What You CAN Do - Part II

You've had 24 hours to get moving and get sleeping.  How'd you do?  Don't beat yourself up if nothing changed, just remember the definition of Insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!  In my opinion, it's easier for you to start adding in some of these steps as you go along.  Master 1 or 2 and then master a few more.  You'll fell less overwhelmed and you're much more likely to stick with it.  Regardless, let's talk about number 3 and 4.

3. Space Your Meals Every 3-4 Hours Apart
I am almost 100% certain that this is nothing new to you.  Fitness and nutrition professionals around North America have been preaching this for year now.  But why is it so important?  Your energy level isn't the only thing that your diet and nutrition directly affect.  Food and nutrient timing also affects hormones in your body responsible for fat storage and fat mobilization.  In other words, if your meals are too far apart, your body will go into fat storage mode in order to ensure that there is energy for activities that may be coming later.  However, if you can keep your hormones balanced, your body will continue to release fat as an energy source, confident that your energy demands are not going to exceed energy intake. 

In a typical day, where you are awake for 16 hours (ensuring you are getting 8 hours of sleep per night), you should eat 4-5 meals a day.  An average male should aim for 400-500 kcal per meal and an average female should aim for 350-450 kcal per meal.  These can be space out as breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner.  Notice there is not after dinner snack, I have chosen to advise against it, only because late night eating is often done on the couch, in front of the tv and is mindless.  This can lead to over indulging in unnecessary calories and junk.  If this is a habit you currently have, replace it with drinking a large glass of ice water with lemon or herbal tea post dinner.

4. Control Your Stress Level
There are two types of people in this world, those that eat when stressed and those that can't!  However, regardless of which type you may be, a high stress level could still be affecting your waist size.  Increased stress increases your cortisol level.  Yes, the same hormone that was increased when we didn't get enough sleep in a night.  Leading to an increased appetite and/or increased fat storage in your abdominal region. 

Even if we don't tend to "overeat" when we are stressed, chances are that the food we are choosing aren't the best.  Our mind is often distracted and busy thinking about our stressors that we don't pay attention to what we are putting into our mouth.  It may lead to increased habits of grabbing food on the go (rarely a healthy choice to be found), snacking on high sugar, high fat or empty calorie snacks and/or taking in too many calories through liquids (such as alcohol). 

In order to decrease your stress, you must first become aware of what is causing it.  Sources of stress can come from anywhere, pay attention to when you are feeling the most stress and if there is a way to remove yourself from the situation.  A lot of stress comes from temporary situations such as deaths, divorces, moving, new job, etc... Discover what stress busting strategies work best for you and begin to implement them immediately.  Some strategies include meditation, journaling, participating in team sports or individual physical activity, etc.

Add these 2 tips to your weight loss/body shaping strategies to start to see some real results!  Tomorrow we will discuss alcohol and portion control.

Questions or Comments, I would love to hear them!

In Health,
Jessica & Tristan

What You CAN Do - Part I

Body shaping, weight loss and weight management isn't easy... but you knew that, right? All too often we hear about diets, fads and programs that are designed to make us lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. 9 times out of 10, they don't work! You can't help but feel hopeless... "How could I not have lost 20 pounds in 4 weeks?? Everyone else in this book has!!" You then decide that you are destined to be this way forever... it doesn't matter what you do, nothing changes anyways. You don't have the time, the willpower, the money - whatever it is that you feel is holding you back (besides yourself of course, it's never actually your fault).

It's time to realize that yes, weight loss and body shaping isn't easy BUT it isn't rocket science either. Over the next five days, I'm going to reaffirm the top 10 things you need to do to make changes in your health, fitness and of course, your body shape!

Let's get started!

1. Move (and it's probably more than you think)

Alright, I know everyone is looking for the bare minimum you need to do to see results, but let's be honest; you need to move to see results. So how much do you need to dedicate to cardiovascular activity? 200-300 minutes a week. That works out to five, 40 to 60 minute cardiovascular (heart pumping, pore opening) workouts every week! I already know what you're thinking... I don't have that much time, are you crazy?! That's the truth though...and there are 10,080 minutes in every week to get those workouts in. That means that just under 3% of your time each and every week needs to be dedicated to cardiovascular workouts. When I put it that way, it really doesn't seem so bad does it?

What about intensity? How hard should these workouts be? The research shows us that a combination of activities and intensities are actually best. Most of those workouts should be at a moderate intensity (able to easily recite a nursery rhyme/or hold a conversation during activity), some of these workouts should be slightly harder (able to recite a nursery rhyme but with difficulty) and some should be considered hard (unable to recite a nursery rhyme). They can't all be too hard or you will never recover and they can't all be too easy or you won't see the results you were hoping for.  To ensure you are working in the right zone, ensure that your Personal Trainer has prescribed heart rate zones for you to monitor.

And strength training? Absolutely necessary! You should complete 2 to 3 full body resistance training programs every week and lift enough weight that you fatigue the muscles used. In other words, you need to make sure you train each body part twice per week and that you are unable to complete many more reps than your chosen rep range. Your body needs to be pushed in order to compensate and come back stronger than before. These workouts also need to be done on non-consecutive days in order to give your muscles the rest and recovery they need to grow and change.

Even though this may seem like a lot, remember every single one of us has the same 10,080 minutes every week. Prioritize your health, fitness and weight loss goals to see results. You can make it happen!

2. Sleep

Now that you are moving more, I also want you to sleep more! You should aim to get 8 hours of sleep each and every night. Why? Not getting enough sleep can actually lead to weight gain! Not getting enough sleep can make you feel irritable, depressed, angry and cranky - think about what most people do when they are emotional. That's right, we often turn to food (and usually it's not all that healthy). On top of this, research has shown that when we haven't had enough sleep, our cortisol levels increase. Cortisol increases your appetite (and may make you feel hungry when you're not) and can lead to increased weight gain in the abdominal region (the most dangerous region for your health).

The other downside of not sleeping enough? The less you sleep, the less you may actually move! So in order to be truly successful at moving more, you need to sleep more. Great news for those of you looking to hit snooze on the alarm clock just one more time!

There's no reason to wait until you have all 10 tips to get started. Make these two changes immediately and add the other points as we go.

Comments or Questions, we would love to hear them!

In Health,
Jessica & Tristan

Because You Were Looking For Another Excuse...

As your lying in bed, driving home, sitting on the couch or whatever it is you do before you normally go workout - maybe your debating whether or not you should skip today's workout or just get it over with... TIME magazine has now given you the ultimate excuse to just skip it!!

"Exercise Won't Make You Thin"

Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin is the title of a recent article written by John Cloud for Time Magazine (http://bit.ly/nNK4m). To sum up the article Cloud basically sites studies claiming that exercise doesn't do anything in terms of weight management and has even found a few experts backing this up. He claims that the more we move, the hungrier we get and therefore the more we eat. He even goes as far to say that not only do we eat, we overeat. The ultimate conclusion, exercise is making us fat!

What?!?!

Some of the points he makes are valid and yes, he has found research to back them up. However, we need to remember that research studies are usually conducted in very controlled environments and situations. For example; the study published in PLoS ONE had 4 different groups of women working with Personal Trainers for varying times a week. The women in the study were specifically told NOT to change their dietary habits during this time. Which means that the trainer was most likely not able to advise or counsel on any nutritional aspects and most likely was not able to suggest any other lifestyle modifications to promote weight loss. In other words, these women didn't really get the full effect of personal training. They had someone design an exercise program for that allotted time slot (perhaps even the same program for everyone versus individually designed) and take them through the motions. As any of you reading this who have worked with a Personal Trainer before know, that's just not what Personal Training is.

A Personal Trainer is not just someone who is there to count your reps and check your technique. Yes, these are aspects of their job however education and individualized program prescription for the client is their first and foremost responsibility. I have yet to hear a fitness professional congratulate their client on a great session and then tell them to celebrate by eating a pizza. Sure, maybe the client has noticed that they are feeling a bit hungrier but that doesn't mean that they should indulge in whatever they feel like. In this day and age, with all the health, fitness and nutrition information out there, I have a hard time believing that anyone actually believes this as well. Honestly, who thinks working out for 60 minutes a few times a week grants you a license to eat whatever you want!

In my opinion, Cloud is obviously looking for publicity and a way to increase readership in Time magazine and I guarantee this will work. Funny that he talks about the conspiracy of play places in fast food restaurants, but what about his underlying motivation to write this article.


With over 10 years in the fitness industry, client and personal experience shows me that when a person is exercising, they actually have an increased energy level, making it easier to enjoy other activities such as playing with their kids, walking up stairs and going for an evening stroll. People engaged in a fitness program overseen by a professional also tend to make better food choices as they have the education, accountability and support to do so, PLUS they quickly realize how much better they feel when fueling their body correctly.

All in all this article had me pretty fired up. I have dedicated my career and it is my passion to get people moving and buy into the value of exercise. The last thing the North American population needed was another reason not to get moving and to not include exercise in their weight loss goals. Trust me on this one, we do not have an overweight and obesity problem because we are doing too much exercise!!

Questions or comments, I would love to hear them!

In Health,

Jessica & Tristan Zapata