What kind of a nation….?

What kind of a nation is that who screw over each other? Their own and the foreigner?

I know there are bad people everywhere in the world. It doesn’t have to be a specific country. However I have travelled the world and I’ve never met so self centered, two faced people, or at least not so many in one place!
At work some people want to control everything – and usually the most stupidest ones! Obviously the ones who cannot even see through what it would take.

Competitive athletes screwing each other over money for gear – as if the contest prep would not be expensive enough for everyone.

People offer you their help so that they can kick you even more when you’re down and you really need that help.
Very very bad experiences in the last few weeks and I don’t feel that happy anymore! If this is what’s going on here then it’s easy to tell why this country is where it is at.
Single minded, self centered, ignorant people. Not everyone but after a point you just don’t know who you can trust. I always thought I’m a friendly, open, happy and very helpful person but I think I need an attitude adjustment. Quick.

There are always exceptions to the rules – and those people know who they are. As for the others, my message is: what goes around comes around! If I’m lucky enough karma will let me see it…
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How to burn stubborn bodyfat?

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

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.

 

And the next stop is:

Cairo, Egypt! What a lovely country! The weather is hot – just the way I like it. No more gray depressing mornings, bring on the sunshine!

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The traffic here is something else! If you think London was bad, well you don’t want to try it here then! No rules whatsoever, everyone drives as they like, pedestrians all over the place crossing roads, no speed limits (well obviously there is a speed limit but no one enforces it).

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I was introduced to Gold’s Gym Academy where I started doing some freelance lecturing on their new project: training the new staff for an opening of a new branch here in Cairo!

People are very friendly and I’m truly having a great time!

Goes without saying I’m training at Gold’s Gym in Maadi. I feel truly blessed!

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