Tamara Makar

IFBB Pro Athlete

A calorie is NOT a calorie – Part 1

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Tammy

I would like to talk about the calories here, because a lot of people think that all calories are equal.
For example let’s look at the difference between glucose and fructose. They’re both simple sugars and they both have the same amount of calories, but glucose can be metabolised by all the body’s tissues, while fructose can only be metabolised by the liver.
Fructose can be found in fruits and vegetables, but it is also manufactured in a lab.
Glucose is also called grape sugar or blood sugar and can be found in all major carbohydrates like starch or table sugar. They are both good sources of energy but excess glucose can be fatal to diabetic patients and excess fructose can lead to insulin resistance or non alcoholic liver disease.
Most fat gained from excessive glucose is subcutaneous (under the skin) and is not linked to diabetes or heart disease.
Fructose leads to higher ghrelin levels than glucose. Why it is important you may ask? Because ghrelin is the hormone that’s responsible for your hunger. Glucose decreases food intake.
High fructose sweeteners, soft drinks and corn syrup cause a rise in obesity. High fructose diet (too much sweeteners) promotes insulin intolerance which will cause abdominal fat gain and increased triglyceride.
So a calorie is NOT a calorie here, there’s a difference.

About fat loss and supplements

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Tammy

Let me spare some thoughts on weight loss and supplements. I’ve heard this several times: I want to lose weight,I can’t take supplements. It depends on what supplements we are talking about. Whey protein? Well I believe that you can get away with not taking whey protein. If your main goal is to lose bodyfat then I would say try and stick to real, clean food. Why? Because the main aim of any whey protein is to get digested and absorbed quickly and easily. You see where I’m going with this? If it is easily digested then the body don’t need to put effort into digesting it = it won’t use much energy (calories) to digest it. However when you eat clean food – ie chicken, tuna, turkey etc – your body will burn more energy by just simply digesting the food. So I would say if you need to lose a lot of weight you can stay away from whey protein. Where will you get your protein from you may ask? First of all from your food – that should be the main source. Clean food: eggs, chicken, tuna, fish, red meat, turkey etc The second most important source should be amino acids.
Amino acids are the building blocks for protein. There are 20-22 standard amino acids, 8-10 of which are considered essential. That means you need to supplement these because your body cannot synthesize them. There are around 14 non-essential amino acids and a lot of other metabolites that are derived from these 8 essential amino acids.
Amino acids can be used for energy. When they’re used for energy, they cannot be used for building tissue and performing their other metabolic functions. Ladies, you don’t need to put on too much muscle, but you still need to understand that the more muscles you have the higher your metabolism is, which means you burn more energy even when resting. So some muscles will not only look good on you but will increase your metabolism which also means you will need to eat more, too. Quite handy, isn’t it?
During starvation the body releases amino acids from muscle issue to be used for energy. This also occurs during exercise and when the body runs out of carbs fuel from the diet or from glycogen stored in the muscles and liver. Unless proteins are present in the diet aminos are released, even if the body has fat for fuel.
BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) are used by muscles to supply a limited amount of energy during strenuous exercise. These are isoleucine, valine and leucine. Leucine is depleted the most frequently. Trained person’s muscles use up some amounts of leucine even at rest. Complete proteins are proteins that contain the essential amino acids in amounts that are sufficient for maintenance. Incomplete proteins are usually deficient in one or more of the essential amino acids.
So my advice: regardless of your aim in training (losing weight or putting on muscle) supplementing with amino acids and BCAAs is essential.

About the different diets: Keto, Atkins and Paleo

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Tammy

Women in the locker room constantly keep asking me for diet tips, telling me what they do and what they heard they should do. They’re doing different diets, mostly fad diets. I believe that once you change your lifestyle and eating habits for the better and you start seeing results, you will never look back. However unfortunately many women seem to think that they can have a ‘quick fix’ to lose some weight by a crash diet and then go back to ‘normal’ which unfortunately causes all the weight and fat to come back, too.
In the following few days I will sum up some of the most popular diets, which could be a basis of how you change your eating habits.

The Ketogenic (keto) diet:

This diet is high in fats, low in carbs and moderate in protein. This diet causes the body’s metabolism to shift from glucose to fat utilisation. Ketones are produced by the liver. This diet can improve several health conditions, like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy and even cancer because healthy cells can use fats for energy, however cancer cells cannot so they starve to death. When you eat high carb foods your body produces glucose and insulin. Insulin is responsible to down regulate the glucose levels in the blood stream. Insulin is also responsible for storing fat in the body. If you produce too much insulin, you put on weight – simple.
There are different types of keto diets:

standard keto diet: you eat 20-50 gr of net carbs / day This is the same as the induction phase of Atkins diet.

Targeted keto diet: you eat carbs 30-60 mins before exercise. This is an old approach however you can give it a go because not everyone is the same and what works for one might not work for others and vice versa. But just for the records: you don’t need carbs before your workout.

Targeted keto diet alternative with no extra carbs: the idea of this approach is that your body may not need extra carbs before exercise to perform well. Again, you need to try this approach to see how you feel on it.

Cycling keto diet: what many bodybuilders use. You alternate keto dieting with high carb days – effectively you do carb loading. Use about 50 gr of carbs on the keto days and 300-600 gr on the high days – obviously depending on your needs and bodytypes. This is only for professional and high performing athletes, not for people wanting to lose a bit of weight.

The Atkins diet:

The idea is that when you cut back on carbs your body turns to your fat stores for fuel. The result is that you burn body fat and your body releases a by-product called ketones that your body will use for energy.

This diet starts off as a keto diet in the induction phase. You drastically reduce your carb intake down to 20 gr, you cut out pasta, bread, potato or any starchy carb and dairy, and you only eat certain vegetables (fibres). No alcohol, no caffeine, no nuts, seeds or legumes.

After this comes the ‘ongoing weight loss’ phase when you add back slowly more vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, berries and other fruits and eventually wholegrains.

Then comes the phase when you might be able to add more carbs and foods back into your diet depending on your body’s needs.

Because of the food limitations in this diet, especially at the beginning, you will need to supplement vitamins especially potassium, magnesium and calcium.

The paleo diet:

This diet is based on our ancestors’ diets. Back in the days humans were hunters/gatherers. Then became farmers. So instead of loading up on meat, vegetables and seasonable fruits, we eat bread, pasta and grains. Back in the days grains were not part of our diet. Grains are composed of carbs and turned into glucose to be used for energy. Any glucose that isn’t used for energy will turn to fat. Our modern diet is full with refined food, trans fat and sugar which leads to diseases like: obesity, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s etc. There is a big difference between the fat content and quality of our modern grain fed animals vs grass fed wild animals. Wild meat is remarkably lean, and has relatively low amounts of saturated fats, while supplying significant amount of beneficial Omega-3 fats.

The foods that are OK to eat on a paleo diet are:

Grass fed lean meat, fowl (chicken, turkey, hen, duck, anything with wings), wild fish (not farmed fish), eggs, vegetables (not deep fried), oils (olive, coconut, avocado), fruits, nuts and seeds, tubers (sweet potato, yams)

If you stick to the foods you are allowed to eat on this diet you should not get fat because these foods are very nutrient densed foods so it’s almost impossible to overeat.

The foods that you need to avoid on a paleo diet are:

Dairy, grains, processed food & sugar, legumes, starches, alcohol

The health benefits of paleo:

more efficient workouts,
stable blood sugar,
burn off stored fat,
reduce allergies,
balanced energy throughout the day,
anti-inflammatory,
better skin and teeth,
improved sleep patterns

How to burn stubborn bodyfat?

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Tammy

We have adipose tissue all over our bodies. This tissue is made of adipocyte (fat cells) and its sole job is to store energy in the form of fat. There are generally 2 types of bodyfat:

visceral – surrounding the organs,
subcutaneous – beneath the skin, 80% of bodyfat.

Body fat comes in different colours:

white is the fat that makes up 90% of your bodyfat. It has a very low metabolic rate, so it doesn’t burn calories therefore it is more like a storage unit for calories.
brown fat can burn calories because of its rich blood supply. Unfortunately we have very little of them.
beige fat is in between white and brown in terms of calorie burning capacity.

Losing stubborn bodyfat is not easy. According to some studies: spot reduction does occur, however it occurs on such a marginal level that it is insignificant. Your body will burn the fat from areas where it’s easier to get rid of it. That’s why when you start a diet and exercise program, some of your areas in your body look leaner and you can recognize the progress quicker and easier, and there are other areas that look ‘unchanged’. Your body burns the fat all over, but burning the stubborn fat is more difficult and takes more time.

Stubborn fat is physiologically different than other fat. There are 2 different types of receptors in fat cells: noradrenaline and adrenaline. These hormones bind receptors in fat tissue that send the signal to speed fat release of slow fat release. These receptors are the alpha and beta-receptors. Alpha receptors slow down the fat release. Beta receptors speed up the fat release. Stubborn fat has a high density of alpha-receptors compared to betas, is more insulin sensitive and receives less blood flow than less stubborn fat. Subcutaneous fat is more stubborn than visceral fat or intramuscular fat (fat in your muscle). The most stubborn areas of fat are hips, butt, thighs of women, and the love handles for men.

To burn fat you have to release it from a fat cell (lipolysis). That fat then has to be brought inside of another cell and be burned. That’s why the blood supply to and from the tissues is important. Stubborn fat releases its fat more slowly than non-stubborn fat. Stubborn fat is more insulin sensitive (or less insulin resistant) than regular fat. A fat cell that’s more insulin resistant stores less fat and releases more of it. Other hormones have an effect on fat release, too. Thyroid activity ramps up beta receptor activity and turns down alpha receptor activity. Estrogen increases the alpha receptor activity – that’s why during the female cycles stubborn fat is more stubborn.

Stubborn fat has less blood flow, therefore even if it gets released it doesn’t get moved out of the area to be burnt easily. Alpha receptors impact blood flow. More alpha receptors = less blood supply. Also, stubborn fat is in areas that are harder for the body to heat up: love handles are further away from the center of the body.

One of the things people tend to do when they want to burn stubborn body fat is they go on a diet and exercise more. It can work out at the beginning, when you clean out your diet, start counting your macros and start an exercise regime. However if you’re not preparing for a competition, then you need to think of other ways because this way in the long run you only reduce your BMR (basic metabolic rate) which means you will need less and less calories and eventually your body will go into ‘starvation’ mode and start storing the fat instead of burning it. To come off the diet you can either eat less and exercise less (ELEL) or right the opposite: eat more and exercise more (EMEM).

ELEL allows a very low calorie or low carb diet because you reduce your resistance training and cardio during the week therefore you don’t need high calories but you don’t burn that many calories either because of the lack of exercise. This doesn’t mean you have to sit in front of the TV all day. You should still go for a walk and do low impact cardio on a daily basis. The key word here is ‘low impact’.
In the EMEM approach you increase your calorie intake but you also increase the intensity of your workouts. This approach is better and more healthy because high intensity workouts and more food will also increase your metabolism and your fat burning.

You need to bear in mind that metabolism is very reactive and adaptive. It differs from person to person how long it takes your body to adapt but sooner or later it will. To avoid this you need to cycle your diet and that keeps your metabolism guessing.

Talking about fats in a nutshell

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Tammy

Fats give you energy and they have 9 kcal in each gram. Fats are a very important part of the diet because they help in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K). Fats are either saturated or unsaturated.

Saturated fats is solid at room temperature. It is mostly found in animal foods (milk, cheese and meat). Poultry and fish have less in them. Foods made with butter or margarine have a lot of saturated fat.
Unsaturated fat is liquid at room temperature. It is mostly in oils from plants. The types of unsaturated fats are:

Monounsaturated fat: you can find it in avocado, nuts and vegetable oils. These fats may help lower your ‘bad’ cholesterol and they also keep your ‘good’ cholesterol levels high.

Polyunsaturated fats: mainly in vegetable oils such as safflower oil, sunflower, seasame, soybean. It is also the main fat in seafood. The 2 types of polyunsaturated fats are Omega-3 and Omega-6.
The fat you need to avoid however is the trans fat. This fat has been changed by ‘hydrogenation’. It is also called on labels ‘hydrogenated fat’. This process increases the shelf life of fat and makes the fat harder at room temperature. Trans fat can raise your cholesterol. You will find it in:*processed foods,

*snack foods (chips),
*cookies (yes!),
*some margarine and salad dressings.

I am available for personalized nutrition and training plans. Please contact me for details or read my Services.

Talking about carbs in a nutshell

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Tammy

More and more people started to realize that if they want to lose fat, they need to watch their carbohydrate intake. Very important to have the right carbs at the right time. Carbs give you energy and they have 4 kcal in 1 gr. For example: 100 gr of rice is ~70 gr of carbs, which is 280 kcal (70 x 4).

The simple carbs (monosaccharides and disaccharides) have simple chemical structures composed of only one sugar or 2 sugars. They are easily and quickly utalized for energy, often leading to a faster rise in blood sugar and insulin secretion. Glucose is commonly found in fruits, sweet corn and honey. Fructose is found together with glucose and sucrose in honey and fruit. Sweets/sugars can cause fluctuation in blood sugar levels and these fluctuation increase appetite and sugar cravings.

Complex carbs have more complex chemical structures and many complex carb foods contain fiber, vitamins and minerals, and they take longer to digest, which means they have less of an immediate impact on blood sugar, causing it to rise more slowly.

Fibers are a type of carbs that the body cannot digest. They cannot be broken down into sugar, and instead they pass through the body undigested. Fiber helps regulate the body’s use of sugars, helping to keep hunger and blood sugar in check.

Try and choose wholegrain food over refined food: wholegrain rice, oats or sweet potato are the best sources for carbs. Now the other questions is: when to eat carbs? Eating carbs for breakfast is a good idea because you’ve been fasting all night and you also need the energy for the day. The other best time to have carbs is straight after your resistance training: the carbs you eat after training get utilised straight away by replenishing the glycogen in your muscles.

Fat Burners – in a nutshell

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Tammy

One of the constant questions I get from the ladies is which fat burner to take, X or Y? Now I would not want to recommend a particular product because they might work for some and don’t work for others. However you need to be aware that there are different types of fat burners on the market:

Thermogenic Fat Burners increase your metabolic rate. With your metabolic rate, your temperature will increase, too. Your body will burn up fats faster which will lead to an increase in energy levels. These fat burners use caffeine as their main ingredient.
Stimulant-free fat burners are for those who cannot take caffeine.
Carb blockers work in a different way. They make it difficult for the body to release the enzyme responsible for breaking down starch. If starch cannot be broken down, it cannot be absorbed by the body therefore fewer calories from starch will be absorbed.
Fat Blockers are bundled together with carb blockers and they bind to fats ingested and transport them out of the body without going through digestion.
Thyroid regulators optimize the thyroid functions to maximise fat loss. Thyroids regulate the body’s metabolism, blood calcium levels, energy, excess fats, hormones and fat loss. You need to be careful with these though because they will not just optimize your thyroid but over stimulate it and after a certain period your body may get used to it and when you stop taking them, your thyroid activity will slow down considerably which means slow metabolism and fat gain again.
Appetite suppressants work on the brain: they make you feel not hungry and make you feel full.

Not sure if they’re all freely available in Egypt, but many of them are. However I have to emphasize that none of these fat burners will work unless you have a solid and clean nutrition. These fat burners are not supposed to work with your junk food. They have been created to help speed up fat loss for those who already have a clean diet.