If you want to drop fat and improve your health you can’t afford not to take supplements…..Here’s 10 very good reasons to take  supplements.

  Supplements Included in the Daily Healthy Essentials Bundles:

DigestForce  2.0

It’s not so much what foods you eat, or supplements you take it’s what your body will digest and assimilate. As we age the  production of HCL (hydrochloric acid) declines which is an important gastric secretion which promotes important enzymes, hormones and bacterial growth of the gut.

Read more about HCL  and the HCL test here

Uber Mag

Magnesium helps with over 300 biochemical processes within the body. Magnesium improves insulin  sensitivity, memory and sleep, amongst many many other things!

Why is Uber Mag a superior magnesium supplement? 

Multi Intense Iron Free

Multi Intense is a potent yet gentle vitamin and mineral formula that features high quality ingredients designed for optimal absorption and bioavailability. Rapid disintegration allows quick release  of the micronutrients.  High potency, multi-vitamin/mineral supplement formulated to support all body systems. Unlike other formulas, multi intense contains highly absorbable, bioavailable nutrients resulting in greater efficiency and cost savings.

D3

Vitamin D3 may just be the most beneficial supplement you take ever. Below are 13 vitamin D benefits from Charles Poliquins article Vitamin D3…Best Supplement…Ever! 

1.  Low levels of vitamin D contribute to osteopenia and fractures.

2.  Vitamin D is essential in Fetal brain development and maternal health: Med Hypotheses. 2010 Jan;74(1):71-5. Epub    2009 Aug 18.

3.  Psoriasis: “Hyperproliferative skin disorders such as psoriasis might be responsive to treatment with vitamin D by

reducing the severity and area of psoriatic lesions.”

4.  Cancer: “Vitamin D either directly or indirectly controls more than 200 genes, including genes responsible for the

regulation of cellular proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis.”

5.  Blood sugar regulation and insulin resistance: “Vitamin D deficiency increased insulin resistance, decreased insulin production,

and was associated with the metabolic syndrome.”

6.  Depression and other neurological concerns: “Several studies suggest an association between hypovitaminosis D and basic and executive cognitive functions, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.”

7.  Multiple Sclerosis: “High circulating levels of vitamin D are associated with a lower risk of multiple sclerosis.”

8.  Immune function: Low levels of Vitamin D can prevent our bodies from performing their natural immune response.

9.  Cold, flu, and respiratory tract infection: by ensuring good vitamin D levels we can shorten the duration of symptoms

10.  Symptoms associated with autoimmune conditions: Vitamin D deficiency affects the immune system’s capacity to self-regulate and can therefore lead to tissue damage via overproduction of potentially pathogenic cytokines.

11.  Hypertension and congestive heart failure: “In a study of patients with hypertension who were exposed to ultraviolet B radiation three times a week for 3 months, 25-OH D levels increased by approximately 180% and blood pressure became normal.”

12.  Muscle mass and strength: “Vitamin D deficiency causes muscle weakness.”

13.  Weight Loss: “For every increase of 1 ng/mL in level of 25-OH D3, subjects ended up losing almost 0.2 kg more on their calorie-restricted diet.”

EPA 720 BLEND 

Fish oils have been shown to have benefits to just about every disease known to man. Here’s 16 reasons to start taking fish oils from Charles Poliquins article Why Fish Oils are the Most Important Supplement

1. Has positive effects on any disease known to man.  According to the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, fish oils have been shown to have medical applications in the treatment of extremely wide variety of ailments including stroke, weight loss, asthma, cancer, lung diseases, hay fever and even chronic fatigue syndrome.
 2. Cell membrane health. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), insure that cell membranes remain healthy. This means that the membranes are flexible and contain larger numbers of insulin receptors that are more receptive and responsive to circulating insulin. This results in decreased fat storage in the adipocytes (fat cells).

 3. Fish oils turn on the lipolytic genes. That means that the genes responsible for burning fat are activated, which means there is an increased utilization of fat stores from the adipocytes.

4. Fish oils turn off the lipogenic genes. That means that the fat storage genes are turned off.

 5. Fish oils reduces blood pressure.

6. Reduced inflammation from physical training.

 7. Pain management. When people improve their omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, they report a noticeable improvement in pain.

 8. Increased focus in training. EPA regulates blood supply to the brain which is essential in maintaining focus in weight training sessions.

 9. Fish oils increase serotonin levels, decreasing incidence of depression, anxiety, panic attack and reduce carbohydrate cravings.

 10. Fish oils will improve your cardiovascular risk profile. Fish Oils will lower VLDL, triglycerides, homocysteine, fibrinogen and increase HDL levels. Combining fish oils with plant sterols will improve lipid levels even more than either alone.

 12. Fish oils are a great stress fighter. For the same amount of stress, one will produce fewer stress hormones if consuming fish oils on a regular basis.

 13. Fish oils turn on the carnitine enzymes. These are the enzymes responsible for the burning of body fat.

14. Fish oils mitigate insulin response. This means that your blood sugar won’t rise as quickly and sugar is less likely to go to your fat cells.

15. Fish oils reduce arterial stiffness and increase vasodilation. This benefit, which is good for both heart health and athletic

performance, has been shown to take effect in 4 hours or less.

16. Very easy compliance. Taking fish oil on a regular basis is something very easy for people to do. Nearly all obese people are

depressed, so for them to take fish oil, because it raises serotonin, could be their first essential step towards a lean healthy body.

Recommended Reading

Fish oils and PCBs: The cost of cutting corners

You can order the very best fish oils through our website to be delivered straight to your door.

Take fish oil to lower cardiovascular disease and decrease oxidative stress

Finally fish oil is anabolic

Get your daily health essentials bundle next time you’re in the gym or order through our website to be delivered straight to your door. 

Another week into 2012, I hope you are all making progress towards your goals and setting yourself up for a great year ahead.

Free seminar or health, hormones and fat loss…

The date for the seminar is now Saturday 25th February at 9.30am. The seminar will feature an hour long talk  about some of the most important issues I encounter when helping people lose fat and regain their health.

I will also be giving a talk the week before (Sat 18th Feb), but this is for members undertaking the 8 week challenge only.

Topics will include:

• Why counting calories leads to misery and failure
• The most effective way to approach fat loss and better health
• How to better manage insulin – the fat storage hormone
• How eating gluten makes you fat and stupid (no joke on this one)
• The problems of excess estrogen, where you pick it up from and how to better manage it
• 5 tips you can take away with you on the day to improve health and lose fat

It wil be limited to 40 people, so when I have the registration sheet organised I will let you all know. Please feel free to bring along friends and family, just be sure to register both yourself and them with us.
Diet

Bit of a rant on diet and nutrition this week. Please take a second to digest this one small fact:

Diet is 80% of your results.

So if you train hard for four hours a week (which represents a whole of 2% of your week), are you making the most of the other 98% of your week to promote fat loss?

Follow a Paleo style diet and use a diet diary. It’s that simple.

The more your diet consists of good quality meat, fish and green vegetables the quicker you will lose fat.

You can make excuses or get results. Which do you prefer?

I think Jack Lalanne put it best over 50 years ago…

Successes this week…

Christine – 3 weeks in, 3 1/2 bodyfat gone!
Peter -  1 week in and 1% bodyfat gone and 1kg lean mass gained
Helen – 7kg down in 10 weeks

Massive well done to you all.

Inspirational quote…

Thanks to Vanessa for this one:

“Up to the age of 30, you have the body you were born with. After 30, you have the body you deserve”
- Sharon Stone.

Inspirational photos…

It has been a great week for inspirational photos being sent between my network of coaches online and around the world.  I wanted to share three of the best this week…(click on each to see a full size version)

I’ve had a few concerns this week about women and weight lifting. This next picture dispels that myth.  To achieve the physique of the girl in the top picture, should you so wish it, you need to train like a bodybuilder and have ample access to illegal male hormones.

To achieve the physique of the girl in the lower picture, you have only have to do two things: 1 – train hard, 2 – eat well.

And finally, proof that age is just a number and not an excuse.

An 82 year old grandmother sets a new PB with a deadlift of 69kg.

I’m looking forward to another great week ahead with you all.

Brian.

Always one of the hardest trainers you’ll see at Function Well, Benny Howe has trained the house down since he first set foot in here back in June. Originally Benny came to me to help him with a shoulder issue that had been giving him grief for quite a while. Unfortunately fixing the issue required a lot of tedious rehab with lots of boring exercises and stretching but being the type of guy Benny is, he didn’t shy away from it at all. Everything that I asked Benny to do he did to a tee and before we knew it the shoulder was almost 100%. In the short time since then Benny has been so consistent with his training, nutrition and supplementation he’s dropped from 12.5% to a very ripped 8% body fat and added a whopping 5kg of lean muscle, and if you ever watch him train you’ll see why! The guy sure knows how to push himself through the pain barrier to get that extra ten percent out of his training and the results are clearly showing. Asking Benny what the keys to his success in the gym are, the answer is simple: “Train very hard, eat very well, and listen to the guys who know what they are doing”. Benny owns the excellent and very friendly Symposium Cafe just around the corner on Commercial Road. Benny is a big fan of the Paleo style of nutrition that we recommend here at Function Well and down at Symposium you’ll find a wide range of very healthy, high protein paleo style meals. Make sure you pop in and say Hi!   Selected by Performance Coach Dan Tewson

]]> http://www.functionwell.com.au/client-of-the-month-january-ben-howe/feed/ 0 http://www.functionwell.com.au/calories-in-vs-calories-out-is-this-a-good-fat-loss-model/ http://www.functionwell.com.au/calories-in-vs-calories-out-is-this-a-good-fat-loss-model/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:20:34 +0000 admin http://www.functionwell.com.au/?p=5349 Here’s an intro to the type  of info you can expect to learn in the 8 wk challenge………..

Calories In Vs Calories Out?

How often do you hear “if you want to lose weight it’s very simple, eat less move more”. Unfortunately the world we live in today it is not that simple in a lot of cases, often addressing our hormones through nutrition and lifestyle  practices is often overlooked for the calories in vs calories out model, or some radical fat loss method.

We now live in an era of unavoidable daily toxin exposure, our bodies have natural mechanisms to cleanse & detoxify but our rapidly changing world has out paced these mechanisms. As a result we have varying degrees of toxic burden leading to a variety of inflammatory symptoms, common diseases, fat gain and the struggle to oxidize excess fat. Yes even if you eat healthy and exercise toxins are unavoidable, of course a healthy diet and exercise will help to decrease the amount of toxins coming in and increase the amount of toxins leaving the body…. But the point is every day, every hour, even every minute you can encourage your body to store fat, or utilize it for energy by the way you train, eat and what supplements you take to manipulate your hormones.

Fat loss and health improvement in todays world particularly for females can be a chemistry project to get the body back in balance and restore health. For the majority of people it is more complicated  and challenging than eat less, move more!

Let’s look at the calories in vs calories out model. With this model, to approach the full picture we must bring training methods into the equation as well …as you’ll learn in the ‘Optimal Training Methods for Physique Enhancement’ manual when looking at improving body composition the goal with training needs to be to select methods that are going to produce the greatest RMR (resting metabolic rate) & EPOC (exercise post oxygen consumption) response. No workout will burn more calories than your RMR. A lot of calorie in vs calorie out models don’t take into consideration the type of training that is conducted, often promoting aerobic type activity that has a minimal effect on RMR & EPOC, rather than recommending weight training which has the greatest effect on EPOC & RMR and overall fat loss… not to mention a better looking physique.

Let’s say you went for a 30min jog and burnt 400 calories, then after your run you had 2 cups of pasta which is about 420 calories, automatically you haven’t created a calorie deficit?. Does this mean the run was a waste of time, of course not, but what needs to be taken into consideration is optimal training methods that focuses on EPOC & RMR and understanding that not all calories are created equal, we must understand where these calories come from, how they affect us hormonally and how the body matabolizes them.

From a training perspective I’m not a fan of the calories in vs calories out model but also from a nutrition intake stand point it makes no sense to count calories. Remember what’s important is where you get those calories from and how your body metabolizes those calories and what affect those calories are going to have on your body hormonally.

Let’s say for example I had a chocolate muffin that was 230 calories and a I had 2 large handfuls of almonds both are 230 calories, but the almonds contains protein, healthy monounsaturated fat, calcium, magnesium  other minerals and fibre. The muffin contains empty calories in terms of nutritional value, high in sugar which generates a big insulin response and ultimately fat storage. Our mind set and focus needs to get away from the calories in vs calories out model and start looking at how foods affect us hormonally.

I could have 2 people both training the same, weigh the same, are both the same age – All factors are the same including having them both on a 2000 calorie a day diet, however what is different is the 2000 calories that those foods are derived from. Meaning one is on a high protein, low carb diet while the other is on a high carb, low protein diet…What I’ll get is at the end of the experiment is 2 totally different body composition results, even though they both consumed 2000 calories per day.

Calorie counting is by no means time effective and will not always produce the best result. If you are going to count calories you must use an equation that takes into consideration your RMR and have a solid understanding of nutrition to know that the calories you are getting in are from the right sources not thinking  you can eat what ever you like as long as it doesn’t go over your ‘x’ amount of calories total per day.

Finally the last point is the thermic effect of food TEF, 

To learn more on how to eat  register for the Ultimate Physique Enhancement 8 Week Challenge TODAY!

Luke - My first official Australian victim of death circuits...

If you want to give your start to 2012 a real bang, try using death circuits.

They are TOUGH, BRUTALLY TOUGH if done right – Not only will you get awesome results but in terms of time management these circuits will give you a big ‘bang for your buck’!

Give these two routines a go:

All exercises performed with a 4-0-1-0 routine, 8-10 reps.

Rest 10sec-30 seconds between exercises, 2 mins between rounds*.

*You may be tempted to rush the rest between rounds, if you do you’ll find you will drop the resistance used or rush your tempo, so make the most of the 2 minute break!

Have one warm-up round, then into 4 working rounds.

Death Circuit 1:

A1: DB Squats

A2: BB Bent over row

A3: Leg Press

A4: DB Shoulder press

A5: DB Split squats

Death Circuit 2:

A1: Wide grip chins

A2: Dips

A3: Seated Row

A4: Step-ups (12 reps each leg 2-0-1-0 tempo)

A5: Single Arm DB row

Give them a go and I promise you’ll get a great start to your health and fitness goals for 2012.

Brian.

Its been a great week – the first one so far where every single person assessed has managed to drop bodyfat (some more than others – you know who you are!)

Massive well done to:

Laura – 3.6% bodyfat in 4 weeks and now buying size 8 dresses
Lisa – 4% in 6 weeks
Helen – 2% and 4kg in the past two weeks!

I often get asked how some people seem to do so well right from the start and why others struggle. It call comes down to consistency. We all (me included) have to do the same things to get and stay lean – namely eat better and train hard. There are no shortcuts.

On that note, there have been some great articles flying between the coaches I network with over face-book and the net, and all touch on the same areas as we are now well and truly into the festive season.

The key is keep balance between enjoying yourself and not going so overboard you ruin your results.

One of those articles has given me the idea to put together a check-list that you can use to help you get on track for better results.

The success list…For the the best results I must:

1. Realise that diet is 80% of my results…
Whether you are trying lose fat or gain muscle, eating the correct foods at the correct times will account for 80% of your results.

The old adage “you are what you eat” really is true. So if you eat good quality, healthy foods, you will be healthy.

It does not matter how hard you train, or if you had one really good day with your diet before it went wrong. Your results reflect how consistent you have been with your diet. If you’re not getting the results, your diet has not been consistently right.

My recommendation is to follow a Paleo style eating plan – as most people simply do not need vast amounts of carbohydrates in their diet and their bodies do not handle them well.

2. Keep a diet diary…
Keeping a diet diary makes you completely aware of where your diet needs work and what is holding you back on your results.

It also makes you accountable for any mistakes you make and the connection between being consistent and getting results. Whether you keep a diet diary or not, if you’re not the getting the results you want, then the diet has gone wrong somewhere.

3. Train at least 4 times per week.
The difference in the results you get from 3 sessions a week to 4 is massive, trust me.

As a perspective, its not uncommon for people who really want amazing results to train 8-12 times a week (think of those film stars who achieve great physiques in record time).

If you are training hard 4 times a week you will get good results, but those sessions have to be productive and focused.

4. Have a clear picture in my head of what my results will look like.

You can set goals like “get to 16% bodyfat in 4 weeks” or “lose 10kg in 12 weeks” – but unless you can put those numbers into a mental picture, you’ll find it very hard to connect with them.

As an example, take a look at Ritchie, he was my very first 12 week transformation client and he managed to drop 10% bodyfat in that time

We even did a video for him:

If you can picture how you will look and feel once you’ve achieved your results, you’ll have a stronger emotional connection to them. This help you to make better choices when it comes to your food and staying focused.

As you can see from Ritchie, a 10% drop in bodyfat will give you a massive change in physical appearance. For you girls, a 5% decrease in bodyfat will mean a drop in dress size.

5. Keep my liver and my kidneys happy…
One of the secondary functions of fat is to act as a store for toxins, so that if your kidneys and liver are overwhelmed, said toxins can be stored in a fat cell until a time when the body can deal with it.

Keep your liver and kidneys happy and you’ll store less fat.

You liver utilises amino acids (from protein) to bind or chelate to toxins so that they can be excreted from your body. So eat plenty of good quality, organic animal protein and your liver will have the tools to excrete toxins.

Your kidneys are responsible for phase 3 detoxification and require your urine to be alkaline to be to transport toxins outside of the body. Green vegetables are great for alkalising and if you struggle to get enough in you can supplement with a powdered greens drink such as vital greens.

So Eat more quality protein and green veg and you’ll store less fat and toxins.

6. Ditch the alcohol…
Alcohol will stand between you and your goals like a massive unconquerable mountain. IT MAKES THAT MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE.

But why?

There are many ways alcohols effects will hinder your progress. But a a simple take home point is that alcohol behaves like a sugar once it is inside the body, the only difference is that while pure sugar has 4 calories per gram, alcohol has

Your body will not burn any other fuel (glucose or fat) until it has burnt up the alcohol in your system.

Add to that the disruption to your hydration levels for the next 5 days, the effect on your kidneys and liver (remember you want to keep them happy if you want to lose fat).

If you want great results, ditch the alcohol. If you are happy to chose slower results, then at least keep the rest of your diet 100% clean and limit your intake to either a single night of 5 drinks or 1 glass of a good quality red if its more frequent. That way you can still have your fun and not hamper your results.

7. Supplement to aid my results…

Supplements, for the most part, will help you body to overcome years of nutritional deficiencies in quick time.

Other supplements, such as the specific protocols used in BioSignature, will help your body excrete certain toxins such as excess estrogen.

8. Realise the healthier I am, the easier it gets…
The key to successful fat loss is to build health. The healthier you become and in turn the more balanced your hormones are, the easier you will find it to get great results and keep them.

As an added benefit, the leaner and healthier you get, the more you can cheat on your nutrition and get away with it.

 

8 week challenge in the new year…

I’ll be taking people on board for the Function Well 8 week new year transformation challenge in February, so if you are passionate about achieving some remarkable results get in contact with me over the next two weeks.

But be aware that you will be following the check list above, but the rewards will be worth it.

I look forward to seeing you all this week and helping you all get that little bit closer to your goals.

Brian.

I make a habit of saying to everyone I train, that keeping a clean diet will yield 80% of your results for fat loss.

I’ve always liked the expression “You can’t out-train a bad diet”, which is very true. Your diet and nutrition should back up the hard work you put into the gym, otherwise you are selling yourself short on the results you will get.

How not to eat…

Great little comedy video from the UK, called the Brian Butterfield diet, great example of how not to eat:

Points to remember for your nutrition:

• Never go hungry or miss meal
• Never feel that your diet has to be boring or exacatly the same foods everyday – take a look at this website for some recipe ideas to keep the diet fresh: http://www.paleoplan.com/recipes/

You can have a some freedom at the the weekends IF your diet has been clean the rest of the week, but there is a big difference between a single cheat meal and a whole weekend of eating crap.

Cheat meals

A great way to reward yourself and to help you stick to good nutrition longterm is have a treat meal once a week, where you can indulge any cravings you have. If you follow some basic rules you can enjoy your treat without it affecting your fat loss program:

• Eat gluten free
• Be sure to eat protein first to lower the insulin response – a meat/fish based starter is a great way to do this
• Eat your treat meal in the evening to avoid the temptation to have bad food all day long

Poliquin Cheat meal rules

Surviving the holiday season…
Christmas is always going to be tough – lots of social events, bad food and alchohol to scupper your hard work. But you can limit the damage and at least maintain your weight without putting any on.

Great article from Charles Poliquin on how to limit the damage done during the festive period:

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog/tabid/130/EntryId/798/Holiday-Weight-Managment-Ten-Simple-Tips-to-Beat-Holiday-Weight-Gain.aspx

Follow those tips and your nutrition will help you achieve great results in no time.
This weeks successes…

Massive well done to Lisa (4% bodyfat and 2kg lost in 6 weeks), Helen (nearly 3kg lost in 7 days!) and Gareth (2% bodyfat lost in 7 days)
Brian.

Matty has been one of the most consistent gym participants at function well for the last 9months. He has had fantastic results dropping 9% of fat, and has increased his strength 10fold since beginning here at function well. Even though he has a few alcohol related weaknesses from time to time as a lot of  our clients unfortunately do ha ha. His consistency in training and effort speaks volumes on his dedication to achieving his health and fitness goals. Our ultimate goal of him getting a six pack by the 26^th of January is very close as we only have 1 – 2 percent of fat to drop before we’ll be seeing some decent ab’s. Which is unbelievable in itself when you see where he has come from, a well deserved winner of legend client of the month. Well done duck!!!