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Refined sugar causes the body to produce the hormone insulin in order to convert blood sugar into glycogen. That glycogen is then used to fuel your body for everyday tasks, workouts, etc. Insulin then takes unused glycogen and stores it as fat in the body to use as energy at a later time. Therefore it is easy to see how unused, stored sugar (fat) in our body is a root cause for being overweight. By constantly consuming large amounts of sugar on a daily basis, we are routinely taking in more energy than we are using causing our body to store more and more of that energy as fat for later use. While we continue to store energy (fat) for later use, we are never using it because we continue providing the body with new usable energy every day.
This is like putting 30 gallons of gas in your car every single day, and then only driving a few miles. That gas tank is going to continually overflow; and in order to keep adding another 30 gallons of gas everyday you will have to keep addin gas tanks onto the car in order to store the excessive fuel you keep putting into it. This is what you are doing to your body by continually putting fuel (sugar, carbs and other foods) into to it everyday, and never using all of that fuel in a single day. If you are overweight right now, you are like that car I described. You have extra fuel tanks all over your body filled to capacity with unused fuel. The goal at Big Strong U is to stop you from continuing to store that excess, unused fuel so that we can start running on all that stored fuel you possess.
A second reason that I ask all Big Strong U clients to cut sugar from your food as much as possible is because of the insulin response that the body has to it. It is important that you know as long as your body has insulin released in it, you will NOT burn that stored fat for fuel. It is not a sliding scale ratio where if you have a little insulin you will burn a little sugar and a little fat. No, if there is insulin present you are not using your stored fuel at all.
In order to lose body fat, your body needs to tap into your stored fuel sources. Therefore; if you are constantly providing your body new sugar as a new fuel source, it will happily continue to run on that and never feel the need to tap into your fat cells for fuel. So in order to lose weight, and by lose weight we all really mean lose body fat, we have to begin giving your body a reason to tap into our stored fuel… our stored fat by depriving it of a continual supply of sugar.
At Big Strong U you will do this by limiting your sugar intake. Not only should you limit your overall intake of sugar; but you also need to limit the amount of times you consume it throughout the day. Remember; consuming sugar causes an insulin spike. When insulin is present your body will not burn your stored fat for fuel. Therefore; if you eat a little sugar at breakfast, then a little sugar at lunch, then a little sugar at dinner, then a little sugar for a bedtime snack; you have essentially spiked your insulin all day long. That means; for the benefit of a few sugary snacks spread throughout the day you have given up an entire day of burning stored fat. It would be better to consume your sugar once a day and create as many hours as possible between consumption.
The goal is to extend the number of hours throughout the day that your day-to-day life is run using the stored fat that you want to lose as energy. This, while also breaking the habit of giving your body more fuel than you can use in a single day. The CDC recommends that the average human being only needs 9 teaspoons of sugar daily. Anything above that is more than likely going to end up stored in your body for use as energy later.. i.e. as fat. During a weight loss phase, I would like you to consume even less than that.
Now, it isn’t that simple because other things cause spikes in insulin as well; but at Big Strong U we work at a gradual pace; so we always begin with tackling the most egregious offender first; that being granulated sugar.
For many, the modern western lifestyle is very sedentary. We wake up, walk to our cars, sit. Then drive to work, walk from the car to our place of employment and sit. Then after work we walk back to our cars and sit again. Drive home, get to our couch or bed and sit yet again. Not a lot of movement there, right? For this reason it is imperative that we become proactive at getting a little full body movement into our days to burn those calories that we consume.
The bare minimum number of steps that we should make in a day is 10,000. If you aren’t tracking your steps with something like a Fitbit or S Health on an Android phone (which I suggest you do); you might be surprised to find out that many office workers do less than half, or a third of the many steps in a day.
Getting outside or on a treadmill for 15-30 minutes a day will do wonders to help you burn more calories during the day and reach that daily step minimum. Just by walking the minimum requirement of 10,000 steps daily you will burn approximately 500 additional calories everyday. In addition to helping you burn calories, thereby helping you lose or maintain your weight; walking, jogging or running daily has been proven to improve your mental health, your overall mood and increases your cardiovascular health. Simply put, 15-30 minutes of walking, jogging or running is an all around win for you and your health.
While I recommend that you remove sugar from your solid foods as best you can; via Big Strong U I strongly recommend that you completely eliminate sugary drinks from your diet while working through a weight loss plan. They aren’t needed. Not even sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade are needed. A single 12oz can of Mountain Dew contains 170 calories, 0g of protein, and a whopping 46g of sugar! That’s a can. If you grab a 20oz bottle (which most do) those numbers are even more egregious.
I’m not going to single out Mountain Dew; all sugary drinks are loaded up with sugar simply to make them desirable to your palette. For this reason most of us are simply better off without them. My recommendation is that you only drink non-flavored water, unsweetened tea, and black coffee. That is it. Save yourself thousands of calories each month just by getting rid of these fat-inducing liquids.
When you join Big Strong U we will discuss your diet, health and fitness goals. With this information I will be able to provide you with a custom diet plan. I offer a few options in terms of diet plans that will help you achieve a number of goals based upon what you desire. Those plans include:
Everybody’s goal is different. Some people want a specific look, som people want to get bigger and stronger, some people want to get smaller and more lean, others are overcoming sickness and disease, while yet other people just want to look more attractive to the opposite sex. That goal is paramount to developing a specific workout plan that will guide you to meeting your desired goal. Once we discuss your access and availability to equipment, time, and other factors; I will craft a workout plan that will have you smashing your goals in no time. These plans can be tailored to any situation whether you have access to a fully stocked gym with several hours a day to workout, or have no equipment and only have 30 minutes a day to workout at home, and every situation in between. Once I know what you have and what you want to do; I will get you setup on a customized workout plan and smashing your goals!
When you get started with Big Strong U you are not signing up for a diet or workout plan. What you are signing up for is a change of life. You are making the commitment to change the way you live. You are making the decision to go from being someone who is unhappy with their overall appearance, health and physical fitness to becoming a member of the FIT culture. I will add dedicated diet and workout programs to your plan that will continually be updated over time as you progress. These programs will build on these basic components that will continue to push you on to the type of health and fitness success that you desire. This is how you can completely turn your life around with me and Big Strong U!
