Step Beyond’s BodyBlog

How often should I eat ?????  This is a question I hear quite often and really ties into my previous blog about calorie counting as well.

Ideally, you should be consuming 5 or 6 meals a day – 6 is the preferred number.  If we assume you are awake for 15 hours a day and sleeping 9 hours, this means you should be eating every 2.5 hours to get in your six meals. 

If your caloric intake is 2500 calories per day (as an example) this means you should be consuming 416 calories at every sitting.  Ideally your earlier meals will be slightly higher and you will decrease a few calories over the course of a day, but we won’t bother getting into that right know and just stick to the basics.  It takes about 2 hours for your body to digest a meal, which is why every 2.5 hours is the ideal time to eat.  If you are a light sleeper and only get in 6 hours a night, then you should be adding in an extra meal.

Like you Mother used to tell you, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.  If you go to bed at 10pm and have just had your last meal and then wake up at 7am you have already gone 9 hours without eating.  Say you skip breakfast and then don’t eat until lunch – you have now gone 14 hours without eating.  For those trying to make changes (either bulk or cut) this is disastrous.  By going so many hours without eating you will have done two things; #1 - enter a catabolic state whereby your body will essentially use your muscle to provide energy to the body, thus losing muscle and #2 – enter into a ‘starvation response’ where you body has no idea when the next meal is coming, so it essentially holds onto fat to use for future use.  So whether your intention is to gain weight or lose it, when you don’t eat you are hampering your potential results.  The starvation response and catabolic state actually kick in after as little as 3 to 4 hours, which is another reason why eating every 2.5 – 3 hours is ideal – to fend off the negative responses of the lack of food in your system. 

Every meal should contain a healthy portion of protein, carbs and fats – try to adhere to the 40 – 40 – 20 rule when it comes to you caloric make-up of each meal.  Stick to the basics when it comes to your meals as well; oatmeal, sweet potato, brown rice, fish, chicken, green veggies, etc.

In addition, eating more frequently will help to control cravings and binging because you are getting healthy meals more frequently.  Your insulin and sugar levels remain more constant as opposed to having a ‘spiking’ effect by eating poorly and infrequently – which again often leads to binging and the craving for carbs.  This constant flow of food also will help to maintain energy levels throughout the day.

Unfortunately, nobody said losing weight or gaining it is easy, otherwise we would all look like sculpted Greek gods.  It is hard work in the gym and even harder work in the kitchen.  It requires planning your diet ahead of time, doing meal prep every night for the next day, packing your food in tupperwares, finding time in your schedule to eat, and so on.  It is said that 80% of your success comes down to what you do in the kitchen and that is very true.  Ask any successful competitor or individual who has had a great transformation and they will echo the same sentiments; diet prep, planning  and control are key.

In summary, you need to eat to lose weight, just as badly as you need to eat to gain weight.  It is a matter of being smart about it by ensuring you are making healthy choices, planning out your meals and ensuring you are eating according to your plan.

That’s it for now – please let me know if you liked or disliked this blog or have any questions or feedback.

And remember; eat clean, lift hard and Step Beyond!!!!!!

Do I need to count calories????  Well, in short – YES!!!

If you have the desire and ambition to make changes in your life, it is essential that you keep track of both your calorie input and output.  Now, many may be thinking that counting calories is only for those who are trying to become figure competitors or bodybuilders, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Anybody who wants positive change should be counting.

Losing weight or gaining weight is in reality quite a simple process – take in less calories than your body requires and you will lose weight.  Conversely, take in more than your body requires and you will gain weight.  First, you need to establish what your baseline is or what is referred to as your daily maintenance level.  There are plenty of calculators on the internet or on bb.com that can help you determine exactly what your maintenance level is.  For men, generally maintenance runs between 2500 – 2800 calories per day, while for women it is about 1800 – 2000 calories per day.  These of course are just averages – individual results may vary.  In theory, if you were to consume your maintenance calories per day and do nothing else, your weight would stay the same.

Now, a little science behind the madness; one pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories.  So if you were to consume 500 calories per day less than your maintenance and keep that up for 7 days, you should lose one pound of fat (500 x 7 = 3500).  Basically you have created a deficit and the greater the deficit the greater the fat loss.  That doesn’t mean to go crazy and only eat 700 calories a day and think because you are so far below maintenance that you will lose plenty of fat – WRONG.  If you dip too far below your maintenance your body will wonder why you are not feeding it and wonder where and when its next meal is coming – it will think you are starving it.  So, to combat this it will actually hold on to your fat as a way of adapting to this stress – this is called a starvation response.

500 calories per day seems to be the magic number and this is ideally in most cases what an individual should look at cutting from their maintenance if they want to lose weight.  When you throw in some exercise, it does create a greater deficit and helps to increase the fat loss.  Of course, like anything, there are always exceptions to the rule and especially in some women a cut of 500 calories per day may be too great of a calorie reduction.  If they are of smaller frame and their maintenance level is 1400 – 1500 calories, then a reduction of 500 would be almost 33% of their diet.  This is terribly low for general survival and very unhealthy.  A person should never dip below 1100 – 1200 calories per day.

If an individual is looking to gain some size or ‘bulk’ then they would ideally pick a target that is higher than their maintenance.  To build muscle, you need to feed it and in those cases individuals will consume anywhere from 500 – 2000 (or more) calories above their maintenance in their quest for mass.  Inevitably fat will accompany this muscle development, which is why most competitors will do a bulk, followed by a cut  -  build muscle, strip away the fat; and then repeat as needed.

However, back to my original question – do I need to count – YES YOU DO!!!!  If you want to make to make change via a cut or bulk, how would you know if you are on track if you are not counting? How would you know if you are 500 below or over or on par with your maintenance?  Short answer – you wouldn’t – and thus, there goes your goal right out the window.

If you want to succeed you need to set goals.  As part of those goals you need to determine what you plan of action is and that means counting calories and outlining your diet in detail.  If you have never done this before you would be surprised about how little or how much you are consuming in terms of calories.  Get a journal, write everything down that you put in your mouth and examine the calories at the end of each day.  Then you will know if you are in your ballpark or not and whether you have a chance of meeting your goals.  Also, get in the habit of reading labels, if you already don’t.  This will be essential to your success.  Knowledge is power and the more you have the greater your odds of achieving that change you desire.

In addition to just counting calories, you should get in the habit of examining the protein, carb and fat make-up of your diet.  Breakdown these daily numbers too.  A good rule of thumb is that 40% of your diet comes from protein, 40% carbs and 20% fat.  The more you get into things and educate yourself, you may want to tweak those numbers slightly, but as a beginner that is an ideal ratio.

So, remember, write everything down, read those labels, count those calories and watch those changes happen!!!!!

EAT  CLEAN,  LIFT  HARD  AND  STEP  BEYOND !!!

Hi everybody!!!  Hope you all had a terrific week and are one step closer to reaching all your health and fitness goals.  Speaking of goals, that is what I want to discuss today; Goal Setting.

I am sure many of us have heard the old saying, “Failing to plan, is planning to fail.”  In many aspects of life this is very true and quite often in our day to day living we do plan things out and set goals for ourselves.  Yet, when it comes to our health and fitness regimens we often tackle the problem with reckless abandon and no real structure.  We may say we wish to lose some weight or gain some muscle, but without a clear idea as to what we are wanting or attempting to do, we are ultimately leaving room for failure.

This is my first crack at a blog and I am hoping to make it a regular weekly occurrence and use this as a venue to share my experiences and knowledge with who ever may be interested.  Hopefully there will be a few who will follow my writings and I will do my best to maintain your interest.
Since this is my first entry, I think it is vital that you first understand who I am and where I am coming from in terms of my own fitness levels and experiences.    
Like many before me, I had quite simply got tired of looking at myself in the mirror and not liking the guy I saw staring back at me.  I had always been active and reasonably healthy.  Since I was a child I had always played organized sport, whether it was hockey, baseball, football, rowing or golf.  You name it and I played it.  I maintained a very active lifestyle until I completed university; then ‘real life’ kicked in.  A busy work schedule and too much socializing got in the way and started me on a pathway which was not a desirable one in terms of my health.  I made many efforts to get back into shape, but none of them ever stuck.  I participated in recreational baseball and hockey leagues, but of course that was always followed by a trip to the local tavern where any positive effects of the activity were quickly erased.  I also was a gym owners dream – I would gladly renew my gym membership and never use it.  I may have used the gym for two or three weeks, but then disappear for 6 months, then come back and repeat the cycle all over again.  I also had no idea as to what ‘healthy’ eating was.  Like most in a similar situation I thought starving myself was the key to weight loss.  So, on one of my cyclical tours through the gym I would starve myself for two or three weeks, but then things would get tough and I would fall off the wagon and binge on food once again and stop going to the gym.  I continued this cycle for many years, all the while not happy with my appearance or the way I felt about myself.
Years passed and I was lucky enough to marry a wonderful lady named Kim and together we share two wonderful boys; Jakob who is five and Zackary who is one and a half.  It was shortly after my 36^th birthday in September 2007 that I decided I had to change, not only for myself but for my family.  I wanted to be healthier for them, so that I could enjoy my recreational time with them and not be fatigued.  I also wanted to set a good example for my two young sons and provide them with the information and tools so that they could learn about healthy living and hopefully make positive choices as they grow up. 
Once again I embarked on a trip to the gym and renewed my membership on October 1, 2007 – the first day of my transformation.  I also started trying to eat healthier, although at this point in time I still didn’t have much idea as to what that was.  Essentially, it came down to eating a lot of salad and chicken and not much else.  After a month I had made some pretty good progress and I was pleased that I had stuck with things for this long.  However, I could feel myself teetering and decided I needed a long term goal to maintain my focus.  I was aware that there was a bodybuilding show every April very close to where I lived.  Without much thought of what I was getting into, I decided that to compete in that show was my goal.  I had five and half months to get ready.  That is plenty of time isn’t it??  After all, how tough could it be??  I had no idea!!!!
Immediately after setting my goal I sought out some much needed help.  I tracked down a personal trainer at my gym.  I explained my objectives and we got right to business.  The knowledge, support and experience were fantastic.  I trained twice a week with my trainer and received some much needed help with my diet, which was key to my success.  Along with my own self education, I finally began to understand the ‘science’ behind what I was doing.  I was like a sponge and just wanted to learn and read more about dieting, different exercise programs, and sought out opinions and feedback on the forums.  In particular, I have become great fans of Layne Norton and Derek Charlebois and have found their articles and information to be extremely beneficial and inspirational.
Fast forward to April 19, 2008 and I am about to step on the stage and compete in my very first bodybuilding show; the 2008 Caribbean Grand Prix, an INBF show in the Cayman Islands.  I had started out in October 2007 at 240 pounds and 25%BF.  Here I was six and a half months later at 175 pounds and 3.5%BF.  Due to lack of participants at the show, they had to combine a few of the classes together.  They didn’t have a Novice Class, so I had to compete in the Open Heavyweight Class (in this case heavyweight was anything above 173 pounds).  I had an absolute blast at the show.  I was so proud to be up on stage.  I couldn’t have cared how I placed, but I was able to come in 4^th. 
Chapter One of my journey was complete.  It wasn’t easy and many times I wanted to give up.  Oftentimes I would wonder why I was spending so much time in the gym, doing cardio, practicing my posing, preparing meals for the next day, sacrificing time away from my wife and kids, but in the end it was all worth it.  The feeling of being on stage was incredible and to see my son in the audience holding up a sign saying “Go Daddy Go” and listening to him cheer me on almost choked me up. My kids and wife have been so supportive through this journey.  I certainly could not have done it without them. 
I am very happy to say that the bodybuilding lifestyle has become more of a routine in our house as we are all eating cleaner and trying to be more active outside of the gym.  Now that the show is over we have our little indulgences, but moderation has become key.  I plan on competing in the same show in April 2009 and will focus now on putting on size so that I can be a bit more competitive on the stage.  My wife is even thinking about competing as well, which would be a first for her too.  I really hope she does it, but even if she doesn’t, we are all better off and all on a path towards a healthier lifestyle that we will be able to pass on to our kids.
In the process of my transformation I have re-kindled my passion for health and fitness and desperately want to share my experience and knowledge with as many people as I can.  I have found something that excites me and drives me – a feeling I have not felt in a long time.  I am in the process of completing my PT certification and already training new clients both online and at various fitness facilities.  I am also currently in the process of developing a website so that I can better deliver online support and programs to who ever needs help to achieve their goals.  Many of us have a fair grasp as to what it takes to succeed in the realm of fitness, but many more do not.  I find myself now in apposition to help those that need it in this capacity and allow them to Step Beyond their current state and achieve their goals and ambitions as it pertains to their personal health.
So, there you have it – me and my history in a nut shell.  Hopefully, I have intrigued a few of you enough to check back in next week when I’ll post a second blog on a yet to be determined topic.  So, please, provide me some feedback if you have a moment and if you have any topics or questions you would like addressed let me know and I’ll do my best to help where I can.
Have a great day and remember to eat clean, lift hard and continue to Step Beyond!!!!

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