Eleven years ago I began strength training when I got my diagnosis of severe osteoporosis. The doctor told me the medicine would stop the bone loss, but the only way to reverse it was to put weight on my bones. So, one who never exercised in her entire life, made her way to the gym to attack this bone thing. In the years since, my bone scans have improved and I did reverse the osteoporosis.
During this time of gym training I also tried every diet and way of healthy eating I came across. It was hard because I’m not into grocery shopping, chopping, and cooking. In fact, I’ve often said that if they could invent a pill to replace the food I need to eat all day, I’d be happy. Now don’t get me wrong – I like good food just as much as the next person. I just don’t like having to eat it during my terribly busy days. Eating is a major inconvenience to me when I have to stop what I’m doing, fix it, and eat it.
To me good food represents relaxing and having social time with friends and family or on weekends with my husband. There’s nothing I enjoy more than a good wine accompanied by excellent food, along with some good conversation and sharing of ideas. Not something I can stop and do in the midst of a busy day. Many times I plan lunches with friends and that’s the only time I enjoy eating in the middle of the day.
My view on eating and food makes dieting and/or just eating healthy a nightmare for me. Recently I found my food battles to keep my weight in check stemmed from wrong information. Weight loss and a healthy body don’t START with the food you eat. Weight loss is and has always been a result of calories in, calories out. It’s that simple. Take in more than you use and you gain weight. Use more than you take in – lose weight.
I spent my life thinking you regulate that by how much food you ate or didn’t eat. I was so wrong. Recently I had to do some studying at Koko to take my test for fit coach certification. It was during this study period the process of food and weight loss and how our bodies were designed to work, became clear.
It all hinges on metabolism – your body’s ability to burn calories both in motion and at rest. I did know this. I spent years experimenting with drinks, teas, supplements – all designed to raise my metabolism and burn those calories I was eating. What I didn’t know was those things are just herbs and caffeine designed to give me a brief energy boost and the effect was short-lived energy. So, what is the REAL way to boost metabolism?
Ta..daa…lean muscle. Lean muscle boosts your metabolism. The more lean muscle you have, the more energy you have, hence, the more calories you burn. If I had known this ten years ago I would’ve put all that energy and money I spent on buying things to ignite my metabolism into the science of building and maintaining lean muscle.
Every decade, as we age, we lose close to ten pounds of lean muscle. And it happens slowly, without us even knowing it until we begin to feel the effects of fatigue and a steadily growing waistline, no matter how we adjust our diets. I can’t tell you how many times I hear people say I eat healthy, but I just keep getting bigger and feel more tired everyday. That’s because food isn’t really the problem – especially if you make an honest effort to eat clean. It’s the lean muscle loss that is happening silently everyday.
Thank goodness, through Koko, I didn’t even really have to understand this. All I had to do was do what they told me to do. I have been on my exercise track for over a year now. I built back all that muscle I was losing since I retired. I did it slowly and gently over time with their Smartraining program. My ten years at regular gyms helped my osteoporosis, but because I didn’t know what I was doing, I wasted ten years lifting ten pounds. We, who know nothing about the science of weight training, have no business trying to do it ourselves. We not only waste time and money, but we still end up losing more lean muscle than we’re building.
I’m a success story. No more supplements, teas, drinks, etc. I just do my weight training, be mindful of what I eat, use the New Lifestyle packaged foods to keep me fueled during my busy days, and take time out to enjoy good food and wine with family and friends.
The way to know if your gym training is building lean muscle is by how much more food you will need to eat. The more muscle you build and maintain, the more food you will need to stoke that new metabolic rate, the more energy you will have, and the changes you see in your body composition are stunning.
So if you’re struggling with trying to “eat right” and it’s not doing any good, have your doctor check your lean muscle level. At Koko we use the same FitCheck machine to measure your lean muscle level and enhanced body mass index to give you a picture of your overall health. Instead of attacking your diet, go back and learn how to build and MAINTAIN lean muscle and you will see results.
And so, as another day goes by, life is one constant learning experience, and…I have written.
Leave a Reply