3 Signs You Need A Diet Break
One of the biggest mistakes that far too many people are making on their diet program is neglecting to
consider a diet break. You’re seeing good success and as such, the last thing that you want to consider is
stopping.
Or, perhaps you aren’t seeing success – it’s quite the opposite. Try as you might, that weight is just not
coming off. You’re frustrated and wondering if you’ll ever be able to attain that dream body that you
were going for.
Whatever the case may be, often the biggest ways to resolve any dietary problem is to actually take a
break. Constant dieting is going to place stress on the body so whether you’re seeing the effects of it
already in the form of a plateau or you’re moving along great but are on the verge of suffering from the
plateau, a diet break is a must.
Let’s have a look at three signs that indicate that it’s time you took a diet break so that you know
precisely what you should be on the look-out for.
1) You Have Non-Stop Hunger
The very first sign to watch for that would indicate that you need to be taking a diet break is if you have
non-stop hunger. When you’ve been on a reduced calorie diet for far too long, the body is going to start
sending out signals that it’s time for you to begin eating more food once again.
This is its way of trying to prevent starvation. Hunger increases dramatically and it’s going to take all the
effort in the world on your part not to eat.
When hunger seems almost too much to bare, that’s a good signal that it might just be time to give in
and take that diet break.
2) Your Energy Level Has Plummeted
The second signal that a diet break is in order is if your energy level has hit a turn for the worse. This is
another defense mechanism that the body has to prevent starvation from occurring. When you’re in
an extremely stressed state due to ongoing dieting attempts, your body will try and make sure you’re as
sedentary as possible as it just doesn’t have energy to spare.
By making you want to do nothing other than lie on the couch and relax, it accomplishes its objective
nicely. Your daily calorie expenditure goes down and the rate of weight loss will decline.
3) You Aren’t Losing Weight
Finally, the last signal that it’s time for a diet break is if you aren’t losing weight. If you seem to be doing
everything right and you are sure that you’re tracking your calories accurately (not sneaking a glass or bottle of wine every night), this is very likely what’s going on.
Your metabolism has slowed down due to that reduced calorie intake and now you’re burning fewer
calories than ever.
With this slowed metabolic rate, fat loss also slows, moving you further away from reaching your goal.
So there you have the main signs that it may just be time to take a break from your diet plan.
Periodically raising your calories up again for a week or so can do just the trick to get you back seeing
the fat loss you’re after and feeling much better as you go about your diet plan.
Alcohol And Fat Loss – What You Need To Know
One question that often presents itself to many dieters who are trying to shed the excess weight that has accumulated over time is whether or not alcohol can be included in their diet plan.
Alcohol is something that most adults do like to indulge in from time to time – some more often than others.
So what’s the real deal about alcohol and your progress? Is this something that you can make room for in your diet or is it something that you need to give the boot?
Alcohol And Calories
The very first thing that you need to take note of is how many calories are found in alcohol. Alcohol itself contains seven calories per gram, whereas both proteins and carbs contain just four. Fat comes in at the highest calorie value per gram at nine, which places alcohol right in the middle.
But what’s often worse is what the alcohol is mixed with. If you’re drinking your alcohol with high calorie or fat mixers such as cream, sodas, or sugary mixers you could easily end up with a drink that packs in well over 300 calories per serving.
If you take in three or four of these over the course of the night, it’s really going to add up.
Alcohol And Fat Metabolism
The second important thing that you need to note is the impact that alcohol consumption will have on your fat metabolism. The minute that you put alcohol into your body, all fat burning is going to come to a halt.
Your body views alcohol as a toxin and as such, as soon as it comes in, it’s going to do everything it can to rid itself of this alcohol. No further fat will be burned off until it’s out of your system.
Only then will you start burning up body fat again. So if you consume quite a bit of alcohol one night, you can expect to see your rate of fat loss drop off for a more significant period of time.
Alcohol And Your Recovery
Finally, the last important thing to note about alcohol consumption is the impact it will have on your recovery rates.
In addition to putting the breaks on all fat burning taking place in the body, the second thing that alcohol is going to put the breaks on is protein synthesis.
This means that no further lean muscle tissue will be built up as long as that alcohol is in the body.
Again, you can imagine what this is going to do to your workout goals.
So as you can see, if you want to be truly successful with your fat loss and workout program, it’s best if you can forgo alcohol for the time being. One drink every now and then may not hurt all that much, but if you’re taking in any more than this, it will definitely hinder the progress that you see.
Back Pain Relief4Life Videos
I was asked to reveal some of my secret techniques for back pain relief and prevention by SELF! Magazine a few months back. There were a few questions that I believe were coming from their audience that they wanted me to cover, so I created a video to answer each topic – all related to back pain. There was such a great response that SELF’s affiliate blogs wanted to jump on board as well, so a couple of the videos were featured in fitsugar and wellandgoodNYC as well. They didn’t feature all of the videos so I am going to feature all of them here today.
The videos cover:
- Functional exercises
- Progressive crunches with proper form that assist in Back Pain Relief
- 2 Simple and easy back pain relief movements
- 2 Back Pain Relief Stretches
- Picking up a baby or anything off the floor (SELF!’s target is women with babies apparently)
- Lastly the roman chair and how it affects the back and back pain in general
Today almost every single American will suffer from back pain at some point in there life. Some will be bed ridden for weeks, others will have a chronic nagging pain that never seems to go away, while another person may have intense shooting pain and spasms that only last a couple of days and then disappear completely. Either way, none of it is fun. I know from first hand experience and have dealt with all of the above mention and have become a intense student of the back rather than an intense suffer.
What I have found is the best defense is a good offense, which is why we created the Back Pain Relief4Life formula. For the holidays I knew I would be driving about 20 hours to visit friends and I prepared by doing Back Pain Relief4Life. Before I left, I made sure I did the program like it was my medication and as soon as I got back I did it again and I did not have one issue with my back during the whole trip.
The reason is, there is some hardcore science and years of expertise that have been put into the Back Pain Relief4Life formula and it literally is like medication!
So if you or a loved one has had some back pain or you just want to strengthen your core, loosen up your hips, increase your flexibility, or just burn some extra calories, then give the program a shot, so you can live pain free and enjoy life feeling your best. http://www.backpainrelief4life.com/
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
D.O.M.S. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
If someone mentioned the word D.O.M.S where I come from, I would be apt to think of an Italian eatery or pizza shop. In this instance it means Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. This is the muscle pain or stiffness that you feel after exercising. It is most prominent the first time you work out or during an initial assessment and it is a completely normal response to exerting yourself beyond what your body is adapted for. In fact it is a part of the adaption process that allows you to become strong, fit and lean and boost your metabolism.
What creates D.O.M.S?
Eccentric movement creates muscle soreness. For example, walking down a lot of stairs… When you walk down the stairs your calf muscles have to decelerate the ankle joint movement as you make each step down the stairs, which can cause micro trauma or small tears in the muscle fibers (which is another way of saying small injuries), thus creating soreness in your calf. Another example of eccentric movement would be the downward potion of the squatting movement or the downward movement of a biceps curl.
Not only does eccentric movement cause Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, going beyond what your body is adapted for or doing movements that your body is unfamiliar with will also cause D.O.M.S. Another example we come across a lot is when someone is in amazing shape when it comes to running, but as soon that person does some strength training they feel sore, even in their legs. Many times the reply is, I thought my legs were in better shape than that
How do you to decrease D.O.M.S?
You can reduce or prevent extreme delayed onset muscle soreness by progressing your exercise regimen properly. What that means is adding enough stimulus to the body to engender growth and get results but not too much to cause severe soreness and therefore a longer recovery time. And this can take some experimenting; which is why an assessment is so important. Some people have stronger legs and can do more with the lower body than they can with the upper body.
If you do find yourself with D.O.M.S. here are 9 things you can do to increase the rate of recovery:
- Light jogging and then some light stretching
- Specific Yoga
- Massage
- Our Back Pain Relief4Life Program
- Icing the muscles before they get sore will increase the speed of recovery
- Sitting in a hot tub or a sauna for 20 minutes
- Increase your water and vitamin (especially vitamin C) consumption
- Consume 300-400 calories of carbohydrate shortly after the training session
- Taking advil
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
Men’s Health Urbanathlon Training Program and 4 Lessons Learned
Hello EFer,
It is that time of year again when Men’s Health just finished hosting their Urbanathlon. It is once a year and usually has only been in NY and Chi town, but this year they had it in San Fran as well. Each year the course changes and is different from city to city because it uses each city’s natural landscape and landmarks. It is one of the most grueling races I have ever endured – and I have done a fair amount of races throughout the years but it also could have been because I did something not so smart. I ran the race when I was living in New York and was asked by Men’s Health to create a portion of the program for them, which you can find in the link below. Feel free to use the program that I created as a general fat burning and weight loss program. Pretty much anyone can do the exercises except for maybe #3. Squat Thrust Jumping Pull Up in (which you need to be in decent condition for especially in combination with the program). It also provides you with some good stretches.
Urbanathlon Training Weeks 7-9
http://www.
menshealthurbanathlon.com/ downloads/Urbanathlon% 20Training%20Weeks%207-9.pdf
When I ran the race, if I remember correctly, this was the course.
- We started in Central Park
- Ran over to the west side (quick sidebar, as we were running down town on the west side highway bike path, in a throng of close to 1000 people, one fella decided it was a great day and time to do some speed training uptown on his bike, so as he approaches the mass he starts screaming “get out of my way” with out slowing down one bit. Just picture a bike path about 6 feet wide with 1000 people funneling through it and one jerk on a bike coming in the opposite direction at 30 miles an hour screaming “get out of the way”. You can only imagine what happened next. He went full on, front wheel and handle bars straight into the mid section, between the legs of the guy running next to me. Not a pretty sight but also not an abnormal one in NYC.)
- Ran down the west side 3 miles to the first obstacle course
- Kept running down the west side highway 2 miles to another obstacle course
- Ran another 2 miles till we got to 7 World Trade and ran up 52 flights of stairs and back down
- Then 1 more mile to Battery Park where we had to hop over cabs and walls to get to the finish line
This race was intense and my goal was to win but about a week before the race I got run down and sick. Against my better judgement and the recommendation of my trainer I ran the race anyway. BAD IDEA! I thought I was invincible and it would take a week or two to recover. I ended up with walking pneumonia and it cascaded into a barrage of health problems that lead to months, then years of struggle to a full recovery.
- What I learned is never take your health for granted, it can be gone in a flash. I was in the best shape of my life and I let it all go down the tubes because a silly race.
- When you’re sick, take time off to fully recover and do not push through it.
- Everything happens for a reason – after this race and becoming sick, it caused me to slow down and appreciate life more. So when you make a mistake learn from it and move on.
- Balance is key to health and success. I was non-stop training, working, training, working for about 2 years straight. My body reached a breaking point and it jeopardized everything in my life. A balance between work, training, hobbies and family is a must for true success.
Lady’s Island Personal Trainer
There are many more lessons I learned specifically about nutrition, health and fitness, life and personal training through the whole ordeal but those were the big takeaway lessons that I learned.
This was me during the race after 7 miles and now hitting 52 flights of stairs. I did the stairs 70th fastest out of 944 people
That will just give you an idea of how grueling the race was. I walked the stairs and still finished top 10% and I was sick, what that means is that the rest of the people behind me were crawling or some other variation of both. It is a small photo but if you can look closely you can see in my eyes that I thought I was going to die, haha. It’s funny now, but it was NO JOKE then, I seriously thought I might end up in the hospital. My heart rate reached a max of 204 – I had never seen it past about 193 beats before, even at a full sprint for a mile. My average heart rate through the race was 185 for 120 minutes. Wow! Yea, not so smart to do a race while on antibiotics.
In the end, I highly recommend doing the Urbanathlon if you are into running and obstacle courses and you are not sick :). One thing is for sure: you must prepare for the race, it is not something you can just sign up for and run without knowing what you are getting into. Giving a good 6 months of training would be recommended but if you want to do well, you should start right now!
If you are training at EarthFIT you are already on the right track, all you need to do is supplement your cardio training for the distance of the race and you will have no problem finishing.
Here is a video of the Chicago race that will give you an idea of the fun involved in the whole event.
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
I’m On “The Juice”
I have a confession…
I have been on “the juice” for about 2 months now and I have seen increased energy, strength and an improved overall well being.
No worries about uncontrollable rages, unsightly acne or shrinking testes.
Because the juice that I’m on is all natural.
At EarthFIT, we always promote increased intake of raw fruits and veggies because of the multitude of benefits it provides.
Juicing allows the intake of nutrients and goodness to be injected into your system like and IV without all the hassle of chewing… plus it taste great!
Who needs chewing anyway, I decided long ago that chewing was just not my style, so naturally, juicing was right up my alley.
Juicing works especially well when you’re not too fond of certain veggies – that you know you should be eating but would normally avoid – by masking it with delicious fruit.
The above video goes over one of the many variations of juicing; and the benefits are endless:
- Increased weight loss
- Increased energy
- Decreased body fat
- Prevention of acidosis (which causes weight gain and decreased absorption of nutrients as well as a myriad of other problems)
- Clarity of mind
- An assortment of much needed vitamins and minerals
4 Reasons To Hire A Personal Trainer
If you’re looking to get started on a Beaufort health and fitness program, one thing that you should give some consideration to is hiring a Beaufort personal trainer.
Many people are quick to jump to the conclusion that rather than hiring a trainer, they can just go about this journey on their own. They pick up a workout they’ve found in some magazine on or the Internet and immediately get going, hoping to achieve the body of their dreams.
As they go about this though, major problems start to occur.
Maybe they don’t see the progress they had hoped for or worse yet, they end up injured.
To help prevent these problems along with many others, hiring a Beaufort personal trainer can be a very wise move.
Let’s take a quick peak at the main reasons why you should consider hiring a personal trainer so that you can decide if it’s the right decision for you.
1) A Personal Trainer Will Make Your Workout More Interesting
The very first reason why you should seriously consider hiring a personal trainer is because they’ll go a long way towards making your workout more interesting. Since each time you work with them you’ll likely be doing a different workout entirely, this shakes things up and prevents you from hitting a progress plateau.
More importantly it keeps you interested and makes sure that you keep coming back for more.
2) A Personal Trainer Will Teach You Advanced Strategies
Second, the next important reason to consider hiring a personal trainer is because they’ll teach you some advanced concepts that you might not have known before.
Learning ways to accelerate your progress by taking things up a level will be imperative to success.
If you aren’t adding more advanced concepts into your workout program over time, you’re going to eventually stop seeing gains in strength, endurance, and improvements in your tone and definition.
Most people on their own don’t understand these advanced techniques, so a good trainer will help to introduce them to them.
3) A Personal Trainer Will Check Your Form
Moving right along, the third reason to hire a Beaufort personal trainer is because they will also check over your form and make sure it’s as it needs to be.
If you aren’t using correct form as you go about your workout session, you won’t be seeing results from that exercise anyway as you may not be targeting the muscles correctly.
A good personal trainer will ensure this isn’t the case for you.
4) A Personal Trainer Will Serve As Motivation
Finally, last but not least, that personal trainer will serve as a clear source of motivation. When they’re standing right next to you pushing you to complete that extra rep, this can really add up to improved progress.
Those who aren’t pushing their body to the limit won’t see nearly the same degree of results. A personal trainer can really help to keep you motivated and working hard.
So there you have the main reasons why you should consider hiring a personal trainer. If you haven’t done so yet, it might just be the time to consider it.
Ian Hart is a Body-Mind Transformation expert, the creator of EarthFIT Training Systems, co-creator of BACK PAIN RELIEF4LIFE, author of HEALING HACKS, and founder of BEAUFORTPERSONALTRAINING.COM and MYBACKPAINCOACH.COM. Ian and his team help people get into optimal shape in the safest, fastest and most effective way possible, using cutting edge science.
YES! Contact me today to schedule a FREE no obligation consultation and trial workout.