Mark Tipping's Fat Loss & Fitness Blog

The S.T.A.G experiment

Well apparently there is some kind of sporting event going on at the moment that means that Supermarkets will sell loads of beer and every English man turns into Jamie Oliver the minute you put a Barbeque in front of him.

But as exciting as that is I have been conducting my own special experiment.

Firstly to set the scene, as a Personal Trainer and someone brave enough to call themselves a Fat Loss Expert I find a trip to the supermarket often ends up in my trolley being scrutinised by other shoppers. They circle like vultures hoping to catch a glimpse of a “weight watchers” yoghurt or some chocolate hob knobs tucked in my trolley under the Spinach and Avocados!

I have changed my own nutritional habbits a lot lately and very rarely drink alcohol so when I was invited to go away to Ibiza on an old school friends Stag week I had a dilemma…..

Do I try and be good? Do I drink clean alkali water, hunt out a restaurant that serves real food?

Or

Do I think “Lets Party Like a Rock Star!” ?

Well as myself and some of the other sensible Dad’s were only doing 3 nights on the White Island, I though lets do this, how much damage can it do? So I decide to monitor it.

Check out the Chins, the last night of 3 days boozing!

So this is the S.T.A.G experiment whch is short for “Scientific Testing on Alcohol Guzzling”

Im going to spare you the details of quite what went on in Ibiza but its safe to say that there was plenty of San Miguel polished off and that the locals clearly think that in England we just eat chips and beans, beans and chips, chips and chips and if we are feeling flash egg, chips and beans!

So I had 3 days of poor nutrition and excess alcohol, I felt tire lethargic and bloated, could see the double chin growing before my eyes (see pic) but I was still gob smacked to get back on the scales on Thursday night to find I had gained a whopping 9lbs.

Was it Fat? Do you know how many calories in theory it takes to add 9lbs of fat?

By my calculations 31,500 excess calories – thats 10,500 excess calories for every day I was there, I certainly didn’t eat that much!

Ironically I had forwarded an email from Paul Mort my Business Mentor and the UK’s Leading Fat Loss Expert to all my Clients just days before going. (excert below)

1. Booze is a toxin. In order to reduce the circulation of toxins in the body, they’re sent to the fat store oh and those toxins can make your skin look crap too

2. Booze is a liquid sugar that causes HUGE insulin spikes. Excess insulin is stored as fat around the love handles usually. Poor insulin management can lead to diabetes and polycystic ovaries.

3. Your body literally CAN NOT burn fat for up to 3 days after you have a ‘lash up’

4. Testosterone (mega important for fat loss) is also decreased significantly after only a couple of drinks

5. Those man boobs that are become so ‘popular’ in the UK these days. The hops in larger is VERY closely linked to this phenomenon we like to call bitch tits.

6. You probably know this but booze causes CHRONIC dehydration. if you’re even SLIGHTLY dehydrated your body will refuse to give up any fat at all.

7. What do you usually eat the day after you’ve been on a bit of a bender? Yup, if you’re anything like me, absolute junk food.

Thanks Paul!

So there you have it, 9lbs of excess toxic water and extra lard from a 3 day bender in Ibiza.

Why am I telling you this?

Well one reason is to prove that as trainers we are human, I probably know more trainers that struggle with their weight than trainers that can eat what they want and stay lean.

But my main reason is that I know some of the guys I was away with do that every weekend and if they are doing it you could be!

So if you are trying to get lean for Summer Holidays or for a Wedding or whatever your reasons a good place to start will be by ditching the booze.

Watch this space for details of how long it takes me to get back to pre STAG experiment weight!

thanks

Mark

Mark Tipping

Fat Loss and Fitness Expert

www.bodyfixfitness.co.uk

Are you an action taker or an excuse maker?

It seems to me that there are two types of people when it comes to achieving fitness and fat loss goals.

There are Action takers and excuse makers, which are you?

To give you an example, one of my personal training clients, Sarah who you may have seen on my promotional material is an “Action Taker”.

When I met Sarah she had a lower back problem and had been seeing the chiropractor, she commutes every day from Cawood to Bradford (about an hours trip each way) works long hours and has a stressful job, it would be easy for her to be an “excuse maker” but no she decided that she wanted to achieve and has now lost 3 stone since she started training with me through dedication, hard work and of course my excellent training systems 😉 .

My second example…..

Jan, another of my clients had a thyroid problem and has spent the last 2 months semi mobile after having a knee operation, it would be easy for her to become an “Excuse maker” and decide to “start again” after her knee has healed but with no persuasion from me within a week of surgery she was back training (at a sensible level). Jan is also in my high achievers group and has lost over 3 stone since starting to train with me.

My last example (though I could list lots more) is Vicky.

Vicky had major back surgery but despite that has attended every boot camp I have run at North Duffield. She was understandably cautious about her back but she didnt sit around feeling sorry for herself and become an “excuse maker” she has achieved a massive inch loss from all over her body and dropped 2 clothes sizes and her fitness levels have gone through the roof and even helped reduce the symptoms of her asthma.

It’s no coincidence that Sarah, Jan and Vicky have achieved great things by being “Action takers”.

On the other hand every week I field call after call from “Excuse Makers” and let me tell you there are lots about.

Just today I had a phone call that went like this……..

Caller: Hi , I saw your advert in the Selby Direct about Boot Camp, it sounds really good and do you really guarantee I will drop a clothes size in a month? Where is it and what time does it start?

Me: Yes I guarantee if you follow my nutrition system and attend all sessions you WILL drop a clothes size by the end of Camp. Sessions are 6.30am-7.15am 3 times per week.

Caller: OOOOhhh 6.30am!!!!!! I can’t get out of bed that early!

The conversation did continue, I reminded her about the benefits ….. but not for long!

Ok, some people aren’t great in the morning but I had just guaranteed she would drop a clothes size or I would give her 100% of her money back and yet she still found an excuse not to do it!

Unfortunately these kind of people will NEVER achieve what they want unless they switch from “excuse maker” to “action taker”.

You see some people ALWAYS have an excuse, “I will do it when I get more time, I will start next month, Ive got a minor injury so can’t do it, its too far away” you get the picture.

So what is the point to my ramblings today?

Well firstly to all those “Action takers” out there give yourselves a big pat on the back, you have taken control of your goals and will have either achieved or be well on your way to achieving everything you want.

And the “Excuse makers”……

It’s not too late! You can achieve ANYTHING you want but you need to take action, not next month, not next week but NOW! Make a commitment, I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Make that decision NOW!

Mark

Mark Tipping is Selby and Goole’s leading Personal Trainer, the only trainer in the area to offer a Money back guaranteed service, specialising in Fat Loss and health improvement training.

Visit www.bodyfixfitness.co.uk for more info on how to work with Mark or his team.

All Calories were not created equal!

A fair few years ago now when I completed my first nutritional qualification I left it feeling pretty happy that I understood all about how weight loss worked, I knew about Carbs, proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals and the “balance of good health”.

It seemed simple, expend more calories than you consume and you will lose weight. Right?

Errrr……. wrong!

Let’s have a closer look at this….

One thing that always troubled me was how could 100 calories of Tuna and 100 calories of Chocolate Muffin be the same in the weight loss equation? It sounds obvious that they wouldn’t be!

Fast forward 7 years and I spent several nights in January shouting at the TV whilst a Channel 4 program put a group of women on a 1200 calorie per day diet in an attempt to drop a dress size in 2 weeks. They even set up a shop splitting the portion sizes down into 100 calorie chunks, it highlighted this perception error again when you watched some of the women opt for a small chunk of chocolate over some folic acid providing vegetables – that couldn’t be right could it?

Of course not!

So moving on to another of my pet hates…. slimming clubs. Whilst not claiming to be an expert in how they work and never having attended one I would imagine that their points systems have been devised using some form of calorific equation, whilst I have seen the success stories and don’t doubt it works for some people I have worked with several Personal Training clients that have gone down this route only to put the original weight and more back on twice as fast as they lost it.

Effective fat loss is much more complicated than that. You see over the last few years I have been doing heaps of extra reading, looking over research papers, attending seminars and listening to theories from other Personal Trainers.

To find the answer to this it seems that we should look towards our hormones.

Lets start with insulin. Insulin is a storage hormone, too much and we will store sugar as body fat. So if your diet consists of a series of high sugar intakes across the day you will be continually raising insulin levels making you far more likely to store fat. Makes sense huh?

Ok so moving on to testosterone, this is the word that strikes fear into my female clients, they think that they will end up with a jaw like mine and grow a beard! Not going to happen, men have 10 times the testosterone levels of women.

Not only is testosterone important for our sex  drive it’s also vital for fat loss. Testosterone will help us keep our muscles  strong and as  muscle tissue burns calories (our metabolism) it’s important to ensure our muscles keep actively burning calories all day long. Also guys if you struggle with the dreaded “moobs” testosterone can help combat them. And ladies to shift that butt and thigh fat guess what you need…. yep it’s usually testosterone.

Going on a low fat diet can actually lead to a drop in testosterone, we need some fat in our daily diet!

So moving on to Cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone, it breaks down muscle and uses it for energy.

Interestingly despite the old myth that you lose weight when you are stressed, Cortisol levels directly relate to stomach fat storage. The higher your cortisol levels the more stomach fat you will store.

I have just finished reading a great book called “The Cortisol Connection” which confirmed some of my beliefs.

Too much aerobic exercise has been proven to raise cortisol levels significantly, when I first started out and worked in gyms I often wondered how come some of the people that came in day in day out could hammer away on the treadmill claiming to have “melted 1000 calories” never got any slimmer after weeks and months of training, now we know!

And finally, last but certainly not least Estrogen.

The source of lots of our ‘stubborn’ fat is the female hormone estrogen.
.
We all make estrogen, even men can create it but it’s what happens to it once it’s been produced that matters.

Whilst the liver tries to detoxify estrogen to eliminate it from the body it sends it via the bloodstream to the local fat stores – in the case of females, this is in the lower body and for you guys it tends to be the chest (moobs).

Why do women suffer more?
Basically females, as well as producing there own estrogen also have a greater number of so called alpha-2 receptors in there lower bodies than men do (men’s ‘stubborn’ area tends to be lower abdominals)

Alpha-2 receptors basically block or inhibit fat from being taken from the fat cell and being used as energy- hence the ‘stubborn fat’ phenomenon.

To combat this both sexes need to increase testosterone production and detoxify estrogen levels, this can be done nutritionally.

So in summary – don’t fall into the calorie trap!

Mark Tipping is an Advanced Personal Trainer specialising in Exercise and Nutrition for safe and effective fat loss. He is one of the few trainers in North Yorkshire that can boast a money back guarantee on his services and regularly features in the Selby Times. For more information visit http://www.bodyfixfitness.co.uk

Want to be healthier, store less fat and enhance your mood?

Hi Everyone

I wanted to get straight to the point today…. the Fitness and weight loss industry is riddled with crap information!

January is a really frustrating time for me, TV is littered with diet programs with calorie restricted diets, Cereal brands claiming that their cereal is a health food and that its safe to only eat that for 2 meals (you know the one!) and the internet is strewn with pills and potions that will let you lose the famous Peter Kay quote “15 stone in a day!”.

So if I told you about something that could help you reduce fat storage, improve mood , help with asthma, eczema, arthritis and help with heart disease it would be to good to be true …right?

Wrong!

So what is this wonder supplement…. Omega 3s!

Or to be more precise Omega 3 fish oils.

Research has shown that in many different areas increasing our consumption of Omega 3 fish oils can provide massive health benefits.

The main reason for this is 2 Omega 3 Fatty Acids called EPA and DHA. Unfortunately our bodies can only make these in very small amounts so we have to get most of our requirements from our diet.

However the only major dietary source of EPA and DHA in our diet is from oily fish such as sardines and mackerel,  government stats have allready shown that only 25% of us EVER eat oily fish let alone enough to meet our daily requirements.

EPA & DHA for Fat loss

Good quality Omeg 3 fish oil may turn off the lipogenic genes (fat storage genes) and turn on the lipolytic genes (Fat utilization genes) it can also reduce carb cravings and decrease alcohol cravings.

Arthritis

Fish oil in sufficient doses is a great natural anti-inflammatory and therefore great for sufferers of rheumatoid and osteo arthritis.

Asthma and Eczema

As both Asthma and Eczema are allergic diseases that prompt an inflammatory reaction Omega 3s anti-inflammatory properties become relevant again. A study in 1997 showed measurable improvement in asthama symptoms in 40% of the test group after just 4 weeks.

Mood and behaviour

There is substantial evidence that EPA and DHA play a major role in the regulation of mood and mental alertness. These fatty acids are major components of the brains structural integrity and neural tissues.

One concern that clients often raise with me is the danger of fish oils containing toxins. In most good quality fish oils the pollutants have been filtered out and they are therefore often less contaminated than the original fish.

The fish oils I reccomend ar available from http://www.alimentnutrition.co.uk the actual oil is more cost effective but the capsule more convenient. When it comes to fish oils don’t go for the cheap high street version, you get what you pay for. Be sure to mention my name if you place an order with them.

Any queries as always drop me a line!

Mark Tipping Dip PT

www.bodyfixfitness.co.uk