So I was going to just write a post just about the fad diets the ladies at work are on, but then I came across a post my Ashley about personal trainers.

Here in the UK gym instructors/personal trainers have very little training. You can take a level 2 or 3 certificate in gym instruction/group exercise or sports. There is basic nutrition training (I think), training is mainly on weight/cardio machines & dumbbells not on barbells. They know about muscles and avoiding injuries but there is no degree required, you don’t need a sports & exercise degree or a nutrition degree.  I’m not sure how it works in the USA or other countries.

Due to this I don’t take up the offer of help on nutrition and if I take on a workout, it will be an extra one, on top of my normal strength routine. If a trainer come over to me & said I shouldn’t be lifting heavy due to ‘bulking’ I will leave the gym and never return. Women have very little of the hormone that will bulk us and we need to work extremely hard & take ‘extras’ to active it. Lifting heavy is all about strength, body composition & ‘toning’. Men & women need to eat over their TDEE to start with. There aren’t that many women I know that would willing eat 3000+ calories a day, who also works out.  This whole ‘bulking’ crap is such a myth.

Anyways onto diets. To loss weight it is all about the calories, eat less than you burn and you WILL lose weight. Therefore calorie counting is important, track what you eat & how much you burn each day and you have it made. All diets are a means of calorie counting, I just see it as being lazy and pointless. You don’t need to stop eating certain foods (unless for medical reasons) you don’t have to drink shakes, there are no ‘syns’ & most people WILL put the weight back on once they start eating normal meals again. Women shouldn’t go below 1200 calories a day but there are diets that put you way under that.

Weight Watchers
I tried it last year just to see for myself & to see who my points total would be. I think I got 24 point plus 49 weekly exercise points. In calories that’s just under 1200 calories. They have ”free’ foods of fruit & veg, someone somewhere also mentioned pasta! Now they all have calories, eating too much will put you over your calories no matter what.

Slimming World
Tells you, you can have so many ‘syns’ a day or it maybe you’re not allowed any, meaning you have to cut it out – sweets, chocolate, cake, alcohol etc. No thank you. Again you get ‘free’ food, examples – bacon, egg, fruit, veg, chicken, prawns, etc. Light mayo, lemon juice,  honey, gravy, yorkshire pudding are all syns to be avoided.

These too however are the best of the bunch.

Herbal Life
2 shakes a day plus a balanced diet. It’s a pyramid scheme basically, I’d put it in line with Beach Body though they do shakes + workouts not meal plans. I’m not sure if the shakes are actual meal replacements are not.

Lipobind (may be a completely different diet)
A shake for breakfast, one for lunch and then soup or salad for dinner. No wonder you are losing weight, you hardly taking in any calories.

Slim Fast
Shakes, powder, snacks. Does anyone use this anymore?

Yes people will lose weight with these and yes there are those who will keep it off, it helps if you are also active and reading about portion control, calories etc at the same time. Too many people use them then get upset when they gain it all back and then some. I actually wouldn’t be able to function on these diets. I burn between 2000-3000 calories a day. How anyone at work can be on these and last a whole 12 hr shift is beyond me.

You try talking to these women and they just stare at you or bit your head of, their way is the only way and it will work.
One lady cut of sweets, cake etc for 2 weeks, saw no change and didn’t see the point of continuing. They all appear to be restricting way too much and eating nothing ‘oh I can’t eat that’ ‘oh don’t eat that near me’. I just tell them I continue to lose weight and haven’t cut anything out, I still have chocolate & alcohol (more than once a week 😉 ). I tell them it’s all about the calories and they look like what I’m telling them is rocket science either that or they ignore me. Only one people has actually asked my how I have lost the weight. The issue is outside of work I doubt many actually do any form of exercise.

I can’t go into the fact that they probably aren’t getting the nutrition that they need.