Weight loss basics

If you want to lose weight it’s best to keep it as simple as possible. Simple doesn’t mean easy but if you can focus on daily actions, rather than an end result you will gradually move towards your future self.

So the basics are the following:

• Don’t eat out often. If you prepare your own meals you know exactly what’s going into them. Once a week eating out is a good rule of thumb.

• Eat only when hungry. If you can rate your physical feelings of hunger on a scale of 1 to 10 this is one practical way; 10 being starving so if your hunger is less than 8 then try drinking water/green tea or chewing gum instead of snacking.

• Don’t drink your calories. Examples include: soda, juices, alcoholic beverages, coffee with cream/sugar/butter etc., or smoothies which aren’t a planned main meal. If you consume some or all of these drinks throughout the day and night it is easy to consume hundreds (or more) calories than your body requires for daily life or training.

• Choose lean proteins whether that be lean meats or plant-based proteins. Fatty meats such as bacon and Wagyu could fit into that once-per-week category. Higher fat dairy (such as Greek yoghurt) is ok as long as you can track the portions. When cooking with fats it’s a good idea to track that as well, or alternatively add the fat post cooking.

• Keep vegetables and salads free from cream and butter. It’s ok to add some olive oil for example to salads but again best to track that if doing so.

• Eat slowly and stop at 80% full every meal. This is perhaps the most important practical action you can take. 80% full means satisfied, but not stuffed. It is the point at which hunger has gone and you could eat more, but you choose to leave any food left on the plate for leftovers. Please don’t throw food in the bin unless it has gone bad!

By using these strategies you never need get into counting calories which can stress you out and are approximations only. Calories on food labels can be +/- 10% ‘‘off’’ and then cooked vs raw vs processed is a whole other debate.

Tips on recording workout numbers

If you’re serious about making progress in the gym whether that be in terms of strength or body composition or both then you need to track how much weight you are lifting week to week. Here are some tips to make that happen:

1) Use a small paper logbook, date each workout completed and record how much weight was lifted per exercise and how many reps and sets achieved. For instance, any barbell exercise with 3 x 5 at 90kg/200 pounds means 3 sets of 5 reps across at 90kg. If you miss a rep on any set you should remain on the same weight the subsequent time you perform that exercise. If you succeed in getting all your reps with good form then the following workout that exercise is done you should increase by at least 0.5kg/1 pound up to 2kg/5 pounds depending on the exercise and your personal level of strength. Larger jumps such as 10 pounds/4kg are possible for rank beginners on lifts such as deadlifts but this will only last a few weeks. If your gym doesn’t have micro plates for barbells then it is recommended to bring your own in your gym bag. Many online stores sell micro plates ranging from 0.25kg per plate - 1kg per plate. Similarly, there are manufacturers of micro plates for dumbbells online. It is even possible to make your own micro plates out of small bits of metal if you are so inclined and have a knack for making things. Just be sure to weigh them!

2) Some apps allow the recording of sets, reps and weight lifted but if there is any lack of wifi or phone tower connectivity or the app gets deleted down the track you will have lost your data.

3) You could also record your numbers in the notes function on a smartphone, which doesn’t require any internet connectivity, only battery life, hard drive space and general function of the device.

4) You may purchase workouts from an online coach and then print your workouts to use pen and paper. If you retain these workouts there will be a long term record of your personal numbers as in point 1.

Are you wasting your time in the gym?

So you’ve committed to a gym membership and feel motivated to achieve your health and fitness goals; what are the common pitfalls which might hamper progress or waste your time? The following list are things to look out for:

• Not having a structured program to follow which adheres to the stress/recovery/adaptation cycle. If you’re not ready, willing and able to budget for a good coach either in-person or online then make use of quality programs such as Starting Strength. Self-directed training is hard enough without the support, guidance and accountability of a coach so never try to improvise workouts based on what you feel like doing on a given day.

• Chatting too much to other gym members during a workout or in other words “making friends”. Talking between sets about this-and-that will destroy your mental focus and prolong your workout so you may never even finish it. Leave the chatting to after the workout if you have the time or a separate occasion. If you train with a partner or in a trio then verbal encouragement/technique cues are helpful.

• Staring at your phone between sets or exercises. If you’re looking at emails, social media, text messages, websites, watching movies/shows or even playing games you are wasting your time, taking up equipment which other members could be using and draining mental energy which could be directed towards your training. Note that if walking on a treadmill then watching a movie/show is not what I am referring to. A phone is useful if you follow a training program on it to record weight lifted, reps and sets completed and if filming your technique for self review or to send to your online coach.

• If you do have access to structured training, are your weights progressing up over time or are you getting more reps at the same weight if that is what the program is targeting? An example is the low-barbell back squat: if you start out squatting (hip apex just below knee joint at bottom is full range) 60kg or 135 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps in January, then excellent progress would be squatting 150kg or 330 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps 9-12 months later. You will obviously be much stronger and your physique will have changed dramatically too. If however, you are still squatting 60kg or close to you have NOT made progress.

Being aware of the above points will help prevent you wasting your valuable time.

What is progress in health and fitness?

When embarking on a health and fitness journey or program it’s important to focus on any ‘wins’ or bright spots in your progress, no matter how small. For example, consider the following list of progress markers:

body measurements

blood work and other medical tests

athletic performance, such as getting stronger or faster

photos

how clothes fit

recovery

sleep

mood and wellbeing

confidence

consistency

Many people only focus on weight loss on a scale for progress but the list above are all relevant factors to wellbeing. It’s ok to focus on just one of them at a time but better to keep the bigger picture in mind by periodically reflecting on all. Just by being 1% better day to day in your actions or behaviours will lead to progress and this in turn builds a growth mindset which is crucial to success in health and fitness or really any other endeavour in life. Focusing on the bright spots in your life also overcomes the ‘fault-finding’ mind all too common unfortunately.

Training vs exercise

Exercise is physical activity done for the effect it produces today. This could be burning calories, heating up the body, feeling sweaty and out of breath, getting an arm pump, or even stretching. Exercise is physical activity done for its own sake and often simply for how it makes you feel today.

Training is physical activity done for purposes of serving a long-term performance goal and is more about the process in place of the individual workouts which make up the process. The basis of training is the stress/recover/adaptation cycle which is the basic biology of all organisms' relationship to what's around them. So if the training stress of a phase of workouts does not progressively increase either a weight being lifted, distance being covered or the time spent under the stress load, then adaptation can't occur, the activity can't cause a measurable physiological adaptation and the program is not training. Training results in the satisfaction of working towards and achieving a goal and any positive feelings in the body for a single workout are a side-effect. Obviously, training is a necessity for a competitive athlete, but if one competes with oneself for personal goals then training also is required. Some of the many benefits include looking, feeling and performing at your best in your physical endeavours and life in general.