weight lose – Page 2

What protein is the best for your health

There is a wide range of protein powders currently. The protein content, quality and value of ingredients used can vary enormously, as can the digestibility and absorption qualities of the supplement. Different types of protein also serve different needs. The array of products found on shop shelves can be bewildering, so here is a quick review with some guidance on what you should be taking.

1.) Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC)

WPC is the most common source of protein you can find in shops. The protein content of such products usually varies between 70-80%. Some experts believe that WPC is a good option for non-professional fitness practitioners, and for those who are simply looking to increase their protein intake. As a qualified nutritionist and an expert in fitness and bodybuilding I would consider WPC as a suitable option even for advanced users. It can be mixed with carbohydrates in a post-workout shake to boost recovery, and 80% protein content is usually sufficient for most needs.

Recommendation: take it after weight training or mix it in your morning oats after fasted cardio for quick recovery and a metabolic boost. Ask your nutritional adviser to calculate the optimal intake for your needs.

2.) Whey Protein Isolates (WPI)

At between 90-100%, WPI protein content is higher than WPC. This means that the product itself is cleaner, and is of a higher quality. WPI has great absorption and digestibility due to its chemical form; it enters the bloodstream almost immediately following consumption, which is why it’s perfect for a post-workout shake. You can also use WPI if you are on a ketogenic diet (i.e. a no carbs diet), as it’s an absolutely pure source of protein that won’t impact the production of keton bodies (the primary source of energy when you’re on a zero carbs diet).

Recommendation: Do not follow a ketogenic diet on your own without qualified and experienced nutritionist supervision. It could cause hypoglycemia and other health problems.

3.) Hydrolysate Protein (HP)

Experts consider HP as the highest quality protein because of its chemical properties and absorption qualities. However, pure HP is not often found on shop shelves, but is usually found mixed in with other kinds of protein such as WPC and WPI. Manufacturers mix sources for two principal reasons:

To decrease the production price without any significant compromise in terms of quality;

To provide your body with proteins with various speeds of digestibility, in order for the body to retain its protein supply for a longer duration.

4.) Casein Protein

Casein is a slow-digesting protein. There is a completely different mode of thinking behind casein supplements than with other types of rapid-absorption protein powders. Depending on one’s metabolism, the body needs up to 5-7 hours to fully digest casein; this is why it is perfect as either a meal replacement or a bedtime snack.

Recommendation: Do not take casein after fitness activities as it will only enter the blood stream a few hours later, leaving your body starved of vital nutrients. You can take casein as a bedtime snack by mixing it with a small amount of water. Due to casein chemical properties such a mix will create a mousse-like texture, and could be taken as a desert.

5.) Soy/Pea/Rise/Hump Protein

All plant-based proteins can be taken to increase protein dietary content. They are suitable for vegans, and can potentially be a great way of fortifying their constitution with essential amino acids. However, keep in mind that all vegetable proteins have an incomplete profile of amino acids. According to Gastellu and his colleagues at the International Sport and Science Association, plant-based proteins should ideally be mixed with other sources such as WPC, WPI or HP (which are also suitable for vegans in the majority of cases) in order to provide the body with all the necessary building-blocks for its recovery and maintenance.

Tatiana Dmitrieva,

(OpenMindPortal, OMCommunications, Fit&Treat founder, ISSA Qualified nutritionist, double European vice bikini-fitness champion)

Reference list

Bender D. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbcdab/Nbalance/Nbalance.htm
Cataldo D., Blair M. http://www.acsm.org/docs/default-source/brochures/protein-intake-for-optimal-muscle-maintenance.pdf
Gastelu, D., Hatfield, F.C. Srorp Nutrition. The Complete Guide. 2000. International Sport and Science Association.
MacDonald M. Nitrogen balance and muscle gain. http://www.mac-nutrition.com/articles/sports-nutrition/nitrogen-balance-and-muscle-gain/
Mantovani G. Cachexia and waisting: a Modern approach. 2006.http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-88-470-0552-5_8
Rassel G.R, Louden G.D., Goodship T.H.J. An assessment of the methods available to determine nutritional equilibrium in patients with chronic renal failure.http://ndt.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/12/1906.full
Robson D., Nitrogen Balance: the key to continuous gains?http://www.allmaxnutrition.com/post-articles/supplements/nitrogen-balance-the-key-to-continuous-gains/
The Myth of 1g/lb: Optimal protein intake for body builders.http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/
https://millionairesdigest.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/differences-in-protein-powders-for-body-building-health-food-bloggers-more/

Sex vs Exercise

Somewhere near the top of every single one of the the roughly forty-kajillion internet listicles dedicated to the “surprising,” “hidden,” and “unexpected”health benefits of sex is the not-all-that-surprising-sounding factoid that bumping fuzzies basically doubles as exercise. In reality, however, there has been very little research done to support this claim.

The few studies that have investigated the physicality of sex have typically looked at things like heart rate and blood pressure – important but arguably basic physiological measurements. They’ve also been conducted primarily in laboratory settings – which, sure, probably falls into some specific category of kink, but for most people is probably a less-than-ideal environment for sexy time. It’s not difficult to imagine, for example, how the wires from an echocardiogram, or the bulk of an oxygen-monitoring facemask, might interfere with one’s (doubtless considerable) sexual talents, thereby confounding any attempt at accurate physiological measurement.

The point being that these methodological limitations highlight a gap in the existing body of scientific knowledge raises an important question about how physically strenuous sex really is. How much energy does a young, healthy couple actually expend getting physical between the sheets? Are we talking a pastrami sandwich’s worth of calories, or a handful of kale’s? And to what extent does sex really count as exercise?

…Researchers led by Université du Québec à Montréal kinanthropologist Antony Karelis… The goal: measure the free-living energy expenditure (in calories) during sexual activity, in the absence of drugs, alcohol, or ED medications. (Study participants were also asked to forego any and all paraphilic sexual activities – i.e. nothing deemed too freaky by… well… society, we guess.) The final figures are as follows:

Mean energy expenditure during sexual activity (men)

101 kCal (the same as 101 dietary Calories), or 4.2 kCal/min

Mean energy expenditure during sexual activity (women)

69.1 kCal, or 3.1 kCal/min

So the overall average comes out to roughly 85 kCal (3.6 kCal/min) – about the same number of dietary calories in your standard chicken egg…

Robbie Gonzalez

Source

http://io9.gizmodo.com/seriously-though-does-sex-count-as-exercise-1452095982

How to lose weight without counting calories

Interesting idea of how to lose weight relatively effortlessly without counting calories… Read more and share

Mind over matter: psychology over calorie-counting

Interesting idea of how to lose weight relatively effortlessly without counting calories (warning: you still have to watch what you eat) by letting your own body dictate how much you eat. Seems pretty sensible and worth a try.

by Michael Graziano (is a neuroscientist, novelist and composer. He is Professor of Neuroscience at Princeton University in New Jersey. His latest book is Consciousness and the Social Brain (2013). Edited by Ed Lake | 18 January, 2016 | Aeon

The hunger mood

Hunger isn’t in your stomach or your blood-sugar levels. It’s in your mind – and that’s where we need to shape up…

…If weight were a matter of calories in and calories out, we’d all be the weight we choose. Everyone’s gotten the memo. We all know the ‘eat less’ principle. (Read Why diets don’t work and what you can do about it and Diets and exit strategies.) Losing weight should be as easy as choosing a shirt colour. And yet, somehow it isn’t, and the United States grows heavier. It’s time to consider the problem through an alternative lens.

Read also How to keep fit over 30.

Whatever else it is, hunger is a motivated state of mind. Psychologists have been studying such states for at least a century. We all feel hungry before dinner and full after a banquet, but those moments are the tip of the iceberg. Hunger is a process that’s always present, always running in the background, only occasionally rising into consciousness. It’s more like a mood. When it slowly rises or eases back down, even when it’s beneath consciousness, it alters our decisions. It warps our priorities and our emotional investment in long-term goals. It even changes our sensory perceptions – often quite profoundly.

You sit down to dinner and say:

That tiny, little hamburger? Why do they have to make them so small? I’ll have to eat three just to break even.

That’s the hunger mood making food look smaller. If you’re full, the exact same hamburger looks enormous. It isn’t just the food itself. Your own body image is warped.

When the hunger mood rises, you feel a little thinner, the diet feels like it’s working and you can afford a self-indulgence. When satiety kicks in, you feel like a whale.

Even memory can be warped. Suppose you keep a log of everything you eat. Is that log trustworthy? Not only have you drastically misjudged the size of your meals, but you’ve almost certainly forgotten items.

Depending on your hunger state, you might snarf up three pieces of bread and after the meal sincerely remember only one.

One recent study found that most of the calories people eat come through snacks between meals. But when you ask people, they deny it. They’re surprised to find out just how much they snack…

…Let’s say you decide to cut back on calories. You eat less for a day. The result? It’s like picking up a stick and poking a tiger. Your hunger mood rises and for the next five days you’re eating bigger meals and more snacks, perhaps only vaguely realising it…

… I’m not denying the physics here. If you take in fewer calories, you’ll lose weight. But if you explicitly try to reduce calories, you’re likely to do the exact opposite. Almost everyone who tries to diet goes through that battle of the bulge. Diets cause the psychological struggle that causes weight gain.

… Let’s say you try another standard piece of advice: exercise. If you burn calories at the gym you’ll definitely lose weight, right? Isn’t that just physics? Except that, after you work out, for the rest of the day you’re so spent that you might actually burn fewer calories on a gym day than on a regular one. Not only that, but after a workout you’ve assuaged your guilt. Your emotional investment in the cause relaxes. You treat yourself to a chocolate chip muffin. You might try to be good and decline the muffin, but the exercise revs up that subtle hunger mood lurking under the surface and then you don’t even know any more how much you’re overeating. Meals grow bigger while seeming to grow smaller. Extra snacks sneak in.

Read Diets and exit strategies …

…But the most insidious attack on the hunger mechanism might be the chronic diet. The calorie-counting trap. The more you try to micromanage your automatic hunger control mechanism, the more you mess with its dynamics. Skip breakfast, cut calories at lunch, eat a small dinner…

be constantly mindful of the calorie count, and you poke the hunger tiger

All you do is put yourself in the vicious cycle of trying to exert willpower and failing. That’s when you enter the downward spiral…

The gist

CALIFORNIA WALNUT COMMISSION MEDITERRANEAN DIET — Healthy eating as a life-style choice

Don’t put a plastic bag over your head. Likewise, don’t eat the super-high death-carb, low-fat diet. Don’t micromanage your brainstem by counting every calorie. You might be surprised at how well your health self-regulates.

Michael Graziano is a neuroscientist, novelist and composer. He is Professor of Neuroscience at Princeton University in New Jersey. His latest book is Consciousness and the Social Brain (2013).

https://pragmasynesi.wordpress.com/2016/01/22/mind-over-matter-psychology-over-calorie-counting/

Read also

Diets and exit strategies

How to keep fit over 30

Why diets don’t work and what you can do about it

How much protein should be eaten

How Neuroscientists Explain the Mind-Clearing Magic of Running

It is something of a cliché among runners, how the activity never fails to clear your head. Does some creative block have you feeling stuck? Go for a run. Are you deliberating between one of two potentially life-altering decisions? Go for a run. Are you feeling mildly mad, sad, or even just vaguely meh? Go for a run, go for a run, go for a run.

The author Joyce Carol Oates once wrote in a column for the New York Times that

in running the mind flees with the body … in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms.

Filmmaker Casey Neistat told Runner’s World last fall that running is sometimes the only thing that gives him clarity of mind.

“Every major decision I’ve made in the last eight years has been prefaced by a run,”

he told the magazine. But I maybe like the way a runner named Monte Davis phrased it best, as quoted in the 1976 book The Joy of Running:

“It’s hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clear-headedness that follow a long run.”

A good run can sometimes make you feel like a brand-new person. And, in a way, that feeling may be literally true. About three decades of research in neuroscience have identified a robust link between aerobic exercise and subsequent cognitive clarity, and to many in this field the most exciting recent finding in this area is that of neurogenesis. Not so many years ago, the brightest minds in neuroscience thought that our brains got a set amount of neurons, and that by adulthood, no new neurons would be birthed. But this turned out not to be true. Studies in animal models have shown that new neurons are produced in the brain throughout the lifespan, and, so far, only one activity is known to trigger the birth of those new neurons: vigorous aerobic exercise, said Karen Postal, president of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s the only trigger that we know about.”

The other fascinating thing here is where these new cells pop up: in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with learning and memory. So this could help explain, at least partially, why so many studies have identified a link between aerobic exercise and improvement in memory.

If you are exercising so that you sweat — about 30 to 40 minutes — new brain cells are being born,

added Postal, who herself is a runner. “And it just happens to be in that memory area.”
Other post-run changes have been recorded in the brain’s frontal lobe, with increased activity seen in this region after people adopt a long-term habit of physical activity. This area of the brain — sometimes called the frontal executive network system — is located, obviously enough, at the very front: It’s right behind your forehead. After about 30 to 40 minutes of a vigorous aerobic workout – enough to make you sweat – studies have recorded increased blood flow to this region, which, incidentally, is associated with many of the attributes we associate with “clear thinking”: planning ahead, focus and concentration, goal-setting, time management.

But it’s this area that’s also been linked to emotion regulation, which may help explain the results of one recent study conducted by Harvard psychology professor Emily E. Bernstein. Like Postal, Bernstein is also a runner, and was curious about a pattern she saw in her own mind after a run.

I notice in myself that I just feel better when I’m active.

She started to become really interested in the intervention studies that have popped up in recent years that suggest if you can get people who are having trouble with mood or anxiety to exercise, it helps. “But why?” she wanted to know. “What is exercise actually doing?”

To find out, she did a version of a classic experiment among researchers who study emotion: She and her colleague — Richard J. McNally, also of Harvard — played a reliable tearjerker of a clip: the final scene of the 1979 film The Champ.

Before watching the film clip, some of the 80 participants were made to jog for 30 minutes; others just stretched for the same amount of time. Afterward, all of them filled out surveys to indicate how bummed out the film had made them. Bernstein kept them busy for about 15 minutes after that, and surveyed them again about how they were feeling. Those who’d done the 30-minute run were more likely to have recovered from the emotional gut-punch than those who’d just stretched — and, her results showed, the people who’d initially felt worse seemed to especially benefit from the run. Bernstein is currently doing a few follow-up research projects to determine exactly why this works the way it does.

But there’s another big mental benefit to gain from running, one that scientists haven’t quiet yet managed to pin down to poke at and study: the wonderful way your mind drifts here and there as the miles go by. Mindfulness, or being here now, is a wonderful thing, and there is a seemingly ever-growing stack of scientific evidence showing the good it can bring to your life. And yet mindlessness — daydreaming, or getting lost in your own weird thoughts — is important, too. Consider, for example, this argument, taken from a 2013 article by a trio of psychologists in the journal Frontiers in Psychology:

“We mind wander, by choice or by accident, because it produces tangible reward when measured against goals and aspirations that are personally meaningful. Having to reread a line of text three times because our attention has drifted away matters very little if that attention shift has allowed us to access a key insight, a precious memory or make sense of a troubling event. Pausing to reflect in the middle of telling a story is inconsequential if that pause allows us to retrieve a distant memory that makes the story more evocative and compelling. Losing a couple of minutes because we drove past our off ramp is a minor inconvenience if the attention lapse allowed us to finally understand why the boss was so upset by something we said in last week’s meeting. Arriving home from the store without the eggs that necessitated the trip is a mere annoyance when weighed against coming to a decision to ask for a raise, leave a job, or go back to school.

Just because the benefits of losing yourself in your own thoughts are not easily measured doesn’t mean they’re not of value, and there are few ways I know of that induce this state of mind more reliably than a long run. A handful of recent studies have tried to answer what every runner, whether pro or hobbyist, has no doubt been asked by friends and family: What on earth do you think about while you’re out there for so many miles? This, as the writer Haruki Murakami noted in his What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, is almost beside the point. Sometimes he thinks while on the run; sometimes, he doesn’t. It doesn’t really matter.

I just run. I run in void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void.

April 21, 2016 12:51 p.m.

By Melissa Dahl

https://madridjournal.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/how-neuroscientists-explain-the-mind-clearing-magic-of-running/

The Pyramid Of Muscle-Building

Courtesy of http://www.bodybuilding.com

Stack the most critical training and nutrition factors in your favor to optimize muscle growth. Learn to build a solid, sustainable approach to fitness—along with a stellar physique!

You’ve seen the food pyramid—now meet the muscle-building pyramid! This simple structure lays out the essentials of what you need to do to add lean mass to your frame, while also providing the structure you need to prioritize them.

Each level of the pyramid builds off the next. What does this mean? Leap to the upper tiers without establishing the bottom two, and you’ll end up sore, burned out, and confused. If you stick to the base, you can go a long way, but you’ll be left wondering about your true potential.

With help from EAS athlete Jason Wittrock, you can start at the base of the pyramid, and build your way—and yourself—up!

LEVEL 1 TRAINING

Muscle growth starts with quality training, so the base of the pyramid focuses on training variables linked to muscle-growth processes. These are the factors that allow you to construct an effective program and create the stimulus your body needs in order to change!

Favor free-weight, multijoint movements. Single-joint movements like leg extensions or cable cross-overs have their place, but they shouldn’t be the centerpiece of your mass-building routine. Multijoint movements (think bench and squat) recruit far more muscle mass and give your body a greater stimulus to grow. Moreover, the challenge of handling a free-weight version of an exercise improves anabolism over a machine.

Train at the right intensity. Exercise scientists have determined most people should train between 70-85 percent of their one-rep max to elicit an optimal hypertrophic response. Choose a weight that allows you to do 6-12 reps with good form before reaching failure.

Add volume. Higher-volume, multiple-set protocols have consistently been shown to be superior over single sets when it comes to building muscle. This is one reason why advanced lifters often follow a body-part split.

HIGHER-VOLUME, MULTIPLE-SET PROTOCOLS HAVE CONSISTENTLY BEEN SHOWN TO BE SUPERIOR OVER SINGLE SETS WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING MUSCLE. THIS IS ONE REASON WHY ADVANCED LIFTERS OFTEN FOLLOW A BODY-PART SPLIT.

Don’t build up volume simply by doing the same thing with different implements. Change angles, rep ranges, and types of weights.

Train to failure some of the time. Yes, you can grow without lifting to the point of failure, and certain movements don’t lend themselves well to it. But all things being equal, if you stop short of failure—especially on isolation moves for small body parts like arms and calves—you won’t get the same anabolic stimulus as if you pursue those last few challenging reps.

Contain rest periods. For bodybuilding purposes, moderate rest intervals of about 60-120 seconds between sets maximize the hypertrophic response. Resting too long has been shown to be counterproductive to muscle gains because it reduces overall accumulated metabolic stress, a marker of hypertrophy. The smaller the muscle and lighter the movement, the less you need to rest.

Lift with proper technique. Don’t take this for granted! It supports everything else on this level. An exercise won’t work the way you want it to if you’re not doing it right. Get feedback on your form if necessary.

LEVEL 2 NUTRITION

If you get the training variables down, you’re giving your body a great growth stimulus. But without proper nutrition, good luck turning it into muscle!

Eat enough. If your goal is to add mass, you need to eat more calories each day than you’re burning. It doesn’t have to be a lot more. You can shoot for 0.5-1.5 pounds of gain in mass each week—or about 2-6 pounds a month—without adding significant amounts of body fat. That comes to an increase of about 300-500 calories daily over and above your maintenance level of calories. Check the scale regularly to determine whether your body weight is increasing within your target range.

Eat enough protein. You’ll hear a million different versions of how much fat or carbs you need. So let’s focus on what can’t be disputed: You need adequate protein to grow! Protein is essential to building and repairing damaged muscle tissue during hard training. Recommendations vary, but a time-honored amount that also happens to be the easiest to remember is 1 gram per pound of body weight daily, split into meals of at least 20-30 grams.

EAT ENOUGH. IF YOUR GOAL IS TO ADD MASS, YOU NEED TO EAT MORE CALORIES EACH DAY THAN YOU’RE BURNING.

So, how are you going to get it? “The easiest way to increase your protein intake is to make it your highest nutritional priority—which means you must always be prepared,” says Jason Wittrock. “I prepare all of my protein sources in advance and always make sure I keep my whey protein with me. When I’m sitting down eating a meal, I’m already thinking about being prepared for the next one.”

Increase your meal frequency. Consuming a higher level of calories than you burn and getting, say, 180 grams of protein a day, is pretty tough on just three meals a day. Supplementing meals with protein shakes and protein-rich snacks every 3-4 hours will help to keep rates of protein synthesis elevated while reducing protein breakdown.

Manage your excesses. You don’t have to subscribe to the “cheat meal” approach to gain muscle. But let’s face it: It’s difficult to eat clean 24/7 and gain weight, simply because the foods you’ll be favoring are relatively low in calories, and you won’t always want to eat large amounts of them. It’s OK to loosen the reins at times! Just do it on a hard training day, and make you’re still hitting your protein benchmarks.

LEVEL 3 ADVANCED GROWTH TECHNIQUES

You’re training right and eating right. Great! You’re on your way. Let’s consider a few more factors that could make the difference between OK results and great ones.

Incorporate progressive overload. Progressive overload simply means continually challenging your body to new levels of performance as it adapts to previous marks you set before it. You can do it many ways: lifting more weight, doing more reps, resting less, performing different movements—the sky is the limit, really. The key is to never fall into a comfort zone and never stop pushing yourself.

“Chasing your full potential is a never-ending process,” says Wittrock. “The minute you get comfortable, you stop growing. Don’t be afraid to try new things, and always stay hungry for new information. The second I feel like I’m in a comfort zone, I re-evaluate my goals. If you don’t have a big enough goal, you’ll find yourself in a comfort zone very quickly.”

Use intensity techniques. These are all ways of training past the point of failure. We don’t recommend doing them all at once or on every set, but once you’ve put in your time becoming fundamentally sound and strong in a movement, they can definitely help you take it to the next level.

Forced reps: As you reach muscle failure, your partner steps in and provides with just enough assistance to keep the weight moving for another 2-3 reps.
Dropsets: Once you reach muscle failure, quickly reduce the poundage by about 25 percent, and immediately continue on with the set to a second point of muscle failure.
Negatives: Instead of lifting a weight, lower it slowly for 3-5 seconds. Your partner then lifts the weight back to the start position. This works because you’re stronger lowering a weight than lifting it.

USE SUPPLEMENTS THAT BOOST TRAINING QUALITY. CERTAIN SUPPLEMENTS HAVE WELL-DOCUMENTED MASS-BUILDING BENEFITS, OFTEN BECAUSE THEY HELP YOU TRAIN HARDER AND DELAY FATIGUE.

Use supplements that boost training quality. Certain supplements have well-documented mass-building benefits, often because they help you train harder and delay fatigue. Here are four rock-solid choices:

Creatine has been shown to boost strength and muscle mass when used in combination with strength training.
Caffeine can delay fatigue during all types of training.
Branched-chain amino acids have been shown to help speed up recovery after a tough workout.
Whey protein should be a staple of your supplement stack as well, as it’s been shown to stimulate muscle protein synthesis and lead to greater increases in muscle mass and strength.

Time your nutrient intake. When building muscle is the goal, the meals before and after your workout are the most important. Make sure both have adequate protein, but also carbs, which are going to help you power through an intense workout and jump-start the recovery process. Fats are less important at this meal, so focus on them at other times of day.

LEVEL 4 RECOVERY

Don’t let recovery’s location all the way up at the top convince you it’s not important! It’s crucial to keep you coming back to the gym, feeling good, and preventing your training from hitting the wall. Skimp here, and you’ll feel it!

Don’t shortchange your sleep. Sleep is far more than just rest. It’s the time when your body releases hormones that enable you to heal from training and grow stronger. Most people need seven hours of quality sleep each night. Make this one of your highest priorities.

Rest from exercise. Part of this is up to your programming, but part of it is up to you!

DON’T SHORTCHANGE YOUR SLEEP. SLEEP IS FAR MORE THAN JUST REST. IT’S THE TIME WHEN YOUR BODY RELEASES HORMONES THAT ENABLE YOU TO HEAL FROM TRAINING AND GROW STRONGER.

If you’re serious about building mass, but you also play intense intramural sports regularly, chances are you aren’t doing your muscle-building efforts any favors. It’s extremely difficult to maximize muscle gains when you’re pushing yourself in other physically demanding activities.

“In order to build muscle, you must tear it down and allow it to rebuild itself,” says Wittrock. “For this reason, rest is absolutely essential. I hate rest as much as anybody, but I know it’s necessary to continue building muscle.

Supplement for recovery. Experienced lifters often take a two-pronged approach to supplementation: those that boost workout intensity, and those that boost recovery. Make no mistake: The two go hand in hand. “My key recovery supplements are glutamine, a protein supplement with carbs, and BCAAs with electrolytes,” Wittrock says.

Cycle intensity. You shouldn’t shy away from challenging workouts or programs. But training full-bore without stop for months on end is likely to do as much harm as good. Cycle in periods of lower-intensity training, and even time off from the gym, both for your physical as well as mental health.

BUILD A NEW YOU FROM THE GROUND UP

Muscle growth requires a lot of hard work, but also a lot of forethought and strategy. Don’t negate all that quality training you’ve been doing by phoning in your nutrition or recovery. Establish a solid base, and you’ll quickly surprise yourself with what you can achieve.

By Bill Geiger

Last updated: Mar 02, 2016

Source: The Pyramid Of Muscle-Building

6 Fitness Myths That May Be Holding You Back!

Courtesy of http://www.bodybuiding.com

These 6 fitness myths have stalled the progress of many motivated lifters. Break through the mistruth and become a wiser, stronger you!

Fitness has its own share of tall tales. You’ve heard the ones about sculpting your six-pack with daily high-rep crunches, right? How about the little boy whose knees fell off after a single squat? Far too many of us have let our lives be steered by these yarns over the years, with nothing to show for it in the end. You deserve better!

To help separate myth from reality, we turned to two EAS athletes who have seen and heard all sorts of pumped-up fitness parables over the course of their careers: active duty Coast Guard member Steven Lopez and NPC bikini competitor Nikki Walter.

STEVEN LOPEZ

Current Residence: Washington, D.C.
Occupation: Active duty Coast Guard, Bodybuilding.com athlete, EAS athlete

NIKKI WALTER

Current Residence: Aberdeen, SD
Occupation: Personal trainer, Bodybuilding.com athlete, EAS athlete
Website: www.nikkiwalter.com

Here’s what they had to say about six of the most persistent legends passed down through generations of iron enthusiasts.

MYTH 1 CRUNCHES ARE NECESSARY FOR A SIX-PACK

We get it: crunches burn so much when you do them they simply must be building something, right? Alas, wrong. Even the best direct ab exercises only strengthen the muscles underneath the flab. That doesn’t mean they’re not useful, but rather that they’re only useful at certain times for certain goals.

“Listen, we all have ‘abs,’ regardless of how high our body-fat percentage is,” Lopez explains. “It’s when you diet and exercise the whole body that those muscles become more visible. The key to a chiseled six-pack is sticking to a good overall workout routine and clean diet.”

FRONT SQUATS TORCH YOUR SIX-PACK MUSCLES AND PLENTY MORE. ARE YOU DOING THEM?

Got that? The overall quality of your approach is far more important than any small part. This is what Bill Geiger was writing about when he described the EAS Muscle-Building Pyramid: Start with the big, and then work your way to the small.

“Yes, exercises that directly work the abdominals can make the muscles more detailed and defined,” Lopez points out. “But that effort will only pay off when you peel away the layer of body fat over them. So start there.”

Just to be clear, a crunch is also not unique in its ability to work the “six-pack muscles” of the rectus abdominus. All of the following absolutely scorch the rectus and every other ab muscle, creating core strength that can carry over to everything else you do in the gym.

MYTH 2 TONS OF CARDIO IS NECESSARY TO GET EVEN A LITTLE LEAN

Slow-and-low cardiovascular training is a great tool—in the right time, amount, and place. But if you want to lose fat, you probably need less of it than you think, unless you’re already lean and looking to get leaner.

“I’ve found that the average person trying to get lean can accomplish that with just a good weight workout routine and diet,” explains Lopez. “However, if you compete or are prepping for a shoot, cardio is necessary to get rid of those last few pounds of stubborn fat in the final weeks of prep.”

YES, YOU CAN ENJOY YOUR LIFE WHILE YOU’RE TRANSFORMING IT. DON’T LET ANYONE CONVINCE YOU OTHERWISE!

Until then, you might get better results from blended cardio and bodyweight training—the type that EAS’s four “Transformed in 20” workouts contain in spades.

For guys, the most stubborn fatty areas are usually the love handles, lower abs, and lower back; for women, it’s usually the hips, butt, and thighs. “These areas have a high amount of alpha-receptors, which are more insulin sensitive and receive less blood flow,” Lopez says. “After being on prep for, say, 13-15 weeks, you might hit a fat-burning plateau and notice those areas are the last to get really lean. When that time comes, consider getting on the treadmill to help dial it in.”

MYTH 3 YOU MUST DISAPPEAR FROM LIFE IF YOU WANT TO LOSE FAT

There’s nothing like trying to transform your physique to make you start viewing the world starkly in terms of do’s and don’ts. Just watch the next time someone brings a cake into the office, and you’ll quickly notice two “teams” develop: those who partake, and those who don’t.

YOU MIGHT GET BETTER RESULTS FROM BLENDED CARDIO AND BODYWEIGHT TRAINING—THE TYPE THAT EAS’S FOUR “TRANSFORMED IN 20” WORKOUTS CONTAIN IN SPADES.

“Until I started competing and committed myself to a strict diet, I just wasn’t aware of how much of our social lives revolved around food and drinks,” Walter says. “I used to experience this working in an office, when others would bring in food to celebrate. Office settings are hard when co-workers want to bring treats in or go out to happy hour after work. No one wants to be the antisocial one.”

You want cake—but you want results, too. So what’s an aspiring athlete to do? As with training abs, you have to trust the overall approach to handle the big part of the results. If you’re confident in 90 percent of your nutritional approach—both the what and the why—it’s easier to say either “no thanks” or “just a bit” and really mean it.

“Go out and be social, but be prepared at work with your own snacks, or limit yourself to one treat a week—whatever will help you focus on the lifestyle change you’re aiming for,” Walter says.

MYTH 4 SQUATS ARE BAD FOR YOUR KNEES

This idea has many people scared squatless, as those fearful of injury have steered clear of what arguably is the most productive weight-training exercise ever devised. The squat, after all, works a multitude of muscles synergistically, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, as well as the core and upper body.

It’s entirely possible that a lifetime of sitting (among many other factors) may have gotten in the way of your ability to squat deeply with good form. Squatting heavy before you can squat well is also a major culprit. But with patience and a focus on mobility, you can absolutely regain your squat!

And what’s more, you should. The lower reaches of the range of motion, as they stop short of going all the way down to where the thighs are parallel to the floor or below, are where some of the squat’s biggest benefits are to be found.

“If your knees are tracking out past your toes, start by widening up your stance a bit to allow you to at least go to parallel. Over time, work on getting better at full-ROM squats, and they’ll more than earn their place in your leg-day routine,” Lopez says.

In other words, don’t leap to a heavy quarter-squat at the expense of learning how to do a light full squat. Start practicing light (or bodyweight) full squats, and then slowly add weight. Exercises like the goblet squat can certainly help you get there. They teach great squat form without requiring you to get under a heavy load.

MYTH 5 MACHINES ARE SAFER THAN FREE WEIGHTS

Because you’re locked into a specific range of motion with the resistance tucked away on a weight stack versus being in hand via a dumbbell or barbell, many assume machines are naturally safer than free weights. But is this true?

The answer is a huge “it depends.” Yes, you may be less at risk of hurting your knee today doing some leg extensions than doing a poor-quality, overly heavy squat. But you’re also doing a lot less to strengthen your body as a whole, including all those tiny stabilizer muscles that make you feel as strong as you look.

MACHINES WORK BEST AS THE DESSERT AFTER THE MAIN COURSE OF BIG LIFTS. BUT IF YOUR GOAL IS BIGGER QUADS, THEY DEFINITELY HAVE THEIR PLACE!

The precise thing that makes a squat so difficult—namely, your body being forced to stabilize during a difficult movement—is what makes it valuable. A well-performed squat, even just with body weight, teaches your muscles to fire and work together. A machine just hammers a muscle or two. One is a symphony; the other is a solo.

“Of course, machines have their place in a workout routine,” Lopez says. “But they’re just one ingredient. As long as you check your ego at the door when it comes to weight selection and use proper form, machines, cables, free weights, and bodyweight exercises are all the same as far as safety goes. Each provide their own unique way of targeting a muscle group. Use them all for what they’re best at.”

MYTH 6 SUPPLEMENTS ARE ONLY USEFUL FOR MUSCLE BUILDING

There are two things that are about as timeless in the fitness industry as the dumbbell itself: the sound of a big guy in the weight room rattling a shaker cup, and the magazine ad of a ripped bodybuilder roaring into the camera.

We’ve all seen them both a million times by now. But their popularity comes with a downside: A generation of people have seemingly become convinced that supplements are only for people who either already have tons of muscle or who are desperately in pursuit of it.

As Nikki Walter found out when she wanted to transform her life, this just isn’t the case. “Supplements can be scary for someone who has never used them,” she says. “Had I known several years ago, back when I was a marathon runner, how much supplementation can assist with recovery and performance, I would have saved myself a lot of hassle.”

Ask any of the millions who have successfully completed the EAS Body for Life challenge over the last 20 years, and they’ll echo Walter’s conclusion. Yes, a protein shakeis helpful to meet your daily protein target, but it’s more helpful in its ability to fuel your recovery between workouts. Sure, a pre-workout is helpful for giving you energy, but only if that energy equals another rep, set, or movement you wouldn’t have done otherwise.

Think of it this way: Choosing to commit to a lifetime with such an intense, challenging hour in it every day isn’t easy. It isn’t normal—even though it should be—but it’s necessary. If a supplement can help you turn that daily ritual into something to be relished rather than feared or dreaded, well, that’s worth considering for any athlete.

“It’s worth your time to read reviews and embrace supplementation as an intellectual challenge,” Walter says. “Knowing not only what to take, but also when to take supplements and how they support your goals are all key to success.” Look for supplements that use transparent labeling, meaning you can see each ingredient and the exact dose used in the product, and carry third party certifications like GMP and NSF so that you know the product has been tested for safety and for banned substances.

Source: 6 Fitness Myths That May Be Holding You Back!

Diets and exit strategies

To lose 4lbs during a diet, yet gain 6lbs back within a few weeks of finishing it is a sadly familiar scenario. In the previous article “Why diets never work and what to do” we discussed in detail why fad diets generally have poor results. We also presented some of the best alternatives to fad dieting, with the goal of achieving desired ‘body correction’ and avoiding starving the body. This article is devoted to exit strategies for diets.

Any process embarked on should have an exit strategy.

Dropping a diet without planning is the equivalent of stopping your car in the middle of the motorway, or jumping out of the airplane before landing – not recommended!

In the previous article “Why diets do not work…” we discussed the body’s reaction to various ‘cut’ diets. Here’s a quick refresher:

A decrease in calories leads to metabolic slowdown due to inevitable negative metabolic adaptation. Being adapted to lower calories, the body burns less ingested nutrients for energy. The more you reduce your food intake, the lower your metabolic rate becomes and the lower the quantity of nutrients which are used for body maintenance. Muscle degradation occurs as a side effect of many diets. This is a result of the body using its own muscle tissue for its energy needs when it is being starved, rather than burning fat as the latter is used to store nutrient deposits for a ‘rainy day’. A final and important point is that the less muscle tissue the body has, the lower its metabolic rate. Consequently a decrease in food consumption leads directly to muscle degradation during ‘cut’ diets, resulting in a situation in which the dieter is both eating less and getting fatter.

By instead taking a path of balanced and healthy eating, you could achieve visible sustainable results and reach a desirable body correction. This, in combination with the right training strategy, is the right solution.

Now let’s imagine a situation in which you are a healthy eater and regular exerciser. You have adopted the right nutritional strategy and follow an appropriate fitness plan for your body’s needs, but you want to achieve even more.

In this instance so-called “manageable cut dieting” may be suitable.

Imagine that you achieve this additional goal; fantastic! But what next?

You always have two options: to either return to your normal eating habits, or follow a correct exit strategy. In the first case the pattern will be more or less classic. If you are a healthy eater, you will inevitably gain weight after the diet is over and your metabolism will accelerate due to an increase in calories. Super-compensation will occur and you will come back to your normal body weight and body composition with an additional 1-3% of body fat. This is the most favorable scenario. However, you have to be ready to be slightly “softer” for a while until all your bodily processes are settled. If you are not a healthy eater, you will probably fall into the vicious circle of any diet, described above.

The second scenario, which involves a smart exit strategy, is a bit more sophisticated in terms of execution but at the same time will definitely help to keep your physical achievements for longer. It may even shift your body composition permanently and allow you to be lean all-year-round. This is exactly what happened to me after 3 years of competing.

3 years of smart dieting and exercising helped me to shift my body composition towards being lean (9-12% of body fat) all year round. Taking into account my age (I’m 33) it is a great achievement and long-term health and wellbeing investment.

Exit strategy recommendations:

Increase calories gradually.

It is always very tempting to start eating all your favorite treats after a diet. However, keep in mind that your body will have become extremely sensitive to all previously excluded food sources. Be careful and conscious with carbs and fats first of all. Lane Norton (one of the most notable experts in metabolic damage) believes that the best way to smooth the transition to a non-dieting state is to increase your carbs by 10%, and fats by 1%, every week. Such moderate increases boost the metabolism and help the body to adapt to a new macronutrient modulation, without drastic changes in body composition.

Track protein intake

Protein consumption also should be trackable. In the majority of smart fitness diets (not fad diets) protein intake is sufficient at the ‘cut’ stage. Macronutrient increase usually happens on account of carb and fat intake. However, some strategies such as various “detox” programs exclude or minimize protein consumption for the entire duration of the diet. This leads to severe muscle loss and metabolic damage.

Conversely, there are some diets (Dr. Atkins and his numerous imitators) that exclude carbs almost completely. One of the biggest misconceptions behind such an approach is that the human body does not need anything apart from protein. This in turn gave birth to the following misunderstandings of the human body: One is that you can eat any amount of protein and not gain fat. In fact, any excessive amount of protein is converted into glucose by the liver via the neoglucogenesis process. Excessive glucose and fatty acids not used for energy are literally converted into body fat. So keep your protein intake attuned to your body composition, type of exercise you do and your activity level, but be careful with any extra amount consumed. If you want to increase muscle mass the nutrition strategy you follow should be allied with your training and supplementation plans to achieve desirable results. Eating mountains of protein without a smart plan will not bring benefits. On the other hand, excessive consumption of protein can even be dangerous and lead to unexpected fat gain, increased acidity and an additional burden placed on the kidney and the liver. For more details about this, read my article “How much protein should be eaten”.

Increase physical activity

It is clear that any increase in food consumption provides the body with additional energy. This increased energy should be burned up, in order to avoid undesirable body fat formation after a diet. As the metabolism is still slow after the period of reduced calories the only way to make sure you are on the right track is to increase your physical activity until the metabolic rate is normalized. The question is how we can do this in a more efficient and productive way. Obviously, we can not spend 2-3 hours a day doing low intense steady state (LISS) cardio as some so-called ‘fitness gurus’ recommend. That sort of free time is far too scarce for most of us. The best way to increase activity after a diet is to increase the intensity of your normal workout by increasing resistance (weight), or the number of receptions. Another recommended tactic is to add 15-20 minutes of highly intense interval (HIIT) cardio after your workout.

Supplementation

After any diet all bodily processes are altered. Being excluded for a while, and then re-introduced, some food sources could provoke digestion problems and cause bloating and other unpleasant consequences. You need to help the body to start working properly. Short, 2-3 week courses of digestive enzymes and friendly bacteria will be beneficial.

Metabolic boosters are another useful thing. Two of the most well-known natural metabolites are chili and black pepper. Just add a pinch of those to your meals.

The next possibility is an insulin controller. Keeping going without simple carbs for a period of time increases insulin sensitivity. Add 1-3 tablets of chromium to your meals to avoid insulin spikes. Also be careful with fruit: Those fruit with a high glycemic index such as mango, figs and other exotic fruits likely will be harmful for your six-pack.

Check your list of wellbeing factors daily

Try to get eight hours of quality sleep, fresh air (and, at least, a one-hour power walk outside) and attempt to keep your stress levels low. These three wellbeing factors should always be checked and whenever possible, observed. High cortisol levels (stress hormones) alone could ruin all your fitness and dietary efforts. Insufficient sleep, excessive alcohol consumption and smoking, and constant tissue hypoxia (lack of oxygen) will make change impossible.

Check your body composition

This is a pretty obvious point, but very often ignored. After a diet, it is essential to know what the proportion of your lean muscle mass is to your body fat percentage. Check it once every two weeks, a reasonable length of time to let your body react to new nutrients and any adjusted fitness plan. Ideally, both figures should stay unchanged or increase very slowly. Keep an eye on them. If you notice a drop in muscle mass or an increase in body fat of more than 4lbs within a two week period, your exit diet should be reconsidered and adjusted accordingly.

Tatiana Dmitrieva

Why diets don’t work and what you can do about it

why diets do not work and what to do

Have you ever noticed that after any diet, the pounds inevitably pile back on? Not only that, but people often actually gain more than they lose after finishing a diet. The idea of dieting is fundamentally flawed, with the process frequently being useless, painful and even dangerous to the person following it. In this article we are going to shed light on fad diets and provide you with some recommendations on how to avoid mistakes, and achieve long-term results.

Are still considering dieting?

What does an average diet consist of? They vary enormously in terms of the type of food stipulated or prohibited, timeframe, and degree of strictness. However, there are a few common features. Let’s examine them briefly.

All fad diets are low in calories and rely on a nutrients deficiency principle. That means a dieter consumes fewer calories than he or she burns. This usually leads to a certain weight loss, but a series of studies have shown that the drop in body weight usually occurs predominantly as a result of muscle – but not fat – loss. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface, the body experiences a significant metabolic slowdown.

All diets are short-term (up to a few weeks). First of all, that does not allow the body to change in the longer term. Secondly, it means that a dieter will soon return to his or her “normal” – often unhealthy or semi-healthy – eating habits. These dietary habits caused weight gains in the past, so it’s fairly certain that the same thing will happen again.

All diets impose strict restrictions on the type and quantity of food consumed. That might provoke not only temporary mood swings and fatigue but also long term hormonal problems. Another consequence can be malnutrition (i.e. a deficiency of some important micronutrients and vitamins). It could impair bodily functions and negatively impact the overall health of the dieter.

Now, let’s dig a little deeper.

Calorie restriction

Very often calorie restriction in the course of a dietary programme is too extreme, and has no scientific basis. The buckwheat diet, green diet, zero carbs diet, fruit diet and even the lemon-water diet are just few examples of type of diet which are – to put it bluntly – complete nonsense. Do people lose weight on such diets? Yes, they do. Do they gain it back? Yes, and it happens very quickly.

vicious circle 2 — less muscle burn less calories

Decreasing calorie intake is another form of dieting. People keep their eating habits unchanged and just reduce the size of the portions or general quantity of their food intake, and exclude “criminal” food such as white bread or refined sugar. At first glance, this approach looks logical. Curbing excessive unhealthy food consumption will inevitably lead to weight loss. However, it is temporary. Having reached his or her target, a dieter reverts to “normal” eating habits, quickly gaining back everything that was lost, plus a little bit more, after every diet.

Another important point is that dieters almost never measure what they eat (we’re not speaking about bodybuilders, who, in opposite, obsessively weigh every ingredient). All food intakes is approximate and cannot be precisely replicated every day. Eating in public spaces makes tracking exact consumption even more complicated. It is impossible to be certain how purchased meals were cooked, and what additives such as oils, sugar, starches and so on were used. I’ve heard this stock phrase a million times: “I eat healthily but can’t lose fat”. When I start analyzing what people really eat I always see an abundance of hidden salt, sugar and fats in ready-to-eat or processed meals consumed. As a result, a dieter has fluctuating macronutrient intake (proteins, carbs, fats, fibre as well as salt and water) from day to day without any degree of consistency, consuming extra unnecessary nutrients that negatively impact the body in both the short and long term.

Sometimes people stop eating completely for a while (“detox” fasting). This is probably the most terrifying scenario in terms of negative metabolic adaptation and the degree of harm it inflicts on the body.

Juice diets, which are currently extremely popular, are another example of outrageous fad strategies that inevitably cause overcompensating fat gain after the diet is over.

To recap, people do lose weight during diets but mostly due to three key factors:

muscle degradation,
loss of body water due to loss of muscle glycogen (1 molecule of muscle glycogen retains 3 molecules of intramuscular water keeping the body hydrated),
loss of intestine bulk due to extremely low food consumption.

Muscle loss

Now, let’s look in more detail at muscle loss. Why is this factor important? It has been scientifically proven that muscles burn more calories for maintenance than fat. In other words, two 130 pound individuals with the same activity levels but with different body composition (let’s say, the first has 10% of body fat and the second – 30%) have completely different daily calorie expenditure. Who is going to burn more? Obviously the first one, as he has more muscle tissue.

Another interesting fact is that the human body starts burning muscle tissue for energy when calorie intake is insufficient. Fat is used to store nutrients for the body in case of starvation, which is why the human body tends to keep it for as long as possible, destroying muscle tissue first. It’s a survival mechanism. Only in certain circumstances the body uses fat for energy (for example, when a certain heart rate is reached). Muscle loss during fad diets is inevitable even if a dieter continues exercising, and the less muscle tissue the dieter has, the fewer calories he/she burns. That’s why prolonged fad diets provoke muscle degradation and, as a result, significant metabolic slowdown.

Metabolic slowdown

Let’s say a couple of words about metabolic adaptation (slowdown/damage). This probably the simplest correlation to explain: The human body is both ingenious, and highly efficient. Survival is its main objective, so the fewer calories consumed, the fewer calories used. The body becomes very efficient and stores everything possible to deal with the possibility of starvation. In other words, the less you eat – the less you burn. And it works the other way around: the more generous the food supply, the less the need of the body to store fat for a raining day. However, don’t forget about food sources. Fat-laden, sodium-rich and sugar-heavy processed food never brings benefits. When boosting your metabolism, always opt for whole foods.

To sum up, when a dieter starves him/herself for a prolonged period, negative metabolic adaptation occurs. In combination with inevitable muscle loss it causes even more dramatic consequences – a dieter simply starts gaining more and more weight, while eating less and less.

High cortisol

Cortisol is a human stress hormone. Overwork, fad diets, long and exhausting cardio sessions, over-exercising, and lack of quality sleep, sunshine and fresh air are only a few examples from the long list of cortisol boosters. High cortisol levels cause major water retention (in case of some extreme female dieters, up to 25-30lbs). Moreover, high cortisol slows down the metabolism even further.

To diet or not to diet

Taking into account all of the above evidence, the question must be asked: is it actually worth dieting?

The answer should be obvious: No, if we’re talking about fad diets.

Another, related, question is how can we achieve targeted body correction?

It’s all about long term life-style changes: Short-term diets don’t provide long term results and may be harmful, whereas permanent changes to your eating habits bring long-term benefits.

How to start and what to do

Here are just a few simple tips that could make your healthy eating easier, and more effective.

Always rely on a scientific, fully customized approach! Generic diets and programs work poorly. Don’t copy someone else’s strategy. Most likely it was designed for an individual with a different somatotype, body fat percentage, activity level and other differentiating factors.

Would you perform dentistry on yourself? I didn’t think so. Always rely on professionals. Hire a qualified nutritionist to design the right strategy for your needs and guide you through the journey. It’s not going to be easy, as any life-style change requires complete focus, dedication, patience, and competent support.

Never starve yourself. Remember, fad diets are harmful.

Accept that finding healthy food in public places, or around your office, is pretty much impossible. Make it a habit to carry around a few little Tupperware boxes containing your freshly made meals. You will definitely be hungry at some point. Take care of yourself and don’t allow hunger to force you eating rubbish, or to starve.

Try to avoid processed food. This step alone will be hugely beneficial in the long-term.

Always put your health first.

Fast food and junk food cravings only exist in your head. The normal human body does not need junk food at all. Believe it or not, our brain can work perfectly on complex carbs. The human body is able to produce endorphins and serotonin without eating mountains of sweets. Our ancient ancestors never knew McDonalds or Nutella and lived happily without them. So the biggest monster lives in our own heads. Stop feeding it!

Take your time. The human body needs a far longer time to change than we tend to believe. Give yourself time. Be generous. Healthy eating will start working sooner or later. Just be consistent

Keep calm and eat your chicken (or broccoli/spinach/cod – whatever suits you!). Stress slows down the metabolism, making the body store more fat and retain water.

Sleep well and get enough fresh air every day. It’s a basic rule and you shouldn’t make excuses for yourself.

Just as you can’t be “almost pregnant”, you can’t “almost eat healthily”. You either do it or you don’t. The more you cheat the more you crave. It is better to eliminate junk food from your diet completely. Good luck!

Tatiana Dmitrieva