Matlock / Bakewell gym - Blog

The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 13th August 2018

Sunday 12th August 2018

Hi,

I often get asked if it matters where your calories come from. If you calculated that you'll lose weight by eating 1,800 calories a day then does it matter what those calories consist of? It could be 1,800 calories of burgers, chocolate bars, crisps or cake. Last week I wrote that the type of calories you eat influences your results.

If you eat very low-carb and have trouble sleeping, your hunger levels could rise and you might struggle to keep your calorie intake low enough to lose weight. Or if you don't eat enough calories from fat or carbs to power your workouts, you could end up burning fewer calories than you think, because you're not giving it your all in the gym.

Do you know what a Twinkie is? If you don't, it's a golden sponge cake with a creamy filling. Well, for 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these Twinkies every three hours, instead of meals. His premise: to lose weight, pure calorie counting is what matters most - not the nutritional value of the food.

This subject is explored later in our article: is calorie counting all that matters for weight loss?

We have 2 main membership options:

Gym Only:

Single: £23pm for 12 months, £25pm for 3 months and £27pm for 1 month.
Joint/Student: £22pm for 12 months, £24pm for 3 months and £26pm for 1 month.

Gym & Classes :

This membership includes:

✔ 139 classes every month.
✔ Classes include HIIT, Kettlebells, Body Conditioning, Pilates and more.
✔ Up to 8 people per session.
✔ Come to as many sessions as you like.

Gym & Classes membership prices:

Single: £32pm for 12 months, £34pm for 3 months and £36pm for 1 month.
Joint/Student: £30pm for 12 months, £32pm for 3 months and £34pm for 1 month.

Here is a list of our classes:

http://www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk/group-exercise

PT prices:

Here are a few examples of our most popular PT packages:

8 x 30 minute PT sessions
£112

4 x 45 minute PT sessions
£80

4 x 60 minute PT sessions
£107

All sessions must be used within 4 weeks. We use time limits with our personal training packages to encourage frequent and consistent training. Packages can be designed to your individual needs. We can adjust the time limits in advance to take into account holidays, business trips, etc.

All of our PT packages include full gym & classes membership.

Opening Hours:

Monday: 7.30am - 9.00pm
Tuesday: 8.30am - 9.00pm
Wednesday: 7.30am - 9.00pm
Thursday: 8.30am - 9.00pm
Friday: 7.30am - 8.00pm
Saturday: 8.00am - 2.00pm
Sunday 8.00am - 2.00pm


We always want to know what you think of the Woodlands Fitness Centre - the gym, classes, prices, personal training, group personal training, and anything else. Please speak to us at the gym, email any feedback and suggestions to the email address at the end of this newsletter.

Thanks,

GW


Is calorie counting all that matters for weight loss

Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, hypothesised that pure calorie counting is what matters most for weight loss. Not the nutritional value of the food. His premise held up: On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months. He limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. He usually consumed about 2,600 calories daily. So he followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.

His body mass index (BMI) went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal. He now weighs 174 pounds. But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so. But the experiment was only for 2 months so it would be interesting to see the long term effect on his health, teeth, skin etc.

Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol (HDL) increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.

Despite his temporary success, Haub does not recommend replicating this diet. And I'm not recommending it either. Two-thirds of Haub's total intake came from junk food. He also took a multivitamin pill and drank a protein shake every day. He also ate vegetables, typically a can of green beans or three to four celery stalks.

The foods consumed by Haub are also consumed by lots of other people. It may be an issue of portion size and moderation rather than total removal. It might not be realistic to expect people to replace "junk" foods with vegetables and fruits. It may be healthy. But maybe not realistic.

Haub's body fat dropped from 33.4 to 24.9 percent. This posed the question: What matters more for weight loss: the quantity or quality of calories?

Haub's success is the result of a consistent daily calorie deficit. So it's a great reminder for weight loss that calories count. But is that the bottom line to being healthy? No! Yes, calories matter. Whether you count them or not, they matter. But what you eat also matters. A calorie is a calorie. But a macronutrient is not a macronutrient. And what you eat will impact your health. How much you eat will impact your health.

What you eat may also change how much of what you eat in actually absorbed by your body. There is not a dichotomy between food quantity (total calories) and food quality. It does not exist. Anybody who denies that calories matter is an embarrassment to the fitness industry.

Being overweight is the central problem that leads to complications like high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. There are also things we can't measure. For example: how do the lack of fruits and vegetables could affect long-term health. How much does that affect the risk for cancer? We can't measure how diet changes affect our health. You must lose weight without dying of malnutrition. Or rickets. Scurvy. Diabetes. Cancer.

Calories are important but you also need to count macros. Because all energy is derived from the macros you eat, counting them is the perfect way to track your food consumption and put yourself in a safe calorie deficit that won't cause you to feel starved like other popular diets do.

The term "macro" is an abbreviation of the word Macronutrient. There are three macronutrients and this is where calories (food energy) come from:

Carbohydrates: 4 calories per gram
Fat: 9 calories per gram
Protein: 4 calories per gram

There are 3,500 calories in a 1b of body fat. To lose, say, a stone (14 pounds), you will need to burn off 49,000 calories. It sounds a lot but it isn't. There are fast ways of losing weight but they're not healthy or sustainable.

Let's use someone as an example. Ok, so we live in a World where gender neutrality is a thing but The Mifflin-St. Jeor equation is a different calculation for men and women. Oh the dilemma! So let's use the male calculation. This guy is 39 years old, 185 centres tall and weighs 82kg. His BMR is 1,784 calories per day. This guy is moderately active so we multiply his BMR by 1.55. So..

1,784 x 1.55 = 2,765.

In our Monday 30th July 2018 newsletter I wrote that a deficit of 20% of your current maintenance level will usually mean everything is happening in a way that's best for you and your exact situation. So...

2,765 x 20% = 553 calories
Daily calorie target: 2,212

There is not an ideal macronutrient ratio. People have different goals and so they have to choose their macronutrient split accordingly. The person in this example chooses a mixed diet, consisting of balanced carbohydrates, proteins and fats:

Carbohydrate: 40%
Fat: 30%
Protein: 30%

So...

Carbohydrate: 884 calories / 222 grams
Fat: 664 calories / 74 grams
Protein: 664 calories / 166 grams
Total: 2,212 calories

This person will need 89 days to lose a stone (49,000 calories) at an average calorie deficit of 553 calories per day. Simple? On paper, of course it is.

Remember, the quicker you lose it the quicker you put it back on. With 'Yo-Yo' type diets, you'll lose both muscle and body fat during the initial weight-loss phase. As such, weight-bearing exercise is required to maintain muscle.

After completing the diet, you'll probably experience the body's starvation response, which will lead to rapid weight gain of only fat. This is a cycle that changes the body's fat-to-muscle ratio, which is one of the more important factors in health.

You need you to create a diet plan based around YOUR daily calorie requirement. Make sure you limit your consumption of refined sugar, flour, alcohol, fruit juices, bread, or pasta. Try to stay away from processed food. Seriously. Stay away.

As a treat you can have plain yogurt and some fresh fruit (check the glycaemic index for lowest GI fruit) every night. Make sure you spread out the calories in over 4-6 equally proportioned meals a day.

You can eat lean meats, fish, vegetables, egg whites, fruit and nuts (not fruit and nut chocolate though!). You might want to consider protein shakes (particularly you, Julie Stone!).

I'm always being asked by members how they can lose fat from a specific part of the body. More often than not the problem area is the stomach, legs, bum and hips. Unfortunately, it is never possible to spot reduce fat.

Everyone will know what parts of their body they most want to tone and we can help you to develop the muscle. This is a sensitive area so you will have to tell us what you want.

I'm sure all of the above makes sense but if you have any questions just ask me.


Bulgur & broad bean salad with zesty dressing

Ingredients:

50g bulgur wheat
85g frozen broad bean, defrosted and podded, if you like. Because who doesn't like a podded broad bean?
6 sugar snap pea, halved lengthways
4 radish, thinly sliced
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
Small handful mint leaves. Or a big handful if you have really small hands.

For the dressing:

Zest and juice 1 lime
½ small red chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp clear honey

Method:

Cook the bulgur wheat following pack instructions, adding the broad beans for the final 2 mins. Cool under cold running water, drain well, then toss with the sugar snap peas, radishes and red onion.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients with some seasoning and toss through the salad. Scatter with the mint leaves.

Enjoy!


Useless Facts

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.

Human females have two X chromosomes. Male humans have an X and a Y Chromosome. Theo Theodoulou has three Ys and a T. He's more man than you'll ever be.

When you sneeze, air and particles travel through the nostrils at speeds over 100 mph. During this time, all bodily functions stop, including your heart, contributing to the impossibility of keeping one's eyes open during a sneeze.

Sam Wilson beat a wall at tennis. Yeah. A wall.

Annual growth of WWW traffic is 314,000%






The Woodlands Fitness Centre Ltd
A: Unit 27, Molyneux Business Park, Darley Dale, Derbyshire, DE4 2HJ
T: (01629) 733 123
E: woodlandsfitness@yahoo.co.uk
W: www.woodlandsfitnessrowsley.co.uk