Lose Weight and Get in Better Shape This Year

With the New Year upon us, it’s time to start our new year’s resolution, which is to lose weight and get in better shape to start.  So, here are a couple of things we need to look at and understand if we want to be successful and reach our goals.

Diet and Exercise are only part of the equation.  The other aspect we need to look at is STRESS, because the best diet and workout routine can be hindered by too much stress.

Stress triggers cortisol and adrenaline, two hormones produced by your adrenal glands.  The reason for their concern is that if you constantly have cortisol and adrenaline racing through your blood, it will trigger your metabolism to burn lean muscle (proteins) and carbohydrates, instead of fats.  So pay attention to stress, and have your cortisol levels checked.  Take the Stress Test.

Exercise is a form of stress.  Can Your Body Handle the Additional Stress?

Yes, exercise is supposed to be beneficial, but if your body is already stressed out and now you start pumping more cortisol (more fuel to the fire) into your body, you could easily be over-stressing your body.  This leads to plateau’s and sticking point, which can put a halt to your new year’s resolution.

 

 

Secondly, the more intense your workout – the more stressful it is on your body.  What’s great about a good hard workout, is that is how you get to pump up your levels of testosterone (TT) and growth hormone (GH), naturally!

What’s great about these two hormones is that they help your body build lean muscle and burn fats.  These are the 2 hormones you want to activate if you are looking to add shape and tone to your body.

The more intense the workout – the more TT and GH you produce!

Let’s use walking as an example, because walking is a form of exercise, but it is not very stressful.  You only trigger a small spike in your levels of TT and GH.  Jogging is physically more intense than walking – and triggers a larger surge in TT and GH.  Sprinting is more intense than jogging and triggers an even greater surge of TT and GH.  The simple rule of, the intensity of your workout, applies to any and all type of exercise.

The point is you want to make it stressful enough to get the spike in your testosterone and growth hormone, but you need to make sure you are not over-stressing your body.  If you are, you could end up defeating your purpose and this could be why you aren’t getting the results you want out of your workouts or diet. Stress could be that missing piece of the puzzle for your health and fitness goals.

There is more to talk about as the weeks come about with regards to

• Diet and supplements?
• Getting your metabolism to burn fats, not muscle?
• What to eat before and after a workout?
• How to turn off the catabolic breakdown phase after your workout and activate your Anabolic Repair Rebuild phase?
• How much protein?
• How much aerobic versus anaerobic exercise do I need?
• How long should I exercise?
• What about high intensity interval training (HIIT)
• Most importantly, how to make sure you are burning fats the 23 hours of the day you are NOT working out.

Eat Right – Train Smart, that’s the name of the game for the start, middle and end of the year.  Come join us and learn more.