BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY

BEFORE - 205LBS AND AFTER - 190LBS

I preach to my clients that diet and nutrition is the #1 aspect of losing weight – 1 month ago I weighed 205lbs and now I’m 190lbs ripped. The biggest part of my loss was tweaking my nutrition – not going crazy and trying to rip down – just a few things that really made a difference. Eating breakfast was the key.

Many people trying to lose weight skip breakfast so they can save some calories. NO NO NO! This is a big mistake. Blood sugar is the body’s most powerful hunger signal. During sleep, your body uses much of the carbohydrate stores in the liver that help maintain healthy levels of blood sugar.

If you skip breakfast, low blood sugar triggers the hunger centre in you brain. The hunger signals can be so powerful that you overcompensate and eat too much at lunch, or snack on bad food for the rest of the day.

The University of Colorado researchers* found that people who eat breakfast maintain weight loss better than those who don’t. In the study, breakfast eaters burned up more calories during the day – probably because they had more energy.

Eating breakfast, particularly if it contains some protein can hold off the hunger monster for hours. Your body converts the amino acids from proteins into blood sugar. Amino’s act as tiny blood sugar time release capsules that keep you from overeating.

Other benefits to eating breakfast is that it aids in weight management, it fuels the body to help provide energy, helps to give you better concentration and problem-solving ability throughout the day.

DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST!
*(Obesity-Res. 10:78-92,2002)


7 SIMPLE BREAKFAST IDEAS (American Dietetic Association)

1. Ready-to-eat whole-grain cereal topped with fruit and a cup of yogurt
2. Whole-grain waffles topped with peanut butter, fruit or ricotta cheese
3. A whole-wheat pita stuffed with sliced hard-cooked eggs
4. Hot cereal topped with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice or cloves
5. Peanut butter on a bagel with fresh fruit (banana or apple wedges) and low-fat milk
6. Breakfast smoothie (milk, fruit and teaspoon of bran, whirled in a blender)
7. Vegetable omelet with a bran muffin and orange juice

Funk Roberts
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Pull-Ups the Ultimate Upper Body Exercise

When you are engaging your upper body in recreation or a sports event, rarely do you activate one muscle at a time. Instead, your movements will include back, shoulder and arm muscles working together. Perhaps you don’t have a particular sport but you want a great upper body or to lift that 1 yr old.

One of the best upper body exercises is the medium/wide grip pull up. Pull-ups (or chins) provide an excellent way to stress most of the muscles in the middle and upper back, shoulders, chest and arms and therefore, it’s an outstanding upper body exercise. I like to perform this exercise before each workout. It gives me a nice warm up and helps with increasing my strength.

This exercise is effective and will improve your athletic output whether you are going after a rebound in a weekend pick up, spiking the ball past the block or out for a leisurely canoe trip in the wilds.

Movement:
Use a pull up bar or assisted pull-up machine. Using a wide grip or a medium grip, grasp the bar with a pronated grip (palms away from your body) and hang with your elbows fully extended. Pull your body up until your collarbone reached the bar. Return to the starting position and repeat. Use a spotter or assist machine if you can’t do 10 reps.

Funk Roberts
Don’t Rush the Beat