Expert Articles

Calories in calories out is still the most widely accepted hypothesis on how we gain or lose weight. This is definitely the case, there is no doubt that if an individual eats 2,000 calories per day and burns 2,500 he or she will lose weight. However this logic is the same as buying with a credit card, you are spending money you don't have; eventually the money or weight will go back on. So the question arises, if sustained weight loss is not about constantly monitoring the amount of calories we ingest versus the amount of calories we expend then what should we be monitoring to remain lean strong and healthy?

As we all know, food and fat loss go hand in hand, but without an educated thought as to why we eat the foods we eat, our fat loss journey could take much longer than expected. The aim of this article is to get you to understand why you would ever decide to prepare your own food and track how much you eat.   Diets, nutrition plans and food recommendations are forever changing, at least the adverts are. We start a food regime only to see a week later someone advertising the latest lemon detox diet and we find ourselves sucked into a dream that lemons will be the elixir to our fat loss. Of course, there's a bit more to it than that! One thing we certainly know, is that the amount of food we eat is crucial to eliminating fat. We all have a basal metabolic rate (BMR), of which, if we eat over the amount required, we will generally put on weight. Eating under this amount will usually induce fat loss. However the tricky part is consuming the correct amount of calories to support muscle growth yet, remaining under the metabolic rate so that the end result is fat loss and not weight loss. 'Weight loss' meaning the loss of fat, muscle and water. In an ideal world a person wanting to lose weight would eat a caloric intake tailored specifically to their daily activities. For example, for someone with a BMR requiring 2100 calories who burned 600 from running, would need to eat 1900 calories in that day to still lose fat without becoming catabolic and lose muscle. You lose muscle when you don't have enough calories in your body to support muscle recovery, putting you in a catabolic state. The body is either in an anabolic state or a catabolic state (growing or destroying muscle tissue). It is never in-between either one. Yet since we don't always know how much energy we have burned in a day, it is hard for us to calculate the right amount of food to eat when we change the meals we have everyday. The food we eat over the course of a day is part of the method enabling us to reach our end result. If we change our method, i.e. our food intake on a daily basis, we will never know if the method we tried the day before worked, because nothing happens overnight. We need at least a week to confidently say we've seen a difference. I'm not by any means saying you must stick to a simple and boring plan of the same meals 7 days a week for the rest of your life, but limit the food you eat to a couple of different options for each meal you have and be aware of what and how much is in them. That way you know if you have option 1 of 3 for breakfast you have consumed 300 calories and will have 1600 left for the day. If you were to instead grab a takeaway from the cafe on your way to work, that meal will more than likely take you over your BMR for the day. Even if it's the same meal you have at home, there's a reason why cafe food tastes better than home cooking, and that's because it's designed primarily with taste in mind, so is likely to be high in salt, fat and sugar. Nutrition is a secondary consideration, so who really knows what is in it! Depending on the amount of fat you want to lose it might not happen as quickly as you think. But knowing what's in your meals will make for good progress. 

When assessing clients progress, I like to use these 3 measuring tools; body weight scales, girth measurements and photos. Using these 3 tools to assess your progress and results makes it more accurate and reassuring.  By using these 3 tools, you know for sure whether or not what you are doing is working and you're succeeding. Give them a try!

At Vision Personal Training Engadine most of the clients that we deal with day to day are over 40. 

Choosing the right type of carbohydrate for your goal can be a daunting and confusing task. If we are to consult the famous food pyramid, it would say that the best type of carbohydrates to eat are pasta, grains and breads. Now ask anyone what foods they should avoid to lose weight and I'm sure most people who have attempted a diet in some form will tell you that these very carbohydrates are the first ones to go. But why is that? Why are these the carbs that we should avoid? Furthermore why is it that we should avoid the sugary processed carbs and instead replace them with the seemingly "tasteless" vegetables? Understanding what makes fruits, vegetables and legumes the best choices compared to grains and processed carbs is the key to taking control of our health and weight loss. In this article I will attempt to shed some light on this important yet constantly overlooked issue of why vegetables are better than grains and why grains are better than sweets.

This is something that took me a long time to understand when I was young and gun hoe. That failing was a good thing and that it is part of the road to success, "no way, I have to WIN!"

What is Discipline?

One of the first go-to areas when embracing a body transformation is a check of your gut health. When I first meet with prospective clients at Vision it is very common for people have little to no awareness of their own gut health, often it would be considered something that they have never thought about. According to  statistics published by State of Victoria, it is estimated that around 20 percent of Australians have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or some other expression of poor gut health. The small intestine has a surface area equivalent to the size of a tennis court, which is the area where your food is absorbed. The small intestine is also the home of your gut-immune system which is  around 60 percent of your total immune system. The pertinent thing to remember, however, is the lining of the gut wall is just one cell layer away from the toxin pool of bacteria and undigested food particles. Lifestyle stress, antibiotics or anti-inflammatory drugs (aspirin or ibuprofen), low fibre high sugar diets and alcohol can cause this lining to break down, enabling the pollution of your immune system.

 In early 2015 I found myself lacking personal motivation and accountability. I was allowing my lack of work/life balance and broader lifestyle choices dictate who I was and how I felt about myself.  I went from being someone who was rather cheerful and confident to negative feelings of disconnect and imbalance.