"But Scott, the scale isn't moving.."

Today is for all of those men and women who are obsessed with the scale. Get over it. First of all, being "skinny" is so 2007 and being "fit" is where it's at for 2011. Secondly, the scale does not tell you jack. I can tell you from personal experience that I have gone through periods of being sick, lazy and stressed (all at the same time) and not exercised or eaten right for weeks at a time. What happened? I gained a little weight on the scale, sure, but I looked far worse than the 5-8 lbs on the scale showed. Why? Because I lost a lot of muscle and gained a lot of fat. So I actually looked and felt like I gained 20 lbs!

Why do I use this example? Because it works the other way too. When I finally got myself together and started eating well and working out again, I only lost 5 lbs (on the scale), but I looked and felt COMPLETELY different. Why? Because I lost the 10 or 12 lbs of fat I had added, and gained the 5-6 lbs of muscle I had lost. Do you get it?

The point is that your body can change dramatically and the scale will not accurately reflect what is going on in your body. I have seen people celebrating because they lost 15 lbs on their new "diet", when they actually look worse and not any better. Why? Because they lost 15 lbs of muscle. Now they are lighter on the scale (Yay! Who cares??) and they look worse. Why? Because before they had 120 lbs of muscle and 50 lbs of fat. Now they have 105 lbs of muscle and 50 lbs of fat. So proportionately, they are fatter than before!

And another great side effect of this "Yay I lost 15 lbs diet" is now their metabolism is screwed from the loss of muscle and now he/she will gain weight even faster. So what will he/she do? Probably freak out when the weight comes back on, and then do another "diet".

Get off the scale and get off of the diets. Focus on how tight and firm your muscles feel. Look at how great you look in your clothes. So what you are not "skinny"? Nobody cares. Be healthy, that looks better anyway. Build some muscle, give your body some shape and strength, and build a strong and fast metabolism. Exercise, resistance training, small and frequent healthy meals is the formula. Maintain consistency.

"Skinny" is out, for both men and women. I say bring on the muscle, tone and the shapely curves!
-Scott
Hook up with me here: Online training, nutrition and inner circle membership and support- www.theprogram.trainerize.com

Sometimes we all need a good, swift kick in the pants!

Today's "kick in the pants" is a good one and I often need to remind myself of this one. Does this sound familiar?

"Ahh, man I want to start working out but I've got no time. I mean, I have work, and the kids and I'm just so busy. I don't know when I can even fit it in. I mean, I really want to lose weight. Actually, not just want; I need to lose weight. The doctor told me if I don't lose weight and get my cholesterol down that I have to get on Lipitor. And I might end up being diabetic. Well, actually I guess I can take a couple of pills everyday and inject those little needles in my stomach. They are pretty small right? Do you think it hurts?"

If that doesn't describe you, at least in some way, it is something you have definitely heard. You've probably heard it a few times. I've heard it a million times!

Funny thing is, that person who has no time to workout, somehow has the time to watch and know the details of at least 2 or 3 weekly TV shows. (Each show is at least an hour, by the way.) If it's a guy, he follows at least 2 sports teams and knows every scoring leader and stat and "needs to relax" on the couch every night after work. Right? Yes, right..

You don't have time to exercise? Ok, that's cool. Do you have time to go to the hospital? Do you have time to get your prescriptions filled? Do you have time to wonder what side effects all of these meds are having on your body? On your sex life? What about worrying about how fat you look in those jeans or stressing about having to wear a bathing suit in front of your friends? Have you got time for that?

You can find an hour every day to exercise. You can definitely find 30 minutes a day. Don't bullsh*t yourself. If you can't find the time, then it is not important to you. Period.

Have to spend "quality time" with your husband or wife watching TV? Hello, that is not quality time. You are not talking and you are not getting to know each other more or growing closer to your kids. You are sitting there doing nothing. Yes, I'm being harsh and do I expect you to throw away your TV? Of course not. Do I watch TV? Yes, I do. I am also not complaining every day about how much weight I have to lose or how I have no time to workout.

PRIORITIZE. If you want to be healthy and lose weight, exercising has to take priority over watching TV or playing video games or whatever. You want some good quality time with your spouse or kids? Get in shape, see how much different it feels to feel good about yourself. When you can go to the park, the beach, the pool and run and play and interact with your family, that is some serious quality time.

Come on folks, think about how you spend your time and where you can fit in some exercise. You can. You just have to prioritize, put it on the "To do" list or calendar like an appointment and do it. It is not optional. We are talking about adding years to your life here, and quality to your life. Isn't that what it's all about?

** Odds that the average guy will develop diabetes even if he is disease free at 40? 1 in 3

** Increase in risk if that guy watches 4 or more hours of TV daily? DOUBLE.
-Scott
Hook up with me here: Online training, nutrition and inner circle membership and support- www.theprogram.trainerize.com

The Daily Smackdown

Every once in a while, we all need to be slapped around a little bit. You know, when we are kidding ourselves into believing something that we really want to believe, but it just ain't true. That's when we need a good friend to grab us by the shoulder, pull us aside, look us in the eye and say "Hey buddy, here's the deal" and lay it out for us. Well today I am going to be that good friend, Jillian Michaels style.

If you want to lose weight, and for just about everyone reading this blog, this means you, and if that weight is substantial, and substantial is anything more than five pounds, then listen up because I am talking to you.

Don't believe any thing you see on Regis and Kelly or whatever else you watch that tells you by making a few minor changes, switching from Coke to Diet Coke, using Splenda instead of sugar in your coffee, etc., you will lose weight and achieve the body of your dreams. It's not.

Have you ever read about how to save money? They give you tips like stop going to Starbucks and make your own coffee, don't buy a newspaper but read it online instead, etc. Is anyone getting rich like this? No, I don't think so. The one or two good articles you read written by a real financial advisor who lives in the real world will tell you this: Don't give up your little things, like Starbucks and the newspaper. Instead focus on the big things, like making changes to your auto insurance policy, starting up your 401K and maximizing it, drive a less expensive car and stop eating out at expensive restaurants and cook at home. Those big changes make a difference, but going to instant coffee ain't gonna cut it.

Well weight loss and fitness is the same thing. Don't kid yourself that switching to Splenda or Equal is going to do anything to your waistline. In fact, in my opinion it is more likely to give you some kind of trouble down the road, like most sugar substitutes, and you'd be better off with a little sugar. At least sugar is natural. Anyway, I digress. The point is you need to take "massive action" to lose weight. You are trying to save your life here. You are trying to lose 20, 30 even 50 pounds. That is not happening with small changes. "Start taking the stairs instead of using the elevator." Not gonna do it. Is it a good idea? Yes, of course. But it's not going to make a dent in your size 18, that's for sure.

What is massive action? Make the decision to do something dramatic. Commit to a plan of action. Join a gym (and pay for the year up front). Hire a trainer (and not just once a week), sign up for aerobics or spinning classes and go EVERYDAY. Call a nutritionist or get The PROGRAM Ebook and learn how to eat because I know that you "Don't really eat that bad", but guess what? You do! You do eat bad. You may not eat fast food for every meal, but if you need to lose 20 or more pounds, you are eating very, very wrong and you need to learn what to do and start doing it pronto. Every day, week or month you wait to do something dramatic, you will gain another 2, 5 or 10 pounds and have that much more trouble getting started.

Don't say "I'm going to try to workout this week." Too weak and not committed. Say "I am going to exercise everyday this week." Be definite and even more specific. "I am going to go straight to the gym from work every day this week. I am going to do 30 minutes of cardio everyday, and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am going to do weights." That is more like it. And better than that would be that you are going to see your trainer M, W and F or you better know exactly what you are going to do on those days or you will just putz around like most people at the gym and you will feel good that you went, but you will know deep down inside that you probably didn't do what it is going to take for you to lose the weight. If this is the case, you will only last about 3 weeks and then you will bail, deciding that "This doesn't work" and you will give up.

It doesn't work if you don't do it right. Just showing up won't do it. Just hitting a tennis ball back and forth won't make you a good tennis player. If anything, it might make you worse as you learn bad habits that a coach will someday have to correct. Same thing with exercise. Learn now to do it right, what exercises are best, how hard you have to push yourself, etc.

I think you get the point. The New Year's Resolutioners are here and just looking for another one to join the crew of the failed, well-intentioned and misinformed. Be one of the few who really does want to make a change, recognize that your habits have gotten you in this predicament, identify that you need to make changes, take massive action and get going towards being the you that you want to be. Because you can do it. You just need to want it.
-Scott
Hook up with me here: Online training, nutrition and inner circle membership and support- www.theprogram.trainerize.com

The truth about food labels

I know we'd all like to think that the government and the food manufacturers are really looking out for us and helping us to lose weight and get healthy but I've got news for ya. They are not. They are looking to make money and lots of it. Imagine the board meeting of a big food giant..
"So what do people want to buy today? Healthy and organic food right? Everyone is fat and everyone wants to lose weight. Right? So let's make our products sound really healthy and we'll sell a ton. Hell, if we throw in a little cheap soy protein (which, by the way is a cheap and highly processed by-product of the soy industry and C-R-A-P), we can call our cereal "high protein" and people will buy it thinking it will help them build muscle. Perfecto! And we can add a bunch of chemicals to make it taste good that we don't even have to list on the label so no one will even know! I love this! Let's start a new brand called 'Joey's Organics' and that will really sell!"
You get the idea. Look out for yourself. How? Eat veggies (not from a can or in a microwaveable bag), eat fruit, eat organic chicken and wild caught fish, eat organic grassfed beef, eat eggs, eat nuts, eat things that have less than 3 ingredients. Eat things that you could grow or find in nature. Avoid things on labels that you can't pronounce. Read more..
I have to thank the good folks at www.sixwise.com for the following article... Couldn't have said it better myself. Read it and weep.. Lol..
Most foods are required to carry nutrition labels to provide, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says, "distinctive, easy-to-read formats that enable consumers to more quickly find the information they need to make healthful food choices."
But despite being regulated by the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food manufacturers can, and do, get away with adding confusing or deceptive information to the labels. Sometimes this is done inadvertently, but often it's done with the specific intention of making you think the food is better for you than it actually is.

1. Serving Size. Many processed foods that are packaged as a single serving actually contain two or more servings. According to the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) of 1990, a food item in a relatively small container may be labeled as a single serving if the entire contents can "reasonably be expected to be consumed in a single-eating occasion." However, there is often a discrepancy.Reading the labels can be tricky, so here are the six top nutrition label "catches" to watch out for on your next trip to the grocery store.
Consider "Big Grab" potato chips or Doritos and "Big Gulp" drinks. Most people buy them with the intention of eating or drinking the whole thing. Butan average serving of a soft drink is 12 ounces. Some of the Big Gulp drinks can be up to 64 ounces--more than five cans of soda! As for potato chips, a serving size can vary depending on the package. A single-serving snack size bag of chips, of course, has fewer calories than a larger, but still single-serving, size of the same snack.
Other items to watch out for include large muffins (which often contain two servings), bagels, "individual" ice cream containers (some contain 4 servings), and personal size pizzas.
2. Exempt Ingredients. Food labels list ingredients in descending order. The most prevalent ingredient is first, the least is last. However, ingredients that constitute less than 2 percent can be listed in any order after the heading "contains less than 2% of the following."
Other ingredients called "incidental additives" do not have to be listed on labels. These include substances transferred to food via packaging and "ingredients of other ingredients" that are present at "insignificant levels" and have no "technical or functional effect."
Natural and artificial flavors are also often grouped together under one name, and manufacturers aren't required to disclose what "artificial flavors" really means. The exception here is a new ruling by the FDA, to begin January 1, 2006, that states any food containing a "major food allergen" must have it listed on the label (whether or not its part of flavoring or incidental additives). Major food allergens include milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat, as well as food ingredients containing proteins derived from any of these food categories.
3. All Natural. Food products that claim to be all natural may in fact include unnatural ingredients. According to Mike Adams, the "Health Ranger," "[The term all-natural] actually has no nutritional meaning whatsoever and isn't truly regulated by the FDA."

4. Free From ... The FDA allows food manufacturers to round to zero any ingredient that accounts for less than 0.5 grams per serving. So while a product may claim to be "gluten-free" or "alcohol-free," it can legally contain up to 0.5 grams per serving. While this may seem like an insignificant amount, over time this small fraction can add up."The reality is that natural isn't always safe, and products with the 'natural' labeling are not required by law to contain only natural ingredients,'' said Linda Golodner, president of the National Consumers League. " ... Consumers think of words like 'safe' and 'good for me' when they think of natural, but across the board -- from prescription drugs to food products -- many of these natural claims are misleading at best.''
Case in point, many food products that claim to have no dangerous trans fats list partially hydrogenated oil in their ingredients label. Partially hydrogenated oil creates trans fats, so these labels may be taking advantage of the rounding to zero option.
"If there's less than 0.5 gram of trans fats per serving, the food manufacturer may round down to zero," says D. Milton Stokes, R.D., a New York City-based nutritionist. "It's an FDA rule, and it happens with all foods."
5. Unfamiliar Terms for Unsavory Ingredients. Food manufacturers are known to use "clean labels," in which they hide ingredients they know consumers would rather not have in their foods under names they won't recognize.
For instance, if you're trying to avoid MSG, you need to look for all of the following terms, as they all contain MSG:

Autolyzed yeast Calcium caseinate Gelatin Glutamate Glutamic acid Hydrolyzed protein Monopotassium glutamate

Monosodium glutamate Sodium caseinate Textured protein Yeast extract Yeast food Yeast Nutrient

6. Misleading Ingredient Claims. Sometimes, foods that claim to include healthy ingredients actually don't contain them, or only contain them in miniscule amounts. Common offenders are blueberry waffles with no blueberries and strawberry yogurt with no strawberries. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) recently asked the FDA to "immediately stop misleading food labels," including:

• Kellogg's Eggo Nutri-Grain Pancakes: The label says they're made with whole wheat and whole grain, but they're made primarily of white flour and contain more high-fructose corn syrup than whole wheat or whole grain.
• Betty Crocker Super Moist Carrot Cake Mix: Contains only carrot powder as the 19th ingredient on the label.
• Gerber Graduates for Toddlers Fruit Juice Snacks: The primary ingredients are corn syrup and sugar.

"Food manufacturers are shamelessly tricking consumers who are trying to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains," said CSPI director of legal affairs Bruce Silverglade. "Too many processed foods contain only token amounts of the healthful ingredients highlighted on labels and are typically loaded with fats, refined sugars, refined flour, and salt, in various combinations."

Don't be this guy..

True story. I am at a holiday party and a gentleman I know approaches me after he's had a few rum and cokes. Here's the gist..
"Hey man- you're a trainer right?"
"Uh, well, yes kind of"
"I need your help man. I've got to lose this stomach. (takes hand from off of my arm, where he had been quickly sizing up my shoulder and tricep development and rubs his large buddha belly) I'm doing this soup diet. What do you think about that?"
"Soup diet. Hmnnn. What does that consist of?"
"Soup man. All soup. You know, you eat soup for lunch and soup for dinner. I don't really eat breakfast, I mean not going to have soup for breakfast, haha, and that's it. I mean, I'm off of it tonight because I'm drinking. (proceeds to stuff another fried cheese product into his mouth and wash it down with another rum and coke). But it works, I've lost a couple pounds. I mean I'm in the bathroom all day but I did lose a couple. My stomach is still big though"
"Well are you exercising at all?"
"Nah, man, you know I just get bored. I'm going to look you up though, after New Year's"
"Well, my suggestion would be stop kidding yourself and get serious. You are extremely unhealthy, your stomach fat is a huge indicator of heart and metabolic disease, you will never lose body fat or improve your body composition on the soup diet, you will just continue to lose muscle and water and stay fat. You need to make real changes to your lifestyle and your approach to food, don't go on another "diet" but eat moderately and not gluttonously, and exercise regularly. You need to exercise consistently and properly to get healthy, to reduce that belly fat and to get your metabolism back up to speed. You are setting yourself up for failure and in three months you will be in much worse shape than you are now, thanks to the soup diet."
*I wish I could say all of the above, but of course I did not. I am a seasoned professional at "yessing" people who do not really want to hear the answer to their questions, but they just want someone to placate them. *
"Ok buddy, well sounds good. Give me a call after New Year and we'll get you set up. In the meantime, be careful with those type of diets as they can slowdown your metabolism and it would really help if you got back to working out again. Have fun tonight. "

*Moral of the story. Don't be that guy.*