Body4Me

Something non-BodyPump related for a change….

I had an interesting chat with a young lady (early 20’s) the other day. Now, this young lady is a bit of a gym nut like me and looks very much the part. Fit, healthy and quite trim.

We were talking about the previous weekend and she mentioned to me how it was her birthday and about the resulting birthday party. She was very proud of the fact that she resisted the temptation to get stuck into the chocolate birthday cake, resorting to only the tiniest of slivers because of all the fat, carbohydrates and of course associated calories.

This is, of course, while they were out partying, drinking many a cocktail and glasses of wine. She even went so far as to comment that she orders her vodka with diet mixers :)

I couldn’t help but think that this young lady, and many other people just like her, have totally forgotten the fact that calories are in pretty much everything we consume, especially alcohol. Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not about to preach to you that alcohol is bad (sure, technically it is, but who cares). After all, i’m an Aussie bloke, and we’re all required to drink a certain amount of beer as part of our national constitution.

What I do want to mention though, is just how many calories we can consume very quickly from a night on the town.

Ok, check this out: There are 7 calories in a gram of alcohol. There are 9 calories in a gram of pure fat! When you take the percentage and typical volume into consideration, you’re looking at roughly 190 calories for a glass of white wine and about 135 calories for a can of normal beer. (BTW, low carb beer only has about 20 less calories….it’s all marketing)

If you work that out, on a reasonable night on the town, a few glasses of wine, a cocktail, maybe a couple of mixers with diet soda, you’re easily talking about a thousand calories here! That’s about half the total daily calorie requirements of a normal female.
That’s probably a lot more than the whole dinner you had before you went out for the night.

So, if you’re struggling to lose weight but still head down to the pub/bar after work for a ‘few quiet ones with the lads’, you may want to reconsider.

Like they always say, everything in moderation. I wouldn’t be too worried about having a slice or two of birthday cake. Just don’t do it every night. Same with the beer or wine or whatever you prefer. The liquids we consume are just as much a part of our diets as the food.

Now, enough preaching from me. Get back to the gym! There’s a Pump class on somewhere…. Get to it :)

**UPDATE (28th January 2008) : Since the original blog article (below), I have had a few people ask me to write more about what is actually involed in the program and how it works. I have posted a review of the program and my experience here . ***

Three weeks into the new year. There is a good chance that for a lot of us, the New Year’s Resolutions are starting to wear a little. If you’re like me a few short years ago and your major goal was to lose some significant weight, but you’re finding it difficult to make a real change, I have some hope.

When I started on my journey, I got a massive kickstart from a nutrition program called Ultra Lite / UltraLite. Now, let me first say that I’m not getting paid to promote the program and I am not associated with them in any way. I am purely a very, very satisfied customer. Ultra Lite helped me lose 20kilograms in 20 weeks. No crash dieting, no meal replacement, no crazy workouts, no horrible or repetitive meals. Just a good change in life style and eating.

Ultra Lite works by you visiting a Nutritionist who will guide you through the whole process. This is a real bonus as regular visits with weigh-ins and measurements will help keep you motivated. For me, the real motivation, however, was seeing results. When you can easily lose 4-5 kilos in the first month, it doesn’t take much to stay motivated.

The system essentially works by severely limiting your carbohydrate intake for the first few months and replacing them with better quality calories from low-fat protein and lots of vegetables. It’s certainly not one of those Atkins style programs where you eat bacon and eggs for breakfast. One breakfast my nutritionist gave me was a beautiful nut and seed based muesli with a little bit of low-fat yoghurt.

The program teaches you how to eat better. Not just by carving out large chunks of foods, but by educating you to make better choices about what to eat and what foods to combine.

Don’t get me wrong though, it’s no magic pill. You still have to exercise to use your excess energy stores and ensure that you don’t lose too much muscle tissue in the process.

However, if you are serious about some significant weight loss and need a fantastic place to start, do give the Ultra Lite program a go.