Sweating the small stuff

In recent times, I have seen and received a lot of questions about the little details. Examples are:
“Do I need to have my metabolic rate tested?”
”Should I do squats or deadlifts?”
“What brand should I use for my workout shake?”
”Should I do 20 minutes or 30 minutes of cardio?”
..or the best one…
“What fat burner do you recommend?”

These questions generally reflect a lack of focus on the important things, and my answer to 99% of people is “It doesn’t matter!” Unless you have the rest of your nutrition, exercise, supplement, rest and recovery regime at 90+ percent, there is NO point in worrying about whether you should use the protein shake with 78g protein and 4g fat or the one with 76g protein and 6g fat. Similarly, if you are eating Mars bars 3 times a week because you ‘don’t have time to prepare food’, getting your metabolic rate tested to see how many calories you require is a total waste of time! If you are thinking of starting training, or even if you train currently, ask the following questions in this order:

• Am I training often enough?
- If yes, move on to the next question, if no, remedy the situation

• Is my diet good 90% or more of the time?
- If yes, move on to the next question, if no, remedy the situation

• Am I taking all the basic recommended supplements? (multivitamin, fish oil, whey protein)
- If yes, move on to the next question, if no, remedy the situation

• Am I getting enough rest?
- If yes, move on to the next question, if no, remedy the situation

• Am I moving towards my goals?
- If yes, carry on doing what you’re doing, if no, THEN think about the small details!
This process should keep you on track to achieving your goals without getting distracted by the little details.

My diet isn't working!

Have you ever heard someone say something like that?

- "Oh, I'm on Atkins, but it's not working"

Ever asked the question -

- "Really? What are you eating?"

The fact is - most diets work. Some work better than others, but if you eat calories than you expend, you will generally lose weight. However, it's dependent on eating less than you expend!

Now, if your diet says 'Eat chicken and brown rice 6 times a day, every 3 hours' (and some bodybuilders will do this!), and you eat chicken and brown rice 4 times, chicken and white rice once and a hamburger and fries once, you're not on the diet! In fact, you have a 60% compliance ratio. If someone said to you,
"I don't understand, I've been driving in the right direction for 60% of the time, I don't understand why I haven't got where I am meant
to be going!" what would you say? Would it be along the lines of, "Of course you haven't got there, you're not following the map!"? Now think about the diet example above. Is the map wrong if you don't get where you wanted? Or is the blame laid squarely at the feet of the driver who
chooses not to follow it?

So next time you think, "why is my diet not working?", first look at the nutrition plan to see if the principles are sound (note: I recommend Precision Nutrition, see http://www.precisionnutrition.com/system.html for more details). If the principles of the nutrition plan are sound, the next step is to ask, "Am I following the plan?". If the answer to this is "No", or "Sort of", you're not following the plan, so don't complain about it not working. 'Get with the program', as they say in America, THEN if it doesn't work, look for factors outside yourself that may be inadequate!

It's March already, how is your year?

Unbelievable how fast 2007 is going isn't it? Think about it, this year is more than 15% GONE already! It's time to think about those New Year's Resolutions - how are you progressing?

If you wanted to lose 2 stone this year, you've already lost 4 or 5 pounds right? If not, guess what you'll be doing on New Year's Eve this year? Yep, you guessed it, sitting there saying "NEXT year will be the one I get in shape"! I am as guilty as anyone about not keeping on top of certain goals (although I have lost 8 pounds this year so far!) so I will be setting new targets and working diligently towards them from now on.

This is one of the reasons I don't believe in New Year's resolutions - if you have to wait until the end of a YEAR to start doing something, how important is it to you?! I believe instead we should all regularly set targets, and assess if we are on the way to achieving them or not. How many people do you know who want to do something 'one day'? And how many of them ever actually DO anything? Don't be like the rest, set your goals, find out what you have to do to achieve them, and DO IT.

New UK food labelling system

You may have heard that the government has brought in a new 'traffic light' labelling system for foods. This seems to be a good move, although there is debate about whether it is better than the old system which is still being used in some places that gives the grams amounts per serving.

Here is some more detail on the story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6364157.stm