t’s easy to find weight loss tips on the internet. There is no shortage of extreme diet and exercise plans that will help you lose weight fast. We’ve found these are usually more suited to bodybuilders and figure competitors or athletes who need to drop a weight class, not your everyday Joe or Jane.
We know there are many of you who want to lose weight in a way that will still let you eat the foods you love and won’t have you in the gym from dusk till dawn. So we’ve put together a list of tips for losing weight that is more sustainable for long term weight loss and won’t leave you tired and hangry!
#1. Don’t make foods off-limits
When you make food off-limits and tell yourself you can’t or won’t eat it, it suddenly makes that food become much more appealing. Suddenly you can’t stop thinking about that food and it’s all you want to eat. This puts unnecessary pressure on you and will lead to feelings of guilt and failure if you give in.
Instead, allow yourself permission to enjoy the foods you love a little bit at a time. Moderation and mindfulness is the key. One piece of chocolate because you really want it is okay. The whole block of chocolate because it’s there? Not so much.
#2. Make one meal healthier at a time
Often the reason that extreme diet plans don’t succeed is because it asks you to overhaul your diet all at once overnight. If you aren’t used to all the preparation or foods involved in the diet then it can be easy to give up and say it’s too much hard work.
It’s a lot easier to start with just one meal. Ask yourself which meal will have the biggest impact if you change it. Do you usually skip breakfast? Start by aiming to eat breakfast every day. Is lunch a pie from the bakery next to work? Make it your goal to prepare lunch for the next day before you go to bed. A great lunch tip is to make extra portions at dinner time and use leftovers for lunch.
Once you are consistently having breakfast every day or eating a healthier lunch, look for the next meal you can change. Small changes add up over time and are more sustainable than drastic changes.
#3. Not every break needs to be a snack break
It becomes routine to eat at every break time. Morning tea or afternoon tea time rolls around and you’re not actually hungry but you packed a snack, or everyone else is eating, so you eat something anyway. If you’re not feeling hungry at break time it’s perfectly okay to just grab a drink of water and go for a quick walk.
You may find you end up hungry half an hour later but you should be able to make it until lunchtime. It’s not necessary to eat every 2-3 hours. Some people do well eating small meals every 2-3 hours and some people have an easier time losing weight eating only 3 meals a day. But that’s a whole other article…
#4. Muscle burns more calories than fat
If you aren’t already incorporating strength training into your exercise program, start now. Cardio is usually the first go to form of exercise to lose weight, but strength training actually helps you build lean muscle which will increase your metabolism and ability to burn calories.
Strength training can be quite daunting if you haven’t done it before, so it may be worthwhile getting a couple of personal training sessions to learn the basics. Bootcamps and group classes are also a great way to learn strength training exercises.
#5. Set performance goals
A common goal for weight loss is “to get that summer body”. It can be hard to analyse your performance based on how you think you look or the number on the scale. Body weight can fluctuate from day to day, especially for women depending on where they are in their cycle. It can also be frustrating if you don’t look the way you think you would once you’ve hit a certain weight.
Setting performance goals based on strength or conditioning lets you track your progress and show you how much your fitness and strength has improved. You might set a goal to run 5km without walking or within a certain time. Or it might be to squat/bench/deadlift a certain weight. It’s a good idea to keep a workout journal to record improvements you make. It makes for great motivation when you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere. Just look back to day one and see how far you’ve come!
What is ATP Science Cort Rx?
ATP Science Cort Rx is a product designed to help the body deal with stress. It contains a combination of herbs with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, immune-modulating and liver-protective properties. Cort Rx assists the body to return to normal after stress regardless of if the stress is anxiety or fatigue. This means when you are anxious Cort Rx will calm you down but when you are down and fatigued Cort Rx will help to pick you up. Cort Rx achieves this by working directly with the HPA axis and adrenal gland to help regulate the stress response and give the adrenals a break. Cort RX also works by reducing stress on the body in the form of inflammation, immune dysfunction, oxidative stress and toxic exposure. with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immune-modulating and liver-protective herbs.
How do I use ATP Science Cort Rx?
There are many ways to use Cort Rx since it can be used for many different purposes. There are a variety of different dosing and timing strategies for this. Cort Rx can be used short-term with an aggressive protocol for inflammation, toxicity, immune challenge or stress; and Cort Rx can be used in the long term to address chronic issues such as adrenal maladaptation or adrenal fatigue.
How should I feel on ATP Science Cort Rx?
There is no one answer to this question. How you feel when using Cort Rx depends on you. We are all unique individuals and may react differently to the herbal ingredients in Cort RX due to genetic variances in pharmacodynamics. It also depends on what stage of HPA dysfunction you are in and what other changes you may have made to your lifestyle.The brain picks up on stress triggers and sends a message to the adrenal gland to start a stress response. There are 2 parts to the adrenal gland. 1. The nervous part (the adrenal medulla) triggers our nervous response to stress to keep us alert and awake. 2. The hormonal part (adrenal cortex) and that releases hormones to switch off our nervous response to stress. This regulates our sleep and wake cycles and creates other hormones for recovery and repair.Typically we don’t exhaust the nervous response to stress but the adrenal cortex can become unable to regulate the nervous responses to stress. This means our body can’t switch off the stress axis and stress triggers. So it is the hormonal part, the adrenal cortex, we need to treat to help restore adrenal function and provide balance.To understand how Cort Rx works it is important to understand how “adaptogens” work. Adaptogens help you to adapt to stress no matter the direction of change. This means they will try to bring you back to the middle and away from the extreme ends.Adaptogens work by
Reducing stress signals in the first place to take the burden off the adrenals.
Regulating the nervous response to stress. If down they will pick you up but if the nervous part is too intense they will slow it down.
Supporting the adrenal cortex to restore hormonal balance
This means they will keep you in the middle ground and away from the extreme buzz associated with anxiety and panic by reducing your stress response to stimulants, pain, inflammation, worry and fear.If you are running on nervous energy and the only thing keeping you on the go is stress, stimulants, anxiety, nerves and worry etc. Then adaptogens will force you to slow down and give a chance for you and your adrenal cortex to recover.If you combine adaptogens with stimulants such as pre-workouts, they will reduce the degree of stimulation and keep you in a safer zone.If you suddenly stop stimulants, caffeine, toxicity etc. and use adaptogens you may go through a phase of conservation while restoring adrenal cortex integrity before you really feel the next level of improvements. If you have stopped taking stimulants and begun using Cort Rx but don’t notice improvements right away, this could be why.If you are in the early phases of adrenal hyper-reactivity they will reduce the nervous energy and make your energy usage more efficient with improved sleep-wake cycles. This will help you be wide awake all day and have a nice deep sleep at night.If you are in the later stages of adrenal exhaustion then it will actually help to reduce the nervous energy while restoring the adrenal cortex hormonal control. Once the adrenal cortex is restored you will have an abundance of energy during the day and deep refreshing sleeps at night. However, in the very short term, you may feel more fatigued without the nervous energy and taking adaptogens during the day may make you feel tired. If this is the case just use Cort Rx at night to support deep refreshing sleep and allow the adrenal to work all day and rest at night.
Chronic protocols
Which stage of adrenal dysfunction are you?NormalCortisol secretion in the morning blocks sleep chemicals to wake you up so you couldn’t possibly roll over and go back to sleep now that you are awake; while inhibiting inflammation relieving aches and pains, sinus, hay fever and rashes. As evening comes, cortisol drops dramatically and sleep chemicals rise so you are forced into a nice deep sleep. While sleeping cortisol drops extremely low and the immune system and other regenerative and anabolic systems fire up to grow, repair and generally clean up.Cort RX – 1 capsule 3 times daily with meals.
Acute stress (figure 2.)
Cortisol spikes when needed throughout the day to help overcome stressors before returning to normal.Cort Rx – take 1 capsule 3 times daily with meals
Chronic stress (figure 3.)
Exaggerated and prolonged cortisol spike. Start waking up with high cortisol and it spikes from there and never really drops enough all day and night for chronic elevated cortisol exposure. Nervous energy all day and restless, unrefreshing, light sleep.Cort Rx – take 1 capsule 3 times daily with meals.
Hyper-reactive (figure 4.)
Born pre-wired, acquired acute (PTSD) or chronic stress. Fibromyalgia, Insomnia, depression borne from anxiety. Due to cortisol resistance, you have learnt to release extra cortisol in response to stress and subsequently an exaggerated stress response. Referred to as melancholic depression in literature and responds to serotonin preserving antidepressantsConstant excessive exposure leads to cortisol resistance and low levels now fail to register so the body pumps out more and more. This causes a vicious cycle that results in a phase of conservation or adrenal fatigue.Cort Rx – take 1 capsule 3 times daily
Conservation (figure 5.)
Fibromyalgia / Chronic fatigue syndrome, shift workers, mums, acquired by progressing through the stages of HPA maladaptation. Auto-immune, excessive inflammation, allergies, fatigue and pain.Not enough to get up and going but too much to get a good night’s sleep. Light sleep and seem more awake before bed than when you rose. Wake unrefreshed. Need stimulants to get going and only temporary. Usually sensitive to glare, thirsty all the time but can’t hold water so need to urinate constantly, crave salt and/or sugarsWakes with pain that gradually leavesChronic inflammation leads to all age-related disordersThe conservation phase can also manifest as bizarre cortisol patterns that reflect poor sleeping patterns and adaptations to lifestyle in shift workers, mums, and hospitality and security workers.Cort Rx – take 2 capsules with evening meal and another 2 capsules before bed. Drop dose to 2 capsules with evening meal as a maintenance dose after 1 week.
Hypo reactive (adrenal fatigue) (figure 6.)
Born congenital defect, autoimmune, exhaustion, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Hypersomnia, pain, inflammation, depression is borne from apathy and fatigue with low cortisol and excessive serotonin activity. Referred to as atypical depression in literature and doesn’t respond to serotonin preserving antidepressants well.Cort Rx – take 2 capsules with evening meal and 2 capsules before bed.The reality is that most of us are actually living in the conservation phase and using stimulants and sedatives to influence us into hyper-reactive, push on and work, or hypo-reactive, to crash and sleep. You may also notice how easy it may be for someone to hover between different types of depression and ultimately style of treatment. Adjust dosing strategies as you move through the stages on your journey to good health “normal”.
Acute protocols
Anti-inflammatory – pain, injury, bruising, trauma, DOMS, Auto-immune
Take 2 capsules 3 to 6 times daily for 72 hours and then reduce dose to 1 capsule 3 to 6 times daily for next 48 hours and then drop to 1 capsule 3 times daily once acute pain and inflammation have reduced.
Toxicity – toxic exposure, alcohol, recreational drugs, hangover etc.
Take 2 capsules 3 times daily with meals and another 2 capsules before bed. You may maintain this dose for 2 to 4 weeks before reducing it to 1 capsule 3 times daily as a maintenance dose.
Infection – colds/flu, trauma sites
Take 2 capsules 4 times daily for 3 days and then reduce to 1 capsule 4 times daily for next 3 days and then reduce to 1 capsule twice daily with meals as a maintenance dose.
Allergy – hay fever, sinus, rashes, itchy eyes, membranes and skin.
(Not suitable if allergic to Cort Rx ingredients)Take 2 capsules 4 times daily
Insomnia – poor onset and/or poor sleep maintenance and/or poor sleep quality
Take 2 capsules with evening meal and another 2 capsules before bed. Reduce the dose to 2 capsules after a few days for a maintenance dose.Buy your ATP Science products from Sportsfuel Supplements. We ship anywhere in New Zealand for free!Source: https://atpscience.com/strategies-for-using-cort-rx/
You may have heard of meal prepping before, or you may think that it is something reserved for in season bodybuilders. We’ve got 8 tips to help you plan your meal prep for weight loss success.
Meet Valen Van Zyl, the hottest 5 foot inch fitness athlete Model from Hamilton, New Zealand who won 2nd place at the NZIFBB. Check out her inspiring story and body building journey only here on Sportsfuel!
We love it when people start working on their bodies and their health. People who decide to lose weight are often surprised at just how quickly they start seeing results. The first few kilos drop pretty quickly and it seems like smooth sailing to a slim waist and the body you’ve always wanted. Unfortunately and, almost inevitably, most find they hit a plateau at some point during their efforts. It’s incredibly demoralising to see all of that progress stop suddenly - breaking through a plateau is one of the most difficult things you can struggle with on the road to achieving your goal body both mentally and physically.
Getting past the weight loss plateau
If you have struggled with weight before and tried to shed the pounds through exercise and healthy eating then it’s likely you’ve noticed the point where progress slows down for you. More often than not it’s just losing those last few kilos where you find that you struggle. Follow some of our tips to getting past your weight loss plateau and see the results that you’ve always wanted.
Start a new workout regime
Your muscles get accustomed to the same movements and the same routines week after week - so what could be better than shocking them back into overdrive with something new? If you have one, talk to your personal trainer about a new workout schedule or find new exercises for each of the muscle groups that you have been working on. Swap out running for skipping or rowing or take up a new activity at the gym like boxing. Make sure you keep up your protein supplement intake like ON Whey Gold Standard for better muscle recovery and growth as well; nothing burns calories faster than muscle!
Change your diet, drink more water
Consider a change in diet and reassess your intake needs. One of the main reasons that weight loss slows or stops is because people stick with a diet plan for far too long. You might need a lower calorie intake, less carbohydrates or more fibre. If you’re using a smartphone or computer app to count calories, it might be as simple as entering your new metrics to determine what your new intake should really be.Also remember just how important it is to keep your water intake high. Cut out the sodas and juice completely if you have to - you’ll be surprised at how little you miss them within a week or two - and drink more water. It will flush sodium out of your body and you’ll find yourself eating less because of it.
Consider a fat burner
Fat burners like Xenadrine Ripped offer proven results to those working with a calorie-deficient diet and workout regime. It won’t make you lose weight magically while you sit around on the couch, but if you’re working out every week, spending some quality time doing cardio and watching your diet then it can help give you an extra edge.It IS possible to break through your weight loss plateau – just follow these tips, stay focused, and you’ll soon have that body you’ve been wanting to show off at the beach this summer.
