Today we will look at some of the FAQ’s I get from clients everyday regarding booze.

Q – “Why do I put on weight when I drink?”

A – Your body uses carbs and then fat, in that order, as its energy source. When you drink alcohol, your body see’s it as a poison so it quickly moves to get rid of it out of your system, so alcohol jumps the que ahead of carbs and fat.

Its takes the body 11 hours to remove the equivalent of 3 pints of beer from your system, so for 11 hours your are not touching you carb or your fat stores in your energy system. Add on top of that the high carb/sugar counts in a lot of what we drink, plus meals you have while drinking(generally bad choices when intoxicated) and we are just adding more stored energy(body fat) to our system i.e. you put on weight.

Q – “How often should I drink if I want to lose weight?”

A – Simple answer, if you want great results faster, avoid drinking all together. For some people this is hard so I try and give people targets to aim for(e.g. no drinking for a month, nothing until your birthday in 6 weeks etc etc) and its important to keep these targets realistic.

Q – “How should I eat if I am going to be drinking?”

A – The day of and the day after drinking, try and aim at a lower carb diet. As mentioned before, alcohol jumps the que as an energy source, so limiting your carb intake can go a long way to helping you avoid gaining weight over a drinking session.

In particular stay on top of carb intake the following day. We all know the feeling of waking up a bit dusty and wanting the biggest carbiest greasiest thing we can find to make ourselves feel better. This is your body setting you up to fail. An easy way to avoid this trap is to have food ready to go the next day so you are not tempted to go on a Macca’s run. Again keep it low carb especially if you are planning(like most of us) to not move much the next day.

Again, this advice is more about limiting any weight gain over a drinking session, as opposed to losing weight while drinking, which is very unhealthy for your body.

Q – “What Is the best thing to drink to avoid weight gain?”

A – My top 5 options are –

• Vodka and diet tonic – 70 calories
• Rum and diet cola – 70 calories
• Gin and diet tonic – 65 calories
• 1 oz spirit on the rocks – 60-80 calories
• Sparkling sangria – 100 calories

In a nutshell – for some, drinking is part of their daily/weekly routine, be it social occasions, work related occasion etc. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be. The benefits of reduced drinking are huge, from reduced risk of alcohol related disease, to general energy levels on a day to day basis. Having said that, I believe life is about enjoying it, and if that means a drink with friends from time to time I say go for it, health is as much about mental well being as well as physical. But there are ways you can reduce the impact of drinking, I hope you got some good tips out of this article.

Have a good week team!!

 

Duncan started with me in January at 87.1kgs, we started with a macro based diet and got him down to 83.6kgs, and in the last 5 weeks we switched things up to a fasting diet and yesterday he weighed in at 78.0kgs flat! awesome effort Duncan, 75kgs here we come!

This week is a how to guide to squatting, to build the quads, glutes and hammies, strengthen the core, and build overall muscle!

 

Key points

• Feet just wider than shoulder width
• toes pointed slightly out
• knees are soft(not locked out at any point)
• core is locked in place
• back is in the neutral position(relaxed, straight back position)
• hips move backwards first
• then the knees break
• depth depends on the person, but reaching parallel is a good finish point on average
• knees track directly over the toes
• weight goes through your heel/mid foot
• breathe in on the way down, breathe out on the way up

Butt wink

Butt wink during squatting refers to the rounding of the lower back at the bottom of the squat. The issue that arises is as the tailbone tucks under the hips, the load is directly applied to the lower back which can cause lower back damage. Butt wink is caused by a few things, most notably inflexibility of the hips region or depth of the hip joint. Inflexibility can be eased by stretching, hip joint depth is a genetic trait that is harder to deal with.

When I train clients in squats I encourage them not to squat past the wink in order to minimise any issues the wink may cause.

In a nutshell – everyone that can, should squat! it increases all over muscle growth and increases mobility… and the list goes on!

Any question shoot me a message and Ill be glad to answer!

Happy lifting team!!

Meal frequency

For fat loss we should be aiming at 5-6 smaller meals per day. This results in an increased metabolic rate which helps us burn body fat more effectively at rest.

Portion size

Larger meals should be consumed earlier with portion sizes decreasing slightly as the day goes on(use calories/meal as a guide). Larger meals earlier will help drive your energy levels through the day and make it less likely to over eat in the evenings

Shaping your macronutrients daily

Carbs – higher amount of carbs should be consumed earlier in the day(breakfast, morning tea, lunch) and should decrease moving into your later meals

Protein – intake can stay consistent during your day but needs to be lifted during later meals(afternoon tea, dinner, supper) to counteract the dropping of carbs from those meals

Fats – daily intake should be consistent during the day to help balance your blood sugar levels and keep energy levels even

Timing your eating around your training

Weights

meal  <———–1 hour———- workout———15-30mins——-> meal

• Eating 1 hour before maximises energy levels without risk of discomfort from eating too soon or…. well… vomiting during a session
• Eating 15-30 mins after helps to begin the muscle repair process, especially with a high protein meal or a protein supp or shake

Cardio(for weight loss)

meal  <———–2.5 hour———- workout———1 hour——-> meal

• Eating 2 hours before give your body time to process food and goes closest to replicating a fasted(empty stomach) cardio session. The ideal time to maximise fat loss during cardio is on an empty stomach as your body tends to use more body fat as energy
• Eating 1 hour after gives your body time to capitalise on the caloric after burn created by you cardio session

In a nutshell – theses are only a couple of tips, I will share a lot more in future blogs, but these are a few of the initial areas I will cover with fat loss clients when they first start with me. Any questions just shoot a comment through and ill try my best to answer them.

Happy eating team!