The devil is in the dose.

If you browse around the cyber-inter-web-o-sphere and look around for ‘healthy nutrition’ information you’ll likely find a big list of  “items to avoid”.

Here are some of the common ones I can think of off the top of my head:

Saturated Fat

Trans Fat

Sugar

Artificial Sweeteners

Genetically Modified Anything (which is ridiculous considering about 80% of the modern food supply has some level of modification…these people are living in a fantasy world)

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Non Local Foods (the 100 mile diet people think it’s possible to eat just from their local area…with no conception of how impossible this is from an economic standpoint)

Red Meat

Butter

Refined White Flour (or anything that is made with white flour)

I’m guessing you recognize most of the items on this list and have heard or read somewhere why each one is “bad for you”.

So whats left to eat?

Some veggies, maybe a bit of fruit…perhaps an egg white…

But even too many of one type of veggie could cause a problem if nothing more than some serious gastro intestinal discomfort.

The point is that none of these things are bad at a manageable dose.

The issue with most foods is never the food itself, it’s always the dose.

A teaspoon of sugar in your coffee just makes it a really tasty coffee.

Consuming pounds of sugar on a weekly basis in the form of sweet snacks, dressings, baked goods etc…now you’re asking for diabetes.

Just remember that the devil is always in the dose never in the food itself.

John

I don't care how many calories this burns, there's got to be an easier way.

This is a message I just got from a friend of mine which pretty much sums up the reason exercise can’t do much for weight loss unless you’re really watching your calories:

“30 minutes of very high intensity boxing– dripping sweat, almost puked: probaby burned 400 calories, tops

Slaving away in the gym isn't the answer to reducing blood pressure.

I was browsing some headlines on the interwebs today and I found an interesting report about a study about fatness vs fitness and risk of high blood pressure.

In general the study showed that fatness was linked to high blood pressure even if those people scored well on ‘fitness’ tests.

The more interesting part was the fact that a higher level of ‘fitness’ only seemed to matter for people who had lower/normal bodyfat levels.

This just reminds me how sad it is to see people wasting their money on personal trainers in big fitness clubs trying to lose weight by exercising (assuming they’re not changing their diet, which it is obvious that many of them aren’t).

The worst part is, not only are they not losing weight, they’re not even reducing their risk of heart disease or their blood pressure.

So the morals of this very short story are:

1) Losing weight will have a much bigger impact on decreasing your blood pressure.

2) Staying overweight and trying to build up your ‘fitness’ level by doing cardio isn’t going to help you reduce your blood pressure (and therefore will have little impact on reducing risks of heart disease).

3) Becoming more ‘fit’ only seems to help further improve blood pressure in those people who already have normal bodyfat levels (as measured by BMI)

Focus on reducing weight to reduce your blood pressure and risk of heart disease. Once you’ve got the weight down you can start thinking about improving your ‘fitness’.

John

Some people in your life might try to sabotage your weight loss success.

If you’ve decided to lose weight and announced this decision to various friends and family you’ve likely been faced with mixed reactions.

This is because the idea of weight loss hits at a very deep emotional level for just about everyone. This is because it’s a conscious decision to change your body.

Which could also be taken as a open admission that you’re not currently happy/satisfied with your body…otherwise why the hell would you be trying to lose weight.

I think it’s perfectly fine and normal for people to want to strive to change the look/shape of their body. After all, it’s your body, so it’s your right to choose what you’d like to do with it.

When you tell someone you want to lose weight and you get a less than favorable reaction, it’s more than likely that they’ve got a body weight and self perception issue that is causing the negative reaction. It’s not that they’re really don’t want you to lose weight, it’s that if you’re successful it will somehow make them feel worse about themselves.

This is something you need to be aware of if/when you ever set out to lose weight and are looking for some social support.

Choose the people you tell wisely.

I like to call it ‘recruiting your weight loss team’. Some people will be very supportive, while others will be a drag on your progress and make you feel lousy about trying.  If this ever happens just realize that their negativity is not about you, it’s about them.

If you are in the middle of a weight loss program,  I suggest taking an inventory of everyone who is positive and supportive and those that are a drag and negative about it. From there you can either cut back the amount of time you spend with the negative people, cut them out completely, or if they’re really important people ask them to support you no matter how it makes them feel cuz it’s important to you.

Weight loss is tough enough, having anyone around you that is trying to sabotage it will make it almost impossible. It’s your job to be aware of who the likely saboteurs might be and insulate yourself from them.

John

An example of what steroids can do. Jose Canseco, the only honest man in baseball.

So I guess the general theme this week is “hormones”. So the next topic that we’re going to cover was sent in by Jason and this is about steroid muscle vs natural muscle.

This is a tricky topic because most celebrities, athletes and bodybuilders don’t admit or disclose the drugs they use so it’s hard to match a look with the drugs it took to get that look.

In other words, even though certain athletes have openly admitted to steroid use we still don’t know how much they used, for how long and most of all, we can never know for certain how big, strong and lean they would have been if they didn’t use.

So we’re left guessing and putting together the puzzle with only some of the pieces and no idea what the puzzle picture really looks like.

If you’ve been around the steroid sub culture or used them for any length of time they you have a good idea of what they can do and how your body will change…and how fast it will change.

You also gain some appreciation and insight into spotting other steroid users. There are a few characteristics that just become obvious if you’ve been on the inside.

1) Rapid strength gain. It’s pretty obvious when a guy is using drugs because is overall strength and the rate of is strength gain are massively accelerated.

2) Rounding bloated look. the muscle bellies of a guy on steroids seem to have a rounder, fuller more bloated look that natural guys can never really achieve. This is a subtle difference that many non users wont notice. But guys in the know can pick it out pretty easily as they can remember when they had the same effect and also know that it’s impossible to get that effect without drugs.

3) Overall size. There is a limit to natural muscle growth and when you see a guy who is simply far too big for his frame it becomes obvious that he’s using some extra help to get there.

4) Facial bloating. Many steroids will change the look of the face giving it a slightly fuller/bloated look. This is a dead giveaway for many guys.

These are just some of the visual cues that a guy is using steroids.

Natural guys who want to build muscle should try not to use a steroid induced look as their ideal that they’re shooting for. With that said it will be difficult to know if the person who you are role modeling uses drugs or not. The 4 guidelines above are at least a start to know if you’re chasing an ideal that you simply cannot catch without drugs.

If you don’t want to use drugs then you need to find a body image ideal that is drug free so you can set your expectations accordingly.

If you you do use drugs then the sky is the limit and the more you use the bigger you’ll get. But the quality of your look will still come down to conditioning and how and what you use and how much you use.

The bottom line with drug use is that the person with the best genetics to begin with will still look the best given the same amount of drugs (I’m talking competition level here).

It doesn’t really matter to me which path you’re on, it’s your body and its your rules so knock yourself out. I don’t believe anyone else has the right to tell you what you can or can’t put into your body. It’s really the only piece of property you have in the world that is mostly yours (and even with that the gov still tries to tell you what you can and can’t do with it)

Anyway, the point is to try and set a body image ideal that is consistent with what you’re doing to achieve it.

For guys and muscle building it typically boils down to:

a) Whether you are using drugs or not

b) Finding a body image ideal that was built using drugs or not

That latter is the tricky part as most steroid user’s don’t broadcast their use. The only way to know for sure is if you know them personally.

John

Ed Corney is a champion bodybuilder winning pro competitions well past the age of 60!

Still on the lines of our hormone theme is the question of what causes age related muscle atrophy (also known as sarcopenia), this is a question Jackson had.

Basically there are two things going on with age related muscle loss.

1) Lack of use

2) Lower anabolic hormone levels as we age

There hasn’t really been a generation of people who have lived a muscle building and weight training lifestyle for their entire life. Even many of the fathers of bodybuilding have given up with weight training as they’ve aged. So we really don’t have too many examples of people who have stuck to weight training their whole life. (which is a shame and I think a big mistake)

I think my generation will be one of the first to have a significant amount of people who will lift weights for their entire adult life…so we’ve still got decades to go before we get to see what the results of a lifetime of weight training really are!

This is kinda sad because we know scientifically that one of the only things we can do to stop (or slow down) age related muscle loss is weight training. If anything you should be doing more weight training as you get older not less. And it doesn’t matter when you start. Even if you’re 50 years old and you’ve never lifted weights before it’ll still have dramatic effects.

So you better start.

The #1 thing you can do to maintain a youthful body and appearance is weight training, hands down. It stimulates the muscle cell repair and growth as well as improving neuromuscular function, balance and overall quality of life, not to mention the positive effects in can have on your mind and emotional states as well.

So lifting weights is essential to preventing muscle loss as you get older.

The next part is hormones.

As you age your muscle building hormones start to decline (testosterone and growth hormone).

It’s already becoming popular among older celebrities to dose growth hormone in an effort to recapture some of their youthful body appearance and feel. I would also suggest testosterone as a viable option for older males as well.

In the next 10-20 years I fully expect physicians to be using various anabolic hormones to help keep muscle mass, tone, strength and vigor at more youthful levels in the aging population.

It will likely have a big impact on the quality of life as the baby boomers becomes older and move into their 60′s 70′s and beyond.

Hormonal replacement therapy along with weight training could go a long way to keep a youthful looking and feeling body far into the golden years.

John

Do you feel like someone is purposely putting barriers between you and weight loss success?!

Losing weight isn’t exactly a walk in the park, if it were that simple nobody would have a weight problem and we wouldn’t be talking about it right now (and I wouldn’t be writing an entire program on how to do it)

Through my experiences working with bodybuilders, fitness competitors, varsity athletes and regular personal training clients I’ve developed what I think is the simplest system for losing weight.

Most of us fall into rather predictable categories when it comes to our barriers and hurdles to overcome to achieve weight loss success.

But I don’t want to assume that I’ve seen and heard them all…so I’m asking you to let me know what your personal hurdles and barriers are for weight loss.

This could be anything from negative self talk (the battle that seems to be going on in your mind)

Hot button foods you can’t control yourself around.

People in your life who are negative influences that seem to pull you down instead of supporting you.

Situations and events you find yourself at that seem to promote overeating instead of sensible eating (this could be holidays, at work, with friends, with your kids, socially…wherever)

And anything else that I haven’t brought up here.

In general I think we all have something in each of the categories I’ve listed above but I’m sure there are other things I’ve left out here that you’re dealing with.

Whatever it is I’d really like to know about it, so if you don’t mind sharing can you put your personal hurdles and barriers to weight loss in the comments section so we can all feel a bit more normal with the challenge of weight loss (because we’re all likely feeling the same as each other and just haven’t really told anyone yet)

I’ll start.

I got caught up thinking I needed to be big (bulky muscular big). I actually got scared of losing muscle mass if I tried to lose weight (fat) so I got caught in a perpetual ‘bulking’ phase. I spent years just being fat/overweight simply due to my fear or being too skinny if I lost to much weight.

I also have hot button foods like chicken wings that I can’t stop eating if I’m in front of them (so I have to make sure I’ve budgeted them into my weekly calorie count if I go out to eat them…cuz man I’ll put back 30 of them no problem)

I also have buddies who are big eaters and when I’m around them it’s really hard not to overeat, so I have to pick and choose when I go out with them so that I can still eat and enjoy their company without it getting awkward while I eat a salad and they’re chowing pizza wings and burgers.

So those are my weight loss issues and I’ve managed to overcome them all but I had to become aware of them before I knew how to get over them.

What are yours?

John

For Most of us a lack of Thyroid Hormone is NOT the cause of weight gain.

Sticking with the hormone theme we’re going to discuss thyroid hormone today based on a request from Lillea.

I’ll try to knock this out in a way that makes sense without leading to more questions but rather leading to at least some sort of understanding.

Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 are released from your thyroid gland (located in your neck) and they affect all cells of your body. They basically tell the cell what pace to work at (this is a very unscientific term but you get the point)

Too much thyroid hormone and your cells start working overtime, this can lead to a whole host of problems including irritability, restlessness, anxiety, hair loss, muscle aches, intolerance to heat, weakness, tremors, hypoglycemia, and many other symptoms, one of them being weight loss.

But any weight loss effect you might get from being hyperthyroid isn’t worth living with the other effects.

In short, it would really suck!

The most common cause is an autoimmune disease known as “graves disease”, a less common cause is an inflammation of the thyroid gland (there are also other even more rare causes that aren’t worth discussing here)

Hypothyroid is the reverse (having low thyroid output) which may also be caused by an inflammation of the thyroid.

Some of the symptoms are fatigue, depression, cold intolerance, muscle cramps, poor muscle tone, osteoporosis, weight gain, water retention.

In summary, hypothyroidism would also suck!

The point being that hormonal manipulation to cause weight loss (in this case thyroid hormone) is likely not a viable option considering all of the other issue it could present.

If you feel like you have a weight problem because of an underactive thyroid this can easily be tested for, and you would likely have many other symptoms as well.

With that said, underactive thyroid is rare and in most people’s cases they’re perfectly healthy and simply eat a bit too much.

So if you REALLY think you have a thyroid problem I suggest doing some simple google type internet research first and then booking an appointment with your physician to get yourself tested if you seem to have the signs and symptoms of thyroid deficiency.

BUT if you make it all the way to getting tested don’t be surprised if your levels are perfectly normal and that most of your signs and symptoms weren’t due to thyroid deficiency but rather an inactive lifestyle.

John

Imagine Your Body is a Race Car and You're the Driver

Certain hormones have become buzz words in the diet and fitness media and I get a lot of questions about them. People want to know more about each hormone that they’ve heard of like, insulin, glucagon, growth hormone, leptin, ghrelin etc.

But my question back would be…what for?

Having a technical explanation of the workings of a particular hormone (which btw is impossible without taking a physiology degree to understand it) isn’t going to make you any better at losing weight or controlling the look and feel of your body.

Imagine your body is like a car, how you drive it, where you take it and how you treat it, and what you put into it is going to determine how successful you will be at weight loss…getting a mechanic to explain the inner workings of the engine and the transmission isn’t really going to change your ability to drive.

What you need is a driving coach, not a mechanic. (which is the difference between having a weight loss coach and asking some scientist to explain a hormonal pathway)

So this is my answer to every question about every hormone.

For starters we should just define what a hormone is.

In the simplest terms and hormone is just a chemical messenger that is usually (but not always) released in one part of the body and travels to another part of the body to tell a system/orgran/group of cells to change/augment it’s function.

The original location of the hormone and it’s destination is different and varies from one hormone to the next.

For example insulin is secreted by the pancreas and exerts an effect at the liver and muscle and fat tissues all over your body to uptake nutrients.

Leptin is produced by adipose tissue (fat cells) and goes to a spot in your brain (hypothalamus) and has some effect on appetite which isn’t fully understood.

Growth hormone is secreted from a gland in your brain and has effects on all tissues of the body, promoting lipolysis, muscle growth and cellular repair just to name a few.

Each of these and hundreds more hormones are doing their thing all day long regardless if you’ve read about them or not.

The point is that knowing anything more about these hormones isn’t going to help you lose weight…but finding a way to eat less calories will!

I think too many people are getting caught up worrying about what his under the hood of the car when all they really need to do is spend more time practicing driving.

John

Best Sumo Wrestler EVER!

Body fat is distributed all over your body but it’s not an even distribution. For example there is a at least a little bit of fat stored in places like your forehead and the back of your hands, but obviously this isn’t a major fat storage site.

For men the main site of fat storage is the gut/belly, and for women it is a mix of hips/thigh/butt and belly.

Each person will have a slightly different specific pattern but the general trend for men and women are more or less the same.

There are different specific locations of the fat.

Visceral fat is the fat that is stored underneath your abs and is all around your organs. This is basically what makes up a ‘gut’. Researchers are finding out that this fat is what contributes to a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes)

Subcutaneous fat is the stuff just under your skin that you can pinch. This fat also accumulates in the belly area for a double whammy on top of visceral fat. Lower body fat is also subcutaneous.

Intra-muscular fat is within the muscles themselves.

We store fat close to the middle of our bodies simply because from an evolutionary and functional perspective it allows us to still move around and use our arms and legs.

Think of it the other way around. If we stored all of our fat in our arms hands feet and legs it would be a functional disaster. We wouldn’t be able to walk or move our arms.

So as people get heavier they start to look like a sphere, with the additional fat all accumulating in the gut and butt area.

The reason it seems to take so long to burn fat from these areas is simply because more fat accumulates in there.

It takes longer to remove enough fat from these areas to see a difference. So when you’re losing weight it shows up in places with minimal fat first, such as your face, hands and arms. This doesn’t mean you’re not also losing fat from your belly or hips/butt, it just means there is more to lose from those spots and it doesn’t show as quickly.

We don’t like to admit it, but many of us have or had enough fat stored in our bellys/hips/butt that a 10-20lbs loss still doesn’t look like much…that just means you have another 20 to go before these area’s really start to look lean.

Every fitness competitor and bodybuilder I’ve known or worked with is always shocked the first time they diet down and realize how much fat they really had to lose.

It’s always more than they think, and they always end up lighter than they guessed they would be by contest time.

John