Breakfast

Well known as being the most important meal of the day, many people tend to skip breakfast or opt for something quick and convenient in their morning rush, but what is this doing to your body?

Eating breakfast not only helps you to make better food choices throughout the day, but studies have also shown that those who skip breakfast tend to overeat later in the day, contributing to higher body fat levels and BMI. So skipping that all important meal in a vain attempt to lose weight is actually doing the complete opposite and helping you to store excess body fat!

As important as actually eating breakfast (if not more so), is what you eat. This is the same for any meal, but even more so for breakfast, and needs highlighting since the typical “breakfast foods” are so out of sync with what we need to kick off our day.

Toast or cereal seems to be the popular choice for adults and kids alike, no doubt because it’s quick and easy; but this is possibly the worst breakfast you can have! Worse even than skipping it altogether!

Forget your “wholegrain goodness” and “keeping hunger locked up ‘til lunch”, or how “grrrreat!” they are, these processed, refined carbohydrates are majorly lacking in nutrition (they actually have to add synthetic vitamins/minerals to these cereals to be allowed to sell them as “food”). Not to mention the insulin response of eating a high-carb, low fat, low protein meal!

Add to that the fact that wheat and processed dairy are two of the biggest culprits for food intolerance, and sugar sends energy levels sky-rocketing, then crashing back down again, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Erratic energy levels, hunger well before lunch, poor concentration and weight gain follow.

So what should you eat for Breakfast?

It’s important to “break your fast” with nutritionally rich foods, providing the nutrients your body needs, and keeping you satisfied right through until lunch-time. Contrary to what the cereal producers tell you, that’s NOT carbohydrates! The foods that satiate us and keep us from feeling hungry again soon after are protein and fats. These have a low insulin response – meaning no energy spike then crash. They are digested more slowly and your brain actually registers that you’ve received some nutrition – so you won’t be hungry again for a while.

One of the best things you can do is remember that food is food; there are no “breakfast foods”, “lunch foods”, or “dinner foods”.

I highly recommend the “Meat and Nut” breakfast. Simply rotate daily between different meat (not processed) and nut combinations. Chicken breasts and a handful of Almonds; Steak and a handful of Cashews; Turkey and a handful of Brazil nuts… you get the idea.

Tea, coffee and herbal teas are acceptable, but avoid processed milk and fruit juices.

This will set you up for the day, prevent you from overeating and making poor food choices, and ensure more steady energy levels.

Give it a try

Kettlebells for Fat Loss

Kettlebells have been around for a long, long time, but have recently re-gained popularity, showing up in more and more gyms every week.

Although they’re essentially just another weight, the unique shape changes the way they’re used, lending them to large, full-body movements that get your whole body working.

This is beneficial for fat loss since, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s your muscles that burn calories. So the more muscles you use, and the harder you work them, the more calories you’ll burn.

Most people working with weights tend to follow a more body-building type routine, working one muscle group at a time; which is beneficial, but not the most efficient way to use your workout time.

By using large, full body exercises, that recruit most, if not all of your muscles at once, you’ll be working much harder, and burning a LOT more calories (since you now have about 600 muscles burning energy rather than just a few).

So it makes sense that any exercise that recruits more muscles will be a much better way to spend your time in the gym (or at home) than the typical 3 sets of 10 on chest press, 3 sets of 10 shoulder press, 3 sets of 10 leg extension.....

The traditional kettlebell exercises such as swings, cleans, snatches, windmills, Turkish get-ups etc. are all full body movements, using just about every muscle in your body. Since they are predominantly performed from a standing position, all of the muscles in your legs, hips, backside and back are working to support you throughout the entire movement.

This means that you’ll not only be burning more calories, but by working your whole body in one movement you’ll also be improving your co-ordination, balance and stability.

On top of all of that, you’ll also find that you’re getting a great cardio workout to boot, meaning that those long, boring hours on the treadmill/bike/x-trainer are not necessary!

If you’ve got 600 muscles working at once, all requiring oxygen to work, then you’ll soon be out of breath – THIS IS CARDIO! Regardless of what people say, if you’re out of breath, you’re doing cardio. It’s irrelevant if you happen to be lifting weights while you do it or not. The bonus here is, instead of just being out of breath (like traditional “cardio”), you’ll also be working your muscles, making them stronger, more flexible, and also burning more energy (calories). Why would you waste time running when you can get all the benefits and more in less time lifting weights?!

As a side note, if you’re doing traditional cardio (i.e. long sessions of running, cycling, x-training, walking, swimming...) without lifting any weights, You will lose muscle – meaning despite a drop in weight on the scales, you’ll still be holding onto body fat, and you’ll also get weaker! Just look at long distance runners...

So to summarize, Kettlebell training will build strength, burn a lot more calories than traditional gym programs, improve balance, stability and co-ordination, and make boring cardio training redundant.

If you want to learn how to use Kettlebells properly (as with any exercise, if you don’t do it properly you risk injury and impaired results), you can visit my website and sign up for the next Kettlebell Workshop, where you can come and learn 15 of the basic, most effective Kettlebell exercises, and how to put them into a training program that’ll increase your fitness dramatically in a few short weeks.

Who do you want to look like?

There are many different training methods available to anyone that wants to lose weight. But which is best?

The most common option seems to be running. Many people who hate the thought of going to the gym, working out with weights, or attending fitness classes, opt to go running a few times a week in order to lose weight; but is this the best idea.

Bearing in mind that most people want to lose FAT, not WEIGHT, it’s safe to say that running ISN’T the best way to do it. There’s no doubt that it has worked for many people, but if you really want to reach your goals (which you may think are weight loss, but actually, you just want to fit into smaller clothes and look better – unfortunately, people have linked this with weight).

Let’s make it easy to see what’s better for stripping fat and building the muscle that shapes your body.

Take a look at the average marathon runner – for the most part, they look skinny, emaciated, and generally not too healthy. They may weigh very little, but they have no muscle, and no shape to them – not the ideal figure is it?

Now take a look at a sprinter. They’re lean, muscular, with good shape and muscle tone. They look athletic and healthy, and will generally have LESS body fat than the marathoners.

Obviously these are two extremes, but the bottom line is if you want to lose fat, shape and tone your body, and look and feel strong and healthy, you need to ditch the long cardio sessions and start working with high intensity intervals (sprints if running’s your chosen activity) and/or start lifting weights.

If you enjoy jogging, then by all means, go jogging. But unless your goal is to be “skinny fat” (where you weigh very little and look skinny, but still have a high body fat – mainly due to a lack of muscle), then you also need to be doing intervals and weight training.

Another easy way to see what you need to be doing, is to walk into any gym. Are the people who look how you want to look walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes, then moving across to sit on a bike for half hour and watch EastEnders? ... Or are they in the freeweights area lifting weights?

Don’t be fooled by the common misconception that cardio burns more calories. Use your muscles, and lift weights that you struggle to finish your set with i.e. if you’re aiming for 12 lifts (repetitions), you should struggle to finish the last 2 or 3.

Just take a look at British champion weightlifter Evelyn Stevenson:

Not exactly the hulky mass of muscle that people (especially women) are afraid of becoming if they lift a weight!

It should be clear, just by looking at the different athletes, which type of training will produce the best results – if you want to look like a sprinter, train like a sprinter.

This may go against what you thought was the best way to train and what you’ve been told by magazines, friends, even trainers in the gym. But really, it’s pretty obvious.

Be aware also that the same goes for diet. Just because you’ve read it, a friend recommended it, or a trainer has told you to do it, doesn’t mean it’s the right way. Even if it works – there might still be a better way, and it’s usually the most obvious.

If you’d like to know more about how best to eat and train for your goals you can download my nutrition advice by entering your name and e-mail in the box on the right, or contact me for Personal Training.