DAVID MODDERMAN'S WEIGHT LOSS AND NUTRITION BLOG » Lifestyle

Top 6 Nutritional Mistakes People Make Outside the Workout- Mistake #3-Not Eating Enough Fruits and Veggies.

admin — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 16:03:08 +0000

Do You Eat Enough Fruits and Veggies?

One of the biggest nutritional mistakes people make outside the gym is focusing on getting lots of protein for muscle recovery and starches for energy but then not getting enough fruits and vegetables.

I’m sure when you were a child your mother always told you to eat your fruits and vegetables! Why was this so important? This was so important because she new and was taught that fruits and vegetables were so important for you to grow up healthy and strong.

Now that you are older and full grown many of you have abandoned the fact that you still NEED your fruits and vegetables every day!

Why are fruits and vegetables so important? Lets take a look at some of the health benefits of fruits and vegetables:

-Fruits and vegetables are LOADED with fiber, vitamins and minerals that are crucial for tissue growth, repair and many other important body functions. The fiber, vitamins and minerals in fruit and vegetables are also shown to help treat, and prevent many chronic diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and stroke!

- Fruits and vegetables are full of many phytochemicals that are important for optimal mental function. Do you suffer from depression, or attention disorders? Eat your fruits and veggies!

-Fruits and vegetables provide an alkaline load to the blood. Since proteins and grains present acids loads to the blood. Eating fruits and vegetables every meal will help prevent an acid/alkaline imbalance. Too much acid and not enough alkaline means loss of bone strength, and muscle mass, which means more body fat!

- Fruits and vegetables will help fill you up and control your appetite and blood sugar which in turn will help with maintaining energy and fat burning.

Make sure to get a healthy variety, think color. Eating fruits and vegetables of different colors gives your body a wide range of valuable nutrients, like fiber, folate, potassium, and vitamins A and C. Some examples include green spinach, orange sweet potatoes, black beans, yellow corn, purple plums, red watermelon, and white onions. For more variety, try new fruits and vegetables regularly.

You can not go wrong with eating fruits and veggies every meal! I recommend 2-3 servings (1/2 cup) of fruits and vegetables at each and every meal. This would be around 10-15 servings if you eat frequent supportive meals.

“Yeah right!?” “How the heck can I get 10 servings of fruits and veggies every day?”

Fresh and frozen fruits and veggies are ALWAYS recommended. But the next best option is VGF 25 +. This not a multivitamin this is a whole food super pill with 25 fruits and vegetables, antioxidants, essential good fats, and amino acids.

This is usually everything your body is lacking if you’re not eating healthy frequent meals, if you’re lacking fruits and vegetables, or even if you think you’re eating healthy. VGF 25 + will fill in all those nutrition gaps most people suffer from. That’s why I personally take it myself 3 times a day and have and put my name on the line recommending it to my clients.

This supplement was designed to fill in nutritional gaps that most suffer from. it was designed by registered dieticians, and nutritionists.

Just a reminder if you take a Centrum or Meijer vitamin you are getting synthetic vitamins made in a lab with lots of chemicals! YIKES!

You can not go wrong with VGF 25+ all natural whole food vitamin.

You can read more about VGF 25 + and its benefits below.

for women click HERE

for men click HERE

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

5 Biggest Mistakes People Make In the Gym- Mistake #5- Not Using Proper Form and Resting Too Much.

admin — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:59:50 +0000

Mistake 5#- Not Using Proper Form and Resting Too Much.

One of the biggest mistakes I see and have seen in the gym is people working out and not using proper form when they lift weights. These mistakes are usually made using free weights but I see them made on cable machines, and stationary weight machines as well.

Proper exercise execution and form is crucial for not only safety but seeing the best possible results from your workout.

The biggest form mistakes I see are:

1) Swinging and using momentum during the lifting and lowering of the weight. Though this will allow you to handle more weight but this type of form will get you no where as far as the results go.

2) The tempo of the movement is too fast and momentum takes over. Lifting too fast again prevents you from focusing on the muscle and only the movement. The muscle is always more important than the movement.

3) Using your lower back and lower body to help you through the movement. When someone struggles to lift a weight or to get a few extra reps they tend to use their lower back to help them. This is a recipe for disaster. You need to drop the weight and use proper form.

4) Bouncing the weight off your chest. This is very common when I see someone doing barbell chest press. If you have to bounce the weight then you are using too much weight. Bouncing the weight prevents you from really using all the muscle fibers in your chest and allows momentum to help you.

5) Not fully extending at the top of the lift and not coming far enough down to get the most efficient range of motion. Proper range of motion allows you to work all the muscle fibers in that muscle efficiently. Partial reps are not recommended for most people.

6) Locking the joints out on every lift. Locking your legs out at the top of the squat or locking your arms out at the bottom of a bicep curl. The problem with locking the joint out is one it puts more stress on the joint and two you lose the tension on the muscle and this makes the exercise less effective.

7) Not keeping core tight and looking down while doing standing exercises. During a squat its very common for someone to use their lower back and knees by looking down and leading with their knees and shoulders. This will put stress on their back and knees. Keeping core tight, looking straight forward, and sitting away from your knees (leading with glutes) will allow you to the squat safely and effectively and put stress on the muscle and not the spine, lower back, knees and joints. (see photo above)

I always tell my clients “You need to focus on the Muscle not the motion” You should always know what muscle you’re working and focus on the muscle while lifting and lowering the weight. If you’re not feeling it in that muscle while you’re lifting and lowering the weight then you’re probably not working it very efficiently. Any one can do the motion and movement of lifting the weight but if you are not focusing on the muscle you’re really not doing much.

Resting Too Much.
Another mistake I see in the gym is people resting way too much between sets of an exercise and between exercises. If your number one goal is strength and size resting will allow you to lift more weight. However, it will also affect your endurance and you keeping your heart rate up. So if you want to increase your strength more rest is needed yet I wouldn’t recommend resting more than 90 seconds maximum. If your goal is not strength and size there is no reason to rest so much. Ninety percent of the people that come to see me want to get in better shape, improve their stamina, lose fat, or get ripped. Yet I see so many people at the gym with these goals doing a set and resting for a minute or more. I recommend making your time and workout more efficient by doing super sets, or circuits. This will allow you to go from exercise to exercise and rest a muscle group with out resting your heart. This will also allow you to get a great intense workout and not to mention you will burn more calories, challenge your heart, and get your workout in a much quicker period of time .(30 minutes or less)

This concludes “The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make In the Gym.” If you were making some of these mistakes I hope you will apply the new information you have learned and make your workout routine more efficient and effective!

Now let’s go get it!

Look for the next series “The 5 Biggest Nutrition Mistakes People Make In and Out Of the Kitchen” coming soon!

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach

~David Modderman

5 Biggest Mistakes People Make In the Gym- Mistake #4- Doing Only Ab Exercises And Thinking The Crunch Machines Will Burn Fat.

admin — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:24:46 +0000

Mistake #4 -Doing only ab exercises and thinking the crunch machines will burn fat.

In Mistake #1 – I discussed how doing only cardio and no weight training is not an effective strategy to see results no matter your goals. Resistance training is a must. Yet, some think just doing abdominal and stomach exercises are all the resistance training they need to do. The thought process is “I want to lose my stomach so that’s all I need to work.”

It’s impossible to go to a busy gym and not see someone doing stomach exercises. When I used to work at the big box gym I was amazed by how many people I would see just doing ab exercises and cardio and then come to me because they were not seeing results. I still to this day see people using all the different ab machines and doing hundreds of crunches forward and to the side, and back and forth, twisting, and crunching. In their mind they are targeting areas and crunching that fat away.

The spot reduction method has been around for decades and will probably never die. It seems everyone wants to reduce their waistline and marketers know this is by giving us fat wraps, fat burning creams, ab belts, and hundreds of ab devices you can buy off TV. People will always ask me one burning question about all these products do they work? Do they burn fat off your stomach? “NO!” There is not a cream, ab device. or wrap that will burn fat off your stomach. So is doing hundreds of crunches a waste of time? No, because you can definitely strengthen your stomach muscles especially if you are doing the right exercises but these exercises will not burn fat. Even though we are told and people still believe I am here to tell you cannot pick the one spot you want to burn fat and do one exercise to target that area and lose fat in the area alone. Fat is burned by your muscles proportionally throughout your body. How do you lose fat off your stomach then? You can lose fat by following a structured full body (not just stomach) resistance training, moderate aerobic exercise, and solid nutrition.

So if you want to abdominal/stomach exercises to strengthen your stomach and core and not necessarily burn fat what are the best and the worst?

Let’s start with the worst. If you want to strengthen your stomach and core (your lower back, oblique’s, abs, and pelvis muscles) then get off the ab/crunch machines.

The crunch machines you see at commercial gyms are probably the most over used and most ineffective machines for strengthening your core and seeing results at your waistline. Not mention most of the time when I see people using this machine they’re using lots of weight and their momentum to propel themselves forward rather than using muscular control. Secondly, the abs hardly even contract during this exercise, and when they do it is a very brief period. The sad thing is many trainers or gym employees at the gym actually give this machine to their clients or members as an effective way to strengthen their core and burn fat off their stomach. Also, if this employee was educated they would know these machines target only the anterior (front) muscles of the abdominal wall and will do little for their client. I see a lot of people who use this machine religiously everyday and they are actually creating an imbalance because they are strengthening the front muscles and not the stabilizers, back and sides. This will create an imbalance because a crunch machine is a stable hunk of metal and it will only isolate the front muscles, the side, lower back and stomach stabilizers muscle will not be activated this will lead to a weak back and strong front.

The most effective and efficient way to work your stomach muscles and core is to do exercises that work all your stomach muscles in harmony. The best way to do this is to train your core and abs in an unstable environment by using a stability ball, bosu ball and using body weight on the floor or ab board. Doing exercises like squats, and dead lifts are great for your core as well as isolation stomach exercises like stability ball crunches, planks, and bosu ball jackknifes in an unstable environment with proper form will allow you to strengthen your entire core safely and effectively.

In summary:

1) Ab exercises are not effective for burning fat off your stomach. Focusing on eating the right foods, do full body resistance training, and moderate aerobic exercise will be much more effective.

2) If you want to train your core effectively get off the machines and focus on doing full body exercises like squats, dead lifts, and isolation exercises like stability ball crunches and planks.

Look for Mistake #5 Coming soon!

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

The Fitness and Nutrition Mistakes Most Make in January!

admin — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 01:57:40 +0000

(some information referenced from Phil Kaplan’s article 2011 Mistakes)

Here are the fitness and nutrition mistakes most people will make in the first 2 weeks of January and beyond.

1. Going On A Fad Diet
Every New Year comes and people seem to start a diet. Whether it’s an extreme fad diet like detoxing your body, eating only soup or crackers or doing something that restricts calories like Weight Watchers, or South Beach. Following a “DIET” is a flawed approach. Most people fail to realize after all these years that any diet that restricts calories, or certain foods is doomed for failure! “BUT it worked for me before David! I lost 25 pounds on the Weight Watchers program.” My answer is well if it worked so well why aren’t you still doing it? And why are seeking me for help? Sure maybe a low calorie diet will help you lose weight temporary but how will it effect your body long term? And can you maintain it for the rest of your life? Most diets will destroy metabolism. All restrictive diets will fail What people need is a balanced supportive nutrition plan with the right amount of calories, that includes real natural foods. The most successful plans to follow are those that will not restrict calories and will provide everything your body needs to build lean muscle, increase metabolism and BURN fat like a machine.

2. They will overtrain or not train properly
Overtraining is extremely common.. It’s the curse of most New Years Resolutions. For most motivation is quite high, yet the body’s recovery ability is low. The first few days of January, most will arrive at the gym, lift weights, bust out a few rounds on the treadmill or elliptical, and then do a few crunches or pushups before bed. For a few days you’re motivated and sore. Then . . . just sore. Then . . . you skip a few days and the soreness retreats, but so does the motivation. You need recovery to see results yet you must also train correctly to see the best possible results. This bring us to mis-training. Mis-training is a little different.

I am amazed how many people I see or talk to who have certain specific goals of losing weight or building muscle yet they are doing all the wrong things to reach their goal. If your goal is fat loss (not just weight) you need to create the correct environment to burn fat. Balancing on a bosu ball, taking 2 minutes rest periods between sets, and doing 2 hours of cardio a day is the not the answer. Yet, people are doing/trying this methods everyday with no results. It’s about following the right amount and type of resistance training, moderate aerobic exercise, and eating the right foods to increase your metabolism. Creating the right calorie deficit (not excessive) and then getting adequate rest is crucial. One of the best you things you to get better results is to get off the weight machine circuit at the gym and start to use all your muscle groups like you move in the real world. You should be training your body how it moves in the real world and burning more calories. You don’t live in a stationary position so you should NOT exercise that way.

3. They will buy the latest fad supplement or weight loss drug on the market.
I will make this very clear there is not a drug or supplement that will burn fat without the help of the right exericse and the right nutrition. If anyone says this supplement “WILL WORK” they are lieing because no supplement or drug will work on it’s own. Don’t waste your money on drugs like “Alli” or stimulants that contain caffiene. Most supplements that contain caffiene or stimulants (fat burners) that are highly addictive and can actually increase body fat long term do to increasing your cortisol levels (stress hormone) The only supplement that most people need to aid them in losing weight is a good whole food vitamin. The reason? Most fail to get all the nutritients they need from their nutrition so a good whole food vitamin will fill in those gaps. What whole food vitamin do I recommend? You can find it by clicking here: Whole Food Vitamin

4. They’ll cut carbs and calories
What are Carbs? Are carbs even carbs anymore? There are so many things labeled ‘healthy that are not” Carbs are our bodies preferred energy source. Yet, most people think they need to be eliminated completely to lose weight. This is not a good idea carbs are used for fuel to give us energy and help spare our proteins for muscle recovery. Our body is a machine and carbs and are fuel for that human machines. What are calories? Calories are a unit of energy! Meaning if you are not eating enough your body will actually feed of your own muscle to supply it with the energy it needs. Most people do not realize how many calories they need to eat in order to lose fat and keep it off. Don’t cut carbs or calories if you are looking for a long term solution for fat loss.

5. They’ll still expect aerobic exercise to be the answer
Most physcians still tell their patients the best exercise is to “walk.” Women still tend gravitate toward aerobic exercise classes and shy away from weights. Men and women find biking, rollerblading or running enjoyable and they mistakenly assume it fully takes care of the exercise component. Unless your only goal is to get more effecient and running or biking, then aerobic exercise will never be enough you to reach your goals. Aerobic exercise though important is still just a piece of the fat loss puzzle. One needs to challenge and protect muscle (even building a little bit won’t hurt) through resistance training. Resistance training is the key to maintaining/increasing muscle and increasing ones metabolism. Not to mention increasing bone mass and strength.

6. They’ll make too much of a drastic change and step a little too far outside of their comfort levels
Maybe this is you……, You went out on New Year’s Eve knowing it’s going to be “the last time.” January 1st, or perhaps January 3rd (Monday), you’re going to stop drinking beer, stop eating pizza and desserts, workout every day, and think only positive thoughts. The positive thinking is a good step, but you’ve developed habits that are with you until they’re replaced by new behaviors. Trying to change everything all at once is most likely gonna set yourself up for failure. You need to have solid structured plan of progressive steps in place or most likely you will not move forward effectively. For most cravings try to drive you to what you’re body is used to. Reduction in caloric intake leads to energy compromise, and then, before you know it, you’re failing to recover.

What you NEED is a properly balanced nutrition and exercise plan where you can set realistic goals, and from there continue to progress with the lifestyle change you need. You’re health fitness should just not be a 12 week program or 60 day journey but a journey that includes the rest of your life.

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

What Does Eat Right and Exercise Really Mean?

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:22:17 +0000

“Eat Right and Exercise” I am sure you have heard this phrase a number of times.

Whether it be from the doctor or friends it is phrase that has been used religiously in our society.

Very often when you visit a doctor or person in the medicial field. They often give you a prescription to help lower high blood pressure, lower cholesterol and diabetes, and even help lose weight. They don’t always focus FIRST on treating disease and health ailments with exercise and nutrition like I would suggest. In my professional opinion the right nutrition and exercise should be always the first option before any medication is prescribed.

However, if you have a good doctor he/she will also suggest you try to treat your issue with “Eating Right and Exercise.” Yet they really never seem to tell you what eat right and exercise really means and should mean to you.

What should “eating right” really mean for you?

I recently recording a video to explain what “Eating Right” should mean to you.

You can find the video below:

Look For Part -2 Before the weekend “What The Right Exercise” should be for you and your goals.

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
~David Modderman
david@davidmodderman.com

You Must Have a Goal and a Focus Point to See REAL Results.

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:17:15 +0000

You must have a goal and focus point to see results!

Are you going to the gym or exercising every day just to maintain your current level of health and fitness? Or are you exercising everyday just to get into shape? If you want to see positive changes in your body just coming to the gym or “working out” probably will not be enough to see results. I see people everyday just working out with no plan in mind. Just because you are doing cardio doesn’t mean you are burning fat, and just because your lifting weights it doesn’t mean your building muscle. Cardio has the potential to burn fat as well as lifting weights has the potential to build muscle, but its not a given. If your nutrition is not in check and your not doing things the right way you can actually prime your body to burn muscle and store more fat! Yikes! All that effort of going to the gym and exercising at home could be in vain!

You should have a specific goal each time you plan to exercise. You should know what you will be doing, how much, for how long, and what you’re trying to accomplish that day, week, month, etc. A written plan of what you will be doing each day or that week could be very helpful. If you don’t have a goal then how will you know when you have reached the point where you are satisfied? If you are going to the gym just to “exercise” and go through the motions of a workout you might not be using your time very wisely.

You should have a specific goal whether it’s to build strength and muscle, strengthen your core, build endurance, or lose fat. These are all good goals but you must also make sure you are following a successful strategy (the Right Exercise and Nutrition) that will help you reach this specific goal. If your goal is fat loss following your typical low calorie diet with lots of aerobic activity could be the worst thing to do. One must build muscle first to effectively lose fat and keep it off. My recommendations are having a program designed specially for you or follow a program that is scientifically proven to get results. If your getting your workout or diet from a magazine or DVD you could be wasting your time thinking this program or diet will give you long term individual results.

Lastly, you must make sure you are changing the focus of your workout regularly, for example I have many of my clients focus on strength for 2 weeks, then endurance for 4 weeks, and fat loss for 4 weeks. Each phase we have a specific workout and nutrition plan designed specifically for this goal. Any program that you’re following the same focus point or goal for too long could be putting your body into a tailspin. The program’s my clients are following are constantly changing so their body cannot adapt to it. To see a summary of my programs please visit: REAL RESULTS PROGRAM

Having a specific goal and focus point is the only way to see continuous REAL results.

To Your Success,

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
~David Modderman

Is What Your Buying At The Grocery Store Killing Your Weight Loss Goals?

admin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:29:11 +0000

Now a days it’s so difficult to go to the grocery store to find and buy healthy natural foods. It seems like a large percentage of the foods now are prepackaged processed foods that will just add to your waist line.

The foods you want to buy are there….Unfortunetly, most do not know what to avoid and what to look for.

I have been taking my clients to the Supermarket for years and educating them on what to look for and what to want to avoid if they want to improve health, lose fat and build lean muscle. They are usally shocked when I show them how many deceptive foods labels are out there and how this is killing there weight loss goals?

Did you know there are foods are that are labeled sugar free that are LOADED WITH SUGAR!?

Did you know there a foods labled fat free that are 100% FAT!?

I recently took 94.5 Thunders Country’s Own “Flounder” to the supermarket to help educate him on what he should be looking for and what he should be avoiding when starting his new “Weight Loss Journey”

You Can View This Video Below:

Do you really know what your buying at the grocery store? I have only met a few who really do……..

If your not sure….I can help you!

Contact me today to schedule a Grocery Store Tour For You, and Your Friends and Family!

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman
david@davidmodderman.com

Are You Gaining Weight Over the Holidays??

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:14:46 +0000

Do you know the average adult gains 7 pounds of fat between Thanksgiving and New Years?

7 pounds of Fat in 6 weeks!! Yikes!!

A recent study shows that most never lose the weight they gain over the holidays. If you add this up over the years this 7 pounds each year could be close to 20 pounds or more!

But there is a small percentage of the population that never gain any weight during the holidays!

So how can you be the lucky group of people who don’t gain any weight? Do you have to be selected randomly like the lotto? Or follow the latest fad or starvation diet??

NO!

The solution is not some magic diet or pill its about doing things the right way.

You fail to realize that you are in control of your metabolism; you are the creator not the victim! If you eat the right foods most of the time and you eat smaller frequent in the right balance you can actually burn calories by eating!

Right now get out your calendar or weekly planner and plan all the days you will be attending all those holiday gatherings. Realize these gatherings will account for around 10-12 meals during these 6 weeks. So these 10-12 meals you will be allowed to indulge yourself and enjoy your family and friends.

When you begin to change the way you view your relationship with food, understanding that quality food aids in long term weight loss and frequent and smaller portions support an elevated metabolism, you’ll begin to seek a meal 5 to 6 times per day. And over 6 weeks during the holidays this accounts for 220 meals in total. If you’re putting in the better choices most of the time, believe me, you aren’t going to add to your waistline during those 12 indulging holiday meals!

The bottom line is you don’t need to deprive yourself or experience all those guilty feelings when you decide to eat some of your favorite foods. Make wise food choices most of the time, add some resistance training and cardiovascular exercise into the mix, and you too will become one of those envied people who, “eats whatever they want and doesn’t get fat!

Enjoy the Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

Do Body/Waist Wraps Help Burn Fat?

admin — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:12:33 +0000

Anything that promises quick weight loss without changes of lifestyle habits and proper nutrition and exercise should send you running for the hills. Body wraps were popular many years ago and I noticed more recently they are coming back again. I did some research once again to see what all the new hype is about.

Many body wrap companies market themselves as providing fast weight loss and reduction of inches from your body. Most body wrapping businesses are also spas that provide other cosmetic services from face masks to tanning.

How Body Wraps Work

Measurements are taken from various areas of your body. Usually these areas are trouble spots for the person being measured. The next step usually involves being covered with some type of mixture (could be mineral salt, oil, mud, etc.) and then being wrapped in cotton bandages (basically from head to toe) that may or may not have been soaked in some type of herbal solution.

The next step is to begin the sweating process which can be achieved through methods such as light movement or lying under a thermal blanket. After the process is completed, the wrap is removed and measurements are taken again to check how many inches have been lost.

The new craze is also now the “Do at Home Wraps” the one being pushed around here in Michigan is the “Ultimate Body Applicator” from a company call “It Works”

Claimed Benefits of Body Wraps

Tightens and firms skin

Lose inches (typically 6 or more)

Eliminates toxins

Reduce appearance of cellulite

Body wraps DO NOT shrink fat cells or burn body fat – no matter what type of wrap: bandages soaked in minerals, herbs, enzymes, plastic, foil, vinyl, clay, seaweed, mud – it doesn’t matter, body wraps don’t burn fat!

And those sauna “wraps” or rubber “wraps” that go around your waist? They can’t “burn” an ounce of fat either.

Some of these products definitely CAN take off inches (for example reduce your waist measurement), but it’s temporary and it’s not fat, its water weight and fluid.

Remember, “Inches” and “fat” are not the same thing.

Suppose I made this claim in an advertisement:

* Lose Up To 20 inches in 1 Hour! *

This is legal advertising because the claim “lose inches” might be supportable (if enough circumference measurements are taken with a tape measure at enough sites, that might add up to a total of 20 inches in circumference loss)

However I feel that these types of claims are misleading (and probably intentionally so), because “inches” is not the same as body fat but you might easily confuse “inches” with “fat.”

Contrast that claim with this one:

* Lose Body Fat without diet or exercise in 1 Hour!*

that claim is totally false and unsupportable.

Again, body wraps cannot burn fat or “shrink fat cells.”

If fat loss could be achieved with body wraps it would be very easy to test and prove.

Body composition (body fat) testing (rather than measurements of inches) could be performed before and after the wrap, and the answer (“does it work”) would become easily exposed.

Since it doesn’t work, you won’t find any wrap people accepting your challenge to allow you to do independent body composition testing, nor will you find a shred of scientific evidence showing reduction of body fat from wraps.

Some experts even warn that certain types of wraps can be dangerous, mainly due to the rapid and excessive fluid loss/dehydration.

If you want to get wrapped because you find it relaxing or you consider it a “pampering”, “spa-like” treatment, that’s one thing. Just remember, wraps have absolutely nothing to do with fat loss.

All body wrapping companies vary in their process. Don’t fall for the “weight loss” gimmick that some may use to market themselves. You don’t lose fat or have long term weight loss by performing a body wrap. For the most part, you are losing water weight during the process. The loss of inches are purely for cosmetic purposes and are commonly used to “fit into that dress” or those jeans that don’t quite fit anymore.

The inches lost simply come from loss of fluid. And guess what – those inches (and or water weight) will come right back in days if not hours, as soon as you completely re-hydrate yourself.

I’d suggest completely avoiding any companies that advertise fat loss when it’s only water and inches you’re losing, because a dishonest company is one you don’t want to patronize at all.

Always keep in mind that there are no quick fixes to losing weight. You have to put in the effort through proper diet and exercise.

Last word is SAVE YOUR MONEY, and invest in something that “DOES WORK”

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman

Is Alcohol Destroying Your Weight Loss Plan?

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:46:56 +0000

Does alcohol make you fat? Will going out for a few drinks with friends damage your weight loss progress? If you’re not sure whether alcohol makes you fat then check out these points – you might be surprised!

Alcohol WILL make you fat

I’m sorry to say it but alcohol will make you fat. I know many of you were hoping I would say that it wouldn’t but I have to be honest with you.

Here is some good news about alcohol and fat calories: A very small percentage of the alcohol calories you drink are turned into fat. It’s in the single digits. But the problem with alcohol and it’s calories is that when consumed it reduces the amount of fat that your body can burn off for energy.

Here is a super quick lesson about the body and burning body fat. Your body wants to burn body fat for energy. Especially when at rest. When you workout it wants to use carbohydrates and glycogen (stored carbohydrates) for energy to fuel it through those workouts. But when the activity stops your body wants to burn fat. It wants to burn it when you’re watching TV, reading a book, cooking dinner, brushing your teeth, and even sleeping. But the lifestyle of the person will dictate how much, if any fat is being burned for energy.

Things that can prevent the body from burning body fat as energy are skipping breakfast, low-calorie diets, not enough sleep or rest, skipping meals, and drinking too much alcohol.

Why does this happen? It comes down to a substance called acetate. Acetate levels rise sharply after alcohol is consumed. This substance pretty much tells the body to STOP burning body fat ASAP. And yet another problem is the body starts making another substance called acetyl CoA. This causes the body to actually start making more body fat.

There are a quite a few reasons as to why alcohol will cause you to gain weight and many of them aren’t as obvious as you might think. I will give a brief explanation of the main ones below.

•Alcohol is a weight loss suppressant and this is the main reason alcohol will make you fat.
To put it simply, the energy in alcohol is not easily used by the body so it oxidizes it into a form that is easily used. When this happens the other nutrients that need to be oxidized like protein, fats and carbohydrates miss out and get stored in the cells. Thus, alcohol helps you to gain weight by slowing down the whole weight loss process.

•Many alcoholic drinks have added sugar in them which, when mixed with the above processes, makes weight gain a whole lot easier.

•When you go out for a beer or a cocktail with your friends you may want to take watch of how your habits change. You generally order snacks at the club, then head down to the fast food joint on your way to your next bar and then you sleep in until midday because you are too hung over and thus miss your exercise for the day and your first two or three meals. So, in this indirect way, alcohol can impede your weight loss progress.

Another interesting fact about your body and alcohol is that it can only process about .5 to 1 ounce of alcohol per hour. To the body it is a toxic substance. And it is extremely hard for the liver to perform all of it’s regular functions, and even more so when alcohol is added to the mix.

12 ounces of beer has around .6 ounces of alcohol in it. So if you drank 5 beers your body would not be able to burn fat for up to 6 hours. The more you drink the longer you delay the body’s regular fat burning mechanism.

Also remember when you drink alcohol that it is empty calories. You get no nutritional benefit from it. No vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, omega-3′s, nothing!

So what to do? Well, if you were on a fat loss plan the best thing to do would be to avoid it. But for some people that’s out of the question. So if that’s the case always remember the word ‘moderation’. I’m sure you’ve heard it before with your nutrition and other parts of your life.

Some other tips would be to choose wine or a light beer. And limit your intake to just 1-2 days a week with a maximum drink limit of 2. Drinking everyday on a fat loss plan is not a fat loss plan at all.

If you are trying to lose weight then I would skip alcohol altogether. If you want to go out with your friends then try drinking something else so that you still feel included.

A night of hitting the town and heavy drinking will generally slow down your weight loss for the next two to four days. Is it worth it?

Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,

~David Modderman