Is ‘healthy’ food making you gain bodyfat?

 

‘It’s good for you’……………….

You’ve heard it before, somebody is describing or selling the benefits of a certain food group to you and they tell you how ‘healthy’ it is……

I’m not denying the health properties of certain foods, and the inclusion of these foods can be of benefit to you.

However some foods can become over hyped and all too often one MAJOR factor becomes lost in transaction……………………..

CALORIES!!!

I’ve said it before and I will keep saying it: calories DO count!

It doesn’t how ‘healthy’ those calories may happen to be, an excess intake will STILL cause weight gain.

Foods that typically fall into this bracket include:

>Nuts

>Coconut Oil (and any other oil for that matter)

>Nut butters (doesn’t matter how ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ it is, calories STILL count…)

>Dried Fruits

>Honey

>Granola

The list goes on, but these are the typical choices that I see the most of.

Nuts are a classic example, 25g of walnuts equates to a small handful but typically gives you around 175kcal.

If you aren’t careful, ‘snacking’ on nuts can easily rack up an additional 500 -600kcal a day!

Keep in mind, that all of the above choices are also very easy to overeat on…

I’m not saying these foods are bad, far from it, I am saying that you need to be mindful of the caloric value when you include any of them into your diet.

Remember that too much of ANY food choice will result in weight gain….

That’s all for today, until the next time,

Tristan ‘had to stop buying peanut butter’ Buttle.

p.s – I’ve been using powdered peanut butter recently, but more on that another day…………….

 

 

Guess how many days are left in 2016??

………….111.

That’s it.

Just under 70% of this year has gone!

Already!

It’s gone quick hasn’t it?!

Too quick!

We have just over 30% of 2016 left, before we know it we will be singing the ‘auld lang syne’ & ringing in 2017!!

If you cast your mind back to January, how did you start 2016?

Did you set any resolutions? Did you set any goals?

Perhaps something along the lines of a ‘New Year, New You’?

>How has that worked out for you?

>Have you done what you said you would do?

>Has this year been different?

>Are you on the path towards achieving what you TRULY desire?

I genuinely hope you are.

However, sadly a lot of people I see are still in the same position, facing the same obstacles, the same barriers, the same fears, and the same doubts as they were at the beginning of the year.

I get it, I understand that change can be scary…..

If you are struggling, I want to remind you today that there’s still time, and that you CAN achieve your goals. You can still turn this year around.

However, to do this something NEEDS to change.

If you are tired of ‘putting it off’, always ‘starting again on Monday’, self-sabotaging yourself, and generally beating yourself up….perhaps it’s time for a change?

If whatever ‘diet’ plan you have been following has been unstainable….perhaps it time for change?

If the world of training and nutrition has left you confused….then perhaps its time to try something different?

You CAN change, it’s NOT too late, you don’t have to write yourself off and give up on your goals.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

Tristan ‘111’ Buttle.

P.S – If you need anything please give me a shout, it’s never too late.

 

 

Do YOU need to change?

If you are truly happy & content with your current situation and your current reality in all areas of your life, then the answer is probably no, and you can stop reading now.

However, if you are honest with yourself and you feel you need to embrace change, then please read on………

We often KNOW that we NEED to change, but we fail to apply what is necessary to get where we want to be….

Very often change will only happen if the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of the change…

↑↑↑↑ read that again.

Here’s what I want you to do, and it’s very important that you are honest with yourself, I want you to answer the following questions & apply them to your goals.

It doesn’t have to just be health & fitness related. This applies to all areas of life, whether its in business or in relationships, the questions remain the same………………

>What is your current reality?

>Why has this happened?

>What will happen if you don’t change?

>What do you TRULY want?

>Why do you want it?

>What needs to be done?

>What have you learnt from these questions?

If you have answered those questions honestly with yourself, you should now have a clear understanding of your current reality.

You cannot move forward without understanding where you are starting from.

I genuinely hope this helps you to understand yourself and what you truly want.

That’s all for today, I’ll leave you with one of my favourite quotes:

‘If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got’.

Until the next time,

Tristan ‘questions’ Buttle.

P.S – would you keep driving down a dead end, in the hope that one day it wasn’t a dead end?

P.P.S – Give me a shout if you need some honest advice, change doesn’t have to be as painful as you may think.

a quick one on training……..

In order to achieve your health and fitness goals, you simply MUST train!

When it comes to training, rarely does one size fit all, and if you were to ask 10 people (who have got results) what they do, you may get 10 different answers…

How I train is specific to ME, how YOU train needs to be specific to YOU.

Training age/experience, injuries & limitations, personal likes & dislikes, frequency & time are just some of the factors that need to be considered when looking at what is the best approach for you to take.

There is no such thing as the ‘best exercise’, only the best exercise for you.

However, I do believe there are two factors that apply to ALL forms of training:

1) You must train with relative intensity.

Training ‘hard’ is all relative, but remember that training needs to place a stress on your body for it to change. Training NEEDS to be intense, otherwise we would all get in shape from simply going shopping or cutting the grass.

How do you know if you are training hard?

Ask yourself this:

When did you last truly step out of your comfort zone in the gym?

Or imagine this:

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1= laid on the sofa doing nothing, and 10=being sick out of your eyeballs (not literally ha) where would you currently place your sessions?

2) You must train progressively.

Put in very simple terms, you need to beat or improve what you do every time you train.

No matter what style of training you adopt, you need to log your workouts and come into the gym with a clear plan of action.

You need to log all reps and all weight lifted and create targets.

Your body will adapt very quickly to the stress of exercise, therefore progression is an essential factor in helping to ensure that your training continues to provide the correct stimulus for change.

Chances are you do this in all other areas of your life: for example, your relationships and work life both progress, this what keeps things moving forwards, this is how we grow and develop.

Please note that both of the factors above have nothing to do with age or the ‘amount’ an individual may currently be lifting.

e.g. – Lets say I’m lifting 100 kg on an exercise, but I’ve been doing so for the last 2 months, I haven’t increased in either weight or reps performed….

…..and Mrs Smith was lifting 3kg 2 months ago and is now lifting 6kg, then Mrs. Smith has progressed more than I have.

Where you start is irrelevant, intensity and progression is relative to you and your goals….

That’s all for today, until the next time, keep moving forward

Tristan ‘log book’ Buttle.

P.S – Adding weight to an exercise or increasing reps should NEVER be done at the expense of poor form!

P.P.S – If your performance isn’t progressing then you need to ask yourself why?

P.P.P.S – Give me a shout if I can help you out with any of the above.

The 4 essentials to fat loss: Number 1………

We live in a world of information overload, & the birth of social media has provided many individuals and self-proclaimed ‘experts’ or ‘gurus’ with a voice…

Often, these voices tell you that they have THE answer, and that they have THE secret, and that ultimately, their way is THE way.

When it comes to fat loss & getting in shape, there are many ways to train and many ways to set up a nutritional plan….

…..however what works for someone else is not guaranteed to work for you.

The work that is required to achieve any goal is always obviously dependent on the specifics of the goal in question, that been said, I believe there are 4 basic areas that apply to ANY fat loss related goal…..

Today, we are just going to look at number 1, I’ll be in touch over the next few days with the rest…

1) Eating and understanding calories:

Nutrition is a MASSIVE topic and probably THE most confusing area of fat loss.

>However, in simple terms, fat loss ultimately comes to down to creating a calorie deficit.

This is ESSENTIAL, please don’t let anybody tell you calories don’t count. Too much of ANY food can result in weight gain.

A deficit can be achieved in a variety of methods and no one approach suits everyone.

What I will say is that when it comes to a creating a calorie deficit consider the following:

>What is the highest (not lowest) number of calories you can consume to achieve your goals? This will prevent you from starving yourself, setting unsustainable targets and stop you from burning out and giving up on your goals… remember that by definition, calories are a unit of ENERGY.

>The biggest influencing factor on fat loss is the TOTAL amount of calories you consume on a continual basis, not the time of day that you consume your calories.

Eg: let’s say you need to eat 2500kcal, but you have a busy day and it gets to 9pm but you still have 500kcal left to consume, then eat!!

It is the total figure that you hit by the end of the day that counts.

Start with the basics first, if you reading this and you are struggling with losing body fat, I suggest you start by logging your daily food intake.

You can easily do this by downloading the myfitnesspal app on your phone.

Its free, its simple and very user friendly.

Don’t worry about the targets the app sets you with, just use it as a log, this will help you to assess exactly where you are at with your intake.

It will also educate you on the true calorie content of certain food choices!

I’m not saying that you need to log everything, every day for the rest of your life, but if what you are doing isn’t working, then perhaps it’s time to try something new?

That’s all for today, if you get stuck with anything, then give me shout,

Tristan ‘calories DO count’ Buttle

Ps – part 2 with you tomorrow, if you are lucky!

The best ab workout I’ve had was in Magaluf……..

I went on a stag do last weekend………

………in Magaluf!

Yep, that’s right, 22 of us all descended on Magaluf for 3 days.

Leading up to the event I was slightly apprehensive: I was a Magaluf virgin, throughout 2016 I had consumed a total of 4 alcoholic drinks (not 4 nights out, just a total of 4 individual alcoholic drinks), and I had committed to a 3 day event…

The first lesson here is to know what you are signing up for: this was a stag do with 22 guys in Magaluf, it was never going to be the healthiest of weekends, so I just accepted that and went with it.

Complaining or objecting would be like booking into a Spinning class, turning up but saying you don’t want to pedal a bike. You know what you are signing up for, it is what it is. If you don’t want to ride the bike you are in the wrong class.

In terms of nutrition, the trip was hands down the unhealthiest I have been in a very long time. I often went hours & hours without eating, and when I did eat it was sub-standard to say the least and often at ridiculous times.

On top of a somewhat below par nutritional set up (that’s me putting it politely), hydration was poor, and sleep was far from optimal, sharing a room with a pal of mine who snores like a dying animal didn’t help!

However, I honestly cannot tell you the last time that I laughed as much as I did over the course of the 3 days!

I’m talking actual pain in my abs and ribs from laughing that hard, it was pretty much constant relentless fun and banter…..

They say laughter is the best medicine, which is probably why despite the above pointers about poor nutrition, I would argue the weekend WAS healthy……….. It was healthy for the soul.

For example, when was the last time you laughed uncontrollably and hysterically? Isn’t this what life should be about? Isn’t this part of having a truly healthy mind? Life should be fun!

As we all get older (it happens) we all get more commitments, more responsibilities, more duties, and we are often slaves to time.

We become governed by diaries & our phones, and our days are mapped out for us………pretty much every hour of the day becomes accounted for.

There were times during last weekend where I often had no concept of time…..when did you last feel like this?

People gravitate to holidays, stag dos, hen dos, & weekend breaks because it’s one the few times you don’t HAVE to do anything, you don’t HAVE to be anywhere at a specific time(other than the beach or the next bar!) and your time becomes exactly that…YOURS…………

Going away also reminded how much my close friends mean to me and how I’d missed seeing them, I also made some new (if not slightly odd) friends!

Again, this is what life should be about, solid friendship is essential and an integral part of having a successful life.

Every now and again having a break from everything is a healthy thing, we all get caught up in the day to day stuff, the commitments, the meetings, the job, the stress & the worry.

I’m not suggesting that you live every weekend like we did in Magaluf, and the chances are you couldn’t and shouldn’t want to! Doing this regularly would become old very quickly and pretty much kill your progress, however as ever, the answer is balance. This was 4 days out the year for me…balance.

What I am suggesting is if you can find the time to have some time off now and again, where you are not a slave to your job and/or your phone and you do so whilst truly having fun & laughing with people who are closest to you, then you, my friend, are winning………….

That’s all for today, until the next time,

Tristan ‘straight back to the gym on the Monday’ Buttle.

p.s – if you need any help on bringing balance into your routine, give me a shout.

I was extremely nervous…………………………

The closer I got, the worse it was.

My nerves had got the best of me.

I was doubting myself…..big time.

I went to Alton towers on Friday, I haven’t been for a few years and I had the opportunity to do so, so I went for it!

It was a great day out, the weather was awesome & we didn’t have to queue for anything!

Anyway, there we were, waiting to board ‘Rita: the queen of speed’…..
And I don’t mind admitting to you, I was nervous!

This thing was FAST! I’m talking SUPERFAST! It’s basically a roller-coaster that accelerates from a dead stop position at a simply crazy rate!

Save to say that Rita left my stomach behind!!!

Whilst I was convincing myself to get on board, one factor that helped me was I noted that there were kids getting on board who were a fraction of my age… I thought to myself:

‘If these kids can do it, so can I’.

However, this comparison is flawed…………….

See the thing is, kids have no fear, no reference point, no experience to draw on, and no true sense of consequence….

It’s only often as adults that through life we can develop fear, anxiety, stress, worry, and in turn this can create self-doubt.

Life can become more stressful as adults, we tend to experience more pain & we see that our world isn’t perfect.

As we grow older, we can become more cynical & more judgemental.

In turn, we develop fear, we can become anxious, we become worried, we panic, we doubt ourselves, we let anger consume us at times……..but these kids were simply living for that moment, they were free from fear.

You can apply this to anything, I guarantee that what is holding you back from your goals is based around fear….

I’ve asked you this before, but what would you do and where would you be if fear didn’t hold you back?

Tackling any goals (in or out of the gym) can be scary & intimidating, but as ever, if I can help you in anyway, give me a shout…

That’s all for today, until the next time,

Tristan ‘scream if you want to go faster’ Buttle.

P.S – I have no shame in admitting I also took a ride in Willy Wonka’s glass elevator!

The most inspiring photo I’ve seen (it’s not what you may think)………..

I was having a lazy afternoon yesterday, just chilling around the house…

So there I was laid on the sofa, scrolling around on social media with no real intention or purpose, just hanging out, when I saw a photo that stopped me in my tracks……

I’ve sure you’ve seen MANY inspiring quotes all over facebook & instagram, some of which are great, others are lacking at best…..

The thing is, these are often simply just words, at the time, you may read it, you may ‘like’ it but without action, it’s still just words…

It’s a start…it may help to spark something, it may resonate with you, BUT without action…it’s words on a screen….

Here’s the thing….the photo I’m talking about contained NO words at all, it was what was been said without saying anything that got me….

One of my best friends & his wife (who is also one of my very close friends) had a baby on Friday, they already have an amazing young boy & now he has a beautiful baby sister….

He (my friend, not his son) uploaded a photo of his son holding his daughter for the first time, & the result is incredible…

As we get older, we can get more cynical, more judgemental, more opinionated, more stressed, we develop fear, we can become anxious, we become worried, we panic, we doubt ourselves, we let anger consume us at times……..

…….The world, the environment, and the people around us can shape us & twist us, and not always bring out our best….

This photo showed me how we are all born WITHOUT any of this…all you see in the photo is love, connection, true happiness, & life.

I’m sharing this with you today, as I want you to see that inspiration is around you, as it was with me; you could just be looking in the wrong places.

It doesn’t always have to be a motivational quote, it doesn’t have to be a ‘before & after’ photo, it doesn’t have to be a bodybuilding stage……….inspiration IS out there….

That’s all for today, until the next time,

Tristan ‘feeling sentimental today’ Buttle.

P.S – Nothing today, but thanks for looking.

What about Tango & Cash?

That’s what he said to me……..

Have you seen it????????

……….the classic cop action movie/guilty pleasure starring Sylvester Stallone & Kurt Russell?

My reason for asking is, the other day on our break, a couple of colleagues & myself got chatting about our fav action movies from the 80s……& Mark threw Tango & Cash in there!

The 80’s was my era as a kid/young teenager, it was the golden age of all action movies, & I grew up watching Schwarzenegger, Stallone, & Van Damme all doing their thing on the screen…..

……..Commando, Rambo, Terminator, Rocky, Predator, The Running Man, Over the Top, Cobra, & even Twins where all viewed on heavy rotation.

Like most kids, I wanted to be as fit & strong as Arnold or Sly…I mean who didn’t want to run through the streets after watching Rocky?!

I must also admit to drinking raw eggs cracked into a glass, or should I say attempting to do so, after watching Sly in action….NOTE: do not try this at home!

I still remember getting my first set of weights from Argos & doing that many bicep curls I couldn’t move my arms the next day, all in a very lose attempt to try and pump up my arms, just like Arnolds….

Ha, you live & learn I guess, my point is today is that we ALL need inspiration at times in our lives, not just as kids or impressionable teenagers.

As adults we also need to be inspired & motivated.

The difference is, as we grow older, we can have more freedom to choose how we spend our valuable time on this planet & having the right people around us is essential in finding inspiration & achieving our goals…….

Ask yourself:

>Are you currently inspired?

>Do you know what actually inspires you?

>Does the environment in which you train inspire you?

>Do the people around you inspire you?

It doesn’t matter what it is, and different people will inspire you at different points in your life, depending on where you are at both mentally & physically….I encourage you to seek inspiration for yourself…

That’s all for today, I’m going to go and train (might watch Rocky first)……..

Until the next time,

Tristan ‘eye of the tiger’ Buttle

P.S –What’s your favourite 80s action movie? Let me know, hit me a reply………..

A quick lesson from Scarlett Johansson………

Yep, I admit it, I’m a big kid at times…..

………….I had the pleasure of seeing a 3D IMAX screening of Avengers 2 last night, and it didn’t disappoint, visually epic…….

I won’t drop any spoilers today for any fellow fans out there….

But I wanted to share a quick message with you…

During one scene, Bruce Banner (the Hulks alter ego, before he goes green & kicks off, played by Mark Ruffalo) is confiding in Natasha Romanova’s character (played by Scarlet Johansson) about his concerns over his lack of control & how when he loses it as the Hulk he’s scared of what might happen…….and that he basically cannot allow himself get close to her…….he is ashamed and afraid of who he is…and is full of self doubt.

We then learn from Natasha that, due to her severe background (as a trained assassin), she has had to make some very tough, quite harrowing decisions along the way & isn’t at all at peace with herself….

After we hear her story, she turns to Bruce & says:

‘Bet you thought you where the only monster on this team’?

My point here is that we ALL have issues….

We ALL have demons….

We are ALL capable of being ‘monsters’…

Even the most outwardly ‘perfect’ or ‘beautiful’ person will have their own internal struggles, their own insecurities, & their own fights…………

So I want you to stop………

>Stop beating yourself up……

>Stop comparing yourself to others….

>Stop being so down on yourself…

>Stop telling yourself you are not good enough…….

>Stop self sabotaging……

>Stop being your own worst critic………

Get up & start believing in yourself….start accepting who you are and start taking action my friend……..

That’s all for today, until the next time

Tristan ‘manchild’ Buttle.

P.S – Scarlett Johansson….wow! Just had to get that out there!! Although I’m not feeling her recent ‘Miley Cyrus’ hair do…. but like I said…we all have issues……..