Archive for diet
Exercise Training: Only a fool doesn’t change
Posted by: | Comments
What’s up people? I happened to be watching a movie called Hurricane Season a few weekends ago. If you haven’t seen the movie, its a true story based on a basketball coach who coaches his team to the state championship after enduring Hurricane Katrina. I guess that doesn’t sound to amazing, but he does this after almost all of his players leave to go to other schools after the devistation of Katrina. How bad was the devistation of Katrina? It was very bad, and at one point this coach doesn’t even have a gym to practice in with the players. It is a very good story and I encourage you to watch it.
In the movie, Forrest Whitaker “plays” the coach of the basketball team. He manages to get enough players to have a team and a season. The players for the most part are new to one another and have to learn to play together as a “team”. There is one player who doesn’t want to play as a team but would rather play as an individual. He doesn’t want to pass the ball and thinks he has to score all the time. The guy is very selfish. At one point the head coach played by Forrest Whitaker goes to the boy’s house and is having a conversation with him and says, “ only a fool doesn’t change ”. This line really stuck with me and it made sense. Does it make sense to you?
I love fitness but I realize everyone doesn’t share the same love I have for it and that’s fine. But.. if I told you I had the cure for diseases and premature aging, would you believe me? I don’t think you would especially if I wasn’t on TV talking about some pill, right? I can tell you I do have a cure for what I mentioned above but its not in pill form, its in the form of diet and exercise. Yup… that’s the truth, but you have to make some changes to enjoy the benefits which most people aren’t willing to do, but like the movie said, “only a fool doesn’t change”. Until next time…see you on the lean side.
Quick… Hurry… Fast
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s the secret to fat loss… burn more calories than you consume and add in some resistance training. It is just that simple. I am about to make it even more simple for you to lose fat. Have you ever heard of the term fasting? Nah… it doesn’t mean running around in a hurry all day. It means giving up food for periods at a time. You probably have heard of it in a religious sense, as many religions advocate fasting for cleansing the body and gaining spiritual clarity. Intermittent fasting can also help you with your fat loss goals and it can make it very easy. I have been using a program that incorporates fasting and have been enjoying some amazing results!
Brad Pilon pioneers a program called Eat Stop Eat and has helped many people reach their fat loss goals. I picked up a copy of Brad’s book out of curiosity and was amazed at what I found in it. In the book, Brad strikes down the myth that you will lose muscle if you don’t eat and your metabolism will slow down. On the contrary, the opposite is true. When you resistance train, your body goes through various changes but the biggest one is it starts to secrete growth hormone. Guess what your body does, when you fast? Yup…. it secretes growth hormone. In addition to this, because your body doesn’t have the constant influx of food it will then begin to burn fat as fuel! This makes it easier for you to lose the unwanted body fat you have been storing in various places.
I bet I know what is going through your mind right now. You are thinking, “ there is no way, I can give up food”. I thought the same thing when I started out. In this program, you only have to give up food for two non concurrent days. What does this mean? You might fast from 1:00 pm on Monday until Tuesday at 1:00 pm then you can eat a sensible healthy meal. You are not finished yet! You’ll need to pick one more day you want to fast in the same week.. since we picked Monday let’s do friday at 1:00 pm to Saturday at 1:00 pm. You are now finished for the week. What did this do? By doing this, you have just created a caloric deficit which is what you need to lose fat. It was just that simple. Oh, I forgot to tell you, you can drink water. I would advise you to drink plenty of it on the program. I can tell you this program works and I don’t endorse anything I don’t use myself. I have experienced my goal of losing fat but here are some additional benefits I have experienced with this program:
- Ability to get more done - did you know most of our time is spent thinking about what to eat, where we are going to eat, and what we are going to cook? For two days out of the week I don’t have to worry about doing this! I can concentrate on the task at hand and enjoy more free time
- Clarity - I am able to think more clearly
- Convenience – I don’t have to worry about packing lunch, making breakfast, or dinner.
Check out the Eat Stop Eat program details down below. There is some startling information in this report! See you on the lean side… with Eat Stop Eat.
Eat Stop Eat
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Nutrition and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist
Stop craving Sugar
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t know about you but every now and then I crave something sweet. I also know sometimes its good to give into your cravings especially if its something you want to enjoy on your “cheat” day. Yeah… its good to enjoy those sweets every now and then but if you are enjoying them all the time, I can bet you won’t lose any fat. So what can you do about it? Take a look at this video and it will help you curb the sugar cravings so you can lose fat. See you on the lean side!
Darren McDuffie
Certified Fitness Testing Specialist
Certified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Nutrition Education and Weight Management Specialist
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
When Sweet goes bad
Posted by: | CommentsHey… its Superbowl Sunday!!!!! I know most of you will be sharing this day with friends and family, and consuming lots of food and drinks! If you remember, I discussed consuming sodas in a post a couple of months ago. You can read that here. In that article, I made a comment regarding diet sodas and how people think they are better than regular sodas. This is a myth! Diet sodas and even nutritional supplements contain a artificial sweetner call Aspartame. Aspartame has been linked to brain tumors and other ailments. Have a look at this documentary done by a woman who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after years of aspartame consumption. If you are a consumer of diet sodas, please consider not drinking them anymore. See you on the lean side… and enjoy the Super Bowl.
Darren McDuffie
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Certified Fitness Testing SpecialistCertified Exercise Foundations Specialist
Certified Nutrition Education and Weight Management Special
Do you unravel when you travel?
Posted by: | CommentsI am traveling this week! A few thoughts came to mind so I wanted to ask, “what do you do when you are traveling”? What do you do when you are thrown into an environment and its not what you are use to? Do you adapt or do you just let yourself sink and give up on your healthy eating habits and exercise?
In the past when I traveled on business, I was at my own mercy. I would fall prey to all the meeting snacks they put out during break which would include pastries, cookies, and even ice cream. I”m not sure what it is about meetings but the thought of sitting there listening to one person for an extended period of time made me sleepy. In order to combat the sleepiness, I would eat just to try and stay awake. That was the wrong thing me for me to do! It gave me a sugar rush and it would temporarily keep me awake, but within a few minutes I would have to fight to stay awake even more due to the sudden rush of insulin. Once the meeting was over, I would run to my room feeling exhausted even though I didn’t exercise. Why wasn’t I exercising? It was probably because I thought I needed a gym at that time. I had fooled around in hotel gyms before and alot of them were ill equipped . What do I mean? They usually had one raggedy treadmill, no dumbells, and very few had any cardio equipment. So… what to do, what to do? I would usually go back up to my room kick up my feet and watch TV. Is that what you do now?
I think most of us give up when we are traveling because its easy to do. Its easy to eat all the bad food and skip working out because you are traveling isn’t it? What if you made the sacrifice to continue your exercise and eat healthy foods? Here’s what I did to make sure I didn’t skip my exercise routine and make sure I ate properly. I brought along my bodylastics resistance bands. I can attach those to my hotel room door for back exercises and also use them for a variety of other exercises. In addition, I packed some trail mix consisting of almonds, raisins, cranberries, and pistachio nuts. I ate that for a snack in between my regular meals. I bypassed the pastries in the morning, skipped the afternoon cookies, and told the ice cream goodbye with the evening meal. It made it easier that I prepared in advance and didn’t fall prey to self sabotage. Are you falling prey to self sabotage? See you on the lean side!
