hunger – Yusuf Paterson

How not to lose fat

We are all guilty of over indulging during the festive period and come January, people are desperate and looking for that quick fix to drop those extra lbs.

You may have gone over your calories between Christmas and New Year but what is important now is to look at the amount of calories you eat between now and next Christmas.

And I’m sorry to say it but there is no quick fix, no matter how many times you see it on Instagram! Some of the magic pills you might come across include;

Going “Keto”, “paleo” or low carb – I don’t care how many times you tell me, you won’t be able to avoid carbs for the rest of your life!
Removing another entire macronutrient (i.e. fat) or food group (all animal products/meat/dairy etc…) from your diet
Skinny tea – Honestly?
Replacement meal shakes – Eat real food. Eating in a calorie deficit is likely to make you hungry enough. Don’t surrender those precious calories to liquids.
The 5/2 diet – also known as intermittent fasting, is effectively starving yourself for 2 days a week, every week!
Fasted cardio – not at all necessary. Not in the slightest! Sure you can do it if you really want to, but it doesn’t burn any more calories than the same amount of time on the treadmill after eating. In fact, eating before your cardio probably means you’ll perform better and hence burn more calories.
No alcohol/no sugar– wow, how long can you keep this up?

While all of these approaches may help you to lower your calorie intake and may even be positive changes to your lifestyle, you have to ask yourself, can you stick to it for life?

Learning about food and the way it can affect you can help you to understand what works for you and how to make it fit your lifestyle which is key if you want it to be sustainable. And this is exactly what you can learn on Principal Nutrition. Over the 8 weeks, we can educate you giving you the information you need to develop a positive relationship with food and empower you to make good decisions to help you achieve your goals. We can help steer you through the maze that is fat loss while making the experience as enjoyable and effortless as possible.

Whatever your goals are for 2019, let me help!

The next course starts on 30^th January. If you want more information or to sign up, you can contact me directly or sign up on the list at CrossFit Nottingham (non-CFN members also welcome).

Big love and I look forward to seeing you soon!

Yus x

Give a man a fish…

Most of you that know me will understand that I believe in using training and nutrition as the basis of a good life. Having spent 10 years helping clients on a one-to-one basis I recently created Principal Nutrition – a small group based nutrition education programme.

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to create my own course with the help of some amazing people around me and it is something I am extremely proud of. I was lucky to get the opportunity to study for a Master’s degree (MSc – Exercise and Sport Physiology) and it would be very easy for me to use that title put together a course, start an “8-week weight loss programme” by following a standardised protocol and be done.

Now there’s nothing wrong with that and I don’t dispute that it works for some people, some of the time. However that is exactly what I did not want to do. I want to educate people not only on nutrition but other factors that contribute to health and wellbeing. This industry is full of contradictory claims of what is good and what is bad and I want people to have the knowledge to make an informed judgement of what they see and hear about nutrition.

What’s in a name?

I choose the name Principal Nutrition because nutrition is the most important factor to health and wellbeing. When developing this course there were three key things I wanted to make sure of;

Keep it simple
Base the nutrition advice on science
Educate people to give them the tools and knowledge to help themselves.

Anyone can mindlessly stick to a rigid plan and hope that it works for them. Great for 8 weeks but what about after that? When it’s over and “real-life” kicks in? Its highly likely you will go back to your old routines and this is what this industry is built on…people going round and round the same old system. I want more for my clients and more for you.

When you have a better understanding of food you will then realise the line between good and bad is very blurred and it’s what works for you and knowing how to imply that to you, making it sustainable which is the key.

Can you stick to it for life?

Having just completed a Principal Nutrition programme, my class achieved their goals and lost weight and body fat. This is awesome, but to me, what was even better was handing out their certificates for the knowledge they acquired and knowing that they now have an understanding. They know what to do for themselves for the next year in order to stay on track. They know what to do for a lifetime.

A lot of them now enjoy a variety of foods (mostly because there now not scared to eat them!) and better understand the role of hormones, brain chemistry and supplements to name a few.

What I’m most proud of is seeing, is the passion I have instilled in every one of them, hearing them talk about nutrition and their lifestyle. That is what this course is about, learning and using that knowledge to better your own health and wellbeing as well as those around you.

A fit brain makes a fit body

I have been in the fitness industry for a while and as a coach and PT, I am always asked the same question worded slightly differently… “Yusuf, how do I get bigger, stronger & leaner?” “What foods do you eat?” and “How should I train?”.

These are good questions but let’s face it, everyone is hoping for a quick answer or secret squirrel tip. However, unfortunately it’s not that simple and it takes sacrifice. Quite often the conversation with clients and players ends up about what’s between the ears. Previously, we’ve discussed motivation and the psychology of training but there is also the physiology of the brain and how this affects performance, mood and happiness.

The brain is, by far, the most complex structure in the world and there is still a lot to learn but from what we know so far, if your brain chemistry is out of kilter then so are you (emotionally and physically). It can affect your personality traits, your energy and even your body composition (not cool!).

All this brain chemistry stuff is wildly complex but there are four chemicals (called neurotransmitters) which are really important for normal function, these are; dopamine, serotonin, GABA and acetylcholine. Each of which affects us in different ways;

Dopamine

Dopamine allows us to stay focused, energised and motivated. Too little can see us having low energy poor focus and find it very difficult to stick to a schedule. Individuals with too little will often use food and drinks as stimulants.

Having too much is also a problem as this can cause you to become overly focused to the point of compulsion.

Having unbalanced dopamine usually causes cravings and emotional swings with an increasing need for things like sugar, coffee and chocolate.

Serotonin

This is often called the ‘happy hormone’. This chemical impacts on how we feel about ourselves in the world and people with high serotonin wake up look into the mirror and like what they see.

Low serotonin is on the flip side, shown to contribute to low self-esteem, insomnia and depression, this often manifests itself through cravings of starchy and salty foods i.e. chips, pizza etc. These people often feel unsatisfied if starch is not part of the meal, and struggle more than others if they attempt a low carbohydrate diet.

GABA

This hormone in our central nervous system gives us the ability to shut down and relax.

Those with low GABA suffer have been shown to suffer from anxiety and may frequently seek out starchy foods. However, they are really content eating anything as long as there is a lot to fill them up. These are what often get referred to as ‘emotional eaters’.

Acetylcholine

Acetylcholine is mainly involved in the processing speed of the brain and manifests itself in the ability to recall events, numbers and names, quickly solve problems and resist brain fatigue.

Those with low acetylcholine function will frequently forget numbers, be unable to recall a name despite knowing a face, and may often forget where they left their keys or wallet. Individuals will often crave fat since fat is a rich source of choline, one of the building blocks of acetylcholine.

A craving for fried foods, hamburgers and pizza, as well as a love of creamy desserts like cheesecake and ice cream, may be a sign of low acetylcholine.

These chemicals go and up down in our system everyday but the important take away is BALANCE! Balance your diet, balance your hormones and try to reduce the peaks and troughs throughout the day and this should go a long way to reducing the imbalances in our NTs we all encounter from time to time.

What ways are there to balance these, improve your general wellbeing and even boost performance..?

Well, remember how we started and I said people want a shortcut to looking good and being fit? We should know by now that there are no shortcuts and there certainly isn’t any shortcuts to improving your brain physiology either. Like anything, it requires effort and consistency.

Three key things to stay on top of for balancing hormones and your brain chemistry are;

Sleep – When it comes to sleep, less isn’t more. More is more. Get yourself in dark room and put the phone away for 8 hours. If you don’t have kids or work a night shift job there is no excuse or no bigger bang for your buck in terms of improving your life. Sleep is where the body resets and has a chance to re-balance the biochemistry you’ve been messing with all day drinking coffee and eating sugar! Also, check out the awesome book called “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker. This is an area I am still working on myself.

Manage stress – Easier said than done, I know. But have a way of consistently deloading your stress, whether it’s swimming, yoga, meditation or a good arm blast in the gym. This will help reduce stress and balance hormone levels. It will also help you sleep better and re-inforce the other areas of your life.

A balanced, nutrient dense diet – Come on, do we really have to talk about this….? Put the energy drink down and grab an apple!

The choices you make in your nutrition and lifestyle will drive your body to respond one way or the other, so if you want to stay in a hormonal state more conducive to greater strength and muscle mass gain then you need to strike a balance.

Learn to manage your brain chemistry early on and you will also enjoy a healthier, happier and longer life overall. What’s not to love about that??

Big love!

Is the juice worth the squeeze?

Dieting is tough, there’s no question.

Being hungry, potentially training with less energy, having to forego social outings (including alcohol!) and even avoiding your favourite foods for fear of blowing your diet can be tough to take.

I don’t know a single person that wouldn’t choose to get lean without having to restrict their calories or to be able to do so whilst eating untracked quantities of pizza and pasta, drinking beers and offering a big, resounding YES to any and all social events.

The reality is, EVERY diet is going to involve at least some form of sacrifice.

The reason why its all so hard? You are forcing your body to burn fat, changing the homeostasis and driving a new change. CHANGE. A wise man once said “to get something you’ve never had before, you’re going to have to do something you’ve never done before”.

If you’re wanting to simply look a little better on the beach & improve your day-to-day fitness levels, chances are you can probably get used to saying no to that third beer, or avoiding dessert every once in a while. But if you’re wanting to see significant changes (like veins popping out of your abs or striations in every muscle) and make the majority of people react with admirable looks any time you train, chances are those sacrifices are going to be a touch more serious.

So with that in mind, ask yourself one simple question –

Is the juice, is worth the squeeze?

Is the effort you’re putting in and the lengths you’re going to, worth the ‘reward’ you’re chasing? Is it ever ‘enough’? Is having a set of abs that more closely resemble a roadmap, really worth not being able to enjoy a meal out with friends, avoiding alcohol. Because chances are, that level of effort is going to require a fairly extreme approach in order to achieve and more importantly, maintain.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s impossible to get lean without incorporating a flexible diet and lifestyle, but typically to get those sorts of extreme results, flexibility ultimately isn’t really an option at that level of body fat/ calorie intake. It takes effort and huge amounts of motivation for a really long time. Most people I know when they achieve extreme results tell me that reaching their goal wasn’t even half of it, its what they learnt about themselves on the way. As a coach and trainer its important I help people understand that change is proportional to effort.

So, is it worth it for you?