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The answers ranged from 400 calories to 1200 calories, all the way up to “GET THAT IN MA BELLEH” (with my wife also being a smartass and suggesting that it was 4500 calories – Love you baby).  After taking guesses a dietitian colleague of mine and I independently totalled up the plate using online calorie software.  And interestingly enough, we got totally different answers!

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Her total was 1500 calories whereas mine was closer to 1000.  But when we looked at the reason for the differences they were largely attributable to differences in the estimated sizes of the portions on the plate (we both agreed that the meat was probably pork).  However, the big point here is that whichever estimate you agree with the fact remains that the food on that plate represents far more calories than most people should be consuming in a single meal.  It also means that even trained professionals have a hard time agreeing on quantities when looking at a plate like this.

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With the Christmas season upon us and the number of parties, dinners, and potluck events that will inevitably be a part of it, I think that this plate would actually even be a conservative estimate of intake for a lot of people.  There are almost always pre-dinner treats like veggie trays, hummus, and chocolates kicking around.  An even then a single plate of food might be less than most people eat (you know…try a little of everything and then go back for a second helping of the stuff you really like).  Combine that with the calories from wine, beer, and desserts (you know you HAVE to try at least one slice of each kind of pie right?) and you’ll be consuming a boatload energy that will ultimately be stored as fat.

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Doing this task made me think back to previous holiday seasons where I hadn’t paid much attention at events like these.  This year I think I’ll be a little more attentive to what I’m eating.  If nothing else, when you’re making up your plate this holiday season I hope this task inspires you to be a little more cautious with your consumption to0.  After all, the best way to lose weight in January is not to have gained it in the first place.

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Have a great weekend!

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PS: Today is the last day to save $100 on the Peak Diet and Training Summit and (due to popular demand) there is now a 2 pay option for those who prefer to pay in installments.  This package is a true beast with 15 DVDs, 2 info packed manuals, 2.0 NSCA continuing education credits, and a bunch of other bonuses available only this week.  There is no risk as the product is fully refundable so go and pick it up before the deal disappears.  Order your copy HERE.

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In Part I of this series I described the categorization and classification of obesity, in Part II I shared some resources and very important concepts about obesity management, in Part III I discussed how I could go about training those with a BMI greater than 35.  Today I want to talk a little bit about training people with obesity whose BMI is less than 35, but still over 30 which is pretty much the standard criterion for obesity in most places in the world (except for a few places that I mentioned in Part I).

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Within this category I find that there are often two different types of people.  The first are those who are inactive, have less than average muscle mass, and are generally out of touch with all that is fitness.  The second type I generally see within this category are those who are regularly active, lift weights, and are fairly muscular.  They are often everyday gym rats, off season bodybuilders, and even trainers and coaches.

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While those in the first group tend to accept that they are obese, those in the second group often having difficulty truly accepting this and often  point out that BMI does not take into account their muscle mass.  For this reason, it is important to remember that while you CAN have a BMI greater than 30 and not be over fat, males with a body fat percentage over 20% and females with a body fat percentage over 30% are considered obese regardless of their BMI.

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I won’t get into it too much here, but you can see how working with those who are already active could warrant more intense training programs and different exercise variations.  However, I find that these people are most difficult to reach in terms of establishing long term realistic behavior changes as they tend to see themselves in the different category than those who are starting from ground zero.  In my experience, this group tend to think that they are able to handle more “hardcore” dieting and training practices to bring about rapid fat loss and they struggle to come to terms with the fact that while they certainly train hard, they need to address the root causes of their excess weight in much the same way as those who are less experienced with training.  In short, carb and calorie cycing, refeeds, and all of the other advanced nutritional practices are secondary to slow, progressive behavioral change.

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I would also add to this discussion the importance of remembering a point I made in Part I.  It isn’t as important to know the classification of obesity (how heavy you are) as it is to know about how obesity is impacting your health.  In short, you could have class 3, stage 0 obesity (BMI over 40, but no obesity related health problems) or you could have class 1, stage 2 obesity (BMI over 3o with significant obesity related health problems).  So weight (over even body fat percentage) doesn’t give us the whole picture anyway.  If you exercise you MAY be in better health because of the simple fact that exercise is medicine, or you may be suffering from metabolic changes associated with obesity despite the amount of exercise you’re getting.  So whether you exercise or not, I think the two groups here both need to consider changes to their behaviors in the interest of long term health.

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Goals

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Before we go forward I want you to consider something before you outright reject it.  What if we suggested to people that instead of losing weight that they just focus on maintaining weight?  I’m not body composition change or anything fancy.  There is no trick here.  But what if instead of working towards fat loss, we just stopped the gain?  Is that success?

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The basic premise is that each of us tends to slowly gain weight as the years go by and that if we could just stop the gain we’d be miles ahead.  I’m not suggesting that you’ll have an easy time convincing clients that this is the way to go, but sometimes perspective is the key here.  How many times have you (or someone you know) pulled out a picture from 10 years ago and thought “Damn…I used to look like that?  And I thought I was fat?  I would KILL to look like that again!!!”.  Hindsight is 20/20.  Add to that the physiological and psychological effects of losing and regaining weight repeatedly and you can see why maintaining weight might be a good option.  In this case, I think many would do well to maintain their current weight and work towards preventing future gain.

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I’m not saying that you’re going to get clients to buy into this off the bat.  But if you’ve worked with a client for a long time and they’ve failed change their behaviours to the point where they’re able to lose weight (if you’ve been in the industry for a while you know you’ve seen this even if you’re unwilling to publicly admit it) it might be a good time to reiterate this point so that they can see the smaller version of success that they ARE achieving.  Further, I find it helps in cases like these to reiterate successes like adding exercise and the benefits it provides to keep the client motivated to maintain the changes that they have made.  At one point in my career I used to “fire” clients for being non-compliant and failing to get results with weight loss.  Had I had this perspective then I certainly wouldn’t have made this embarrassing mistake and they’d probably be healthier for it.

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Back to reality though.  If a client comes in and you tried to sell them on this they’d be out the door before you could blink.  I think that mentioning the concept is a good idea, but suggesting a weight loss of no greater than 1-2 pounds per week is probably a good idea.  Truthfully, we all know that when starting a program it’ll come a little faster at first anyway (business tip: under promise, over deliver), but if the weight loss keeps moving much faster than this it could be a good sign that you’re overly depriving your client and that the changes won’t stick.  You don’t have to take my word for it, but I’m right. 

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But here is the real key.  Measure multiple things and create goals for each.  Track weight, measurements, body fat percentage, health markers (get their physician on board and make sure to educate them on obesity), cardiovascular fitness, and so on.  That way, if there is little progress on one, there will be others to highlight at any given time.  And MOST importantly, define weekly BEHAVIORS that you want to change (no more than 1-2 at a time) and focus most heavily on these goals.  Behaviors become habits which lead to outcomes.  Even if the client is able to deviate from plan and lose weight, the reinforcement should be focused on the behaviours as opposed to the outcome.  Because, in the end, if the behaviors don’t change, the results will eventually come undone.  So…the instead of behaviors leading to the goals…the behaviors ARE the goals.  Or to phrase it another way, the results are YOUR goals, the behaviors should be the goals of your client.

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Training

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I was thinking I’d write a detailed explanation of the training I use for people in this category, but frankly, it isn’t really much different than the training I outlined in Part III with only a few exceptions.

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I will do a full movement assessment on people in this category provided that they are not overly limited in any specific way.  Most are not so I proceed with a full breakdown of posture, mobility, stability, flexibility, and strength on this crowd.  If the client can, we do foam rolling.  And I certainly don’t have any issues with doing mobility work specific to the needed determined in the assessment for this group either.

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In terms of resistance training, I’ll generally follow the same template as I would do with heavier folks with the exception of the fact that this group will probably be able to handle (both physically and psychologically) more volume so I might do 2-3 set of each exercise instead of starting with 1.  That said, in the beginning pretty much anything you do will bring about results so I don’t push the envelope too much.  Make the person enjoy exercise and they’ll come back.  Of course, if I get one of those I mentioned earlier who already trains like a beast I’ll make them hurt.    Let’s be honest, they’ll enjoy that.  But they’re still going to have to make behavior changes too as this is the component upon which long term results are dependent.

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For cardio with this group it all comes down to what they prefer to do.  Now that doesn’t mean that if they prefer to sit on the couch and watch television that they aren’t going to do cardio.  But if they would rather do moderate intensity cardio for a longer time I’m good with that.  I don’t think cardio is that important for fat loss when combined with a solid diet anyway.  I use it for health and other benefits so I don’t care how they get it.  If they prefer more intense stuff, they can do that.  Of course, the idea is always to be increasing in intensity over time regardless, but I don’t freak out if people don’t want to do intervals.

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Summary

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In short, I think the biggest difference between these folks and those with a BMI greater than 35 is how you frame their goals.  The training is simply a matter of matching the level of exercise progression/regression to meet their needs and not making them hurt so bad that they don’t want to come back.  While this group is often easier to work with in terms of what they are physically capable of doing, their nutritional shortcomings are often just as difficult to overcome as those at higher body weights.  In the next article of this series, I’ll be talking about nutrition and how it applies to these groups.

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If you have any specific thoughts or questions about these articles, please drop them below.  And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Facebook if you’re not already.

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Check out Part V of this series HERE.

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I hope this has been of help to you.  If so, please “like” or share this article so we can spread the word.

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Okay…in Part I of this series I talked about the categorization and staging of obesity and in Part II I dropped a few fundamental thoughts (and some great resources) for preparing to train clients with obesity.  If you haven’t read these I’d suggest you go back and read them first.

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Goals

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Today I want to move forward and actually get into details about how I train people with obesity.  More specifically, I want to focus today on how I train clients with Class 2 and Class 3 obesity (BMIs over 35 and 40 respectively), but first I just want to touch on the subject of goals.  I read somewhere recently that when those with the higher classes of obesity are asked to define their weight loss goals it is common for many to desire and expect weight losses of as much as 50% of their current body weight.  In other words, if you’ve got a 500 pound man, his goal might be to reach 250 pounds.  If you’ve got a 300 pound woman, her goal might be to reach 150 pounds.

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Frankly, I don’t have any studies to back up this assertion, but based on my experience I can only say that there is certainly some truth to this.  As a human, I can certainly understand how someone with class 3 obesity might just want to be “normal”.  However, as a fitness professional I feel it is my responsibility to temper this belief with a delicately put explanation of reality.  The very real truth is that weight loss will likely be much less.  Even with bariatric surgery (eg: gastric bypass) the average weight loss is around 20-30% so the likelihood of weight losses this great with non-surgical methods are not great.  That certainly isn’t to say that they can’t happen (I’ve seen it with a couple of my own clients), but I think it is more prudent to emphasize the medical benefits of weight losses as small as 5-10%.  In fact, even without a body weight change, the addition of exercise alone can improve health markers, mobility, and wellbeing.

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I think the key here is to not prevent clients from making these goals for themselves (good luck if you try to do that), but to stress the benefits of lesser weight losses and applaud them as they achieve them.  Further to this point, with these clients in particular I would generally focus less on the outcomes and have them focus heavily on weekly behavioral goals instead.  As it will take a long time to lose this much weight, clients will get more consistent feelings of accomplishment from achieving small goals instead of looking at the overall goal (which can be discouraging).

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It is important to remember that two of the biggest predictors of long term adherence to an exercise program are the reality of their expectations and self efficacy (belief that they can do it).  Expecting too much and falling short obviously makes us want to give up which is why I try to emphasize realistic goals.  And giving them small weekly steps increases the belief that they can achieve the activity required which only sets them up for success.  Of course, you can probably see how this could work for non-obese clients as well…which it does.

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Side Note

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I chose to distinguish the training of Class 2 and 3 obesity from Class 1 or even just people in the overweight category because I think that goal setting should be different and the programs could actually be different between these groups to some degree (depending on the level of impact their obesity has on their movement).  I’ll talk more about this in my next post, but for now, I’d suggest employing the goal setting practices above for higher BMI clients.   But now that we’ve got that taken care of, let’s get into the training.

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*Note that the training I’m discussing here is if I am personally working with a client.  This is NOT the same as I’d recommend to an unsupervised person with obesity trying to get started on their own.*

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Assessments

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As many of you know, I’m big on assessments with clients.  However, in dealing with obese clients whether or not I use a formal movement assessment depends on their ability to actually move in the first place.  If they’re relatively young and otherwise healthy (Stage o or Stage 1 obesity) I’ll do a movement assessment as usual.  If their movement is greatly impaired or their obesity is really impacting their ability to move (due to pain, being deconditioned, etc) I skip it.  Of course, I could modify my assessment, but generally I don’t.  Someone in this position has bigger issues than whether they can dorsiflex their foot to X number of degrees or any other measure when it comes to movement.  Some may disagree and choose to assess anyway…and that is up to them.  Personally, I don’t always do it as I figure I can do it later when they’ve established themselves in some good nutritional and exercise patterns that will address their bigger issues.

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However, with clients that are in this category of obesity I think it is important to make sure to have their physician involved with doing some baseline and follow up assessments as well.  Measuring fasting glucose, lipid profiles, and various other health markers is wise to ensure that what you’re doing is actually making them healthier AND it serves as yet another marker of progress for the client.  And from a business perspective, their physician might notice what you’re doing and refer you more people…just sayin’.

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More to the point though, the doctor can also assess for sleep apnea (which can be related to depression and lack of weight loss) and other obesity related issues.  Free bonus tip:  If your client has sleep apnea make sure they get the mask refitted as they lose weight as it can become ineffective.

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Foam Rolling

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As a general rule, if a client can do this, we’ll do it.  If they can’t get down to the floor and up again without a big struggle, we skip it.  I do believe it is important, but not important enough to humiliate a client.  As they’re able, we’ll add it in.  The Stick may be an option for those who can’t get down to the floor if it is absolutely necessary.

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For those who can get down to the roller, remember that they’ll be putting a lot more weight onto a focused spot on their body and it can hurt.  If this is their first encounter with fitness that might be discouraging.  For this reason, we have 3 different foam rollers of increasing density with one being quite soft, and a little harder, and being the normal foam roller most would use.  I’ve found this helps.  My buddy Nick Tumminello also once mentioned putting a couple rollers under the area being rolled to increase the surface area and decrease pressure to get the same effect.  Nick is smart!

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Mobility Work

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For those clients I’ve done a formal movement assessment on, I will normally design the mobility program based on that.  For those I haven’t assessed, I make an assumption based on educated guesses as to what is typically tight/weak/etc.  This may be a crappy approach, but in the end, I’m getting people moving.  For many, breaks will be needed between drills and for some the drills alone can actually be the exercise session.

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Early in my career I used to try to make sure the client achieved their “planned workout”, but these days I think it is more important to just “roll with the punches” and work within the limits the client has.  Push a little.  Gain a little progress.  Show them small successes.  Then STOP!  Don’t force it.  Just encourage them and keep them coming back for more.  This will do infinitely more for anyone than breaking them down with hard workouts that make them overly sore and sick.

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Resistance Training

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Here’s the thing – with obese clients in these categories muscle will be lost with weight loss.  You can work to prevent it, but ultimately, it is going to go down.

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Here’s the other thing – many of these clients will have never worked out in their lives.  For most, it has at least been a long time.  Which ultimately means, it doesn’t really matter what you do (unless you do something completely idiotic) because they are going to get results (i.e., some muscle retention, strength, etc).

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I generally start these clients with 1-3 sets of 10-15 repetitions on 5-6 exercises in a whole body workout 2-3 times per week.  So on their first day (and for each workout for a few weeks) I might do 1 set of 10-15 on each of 6 exercises.  Over time I’ll bump it up to two sets.  And finally up to 3 sets.  Then I’ll probably move towards pairing antagonist exercises (like a row and a bench press), but keeping the same set/rep scheme.  Over time I may substitute in new exercises, but keep everything else the same.  In short, I keep it wicked simple.  My goal is to create CONSISTENCY as I think this is the most important factor for these folks.

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With increasing length of training time, strength, mobility, and weight loss their programs will start to look increasingly like my “normal” training programs, but at the start (and by start I mean first 3, 6, or even 9 months) their programs are pretty basic.

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Cardio

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While interval training may be faster and debatably “better” than steady state cardio (although I’m hard pressed to believe the second statement), I think it is probably the worst choice for a novice obese client.  I’ll often have them do as little as 10 minutes of moderate intensity cardio after a session and aim for a couple of extra walks (5-30 minutes depending on mobility, etc) during the week.  Ultimately, I tend to see walking as the gateway drug of fitness and while it isn’t necessarily the best exercise for weight loss, there are some remarkable health outcomes that can be brought about by walking alone.

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Over time I’ll increase the time (for the person who can only walk short distances) and intensity of cardiovascular activity for these clients.  Eventually I might include some more interval type protocols in the interest of time, but this would be far down the line and subject to client tolerance and interest in this type of training.  But the big thing you’ll notice in these programs is that resistance training is only typically 2 days per week (3 days max) and that my goal is to build up to 150-200 minutes of weekly physical activity by adding increasing amounts of cardiovascular activity (which can be as simple as walking).  Keep in mind that going from zero minutes of physical activity to 200 can take a LONG time…so patience is key and it is important to focus on the aforementioned small weekly steps forward.  Encouragement is paramount!

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Summary

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And that’s about it.  Pretty simple really.  I’m sure I’ve overgeneralized here as there are definitely cases where obese clients have done much less than this (only walking) and others have done much more.  Looking back, I’m not really happy with the article as I feel there are many more qualifiers and exceptions I should have included, but this would easily end up being a novel.

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In my next post I’ll discuss the differences between training those in these categories of obesity and class 1 obesity, and the following post will cover a discussion of nutrition for both groups.

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In the meantime, if you have a specific question related to this post, please ask in the comments section below and I’ll be happy to address it.

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Check out Part IV of this series HERE.

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If this article has helped you or you think it might help others please share it via Facebook, Twitter, or whatever social media you like or simply hit the “like” button below.

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In my previous post I wrote a little bit about the categorization of obesity in terms of classes (weight) and the staging of obesity (health measures) that I use to help me training clients with excess weight.

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Today I had planned to get started on describing the methods I use to train those with varying degrees of obesity when it struck me that a lot of fitness professionals don’t truly understand obesity and, as a result, are misguided in their attempts to help people lose weight.  Most certainly, people are eating more and moving less, but unless we understand WHY people are consuming more and failing to move it will be darn near impossible to address these issues.  Today, my goal is to share with you some of my thoughts and provide you with some resources so that you can begin to understand the root causes of obesity.  By understanding these you can put in place practices to address them and have incredible results with these clients.

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If you’re going to train people with obesity, you should understand it.

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As I mentioned above, by understanding the determinants of obesity you can work towards addressing them and by doing this your results with this population (remember that many people who think they need to “lose a few pounds” are clinically obese).  In fact, I’ve mentioned before that addressing these issues need not even be a burden for a fitness professional, but an opportunity to make more revenue and differentiate themselves in a very competitive market.

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Here I am going to provide a few great resources on obesity.  Many who read this won’t take the time to check them out, but those who do will be rewarded with an incredible amount of understanding of this complex problem and I can guarantee it will be eye opening.  When I first started formally working with this population I thought I had all the answers…and I certainly didn’t.  So trust me when I say that the time you take to do this will be worth your while.

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Here is what I would do:

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Go to the blogs of Dr. Arya Sharma and Dr. Yoni Freedhoff and sign up for updates via email, RSS, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever.  Read them as they come.  Get smart.  And, perhaps more importantly, you can go to the Canadian Obesity Network website and download their book Best Weight for FREE.  All you have to do is sign up for a membership (which is also free) and you can get your mitts on a copy.  Although it is more geared towards physicians treating obesity, it will definitely provide insight on how to manage those with obesity and barriers to weight loss including medications, sleep apnea, and tons of stuff you probably hadn’t even thought about.

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I would also suggest taking the time to watch the video HERE by Dr. Robert Ross on the Cardiac and Metabolic Benefits of Exercise.  Dr. Ross is a great speaker and he makes some great points in this presentation.

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Recognize that obesity is a chronic condition

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Obesity, much like hypertension (high blood pressure) is a life sentence.  In other words, once you have it, you’ve got it for life.  But also like hypertension, when it is managed appropriately through activity, diet, and lifestyle changes it can essentially be controlled to a point where the person no longer meets the criteria to be defined as obese.  However, just as with any chronic condition, if you stop the treatment (i.e., stop exercising and increase intake) the condition returns full force.

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So even if a person loses weight, eats well, exercises regularly, and has a seemingly stable new lifestyle pattern, it IS still a chronic condition and remission is possible (and actually likely).  In fact, MOST people who lose weight will gain it back (some suggest the number is as high as 95%) which is why my focus weight clients is NOT on weight loss per se, but on the behaviors and habits associated with those results.

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Frankly, I’m not impressed if someone reports that they’ve lost 50 pounds in 12 weeks with program X as I’m almost positive that most programs have failed to address the reasons why the person became overweight in the first place and the results will be temporary.  This is why I think it is important to a) make clients aware of the chronic nature of weight management, b) don’t offer or promote programs that deliberately contradict this statement, and c) don’t let clients bully me into helping them lose weight quickly on the promise of transitioning to a more sustainable program later.

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Appreciate that PERMANENT weight loss is a slower and more behavior oriented practice.  And that practice must be forever as the condition most certainly is as well.

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Eliminate Your Bias

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Imagine going to get professional help with something and the person who was supposed to help you (i.e., the person who SHOULD be in the best position to help you) had an inappropriate preconceived notion that you were unintelligent just because you worked in a gym?  And what if their help towards you was based on this assumption?  What if they treated you like you were unintelligent?  How much help would they be to you?

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Taking this back to obesity, what if you (the person who SHOULD be in a position to help) were uneducated about obesity and had assumptions and biases that were actually AGAINST the person you were supposed to help?  How much help would YOU be?

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As a whole, I think that the fitness profession (who should be the ones equipped to make a difference with weight management) are probably the worst off when it comes to biases and stereotypes against obese folks.  In fact, we are so busy reading about the latest and greatest fat loss workouts or diets that we fail to educate ourselves on the ACTUAL causes of obesity (note: it has nothing to do with the fact that they didn’t properly time their post-workout shake with 20 grams of whey, 6 grams of BCAAs, creatine, and waxy maise).  So, if we want to be a force for ending this epidemic, we need to understand it…and rid ourselves of our biases.

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The first step to this is to identify your biases and then you can proceed to address them.  I wrote a post about a tool you can use to do this HERE.

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So that’s it for today.  Bookmark this if you need to, but make sure to take advantage of those resources because they are the foundation upon which my methods for training obese people are built.  Next time I’ll get into the actual practices of training obese clients.

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Check out Part III of the series HERE.

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Drop me a comment below and let me know what you think!  If you’re in the fitness industry and think your colleagues could benefit from reading this please don’t hesistate to share it.

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Notice I selected a picture of an obese person that didn't involve inaccurate stereotypes of them eating crappy food or being lazy.

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Over the past year or so a few fitness professionals (many of whom I respect) have written blog posts on how to train people with obesity.  As someone who is very familiar with this area, I figured I’d chime in with my own thoughts to add to the discussion and information about training this specific population for those who are interested in my take on the subject.

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As some of my readers know, I do some work for one of the very few government funded bariatric medical programs in my province providing evidence based (i.e., research backed) treatment for patients with obesity.  In our clinic we see hundreds of patients per year with weights ranging from 250 to 700 pounds.  My main role is to oversee the design and implementation of the exercise component of the program to get everyone exercising regardless of their physical, emotional, psychological, and economic limitations.  Combining that with my ongoing experience in the private sector in training people for fat loss (both online and in person), I feel that I’m in a good place to share my views on the topic.

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Definitions, Categorization, Etc.

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Before we can really talk about obesity though, we’ll need to clear up some definitions and lay down a foundation of understanding about how it is categorized.

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In short, obesity is defined and categorized primarily based on something called the Body Mass Index (BMI) which is essentially a height-weight scale.  In a publication in the early 1970′s it  scale was created as a proxy to determine body fatness in relation to height and weight, but more recent evidence suggests that this isn’t exactly true.  I’ll get into that in a bit, but for now you should know that BMI is the most widely used tool for the categorization of obesity in a medical setting.

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If you want to determine your BMI you can go HERE and use the calculator to let you know where you’re at.

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Categorization Based on BMI

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Under 18.5  -  Underweight

18.5 – 25  – Normal Weight

25 – 30  -  Overweight

30 – 35  -  Class I Obesity

35 – 40  -  Class II Obesity

Over 40  -  Class III Obesity

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Although this is the accepted World Health Organization categorization for obesity, it is pretty arbitrary and the divisions between most of the categories have no scientific explanation.  And since their are regional differences in “normal” body weights,  some places have different categorizations for obesity.  For example, the Japanese categorize anyone with a BMI of 23 as overweight and anyone with a BMI of 25 as obese.

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Of course, any astute fitness minded person will also note that BMI is limited in that it is not able to determine actual muscle and fat weight so someone who works out regularly and has a higher muscle mass might be categorized as obese while actually being quite lean.  In fact, the reverse can actually true as well which means that people with a “normal” body weight might actually carry an excess amount of body fat.  These are the people that we might call ”skinny-fat”, but are clinically defined as having normal weight obesity.

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Although I’m not sure this is universally agreed upon, having a body fat above 20% for males and 30% for females would make you obese regardless of your BMI.  And all of this leaves out the fact that where that fat is distributed may have an effect on cardiac health (i.e., fat around the waist = bad, fat around the hips = good) so you may be in danger regardless of whether or not you actually have a lot of fat.

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The Staging System

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So thus far we’ve talked about categorization of obesity based on weight and to some degree we’ve talked about body fat percentage without mentioning the methods used to measure body fat which is a different post entirely (Short version: Your home bathroom scale that measures body fat probably sucks).  However, to train people with obesity it is important not to just know how much they weigh, but the degree to which obesity is actually impacting their health, movement, etc.  To determine this it is helpful to determine the “stage” of obesity using something called the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS).  While I could type it all out for you, I’ll just swipe it from the site of Dr. Arya Sharma who is one of the creators of the system.

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STAGE 0: Patient has no apparent obesity-related risk factors (e.g., blood pressure, serum lipids, fasting glucose, etc. within normal range), no physical symptoms, no psychopathology, no functional limitations and/or impairment of well being.

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STAGE 1: Patient has obesity-related subclinical risk factor(s) (e.g., borderline hypertension, impaired fasting glucose, elevated liver enzymes, etc.), mild physical symptoms (e.g., dyspnea on moderate exertion, occasional aches and pains, fatigue, etc.), mild psychopathology, mild functional limitations and/or mild impairment of well being.

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STAGE 2: Patient has established obesity-related chronic disease(s) (e.g., hypertension, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, reflux disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, anxiety disorder, etc.), moderate limitations in activities of daily living and/or well being.

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STAGE 3: Patient has established end-organ damage such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, diabetic complications, incapacitating osteoarthritis, significant psychopathology, significant functional limitation(s) and/or impairment of well being.

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STAGE 4: Patient has severe (potentially end-stage) disability/ies from obesity-related chronic diseases, severe disabling psychopathology, severe functional limitation(s) and/or severe impairment of well being.

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Looking at the list above, you might discover that as a client you have a person who is actually has Class III obesity, but is a stage zero and has no related health or mobility problems.  This could be a guy who was a lineman on his college football team, maybe he’s actually still fairly active, and he’s not sick.  This guy might thrive with hard training and a slowly integrated nutritional program.

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Training this guy might be different than working with someone with class I obesity that is a stage 3 and has disabling arthritis making it difficult to move let alone hit up some heavy squats.  This person would obviously require a drastically different program which is why I get worried when I see generalized recommendations for training obese folks.

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And if YOU are an “offseason” bodybuilder or you just train regularly and don’t have a solid nutrition program you might have gotten off easy before with the old mantra that “BMI doesn’t take into account my muscle mass so I’m not really obese”, but now you know that if your body fat is breaking 20% (or 30% for women) you ARE obese.  And you might actually be a class 1 or 2 on the staging system too.  You know that heartburn you’ve been getting and the slightly elevated blood pressure that you’re not paying attention to?  Those are potentially obesity related issues.

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So if you wonder why I spend so much time talking about obesity on my blog it isn’t because I’m talking about someone who is vastly overweight.  In my experience, most people who see themselves as having “only a few extra pounds” are actually clinically obese…and this includes those who exercise regularly and even fitness professionals themselves (we are not immune).

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Now that we’ve covered the basics and some definitions, in my next couple posts I’ll come back and drop some information about how I would go about training someone with different classes and stages of obesity.

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Check out Part II of the series HERE.

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PS:  If this post helped you or you think it would benefit others please share it.

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PPS:  Please feel free to join me on Facebook and Twitter.

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A couple weeks back I wrote a post in the benefits of writing action plans to implement small behavior changes to bring about long term results.  Frankly, I think that this is the best way to overcome stumbling blocks in getting started with an exercise or nutrition program for the beginner and for reaching new levels of achievement for advanced trainees.

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As a result of that post, I’ve had a few questions and I figured that today would be as good a day as any to one of them.

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Question: If I successfully implemented a behavior last week, do I have to change it or increase it this week?

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Answer: Definitely not.  If last week you decided you were going to exercise 3 times for 30 minutes and you achieved that goal, there is no reason to expect that this week you should attempt to do 4 days per week or increase the time to 45 minutes.  However, the aim of an action plan is to make regular small steps forward in ANY behavior the leads you towards your goal.  So this week you could very well maintain your previous exercise goal and address another behavior instead.

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For example, if your long term goal is weight loss and last week you began exercising as was discussed above, perhaps this week you can begin to address another simple habit like sleep as this can also effect weight management.  If you regularly go to bed late and get up early for work you might set an action plan to go to bed by 9:30 at least one night this week and build on that in later action plans.

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Ultimately, the when thinking about action planning it helps to take a look at what the ideal situation would look like for you to achieve your goal.  For fat loss you’d likely be exercising a few times per week, lifting weights, eating less junk food, maintaining a moderate calorie deficit, eating plenty of veggies and fruit, consuming adequate protein, drinking mostly water and few calorie containing beverages, sleeping 7-8 hours per night, and so on.  Doing all that at once is easily a recipe for failure (which is why most people that try this do not actually succeed in the long term), but breaking it down into very small managable actions will make it possible to implement this over a very long time line and make it more likely that you’ll be able to maintain it.

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So you select the easiest possible remaining behavior that needs to be changed and start working on it in the simplest possible way for you whether it be only one meal per week or one day per week.  Over time, new habits will form and the results will come.  They key is patience and consistency.  If you can accept that it will take time, the wait will pay off and you’ll eventually leave all those trying more severe programs in the dust as they struggle to maintain their new habits and eventually regain the weight they lost.

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And for those who are more advanced, the same thing appliles.  You may have already implemented behaviors that have set you on the path to your goals.  The key now is to identify which ones still lie between you and your intended outcome, pick the easiest one to change…and get after it.

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In the end, it is nice to read this stuff, but unless you’re actually doing it, you might as well have not wasted your time.   What is your action plan this week?  If I get enough people sharing theirs I’ll share my own next week.

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PS: If this post has helped you or you think it might be helpful to someone you know, please don’t hesitate to share it.

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Facebook Arguments - This is How I Roll

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So Sunday I sent out an email to my newsletter subscribers and, as I usually do at the bottom, I invited my subscribers to join me on Facebook to connect and share in the discussions on my wall.  More specifically, this time I mentioned that my Facebook is indeed the place to be to enjoy the rants, arguments, and tirades that take place on my statuses from time to time.

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Interestingly, despite having invited people to add me many times before, it seems that you are all more excited to chat it up if you think there is going to be disagreement and rage filled rants.  In short, ya’ll are sick!    Of course, this is good news because I am also one for such discussions.  For the rest of you who have yet to connect and participate in said discussions (shame on you), please feel free to add me HERE.  I know you’re just as sick as the rest of us.

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While you’re at it, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and subscribe on YouTube as well.

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Down to Business

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Okay…enough chatter.  Time to get to work.

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Last week I wrote a little bit about the state of the research on refeeds, but I was very careful not to say that they don’t work because the truth of the matter is that just because there isn’t any research to help us determine one way or the other in well designed weight loss studies in humans.  As you could probably tell from the tone of my post, I’m not totally convinced at this point and I don’t often use structured refeeds with my clients.

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That said, I know that there are many very smart folks who do use refeeds with their clients and I think it is only fair to consider their opinions as well.  I feel that many fitness professionals – myself included - can sometimes become a little too dogmatic about their own methods so I wanted to ask my good friend Erik Ledin (who has worked with many high level bodybuilding, fitness, and physique competitors) to share his perspective on how to use refeeds and when they are most effective.

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*Note – To be clear here, we’re talking about structured higher calorie and higher carb meals.  Refeeds are not the typical “cheat meal” where a bodybuilder will go out to a restaurant and kill a steak, a pizza, and a plate of pasta washed down with a couple Cokes.*

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Here’s what I asked Erik

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“At what point do you feel refeeds become important? Do people at any percentage of body fat benefit from them? In other words, are they valuable for everyone who is trying to lose fat?”

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Erik’s response

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“You could really draw an answer out but just to keep it short, when progress stalls, or when a person is lean.
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Fatter people don’t need refeeds since body fat is protective to the regulatory hormones; it’s when someone gets lean and is further and further away from their metabolic set point that things tend to get all jacked up.
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People can argue this all they want, but the reality of actual PEOPLE going through this is hard to ignore.
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I don’t know what body fat percentage that would be as I could bet it would differ from person to person again based on how far they’ve come from where their bodies want to naturally gravitate towards. Those who have come from further probably will benefit sooner and vice versa.
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So I’ll look at progress, gym performance as well and a general assessment based on what they’re looking like.  Sometimes I’ll put one in, only to pull it back out because maybe my application of it wasn’t timed right.
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My Thoughts

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As most of you know, I like to wait until the dust settles in terms of research before I make a definite conclusions about whether something works or doesn’t work.  However, I am not against trying things in the interm provided that the theory is sound and there is practical evidence suggesting that it works in the applied setting.

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In this case, it appears that if you’re going to try refeeds, you at least need to have hit a standstill in terms of weight loss that can’t be explained by overconsumption of calories or too little activity and likely be relatively lean.  If you’re just starting to follow a nutrition plan and you’re trying to justify using refeeds as a way to over eat on the weekend because you need to maintain your leptin levels you’re probably deluding yourself.  A more moderate calorie deficit is probably the key to success and if you’re going to use refeeds, you should probably wait until they are truly warranted.

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I should also note here, that while we are talking about the effects of leptin on hunger and metabolism, we shouldn’t forget that other hormones like ghrelin and PYY have effects on hunger as well and none of these hormones operate in isolation.  In fact, some of them are actually effected just be THINKING that something is more filling.  So we can’t ignore the possibility that other hormones as well as social and psychological factors can play a role in fat loss.  While refeeds may indeed work, there is still so much more we can learn.

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In my post yesterday I brought up the idea that perhaps the ”refeeds” that some are recommending to prevent the metabolic slowdown associated with dieting may not be as effective as we’ve come to believe.  But then again, I also stated that research has yet to test this theory so it may turn out the be effective after all.

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However, one theme that did arise in the comments on the article, on Facebook, and in emails that I received afterwards was that even if refeeds aren’t physiologically effective, they do provide psychological benefits for some people that are on intense competition style diets or even just dieting to look good on the beach.  The psychological break from strict calorie control is a relief for some and it really helps them to stick with their plan.

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Of course, there are those who go totally out of control with their refeeds and they can do more harm than good psychologically.  For these people, I think that a more evenly spaced calorie controlled plan would probably work better than a severe deprivation during the week with a larger calorie day on the weekend because the psychological guilt associated with feeling like they may have eaten too much is enough to throw some people completely off plan.

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I guess what I’m getting at here is that pscyhology plays a BIG role in whether we follow our nutrition and training plans and we have to really pay attention to that aspect as opposed to just looking at food and exercise as the sole predictors of success.  With that in mind, I want to get to the main topic of today’s post which is falling off the wagon after being successful before and not being able to get back on.  Truth be told, this could very well apply to anyone who has NEVER been on a plan as well.

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The way I see it, the outcomes we achieve (think fat loss, muscle gain, etc) are a direct result of the actions/behaviors that we perform consistently over time.  And if you repeat those behaviors enough times they’ll essentially become habits so it pretty much becomes second nature to maintain them and the outcomes that come with them.

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This explains why those who seem to be successfully following a plan are most able to stick to it and why those who aren’t following one are having trouble starting one (because they’ve already got their own set of repeated actions…just not those bringing them closer to their goals).  Where I think we go wrong though, is by convincing someone who is about to start a program that they have to change all of their behaviours at once.  Is it really that easy to start training 3-4 days per week, reduce calories, increase protein, and cut carbs when your default behaviour for the last several years has been going to work, sitting on the couch, and eating pizza with little regard for activity or proper nutrition?  Heck to the No!  It is really hard.  And I think this explains why a lot of people don’t start at all or start a plan and fall off after only a few weeks because they try to do too many things at once.

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So what is the answer?

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I’m glad you asked…because the answer is ACTION PLANS.

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Instead of just thinking about the results you’d like to see from your actions, you need to start planning out which actual actions you’re going to take and introduce them in a very slow and painless way such that they become integrated into your life.  As you do this, you’ll feel the confidence to do more and more and eventually the results will come about as a result of the new habits you’ve formed.

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Of course, if you’re looking for a quick fix, this isn’t it.  This is a slow as hell fix…but it is also easy and permanent.  So there you have it – fast, difficult, and transient or slow, easy, and permanent.  And before you get your knickers in a knot, there are some who are able to pull of the really intensive changes and make it stick (in fact, some people do this very well), but they are a minority…and if you’re struggling to make a plan stick you probably aren’t one of them.

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So here’s what you need to do

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1.  Pick ONE specific action that you’re going to implement over the following 7 days and make it stick.  It should be stated in an “I will” sentence and it should be as specific as possible (i.e., I will go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday at 5PM for one hour).

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2.  Rate your confidence level that you’ll be able to succeed with that action over the next week on a scale of 1 to 10 (with one being no confidence and 10 being absolutely positive).

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3.  If your score is lower than a 7 adjust your action plan such that you are able to achieve at least a 7 out of 10.

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4.  Follow through with the action for 7 days and review the outcome.  In almost every single instance, you should be successful.  If you’re not, you need to adjust your program such that you are able to succeed and this will build more confidence in the future.  Don’t be afraid to start small…even if it seems to small to be relevent.  You’ll be changing your action plan every week and small changes over many weeks will amount to big changes, new habits, and the body you’ve been hoping for.

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Here’s an example:

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Me: “What action could you start this week that would put you on the path to your goals?”

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Friend: “I could start walking…is that enough?”

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Me: “Sure.  It is a start.  You’ll be able to add more habits later in terms of diet, resistance training, and so on.  The journey starts with one step.  No action is too small as long as it is in the right direction.”

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Friend: “Okay, I’m going to walk for 30 minutes every day this week.”

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Me: “What is your confidence level you can achieve that?”

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Friend: “Probably about a 4.”

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Me: “What could be do to increase that confidence number to a 7 or higher?”

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Friend: “I think that every day is a lot.  I’m not doing anything right now.  I could probably do 3.  That might bring it up to a 7.”

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Me: “Would 2 days pretty much guarantee you’d get it done?”

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Friend: “Heck yeah.  That is pretty much a 10.”

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Me:  “Good.  Let’s do that.  Being specific now, which days are you going to walk on, and at what times?”

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Friend: “Looking at my work schedule I’d have to say Monday and Thursday at around 5PM would probably be best.”

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Me: “Okay…let’s pull it all together in an action plan statement for the week.”

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Friend: “You are starting to sound like Dr. Phil.  But okay…I will walk for thirty minutes on Monday and Thursday at 5PM this week.”

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And that’s how it goes…but if you’re more advanced…

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If you’re more advanced and already on a plan, this can apply to you as well because we all have improvements to make.  Imagine you’ve been training for years, you’ve got a base of strength, you’ve got the muscle mass, but you’ve never been able to really dial in your nutrition for long enough to get lean…or at least stay that way.  You can use the same idea.

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Here’s an example:

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Me: “What is ONE specific action could you take this week to put you on the path towards your goal of getting lean?”

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Chubby Muscle Guy: “I could probably cut out junk food.  That would be a start.”

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Me: “Do you eat junk food every day now?  What is your confidence level on that?”

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Chubby Muscle Guy: “Yeah…I pretty much eat at least one junk food item per day…and I love pizza.  I usually eat that and have a few beers on Friday night with the boyz.  I guess my confidence level on doing that every day is low.  Maybe a 5.”

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Me: “What if you were just going to avoid junk on 1 day this week?  Is that doable?”

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Chubby Muscle Guy: “Yeah.  I could probably really make it two.  My confidence on that would be about an 8.”

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Me: “Cool.  Which days?”

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Chubby Muscle Guy: ” I’d say Monday would be easiest…and probably Wednesday.  In other words…I will avoid eating junk food on Monday and Wednesday of this week”

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And that is how it is done

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The next week he could address the same habit by cutting out more junk or he could maintain the two no junk days and work on adding veggies at least one or two days per week.  The key is small steps towards the goal at a time when you are ready and confident you can achieve them.

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In the end, actions, become habits, which become outcomes!

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So what is your action plan this week?  What single behavior could you change right now to set you on the path to long term success?  Let me know in the comments below!

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In my post last week I talked a little bit about how weight gain (and specifically staying at a certain weight) can increase the amount of a hormone called leptin required to prevent hunger and slowing down of the metabolism with subsequent weight loss.

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To reiterate, leptin is a hormone that historically would have protected us from starving to death in periods of famine.  When our body fat levels fall, leptin also falls which slows our metabolism and makes us hungry so losing more weight will be harder and we’ll possibly eat more to bring our weight back up to where it was previously.  In the context of the discussion from last week, gaining weight and maintaining it for some time would make it so we need more leptin (i.e., need to gain more weight or eat more) to restore leptin levels to normal and make us stop being so hungry.

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However, one proposed mechanism to deal with falling leptin levels when calories are restricted is the use of “refeed days”.  In most cases, it is suggested that the refeed consist largely of carbohydrates and that it is actually a full day of refeeding instead of the popular cheat meal that was originally quite common with bodybuilders.

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 The premise here is that insulin increases leptin and carbohydrates increase insulin so logically a high calorie day including plenty of carbs would increase leptin and offset the metabolic slowdown associated with low leptin and low body fat levels.  And since a single meal doesn’t necessarily have this effect, a whole day is typically suggested.

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I think this practice has actually grown increasingly popular with dieters, but the point I want to drive home is that while this is the logical extension of the current research looking at the hormones involved, I’m not sure that there have been any more lengthy studies looking at whether this method actually produces changes in metabolism or, more importantly, allows people to go on to lose more weight/fat than they otherwise would have lost.

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Does this mean that refeeds don’t work?

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Not necessarily.  What it means is that there is just not any research yet (that I am aware of) examining whether this is method is actually effective for staving off metabolic slow down.  There IS research suggesting that leptin injections can help with weight maintenance in those who have already lost weight.  However, the reseach on leptin injections also shows that they NOT effective in promoting weight loss at all (except in those born with a leptin deficiency).

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So where does this leave us?

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Generally speaking, I think that as long as you’re in negative calorie balance (calories in are less than calories out) you’re going to lose weight.  This can be accomplished with an even calorie deficit throughout the whole week or a more severe calorie deficit during the week so you can have a “refeed” on the weekend amounting to the same total calorie deficit.  I also think that the leaner you get, the harder it is going to be to lose more weight/fat regardless of whether or not you do refeeds.

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I think refeeds or cheats CAN be good psychologically for some people, whereas they can lead to all out binges and unhealthy eating patterns on others.  The secret is just to acknowledge which of these types you are.  For now though, I think the research on refeeds is still incomplete and more definitely needs to be done before we can confidently tell people that they are maintaining their metabolic rate (and will thereby lose more weight) by using them.

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If they work for you by enabling you to stick to your plan then that is all that really matters.  However, I’m not sure (based on available research) that their effects on leptin are the cause.  If you have research to the contrary, I’d be happy to be wrong here…so send it my way.

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What are your thoughts on refeeds?  Do you use them?  Do you feel they are effective?  Or is it all about calories?  Drop me a comment below.

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So here’s the deal…I recently connected with one of my long time fitness idols Tom Venuto. If you don’t know Tom, he’s a really down to earth guy, evidence based (you know I love this), and he’s been around in this industry so long that I think the first time he wrote down his thoughts on training and nutriton they were probably carved on stone tablets. Okay…I’m exaggerating a bit here, but Tom’s book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle was first released almost a decade ago so you know that computers weren’t quite what they are today.

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In short, when it comes to body compostion change, Tom has seen the trends come and go and his program still stands as one of the best and most popular on the internet.
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As a result of our recent email discussions I cracked open Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle again and was honestly as impressed as I was a few years ago when I read it for the first time. Perhaps even more so because it is a stark contrast to a lot of what I’m seeing on the internet these days.
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In recent years, I feel that training just to look good has taken a back seat to being “functional” (whatever that means) and we’ve been made to feel guilty about just wanting to look good naked. I think that reading Tom’s book again made me realize that this IS okay. In fact, it is normal. We all want to look and feel good and we shouldn’t have to feel bad about it. Heck, isn’t that why most of us started training in the first place?!?
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I guess what I liked most about Tom’s program is that it is scientifically supported AND it has been battle tested for over a decade on thousands of people in over 100 countries! In short, it freaking works!
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So if I read it and liked it so much why didn’t I tell you about it sooner?

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Because during my conversations with Tom he mentioned that he was in the midst of putting together an absolutely epic transformation contest where those with the best results over the course of 14 weeks would get to go on an all expense paid vacation to the beautiful white sand beachies of Maui and I didn’t want to mention anything about it until I knew all the details.

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In addition, he’s informed me that there are other prizes like cash, iPods, and Kindles which is pretty friggin’ awesome!  Oh…and you don’t even have to win to score this stuff.  If you sign up to be a member of the Burn the Fat Inner Circle you can win prizes for just being the most supportive member!  How cool is that?!?

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So basically, if you purchase Tom’s ultimate body composition changing program Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle or a membership to his “Inner Circle” you are automatically elligable to enter this 98 day summer challenge for a trip to Maui and all sorts of other awesome stuff.

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So here you go…you can learn more about the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book and start looking the best you’ve ever looked here:

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 Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

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But let’s be honest, you want to know where you’re going and you want to see pictures and video of the resort right?  Yeah…I did too.  You can check out the contest deets, the resort, and info on the ultra supportive and motivating Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Inner Circle here:

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Contest Details, Resort Photos, and Videos

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So that’s it.  Get the product, enter the contest, look great naked, and show off your hard earned body on the beach in Maui.

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But there is only one catch

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While you can most certainly pick up your copy of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle at any time, the ability to enter this contest ends at the end of the day on Wednesday, May 25th.  In other words, if you don’t act fast, you may get lean, but you sure aren’t going to Maui…not for free anyway.  This isn’t one of those times when you can think about it forever.  If you want to make a change, the time is right now…or you’ll miss out.  And like I said, you don’t want to miss out on this:

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Contest Details, Resort Photos, and Videos

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Full Disclosure

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I should note that if you purchase through one of the links on this page I do make a commission on the sale that I will use to fund this blog as well as support my family and do generally awesome stuff.  However, I would NEVER recommend a product I don’t believe in because:

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A) This is morally wrong.  I’m just one of those guys that wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he was scamming people out of their hard earned money all the time.  Being that I’m in the fitness industry, this trait is a giant pain in the ass as I could most certainly make more money otherwise.  But the fact remains that I can’t bring myself to be anything but honest with my readers.

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B) If I break your trust, I lose my readership.  Frankly, I know that a lot of people have been duped by crazy fitness products and I know it would be easy to convince some people to spend money once.  But the fact of the matter is, if the product I recommend sucks, that person is probably not going to trust me again and they’ll never purchase anything I recommend again (thereby eliminating any future chance of making commissions or selling them a product of my own).

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C) If you return the product, I actually LOSE money.  Basically, if you purchase a product I might make a few bucks, but if you return the product I lose my commission and I pay a small fee for having had a return.  If I recommended crappy products I’d have tons of returns AND I’d be paying out of my pocket.  In the end, I could actually risk losing money on a promotion which is NOT GOOD.  So I only promote stuff I know works and I know you’re going to love because I want you to be successful and I want to not go broke in the process.

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So that’s it.  This recommendation for Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle is totally legit!  It is a great product and from now until next Wednesday you have a chance to pick it up, get shredded, AND enter a contest to spend the end of your summer on a beautiful tropical beach in Maui.

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So go pick up Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle here:

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Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

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Or go check out the details for this incredible contest here:

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Contest Details, Resort Photos, and Videos

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Either way, the key here is to take action and to make this your leanest summer yet!  Get at it!

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