Category: Results

COUCH SURFING. CALORIE BURNING.

9/23/2013

No, unfortunately this isn't some exercise program where you can get ripped sitting on the couch. Today, I'm going to touch on Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The most basic explanation for BMR is this. If you never left the couch like our friend above, no matter what, your body is going to burn calories. How many calories that is exactly depends on a lot of factors. Just know that if you spent the whole day watching television today or squatting 300 pounds in the gym, your body is going to burn something. Everything you do burns calories. Breathing, blood circulation, digesting food. You name it.

Calculations for getting this number vary wildly depending upon the person. For example, a 30 year-old, 6 foot man who weighs 180 pound is going to burn in the neighborhood of 1900 calories a day no matter what. A 30 year-old, 5-foot-6 woman who weighs 130 pounds is going to burn an average 1400 calories a day, give or take. How is this number determined, you ask? There are a number of different equations to calculate BMR, but I generally use the Harris Benedict Equation. This is how the Harris Benedict Equation works:

Women: BMR= 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
Men: BMR= 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

I'm aware that's an awful lot of math, but you can always go HERE and get the number for yourself without having to break out the calculator.

Is this number 100% accurate? Yes and no. The only thing this formula really doesn't take into account is lean body mass (muscle) vs. total body mass (fat and muscle). That's why it's always best to be honest when assessing your activity level when using the calculator I gave you the link to. If you don't exercise at all, your calorie intake should only be your BMR x 1.2. If you are in the weight room or on the field 6 or 7 days a week, you could be looking at a calorie range of BMR x 1.9.

The number you're given in the calculator is assuming you're only interested in maintaining your current weight. If you want to lose weight, I would recommend subtracting no more than 700 calories from this number. If you want to gain muscle mass, add 700. Any more than that, especially when losing weight, you run the risk of losing muscle and damaging your metabolism. If you're trying to gain muscle, too large of a surplus and you could easily gain as much fat as you do muscle.

Got it? I hope so. If not, contact me HERE and I'll be happy to answer any further questions! I'll be back tomorrow with another post. Until then, here's some Motivation Monday stuff for you!

1 Comment

CARBS: BEST FRIEND OR WORST ENEMY? PART 3

9/21/2013

0 Comments

READ PART 1 HERE
READ PART 2 HERE

Lows carbs or low fat? That is the decision you are ultimately going to have to make with your nutrition. The low fat diet is the prescribed diet of nearly every TV host, blog writer and personal trainer out there. The low carb diet is subscribed to by a lot of "rogue" fitness people, and in the history of humanity, is primarily responsible for the peak of physical fitness that was the hunter-gatherer.

I've clearly stated in previous posts that I prefer the low carb, fat and protein based diet. However, that doesn't mean I haven't tried the other way around and seen success. I've tried nearly every method of dieting out there at least once. It ultimately boils down to what works for you, and I'm going to discuss three different diets here in this post. For the sake of being a good sport about it, let's discuss the low fat diet first.

LOW FAT, HIGH CARBS

Go to your local book store and look in their diet section. There are literally thousands of books to choose from. South Beach. Grapefruit. Cookie diet. The options are endless, and many are ridiculous. Let's just get this out of the way now. 99% of these books are complete crap. You have most likely just bought and read what equates to a decorative item for your coffee table.

However, a few diet protocols have got it more right than most. Most of them involve harnessing the power of The Glycemic Index. As I explained yesterday, The Glycemic Index (going to abbreviate this as G.I. for the rest of this post) is a scale of how different foods affect your blood sugar levels. In most cases, the lower the number, the better it is. This isn't a gimmick like many diets are trying to offer. The index is scientific fact. Less blood sugar and insulin spiking results in less fat storage. Combine this with a proper calorie deficit and some exercise, voila! Weight loss.

Nearly all worthwhile G.I. based diets have similar qualities. They ask the person to keep carbs moderate to high, yet low on the G.I. scale. They ask the person to keep protein high and fat low. They subscribe to the carbs as fuel method, and for how these diets are laid out, that's pretty much fine. With these diets, when done correctly, you should be able to maintain a fair amount of your lean muscle mass while simultaneously emptying out some of your fat stores. As with all diets I'm listing here, if you're interested in knowing more or having me set up something for you, contact me HERE.

So there's option one, and the option the majority of health conscious Americans choose as their method of choice for dieting. Now it's time to move on to a few less publicized, and in many cases, more powerful dieting options.

CARB CYCLING

In a nutshell, carb cycling works by combining a series of low, moderate and high carbohydrate days throughout your week to help you achieve maximum efficiency in the gym while also helping you lose fat. You have a high carbohydrate day on days you're going to have your most challenging workouts, a moderate day when you're not training large muscle groups, and a low or no carb day on your off days.

I'm not going to spend a huge amount of time discussing this diet for one main reason. The reason is it's very confusing to most people. Some big time trainers (not naming names) have articles on their website talking about how easy this kind of diet is. So easy in fact, you have to buy an entire book they wrote on the subject so you can harness it's power. That doesn't fit the definition of "easy" to me.

I'm clearly not opposed to buying books on these subjects, but in my opinion, this is the easiest type of diet to get wrong if you want to see maximum results. The ratio of carbs, fat and protein changes on a daily basis, and there's a great deal of micromanaging involved in the day to day aspects of this kind of diet, especially if you're preparing for some kind of contest or event. However, it's very powerful as a fat loss and muscle building agent which is the reason why I'm including it in the 3 options of diets in this post.

A quality carb cycle will be very different for every type of training client, and if it's something you're interested in discussing further, feel free to contact me about having me help you set up this kind of diet.

Next on our list is what I consider to be the most effective style of dieting there is, while simultaneously being the most shunned and misunderstood of the group...

ULTRA LOW CARB

Bacon. The candy of meats. There are so many adjectives to describe how delicious the stuff is, I could probably dedicate a whole blog post to the subject. However, I just included that picture because I feel like people consider it to be a food that should be eaten only on special occasions if at all. The stigma of bacon is essentially that it's a heart attack on a plate. Now while all bacon isn't created equal, and you should buy the best quality you can find preferably without nitrates, I'll have you know that I personally eat pounds of the stuff every week.

"What's that, Mr. Personal Trainer?"... You read right, I eat bacon. I eat whole eggs. I eat chicken wings with ranch dressing. What don't I eat? Carbs. And I don't just mean I don't eat bread. I'm telling you on an average day, I eat 15-20 grams of carbs or less. Why? Well, a few reasons. The first reason is the human body doesn't actually need them to survive no matter what you've been told. The next reason is when you keep your carb count that low, your body becomes a fat burning machine, and in conjunction with proper intake of protein, you lose very little muscle mass.

Fat loss. Not weight loss. The two are very different things. On most traditional diets, you lose weight. "Weight" means fat and muscle. You count your calories (of which most come from carb sources), do all the cardio you've read was great for you, half heartedly lift some weights and you see the number on the scale change to something lower. This is weight loss. Unless you're a trainer like me, have a good trainer, or are very knowledgable on the subject, you see this as a positive sign. And it very well may be if you're dedicated to your cause. There are plenty of people out there who have used the first 2 diets listed, as well as others, and are in great health and carry a preferable amount of lean body mass (muscle).

However, there are ways to take chance out of the equation, and in turn, achieve true fat loss. When you switch your body over to a fat metabolism by incorporating a diet extremely low in carbs but very high in fat and protein, like our hunter-gatherer ancestors, the fuel source it will use as long as it's there is fat. There are a few cultures still roaming the planet who use these methods, and are the pinnacle of health. A very interesting article about the Inuit people can be found HERE.

Ultra low-carb (ULC from here on out) people are generally a much healthier sort for a few main reasons. ULC people tend to eat less, which in scientific research, generally leads to longer life as opposed to people who overindulge too frequently. This has a lot to do with fat being a lot more powerful in satiating hunger than carbohydrates. Another reason ULC is healthy is because of the aforementioned muscle sparing qualities of the diet. The more muscle you have, the more calories your metabolism burns at rest, which makes it easier to lose weight and keep it off. People with a generous amount of muscle and a less generous amount of body fat are healthier as a whole and develop disease less frequently than our less muscular counterparts.

Another beautiful thing about ULC is the ability once or twice a week to eat whatever you want, whether it be pizza or donuts (see: high glycemic carbs), and not only not gain fat, but in many instances to ramp up fat burning. I'm aware it sounds too good to be true, but strategically timed carbs will only assist in fueling and building your muscles and turning your metabolism into a jet engine while almost completely avoiding the fat cells. It works this way because you haven't punished your pancreas like I spoke of yesterday, and your body is wholly adapted to using the fat in the junk food as it's primary source of fuel, while using the carbs to store as fuel in your muscle tissue instead of your fat cells.

There are several ULC methods out there, all of which I believe to be a very high quality, but I also think there is one that is better suited to each individual person on a case by case basis. Once again, if you're interested in knowing more, contact me HERE.

CONCLUSION

This is my no means the last time I'm going to write on the subject of carbs. However, these 3 pieces I've written serve to provide the general public with a certain understanding of the general principles behind carbs and how eating them affects you as well as a few of the diet options available to you as it pertains to eating or not eating them. One thing is certain. There will always be people are for or against using them as the primary source of fuel and energy in their diets. Which diet is right for you? I don't know. However, I am certainly here to help you figure that out. If you have any questions on setting up a program or just general questions about any material covered in these posts, feel free to CONTACT me at any time. I hope you've found all this informative. Check back tomorrow for a new post!

-Doug

0 Comments

7 YEARS TO A NEW ME (MY STORY)...

9/18/2013

1 Comment

If you've found your way to my page, I just want to say first that I truly appreciate it. There are a million fitness pages, personal trainers, and "gurus" out there. I am but one of many, but I feel like I have a more unique perspective than most of the subject of health and fitness. "Why," do you ask? Well, because that picture above is of me in 2006.

I was 23 years old. I weighed 350 pounds, had a nearly 50 inch waist, chest pains, and felt completely hopeless. I had basically never set foot in a gym. Heck, I couldn't run up a flight of steps without getting completely winded. I could go into any number of fast food restaurants where they knew my name and what my order was. I drank 2-3 liters of soda per day. I would estimate my calorie intake at upwards of 5,000 a day.

I was also a walking heart attack waiting to happen. I used to have constant chest and jaw pains. The first sign you're in trouble is when your jaw starts aching horribly, and I'd say this was happening to me at least every other day if not more. I also can recall a few times getting up to go to the bathroom and nearly passing out. One night, I blacked out for a brief moment just long enough to slam my head into the wall. Scary? Yes. However, it still didn't get me to wake up and realize I needed to do something.

That moment didn't come until New Years Day, 2006. That's the day my grandfather died suddenly in the car on the way to eat lunch with my mom. He was in his 80s, so they didn't do an autopsy, but he clearly died from a massive heart attack. He had had a couple pacemakers and several heart related hospital visits in his older years, so it was just a matter of time before the "big one" hit. That was the day he died, and it was also the day I would tell people I was born for the second time. I would have never made it to 87. Hell, I am not sure I would have made it to 30, and I truly mean that. It was time to change my life before it was too late...

This is January 15, 2006. Starting weight: 350 pounds. I went out and bought the Atkins Diet book, read it cover to cover, and decided that was how I was going to lose my weight. This isn't necessarily an endorsement of the Atkins Diet, as my methods and ideologies about dieting have changed quite a bit over the years. However, that was the starting line for me, and I'm extremely glad it was the method I used.

I essentially quit it all cold turkey. Junk food. Soda. Everything. I look back now and I'm not sure that was the way to go because I had some pretty killer withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms, you ask? Yes. Junk food is a drug. Soda is a drug. Sugar is a drug. All as powerful as any illegal drug out there. A lot of professionals liken their effect to that of cocaine. I can't argue with them, because I felt awful for several days. My body had literally been running on sugar and bad dietary fat for so long it thought I was killing it when it went away.

However, I persevered. After 4 or 5 days, the headaches and craving subsides, but it was a long few days! Then something strange happened. I had more energy than I'd had in years. I slept better. I felt better. Eventually, I even started looking better. I'll skip the boring part about my daily meal routines and just fast forward to August, 2006...

This is me about 8 months later. I didn't have one single cheat day, meal, or anything else. I lost 100 pounds almost on the dot. I very literally felt and looked like a new man. My pants size went from a 50 in dress pants down to about 38. XXXL shirts became XL shirts. For the first time in years, I had confidence. It was amazing.

However, I was also at a point where the scale wouldn't budge another pound. Problem was, I didn't lift any weights during this time or really do much exercising at all except for the occasional walk. I was what you would call "skinny fat," and I literally had no idea what to do in the gym, or really how to even exercise. Thankfully, my friend Tony invited me along to work out with him at his gym and teach me some things about lifting and exercise.

Now picture this. A 6-foot-5, 250 pound man struggling to bench press 15 pound dumbbells. I had ZERO strength. I dieted away not only a massive amount of body fat, but also a massive amount of lean muscle mass. So here I am, 15 pound dumbbells, struggling for my life to bench press them. A few times, my left arm literally died and if it weren't for Tony I would have a black eye more than once. I also did my first time on the elliptical at the gym. I did 7 minutes. It was the worst 7 minutes of my life, and I literally couldn't stand up, sit down, or do anything without leg pain for a week.

I know this all sounds completely terrible, being sore and weak, but it lit a new fire inside of me. 15 pound dumbbells quickly became 25 pound dumbbells, which quickly became 40 pound dumbbells. People started asking me if I had been lifting weights. If it was possible, I felt even better about myself than I did after the initial 100 pounds. I became something I thought I'd never live to see the day it happened. I became addicted to fitness. That was 2007. Let's fast forward to 2011...

August 2007-August 2011.. It may not look like much. I don't have abs. I don't have hulking muscles. However the guy on the right weighs the exact same amount as the one on the left and instead of bench pressing 15's, he can bench press 80's. I had never been in such good shape, and frankly I would have never thought such a thing was possible. I felt (and still do feel) incredible, and wanted everyone to feel as amazing as I did.

It was about this time I started thinking about becoming a personal trainer. I had a wealth of knowledge I had acquired through Tony (I can't thank him enough), reading countless books and articles, and through my own trial and error. I wanted to share this with people and help them achieve the goals like I never imagined I would reach. So I asked my dad to help me pay for the program to get certified, and in early 2012, I got certified through the National Federation of Professional Trainers...

This is me. Right now, as I'm typing this. I'm in the best not just shape of my life, but in the best HEALTH of my life, both inside and out. 8 years ago, I never would have imagined I'd have my own fitness website and be doing something I love in personal training. I wake up every day happy to go to work, and I literally get to work out like it's my job, because it is!

However, had I never got off the couch and applied myself to this thing, I truly fear I may not be here to write this. If you're ready to get healthy, you don't have to do this alone. I've spent the last almost 8 years teaching myself everything I need to know to help YOU get in the best shape of your life. All you have to do is quit saying "tomorrow." Eventually, and unfortunately, there may not be a tomorrow for a lot of people because they didn't say enough is enough. You owe it to yourself, your family, and your friends to be the best you you can be. Are you ready? I am!

-Doug

P.S.- Contact me HERE with any questions or inquiries. I hope to hear from you!

1 Comment

COUCH SURFING. CALORIE BURNING.

CARBS: BEST FRIEND OR WORST ENEMY? PART 3

READ PART 1 HERE
READ PART 2 HERE

LOW FAT, HIGH CARBS

CARB CYCLING

ULTRA LOW CARB

CONCLUSION

7 YEARS TO A NEW ME (MY STORY)...

Archives

Categories

Privacy Policy | Term of Service

COUCH SURFING. CALORIE BURNING.

CARBS: BEST FRIEND OR WORST ENEMY? PART 3

READ PART 1 HERE READ PART 2 HERE

LOW FAT, HIGH CARBS

CARB CYCLING

ULTRA LOW CARB

CONCLUSION

7 YEARS TO A NEW ME (MY STORY)...

Subscribe to the DC Fitness Blog

Archives

Categories

Privacy Policy | Term of Service

READ PART 1 HERE
READ PART 2 HERE