Lose 1 lb of fat a week....

walk for one hour, every single day, you will burn almost 500 calories. 500 x7 = 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat lost. Now get off your butt and start walking!!!!

Foods you should be eating

So yesterday we discussed how to calculate calories. Today we need to talk about what foods fall into what category and which foods to avoid.


All foods should be ORGANIC, suck it up, spend the money. Your body and most importantly your hormones will thank you.

PROTEINS:

chicken breast
fish
lean beef 90% or better (look for cuts with round or loin in the name. even very lean organic ground beef is fine)
tuna (go in moderation because of possible mercury issues)
organic eggs and egg yolks
cottage cheese 2% milk fat is optimal


CARBS: (looking at things that are low glycemic as it doesnt affect blood sugar and insulin levels) For a full list and more information on why this is important check out www.glcemicindex.com

Avoid anything white!!!
brown rice
whole grain NOT whole wheat products
any green veggie
carrots (in moderation, they are high on the index but lower on glycemic load)
tomatoes
sweet potatoes
any berry
apples
oranges
pineapple
any bean (darker the better)

FATS-yes you need healthy fat!

organic egg yolks
olive oil (as a dressing, dont cook with it. it is not stable at high temps)
coconut oil (cook with this)
any nut-watch peanuts as 80% of people have an allergy
all natural peanut butter
avocado
hummus


These items should make up 90% of your shopping list. Sure there can be more but this is a start. If you have questions, post and ask so others can learn!

MT
mattterryfitness@gmail.com

New company, social experiment, and how to calculate calories..

As usual, several things going on but all tied together! So in reply to several requests I have gotten from readers here are upcoming events information.

1. My new company Lean Physiques will open within 60 days. It will have two components,
a. in person component where 1:1 training, nutrition coaching and group personal training will be held & taught by my partner.

b. an internet education component where we will offer a monthly membership to provide you with weekly webinars that will be education classes based on nutrition and exercise on how to change your body at an extremely affordable rate.

Our mission with Lean Physiques is to offer an affordable solution that anyone, anywhere can use to help take control of their bodies. Our goal since my partner and I have worked in very large fitness companies is not to gouge our clients or employees with high prices but provide real, inexpensive solutions to LOTS of people and help everyone, plain and simple.

2. My Social Experiment

So as most of you know I recently left a very large and successful fitness chain. Great company, learned many things but time to move on. So my "day job" is actually in online media and technology sales. Great company, an 8 to 5er with awesome benefits and great pay. "Why did you do it, how come you left fitness?" several have asked. Well obviously I didnt leave fitness, I am more involved in it more than ever. And as those of you who really know me, know that I have motives very everything I do. That also includes my new "day job." The main purpose of me taking this job is to PROVE to you that you CAN exercise and change your life IF you make it a priority. All too often I have heard (and even from my wife) I don't have time, I work all day. Well guess what, so do I! I also train clients before work, on my lunch break, after work and on the weekends and I STILL find time to work out for my self. So no excuses, get it done!!

3. Fit tip for today

How to calculate your caloric needs. Well there are several ways, but I will tell you after my week long juice fast experiment, we as Americans eat entirely too many calories and I think that most calorie counting equations really over-estimate our activity level. So start by:

take your bw x 10 = daily calorie intake (dci)
then start breaking down your macronutrient intakes

pro-30% (dci) x .3 = daily calories from protein / 4 = grams of pro daily / number of meals you eat a day = grams of protein per meal needed.

carb-40% (dci) x .4 = daily calories from carbs / 4 = grams of carbs daily / number of meals you eat a day = grams of carbs per meal needed.

fat-30% (dci) x .3 = daily calories from fat / 9 = grams of fat daily / number of meals you eat day = grams of fat per meal needed.

Tomorrow we will talk about types of foods needed to fall into those categories of pro, carb and fat.

So stay tuned!! Very excited

Whole lots of stuff!

1. New fat loss diet is going great! I juice veggies 3 times a day, am off my caffeine (and for those who know me is a miracle in itself) and eat tons for dinner. Sounds backwards I know but will keep posting the how and why later on. TOO much to get to today!!

Funny how life throws things together for you that work out well, hence my blog title today. I HIGHLY recommend everyone leave work right now and go watch "tired fat and nearly dead" and "food matters" if you have not, SHOULD change your outlook on nutrition, what you are missing AND how the body can either heal or die quickly and miserably with nutrition. It is all about juicing (not mark mcgwire style, veggie juicing) and how it heals the body so quickly. Also currently in line with my new eating style, although just a coincidence?

2. AS I HAVE ALWAYS SAID-NUTRITION IS EVERYTHING WHEN IT COMES TO WEIGHTLOSS!!! This is me standing on my zebra print office chair (my wife's, dont ask...) screaming out loud!!!! I was going to save this fact for later on but here you go to prove my point:

From some organization that studies obesity, I cannot remember the name but thats not important this is!

A longitudinal study of weight loss showing success results:

1. only 1% lost weight through just exercise
2. only 10% lost weight through just nutrition
3. 89% LOST WEIGHT WITH BOTH DIET AND EXERCISE!!

The point being I have helped hundreds of people change their bodies over the past 8 years and I have had a few that didn't change at all and guess what, their nutrition sucked, they wouldnt change it and thought two hours with me a week was a miracle cure. I do appreciate the compliment but NO TRAINER can fix the average middle age person without the proper nutrition,it is not going to happen no matter what the hell they say. And if a trainer, doctor, or car salesman says they can, run, because they're an idiot.

3. THANK YOU! Thank you to the several who have posted and sent me emails. I would like to say thank you to a mother who emailed me who final got the point that even though her children are skinny now she shouldnt let them be eating what they want. And she is RIGHT (again yelling from my fake animal print chair) because they will not stay skinny!! I was a rug rat, little biddy guy, then BAM!! I looked like I ate the Olsen twins just a couple of years later and it was all down hill from there. And worse yet, should your kids outward appearance not suffer their insides most certainly will!! And they will pass those traits on to their children and so on, kind of like bad financial advice-it transcends generations.

SO focus, items for today:

1. quit work and watch those documentaries
2. dont let skinny kids (or adults) eat whatever they want, they are slowly killing themselves
3. if your goal is weightloss and your nutrition sucks-QUIT now-it wont happen. I know because I have personally sabotage my efforts before as well by thinking my activity would over-ride my poor diet. So how do I fix it, good question from in the back...

1. if it comes in a box, can, or bag DON'T EAT IT!
2. if it once had a mother, EAT IT!
3. if it could survive for more than a week without being refrigerated DON'T EAT IT! Because kids it has what are called preservatives....ooohhhh. And those are bad

Till tomorrow, stay thirsty.......

MT
mattterryfitness@gmail.com

Fat loss diet...

So I am currently reviewing a type of diet, called "the warrior diet" it revolves around how we have evolved over several centuries. Its creator Ori states that:

1. we were never made to eat processed foods
2. we were never made to drink alcohol
3. we were never made to eat trans fats and high sugar foods
5. we were never made to eat several times a day

And he is pretty much right, the reason is that KILLS your gut health (G.I.) And it doesnt matter what you eat if you cannot absorb it. Plus as we age our gut health deteriorates hence the bloatedness and gas most people suffer from.

So how do you fix it? Well I am currently doing it (and trying to kick caffiene, LOOK OUT!)

1. perform a juice fast consisting of three feedings
8 am
noon
4pm

each juice would consist of 2 large carrots, 1/2 cucumber, 2 celery stalks and 1 beet. Just did my first one and it is actually pretty good!

Then at night you eat one large dinner consisting of a green salad first, then a generous serving of protein and a starch.

I will try it all week and see what happens. It is falling in line with much current research (although Ori's book and warrior diet have been around for sometime) that juicing is like putting your gut on steroids, helps speed up the fat loss process right away and give your organs a rest from so much work on digestion.

Plus your grocery bill goes way down!! I will keep you posted.

MT
mattterryfitness@gmail.com

Insulin Sensitivity...yes you want to be!

Insulin sensitivity..what is it and why do I care about it? Well EVERYONE should!

Insulin sensitivity doesnt mean eating candy and listening to Barry Manilow records it is the following example.

So when you are younger and you can eat whatever you want without putting on a pound and your butt doesnt jiggle for a week after eating a big mac you are basically insulin sensitive. Your metabolism is high, operating efficiently and your body doesnt easily store fat. AND your hormones are balanced and at an all time high.

Now fast forward 10 years with the same type of eating behavior. And all of the sudden you have started puttting on weight and cant figure out why. You become that person who says, "well as I have gotten older my metabolism has slowed down so much maintaining my weight has been so hard!" Usually this is said with a candy bar or some other frankenstein creation in one hand and a soda or some other calorie containing beverage in the other. Enter insulin resistance.......it is easy for you to gain weight and hard for you to lose it. If you even look at cheese cake your waist went up by 2 inches! I know because this is me too!

So remember when you were young and you could eat whatever you wanted without putting on weight (or you still have that friend that can eat whatever they want and not get fat-jerks!) those types are insulin sensitive = what we all want to be.

Most people are however the opposite and are insulin resistant. They got this way by eating badly and having too many carbs and too much sugar for too long and their body switched from sensitive to resistant hence the weight management issues.

So how do I reset it back?? Well I am glad you asked and here are some general recommendations:

1. eat every 2.5 hours (protein, fiberous veggies, small amount of starchy carb)
2. moderate your carbs big time-ramp up veggies as much as possible
3. drink lots of green tea
4. take LOTS of fish oil-insulin management recommendations for fish oil can be as high as 30 grams a day!! You can combine this with L-carnitine-a non-essential amino acid-typically 500 mg of L-carnitine for every 3 fish oil capsules and you have a very powerful natural fat loss combo without any stimulant effect.
5. EXERCISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over time you will become leaner, your insulin sensitivity increases and you can slowly add some carbs back in. Below is my actual day to day diet as I too am insulin resistant.

breakfast:
6 egg whites
2 whole eggs
1 cup fiber one
1 cup blueberries
1 cup green tea


mid-morning:
2 scoops casein protein
2 tblspn all natural peanut butter
1 cup celery

lunch:
6 oz chicken
2 cups baby spinach
10 baby carrots
5 baby tomatoes
1 tblspn olive oil as dressing

mid-afternoon
same as mid-morning

Dinner:
6 oz of some meat
2 servings of green veggies
10 baby carrots

Supps: I take 3 fish oil with each meal, multi-vitamin, etc.

Over time your body will adjust, energy levels go up, health issues & inflammation go down = you FEEL and LOOK great!! And guess what, you can still cheat at times. I usually eat 2 meals a week of whatever I want.

next time, nutrtion and establishing calorie intake!!

Insulin management for fat loss

Managing Insulin is not just for diabetics. This is for anyone concerned with either gaining muscle or losing fat. Insulin is the most powerful hormone in the body and is primarily used for storage. It can store either fat or nutrients used to build muscle and repair tissue damage.

So how do you manage it? Depends on your goals really. Lets say your goals are to lose fat. Simple! The easiest way to manage insulin with a fat loss goal is as follows:

1. Eat protein with each meal-it is a blood sugar stabilizer
2. Eat every 2.5 hours-NO MATTER WHAT! studies show insulin really dips at the 3 hour mark, problem with this is your blood sugar drops as well which sends your sugar cravings soaring! At this point you are insulin resistant and will begin to store your carbs you get ready to eat as fat.
3. Keep your sugars low, how low? less than 10g per meal.
4. Meal structure is important as well each meal should include a lean protein, green veggie and a healthy fat (if your goals are fat loss, more on why later)
5. Eat 4 to 6 meals daily (breakfast should be the largest and if you skip it you're an idiot)
6. There are natural supplements such as Relora Plex, Feno Plex, Fish oil, Green tea, Chromium Picolinate-all help with insulin management.

How do you tell if you have insulin management issues? Can you pick a significant amount of fat above your hips, direclty below the rips? Do you have fat below your scapula? Then YES, you have insulin (sometimes called glucose) issues.

Enough for today, its early! Start with this, next time insulin management for muscle gain-then we will get into insulin sensitivity

MT
mattterryfitness@gmail.com