John Lark

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

Tags: dublin personal trainer, Fat Loss, John Lark, personal trainer, personal trainer in dublin city centre, personal training in dublin, weight loss

This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Feature Article. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.