13 Holiday Tips to Fight Weight Gain

Here are several handy damage control strategies that you should employ to prevent yourself from overdoing it at the dinner table this holiday season. Use these tips to stay social and to be able to indulge in moderation without splitting your pants before the New Year:

1.) Perform High-Intensity Activity Before and/or After a Big Meal or Holiday Feast

I know. I promised diet strategies, but we cannot go on without recommending some activity. Your body is most receptive to higher calorie and/or carbohydrate meals within 30 minutes before and within three hours following high-intensity activity. Ideally you would want to workout out before AND after a big meal, but if you can only do one, that will suffice. It is less important when you do it and more important that you do it. Your best options will be 20 minutes of circuit resistance training or cardio interval training. Even a 20-30 plus minute walk a few hours afterwards can serve as a bit of damage control.

2.) Do NOT Fast in Preparation for a a Big Meal or Holiday Feast

Fasting in preparation for a free meal will not only lead to overeating, but worse: overeating foods that are extremely high in sugar, fat, or both! Your body has a survival mechanism. If it hasn’t had food in a while it anticipates a famine state. Then the next meal you eat your body will use as much of the incoming food as possible to store as body fat (survival energy) in anticipation that it won’t see food again for another long period of time. Do yourself and your body a favor by eating every two to four hours as you normally should to prevent yourself from becoming a ravenous, fat-storing beast this holiday season!

3.) Do NOT Gorge Yourself

Eat until the point of satisfaction, not discomfort. Remember this: binge eating is not the habit of lean individuals. It is imperative to understand that holiday meals are not a ticket to eat as much as you can in as little time as possible. However, listen to your body and make sure to enjoy the foods you are craving in moderation and only eat when you are hungry.

4.) Eat a High-Fiber, Protein-Rich Meal An Hour Before a Holiday Event

A meal high in fiber and protein before a big holiday meal will help prevent overeating by making you feel more full which in turn means less calories consumed during the ensuing feast. My favorite strategy is to drink a protein shake with a added fiber and healthy fats (e.g. 2-4 Tbsp. flax meal) and 1 liter of water before such a meal to help keep me nice and full upon arrival.

5.) Eat Lean Proteins, Fruits and Vegetables FIRST

Just because it’s a holiday meal doesn’t mean you can’t eat any nutritious food. Make sure to load up on healthier food choices first and try to eat as much lean meat, fish, and fruits and veggies as possible at the start of each holiday event. This will leave less room for the unhealthier, higher calorie treats. This way you know your body is getting in some good nutrition.

6.) Drink, Drink, Drink Water!

Water competes for space in your stomach and truly helps decrease appetite. For every plate you eat, try to drink at least 1-2 glasses of water. After that second plate, when you have 1 full liter of water in your stomach, I bet you might just throw in the towel!

7.) Do NOT Eat Again Until Hungry Following a Large Meal

Now I know I already told you to eat every 2-4 hours, but there is one exception to this. If you eat a huge meal, it is important not to eat again until you are hungry and/or no longer full. If your body is not used to eating such a big meal, then it will take a much longer time to digest all that food and the worst thing you can do is put more food into an already full stomach.

8.) Immediately Resume Your Normal Eating Schedule at the Next Meal

What’s done is done. Now it is time to get back to your regular eating plan. Remember weekly caloric intake is far more important than daily caloric intake. For example, let’s say that you need 3,000 calories per day to maintain your current body weight. Well, all that you need to do is make sure the average daily caloric intake each week is 3,000 calories per day. This means that you can fluctuate your daily caloric intake and yield the same results as if you ate that same amount each day. So if you have one day of big eating where you eat 9,000 calories (just an example, not a recommendation), but you only eat 2,000 calories per day the rest of the week, you will still end up at the same caloric balance. I am suggesting that you do not have to obsess about being perfect. Enjoy some indulging in moderation at your various holiday festivities knowing that the week in review trumps a day in review, even when you are particularly naughty on any given day.

9.) Never Eat Junk Food for Breakfast or Before Bed

Eating a highly refined carbohydrate meal first thing in the morning will make your blood sugar levels go crazy for the rest of the day resulting in greater junk food cravings and uncontrollable hunger. On the other hand, eating a big meal before bed will result in a bunch of unused energy that will be stored as body fat and you very well may have trouble sleeping with all of that extra food volume in your stomach!

10.) Control your Portions

Try to eat only half of all the servings of unhealthy food that you choose. Half of the portions equal half the calories!

11.) Avoid Empty Liquid Calories and Alcohol

One can easily consume over 1,000 calories per day from liquid calories alone. This means that in one week, you will gain 2 lbs of body fat from just fluids! Opt for regular solid food calories versus empty liquid calories (e.g. juices and soft drinks), at least the food will fill you up and provide some nutrition where as liquid calories, particularly alcohol, have no such effect. Rather, sugary and/or alcoholic drinks tend to make you hungrier in general and often hungrier for junk food in particular. Furthermore, your body cannot burn fat until the alcohol is processed out of your body in addition to the fact that alcohol consumption actually lowers leptin levels thus defeating one of the main purposes of this flexible eating (decreased leptin levels increase hunger and decreases your body’s use of fat for fuel). Thus over-consumption of alcohol can prevent the fat burning process from resuming until several days later and/or even cause unwanted fat gain and thus set you back as little as a few days to as long as a full week!

12.) Use Lower Calorie/Carbohydrate Substitutes Whenever Possible

Instead of using sugar, opt for zero calorie alternatives like splenda or stevia. They can deliver a similar taste without all of the extra sugar and calories. Even try replacing yeast with protein powder when you bake. The extra protein and reduced carbohydrates will result in a slimmer you while still providing some great tasting treats! Your goal should be to find the minimal amount of calories that can provide the same great taste that makes the holiday treats enjoyable rather than simply overdoing it because you can!

13.) Avoid Eating Meals that are High in Both Fat and Carbohydrates

The absolute worst thing that you can do is to eat a meal that is high in both fat and carbs. The high amount of carbs will lead to a rapid increase in blood sugar levels and thus large increases in the potent fat-storing hormone Insulin. The high amount of fat will lead to a large increase in free fatty acids in your bloodstream. Since Insulin is already present in large amounts, in addition to there being a large amount of free fatty acids now available in your blood, the stage is set for all those free fatty acids to be gobbled up and stored by your fat cells. This is the equivalent of becoming the next Goodyear blimp, so it is imperative to use caution at your holiday meals when it comes to combining fat (particularly saturated and trans fats) and carbs (particularly starches and refined sugars). In general, it is best to choose one over the other. But since most people crave carbs at their free meals, it is essential to keep the fat low at this meal. Want mashed potatoes? Well then be sure to skip the gravy and go easy on the butter. These small changes can literally save you hundreds, even thousands of calories, and more importantly will prevent your holiday feasts from creating the optimal fat-storing environment that will set you back from achieving your health and fitness goals.

You CAN BEAT the HOLIDAY FEAST BEAST!!

New Orleans in December...

Last week we get snow, this week the weather is in the 70s.  And for the FitFunCamp session last night, it was about as HUMID as it can get.  But that was no obstacle for the brave souls who have been coming out rain or shine (within reasonable limits - no need risking illness or injury if the weather is THAT atrocious, as it was last week with the tropical rainfall).  Yesterday's session was a bit of a curveball for the group.  I changed up the routine a bit and included more running/sprinting than usual.  So after a warmup of dynamic stretches, we ended up doing 3 full sets, each one including 6 repetitions of sprint-jog-drill, with the drills alternating between leg strength, arm/shoulder strength, and ab work.  For example, the group started off with a sprint (about 40 meters), turned around and jogged back, immediately completed a set of mountain-climbers, and went directly into the next sprint, after which they jogged and did a set of pushups, followed by another sprint, another jog, and a set of leg-raises.  That combination was repeated twice in a row for one full set.  The next two sets were similar, but included different drills for arms/legs/abs.  A cool-down of static stretches concluded the evening's activities.  Great workout all around!  

On a side note, yesterday was also a brutal reminder that we do live in the kind of climate where we must wage a full out war on mosquitoes all year long.  The little blood-suckers won the battle last night, but rest assured we'll be more prepared next time.  Until then, happy holidays and happy training!!!

~Phil Glotser

Finding the balance...

~Coach Phil Glotser

Balance! Such an important concept, in my opinion, in life and in fitness. I'll save the philosophizing for another blog post, but let me say that we had a great workout yesterday (Wednesday, Dec 3rd) in Metairie focusing on just that - balance. Exercises involving balance fine tune your proprioceptive senses and make all sorts of muscles fire for various intensities and durations as you struggle to just maintain a pose. Adding motion and then strength elements makes for a terrific whole-body workout. Plus, there's something childishly fun about wobbling around trying to stand or hop on one leg!! I hope everyone who was out there yesterday can vouch for that. The weather was agreeable again, so there was no need to move around too much to stay warm. Plus, everyone seemed particularly motivated to be exercising with the guilt of Thanksgiving feasting egging them on. That's ok... it's as good a motivation to get re-started as any! However, let me reassure everybody - there is no weight that was gained so quickly that can't be lost just as quickly. Long term weight gain comes from a complex combination of factors, like daily eating habits, activity patterns, nutritional choices, etc (all important factors to consider in long term weight loss, but that's a topic for another day). So don't worry about those holiday pounds... get back to your routine, keep coming out to FitFunCamp, and you'll be fine. See you next time!

Dealing with a Setback

Read Coach Phillip's blog post, Dealing with a Setback, which everyone can relate to in some form or fashion.

View Blog post by clicking here Dealing with a setback...

Last November workout

~Coach Phil Glotser

I've been doing a lot of coaching lately, so it was a welcome break on Sunday (Nov 30th) to be coached myself.   Coach Brad put us through an excellent workout out in Destrehan, with pulsating lunges, pushups, crunches, sprints, and (my favorite drill from the workout) "spider-man" crawls. I capped off the day for the group with a set of abs.  The weather was not extremely cooperative, as it was quite chilly and windy, but we warmed up in no time.  Though I was pleased to see everyone being smart and dressing warm.  It's always easier to remove layers than not have enough in the first place... It was great to meet and workout with everyone!  I enjoyed it, hope you all did too.  Take care and stay active!!

 

Friday, November 28 Workout

Well, it was the day after Thanksgiving and Black Friday so our normal morning workout was pushed back to Friday evening. Even with some of the participants having gone shopping at 4am we got in a good 20 minute XCELERATED FAT BLASTING workout.

We started with a 50s-10s round followed by 2 rounds of 20s-10s. The first round kicked our butts and we pushed through the last 2 rounds. The exercises were as follows: Squats, Push-ups, Bulgarian Squat (1 leg), Pillar Hold, Bulgarian Squat (1 leg).

We all left puddles of sweat on the floor and were feeling this workout. I can report that I felt great this morning with no soreness. I contribute that to my post-workout recovery shakes with some lean protein.

I look forward to reading some comments about the workout. Have a great weekend and we'll be ripping it again on Sunday at 4pm.

Coach Brad


"That was a great exercise the other night. Everything felt pretty solid after we were done. I didn't think the work-out would really phase me because I work out alot on my own but, I was pleasantly suprised as this seemed to challenge my endurance alot more with only the 10 second pauses in between sets. I was constantly having to push it!"

Curtis Clements

Tuesday, Nov. 25 - Destrehan FitFunCamp

Today was a BONUS workout for our group since Thanksgiving is a day off. Very good workout that got the heartrate up and worked some major muscle groups. We hade several circuits: bicep curls on Powerbase, lunges, side shuffle with squat & jump, crunches and pillar holds alternating leg lifts.

Everyone was reminded to load up on turkey and veggies for Thanksgiving.

See you Sunday!!

Xcelerate Your Game!!

Coach Brad

Sun, Nov 23 - Metairie

Hey folks,
Sorry for the delay in posting this one. But a solid workout on Sunday, despite the unusual circumstances (namely, the overwhelming amount of people and cars crowding that playground for the football tournament that was taking place there). So instead of taking to the track as usual, we stayed on grass lot across the parking lot. Gorgeous weather yet again on that afternoon. The air still warm from the daytime sun, yet it was cooling off as the sun was setting. Perfect conditions. The workout consisted of combination sets again, but this time instead of a timed active recovery we did dynamic drills between static strength drills. For instance, one combo consisted of a set of overhead presses on the Powerbase and a set of crunches, with side hops for about 30 meters after each of those. Each combo was repeated three times, with a minute recovery after each repeat. All in all, it was a very diversified workout: we worked out arms, legs, abs, shoulders, and cardio of course. Very much in spirit of Coach Brad's recent advice (see his earlier blog if you haven't yet) about short-duration high-intensity training, except we had the luxury of 45 minutes. Yet the idea was the same. Short high-intensity sets with just enough rest to catch the breath and go again! Xcellent :)
~Phil

Use Thanksgiving Turkey to Xcelerate Fat Loss

It’s that time of year again, when the golden brown juicy bird comes out of the oven for Thanksgiving. People relate holiday weight gain and the Thanksgiving feast. We can blame the sweet potatoes, oyster dressing, mashed potatoes with loads of butter and gravy, and pumpkin pie for that, but leave the poor bird out of it! After all, turkey is jam-packed with lean protein that Xcelerates metabolism and boost fat burning and lean muscle growth. But, remember to remove the skin because turkey is a lean protein with very little fat.

Did you know that protein is the sole macronutrient responsible for building and mending your body’s tissue supplies (fat and carbs only provide energy). More specifically, frequent protein consumption is vital in Xcelerating the repair of muscle damage from high-intensity activities like strength training and cardio interval training. Also, sufficient protein intake every two to four hours is crucial in maintaining current levels of lean muscle mass. This is significant because the more muscle you have the larger your metabolic engine, thus the more calories (and fat) you burn on a daily basis. Muscle tissue requires lots of energy to maintain itself. Protein is also the least likely macronutrient to be stored as body fat. The body requires more than 2 times the amount of energy to digest protein than to digest carbs and dietary fat. So, if you are going to overeat this holiday season turkey is the bird for you.

Turkey is easy to prepare in bulk which makes it a great ingredient to work with this holiday season. One big bird will give you quite a meal variety, for several days, after Thanksgiving. Just think of what you can do with all those Thanksgiving leftovers! Here are some great recipes which provide a great source of lean protein. Enjoy! So remember, load up on turkey this Thanksgiving and help your cause.

Turkey Recipes to Xcelerate Fat Loss


Xcelerate Your Game!

Coach Brad Taliancich

Friday, Nov. 21, 6am FitFunCamp

Another good workout this morning. The wind made it pretty cold but we survived. Today's workout was 20-10, 20 seconds intense - 10 seconds rest for (4) 5 minute rounds. Each round included squats, woodchoppers w/ med ball, lunge w/ overhead press (med ball), med ball overhead throws, squat to med ball push pass, jumping jacks, rows and finished with running in place which made up our 8 exercises.

Done by 6:45am and everyone off to get the kids ready for school and head to work.

Have a great weekend!!

Thursday, Destrehan, 3:15pm FitFunCamp

What a great FitFunCamp workout. The group of women that worked out today did an awesome job. We did a pretty rough 50-10 routine. 50 seconds intense exercise, 10 seconds rest consisting of 5 exercises per round for 4 rounds. They performed squats, pushups, hip extensions, jumping jacks and pillar holds. They worked up a good sweat on a beautiful day in St. Charles Parish.

Keep up the good work and post those comments by clicking on the title of this post.

Xcelerate Your Game today!!!

Coach Brad Taliancich

Wed., Nov. 19 - 6am Workout

Just finished a great 6am FitFunCamp workout in Destrehan. Small group but intense. We started off with a dynamic warm-up (high knees, butt kicks, A-skips, backpedal, carioca) to get the blood flowing and the eyes open.

Started 30-10 tabatas (30 seconds intense exercise, 10 second recovery) for 4 rounds. Round included alternating lunges, pushups, hip extensions, squats, pillar holds, squat thrusts, jumping jacks and running in place.

We Xcelerated our fat loss with this routine in 30 minutes. You can feel it in your muscles as they start to tire in the later rounds. What a good feeling.

Followed that with a post-workout recovery shake (chocolate) to help those muscles recover quicker. At this age, 37, my body tends to feel the effects a bit more but the shake helps shorten the recovery time and my muscles are ready to go the following day.

Possible follow-up workout later this evening. Time to get the kids up and off to school.

Best Exercises for Xcelerating Fat Loss and Building Lean Muscle

As a high school/college athlete and a current trainer and coach, I know a thing or two about exercise selection. I am constantly asked what the best exercises are to burn fat AND build muscle quickly.

I’m going to keep this as simple as possible. The best exercises for fat loss also happen to be the best ones for muscle gain. These exercises all have one common thread: they provide a UNIQUE challenge to your body AND involve as many muscles in your body as possible.

Scientific research and real world case studies have shown that total body workouts are incredible for maximum fat loss and muscle gain. But let’s take this one step further…

Let’s dramatically Xcelerate results by selecting TOTAL BODY EXERCISES within each TOTAL BODY WORKOUT! Look at this example: squats are one of the best muscle-builders with serious fat-burning effect. However, the squat goes from great to UNBEATABLE for changing your body for the better when you combine it with another movement by adding a row or press to each squat rep. By combining an additional exercise with the squat you just Xcelerated your workout.

It’s as simple as the Xcelerate Fat Loss Equation below:

Performing Total Body Exercises Within Each Total Body Workout --

More Muscles Involved = More Calories Burnt + Greater Muscle-Building Stimulus =

Greater Fat Lost + Greater Muscle Gain

I'll be honest and say there is a true love-hate relationship with the following movements I am about to share with you. Love because of the Xcelerated fat-melting, muscle-building results they provide to help maximize my results. Hate because they break me every single workout. In other words, these are not for the weak of mind, body, or soul!

Team Xcelerate presents the official top 10 list of exercises for fat loss and lean muscle gain:

Exercise#1- Any Squatting Combination Exercise- Squat Thrust/Burpee Variations, Squat to Overhead Press, Squat to Row, Squat to Chest Press, Single-Leg Squat plus Curl to Press, etc.

Exercise#2- The Swing- Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Med Balls, or Sandbags

Exercise#3- Any Lunge Combination Exercise- Alternating Lunge plus Curl to Press, Alternating Lunge plus Twist, Alternating Lunge plus Chest Press, Alternating Reverse Lunge plus Row, Split Jump plus Jerk, Split Jump plus Curl etc.

Exercise#4- Any Push-Up Combination Exercise- Push-ups plus Knee-Ins, Push-up Rows, T-Push-Ups, Spiderman Push-ups, Squat Thrust Push-Ups, etc.

Exercise#5- The Chop- Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Med Balls, Bands, or Sandbags

Exercise#6- Olympic Lifting Variations: Dumbbell or Kettlebell Cleans, Snatches, High Pulls

Exercise#7- Dynamic Back Pillar plus 1-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press

Exercise#8- Rear Foot Elevated Deadlift plus Curl to Press

Exercise#9- Med Ball Snatch-Slam Combo

Exercise#10- Dumbbell or Kettlebell Single-Leg RDL plus Row

Look for a great highlight reel, of the above exercises, later in the week. You can add them to your own training routines for better results:

If you take our advice, and add some of these 10 deadly total body combination exercises, you'll be Xcelerating your results in no time. We guarantee you better results in less time by regularly employing these movements into your workouts. Of course it’s now up to you to take your workouts, and your body, to the next level.

If you want to get this type of workout, with group support, check our FitFunCamp program.

We'll be sharing more great exercises for specific trouble spots (e.g. legs, butt, abs, etc.) that may be holding you back in the days to come ;)

Xcelerate Your Game!

Coach Brad Taliancich & Coach Phillip Glotser

http://www.teamxyg.com

Build the Ultimate Circuit Workout for Xcelerated Fat Loss

In the past, most resistance training workouts have been performed by doing certain exercises in a straight set format. Basically, you would perform a specified number of reps for a given exercise or perform as many reps as possible of the given exercise and then rest between 30 seconds and five minutes based on your training goals. Then you would repeat this set a certain number of times. So with this theory you would take shorter rest periods to achieve more fat loss and gain lean muscle. Strength or power gains would have longer rest periods.

So, what’s the problem with this format? Well, though straight sets are quite easy to understand for people new to fitness, they are also an highly inefficient way to arrange your exercises. In most commercial gyms you’ll typically see someone perform three sets of 10 reps for something like a bench press or bicep curl. You'll see them blast out a set of 10 reps, stop, grab a drink, look at the tv or themselves in the mirror and then slowly walk back to start the second set. Well, most people, especially guys, will take s 3-5 minute break in between sets. So, if they are doing 3 sets with 10 reps they'll take 15 minutes to complete that one movement pattern. Wow! You'd need at least an hour to do just 4 different movement patterns. (Starting to feel jipped yet?)


A more potent and proficient approach to organizing your exercises is utilizing the alternating set format. You will perfom an exercise, take a short rest, then perform another non-competing exercise, with another brief period of rest, and so on. Alternating sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would normally be resting with the straight set format. Plus, your body will recover from one exercise while performing the next exercise with a different emphasis. The result is improved training economy and density: Xcelerated work accomplished in less time, the building blocks of any sound fat loss program. There are several ways to perform alternating sets outlined below:

1.) Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges)

2.) Trisets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges)

3.) Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises

Though supersets and trisets are excellent alternating set options, I believe circuit training is the best option over and over. Let's look at my favorite circuit training template which demonstrates using timed set intervals:

The 50-10 Five Exercise Circuit: You will alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for all five exercises in the following 5-minute circuit:

Exercise#1- Squats

Exercise#2- Dips

Exercise#3- Single-Leg Hip Extensions

Exercise#4- Pull-ups

Exercise#5- Leg Raises

Perform this circuit up to four times for a 20-minute total body fat burning workout.

You now see, in the same 15 minutes that it took to get three sets on the bench you can get three sets of five different exercises for an amazing total of 15 work sets! Plus, the intensity which you perform each exercise will be just as high as in the straight set format because in the five exercise circuit you will get full recovery for four minutes before you return to any given exercise (just as you did with the straight set format described earlier).

The fundamental key to creating the Xcelerated hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while taking the brief 4-minute rest period. This will help you accomplish a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible. Circuit training provides the best of both worlds and is simply unmatched for simultaneously Xcelerating fat loss and lean muscle gain. Try this template we use with our FitFunCamp clients for some killer, yet simple Xcelerated fat loss circuits:

Exercise#1- Double-Leg

Exercise#2- Push

Exercise#3- Single-Leg

Exercise#4- Pull

Exercise#5- Core

We'll be sharing a workout video, showing you a circuit you can perform anywhere, in our upcoming blog post later this week.


I’ll be sharing some more great circuit training workouts from our FitFunCamps in the weeks to come ;)

Xcelerate Your Game!


Coach Brad Taliancich & Coach Phillip Glotser

http://www.teamxyg.com/