Should You Eat More Frequently?

If you have been following some of the more recent trends in nutrition, you have probably heard that you should try and eat smaller meals more often. If not, this is probably something you want to consider doing. I know sometimes our schedule doesn't always permit us to eat on a regular routine, but it is something that you strongly should consider.

Often what I hear from people I talk to about nutrition is they usually don't eat breakfast, have some coffee to get going, grab a fast food lunch on the go, and then have a huge dinner with a few glasses of wine. They just don't have time to eat more often. If this sounds anything like your diet you probably are struggling with losing weight. You do have time you just need to figure out how to make it work for you. Just saying you don't have time is an excuse that you aren't willing to try it.

We are often told calories in and calories out are all that matter for weight loss. While these two numbers are extremely important we have to look at the timing of your calories as well. I just found these two interesting studies that support why you should eat 6-8 meals per day.

Effects of meal frequency on body composition during weight control in boxers.
Scand J Med Sci Sports. 1996 Oct;6(5):265-72.

This study wanted to investigate the effects on meal frequency on changes in body composition by food restriction. They used boxers that were trying to cut their weight so they knew the athletes would stick to the diet program. The boxers were dividing into two groups. One group at 2 meals per day while the other group at 6 meals per day. Both consumed the same exact diet just changed how frequently they would eat.

We would think that both groups should see the same exact results. However the study resulted in two things. First, both groups did lose weight and there were no significant difference between each group there. So it sounds like it doesn't matter how often you eat. BUT, they did find that the decrease in lean body mass in the 2 meal group was significantly greater and they resulted in greater myoprotein catabolism. So basically, while they both lost about the same amount of weight the 2 meal group lost more muscle and was breaking down muscle for energy.

Decreased thermic effect of food after an irregular compared with a regular meal pattern in healthy lean women
International Journal of Obesity (2004) 28, 653–660. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0802616 Published online 16 March 2004

This study took a group of women and had them eat a regular meal pattern, meaning they would eat things they normally would eat but consume meals 6-9 times per day, for 2 weeks. After this phase they were required to follow irregular meal patterns meaning they alternated between 3 meal, 6 meals, and 9 meals per day. After each phase they tested metabolic rate after eating. This was measuring the thermic effect of food. Part of our metabolic rate is made up of the thermic effect of food since it takes energy to breakdown and digest food.

This study found that irregular meal frequency led to a lower energy expenditure compared with regular meal frequency. This reduced TEF with irregular meal frequency may lead to weight gain in the long term.

So by eating a more often we know you will preserve more muscle mass and you will burn more calories. If you do not follow a regular schedule eating routine I highly recommend you try and work it into your schedule.

Fat Loss Program

So last week I posted a pretty interesting article on why you should NOT focus on aerobic training (cardio) if you are trying to lose weight. Since then I have received a ton of emails and comments from people about it. If you missed the article you can check it out here:

http://premiertraining.blogspot.com/#!/2011/10/cardio-myth.html

Now I need to make it clear that I am not saying you should not do cardio workouts if you are trying to lose weight. They will burn extra calories which is always important if you are trying to lose fat. If you are going to perform cardio for weight loss, use it in addition to your metabolic strength training and perform high intensity interval training. Here is a post I did a while back on why you MUST perform interval training if your goal is weight loss:

http://premiertraining.blogspot.com/#!/2010/06/burn-5-times-more-fat.html


So I thought I would just make it easy for you and lay out a sample fat loss program for you. You need these three components to be successful. Do not try and lose weight without all three or you will see limited success. Here is what you need to do:

1. Nutritional Program

This has to be number 1. You absolutely will never lose weight unless you are consuming less than you are burning. You must be consistent with this. Just eating well one or two days is not going to cut it. Use websites to help track your food. One of my favorites is www.dailyburn.com. Make sure you are sticking with the appropriate calories.

What you eat is obviously important as well. You diet should be high in whole foods like lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Always eat breakfast and save your carbohydrates for breakfast and on workout days.

2. Strength Program

Once you get your diet plugged in it is time to get you moving. Here is a sample fat loss strength program that I posted a while ago on MyWorkoutCreator.com. Below is the workout. Click here though to see videos of each exercise. You will have to sign up for a free account to view the workout though.

Strength Supersets 3x12 reps
A1- DB Squat Press
A2- DB Renegade Rows
B1- Overhead DB Lunge Walk
B2- DB Floor Press
C1- 1 Leg DB Deadlift
C2- DB Turkish Get Ups
Core Supersets
D1- 60sec Plank Hold
D2- 30 Oblique Reaches
Metabolic Finisher
Perform as intervals for 2 rounds of 20 seconds on 10 seconds off
E1- Squats
E2- DB Runners
E3- Burpees
E4- Close Grip Push Ups

This workout will train essential every muscle in the body, at a high intensity, burning a lot of calories. Best part it only takes about 30-45 minutes to get through this whole workout.

3. Cardio Program

Then finally we can add in our cardio workout. A typical start could be one interval workout per week and one traditional cardio workout.

Workout A- Perform 45 minutes of moderate continuous exercise. Can be any form you like. Keep your heart rate around 65-70% of your Max HR.

Workout B- Perform 20 minutes of alternating 2 minutes high intensity with 2 minutes of low intensity work. Any form is ok. High intensity effort should be around 80-90% of Max HR.

Well that is it. This would be a great start to your fat loss program. Perfect each factor in this order as well. Make sure you nutrition is great, then work your metabolic strength training in, and finally your cardio. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

You Stay Healthy San Diego!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator

The Cardio Myth

I have met with hundreds of clients over the past few years, and there is one common theme I see. When someone is trying to lose weight we see the same thing over and over. Most people will start with some type of diet program, which is definitely a great start. The diet you go on is not the focus of this posting however. The mistake people make when trying to lose weight is, they immediately start performing cardio exercises.

Now initially this might be enough to lose SOME weight. They will probably will stick with their Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, or whatever diet program they have started, for a few weeks or months. The drop in calories along with some additional exercise is probably enough to get the first 5-10lbs off.

But then what happens? They probably started to slack on their diet, but figured they will just increase their cardio to make up for it. I guarantee this is a plan that will not work for very long. The biggest weight loss myth is that cardio is the BEST to lose weight. The reasoning behind this is completely faulty and now there is more and more research that is proving it is just not a good way to lose weight.

Here are a few studies demonstrating this:

Adiposity changes after a 1-year aerobic exercise intervention among postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial

International Journal of Obesity (2011) 35, 427–435; doi:10.1038/ijo.2010.147

This study followed a group of 325 women aged 50-74 who performed on average 3.6 days a week of aerobic exercise for 1 year. After 12 months of training 3 days a week for 50 minutes at a time the average weight loss was 2.3kg or 5lbs. 1 year of training, 3 days per week, and the loss was ONLY 5lbs!

Acute EPOC response in women to circuit training and treadmill exercise of matched oxygen consumption.

Eur J Appl Physiol. 2005 Aug;94(5-6):500-4. Epub 2005 Jun 8.

This study looked at which form of exercise would increase EPOC or Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption more. This is the afterburn affect of exercise. So they wanted to see if after a session running on the treadmill and after a session of circuit training, who would see the greatest increase in metabolic rate and burn more calories. They matched the intensity of the work so the effect of each exercise was the same. The group that performed the circuit training saw a high increase in EPOC for 1 hour after the workout.

Effects of Resistance vs. Aerobic Training Combined With an 800 Calorie Liquid Diet on Lean Body Mass and Resting Metabolic Rate

J Am Coll Nutr April 1999 vol. 18 no. 2 115-121

This study compared resistance training with cardio to see what would have the better effect when combined with a low calorie diet. Obviously with an 800 calorie diet, both groups lost weight. But only the resistance training group lost weight without losing lean body mass and they were able to prevent their resting metabolic rate from dropping. So while both will lead to weight loss, down the road the cardio group will continue to slow down their metabolism and their weight loss.

I could keep listing more and more studies but I think I have proven my point. If you are trying to lose weight remember these three things:

1. Cardio exercise can lower your resting metabolic rate, making it harder to lose weight in the future.
2. Strength training prevents your metabolic rate from lowering with a decrease in calories, by maintaining lean body mass.
3. Strength training burns more calories after you have finished your workout.

I am not saying that you don't ever need to perform traditional cardio exercise. Cardio does burn calories and when you are trying to lose weight this is very important. Instead I think we need to take the approach of making strength training the foundation of our program and use cardio (mainly HIIT) as a secondary tool.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

3 Simple Nutrition Rules To Follow

I few months ago one of my clients suggested I read the book, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It was my goal this year to read 1 new book each month to make sure I was keeping up with learning as much information as possible. So I was eager to get started on it.

It is a great nutrition book and I highly recommend checking it out if you are interested in learning more. The main premise of the book is examining the Western Diet and why Americans are experiencing so many health problems. While I can't say that all of our health problems stem from the food we eat, it is hard denying that it plays a HUGE roll in it. There is a lot of great insight into why we eat the way we do, and how misinformed we are about proper nutrition. For example, remember how we were told to avoid fat in our diet. How did that work out? We got fatter.

Nutrition is not an easy topic to discuss, but I do like the 3 rules that are found in this book. Below are the rules and a quick explanation to help you build a better foundation for your diet program.

1. Eat Food.

Sounds simple to start right? Just eat food. Think about what you eat throughout the day though. Is it really food? There are things that we consume that really shouldn't be called food. They are inventions or creations from the food industry. For example Doritos. This is not food. It is processed ingredients that give you something that is edible. So here are some things to look out for:

• Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
• Avoid products that list ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than 5 in number, or have high fructose corn syrup (or corn sugar now).
• Avoid food products that make health claims.
  

2. Not Too Much.

This one really need no explanation. If you are trying to lose or maintain weight you simply can't eat too much. If you follow rules 1 and 3 you do not have to worry about this too much, but it is possible to gain weight eating real food.

3. Mostly Plants.

While I am by no means a vegetarian, it is important to increase the amount of plants we eat. There is nothing else that can replace the vitamins and nutrients you receive from eating plants. More and more research is showing the dangers of consuming too much animal protein. Remember that we are what what you eat eats. Sounds confusing but eating beef from an animal pumped with hormones and fed corn will lead to problems for the animal as well as you. Stick with fruits and vegetables that are in season and vary your food selection.

This may be an over simplification of a diet program but if you follow this philosophy you will have less weight struggles and lead a much healthier life.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

It's A Baby

Recently my wife and I have been informing our friends and coworkers that we are expecting. This is obviously a very exciting time for us and we are really looking forward to parenthood.

Babies, however, are not my specialty. I have never really been around kids much and have no clue what I am doing, but I'm sure I will learn fast. Being the nerd that I am I always like to do research to see what types of things we should be doing. I have discovered, with pregnancy, there are some people that say some things are ok to do and others say to avoid certain things completely.

Just like in the fitness world, I have a hard time taking someone's word. I always hear claims that this supplement will melt fat away in days and that this exercise will give you a ripped stomach. I have grown to be a very skeptical person and need to do my own research before buying into something.

To help clear up my head with the whole pregnancy, I thought I should do some real research and see what peer reviewed journals have to say. Here are just some random results I found interesting. Pass this on to anyone you know who is pregnant or planning on it. Whether it is their first or fifth pregnancy this info will be helpful.

1. How many extra calories should you eat during pregnancy?

It depends on the mother's weight before conception. For those who fall in a normal body mass index (BMI) which is around 20-24 you can use this guide. The first trimester you can continue eating pretty much the same amount as before. Second Trimester increase to an extra 350 cal/day and Third Trimester you can increase to an extra 500 cal/day.

2. How much weight should you gain during a pregnancy?

Studies again are finding that it depends on your weight beforehand. Here are some more guidelines you can follow. If you underweight (BMI is <19.8) then you should gain around 12.5-18kgs (27.5-39.6lbs). If you are normal weight (BMI 19.9-24.9) you should gain around 11.5-16kg (25.3-35.2lbs). If you are overweight then you weight gain should be even less. This may seem backwards but the smaller you are the more weight you should be gaining.

3. Increasing vegetable intake during pregnancy is beneficial to fetal growth.

They are finding that women who consume more veggies during pregnancy will decrease the risk of small for gestation age (SGA) birth weight and size. Increasing vegetable intake will help the fetus growth better.

4. Increasing milk consumption is associated with increased birth weight.

Drinking 3 glasses of milk a day lead to increased birth weight and size. There was a decreased risk of SGA birth, but an increase in LGA birth. This can be a good or bad thing depending on your situation.

5. Prenatal Fish Oil supplementation is just a good idea.

Women have to be careful with how much fish they eat and what type but they NEED to make sure they are getting their Omega 3's somehow. I can't believe how much positive information I found with fish oil and pregnancy. Some of the main things were helping the development of the nervous system and improve cognitive development into childhood.

6. Siblings born at closer intervals have an increased risk of developing autism.

This one has nothing to do with nutrition but I found one study that should siblings who were born <1 year apart had a higher risk of autism.

Well that is it for now. I'm sure I will find some more pregnancy tips and facts to share in the future. Hopefully in a few weeks we will find out what we are having and then we can start the baby pool.

You Stay Healthy San Diego!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator

Free Protein Recipe Book

I just came across this awesome recipe book. And great news. It is healthier recipes and it is absolutely free!! These recipes come from Prograde Nutrition. Inside you will find delicious recipes for cakes, cookies, brownies, muffins, sweet treats, breakfast recipes like peanut butter pancakes, and homemade protein bars.

That's right, you heard me correct. I am giving you book with 51 recipes for deserts and breakfast ideas. To check out these recipes plus much more just click on the picture below or right click the link and save it to your computer.

Right Click and Save File Here

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator

Four Keys To Live Longer

I think there are two reasons why people decide to start an exercise program and eating healthier. I have a hard time saying which one is perceived as more important surprisingly though. These two reasons are we want to look better and we want to live longer. You would think that living longer would be the most popular choice, but I definitely hear the goal of looking better naked more than living longer.

Let's focus on what should be the more important goal of living longer. Although living longer should not be the only thing we worry about. We want to live a longer, but High Quality of life. Obviously the earlier you start in life with an exercise program the easier it is and the more beneficial it can be. Sometimes when the effects of aging arise, it may be too late to get rid of them and the best you can do is manage them.

Before we go any further, I want to make the point that the keys we are going to discuss here may not make you look younger necessarily. I won't tell you I have a magic cream that will remove wrinkles or tighten your skin. Instead I am going to give you 4 things that if you do you will be more likely to live a longer life and be able to take care of yourself on your own.

These 4 keys came from a Danish study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. They followed 120,852 men and women aged 55–69 who provided information on dietary and other lifestyle habits. Researchers found that those who stuck to these 4 habits lived longer:

1. Adhered to the Mediterranean Diet.
2. Did not smoke.
3. Stayed at a normal weight (BMI of 18-24).
4. Participated in regular physical activity.

It is as simple as that. These four easy habits resulted in years added to their life. In fact they found the mortality rate advancement period was 15 years for women and 8 years for men.

The last 3 habits are pretty self explanatory. Don't smoke, keep your body weight normal, and exercise. The first point may need to further explanation.

The Mediterranean Diet is essential a high fat diet. I know we were told for years that fat is the enemy. Then food products came out that were low fat and we became fatter. Now we are told carbs are the enemy and what happened? We are still getting fatter. (It is time we worry less about what macro nutrients we are getting, and focus on what foods we are eating.)

So I am not saying go out and eat fatty foods all day. In fact this diet is very low in saturated and trans fats. The Mediterranean Diet basically emphasizes eating fruits, veggies, whole grains, olive oil, beans, nuts, legumes, seeds, and herbs and spices.

Here are some keys to following this diet:

• Eat primarily plant-based foods (fruits, veggies, whole grains, legumes, and nuts)
• Replace butter with healthy fats such as olive oil
• Use herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods
• Limit red meat to no more than a few times per month
• Eat fish and poultry at least twice a week

So that is it. Follow these steps for a longer and healthy life.

You Stay Healthy San Diego!

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator