Does Vitamin D help you lose weight?

Q

"Hello! I keep hearing that Vitamin D helps people lose weight and that a lack of Vitamin D causes people to gain weight. Is this true? How can a Vitamin make people lose weight?

Curious
Samantha"

A

Hey Samantha!

Well the good news is YES, Vitamin D does help people lose weight and yes it is equally true that a lack of vitamin D also causes people to lose weight.

How does it work? Well it is very complicated, but I will break it down for you so you can understand all the things Vitamin D does.

#1. Vitamin D regulates how the human body stores fat for the winter. During the summer when people are outside (hopefully exercising outside) their body absorbs sunlight on their skin and the human body absorbs that sunlight and then your kidneys creates vitamin D. You don't actually need to eat food with Vitamin D in the food, although that helps too.

#2. Whether you eat the Vitamin D, get it from sunlight, or even from a Vitamin D supplement, the end result is that Vitamin D triggers a fat burning mechanism in your body and gives you more energy. It basically acts like a catalyst causing your body to burn more fat, make you more energetic, and then the extra energy being used causes you to lose weight.

[What actually happens is our skin absorbs UVB radiation from the sunlight and uses that energy to make Vitamin D which goes into our blood; The liver converts the Vitamin D in your blood into Hydroxy D - and then Hydroxy D does the rest of the work.]

#3. When the human body has a lack of Vitamin D (from sunlight or other sources) what happens is the opposite. The human body starts storing up fat for the winter. Basically this is our Cro-Magnon Man genes at work, telling us that we need to store up fat for the winter.

#4. A lack of vitamin D also makes people more hungry. They start eating more than they need to in an effort to store up extra fat for the winter. You don't even consciously know you are doing it, but your body is sending signals to your brain (and vice versa) telling you to eat more because "Winter is coming."

And yes, that was totally a Game of Thrones reference.

Vitamin D also has numerous other health benefits including disease prevention by boosting your immune system, stronger bones, boosts insulin production, and helps prevent heart disease and diabetes.

Fish, vegetables, fruit and milk are all excellent sources of Vitamin D. So eat all those healthy foods during the winter and you will see results around your waistline. And if you get a chance to go someplace sunny for a vacation during the winter, take it!

To learn more on this topic I recommend reading the following two posts:

All About Vitamins - What do they do?

Winter Weight Gain and What to Do about It

10 Exercise Tricks that Help Burn Fat FASTER

Want to learn how to lose weight faster? Well then you need to learn how to burn calories FASTER!

#1. Move faster when doing cardio activities - including daily activities like running to catch the bus. The faster you move the more calories you burn.

#2. Try harder - The harder and faster you do an activity - whether it be yoga, jogging or even sex - it burns more calories!

#3. Angry? Upset? Want to key your boss's car? Time to exercise! Exercising while angry or upset is a great way to burn more calories faster and it relieves stress.

#4. When weightlifting do the exercises SLOOOOOOOWER. Cardio exercises you want to do fast, but for weightlifting you get better results if you do things slowly. Lifting a weight slowly takes more energy and burns more calories - and it builds more muscle, faster! Seems counter-intuitive, but it works!

#5. Music makes you burn more calories faster - especially if it fast paced music that gets you excited. More excitement equals more calorie burn.

#6. Try to do everything - exercise wise - perfectly. It takes more energy, but you reap more rewards. So if you're doing yoga - try to do each pose perfectly instead of being lazy about it. If you are weightlifting, use perfect form while lifting - which means lifting slowly and watching your form carefully, sometimes even in a mirror.

#7. Exercise with a friend. You lose track of time, you exercise longer, you help motivate each other, you even compete with each other, and you burn more calories overall. No exercise buddy? See trick #10 instead.

#8. Stay hydrated. You burn more calories if you can try harder while properly hydrated. Don't bother with the energy drinks (they're mostly a waste of sodium which will give you more "water weight"), good old chilled water works wonders.

#9. Eat before you exercise. Not after. Helps burn more calories and you won't feel hungry afterwards. Sometimes people binge eat after they exercise, and it ruins what they were striving for.

#10. Hire a personal trainer. Me. Someone else. It doesn't matter. We can teach you a much longer list of ways to burn calories faster.

The Hidden Dangers of Your Excess Abdominal Fat

Did you know that the vast majority of North Americans have excess abdominal fat? If you've been following the obesity epidemic in the USA and Canada then you know what I am talking about.

The most common thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly, that it is covering up their abs from being visible, and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.

However, what most people don't realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly demonstrated that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also more dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.

There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.

The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that "beer belly" appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Note - There is also "baby fat", which most people lose when they are kids or teens, but for people who are obese when they were children they might still possess some of their baby fat because they never used any of it as energy.

Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat because of its proximity to your internal organs. Visceral fat dramtically increases your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.

Another reason visceral fat is particularly dangerous is that it releases more inflammatory molecules into your body on a regular basis.

If you care about the quality of your life and your loved ones, reducing your abdominal fat should be one of your TOP priorities! There's just no way around it. Besides, a side-effect of finally getting rid of all of that excessive (and ugly) abdominal fat is that your stomach will flatten out, and if you lose enough stomach fat, you will be able to visibly see those sexy six pack abs that everyone wants.

So what gets rid of extra abdominal fat?

There really is only one solution: Exercise, in particular cardio exercises like swimming, cycling, running, jogging, etc. (Or more specifically, exercise + a healthy diet. You need to do both to fix this problem.)

You aren't going to find any cheap/quick fix solutions like a diet pill or anything like that which only targets your abdominal fat. [Ignoring liposuction, which is expensive and not recommended - especially in a day and age when you can get gastric bypass surgery to reduce your stomach to the size of an apple so you are forced to eat smaller meals and have no choice but to cut down on over-consumption.]

Thus, ignoring elective surgery, your only real option is exercise and a healthy diet.

Which honestly doesn't take that much time. Read any of the 6 Minute Cardio Workouts posted on my website.

Or read my recent post in which I answer the question "How much dieting is actually necessary to achieve results?"

And here is an important bit:

The people who only diet often end up yo-yo dieting and their weight going up and down.

The people who eat a healthy diet and exercise - no yo-yo-ing because the changes they make become lifestyle changes. Just straight results in which they make changes in their lifestyle by exercising more and eating more healthily, and they achieve results faster and safer than any fad diets ever could.

Want fast results that are permanent? Change your lifestyle.

And if you pick a sport that you enjoy, you will find the new lifestyle is a lot more enjoyable than you ever could of expected because the sport will help motivate you and make it fun to exercise.

Waist Training, Skinny Waists and Training Corsets

Myth Busting on Training Corsets

Guest Post

For women (and historically, some men did this too) one of the techniques people used to lose weight / prevent over-eating was 'training corsets' designed to cinch the waist together so that they could achieve an hourglass shape of their chest to waist to hips ratio.

1950s Pinup Model Betty Brosmer

The purpose of training corsets was not for it to be worn as a fashion piece, but to train the waist so it was a specific shape whenever the corset was NOT on.

You can see the results in the photo on the right from the 1950s.

Or at the photo of Kim Kardashian further below. In the case of Kim Kardashian there has been a lot of social buzz about whether various photos of her were photoshopped to make her waist looking small and her hips look bigger. But if you are familiar with the history of corsets you will know that Kim's waist and hips don't need photoshop. There were plenty of women (and men too) from history who had highly cinched waists who had curvier / more hourglass shaped figures.

Doing this is basically just another form of body modification similar to piercings, tattoos, breast implants / pectoral implants, botox, liposuction, synthol injections, steroid addiction, cosmetic surgery, rhinoplasty, circumcision, eyeball tattooing (I bet you didn't even know that one existed), microdermal / transdermal / subdermal implants, silicone injections, tongue splitting, cranial binding, foot binding, branding, ear shaping, scarification, tooth filing, etc. Many of these activities are the result of body dysmorphic disorders / mental illnesses in which the person feels inadequate unless they can change their body in a specific way.

Kim Kardashian taking a Selfie

In the case of waist training, it is true that many practitioners do lose weight because it is a bit like Gastric Bypass Surgery in that it restricts how much a person can eat. (Gastric bypass surgery is a surgical procedure in which the stomach is divided into a small upper pouch and a much larger lower "remnant" pouch and then the small intestine is rearranged to connect to both. The small stomach can then consume less food, resulting in the person having smaller meals and they lose weight over the long term.)

However the health effects of tightlacing / corset training causes havoc with the individual's internal organs. Below is a list of health defects that can result from an addiction to tightlacing.

Short term effects of tightlacing

• Extreme discomfort
• Shortness of breath
• Faintness
• Indigestion
• Chafing of the skin

Long term effects of tightlacing

• Weak abdominal muscles
• Spinal problems / back pain
• Problems urinating / leaky bladder (a practitioner might end up having to wear diapers)
• Broken ribs / osteoporosis in the ribs
• Compression of internal organs (similar to when organs are compressed during pregnancy)
• Decreased lung volume / shallow breathing (intercostal breathing)
• Mucosal build up in the lungs causes frequent bouts of pneumonia / coughing, which caused a Victorian myth that corset wearing caused tuberculosis
• Liver is pushed upwards towards the ribs, forming ridges in between the ribs and accessory lobes - the connection of which can be quite thin, which resulted in the Victorian myth that corset wearing can 'cut a liver in half'.
• Stomach volume compressed resulting in long term problems with indigestion, heartburn, gastric reflux. Practitioners avoid carbonated drinks, beans or any gassy foods.
• Intestine compression causes constipation / anal leakage / rectal discharge (again, necessitating the use of diapers)

Dietary problems

• The reduced stomach volume means many practitioners need to eat 6 smaller meals because eating 3 larger meals is no longer possible due to insufficient volume. Failing to eat sufficient nutrients can result in severe weight loss and accompanying health problems.

NOTES

If people really want to try waist training that is really their personal choice. But they should at least get into it knowing the health dangers/embarrassment they face (back pain, diapers, heartburn, etc). The prospect of diapers alone is enough of a reason in my opinion.

We should also note that sometimes training corsets are sometimes used to deliberately correct the curvature of the spine, in the case of people who have suffered traumatic injuries to the spine. However, just because corsets do have some medical applications, doesn't automatically mean they're safe when used for aesthetic waist training purposes.

3 Ways to Track Calories More Easily

One of the best ways to lose weight is to count calories so you can have a specific number of calories every day (and if you overeat, schedule more time to exercise to burn off any excess calories).

But to do this means a lot of math and some people don't like math. So how can you make it easier for you to do?

#1. Get your kids to do the math

Think of it like extra homework or chores. If you already reward your kids doing their chores / doing homework with an allowance then this will just be another way for your kids to earn $$$. So this is a win for your kids and a win for you.

#2. Calorie Counting App

Get a calorie counting app for your smartphone and start keeping track of everything using the app. Pretty easy, but you have to remember to do it every time you eat so much as an apple or a yogurt.

#3. Meal Plans

Plan your meals and snacks so you know exactly how many calories you are consuming each day based on the menu for the day.

This way you know you are getting 300 calories for breakfast and lunch, 200 calories during snack breaks at 10 AM, 3 PM + 8 PM, and 400 calories for supper. So [300 x 2] + [200 x 3] + 400 = 1600 calories daily.

As long as you just stick to your daily pre-planned meals and snacks, you don't even have to do any math beyond the initial calculations of how much to eat of each thing to make the total amount of calories for each meal. Once you've gone through all that, you've done the math, you just have to follow the plan.

Note - #3 is basically how Weight Watchers Meal Plans, Jenny Craig Meal Plans, and similar brand name meal plans work. They're designed so you just follow the plan and don't have to do any math.

You can find a variety of different types of pre-made meal plans online. Everything from vegan meal plans, paleo diet meal plans, weight gain / muscle gain meal plans (for weightlifters who want to bulk up), etc. Below are some sample meal plans, but basically you can just Google "vegan meal plan" or whatever topic you are looking for and find plenty of examples of meal plans that might suit your needs and then pick one you like.

5 Surefire Ways to Lose Weight

Various people are always having difficulty when it comes to losing weight - and keeping it off. Below it 5 surefire ways to shed the pounds, and pay close attention to #5 because it is the key to keeping it off.

#1. Do cardio exercises on a regular basis. Running, swimming, cycling. Even if you have mobility issues such as sore knees it is exceptionally important to at least walk on a regular basis - or in the case of injuries / chronic disability, swimming is very therapeutic.

#2. Track the calories you are eating and drinking, and reduce the total per day to 1400 to 1700 depending on your body size (1700 if you are tall, 1400 if you are petite). Every sip and every bite needs to be kept track of and limit yourself accordingly. Thus if you are of a medium height (5'8" tall for example) aim for 1600 calories per day.

#3. Make a habit of making sure you are getting enough sleep. People often overeat and don't exercise simply because they are exhausted. They use sugary and fatty foods to prop up their energy levels and unused energy ends up being stored as fat. Making sure you get a good night's sleep every night means you have more energy to exercise and you are less likely to overeat.

#4. Eat healthy - even when you don't want to - and aim to eat healthy foods you already love. Remember #2 above, to count calories, but also aim to make the foods you are eating as healthy as possible too. Your goal here is to make sure you are getting enough nutrients, minerals and protein to make your body a well oiled machine. Avoid anything you know is bad for you and aim for fruits and vegetables that you know you love.

#5. Repeat #1, #2, #3, #4 until they simply becomes a permanent lifestyle change. This is how you make permanent changes and keep off the weight. If you just go back to your old habits, the old weight will simply return - sometimes a lot faster than you expect. You might eventually stop doing #2 (counting calories), but exercising, sleeping well and eating healthy need to become permanent lifestyle changes.

Remember - It is okay to fall off the horse once in awhile. Just got right back on the horse and keep riding until you get to your destination. And once you get there, keep riding!

The Two Step Approach to Weight Loss

Two Steps...

Step One - Eat healthy.

Step Two - Exercise daily.

We all KNOW these two steps, and yet people are often looking for shortcuts and excuses to not do either one or both of these two steps. How you accomplish steps one and two are largely up to the individual. You might listen and read to the advice of others, but in the end it is the individual who decides to take action in whatever manner they see fit.

Or lack of action as is often the case.

There are many different ways to eat healthy.

Eat in moderation.
Count calories.
Low or moderate carb diets.
High protein diets.
Low fat, low sugar diets.
Avoid anything unhealthy diets.
Vegan / vegetarian diets.
Etc
Etc

And likewise there are many ways to exercise.

Walking daily.
Jogging daily.
Going to the gym daily.
Weightlifting at home daily.
Yoga daily.
Various sports, daily.
Etc
Etc

Some people won't even do them daily, they might only be exercising once, twice or three times per week and still be doing well physically because they are at least exercising regularly and they are eating healthy.

The problem I find is for people who get easily discouraged, who cannot find an activity they really like, who think they don't have the time to exercise (and yet have time to watch TV or answer messages on Facebook), and who have difficulty controlling their eating habits.

My advice is to not despair. Do not give up. Do not get discouraged. Stay focused. Keep exercising. Keep eating healthy. How you do it is not the problem, that you keep doing it is the most important factor.

If a diet / exercise plan doesn't seem to be working for you, the answer is not to stop using it. The answer is to either keep doing it until it does work, or to try a different diet and exercise plan that does work. Don't just stop altogether. Change it until it works.

And don't cheat on your diet / skip exercise sessions and expect to lose weight. Cheating on your plan and then blaming the plan is not the solution. You only have yourself to blame if you skip exercising / cheat on your diet.

And don't stop just because you cheated on your plan either. Just get right back at it, keep working at it. Giving up because you made one or two mistakes isn't going to solve your problem. You need to stay focused.

Some people like to claim that weight loss is 90% exercise and 10% diet, or 10% exercise and 90% diet, or whatever combination they say it is. They're all wrong.

What it really is is 10% diet, 10% exercise and 80% willpower.

Willpower to keep going. To never give up. To stay focused. To keep doing it even in the face of mistakes.

8 Benefits of Jumping Rope

Jumping rope for 6 minutes is a great cardio activity that you can do every day and you can see some dramatic health benefits.

• Fantastic cardiovascular workout that boosts weight loss dramatically.
• Tones lower body, especially calves
• Improves co-ordination
• Improves agility
• Increases heart and lung capacity
• Increases endurance
• Improves heart rate recovery time
• Great for fat burning programs

The trick about jumping rope is to pace yourself if you haven't done it for a long time.

Start off doing it for 6 minutes every day.

Then work your way up to 20 minutes every day.

After several months of 20 minutes every day then work your way up to 40 minutes per day.

Jumping rope for a minute is roughly 120 jumps. That makes it a pretty tough exercise to do because it requires so much more energy and coordination.

Calories Burned

A 170 lb person burns 539.78 calories during 40 minutes of moderate jumping rope.

A 200 lb person burns 635.03 calories during 40 minutes of moderate jumping rope.

A 240 lb person burns 762.03 calories during 40 minutes of moderate jumping rope.

Note, because skipping rope is such a big cardio exercise it can also trigger the Afterburn Effect, which will cause you to burn even more calories than you thought. Thus 20 to 40 minutes of vigorous jumping rope every day can burn approx. 1 to 2 pounds of fat (or more) per week thanks to the Afterburn Effect.

A 170 lb person burns 323.87 calories during 20 minutes of vigorous jumping rope.

X 7 is 2267 calories per week, which you can then (conservatively) multiply by 1.5 because of the Afterburn Effect = 3401 calories. 3500 calories equals 1 lb of fat.

Thus anyone who weighs 170 lbs or more, doing 20 minutes of skipping rope every day, can see dramatic differences in just 1 week. So how big is 1 lb of fat? See the photo below.

Now imagine all the health benefits if you started off at say 240 lbs and wanted to lose 80 lbs, down to 160 lbs? They would be plentiful health benefits, but lets do the math to see how this could be accomplished.

Assuming an average weight of 200 lbs during this weight loss period, we use that as the number when inputting into a calorie calculator.

A 200 lb person burns 381.02 calories during 20 minutes of vigorous jumping rope.

x 720 days = 274,334.4 calories burned. That is 78.38 lbs of fat in less than two years... and that is NOT counting the Afterburn Effect, that is not counting additional exercises the person might also try / start doing in addition to skipping rope, and that is not counting dietary changes if they start eating healthier.

For best results, I recommend a healthy balanced diet with lots of veggies, lean meat, and a moderately low amount of carbs. To stay motivated I recommend listening to fast adrenaline filled music while doing your rope jumping.

For fun combine rope jumping / skipping rope with other body weight activities like squats, crunches, sit ups, push ups, chin ups, etc for an all over approach to fitness.

:)

For even more fun try to get friends and family involved too.

Carbs Reducing Strategies for Weight Loss

There are many different fad diets on the market that restrict food groups, or eliminate them altogether! While this is not an ideal way to lose weight, cutting back on certain foods, like carbs can help you to lose weight.

However cutting out carbs entirely is not going to help you either.

Why? Well let us first ask what are carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are different kinds of sugars and when they are not burned by doing exercise activities they are stored as fat. If you don't use your carbs, then you end up storing them.

Thus many low carb and no carb diets focus on the idea of eliminating sugars entirely. The plan goes that if you reduce your intake of carbs / sugar, you will burn your fat stores instead.

Which is true, you do burn your fat stores - and your muscle - and your brain matter - and damages your internal organs. But what this plan doesn't account for is "carb crashing", wherein your blood sugar levels drop so low that your body starts to run low on energy and it cannot drain from your fat stores quickly enough, so instead you feel sluggish, tired and slow. And dumber.

If you've ever been on a low carb / no carb diet, then you know what I am talking about. Your body is basically shutting down and trying to use as little energy as possible, and to get energy it starts draining resources from muscle tissue, organs, fat stores, everything!

However there are ways to around this.

#1. Eat lots of vegetables.

#2. Combine your veggies with lean meat.

#3. Reduce grain products - rice, bread, etc. This doesn't mean you avoid such foods entirely. Simply that you reduce how much you are eating so you are not reliant upon sugars for all of your energy.

Your end goal here is to make sure you are consuming lots of nutrients and protein (veggies and meat), while simultaneously reducing how much carbs you are eating.

The end result is that you will lose weight gradually and healthily over a period of time.

As opposed to carb crashing, feeling physically horrible as your body cannibalizes itself, and making yourself slower, dumber and weaker.

So why do people complain about carbs so much?

Carbohydrates are very common, and often inadvertently overeaten because bread, rice, pasta and similar foods are considered to be staples in our modern culture. They are easy to store, easy to make, and cheap. Healthy foods - veggies and meat - always cost way more than a loaf of bread.

The concept of smaller portions of carbs, lots of veggies and a serving of lean meat just doesn't sound as appetizing to people who have been raised on mashed potatoes, gravy and fatty meats - which tastes amazing, but it would be a lot healthier if the meat was lean, the gravy was low fat, and the potatoes had other veggies (eg. peas) mixed in with it.

Here are 5 tips for reducing carbs in your diet.

#1. Make burritos but instead of wrapping in tortilla, wrap in a big piece of lettuce. This is similar to the Korean dish samgyopsal, which is BBQ pork wrapped in lettuce.

#2. Dip veggies into hummus or yogurt instead of bread.

#3. Reduce pasta portion by half, serve with lean, skinless meat or tofu, and vegetables.

#4. Have an open faced sandwich with one slice of bread. This leaves room for a side such as cottage cheese, salad or hard boiled eggs.

#5. When snacking, opt for carrot sticks, apple slices, or even a salad instead of reaching for the bag of chips.

If you have trouble dropping weight feel free to contact me for an in-person nutritional consultation.

The Myths of Spot Reduction

Everyone stores fat differently.

And when it comes to losing weight, many people find a stubborn pocket of fat that they cannot get rid of.

So what do you do?

Most exercisers are familiar with the concept of "spot reduction", but what many people don't know is that spot reduction is a myth and doesn't work.

The idea behind spot reduction is the concept of exercising a specific part of your body in an effort to make that body part lose fat. In reality what happens is the spot gets bigger as you grow more muscle tissue in that area, and the fat doesn't go away.

So for example this means someone doing only crunches in an attempt to slim their waist, or for example performing just squats because, "All I want is a smaller butt!"

And then what happens is their ab muscles get bigger from doing crunches, and their glutes (butt muscles) get bigger when doing squats.

So regardless of what exercise you are doing, if you are trying to reduce fat you need to be thinking cardio instead. Cardio cuts fat all over your body - which means wherever your body is storing fat (belly, thighs, sides, etc) then your body will take the fat, use it as energy during the cardio exercises, and your special problem area will be reduced noticeably over time.

So why does Spot Reduction not work???

When exercising your body uses sugar in your blood to fuel your activities. When your blood sugar levels start to get low (like during jogging, cycling, etc) then your body absorbs fat into your blood to provide extra energy, and it absorbs it from ALL OVER your body. Wherever your body is storing fat, that is where the fat will be drained from.

When doing weight lifting / body weight exercises like squats and crunches you are actually doing muscle building exercises - which uses very little energy in comparison to a cardio activity like jogging. That means you aren't using very much blood sugar. So you are not going to lose much fat because the exercise simply isn't using that much energy.

Your muscles will feel tired, because your muscles are not used to being used that way during crunches and squats, but that is primarily due to muscle fatigue.

A better way of determining whether you are actually burning fat is seeing whether you can maintain a conversation. If you are gasping for breath and unable to talk - like someone who is jogging - then you are likely burning fat. If you can talk easily, you really are not exercising that much.

What about Spot Creation???

Weight lifters often want bigger biceps, bigger pecs, bigger abs. Yes, they can achieve some results by focusing only on specific body parts - like the guy who got into professional arm wrestling and only exercised his one arm.

However most people don't want freakishly big Popeye arms.

The thing is muscle building and toning, similar to cardio, doesn't actually happen one muscle at a time - it is a whole set of muscles that are co-dependent.

It is the fact that muscle groups are co-dependent that often causes confusion, because people don't realize that an "all over approach" often builds muscles faster because it targets muscles groups as a whole instead of just one specific part.

For swimmers, cyclists, gymnasts, etc these results will be more obvious to them as they are often targeting muscle groups - cyclists for example tend to get really strong legs. Like the photo below of a man with freakishly big legs.

So what have we learned here?

#1. Spot reduction doesn't work. If you want to reduce fat from a specific spot, go jogging and do cardio exercises to reduce fat all over your body.

#2. Spot creation does work, but if you want better results you are better off doing large muscle groups exercises because they are co-dependent on each other.

HAPPY MYTH BUSTING!

5 Cardio Exercises for People who have difficulty Exercising

Large and heavy people often have difficulty exercising because they get sore joints, they have very low endurance, they feel embarrassed, etc.

But cardio exercises like running, jogging, etc are very beneficial for people looking to lose weight. Thus it becomes a whole Catch-22 wherein they feel they are "too fat to jog" and thus feel demotivated to exercise.

And they're not alone.

Elderly people with sore knees find jogging too painful on their legs, women with very large breasts cannot find sports bras in their sizes that give them enough support get sore backs and chest pain / sore armpits when trying to jog.

And then there are people who might be suffering from a sports injury that makes it too difficult for them to jog. eg. An ankle injury.

Thus I have come up with this list of 5 Cardio Exercises for People who have difficulty Exercising

#1. Swimming - Call it the beauty of swimming, but it is great for exercise as it uses as much or as little effort as you feel like putting into it, and you can do it slowly or quickly depending on your endurance - and it is safe for people with knee injuries and won't be problematic for women with large breasts.

A 300 lb person doing moderate swimming for 60 minutes will burn approx. 690 calories.

#2. Cycling - This might be trickier for people with sore knees or ankle injuries (it can still be done, but take it slower and don't put excess force on your knees or ankles), but it won't be a problem for people who are heavier or have large breasts.

A 300 lb person doing leisure cycling for 60 minutes will burn approx. 450 calories.

#3. Household Chores - Honestly this is a long list and includes everything from washing windows to washing the car, gardening to shoveling snow, scrubbing floors to cleaning out the garage. These activities burn calories and you can do them at your own pace, so you can take it easy - which means you get a workout and a clean home too.

A 300 lb person washing their car for 60 minutes will burn approx. 510 calories.

#4. Power Walking / Hiking / Walking the Dog - Assuming that your knees / ankles are okay with walking, you should also be able to go for "Power Walks" or hikes. Avoid long walks if you have low endurance, and keep it short if you find you have problems with your ankles or knees. If you have a dog try to take them for a short walk twice per day.

A 300 lb person walking the dog for 60 minutes at 2 mph will burn approx. 315 calories.

#5. Dancing - Again if you have ankle or knee injuries, stick to slow dances. Signing up dance lessons or joining a dancing group might be one of the best decisions you've ever made.

A 300 lb person doing leisure dancing for 60 minutes will burn approx. 345 calories.

Burning 3500 calories = shedding 1 lb of fat. It takes time, but you can do it.

NOTE - Depending on your circumstances I strongly recommend consulting a doctor before signing yourself up for anything strenuous. Stick to lighter exercises when in doubt.

How to Lose Weight while Eating in Restaurants

The problem with restaurants and eating out is that the average meal in a restaurant is so packed with calories that you are guaranteed to pack on the pounds if you are eating out in restaurants regularly.

Especially if you go to a fast food place like McDonalds where even the tiniest burgers are packed with hundreds of calories.

But it is possible to eat at restaurants and still lose weight. And I am going to tell you how...

#1. Soups.

Soups and stews are often overlooked on menus, when in reality they are often the healthiest things on the menu. A good veggie stew, with some chicken, beef or mutton in there will be a very nutritious and filling meal.

#2. Salads.

Salads can be very high on the nutrition - as long as you don't put too much salad dressing on there. Your best option is to eat your salad "vanilla", which means without any dressing at all on there. Just skip the dressing and you will be doing yourself a favor. Also skip the fake bacon bits (they're high in sodium).

#3. Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurants

Honestly, this is a great way to make sure you are getting a good healthy meal. Find vegan restaurants like Rawlicious in your neighbourhood. Toronto has several Rawlicious locations to choose from, but they also have locations in Markham and other towns near Toronto. There is also:

Blu Ristorante
Fresh
Paisano's Italian Garden Cafe
Kwality Sweets & Restaurant
Ho Su Bistro
Brar's Sweets
Freshly Made Catering
Mt. Everest Restaurant
Bistro Grande

So yeah, no shortage of Vegan restaurants in Toronto to choose from.

#4. Veggie Stirfry

If you see veggie stirfry on the menu then that is certainly an option. It will have a little bit of fat in there, but it will be mostly vegetables and will be a tasty option.

#5. Lean Meat

If you do opt for something on the meatier side of things aim for something has very lean meat in it. The leaner the better. Greasy bacon = Bad. A nice lean steak = Good. So if you see "steak and veggies" on the menu that is a good healthy option.

#6. Juice Vs Smoothies

Lets face it, wheatgrass drinks are not for everyone. I know wheatgrass is healthy, but I grew up on a farm and the stuff tastes horribly like eating weeds. And juice may seem like a healthy choice but is often packed with extra sugar. But if you see smoothies on the menu - eg. a mango smoothie - then you are in luck. Pick the smoothie!

CONCLUSIONS

Soups, salads, think veggies, lean meat and smoothies. Proof that you can eat healthy when eating out. You just have to learn how and practice some willpower when it comes to making smart and healthy menu decisions.

Rob Ford's Weight Loss Plan

It is an election year in Toronto and Rob Ford thinks he can win the October 27th 2014 election and stay mayor of Toronto - if he can just lose some weight.

"The only way people are going to respect me, to bring back my image, is if I lose weight," says Rob Ford. "The rest falls into place."

And in case you haven't been watching lately, Toronto's crack smoking mayor (soon to be former crack smoking mayor?) has lost roughly 40 lbs since mid November 2013 when he was weighing in at 336 lbs and is now weighing in at roughly 295 lbs.

That is 41 lbs in 2 months. Roughly 9 weeks. A little over 4 lbs per week.

If he keeps going at that rate he is going to be 255 lbs by mid March - and have excess loose skin rolling off of him.

If he kept it up he could even be 205 lbs by mid May. In which case the loose skin around his face is going to become like Diefenbaker's jowls.

My thoughts? Slow down. Lose weight more slowly. Wait for your skin to catch up. If you lose weight too quickly your belly skin will end up looking like an apron.

So what exactly is Rob Ford doing in the gym you might ask?

Well Toronto's mayor, who has described himself in the past as "three hundred pounds of fun", is using the gym at Toronto City Hall almost every day and is also:

Jogging outdoors.

Leg Pressing 810 lbs.

Ford is really good at the leg press and also says he aims to one day leg press 1,000 pounds.

“If I do my bi(ceps)s on Monday, say, then I’ll do my legs Tuesday, chest Thursday, back, and so on, all week,” says Rob Ford.

He is doing a combination of cardio for 45 minutes and weight lifting exercises for another 45 minutes.

To put that in perspective a 295 lb person jogging for 45 minutes (without a break) burns 996 calories. We can assume that he is having breaks, so it will be less than that - possible 600 to 700 calories. The same person doing weightlifting for 45 minutes burns 305 calories.

So we are looking at Rob Ford burning about 900 to 1000 calories per 90 minute workout session. No wonder he is losing 20 lbs per month.

Note - This kind of workout is really difficult. Most people would quit within the first couple of weeks. Having a personal trainer to keep you motivated makes a huge difference in keeping motivated and striving for more.

Politics aside, if Rob Ford can go into the 2014 election "lean, mean and clean" he will have a lot more energy for the campaign and be able to put his best foot forward when it comes to trying and convince people he has changed his ways and is deserving of being re-elected.

January Weight Loss Motivational Quotes

Oprah Winfrey is a weight loss icon for millions of women in North America. For 25 years her weight loss journey was the talk of significant media buzz - especially when it came to regaining weight on her sometimes roller coaster ups and downs.

This is a problem many people (not just women) deal with. What it makes you realize over time is that fad diets are temporary and that it requires a lifestyle change to make permanent changes that stay with you. You can do it! You might lose battles, but it doesn't mean you lost the war. Never give up and you will succeed by making changes in your lifestyle.

"I finally realized that being grateful to my body was key to giving more love to myself." - Oprah Winfrey.

"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work." - Oprah Winfrey.

"If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race." - Oprah Winfrey.

"Getting my lifelong weight struggle under control has come from a process of treating myself as well as I treat others in every way." - Oprah Winfrey.

"There is no easy way out. If there were, I would have bought it. And believe me, it would be one of my favorite things!" - Oprah Winfrey.

"It is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and lessons to learn -- which is what life is all about." - Oprah Winfrey.

"In every aspect of our lives we are always asking ourselves, "How am I of value? What is my worth?" Yet, I believe that worthiness is our birthright." - Oprah Winfrey.

"Partake in some of life's sweet pleasures. And yes, get comfortable with yourself." - Oprah Winfrey.

"With every experience you alone are painting your own canvas -- thought by thought, choice by choice." - Oprah Winfrey.

"Use what you have to run towards your best; that's how I now live my life." - Oprah Winfrey.

"Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you're going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal and by maintaining focus." - Oprah Winfrey.

Understanding Weight Fluctuations

When it comes to dieting and exercising a person's weight is going to fluctuate dramatically from day to day. Weight fluctuations can be frustrating if you don't understand why it is happening, and why you sometimes seem to be going in the opposite direction.

A common myth is that exercise always equals weight loss. Except it is not always true. Often exercise equals muscle gain, which means weight gain. You might also be losing fat too, but it will be confusing as to how much muscle you are gaining and fat you are losing.

During a strict diet where a person is consuming less calories than their needs but still using the same amount of calories for their daily activities you will see constant weight loss as the body consumes fat stores to make up the difference. (During such a diet it is recommended they eat a fair bit of lean protein and supplement their diet with weightlifting in order to maintain muscle tone.)

During a less strict diet wherein a person doesn't know how many calories they are consuming then they might sometimes be eating more than they actually need and see combinations of weight loss on some days and weight gain on other days.

Note - Remember to weigh yourself in the morning before breakfast to get more accurate results. If you eat a meal, especially a large meal, weight measurements will give you an inaccurate glimpse of your true weight.

Large meals, extra water retention, binge eating are some of the biggest contributors to weight fluctuations, but there are other factors as well such as:

#1. Muscle Gain - Muscle weighs more than fat so even a little muscle gain can result in overall weight gain. This frequently happens when people are exercising, as people often gain muscle faster than they lose fat due to a combination of factors. Learn more by reading How Fast Can You Grow Muscle?

#2. Muscle Loss - It is common for people on fad diets to also lose muscle due to a lack of protein, vitamins and minerals in their diet. This can create a false sense of fat loss because your scales don't know whether you are losing muscle or losing fat. Often people gain the weight back after they quit the diet because their muscle weight can regrow at a faster weight due to muscle memory. See also Two Alternative Models for Predicting Muscle Growth.

#3. Inaccurate Scales - We've all done it at some point. We stepped on the scales and got a reading that was hugely inaccurate. To remedy this step off the scales and step on again to see if it gives the same results twice. You may need to double check 3 or 4 times to get a truly accurate reading. Electronic scales often need to recalibrate if they have been stored sideways, haven't been used for a long time, etc. Thus you need to give it some time to recalibrate.

Personal Note: I have to this myself often because I store my electronic scale sideways so whenever I plop it on the floor to check my weight I have to first wait for it to recalibrate by stepping on and off it a couple times and then finally getting an accurate reading.

Another possibility is that you have an old set of scales that uses a tension spring to measure weight, and the spring is old and worn out (and losing tension). Best option is to recycle it and buy a new set of scales.

If you have access to an old fashioned scale like the one below then absolutely use it. That is the kind of scale used by doctors because they are the most accurate.

#4. Too Much Salt / Sodium - Eating too much salt / sodium causes your body to retain more water and also more fat. Simply cutting all your salty foods from your diet can cause a sudden shift towards weight loss and fat loss. Eat more veggies and less salty foods and you can see a dramatic change. A constant over abundance of salty foods will cause your body to store more fat on a daily basis.

#5. Constipation - Nothing a quick laxative wouldn't fix. Otherwise try eating more foods that are high in fibre. Having a good bowel movement on a daily basis is definitely a good thing. Try to weigh yourself AFTER you've had a bowel movement and before you eat breakfast.

#6. Hormonal Changes - Women and men both suffer from monthly hormonal changes that can cause their weight to fluctuate. Hormonal levels can even be effected by your mood, as feelings of depression cause various hormones to be released which causes weight gain. In contrast feelings of happiness and contentment cause hormones which induce weight loss.

HANDY TIPS FOR COUNTERING NEGATIVE WEIGHT FLUCTUATIONS

#1. Don't weigh yourself every day. Instead pick a day (eg. Tuesday) and always weigh yourself on that day after your morning bowel movement and before breakfast.

#2. Keep track of your weight fluctuations from week to week by tracking them on a piece of paper that you keep near your scales.

#3. Avoid large meals, parties where you might overeat, binge eating, etc the day before you weigh yourself. Also avoid salty foods, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, sugary treats and anything else you know is bad for you.

#4. Drink more water to bring your sodium levels down. Water also helps remove contaminants in your system from toxins, as water acts a natural detoxifier. Other natural detoxifiers include lemon juice, green tea, broccoli (although many other vegetables also work wonders), dandelion tea, fresh cranberry juice. Learn more about lowering your toxin levels.

ALTERNATIVES TO WEIGHING YOURSELF

A better way to judge your true weight is to look at how well your clothes fit. If your clothes feel roomier or baggier, then you've lost weight.

If possible try to also get monthly measurements of your body fat. This will give you a percentage of your total weight which is fat and a better idea of whether you are losing or gaining based on the percentage.

Try using fat calipers.

An old fashioned route is to use a tape measure. The tape measure will be less accurate around your middle (as you might gain muscle there if you are doing abdominal exercises) so I recommend also measuring your hips (as your body often stores fat in your buttocks instead) and keeping track of both your waist and hips measurements.

Self Discipline Vs Hiring a Personal Trainer

When it comes to both exercising and dieting one of the biggest obstacles for many people is simply to self discipline themselves and find motivations to stick with their exercise / diet regime.

It is very easier to start an exercise or diet regime, but much harder to stick with it when it starts to become a challenge.

Over time people start making exceptions and excuses and it is important to make a distinction between the two.

An exception is when you have no other choice in the circumstances. eg. You get invited to Christmas Dinner at your parents' home and your mother insists you try the new recipe she made using brown sugar, milk chocolate, caramel, maple syrup and other very sugary things. Yes, in theory you could refuse. But it is your mother! You are obligated to try it due to the special circumstances.

An excuse is when you say "I won't exercise today because it is raining."

So let us stop and discuss some Techniques to Strengthen Self-Discipline

#1. Know your goal, know it well and work towards it.

If you want it bad enough, there's no reason why you cannot achieve it! Sure, you may have to wake up early to exercise, or exercise after work when you are already tired. Maybe you even have to give up something for a while (like a favourite TV show you can always watch later) to get it done, but if it's important, you must harden up and face the fact that you won't reach your goal by wishing for it. You have to WORK for it.

This is a good time to practice visualization. Imagine crossing the finish line, buying clothes a couple of sizes smaller, going swimming without feeling embarrassed. Understand your goal and what you have to do to obtain the result. You can even make a before photo and imagine your after photo that you will take when you succeed.

#2. Remember how it feels when you succeed at things.

Think back to other achievements in your life. How did they make you feel? No matter how much you hate exercising, everybody agrees that the feeling afterward is worth the effort. Feeling good for the rest of the day, having more energy, and enjoying the accomplishment is something to remember when you are not feeling motivated. Thinking to yourself "this does feel good to know I am making progress and I'll feel great when it's over," will help to get you started and keep you going.

#3. Some effort is required.

When the going gets tough you need to be even tougher on yourself to make sure you do it.

If you are already working out, you should do a good job. Even if you don't feel 100% full of energy at least try to go a little farther than your mind wants to go. Obviously this does not apply to exercising over injuries or over training - but if you aren't injured then don't be afraid to push yourself further.

People can have trouble pushing themselves on their own, and it causes the workout to become sloppy, and not very effective. If you're already out there, and you're taking the time and energy, make it worth something!

#4. Hire a personal trainer to give you an extra push.

Need help? Time to hire a personal trainer once per month, once per week, once every two weeks. Whatever you need to accomplish your goal. You could hire me if you live in Downtown / Uptown Toronto, but ideally you should hire a personal trainer you feel comfortable with and they work hard to keep you motivated and on track.

If you are looking for a personal trainer in Leaside (where I now live) let me know and I can help you out. I am here to help!

True, hiring a personal trainer is more expensive than self-disciplining yourself, but it also pushes you further and helps to keep you on track for working towards your goals.

Exercise Vs Bullies and Depression

Exercise is an amazing thing for the human body.

It builds self-confidence. It keeps away depression. It burns calories. It builds muscles. It promotes better sleep.

And it deters bullies in school.

If the photo of the kid on the right looks familiar that is because it is a young Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was 14 years old.

He didn't start weight lifting and weight training until he was 15 years old. Before then his favourite sport was soccer.

And it certainly did not stunt his growth either. Weight lifting took a skinny teenager who had confidence issues and turned him into a weight training champion and later a Hollywood success story.

Parents these days worry about their kids a lot. They worry because their kids are being bullied in school, because their kids are moody and depressed, and they think they can solve these problems by taking the poor kid to a psychiatrist.

A psychiatrist who will often prescribe anti-depressants designed for adults for children.

I would argue however that teenagers are already going through enough hormonal problems that throwing anti-depressant medications into the mix causes a lot more harm than good. If anything anti-depressants are probably stunting their growth, contributing to childhood and teenage obesity rates - and worse - creating a culture of drug addiction within the child's mind.

In contrast exercise (not just weight lifting, any kind of exercise) is a natural remedy for depression. Exercise boosts a person's sense of well-being, their metabolism speeds up, they burn more fat, build more muscle, sleep better, and feel more positive about themselves.

That increased self confidence also means they can stand up to bullies / ignore bullies more easily, without feeling like a loser because they know they are better than the bully. (Bullies are inherently filled with their own feelings of inadequacy and usually take to bullying because they have troubles at home, have weight issues, feel they are less intelligent compared to other students, any number of causes.)

In other words thanks to boosted self-confidence and an increased lack of bullying the child becomes ever more confident in their own abilities - and yet often has a degree of humility because they remember where they once were in life.

Many parents often get their kids martial arts lessons when they discover their kids are being bullied, but honestly any kind of aggressive exercise would help dramatically. I say aggressive with respect to exercises that utilize weightlifting and resistance training, including many kinds of sports. So for example jogging simply isn't aggressive enough because it would only build leg muscles and endurance and would not build the same amount of self confidence that came with learning a sport like caber tossing.

Now admittedly your kids probably won't get into caber tossing. But this is just an example of many of the sports that kids can get into that are more physical and require a bit more brute strength and effort compared to other exercises that are comparatively not that difficult. Parents need to encourage their kids to try these more difficult sports so the kids have a chance to try something they might like, and the boosted confidence from doing it (even if they didn't like it) will stay with them for years.

Some parents even hire personal trainers for their kids in an effort to encourage their kid to enter a life of healthy exercise which will keep their child on a healthy track all their way through life. It probably won't lead to the Olympics or professional sports, but the child which grows into an adult will have many years of happiness and health ahead of them thanks to the parent who planned ahead and put some thought into their child's exercise regimen.

Speaking for myself my parents put me through numerous years of ice skating, swimming, boy scouts, and as I got older and started making my own decisions I got into cycling, archery, boxing, tae kwon do, freehand mountain climbing, and many other physical activities long before I became a personal trainer.

I am very thankful my parents took an active interest in my physical and mental well-being.

In our day and age, with the USA and Canada's cutbacks on physical education, the lowered interest of children with sports (and increased use of computers / electronic gadgets), it has become ever more important for parents to encourage children to engage in sports and physical activities.

Find something that your kids enjoy and encourage them to keep doing it. It doesn't matter whether it is ballet or parkour (although I recommend wearing a helmet for parkour) and find ways to add such activities to your child's weekly schedule so they are guaranteed to keep doing them for years to come.

And if it is an activity that both parents and child can take part in, so much the better!

Build a Beach Perfect Body - In The Winter!!!

It is November and it is starting to snow in Toronto maybe once per week. By December it will be snowing more regularly. By January there will be a foot of snow on the ground.

But if you count the months until mid June (the start of swimsuit season) then there is November, December, January, February, March, April and May - 7 months to get prepared if your goal is to lose weight and look fit for swimsuit season.

Now pay attention... most people only start trying to get fit a month or two before swimsuit season - and most of them FAIL to meet their exercise / weight loss goal.

The reason why is because they are focusing all of their exercise goals into a month or two month period and then wonder why they failed. When asked why they will point to reasons like not enough time, the workouts were too difficult, they fell off the wagon diet wise, lack of motivation and so forth.

I argue that they need to change their approach.

#1. Stop trying to do everything a month or two before swimsuit season. Start exercising NOW, many months before swimsuit season is even close. Thus their excuse that they didn't have enough time will be null and void.

#2. By doing the first it also means the workouts don't need to be quite so intense. People burn out and lose motivation if their workouts are too intense. In contrast if they start exercising over a 6 month period their workouts will be about one third the intensity of a 2 month workout regimen designed to accomplish the same goal. Thus the second excuse about workouts being too difficult will likewise be null and void.

#3. If you are going to make lifestyle / dietary changes you need to make permanent changes that you can stick with it. Now I admit that means making changes during the Christmas holiday season - a season during which many people are prone to binge eating on chocolate treats, xmas dinners, etc. But it can be done and you can do it if you give it an honest try. Start by making the switch to dark chocolate only (70% or better) - no more sugary chocolate or "white chocolate". Eat more veggies during xmas dinners and make fruits and vegetables part of every meal you eat, and every snack. Find the fruits and veggies you love and stock up on healthy foods you love.

#4. Find ways to motivate yourself. Music I find is a great motivator. Another way to motivate is to use fun activities that you enjoy doing. eg. Ice skating, downhill skiing, or just plain going for an afternoon walk and taking your camera with you.

Wait, its cold outside! I hate going outside in the cold!

Then invest in some thermal underwear. Learn how to layer clothing so you don't feel the cold. Get tight fitting clothes that fits really well and keeps you warm. Wear 3 or 4 layers under your jacket, get good thermal gloves, a neck warmer, hat, thermal longjohns for wearing under your pants/jeans, warm boots, thick socks - and voila! You will probably be so warm you will be unzipping layers!

Dressed like that and you can go jogging / winter walks / ice skating / tobogganing like when you were a kid and you won't really be bothered by the cold at all.

Next you need to avoid the temptation to just relax all winter indoors watching cable television, mucking around on Facebook and nonsensical videos on YouTube. Cancel the cable (33% of it is advertising anyway), take a vacation from Facebook, and go outside and make your own winter oriented videos and then post them on YouTube instead of watching other people's junk.

Things To Do This Winter!

#1. Cross Country Skiing - burns a tonne of calories! Burns 500 to 700 calories per hour depending on your weight.

#2. Take Up the Biathlon - cross country skiing with a rifle on your back! Yeehaw! Who says cross country skiing isn't a manly sport???

#3. Archery Biathlon - don't like guns? Take up the archery biathlon. Basically the same idea, but using a bow and arrow.

#4. Snow Shoeing - also burns lots of calories. Good for balance training too, plus it doubles as weightlifting for your legs. Try it and you will see how hard it is.

#5. Snowboarding - Good for cardio and balance. Works your abs too!

#6. Downhill Skiing - Same as snowboarding, makes for fun cardio.

#7. Ice Skating - Great cardio and balance training.

#8. Hockey - On skates or as Road Hockey, this sport will get you outside and having fun while also providing great cardio. Just don't forget to shout CAR!!!

#9. Shoveling Snow - Okay so technically it is not a sport... but it is very good cardio and weightlifting exercise. Shoveling snow is very hard so if you have a poor heart be certain to take it easy while shoveling snow because it is so difficult people are known to have heart attacks.

#10. Taking the dog for a walk - Seriously. Pets need to get outside and exercise too. So take the dog for a walk as often as you can. Or better yet, try competitive dog jogging.