When you think of your own personal fitness, do you think in terms of weeks, or do you think in terms of years?

When you think of fitness in terms of weeks, you will often resort to desperate,  unhealthy, unsustainable, and often unnecessarily dangerous means of achieving your health goals. After all, you’re on a mission, and you’ve only got a few weeks to whip yourself into shape. This chemotherapeutic approach at diet, health and wellness will often have adverse effects like indiscriminate weight loss (muscle loss, bone loss, limited fat loss), fatigue, gastrointestinal distress, depression, injuries, and eventual added weight gain when your sanity returns and you quit killing yourself for the sake of being healthier.

When you think of your own personal fitness in terms of years, the picture changes dramatically.  Fad diets and unsustainable exercise regimens lose their appeal.  Boring words like moderation, balance, sustainability and safety suddenly become much more appealing.

At Christmastime moderation and balance will sometimes get thrown out the window.  But, the way to a healthier you in this New Year is not to live your life at the extremes of the pendulum swing.  The way to a healthier you in this New Year (and every New Year after), is to return to moderation, balance, sustainability and safety – boring words that will leave you more active, laughing more often, and having more fun all year long!

by Thom Tombs

SuperSlowSanDiego.com

Normally, when we watch television at our house, we record everything and fast-forward through any commercials.  Like many people visiting their parents’ homes, our Thanksgiving holiday destination was lacking the modern luxury of a DVR – if we wanted to watch TV, we had to endure the commercials.

So there I was again this year, pleasantly stuffed with turkey and trimmings, reclined on the couch with the sounds of family all around and a TV in the background.

Merchandisers have long been using the excuse of Christmas to encroach upon Thanksgiving in order to drive holiday gift sales, but it seems to become a little more perverse and invasive each year.  This year, we were treated to endless, tiresome marketing messages about “Black Friday” midnight sales and early stores openings!  Even before the Sun had set on Black Friday, “Cyber Monday” commercials were already being aired.

It occurred to me that I could care less about Black Friday or Cyber Monday.  You see, Thanksgiving to us is more than Black Friday Eve, it is a chance to reflect upon everything for which we are truly thankful – saving 50% on a pair of slacks or yet another pair of shoes just doesn’t do it for me.

At SuperSlow Zone, we have so many things to be thankful for, but mostly, we’re thankful for our awesome clients!  We’re thankful for your loyalty and appreciate your business! We are deeply grateful for your trust and confidence!  We owe the majority of our business to happy clients who talk about their results to friends and family – referrals are a fundamental part of our business – and we are very thankful for your referrals.  Without you, there would be no us – thank you!

by Thom Tombs

SuperSlowSanDiego.com

The Next Day

January 19

Dear Diary,
Called and made an appointment at SuperSlow Zone. Those guys don’t mess around, and they take care of everything! After 2 minutes of being on the leg press, I knew I was in the right place – it’s never been easier to work this hard.  Seriously, you’re in and out in under 30 minutes and you don’t even have to change out of your work clothes.  I can get the health benefits of exercise and live a stronger life!

Does This Sound Familiar?

January 1

Dear Diary,
It’s January 1st and I’m out of shape. But this time, I really am committed to my resolution to be healthy. It’s time to cleanse, crash diet, buy a set of kettlebells, and become an ultra marathoner. Oh well, I guess I deserve to suffer for letting myself become the couch potato of a man that I am.

January 14th

Dear Diary,
The past two weeks have been a living hell. I’m in a constant state of soreness and hunger. I’m afraid my wife thinks I’m having an affair, and I haven’t seen my kids since Tuesday. My car smells like a locker room.

January 16th

Dear Diary,
I was kidding myself. What was I thinking? I prefer being out of shape to spending all my time and energy living out of a gym locker and developing shin splints. I like my old life. True, I was overstressed because of my general lack of energy and zest for living, and I’ll probably develop diabetes, osteoporosis, or some other preventable condition, and die a weak and depressed old man. On the bright side, with new advances in medicine occurring every day, I’m sure there will be a pill which will save me, right?

I went paddle boarding for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We had a really nice family outing at the Carlsbad Lagoon off of Tamarack & I-5 – the weather was perfect! We paddled, tipped over, got up, and paddled some more over the next two hours.

This past Sunday morning, I was invited to go on a little hike out in Elfin Forest. It was the first time I had been there, so little did I know, the gentle morning constitution I was prepared for turned out to be a six mile trek on the Way Up Trail with its numerous switchbacks, down the Incline Loop Trail, back up the Manzanita & Mariposa Trails, back down and around again with a few 700 foot elevation changes along the way. We finished just as the first few sprinkles of rain started falling. I got a blister on my little toe.

This weekend, we went on an electric bike tour around Balboa Park with San Diego Fly Rides – the weather cooperated with us once again. We could not have asked for a more beautiful, picture-perfect San Diego afternoon – in November! The owners Ike and Megan Fazzio were wonderful guides and extremely warm and inviting… they treated us to gourmet refreshments, sparkling wine and made sure we were well-entertained. They are full of personality and fun facts about San Diego and Balboa Park and were the perfect hosts. I think electric biking with these guys is going to become our new activity of choice whenever our relatives come to visit.

So, what does paddle-boarding, hiking, and electric biking have to do with SuperSlow exercise? EVERYTHING! If you’re out trudging through the rain to get your miles in, you’ve got it all backward. We stay strong with a short, weekly, high-intensity exercise session so we can enjoy our lives and do anything we want – hiking, climbing, paddle-boarding, surfing, snowboarding, skiing, even trudging along in the rain… Whatever you enjoy, you’ll enjoy it more, and you’ll enjoy more of it being strong.

by Thom Tombs

SuperSlowSanDiego.com

Role of Exercise in Fat Loss

Part 6 of 6: Increased Caloric Expenditure

Increased activity does burn extra calories – a few… damn few. – Ken Hutchins

As we have been discussing the most important exercise factors for fat loss, you may have noticed a proverbial giant elephant sitting quietly in the room. Conspicuously missing from our discussion so far is our topic for today - increasing caloric expenditure through “cardio” exercise.

After a lifetime of my own experience with diet and the experience of talking with hundreds of clients about this topic over the years, here’s how the thinking usually goes:

1. In order to lose weight, I know I must create a caloric deficit
2. The bigger the caloric deficit, the faster the weight loss
3. I eat very well and I like to eat whatever I want, so I don’t want to change what I’m eating or reduce my calories that much
4. What else can I do besides reducing calories?
5. I know, I’ll start ______________ (insert any “cardio” activity here)

OK, let’s put all of this together with the concepts we discussed earlier in the series:

1. In order to lose weight, I know I must create a caloric deficit.
TRUE!

2. The bigger the caloric deficit, the faster weight loss.
TRUE! But let’s ask a better question.

The bigger the caloric deficit, the faster the fat loss.
FALSE! We have to ask ourselves, do we want to lose weight indiscriminately – muscle, bone, fat and organ tissue, or do we want to lose fat exclusively?  To lose fat exclusively, we want to create a small caloric deficit while strength-training to ensure muscle gain.  Too big of a deficit will lead to loss of fat, muscle, bone, and organ tissue – recommended only if you enjoy frailty and looking and feeling like a zombie!

3. I eat very well, and I like to eat whatever I want, so I don’t want to change what I’m eating or reduce my calories that much
HUH? You may not be psychologically prepared to make a real and lasting course change.  You may wish for less body fat, but you haven’t really decided to modify your diet.  Don’t worry, when you are serious about dropping fat, it’s easy.  The decision to eat somewhat fewer calories is a small change that’s easy to maintain.  Often, when making better nutritional choices, you can actually eat more and still reduce calories!  Plus, with healthier choices you can pretty much say good-bye to mood swings, drops in energy throughout the day, and many digestive troubles.

4. What else can I do besides reducing calories?
HELLO! Refer to the earlier parts of this series. Rev-up your resting metabolism by adding lean muscle tissue, stay pre-occupied with mindful activities, and if you do develop a craving, get up and clean the house, throw a ball to your kids, walk the dog, or wash the car.  These activities won’t burn a lot of extra calories, but they will help depress your appetite, diminish your craving, keep you pre-occupied, plus you’ll score big points with your loved ones.

5. I know, I’ll start ______________ (insert any “cardio” activity here)
Unless “cardio activity x” really is what you love doing, NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Instead, do things that need doing or things that you enjoy doing. I recommend that you read the first several chapters of The Cardio-Free Diet by Jim Karas to convince yourself to give-up trying to lose weight by burning-up additional calories with time-consuming “cardio” routines.  Karas writes, “Cardio kills your weight-loss plan, your joints, your immune system, your body composition, your time, and most of all, your motivation to stay committed to losing weight.  But there’s one thing cardio doesn’t kill: your appetite.” We have a copy of his book in our mini library; feel free to borrow it any time.

The Mayo Clinic agrees, “[t]he key to weight loss is burning more calories than you consume. Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your diet each day, you’d lose about 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories).”

If you’re building muscle while modestly reducing your caloric intake, you can be sure you’re losing fat!  There you have it folks, working and building your muscles is the role of exercise in fat loss.

by Thom Tombs

SuperSlowSanDiego.com

Role of Exercise in Fat Loss

Part 5 of 6: Diminished Appetite

We’ve been discussing the most important factors for fat loss with respect to exercise.

The most important contribution to successful fat loss is discussed in part 1, discriminated weight loss. The weight of our bones, organs, and muscles (aka lean body mass), is good weight!  Although the scale fails to make the distinction between positive weight loss (body fat) and negative weight loss (lean body weight), dieters can’t seem to stay off of them – often to their detriment.  Hydration, fluid retention, muscle gain, muscle loss, bone loss and fat loss are all treated equally by the scale.  Creating a moderate caloric deficit from a well-balanced diet combined with strength training is the quickest route to discriminate fat loss.

In part 2, we discussed the second most important factor, revving-up our resting metabolism by adding lean muscle tissue – get our body to burn more calories all day long regardless of what we’re doing.  In part 3, we discussed improving our body shape by increasing how much muscle we have and reducing how much body fat we have – really those are the only two things we can control which influence our body shape.  In part 4, the topic of preoccupation was discussed.  Staying preoccupied works because we are not sitting around thinking about our next meal, snacking  and/or eating mindlessly out of boredom.

Today’s topic is Diminished Appetite.  Intense exercise like SuperSlow temporarily diminishes our appetite (clients love a refreshing bottle of cold water after a workout, but few would enjoy a hot cheeseburger and fries on their way out of the workout room).  Unfortunately (or fortunately), we get to eat far more often than we perform high-intensity exercise, so the value of this exercise factor plays only a minimal role in fat loss.

Some individuals remark that exercise makes them hungry.  Those are usually the individuals that train themselves to ignore their body’s “not right now” signals and eat immediately after exercise anyway.  Others starve themselves before exercise and find that they are hungry after exercise, too.  Conclusion?  “Exercise made me hungry, of course.”

Generally, moderate activity is a useful appetite depressant.  Use this knowledge to your advantage.  If you develop of craving for food, get up and clean the house, walk the dog, or wash the car.  These activities won’t burn a lot of extra calories, but they will depress your appetite, diminish your cravings, and keep you pre-occupied.

by Thom Tombs

SuperSlowSanDiego.com

Role of Exercise in Fat Loss

Part 4 of 6: Preoccupation

Reviewing from our last entry, the most important contributions to healthy weight loss are:

1. Keeping our bones, organs, and muscles heavy while reducing body fat weight
2. Increasing lean muscle tissue in order to burn more calories
3. Improving our body shape

Improving our body shape is really quite simple since there are really only two things we can do about it; 1) we can influence how much muscle we have and 2) we can influence how much excess body fat we carry around.

The fourth factor in our fat loss series is “Preoccupation”.  Or, in others words, stay busy so that you are not sitting around thinking about your next snack (or worse, sitting around eating mindlessly out of boredom).

“Pretend that you typically arrive home from the office every afternoon and plop in front of the television at 6pm.  You eat dinner and watch television until 11pm and then retire.

After several months of this habit, you begin to feel guilty that you are wasting your life when those hours could be spent productively.  You correctly reason that you could spend those wasted evenings for several months to renovate a room, finish the attic, or organize your garage.  You implement a moratorium on evening television and embark on a project to finish the attic.  After another several months, you have not only finished the attic, but a delightful surprise – your waistline is smaller.  You then conclude that your reduction is due to the additional caloric expenditure of your increased activity.  This is a natural mistake.”

True, you may have spent a few more calories than you would have sitting on the couch.  But more likely, the main contribution to your reduced waistline, was not haven eaten the extra calories in the first place.  Why?  Because you were preoccupied - you were too busy to mindlessly eat more calories than your body needed.  Ever try to eat a fish taco while power sanding?  Me either…

Thom Tombs

SuperSlowSanDiego.com

Role of Exercise in Fat Loss

Part 3 of 6: Improved Body Shape

In the first two parts of our Role of Exercise in Fat Loss series, we discussed the two most important factors with respect to weight loss:

1. We want to make sure we are losing body fat only while keeping our bones, muscles, and organ tissues safe.
2. We want to increase our lean muscle tissue in order to raise our basal metabolic rate.

The third most important factor is improved body shape; the main determinants of which are mostly our bones, then our muscle and body fat. We don’t get to choose the size and shape of our skeleton, just like we don’t get to choose our natural eye-color or hair-color. However, we do have some control over how much muscle and body fat we have. The two brief stories below will help illustrate the idea of improved body shape:

A few months ago we had an initial consultation with a woman who is 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 89 pounds. Despite her small stature, she did not look gaunt nor under-nourished.  However, her number one goal was to lose four pounds – bringing her weight down to 85 pounds.

From her perspective, she felt this was a logical and necessary goal. From our perspective, we felt it was a lesson in how unrealistically obsessed our society is with weight. We began to consider that women in particular, regardless of whether they are currently at a healthy weight, strive to lose an additional 5 to 10 pounds with little or no regard to the impact on their overall body shape. They are pleased if the scale reports a lower number even at the expense of losing muscle.

By paying attention to the fact that your body shape is improving and your clothes are fitting better, it may help inspire you to make better decisions about what you eat to support your strength-training efforts. To focus on weight loss in a vacuum is to do undermine the overall improved health and fitness level you are achieving.

Another client that we’ve been working with for six months weighed well over 200 pounds and wore a size 24 when she first came-in. She is in her mid fifties, works full time, home-schools her eighteen year old autistic son, and cares for her elderly parents. She has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other health concerns. She came-in because she knew that if she didn’t do something to improve her own health, there would be no one healthy enough to care for her son and elderly parents.

After six months of working together, our client dropped from a size 24 to a size 18. She is astounded by her body’s metamorphosis. She is less often fatigued throughout the week, she doesn’t injure herself while performing gardening and housework, and she feels stronger and more stable on her feet. Her doctor is also pleased with her improved vitals. Would you care to guess how much weight this woman has lost? Seven pounds! And as our client continues to make better food choices to further her SuperSlow workouts, the weight will continue to come off.

Focus on the positive changes that are occurring with your improving body shape, and continue to enhance your nutritional choices – when you do, the fat will melt away.

By Abby Cain & Thom Tombs

Role of Exercise in Fat Loss

Part 2 of 6: Increased Basal Metabolism

In our last article, we discussed the most important weight loss factor with respect to our health and well-being: ensuring discriminate fat loss versus indiscriminate weight loss. Think about it, do you want to lose weight from your bones or your vital organs? Do you want to lose your hair and nails? Surely, you do not want to lose your hard-earned muscle. No, in this case, we want to discriminate. We want to lose fat and only fat.

So now we know that our best solution for discriminated fat loss is to reduce our caloric intake in combination with strength training for exercise. The second most important factor for the role of exercise in fat loss is increasing our basal metabolism. It is now believed that for every pound of muscle added, a human will burn an additional 10-16 calories per day.

You say that 10-16 calories per day doesn’t sound like much?

Well, you’re right, it’s not much. And this is where most dieters get confused or impatient. As a result, they put themselves on the wrong track (or treadmill, or elliptical, or stationary bike). Most dieters assume that if they pick-up their “cardio” they will burn extra calories. With those extra calories “in the bank” they believe they will

• Create a larger caloric deficit and lose weight faster
• Or believe they can eat more calories and still lose weight

This first belief is insidious because on the scale it looks like its working great. Never mind, that you look gaunt, have little energy, are constantly hungry and are indiscriminately wasting your muscle, bone, and vital organ tissues thereby actually REDUCING your basal metabolism and preparing your body for easy fat gain later.

The problem with the belief that “cardio” lets you to eat a more while dieting gets people into trouble, too. Most of us (including the electronic calorie-counting treadmills) over-estimate the caloric affect of exercise. This often results in your consuming more calories than you thought you had exercised away.

Raising your metabolic rate is far more important than burning calories through exercise. The key to getting rid of body fat (vs. weight) is to increase our basal metabolism, and the only practical way to increase our basal metabolism is to build muscle.