Low carbs or No carbs (Ketogenic diets) DO result in weight loss for the first 1-2 weeks. This is because carbs = glycogen, and depleting your body of carbs = depleting your muscle tissues of glycogen. 

The simple equation is thus you lose WATER weight first, then all those hard earned MUSCLE tissue you worked hard for. 

Not fats. - Lighter, but squishier + dehydrated you. 

Carbs contain 4 calories/grams, just like protein. Your OVERALL caloric intake (if exceeding your needs) is what makes you fat.. not the carbs you eat. 

I get a ton of questions on supplements everyday. And here’s what I have to say about them:

1. Supplements are EXACTLY what they’re called - they supplement an existing nutritious, balanced diet + training regime. 
2. They’re - unfortunately - not magic pills. They don’t raise your metabolic rate even if there’s a picture of some fire on the bottle, claiming to burn your fats while you lay on a couch.
3. Are there supplements that are good and effective? Yes. Do you need them? Yes and No.
4. If you’re training to keep fit and for weight loss - no you don’t need anything. 
5. If you’re bulking up, perhaps you require mass gainers if downing tons of calories in the form of meat and rice is not ideal to you. They’re quick, and whey is one the purest form of protein. 
6. On pills - Fat burners don’t work. You’re better off with coffee, green tea, and a good diet.
7. Only take a multivitamin IF and only IF you’re severely undereating or have not been eating greens/fruits because you can’t afford/access them. You PEE out ALL the nutrients from the multivits so no, you can’t get away from eating whole foods. 
8. The most essential vitamin for weight loss would probably be Vitamin D. So if you’re not getting enough sun where you’re at, it’s smart to stock up on that. 
9. Additionally? The one thing I MUST take everyday. Fish Oil tabs. DON’T BUY the Omega 3-6-9 superduperpower tabs. If anything, we take a ton of Omega 6 when we eat out. The most essential thing is the Omega 3:6 ratio. I take Ultra Omega-3 tabs. Daily: 2g EPA 1.5g DHA.
10. If you’re doing fasted training? BCAA. Branched Chain Amino Acids. Read why here.

• The majority of health nuts will spend $100′s a month on useless supplements, but won’t spend a dime on actually educating themselves on the facts about the body.
• I love it when I hear folks say that human adults weren’t meant to consume milk, much less the milk derived from a different animal species. Are you kidding me? So who gets to decide which parts of the cow we should consume? Let me get this straight–we can eat the cow’s muscles, but not the milk that laid the foundation for the growth of those same muscles? Huh? The logic is just too rock-solid for me.
• Folks who carry the torch against milk consumption typically will have some degree of allergy or digestive intolerance to it, and they take the liberty to project their personal problems onto the world around them.  Go frolick in an organic wheatgrass field and spare us your self-righteous noise.
• Keep your eyes on YOU. It’s fine to get inspired by others’ physiques, but you have to set your own personal standards. People tend to fixate on their weaknesses, while at the same time obsess over the strengths of others. That’s a surefire way to stay eternally frustrated. It’s a healthier approach to acknowledge your own strengths, and use them as benchmarks by which to bring up your weaknesses. Learn to give yourself a pat on the back for the improvements you make. Keep your eyes on YOU, don’t let the achievements of others dictate your obsessions.
• March to your own beat. Everyone has advice to give, and it’s important to listen, but ultimately, you have to adapt and mold all advice to your own sensibilities. Although it’s not always easy, I try not to be inflexibly dogmatic about what I teach. In many cases, what’s known pales in comparison to the sprawling expanse of the unknown. Over time, you’ll get to know your body better than anyone else, and what some might sell as natural laws should really only be ideas or options to consider.
• Training and nutritional programs pulled from the “experts” shouldn’t always be followed to the letter, especially for advanced trainees. Beginners without a clue may need to follow a script with zero deviation, since the alternative might be tripping over their own feet. But with more advanced trainees who have a more highly developed sense of individual response, there should always be a margin for personal intervention and adjustment. The best programs out there are at best good guidelines from which to morph better stuff for the individual situation.
• Question fitness advice given to you by others. “Why” is one of the most powerful words you can put in your vocabulary. Investigating the reasoning behind the advice will often reveal that the answer is “just because”, rendering the advice anywhere from helpful, to dangerous, to just a plain waste of time and resources. I encourage my clients, students, and colleagues to question everyone’s advice, including mine. I firmly believe that the better you can sharpen your thinking, the better you can continue to sharpen your physique.
• Scientific research is not bias-free. It’s not free of financial interests. It’s not free of study design flaws, and it’s not perfect. However, it’s the best tool that we have for getting closer to understanding the way the body works, the way that nature works. As imperfect as research is, it beats the hell out of hearsay and gym dogma.
• Many folks into fitness & bodybuilding have this unproductive tendency to think in black & white extremes. They’ll scapegoat certain foods, while glorifying the magic bullets. They rarely see the integration of the various components that comprise the big picture.
• Maintenance of a given level of progress is indeed a legitimate goal. In fact, people should consciously build plateau phases into their programs. Everyone hates to hear this, but the plateau phases should get progressively longer. When you step back and think about it, isn’t the ultimate goal a plateau of sorts? It makes good sense to give your body regular practice at maintaining. Everyone is so hell-bent on perpetually pressing forward with their goals, that it actually holds them back.
• A major training mistake I’ve made in the past – one I think that we’ve all done – was to always go more by the numbers than by the feel, letting the numbers dictate the workout rather than letting the muscles do it. I was overly concerned with the quantitative awareness of load progression, rather than what one of my old training partners called finding the pump. This might be more of a bodybuilding thing than anything else, but people should work up to a point where they are indifferent towards the number stamped on the iron. This is particularly useful during maintenance phases, which are more flexible. Trainees should practice developing a sense of optimal resistance for the given goal of any set, even if you’re completely unaware of the actual weight. Blindfolded sensation-based training, so to speak.
• Don’t be overly cheap with your time off from training. Athletes’ careers are notorious for being slow-motion train wrecks. There are 3 main ways your body lets you know that you need a break: Fatigue, illness, and injury. Fatigue is a bit more insidious, manifesting itself as persistent stalls or decreases in strength or endurance. Most trainees out there wallow in fatigue most of the time, which is a damn shame. Illness and injury are the classic agents of forced layoffs. The best strategy is to stay not just one, but a few steps ahead by taking a full week off from training – I’m talking don’t even drive near the gym – about every 8th to 12th week.
• No one’s physique ever fell apart as a result of a periodic week of rest. On the other hand, there are plenty of folks whose great physiques won’t last very long, due to bad shoulders, elbows, and knees.
• Fad diets and fad diet practices should be avoided (and laughed at). Carbs will send you to hell. Sugar is worse for you than cocaine. Fat is no longer the bad guy, so now it’s time to drink a pint of fish oil after every meal. Protein is your savior, eat as much of it as you can. If it’s isolated from food and put in a pill, it’s GOTTA be better for bodybuilding. C’mon now. A mix of patience and realistic progress expectations is the best cure for the compulsion to adopt fad practices or try fad diets.
• Stop splitting hairs over the rules. The beauty of food is that, unlike drugs, its physiological effects have neither the acuteness nor the magnitude to warrant extreme micro-management, especially when it comes to nutrient timing relative to training. A half an hour difference here or there really isn’t gonna make or break your physique.
• The first law of nutrient timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.
• The second law of nutrient timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.
• The fitness & nutrition world is a breeding ground for obsessive-compulsive behavior. The irony is that many things people worry about simply have no impact on results either way, and therefore aren’t worth an ounce of concern.
• Worrying about how much fat is burned while doing cardio makes as much sense as worrying about how much muscle is built while lifting weights.
• I eat three whole eggs almost every day of the week, so as far as American Heart Association limits are concerned, I’m blowing past them like Stevie Wonder through a stop sign.
• Mother Nature winces every time a yolk hits the waste basket.
• If you have to chew it, it ain’t anabolic. [/sarcasm about postworkout nutrition]
• The better someone’s genetics are, the more of a dumbf#ck he is.
• Avoid food avoidance.

You step on the scale for the 3rd week. The numbers hardly budge… oh wait.. is that a weight gain? You sigh, you want to sink your teeth into a 1000 calorie cinnabon. (meow)

You feel like a failure, and you’re ready to defend your hard work .. “I’m sure I’m eating right! I haven’t had junk food in ages” “I swear I’ve been training diligently..” But remember this:

Plateaus ARE important. Sometimes we need to be faced with a wall, in order to BREAK through it.

Here are my top 10 go-to tips to get your scale moving once more, and I mean down wards. ;) .. ps. put down that cinnabon now! 

#1 Eat Lesser

When it comes to weight loss, calories are king. It’s science, and science doesn’t listen to how “clean” your diet has been. Sure, we know the health benefits of skipping out on junk food - mainly because it’s fully laden with insane amounts of calories (aside from cholesterol and saturated fat that will eventually cause health deterioration if consumed in excess).

But don’t kid yourself. You’re not “starving” if you skip out on that extra 700 calorie health sandwich you consume as a snack. Your metabolic rate wouldn’t hit rock bottom just because you aren’t eating 12 meals a day. If you’re not hungry, don’t stuff your face just because you think you need the calories (unless you’re training for a fitness/sports competition). That said, sure, we know that we need more than 1200 calories… but if you took the time to sat down to just calculate out your daily intake - you’d be amazed at how every little “munchie” adds up. 

Start by:

1. Writing out a diary of everything you’ve eaten in a day (start by taking snapshots if you can’t remember whatever you’ve eaten at the end of the day)
2. Use a calorie counting app/website (MyFitnessPal is great)
3. Learn how many calories you require via online sites
4. Start small with your caloric deficits (No you don’t need deserts at every meal) 
5. Lower your calories no more than 200-300 a week
6. If your weight still isn’t budging after a week - lower your calories again
7. If that STILL isn’t working….

Stay tune for tip #2 coming up! ;)

#1 Remember that days come in many sizes, forms and shapes.

There’re going to be days when your diet is on point. There’re going to be days when you had a party to attend and all they had were 600-calories-a-martini glasses. There’re going to be weeks when you hit the gym like you lived there. There’re going to be days when the only time you have for yourself is shower time. Once you’ve realized that, let it go. Let go of your need of perfection. Let go of obsessing over perfecting your every action. What you do most of the time, is more important that what you do sometimes. Give yourself a break :)

#2 When you’re feeling unmotivated.

Always refer to your big poster of BIG THREE’S. Why you’re doing this. If you want to lose weight. It could be 1) I want to be able to live a long healthy life with my husband and kids 2) I want to be able to inspire my family to adopt a healthy lifestyle 3) I want to have the stamina to run around with my kids …. Remember WHY you’re doing this. Make sure these reasons are for YOU.. and for YOU. If it’s because you want to look amazing in a bikini, write that down. Remember what you’re fighting for, then put in the hard work.

#3 When you’re facing failure.

Failures are EVENTS. Failures aren’t an indication of who you ARE as a person. They’re delayed successes. They’re GREAT teachers, re-assessors, learning points. Let them be your help checkpoints in learning how to re-strategize your actions to better achieve your goals. When you’ve failed, it’s not YOU that has failed, it’s your ACTIONS that needs to be redefined. Failures are delayed successes, remember that.

1. Eating healthy doesn’t matter if your primary goal is weight loss.
2. What matters is not WHAT you eat.. it’s HOW MUCH you eat.
3. 1200 isn’t the universal caloric needs for us. It’s the minimum level beyond which our body goes into starvation mode. It doesn’t mean everyone of every height and weight should eat at 1200 to lose weight. I border 1600-2200 depending on rest/training days.
4. If you’re working out 3 days and you’re losing weight. Keep at it, DON’T BE IMPATIENT. Don’t throw in an extra workout day and expect to accelerate the fat loss. Change things up when things STALL. Be consistent with your strategies, and the results will come.
5. If you’re always hungry, check if you’re getting your micronutrients - vitamins/minerals. If its cold where you stay - think about getting your Vitamin D supplements. Other supplements that you SHOULD bother about: Fish Oil tabs. + Calcium (esp for ladies)
6. WHEY DOESN’T MAKE YOU FAT. 
7. BUT YOU DON’T NEED WHEY TO LOSE FAT.
8. Stop worrying about supplements, meal timings, and frequencies. 
9. Your priority? Eat less than your requirements (not excessively. hit 300 under your needs), weight train 3x a week, sleep 8 hours a night and stretcchhhh. <3
10. Fitness should ENHANCE your life… NOT take over it. 

Is NOT what your friend/expert said has worked well for him/her.
Is NOT what a fitness magazine says its the BEST for you.

i.e. does not exist.

Why?

Only YOU know your stats + histories + experiences + psychology best.

I can tell you that barbell compound lifts are the most time effective workout to both gain strength + lose body fat (coupled with a caloric deficit)… but guess what? If you’ve been doing it for awhile, and you never fell in love with the barbell. Drop it. And MOVE ON.

Why?

Because being healthy means having a positive psychology towards keeping fit. If you’re dragging your ass to exercise, then maybe it’s not you. If you love dancing.. KEEP dancing. Don’t just stop Zumba classes because of the mockery commonly passed by fitness elitists. (I LOVE ZUMBA BTW)

In conclusion:

Work AROUND your likes and dislikes. Learn to discern when you hate it because its difficult, or simply because its a wrong fit for your mental psychology. (e.g. you’re an extremely social person, but you’ve been forcing yourself to independently train heavy) 

Results comes with commitment. And I’m telling you now, that if you can’t stick to your workout, maybe you need to add in a little factor of LOVE into the equation.

Rock Climbing, Hiking, Swimming, Marathons, Ice Skating, Hockey, Weight Training, Olympic Lifting, Yoga, Pilates, Running…..

The world is your oyster. Don’t limit your fun. <3 GO OUT THERE & EXPLORE. BASK IN THE BEAUTY OF BEING HUMAN & BEING ALIVE!!

I was reading Fit Jerk’s article on “How to tell your girlfriend or wife to lose weight” earlier on this afternoon while sipping my java, and after I got over laughing at how crudely honest he can be (and very much adored), I thought about the reality of the relationship chub rut. 

If you’ve seen the video of my story,  I let myself go during my last relationship. I didn’t exactly put on pounds during the year I was with him, but I definitely understand how not being confident about your body can affect your relationship with your guy and vice versa.

Honesty Hour. Now this may be hard to conceive of.. but I used to be THAT girl who constantly asked her boyfriend to skip gym sessions by “seducing” him with movie and dinner dates. He’d cave in most of the times.  I wasn’t inflicted with super poor body image issues.. but I knew that my need for constant approval and attention, stemmed from an inner acknowledgement that I didn’t look and feel good. (made worse when you’re walking down the streets aside a model)

But I’m not saying that you should change for a guy. No. I’d always say do it for yourself. But never underestimate how being committed to being fit, and looking great can do for your self esteem, sex life and your relationship. 

Now I’m with Dave, and 30lbs lighter. It’s not just about looking good, no. It’s also about appreciating your other half more. When he’s at the gym, it’s his time. When I’m at the gym, it’s my time. We also love talking about fitness, training and nutrition. We have different views, and theories, which is amazing because it opens my eyes to new ideas. But most importantly, I know that being dedicated to keeping fit communicates a level of self respect that’s so vital for the long term success of a relationship. 

Here’s more reasons why you should get out of your r/s chub rut:

• Sex life. Off the charts.
• More confidence > More mojo > More attraction
• He’d love that you’re taking time to take care of YOURSELF
• Knowing that you look good means not having to constantly seek his validation (honey, does my jeans make me look fat? baby? why don’t you want to take me out to meet your friends? is it because you’re embarrassed of me?)
• Um. … did I mention…. Better sex?
• More options for spending time together <3 > Movies on a couch all the damn time

Some ideas to get fit, sweaty and sexy with your man:

• Get a gym membership with him. Working out together is a great way to motivate each other. Also, what’s sexier than seeing each other pant and pump it out? ;)
• Sign up for marathons, and crazy endurance events with him. (Dave has 10490194 races lined up this year… oh yes. He’s literally the Iron Man while I’m just the Iron Barbie)
• Sign up for sultry salsa classes together. If salsa is not your thing, try ballroom, quickstep, hiphop etc. Partying… with a bottle of Dom Perignon is not counted, yea? 
• Go on a hike together. Or do a weekend drive to get a run outside of the city together. Go get active in the midst of the beautiful nature that surrounds you.
• Wake up early to get a run on the beach and watch the sunrise together.
• Buy a cookbook and commit to trying out one new recipe per week together. Open a bottle of wine, and start cooking together and eating in. :)
• Visit the whole foods grocers together and revamp the contents of your fridge.
• If the both of you fancy some competition, draw out a monthly competition. E.G. whoever clocks in the most hours of working out that month will get a 3 course home cooked meal by the loser. :) yumm

The possibilities are endless. And while if you’re like me, and have gotten so used to getting fit on your own (i.e. gym time is my time), you’re probably resistant to the idea that you need a guy to motivate you to get fit. But, I’d always be happy to chime in that having your beloved other there with you, getting healthy and fit together.. - seriously, it doesn’t get better than that ;)