Is your inner voice a nice person?

Our inner voice is a very powerful thing.  It drives our mood and feelings, and it can determine whether we will be successful in our health and fitness journey.

I’d like you to take a few minutes to do an inner voice audit.  Answer the following questions (you may want a pen and pad to write down a few notes):

• Think about your current health or fitness.  What words come to mind?
• What are your health and fitness expectations in one, three, and ten years?
• When you slip up, what is your tendancy?  Do you stay focused on that or do you look to move on?

Now take a few minutes to think about this.  Would you use the same words to address someone you love?

The good news: you can change your inner voice.

I’m currently reading Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, PhD. Yes, I actually read more than just health, fitness, and weight loss books. This best-selling book has been out for a while and has gotten a ton of praise in the business and education fields. That said, I think there are some very practical applications for someone on a health and fitness journey. I’ll include a link to the book at the end of this post.

In the book, Dr. Dweck explains that mindset typically takes one of two natures:

1. Fixed Mindset – People with this mindset believe that we are who we are and cannot change.  They believe intelligence is fixed and cannot be improved with effort.  They believe we are who we are and cannot change our behavior, habits and thoughts. When they fail at something, tend to stick with things they’re good at and avoid the challenge.
2. Growth Mindset – People with this mindset believe that we can change and improve.  They believe intelligence can be improved with effort. They believe we can change and become better people. When they fail, the see it as an opportunity to learn and improve and relish the challenge.

Maybe you feel you have a little bit of both. Or maybe you think intelligence can be improved but we can’t change who we inherently are deep inside.  That’s okay.  Rather you’re squarely in one or the other, or have some of both, you can move into a growth mindset, which in the end is the inner voice you need.

How do I change my inner voice?

You can improve your inner voice with a few practices:

1. Awareness/mindfulness
2. A proof-based mantra – I know I will be healthier because…
3. Gratitude
4. Immediate return to plan

So, is your inner voice a nice person?

If isn’t, now you know you can fix that.

The love diet | Dr. Connie Gutterson

Naked in 30 days | Theresa Roemer

 

Health and Fitness Foundations

When I first launched 40+ Fitness Podcast, I posted an episode each Monday for the first ten weeks that was a lesson that touched on each of the health and fitness foundations in my Forever Fitness Personal Training Program.  These are the principles I share with my clients to help keep them progressing and meeting their health and fitness goals.

Commitment

I start with commitment because without it, you’ll never see success.  Willpower fails, motivation wains and resolutions are dropped.  When you know your “why” and a vision of what health and fitness looks like for you, you can put these together to make a vow.  This vow paired with self-love makes all the difference.  If you really want it, go past making a decision and commit.

Sugar

We get fat because of sugar.  The average American eats 150lbs of sugar per year.  Sugar raises your insulin, which is the core hormone for fat gain.  The only way to successfully lose weight is to reduce your sugar intake.   Aim for 50 grams or less per day and you’re going to see great results.

Success Keys (Persistence, Progression, Patience)

Persistence is what keeps you going, Progression is what keeps the results coming.  Patience is where you’re going to face this challenge over the long-term.  Applied together, these three keys are what all successful people have.

Sleep

Our body goes through some very important functions while we’re asleep.  Our hormone cycle is driven by our sleep.  Memory development and muscle repair also occur during this time.  You’ll want to get 7 – 9 hours per night, but focus on quality rather than quantity.

Water

The liver is responsible for dealing with toxins.  It makes its job easier by pushing the toxins into the fat.  Now that we’re losing weight (aka burning fat), we’re releasing these toxins and the liver is forced to deal with it.  Beyond not adding more toxins, it is important to give the liver plenty of water.

Our brain, joints and skin all use water to perform well.  If you are dehydrated you’re going to look and feel worse.  Your

Plateaus

Our bodies were built to find balance.  For this reason, we will often find ourselves hitting plateaus. You can build in strategies to break through plateaus or avoid them all together.  Periodization can be effective particularly in muscular strength, muscle mass, or endurance.  Or you can look for a way to push past it.  Just don’t quit.

Lab Rat

You are a unique individual.  As a result, what works for someone else may not work for you.  Don’t be afraid to experiment to find the things that will work for you.  Take the time to educate yourself and then apply and tweak your programming and food.

Fitness Modalities

Recognize that there are different fitness modalities and you should consider most of them.  Focusing on one at the detriment of the others will keep you from meeting your goals or accomplishing your vision.  A few fitness modalities to consider follows:

• Muscular strength
• Muscular mass
• Mobility
• Endurance
• Balance
• Agility
• Speed

Strength

Of all the fitness modalities, the one I almost demand my clients do is strength training.  Strength is the most important factor to being healthy and fit.  Heavy lifting boosts testosterone production (libido) and helps maintain strong bones.

Lifestyle

Once you’ve seen success, it is important to shift from this being a project to it being a lifestyle.  If you’ve made good healthy habits, this becomes easy.  Avoid language like diet.  Diets are temporary and when you go back to eating the way you did before, you’ll go back to what you were.  Health and fitness is a continuum.  You can always get better.

Health and fitness is a state of being, not a destination.

We are 100! Best of the past.

 

A funeral for my fat | Sharee Samuels

In her book A Funeral For My Fat, Sharee Samuels chronicles her 100+ pound weight loss over a five year period.

Self Love

One concept that Sharee recommended was for you to write a letter to yourself.  This letter should demonstrate the strength you have and the love you have for yourself.  Documenting this self-love is valuable because you are able to go back and read this letter to yourself when you’re down and out.

Find something you love

Sharee also recommends you find something you love.  For her, workout out was a drudgery, and she could never motivate and push herself.  That was until she found Zumba.  She loved Zumba and that helped her stay motivated and on track with exercise.

Know yourself

Sharee is a big proponent in knowing yourself.  She knows she is not one who can handle moderation.  Therefore she can’t approach food and have just one chip.  She now focuses on her strength, which is planning.  Knowing yourself allows you to take your own path to health and fitness.

Plateau

Sharee uses an acronym – EFFORT to break through a plateau.

• Exercise – Are you doing enough?  Are you doing too much?
• Food – Are you eating too much?  Are you eating enough?
• Focus – Are you focused on your goal?
• Organization – Planning and setting yourself up for success.
• Rest – Are you giving your body the rest it needs?  Are you resting too much?
• Time – Are you rushing the process?  Do you have realistic expectations?

 

Links:

A Funeral For My Fat

Sharee Samuels

 

Todd loses over 300lbs

Ketogenic diet for weight loss

In this episode, I discuss how I used the ketogenic diet for weight loss.  Ketosis is a physical phenomenon, where your body adapts to using fat for energy instead of sugar. Susan, who you met on episode 142, joined me on this conversation so she can ask questions as I went.  I switched my eating to allow me to go into ketosis so I could drop some weight I’d gained over the past few months.

To get into ketosis, you lower your carbohydrates (carbs) to 20 grams or less and you increase your fat to make up the calories. You’ll keep your protein moderate to ensure it doesn’t spike your blood sugar.

In ketosis, your body burns the fat and produces ketones.  These ketones can be used by the brain as fuel.  In fact, most of the science on ketosis shows that the brain favors ketones.   I know I feel better when I’m in ketosis.

Concerns with Ketosis

• Ketoacidosis – This is a dangerous condition that is typically limited to type I diabetics. In this condition, your ketone level gets dangerously high and the blood sugar is also high.  This is a very rare condition and not something you’ll
• Compliance – The ketogenic diet is difficult.  It is not easy to go from being a sugar burner to a fat burner.  Staying at 20 grams of carbs per day is very limiting.  Fortunately, once you’re in ketosis, you may be able to ratchet up your carb intake.
• Carb withdrawal/Keto flu – During the transition, you’ll likely have some fatigue, effectively feeling like you have the flu.
• Medications – If you’re a diabetic and take meds to help manage your blood sugar, you should talk to your doctor.  You’ll have to monitor yourself very closely.  The ketogenic diet can be an effective way to reverse diabetes.

Ketogenic Diet Tools

You should be able to feel that you’re in ketosis, but there are tools to measure ketones.  To be in nutritional ketosis you will have a ketone reading of 0.5 – 7:0.  You can measure ketones three ways:

• Keto-sticks are a cost effective way to measure the ketone bodies in your urine.  However, once you get fat adapted, you won’t be excreting ketones, and they will stop working.  This makes them great for showing that you’re in ketosis when you first start.
• The Precision Plus with ketone strips can measure the ketones in your blood.  This is the most accurate way to determine when you’re in ketosis.
• The Ketonix is a tool you can use to measure ketones in your breath.  This is a pain and mess free way to do the measurement.  I haven’t seen any science to prove this tool is as accurate as the blood.

Other Considerations for the Ketogenic Diet

• Tweak your protein intake based on your exercise intensity.
• Make sure you’re getting enough sodium and potassium.  With a ketogenic diet, you’ll lose water weight and with that some electrolytes.
• You’ll likely lose some water weight early in the ketogenic diet.
• There are extraneous sources of ketones that you can take to increase the ketones.  These can help when you need more energy.
• Medium-Chain Triglycerides (MCT), which is processed from coconut oil.  Because of the nature of this oil, it increased your ketone level quickly.  Just make sure you ease into using it as it can cause diarrhea.

Whether you choose to use ketosis as a way to lose weight, now you understand what it is when you hear someone talking about it.  More and more people are trying ketosis.

If you have any questions about the ketogenic diet, feel free to comment on this post.

Have a happy and healthy day!

Allan

Below are the links I mentioned in the podcast.

Keto-stix

Precision Plus with Keto Strips

Ketonix

Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore

The scoop on ketosis with Jimmy Moore

Why didn’t I lose weight with crossfit?

Today we’re discussing a listener question from Kelley. Kelley has done Crossfit for four years, but didn’t experience much weight loss. She finally decided to stop once her back started hurting. Today, she is swimming and walking every day. She wants to get back into weight lifting but needs guidance on what types of lifting to incorporate and how much to do.

Some important notes about Kelley include that she has metabolic syndrome. This means she is insensitive to insulin, and this overproduction can cause her body to store the excess as fat. Kelley is also maintaining a low carb, high protein diet.

Crossfit is a metabolically challenging program. It includes metabolic conditioning, where one will be moving significantly—running, jumping, lifting. It’s a very dynamic that puts a strong demand on the body to have the endurance to get through. Because of this, one may experience much hunger after a workout, which can lead to eating more. Once again, the body fat loss will typically plateau. This may explain why Kelley did not lose much weight with Crossfit.

Kelley should consider lifting again, as lifting does slightly increase your metabolism over time and can lead to weight loss. However, she should also continue walking and swimming. Also, she may not need as much protein as she’s taking in. If she consumes too much, that excess will be stored as fat. This may be why she is seeing spikes in her blood sugar. If Kelley reduces her protein intake and adds in healthy fats such as fish, grass fed beef, and nuts, this will also help with regulating her hormone cycle.

When Kelley lifts weights again, she should incorporate one full body lifting session in place of one of her other exercises. She should work in the low to moderate rep range and use moderate to heavy weights. Taking these steps will be a great alternative to Crossfit and will assist in attaining the weight loss Kelley is trying to achieve.

You can get the guide on how to manage your hormones at older.fitness/glands.

If you’d like your questions answered, you can contact me on speakpipe and I may include your question on the show.

 

Nelson finds crossfit

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music

Fat 101

I received a request on Facebook to discuss body fat in more detail. Consider this Body Fat 101. Body fat can be complex, as there are different types of fat and various reasons for it to be stored. Specifically, there are two types of body fat. The first is white adipose tissue, where energy is stored as fat. The second type of fat is brown adipose tissue, which generates heat. Brown adipose tissue is something you will want to have.

It’s also important to consider where the body fat is stored. Visceral or abdominal fat is packed between the organs. This is a bad fat. Abdominal fat is linked to insulin resistance, heart disease, and inflammatory disease. It is more common in men, but as women get older, their bodies may shift toward a tendency to store more body fat in the abdomen. Subcutaneous fat is located under the skin and muscles. This type is not as dangerous as the abdominal fat. If you are in good shape, simply try to keep your body fat in a reasonable, healthy range.

It’s important to note that eating dietary fat does not give you body fat. In fact, it is the insulin response to blood sugar that causes fat storage. When you eat simple carbohydrates and processed foods loaded with sugar, your blood sugar and insulin will spike and lead to a gain in body fat. This is why it is important to eat sensible, real food and avoid processed foods.

Contrary to popular belief, the scale is not an accurate way to measure body fat. Great ways to get an accurate body fat measurement include being evaluated by a professional or using a DEXA scan. The DEXA scan will not only measure body fat, but also indicate your bone density.

To better understand your personal Body Fat 101, be sure to take measurements of your body and use tools at your disposal to estimate your body fat. For more information on health and fitness measures, visit http://older.fitness/measures to obtain a helpful guide.

How to of strength and mass

 

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music

Dealing with weight loss plateaus

In a health and fitness journey, there is one certainty. At one point or another, progress will slow and a weight loss plateau may occur. You may be doing all the right things, but the weight has simply stopped coming off. Perhaps the number on the scale is ebbing and flowing. This can last for days, weeks, or even months in a weight loss plateau.

Do a self-evaluation. Evaluate the quality and quantity of your food. Did you stop eating well? Start doing your food logs again. Are you stressed? A cortisol response with stress could be causing your body to store fat. If you’re having trouble being objective, you may consider bringing in a coach for ideas on how to improve.

Don’t overlook the importance of progression and patience. Over time, you will see great progression. At first, you may see drastic improvements—big losses of body fat and advances in strength. But over time, your body will level out in this plateau. You may come out of a plateau, only to end up in another plateau yet again. This is normal. Your body is trying to find balance.

Make sure you’re looking at several different measurements, not just the number on the scale. Check out this free infographic, 7 Health and Fitness Measures That Matter, to consider some other measurements. If you’re not seeing progress in one area, chances are you will see progress in other areas.

The key is to focus on health first. Stay on the plan. Don’t panic and don’t quit. Continue to work on what is showing results, keep progressing, and tweak the plan as you go. Have the patience to stay the course and you will overcome this temporary weight loss plateau.

 

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music