CategoriesMotivational Nutrition

A Discussion: Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss

Today I’m throwing everyone a bit of a curve ball, and doing something a little differently compared to what I normally do. To be as succinct as possible, I had an interesting email exchange with one of my female clients last weekend about the difference between weight loss and fat loss, and I thought I’d share the dialogue both she and I exchanged here as I felt it would make for some decent blog fodder.

I think this is a topic that leaves a lot of trainees flummoxed, and it’s something that unfortunately, despite our best efforts, is a message that gets lost in translation – especially within the mainstream media.

If nothing else, I thought my insight would serve two purposes:

1.  I think it’s a topic that a lot trainees (especially women) need to hear more often, and is something I feel pretty strongly about.

2.  Hopefully help turn the tides and help people realize that it’s not necessarily an “education thing” (we all know that pounding beer isn’t the answer), but rather a BEHAVIORAL issue that we need to address.

With that said, below is the email exchange between her and I, which has been edited slightly so that it would “flow” more easily in blog format.

On that note: Bagels suck!

Female Client:  Hey Tony, it’s been several weeks since I’ve seen you and I’m excited to get back to CP to train!  Having said that, while I still have some things I’d like to work on in terms of some aches and pains, and I definitely want to get my strength back,  I would like to work on weight loss, do you have any good suggestions for me in that area?

Me: Hey Kate Beckinsale (name has been changed to protect the identity of the actual client)!  Great to hear from you. With the weight loss issue, I think it’s important to understand that there’s a huge difference between weight loss and fat loss.

Far too often – at least in my experience, and this may or may not pertain to you – women get overly caught up on what the scale tells them. Weight loss can be completely subjective, and the truth of matter is the scale really doesn’t tell you anything.

If I told you to not eat for eight hours, you would weigh less.

If I told you to not drink water for a day, you would weigh less.

If I told you to cut off you right arm, you would weigh less.

In all three scenarios you weigh less, but does that really mean you made any significant progress?

Answer:  Um, no.

Sure, you weigh less……….but all you’ve really accomplished is to make yourself a smaller, weaker, armless, version of your original self.  There’s no shape, form, or contour to the body. What’s more:  now you have to do everything with your left arm.  And that just sucks!

How most women (and I’ll throw a lot of men under the bus here, too) approach weight loss is wrong.  Many would bode well by changing their mindset altogether and start thinking in terms of FAT loss.

More to the point:  to MAINTAIN as much muscle as possible (even better, build some muscle) and focus on fat loss.

One lb of muscle weighs the EXACT same as one lb of fat – well, DUH!! –  the difference, however, is that muscle is more dense than fat and takes up less space.

Stealing a little thunder from my good friend, Nia Shanks, here’s a great example of why it’s often a VERY good idea for women to not only toss their scale into the trash, but to not be skeered of adding a little muscle to their frame as well:

Muscle is more dense than fat, and that’s why a woman who’s been training hard and, despite losing body fat, hasn’t seen the number on the scale change much, if any, because she’s built muscle, too.

This is one reason why building muscle is a very good thing for women.

Here’s a picture to show that you can look better even if you gain weight. This is one of Jason Ferruggia’s clients.

As you can see, she gained 9 pounds but looks leaner, more “toned”, and more athletic because she lost body fat and built muscle. Good thing she didn’t let the number on the scale upset her!

I could write an entire book on what type of training one should follow in order to elicit similar results (Note to Self:  write a book), but I don’t really want to get into that here with you.

This might come across as beating a dead horse, but when it DOES come to fat loss, almost always, nutrition is going to be the biggest determining factor.

So, with that said, we need to come up with some “system” that starts to change your behaviors. I’m sure we can sit here and figure out a multitude of things that you need to change from a nutrition standpoint (eating more veggies, stressing protein with every meal, increasing healthy fats, food prep, etc), but that’s not going to help you.

Instead, and this is a concept I “stole” from another buddy of mine, Mark Young, who has a lot of experience in these sort of things,  we need to figure out a way to fix/change your behaviors one at a time. As an example, on a scale of 1-10 (one being “I’d rather swallow a live grenade and ten being “I could do that in my sleep”) how confident do you feel about omitting fast food or weekend brunches out of the mix?

If it’s not at least an eight or above, then we need to take a step back and figure out a better approach.  It’s only when we can figure out a way for you to be successful and to carry that over into a CONSISTENT behavior that things are going to really make a difference.

If you don’t feel overly confident about eating protein with every meal (using another example), then what about two meals?  Once you start making two meals a day a habit, then we can push the envelop to four meals per day, so on and so forth until it becomes standard procedure.

You go girl!

But remember:  YOU CANNOT OUT TRAIN A POOR DIET

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ In case you were wondering, I used capital letters so that you’d understand that this is kind of an important point

You. Can. Not. Out-Train. A. Poor. Diet.

It’s just not going to happen.  I can write you the most kick-ass fat loss plan in the history of the human race – training 4-5 times per week, throwing in any combination of circuits, finishers, or anything else we can think of that will make you hate life – but it’s not going to matter if we don’t tackle the nutritional side of things.

Using an analogy I’ve used in the past, if we KNOW that fat loss is (more or less) determined by calories in vs. calories out, which seems to be a more efficient use of our time:

A) Spending upwards of 45-60 minutes (maybe) burning off 350-500 calories (depending on the mode, intensity, duration) exercising ?

Note to Everyone Reading: trust me when I say this, despite the machine telling you otherwise, you DID NOT just burn 700 kcals walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes at a 5% grade.  Those machines are WOEFULLY off and not remotely accurate.

Seriously, think about it. Unless you’re walking with Volkswagon on your back, you’re not burning that many calories.

OR

B) Electing not to eat that bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios before bed?

Ding, ding, ding, ding.

If we were to take the simple equation that a lb of fat equals 350o of excess kcals (which I know can be argued, but bare with me, I’m trying to make a point), we can surmise that subtracting 500 kcals per day (whether through diet or exercise, or both!) leads to a lb of fat loss per week. Give or take.

Again, from a time efficiency standpoint, and with FAT LOSS as the goal, nutrition is going to trump exercise in terms of better use of our time no matter what.

Here’s the rub though:  as I noted above, it’s not an education thing.  You know that it’s not the best idea to crush Doritos (or whatever) or to forego preparing a home cooked meal in lieu of hitting up McDonald’s on your way home from work.

You know that eating a boatload of highly processed carbohydrates on a day where you’re less active probably isn’t the best idea.  You know ALL of this. So what’s holding you back?

It’s all about behavior change.

We need to have some sort of default “path” to help you succeed.  So,  instead of McDonald’s, maybe you hit up Chipolte Grill and order a meat salad with a heaping pile of guacamole on top?

While still not the best option, it’s a heckuva lot more conducive to your goals, and a step in the right direction.

The same can be said for trying to include more veggies, healthy fats etc.  We need to find a “spot” where you feel confident you can be successful. Going back to the scale suggested earlier: how confident are you that you can include five servings of vegetables per day?  Is it an 8 or above?

If not, then what about three servings? Two?

Hopefully this all makes some sense, and more importantly sheds some light on why I feel weight loss is not where your head should be at at the moment.

Still think cutting off that arm is a good idea?…..;o)

CategoriesUncategorized

Is Juicing Worth It? (

Below is an email I received from a friend and ex-college teammate of mine that I felt would lend itself to an interesting discussion.

Before I begin, though, let me just say that while I consider myself well informed, my formal education is NOT in nutrition. As a fitness professional, and more specifically as a strength coach, most of my extracurricular reading falls in the “program design/performance/assessment/how to make people more diesel” category.

Some may not agree with my train of thought, but this is my blog, so there!

Q:  Could you do an article with your thoughts and opinions regarding the movies Forks Over Knives and Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead?

Six weeks ago I became a vegetarian and two days ago I started juicing. I have never felt so good in my life. This has prompted me to work out-because I actually want too (first time ever) and be as healthy as I can be.

Not only did I give up tobacco, but coffee and other sources of caffeine as well.

I can’t get enough of the juice….kale, celery, ginger, carrrots, spinach, fruits….so effin good. BUT, there has to be a catch. This is where you come in. I respect your expert opinion and advice and want to know what you think of a diet like this. I think the rest of your readers would be interested as well. Thanks in advance.

A:  Dude, I’m happy for you and I’m STOKED that you’ve finally turned the page and are making a concerted effort to implement healthier life choices.

When the movie first came out, I wrote a brief preview to Forks Over Knives HERE.  For those too lazy to click on the link, to summarize, I LOVE the overall message, but a few red flags went up once I picked up on the “meat is bad for you” vibe from the film makers.

Maybe it’s the blatant bias I have towards eating dead animal flesh, but I have a hard time succumbing to the notion that it’s the absence of meat that’s the “x” factor here.

A few things to consider:

  • As with anything, I think it comes down to where your meat, dairy, or other sources of protein comes from.
  • Dairy:  Grass-fed pasture-raised dairy contains far more omega-3’s, CLA, and fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, K2-MK4) compared to their conglomerate, factorized farming counterparts
  • As my friend and colleague, Brian St. Pierre as noted on several occasions:  “Cows moved off family farms and onto Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations; basically huge conglomerate farms where they are fed tons of corn, stand in their own shit, are given antibiotics to prevent the illnesses from that corn consumption and the unsanitary living conditions, as well as given copious amounts of growth hormones to speed their growth and increase their milk production.”

Not exactly appetizing, but this is what the majority of people are eating nowadays.

Note:  for a REALLY eye-opening glimpse into this shady side of the food industry, I’d highly recommend reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals.

Fair warning, it’s not light reading.

  • Bringing this a little closer to the discussion at hand, you can make the same argument for eating red meat.  Humans have been eating meat for thousands of years, with little to no health ramifications. What they haven’t been doing for thousands of years – more like 100 years – is eating the Western Diet, which is about as nutritional as eating lamb’s anus.  Actually lamb anus is probably an upgrade.   Combine a diet that’s rich in highly processed sugar and flour, with meat (beef, chicken, pork) that’s raised in an environment that’s about as far removed from their natural state as possible, and you have a recipe for disaster.
  • Everyone knows the saying, “you are what you eat.”  Well, I think a more appropriate saying is “you are what eat, eats.”  If you go out of your way to purchase food that’s raised in its natural environment and fed its natural diet, the quality of meat is infinitely better.

Case in point, here’s what Jonny Bowden has to say on grass-fed beef:

The fat content of grass-fed beef is quite different from that of grain fed because the diet of the animals significantly alters their fatty-acid composition. Cattle that are primarily fed grass enhance their omega-3 content by 60 percent. A massive amount of research indicates that omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation ad help prevent certain chronic diseases

The ratio of omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 fatty acids in our diet is of enormous importance to our health. An inappropriate balance of these essential fatty acids contributes to the development of disease, while a proper balance helps maintain and even improve health.

Our Paleolithic ancestors consumed a ratio of between 1:1 and 4:1 omega-6 to omega-3, which is believed to be optimal. The typical American diet is between 11:1 and 30:1 in favor of the pro-inflamatory omega-6s.

  • Putting a nail in the coffin – at least in my eyes – beef is also a great source of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), B-vitamins, and heme iron. What’s more, half the fat content in beef is of the heart-healthy monounsaturated variety.  The other half – saturated fat – isn’t nearly as detrimental to health as many health professionals will have you believe (but that’s a can of worms I don’t want to open here).

Of course, all of this is moot if one chooses not to eat meat for other reasons – religious beliefs, moral beliefs, what have you. And that’s cool.  I can respect that.

But in terms of the actual topic – is juicing worth it, and is there a catch? – I think it depends.

Think of it is this way, you’re now making an effort to eat more fruits and vegetables.  You’re mom would be proud!

So, the question then becomes:  is it because you’re making healthier food choices – and as such, eating LESS processed crap – that’s making you feel better?  Or is it the lack of meat?

I’d lean more towards the former.  But that’s just me.  Again, I’m admittedly biased.  What can I say: I like eating Bambi’s mother.

Either way, you’re making strides to better your life, and that is never a bad thing.  The only thing I’d note is to continue what you’re doing for 1-2 months, and then slowly introduce meat back into the diet and see how you feel.  Some people do have a hormonal or bodily aversion to meat, so that’s something to look into and rule out.

Additionally, and this is just something that popped into my head as I was typing, for the more active population (lifting heavy things), relying solely on juicing may not be the most viable option, considering the amount of tissue turnover, and subsequently, protein requirements needed.

Granted, there are plenty of active vegetarians who are able to do it, and prosper  – Coach Mike Mahler, Coach Dos Remedios come to mind offhand – but it’s definitely going to take some long-term planning and dedication on your end.

At the end of the day, however, the important thing to realize is that you’ve latched onto something you’re excited about and that you’ll seemingly stick with for the foreseeable future. I’m all for it.

To Summarize:

1. I know it’s been 14 years since we played together, but don’t think I forgot about the $20 you owe me!

2. Juicing is an easy and convenient way to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet, which is never a bad thing.

3.  I’d be reticent to think that it’s SOLELY the absence of meat that’s making you feel better. Because you’re going out of your way to eat less processed gunk seems to be more of a determining factor in my view.

4.  As Jack LaLanne proved, juicing will make you live until you’re 187 years old.

 5.  And that’s it for 2011.  See you in 2012!

 

CategoriesUncategorized

Kefir: My New Obsession

Okay, today I’m sorta coming out of left field compared to what I usually do.  Namely, it’s because I have writing ADD and sometimes it’s just hard to come up with unique content on a daily basis.  Additionally, I wanted to challenge myself, and see if I could squeeze in a Jack Bauer joke somehow (keep reading, it’s coming). But most of all, I just wanted to quickly share with everyone my latest discovery:  kefir.

About two weeks ago, I was chatting with one of our clients at the facility, Roman.  I don’t know how we got on the topic, but we started discussing popular foods people use to try to put on weight.  Being from Russia, Roman immediately suggested kefir, which piqued my interest because I had never heard of it before.

Tony:  ka-fear, you said?

Roman:  No, no, no.  KEE-fur.

Tony:  Ohhhhh, you mean Kiefer.  As in Kiefer Sutherland.  As in Jack Bauer, the barrel chested freedom fighter from the show 24.

You ever watch it?

Roman:  No, not really.

Tony: Well, just so you know, Jack Bauer played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun……and won.

Roman:  Seriously, I don’t care.

Tony:  Or how about this:  1.5 billion Russians are angry with Jack Bauer.  Sounds like a fair fight.

Hahahahahahahaa.  Get it?  It’s like a play on all those Chuck Norris jokes people say, but using Jack Bauer instead.

[crickets chirping]

Roman (in an Ivan Drago voice):  I must break you.

 

Okay, that’s not quite how the conversation went, but needless to say, that was an awesome Jack Bauer reference!  And, I even threw in a Rocky IV reference, too!

So, what the heck is kefir anyways?  Essentially it’s fermented cow, goat, or sheep’s milk that’s been inoculated with kefir grains.  The grains themselves are a combination of bacteria and yeasts that form a complex and HIGHLY variable community that, when placed in milk and left for a day (or two), yields a slightly sour, carbonated beverage that resembles liquid yogurt.

Except here, instead of maybe one or two dominant strans of gut healthy bacteria that you’d normally find in a container of Greek yogurt, kefir has upwards of 10+ strains.  Plus, due to the fermentation process, much of the lactose is gone, so those who suffer from lactose intolerance may be able to use kefir without the nasty gas issues.

Luckily for me, there’s a legit Russian store right around the corner from my apartment, so I’ve been walking in and trying out different brands.  But, for those who don’t have access to a Russian store, you can easily find kefir in most mainstream stores like Trader Joe’s or Stop-n-Shop as well.

I’m not hardcore enough to drink it straight up – although it’s not THAT bad.  Rather, I’ve simply been adding it to my protein shakes throughout the day, which provides a nice creamy thickness to them.

Seriously, try it.  And, if you know of any other ways to use kefir, I’d be interested to hear about them below!