Tag: eat good food
April 14, 2022

Tips to Lower Your Body Fat Percentage

If you remember from my last newsletter, I said I would expand in the future on body composition parameters like lean muscle mass, fat mass and how much water your body contains. Well, I recently did a DEXA scan and felt compelled to go down the road of body fat percentage today.

I’m not going into great detail about my personal body fat percentage. But I will divulge that I was in the normal range for my age. In fact, I was in the top percentile. However, I would still feel better if I dropped about 3 percent. So I decided to make this fun and give you three smoking gun tips to do the same if it happens to tickle your fancy.

1. Stop eating late at night.

Do you know what one of THE biggest contributors to weight gain and ill health is? You guessed it, eating late at night. I know, calories in vs calories out, right? As long as you burn more calories every day then you consume, you will lose weight… Sorry, but it’s not that simple.

When you eat late at night, you disturb your Circadian Rhythm. This simply means that your body and all of its organs function differently at different times of the day. Your pancreas does not like to work late at night. When you ask it to release insulin after say, 7 pm, it throws a fit. It doesn’t want to be disturbed and it has a harder time stabilizing blood sugar levels.

Couple that with the fact that your metabolism naturally slows down at night and you have a recipe for weight gain. In turn, your body goes into fat-storage mode, regardless of how clean the food is.

Plus, you prevent your body’s natural mechanisms from taking place, like recovering from hard workouts. The result of that is from human growth hormone (HGH) going down.

Simply put, eating late causes your hormones to be out of whack, which creates a favorable environment for weight gain. The best-case scenario is to finish no later than 7 pm, but the earlier, the better.

2. Fit additional activity into your day.

Any additional movement you get into your daily life will pay big dividends when it comes to cutting your body fat percentage down by a few points. Take a power walk at lunchtime, get up 10 minutes early and do some bodyweight drills or join a recreational sport league in your town.

Just find something you like to do and add it to your calendar. Even 5-to-10-minute bouts of activity sprinkled in through the day will help you lean out faster.

3. Don’t follow a fad diet.

There is no shortage of fad diet plans to follow out there. If you decide to give up all forms of carbs and follow the caveman diet, for example, you run the risk of falling off the wagon because it’s so restrictive and not sustainable over the long-haul.

Even if you did shave 3% body fat off your body, you run the risk of gaining it all back with interest the day you decide you’re craving a slice of pizza and give in. Your diet should be sustainable and balanced with quality sources of protein, carbs and fat.

If you want to do anything at all, simply eliminate liquid calories. That, in conjunction with more daily activity alone will send your body fat spiraling downward.

Take-home Message

In reality, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or get super extreme to lose a few pounds and get back on track. As long as you stick with basic principles and display even the slightest bit of discipline, you can easily trim a few percentage points of fat off your body.

Preston Ray No Comments , , ,
March 1, 2022

Protein For Muscle Growth: What You Didn’t Know

In my nearly 11 years of personal training, I can’t think of a topic that has been more widely discussed than the relationship between protein and muscle. I would even go as far as saying that protein is THE most highly regarded nutrient in all of strength training.

And yes, protein is a vital macronutrient for your overall health, but its scope/benefits go far beyond building muscle. In fact, protein has less to do with muscle growth and more to do with recovery.

Protein helps repair bodily tissues and cells, but it also helps with the growth and maintenance of skin, hair, and nails. Additionally, it is used to boost our immune system and fight off diseases, such as diabetes.

Additionally, it helps build healthy bones, reduce blood pressure, and unbeknownst to many, optimize hormones, regulate enzymes, and stabilize insulin. It is for THESE reasons that I want you to think of protein as helping muscles recover more so than helping them grow.

By now you are probably wondering what the most effective way is to increase muscle mass and how much protein you should consume daily. Well, in short, it depends.

For starters, we must first consider how physically active you are. Next, we consider factors such as age, weight, height, training intensity, and whether you are interested in maintaining muscle mass or increasing it. All this information will not only tell you how much protein you need to consume, but also how much fat and carbs as well.

Ultimately, we need to be able to determine how much energy you are consuming and how much you are expending before we can determine caloric intake. And while Indirect Calorimetry (the measure of oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide expelled) and Direct Calorimetry (the amount of heat produced by the body during exercise) are the best ways to determine caloric intake, they are advanced procedures that many don’t have access to.

But don’t worry, if you are interested in finding out this information, you can do so by using a nutrition calculator like I did. All you have to do is go to either https://www.precisionnutrition.com/how-to-count-macros or https://www.verywellfit.com/how-to-calculate-how-much-protein-you-need-3955709 and you will be able to get your numbers easily and effectively in minutes. I used both calculators and I got back roughly the same number.

Lastly, please remember that the best way to build muscle is to perform weightbearing exercises like walking, running, dancing, and lifting weights. Spend more time strength training and less time fretting over protein and you will see a drastic change in your muscle mass and metabolism. And always, remember, protein is more about muscle recovery and overall health and less about muscle growth.

Preston Ray No Comments , , ,
flat lay photography of three tray of foods
February 22, 2022

Complementing Proteins vs. Supplementing Proteins

If you are vegan, vegetarian, or even eat meat like me, and want to drastically reduce your intake of saturated fat, you may be wondering how you’re going to satisfy your body’s amino acid requirements without consuming animal protein. No worries, I have a plan for you.

In the world of proteins, it is important to note that your body needs both essential and non-essential amino acids to function at its highest level. Essential amino acids are the ones you must consume in your diet. Non-essential amino acids are the ones your body makes naturally.

When you eat the muscle tissue of an animal, you are essentially eating yourself. The more protein we eat that is the same as our body, the higher the quality. These proteins are labeled “complete proteins.” Plants on the other hand do not have the same protein as the ones in our body so therefore they are labeled “incomplete proteins.”

To expand on this, complete proteins contain all of the essential amino acids, where incomplete proteins lack at least one. All forms of animal proteins just so happen to be complete.

Many cultures have been able to make complete proteins by combining two incomplete proteins. This process is called “complementing proteins.” A couple examples are rice and beans and tabouli salad. If you were to just eat the beans or just eat the grains, you would not be getting the full array of amino acids. But as soon as you mix the two, you do.

There is a caveat to this, though. The old school thought process was that you need to combine incomplete proteins together in meals to get the benefits. However, it has now been shown that you can have them at any time throughout the day. As long as you consume various incomplete proteins within 24 hours, your needs will be met.

You also have the option of “supplementing proteins.” When you supplement proteins, you mix an incomplete protein with a complete protein. Examples include macaroni and cheese and cereal and milk. In both cases, you mix an incomplete protein (in this case the grain) with a complete protein (the dairy product). Adding meat to a veggie stir fry is another example of supplementation.

So, there you have it. Whether you are a meat eater or a non-meat eater you can still get all the amino acids you need to thrive by supplementing or complementing. Either way, your body will thank you and allow you to live your best life.

Preston Ray No Comments , ,
February 9, 2022

Rapid Diets, Weight Loss and Exercise

According to the CDC, 42.8% of adults aged 40 to 59 are obese. Most Americans agree that diet and exercise are the best ways to lose weight. But statistics show that people who choose a rapid diet plan put half the weight back on after 1 year of having lost the pounds they desired.

And after 3 years, the most rapid dieters are back to their original weight. So why is weight loss so difficult in the first place? The answer is, it’s anti-biological. Simply put, if you lose too much weight you will die. To keep this from happening, the body does six things.

  1. EATING HABITS.
    The body recognizes your eating habits and tries to get you to maintain them.
  2. SENSORY ENHANCEMENT.
    As soon as you begin to eat less, the smell and taste of food is enhanced to convince you to eat more.
  3. DECREASED METABOLIC RATE.
    Your hypothalamus will signal the body to decrease your basal metabolic rate, which reduces your caloric expenditure.
  4. FOOD OBSESSION
    Your mind/body becomes obsessed w/ food. You think about it more and may even dream about it.
  5. EATING-INDUCED EATING
    The more you eat, the more you want to eat.
  6. YOU BECOME DEPRESSED
    After 3 months of dieting, 30% of dieters become depressed.

And don’t forget to exercise! Humans and animals with the lowest body fat percentages move more often than their counterparts. Whether it’s strength training with a professional trainer or dancing at home in your basement, daily movement is a must.

Lastly, weigh yourself daily. Self-weighing has been proven to help those who do diet and exercise daily self-correct before unwanted weight piles on. And, don’t be alarmed if the scale fluctuates a little each day. Look for significant changes monthly, not daily.

Preston Ray No Comments , ,
August 12, 2019

Five Truths For Losing Weight

Want to know my honest opinion? Going through the process of losing weight SUCKS! I believe it is one of the hardest things you can do in your lifetime, and most people are not prepared for the challenge. It’s not because you lack information — it’s because you are waiting for someone to tell you how to do it. But you already know.

Just think about all the diet and exercise books that come out each year; each promises you a new solution to weight loss. I’m not saying these books have nothing to offer, but most of us already know the answer to the problem: eat healthier and move your body!

I don’t mean to be dismissive of how hard it is to lose weight. I speak from experience — weight loss is the number one reason I entered the health and wellness industry nine years ago. I have lost 50 pounds twice in my life, first in 1995, then in 2005. Currently, as a model for Scout SF, it is still challenging for me to maintain.

Losing weight is more instinctual than scientific, and you already know what to do. But here are my top five truths to follow to lose weight and keep it off. I truly believe that if you follow these recommendations you too will be successful. Take one day at a time, and they will turn into weeks, then months. Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint.

 

#1: Documentation

We’re not counting calories so much as we are creating awareness. It is laborious and takes brutal honesty, but it is highly effective. And, you must do it for at least a week. Not just the things that are healthy, but everything you put in your mouth.

 

#2: Abstinence

Avoid alcoholic beverages like the plague. Secondly, eliminate foods high in sugar. Lastly, no fast food. Notice I didn’t tell you what to eat. I believe most of us already know and just won’t comply. Trust your instincts. You already know what’s healthy and what’s not.

 

#3: Exercise 

See a personal trainer. Don’t trust your instincts in this area. Professionals know best!

 

#4: Mindset

 Please be aware that weight loss is EXTREMELY demanding with plenty of ebbs and flows along the way. What is your WHY? And how much does losing weight REALLY mean to you? If you aren’t mentally tough, and aren’t willing to become mentally tough, you will fail.

 

#5: Rest

7-8 hours per night. Period. No shortcuts here.

 

My core belief around weight loss is that anyone can do it.

Yes, I truly believe anyone can lose weight and get the body they desire. Will it be challenging? Of course. Will you want to quit? More than likely. Can it be done? Absolutely! If you believe in yourself — and COMPLY!

 

 

 

 

Preston Ray No Comments , , , , , ,
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