Fat Loss – Body Transformation – Advanced Nutrition

Hey everyone,

I’ve been watching the footage of what has happened in Moore, Oklahoma and I am absolutely shocked to see what our neighbors 400 miles north are going through and I feel like I simply have to do something about it.

I’ve decided to rent a UHaul, load it with as much stuff as I can, and drive it to Moore on Thursday night. I don’t know the logistics, I don’t have a specific plan. All I know is that I am going to do this and would appreciate as much help as I can get.

How can you help? First, help me spread the word. Also, I’m sure that they need water, blankets, clothes, food, toiletries, etc. The best way I can think to get those things to me is to either call me at 210.391.1454 and I’ll come get them OR bring them to my studio at 16613 Huebner Road in San Antonio. IF you live between San Antonio and Oklahoma City, I will be on my way sometime on Thursday evening/Friday morning (I’ll nail that down as it gets closer). LET ME KNOW.

I’m going to get on Social Media and see what I can do, as well as contact my influential friends, clients, and associates to get the word out and donate whatever they may be able to.

If you can give, please do. If all you can do is offer your prayers and well wishes, that works too.

Help me spread the word, please! Let these people know that we have not forgotten them!

Boyd

Good morning everyone!

Maybe I spend too much reading – I try to read anything I can fitness related. Half of the time, it’s just to get through writer’s block (sometimes when someone else writes an article furthering fitness nonsense, it is able to piss me off so badly that I’m ready to sit down and write a 50000 word fitness dissertation.

I didn’t write my annual “New Year’s Resolution” article on December 31 because I figured I’d just let the hysteria die down, and let the other personal trainers spat off about the same old tired “fitness truths” and let them rehash the same article that has been written thousands of times over.

You see, most personal trainers, fitness writers, and Gurus/Experts are afraid to go against the grain: they cling to ineffective, disproven diet strategies, training programs that are as worthless as the Shake Weight, and decades old myths about the types of cardio one should to to maximize fat loss. I am the Anti-Guru – I call those types out on their myths and misinformation. Far too many personal trainers, if truthful, would list their education and experience as reading a few issues of Oxygen and/or Muscle and Fitness Magazines, and maybe a weekend seminar or two: they are learning their craft on your dime.

Enough of that, on with the tips:

-Intense Cardio is the only type of cardio you should be doing. No more of that marathon nonsense for an hour. Intervals are what I prefer (25-60 seconds all out, followed by a similar time for recovery and repeat for a total of 15-25 minutes).

-”I want to get toned/lean/look better naked, get in a bikini, etc, etc, etc”: Your training program should be centered around weight training. No, you will not gain muscle at an insane rate to where you cannot control it and become an NFL Linebacker (ladies), but even a slight increase in lean body mass will increase your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a given day to maintain your bodyweight at rest). THIS is the biggest bang for your buck on caloric expenditure: slightly increasing your metabolic rate is much more efficient than either removing a few hundred calories from the diet or burning it via exercise – and when an increased metabolic rate is combined with exercise and efficient eating, the undesirable weight falls off.

-The scale is the most full of shit tool ever created by man. It is not a measure of progress. Simply put, weight loss helps you look better dressed, fat loss helps you look better naked.

-A healthy lifestyle is not about all you give up: I hear people upset about giving up eating a certain dish, drinking, partying, a tv show or whatever. A healthy lifestyle is, however, about all you will GAIN: confidence, energy, health, and a longer, more productive life.

-Just because someone “goes to the gym” does not make them an expert on health and fitness. In fact, most people that go to the gym are just burning time by moving around (which is better than nothing, so don’t get me wrong). When someone is going to the gym and lifting for an hour or two and doing “an hour of cardio”, I automatically think about how much time they are wasting and how inefficient they are. My competitors, who are maximizing fat loss and body transformation techniques, don’t spend near that amount of time in the gym. In fact, 99.999% of the people reading this can make dramatic changes to their bodies with less than 5 hours of training or less.

-There’s a difference between working out and training: working out is staying busy and moving just to break a sweat. Training is designed to get you to where you want to be, whether it is from an aesthetic or a functional point of view. Time is valuable, don’t waste it.

-Accountability is key: whether you hire a personal trainer, join an exercise group, keep a public log, join an online exercise forum, or train with a loved one, positive pressure helps! Tell people that you are close with about your goals and use their support as motivation!

-A diet is an unsustainable way of eating. I mean, come on: everyone is always coming on and off of their diet. My competitors DIET when they are getting ready for a show. The rest of the world? They have to make sustainable lifestyle changes and learn how to make the best choices to allow them to not only get into shape, but maintain what they have worked so hard for. It’s okay to DIET to get to a certain point, but at some point, you have to realize that the more radical an eating strategy is, the less likely you are to stick with it.

-Drink water. Your body is 70% water, I shouldn’t have to explain why this is important. You’re probably not drinking enough. Go for the gallon.

-”But the RDA says”: Reccommended Daily Allowance, designed to keep you alive if you lay on the couch 24/7. Written by the government. Have you been to the Driver’s License Office lately? Social Security Office to simply get a card? VA? Read the tax code? Oh, you want the government telling you how to eat? You think they’re actually qualified at anything but spending money? RDA is survival – you should be eating for optimal performance and physique transformation!

-The only way to force the body to change is to introduce it to a stimulus it is unfamiliar with. When you train, you should do every exercise with the thought “Body, you are going to change, dammit”. It is called WORKING out for a reason: do work!

-Get off of your ass!!! Thinking about starting at the first of next month is not good enough. If you aren’t busy living, you are simply dying! Even if it is getting up and taking short walks throughout the day during breaks, do it.

-A little sacrifice is worth the huge gain. Yes, you may have to go to bed later or get up earlier. You may have to give up those tv shows you like. You may have to skip a few happy hours. Shouldn’t matter, because none of those things holds a candle to a lean body that you are proud to show off at a pool party or at the lake/beach. Life is too short to be covered up by clothes.

-Looking for that magic pill? Keep looking. There is not one. You’d be better off looking for a pill that made you want to workout harder and be disciplined enough to skip the fried foods and dessert. That one would be worth 100 times its weight in gold.

-”But it’s not easy”. No kidding, it isn’t for anyone.

-”I don’t have time. You have the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else has. We all have kids, jobs, responsibilities, family issues, dying relatives, sick friends, car pool, travel, whatever. No matter how much you think you do, I’m betting I have a client that has the same schedule and does just as much. It’s the difference between wanting it and wanting to find an excuse.

-I don’t care if you hire a personal trainer or do a workout video or Zumba or whatever. Whatever you do, do it hard, and commit to it for a fair amount of time. When things get tough, your schedule gets hard, your work starts getting into your “bad time of year”, so what – don’t give up!

-Damn Boyd, you’re expensive. Yeah, but I’m the best in the world at what I do. I’m 36, have been ONLY training for the last 7 years, have multiple degrees, and choose to do this. I’m not some kid that decided to do this because it’s a low barrier of entry and didn’t feel like going to school. I train multiple professional athletes, figure competitors, bodybuilders, bikini models, magazine cover models, and everyday people with real jobs and real responsibilities JUST LIKE YOU!!!

You can make the decision to change or you can simply keep making the same old tired excuses that may temporarily make you feel good, but are holding you in that rut that keeps becoming deeper and deeper.

The first step IS the hardest, but once you get moving, it’s a hell of a lot easier to KEEP moving.

Become unstoppable!

Most personal trainers only understand the most basic of client needs and the most basic of concepts: help the client move more, control what they eat and get some form of results. Ironically, this formula only fits a small piece of the population that actually seek a personal trainer. If you’re going to pay good money, slight results aren’t what you’re looking for.

Unlike most personal trainers, I have a long list of testimonials and references that I offer any client that may be interested in acquiring my services.

My client list includes:

Medical Professionals

I currently work closely with many different doctors and other types of medical professionals to ensure that my clients are getting the most of their programs in many different types of capacities: medical weight loss, rehabilitation, pre and post-natal, chiropractic and other special populations.

I am also the personal trainer to several of the top surgeons in the San Antonio area, including several that I have worked with for more than 2 years.

These doctors, nurses and other medical professionals are more than happy to provide a reference to any potential client.

Figure, Bikini, and Bodybuilding Competitors

I train many different competitors from all of the major competitive organizations around the world (NPC/IFBB, WBFF, IFPA, etc)

Without a doubt, subjective sports where one is judged against other competitors based on symmetry, muscle definition, conditioning and other aesthetic points-of-view are the absolute test of, not only the client’s discipline, but the trainer’s knowledge and experience. My track record of having clients looking their absolute best on show day is unparalleled, but it’s more than simple appearance. It is often said that, while these contests are the epitome of an athletic appearance, the athletes are actually as far away from that on stage as humanly possible.

That is not the approach that I take. I do not use any senseless voodoo that risks my clients health. Everything I have a client do, from the first day of competition prep until they are completely recovered from their show is based on science and my years of experience. No near death dehydration, no “thin the skin by eating this fish and asparagus” (really, THIN THE SKIN?), no 2 hours of cardio per day and starvation.

Nothing I do is “cookie cutter”. You will not get a one size fits all diet and workout from me. Any direction that I give is based on your condition and what it will take to get your body from where it is to where it needs to be to get you in the best physical condition and aesthetic shape possible. I take every factor into consideration: genetics, metabolic conditions, strengths and weaknesses, visible needs and other conditions.

My approach differs from 99.9% of prep coaches for many reasons. First, my clients are never starving. They aren’t doing hours of cardio at any point. I’ve written numerous articles on why cardio is NOT effective for fat loss, and I use my competitors as evidence, as my clients are always complimented for their conditioning and leanness. Competition prep is about working with the body’s natural balance: not ridiculous and unhealthy extremes. Many trainers talk about “tricking the body” and other nonsense. The human body has a few thousand years of a head start, so rest assured, you aren’t going to trick it. Every action performed by the body or on the body has a very predictable reaction. While other trainers may experiment with hocus pocus, I prefer to use a scientific approach to allow the body to respond predictably.

I have several competitors from all classes, experience levels and age groups that are available as references at the client’s request.

Professional Athletes

When the body and it’s performance is an individual’s primary source of income, you can bet that athletes are very selective on whom they entrust their bodies to. Over the last several years, I have worked with several top level athletes in the NBA, NFL and MLB, as well as NCAA All Americans in football, wrestling, baseball, basketball, volleyball, golf and track.

The specific needs of each sport, from a training, nutrition, and supplementation standpoint, are foreign to most personal trainers. Athletes must train in a way that will not only directly improve their performance in their sport, but also experience improved recovery between training and competition to ensure they are regularly able to frequently perform at the highest levels possible.

And Most Importantly…
Everyday, I train regular professionals of all types, students, mothers, and others like 99% of the people that are reading this blog. I have trained individuals from all walks of life – I’ve trained over 2500 people in the last 15 years. Each of my clients has their own stories about their own paths of how they conquered their personal goals, and I wouldn’t hesitate to offer any past client as a reference.

If you’re thinking about hiring a trainer for the new year, give me a call. My track record is unparalleled, and you don’t just have to take my word for it, I’ll provide you with as many references as you may need to help make your decision easy.

I just wanted to take a second and wish everyone: readers, family, friends, clients, and those that fall into more than one of those categories a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year wherever you may be!

I promise that the New Year will bring many new articles about fitness, training, fat loss, nutrition and much more. My long time readers know that I don’t stick to convention and you’re not going to find time wasting info that scatters the internet here: only real fitness truth that is backed by science and experience!

I’m looking forward to an exciting 2013, and cannot wait to reach new personal heights while helping others do the same!

I do consider myself an incredibly lucky person:

I have a very healthy and bright child. I get to do what I love to do for a living. I have a very successful business that has grown even during a recession. I’m strong and in shape.

Wait, what?

Yesterday for my workout, I was doing one of my typical power style workouts and was alternating sets between bench press and dead lifts. After I was warm, I was doing bench sets with 495lbs x 3 reps and then dead lifting 635×2 reps and performed 7-10 rounds of this. I’ve been lifting for a long time, and I don’t see a lot of people who train with the weights that I workout with. Every workout partner I’ve ever had has always pointed out that I know one weight: heavy.

During my workout, a guy, whom I had noticed staring, walked over to comment on the weights that I was using. After complimenting me, he then, unknowingly to him, kind of insulted me by saying “You’re lucky you’re that strong, some of us have to kill ourselves for every slight gain.”

Hold on, for real?

I didn’t wake up able to bench press in the 600s. I distinctly remember struggling with 225lbs. Same on the dead lift. I remember thinking that I had conquered the world as I climbed closer and closer to 400 (less than half of what my best 1 rep max is).

While I’m lucky to be alive, upright, and to have lived a nice life without serious infliction or condition, I know that luck has very little to do with my training and the way my body has responded. Everything I do is thought out, planned and meticulously executed.

But even more so than that, I train like a Spartan. Maybe half lunatic and even a bit angry. And I do it day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out, etc. There is no off-season. The things I do with a bar loaded with plates have been years in the making and is still a work in progress.

I’ll close with two of my favorite sayings:

Some people view the glass as half empty, others as half full. I’m just glad to have a glass.

Luck: the point at which opportunity meets hard work.

I’m definitely “lucky” to have a glass. But I’m very lucky to absolutely be willing to work my ass off to get whatever on earth I want.

Hey everyone,

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we are heading into December. A lot of people, from a fitness standpoint, write December off and wait until January to get started, and this is a HUGE waste! First and foremost, it’s tough to stay motivated when gyms are absolutely packed. But once you’re in the groove, you’ll make it happen no matter what.

So, why start now? Well, I expect clients to lose 5-8 percentage points of body fat in their first months. It goes without saying that those 5-8 points will have you looking quite a bit different than you look right now.

The first step is definitely the hardest, which is another reason why I recommend that people get the ball rolling in December. Of course, most resolutions wither and die. The reasoning behind a change MUST be internal, and must have a WHY. I think it’s pretty obvious that the why cannot be because the calendar switched over.

You know why most people that start on their own fail? Because changing the body and losing fat is hard damn work. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be called WORKING out. Sorry, but if that scares you off or if you’re looking for the easy way, then you’re not the type of client that I’m writing to.

Nothing of value is easy to obtain!

In closing, it’s time to stop waiting around: it is time to get off of your ass and take that first step!

Hey everyone,

First and foremost, I hope everyone is having a great holiday week! I’m excited about family time, football and great food in a couple of days – not excited about traffic and crowds, but it’s worth it!

I’ve had a lot of people ask me about holiday eating tips. This one is pretty simple: keep the excessive gorging and binging to a day or a day and a half. There’s no need to let Thanksgiving spill into a 4 day to 6 week binge. A lot of people like to get up and do a little workout on Thursday and Friday. I personally will be lifting on Friday, but Thursday is for relaxing and family. My point is that one or two days cannot undo weeks worth of hard work and discipline. The key is to get back on the wagon quickly!

I had 3 comments asking me about the article that was released about kids (teens) with body image issues, as they are consumed with protein drinks and working out. My response is basic: GOOD FOR THEM. This happens to be the same group that is typically complaining about kids being lazy and obese (which, as a whole, they have become heavier). I see a lot of teens (male and female) in gyms often, and I think that most of them have obtainable goals, and don’t feel that it is as much of a threat as the risk of disease and poor health via obesity.

Of course, I’m not trying to be short, but am typing this as I prepare to travel. I wish everyone the safest of travel and the happiest of Thanksgiving! Finish out 2012 strong – the new year will be here before you know it, and a month is enough time to make a drastic change!

Greetings everyone, hope you’re all enjoying the extended summer here in San Antonio. 91 on October 22 is a little crazy.

One of the more common questions I’m asked is about overtraining. In short, overtraining is a cumulative effect caused by several factors: inadequate nutrition, improper or not enough recovery, and of course, training too damn frequently for too long of duration.

The most common scenario goes something like this: someone decides they’re out of shape and they want to drop a lot of weight quickly. They begin starving themselves and not adequately paying attention giving their bodies enough nutrients to function optimally. They do something crazy like training every single day and doing cardio two times per day. This is the rapid path to overtraining.

On the other hand, I find that too often, many people use overtraining as an excuse not to work their asses off while training. Truth be told, if you’re supplying your body with the proper nutrients, training and recovering properly, it’s harder than one thinks to overtrain. Also, the longer one has been training, the more volume they can withstand (obviously), allowing those individuals to get away with doing a bit more.

Another misunderstanding is that between overtraining and overuse. Of course, if you’re playing tennis 6 days per week and bench pressing, doing shoulder presses 4-6 days per week, there is a chance you’re flirting with overuse in the shoulder joints.

In my own training, I often squat as many as 4-5 days per week. I bench press 3-5 times per week, and dead lift 3-5 times per week. 98% of the people that I know could not handle this regimen, and I didn’t start doing this kind of volume one day on a whim – it has taken years for me to build up to being able to handle it and benefit from it. On the same token, I don’t train with that kind of volume all year round – usually on a 6-8 week training cycle with 2-3 weeks of reduced volume.

Bottom line: don’t be afraid to kill it when you walk into the gym, but pay attention to your program as a whole – fuel your workouts AND your recovery with the proper nutrient intake and listen to your body. If you start feeling run-down, lacking motivation, losing sleep, etc it’s probably time to reduce volume and re-visit your nutrition to ensure your body is recovering optimally. On the other hand, don’t train with the intensity of a tortoise!

TRAIN INSANE – LOOK AMAZING!

There are things in my office that I see every single day and rarely notice them. I mean, I’m proud of the testimonials and pics of current and former clients, competitors, athletes, and models on my wall, but I spend so much time in front of those pics, that often, I don’t even notice that they are there.

This morning, a picture on my wall caught my eye – this several year old, framed copy of Oxygen Magazine’s Fat Loss Special:

On the cover is my friend and long time client, Kimberly Castle. Kim first visited me in late 2004 and explained to me that she was seriously ready to make a drastic change in her body and we began working together toward her goals. Obviously, things worked out well for her.

Kim has sinced moved away, yet, we have remained close friends and chat from time to time. The reason why I thought about that pic that I see everyday is that she was someone who made her change a permanent part of her life and has since become a national bikini competitor, has written a fitness based book and has appeared in several magazines promoting health, nutrition, and overall wellness.

Sometimes, the first step is the hardest, but once the momentum starts, the only thing that can stop it is that individual. I see it daily in the numerous figure competitors I train, and I have no doubt that a few of them will be IFBB pros in the VERY near future.

So many times, seemingly average individuals have visited my studio and decided that they wanted to do something completely extraordinary: appear in a magazine (I’ve trained individuals that have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Oxygen, and Playboy, to name a few), compete in a contest or simply re-define what they’ve always felt was the meaning of “The best shape of my life”. And in most cases, they’ve kept making progress long after their time with me was done.

It doesn’t matter where you are right now physically, but you cannot limit yourself by excuses: job, time, family/kids; we all have those obstacles to overcome, and many of my most drastic changes are by people who have extremely demanding careers and family lives. Yet, they still find the means to rise above.

We all fall into ruts, but please know, the only difference between a rut and a grave is the DEPTH.

Getting the ball rolling is important, yet, keeping the ball rolling is the key to long term success!

Everyone is a fitness expert. Whether it’s the people at the gym offering their unsolicited advice, the latest certified personal trainer that just completed their weekend certification course, a Twitter genius spouting off about their upcoming competition or what have you, you don’t have to look hard to get the “facts” on how you’re supposed to train.

So, I ask myself, why the hell do people still believe that long, slow boring cardio is the way to lose fat? Why are people still doing fasted cardio when research and actual proof has shown that it is catabolic (read: burns lean body mass) faster than AIDS?

Yesterday, one of my clients was doing her prescribed 25-30 minute HIIT cardio that I had given her. Of course, a random lady scrubbing along at 5.5mph told her that her workout was ineffective and that she was only running for a total of roughly 5 minutes.

So let’s break open the journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and compare the two.

Ok, before we do that, let’s ask ourselves: which saves the most time? Obvious answer there. Of course, NOBODY has enough time, as this is the biggest excuse why people do not exercise (or at least exercise effectively) – always in a rush.

In the aforementioned journal study, the following was discovered:
-In 6 weeks doing sprints, you can run for an actual total of 45 minutes (at 60-75% all out) versus over 13 hours at a constant speed and lose more fat.

-The sprint group lost 12.4% body fat and 2-3kg of fat per individual.
The endurance group lost on average of .5kg of fat per individual over 6 weeks.

-Sprinting increases oxygen consumption, improves metabolic rate, and burns a ton of calories fast. Distance cardio actually has the opposite affect on metabolic rate, due to the body’s basic survival mechanism kicking in an effort to fend off intense catabolic breakdown (induces the starvation reflex).

-Do a search on the side for afterburn effect. I’ve discussed it hundreds of times over the years. Medium of energy (fat vs glucose for you heart rate monitor freaks) is misleading. Just because you are burning most of your calories from fat after a certain point at loser intensity doesn’t mean a damn thing. First, you’re burning more overall calories sprinting, and ACTUALLY, the number is just as high from fat. Also, post-long cardio, your body turns to glucose for energy in an attempt to preserve itself. It’s the opposite for sprinting: your body has already attacked stored muscle glycogen, so now, it’s burning fat for a longer period after training.

Simple comparison: who is leaner – a sprinter or a marathon runner? I said leaner, not “skinnier”. Unless you like the tapeworm look, the sprinter has a much more desireable physique.

Stop slogging through hours of cardio – it’s KILLING your progress!

And if you’re wondering, I have all of my competitors performing HIIT (and nothing slow-go). Is it working? Go check out my Facebook Training Page and look at Chelsey’s pics, who won overall in her first show this weekend.

Boyd Myers
San Antonio Fitness Expert
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Welcome back, everyone!

This is the second article in my Keys to Summer Fat Loss series. In the previous article, I covered the keys to training for fat loss. In this edition, I’m going to focus more on the nutritional side of the house to get help get you lean and defined enough to where you’ll be excited the next time someone invites you to their pool party or lake house for the weekend (or wherever else you can wear as little clothing as possible).

I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know, but this blog post is infinitely more important than the previous one. Why? First, 80% of your body composition is determined by your nutrition. The biggest difference in a bodybuilder or a fitness competitor that is in off-season versus pre-contest preparation is their nutritional intake, period. The training does not drastically change – only their means of fuel and recovery.

Remember that I am writing this for the masses without a particular body type in mind. So for discussion’s sake, let’s say this is for anyone who needs to drop 10-50lbs. Obviously the amount of time you need to lose the fat is dependent on how much you need to lose. These are only tips – not the end all to fat loss.

With that being said, when I speak in general terms, I focus more on the “IIFYM” approach (IIFYM = If It Fits Your Macros). Obviously, this takes a few types of calculations. You need to have an idea of your resting metabolic rate (RMR or BMR), your approximate daily caloric requirements through activity and last, but certainly not least, your daily caloric intake. Obviously, the most educated estimates on these three things are just that: Estimates. With that being said, actually measuring food, activity, and doing a few simple calculations is going to be much closer to exact than Joe Gym Guy’s estimates that he spends about 35 seconds calculating in his head. Most people under-estimate their food intake and over-estimate their calorie expenditure (hint: calorie counts on most machines are WAY high).

This leads to another item to consider: which macronutrient breakdown do I use? We all respond differently to different combinations of protein, carbohydrates and fat, so for simplicity, the leaner you are, the higher the ratio of carbohydrates one can have.

Understand that your nutritional blue print is a living, breathing document! Different days require different caloric/carbohydrate demands – too many people try eating the same things in the same amounts day in and day out and can’t figure out why they can’t break through a certain plateau. If you do as I say, you will lose fat and your body composition will change. As it changes, you must continue to re-adjust your intake. I know, it sounds like a lot but it’s actually pretty simple. Besides, if you aren’t ready to put a little effort forth and think about this then you’re probably not very serious about it to begin with, and should just give up now. Go away and save yourself a few minutes by not reading this.

How do we determine “how much”?

First, do the appropriate calculations to determine your daily caloric requirements. There will be a period of adjustment here, so don’t be afraid to tinker around for a week or two. If you start eating clean, you’re going to be making progress. I call this period “baselining”, as we figure out exactly what the body needs.

Calculate your BMR:

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) – ( 6.8 x age in year )

Once you calculate your BMR, add your “activity calories”. There are thousands of charts available on the web that breakdown activity by hour for certain bodyweights. I prefer to use lower counts versus higher ones. We can always add calories later if needed.

For simplicity (and that’s what I’m working toward, staying simple), let’s use the Harris Benedict Equations:

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2

If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375

If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55

If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725

If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

Be realistic – over-estimating will NOT help you reach your goals. Also, completely underestimating to artificially justify an insanely low caloric intake will not accelerate progress. Even if you lose more weight immediately, you’ll rapidly plateau and force the body to induce the starvation reflex. The body is a fighter and will attempt to preserve itself if it feels as if it is being depleted.

One final important note to remember: the Harris Benedict Equation does not consider lean body mass. The more muscle one has, the more calories one requires.

Macronutrient Breakdown:
Protein (4 calories per gram): Enough to ensure we are getting enough essential aminos for recovery and to ensure that the body is not breaking down muscle tissue for energy. I’ll start the calculation at 1g per lb of bodyweight. The lower your carbohydrate intake is, the more protein your body will require to support the added burden of reduced carbs. On extremely low carb days (.5g per lb of bodyweight or less), I prefer 1.2-1.5g of protein per lb of bodyweight.

Carbohydrates (4 calories per gram): Enough to supply glucose to the brain and to fuel our anaerobic activity for the day. Carbs are important pre-workout (fuel), during and post-workout (anti-catabolic and replenishment). Considering our amount of anaerobic activity changes day to day, this will be the most manipulated number. The key is to keep this number high enough (at the appropriate times) to support our needs, yet low enough to force the body to use stored and dietary fat for energy. Carbohydrate timing is crucial! If you are looking to lose a significant amount of fat, I prefer a starting base that is lower in carbohydrates (in the .5-.75g per lb of bodyweight range). If you are training intensely, I’ll typically add 100g per hour of intense training. Once you know your carbohydrate per day count, the other amounts will be easy to compute.

Fat (9 calories per gram): Enough to support organ function and the release of stored fat for energy while also having a feeling of satiety. Once the other two numbers are calculated, this one is easy.

Putting It All Together
Once you’ve used the calculations above to figure out your daily caloric expenditure, subtract 500 calories per day from that. If you are a little heavier, subtract 700 calories from that. This number will be your target caloric intake. Again, you are not doing the same things everyday, so these numbers should be appropriately adjusted. Using the calculations for carbs and protein, multiply total grams of each by 4. This is the number of calories you will consume from protein and carbohydrates.

For example, my caloric expenditure (Resting Metabolic Rate plus Activity) for a typical Monday is approximately 3200. Caloric deficit depends on the individual but I’d advise against reducing caloric intake by more than 20% at one time. In this case, I’m going to subtract 500 from that and now I have 2700 calories as my daily intake goal.

I weigh 220lbs and am relatively lean and very active. On a day where I consume 170g carbs (680 calories), I consume roughly 320g of protein (1280). 680 + 1280 = 1960. 2700 (goal) – 1960 = 740 calories from dietary fat. 1 gram of fat has 9 calories. 740/9 = 82g fat (I’ll discuss food sources later).

What I Meant Earlier By IIFYM
I put a lot of stock into nutritional timing. I believing fueling activity and eating the proper nutrients at the right time is key to optimizie recovery. With this being said, I tend to focus on more carbohydrate intake pre and post-workout. I typically provide a client with a range of nutrients to be in (for example, one meal may be 35-42g carbs, 25-30g protein and 8-12g fat). If you’re routinely on the low end of the range, I have no problem with using your residual nutrients for a snack, meal, etc later on. The key is to at least hit the minimum at the appropriate times – missing meals altogether will slow the metabolism.

Now, the rules…
1. You cannot make serious fat loss progress and regularly consume alcohol. Nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING will hinder your fat loss goals more than alcohol. I’ve said it a thousand times here on this blog: it has nothing to do with the type of alcohol, the mixers or anything else: it is the hormonal effect that alcohol itself has on the body. If you are not at a level of bodyfat that you are happy with, then you need to stay away from the booze (even the nightly glass of wine) until you are where you need to be.

2. Fuel your workouts and don’t forget the during/post-workout carbs. I know a lot of people believe that when they are dieting, they don’t need post-workout carbs – this is false. The primary goal for fat loss is maintaining the lean body mass you already have. Working out, in itself, is catabolic (meaning it breaks the muscles down) and post-workout carbs are anti-catabolic. I prefer 25-35% of daily carbohydrate intake 60-90 min pre workout, 10-15% during workout and 20-30% post-workout. The remainder of carbohydrate intake can be consumed at breakfast and throughout the rest of the day.

3. Dietary fat is your friend: learn to love it. Want a great way to stop the body from burning fat? Not provide it with dietary fat.

4. Get off of your ass. No, seriously. This is a nutritional article, but damn if humans aren’t lazy creatures.

5. Consistency is king. This isn’t an overnight thing. Look closely at your nutritional habits. Have you ever gone 10 days without one cheat meal? Challenge yourself – if you’re serious about changing, sticking to it shouldn’t be a problem. No one has ever accidentally eaten anything: YOU control what you put into your mouth.

6. Limit fructose (this means fruit). Fruit is terrible for fat loss – fructose wreaks metabolic hell and will keep you fat.

7. A majority of your carb intake should be fibrous vegies (greens, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, cauliflower, etc).

8. Bracket your workouts with a majority of your carbohydrate intake. In many instances, I recommend that up to 80% of the carb intake for the day be consumed pre/during/and immediately post-workout.

9. Limit grains, eliminate flour. Gluten allergies are very real, and much more common than most people realize. Just because you don’t choke up and die when you eat gluten doesn’t mean you’re not allergic to it – keeping a constant “belly bloat”, having trouble with stubborn fat – these are all possible signs of a gluten intolerance.

10. Eliminate all processed foods. Refined, processed, enriched, flour – these are words that you need to look for on the ingredients list and avoid.

Being leaner is a serious commitment. Most people don’t give it anywhere near the effort that they believe they have. It takes serious nutritional discipline and consistency – YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!

I have a few more articles in this series, including carbohydrate tips, nutrient timing and a few other ideas I’m working on, so check back soon!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Happy Easter, everyone!

I have nothing specific to write about today. Want to write on some specific vitamins (especially Vitamin D) and amino acids (Leucine) but am pretty crazy packed in today so I’ll save those for next week. If you have a topic you’d be interested in reading my point-of-view on, leave me a comment and I may write on it.

My Nike Fuelband arrived last night and I’m wearing it today, and thus far, I love it. Nike came up with their own formula to measure simple activity (called FUEL) and it simply takes into consideration movement (without height/weight). So, it’s a way to “keep score” on how much you move in a day. It also keeps up with calories burned (which DOES take size into consideration) and steps, and is a watch as well. It’s light weight and doesn’t look terrible either!

Racquetball is my newest obsession. As many readers of this blog know, I was in the US Air Force for 10 years. Of course, there are racquetball courts on every AF base (as well as golf courses, but I’m allergic to grass). So racquetball was always an option for intense cardio and getting out of work :). I recently started playing frequently (I’ve logged over ten hours this week) and I’m loving it. It’s a lot of fun, but most importantly, it’s intense (to the tune of burning 1200-1500 kcal per hour). Want to burn some fat quickly for summer? Give it a try!

Last but not least, I’d like to welcome our newest trainer, Andy Travis to Personal Fitness Revolution. I’ll be adding his bio over the next couple of days, but his knowledge and training style meshes really well with our staff, and we are very glad to have him!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Late last week, I was invited to contribute to a soon to be released fitness and nutrition related book, and today, I received my first set of interview questions to fill out. Great timing, because they’ve definitely given me several worthy topics to discuss.

As far as the book goes, I’ll update everyone here as I learn more about future stages on the project. I have been involved in a few of these projects in the past, and this one looks to be a very high level project – I am definitely honored that they decided to include me as one of the contributing fitness experts.

How is 2012 treating you thus far? Remember, January turns to February quickly – be patient, stay focused and committed, and take one day, one step at a time!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey everyone,

I want to take a few seconds and congratulate Rachel S. on her decision to compete in the NPC Texas State Natural Bodybuilding/Bikini Championships on November 19, 2011 in Austin, TX. She took the first step on her journey today and I cannot wait to post her progress pictures over the next 17+ weeks as she works her way into competition shape.

Competing is NOT easy: there is a reason why so few people do it. The amount of discipline, physical and psychological effort, and sacrifice that it requires is not for the weak-minded. On top of that, just reaching stage is not enough: WE fully intend on winning her division (I say “WE” because I will be with her every step of the way!).

I know, 113 days seems like an eternity, but in the blink of the eye, it will be half that, and then inside a month, and then prep week – and during the entire cycle, I fully intend on keeping the readers of this blog informed on her progress, all the way through comp night when she is holding her trophy on stage.

Get ready for Rachel, everyone!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Doing what I do for a living leads to a lot of fitness and nutrition related discussions no matter what I’m doing or where I am at. Anytime someone asks me “What do you do for a living?” the discussion ensues.

The irony is that while people do often asks me what they should do, they rarely are interested in taking my advice, hence, which is why I don’t put forth a lot of effort in answering that question.

You see, as quickly as the question is asked, 99.9% of the time that person is going to tell me what they’re already doing and see if I will validate what they say. Almost just as often, people tell me what I should try out and tell me how well it will work.

I’ve studied the body from absolutely every aspect from a fitness standpoint – I have a pretty good grasp on the body’s response to training and nutrition, and the main piece of advice that I can offer is that there is no one size fits all training and nutrition program for every goal (no matter what the CrossFit cult wants you to believe…)

The body will do EXACTLY what it is told to do based on how you exercise, what you eat and when you eat it, but the key is that you tell your body the right thing.

There is the problem: most people aren’t telling their body the right thing. They THINK they are, but the body will respond to what it is told – you just have to learn how to tell your body exactly what to do.

Every aspect of training has a purpose: every rep scheme, amount of rest (or lack there of) between sets, every exercise, number of exercises, etc. Same with nutrition. Every bite of food plays the same role, and the body’s response depends on many factors (condition, genetics).

The great thing is? If you tell someone something they like to hear (such as “this is the best way or the easiest way”), they’ll listen to you, period. Unfortunately, they’ll listen no matter where the advice comes from. I’ve seen many cases where some pretty out of shape people have written exercise programs for individuals and the person will swear by it.

Think logically: pay attention to where the advice you get comes from. You wouldn’t let a dentist with bad teeth work on your mouth! There are a lot of so-called experts out there, but make sure they’re able to prove their track record and back up what they’re saying (remember, more than 80% of personal trainers out there have done the job for less than one year).

Don’t be anyone’s “practice” – get the truth!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454