A stunning realization

Every once in awhile I have a stunning realization. It can come from listening to a lecture or reading a book, or even talking to other top trainers in the field.

Today my stunning realization came when I was reading through a forum I have been contributing to for a few months. As I was searching through topics I came across a thread titled weight loss for teens. Because I have trained so many young women I decided I should check it out and see what people where doing to get fit across the country. What i saw shocked me!

As a personal trainer I am always surrounded by people who know health and live health I expect everyone else to know these things too. Boy was I wrong.


A contributer posted what she was eating on a daily basis to try to lose 15 pounds.
It started with a morning meal of kashi cereal, soy milk and an apple. Though seamingly healthy this combination of foods is not going to help anyone lose weight. What she doesnt know is that breakfast is the meal that will determine how your body will handle food for the rest of the day. A high carbohydrate breakfast like cereal with fruit and soy milk can cause your blood sugar to remain high throughout the day. The problem with that is that high blood sugar can cause an insulin spike which will lead to fat GAIN.

Her next meal was slightly better with a salad combined with a fruit and nut bar. The one complaint I would have about this meal, is that it lacks any protein to help build and repair lean muscle mass. Lean muscle mass is one of the most important factors when looking to lose bodyfat.

The last meal she documented was a stir fry. Now I have no problems with stir fry I think they can be very healthy dependent on the ingredients. A stir fry composed of chicken, broccoli and bell peppers is a perfect meal for someone looking to get leaner.

My final complaint about this would be dieters food log is the fact that she doesn't consume enough calories. The sum total of her daily food intake was less than 1000 calories, which may seem like a good idea for fat loss but in actuality will signal to your body that it is being starved and force it to hold onto fat.