Lessons I learned in 2011/2012 which will help you as well
Ok. While I am sitting here at the starbucks coffee and spending way to much money for coffee and other stuff I thought it is a good time to review my last year of life since my birthday was just a few weeks ago.
By the way thanks for your wishes, mails and calls.
So without further taking about my birthday here are some lessons I learned in 2011/2012 which will help you as well
1. Breakfast is not the most important meal
The german readers who follow my blog know that I recommended you should eat breakfast first thing in the morning. Because in case skipped breakfast (and had no protein after the “long” fast aka “sleep”) it would cause muscle loss. OK guys. The dirty little truth is that I was completely wrong. Not that easy to say but it is true.
But neither is a snack, lunch or dinner the most important meal of day. At the end of the day the total amount of calories is what really counts (assuming you take in at least 40% of your daily calories as protein).
A myth says that your body needs a study supply of amino acids to ensure no muscle loss. What a lot of people don’t know is the fact that protein (at least in real food) is really hard to breakdown (can take up to several hours). That means that the amino acids (breakdown of your protein intake) will flow in your blood stream for several hours. And for people who like to eat big (uuhm = me) we can take up 100g. of “pure” protein in one meal.
Example:
Dinner:
500g. Chicken with veggies and home made tomato sauce = 100g protein from chicken (about 20g protein in 100g chicken).
The breakdown of protein into amino acids can take up from 16 to 24 hours. So in case I wouldn’t eat breakfast tomorrow morning my body could still use the amino acids of the last meal from today.
But Chris how did you realize that this myth is completely wrong? Well I stumbled upon a blog called leangains.com. Which is an amazing blog by the way. I can highly recommend reading the blog post of its founder Martin Berkhan.
For those of you who want hard facts (like me) here are two 2 Studies who will confirm my thesis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19943985
So if you want to get in shape I highly recommand that:
1) Don’t believe everything you read in newspaper or a book. A lot of gurus just tell you what they read somewhere else. Which doesn’t mean that is correct. Always consider nutrition concepts that are backed by science. (sorry diet pills, pineapple diet, quick dirty money diet tricks)
You need to understand how much calories your body really needs and that you can and should eat all macro nutrients (à even those „bad“ carbs ;D).
Try to get the most of your calories out of „real“ food our ancestors could have eaten as well. That means avoid drinking your cals (empty calories, no vitamins, way to much sugar) and focus on meat, veggies and some fruit and fat and you are good to go!
2) Listen to your body! I see a lot of people buying these diet magazinzes and then wonder why they don’t get the same results as the people in the magazines.
First: Everybody is different. If you get great results with something that is told to be not as good as nutrient XY…. screw it! You are responsible for your results. So if you got great success with your method….keep going!!
Second: A lot of before and after pictures are done with a computer and some „nice“ effects. By the way: If for any reasons you thought that I used some fancy pants tricks to pimp up my before and after pictures here is what Mr. T would say:
Third: Stay on your program for at least 8 weeks (better 12 weeks). I see a lot of people (i did the same mistakes) jump from one program to the next and just take what they think should work for them. My hint: Stay with 1 program. Go through it. Track your results and see what happens. Consistency counts!
2. The LITTLE things in Life
The little things in life are awesome and money can’t buy happiness.
I guess here I could write a whole book about that topic and I am sure there are way to much of the books out there.
For people who want to digg a little bit deeper I highly recommend „Eckart Tolle – Living in the now“. When you read the book don’t get confused. It’s normal ;D. Just read it and you see that money can’t buy you happiness.
For example: Do you remember when you bought your iPhone or last new car? Do you remember how excited you were? And now what? Are you still that excited when you turn your iphone or your car on? I don’t think so.
Therefore I highly recommend that you appreciate the simple things in life. For me it’s hanging out with my g-friend, family or friends. We don’t need to talk about special topics. Just hanging out together is awesome.
When I was a little boy (….a long time ago ;D) I didn’t appreciate it as I do today and sharing some time with friends and family always brightens my day.
The same counts for a good piece of meat, a nice glas of red whine, some dark chocolate, an earl gray tea or a freshly brewed coffee. Awesome things.
By the way I love cooking (and hate doin’ the dishes) and love eating good food. So next time someone prepare a nice piece of meat take your time to enjoy it. Often I see people eating mindless and then wondering why they got way to much on their hips.
So when you eat focus on eating only. Switch off your pc, mac or tv and enjoy that tiny little beast (aka meat) on your table.
3. Coaching helps!
Important! I don’t want to convince you that you should buy a coaching from me!!! I just want to tell you that coaching really helped me in the last year (a lot!). Here is why:
Maybe you are surprised to read that I’ve got a coach. And to be honest I pay for it and it is worth every cent.
Although I know a lot about nutrition and a lot about training I want someone to look at my results and outcomes and someone to check if I am doing everything properly. As well I want someone who gives me some advice when I am stuck.
In my opinion a coach is a really good investment and a lot of people should get a good coach who will motivate you (and maybe give you some asskicks). Again: I don’t want to sell you my coaching here!!!
It was just 3 months ago where I needed an extra motivation to achieve a new goal concerning weight and training outcomes. So I contacted several coaches and I found Bojan Kostevski (link: http://www.lift-heavy.com/) is my perfect coach. Because he knows a lot about nutrition, training and motivation and is in expert in intermittent fasting (more about that in a different blog post. In short: Intermittend fasting = skipping meals for faster fat loss and better muscle gains). Bojan outline my diet and training program and supervised everthing I did. Two thumbs up for Bojan. Bojan is also the unkown king of cheesecake mastery ;D
My results will be presented after I have reached my desired outcome ;D.
4. Good Reads
Even though I don’t know how amazon tracks my visits on their website I think they always do a little dance when I go online when I spent 110% of my salary there. In my head I think they sing this song here and do this “chris bought again”-dance:
So if you like to read like I do I can recommend the following books:
(Watch out: I will get a huge amount of commission if you buy any books from the links to amazon. So I can finally buy myself that nice little villa down the river and of course I will do the FIESTA Dance as seen in the video ;D)
1. Mark Sisson’s – Primal Blueprint
An awesome book by one of the leading authorities concerning nutrition, sports and well being in general.
The book is available in english and german as well
I highly recommend his blog as well. Go check it out at marksdailyapple.com
2. The Fat Loss Bible – Anthony Colpo
When I first read the title of the book I thought it would be some crap you can read in the newspaper or fitness magazines. By the way throw them away! Just because you read certain things often enough doesn’t mean that the statements made in these magazines are true i.e. you have to eat 6 meals a day or you have to eat breakfast or you will loose all your muscles.
But back to the book. I got myself the kindle edition and it’s one of the best buys I had for this year. Only $9.99 and the whole stuff is backed up by science and the author takes a look at common research and tells you that not all research is true and what you have to look out for.
3. Rätsel der Kochkunst: Naturwissenschaftlich erklärt
Sorry this book is only available in german. At least as far as I know.
If you into cooking like me and you want to know WHY you have to do certain steps during the cooking process – this is your book!
i.e.
Why do you destroy your souffle when you open up the oven?
Why are egg whites stiffer after beating up when you add some salt?
As well you will learn a lot about certain tricks and the author gives you perfect hints for cooking meat and other tasty stuff
4. Rocky 4
And if you don’t like to read there is no way to miss ROCKY 4. Get yourself the DVD. Watch the training montage and believe me or not but you are as motivated as hell
This movie is THE movie of all time. I guess I already watched the movie over 100times and I still got goose bumps. Pure awesomeness!
OK guys this is it. If you like that post go hit that damn I LIKE button under this post ;D
