Weight loss vs Fat loss: are they the same or different?

Whenever people want to start a new quest in a healthy lifestyle, the fist word that comes out of their mouth is: I want to lose weight. It’s only normal when you’re told that being “overweight” could risk your health, the notion sparks that you must lose weight to become healthy. Sadly enough, not everyone knows that “weight loss” is the wrong way to go about becoming healthy. Why? Because weight loss and fat loss are two different things, and when you’re looking to become healthy, you should be looking at fat loss.

Weight loss vs. Fat loss

When you say you want to lose weight, it technically means that you want to lower your body weight in total which constitutes of; lean muscle mass (LMM), body fat, organs, water, and skin. Might as well remove your brains out which weigh an average of 2-4LBS. =P. Also losing LMM can really slow down your metabolism and that’s something you really want to avoid (now that’s for another post.)

On the other hand, fat loss is a whole different thing than weight loss. Fat loss refers to lowering the amount of fat in your body and that is usually what people aim for, but confuse with weight loss.

Body Fat % and what they indiciate for men & women

A lot of people confuse these two concepts and go gaga when they step on the scale because they simply don’t understand that the bathroom scale is really just not accurate. It doesn’t identify how much kilograms of fat your body holds and how much muscle or the level of water either. Do remember that our body weight is mostly about 55% (female) - 60% (male) of water.

Another interesting aspect of “weight loss”, is when people first start to exercise they usually lose an average of 3lbs (1.5kgs) almost immediately and see a lot of weight loss. Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s usually water weight, not fat.  When you lower your carbs intake you body loses water, when you increase it, it does the opposite – gain.

Sometimes when you start exercising, you realize instead of the scale going down it’s going up, yet your pants are fitting you well, if not loose – right? Yeah, I know your nodding your head right now, and here’s the good news. Yes, if this is your case, you HAVE lost fat, but you also have gained muscle, hence the “weight gain” or no progress in #'s, but it doesn’t mean you have gained fat. Again, the scale doesn't tell you that.

Although 5lbs of muscle and 5lbs of fat weigh exactly the same, however, muscle takes less space than fat, hence people who have more lean muscle mass, well, look lean-er. In another words, it’s not the “weight” itself that matters, but “how” the weight is distributed in the body. 

How to differentiate between fat loss vs. weight loss?

1) Don’t weigh yourself daily, you can gain up to 4lbs (2kgs) of water. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning after a nice trip to the rest room.

2) Take pictures bi-weekly & compare.

3) Take tap measurements; chest, arms, legs, waist…etc.

4) If you have access to a gym, they should have a device that measures your BMI, body fat, Lean muscle mass, water…etc. (do it every 6 weeks) to see accurate results.
 

To conclude, you are probably looking to lose body fat and not weight, am I correct or am I even more correct? Personally, I have been trying for one year to “GAIN weight” in the sense of gain more muscles as increasing muscle mass really helps off in burning the fat. Saying I want to gain weight doesn’t mean I want to put on fat.

Hope the message came across. So now, tell me, what do YOU want to lose or gain?

Yours truly,
GymFreak at 999-Fitness.

"Your Body is a Barbell" - Put on muscle mass without the use of weights.

“Your body is a barbell” - Alwyn Cosgrove.

That quote is one of my favorite. Why? Because you cannot imagine how hard it is to train with your own body weight.

So, you want to work out and build your muscles, but think that you really can’t. Time constraints at work or at home are forcing you to pull away from exercise. You would join a gym, but it seems impossible with the time limitation you face every day. No need to worry. Why? Because I have a set of 9 exercises you can do while you’re at home, at work, or even at the park – and best of all, without any gym-related equipment.

Before I move on to the exercises, I want you to know the benefits of body weight exercises.
Other than the fact they are convenient and save money, they not only build endurance, they also build strength. It doesn’t matter if you go to the gym to do a bench press or use your own body to do a push up. Your muscles do not distinguish between the types of resistance you use. Resistance is resistance in any form.

Good news, right?

Even more so, If you look around you, a lot of objects and items can transform your body into a muscle building machine. Instead of using a step to perform step exercises, simply use the stairs! They serve the same purpose. Instead of buying a pull-up bar, go to a playground and hang off a bar by the swing and pull yourself up!

So the exercises are:

Chair Dips:

This is a compound move that targets your triceps in particular. This version is modified for beginners, and to make it harder, straighten your leg out or put your leg up on another chairHow: Sit on the chair with your feet together. Keep your hands next or slightly under the hips. Lift up onto the hands and bring your hips forward. Bend elbows to 90 degrees and lower the hips down close to the chair. And push back up. Do this exercise for 3 sets and 8-12 reps.

Modified push-ups:

 There are different types of pushups, so make sure you pick the one that is at your fitness level. Push-ups work about all muscle groups in the body; it uses muscles in the chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and the core. How: Stand a few feet away from a wall or a rail, and place your hands so they’re just about wider than your shoulders. Pull the abs in and keep the back straight, then lower your body until your elbows are at 90 degrees. Do this for 3 sets and 8-12 reps.

One-legged squat:

There are so many types of squats you could do, from chair squat to wall squats. Squats work your lower body; such as, gluteus, hips, and thighs. The one-legged squats are more challenging and you could do them using stairs. How: Lift your leg in front of you, bend the other leg while bring the hips behind you. Push into the heel to come up. Do this for 3 sets and 10-16 reps.

Lunges:

Lunges are another great exercise for the legs, because you’ll be working your gluteus and hamstrings, quads and calves. To make Lunges harder, try jumping lunges. How: stand with your leg 3 feet apart, both knees should be at a 90 degree angle. To add intensity, hold a bottle with water or sand. Bend your knees and lower the back knee toward the floor, and keep your front heel down. Keep your torso straight and abs tucked in as you push through the front heel. Go back up and repeat for each leg. Do this for 3 sets and 10-16 reps.

One-legged Deadlift:

The deadlift is a primary strength training exercise, even bodybuilders perform. Performing the deadlift on one leg is challenging enough and it primarily works your gluteus, hamstrings and calves. Hold a heavy book to add intensity. How: hold the weight in front of the thighs and place your right leg behind you with the toe lightly touching the floor. Lower the weights and lift your leg up straight. Keep your shoulders back, abs in, and back straight. Bend the knees slightly if your flexibility is not strong. Push into the heel and go back up and repeat for each leg. Do this for 3 sets and 10-16 reps.

Inverted rows:

This exercise is a modification to chin up, and is a great compound exercise that works your upper back, lats, traps, and bicep muscles. All you need is a bar you can hang off. How: your palms should face away from your body with a shoulder width grip. Keep your elbow tucked and close to your body about 45 degrees. Pull up with your chest and keep your chin tucked in. The bar should touch your chest.  Keep your back straight and abs in. Do this for 3 sets and 8-12 reps.

Plank:

Planks are one of the best core exercises you might ever stumble upon, because they work and strengthen your entire core and abs. To make Planks harder, lift one leg up between 5-8 inches off the floor. How:
your forearms and toes should on the floor. Keep your torso straight and rigid and your whole body in a straight line. Do not bend, and keep looking at the floor. Hold between 30-60 seconds, and repeat for 3 sets.

Superman:

This exercise is great for the core as well as the lower back. How: Life face down with your arms stretched above your head. Raise your left arm and right leg about 5 inches off the ground. Hold for 3 seconds and relax, then alternate. Repeat for 3 sets with 6-8 reps.

Burpee (no, not burps!):

Burpees are a great full body workout that will get you sweating in no time. It works your cardiovascular system, your upper and your lower body all at once. How: begin in a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you. Kick your feet back; perform a push up, either on your knees or toes. Return to the squat position with your arm. Jump as high as possible from the squat position. Do this for 3 sets with 8-12 reps. 

To conclude, your body needs 48 hours rest between each strength training session and to get the most out of it, combine it with cardio 3x a week.

Off that couch and into the ground. Chop Chop! 


Yours truly,
GymFreak at 999-Fitness.

Is college making you fat?

At some point, we always like to attribute what resulted in a positive manner as our own doings, while the negative to external influences. This concept is known as the self-serving bias in psychology.Well, since this is not a psychology 101 blog, lets just use the concept in relation to college making YOU fat. 

I recently read THIS article on LAtimes, and the study results claim that students in their senior year (4th for most) start to pack up pounds due to the lack of physical activities. When you're a senior student you do put a lot of focus on studies, making sure your GPA is high enough, probably slow down the partying - perhaps increase it? I wouldn't know, but I do know that being a college student & a senior per Se is not directly a factor contributing to the heavy sandbag you're carrying around your waist.

I, myself, am a senior student & graduating in two months. Am I fat? No. Do I have a good metabolism? Up to an extent...Only because I work for it to be (yes, it's something YOU can control). Although, I do admit that, at some point eating lunch 5 days a week at university, with the lack of exercise, and sitting most of the day, did contribute to my weight gain last year (7kgs) among certain medications I had to take. 

Yet, the year before that, in 2007 - I did eat food at university & was exercising and I became skinny as hell with about 90% healthy food choices.

Most of us who go to colleges do know the food offered are not the best options or have good nutritional values. At my university, we have Burger King, HAD KFC & Pizza hut (now removed), another fast food chains with sandwiches, greasy foods, packed with not one table spoon of Alfredo sauce, but 10 times more. Of course such foods will contribute to the waist lines of the students.

But you, as a student, educated, should be able to search about these foods and know their components. It's out there. You can still fit junk food (although unhealthy) into your diet somehow and not gain a lot of weight. I've done it a million times to be honest (not that I am proud), but you also have to find ways to balance the junk with the good.

For example, when I ever decide to eat from Burger King, which I literally do like 3x a semester now in a four months period, I only eat a small hamburger, which is about 300 calories. To keep me full for three hours & then have a small snack (like low fat yogurt & some nuts)....and so on. I was able to stay within a certain weight-range for four years only because I worked for it.

Despite the junk offered, there are some healthy choices or not-so-bad choices. For example if you eat Subway (and include the right food inside) it will work for you - but if you eat subway (with the wrong foods inside; ie, mayo, thousand ranch dressing...etc.) it will work against you. If you eat a salad, don't be shocked to hear it contains over 1,000 calories only because of the dressing. Although lettuce & chicken on its own is about  130-200 calorie (of course depending on portion, but you could never go wrong eating only plain grilled chicken breast & lettuce.)

Anyway, bottom line of this long post is that...only you can decide to let the university life come in the way of your health and weight. Sure there are external factors such as illnesses that may contribute to obesity, it's not always the individual who does *work hard* to gain weight, but in the end of the day - you make the things around you work for you, or fail you.

So college is ≠ fat.

Yours truly,
GymFreak at 999-Fitness

What do you think? Does college make you fat? share your experiences with us.

Lesson 1: Your Gym Jargon Vocab - ABC

When you have to take up a new lifestyle and start using a gym, not only you have to deal with the motivation and consistency, but you also have to learn a new language. Kind of like learning Arabic then Chinese. Yikes, right? So if you are overwhelmed with all the seemingly improper words at the gym and avoid conversations which include words like hammies & lats....Well 999-Fitness is here for the rescue with your first gym jargon class: ABC. 


Before we hit the dictionary, lets know a little about our 123's.

1RM: is your one-repetition maximum, which means the maximum amount of weight you can lift in a given exercise in a single repetition.


Aerobic exercise: Steady-paced training that uses up oxygen and increase your overall fitness levels by strengthening your heart and lungs. Exercises include: jogging or biking.

Anaerobic training (my favorite): It involves exercises at a high intensity but in short bouts of time. The body usually uses carbohydrates and fat instead of oxygen. Exercises include: heavy weight lifting & sprinting.

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): BMR is simply the amount of calories your burn while at rest, while sleeping, sitting, etc. Your BMR also changes with the amount of muscle you have.

She says: So far, mine is 1,200. Hence, for me to stay alive and for my heart & lung to function the MINIMUM I should eat is 1,200 if I were a couch potato, since I am not & want to gain muscles, I eat up to 2,000 calories a day.

Barbell: Straight or a curved bar in which could weigh 15kgs(usually for women) or 20kgs (usually for men) on its own and you can add weighted plates on each side. Mostly used for bench press, military press, deadlift, squats, and barbell curls (for biceps) among others.

Today I’m training my bi’s: Bi’s simply refers to biceps, also known as guns.

Feel the “burn”: The burn is a feeling you get when you’ve exhausted your muscles while training for failure. 
 

Cutting: No! Not that kind of suicidal cutting, but more like shedding the fat. Bodybuilders often time go on a bulking up phase; where they gain muscles and fat and after a certain period of time they go into a cutting-phase in which they reduce their body fat while maintaining max. amount of muscles.

So, if you like & learnt something new, do let 999-Fitness know so she prepares your DEF lessons for you ASAP.

Yours truly,
GymFreak at 999-Fitness


Have you come across any words in the gym you didn't know & wondered what they meant? Do you feel intimated going to the gym because of the jargon?

Children leading unhealthy lifestyle in the UAE

In a recent article published at the national HERE, it addresses a number of issues in regards to how children in the UAE lack knowledge when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. Hm. What's wrong in this picture? Well, firstly, kids no way can learn on their own what is healthy and what is not, so it is not surprisingly enough that kids are not armed with the necessary knowledge.

As said by Sammar Farah, from DSG:

According to a 2005 study, 74 per cent of children were either overweight or obese. "The ministry has, this year, increased the hours spent in PE," she said. However, "it isn't about the number of hours, but how they are spent".

I have to give this woman credit for pointing that out because she knows that only increasing the hours of PE class will not lead anywhere. Why? Because when it comes to fitness, obesity, & exercise, it is truly quality over quantity. For example a 20-minute of High Intensity Interval Training is probably a lot better than, say one hour walking at a speed of 4km/h. Not to speak in too much detail about what HIIT is, but basically it's a form exercise where you spend about 5 minutes warming up and 5 minutes cooling down - while you do the actual exercise during 20 minutes. In those 20 minutes, you go back and forth between a 30 or 60 second "all-out" speed, say 15 km/h and then walk or jog at 5-6Km/h. Those numbers depend on your fitness levels.

This type of exercise actually revs up your metabolism for 24 hours after the session & requires 24-48 hours rest.

Moving on, to ensure our kids have the right knowledge, parents, school and government parties all need to become aware first. You cannot blame children for their lack of knowledge, especially the ones who teach them, raise them are not aware themselves. A lot of times kids spend time with maids who they themselves don't know what they're cooking - how much calories are in the food, how much fat, protein, carbs. Moreover, people in restaurants should be also aware about the content of the food they serve.

Many times I popped in a restaurant or your typical Junk Food chain, and asked - how many calories are in this meal, what are are the nutritional details on that particular meal. They *shrug*. They're not given food guidelines, let alone the hygiene ones!

Did you know that 9 pieces of buffalo wings at chilies has 1,100 calories? & that is a side dish. Yup. No joke.

The author is still in the process of arming herself with knowledge on the health scene in the UAE. We have a long way to go before we drop the obesity rates down & one day I would like to be part of it.

Yours truly, 
GymFreak at 999-Fitness

Why I love the deadlift

Every Friday, I enter the gym knowing that I will be spending a good 'ol 30 minutes just doing one particular exercise that I know if I didn't do any other exercise for my legs, I would still get a well-rounded workout, both muscle-targeted & a hint of cardio. Why? Because every Friday I perform an exercise called the Deadlift - and yes the deadlift is as deadly as it sounds, but in a very lively way. 

What is the Deadlift?

It's an exercise that is sadly often ignored but highly appreciated and beneficial among bodybuilders and powerlifters. The deadlift is a compound exercise that works more than one muscle at a time which means more calories are burnt. Usually, in my 4 sets of doing the deadlift, which takes me about 20-25 minutes, I lose upto 150 calories - but then again, I am talking about heavy weights & usually use between 70-80% of my Target Heart Rate (THR).

When doing the deadlift, you usually use a barbell bar and stack it up with weights on both side of the bar and lift the weights from the ground. Note: Steps are below in a video.
This is probably one of the exercises that will actually help you with your daily activities. When was the last time you bent down to pick up an item, a heavy box, or a tray? A lot of times you find yourself touching your lower back, eh? Well, this exercise will help in reducing that pain or discomfort.

The muscles usually worked in a Deadlift are: 

From where I'm standing, it seems like the whole body is, eh? But more seriously:

• Hamstrings (back of the leg)
• Quads (front of the leg)
• Glutes
• Calves
• Lower Back
• Abs
• Lats 
• Traps 
• Forearms

Honestly, after every single session of doing a proper Dead, I always feel that I've ran a marathon, which I never really have, so how would I know how that feels like? Nevertheless, you'd usually hear me grunting while performing the exercise, swimming in sweat,panting for air and drinking plenty of water after every single set. So far, I feel that performing this exercise is one reason why I feel my body has the strength. Also there are many variations for the deadlift, them being: Romanian deadlift, Stiff-Legged Deadlift, and Sumo-Deadlift.

More on the author: She weighs about 52kgs and can do a deadlift with 57.5kgs. Her goal is to do a dead twice her bodyweight by sometime mid of next year. 

Yours Truly,
GymFreak at 999-Fitness.

* Here is a video that shows: How to Perform a Deadlift

Health & Fitess is a Process

In 23 days, I will mark my one year journey into fitness and health.

To become healthy and fit in today's world with all the junk food around us, one needs to have the right mindset and most importantly realistic goals. I constantly read comments from people who say they want to lose 10kgs in 11 days, or fit in a outfit that's twice smaller than theirs overnight. That's just not realistic.

I have always been some sort of an active person when I was younger, loved biking, engaging in different physical activities and whatnot. But then you grow up and you wonder how did the time pass by so fast and you became so fat, eh? Well, there is no time like today to start your journey.

I feel into a state of depression last year - like majority of the people in my country (UAE) probably due to the stress around us, from work, to school, and to monetary issues. I was literally vegetating in my bed all day long, eating junk food, watching too many TV shows, but then one day it hit me - this is NOT who I am. This is NOT what I want to be like in the future. Although I was never "truly" obese or overweight in the sense of the word, my mind was. I have put on a good ol' 7kgs of fat and literally felt like sh*t every single day. I hated myself. Hated how clothes looked on me.

So one day I just got up, and took one step and then another. I didn't even start exercise at first, but my goal was to add a simple activity a day that requires more movement from my part and then I took on exercising 5 days a week. If anything, I am still taking baby steps even after one year. This is how it is & this is what worked for me and still is. I believe you cannot rush into changing yourself overnight - it is unrealistic.

How to set realistic goals?

1- Identify the problem
2- Understand what causes it
3- Make one small change every week
4- Keep reaching one goal at a time

It's as simple as not having fries once a week (in case you're like me and love fries to death =P), and build up to not having it twice a week & so on. 

Following these simple steps will help you reach your bigger goal, be it lose 10kgs, wear a certain dress size, or even just feel better about yourself.

You cannot dance your way into fitness, it is a process and it's a process that takes time. Determination and self-motivation can take you farther than anyone ever could, a personal trainer or a life coach. Only you can take that journey, and that journey is well-worth it once you start to see changes. Most importantly do it for you and not anybody else.

Who's the author? Simply putting it, an Emirati gym freak who loves heavy weight lifting (or considers it to be at least.)