Is it all about the summer body?
The science of food addiction and the science of time taking.
Written by AmyRedfern.
15.06.14
It's June 15th 2014 and your preparation for your summer body is probably being drowned in the many crates of beer and bottles of wine, as well as parasol sheltered barbeques, in an attempt to savour what little and precious sunshine has appeared in the ‘summer’ months this year.
And not to forget, celebrations during the world cup of course... come on England!
Your motivation from January 1st, (which if you had forgotten in the blur of time - was over 5 months ago) - scary! has ebbed away and you are now at a crossroads. The media is crazy for summer bodies, retailers are promoting their summer collections and perfumes, and you feel left out.
There is still time! This is no time to give up, this is the time to shine! In all our pale-skinned, factor 50 glory!
As a Personal Trainer, I can tell you that time is still time, there's still 7 days, there's still 1 hour, it is never too late to gain the body you have always wanted.
Health is a process over time. Fitness is a process over time, even I improve all the time, every piece of food, every workout, every time I sleep, I am improving. I understand that for some people making time can be so difficult, a 1 hour workout as easy as it sounds, is 4% of your day, but do people consider how long it psychologically takes to prepare for it, how long it takes to get to the gym, and not forgetting how long it can take to wash all that hard-worked liquid awesome (aka sweat) off!
I will be posting quick workouts in the future, look out for them!
So what if I told you, it isn't all about the summer body?
What if I even encouraged you to take your time? Enjoy the world cup with a handful of Doritos in one hand, a glass of wine in the other and a heart full of disappointment as England miss out on the world cup title again?
For everyone, summer bodies or even the concept of a better body is going to be completely different. I have a few encouraging tips that could help you establish exactly the first steps that YOU should be taking in order to begin to gain the body you want, not just for summer but all year round. In two similar analogies - A dog is for life and not just for Christmas, a body is for life and not just for summer!
But firstly a little explanation as to why it's just that difficult to stop eating so badly -
in reference to addiction, and more specifically food addiction, addiction is also a process over time. It is not only psychological but also physical, which is why when quitting a tobacco addiction or any addiction at all can be so challenging...
Obviously we eat for a number of reasons, mostly it's to survive, but stress, peers, age and even personality can seriously enhance our likelihoods of becoming addicted.
Our bodies natural response to food is firstly through our senses, we may SEE the food and immediately forget everything we know because it SMELL so so so good, we can HEAR our stomachs rumbling and we FEEL like if we just TASTED it, the world would be a better place and there would be no wars and oh my goodness we’ve already eaten every last bite!
This is all cravings. Nothing to do with physical need and more to do with our body's desire, cravings can suddenly appear without us even thinking about anything food related in the first place, it might just be a certain trigger that sends our reward pathway crazy!
Secondly and more importantly, food as a substance can make the body go crazy, our natural and biological response is to crave more...this is due to the pituitary adrenal system, food can neutralise stress and the stress hormone cortisol as well as stimulating the reward pathway. The scary thing is, our bodies actually find more pleasure in junk food than they would from natural sources!
Ever heard of smokers putting on weight whilst trying to quit? Smokers tend to replace tobacco with food, once again relating back to that response in your body, our bodies crave that dopamine release, so we replace it with something equally as rewarding and equally as dangerous.
Because we tend to reward the body with food, the body suffers a pleasure deficit when it doesn't receive the stimulus, this is to encourage us to eat. However another problem is the fact that the body gets so used to these hits that it stops responding - meaning we need more of that something that made us release the dopamine because it just doesn’t have the same effect anymore, basically we become tolerant.
More to the point and back to the concept of time, can you imagine if you went cold turkey when stopping smoking, it would probably be about 12 hours before you were seriously considering the point of life.
You body needs time, it works like clockwork, so give it time.
Your response to this information may either a) continue to make up for that pleasure deficit by continuing to overeat, overdrink and under exercise, or b) you could respond by doing the opposite, feed that pleasure deficit with other things, natural foods that will increase happiness, exercise, enough sleep to stop your body needing so much caffeine and sugar to function normally!
Did you know the reward pathway also works through social interaction i.e. ‘wow you look fantastic in that dress’ and of course it works through physical exercise, which releases dopamine, adrenaline and a number of other ‘good-feeling’ hormones.
Health and Fitness moreover should be seen as a journey, you should spend your time researching, trying and committing to different ways in order to get to that ultimate goal. Whether that be a 10k run or losing 10 stone, remember pain is only temporary, and remember that you have the power to change, not only that, the only person who can change you, guess who, it's you!
TRAP – my own made up acronym on how to combat summertime sadness.
Time/ Replace/ Active/ Plan
- Take TIME to let your body adjust to exercise, feed your body with healthy replacements,
its important that you understand that you cant change your life and your
lifestyle in a day. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to completely stop eating
rubbish foods unless they had a serious issue. Why? Because its more than
likely, its all you’ve done all your life and your body is so used to it, it
would have catastrophic effects to just abolish that pleasure source, its
normality in society. I would encourage you to take rubbish food in moderation,
80% healthy and 20% not so healthy. If you really struggle with moderation or
find that you can’t have one piece of chocolate before you’ve had 10 bars, then
I would seriously consider gaining advice from a doctor or physician.
I have a nutrition qualification but I am not a nutritionist, dietician or doctor so please do not take my advice as a rule, I find that this works for my clients and myself, but it wont always work for everyone!
- Start small, REPLACE white carbohydrates for brown ones, and replace
chocolate with fruit or dark chocolate. I combat my own cravings by eating
quest bars (inset) or eating protein cookies/flapjacks or homemade banana
loaf :) I know I couldn’t survive without something sweet.
 |
| The good, the bad and the yummy! |
- Remember to stay ACTIVE, not just physically, but also mentally. Your body is going to want that chocolate, be prepared to actively avoid it. Not only that, actively avoid cues, if you know that going to the pub will only end in disaster for your body then avoid it, if you know you’ll buy a chocolate bar if you go to a certain shop, avoid it!
- PLAN ahead, fit your workouts and food around you. Plan what you are going to eat and why, calculate how many calories you need for you, or if you understand macronutrients then calculate them for your specific needs! Food diaries are fantastic,
I use them as well as ‘myfitnesspal’. Know that when you first start off, you
must take it slowly, 2/3 workouts a week is enough, plenty of rest is ideal.
Happy time-taking!
For further advice or questions please contact me via amyredfernpt@outlook.com.
Catch me (if you can) on twitter @amyredfernpt
