John Lark

When you think about it – it is the most obvious and logical step to take when one embarks on any fat loss programme.

Drink more water.

Everyone harks on about it. And to all of us it is common sense that doesn’t need a genius to figure out.

We are 70 per cent water. At 4 – 5 % below optimal fluid intake, you could experience a 20 – 30% decline in cognitive function or encounter episodes of ‘brain fog’.

The decline in blood volume that occurs with even slight dehydration impedes the transport of oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, which drains energy hence your afternoon slump.

Even your bones are 25 per cent water.

The muscles that drive your performance are 75% water.

The brain that steers your limbs is 76% water.

The blood that carries your nutrients is 82% water.

The lungs that provide your oxygen are nearly 90% water.

So before you even worry about your calorific intake, how much protein you are consuming and even your fruit and veggie intake you need to drink up.

It is the most potent fat loss trick that you can deploy immediately. Why? Your body thrives on water. Can you imagine your car running without oil?

Your fat cells are particularly active if they are hydrated and bathing in a sea of good quality water. If they aren’t then trying to get the fat out of their comfy havens within your hips is hard work.
Unfortunately, a lot of what we drink is anti-water too. Fruit juices with their high sugar content force us to use up our vital water resources. Coffee, tea and sodas also send us in to a state of chronic dehydration.

As a guide we should be drinking good quality clean filtered water. I strongly recommend getting a reverse osmosis filter fitted.

A sharp rise in the number of men requesting breast- reduction operations is being blamed by surgeons on the effects of excess female hormones in tap water and food reported The Sunday Times in July 2005.  So, yes the quality of your water is important.

1 litre for every 18kg of body weight (which seems a lot) can be managed if you chunk it down into steps. Begin with two litres a day and a plan. Have a large glass before leaving the house in the morning. 500 ml between meals and sip at a night. Drop some freshly squeezed lemon juice into the mix.

You will develop a tolerance to this. When you do, crank the volume up.

Focusing on your water intake will take a few baby steps but like all journeys they begin with a single step.

People look at me with a blank stare when I point out that the first most blockbusting fat loss strategy we will put into action is to drink up.

Why?

Are we so used to the next magic bullet when all along it is staring us right in the face?

Are we so used to instant gratification that to actually work at something as basic as drinking water is a turn off?

That’s ok – stay fat Because you deserve to be.

If you have struggled with your weight for years do not expect miracles to happen in 3 weeks. You have to be prepared to work and give yourself a fair chance at this.

So use the 80-20 rule when it comes to fat loss. 80 per cent of your results will come from 20 per cent of your efforts. Stick to the nutritional strategies that will yield the most results.

That is why drinking your water is the first step. What is the most abundant nutrient in the whole body? Water. What do all of our body cells need in abundance? Water and Oxygen. What do you think will accelerate your fat loss efforts with the least effort?  Drinking more water.

You should forget about chopping your portions and finding your next magic bullet until you try a good old-fashioned glass of nature’s finest.

John Lark is a personal trainer in dublin

There was a time when breakfast used to be the time when most of the family were together.
Papa Smurf popped off to work after reading the paper, Mamma Smurf cooked up the eggs and cereals, whilst the kids lamented over their day at school.

Fast-forward 50 years.

Most people are on their way to work before the sun rises. Kids are hurried off one arm in jumper with the other grabbing a bit of toast. Mum in the meantime is grabbing a bit of lippy and providing a gentle but firm kick up the backside to get out of the door.

Yet we all know and rightly so – breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Skipping it altogether will tee you up nicely for fat gain. Particularly around the mid-rift. Through years of looking at eating habits and body fat distribution patterns I can firmly say that whose who skip breakfast consistently end up looking like a pear.

In same light using a cereal box as your method of starting the day has also had a large part to play in keeping people erring towards the muffin top shape.

Most of us are familiar with the food pyramid?

Well try the reverse food pyramid in the sense that make your breakfast the largest meal of the day and taper off your calorific intake as the day progresses.

Assuming that we all know that 5-6 ‘feedings’ are better than 3 ‘fill-your-boots- type’ meals then your calorific intake at each meal would look like this if you were shooting for 1500 kcal a day:

Breakfast – 400 kcal, Meal 2 – 200 kcal, Meal 3 – 300 kcal Meal 4 – 200 kcal Meal 5 – 200 Meal 6 – 200 kcal

Better blood sugar management, leaner physique, no hunger, better moods, more food to eat (!!) and so on. What is there not to like about this?

You see instead of perpetuating a cycle of sugar cravings by leaving gaps between meals (longer than 2-3 hours) we are actually feeding our bodies regularly.

So what’s the big deal with breakfast?

What you eat first in the day will determine your hormonal and energy levels. Try this practical experiment. For the next five days try meat, salad and nuts breakfast.  Think of it as having dinner for breakfast.

See how your energy levels are for the rest of day. Then go back to your cereal based breakfast and compare.

I will guarantee more energy and certainly less sugar cravings. It is unsurprising that your dopamine levels will increase providing you with extra ‘get-up-and-go’ to face the day.

Some other options for breakfast can be leftover dinner, homemade patties with a side salad or chicken breast with salsa or Guacamole.

Typical comments I have received in the past are ‘I felt like gagging’ and ‘where am I going to find the time?’

All I can say to this is – ‘try it, you won’t be disappointed’

So what then do you have for dinner? Try something light like a salad with cold meats or a Vegetable Omelette.

In fact Eggs are quick and easy to knock up alongside the fact that they are rich in choline, a nutrient geared towards optimal brain health. Not a bad food to have on your side if you are in the middle of a feeding frenzy at the zoo.

Most of my female clients have settled into the swing of cooking up their breakfast whilst knocking up dinners.

For the males this is a bit tougher. For most of them, reading the instructions on a Pot Noodle is as far as it goes.

Although one athlete I used to room with at college was caught emptying the contents of one a pot noodle into a saucepan before transferring it back into the pot to eat.

This is the same guy who assembled a flat pack bed downstairs.

So can you see how important your nutrition is to your brain health?

Start your day with a power breakfast, not some dehydrated excuses of fruit with an empty cereal. Prepare your food the night before whilst you cook your dinner. At worst have left-overs. Your brain, waist line and energy levels will thank you with open arms.

John Lark is a personal trainer and fat loss specialist combining nutrition, training and supplementation for tailored results. Download his free report at www.john-lark.com or call 01-5052131 for more information.

Now far from me to sound all doom and gloom, but at the end of the day there could be one or two or even five things that are seriously scuppering your weight loss plans.

Some are more obvious than others. Some are habits that are formed overtime. Some good old-fashioned tricks of the trade.

If you know yourself that sinking half a packet of biscuits before bed-time is probably not the best way to go about losing fat then this is not for you.

Instead keep on burying your head in the sand and I will see you soon outside the Diabetic clinic.
In most cases it is not your fault. Clever marketing leaves a constant scratching of heads and confused looks.

What about kid’s foods?

We all fall prey to the bastardising of the word ‘organic’.

Organic sugar is still ‘sugar’. Organic inverted sugar syrup is still a sticky alien substance that the body just does not know how to deal with.

But in some cases the time has come to line up a take a swift size 12 up the back side and realise that – yes – it is all about how you and your health function.

Just imagine your moods, focus, drive and determination if you functioned at optimal health. That is your right and unlike the markets you have full control over it!

One of the biggest weight loss killers is consumption of sugar and foods that behave like sugar.

When I review a client’s food diary, it is obvious that sugar is a huge problem and most of the time they don’t even realise it!

So ditch the sugar!

Another is leaving huge gaps between meals. To eat yourself skinny you need to eat regularly – every 2-3 hours ideally.

You may get up at 7.30 throw a bowel of cereal into you and then put the head down until 1pm. That is almost a full day before eating again!!

In the meantime the hormones responsible for shifting body fat have switch off and gone into storage mode. Your metabolism has turned into a rowing boat rather than a speed boat!

Shoot for 6 feedings a day instead. That means instead of breakfast, lunch and dinner think meal 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Seems a lot doesn’t it?

The best way to think of it is ‘Have you ever seen a fat cow?’ (Vikki Pollard springs to mind). Cows are perpetual grazers.

So if you need 1800 calories to lose weight then divide this by 6 rather than 3. That equates to 300 kcal per meal rather than 600. Just for example it is 10am and I am looking forward to meal 3 already. It helps when you get up at 6am!

One of the biggest and most underrated killers of programmes is a lack of accountability and support.

How many times have you slipped on the mat and accidentally fallen on a packet of Rich Tea that found themselves in your mouth?

Having a supportive wife, friend, online coaching group, health club will keep you on the straight and narrow. Ensure that in some way or another you can measure your progress.

Ideally a trained physiologist will be able to measure your body composition and tell you how much of your weight loss is fat loss and muscle gain.

Which leads us onto training and exercise.

One of my favourite sayings is ‘constancy of purpose’ which roughly translates to ‘dog with a bone’.

You have got to stick at something with purpose. For those of you looking to lose fat then stick a deadline on it and go for it!!

Train with purpose – don’t let anything get in the way and that includes a) nights out with friends – go out but get your training in first b) hangovers – your fault, get to the gym c) not having the right foods – get shopping now and don’t let it happen again!

At the end of the day you have EXACTLY the same 24 hours as everyone else. If you want to live longer by dropping the inches from your waist then do something about it.

It is a simple choice sometimes – dragging your derriere from the couch and cranking out a simple bodyweight circuit or watching numbing TV?

If you want it enough you will move heaven and earth to do it.

John Lark is a personal trainer in Dublin, Ireland. Locate him at his training centre The Sphere Fitness Studio
www.spherefitnessstudio.com or at 01-5052131