‎3000 cal, 3 people, 3 types of meal frequency —->2 meals per day, 3 meals per day, 6 meals per day,

Average TEF (thermic effect of food—increase in metabolism) = 15%

2meals : 2 (1500 x .15)= 450 cal burned

3meals: 3 (1000 x .15)= 450 cal burned
…
6meals: 6 (500 x .15)= 450 cal burned

Moral of the story: Meal frequency doesn’t determine metabolism .  Your metabolism isn’t going to get faster if you eat 6 meals any more than if you eat 3 meals. Split it up according to your life style or what’s going to make you stick to your nutritional plan.

  One of the mistakes people make when dieting with a high calorie deficit (consuming very low calories) is increasing there activities too much. Yes you will still lose weight (because of the large deficit) but it won’t be as fast as it would be if you decrease your activity to MATCH your calorie deficit level

One of the most prevalent myth is that eating more frequently speeds up your metabolism.  Eating six times a day isn’t going to help you burn more calories than eating 3 times a day.  The idea behind this myth is thermic response —calories burned processing the food you eat.  The idea is the more frequent you eat the higher the thermic response and thus more calories are burned.  A lot of people swear by this as the reason why the lost weight.  They misunderstand the cause and effect of the reason.   Its a matter of eating pattern.  They eat SMALLER frequently which makes them less hungry causing them to eat less— thus creating a CALORIE DEFICIT.     The last two words is the ONLY reason you lose weight/ body fat….creating a CALORIE DEFICIT…not eating more frequently.  So eating six times a day isn’t going to speed up your metabolism anymore than eating 3 times a day.

Bonus:  Muscle doesn’t burn as much calories as people think

CHEAT: A lot of people make the mistake of NOT cheating during their diet. Cheating (going back to maintenance level calories or above briefly  ) allows you to raise the hormones that are surpressed during dieting , raise your metabolism and go back to an anabolic state thus mitigating muscle loss —all of which adds up to increased rate of fat loss.

Its been a minute since I have done tips I have been busy getting ready for a shoot among other things.

3 things happen when you eat all dependent on your metabolic state.

1)  You store the food in your muscle

2)  You store the food in the adipose tissue (fat)

3)  You convert the food into energy

This is why nutrient timing…particularly carbohydrate timing is important if you are trying to lose weight  quick-fast- and in a hurry —or if you are trying to gain weight while minimizing fat gain. This means depending on what time you eat carbohydrates (carbohydrates  are not bad by the way)  determines what’s going to happen  to it.  

To break this down shot gun style, If you want to expedite the process of weight loss :

Carbs in the morning = Yay!  =)

Carbs before workout (60-90 mins before work out or during with a shake)  = Yay! =)

Carbs after workout (best within 60 min up to within 4 hours) = Yay!  =)

Carbs  at rest ( 4 or more hours pre or post workout) = no! booooo :(

Alcohol…huh? yeah

If you are going to drink alcohol why not make it wine?  To be more specific  red wine

I will expound further and say make it Pinot Noir which is the type of red wine that contains the most amount of resveratrol an anti oxidant.  I always have a bottle or 2 at my house.  What are the benefit of resveratrol?   Well, so far this is what studies have shown and what  people are  saying

• Increases overall endurance (higher VO2 max)
• DNA repair
• Lowers the risk of hear disease
• slows down aging
• Increases the amount of mitochondria—-the generate most of the cells energy (ATP)-this means your cells are less likely to die (when you age what happens?)  and it means you are able to do longer and harder workouts
• blunts fat storage
• impedes production of mature fat cells
• inhibit growth of cancer cells
• Attacks pathogens and viruses-there’s another study a while back that says it stops the cold virus from duplicating itself- So if you feel your throat getting scratchy….its also effective against the herpes simplex virus, which is what causes  cold sores (that’s why there’s even  resveratrol creams)

Beans

I love beans!  Its almost perfect,  it contains  protein, carbohydrates, fiber and essential B vitamins.  One of the best part is beans as a carbohydrate has such a low glycemic index that it isn’t enough to cause  much of an insulin response. If you recall, insulin blunts the body’s ability to burn fat since its a storage hormone——> so beans is great  if you’re on a low carbohydrate diet trying to shed fat fast. However,   beans  is an incomplete protein because it doesn’t have certain essential amino acids (the building block of proteins).  The good news is combining beans and rice form a complete protein.

One of the reasons I can get away without doing much cardio and ab exercises is that I do a lot of squats.  It is arguably the best exercise period (dead lifts advocates might have something to say about it).   However without argument its the best exercise for the lower body.  Every muscle on your body is involved ESPECIALLY YOUR CORE —>obliques, abdominals, erector spinae, multifidus and the glutes. The core is central to all your strength and physical activities.   A good core will do wonders for the overall strength of your body and translates to excellent equilibrium, stability and posture whenever you are moving or exercising.

Squats is also an excellent exercise for the quadriceps, Hamstrings and as I mentioned already Glutes

Quadriceps

Even if you are new to squats, avoid using the machine because it forces your body to one plane of motion (potential for  injury).  Avoid using the belt because it robs your core of the benefit of getting stronger.  Instead use no weight or light weight to learn how to perform this great exercise the correct way. Depending on the amount of weight and rep/set scheme,  its a great exercise for losing weight or gaining muscle or just conditioning/endurance because it involves pretty much every muscle you have—-yes even the upper body is used for assistance.  This is why squats is called the king of all exercises!!!

Performing a high rep with light weight (12,15,or even 20) plus minimum rest  will cause your body to utilize a lot of fat for energy and build your stamina.  A low rep (6-8), heavy weight will add strength and muscle gain.

Here are the  Ten tips to get you to do it the correct way.

1) Hands in Bring hands close to your shoulders gives a nice shelf for the bar because upper back and traps bunches up.

2) Pull shoulder blades back and together (squeezing as hard as possible)  This will help give you the shelf for the back

3)Stance Assume a comfortable stance with toes slightly out –feet hip width apart.  If you are assuming a narrow stance the toes should be pointing forward

4)Weight balance You should feel the weight from mid foot to/or slightly toward the heel

5)Chest up , Low back tight —this is very very important.  Before you squat puff the chest up like the superman/superwoman you are (after all it takes one to squat) and elevate rib cage.  It will help you set a nice arch in you lower back

6)Focus on a spot Find a spot slightly above eye level (45 degrees) and focus on it

7)Big breath Core tight Take a big breath and get all your core muscle tight -Abs, Obliques, lower back brace your abs as if you were going to be punched in the stomach–I can’t stress how important this is in preventing injuries

8)Sit back To perform a squat properly you need to sit back (as in sitting on a chair).  This means you  don’t start off bending your knees.  You start off with your hips (remember brace your stomach for that punch)  and your knees will follow

9)Knees out knees out to the side as you are sitting back force your knees out-  This activates muscles of the hips and it works to keep the femur, knee and ankle in proper alignment.

10)Speed When moving with a heavy weight speed is key–come down with a tight and controlled speed. When you hit the bottom of the movement (90 degrees of below) with speed, you are going to come out of the bottom with speed.  An example would be a vertical jump.  You wouldn’t lower yourself very slowly and expect to jump very high would you?  When you’re coming up remember you are still looking at that spot mentioned earlier and your chest is still puffed out with your rib cage elevated and stomach tight like your bracing yourself for a punch…

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****When you squat, Never let your knees go past your toes this means you are leading with your knees instead of your hips—remember you sit back—start with your hip and your knees will follow.  Put a bench/chair  behind you to make this stick in your mind and as you squat touch your glutes on the bench/chair.

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Even if you squat with no weight for now its a great exercise.  Don’t be concerned with  how much weight you are squatting.

Note:  An often over looked exercise is hyper extensions  and Romanian dead lifts .   These two exercises also strengthens your lower back and hamstrings and will help you with your squats.

Ps……hmmmm now that I think about it should I put a video demonstrating it ??