Stop “Just” Counting Calories

Everyone I meet… everyone has the same question… I don’t eat much and am always hungry and yet I am not losing weight. Is there something wrong with me?

Yes… because most of the people I talk to or ask me this question have one problem in common. They count calories, but forget one important thing. When you count your calories, you have to also take into consideration what I call the “fill up factor”. What is the fill up factor? The fill up factor is how much a certain food will fill you up because the simple science is, the fuller you feel and for longer, the less you will consume. The faster you get hungry, the more you will eat.

Take Grapes and raisins for instance. If you were to gobble down 20 grapes, how full would you feel? How about if you swallowed 20 raisins. Would you feel anything? Even though each raisin has the same amount of calories as a grape (since they are essentially the same item) yet the fill up factor is almost non existant in raisins. So which one would you rather eat to fill up?
This is why junk food is considered to be such a potent calorie puncher. Each medium sized bag of twisties, cheezels or whatever it is you fancy, has about 500 calories. But eating the whole bag does little or nothing to fill you up. Which means you are more likely to eat something again soon. And when you do, you ring the calorie regsiter again. So stop fooling yourself by skipping lunch just to have a glass of Milo and a bun and think you had nothing and then tell yourself that you can have a big dinner since your lunch was small. The combination of Milo and a bun (I am guessing the bun will either have cheese, Mayo or both) which will roughly be about 400 calories. Eating a normal meal is about 500 plus calories. So which one do you think is better? Eating a little bit more, but you can be sure it will last a while, or something small which is just slightly less in calories but will leave you craving for more within the hour.

So stop being the ding dong that goes to restaurants, orders something small but which is high in fat and calories, and convince youself that you will be fine, since you still feel hungry after the meal. And hey, why not have a bit of dessert, since after all my main course was so small. Eat normally, but choose wisely. Choose things that will fill you up and keep you full but lower on the calorie scale and avoid foods that breakdown fast or just don’t fill you up but high on calories.

As usual, i look forward to hearing your comments on this.

Are you resting enough?

Did you know an essential part of working out and seeing results is actually getting enough rest and letting your body recover from the workout. Many people who work out seem to forget that the body needs to rest. Just like how you need a rest after a hard day at the office, your body is no different. In fact I know a lot of enthusiasts who work out 7 times a week all because they want to see quick and fast results. So they feel if working out 4 times a week is good, then 7 times a week has to be much better right? Wrong. It doesn’t quite work that way. Here are 3 reasons why you should make it a point to get enough rest in between your workouts.

Reduce the risk of injury
If your body has not recovered fully from the previous workout and you push it again, you are at higher risk of experiencing injury which could put you out of commission for weeks or even months. So why do it? If you are one of those people who wants to get fast results, imagine what 4 weeks of not working out will do to your goals of losing weight or getting the fitness results you want. It will backtrack your goals.

Burnout
People who work out all the time and don’t have any rest will be at higher risk for experiencing burnout. Burnout is a condition when you get sick and tired of working out and just want to quit. Although it is a psychological condition, believe me, the results and what it does to you is very real. I know many people who start out strong and then experience burnout… and getting them back into their routine is harder than getting someone who has never worked out to start working out. So make sure you get enough rest or you will be resting for a long long time after that. All work and no play will make you sick of anything quickly.

You will stop seeing results
I know people who workout hard 7 days a week and each work out going on for almost 2 hours. That is a quite a bit if you ask me. To top it up, they are on an extremely tight diet because they want to see rapid weight loss. After 2 or 3 months, they realize that they are not losing anymore weight. So what do they do? Make it 3 hours a day and eat even less… and still they don’t see results. Why? Because you have over worked your body to its max and pushed it too far and your body just gives up and doesn’t want to push itself anymore. I have personally guided friends and clients out of this rut by actually telling them to eat more and take a break. And just 2 weeks of eating healthier (in most cases more food) and working out less, they actually start to lose weight again. So trust me… more isn’t always better.

With all that being said, please also know that it doesn’t mean the more you rest the better it will be. So working out once a week and taking the other 6 days off doesn’t cut it as well. Just like everything else in life, it is a matter of striking the right balance between working out and getting enough rest. Below is my recommendation of how much you should workout and how much you should rest:

- Exercise 4 to 5 times a week
- Each session should be between 1 hour to 1.5 hours
- Every 4 or 5 months, take a whole 1 week off from working out… meaning absolutely no working out for 1 whole week.

Follow these 3 simple rules and you won’t have to worry about burnout, injury or not seeing any results. So take a look at your routine and make sure you get enough rest and a break in between your workouts.

As crazy as I am about working out, when it comes to the weekend, I am an absolute bum and trust me… I do very little physical activity over the weekend. So Monday to Friday is my workout days and Saturday and Sunday is when I rest relax and rejuvanate. So what is your routine like and are you getting enough rest. Look forward to hearing from you.

Home Made Burgers

If you like eating burgers, I would like to share with everyone, my secret recipe to making home made burger patties. The advantage of home made patties… you know what’s going in and you get to control it. A lot of burgers out there are made up by grinding up left over parts, skin and fat. So this way, you get to enjoy almost the same taste, without all the heart clogging ingredients. Here’s what you need.

Ingredients
400 grams of lean minced meat of your choice (Chicken breast, buffalo, pork, beef)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
2 slices of White Bread
5 to 6 Wholemeal Cream Crackers (crushed to fine powder)
Corn Starch
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
*Ginger (crushed)
*Chilli Powder
½ teaspoon Fennel Seed powder (Jintan Putih)
*Salt
*Pepper
*Few drops of Maggi Seasoning

All items with * need to be added according to your own taste.

Method
1. Break up the white bread into small pieces and soak it into the milk. Let the bread soak up all the milk until you can stir it with a spoon and the bread completely disintegrates in the milk.
2. Mix all ingredients up (except Corn Starch). You can add more crushed whole meal crackers if you feel the mixture is still too wet. The consistency you are looking for is thick and when you can form a ball with the mixture and it holds it shape.
3. Once the mixture is right, sprinkle a bit of corn starch powder into the mixture. You need to add in roughly 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into the mix. This is to ensure the whole thing holds when cooking and does not break apart.
4. Shape into patties and pan fry it.
5. You can also roll this mixture into a ball and make meat balls out of it.

Go ahead try it and see. If you have a better receipe, please share and I will be more than happy to try it.

Which Fast Food is the worst?

So the results are in and KFC has been voted the most unhealthy Fast Food of all. I too voted for KFC, just because you have pockets of oil which squirt out of the chicken with every bite - so its no surprise that they won or rather lost, depending on how you look at it. You can almost feel a heart attack coming on everytime you are done eating it. As much as I think they are the worst, I too eat them from time to time. So I am not saying don’t eat KFC ever again… just eat it with moderation. But I try to avoid their fried chicken as I personally feel that that is the worst and there is no quality control on how unhealthy it is. Their burgers aren’t so bad and doesn’t make you feel like your arteries are getting clogged with every bite.

The second is McD’s followed by the pizza houses. I still think McDs is not too bad as you do have some healthy options, the portions are small and it isn’t as oil soaked as KFC. A healthy choice in McDs would be their Fillet-O-Fish, which actually uses 100% fish and you can actually see it. So if you ask me to make a healthy choice between 2 evils, I would rather choose McDs over KFC.

A&W received no votes which could either mean, people think they are healthy or nobody goes to them at all, so no one bothered voting for them. Besides their root beer float, I honestly think everything else there really sucks. Even their curly fries suck compared to McDs. If you are going to go unhealthy, it has to have taste or else what’s the point of eating it.

Pizza houses aren’t any better, but if you can stick to the thin crust and avoid telling them you want “extra cheese”, it actually cuts down the “unhealthy” factor drastically. Personally I love Domino’s thin crust and every once in awhile when I have no idea what to eat and stumble upon a discount coupon, I will pick it up and use it.

So which ones did you vote for as being the worst and why? Look forward to hearing your comments.

Staying fit while on Holiday

So there you are laying by the beach, margarita in one hand, and sun block in the other taking in the breathless view. You are on your holiday and all the worries of the world are far behind.

Most people workout hard to look their best during the holiday, and once they are at their favourite holiday spot, they let loose. Nothing wrong with that. Holidays are meant to be enjoyed and i am the king of letting loose as well. But if you wondering how you can still stay fit during your holiday without blowing away all your hard work and also to keep looking good throughout your holiday, you have come to the right place. There are actually lots of things you can do during your holiday to stay fit. Especially if you are on a long holiday, you don’t want all your hard work to go to waste and start from scratch once you get back. So here are some tips on how to stay fit during your holiday.

Swimming

Swimming is one of the best forms of exercise cause it gives you a cardio workout and strength training all at once. And which holiday destination does not have a swimming pool? If you can hit the pool for 30 minutes (actual swimming time not just sun bathing and floating around in the water like a buffalo) your good to go. You will be able to chow down almost anything you want, and your body will look fit as if you never left the gym.

Go for a walk or a jog

If you are by the beach, get up a little earlier than everyone else and have a quick jog or walk by the beach. It may not be as much or as effective as your gym work outs, but like I always say… something is better than nothing

Kayaking and other outdoor activities

If you love the outdoors, then you don’t have to worry about staying fit. Whether it is jungle trekking or kayaking, if you are a nature enthusiast, I am pretty sure you will get plenty of exercise during your holiday. Kayaking is great for your shoulder, arms, back and of course it burns a whole lot of fat. So try to get involved in outdoor activities and you will be good.

Push Ups, Sit Ups, crunches

These are exercises you can do just about anywhere, anytime and you don’t need any equipment. I usually like to get a few crunches in before I head out to the beach… gives your abs that little toning that you need to look your best. If you have a series of exercises, do all of them before you head out. It will make you looked a little more pumped and best of all, it is still a work out. Try it out and see.

Using the hotel gym

For those who are more hardcore, you can always depend on the hotel gyms for your workouts. When? You can always get up about 30 minutes earlier and sneak in a quick workout. If you don’t have a gym, you can always resort to doing some of the exercises mentioned above. It won’t be equivalent to your gym workout, but it sure the heck is better than doing nothing.

Now that you get the idea, going on holidays doesn’t have to mean you will come back looking fat. I always hear people say “oh I just got back from a holiday, that’s why I put on some weight” or “I need to work off those extra holiday pounds now that I am back”. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can stay fit while you are on holiday. I look forward to hearing what other great routines you guys have and want to share with others.

Why you need to have good abs

Have you ever wondered why you should bother to work out, watch your food and have a good set of abs? Well I have loads of friends who argue that having a great looking abs is purely to satisfy one’s vanity, but actually, you will be surprised how important it is to keep a trim and flat stomach is, besides just making you look good.

1) The bigger your waist, the shorter your life.
Remember the BMI scale which was based on your body weight and height? The higher your BMI, the higher your risk of heart disease and other obesity related illnesses? Medical researchers have found that the BMI is inaccurate because your body weight can be higher due to a lot of reasons besides just fat. Hence a more accurate technique is measuring your waist hip ratio. It has been proven that people with bigger waists are at higher risk for heart disease and other obesity related illnesses which could lead to an early death. To reduce your risk of these diseases and live a longer life, you need to take action now.

2) The bigger your waist, the shorter your “member” will be.
Some studies suggest, that the bigger your waist becomes, the shorter your penis will be. This is because as you put on weight over your pelvic area, the more fat you have, the less of your penis will be exposed. Hence, you can lose a few inches because it is being swallowed by fat. Also, the fatter you are, the poorer your blood circulation will be due to constricted veins and arteries and as you know, getting an erection depends on blood flow. So having poor blood flow comes down to poor erections.

3) The stronger your abs, the better your game will be
Whatever sport you play, you will need strong abs as the stronger yours abs the better you will be able to play the game. Whether you are playing golf or football or basketball, strong abs help you to have that burst of speed from Point A to Point B which is one of the most important factors in any game. So if you have mastered the skills for the game to your maximum potential and can’t improve, strengthening your abs will give you that additional edge to get you out of that rut.

4) A bigger waist gives rise to many chronic health problems
Having a big waist puts unnecessary strain on your back and legs. As you get older, you are more likely to have chronic aches and pains in these area as it is under stress with additional weight all the time. Why add more unnecessary health problems when you get older? These can be easily avoided. Hence why it is important for you to keep your midsection trim.

So besides just looking good, having a good set of abs is actually important for a lot of other reasons as well. Hopefully this is motivation enough for more people to get fit and stay fit. I look forward to hearing your comments on this.

The 2 + 1 Diet Plan

I have tried out this plan myself and recommended to people and they all say it works wonders. If you want to lose weight without having to starve yourself and become a social outcast, this is the plan for you.

The 2 + 1 Diet plan is very easy and perfect for those who are working and have to eat out all the time. In short, most of us eat 3 meals a day. The idea is to make 2 of those meals are as healthy as possible and then for 1 meal, you are allowed to eat other foods (which deemed to be less healthy) in moderation. For most working adults, you can easily control what you eat for breakfast and dinner and ensure it is very healthy, but when it comes to lunch, you are limited to very few options as you most probably have to eat out. Hence why this plan is perfect, because when it comes to lunch you can eat out as per normal people. By making at least 2 out of 3 of your meals healthy, you will already start to see results.

But there are some rules you must follow in order to really see results

• Eat a healthy breakfast. Nasi Lemak and Roti Canai does not count. You should eat breakfast cereal or sandwiches for breakfast. The tip is to eat something that is low in calories, yet fills you up and keeps you full for long periods. Oats are a great option too
• When it comes to lunch, yes you are allowed to stray a little from healthy food but do it in moderation. Eating a 3 piece KFC meal everyday is not going to help. Try to limit fast food to once a week, and if you must eat unhealthy food, eat less of it. I would recommend eating fruits or other healthy snacks before your lunch, so this way you eat less unhealthy food because you are already half full from your pre-lunch meal.
• Dinner should be light as well. Ideal dinners would include sandwiches, pasta, thosai, chapati or for those who are more disciplined... just fruits.
• Try to eat just 3 meals and nothing else. so no snacking in between, no teh tarik after work etc, no goreng pisang
• You should also try to reduce your sweet drink intake. No point eating healthily if you are going to drink 10 cans of Coke a day. So limit sweet drinks to 2 or 3 a day and no more
• Of course as usual, if you could throw in about 30 minutes of walkking everyday or some form of exercise besides just getting up from your office chair, it will defnitely help you burn more as well.

So there you have it. A simple 2+1 Diet plan which anyone can follow and if done properly, i guarantee you will see results. So eat unhealthy food in moderation, and balance it out with 2 healthy meals every day and you will definitely see results. Look forward to hearing your comments.

Negative Calorie Foods

Is this possible? Can certain foods actually have not only "no calories", but even negative calories? Could you literally eat your way to fat loss...the more you eat the more you lose?

OK, before you all get excited over this concept, there is such a thing as negative calories, but it’s not exactly something that cancels out other foods and fat which have calories. Foods which are considered to have negative calories actually do have calories, but because they are complex foods which are difficult to breakdown, the body uses more energy to break it down (calories used) than what the calories the food itself contains.

So for example, if you ate an apple which has 100 calories, your body may need to use 150 calories of energy to break it down and digest this food. Hence by eating the apple, your body just lost 50 calories. Comparative to eating a slice of cheese cake which has 300 calories and only takes 100 calories to digest, then you have gained 200 calories.

Of course the question now is, how do you incorporate this into your lifestyle / diet to make it work for you? Below is a listing of negative calorie foods which have less calories than it takes for your body to breakdown. Meaning low calorie foods which are complex and difficult for your body to break down hence causing a negative calorie "gain".

Negative Calorie Foods - Vegetables
Asparagus, Beet, Broccoli, cabbage (green), carrots, cauliflower, Celery, Chili peppers, cucumbers, garlic, letuce, onions, Spinach, turnip, zuchini

Negative Calorie Foods - Fruits*

Green apples, cranberries, grapefruit, papaya, lemons, mangos, orange, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries

* juicing these fruits and drinking them don't count. You got to eat these fruits whole.

So the idea here, is of course to try and increase the intake of these foods while reducing those other foods which are high in calorie and bad for our gut. I have read of diets which consist of only these foods, and honestly, I think that is a silly idea for the sole reason that it is too drastic and you will not be able to stick with it. So instead of doing that, why not try to eat more of these foods during your meals or maybe even switch one of your meals to just these kinds of foods. These foods will you up fast and keep you full for longer as well... so you really don't have to starve yourself to lose weight. It is a great way to naturally burn some additional fat while eating. Who would have thought that would be possible.

Look forward to hearing your comments as usual.

Red Meat that is Healthy

Can you imagine being able to eat red meat again without any guilt? Imagine that this red meat is lower in fat than beef, turkey, chicken, fish, and even ostrich. Imagine that this red meat is higher in protein than beef. Imagine that this red meat tastes wonderful.

Well, imagine No More. There is indeed such a meat - It's Buffalo Meat. I was watching the Asian Food Channel not too long ago, and they featured this restaurant in US that made Buffalo steaks, Buffalo burgers etc... at first i went "Ewwww", but then all the people who ate it said, it tasted just like beef and they couldn't tell the difference. They also flashed the nutrition facts of buffallo meat, and its higher in Protein than Beef (for all those body builders who are looking for more protein in their diet) and less fat than even skinless chicken (for all those who want to eat red meat without the additional baggage). All the taste, without any of the guilt. Of course when i heard all this info, i was like... that's great news, but we will never see it in Malaysia, so what's the point.

And just last week, i was surprised to see the Giant near my house selling Buffalo Meat from India. The price averages around RM 10 for a Kilogram so its still pretty affordable. To all the Hindu's out there... its "halal" for you to eat. So you are no longer stuck to just mutton when it comes to red meat. Try it out and see. I made some burger patties out of mine, but i overdid the salt and some of the spices. So let me refine the recipe before i post it up here for you guys.

Below are the nutrition facts of Buffalo meat (per 100 grams serving) compared to all the other meats.

Look forward to hearing your comments on this wonder meat, especially if you have tried it.

Top 5 Cures for a Hangover

I was listening to Rick Dee’s Weekly top 40 over the weekend and was listening to his Top 5 cures for hangovers. Sounds like useful facts. Hope it helps all you drinkers out there.

Number 5 – Eat a hearty Breakfast.
After a heavy night of drinking, you need to eat a hearty breakfast. A hearty breakfast which is high in fat and protein actually helps to absorb all the toxins from the alcohol, hence removing it from your system quickly. Not the best for your wasitline and your health, but great for getting rid of that nasty hangover.

Number 4 – Drink Lots of water
Alcohol is a like a sponge for body fluids. Hence after drinking, your body will be totally drained and all that water needs to be replenished. It is recommended that for every glass of beer you drink, you drink the same in water. So if you drink 5 pints of beer, you will need to drink 5 pints of water. I am guessing that when it comes to hard liqour, each shot of liquor should be balanced with one full glass of water.

Number 3 – Take Panadol
OK, US people are not familiar with Panadol, but he did mention some drugs which are equavilent to our all purpose Panadol. So Panadol is not just an antitode for fever. It’s a great drug that helps with hangovers as well. The key is to take medicines that do not upset your stomach. Pills that say it should be taken after food are usually the kind that will iritate your stomach. So pain killers are a big NO NO. This is because your stomach has already been iritated with all the alcohol, so adding more iritants to your stomach will not help. Stick to Panadol. It works just as fine without iritiating your stomach. Truly a wonder drug.

Number 2 – Sleep
After a heavy night of drinking, your body is working overtime to breakdown all the alcohol and get it out of your system. Hence sleeping will allow your body to do this process faster without over exerting it with other activites. I personally believe that Number 4, 3 and 2 is the best way to get rid of your hangover. After a night of drinking, drink a ton of water, pop a couple of Panadols and get a good nights sleep. If you wake up and still feel like you just got hit with by a train, pop 2 more panadols, drink more water and off to bed again. You will wake up fresh as if you never drank.

The Number 1 for a hangover – Don’t get drunk in the first place.
He he he. I guess most of you would have seen this coming. But yes, the best way to prevent a Hangover is to not over drink the night before. Key word is not to overdrink. So know your limits and stay within that if you want to avoid a hangover.

Anyway, look forward to hearing your comments, especially from our regular, Mr. AD. I know this is not 100% related to fitness, but I think it is still related to health and your wellbeing.