By
Brian Calkins, Cincinnati Ohio Personal Fitness Trainer
I recently had a conversation with a lady who'd
just completed her first boot camp. She was bouncing off the
walls with a newfound energy level, a sense of euphoria, and
was so excited to come into the studio for her post-camp
evaluation since she was confident her body had changed
significantly. After reviewing her numbers, however, her
enthusiasm quickly turned into disappointment. "After 4 weeks
of exercise, how could it possibly be that my body weight and
measurements didn't go down?"
Unfortunately, this scenario is
all too common, not just at boot camp but in nearly every
fitness environment where fat loss is a goal. I talk to a lot
of people who "exercise and eat healthy" yet are not achieving
the results they desire. As a result, some give up in
frustration while others justify that, in spite of persistent
lack of noticeable physical change, at least they are
healthier. I agree! Movement is much better than stagnation
and provides plenty of health, mental and emotional benefit.
But if someone is investing their time (not to mention their
money) into a fitness routine, why not get ALL of the desired
results in return?
Below is a listing of the seven
common mistakes people make when attempting to find the
balance between eating right and exercising. After talking
with our boot camp friend, she admitted to making several of
these mistakes. I don't want you to be in the same boat at the
end of your camp! With an understanding and elimination of
these mistakes, you'll avoid the frustration of this lady and
find yourself moving more rapidly toward achieving your
fitness and weight loss goals during your boot camp
experience.
Common Mistake #1: Consuming
too much sugar (or refined carbohydrates)
Thanks to savvy marketing, the words "fat free" have compelled
Americans to feast on cookies, cakes, ice creams, and pastries
as our waistlines have grown larger. The number one ingredient
in these foods is sugar and regular consumption is an
excellent way to sabotage attempts at fat reduction.
See, when you ingest simple
sugar, even if it's from a fat free Fig Newton, an energy or
meal replacement bar, or glass of orange juice, all of that
sugar gets absorbed into your bloodstream at once. For that
moment, you have high blood sugar. Assuming that your pancreas
is functioning well, it responds by producing additional
insulin. And since there is a sensitive balance between the
pancreas' production of insulin and glucagon, when insulin
production increases the production of glucagon is reduced.
Insulin is a "storage hormone" transporting sugars through the
wall of the digestive tract and into the muscles and the
liver. Glucagon is a "release hormone" allowing you to
mobilize and thus burn stored fat. Therefore, when glucagon
production declines (due to excess sugar consumption) you
significantly slow your body's fat burning ability.
Refined carbohydrates, such as
foods made with bleached and refined flour, are not much
better. Normally your body does a fair amount of calorie
burning work to digest complex whole grain carbs. However, if
you're consuming carbs that have been bleached and processed
there is very little thermic value and these foods are void of
vital micro-nutrients making them "empty calories." Like
sugar, these bleached and processed carbs quickly spike blood
sugar and are easily converted into triglycerides and stored
as fat.
Common Mistake #2: Failing
to provide adequate challenge to the working muscles
In virtually every fitness environment there are people who
are just going through the motions as they workout, allowing
gravity and momentum to propel their weights up and down. We
need to remember that to bring about positive physical change
we need to continually find a new stimulus to provide
progressive challenge. In other words, if your body is capable
of handling a given workload without much challenge, your
progress stops and your body ends up hitting the plateau.
If you perform 30 seconds of
dumbbell curls, for example, with 8 pounds, and you are
absolutely certain you're going to get to 30 seconds without
breaking a sweat, that set will do very little to stimulate
metabolic or strength improvements. Conversely, if you start
with 8-pound dumbbells and they are initially challenging, and
as the workload becomes easier you gradually increase the
resistance level (to 10 pounds, 12 pounds, etc), you can
facilitate very impressive change over time.
Common Mistake #3:
Neglecting protein intake
When most people think of healthy foods they usually think of
fruits and vegetables first. Next they think of whole grains.
Often, though, people who exercise come up short on sufficient
protein consumption. In the absence of adequate dietary
protein your body can begin catabolizing (or breaking down)
muscle tissue to free up stored amino acids. This loss of
muscle is a long term detriment to metabolism and can result
in the body becoming more efficient at storing fat. Remember
to strive to include leaner proteins (chicken, turkey,
seafood, legumes, low fat dairy) into your diet 5 times every
day. Ideally you'll consume 20 grams of protein at each meal.
If you find it difficult to eat sufficient protein, consider
using a quality protein shake as a supplement.
Common Mistake #4: Failing
to eat frequently enough
The typical American diet of a small breakfast, moderate
lunch, large dinner, is more a result of habit than it is the
result of careful evaluation of human performance and
nutritional need. If we think of our metabolism as the rate at
which we convert nutrients into fuel, or the speed with which
your body burns through food, going five hours between meals
is enough to send blood sugar plummeting and thus, create an
intense craving for excessive calories when you finally do get
to your next meal. Optimally, if the goal is a lean toned
body, your body would be very happy to eat a small "meal"
every 3 - 3½ hours. Again, if you struggle to get to food
frequently enough, consider investing in quality meal
replacement shake.
Common Mistake #5: Believing
daily activity "counts" as exercise
So many people confuse yard work, cleaning the house, playing
golf or shopping for exercise. I'm not saying there is no
benefit to cutting the grass, but when engaging in the things
that we do on a routine basis the process of adaptation has
already taken place. It's important, regardless of what you do
in the course of a day, to set aside some dedicated time to
challenge the muscles against progressive resistance.
That doesn't mean back off on
your activity. Of course physical activity will serve you
well, but it's not an adequate substitute for focused exercise
sessions devoted solely to improvements in body composition
and in cardio respiratory function.
Common Mistake #6: Failing
to ingest sufficient calories to maintain metabolism and
supply fuel for activity
A 120 pound woman, at rest for a 24-hour period, would burn
approximately 1200 calories just to keep her brain
functioning, her heart beating, and her internal organs
pursuing life-sustaining metabolic processes. Add in movement,
exercise, stress, and work and caloric requirements further
increase. The old and misleading adage, "eat less to weigh
less," has sent dieters into too aggressive calorie
deprivation.
Yes, to lose excess fat stores
you have to have a small to moderate calorie deficiency (400 -
800 calories a day). Once you understand, however, that eating
small meals frequently throughout the day will boost
metabolism, making the body more efficient at utilizing
calories and releasing fat, you'll quickly develop some
improved eating habits. Ideally you'll divide your daily
calories into 5 - 6 balanced meals allowing for optimal use of
nutrients and a continuous stimulation of metabolic activity.
Common Mistake #7: Failing
to schedule down time
Think of exercise as the
stimulus that causes your body to make positive adaptations .
. . as you rest. By "rest," I'm not only referring to sleep,
although that should certainly be adequate if you want to see
results. I'm also referring to the pursuit of a relaxing
hobby, days off from work, visiting a park or a beach, or
sitting at home enjoying some music.
There is a crucial balance
between stress and recovery, and while positive stress
(exercise) properly applied can lead to the body making
exceptional progress, it will only do so if there is adequate
"down time."
It might be helpful to realize
that there are opposing forces at work, and if the balance
isn't quite right, the results can be perilous. Cortisol is a
hormone produced by the adrenal glands and has been referred
to as the "stress hormone." During periods of elevated stress,
cortisol levels are increased. Cortisol is a catabolic
hormone, which means it allows the body to cannibalize its own
tissue. It does have an important purpose. The gradual
breakdown of tissue allows you to continuously build new,
healthy cells. Cortisol also makes certain that if the body's
energy needs suddenly go up due to an extreme stress, there
are plenty of amino acids floating around to be converted into
glucose and used as fuel. We access those amino acids in a
stress-induced state by breaking down muscle.
There are other hormones that
are more geared toward enhancing positive response. Growth
hormone has received much attention lately and people have
come to believe it's a drug. It isn't a drug, but a human
hormone that is produced by the pituitary gland and it plays a
vital role in anabolism (tissue building) and protein
synthesis as well as in keeping metabolic processes at optimal
levels of performance.
Growth hormone production is
increased when you rest, and further increased when you enter
deep sleep. Without adequate rest and sleep a cortisol-dominant
environment can prevent you from seeing the results you're
working so hard to achieve.
So, keeping these 7 common
mistakes in mind, your path toward a healthy, lean and highly
energized body is now in reach. Eat supportive meals
frequently (lean protein, starchy wholegrain carbs, and live
fibrous carbs), exercise enough to provide challenge (use
challenging weights at camp), maintain appropriate elevated
hear rates (don't walk when you're capable of jogging, don't
jog when you're capable of running… and never miss out on the
suicide drills!!), and schedule in relaxation and recuperation
time. With this common mistake checklist in place reshaping
your body becomes a much more straight forward process.
Now let's get to it…see you in
the morning!!
