Tag: Dieting

confidence, exercise, nutrition, weight loss

Baptism of fire

I remember when I first started in a Health Club many years ago and I had a consultation with a new client.


When I asked him about his goals I was a little taken back by what happened next.


He went to his bag and out from it he pulled a copy of Men’s Health magazine. He held the magazine and pointed to the bronzed Adonis on the front cover.


‘I want this guy’s body’ he said.


In my head I was thinking ‘this is something one would do in a barbers’.


This was one of my first consultations and turned out to be quite the baptism of fire. The rest of the consultation was spent managing expectations and understanding why he wanted this man’s body.


I mean the chap on the cover looked great and I could see the appeal. In my teens I would have had copies of these magazines and trying to emulate the model on the cover. Thinking this is what I need to look like.
Needless to say I never came close (partly because the info in the magazines was so confusing). Partly because of what I’m about to tell you next.
His goal, although endearing, didn’t make sense. He wanted to look like someone else!


I had to the explain to the portly, middle aged gentleman sitting in front of me. The professional model on the front cover had spent years training and nourishing himself to achieve that physique. It was his job to look like that.
Also the model would take extra steps in the months leading up to the shoot. Lighting, tanning, makeup and airbrushing would do the rest.


I told him that ‘the guy on the cover doesn’t even look like the guy on the cover!’


I explained to the gentleman that it would be prudent to focus on himself and getting his body to the best it can be. And we agreed on goals that were going to make him feel good about his body, improve his confidence and health.


This instance wasn’t a one off. I noticed more and more guys were proposing the same thing in consultations. And I know why. It’s because we are constantly subjected to these images of physical perfection. Magazines, advertisements, commercials etc. And we compare and contrast. We look at other people’s chapter twenty and compare it to our chapter one. This seldom feels good and it seems so far removed and unobtainable we become apathetic.


Now, if you didn’t already know; comparison is the thief of joy! So don’t do that! It’s not going to help. Yes you can appreciate the time and effort these people have devoted, but that is all.


When setting your goals concentrate on improving yourself. Becoming a better version of you, then put your energy into the small steps to achieve that. Things like:


*Eating better, without dieting or feeling deprived.

*Being active, no matter what shape you’re in now.

*Ditching the food rules, dropping the fad diets, and conflicting advice. *Building fitness into your life, without it taking over.

*Achieving and maintaining your goals, even when life gets busy.


Which will see you:


*Losing the weight/fat you haven’t been able to shed for years.

*Building physical strength and confidence in your body.

*Gaining mental confidence, no longer hiding your gifts and talents.

*Letting go of food confusion, learning what to do, how to do it.

*Getting off the diet roller coaster once and for all, and never looking back.


So, stop comparing yourself to others and start comparing yourself to your previous self.

exercise, nutrition, weight loss

What alchemy is this?!

You see your co worker, friend or family member at meal times and they seem to have a lot of food on their plate.

This isn’t the first time you’ve noticed. You ask yourself ‘how do they eat so much and stay slim?’


It feels like you’ve got hardly anything on your plate but you’re stuck in XL clothing. Nothing you’re doing is going to get you back into your suits. And now you’ve had to bite the bullet and buy the next size up.


All sorts of reasons come into your head to make sense of what is happening.


‘Maybe they have one of those fast metabolisms?!‘


‘Their meal seems to be low in carbs maybe that’s it?!’


You want to put an end to your curiosity but a thought stops you:


I couldn’t possible ask them how they are eating so much and stay so slim that would be rude.


So you there you are, left in wonderment.


Let me explain what is going on and put you out of your misery and confusion.


This is the majesty of energy balance at work.

That person has an equal amount of energy coming in as they do going out. Over the long term.


What you are seeing is a snap shot of that persons day, one food serving. You don’t get to see what they do for the rest of the day.


Unbeknown to you that big meal that you saw them eat could be the only meal they are consuming all day (calories in).


Unbeknown to you they could be a super active person through the day. They might also exercise in the morning a bit more in the evening (calories out).


In answer to your question; their energy intake matches their energy output over the long term. Calories in match calories out.


Your body is very comfortable in this position and won’t try and convince you to move from this point. Only when you start changing your weight will your body push back and convince you to stop.


The most important thing to take from this is; if you are trying to lose weight but it doesn’t seem to be happening. It’s because your calorie intake is matching your calorie output.


So what you need to do is tip the energy balance scales in your favour. To see you expending more calories than you are consuming. This is what is known as an energy deficit and is the mechanism that every weight loss diet works on. Every single one. It’s only the methods to get you to achieve this that differ from diet to diet.


When looking to lose weight you need a starting point! And you want to keep it as simple as possible. You need to know your energy requirements for weight loss (a daily or weekly target).

Then you need to record what your energy intake is. (Don’t say I’ll tot it up in my head, you are not rain man, plus you’ll be way out). Use something simple like a tracker (MyFitnessPal).


Sticking to this will see you achieve weight loss, but that’s only one half of having a healthy diet. The other is making sure that 80% of the energy/calories you are consuming are from nutrient dense foods.


Stick with this and it won’t be long before you might get someone plucking up the courage to ask you;


‘How do you eat so much and stay so slim?’


If you need more help with this get your copy of my Guide to Vitality.

exercise, nutrition, stress, time management, weight loss

How to stay motivated

The most common questions I get asked are revolve around motivation;


‘how do you keep it going’,


‘how do you stay motivated’,


‘how do you get to the gym X amount of times a week’,


‘how are you so consistent with your sleep?’,


‘how do you maintain you physique?’.


The answer is…


…I have a plan! In my diary, everything is in there. My workouts, my meal times and my sleep.


Before I did this everything was so hap hazard and off the cuff. I was finding time instead of making time for the things essential to health and fitness.

That’s where the consistency comes from, having a routine! This structure and organisation omits the reliance on motivation. It’s overridden! My sleep regime, my exercise sessions etc. become a matter of course.


This plan for my lifestyle is one I can stick to and that I enjoy. because I have factored in the salient things and I do them day in day out, excellent health is the outcome.


By making time for the important things it makes motivation redundant. I do them regardless. Sometimes my motivation is high to do these things and sometimes it is low.


Because motivation is fickle, but routine and habit is consistent! And being consistent with your regime is how you achieve optimal health.


Another thing to consider is to make sure that your regime is realistic and enjoyable. Because if it is not, it is going to be difficult to stick to. And then you start bringing motivation into the equation. Motivation is what you don’t want to be reliant on/use.


Don’t get me wrong the times I’m motivated I embrace it and take full advantage of it. I’ll push myself a little harder, be more accurate with tasks and my productivity will be higher! But it’s not the foundation or the deciding factor in my actions.


The most important questions I ask my clients are ‘how often can you assign to this?’ ‘How many times a week can you exercise?’ ‘What’s a realistic bedtime for you?’ ‘What foods do you enjoy eating’ and ‘how many meal times do you prefer in a day?’
Because the best plan for your health and fitness is one that you can stick to! (And obviously one that gets you results).


Yes there are exercises that are going to be optimal for improving body composition. And to ensure that they are getting what their body requires for optimal function. And a few adjustments may have to be made. But you have got to be able to stick to it and enjoy it. And there in lies the secret sauce, adherence! It is the same with diet, if I tell you it’s chicken and broccoli for the rest of your days, you’re going to say ‘Andrew, kindly f*%k off!’.


This is why food plans are stupid. You’ve cultivated your diet over years and you eat at convenient times. To completely overhaul your diet is ludicrous! You won’t last very long before you throw in the towel and you are back with the diet you had before. But a nutrition plan well, that’s your diet tweaked to ensure you are getting the macronutrients inside of the meals you like.


I have had friends tell me that they had done a certain personal trainer’s, (let’s call him Joe) diet plan. And they lasted only a couple of weeks. Because ‘prepping like a boss’ (making meals for the week and putting them in Tupperware). And ‘eating clean’ is miles away from their normal diet. No wonder only 10% of the people that buy his plan complete it!


So when you’re thinking about sleep, stress management tactics, exercise and diet. Think about what you enjoy doing and you won’t need motivation!

nutrition, stress, weight loss

Emotional Eating

When I first started working with C, his relationship with food was poor to say the least it. When addressing his diet. He told me he kept a stash of chocolate bars in a box in the cupboard.


We established that after a stressful day at work he would find himself going to the box of chocolate. He wasn’t hungry he just recalled that he would be stressed when he would do this. And the chocolate made him feel better, temporarily. Like dragging on a cigarette or getting inebriated does. His chocolate box was a kind of a ‘break in case of emergency’ box.


He wasn’t aware he was doing this until I asked the questions. And unbeknown to him every time he did this he was forming a habit. Get stressed > eat food to feel better (momentarily) and repeat!


Unfortunately after doing so he would experience guilt from eating so much. The stress would be replaced by guilt from lack of self control and he felt gluttonous.
Now, multiply that habit by a few years and it was no wonder his health and fitness was deteriorating.

Plus the other things he was experiencing as a result. Especially at work and presenting. He hated it as he felt uncomfortable talking in front of his peers and work colleagues.


He told me of how he got someone else from his team to present the project he had managed. And as a result he felt someone else was taking the credit for his work.


But he felt trapped from low self-confidence and uncomfortableness when standing in front of people, worried about people looking at him.


This issue had developed over time from the result of his emotional eating.
Emotional eating is a very big problem in society. What makes it particularly dangerous is not only does it work, as an effective acute stress reliever. (Because when you eat fun food, your brain releases dopamine. A neurotransmitter associated with pleasure). But it’s not obvious, compared to other stress coping mechanisms like alcohol or smoking.


Because it’s food! And food is good, we need food. The problem is the reason behind eating. You’re not eating because you’re hungry but because you’re stressed.
So when he and I began working together on the The Limitless Lifestyle Blueprint.

The first step was to create awareness. Listening and identifying the issue and making him aware of what he was doing. A lightbulb moment for him as he realised that he had been using this stress coping mechanism for so long. And it was the cause of his poor state of health.

Then I put in place a plan of action to get him fit and healthy. First was addressing the stress issue. So I put in place tools to alleviate/omit the stressors that were causing the problem. Then we introduced coping mechanisms that would be beneficial to his health. Rather than detrimental.


With other small changes to his lifestyle. This change has permeated through his personal and professional life. He now enjoys presenting his projects thanks to his new confidence and energy.

nutrition, weight loss

The best diet for weight loss

Telling yourself carbs is the reason you’re overweight,
is akin to blaming your council tax instalment for going overdrawn!


The reality is that it’s the total calorie intake that is cause of being overweight. Consuming more calories required for the amount your burn. Through movement and body function (metabolism). And yet so many people think that carbs are to blame.


It’s like cutting any macronutrient or food group from your diet. All you are doing by omitting a macronutrient (protein, fat, carbs) from your diet is cutting hundreds/thousands of calories from your diet.


In doing so you have achieved a calorie deficit! That’s all.


The biggest impact in weight loss (not fat loss) is when people take the carb cutting option i.e. keto/carnivore. This is because for every gram of carbohydrate you store (glycogen in your liver and muscles) with it you hold onto approximately 2.3 grams of water. So you have lost that water weight too along with the drop in body fat from creating a calorie deficit.


Not all that weight lost is from body fat! Which is not the optimal way to lose weight!

Your ideal weight loss would see you lose the majority if not all the weight from body fat. And keep the muscle, glycogen and water.


So what’s the best diet for weight loss you ask?!


Well, I want you to put exercise aside and tackle weight loss from adjusting your diet. Keep your regular exercise going (it would be prudent to do some weight/resistance training as part of it).


When setting up your diet for weight loss (fat loss) your diet needs to start off with a daily or weekly energy target. Download my free guide to work out the target relevant to you.


Then inside that calorie target you want to have a certain amount of calories assigned to protein. This is going to be a high proportion of those calories for several reasons. The most important ones being that high protein diets will aid muscle retention during weight loss. And also you’ll see a reduction in hunger (again very helpful when dieting).


Download my FREE guide to work out how much protein you need during weight loss.


The remaining calories are going to come from carbohydrates and fats. These proportions are going to be personal preference. Although I would try and encourage you to have a higher amount of calories from carbs, which will guard against muscle breakdown, than fats.


The end result will be far better as you will have achieved body recomposition. From reducing your body fat levels and retaining possibly slightly increasing your muscle mass.


There you have it, the optimal way to diet for weight loss. And you get to eat donuts and cake in the process! Which will play a big part in the psychology of dieting as you won’t feel restriction or guilt for breaking erroneous ‘diet rules’.

confidence, nutrition, weight loss

The pigeon hole trap

Have you ever heard about having the right diet and exercise for your body type?

This ‘body type’ premise has gained a lot of traction. The idea that people fit into 1 of 3 body types and they should exercise in accordance with the exercises suited to that body type.

Unfortunately a lot of people are buying into this. I say unfortunately because the body type principle is erroneous. The body types or Somatotypes; Ectomorph, Endomorph and Mesomorph are actually psychological profiles. Developed in the 1940s by American psychologist William Sheldon. Based on the theory that the size and shape of a person’s body indicated intelligence, moral worth and future achievement.

For example, an Ectomorph, characterized as skinny, weak, and usually tall with low testosterone levels. Their psychological traits would described them as intelligent, gentle and calm, but self-conscious, introverted and anxious.

But why let the facts get in the way of a good pyramid scheme? People and companies have gone on to make a lot of money selling weight loss and muscle building products based on this antiquated psychological method of generalisation.

What about the right diet for you blood type? Yep that is also a thing. It is the diet equivalent to choosing the fuel for your car based on its colour.

These ruthless and unsavoury characters are inferring that the reason you are struggling with weight loss or attaining a good physique is because you are not eating the right diet for your body type or your DNA.

They know the real reason that you are not losing weight is that you are not achieving a calorie deficit! But if you knew that then they wouldn’t purchase their snake oil.

Once you know the cause of weight loss and weight gain plus understand calories, macronutrients and food choices you then have the power to manage your weight. As a by-product you will look and feel great plus you will have done wonders for your health.

Save your money on expensive products and fads that mask a calorie deficit. Instead set up your own and get results that will be manageable for the rest of your life. For more help with this download your FREE copy of The Fitness Gentleman’s Vitality Handbook

nutrition

A beautiful mess

As I scan the health and fitness horizon I see that from certain perspectives nutrition is an absolute mess.


Lots of competing theories. One source seems to suggest one thing. The very next day they seem to say the opposite. People interested in health, fitness and wellness are stuck in limbo. Confused.


Another point of view could be, that “mess” demonstrates the beauty of science. Putting all these ideas; good and bad into the ring and letting them fight it out.


This takes place over hundreds of years. And using a particular method to determine the winners. And that’s why nutrition science is so confusing at times. We haven’t yet had the hundreds of years for the best ones to emerge.


Fats, carbs, and protein weren’t even discovered until the 1800s. It’s only in the last 20 years that we’ve begun studying new problems, such as what’s healthy.

In a world full of tasty processed food and very little movement. All scientific disciplines begin with confusion, dead ends, frustration, and silliness.

But what’s young is going to mature. Nutrition science will grow up. Not as fast as we’d like. Yet over time, the scientific method will cut and prune and do its work. Meanwhile, here are some reasons why nutrition science can be so confusing at times. And why (sometimes) the media screws up reporting it.

1. It takes time to master a science – compared to Chemistry, nutrition is in its infancy.

2. Most funding goes to disease prevention, not preventative nutrition. Most researchers would ask ‘how can we prevent this epidemic’ over ‘how can we get abs’.

3. Where funding comes from can affect what studies find. Corporate pressures can influence study design so the results favour what the company want to show!

4. Most nutrition studies are observational. Remember; correlation isn’t causation! Does red meat cause heart disease and cancer?! Or do people with these chronic diseases happen to eat more red meat?!

5. If doing the research is tough, reporting it is going to be even harder! Journalists aren’t usually trained research scientists, which means that they often:

  • misunderstand study conclusions
  • over exaggerate single study findings (intentional or not)

Single studies are interesting but often not important. They only usually provide one piece of a big puzzle that may take hundreds of years to complete! So when you are perusing through the broadsheets. Take an article that’s based on the findings of a single study with a pinch of salt (which is healthy, for now lol).

confidence, exercise, stress

Progress not perfection

Good moaning Friend,

I hope you know that it’s common for willpower to fail at times. You may suddenly give into junk food and overindulge because of hunger or temptation. 

Or you may skip a workout because you had a shit day at work or an argument with your spouse and you are not in the mood. Or maybe you binge-watched a Netflix show and didn’t go? 

These things happen. You must forgive yourself and get back to it. So many people make the cardinal error of aiming for perfection and when they slip up, they feel like they’ve failed, and the entire goal has gone to waste. 

They then decide to just let themselves go, carry on with the bad habits, and give up on their goal. It is the equivalent of getting a flat tyre then slashing the other 3! All because they slipped up once and think it’s ‘game over’. It’s not! 

Acknowledge your mistake and analyze why you slipped up. Maybe you need to remove all fun foods from your kitchen, so you don’t binge. Or maybe you should work out first thing in the morning, so you don’t skip your training sessions. 

Once you figure out a way to rectify future mistakes, you’ll increase your compliance and prevent future slip-ups. It is easier when conditions are right.   

Aim for over 85% compliance with your routine and habits. 

No matter how disciplined you are, you will make a mistake and give in to temptation here and there. If your compliance is 85% and above, you’ll definitely be on track to achieving your goals. Perfection is unattainable. Progression is what you are focusing on!

If you’ve lost 0.5 kg this week that’s progress! If you’ve done more exercise or you’re stronger than last week, that’s progress! If you’ve got more sleep or controlled your temper in a situation that would typically see you erupt. That’s progress! And that my friend is all you need to concern yourself with.

If you want to make progress with your health and fitness. To look better, feel better, have more energy, and increase your productivity. Then the Limitless Lifestyle Blueprint is for you.

Click here

career goals, confidence, exercise, stress, time management, weight loss

Measure your progress

Often when we hear words like tracking or recording we fret and become anxious. We avoid compiling data about ourselves because we are fearful of what the numbers might tell us.

I wanted to tell you that this data/feedback is where you are, not who you are! These numbers should not define you, only bring to your attention that there is still work to be done.

I advocate you measure your progress as the data you gain tells you that you are:

1. actually taking action, not thinking that you are taking action.

2. on the right trajectory towards your goal because you can see a trend.

This in itself is motivating and will aid momentum. Because you can see that what you are doing is working! And that’s the most reassuring and satisfying feeling; knowing that what you are doing is working!

You move out of that limbo. That frustrating zone where you are taking action but you aren’t sure if it’s working or not. It’s a soul-destroying place to be when you are trying your hardest but you don’t see progress. Because you are unsure if your actions are worthwhile.

‘Am I wasting my time? Am I ever going to see results?’

Which is I offer a money-back guarantee on The Limitless Lifestyle Blueprint.

I know that when you follow the steps I’ve outlined you will achieve results, that will have you looking and feeling great. Giving you more energy, productivity, and confidence. Not only from being in great shape but from not wasting mental energy on your health concerns.

So if you are ready to start measuring your progress click here

career goals, confidence, exercise, stress, weight loss

Regret

My palms get sweaty on hearing that word. It makes me think if I’m making an impact and if I’ll be where I want to be 10 years from now.


Regret is a scary word. But it’s also a motivating word. Because regret DRIVES me to take action because I never want to feel it.


I’m DRIVEN to do everything in my power to succeed… So I don’t feel regret later.


Whether it’s tomorrow, next month, next year, or next decade. I’m always doing my best to move forward. Even if I don’t succeed every time – I’m always trying. As long as I’m enjoying the journey, I’m happy.


Because you never know when the journey will end. So that’s why I make the MOST out of every single moment. Because I never want to feel like I didn’t give it my all.
I know this is a deep message, but it’s one you need to hear.


No matter what you’re going through right now… Don’t give up!


Because the relief & success you’ll feel after you make it out of a bad situation feels SO much better than regret. Remember that!


So if you are trying to lose those 30 pounds you’ve been trying to lose for the past 10 years. 


Lower your risk of health concerns.  


Avoid a divorce that would cost you half your wealth.  ⠀


Achieve that promotion which adds extra £££ to your take-home. From focus and productivity at work.

These are all doable. The beautiful thing is The Limitless Lifestyle Blueprint covers most of the above.

A system that is more efficient, faster, and customized to your specific lifestyle. 


Click here