Random Nutrition Tips

I have probably stated this before, but I am pretty much a fitness nerd.  I can't read for pleasure anymore.  If I am going to read or listen to an audio book it has to be health related.  I do find pleasure in learning, but things change so often I need to do my best to stay on top of the latest research so I can provide the best service to my clients.

This week I was reading through the latest edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and came across a few good studies that I thought would be interesting for most people to hear about.  They aren't really related to each other, hence the title of this blog, Random Nutrition Tips.  While I would never put all my stock in just one study, it is worth interpreting the results and experiment on your own.
Here we go:

1.  Looking for a performance edge?

This study found that oral supplementation of Magnesium in elder women improved physical performance.  The main note that should be made here is that magnesium deficiency is associated with poor physical performance.  In this study those that had an intake below the RDA of magnesium, before the supplement, saw the best improvement.  This is probably true with 99% of the supplements out there.  If you are deficient in something you will see an improvement with supplements.  If you are not you probably won't.  So you can take the supplement, but really try and find foods high in the nutrients you are missing.  In this case try incorporating more dark leafy greens like spinach, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, brown rice, and avocados.

2.  Another reason to stop drinking soda.

Hopefully you are not drinking much soda for a variety of reasons.  But for postmenopausal women,

listen up closely.  This study found that for all types of sodas (regular, diet, caffeine free, non cola...) there is a significant increase risk of hip fractures.  There is already evidence that soda has a negative effect on bone health in children.  Looks like it may not be much better for adults either.

3.  Limit process read meat consumption.

There were actually two studies released in this issue on processed vs unprocessed red meat.  The first showed that those who consumed 5 or more servings a week had a 17% high rate of high blood pressure vs. those who consumed 1 or less.  There was no difference in blood pressure with those that consumed 5 or more or 1 or less of unprocessed red meet.

Also, those that consumed high amounts of processed red meet where associated with a shorter life span.  Consumption of non processed red meat was not associated with a shorter life span.

Unfortunately I was only to read the abstracts for these articles and can't be sure what they mean exactly by processed and unprocessed.  I'm assuming they mean organic, GMO, and grass fed beef though.

4.  Why you hit plateaus.

And finally, this last study looked at a possible reason why we hit early weight loss plateaus.  While I think there are a variety of reasons you would hit one, here is a good explanation.  Many people associated a plateau due to a slowed metabolism as a result of calorie reduction.  This can be true and may slow down weight loss for some.  According to this study, they found that a more likely cause is lower dietary adherence.  This just makes sense.  It is easy to stick with a diet when you first start and you usually see good results.  Then you slack and start to cheat, but expect the same results you were seeing before.  It just won't happen.

Well there are some random tips for you to work on.  Good luck and feel free to comment.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

You Won't Lose Weight Tomorrow

There is a business philosophy that I have read about in the past, and I try and implement as much as possible.  The saying goes, "You get paid for done."  Sounds pretty simple.  You can have the most amazing idea in the world, but as long as it is in your head you will never see any profit from it.  And there is more likely a chance someone else will beat you to it.  You might remember this Go Daddy Commercial:  http://youtu.be/UDfVZgtl2zM

This may seem unrelated to weight loss, but the most common excuse we hear from those that are not successful with a weight loss program is that now is not the best time or that they will get started tomorrow or next week or January.....We hear it over and over.  Whenever a prospective client walks into the studio, sees what we have to offer, and then says, "Let me think about it." we know that 95% of the time we will never see that person again and they probably will not start a fitness program any time soon.

Now someone could come in and say I don't like this style of training, it's not in my budget, or maybe they just don't like me.   IF these are truly the case there is a chance they will find another type of workout that will work better for their needs and that is fine.  But if you need to think about implementing something you just aren't ready to do it and it is not a high enough priority in your mind.

One thing I am positive of is there is never a perfect time for anything.  Most people like to procrastinate and avoid what they aren't looking forward to doing.  I think many understand that losing weight can be a challenge.  If it is hard they might keep pushing it further down the list of things they need to get done.  Enough things will pile up in front of it and you will have forgotten it was even something you were considering.

Do not fall into the trap of tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a new day and it sounds like the best time to start fresh.  But don't give up on right now.  It is easy to think about all the good things you will implement tomorrow, but more than likely you won't get to them.

Here is a personal example.  I have been really struggling to get my daily water requirements in each day.  Things get in the way and I don't remember or try to get it done.  Every day I would tell myself that I will do better tomorrow.  Then the same things would get in the way and nothing would change.  I had the right intention but saw no progress.  I had to keep it fresh in my mind.  So when I woke up this morning I said to Emily I will drink enough water today.  Telling someone will make me more accountable and I started the day with a simple goal that I know I can achieve.  It is 1:30pm as I right this and I have already drank 60oz of water.  Only 30oz more to go.

If you need help ask for it.  But do this to help yourself.  Right down what your fitness or wellness goal is.  Then decide what are you not currently doing that would help get your closer to that goal.  Start TODAY.  Don't wait for tomorrow.  Even if it is a small step, do it now.  You are much  more likely to follow through versus waiting for tomorrow.

So you get paid for done.  Nothing will ever happen unless you make it happen.

Have a great week and weekend.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Should You Throw Away Your Scale?

Recently we did a poll on our Facebook page on how much weight I would gain on a week vacation at an all inclusive resort.  I did this poll for a few reasons.  One of the main ones was to show our clients and subscribers that we are human.  Just because I am a trainer and push my clients to follow a healthy nutrition program, doesn't mean there aren't times that we blow it and eat bad foods and drink alcohol.

I personally hate eating around other trainers who look down on anyone who eats what they consider bad foods like bread or gluten or whatever else they seem to have a problem with.  I just can't live that way.  I follow a nutrition diet of lean proteins, a variety of fruits and veggies, with starchy carbs in moderation.  Most of the time this is what I do.  But 10-20% of the time I will eat whatever I want and not feel bad about it.  This is a lifestyle that works for my and I can live with.

So I decided to eat and drink whatever I wanted for a week and see what kind of effect it would have on my weight.  Well 5 days into the vacation I was up 5lbs.  I figured at this point I would probably gain around 8lbs in the week.  Well then Thursday hit.  I will spare you the details, but I ate or drank something that my digestive tract wanted to get rid of immediately.  I pretty much could not stray too far from a toilet for the last two days of our trip.  Needless to say my weight started to drop back down.  After was all said and done I finished up 2.4lbs.  Most people might look at this and say, "Great! I didn't gain too much weight on my vacation."  And that may be true.  But the scale doesn't tell you everything.

I also measured my body fat % before and after.  Before the trip I was 12.8%.  When I got back I was at 14.8%.  Now there is always room for error with the type of testing I used but let's say these number are pretty accurate.  What this means is that before the trip I had 22.9lbs of fat on me.  After the trip I had 26.9lbs of fat.  So the scale said I gained 2.4lbs but I really gained 4lbs of fat.  The reason the scale didn't go up is most likely because I lost some muscle mass from lack of exercise or more likely water weight due to mi estomago issues.  A 2.4lb gain on the scale may not seem to be that bad, but 4lbs of fat is.  This took me a week to gain and will like take a month to get off.

So the purpose of this post was to remind you that you can use the scale to help guide you along the way, but it should not be your primary indicator of your success.  You weight can go up for a lot of reason other than fat gain and the scale can go down for many reason other than fat loss.  But just remember the goal is fat loss not weight loss.  Weighing in is only part of your assessment.  Make sure you are getting your body fat tested or at least circumference measurements so you know exactly how your body is changing.  If you restrict your calories on a diet you will lose fat, but are you losing muscle, bone, water weight, and organ tissue as well.  The goal of a weight management program is to lose primarily fat mass while maintain or increasing lean body mass.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Is Breakfast The Most Important Meal of The Day?

We have all heard it before.  I have probably said it at some point.  Your mom probably told you when you were a kid.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  We have heard this for years.  There seemed to be tons of reason why you needed to eat a good breakfast to get your day going.  Is this 100% true though?  It may not be as clear as you think.

When it comes to nutrition it seems that we are always changing what we "know."  However, there is so many things to consider it is probably impossible to know the entire truth.  But I have recently come across a few studies that show an interesting perspective, that may question what we thought we knew about eating breakfast.

I'm sure you have heard that you need to eat breakfast in order to lose weight because it will give your metabolism a kick start.  A brand new study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that this really isn't the case.  In this study they measured metabolic rate with and without breakfast.  They found that there was no significant increase in metabolism when breakfast was consumed.  One note we should make is this study was performed on already lean individuals.

The next study looked that those who were obese and how breakfast consumption helped with weight loss.  They divided individuals up into breakfast eaters and breakfast skippers.  After the duration of the study there was no difference in weight loss between groups.

So that's two studies showing that maybe it isn't so important.  But if we look at the National Weight Control Registry studies we see some interesting numbers.  The NWCR is composed of individuals who have lost on average 66lbs and kept it off for 5.5 years.  So these individuals are having successful weight loss and keeping it off.  Studying this group might give us insight to what works and what doesn't.  Out of this group 78% eat breakfast regularly.  While some do lose weight without eating breakfast they are in the minority here.

And yet a final study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at what if you just change your breakfast behavior.  For this they divided participants into four groups.  One group was those that normally ate breakfast and continued to eat breakfast, the next normally ate breakfast and stopped, the third did not normally eat breakfast and continued to skip it, and finally a group that normally did not eat breakfast and did eat it during the study.  Here they found the two groups that lost the most weight were the ones that changed their behavior.  So the group that usually ate breakfast and stopped lost more weight and the group that didn't normally eat breakfast and started lost more weight.

So I'm sure I completely confused you with these findings.  But the truth is the answer to weight loss probably isn't as simple as just eating breakfast.  This might be one small change that might help some and may not have much of an effect on others.  I personally would recommend eating breakfast, especially if you exercise in the morning, but for some people this will not necessarily mean more weight loss.  The key is though that eating breakfast won't make you gain weight with all else being equal.  So if you feel better when you eat breakfast keep doing it.  If you don't like eating right away and can't seem to eat breakfast, you can still have a successful weight loss program.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

How To Really Make A Lifestyle Change

When most people think of the job of a personal trainer, they usually assume it is someone who will help you learn or show you how to exercise properly and teach you nutritional guidelines to follow.  While those are very true characteristics of a personal trainer, a good one should be doing much more.  I'm sure you have heard of the phrase, "make a lifestyle change for successful weight management."  We hear this all the time but how can it be accomplished?

Our goal as fitness professionals at SDPT is to try and accomplish this.  We don't simply want to write and exercise program and a few nutritional tips.  Our real purpose is to educate you on how you can live the healthiest lifestyle that you see fit.   While everyone is looking for the quick fix, this usually leads to short term and limited results.  When a true plan is developed and maintained we see the best results possible.

Here are some pointers on how to integrate a new habit into your lifestyle.  This ideas are from the book, "The Power of Less."

1. For the next 30 days select one and only one habit that you think would make the biggest impact in your life.  Focus all of your effort on this one habit.  This could be keeping a food log, drinking more water, starting an exercise program, stretching....anything that will impact your life more positively.  Your goal is to only attempt to achieve this one new habit for one month.  When you get too ambitious, things start to fall apart.  We see it all the time.  A client who never has worked out before wants to work with a trainer 3 times a week, take a yoga class, a spin class, start a super restrictive diet plan, and train for a marathon.  Individually these are all great goals but it will be too overwhelming and most likely none of them will be achieved.  
2. Write down your specific goal and your plan of action.  This is where a trainer can be extremely useful helping you design an effective plan that you can simply follow to see results.  But if you can't hire a professional at least do research and come up with a plan that you can put into place.  If things come up you can alter the plan if necessary but stick with it as best as you can.  
3. Post your goal publicly.  Those that try things on there own with no accountability are at a huge risk of failure.  Tell people what you are doing and why you are doing it.  If you don't want everyone to know then don't blast it out on facebook, but make sure a few people know what you are doing and ask for their help.  If they are true friends they will do anything to help you succeed.  If they get in your way, it might be time to spend as little time as possible with those people.  
4. Continually reassess and evaluate your progress.  After a few days look at your progress and see how you are doing.  If you have fallen off track, get right back on.  This is where your support group comes in.  Inform them of your progress and ask them to check on you regularly.  You might even find out that a friend or coworker has a similar goal and starts it with you.  

Once you have successful integrated that new habit you can decide if another habit should be started or you continue to work on the one.  It is amazing how much of a difference one simple change can make in the long term.  

Please feel free to contact us if you need any help with your plan.  

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS

San Diego Premier Training

Are you working out too much?

Most people assume more is always better with exercise.  But there is a point when you might be working out too much and getting worse results.  The first question you should ask about an exercise program you are currently doing is "Are you getting results still?"  If the answer is no you might think the solution is to workout more.  While for some people this may be the case but not always.  There are two reasons why you should not increase how much you are working out.

The first one is simple.  You might be overtraining.  Overtraining leads to less results and more injuries.  Remember that exercise is stress.  It is a good form of stress on the body but it is still stress nonetheless.  Too much is bad, regardless if it is good or bad stress.  Remember that when you workout you are actually getting weaker.  You are breaking your body down so it will redevelop stronger and able to handle the increase workload.  This is true for cardio or strength training.  Just think if you are strong before you go into a workout or after.  You will definitely be stronger before the workout.

The key is properly recovering after the workout is over.  If you are training as hard as you can every time you exercise you might be overtraining.  Here are some symptoms:

1. Decrease in exercise performance
2. Chronic fatigue
3. Loss of muscle mass
4. Increase number of infections or illness
5. Psychological staleness or loss of motivation
6. Elevated resting heart rate

These are some of the more common signs of overtraining.  If you feel this might be what you are suffering from it is ideal to take a week or so off.  This doesn't mean you can't exercise at all but you just want to back off the intensity and frequency.  Once you feel better you can resume your normal routine.  It is a good idea to plan a lighter week every 6-8 weeks in order to prevent overtraining, especially if you are working out hard.  

On top of overtraining there is another reason you need to watch how much you are working out.  This is critical if you are training to lose weight.  If you workout too hard too after you may actually decrease your activity for the rest of the day.  Studies are showing that when individuals increase the amount they workout, they actually move less for the rest of the day.  So they might burn more calories during a workout, but they burn much less for the rest of the day.  This means you don't burn as much as you think you are and will not see the weight loss that you want.  

To solve this problem, just try and pay attention to your energy levels throughout the day when you workout.  If you feel tired and like you can't move, you might be training too much.  An exercise program should give you more energy, not take it away.  You could always track your movement with a pedometer or a fitbit to make sure you keeping up the same activity levels.  

So see if you might be working out too much.  I generally recommend 2-3 days of cardio and 2-3 days of strength training.  You should have 1-2 days of recovery each week though to allow you to keep up the intensity each workout.  

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS

San Diego Premier Training

The Best Glute Exercise

While at the gym recently I had two guys stop me and ask what I was doing.  The reason was is because I was performing a glute exercise you typically don't see most people doing.  This is a shame for two reasons.  First off, most people have weak glutes which leads to a number of other problems including back and knee pain.  Secondly, this exercise is just about of the best for targeting the glutes.  If you think your backside needs some extra attention try the barbell hip thrust.

To perform this exercise place a padding on a barbell.  You can start from the floor or have your shoulders on the bench as seen above.  Place the barbell on your hips in a comfortable position.  Brace your abdominals so you have no movement in the lumbar spine.  The key to this exercise is to make sure all movement is from the hips.  Bend the hips to reach your butt to the floor.  Contract your glutes as you raise as high as you can so your torso is level with the bench and repeat.  Try perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps.

If this exercise scares you, here is another option that is less intimidating, but still great for activating the glutes:

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS

San Diego Premier Training