⚡️ What Comes First: Diet or Fitness For Weight Loss?
Hello Everyone!
How are you all getting on? I hope you’re all doing well and life is treating you fine!
This newsletter is jammed with information, so I’m going to get on with everything, but first I wanted to remind everyone that Vivi Rocks is the name of my company, which incorporates Fit Mama and The Menopause App. There might be some of you who signed up for a newsletter from “Fit Mama” or “The Menopause App” - months or years ago - just to reassure you that FM and TMA are now Vivi Rocks!
Okay - let’s get going.
👉 Fitness V Nutrition, for weight loss: The Long Read. As a personal trainer I’m usually hired by clients to get their fitness life in order, however, fitness is only one side of the coin. The other side is diet. Let’s have a look at what should come first to give you a fuller, more thorough, personal training experience
👉 Past Events: Two events happened during May that you can now catch up on-demand. Click on this link to discover:
“How To Create a One-Month Fitness Plan” webinar with me!
AND
“Perimenopause 101: Everything You Need To Know About Peri” fireside chat - I hosted Dr. Vikram Talaulikar (menopause medical expert) during this very informative session - a must watch! The perimenopause session is also listed as audio only so you can listen to that whilst doing other things!
👉 Upcoming Events: Two events are happening over the next week - registration is via Eventbrite!
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER: "EFT Tapping for Menopause and New Moms?? Let’s Find Out!”
AND
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER: "Coaching Moms: 2 Coaches, 3 Mom Problems - Let’s Help Them Out!”
Both of these sessions are limited ticketed - so that we can create a really intimate campfire feel - and allow attendees to ask questions during the session. Please go ahead and click on the link to join - I am so excited to do both sessions as I am obsessed in finding new and effective ways, that are science-backed, that might help my client base. I don’t practice EFT, but I’m so intrigued about it’s success rates - Janine Mitchell is an expert and she is good! And with Nadine Stille’s session - this will be a first of its kind - we’re going to go through three different “real life” clients and discuss how we could, as coaches, help each woman.
My goal, with Vivi Rocks, is to get sound, science-backed, content to you, my client base. Whether you’re a paying member of Vivi Rocks, or just a casual observer, I’m here for you and to find out as much as I can to help you live your best life!
👉 FREE: I’m looking for clients to come onto a new Collective Program - read on to find out more.
Since 2016 I’ve been testing small groups/cohorts for monthly fitness plans - they are superb at keeping you on track, providing you with daily workouts, and giving you the camaraderie and support from members in the group.
With Vivi Rocks I have set up a VIP membership plan - VIP means Village In Place and I’m now looking for two villages to be used as a testing area. I need around 10 clients in each village, and you’ll genuinely get as close to a real VIP experience as possible. I want to test: community vibes; 3-month subscription model; same-stage clients in each village; and more.
I would LOVE you to join this program - it’s completely free, will run for 6 months, kicking off on 1st June (if possible!)
For more information click here!
👉 June Fitness Challenge: This is my regular, every single month, fitness challenge. The goal is easy - you join a small, private group and every single day I drop a new workout into the group. You do the workout, type “done” and you get to stay in for another day! In June I’ll be focusing on abs, core, glutes one day, and full body the next. You can be any fitness level, you’re not working out at the same time as everyone else - it’s on your schedule, and you can be a complete beginner! Ready? Sign up here.
👉 Ultimate Guide to Fitness, Health & Wellness: I have repriced this eBook! Initially I had priced it at €59.99 which included the eBook plus one year membership of a fitness group. This didn’t seem to resonate, so I’ve dropped the fitness group element and now just have the eBook for sale at €9.99. I’d love you to buy it as it should serve as an amazing “working” book for you. There are workouts, detailed photos for every single exercise, and lots of chapters on how to get you going. Click here to BUY NOW!
👉 Vivi Rocks News, Events, Community: Join for free here
✨ Vivi Rocks is OPEN and you can join here - FREE and VIP Memberships
💥 This week’s workout is a real time video - so just hit PLAY!
As always - please send me through any questions or issues you have - happy to help in any way I can, and for clarity (as I’ve been asked!) this is an offer to help, for free. Absolutely no charge at all - just drop me a line: hello@vivirocks.com
Have a great week!
Michelle
xoxox
Here is your #WOD
In this workout: Try to pair up the exercises - then take a short break before going on to the next pairing.
45/15 x jump lunges
60 secs x rainbow planks
45/15 x Spiderman pushups
60 secs x scissors
45/15 x squat thrusts
30/30/10 x side planks
45/15 x belt kicks
60 secs x Spiderman
45/15 x mountain climbers
60 secs x reverse crunches
Total workout: around 10 mins, not including warm up / stretch
Remember:
1) warm up before the work out and cool down/stretch after the workout
2) stop any exercises if you're feeling unwell, dizzy, or short of breath
Good Luck!
Timing:
45/15 = 45 seconds of the exercise 15 seconds of a break
30/30/10 = 30 seconds of one exercise or leg, 30 seconds of a different exercise or leg, 10 seconds break
💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥
The long read: What Comes First - Diet or Fitness, For Weight Loss?
Ever since I started working out - decades ago - there was always a correlation between “working out” and losing weight. It was in the media, it was discussed with friends, it was pretty much common knowledge. You needed to keep fit to keep the body in shape.
There was a larger-scale focus on diets and dieting to lose weight. It’s important to state just how much focus there was, and still is, on reducing food, swapping food groups (out with full fat “anything” for “low fat” everything), diet meetups, meetings to weigh you every week, ads, reality TV shows, magazines, books, cooking shows, and so on. The list literally goes on.
We’re spoon fed so much information about food that we’re confused - is eating butter better than margarine. Is olive oil better than sunflower oil. Should we drink full fat milk or semi-skimmed. The packaging on every single item of food is confusing too.
So - it’s no wonder that I meet so many clients that simply do not have a clue where to start when they are keen to lose weight and get fit.
This blog is my advice on what I believe works and how you can get started.
First up, let’s take a look at what a typical client tells me:
They are overweight - whether that’s self-diagnosed or medically diagnosed - they are carrying excess weight, fat, and want to lose this excess.
They have some habits that have been engrained over a very long period of time. Could be drinking fizzy drinks/alcohol, could be sweet treats every night, could be portion sizes have crept up, could be work related. Could be anything. But the habits, whatever they are, have been embedded over a long period of time.
They are seeking fitness as the solution to losing that excess weight.
They don’t really understand what changes to make with their food and diet.
Where I start:
I first work on embedding a fitness routine
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that a client feels AMAZING after completely *any* workout. The endorphins kick in immediately. I mean, literally immediately. You’re doing the end-of-workout stretching and you’re feeling on top of the world. That burst of hormones is referred to as Happy Hormones and there have been thousands of studies on them. We know, medically and scientifically, that once you’ve completed a workout you’re hit with these happy hormones. You feel amazing and these hormones hover around for quite some time. So, if you’ve just done you first workout in a long time, you might’ve felt tired, emotional, reluctant just before the session but immediately after the session you’ll likely feel on top of the world! You feel like you’ve climbed Mount Everest! You’re buzzing! It’s amazing to see. I have a few clients like this and it never fails to move me. In the space of 45 minutes, or less, I can see the change in a clients' demeanor, energy, focus, and motivation.
Here’s a brilliant article on what other hormones are kicking in during your workout - it’s a great and thorough read.
The initial fitness program is critical for that brand new client to get going - to start to create new habits - and to keep them on the wagon, so to speak. I try to make sure that any PT clients, in person, are seeing me at least twice per week. Anything less then it’s a lost game. Seriously. I’ve had clients who come to see me once a week and it’s pointless. It’s not possible to create a healthy fitness habit by doing fitness (a workout, sport, class, gym visit, PT session) only one time per week. Just not possible.
So, I try to encourage any clients to leap into this current motivational stage they’re in and sign up for at least two PT sessions per week in addition to something else that I can keep an eye on them. This might be getting them to join classes too (combining PT sessions with class sessions, every week), joining my online fitness groups (low cost, daily workouts posted), or seeing if they’re into any sport and encouraging a weekly engagement in that (maybe they’re interested in sailing, hiking, skiing, basketball, netball, track, dancing).
The goal I have for that client is to try to get through at least one month which is structured with small bites of fitness/physical activity every single day. I’m trying to create a habit. And I know that I have help in creating that habit through the happy hormones. Those hormones plus my coaching should help the client to stay on the fitness wagon.I then work on tracking their current diet
Once I feel confident that the client is starting to get hooked on physical activity and fitness and working out, I feel I can move around 40% of my attention onto the clients current diet. I’m keen to find out what they’re currently consuming, without any changes at all, so that I can see what it is that’s fueling this body. To do this I like them to download My Fitness Pal. I’m sure there are other apps, but to be honest, this is the very best I’ve seen. I’m not affiliated - just a huge user and fan! When you click onto the MyFitnessPal website the very first thing you’ll see is “fitness starts with what you eat” in big, bold writing. They’re not wrong, but like I’ve set out here, starting with fitness habits goes a long way!
So, back to MFP and what I do. I encourage the client to record absolutely every single thing that they consume for one whole week. We can then analyze and study this weeks worth of data to make our next step.
The main point of recording, without changing any foods, is to see what the client actually enjoys eating/drinking, how much they are eating every day, and to spot any trends - lots of carb based meals every day? Lots of fruit for snacks but not so many vegs? Sheer volume of food for one day?
I will now use that critical one-weeks worth of data to start tweaking and altering the clients diet. I’m not looking at a numerical weight loss figure (dropping 2kg in one week), but again, I’m looking to make small changes that will be embedded over a longer period of time.
Let’s think of an example:
Client has kept a very accurate and highly detailed food diary for one week. We’re pouring over the details and note that they are skipping breakfast every work day, munching on vending machine chocolate bars at around 10am, eating a two-course lunch (sandwich, salad, pasta bowl, wrap, etc. PLUS a dessert type item - yogurt, cake, flapjack, some biscuits, anything sweet), an afternoon treat around 4pm (again, from the vending machine, or someone brought in cakes/pastries to share), after work drinks (one or two alcoholic drinks), then either a takeaway for dinner or a pasta dinner (quick and easy). Sometimes they’ll have a slice of toast in the mid-evening, an hour or so before bed.
This could very well be a classic client and to start with I’d be keen to introduce two things to implement for the next week. Breakfast and vending machine.
I’d start to work with the client to figure out how to get breakfast integrated into their life. Might be that they are not hungry when they get up in the morning (have had lots of clients like this, and to be honest, I’m like this!), but I’m going to figure this out because breaking the fast is pretty important if you’re needing to get through from waking up to lunchtime, without reaching for the sugary snacks.
So - breakfast might be a slow burner. It might take quite a while (4-6 weeks) to implement this. We need to start slow and small. I might suggest a piece of fruit, one slice of toast, one small serving of overnight oats, one healthy muffin, or similar. Something small, easy to make, quick to make, easy to digest. I almost want it to feel like breakfast is “no big deal”. I’m hoping that this breakfast will help to curb the hunger at mid-morning.
For mid-morning I’d want to work on changing the vending machine purchase. To do this I’d like to know more about what’s in the vending machine because, to be honest, there might be a better choice in there. I’m thinking that the client might be in the habit of the casual walk from desk to vending machine, the watercooler chat with colleagues, the grabbing a quick chat/break with others in the office. It might not all be about eating - there might be socializing in there too. Which I don’t want to mess with. So, a photo of the vending machine would be superb - just to see if there is a swap option there. Swap out the choc bar, swap in *something else*.
These are two small examples of what I’m looking for in a detailed one-week food diary.Next I work on combining fitness with food
I’m now likely to be in weeks 4-6 of working with this client. We’ve embedded some fitness really well and we’re working on the diet too.
The client is now looking for some changes to their body. They wanted a PT to lose the excess weight (fat), and this now becomes our focus for the next 4-6 weeks (this takes us to around a 12 week PT program duration, which is typical).
The next step is to measure what they’re doing fitness wise and what the body needs to fuel that level of activity. Fueling the body is via food (calories), so it’s critical we understand that the body needs the right food in which will be used for fitness output.
This is when calorie deficit might ring a bell.
Calorie deficit is when your body is using more calories than the body takes onboard. For someone who is already carrying excess weight (fat), they have this stored in the body. They have this storage plus the daily intake of food (calories) to fuel the body.
Without doing a single element of fitness - your body needs fuel (calories) to do it’s day to day stuff. From moving the body from the bed to the kitchen to the bathroom to the bus stop to walking up the stairs, and so on, all need to use fuel (calories). The body uses fuel (calories) to simply survive. This means that you need to add that day-to-day normal fuel usage, doing day-to-day things, figure out how much fuel (calories) that uses up, then add to that how much fuel (calories) you use doing the fitness you’ve engaged in, that day.
The equation is: normal living + fitness/physical activity = fuel used (calories burned/used)
You can get a rough idea of the normal living figure, from lots of different apps or articles. It can be around 1400-1800 calories but this will wholly depend on your body composition, size, sex, and so on.
You can then get a good idea of the fitness/physical activity figure, again, from lots of fitness apps, trackers, websites, articles. It can be anything from 150 calories upwards. You need to check what activity you’re doing and add this to the equation.
So, you might have (as an example): 1500 + 800 = 2300 calories used.
Now you need to work out how much fuel (calories) you’ve onboarded through food. You can get this quite easily from MFP - everything has been tracked so it’s easy to get this figure.
Let’s say, just for an example, that your fuel (calories) in figure is 2500 calories.
We now have a new equation:
Calories in - calories out = net calories
2500 - 2300 = 200 calories unspent.
Add the 200 calories that you’ve not used to the existing storage of excess body weight (fat) and you' can clearly see that you’re accumulating excess fuel. You’re storing more than you need.
In order to achieve calorie deficit you need to make a change to the equation. The easiest way to do this is to reduce the amount of fuel you’re onboarding.
It might feel like increasing your fitness every single day might help - but in reality the fuel (calories) you use doing a fitness workout might not be enough to impact the equation. Also, if you’re going to do another high intensity workout (lots of fuel/calories used there!), you’re also going to need fuel (calories) in to the body to get you through that session!
So, the answer really is that you need to decrease the fuel (calories) you’re onboarding. This is where your diet comes into play.Tweaking and changing the clients diet comes next
Next I use the data of what the client is consuming plus what fitness they’re doing - and I simply work out how to get them into a place where they’re onboarding enough fuel to survive, thrive, workout, but also using up the storage they have in your body.
For every 0.5 to 1kg (1 to 2 pounds) you need to lose (and this is a good amount per week), you need to reduce your daily calorie intake by 500 to 1000. That is quite significant.
By this point we’ve done some surface level changes and we’ve embedded some great eating habits, now we need to ramp this effort up a little more.
I’d turn my attention on to portion sizes next - and start with lunch and evening meals. I’d be checking the crockery used for each meal - including pasta bowls - then I’d be checking the way and method of cooking that the client uses. Dumping dry pasta into a boiling pot of water is not the correct way… I’d want to educate the client on dry portion sizes versus wet/cooked sizes, and how to measure a portion correctly. We can make significant calorie changes by just focusing on portion sizes, never mind touches/removing any food groups.
But removing some food groups will be happening too!
There’s no way that I can allow a client to continue to snack on potato chips (crisps) every evening whilst watching TV. Or a chocolate bar every day. Or fizzy drinks with every meal.
Smothering your food with butter, oils, cheeses, and dressings - also need to be reduced. It’s not so much about swapping high fat for low fat, all the time, but in reducing the portion size and looking for healthier alternatives.Pulling this all together I then continue to embed
I continue to work with the client on both the fitness and food elements now. I’m working hard on keeping them on track physically. We are still meeting twice weekly and the client is also doing at least 4 other workouts/fitness sessions - either group based or whatever they choose. They are now, usually, seeing and feeling the benefits of working out - including: more energy, tighter muscles, toned body, changes in physique and fitting into clothes differently, getting compliments from others, confidence levels have increased, increased motivation, positive mindset.
Remember this is for a client who wants to lose weight.
There is another type of client that can have all of these new things - confidence, happiness, healthiness, without any weight loss. They might be overweight, but they are very happy with their body weight and simply want to increase their fitness levels and that is perfectly acceptable! No “one size fits all” here!
Back to my example client: They will have embedded fitness and have this in a habit zone now. They will know that every week they do X, Y, and Z. They might be tempted to do a sporting event (5km local run) or similar. They are on the fitness wagon.
For the food side - this will also be in place - they will have this heightened sense of interest in food and fuel because of their fitness efforts. It’s intrinsically linked. I’ve never met anyone who is actively into fitness who is not taking care of how they fuel their bodies. I just don’t see it. Sure, a McD’s from time to time, but not a regular thing. A drink with friends, sure, but again, not going to ruin tomorrows run/hike/sailing/bootcamp with a hangover.Throughout this whole time I’ve been working on: vitality
This is the area that covers everything that is not fitness or food. Think: goal setting, understanding habits, creating a structure that works for your home and work lives, coping with stressful events, identifying normal trapdoors and how to overcome them, and so on.
We’re probably talking regularly about whether the client is “away with work next week”, or “busy juggling mom-hood with working in the City”… and so on. We’re trying to make sure that everything we implement and create is fool proof and can be embedded into your world. There is no point in creating something that is unattainable when X, Y, Z happens, or when X event knocks you out of your routine. We work on all the possible impacts and make sure we have a plan, program, fitness and diet structure that is flexible and firm at the same time.
Back to the question - what comes first, fitness or food.
For me you need to kick off with fitness - it gives you the immediate buzz through happy hormones to keep you believing that getting fit is a good thing. It’s much easier to create a habit when you’re happy and getting happy vibes.
Contrast that with starting with food first. If you kick off with restricting or reducing your fuel (calories) in, then that feels like a deficit. It doesn’t give you an immediate buzz and you don’t get a burst of happy hormones. I’ve never heard anyone buzzing after eating a pasta salad mix rather than a cheesy pasta bowl, have you?
So it makes perfect sense to start with something that will get you into the zone, get you moving, making you feel amazing, and then work from that position.
But, be not mistaken, in order to lose weight, it is the food and nutrition that will get you there, not fitness alone. You need the calorie deficit to happen, through your diet, in addition to amazing fitness programs, to get you losing weight.
Finally, when you first start working out you might not have any difference to your weight at all - that’s to be expected. The better way to track fitness only progress is to take body measurements. Measuring your body will show you how much your body shape is changing - via toned muscles and body fat distribution and posture changes - more than standing on scales to weigh yourself.
If you’d like to discuss your personal training needs then drop me a line: hello@vivirocks.com
Michelle Caira is the Founder and CEO of Fit Mama Fitness Inc , a community contributor at Thrive Global and a certified Master Personal Trainer. Michelle launched Fit Mama, a digital platform for mothers, in 2018. Now focusing on women throughout their hormonal lifecycles, Michelle has launched Vivi Rocks. Its goal is to equip women with the fitness, nutrition and mental wellness solutions and tools they need to thrive - at home and returning to the workplace. Passionate about women in business, Michelle is an entrepreneur with a global vision, and committed to help create a world where women thrive, regardless of any and all other factors.
You can follow Michelle on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Telegram
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