Your Excuses ... Busted

For some or other reason I have had to deal with a lot of excuses lately from clients and friends who have very “legitimate” reasons as to why the potential Elle McPherson inside them is hiding behind a Bridget Jones… or worse. So today I will tackle the most common excuse I have been hearing this week: “I don’t have time to exercise!”

The truth is, we all have the same amount of time. Yep, 24 hours in a day, no matter who you are, where you are, etc. How we use these hours is the key and basically people spend their hours doing things they really must do (e.g. go to work, do the chores) and things they like to do. And since exercise seldom falls into any of these two categories (particularly at the beginning) it needs to be important enough to feature in your daily schedule. But be honest now… on your list of priorities where does exercise fall? Is it even on the list? Here is what I actually hear when you guys give me your reasons for skipping that workout:

• Exercise is boring. The little conversation with the regular gym bunnies in between sets is nothing compared to Desperate Housewives. There is no drama, no excitement, no immediate fun. Shame!
• There are no immediate consequences to skipping a workout. It's not like you'll gain 10 pounds or suddenly get heart disease if you miss one day. Plus, you keep reading in all the glossy mags that three times a week is enough, so surely you can do it tomorrow, right? Well, before you know it, a month has passed and 5 pounds have stuck to your ribs! (I know… it was just Sam’s birthday party… followed by the deadline at work and by James’ house move and… and… and…)
• You're waiting for things to calm down. Haven't you figured it out yet? Life doesn't calm down as we get older. Jobs, kids, family, social obligations...they're never going to go away. If you're waiting for a clear schedule, you'll be waiting for a long time. If you really want to exercise, find a way to do it now.
• You're waiting to fall in love with exercise. Think you'll suddenly wake up one morning, itching to get to that workout? It just doesn't work that way. You have to work at it every day and find that motivation wherever you can.
• You get frustrated by lack of results. It is not your fault that you got caught up in the immediate gratification thing… it’s just how the world is today, right? Nope! We may be able to get things easy from the store, get information on our fingertips and chat to friends on Facebook but some things stay the same. Ask the farmers in Orange Free State. You want to get oranges… you have to work at it till the little seed becomes a tree and then three years later you will get your fruit!
• You don't have huge chunks of time to do all this exercise. That’s the crappiest of excuses out there! No really! If you do it right, you can get a workout in 10 minutes and kick butt in 20! So, get off your bum right now!

So, here are some ideas you may want to try to get on the exercise wagon… and stay there:

- Get up an hour earlier and go for a run first thing in the morning – just like a boring chore. Then you don’t need to worry about it for the rest of the day.

- Schedule your yoga class in your diary just like you would any other business meeting. Write “appointment” (as opposed to “yoga”) and don’t let anyone talk you into changing your schedule.

- Split your routine into mini-workouts: when you need to use the bathroom, go to the one three storeys down in your office building and walk back up; walk to a café two blocks away at lunch time (instead of the one in front of your building) and climb up the stairs of your flat when you go home. When meeting friends at the Waterfront, park at the lot next to the Radisson hotel and walk to there and back. (Bonus, that parking is free!). The possibilities are endless!

- Cut TV time to 3 hours a week! I mean can you really argue that watching Will & Grace is more important than looking good? If so, I am busy making T-shirts that say “I am fat cause I love TV”; call me and I will organise you one! Think about all the programs that you watch weekly and decide which of them you could sacrifice for some exercise. It’s OK to have a “TV night” but remember… too many TV nights equal a large behind. You decide what’s more worth it!

Why don’t you guys share your ideas and how you manage to find time to clock in your fitness routine?

Ciao!

Jeni

Let's Talk Breakfast

Hey guys,

It is mid-August already (can you believe it!) and all my clients seems to be panicking about September and their shape! I personally am yet to understand why September is the holy grail month that everyone targets, I mean beach weather only comes towards November in Cape Town, yet if that’s the date that gets you guys motivated, then let’s get going!

Someone asked me this week if they can only change one thing, what should that be. I didn’t have to think twice about it. BREAKFAST, of course! Now how many of you haven’t heard that breakfast is the most important thing of the day? I thought so… Do you know why it’s so important?

The easiest way to explain it is that breakfast is like the foundation of your meals for the rest of the day. So, just like you can’t skip primary school, get into grade four and expect flying colours in all subjects, you will have a hard time eating right later in the day if you skip breakfast. Further, eating the right kind of breakfast (like something with loads of fibre, e.g. oats or bran flakes) will keep you regular and you will definitely notice reduction in bloating, if you are suffering from it in the first place.

Plus, breakfast is an easy meal to get right. I mean, how many of you feel like a Snickers bar and a can of Coke of breakfast? Just the thought of something so sweet early in the morning is off-putting! It is much easier to control what you eat for breakfast than any other meal of the day.

While on the subject, the second most common question I deal with (after “you have to eat breakfast every day, even if not hungry!”) is “what should I eat then?”. I am one for variety! As far as I am concerned, you can have a different thing every day and you can make a daily ritual out of it. For me, Monday is protein breakfast day. I eat scrambled eggs (only one yolk and three whites), reduced fat feta cheese and some tomatoes or cucumber. Plus coffee. Tuesdays are smoothies days (probably cause I always oversleep on Tuesdays and need something I can consume while driving to clients!). On Wednesday I will eat bran flakes with fat free milk and strawberries and so forth.

Generally speaking, slow cooking oats, the ones with the large flakes) are better than instant ones. Bran flakes are better than corn flakes, oaties (however their name is spelt) or crispies. Egg whites (with one yolk), scrambled in a tea spoon of olive oil are better than fried eggs. But most importantly, eating breakfast, any breakfast, is better than not eating one at all.

So, to those of you who want to get in tip top shape as soon as possible: I have one piece of advice for you – eat! First thing in the morning. Even if you don’t feel like it. Even if it means you have to cook something before dawn. It is worth your while. I promise.

Ciao!

Jeni

What Makes It Work?

Hi guys,

A prospective client asked me a question today that is so simple and so profound that I decided to write about it in the blog…

She is 32 years old and has apparently tried everything to lose weight – from fat loss shakes to anti-cellulite creams to liposuction. Needless to say, nothing worked for long enough. “So, what is it about your approach” she asked “that makes it work?”

The answer is so simple yet so difficult to comprehend… What makes the program work is YOU. You are the only one that has that power. I can (and will) be there to guide you, teach you, support you, push you when you need me to, but YOU need to pull it together. It is your responsibility, your battle, and ultimately – your reward.

Now the tough step to overcome, particularly for someone who has been overweight for a long time is the lack of faith in your own ability. Throughout the years you have probably told yourself time and time again that you are not going to eat those cookies, will get on the workout wagon from Monday or will eat healthily from January 1^st. And, of course, time and time again you have broken your own promise. You have failed yourself enough times to lose all confidence in yourself.

Well, guess what. It doesn’t have to be this way. I know it has been like this for a while, but you can change that. In fact, once you try you will see that keeping your promise to yourself is not that hard. You just have to promise to yourself that you can and will invest the time and effort to get your body in shape. You have to convince yourself that you are worth it (yep, just like the L’oreal ad!).

I am going to say it again: the first step in winning the battle of the bulge is to believe that you can do it. And yes, you can! I don’t care how overweight you are! So, give yourself permission to succeed and get on with the program (so to speak)! Summer is about 8 weeks away!

Ciao!

Jeni

The Deamon of "Boredom Eating"

Hi,

Winter is the time of “comfort eating” according to many… It is the time to curl under the blanket, read romantic novels or watch DVD’s and sip on decadent Cadbury’s Hot Chocolate (complete with full cream milk and chocolate shavings).

While I fully appreciate the rationale of this argument, I tend to disagree with the terminology. I would classify “the winter munchies” more as boredom eating rather than comfort eating. We, Capetownians particularly, are used to be out there. The beaches, the mountains, the parks, the malls… We simply love to be “outside” and “to do stuff”.

But what happens in winter? The South Easter starts blowing faster than the speed limit of city roads, the rain and subsequent mudslides make our usual hangouts inaccessible and with the current economic crunch, the mall isn’t such a viable option either. So, what do we do? We eat!

Eating more than what we need on a daily basis will invariably result to excess storage (remember the cookies in the jeans back pocket) and by the end of winter we will spot “the winter 5” (which is kind of like “the freshman 10 (pounds)” in the first year of Varsity life). Not to mention that the dark cold mornings and early dusk (which apparently make gym an impossible option) don’t help much either.

OK, so what can you do about it?

Sorry to break it to you guys, but losing weight is not going to get easier because you have a “justifiable” reason for gaining it in the first place. (I am told time and time again by my clients that gaining weight in winter is “justified”…)

Thus, the easiest way to deal with the problem is to avoid it altogether. I can understand that your “entertainment” options are limited in winter. I can even understand how you may feel that dragging yourself for a walk, or heaven forbid a full-blown exercise session, is virtually impossible. But what I can’t understand is why you must fill the void with food. Why can’t you call a friend, read a novel, watch DVD, whatever… without shoving pounds of artery-clogging cholesterol in your mouth? In fact, I challenge you to give it a try. It is not THAT horrible… I promise!

Ciao!

Jeni

The Walking vs. Running Debate

I know, I know....
Running sucks!

It is really hard work, compared to the leisurely stroll in the park with friends that Shape magazine promises "will get you in bikini form in no time". You get all sweaty and your cheeks are as scarlet as stove hot plates!

Plus, everywhere you look, "experts" tell you that it really doesn't matter if you run or walk - you will burn the same amount of calories if you cover the same distance, right?

So, then why should you strain your joints (and willpower) and run, you ask?

First things first. The above "experts" are correct. Let me say that again: you burn the same amount of calories, whether you walk or run the same distance. So, walking 5km will burn the same calories as running 5 km.

Yet, there are differences. Subtle ones, but they build up to a lot in the long run (excuse the pun!).

To start off with, there is the time factor. Walking 5km (if you are a 5.5km an hour leisurely-
stroll type) will take you just under one hour. If you were to run the same distance (at say 10km/hour... not particularly fast) you will be done in just 30 minutes. It gets worse as the distance grows!
Remember, one of the reasons you started the whole weight loss thing was to enjoy life, right. It will be hard to do so, if you have to spend more and more of your precious time exercising simply because you don't feel like picking up the pace!

Then there is the intensity! Intensity is important, because it works almost the same way as compound interest! It really adds up!

Because running requires so much more energy than walking, your heart rate gets really high. (In other words, your muscles need more oxygen, so the blood needs to get to them faster to deliver that oxygen; the only way to make that happen is if your heart pumps double time to make sure enough oxygen gets transported.) When you stop running, your heart rate doesn't just drop back to normal. It takes a while. Like 2-2.5 hours, actually! So throughout these follow-up hours your body is still using much more energy than normal. Sounds like little, but can work up to 2-3kg of extra weight loss a month (depending on how fast you ran and how much you weighed to begin with) but definitely a worth while difference, achieved from simple recovery!

On the other hand, after you finished your stroll, you are back to square one (low calorie burning mode). But because you feel you did "exercise" and you were sooo good, you figure "I can reward myself with something to eat!. And this is where your problem gets worse.

It is highly unlikely that you will feel like something sweet after a run. After a walk, however, things are different. Need any more reasons to pick up a jog this afternoon?

Ciao!

Jeni

The Diet Vs. Exercise Debate

Albeit my best intentions, I opted to stay at home and watch TV this weekend, having just been greeted by the windy wet Cape Town winter this morning (while going for a run, of course!). DSTV has never been on my household's priority list, so watching the Comrades Marathon on SABC2 was the best "entertainment" option available. Seeing the large number of overweight runners who managed to cross the finish line of such a grueling race, I decided to attack a question that many a new customer of mine have asked:
"Between exercise and diet, what is the most effective weight loss solution?"

Those of you who know me, clearly know that I am an exercise junkie. I mean, I literally live at the gym! So, surprisingly to you, friends, I actually believe that watching what you eat will help you melt the pounds off a lot faster than any exercise regime. The overweight runners this weekend are simply a case in point!

Having said that, I do not mean that exercise is not important. On the contrary! But exercise and diet fulfill different roles in the slimming quest.

Here is what I mean:
If you want to change your size, then focus on your diet.
If you want to change your shape, exercise is your best bet.

If you were to simply watch your diet as a means to weight loss, what will happen is - you will lose weight. Initially, it will go relatively fast, and as time goes by, your body will get used to functioning on less food, until the weight loss eventually comes to a halt. As I said, you will lose some weight in the process, but your shape will remain the same. So, from a big fat person, you will become a little fat person.

Now, let's add some exercise.
Firstly, you will be burning some extra calories while working out. You don't need to be a brain surgeon to figure that out!
Secondly, you will build a bit of muscle. (This is the same as what some of you call toning.) Now, muscle gives you a double benefit. On the one hand, it is metabolically active tissue. What this means is that a person with more muscle burns more energy than a person of the same weight but less muscle. Secondly, building a bit of muscle gives you shape! Something that really makes the difference between an average and an awesome looking person.

And just to set the record straight - you WILL NOT get big by lifting heavy weights at the gym. This is the biggest objection I get from clients who "don't want to look like Arnold Swarznegger". Do you really think it is that easy to get to look like that? If it was that simple, don't you think there would be a lot more body-builders walking around?
Let me say that again: lifting moderate to heavy weights will not make you "big" unless you feed your body exorbitant amounts of protein, train 4-5 hours a day and push weights double your body weight. So, stop playing with the little pink dumbells at the gym. Chances are, your grocery bags (and definitely your baby) are much heavier than that.

OK, I think I went off in another direction for a while... Here it is again:
The winning formula to a slim and toned physique is 70% diet, 20% exercise and 10% rest.
You will not get slim, unless you watch your calorie intake, but that alone, will not take you far!
Going for a 5K run 2-3 times a week is not an excuse to eat whatever you like. It will show!
You need some R&R and some pampering to show off this great body you worked so hard on!

That's all from me for now. Have fun!


Jeni

Fat Burners - Miracle Pills or Plain Rip Off

I went to Dischem this morning and just out of interest counted the number of weight loss miracle pills that were on offer in the two very well merchandised "slimming aisles" (yep, there are two full double-sided aisles of the stuff!). There were 347 brands of pills, drops, creams and some combinations thereof. That does not include the slimming teas, slimming water and the few other utterly crazy inventions on offer. With this variety in mind, I shouldn't be surprised that the question "what can I take to lose the fat faster?" (or the variations such as "does this brand work?") comes up with amazing regularity in session.

So, here are my feelings on the matter. You are welcome to agree, disagree, comment or challenge anything you read.

Well, my opinion on the question "do weight loss supplements really work" is both yes and no. Here is the low down.

Most slimming supplements available in South Africa are based on the traditional CEA formula. CEA stands for caffeine, ephedrine and aspirin. I can already hear the USN and Evox guys disagreeing! But the point is, whether the fat burner you choose has ephedra, garcina cambogia, pyruvate, HCA or any of the other "miracle" ingredients marketed this particular season, they are all thermogenic. Same thing, different season... that's how marketing goes!

Anyway, let's look at how thermogenics work.

In most simple terms, they raise the body's core temperature. In order to keep up with this increased temperature, your body needs to work a bit harder and thus, it burns more energy. The more energy you burn, the more fat you lose, right? Well, the principle is very sound, but it all falls apart when you look beyond the principle and add up the numbers. The increase of 0.1 degrees in body temperature (which is what you will get if you take the pills as directed) will result is a whole 80kcal expenditure in 24hrs for the average person. Wow! This is a total of 2,400kcal a month! A whole 270gr! Isn't that fantastic! And you paid R400-R500 for a month's supply, you lucky fish!

The other thing that thermogenics do for you, generally due to the high concentration of caffeine in them (natural or otherwise) is that they perc you up! Now, of you use that extra energy boost to go to the gym and kick butt, then you have a chance. But if the added energy is used to fuel routine trips to the fridge to pick up cold beer... well, you might be somewhat disappointed with the overall results.

The only "real" slimming result most people experience when taking weight loss supplements is the diuretic effect, again coming from caffeine or some more serious substances, depending on the brand of fat burner. Again, it is all very good to dehydrate yourself, but how long do you think you can last before you drink some water and put the "weight" back on?

So let's look at the history of fat burners and I will give you my answer right there!

The original CEA fat burner was designed for bodybuilders who are preparing for competition. To those who have no interest in bodybuilding, let me briefly explain the "pre-contest" phase.

The bodybuilders you see in magazines and on the web don't look like this all year round. In fact, they only look as ripped as that for a few days (weeks at most) and again, the light when the shots are taken plays a big role! So, what happens is 12-16 weeks prior to contest these guys start "cutting" for the show. This process involves hectic exercise (between 3 and 7 hours a day, mostly intense cardio) and even more hectic dieting (read protein shake, protein shake, chicken breast with plain lettuce leaves, more protein shake, more chicken breast). Needless to say, this is not a regime for the weak at heart (or body) and exhaustion sets in. For these guys, fat burners are absolutely invaluable. They give them the extra energy kick to keep pushing on the stationary bike after 2 hours have gone by and its time for posing practice. They also affect their appetite, so they can survive the grueling 3 months on protein shakes. (Sadly, for the rest of us this appetite-suppressing effect is not particularly useful, cause if we only ate when we were hungry, we wouldn't have picked up weight in the first place!)

So, bottom line, unless you are a body building competitor preparing for a show... you are really wasting your cash on these potions.

To make matters worst, the stuff can be down right dangerous to you too. The key here comes in the bodybuilding cycle (again!). Those dudes prepare for contest for 3 months but then have 4-6 months of what they call off-season which basically means no pills, more relaxed diet and ONLY 2 hours of exercise a day. During this phase they would put on about 10-20 pounds of fat (yep, that's right!) that they will have to get rid of in the next pre-contest... Sad, hey...
Ordinary folk, on the other hand, simply live on Phedra Cut. All year round! And when the slimming is not happening satisfactory fast, they just up the dosage. Which is OK, if you don't mind having cardiac arrest or heart attack...

If you are serious about weight loss, there is only one right way to do it. And I am sorry to break it to you, people, but XenaLean is not essential to it. Exercise and correct nutrition, on the other hand, are!

Have fun!

Jeni