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A Sneaky Reason We Gain Weight Over Time

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Whether you realize it or not, there are things that happen in our bodies without us knowing about it constantly. Some of it is good, some of it not so good. Today I wanted to touch on one of those things that is not so good, BUT we do have a certain amount of control over. That would be natural age-related muscle loss.

Up until we are somewhere in our 30’s, our bodies are growing muscle and getting stronger. After we get past this point it reverses and muscle begins to deteriorate and quickens as you get into your 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

This not only poses a problem because of the loss of strength and therefore your abilities to perform tasks as well as you used to, but also is a sneaky reason of why we tend to gain more weight as we age.

Muscle is metabolic tissue that requires energy to work. The more muscle you have the more energy you use up in a day. This is your metabolism at work.

As we age and we start to lose muscle, that also slows our metabolism, which means your not using as much energy as you used to going through the same daily routines. If you keep eating the same as usual, you start to gain weight. That is why it can seem like you haven’t changed anything but then all of a sudden over time you notice you are slowly gaining weight.

There is some good news though! There is a way to prevent and or slow this process down. Regular exercise, specifically strength training!

Strength training causes your body to adapt to the stress and make your muscles grow and become stronger keeping your metabolism higher. Instead of getting weaker, less independent and a slower metabolism as you age, you can get stronger, gain more independence, increase your metabolism and get or stay leaner! And you can begin at any age and still receive these benefits.

The current recommendations for strength training are only a minimum of 2 times per week so it’s a pretty low time investment for a very big return on your quality of life!

Strength training is our specialty here at G&M. If you have any questions at all about how to incorporate it into your routines, let us know, we are here to help!

MARIE HOCKLEY

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Marie was always active as a child and competed in synchronized swimming. During her training as a competitive swimmer she began weight lifting at 14 years old.

After competitive synchronized swimming, Marie began cycling and continued working out but that slowly started to change as she entered University and then again as she began teaching and became a Mom. She was now spending 3 hours a day commuting for work and just felt that she didn’t have the time to dedicate to a serious workout program.

Up until a little over a year ago Marie still exercised because she knew it was important, but wasn’t serious or consistent with it.

On her 49th birthday she received a dress as a gift from her sisters and also stepped on the scale that day and vowed to lose 50lbs by her 50th birthday.

One month later she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“Cancer treatment causes some people to lose weight, and others to gain it. The steroids that you have to take during chemo and the hormone therapy that I’m currently on put me at a high risk for weight gain. This paired with the physical fatigue and pain that you endure during treatments makes it hard to stay active. Being overweight increases the risk of breast cancer reoccurrence. Fat cells make estrogen; extra fat cells mean more estrogen in the body and this can make hormone receptor positive breast cancer like mine develop and grow.”

Exercise and getting strong became a priority. She made the gym part of her routine just like brushing her teeth.

Marie also changed her diet, first cutting out processed foods, sugar, diary and red meat as recommended by her Naturopath and now has recently went to a vegan diet.

Marie says that the gym gave her a feeling of control back while what she was going through left her feeling out of control a lot of times.

On her 50th birthday she had reached her goal. She had the same dress that she received for her 49th birthday from her sisters altered to fit her new physique.

“If you had asked me a year ago if my body could look like this, I would have never guessed it. My body composition is amazing.”

Marie’s biggest goal now is to stay strong.

“I remember when you first had me do push-ups and I did 3 and it was really hard. Now I can do 3 sets of 20.”

Marie’s advice to others is to start wherever you have to. For her while going through treatments that was bands and 3lb weights. She also says to strive for consistency not perfection.

“You can’t always have a perfect workout but just get here. Anything is better than nothing. Excuses are poison.”

Marie also believes that the atmosphere and encouragement from other members at G&M was really important to her progress.

“Nobody ever made me feel uncomfortable and were always encouraging. I would not have been able to have the same results working out on my own at home.”

“Beating cancer is a lifelong commitment for me. I am so grateful that I’ve had the help from Matt at G&M Fitness, my Naturopath, and the support and encouragement from my family and friends.”

Want to Live Longer?

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Recently I read an article from TIME Magazine with this exact title and it listed 5 habits that if adhered to, can add about 10 years to your lifespan. Here is a summary of what the article said in regards to the 5 habits and what research says about living your fullest, longest life.

Eat a Healthy Diet

Diet is strongly linked to longevity. The article explains that research shows the best diet is one that includes lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and healthy fats and does not include much sugar or processed food, naming the Mediterranean diet as the diet that fits this best. To keep it simple, just eat real food and control your portion sizes. Eat Smart, Eat Often and Eat Small. Have you heard that before?

Exercise Regularly

“Working out regularly is a boon for both your physical and mental health, boosting everything from cardiovascular fitness to mood and energy – so it’s no surprise that it can also extend your life” the article says.
Current activity guidelines recommend aiming for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week plus 2 weekly strength training sessions for best health and longevity benefits. It also says that even if you don’t exercise now, its not too late and that research shows that there are longevity benefits to both long term exercisers and later in life exercisers.

Maintain a Healthy Body Weight

If you follow the first two recommendations, this one will take care of itself. Being overweight is linked to many chronic conditions which all have the potential to shorten your lifespan. Eat well and exercise regularly. That is the secret sauce of weight management.

Drink in Moderation

More and more the research is coming out on alcohol consumption that is in support of limiting alcohol as much as possible. It used to say that moderate consumption was ok, healthy even. Now researchers are starting to sway in the opposite direction. Last year a meta-analysis of prior alcohol studies concluded that there is no safe amount of drinking, because the net risks outweigh any potential benefits.

No Smoking

Smoking is associated with serious health problems making it a serious threat to your life longevity. If you do smoke, experts recommend quitting as soon as possible to minimize any threats to your long-term health.

And there you have it, straight from the latest research. We do have a lot of control over increasing the odds of living a long, healthy life if we follow these 5 recommendations. None of this is new either, we have all heard this before and we have been helping people take back control of their health with these exact habits for over 33 years.

Warning! Don’t Let This Happen To You!

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Let’s face it. Summer is over whether we like it or not. Kids are back to school, teachers are back to work, summer vacations are over, and fall is coming fast. In regards to fitness, and why you should consider this a warning is that over the many, many years operating this club, we see the same trends each and every year. Here is the trend we see most during the fall season. It’s most people’s intent to start or re-start their regular exercise routine at the gym right after Labour Day.

1. “But it’s a Tuesday, I’ll get a bunch of things done this week and then start fresh on Monday.”

Monday comes and the work around the house is taking longer than expected, so…

2. “Let’s wait another week or so. I need it.”

Before you know it, it’s the beginning of October. Whoops!

3. “Hey, when’s Thanksgiving this year,” you ask yourself. “What the heck, no sense in starting back to the gym until after Thanksgiving because it will be all for nothing considering all that food I’m going to eat.”

Thanksgiving comes and goes and you regret every bite you took of that enormous meal.

4. “I feel like crap. Just as soon as I rake up all of these blasted leaves, I’ll get back to the gym.”

Finally, all of the leaves are taken care of, all of the outdoor furniture is stored away and we’re ready for winter.

5. “Sh*t, Christmas is four weeks away and I haven’t even thought about Christmas shopping! I’d better get started. I promise, I will get back to the gym first of the New Year.”

The New Year is pretty much the “do or die” for most, the “deadline.”

6. “My New Year’s Resolution is to get back to the gym!”………but it’s a Wednesday! I’ll start on Monday.”

This will happen if you let it. So don’t let it. Take control of your life and make the right decisions in regards to your health. We are waiting for you. My words of advice are these:

The best thing you could possibly do for yourself is start a regular exercise routine.

The second best thing you could possibly do for yourself is never stop.

Gino

Moneyball

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Hey, has anyone ever seen this movie? I watched it again, for the sixth or seventh time because I love it so much. Aside from the excellent acting of Brad Pitt, this movie, although it may come across as a baseball movie to most, I see it as an inspiration, or in my particular case a reminder of how true success develops over the years because of laser focus on the end result. It reminded me of me. I knew where I wanted to be at this stage in my life, and what I had to do to get there. So I just did it. Nose to the grindstone, and never looked up.

When I think back on all of the business decisions I have made on behalf of our business, all in the best interest of our business of course, I can tell you that a lot of times, those decisions did not fare well with some of our members. As they say, “you can’t please everybody.” This is absolutely true. Take it from me. So needless to say, there were a lot of distractions along the way.

Here’s a short version of some of those comments and distractions from customers over the years:

Soon after opening:

“How long do you anticipate being in business? Most other clubs are closing at the speed of sound”

“We’ve done the numbers and a club like this can’t survive in this city.”

Right after kicking a lady out of our club:

“Why do you take things so personally?”

Right after firing my very first employee:

“You’ll never make it without me.”

After investing several hundred thousand dollars in equipment:

“Is this all of the equipment you have?”

Trying to keep the overhead under control:

“It’s too hot in here.”

After 33 years in business in Port Colborne:

“I can go to Welland for $10.00 per month.”

After 12 years of doing group fitness and realizing it was a drain on the business:

“You cancelled all of your group classes! Are you crazy?”

After providing Childcare services during fitness classes at $2.00 per hour with a Certified staff member and actually watching people keep their children outside of the designated area to avoid having to pay the $2.00:

“Why don’t you have Childcare anymore?”

“You should do this, you should do that, why are you doing this, why are you doing that”…..and so on and so on and so on.

It was all just noise to me. Looking back, would I have made different decisions based on what I know now? No.

Anyway, back to this movie. In the movie, which is a true story by the way, the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics chose to build a baseball team using statistics. No one else was doing that. He was criticized to no end by just about every professional staff member on his Board but he persevered. He stayed true to his plan and regardless of how many times he was questioned, criticized, threatened, he stayed the course. He knew his business.

Well, guess what? We know our business, we know our industry, we know our market, we know when to spend money and when not to, we know what to spend money on and what not to spend money on. It took decades to learn all that from our mentors and our mistakes. We’re very good at what we do now, so you’ll just have to trust us, because at the end of the day, our decisions that are made in the best interest of our business are essentially made in your best interest because you are our business.

So calm down and keep training. I’ll take care of the rest.

Gino

What Makes A Diet Work? 4 Principles For Success!

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A couple weeks ago I wrote an article called “What is the best diet?”. It talked about how all diets work and that what was most important was choosing one that you personally will be able to stick to for the long term and make part of your lifestyle.

Continuing off that topic I now want to talk about some of the common denominators in these diets and realizing what they are so that you can apply them to your life no matter if you are on a diet or not.

How can it be that we know people lose weight from high fat, low carb diets such as the ketogenic diet, but yet we also know people who lose weight from low fat, high carb diets such as the vegan diet? Both of the diets will work for weight loss but yet they are completely different. So, what gives? How is this possible?

One reason that was already discussed in the previous article is that all diets are a form of calorie restriction, and eating less will cause weight loss. That is one of the biggest components to weight loss, portion control.

Another habit that diets tend to cause us to form is just eating cleaner, better quality foods. They almost all restrict highly processed, high sugar, low nutrient foods. No matter if you declare yourself on a diet or not this is a great habit to have when it comes to nutrition.

Also, while on a diet you are going to cook your own meals much more often, and to do that chances are you are taking some time to sit and plan meals ahead of time and maybe even cook some meals ahead of time so that you are not scrambling to find food when you are hungry. We know that leads to poor choices most of the time. It’s much easier to stay the course when you don’t have to think about the meals in the moment and all you have to do is just take out what you already cooked or cook what you already planned.

These are the small changes you can make do your eating no matter if you declare yourself on a diet or not. They are the real reason behind what makes a diet work.

  1. Portion control
  2. Clean eating. Choose good quality foods
  3. Cook your own meals as much as possible
  4. Plan meals ahead of time

That is why when we recommend members read Gino’s book, we say that it is not a diet, it is just the way you should be eating as part of your lifestyle. Eat Smart, Eat Often, Eat Small. You can get the book free by clicking here. There is no magic diet, never has been, never will be. Just apply these principles and you will have success!

4 Keys To Achieving Optimal Wellness in 2020

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If you are looking to become the best version of yourself this year, try implementing as many of these key principles into your daily and weekly routines as you can. Start with one of them, schedule it as part of your regular routine, get consistent with it and then add another. Don’t overwhelm yourself adding all of them at once and understand that adding even just one of these ideas into your regular routine will have a positive impact on your health and well being.

There are no magic potions here, but these are all simple ideas that most of us know we should be doing, it’s just a matter of doing them and doing them consistently.

Here we go:

  • Move More, Sit Less

It’s no secret that replacing sitting time with more movement time will have positive results to our health. Again, we just have to do it. Try to set a goal of sitting for less then 3 hours a day, and when you are sitting at work to get up at least once every hour to walk around and move to break up the sitting time.

You can also track your steps and try to hit a daily goal of 10,000 steps to ensure you are moving enough.

  • Get Regular Exercise

Try for 3-5 cardio sessions a week which can be any activity that maintains an elevated heart rate for at least 20 minutes. Walking, biking, the gym, skating. Pick something you enjoy.

Strength train 2-3 times per week. Keeping your muscles strong is one of the most important things you can do for long term health, independence and confidence. Make sure you are getting all major muscle groups.

Stretch daily if you can. Keeping good range of motion helps you move better and stay injury free.

  • Rest

The body adapts and recovers while you rest, not while you work so make sure you are getting enough rest. Try to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night, schedule regular rest days and even take a vacation once in a while to get away from the day to day stresses and focus on relaxing and resting.

  • Eat Well

Eat mostly minimally processed food, preferably real, whole foods. Eat lots of vegetables, get enough protein and limit your sugar intake. Make sure you control your portion sizes and eat regularly to maintain good energy levels throughout the day. (Eat Smart, Eat Often, Eat Small!)

That’s it. Start implementing these principles into your regular routine and reap the rewards in 2020!