My New Scales

This week my new Tanita scales came that I'd ordered.  My old version could give me total body weight readings (just like normal scales) and body fat %. However this version is state of the art and has 10 different features. 

In this week's blog I'm going to explain each one to give you an understanding of what each feature does and what it means to your health.

1. Total Body Weight:- This does what it says, the reading shows how much your body weighs which includes, body fat, skeleton and muscle.
2. Total Body Water %:- This reading checks that your body is fully hydrated or not.  The body is 70% water and so if it's dehydrated it can't perform at its best and you will feel more tried.
3. Visceral Fat Rating:- This is the amount of internal fat you store in the abdominal cavity and around your vital organs.  A person may look a healthy weight on the outside but this reading will show if they are storing too much body fat inside their body or not.  Ensuring you have healthy levels of visceral fat may help reduce the risk of developing certain diseases such as heart disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes.
4. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR):- This is the minimum level of energy your body needs at rest to function effectively including your respiratory and circulatory organs, neural system, liver, kidneys and other organs.  About 70% of your daily consumed calories is used for your basal metabolism.  Your BMR is greatly affected by the amount of muscle you have, therefore by increasing your muscle mass will help increase your BMR and in turn increase the amount of calories burned, resulting in a reduction of total body fat you have. 
5. Daily Calorie Intake (DCI):- This reading shows how many calories your body needs to function effectively and maintain current weight.
6. Metabolic Age:- This calculates your BMR and indicates the average age associated with that type of metabolism.  It you aren't looking after yourself this age will be much higher than your true age.  The good news is this age can be reversed through choosing a healthier life style.
7. Total Muscle Mass:- This shows how much muscle you have.  The more muscle your body has the more fat your body can burn at rest.
8. Bone Mass:- This reading shows how dense your bones are and if you are at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis.  
9. Body Mass Index (BMI):- This calculates your height and total body weight and tells you if you are underweight, normal weight, over weight, obese or morbidly obese.
10. Muscle Mass and Body Fat % on 5 different sections of the body:- Using this devise you can see where a person needs to lose more fat from or put muscle on.

So if you want to know what your metabolic age is, how much body fat you need to burn or how much muscle you have than why don't you contact me today for a FREE Wellness Evaluation.

Top Tips on getting Fit this Summer

Recently I came across this from Emily Skye's, an Australian fitness model who when she was a normal model felt under pressure to stay at an unstainable thinness and now is far happier having an athletic build that mixes strength with femininity.

A lot of what she says I totally agree with and in the past have passed on the very same information to my clients.  I thought it would be a good idea to share her tips below to help you be the fittest you can be this summer.

Here are her top health and fitness tips for summer:

FIB # 1: EATING CARBS AT NIGHT WILL MAKE YOU FAT
FACT: Many people believe that eating carbs at night is a real ‘no, no’. Eating carbs at night won't make you fat, nor will it stop you losing fat. It all comes down to what you eat and how much you eat each day.

FIB # 2: LONG, SLOW CARDIO SESSIONS ARE THE BEST FOR BURNING FAT
FACT: Contrary to popular belief, embarking on a long slow cardio session is not the best way to lose fat. High Intensity Interval Training and weights are the way to go. Weights and high intensity training for a shorter period of time is definitely the most effective way to burn fat. You’ll burn fat for up to 24 hours after you finish training compared to only around an hour or two after slow cardio.

FIB # 3: IF YOU WANT TO LOSE FAT THEN EAT LESS
FACT: When it comes to getting your fat percentage down, you don't necessarily need to eat less, sometimes you may even need to eat more! What you eat is so much more important than how much you eat. Giving your body a good balance of nutrients is far more important than the size of your meals.

FIB # 4: EATING FAT WILL MAKE YOU FAT
FACT: Fat will not make you fat - good fats give you energy, help rebuild cells and produce hormones. I avoid trans fats and some saturated fats (coconut oil is good). Also avoid low fat foods as they are usually choc-full of sugar and chemicals.

FIB # 5: WOMEN BULK UP IF THEY LIFT WEIGHTS
FACT: Weights shape and sculpt your body, whilst also burning fat and unless you’re taking some serious supplements, they will never make you look masculine or bulky. It takes a lot of deliberate effort with your training and diet to get even close to bulking up.

FIB # 6: YOU NEED TO CRUNCH YOUR WAY TO ROCK HARD ABS
FACT: You can do all the abdominal work you like, but if you don't eat clean and do full body exercises to remove the layer of fat covering your abs, then you’ll never achieve the desired definition.

FIB # 7: STRENGTH TRAINING IS DANGEROUS
FACT: Whether you’re strength training or doing cardio all exercises are dangerous if they’re not done correctly. As long as you learn proper technique strength training, it is completely safe and important to any fitness plan.

FIB # 8: THE SCALES TELL ALL
FACT: The scales only tell you how much your total weight is, not how lean you are so don't panic if you see a few extra pounds! So the best way to track progress is by how you look, how your clothes fit and by taking a measure of your total body fat.

FIB# 9: THE LONGER YOU SWEAT, THE BETTER YOU’LL GET
FACT: When it comes to exercise it’s all about quality, not quantity. Overtraining can actually cause your body stress which can cause it to store fat. Focusing on efficient workouts, good nutrition, adequate sleep and rest will give you the best shot at getting the best results.

FIB #10: YOU BURN MORE FAT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH
FACT: Fuelling your body a few hours before exercising with nutritious food will have a much greater impact on your fat burning potential as you have more energy to push through your workout. People who train on an empty stomach don't tend to train as vigorously and tend will most often binge after training

Tell Your Body-You're the Boss!

When you do any exercise at an intensity level that will gain benefits ie- at a moderate rate or higher you will get a little voice inside your head telling you to give up.

The easy thing to do is just give up and throw in the towel.  But remember to gain any benefits associated with exercise, such as reduced body fat, increased lean muscle, stamina and flexibility, reduced blood pressure, bad cholesterol and an increased muscular uptake of glucose, you will have to push the body a little to obtain the said benefits.

Remember the body is LAZY  it wants the easy life, it will complain when you start to do tasks it considers harder than usual.

Increased fitness is not developed in the comfort zone it has to be created in the non-comfort zone in order to force the body to become stronger and fitter.

Next time you're exercising and it starts to feel easier, this is when you need to start to pick it up, to force the body to become fitter.  As you step it up by increasing the intensity either by increasing the level, weight, time, speed, frequency or choosing a harder movement/exercise than you're used to the body will complain by giving you a burning sensation in the muscles being used, 'the burn.'

 See my previous blog on this subject for more details:- http://titanfreestyle.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/no-pain-no-gain.html

A little voice inside your head will start telling you to give up because it's too hard, it's hurting too much and the like. 

DON'T LISTEN! grit your teeth, knowing doing this you are getting stronger and are forcing your body to change on a cellular level by increasing your lung capacity to take up more oxygen, strip down muscle fibres in order to rebuild them stronger and better and stripping away body fat in order to burn energy.

You must be The Boss of your body not your body being The Boss.

In doing this not only will you be a stronger person in body but also in mind. 

Be The Boss over your own body and watch you archive all your fitness goals.  Let your body be The Boss and forever you will be disappointed and your fitness goals forever out of your reach.

Exercise done, now for a treat!

I was at Abs Cross Leisure Centre last Tuesday promoting Herbalife products and handing out free samples and nutritional advice to the local runners at the running club there.

That night they were running either a 3 or 5 mile run and at the end of the run they were offered from me a post run protein shake with all the right nutrients present and balanced to help the body recover quicker or from another table, slices of different types of cakes that were filled with high amounts of saturated fat and sugar with zero amounts of nutrients.

A lot of runners did take up my offer of a free protein shake I am pleased to announce but a hell of a lot walked right past my table and went straight for the cakes!

This got me thinking that probably a lot of people overestimate how many calories they've burned during an exercise session and underestimate how many calories are in certain foods such as cake.

For a more in-depth view on this please feel free to check out my previous blog on this subject:

http://titanfreestyle.blogspot.co.uk/2014_10_01_archive.html

If an 8 stone 9 lbs woman ran 3 miles at 6 miles per hour than she would burn about 300 calories in the 30 minutes it would take to cover this distance at that speed.  If she was heavier she would burn more calories.

After congratulating herself and believing she should have a reward, she heads straight for the cakes and gobbles up a Mr Kiplings Bakewell cherry tart (186 cals) and a slice of Victoria Sponge cake (53g/243 cals).

So after burning off 300 calories on the run she has just consumed in a space of mere moments a total of 429 calories, which leaves her with 129 calories extra.  This food will not fill her up and she'll go home and have her dinner on top of all those calories she's just eaten.

As you can see if you are looking to lose weight and make the wrong food choices after a work out you can easily derail your good intentions in next to no time. 

To put things into perspective a Herbalife Formula 1 meal replacement 250ml serving is around 220 calories or jacket potato with baked beans and salad is only 400 calories!

 What meals will keep you fuller for longer do you think?

In order to successfully lose weight you should be looking to have a daily deficit of 500 calories. This can be done by exercising (energy out) and eating less (energy in).  So if your snacks have more calories in them than your main meals and your daily food intake is higher than your energy out you will gain weight rather than lose it.

So next time you've done your exercise ensure you make the right snack and meal choices in order to stay on track to achieve your weight management goals.