Cary Raffle Certified Personal Trainer - NYC

Now is the perfect time to get into peak shape. The weather is cooling and the holiday eating season hasn't yet begun. This issue will give you the tools you need. Measure and Track Body Fat Start by visiting trainercary.com/bodyfat  for a simple online app that measures body fat. All you need is a tape measure and internet access, and you can see where you're at today and easily track progress in the future. This app is reasonably reliable, and can be more accurate than the handheld bio-impedance monitors. Do it with a friend, and track your progress together. Do it in your office and have a competition! If you'd like to learn more about measuring body fat, I've got an in-depth review of bodyfat measurement techniques . When is a Deficit is Good Thing? Calories are a measure of energy. A pound of body fat is equivalent to about 3500 calories. Take in 3500 more calories than you burn, and your body will store the excess energy as a pound of...

Think of Body Fat as Your Body's Way of Storing Extra Energy (Calories) and Protecting Itself The scientific term for fat is adipose tissue, your body stores extra energy in the form of fat cells in the adipose tissue. MYTH: When you exercise your body turns fat into muscle, when you stop exercising, it turns back to fat. FACT: Fat and Muscle are separate and distinct. When you exercise you may lose fat and gain muscle, and when you stop you may lose muscle and gain fat. They don't transform into eachother. Some of your body fat is called essential fat because it provides insulation and protects vital organs. Men need at least 2-4% and women need 10-12%. The remainder is called storage fat, and that's what send many of you to the gym. Body fat tends to increase with age.

Body Builders and certain competitive athletes may need to obsess about their % body fat, but most of us just need a simple reliable measurement of progress. There are more than a dozen different techniques for estimating body fat, including infrared and x-ray techniques, and one that involves drinking a radioactive isotope . Keep in mind that any approach gives you an estimate based on various measurements and mathematical formulas, you can't directly measure the fat like you can with weight and height. You would have to go through the inconvenience and mess of removing all the fat from the body, weighing it and replacing it to do that. It is best to look at the body fat measurement over time to see changes, and to have it performed by the same competent person using the same equipment. All of the methods have strengths and weaknesses, and research has been conducted to validate them. Here is a recap of the measurement methods: Hydrostatic Testing - Immersion in a tank ...

There are only 2 proven ways to lose body fat: Burn more calories than you consume or consume fewer calories than you burn. Most of use a combination of both - exercise and watching our diets. What about watching carbs? Sure, if you load up on empty calories your body may crave more nutrition and you'll end up eating more, but protein shakes are also loaded with calories that you may not need. I've got some tips, by no means a complete list but just my personal top 10: Cary's Top 10 Fat Burning Tips 1. Eat a good breakfast. Numerous studies have shown that people who eat breakfast do a better job losing weight and keeping it off. Breakfast skippers tend to make up lost calories later in the day. They don't have the energy to work out as hard, and the body doesn't produce the enzymes need to burn fat during their workout. One theory is that if you workout hard on an empty stomach, the body goes into "survival mode" - sparing fat and burning mu...

Click here for a quick and easy test that you can do in your home, and track results over time. All you need is a computer that is connected to the internet and a tape measure. For more accuate results, schedule a reading with me using body calipers.