17 May Brandon Hartsell May 17, 2017 Having Trouble Losing Weight? Body, Fitness, Life 0 Comment At Sunstone our members often ask our coaches to work with them on losing weight. Our coaches work with members to establish the right mindset around fitness and this extends to ‘losing weight’. Since language affects the way we think about a goal like ‘losing weight’, it is important that we clarify what we mean. When you tell your coach, ‘you want to lose weight’, do you mean you want to lose fat? Fat takes up a lot of real estate on our bodies and it is probably an unwelcome tenant. Here are some principles to help get your mindset right on how to evict that unwelcome tenant. Think in terms of improving your body composition. Terms like losing weight usually lead to bad outcomes. You want your body composition to support your health and fitness not just to be lighter on a scale. Body composition goals are usually to increase lean muscle and decrease fat. Muscle takes up less volume on your body than fat. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here you go: Lose the 5 lbs. on the left (fat) but gain the 5 lbs on the right (muscle) and the scale doesn’t change but those jeans and yoga pants will sure fit differently. Muscle burns 7 to 10 calories per pound. Pro Tip: Programs that are part of a good fitness system will keep your muscles active and challenge making it more likely they are burning 10 calories. Fat burns 2 to 3 calories per pound. So, the math is simple for every pound of fat you replace with muscle you are burning as much as an extra 8 calories ‘just living’. When you move well, muscles need energy and burn calories. An extra pound of muscle not only burns more calories ‘just living’ it is burning more calories when you exercise. Therefore, when you replace 5 lbs. of fat with 5 lbs. of muscle you weigh the same but the same workout is now burning more calories. Get the idea? By optimizing your body composition (ratio of fat to lean muscle), you fundamentally shift your body in a way that calorie restriction and cardio cannot. Here is an analogy: Think of the calories you consume as pouring water in to a pot. Think of heating the pot to boil off the water as an instance of working out. Think of the surface area of the bottom of the pot as your lean muscle. Question: If you have two pots, one with a small surface area on the bottom and one with a larger surface area on the bottom, which one will boil the same amount of water faster? Answer: The on with the larger surface area. Using this analogy if your goal is to boil off water that most efficient thing you can do is use a pot with a larger surface area. The two pots in this analogy are fundamentally different for efficiently boiling water. Most people who struggle with fat loss have not optimized their body composition. They try to pour in less water or heat the pot more often. Far more efficient to build a larger pot. Note: one thing I don’t like about this analogy is more muscle doesn’t make you visibly larger like a larger pot would be. Now that you know you likely need to adjust your body composition by increasing your lean muscle here are a few more tips: The increase in lean muscle will usually precede fat lose. So stay off the scale because before you look leaner you will likely get heavier. Maintaining muscle requires protein so pay attention to your eating habits. Once you start increasing muscle, you may need to add more protein. Listen to your body for clues. The same meal is not as satisfying or new cravings. Try more lean protein and see if that helps. Your Sunstone coach is ready to help you improve your body composition and get you in a lifestyle of doing the right things at the right time to keep you in control of your fitness. Move well, Brandon Related Articles Born to Move Since the recent NYT article “How yoga Can Wreck Your Body.” I have seen a number of comments on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and via email. On the one hand I was sad that yoga (in general) was getting bad press as I personally know of the positive effects it brings to many people’s lives. On the other hand I felt a sense of vindication for 10 years of standing strong on: What Are HIIT Workouts? What Are HIIT Workouts? HIIT workouts have been growing significantly in popularity recently. With HIIT group classes popping up in more and more gyms and studios across the country. Despite the popularity, there are still some misconceptions and misunderstandings about HIIT training. The actual activity of the workout can vary, but typically HIIT training includes bodyweight and equipment based exercises. What makes it “HIIT”, is the time spent in high intensity vs. rest periods. So, what does “HIIT” mean? Healthy Holiday Eating: How to Enjoy Your Holiday and Stay on Track Personal Transformation Through Yoga I lived with depression, anxiety and poor health throughout my teenage and most of my adult life. Even through all of that I knew that I needed to make positive changes in my life but I did not know what, where or how to begin to make those changes. Yet this unexplainable feeling deep within me knew that I needed to start this journey as soon as possible. I was guided to a lady who practiced yoga and meditation and she shared with me the benefits that she had gained from years of practice. So I began to research both subjects Why You Should Invest in Coaching in 2020 Consider a few questions: Proper Hydration for Dallas Hot Yoga Staying properly hydrated is always important for optimum health, especially in a warm climate like Texas. When undertaking a hot yoga practice, especially with Dallas hot yoga, please make sure to stay well hydrated both inside our studio and during the rest of the day. Our bodies can expend up to 3 liters of water during a single hot yoga class! Comments are closed.