Is your diet and exercise plan a good fit?
Experts weigh in on what really works when it comes to weight loss and fitness
If you’re still sticking to your New Year’s resolutions, give yourself a pat on the back. While 30 per cent of Canadians make resolutions, only eight per cent actually achieve their goals, according to a recent Ipsos poll. The top resolution? To live a healthier lifestyle. But with all the fad diets and fitness advice out there, it can be tricky to cut through the hype and form an effective plan to shed — and keep off — those extra pounds. The Sunday Province turned to the pros for their advice on diet and exercise strategies that really work in the long term.
start with realistic goals
Before jumping into a new workout regimen, consider how it fits into your busy schedule, says Eli Puterman, assistant professor and health psychologist at the School of Kinesiology at the University of B.C.
Puterman said it’s crucial to start with realistic goals.
For some people, that might be pumping iron five days a week, but for the vast majority, it’s walking, running or sprinting for 20 minutes twice a week, he said.
“In my exercise routines for my participants, I start them at the very low level of the moderate-intensity threshold — 50 to 70 per cent of the maximum heart rate,” Puterman said.
From there, he ramps up their workouts over the next few weeks to the mid-range of the threshold in order to test their limits. If they’re pushed too hard, they’ll be set up for failure, he said.
“We have to remember that not everyone is meant for the highintensity interval training, not everyone is meant for marathon,” Puterman said.
“What we’re meant for is just moving and getting our hearts going.”
Puterman said a good way to get more out of a workout is to make your own mental highlight reel.
“Research has shown that if you can remember what you were liking about (the workout), it will help you stay motivated next time,” he said.
Functional fitness
In a recent survey, 1,500 CanFitPro trainers ranked functional fitness training — which builds and prepares your body for everyday activities and sports — as the most effective exercise trend for 2016.
Chad Benson, director of fitness education for Steve Nash Sports Clubs, said such training involves fullbody, three-dimensional movement designed for “a really good sweat.”
A functional fitness workout might include fat-scorching sets of T-pushups, dumbbell chops and TRX suspension training.
“We want to take activities in the gym and then transfer them to life and sport in a way that prevents us from getting injured,” Benson said.
“It’s really the idea that people come to the gym now for a better quality of life. We’re seeing a real trend switch from esthetics.”
More calories are torched each minute during high-intensity functional fitness training — especially when it’s loaded with kettle bells or Bulgarian bags — than during any other type of activity, Benson said.
Peter Twist, CEO of Twist Sport Conditioning, believes functional training is the key to health, happiness and sustainable weight loss.
It’s like “yoga in motion, so you build strength and agility and balance,” Twist said.
Rather than obsessing over burning calories doing repetitive exercise, Twist said people should seek a coach who focuses on “repairing and building your body so it works like an allterrain vehicle, and you can do whatever you’re passionate about.”
Get socially active
Lone wolf or wolf pack? If you’re the type to falter on your workout program, group fitness could be the trick to keeping you on track.
Keighty Gallagher, founder of Tight Club, recently moved her fitness and lifestyle firm from a 400-square-foot East Vancouver garage to a “Field House” five times the size.
Such growth is a testament to the popularity of group fitness and the “community vibe” Gallagher works so hard to promote.
The club’s personal trainers, yoga teachers and group fitness instructors blast energy into the space with classes such as “Booty Luv,” a popular butt-centric routine designed to enhance agility, strength and balance.
“Being in a group really inspires you to push your limits in a safe way, and it’s a lot more fun,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher suggests finding a workout partner who’s more tricky to let down than an old friend. Try teaming up with a co-worker or boss.
Ingrid Knight-Cohee, director of group fitness for Steve Nash Sports Clubs, said the popularity of group fitness is growing in a big way.
“It’s definitely among the top trends this year,” she said. “Human beings are social creatures and they love gathering in groups and sweating together.”
A big part of its appeal is accountability. Having a scheduled class on a regular basis means adhering to exercise, and that means results, she said.
Knight-Cohee said the club’s group classes are designed to be appropriate for athletes of all levels. Most movements can be intensified or modified on an individual basis.
To keep it interesting, members are “excertained” with “quality, sciencebased programming that’s also got a fun flair to it,” she said.
Members can give anti-gravity yoga or Nash Knockout a try, or feel the rhythm with the drum-based Pound or dance-centric LaBlast workouts.
Knight-Cohee recommends people new to group classes arrive early and speak with the instructor to get the lowdown on the workout.
don’t cut out an entire food group
Cleanses and highly restrictive diets don’t cut it when long-term health and weight loss are the goal, according to dietitians.
“You will bonk out, you will feel deprived, you will eventually cave in and dive into a bag of chips,” said Cristina Sutter, a sport dietitian in private practice in Vancouver.
“To stick with something, you need a plan that’s a little more moderate.”
For example, rather than cutting out carbohydrates completely, skip refined carbs such as white bread and eat moderate portions of wholegrain carbs, such as sprouted-grain bread, steel-cut oatmeal, quinoa and whole wheat pasta, said Sutter.
Low-carbohydrate diets can be problematic, given that carbs in whole grains, fruits and vegetables are the best fuels for exercising, she said.
Sutter said high-protein diets for muscle growth are ineffective because muscles can only process and absorb about 30 grams of protein in a sitting, about the amount in a three-ounce steak.
For a “really happy medium,” Sutter recommends a Mediterranean diet that includes plenty of fish, fruits, vegetables and dairy.
She would like to see people get better at preparing their own meals so they can better control what they put in their bodies.
“It’s a really busy lifestyle for all of us and that’s the one thing that nobody’s really talking about, and it’s fallen by the wayside,” Sutter said.
Vashti Verbowski, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for Dietitians of Canada, is fond of the “80/20 rule,” which means practising healthy eating 80 per cent of the time.
“I think choosing realistic goals is huge, rather than following a drastic diet that cuts out entire food groups,” Verbowski said.
“That often makes it so that people cut themselves off in other ways. They can’t eat at a friend’s house or they can’t go our for dinner.”
According to Health Canada, the diets of adults 19 years and older should consist of 25 to 35 per cent fat, 10 to 30 per cent protein and 45 to 65 per cent carbohydrates.
Verbowski recommends eating more pulses: peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas.
“It’s a good plant protein, very high in fibre and it’s known to lower LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol,” she said. (The United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 “the international year of pulses” to raise awareness of pulses as a primary source of protein.)
“It’s also a low-glycemic-index food. Especially when you’re talking to the fit crowd, they want longlasting energy, and pulses are really good options for that.”
More tried-and-true strategies
Research on people who have lost weight and maintained their weight loss shows the following strategies can help take weight off and keep it off, according to Dietitians of Canada (dietitians.ca/your-health). ▶Eat a healthy breakfast every day. ▶ Pay attention to portion sizes and total calories you’re eating in a day.
▶ Enjoy a healthy diet that includes carbohydrate-rich foods like vegetables and fruits that are low in calories but high in fibre and nutrients. They’ll fill you up and keep you from over-eating.
▶ Get moving and be physically active every day of the week. You’ll burn calories and boost your energy.
▶ Be aware of your eating and activity habits. Track your food choices and your activity level in a journal or online tracker. ▶ Weigh yourself weekly. ▶ Go slow. Healthy weight loss is one to two pounds a week.