fitness

To CheatDay or Not To CheatDay – That is the question

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pizza

If you’re on a diet, it’s probably a restrictive one. You’re sticking to your chosen plan, hoping for the same thing as everyone else, quick results that give you the motivation to keep going. The idea is to stay committed until you finally reach your goal.

In a previous post, I’m sure I explained why a diet isn’t a permanent solution. In fact, losing weight is secondary! The real goal is to make changes to your eating habits and activity level until they become a lifestyle. For example, take avocado, such a healthy food. It seems like a no-brainer to include it in your diet, right? Well, I don’t like avocados! But since I understand the benefits of this amazing fruit, I’m training my taste buds and slowly adding it to my meals. Now I can eat a quarter of an avocado without any problem. This way, you’re learning new choices that are good for you while letting go of the ones that aren’t.

Wait a second… all this talk and not a single mention of Cheat Day. Let’s dive into that now. A Cheat Day is simply a day when you indulge in foods that are outside your regular diet.

The question is… How important is it?  Do we need it at all? Can it work for everybody?

First, who is it for? It’s for people who can use it as a reward system. For example, if you hit your 10-pound goal this month, you get to enjoy a cheat day with up to three slices (slices, not pies!) of your favorite pizza. If that’s something you can look forward to with excitement, then a Cheat Day of Pizza is perfect for you.

Can it be any kind of food? Let me give an example. I plan to schedule a Cheat Day with the same 10-pound goal, and my cheat food is donuts. WRONG! That’s not a good choice. Why? Because donuts were the junk food that pushed me over the edge, like drugs to a junkie, booze to an alcoholic, or cigarettes to a smoker. Plus, donuts are ranked among the worst foods on the planet. Unlike pizza, the toll on your body is just too high.

Not everyone needs or benefits from a cheat day. If you don’t miss foods that aren’t part of your diet and feel better sticking to healthier choices, just keep it up and move forward.

Ok, to finish this post, I will include something that I saw online in more than one place.  The 5 Rules of a Cheat Day.

cheat-day

To be honest, I don’t like #4.  I will stay with Cheat Days for very special occasions. Or better yet, if you don’t need a Cheat Day, better.

I will see you on the next post.

It’s not what you KNOW… It’s what you can PROVE in Court!

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isnotwhatyouknow

No matter how much fiction a movie contains, there’s always a chance to pick up real-life lessons or useful insights that teach valuable things about life. And if the iconic phrase at the top of this post doesn’t ring a bell, it’s from the movie “Law Abiding Citizen”.

In this movie, the main character is determined to see two criminals convicted for killing his wife and young daughter. The DA, personally handling the case, strikes a deal: the full penalty for one of the accused and a third-degree charge for the other. Meaning death row for one and at most five years for the other. Clyde (Gerard Butler), heartbroken and tearful, pleads for the chance to testify and convince the jury of what he witnessed. The DA warns him of the risks and insists this outcome is a victory. Clyde disagrees and keeps fighting to bring justice to both offenders. That’s when the DA delivers the memorable line: “It’s not what you know… it’s what you can prove in court!”

Enough about the movie! If you want to see more and find out what that phrase did to Clyde, go watch it. Now, let’s talk about how this relates to our weight loss goals.

I have a friend who is obese, like me, and finds losing weight very difficult, just as I do. He’s quite negative about fitness because he believes that for people like us, losing weight is far too hard and, more importantly, even if we manage to shed some pounds, we’ll soon gain it all back; possibly with extra weight on top of what we started. Although it’s a pessimistic way of thinking, I can’t help but see some truth in his opinion.

The fitness industry is living proof that my friend has a point. How many people do you know who start a diet to reach a goal, only for the pounds to return once the goal is met? As my friend noted, sometimes they come back with a vengeance.

What can we do?  Are we doomed to this vicious cycle of losing weight and gain it all back again and again?

Here I have an idea that can be useful to people like us.  And let me start by rephrasing our famous header:

IT’S NOT THE POUNDS THAT YOU LOSE, IT’S THE WEIGHT THAT YOU KEEP!

With that being said, let me tell you that it will be better to lose 10 pounds and keep them off that losing 20 pounds and gain them back in a couple of months.

Here’s the idea: imagine you lose 15 pounds in a month, no small feat, and now you’re at 200 pounds. Give yourself a couple of weeks to adjust to this new weight. During this time, keep a close eye on your 200 pounds, and if you notice a two-pound gain, take action to lose it and get back to your new base weight of 200 pounds.

I truly believe that after two weeks of fine-tuning, you’ll be ready to set, achieve, and maintain another weight loss goal.

Good Luck!

Spot Reduction? No, there is no such thing!

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spotreduction

You might not be familiar with the term “spot reduction,” but I’m sure plenty of people still believe it’s possible, even today. Maybe even you!

Spot reduction is a fitness myth claiming that exercising a specific area can reduce fat in just that part of the body. For example, if someone has belly fat, they might believe doing lots of crunches will target and burn fat in that area. This idea was hugely popular in the fitness industry during the 80s, so much so that many industry icons, built part of their fame by promoting the spot reduction myth.

tonylittle

Tony Little, remember him? The fitness celebrity who called himself “America’s Best Trainer” was famous for promoting spot reduction workouts. His program, “Target Training,” was a massive hit. I even had the tapes. What can I say… back in the 80s, the theory seemed perfectly logical.

You’re probably wondering two things: First, if spot reduction is a myth, why are crunches still recommended? And second, if spot reduction isn’t real, then how do you actually lose fat?

To answer the first and part of the second question, crunches are still a great exercise for building strong abs. If your goal is to have washboard abs in the future, you’ll need to strengthen your abdominal muscles and reduce body fat, so those muscles become visible. That’s why crunches remain a solid choice. Just remember, there’s a right and wrong way to do them, so be sure to research proper form to avoid injury.

For our second question, fat is reduced evenly across the body through a combination of exercise, a proper diet, and adequate rest. As simple and amazing as it may sound, that’s the winning formula. Here at TheHetaBlog, we’ll be talking about this a lot.

Now, please, pay attention (especially if you are very fat or obese):
DO NOT, let me say that again, DO NOT START A HEAVY WORKOUT TRAINING WITHOUT MEDICAL SUPERVISION. This is your life we are talking about.  Do the right thing and check your condition first and choose your training later.  If you are too out of shape, probably it will be something simple like walking, but let’s someone who understand the condition of your body do the call.

So, there you have it! You can’t lose fat in just one spot, just like you can’t lower the water level from only one corner of a pool by scooping water out there. The water level will drop across the whole pool, just like fat loss happens throughout your entire body.

Now that you know, the next time that you see someone talking about “spot reduction” or just saying something like “I got these exercises that will take away the fat from insert spot here“, do that person a favor and teach him.

Or better yet… Say to look for the answer here at     http://www.thehetablog.com        🙂

Ok, I screw up… Now what?

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Haagen-Dazs-Logo

I have to admit it, I was feeling low and gave in to temptation.    😦
Knowing that ice cream is packed with sugar, it’s a tough setback for a diet like the Ketogenic Diet, especially at the start.

The first question is, “What do you do?” and the answer is simple… YOU STOP! And don’t say it’s obvious, because for people like us, it’s not. It wasn’t logic that led you to break your diet, so why assume it will be logic that gets you back on track?

It’s pretty common to feel guilty after indulging in the forbidden fruit, uh, I mean, food. Just as common is the “What the hell, I’ll start again tomorrow” mindset. Avoid falling into that trap. When something goes wrong, don’t make it worse; learn from the experience and move forward.  If you notice your car has a flat tire before heading to the office, what do you do? You fix the tire and get on your way! You don’t pull out a knife, and slash the other three tires, right? But that’s essentially what you’re doing when you eat something you weren’t supposed to and decide to ruin the rest of the day.

Wait a minute! What about the learning part? Pay attention to the things that tripped you up. You were feeling a bit down (defenses low), and you walked right past that place selling your favorite “sin food.” Next thing you know, you’re stuffing your face. So, if I’m feeling down, I won’t go there, or I won’t go there alone. This is just a small example. You’ve got the key to your own control, use it!

Don’t feel bad for breaking your diet; feel good about the lesson you learned. However, in the case of Keto, breaking the diet with sugary foods can have significant consequences. The first is that you’ll fall out of Ketosis, and it might take a few days to get back on track.

That’s tough news, but I want to let you know that I have a plan to bounce back quickly. Stay tuned for more details in the next post!   🙂

Supermarket list for Keto

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ketosuper

Ok, it’s time to get ready!  We must visit the Supermarket and get our food. I know that you are wondering what to get. Well, we know that we must get food for our Macro groups.  So let me break it down in that same order, by Macros:

FATS

Avocado
Nuts (Macadamia, Pecans, Brazil Nut)
Butter (look for grass-fed cows)
Olive Oil
Cheese (Fatty type)
Coconut Oil

PROTEIN

Chicken
Beef
Salmon
Sardines
Tuna
Eggs
Bacon

CARBS

Cauliflower
Broccoli
Spinach
Kale

And what to DRINK?

Coffe
Tea
Lots of WATER!

While we want to get creative with all these ingredients.  There are a couple of rules that if you follow the process will be a lot better.

  1. Salad First!   A Salad is something that can’t miss your new eating plan.  In fact, I want it to be that it should be the first thing to it. And no, I am not contradicting myself since I know that salad is part of the Carbs group, but this is the difference between empty carbs and healthy dense food as your carbs, quite a difference. We can use Olive Oil as dressing and get our carbs more aligned with our Fat goals.
  2. Fatty Protein better than lean protein:  Don’t trim your steak, cook it with its natural fat and even at a little of butter to it.  In Keto, protein shouldn’t be a lot, but protein with fat is adding to the hardest part of this diet protocol, that is “Eat Enough Fat”.
  3. Be sure to add the fatty part of your meal.  I didn’t like Avocados, but now that I see how this superfood can add up to any diet, it is part of my eating plan.  So, if you are even eating salad from a restaurant, ask if they can add Avocado. That will be a great PLUS.

Well, the starting point is coming (the 20th) so get that food ready, go to your preferred Supermarket and get all your food, you are starting Keto en just 5 days!!!

Body Fat with a Weight Scale

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In the last post we decided that to monitor our progress we will concentrate on Fat.
And while we also said that BMI (Body Mass Index) could be a way to measure, I don’t think that BMI should be the method of choice nowadays.  BMI is good when you don’t have a smart scale around and you are not very muscular. 

If you want my opinion, I would skip BMI altogether and go right into BFP (Body Fat Percentage) as for us in this Blog, fat is the name of the game.

So, let us focus in getting a good Weight Scale (Smart Weight Scale). One that can compute Body Fat Percentage for us.

A Smart Weight Scale is not too different in appearance to any digital scale that only compute weight. Of course, after getting the results, the similarity ends. 

Here is a photo of the one that I am using now.  I believe it was like 25 dollars at Amazon. So is not like getting a proper device will break the bank for you. 

Now, in any modern digital weight scale, you will expect at least the following:
1) More than just Weight and BMI, again we won’t settle for less than a weight scale with Body Fat readings. Some scales can even split Fat in subcutaneous (under the skin) and the visceral fat (around the organs). In case you are wondering, having excess of visceral fat is worst. 
2) Phone (and sometimes smartwatch) App to track your data. You will pair your scale with your phone and every time you step into your scale, your data will be transferred automatically. 
3) Profiles is a desired feature if the weight scale is shared and there are other family members following your new healthy trend of tracking your weight and fat percentage. 

As I am not recommending any brand or model of weight scale, go online and see a couple of showdown videos to help your selection. Use a prompt like “Best Smart Scales of 2025” or something similar and start reviewing! 

Maybe some of you are asking yourself, what is the deal with this BFP?  I already got a good scale that measures weigh and BMI, why should I change to BFP?  After all most of doctors still rely on BMI on patients’ assessments. 

Yes, that is true. There are a lot of physicians that still use BMI for weight diagnostic, but this number is going down each year. Specially, after 2023 that the American Medical Association (AMA) redefined the limitations of BMI as a sole indicator for assessing weight and obesity risks. 

Ok, now to close this post, I will give you a practical example that will let you see why “BFP > BMI”.  

Here I got a photo (very old photo) that we will use to show our point. 
Look at the two subjects in the photo.

comparing

Although the one on the right is 4″ taller than me, consider the following data:

AGE:              53   –     52
WEIGHT:       274   – 229
HEIGHT:       5′ 9″   – 6′ 1″
BODY FAT:    49.6  –   19
WAISTLINE:  52”  –    34″
PANTS SIZE:  42  –    34″

BMI values =   40.5 – 30.2     to BMI, BOTH SUBJECTS ARE OBESE!!!

 

BUT if we go the BFP route, we see that in my case, half of my body is fat and in the subject of the right is less than 20% and that is why these two are so different at plain sight. 

Again, remember that the reason for this lack of precision on BMI is because it disregards entirely muscle mass. 

So let us get a good Smart Weight Scale that calculates BFP!

Just how fat are we?

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If someone asks you this question: How Fat are you?  What would be your answer?
I am a few pounds overweight or slightly over my average weight or you dodge the question entirely and you answer with “I will start a diet next week”?

There is a problem giving sidestep replies like those above. They are all related to a value that is unknown and unclassified, except for the last one that is not even an answer. Now, here at THB (The Heta Blog) we will user something that works for everybody and I am not talking just about pounds. 

The thing is, when you see an overweight or obese person, what you are looking at is Fat or Excess Fat to be more specific. If you don’t understand, let me show you something

fat-v-muscle

Here you see five pounds of Fat and Muscle. Maybe by just looking at this picture you understand my point. Fat takes a lot more space than Muscle. That’s why sometimes you can see two men with the same weight but with distinct size of clothes.

Again, the important indicator for us to measure our fitness level is going to be BFP (Body Fat Percentage). In other words, how much of our body is fat.

Now the Big Question… How do we measure our BFP?

To measure BFP we have the following options:

1) DEXA Scan: A big machine that uses small emissions of X-ray to give us our body composition. This is the most accurate method but is also the most expensive. A session to determine your BFP would cost around $300.

2) Hydrostatic Weighing: In this method you are submerged into a water tank and the machine will measure your body fat. The logic behind this method is that being bone and muscle denser than water, a body with substantial amounts of body fat will be lighter. Hydrostatic Weighing is accurate and not so expensive as Dexa Scan but is not as available.

3) Skin Fold Caliper: This is a very popular method in gyms but since the device is not expensive you can get your own. Results are as accurate as your measuring skills. The idea is to pinch the skin at certain spots and measure with the tool. After that you will check the values with a conversion table that will give you the resulting BFP.

4) Bioelectric Impedance Analysis: This is the method used by many Weight Scales. Using a small electric current flow and measuring the electrical impedance (resistance) on the body you can get a relatively accurate value of your BFP.

 5) BMI (Body Mass Index): Well, this is not really a true method to measure BF, but in overweight and obese people it can sometimes be as accurate as the Bioelectric Impedance Analysis. The parameters needed for the formula are Height and Weight. Strangely enough, BMI is still the number one method for assessing body composition and there are scales that only have BMI.

Out of all five methods, we will be using 4 and 5.

Now, to end today’s post, let’s get our BMI right now!
I know that my current weight is 320 pounds and that I am 5′ 9″.

For our test, we will use a BMI calculator from The US Department of Health & Human Services 

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/calculate-your-bmi

I went to the site, and using “Standard” System, I entered height and weight and clicked on “Calculate Your BMI”.

Well, there you have it folks! According to the resulting table, having a BMI above 30 will place you in the obese category. In my case, with a BMI of 47.3 that is way over plain obese. So just doing the effort to get out of this category will be a big task for me.

On our next post, we will learn how to use a Bioelectric Impedance Analysis Weight Scale and compare results.

See you in the next Post!    🙂