C27: Confessions of a Studio Owner: Kitchen Pickers Bigger Knickers
Not long ago, a band entered Compressor Towers with a female lead singer. She arrived fit, healthy and pretty….let me put it like this….you wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers!
One month and an album later, she left pale, lifeless and 20 lbs heavier. She would often knock on the door and ask for Nurofen as she always seemed to have a headache (I have a glass pepper grinder on my desk full of them which I use to grate on my cornflakes.)
To put it bluntly, there’s a lot of sitting around making an album….so she sat and gorged on chocolate for the month whilst watching movies. She entered as a fantasy and left a vision of a belly dancers nightmare!
Talking of weight, the Compressor isn’t as young as he was once and it would be fair to say that my chest had slipped a little. In fact, I would say that I had become very, very large. To give you an idea of how large…..I was lying on my back on my bed….when my wife (who at the time was at a rather unethical angle clock cleaning) stunned me into silence when she declared that she couldn’t see my face. I’ll let you join the dots.
One of the upsides of being a studio manager is that you get time to research things. So I set about researching how and what I should do to lose weight and after about 6 months of research I was stunned what I learned. To put it in simple terms, I lost 50 lbs.
As always the Compressor is here to serve, so if you’re gut has got to the point where you can’t see your willy …then read on.
Here are the Compressors 7 Golden Rules to Fat Burning.
RULE 1: Never allow your daily calorie intake to be less than 80% of total daily energy expenditure (TDEE)
Guess what everyone does to lose weight…..they stop eating!! WRONG. You need to know how many calories you burn every day….this is easy to work out. Did you know that you have a daily calorie rate that you need to operate (called your Basal Metabolic Rate) and this is defined by your lean body mass ie your weight minus your fat. Did you also know that we are completely programmed to hang onto our fat at all costs? If you drop below 80% of your TDEE your body will store the fat and burn the muscle…invoking something called STARVATION MODE. Check your lean body mass once a week on a set of Tanita fat scales (from Boots.) If your LBM is heading South….you have a problem and you’ll bounce back with change!
RULE 2: Never aim to lose more than a pound a week
A gram of fat is 9 cals….making a kilo 9000! The problem is, when you burn fat, your body also burns glycogen…normally on a 50:50 basis. Meaning…you need to burn 18,000 calories to lose a kilo of fat. OMG! No wonder it’s twice as hard to lose weight as it is to put it on. If you follow Rule 1 above, then assume you do a bit of exercise everyday and burn a total of 3000 cals per day. If you eat 2400 you’re on track…..but that’s only a saving of 600 cals a day….or 4200 a week….ie LESS than a pound a week of fat. Take your time….take a year to lose 50 lbs and it will stay off!
RULE 3: Eat 5 to 6 meals a day
Eat small meals every3 hours. It speeds up your metabolism and stops you getting hungry! Simples.
RULE 4: Use exercise to create calorie deficit
If you don’t exercise and your TDEE is 2200 calories a day… you can only reduce your calorie INTAKE by 440 calories a day (20%) to 1760 without breaking the 80% rule. Why not burn an extra 1000 calories doing an hour on a bike? Your TDEE will be 3200….meaning you can eat 2560 calories (ie …800 calories MORE ) and create a higher deficit of 640 calories…and stick to the 80% rule!! Exercise and good eating is a win win!
RULE 5: Ensure your diet comprises 50% complex carbs, 25% protein and 25% fat
Mix it up. Eat Pasta, spuds, brown rice, porridge and wholemeal bread for your carbs
Chicken, egg whites, natural yoghurt and fish for your protein and olive oil for your fat. Complete your day with unlimited veg and salad (but try and eat ROY Green…red, orange, yellow and green veg to get a bit of everything.) Plain chocolate, red wine and a couple of pieces of fruit are your treats.
RULE 6: Drink water
Water helps everything. Drink at least 2 litres a day.
RULE 7: Monitor your progress weekly
Monitor your weight and fat count (and therefore your lean body mass) weekly, same time same place. Remember if you lose LBM, your losing too much weight.
Conclusion:
Your body doesn’t know the difference between a diet and starvation. After millennia of famine and drought our bodies hate to burn fat. Exercise, eat regularly and drink loads of water. Stick to the 80% rule and you’ll find the 6 pack in no time.
TTFN
The Compressor.
