1 Month in, my journey

A month into my weight loss journey.  I know it's difficult to imagine someone into fitness struggling with weight, but I promise you that this fight is more prevalent than you realize. 

I hope that this inspires you to change and become better than you are.  

The Power of Supplementation, performance edition

In my previous post, I discussed how supplementation can help improve your diet & nutrition.  This post highlights more of how supplements can boost your performance.

Most athletes view supplements as a way to improve their performance.  In honesty, I thought that too when I first was driving into the field.  The first supplement that I had ever taken was a form of creatine monohydrate called Cell-tec (or Cel-tec, I don't remember exactly).  In any case, I was supplementing with it largely because my friends were and because it seems that what limited knowledge I had at the time was that it was supposed to get me ripped and huge.

Nevertheless, nothing is what it seems.  I can no longer take creatine without becoming violently ill.  It's a rare side effect associated with it's use.  The moment it hits my stomach I vomit, nearly every time.  Pretty terrible if you ask me.  So I go on, not taking it.

My friends & colleagues now can take it without any adverse effect.  Most of them take it so that they can lift more weight or to put on mass.  I envy them to some degree.  The primary effect of supplementing with creatine is an increase in performance, specifically lifting and sprint performance.  One of the major ways that this is accomplished is by increasing the water in the cells, of which is what binds to creatine at a molecular level.

I mentioned in my previous post BCAAs, or Branched Chain Amino Acids, these are amino acids that are primary metabolized in the muscles rather than going through a chain of events to get there.  My primary reason for use is to preserve as much muscle tissue as I can in a caloric deprived state.  I find that in hyper-dosing (a lot of BCAAs), that I don't experience the same degree of soreness as I would otherwise.

Regardless, some supplements are designed to boost performance.  The ones that I had talked about are some of the best out there.  In my next post, I want to discuss the superpower, Omega 3.  

The power of supplementation, dietary edition

Supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States.  Every day various supplements are taken by Americans looking to improve their health, vitality, and performance.  For this post, I want to discuss with you how supplements can impact your overall health, from a dietary standpoint. 

Dietary supplements are food-based products that are intended to supplement the diet, not replace it.  The way I look at it, supplements either help you regarding your nutrition or regarding your performance.  In my next post, I'll be talking about the performance aspect of supplements. 

Look at your own nutrition.  Let's take a start by wandering off to your fridge and peering inside.  What do you see in your own refrigerator?  Is it mostly styrofoam containers leftover from takeout restaurants?  Is it mostly fresh fruit and vegetables?  Are there matching containers filled with matching foods?  Which is it? Any of those or none of those? 

Regardless of how you answered, odds are your nutrition sucks.  If it's fruits & vegetables & lean proteins (which it should be), you are probably struggling to get all of your calories in.  I know for me, I'm aiming for around 1600 Kcal per day and that's only for weight loss.  To get a healthy 1600 kcal in, it's pretty challenging without supplementation. 

The majority of my own supplementation comes in the form of protein, of which I get around 60g per day from supplements.  Largely because of speed, convenience, and prep time protein supplementation is my go-to so that I may hit my goal of 200g/day of protein.  Plus, imagine how many eggs and chicken you need to eat pretty frequently to get there. 

Additionally, I do two 24 hour fasts per week.  That's dinner to dinner fasting.  Now, it's not ultra strict fasting, because I consume Arbonne Greens Balance and BCAA's with the intent on maintaining as much muscle mass ad I can with losing as much fat mass as I can.  Plus, I'm heavily caffeinated on those days that I fast.  The greens provide fiber, vitamins & minerals, and keep me balanced, while the BCAA's provide the amino acids for my muscles to stay intact without compromise. 

So supplementation is built to improve and add-to your diet.  It's not a replacement, but a boost.  If you exercise regularly, you'll need to have more calories, more protein, and likely more carbs and fats in your diet.  Post what you do supplement in the comments! And, for more information check out my supplement consulting site, http://MartinHubner.arbonne.com/

I heart food

Food, it's what unites us.  It's what we all share and enjoy in company.  It's what keeps us alive.  And it's what we don't understand. 

Nutritionally, food is made up of a combination of protein (pro), fat, and carbohydrate (carb).  However we don't eat nutrition, we eat food.  Food is made up of all nutrients, from vitamins & minerals to macro-nutrients like pro, fat, & carbs. When we eat, we absorb all of these things to put to work in our bodies. 

Eating foods is pretty simple, and finding nutritious foods is also simple.  For example, I'm writing this on Sunday night and what we had for dinner is one of my favorites...grilled turkey breast (over charcoal), sweet potato, broccoli, and we tried these broccoli & cheese tots.  From all of this we get our pro (turkey), fats (butter if added, or from the tots), and carbs from sweet potato and broccoli.  Overall the meal, if you count out the tots, was around 300-500 cal if you account for portion size. 

I love eating like that.  It's healthy, it's tasty, and you don't make yourself feel guilty over any of it.  Plus my kids love it, which is challenging by itself.  They don't care about vitamins and minerals or macros, they care about how it tastes. 

Taste is more important than virtually anything else when it comes to nutrition.  Just because something is healthy, doesn't mean it tastes good.  Just because something tastes good doesn't mean it's healthy.  You need taste and satiety to enjoy the food, without it it's just food. 

Honestly, and the most important part I need to make note of, is that often you need to eat much more than you think you do.  Like what I ate for dinner, I was full pretty quick and only tapped into a small percentage of my total calorie estimation.  Often to fill the void, we supplement. 

Next week, my view on supplementation.  

What the "experts" say?

Fitness & nutrition are some of the most misunderstood topics.  I can be considered an expert at fitness and nutrition due to my experience and education, and in many ways I am.  In other ways, I would consider myself to be a novice.  This would definitely be based off of my experience in training. 

There are many who may be considered experts in fitness & nutrition, and like myself they are in many ways.  However you don't know what you don't know.  And there are many things that these experts get right, and many others that they don't.  One thing to consider is that each person is different, and in many ways we can focus on training and nutrition in the same way. 

Now, we have many people who enter the gym and do their own thing.  You have many who truly know what they're doing, and this is evident based upon the technique, exercise selection, and distribution of exercises, not to mention physique.  You have others who kind of know what they're doing, and fall into a lot of what I had said in the previous sentence, but their routine is identical day-to-day and week-to-week.  There's nothing exceptionally wrong with this approach, it's the comfort routine, but progress will stall after awhile. 

Finally, we have many who for whatever their own reasons choose to attempt to exercise and follow nutrition plans piece-mealed.  Now, some of these are sound, but unless you have a descent understanding of physiology and mechanics, it's not always the best approach.  Often, its wise to pursue some degree of expertise prior to beginning an exercise program and nutrition plan.  And to note, most physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician-assistants (all providers) are likely to have a limited understanding of nutrition and exercise....maybe an undergraduate course or two.  Some of them do, but you'll need to check their credentials and history. 

Overall, it's best that you consult an expert...especially in matters pertaining to fitness & nutrition.  For the overall "plan" you can easily look online (like me!) and get plans built custom for you to achieve your goals.  For the technical parts, it's more challenging.  If you do it remotely, you can always put your phone to good use and film yourself performing something or live-stream it.  Though with much of the technical (form) work, it's best to get private lessons, even if it's only a few. 

Exercise to live, not live to exercise!

Why do you exercise?  Is it something that helps for you to function throughout a day?  Is it something to relieve stress?  What about just feeling good?  Does it do that?

Do you exercise to function in life or does your life function to exercise?  These are basically opposite of each other.  On the one hand you have the sole purpose of being able to do the things that you love better, on the other hand your purpose is entirely to be better at exercise.  Both of them are valid and both of them are real in many people. 

The majority of us exercise to live.  We enjoy things that aren't related to exercise, at least directly.  I enjoy spending time with my family, reading & writing, and many other things unrelated to exercise.  Exercise, to me, is to make my life easier.  Walking up the stairs in the middle of the night to get one of the kids, or doing work around the house, or even teaching my oldest daughter how to box, are why I exercise.  It makes these tasks easier and more enjoyable.  Though the exercise itself may be very unpleasant. 

A minority lives to exercise.  This is a radically different state of mind.  Probably the best example I can give, and it's not really the best, are the case of many CrossFitters...who spend much of the time discussing workouts, doing workouts, and thinking about the next workout.  There's nothing wrong with this state of mind either, but in my opinion, there's more to life than workouts. 

Now, an even smaller minority is paid to exercise.  These individuals can be seen in many forms, even when they're not being directly paid (in the case of collegiate athletes).  Many receive sponsorships of some kind and these individuals can serve as inspiration to those who do not live to exercise. 

So which do you do?  Exercise to live?  Or live to exercise?  Take some time to think about your answer and why you choose to do what you do.  

The wager

On Friday January 26th, I entered a nationwide contest, with a team of 5.  This wager is to win $10,000. 

In selecting the team, I chose teammates that are very familiar with how to exercise and what works best for their bodies.  We all have several pounds to lose and it doesn't hurt us in that.  Our team name is Dad Bod Heroes, which means that all of us are of course....Dads. 

My weigh in was 220lbs.  About what I thought, but nevertheless a moderately depressing number.  This isn't the heaviest I've ever been, but it is far from the best I've felt.  As I write this, over a week later, I'm down below 215 already.  Most of which was a combination of ketosis and intermittent fasting. 

In the next several weeks, I'll be going through how ketosis works and why the "fad" of this is so popular, even though figure athletes and many others have been doing it for awhile.  I'll also be going through intermittent fasting and why that works.  This is not to say that they're the best, but they generally work to reach a goal. 

The main part of my journey lasts 3 months, with a maintenance of 9 months after.  My target is 190 or below, so wish me luck.   Several weeks into my journey I'll share a time lapse of how I look (via mirror selfie...with pants on!).  So you can follow me in the process. 

How can you change the world?

How can you, and I mean YOU, change the world?  How does one person impact the world and leave it for the better?  How do you leave your legacy?

What you can do to leave the world a better place is to step up.  Step up and put some "skin in the game."  Idly talking about how "this person should do this," or "this person should do that," is complete BS.  "This person" is me.  "This person" is who I am and who I want to be.  To change the world, we need to be involved with the world.

This change can be anything.  It can be political or some kind of activism, which is noble.  Or it can be missionary work or volunteering locally, which is also noble.  Regardless of what you do, you need to do something.  Even when you think that the work you put in is not

worth it, think of it as a long term investment. 

Are you mentally and physically able to put yourself into the game, the game of world changers.  You don't have to be Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or even Mother Theresa to change the world.  Your impact may be upon another life, and that life may change someone else's, and someone else's, and so on.  So you see, you don't know when you'll change the world, or how.  But know that you must be involved. 

Stop sitting back and idly watching the world pass you by.  Stop complaining about things that you "have no control over" and get in the game to make an impact on those things.  Put your name in to a voted position, even when you think you have no chance, you never know.  Spend time helping troubled youth, you may not know how you impact their lives.  Help people who have no voice in finding that voice. 

To change the world:

- Stop thinking that you can't do anything.
- Strengthen your body and your mind.
- Be nice
- Look at every situation as an opportunity.
- Do not be afraid. 

Fairly simple, don't you think?  It starts with a step, by you, in a forward direction.  We impact lives, and we change the world.  We do it as a team, as individuals, and as families.  Change the world, one life at a time.