Snacking in-between meals is the next thing I’ll look at. Again, people just seem to write this off because it’s not in their meals. It’s very common in the work place for everyone to share and snack on sweets, cakes and donuts in between meals on a regular basis. It’s a social thing and it can soon add up! Lets say someone on a diet eats 1 slice of cake at work per day in addition to their prescribed diet. What harm could it do aye? An average slice of cake contains roughly 235 calories. Now, x 235 by 7 equals an additional 1,645 calories per week. This could easily prevent fat loss.

A cheeky little beer after work 3x per week. What harm could it do? An average pint of larger contains 138 calories but it’s not so much the extra calories when it comes to drinking alcohol but the negative physiological changes that occur from drinking it that unfortunately slow down fat loss. Drinking alcohol a few times per week could easily prevent fat loss.
So, you can now see how these little habits people have can prevent fat loss even though you’re on a diet.

My advise, work on removing any little habits you may have that are potentially ruining your fat loss efforts or calculate this additional food into your daily allowance. Remember, start with the small things first.

Liam Horne | Personal Trainer Kensington

The post THE SMALL THINGS appeared first on Liam Horne Personal Trainer | Earls court, London SW5.

If you have never weight trained before, or you’ve spent a long time living a sedentary life, the first few weeks of training are going to be a huge shock to your body and there are a few physiological changes to begin with that if not explained could make you question the plan.

Reason 1:
When you first start weight training, 24-72 hours after your workout, you can have extremely sore muscles. This is normal! During your workout you will break down muscle tissue and connective tissue (this is normal) and a good thing as it must be repaired and will come back bigger, stronger and more resistant to injury.
Now, if you have never trained before this process could cause enough inflammation that can lead to a little excess water retention. Why? The body is healing the area. This whole process is referred to as Controlled Acute Inflammation. This extra water retention can actually cause weight gain on the scale! Don’t be scared, this is just extra water NOT fat gain. Also, the metabolic waste products that build up from resistance training can be enough to fluctuate your weight over the course of a week.

Reason 2:
During the early stages of your weight training journey the resistance being placed on the muscles will actually cause intra-muscular fat to be pushed out of the muscle and actually become more visible. This will give the appearance of actually gaining fat or having more fat overall. In reality, all you’ve actually done is moved it – this is a good thing and perfectly normal.

Reason 3:
Glycogen uptake: Glycogen receptors (GLUTE 4) are embedded in muscle fibres. Muscle contractions during your training sessions will stimulate these receptors to move to the outer-layers of your muscles and signal them to up-take, circulating glucose into muscle cells (insulin sensitivity). The muscle contractions during exercise are like a switch for these receptors. Glycogen receptors allow (sugar in circulation) to be stored in muscle tissue. Skeletal muscle tissue and the liver are the two main places in your body you can store glycogen. The liver stores fructose – fruit sugar and skeletal muscle stores glucose in the form of glycogen. This uptake will give the appearance of larger muscles and possibly weight gain on the scale. This is a good thing (especially for fat loss) and a perfectly normal physiological response to weight training and it happens fast.

Also, if a person is obese and wants to lose weight and starts an educated exercise plan, in the first 1-8 weeks (or even longer) they MAY not lose any scale weight. Why? Because every pound of body fat they lose will be matched with a pound of muscle gained (glycogen uptake) so scale weight remains the same.

To sum up:
So, a 30 year old female who wants to lose body fat starts resistant training. First, her body holds on to slightly more water, which can possibly causes scale weight gain. Second she pushes out intra-muscular fat giving the appearance of MORE body fat. Third, she can now store more glycogen in her muscles giving the appearance of LARGER muscles. Fourth, she is not seeing the scale weight change and possibly even increasing. This is enough to put any beginner off. Without being educated as to what’s happening and why, it would cause some individuals to question the plan and be non compliant. I get it! I advise you seek out a coach with a proven track record of helping people similar to yourself and be persistent and not give up. The results will come.

Liam Horne | Personal Trainer Kensington

The post WHY AM I GETTING FATTER? YOU’RE NOT! appeared first on Liam Horne Personal Trainer | Earls court, London SW5.

1: A structured plan: If fat loss or building a well rounded physique were easy, everyone that’s ever stepped foot in a gym or gone on a diet would be in great shape and I would be out of a job. The truth is, our modern world has largely created this problem. Years ago the food that was readily available to us and the amount of moving that was required on a daily basis would have largely taken care of people’s body composition issues. However, getting in shape and more importantly staying in shape can be tricky in today’s world. This is why people need a structured personalised plan!

A personalised training and/or meal plan should take into account the following; daily routine and requirements, individual genetics, training and dietary history, current composition, current food intake, stress levels, age, health, sex, specific nutritional requirements, medical history, job etc..

2: Exercise intensity: Most people will not workout hard enough by themselves, especially if they don’t actually like physical activity. If you don’t workout hard enough your results will be mediocre at best and at worst you’ll be wasting your time. I’ve spent enough time in various gyms to know that the majority of people in there are socialising and not actually training. These same people tend to never actually change their appearance beyond their beginner gains.

3: Coaching: This applies to exercise execution in the gym and the psychological aspect of losing weight. At times, it can be psychologically hard and draining when trying to improve health or lose weight, especially with all the additional stress life throws at us. When the going gets tough a personal trainer is worth their weight in gold.

4: Time: Time is the ultimate currency, you can never get more of it! Why waste time when you can higher a professional. Simply put, you’ll save time and stress.

5: Education: Without meaning to sound rude, most people, from all walks of life, have poor knowledge on the topic of nutrition. Once you understand a subject and more importantly your own body, maintaining the shape you’ve spent weeks, months and years acquiring becomes far easier and at times even effortless.

Liam Horne | Personal Trainer Earls Court 

The post 5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE A PERSONAL TRAINER appeared first on Liam Horne Personal Trainer | Earls court, London SW5.

Example:

Breakfast: prêt a manger, 2x boiled egg and spinach pot with a packet of naked nuts.

Calories: 517
Protein: 38g
Fat: 37g
Carbohydrate: 8g

https://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb/540-salads-&-sushi-egg-&-spinach-protein-pot.aspx

https://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb/652-pret-snacks-naked-nuts.aspx

Lunch: EAT, tuna salad and an oat fruit slice.

Calories: 605
Protein: 24g
Fat: 17g
Carbohydrates: 45g

https://eat.co.uk/food/tuna-nicoise-salad

https://eat.co.uk/food/oat-and-fruit-slice

Mid-afternoon: Pret a manger, crayfish and avocado salad with an apple.

Calories: 259
Protein:15g
Fat: 15g
Carbohydrates: 30g

https://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb/545-salads-&-sushi-crayfish-and-avocado-no-bread.aspx

Dinner: Pret a manger, chicken salad, pumpkin seeds and a banana.

Calories: 531
Protein: 30g
Fat: 37g
Carbohydrates: 22g

http://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb/1609-salads-%26-sushi-chef’s-italian-chicken-salad.aspx

http://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb/1749-pret-snacks-tamari-pumpkin-seeds.aspx

http://www.pret.co.uk/en-gb/932-fruit-banana.aspx

Total:

Calories: 1,912
Protein: 108g
Fat: 106g
Carbohydrates: 105g

This is just an example. Adjust portion sizes depending on your sex, goal, activity level and requirements. Obviously, you may not need to buy every meal out. For example, you may eat breakfast and dinner indoors and buy your lunch and a mid afternoon meal out. I hope this gives you some idea on the kind of food you should be purchasing if you want to shrink that waistline.

Liam Horne | Personal Trainer In Kensington

The post HOW TO EAT ON THE GO AND LOSE WEIGHT appeared first on Liam Horne Personal Trainer | Earls court, London SW5.