So you sit down one night and grab a low carb beer to drink, thinking “hey, it’s low carb and it’s just under 90 calories. This won’t have any effect on my fat loss progress.”
Well, think again.
First, your body is always burning fat for energy. Sometimes it’s burning a lot of it in order to recover from a workout, and other times it’s not burning much at all. At the same time, you may be storing some body fat because you are taking in excess calories. But, the cycle continues, your body at some level is always burning fat.
Alcohol though, throws a little curve ball into this.
When you drink alcohol, in the end it turns into a substance known as acetate. When this happens, your body uses the acetate for energy before using any body fat, carbohydrates, or protein. In other words, your natural fat burning metabolism has shut down and won’t start back up until all that acetate is moved out of the system.
Another problem with alcohol is that it tends to increase your appetite. Admit it, you start drinking and the next thing you know your ordering potato skins, cheese sticks, nachos and whatever else is on the appetizer menu. So now not only are you not burning fat because your body has to use the acetate as energy first, but, you’re now taking in a ton of inefficient calories that will end up as body fat.
Alcohol also has an effect on testosterone levels. When you drink alcohol, the body increases the release of cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that breaks down muscle. So by increasing cortisol and also decreasing your testosterone levels by drinking alcohol, you end up with muscle being eaten away. This is the reason why you see a lot of heavy drinkers who have bigger waists and at the same time, smaller muscles.
Does this mean that you should avoid alcohol all together? No, not entirely. Having a few drinks on special occasions isn’t going to hurt, you just need to make sure you don’t go overboard.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
De-Tox For Your Body
In the past, whenever I saw the words "Detox Your Body" I would kind of glance past it, thinking stereotypically that it was going to be some sort of existential material that has a Utopian tone to it.
But, keeping with my new year's resolution that I keep and open mind about everything, I decided to take a read of this article when I found it on the web.
I was kind of surprised by it because for the most part, it wasn't giving you a list of a bunch of supplements that would supposedly rid your body of any and all evil once and for all.
What I basically got out of it was: STOP EATING CRAP!! Meaning, start eating things that are not processed with a ton of chemicals. Eat things that are organic, get your fruits and vegetables, and your legumes, and leafy greens. Make up some juices using real fruit.
In other words, it's like De-Tox really means: "Eat the way we are supposed to eat: natural foods."
So in a way, it's like I've been detoxing for the last number of years and didn't even know it. So I hope you are as well and if not, get with it!
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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But, keeping with my new year's resolution that I keep and open mind about everything, I decided to take a read of this article when I found it on the web.
I was kind of surprised by it because for the most part, it wasn't giving you a list of a bunch of supplements that would supposedly rid your body of any and all evil once and for all.
What I basically got out of it was: STOP EATING CRAP!! Meaning, start eating things that are not processed with a ton of chemicals. Eat things that are organic, get your fruits and vegetables, and your legumes, and leafy greens. Make up some juices using real fruit.
In other words, it's like De-Tox really means: "Eat the way we are supposed to eat: natural foods."
So in a way, it's like I've been detoxing for the last number of years and didn't even know it. So I hope you are as well and if not, get with it!
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Friday, March 27, 2009
March Madness Workout
So we're down to the Sweet Sixteen.
How about a little workout in front of the TV while watching your favorite team try and pull out a victory to take one more step to coming to Detroit for the Big Dance?
So I came up with a workout that you can do right in front of your television with just your bodyweight.
Here's how it works:
Whenever there's a whistle, you take the last digit in the score for both teams and add them together. The number you come up with is the number of repetitions that you do for each of these exercises. You do each of these exercises back to back with no rest. Once you've completed all the exercises, you sit and watch the game until there is another whistle and repeat.
Here's the exercises:
1. Alternating Forward Lunge - appropriate number of reps on each side
2. Decline Pushups
3. Alternating Reverse Lunge - appropriate number of reps on each side
4. Mountain Climbers - appropriate number of reps on each side
5. Tricep Dips using a couch or chair
As an example, if the score is 14-12 and the whistle blows, you'd take the last digit of each of the scores and add them together (4+2=6 in this case) and you would do six repetitions of each of the exercises listed above one after the other with no rest. Then once you're done, you sit down, watch the game some more until the next whistle and do the same thing.
If you need an explanation of the exercises above, don't hesitate to e-mail me at mike@leanbodyfitness.com
Good luck (with both the workout and for whatever team you're cheering for).
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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How about a little workout in front of the TV while watching your favorite team try and pull out a victory to take one more step to coming to Detroit for the Big Dance?
So I came up with a workout that you can do right in front of your television with just your bodyweight.
Here's how it works:
Whenever there's a whistle, you take the last digit in the score for both teams and add them together. The number you come up with is the number of repetitions that you do for each of these exercises. You do each of these exercises back to back with no rest. Once you've completed all the exercises, you sit and watch the game until there is another whistle and repeat.
Here's the exercises:
1. Alternating Forward Lunge - appropriate number of reps on each side
2. Decline Pushups
3. Alternating Reverse Lunge - appropriate number of reps on each side
4. Mountain Climbers - appropriate number of reps on each side
5. Tricep Dips using a couch or chair
As an example, if the score is 14-12 and the whistle blows, you'd take the last digit of each of the scores and add them together (4+2=6 in this case) and you would do six repetitions of each of the exercises listed above one after the other with no rest. Then once you're done, you sit down, watch the game some more until the next whistle and do the same thing.
If you need an explanation of the exercises above, don't hesitate to e-mail me at mike@leanbodyfitness.com
Good luck (with both the workout and for whatever team you're cheering for).
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Starvation Mode - Re-Evaluating
You may have heard the term "starvation mode" before and even heard of different definitions of it.
Probably the most common definition when used in every day conversation is the theory that when you stop eating for a certain period of time, your body will go into starvation mode and start to eat away at your lean mass (muscle, skin, organs, etc) in order to slow the metabolism down so that your body doesn't need as many calories to function, thus allowing you to live on a smaller amount of food.
The starvation mode theory even has it going so far as saying that you need to eat once every 3-4 hours in order for your body to avoid eating away at all the hard earned muscle you've been developing. I'll admit, this is what I learned a number of years ago, follow it to this day, and advise my clients to do so as well.
But, I found this study that tells a very different tale.
The study was actually looking at historical studies and comparing how starvation (or very low caloric diets) would affect the basal metabolic rate (BMR) between lean and obese individuals. In other words, in a controlled setting under controlled conditions, when individuals were fasting or on extremely low-calorie diets, what was the effect on their metabolism?
One of the first things that is mentioned I think is extremely fascinating:
After two days of starvation, they actually saw an INCREASE in people's metabolism.
Another quote:
Again, "NO DIMINUTION" of the metabolism during the first few days of acute starvation.
The study also goes on to say that even protein oxidation tends to show an increase over the first few days of acute starvation.
It kind of throws a little curveball at the idea that we have to eat 6-7 meals a day, one every 3-4 hours in order for us to keep our metabolism going and to not fall into "starvation mode."
When thinking about this from an evolutionary standpoint (and I'm not basing this on anything other than what is popping up in my brain), this makes a lot of sense.
You're an early human 50,000 years ago. Food is always sparse and you never know when your next meal is going to come from. If the body was designed to start eating away at your lean mass immediately after not having food in it for a few hours (or even a few days), then you wouldn't have the energy and strength to take down that mammoth that's rolling through your neighborhood on a cross country tour. Humans (and if you think about it, any species for that matter) wouldn't be able to survive if we had to keep eating every few hours in order to keep our lean tissue intact in order to have the energy to continue to hunt for food.
Now going further into the study, it does show that after the initial 1-3 days of starvation, this increase in BMR and protein oxidation starts to decrease.
But overall, I think the take home point is, relax and don't worry so much about skipping a meal or thinking that if you don't eat every 3-4 hours your body is going to turn into the Blob and all your muscles will shrivel up into raisins. If you've got your overall eating under control and you're on an efficient resistance training program, you'll be just fine.
When Exercise Will Kill You
This was just such a bizarre story I had to include it in the blog.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Probably the most common definition when used in every day conversation is the theory that when you stop eating for a certain period of time, your body will go into starvation mode and start to eat away at your lean mass (muscle, skin, organs, etc) in order to slow the metabolism down so that your body doesn't need as many calories to function, thus allowing you to live on a smaller amount of food.
The starvation mode theory even has it going so far as saying that you need to eat once every 3-4 hours in order for your body to avoid eating away at all the hard earned muscle you've been developing. I'll admit, this is what I learned a number of years ago, follow it to this day, and advise my clients to do so as well.
But, I found this study that tells a very different tale.
The study was actually looking at historical studies and comparing how starvation (or very low caloric diets) would affect the basal metabolic rate (BMR) between lean and obese individuals. In other words, in a controlled setting under controlled conditions, when individuals were fasting or on extremely low-calorie diets, what was the effect on their metabolism?
One of the first things that is mentioned I think is extremely fascinating:
...during the first 2 days of starvation there is often a small absolute increase in BMR relative to values obtained after an overnight fast.
After two days of starvation, they actually saw an INCREASE in people's metabolism.
Another quote:
As early as 1907, VAN NOORDEN wrote "during the first few days of acute starvation the general metabolism of the body suffers no diminution".
Again, "NO DIMINUTION" of the metabolism during the first few days of acute starvation.
The study also goes on to say that even protein oxidation tends to show an increase over the first few days of acute starvation.
It kind of throws a little curveball at the idea that we have to eat 6-7 meals a day, one every 3-4 hours in order for us to keep our metabolism going and to not fall into "starvation mode."
When thinking about this from an evolutionary standpoint (and I'm not basing this on anything other than what is popping up in my brain), this makes a lot of sense.
You're an early human 50,000 years ago. Food is always sparse and you never know when your next meal is going to come from. If the body was designed to start eating away at your lean mass immediately after not having food in it for a few hours (or even a few days), then you wouldn't have the energy and strength to take down that mammoth that's rolling through your neighborhood on a cross country tour. Humans (and if you think about it, any species for that matter) wouldn't be able to survive if we had to keep eating every few hours in order to keep our lean tissue intact in order to have the energy to continue to hunt for food.
Now going further into the study, it does show that after the initial 1-3 days of starvation, this increase in BMR and protein oxidation starts to decrease.
But overall, I think the take home point is, relax and don't worry so much about skipping a meal or thinking that if you don't eat every 3-4 hours your body is going to turn into the Blob and all your muscles will shrivel up into raisins. If you've got your overall eating under control and you're on an efficient resistance training program, you'll be just fine.
When Exercise Will Kill You
This was just such a bizarre story I had to include it in the blog.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Weight Loss Brain Surgery
This article talks about a surgery this woman received on her brain to help control her appetite.
The article states that she's already tried diets and has even had her stomach stapled.
From the article:
Further on in the article:
I don't know. I was a skeptic for a long time when it came to gastric bypass surgery and thought it was an extreme (and expensive) measure to use for weight loss but, after some time realized that for a lot of people it was the only option left that was probably going to help them lose weight and likely save their lives.
I may come to that point if this surgery catches on but, for the moment, it makes me wonder if the reason that we're headed in this direction is because gastric bypass surgery is not working. Meaning, maybe what we're finding is people have gastric bypass, lose weight, but over time, put it back on, and then we're back to square one.
I guess I'm concerned about what the next step is if this brain surgery is the new weight loss surgery of the future, and we find out 15 years down the line that it's essentially not working like maybe gastric bypass isn't, and where we go from there. The slippery slope on this could lead us to some even more extreme and even more dangerous paths.
Book Recommendation
I have a recommendation for a great cook book with some amazing healthy meals that are also incredibly tasty. The book is called Gourmet Nutrition and a lot of the meals can be prepared and served in 30 minutes. Here is the link and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
The article states that she's already tried diets and has even had her stomach stapled.
From the article:
Last month, she took part in a clinical trial at West Virginia University hospital in which neurosurgeons drilled into her brain and used electricity to control her feelings of hunger and satisfaction.
Further on in the article:
Poe was awake during the three-hour surgery, in which wires carrying an electrical impulse were inserted into her brain in the region where the stomach is controlled, and linked to two pacemaker devices implanted in her chest.
The voltage going into her brain is turned up slowly over future months to give Poe the sensation of feeling full.
I don't know. I was a skeptic for a long time when it came to gastric bypass surgery and thought it was an extreme (and expensive) measure to use for weight loss but, after some time realized that for a lot of people it was the only option left that was probably going to help them lose weight and likely save their lives.
I may come to that point if this surgery catches on but, for the moment, it makes me wonder if the reason that we're headed in this direction is because gastric bypass surgery is not working. Meaning, maybe what we're finding is people have gastric bypass, lose weight, but over time, put it back on, and then we're back to square one.
I guess I'm concerned about what the next step is if this brain surgery is the new weight loss surgery of the future, and we find out 15 years down the line that it's essentially not working like maybe gastric bypass isn't, and where we go from there. The slippery slope on this could lead us to some even more extreme and even more dangerous paths.
Book Recommendation
I have a recommendation for a great cook book with some amazing healthy meals that are also incredibly tasty. The book is called Gourmet Nutrition and a lot of the meals can be prepared and served in 30 minutes. Here is the link and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Recession and Healthy Lifestyle
This article is unfortunate in some ways but also fortunate in others.
Basically it goes into the fact that due to the current global recession, people are cutting back on buying healthy foods. This unfortunately is where the food companies that produce the junk have an upper hand because they hold the products that are cheaper. But I have to say, it's really not that much cheaper. I'll admit though that I've done the same thing of sorts by pulling back on organic products and settling for the non-organic. But, at least I'm going from an organic apple to a non-organic apple, not an apple to Oreos.
But, the article also states that at least in the UK, the number of people seeking help in trying to stop smoking is significantly higher. I'm guessing that people are looking at their essentials and noticing how much they can save by cutting out the smokes. Which the timing of this article ran fairly close to this article in the Detroit Free Press that stated the state hotline for people to get help to quit smoking was so high that it caused a logjam of callers to the point that the state had to publicize an additional phone number for people to call.
Don't let the recession hit you where it's going to hurt you in the long run. Eating healthy is what's going to keep you healthy and away from the doctor's office which in the end, could cost you more than buying those healthy foods.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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Basically it goes into the fact that due to the current global recession, people are cutting back on buying healthy foods. This unfortunately is where the food companies that produce the junk have an upper hand because they hold the products that are cheaper. But I have to say, it's really not that much cheaper. I'll admit though that I've done the same thing of sorts by pulling back on organic products and settling for the non-organic. But, at least I'm going from an organic apple to a non-organic apple, not an apple to Oreos.
But, the article also states that at least in the UK, the number of people seeking help in trying to stop smoking is significantly higher. I'm guessing that people are looking at their essentials and noticing how much they can save by cutting out the smokes. Which the timing of this article ran fairly close to this article in the Detroit Free Press that stated the state hotline for people to get help to quit smoking was so high that it caused a logjam of callers to the point that the state had to publicize an additional phone number for people to call.
Don't let the recession hit you where it's going to hurt you in the long run. Eating healthy is what's going to keep you healthy and away from the doctor's office which in the end, could cost you more than buying those healthy foods.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
Monday, March 23, 2009
Timeout From Fitness
I'm taking a timeout today from fitness because it's a very special day.
Today is my little girl's birthday.
Scarlett turns two today and she's just been my little bundle of joy (although at times a terror) since I got her. I don't think a day goes by where she doesn't put a smile on my face for something silly she does or a look that she gives me.
Happy Birthday girl and thanks for a great couple of years and for many more to come. You're my best buddy in the whole wide world.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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Today is my little girl's birthday.
Scarlett turns two today and she's just been my little bundle of joy (although at times a terror) since I got her. I don't think a day goes by where she doesn't put a smile on my face for something silly she does or a look that she gives me.
Happy Birthday girl and thanks for a great couple of years and for many more to come. You're my best buddy in the whole wide world.
www.leanbodyfitness.com
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