Have you heard of the "Kitchen Roll Theory"?

(It may have been called Paper Towel Theory too)

Fat loss is a little like a kitchen roll.

Place a kitchen roll on your worktop. Tear one piece off.

Now go back tomorrow and do the same.

Will it look much different?

Probably not.

After 5 days? It may only be slightly smaller so the visible difference will be absolutely minimal.

What about after 10 days? It will most likely start to look smaller.

This is what is going on when your body drops body fat. It happens, bit by bit.

Another very important point to remember;

We all store body fat in different places. A dude may store it predominantly on his stomach, his chest, his back, and in small quantities on his face.

A woman may store it predominantly on her arms, her legs, and around her middle.

There are many different sites in which body fat will store, and subsequently come off from. If you were to have a skin-caliper assessment, they'd measure up to 9 different sites.

What if you have looked in the mirror and not seen much difference, but you've lost a small amount across all 9 of those different sites? It will be less noticeable than losing it all from, say, your stomach.

Keyword; patience!

Tear one piece of kitchen roll off every single day, and don't come back for at least 7-10 days!

Game Changers…

The biggest thing that jumped out at me was the constant narrative of comparing a PBD with processed animal based FAST FOOD. Anything tested against fast food is going to come out on top.

First though… Let’s look at the people involved shall we?
James & Suzy Amis Cameron – exec producers – both own vegan supplement companies.
Jackie Chan – Vegan
Arnie – involved with a supplement company – seen him eat steak first hand so, business is business.

There are 7 doctors also involved in the documentary, all of which happen to be Vegan, be authors of Vegan books, have interests in Vegan supplement companies, or a combination of all 3. Let’s get someone who owns a steakhouse to repeat the documentary?

Strongman
The dude gained 25kg of body mass whilst apparently on a PBD. This doesn’t factor in that his total fat-mass probably increased too, was probably consuming more protein in general, and er… Performing Enhancing Drugs perhaps?! It’s an untested competition so… yeah. Final point; 2 people have broken his record since, both meat eaters.

Diaz v McGregor
The documentary plays heavily on Diaz (PBD) beating McGregor (Non PBD) in an MMA bout. Lots of emphasis is placed on McGregor eating steak regularly. My issue? Diaz had lost 10 fights before that, were they all Vegans? No. He also lost the rematch. The documentary have zoned in and cherry picked. Diaz also smokes a lot of Cannabis. I'm not sure there's a documentary promoting Cannabis for sports performance in the pipeline. It’s like 2 electricians winning the lottery in the same year and someone claiming being an electrician makes you more likely to become a millionaire.

The blood tests.
3 NFL players are fed and then give blood samples shortly after where the plasma is separated to show how cloudy or not it is. One is fed a vegan burrito, the other 2 not. The footballer having the plant based meal produces much clearer plasma in the blood. This is nothing to do with him being “Plant based” – it’s more to do with him having eaten something lower in fat. He didn’t need to consume a vegan meal to produce clearer blood plasma results than someone having eaten a very fatty meal.

Inflammation.
They’re pretty strong on wanting to highlight that meat causes inflammation, yet constantly cite hamburgers. You don’t need to rush to university to understand that swapping hamburgers for nutrient dense food might just treat your body better. The study they bang on about does not take in to account that the people with high inflammation levels from higher red meat intake also had high BMI’s, i.e. they were overweight. Guess what drives inflammation? Being overweight.

Plant Protein v Animal Protein.
To get 30g of protein from chicken, you’d only need to consume roughly 100g.
To get the same 30g protein from lentils, you’d need to consume over 320g of lentils. In a lot of cases the Plant Based alternative will also be higher in Carbohydrates and Fats, making the calorie content higher. This means you simply must consume less of it, which means less protein. Most plant sources are very low in Leucine, the main Amino Acid in Protein needed for Muscle Protein Synthesis. Most are also low in the other essential’s too.

Oh and the peanut butter sandwich having more protein than 3 eggs or a steak? Well yeah, if you consume it in the amounts needed, which will also give you double the calories because of the fat.

The Battle Ropes.
From 8 minutes to 45 minutes just by changing diets? Over 400% increase in muscular endurance and aerobic capacity from switching to a PBD? Really? Even if we sided with him for a second, he shows himself up because he’s been a Vegan since 2011, way before he even managed the 8 minutes or got the injury he bangs on about! Not just exaggerated but a downright lie.

Cherry Picking
If 100 studies are done on the same thing, 90 showing 1 outcome, and 10 showing the other, and you make a documentary highlighting the 10, that is called Cherry Picking. You’re ignoring the 90 that contradict your “desired” outcome. The majority of the documentary is based on this.

Vegan Bodybuilders.
I reckon 95-99% of bodybuilders are meat eaters. The documentary wants to highlight a handful of successful plant-based ones. Oh and… *cough* injecting testosterone *cough*.

If you want to be vegan or reduce consumption of animal products for ethical reasons, I tip my hat to you, Netflix however isn’t a credible place for enhancing your health or sports performance.

*I'd read Layne Norton's review prior to writing, therefore there may be crossovers. If you want a more scientific breakdown of the documentary I'd recommend reading his review.

[Featuring; Bertie Big Biceps, a Bear, your local electrician and #beastmode]

[You can download a PDF version of this here]

Like... what is fitness these days? Is it not meant to be people being active, healthy, happy with their bodies, challenging themselves in ways they enjoy, walking if they enjoy walking, lifting weights if they enjoy lifting weights, crazy marathons if they enjoy marathons? It's turned in to some crazy social-media based parallel world of gym selfies, hashtags and narcissistic behaviour.

Our Grandparent's didn't have any of this, and I know everything in the world evolves, but has it evolved for the better? Obesity rates say not. The UK is a fine example of where things get confusing. 1 million more gym members than 5 years ago, yet obesity continues to rise.

Every week I see people spending £15, sometimes up to £40 for an hours personal training. Twice a week. With the aim of losing weight. That’s 2 hours of a 168 hour week. Less than 3% of your week. Do as many burpees, sit ups, squats, planks, box jumps or horizontal-upside-down-inverted-elbow extensions as you want. If your weekly calorie intake is not controlled, your sleep is shit, your cravings are all over, you’re dehydrated and spend 10 of those hours absolutely Peter Barlow’d on 2-4-1 cocktails, then please, really? You think that 3% of the week is going to overcome the other 97% you’re sat on your bottom? Yet when “Our Aimee” books 7 days in Ibiza she will tweet “Beefa booked, OMG I need to get back to the gym x”. Aimz hun, by all means exercise, but lay off the cupcakes and check those calories ‘til you hit those sandy beaches.

Very few people fully understand why and how we gain body-fat and how we lose it again. Picture a bear, out in the wild, and winter is coming. You eat everything in sight to gain fat before hibernating. In the absence or reduction in availability of food their bodies use the fat stores as energy, you know, to stay alive. We gain weight because we eat excess calories, and lose it when we don't provide our body with enough. Carbs the reason for weight gain though right? Nah.

Calories. Units of energy. We have known about them since the 1800's, yet people want to avoid acknowledging them but would rather count everything else instead. They're simple. James Smith is bang on. Calorie. Fucking. Deficit. Here's a Banana, it's got between 90 and 120 calories. Some will complicate it by attaching a “syn” or point value. You wouldn’t ask your bank to convert your money in to Japanese Yen or Shillings and Guinea’s? The system is already there.

The past couple of years has seen the emergence of the term "starvation mode" - the batshit crazy belief that you're not losing weight because you're "not eating enough" and have entered a zone where your body steps in to look after you. Explain how bodybuilders look so lean on stage? Explain how boxers get so lean before a weigh-in? Explain kids actually starving in Africa. Their bodies pack in and they die but “Louise” from the office is being saved “because she's not eating enough”? Hahahaha it's laughable. People lie about what they eat. Period.

Good and bad foods. This one get's me every time. It's really not hard. An egg is an egg. It's untouched, unaltered. It's packed with nutrients, because it's a naturally occurring food that we are designed to eat. That pack of cereal in the cupboard with a sell-by date going in to next year & 6 ingredients you can't pronounce? Probably not so beneficial. It’s that easy. Food. Products. Eat mainly food. Enjoy some products where needed or desired.

I mean, things have got that bad that a teenager went blind due to deficiencies because his diet consisted of only sausage and chips, with a few tubes of pringles thrown in the mix. People feed their plants and pets better than they do themselves.

I bang on about myths, and how many health/fitness/weight loss myths there are, but seriously, have you ever come across another industry where there's this many? Can you imagine if only 20% of Electricians were good and the other 80% were absolute morons burning people's houses down? No other industry is as deluded as this one. People think Carbs are the devil reincarnated. People stop eating at 7pm in the misguided belief any food eaten after this time will be stored as fat. Detoxing? Cleanses? Like, I wish I could make more people see the level of bullshit going on here. Where are these toxins you think you're drinking green tea to eradicate? Swimming about causing havoc in your organs? Go get a blood test done and ask your doctor what toxins are running rife in your blood.

Fat-burners, fat-burning supplements. For f***s sake. Do people seriously believe the world would be the most obese it's been if there was a pill or drink out there that "burned fat". 61-67% of people in Britain are overweight or obese. Seriously. Let that sink in. And you think some "Ultra -Thermo-Lean 500" capsules for £29 a tub are going to help? If you believe that, stay away from an IQ test. The fitness industry is a mess. Awash with charlatans and con-artists wanting to squeeze money from people desperate to change their bodies and their lifestyles, knowing they don't know how. Selling effortless results like selling ice to eskimo's.

Celery juice, where the hell did that appear from? I'll tell you where, some numb idiot struggling to make money from the industry thought being controversial may be the money ticket. I have genuinely had deluded women message me on Instagram telling me I'm making hard work for myself and my clients because Celery Juice is the answer. Do one Debbie.

I'm all for people being happy in their skin, that's what I aim for with all my clients, to get to a place where they're happy, not a number staring up from the floor. The "#bodypositivity" crowd seem to want to celebrate their "curves", which is fine, but there's a huge issue here. Some of these people have A LOT of weight to lose. They may argue that they don't WANT to, but where does their health, especially long term, come in to it? I don't see anything positive about celebrating your organs being surrounded in excess body-fat. They won't be prancing about hashtagging when a consultant tells them of their impending demise.

Things come and go, look at the IIFYM (If It Fit's Your Macro's) movement. A big excuse to squeeze as much pizza and ice cream in to your calorie budget as possible. Used in it's intended fashion and IIFYM should essentially be the go-to way of eating, minus the rigid tracking. Knowing your budget & working within it. Macro counting - where the hell did that actually appear from? People were getting in shape before @BertieBigBiceps came along and told you to consume 30% protein, 50% carbs and 20% fat. These lot are usually found posting #BeastMode on social media - cheers, you're really approachable now, to all the people scared of entering gyms. Let's scare everyone off. You're called “Steve” and you attend a gym, you're no beast. Have a day off from being a full-time loser.

Clothing athletes. Sorry but I’m coming out swinging with this one. Good looking girls with developed glute muscles squeezing themselves into 8 dollar gym tights, throwing a few workout videos up on Instagram suddenly constitutes calling themselves an athlete. Behave. This applies to lads with their GymKing tracksuits too. Athlete; “a person who is very good at sports or physical exercise, especially one who competes.” Not; Has a few followers, is gifted free leggings, can perform a Romanian Deadlift well and is willing to feature their arse, sideways in every single social media post. See the difference? Good. Let’s move on.

Power plates, vibration plates, or whatever the jiggling hell they're called. Seriously. Take a step back. Do you honestly think standing on a plastic plate jiggling about until your knockers fall out of your bra or your budgie smugglers fall down is going to "tone" you? That word. Toning. Anyone who knows me laughs when the word comes up. It's like a red rag to a bull. If you want toned arms and you currently haven't there is two reasons for this. You either haven't built any muscle to begin with, or your body fat is too high, or a bit of both. No “toning”.

We now have Z-List celebrities running fitness brands just because they lost 6 pounds and have a few hundred thousand followers on social media. When you take a step back, it's absurd. Some are releasing recipe books where the average calorie count of a Raw Superfood Square is above and beyond a McDonalds Big Mac.

On one end of the scale you have people making excuses to consume as much "cheat" food as possible, at the other end a tribe of amateur body-building fanatics walking round eating cold chicken, broccoli and rice out of Tupperware dishes “counting macro’s bro”. What happened to employing some logic, eating normally, and adjusting when needed? I know several people who have to be on some sort of diet, every day of the year. I want to tell them to just learn to eat well. It’s all gone a bit mad.

Whatever your fitness goal… you’re in control of achieving it. It’s not your genetics, toxins, your macro’s, starvation mode, syn’s, Donald Trump, the Russians or Brexit.

Shameless plug: If you want to work with me to drop body-fat, up your confidence, fit in those jeans and get a boat-load of compliments from your peers, without doing all the above, drop me a message and tell me your goal.

 

"How to lose belly fat after having a baby?"
Quite frankly, remove the "baby" and remove the "belly" from the sentence, because they're not important here. You want to lose fat. The way you go about it is the same as any fat, anywhere. Calorie deficit. From a good fat-loss plan. Where the fat is or how it got there, doesn't make a difference.

"Best way of measuring progress?"
Take photos, take measurements, track weight. Understand photos will not change day to day, but fortnightly I'd expect to see a difference. Take measurements, perhaps weekly. Waist, stomach, legs, chest, all good places to start. Track weight, either track it daily and make a note of it, watching the downward trend, or do it loosely, fortnightly. I prefer the more often approach, doing it once in a while you're in danger of catching it on a "bad day", if there's some water retention masking things you'll lose motivation.

"I lose weight, but nearly always put it back on, why is this?"
Simply put, once you've lost the weight, you go back to how things were before. The old habits come back and therefore the calorie intake comes back too. If you need 2000 calories a day to maintain your current weight and you spend a month or 2 at say 1600, you'll lose weight. If were having 2400 before your little diet and you go back to 2400, you'll be in a surplus again. find a healthy way of staying at around 2000. As an example!

"How do I find out what body-fat % I am?"
Without a DEXA scan or having access to skinfold calipers, you don't, and it doesn't really matter. Just like your weight you won't walk around with your weight printed on your T-Shirt, same goes for body-fat%.
If you're progressing then it's coming down. Looking good in the mirror/naked it surely enough to satisfy!

"How many meals a day should I eat for fat-loss?"
It really doesn't matter. I am a big fan of 4. Breakfast, Lunch, Evening and something small Pre-Bed, it just seems to work for my clients. Some will eat more regularly, others will skip breakfast and have 2 larger meals. It's the calorie content of the total that counts. How you spread it out is your choice!

"Thoughts on intermittent fasting?"
It can be a useful tool. It's by no means essential, but if you can identify a period of your day where you're not hungry and have no appetite then by all means use it. Some people don't eat breakfast and this is effectively fasting, going all night and the morning without food. Providing you don't over-do the calories in the "feeding" part of the day then it could be useful. Try it!

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

First, time for some tough love, so I apologise now…
It's your fault. You choose what goes in your mouth and you choose how much of it you eat.
Don’t blame anyone else.

But it’s not ALL your fault…

There is endless bullshit in this industry. It’s rife with people talking junk about how to lose fat.
All my clients get briefed right from the off on avoiding these lies and misconceptions, with a PDF list of 28 famous myths. You’d do well to wipe your memory of everything you’ve ever believed and start again.

You’re surrounded by advertising, offers, deals, convenience food, all made to look attractive and tempting. Oh and steroid-using Insta-famous dudes trying to sell you stuff.
Not only do you probably believe a load of lies printed in a magazine or from someone down the gym, you’re peppered with adverts for fast-food and then someone comes along and sticks fancy words on products to make you think you’re doing your health a favour. “5-a-day detox juice”.

That juice that claims to be a natural-organic-detoxing-antioxidant-immune-boosting-cleansing-energy-boosting-magic potion? Well, it’s not, and even if it was, it wouldn’t make you lose body-fat. Got a liver and kidneys thanks, I’m covered.

Diets:
Every diet works, because you eat less calories than before. Calories? Yeah we’ll come to those in a second.

What doesn't work is;
- you only doing it for 3 days.
- you doing it one day then not doing it the next.
- diets that aren't sustainable so you quit and go back to your habits.
- unhealthy diets which remove food groups and leave you miserable.
- you eating like an child at a party every weekend.

What does work:
Something that sits between being enjoyable enough and healthy enough for you to adopt it long term, get to your goal, and not return to eating like a moron.

Macros:
You'll probably hear people talk about macronutrients, or "macros".
It's really basic actually. Protein, Carbs, Fats.
Protein means “primary”. So it’s the most important.
Fats are pretty important too, you may have heard of “essential fatty-acids”.
Then there’s Carbs. Them evil little buggers. I joke. They’re fine.

Low Carb:
A lot of people jumped on the low-carb hype, and we still live with a belief that carbs are evil. They're not. Low carb diets can work because you quit eating biscuits, cakes, pasta and desserts etc.

Clean Eating:
What’s all this “clean eating” about then?
Basically means only eating foods that are natural and not made by humans.
Eating from the land, the sea, the sky and stuff that grows in the wild.
Yes, getting the majority of your diet from single-ingredient food is the best, and ultra-healthy, but nobody can navigate through this world without cake.

NEAT:
If you hear someone say “NEAT” it basically means how many calories you burn by moving, not counting any exercise, cleaning the house or walking in to town for example.
Those who move more burn more calories. It’s one of the most under-rated parts of a fat-loss diet.
If you're an active person your diet can be less restrictive and include more. There are 24 hours in a day, and you’re asleep for 8, which leaves 16 hours. Out of them 16 hours, how many calories you burn is determined by what you do.
If you sit at a desk and watch YouTube videos about cats, conspiracy theories or detox diets, you’ll won't burn many calories. (It stands for “Non-Exercise-Activity-Thermogenesis” by the way. Geeky.)

“Getting Toned”
I’m going to keep this short because the word makes my ears bleed.
You cannot tone muscle. There are 3 things you can do with muscle;
1. Make it stronger. 2. Make it bigger. 3. Both.
"So how do I get toned then?" Lose body-fat. The muscle is already there, you were born with it, it’s covered in a layer of fat which needs moving, permanently. “I don’t want to lose any more weight, I just want to tone up”. Same answer, you need to remove that body-fat. Your abs or triceps won’t just appear through a layer of fat. Soz about that, I didn't design the body. Not sure who did, impressive though.

Keto:
If you haven’t heard of the Ketogenic diet (“Keto”) you have now. Basically eat loads of fat, very little carbs and only a bit of Protein. You’ll never cross another potato again. It’s extreme and unnecessary. It basically preaches that by eating fat you burn fat and become “fat adapted”. It’s right, you will burn fat, but only the fat you’re putting in your mouth, not your body fat. And that’s the aim right, to get rid of that fat that clings to your hips, stomach, legs etc?

Keto warriors claim they don’t need to count calories. Ok dude, go eat 7,000 calories a day of Steak, Nuts, Avocado and Olive Oil and show me how you don’t gain weight. All the best with that.

“I don’t think I eat enough”
If you think you cannot lose fat because you’re not eating enough and have just accidentally fallen in to “starvation” mode, please go to an empty room and give your head a little shake. Track your calories for a day (everything, not just the stuff you want to admit to) and then say you’re not eating enough.
“I ate salad all week?” All weekend too?

Supplements:
For fat-loss? No.
There’s a few things I advocate, but none of them are for fat-loss.
I’m a fan of the odd Protein shake here and there, if it helps you top your total up.
If you hit the gym then Creatine is a good addition.
Caffeine. Because coffee is magical.
Fish-oil (EPA & DHA) because most of us lack enough Omega 3.
“Craig what about fat-burners?”
Really? Would over 60% of the population be overweight if fat-burners worked? Another trip to that room to give your head a wobble.

The Paleo diet:
I used to like the Paleo diet. Then I woke up. You’re not allowed Potatoes!
The diet is predicated on eating foods cavemen would have eaten. Nothing remotely processed, just nutrient abundant food. If you’d find it whilst out scavenging, then you can eat it. Except they still ban some foods. I’m pretty sure you’d find a potato, somehow.
Yes eat naturally occurring foods, just don’t be an idiot and cut out 90% of the worlds food options. Duh!

The Big Picture:
5 minutes people-watching will show you how bad it’s getting. Over 60% of people here in the UK are overweight. Over 25% of kids are now too. And people think this is because they’re missing a juice cleanse? Or it’s their genetics? Or sugar? Sorry but the answer lies with people’s calorie intake. People. Eat. Too. Bloody. Much. Have you ever seen an overweight Japanese person? Me neither.

Sugar:
“Lisa at work says you have to cut out sugar”.
What would Lisa know?
You probably have too much, a lot of people do. But it’s not the issue here. People are now consuming less sugar than previously, yet obesity is still going up. There’s people who say that they’re addicted to sugar. If that was the case people would carry it around with them eating it neat.

"Increasing Your Metabolism".
Whether it’s the latest whacky product or “eating 6 smaller meals a day” to “keep that metabolism firing”, everyone’s on the lookout for a faster metabolism. Sorry but it’s another example of believing more fitness lies. Move a little bit more. There’s no shortcut to this, you weren’t born with a slow metabolism.

Fasting:
Will fasting work? Sure, if your calories are right. Intermittent fasting is a useful tool, and one I like.
If you have a period of time in the day where you simply don’t get hungry, that’s a good opportunity to fast.
Never hungry in a morning? Skip breakfast and start your day with lunch, this will save some calories (yes, that word again) for later.

Alcohol:
Can you lose fat whilst drinking alcohol? Hmmm, yes, but it’s going to be a lot harder.
Whilst alcohol is in your body, you’re burning nothing but alcohol in an attempt to get rid of it. It becomes your primary fuel source.
We also make shocking decisions whilst drunk.
“I’ve been eating all day, just necked a load of cocktails and bottles of beer, over-done it for the day, I know, I’ll go get a pizza too.” Not the only bad decision you’ll have made whilst drunk either, I bet.

Calories:
Meh, the C word. Calories are little units of energy. Basically how much energy is in an item of food. So whilst the world is blaming a slow metabolism, genetics, sugar, carbs and every other excuse in the book, your body counts these. Consume too many, well we know what happens, your clothes get a little tighter. We all need a different amount, we’re unique like that. We’re all different heights, weights and compositions and require different amounts of energy per day. They’re printed on every food label for a reason, because they matter. No escaping them I am afraid. Every diet that has ever succeeded has done so because the person has consumed less calories than their body needs. How’s that work? Well your body uses your fat-stores to make up the difference. Simple really. How did it all become so complicated?

5 Observations...

Observation 1:
People don’t want to count calories, and the goal is to eat without having to, but whilst you’re losing fat, we kind of need to know.

Observation 2:
Many people make a decision to start working towards their goals, but what they’ve really done is sign up until it gets too uncomfortable.

Observation 3:
People know there is no “get rich quick” scheme, otherwise everyone would be millionaires.
At the same time people think there is a quick-fire shortcut to losing fat.

Observation 4:
Linked to Observation 3, people will believe anything you tell them. “Here, take this greens detox juice and you’ll lose 5 pounds in a week”. Yet tell them the truth is in a calorie deficit and they look at you like you’ve landed a spaceship in their garden. And then say “but I hardly eat anything”.

Observation 5:
The majority of people who decide to take action on their fat-loss immediately look to exercise before addressing their diet.
They join an extra class or do a little extra cardio. It’s papering over the cracks.

"How long will it take me?"
You didn’t gain the weight in a week, you’re not going to lose it in a week either, so slow down yeah? You could go on some mad crazy diet and lose weight real quick but you realise what will happen the moment you stop right? Yup, it will all go back on, and you'll have learnt nothing. Back to square one. That’s where the yo-yo dieting starts.
I’m sure you’d rather lose 1-2 pounds a week consistently and get to your goal knowing you will never have to diet again. Imagine that.

Final thought...
If you want to lose body-fat and become a leaner version of yourself, then you need to take action. Unfollow all them motivational quote accounts and just accept that you got yourself here, it’s you that’s going to do the work, progress requires change. All the tools you need are there.

Craig
getleanstaylean.uk | craig@getleanstaylean.uk
The Get Lean Plan | Lean VIP

When you spend a bit of time in gyms or listen to people trying to lose weight, you end up hearing countless things that are just ridiculous. I have empathy and it doesn’t surprise me that so many people never achieve their goal when they don’t know what to believe…

Here are 28 “myths” and lies that plague the fitness industry and often derail people achieving results…

1. Not eating carbs after 7/8pm.
To think that after a certain point in the day that your body turns any carbohydrate eaten into fat is just simply not true. If anything there are benefits to eating carbohydrates later in the day.

2. “Bread makes you fat”.
Bread does not make you fat. No food is capable of that. You gain weight (or don’t lose it) because you over-consume CALORIES, not one single food. Yes it is easy to over-consume, but so are sweets, chocolate and other similar foods.

3. “You’re allowed a cheat day”.
Nobody is going to stop you having a “cheat day”, but just remember those calories count too. Many people wipe out a whole weeks’ worth of progress in 1 day or 1 weekend with a binge. Your body doesn’t know it’s cheat day, it knows how many calories you consume. It will not "give your metabolism a boost".

4. “Do high reps for toning”.
The “toned” look comes from having low levels of body fat. The muscle you’re wanting to see is already there, it is just covered with body fat. Doing high reps of exercises isn’t going to push that muscle through the fat. Lose the fat first.

5. Drinking “sports drinks” in the gym.
Sports drinks are designed for athletes who are in long-duration events and need a top-up in carbohydrates to keep their performance high. Going to the gym is not included in this. Let your body use your fat stores.

6. Doing sit ups to get a six pack.
In a very similar way to “high reps for toning” being nonsense, this is too. Abdominal muscles will only become visible when your body fat reaches a low level, which isn’t achieved by doing sit-ups.

7. Juicing.
When you take fruit and vegetables and juice them you are removing the fiber and drinking what’s left, which is the water and the sugars they contain. You are removing the part which helps digest the ingredients slowly. Blending into a smoothie is far more nutritious than juicing as it will retain more anti-oxidants.

8. Detoxing / Cleansing.
You were born with kidneys and a liver which do this job 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from birth to death. Save your money, no magic juice is going to do this for you, detoxes and cleanses are one of the biggest fads and misconceptions you will come across.

9. Being overweight runs in the family.
No, it doesn’t, it’s an excuse used for making poor food choices and not taking responsibility for it.

10. Getting weighed after the gym.
There is absolutely no point in getting weighed after a gym session. Your body will be full of water (hopefully) and to expect a drop in weight to be attributed to losing fat after one session is a little short-sighted. You're not likely to burn ~3500 calories in one session.

11. Fasted cardio.
There is this belief (started by bodybuilders), that doing cardio first thing in a morning before you have eaten will burn more fat due to not having other energy available. Your muscles will have glycogen (stored carbohydrates) in them which will be used. On the flip side, if you feel better for doing it, then it’s worth it.

12. “The more you sweat the more fat you lose”.
I am not sure where to start with this one, except sweating and fat-burning are in no way related to one-another. Some people sweat a lot, some people don’t, it has zero impact on fat-burning. Sweating is the body attempting to cool itself down.

13. “Protein is bad for your kidneys”.
There is absolutely no evidence for this. There are a lot of athletes and sportsmen/women who consume high levels of protein to help with their training who live incredibly healthy lives.

14. “Brown sugar is healthier than white sugar”.
Sugar is sugar regardless of whether it is white, brown, muscovado or any other names it may be given. This goes for honey and syrup too. Neither version is healthy or healthier than another.

15. “Going gluten-free makes you lose weight”.
Just because the gluten has been removed it often makes no odds to the calorie-count of the food. A 400 calorie piece of cake is a 400 calorie piece of cake regardless of whether it contains gluten or not. You may feel better for going gluten-free, but it does not mean you’ll lose weight.

16. “Margarine is healthier than butter”.
Another from the 70’s when people thought fat was bad for you. Margarine has had several processed oils added to it to make it last longer and make it spreadable. Butter is the real deal, completely natural and of no detriment to your health.

17. “You have to cut carbs to lose weight”.
Carbs are not the devil, in fact they're your bodies preferred energy source. People often remove carbs from their diet, however, this is because it’s a lot healthier than removing Protein or Fat, not because Carbs are “fattening”. The issue lies with foods that are very palatable such as cakes and biscuits, it's not the Carbohydrate that is an issue, it's the amount you consume.

18. “The best time to work out is.…”
There is no advantage to training at a certain time, only when is the best for you. You don’t produce better results by training in a morning or evening. You burn the same amount of calories whether it is 7 am or 7 pm. Train when you can and when you feel best.

19. “Lifting weights will turn fat into muscle”.
You can use fat as fuel, and build muscle from training, but they happen independently. The fat does not “transform” into muscle tissue.

20. “If you stop training the muscle turns in to fat”.
Just like the above, the opposite is false also. You may lose muscle (“use it or lose it”) and you may gain fat, but  one does not turn into another.

21. Eggs are bad because they’re full of fat and cholesterol.
This was thought to be true in the 70’s and 80’s, but it’s been found out to be completely false. Foods with natural fats in are completely healthy and beneficial.

22. Spot reduction (targeting an area of fat).
You often hear people wanting to target areas of fat, like their love handles or their stomach. In the same way that you don’t get to choose where the fat goes when you gain weight, you don’t get to choose when you lose it either. This comes down to genetics and hormones. If you have a problem area you must just keep going.

23. “Lifting weights makes women bulky”.
Men gain muscle easier due to higher testosterone and growth hormone levels. Women have approximately 10% of these hormones so don’t gain muscle as easy. This shouldn’t put women off lifting weights.

24. Vibration plates.
The single most ridiculous piece of equipment I have ever come across. There is more chance of you chipping a tooth than “toning” your muscles or losing fat.

25. Fat-burning foods.
There is no single food that “burns fat”, just like there’s no single food that makes you gain fat. If it was as simple as eating some “fat burning foods” the 60% of the country that are overweight would be walking around eating them.

26. “Eat small meals regularly to speed up your metabolism”.
If you eat 1800 calories, it makes no difference whether you eat 6x 300 calorie meals or 3x 600 calorie meals. It’s the total that counts. There is no evidence that spreading them out into smaller meals burns more calories. If you feel fuller for eating more regularly, then great.

27. “You must eat breakfast to switch on your metabolism”.
As is the case with other myths, it’s not when you eat but what and how much. Many successful clients have skipped breakfast and people have deferred their calories until later in the day.

28. Weight-loss supplements.
There is no supplement on the market that can help you lose weight. Many will claim they contain a magic ingredient that will aid fat-loss, however, none are backed by evidence and if it was true many big corporations would be mass-selling them.

Remember when you were a kid and you’d pull a stupid face and someone would say “if the wind changes you’ll stay that way”?
Some of the above are just as ridiculous yet people blindly believe them.

Why your diet isn't working...

1. You’re lying about what you’re eating..
You’re simply not being honest. You document the healthy stuff you consume, but don’t take in to account the other things, the biscuits at work, that bit of cake after tea, them cups of coffee with 2 sugars in. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have them but it all counts towards your daily/weekly total. Log it all and be honest.

2. You’re restricting yourself too much..
Your mind-set is “right, Monday I’m starting my diet”, so Monday comes and you eat jack sh*t, you eat like a rabbit. A cup of tea and a piece of fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch, etc. It’s simply not possible to sustain this. You’re not in a concentration camp. Your body requires more. It needs Protein, it needs some Fat, and it needs a certain level of Carbs. I read somewhere the average duration of a diet is 4 days. You won’t achieve your goal in 4 days.

3. You STILL believe the boll*cks you get told..
No carbs after 6pm. No sugar. No alcohol. Low fat. A detox. A cleanse. Meal replacements. Skipping meals. Toning. Juicing. Raspberry ketones. All complete garbage. All myths.

Your body will change when your habits change. When you commit. When you are consistent. When you realise you are holding yourself back. When you pick a goal, and work towards it. Not 1 meal a day. Not 2 days a week.

Want your personalised plan? Want a coach? Want to be accountable? More importantly, do you want results?
craig@getleanstaylean.uk

1. Juices
Fruit juice is commonly labelled a health food, it contains vitamin C and comes from fruit, why wouldn’t it be? The issue is that the refining process means that your natural juice is quite different from the fresh fruit it was squeezed from! As the fruit is squeezed the natural fibre is lost and disregarded and you’re left with the water and the sugar content. Keeping that fibre would slow down the release of the natural sugars into your blood.

2. Hummus
Hummus is made from chickpeas (or other beans) and contains oils and other ingredients to enhance the taste. On the face of it, a quite healthy food. The issue is the calorie content. A quick search of some supermarket websites and in a 50g portion you’re looking at around 150 calories, so 600 in a full 200g pot. It’s incredibly easy to consume, so once you’ve finished dipping other foods in it, you’ve consumed an incredibly high-calorie snack.

3. Cereals
Cereals became the breakfast norm when people mistakenly thought eggs were bad for our health. How wrong they were. Ignore the health claims by some, such as “high fibre” and “whole grain”, the main ingredients are often wheat and sugar and have been heavily processed. A 40g serving might only contain between 150 and 200 calories, but who only has 40g?

4. Yogurts (with exceptions)
Greek yogurt, with no added sugar, is a great source of protein. Some yogurts however, are labelled “low fat” or “fat-free” sometimes containing fruit puree or added sugars and flavourings. Most on the supermarket shelves are just pots of sugar.

5. Margarine
Butter has been around for centuries and got pushed to one side when people became concerned about saturated fat. Margarine then came on the scene claiming to be lower in fat and better for your heart health. It is in majority made from vegetable oils that are heavily processed. It may be spreadable, but it’s not great for your health.

Plenty of people fail to achieve their body goals due to being tripped up by 1 or more foods that they perceive to be healthy but contain far more calories than was first realised. Want to achieve your goal? Click here

In the UK...
65% of men...
58% of women...
overweight or obese.

33% of children aged 10... overweight or obese.

16,000 people live in my town...
There are SIX gyms...
Multiple sports teams...
A Tennis club & 2 Swimming pools...
Cyclists everywhere (cheers Tour De France)...
Surrounded by countryside.
A National Park ONE mile away.

This isn't a rant about my town, just a good example.

With so much to offer in terms of physical activity, why are so many people overweight or obese? With more people than ever going to gyms, why are so many people STILL overweight or obese?

If you want to learn a sport, you're covered. Want to cycle? You can do that too. Off for a walk? No problem. Need a new bathroom fitted? Plenty of tradesmen around.

What if you need to lose body-fat? See where I am going here?
Where do you turn? Very few people hire nutritionists. You could go to Sharon at work who's selling some multi-level marketing shake that's not worked for her. Don't do that.

You need a coach.

Someone to work out how many calories you need. Someone who will steer you towards nutrient dense food to make you feel good. Someone who won't remove all your favourite foods from your diet. Someone who is there for accountability. Someone who is there to ask questions.

click HERE