Marie Writes (A Fitness Blog)

My Family Makes Comments About My Diet!

Raise your hand if you’ve ever received negative comments from those closest to you about your diet, weight or exercise routine *raises hand*.

Now, raise your hand if you’re making positive changes in your diet, fitness or exercise routine and you still get negative comments from people closest to you *raises hand*.

Remember when I said that you need to find an internal source of motivation or a ‘back-up generator‘ for your fitness and you cannot depend on others for validation? Yeah, that becomes super important, especially when the outside voices become voices of negativity.

The Effect of a Negative Circle

You may be one of those lucky people who happen to have great people around them all the time or you may just be hard-headed and thick-skinned. But, if that doesn’t sound like you, it’s really important that you read this.

Negativity, especially when it’s coming from those closest to you, can very easily become the voice in your head. It can (and it will) stop you from pursuing the things you desire and prevent you from achieving anything and everything that’s possible for you to be happy (and this goes waaay beyond fitness).

There’s no point in sitting here and contemplating why anyone would say something negative to you because there could be a million reasons that have nothing to do with you. However, a negative mindset is not a healthy to have, especially when concerning your health because it will hold you back.

That is, unless you use it as fuel, which doesn’t come as easily but let me tell you, having a chip on your shoulder can be the most powerful and motivating factor in achieving your deepest desires.

You’ve Got to Block It Out

You. have. got. to. block. it. out. Read that again. Wear ear caps if you must. Instead of letting the thought or the sentence finish you stop it in its tracks and replace it with something positive, anything positive really.

When someone makes a comment about how ‘you should let loose and eat the cake’ they’re not thinking about your happiness or goals.

When someone says ‘what’s the point in going to the gym I never see results’ you need to block that sh*t out because they won’t see progress with that attitude. It’s that exact same negative mentality that leaves people unhappy with their bodies for years down the line and it can cost you more than that just your health.

However, the difference between you and negative Nancy over there is that you will see progress. Do not underestimate the power of patience and positivity. Trust that process because attitude is everything.

Therefore, you need to find your ‘back-up generator’ that shuts down any and all negative voices that could hold you back. It’s helps build a proper foundation that positivity and optimism can sit comfortably on. Maybe it’s your desire to look better than everyone else at your college reunion or maybe you just want to be healthy enough to play with your kids. It’s completely up to you.

I’m not saying that you should argue or isolate yourself. I’m AM saying that you need to prioritize yourself, your needs and your goals because no one else can or will do it better than you.

Marie.

Your Rest Days Are Not A Luxury, They’re A Necessity

Let me preface this by saying, the volume of your workout, your physical and mental well-being and what your goals are, are all pretty good indicators of how many rest days you should take. ‘Volume’ simply means the weight x reps x sets.

How would you know you’re doing too much volume? Quite frankly, you’ll feel pretty beat up. Your body will feel heavy, it might be difficult to do daily tasks, you might feel tired or low energy or you’ll have aches, pains and other symptoms of fatigue. Also, you’re in the gym almost everyday and you focus on heavy weights, lots of reps and lots of sets, aka ‘Go Hard or Go Home’. And the most important factor, you’re relatively new to the gym (less than a year).

How does your physical and mental well-being come into it? You have brain fog, you’re not eating enough calories to support recovery and weight gain/weight loss, you’re don’t address your mobility or do your warm-ups and you’re starting to despise the thought of going to the gym. If you’d like more on recovery, two articles are a good place to start. 1, 2

And finally, your goals. Are you looking to lose weight? Or build muscle? Either way, the time you spend outside the gym is when the actual magic happens. So rest days are a must if you want to see results.

Now, how important are rest days? We know how important recovery is, so rest days are simply another factor in the recovery equation. If you still haven’t read the articles, the one on training volume and physical recovery methods can be especially beneficial if you’re looking to really make long-term progress.

Here’s what a rest day will do for you:

It will energize your mind and relax your body and mind. Put simply, exercising is stressful on your body and, even your mind. You need to put in the work, then pull back a bit, rinse and repeat. There’s no point busting your butt day in and day out when you’re already fatigued because it causes a host of issues down the road, including injury and strains.

It will give your body time to recover. A rest day is the best time to get a massage, take a long bath or simply do nothing. Your body, when fed sufficiently, will recover, build muscle and burn fat, all while doing nothing. It’s magical.

It will help you put your priorities in line. All those books that you need to catch up on? Errands you need to run? Now’s your time. Let’s face it, working out takes a good chunk out of our day, that could be used for other things. Of course, exercise is absolutely necessary however, it is time consuming and when we prioritize exercise above all else, our other priorities take the back-burner.

It gives you time outside the gym. This is super important. Weight, body image and fitness, are all so important however, it’s important to realize that there’s life outside those categories. There’s more to life than losing weight, eating healthy and going to the gym. Enjoy time with your friends, watch your favorite TV show, or sleep in. Give yourself the utmost time to do nothing. Alternatively, you could spend time with friends doing active recovery activities, such as walking, hiking, swimming, mountain climbing! Whatever your heart desires!

It will make you hate exercising less. Maybe you’re not one of those people who wakes up at 5 am and happily carries their gym back everywhere they go. Maybe you absolutely despise the thought of the gym and exercising and dieting and you wish it would all go to hell. And even after all of that, maybe you still put in the work. A rest day will give you peace of mind, and time to be away from the gym and not feel guilty. You’ve put in the work now you all you have to do is rest.

So let’s say you’re training 3 to 5 days a week. That means, you have two days to spend as you please. Remember, active recovery is your friend. It’s important that your diet is not completely abandoned so make sure you’re getting enough protein and hitting your calorie intake.

Happy Recovering Friends! Is there anything you absolutely must do on your rest days? Let me know!

Marie

‘Women Are Weaker Than Ever Before’: A Pilates Love Story

I was scrolling the interwebs, and came across this article. Now the article itself is underwhelming but a certain point in the article struck me profoundly.

‘Women are weaker than they have ever been‘.

I don’t know how valid that point is exactly but I do know that there might just be some truth to it. So it got me thinking, are women becoming weaker?

I’m not going to look at the data since caveman days (because if that’s the case then yes, we’re probably as weak as twigs) but we’ll just take a gander out here and see what we find. Since this is from a self-image and muscle standpoint, let’s start there.

The misconception that lifting weights makes women bulky has been debunked (or has it?). Especially during such an accessible time of instagram fame and fortune, all you have to do is put ‘fitness’ in your bio, film a video or two in the gym and you’ve got influencer status (easier said than done, I know, I know). However, this is still not the majority of women, which means that the misconception (still, sorta, kinda) stands strong.

So the question becomes, what actually stops most women from strength training? Coult it be:

a) the intimidation of a gym section filled with muscly, angry men,
b) the lack of knowledge,
c) fear of looking less feminine or
d) all of the above
As you can see, the safest bet for a woman who wants to be fit would be either a) pilates, b) yoga or c) jogging.

What’s wrong with those options? It’s still exercise!
You’re absolutely right, it is exercise. Pilates and yoga often get women the ‘toned‘ bodies they desire, couple that with a plant-based diet and chronic undereating, you’ll be skinny in no time. Please don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with low-intensity exercise. I know I kid a lot but here’s the truth. The problem doesn’t arise in the exercise itself. It arises in the perception of the exercises. Let’s break it down into ultra simplified terms:

Pilates / Yoga / Jogging = low intensity, slimming, accentuates femininity and frailness, natural, convenient
Strength and conditioning: high intensity, mass building, masculine perceptions, inconvenient, Iron and steel environment

You see, it might be a bit too simplified, but here’s the thing:

We’ve still got the notion ingrained in our heads that muscles on a woman takes away the ‘feminine touch’. Unfortunately, I’m all too familiar with that (and I’m sure a lot of other women are). Let me take you down a short trip through memory lane, it’ll be super quick, pinkie-swear). (If you don’t want to read it skip past the stars)

*******************************

During one of my mass gaining phases, I wasn’t huge by any means but I did have a bit more muscle than a 15 year old boy who just started lifting. It was enough to get attention from random strangers (and not so much in a positive way) and it was also enough to give me some sort of legitimacy in the gym. But at that time, that’s what I wanted and that’s what I trained for. However, the reactions I’d get from men wouldn’t always be positive (because of their own insecurity or because of their perceptions of femininity) either way, I decided that I wanted to be dainty and small and feminine again (and quite frankly my arms looked like a mans arms in a little black dress) so I made the switch. All I did was alter my workout to include less upper body work and over the course of a few weeks I lost size in my upper body. It was really that simple. However, the time it took to get there was over the course of years. Trust me, nothing happens overnight and, even after that, it was not permanent. IF ANYTHING, if I decide I want to it all back, I can gain it back in less time because of a little miracle called ‘muscle memory’ (we’ll cover that later on).

*******************************

Furthermore, strength training is absolutely necessary for women who want to have healthy bodies. It increases bone density, it reduces muscle loss, it allows you to eat more (all of which become uphill battles as you age). You cannot assume that strength training will get you super big overnight and, most of the time, it’s incredibly difficult to do so. Neither are the results permanent ( you know what they say, ‘If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it’) so you have to be consistent and have a long-term vision. More often than not, women become more hooked on strength training BECAUSE of how strong it makes them feel and how they’re actually starting to get their body to look similar to J-Lo’s or Megan Fox’s. It’s unreal and it can be so simple but, you must go in with an open mind and the ability to adapt when necessary. Many people don’t want to do that. But, even if one fearless person can, it’ll motivate others to do the same.

Regardless, if you’re weak or strong, there’s nothing to lose but there’s everything to gain and who wouldn’t wanna win a bet that’s in their favour?

Marie

Why Don’t We Stop Demonizing Half-Squats.

You know those videos shared on facebook where everyone is completely obliterating the guy in the video because he’s not squatting to full depth (i.e. not ass to grass or at least not parallel) because they think they know SO much more than he does? Nothing gets me more riled up than reading any of the comments under mockery videos so sit tight because this might be a (semi) rage-infested rant. Here we go.

Important things to consider:

–Uninformed people giving half-assed opinions. Now this is true for any field, however the confidence at which people spew this information is astounding. The moment anyone sees something that doesn’t fit how they think it should be done, it’s made to be a mockery. We can assume it’s simply human nature. Now, we can’t stop people from giving their opinions however, we can stop judging people who are doing things a bit differently than we are. There’s a famous quote that goes something like “Always assume the person knows something that you don’t’ by Jordan Peterson. When we do this, suddenly, we appear a lot smaller than we thought we were. We are not putting ourselves down, instead we’re opening ourselves up to learning more.

–The legitimacy of the exercise itself: Anyone who looks at the man in the video probably thinks he’s doing the exercise wrong. However, half squats are a completely legitimate exercise. Now, before you start going around doing half-squats and if you’re just starting out, you should not incorporate them into your daily workouts because of the risk of injury. However, here’s why they’re great. By doing barbell half-squats, we strengthen the power position, i.e. the position in which we can exert the maximal amount of force in the shortest period of time, which is especially useful for athletes that require a certain amount of power in their sport (e.g. runners, olympic weightlifters, basketball players, etc).

-Limited mobility: Again, if you’re just starting out, achieving proper form in an exercise is hard (at least for most people with limited mobility). But it’s what we’re supposed to do right? So does that mean we just don’t do the exercise? Not exactly. Now, it depends why your mobility or your flexibility is limited. Maybe you have tight ankles? Or maybe you have knee pain? Or tight calves? These issues have to be addressed. However, here’s where we tie it all together. When you have these issues and you try performing a squat, it’s not going to look like an amazing squat right off the bat. You might not be able to go to parallel, just yet. For many people, it does not happen overnight. However, when you’re doing an exercise, do it to the degree to which you’re capable of for the time being. But here’s the kicker, you have to carry it out with the aim of ultimately achieving proper form, you don’t have to rush it but it should be the objective above all else. Before you know it, your body will move easier and effortlessly while form will be second nature to you.

Marie

Free Workout Guide #1 (Beginner)

Did someone say ‘fREE?’. YES, I did. Today I’m going to write a workout that you can implement over a given week.

NOW, THIS IS IMPORTANT. I am not there to see if you’re doing each exercise correctly so I highly recommend you search for proper form videos online. Additionally, everyone will have different goals, will be at different levels and will have varying individual needs and preferences. This might not be as useful to someone who has been training for 5+ years and wants to take it to the next level or for someone who wants to become an elite powerlifter. That is exactly why I’m labelling each plan because I will be making this into a series (Beginner, Intermediate, Elite) (Bodyweight, Dumbbell, Barbell) (Lean Body Mass, Strength, Power)

Who will find this plan useful:
Anyone new to the gym, wants to gain muscle, ‘tone up’, lose a bit of fat, total body workout

What does it involve:
Just a pair of dumbells (make sure the weight is not too heavy or too light, you should be able to 8 proper reps)

How long will it:
35 – 40 minutes of torcher

Mobility/ Warm Up / Stretches
(You can either do your own mobility and stretching exercises or follow mine) (Also, mobility vs stretching: stretching is static, whereas mobility involves movement).

Walking Lunges 1 minute
Leg Swings 1 minute
Big Arm Circles (forward and backward rotation) 2 minutes
Neck Stretch 20 seconds
Standing Pec Stretch 20 seconds
High Knees 30 seconds
Toe touch Stretch 20 seconds

Total: approx 5 minutes

Exercises:

Alternating Dumbbell Front Raises
3 sets of 7-10 reps

Rest 30-45 seconds

Dumbell Squat to Shoulder Press
3 sets of 10-15 reps

Rest 30-45 seconds

Dumbell Romanian Deadlifts
3 sets of 10-15 reps

Rest 30-45 seconds

Dumbell Lateral Raises
3 sets of 7-10 reps

Rest 30-45 seconds

Dumbell Side Lunges
3 sets 10-12 reps each side

Total: approx 25- 30 minutes

Cool Down
Stationary bike or light walking 5 minutes
Across the body arm stretch 10 seconds
Toe touch stretch 10 seconds

Total: approx 5 minutes

Some notes:
If you find that you need more rest, take the extra seconds to recover so you can perform the all the reps correctly instead of jumping right back into it. It’s important that your heart rate is still moderate so your rest period should be less than 2 minutes. Alternatively, if you find that the workout is too easy, increase the reps to 25 or increase the weight by 5 lbs.

Furthermore, you can do the same workout 3-4 times a week, however, it’s important that if you’re doing it longer than a week, ideally, the weight should get heavier or the reps should increase or the sets should increase or all of the above. But this is just for a given week so we’re not going to overthink it. Your workouts should be getting more challenging as time progresses. If they’re not, you’re just getting better at it ( I know that sounds counter-intuitive but it’s true).

That’s all folks! Until next time.

Marie

I Can’t Find the Motivation To Workout!

Let me tell you, if I had a dollar for every time I heard someone ask ‘How do you find motivation to exercise’ I’d have approximately twenty dollars (give or take).

I understand how difficult it can be to come back from work, exhausted and drained, then going to the gym to bust your butt for an hour only to feel even more exhausted. Let’s not even consider the chores and errands that are longingly waiting for you! It’s just not realistic! Or maybe you have to wake up three hours earlier than you would have just to fit an hour of exercise in. What sane person would even want to do that? Unfortunately, some people have it easier than others but that’s not the point here. What’s important is that we’re making the best of the situation we’re in. So here’s how you find motivation: you don’t. Give me a chance to explain my madness.

You can look at all the motivational posts and videos all you want (and they even may work). You can recite words of affirmation and load up on pre-workout! That’s all okay but what happens when that wears off? Or as I like to say, where’s your back-up generator?

You can look at a picture and say you want to be like them or achieve what they’ve achieved. You can drag your butt to the gym and power through like a champ. Once you come home you’re proud of your day’s work but the thought about repeating the process tomorrow makes you sick to your stomach. How do you get over that hurdle? Is it because you’re lazy? Or are you dealing with your own set of demons that’s holding you back? Either way, the earlier you address the problem the less work you’ll have to do down the line. So let’s work through it right now.

Take a few minutes and sit down with yourself. Have a long think break and ask yourself:

What is my internal force? The one factor that makes me want to exercise? Maybe I want to lose body fat or gain muscle? Maybe I want to prove something to my family and friends? Maybe I want to do it for my partner? The thing is, none of those are internal factors. They’re all attempts to please those around you and maybe help you get closer to some idealized version of yourself. Depending on any of those motivators for your happiness will not make you satisfied. If you’re always trying to please other people you’ll never even know what it is YOU want. And once you do please them or fulfill your need for validation, the question becomes ‘Now What’? And that’s where the trouble arises because there will never be an answer to that question that doesn’t involve pleasing other people.

I’m a big advocate of self-reflection. Many people don’t have the opportunity to sit by themselves and just think. Few people let their mind wander wherever it wants to go, but that’s when you really find out the most about yourself.

So now really ask yourself, ‘Why don’t you want to exercise? Is it exhaustion or lack of energy? an Injury? You hate your workouts? You don’t want to be amongst other people? You’re self conscious/anxious or you’re afraid of being judged? You feel like it’s useless because you’re not making progress or you’ll never look like so-and-so? I could write an entire list of reasons. But do some searching. Really find out why and come back when you have the answer.

Now let’s walk through it together, ‘I’m exhausted’ could actually mean that I need to find a better time that fits in with my schedule OR I may not be fuelling my workouts properly, ‘I hate my workouts’ could mean that I need to experiment with different exercises and workouts that will help me stick to your program or it could mean that I have to find something I hate less than what I’m currently doing. It’s a process where you have to find what works for you. When you address the bumps in the road before they occur a magical thing happens: you don’t give yourself the option of not doing it. What I’ve found to be incredibly useful is when the possibility of not going to the gym isn’t even an option. It’s ‘either you go now to the gym or you go 3 seconds from now’. Doing this doesn’t even give you the option to talk yourself out of the situation.

This brings me to my next point (the one I totally left you hanging on before, remember?),

what’s your back-up generator?

Do I want to feel better about myself? Do I just want to look good naked? Do I just love using my body? Do I love the feeling I get after a workout? Do I love the process of counting every repetition and controlling my breathing? or maybe I just want to do better than I did yesterday. I think finding this out is the second most important factor since you’re really asking yourself ‘how can I carry this on for the long-term without falling off?’. That means being open to experimenting, being willing to fail and being eager to get back up and try again. Finding out what you truly enjoy and carrying through with that will make all the difference in your workouts and results.

My final message here is that, you never truly ‘find the motivation’ to work out. Very rarely. If ever. Not many people are born with the desire to be in the gym (shocking! I know). It’s something that you cultivate over a period of time. It’s when you don’t give yourself an option so it ultimately becomes second nature to you. It’s something you don’t need to think about, or in other terms, it becomes auto-regulated. Even when that initial motivation dies off and you’re left with no flame of hope, your back-up generator takes over in the blink of an eye without you ever having to deal with any of the mental stress.

Marie

Should You Change Your Diet?

Do you want to know one of life’s abysmal truths? You gotta diet to shed fat. It sucks, I know.

As nice as it would be to just take a pill and shed 10+ pounds of fat overnight it just isn’t possible (yet). Many of us want a quick fix and aren’t willing to put in the work that it takes to see sustainable results. Therefore, we decide that staying as we are is easier than making the effort to change our habits, even if we’re not as content with ourselves as we’d like to be. See, it’s easy to stay in your comfort zone where will-power and self-discipline is rarely exerted. However, you have to ask yourself if you really are the best version of yourself that you can be.

Additionally, your diet should be one that reflects your lifestyle and behaviour. If you like going out for a drink on the weekends your diet should allow you to do that (depending where you are in your fitness journey). If you don’t like eating meat you can find other sources of protein. If you find yourself snacking at night you should ask yourself if it’s actually a hindrance. There are numerous ways to find a diet that suits you but let me tell you, none of them involve a magic bullet approach. In that same vein, choose an approach that best fits with your personality and lifestyle and not just because someone else lost 20 pounds with it. This will massively help your adherence and even your progress.

When it comes down to it, fat loss is a result of burning more calories than you are consuming. There’s no special secret or quick fix.

However, here are some popular approaches to dieting:

–Intuitive eating: involves eating as much as you feel gets you satiated and stopping just before you’re full. It means being in tune with your body’s hunger signals and responding to them. However, this may not be as useful if you’re a stress-eater or emotional-eater since emotional cues can drive overeating.

–Calorie counting: which involves managing how much food you eat according to how many calories you expend on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis. However, miscalculate their calories and the amount of food they eat, making them lose confidence in their approach and progress.

–Flexible dieting/IIFYM: involves making dietary choices based on their macronutrient profiles i.e. how many carbohydrates, fats and proteins the food source contains (within the calorie budget). This is useful if you’re looking to improve your body composition since you make choices based on how they fit with your macronutrient requirements. Although it sounds like tedious work, it enables you to have flexibility with the food you eat, how much you eat and when you eat. However, some people may find it time-consuming since you are required to weigh your food and track your calories and macronutrients.

–Ketogenic diet: is one that’s primarily high in fat and protein. It can help achieve rapid weight loss results that come with immediate deprivation of carbs and water loss. However, the results can be unsustainable if calories aren’t managed adequately or the diet does not fit within a person’s lifestyle.

Remember, it’s important that, regardless of which diet you choose it’s one that you can adhere to for weeks at a time because sustainable results don’t happen overnight. You should also adjust your calories as you get closer to your goal weight. Recognize your internal motivations and consider auto-regulating certain behaviours (like eating at the same time every day, having weekly weigh-ins, at the same time during the same day of the week, etc). The goal is to assess your progress over time.

Additionally, having an accountability partner (or someone who wants to help you progress) can be a huge factor with your results. Although easily overlooked, it’s imperative that you assess your life outside of the gym. Are you dealing with work/family stress? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you feeling low in energy or just deprived all the time? Do you get really bad cravings? All of these factors affect the likelihood of you adhering to your diet and need to be accounted for (also check with your doctor if you experience these symptoms regularly).

Flexible Dieting: The Truth

On a slight tangent here, my fondness for flexible dieting comes from the fact that it looks at food from an objective lens. No food is good or bad. No food groups are excluded (always be weary of excluding entire food groups if you don’t have an allergy/intolerance). Each food item is seen in terms of how many carbohydrates, proteins and fats are provided, ultimately making up its calorie content. This enables you to budget your food so you can keep the food you like to eat while making sure you’re also getting calories from nutrient dense sources. The goal here is to keep feelings of deprivation to a minimum. Although weighing out food and tracking every calorie seems time-consuming and monotonous it doesn’t stay so for long. As you progress, it becomes easier and you don’t have to think about it nearly as much (if at all). The beauty is that, it teaches you how to manage your food so that you can manage your nutrition on a long-term basis and adjust it when (and if) you need to.

However, ask yourself this. Are you truly unhappy with your diet? Are you seeing results? If the answer is no, you need to make some changes. Be in tune with how your body responds to certain food over periods of time. Assess how you feel, how much you like the food, what do you prefer instead, etc. Make changes until you find alternatives that work for you. Remember, there are a few variables to consider, but dieting doesn’t have to be completely soul crushing, especially if you’re driven by a fiery internal motivation and a long-term goal in mind.

Marie

Eating Carbs Before Bed = More Body Fat?

Here’s a short science lesson (it’ll be quick, I promise!).

Carbohydrates = gives us energy.
Energy = gives us the ability to function.
Too much energy = stored as glucose in cells and in fat cells if not used sufficiently

Ok, now that we got that out of the way, let’s jump right into it.

Plain and simple, it doesn’t matter when you eat your carbohydrates, whether it’s before bed, after waking up, in the middle of the day. Meal timing can be important when fine tuning your results, but eating carbs before bed will not make you fat (under most circumstances).

‘BUT MARIE, eating carbs before bed means that I’ll have all this energy that won’t be used! It’ll just turn to fat!’. I mean, you’re somewhat right but let me explain. It takes more time than eight hours of sleep to turn unused energy into fat. It’ll be stored as energy until it’s used and if ultimately, it isn’t, then it’ll be stored as fat. The main point to take away here is that, consuming large amounts of carbs, fats and proteins, i.e. consuming more food than you burn off over a period of time can most definitely lead to weight gain.

So you eat your sandwich before bed. You’re not gaining weight. Great! However, Bobby eats a sandwich before bed. He notices he’s getting a bit chubby. He stops eating the sandwich before bed and instead eats a salad. He magically starts losing weight! He comes to you and says ‘Hey, you have to try this! Stop eating carbs before bed and instead eat a salad, you’ll lose weight in no time!’. You weren’t really worried about gaining weight (maybe a bit offended because you don’t know if Bobby was calling you fat) because you’ve stayed the same weight for some time now, even while eating a sandwich before bed!

Why Both Methods Work

Bobby’s cutting a substantial amount of calories by replacing the sandwich with a salad (assuming he’s not loading the salad with tons of calorie dense toppings). He could also simply be eating less throughout his day or be making more calorie conscious decisions but the one ‘hack’ that worked was, in fact, reducing carbs before bed.
Vegetables are carbs. So he’s not really replacing carbs at all he’s just reducing his carb and therefore, calorie intake.
You’ve been the same weight, even while eating a sandwich before bed because the amount of energy you exert during your day-to-day life is most likely balanced with the amount of calories you consume.

Now if we want to get into macronutrient balance for optimal results it’ll be a whole different ballpark. This would include meal timing ‘hacks’, such consuming protein and carbs after a workout to maximize muscle gain and eating carbs before a workout in order to perform to the best of your ability. Add fasting on top of that and we have a whole other layer of details to pay attention to. But for now, we’ll keep it simple.

Marie.

Are You SURE I Can’t Spot Reduce?!

Spot reduction isn’t a myth. Cosmo keeps telling me how to target ‘stubborn love handles’, so they must know something, right?

ehh- not quite.

Spot reduction is probably one of the most popular requests I see. So what exactly is it and why is it so in demand all the damn time? Put simply, spot reduction usually refers to targeting areas on your body through exercise in order to ‘tone’ or slim them. Everyone and their mother assumes that because you’re working a bodying part vigorously, it’s bound to be slimmer than the rest. Although, theoretically, that would make sense. In reality, that’s not the way our body works (However, there are some exceptions. Stay tuned till the end to find out why 😉 ) .

Additionally, you may not be interested in losing some stubborn belly fat but there’s a 100% chance that the person beside you is. Probably because 1) most people aren’t willing to put in the work to achieve the results they want 2) they’re impatient and want to see results yesterday. As you might guess, some of these people are also most susceptible to falling into fad diets, random supplement hoaxes and detoxes. Although it’s not necessarily their fault, it is a common misconception that, somehow, there must be an easier way to see results. I mean, what sane person wants to deprive themselves of delicious food? Or purposely tear their muscle fibres and go through short -term discomfort with the promise of maayyybe having a decent looking body in 3 to 8 weeks? Sounds terrible, right?

The Glory-Be of Spot Reduction

You’re sitting in a gym, looking like a hot-mess and in walks this beautiful, tall, blonde in a red, skin tight dress with long flowing hair. She whispers in your ear ‘In exactly 10 days, your stubborn fat will be gone. There’s only one thing you have to do: wrap this velcro waist band around your stomach when you workout. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. Maybe apply this tingly goop too but that’s up to you’ Would you do it? I’m guessing you probably would. The thing is, most people agree that the worst case scenario to these methods is that it just doesn’t work. However, the best case scenario would be that it does. Most of the time when companies promise you that you’ll get slimmer arms or a flatter stomach it’s usually because they think they’re bringing you value or they know that you’ll fall for it. In reality, the truth isn’t as easy or glamorous but that wouldn’t sell copies or products, now would it? I mean, it’s the tell old tale of marketing which is, publish what sells. Plus, the fitness industry is rampant with liars and schemers looking to make a quick buck. Some people swear by shortcuts but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some sort of truth to this gimmick.

The Truth

So let’s break it down. Why can’t we spot reduce? I’m not going to get into the bioscience of it (because quite frankly I’m not well versed in it) but I’ll put it in layman’s terms. Any exercise we take part in, we either obtain energy in the form of glucose from carbohydrates or we use fat cells. The kicker here, is that when our body decides to use fat cells for energy we don’t get to decide which fat cells it uses. We could be walking on an incline expecting to lose fat from our legs but our body may use fat from a completely random part of our body. It’s frustrating and soul wrenching, I know. On the other hand, it’s easy to rationalize why this may work in achieving slimmer thighs because 1) when you’re walking on an incline you are potentially gaining lean muscle tissue in your legs b) you’re losing water. That last part is super important, let me explain.

Here are two reasons why some spot reduction equipment (such as waistbands) might work. Not only do they promote sweating i.e. loss of water, feeling lighter and therefore, leaner but, they also increase circulation into the area that’s being suffocated. There were a few studies showing that increased circulation i.e. promoting heat in areas of the body that we wanted to lose stubborn fat in helped metabolize that fat. NOW I’m not telling you to go out and buy any of this equipment (in fact, I’m doing the opposite). I’m just educating you on the fact that, it will not last. Once you drink water or eat food with any molecule of water your body will return to how it was prior. These are short-term solutions not to mention the risks associated with each product are endless and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I know, it’s sooo much sexier than ‘diet and exercise yada yada yada’ so we’ll pretend that it works for the time being while doing things that are actually helping us.

Marie.

Lost Weight and Still Feeling Insecure?

‘I lost a lot of weight, almost 20 pounds, I’ve dropped down dress sizes, my friends say I look great. The only thing is, I’m still insecure about my body. I thought once I lost weight I’d be happier with my body but now I have these other insecurities that I can’t stop thinking about.’

You can only imagine what it must be like to deal with these thoughts every moment you look at yourself. In fact, you might have experienced them a few times during your lifetime. The moment you get what you want, suddenly, your mind finds a way to trick you into thinking that it’s. not. enough. It’s a torturous thing to live with. You being your own worst enemy and critic. But I only have one mission with this article: to help quiet the ‘you’re. not. enough‘ brain. Here’s how.

Throughout my life, I’ve sat at almost every weight, chubby, too skinny, skinny fat, lean and muscular, you name it. The point where I was most insecure about my body was at every point. How convenient, right? When I wanted to be skinny and I got skinny. It wasn’t enough. When I wanted to be muscular and I got muscular. I was too muscular. Do you see the problem here? As obvious as it is,

I was the problem.

No matter how much I changed I was chronically dissatisfied with my body. The client from the email also radiates a similar energy of dissatisfaction. Honestly, there’s very little I could say that would make her think differently about herself. In the same way, there was very little anyone could say to me that would have made me change my mind.

It all starts with yourself.

I know, I know, how embarrassingly cliché! But if I had thought of something more useful I would have said it. I’m here to tell you that, regardless of how much you change yourself, especially your physical appearance, there will always be something that doesn’t fit your image of perfection. Perfectionism is a sin and a blessing. It’s more of a sin when you’re the moving target. So before you take the next step, let’s sort some things out. This is important, I promise.

What’s your motivation for attaining your goals? There’s nothing wrong with being completely superficial (i.e. I need a six pack because it’s beach season). However, I need you to think to yourself for a minute, how will you feel once achieving what you want so badly? How will your life change? Just think about it for a second and let your body feel as though it’s already happened. Done? Ok good. Now that you have that feeling, describe it. Maybe it’s relief. Maybe it’s confidence. Maybe it’s strength. Or maybe you feel exactly the same, as though nothing will change once it happens. When your motivation is a feeling, the opportunities you have to achieve it are endless. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t strive to attain your physical fitness goals. However, it shouldn’t be the only thing you’re striving for. Maybe you want to be fit enough to play on an intramural team or just play with your kids at the park. This leads us to our next point.
Zoom out. What I mean by that is broaden your focus to things bigger than yourself. Forgive me for saying this but, fitness does require some level of vanity. Realizing that we should focus our energy on giving and helping others instead of feeding our own insecurities and our ego will put things into a much bigger and better perspective.
Zap the negativity. It’s like the plague. Once it seeps into your mind, getting it out is a losing battle. It’s easier to replace a negative thought than to eliminate one. So let’s start with self-talk. Instead of ‘I hate how my thighs look in these jeans’ simply stop yourself before you can even finish the sentence. I’m talking hit. the. brakes. hard. Immediately replace it with:
a) gratitude ‘I’m thankful I even have these goddamn thunder thighs’
b) positivity ‘my thighs have come a long way from where I used to be.’
That’s it. It doesn’t matter if it’s not obscenely positive, it just cannot be negative.
Lastly, this one might be a bit difficult to control but, surround yourself with people who believe in you. I know, you can’t constantly cut toxic people out of your life but sometimes it’s necessary, especially if they’re one of the sources of your self-doubt and dissatisfaction. It’s important that you tune out any negative external cues that prevent you from achieving the things you want to. Remember, you don’t owe an explanation to anyone, especially if it makes you happy.

So go forth young grasshopper and blossom.

Marie.