazine editor. No where else will you find this essay (except in one of my filing cabinets).

My goal in writing this book is to educate, motivate, inspire and enlighten you to transform yourself, permanently. This is not a quick-fix guide – this is a proper how-to guide, to make some permanent changes into your lifestyle, for the rest of your life. And if you’re planning on entering into a 12 week competition (such as EAS Body-for-LIFE or BodyBlitz) – you’ll have a bit of an unfair advantage with this resource!

Check out my book, How to Transform the Average Joe in 12 Weeks in our online  store.

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How to Boost the Intensity of Your Cardio Workout

It amazes me how many guys (especially) don’t do cardio. Cardio can be so effective for health, fitness, fat loss and muscle development, which I discussed in an article I had published entitled Cardio & Bodybuilding – Good for Muscle Growth?

With so many benefits to high intensity cardio, you might as well get the most bang for your buck. Assuming that high intensity cardio is suitable for you and your goals, the key is going to be in getting the intensity of the cardio as high as possible. The primary limiting factor to the intensity of your cardio session is your mind. Even though your body may be whining because it is fatigued, it is ultimately our mindset that determines the final outcome.

Many elite athletes have sports psychologists to assist them in enhancing the intensity of their performances. For, there is no use to compete if the body is in top condition, yet the mind is weak.

So coming back to your cardio session, how do you get the intensity up so high that you have an outstanding session? You could hire a sports psychologist, but I am assuming that you’re not quite that serious about setting personal best’s each workout!

So, I thought I’d share the three most prominent tips that have helped me to boost the intensity of my HIIT cardio workouts:

Boosting the Intensity of Your Cardio Workout Tip 1: Listen to Music

Music that pumps you up takes your mind off the physical and mental pain that you are enduring when you subject yourself to super-high intensity training. Listen to something that gets your adrenal glands pumping for maximum effect!

Boosting the Intensity of Your Cardio Workout Tip 2: Race Against Someone

Studies have shown that by competing against someone, you can significantly enhance your output. This is partly due to the fact that you have a far greater sense of accountability – you are no longer just competing against yourself!

You can do this running outdoors or using gym equipment. Set an appropriate handicap if there is a significant difference in fitness level.

Boosting the Intensity of Your Cardio Workout Tip 3: Tell Yourself You LOVE the Pain!

This actually works really, really well. Instead of having an internal negative mindset such as “Please stop, this hurts and I’m tired!”, go for the complete opposite such as “C’mon, give me more pain, I can handle it – that’s what I’m here for and NOTHING can stop me!”. Ultimately, it’s only a few minutes of your life, so why not take the opporunity to really test yourself to see how strong you are mentally?

This final tip does sound a little crazy…telling yourself that you love the challenge and essentially “taunting yourself” to up the intensity. But it can be a very effective method of encouraging peak performance.

A while back, I wrote an article on this topic which was subsequently published in both Australian Ironman Magazine and Fighting Fat Magazine. It expands on this topic and you may be interested to read in further detail, Taking HIIT to the Next Level!

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The Dangers of Exercising Too Vigorously

Today I have been inspired to write on this topic by an incident that occurred at my gym. As I was walking out of the gym, there were three paramedics monitoring a middle-aged lady who was lying on the ground (possibly unconscious, or semi-conscious at the best) with an oxygen mask attached.

Whilst I’m not sure as to the cause of this particular incident, I have witnessed many people in the past who have exercised so vigorously that they have caused more harm than good. So whilst it is often true that “you get in what you get out” – you need to ensure that you are “putting in” to a smart, safe, suitable and effective exercise regime for you specifically.

You’ll notice that intensity is a recurring theme of many of my blog posts and articles that I have written. The science does strongly suggest that higher intensities of exercise are going to be far more effective for weight loss. However, it is more important to consider your safety and health before you consider putting 100% effort into your workout.

The body can only handle so much physical stress. Exercise is exactly that – physical stress. If you are considerably out of shape, unfit, injured, inexperienced or have medical concerns, without question, do not begin exercising vigorously. It is far too risky – you could injure yourself, become sick easily, have an asthma attack, experience a sudden drop in blood pressure (resulting in fainting or even organ damage), fall over and hit your head or even just spend a week recovering because your body is not equipped to handle that level of intensity!

The key is to introduce intensity gradually into your workout repertoire over a period of time as your body adjusts to the increased demands.

The dangers of exercising too vigorously can be quite profound. Whilst intensity may be very important in your training programme, it is more important to ensure that your body can safely handle the prescribed exercise programme. Remember always, train smart!

You may be interested in reading a recent blog post I made, Should I Exercise Like They Do On The Biggest Loser?

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The Difference Between a Normal and Online Personal Trainer

Having worked extensively as both a traditional or “normal” personal trainer and an online personal trainer, I am familiar with how the two roles differ in the health and fitness industry. Whilst the two services overlap somewhat, they also differ substantially in various aspects.

So, in writing this article, it is my goal to enlighten you as to the difference between your typical personal trainer and an online personal trainer based on the services that we offer. In doing so, I hope that you will be able to make a more informed decision when hiring a fitness professional to get you to your goals.

Of course, services between companies will vary substantially. Amino Z’s online personal training is very different to many other companies or individuals. So I have written this brief article based on my personal beliefs (and also our company’s beliefs) as to what each role should provide to you.

How a Traditional and Online Personal Trainer are Similar

Let’s begin with the similarities between the two services. I believe that both fitness professionals have a responsibility to provide you with safe, effective and individualised training and nutritional programmes. All training programmes should be designed with your goals in mind (not the trainers, or someone else’s). Both services also must ensure that you feel comfortable with the programmes and you are confident with them.

The ongoing services provided by either professional should be designed to keep you motivated and accountable to achieving your goals. A personal trainer in essence is your personal coach and is there to keep you on track.

How a Traditional and Online Personal Trainer are Different

There are some significant difference between an online personal trainer and your face-to-face personal trainer.

The first and most obvious is that your online trainer isn’t there with you during a workout. So they are unable to coach you through an actual set, or identify any technique flaws. So your traditional personal trainer has the ability to motivate you during the actual workout.

However the online personal trainer has some distinct advantages over the face-to-face personal trainer.  In one respect, online, they generally have a much greater ability to add structure into your lifestyle. Rather than briefly touching on your food intake, social activities and exercise during your 1 hour face-to-face session, your online trainer can discuss all of these area’s in detail with you. You also are not limited to a specific appointment time as you can send a message online 24/7 at your convenience.

The traditional personal trainer does have the advantage of being able to communicate with you on a face-t0-face basis. This is really good if you struggle to put the required effort into your workout and need that “in the moment” motivation. The online personal trainer is the coach who is present outside of each workout and can look at your week in a highly objective manner. This ensures that everything in your lifestyle is geared toward achieving the desired results. Recording your results regularly also ensures that you can view your progress in an objective manner also.

For the amount of support that you receive, your online personal trainer does tend to be a little more cost effective. For example with our packages, for bi-weekly online support (our most common package), it’s almost half the cost of having two 1 hour personal training sessions each week.

What I have found from my personal experience is that my clients generally do get better results from online personal training. Of course, this differs on an individual basis, but this is what I have observed with a general trend.

The reason why is because I believe that having a coach available to you outside of your workout keeps you accountable and motivated throughout the week and not just during your training session. Even though many of my face-to-face clients have highly effective and enjoyable workouts when training together with me, the level of motivation exhibited outside of these sessions can often be reduced because they have no one to answer to for a number of days. An online personal trainer does solve this problem.

Ultimately it does come down to you as the individual. As you can see, the roles of each type of personal trainer does differ substantially and which service you choose will depend on your specific requirements for success.

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