Saturday 26 May 2012

Are slimming clubs to blame for binge eating?

Yeah you heard me right I believe slimming clubs are partly to blame for the nations binge eating here's why...

Ever since I can remember there's always been a slimming club promoting the point system, sins or some kind of horse shit way to control your weekly intake of food. Now I'm
not here to totally slate all slimming clubs, they do drop weight on a weekly basis, I'm here to highlight a point which I think is very valid. So if your a slimming club groupie I probably wouldn't read on this shit may offend you -

So Susie joins slimming club X (SCX), Susie has her allotted sins/points for the week to keep within but susie likes to have a cheeky glass or two of wine at a night time after a stressful day at work but wine is naughty!

So what does susie do??

Susie starves herself or eats free/low pointed food that are loaded with aspartame during the day so she can have her wine at night AND keep within her tally for the day and she'll still drop weight come next meeting, perfect right?

Here's another example...

Carrie loves a chocolate, crisps, junk food but SCX only allows certain point or sins a week, so what does Carrie do? Again starve herself or eat free/low pointed food for the week so that come weekend she can eat what she likes as long it's within her tally and still drop weight on her weekly meeting, again perfect right?

Can you see where I'm going here??

SCX will CONGRATULATE these two ladies on dropping weight and reward them with stars and badges...positive re-enforcement!

It's very rare you see a slimming club take inches because it's all about the weight be it muscle,water or fat. 'You've lost a dress size but thats shit because you've only dropped 3lbs in 2 weeks'

They give you food you can eat unlimited amounts of (again promoting binging) so you can save your points for the things you like...look at your body, does your body react well to eating foods you like? Thought not!

When a client comes to me after years of slimming club dieting I HAVE to reprogramme them, this takes time for them to see its not about weight or calories. Its like there robot only tuned in what the leader says.

Slimming clubs have a very powerful hold over women and why wouldn't it you can eat/drink what you want and lose weight but it's what your eating, what your doing to your liver. I saw a slimming club promote this once 'eat takeaway pizza and lose weight' I mean come on if it was that easy we'd all have rocking bodies!

They sell there own brand of food, they have a weekly meeting, they have there own language, they have leaders - you don't even know your part of a cult and a manipulative one at that. They will make you feel like you can't do it by yourself you need the group to support you, support you in what binge eating, getting pissed and filling your body full of sugar?.

I personally don't know any that go to any extreme to promote exercise, yeah they say it'll help but it's not like they're screaming look you need this shit in you life to get anywhere. Look at the picture below and tell me which one you want to look like.

I've probably pissed a couple of people off with this article, truth hurts but turn round and tell me it's not a valid point!?



Tuesday 22 May 2012

Why is everyone a f*cking weight loss expert???

Okay so I see a lot of this Facebook and my primal fit-pro Ben Griffiths touched on this the other week

'WHY IS EVERYONE ON FACEBOOK A WEIGHT LOSS EXPERT'

It takes us fit pros time to smash fat safely and effectively, to know exactly what foods do, what effect sugar has on your stomach & how to train smart not stupid.

Yet it takes Lesley no idea a second to tell their friends get on the latest magazine fad diet, take T5's, starve yourself!! All great advice by the way like muscle weighs heavier than fat - theres another beaut I always see!

A sure fire way to fuck your friends body up for life by promoting shite fad diets and drugs. I wouldn't mind half the people dishing out this great advice are overweight themselves and constantly complaining about the way they look!

These types of friends are the ones who will forever hold you back in your quest for a flat stomach or toned thighs. These friends are the ones who suggest 'lets join the local slimming club together, they have another no joining fee promo' and then do one a couple of week in, because its to hard to stick to a plan (we all know my thoughts on slimming club food plans by the way).

The friends I talk about, the 'weight loss expert' I refer too are the yo-yo dieters who WILL NEVER ever achieve anything when it comes to weight loss because they know best obviously!!

Do you want to be aligned with this person or do you want to be held accountable for your own actions?

Do you want to learn about eating smart not fucking stupid?

Do you want to lose actual fat not muscle & water?

If you don't, don't complain about your body EVER again...

If you do, seek out your local expert, take the plunge and get in contact, I guarantee you will not look back in regret and Achieve what Lesley no idea will always be searching for - the beach ready body.

Saturday 19 May 2012

The struggles of being a fit pro

Hey there people,

Okay I wanted to write something a bit different today and to be 100% honest with you guys.

Ive been a fitness professional (fit pro) for just under 4 years now and it's the best decision I ever made, seeing people grow in confidence, become new people or find themselves again all by losing weight is very satisfying.

A lot of the time I'm so busy helping others reach there goal I forget about myself. Now I hold my hands up in past years I have been a 'fat' trainer and to tell people what to eat and how to exercise is sometimes hypercritical..I have been taunted by people over this names like chunky, chubby and 'big' have cut deep and to be honest I have an emotional attachment to food so I turn to chocolate,crisps & takeaways for comfort - i am human after all!

I know exactly what that food does to my body and know the impact but you know what all that goes out of the window, last year I went through some bad times and went up to my largest at 224lbs (pic in the yellow shirt below) before a knee operation in early December.

I find the pressure of being a fit pro sometimes to much, I enjoy certain foods, proper English meals like bangers and mash, Sunday dinners, gammon, chips and beans, mixed grills but because I'm a personal trainer I'm not allowed to eat normally in the eyes of society. I have to live off a diet of rabbit food and pasta!??

I enjoy a beer here and there nothing like I use to but I enjoy it with friends, yet I mention I'm going on a night out 'but your a personal trainer??' so because I'm a personal trainer my life can't be social?

I eat clean 80% of the time the 20% I like to eat what I want because at the end of the day i am a human being, I'm only here once and I want to enjoy the things I enjoy.

You know I've not trained properly for 6 months because of my knee op and I have clients who are fitter than me in my academy, but I can't be seen to be unfit, I have to have the body, the fitness levels and the certain way Of eating to fit into a stereotypical outlook of personal trainers that the world has

I don't like being like everyone else, I don't eat tuna pasta all day, I don't train all day, everyday and I certainly don't like to wear tight fitting muscle tops.

I'm a normal person with a normal life, doing an awesome job to get the public in shape.

Now I know I wouldn't take advice of a tramp about becoming a millionaire that's why I have got myself into shape this year on my 14 day fat blast, but I'm still the same old Ian with the same old daily struggles.

Food is a powerful thing it's when you know how to deal with your cravings does it make it easier moving forward, I've learnt this year the body wants the food to make you feel better about yourself, release dopamine to give you the good vibe back but the need for food increases more and more...only if you let it!!

Be strong and face the reason why you depend on food, you will find the attachment goes away in time.. You'll still have the cravings but you will know why!

I've put a picture below of me in a very manly pink top with my daughter before I was a fit pro and my comfort eating got way out of hand and one of me now (orange top) 4 years on.

Scary stuff what food can do to you!!




Tuesday 8 May 2012

The 'Falling off the Wagon' Syndrome

Hey,


So being a fit pro I hear the following all the time...'I fell off the wagon again' or 'I have had a bad week'

So why is it when we crash, we crash hard!??

Maybe it's willpower, maybe it's attachment to food or maybe it's the fact it's thrown in our face 24/7

Think about it for a minute, if you was to 'diet' you have to go against the grain of society, you have to be the awkward one in the restaurant, you have to be the one who orders a water at the bar, your the one who can't go and socialise because the menu doesn't sit well with your 'diet'. Does the world want you to have muffin top forever?

I recently had a scenerio at the hospital of all places, they promote health right? I needed food on the go now on my 14 day detox there was a variety of foods I had taken out of my diet due to the effects it has on my body when burning fat. EVERY single one of these 'no-go' foods was close to hand when I needed something to eat. I was surrounded by poorly made sandwiches, chocolate, crisps, energy drinks, sausage rolls but they had a fat free yogurt full of aspartame so that evens it out. (wish I was on one of these slimmng club plans, I could have used saved points or sins to aid my 'weight loss' ;))

So I head into the local town what am I offered? Mcdonalds, KFC, Subway? Again excellent nutritional options! pfft... I ended up going to Asda and getting some chicken from the meat counter. God help me if I was a veggie- Hi can i have a roll of lettuce please!!

Now most women would have give up on thier diet at the convience shop in the Hospital, 'whats a little something going to harm'? Well a lot in reality...Sugar is like a drug, you ever tried giving up sugar or coffee? Headaches,shakes,moodiness began to happen within 3/4 days. So to have that effect on the body if it's withdrawn do you think it's a good thing to have?

The body has a system called the hedonic system this system craves sugar. You feed it sugar, it responds by making you feel good using dopamine, so you like the feeling you eat more sugar, the body responds by giving you a bigger feel good feeling, You 'treat' yourself to more sugar at this point your dopamine receptors become less responsive to the sugar intake, it asks for more to give you that dopamine feeling you crave <---- you end up in a vicious cycle and guess what you've not only fell off the wagon your so far behind the wagon the wagon is a dot to you, so what do you say - "Fuck it, I'm destined to be fat anyway" and carrying doing what your doing, maybe a fad diet here, maybe join a slimming club when they have free join up offer there, but never achieving what you really want, what you desire - A hot sexy body to show off to the world and why...because convience shops are just a fucking inconvience!!!

So next time you feel like falling off remember this isn't you who wants it, it's your body telling your mind to feed it's own addiction. Food is merely fuel for you body, just like petrol in a car. You don't fill your car up because it likes the taste of petrol you fill it up to get you from A to B. Food has exactly the same effect.

Did you know big companies employ people just to take advantage of your hedonic system downfall?

Something to think about right?

Tuesday 1 May 2012

The Results of my 14 day detox!!!!

Hey!!

Sorry for the delay, it's been a super busy couple of days..

Okay the pics you've all been waitin for from my 14 day detox....


As you can see I have firmed my chest up and slimmed my waistline down by 4 inches. I dropped a total of 8lbs of fat within the 14 days and really started to make some shape of my abdominal area without doing one stomach exercise!

After my detox I was chatting to Travis Jones of resultsbasedtraining.com.au and he showed me his 28 day transformation picture. I gotta tell you this shit motivated me to do another 14 days and get into some killer shape.

I badgered him into answering some questions on his journey and giving you some nuggets so take away for your own transformation.

IF; Hey Travis, tell me a little about your reason for the 28 day transformation challenge?

TJ; I guess my aim at the at the start of the program was just to create the biggest possible body transformation that i could create in just 28 days. I wanted to show people that with a little dedication on diet and training that anything is possible.

IF; What was your toughest challenge throughout the 28 days?

TJ: The toughest challenge through my change was going through it over christmas. Trying to manage my foods so i only had one carb refeed meal per week over the holiday season.

IF; What would you say peoples main obstacle is when looking to transform thenselves?
TJ: The problem I find with most people thinking about changing there body is that they wait for the perfect moment to start, whether if they dont want to start till monday, or they just need to buy the supplements first or they dont have a gym membership yet. I would say stop the excuses, look in the mirror and just tell your self right now that your ready to change, not tomorrow or the next day but right this very second.

IF; The picture below obviously shows you achieved awesome results, what would your number one tip be for people looking to do something similar?

TJ: I think the number 1 tip for anyone embarking of there own transformation journey is to stay consistent. Consistent with food, training and sleep will create you body transformation.