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Can I Really Eat Anything I Want?

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Over the last week or two I have had a few members asking about diets, what foods to eat or avoid and how to deal with cravings of certain “bad” foods they enjoy. It’s actually a question we get a lot so let’s tackle it here.

First, on the topic of diets, I would say there really isn’t a specific “diet” that we would recommend. What we recommend is learning how to eat properly, what a real portion size is and how much you should be eating in terms of calories depending on your specific situation and goals. There is a really good book about this called “Eat Smart, Eat Often, Eat Small” that you can download free right above this article. Ask yourself, “is the way I am eating sustainable and can I see myself doing this for the rest of my life?” This is where typical “diets” fall short. They are usually a short-term solution. They work, no doubt about that, but for most of us are not sustainable for the long term and therefore not a real solution.

Is there a way of eating that still allows you to eat what you want?

To this I would say yes! The catch is that it can’t be whenever you want. If you are eating well 80% of the time, there is nothing wrong with indulging in some of your favourite foods that might be a less than optimal once in a while. A couple tips on this:

  • When you do indulge, be mindful of how much you are eating. 2 slices of pizza will not stop your progress but 6 might. And you won’t feel good either.
  • Think ahead and include the calories from this less than optimal choice in your regular meal time and into your overall calories for the day.
  • Don’t feel guilty. Eat it and move on, picking right back up again on your normal healthy eating choices.

The key is moderation in dealing with eating foods that are of the “bad” choice column. Remember the 80/20 rule. If you are eating well the majority of the time, one indulgence here or there won’t make a difference, because remember, you will be eating this way for the rest of your life! Over the long term you will be healthier, and feel and look amazing.

Another big tip is to keep your metabolism high by making strength training a regular part of your routine as well. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you burn throughout the day.

So yes, you can eat whatever you want, as long as it is not whenever you want and it’s in moderation. It’s the key to long term success and happiness! For a more complete picture make sure you download the SOS Book!

Making Exercise Work

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Let’s get clear on something. Getting and staying in good shape and in good health is work. The concept is simple, exercise a few days a week, eat better, move more, but make no mistake it is not easy.

Results are not immediate and that can really test us on our journey to better health and fitness. You can’t do a workout, wake up the next day and look in the mirror and see change. Like anything worth while, you have to stay at it, work at it over a long period of time and then once you achieve your goal, you still have to continue to work at it to maintain your achievement or you risk losing it and wasting all of that time and effort to get there.

To make this exercise thing work for you it has to become part of your lifestyle. The trick is to fit it in to your life but not have it take over your life where it becomes a burden. Here are a couple tips to help you achieve this.

Plan Ahead. If you treat exercise as something that is a nice to do when you have time you will never have time to do it. You have to plan ahead and schedule time for your workouts like any other appointment you have that you wouldn’t miss. Figure out what a realistic schedule is for you to stick to and schedule it. We recommend 3 days a week but if you can only fit in 2, that is ok too. Consistency is the key so whatever amount works for you. Remember that this is a lifestyle, not a quick fix. Working out 2 days a week for the rest of your life is much better for you and will give you much better long-term results then working out everyday for 2 weeks and then quitting because it is too much.

Keep it Short. Don’t Over Commit. This is in regards to your workout time. In and out in an hour or less should be the goal. You can do everything you need to do in that amount of time. You could even get a good workout in in 30 minutes if that is all you have. The point is to not make your workouts take up too much of your day, otherwise it becomes a burden on your schedule and you will skip it.

Whatever your goal is, whether it is weight loss, strength gain, better quality of life, the results don’t happen in a moment, they come over time. The longer you stay at it, the better the results. The members that we have seen have the most success seen it come over years, with some ups and downs along the way, but they were consistently staying at it and still are today. Nobody loses 80lbs in a month, or fixes joint pain from a couple of workouts. It does take time, but if you plan ahead and keep it short, it doesn’t have to take up too much precious time and you will be far better able to enjoy more time actively doing the things you want to, for as long as you want to, because you invested a few hours a week into yourself!  

Are We Making Things Too Complicated?

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Over the weekend I attended the Can Fit Pro 2019 Conference in Toronto. Here are a few of the takeaways:

  • Over 70% of our population is considered overweight or obese
  • 19% of the population has a gym membership
  • The average person consumes about 66lbs of added sugar per year
  • Sugar sweetened beverages are the main culprit when it comes to added sugar consumption, making up 47% of sugar intake. Next is sweets and snacks at 31% of sugar intake.
  • People who consume 2 or more sugar sweetened beverages per day have a 31% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease and each additional sugar sweetened beverage increased risk another 10%

None of these statistics is really that surprising. We all know that as a population our health is declining and just by looking at this data we can attribute it to not being active enough and consuming too much sugar.

Look at how much of an impact just switching out sugar sweetened beverages for water can have on your health. For the average person that would cut sugar consumption in half!

Another observation I had while walking around the expo was that it seemed to me like everything new coming out in fitness is mostly made towards the already fit. For someone who was new to fitness, most of these gadgets are completely intimidating. It was intimidating for me and I have been around fitness my whole life! Maybe 80% of the population doesn’t exercise regularly because we have scared them off making health and fitness seem complicated with all of these machines, gadgets and electronics.

Let’s keep it simple.

  1. Get your heart rate up with some movement daily. Go for a walk, bike ride or some chores around the house. Make it a goal to move more then you sit.
  2. Eat well. Eat real food that is not processed as much as possible and keep portion sizes in check.
  3. Lift heavy weights 2 or 3 days a week.

Do those 3 things consistently and you have all the tools you need to be healthy.

No need to make it complicated!

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

What is the Best Diet?

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With so many different diets out there these days, how can you choose which one is best? They all claim to work. Should you do Paleo, Keto, Weight Watchers, high fat, low fat, don’t eat carbs, eat carbs, vegetarian, vegan and the list goes on and on.

What if I told you that the diet doesn’t matter, they all work?

It’s true!

When it comes to weight loss, the diet itself really doesn’t matter but there are 2 very important factors that do.

One is energy balance. If you are after weight loss you must be expending more energy then you are consuming each day. Most diets are a form of calorie reduction, which is why they mostly all work. Typically, when we eat mindlessly and don’t pay attention to portion sizes or food quality, we over eat. And when you over eat, you gain weight. So just paying more attention to what you are eating and how much you are eating will have a positive impact on weight loss. You have to eat the right amount of food for weight loss to occur. Not too much, not too little.

The second and most important factor in choosing a diet is long term adherence. This is where most of the diets fail. If you love to eat pasta and you choose a diet that is low carb or keto and you can never eat pasta again, how long do you think you will stick with it? Diets that severely restrict or completely cut out food groups are not recommended. They are too hard to stick to.

Here is an example. Keto works well in the beginning for a lot of people. Keto is high fat and fat is very satiating and energy dense so it keeps you feeling full longer and therefore you will naturally eat less calories. That takes care of the energy balance factor. But if you are someone who loves carbs and all you can think about is when you can eat carbs again, how successful do you think you will be on keto? Not saying it doesn’t work for some people, it certainly does, but when you factor in long term adherence, keto may not be right for you. You may lose 15 or 20lbs in the first couple months but what good was it if 2 months after that you couldn’t stick with it anymore, you fell off the wagon and went back on all the stuff you restricted yourself from hard, and gained the weight back. If you just look at the first 2 months, that diet worked great but if you consider the whole picture, you essentially wasted 2 months and are now even more frustrated with yourself. It didn’t work.

True lasting weight loss occurs over time. Finding ways to stay the course and be consistent is the key. You are looking for something you can live with for the rest of your life. A good diet really isn’t a diet at all. It’s just about eating smarter. Learning what a proper portion size is, choosing good foods most of the time but not restricting yourself from eating the things you love once in a while and being mindful of when and what you are eating.

Slow and steady wins the race!

Fasted vs. Fed Cardio for Weight Loss

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I have been asked this question quite a lot over the years, if doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach is better for weight loss.

As with most questions the answer I always give is “it depends”.

You do burn more energy from fat in a fasted state, so in theory yes, doing cardio fasted would use more calories from fat then had you ate something before your workout.

You have to also remember that weight loss occurs over time, not in a single workout. It happens from consistently repeating good habits like eating good foods in the right amounts and exercising regularly.

Exercising fasted gives a slight edge to you but it is by no means a solution for quick weight loss. You still have to follow the fundamentals.

Another interesting fact I learned a couple years ago listening to one of my favourite speakers, Dr. Len Kravitz, at a conference talk about this topic was that in his research he found that although a person exercising in a fasted state did burn slightly more calories from fat during the workout, the person who ate a small snack before exercise burned more fat throughout the entire day compared to the person fasted because eating kickstarted their metabolism sooner. He recommended eating a small snack before your morning workout.

For me there is no benefit, one over the other, it’s whatever you feel better doing. Some of us feel great working out fasted and other don’t. So, choose what allows you to have the best workout you can, whether that is fasted or fed.

If you choose to eat something, it shouldn’t be a big meal and it shouldn’t be consumed immediately before exercise. Try to eat 30-60 minutes before, and keep it small.

We Can All Only Agree On One Thing and One Thing Only

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So I was sitting in my living room flipping through the channels on my TV once again, trying to convince myself that I should just get rid of the TV altogether. I think its coming. But lo and behold, I came across a community channel that hosts lecturers and researchers and the like, as educational programming to persuade the viewers to donate to the channel, similar to the PBS channel.

It just so happened that the speaker was a famous cardiologist turned researcher and advocate of health. He apparently went from doing heart surgery to teaching people how to avoid heart surgery. Nothing like putting yourself out of business!

That’s what prompted me to watch. Not only did I watch, but I bought his book, The Longevity Paradox.

Although I haven’t finished reading his book in its entirety, I’m writing this article based on what I learned from his presentation on the “boob tube”.

His entire talk was about nutrition. What we should eat and why and what we shouldn’t eat and why. I’ll be honest, there were several of his findings that not only did I not agree with, but findings that can be easily contradicted by other research. That’s the thing about research, its findings and discoveries largely contradict each other, so I try to take it all in with an open mind and evaluate it for myself using good old fashion common sense.

Anyway, despite some of the contradictions that I’ve learned about in the past, most of what he presented was extremely enlightening and worthy of consideration. So as not to get too much into the meat and potatoes of his presentation, I’ll just get into why I chose to tell you about it here.

As mentioned in the title of this article, I watched and waited for something that we could all agree on and is today accepted by all, not some, but all health professionals and researchers as the one thing that we should all do regularly to promote good health and longevity. I sat there for almost an hour, and nothing. What to eat, what not to eat and why for almost an hour. The program was almost over, the last set of commercials was over and he had but a few more minutes before the end of the program, and then, there it came: the one thing that was undisputed in my mind and in every other researcher’s mind in regards to health and longevity.

He went on to say, “there is one more thing that I haven’t touched on today that if you don’t want to change what you eat or are finding it difficult to change your eating habits, there is one thing that we can all do to promote better health and a longer life, and a lot of you won’t like what I’m about to suggest, but it’s…………..wait for it…………..wait for it……. It’s EXERCISE!

Enough said. See you at the gym.

Happy New Year!

Gino

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!

What NOT To Do

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Rather than start the New Year off with the typical advice a personal trainer would give to his or her clients or what you would normally hear on the news in regards to what you should do or try to do to improve your physical fitness and well being in this New Year, I’m going to do the opposite, just because I hate doing what everyone else does.

Here goes. And by the way, these “DO NOTS” are scientifically proven, well researched and come from very credible and reliable sources.
So, DO NOT…

  1. …over eat.
  2. …eat after 8pm.
  3. …eat burnt or blackened meat (men…..strongly linked to Prostate Cancer.)
  4. …eat animal fat (saturated fat) from conventionally raised animals.
  5. …sit on your ass all day.
  6. …microwave food in plastic containers.
  7. …microwave unless you have no other choice.
  8. …slouch when sitting.
  9. …smoke, (vaping included).
  10. …hold your cell phone to your head (use the speaker).
  11. …over train (work out too much, too often).
  12. …hold your breath while lifting weights.
  13. …deprive yourself out of a good nights’ sleep.
  14. …drink fluoridated water   
  15. …forget to control the negative when strength training
  16. …drink sodas
  17. …eat a lot of manufactured and processed foods                            and finally…don’t eat yellow snow.