The Five Questions You Should Ask Yourself When Fat and Weight Loss Get Stuck

About 1/3 of my personal training clients are those who had early weight-loss success and then got stuck.  When I work with these people, here are five questions I ask them as we get going...

Weight-Loss Plateau Question #1: How long has it been since you did a cleanse?

If your car was sluggish and not performing very well, you would probably check to see the timing of the last tune-up.  Likewise, your body struggles to perform well and burn fat fuel if it hasn't had a tune up in awhile.  Getting rid of impurities and toxin via a cleanse is a great way to shake lose of a weight-loss plateau.

Your body stores acidic toxins in your fat cells.  If the environment in your body is too toxic to allow fat cells to release acidic toxins into the bloodstream, your body's natural survivalistic function will not allow fat to be burned.  A cleanse, especially one focused on alkaline foods and drinks, can serve as a tune-up for the body and help it to eliminate toxins and burn fat cells more effectively.

Weight-Loss Plateau Question #2:  When was the last time you swung a kettlebell?

Kettlebell workouts are great for fat loss.  They are a different breed...a different brand of workout.  The body needs workout variety to continue to improve.  When was the last time you turned your workouts upside down and did something completely different, like kettlebells?

Weight-Loss Plateau Question #3:  How much water do you REALLY drink every day?

Fat cells need to be well-hydrated to burn effectively.  I have weight-loss-plateau clients measure their water carefully.  It is amazing how little water we drink...and it makes up 70% of our body!  Drinking more water fixes a lot of problems associated with weight loss.

Weight-Loss Plateau Question #4: How much fiber and protein do you consume in a day?

Most people have very little idea how much protein they consume in a day, and absolutely no idea how much fiber they consume in a day.  Fiber and protein have one thing in common: they help the body achieve satisfaction from hunger.  Fiber also escorts toxins out of the body and assists in colon function.  Protein helps repair and build muscle cells (and muscle cells burn 70% more calories than fat cells).    It is important to consume one gram of protein per pound that you want to weigh (eat like you want to be!) and 20-30 grams of fiber per day.

Weight-Loss Plateau Question #5: Is your cardio optimizing fat-burning mechanisms in the body?

When I ask this question I get a blank stare.  Most people don't know how cardio burns fat.  To maximize fat-based weight loss in your cardio workout, make sure to read my others blogs on fat loss to learn about the secret cardio formula that is the world's proven best fat-burning cardio interval.

Do You Have a Question for Adam the In-Home Personal Trainer and Weight-Loss Boot Camp Extraordinairre?

If you have a question about working out, losing weight, my boot camp program (www.keepyourbetterhalf.com), or nutrition, feel free to go to my website and hit the CONTACT button. :)

Adam Erwin is an in-home personal trainer who travels the world to work with people who are ready to put excuses aside and work hard to change their body.  Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about what Adam does, who he works with, and how you can have him come and work with you!  A Minneapolis resident, Adam will work close to home (Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Minnetonka, Edina) or will travel to your location (San Diego, Miami, Phoenx, Sydney Australia) to work with you.

Fat Loss Must Be Fed

One of the greatest sources of confusion for my weight loss and fat loss clients is how to conceptualize fat loss. Many of my clients say, "I don't want to gain muscle, I just want to burn fat." That's like saying, "I don't want to make money, I just want to pay off debt." Good luck with that.

The reality is that gaining muscle and losing fat are two sides of the same coin. Most of the time our body is either burning fat to supply energy or burning muscle to supply energy. And breaking down muscle (also called being in the "catabolic state") is the energy source of choice for our body.

Here is the cool thing about our body: we cannot grow muscle and burn muscle at the same time. Another way to say this is, "If we are growing muscle we are forcing our body to burn fat." Ah ha! As long as we concentrate on muscle growth, our body will be forced to respond with fat loss (except in extreme cases of low body fat %, rare diabetes cases, etc.).

Here are three sure-fire ways to grow more muscle....I mean burn more fat...by concentrating on gaining muscle.

Burning Fat and Gaining Muscle Tip #1: Sprinkle Protein Throughout Your Day

Protein intake and digestion triggers a muscle tissue repair process in our body. The quicker the absortion of protein (whey protein is fastest, for example), the quicker muscles are fed and repaired. By consuming protein throughout the day (a whey protein shake here, a serving of cottage cheese there, a few handfuls of almonds now, a casein protein shake later), we constantly feed our muscles, which keeps them from being broken down for energy, which increases the body's fat burning mechanism to supply energy.

Burning Fat and Gaining Muscle Tip #2: Focus Workouts to Optimize Muscle Gain

Most "fat loss" workouts are long (40 minutes on treadmill, yikes!) with a weight-training focus on high repititions (you're killing me, Smalls!). There are several factors to implement for optimizing muscle gain (and hence fat loss). First, read my previous blog titled How to Burn Fat: 3 Key Ideas to Fat-Based Weight Loss and apply fat loss tip#1 regarding the 10 sec/15 sec cardio interval (and hard-core interval cardio, as it turns out, majorly helps on the hormone side of fat loss/muscle gain...stick with me ladies and gentlemen...I'll get you where you want to go!). Second, stick mostly to 10 rep / 3 sets when weight training...and have the 10 be heavy. Third, fit your workouts into 40 minutes to optimize growth hormone (natural GH made by your body, that is). If you apply these three ideas to your workouts, you wil set yourself up for more muscle gain and a lot more fat loss!

Burning Fat and Gaining Muscle Tip #3: Do Anything and Everything to Fight Off Stress

When our minds are stressed our bodies are stressed. The more effectively you can handle stress, the more effectivley you will handle the fat-causing, stress-induced hormone called cortisol. I can't dive deeply into all of these stress fighting strategies right now, but here are some important ones: deep breathing at a 1:3:2 ratio (inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 15, exhale for 10...any 1:3:2 ratio), laughing as much as possible, getting a workout in during a stressful day, consuming a B-vitamin complex (time-released, preferably), get 8 quality hours of sleep, eat slowly, and be in control of your time (don't run late!).

If losing fat is your goal, make sure to focus on ways to gain muscle. If you focus on gaining muscle, I can guarantee your body will respond by burning fat.

Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to change their body now! Adam follows good weather, which means he is currently training clients in Minnesota…anywhere within a 10 mile radius of Wayzata, MN. When fall and winter arrive, Adam will be headed toward Florida, Arizona, Australia, Malaysia, and other warm climates. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work and how he can help you lose fat, keep muscle, and keep your better half.