Singapore Personal Trainer: What If I trained, but ate anything I want?

If you are trying to lose fat, exercise without proper nutrition will not work.

You will gain the health benefits, and you will "feel" better than not doing anything at all. BUT if you want the visible changes, you will need to change your diet and nutrition as well.

But a recent study by one of my fellow fitness professionals in the US came to a pretty shocking (but very commonly observed) result. A group of sedentary people with high body fat (which is most people nowdays!) did 12 weeks of hard training - 3 hours/week of weights and 2 hours/week of cardio and did not have any dietary control.

Their average results:
Gain 1kg muscle, lost 1/2kg fat, change in fat percentage -1%... which is VERY discouraging for that amount of exercise which is more than most people do anyway.

I cannot overstate the fact that dietary changes are super important!

Good diet is a big part of the reason our clients get results:

• A very overweight client dropped 17kg in 1 month of training
• Another large client dropped 9kg of weight, lost 12kg of fat and gained 3 kg of muscle in 2 months
• Yet another lost 10cm on his waist in just 5 weeks

This happens when the "switch" goes off and says... wow I better not be eating so much crap!

Singapore Personal Trainer: Obesity, Greater girth, shortened life

No shock here. Being obese, tubby or just plain fat not only makes you more likely to be dumber in your later years, it makes your later years lesser as well (i.e. you die younger). While this is no surprise...

It is something to worry about because this is probably the first time in recent history where the life expectancy is dropping!

Yes. The cigarette manufacturers are selling you the sticks of death...

Yes. The food manufacturers are selling you food that has nitrates, trans-fats and environmental toxins that kill ya...

Yes. We live in stressful Singapore where work hours are long and time is short...

But No that doesn't mean that we can forget about taking care of ourselves. We can always make the hard choices that lead to better health. We can't take care of our families or loved ones if we don't.

I don't think of time/money invested training and eating as "spent". I think of it as "saved"... saved on medical bills, and saved on a future low quality life!

Singapore Fitness Coach: Persistance (Green Eggs and Ham)

You know, part of being a coach is helping people push through tough times. Helping them to persevere and to be persistent.

Just like the Dr Seuss Book about green eggs and ham. "Sam I am" tells his friend all about green eggs and ham and how wonderful they are and asks his friend to eat them.

Over

and Over

and Over

and Over again...

16 times to be exact...

and finally his friend gives in!

How persistent are you with your fitness goals? A minor injury set you back? The diet didn't get you as lean as you had hoped? Your co workers are not supportive of your healthy eating?

16 times!

And you can even get somebody to eat green eggs.

Something to think about huh!

Singapore Fitness Coach: What Motivates You?

As a fitness coach, I know that everybody knows the benefits of proper exercise.

• Improved Blood Profile - nice but I'm busy
• Lower Blood Pressure - nice but I'm tired every day
• Reduced Risk Of Heart Disease - nice but I'm just changed jobs, got to please the boss
• Reduced Chance of Disease (cancer, diabetes, etc) - nice but I'm lazy
• Increase sense of well being - nice but I'm happy being average
• Healthy bones, joints, muscles - nice but I'm ok with a bit of pain after all isn't it just aging?

Makes you look good! And feel good about yourself!- Ah ha!

Hit the nail on the head.

Different people are motivated by different things, but even high level athletes are motivated at least somewhat by the way exercise makes them look. So enjoy the way your training makes you look and feel! There is nothing wrong with that!