The best way to torch fat.

If you are trying to burn fat and lose weight through cardio and it isn't working, here's why.

Firstly, you have to address your nutrition.  

YOU CANNOT OUT-TRAIN POOR NUTRITION.

It's so easy to consume, in one meal, more calories than it is possible to burn off in one day.  If you are eating too many calories, no amount of cardio will burn off the excess calories. let alone your fat stores.

When carbohydrates are consumed, they are turned by your body into glucose.  Once you have eaten a certain amount of carbohydrate, your body turns the glucose to glycogen for storage, it gets stored in your muscles and your liver.  Once your liver is overloaded with glycogen, your body ceases to release leptin, which is the hormone responsible for telling your brain you are full.  And once your muscles and liver stores are full, the remainder is stored as fat.

So, it stands to reason that the more muscle you have, the more potential you have for glycogen storage, meaning less is turned to fat in the first place.  Also, muscle takes more calories to maintain than fat does, so again, it stands to reason that the more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn. 

So if you want to become a fat burning machine, you need to build muscle.  That does not necessarily mean bulking up, it simply means changing the ratio of fat to muscle.  Less fat, more muscle rather than the other way around.

The best way to do this is with resistance training, or weights.  Not cardio.

There is evidence to suggest that vast amounts of cardio can actually be counter-productive in the quest to burn fat.  Your body becomes used to the exercise very quickly and allows fat to be stored more effectively for use when you are in the so-called fat-burning zone.

That isn't to say that cardio is bad for you - it is always good to be more active - just that it won't help you in the fight to lose fat.

The two best things you can do to lose fat are:

1     address your nutrition

2     lift some weights.

If you still want to do cardio, that's brilliant. The best thing you can do is to go for lots of long walks.  It's a natural, low-impact way to work your heart and lungs and joints.  Endless hours on the cross trainer or treadmill are not only mind-numbingly dull, they are virtually pointless.  if you want to do some cardio in the gym, go for the rower as you get a full body workout at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

On the matter of running, it's an addictive thing and people do it for the buzz.  personally, I'm not a fan.  I don't believe it is natural for any animal to run for prolonged periods of time and if I have to choose between an hour in the gym and an hour's run, I'll always opt for the gym.  having said that, if you enjoy running and want to get the most from it, try turning your run into a fartlek session or interval session - much more natural than a straight run.

How we genuinely changed our lives.

About a year ago, my husband asked me what I wanted for my 40th birthday.  I said a buff husband.  After he had finished laughing and he realised I was actually quite serious, he embarked on changing his life.  

After watching him taking more notice of his nutrition, walking a lot and lifting weights in front of the telly of an evening rather than lounging on the sofa, I began walking daily, lifting a few weights and taking more notice of my own nutrition - partly because he made it look quite fun, partly because I was fed up with mood swings and feeling lethargic and partly because some of my clothes were, frankly, beginning to get a little snug. = /

I began by cutting starchy carbohydrates in my evening meal (no potatoes, rice, pasta, bread etc).  The reason for this being that starchy carbohydrates are turned into glucose by your body and stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver.  If you eat these sugars in the evening, there are fewer hours in the day to work them off.

I then began to focus on how much sugar I was consuming and began to eliminate that from my nutrition.

I have always been pretty aware of what I eat and drink, and I think I must make adjustments pretty automatically when I feel I may have consumed more calories than normal.  I would say that my caloric intake varies very little from day to day.  By concentrating even more on my nutrition, I became hyper aware of what I was consuming.  This is not the same as being obsessive; I found it interesting to see how my nutritional habits were changing and how my mind and body reacted to these changes.

For the first few weeks, I was pretty resentful at giving up my evening carbohydrates.  After all, what's a meal without potatoes or rice or pasta?  I found it hard.  I found it made me a little anxious, I worried that I would be hungry and being hungry panicked me a little.

After a few weeks, however, it became perfectly normal not to have starchy carbs with my evening meal.  I didn't miss them at all.  I was still having potatoes or rice or bread with my lunch.

But then I found sometimes I would forget to include starchy carbs with my lunch.  This was not deliberate.  But I wasn't hungry.  I didn't panic.  It was fine.  In fact, if anything, I was less hungry.  In the process of doing more exercise (an hour in the gym two, three or four times a week) and cutting processed food and starchy carbs in the evening, without thinking about it or meaning to, I lost a stone.

I subsequently put on half a stone in muscle from resistance work in the gym, which is why I don't like scales - they don't tell you anything useful.

Then after about 9 months or so, I realised I had pretty much cut all starchy carbohydrates and sugar from my diet without really realising it.  I was no longer eating bread, cakes, pies, pasta, potatoes or rice.  I had cut all flour from my diet and I didn't miss it.  I had probably increased my vegetable and fruit consumption fourfold to compensate, so I was still having a high carbohydrate diet, just without the starch.  I was still having a big bowl of porridge or sugar free Alpen for breakfast and the occasional oat cake or two but no other starchy carbs.

By cutting starchy carbs I was eliminating the risk of overloading my liver with glucose and feeling hungry even though I had just eaten.  A glucose-overloaded liver reduces your release of leptin, which tells you you are full.  By eating fewer starchy carbs, I was less hungry.

And then I noticed I hadn't had a major melt-down at the kids for months. Don't get me wrong, I still lose my temper and shout at my kids but not to the guilt-inducing extent that I used to.

A year down the line and everything has changed.  I have retrained as a personal trainer and fitness instructor and am showing others how they can transform their lives too.

I still have a high carbohydrate diet, I reckon 60% of my nutrition comes from carbs, just not from starchy carbs.  I can't quite imagine life without porridge for breakfast, yet...  I rarely feel hungry but when I do, I don't get the same panicky feeling I used to get; I know I can wait.

Cutting sugar has had quite a dramatic effect in that I can now taste the sugar that has been added to all the savoury things we eat.  Ham and packaged, cooked chicken for example are almost unbearably sweet to me now.  

I have fewer mood swings, I get out of bed each morning feeling ready for the day and I sleep better.  Adding exercise to my improved nutrition has meant all round I just feel pretty great.  Simple tasks are easier and don't wear me out like they used to (I may have been slim but I was really unfit!)

I can honestly say that a year down the line, I feel transformed.
AND I have a buff husband who is 40lb lighter!

Krish x

Being bloody-minded.

I'm on the trail of the secret to permanent weight loss through healthy nutrition.

The bad new is, it's an immensely a complex issue, to do with external forces, internal emotions, upbringing, current situation, lifestyle constraints, education to name but a few.

The good news is, according to BBC2's The Men Who Made Us Fat, it's not our fault that we over-consume.  The ad-men and the marketing strategists have had us brainwashed for years into thinking the over-processed, sugar and-salt laden products they persuade us to buy, in ever increasing portion and pack sizes, are what we should be consuming.

We have been persuaded by ad after ad that the time in between meals is exactly the right time for an enormous family-sized bag of crisps or a double portion chocolate bar.  We have been hood-winked into believing that meals needn't be cooked from scratch, that processed convenience foods are just as nutritious as one cooked from wholesome raw ingredients.  So much so that some 5 year-olds don't even recognise an onion! WORSE, we have been fooled into believing that sugar and salt-laden products, crammed full of harmful trans fats are actually part of a healthy and BALANCED diet!  There is even a section on the food pyramid for sweets and cakes and fizzy drinks!

The food industry has been manipulating us for years; persuading and cajoling us into buying more than we intended to, forcing us to walk a certain way around the supermarket, to take advantage of bulk and multi-buy offers we don't even want or need all the while lining their pockets with supersized profits at the cost of our waistlines, hearts and health.  The food industry does not care about our health or well-being.  It is not interested in delivering a quality product made with the best ingredients if that messes with its profit margins.  The food industry is concerned with one thing and one thing only: how to make the maximum profit from the minimum expenditure.  It is only concerned with the flavour, texture and taste of their product because that is what gets you to buy more of it.  That is what gets them their Christmas bonus.

The war between our weight and the food industry is not fought on a level battle ground.  The food industry lures you in and traps in the most unfair of ways.  They have all the ammo in the form of highly addictive substances, persuasive advertising campaigns and subliminal strategies we are completely unaware of responding to, while we are the unwitting victims of their calculated and well-planned guerilla campaigns.


According to the excellent BBC2 documentary - that you can still see on I-player - we are at the mercy of years of all-pervasive, ubiquitous persuasion that these products will make us happy, will fill a gap, will save us time, will save us money, will earn us the love and respect of our friends and families.


The fact of the matter is, these companies are no better than drug dealers.


The amount of sugar added to processed foods - ALL processed foods including savoury products like cooked chicken and table sauces - means we are constantly overloading our livers with glucose.  This, as I have said before inhibits leptin, which is responsible for telling us when we are full.  


So the more of these processed foods you eat, the hungrier you feel!

But why is it that, if these campaigns are so effective over populations of people, that some manage not to be sucked in by the advertising and the constant sensory bombardment that makes us buy more than we wanted or thought we needed?  Why is it some people avoid the fast food and the sugary treats and salty snacks so much more easily than others?

If I knew the answer to to that, I would bottle it and make a fortune... obviously, with such an incentive, I have been giving it a lot of thought!

Personally, I don't walk around the supermarket the way the marketing folk want me to.  I go where I need to go to get the things I came in for.  Sure, I get a little sidetracked sometimes and end up coming out with more than I went in for but never BOGOF deals and rarely naughty food.  And I also get around this by doing my weekly shop online, where I can only buy what I know I need.  But when I do go shopping in the supermarket, I rarely go down the alcohol aisle.  I rarely go down the sweet and biscuit aisle, I rarely go down the crisps and soft-drinks aisles.  Why?

I think a lot of it comes down to sheer bloody-mindedness and stubbornness.  I really do hate to be told what to do!  Perhaps it is that simple.  I will not be swayed by your argument unless you can clearly and sufficiently prove to me, with adequate data that what you are saying makes sense.  And I'm afraid that all the evidence and data points to carrots and celery and broccoli and chicken being better for you and more delicious than pepperoni pizza, crisps and ice cream.

Perhaps that's part of it too.  I actually prefer a big bowl of salad to a big bowl of crisps or ice cream.  Why is that?  Perhaps it's because I was brought up on home cooked meals that were created from scratch.  Perhaps it's the fact that these meals (sorry mum) though they didn't taste bad, were rarely cordon bleu cooking - perhaps I have always seen food as fuel rather than something indulgent to be delighted over.

And yet I do love food.  I am adventurous, I'll try anything, I'm not at all fussy, I'll pretty much eat anything.  But fast food, convenience food, junk food and processed food makes me feel uncomfortable.  It makes me feel a little nervous.  I don't see it as real.  Is this what helps me steer clear of unhealthy choices?  Maybe.  Is it behaviour that could be learned?  I'm sure of it!

I wonder if the next time you are in the high street and feel the urge to nip into a fast-food establishment, or you are in the supermarket and feeling the lure of the multi-buy crisps or BOGOF biscuits, you will think of these:

1     Do you really want to sacrifice your health to line the pockets of people who care nothing for your well-being?  Do you want them lying on some tropical beach, gleefully rubbing their hands together at the profits they made last year on the backs of your waistline and your cholesterol levels?


2     Are you really going to let the ad-men determine your patterns of behaviour?  Are you going to allow over-paid executives in an anonymous office decide what you feed yourself and your family?  They don't do buy one get one free for your convenience or pocket.  They do it because it makes them more money!


3     Are you going to allow these anonymous businessmen to keep you addicted to sugar, to keep you hungry, to keep you beholden to them and their fake-food products?  Or are you going to take control and make the decision to break free?


4     Try not to forget that it is sugar that is making us fat.  Sugar is in virtually EVERY processed food we buy, in the form of fructose, corn syrup, glucose and all sort sof other names that hide its true identity to us.  The more of these products we consume, drinks included, the more hungry we will be. 

Perhaps the secret to healthy nutrition is a bit more stubborn bloody-mindedness!

Krish x

Move your goal posts!

There are two sorts of women at my gym: those who are more than happy to parade themselves naked to the shower, regardless of age, size, weight or colour (faked or genuine) and those who are not.

The women who are happy to strip and bare all have one thing in common.  A positive body-image.

Where does one get one of these?

I wonder if one can be developed?

On closer inspection (not close enough to be rude or weird, I hasten to add) I notice there are not many of the types of women at the gym who are not happy to jingle their bits cheerfully in the breeze as they chat and get changed.

I wonder if this is because of the positive buzz these women get from working out, the feeling of achievement and that they are taking control and making a difference.  I wonder if these women have such a positive body-image because they have a positive self-image - because they are proud of themselves.

It seems to me that it doesn't actually matter what you look like; the most beautiful women on earth still hanker after a smaller nose or slimmer thighs.  Why?

In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter?  of course not.  When, in however many billions of years, the sun goes supernova and all life on this wonderful planet is extinguished, is it going to matter that Jan had a bit if cellulite and Jean never managed to shift those last few pounds?  Of course not!

How many women, on their death bed, say, 'Do you know, I wish I'd worried about my dimply thighs more.'?  How many do you think say, 'Do you know, I wish I'd worried about my stretch-marked tummy more?'

How many women do you think regret all the things they didn't do or didn't wear because they felt fat or old or too tall or too short?

How many women do you think, on their death bed, say, 'I wish I'd been less fit and healthy?'

It seems to me that as women, we need to change our goal posts.  Our lives should be about the ride, we should be spending our money on experiences rather than things, we should worry less about what we look like and more about how we behave.  We should worry less about being thin and more about being healthy.  We should be less concerned with our flaws and more proud of our achievements!

We need perspective. There are more important things to worry about than the size of our thighs.

If our goals are to lead a fit and healthy life, for life, then size becomes irrelevant.

A positive body-image must stem from a positive self-image and to achieve that we must have a sense of achievement, a sense of pride at a job well-done.  By taking control of our lives and feeling like we have the power to change what we aren't happy with, we build self-esteem and self-worth.

So if you are a little in awe of the women who can bare all, regardless of their inability to act as Cameron Diaz's bottom double, then take control, make a change and do something you feel proud of and jiggle those pasty or dimply thighs, proudly, for all to see!
Krish x

Where in the World do you come from?

I am a little obsessed with the stats analysis on Blogger.  I love seeing all the different countries that my readers come from.  It's so exciting to me that the words I write are read by people I've never met, thousands of miles away!

So if you are reading this from Trinidad and Tobago, or Bangladesh or Belarus or the Phillipines or anywhere else that isn't my little corner of the UK, 'HELLO!'

I'd love to see how many different countries are reading my blog - please leave me a message right here and say, 'Hello!'  Perhaps even join the blog as a member!

Thanks for reading!

Krish x

Fat REALLY is not your enemy.

I'm saying this again because it needs to sink in.


How's that low fat diet working out for you?
Is it miserably unsatisfying?  Is it even making a difference?  Are you always hungry but still not losing the pounds?  Do you lose a bit of weight and then pile it back on again - and some?

A LOW FAT DIET WILL NOT HELP YOU TO LOSE WEIGHT!

If you want to avoid putting on weight or you want to lose weight you MUST

STOP EATING SUGAR!

Glucose is stored in your muscles and liver.  (By the way, the more muscle you have the more glucose storage you have and the more glucose you use, just saying...) Once your liver is overloaded with glucose, a vital hormone called leptin ceases to be released.

Leptin tells you when you are full.

If your liver is overloaded with glucose (sugar) your body stops releasing leptin and you think you are still hungry!

So you consume yet more calories.  This is what makes us pile on the pounds!  SUGAR. Not fat.

SUGAR IS MAKING US FAT.
NOT FAT.

The best thing you can do is forget the low fat nonsense, ignore the brainwashing that comes from every quarter and cut the sugar!

Try it.  What have you got to lose...?

Top Ten Tips for a healthier life.

Leading a fit and healthy life is easier to achieve if you make a whole series of small changes.  Take them one at a time until you have made a raft changes that have transformed your life!

1. Get used to checking food labels for added sugar rather than fat.  Sugar is much more responsible for weight gain than fat!

2. Focus on what you are drinking, soft drinks as well as alcohol - even fruit juice has loads of hidden sugar with little of the nutritional value of the whole fruit.

3. Move more. Stand more. Sit less. Walk further. Use the stairs. Move faster.

 4. Use your time wisely. When you are a captive audience - 1/2 an hour in front of the TV can be put to such great use. Lift some weights. Do some squats.  What else would you be doing?

 5. Learn to Listen to your body. When are you actually comfortably full?  Push away from your food then, even if it isn't finished.  Take less food initially and have seconds if you're still hungry.

6.  Eat more slowly.  It takes time for your brain to acknowledge you are full; it's no good overeating before your brain has had time to catch up.

7. Eat regularly.  Even if it feels like you don't want to.  Eating regularly means every 2-3 hours. Something nutritious. Not sugary.  It is genuinely one of the best ways to cut your daily calorie intake.

8. Sleep properly. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and don't sleep in too long. Alcohol will disrupt your sleep patterns. You don't need a drink to be able to sleep.

 9. Go outside! So long as you don't burn, sunshine is good for you! Get outside and go for a walk. Find some green. Walk among trees. Even if it's raining.

10. Value yourself enough to treat your body with kindness. Nourish it with unprocessed food. Lubricate your joints, stretch your muscles, nourish your soul and kickstart your metabolism by exercising or at least going for a walk outside and immersing yourself in some nature. Give your body and mind a chance to recharge by sleeping well.

Krish x