18
Apr 2013

Weight Loss Vs Fat Loss – What’s The Deal?

April 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Woman with weight and salad

So in my last post I announced that my newest health and fitness goal is to eat clean and get lean with a focus on tightening up my eating (more specifically, getting even cleaner in my food choices), strengthening my body and losing fat.

*record scratch*

Losing fat? Didn’t you JUST tell us that you decided to stop losing weight? What kind of hypocrite are you anyway?!

Before you scratch your head off in confusion, let me explain that yes, indeed, there is a difference between weight loss and fat loss.

Weight Loss

Weight loss, simply put, is anything that causes the weight on the scale to drop in number. Usually this is done through a drastic reduction in net calories (you’re burning more than you’re taking in) and is the most popular form of weight loss. But you can also lose weight by, I don’t know, cutting your head off – that’ll show up on the scale, right? Weight loss does little more than make the ticker on the scale go down and it worked well for me for years. The downside of weight loss is that the weight tends to also be lost in your muscle. If all you’re doing is eating a lot less and doing lots of cardio, the weight loss comes from anywhere it can find. This is why we can lose 50lbs and still look ridiculously flabby – we’ve lost our muscle! Between the loss of water and lean muscle mass, as much as 75% of your weight loss may NOT be from fat! YIKES! You also can’t become healthy with just from focusing on weight loss alone. Just because you’re losing weight doesn’t mean you’re eating healthy – it just means you’re burning a lot of calories. We’ve already seen that we can lose weight from eating Twinkies and this is why – if you eat 1,200 calories worth of Twinkies per day, you’re still going to lose weight because your body needs a lot more calories than that. Make sense?

Fat Loss

If your goal is to get lean, tone up and get tight – in other words, get fit – you want to focus on fat loss and to do that, you need to approach it differently than with weight loss. Fat loss is based on cutting back on calories (just a bit – not drastically as in weight loss), eating quality foods that are less likely to be converted to fat and incorporating exercises that increase the production of fat burning cells (mitochondria). Which exercises are more likely to create mitochondria? High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and strength training! And the really cool part of mitochondria is that they’re an active tissue – this means that they keep burning fat the more you feed it fatty acids. Why is this important? It’s important because it means that when you perform HIIT and engage in strength training and feed your body right with fatty acids, your body burns fat ALL DAY LONG! And when the fat starts coming off, the muscles you’ve been building with your strength training slowly start to appear from under the fat and VOILA! You’ve got yourself a rockin’ bod that you only ever thought was possible with air-brushing!

The downside to fat loss, and why most people who want to shed some pounds don’t go for it is because it’s not as quick or convenient as traditional weight loss. Because you’re building muscle (and a pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat), the scale tends not to dip and since most people only use the scale as a means for success – they figure it’s not working and give up. Fat loss requires you to ditch the scale and focus more on things like body fat percentage, measurements, how your clothes feel and how YOU feel instead of a number on a piece of equipment. This is why the transition from weight loss to fat loss is as much of a mental and behavioural shift than anything else. You have to switch from a weight loss mindset to learning how to fuel and manage your body so you can achieve your goals.

I hope that shed a little light on the difference between the two and maybe it’s even helped you to understand why you may or may not be achieving your health and fitness goals. You really need to eat and train for your specific goals as there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach!

Resources:

http://www.functional-fitness-facts.com/weight-loss-vs-fat-loss.html

http://www.metaboliceffect.com/weight-loss-vs-fat-loss/

http://www.coachcalorie.com/weight-loss-vs-fat-loss/

 

Image courtesy of marin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Filed Under: Fitness, Latest Post, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , ,
16
Apr 2013

Operation: I ROCK!

April 16, 2013 By 2 Comments

fitness-goals

2013 seems to be the year of subtle improvements. Now that I’ve decided not to worry about weight loss so much I seem to be thinking a lot about how I can be my healthiest and fittest self. This means I’ve been looking more closely at what I’m eating and what my fitness goals are for now, during pregnancy, and afterwards. This means I’m switching things up a bit and since I want to make sure you’re all up to date and following along I’m gonna let you in on it!

The goal at this point in my health and fitness is:

Eat clean and get lean!

This girl wants to get some muscle! I started to get into strength training a little later in my journey than I’d like, ideally you really want to start right away with a combo of cardio and strength training as muscle burns more calories at rest AND it tones and leans you up so you’re not lookin’ flabby! Especially if you have a LOT of weight to lose! But coulda, woulda, shoulda, I started late and I’m having to deal with it! But I’ve been workin’ on these muscles for the last year and I’m realizing that I kinda like ‘em!

The problem is that you won’t SEE the awesome guns I’ve acquired right now ’cause there’s a bit of flab covering them so I’m tightening up my diet so I can get the fat off.

In the end, I want to see what else I’m capable of. I know I’m capable of losing heaps of weight, turning my life around, changing my diet, taking risks and lots of other things – now I want to create a body that reflects my passion for health and fitness.

This isn’t going to happen overnight, folks! This is going to take time, dedication and focus (and let’s not forget a hopeful pregnancy) but I’m excited to bring you all along for the ride!

My first step in Operation: I ROCK! is to get a hold on a nasty eating habit – consuming too much sugar. Although I eat fairly clean as is, my daily sugar intake tends to be about double of what it should be thanks to all the fruit I like to eat so today is Day 2 of getting my sugar under control. As far as health issues are concerned, that’s ALL I’m working with now. Once I get my sugar dealt with, then I’ll look at anything else I need to work on. Baby steps.

My second step is deciding on a fitness program to help me get the fat off and tone up. In this regard I’ve decided to go back and do the TurboFire/ChaLEAN Extreme Hybrid program again. I did this last spring with great results but didn’t take it too seriously, now I’m going to take it much more seriously and up my weights! This starts on April 22nd!

Finally – this time I’m working on my goal with my coach to keep me accountable and give me pointers along the way. I had to go it alone for my weight loss but to finish it up and get me to my ultimate goal and beyond, there’s no way I can do it by myself! The support of my coach, friends, YOU and loved ones is going to be vital for me to stay on track and keep me going (especially when I have a wee one around).

I promise to let you in on everything that’s going on, the ups and downs, the struggles and the triumphs and what I’ve learned along the way because I want you to know what’s possible when you put your mind to a goal!

I hope you’ll join me and, if you want to do this with me, I’d love to have you along as a partner! Contact me and we’ll chat!

Filed Under: Fitness, Goal Setting, Latest Post, Motivation, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,
09
Apr 2013

5 Ways To Get The Most Out Of Your At-Home Workout Program

April 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

turbofire1

If you know me at all, you know I love me some workout DVD’s (see here, here, oh and here)! Because I work from home the gym is not convenient (too easy for me to make excuses due to weather, lack of car, etc.) and although I love getting outdoors for exercise, workout DVDs are the PERFECT no-excuses way for me to work out. Not to mention it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to set up an at-home gym than it is to pay gym memberships (although I love group classes).

The downside to working out at home is that  you don’t get the added benefit of having a trainer in the room to let you know if your form is good or the social system that gets you to push yourself to work out harder.

Now, I’m not a fitness-expert (yet… ) but I am an at-home workout expert so here are my biggest tips on making sure you get the most out of your at-home workout program!

  1. Focus on your form! Because you don’t have a trainer to tell you that your form is off, you need to become an expert yourself. Bad form will not only increase the chance of getting injured but it’ll also make the moves you’re doing ineffective (and really, do you want to be doing planks for no reason whatsoever? I didn’t think so… ). How can you do this without a trainer? Several ways actually! You can: use a giant mirror to watch yourself while you work out (or use a window if you work out at night), videotape/Skype yourself and play it back later or get a trusted friend or spouse to watch you and ask them to keep your form in mind.
  2. Pay attention to your body! The last thing you want to do is injure yourself but you also don’t want to cheat yourself! There’s a fine line between not doing enough and doing too much when it comes to working out. Just because your brain is tired that doesn’t mean your body is so tell yourself you’re not tired and keep going! The majority of the time you can keep going but we stop because you think you can’t go on but you can! Take as many breaks as you want but don’t stop unless something hurts, something twinges or your form fails. Trust me, you CAN do it!
  3. Stay consistent. This may be the hardest part. If you don’t have a coach or a trusted partner to go to, keeping yourself accountable can be tricky. To keep yourself accountable, schedule your workouts in your calendar and tell yourself and everyone around you that your workout time is non-negotiable. You’re not to be disturbed unless there’s a super emergency (i.e., death or trip to the emerg) and set up a rewards system. I use fancy shower gels on a weekly basis – if I get through a week of workouts without skipping I get to use my fancy gel on Saturdays! Do whatever works for you! Screw staying motivated and focus on consistency instead!
  4. Challenge yourself! With no one watching it’s easy to cut yourself a lot of slack so pretend the trainer is in the room with you or has a camera aimed at you! Even if you can’t work out as hard as they do in the video (or even DO what they do in the video), challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone and do what you can. If you can’t do push-ups on your toes, do them on your knees but every time you do those push-ups, try at least ONE on your toes and work your way up. Your body adapts easily to your workouts and if you don’t challenge yourself, you’ll stop seeing results!
  5. Switch ‘em up! Like I just said, your body adapts very quickly to your workouts so if you don’t switch things up every couple of weeks you’ll doin’ ‘em for nothing! If you’ve been doing the same workout for months, treat yourself to another one. Even if you’re not doing all the advanced moves, each program and trainer works to their own style. Switching up your programs and trainers will help you get better overall fitness, you’ll achieve your goals faster and it’ll keep you from getting bored!

Now that you’re armed with the info – get out there and get ‘er done!

Filed Under: Fitness, Latest Post, Tips, Weight Loss Tagged With: , ,
02
Apr 2013

The Big Decision

April 2, 2013 By 3 Comments

Woman holding scale & apple

Ever since Alan and I decided that 2013 would be the year that we wanted to start a family, I’ve had to re-asses my health goals. Although I’ve lost a hundred pounds, I’m not yet at my goal weight, I figure I have around 30 more pounds to go until I’m where I’d like to be. So the question remained: Do I continue to lose what I can until I get pregnant or do I put my weight loss on hold until after baby #1 comes along?

Originally I decided to act “as if” I wasn’t getting pregnant to see what how much I could lose and then when I got pregnant, I’d deal with it but within the last month or so I started to get uneasy over that. It seemed to conflict with my goal of wanting to get pregnant and so, after some soul-searching I decided, for the first time in six years, to stop losing weight. There’s no point in me losing all of that weight just to gain it back when I’m pregnant, I’m at a good weight where I won’t have to gain anymore so I might as well maintain and get ready for baby!

This has been WEIRD for me. I mean, it took me about five years to lose a hundred pounds and since last spring I’ve been working on the rest of it (which hasn’t been easy) so that’s five years of food tracking, habit formation, crazy calorie burns and the like. In fact, I don’t ever recall a time when I never felt like I “had” to lose weight. Now, for the first time, I’m giving myself permission to just hang where I am.

The funny thing is that when I sat down to figure out what changes needed to be made for me to maintain where I’m at, I realized that not much other than an increase in calories needs to change! This is because I’ve created a healthy lifestyle over these last six years and haven’t been dieting. I won’t stop journalling my food (I most likely will ALWAYS have to journal – oye, the joys of having a food problem), I won’t stop working out and I won’t stop eating well. The only thing that needs to change is that I’ll up my calories a bit (which I’m not complaining about)! The only focus now is making sure I’ve got all my vitamins and minerals, I’m taking my Folic Acid daily, working my body and generally being healthy so I can incubate my little alien and we’ll both be healthy and happy when the time comes.

It’s freeing, in a way, this decision. My whole life I’ve had my weight on my brain. Now I get to focus on something else – the health of me and future baby and when baby gets here I can kickstart my body again and focus on getting my body to where I want to be.

 

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Filed Under: Emotions, Family, Latest Post, Pregnancy, Self Care, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , ,
19
Mar 2013

5 Tips For Doing HIIT Workouts Safely

March 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

today is not that day

High Intensity Interval Training has been making huge waves in the fitness community and you’ve probably heard of it or at least know what it’s all about. It involves short bursts of crazy high intensity cardio followed by periods of rest. The reason why it’s making waves is for a few reasons:

  • It jacks up your metabolism so that you’re burning MORE calories for a longer period of time
  • It takes a lot less time to do than traditional cardio (anywhere from 15 – 30 minutes)
  • Increases bodily power, speed and endurance (do more stuff faster and stronger)

HIIT is pretty much the miracle you’ve been looking for! An effective workout that takes less time to do and gives you MORE results! HIIT, in my humble opinion, will change the face of fitness and already is!

But here’s the caveat: Although it’s an amazingly effective workout that will help you lose weight/get results in a shorter period of time it is VERY hard on your body and could cause injury if you’re not careful!

I’ve been doing HIIT in my workouts for about a year and a half now on a fairly consistent basis (about 3x per week) so although I don’t hold a fitness degree, I can speak from experience that if you want to do HIIT effectively and, most importantly, safely, you may want to take the following list seriously!

 

5 Tips For Doing HIIT Workouts Safely

  1. Have a decent base fitness before doing HIIT. If you haven’t worked out since gym class in high school, if your idea of exercising is running for the bus or if you’ve been off working out regularly for a year or so, please don’t start with HIIT right away. You want to make sure that you have about 6 months or more of regular fitness (at least 30 minutes of activity, 3 or more days per week) before you start adding HIIT into it. You just want your body to have adapted to some activity before you slam it with some HIIT!
  2. Go at your CURRENT ability. You may see people on infomercials or in your workout DVDs givin’ ‘er during HIIT but don’t try to compete with them and don’t think that you “should” do what they do. Thinking this way will only get you hurt and frustrated. If you can’t jump up off the floor, don’t do it! You can still get a killer low-impact HIIT workout, it’s just all about the intensity you put into each movement. If you can’t do push-ups on your toes right now, do them on your knees and work up. Don’t be a hero. When it comes to HIIT, the only person you’re competing with is yourself so focus on that and not the chick with the 6-pack ripping out a bajillion power jumps!
  3. Warm up and cool down properly. Seeing as you’re doing a shorter workout than usual you should have no problems with getting in a good warm up and cool down. HIIT can be hard on the body so you want to warm up for a good 5 minutes or more with some cardio (light jogging, jumping jacks, etc.) before you start so you can warm up the body and get it ready for the workout. Giving yourself a good cool down again with about 5 minutes of light cardio and stretching will help your heart rate come back to normal and stretch out those muscles!
  4. Ease into your HIITs! So you say you’ve been active regularly for 6 months or more. Good for you! But that doesn’t mean you’ve got the ability to jump into a 30 minute HIIT workout! HIIT is a horse of another colour in the fitness world – treat your body with the respect it deserves and ease into them. Start with 10 – 15 minutes and do only about 20 – 30 seconds followed by about 60 – 120 seconds of rest (and don’t forget your warm-up and cool down!). Ease your way into longer intervals (anywhere from 45 – 60 seconds) for longer periods of time. You must allow your body to adapt to the intensity you’re asking of it and if it’s not ready, it’ll let you know through injury or exhaustion.
  5. Don’t do HIIT on back-to-back days. As much as you’re going to feel like a million bucks after you finish up your HIIT workouts and will want to do them every day, don’t. Your body needs to recover from the intensity and that recovery time needs about 48hrs, if you don’t, your body will exhaust itself quickly which could lead to injury or fatigue. Follow up your HIIT workouts with some regular cardio or strength training (I prefer to tack on strength workouts to my HIIT days as they’re so short).

So there ya go! A few tips to make sure you rock out your HIIT workouts like it’s no one’s bidness! HIIT workouts kill me but they’ve worked wonders for my speed, power, agility, weight loss and endurance. If you’re serious about getting results, HIIT workouts are the magic pill you’ve been looking for!

Filed Under: Fitness, Latest Post, Tips, Weight Loss Tagged With: , , , ,
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